Chapter One
~Twilight Sparkle~
Twilight Sparkle's eyes shot open. Panting steadily, she murmured quickly to herself.
No need to worry Twilight.
Peace has finally returned.
Tirek is gone, and Discord can be trusted.
Twilight sighed, gradually calming down.
It was just a nightmare.
Twilight quickly made a joke out of the bad dream.
Is it only girls who get nightmares? Do boys get nightcolts? She sighed deeply and closed her eyes again. The nightmare wasn't even that bad…
Fluttershy was the first to find out about Twilight's unusual behaviour. The timid Pegasus kept quiet at first, until finally, when the other four main six were gone, she confronted her Alicorn friend.
"What's th…the problem Twilight? I… I've noticed you've been acting a bit… off lately." Fluttershy stuttered.
Twilight turned around in surprise. How did Fluttershy know? For a second she felt like interrogating her friend like Pinkie Pie would, but then held back. Maybe it would be ok to share her thoughts with a fellow pony for once.
"I don't know… It's just like… Oh… I…" Twilight began.
Fluttershy waited patiently which annoyed Twilight. How could the shy Pegasus deal with others when they were in moods like this? Twilight sighed, and decided to let out the full truth.
"You know how Tirek took away all my magic? And when we stopped him, all of the magic was restored? Well… I still feel like there's something missing- like he kept part of me," the lavender Alicorn confessed.
"Your magic wasn't what could defeat that monster. It was our friendship, and friendship is no match for any other magic. Aren't you happy that Tirek was able to take your magic, but his strength was no match for the bonds of friendship?" Fluttershy questioned nervously.
"I know. That's what makes me upset. How can I feel like I have a hole left in my heart, when friendship is all I really need?"
The light yellow Pegasus gulped, before she faltered her next sentence. "Well… Your… your element of harmony… Well… It isn't really to do with… uh… friendship…"
Twilight's ears perked up at this point and she narrowed her eyes, making Fluttershy cower a bit. Then the Alicorn's eyes softened.
"You're right Fluttershy. I wouldn't be who I am now, without my magic, and I definitely wouldn't be who I am without your friendship. Thanks for the help."
The Pegasus nodded contentedly and swiftly scampered away, leaving Twilight sitting there, her head clustered with thoughts.
The princess was walking from side to side, mumbling her ideas, considering them, and turning away. Spike quickly scribbled down every idea Twilight thought of, the scroll slowly, but surely, becoming longer and longer.
"Can you slow down a bit?" The baby dragon huffed. Twilight turned, and gave him eyes of murder, before continuing on with ideas. She wasn't sure what problem she was trying to solve. She wasn't even sure if there was a problem. Maybe her ideas she was considering was possible problems. Problems why she felt a bit down.
"Maybe it is the lack of drama in the past month..? No, there was another parasite invasion last week, and it was fun chasing them down with Pinkie..?"
Spike was getting restless.
"Maybe I haven't been using my magic much lately?" Twilight aimed her horn towards Spike. The baby dragon barely had time to look up before she turned him into a dog.
"Oh! Ha, ha, you look like your dog form from when we were in that other universe with those strange creatures!" the Alicorn chuckled. The puppy blew his floppy ear off his nose tediously before she quickly turned him back into a dragon.
"But no, the lack of magic can't be what's wrong." She sadly lay down on her throne, staring out her window, towards her hometown, seeing the usual activity of ponies roaming around, most chatting about their daily lives, or shopping.
"Isn't it obvious what's wrong?" Spike mumbled rushing over to her side. Twilight's ears perked up, and she pounced on Spike, pinning him to the ground.
"What is it? Tell me! Tell me! TELL ME!" She screeched.
"Get off! Give me some space!" Spike spat. An impatient Twilight bounced ecstatically off her dragon friend, who slowly stood up and slowly, brushed the slowly gathering dust off his shoulders.
"WHAT IS IT?!" Twilight squawked.
Spike fell over again, at the force in her voice, and gave her a glare before he got up and finally told Twilight what she wanted to hear.
"You're homesick," he simply 'said'. He 'said' it. Sorry I just can't add any fancy word to say the way he 'said' it. He just plain 'said' it.
The three syllables went through one of Twilight's ear and out the other. "Sorry, I-I didn't-didn't get that."
"You're homesick."
"I'm what?"
"Homesick."
"Sorry, I really don't understand what you're trying to tell me."
"YOU'RE HOMESICK!" Spike screamed. The scream was so loud, some ponies from outside turned their heads towards the castle. At the same time as her said that, there was another voice screaming in the distance.
