CHAPTER I

NIGHT TERROR

"Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria..."

Grudges are like avalanches. They begin as a result of the right circumstances at the right time, or, in this case the wrong time. Then they fester, building and building as the days and years flow on by. Nopony notices them, nopony realizes they exist, so nopony attempts to prevent them. More and more years pass, and it builds and builds, hidden from sight. Then, one day an innocuous pony comes along, unaware of the potential for disaster hiding out of sight. With a simple prod, like the falling of small stones, it comes pouring out, greater and more devastating than when it began.

Several years ago, small stones began to fall. Nopony paid any mind to them, not recognizing them for the terror they would become. Their existence and manifestation were almost cliche, given the circumstances. You can understand then why those involved dismissed them so easily. Not that the ponies of Equestria knew to look for them in the first place; back then, ponies were under the illusion of a perfect nation, ruled by princesses Celestia and Luna. It was perfect. It was beautiful. It was innocent. Equestria then was but a protected virgin to ideals forgotten by time. She was too protected. Her children knew nothing of what was to come, and when it came, it took advantage of them. Equestria was raped of its freedom, and perverted by questionable values. Virtue was obliterated, and those who still clung to any were cast out and tried as traitors. Those that gave in were nothing anymore, their soul stripped from them to be corrupted and twisted by powers unknown. When they got it back, it was no longer a piece of them, but instead something else entirely. Something made to control them, and keep them in check.

All of this took time. It did not happen at once, but over the course of the years to pass. History was forgotten then, what was known afterward written by the victors and treated as truth. They abused their power over history, and the lesser suffered for it.

The stones that started the avalanche took the form of nightmares. They recurred every night, and each night they came differently, but yet they were the same as before. It was no coincidence, as a mere few days later, the boulders began to tumble after.

(_/-.-\(_)/-.-\_)

Twilight jolted upright, and her horn narrowly missed the ceiling. Her body was shaking, shivering, and her coat and mane were slick with sweat. She panted heavily, unable to cry for help. She tried to call out, but her involuntary breathing would not let her. She could not make a sound, apart from a desperate wheezing. Feeling as helpless as a foal, she cried. Tears rolled off her cheeks, and splashed against the silk sheets covering her legs. She had never felt so alone, so afraid. She was terrified, and she could not call to anyone. Nopony would know she needed help; nopony would come to comfort her if no one knew.

Still sweating profusely, she felt her breathing slow down, and in desperation she sucked in an enormous breath, her chest burning in response, and screamed the name she knew would hear her and come as loud as was physically possible. Lightheaded, Twilight curled up and waited. After a few seconds the door of her room slammed open, and she heard the flick of the light switch. Her number one assistant murmured something beyond her hearing. A reassuring, clawed hand pressed against her shoulder, and she heard more hoofsteps entering the room.

It was okay. Spike was here.

It was okay. Her friends had come to help her.

It was okay. Everything would be fine.

Rest. She needed rest. Now seemed like a good time.

(_/-.-\(_)/-.-\_)

Ugh. Had anypony not heard of a peaceful sleep? Peaceful sleep! Pretty self-explanatory. Was it too much to ask for them to be quiet while she tried to rest? At least whisper for pony's sake! Their chatter drilled into her brain through her ears, digging at her with each syllable. While her eyes were closed, she could still make out a red glare from something beyond the shadows of her eyelids. What was it? It must be the light. Hello! She was trying to sleep! They could have at least done her the courtesy of leaving the room dark. Why were ponies in her room anyway? Only her friends ever came up here. What time was it?

Twilight tried to ignore the piercing speech, but to no avail. She would have to reprimand them for intruding upon her rest. The annoyed mare pushed herself up, and opened her eyes. What greeted her was an immense pounding in her head, like somepony was beating against her skull, and a flash of brilliantly bright light. She gasped in surprise, and reflexively collapsed back onto the comforting mattress, sinking into the pluff pillow. The conversation halted abruptly, and after a short pause, one mare spoke in a country drawl.

