The world was dark, stars danced around like so many parasprites driven into a frenzy by the scent of food. It made Twilight's head hurt, or was it because of the stars darting all around? She walked toward one in particular. It was brighter than any of the others in this inky blackness, which was part of the reason it seemed to call to her. She reached out her hoof and touched the glowing shard of light.

The light pulsed slightly at her touch, growing larger and encompassing her vision. It stung her eyes, but eventually it began to diffuse into a mottled colored mess as she found herself waking up.

Everything blurred together in a haze of green, blue, and grey. Twilight had a hard time focusing on anything in particular, there was just so much going on. While the colors were what she was interested in, the whole situation struck Twilight as odd for multiple reasons.

She didn't recall falling asleep with the window open, yet there she was waking up to a gale wind blowing through her mane. ‘Come to think of it, I don’t remember falling asleep at all.’ She was tempted to just drift off again, but something told her she shouldn't. Something told her she should hurry: she was short for time. That nagging feeling puzzled her. Twilight was pretty sure she didn't have any plans for the day, but the nagging feeling in the back of her head didn't subside.

She could figure her plans out later, her window was far more interesting at the moment. The wind was getting rather annoying. It's whirling chill met with her soaked coat, wracking her body with brutal shivers.

‘Wet? Why am I wet? Is the ceiling leaking again?’

She looked up, but she failed to see the familiar tree rings that should have been there.

‘Curious. I’m pretty sure my ceiling isn't that shade of green. Nor should it be spinning in such an erratic...’

She was tired, but it didn’t matter; it was such a fantastic day. Not only was Twilight getting to use the royal observatory for her stargazing that night, but being there for two nights would allow her to perhaps delve into the archives for some of the books on her “to read” list, talk astronomy with Luna, or generally do what she did when she was in Canterlot: study magic.

Normal circumstances wouldn’t warrant a trip to the royal observatory for something as simple as stargazing, but that night wasn’t going to be a normal night for stargazing. No, it was going to be one of the most spectacular meteor showers that Twilight would ever see in her lifetime. Both she and Princess Celestia were looking forward to the event, as well as some time away from the nobility to simply talk.

The sight before her cut off her thoughts for a moment. The mountain where Canterlot rested was just in sight. It was a comforting sight to her. Twilight always felt a deep sense of belonging and “home” when she was within those walls. She also felt the nagging pain in her rump from the six hour flight. She didn’t care though, her mind was somewhere else. She was happy to make the lengthy journey to revisit the safe, warm, welcoming city. It was just another reason she was happy to be stargazing there.

The chariot coasted down toward the platform as the sun hung over the horizon. She smiled and rubbed her eyes with a foreleg. ‘Note to self, sleeping on a moving chariot: really difficult, not very restful.’ It was probably best to not try that again. Her heart skipped as the spires of the castle came into view.

Rows and lines of criss-crossing streets flew by beneath Twilight as she hung her head over the side of the chariot. The warmth in her heart and the smile on her face continued to grow as she searched for familiar buildings and the memories that came with them.

Doughnut Joe’s bakery, the place she would go to when she needed a midnight sugar fix to push through a particularly hard subject she was studying.

Her favorite park, the place she used to go to for a quiet moment. Twilight couldn’t help but close her eyes and smile as she remembered the feeling of the sun on her back and the company of a good book.

Twilight caught a glimpse of the royal gardens, where Celestia taught her all sorts of interesting things about magic. ‘And then there was that one water fight we had in the...’

Twilight’s reminiscence was gently interrupted as the chariot slid to a stop atop the landing platform emblazoned with a shimmering emblem, arcs of light twisting and reflecting the very sun it represented. A chorus of taps rung softly across the polished surface and into the air. She quickly leapt from the chariot into the embrace of Princess Celestia. Neither mare said anything, both simply smiled as they walked into the castle.

Yup, it was going to be a fantastic weekend.

‘Right, I’m not in the library. So where am I?’

Twilight spat a stray strand of her mane out of her mouth and looked around for a sign of where she was. The blurry walls made her eyes hurt when she focused on them, so she looked elsewhere. The ground seemed awfully far away, though she couldn’t quite remember if that was normal or not. It also appeared to be made of dark black cotton, or possibly clouds. ‘Yeah, those are clouds. So does that mean I’m in Cloudsdale? If I’m in Cloudsdale, how did I get here from Canterlot? Maybe he knows.’

He looked like a royal guard, if a bit on the small side. His lips were moving; but Twilight, for the life of her, couldn’t understand what he was saying. ‘Come to think of it, why don’t I hear anything? Everything’s so quiet; not that it matters, he probably isn’t talking to me anyway.’

Nestling her conclusion into her mind, Twilight looked back at the guard. She tried to figure out why he was flailing on top of what appeared to be a rather strange looking machine. The rivets and rope, strewn across an odd assemblage of charred and splintered wooden timber, were twisted in such a way that she could not tell if the guard was strapped in or strapped to the foreign piece of equipment. The very nature of this mass of wood and fiber eluded her attempts to understand its functionality. For all its convoluted angles and materials, it looked somewhat like a filly’s attempt at making a derby cart.

She allowed herself a moment to mentally chuckle at the thought.

Twilight tried walking over to the guard so she could ask him, but two things became immediately clear to her.

The first was the realization that her moving legs were not actually taking her anywhere.

The second came by way of a cloud that caused a whooshing sound as it zipped past Twilight in a vertical direction.

The small part of her mind that said she should hurry was now also telling her that she should be concerned that she was floating. She wanted to tackle the issue of the first two problems, when a third, far more pressing issue presented itself. In the advent of her returned hearing, Twilight came to a stunning understanding that the funny dancing guard wasn't speaking to her. In fact, he wasn't talking at all.

He was screaming in terror.

“Books? Check!”

Twilight hated this part of visiting Canterlot, the part where she had to leave.

“Brush? Check!”

The past two nights had been wonderful, but the third day at Canterlot castle was, regrettably, her last. She loved spending time with the Princesses; every time they talked, Celestia would answer any questions that were raised. But last night was different: while stargazing, she prodded the Princesses about psychology, life beyond Equestria, and the myriad forms and modes of magic. Celestia was willing to answer most her inquiries, but her vague responses often left Twilight with more questions than answers. Luna simply dodged most questions altogether. While she still wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, she was certain the Princesses had their reasons.

Twilight glanced at the clock and trotted toward the door with a smile. She leisurely grabbed her saddlebags and headed out, thirty minutes earlier than she had planned. If there was one thing she prided herself on, it was punctuality. For a flight that would take about six hours, it was in everypony’s best interest to be punctual and keep things going smoothly.

The scent of candles wafted through the aging, yet unmarred, stone hallways as Twilight latched the door shut behind her. The platform was on the other side of the castle, but she had time. She turned a corner, gazing into a stained glass portrait of herself, five other ponies, and Discord: the God of Chaos. Twilight smiled as she passed it, looking down across window after window filled with depictions of events from Equestria’s past. The defeat of Nightmare Moon, which she and her friends also played a part in. The founding of the Equestria under the three tribes unifying under one banner. A stained glass mosaic of Starswirl the Bearded. Further down, even depictions of the crusades against the Umbratic legion were present.

No matter how long she gazed at the windows, and despite the many events that had shaped Equestria, she couldn’t help but notice just how many of them remained empty. Twilight wondered who else would adorn the glass for generations to come.

The hallways were largely devoid of other ponies, which was understandable when she considered what hour of the morning it was. The staccato of hoofsteps slowed as memories assaulted her, memories of her time as a filly living under the tutelage of Celestia. Who, she remembered, was waiting for her on the chariot platform beyond the doorway.

“Good morning my faithful student.” The Princess smiled off to the side, elegantly trotting up beside her. “You were up much later than you should have been, I was worried you wouldn’t sleep well. I really ought to remind you not to push yourself so hard so often.”

Twilight blushed sheepishly and returned her mentor’s smile. “I suppose that I overdid it last night, didn’t I? But really, can you blame me?” Twilight pinned her ears back and pawed at the ground. ”You’ve been alive for millennia, you know more than anypony else, about so many things! I just want to learn whatever I can.”

Celestia lifted her head and shielded her gaze away from Twilight. “Some stories are not meant to be shared with ponies who were never there, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight slowed and fell a few hooves behind Celestia. She wanted to apologize, something told her she said something wrong. Maybe she didn’t. It was hard to tell with Celestia, Even if her voice was still gentle, and her smile was still there. She picked up her trot and walked abreast with her teacher.

“When will we be able to get together again, Princess? It seems we never spend as much time together as we used to.” Twilight looked away, “This was a great visit, I was just hoping we would be able to do it more often.”

Celestia turned her head, beaming down at Twilight with a chuckle. “Well, Twilight Sparkle, ultimately that lies with you. You are your own mare now. I’ve had the fortune of watching you become a strong-willed, kind-hearted mare over the years, and I’m proud of you. You know my doors are always open to you, I’ll always have time for my faithful student.”

Twilight nodded, bouncing lightly with each step as she rounded a corner, looking upon a chariot, and two nearby guards.

