Rainbow Dash grumbled in annoyance as the morning light shone through her bedrooms glamorous windows and directly into her eyes, awakening her from her deep slumber.

The cyan mare spent about ten minutes in an internal argument on whether or not she should get out of bed at all the day, not really liking the idea of leaving the plush mattress she was on, but all hesitance fled her body once she remembered the reason she was at Canterlot in the first place.

The chromatic pegasus stood on shaky legs and stretched her limbs, popping all of the kinks in them, and fluttered her wings as she tried to get rid of the numb feeling still left in them.

Hunger found no place in her body, for she had feasted in the royal dining halls the last two days. She would have left for Ponyville after a one night's rest, but her wings had taken a bit of a toll from the limits she had pushed and the bone-chilling air she had flown through for hours hadn't really helped her situation, and the train was delayed due to some crazy pony having ripped open holes in the steam system.

After leaving her room, Rainbow Dash stuck out like a sore hoof among the finely dressed maids and the heavily armored guard ponies, whom she found were much cooler looking than the black and white dresses the maids used.

"Good morning Miss Dash, will you require breakfast for today, or would you perhaps like to visit the weapons room again?"

The pony asking a question approached Rainbow Dash, his alabaster coat contrasting greatly with the black tuxedo that marked him as one of the castle's butlers.

"Nah, thanks Alfred, but I think I'm ready to head back to my place, I'm feeling kinda homesick." replied the chromatic mare in full honesty.

"Very well, will you be requiring an escort?"

"I'm okay, Alfred, I'm just going to walk around town a little to wait for the numbness in my wings go away, thanks for everything."

"It's no problem at all, I assure you, back in the old days I used to work for this eccentric lad, he would make his home in a abandoned cave for privacy, and that isn't exactly easy to keep clean."

"Huh, well he must have been pretty weird, anyway, it's been nice staying here, Alfred, goodbye."

"Have a good day, Miss Dash, and please do be careful with those wings of yours lest you end up crashing in the middle of a field."

Rainbow Dash just chuckled at his comment, the possibility of her crashing due to a little soreness in her wings not existing in her mind, and she waved a farewell at Alfred once she reached the castle's gilded gates.

The proud mare trotted down the cobblestone streets of Canterlot along with much of the city's 'Higher Class' residents, whom seemed to instinctively keep their noses pointed towards the sky. As Rainbow Dash made her way through a random path in the elegantly chiseled roads, she found that the news stands still had crowds around them, all of the ponies in said crowds wanting to get in on the juiciest news the paper had to offer.

The photographs that had been posted on the newspaper article had kept a never ending stream of ponies flooding towards the nearest news stand they could find, and, from the few times the cyan mare had walked around town, she could tell that the article was the target of many of the gossiping mares, nothing good ever coming from the majority of their mouths. Some of the commentary that was passed around almost caused Rainbow Dash to punch the dirty mouth it had spawned from.

The rainbow mare's wings began to twitch in anticipation of flight, signaling that their senses had returned to them, much to the quick mare's satisfaction. Rainbow Dash trotted away from the masses of ponies and towards a more open area, settling on a small park built into the mountain city. The speedster spread her wings as she bent her legs down into a crouching position, following up with a few flaps of her wings that increased in speed the more she repeated the motion. With a gust of wind, Rainbow Dash blasted away from her take off spot, much to chagrin of a few picnickers in the vicinity due to the resulting wind toppling over their food, and the blue streak set herself on a course towards her hometown, her speed as fast as the night she arrived at Canterlot, but with the addition of being extra careful with opposing air currents.

'That egghead better be there this time or I swear I'll start ripping my feathers off.'

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Twilight rose from her bed as the afternoon's bright glow filtered int through her window, surprised that she had overslept for so long and that Spike was missing from her hooves when she woke up, but she was snapped out of her building paranoia by the sound of the missing dragon grumbling after dropping a couple of books downstairs.

The lavender mare trotted over to her vanity mirror and found that the ugly cut Granny Smith had left on her cheek after slapping her was still irritated, causing her to flinch slightly.

