THE TEACHER, THE SORCERESS, AND THE WONDERBOLT

Chapter 4: Gift of the Magus

Spitfire and Trixie had been pacing in front of the schoolhouse for a while now. They watched the foals turn away in disappointment when the blinds were pulled down, and so they went to try the classroom door. Unfortunately for them, Cheerilee had locked it against just this sort of thing. Spitfire tried looking through the keyhole, but found that particular trick to be something of a myth; at least in this instance. “Can't you unlock this with your magic or something?”

“The great and powerful Trixie does not stoop to the acts of a common thief!” she hissed.

“Meaning you don't know how,” came Spitfire's whispered retort.

The unicorn sputtered for a moment before she could regain her voice to say anything intelligible. “Trixie does not have to sit here and take this from the likes of you!” she seethed.

Spitfire turned to face her again. “Then maybe Trixie should leave.”

“And abandon poor Twilight Sparkle to the not-so-tender mercies of deviant minds such as yours and that earth pony? Trixie thinks not!”

“Yeah, you didn't seem to be much of a thinker to me,” the pegasus said in a stage whisper. The azure mare growled as her horn began to glow, and Spitfire lowered her head and began pawing at the ground. “Yeah, you just try it.”

Both mares were taken by surprise by a thunderous BOOM from the classroom, sending them both scampering out the building. They only came to a stop when they dived for cover behind the bushes of a nearby house. They sat there for a moment, just catching their breaths, then peeked through the bushes at the school. Seeing that there was no angry unicorns after them, they breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was your fault, you realize. If you hadn't used your magic, she would have never known we were there,” the yellow mare accused.

Aghast, the unicorn responded, “How in Equestria was that Trixie's fault? It was your coarse voice that alerted her to our presence!”

“Coarse? My voice is not coarse!”

“It sounds to Trixie as if Berry White gargled every morning with gravel,” the showmare replied smoothly. It appeared as if she had finally found a chink in her enemy's armor. She was surprised when instead of another comeback, her foe simply looked away. To her greater shock, she saw her blink back tears.

In a quiet voice, she said, “I can't help it if my job requires me to shout so much my voice ends up like this.”

The unicorn felt a stab of guilt, momentarily at a loss of words. “Tr- I'm sorry,” She said in an equally small voice. “I know what it's like to be teased for something you have no control over.”

“You do?” Spitfire looked at her with genuine hurt in her eyes.

Trixie looked away with a sigh, unable to face those sad, golden eyes. “Born with a silver mane and tail? May as well have had a sign permanently stuck to my rump.” Her voice took on a high-pitched, mocking tone, “ 'Hey grandma!' 'Hey old foal, I heard that there's no foal like you!' I- Trixie has heard them all.” With a sniff, she held her head up high. “But that does not affect Trixie anymore. She is far too great and powerful to be bothered by that.”

The Wonderbolt faced the showmare and held up her hoof. “Well, if you don't mention my voice, I won't mention your mane or tail, deal?”

Trixie looked at the offered hoof for a moment, and then took it. “Deal.” They looked at each other a moment longer before turning back to the schoolhouse.

They sat there in silence watching the building until a voice behind them, “Anything good happen, yet?”

Without turning, Trixie responded, “Nothing since that mysterious boom earlier-” Sudden realization dawned on her, and she slowly turned her head. Standing behind them both was a sea-foam green unicorn. She didn't look especially upset. In fact, she looked downright amused. Keeping her eyes on the newcomer, Trixie tapped Spitfire on the shoulder.

“What, Trixie? I don't want to miss Twilight coming out-” She turned to look at the blue mare beside her, and noticed where she was looking. Following her gaze brought her attention to the new mare.

The interloper's smile became a grin. “Oh, Twilight's finally coming out? Looks like Bon Bon owes me twenty bits. I knew she played for our team.”

The two not-so-hidden mares stared up at her in shock and confusion. “Hi Missus Lyra!” came a filly's voice as she stepped around the bush to see her.

“Hey there, Tootsie Flute. How was your first day of magic class?” Lyra said to the small aqua-colored foal.

The excitement in her lilac eyes was plain to see for all. “It was amazing! Miss Twilight must be the strongest unicorn ever! First she pulled down all the blinds at once, and lit up all the lamps at the same time; and then she stomped her hoof when some of the others were laughing at Dinky, and it shook the whole classroom; and then the most amazing thing! She helped us find our magical centers, and protected us from all the dangerous things we made fly around! You should have seen it! Everything was all ZOOM, and WHOOSH, and we were all whoa!” She made motions with her hooves like something flying around wildly, and then moved as if ducking that flying something.. “I wanna be just like her when I grow up!”

