> Suddenly, a Filly!
>  by Pomfiance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Being a Filly is Tough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~~*


Hey, you’re finally here! Where are you, you ask? This is your lucid dream state. I’m here to talk to you about something important. It basically boils down to life. Mainly the three stages of life. There’s the “filly,” the “adult,” and the “over the hill.” Now most ponies believe that the “Adult” stage is the most important, because that’s when you’re fully aware of your actions, but I strongly disagree. Being a filly is supposed to be the best time in a pony’s life. Times that you can look back on and sigh about. You don’t have a tiring day to day job, you get to go outside and play with your friends, and you get to help shape one another to become better ponies. Now this is true for every filly, but one. A certain lavender filly with a special talent for magic. Yes you. Now it’s not that you had a bad fillyhood, but you missed a very important time in your life. Spending all your time focused on books and studying can really change who a pony is or who they could have been. That’s why I’m helping you by giving you back that time. By the look on your face you’re wondering how right? I could tell you, but you wouldn’t remember anyway, just like how you won’t remember having this dream either. Who am I? Maybe in time, you’ll figure it out. In fact, I’m sure you will. For now, let’s just say that I’m…

“TWILIGHT! Get up already; it’s almost nine in the morning!”

“Huh? What?” Twilight said blearily as the sun filtered through the window, finding its way directly to her eyes, driving out any chances of getting more sleep. Sorry, not here right now, sleeping. Come back later, she thought, turning over away from the celestial beams. It was about three more seconds until she processed what the sleep shattering noise actually meant and bolted upright.

“What time is it? Spike! Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” She yelled frantically trying to get out of bed, but just ended up getting tangled in the sheets and falling in a writhing heap on the floor.

“Jeez Twilight, I thought you’d be up already,” said the slightly annoyed #1 assistant as he came up the stairs. “I have breakfast finished downstairs already, and your checklist is waiting to be checked.”

When he noticed the sheet monster flopping around on the ground, his expression turned from annoyed to concerned in an instant. “Twilight, are you alright? You haven’t gotten tangled in the sheets since you were a filly, and that was because you overslept and was almost late for class.”

The monster paused, and then let out a sigh, slumping down slightly. “Yea I’m fine; I’ll be down in a sec, I’m still a bit tired.”

Spike turned around and while walking back downstairs, he called “Take as much time as you need. You’ve been studying so hard, you sound kinda sick. In fact, I’ll bring up the food and your list, so you can get back into bed.”

Twilight sighed and stuck her head outside of her lavender sheets and looked around. Her room was a small clutter of parchment, books, and quills all strewn across the floor, only clearing where Spike made a trail from his bed to the door, and where Twilight had flailed, creating a pony-angel. She giggled at the sight for a moment, then climbed back into bed and hid under the sheets right as Spike came back armed with pancakes and her checklist; a dangerous combination for somepony like Twilight to wield.

Spike paused to look around their room. “Twilight, when’s the last time you cleaned your side of the room? It’s starting to get harder and harder to walk around without tripping over a book, or stepping on a quill. You know how sharp those things are?” complained Spike as he made his way cautiously through the wasteland of the floor, trying not to spill any syrup on the books.

“It’s on my checklist today Spike, Item 3 I believe.” Spike raised an eyebrow at the talking lump in the sheets but she couldn’t see the gesture. “Besides, this is your room too, why do you always wait for me to clean my side of the room to clean yours?”

In truth it was because he always pushed his mess from his side of the room to Twilight’s side because she never noticed and she would clean it up for him, but he wasn’t about to let her know that yet, so he came up with, “B-because it’s so boring doing it alone.” 

Slightly under-confident with his own answer, he stopped at Twilight's bedside table to push off some stray quills and parchment. “I’ll just put it on your desk here and let you eat in peace. I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”

“Thanks Spike, I’ll be Ok for now,” came her muffled reply. Satisfied, he made his careful trek back and quietly closed the door.

Twilight stayed under the covers for a few more minutes, trying to salvage a few more minutes of precious sleep, but all too soon a growling stomach thwarted her efforts.

“Spike sometimes your cooking is too good,” grumbled the hungry unicorn as she sat up out of the covers. Still rubbing her eyes against the bright sunlight, she reached over to the right, trying to access her table and pick up the pancake plate, but came extremely short and fell off the bed once again. “What in the world?” she said aloud.

“Spike! Did you move my desk farther away when you left?” yelled a dizzy, but relatively Ok Twilight.

Footsteps echoed off the walls as Spike began to walk up the stairs. “No I don’t think so, why? And what was that thump sound I heard?” Spike called.

Twilight looked from her desk to her bed, and saw a bigger gap than she was used to seeing. “Its fine I just fell, and are you sure you didn’t move it? There seems to be a substantially bigger space between my bed and the desk,” she called back over her shoulder.

By the time she finished analyzing the misplacement of her furniture, Spike had made it to the top of the stairs and opened the door. “No I’m sure that I-I-I-” he stammered. “T-T-Twilight? I-is that you?”

Twilight turned around and gave him a quizzical look. “What are you talking about Spike? Of course it’s me. Shouldn’t you know how I look by now?” 

Spike could only stare for a few more seconds before concerned, Twilight asked, “Spike what’s wrong?”

Running purely on autopilot, he walked across the room, picked up a full-body mirror, and walked back to her, only 
squeaking out a small “look.”

“Spike when did you get bigger…?” She started only to trail off. Only then did she notice that she didn’t look like she normally did. Well she did look like she should, if she was back in magic kindergarten.

“What happened?” She slowly looked herself up and down. She raised a hoof.

So did the filly Twilight.

I can only think of one good thing to do right now. Faint.


*~~~~~*


When Twilight finally came back around, she noticed Spike had not only put her back in bed, but also cleaned up most of the floor, leaving it bare and walkable. She also noticed that he was staring at her from his basket on the floor with his knees to his chest, his expression unreadable.

“Spike? What happened?” she squeaked, noticing that her voice was a few pitches higher than it normally was, and the ground was a lot closer than it should have been. “Am I really…?”

All she could make out was a small nod from the otherwise petrified dragon.

“Ok, let’s think rationally about this. First we figure out what we know right?” No reply. She looked down at her bed post and started to think. “First, I’m a filly. I think that means I’m back to around the age of six right? Second… Well… Spike what else do we know?” She looked over to Spike’s basket, but found him staring at her face to face, his eyes scanning her face.

“AHHH,” she squeaked, falling off the other side of the bed for the third time that day.

“Spike! You know better than to sneak up on me,” she scolded, rubbing her now bruising shoulder.

But Spike wasn’t listening. He just stared at her over the bed, as if his gaze would change her back to her original age.

She was about to tell him off and say that staring at ponies was rude, but a small rumbling from her stomach drove the thoughts away.

“Spike I’m still hungwy!” She gasped and tried again. “Hun-gwy.”

The speech impediment seemed to break him out of his stupor, and before Twilight could utter her second “Hungwy” he raced downstairs, came back up with a daisy sandwich, put it on the bed in front of her, and then walked to the other side of the bed.

“Thanks Spike! That was really fast.” She looked up at the sandwich and noticed it was cut into four equal triangles, just like how she would eat it when she was filly. “You even cut it just the way I like it!” Then she thought about it. “Liked it.”

Spike just gave a weak chuckle, breaking from his silence. “Hurry up and eat already Twilight, I thought you were hungwy.”

Twilight looked away and started to mumble something along the lines of “accident,” and “not my fault,” shuffling her front hooves, wearing a small blush on her face, while she tried to use magic to lift the sandwich, only to raise it a few centimeters off the plate before becoming exhausted.

“What’s wrong… with my… magic?” she panted, sitting on her haunches.

Spike came around and looked at the solid lavender mare. Wait a minute… he thought. Solid… Suddenly, he shouted, “Cutie mark!” making Twilight jump a foot into the air with another squeak.

“S-Spike would you quit doing tha- wait what did you say?” Twilight looked down at her flank and there was no break in the sea of lavender. Not one mark to be found. “How is that possible?” She wondered aloud.

“Well you do remember how you got it right?” Spike asked cautiously, as if he was trying not to set off a bomb.

Twilight snapped her head up and replied, “Of course I do! It was when I was accepted into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! How could I forget that!”

Spike shrugged. "I dunno. How'd you go to sleep fine one day and then, poof! Suddenly, a filly the next?"

"That's what I was trying to figure out before-" she cut off as gave her another warning growl that she translated to, feed me, or I’ll be very, VERY, upset. 

“Oops” she said embarrassed. She stood up on her back hooves and tried to pick up the sandwich from the top of the bed with her front hooves, only for them to slip back onto the plate. “Um,” She stepped down and looked over to Spike sheepishly and said, “Could you give me a claw?”

Letting out a slightly stronger chuckle, he picked it up was about to hand it to her but stopped as an idea came to him. A smile lit up his face and he started to wave the slice around saying “Choo choo, make way for the Equestrian Express!”

Rolling her eyes, she gave an impatient, “Hurry up! I’m still hungwy.”


*~~~~~*


After finishing her lunch, Twilight decided to go downstairs and see if books could solve her problems like they always did. Good old books, she thought looking over the library. She noticed that, even with her late start today, the library was still spotless, and the books were all in order. I’ll thank Spike later. Walking toward the first shelf, she browsed the books before coming to the conclusion that she had no idea of what she was looking for.

“Spike! We didn’t finish making a list of what we know!” she yelled, wondering where Spike had gone after taking her leftover food back to the kitchen.

“Well I have the paper and quill right here if you want to start on it,” came Spike voice, much closer than Twilight expected, making her jump, nearly knocking down some of the books from the shelf.

“Spike, this better not become a habit,” she said gritting her teeth as she turned to face him.

Spike couldn’t contain his laughter when he saw her expression. She had her cheeks puffed out and had her eyebrows knotted in childish anger with a cute frown on her face.

“Twilight, I know you’re trying to be angry with me right now, but that is the cutest angry expression I’ve ever seen, and Rarity’s pretty cute let me tell ya,” he said in between fits of small giggles.

“Come on Spike this is serious!” She said still frowning. “I’ve already gone over the first one. Do you remember it?” He nodded, and started writing. “Good. Now the second thing we know is that I don’t have a cutie mark.” She paused to let him finish writing before continuing. “Third, I have weakened magic which is probably due to my age. Fourth, I seem to have some old embarrassing speech impediments that I thought I overcame a long time ago. I think that covers the basics right?” Another nod from behind the parchment. “Good. Now we just have to look for these conditions and cross-reference them to see if there was a problem like this somewhere else. I would find out if the cause was because of magic, but I’m kinda limited on power right now. So for now, we search by hoof.”

She looked around the library again noticing the sheer size of it in her now very small body. Her tiny shoulders slumped slightly and she gave a small sigh. “This might take a while.”


*~~~~~*


Over the next week, Twilight tried her hardest to help to Spike without magic. First, she tried to re shelve the books she used to look for a cure back to their spot, but she couldn’t reach past the second shelf, and she had to hurry upstairs whenever somepony came to check out, or turn in a book, so she couldn’t use a ladder. Then, she tried to dust the library, but the feather duster only made her sneeze, and when she sneezed, she was propelled a few feet backwards, sometimes knocking down some books that Spike would always have to clean up for her. In the end, she settled for making just her bed every day, reading the select books Spike had gotten for her, staying out of the kitchen, and making the daily checklist, and she was very proud of it. Nothing could stop her! She was invincible! ...Except when the quill she was using ran out of ink, and the inkwell was too high up, or if she ran out of paper and Spike wasn’t around to help her get more. Other than that, she felt like she could take on the world of literature! She would usually stand on a stool and overlook her beautiful paper kingdom with her blanket tied around her neck like a cape flowing in the wind. At least she used to do this before Spike noticed once and asked her why she was just standing on top of the stool instead of reading the books he got for her. She felt so embarrassed by her actual intent that she wouldn’t tell him, so he just assumed she couldn’t get down and she didn’t want to bother him for help. So now, she would only do it at times that she was sure he wasn’t around.