Both of the guards saw Celestia at the same time. The huge, muscular, and very stern looking guard snapped to attention immediately. The lithe, taller guard simply bobbed his head.

“Oh. Hey there, Celestia.”

“Lieutenant!” The gruff guard shot a look at the taller pegasus that made Twilight’s blood freeze.

Celestia chuckled and lowered her head next to Twilight’s ear. “I took measures to ensure that you wouldn’t be bored to death on the ride back, I hope you don’t mind.” Celestia winked and turned to address the guards. “Major, Lieutenant, at ease. I’m glad to see you getting along so well.”

The rugged looking guard relaxed and nodded. “We even managed to get the chariot prepared despite the Lieutenant’s insistence in making light of every situation.”

“By the way,” the Lieutenant chimed in, looking at Celestia. “Can you give me my friend back? He hasn’t been the same since you slapped that title of Major on him.”

Twilight giggled a little and saw the corners of Celestia’s mouth turn upward as the Major seethed quietly behind the Lieutenant.

“Anyway, all good fun aside. This is the lucky passenger, huh? The one and only personal info-sponge of Princess Celestia?” The Lieutenant chuckled.

“Hey now,” Twilight hopped into the back of the chariot and smirked. “If you insist on that name, at least say it right: ‘The one and only Faithful info-sponge of Princess Celestia.’ ”

The Lieutenant had just finished fastening the thick cloth bindings of his harness when he turned to his friend. “I like her already.” He flared his wings and did a few small stretches as he continued to speak.

“Welcome, Miss Twilight Sparkle to Equestrian Air, Flight tag: Parasprite - Zero - Nightmare - Three.”

The muscular guard sighed and facehooved. “Lieutenant, please. The Princess is present.”

“We are required to inform you of emergency procedures should the situation arise in your flight.” Continued the agile, spunky guard; completely unabated. “Emergency exits are over every railing, and out the back. To use these exits, simply crouch, then leap as hard as you can toward your chosen exit. Curl into a ball and refrain from wanton flailing: one of your pilots will assist you. If they want to keep their job that is.” The tall guard chuckled and bumped into the stockier guard jokingly. “There were supposed to be refreshments on this flight, but I lost the money to get them in a bad game of dice. I would tell you to fasten your harnesses and prepare for take off, but you don’t exactly have a harness back there, so I suppose you should just prepare yourself for take off.”

The Major sighed in relief, “Thank Celestia that’s over.”

“You’re welcome.” Celestia deadpanned.

Everypony simply chuckled.

“Oh, one last thing you should probably know before we take off; your pilots today are Major Biggs, and yours truly, Lieutenant-”

‘Wedge! That’s Lieutenant Wedge! Why is he screaming? And where is Biggs? What is going on here?!’

Twilight’s eyes snapped open. Her head hurt as the scene spun wildly, colors blurred together as she searched. The nagging voice in the back of her head that was complaining about time before was now throwing a full-blown tantrum. She really wished that mental voices came with an “off” switch. She looked around frantically; still no Biggs. Her mind screamed out in protest as she tried to wring it for information. Twilight grimaced, and shrieked in frustration.

‘What is wrong with me? Why can’t I think straight? Where am I? Where is-?’

Suddenly, she spotted him.

Twilight looked over the side of the chariot as the countryside passed below her. Save for a single wagon she saw on the road below a short while back, the roads were mostly barren. It was rather strange though, as it was nearing the time for the Running of the Leaves. Usually, the roads would be packed as ponies traveled to the race’s various starting points.

“Hey Twilight! You strike me as the number-crunching type. You’ll like this one.” Wedge chuckled with a sly grin. He had spent the majority of the flight just talking with her to pass time. “So if you take root beer, and put it in a square glass: do you just get beer?”

“No of course not, the shape of the container doesn’t have any bearing on the molecular composition of a liquid itself. To change an object’s molecular composition, you’d have to subject it to extreme heat or add different ele-”

“Really, Twilight, really? Square... Root... Beer? Nevermind.” Wedge sighed.

Biggs rolled his eyes at Wedge, “She doesn’t get it because it’s not that good of a joke.”

Wedge turned to face Biggs and stuck his tongue out in defiance, only to let it hang there loosely. Slowly Wedge’s face went blank as he locked his eyes on some point in the distance.

“Uh... Major, sir? You know that thunderstorm we’ve been watching for the last half hour...?” Twilight half expected Wedge’s lower jaw to fall off with the look he had written on his face at that moment.

Biggs turned to face the storm. He furrowed his brows with steely determination as he spoke to Wedge; his eyes still locked on the thunderstorm.

“Lieutenant, we need to break cloud cover.”

“W-whoa, whoa!” Twilight’s, voice hitched as she stumbled for words “Wha- what’s going on here? It’s just a thunderstorm.”

Biggs turned to face her with a solemn glance. Twilight’s spine crawled with a feverish chill from the intensity of his expression. “We were expecting a thunderstorm later today, but not this soon.”

“So? Doesn’t that mean you can just wait it out in Ponyville?” Twilight twisted her face in thought. “I don’t see how that’s a...”

Wedge cut her off as they met each other’s glance.

“No, that alone wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s overtaking us against the wind.”

‘We were outrunning a thunderstorm. But I thought we made it? I thought...’

A white and fluffy something smacked into her, knocking the air from her lungs and set her spinning even more erratically.

‘Whose idea of a joke is this? I just want to go home; my head hurts and this place is confusing and nothing makes sense and I’m-’

The voice was reaching a fever pitch, further distracting Twilight.

‘-confused and I feel sick and I don’t like all this falling and spinning and Biggs is out co-

‘Falling?’

“Wedge! Pump those wings harder; we needed to be above these clouds 30 seconds ago!”

“All due respect sir, DUH!”

Twilight curled up against the side of the chariot and looked at the looming grey mass above her. Yellow, blue, and purple streaks tore across the surface of the cloud in arcs that bristled with ominous energy. The arcs themselves seemed to tear the cloud apart as she was showered with drenching waves of merciless rain. The wind whirled around her as if looking for any opening to drive the freezing rain down through her fur. Flashes bounced out of the corners of her eyes, she felt numb, but not cold. A bolt of lightning tore through the air past the chariot, leaving the heavy smell of ozone in the air.

She then understood exactly why her body was shaking.

She looked up, droplets of water lit up gently as her hair began to stand on end.

The world went white. She felt pain, and then...

She felt nothing.

Realization hit almost as hard as the lightning bolt. She was falling to her death. They hadn’t made it out of the storm, they had been struck before they could escape, and they had only a few moments until they were all going to die.

Another cloud zipped past as Twilight’s heart raged inside of her chest. She wanted to help Spike grow up. She wanted to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders accomplish their crusade and earn their marks. She wanted to be there when Rainbow Dash was accepted to the Wonderbolts. She wanted the chance to take it all back. She wanted another chance to get away from that accursed storm. She wanted another chance to see her mentor again.

All she wanted was another chance.

Twilight’s fear and hatred of death swallowed the world in a scream and visions of white.

The verdant blades rippled in the breath of the world. The light teased at her eyes, but the echoing songs of a hundred birds harmoniously teased at her ears, lulling her back to sleep. Her body felt so light, like she would be able to simply float up into the sky amidst the swirling vortex of colored blurs. She gently pushed herself upright as two of the colors detached from the rest and bolted down to her. They were birds, brilliant plumage adorning their small bodies as they chirped at her and darted off to the forest.

The air smelled as pure as water from a mountain spring. Twilight threw her gaze in an arc, drinking in the scene as it presented itself to her. A stream ran nearby, and from Twilight’s view on the hilltop it looked like a sapphire serpent, lazily coiled and gliding between the large solid domes of tree-speckled hilltops. She stood up, drawn to the glassy river. The reflection smiled up at her, almost beckoning her to commit to the embrace of the water. Gently, she teased the placid surface of the stream with small taps of her hoof, watching the ripples spread outward and fade away into the calm waters farther out.

Suddenly, a sound caught her attention. A fish leapt from the stream a short way away before an echo of the splash resounded a moment later. The sound rang out again, it wasn’t the fish she heard the first time, it was something else. A voice? Was there somepony else here? Curiosity took the reins as Twilight found her gaze being lifted toward a hilltop and the voice she heard.

Her head throbbed in a slow yet steady rhythm. She groaned as the aches crashed into her eyelids like waves of pure kinetic force.

The sensation lingered, all was quiet save for the rhythmic beating in her chest. A sharp whistle tore at her ears as she breathed deeply; grasping for every breath and coughing as she rolled onto her side.

The light burned when she opened her eyes, it could wait a few more minutes. The intermittent ringing in her ears was annoying, at least, it was annoying until she recognized what the pauses in the ringing meant.

‘I’m breathing... I survived...

‘I’m alive!’

She could hear Biggs and Wedge in the distance, but knew better than to try and look for them. Twilight lay her forelegs to the sides, the blades of grass gently yielding and absorbing the heavy fall of her fatigued gesture. She breathed deeply as the throbbing dulled. Crisp. Clean. She knew this smell, but knew not where she remembered it from. The sunlight danced across her closed eyes where little specks of light played happily across her vision. They seemed to etch a searing trail of pain at first, eventually leaving dazzling colors of light in the black void of her mind’s eye.

