Chapter 4

Back to School

Even though Twilight and Applejack missed the train, they were not going to give up so easily. They decided that they were going to borrow Bright Mac's chariot in order to catch up to the train. It took a couple of hours before they rode the chariot right next to the train tracks.

As they rode the chariot across the tracks, Twilight and Applejack heard the whistle of the Canterlot Express. The two ponies soon began to smile as they knew that they were getting close.

"Applejack, did you hear that?" Twilight asked her friend. "It must be the train!"

"At this rate, we should reach the train in not time." Applejack replied, determined to catch the train.

The more that they rode the chariot, the louder the whistle got. However, the train was nowhere in sight, much to Twilight and Applejack's confusion.

"Uh, Applejack? I don't see the train anywhere. You don't think-" Twilight trailed off as she and Applejack reluctantly turned around.

Once they turned around, they realized that they had been flying in front of the train the whole time. The train was speeding closer to the chariot every second. Twilight and Applejack let out a couple of screams before Applejack rode the chariot out of the way.

The sudden turn of the chariot caused Twilight to fall back and she nearly fell out of the chariot if Applejack hadn't grabbed her hoof at the last second. Applejack grabbed Twilight's other fore hoof and helped her back in the chariot.

"Whew! That was a close one, Twilight!" Applejack gave a relieved sigh.

"It was. Let's not ride so close to the train tracks next time." Twilight panted.

Throughout the rest of the ride, Twilight and Applejack followed the train, careful not to lose sight of it. Nighttime soon fell, and Twilight was greeted with a familiar sight. Right in front of her was the enormous castle she recognized from a year ago. Applejack looked over to Twilight with a smile as she knew how much this meant to her.

"Welcome home, Twilight!"

Applejack was about to land the chariot when it started to shake and fly out of control.

"Applejack? What's going on?" Twilight asked, fearfully.

"Oh no! The chariot won't be able to handle staying in the sky for too much longer! We're going to crash!"

"What?"

Before Twilight could say another word, the chariot plummeted from the sky and was heading straight for a tree. Desperate to stop the chariot, Applejack took out her wand and started to repeatedly hit it against the chariot. Her wand ended up breaking in half and the chariot crashed into the tree.

Twilight recovered from the sudden crash and turned to Applejack before she asked, "Are you okay, Applejack?"

"I'm alright, Twilight. I wish I could say the same thing about my wand." Applejack looked at her broken wand.

The two friends were about to get out of the chariot when an enormous branch crashed into the chariot. More branches soon followed, and Twilight and Applejack realized that the tree that they crashed into is alive. The tree repeated pounded its branches on the chariot until the branches holding the chariot broke apart. Using what little magic the chariot had left, Applejack rode it away from the tree before they got crushed.

At that moment, Twilight and Applejack got out of the chariot and grabbed their school supplies. The two ponies panted before they took a closer look at the chariot.

"Is it broken, Applejack?" Twilight asked.

"It could be. I don't think it will run again." Applejack gave the chariot a slight kick.

That was when the chariot suddenly came back to life and drove itself right into the Everfree Forest, much to Applejack's dismay.

"Mom is going to be so mad at me when she finds out about this!"

Twilight began to feel sorry for Applejack. Not only has Applejack lost her father's chariot, but she also broke her wand in the same night. The purple unicorn then walked over to her friend and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

"Come on, Applejack. Let's head to the castle. I'm sure that things will be better from there." Twilight assured.

With a nod of agreement, Applejack followed Twilight to the castle. The two ponies walked through the castle as they wondered why they couldn't board the platform of the Canterlot Express. Before they could question it, they quickly found out that the castle's caretaker, Cranky Doodle Donkey has been standing in front of them the who time.

"Those who miss the Canterlot Express end up getting in a lot of trouble." said the grumpy donkey.

"Cranky, we can explain!" Twilight spoke up.

"Follow me." Cranky said, not wanting to hear Twilight's excuses.

Seeing that they had no choice, Twilight and Applejack followed Cranky through the castle. This was not how Twilight imagined her return to Canterlot. She spent the next couple of moments worrying what would happen to her and Applejack. They could end up getting expelled on just their second year.

Just when Twilight thought her luck couldn't get any worse, Cranky opened a door and Twilight found herself face to face with her least favorite teacher, Professor Flintheart. Professor Flintheart stared at the two ponies with a glare so intimidating, it gave them chills.

"Sit down!" Flintheart ordered once Twilight and Applejack entered the room.

Not wanting to get on Flintheart's bad side, Twilight and Applejack did as he said. Flintheart glared at the two ponies for what felt like hours until he began to speak.

"What you two have done was inexcusable! You have caused great damage to the Everfree Tree, a tree that had been planted on these grounds since before you were even born!"

Applejack gathered the courage to speak up. "In all honesty Professor, I'm pretty sure that tree caused more damage to us than we did to-"

"Silence!" Flintheart interrupted. "If it were up to me, you two would be back on the train, heading straight back home!"

"But it is not up to you, Professor Flintheart." spoke a calm voice from the doorway.

Everyone turned around to see the school's headmistress, Professor Celestia, along with the transfiguration teacher, Professor Cadance.

"Professor Celestia, these two have caused a lot of trouble for the Everfree Tree, and they must be punished at once!" Flintheart yelled.

"I am well aware of that, Professor Flintheart." Celestia replied, still keeping a calm voice. "Twilight and Applejack should know better than to crash a chariot into the Everfree Tree, and a punishment might be in order."

That was all Twilight and Applejack needed to hear before they lowered their heads in sadness.

"I guess we'll pack our bags then." Twilight gave a sad sigh.

"What are you talking about, Twilight?" Cadance gave Twilight a puzzled look.

"You are going to send us back home, aren't you?" Applejack asked.

"Not this time." Twilight and Applejack looked at Cadance, surprised, hoping they hadn't misheard her. "But you two need to understand how serious your actions were. You will be having detention for the next couple of months."

Despite getting detention, Twilight and Applejack gave sighs of relief, knowing that they won't get expelled after all.

"Now, please head to the Gryffindor Common Room and get some sleep." Celestia said before she and Cadance turned to leave.

Tired from their long journey, Twilight and Applejack made their way to the Gryffindor Common Room to get some sleep. They knew that they should get as much rest as possible because tomorrow would be the beginning of their new school year.