Lyra laughed at the filly's enthusiasm. “Well, she's not exactly making it easy on all the rest of us unicorn role models, is she?”

“But you're still cool too, Missus Lyra! The way you play such pretty music, and it makes us sad, but in a happy way really makes me wish I could play like you!” Tootsie Flute tried to reassure the older mare, even going so far as to nuzzle up to her.

The mare happily returned the affection, rubbing their cheeks together. “Well, thank you Tootsie. That's very comforting. You better run home now. Your mother may not remember you had an extra class today and might be worried about you.”

Tootsie Flute laughed and she gamboled away. “Okay, see you later, Missus Lyra!”

Lyra turned back to the two mares. “Now then, I don't mind you using my bushes to hide, but if you don't pay attention, Cheerilee is going to pull ahead in your little competition.” She nodded to beyond them, and they turned to see Twilight walking beside their earth pony rival, happily talking away. They were walking closer than Trixie or Spitfire liked, and once, when Twilight's head was turned to wave back at another pony, Cheerilee took a quick, surreptitious sniff of the other's mane. “Oh wow, she is getting bold, isn't she?” Lyra commented to nopony in particular however, because her audience was gone, racing to get back to the object of their affections before anything worse happened. “Was it something I said?” she asked with a grin.

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Trixie and Spitfire raced down the road, trying their best to catch up to the pony of their dreams. They had gotten within a few pony lengths, when a wooden wall suddenly sprang up in front of them. Not even thinking, they tried to stop before hitting the obstruction, ending up in a tangled pile just inches away from it.

An orange earth pony wearing a stetson peeked around the corner. “What in tarnation? Trixie?”

Two pairs of eyes unsteadily examined the wall, only to discover that it was in fact, an apple vending cart. Trixie rolled her eyes and tried to disentangle herself from her rival. “Oh, that's just grand. Trixie hadn't quite filled her quota of humiliation today. She is so glad that another of Twilight Sparkle's friends is here to dump more upon her.”

Spitfire managed to finally stand and started brushing off the dust as best as she could. “You know this pony, Trixie?”

“Applejack! I thought I heard your voice,” Twilight said as she sauntered over. Cheerilee close on her heels, smiling at the disarray apparent in the others' manes.

Applejack turned to see her friend, and smiled. “Twilight! Glad I ran into ya. Here.” The farmer dug around in her cart for a moment before pulling out a pink envelope. “Pinkie asked me to get this to ya.”

Twilight floated the letter over to her. “Another Pinkie party? What's the occasion this time?”

“I dunno. She said something about a super-duper-ultra-mega-combo-secret-with-a-side-of-cheese-fries, or some such,” she replied with a smile. “Knowin' her, it's probably something like the birthday of the inventor of the party balloon or somethin'.”

As Twilight read the letter, Applejack gave a wink to Cheerilee. “The party's tonight? Is she crazy?” Twilight asked in a panicked voice.

“Sugar, this is Pinkie-Pie we're talking about. That's like asking if Rainbow Dash is a little full of herself,” Applejack replied. “Well, if'n y'all excuse me, I need to get this cart back home, so I can make it back in time for the party.” She started backing the cart up again and turned towards the farm. As she passed Trixie and Spitfire, she grinned and nodded with a small tip of her hat. “Ladies.”

Twilight looked again to the letter, stupefied. That's when she noticed the location of the party. “It's at my place?” In a flash of light, she teleported away, leaving her three suitors. They looked at one another for a moment before all dashing off to the town library.

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The library door banged open as three fully-grown mares tried to fit through the entrance at once.

“Ow! Get your hoof out of my face!”

“If you do not move your mane, Trixie will remove it with her teeth!”

“Augh! Quit crushing my wing!”

They popped free with a suddenness that took them all by surprise, and rolled to a heap in the middle of the library's main floor. A buzzing sound drew their attention to Twilight who was dusting and straightening up like mad. She came across the pile of ponies and picked up all three, set them on their hooves, and dusted them off, all with her magic.

She came to one more shelf and said, “There. That's all the dusting, now to protect the books.” Her horn was surrounded by the familiar purple glow, and the entire bookshelf in front of her followed suit. Spitfire walked up to the busy unicorn asking, “Um, what are you doing, Hon?”

