"So you study the other countries?" Fluttershy asked as the pair walked through the town.

"Yes, I've always wanted to explore the world and exotic locations just fascinated me," Star nervously chatted with Fluttershy. Despite having his cutie mark covered up and his mind being partially distracted with the conversation, he still felt incredibly nervous walking through town, especially given his current messy appearance. But he tried to focus on the conversation at hand. "T-that's why I want to be in service to her majesty, so I c-can both explore the world and help Equestria."

"Wow, that sounds like such an important job… so what's your favorite country?"

"Hmm I'd have to say the Far East," Star's eyes were now darting between Fluttershy and the crowds around them. He chose to dive deeper into the discussion. "It's pretty, well, far from Equestria, further than any pegasus could fly. It's an old land, and its history goes back eons before Equestria was even formed."

"Oh my, is it really that old?" Fluttershy said in an inquisitive yet timid voice.

"Yes, but the most interesting part of that land is that the population isn't mainly ponies… it's dragons." Star was getting excited about going so deep into discussion about the Far East. Most of his friends weren't very interested in the subject, so he rarely got to talk about it. Unfortunately, this triggered one of Star's bad habits: whenever he got too into a subject, he often forgot to check the volume of his voice. Sure enough, his voice's volume was steadily climbing. But that wasn't the main problem; rather, it was his mention of dragons.

"D-d-dragons?" A fearful look sprouted across Fluttershy's face as she involuntarily started shivering.

"Yeah, that might explain why the Far East's timeline is so long, given dragon lifespans." Star had failed to notice the mare's fear; he was too focused on the conversation. "Although I've heard the Neighpon region is mainly populated by ponies. I'll probably go there first if I eve- is something wrong?" Now Star had picked up on Fluttershy's shivering.

"It…It's nothing," She meekly said.

"O-okay," Star said in an equally timid response. Stupid! Stupid! You must have been yelling again! Darn it Star! You're finally talking with a mare and you scared her! Stupid, stupid! Suddenly, Star realized just how exposed he was in the middle of town and all his old fears came rushing back. He was quickly beginning to regret his choice to follow Fluttershy to the spa. But, at the same time, he couldn't leave her. She'd been too kind to him and he couldn't stand the thought of going back on his word. Instead, he walked in silence for the rest of the trip, pulling his coat very close to his body.

After what felt like another eternal walk, they finally made it to the spa. However, the entrance of the spa did little to help alleviate Star's revived fears. The spa, even the front of it, was filled with a smell that could only be described as the essence of stereotypical femininity: a mixture of bath salts, shampoos, perfumes, and other therapeutic scents. Alarms started ringing in Star's head. Bad idea, bad idea! What if somepony sees me? I mean, it's not like I can bring my coat in with me! Ugh! What should I do? What should I do? "This… this is the only place I can go to?" he nervously asked Fluttershy.

"I know it's not exactly a place a sta-" Fluttershy stopped herself before she said anything that would give Star's identity away, "somepony like you would normally go to. But if Rarity couldn't fix you up, this might be the only place that can… sorry." She looked down at the floor, guilt stretched across her face. Star immediately felt horrible seeing her saddened.

"Nonono, it's fine, it's fine!" he desperately said, feeling as if every word he said to her was a deadly spear. "Really, i-if you say this is the place to go then I-I'll go."

"Ok, then we should probabl-"

"Oh, hello Shy-shy!" Came a bouncy voice. The voice's owner was a blue pony with a pink mane and a lotus cutie mark.

"Umm, hello Miss Lotus." Fluttershy seemed to back into herself. She usually let Rarity deal with the spa ponies whenever they went here.

"Here for your usual weekly visit with Miss Rare? Where is she by the way?"

"Not today…sorry… I'm just here with my friend. She needs some help with her… um… everything." Fluttershy nervously replied, each word getting harder and harder to say.

"Well, I can clearly see that." Lotus scanned Star with a look that, to Star, seemed worse than a cockatrice's. "Really, I've seen stallions with better kept manes."

"Well h-she has had a bit of a rough day, so if you could just please help…please?" Apprehension seemed to be taking hold of Fluttershy's body. Star wasn't faring well either. He was standing stiff with his mind slowly beginning to overload again.

"Ok, since you and Miss Rare are such loyal customers, I'll see what we can do. I'm still charging the regular price for the both of you though!" She walked back behind the doors that led to the rest of the spa to get everything ready for the spa treatment. This left the two mares very awkwardly alone in the front of the store. After a few very long seconds, Star managed to get some words out.

