> Purple Batteries
>  by Xutiepops
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Old Mares Tales
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In one of the many studies in Princess Celestia's castle, lied a pony. In this study laid books and shelves that towered, and multiple floors along with it. It's strange to think that a Princess such as Celestia would allow that much to a simple pony. In this study the floor was littered with books and boxes of books, making the bottom floor a labyrinth. The shelves were dusty and tall, making it impossible to clean. The wood was all polished though, as it was every year, though it was still aged and had multiple holes that made them not as sturdy as when they were first placed. In the study held a whole cabinet full of ink holders, multiple pens of different weight and nibs to go along, but most of all, were the piles upon piles of notebooks that laid next to the fancy cabinet. 
It resembled a wine cabinet, just with a lot of modification. It was more like a tall wardrobe made from the initial build that was a wine cabinet, making it reach far back. There was also a door on it, a glass one that shined in the sunlight. It was the only nice thing in the whole study! Always kept clean and wiped clean of dust, nothing in the wood it was made from and surely nothing dangerous around it. Yet the pile of notebooks that laid open with dry ink and bent pages, showed what the mare that lived there wasn't proud of. She kept the utensils in the nicest condition, yet when it was used, it was despised. 
Deep within the messy labyrinth the mare called a study, laid just that, a mare. She sat in the silence of a room that seemed surrounded by towers of books that surrounded her in a circle. A dim lamp sat on a end table near the edge, lighting the walls and the pony in a dim yellow. Nothing about this was satisfactory. There was a buzzing and humming that came from a box that sat next to the mare. It ran like a loud motor. The mares tired expression didn't help. Neither did the dim light casting what seemed to be a sacrifice at deaths door. 
The mare was light purple with a basic, bookworm look to her. All she was missing was the glasses. She was a unicorn, unusual, but still quiet common. She had a dark blue mane with a pink and purple streak in it. The mane that laid down her body was uneven, it seemed charred at one end and swayed with the wind that lightly blew on it. Her tail and mane was flat with stress and days of not bathing -something this mare often did, as she got wrapped up in her studies to forget time until she passed out and repeated. Then again, she couldn't simply bathe like every pony else, no she couldn't. That was because she was different than many ponies. This pony had a unicorn horn and metal wings that protruded from her back. An alicorn, a robot one, but still a alicorn. 
Her back was a shell of metal, underneath it was nothing but a mangled and dead part of her body, she assumed her fur there had died out and fell off. Her large wings sat open as cords, wires, and thick, black tubes ran from her back into the box next to her. The box hummed louder as she tried to fold her wings against her back and she slouched. She sat up straight and stretched them out, the humming quieted. She sighed. 
The shell on her back was a dark gray, her wings were a lighter color, rather ugly if you asked her. The shell covered her upper back, her cutie mark, and her lower back. The box next to her was the same color as her shell, though inside it was a lot more complex than the insides of her. 
Near her charred, cut short hair sat vents that blew out at her neck, which is why she constantly had it cut so that she didn't over heat. On her middle back was a indent of the metal where her wings stretched from. Her lower back, right above her cutie mark, sat a rectangle that held a green color at the very bottom -with white tick marks as measurement-, since it wasn't being used. Next to it was a bright red button and three smaller ones next to that. She found no point in them, but they did serve a purpose... ones she had forgotten. 
Her cutie mark was misaligned on her shell, but she didn't care, she kept it covered up whenever she was in public. 
On her wings were large metal fan blades that were made to resemble feathers, they worked well as she could fly. On the base of the wing where the bone usually was underneath the feathers was a triangular piece, again with a dormant green color at the bottom, white ticks to mark measurement of 'fuel'. Above that was a bright blue circle and a long rounded rectangle beside it. One end held a dormant, light blue color, near the other end was a red tick mark that told her when she should stop flying and let her wings breathe. 
What others almost failed to notice was the right metal ear and dysfunctional eye. Well, they were usually noticed, but they guessed it was better than using a hearing aid, and they guessed she was just blind. Though the metal ear was just better than a hearing aid, as it enhanced how much her ear canal picked up and made it easier for her to hear. But it was necessary as many pieces inside her ear were damaged. Her eye, right eye, wasn't blind, she could see the world through a red hue. So, if you want you could say she was color blind in one eye, if you wanted. 
Inside her was more complicated though, inside her she had a functioning 'heart/circulatory system' and a functioning 'respiratory system'. Her 'lungs' inflated and deflated as normal, with in taking oxygen and letting out carbon. Though as it would usually be a normal material found in bodies that transported this, it was light, metal wires molded with the tubes that transported her air. Most of the ways were blocked as she didn't need air for blood, it was mainly one that simply went to her brain. Though she knew it wouldn't function the same, the box next to her monitored and distributed how much air was given to her brain. 
Her 'heart' was a canister of oil that oiled the hinges inside her, her other tracks were obsolete after her change, so she simply didn't have them anymore. 
Her spine and many of her bones were made of metal though, to hold up the huge metal shell that sat on her back at all times. When she woke up from being this way, she didn't believe she could function, found it impossible. So when she asked the pony who made her, The Doctor, he said it was the binding of her soul to a battery. She didn't believe it until she saw it. 
The battery box -as she called it- sat next to her, humming and buzzing as it usually did when she 'charged'. It had her cutie mark on the two largest sides, and on top sat three rectangles that measured specific things about her character. A big, red button sat next to those near the edge of the top, a self destruct button -"Because all things have them," was The Doctors only explanation. A light blue tablet with a moving screen sat next to the rectangles, measuring specific levels of the things on her and inside her. On the right side of the tablet screen was a white box, an arrow pointing to the half way mark. 
How much time she had left. 
She sighed and turned away from the measurement of her life span and how much longer she would function. It usually varied, especially when she hadn't 'charged' in a few days. It could go from years to mere days. But she found that whenever she charged it had a specific pattern. 
Only a year left to live. 
She looked around for a way to distract herself from it. That's when she saw a book open on the ground, it was her own and she knew all the content inside, she activated her magic and levitated it over to herself, only to earn a loud beep from the box. She instantly dropped in and stretched to reach it and slide it over to herself so she could read through her own research and past conclusions based from inferences. 
She hadn't meant for it to be published, but her mentor -the princess herself- insisted on it. Only to get mixed reviews from scholars or students sitting in college. They either hated it with a passion or admired it with a passion, never in the middle. The book was of myths and her research over them, pretty boring or interesting. As many took the logical side of an old mares tales, it became a pretty interesting read for scholars and ponies who simply liked the tales. 
She opened to the title page, then flipped to the table of contents. Reading over some of the names, she could pick out her favorites to research, the ones that usually didn't involve talking to ponies. 
The mare in the moon.... pg. 26. An all time favorite, as she loved to use her telescope and read on what other ponies thought. A mare who was banished to the moon, many ponies called her crazy, but she loved the idea of it. Even if she never had any visual proof, she still believed it. 
A mistress from the future.... pg. 58. A favorite of hers as well, even if she had to talk to ponies who had way too much time on their hooves. She was rumored to be a crazy mare, wild and crazy. She was a fortune teller before she was rumored of witchcraft before she went into hiding, only to have her fortunes come true to the ponies she told them to. Some said she was cotton candy, uneven and weird, but a tasty treat for a read and some nice, easy tales for Nightmare Night. 
The fastest pony alive.... pg. 242. Not exactly one of her favorites. She just enjoyed studying Sonic Rainbooms along with the pony. Even though she had -and many others- imagined it male. She concluded it was either female, or a very femininely built male. She loved the possibility and the usage of physics she got behind this one. 
The one worshipped by all.... pg. 300. Not a favorite of hers at all, but it was only because she only got weary theories and not more solid ideas from it. Even if it gave her freeway to sirens and enchantresses, she still disliked the tale. It was simply an enchantress, nothing more. Yet, as sirens entered her mind and the idea of a female having that much power, she couldn't help but be intrigued enough the research it. Still ending with failure, she admired the will to create something powerful from a simple tale. 
The maiden of Discord... pg. 463.  A tale she truly feared, as many maidens disappeared around the time real proof came around for it. It was rumored that a horrid creature that simply wanted women would lure them into the woods, only to corrupt them until he picked one he liked. The maidens that disappeared were nice years before the disappearance, then they started going into the woods, and coming out completely rude and selfish. They had no recollection of the behavior after, until one day... they just disappeared. 
She shivered at the thought of the tale and closed the book. After hearing a few beeps from the battery box, she unplugged herself and stretched, folding her wings against her back. She shook her head and rid her thoughts of her old myths. Such a foolish thing to do, she always decreed. She walked out of the hole of books she always hid herself in when she charged. 



