By TheDarkerMistress

Heh, I really don't have much to say as a pre-word other than I'm going to try to say in character as much as possible, and I might possibly -in later chapters- allow profanity, but I'm not sure, so lemme know what you think about it. :3 Thanks!

'Thought,' "Speaking"

EDIT: I fixed the paragraph/tomboy problem in this chapter. And yes, I looked it up. Tomboyish IS used properly in that sentence.

Chapter 1: And So The Game Begins

It was just another day for Twilight Sparkle as she flipped through one of her many books on Astronomy and Astrology, taking a particular interest in the constellation Monocerotis, or more commonly known as "the unicorn." As she delved into her book for more details, she became more interested in finding the group of stars next time she and her friends were out stargazing. But just when she was about to start carefully locating each star in the sky, a loud crash came from outside her window.

"Ha! You can't catch me, Rainbow!"

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that, Pinkie Pie!"

Twilight peered outside her window to find the two were having some sort of perplexing race where Pinkie Pie was bouncing on a pogo stick while Rainbow Dash was rollerblading with her wings tied behind her back. Even stranger, Pinkie Pie was in the lead due to Rainbow having a hard time adjusting to the awkward feel of the blades.

"Would you two mind if you kept it down a little? I'm trying to comprehend one of my new books I just bought!" Twilight shouted at the crazy two.

"Oh! Sorry, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie shouted back about twice as loud.

"Yeah! Sorry!" the rainbow mained pegasus yelled back, then looked back to the pink horse she was racing, ". . .I'm still gonna kick your butt, though, Pinkie!" The two zoomed off faster than cheetahs with their tails on fire while Twilight returned back to her reading and mapping.

"Okay. . . Let's see here. . . Monocerotis is to the left of Orionis, but almost exactly above Canis Majora. . . Hmm. . ." Although the pony sounded like she knew what she was talking about, she actually had no clue where to even start at finding the locations. "Spike, would you mind getting the purple spined book with blue ribbon over on the upper left shelf?" Twilight courteously asked, flipping another page of her book without even looking up.

"No problem," replied her darling baby dragon assistant. Well, "darling" wasn't the best word for him, after all if he heard Twilight call him that, he'd probably throw a fit a her. He was more a tomboy, per se. But, he was her virile dragon that was practically like a little brother to him. "Here ya go, Twilight. Thank goodness I was able to get it without falling off this time, eh?" he chuckled as he handed her the book she requested.

"Yes, thank you, Spike," she answered practically in monotone as she took the book from his hands using her magic and opened it to the page she needed. Suddenly, a small timer began to ring out. It was the hot cocoa she'd put in not long ago but forgot about when she was sidetracked by her reading and the race. She would've gotten it out of the microwave herself, but she didn't want to interrupt her studies and it was too far out of her range to get herself.

"Oh, Spike, would you mind getting that for me, too? Please and Thank you," Twilight cheered as best as she could, even though her mind was in a state of complete seriousness and it didn't actually come out as exactly kind as she thought.

"S-Sure," he said, walking over into the kitchen and grabbing Twilight's mittens that just happened to be a little too big for his hands. But he didn't mind, since he got out the hot chocolate and placed it on a coaster on the table Twilight was currently using. "There!" he replied with a smile, as Twilight smiled back and picked up the cup with her magic to take a sip out of it. Spike then returned back to where he was before.

After about ten minutes and half a cup of cocoa, Twilight had the constellation about exactly pinpointed when she realized the last set of coordinates was in the second volume of the book Spike had gotten for her. "Spike, would you mind getting me the yellow book that was right next to the last one you got me?" Twilight asked once more, but after a moment's pause she received no reply. "Spike, my book, please," she restated, but once more no response. "Spike-!" Twilight was about to start again, but when she looked over to see where he had gone, he was looking out one of the front windows with a dreamy look on his face.

Twilight sighed, magically book marking her places and then shutting every tome she had on the table. She trotted over to where Spike was, gazing at the lethargic, love-stricken excuse of a dragon as she was curious to know what had made her assistant act so oddly. She looked out the window, but it was no surprise to her that SHE was the one causing Spike to act like such: Rarity.

It had been not very long since Spike, (or Twilight Sparkle for that matter,) had met Rarity, but what surprised Twilight was how quickly Spike had become enamored with her. It was quite obvious the feelings weren't returned, but Spike was as they say, "blinded by love," and thought that someday he'd have to tell her since nobody knew. But, EVERYONE knew. (Well, minus Pinkie Pie, possibly, since Pinkie Pie was usually the last pony to learn of anything in that nature. Or, at least she seemed like it.) But besides all that, even though it she thought of it as none of her business, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of something inside her tugging at her every time he was around that fancy-shmancy, gaudy-dolly pony.

"Twilight! There's something I need help with!" a soft, but urgent voice spoke as it came dashing in the front door. Surprisingly, it was none other than gentle Fluttershy. "There was- O-Oh. . . Am-Am I interrupting? Because if I am, then I'm really sorry, and next time, I'll . . ."

"Fluttershy! You need to speak up! I can hardly hear a thing you're saying," Twilight said, and she walked over to where Fluttershy was, "And it's okay. We're friends, and friends don't mind it when friends occasionally come bursting through the front door."

Fluttershy looked up at Twilight and smiled, but then remembered the urgency of what she needed to say. "Um, well, er. . . Applejack and I were in the middle of playing with these bunnies, and-"

Twilight covered Fluttershy's mouth with her hoove and smiled back. "Say no more, my friend. I know exactly what you mean."

Twilight walked over into her kitchen and got a bag of carrots out of the fridge, then dropped them in front of Fluttershy. "There 'ya go!" she said, as Fluttershy jumped up in the air three times in joy.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Twilight!" she said, but then realized that she got over excited about it and lowered her head and wings in embarrassment. She then picked up the carrot bag with her mouth and dashed out the door as fast as she came.

Twilight sighed, 'Well, that wasn't something I expected at all.' She then returned back to Spike, who was in exactly the same state as before. She nudged him in his side to get his attention, "Spike. Yellow book. Next to the last one you got. Alright?" Spike looked over to her, then snapped out of the trance he was in and went back to work. With him gone, Twilight decided to look out the window to see just what Rarity was doing. She wasn't doing anything special in particular, other than looking at herself in the reflection of a shop's glass, trying to adjust her hair is just the perfect way. Twilight secretly glared at Rarity, becoming sickened at just the thought of how vain she truly was.

Ooo, jealous, are we? Heh heh, well, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter so far, because from here there's no turning back. *grins mischievously*

See you next Chapter~!