Running water splashed in the distance. Over and over the splashes repeated until finally Twilight could hold her curiosity in no longer. She opened her eyes. Two bright birds darted across her field of vision, causing her gaze to follow them to the Major. Biggs was rigid, stoic as ever, blankly staring into a nearby stream. Slowly she got to her hooves and managed to half-stumble, half-trot over to the motionless guard.

The reflection in the stream smiled, but was lying to her. For all that had happened, she looked horrific. She placed her hoof to the face of the reflection, trembling all the while. The face distorted and faded away, the fractured pieces of her visage seemed more than eager to grab the ripples and flee her touch.

Twilight dunked her charred mane and fur into the river. The icy-cold caress of the stream sent thundering torrents of life back into her sluggish self. Eyes wide, the scene seemed more a junkyard than the site of a miracle, but she would take it for what it was. And for all it was worth, the fleeting serenity was more than welcome.

“Twilight?”

The wind seemed to almost caress her mane as she sat down on the riverbank and closed her eyes.

“Twilight!?”

‘I’m safe, I’m alive, I’m going to be just fine.’

“Twwiiiiiiiliiiiii-!”

Her vision responded far too late to allow any physical attempts at evading the brightly colored cannonball headed straight for her. Twilight briefly ran a list of possible projectiles through her mind. That thought was expelled from her mind as quickly as the breath from her lungs.

Dirt tasted terrible.

Twilight considered a verbal response, but found that all her body would muster at the moment was an unintelligible cacophony of grunts and mumbling. She shifted slightly and willed her eyes open to a pair of magenta irises peering intently at her, upside down. Twilight rolled over onto her stomach and looked up at Dash with an expression that fully conveyed her current mental acuity.

The two mares were a mere inch apart as Dash vomited a typhoon of words at Twilight.

“I-saw-a-storm-and-then-there-was-a-flash-and-I-came-as-fast-as-I-could-and-then-there-was-a-super-bright-light-and-I-knew-something-was-wrong-because-the-storm-just-disappeared-then-I-saw-you-and-and-you-weren’t-moving-so-I-rushed-as-fast-as-I-could-and-I-thought-you-weren’t-breathing-and-I-was-so-scared-that... that you ha-” Dash sucked air violently for a full ten seconds.

“Rainbow. Rainbow! Rainbow! I’m fine! Stop crushing me.” Twilight’s eyes stung as she rubbed the dirt from her face. “Care to explain what that was all about?”

“You first!” Rainbow cracked, waving an forelimb across the scene. “Look at this place!”

Twilight followed Dash’s hoof. The chariot lay in shattered pieces strewn over the hillside. A wheel stuck out of the ground, embedded deeply in the hilltop a short distance away. A few of the side rails were blown apart, as if by some heavy object, and while others were on fire. A shiver crept up Twilight’s spine as she sluggishly came to the realization that she was mere inches from, if not directly in, the area of the strike.

‘I shouldn’t be alive...’

Wedge was curled up against the side of the blackened boards of the chariot frame. He shivered as if cold, but the weather was perfectly warm out. That fact didn’t bring Twilight much peace as she stood up and faced her friend.

“I-I don’t r-remember, Rainbow, it all happened so fast.” Twilight stuttered, kicking her hoof at the ground. “There was a storm, and there was falling and I saw Wed- Oh ponyfeathers! Wedge and Biggs! We need to see if they’re okay!”

Twilight took off toward the fragmented chariot, Dash easily closed the distance, flying backwards to face Twilight “Wow, you sure recover quickly. I guess crashing into you so much helped toughen you up after all.” She smiled with twinges of concern still written in her face. ”So who exactly are these two?”

“Biggs and Wedge? They’re the guards who were taking me to town when we got hit.”

“No, really Twilight? You don’t say?”

“Well... uh, yes?” Twilight whimpered.

They both stopped as they neared the wreckage. Biggs had stopped staring into the river and stood nearby, looking at his fellow guard. The silence was punctuated by the sporadic mutterings of Wedge, somewhat akin to a newborn foal taking its first breaths in its new world.

“Seems Wedge is pretty shaken up.” Biggs sighed, a deadpan expression carved out on his face.

“I’m no mind-brain-thought doctor: but I’m pretty sure that Wedge has the proper response to being dropped out of the sky by a lightning bolt.” A half-joking laugh accompanied Dash’s words as she faced Biggs. “And how are you feeling?”

Biggs looked off into the sky, “I’m feeling a little uncertain as to what happened, but I’m sure that given enough time, Miss Twilight, Wedge, and I will be...” A slight grin teased the corners of Biggs’ mouth, “Just fine; Thank you. I’ll make sure that nothing happens to him until the rescue team arrives.”

Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash whipped their heads toward Wedge as he sat up and stared through them both. “I see the lights sir, they’re flashing everywhere! Struggling against the shadows. Fighting against suffocation, fighting to shine! We need to help them, Major!”

Again, chills slithered their way up Twilight’s spine and into the back of her head, making her ears twitch nervously. Fortunately, Wedge curled back into a ball and resumed his personal ramblings. A moment passed where Twilight mulled over the guard’s words, but a slight nudge broke Twilight from her contemplative trance and brought her back to reality.

“Ignore him, he’s been rambling about lights since he woke up.” Biggs scowled.

“Probably because of that lightning storm.” Dash added. “I’m sure he’ll snap out of it though. My team is already on their way to go get a medical chariot from Canterlot. I’ll guess I’ll be carrying you back myself though, Twi; a regular stormchaser squad doesn’t bring transports with them.”

Rainbow seemed exasperated as she glanced around, suddenly her wings sprung upward as she locked her gaze onto the charred remnants of the chariot. “Right!” Twilight jumped as Dash whirled around to face her “You never answered my question, what happened to you guys?” Twilight stumbled backward as Rainbow stepped forward, wings spread, only to fold them to her sides and raise a hoof to her chin. “Well, aside from the obvious I mean. How did you end up in the thick of a storm, and what was that flash that made the storm vanish?”

“I-I, uh, don’t remember exactly what h-happened.” The hoof pressed to her temple didn’t do much, but it did help a little as Twilight continued on. “I r-remember little b-bits and pieces, but I still can’t put the big picture together, it all just happened too fast.” Twilight swallowed back her choked up voice as she faced her friend.

“Well, you can tell me what you do remember on the flight back. I’ve been chasing that storm all day and I need to know what you know.” The pegasus arched her back and spread her wings, “So are you ready to go?”

Twilight looked back at Biggs and Wedge, the former was standing near the latter; still mumbling quietly to himself. “Rainbow, are you sure it’s a good idea to leave them alone out here? Maybe we should stay and wait.”

“Twi, Biggs already said he can take care of Wedge until the chariot comes.” Rainbow turned and nodded at Biggs, who responded with a nod and a very small smile.

“We will be fine, Miss Sparkle. I offered to stay and watch over Wedge, I can help him...” the gruff-voiced guard turned and looked at the mumbling white ball of nerves, “quiet down in the meantime. We are trained for emergency situations anyway. It’s no trouble, I wouldn’t offer to stay if I didn’t think I could handle it.”

“See?” Dash smirked, “Now stop being so stubborn, we need to get you checked out.”

Twilight grimaced and blinked a few times, “I feel fine, Rainbow. Really, I just need to go home.”

“Twi, you were just hit by lightning! I mean, I’ve been hit by lightning, but you’re no pegasus, and you’re definitely not as awesome as me!” Rainbow Dash beamed as she struck a pose. “So if it were me, I’d be fine. But you aren’t me, you aren’t fine.” Twilight jerked away from Dash’s hoof as it accusingly rocketed toward her face. “I’m no egghead like you, but even I know that nopony could make the walk back after getting hit by a lightning bolt.” Rainbow's chest swelled as a confident grin crossed her face, "Well, I probably could, but I'm not your average pony."

Typically, Dash wasn’t the voice of reason in a conversation. She was the type to suggest ideas such as strapping fireworks to Scootaloo’s scooter to make it faster. Yet here she was, using logic, against Twilight no less. ‘As if the day couldn’t get any weirder.’

‘Why is she the one telling me this? I should have known that.’ All Twilight could muster was to screw her face into a defiant scowl. “Right, well I still don’t think I need to go to a hospital. I’m pretty sure I don’t have any broken bones or serious injuries.” Twilight sighed as she drooped her head and ears. “I want to go home, I’ve been riding in a chariot all day and I don’t want doctors poking me all over to tell me something I already know.” Twilight grumbled.

Slowly, a nagging feeling washed over Twilight as she watched the rainbow-maned mare don an expression that was far more serious than normal for the, usually positive, pegasus. “There’s no way that there’s nothing wrong!” Twilight tilted her head as Rainbow Dash paced back and forth. “Think about what you just said, Twi; it doesn’t make sense. Why aren’t you hurt at all? You just fell from a couple thousand feet up.”

Again, Twilight’s face painted a picture of her mental process while her haunches dropped to the ground. ‘Wow, that’s two strikes against me. My head feels so heavy, I can’t believe she’s thinking clearer than I am.’ Twilight paused her thoughts a moment to consider the circumstances of her current situation. ‘Well, she didn't get struck by lightning. That’s probably a big part of it.’ The unicorn realized.