As the mare charged, her faithful assistant cleaned her cabinet and took a peek through her failed notebooks that were only pages filled. As he flipped through some, he found one based simply on art, he assumed it was old and looked to the front to confirm it. He flipped through it, claws always scratching at the paper once he turned the page. 
Pictures of sloppy ink drawings that looked like the mare he worked with actually cared to try. The drawings were far from beautiful, but there was something about the messiness and order of things written around that he admired. He flipped to a random page and saw a name at the top. The mare of the moon. 
There was a drawing of a alicorn with long flowing hair, a lunar cutie mark, and a royal collar. Notes beside it told him her coat was dark blue, her hair was an even darker blue, her colors were blues, blacks, and whites. As color fled from his mind and onto the page, he only stared in awe. He quickly turned the page. 
The fastest alive. Of course, she was a mare, as his co-worker enjoyed seeing females have a point other than continuing the race and stopping extinction. She had a spiky mane with a puffed out chest and a smirk. Her wings were huge and gracious, making her seem dominating and overpowering. He looked at the notes and saw that her hair was dark pink, as were her eyes, her coat a light blue. 
He turned the page again, letting color soak into the messy drawings and come to life. His mind ran with excitement as he visualized the fastest alive flying around his head and the room, leaving havoc in her path. He turned his attention back to the book. He paused and stared in glory. 
The one worshipped by all. A unicorn with a long horn and a slender, curved body. Her mane was a party of curls that fell graciously over her shoulder and surrounded her sitting body. Her seductive eyes were pinned in his head as a light blue, he saw the notes to confirm that they indeed were. She wore a red dress that he could only imagine sparkled and complimented her curves. Her hair was wrote to be pink, with her body a dashing dark grey. In his mind, he saw a milk white coat and a deep purple in her mane. He couldn't peel his eyes away, he just couldn't. His breath was taken away and his heart stopped in his chest. He fell in love with her. 
A voice broke him away from his longing stare to see her in the flesh. "What are you doing?" He turned to see Twilight Sparkle, his 'boss', though he wasn't paid and she sure didn't act like a boss. So he liked to call her a 'co-worker' if they were being professional. Unprofessional, and she was his best friend. 
"Oh, um," he nervously stammered as she levitated the book out of his hands. "Wait!" He clawed at the air, missing the book. 
She studied it for a second, then with a bored expression, threw it back to the pile. "Come on, Spike. I told you I'm done with myths. Physics, electricity, and science are my main focus." She started through the labyrinth of books. He clawed to his feet and chased after her, careful not to knock anything over. 
"I just... why?" He asked, nervous she would snap, even if she never did. "You seemed to enjoy it a lot more than you do electricity." 
She froze in her place and turned to look at him, they were standing in a corridor of books or boxes filled with books. The air was suffocating, even if only one of them could suffocate. Well, if you consider suffocation as a the blockage of the need to breathe, that is. Her brain could function about an hour without oxegyn. 
She turned away, "I still enjoy physics." She muttered and continued to a different part of the study. She had made hallways, corridors, and rooms from simply books. She guessed it felt more like home than work at that point. 
"But look how much time and dediction you put into those!" Spike exclaimed with a happy cheer. "You haven't been that happy since you stopped learning those myths." 
The corridor was coming to an end and they turned to a huge room enclosed by book cases rather than just towers of books. At one end of the room was a blue stair case that Twilight climbed up, Spike rushing after her. 
At the top of the steps looked more like a nice, small bookworm café than anything. A few round tables sat near the edge of the floor where railings were built up, to the other side of the room behind those tables was an endless cavern of untouched books that most likely won't get touched. Ever. Twilight sat down at one of the tables and looked down at the messy, book-box labyrinth that was the first floor of the study. Spike sat down next to her, determined to continue his talk and determined to get an answer. 
"You enjoyed it! I've never seen you finish a notebook since the myths, and you made a book out of those!" Spike exclaimed happily, determined to see her bust through her barrier of unreasonable actions and realize she should do what makes her happy. He sat on the edge of his seat and his tail flicked in anticipation. 
"No," Twilight said coldly and started down the cavern of towering book cases that was the second floor. The first was the labyrinth and the second was the tower, Spike named them that, as he found more fun saying 'the tower' or 'the labyrinth' over 'floor one and two'. It simply caught on to Twilights tongue and won't let go. 
"Why not?" He asked in a disappointed and begging tone to know the answer. He chased after her, this time being more reckless as he knew she was simply going to the fourth floor he had yet to name. He called any floor after the fourth 'Twilights floors', she didn't have ladders reaching up to them, and his wings had yet to grow in yet. 
"Because I said so," Twilight stated and climbed another flight of stairs, these a lot smaller. They revealed a small replica of the kingdom they lived in, hence the floor being named 'The Kingdom'. It was Spikes floor to mess with, so whenever he had free time, he built up the kingdom's capital, Canterlot. Another floor of books Twilight would never touch. 
"That's not a good enough reason! Why wouldn't you want to do the things that make you happy?" At this point, Spike was trying to break her and make her snap, flooding the air with her answer that would just lead to a comforting talk. Of course, she knew of this method and even recognized it, yet she always fell for it. For being a robot, she found it funny how much her emotions get in the way. 
"Fine," she sighed, admitting defeat rather than snapping. She leaned on the rails of the floor and gulped at how high up she was. Her wings strapped to her back and she looked away. Spike sat next to her, leaning against the railings, she decided to do the same. "I don't do it because ..." she couldn't answer. How could she tell her best friend that she would be dead in a year? He already cried his eyes out and couldn't breathe fire for a month the first time she told him she was dying. 
"You have little time left?" He finished her sentence, slightly cowering away from her, wrapping his tail around his leg and sealing his eyes shut as his arms readied to cover his face. She shook her head with a motherly smile as she wrapped her wing around him and pulled him closer to her. He stared at the metal wing next to him. "It's not usually that warm." 
"It is after this shell gets charged," Twilight mumbled but soon nodded to his guess. She sighed. "Yes, I have just a year left, all I've done is invent a telescope and publish a worthless research notebook. I want to do something big, researching old mares tales isn't 'big'." 
"But you were so happy and you put so much time into them," Spike said. "I've never seen you really try to do something, and yet you tried to draw those tales because you wanted to really see how your mind saw them. That's dedication." He put his cold, scaly claws on her shoulder and held a face of sympathy. He hated to admit it, and he clearly couldn't. But she knew what he was saying. 
Don't go out trying. Go out doing something you love. 
She shook her head and stood up. "I'll be on my floors if you need me," as she trotted away he tugged on her tail and she looked back to see his big, reptilian eyes staring at her. For once, her metal heart shattered and she felt a real heart in its place. She could hear the heartbeat in her head, even if it wasn't real. The simple idea she had crushed her, she turned away and galloped off so he couldn't see her cry. 
The idea of seeing her child hood friend, the one she raised from a simple egg, grow up and turn into a handsome, fearful dragon, crushed her. She wanted to see him grow his wings, she wanted to see his fangs sharpen, she wanted to help him through his growing years as he grew greedy and vicious. But she couldn't, and she didn't have anyone understanding enough to take her place. 
She sighed and trotted up the last flight of stairs to the fourth floor -the nameless one. It was made up of clear space, bookshelves and ladders lined on side of the wall and the floors ending with rails lined the other. She flew up to the fifth floor and beyond, finding her little cave she had made in her bookshelves and a huge hole in the thick walls. Books lined the walls while wood lined the floor and ceiling. The cave took place of four whole shelves and gave her enough room to stretch out her wings if she needed to. She cried and let the date set in. 
One year.
That's it. 
The words of her dragon friend rang in her head. The words from a long time ago when she was told she would be dead in a month years before. 
"We'll make it count."
> Old Passtimes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the multiple storied, book home Twilight called a study were many things. There was the first floor, made of read books built and towered up to ensure that it wasn't a big, empty room. Hallways and a few rooms were made from books. Three rooms and multiple hallways, many that were unfinished and just looped into other ones, hence why Spike referred to it as 'the labyrinth'. 
Then, there was the second that was maybe one of the only organized spaces. On the edge near the railings were four, identical round tables, two chairs at each. Made to be like a café. Then, behind those were towering book shelves full of neatly organized books that were intended to be read. It maybe went back twenty or so shelves. It looked like a café in the front and a huge library in the back. It was spooky, as no light hit most of the in-betweens of the shelves. Spike only assumed there were spider webs and ghosts that lived in those in-betweens, so he ran right past them with a shaky mind. 
Up a flight of stairs sat the third floor, Spikes haven from the towers that sat below the floor. In the kingdom of Equestria, was the capital, Canterlot. Where the two lived, of course. So, whenever they went out, Spike mapped out the capital in relation to their home, a forbidden -and honestly, unknown- wing of the castle. He enjoyed building a replica of the castle on the floor Twilight had given him. He even had a book fort in the corner of the room for his own delight. So this floor was 'The Kingdom'. He ran over the bakery, skipped over the park, jumped over the shopping center, and slid by the library and school, to get to his cave in the corner. 
He smiled at his little home, or room. It was small, certainly wouldn't fit him in a years time. But there was a box of jewels in the corner, a small wooden box hidden under a pillow and a light blue blanket. Of course, the ceiling was simply a shelves under side, by he found it cozy. At least his floor made sense to him and that made him smile -and it made him stop criticizing Twilight for her wacky floor design. He snuggled against the pillow and finally started his own research. 
He had a big, white covered book. A picture of a dragon breathing fire on the cover. He pulled out two notebooks, one half filled and the other never touched. He pulled out an old ink holder and pen he was given by Twilight -he used it since he loved seeing how happy Twilight was at her writing cabinet, so he dared not touch its contents. The pen and ink holder were years old and were beat up from being jostled around without care, though neither was used that much, maybe once or twice. 
He opened the big white book and flipped to the table of contents, reading through the titles of chapters and subsections quickly. 
The truth teller. The shape shifters. The pillars-subsection: The strength. The bravery. The sorcery. The healing. The beauty. The hope. 
	He flipped the page and saw at the top in bold ink, The one worshipped by all. He hastily turned the books pages to page three hundred. He paused and stared at the bold words. As he read her story, his heart fluttered with hope and excitement. 
"A mare with a bewitching voice and enchanting eyes that lure any pony -stallion or mare- into her trap. Based off of evidence of creatures existing like this, it's assumed she's either a seductress, enchantress, or siren. Since she has never been seen, I conclude she's a siren, since a seductress or enchantress are either pony -the former- or can make themselves look like a pony -the latter. Siren's are usually given or born with features that many find appealing, so I think her eyes would be a bright blue, as many find that an attractive color. Her mane and coat are indeterminable, as ponies have different preferences. Though... " 
Spike read the poorly thought through text, well he couldn't blame her, she had no intention of making it a book for every pony to read. Still, he read through the text, constantly seeing the words 'siren', 'enchantress', and 'bewitching'. Well, whoever this mare was, she surely was bewitching him. 
She was wrote to use her voice and eyes to lure her victims in, yet he didn't need to see her or hear her voice. She had simply took over his mind. He couldn't stop reading about her, even if he contradicted most of what was written, he wanted to know as much as he could about his mysterious mare. All he saw was her blue eyes, as if he had seen her before. 
Too soon for his liking, the chapter came to an end and he just stared in disappointment. Then, he pushed it away and grabbed the two notebooks, flipping one open to a page with a sloppy ink drawing of a sitting mare who was confident and had her eyes piercing the viewer. He stared at it for a while, imagining her bright blue eyes, her deep purple mane, her milky white coat. He could almost see her walk off the page and kiss him on the cheek and strut off, expecting him to follow. He shook his head and turned back to the other notebook. 
The drawing was full of construction lines marked in dark black ink. Two eyes that had only sparkles, boisterous curls that sat over the shoulder and around her body, framing the picture. The body was slender and curved much to any ponies appeal, even mare. Her eyes and expression showed confidence, yet also showed the conniving siren underneath that Spike didn't want to see. He told himself she was not a siren, she was just gorgeous. That solid statement started wavering in confidence as he thought about himself in the equation. 
He swallowed and opened the other notebook, full of freshly cut down trees processed into fine paper. He tried not to think of the hardships of the world, though, staring at a blank page only told a pony two things to think about. Either to name the tree that was sacrificed for your use or to think about what to put on the page. He didn't want to think about either, he just simply didn't have an answer for the former and the latter made him sick to his stomach.
He turned to a random page and dipped the pen in ink, trying to copy what Twilight had drawn. He actually succeeded, though he assumed he took way more time on it than her. As she probably didn't care and was simply getting ideas down, while he longed to see a more real image of the mare. Also the fact that she probably used her magic to move the pen in such movements that she made, he constantly had to let go and stretch out his hand. 
Once he finished he stared in awe at his skill. He guessed it was a dragon thing, they got whatever they wanted if they were greedy enough for it, even if it meant copying something in its entirety. Though, his drawing was less sloppy and the face was so detailed and her eyes stared and pierced a lot more than Twilights did. 
He stared at the drawing, now with much less construction lines. The eyes held lines for every separate color and sparkle. In Twilights, her eyes spun to a sharp nib on either end, like a cats. His had a big pupil that stared at you, making it a lot nicer and her face was just a confident mare with a sense of class and style. Not a conniving beast underneath ready to steal your soul. Her curves were more realistic, her hair had even more voluminous and was even more boisterous. Her position seemed less forced and more just her posture. Her eyes didn't bare into you, looking for something to take, they stared in a cheerful lure, as if asking for a walk. 
As a smile plastered itself on his face, he picked up the used notebook, the ink holder, and the book. He returned each to their respective spots and then rushed to a book house in his little kingdom. It was modeled after the store Twilight went too -way to often- to retrieve her inks. He pulled the book off the top to reveal multiple ink holders. All with colors of the rainbow. There was red -which he grabbed-, orange, yellow, green, blue -also grabbed-, purple -snatched-, and a black and white set he clawed into his arms as well. He dashed back to his little hut, way to fast for safety, though he was too excited to realize, much less care. 
When he was inside he got a piece of free paper from the notebook, pulling it out and laying it to the side. He got up and came back with multiple empty ink holders and a random stick that seemed clean enough to use -he didn't question why it was even in the book ridden study he survived under. He started mixing the inks, a method he taught himself, even if it wasted much of the ink. He poured a small amount of black in an empty holder, adding a lot of purple and then mixing it. Once he was done he dipped the pen in the mixture and tested it out on the paper he tore out. 
Wonderful. It was the exact color, though it was definitely needed a lighter purple to accent it and make the drawing pop. 
He then poured a white with the blue, doing this around three more times, adding different levels of white. Once done he tested them and reveled in his accomplishment. He tested the red and found it sufficient, he would use a small amount of white to make the dress seem like silk mixed with the reflective properties of sequins in the end anyways. 
He started coloring the piece, though it used a lot of ink, he declared that this was important. And he sucked up most of his time, he didn't care. As he added the last bit of white to make her eyes sparkle and redid the last bit of outline to the piece he pulled away to get a full look at it. It was... marvelous. 
He stared in awe, white filling her body, covering any lines that would've been there. A deep, dark purple covered her curls, making it darker in the shadows and casting a base color on the rest. A lighter purple sat on top to make it look lit up by a light source. Her eyes were now simply the outline of the whole iris and then the black that filled her pupil. They were made up of a light blue that only got lighter near the bottom and darker near the top, a few white shines sat over it all. Her eyes seemed like an ocean, no .... jewels! Bright blue sapphires, no... a lighter jewel ... a diamond! Yes, they were just like diamonds! Darker when the sun didn't reach and lighter where the sun reflected off! Such a perfect comparison! 
He smiled and started cleaning up so that the ink could dry. He hummed a tune as he returned the inks to the shop, assuming he'd do this again very soon. He returned the nib and pen to a small end table near the writing cabinet and started back up the journey to his little cave at the edge of town. He always thought of himself as the big dragon who would eat them all one day, though it was a small joke, he sometimes hoped and seriously begged he wouldn't end up that way. Besides, with the logic behind it and based on how much he has grown already, by the time he was two years older he'd literally need to be growing over night. 
As he walked back inside and stared at the gorgeous maiden on the paper, a thought occurred to him. 
Why did he care so much about her? 
Sure, she was pretty and all, but a pretty girl wouldn't make him dedicate hours of time to her. He'd seen pretty girls all the time and never drew them to try and capture his imagination on paper. And she'd been a myth! An old mare tales! He'd have more chance with one of the pretty ones he saw outside his window every day. But that was just it. 
This wasn't an everyday mare he could seduce and make his. This wasn't a mare he could continue to try and wow on days end until his dedication made her swoon for him. Those everyday mares didn't stop his heart every time they were caught in the center of his vision. Those everyday mares didn't leave him speechless and extremely happy the second he saw them. Those everyday mares didn't bewitch and control him to only think of her. 
This mare was special. A mare who would have him, gifting her him as his prize. No, this was a mare that wasn't going to let anyone see her as a 'theirs'. This was a mare that would control someone, making them hers. She had all control. And as her image flew off the paper, he knew he couldn't match. She'd never have him, but damn it all if he wasn't going to love her. 
Her bright blue eyes disappeared into the paper and reappeared slowly, her eyelashes marking where they were. Once her eyes opened they softened and a smile -more caring and less seductive- appeared on her face. Her red dress followed as her white hoof moved forward, taking a reassuring look at Spike to see if it was allowed. Her head shook, shooting her purple curls to a different position that soon fell back to place with a bounce, as if she was in slow motion. 
A hoof of a void gray color vaporized in front of him, as if rain clouds came flying in through the window and whisked up a picture. Soon that hoof became a whole foreleg, as if came from the paper. A piece of white silk flew by him, covering her hoof that was exposed and wrapped around it, morphing into fur
That foreleg became two, those two became a chest and neck, that chest and neck became a head with piercing blue eyes that only came to color through two sapphires flying out of the bucket and placing themselves in her eyes, only to fade a lighter set of shades. A slippery slide of purple pulled into the perfect curls, only coming to life as purple ink flew past him, dumping it on her as it didn't touch her fur, only fled into those curls. 
Those curls and front body became a lower body draped in a red silky dress, that held the reflective properties of sequins, the red showed itself through red covers of books -flying by- and placing themselves on the form, actually turning to fabric. 
Soon, she was standing before him in a ghostly body, her eyes smiled along with her smirk as she walked past him, brushing the soft fur of her shoulder against his tough scales. His knees buckled and he fell. He turned to see her smiling at him, her shoulders bounced and her hoof raised to her mouth as her eyes shut. No sound was made though. 
She turned away, swaying in rhythm with his breaths. Until she was standing before a book house. He soon stood up and looked at where she was looking. 
He forgot it even existed, he pulled off the top book to reveal a gracious necklace with a red ruby shaped into a heart at the end of the sparkling gold chain. He noticed her jump and her eyes sparkle. 
The ruby sparkled in the light, the form of the ruby thicker at the center and thinned out at the edges. It turned to form sharp, clean edges. It reminded him of her eyes, the center was the base, the right side was engulfed in darker shades and the left was brightened by the sun that shown in through the window. 
He dared not speak, too scared to ruin this beautiful dream of his. He swallowed the fear in his throat. She turned to him, eyes sparkling until she saw his disappointment, she turned away, now saddened. 
Of course, he recognized this about her. So, he got an idea. He pulled the necklace out of the book fort and held it in his claws. It's a dream, so what would it hurt? 
He turned to her and saw her whole body turned away. He smiled at the idea in his mind. He pulled the necklace around her neck and started latching it in the back when she perked up to see what he was doing. She turned to him with wide eyes and a small straight line on her face. He smiled up at her and resisted the urge to tell her how beautiful she looked. 
She looked down at the ruby, her eyes welling with tears. A huge smile plastered on her face as she engulfed him in a hug. It felt so... dream like, but also real. He could feel her soft fur as it grazed every scale on his back, and he certainly felt her cheek snuggling up to his in her tight embrace. And he definitely felt her cold tears against his cheek. Yet there was this cloud like feel to her, as if it was all just a cloud.
He didn't want to let go, yet he couldn't hug her back, too scared she'd run at the touch of his claws, too scared that she'd vanish under his touch. 
She pulled away with her mouth open, as if she wanted to say something. Then, she looked around, panicked. 
She unlatched her hooves from his shoulders and continued to look from left to right. She turned to Spike and nodded towards the door as she got up and trotted in that direction, careful not to trip on her dress. Spike followed with haste. 
She trotted down to the towers, looking into the in-betweens every time she stopped between the shelves. She finally turned down one and stood at the end. Spike stood at the opening to it, fear consuming his amazement. It was the one that hadn't been touched since the books were put up, it was the one that was never touched. It was the one with the most spiders and held a ghost-witch coven -to his explanation. He could physically see the cob webs and dust that former a giant monster behind her-.
She stood at the end and nodded her head down to her end. Her big blue eyes pleading him to move, bewitching. 
That was this mares trick, her bewitching eyes. Even without the bewitching, he moved forward. And with every step he took, he saw her eyes widen and stare in shock until he finally stood next to her. She shook her head, tears streaming out of her eyes. 
"W-what's wrong?" Spike blurted, he instantly covered his mouth and saw her head slowly perk up at his question of concern. Once he saw she didn't disappear, he continued and took a step towards her. 
"H-hey, whenever you're sad, j-j-just remember this," he grabbed the ruby and pointed at it, worry and panic grasping at his voice, giving it every push that he was nervous around her. "Remember it and you'll know you always have someone out there for you." He could see the fear in her eyes. And something inside him bewitched him to say these next words, yet he knew it came from inside him, and not her. 
"This ruby will keep you safe," he said and his mind was too worried and running too fast to recognize: he had no idea what he was saying. 
She stared at him, his claw, his nice smile, and the ruby. She shook her head as tears streamed from her eyes as the end of her body started fading away. He panicked again, blurting out something he already had his answer to. 
"Will I ever see you again?" He asked and saw her expression change in an instant. Boredom that she was leaving, and then sadness that she was leaving. 
She shrugged and mouthed the words, 'I hope'. 
Her body dissipated, and the last thing he saw were her teary blue eyes that begged to stay. He sat in the scariest corner of the study, sat in disbelief of what he just saw. He turned away and saw the entrance to the in-between that was these two shelves. He turned his attention away. 
He didn't want to leave. Now leaving the previously scary corner was the scary thing. He slumped down the wall and broke into a cry that he didn't usually do. Though he did at times, he was still a 'child', even if he was around six years younger than Twilight. He had a feeling that age didn't matter to the white silk that made itself a mare. For all her youth could beat time, and now he had a feeling as if he knew her. This was all a dream. He knew it had to be. There was no other explanation. 
He was so confused. Why had he cared so much for this mare? Even without her obvious bewitching, he still felt compelled to her. He still wanted to see her and do nothing but hear her talk about herself. This 'why' that was this mare made him sick to his stomach. 
He had a why before, and got an answer for it by reading Twilights books. This mare couldn't be read, he knew the answer to her question would have to come from seeing her more than just this once. He sighed and wiped his eyes. He hated crying, what he hated most is what he as crying about. 
A silly mare! No, she wasn't a silly mare. She was a enchanting, bewitching, gracious creature that made every thing stand on end wherever she walked. She was a creature to be messed with, that's for sure. She wasn't a mare on the streets. No, she wasn't the silly one. He was. 
He was obsessing over a mare and for what? To one day see her and sweep her off her hooves? To one day approach her castle and steal her away like the dragon he was? Only to have her fall in love because he tries to be nice? Please, even a baby dragon like himself could see the foolishness behind those ideas. Then again, they were made to sound foolish. 
He was the silly one. He knew nothing about her, yet he claimed it was love. Love? Really makes him sound like a pig since all he's seen is her looks. But that was it, he wanted to get to know her. He wanted to learn all about her and gift her all the right things that she's always wanted and subtly mentioned in one of their many conversation. 
He wanted to see and do the puzzle that was this mares personality, yet the pieces laid in her voice, her conversation. Something a dream, and she, obviously didn't have.
He wanted so much from an old mares tale.
Though, whose to say it isn't love and couldn't be love?
He could describe her for hours, describing her silky, cloud, milk-like coat. Her deep purple curls that gave her class and respect. Her blue eyes, oh those blue eyes! That's what he couldn't stop think about, no, that's a lie. He couldn't stop thinking about the personality that lied beneath the white silk, beneath that deep purple, beneath that bewitching. 
He saw a mare that wanted some company, a mare that'd gave everything and got nothing in return, a mare with a curse. A curse he so badly wanted to free her from, even if it meant giving her away to another stallion or to death itself. 
He sighed and stared at the entrance. 
'If you love it, set it free,' was the common phrase. But he didn't want to let go. He truly wanted to free her of her hell. A mare that caught his eye, a mare that caught his time, a mare that caught his voice and function, a mare that gave him purpose. That was a rarity. 
He smirked to himself. Rarity. That was her name. He would call her Rarity. 