"I-I'm scared." He was beginning to shake.

"Oh no, she's really good at what she does… they're just a little… forward here," Fluttershy nervously tried to explain.

However, her use of "they're" sent shivers down Star's spine. But he saw the mare desperately trying to get hold of the situation and in turn he desperately tried to regain his composure. He took some deep breaths and pushed a hoof through his mane like he normally did whenever he was nervous. After a few seconds of doing this, he felt a little better. Fluttershy's words, despite concerning him, were still laced with care and… friendship? Was that what it was? In Star's distressed mind, he couldn't make heads or tails of what was in the soft-spoken mare's voice, but it was something that helped calm him down at least.

"O-okay," he weakly replied, "thanks." He forced a smile onto his face.

"For what?" Fluttershy looked at him quizzically.

"For…for just helping me get through this. It hasn't even been a day yet and already it feels like the world is falling apart on me. But you've been willing to put up with me…it really does help."

"It's nothing really, I'm sure anypo-" Before Fluttershy could finish, two ponies came out from behind the spa's backdoors. One was the blue mare they'd seen before but the other one was a pink mare with a blue mane. Star noticed they both had nearly identical cutie marks.

"Well Aloe, we certainly have our work cut out for us today!" Lotus said to the pink pony.

"Oh, you're right!" Said the newly arrived pink mare. "You're sure we can't charge extra?" She playfully teased.

"Oh girls, please… be nice," Fluttershy tried to get the spa mares' attention, but she was having little success. They relentlessly came very close to Star, examining his entire body.

"Hmm, I think we should start with a basic shower," Aloe said as she tussled Star's mane.

"Yes,” Lotus nodded as she ran a hoof over Star's neck. "Perhaps an herbal soak and a massage to loosen up her muscles?" Star was quickly becoming overloaded again.

"Um, girls?" Came Fluttershy's meek voice.

"Then there's the hooves, we may need to be a little drastic with them." Aloe squinted her eyes as she examined Star's hooves.

"Girls?" Fluttershy desperately cried. Star's eyes were beginning to roll to the back of his head. He couldn't take much more prodding.

"Your face doesn't' seem too bad but it may also need some work." Ironically, while Lotus was looking at Star's face, she didn't seem to notice his impending collapse.

"Girls!" Came a loud voice. The shout was loud enough to shock Star back from his near breakdown. But it had been the source of the voice that had stunned all three ponies. Its source had been none other then Fluttershy, who had now lost her demure look and had adopted one of determination. "Now listen here! My friend has had a very hard day, so if you upset him I'm going to be very mad! You don't want that, right?" She gave the two spa ponies the full brunt of her stare. The two spa ponies nodded their heads in agreement, their mouths still gaping open at the shock of hearing Fluttershy use such volume. They hadn't even noticed that she'd used "him" when talking about Star. "Good." Her voice was now going back to its normal soft levels. "Sta...Cloudy, are you going to be ok?"

He was still shaking nervously, but at least he hadn't passed out this time. "I-I-I think, t-thanks again," he said with a weak smile. "Did… did you really mean that when you said I was your f-friend?"

A look of confusion fell on Fluttershy's face. "Of course… I mean I know we haven't know each other that long, but still…"

"Um," Lotus looked at the scene with confusion, "I know this is meant to be a touching moment and all, but unless you enjoy tepid baths I suggest you follow us… is that ok, Ms. Fluttershy?" The last part of the sentence came off very meek in contrast to the first half. Lotus was even using Fluttershy's full name rather than the playful nickname she and Aloe gave all her customers.

"Right, sorry," Fluttershy replied, now fully back to her timid self. She turned back to Star once more, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I…I think so," Star weakly replied, but then he felt something powerful seize him, a happy warm feeling: camaraderie. "I'm with a friend after all." His voice once again had strength in it. With a little more confidence in his step, he walked along with Fluttershy toward the spa's back doors.

To a stallion, the best way to describe a spa would be a familiar world turned alien. Through the doors, the spa expanded out into a large room with an immense bath in the center and shower stalls nearby. These things should have been familiar, but they were twisted into bizarre shapes and forms. Worse yet, for everything that seemed vaguely familiar, there were a dozen things that truly were foreign to the stallion mind. The most prominent issue once more was the smell. The earlier "feminine" smell now intensified, with the scent of menthol becoming dominant among all the other smells.