The hardest part wasn’t her height issues, or the magic issues. It was the avoiding her friends. She never really knew how much they visited until she was trying to not to see them. 

But they sure do visit more than I would have expected, she thought one day as she heard another one of Spikes generic responses of why she couldn’t see them today. At first it would be a sparse visit or two but they became increasingly frequent as the days went by. This time around, it was the 4th visit today, and they were only becoming more and more frequent, and although Spike couldn’t notice it, Twilight detected hints of worry in their later responses that she was sure wasn’t there the first time they asked, and she wanted to reassure them. 

That can come later, after I fix things, she thought as Spike left on his errand. Twilight had to wait until Spike was gone before trying her new spell that she made, mostly because it wasn’t the safest spell for a filly her age. Or a filly that was her age. So she had sent Spike on an errand that would most likely last for an hour, which gave Twilight plenty of time to try it out.

“This is it,” she said aloud to no one in particular as she walked to the center of the library. She sparked up her horn and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get as much energy as possible into the spell. “Come on, come on,” she muttered as her horn grew brighter and brighter. Suddenly, a bright flash of light that could be seen throughout all of Ponyville shone brightly for a few seconds before flickering out. The only one that didn't seem to notice the extremely bright light was a small purple and green dragon that had just saw his crush Rarity, and had made a dash towards a nearby fountain to check his reflection. When he looked back up however, his crush was gone, and when he looked around, she was nowhere in sight. Aww man, he thought as he slowly trudged his way to the market for his errand.


*~~~~~*


Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all rushed to the library as fast as they could, which was where they had all seen the bright flash of light. When they finally all met at the front door, they all nodded to each other and made an unspoken agreement to find out what was really going on. With that Applejack lifted a hoof to knock on the door.
> Excuses
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~~*


A knocking sound brought Twilight back to her senses.

“Hello? Anypony home?”

Twilight slowly cracked her eyes open and looked around. Uh… My head… What was that? The library looked as if nothing had happened to it, if not a little cleaner from the blast of air. She was lying with her belly to the floor, legs splayed in all four directions and her cape draped over her head. Shaking it off, she got to her hooves and looked over to the nearby mirror she placed close by for if she succeeded. Or she would have liked to, if she was a few feet taller.

It didn’t work! She silently fumed as she plopped down on her haunches, pouting childishly. All that studying for a spell that didn’t even work!

The knocking once again resounded throughout the library. “Hello? Twilight? Are you in? It’s us.”

This time, Twilight heard them and straightened up, eyes shrinking to pinpricks. No! Not now! I can’t even make it upstairs in time! She thought as she frantically looked around for a hiding place. She spotted a nearby couch and dove towards it, wedging herself behind it uncomfortably and shifted it a little to let herself curl up.

“Twilight dear, we’re coming in!” came Rarity’s voice as the door swung open. Twilight could hear five sets of hooves walk to the center of the library, right where she had been moments before.

“Well, where is she?” She heard Rainbow Dash ask from her hiding spot.

From the center of the library, they all looked around the room in confusion, sure that their friend would have greeted them by now.

“Well, she must be around here somewhere.” Fluttershy looked around. “I just hope that big flash of light wasn’t bad,” Fluttershy replied, a hint of worry in her voice.

“Maybe she’s playing hide-n-go seek! That flash was just her hiding!” Pinkie Pie shouted with her usual grin. Twilight heard a set of hooves bounce over to a bookshelf on the opposite side of the library.

“Well then ah guess we better get lookin’,” Applejack said as she trotted over to one of the libraries back rooms.

Rainbow Dash’s stomach growled and her face lit up with an idea. “I’ll go look in the kitchen!” she shouted and from, Twilight’s vantage point, saw a blur of cyan and rainbow colors streak towards the room night next to her couch.

Right before Applejack walked into the room, she looked back over to the kitchen and called out, “If Ah go in there and yall’s lookin’ through her fridge, yall’s gonna get smacked in the back of the head!”

Just as she was turning back around, Applejack noticed a bit of Twilight’s “cape” sticking out from behind the couch next to the door. Applejack raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Why would Twilight leave her blanket in a place like that? She wondered as she started to walk towards it.

Right before she checked it out, she took a glance into the kitchen to see just what she expected to see. Rainbow Dash was shifting through Twilight’s fridge. Applejack sighed in frustration. Of all thickheaded… She was about to go in there and give her a nice trophy between the ears and a stern talking to, but stopped dead in her tracks when she bumped into the corner of the couch. This would have been fine, had the couch not made a small, panicked squeak. A squeak?  Applejack walked over to the side and looked behind the couch to see a small lavender blob curled up in the corner under Twilight’s blanket with her hooves over her eyes.

“Twilight, is that you?” she asked with confusion, making the blob jumped up and hit its head on the wall with another squeak before looking up at her.

Oh no! “O-oh u-um I-I’m-” Twilight managed to stutter out before being interrupted by a pink blur that seemed to come out of the back of the couch.

“I know who you are!” Pinkie exclaimed as she pulled Twilight into a hug.

“You do?” Applejack questioned. Twilight looked just as confused.

“Duh! You’re a new pony! And you know what that means!” she said bouncing excitedly.

Applejack just looked at her and asked, “If she’s a new pony, wouldn’t she not know what that means?”

Pinkie’s ears drooped a bit while she looked from Applejack to Twilight. When her gaze stopped on Twilight, she asked with big eyes, “DO you know what that means?” 

Twilight just shook her head meekly, hoping that Applejack was too distracted to see through her lie.

Pinkie face brightened up with a smile and after putting Twilight down, jumped up and shouted, “It means a party!” When she came back down, she was already a flurry of words. “First, I need to know your name, because if I didn’t, then I wouldn’t know whose name to put on the welcome banner, and if I didn’t know whose name to put on the welcome banner, then nopony would know who to welcome, and if nopony knew who to welcome, then-”

Applejack slid her to the side out of the way, letting her ramble to the side of the couch for the time being and turned back to Twilight, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Speakin’ of names, who are you, and what are you doin’ hidin’ behind Twilight’s couch?”

Twilight shifted her hoofs nervously. “W-well I-” she started again before being cut off by a shout from another room.

“Have you found Twilight yet darling?” Twilight heard Rarity ask from across the room. Hearing the commotion from Pinkie Pie and Applejack, her and the rest of the five friends made their way back to the couch. 

Silently Twilight sighed in relief for the distraction, hoping it would give her time to come up with an explanation.

Applejack looked over her shoulder and called out, “Ah found somepony,” turning her attention back to Twilight.

“Whu wiz dat?” Rainbow said through a mouthful of salad when she got a good look at Twilight, who was trying her hardest to make herself smaller under her cape from all the attention.

Applejack shook her head and retorted with a glare, “Ah just asked that when your fat flank interrupted her with yer mouthful of food.”

Rainbow was about to argue, when Fluttershy went in between the two and shot a worried look at the cowering filly, misreading why she was nervous. “Girls, you’re scaring her.” She looked back at her and smiled, spreading her wings, making them all step back from the couch, including Pinkie, who was now talking about Gummy’s favorite punch. 

“It’s Ok, you can come out of there now,” Fluttershy said soothingly lowering her wings.

Twilight looked up nervously, and Fluttershy gave her an encouraging smile. Slowly, she walked out and sat so they all could see her. The others came closer and gave her their full attention.

“Now, would you please tell us who you are?” Fluttershy started with a smile, but then added, “If that’s alright with you of course.”

Throughout the whole scene, Twilight had been thinking of several possible scenarios that she could go through, each more childish than the last. Wait, she thought. Childish… She suddenly came up with a nearly foolproof plan.

“W-well my name is Twilight Twinkle,” she stuttered out, trying not to sound as nervous as she looked. “I-I’m Twilight’s little sister.”

Pinkie Pie, finally coming back to real world to hear that bit, burst out, “I didn’t know that Twilight had a little sister!” and started to bounce in place excitedly.

Rainbow Dash looked a bit skeptical. “When did she get a little sister? How many more siblings is she hiding from us?” She said, after finally polishing off the last of the salad she took.

“Well darling, the dear must live in Canterlot. Would you talk about a brother or sister often if you nearly never saw them?” Rarity said, flipping her mane. “I, for one wouldn’t mention Sweetie Belle, because it would just make me miss her more.” She added sighing a bit dramatically.

“I guess that makes sense,” Fluttershy added, rubbing her hoof against her cheek in thought.

Applejack didn't look quite as convinced. “Ah don’t know, she could've at least mentioned yer name once or twice,” she said looking to Rainbow for backup.

Right as Rainbow opened her mouth; Spike finally came back from his errand, holding a box marked with “stepladder” in both arms, blocking his view of the library.

“Hey Twi’, I got that ladder you wanted! Where do you want me to put it anyway?” he called, walking right in, not seeing the other five ponies in the room.

Pinkie Pie bounced over to him and shouted, “Hi Spike!” Making him jump up and yelp in surprise, throw the box in the air, resulting in him getting squashed when it came back down.

Before he could even twitch, Pinkie pushed the box off of him, “Twilight isn’t here silly, but her sister is! Why didn’t you ever tell us she had a sister? And by the way, that’s a stepladder. There’s a difference.” She said with a giggle.

Spike looked up at her with a confused expression. “Sister? Twilight doesn’t have a sister. She has a-” He looked around to see the other four ponies surrounding Twilight, and realized what he let slip. “Whoops,” he said covering his mouth, giving a nervous smile.

“Oh. Um, I’ll just be going now,” he said quickly, jumping up and running out the door before any of them could stop him.

When the door closed, all the ponies turned back to nervously sweating Twilight.

“So Twilight Twinkle what do you have to say for yourself?” Applejack said eyeing the filly sternly.

Twilight looked around at her friends, taking in their shocked, and in Applejacks case, angry, expressions, and then lowered her head. “I’m sowy.” She murmured.

Applejack, being hardened from Apple Bloom’s puppy dog eyes, shook her head and said, “that don’t excuse you from lying Twi’. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

With every word said, Twilight sunk lower and lowers to the ground until she was lying on her belly, feeling guiltier and guiltier with each word.

“Yea, egghead! What did you think we were going to do when we found out? Yell?” Rainbow Dash yelled, hovering beside her.

“It’s like you didn’t trust us,” Applejack continued scolding, standing on her other side.

“I-I just I-I-” was all she could choke out before her feelings overwhelmed her and burst into tears.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash immediately stopped and looked at each other with wide eyes before looking back at the crying filly.

Before they could even utter a single syllable, Fluttershy came in between the two and Twilight, and pushed them back roughly.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves!” Fluttershy scolded the two while Pinkie Pie jumped back to pull Twilight into a huge hug with Rarity, trying to calm her down.

“But ‘Shy, she was-” Applejack tried to say before being cut off.

“Just because she looks like a filly, does not mean that she should be treated like one. She's still our friend!” Fluttershy ended with a not so intimidating hoof stomp.

Applejack folded her ears and looked down, trying to look as sorry as she could for Fluttershy. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was slowly inching away from the two, trying to avoid being yelled at altogether. Before she could make it any farther however a blue force stopped her in her tracks.

“Rainbow, shouldn’t you also know better? You of all ponies should understand why one would make up silly stories to cover up something you don’t want known.” Rarity said knowingly, moving her back towards Applejack.

Fluttershy looked at both of them for a moment, before deciding what she could do.

“Applejack and Rainbow Dash, apologize this instant!” She said sternly.

The two looked at each other and sighed. Neither one of them had ever liked this part, nor was it easier now.

“Ah’m sorry Twilight. I shouldn’t have gone off on ya like that.” Applejack said, saying the truth in every word. Rainbow on the other hand was being a bit difficult.

“Uh… yea! What she said!” She said, hoping this could pass of. Apologizing is so not cool, She thought with a roll of her eyes, before looking up at Fluttershy glare and freezing. Sighing, she reluctantly looked down and said, “Sorry Twilight. I guess I wasn’t thinking.” She looked to Fluttershy for approval and sighed, this time in relief, when Fluttershy nodded.