When he woke the next morning in his own bed, he was sure it was a dream. Especially when he saw the notebook still open to that page. He smiled and shut it and climbed out of the dragon ridden cave. 
Once he looked around though, he was surprised to see the room so light. Then he shook his head and remembered he fell asleep earlier than when he usually does. He looked down at the little book kingdom. 
The smirk on his face and the way he kept his eyes on the kingdom, really told him he was a growing dragon. He steered his eyes awake and suppressed the urge to destroy his creation. Then he got interested and concluded a little discovery of what was what wouldn't be to bad. It wasn't like he was scavenging through the remains of his fire, or stealing whatever he pleased from the innocent. 
He opened a book house he knew well, the bakery. He pulled open the lid and revealed nothing. He rolled his eyes and ran back to his cave, only to run back and place a gem in place of the emptiness. He smiled and moved onto something else. 
The shopping mall just contained a spare bit that Twilight forced him to keep because it was a bit from before they redesigned it. 
The school building of four books built together held a set of comic books. Of course, Twilight knew about these and that he has many more stashed around the study, she had looked for them for weeks, then she gave up and he would walk past her every night with a defiant smirk. 
The dress maker just had a set of old fabrics from things Twilight either tore out of rage, or he burnt from a sneeze, or something he accidently torn while his claws were growing. 
He shook off the idea of growing, he just knew that meant pain. Pain from wings sprouting from his back and his whole body and mouth growing at rates that would for sure hurt. He didn't want to grow up, but at the same time he did. He wanted to be a dragon, yet he didn't want every pony he came to know in Canterlot to fear he would bust through the study door and roar and burn down the capital. 
Sometimes, he'd think the study would always be his home. And with Twilight dying in a year, he'd be on his own to deal with his dragon tendencies. That Doctor that fixed Twilight up could handle time and realties, but there was no way he could handle a dragon that would only want to bite his head off. 
The unknown study that they lived in would become the dragons den in Canterlot. Those dragons that hate ponies would see him as a god, able to petrify everything and anything in Equestria all because he lived there. When all he wanted was to be Spike. Just Spike. The purple and green dragon that follows the purple unicorn around. A few would know his name, only a few while every pony knew Twilight. Even when Twilight mentioned him in her book, he burned them and pinned it as a sneeze or tore them or throw them away when she wasn't looking. All because he didn't want to get to know ponies. He didn't want to see memories of ponies laughing while he stood over them and seeing their scared faces. 
He shook his head and rid himself of the thoughts -and the want to crawl around on all fours like he was a really big dragon that would take over Equestria. 
Besides. 
He didn't think ponies would trust him enough to blame it on the dragon and not him. He expected ponies to say that Spike is the dragon. Not that dragon isn't Spike. 
He sighed and wanted a gem to eat and drown in his thoughtless sorrows. As he picked up the bakery book lid, his heart stopped. 
Nothing. 
Nothing was there. 
He stared in confusion before looking to the inside of the book cover and seeing the words, 'Jeweler Store,' was written there. Then, he heart froze and stopped beating and his breath stopped. He looked inside the book fort and saw the dust outline a small line formed into a circle and at the bottom was a heart. 
The ruby necklace should've been there. It should've been, it was a dream, right? 
He smirked and rolled his eyes, of course it wasn't there. He slept walk and ate it, like the dragon he was. His dreams led him there and he simply ate what was there. Simple as that. 
Then why didn't he want to believe the truth?
> Some Wise Pony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Out in Canterlot, the princesses sun shown down on the cobble stone streets and the shingled rooftops. A casual pony flew by in a smock and one casually walked by in a new dress with a new necklace or earrings. 
Canterlot was divided up to poor and rich, of course laws were set in to correct this, but corruption and bribery let things slide. The princess fought against it for a while, and soon gave up as she was needed more and more in the Crystal Empire or in Saddle Arabia. Smock and apron wearers were poor, working day and night, cleaning chimneys, wiping windows, helping the baker or bartender. 
They worked to keep their families alive, fillies trusted at schools for much longer than they should've been. Mothers and fathers separated and came home to barely enough bits for the night after rent. Still, they were the ones that could eat at the dinner table and laugh about days. The families who could rustle their kids hair and smirk as they let the fillies stay up another hour. They were the families that could tell bed time stories and celebrate weekends. 
While jewel and fabric flaunters whose whole income came from trade fought and bickered. They'd yell and fight, throw items and act as if their filly didn't know what was happening. They were given everything, but money and popularity blinded their ability to love. Before they knew it, wives stole money and took the filly out from the husbands nose and left him with nothing. Something many smock wearers called evil, but then again, they knew it had to happen, so that filly didn't have to watch families fall apart. 
Of course, Celestia would have cared more if there was a serious poverty issue. To make up for her lack of order keeping and stopping corruption, she simply helped the fillies in need by building orphanages or making the council order food to those poor. Of course, if she didn't do something first hoof, it was corrupted. 
Twilight was neither a smock wearer or jewel flaunter. She was a pony, as was everyone else. If only everyone thought that way, Twilight would sigh. She simply wore a cloak to hide her metal shell, even if every pony in town knew what was underneath, she thought it was polite to hide it. 
As she walked through town, taking in the senery, a filly ran up to her with a smile and a book levitating in an aura of green magic. 
"Twilight!" The filly cried happily and ran up to hug the mare, the fillies parents following. "I can finally do magic, see!" She circled the book around her until she put her hoof to her temple in pain and dropped the book. 
She had a white coat with pink and purple hair, usually covered in swirls and curls. Her eyes sparkled with happiness and Twilight looked at her happy parents. Her father wore a red cloak and her mother wore a fancy dress. A truly happy family, Twilight thought. 
"How's Spike?" The filly asked happily and jumped. "Can I see him? It's been so loooong." 
Twilight only chuckled at the fillies innocence and pleas. "Sorry, Sweetie Belle. We've been pretty busy lately." She had a warm smile and couldn't help but -at times- see the filly as her own. Even if the thought only made Twilight sad and reminded her she'd never have a filly, it warmed her imaginary heart. 
The fillies eyes sparkled with excitement and glee that Twilight already knew what she was going to ask. A question that would push at her head and only when it was to late would she regret her decision. 
"You're doing myths again? Mom helps me read through most of it, since I don't know a lot of the big words you used. I still enjoy it though! I've learned so many words and," she whispered the rest to Twilight, "Just between you and me, I show off to the other fillies at school."
Twilight chuckled sadly and shook her head. "I've been studying electricity and physics, though I do dislike the former." 
"Will I learn that stuff? Seems boring," Sweetie Belle pouted and looked at her parents. They only nodded. Sweetie Belle jumped and turned to Twilight with a bright smile. "Can I go along with you today? My parents are going off to do boring things and we haven't talked in a while so we should catch up!" 
Twilight could almost see the wings fluttering on her back. Yet she only saw a spiky mane and determination in her eyes. She blinked and saw the curly haired, excited filly in front of her. 
"If it's okay with your parents, then sure," Twilight smiled and the filly jumped in the air with a bright smile. Her body encased in a green aura and she was floating, for only a second though. Her parents gasps and scared eyes stared up at the levitating child as she soon fell and clunked against Twilight's metal shell. 
"Emotion will lead your magic while your young, so be careful," Twilight smiled at her as the filly climbed off her back bashfully. Twilight could see the filly was scared she was in trouble. Twilight only smirked, "Though it is surprising to see a filly levitate, good job." 
Sweetie Belle smiled and jumped up, excitement back to her eyes. Though her parents only giggled and her mother turned to Twilight. 
"You sure know how to handle fillies, Twilight. Couldn't have been prouder myself," the mother only giggled. "Have you ever thought of adopting? A filly would be happy, especially with the labyrinth first floor Sweetie Belle has told us all about. Did you know she's determined to map out the whole thing?"
Twilights wings strapped to her back and her eyes widened a bit. She shook her head and smiled, ignoring her want to tell the mare her death date. She decided it would be best to not say it in front of Sweetie Belle, much less tell her for the next several months. 
"I think Spike would only get jealous," Twilight smiled and the giggles she earned only showed it had worked. 
"Well, we'll be on our way. We can meet at your study, but do what you need to do, we'll be out a while," the mare said and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Now, you be good. Behave, miss chaos," she smiled and trotted off with her husband who gave Sweetie Belle a tight hug. 
"So!" Sweetie Belle smiled and turned to Twilight. "Where ya going?" 
"Why are you so determined to hang out with me? You know I'm simply going to the library and a few stores, don't you have any fillies to talk to from school?" Twilight asked and continued her walk. She looked around and saw ponies walking on either side of the road as a carriage rode through the middle of the street. It was a shimmering black that sparkled in the sun, she saw her book from the small glimpse she got from the inside. 
Her stomach churned and her and Sweetie Belle crossed the street. 
"Oh ... I don't have any filly friends at school... Except Button Mash! He's cool, but he always hangs out with Thunderlane and Rumble, he never wants to spend any time with me," Sweetie Belle pouted and she notice she lagged behind and ran to catch up with Twilight. 
Twilight only chuckled and sighed, "He's just scared of you." 
"Why would he be scared of me? Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are much scarier than me!" Sweetie Belle tilted her head in confusion as she moved out of the way for a hat cart walking by, pushed by a grumpy old pony who glared rudely at her. She hated the streets. It was full of bustling ponies in bad attitudes. Just like Manehatten nowadays, Canterlot used to be nice and friendly -from what Twilight told her- now it was full of ponies from Manehatten who hated others with a passion simply because they didn't get their coffee or some pony cut in line. 
"Have you and him ever talked before?" Twilight asked, full of certainty that she was correct. She always felt like a mother or big sister around Sweetie Belle. 
Sweetie Belle nodded to the question. "All the time! But every time I offer to hang out after school he stutters something about playing a game with Rumble and jets off. He never does that to Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon, he must like one of them or something" 
Twilight only chuckled at the fillies assumption, enough to bring tears to her eyes. "Oh Sweetie Belle! It means he likes you! He's too nervous to talk to you outside of school, he's afraid he'll make a fool of himself. He has no interest in Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon so he's fine with it." 
Sweetie Belle pouted as a pony pushed into Twilight, who had simply ignored it. Her blood boiled but she shook it off. She looked around and saw she was near the bakers shop and the taverns lane -as all the school ponies call it. She smiled as the town started getting clearer and clearer, no carriages, no dress wearers. Just happy couples, fillies, and families. A man and woman sharing a chocolate milkshake. Three fillies playing ball, one was dark magenta with a magenta mane. A family eating at a restaurant and the filly and wife were laughing as the man silently ignored them, only to fall victim to their laughter.
She finally thought about what Twilight said as a bell tolled it was noon exact. "What? But Diamond Tiara's family is rich! So is Silver Spoons!" She looked around frantically, fearing she would run into the three colts who she didn't want to see. Rumble and Thunderlane lived around here, and their games constantly entered the town. Button Mash was a rich pony, that's why him and Diamond Tiara got along so well. "Why would he want a pony like me? His parents must've taught him not to go beneath his own standard, well... not too far at least." 
Twilight rolled her eyes. "What's the fun in a pony whose exactly like you? Or well, that thinks they're the rulers of the world because they are rich. Look at Button Mash and Diamond Tiara, what's the difference between the two?" 
Twilight noticed a poor pony. The pony looked up at her with pleading eyes. Once she saw it was Twilight she was looking at, she ducked her head down and looked away, waiting for her to leave. 
Twilight smiled and looked through her satchel, a sack of bits floated out and landed in front of the pony. The pony looked up at her with a surprised look and her mouth wide open. 
"If you ever need anything, you can come by the study. I have plenty of room," Twilight smiled down at the pony who shook her head. 
"I doubt your one for debts, but it just feels wrong to take so much. I got myself into this mess, I should get by with no ponies help," the ponies voice was rasp and sharp. Clearly from Manehatten. 
Their coat seemed dead and was unsaturated, it was clearly too short for her to survive out here with just it and nothing else. Her eyes seemed beaten and hurt, as if everything pinned against her at once and she had no choice but to live outside. The body was skinny and her ribs were clearly visible through the opening of the thin black cloak she wore. Her hair was tangled and strands stood un-brushed.
The sack of bits pushed back to Twilight. "I ain't takin' no twenty something bits from some pony like you. Get on." 
Twilight stood there and noticed the withering cloak around the mare. Something inside her told her to move on and let the pony be, that was her head. Telling her the logical thing to do. 
Twilight's pushing look softened and she smiled. Her cloak levitated off of her and around the pony, who had her eyes closed and her hooves crossed, looking away. She suddenly opened her eyes to the cozy, thick cloak around her. 
"I told ya I didn't want nothin'..." she trailed off at the look of the metal shell that looked almost black in the shadows of the overhang above them. 
"Whether you want it or not, your taking it. You won't survive winter without it with your thin fur," Twilight said, acting as if she wasn't even metal. Suddenly, the poor pony smiled. 
"So you got lifes hard end too, huh?" She smirked cheekily and hugged herself in the warm coat. Twilight could see her standing furs to the cold fall with warmth. 
"No," Twilight shook her head, much to the mares surprise. "I was given another chance, maybe you should keep these bits and take my offer as the start of your second chance. You can't build something from nothing." 
The mare only stared in shock as the purple metal pony walked off. Her stare turned to a warm cackle. "Your some wise pony Twilight Sparkle! Some wise pony." 



Twilight opened the doors to her book-ridden study, letting the cold air blow loose papers and letting the little filly dash through the maze. Twilight only stood in the foyer as Sweetie Belle went down the wrong path. 
Seconds later she heard a 'yay' of accomplishment, only to see the filly walk up to her. Her proud, defiant smirk turned to a disappointed, beaten one once she saw the smug Sparkle in the foyer. 
"I thought I had it!" Sweetie Belle cried and only then slouched. "I don't even have my map so I could map it out," she pouted and Twilight chuckled as she walked down the hallway right in front of them. "That one! ... that .... that makes sense... I was only testing to see if you knew it!" 
Sweetie Belle chased after Twilight to see her enter the big room that was the 'writing cabinet' room -again, courtesy to Spike. Sweetie Belle stared in wonder at the tall shelves above her and stared to feel dizzy and sick. She turned her attention to in front of her and saw the glorious cabinet... next to it lying a pile of used notebooks in a hideous, unorganized pile. The filly didn't believe Twilight could do a thing so messy and unorganized. 
The mare even had her book walls organized for crying out loud! Yes, the hallways were messy, but there was a overall organization and want to fill up space to them. This was just a way to save space and not care about the hard work. 
Sweetie Belle suppressed the urge to look through every one and see if they were worthy of such an arrangement. Then, her heart disagreed as logic stepped in. It didn't matter if she found them worthy, of course she would. She would find anything done by Twilight worthy of anything because she admired the alicorn. The problem was that Twilight didn't see the worth in every page she had wrote. Sweetie Belle remembered when she came in she'd see stacks of almost filled ones laid open on the wooden table. 
Now, they had one page filled and half the pages were torn out. 
What made these different than the others? Were these about the myths her mother had read with her night after night? No. Then she started getting a glimpse at the open pages. If electricity was at the top then the page had a lined fill and the book had only a few pages. If the page started with science or math it was half filled, but the book still only had a few pages. If the page started with physics then it was fully filled, still only a few pages per book. Then she saw one open to a page of a fluffy manned, bouncy mare. A drawing. 
She didn't now Twilight could draw.
Much less think of it. Then she saw a resemblance in her memories, because she had done the same thing. The mistress from the future, cotton candy, Madam Future. Anything, just whoever this mare was, she was down on paper, in one of the only books that had more than a few pages. It even looked as if only one or two had been pulled out. 
The page was covered in notes and arrows, Sweetie Belle saw true want to write and study this. The other subjects looked tiring, as if it took hours to get a simple page done, even if only one sentence was written.
Twilight noticed her staring and adverted it from her view, "If you want any of those, you're free to take them." Sweetie Belle turned in shock and saw Twilight leave the room and go down a distant hallway. 
Sweetie Belle sat in thought for a second, then she jumped up with the notebook with the drawings in her mouth. She ran down the hallway that led to the foyer, jumping over books and being careful not to slide on papers. She turned to the door and swallowed. 
She had been outside so much that she knew every street corner and avenue of Canter Lot. But she'd never been outside alone, and whenever she tried to guess where they were, her father corrected her a few times. She stared up at the big doors and looked down at the evening sun creeping through. 
Could she really expect to go outside alone? With the sun setting? She was out of her mind. But as her hooves slowly crept towards the door, she burst into a gallop and ran out, hearing the door quietly shut so Twilight wouldn't chase her. 
She cursed herself as she ran further and further. Twilight would surely get in trouble if her parents came by and she wasn't there. She would worry her dear friend and take up her time searching for her. But as Sweetie Belle galloped over a bridge and crossed a street, she started to focus more and more on her task. 
She turned and saw the streets not as busy, the air lightened, and no carriages ran through the streets. Happiness and laughter filled the air as families ate out with their extra bits, thinking of today and not tomorrow. 
Sweetie Belle ignored her feelings and ran into a pony. She looked up and saw a ragged mare with a dead coat, hurt eyes, but at least her mane was brushed. Sweetie Belles heart froze in place as she looked up at the cold stare that only made her want to run with fear. Yet, this was who she was looking for. 
The notebook she had been placed back into her lap and she looked up at the mare who smiled gently. 
"You were that filly with Twilight, right?" The mare asked and helped her up. "A bit late for just a filly ta be out, but oh well, more and more fillies think they run the world these days." She turned to walk away when Sweetie Belle tugged on her cloak that layered over the thin black one that had holes in it. 
"What'cha want kid?" She asked and her cold stare returned. Her smile was non-existent and Sweetie Belle just wanted to hear her life story, not about myths. 
"Oh! Um.... h-how did you know Twilights... um... name?" Sweetie Belle asked nervously and started following the mare once she nodded towards the corner she was in last time. She sat down and patted the ground next to her. Sweetie Belle sat down on the cold stone and suddenly felt even worse for the mare. Especially when a breeze ran through. 
"Doesn't everypony know Twilight Sparkle? So why ya asking me that?" The mare asked, no more motherly than harsh, but still motherly. The mare noticed the breeze and moved the cloak around Sweetie Belle and moved her closer. 
"B-because she's a recluse that sits in her study all the time!" Sweetie Belle said, snuggling into the warmth of the cloak and the mare. 
"She had her book, didn't she? Did you think I was poor before it came out and never read it?" The mare asked suspiciously. Sweetie Belle bit her lip and blushed with ignorance. She still nodded, she couldn't lie, not when she suspected this mare has heard harsher lies than she would ever hear. 
"Well you're right," the mare relaxed into the corner with a smirk towards Sweetie Belle's nervousness. She ruffled the fillies mane and laughed once it popped back in place. "I never read it, I've only heard others talk about it. Though, I always hear how it isn't for foals and blah blah. Well, let's just say I disagreed with a lot of the things I hear." 
The cold picked up and Sweetie Belle practically hugged the mare in cold. The mare wrapped her hoof around the filly and pulled the cloak farther over her. "I know a lotta old mares tales. I grew up hearing 'em, I told them to fillies, so I never liked the idea of ponies critizicing her book. Besides, I hate most of the ponies in this town any who." 
"B-but the ponies on this end of town are happy a-and nice!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, surprised any pony could hate this end of the town. Even as she said that she saw two fillies laugh with their parents. Who could not love the air in this town? Or the general easiness of it? Everypony was near the same level, all poorer than the other side of town. 
"This town's to happy. I see fillies and curse the world, I see mares and stallions exchange gifts for random days and want to rip out there throats. I get so jealous of 'em all, at least north in the bad part of town I got the worst end of the stick along with literally every other mare. But no ones nice there, so its either not be jealous or survive.
"So all I get to do I endure and endure 'cause without it... I ain't gonna make it. I still suffer, even on the best end of Canterlot," The mare looked up and the sun and growled, then turned to see a family laugh and hug. She turned away from everything and too Sweetie Belle. "What's in that book of yours?"
"Oh!" Sweetie Belle said, being snapped out of her trance. "I-it's Twilights, she said I could have it. I guess I wanted to see if you knew anything I didn't know about the old mares tales." 
The notebook was pulled out of her hooves and into their laps, one pony having one side of the book. The mare turned the cover open and turned to the next page since it was blank. It was a sloppy ink sketch of a unicorn with a wizards hat, a detailed cloak, and a long beard. At the top of the page the words, 'The sorcery,' was written.
"One of them pillars, ain't it?" The mare checked her memory and nodded once Sweetie Belle nodded and flipped the page. 
The page was a sloppy ink sketch of a pony with jagged, short hair, she had tinted glasses that hid her face and a smirk. Music notes beamed around her. That's when Sweetie Belle noticed the bat-like wings and the fluffy ears. And the fang that sat in precision as the rest was sloppy and messy, full of construction lines. 
"Vampire pony, says that can love. Never believed it, then again ... when are mares tales ever believable?" The mare asked and turned the page. 
"Don't you believe some of the though? Like the Madam Future one?" Sweetie Belle asked eagerly and with anticipation in her eyes. The mare smirked and nodded. 
"The future mare exists because her fortunes came true, meaning she had to exist to give em," The mare smiled and looked at the page. 
The sat in silence through the next few pages. The beauty, a tall unicorn that had radiant beauty and wore a long dress. The hope, a Egyptian-like pegasus that looked up with determination and a powerful smirk. The maiden of Discord was a page full of mares, though all were either earth pony or unicorn, they were all pretty basic. The truth teller, a unicorn with shoulder-length mane that was spiky, a cutie mark of a lyre sat on her flank as she played a harp, with a goddess like expression. 
"What other ones do you believe?" Sweetie Belle's voice pierced the silence that was just page turning. She noticed the mare next to her tense. 
"Not many of 'em, they're just made to scare fillies on Nightmare Night. Though I gotta feeling that fast one is real," she said, trying to keep her confidence. 
"What are you scared of?" Sweetie Belle looked up at the mare and saw the tears in her eyes. Her question hung in the air and they held the others stare until the mare stood up and stared walking off. 
Her dark purple mane sparkled in the sun and her deep orange coat finally got some life to it. Before she got to far away, she turned back to Sweetie Belle and said. "I know that fast one is real, wanna know how I know?" A small smirk cut through her tears. Sweetie Belle nodded. 
"I met her, I was her best friend. Until they whisked me away, she lives in the Everfree, I hear. I saw every bit of her in my little filly," the mare bowed her head and let her tears fall. The word saw finally cut into Sweetie Belle and she slowly walked towards the mare. Before she got her mouth open she heard her name being called and turned to see her parents and Twilight. 
Once she turned back. The homeless mare was gone.