Twilight popped out of existence only to pop up again at the next shelf. “Gotta protect the books! Last time Pinky held a party here it took me weeks to get everything back in order. There!” Another shelf protected, she moved on to the next.

In a hesitant voice, Trixie asked, “I- is there anything that Trixie can do to help you Twilight Sparkle?”

With a grateful smile, the lavender mare said, “Yes, thank you! Could I trouble you to cast a Sentinel's Impervious Wall spell? Anything less just can't withstand Pinky's party cannon.”

“Well, of course Trixie can do thi- wait, did you say 'party cannon'?” the azure unicorn asked incredulously.

“Thanks Trixie. You take the lower shelves, and I'll get the uppers,” Twilight hastened to say.

With a worried glance at her, Trixie got to work. It wasn't long before all the shelves were protected behind an invisible barrier. While they worked, Cheerilee and Spitfire did their best to straighten up the clutter. As the last spell went up, there was a knock at the door and it was flung open before anypony could react. With a mighty BOOM and a cloud of smoke, the room was instantly festooned with party favors. Streamers hung from the ceiling, balloons were tied to every available surface, the central table was turned into a buffet of party snacks and a huge bowl of punch, and a banner proclaiming “Welcome Trixie, Spitfire, and Congratulations Twilight” was on prominent display. A cotton candy-colored earth pony stuck her head in over the party cannon and inspected the room. She came to a blank spot on a wall and said, “Darn it! That Pin the Tail on the Pony poster always gets stuck in the barrel.”

She banged on the cannon a few times and with a weak cough, the offending poster wafted out and fell to the ground like a leaf just a few inches out of the barrel. The librarian walked over to her friend. “Pinkie, I'd appreciate if next time, you gave me a little more warning,” she groused.

“You silly filly,” Pinkie replied. “If I did that, then it wouldn't be a surprise!”

Twilight just rolled her eyes and let her in. The party pony cartwheeled into the room, followed by the rest of Twilight's friends. Pinkie set down a boombox, and one of her favorite songs, Conga by Mare-ami Sound Machine began playing. The effect was instantaneous, if not insidiously slow. Twilight's rump began making small twitches. Twitches became swaying, swaying became full out dancing, and it wasn't long before she found herself standing on her rear legs and bumping flanks with Trixie.

The azure mare was startled at first, but quickly got into the moment, and was returning the bumps with equal fervor. Spitfire was quick to take up station on Twilight's other flank, before Cheerilee could do so. That did not sit well with the earth pony, who moseyed up to Twilight on her hind legs and began showing off dance moves she hadn't needed to use for years, face to face. The four ponies made a real spectacle of themselves, moving in suggestive ways (though subconsciously on Twilight's part) at times, practically grinding on one another.

They continued dancing as the song changed to another Pinkie favorite Turn the Beat Around, though a remixed version made for her by Vinyl Scratch. The other five mares and one dragon slowed their own moves just so they could watch the free show (though in Spike's case, he just blushed hard and quickly left the room). Seeing that nopony was watching them, Rainbow Dash stole a sloppy kiss from her dancing partner, Pinkie-Pie. Confetti seemed to explode from the earth pony's mane as her eyes widened, then melted into the kiss.

When the song ended and some slower party music took its place, the two unicorns sat down heavily, though all four were sweating. Twilight wiped her forehead clear with a sigh of satisfaction. “Whew! Sorry girls, but I just can't stand around when I hear those two songs. They're just so... primal!”

Cheerilee sat down in front of her and rested a hoof on her shoulder. “Don't worry about it Twilight. It's been so long since I got to cut loose to those songs. It felt good to do that again. Reminded me of the nights I used to sneak out of the house and go clubbing.”

Twilight beamed at all her friends. “Thanks for joining me so I didn't feel like a total foal out there.” She looked over to her other friends, saying, “Thanks Pinkie. I really needed- Hey, where'd she go?” She looked around for the missing pony.

“Here I am!” she shouted when she popped up from the other side of the buffet table, her mane is even more disarray than usual.

Twilight looked confused. “What were you doing down there?” When Rainbow Dash popped her head up with an equally disheveled appearance, she blushed. “Never mind. I'm sure I don't want to know.” The two just grinned as they stood up fully and started munching on a hoofful of mini-quiches. Twilight walked up to the table with a curious expression. “Thanks for getting those songs out of the way early, Pinkie. The urge to do a happy little dance was overwhelming.”