"...Twiligh', hun, you awake?" Number One inquired cautiously. A second mare snorted.

"Well, I would assume so. It may have escaped your notice, but she just jumped up, gasped, and fell back, rather gracefully. Unless she was having a sporadic seizure, in which case it would be best to contact a doctor. Perhaps Nurse Redheart, she's such a sweetheart," Number Two added thoughtfully to her chastisement.

"Oh, come off it Rares, she'll be fine," scoffed a third mare, verbally rolling her eyes.

"Fine? Fine? Rainbow Dash! Are you so ignorant as to believe she is possibly fine?! I knew you were thick, but honestly! Harumph!" the second voice replied.

"Pinkie, y'all been awfully quiet. What's eatin' at you?" Number One questioned a previously silent pony, before the other two could expand upon their argument.

"...This morning, when Twilight screamed... I had another doozy," the one called Pinkie said in a despairingly desolate tone.

"Not the one like a' Froggy Bottom Bog? It's just I don't fancy gettin' attacked by another hydra anytime soon. Once was enough for this mare."

"No. That one was like "Something ginormous is going down at Froggy Bottom Bog, and you need to be there!". This one was all "Something really big is about to go down. Something scary is going to happen Pinkie, something is coming and it will not be nice". It... it really freaked me out," Pinkie explained. There was something about that sentence that reminded Twilight of... something. What had Pinkie said her doozy felt like? Like... something was coming...

Oh, there was no use in pretending any longer. Twilight was not going back to sleep, whether she wanted to or not. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. Five very special mares occupied the floor of her bedroom. Applejack was pacing around nervously, worry written all over her face. Rarity was lying on her side, watching Applejack anxiously. Every now and then she glanced disapprovingly at Rainbow Dash, who was leaning against a bookcase, under a pretense of indifference. Pinkie Pie was uncharacteristically lying down as well, her head resting on crossed hooves. Fluttershy––the only pony not to have spoken––was sleeping against Pinkie.

"Is it too much to ask for some peaceful sleep?" Twilight groaned, but it merely a show; she was glad to see her friends. Applejack broke her route to climb the stairs to Twilight's bed.

"Mornin' sugarcube. How ya feelin'?" she said in a soft tone, like the way one would speak to a child. Inadvertently ignoring her, Twilight lazily rolled herself off the bed, and groggily trotted down the stairs, Applejack following her side-by-side. Stretching out her forelegs and back, she yawned and then greeted her guests.

"Mmmorning. Mm, what are you girls doing here?" Everypony echoed her sentiment, but otherwise stared at her silently, like they were waiting for her to explode. Applejack looked her in eye cautiously.

"You... don't remember?" she asked, making Twilight uncomfortable. Did something happen? She studied her friends more intimately, and noticed that they were all nervous. Nervous about what? Did she get drunk last night and do something ignorantly stupid? Oh, Celestia, Twilight prayed she did not start dancing on table tops. That was... embarrassing to say the least. Oh, the Princess was not letting her live that down either. Every now and then, when Twilight was least expecting it, she would make a quip that would fluster her. Twilight prepared herself for the worst.

"Um... no? Oh-please-tell-me-I-wasn't-dancing-on-tables-again!" she blurted, ears laid back against her mane. Applejack's mouth fell open as she tried to process that information, and the rest graciously held back their laughter at her expense. Well, all but Rainbow Dash, who snorted then fell to the floor laughing.

"Bwahahaha! Dancing on tables? Again? Something you want to admit to us, Twilight?" Twilight felt her face grow hot as a blush crept up her cheeks. Rarity shot a glare at Rainbow, one that went unnoticed by her as she rolled around on the ground. The proper seamstress scrunched her nose at the mare's uncouth behavior. Applejack shot daggers at her.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack spat at her, "Yer gonna laugh at her after what's happened?" Rainbow rolled onto her stomach and rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on cowgirl! I'm just trying to lighten up the situation is all. Can't fault me for that, can you?" Twilight cut Applejack off before she could retort with some sort of clever cliche. Something was odd about what she said.