Once Sweetie Belle was back home safe, Twilight trudged home, fatigue taking hold of her body. She walked through the labyrinth as her hooves wanted to buckled underneath her. It took so much willpower to simply raise them over a book or to avoid slipping on a loose piece of paper. 
As she walked down the corridor that the bookshelves made on the towers, she noticed a green and purple catch her eye in the in-betweens. She took a few steps back and turned to see Spike curled up to himself. She stared in confusion once she realized he was sleeping -peacefully at that- in the creepiest in-between. Twilight was too tired to think so she walked down the corridor and picked him up.
Though, as she left, she felt something weigh Spike down on her back and he suddenly got lighter. As if someone was holding on and didn't want to let go.
> See Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the depths of the book ridden cavern that Twilight called her home, that she also called a study, lied something ... new. A pony thinking, a purple one. Yet she didn't think of physics or electricity circuits like she was supposed to be thinking of. No, she was thinking of something new. She thought of her childhood. 
Not something this reader did often. She usually just turned a blind eye to her old past a bury it deep below. Math told her fine answers, words told her fine meanings, and physics told her fine laws of the world. But memories, those told her mismatches and 'I think's. But for some reason, she found herself lost in them. 
She sat in an unfinished corridor, taking the free day to actually finish it. As she got distracted by a theory on the Madam Future -as she was usually referred to-, she got lost in her thoughts as a child.
The corridor was thinner than the others, as it was one of the later added ones, but it wasn't open or roomy. It was small and anything but cozy. It was eerie. Whichever way you looked lied endless books, when you looked up you saw the open ceiling until you got to the top of the study itself, which only made many sick. Endless wherever you looked. It reminded her a lot of her childhood. 
She sighed. Her child hood wasn't traumatizing, though, it led to one of the main reasons why she was hated now. 
It led to the pink mare who told her fortune. Just a few weeks before she started her research over myths -which she had no interest in at the time- her fortune came true. 
The pink mare was wild and invasive. She asked personal questions and gave you a prediction that had nothing to do with them. She was loud and instead of a bell that rang when the door opened, it was just a series of pots and pans banging against each other. She always peered over the table until her nose touched yours. She always crouched over to give her crystal ball a creepy feel, then revealed later that the crystal ball didn't work. 
She had a wild pink mane, and bright blue eyes. Every pony could see she wasn't meant to type on a typewriter, she was meant for something more, something more fun. And typing on a typewriter all day was not fun, you could ask Twilight herself. 
She definitely wasn't a pony who could sit still, ruling out any jobs that resembled anything close to monitoring steam usage. She definitely couldn't wait around, so that ruled out baking, even if she claimed to enjoy it. She definitely couldn't examine and nitpick small details about something, no jeweler. 
She didn't and couldn't fit any job that was in nearby Canterlot! The best she could do was a performer and even that had strict rules and patters. Yet, she could see the mare enjoying the risk and wonder, would I get enough bits for tonight? 
So of course, the mare opened up a fortune tellers shop. Welcome to all, betting drunkards, passer byers, little fillies and push over parents. All walked in daily, giving the mare her fee and her fun she needed, seeing into a new ponies life every second probably excited her. Asking those invasive questions to get proud lies she saw through, or queasy truths. Twilight could imagine how much excitement the mare got from it. She soon came to say she knew every pony, even saying she witnesses a ponies fore coming in her dreams. Yet she only said it to a few, does that mean ponies took her seriously? No. 
Twilight couldn't remember her name, or much about her abode. Or what she wore even. She simply remembered her own fortune and her looks. So, Twilight always called her cotton candy. That was her first name before her fortunes came true, then she became the Madam Future.
Her fortune however, was that in her time of desperate need, a doctor would come up asking a suggestion -how you asked a suggestion, she had no idea. She said, "Take him up on the offer, then maybe I'll see you do magic." 
Then she was dragged away, leaving the girls parents angry and the filly confused.
Twilight could only imagine the scene. 
The bustling pots and pans as she entered, the pink mare leering over the counter with a fluffy hot pink mane. She leered over a crystal ball, and after a few hair twitches or blinks or hoof raises, she'd nod and mutter a 'uuuuuh-huuuh'. She was pulled away from her attention once Twilight's mother had clearer her throat. 
"Oh! Sorry!" The mare pushed the crystal ball off the table, Twilight surrounded it in a magenta aura before it crashed to the floor. The pink mare only smirked. "My dreams told me you were powerful, purple one. What's your name? Nevermind, I will be told it soon enough, when the time is right. Gotta let some things happen when needed, ya know? Hopefully I still remember you by then!" 
Her mother sneered and rolled her eyes -she thought all this was bogus since only unicorns could get close to what she claimed was 'magic'. "The fortune?"
"Oh yes! Though, I'm gonna need you two to step outside. I need this little one alone for it to work, she's a doozy!" The pink mare bounced out of her seat and pushed the adults outside. They simply rolled their eyes and agreed. The mare pushed a chair underneath Twilight, forcing her to fall on it and watch the pink one do her 'magic'. 
Twilight could almost feel as if she was there, but with a metal shell on her back and big purple eyes, pleading for guidance. That's when her memory faltered and she couldn't remember the rest. 
"I'll tell you, Twilight. I never thought I'd see you again," the mare rustled around in a chest. The chest was painted to look as if a purple cloth with gold, string-like ends was draped over it. She threw out a ladder, an iron, an anvil, a flower pot with a blooming tulip, and a neat pen before she pulled out a crystal ball with its base painted light purple. A shell of dark gray sat over one side of the crystal ball. 
Twilight looked for the ladder and anvil, her mind getting the best of her, though she never found it, even in the hazy memory. She turned back to the pink mare who had enchanting blue eyes and an infectious smile.
Her face suddenly turned serious and cold, she turned the gray side to Twilight and the lights dimmed, a light blue fog poured into the room as a light only illuminated their faces and the table. The mare swirled her hooves around the ball, hearing hummings and buzzing to silence and muffled sobs. The noises from the days before itched at her heart canister as she heard them. Finally it stopped on silence and the hoof swirling stopped. The mares eyes flicked to Twilight and sat in stone, then she heard her fortune. Though, this time it was completely new and something she had never heard from the mares voice. 
"Twilight, my dear friend," her expression turned to one of sympathy. "Save yourself and give up already," she said coldly and Twilight stared at her, mouth open in shock. "That... that is what they told me as a filly when they declared I was cursed. T-Twilight-" she stammered nervously, tears escaping her eyes. "I can't save myself, it's to late for that ... can you please ... do it for me?" 
The image and whole scene dissipated into the nothingness that was unfinished corridor.
Around two and a half years ago, her body was dying to a disease science hadn't named. A doctor -a mysterious one at that- offered her something. She didn't even hear the offer, she just agreed. Later she woke up with a metal shell on her back and a happy dragon. That was her fortune. Not whatever she just heard out of her lonely desperation. 
Even if it only gave her a few years, she was still grateful for it. A few years and she was allowed to live the happiest years of her life. Even if the metal on her back and metal inside her made her sick, she ignored it and fell in love with what she learned. 
One year left. 
Make it count. 
She sighed and got up, shaking off the memories of the loud, annoying piece of cotton candy. But when she turned the corner and heard a giggle, she turned in all directions to see who was there, spying on her. 
"Who's there?" Twilight asked, her eyes darting everywhere. After about two minutes of doing that, she shook it off as nothing and went back to turn another corner, only to see a fluffy piece of hot pink disappear around another corner. She chased around the corner and to a dead end, nothing in sight. She shook her head and decided she either needed sleep or her battery was malfunctioning. 
Once she turned back around she saw a book laid out in front of her, it wasn't there before, she would've tripped on it if it was. She swallowed and looked to the page it was open to. 
It was a picture of bent, weak trees that were jagged at all turns. They stretched up to the summer sky, but with no leaves. In the sky were dark clouds that loomed over it, casting a huge shadow over the already dark woods. Inside thicker trees that had creepy, menacing shaped that resembled faces came yellow eyes staring back at her. She shivered as she looked deeper in the picture and saw more eyes from bushes, she could faintly see a pony and she grabbed a book and seal it shut from fear. 
She left the book and ran down another long corridor of books and boxes. On the verge of tears, she ran into the safety that was the big room with her writing cabinet. She ran over to the window and sat in the safety that was the sunlight. 
The wall she sat against was commonly referred to as 'the back wall'. While the book-box wall that held the door was the north wall, making hers the south. On the east wall were bookshelves that wrapped half way down the south wall. The west and north walls were made of books and boxes. The south wall was special. It was book and just blunt wall, a rarity in the study. It held a window, and next to that window was her writing cabinet, and on the other side, in the corner, was an end table that had a beat up, used pen and ink holder on it next to a lamp. The ceiling didn't exist, so when you looked up you only saw the towering bookshelves that covered the walls. It usually made ponies either fall backwards, or make them sick. 
In the middle of all of this was the wooden table. That was currently under a pile of books, the legs wobbling under the struggle. She rolled her eyes and covered the books in the same magenta aura that covered her horn. As half of the books got on the shelf, her back of metal beeped and her magic failed, dropping books to the ground with a thud. 
"Spike will get it up later," she mumbled, then took a look at all the books that sat at the base of the shelves. She snorted and turned back to the window with a smile. Good luck with that, she thought as her body froze. 
She turned back to her precious table and saw one book still open. As she slowly approached it, it seemed only her and the book existed. As everything fled out of existence, her heart fell at the page the book was open to. 
A horrifying picture of the creepy woods. Where yellow eyes stared back at her, where trees resembled faces and other were sick, weak sticks. Where the grass was dead and the trail seemed long and endless. Where you could faintly see a pony in the background. 
She shook her head and closed the book with a smile. She had found copies of books all the time. Just a coincidence. 
That solid logic started faltering into a complete lie as she saw the same book opened to the same page five more times before she got to the towers floor. She raced up the stairs, past all the creepy in-betweens and completely flew by the towers in one fell swoop. Once she got up to the kingdom and didn't see Spike in his little cave she worried. 
"S-Spike!" She yelled and didn't get an answer, which gave her two options. Either he fell asleep somewhere -highly plausible actually-, or he wasn't here at all. She panicked and looked underneath each of the lids of each book house, even if he couldn't fit. 
Smaller books, cloths, a cupcake pendant, a bit, a set of inks, and multiple empty book houses before she was finished. She swallowed as she traveled down the stairs and had to look in the in-betweens. She was actually starting to believe Spike on his crazy ghost-witch coven idea he had as she looked down every in-between. 
She saw cobwebs, towers of dust, darkness, and emptiness before she found the darkest one. As she looked down them, with her mind running the way it was, she could almost see a creature form itself at the end of the in-betweens. It had poofy, curly hair, and a bright smile. As she dashed by it, it seemed to repeat like a flipbook animation, waving at her. Though more ghost-like or animation like. As if sloppily drawn in ink, begging to exist in some form. That's when she let out a nervous whimper and looked down one creepy in-between and didn't see a creepy, smiling thing. 
She saw a sleeping dragon, sucking on his thumb. Purple scales blending into the darkness and green scales shining bright. She wanted to hug him and not be alone, but he was asleep, could she really be that mean? She was fixing to turn away when she heard a snicker. She ran over to Spike and shook him away with such speed that it was done faster than you could even say done. 	
"SPIKE!" She yelled and he jumped away with a scream. 
"Ah! What!?" He asked in a worried tone that showed he didn't care about his sleep... wait for it. "I was asleep, a pretty nice dream too." 
"I-I think you're right, this place is haunted!" Twilight screamed and hugged him tightly, he was fixing to make fun of her, but once he felt that she was trembling, he simply disregarded it. Then took her idea into effect, Twilight rarely made rash findings, so something weird was happening, and she needed him to help her decipher it and come up with a reasonable explanation. 
"What do you mean?" He pulled away from her, only for her to grab him again and dash up to the kingdom. She sighed in relief once she was at the top of the stairs. "Why up here?"
"I was seeing some weird things on the bottom two floors so I only assumed this floor didn't have ghost witches," Twilight said nervously. She couldn't hear what she was saying, otherwise she would've debunked all she was saying with a simple, 'ghosts don't exist, Spike'. 
Then, he remembered his strange encounters with Rarity and kept his mouth shut. She was kind of ghost-like, wasn't she? Now he was getting scared. 
"W-what were you seeing?" Spike said nervously, letting her fear consume him. She turned to check every corner, thankful for the kingdoms lack of tall walls or corridors. "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation." 
"There's nothing reasonable!" She yelled nervously and tapped her hooves to the ground in her own state of nervousness. "Seeing and hearing strange things is one thing and could be cast of as lack of sleep or malfunction," she explained, pacing now and already making an indent in the floor. "But seeing the same book, open to the same page, in my plain view of sight seven times isn't!" 
The floor was now to her knees and she was at the top of one of the bookshelves on the towers. 
"A-and seeing her in for a straight line of images isn't just my head, there are definitely ghosts here! And it doesn't help that it can read minds!"
Spike started thinking of her words and let his fear set in. "W-w-what? That's impossible! Like some pony's pulling a trick on you, b-but I was asleep the whole time." 
Being reminded of his sleep, she was about to question his sleeping spot as he deemed it the creepiest in-between before her mind ran to the answers many mythological studying ponies like her would believe and have. Her eyes sparkled and she started grabbing and looking through books on the shelves until she found the one she needed. It was a big, white one with an image of a dragon breathing fire on it. She flipped open the book to page fifty eight. 
She showed him the page and he skimmed over it quickly. "The mistress of the future?" Spike asked as Twilight pulled the book to herself for her to examine. 
"A pony whose playing a trick, knows exactly where I'm going to look, sounds like her! She was crazy and wild, so no wonder she'd have fun playing a harmless trick, and she's psychic! It makes sense! Plus, I was thinking about my time with her and my fortune before she showed up!" Twilight explained happily, though she saw not even Spike was buying it. She wasn't buying it much herself. She dropped the book with a sigh. 
"I mean, one she's a myth," Spike started. "And two, she's psychic, not a teleporting ghost. Besides, ghosts have a lot more sense and have a lot more proof over a mare you simply 'thought about'. 
Twilight sighed. "You're right, just because I'm scared doesn't mean I can forget reason," though she knew she saw hot pink. She knew it, and ghosts didn't have color. Plus, she made things appear out of thin air! Ghosts probably had some secret method to do that. She didn't touch half of the books either. Yeah, Spike was right. It was just harmless ghosts that she would debunk as nonexistent in a couple of days. 
And that's what she did. After nothing happened for the couple of days after holing up in her cave with Spike getting her every need, she said she was just being silly and that she should think smarter about things. 
Though, she did pick up the book that scared her. She flipped through the pages and read up about the Everfree Forest, as it was called.
It said it worked differently then the rest of Equestria. Everything grew jagged and unnatural, no matter what ponies did. After a while, the forest even pushed ponies away. Now, all that's welcome there are the darkest and scariest creatures like cockatrices and manticores. 
It said that plants grew on their own, animals took care of themselves, and clouds moved without pony intervention. Of course, many would find this unnatural, but if any pony was smart, they would know that time didn't start where ponies took care of animals, they didn't grow plants, and clouds didn't depend on ponies. Meaning that the only scary thing about the Everfree forest were its inhabitants, not the forests 'unnatural' ways. And how it pushed ponies out, it seemed more enchanted than 'unnatural'. 
But then again, if a simple siren or Pegasus who flew fast was scary and unnatural, then it would be expected of ponies to think the Everfree was. 
Twilight rolled her eyes at the book and cast it aside, there was no point in a place that held dangerous creatures anyways. If it was a threat, then maybe it'd have a point, or if it contained unknown creatures. The Everfree clearly wasn't impossible to live in if each creature inside it was known. Twilight cursed herself for even taking interest in it. Only a foal would find the Everfree scary. 



After Twilight lazily flipped the pages of a book over electricity she groaned and slammed her head on the desk, alerting Spike who was dusting a shelf off. 
"Bored?" He asked numbly. He didn't even have to ask what was wrong, the second he saw the title of the book, he knew she wouldn't make it past the first chapter. "Why do you hate electricity anyways?"
Twilight groaned and pushed the book away from her, trying to fight the urge to go outside and enjoy the sunny day. She rolled her eyes at that want. The only point in going outside was air and she didn't need that, so why did she want to go? "Because it's basic and then complex, as everything is. Theories and hypothesis make everything so much more difficult and since my understanding of electricity is so small I have to learn the basics but they're so painfully easy!" Twilight slammed her head on the table as she finally breathed. 
Spike got an idea and jumped down from the ladder he was on. He pushed it over to another bookshelf and climbed it, he grabbed a book a jumped down. He smiled as he ran over to Twilight and slammed the book down in front of her. 
She lazily looked up, her interest getting the best of her. Once she saw the cover, she felt sick and pushed it away, acting like she wasn't interested. 
"Spike," she said and sat up, know eyeing the book and finally seeing that it really was. "I told you, I'm not going to do myths anymore! I have to do something with my year! And making another ten notebooks to compile into a text book is not something I want to do." 
It was true, she didn't want her life to be a telescope and a few books that discovered nothing. She didn't like making the book anyways, she just did because Celestia pushed her to. She looked at the book Spike put down in front of her and sighed. She used her magic to put it back on the shelf. 
"I don't want to do something pointless with my year," she whispered in the dark room. 
"It isn't pointless if it makes you happy!" Spike snapped, Twilight turned and he growled at her. She could see the anger and fire in his eyes. Really a dragon. "Who cares if you don't discover something? Your life is yours, not theirs! Who cares if you make something for the future that no one cares about because it gets so renovated that you don't even exist? At least if you studied what you enjoy, your life is worth something." 
He growled, his claws bit into a book he was meant to place back. Twilight saw his claws dig through the cover and pages, she saw that his teeth were much sharper than they were last week. 
"Your life would be worth something to you," he growled and stormed off. Twilight sat in silence, thinking of how he would survive without her. 
Surely making him mad wouldn't help, Twilight thought as she looked up at the book he had offered her. He seemed so determined and confident she would try to read it and give up electricity. Just for her to ruin it and start a fight. And Twilight and Spike never fought, they were both smart enough to avoid it and find common ground and make compromises. Even if Spike adored his own interests more than anything, he was still a smart dragon. Well, when it came to common sense, at least. 
Spike was her dragon, her assistant, and most of all, her best friend. He loved comic books and gems, he loved helping her and she loved everything he did for her. But the one thing he tried to do that he actually really cared about, she took it away. 
Your life would be worth something to you.
She tried to fight it. And she won. No, she wouldn't study something for her. She was the princesses student for a reason, she couldn't go and do what she wanted. She got an easy life, she didn't need to squander it with her foolish ideas. She raised and pulled the book over electricity back to her. 
She got through the first five chapters before going to bed, she didn't hear from Spike for the rest of the evening. 



