"The supreme satisfaction is to be able to despise one's neighbor and this fact goes far to account for religious intolerance. It is evidently consoling to reflect that the people next door are going to hell." - Alister Crowley

Twilight's eyes slowly came to life. She had never felt this tired in her entire life, and spent a few minutes contemplating whether there was even a point in going to sleep at all. Come to think of it, she didn't really remember going to sleep. The last thing she remembered was the ritual ending and the strange creature telling her his name. What was it again...Reficul? She didn't really care in that moment, all she knew was that her whole body was aching, and the slightest thought of movement made her muscles cry out in protest.

She didn't even think she could get up if she wanted too. Looking over at the window she could barely see the sun starting to set over the horizon. "What's the harm of a few more minutes of sleep?" She thought, and then rested her head back down. It was a pleasant feeling for her to once again drift off into sleep, slowly getting more and more relaxed, falling into a sea of dreams.

It was paradise, and it was rudely interrupted by a violent banging on the front door. Twilight was almost tempted to ignore it at first, but then she'd be the rude one. Grudgingly, she got up and did the best to she could to shake her drowsiness as she walked down the stairs. She reached the front door, magically turned the knob to open it, and immediately got tackled to the floor by a fluffy pink blur that came charging into the room.

Twilight stared at Pinkie Pie for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but her words were quickly drowned under Pinkie Pie's over excited voice. "Oh my gosh! Twilight! Are you okay, did something happen too you?! Are you feeling well!?"

Twilight could barely get her answer out. "Yes Pinkie, I'm fine. Don't worry, you didn't hurt me."

"Huh? What do you mean, why would I hurt you? I was just getting worried after you didn't show up at the Sugarcube for my taste testing like you said you would, so I thought something might have been wrong, and that you needed my help."

Twilight sucked in a breath, having to remind herself that it was Pinkie Pie she was dealing with. "Pinkie, nothing's wrong. I told you I'd be there early but not this early, it's barely even morning."

Pinkie Pie gave her a confused look. "Really, it is? I swear morning ended like three hours ago."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Very funny Pinkie. I may have just crawled out of bed, but you'll need to do better than that to get one over on..." Twilight stopped dead when she suddenly noticed the clock in the corner of the room. Two O' clock. She levitated her pink friend off her chest and then bolted out the door. Outside the sun was just coming down over the peak of the sky and was beginning to make its descent down to earth.

Twilight's jaw was hanging on end. She had slept in until two, that's never happened before. Maybe she had overslept a few minutes on occasion, but never this late. Thought's raced through her head, her whole schedule was thrown off track. All her study time, all her appointments, all the time she had this morning, gone. Her mind sank as that thought settled into it. "Oh Celestia, Pinkie I'm sorry, I slept in so late this morning. I didn't know what time it was when I woke up."

Pinkie Pie meat her with an understanding smile. "It's okay Twilight, I can make cupcakes any old day. Plus, I sorta ate them all before coming over here anyway." Twilight smiled at her friend's comfort. "Oh, but you may want to hurry and get yourself ready. Otherwise you'll be late for Rainbow Dash's practice."

Twilight's eyes flickered. "Oh yeah, that's right, we all promised Rainbow Dash that I would be there at her practice this morning." She looked at her reflection in the window. She looked like how anyone who had just fallen out of bed would look like. Her eyes were half shut with streams of red roots spread throughout them, and her hair had the most sever case of bedhead she had ever seen. She smiled back at Pinkie after making these observations. "Okay, so I'll just freshen up a bit and then come to meet you out there."

"Alrighty then!" She stated loudly, her words accompanied by her trademark cartoonish bouncing. "I'll see out there in a jiffy." She began hop off towards the fields, but stopped just long enough for Twilight to hear a strange after thought. "It is too bad that I ate all those cupcakes, I'm sure everyone would've loved them out there."

Twilight smiled and shook her head at the same time, but as she went back into the library something strange happened. She saw something, almost like a vision that entered her mind. In it she saw Pinkie Pie standing on a podium, being watched by a thousand ponies all laughing and smiling at her antics. Some on the floor in tears at what she did. Pinkie herself was having the time of her life. "If only I could make everypony in the world happy, that would be a dream." The words were spoken in her voice, and seemed to echo inside Twilight's head.

The vision ended in a flash that pained Twilight's eyes. She shook her head vigorously, and then looked back at Pinkie Pie, but by that time she could only see her far off in the distance, bouncing over the hills like some children's story rabbit. Twilight returned her attention too her own thoughts. What the hay was that about? Was she suffering delusions from sleep deprivation or something? She didn't know, and she didn't have time too figure it out. She had things to do.

. . .