Twilight stared at the ground, and remembered the treacherous events which had occurred when Tirek had attacked Equestria.
Tirek and Twilight had been in a great battle. He was giving her blow after blow, as she continuously teleported to different areas before his magic hit her. At some point, she teleported to her home, which was a library inside a massive hollow tree. She was on the balcony and she peaked through a telescope to see Tirek on a grassed meadow, not far away from her home. He infuriatedly fired a massive ball of magic towards her. She desperately teleported away, managing to save her pet Owlicious in the process but losing her home. Her home which had meant so much to her, which she had spent the best years of her life living in. The years where she had been friends with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.
"Even though, after I beat Tirek, with my friends by my side, my home, with all my memories, and books inside, had been destroyed. Yes, I now live in a castle, but I personally prefer my old home." Twilight sighed. "You're right Spike."
She turned around, and to her surprise, she saw princess Celestia, Lunar and Cadance standing next to her dragon.
"We understand how hard it would be for you," Lunar frowned, trotting up and giving the lavender princess a courteous dip of the head.
"Yes. Lunar and I have lived in our palace at Canterlot all our lives, and if it was blown and we were forced to move to a new home, it would be utterly unbearable," Celestia admitted, joining her younger sister a step ahead.
"You're a princess now," smiled Cadance, giving Twilight a friendly, gentle push on the shoulder. "You already look the part," Cadance winked, making Twilight lower her head in embarrassment as her childhood friend continued. "You act the part- very humble, I must say. And what's a princess without her castle?"
"Who?" Owlicious boomed, sitting on the perch further back in the room, making the four princesses turn and smile.
"What about my books?" Twilight asked. Yes, she had a library here, in her new castle home, but there were an awful lot of empty shelves.
"These showed up," Celestia beamed. Spike, and the three princess Alicorns before Twilight, stepped aside to reveal a royal guard, towing a massive cart with all the books Twilight had lost in the tragedy.
"But… how?" Twilight asked in amazement, picking up one book, she remembered had a slight tear on one of the pages, and the tear was still there.
"After Tirek lost all his magic, every pony got their magic back, right?" Lunar asked.
Twilight nodded, "right."
"After he was sent back to where he belongs, not only was the magic he caused, restored, but so was the damage he inflicted."
"All the damage?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. Just earlier she had seen a few tipped over carts with apples sprayed everywhere on a path.
"Well no- not the damage Discord created," Celestia muttered.
"But we have him cleaning up everything he did for a punishment," Cadance smirked.
"But that doesn't matter. All that matters is you are reunited with all your belongings again, and we hope it helps with your homesickness, Princess Twilight," Celestia smiled.
After the three princesses left, Twilight spent the last few hours of the day, restacking all her books on the bookshelves. There was one extra book though. She hadn't seen it before, and she knew every book she had.
"How did that get here?" The book was thickly coated with dust; the words for the title were barely decipherable. Twilight slowly read it, letter by letter 'The Alicorns Book on The Proceeding Study of Dark Magic.' Twilight coughed, as if she had swallowed a hairball. She continued to splutter, and could feel her centre of gravity dizzying. Eventually she was able to regain posture.
"Evil! The book is evil," she whimpered, peaking at the first page of the book, which explained who the book was by, the publisher, and the date the story was published. Twilight couldn't find out who wrote the book, for ink had slowly dissolved, after years of not been properly tended for. She could only see two letters from the author and they were a 's' and an 'i' There seemed to be no publisher of the book. The book probably wasn't published. It was probably just had written. Twilight finally turned to the date of the book, and her violet eyes widened, awestruck. The date simply said 0/0/0.
"B-but how? 0/0/0 isn't even a time…? Or was it written before ponies even started to record time?"
"Twilight are you alright there? What are you doing up? It's around 1:00am now!" Spike walked down the hall yawning, with a candle in his claw. Twilight instantly snapped her book shut before Spike got near enough to see it at all.
"What are you reading?" He yawned again. Twilight bit her lip.
"I was just admiring how the princesses managed to bring the books back- and so well preserved." Twilight looked down. Spike was too tired to care the slightest as he slowly walked away.
"Go to sleep Twilight," he muttered. Twilight waited until his tail had completely disappeared behind a wall before she turned back to the book. How did this book get here? How was it written at 0/0/0? Why am I lying to Spike? Twilight yawned, realizing she was tired too. She slowly levitated the book using her magic and put it in a saddlebag. Zipping it shut, and doing a spell so the bag could only be opened be her, Twilight finally got up and stumbled to her room. Despite seeing the book, she no longer felt as homesick, and she knew that she was going to get a good sleep tonight.