Then, there were the shelves along the sides of the spa that were filled to the brim with countless bottles, all with fancy lettering on them. He got the sinking stereotypical feeling that most of them came from Prance, or, as most stallions called it, the "Fru-Fru World Capital".

Finally, there were the doors. Some doors were open and contained devices Star was sure were torture instruments, other doors remained closed, and a few of them stood out since they retained their original wood color rather than the bright and tranquil colors that covered the rest of the spa.

But before Star had more time to ponder the curious world he had stepped into, his coat was tugged on by Lotus. "Okay," she replied with a cheerful smile, "let's get that coat off."

"But I…"

"You can't take a shower with a coat on can you?"

"R-right." He quickly took off his coat, which she snatched out of his teeth and chucked on her back. Star worryingly looked for Fluttershy, but Aloe had already led Fluttershy over to her stall and had disappeared to check on another spa customer. Star once again felt alone and vulnerable. He quickly entered the stall to put some distance between himself and Lotus, but now he wasn't sure where to go from there. "Um, s-sorry but, um, what should I do?" Star said to the blue pony from behind a thin plastic veil.

"It's just a shower dear." Lotus had quizzical look on her face as she went in and turned the shower on for Star. "Oh that's right, I never got your name. We like to keep personal level with our clients, so we always like to know their names."

He immediately felt like an idiot for not remembering how to even turn a shower on. "M-m-my name? I-it's Cloudy Sk- cold!" The initial cascade of water had been ice cold and had caused Star to almost take flight.

"Oh sorry, the water's always a little cold at first." Lotus seemed genuinely concerned that she'd caused discomfort to a client. To Star it was just a minor bump in the rollercoaster his day had been, but his face still blushed red from the outburst. "The water should warm up in a second, just get clean and let all your worries flow down the drain." With that, Lotus shut the curtain and left Star alone in the stall.

Oh thank the Princesses. Star gave a huge sigh of relief. He was glad that he was finally alone and away from the horror that was the spa ponies. There was a little shelf in the stall that was probably meant for soap, but Star just used it to hold his glasses. Glasses off, he plunged his head under the now warm stream of water and took deep breaths. Given a chance to breath, Star's thoughts turned from ones of relief to ones of annoyance. What are those ponies' problems? I swear, if stallions ever did that to each other they'd both be walking away with hoof marks and black eyes! If I wasn't a stallion I'd have good mind to…

"Um Cloudy are you okay?" came Fluttershy’s voice from the next stall, breaking Star out of his negative thoughts.

"Yeah, but I think my personal space is going to take a while to recover." He flapped his wings as he talked to ensure every part of his body got washed. "I mean, they do know about personal space right?"

"Sorry," Fluttershy's voice was laced with concern, "that's just how they are… it's part of their job, they want you satisfied, so they have to find everything wrong with you."

"They satisfy you by pointing out all your flaws?" Star continued the questioning while he ran his hooves through his mane trying to get it fully soaked. By now the water falling off Star wasn't brown and murky (due to all the dust that had fallen on him during the explosion), but rather clean and clear.

"I know it probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but it really does make everypony's life easier," Fluttershy said while trying to maintain an encouraging tone.

"Well… if you say so, then I think it'll work out." Star knew she couldn't see his smile, but he still beamed one as he continued to stand under the water's stream.

After what felt like a very long time, Star finally emerged from the shower. His mane and coat were now soaking wet, but at least they were clean. What he found odd was that Fluttershy hadn't come out of her shower yet. Star was certain he'd spent at least a good fifteen minutes in the shower, and yet here he was, alone again, with only the sound of falling water to accompany him. He went over to Fluttershy's stall and tentatively asked, "Um, Fluttershy? Are you almo-"

"You're quite fast with your showers." Lotus trotted back over to Star, a towel on her back; his coat was nowhere in sight. "Well, let's get you dry before we toss you in the tub." She pinched a part of the towel in her mouth and began rigorously drying Star off. He could only hold a confused face that was becoming all the more common as the day had progressed.

"W-why are you drying me off if I'm j-just going back into the water again?" Star cautiously asked.

Lotus flashed Star the quizzical look again. "You honestly expect us to mix shower water with bath water?" Star's confused look only deepened. "No offense, but it really does sound like you've never been to a spa before. But I suppose an explanation is in order. See, the bath water here is a special mix of Appaloochian mountain spring water and a specific concoction of various salts and essences. Mixing it with regular water would dilute and disrupt the mixture. Now, enough talk, you need to feel the water to truly know it." She stood by the edge of the bath as Star tepidly entered it.

