This is a re-imagining of the start of the Friendship is Magic series, only with two male cats as a part of the main cast as they fight against a dangerous villain who plans on conquering all of Equestria!
This is a re-imagining of the start of the Friendship is Magic series, only with two male cats as a part of the main cast, and a LOT more adventures await our heroes as they journey to find the eight Elements of Harmony and fight against a dangerous villain who plans to conquer all of Equestria! Join Bob Nightwalker and Patrick Moonbeam as they also set out to teach Twilight Sparkle that Friendship can be magic as well. Can our heroes put their differences aside and work together to save Equestria and the ones that they love?
Chapter 1: Meeting Bob Nightwalker & Patrick Moonbeam
One beautiful morning, a purple unicorn was busy reading a book about the regal rulers of Equestria aloud to herself.
‘Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.’ ‘But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.’ ‘She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.’
The young purple unicorn was really intrigued with the story, but she was also curious about what the eight Elements of Harmony could possibly be.
“Hmm...Elements of Harmony,” the purple unicorn spoke. “I know I’ve heard of those before...but where?”
This purple unicorn is known as Twilight Sparkle. She was known to be a bookworm at times and she always had a passion for reading and studying. She was also the number one unicorn student of Princess Celestia, the wisest and beautiful Alicorn ruler of Equestria. This specific unicorn was about to embark on an incredible journey like no other, but she isn’t the only hero in this story.
The most unusual resident in the town of Ponyville was Bob Nightwalker, the Russian blue cat. He has been known to be the wisest creature in all of Equestria, besides Princess Celestia herself. Thanks to his clever ideas and quick wits, he was always there for his friends and he never gave up on them. When he was very little, he lost his mother and father for unknown reasons. Bob, of course, wasn’t alone because he had a faithful and slightly dimwitted cat by his side. Patrick Moonbeam was the Equestrian short-hair cat and Bob’s younger, adoptive brother. He seems to act timid at certain times, but he always conquers his fears eventually and he makes random wisecracks at times. Sadly, Patrick also lost his mother and father when he was very young, which made the friendship between he and Bob even stronger.
Bob’s father was named Julius and he was actually Princess Celestia’s good friend before his sudden death and she never forgot about him. Bob’s mother was named Elsa and she was known as the most beautiful and kind of all the female cats in Equestria. When their parents died, Bob and Patrick were raised by Celestia’s niece, until the princess of the sun arranged for them to go to Ponyville and live with another close friend of hers named Thomas, who was red fox.
Twilight Sparkle currently lived in the city of Canterlot with a purple, baby dragon named Spike. He was raised by the princess of the sun at a very young age, but she handed him over to the purple unicorn when he was able to talk and walk on his own. The princess also conjured a harmless spell on the dragon so he could send a letter to her through his green fire breath. These charming characters are soon about to meet new friends and enemies along their journey of both magic and friendship.
This is our story...
Later that morning, Twilight was walking back to her private study tower (and living residence) before she was approached by three unicorn mares exactly the same age as her. One was named Twinkleshine, who was a white unicorn with a pink mane and tail. The second one was Minuette, who was a blue unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail. The third one was Lemon Hearts, who was a yellow unicorn with a cerulean mane and tail. All three of them were carrying presents and had smiles on their faces.
“There you are, Twilight!” Twinkleshine spoke. “Moondancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. Do you wanna come? She’s really excited about it.”
“Oh, sorry, girls...I’ve got a lot of studying to catch up on” Twilight said nervously before she zipped past them.
“Does that pony do anything except study?” Twinkleshine said to Minuette and Lemon Hearts, before the three continued on their way to the castle courtyard. “I think she’s more interested in books than friends. Oh well, I guess you can’t expect anything more from the pupil of the princess.”
“I know I’ve heard of these Elements of Harmony” Twilight said as she ran towards her study tower.
Inside, Spike was holding a small present for Moondancer until the door flew open a knocked him into the wall and he slid down to the floor.
“Ow!” the baby dragon cried when Twilight ran through the door, looking around for him.
“Spike!” Twilight shouted, coming into the room. “Spike! Spike?”
Spike groaned as he got off the floor and rubbed his head. “Present...”
“There you are,” Twilight said while she trotted over to the bookshelf. “Quick, find me that old copy of ‘Predictions and Prophecies’. And what’s that for?”
Spike turned around to see the broken present on the end of his spiked tail and he gently grabbed it with his claws.
“Well, it was a gift for Moondancer, but...” Spike said as a fluffy teddy bear fell out of the box.
“Oh, Spike, you know we don’t have time for those kinds of shenanigans” Twilight told him as she moved books around with her magic.
“But I thought we were finally taking a break from all of this work!” Spike said.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” Twilight yelled as she moved books off the shelf. “Spike!”
“It’s over here!” Spike yelled from the top of a ladder, holding a book.
Twilight used her magic and brought the book over to her and began skimming through the pages. “Ah, elements, elements, E, E, E...aha! Elements of Harmony, see: Mare in the Moon?”