Spike growled and stirred in his sleep. He couldn't sleep, not after how mean he was to Twilight. 
Every day she got closer and closer to deaths door and he couldn't care to be the least bit sympathetic? All he did was growl and make her feel guilty. Even if she didn't succumb to it. Even if he trusted what he said was the truth, he didn't need to tell her that way. He really didn't. 
He sat up and stared at the book caves entrance once he heard hoof steps. He climbed out and saw a glimpse of purple at the doorway, traveling down to the towers. A smile made its way on his face as he jumped and dodged his kingdom, chasing after her. 
"Twilight! Wait up!" Spike yelled as he jumped down the steps, still only seeing a glimpse of purple walk down to the labyrinth. "Twilight!" 
He ran past the book shelves, barely caring to turn and look into each of them. He saw white out of the corner of his eye and ignored it, he always saw something that wasn't there once he ran down the towers halls. He turned the corner and saw bright blue eyes stare at him from the bottom of the steps. 
His heart froze and he stared at her, again, too scared to speak. Even if her eyes told him he could, he still didn't. He saw his reflection in the ruby around her neck. Once she noticed him looking at it she only giggled, still inaudible. 
Blush covered his face, "W-what's so funny?" He asked and she just stared at him. She didn't disappear, but she let the question hang in the air and let silence flood the situation. Again, she looked back and forth, this time, less panicked.
"W-w-what are you looking for? I can help," he offered and tried to take a step forward. She only took a step back and vigorously shook her head. He stared in confusion, but obeyed her orders. 
They stood in the silence for a while, he finally got tired and sat down, she did the same and smiled. 
"Do you like the silence?" He asked and she shook her head.
The words 'I hate it' appeared in blue mist in front of her. Clearly her magic, as her horn was illuminated in the same color. He, again, stared in confusion at this strange mare. 
"Then why are you here?" He asked, desperation flooding his voice as he wanted an answer. She seemed caught off-guard and pointed at him. Red just flooded his cheeks. She held a small smile at his reaction.
"W-why? You could have any stallion you wanted," he crossed his arms and looked away, trying to act like it didn't make him extremely happy. 
She thought for a second and then shook her head. The sentences, 'I couldn't. They would be enchanted, besides, you make me feel like I'm not alone,' formed in the air in light blue mist. 
"Probably a dragon thing," he actually believed it, but at the same time he didn't. If a dragon wanted something, they got it. So surely if a dragon wanted free of her enchanting, he could just say so and he'd be free. Though he didn't want to believe that she only saw him because he was a dragon. She shook her head, debunking his suspicions of dragons.
Her eyes looked up at him and they were so pleading and big. She wanted something and yet, she didn't do anything to show him what. He only smiled. 
"What is it?" He asked happily and she shook her head and started crying again. His heart plummeted at the sight. He shot to his feet and raced down to her. The second he stood in front of her, she started fading away. "Y-you're okay," he said happily as his claws cupped her face. She nodded and smiled, leaning into his hand as she disappeared. 
He only sighed and trekked back to his cave. It seemed like all he did was make her cry. As he saw the kingdom, remembered the event with Twilight, and remembered her crying face, he only growled and cursed the dragon he was. He didn't want to be this. He didn't want to hurt anyone. 
Especially not her.



The next days for Twilight weren't easy. Spike slept so often, avoided her, and was awake so little, that she never saw him. One of those days she sat in her circular room, staring up at the ceiling as the battery box beeped non-stop. Her eyes just weighed down further and further, the humming and beeping drowned out and she realized she was finally dying. 
For some reason, a smile appeared on her face. All the stress and hatred would fade away if she gave up. But, she just couldn't bring herself to move. 
As she fell asleep a pink hoof pushed her onto her stomach, and plugged her in. Blue, piercing eyes stared at the sleeping alicorn and they softened. 
"I can't wait to see you, I'll be all like," the mare gasped and just giggled weakly. Suddenly, tears sprung to her eyes and she collapsed to Twilight. "Don't die before you get to us. Please, Twilight." The mare nuzzled into Twilight's neck, feeling the cold breeze from the vent. She rolled over onto her back and looked at the endless ceiling, the humming sending her to sleep as well.
The mare laughed weakly, "Then I would never get to see you do magic."
> Harmony Between One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only after another eight visions of the darling Rarity, did Spike finally find himself assisting Twilight again. He'd see in her in the strangest of places, and just after he saw her, he'd fall asleep in his own dream. Then, hours later, he'd wake up. He began to hate the pattern and decided that if he was with Twilight, then he wouldn't fall asleep so often. If he was assisting her, he would never see her again, and he'd go back to himself: The lonely dragon that simply found girls pretty when they walked by. His obsessions would stop and he'd be normal again. 
Yet, he knew that couldn't be true. 
As he dusted off a shelf with tired eyes, that's when he concluded he enjoyed the random acts of sleep way to much. Sure, he was one for naps, but not when they gave him three hours of the day. No matter his intentions to forget Rarity, she didn't leave. It wasn't her fault, it wasn't her magic. 
It was simply the dragon that liked her, he liked her enough to where his mind took over his heart and dragged the silk unicorn into his obsessions. Which only meant one thing:
He'd never forget her. 
He'd seen her everywhere, random books he flipped through, the reflection in his gems, the back of his eyelids. Of course, it only made him even more irritable than before. He believed that when dragons wanted something, they got it. But yet, he couldn't get rid of this mare. 
So, as he cleaned books with tired eyes, he flipped one open and decided to try and get her off his mind by indulging in something else. Too bad for him, was that the book was just a big old theory and hypothesis over another myth mare.
Twilight ultimately refused to keep books she didn't agree with, so it was a surprise she kept the one Spike read. As he skimmed over the words -being to tired to read it- his mind ran with what Twilight would say. 
"The fastest stallion alive would be strong and his wings would be huge to atone for his weight," the text said. Spike rolled his eyes, Twilight said mares had better body structures and she had imagined in a frailer pony with big wings. 
"His eyes would be a dull green or gray, and they would creep around in the dark," the text read. Twilight would say any myth had a piercing color to their eyes, the mares was a red if Spike remembered correctly. And if he was a myth that would be bold and confident, then why creep around in the dark? Why not show off? 
Even Spike became fed up with the books idiocy, at least Twilight applied actual logic and character to the myths. And she hated ponies! Well, hates a strong word, she just liked being alone with her assistant. 
He was about to burn it for them both when he felt something on his shoulder. 
He looked over and saw a small fairy-like pony. She had a light blue coat with rainbow colored hair, stabbing pink-red eyes and a proud smirk. She wore a red and black dress with red devil horns on her head. Her eyes narrowed on the dragon. 
Before he could speak -being used to Rarity not talking- she put her hoof up and he closed his mouth. 
"Sooo," she said with a sharp, masculine voice that even caught Spike off-guard. He was used to feminine girls, so seeing this one act so male-like surprised him. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Oh come on! Your 'best friend' is just as masculine as me! Never seen the girl wear a dress once." 
Saying as she was wearing a dress, it seemed that Twilight was more masculine than this pegasus whose wings stuck to her back. Soon, a cheeky smirk pulled on her face. Her eyes flickered with fire. 
"Your a dragon, right?" She asked. He simply nodded, not questioning her. She only laughed at him. "Jeez! Some dragon! Don't even have wings!" She cackled and Spike brushed her off his shoulder. 
"Dragon live for hundreds of years, really expect something as young as me to have wings?" He growled at her and she only chuckled as she flew up and sat on his shoulder again. 
"Just kidding, wanted to see ya growl if I'm being honest." She smiled and he resisted the urge to push her off again. 
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" He asked as she flew in front of his face, a smirk still plastered on his face. Her wings weren't big and gracious as Twilight -or anypony- predicted, they were simply the size of every other ponies wings.
"Fastest mare alive! Would tell ya my name, but you don't need it. And I'm here to push you to your destiny! Fairy godmother and all!" She bowed and looked up at him to see he wasn't buying whatever she was going on about. She rolled her eyes and smiled. She mumbled, "at least you're smart."
"What are you really here for?" He growled, getting fed up with illusions and dreams and mares. He already knew he was asleep at the bottom of this ladder already. 
She put her hooves up in defense, "Whoa there! Slow your horses! No need to go off and eat me." He just stared at her with slight fear in his eyes. She only howled with laughter. 
"I-I'm not going to eat ponies ever, I'm a dragon but that doesn't mean I'm a monster," he said and crossed his arms, trying to ignore her laughter. 
"C'mon, that's like, dragon code or something. Be the most vicious thing you can be! Hundreds of years and you're gonna sit by and eat gems? With how big you're gonna get? Please, now that's foalish." She said with a sly smirk and crossed her hooves like him. "I mean, dragons are awesome! Why give it up for a little few ponies?" Her eyes narrowed darkly. 
"They've never done anything for you," she said sharply, only scaring him into silence to pay attention to her. Sadly, he couldn't help but say she had caught his interest. "They've called you 'cute' and 'adorable'. When you're supposed to be a big dragon!" 
She threw her hoofs up and stood on her hind legs in the air, seeming like she was wreaking havoc. "We're the same, you and I. Thought as something lower than we are, thought as 'cute' and 'adorable', when we're stronger than the rest!" 
Something inside him was telling him to agree. He was always called cute by any pony he came across, when he wasn't cute, was he? Or, at least, he wouldn't be cute for much longer. His teeth and claws were getting sharper by the day, his eyes became more and more reptilian, he was more and more angry with everything. Now, he was smirking in agreement. 
Something appeared on his shoulder and bucked his neck. 
"Ow!" He yelped and his claw flew to his neck, he turned to see a duplicate of the mare in front of him, only she wore a white dress and a yellow halo. 
"Don't listen to her!" The angel cried before the devil scowled at her and she kept silent.
"C'mon Spike! Raise above the rest like the dragon you are! Destroy and control Equestria!" The mare flew up to his ear and whispered, "then you can have your Rarity." 
As she flew off and next to the cowering angel his eyes widened in fear. Finally, he growled at the demon. 
"If you think I would want to do that to Rarity then you're crazy," he growled. "She doesn't deserve to be taken and fearful of anything." 
The demon stared in bewilderment and the angel next to her smiled. 
"Look, Spike, as you see, I am my own downfall. So, I must ask something of you," the angel said as she finally got her turn. Spike only rolled his eyes. 
"If it's to destroy you or something then no deal, I'm not a deadly dragon," he turned away. 
"No," the angel shook her head and smiled at him. "You've proven yourself worthy of a lot of things. But the thing I ask is for me, as selfish as it is, I need your help." 
She caught Spike's interest, "what is it?" He asked, wanting to get back to work after he woke up from the awful dream. It was a dream, what could it hurt to hear the silly pegasus-fairy out?
"Like I said, I am my own downfall. I need you and Twilight to free my from my curse," her pink-red eyes looked up at him and he could tell she was serious. This once strong and persuasive mare that made it look like she needed no one, was now admitting to something she couldn't do on her own. 
"Dude, I need your help. Get Twilight to the Everfree, I promise It'll be worth your while, though if you want to prove you aren't a dragon, you would go without my payment," she said and her demon counterpart just cackled. 
"Really? Gonna bribe him into the woods with that unicorn he likes? Please! She would never like a dragon like him, she's a scaredy cat, besides," the demon cackled. Her voice was a higher pitch and she batted her eyelids with an innocent look to her eyes, "I need a strong stallion prince who will protect me from the dragon!" 
She turned to the two and just chuckled, attempting to get the words out. "She doesn't need the dragon!"
"Rarity exists?" He asked the angel who only cowered slightly, the demon laughed harder. She finally sighed. 
"Yes, Spike. She's in the Everfree, I know you would go based on just that, but we need Twilight and you. And I didn't want to totally bribe you like that. But yeah, she's in the Everfree along with me.... how'd you know her name?" The angel asked and Spike was to lost on the idea. 
One thing, he had no idea what the Everfree was. Then, he remembered it being the deepest, darkest part of Equestria. Just like how the towers in-between sat beneath Canterlot, holding the darkest parts. 
He finally understood why she ran there, he finally understood that he needed to see her. But as he looked back at the now arguing angel and demon who claimed to be the other, he noticed his mind was just desperate. He swatted them away and growled at himself for believing something as foalish as that. 
"Hey! He's getting away!" The angel cried and tried to fly off after him, when something pulled on her dress and she turned to see the demon with a serious face. "What are you doing?! You want us to suffer!?"
The demon shook her head and finally let got of the angel once Spike walked out of the room with a stack of books. "What I want is a price paid, not an early payment," she said numbly and watched the sun outside. A weak smile sat on her face. "Isn't that what we want? Nothing else to hurt?" 
The demon turned to the angel who was staring at the sun. She extended her hoof to her counterpart. "We got ourselves, we don't need Twilight. We can see the sun without her! We can pay our debt!" Now her voice was desperate.
The angel eyed her hoof and almost took it before she turned away. "We don't deserve to be unhappy! We're smarter than this!" She cried. The demons expression softened and her eyes narrowed like daggers. 
"Well, it really is too bad that despair seems to tear apart love and hope, isn't it? Don't you see! We have no harmony left, we tore ourself apart. Don't you want to be the same again? Try our way at harmony?" 
The angel looked at her and turned away once again, tears streaming down her face. "You can't fit together puzzle pieces that don't fit." 
The demon growled and pounced the angel, she disappeared. 
Yet she didn't. The angel screamed as the demon who pounced on her was disappearing into her chest, as if it was a portal to someplace else. The angel cried as her dress turned half black and red, the other half was pure white. Her eyes were split, one was narrowed and the other was pleading. Soon, the dress flooded into black and red, her eyes narrowed and she smirked defiantly as the angel cowered inside the heart of disharmony. 
"Lovely," she growled and chased after Spike. Once she found him, he was asleep underneath the window in the writing cabinet room. A pile of books beside him as the sun missed his body entirely. "Just like me," the demon said and chuckled evilly. "Only... still adorable." 
She flew out the window, bashing it open and breaking the dragon underneath it out of his entranced sleep. He ignored it and shut the window, seeing the whole situation as a dream.



Twilight was suddenly proud as she finished a whole book on electricity. She smiled as she finally understood the painful basics that she could've just guessed on her own. She rolled her eyes and was determined to finally make a hypothesis or a theory over it in an empty notebook. 
A notebook levitated onto the table in front of her, along with a pen and a ink holder full of ink. She smiled as she dipped the pen in ink and placed it over the empty, clean page. She stared down at the paper, about to finally do something with her life, she was about to create a theory and put it to use to further her education. But as the pen dripped ink onto the page. 
Her mind went blank. 
She slammed her head down on the table and groaned, worried to catch Spike's attention. Too bad for her, her best friend was busy cleaning dust from the shelves he had ignored in his sleeping frenzy. Twilight blamed it on his growth, even if nothing changed. 
"What's wrong this time?" He asked, pretending to be interested. Yet he was still thinking about his dream from earlier, he had an unsettling feeling for the two duplicates of one. The angel seemed so desperate for his help, why would he dream something like that? And about a mare he's never seen? The pegasus clouded his thoughts.
"No matter what I do, I can read and read but for what? To build a super circuit that could light up all of Canterlot? That already exists, just with street lights," Twilight sighed, letting her friends words sit in. 
Her life was hers, and he was right. She knew he was right. She should do what she wants to do, what she enjoyed. But something made it seem not so much fun. The idea that it wasn't endless, she could only do so much with myths before she contradicted herself and began to destroy her work. She sighed. 
And feeling a ghost-pony around that only made her want to go outside didn't help. 
She couldn't hide it from her best friend. With a year left, she didn't want to fight and fight with him. "What should I do? There's only so many myths I enjoy that I could go through. I could dig deep into every one until there's every question answered. I'm afraid that time will come before my time comes," she sighed and dropped her head back onto the table. 
"I know you're right Spike, I know you are. I just don't want to one day regret this and realize how much time I've wasted," she breathed and turned to a tall bookshelf. She felt a hoof on her back push her towards the shelf, so she only went along and walked along with it. Spike only stared at her, waiting for her to talk some more and explain the situation. 
As she looked over the shelf, she wondered what book she was looking for. But one book stood out from the rest, at the very top a book jutted out further than the rest. Spike made sure every book was pushed as far back as possible so that the ladder wouldn't get caught on them, even during his sleeping frenzy. Meaning the same hooves whom pushed her, had pulled out this book for her to read. 
Instead of using her wings and alerting her metal shell, she used her horn and alerted her metal shell. She ignored it and the book dropped to the ground with a thud!
Even Spike was caught out of his trance to look down at it, even if he couldn't really see it from his place high up on a ladder. Though, Twilight knew the book. 
A picture of a jagged tree with a white ribbon wrapped loosely around it stood on the green cover. The tree was a dark brown and the ribbon popped. The words, 'The Everfree Lies Beyond,' cut into the ribbon, blending into the general darkness of the book. 
Twilight picked up the book and dropped it on the table. She didn't question what she was doing, though she wasn't thinking. She turned open the book a few pages and started on the first page she read. She became entranced and nothing would break it. Her brows furrowed in concentration and tried to battle a migraine as she used her magic to turn the page. She couldn't stop. 
Spike only smiled from afar and jumped off the ladder. He knew she wouldn't put it down until it was read or until she passed out. But he had never seen her this concentrated in the last few months that she tried and tried to get through electricity, only to finally finish one book. He smiled and left the room, happy she would finally go along to her happiness, even if it meant regret, even if it meant fear. She would do what made her happy now, the future was forgotten and the present was being lived. 
Except that the second he left she slammed the book shut and rolled her eyes. Of course, Twilight could never think in the present, could any inventor, scientist, researcher really invest in anything but the future? 
She had made the telescope after all, she had proved theories wrong with her own. Everything was about the future! The telescope was made to further science and to get ponies invested in renovating it. Her theories were made to be debunked as life followed on. She was a cog in a machine, working for a better future where they didn't have to worry of the future. How could she possibly care about her happiness?
She wasn't born for her happiness, she wasn't given a horn for her happiness, she wasn't given the ability to be the Princess Celestias student for her happiness. She was born for her parents continuation and the entrance to the new generation, she was given a horn from genetics, she was the princesses student to make something of herself, to show the princess she wasn't wrong to pick Twilight out of the class that one day. 
None was for happiness, it was for others. Her life was for others, not hers. She even became a robot so she could help raise Spike. 
Yet why did it sound so sour? 
She was foalish, it only sounded sour because it was the truth, the truth always led to pain. She didn't want to believe that her extra chance was for her to raise Spike when they were the happiest years of her life. Yet they were, and they weren't. 
She was unaware of a second chance, she just took up the Doctor's offer because of a old memory she didn't even trust. Then, she woke up to a dragon hugging her tightly and tears springing to one of her eyes and she hugged him back. Then she thanked the Doctor, and he stayed for a couple of days to help her get used to it. 
Of course, she hated it, she hated being robotic and not being alive anymore. So, she distracted herself with Madam Future, which led to her love for most myths. And her interest in them. 
Even if Celestia was proud of Twilight doing something for herself, Twilight wasn't. She felt guilty and her stomach churned at the thought. Once she confronted Celestia about this, the princess offered to make her research a book on theories, so it proved useful. 
Twilight loved the idea, then she hated the idea. She loved it because it gave her whole year actual purpose. Then, she hated the idea of the criticism she would get, especially the judgments she would get. Then she loved the idea of the recognition, then she hated the flaws she saw in her writing. 
Before she knew it, she woke up one morning with the book on her doorstep. She had to say, she loved it. It was exactly how she imagined it.
While being lost in her own thoughts and memories, Spike ran into the room, surprised and disappointed to see her not reading. 
"Um, Twilight, you got a letter from the princess. That Doctor's wife is working the mail job again," he smiled and laid the letter on the table next to the book. "Saying as she didn't send it through me, I'm guessing it's official professional stuff."
He then left her to herself again. Something she didn't want. They had been so distant, and just for a second, she felt like they were normal. But hearing his distant, bored tone, she knew it wouldn't be the same unless she was the happy one. 
She sighed and turned to the table and picked up the letter, using her magic to open it. She read over the letter and she cowered in fear as apprehension took over. 
"Dear my faithful student, Twilight. I need to see you for an urgent meeting of Canterlot's state. I trust that no pony but you would be able to assist me in what I need. Please come by tomorrow." 
There was nothing else, who knows how long with was in the mail? Especially with Derpy as the mail lady. Twilight looked to her window and saw the sun setting. She sighed and laid the letter next to the book. She turned away and trekked up the stairs, boredom and disappointment taking over. On her way up, she saw a book open to a picture of a pink mare with hot pink hair. 
Twilight smiled slightly at the image. She shut the book and continued up the steps to the towers, to the kingdom, and to the fourth floor. But she sensed everything was okay and she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Spike saw her smile, and he saw what made her smile. 
A myth. 
A myth that made Twilight start researching them, and a myth that would pull her back in.