“You're welcome, Twilight. I thought you might need to let off a little steam before you boil over. Especially with those three-”

The pink mare was cut off by Rainbow Dash's hoof in her mouth. “Sorry about that, Twi. You know how random Pinkie gets sometimes. Remember that one time she was talking to a wall like there was an audience? Eheh.” The pegasus' nervous laughter seemed to go by unnoticed, and Twilight moved on to talk to Fluttershy, who was doing her best to turn into a wallflower in order to avoid talking to Spitfire, who was trying her best to talk to the shy pegasus.

Rarity and Applejack came up to them. “Why did you stop Pinkie-Pie, Dash?” the unicorn inquired.

Rainbow Dash removed her hoof from Pinkie's face and grinned hugely. “Oh, come on! Twilight is as clueless as it gets when it comes to ponies lusting after her. Remember how Braeburn was mooning over her when he was here last apple bucking season?” Her predatory grin deepened as she remembered. “She didn't have a clue! Still doesn't! And now we get to watch three mares, three duke it out over her? I dunno about you, but I want this show to go on for as long as it can!”

“An' if a certain blue unicorn isn't chosen, all the better, right?” Applejack asked with an edge to her voice.

The pegasus actually managed to look offended. “AJ, please. I may be a bit insensitive at times,” This earned a few snorts of laughter. “but even I wouldn't ruin a pony's chance at happiness. Not even little miss great and powerful over there. Let her do her own ruining. It's bound to happen anyway.” She looked with undisguised contempt at the mare in question, who was arguing with Cheerilee about something. “I mean, yeah, the less I see of her, the happier I am, but I'd never stand in the way of true love. Right, Pinkie?”

The pink mare was pulled into another deep kiss that left them both breathless. “Woo! That's right! My little Dashie would never be such a meanypants!” she exclaimed as she nuzzled under her marefriend's chin.

Applejack rolled her eyes and looked at Rarity. “You know, Rare and I think it's great that you two finally got together an' all, but could you take it down a notch with the PDA? You're giving my filly here ideas an' such.”

“Oh, Applejack. You're such a prude. Remember when we finally got together? We didn't leave my Boutique for a week and a half! And it was longer still until either of us could walk straight again.” Rarity's comment caused her farmer to blush a deep crimson all the way down to her withers, which in turn, elicited laughs from the other three.

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“So, how have you been since we last met, Fluttershy?” Spitfire asked the mare.

Fluttershy for her part, hid behind her curtain of a mane and mumbled something unintelligible.

“You know, I was really impressed with your performance with the tornado. If you hadn't joined in and stabilized it, I would have jumped in myself, but I didn't want to steal the spotlight from Dash. It was her show after all.”

“And Fluttershy's of course.” The voice surprised them both, and they turned to see Twilight.

“Twilight!”

The joy on Spitfire's face was carefully noted by Fluttershy. She looked between the two of them, seeing that the librarian seemed to be unaware that she was the focus of yet another pony's desire. It took considerable effort for her to keep from grinning like a foal at this development. So Dash was right. Oh, they'd make such a cute couple! I wonder if there's anything I could do to help bring them together. An idea suddenly occurred to her, and she had to step on her own hoof to keep from giggling.

After a few moments of idle chit chat between them, mostly Twilight talking up Fluttershy who just stood there going over her idea, the unicorn excused herself to get some punch. Fluttershy couldn't help but silently laugh to herself as Spitfire followed her like a lost puppy.

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“Well Trixie thinks the way you were practically dry humping on poor Twilight Sparkle was positively indecent!”

The violent whisper was clearly heard, but didn't carry very far. A true testament to her stagecraft, I guess. Cheerilee normally would be upset at being spoken to in such a manner, but she was keeping her temper in check for Twilight's sake. “Well since Twilight didn't seem to have a problem with it, I don't see how it's any of your concern. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go rescue her from that predator by the punch bowl.”

The earth pony trotted off, leaving the unicorn seething until she could regain control of herself.

“I usually find that counting to ten helps when I'm really mad. Though, I may have to do it several times.”

Startled, Trixie turned to find Rarity standing beside her alone. “Oh! You surprised Trixie. Um, Trixie is sorry, but she cannot remember your name miss...”