Twilight began to formulate a restoration spell in her mind, having learned a few from the unicorn's at the Canterlot Hospital during one of her visits, and channeled it towards her horn, resulting in a yellow glow overtaking her cheek, and leaving behind no trace of the cut ever being there.

The librarian smiled at the cut's absence, but she started to stumble dizzily a few seconds after the spells completion, feeling tired all of the sudden.

'What was that all about? The restoration spell does use up a bit of magic, but not nearly enough to leave me feeling so drained. Maybe I'm still tired, yeah.'

Twilight relented from her internal deductions, settling on walking over to her bathroom and washing away the sleep from her eyes as she brushed her mane and teeth. Once she felt she was suitable for an appearance, the lavender unicorn made her way downstairs to find her purple companion, who was currently lost reading one of the 'Bat Stallion' comic books that the library had recently received near the crackling fireplace.

"Oh, Twilight, it's nice to see you decided to wake up today."

Spike spotted Twilight as she began to make her way towards him, immediately beginning his playful teasing in hopes of lifting the mood from yesterday's encounters, which had pretty much destroyed their moral to do anything that day. Twilight smiled at the fact that Spike hadn't stayed upset from yesterday.

"Well, you've gotten to sleep in for most of your life, I guess I deserve one litle day for myself."

Twilight's voice came out softer than usual, one would almost call it weak, the sound alone causing Spike to switch from his teasing attitude into a worried one.

"Twilight, are you okay? You sound a little sick."

The drake teleported off of the couch he was on and appeared in front of the lavender mare, bringing one of his claws to try and reach for her forehead.

"I'm fine Spike, really, I'm just a little tired out." Twilight's voice remained in its weak state, though it did increase slightly in volume since she now focused on making herself sound okay.

Spike just looked at her in a funny way, searching for any signs of illness visible on her body, but found none, much to his relief.

"Okay, Twilight, if that's what you say, then I'll take your word for it."

The mare widened her smile slightly, thankful for her little dragonfriend being so understanding, but she couldn't help but worry a little about her health herself since her exhaustion had come out of nowhere and her long sleep would have eliminated any tiredness left from yesterday. She cast aside her worries for the moment and instead opted to plant a soft smooch on her little dragon, melting away her problematic thoughts further.

"Still, it's nice to know that my little dragonfriend cares so much about me." Twilight's statement served to bring forth a light blush from the purple drake.

"Anyway, my health aside, how about we go and pay Fluttershy a visit, maybe she has already finished her check-ups on Peewee and Owlowiscious."

Spike perked up further at the mentioning of his pet phoenix, happy to be able to be see it again after a week and a half, but caught his excitement in order to ask his marefriend a question.

"Sure, that would be great Twilight, but don't you want to eat something before we go?"

The moment food was mentioned, Twilight's stomach grumbled out in response for her, much to her embarrassment, and a hunger she hadn't know she had hit her at full force.

"Yeah, but can we get some hay fries, I've been craving those since yesterday."

"You know, I could really go for some of those too, Haymitch still runs his fast-food stall, so that would be a good place to get an order of them."

Spike's tail began to wag slightly since he didn't really get the chance to indulge in greasy foods, and he was already savoring the crispy treats with anticipation.

Twilight opened the library's doorway, letting in a rush of chilly air from outside, causing her to shiver before she levitated a purple sweater off of the coat rack and onto herself.

"That's great, we can go there on the way to Fluttershy's cottage, but don't forget to put on your coat, it's still cold outside from the thunderstorm yesterday."

Spike scampered off into the library for fifteen steps before he remembered that he could just teleport upstairs, which he did, and returned wearing a chestnut-brown jacket with a fluffy white inside.

"Ready when you are, Twilight."

"Well come along, lets not wait till it gets too dark outside, I don't want you walking around in the nighttime cold or you'll get sick."

Twilight sealed the library shut after she and Spike had stepped outside, and began to trot down the road the lead to the outskirts of Ponyville, with the purple drake walking alongside her as he started fumbling with his wrist guard for no apparent reason.

The couple noticed that much of the ponies that usually filled the streets were gone, of course, there were still quite a few ponies up and about, but not as many as every other day. The pair chalked up the mass absence to the recent storm that had hit.