‘Okay, time to think Twilight.’ She lightly rapped her hoof against her head. ‘Why aren’t you hurt? What happened up there? What’s the last thing you remember?’

The scene fell silent, save for the occasional soft whimper or erratic sputtering from Wedge. A gentle wind blew across Twilight’s coat while her eyes were closed. She slowed her breathing as her eyes danced madly beneath her eyelids; again and again she plunged into the nearly-unassailable fog that pervaded her memory, only to retrieve a fragment at a time.

The silence was punctuated by the dull thud of a hoof striking the ground. Twilight pneumatically ejected her contempt toward her befuddled state and lifted her face toward the sun. The bright sphere hung there as if merely observing, a passive sentinel that was content with nothing more than casting rays of light to illuminate the unseen. One such ray of light found its way through Twilight’s mind and pierced her haze.

“I remember a light,” Twilight’s eyes darted searchingly, “but then everything went blank. The next thing I remember after that was waking up on the ground and seeing you come over the hilltop a little while after. I can’t seem to remember much beyond that right now, Rainbow, I’m sorry.”

“Haha, assuming that’s true.” Rainbow started ignoring personal space as she continued, “Next thing I know you’ll be telling me that it was you that managed to teleport two other ponies, and yourself-”

“Actually Dash, it’s ‘yourself, and two other ponies’ if you want to be correct.” Twilight grinned.

“Whatever. ‘Yourself, and two other ponies,’ while falling, after being hit by lightning, and having just woken up from being knocked out?”

Twilight could see the various shades of magenta in Dash’s irises at this point. “I guess so? Actually, it’s about the only thing that makes sense, otherwise I’d be... er, let’s not think abo-”

“It’s all over me! You can’t stop it, I... I... I can’t push it back, sir! It just keeps creeping forward and smothering everything with darkness! W-we’re all going to die if we don’t do something!”

Both Dash and Twilight looked at the jumpy guard curled on the ground and took a tentative step in the other direction. Biggs merely gave the two mares a shrug while Dash leaned in close with a hushed voice.

“Twi, that Wedge guy is giving me the creeps. Can we talk about this on the ride home?”

Twilight took one last glance at the two guards. The morality in her told her to stay; that it wasn’t right to leave them alone out here. But for all the reasoning in the world, Wedge was the deciding factor. The creeped out part of her mind jumped on that train of thought and took the controls, it was time to get the buck out of dodge, she had enough freaky things to think about as it was.

“Yeah, let’s get back to Ponyville,” Twilight replied flatly. “My head is still all jumbled up and I need a nap.”

Her somber, tired, and creeped out demeanor was quickly thrown to the back of her mind as it was arrested by the sheer panic. The feeling of momentary weightlessness hit her hard; and it was a feeling she was not eager to relive so soon. She flailed her limbs, searching for any kind of stability when suddenly they wrapped around something tangible.

Twilight’s eyes were bolted shut as she clung to Dash’s neck. Her heart began to race as she heard the all too familiar sound of wind whipping through her mane, but her insatiable curiosity goaded her eyes open to see what exactly was laughing at a moment like this.

The first thing Twilight saw was a cloud not four feet from her face that dissipated on impacted, and covered her in dewdrops. ‘Fantastic.’ She groaned to herself as she shook her head and looked down to the source of laughter.

She quickly realized where, but more importantly, how high up she was. Immediately, she slammed down against the back of Rainbow’s head with her arms wrapped around her friend’s neck in utter terror. An inferno began to build within Twilight as the heat cooked her cheeks to a hue as red as the strip in Dash’s mane. “Rainbow Dash! Don’t do that to me again! What in Equestria were you thinking?”

The weightless feeling returned as Dash’s voice squeaked out over the whipping wind.

“Twi... can’t... breathe.”

The feeling of stability returned as Twilight loosed her death-grip around Rainbow’s neck. A full fifteen seconds passed while she debated whether or not slapping Dash across the back of her head was a good idea. Ultimately, she couldn’t seem to get a thought in edge-wise from the amount of interruptions today, the latest of which was her friend’s ability to rebound back into conversation.

“That. That was so worth it. I wish you could have seen your face as you were flopping around mid-air, Twi: priceless!” Rainbow was already nearly hysterical with laughter, Twilight wanted to berate her friend for such a tasteless joke, but she was too busy hyperventilating. “I swear it was funnier than that one time Fluttershy freaked out over her own shadow!”

“Next time give me a warning at least! I- you- ugh, forget it.” Twilight resigned the argument, she honestly didn’t have the energy to berate Dash’s actions due to a distinct lack of life threatening events to keep her mind in overdrive. Slowly, she slumped forward against the rainbow colored mane and let her eyes slide shut.

The peace and quiet didn’t last long, she felt her weight shift ever so slightly and instinctively plastered herself against the back of Dash’s head almost instantly. Twilight let loose a breath of relief, which was followed by the gentle chuckling of her friend.

“Geez Twi, don’t fall asleep.” The pegasus gave Twilight a small bump into the air. “It’s a lot easier for me to carry you when you’re awake and trying to stay upright than if I have to balance you. If you’re really ‘that’ tired I could always put you down for a quick nap, I really recommend you try a cloud-” She chuckled.

“No!” Twilight clung tighter as Dash continued to beat out a steady rhythm with her wings. “Not a cloud, just get me home as fast as possible. The last place I want to be right now is off the ground. Do me a favor and don’t bring it up, okay? I’m trying to ignore it!” Twilight found herself nearly choking her friend as her eyes slowly opened.

The wingbeats audibly slowed. “Edgy much? And you seriously think I’d be that uncool to you? Maybe you really do need to be checked out, Twi. I think you’ve got brain damage or something.” A gentle smirk crossed Dash’s face as she resumed her previous speed.

Twilight pushed herself upright and looked over her friend’s head toward the horizon. Ponyville wasn’t even on the horizon which meant that they still had at least an hour or so until they’d get home. ‘Nopony would be able to see the storm from town, we aren’t even in line of sight...’

“Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash’s ear flicked, “Hmm? What’s up?”

“Do you think I really have brain damage?”

Twilight felt Dash falter and drop a little before leveling out and turning her head to face her. The silence between them was palpable and incriminating, Twilight couldn’t help but fidget under the magenta gaze. The half-second response seemed to take a year, if only for the icy feeling that she got from that look.

Dash turned her head forward without a single word, merely shaking it slightly from side to side. Twilight got the feeling that not much else would await her if she pursued that path. Both were quiet for a time when a feeling, a tickle, grew in the back of her mind as another question sparked to life from her lips.

“Rainbow?”

A sigh. “Yes, Twilight?”

“How did you find me all the way out there? I mean, we’re nowhere near Ponyville.”

“Oh, well that’s actually a really long story,” Dash chuckled sheepishly, “but, I suppose we have nothing but time, right?” Rainbow Dash took a quick look around the countryside before continuing. “Anyway, I was just getting up to do some early morning rounds when a letter came in from Hoofington.” Dash waved a forelimb in a wide arc in front of her as she pressed along. “Apparently, somepony dropped the ball and lost track of the storm system that our weather team was preparing to route over Sweet Apple Acres.” Rainbow muttered under her breath a while before she became audible again. “I can’t believe those guys! This is the third time this year something like this has happened. Most of the time it's either us or the Trottingham team cleaning up the mess. It’s the same. Bucking. Thing. Every. Sing-”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Rainbow,” she chuckled, “I think you were telling me something along the lines of how you found me.”

“Right, sorry. So anyway, Hoofington lost their storm system and sent out an emergency message to all the other weather teams to keep an eye out for it; so that’s what we did. We didn’t have any other weather, except that storm scheduled for today, so we devoted all our effort to finding the thing. As luck would have it, Derpy, of all ponies, spotted the storm and rushed back to town to tell the rest of us.”

“Wait, the mailmare spotted it?” Twilight cocked her head to the left. “The wall-eyed mailmare spotted the storm that your entire team was looking for.” Twilight picked her jaw off of Rainbow’s head.

“Let me finish, Twi, sheesh!” Rainbow laughed. “She was delivering mail to Zecora in the Everfree Forest and saw it partially hidden behind a mountain peak in the distance.” Rainbow pointed off toward some mountains. “So, naturally the first place I sent the team was the last seen location, except it wasn’t there.”

“What do you mean it wasn’t there?” Twilight’s ears perked in rapt attention. “Storms don’t just ‘disappear’, that’s not scientifically possible.”

“Well as fast as that thing was apparently moving, it may as well have! We got there and it was nowhere in sight, so we split up. I went north with the ponies you saw, and the other divisions went in separate directions.” Rainbow tucked her head and drove forward with a particularly strong flap, a buffet of wind crashed against Twilight a moment later as Dash continued to speak. “We found the storm, and it was really far away. But even from that distance it gave me the creeps. But you know me, there’s no room for fear when you’re filled with as much awesome as I am. So anyway, I was flying as fast as I could toward that thing, and I thought I was making some fantastic speed when I realized something.”