"What do you mean, "after what's happened"?" she asked the farm mare slowly, unsure if she wanted the answer. Applejack looked around uneasily, first at Rainbow then at Rarity, looking for confirmation. Confirmation for what? What's troubling them? Twilight thought. Rarity prodded the air in front of her with a hoof, signaling Applejack to carry on with whatever she was about to reveal. She cleared her throat.

"You... don't remember?" she repeated. Now Twilight was becoming very anxious. This was beyond some embarrassing action. These ponies––her closest friends––were genuinely scared for her. This did not bode well at all. What could she have done to frighten them like this? She was one of the most powerful unicorns in all of Equestria, she did not... did she destroy something? Had she fallen into some sort of blackout and rampaged? But as far as Twilight was concerned, she had no knowledge of dark magic. The study or dabbling of dark or black magic was expressly forbidden in Equestria, punishable by banishment. Her ears pressed against the back of her head, Twilight shied away unconsciously from Applejack and her extremely inquisitive look, her eyes darting back and forth between everypony else. Her heart beat just a little faster, and she laughed nervously.

"Does somepony want to explain what's going on? It's just... all of this... well, you're starting to scare me," Twilight asked as she back away slightly. Rarity barked a half-hearted laugh, looking at Twilight in utter disbelief.

"We... we're scaring you? Heh... My dear, the fright you gave us last night," she said. Fright? How did she scare them? What did she do! Come on Twilight, think! What happened last night? She... she...

She had a nightmare, did she not? Twilight chuckled nervously.

"Girls... what's going on? What..."

"You don't remember anything? Come on Twi! The way you screamed I thought somepony was trying to assassinate you!" Rainbow Dash blurted, closing the distance between them with a flash of the visible spectrum. Applejack just stared at Rainbow, eyes half-lidded, as Twilight's mouth fell open in shock.

"Assassination? Really? I think you've been readin' too many of those books of yers. But Rainbow's right, Twi, you were screamin' loud enough to wake all of Tartarus," she said, returning her gaze back to the purple unicorn. Twilight searched the room for something else to look at, anything but her friends and their concerned stares. She screamed last night... but why could she not remember? Was she having a nightmare? Twilight shivered as a cold chill swept through the air. A nightmare? But she no longer had nightmares. Living with the Princess of the Sun tended to abate most fears. Was it possible? What would she even have nightmares about? Her friends all claimed she was screaming last night... but...

A wave of petrifying fear overwhelmed her, bringing along with it the sense of deja vu. It tore through her, dragging three words back into her head and pounded each one into the back of her mind, like one would pound on a locked door to seek entrance.

Bang––Something.

Bang––Is.

Bang––Coming.

Parts of last night flowed back, and she collapsed under the shear pressure, her breath coming in short gasps. Something soft and firm caught her in mid-fall, and she forced her eyes open––now clogging with fresh tears––looking into the magenta and green eyes of Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Applejack removed her hoof from Twilight, and handed her over to Rainbow Dash, who flew her off the stairs and down onto the bottom level. Almost at once the others who were awake crowded around her.

"Oh no! Oh dear, what's wrong? Do you remember? Oh darling, tell us. What happened?" cried Rarity, throwing her hooves around Twilight in an overexaggerated hug, one the did not fulfil its purpose of being comforting. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash pulled her off.

"Geez Rarity, back off! She needs room to breathe!" Rarity, not wishing to start an argument in light of the situation, huffed, and forced herself to be content with standing nearby and stroking Twilight's mane with a forehoof.

"Do you Twi? Do you remember?" repeated Applejack, adopting that soft voice once more. Twilight breathed a few times, trying to collect herself before she responded. She sniffed, then finished by blinking the tears from her eyes. It was not perfect, but it would have to suffice for now.