“Good,” Fluttershy said, satisfied. She looked over at Twilight, who was still sniffling a bit. “It’s Ok,” she said soothingly before starting to sing a lullaby to calm her down.


Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed.


While Fluttershy was singing, Twilight sniffling finally quieted down and her eyes drooped lower and lower, until she was snoring quietly, fast asleep.

Pinkie Pie looked at her with big eyes, “She looks sooooo cute!”  She whispered, putting her hoofs to the side of her face.

“Yes,” Rarity agreed then turned to the others. “And now that we have that settled, what are we going to do about Twilight?” Rarity asked quietly, now holding the sleeping Twilight in her arms.

“Well I’m guessing that Spike has his claws full with her. He is a baby dragon after all.” Pinkie Pie said looking back from Twilight.

“Ah agree, he’s too young to be caring for a filly.” Applejack nodded, thinking about how hard taking care of Apple Bloom was.

“We could all take turns caring for her, if that’s ok with you girls.” Fluttershy added going back to her shy demeanor.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rainbow Dash bust out, before being shushed harshly. She continued quietly, “I don’t know how to take care of a kid,” she said looking between them.

“Sugarcube, we weren’t askin’ you,” Applejack whispered to her with a small smile on her face and a roll of her eyes. “We were talkin’ to the better half of the ponies here.”

“Oh, Ok. Good.” Rainbow said, so relieved she didn’t have to take care of Twilight that she missed the insult.

Rarity rolled her eyes at the two and turned to Fluttershy. “That’s a wonderful idea darling.” Turning to Pinkie Pie she asked, “Will you able to do it along with babysitting the Cake’s children?”

Pinkie Pie thought about it for as long as she thought about other things. So really, she immediately nodded her head with a “Yup!” accidently shouting too loud, waking up Twilight.

They all looked at her as she slowly sat up in Rarity’s arms and gave a little yawn, stretching out her hooves with a squeak. She looked around with drowsy eyes and noticed all her friends were looking at her, frozen in place.

“What’s going on?” She asked sleepily, rubbing her eye with a hoof.

“Oh, um, sorry we woke you. We were just about to come up with a way for us all to take care of you. We were just about to come up with the schedule.” Fluttershy said, breaking out of her trance.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she shook her head vigorously. “Nonononono, it’s completely fine you guys! Me and Spike have it all under controwl.”

Rainbow snickered. “Yea, all under controwl. Got it.”

Twilight glared at her, before looking at Fluttershy with puppy dog eyes. “Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash is being a big meanie!”

“Rainbow, stop being mean to Twilight,” Fluttershy scolded at her before looking back at Twilight. “Twilight we all already agreed to help out, and we won’t take no for an answer, right girls?” she said firmly receiving a chorus of “right.”

Twilight sighed in defeat, but suddenly perked up. “You said something about schedule right?” They all nodded. Smiling wider, she said, “Ok girls, I’ll let you do this on one condition. I get to make the schedule!”

Rainbow Dash snorted at the familiarity. “Such an egghead.” She muttered under her breath.

Twilight looked at her and stuck out her tongue, before looking back at the others with a grin.

“Of course darling.” Rarity said with a smile. “We’ll start tomorrow!” She paused, looking around. “But first, we need to find Spike.”


> A Day With Her Friends (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~~*


It had taken a while, but after searching most of Ponyville, Twilight and the others found Spike hiding out behind the library. After Twilight coaxed him out and convinced him that he wasn’t in trouble, they all went inside to help Twilight with her schedule. With a bit of discussion they decided to have Fluttershy watch her first, while Pinkie Pie insisted on caring for her next, that being her day off. When they finally finished planning, they left Twilight to get things sorted out in the library before she left. After an uneventful night, Twilight was anxiously waiting by the door the next day, waiting for Fluttershy to arrive.

“Spike, you’re sure that you’ll be Ok taking care of the library while I’m gone?” Twilight called.

Spike looked out from the kitchen and rolled his eyes irritably. “For the last time Twilight, yes! Seriously, what else do I do around here?”

Sighing, Twilight looked down and shuffled her hooves. “I know Spike, I’m just a little anxious-”

“About me taking care of everything by myself,” Spike finished as he walked over to Twilight with his arms folded, getting a bit huffy. “We went over this with the girls.” He narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you trust me?”

Twilight’s eyes widened and she tried to backtrack. “Nonononono, I didn’t mean it like that, I pwomise!” she said waving her hooves frantically.

Spike hid his smirk behind his claw and snickered out, “Do you Pinkie pwomise?” Twilight frowned as he snickered, and was about to lecture him about diction, when a timid, but firm voice spoke from behind.

“Now Spike, what did we say about making fun of Twilight?”

Spike’s snickering immediately stopped and his pupils shrunk to pinpricks, looking over Twilight’s shoulder. “Oh, w-well look at my wrist, I need to go take my gems out of the oven!” He stuttered out before running back into the kitchen.

Twilight turned around and grinned. “Hi Fluttershy!” She said, hugging her foreleg. Fluttershy returned the embrace with a smile. “Hello Twilight! Did you get everything ready?”

“Yup!” Twilight chirped with a nod. She looked back over her shoulder and called, “Bye Spike!” before following Fluttershy outside.

They passed through town strangely without seeing anypony, not that Twilight was looking over her shoulder constantly to make sure or anything. After they passed the city limits, and Twilight was sure they were out of view; she turned to Fluttershy with a smile. “What are we going to be doing exactly?”

Fluttershy looked ahead as she thought for a moment. “Oh um, we’re just going to feed my animals, then have a small picnic that Mr. Bear set up for us.” She looked back at Twilight suddenly with a sheepish look on her face. “If that’s Ok with you,” she added quietly.

Twilight smiled brightly. “Of course that’s Ok Fluttershy!”

When they got to her cottage, the door suddenly opened and there stood Angel Bunny, staring angrily at Fluttershy. He pointed to Twilight and then back to himself, then irritably hopped back inside. Twilight looked back to Fluttershy in confusion. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked, tilting her head.

Fluttershy frowned and shook her head.  “No, Angel just gets very jealous.”

When they walked in, the house was already buzzing with life. Birds were sitting on perches and singing, while squirrels and mice scampered around.

Twilight trotted over to the center of the room and turned to Fluttershy with a determined smile. “Ok Fluttershy, who do we feed first?” she asked.

Fluttershy gave her some acorns and pointed to a group of squirrels. Twilight studied them in her hoof for a second. “So I just give it to them right?” she asked. After Fluttershy nodded, Twilight turned back to the squirrels with a determined look and slowly made her way towards them. Stopping a few feet from them, she smiled nervously at them, and held the acorns out. They looked from her to the acorns before jumping over, grabbing their spoils with squeaks of appreciation, then scampering off.

The rest day went by with both Fluttershy and Twilight handing lunches to the critters, receiving squeaks and tweets of gratitude. All except for one anyway.

“Ow!” Twilight shouted, whirling around to find Angel hopping to Fluttershy, giving Twilight a smug look.

Rubbing her head where the carrot hit, she picked the carrot up and walked over to the front door where Fluttershy was giving Angel another carrot.

“Fluttershy, I don’t think Angel likes me very much. He hit me with his carrot!” Twilight complained with a pout, dropping the carrot at her feet.

Fluttershy gave Angel a stern look. “Angel we talked about this last week. You do not throw food at other ponies!” she said in a firm voice.

He gave her a ‘yeah right’ look, and hopped away, munching on his carrot.

Fluttershy sighed in Angel’s direction before turning to Twilight, giving her an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry about him. He’s always cranky when other ponies are around.” She said with a shuffle of her hoofs.

Twilight smiled in understanding before look around. “Well either way, that seems to be all of them,” she commented watching all the critters enjoy their meals.

“Oh my!!”

Twilight nearly flew with the birds in surprise. “What?! What!?”

“Oh Twilight, I almost forgot! We need to feed my reptile and amphibious friends too.” She said, looking outside worriedly.

Twilight stopped at the entrance when she heard what they needed to feed, her eyes widening. “Reptiles?” she said with a hint of nervousness in her voice. “That includes snakes right?” Twilight gulped. “I-I don’t think I can do that.” She said, backing her way into the cottage. “As much as I love helping with the animals, I think I’m gonna sit this one out.”

Fluttershy looked at her in concern. “Will you be fine here by yourself?” Twilight nodded hastily, jumping at the chance to avoid getting near snakes. Fluttershy looked at her for a moment before nodding at her. “Ok, I’ll try to be back as fast as I can,” she assured her before trotting away.

Twilight shut the door behind her and then went to see if she could try to talk to Angel without being a target. She was met with the carrot she left for him, sailing just above her head. After staring down Angel for a few minutes to make sure he didn’t throw anything else at her, Twilight heard a knocking from the front door. I wonder who that could be. Trotting her way over to the entrance, she opened the door to see Rainbow Dash, who was nothing less than surprised. “Twi? What are you doing here? Where’s Fluttershy?” she said, peering past Twilight into the cottage.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Do you remember anything that we went over yesterday, or did you forget after falling asleep?”

Rainbow only gave her a look. 

Sighing, Twilight explained where Fluttershy was and why she was there, receiving an ‘Oh right, I knew that!’ from Rainbow.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “So why are you here?”

Rainbow waved her hoof offhandedly. “Just some awesome stuff.”

This time it was Twilight’s turn to stare.

“Fine,” Rainbow conceded after a few moments. “Fluttershy usually watches me try out some new tricks every week,” she stated nonchalantly looking at her hoofs, “and-”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Oh, oh can I watch?!” she pleaded, jumping up and down with a bubble of excitement and a big grin on her face.

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, averting her eyes with a small frown. “I don’t know…” she started, looking back at Twilight before being stopped by an old enemy.

The puppy dog eyes.

Rainbow didn’t stand a chance. “Fine.” She said, rolling her eyes with a fond smile.

“Yay!” Twilight shouted happily before running inside.

Rainbow peered inside the cottage, confused. “What are you doing now?” Rainbow called out to her.

“I’m writing a note to Fluttershy, so when she comes back and gets worried that I’m not there, she won’t panic too much.” Twilight called back from the inside. Coming back out, she pinned the note on the door and turned to face Rainbow Dash. “Ready!” she smiled.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Come on egghead,” she said as she started walking, an excited filly in tow.

The walk to the clearing was fairly short, with both not having much to say. When they arrived, Rainbow showed her where Fluttershy usually sat. Once Twilight got settled, Rainbow took off, warming up with her usual tricks and loops. When Twilight’s excited cheering reached her ears, she smirked and started to do more difficult tricks, trying to do tricks worthy of cheering, doing all but the sonic rainboom.

“You've gotten so much better!” Twilight remarked when Rainbow finally came down. "It looks so cool from down here."

Embarrassed but clearly pleased, Rainbow puffed out her chest and flared her wings. “It was pretty cool.” She looked up to the sky and came up with an awesome idea. “You wanna try and see it first hoof?”

Twilight was stunned for a moment before looking like she might burst. “You mean fly with you? Can you do that?”

Rainbow nodded and gave her trademark grin, then bent down for Twilight to jump onto her back, letting her lying down between her wings. “Hold on tight!” Rainbow warned, barely giving Twilight a second to grab onto her neck before she kicked off, the wind clawing through their manes as Rainbow flew higher and higher, the sparse clouds whipping past them like falling stones.

“Better get ready!” Rainbow shouted. Though Twilight barely heard her, she tightened her grip on Rainbow’s neck and squeezed her eyes shut as they started to go faster. Leveling out after a while, Rainbow called back, “C’mon Twilight, open your eyes, you’re going to miss it! I know you have them closed right now!” she said as they slowed down to a hover. It was then Twilight slowly opened her eyes and let out a gasp to rival Pinkie Pie’s. The view Rainbow had gotten them to was breathtaking. The sun was sinking into the horizon; casting an array of orange, red, and pink glows to a few stray clouds, making the world below it look almost dreamlike.

Twilight slowly sat up straighter as she took in the scene with wide and amazed eyes before finding her voice again. “This! Is! So! Awesome!” Twilight shouted, throwing her hooves in the air with an ecstatic laugh.

