In the main castle in Canterlot the capital of Equestria, its ruler, Princess Celestia paced her throne room. No matter what she did, she couldn't distract herself. She sighed realizing she could no longer ignore the giant being standing in the corner shrouded partially in darkness whose height almost reached to the top of the high vaulted ceilings.

"Watcher! Why are you here?"

I AM HERE ONLY TO OBSERVE.

Celestia sighed; he is as obtuse as ever, "You only come in times of great danger; what calamity is about to befall Equestria?"

I CAN NOT INTERFERE, I CAN ONLY OBSERVE.

"Do you get pleasure out of watching us struggle? Is that why you don't interfere?"

I FEEL NO PLEASURE, I AM ABOVE SUCH NEEDS. I ONLY DO MY DUTY, NOTHING MORE.

Celestia knew she wasn't going to get any more information from him, "Can you at least observe someplace else? I have dignitaries coming shortly."

TELL THEM I AM HERE TO DO THE WINDOWS.

Celestia glowered at him. For such a superior being, he had an annoyingly inappropriate sense of humour…

In the library in Ponyville, tension was in the air, one of its residents, a purple unicorn named Twilight Sparkle, was frantic. Her horn glowed brightly as she searched rapidly through book after book; page after page turning with each blink of the eye. Her brow is furrowed, glistening with sweat.

"Spike! Get me Arks of Myth and History!" she commanded to her purple and green baby dragon assistant.

"Um, okay." Spike was confused by the request but he quickly located the required tome and brought it his boss.

Twilight looked at the book and her assistant with a small amount of disdain. "Why did you bring me that book?"

"That's what you just asked for."

"Why would I ask for…" Twilight glanced at the title quickly to make sure she was reading it right, "…Arks of Myth and History? I'm trying to find a special spell to use at Pinkie Pie's party. Do you honestly think I'm going find a special spell in that book?"

Spike glanced at the book and back to Twilight who was giving him a look of exasperation, "I'm going to guess, no?"

"Humph," was all Twilight said before returning to her page turning.

"I don't know why you're getting all frazzled…"

Twilight looked up with annoyance, "I'm not frazzled."

"Hi Twilight! Whatcha doing? Are you working on party magic? Whatcha going to do? I bet it's something really cool!"

The voice from behind Twilight startled her. She let out a gasp as her horn shone brighter and she disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

"Oooo, hide and seek, I love it!" said a pink pony with balloons on her flank.

Spike looked at his empty hands, shrugged his shoulders and started looking around for Twilight.

"Pinkie Pie!" The annoyed voice came from above their heads. Both Pinkie and Spike looked up and saw Twilight standing upside down on the ceiling.

Pinkie stared wide-eyed in wonder, "Wow, that's a neat trick! That will be great for the party!"

"What? What trick?"

Spike wasn't as sure as Pinkie at what he was seeing, "Uh, Twilight, how are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" Twilight was confused; staring up at Spike and Pinkie wasn't helping. She saw Spike motion to her hooves and she looked down. It was then that she realized that she was in fact looking up at her hooves that she started to fall. Fortunately quick thinking on her part allowed her to teleport back to the ground a fraction of a second later.

Pinkie Pie squealed and clapped in delight, "Oooo that was wonderful! You have to do that trick for Fluttershy's party!"

"I'm sorry Pinkie, that wasn't a trick that was an accident. I don't think I could do that again on purpose if I tried."

Pinkie was crestfallen, but she immediately perked up, "But you DO have a trick ready don't you?"

Twilight swallowed hard, she wanted to admit she hadn't found a special magic spell for the party yet, but instead, "Um, yes, of course I do."

Pinkie smiled brightly, "Oh tell me, tell me, tell me!"

Twilight stammered than answered, "I can't tell you much, all I can say is that it involves balloon animals."

Pinkie's smile quickly evaporated as she looked at Twilight suspiciously, "Balloon animals?"

"Er, yes," replied Twilight who was now working to push the protesting Pinkie out of the door of the library, "but I can't chat about it right now. Now if you can excuse me, I have a lot of practicing to do to make that spell work. Wouldn't want to disappoint Fluttershy," and with that she shoved Pinkie out the door and locked it.

As Twilight returned back to her books Spike stood there with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed, "Balloon animals?"

"I panicked."

Meanwhile, a little way outside of Ponyville there sits a colourfully decorated caravan with the words 'Great and Powerful Trixie' painted on the side. The unicorn owner of the caravan lays next it feeling anything but great and powerful. She's wearing a magician's hat and cape and is as emotionally blue as the colour of her hide. All Trixie wanted was fame and fortune and to be loved by everyone. Unfortunately her efforts backfired and she became a pariah through most of Equestria.

As she lay on the ground pawing the dirt with a hoof and feeling sorry for herself, there was a bright flash and a book drops to the ground beside her. Startled, she cautiously looks at it and reads the title: Arks of Myth and History. She smiles; perhaps she stands a chance of changing her life for the better.