The lavender mare and purple dragon approached a blue trailer that bore an insignia of a veggie burger and hay fries on its side. Once they were close enough, they could see the white, middle-aged, earth pony that went by the name of Haymitch, who was currently reading a book with some kind of bird on its cover since nopony else was ordering food.

"Good afternoon, Haymitch, how has your business been going?"

The fry cook looked up from his book, and smiled at the customers at his windowsill.

"Ah, good afternoon guys. To tell you the truth, today has been really slow, I haven't had a single customer after the morning rush, after that, a lot of ponies just disappeared from their usual routines."

Twilight and Spike were a little disturbed by all of the missing ponies, having gone through battles with various monsters and malicious gods, which only helped to fill their heads with all of the worst case scenarios that could have led to all of the ponies sudden disappearance.

"That's really weird, Haymitch, I thought nopony came out today because of the thunderstorm last night, but if they were here in the morning then it must be something else." Twilight continued to compare thoughts on the situation with the trailer's owner, very much interested in the current happenings.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't give it too much thought, you've lived here long enough to know how weird things can get in this little town, heck, most ponies forget you're the one that takes care of most of those 'unusual' problems," Haymitch continued the friendly conversation, but didn't forget the reason why most ponies approach his shop, "anyway, did you guys want something to eat, it'll be out quickly if you do since nopony else is really ordering anything else."

"Oh, yes, I'd like two orders of hay fries, please." Twilight's conversation had covered up her hunger, but it returned instantly upon the sudden change of topic.

"Two orders of hay fries coming up." Haymitch smiled at the chance to apply his skills since he really hadn't done much that day, and took off into the cooking area of his trailer.

"So, Twilight, where do you think all of the ponies went off to?" Spike spoke up for the first time since arriving at Haymitch's stand, wearing an expression of pure curiosity.

"I have no idea, Spike, but if they don't appear by tomorrow I'll make sure to send a letter to the princess and tell her all about it." replied the lavender mare.

The couple waited for about five minutes, the tantalizing scent of fresh hay fries drifting out of the trailer and into their faces, until Haymitch popped back into the windowsill, holding a white paper bag.

"Here you go guys, fresh out of the fryer." Said the fry cook as he handed the bag over to the lavender mare.

"Thanks Haymitch, how much do I owe you?" Twilight levitated her bit pouch out from her sweater.

"Nah, these are on the house."

"It's okay, Haymitch, I really should pay you something."

"You already did, it was nice to have someone to talk to after being out here alone for most of the day, it gets a little creepy you know?"

"Well, thank you very much, I'll see if I can swing by a little later and catch up on how you've been."

"That'd be nice, now off you go, you don't want to be out in this cold for too long or you'll catch the flu."

"Bye Haymitch!" exclaimed the couple in unison as they walked away from the food stand.

The lavender mare and the dragon continued their trek towards their shy friend's cottage, anxious to arrive in order to eat their food under a roof. On the way out of town, the couple spotted Sweet Apple Acres and slight anger and sadness welled up inside of them, anger due to Granny Smith's confrontation, and sadness because of the fact that a friend was trapped there for trying to help them out. With great effort, the pair managed to keep their heads clear of their rampant emotions as they walked past the orchards and out towards the Everfree Forest's edge.

A cozy little cottage came into view shortly after passing the apple orchards, the sight bringing relief to the partners since they would finally be able to eat, the trek had only increased their hunger to the point where it could drive them to rip apart the bag and eat on the floor if they didn't dine soon.

Twilight approached Fluttershy's cottage and gently knocked on the door three times, knowing that if it was any louder it would give her friend a heart attack, but she received no answer from the other side other than a few chirps and a muffled squeak.

"Fluttershy, are you in there?" Twilight knocked on the door again and pressed her ear against it, trying to hear something she could understand. The door's lock clicked open and the entrance creaked open slowly, and a pair of blue eyes peeked through the little space provided, widening as their owner realized who was at her door.

"Oh my, Twilight, is that you? How have you been, I mean, if it's okay for me to ask, if not then it's alright."

"I've been good Fluttershy, it's just that I went to Canterlot and I didn't really tell anyone about it, sorry."