"Now just relax. I'll come get you when the hoof care room is ready." She trotted away and disappeared behind one of the many mystery doors. Star really didn't like the sound of "hoof care room". For a few minutes, he just sat in the tub mulling over the roller coaster his day had been. He let out a sigh, but as he did, he felt some tension leave his body. The water and the strong menthol smell it carried were quite soothing. He eventually took a more relaxed position, almost floating on the water. The staff may be scary, but this bath is pretty nice. I wouldn't mind coming back to just sit here a while after a long day of studying.

He was broken out of his relaxation state by a loud noise coming from behind one of the closed doors. Suddenly, the door was bucked open. The source of the kick was a somewhat familiar orange pony with a long blond mane and three apples for a cutie mark.

"Consarn it!" She yelled. "Ah told ya watch where ya put your hooves!"

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Aloe yelled back, a hoof mark was visible on her left side. "Can you just sit back down and finish your massage?" She pointed a hoof at one of the strange devices: it looked like a sparse mattress, except one end of it had a half ellipse sticking out of it with a hole in the middle.

"Nuh Uh! Ah ain't getting near ya or any other touchy ponies at this place!"

Anger bloomed across Aloe's face. "If you're not going to get back on the bed, then I'll make you get back!" She rushed forward at the orange pony.

"Sister, ya just made a hay of a mistake." The orange pony skillfully dropped her head, dodging Aloe's lunge and tripping her up in the process. Aloe went stumbling into the wall, getting knocked flat on her flank in the process. "Now Ah just gotta find ma stuff." She scanned the spa looking for wherever they had left her stuff but she couldn't find anything.

Her eyes stopped at Star, who by now was completely flabbergasted by the chaos that was unfolding around him. "Hey, sorry to interrupt your relaxin like this and all but ya wouldn't have happened to have seen where they put everything here?" Star could only shake his head left and right, he probably knew this place less than the orange mare did. "Horseapples! Ah gotta find ma stuff and get outta here!" By this point, Aloe was recovering from her fall and was starting to get up. "Whoa nelly! Sorry mam, but A'm gonna have to cut in!" The orange mare galloped over and jumped straight into the tub, causing a huge splash in the process.

The tub, despite its large size, was still sloshing by the time Aloe had fully recovered and regained her bearings. "Where did she go?!" Aloe yelled. Star was terrified out of his gourd: Aloe looked both desperate and angry.

"S-s-she w-went through the d-doors!" Star pointed a shaking hoof at the door, which led back to the front of the spa.

"Oh, Mr. Macintosh is going to be furious!" Aloe rushed through the front doors, leaving Star shaking in her wake.

"Oh Celestia, that was scary!" Star felt like he'd just encountered a raging hydra. As he was recovering from that ordeal, the orange mare resurfaced, taking in a deep breath as she did.

"A'm with ya on that. The ponies here are a bit too intimate for ma likin… sorry if Ah interrupted your bath." She looked awkwardly around at the mess she'd caused. Water was all over the floor, bottles had been knocked off their shelves from Aloe's impact with the wall, and the door the orange mare had bucked had nearly been ripped from its hinges.

"N-n-no, trust me, anything you've done those ponies have done worse." Well at least I'm not the only pony who thinks those two are crazy.

"Ah knew Ah shouldn't've listened to Big Mac. Ah know ma body was hurtin a little after the zap apple harvest, but Ah thought the spa was too extreme. Ah said Ah just needed a few days rest, but he just wouldn't quit naggin me… shucks, listen to me babble on, really ain't the proper thing to do. Ah haven't even introduced maself yet… bit of an awkward setting, but name's Applejack." She raised a hoof out of the water and held it out towards Star.

"C-cloudy, Cloudy Sky," Star raised a trembling hoof.

"Nice to meet ya Cloudy. Can't say Ah've seen ya around much. Ya from outta town?"

"Um, yeah," he nervously replied, still recovering from the spontaneity of the past few minutes. However, Applejack seemed to have picked up on his nervousness.

"Listen, Ah'm mighty sorry if Ah spooked ya. Can't really blame ya though; Ah'd be spooked too if somepony jumped in on me while Ah was takin a bath."

"It… it's nothing really." Star looked down at the water, the awkwardness of the situation shaking his mind like a rag doll.

"Well, Ah still feel pretty bad about it. Tell ya what, ma family and Ah run a farm here and we sell our apples at the market. If you're going to be in town for a while and ya need some apples, they're on the house. It's the least Ah can do for causing such a mess."