Early in the next morning, Twilight awoke and snuck out past a sleepy dragon whom she didn't tell the details of Celestias letter to. 
She flew down to the fourth and empty floor, destruction sat on her shoulder as she looked up at the books she'd never get to read. She hung her head in despair and let a tear escape her eye. She soon shook her head and sat up, she stood and started towards the entrance. She trotted down the stairs to a sight. 
The kingdom was destroyed, papers were torn out of books and shredded. What once were houses were piles of papers topped off by book covers. Items sat across the room, an old bit, pieces of torn fabric, broken shards of glass sitting in piles of ink. 
Twilight noticed a lack of books and finally noticed how everything was coated in ashes. She shook her head as she sat in realization, less realization and more questioning. 
What possessed her friend to do this? What could make him destroy what he worked so hard to build? What could make him set fire and tear things apart? And why hadn't she heard it?
She turned to the cave of books that sat at the edge of the torn monstrocity. She so desperately wanted to go inside and check on Spike, but she didn't have to, he walked out with an annoyed look as he stared at the ruins. 
He stood next to her, both silent. Spike seemed more tired than anything and Twilight was wide awake with fear and worry and concern-
She felt his claw on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. His pupils were sharper and he turned away at the sight of her scared expression, his claw dropped from her shoulder. 
"Why?" She asked and forced him to look at her, though he couldn't meet her gaze. "You loved this! You spent so much time building it! What happened?" 
That's when she noticed the inside of his cave. The blue blanket he always used was torn to shreds, along with many pillows as feathers covered the ground. Crumbs of gems covered the feathers and she saw an empty bucket in the corner that use to hold all of the gems he saved. Only one thing laid intact. 
A picture of a white mare with purple hair. Twilight felt Spike tense under her hooves.
"I wanted to prove that dragons could get rid of obsessions," he said and finally looked up at her. He looked so scared. "T-t-t-that thing! She won't leave me alone! I k-know she's just a myth, she's not real! Every time I see her, all I do is make her cry and I don't want to do that!" 
He grabbed Twilights hooves desperately. "Help me, I-I-I can't take it! I'm gonna lose my mind!" 
"I-I don't know what to do Spike," she shook her head and sympathy fled into her eye. Spike looked for something desperately, he gave up and slouched, turning away. "I would tell you if I knew anything. B-but I barley understand dragons." 
"it's fine," he said finally. 
"No it's not," Twilight replied firmly and turned to the chaos he wreaked on his precious floor. Now it was more the ruins than a kingdom. "Just because I don't understand dragons doesn't mean I can't try and help you."
He grabbed her hoof. "Yes, it does, Twilight. Go off to your meeting with the princess, it's more urgent than a growing dragon who saw something... pretty."
He didn't seem to believe she was pretty at all. Twilight didn't leave, so the two sat in silence. Both waiting for the other to do something, but when the other didn't, they continued to wait. 
Spike was the first to break. "I wish I could see her." 
"But she's only a myth," Twilight said motherly and put her hoof on his cold, scaly back. He only sighed in disappointment. 
He looked up at her, "Then why does she feel so real every time I see her?"
Twilight's heart caught in her throat. "I-I don't know Spike. There's no way she is real, I mean... how could she even be here?" 
"I saw something else too," he said numbly, void of any emotion. "She was the fast one" -he couldn't bring himself to play specifics -"said something about her being in the Everfree, said I needed to help her too." 
Twilight looked away nervously, her wings strapped to her back. "D-do you want to go there?" She was so nervous and anxious for his answer. He could tell. 
"No," he breathed and she visibly relaxed. "I'm just getting desperate and I hate it. Being stupid must be some part of growing." He sat down and pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, and burying his head in his arms. 
Twilight only smiled and looked down at him. "Stupidity does come along with growing, along with regret and embarrassment. Though, I wouldn't call this stupid, Spike." 
He glanced up at her, curiosity getting the better of him. "What else could it possibly be?" 
Twilight started trotting off as she talked. "Sending yourself into a downwards spiral, not wanting to hurt it, wanting to get away from it, putting time off for it." She turned back to him and smiled, at the top of the stairs down to the towers. 
"I'd call that what makes you happy," she turned and trotted down the stairs, sure that her word had made the dragon feel better in some way. 
That night, she returned, her mind a frenzy of disbelief and the third floor in even deeper ruins. 
The bookshelves were charred and the books that used to inhabit them sat in ashes or torn shreds on the floor or shelves. The blue walls showed through the dark, ash covered shelves. The walls were charred and the icy blue floors were almost not visible underneath the paper, ashes, scorch marks, and random items torn to shreds. She stared at the floor in bewilderment as a dragon stirred in the cave. The cave was just a bunch of scorched books that would fall to ash the second they were touched.
She shook her head and cried. 
"Why does everything have to fall apart?"
> Dreams of a Nightmare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Spike barely talked for the next few days. Not because they were fighting with each other. But because they were dealing with what seemed like much worse for both. 
Twilight constantly felt that ghost around her, compelling her to study the Everfree forest. 
Spike only saw more and more dreams and visions of Rarity, he wanted to talk to Twilight and be her assistant so he could get more than three hours in a day, but it wouldn't happen. Twilight couldn't stand having anypony around her. So Spike was stuck sleeping all the time and waking up with many pains from falling asleep in the craziest of spots. He groaned as he picked himself up and walked into the writing cabinet room that was a total mess. 
Books occupied the floors more than they did the shelves. Underneath the pile of books sat a wobbly table. But one thing really told Spike something was off with Twilight. 
Her writing cabinet was wide open with ink holders obviously misaligned and pushed out of place from their rows. Even Spike got an itch to fix it, but he decided digging through the book pile for his friend seemed more logical.
"Uh, Twilight?" He asked, and it seemed like the first time he talked to her in weeks. He peeked around the book pile and saw Twilight with her nose buried with a book. He couldn't help but smile at the dark green book with a jagged, dark tree on the cover. 
"Oh, hi Spike!" She smiled and stood up, pushing the open book away. "I suppose we should actually talk." Even she seemed nervous. 
"I'm just happy to see you enjoying a book," Spike smiled at her and she smiled back, everything was finally back to normal. Until Twilights expression fell at the sight of her precious writing cabinet. Her magenta aura encased the cabinet and all the ink holders and pens aligned in neat rows once again. 
Spike and her just laughed at her constant need to have it fixed. "Anyways, what was that meeting with Celestia about?" Spike asked happily. 
"Oh yeah!" Twilight trotted out past him and started down a hallway towards the stairs. Spike followed along, to happy to notice how bad his back was hurting from sleeping on top of a book pile in the kingdom. "The princess said we needed to head to Ponyville to check on the Summer Sun Celebrations preparations." 
Spike stopped in his tracks, "Where's Ponyville?" Then he remembered that Ponyville wasn't far from Canterlot, he froze as he remembered that the Everfree lied right beside Ponyville. "Uh, actually, I-I don't think I should go! I-I mean, I should stay here and take care of the study, you know... a-actually clean." Spike laughed nervously to hide his concern. 
"Really?" Twilight asked and turned to him, both standing near the railings on the towers floors. Twilight glanced down at the labyrinth and barely saw the blue wooden table underneath the pile of books. She encased the pile with her magic, instantly setting off an alarm. She saw the legs of the table relax as she dropped the books next to table. 
As she stared at the pile she saw the mess that was the entire labyrinth, then she remembered the kingdom, and the small mess that was the fourth floor. She sighed and looked down at Spike who was currently smiling nervously and looking around, darting his eyes everywhere but Twilight. 
"I suppose the study has been a mess as of late," she thought and noticed Spike jump at the contemplation. "But the Summer Sun Celebration will take place in Ponyville, and I would have front row seat. Are you sure you don't want to go?" 
Spike nodded and smiled and genuine smile, though she couldn't see the racing mind and the anxiety that set its place in his stomach. "Y-yeah! Y-you have duties in Ponyville, and I have to take care of your study. I-I've had a bit of a vacation lately anyways." 
He really wanted to see the Summer Sun Celebration, he never really saw it. It only took place in Canterlot once and he was too young to remember. He had a chance to see it first hoof -...claw?- but there was no way he could fight the temptation to venture into the Everfree. He already knew he would only distract Twilight and get himself hurt, the best way to avoid it was to stay in Canterlot. And he'd definitely wouldn't sleep all the time, saying as he would have a job to do. 
He glanced over at the pile of books that was the writing cabinet room and smiled. Then, his smile faded, "Isn't that the morning after tomorrow though?" 
Twilight nodded, "I feel bad for not telling you, you could've gotten everything cleaned up and been able to gone with me. I'm sorry, Spike." Spike only shook his head in response with a smile. 
"I-It's fine, I'll be fine. Though, when are you leaving?" He asked nervously, he didn't want her to leave right after things cleared themselves up. 
Twilight sat in thought and then smiled and looked back at her friend, "I suppose tomorrow morning would work, then I have all day to check things, I could get a small nap, and wake up early enough to see the celebration." As she walked down the towers corridors Spike's smile faded. 
He never realized how bad he wanted to see it, who knew when the princess was gonna raise the sun in Canterlot again? Dread made its home in his heart as he realized something. 
This was the last Summer Sun Celebration he would have with Twilight. And he didn't want to go because he knew he'd ruin it. Though, what if he didn't? What if he stuck to Twilights plan and they'd be back on the train right after the celebration and he'd never even get close to the forest. 
He was ready to walk right over to her and declare he would go and celebrate it with her, though something froze him in his place. In the creepiest in-between, a head stuck out and stared at him, clearly confused. It was Rarity. 
No, no way he could go. She was warning him not to, he'd make some stupid logic in his head to go into the Everfree and get himself hurt. He bit his arm and stared at Rarity, waiting for her to go away. 
She didn't. 
He growled and bit down harder, not realizing how bad it hurt. She just tilted her head, worry finally flashed in her eyes once he tasted blood. He pulled his arm away in shock and saw it bleeding from a few holes that resembled sharp holes like fangs. In just a second, he saw a light blue aura over them and a white hoof holding his arm to keep him there. 
He simply growled and looked up at her. She growled back and focused on his arm. She seemed so displeased, but it was also harsh disappointment and care. His eyes narrowed on her and he snatched his arm out of her grasp, just when her magic almost fully healed him. 
She stared harshly and held out her hoof, asking for his arm. He just pulled it closer to himself -he got used to just making movements to prove a point, and he learned to decipher what she meant and every expression her eyes made. She frowned and tried to grab his arm from him, he dodged her just seconds before she could grasp it. 
He realized she became more and more real with every time he saw her. She started as a misty cloud and now she looked almost real, still with some edges wavering in the air. 
She turned away with her eyes closed and her head held high and a frown of dislike, as if saying she wouldn't give him help if he didn't want it. He looked down at his arm and growled and he held it out to her. She peeked open one eye and instantly smiled as his arm became encased in the light blue again. 
While his arm was healing and she was wrapping it in a ribbon -he decided not to question where she got it- he decided to ask her a question. "What do you think I should do? Go to Ponyville and celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration, or stay here and avoid it?" 
She looked up at him, her eyebrows raised as they always were to give her a sense of class and judgment. He noticed something different about her, she didn't have on her blue eye shadow. Why would his mind make her different?
She shrugged and tied a knot on the ribbon, smiling in accomplishment. "Rarity?" She turned to him and saw how conflicted he was. She stopped thinking about herself and sat down, telling him she was listening. 
"If I go there, I know I would go into the Everfree and look for you," he said and saw her jump with excitement and her eyes sparkle. "But I'd only bother Twilight, get myself hurt, and prove to myself you don't exist." 
She didn't even take a second to contemplate it, she instantly shook her head. She looked at him firmly and mouthed the word 'no'. 
"W-why? If I get hurt then Twilight could help me, I would do it after we get everything done, so then all I'd prove is... that you... don't exist," he trailed off as he stared in her eyes. He could tell she was bewitching him to make his decision not to go. Why did she want him to believe she was real? Why? Why couldn't she just answer him? 
She turned away and had her harsh stare on the creepy in-between she had led Spike to before. She stood up and started towards there, Spike followed. Once she and Spike stood in front of the in-between, the books towered to make jagged trees, paper was tinted dark to make the ground seem real. The darkness that cast over the bookshelf didn't help. 
She took a step into the in-between, the back wall pushed back a step. She took another and the shelf took another step back. Spike tried to step forward with her, but a barrier stopped him. He looked up and saw it was a barrier of light blue magic. 
His eyes widened as her bewitching stopped working, she ran deeper into the in-between that stretched endlessly, she never looked back. Spike felt as if he was losing her, everytime she left before she watched him before she disappeared, now she was running away from him, leaving him, not even peeking over her shoulder. Panic shot through him.
Before he could control himself, he yelled her name. "Rarity!" She stopped in her tracks and looked at him, even if he could barley see her. "I won't go to the Everfree, I won't go to Ponyville!" 
He saw her smile and relax, then he bewitched himself to continue. "As long as you don't stop showing up." 
She smiled and nodded, running deeper into the Everfree in-between. He smiled, him and Twilight were on good notes, he didn't make Rarity cry, he made her smile! Yet, one thing haunted him. 
Why did he tell her to keep coming?



Twilight sat in an empty room, ready to go to Ponyville. Yet, she didn't remember the room at all, nor did she know why she was there. 
The room had silver tapestry that only looked heavy, they were being hung from gold rods. She looked and saw the bright, silver window hanging in the middle of two thrones. One throne had a bright yellow tapestry next to it, the picture of a sun on it. The other throne had a deep blue one, the moon and planets on it. 
The two thrones had been colored according to the tapestry, the yellow one had a bright yellow throne to match. The deep blue had a light blue throne to match. A dulled, red carpet led up to the two thrones, and the room seem deserted and ancient. Dust riddled everything and the pillars seemed on the verge of breaking. 
It was nothing like the Canterlot castle were marble lined everything, this looked like... stone. Stone was so old and no pony used it, so why was it here? Where was she?
A pillar snapped under a weight, sending a whole section of stone to cave in and fall, blocking what was assumed to be the exit. Another pillar snapped, and another, sending the floor above them to destruction and a fall. Twilight ran to avoid it, only succeeding by an inch within one of the fallen pillars. 
She looked up at the silver window, glass stained panes had no life. She looked until she saw something in the gray, then she realized it was transforming, she wasn't making it out with the lines her eyes drew. The image turned to a yellow sun with a white crescent moon sitting in the left side.
Suddenly, right down the middle of the two thrones, a crack started forming. The crack built and broke into the wall to create a hole that let the moon shine bright down on the robot. It was gorgeous, the dark castle suddenly being lit up by the white of the moonlight, she wanted to bask in the beautiful ancients. 
"I am afraid this no longer exists," a voice said. It was deep and commanding, but Twilight did notice it was still feminine. 
She turned and saw a tall mare, an alicorn. She had a short, light blue mane, her coat was just a deeper color and her cutie mark was a dark black with a moon. Twilight stared in confusion, who was this mare?
The alicorn sat down on the blue throne and spoke. "I know you need to know my name, and I will tell you, if you agree to what I order." 
Twilight sat in place and nodded. Suddenly, the tapestry swung in the wind and the breeze picked up the dust and made the robot cough. 
"First, I think you should know my story before I tell you what I need of you," she started and stood, a dark blue aura coated horn as she transformed. 
Her coat faded to a darker color, her hair became long and flowing, like Celestias. It was dark with white specks in it, like stars in the night sky, a light, transparent ring sat on the edge of her manes outline. Her cutie mark formed into a necklace on her chest, the white crescent moon encased in a black necklace like Celestias. She opened her deep blue eyes that only reminded Twilight of Celestia. 
Her magic formed a map in front of her. Twilight noticed it was a map of Equestria. She noticed Manehattan, Las Pegasus, Fillydelphia, Van Hoover. It moved closer to Twilight and zeroed in on the small area underneath Canterlot, it was marked 'Ponyville' on the map in a dark ink.
"I am Princess Celestias sister," she started, ready to shut up the robot.
"B-but Celestia's the only princess we have! How could you be her sister and not have royal power? I mean, and I've never seen you around and I've discovered most of the Canterlot Castle," Twilight rambled until the alicorn sealed her mouth shut with magic. Twilight nodded timidly for the alicorn to continue.
"Her and I used to rule Equestria along side each other. Her raising the sun, and I raising the moon. I suddenly realized ponies basking and living in her daylight, while they slept and ignored my night." 
"For lack of a better word, I became corrupted, I despised my sister more and more each day. Until I refused to lower the moon," the alicorn continued. 
The map turned darker and zeroed in on the Everfree. The moon shining into the room glistened off the entrance and it didn't seem that scary anymore. She noticed the jagged trees shining in the silver light and that it was darker than its surroundings, as if it really was the darkest part of Equestria. She saw the yellow eyes stare at the entrance, and she could see the outline of a pony in the middle of the woods. 
"My sister and I fought and tore our castle apart." A broken piece of stone fell next to Twilight and she jumped, now fearing something would fall and break her metal shell. "She used the Elements of Harmony to banish me to the moon for a thousand years." 
She looked up at the moon as gray dots formed in the shape of a unicorns head on the side of the moon. The moon disappeared from the sky and the sun shown through, giving light to every little crack in the castle. Tears and cracks consumed the castle. One tapestry was shredded and the blue throne broke just after the alicorn stepped up off of it.
"My sister cried and cried, hating herself for having to banish me. She could not stand the castle anymore, she tried living here after destroying most of my things, then she left it all and moved to Canterlot to continue her reign." 
Plants grew from the ground and consumed the thrones, the alicorn stepped off from the platform and walked towards Twilight.  
"During this Summer Sun Celebration, I will break free from my tomb," she looked up at Twilight and put her hoof on the robots shoulder. "You are the pony I trust to free me from my curse of Nightmare Moon. Though, I need you and your dragon." 
Twilight shook her head and took a step away. "Why? Why me? I'm a pony who lives in a study in Canterlot, I'm nothing more!" 	
She couldn't understand why she was so needed. She was a robot, could she really do a lot? She was on her life's end, why was she needed now? Just to give her one last adventure and her first ever adventure? 
One thing she couldn't understand at all was what she knew she would never get an answer for. 
Why was she the special one?
"Do you believe me? Us?" The alicorn asked Twilight, snapping her out of her questioning thoughts. She simply stared back in confusion. Us? Suddenly, she remembered the pink mare who asked to free her of her curse, the multiple books open to the one page of the Everfree. This wasn't malfunction anymore, these were signs of something bigger .
She looked at the alicorn with determination in her eyes as she nodded. The alicorn smiled. "Then go to Ponyville with your dragon friend, and after you check everything you need to check, go into the Everfree."
"But Celestia needs me for the celebration, surely I would miss that if I assist you. A-and ... since you clearly aren't Nightmare Moon now, why will you be once you break free from the moon?" Twilight asked, thankful she could actually ask questions and get answers. 
The whole floor above her started to rumble and crumble. The alicorn grabbed Twilight and flew them out of the castle in just the right time. They were now standing outside and Twilight saw a bridge that led to jagged trees and a darker sky that didn't seem to listen to the sun. Time seemed to past at a rabid speed, winter lasted for thirty seconds, then spring, then summer, then fall would last for a minute. The cycle repeated until she started noticed the castle being rebuilt. 
"I will answer your questions, my dear," the alicorn said, but her expression showed Twilight she could not. "Once I am free, I must speak to your friend before the night ends. Get some sleep, I need to make sure he understands that he needs to go with you to the Everfree," the alicorn nodded and started to fly off. 
"Wait!" Twilight yelled and was surprised when the alicorn looked back at her, willing to answer one question if it held a short answer. She swallowed. "What's your name?"
The alicorn smiled, "Luna."