“Mare in the Moon? But isn’t that just an old ponies’ tale?” Spike asked.
Twilight grabbed another book from the shelf and began to skim through it, trying to find the designated selection. “Mare, mare... aha! The Mare in the Moon, myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal!”
“Whoa, I thought I heard everything” Spike muttered.
“Spike, do you know what this means?” Twilight asked.
“We can take a break for once?” Spike shrugged.
“No, it means that we must take evasive action. Take a note to the Princess, please” Twilight sighed.
“Roger that” Spike saluted, before he grabbed a scroll and feather pen.
“My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster!” the lavender unicorn spoke while doing her usual pace around the room.
“How do you spell ‘precipice’?” Spike asked.
“P, R, E, C, I, P, I, C, E” Twilight answered.
“So it’s like recipe with a P and an extra I in it?” the baby dragon joked.
“Just write down” she glared.
“Okay” he sighed before he continued to write. “It’s another way of saying that something really bad is about to happen!” Twilight explained. “For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she’s about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
Once she was finished talking, Spike used his fire breath to send it to the princess. Once Spike sent the letter, it wasn’t long before the princess wrote back. Spike picked up the scroll and read the written response out loud.
‘My dearest, most faithful student Twilight, you both know that I value your diligence and that I trust you both completely. But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books! My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony’s life than studying, so I’m sending you and Spike to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year’s location: Ponyville. And I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends. While you are in overseeing the preparations, I have arranged for you to stay in the Ponyville library. Once you arrive, go to the cottage with the address number 633, and the current resident, Bob Nightwalker, will get you the list of instructions that I sent to him in the mail. I am putting all of my faith in you. Sincerely, Princess Celestia.’
Once Spike was finished, Twilight didn’t seem really thrilled about the “leaving Canterlot” part of the task.
“Finally, we get to go on a vacation!” the baby dragon jumped up and down like an excited child.
“How charming” Twilight groaned with sarcasm.
A while later, the unicorn and her baby dragon assistant were being flown to Ponyville in a flying carriage pulled by two Pegasi guards. Spike was happy that they could finally get out into the world that they have been missing, while Twilight was feeling under the weather at the moment. She honestly wasn’t really an outdoor pony by heart, but she knew deep down inside that this means a while lot to the princess, and she was not going to let her mentor/ruler down. “Well, you can at least look on the bright side, Twilight. The Princess arranged for the both of us to stay in a library. Doesn’t that make you happy?” Spike asked.
Almost instantly, Twilight smiled with determination. “Yes, yes it does, and do you know why? Because I’m right! We’ll simply go to Cottage 633, get the list from Bob Nightwalker, check on the preparations as fast as we can, and then I can get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon’s return.”
A few moments later, the golden carriage landed in the town square of Ponyville, and the lavender unicorn and baby dragon hopped out of it.
“But when are you going to make friends like the princess said?” Spike asked.
“She said to check on preparations,” Twilight spoke seriously. “I am her student, and I’ll do whatever she asks of me, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to become acquaintances with someone at least” Spike said to himself.
“Thank you, gentlecolts” Twilight thanked them kindly.
The two Pegasi stallions both smiled and nodded before they took off and headed back to Canterlot. Once the carriage was out of sight, a pink earth pony with a pink and poofy mane and tail bounced over to them with a beaming smile. Her cutie mark was composed of three balloons; one of which was yellow and the other two were more of a light cobalt color.
“Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about,” Spike tried to persuade the lavender unicorn into making friends.
“Come on, Twilight, the least you can do is give it a try!”
Twilight gulped nervously and struggled to keep a smile on her face. “Uh, hi, I’m Twilight—”
However, before Twilight could say another word, the pink pony jumped into the air and gave a loud, deep gasp before she zipped away in a split second.
“Well, that was interesting” Twilight said flatly.
After a few minutes of searching, they found the address of Cottage 633. The cottage was overall very beautiful. The main exterior of the cottage was coated in a light, cream color, while the roof was painted light brown. The front door was teal green and the two main window frames were colored white. The address numbers were painted in a gold font and hung next to the front door.
“Now this looks like a nice place,” Spike smiled at the design of the house.
“Let’s get this over with,” Twilight grumbled, as she walked up to the front door and knocked on it with her hoof. “Hello?”
After a few seconds there was no answer from the door. Before she could knock again, she felt something softly nudge against her legs. She looked down and saw a gray Russian blue cat sitting next to her forelegs.
“Aww, hi there little guy~” Twilight cooed, as she held up one of her hooves to his face, making the cat look at it with confusion.
“Well I’m not going to smell your hoof, if that’s what you want,” the cat suddenly spoke.
“GAHHH!!!!!” the purple unicorn jumped back in surprise.
“Whoa! You can talk?!” Spike asked with enthusiasm.
The gray cat stood up onto his hind legs until he was face to face with Twilight. “Of course I can talk, which is more than I can say for this purple unicorn right here.”
