I walked outside and the cool summer breeze rushed through my lungs. I breathed in and out, even after a few short days I was still enjoying the seemingly fresh air compared to Manehattten. I closed my eyes and embraced it, for a few seconds I was in a world of my own. "Ah clean morning Ponyville air..." I sighed contently, before I opened my eyes.

Walking up towards me was a grey pegasus mare, she had a blonde mane and a mail bag strapped to her body. I noticed she had a weird thing going on with her eyes.  

"Mail for miss Rarity!" she called over enthusiastically, a wide smile appearing as she did so.

The second I heard these words, I panicked and ran inside as fast as I could, I cautiously watched as she looked confused, before she smiled and placed the letter in the mail box.  She stumbled and fell as she turned to walk away, but she got up, smiled dreamily once more then flew off.

I had a huge sigh of relief as mailmare left and ran back to our room to see if Sweetie Belle was awake. Today was the day that Pinkie Pie was going to have the party planning meeting, Rarity was going to be too busy with dress orders today, that way she wouldn't find out we were planning anything.

"Hey cousin, all ready for planning the..." Sweetie Belle panicked at the sound of her own voice, cautiously looking around in case Rarity was nearby. "The party?" She whispered quietly.

I nodded, breathing fairly heavily.

"What's wrong Flick?" Sweetie Belle jumped off the bed she was once standing on and walked towards me, she gently put her hoof around me. "You're shaking!"

"Oh it's nothing! I'm just excited is all!" I laughed nervously.

So lets skip to arriving at your aunt Twilight's.

The door to Twilight's library opened with a glow of magic.  "Oh hi girls! oh and Flick of course!" Twilight stepped aside so we could enter.

"Hi Twilight, great to see ya!" Apple Bloom strutted in first, closely followed by us three.

"Hi everypony, hey...Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo's face lit up at the sight of the amazing flyer, who was now just looking bored, surrounded by countless books.

"Oh hey Scoots! and crusaders!" She saluted us while hovering above the ground, Scootaloo couldn't contain her smile as she saluted back.

"Hey their little missy," Applejack winked at her sister who ran and stood by her side.

"Hi Miss Fluttershy," I felt myself blush as I spoke the words to the yellow pegasus who was standing near the window, the sunlight shining on to her long pink mane.

"Oh hello there sweetie!" She waved her hoof at me.

"Rarity won't suspect a thing, she's too busy working on a dress for a fashion parade to notice we've even left," Sweetie Belle had a rather sarcastic tone, noting her sisters obsession with work.

"Oh but that means she's missing out on all the fun!" Pinkie Pie's eyes watered.

"Pinkie, we're planning her surprise party," Twilight rolled her eyes.

"I know and she's missing out on planning it!" Pinkie's ears flopped down.

Everypony in the room just looked at each other shrugged.

"So Flick, have you settled in now? I haven't seen you since you arrived," Twilight asked looking to her left where I stood by her side.

"Yeah, it's great! I love it here!" I spoke, noticing Twilight's cutie mark. "In fact...I've been meaning to ask...I've got a huge passion for magic, I was wondering if -"

Twilight suddenly lifted me up with her hooves, holding me in the air, being so small and lite I was pretty easy to pick up. "Magic? really?! oh that's brilliant! I can teach you!" She exclaimed happily. "Well I'm still learning myself actually but you know what it's like, you learn and you teach so you teach to learn and the princess would like me to teach because teaching is learning and by teaching I can learn to teach!"

She noticed my blank expression.

Twilight slowly and gently put me back down on to the floor of her library. "Well if you ever want lessons...I can help you," She smiled down at me, staring in anticipation.

"I'd love that!" I beamed back at her.

"Brilliant! We can start your training as soon as possible!" Twilight tried to contain her excitement.

"Oh wow, thanks Miss Twilight," I stamped my hooves excitedly, "Oh this is going to be awesome!"

"So everypony, y'all got any ideas for Rarity's party?" Applejack asked.