Rainbow turned her head with a smirk. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Slowly, she descended, touching the ground right when the sun completely disappeared.

Twilight looked around for a moment before snuggling into Rainbow's mane.

"Um, what are you doing?" Rainbow asked with a small blush on her face, trying to look back at Twilight.

Twilight's grip tightened. "I'm, uh, tired! Yea, and I can't walk yet. So I'm gonna stay here."

"Really?" Rainbow asked. She felt Twilight nod.

Sighing, Rainbow made her way back to Fluttershy’s cottage, careful not to shake her passenger. Just like the trip before, the walk back to the cottage was silent for the most part. When it came into view, Rainbow saw Fluttershy walking in and out of the door, as if debating if she should leave or not. Rolling her eyes at her overly protective friend, Rainbow continued to make her way towards her. When Fluttershy saw the pair, she looked as if she almost passed out with relief.

“Thank goodness you’re back! I was about to go looking for you two,” Fluttershy exclaimed, fluttering over to the two.

Hearing Fluttershy’s voice, Twilight popped her head out from Rainbow’s mane with an apologetic look and jumped onto the ground in front of Fluttershy. “We sorta lost track of time.” She said sheepishly, shuffling her hooves.

When Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash with a stern glare, Rainbow shrank back a little. “Uh, yea sorry ‘shy,” she said with an equally sheepish grin.

Fluttershy’s glare softened. “It’s Ok you two, just as long as you’re safe.” She added with a smile.

“Of course!” Rainbow said with a confident look, until her stomach growled. “Ehehe,” she chuckled, a small blush coming to her cheeks.

“Oh, would you like to come in and eat?” Fluttershy asked politely. “I’ve made plenty of food.”

“Yea Rainbow, come eat-” Twilight started before her stomach growled too.

“Oh, you poor thing! You must be starving!” Fluttershy exclaimed, scooping her up and carrying her inside to the kitchen, instantly forgetting Rainbow outside. “Hey! What about me?” Rainbow Dash shouted indignantly from the door before giving up and sighing, following them to the kitchen.

As they ate, Twilight told Fluttershy all about Rainbow’s cool tricks and how awesome flying was after. When Fluttershy asked the mare herself, she just shrugged and kept eating. After they finished, Fluttershy shooed them both to the living room while she did the dishes. They both sat on opposite ends of the couch, Rainbow nodding off, and Twilight giggling at the bobbing mare. Soon after, Fluttershy trotted over to the two and turned to Rainbow.

“Would you mind watching Twilight while I take care of the nocturnal animals? It will probably take all night, and I don’t want to leave Twilight alone again. I already have beds set up for you both.” She said in a slight hurry.

Rainbow snapped out of the daze and looked at her in confusion. “Wha?”

“Yay! A sleepover!” Twilight shouted joyfully, jumping over to Rainbow.

“Thanks Rainbow,” Fluttershy said with a grin while she walked away.

“Wait, I didn’t agree to this!” Rainbow frantically called to her retreating figure, but it was too late; the mare had already closed the door behind her.

“What do you want to do first?” Twilight asked with an excited gleam in her eyes.

Rainbow looked over at her before yawning in reply.

“Aww c’mon!” Twilight complained, dropping her smile and throwing her hooves in the air.

“Alright, alright, I was just messin’ with ya.” She rolled her eyes, poking Twilight’s side.

“Eep!” Twilight exclaimed before unconsciously retreating a bit further into the couch.

Rainbow froze, before giving Twilight a sinister grin. “Twilight Sparkle, are you ticklish?” she asked with a bit of teasing in her tone. Twilight blushed and rapidly shook her head with wide eyes, pulling a couch pillow over her stomach. Rainbow Dash, however, didn’t look convinced. “Oh really? Then you wouldn’t mind if I did… This!” Rainbow suddenly lunged forward, jabbing at Twilight’s exposed sides.

“N-no! Ha-ha, c-cut it out!” Twilight gasped out, squirming off of the couch. Rainbow dove after her, barely giving her a moments rest before attacking again. After a few minutes of nonstop tickle terror, Twilight could take no more. “I s-surrender! N-no m-more!” Twilight wheezed in-between fits of giggles. Rainbow gave one last poke before going over to lie down on her makeshift bed, hoofs behind her head and a trace of a small smile still on her face. Twilight made her way to hers and plopped down, exhaustion threatening to take her. Rainbow looked thoughtful for a minute or two before looking over at Twilight with a nervous expression.

“Hey Twi, can I ask you something?”

Twilight looked over to where Rainbow was lying in confusion. “Sure, I guess.”

Rainbow seemed to struggle with her next words. “Have you ever had a sister?” she finally asked.

“A Sister?” Twilight looked at her quizzically, not expecting that in the least. “No, why?”

Rainbow rolled around but couldn’t bring herself to face her. “I was kinda wondering……maybe if…..I could be…”

Twilight leaned forward, straining to hear in vain. “I’m sorry, I thought I was talking to Rainbow Dash, not Fluttershy,” she teased with a smile.

Rainbow folded her ears back in embarrassment with a pout, but tried again. “It’s just, I’ve never had a sister before, and I was kinda thinking that if you want I could be yours, ‘cause I know you’d-”she got out before being cut off by a purple missile.

Twilight hugged Rainbow tightly and snuggled into her side and sighed. “I’ve always wanted a big sister,” she murmured before the day events finally caught up with her, her eyes closing as she fell asleep. Rainbow blinked at her then glanced around to make sure Fluttershy was still gone before looking back to Twilight. With a gentle smile, she nuzzled Twilight back and softly whispered, “You‘d be an awesome one.”

Curling around Twilight, Rainbow put her head down and soon started to snore softly, breathing in rhythm with her new little sister. It was some time later when Fluttershy came in and quietly put a small blanket over the two and gave them both a kiss on the forehead.

“Goodnight.” She whispered, closing the door softly behind her.


*~~~~~*

> A Day With Her Friends (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~~*


Rainbow Dash woke up the next day to a small tugging in her wing. Opening her eyes, she slowly shifted her head to look down at her torso and couldn’t help but smile. Twilight was curled up under her wing, using it as a blanket while holding her own tail like a pillow. 

Rainbow Dash watched her for a short while until a soft click broke her thoughts. She looked up to see Fluttershy lying on the couch with a breakfast tray beside her, staring at the pair with a grin.

“F-Fluttershy, when did you get here?” Rainbow whispered her face turning beet red.

“Oh, it was just a few minutes ago,” she said with a wave of her hoof. “I came in with some food, because I knew you’d be hungry when you woke up, but since you two looked SO adorable, I just couldn’t bring myself to wake you,” she said giggling while inconspicuously putting something under her wing. “I’ll just leave it here for you.” Keeping her wing tightly furled, she slipped off the couch and made her way upstairs.

Rainbow sighed and looked over to the sleeping filly that hadn’t moved and started nuzzling her. “Hey Twi, wake up, Fluttershy made us some food.”

Twilight muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘don’t wanna’, and rolled into Rainbow’s stomach, burying her face into the soft fur.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and furled her wing, exposing Twilight to the sun that was flittering through the windows. “Rise and shine,” she said, grinning while watching Twilight fight a losing battle as she scrunched up her face at the bright light.

“Fine, I’m up.” She grumbled, pushing herself into a sitting position, trying to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. Before she could complain about being woken up, the smell of fresh pancakes hit her like a bucket of water and all of her exhaustion vanished. Stomach growling, she spun around, searching for the source wildly before she spotted the spongy goodness on the couch and pounced, aiming to kill, only to be stopped midair by a pair of hooves around her midsection.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on!” Rainbow chuckled, putting the squirming Twilight down. “It’s not going anywhere.” Twilight smiled sheepishly before Rainbow’s own stomach started to growl. Laughing, they both trotted over and demolished the breakfast and made their way outside to where Fluttershy was finishing up her morning chores.

“Good morning girls! Did you sleep well?” Fluttershy asked, smiling knowingly at Rainbow.

Rainbow turned her head and avoided her gaze while Twilight answered, “the best I’ve slept all week!”

Before Fluttershy could say anything else, Rainbow bent down and started to nudge Twilight along. “C’mon, let’s not keep Pinkie waiting; you know how she can get.” She turned back to Fluttershy to say a farewell, but she was already gone. Shrugging, she caught up to Twilight, who had kept walking without her, both failing to notice the small clicking noise from behind.


*~~~~~*


Halfway to Sugarcube Corner, they saw Pinkie lying down on the side of the road, crying an unnatural amount of tears. After watching her for a few seconds in confusion, Rainbow muttered, “I’ll let you handle this,” and flew off, leaving her signature rainbow trail in her wake.

“Wait!” Twilight called before looking back to Pinkie nervously. She slowly inched closer before sitting down beside her. “What’s wrong Pinkie?” she asked with a frown.

Pinkie looked up with a watery smile before pouncing on the small filly, knocking her off her hoofs. “You’re here!” She shouted, all traces of tears vanishing. “I got here a few hours ago, but you weren’t here so I waited, but then you still didn’t show up, so I got worried because you’re usually never late, and so I started thinking, ‘why isn’t Twilight here yet?’ and then I thought ‘she must have a good reason’, and then that got me thinking, ‘why wouldn’t Twilight show up?’ and then I thought, ‘she must not want me to take care of her’ and that made me sad, but then you showed up, and that made me happy, so are you ready to go?” she finished with a giant grin.

Before Twilight could even nod, Pinkie suddenly grabbed her hoof, swung her across her back, and galloped into town with Twilight holding on for dear life. Twilight shut her eyes for only a moment from the speed and then the next moment, it was over. They were inside the kitchen of Sugarcube corner and Twilight was lying on the floor with Pinkie lying next to her.

Getting up slowly and a bit hesitantly, Twilight turned to Pinkie. “What are we going to be doing?”

Pinkie looked at her with a vacant expression. “Doing?”

Twilight stared at her incredulously. “You don’t have anything planned?”

“Weeeell…” Pinkie looked around. “Oh, oh, I know!” Pinkie burst out excitedly. “Let’s bake!”

“Bake?” Twilight chuckled nervously. “Pinkie, I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

Pinkie looked at her quizzically. “Why not? It’s the best thing to do when I have nothing planned. Plus, it’s fun!”

Twilight fiddled her hooves. “Well, I’ve never had to actually make anything more complex than a sandwich.” She sighed, and looked down. “After the incident where I cracked a metal pot and melted my stove, Spike hasn’t let me even attempt to cook.” She sighed again. “He only lets me neatly assemble food, or politely order food when we eat out.”

Pinkie stared at her for a few seconds before breaking into a wide grin. “Well what better time to learn than now!”

Twilight still seemed unsure. “B-but, what if I mess up your kitchen? You and the Cakes wouldn’t be able to make your confections, and then you’d all be out of a job, and it would be all my fault, and-”

Pinkie Pie put a hoof over the panicking filly. “Twilight, it’ll fine. Besides, I’ll be helping you.”

“Y-you sure?”

Pinkie straightened up. “I Pinkie Promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Twilight still looked apprehensive, but couldn’t deny that Pinkie would never break her promise. Taking a deep breath, she said “Ok, what will I learn first then?” Pinkie immediately shouted, ‘cupcakes!’ from behind, making her jump. Why does everypony like doing that? Turning around she asked, “Cupcakes? Are you sure?”

“Yup!” Pinkie smiled. “It’s easy!”


♪ All you’ve got to do is take a cup of flour, ♪
♪ Add it to the mix! ♪
♪ Now just take a little something sweet, not sour, ♪
♪ A bit of salt, just a pinch! ♪
♪ Baking these treats is such a cinch, ♪
♪Add a teaspoon of vanilla! ♪
♪ Add a little more, and you count to four, ♪
♪ And you never get your fill-a! ♪
♪ Cupcakes! So sweet and tasty! ♪
♪ Cupcakes! Don’t be too hasty! ♪
♪ Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes! ♪


She turned back to Twilight who had just moved off to the side while she sung. “Now your turn!”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Just like that? No other instructions?” Pinkie shook her head. “If you say so.” She walked over to the ingredients, listing them off under her breath. It was her first time, and she was going to do it right!