“Um, not to be rude or anything, but who are you?” Spike asked the cat.
“I’m Bob Nightwalker,” the gray cat replied.
“YOU’RE Bob Nightwalker?” the dragon asked in shock.
“Yeah and it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he held out his paw to them.
The lavender unicorn was still frozen in fear at the unexpected turn of events. She honestly expected him to be a stallion of some kind, but definitely not a cat. Not wanting to make a bad first impression, Spike took his paw with his claw and shook it.
“It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Spike and this is Twilight Sparkle,” Spike said on behalf of Twilight and himself. “Are we supposed to be getting some instructions from you regarding the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration?”
“Sure, but maybe you should meet my family first, mostly my little brother,” Bob said.
“You have a little brother?” Spike asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure that my brother’s moping around here somewhere,” Bob smiled.
At that moment, they all heard a faint singing voice coming from the right. When they turned to their heads to the right, Patrick Moonbeam, the Equestrian short-hair walked out from the side of the cottage, humming a cheerful tune to himself.
Patrick stopped walking and smiled when he saw that they had visitors. “Well now, what have we here?”
The striped cat walked over to Spike and began sniffing the dragon’s little head.
The striped cat walked over to Spike and began sniffing the dragon’s little head. “Hey, watch the scales on my head, man!” Spike covered his head with caution.
“Now I’ve seen a lot of things here in Ponyville, but I’ve never run into a funny little thing like this” Patrick chuckled.
“Twilight, Spike, I would like to meet my little adoptive brother, Patrick Moonbeam,” Bob introduced the two newbies to his brother. “Patrick, these two are Twilight Sparkle and Spike.”
“Nice to meet you guys,” the striped cat smiled.
“Back at you,” Spike replied, eventually warming up to him.
Twilight still said nothing, but when Spike began to nudge her, she began to shake her head violently from side to side while babbling in a panicking tone. “No...No...No, no, no, no, no, NO! This...this...this can’t be happening to me! I’m...I’m seeing things! I must be dreaming! Wake me up! Wake me UP!”
After screaming in fright long enough, she ran over to a nearby duck pond and jumped into it, startling some wandering ducks. The blast of cold water caused the pony to shriek and she bounced back out of it. She shook the water from her body and marched back over to the baby dragon and perplexed felines.
“Now we’ll see who’s seeing things,” she looked at the two cats sternly in their eyes. “Go on, say something.”
Bob and Patrick only looked at her with blank expressions for a few seconds before they both lost it and started to laugh in amusement.
“Gee, you’re funny! Do that again!” Patrick chuckled.
“You can actually talk?!” Twilight’s eyes widened again.
“Yeah, I already said that,” Bob said.
“What do you think we are; dummies?” Patrick asked.
“I didn’t say that,” Twilight shook her head.
“You were thinking it,” the striped cat narrowed his eyes.
“I was not!” the unicorn further denied.
“But we don’t just talk,” Bob cut in, succeeding in preventing an argument. “We can also read and write just like any other pony in this town. I also tend to the library in my spare time, mainly because I’m the only librarian in Ponyville.”
“Reading and writing is more of Bob’s persona,” Patrick brushed it off playfully. “I’m fonder of being a happy, go-lucky kind of guy. Whenever there’s a problem, I take things one day at a time. I’m also fond of singing all kinds of music, mostly jazz.”
‘Wow, I didn’t know that cats could actually do things like ponies can,’ Twilight said in her mind, slightly interested. ‘Hmm, maybe I can look further into this when I get to the library later.
“Maybe they could be the first friends you can make while we stay here, Twilight,” Spike whispered to her.
“So...now that introductions are taken care of, can we get to overlooking the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration?” Twilight asked with hope in her eyes.
“Of course. Helping out with some important events is another one of our special traits,” Bob nodded.
“Just out of curiosity, isn't it kind of nerve-racking to be the only talking cats around here?” Twilight questioned.
“Yeah, when we first moved here, it was a little challenging, but we managed to make the best out of it,” Bob nodded.
“How exactly do cats like you manage to live out here in Ponyville? Can you tell us how you do it?” Spike asked.
Twilight was starting to get a little agitated by the delay. “Uh, shouldn’t we be more focused on—?”
“Yeah, we’ll tell what we do here in Ponyville,” Patrick beamed with pride.
“Oh, joy” the purple unicorn sat down in boredom as the two cats began to sing.
At that moment, Patrick’s stomach began to growl from hunger.
“Man, I’m getting hungry,” the striped cat announced.
“Hey, that reminds me, what do you eat out here?” Spike asked.
“I’m glad you asked, kid. Should we tell them, Patrick?” Bob spoke to his brother.
“Yep,” Patrick nodded.
“Alright, now listen to this, this is the important part,” Bob told them before singing again.
