"Hey, Twilight! You got a letter, from the… uh, what's going on down here?"
Spike burst into the basement of the library, where Twilight has set up her lab equipment. Waving a scroll in one hand, he stood flabbergasted at the sight of myself with electrodes attached to my head, chest and back, as I lay slightly reclined on a medical table as Twilight watches the machine print out sheaf after sheaf of paper, as she scribbles on a scroll endlessly.
"Oh? A letter from what, Spike?" Twilight responds without even faltering in her writing or looking up.
"Oh… uh, it's a letter from the princess. It just arrived. On a side note, lunch will be a few minutes late. I was making it when, well, you know." Spike smiled sheepishly as he burped a small green flame to further his point. "would you like me to read it for you?"
Twilight nods silently, as Spike cites the wax seal with a claw, and unfurls the scroll.
"Dear Twilight, and friends. My sister Luna and I would like to again thank you for putting your own safety at risk to not only save your village but Equestria as a whole. In addition, you reunited me with my lost sister, a feat in never thought would be possible. As such, I have invited you, and a plus one to the Grand Galloping Gala, later this year. Your tickets are included with this letter. If there is anything else you need regarding this, please let me know by return letter, as soon as possible. Semicolon…end bracket? Not sure what that last thing means."
"Wait a minute Spike. Did she write the words semicolon and end bracket? Or use the Punctuation?" I ask, quizzically.
"She used the punctuation," Spike replies.
I recalled a conversation that the Princess and I had at the Summer Sun Celebration, where I mentioned the existence of emoticons, as she asked questions about my world.
"Hmm. That's odd." I muse, deciding not to mention that fact to Twilight and pike.
The machine I was hooked up to dinged with a certain finality and the printer stopped spitting out paper. Twilight's brows furrowed as she read the readings, and continued scribbling on her parchment. A few minutes later, she put the quill down, and cleared her throat, ready to give her findings.
"Well, Fawkes. You told me this would be interesting, not easy. I guess you delivered on that. Your body itself seems to have no innate magical properties. It's completely mundane. However, your body is flooded with the aftereffects of magic, but nothing we recognize. It's magic even beyond the princesses. I'm sorry, I can keep doing research, but as far as I can tell unless we find out who sent you here, or how it was done, I don't think you're going home. This magic is…out of our world, honestly. Do you think it was someone in your world who sent you here? Do you know anyone with magic strong enough to do this in your world?"
I didn't answer right away. In fact, after she said I might never get home, I just kind of stopped listening. I was hearing the words, but not really understanding them.
"Uhm, Fawkes, are you okay?" Twilight asked softly.
It was then I noticed two warm spots running down my cheeks. I seemed to be crying. Quickly wiling the solitary tears from my face, I put on a calm face and respond.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. What was that about magic?"
"The magic that brought you here doesn't seem to come from our world. Do you know anyone from your world that would have the power to send you here?" Twilight reiterated.
"Not that I know of. As far as I, or any scientific knowledge job my world knows, magic doesn't exist in our world. Any 'magicians' or stage actors who claim to do magic actual use tricks and gimmicks to make it look real, as a form of entertainment, but no actual magic exists, to my Knowledge." I state solemnly.
"Hmm. Well, I'll have these data points sent into Canterlot so the Princess can have them double checked. Maybe someone she knows might be able to help. For now, let's focus on these." She responds, pointing to the tickets still in Spike's hand.
"Well, count me out. I don't want anything to do with those frou-frou fancy pants parties." Spike says, waving his other claw dismissively as he handed the tickets to Twilight.
"That's fine, Spike. I was actually thinking that since he's not from here and has never experienced this, and never will again once he goes home, I figured Fawkes would be the best choice to bring." Twilight said, magicking a ticket towards me.
"I'm not exactly a 'social gathering' type of guy. Besides, you have five other new friends who also have never been to the Gala. Besides, you just said it yourself. Unless we find how or by whom I arrived here, I'm not going home. I'm sure I can attend some other time. Besides. Can you really just pick one friend to bring? Everyone has a good reason for wanting to go." I said, drably.
"Everyone? Even Applejack?" Twilight asked suddenly.
"Selling apple products to upgrade the farm," I respond.
"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asks, a hint of challenge in her eyes.
"It's the biggest party of the year, although she's confused about what kind of party it is." I shot back.
"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight continued without missing a beat.
"Wonderbolts will be there. She wants to show off and impress them they'll scout her."
"Fluttershy. She's so shy, she wouldn't want to go to such a large party. Ha! Got you there!" Twilight bites back, triumphantly.
"Have you ever seen the Canterlot gardens, open to the public during the gala, filled to the brim with rare and special fauna and flora? Yeah. She wants to get in on that." I respond crossing my arms, a sly grin sliding across my face, " and while I'm at it, Rarity wants to strut her stuff with the socialites, and hope for a meet-cute with Prince Blueblood. Boom. Mic drop." I make the motion of dropping a mic from my hand and lean back into the table, that I'm still on.
"Mic drop? What's that? Never mind. I'm going to talk to them and double check your story. I'll be back in a while." Twilight trots off in a huff, as I start disentangling myself from the machine, and head off to help Spike with chores about the Library.
"How can one pony read so many books?" I ask, a few later, as I'm helping Spike reshelve the books Twilight has made it through in last few days. "most of these aren't even related to what she's been studying lately…"
"She calls it 'pre-studying.' Learning the basics if a subject before she actually goes to study it." Spike says as he walks by with a stack of three more books to put away. "anyways, that is the last few books. I got these. Thanks for the help. Now I might get time to shine my scales today. It's been a week since I've had a chance."