~Fluttershy~
"Oh, I hope Twilight doesn't mind me noticing that she didn't seem too well…" Fluttershy stammered in fear.
"Uh huh," Discord agreed, barely listening, as he used his magic to clean up some tipped over trashcans.
"I wonder why she's so upset, I mean- she should be happy that we defeated Tirek and y-" she quickly shut her mouth before she mentioned how Discord had been part of the plot. The draconequus had already caught what she was going to say though, and sighed.
"It's ok Fluttershy. If only I'd known that the traitor was going to blow me off. Then I would have destroyed him instead and taken Equestria for myself, with a bunch of weak, powerless ponies!" Discord muttered.
"Discord…" Fluttershy narrowed her eyes sternly.
"You could have ruled too?" the draconequus offered. The Pegasus still kept her glare.
"And your friends?"
"No Discord. No one should take over Equestria and lead it in tyranny. You decided that power was more important than friendship, just when you gained our trust, and now look where that's gotten you," she gave a teasing grin, "cleaning up your own mess."
He summoned a pink cloud above Fluttershy and it started raining chocolate milk to get back at her.
"Hey!" she wailed trying to stop the brown milk from touching her pastel fur. Smirking, Discord ignored her pleas and continued cleaning up Ponyville with a satisfied snort.
~Rainbow Dash~
"And then, after Tirek was finally defeated- by me, a castle was summoned where the Princess Twilight Sparkle lives. And there was a throne- for me!" Rainbow Dash completed her story to the members of a fan club for her. Rainbow Dash smirked as the foals stared at her in awe.
"Anyway kids- I gotta' fly. I hear Fluttershy screaming and I think Discord is tormenting her again." The blue Pegasus with the crazy rainbow mane left, leaving the kids from the fan club chanting her name, as she flew off at incredible speed out of the cubby house.
Just as Rainbow Dash suspected, Discord had summoned a pink fairy floss cloud above Fluttershy's head and it was raining chocolate milk. The blue Pegasus mare gave an arrogant grunt and kicked the cloud with her back hoof, making it dissolve into vapour.
"Thanks Rainbow Dash. You're so kind. Unlike some certain draconequus'," Fluttershy sweetly said, before giving a sly grin, peering at Discord picking up rubbish from the corner of her eye.
"Oh! So now I'm awesome, cool, epic, fast, quick, swift… just a lot of words for fast, loyal a lot more cool things and kind? Wow! So much I can't keep up!" Rainbow Dash smugly smiled.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash's ears pricked at the sound of her name.
"Oh! Another fan! Sorry kid, I ain't signing autographs right now. Try again tomorrow?" The mail-pony rolled his eyes and handed a postcard for Rainbow Dash.
"For you," he muttered before flying off. Rainbow Dash tore the envelope apart, before reading the note.
"What is it?" Fluttershy asked her best friend curiously. Rainbow Dash eventually looked up at Fluttershy, not saying anything. No emotion on her face.
"What is it?" Fluttershy asked again, less excited now, her ears slightly drooped.
Then Rainbow Dash screamed so loudly nearly every pony in Ponyville could hear her, at the same time as some voice in the distance screamed "YOU'RE HOMESICK!" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash peered around confusedly, before turning attention back to the card, and Rainbow Dash screamed again, this time, running up to Fluttershy, giving her the biggest hug ever.
"Oh! A hug!" a passing Pinkie Pie shrilled and bounced up to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy joining in with the group hug.
"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh!" Rainbow Dash cried, squeezing her friends tighter. "Guess what? GUESS WHAT?" Rainbow Dash screamed. "I got into The Wonderbolts!"
"Yay! This CALLS FOR A PARTY!" Pinkie Pie cheered.
"I couldn't be any happier for you!" Fluttershy beamed up at her friend.
"Another party! Another party!" Pinkie Pie sang, hopping off into the distance.
Rainbow Dash's smile faded.
Fluttershy tilted her head. "What is it?"
"This means I'm going to have to leave Ponyville for a while."
"What?" Fluttershy asked in horror.