“I’m going to guess that you realized it was flying toward you against the wind, right?” Twilight murmured.

Rainbow’s head whipped around at Twilight with wide eyes. “Yeah! How did yo-”

“Biggs and Wedge made a comment that it was overtaking us against the wind. I figured you would probably realize if a storm was doing that.”

“Whoa, whoa. Overtaking you?” Dash’s brow furrowed as she faced forward. “I knew that it was going against the wind, but overtaking you?”

The silence continued for a few minutes with a soft rhythmic wingbeat punctuating the air each second. Twilight threw her gaze everywhere but the ground as she thought, paying close attention to formations of clouds and the slowly lagging wingbeats of her friend.

“How are you holding up Dash?” Twilight inquired. “You’re starting to sound a little bit tired.”

“I am really tired; I’ve been flying... all day, and you aren’t... aren’t exactly easy to carry. It’s just getting hard to fly so fast.” Rainbow Dash shook her head and pressed onward.

“Are you sure w-”

“We’ll make it.” Rainbow replied flatly. “Just keep me talking and don’t let me focus on it.” A few seconds passed. “So the storm overtook you against the wind, and then what happened to you?”

“It’s kinda fuzzy,” Twilight closed her eyes and tried to remember as she spoke, “but I remember that we got hit, and then we were falling.”

“Hmm, I’m just curious. Do you remember a big flash and the storm disappearing, at all? As I was flying toward the storm there was this weird black and purple explosion of some kind and then the storm just kind of... faded away.”

Twilight’s ears flopped back as the image of a spinning green field filled her vision. “I remember a really bright light, yes. But then I woke up on the ground and you were coming over the hill.”

Dash let out a heavy sigh, “Well, I’m glad you’re alive, but I don’t know where that storm went off to. I don’t know how in Equestria we are going to pull off an emergency storm so quickly.”

Neither mare spoke a word for the better part of a half hour after that. Twilight remained calm and tried her best to not fall asleep by looking toward the horizon and when Dash chimed up once more.

“We’re going to be home soon.”

“Mrphmm,” was all Twilight could manage.

“Twilight?” Dash asked with a wavering voice.

“Yes?”

“I’m really glad you’re alright, I thought I lost one of my best friends today.”

Twilight sat upright, blinking with her mouth slightly agape as the rooftop of the Library came into view.

Twilight used to be a fan of flying. However, she was not, at any point in her life, a fan of the falling part that went with it. A close cousin to the feeling of falling was Rainbow Dash taking a hard landing just outside the library and bouncing a few times before coming to a full stop.

“That was awful.” Twilight deadpanned.

“Give me a break, Twi,” groaned Rainbow Dash. “You act as if you’ve never been tired before.”

“You could have tried to land softer you know.” Twilight immediately jumped off Dash’s back and stood there on four stable, albeit shaking hooves. “Not that I’m not grateful or anything, but that was awful.”

Dash groaned “So was carrying you. I’m not used to lugging anypony around further than a couple hundred feet. I’m going to go grab Fluttershy to check you out if you’re going to be stubborn about not seeing a doctor. Just wait inside okay? Don’t go wandering off. I don’t think I have the energy to haul you back a second time.” Dash smirked and turned away, flapping pitifully to try and become airborne, only to hover and fall to the ground a moment later.

“Buck it, I’m walking.”

“Thank you Rainbow.” A small smile escaped Twilight as Dash trotted off. She turned to the doorway as her hooves dragged beneath her. The thought of a cup of tea, a light sandwich, and a nap was so incredibly enticing, that she didn’t even register Rarity and Spike calling out to her from the atrium as soon as she opened the door.

“Twilight, there you are! I was beginning to wonder if you were staying longer without telling us. Come dear, Spike was just treating me to a light tea break. How was your trip to Canterlot?” Rarity lilted as she levitated a cup of tea out of Spike’s claws. The young dragon spared no time once his claws were liberated to latch around Twilight’s neck.

“So great to have you back Twi, it was really quiet just having Owlowiscious around. How were the Princesses? ...Twi?”

Twilight felt the little dragon’s grip slide away as she threw herself face first onto the couch and closed her eyes, she spoke in response to her friends but all that would come out was an incredibly intelligent: “Mbh Grbh shblbck buh lignhithing”.

“I’m sorry darling, but I didn't quite catch that.” Rarity swished her tea in its cup. “Do you think you could say that again? Perhaps without speaking though a couch cushion?”

Her head felt like it was made of stone as Twilight rolled onto her back and looked over at both the dragon and pony eyeing her with equal parts concern and confusion. Part of her mind told her to just say something simple and mundane such as ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘I had a long flight’. But that part of her mind was apparently on vacation still since she blurted out “I was struck by lightning.”

Almost instantly the change of expression was immediate on her friend’s faces. Rarity looked horrified and Spike appeared to have gotten his face stuck in the most unusual pose. Neither of them made any attempt to approach as they blankly stared at Twilight.

Rarity was the first to break the silence.

“So, I can assume that you are well? You seem rather, unphased for a mare who’s just been subjected to the elements in such a... brutish manner.”

“I feel fantastic, I’m just really tired and hungry. Speaking of which; Spike? Can you go get me a dandelion sandwich? I’m reeaaally in the mood for dandelion.”

The dragon was standing by Rarity’s side, Twilight speculated he was actually paralyzed. His gawking face and immobile stance clearly conveyed what was going through his mind, it was not however what Twilight wanted from him at this moment in time.

“Spike,” Twilight groaned, raising her voice a bit. “Can you please get me something to eat? I haven’t eaten since morning, and I’ve been having a pretty bad day.”

The small dragon took a few seconds to process the request before wordlessly stumbling into the kitchen, complete with double-take.

Twilight sighed and faced Rarity with a slouch. Both mares looked at each other for a time, blinking occasionally and listening to the sound of tea being sipped.

“Twilight, dear.” Rarity took a deep breath, remaining composed, but still letting worry bleed into her words. “Perhaps a cup of tea would help calm you down? You seem very frazzled, goodness knows that it can't be good to just hold that kind of stress in. I know you want to talk about-”

Twilight huffed at her friend, “No, Rarity, I’d rather wait for Fluttershy to get here.”

The teacup clattered to the table nearby as Rarity leaned forward. “Fluttershy?” Rarity gasped at the notion, "Darling, you should be seeing a doctor if anything. Far be it from me to say what you should and should not do, but I merely question your choice because I’m worried for you; surviving a lightning strike is not something I can ignore in good conscience!”

“If you really cared then you’d listen to me, I don’t need to see a doctor, nothing is broken, nothing is seriously wrong. I don’t need a doctor unless I’m seriously hurt, I just need sleep and that’s that.” Twilight whimpered as she folded her forelimbs and pinned her ears back. It wasn’t something she liked doing, she mulled over her actions for a moment and shot a glance at Rarity. A teacup rested in a soft aura of magic as she stirred it almost wistfully, her eyes downcast and her ears pinned back.

“Rare-”

An all too familiar voice cut Twilight off, “Dandelion sandwiches! Just the way you like ‘em.”

One of the comestible creations was offered to Twilight and her stomach rumbled in agreement with her eyes: it looked delicious. “Thank you Spike, it looks fantastic.” Twilight reached out with her magic to grab her lunch, rather, she tried to reach out and grab her lunch.

The room fell silent as Twilight tried over and over to grab a sandwich with her magic. It would wobble slightly in the air before slipping out of the lavender aura and onto the platter. Eventually Twilight groaned and settled for physically picking it up in her hooves, almost immediately inhaling the sandwich. She bit down and the sweet taste of fresh dandelion exploded against her tongue. Something tickled the back of her throat however. She coughed a few times with tears in her eyes.

“Geez Twi,” Spike raised an eyebrow, “I knew you said you were hungry but you don’t need to hurt yourself, there’s always seconds.”

The itch burned, it felt like whatever was tickling her throat was stuck to it. She coughed a few more times when out shot a small lavender feather. She looked down at the offending object with wide eyes and a gaze mirrored by the only other beings in the room.

“Um, Spikey, You didn’t manage to... slip that into the sandwich perchance?” Rarity inquired, one brow raised high as she did so.

“No! Of course not, you know I wouldn’t do something like that! I must have just, spaced out or something.” Spike wrung his claws and turned to Twilight, his ear-fins drooped low and his head hung slightly. “Sorry Twi, I guess I overlooked that.”

Twilight coughed and shook the tears from her eyes. “Overlooked? Spike, it was a bright lavender feather! How-” Twilight loosed another cough into her foreleg, “How does anypony miss that?”

“I- I don’t know, Twi. I really don’t know.” Spike began punctuating each point by counting off on his claws. “What I do know is that I made a bunch of sandwiches the way you always like them. I know that there were no lavender feathers in them when I made them. And we all know that the feather you just coughed up was obviously in the sandwich...” The claws balled up as Spike pounded his curled fist into the palm of his other claw. “It was obviously...! Some... pony? I don’t know. I got nothing.”

Twilight sighed and turned her attention back to the sandwich. Her stomach grumbled as she lifted the slices of bread apart and peered within. The distinct lack of any lavender color inside whatsoever brought a smile to her face as she tore into the sandwich hungrily.