"It's fine Twilight, uhm, do you want to come inside?"

"Thanks, it's getting kind of cold outside, cone on Spike."

Fluttershy blushed profusely once she noticed that Twilight hadn't come alone, but had instead brought along her assistant, thoughts of the newspaper article flooding into her mind. She willed her body to take a seat across from her visitors on one of her green couches.

"So Fluttershy, what have you done while we were gone?" asked Twilight, catching the shy mare off guard with her sudden question.

"Not much really, I've just been busy helping out a couple of little birds that fell out of a tree, but they've been getting better, but, uhm, h-how have you two been?" Fluttershy surprised herself and the couple with her sudden shift in conversation.

"We've been alright, Princess Celestia just called me in to help me with my experiments, and Spike decided to tag along." Twilight gestured to the little drake sitting next to her.

"Yeah, and I got this out of it." Spike punctuated his statement by lifting up his claw to show Fluttershy his wrist guard.

"Wow, that gem is really pretty, but why is it shining?" Fluttershy continued to surprise herself with the fluidity of her questions.

"The gem was Twilight's project, I mean, she built this whole thing, but she enchanted the gem to let me do this." The dragon followed up his statement with a teleport, one that landed him next to a frightened yellow mare who jumped away and hid behind the couch Twilight was on.

"T-that's really n-nice Spike." Fluttershy was shaking from the fear that had coursed throughout her body a few seconds ago.

"Heh, sorry about that, Fluttershy, I didn't mean to scare you." Spike accompanied his apology with a sheepish smile that seemed to calm the yellow pegasus slightly.

"It's okay, let me just get some of my raspberry tea, it helps calm me down a bit, d-do you guys want any?" Fluttershy made her way towards her kitchen, but stopped to ask her question.

"Thanks Fluttershy, but no, Spike and I are going to eat some hay fries and the tea wouldn't really mix well with them." Fluttershy walked away from the living room and into the kitchen after Twilight finished speaking.

The librarian and dragon opened up the white paper bag that contained their food, salivating at the scent of Haymitch's cooking, but, once they touched the fries, they found that they had cooled down and hardened a bit.

"Aww, we didn't get them while they were fresh." Spike pouted a little at the 'tragedy' that had occurred to his meal.

"Don't worry, Spike, I can warm them up again."

Twilight's horn lit up faintly as she produced a heat spell, and focused it onto the delicious fries on the paper bowls. The lavender mare slumped a little as the spell finished, her eyes going out of focus for a little as the same feeling of exhaustion from the time she used the restoration spell overtook her again.

"Twilight, hey, are you okay? You look like your drifting off to sleep." Spike had noticed the look that spread on his marefriend's face and instantly put himself next to her, looking for any way to figure out what was going on and how to help.

"It's nothing, Spike I'm ju-" Twilight was interrupted by her own yawn before she continued, "I'm just a little tired from the walk over here."

"But you've been tired the whole day, Twilight, it's not good to push yourself like this." Spike's voice was basically leaking worry towards his lover, causing her heart to warm up a little.

"Thanks, Spike, but I'm okay, really, I've just been thinking about something."

"About what?"

"Well, it's just that most of our friends know about our relationship already, maybe we should tell Fluttershy as well, and then we can look for Rainbow Dash sometime tomorrow."

"I don't know, Pinkie Pie was alright, but the Apples weren't exactly fond of us, other than Applejack, and you know what went down with Rarity."

"Yeah, I know, but she is going to find out sooner or later, it'd be better if it was us telling her, right?"

"Hmm...you've got a point, but how do we ask her?"

"We just do, there isn't really a way to confess something like this to Fluttershy lightly."

Fluttershy chose that exact moment to walk back into the living room with a cup of tea clenched in her teeth, which she put down on the coffee table after taking a seat on the couch opposite of her visitors.

"So, did anything else happen at Canterlot?" Fluttershy was on a roll with her speaking skills and wasn't stopping, even as a light blush grew on her cheeks since she full well knew something else had happened.