"I... I..." she began, swallowing back another wave of tears, "No. No, I don't. But... but I can still feel it. Like some sort of aftershock. It was... despairing. And terrible. I felt... it felt like the world was never going to be the same again. Not in a good way, either. I felt... I heard... I don't know. I have this overwhelming feeling like... like––"

"Like something really bad is about to happen. Like something is coming, something not nice, not nice at all," finished Pinkie, who was not making eye contact with anypony. In fact, the mare's head drooped as she stared at the floor, and there was something else off about her, something that Twilight just could not put her hoof on. She walked up to the unicorn, nudging her neck in empathy. Twilight continued to stare at her, trying to place what was wrong. It was her mane. It was no longer its usual puffy mess, instead flat and straightened, echoing her own depression.

"It's alright, Pinkie," Twilight comforted her, "It was only a dream. Just a nightmare. I'm probably just overreacting about it. Wouldn't be the first time, right?"

Pinkie cracked a smile. "Remember that time when I first heard about your Pinkie Sense? I went through all that trouble to try and explain it, and in the end I couldn't, and just had to accept it?"

For a moment Pinkie narrowed her eyes in thought, then with a snort of laughter her mane burst back into its normal, puffy state. "Oh yeah!" she giggled, "You were stalking me that whole day, and then at the end we got chased by that huuuuge-o-mongo Hydra! Oh, but that was right before Fluttershy almost exploded twice, and then your mane caught fire, and you––*snort*––had an anvil dropped on your head! And a piano, too, but that's not as impressive as an anvil! Unless it was a grand piano, 'cause that would be super funny! What's the difference between a grand piano and a normal piano, anyway? Is it actually grander than a normal piano, or is it one of those hacksaw/saw things, where you don't actually hack with it, but you call it that anyway?" she finally finished, her outlandish digression leaving the others not without some level of confusion. It was at this point that Twilight came to notice that one of her dearest friends was missing.

"Where did Spike go?" she asked the group at large, searching the room to see if she could make out his scaley figure taking a nap somewhere obscure. It was Rarity who answered.

"Oh, dear little Spikey-wikey decided to burden himself with cooking us a meal. Isn't he the sweetest little thing?" Rarity cooed, "He left only shortly before you woke, so he should be back any minute to serve us––"

"Breakfast!" Spike the dragon called from the doorway. In his tiny purple arms he carried a tray just larger than himself, loaded with enough eggs and hay bacon strips for each of the mares plus Spike, and seven glasses of orange juice. Rarity, the ever-generous-one, (quite literally, as it were), perked up and instantly went to work with her magic, grabbing the plates of food and placing them in front of each pony present, leaving Spike to pass out the glasses of orange juice. When he passed Fluttershy, who was still asleep, he looked at her incredulously, as if he could not believe the mare was still sleeping. With a roll of his eyes he moved on, finishing by handing Rarity her drink with a sweeping bow that made her giggle.

"Why thank you Spike, this breakfast you made us looks absolutely scrumptious! What would Twilight do without you?" she said, both of them ignoring the glare the librarian gave her.

"Anything for you, m'lady," he said with another bow, before taking his own plate and positioning himself between Twilight and Rarity. Before the six of them could dig in, Pinkie Pie took it upon herself to wake Fluttershy in a way only she could. She bound forward and pressed her face so close to the sleeping pony's that one could have sworn their foreheads were touching. Everypony in the room held their breath (including Pinkie) and waited for the obnoxiously loud noise that was sure to accompany whatever plan the eccentric mare had. Instead she merely stood there, concentrating hard on... something.

After a moment of everypony observing the two, Fluttershy's eyes blinked slowly open as she yawned near-inaudibly.

"Mmmmmorning everypony," she greeted in a voice that complimented her name perfectly. She flinched when she noticed Pinkie's extreme proximity to her. "Oh! Hi there Pinkie. I didn't see you there." Pinkie merely smiled in acknowledgement, then hopped back to her dish and started eating one of her eggs.