While this was happening, the two cats walked over to the nearby stream while Twilight and Spike followed. One by one, the two cats started swatting different kinds of fish out of the flowing water and began to munch down on them. Bob even stacked some of the fish onto a silver platter, while Patrick simply stuffed his face at one point.
“Come on, Pat! It’s now or never! Let’s take it home, big guy!” Bob shouted happily as they started to dance on a short but wide tree stump and sang the last of the part of the song.
Once the two cats were finished, they both got an ecstatic applause from Spike and an uninterested clap from Twilight.
“Great job, you guys!” Spike whooped.
“Well, there’s three minutes and six seconds of my life I’ll never get back,” Twilight commented dryly.
“I know, it’s great, isn’t it?” Patrick chuckled, not noticing the sarcasm.
“Well, it was really nice getting to know you two, but Spike and I should really get a start on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. You wouldn’t by any chance have the list of instructions for me, do you?” Twilight asked with a forced smile.
Bob’s eyes widened with nervousness. “I...didn’t really get the instructions for you yet.”
“WHAT?!” the lavender unicorn practically shouted.
“It’s still at the Ponyville Post Office, but we can all go get the instructions together,” Bob offered.
“Alright, just as long as you both don’t break into another song,” Twilight requested.
After leaving the cottage, the four were walking up to the Ponyville Post Office. While they were walking, they passed by some of the stores and stands in town. First, they walked by the flower shop which was run by three mares named Daisy, Rose and Lily. Those three mares were sometimes referred to as the flower sisters and they were often in charge of certain floral arrangements for special occasions. Next, they passed by the sweet shop called Sugarcube Corner, where they made the best desserts in all of Equestria. Sugarcube Corner was run by an earth pony couple named Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Patrick Moonbeam was often regarded as their favorite customer since he practically almost eats the entire store from time to time. While they got closer to their destination, Bob was explaining to the newcomers about the new system they’ve been presented by Doctor Whooves in order to keep special information safe from strangers.
“You see, Doctor Whooves invented a special kind of systematic computer technology that prevents strangers from stealing important information, and he gave it the Ponyville Post Office for that very reason,” Bob explained. “The number code the princess gave me is 8-9-0-7-1-2-8-3. And Craig McHoofen is the fastest pony in there. If you want something done snappy, then he’s the one for the job.”
“Good, because the quicker we get the preparations checked on, the sooner I can get to the library and started studying” Twilight smiled.
“Is she really enthusiastic when it comes to books?” Patrick asked the baby dragon.
“You should see her when she has to prepare for a test or quiz. I barely get any sleep at night” Spike chuckled.
“Ha, ha, very funny” Twilight rolled her eyes.
Eventually they reached the Ponyville Post Office and walked through the doors. YET WHAT Twilight noticed was that there were two ponies behind the counter on the far side of the room. The first one was a brown stallion who had a dark brown curly mane and tail and hazel eyes. The second pony was a female white unicorn who had a red mane and tail and had teal eyes. To Twilight’s dismay, the brown pony that they were walking over to didn’t seem to be moving very fast.
“I thought you said this was going to be quick” Twilight practically hissed.
“Oh, are you saying that just because he’s a little slow on the uptake, he can’t be fast?” Bob smiled. “Technically you can do anything if you set your mind to it.”
“Craig McHoofen, my man! It’s nice to see you, pal” Patrick smiled as the four reached the counter and the brown pony slowly lifted his head up and smiled back at the striped cat.
“Nice...to...see you...too” Craig spoke slowly.
“This lovely lady has some important business here in Ponyville. Twilight, would you like to explain to him what that is again?” Bob asked with a playful smirk.
Twilight rolled her eyes at the gray cat before she gave a forced smile to Craig. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, the prized pupil of Princess Celestia. How are you today?”
“I am...doing...just...” Craig said slowly.
“...Fine?” Twilight asked.
“...Well. What...”
“Hang in there” Bob whispered amusingly to Twilight.
“...can I...do...”
“Well, I was hoping you could
“...for you...”
“Well, I was hoping you could—”
“...this morning?”
Twilight paused to make sure he was finished speaking. “...Well, I was hoping you could give us the list of requirements for the preparations regarding the Summer Sun Celebration that Princess Celestia delivered here for me. We are in a REALLY big hurry.”
“Sure...thing. What’s...the...code...”
“8-9-0-7—”
“...numbers?”
“...8-9-0-7-1-2-8-3” Twilight smiled.
The brown pony slowly began typing in the numbers on the computer next to him. “8...9...0...”
“7-1-2-8-3” Twilight finished.
As both Craig and Twilight kept up the scenario, Twilight was growing restless and miserable with every passing second.
“...7...”
“1-2-8-3.”
“...1...”
“2-8-3.”
“...2...”
“8-3.”
“...8...”
“3!”
Bob, Spike and Patrick were having some difficulty trying to hold in their laughter at Twilight’s misfortune. Patrick then decided to make the whole situation even more interesting.
“Hey Craig, you wanna hear a joke?” Patrick asked with a smirk.
“NO!” Twilight gasped with widened eyes.