All eyes were soon drawn to Pinkie who was now jumping up and down excitedly. "I know! I can bring my new super improved twice the size confetti cannon!" Pinkie gestured towards a huge cannon, similar to the one she fired when I first arrived here in Ponyvillie, but this was twice the size and packed twice the punch.

"Wow that's a great idea!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

It wasn't.

"Rarity loves confetti!" She added.

"What about the food?" Apple Bloom questioned. "Ah was thinkin' we could get us some apple pie's for the party, Granny Smith is mighty fine at baking em!"

"Can we have something that isn't apples for once?" Rainbow Dash sarcastically remarked.

"What in the hay is wrong with apples?" Applejack looked sternly at Rainbow Dash who was leaning against one of Twilight's book shelves.

"They're just a boring old fruit," she rolled her eyes.

"Why I never. You take that back! or I'll...I'll," Applejack growled.

"What?" Rainbow Dash taunted.

"I won't be lettin' ya'll have any cider next cider season!" she closed her eyes and nodded once in a stern manner.

"You can't do that!" Rainbow Dash gasped.

"Girls, stop fighting!" Twilight called anxiously.

"Rainbow Dash has a point about the apples, pft boring!" Scootaloo added.

"Hey, apples aren't boring! Why are ya sidin' with Rainbow Dash?" Apple Bloom yelled at her friend. "Some loyal crusader you are!"

"Rarity likes apple pie though," Sweetie Belle spoke up.

"Um, I think we should all just calm - " Fluttershy's gentle voice was interrupted.

"You apologise to me an' Apple Bloom right now, ya hear?" Applejack stepped forward towards Rainbow Dash.

"Why should I?" Rainbow Dash folded her hooves as she hovered in the air, accidentally knocking a bunch of Twilight's alphabetically ordered books off the shelf.

"Rainbow, look what you've done!" Twilight groaned, eagerly stepping forward to sort the books out.

"Just apologise to us this instant!" Applejack put her hoof forward towards Rainbow Dash.

"Help me pick them up!" Twilight mimicked Applejack's stern gesture towards Rainbow Dash.

"Um...I think we could try and - " Fluttershy's gentle concerned voice spoke up.

"You pick them up, neat freak!" Rainbow turned her head away closing her eyes sternly.

"No I like parties more!" Pinkie growled before running a few feet and facing the other way. "Yeah well I like fun more!" She growled back. Pinkie was just arguing with herself to stop feeling left out.

Now this party planning was turning in to a disaster, and I couldn't stand to see everypony fighting. In fact, me and Fluttershy seemed to be the only ones not yelling.  

"Could everypony PLEASE! - " I raised my voice so much, I surprised myself. Everypony in the room was suddenly staring at me, I felt my entire face warm as I blushed. "I really want this party to be perfect for my cousin Rarity, she's taken me in when I wanted to get away and she's given me this opportunity to live my life here,"  I sighed and closed my eyes, "Can we just make it special for her?"

A moment of silence filled the room.

"I'm sorry Applejack, Applebloom, you too Twilight," Rainbow Dash finally spoke, slowly gathering the pile of books off the floor as she did so.

Yeah you heard me, your aunt Rainbow actually apologised first.

Shortly after the atmosphere had changed, everypony had apologised to each other and slowly we began to discuss ideas for the party. Everything went smoothly and I felt hopeful that everything was going to be just fine.

"Great! so we have the food sorted, the decor suited to Rarity's taste is perfect…now all we need is some form of entertainment," Twilight paced around nearby the window.

I gently kicked my hoof at the wooden tree surface that was Twilight's floor, Sweetie Belle was sat next to me just watching me do so.

"Any ideas?" she asked me, noticing that everypony else was quiet.

I didn't exactly see Rarity often before I moved here, I'd only seen her four or five times before moving to Ponyville so I didn't know her well enough to know what she'd consider good entertainment. I shrugged and continued to tap my hooves on the wooden floor as my brain worked tirelessly for ideas.