10 Minutes Later…


Beeeeeeeeep! Beeeeeeeeep! Beeeeeeeeep! Beeeeeeeeep!

The smoke alarm forced Twilight to turn away from the icing she was carefully making and look towards the oven, where a millimeter width of smoke was slowly trailing away. She quickly leapt over the bowl of batter she had meant to clean, skirted around a puddle of vanilla, and dashed to the oven, grabbing a pair of oven mitts from the counter on her way. Opening the oven, she quickly extracted the confections and put them down next to her while she fanned the remaining smoke from the oven.

“Oh no, I ruined everything!” she said in between fans. “I’m so sorry Pinkie, it’s all my fault, I just don’t know what went wrong-”

“Twilight its fine! Look,” she started to eat the slightly burnt cupcakes. “See? They taste fine! You’re just overreacting,” she said with a smile.

“But they’re burnt!” Twilight looked at Pinkie like she was crazy.

“So?” Pinkie shrugged. “You just have to always look on the bright side of life!”

“Like?” Twilight prodded. “What’s worse than burning cupcakes while the ‘Queen of Cupcakes’ is watching?”

Pinkie thought for a moment. “You could have made ‘baked bads’ while the ‘Queen of Cupcakes’ was helping you.”

Twilight looked for a way to argue, but came up short so Pinkie continued. “Besides, you can just try again! Isn’t that what you do with your magic spells?”

“I guess, but-” Twilight started only to get another hoof to the mouth.

“No more arguing! I’ll help you this time!”


20 Minutes Later…


Twilight couldn't believe her eyes! There, sitting in front of her were a batch of perfectly made cupcakes. There were no sirens, no fires. There wasn't even a smoke alarm going off this time.

“Pinkie I did it!” Twilight exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly, pointing at the cupcakes. “Look Pinkie! Look!”

Pinkie just smiled and nodded every time Twilight pointed out each of her cupcakes. Around the ninth cupcake, a tiny flash of light from the window caught her attention. Before she could investigate, Twilight asked if she wanted to try one, which drowned out any thoughts of the flash faster than the cupcakes Twilight had just made.


*~~~~~*


I wonder what I’ll do with Rarity, Twilight thought as she left Sugarcube corner the next day. She was too busy thinking of the different scenarios that she didn’t notice the soft, fuchsia-colored wall until she hit it.

“Why hello, I’ve never seen you before! Who might you be?” asked the wall.

Walls aren’t supposed to talk. She looked up to see Cheerilee smiling down at her. Uh oh.

Eyes widening, she scrambled backwards, trying to distance herself from the schoolteacher. “O-oh, sorry about that. I’m Twilight Twinkle. I’m here from Canterlot visiting my sister.” Twilight glanced back to the Carousel Boutique before looking back to Cheerilee. “I need to get going, so I’ll just get out of your way. Sorry for bumping into you.”

Cheerilee frowned. “But why aren’t you getting ready for school?”

Twilight looked taken aback. “S-school? B-but I've already finished Magic Kindergarten!”

Cheerilee stared at her for a moment before shaking her head and laughing. “No, nothing like that! It’s more or less only the basics!” She put her hoof on her chin and thought for a moment. “If you’ve already been to Magic Kindergarten, then I guess you wouldn’t need to come to a lower level class. Unless…” She looked back to Twilight. “Would you like to be my assistant?”

“An assistant?” Twilight was ecstatic. “Really? I can help teach?”

Cheerilee laughed again. “Of course! I’m sure you’re very bright, and I could use some help on the last week of school.”

Twilight was nearly bouncing on the spot. “Ok!”

They both trotted away, chatting about lesson plans and behavior issues, leaving The Carousel Boutique all but forgotten in the distance.

> New Student
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	If you haven't read the changed ending for the last chapter, you should do that first.


*~~~~~*


Rarity was not having a good morning. She had woken up for the second time that week to another one of Sweetie Belle’s…“delicious” breakfasts. Then, when rushing downstairs to put out whatever Sweetie had made, she grabbed the nearest piece of cloth without looking at it and had gotten halfway through putting out the stove before realizing it was part of an ensemble for a very important client. Usually, those were the things she could get over after a few minutes of tea. What had REALLY ruined her morning was that for the first time, she had forgotten to say ‘Have a wonderful time at school’ to Sweetie Belle! Out of all the worst possible things, that had to be the worst possible thing! she thought as she walked towards one of her mannequins in the boutique.   “At least Twilight is coming over to take my mind of things,” she thought aloud, stealing a glance out of the window. “In fact, she should be here any minute.” She looked back to her workroom with a frown. “And it still looks like a Sweeticane blew through here! I must hurry or Twilight might offer to organize my things again, and I won’t find anything for weeks!”


*~~~~~*


Twilight watched from beside Cheerilee’s desk as the students started to trickle in. When the class was nearly full, she heard a chorus of gasps, followed by three sets of hoofs galloping towards her. Before she could turn to see what the noises came from, a fuchsia hoof pulled her aside just as three fillies crashed into the side of the desk where she had been standing, all shouting to try and get their point across.

“Who’s that?”

“What’s her name?”

“Get off me!”

Cheerilee sighed and shook her head with a ghost of a smile as they untangled themselves and formed a semicircle around Twilight. “Girls, I know you’re excited, but you’re all going to have to sit down before I can start introductions.” Grudgingly, they all went back to their seats without taking their eyes off her as the bell rang.

She gave Twilight an encouraging smile before looking back to the class. “Good morning, Class!”

“Good morning, Miss Cheerilee,” the class chanted back.

“Now I’m sure you’re all wondering who this is,” She said, gesturing to Twilight. “Her name is Twilight Twinkle and she’s going to be my assistant for today.” At once the room was filled with curious whispers about the new filly, making Twilight shrink back.

A filly with a small tiara raised her hoof and without waiting to be called on, shouted, “Why does she get to be an assistant while we all have to do work?”

The other students paused in their conversations to nod in agreement towards the filly. Twilight turned towards Cheerilee frowning, but was surprised to see that Cheerilee’s patient smile never faded. “Well Diamond Tiara, I chose her to be my assistant based on her experience and knowledge. On the way here, I thought I’d quiz her on what she already knew, and all of her answers were perfect! I’ve never seen a filly quite like her before.” Cheerilee smiled and gestured towards Twilight. Twilight turned away, her face flushing from the praise.

Diamond Tiara still didn’t look convinced. “Oh yea? Then…” She turned to look at Twilight. “What’s the square root of five hundred and forty-six?”

Twilight perked her ears. She turned to face the filly, closing her eyes. “The square root of five hundred and forty-six is twenty-three point three six six six four two eight nine one zero nine.”

The class looked back to Cheerilee who, after a few seconds, finished working it out on the chalkboard. “That’s correct.” She said with a knowing smile.

Twilight grinned. I’ve still got it. She opened her eyes and looked around the room, a slight tint appearing on her cheeks from the awed stares of the students.

Cheerilee cleared her throat. “Well, now that we have that settled, let’s get started with today’s lesson!”


*~~~~~*


“And… There!”

Rarity took a step back to admire her work, sighing in relief as she looked around the now organized workroom. The fabrics were rolled up and stacked neatly beside her workbench, and all of her needles were organized by size. She had even gotten around to rolling up all of her spare thread that she had dumped into a drawer after Sweetie Belle had tangled them. “It’s so clean, it’s sparkling!” Her proud grin suddenly fell as something clicked in her mind and she looked around the room again. “But there’s one Sparkle missing.” She checked the wall clock. “I wonder what’s keeping her,” she said looking down with a small frown. She shrugged it off and walked over to the front door. “Well… Since I’m finished here I might as well pick her up myself.”


*~~~~~*


Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing

“Recess!”

“Alright!”

“C’mon, let’s go!”

The restless class stampeded out into the schoolyard, leaving Twilight and Cheerilee to pick up the stray paper and pencils that were hiding under the desks before class started again.

“That was so exhausting!” Twilight groaned, picking up a pencil. “Ow do oo do ith?”

Cheerilee shook her head and chuckled as she picked stray papers. “It took awhile to get used to, but teaching’s what I love to do.” Putting them on her desk, she looked over to Twilight and grinned. “I think you did well.”

Twilight blushed and tucked the pencil behind her ear. “Thanks, but I didn’t really have to do much.”

“But you helped a lot!” Cheerilee exclaimed, “The children all loved you!”

Scoffing, Twilight looked out of the window and pointed to Diamond Tiara. “What about her?”

Cheerilee looked out into the field where she was pointing and sighed. “I don’t think Diamond Tiara can tolerate anypony other than Silver Spoon and her father.” She looked back at Twilight, only to find her staring wistfully at the children. Knowing that look all too well, she smiled. “You know, I think I can handle you the rest. You go on outside and have fun.”

Twilight looked up at her with wide eyes. “Are you sure?”

Cheerilee nodded. “But be careful.”

“I will!” Twilight promised. She ran to the door and looked back. “Thanks Cheerilee!”

Cheerilee motioned with her hoof. “Go on then!”

Twilight flashed a grateful smile before running outside.


*~~~~~*


“What do you mean she left hours ago!?”

This day was turning out to be much worse than she expected.

Pinkie shrugged, putting more icing on her cupcakes. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Why didn’t you walk with her to make sure she actually made it to my Boutique!?” Rarity said crossly with a stomp of her hoof.

Pinkie shrugged, not looking up from her work, “She’s still a grown mare. Well sorta. She can walk around by herself,” Pinkie said, finishing off the rest of the cupcake before turning back to Rarity. “Besides, my Pinkie Sense hasn’t done anything funky-unky, so I’m sure she’s fine.”

“W-well… It was still irresponsible of you! I have no idea where she is!” There was a loud thud as Rarity dropped her head onto the counter. “My day is ruined!”

Pinkie giggled at the sight. “No it’s not silly!”

“Yes it is,” came Rarity’s muffled reply.

“Cheer up! You can tell Auntie Pinkie Pie aaaall about it, and it’ll make you feel better!” Pinkie said, wrapping her arm around Rarity. “Start from the beginning.”


*~~~~~*


“Hey Twilight! Over here!”

Twilight turned her head and saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle waving her over from the swing set. Twilight smiled as she started to walk towards them, until another voice called out from behind her.

“You don’t want to go with those blank flanks!”

She saw the three filly’s faces morph into frowns before turning around to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walking towards her.

“Blank flanks?” Twilight asked suspiciously as they stopped beside her.

“Yea, we’re much better company than blank flanks.” She said with a scoff, turning up her nose. “Those losers are the laughing stocks of school. Since you just got here, you’d want to keep whatever reputation you still have.” She looked at Twilight with a smirk. “I can help you there.”

Twilight looked from the apprehensive stares of the three fillies to Diamond Tiara’s hoof. “I’m sure that my reputation will be fine with them, thank you. Maybe it'll be even better,” Twilight replied coolly.

Diamond Tiara dropped her hoof with a disbelieving snort. “Suit yourself, blank flank. I guess you’re not as smart as I thought.” She turned, flicking the pencil from behind Twilight’s ear with her tail before trotting away with Silver Spoon in tow.

Twilight stuck out her tongue at the retreating figures and gave little huff. If only it was that easy to get rid of those kinds of ponies when I was still a filly. She turned around and almost bumped into Sweetie Belle, who had tears welling up in her eyes and a wobbly smile. She swept Twilight into a tight hug along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, the pegasus filly struggling against their embrace.

“You stood up for us!” Sweetie Belle said, her voice squeaking.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “I couldn’t have just sat there and let her say those things about you.” Not like… Never mind.

Apple Bloom tightened her grip, breaking into her thoughts. “That musta been nicest thing anypony’s ever done for us!” she said with a big grin on her face.

“Yea yea, enough with the sappy stuff already.” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes, already given up trying from their grip and was just sitting stiffly. “We had something to ask her remember?”

“Right!” They all took a step back.

“You may or may not have heard, but we’re the founders of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Scootaloo exclaimed with a proud stance. ”We’ve been looking for new members, and you look like the perfect candidate. Not having a cutie mark and all.” Scootaloo pointed to her flank.