"Actually, yes Fluttershy, how do I put this, Spike and I-" Twilight's confession was cut short as a cyan blur flew in through one of the open windows of Fluttershy's cottage, and crashed directly into a conveniently placed bean bag, popping it open in the process and spilling hundreds of the little foam balls on the floor. Fluttershy took off into the air and landed on top of a bookshelf she had near the stairs, frightened yet again.

"Rainbow Dash?!" Twilight was a little scared herself from the cyan mare's sudden appearance, but not enough as to render her speechless.

"Pfft, bleck, these foamy things taste like old horseshoes, oh, hey Twilight!" Rainbow Dash's voice grew in volume as she fully remembered why she crashed there in the first place, and she rushed over to the lavender mare and pulled her into a noogie.

"Ow ow ow, Rainbow Dash! Stop!" Twilight's mane was left unkempt and many stray hairs stood out in different directions after Dash had finished her playful assault, "What was that for!"

"You know what it was for, Twilight, you sly mare, when did you learn to create such scandals?" Rainbow Dash grinned at the bemused librarian.

"No, I don't, care to explain, Rainbow Dash." Twilight just stared at Dash, slightly annoyed with her rough playfulness.

"Oh come on! How could you not know about all the stuff you stirred up in Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash facehoofed at Twilight's obliviousness, but all the attention in the room shifted to the top of the bookcase Fluttershy was one after she 'Eeeped' quite loudly.

"Wait, you know what she's talking about Fluttershy." Twilight's hunger was forgotten again as her curiosity won out.

"Uhm, maybe." the animal care-taker really wished she could somehow blend in with her surroundings and become invisible like one of her iguanas.

"Fluttershy." Twilight stretched out her friends name and stared at her intently, slowly breaking away her yellow friend's willpower.

Fluttershy was about to break under the pressure, but Rainbow Dash intervened by speaking up, much to her relief.

"Are you serious, Twilight? You really don't know what we're talking about?" The cyan mare wore a deadpan expression as she asked her questions, which were answered by a shake of the head from the lavender unicorn.

"We are talking about you and Spike, Twilight, seriously, how oblivious can you be towards these type of things, especially if you're the center of it." Rainbow Dash finally spilled the beans, causing Twilight's eyes to go wide and her cheeks to blush in embarrassment, with Spike mimicking her almost perfectly.

"How did you two find out!" Twilight was freaking out slightly, surprised that all her friends had already known about her relationship before she even told them about it.

"W-well, I got a newspaper in the mail." Fluttershy began to put herself back into the conversation at hand.

"Yeah, so did I, but I flew off to Canterlot to look for you, and it turns out that you had already left before I got there." Rainbow Dash put her side of story into the mix.

"Wait, why did you go look for me?" Twilight's tone took a turn for the fearful, and she took a reflexive step backwards.

"Well duh, you managed to get into The Canterlot Times! You should have seen how many ponies were fighting to be able to get the article on you and your dragonfriend over there, you're getting more publicity than anyone else!" The chromatic mare's voice was full of excitement for the fact that Twilight had basically reached the 'Celebrity' level in Canterlot.

Twilight and Spike were both more than a little uncomfortable at the news that the truth on their relationship had spread throughout Canterlot like a wildfire, but Spike managed to ask out a question to the speeding mare.

"So, you're cool with all of this, both of you?"

"Cool, Spike, I'm surprised Twilight could manage to get in a relationship with anyone."

"HEY, I'M RIGHT HERE!" Twilight was already frustrated from the cyan mare's prodding.

"Hehe, I'm just teasing you Twi, but still, The Canterlot Times, wow."

"What about you Fluttershy, are you okay with all of this?" Spike turned away from the chortling rainbow pegasus and focused his attention on the butterscotch mare atop of the bookshelf.

"Well, of course, I could never be mad at anyone, especially not over this, uhm, unless they're meanies, then I would be mad at them." Fluttershy seemed to be breaking out of her shy shell even further the more she spoke.

"Thanks, girls, I really couldn't stand to lose anymore of you." Twilight gained a downtrodden look as she talked.

"What are you talking about Twilight?" the yellow pegasus flew down from the bookshelf, and landed in front of Twilight, who just sighed before speaking.