"Awh come on guys!" Rainbow Dash jumped up and hovered in the air with energy. "It's obvious, I think we all know she'd love a sonic rainboom!" Rainbow Dash proudly spoke, confidence echoing through her voice.

"Come on Rainbow, I'm sure a sonic rainboom might kinda bring back memories of when you barely rescued her from…you know, falling from Cloudsdale," Twilight laughed nervously.

"Fell from Cloudsdale?" I whispered to Sweetie Belle in shock.

"Long story," She shook her head.

"I've really missed out on lot before I moved here huh," I thought it'd be best to not ask further questions.

"Oh come on Twilight! I did one at the wedding before! I'm sure everypony was impressed by that, well I'm out of ideas then..." Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Oh oh! I have an idea! oh oh! pick me!" Pinkie hopped up and down near me waving her hoof in the air.

Now Pinkie's ideas weren't always so… well, normal. So naturally everypony often overlooked her constant outbursts claiming that -

"This idea is different I swear!" Pinkie's eyes teared up.

Twilight sighed while rolling her eyes.  "Fine Pinkie, what's your idea?"

"Well..if you really want to know…" Pinkie teased.

"You've been asking to tell us for ages! what is it?" Applejack sighed, sitting next to Apple Bloom.

"Okie dokie, well my idea is - " Pinkie started but was quickly interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Twilight! it's Rarity dear, could you let me in?"

Everypony in the room froze.

"What in the name of Celestia is she doing here?" Rainbow Dash panicked, accidentally knocking over some more books.

"Rarity?" I whispered to myself in a panic, I tapped my hooves together anxiously. "But this party is supposed to be a surprise," I had a mild heart palpitation for a few moments.

"Everypony calm down, we'll just…not answer the door," Twilight reassured us all, ushering all of us to be quiet and remain still.

"Hey," Pinkie whispered rather loudly.

Twilight shot Pinkie a glare that could kill, shaking her head slowly to keep the ecstatic pony quiet.

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, "I never got to say my idea," She shook her head.

Suddenly the door to the library opened, a small purple and green dragon greeted my cousin Rarity at the door and smiled, he turned around and saw us all.

"Twilight! Rarity's...here…" his voice grew slower as he noticed us all staring awkwardly at him and Rarity.

"Thank you Spike," Rarity smiled.

Spike blushed. "No problem Rarity!"

"Yeah thanks for getting the door Spike!" Twilight spoke through gritted teeth, the small dragon knew her well enough to realise he'd made a mistake.

Rarity walked inside and looked around at us all, of course we all tried to look as innocent as possible, it probably didn't work.

"Ah Sweetie, Flick there you are, I hope you don't mind me Twilight, I came here to see if Flick was here...and clearly he is! Clearly you all are," she finished her words with a questioning tone, wondering why all of her friends were here and she knew nothing of it.

I slowly stepped forward towards Rarity. "Twilight…invited us all around here for an indoor picnic! But we thought you'd be too busy working today," I nervously stuttered, beaming at my cousin trying to assure her everything was fine.

"An indoor picnic?" She questioned, looking around everypony who avoided eye contact. "Without any food or - "

Twilight stepped forward. "We ate it all! It was just a little something I planned, we knew you'd be busy and we thought if we didn't tell you, well then you wouldn't be jealous and feel down because you can't make it, we're sorry," Twilight looked sympathetically towards her friend.

"Oh well not to worry dear! at least you tried to spare my feelings! and you're right I've got an awful lot of work to do, I just wanted to find Flick to give him this," A small letter cast a blue glow as Rarity used her magic to bring it in front of my face.

I gently used my telekinesis to take the letter from Rarity, slowly I unfolded the letter. I was aware that Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had rushed behind me, curious to see what my parents had to say.

I had read it out loud, except the 'P.S' part.

