Dreaming of a Magical Friendship
by StorySpy
High above the skies of Equestria, a flying chariot carried by a duo of pegasi flew through the skies. Its purpose is to transport its two passengers to the town of Ponyville. One of the two passengers was a unicorn pony with violet eyes, a dark blue, purple, and pink mane, a lavender coat, and a pink-purple six-pointed star surrounded by five smaller white stars as a cutie mark. Her name was Twilight Sparkle and she was Princess Celestia's personal protege, a position that gives her great joy. Right now, however, Twilight was not happy about being sent away from Canterlot. The other passenger, Spike, a purple and green baby boy dragon with green eyes, did not share the pony's lack of enthusiasm.
"I can't believe it, Spike. I just can't believe it," said Twilight.
"What can't you believe, Twilight?" asked Spike.
"Princess Celestia didn't believe me when I told her about my warning about Nightmare Moon. She called me a liar!"
"What are you talking about? Celestia trusts you completely. You said so yourself. She said so, too."
"I know, Spike, I know. But then, she decided to send us out of town on an unimportant errand. I don't see the logic in this."
"Twilight, before you go blowing this out of proportion, ask yourself this question. Do you really think that she'd send you away if it wasn't important?" responded the tiny dragon.
Twilight thought about it for a few seconds and with a sigh, she said, "No. Not really. But still, I would've thought that the Princess would've told me why she would send me away."
"You know, so do I," agreed Spike.
"On top of all that, I never got the chance to talk to the Princess about that dream that I had last night."
"Twilight, I've noticed that you've never told me about that dream of yours."
"I didn't?"
"No! Of course not! As your assistant, I gotta know these things."
"Oh, sorry," said Twilight. In her time as Celestia's pupil, she had Spike helping her out with her studies, because she trusts him with a lot of things. After all, she was the one that hatched him from his egg.
"So, tell me, what was your dream like?"
"Well, my dream began in my library. I was studying up on Ancient Equestrian History when I noticed that it was a great night."
"Seems normal enough."
"During high noon," added Twilight.
"So? Stuff like this happens in dreams."
"I thought so, too. But then, when I got outside, I saw that I had found myself in the palace. I was confused as to how I got all the way here so quickly. I also noticed that the whole place was completely deserted. Then, the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by a dark mist while storm clouds gathered above me. Then, these clouds unleashed an indoor lightning storm, which filled me with grave concern. It was as if the storm was summoning something dangerous. Sure enough, a bolt of lightning struck the mist, causing it to transform into a huge, black, fire-breathing dragon!"
"Wait! Was I in it?" asked Spike.
"No, of course not!" responded Twilight, "Besides, he was bigger than you are."
"So, what happened next?"
"What happened next in my dream was that the palace doors slammed shut behind me. Since I couldn't run away, I decided to attempt to communicate with it. I was going to ask the dragon who it was and what it wanted until I realized that the Princess wasn't here! I then decided to ask it what it's done to Celestia."
"What was the big guy's answer?" asked Spike.
"The dragon roared at me and attacked with its fire breath. I leaped out of the way of his attack. I realized that I would have to defend myself against this apparent threat to Equestria. I levitated a flowerpot and threw it at the creature's head. But it had no effect. I tried again with another flowerpot. That didn't work either. Then, I levitated the chandelier off the ceiling and dropped it on the dragon's head. But, all it did was make the dragon angry. I had no idea what spells I should use to stop it for good. I was trapped and helpless and I didn't know what to do, but then..."
"Oh! Oh! I got it! You turned the dragon into a mouse!"
"No, Spike," answered Twilight.
"You turned the dragon into a squirrel?"
"No!" answered the pony, growing frustrated.
"What about..."
"No small rodents of any kind!" Twilight said in an indignant tone.
"Yikes!"
"Sorry, Spike."
"It's all right. I hope we don't have that conversation again."
"Right."
"Well, how'd you beat him?" asked Spike.
"I told you, I didn't have a clue! I thought I was done for! But then, three red apples came out of nowhere and hit the dragon in the eyes, blinding the creature. Then I heard a voice telling me to run. And I ran up the stairs while the dragon was blinded. I was halfway up the stairs when the dragon regained its sight and found me. It ran towards me only to be blinded again by a bright light that came from a pile of gemstones that I saw at the top of the stairs."
"Mmmm, gemstones..."
"Spike! Pay attention, please."
"Sorry, Twilight! Please continue."
"Right. When I made it up the stairs, I heard giggling. That giggling sound came from a balloon that was next to a door in front of me. Then, the mysterious voice told me to trust the giggling. I ran to the door as fast as my hooves could take me, but when I opened it, I found myself in a canyon. I had only a short time to admire the scenery before the dragon caught up to me, then I ran away to a cliff. I was trapped again, but the cliff collapsed and I fell and I fell and I fell, but suddenly, I stopped falling as I was carried down to safety by a large group of butterflies that saved me from a rough landing.