Spike stood in the same room Twilight once stood in. Silver, yellow, and blue tapestry. Blue and yellow throne, one small silver stained glass window that formed a sun and moon. 
The same three pillars fell, yet he dodged them as if he knew what to expect. He looked at the blue throne for help, but nothing came and more pillars fell. He watched one fall, he cowered in fear. He put his claws to his face, closed his eyes and waited for utter destruction. Once he felt nothing he peeked one eye open and saw the light blue aura encase the pillar and push it back to its place. 
He looked around and saw everything was different. The pillars were all put back up and everything was dusted clean to shine and sparkle. The throne platform held one purple throne and all the tapestry had the most detailed designs of diamonds and grace and the fabric shimmered in the sun. He stared in awe. 	
He felt something tap his shoulder and turned to see a smiling Rarity. Her smile was so radiant and her shoulders were held up in happiness. Once she saw his expression she tackled him in a hug. 
He suddenly turned away once she climbed off of him, she stared in confusion. He knew why she was so happy. She opened her mouth the speak but no noise was made. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes and she hung her head.
"I-I thought you didn't want me to come into the Everfree," he said, scared and hurt by her crying once again. 
She pouted and looked annoyed. A blue thread and needle levitated over and spelled out a sentence. "Girls always lie about what they want." 
"Y-you wanted me to go to the Everfree, b-b-but you're not real," he said sadly and suddenly realized something. Why would he dream of a girl he couldn't have? He's had dreams of gems and comics before, and he always had those things. So why did he dream of the one thing he wanted more than anything, and yet she wasn't able to be with him? 
He turned to her, eyes wide in understanding, he didn't even have to say anything. She just nodded and turned away. The blue thread spelled the words, "I understand." 
He stared at her in annoyance. "If you understand, then why are you crying?" He was harsh, but she could only smile and hug him once he asked that. He smiled and hugged her back, he finally realized that the mare of his dreams was real all along. And he was going to go after her, no matter what Twilight said.
The second they got to Ponyville he would go to the Everfree to see her. She smiled and pulled away. "Why don't we make this 'dream' special?" The thread spelt out. 
He tilted his head and just raised an eyebrow at her. "How?"
Her shoulders bounced and a smile plastered on her face, he could tell she was giggling. Her thread spelt out more letters. "Well, since you will have a long day, I do insist on making your dream nice so you have a comfortable sleep, so why don't I give you a tour?" 
He jumped at the idea and nodded, she smiled and they made their way to a hallway. 
A deep blue alicorn smiled in understanding. She wasn't the only one who needed saving, and it seemed Spike was already saving his mare. From the scene she witnessed, it seemed like she didn't need to tell him to go to the Everfree. 
He was going there already.



When they awoke in the morning sun, both almost didn't want to get out of bed. Each had a smile plastered on their face at the relaxing sleep. Spike tried to go back to sleep since he didn't see an entire wing of the castle, but Twilight was already up and stretching.
She woke up earlier than expected, she assumed it was Luna's doing. She smiled and was finally happy for once in the past two months. She wasn't scared, and that hoof that lingered on her waist once she woke up didn't bother her. Well, it did, but she knew that the ghost was simply leading her to the Everfree. 
And since she was so happy at the thought and finally felt free of her own tradegy, she respected the hoof and started out of her book cave down to the first floor, to avoid waking Spike. She wanted her dragon to get some more sleep -even if she thought he was still asleep- while she charged before traveling to Ponyville. 
Who knew how long she would be there.
She read through her books over the Mistress from the future and the Mare in the moon. She wanted to meet both in person so badly, a smile stood on her face as she charged and turned the page as the battery box finally beeped, telling her she was free to go. 
She unplugged herself and got up, trotting peacefully up to the kingdom -ruins. She smiled at the thought of cleaning the writing cabinet room once she returned, since Spike definitely wasn't staying to fix it. As she got to the halfway point in the towers, peacefully trotting with her eyes closed, she bumped into Spike. 
"Oh yeah!" Spike said happily, his smile mirrored hers. He helped Twilight up. "I'm going to Ponyville with you, hope that isn't too big of a trouble." 
Her smiled widened. "Of course you're going, Luna told me to bring you along." Twilight trotted past him. 
"Huh? Luna?" He asked and tilted his head in confusion. She turned to him, her smile turned to a confused stare. Her mouth then turned into a small smile. 
"The dark blue alicorn in your dreams? Didn't she talk to you?" Twilight asked, now confused as to why Spike didn't seem to recognize anything she said. 
"Uh, all I've seen is Rarity, no 'dark blue alicorn'." Spike answered, though he suddenly became estatic, remembering a specific blue alicorn that was the mare in the moon. "The mare in the moon! So I wasn't the only one seeing myths!" 
Twilight chuckled. "I saw the mistress of the future before seeing Luna, though I suppose Luna or not, you still got the message that we're going to the Everfree together after we do everything we need to do." 
Spike went back to confusion. "Do everything we need to do? Like the princess checklist? Twilight! We can't do that!" Twilight only sighed. 
"Yes we do Spike, we don't want to throw the festival off even more than we will, besides, it's not like we're staying for one day," Twilight explained and Spike visibly relaxed. Then he was confused... again.
"Why do you need to stay for a while?" He asked and pointed at her. He assumed she knew he wanted to spend more than just a few hours with Rarity, but why did she need to stay? 
"I have more than just one curse to break Spike, plus... I want to meet an old childhood friend," Twilight smiled and started up the stairs to the kingdom. "Be ready in about an hour! That's when the train leaves!"
> An Apple a Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The farm that laid in Ponyville was just like any other. Good crop and acres upon acres of land. Though, the far in Ponyville had something different. 
In other farms, you'd see unhappy ponies working the farm and chores. Nothing was happy and the sun just didn't shine the right way there. Though the farm in Ponyville... it was much more. 
Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville's pride. Acres upon acres held a strong apple orchard that stood right under the princesses sun. The sun made each apple shimmer, made every leave get a hint of light, and gave the whole farm a radiant glow. Happy smiles were all any pony saw when they stepped hoof on the farm. 
An orange earth pony walked down a row in the orchard, smiling proudly at the crop. She had a golden mane that resembled straw, it was pulled into a ponytail and she had a brown cowboy hat on her head. Her eyes were an emerald green. 
She trotted up the hill and into the house. The shining red barn looked so cozy and inviting on the hot summer day. She smile even widened as she walked into the kitchen. A bright green made up the kitchen, along with some purple jam splatters everywhere. 
The floorboard creaked under the working filly and elder who playfully bantered. In the pot they were cooking in, the spoon hit the same edge of the pot every time. And the ticking of the timer played quietly in the background. It was as if they had their own farm band right in the very kitchen, it certainly sounded nice to Applejack. 
She stared at the old green pony with her white hair pulled into a bun, her name was Granny Smith. She took a look at her little sister, Apple Bloom, who had a bright yellow coat and bright red hair, a big pink bow sat on the back of her head. 
Both were covered in purple jam as the laughed and Applejack raised her eyebrow and smirked. She knocked her hoof against the white door frame and the two ponies turned to her and burst into laughter as the timer ringed. 
Applejack turned the timer off and pulled whatever was in the oven -an apple pie- and placed it on the table that had a green and white checkered patterned cloth sprawled across it. 
She opened the window and the two ponies finally settled down. Applejack took a look outside and saw the bright clear sky as the sun shown down and lit up her farm, helping her crop. She smiled as her mind only thought that the clear sky was the fastest pony alives work. She then shook the idea out of her head and knew it was the weather team. Not some myth. 
"How's the jam coming along, granny?" She asked to get away from her thoughts. 
"Just fine, deary, don't you worry 'bout me. You and Apple Bloom go wash the pigs," she made a shooing motion with her hoof as she stirred whatever was in the pot. She turned off the stove top and reached for something in a high cabinet. Only to yelp and have Apple Bloom jump up on the counter to get it for her. 
"It seems you fillies are gonna start doin' everything around here, now doesn't it?" She asked and ruffled Apple Blooms mane. Apple Bloom puffed her chest out and smiled widely at the praise. Her grandmother just turned back to the pot and Applejack started slowly dragging her little sister out by her tail. "I remember when I was just a filly..." 
Applejack and Apple Bloom started snickering as they ran from the house and their rambling grandmother. They trotted over to the pigs pen, only to see it all done. Even Applejack looked confused. 
"Oh right! I cleaned them earlier!" Applejack put her hoof to her head in annoyance for not remembering. Her little sister seemed concerned. 
"Jeez AJ, you do an awful lot 'round her, don't you think you should take a break and finish that book you've been reading?" Apple Bloom asked with closed eyes as she trotted down what seemed to be a random row of apple trees. Applejack was caught off-guard by the question. 
"What in the- who in the? I ain't reading no book," she fibbed and looked around nervously, turning her head away from her sister. She finally got a look at a tree and saw the carvings in it. 'PB + BM' was carved into it in the inside of a heart. Applejack smiled and knew where Apple Bloom was leading them. 
"Yes you were," Apple Bloom said, not realizing her sisters discomfort. "Saw ya reading it last night before ya went to sleep. Had some cool dragon on it... Hey! You think I'll see a dragon some day?" 
The filly was practically bouncing with each step as she turned to look up at her sister who seemed nervous, like something big got under her skin. 
"Huh? O-oh yeah," she recollected herself. "You silly, of course ya will see a dragon, there is the dragons migration." They came to the end of the row and there lied an opening to a clearly beyond the farm. Apple Bloom climbed underneath a leaf while Applejack lifted it over herself. They continued for only a few seconds before coming across the clearing. 
There was a big treehouse right in the middle. Apple Bloom smiled happily at the thought and Applejack simply smirked at old memories. Both sighed in unison in relief at the sight. 
It was painted pink with a red roof and door. The door had a heart carved into it near the top, and the top window had a few flowers planted in a pot at the windows edge. The rickety way up was painted green with the unpainted wood at the bottom and legs. They led down from the door and turned at a left down to the ground. 
Apple Bloom jumped and ran to the steps, Applejack simply walked behind, trying to act cool when really, she was just as excited to see what was more an old relic to her. 
The two walked into the safety of the clubhouse, taking in the sweet apple air that seemed to mix with childhood dreams in the walls. She smiled at what her sister had done with the place after she let it go. 
"This place looks great, Apple Bloom! You did a bang up job!" Applejack exclaimed happily as she looked around, happy her sister didn't push on why she was reading a fiction book. Well, she assumed her little sister to think the book was fiction, due to the dragon on the cover. 
"I know! I love it! A little bit of TLC and everything's back to normal," her little sister sighed in happiness. Then she looked depressed as her face fell and she sat down, letting her tail wrap around her. "Just wish I had some friends to show it to." 
Applejack had an expression of sympathy as she put her hoof on her sisters back. "Oh c'mon, Peppermint Twist's your friend, ain't she?" 
"Yeah," Apple Bloom pouted. "Before she went boy-crazy, now she only talks to Snips and Snails." 
"Hey, I didn't have many friends back then either," Applejack soothed sweetly. "You'll make some friends, Sugar Cube." 
"You said you had a best friend in the whole entire world back then," Apple Bloom pouted, though her sister didn't seem to notice she lied. Probably forgot about her 'best friend'. Then Apple Bloom realized, if she was able to forget her, then she probably wasn't that special to Applejack. 
"Yeah, she was a hoot," Applejack smiled at the old memories, "you two would've gotten along great! Though you would need somepony to calm you two down. She gets ideas stuck in her head as much as you are stubborn." 
"Wish I could meet her," Apple Bloom looked out the window at the sun, she noticed it was maybe an hour before noon. "What was her name?" 
"Uh, we should go back to granny. We got lots to do today," Applejack got up and started out the door, leaving her little sister all alone. 
Apple Bloom sighed and kicked at the ground. "If only Sweetie Belle didn't have to move to Canterlot." 



Applejack grumbled offensive words and comments about her grandmother for where Apple Bloom led her, and she was getting the trouble for it. She sighed and looked at the list Granny Smith had made her. Just anything that wasn't apples was there, like grapes and all kinds of berries, like raspberries and blue berries. There were a few basic things that they had at the farm, or could make, that is. 
Butter and milk were there, even if Applejack offered to make it herself -which she always did- her grandmother always bickered about the taste and wouldn't use it unless it was bought from the market. She sighed and put the list back in her satchel bag as she continued towards the market place. 
The town was bustling with ponies getting ready for the festival. The flower girls were watering everything in sight to make it sparkle in the sun. A puppet show had all the foals entertained as their parents bought what they needed without silly foals bothering them. Ponies chatted in delight at the café she passed, even if they resembled snobs, they were some of the nicest ponies in town. 
She passed a light brown earth pony practicing the cello as a quartet sung along. There was an underlying beat to the whole thing that sounded more electronic than hoof tapping. That's when she noticed the head banging unicorn smirking as she worked at a portable turntable sitting behind a bush. 
She passed two girls exchanging friendship bracelets. She passed a magic pony preforming tricks to entertain passer byers who had a few extra bits. A banner said 'The Great and Powerful Trixie!' above her show as she stood on her hind legs and fireworks set off behind her. 
She passed a line of ponies wanting to get into Sugarcube Corner -the local bakery. 
She basked in the glory of the town as she trotted over the ground and she heard passaging carts bounce over stones in the road. As she got to the market place, she started in awe at the smiling faces and genuine acts of kindness. There was a bustling of ponies and she realized it felt much more homey and cozy than the usually empty apple orchards. 
Every distasteful thought in her mind about her Granny Smith faded away.
She loved visiting town every once in a while, it reminded her of her lovely little town, right under Canterlot. 
From what she read in newspapers, Canterlot turned into Manehattan. She didn't hate Manehattan, but the ponies were so rude, and to hear the capital ended up that way? She couldn't believed it. 
Since Canterlot was so close to Ponyville, she was afraid they'd be next for the 'Manehattan invasion'. It's what she called it. Rude snobs from Manehattan started hating it since they couldn't use ponies anymore, so they went to other places to use ponies, thus infecting another part of the nation. 	
She didn't want Ponyville to end up that way. But her fear subsided once years passed and she never saw a new face stay long in Ponyville, especially not a rude one. There was that one pony that always came into town though, mysterious little filly she was. Never stayed, and she always went to that abandoned cottage, though when ponies went looking for her, she wasn't there. 
Still, there was no pony here to infest Ponyville with Manehattan fever -another thing she called what her heart hated. She'd take care of any pony who wanted to infect her home town.
Her fear came rising back in her throat at what she saw. 
A purple unicorn in a red cloak, a small purple dragon beside her. 
Applejack's joints buckled and she caught herself before she fell face first into the ground below her. Her eyes stared wide at the mare and her dragon. This was a Canterlot pony, here to infest Ponyville, yet it was also Applejacks idle. She swallowed as she stared at the duo, looking around curiously. 
Applejack picked herself up from her frozen stance and decided the only way to see if the infestation on Ponyville was happening now was to see if she was friendly.
"H-howdy partner," she smiled nervously at the two. They turned to her with equal smiles. Then, Twilight stared in confusion, Applejack assumed it was the accent. "You two new here?" 
Twilight still only stared in question, so Spike popped in and answered. "Uh, yeah! We're looking for a library." 
Now Applejack was the one confused. "Uh, no pony owns that thing, ain't been open for ... maybe a decade or so?" She questioned her own math once she made the conclusion. 
"Oh, we're staying there while we're here, Princess Celestia said we were," Spike smiled and Applejacks mind froze to a stop. 
Celestia? She thought. So they aren't just Canterlot ponies who could possibly be infected with Manehattan fever, but they also work under the princess?
Well, no reason not to be humble, besides, it ain't like they're staying. She thought and smiled at the two. They seem nice enough, just trying to manipulate me, I see.
"Sure, follow me, Twilight Sparkle, is it?" Applejack asked and turned to the entrance of the market place. Upon hearing her name, Twilight broke free from her trance. 
"Huh? How do you know my name?" Twilight asked, tilting her head in confusion as she followed Applejack. 
"Are you kidding me?" Applejack turned to her with a smile, still walking ahead. "Everypony in town knows you! We live right next to the creepy and spooky Everfree, ya really expect only Canterlot ponies to read your book?"
She cocked a smirk as they left the market place and took a right. There were lanes of cottages with open windows, though it seemed like no one was inside. Everypony was enjoying the nice day outside. 
Twilight flushed pink and laughed nervously. "I-I guess I just didn't expect someone to recognize me. Wait, how'd you know it was me? The book says nothing of my looks." 
Applejack chuckled and pointed at Spike. "Little fella looks just like the dragon on the cover." 
They passed a few smiling ponies who smiled at Applejack and Twilight, but they ran in fear from Spike. He shrugged, he expected it anyways. 
"Oh," Twilight turned pinker, though it was a combination of nervousness, worry, happiness, and the heat that was underneath the cloak as the noon sun bore down on them. And having Spike on her back wasn't helping. "So, what's your name?" 
"Oh me?" Applejack asked and smirked proudly, raising her eyebrows triumphantly. She puffed out her chest and closed her eyes, "I'm Applejack, best farmer in town and resident of Sweet Apple Acres." She opened one of her eyes and blew away a lock of hair, only for it to fall right back in the same place. It was obvious she was prideful. 
Though she was less prideful of herself, and more prideful of the farm she lived on. She suddenly remembered the list of food and the list of chores back home. She picked up her pace.
"So miss Twilight-" 
"Just Twilight is fine, I'm not royal or anything," Twilight snickered to herself. 
Certainly seems kind and modest, Applejack thought as she suspiciously eyed the mare. "So Twilight, what brings ya to town?" 
"The Summer Sun Celebration, Princess Celestia wanted me to help check how the preparations are going before the ceremony," Twilight smiled as she took in the city around her. 
It was nothing like Canterlot. Every pony was kind, the town wasn't divided into two, the air was so much cleaner and nicer. Though, the sun was getting on her nerves. 
"And to check out the Everfree Forest!" Spike piped in happily and Applejack froze, her muscles visibly tensed as he turned to them.
"C-check out the E-E-Everfree? Are you Canterlot ponies that crazy?" Applejack blurted and Twilight only seemed confused at her reaction. If she knew Twilight, her book, and the myths inside, then why did she seem so confused why they would venture inside? 
Twilight simply nodded. "It is actually really important that I get there, the whole of Equestria could be in danger." Applejack just relaxed and started laughing. 
"Ain't nothing in those there woods gonna come out and hurt no pony, and any pony that steps hoof in those there woods is gonna get chunked right out, so good luck," she said seriously. "Besides, don't you know what's in them woods?" 
Twilight only rolled her eyes, "I studied myths for two years and made a book out of it, do you really think I don't know what's in there?" 
Applejack sensed a challenge. "If you knew, then you wouldn't be risking yer lives going in there."
"I'm fully aware of how normal the woods are."
"Normal? Now your spitting nothing but nonsense." 
Ponies started gathering by to see the bickering of the kind earth pony, and an unknown unicorn whom they've never seen before.
"Oh really? So animals living on their own is crazy because we always had ponies to take care of animals from the day Equestria was created," Twilight started sarcastically. "And we always had plant ponies to take care of the plants, and we always had weather ponies to take care of the weather." 
Twilight trotted past Applejack who seemed at a lost for words. "The only scary things about those woods is how it kicks ponies out." 
"Then how do ya expect to get it?" Applejack's voice snapped and Twilight turned to her. The sun hid Applejacks tears from Twilight. 
"With magic, of course," Twilight replied as if it was the most obvious of things. She mistook Applejacks sorrowful look for one that said 'I'm right and yer not'. "If the woods are so dangerous, why don't you tell me what makes them dangerous?" She snapped. 
"Them woods ate my friend alive!" Applejack yelled and turned away to smash through a crowd of ponies, the sun moved just at the end to see her tears. Twilight stared with wide eyes back at the crowd, then she saw something she recognized. A divide. 
Half sympathetic faces that understood she didn't understand Applejacks circumstances, another half were scowls and rude looks that she had made the girl cry. No middle, just hatred and support. Something she was way too used to. 
Twilight turned and ran away from the crown, forgetting the heat on her back and lower body. She ran into the safety of the library, a treehouse full of books. She smiled in awe, then remembered she'd have to go back outside soon. She suddenly remembered something.
"Doesn't the Doctor always go home for holidays?"



