“Kyaaaaaaah!”

CRASH!

Lyra Heartstrings hit the ground, kicking up dust and coughing.

  “Agh… That didn’t work…” Lyra moaned, trying to get back up.

  “I told you it wouldn’t. Twilight probably put some protection spell on her door or something. You’re not going to be able to barge it down,” Bon Bon said, looking down at her struggling friend.

Minuette looked over at Lyra and Bon Bon.

  “Bon Bon’s right. She’s not home, and we’re not getting in. We should just give up…”

Lyra looked over to her old friends, who were all sitting on the grass a few meters away. Minuette was looking straight at the ground, while Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts looked out in random directions, staring into oblivion. Lyra sighed.

  “Guys, what’s up? Don’t you care about Twilight anymore? We can’t just--”

  “No, we don’t. She obviously doesn’t care about us anymore. Why should we? We tried and tried to catch up to her, but no matter where we go or what we do, she’s always somewhere completely different. That wedding was the closest we’ll probably ever be to seeing her,” Lemon Hearts snapped. Lyra stopped short and looked stunned at her friend.

  “Oh…” Lyra breathed.

Twinkleshine slapped the grass with her hoof, sending grass blades flying and revealing the dirt underneath.

  “Gah, hay to this! Why are we even here, still? There’s nothing more we can do here. I think we should leave for Canterlot as soon as we can and just give up!”

Lyra sighed again.

“Minuette, you’re kind of a natural leader, right? What do you think we should do?” she asked.

Minuette kept looking at the ground, and didn’t answer. For what felt like a very long time, the five ponies were silent, hearing nothing but the calming sound of the wind. Finally, Minuette spoke.

  “I’m not a leader. None of us are ‘leaders’. We’re just friends, trying to find one friend who couldn’t give a damn about us, and for some reason we’re trying as hard as we can to forgive that friend. I’m done doing that. So I agree with Twinkleshine - we should head to Canterlot as soon as we can. It’s probably too late now for us to catch a train, so we should wait until next morning. Bon Bon, do you mind if we stay at your house again?”

None of the five ponies expected to be able to sleep very well, but surprisingly they were all fast asleep before they knew it. As the sun rose the next morning, the light that was being cast over the group of sleeping ponies is what woke most of them up.

  “Ugh… somepony close the curtains…”

  “Can’t… Princess Celestia… just go one day without raising the sun…? I’m so sleepy…”

  “C’mon… we’re gonna miss our train…”

What got them to actually get up, however, was the sound of a loud and obnoxious voice, yelling something from somewhere in town.

  “You and I have some unfinished business! My magic’s gotten better since I was here last, and I’m going to prove it! Me and you, a magic   duel.”

Lyra Heartstrings jumped up from her side of the bed, and Bon Bon jumped up from the other. The two friends looked at each other, their eyes widening.

  “That voice sounds…” Lyra muttered.

  “Surely she hasn’t come back… right?” Bon Bon said to herself.

  “...Huh? What’s going on?” Twinkleshine asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Everypony get up! We need to see what’s going on outside!” Lyra commanded.

The five ponies ran outside the house to see what all the commotion was about, and it didn’t take them long to find out what it was.

  “It is Trixie!” Bon Bon exclaimed.

  “Who’s Trixie?” Lemon Hearts asked Bon Bon, yawning.

  “A very arrogant and obnoxious mare. She came to Ponyville once before to show off. She said she could defeat an Ursa Major--” - Bon Bon scoffed - “-- as if!”

Minuette squinted and scanned the crowd of ponies that had gathered to see what was happening. She gasped.

  “Wait a minute. Girls. Is that…?”

  “Trixie, put him down. Why are you doing this?” a familiar voice asked.

Tears suddenly gathered in Twinkleshine’s eyes as she saw what Minuette was pointing out.

  “No way…”

Standing in front of Trixie was Twilight Sparkle - and, once again, she seemed to be in the middle of something bad.

  “Why? Because you humiliated me! After you showed up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughing stock! Everywhere I went, I was laughed at and ostracized. I even had to take a job on a rock farm just to earn a living! A rock farm!” Trixie yelled, clearly furious at Twilight.