Rarity raised an eyebrow at Twilight, “Dear, aren’t you curious how that even got there?”

The second sandwich paused mid-air. Mere seconds from joining it’s comrade in Twilights stomach. “I suppose I’m a little curious,” Twilight paused only briefly before sealing the second sandwiches fate. “but it was just one feather, and these taste just fine to me.”

“Darling, that’s not the point.” Rarity watched another sandwich leave the ever-shrinking pile on the tray. “What would a purple pegasus feather be doing there? I don’t know that we even have any pegasi here in Ponyville that are that shade of purple.”

Spike twirled the feather around and peered intently at it. “It’s a really nifty shade of purple too.” The feather stopped spinning in Spike’s grasp as he lifted his eyes toward Twilight and the nearly empty platter of sandwiches.

“Whoa. Geez Twi.”

Everypony looked at the mostly barren platter as Twilight licked the last remaining crumbs from her muzzle. She sighed contentedly, leaned back, and looked to her friends. “What, I was hungry. I can’t eat and talk at the same time?”

Spike and Rarity glanced at each other, then back at Twilight. Both of them shared the same question written on their face.

“Um, Twilight.” Rarity looked over her cup of tea at the few remaining sandwiches “Are you feeling quite alright?”

Twilight glared at them both. She couldn’t fault them for being so concerned, but at the same time she had told them that she was waiting for Fluttershy to arrive. She lowered her gaze to escape those prying eyes, it wasn’t like them to push her this hard. She knew where she stood, she just wanted to stop feeling like she was being interrogated.

“Listen everypony, I know you’re both curious, but I’m not up to answering any questions until Fluttershy shows up. It’s nothing against you,” Twilight’s ears flopped back as she wrung her hooves, “but I’d just feel better having to explain it once. Maybe you could tell me what’s been happening around here since I’ve been gone, to just pass the time?”

Rarity made the biggest pout that Twilight had ever seen, but it was quickly replaced by a proper, dignified, lady-like posture as the white uncorn poured herself another cup of tea. “Very well, I suppose it can do no harm to wait a while longer. More tea, Twilight?”

Spike was already pouring a cup of tea for Twilight as Rarity spoke. Thin curls of mild aroma wafted out over the lip of the cup as Spike gently carried it over toward the librarian; his concentration etched resolutely on his muzzle as he kept the cup steady.

“Thank you, Spike, I’ll take it from here.” Twilight reached out and surrounded the cup with her magic, easily lifting it from her assistant’s claws, and brought it toward her face. She breathed deeply, inhaling the steam as it rose from her drink. She lifted the cup to her face only to be greeted by blunt force as the cup struck her at a surprisingly high velocity. Immediately afterward, the sensation of the scalding hot tea soaking into her fur finally registered.

She always wondered what being banished to the sun would feel like. Granted, the searing agony she imagined was restricted to only her eyelids and muzzle, but it didn’t make her want to scream any less. She managed to save face, only uttering whimpers as her hooves rocketed to cover her face.

“Twilight!” Spike eyes flew open as he frantically darted to her side.

“Darling are you quite alright?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine, really.” Twilight sputtered, “I just lost my grip is all.”

“You really ought to be more careful!” Rarity’s eyes flew open as a handkerchief flew out of her saddlebag and into Twilight’s hooves. “A lady must always be ready to deal with stressful situations, and must always be able to remain composed under dure- yes, Spike?”

Spike shot a befuddled look to both mares before slowly lowering his claw, “I’m just curious; Twi is the element of magic, right? I find it kinda weird that she’d just ‘lose her grip’. I mean, she did just get hit by lightning, but that wouldn’t make her magic stop working, right?”

Twilight felt a heat, greater than the tea on her face, begin roasting her cheeks. A sympathetic look at Rarity was all she could muster, but she knew there was no dancing around the issue.

“Well, Spike” Rarity seemed to savor her lower lip for a moment as she chewed it over. "A unicorn does not simply... Oh, how does one say it?” Everypony seemed to gravitate toward Rarity during the ensuing pause. “A unicorn does not simply lose control over magic that easily; it would be much like you forgetting how to breath fire, or for a pegasus to suddenly forget how to fly.” A nervous chuckle accompanied a small distraught gulp as Rarity continued, voice quivering all the while. “However, in the case of magical creatures, such as Twilight, it can also show up in surges of power as well as the lack of it. To have this happen and have it be out of control of the unicorn is actually,” Rarity cleared her throat and left Twilight a pitying glance, “Embarrassing, to say the least.”

“Okay,” Spike cocked his head to the side and held it in his palm, “so she’s hitting herself in the face with food and levitating objects is really hard for her. Does that mean Twi is just having trouble controlling her magic and how it comes out?”

Twilight followed Spike’s gaze to a puddle of tea on the floor.

Spike paused a moment. “This sounds like bedwetting for fillies and colts. Magical bedwetting.”

The library echoed with an awkward silence; everypony in the room held their tongues far longer than Twilight deemed necessary. She couldn’t bring herself to speak up; as far as she was concerned, it didn’t matter what she said: the damage had been done.

Rarity gawked and merely cleared her throat. “W-well, I would dare not say anything so... crass. However, I suppose one would be hard pressed to say that any better.”

Twilight buried her face into the couch, she swore she could smell the fabric burning from the sheer heat of her face. Out of all the connections Spike could make, he picked the one that he would no doubt tease her over for days to come.

“Well would ya look at that! Heh, heh.” Spike looked at both mares with a very forced smile, followed by a glance at the now empty tray. “We’re all out of sandwiches! I’ll just go get some more then I suppose, back in a minute.” Spike grabbed the tray and darted out of the room, leaving both Twilight and Rarity to give each other looks of varying pity.

“Darling, you know I didn’t want to say anything more to him, but I couldn’t simply lie to the poor dra-”

“Rarity, it’s fine. Can we please... Can we please just put it behind us? I don’t want to think about it.” Groaned Twilight as she sat up and scowled at nopony in particular.

“Absolutely, absolutely.”

The silence returned in force, the only noise in the room were the soft sounds of a knife chopping up dandelions from the kitchen.

“Yeah, thanks.” A few more seconds droned on as Twilight locked onto a curl of smoke drifting up from the spout of the tea kettle. She tried to imagine all the tension she felt wafting up and away just like the curl of st-

“So, a strange pony showed up today in town.” Rarity blinked calmly as she finished a drink of her tea.

Twilight perked her ears and leaned forward, eager for a bit of conversation that wouldn’t end up embarrassing her further. “Strange pony? In case you forgot what I said on my first night here, ‘Everypony in this town is strange’. So what happened?”

“Oh no, darling, I haven't forgotten that little outburst.” Rarity chuckled, “Just something humorous I heard. This pony apparently bought a baker’s dozen from Sugarcube Corner for no other reason than to see if Sugarcube Corner actually sold a baker’s dozen of doughnuts, or cupcakes, or some such thing. Then I hear he just gave away the entire box for free. The next thing the poor Cakes know is that half the town is inside their shop asking for a baker's dozen for every kind of pastry under the sun.”

“Well, isn’t that a good thing?” Twilight scratched her chin with a hoof. “They’ve been pretty slow recently, haven’t they?”

“Well, yes, but the key word there is 'been'. They're absolutely swamped now without Pinkie there to help,” Rarity furrowed her brow and leaned forward. “I just find it odd for Pinkie to be gone so long, nopony knows what in Equestria she’s up to, but it must be something big.”

“Rarity, Pinkie carries around a cannon in some sort of null-space. She does what she wants; I don’t question anything she does anymore.” Twilight lifted the tea-kettle. She scowled at the offending villain; a metal shell of empty promises and lies.

Rarity glanced up at a window and sighed as she too placed her empty vessel down. “Even if it were a case of Pinkie being Pinkie, I still wonder where she disappeared to. She is supposed to be here to help make sure that everything is to go smoothly over the next few days.”

Twilight cocked an ear and stared at her friend. She wanted to speak up, to ask what she meant, but a small demure knock on the door drew the attention of both.

“Fluttershy? Is that you? Come on in.” Twilight raised her voice as she took one more look at Rarity. She couldn’t help but wonder what her friend meant by ‘everything going smoothly over the next few days’.

“I’ll get it!” Spike half-shouted as he rocketed by, leaving another tray of sandwiches and a second kettle clattering on the table as he opened the door for their guest. A bright yellow pegasus mare with a long, flowing, pink mane gave Spike a curt nod and walked inside.

“Hello girls,” Fluttershy walked over and took her place between Twilight and Rarity, giving a small smile to them both before continuing, “I don’t know the full story, but Rainbow Dash said that Twilight would fill me in when I got here.” Fluttershy turned to Twilight, looking her over with a concerned expression. “She said you had been hurt, but didn’t tell me how.”

Rarity leaned forward expectantly. “Yes. Please, Twilight, tell us what happened.”

“Yeah!” Spike nearly jumped into the air. “Tell us how you managed to survive that lightning bolt!”

Twilight heard a very soft, “Oh... my,” from her right.