Twilight knocked on the door of a rickety old cottage. It seemed like it hasn't been used in decades. Boards covered the windows, the roof was covered in soot and seemed barely functional, the wood holding up the house had holes covering it. Everypony who walked by either ran from the shack or stared at Twilight before running from the shack. 
The plants next to the cottage were dead and the grass seemed like it was dying and all the flowers either grew tall or wilted with over watering. A set of vines grew up the side of the house. 	
The door opened to reveal a happy, grey mare with bright yellow eyes. Her wings flapped and she jumped, hitting her head on the doorframe. 
"Ow," she said and rubbed her head. Soon, a light brown pony with a brown mane stepped next to her. "It's so nice to see you!" The mares wings flapped again. The stallion only smirked at her and turned to Twilight and Spike. 
"May I ask why you're here? Shouldn't you be in Canterlot helping the princess or drowning in books?" The Doctor asked and the two saw the state the inside of his house was in. Everything inside looked spotless and sparkled in the light from the lantern in the middle of the room. 
"Oh, I am helping the princess!" Twilight snapped her attention away from the spotless house. "She sent me here to check on some things for the celebration, I'm surprised to see you two here at all!" 
Derpy smiled and hugged her tightly. "It really is nice to see you! I see a lot of ponies all the time with the Doctor, but I never make any friends. So it's nice to have a friend!" 
Twilight only smiled back and hugged her, "I have to agree, even if we don't talk much." Derpy nodded and trotted back into the house, giving Twilight and Spike a full view of all the polished copper and metal gadgets and machines. The Doctor smirked happily. 
"In one reality you were married to some stallion, I think his name was Flash Sentry? Anyways, it was a surprise to you married at all, even in another reality!" The Doctor smiled and trotted inside, inviting the two in. 
"What about me?" Spike jumped off of Twilights back. They turned to see Derpy sleeping in what seemed like a kids bed, but also an airplane. It was small and hung from the ceiling, they questioned how she fit in it. 
The Doctor sat in thought for a second, "I think you were captain of the royal guard, don't really remember since we went to Canterlot and not the Crystal Empire where you were stationed." 
Spikes eyes sparkle with admiration as he imagined his life as captain of the royal guard in the Crystal Empire. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. Suddenly, she turned to the Doctor with a serious expression on her face. 
"I know you aren't one for myths, but do you have any idea where the old sisters castle is, or the Everfree Forest for that matter?" Twilight asked and the Doctor instantly shook his head, as if he had no need to even consider it. 
"I'm sure I have a map, but if you're asking me to accompany you, then no thanks," he smiled as he turned switches and levers on a machine. Twilight just seemed confused, the Doctor always went on adventures, surely he'd go if he knew a life was at risk... 
"But I'm saving lives! Don't you think you should come along?" Twilight smiled innocently to tempt him, he still shook his head and pointed at Derpy. 
"If I leave she goes after me and if she goes after me then she will get hurt out there, this Everfree Forest is worse than the millions of others I've seen, and I've been in enchanted forests that contain huge crogs, stymphs, and spiricks." The Doctor explained as the whole house rumbled and shook. Dust fell from a ceiling that didn't even have dust and rocks bounced against a floor that didn't even have rocks. 
"But all of Equestria could be in danger! And your abilities don't have limits, mine do," Twilight begged and suddenly a piece of the ground shifted and revealed a flight of stairs downwards. Spike and Twilight peaked down and heard the humming of what seemed hundreds of machines. They heard pipes clink against each other and they heard water gushing through pipes. They turned to the Doctor who only smirked and started down the stairs. 
Then he stopped in his tracks, "How would you know Equestria is on the brink of danger?" He turned to Twilight who was gone, then he looked at the bottom of the stairs and saw her appear there in a flash of magenta light. He chased after her. 
"The pony who is going to endanger Equestria told me!" Twilight exclaimed and looked around for something that even concerned Spike. 
"What in the world are you looking for? And why do you expect me to have it? I'm sure I know of it, but I honestly doubt I have it here," The Doctor explained as she trotted over to a chest and unlocked it with magic. Then she ran over to a couple of glass pipes that had different levels of water in them. She ran past functioning machines and past a shelf of antiques from different realties and dimensions. 
"The Elements of Harmony! That's what she said defeated her in the first place... but that doesn't free her of being Nightmare Moon," Twilight sat in thought and the Doctor tensed. 
"D-did you say Nightmare Moon?" He asked and she stared at him in confusion before nodding. Then she put her hoof to her head in annoyance at her own stupidity. 
"Do you know how to stop her?" Twilight asked with a smile. The Doctor only nodded and started dragging Spike up the stairs so she would follow. Once they were on the top floor -or ground floor- the Doctor moved a lever an inch and the floor moved back to place. The Doctor was tackled in a hug by Derpy.
He smiled and Depry flew back up to her air place to listen to what he was saying. "I know of Nightmare Moon's prophecy and how to defeat her," he pointed at Twilight, "Because you solved it." Twilight became ecstatic. "With the help of five other ponies."
"I don't know five other ponies that could help, all I know it is you, Derpy, and Celestia. But you won't help and I'm sure the princess won't-" Twilight rambled. 
"Derpy, the princess, and I are not of the few that help you. I forget their names exactly, but I honestly doubt you know them," The Doctor stated. 	
"Do you know what they look like?" Twilight pressed, "I might know them!" The Doctor only sighed and nodded. 
"A white unicorn with purple hair, a pink earth pony with even pinker hair, an orange earth pony with a blond mane, blue pegasus and rainbow mane, and a yellow pegasus with a pink mane," He nodded as he listed each of them. He turned the Twilight, "Do you know them?" 
Twilight sighed, "Only the pink earth pony." She felt something grip her fore leg harder and looked down to see Spike staring at the Doctor with wide, scared eyes. 
"I assume you know more than your friend?" The Doctor asked and Spike swallowed and nodded. Twilight could only worry. 
"I- uh, I know the white unicorn -Rarity-, and the blue pegasus," he turned to Twilight. "And I think the orange one is Applejack, she knew about the woods, and your book! She must like myths, or is at least interested."
Now Twilight understood why he was worried, she hung her head and groaned. 
"What's wrong, Twilight?" Derpy asked with concern. Twilight only smiled at her and turned back to the Doctor. 
"Well, it seems one of our candidates to stop Nightmare Moon hates me because her friend died in the Everfree and I kept telling her the Everfree wasn't dangerous," Twilight groaned and saw the Doctor pale.
"You see why I don't want to help you? Try and be friends with that Applejack pony, if that doesn't work, then I'll help. Don't worry about the yellow one, fate proves itself unchanged until changed," The Doctor explained and started pulling at levers, turned dials, and pushed buttons. 	
Twilight stared in confusion, "Fate proves itself unchanged until changed, you do realize fate is kind of ... you know... finalized!" 
The Doctor sighed and turned back to her, "I know that. What I mean is all worlds start out the same until something changes and they separate, leaving the 'correct' one to continue its coarse while the other goes on the function until it changes again.
"So, your fate technically ended as long ago as did mine, to my belief it is sentient beings that throw off the balance, but I'm not to sure. That is one of the only hypothesis I have for being stuck in these 'pony' timelines," The Doctor rambled, Twilight and Spike saw Derpys expression fall, but the Doctor didn't seem to notice.
Twilight got a thought to cheer her up, she shot Derpy a wink and turned back to the Doctor who had his back to them, turning what seemed like a pirates wheel. 
"If you have a hypothesis, can't you finalize it and go back to your timeline?" Twilight asked, pretending to be curious in it. The Doctor started pushing her out of the house. 
"Go find that Applejack and go to the Everfree Forest to stop Nightmare Moon, I can't have you spending all your time asking questions," he pushed her out and shut the door. He saw Derpy sulking slightly and smiled, turning back to his machines. 
A silence sat between them, well except for the rushing water, clinking pipes, rusty turning dials, rusty levers, and the humming of machines. 
"You know I only stay here for you, right?" He smiled and saw her head perk up. He could see the confusion in her eyes. 
"B-but you always talk about how much you loved your old life! Why stay here when you have a way back to your home?" Derpy asked with her desperate voice that only told him she would want him to go back home. "Just because you meet some mare doesn't mean you should give up your old life." 
He sat in thought. "You're correct." She looked like she was shot by a bullet. "I only figured this out a few years ago, two years, I've been here for a while. I knew I wouldn't find the answer that soon, so what was the point not to make friends? I made a friend, you, until I fell in love with her and married her. I only found the answer for when you would die, then I can go back to my time like nothing happened." 
"B-but wouldn't you just go to any other version of me? I'm practically the same everywhere," Derpy sulked even farther. 
He still smiled, "I love the Ditzy sitting in front of me, not any other." 
She finally smiled and engulfed in a tight hug. "I love you, Doctor." 



Applejack fought through the crowds, she forgot why she was there, she forgot where she was running. She galloped up the hill to Sweet Apple Acres and burst through the door to the house. She breathed loudly as her hooves sat on the door, her adrenaline came to a stop. 
"You're back already?" Granny Smith smiled as she poked her head out from the kitchen. Once she saw the state Applejack was in, she walked over there a put a hoof on her back. "What happened?" 
Applejacks expression hardened and she shoved her grandmothers hoof off with her shoulder. She trotted through the kitchen and out the door, all without a word. 
"Oh, why did Bright Mac have to give that little filly his stubbornness?" Granny Smith pouted and sighed. She walked back into the kitchen where Apple Bloom was sneaking a bite from the pie. Granny Smith stifled a laugh as she acted like she didn't catch Apple Bloom. 
They worked in silence, Granny Smith was too worried and Apple Bloom was so distracted and bored. The clattering of dishes and pots and silverware was all that was heard other than Granny Smiths emotionless orders. 
After an hour or two, it was getting dark and Apple Bloom was getting tired. "Go to bed deary, I'll wake ya early enough to see the sun rise." Apple Bloom only nodded and yawned as she trekked up the stairs. Granny Smith looked outside and started going to the woods edge. 
Applejack sat at the edge of the woods, she stared tiredly up at the jagged trees and the dark entrance. The moon picked up and only made the darkness seem darker. The tops of the trees didn't even glow under the moons light. She stared at the line that separated the fresh grass of the farm and the dead grass of the woods. 
She could see the eyes staring back at her, watching her every move. She could see the plants and creatures move around in the dark. She saw a scorpions tail, a chickens head, a long body she had no idea what could be apart of, a timber wolves form-
She could name just about any creature she saw, until she saw a pony. She stepped back in shock, why would a pony be in those woods? After what happened to Scootaloo, no pony in Ponyville was supposed to be in those woods. That's when she saw something with scales on it's back. 
Of course, she thought, they ain't from Ponyville! Applejack chased after Twilight and her dragon friend. She couldn't think of a reason why she was following this pony to save her from the woods inhabitants. 
She felt the dirt she picked up hit her back hooves. She felt the eerie breeze and she heard the creatures snickering. She noticed that Twilight started running, clearly scared. She ran faster -not using logic- and turned the corner the path took her down. Jagged trees stared at her, watching her every move. Creatures lurked within bushes.
Her mind was running with fear, she picked up the pace just to get away. She was terrified, no longer focusing on Twilight. 
She ran through flowers, trampled them. The trees nicked her as she turned tight corners and she finally stopped and let out a yelp once one scratched her side. She fell to the ground and looked around for Twilight. Once she couldn't even see the figure of the pony, she looked at the trees, trying to see the moonlight through them-
Her heart stopped as she heard the snarl of a timber wolf, she froze in place and swallowed, her whole body was encased in sweat. She glanced over at her left, nothing, her right, nothing. She looked back at the sky, her body shaking as she heard the cracking and crunching of branches.
"TWILIGHT!" She yelled as she saw the timber wolf pounce-
It was shot away by a magenta ray of light, momentarily lighting up the woods. A dragon ran to her side to help her as Twilight fought off the timber wolves. 
"Are you okay?" Spike asked worriedly. He helped Applejack up as she nodded and she saw Twilight shoot a ray of light at another -and the last- timber wolf.  A beeping was heard somewhere and she looked around. 
She raised her head left, it wasn't from that way. She raised her head right and once she heard it was from that way, she walked closer to Twilight. Until she walked past Twilight and heard it wasn't as strong, she turned to Twilight as the beeping stopped. 
"You ate something mechanical or somethin'?" Applejack asked and Twilight couldn't help but laugh as Spike lit up a lantern with a smile. Then, he noticed the scratch on her side. 
"You're hurt!" Spike yelled and pointed at the scratch, Applejack simply rolled her eyes as Twilight seemed shocked and worried as well. 
"I take it you really are from Canterlot, look, it's fine. I've seen worse," Applejack smiled and dusted off her hooves. "Uh, t-thanks by the way." She looked around and her eyes were wide with horror. 
Trees had holes that made them look like faces with hand-like branches. She saw crows fighting over a worm, along with vampire fruit bats drinking from apples she could tell were from her farm. On the ground were red-eyed animals viciously fighting. In the sky over head they heard haunting squawks.
The ground and trees looked dead, like they didn't listen to the sun. The trail was dirt with dead grass bordering it. Everything was unsaturated and darker, Applejack got a shiver up her spine. 
"U-uh, hey partner, w-w-why don't we l-leave already," Applejack stammered and backed up closer to Spike and Twilight. "B-before we, uh, y-ya know," she stared up at the trees, she swallowed. "Get eaten alive!" She jumped up and tried running off, but something kept hold on her tail and she turned to see the end of it encased in a magenta aura. 
"These woods aren't creepy and you definitely aren't going to get eaten alive," Twilight smiled. Then her expression fell, "I know your friend got lost in these woods, but she just got lost. These woods don't eat ponies, the creatures here can't really kill ponies." 
Applejack turned away, she knew it was true, she just didn't want to believe it. "I need your help," Twilights voice pierced the silence. She turned to the robot who let go of her tail. She didn't run.
"What do ya need?" Applejack asked, feeling as if she had a debt to her. 
"I need you to help me stop Nightmare Moon," Twilight said seriously and Applejack just turned and stared at her like she was a madmare. 
"Are you crazy!? That's an old ponies tale!" Applejack exclaimed, throwing her hoof to pick up some of the dirt and make her cough. "If these woods ain't dangerous, then your Nightmare Moon don't exist."
"Please, Applejack," Twilight pressed, her expression softening. "We need you to break her free, and I have a feeling you know these woods."
Applejack stared at her, the leaves of the dead trees rustling in the breeze that hit the woods. She finally shook her head, which deflated Twilight and Spike's happy spirits. "Fine, but only cause I wanna see what the mare in the moon looks like," Applejack grumped. 
Twilight stared in shock, "You know Nightmare Moon is the mare in the moon?" 
Applejack looked at her like she was an idiot. "Any pony who likes myths and has some common sense knows that. Though I didn't really make the connection till your book said so." Applejack trotted past her. "So, what'cha lookin' for?" 
Twilight was still caught off-guard, she shook her head and chased after Applejack. "Oh, um, the Two Sisters Castle. Apparently its near a -"
"A rickety bridge," Applejack sighed. "I know." 
The two walked in silence until Applejack and Spike stooped dead in their tracks. Twilight just chuckled. "Don't tell me you're scared too, Spike." 
"Uh, maybe she should see this, Twilight." Spike pointed at a spot behind a set of trees, hiding any light from the area. Twilight smirked as she looked, then she froze. Two big teal eyes stared back at them. 
"Who are you?" A soft voice asked.