“Plus, you’re really nice!” Sweetie Belle added.

Although Twilight had suspected that this was going to happen, she hadn’t come up with a good enough reason to say no yet. “B-but I’m not even going to be here for that long! A week at most!” Twilight stammered out.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “That don’t matter one bit! As long as you’re crusadin’ for yer cutie mark, then you’ll still be a crusader! No matter what!”

“And you can start a… Where are you from?” Scootaloo asked sheepishly.

“Canterlot.”

“Right! A Canterlot branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Spread the word!”

Twilight shook her head. “But what if I find my cutie mark when I’m gone?”

Scootaloo shrugged. “Then you can help us find ours when you come to visit.”

Apple Bloom put out her hoof. “So, whaddya say?”

Twilight looked down at her hoof. There are so many things that could go wrong. I’ll have to tell them that there is no Twilight Twinkle. But… She looked back up and saw all three fillies looking hopefully at her. She sighed, smiling wearily. “Ok. I accept.” I guess it couldn’t hurt to humor them for the time being.


*~~~~~*


“And that’s how my day was ruined!” Rarity said dramatically, letting her head drop back onto the table.  They sat in silence for a few moments before Rarity turned to glare at Pinkie. “Well? Aren’t you going to say anything? No cheering up?”

Pinkie Pie shook her head and smiled. “Nope! I don’t need to!”

There was a jingling of a bell and Rarity turn her head a bit more to see Fluttershy trot in with a camera hanging around her neck. She raised her head from the table. “Fluttershy darling, what are you doing here?”

Fluttershy looked at Rarity’s flustered look and shrank back. “Oh, am I not supposed to be here? I stopped by your boutique, but you weren’t there. I’m sorry, I’ll just go-”

Rarity rolled her eyes and sighed, fixing her mane. “Nonsense, it was just a question.” She patted the seat next to her. “Come, sit with us.” As Fluttershy sat down, Rarity asked, “By the way, why do you have that camera? Tourist season doesn’t start until next month and it looks extremely tacky if you try to pull it off beforehoof.” She advised looking Fluttershy up and down.

Before Fluttershy could answer, Pinkie shouted, “I love guessing games!” She jumped off her seat and started to bounce around. “Are we gonna take pictures of animals!? Are we doing poses?! I know! We’re taking another group picture! Group picture, group mhmh!”

Rarity put a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth and looked to Fluttershy. “You were saying?”

Fluttershy looked down and started drawing little circles with her hoof. “Well, I’m starting to keep a scrapbook, but I only have few pictures so far.”

Rarity looked puzzled. “A scrapbook? Of what?”

“Well, it’s for-” Fluttershy started before the town clock chimed three times, causing Fluttershy to recoil against the ground.

“Three already? Oh how time flies. I must be off to pick up Sweetie Belle and then I’ll have to go find out where Twilight went off to.” She trotted to the door before looking back at Fluttershy. “Would you like to accompany me Fluttershy?”

“ Oh! I-If you’d like me to,” Fluttershy said, getting back up and trotting over to her. She turned around. “Bye Pinkie,” she called softly.

“See ya later alligator! Maybe we can take that group picture some other time!” Pinkie called after them going back to work.


*~~~~~*


Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing

“See you tomorrow everypony! Remember, it’s going the last day of school before your summer vacation!”

The students all filed out, chattering excitedly about how school was almost over, while Twilight trotted over to where the Cutie Mark Crusaders had huddled outside beside a sapling.

“Twilight! You’re just in time! We wanted to tell you about our Crusader sleepover after school tomorrow.” Scootaloo said excitedly. “We’re having it at Sweet Apple Acres.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Sleepover? Have you made sure it was alright with Applejack?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Of course! We’ve been planning this since last week, so we’ve all already asked for permission. Can you make it?”

Twilight nodded her head. “I don’t see why not.”

Sweetie Belle stood up. “I’ll see you later. I want to see if Rarity’s special guest is still around, and reminder her about the sleepover while she’s still in a good mood.”

Twilight froze. How could I have forgotten!? She looked to Sweetie Belle, smiling nervously. “I-I’ll go with you; the library is on the way to the boutique.” Hopefully Rarity won’t be too upset.

Sweetie Belle looked confused for a moment, but didn’t question her. “Alright Twilight” she said with a smile. They waved goodbye to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom before trotting away. Sweetie explained to Twilight all of the basic things for a Crusader sleepover, not mentioning a single thing that was in the book she used with Applejack and Rarity. She was about to ask if she could bring her book when a startled gasp sounded in front of her. Suddenly, everything in sight was white as she was pulled into a tight hug.

“Oh Twilight! Where have you been! I was worried sick!” Rarity held her at hoofs length, frowning. “Don’t you ever do that again young filly! Something could have happened to you, or worse, I could have gotten worry marks from just thinking about where you could have been!” she scolded.

Sweetie Belle looked from Twilight to Rarity looking completely lost. “You two know each other?”

“But of course I do! She’s Twilight Sp-” Rarity stopped short. “Twilight’s sister.”

Sweetie Belle looked to Twilight for a few moments, not noticing Rarity’s pause. “I guess that makes sense. She’s really smart.” She turned back to Rarity. “So how was your special guest?”

Rarity glanced at Twilight. “Well, it turns out she never came. I had no idea where she was.”

Twilight looked up at her sheepishly. “I got a bit sidetracked. I went to school and it was really fun!”

“She was your special guest and you didn’t tell me!?” Sweetie Belle complained. “I thought it was another client.”

“I would have told you it was a client Sweetie.” Rarity looked back to Twilight. “And you were at school? But whatever for?”

“I was the teacher’s assistant!” Twilight said happily. “I helped Cheerilee with her display board, and went around and checked to see if any of the students needed help!”

“Really?”

“Yea! Then Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle invited me to go to their sleepover!”

Rarity looked to Sweetie Belle. “And when did they decide that?”

“Since she became our newest member!” she said, pulling Twilight to her side. “We’re going to go straight to Sweet Apple Acres after school tomorrow remember!”

“I can go right?” Twilight asked apprehensively.

Rarity smiled and patted Twilight’s head with her hoof “I don’t see why not. What do you think Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy, who had been watching the whole exchange quietly, jumped at being addressed. She smiled and nodded.

“Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!” Twilight exclaimed giddily, jumping around them, not noticing the flash coming from Fluttershy’s direction.


*~~~~~*

> The Perks of Being A Filly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~~*



Riiiiiiiiing


“Goodbye everypony!~ Have a great summer vacation, and don’t forget to study!”

All the students cheered as soon as the bell had rung, drowning out most of Cheerilee’s farewell and had rushed out the door to enjoy their vacation. The Cutie Mark Crusaders also wasted no time sprinting towards where Applejack was waiting, nearly bowling her over.

“Where’s the fire?” Applejack asked with a small frown as she straightened her hat.

“Have to hurry and set up clubhouse!” Scootaloo said quickly. “Make sure to take Twilight over!” Then with the other crusaders, ran off leaving a bemused Applejack.

As they ran ahead, Twilight stepped out of the schoolhouse, thanking Cheerilee for the wonderful time she had. She looked around and saw Applejack waving her over. “Where’d the others go?” she said when she had made her way through the crowd.

Applejack pointed down the road towards a small cloud of dust in the distance. “They ran ahead ta set things up for whatever the hay you fillies are gonna be doin'.”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “Set things up?”

Applejack chuckled. “You know them; they’ll go all out for any little thing.”

“I guess so,” Twilight said uncertainly.

“Well, ain’t no use in standin’ round here wastin' daylight.” Applejack said, nudging Twilight along the road.


*~~~~~*


As Applejack and Twilight walked further into Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack watched Twilight’s nerves break little by little with growing concern. “Twi! Would ya calm down already?” Applejack said as Twilight nervously trotted behind her. “You’ll be fine!”

Twilight shook her head. “What if I blow my cover? The whole town would be talking about me! And then the princess will hear about it and-”

Applejack stopped abruptly, causing Twilight to bump into her. She turned around and looked at Twilight incredulously. “Hold on a sec. You mean you haven’t told the princess yet?”

Twilight shuffled her hooves. “W-well, I didn’t want to bother her, and we're getting closer to figuring out how to change back.”

Applejack gave her a stern look. “Really.”

“Y-yea,” Twilight said, her resolve faltering slightly. “Besides, it’d be useless for anypony to worry about small problems like this. Spike has it covered for now.”

Applejack didn’t budge. “Ya shore 'bout that?”

Twilight wilted under Applejack’s stare, shuffling her hooves. “I guess I just don't want the princess finding out about something as embarrassing as this.”

Applejack shook her head and continued walking down the path. “T’ain’t really any of my business whether or not you told the princess. Ta tell the truth, Ah shoulda expected it, since you always go crazy when something involves the princess-”

“Those times were all different!” Twilight interrupted loudly following Applejack, her cheeks flushing. “Besides, I’ll tell her one day, just not when I look like this.” Twilight thought about it for a few more seconds. “Maybe.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say.”

Twilight sighed and continued following Applejack down the path, before being stopped again by Applejack’s posterior.
“What is it this time?” Twilight asked irritably as she rubbed her cheek.

“This is as far as Ah can go without bein’ pelted with random stuff.” Applejack said simply.

“And why is that?”

“That’s why.” Applejack pointed to a sign hanging on the stairs of the clubhouse.

“No cutie marks beyond this point?” Twilight read aloud. “Wow! I haven’t seen one of these since my old book fort!”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, causing Twilight to blush. “I-I mean-”

Applejack put a hoof over her mouth, failing to cover her snicker. “It’s Ok sugarcube, Ah get it.”

Before Twilight could think up a suitable comeback, Apple Bloom opened the door and poked her head out. On spotting Twilight, she ducked back in, and shouted, “Send up the filly and back away slowly!”

“That’s yer cue.” She said, nudging Twilight and started heading back the path. “Ah’ll make sure to send Big Mac when dinner’s ready.”

Cautiously, Twilight made her way up the stairs and opened the door. As she walked inside, the first thing she noticed was the lack of furniture. The clubhouse seemed like it had been cleared out of its contents, other than a podium, and a half-made banner. The other thing she noticed was some very enthusiastic kazoo playing by Scootaloo. Wincing, she made her way to the center of the room and stared up at Sweetie Belle apprehensively.

“Twilight Tw-” Sweetie Belle started before Scootaloo interrupted with a final note from her kazoo.

“Twilight Twinkle,” Sweetie Belle started again after a pointed glare to Scootaloo. “We, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, call you to become a Cutie Mark Crusader.” She down at the paper and frowned, flipping it over. “That’s it?” She turned to Scootaloo. “Where’s the rest?”

“Well, um. That’s all we needed?” Scootaloo said sheepishly.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Ya had one job-”

“Ok, I’ll make it longer later, just get on with it.” Scootaloo said hurriedly, trying to divert their attention. She turned to Twilight. “Close your eyes.”

Twilight turned to Sweetie Belle and she nodded. As she closed her eyes, she heard the shuffling of hooves and the swishing of cloth, jumping slightly as something soft draped itself across her back.

“Now, open your eyes!”

Twilight opened her eyes and looked back to see an official red and gold Cutie Mark Crusader cape. “Wow! It’s beautiful!” She looked back at Sweetie Belle. “How many of these have you made?”

Sweetie Belle looked away. “Well… We kinda just asked Rarity to make another one yesterday, so until that’s finished, you can just wear mine.”

Twilight leaned over towards Sweetie Belle and sure enough, the ‘cape’ she was wearing was only a square of red cloth. She shook her head in disbelief and, before Sweetie Belle could protest, unhooked the cloth and slipped it on, while giving back Sweetie her cape. “I can’t just take your cape. I’ll wear this.” She ran her hoof through the red cloth. “Did you ask Rarity if you could use this?” Sweetie nodded her head quickly. “I appreciate the gesture.” She turned back to Scootaloo. “So what now?”

Scootaloo grinned with the other two crusaders. “I’m glad you asked.”


