Thursday Night

Chapter Four – Twilight Sparkle

"Thank Celestia those infernal cramps are gone," Twilight said, sipping some more tea, and turning a page in her old magical studies textbook.

"Yeah, your groaning was becoming unbearable," Spike replied, setting down three more books on the desk next to Twilight. She smiled at his remark. "I mean, they could probably hear it all the way in Manehattan, it was so loud!" The purple dragon chuckled at his own joke.

"Okay Spike, that's enough," Twilight told him, not quite as amused. That only seemed to make Spike laugh more.

When he did calm down, he asked. "Are you sure that's all you need for tonight?"

Twilight surveyed all the books, parchments, inkwells, and quills in front of her. "This'll be fine. I plan to just finish a few more books tonight then turn in."

Spike yawned, a tad overdramatically. "Well, I think I'll hit the hay." He said, making for the stairs. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Spike," Twilight called as he vanished upstairs. The purple mare found a comfortable position in her chair and prepared to sit for the next few hours with her books, and some peace.

Two seconds later that ended.

Rainbow Dash came bursting through the door in a huff, looking really peeved. "Twilight!" she said loudly.

"Rainbow," Twilight said, irked her quiet night just tanked. "You know you're always welcome here, but it's a little late for…"

"Twilight, what is the meaning, of this!" Rainbow held something up, clearly angry about it.

"It's a book Dash."

Looking annoyed, the cyan pegasus removed her hoof so Twilight could see the title.

"Wait a minute," Twilight said, standing. "That's the book I loaned to…"

"Frostburn. I know," Rainbow said, looking somewhat guilty.

"What happened?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash told her everything that had happened since Pinkie Pie met up with her earlier in the day. She spared no details, and by the time she reached the end, Twilight was shocked to say the least.

"You chased him into the EVERFREE FOREST!" She screamed. "WHY IN EQUESTRIA WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"

Dash yelled right back. "BECAUSE HE WOULDN'T COME TO PINKIE PIE'S PARTY, THAT'S WHY!"

Twilight answered with an equal amount of rage. "YOU CAN'T JUST CHASE PONIES INTO THE EVERFREE FOREST! BESIDES, I CONVINCED HIM TO GO TO THE PARTY WHEN HE BORROWED THE BOOK!"

Suddenly Pinkie Pie was bounding into the library. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS ARE HAVING A SHOUTING PARTY WITHOUT ME!" The pink mare was not quite angry; it was more like she was excited to be a part of the screaming hysteria.

"Pinkie!" Twilight said. "What are you doing here?"

Pinkie gave Twilight a look and said. "You guys woke up half of Ponyville with your shouting. See!" Pinkie gestured to the door to reveal many of the local residents had been woken by the argument. Lights were on in every building, and some ponies had wandered in the streets to find out what was going on.

Sheepishly, both Twilight and Rainbow Dash shrunk back inside, embarrassed.

"Wait a minute," Pinkie said, coming to terms with what she'd just heard. "You held a book hostage to get Frostburn to come to my party?" She accused, turning to Twilight.

"Well… yes," Twilight said, fearing the wrath of Pinkie Pie.

Turning to Rainbow Dash, Pinkie said. "And you chased him to the Everfree Forest, for the same reason?"

"Uh, kind of. I might've done something like that," Rainbow mumbled, with an equal amount of fear.

Moving against both ponies, Pinkie Pie backed them up against the wall, seemingly ready to give them both hell. At the last possible second, though, a smile broke out on her face.

"You guys are such great friends!" She exclaimed, embracing the two of them.

"Heh, thanks Pinkie," Rainbow said a little unnerved.

"Yeah, no problem," Twilight said, feeling the same way. "But Frostburn's still trapped in the Everfree Forest because of it."

Releasing her friends from the hug, the realization dawned on Pinkie Pie. She gasped. "We have to save him! Being trapped in the Everfree Forest means he won't be able to come to my party!" Both Rainbow and Twilight were surprised by Pinkie's priorities. "Oh, right, yeah." She said. "The whole imminent death thing is a bummer too." With that she galloped out of the library.

"Alright then. Let's go save Frostburn," Rainbow declared, flying out after her friend.

Twilight followed them, completely frazzled by the direction her evening went.

The entrance to the Everfree Forest looked even more haunting at nightfall. The eerie sounds of rough wilderness reverberated through the night. Without time to round up the rest of the Mane Six, Twilight felt even more nervous about their effort to save Frostburn.

"Right about here," Rainbow said, pointing her hoof. "This is where he galloped into the forest."

"Don't worry Frosty, we'll save you!" Pinkie yelled into the bleak expanse.

Twilight nodded "Alright girls, let's go."

The three ponies galloped into the forest, determined to find the missing stallion. Darkness quickly loomed in, but Twilight created purple light with her horn so they could see. Even with her illumination spell, Twilight still couldn't see too far ahead.

The search started horribly. For nearly twenty minutes the trio of mares stumbled around, calling Frostburn's name, and looking around aimlessly. Twilight tried widening her beam of light as they went on, but in the moment it took her to concentrate, her hoof was ensnared by a root, and she fell over.

"Ahh!" she said, hitting the ground, her light flicking off.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Sorry Pinkie," Twilight said. She lit up her horn again. Before standing up, Twilight noticed some irregular marks on the ground. The realization quickly dawned on her. "Girls, look! Hoofprints!" She called out. Pinkie and Rainbow ran over to her.

Pinkie's eyes became glued to the ground, following the prints. "These have to be Frostburn's!" She said. "Either that or some other pony got lost in the forest. But that would mean we'd have to find two ponies now, which is a lot more work."

"I'm pretty sure they belong to Frostburn," Rainbow Dash said, helping Twilight up.

"Oh, okay." Pinkie said. "Good thing you know what his hooves look like," Not waiting for a response, the party pony began to follow the prints.

"Hey, I wasn't staring at his hooves, if that's what you're implying!" Rainbow protested, but Pinkie was already on the move. Instead, Rainbow turned back to Twilight. "I wasn't." The cyan pegasus clarified. The pink mare laughed a little at the remark, then trotted to keep up with Pinkie. "I wasn't staring at his hooves!" Rainbow protested, following.

"Hey girls, look at this!" Pinkie shouted from up ahead. Twilight and Rainbow Dash hurried to catch up to Pinkie. When they found her, the pink mare was pointing at more hoofprints. "I was just following them until I came across something really weird! And not the good kind of weird either, more like the kind that makes you want to…"

"Pinkie Pie! Just tell us already," Twilight said.

Pinkie laughed. "Why tell you, when I can show you." She said, indicating where the hoofprints led to. Twilight couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the trail of Frostburn led to the most unexpected place in the entire Everfree Forest.

Zecorah's hut.

Next Chapter: Who's Behind the Door? Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 11 Minutes