The sun glared down on Twilight as she approached Rainbow Dash's practice area. If there was one thing that could be said about Rainbow it was that she was dedicated enough to always practice, even on a sweltering day like this. Twilight herself could already feel trickles of sweat rolling down her mane. She never really let things like heat or whether bother her too much, but she could imagine Rarity fussing about it.

She clopped her way up a large hill, on the brow of which she could faintly make out the thin figures of Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkiepie; the latter of which yelled out a greeting upon seeing her. "Oh, Twilight is here. Hey Twilight hows it going!"

The purple pony smiled in reply. "Hey guys, sorry if I don't talk much I'm a little worn out today."

Pinkie giggled. "You must really need a lot of sleep if you're still tired after getting up at two."

Applejack's eyes widened. "Wow, I know town folk don't usually get up all that early, but hitting the hay until afternoon time is unheard of."

"Yeah, I was up pretty late doing some magickal experiments."

"What kind?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight's heart jumped, suddenly remembering Reficul's implications that their deal was supposed to be a secret. She stuttered. "Well, uh, it's sort of hard to explain. You see..."

"Ah, it's okay Twilight." Applejack said. "We probably wouldn't understand it anyway."

Twilight gave a silent sigh of relief, but for good measure she quickly found another subject to move on to. "So is Rarity not going to be joining us?"

"Um, she'll be here in a little while." Fluttershy answered softly. "She had a few commissions to finnish before she could get out."

"Well that girl better hurry." Applejack stated. "The way Rainbow Dash has been talking I reckon she'll have done three sonic rainbooms by the time she gets out here."

"Yes, where is Rainbow any..." Twilight was loudly interrupted by a sound similar to a fighter jet zooming by a few feet above their heads. After recovering her hearing, Twilight smiled and looked up. "Of course, why did I even need to ask?"

High above them in the clouds, Rainbow Dash was speeding up at lightning speeds. Just barely visible with her light blue mane blending in with the sky, she was coming back down to earth like a meteor, the air whistling around her making a concert of noise. For a moment her friends feared she might crash right into them, but at the last second she scooped upward, shouting audible curses as she did.

"Darn it, I was so close that time!" She fumed as she glided back down too her friends. "If I had just a little more speed I would've nailed it."

Applejack cocked her eye. "You know you have me believing that you had already done this again, what's taking you so long this time?"

"Wait, you did a sonic rainboom again?" Twilight said with a hint of skepticism. "I find that hard to believe, seeing how the last two times you did it it was seen from here to Canterlot."

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head coyly. "Well, maybe I exaggerated it a little; but I'm close. And I swear today I am going to get it right." With that she began to ascend upward again for another go.

Twilight shook her head. "Typical Rainbow, I don't think she could go a day without bragging."

"Well at least for the most part she can back up what she says." Stated Applejack. "In fact, I'll bet you twenty bits that she does do a sonic rainboom today."

Twilight gave a cocky smile. "You're on."

They continued to watch Rainbow attempt to perform the famous move. She must have tried a dozen times. Climbing to the highest point of the sky, roaring down to earth like a rocket, turning up sharply near the ground, and yelling angrily at herself every time it didn't work. It seemed to Twilight that her language got worse and worse with each failed attempt. "Mother Bucker!" She screamed to heavens, causing Applejack to cover Pinkie's ears and Fluttershy her own.

She floated down to them again her hooves folded discontentedly. "I don't get it, I've done this twice before, why I'm having so much trouble now?"

"Well, in all honesty I barely even see how it's possible to begin with?" Twilight stated. "I mean, I know pegisi are fast, but no natural creature should be able to move that fast. First you need to break the sound barrier so that puts you going at least mach one speeds, although I'm sure the rainboom would require you to go at least five times that. Then you have the whole color spectrum thing, which makes no sense in either the laws of nature or logic..."

"Twilight."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever been told that you're an egghead?" Twilight glared at Rainbow, who only grinned back at her. "I'm just going to keep trying, I'll get it eventually."

She sped upward again, making her way to the top. While they watched their friend ascend up again, Pinkie noticed the final member of their group making their way to meet them. "Hey look, Rarity is coming up." The group turned to see the white Pony's graceful figure climbing up the hill, a large umbrella magically floating above her head.

"Yay, we're all together now." Pinkie exclaimed excitedly. "How's it going Rarity?"

"Good I guess." She answered with a sigh. "Just melting in this awful heat. I shouldn't have worn such a heavy outfit today, it'll practically be ruined under all this sweat."

Her attire was a heavy velvet jacket that covered her front torso area, but not her back side. She also had a large sun hat covering her head that hid most of her face under it. Twilight made a slight smile to humor her predicament. She blinked, and then her eyes shot wide open. Within that split second that her eyes had closed Rarity's appearance had completely changed.