"Being a Wonderbolt takes an amazing amount of commitment. First I have to train with them, learn routines, all that, then I have to go on tour and perform in front of crowds, I have to keep myself healthy daily, which means going on a diet, I'll have to compete in races plus, go to important occasions where the Wonderbolts are celebrity guests, then I need to worry about the costumes, my safety…" Rainbow Dash went on and on. She noticed that Fluttershy's eyes were now lined with tears, as they slowly but surely leaked from her eyes. Rainbow Dash realised how much her friendship meant to the yellow Pegasus, and she already knew that she was going to miss her friends more than ever too. Before Rainbow Dash was even finished with the list of things she needed to do, her friend threw her arms around Rainbow Dash for another hug. This one wasn't out of bliss though. It was out of intense grief.
~Pinkie Pie~
"So bored, so bored, so bored!" Pinkie Pie kept chanting. She was so bored she had already cooked seven lots of cupcakes. Seven lots she was now going to eat! Yes! That would tie away the boredom! Pinkie opened her mouth and gobbled down all seven lots of cupcakes. As soon as she was done she was purely bored again.
"You know what this means Gummy?" Pinkie Pie asked her toothless alligator. The alligator started to open its mouth but Pinkie Pie answered before it had the chance to make a sound. "A party! Oh- but what will be the theme? An 'I'm So Bored I'm Going to Throw a Party,' party? No- no! That sounds boring! Oh, but right now this is boring. Aww life's so hard!" Pinkie Pie pulled at her hair in frustration. Suddenly she heard a scream. "Oh! Someone's dying!" Pinkie Pie excitedly ran out the house in incredible speed and was where the scream had come from in an instant. She saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hugging. "Oh! A hug!" Pinkie Pie eagerly joined in.
"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh!" Rainbow Dash cried, squeezing her friends tighter. "Guess what? GUESS WHAT?" Rainbow Dash screamed. "I got into The Wonderbolts!"
"Yay! This CALLS FOR A PARTY!" Pinkie Pie cheered. Finally! Finally! Finally a party! Finally! Pinkie Pie hopped away joyfully, singing, "Another party! Another Party!" She had been bored for quite some time now, and finally, finally she had a reason to throw a party. Ok I need to get a banner, confetti, fireworks…
~Rarity~
She watched disgustedly as Applejack bucked apples from the trees. How can she not mind being dirty? Rarity admired the way Applejack was unafraid of absolutely nothing. Oh, but come on. She has to be afraid of something? Rarity was deep in thought, when she remembered why she was here. She had to watch her sister, Sweetie Belle and her friends' crusade so they wouldn't do something dangerous. Last time the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been trusted alone, they had decided to do skydiving. They forgot about the parachutes, though, and were lucky that Rainbow Dash had been there to save them. Now they could go nowhere without supervision.
Rarity's attention went back to her friend Applejack. Oh I hate getting my hooves dirty, but she loves it. Wait… Rarity's eyes twinkled as a thought exploded into her mind.
"Hey Applejack, after you're done with your-" Rarity shuddered "work, would you like to come to my place?"
The orange mare looked up, rather startled, but then a forced grin appeared on her face.
"Sorry Sugar-cube. I sort of have somethin'… coming up, and I… uh… It's very important, eh…?" Applejack gritted her teeth.
"Oh Applejack, what a terrible liar you are, have I said that before?" Rarity's happy peaceful expression changed to a dark, rather evil smirk. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not," Rarity's smile returned. "Tut ta, darling. See you soon!"
~Applejack~
Oh no… Rarity wants me to go to her shop of a house. Oh no… Quickly! Make an excuse! Applejack forced a smile, trying too hard to make it believable.
"Sorry Sugar-cube. I sort of have somethin'… coming up, and I… uh… It's very important, eh…?" Applejack gritted her teeth. She hoped the Unicorn would be gullible enough to believe her, but her hopes were too high as Rarity shrugged her excuse off.
"Oh Applejack, what a terrible liar you are, have I said that before?" Rarity's happy peaceful expression changed to a dark, rather evil smirk. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not," Rarity's smile returned. "Tut ta, darling. See you soon!"
As the white Unicorn trotted away, Applejack stared at the ground in dismay.
"What's wrong, sis?" Applebloom trotted up.
"Rarity wants me to come over… oh… what if she makes me put makeup on or somethin'?" Applejack's eyes widened as she thought of all the horrible possibilities.
"Oh! Can I come too! Sweetie Belle and I can make some slight adjustments to the Cutie Mark Crusader capes! I was thinking we could improve the sewing and add lining to the sides of the fabric…" Applebloom went through all the possible fashion ideas which meant nothing to Applejack but seemed like the world to her younger sister. How did my little sister become a diva?