"Wow they actually do care," I whispered to myself sadly, dropping the letter to the floor, "Would have been nice if they'd told me they're proud of me more often," I grumbled. My parents had never expressed these feelings until I'd read these written words.

Rarity hugged me tightly, "I'm glad to have you here dear I don't think I'd cope without you now!" She smiled.

I returned the smile and embraced her, realising how much I was loved in reality by Rarity.

"Hey what does the last part say?" Twilight walked over and lifted the letter off the floor where i had dropped it.

I pulled away from Rarity panicking, "Wait no!" I cried.

"P.S Try and get over your Mailmare fear while you're - " Twilight spoke, "Mailmare fear?" She asked.

Scootaloo was sniggering. "Oh it's all out in the open now!" She giggled. "Can you believe this guy? He's scared of mailmares!" She couldn't stop laughing.

"You're scared of thunder," Sweetie Belle whispered angrily to her.

"Shut up!" Scootaloo panicked and glanced at Rainbow Dash.

I blushed and felt my heart sink. "I um…" I quickly ran over by the door where Spike still stood, "Hi! It's Spike right? nice to meet you! I should probably go now!" I nervously laughed and quickly bolted out of Twilight's library running away as fast as I could.

"I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash leapt in to the air and stretched her wings, preparing to fly.

"No Rainbow," Twilight put her hoof out to signal Rainbow Dash to stop, "Rarity?" Twilight looked at Rarity with a concerned smile.

"He'll probably go back to Carousel boutique, I should get back and finish my work anyhow. He'll be okay," Rarity smiled at everypony, all of whom were a little confused at what had just happened.

"He thinks y'all gonna think he's weird 'cause he's scared of mail ponies," Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, glancing again at the now open door, "He was bullied relentlessly at his old school because of it."

"You knew about this here problem of his?" Applejack moved towards her sister, trying to get what information she could.

Apple Bloom nodded. "We all did," she gestured towards the crusaders, "He told us at the sleepover, no idea why he's terrified of them though."

So a little while later I was laying on mine and Sweetie Belle's bed back home.

I wanted to reread the letter my parents had sent me maybe to make me feel better. Until I realised that Twilight last had it, I sighed to myself. Everything had been going great, until now when word got out about my weird fear. Now I'd made a fool of myself. I rested my head in my hooves as I lay down, until suddenly the brown parchment of paper that was the letter from my parents landed in front of me. I looked up to see Rarity smiling at me.

I was about to speak but she put her hoof to my mouth.

"Everypony is afraid of something Flick, everything from timber wolves and dragons…to being alone or letting friends down. Your fear is just something that makes you who you are, being scared of mailmares isn't exactly normal, but never be scared of us thinking you're weird or not liking you. Because that won't ever happen," each word she spoke made me feel better, the words she spoke were so full of care it made me appreciate everything she had done for me.

"The mailmare that used to deliver our mail back in Manehatten she was scary, she was - she was a..." I started, closing my eyes holding back the tears.

"You don't have to talk about it dear," Rarity patted my mane reassuringly.

I nodded and once again placed my hooves around Rarity, a warm embrace kept me safe from my memories.

"You know Twilight thought of a great way to cheer you up," Rarity smiled.

"How?" I asked curiously.

"She said you can go for a magic lesson if you want,"

"OH MY GOSH REALLY?" I sprang up, forgetting all my problems. "When?" I grinned eagerly.

Rarity smiled teasingly at me, "Right now," She ushered me to leave.

My eyes widened, I quickly hugged Rarity and galloped out of the room.

"Well, what do you think?" Twilight smiled down at me.

I was amazed at the orange that sat on the table in front of me, a mere few seconds ago it was a shiny red apple. "That's amazing miss Twilight!" I exclaimed excitedly. "A spell to turn apples in to oranges? That's  literally the coolest thing I never knew I wanted to be able to do until now,"

Twilight blushed slightly and held her hoof out to usher me to be quiet. "Oh it's not all that amazing!, although that spell used to be a toughie for me to do Flick, but not so long ago I managed to pull it off. It's a fairly simple spell once you get the hang of it, it's not the easiest but…you seem like you'd be able to handle it, you remind me of me like that" Twilight giggled, smiling at me.