"Mornin' sugarcube. Did ya sleep alright?" responded Applejack as she began working on her eggs as well.

"Oh yes I did. I had this wonderful dream about Angel Bunny. Did Twilight––Oh! Morning Twilight. How are you feeling?" she said with a smile, blinking sleep from her eyes. By this time everypony had begun to eat their breakfast, with the exception of Fluttershy, who passed on her eggs to Rainbow Dash. Twilight took a gulp of orange juice before answering.

"Better. It was merely a nightmare, that's all," she explained. Some part of her mind decidedly agreed that that was all it was, just a passing night terror, and the rest of her hoped that a nightmare was all the dream was. However, some nagging feeling somewhere in the back of her mind had its doubts. It whispered to her, repeating the only words that she could remember: something is coming. Something is coming. But they were not words, more like... an idea. An idea planted in her head. But that notion was insane. No idea was planted in her head, it was but a nightmare, one that would eventually disappear from memory. Nothing would come of it.

However, if something was to come of it, preparations should be made. If Twilight were to allow herself to believe in visions, that could mean something truly was coming. Pinkie Pie likewise had a similar fear, although through her Pinkie Sense as opposed to a dream, but was in essence the same message: something is coming. And if both of those were to be taken as fact, then that would also imply that whatever was coming was something terrible. And if this were true, then Princess Celestia should be warned! But...

Twilight mentally shook her head and reprimanded herself. She was acting too fast, moving on a whim. She should allow herself some time to investigate the matter, and even then, what would come of warning the Princess if it was but a nightmare? She had ruled Equestria since it was founded over a thousand years ago, surely if there was something to worry about, either Celestia or her sister would have already laid down measures against it. The alicorn sisters had seen many things in the wake of their rule, and certainly even more before, although Celestia perhaps more than Luna, as the Princess of the Night was sealed in her Moon for a thousand years.

Which raised an interesting question in Twilight's mind: Where did Celestia and Luna come from? And for that matter, just how were the alicorns born? Great, one more inquiry to bother her. Answering that would have to wait, as there was breakfast to consume.

"So Fluttershy, where's Time Turner? It's almost as if he never leaves your side," said Rarity, vying for casual conversation.

Twilight was grateful for the distraction, even if that was all it was; the warning still lingered in the part of her mind acquainted with doubt.

"Oh, he took the day off to go pick some flowers for me. But don't say anything to him! I'm, uh, not supposed to know," Fluttershy replied, a slight blush creeping up her cheek.

"Awe, that's absolutely sweet of him. You two are so adorable together; if only I had myself a stallion like that," Rarity said, and Spike shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Rarity having a stallion. Twilight and Applejack, the only two to notice, shared a knowing look. It was no secret to anypony in Ponyville that the adolescent dragon shared feelings for the seamstress mare.

After that short exchange, the rest of the morning continued in the same fashion. The mares and Spike finished their meal as they shared stories and focused on everything but the nightmare and anything associated with it. Eventually the time came when some had to leave; Rarity left to go check on Sweetie Belle (her younger sister), and Applejack, who had to go back to harvest apples at Sweet Apple Acres. This left Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie alone with Spike and Twilight. They sat in silence for only a short while (which in itself was a surprise, what with Pinkie still being there) before Rainbow Dash expressed a desire for the newest Daring Do novel: Daring Do and the Most Dangerous Game. Twilight jumped at the distraction, and was eternally grateful to Rainbow for it.

Together, all four of them retreated to the library section of Twilight's house, for it doubled as Ponyville's main Library, or more accurately, Ponyville's main Library doubled as Twilight's house. As Twilight searched the shelves for the book, Pinkie Pie bounded off to some undisclosed location, while Rainbow Dash lounged on the stairs, managing to fall asleep after almost no time had passed, a familiar stetson lying on her head.