“...Sure” Craig looked up to face the striped cat, while the lavender unicorn groaned with frustration.
“Okay, what’s green and says: hey, I’m a frog?” Patrick asked.
“I don’t...know” the stallion replied.
“A talking frog,” Patrick laughed. “Did you get it?”
The brown pony’s eyes slowly widened and his mouth was turned into a huge smile, before he laughed at the unfunny joke. “...Ha...ha...ha...ha...”
“Ha ha! Yes, very funny, very funny,” Twilight laughed sarcastically. “Now, can we please get back to the—”
“Hey...Lauren...Frost?” Craig turned to the side, to look at the white unicorn with a red mane.
“W-w-wait, oh no!” Twilight squealed with worry.
“Yes, Craig?” Lauren Frost asked with a smile as she looked over to him.
“What’s...green...and says...” Craig started to repeat Patrick’s joke to her.
Twilight butted into the conversation to speed things along, which didn’t seem to work well for her. “Hey, I’m a frog? A TALKING frog! Now can we please just—?”
“‘Hey, I’m a...frog...?”
“Grrrrr!!!!!” Twilight growled as she banged her head on the counter multiple times.
“Does she always flip out like this when she’s in a bad mood?” Bob whispered to Spike.
“Just be thankful that you don’t have to live with it” the baby dragon nodded.
A while later, Craig finally got the list to print and slowly lifted it up and put it on top of the counter without changing his calm expression.
“Here...you...go” Craig handed the list of instructions to them, before Twilight frantically swiped it out of his hoof with her magic and bolted towards the doors.
“Well, we hate to rush, but my senses are telling me to follow her” Bob gestured to the purple unicorn.
“Bye Craig, bye Lauren!” Patrick waved to the two ponies behind the counter.
Outside, the lavender unicorn was trying to spot the Ponyville clock tower. “Well, that didn’t take long, since...IT’S NOON?!”
True to her claim, the two hands of the clock were pointing straight up and the bell began to chime twelve times until it fell silent.
“Well, you know what they say: time does fly when you’re having fun” Patrick chuckled.
“You wasted my time on purpose!” Twilight started to berate both cats right on the spot.
“Princess Celestia requested for us to make sure that you get the instructions, but she didn’t say how” Bob raised his paws in defense. Twilight’s blood boiled until she took a few deep breaths to regain her composure.
“Well, you did help me get the instructions, so I suppose I should thank you for that. I guess I should also thank you for slowing me down so far” Twilight said with a slight hint of anger in her voice.
“You’re welcome” Patrick smiled.
“Come on, Spike. Let’s check on the preparations for the celebration and get to the library ASAP” the purple unicorn spoke sternly.
“Roger that” Spike saluted while he held the scroll in his claws.
“Well, Mr. Nightwalker, Mr. Moonbeam, it’s been a pleasure getting to know you, but my number one assistant and I should really get going on overseeing those preparations. Thank you and good day” Twilight said politely before she gestured for Spike to follow her.
Twilight took a peak at the list Spike held in order to find out where they were supposed to be heading for the first stop. The first thing on the list regarded to the provision of the food at Sweet Apple Acres. The unicorn looked around for any road signs that could point her in the right direction, but saw nothing helpful. During every passing second, she began to sweat and tap her hoof impatiently. The two cats saw this and exchanged amused glances before walking up to the mare and dragon.
“Do you even know where you’re going?” Bob asked with a hint of amusement in his voice.
“Uh...no” Twilight blushed nervously.
“Tell you what, since you don’t know your way around here, how about Patrick and I show you the way to your locations” Bob offered.
Twilight thought about this for a moment in her head. As much as she hated to admit it, she definitely had no idea where any of the locations were. She could also tell that Bob and Patrick were actually being genuine to her at the moment. Maybe with their help, she could be able to reach the library faster than she predicted.
“Hmmm...Alright, just don’t slow anything up again” Twilight warned them.
“We promise” both cats replied with a smile.
After a few minutes of walking, the four were walking on a dirt road and found themselves surrounded by numerous rows of apple trees. A few yards ahead of them was a spectacular farm ever known to pony kind. From left to right, there was a large red farm house and next to it was a large red barn. Scattered around the farm area were multiple haystacks, hay bales and wooden barrels. As far as crops go, besides apple trees, there was also a large field of corn stalks, tomatoes and pumpkins. In a small garden area of the farm, there were also carrots and grapes, both purple and green. Near the front gate of the farm was a decent sized wishing well, complete with a wooden bucket attached to a rope.
“Alright, the Summer Sun Celebration official overseer’s checklist; number one, banquet preparations: Sweet Apple Acres” Spike read aloud from the parchment of paper.
“Sweet Apple Acres is one of the best apple orchards in all of Equestria,” Bob explained as they got close to the farm up ahead. “The apples here are delicious from red to green. The apples here are used to make all kinds of delectable dishes like apple juice, applesauce, apple butter, apple cider, apple cider cookies, apple fritters, apple cakes and candy apples on a stick, just to name a few.”