"It is amazing! I can't believe my cousin Rarity is friends with somepony so talented!" I exclaimed, still in disbelief starting at the orange on the table before me. "I'm still sorry I ran off earlier," I blushed.

"Oh it's fine Flick! I just hope this magic lesson is cheering you up. And as for the spell, it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Want to give it a try?"

"Me? try it? that spell? really?" I couldn't believe how excited I was to have Twilight's guidance.

"It's a simple not too exciting spell sure, but if you want to learn more complicated spells you need to start somewhere," She smiled  "Just breathe deeply, and focus on this apple," Twilight spoke softly, using her telekinesis to bring a fresh apple and place it on the table sitting in her library.

I closed my eyes breathed deeply, relaxing myself. Twilight stood next to me and put her hoof around me.

"The key to magic is focus, just concentrate and focus everything you can on it, imagine it turning in to an orange and just hold on to that thought. Make the thought stronger than anything you can imagine," Twilight contiuned calmly, allowing me to focus.

I opened my eyes and concentrated, that apple became the only thing I knew in that moment. I focused all my energy and felt my horn spark slightly.

"Oh my! you're doing it Flick!" Twilight tried to keep as calm and quiet as she could through her excitement.

My horn was surrounded by a light white glow, the apple in front of me starting glowing that same blue, getting brighter and brighter.

"I can't…keep this up!" I struggled, the feeling of doing such magic was unlike anything I'd felt before, my horn seemed to get hotter.

I kept my eyes closed tight and tried to keep focused, although I felt so much pain as my face got hotter and hotter. Suddenly the sound of books falling off the shelves and hitting the floor of the library was heard, of course at that very moment I didn't know what was happening.

"Um Flick! … maybe you should -" Twilight called out.

Before she could finish however I felt my self being lifted in to the air. I opened my eyes in panic and realised I was surrounded by a glow of white shining like energy beams, I glanced down from where I was floating. My small hooves couldn't reach the floor. I looked up at my horn and realised it too was glowing white.

"Try and let go Flick!" Twilight called. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth aiming her horn at me, her purple horn cast a white glow and I was surrounded by a bubble like shield, just the right size to keep me inside and suddenly…

Everything was over.

I fell to the ground, surrounded by Twilight's shield which cushioned my fall. I lay on the ground, surrounded by the white glow, my head in buried in my hooves.

"Flick! are you okay?" Twilight quickly ran towards me and cast a quick spell to remove the protective shield that had encased me, it slowly faded away leaving me laying on the floor with my eyes closed tightly.

I felt myself slowly being lifted up by Twilight's gentle hooves, I breathed heavily and my face was scrunched up because I had my eyes so tightly sealed.

"Flick! Please open your eyes!" Twilight's voice cried.

I gently opened them and saw her looking at me with a smile of relief creeping across her face.

"Oh thank Celestia, you're not hurt are you?" She still held me in the air, her eyes darting all over my face for any sign of response from me.

"I…didn't turn the apple in to an orange," I sighed glancing over Twilight to the table that stood not far from us, the apple I had focused on for so long remained there. Almost as if it was taunting me.

Defeated by an apple, that's how I felt.

Twilight giggled, she gently placed me down and quickly threw her hooves around me in an embrace.

"No you didn't but the important thing is you're okay, magic isn't easy Flick and…what happened then, well I've never seen anything like it." She pulled away from me

Without warning I suddenly gasped out loud and gritted my teeth, my eyes closed as I felt a surge of power rush through me. A huge blast of white light beamed out of my horn and zapped the apple. The apple grew slightly and started to glow white, before it exploded in front of us, pieces of the fruit flew everywhere all around the room.

My horn stopped glowing and I fell to the floor in exhaustion, "I did not mean to do that! Woah what the hay?" I was breathing heavily.