Twilight pulled both old and new books off the shelves around her, passing each one in front of her with her magic, then declared "no!" before replacing it. Spike rolled out the ladder and began to search the top-most shelves, although he did this half-heartedly. He knew the location of Twilight's copy of Daring Do and the Most Dangerous Game, but proceeded to let his friend continue to distract herself below, for that was what she was doing.

Spike knew the location of every book in the library, but hesitated to steal Twilight's distraction away from her. For now the mare had taken whatever caused her pain and archived it into some part of her mind in an effort to forget it, and searching for a book was one of the few things that ever caused the unicorn to become oblivious, another being reading. No, he opted to stay on the top shelves, and let his friend below search to her heart's content. Besides, it would take her awhile. her collection of Daring Do books were archived under "Fantasy" and "Adventure", and right now she was going through the entirety of "Historical Significance".

The rest of the morning and following noon and afternoon passed by rather quickly. Around lunchtime, just before Spike retreated to the kitchen and Twilight moved on from "Historical Significance" to "Mystery" and "Drama", Time Turner arrived to present Fluttershy the flowers he picked for her, and she flawlessly pulled off a pretense of immediate surprise at the flattery, much to his pleasure. Nothing interesting really happened, until Spike left for the kitchen to serve up some lunch.

That was when Applejack returned.

The bell above the door rang, drawing Twilight out of her stupor. She turned around to see the cowgirl jaunt in, coat glistening with fresh sweat.

"Hi Applejack! Anything I can do help you? Or were you looking for a book?"

"Hi Applejack!" came the small voice of Fluttershy.

"Howdy ya'll. I just came back t' pick up mah hat. I must of left it 'round here somewheres," she said, observing the room at large. Her grass-green eyes landed on the azure eyes of Time Turner, and the temperature in the room dropped. Applejack's eye twitched ever so slightly before drawing off to the opposite side of the room, where Rainbow Dash slept, curled up on the stairs with a stetson wrapped over her head.

She promptly trotted over and (carefully) pulled the hat off of Rainbow and onto her her own head. The sudden burst of light woke the cyan mare, who blinked at first at Applejack, then to the stetson resting on her crown, then back to the glare Applejack was giving her. She smiled sheepishly when she realized why Applejack was glaring at her.

"Um... morning, A.J.?"

Applejack raised a brow at this. "Mornin'? It ain't been mornin' fer a few hours now. How long you been asleep?" Rainbow Dash returned her quizzical stare before studying the clock nearby. After a minute or so, she yawned and turned to Twilight, eyes pleading. Twilight rolled hers and sighed. She really must get around to teaching her how to read a simple clock. Seriously, it was ridiculous.

"It's two o'clock." Rainbow grunted her gratitude, and, yawning, curled back up, plopping a hoof over her nose.

Then in a burst of energy she shot back up, fully alert. "TWO O'CLOCK? Oh ponyfeathers, I'm late for my shift!" Then blew through the library's door at a superequine speed.

"Uh... see ya?" said Applejack, putting the hat back on her head, still staring at where the pegasus disappeared.

"Oh, I hope she doesn't get in trouble..."

"Don't worry now, I'm sure she'll be fine," Time Turner offered, then added when Fluttershy did not seem assured, "She can clear the sky in 'ten seconds flat', now how about that? They're not going to get rid of their fastest weather mare on account of being late."

"Besides, Rainbow's one of their top pegasi's. If they were gonna lay her off, they woulda done it years ago back when late mornin' naps was a problem fer her. By now her bosses are probably used to her showing up late; she sure makes up for it," said Applejack, putting in her two bits.

Fluttershy pondered this, seeming cheered by the assurances. At least, a smile appeared on her face and she began to giggle. Twilight raised an eyebrow at her.

"What's so funny, Fluttershy?"

"I don't think Rainbow has to worry about being laid off..."