“They also make the best apple pies in all of Equestria right here” Patrick added.
“Yee-haw!” a female, southern accented voice cried out. The four looked over to see an earth pony running over to some of the apple trees. The pony had orange fur, a blonde mane and tail, and hazel colored eyes. Once she finished bucking the apples off the tree, she crossed her fore legs with pride.
“Let’s hurry and get this over with,” Twilight said as she walked over to the orange mare and began to introduce herself. “Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle and—”
Twilight never got to finish her introduction, because her body immediately started to shake violently. She looked over and saw that the orange mare was shaking her right hoof with a lot of enthusiasm.
“Well, howdy-do, Miss Twilight! It’s a pleasure to makin’ yer acquaintance,” the orange pony beamed. “My name is Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends!”
After a few more seconds, Applejack released her grip on the unicorn’s right hoof, but it still wobbled up and down continuously.
“Friends? Actually, I—” Twilight tried to protest but seemed to have trouble getting words out since she was trying to settle her front right leg down since it continued to wobble like crazy.
Spike grabbed ahold of her hoof and slowly brought the wobbling to a stop. The baby dragon then chuckled at the ordeal, much to Twilight’s annoyance. Applejack looked over and noticed the two felines standing there, watching everything unfold.
“Howdy Bob, howdy Patrick!” Applejack greeted the two cats as well.
“Afternoon, Applejack” Bob smiled.
“What he said” Patrick also smiled.
“And I’m Spike” the baby dragon politely introduced himself.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you too, Spike!” she grinned before she shook his claw similar to how she shook Twilight’s hoof earlier.
“Well, to get back on track, I’m actually here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And I take it you’re in charge of the food?
“We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?” Applejack asked hopefully.
“As long as it doesn't take too long...” Twilight grinned uncertainly.
“Brace yourself” Bob said to Patrick, who nodded in agreement. Then the two cats made a beeline for one of the trees and climbed up it and sat on a limb.
“Brace yourself for what?” Spike asked, having heard the gray cat speak.
Applejack then rang a triangle attached to a pole really loudly, which caused Twilight and Spike to wince. “SOUP’S ON, EVERYPONY!”
With that being said, a huge stampede of earth ponies ran through the trail, dragging the lavender unicorn and baby dragon along with them. When the dust cleared, Twilight and Spike were placed in front of a round, wooden table while the herd of earth ponies surrounded them on all sides with huge smiles on their faces. Once they saw that the coast was clear, the two cats came down from the tree and walked over to the unicorn and dragon with calm smiles on their faces.
Applejack suddenly popped out in between them like a jack-in-the-box. “Now, how about I introduce y’all to the Apple family?”
Twilight gulped nervously and tried to avoid wasting anymore time there. “Thanks, but we really should get going so—”
However, Applejack went ahead and started to introduce the members to her family. As each pony was introduced from left to right, they each left their trademark apple-related desserts on the table. First, they were approached by a mare with light yellow fur and a green mane and tail with lighter green highlights, then another mare with light yellow fur but with a bright red mane and tail, and then by another mare with a light pink coat and a bright green mane. Next, they were approached by a stallion with a light yellow coat and a blue mane and tail, then by another stallion with a light amber coat and a dark grey mane and tail, by a mare with a pale yellow coat and orange mane and tail, and by an elderly stallion with a brown coat and a white and gray mane. In the third round, Twilight and Spike were approached by a mare with golden fur and a light green mane and tail, a stallion with a bright orange coat and a two-tone reddish brown mane and tail, and a stallion with a dark red coat and a lime green mane and tail.
“This here’s Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Half Baked Apple, Apple Cinnamon Crisp...” After that, Applejack had to take a deep breath after saying all of those names before continuing. “...Big McIntosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith.”
Applejack finished the last part while shoving a green apple into Twilight’s mouth. The farm pony then looked over to see an elder female earth pony with green fur and a white mane and tail snoozing in a rocking chair.
“Up’n’attem, Granny Smith, we have some new visitors” Applejack called out to the sleeping pony.
The elder pony known as Granny Smith awoke from her slumber and got off of her rocking chair. She looked over towards the newcomers with a warm smile and walked slowly over to them.
“Wha..? Soup’s on? I’m up, here I come, ahm comin’...” Granny Smith spoke slowly.
“Why, just like Bob and Patrick, I reckon these newcomers are practically part of the family!” the orange pony beamed.
Twilight’s eyes widened in shock before she spit out the chewed up bits of the green apple and chuckled nervously, desperately trying to figure out a way to get out of making any new friends. “Okay, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way now.”
When the lavender unicorn wasn’t looking, Patrick quietly walked over to a small filly with light cream-colored fur and a red mane and tail, and a pink bow on top of her mane. The striped cat whispered something into her ear, and she gave him a wink and a knowing smile.
“Aren’t ya gonna stay for lunch and the tour?” a young, female voice asked.