“Rarity,” she stuck out her hoof, and it was gingerly taken before given back. “I cannot blame you for pursuing Twilight. She is quite exceptional.”

Trixie looked at the dressmaker warily. “Are you here to warn me as your pegasus friend did?”

Rarity looked at her in dismay. “Did Dash already threaten you? That pony is so uncouth. Please, accept my apologies. Ever since your last visit, she has been holding a grudge. She's quite good at that, you see.”

The blue unicorn was taken aback by this new tack. “You are much better mannered than your friend. Please accept Trixie's apologies for her actions that day. She... she has no excuse for her behavior, and hopes that we can start anew.”

The white pony smiled back. “That's quite alright, Trixie. We've all done things in our past of which we are ashamed.” She looked around, making sure that nopony was within hearing range or watching them. “As a gesture of goodwill, I will tell you something you will find very useful,” she whispered. “Twilight's favorite flowers are white roses. They remind her of her mentor, Princess Celestia.”

Trixie grinned at her fellow conspirator. “Trixie thanks you for this information, and will put it to good use.”

Rarity smiled gently at her as the showmare wandered over to the buffet in an effort to gain Twilight's attention away from her two rivals.

“Just what the hay are you up to now?”

Startled out of her thoughts, Rarity saw Applejack mosey over. “Why nothing, darling. Just getting to know the new face in town.” Her smile almost had her fillyfriend fooled. Almost.

“Now I know ya ain't tryin' ta get Twilight hooked up with that no account braggart, are ya? 'Cause we all know that Cheerilee is not only a better match, but also kinder, gentler, and far less likely to hurt 'er in the end.”

The farmer's words seemed to just wash over the unicorn's ears. “Hm? Oh yes, of course. Whatever you say, Darling.” She spotted Fluttershy all by herself in a corner. “Oh, Fluttershy,” she sang out, “I had a few questions for you about those new saddlebags you asked me to make you.” She wandered over to the pegasus, a grumbling Applejack in tow.

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Applejack ruffled Twilight's mane as she passed. “Thanks for the party n'all, but it's been a full day for everypony-” she looked at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie-Pie who were walking close together and giggling like schoolfillies, “some of us more'n others.”

“Alright, then. See you all tomorrow,” she said with slight disappointment in her voice. She turned back to her guests. “Well, I suppose we should turn in too. It has been a pretty exciting day, as Applejack said." She looked over to see a forlorn-looking earth pony. “Cheerilee, what's wrong?”

“Twilight, wo- would it be alright if I... if I perhaps stayed again tonight?” she asked her hooves.

“Well, of course you can, Cheerilee! To be honest, having you three around makes this place a lot less lonely. With just Spike and I, it seems so big and empty. You're always welcome here,” the unicorn replied.

This seemed to lift her out of her funk. “Great! I need to go to my house for a bit. I'll be back in ten minutes. Save me a spot next to you, okay?”

Twilight laughed at her request. “Sure. It's only fair, after all. Just lock the door when you get back.” She looked to her other two guests as the earth pony left, a spring in her step. “Well, let's get ready for bed, I guess. Spike?” She turned to her assistant. “Remember that thing we talked about last week?” she asked with a knowing look at him.

Confused, he asked, “What thin-” he suddenly caught her meaning and looked excited. “You mean it's tonight?” he nearly shrieked.

“No, but tomorrow, it will happen. So do you think for tonight you could...” she trailed off and kept glancing from him to the reading couch in the main lobby.

He looked to where she kept glancing. “Oh! Oh sure, Twilight. I suppose one night on the couch will be alright. Especially considering what I'm getting tomorrow!” he beamed.

“Trixie is wondering what you two are talking about.”

Turning to her, Twilight said, “I was going to do this today after class, but with that party, I never got the chance. Besides, it's far too late. It'll just have to wait until tomorrow. I promise, you're going to love it, Trixie!”

Trixie was taken aback. “A surprise for Trixie? Oh, you didn't have to get Trixie anything, Twilight Sparkle. Your kindness is more than enough.”

“That's sweet of you to say, Trixie,” the unicorn responded, “but this is something that needs to be done.” A huge yawn nearly split her head in half. “Just not right now. Excuse me. Let's turn in before we fall asleep where we stand.”

When Cheerilee came back, she found Twilight laying on her side, Trixie spooned up behind her, and Spitfire resting her head on the librarian's hindquarters, practically drooling in her sleep on the cutie mark. With a smile, she spooned up to Twilight's front, pulling the mare's foreleg over to rest on her shoulder. All four drifted off to pleasant dreams.