"There, see? Nothing to worry your head about––"

"Seeing as it's a Saturday." Everyone stopped. Each shared glances with one another before smiles broke out amongst them, followed by chuckling and giggling. It felt good to laugh. The joyous moment ended abruptly however, when Applejack caught Time Turner's eye and immediately stopped giggling. Time Turner followed suit, and it was not fun having a laugh when two friends were left out. Applejack's reaction to Time Turner did not go unnoticed by Twilight though. Twilight had opened her mouth to (hopefully) quietly interrogate her on the subject, but was interrupted by Spike waking out of a makeshift kitchen in an adorable and most unbecoming apron.

"Lunch is ready!" he called to the crowd of ponies.

Well, Twilight thought, it can wait until later. The five ponies (where did Pinkie Pie come from?) and dragon emptied into the kitchen, where the dragon served them delicious grilled sandwiches, made with succulent daisies and poppies.

(_/-.-\(_)/-.-\_)

The rest of the day passed by rather uneventfully, until the afternoon. After lunch, Applejack and Time Turner got into a fight that no one else was there to witness the beginning of. What it was about was unknown to all present, and possibly lost to those involved as well. After the verbal war, Applejack abruptly left (and nopony faulted her for this), but not before proposing to Twilight a sleepover at Sweet Apple Acres.

Not long after a customer arrived, reminding Twilight that her house of residence was, in fact, a fully functioning library. While she preoccupied herself fulfilling her job as a librarian and seeing to the colt's book-related needs, Fluttershy and her stallion decided to take their leave and make their way back to Fluttershy's Cottage ("before Angel gets it into his head to give Discord a run for his money," as Time Turner put it).

Pinkie also returned home to the twins, which, after the colt left with his order of books, left Twilight and Spike to themselves.

Spike found that to be utterly boring. And so, to relieve his unrequited boredom, he pitched the prospect of an afternoon picnic to Twilight. After a few minutes of playful banter that gave the dragon hope things were back to normal, the unicorn caved in, and agreed.

After an argument that involved gems, an owl, and cucumber sandwiches, the duo found themselves delighting in supper consisting of daisy and daffodil sandwiches, (courtesy of Spike), on a checkered towel underneath a large, mushroom-shaped tree. A family of pegasi were also vacationing on the ground under the same tree, enjoying a picnic of vegetables and cow milk.

Celestia's sun had just abandoned its midday perch, and was resting a couple inches to the west. This cast a shadow over Twilight and Spike, shading them from the warmth of the sun bearing down, but regardless they were able to enjoy the beauty of day from afar as the warmth was carried to them on a light breeze tinged with a comfortable chill.

Other ponies had also taken the time to enthrall themselves with the beauty of nature that existed around the local park. Some paced the trails at a slow trot; a few accounted for the whispers of the trees as the wind blew, carrying the conversations from tree to tree; new couples caught up in the novelty of each other's gazes; and some listened to the songs of the birds, matching their tune and singing in harmony with them.

For Spike and Twilight the afternoon passed by in a blissful silence. They each enjoyed their meals, taking comfort in each other's presence. Twilight would observe the scenes unfolding around her, calculating and analyzing the expressions and reactions and moods of the ponies nearby, and Spike could see it in her that she was trying to somehow turn equine behavior into an equation.

Spike busied himself watching Twilight. Time had passed since the morning, but still he had an uneasy feeling. He worried for her, and as she studied others he studied her. For the longest time Twilight was the only friend he had––not because he was anti-social outcast, but because all of his time was spent caring and being cared for by one. Twilight Sparkle was many things to Spike, most of which could be summed up as surrogate mother and adopted sister. As he looked at her, reminding himself of the pain she was in earlier, a sadness welled up inside him. Standing up, he tapped her on the shoulder, and when she turned around to look at him, he wrapped his arms around her foreleg, squeezing it slightly. Twilight winced at the sharpness of his claws, but ignored it and put a hoof around him as well. Spike glanced up into her eyes, and Twilight smiled down at him.

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight sniffed. Together they curled up on the grass, watching the clouds as they passed on by.

The shadow that was over them passed, descending onto the nearby pegasi as they packed their leftovers and disappeared.