Twilight looked down to see Applebloom looking up at her with sad, puppy-dog eyes.
“I’m sorry, but we have an awful lot or prepping to do...”
“Awwww~” all of the members of the Apple family whined.
Twilight couldn’t believe it. She was insistent that all of the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration are in check, and all of these country ponies who wanted to treat her to lunch and a tour would only slow her progress down. She also thought that a lunch and tour of an apple orchard could probably take hours to complete at the very least. However, she looked over at Patrick and immediately started to sweat. The striped cat’s eyes were all big and sad, just like the look Applebloom made, only slightly cuter. Twilight was definitely familiar with this trick since Spike would often use it on her from time to time. Soon, Twilight started to cave in to the sad cat’s eyes.
“...Fine” Twilight groaned in defeat after a few moments of silence.
“YAY!” the Apple family cheered.
“For starters, how about I show ya around the farm?” Applejack asked, practically eager to start the tour.
“Okay” Twilight grumbled.
“Alright, we’ll start with the orchard. Just follow me!” the orange mare smiled brightly.
The lavender unicorn groaned silently while she walked after the farm pony, followed by the baby dragon and two felines respectively. True to her word, they began to walk through the apple orchard. As they passed by the many trees, the apples that hung from looked absolutely delectable. From red delicious to gold delicious, Twilight’s mouth secretly started to water. However, she shook it off and regained her composure.
“I gotta admit, this place is pretty beautiful” Twilight smiled a little.
“Thank ya kindly, Twilight. We here at Sweet Apple Acres always aim to please! Just listen while I tell ya all about it!” Applejack beamed before she started to sing.
Next, she took them through the animal section of the farm. When they walked past the pig pen, there were at least a dozen pink pigs inside the muddy, enclosed area. Some of the pigs inside the pen watched the new comers walk on by, while the rest of them were busy relaxing in the cool mud puddles. In the hen house, most of the chickens were snoozing on their nests containing eggs, but some of them were outside the hen house pecking at the ground for chicken feed. A small herd of sheep were located in another pen just a few yards away. Besides there being white sheep in the pen, there were also a few black sheep amongst the herd. Up above the area, a friendly swarm of bees flew by to find flowers to pollinate and a few butterflies also fluttered by.
Just then, around the corner of the barn came Winona, the cheerful female Border collie with brown and white fur.
“This here’s Winona. She can be quite a hooful, but she works just as hard as any of us when it comes to herding other animals” Applejack explained while petting her furry, faithful companion on the head.
“That’s nice” Twilight said with a fake yet polite smile before the orange pony began to sing once more.
Finally, she showed them inside the big red barn itself. There were a few stables that were each filled with a few bales of hay. In one corner of the barn there was an old crop plow along with a few other farming type of equipment. In another corner, there were some large wooden buckets that were used to catch the apples when they fell down from the tree after being bucked. In a third corner were a few more wooden barrels most likely filled with either fresh water or fizzy apple cider. Once Applejack finished her song, Spike looked very impressed while Twilight struggled to remain as polite as possible.
“Well, that was a very nice tour, but I think it’s time for my assistant and I to go” the unicorn said with a forced smile.
“But we haven’t had lunch yet” Patrick grinned innocently, which made Twilight shoot him an angry look.
“Land sakes, Patrick’s right!” Applejack wrapped a leg around Twilight’s neck. “Right this way, Twilight. We’ll treat you to a meal you won’t forget.”
“Oh, boy” Twilight whimpered.
After the tour was complete and they had multiple helpings of the many different apple treats, the four set off to complete the remaining steps in the preparation list.
“Since the food’s all taken care of, the next thing on the list is weather” Spike announced as he looked over the list once more.
The baby dragon and cats looked behind them to see that Twilight’s stomach was filled up with food and she was moving at a very slow pace.
“Ugh...I think I ate too much pie back there...” Twilight groaned.
“Twilight, there’s one thing I’ve learned since Bob and I moved here many years ago: you can eat and eat, but nothing will ever fill the void deep inside yourself” Patrick said proudly.
“My stomach says different” the unicorn grumbled.
“Okay, there’s supposed to be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds” Spike spoke while glancing up at the blue sky containing white, fluffy clouds.
Suddenly, Bob’s ears flicked around, indicating that he heard something on the wind, something that was heading their way. “Patrick, take cover.”
“Roger that” the striped cat in question nodded.
The two cats sped over to a nearby tree and hid behind the wooden trunk, while Spike looked over at them with a dumbfounded expression.
“Well, this Rainbow Dash doesn’t seem to be doing a very good job at keeping the sky clear, is she?” Twilight asked skeptically.
Without warning, something really fast piled into the unicorn’s side, knocking her into an adjacent mud puddle. When a cloud of dust caused by the crash cleared, Spike and the two cats, who had returned from behind the tree, looked to see that the thing that crashed into Twilight was a female, cyan Pegasus that had a rainbow colored mane and tail. Both mares were currently dripping with mud, but the blue mare was more amused instead of disgruntled.