Star was all too familiar with the Sweet Apple Acres' apples. They really were some of the best he'd ever had. Plus, they were one of the few things in Ponyville that made him reminisce about his childhood home of Appeloosa. However, he usually only bought apples when Big Mac was manning the stand at the market. He avoided it whenever Applejack was manning it. He always pictured himself causing all the apples to fall off their stands and embarrassing himself whenever she was at the stand. Yet, here she was offering him apples, for free no less. "Thank you… that sounds nice," He meekly replied, his eyes were still glued to the tub's water. Maybe she's just trying to be nice like Fluttershy?

"Shoot, it sounds like Ah really spooked ya." A look of concern grew across Applejack's face. "Ah should probably get outta ya hair and find ma stuff." She began moving toward the edge of the tub. However, just before she got out of the tub she turned around, wanting to try and at least cheer up the distressed pony. "Ya know, Ah don't mean to be rude or anything, but ya remind me a lot of one of ma fri-"

"Applejack?" came a shocked yet soft voice. Fluttershy had finally emerged from her stall and was drying herself off. Luckily, Lotus was still in the "hoof care room". "What are you doing here?"

"Good question sugarcube, but right now, Ah ain't got time to explain." As she talked, she walked out of the tub, uncaring that she was soaking wet. Then an idea struck her. "Wait, don't ya come here a lot with Rarity?"

"Um, yes." Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement.

"Well ya wouldn't happen to know where they keep stuff would ya?"

"What kind of stuff?"

"Well like ma bags and hats"

"Looking for something?" Aloe came back through the doors. A brown hat was now perched atop her head.

"Ma hat!" Applejack yelled. "Ya give that back right now!" Applejack assumed a charging position and clopped a hoof against the ground.

"Sorry but we made your brother a promise and we intend to keep it. Can you just try to relax and make this easier for all of us?"

For a few seconds the spa was silent. Both Applejack and Aloe were unmoving in their stances. Finally, Applejack bowed her head in defeat. "Fine," her voice dripped with wounded pride as she grabbed a towel and dried herself off, "but if Ah find anything wrong with ma hat, ya best be ready to pay the price."

"Deal, now let's get your hooves tidied up." Just as Aloe was saying that, Lotus emerged from the room she had been in.

"Ok Cloudy time to get your hoo- Oh sweet Equestria! What happened in here!?" Lotus distraughtly looked around the spa.

How did she not hear that racket? Star thought.

"What happened Aloe!?"

"Ask Miss Farmer over here," Aloe gestured a hoof at Applejack. A guilty look was stretched across the farmer's face.

"A'm mighty sorry… but ya'll were getting too touchy with the massage!" Applejack retorted.

"Well maybe if somepony hadn't been fidgeting the whole time, that wouldn't have happened!" Aloe counter-retorted as she rubbed the hoof mark on her side. "Now come on, we've got some hooves to work on." She pushed Applejack back towards the room Lotus had come from.

"You too, Cloudy." Lotus beckoned Star with a hoof. He timidly left the bath and started walking over to the door, more scared of what would happen if he didn't comply with Lotus's wishes. However, before he was even a foot away from the tub, Lotus raised up a hoof, a signal that he should stop. "You know how to use a towel, right?" She gestured to a stack of towels that rested in a hamper next to the tub. He quickly trotted over and dried himself off, lest her earn the scorn of Lotus. While he was drying off, Lotus turned over to Fluttershy, "We've got some work to do on these two, so just soak in the tub and relax. Somepony here has to."

"Okay," Flutteshy gave a nearly silent response as she trotted over to the tub, passing Star as she did. "It'll be fine. Applejack's there too, so she can probably help you out," she whispered before getting into the tub.

"Thanks," Star replied before he grudgingly trotted over to the door. As he trotted into the room, Lotus closed the door behind them. Star noted that it appeared to be thicker than the other doors.

"Hey Cloudy, ya in here too?" Applejack waved a friendly hoof at Star. "Well, at least we're not going in on this alone." Now in the room, Star could see it held two chairs, one of which Applejack was occupying. Star was very happy to now know somepony shared his discomfort of the spa, it proved he hadn't gone completely insane."Gotta admit, when Ah first saw ya, Ah figured ya were one of them hoity-toity types… no offense… wouldn't have pegged ya as being in the same boat A'm in."

"Trust me Ms. Applejack, you have no idea."