There were certain immutable truths that Twilight had learned upon moving to Ponyville. The first was that Pinkie can just be Pinkie, even if it makes no sense what-so-ever. The second rule is that Fluttershy has a motherly nature stronger than biological mothers, and that she will dote on anything that is injured; visibly or otherwise.

Twilight then realized what had just been said.

“Oh you poor thing!” Twilight pinned her ears back as Fluttershy started looking for scrapes or bruises. “Hit by a lightning bolt, you must be traumatized!” Twilight felt her head get turned to the side as Fluttershy looked her over. Oh. Oh my, tell me everything, I’ll grab my things and fix you up. Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything?” Twilight stared blankly at Fluttershy. The pegasus’ eyes grew wide as Twilight gave herself a small shake. “Oh... you look cold, let me get you a-”

A purple claw reached out and grabbed the frenzied yellow pegasus, silencing her with a gentle, “Eep!”

Spike smiled up at Fluttershy and filled the teacups sitting on the small table nearby. “Go on, Twi, Rarity and I have been waiting to hear this too.”

A magenta aura surrounded another sandwich on the tray, “Alright, but I’m going to tell you right now that I may not remember everything perfectly. Most of what happened is still blurry and confusing.” The sandwich levitated and started moving toward Twilight when, suddenly, it vanished. The sandwich reappeared back on the platter; complete with a brand-new, and very spiffy, handle-bar mustache.

Spike covered his mouth with his paws and slunk off to the kitchen where the three mares heard stifled laughter. Fluttershy tilted her head, "Um, Twilight," She hesitated briefly, "not to question you... why did you give that sandwich a mustache?" The room grew silent as Fluttershy processed Twilight's less-than-excited facial expression. "Oh dear, you're not losing control of your magic are you? Oh, my, that's very serious..." Fluttershy’s voice trailed off with worry.

Twilight felt her entire body burning up, the snickers from the kitchen did nothing to boost her self confidence. “I-I’ll talk about it later; it’s not important right now. I’ll just start from the flight itself.”

Fluttershy nodded and procured a small stethoscope from her bag. “I’m just going to make sure everything checks out... if that’s alright with you that is.”

“Of course, Fluttershy. Now let’s see; we were a couple hours out of Canterlot when Wedge, that’s one of the guards, spotted a thunderstorm off in the distance.” Twilight paused to hiss a little air out as the cold metal disc pressed against her side.

“S-sorry.”

“No, it’s alright, Fluttershy.” Twilight smiled gratefully and gave her pegasus friend a small nod. “As I was saying, Wedge was telling a joke, everything was going really smoothly, But then we all saw this thunderstorm off in the distance.” Twilight shrugged, “I personally didn’t think too much of it, but Biggs and Wedge were really jumpy about it.”

“Well, obviously they had every right to be.” Rarity brushed her mane out of her face as she continued. “You did get caught in it after all. Whatever happened to them?”

The words rushed to her lips, only to be arrested from utterance by a stray thought. ‘I really don’t want the girls to worry anymore than they already are. I don’t need to tell them how Wedge was acting I suppose.’ Twilight smiled, “I’ll bet that they’re both back in Canterlot joking about the whole situation right now. Anyways, back to what I was saying: I remember waking up to-ow!” Twilight’s leg gave a small kick. “Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy grinned sheepishly as she hid a rubber hammer-like tool behind her back.

Twilight continued with a deadpan stare. “I had a weird dream about stars and lights before I woke up, and then I started having my life flash before my eyes. Everything I had done this last weekend came back to me, but there was this one parbth eher...” Twilight raised an eyebrow at the tongue depressor in her mouth. “Thlughlershy, ith now thuh thime?”

“Can’t be too careful, Twilight.” Fluttershy nodded matter-of-factly, “I have to check everywhere to make sure you don’t get sick. Or worse.”

“Righ...” Twilight spat the tool out of her mouth as Fluttershy turned back to her bag. “So, I was falling and I saw a white light on the ground. The next thing I know there was this really weird flash...” Twilight lightly stomped her hoof. “Ugh, I can’t describe it. Anyway, I guess I blacked out and had another flashback, except it didn't..." Twilight absently turned her gaze toward the floor, "well, I'm not so sure it was a flashback."

Both mares paused and leaned toward Twilight as as if to say: “Yes?”.

“It wasn’t something recent; like everything else was. I don’t even know if it was a mem-”

“What? I missed it?!” Spike stood in the doorway with his ears drooped. “I thought you were going to wait for me!” he whined.

“Story isn’t over just yet, Spike.” Smiled Twilight as the little dragon sat next to her. “I was telling them about a strange little light I saw.” She rubbed her hoof on his head.

“As I was saying, Rainbow comes over a hi...”

“... and then we arrived in Ponyville, and I came in here and waited for you to show up.”

Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy looked at each other, wearing the same expression; gawking, speechless, and baffled beyond thought. And then came the questions.

“Wait, so you said something about a small little light? Tell us more about that!”

“Who was the pegasus on the ridge? Do you remember?”

“Why was it so hard to tell the color of the flash? Did you see how you managed to land safely? I-I mean, It’s okay if you didn’t; I was just curious...”

Twilight held her head in her hooves. “Whoa! Whoa, not all at once! I’ll explain one at a time, I don’t need you all yelling at me.” She uncovered her face to see her friends seated quietly opposite her. “Thank you. Now, Fluttershy, what were you saying?”

“I um, I was wondering why you couldn’t see what the color was. I was just curious if um... you could try and explain a little more?”

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to think back. From the darkness exploded vibrant hues that escaped definition. Impossible spectrums danced within her mind, rushing and spiraling toward her as if guiding her toward something. Twilight tried to focus on the ‘something’, but it simply refused to be clearly seen. The lights suddenly froze in place, a sense of dread filled her heart as the spectral images rushed away into the darkness.

“It’s because I can’t explain it with words Fluttershy.” Twilight sighed and opened her eyes. “No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t seem to find the words to describe it.” Twilight’s ears flopped back as she let out a defeated sigh. “I guess the closest definition I can give you girls is a light that wasn’t light. And that’s really bad for a comparison as it is.”

“And this is when you blacked out the second time?” Rarity blew the steam off another cup of tea, daintily testing the temperature with a sip. “Do you remember anything else besides the flash?”

Spike huffed impatiently. “Like the speck of light before the flash, did you get a good look at that? I’ve been wanting to hear about that since you brought it up!”

“Well, yes and no. It looked like just a spot of light, but at the same time, it wasn’t uniform like a spot of light should be.” Twilight took another bite of her sandwich, ignoring the confused stares of her friends. “I really couldn't tell what it was exactly, it looked like it was a shape rather than a point of light.”

Fluttershy remained silent, Rarity raised an eyebrow at Twilight, and Spike merely responded with a grunt of acknowledgement.

“What?” Twilight looked around at her group of friends; she licked the last few crumbs from her muzzle as she reached her hoof down toward the platter; empty.

“L-loss of magic, increased a-appetite, t-tiredness, fatigue, and m-moodiness,” Fluttershy whispered. “Twilight, while you were in C-Canterlot, you didn’t happen to… lecture anypony on certain insects and... um... avian friends.”

The color bleached from Twilights face as her vision narrowed and her head swam, “NO! I would neve- Urg, NO. I never did anything like that!”

Rarity leaned in with furrowed brows. “Oh how scandalous! Twilight my dear, you simply must give me all the juicy details. Who is the lucky stallion? Is he handsome? How did you meet? Details darling, details!”

“I-I didn’t do that! M-me of all p-ponies? H-ha. Ha ha. Fluttershy, Rarity. Arg... y-you can’t seriously think that I’d ju-“

“Twilight, there’s no use hiding it.” Rarity pouted disapprovingly at Twilight. “You put away two whole trays of sandwiches by yourself.”

“Wh-what!? No I didn-”

“Um, excuse me?” Everypony turned and looked at Spike. Standing off to the side with a simultaneously blank and perplexed facial expression. “What exactly are we talking about here? What did Twilight do wrong?”

Both Rarity and Fluttershy seemed to lock up instantly. Rarity looked like she was about to go into hysterics. While Fluttershy looked like she wanted to just vanish into thin air, or maybe become a tree. Twilight could only imagine how they were panicking for a way to avoid telling Spike what they were thinking.

“N-nothing darling, it was just an idea that Fluttershy had, about Twilight’s, erm, illness.” Rarity chuckled nervously, shooting Fluttershy a knowing look

“Um... Y-yes, just an idea is all. I’m almost sure that it isn’t the right one. Twilight seems quite sure, I think you should listen to her... If you want I guess...”

“Fine,” Spike crossed his arms and pouted. “All that matters is that she’s okay right now.”

“Well, yes... But that doesn’t mean that she’s all better just yet. I care for a lot of animals and sometimes, they come down with something that just doesn’t make sense. It’s usually stress though, and I think that’s all Twilight is dealing with right now.” Fluttershy gave a compassionate smile as she got up and walked toward Twilight. “All you need to do is get a good night’s sleep, and I’ll come check up on you in the morning, okay?”