“Uh...heh, heh...excuse me?” the Pegasus chuckled, but Twilight could only grumble in response.
“Here, let me help you” the Pegasus replied before flying off and brought back a small storm cloud.
She then got on top of the cloud and began bouncing quickly up and down on it. When she did that, a bunch of water poured out of the cloud and landed onto the lavender unicorn. Once all of the water was drained out of the cloud, the color of the cloud faded from dark gray to pure white. When the cyan Pegasus peeked over the side of the cloud and saw that Twilight was dripping wet from the water, with a still not amused look on her face. This only seemed to amuse the Pegasus even further and she chuckled sheepishly again.
“Oops, I guess I overdid it, didn’t I, Bob?” she spoke to the gray cat.
“Maybe just a tad” Bob chuckled as well, while Spike and Patrick started to sicker.
“Um, uh, how about this? My very own patented Rain-Blow Dry!” the Pegasus then flew around Twilight very fast, creating a small, rainbow-colored tornado. Eventually, she stopped flying and landed on the ground with ease. “No, no. No need to thank me. You’re quite welcome anytime.”
The Pegasus then did a double take on her progress to dry up the unicorn, only to see that her mane was not only dry, but it was also enlarged and poofy. The unicorn in question was still not very pleased with the ordeal and still wore a sour frown on her face. The cyan Pegasus tried to hold in her laughs, but she immediately let them out while she collapsed onto the ground. Spike and Patrick also fell to the ground, laughing their heads off, but Bob remained standing and chuckled lightly. Twilight’s mood was completely the opposite of the others.
“Let me guess, you’re Rainbow Dash” Twilight conjectured straightly.
The Pegasus leapt onto her hooves faster than a speeding cheetah. “The one and only. Why, you heard of me?”
“Not until just recently,” Twilight sighed. “I’m Twilight Sparkle and the Princess sent me to check on the celebration arrangements.”
“Hold on, I thought Bob and Patrick were supposed to do that” Rainbow Dash said in surprise.
“Apparently, the princess requested for her prized pupil to help out with it” Bob explained.
“Oh, I guess that makes sense” Rainbow shrugged.
“You see, Twilight, Rainbow here is the toughest of the ponies here,” Patrick explained. “She tends to have a bit of a reputation to uphold.”
“That’s true, but I usually don’t give a dang about it most of the time” Rainbow bragged before she started to sing.
While she sang, Rainbow burst off of the ground and started to perform all different kinds of flying tricks that she created herself. She flew a few large hoops, dove into some wild spirals, and finally she zipped from cloud to cloud like a pinball game. Bob and Patrick were impressed, Spike was in awe, and Twilight was flabbergasted, but maintained her composure.
“That’s really impressive, but I thought that you were supposed to be keeping the sky clear for the celebration tomorrow” Twilight pointed out.
“Yeah, yeah, that’ll be a snap. I’ll do it just as soon as I’m done practicing” Rainbow stopped flying and rested on a nearby cloud.
“Practicing for what?” Twilight asked.
“The Wonderbolts! They’re gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow and I’m gonna show them my stuff!” Rainbow clarified.
“Loosely translated: it’s her dream that will never be if she continues to be Ms. Lazy Bones every single day” Patrick whispered to the unicorn.
Twilight smirked when she heard this, since it gave her an idea in order to get Rainbow to clear the sky a lot faster.
“The Wonderbolts? The most talented flyers in ALL of Equestria?” Twilight questioned. “Yep, that’s them!” Rainbow nodded.
The purple unicorn could only playfully scoff in response. “Oh, please. They’d never accept a Pegasus who can’t even keep the sky clear for one measly day.”
When Rainbow heard this, she immediately whipped her head around and gave Twilight a sour look.
“Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat” Rainbow claimed.
“Alright, prove it” Twilight challenged the cyan Pegasus.
“Oooohhhhh!” Patrick covered his mouth with his paw.
The pony with wings accepted the challenge in a heartbeat. Wasting no time, she burst off of the ground and started kicking the clouds with a strong force. Every time she kicked one of the clouds, it would instantly just disappear into thin air. While Bob and Patrick stood there feeling like nothing was new, Twilight and Spike were very surprised to no end. True to her word, Rainbow managed to clear the sky of the clouds in only ten seconds.
“Loop-de-loop around and wham! What’d I say? Ten...seconds...flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hanging,” Rainbow beamed with her usual pride until she noticed that Twilight had a huge dumbfound expression plastered all over her face. “You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more.”
Before Twilight could respond, the cyan Pegasus zipped away through the air until she was out of sight.
“Rainbow Dash, you’ll learn to like her” Bob shook his head with a smirk.
“Yeah, she’s amazing!” Spike noted in awe before he and Patrick resumed to laughing at Twilight’s messed up mane.
“I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this hard in my life!" the striped cat chuckled while Twilight only glared at him.