She was now wearing what must have been the most gorgeous outfit Twilight had ever seen, something that put all of her previous works to shame. The fabric was made of a heavenly material that almost seemed to glow like a shimmering star. It covered the whole shape of her body, and was designed almost like a wedding dress. She even had a veil, with thin strips of material flowing off her head like Celestia's mane. She was beautiful, unlike anything Twilight had seen before. Then things got strange. Suddenly she noticed she was in the middle of a crowed consisting of all types of ponies, and a drooling Spike, all admiring Rarity's looks as she walked around them. She twirled a bit and tossed her head back to give them a starling display. She was clearly enjoying the attention.

"Some day, I will make the perfect dress. Something top them all, something that no one will ever forget."

Rarity's voice rang through Twilight's head, sending her into a daze. She was at a loss for knowing what was happening, and things only got worse. She noticed one last detail about Rarity's attire. Around her neck was a small silver necklace, the design of a circle and small five pointed star right in the center of it.

There was a flash of light and Twilight was disorientated. She looked around, only to see the crowed was gone, and Rarity was back in her velvet jacket.

"Is there something wrong dear? You look a bit ill."

Twilight shook her head to bring herself back to reality. "N-nothng, just a little tired this morning that's all."

"It's not even morning shug," Applejack stated.

"I think Twilight has a little trouble keeping track of time." Pinkie explained.

Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Girls look, its little hard to explain but I just had a really rough time last night, and it was hard for me to fall asleep."

Fluttershy softly spoke up. "Um, if you need any help getting to sleep I might know a tonic that could help you."

Twilight smiled at her friend's offer. "Thank you Fluttershy, but I don't think I'll..." She stopped in mid sentence, as another vision began. This time she saw Fluttershy sitting in a secluded area of the forest. Flowers lined the edges of her hairs, and the smile she had could bring peace to anypony who looked at it. Animals gathered around her, along with several ponies she knew. Twilight was startled by the fact that many of them were former adversaries they had fought. Discord, Nightmare Moon, King Somba; every enemy they had fought sat along side her and her friends smiling and laughing heartily.

"All I want is peace, that's all I've ever wanted. No more conflict, ever."

Again Twilight was thrown into a stupor, but only became more startled when she noticed the entire group was standing right on top of the same five pointed star she saw earlier.

Her vision ended just like the others, and she needed to shake her head to regain her sight. "Twilight, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.

"Y-yes, I'm fine."

"You sure, cause you really are acting strange." Applejack stated.

Twilight turned to respond to her, but her expression slumped as another vision started up. This one gave her a slight surprise as she Applejack standing in front of a tall handsome stallion. His long black mane trailed in the wind, and his cool blue eyes stared lovingly into Applejack's. They stared at each other star struck for a moment, and then they leaned into each other for a kiss.

"Family, is all I have, and all I ever want. Someday, I'll meet my special somepony."

Twilight shook her head violently to end the vision. She came back to the real world to find all her friends staring at her, concerned. "Twilight, you're not going crazy again are you?" Asked Fluttershy.

If she was going to be honest with herself, Twilight wasn't entirely sure. She hesitated to answer for a moment, and then was interrupted by the roaring of air above them. "Oh boy, her she comes again."

Rainbow Dash came flying downward out the clouds, her lips flapping about from the sheer amount of speed. Twilight watched opened mouthed as she came down, it looked like she was actually going to pull it off this time. Her excitement mounted as her speed amped up, for a moment it looked like she'd have to pull up before making it, and then it happened. There was a massive bang that rang throughout the air, and the sky was filled with an expanding circular rainbow that grew larger with each passing second.

Twilight's smile was huge, she couldn't believe it happened again, finally her friend might be able to do it on a regular basis. She watched with glee as the circular rainbow passed above their heads, and then she gasped, as she noticed at five corners of the rainbow circle, laid the points of massive star. Flames seemed to encompass the lines of this star, and magical power emanated from the center.

"I am going to be the best, everyone in Equestria will know my name." Rainbow's voice echoed in her head, and then the vision ended in a flash.

"Yeah! In you're face physics!" Rainbow screamed as she came back down. "I knew it, I told you I could make it happen, and look there it is." She began to laugh as she looked up at the ever expanding rainbow.

"I have to admit, it's a sight that never grows old." stated Rarity. "What do you think Twilight?"

She didn't answer that, she was still staring in shock at what she had just seen. "Uh, hello? Equestria too Twilight, are you there?" Rainbow Dash said, giving her a gentle poke.

Twilight came back to them with a stutter, "I...I need to go."

Her friends went wide eyed. "What, you're leaving, why?"

"I just need to go home, I'll see you guys later." She said, turning and then galloping off back to the library.

Her friends stood dumbfounded for a moment. "What's gotten into her?" Rainbow asked.

"Not much," stated Applejack. "She's just sore about losing a bet, that's all."