Again Twilight’s spine was wracked with chills, but still she nodded her head in agreement. Stress seemed as likely a cause as any at this point. Despite all her reading, the one thing that she never really spent enough time delving into was medicine and the finer points of diagnosis. ‘And it’s times like this that I hate myself for saying: “Oh, you won’t need that anytime soon, go ahead and read those astronomy books.” ’

“Well, I do believe I shall be going then. You know how Opal gets if I’m not there with her dinner on time.” She brushed her mane to the side as she nodded toward Spike. “Thank you for inviting me to tea Spike; it was far more... interesting than I believed it was going to be.” Rarity stood up and started toward the door, “And do take care of yourself Twilight, we will be here to make sure you come out of this whole ordeal better than ever!”

‘You’ll make sure I come out of this better than ever?’ Twilight mused to herself, ‘What does she mean by that?’

Fluttershy stood up and followed Rarity to the door, looking back through a strand of pink mane. “Please get some rest Twilight, I mean, you don’t have to... but it’s probably for the best. I’ll be back in the morning. Plenty of liquids, a-and don’t think too hard about anything; nothing but relaxation tonight, please?”

“Of course, Fluttershy.” Twilight smiled, “I’ll take it easy tonight, and thank you girls. You’re the best friends a pony could ask for.”

After a few moments, all was quiet in the library. Twilight looked back to the empty seats and lifted the empty tray nearby. ‘Did I seriously eat all that? I don’t feel full...’

“Hey, Twilight?”

Twilight spun her head around to see Spike standing in the doorway of the kitchen twiddling his claws nervously. “Yes Spike? What is it?”

The small dragon moved aside as Twilight walked into the kitchen. “Well, I was just curious; when Fluttershy came up with that list of symptoms, and then you got really pale... What did she mean by that? I’m still a little confused is all.”

Twilight nearly dropped the tray she was carrying as Spike spoke. She would have liked to tell him, but something told her it was a bad idea to tell him that Fluttershy meant.

“Uh,” The breadth of Twilight’s smile made her face hurt. “Maaaaybe when you’re older, Spike.”

“Oh come on!” Spike’s foot thudded against the wooden floor. “You keep saying that! Why can’t you just tell me about all this stuff you and your friends keep talking about?” he whined.

“Because I love you, silly,” Twilight kissed the the green fins atop the small dragon’s head as she passed into the kitchen, tray in tow. “No little brother of mine needs to know about certain topics like that before he’s ready.”

Twilight turned the knob for the sink, much too far, the ensuing torrent splashed water onto the floor. While the repercussions of magic loss were really starting to irritate her. She assured herself that it would only last so long as she carefully turned flow down.

Small footsteps came up behind her as she washed the tray. Each step sounded slow, heavy, and full of thought.

“So because you love me, I’m not supposed to know how it feels to know I nearly lost my sister? Am I not old enough-” A sniffle. “to feel that, Twi?”

Twilight’s stomach wrenched hard as she dropped the tray into the sink, she felt pressure against her side as she turned to see spike burying his face into her fur. She sat back, and wrapped her forelegs around Spike, quietly repeating ‘shhh’ into his ear. Minutes passed as she simply held her little brother.

“T-tw-Twilight?...”

“Yes, Spike?”

“I’m really glad you’re still here.”

Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I’ll always be there for you, Spike.”

It was hard for Twilight to concentrate. It wasn’t the itch on her back she wasn’t able to reach, nor was it the pile of snapped quills off to the side of the desk. It was a matter of mentality, and Twilight’s mentality was largely absent at the time. She looked down at the paper, the only thing within thirty feet that was more blank than her mind.

‘I have to at least write her, let her know that I’m alright. I’m her faithful student, I need to tell her.’

Slowly the words came to Twilight as she put her quill to the paper and tried, for the twelfth time that night, to write Princess Celestia a letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’ve learned to never take the life I have for granted.

Today, falling from the chariot, I was more frightened for myself than I have ever been. I became truly aware, for the first time in my life, how fragile we all are. I realized how life can change in an instant. How sometimes, no matter how much we believe ourselves to be in complete control over our own lives, we may still find our plans tumbling down around us.

Sometimes misfortune is simply unavoidable.

The most we can do is take it in stride. Get back up, dust ourselves off, and continue onward, having learned our lesson. Although that fall was the most terrifying event of my life, it was strangely the most enlivening.

I found myself thinking of everything I would not be able to do, to see, to experience. I found myself longing for the simple joys I had hardly paid any attention to prior to this. A quiet get-together with friends. The taste of a freshly picked apple from Sweet Apple Acres or of Pinkie Pie’s newest cupcake creation. Stargazing. Spells.

Every part of life is an adventure. Life should be enjoyed thoroughly, appreciated to the fullest. That is something I intend to do from now on.

I explained the situation to my friends, and they were more than relieved to see me okay. However, Spike pulled me aside tonight, devastated by what could have been. I gave him a few words of reassurance. He seems to be doing better now, but I still feel like he is not fully convinced. What did you do when you needed to give someone reassurance, but just didn't know what to say?

My recovery is underway, I have been told to get rest and relaxation to help shake off the stress. I have been fortunate to not have incurred any physical injuries, but I will be the first to say that both my mental and magical faculties are suffering dramatically. It was incredibly hard to concentrate at random intervals throughout the day, and my magic has been fluctuating in strength in equally random intervals. I hope that Fluttershy is correct in her assumption that it is nothing more than a case of strained nerves.

I wish Major Biggs and Lieutenant Wedge a swift recovery. Please let them know I’m grateful for them taking me to Ponyville.

I eagerly await your response,

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

PS: Upon further recollection, I do believe this storm was not a mere stray storm. I would hypothesize that the storm itself was tinged with magical energy, unfortunately I cannot support my hypothesis since the storm disappeared shortly after the chariot was struck.

Twilight rolled the letter up, setting it on the lampstand by her bed as she looked out the window. The peaceful, if staggered, snores of her trusty assistant loaned a certain rhythm to the nightly chorus of crickets and other creatures of the night.

She peered down between her bed and the wall, fishing around with her magic for a particular tome. It was her bastion, her refuge, the only place that made her feel nearly as safe was her own mind. She knew that she didn’t need to, but she liked having a record.

She leafed open the book, skimming through the walls of words and various illustrations she had written and drawn over the years. She snuggled into her covers as she turned to the dog-eared page. Twilight paused for a moment, then grabbed her quill from the desk as she gathered her thoughts.

The tip of the quill quietly dropped to the page.

Dear journal,

Exciting day today. I ran into a thunderstorm on the flight back home. Nopony was seriously hurt, thank Celestia. I, myself, am not feeling so great, but I am sure it is nothing more than a case of nerves. At least, that is what Fluttershy suspects. Rarity seemed rather calm about the whole situation, but I suppose that it’s just how Rarity carries herself.

Poor Spike, he took the shock the hardest. After the girls left he simply broke down and cried. I never wanted to put him through something like this, but he was terrified that he would lose me. I told him that I will always be there for him, he seemed to be reassured by that, but I did not feel any better saying it.

I have always believed myself to be a fortunate mare. From the time I was a small filly, everything seemed to go mostly right for me, even if there were hiccups along the way. From my entrance exam, to my first day here at Ponyville.

I cannot help but wonder what it would have been like if I had not made it. I am sure that Rarity would have taken Spike into her home without question. Maybe Applejack, or Fluttershy. The girls would be crushed if things went badly today. But they didn’t, and that worries me.

Why did I live? I am nopony special really, just a unicorn. What if it were somepony else? Would they still be alive? Did I live because I managed to teleport everypony to safety with the last fleeting moments of consciousness? What would have happened to Biggs and Wedge if I were not there? Would they be dead?

I hate questions like this. I really hate questions like this. I like something I can study, something I can analyze. I like to be able to pick up and look at a problem or object from all angles, break it down in my mind and see how it works, then put it together again and draw a probable conclusion from what I learned. But I can’t do that with death. There are no tests for nearly dying. This is something I may end up wondering about for the rest of my life, and I hate it.

I never asked for this, I never asked to be some sort of hero who triumphs against all odds. I guess today was just another item I can add to my list of fortuitous happenings that I have witnessed, right next to “The defeat of Nightmare Moon”, or “Overthrowing the King of Chaos”, I can add in “Today I nearly died”. I suppose it could be worse. The next item on the list could be the alternative, written there by somepony close to me.

My friends mean well, and they want me to take it easy. They seemed a little off to me, but I suppose they were as shocked to hear what happened as I was to have experienced it. But despite what they said, I cannot honestly take it easy. Underneath the calm face they don’t see the little filly crying in fear. I do not think they understand what it felt like to look down at the world spinning beneath you and have the cold heartless realization that you had a few moments left to live slam into you.

I can’t fault them for not understanding, I don’t feel like I fully understand them sometimes. The important thing is that they care, and I know they want me to just look forward instead of backward. I really should, it is getting late, I need to follow Fluttershy’s advice and get some sleep.

Tomorrow is the Running of the Leaves, and from what I understand, everything will be going smoothly. Rarity was able to tie up the final loose ends for the event in my absence. After all that I have had to deal with, I look forward to something simple. I can’t imagine anything going wrong.

-Twilight Sparkle, Nov 26, 1001.

Interesting Anecdote: Those last few breaths I took while falling, felt like the most clean, pure breaths I have ever breathed.