Just as I get up from where I was kneeling to put books on a lower shelf, the door opens, and Twilight walks in. With a big and obvious sigh, she drags herself over to a chair and sits down.
"Hey Twi, what's the matter?" I ask as I walk over to beside her chair.
"What isn't the matter right now? You were right about everyone's reason to want to go to the Gala, and now everyone wants to do small acts of charity for me to try to get me to give them the ticket. I have no idea who to give it to. To make matters worse, even if I give away both tickets, that still leaves somepony left out. I don't know what to do."
"Maybe you should reread the Princess's letter. Perhaps there's a clue you missed there." I reply.
"What do you mean? It's a letter. Not a puzzle to be solved… wait. Those symbols. The semicolon and end brackets. What do they mean?" Twilight asked quizzically.
With a flash of purple light, the scroll appears in front of us. She reads over the message a few times.
"I don't get it. There's no point in the letter where that punctuation would make sense." Twilight's ears drooped a bit, as she looks at the letter.
I reached over to the letter and rotated it in her magic field, a quarter turn clockwise.
"How about now? Does it make any sense looking at it again?" I say with a sly smirk on my face.
"It…kind of looks like a winking smiling face, I guess" Twilight cocked her head to the side as she looked at the symbols, before turning to face me, "did you know what this was the whole time? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked. You seemed so determined to solve this yourself, why should I stop your fun." I said.
"So, what does it mean then. A wink is usually used when there is a hidden or tertiary meaning behind the words."
"Well, think about your situation. She sent the tickets, with the intent of being a reward to the ponies who saved the day during the Nightmare Moon incident, and yet only sent two tickets, despite six ponies being involved. In addition, she said, with a wink no less, to contact her if there are any issues regarding the tickets. Now, your friends are competing to be the pony to get the remaining ticket, for their own reason. Now tell me. What do you think is the right way to handle this situation.?" I ask her, putting emphasis on the word you, to show that it's her decision to make.
Twilight is silent for a few minutes and she pondered the letter and my words. Eventually, her eyes light up, and she stands bolt upright for a moment. I could almost see the lightbulb that turned on in her head.
"Spike, take a letter." She said as Spike affirmed by grabbing a quill and sheaf of parchment.
"Dear Princess Celestia. My friends and I are honoured that you wished for us to attend the Gala, but there would be no point in attending unless all of us can attend, Spike and Fawkes included. Everyone had a hand in helping, and everyone deserves part of the reward. As only two of us can go, we are respectfully declining your offer, and returning the tickets. We hope you understand our choice. The last thing I want, Is to hurt anypony's feelings because they couldn't be included. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
After Spike finished writing the letter, Twilight sealed it with her magic and had Spike send it.
"Hang on, a sec. Weren't you supposed to be helping AJ with harvesting one of her fields today? In the show, you were helping her with that when you got the tickets. She saw the tickets and Rainbow, who had been napping nearby also saw them, which is what started the whole issue." I asked, scratching my head in confusion.
"Well, I helped her with that last week. I was actually supposed to help her with that the week Nightmare Moon had taken over, but obviously, we had other things on your mind at the time. Applejack and Big Macintosh are currently preparing to harvest their main orchards in a week or two, so I might be helping with that if they need it." She stated.
I sat there pondering the changes that have happened to the story as I know it, due to Nightmare Moon's takeover being a week instead of a night. As I started to think about the portents that this may bring, a burp and flash of green nearby signalled the return scroll from the Princess.
"It's from the Princess." Spike points out, as he opens it, and holds it out, Twilight grabbing it by magic.
"Hmm, I wasn't expecting a response. Let's see what says." Twilight unfurls the scroll and begins aloud. "My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle. You did well in considering the feelings and purposes of all your friends. You are correct I'm thinking that everyone involved In saving my dearest sister should have equal parts of the reward. On that note, I am pleased to cordially invite the following to the Grand Galloping Gala: Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Dragon, Fawkes the Human, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack. You will find enough tickets attached for everyone to come along. I hope that attending the Gala will be the dream you all hope it will be. Signed Princess Celestia."
As she finishes reading, she pulls 8 golden tickets out from the bottom of the scroll.
"This is great. Now all my friends can come, and no one gets left behind." Twilight says excitedly. "I gotta go tell the girls the good news." She trots out the door, as the setting sun streams through the windows And open door.
An hour or so later, night had fully fallen, and the door opens once more, and Twilight comes inside and drops down into her chair.
"Tired?" I ask her
"Well, I did just run around to give tickets to tickets to all my friends." She says pointedly.
"Did you forget you can teleport?" I asked cheekily.
"That takes a lot of magic. I'd end up even more tired…" she notices my sly grin and realizes I was just bugging her. "besides. I don't rely on my magic for everything."
"Well, I hope you learned to rely on your friends more though. Some of may be able to contribute information or a point of view you didn't have before." I said, hoping that in addition to the princess's lesson, she also learned the one I put before her.
"Yes. I did. While I can often figure out most things myself, it could be done faster, and with a lot less stress, if I work with my friends to solve what needs to be solved." She says, with a small giggle. "I'm presuming you had the princess use those symbols to teach me that?
"Surprisingly, no." The concept of emoticons came up randomly when I talked to her once, and when I saw she'd used one, I figured it was a good time to show you how useful relying on your friends can be." I say, stifling a yawn.
"Well thank you, Fawkes. I definitely see how much easier things can be when I do." Twilight lets out a yawn of her own, and we all decide to call it a night.
As we prepared to turn in for the night, I considered how things have changed from the story unknown, and how things might continue to change for the future coming. If the story is changing anyway, it might be a good idea to make some precautionary preparations for the future.