"Then I heard the voice tell me to follow the rainbow. I had no idea what the voice was talking about until I saw a rainbow in front of me. The rainbow seemed to know what I was thinking because the rainbow came to life, summoned a massive storm, and downed the dragon that followed me down. After it distracted the creature, the rainbow made a long path for me to follow. I ran as fast as I could as I followed the rainbow road until it led me to a gold tiara. I was still trying to make sense of all this, but the voice then said, 'Wear it and you will know what to do.'
"I put on the tiara and then I felt energy surging through me. It was like my magic was being supercharged. The dragon found me and flew at me and prepared to attack me, but the tiara caused me to blast the dragon with an extremely powerful beam of magical light that shot out of my horn. That beam was joined by five more beams of light, and then, these beams turned into a rainbow that gave my beam more power. Somehow, this...this rainbow of light that was blasted at the creature proved to be very powerful. Then, the dragon exploded into mist that quickly reformed into a tiny little blue bird. After that, the sun came up, which meant that Princess Celestia was safe."
"Wow!" gasped Spike.
"I know, right?" said Twilight.
"So, what next?" asked Spike.
"This tiny blue bird flew away, but I decided to follow it. Then, I ended up being led by the bird to a meadow. Then, I ran into a quintet of birds wearing necklaces that flew up to me. The first bird had orange feathers, yellow wings, and green eyes, the second bird had pale amber yellow feathers, pink wings, and strong cyan eyes, the third bird had pink feathers, rose-magenta wings, and bluish cyan eyes, the fourth bird had light azure grey feathers, purple wings, and azure blue eyes, and finally, the fifth bird had red eyes, blue wings, and...wait for it...rainbow-colored wings. I noticed that their necklaces were the same colors as the Elements of Harmony. Then, the bird with pink feathers flew up to my face and said, 'Thank you!' Then, the bird giggled."
"Okay. What next? What next?" asked Spike.
"Actually, that's it," said Twilight.
"Come again?" asked Spike.
"That's when I woke up. When the bird giggled, I woke up," answered the unicorn.
"Wow! That was quite a dream you had!"
"Definitely. I should've reported this to the Princess."
"Well, you looked through your books and did some research on the Elements of Harmony. That's when you found out...what, again?"
"Oh, Spike. On the longest day of the thousandth year, Nightmare Moon will return to Equestria and..."
"I know, Twilight, I know. Bring about eternal night," finished Spike, "You told me to put it in your letter to Celestia."
"I was hoping she'd take action, but she just gave me a message saying that she didn't believe me!" said an annoyed Twilight.
"Actually, the message said nothing like that," explained the baby dragon.
"I doubt that."
"Twilight, all her letter said was, and I remember mostly every word, 'I value your diligence and trust you completely, but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!' If the Princess said otherwise, I'd know."
"Thanks, Spike. I almost feel much better about being sent away," Twilight said.
Spike said, "Good, cause there's more in that note."
Twilight paid close attention as Spike read the rest of Celestia's letter.
"My Dear Twilight. There is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location, Ponyville."
As Spike read the letter, Twilight decided to take a look at her new residence. The unicorn saw that Ponyville was a thriving community with prospering businesses and public facilities.
Seeing this, Twilight thought, 'Just great. The Princess wants me to stay here?'
"And I have an even more essential task for you to accomplish," Spike continued reading as he got to the end of the note, "Make some friends!"
Twilight groaned as she thought, 'Of all the ridiculous nonsense! Why is it that I have to supervise preparations for a party in the country when I should be working on a plan to prevent the prophecy of Nightmare Moon? This doesn't make any sense!'
Spike noticed her displeasure and decided to cheer her up. After all, Ponyville does have one place that could remind her of Canterlot. And it just so happens that Celestia had just made arrangements for Twilight to live here.
"Look on the bright side, Twilight. The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?"
'A library? Great,' Twilight thought sourly. Then, when she realized what this means, she said, "Yes! Yes, it does. You know why? Because I'm right. I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library and find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return."
'Looks like Spike has a point. My staying in a library is indeed a bright spot to my being relocated to this place,' thought the unicorn.
Spike quickly noticed a small omission in the schedule that Twilight set up. "Then, when will you make friends, like the Princess said?" asked the baby dragon.
Twilight, however, had no time for this, so she responded by saying, "She said to check on preparations. I am her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends."
However, what Twilight didn't realize was that by the time this is over, she'd realize how important friendship really is.