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The morning sun found the ponies, three of them at least, still sleeping. A stray sunbeam, filtered through the window, made it's progress across the floor, finally coming to Twilight's upturned face. She had tossed in her sleep, so that now she was resting on her back, forelegs held before her like she was begging for a treat. Trixie was hugging her head like a stuffed animal, her lips just inches from the lavender mare's horn.

Twilight opened her eyes and blearily looked around. That at least, was the plan. Trixie's position didn't allow for much movement, but she tried to look down at her stomach to see what was weighing her down. Apparently when she had rolled, Spitfire had readjusted to regain her pillow, so that she now was laying in between Twilight's legs with her head resting on the unicorn's stomach.

Blushing from the sight, but wanting to spare everypony from an embarrassing predicament, she once again used her magic. Twilight extricated herself from the precarious position, but woke the other two. “Mornin',” she groggily greeted.

The others may or may not have greeted her similarly, their responses were too unintelligible to tell. Breakfast was a much calmer affair than the day before. There was no singing or dancing, and certainly no tears this time around. Just a nice calm bowl of cold cereal and glass of juice.

As they were cleaning up, Spitfire seemed to especially have something weighing on her mind. Not liking to see anything bothering her friends, Twilight braved a question to her. “What's wrong, Spitfire? You seem really preoccupied.”

Spitfire sighed. “I wish I didn't have to, but I have to go back to Cloudsdale for a little bit. I was so eager to go on my vacation, I kinda left some paperwork undone. I know that if I don't get to it, I'll be paying for it later.”

“You'll be back later today though, right?” Twilight wore an adorable pleading expression.

Spitfire's mood lightened, knowing that this beautiful mare wanted her to return. She embraced Twilight, just breathing in the experience. “Thank you Twilight,” she said, her gravelly voice sounding a little more gruff than normal. “I promise, I'll be back for dinner, if I have to drag Cloudsdale back here with one broken wing.”

Twilight chuckled at her response. “Let's hope it doesn't come to that, then,” she grinned.

Heaving a put-upon sigh, she walked to the door. “Well, I better get going if I'm going to make it back in time. See you at dinner, Hon!”

“Stay safe, Spitfire!” she waved to her. Heaving a sigh of her own, Twilight looked around the mostly empty lobby, and saw an eager-looking Spike, which reminded her of her plans for the day. “Trixie, could you come here for a moment?”

The azure unicorn trotted in wearing a mostly sleepy, but also curious expression. “What is it, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Remember how I said last night that I have a surprise for you?” She received a nod in response. “Well, follow me.” She led the curious mare up to the landing midway up the stairs to her room, where a large storage room was located. She opened the door with her magic saying, “First of all, I have this for you,” she said as she levitated a round gift box out of the room, presenting it to her friend.

Trixie's own levitation field melded with Twilight's for a brief moment, sending a shiver down both their spines; taking the box from her. “Oh Twilight Sparkle, you really didn't have to-”

“Ub bup bup! I told you, this was something that needed to be done. Now just enjoy your gift, okay?”

A blush bloomed on Trixie's face as she demurely began to untie the ribbon on the box. She lifted the lid and gasped at what she saw inside. “Oh, Twilight! My original hat and cloak!” She couldn't speak anymore, and rushed forward, giving the mare a chaste kiss on the lips and then tightly embracing her. “Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me.”

Twilight was stunned by the kiss. With a blush, she nervously put the thought aside to re-examine later. For the present, she returned the hug, soothing the quietly weeping mare in her hooves. Spike was put off by all the open displays of emotion, quietly sneaked away to find something to busy himself until the second part of the surprise.

Finally with a sniff, the showmare released Twilight. “Wherever did you find these? I thought them destroyed when the Ursa attacked.” So greatly unsettled, she didn't even notice the change in her speech patterns.

“Actually, I found them amongst these,” she replied, and opened the door fully, revealing its contents.

Author's Notes:

Chapter four at last! I almost didn't get this one out tonight. There was a part about two-thirds of the way in that I was really unhappy with, and ended up scrapping it for a latter chapter, and replacing the scene almost entirely. All in all, I think it came out a lot stronger for it. Anywho, on with the show! The usual disclaimers here. I don't own any of the characters, places, or things in this story, only the arrangement of the words. All the rest belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.