"What do ya mean by that?" Before Star could answer, a loud rumbling sound filled the room. Both of their faces drained of color when they saw Aloe and Lotus push over two identical hellish machines. It dawned on Star that they were the reason why Lotus hadn't heard the commotion outside and why the door was thick: the two machines were incredibly noisy and would have easily disturbed the spa's other patrons.

Star gulped and nervously turned to Applejack. "I-I thought spas were supposed to be relaxing."

"Ah did too." Applejack's face was filled with just as much fear as Star's. "Ah know we just met and all, but if we live through this, ya can have all the apples ya want."

"Alright girls," Lotus said with what looked like a wicked smile.

"Time to get your hooves nice and clean," Aloe said as both she and Lotus advanced the machines toward Applejack and Star.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was trying to enjoy the bath, but still looked nervously over at the door Star and Applejack had disappeared behind. "Oh, I hope they're ok."

The next thing Star remembered, he was lying face down on some sort of bed. He was definitely still in the spa; the "feminine" smell was still lingering in the air, although the dominant smell was now lavender instead of menthol. Despite being on a bed, he could clearly see the ground, his face was sticking through a hole on the bed. He tried to get up, but a hoof held him down. Aloe's voice now greeted him, "Don't panic, just stay calm and enjoy the massage." Star now realized he was in the room Applejack had escaped from. To confirm his fears, he saw slivers of light streaming through the now-ajar door.

Aloe's hooves once more graced Star's back, rubbing between his muscles and joints. However, as he was coming more and more back to his senses he started to tense up, he remembered how Applejack had described the ponies as "touchy". A flurry of thoughts crossed Star's mind, each one caused his body to become tenser and his face to become redder. "I can't do my job if you're going to be so tense!" Aloe complained just as she started to massage Star's lower back. That was when he snapped. On instinct, his wings deployed, knocking Aloe back. His mind was now racing.

Gotta get out! Gotta run!!! He franticly sat up from the massage bed. Glasses! Where are my glasses?! He could barely see anything, the dimmed lighting in the room didn't help Star's search.

However, he stopped cold as Aloe spoke up, "If you think I'm dealing with another rowdy customer you've got another thing coming!" Star decided it was flight time. He rammed into the door, its hinges finally giving way as it fell with a loud thud. For a second, the light of the main spa dazed Star, but he quickly recovered and made a run for the exit. He didn't even notice Fluttershy and Applejack, both of them now soaking in the tub. Applejack now had her hat back on, uncaring if it got wet.

"Star?" Fluttershy said in shock just as Star ran out the doors to the front of the store.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack had an equally shocked look on her face. However, the look turned into a scowl as she looked back at Aloe, who seemed to be mourning the destruction of the door. "Ya were touchy again, weren't ya?"

"Oh no," Fluttershy whimpered as panic took control of her face.

They're all crazy! I should have just stayed at home! I'm never going outside again! This is too much! Star burst through the front of the shop before rushing out into the street. He didn't even care now that he had neither his coat nor his glasses. He just wanted to get away from everything, especially the spa. He promptly pushed off the ground and flew into the sky, leaving four dazed mares in his wake.

Back at the library, books were still lying around in heaps and piles. Twilight didn't care about that right now though. She was completely focused on the fern in front of her. She had run all around town gathering the proper items for the spell. She had been lucky with both the feather and the claw as Rainbow Dash had been willing to part with another feather and Zecora had a few more claws at the ready. However, her mane was now reflecting her physical state: it was getting frizzy with split ends popping up here and there. But all of that didn't matter right now; her attention was fully focused on the items and the fern.

"Ok, come on Twilight, you can do this!" Her horn, which by this point had already been glowing, now became even brighter and the aura around it grew in size. A familiar purple glow surrounded the items. Twilight gritted her teeth as sweat began to cover her forehead. However, this time, the spell retained its purple color. The three items once again combining into a ball, which was also purple. "Now I just have to…" Twilight slowly levitated the ball over towards the fern, but just as it was about to touch the fern, a book fell from one of the piles. The ball zoomed into the fern and exploded again, kicking up another dust cloud.

Twilight coughed a bit as she struggled to her feet. This time the dust cleared at a much faster rate due to the library's windows still being open. With the dust quickly dissipating, Twilight was able to see that the fern had now changed from its normal green color to a neon pink hue. "Ok, it kicked up a little dust but it's progress. Now that I can control the spell better, I should be able t-" Twilight stopped mid-sentence, her voice was off, it was much rougher and deeper now. "Oh no…" she brought a shaking hoof up to her mane: it was short now. Her eyes went wide in terror before she passed out from shock.