  “What’s… going on?” Twinkleshine asked.

  “Hey! You’re lucky a rock farm would take the likes of you!”

  “Was that Pinkie Pie?” Minuette asked, stunned by the whole event.

The friends watched as Trixie and Twilight argued, Trixie casting spells and humiliating ponies as they talked. Some pony with a rainbow mane struggled to balance herself with one giant wing and one tiny wing. Pinkie Pie made muffled shouting noises as her muzzle disappeared.

  “Alright Trixie, let’s duel!” Twilight said. Trixie stopped what she was doing and wore a smug face.

  “Excellent. If I lose, I won’t set hoof in Ponyville again. But if you lose, you’re the one banished from this one-horse town!”

Everyone watching gasped as they tried to make sense of the terms.

  “Twilight’ll be banished? We have to help her!” Lemon Hearts said, panicking. Minuette wore a completely straight face and looked at her worried friend.

  “Why? She wouldn’t help us. We can’t do anything anyway. We never could. No, let’s just watch and see how this plays out,” Minuette said in clear disgust.

They watched as a cart was lifted from the ground and almost came crashing down on a frightened mare. They watched as pies came flying out of nowhere and were consumed by a parasite, and as snow was created and dumped on Twilight, as two confused ponies were turned into a sobbing foal and a weak old colt.

Then they watched as Twilight was flung far out of Ponyville with a levitation spell, as four ponies and Pinkie Pie chased after her.

“What was Twilight doing this time?” Twinkleshine exclaimed, confused.

  “I don’t know, but seeing her is starting to annoy me… It’s like, we’ve all said we’ve given up, but then I see her and I feel this surge of emotions and… it messes with your head, you know?” Lemon Hearts said, trying to explain her problem the best she could.

Bon Bon nodded, and turned to see Minuette sitting at the table, her head in her hooves. The other ponies took notice, looked at each other, and nodded.

  “Let’s go someplace else,” Lyra said.

The other place was Lyra’s house. It was a lot smaller than Bon Bon’s, but it had enough space for the four friends to fit comfortably.

  “What do you think is wrong with Minuette? She hasn’t seemed herself lately,” Twinkleshine asked.

  “I don’t think any of us have. This whole thing with Twilight must be getting to her,” Lemon Hearts replied. Lyra smacked the table they were sitting at with her hoof to get her friends’ attention.

  “Never mind that. I think we should be thinking about Twilight at the moment. Do we really not care anymore? Lem, you said yourself that you’re confused about the whole thing. Deep down, have any of you really given up?”

Lemon Hearts looked at the mint-coloured pony in shock. Lyra was right. There was no way Lemon Hearts could just give up on a friend like that. She hadn’t been thinking straight, and she still wasn’t now. She banged the table and held her head in her hooves, clenching her teeth.

  “Aargh! I don’t know anymore! I don’t know anything! What am I supposed to think, after what’s been happening? Twilight abandons us without even saying goodbye, Moondancer becomes an unsociable recluse, then we come here to go to this wedding, you guys are all gone, so I’m just left with Bon Bon, some mare I barely even know, to run for my life, not knowing what has happened to my only friends that have actually bothered to stay with me for most of my life, then everyone just gives up! So I think I’ve made my decision, I think ‘Yeah, I’m done with Twilight, I can move on’, and then all this happens!” Tears welled up in Lemon Hearts eyes, and it wasn’t long before her part of the table was covered in them.

  “WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK!?” Lemon Hearts screamed, her tears streaming down her face. Just like Minuette had, she rested her head in her hooves, sobbing.

  “I’m sorry I’m not good enough for you, Lemon Hearts…” Bon Bon muttered.

  “That’s not helping, Bon.” Lyra said, surprised at her friend.

Twinkleshine simply looked at her crying friend in shock.

  “Lem…” she tried. But just like her friend, tears trailed down her face and her lip trembled. She shut her eyes as hard as she could and ran out of the room, leaving a sparkling trail of tears behind her. Next Chapter: 09 - Cider Estimated time remaining: 27 Minutes