*~~~~~*


“Tree sap again? How does that even work?” Twilight groaned, trying once again to pry herself off the other three crusaders, the only thing going through her mind is how she was going to get messy and sticky sap out of her mane and coat. Again.

Scootaloo chucked, peeling herself off easily. “It happens a lot. You’ll get used to it sooner or later.” She looked down at her flank then frowning. “Darn. Anypony else get anything?” They all sounded off with different variations of 'no' and disappointed sighs.  “Well I guess that means we aren’t Cutie Mark Crusader Cloud Wranglers.”

As they cleaned themselves of, Twilight noticed the sun was nearly below the horizon. “It’s getting kind of late.”

Apple Bloom nodded getting the last out of the sap out of her mane. “That means Applejack must've already sent Big Mac to come get us.”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac said from behind as he came up the road.

“Well that answers that,” Twilight remarked, putting down her towel.

“Great, cause I’m starved! Apple family food is the best!” Scootaloo said, running over to Big Mac’s side then looking back grinning. “Come on girls!”

“Alright, keep yer wings on!” Apple Bloom teased, putting her bow back on. “The food ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

As they made their way towards the house Apple Bloom turned to Twilight. “Ya know, you never told us how that fancy school up in Canterlot was like.”

Twilight shrugged. “It’s kinda like any other school. You learn, get homework, and take tests. They’re just a bit harder than the ones over here.”

“I bet you had a lot of friends there!” Scootaloo said, bumping her lightly on the shoulder.

Twilight gave her a small smile. “Not really. I mostly kept to myself.”

They looked at her confused. “Why?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Twilight thought for a moment. “I guess I just… preferred it that way.”

“So… does that mean you’d prefer to not have us as friends?” Sweetie Belle asked, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that!” Twilight said quickly shaking her head, not wanting to upset them. “It’s just the ponies there weren’t as nice as they are here.” Twilight looked around at the crusaders with a smile. “I'm actually really glad I finally made friends.”

They all shared a smile before Scootaloo spotted the house and shouted, “Last one to the door has to sleep in the middle of the bed!” She raced ahead, the others following suite giggling and laughing, leaving behind a trail of dust as they ran across the cool ground.


*~~~~~*


“So what’s for dinner?” Scootaloo asked as they made their way to the dining room.  "I’m starving!”

“Now hold yer horses Scootalplum,” Granny Smith said from the table as they sat down. “It’ll be out in just a moment.” She turned to face Twilight. “Fer now, you can tell me about this here filly. Ah don’t think Ah’ve seen her around before, and she don’t look like one of ours.”

“My name is Twilight Twinkle.”

“Twilight Sprinkle?”

“No Granny,” Apple Bloom said with a roll of her eyes putting a hoof to her forehead. “Twilight Twinkle!”

“That’s what Ah said,” Granny Smith said with a wave of her hoof just as Applejack came out with a bowl of salad and some apples and set them on the table.

“The fritters and pie are still bakin’ so this’ll do fer now.” Applejack said, sitting down beside Twilight.

“Awesome!” Scootaloo said, shoveling a large portion of salad onto her plate. She looked up and saw the amused faces of everypony at the table. “W-what? I’m hungry!” She said with a blush. They all shared a laugh and started to eat.


*~~~~~*


After finishing dinner, they thanked Applejack for the meal and slowly went upstairs to Apple Bloom’s room.

“Man, I’m stuffed!” Scootaloo said, patting her stomach.

“That’s cause you nearly served yourself as much as Big Mac,” Apple Bloom said with a smirk.

“Did not!” Scootaloo said indignantly.

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

Before the cycle that never ends could continue, Applejack opened the door and poked her head inside, “Alright, y’all had enough fun fer one day. Time for y’all ta go ta bed.”

“But there’s so much more things to do at night! We can-”

“Go to bed,” Applejack finished with a smile.

Heads hung low in defeat, they slowly made their way into bed. Apple Bloom, as a final attempt, looked up at her sister with a pout. “Are ya shore we can’t-”

“Y’all will have plenty of time later,” Applejack interrupted as she went in and tucked the four fillies into bed. “’Sides, the more sleep ya get, the more energy y’all have to play tomorrow.” As she walked out, she blew out the candle that lit the room, plunging the room into darkness. “G’night,” she said before shutting the door.

After waiting a few minutes, Scootaloo whispered, “Hey, you girls asleep yet?”

“Ah’m not,” Apple Bloom whispered back, “You asleep yet?”

“If I was sleeping, how could I have asked if you were asleep?” Scootaloo said with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh. Right.” She said sheepishly.

Scootaloo shook her head. “So are you girls ready to get our cutie marks?”

“Right now?”

“No. Next week.” Scootaloo deadpanned.

“Why would we wait until next week?”

"Um, shouldn't we just go to sleep?" Twilight asked quietly.

“Aren't we sneaking out to get our cutie marks?” Sweetie Belle asked, not bothering to whisper.

“Scootaloo wants to get them next week.” Apple Bloom said raising her voice slightly.

“I do not want to get them next week! I was-”

“Did you say you wanted to get it next week?”

“No! Well yes… But not exactly-”

“You know we could just get it right now.”

“Ah want it now!”

“Me too!”

Suddenly, the door to the bedroom cracked open and Applejack’s head poked through. “Go ta sleep now!” she said sternly, causing the fillies to duck back under the covers until they heard the door close again.

“Ponyfeathers!” Scootaloo sighed under her breath getting out from under the covers. She looked to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle with an annoyed look. “Do either of you know how to whisper?”

“You weren’t exactly quiet yourself!” Apple Bloom retaliated.

“It doesn’t matter, we’re wasting time!”

“What are we even going to be doing?”

She waved for them to come closer. “I heard, that there’s a certain time every night, where the school turns into a huge tower! Wanna check it out?"

They gave her a blank look.

“What?”

“That’s one of the worst idea you’ve ever come up with.”

“Ok then, what’d you think we should do?”

“……We could stargaze.”

They looked over at Twilight in confusion.

“Stargaze?”

“Well, yea.  A long time ago, when Luna first started painting her stars in the sky, ponies used to make pictures out of some of the groups, and they stuck. Now, it’s a bit more scientific, but the constellations are still there. We wouldn't even have to sneak out to do either.”

"That actually doesn't sound too bad." Apple Bloom said.

"And not life threatening," Sweetie Belle added, sending a glance towards Scootaloo.

"Alright, we can stargaze." Scootaloo finally relented, but under her breath muttered, “I still think we should go check the school.”

Twilight rolled out of bed and trotted over to the window and looked up at the sky. “See? That one right there is the ‘Ursa Major’. It was said that this one was named after the animal ‘Ursa Major’. A pony family looking for a new place to settle were wandering in a dark forest. After a while, they lost their bearings and couldn’t find the way out. Then, out of nowhere, they saw the light of bright stars in the distance. Thinking that it was a break in the foliage above, they ran towards it. But as they ran, it only seemed to be moving farther and farther away. After a few minutes of chasing the stars through the forest, they almost lost hope. Suddenly, they were bathed in bright moonlight, have made their way out of the forest without even knowing. In the distance, they saw the constellation that they had been following on the back of a bear, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye. They looked up at the sky and saw the same constellation that they had been chasing. They decided to name it after the strange bear looking beast that had saved them from the forest. Now, scientists use it as a reference point for all the other constellations.” She finished with a smile.

“That’s really cool!” Sweetie Belle said coming up next to her and beaming at Twilight.

“Yea Twilight, yer a great storyteller!” Apple Bloom said smiling, joining her in front of the window with Scootaloo in tow.

“I guess that’s pretty cool,” Scootaloo said looking up at Ursa Major.

“Well there’s a lot more where that came from,” Twilight said with a smile looking back up at the sky and sighed happily. Maybe being a filly isn’t so bad after all.


*~~~~~*


“C’mon Twi! Time ta get up,” Applejack whispered, prodding Twilight in the side.

“Mmmmm….Few more minutes…” Twilight mumbled, swatting lazily at Applejack.

Applejack rolled her eyes and prodded again. “Up!”

Twilight shied away from the offending hoof and rolled over to the other edge of the bed, her eye’s opening a crack. “It’s not noon yet,” she groaned.

“Y’alls startin’ ta sound like Rainbow,” Applejack said with a smirk, walking back to the door. “Ah already have breakfast ready, so don’t go fallin’ back ta sleep. Everypony else already left.”

Applejack sat and watched Twilight slither sleepily from out of bed to go downstairs. Eventually Applejack followed the sleepy filly to the dining table and sat down watching her climb up into her chair, immediately resting her head on the table, looking longingly at the toasted daffodil sandwich that she could no longer magically move to her mouth. Slowly, she inched closer to the plate and nibbled feebly at the crust.

Applejack sighed at the sight. “Now stop bein’ lazy. Pick it up like a regular pony,” Applejack scolded.

Inch by inch, Twilight raised her head until it was hovering above her meal. Dragging her hooves the sandwich, she picked it up and took a bite.

“There! That’s more like it!” Applejack said frown morphing into a grin. “Tain’t so hard.”

It took a little longer than most meals, but Twilight managed to finish without falling asleep again. Applejack took the plate and waved her towards the door. “Go wait outside, Ah’ll just be a second.”

Twilight crawled back onto the floor and made her way to the porch, where she curled up and to get more sleep. Applejack came out a few minutes later and spotted the lavender ball off to the side. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Applejack walked over and tried to nudge Twilight into a standing position. “Come on! We ain’t got all day.”

Twilight suddenly latched on to Applejack’s leg, nearly causing her to fall over. “Can you carry me? I’m too tired to walk.” She said tiredly.

“Now hold on! You can walk just fine!” Applejack said, trying to pull out of Twilights grip.

“Please?” Twilight looked up and pouted.

Applejack sighed. “Fine. But only this one time.” She said, pulling Twilight onto her back, where she quickly curled up.

As they made their way to the library, Applejack looked back at her and asked, “What’s got you all tuckered out?”

Twilight yawned. “Just a bit worn out from yesterday.”

Applejack looked at her in amusement. “Worn out? Bein’ in the CMC too much for you ta handle?”

“You could say that,” Twilight said sleepily. “But I guess I’ll get used to it.”

“Used to it?” Applejack asked, confused.

“Yea. I probably won’t-” she yawned again. “Find a way to turn back for a long time, so I’ll have to get used to living like this.”

Applejack stopped. “Ya just givin’ up?”

Twilight shook her head sleepily. “I’m going to make the most of the situation. I’ve never had this kind of experience before…. It’s like the foalhood I never had.”

“So then what about Spike? He’s been working this whole time lookin’ for a way ta change you back.” Applejack said, voice growing more concerned with each word.

“He’ll understand…” She said, trailing off as she drifted off to sleep.

Applejack stood shocked. Ah have ta tell the others about this!


*~~~~~*


As she walked in, the rest of her friends were already gathered around, chatting idly about their plans for the summer. Walking upstairs quietly, she put Twilight onto her bed and as she went back down, she noticed all conversation had stopped and their attention was all on her, noticing her troubled look. She glanced back over her shoulder and sighed.

“Girls, Twilight doesn’t want to go back ta being normal.”

“What?!” They all said in chorus.

Applejack explained what she had learned the day before and what Twilight had said to her before falling asleep.

“So then what should we do?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“Ah think we should tell Celestia!” Applejack said with a stomp of her hoof. “Twilight might be fine and dandy with this, but it just don’t sit right with me.” She looked around at the rest of her friends expectantly.

Rarity was the first to speak. “I suppose we should. Celestia would know what would be best.”

“But what about Twilight? You heard what she said yourself! She said this was like the foalhood she never had! You’re just going to take that away from her?” Rainbow Dash said angrily, crossing her hooves.

“Well, nopony really knows what Celestia will do.” Fluttershy said louder than she usually would. “She might not do anything at all.”

“We should tell her, just to be safe.” Spike put in, quill and parchment already in claw. Sensing another outburst from Rainbow, he held out a claw to stop her. “We don’t have to tell her everything. Just that she’s a filly.”