"It's just that Rarity came to Spike and I yesterday, she asked us about the newspaper, saying that what it showed us doing was nonsense. To sum it all up, I had had a very bad day and I guess she sparked off all the anger I had in me, so I sent her away from the library and told her never try to convince me that what I am doing is wrong."

Fluttershy just hugged the librarian as she started to tear up, and she too could feel her eyes growing moist at the sadness of the conflicts that the couple had going on.

After Twilight had calmed down, she and Spike continued to tell them their story, starting from Spike's break up, to Granny Smith's confrontation, and finally back to where they currently were, excluding one part of course.

"Damn, so she just hit you across the face like that?" Rainbow Dash was still curious about what had gone down with the elderly Apple mare.

"Yes, but I cured myself this morning since she had left a pretty nasty cut with her hoof." Twilight was eating some of her hay fries while she conversed with her friends.

"I didn't know that Granny could be that mean, she has never showed it before." Fluttershy took a sip of her tea, which was doing wonders with her nerves.

"Me neither, but she mentioned religion in a lot of what she said." informed the lavender unicorn.

"Religion? Didn't ponies leave that behind a long time ago?" the cyan mare was trying to get as much information from her bookish friend as possible due to how interesting it all was.

"Ponies never really left behind religions, they simply stopped advertising them, for the most part, the only religious place I know of is of is the Mother Mareia Church in Canterlot's lower districts." Twilight had never really paid much attention to that place, obviously it could have been useful if she had.

"Aren't you scared of Granny Smith, Twilight?" Fluttershy shuddered after saying the elderly mare's name.

"No, I don't care what she says to me, I'm not leaving Ponyville for as long as I can." The librarian's eyes burned with determination, but began to get half-lidded once another yawn escaped her, "It's been really nice seeing you girls again, but I think I should head home already, it's getting pretty dark outside."

"It's been nice seeing you too, be careful on your way home." Fluttershy walked the couple over to the door, feeling a little tired herself, "Oh, and don't forget these two." The butterscotch mare let out a bird call, summoning Peewee and Owlowiscious, whom flew over to their owners.

"Yeah, and congrats you guys, don't let ol' Granny get in your heads." Rainbow Dash flew out through the open window she had crashed in through and made her way towards her cloud home.

After goodbyes were exchanged, the friends made their way towards their respective houses, those who weren't there already, and battled against the chill of the night air. Twilight tried set up the temperature spell she had used on the fries on Spike and herself, but her magic usage left her drained again, almost to the point of fainting.

The rare group of partners arrived to their wooden residence, much to their mutual relief, and made their way inside. Peewee flew over to his nest, and Owlowiscious went to rest on his perch, while the mare and the dragon made their way up the stairs and towards the plush mattress that awaited them.

Spike pecked Twilight before snuggling into her chest, both of them tired from the day they had gone through, though it did leave them feeling a lot better than yesterday had. As the couple drifted off to sleep, a brown earth pony dropped from one of the libraries branches, and he began to briskly trot towards the outskirts of town.

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Inside of one of the Apple Family Barns stood a massive crowd of ponies, all of which had been called there by the elder of the Apples, and they had spent the afternoon conversing with one another or simply waiting for the main event to begin. All of the ponies present had one thing in common, they each bore a wooden circle with a cross in its center on a string around their necks.

A cloaked mare stood far away from the mass of ponies, simply overlooking the events taking place, not really partaking in any of them. Her hooded head turned towards a lime-green elderly mare that appeared on a makeshift stage, said mare began to make her way towards a microphone they had placed for her, and spoke in a frail, yet commanding, voice.

"Citizens of Ponyville, it has come to mah attention that we are suffering a great problem here in our little town. This problem was revealed to me two days ago by a newspaper mah granddaughter received, my fellow Mareians, the unholiest of transgressions has befallen our peaceful home."

All of the ponies in the audience went berserk at the non-specific information they had received, but were silenced as Granny Smith raised her hoof, pointing at one of the ponies in the audience and signaling him to ask his question.

"What is this 'Problem', Elder Smith?"

The mature mare gained the same rage riddled look she had yesterday, and her voice lost all of it's frailness when she next spoke through gritted teeth.