"Flick..." Twilight stared around the room in shock, bewildered at what she had just witnessed. "Are you okay?" Twilight sat on the floor opposite me. "I've never seen magic like that especially not for a unicorn as young as you," Twilight eyed me up and down observing me carefully. "I have seriously no idea what happened Flick,I think you're magic is powerful, but clearly not well controlled."

"So what are you saying miss Twilight?" I asked, slightly worried, anxiously tapping my hooves together.

"Well you're clearly somewhat gifted by unusual magic," She laughed.

My small purple tail flicked up in excitement, I quickly glanced down towards my flank and - Still nothing, the blank flank that had haunted me for my short life so far was unchanged. My tail slowly fell as my hopes did.

"Oh Flick please don't feel down, you might not have your cutie mark yet but maybe that's a sign you just need to study magic a little more," Twilight used her hoof to lift my face up, "It's how it happened for me!"

"I will Miss Twilight! I'll keep studying and make Rarity and my parents proud!" I spoke mainly to myself, my small purple tail flicked up once more. "And I know for sure, my talent will defiantly be magic!" I beamed to Twilight as she smiled at my enthusiasm.  "Gifted by unusual magic..." I whispered to myself, I couldn't stop smiling.

I tried to stand up but the energy I'd exhausted from the magic rendered me incapable of standing.

"Just sit down for a while," Twilight kept me at ease, "Now while we're having a few moments rest..." Twilight cleared her throat, "What is it about mailmares that scares you so much?" She looked sympathetically at me. "I'm here to help."

I stared for a moment in silence.

Twilight stared at me in a supportive way, her eyes told me it would be better to talk about my problems rather than avoid the subject.

I let out a sigh, "It was about a year ago now."

I woke up as the sunlight beamed on my face through my small bedroom window, my room was always dark and unlit but the sunlight shone in around 8:20 am each morning. This was the sign that I'd overslept by 20 minutes. "Oh not again!" I sprang out of bed.

I knew I was late to meet my best friend, she was a stubborn mare when it came to lateness. I quickly got ready and galloped out of my room and down the stairs. My parents weren't in as per usual, both busy with work to the point they were almost never home.

I bolted out of the door without looking where I was going, colliding carelessly head first in to somepony walking towards my front door. I fell to the ground due to my size, I gently placed a hoof on my head and rubbed where the now throbbing pain was. I glanced up and saw the local Mailmare.  She looked down at me, her red mane was messier than usual, her often clean white coat was fairly dark and somewhat unkept. Her expression was not the usual welcoming look she often shared each morning as I passed her by, instead it was full of anger.

"I'm sorry miss!, let me help!" I cried noticing the mailbag that had opened and various dropped letters that lay on the ground. As I reached for a letter I suddenly felt a hoof on mine, the mailmare stared down at me with anger and suddenly her whole body flashed in a bright green intense light. I shielded my eyes and opened them once more.

Suddenly I was face to face with a dark evil looking pony staring down at me with dark green eyes and a mouth of sharp fangs, she hissed at me, her tongue edging out of her terror filled mouth.

I couldn't even move.

"That sounds like... a changeling. A changeling in Manehatten?" Twilight looked distant for a moment before snapping back to reality. "Flick, tell me what happened next."

I took a deep breath. "Well suddenly there was - "

A huge beam of light shone from behind the terrifying creature, casing an intense light all around it. It snapped it's head back and hissed, the figure of a pony was in the distance surrounded by the blinding light.

"The creature then ran away. It didn't look back, it just fled… somepony saved me but I never saw who it was, they teleported away before the intense light calmed down."

Twilight stood up, clearly disturbed. "Right... well maybe I should teach you some spells to defend yourself."

"What was that creature though Miss Twilight? It's haunted my dreams for so long now," I stood up also.

"What is that creature?" Twilight repeated, "Still out there, probably."

Next Chapter: Chapter 4: The Party Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 14 Minutes