Rainbow sat down on her haunches and crossed her hooves. “Fine, but if Twilight gets upset somehow, I wasn’t involved in this.”

Spike nodded, scribbling out the short letter. “Ok, that seems fair.” He held out the parchment to Rainbow. “Do you want to check it first, or should I go ahead and send it?”

Rainbow turned her body to face away from him. “Just send it already!”

Shrugging, Spike took a deep breath, and with a burst of green smoke, the letter was whisked away.

“How long do ya think it’ll take for Celestia ta answer?” Applejack asked as the remains of the green flames faded into the distance.

Spike put a claw to his chin. “Well, when it’s something like this, it’s usually right away, like when Twi-” Spike was cut short by a loud belch, followed by a scroll landing at his feet in a blast of green flames. “That was really fast! Let’s see…” He opened the scroll and read aloud. “I’m on my way.” He turned the scroll over. “That’s all there is.” He said showing it to everypony else.

“When’s she getting here then?!,” Rainbow asked impatiently.

As the words left her mouth, there was a flash of gold outside the library door, followed by three firm knocks.

“Ah got it,” Applejack said, walking towards the door. Taking the handle, she opened the door and on seeing who stood there, jumped back in shock. “P-princess Celestia!?”


*~~~~~*

> The Sun Tells A Story
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


*~~~~~*


"P-princess Celestia!?" Applejack stammered as Celestia purposely stepped into the library, prompting the others to kneel.

"There's no need to bow," Celestia said, motioning for them to stand back up as she scanned the library. "Where is Twilight?"

"She's takin' a nap upstairs." Applejack said, pointing towards the stairs, still a bit dazed from shock.

"A nap?" Celestia asked with a trace of an amused smile. "It's been so long since she's taken an actual nap. Does she still hold "The Advanced Theory of Magical Properties"?"

They all stared at her in disbelief before Pinkie recovered first, nodding. "Yup! It's sooooo cute!" she cooed, putter her hooves to her smiling face.

Celestia walked over to a table, waiting for the others to follow and gather around before sitting down.

Before Celestia could ask another question, Rainbow blurted out, "How'd you get here so fast!? And where's your guards?" she said nearly flying upwards in exclamation.

"I simply teleported." Celestia said lighting up her horn in emphasis, smiling. "As for my guards, I'm sure they'll be here shortly." Celestia looked towards the stairs again, her smile replaced by a small frown. "Now then; my guess is that this didn't just happen overnight."

Rarity shook her head. "No, I'm afraid she's been like this for nearly a month."

Celestia sighed, still staring at the stairs. "Do any of you know if she was going to inform me?"

Applejack nodded. "She said she might have told ya after she changed back."

A dejected look flashed across Celestia's face as she shook her head. "I... Thought as much."

Fluttershy took a hesitant step forward. "Um, Princess Celestia?"

Celestia turned to face Fluttershy, causing her to shrink back. "Yes Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy shuffled a hoof. "Well, um, if you don't mind me asking. Why exactly did you rush over to see Twilight?"

Celestia turned away, not meeting their curious stares. "I guess you might say for personal reasons."

"Personal? What kinda personal?" Applejack asked.

She looked back towards them, pausing a little before continuing. "Did Twilight ever tell you why she never made friends?" 

They all shook their head. "At first it wasn't at all by choice."

"But what's that got to do with Twilight now, and you having a personal reason to see her?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Celestia gave them a sad smile. "It's because of what happened to her that will lead to those reasons. It started quite some time before she came here."


*~~~~~*


"Twilight Sparkle! Are you paying attention?"

Twilight looked up from her book to find herself face to face with an annoyed Mrs. Rosemary as the rest of the students around her snickered.

"O-oh um-" Twilight stuttered with a small blush on her face, but Mrs. Rosemary cut her off.

"Of course you weren't! This is the third time this week that I've had to address you directly. One more and I'll have to give you a demerit! Do I make myself clear?"

"Y-yes ma'am" Twilight said meekly.

"Good." Mrs. Rosemary said with a huff before turning back towards the board. "Now, as I was saying..."

After a few minutes of listening to material she'd read weeks ago, Twilight felt something hit the back of her head. She looked back and noticed a paper ball, and the pink filly behind her looking conspicuously nonchalant. As she turned back around, she felt another weak blow on the back of her head, followed by a soft "psst". Twilight turned around to the pink filly to see that she was levitating a paper ball to bounce off her head while the teacher wasn't looking. The filly pointed at it, and motioned for her to open it. Confused, but curious, she picked it up with her hoof and started to unravel it. Before she could finish, it was suddenly snatched away by magic. Horrified, she looked up to see Mrs. Rosemary levitating the note in front of the class.

"Passing notes now? Let's see what is so important that couldn't wait until class was over." Mrs. Rosemary cleared her throat. "'Can you help me with my magic? I can't even get a spark, and I don't want the other students picking on me anymore.'" Mrs. Rosemary looked down at her with an unsympathetic frown. "There is a time and place for such requests Twilight, and class time is not one of them. Also, I would recommend a private tutor for problems like that, not a student."

"But-" Twilight cried before Mrs. Rosemary cut her off.

"That is enough! You will see me after class with you parents. Do I make myself clear?"

With tears in her eyes, Twilight let out a feeble, "Yes Mrs. Rosemary," and stared down at the ground.

As the rest of class went by, she didn't have the drive to pay attention, hanging her head low, as tears slowly dripped down her face.


*~~~~~*


As Celestia finished, she gauged everypony’s reactions, a heavy silence filling the air. Rainbow and Applejack looked as if they were ready to knock sompony's lights out, while Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy looked as they were going to burst into Twilight's room at any moment to hug her and never let go.

"How horrid!" Rarity said in disbelief. "How could such things go unpunished?"

Celestia sighed. "This was some time ago, and it certainly wasn't happening at my facility." She shook her head. "But according to her parents, it wasn't the only time it had happened either. Because of that, she wasn't able to trust anypony that wasn't family. The exception being her foalsitter and I." Celestia glanced towards Twilight's bedroom door. "That was how she was when I took her under my wing. She rarely strayed from the royal library or the classrooms, and if she did, it would be for one of my lessons. I did not think it was healthy for a growing filly, so I let her raise Spike." She looked to Spike with a smile, and he smiled back. "I hoped that she might be more receptive to conversations if she started small, and to some degree, it helped. However, there was one time that I asked her to make friends.

“She had been my student for nearly four months. I simply asked if she could try talking to some of the other classmates before coming to my lesson the next day. The next day, she was only five minutes early to my class, instead of her usual fifteen.” Celestia paused to chuckle for a moment. “Now, even on a regular day, this would have been surprising. I thought when she didn't arrive, she had been too caught up in talking with her new friends, but when I saw the state she was in." Celestia paused and frowned at the memory. "Her eyes were red and teary, and she looked as if she had been crying for quite some time. She looked up at me and said-” The scene played in Celestia’s thoughts 'I-I went out and talked with the other s-students. Does that mean I passed your test?' Celestia shivered slightly at the memory. "Needless to say, she treated it as another assignment. She herself never told me what happened that day, so I asked some students if they had seen anything. From what I gathered, she had been watching a group of students from afar for almost twenty minutes before trying to talk to them, and when she finally did muster the courage, she thought they were making fun of her. Even if it had been a misunderstanding, I've never forgotten what had happened."

"But why did she think they were making fun of her?" Fluttershy asked confused.

"They had asked her if she was lost, thinking that she was visiting another student."

"Wait wait wait,” Rainbow said, waving her hoof. “I thought you sent her here to make some friends."

Celestia sent a glance to Spike, and he looked away. “That was actually Spike’s doing. You see, I only wanted Twilight to oversee the celebration, but I never asked her to make friends. It wasn’t until later that evening during the celebration that Spike sent me the letter explaining what he said in my name.”

“But it all worked out in the end,” Rarity said nervously, glancing over to Spike. “No harm done!”

Celestia nodded. “Now, what progress have you made for possible solutions for changing Twilight back to normal?”

“But she doesn’t actually want-” Rainbow tried to say, but stopped when she heard the sound of Twilight’s door opening. They all turned to see Twilight slowly coming down the steps, sleep still clouding her eyes.

"Hello, My Faithful Student." Celestia said as Twilight stepped off the last stair.

"Hello Princess, hello girls…" Twilight said groggily. It was a few moments before her eyes widened, all traces of sleep vanishing. "P-princess Celestia?!" She stumbled back onto the staircase. "When did you get here?!"

Celestia put a hoof to her chin. "I'd say that I've been here for nearly thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes! T-that long?" Twilight stuttered, a tad flustered.

Celestia lowered her head. "You don’t seem very happy to see me. Am I no longer welcome?" Celestia said in mock sadness, glancing up at Twilight slightly with a pout.

Twilight's face paled. She rushed forward and tightly hugged Celestia's foreleg. "O-of course you’re still welcome! Why would you ever think that?"

"I wouldn’t dream of it, My Faithful Student," Celestia said with a smile, nuzzling into her embrace. “However,” Celestia said raising her head from the affectionate hug. “I would like to know what I haven’t been informed of your recent transformation."

Twilight hesitated, glancing up at Celestia before looking away. “I-I didn’t want to you to be burdened by having to look for a spell to fix this, or having you keep me under your supervision like you used to.” She looked up a bit ashamed and met Celestia’s understanding gaze. “I remember overhearing that I cut into your schedule a lot.” She all but mumbled, looking down again.

Celestia frowned and put a hoof on Twilight’s head. “That is a reasonable concern, even if it is unnecessary.” Twilight opened her mouth to respond, confusion evident on her face, but Celestia continued. “You have never been a burden to me, nor will you ever be.” Celestia put a hoof to her chin. “An even more important question however,” Celestia said with a smirk. “How was your nap?”

“It was-” Twilight’s face suddenly morphed from blissful to distraught. She turned to Applejack with a childish glare. “You! Why did you let me take a nap? The first few times were on accident, I was just tired!”

Applejack gave a start at being addressed so suddenly, but quickly shook her head to clear it and retort. “Now wait just a minute! Yer the lump of a pony who didn’t want ta getup before noon! Ah had ta carry you here!” Applejack scolded in self-defense.

“That’s my girl,” Rainbow said with a proud smirk.

“Um, girls?”

“I wasn’t thinking straight, that’s not an excuse!” Twilight insisted, turning to Celestia. “Tia! Tell them I-” Twilight froze midsentence, the whole room going silent.

“Did… You just call Princess Celestia-”

“N-no!” Twilight cut off defensively.

“I’m pretty sure you-”

“I don’t know what you're talking about!” Twilight said frantically, before spinning around and scrambling upstairs.

They all turned to Celestia, who was looking at Twilight’s door with a faraway look. After a brief moment of silence of letting what happened sink it, Rarity coughed a bit in her hoof.

“Should we…” Rarity said before trailing away.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Celestia finally said standing up. They all nodded, though Celestia paid no mind. She climbed the stairs slowly before knocking. After she heard a soft, “come in”, she opened the door and looked around the room. She spotted Twilight curled up under her blanket. Celestia smiled at the sight, and walked over to her bedside. At the sound of approaching hooves, Twilight poked her head out to see who it was. When she saw it was her mentor, she immediately jumped up, her blanket flying up in a heap.

“P-princess!” she cried, before the blanket floated down and enveloped her again.

Celestia chuckled, lifting the blanket with her magic and folding it neatly before setting it down behind her. “Twilight. How long has it been since you’ve called me by that name?”

“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me!” Twilight said fretfully. “It’s just… Being this old again, and seeing you, I-”
“Its fine, My Faithful Student,” Celestia said soothingly, taking a seat beside her bed. "I never minded when you were younger, and I don't mind now."

"I know you didn't!" Twilight said accusingly. "In fact, you would give me less work unless I did!"

"You say that if it were a bad thing," Celestia teased. "But that doesn't explain why you became so flustered just now."

"I-" Twilight heard a loud bang come from downstairs, followed by several shrieks of fright. A few seconds later, the door to the bedroom burst open, and a white stallion stepped into the room.

“Alright, where is my little sister?”


*~~~~~*