"HAHAH! That's great! Now do Miss Cheerilee!"

There was a lime green flash of light. The group of schoolchildren suddenly had their teacher standing in their midst. Well, save for a few features... If one didn't notice oddly bell-shaped legs, the ridiculously large eyes, the small body, or the tiny cartoonish mortarboard sitting on her enormous head, the imitation would have been perfect.  "My my, did SOMEbody forget to do their homework?" 'Miss Cheerilee' said, batting her eyelids and grinning at the students. "Oh Dear, that'll be five hundred years detention and fifty lashes with an anchor chain! Tee Hee!"

"Nooooooo!" Scootaloo pretended to faint. The street pealed with laughter.

The walk to school was more entertaining than usual. Several of the foals had grouped up together-- Willow included-- and Flitter had taken to entertaining them all by using her changeling powers to do cartoonish 'imitations' of ponies around town. The suggestions had come thick and fast the whole way.

"Ooh, do Mr. Breezy next!" Applebloom suggested.

Another flash of green and a caricature of the brogueish fan salesman was among them. "Arrr, if ye dinnae get yer fan from Breezy, it's CRRRRRRAP!" he exclaimed. The colts and fillies hooted.

Just then a light came on over the front door of the shop they were walking past. There was a sputtering noise, a green flash and Flitter was standing there again. She staggered a bit, eyes crossed. "Man, I HATE when that happens," she said, rattling her head to shake the fuzzies out. She glowered at the green light over the store's stoop. "Stupid changeling lanterns."

They could all see the store owner. He was standing just inside the front door, glowering at Flitter through the screen. The colts and fillies, Flitter included, winced back from his glare. He gave a snort of contempt and let the inner door slam shut.

"Sheesh, what a grouch," Truffle said.

Flitter shrugged. "Well, that's just the way it is," she said casually. "Some ponies just aren't going to like Changelings, that's all. Ponies are still a little scared." It was obvious that the pony's snub had hurt, though.

Willow's ear twitched. He could hear a weird, burbly noise, almost like a babbling brook, coming from down the street behind them. He looked back but saw nothing. "Does anyone else hear that?"

Everypony stopped. "Hear what?" Truffle asked.

"That noise," Willow said. "Like a river or stream going over stones."  It got louder even as he spoke.

"Hey, yeah," Bright Eyes said. "Now I can hear it..." The colts and fillies pricked up their ears, looking back in the direction the sound came from. It appeared a moment later. "Wow, you got good ears, Willow," someone said. Willow didn't notice who; he was too busy gawping at the thing that was bearing down on them.

At first he thought it looked like one of those gigantic soap bubbles he'd once seen a pony at a fair make with a loopty hoop. As it drew closer he could see it was full of water, with smaller bubbles floating around inside it. What's more, there were two ponies inside it...

It drew closer, floating along, barely touching the ground from time to time, only to flow up and away like it was dancing on tip-hoof down the road. There were two ponies, two SEA ponies, swimming inside. One was Doubloon, her orange mane flowing in the water like a cloud of gold; the other was a sea pony stallion. He had the same colors as Doubloon, and was carrying a golden trident in the crook of his leg. The rippling water-bubble flowed past them. Doubloon waved a hoof at them, and then with a flash of their tailfins they were on down the road.

"Whoa," was all Willow could manage.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Featherweight said. "That's seapony magic for you. They can use those tridents to make water do anything they want. Doubloon's dad floats her to school every day like that. "

"Yeah," Nyx said. "Mom says Celestia and Luna want to get a bunch of those tridents super bad. They think ponies can use them to control the weather, and all sorts of cool stuff."

"Can't they buy them?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, but they're really really expensive to make," Nyx said. "It's not easy to forge metals underwater. They have to use undersea volcanoes, which is really dangerous. That's what Celestia and Luna are negotiating with them about; they figure Earth Ponies can make the tridents super cheap for the Sea Ponies, if the Sea Ponies teach the Earth Ponies how they're made."

"Cool," several of the foals said.

"Ah wonder if they'd work with earth pony magic," Applebloom said.

"So are you taking Princess Twilight's advanced earth pony magic lessons?" Pipsqueak asked.

"Abso-tootin'-lutely," Applebloom said. "There's all sortsa things I could do easier on the farm if'n I could do magic like a unicorn." She stared off into space, head full of images of pulling weeds with magic and picking entire orchards with a wave of a hoof.

"Earth pony magic isn't like unicorn magic," Nyx objected. "Unicorn magic is more emanative, while earth pony magic is more tactile." She said it with an air of someone reciting a lesson.

"What does that mean, anyway?" Scootaloo scoffed.

Nyx rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "It sorta means, like, unicorn magic is like light or fire--- it shines on things. But Earth pony magic sort of... I dunno, feels and touches things." She shrugged. "Twilight explained it better I think, but it's really hard to put in words."

"Yeah, it's like trying to tell somebody what the color blue tastes like," SweetieBelle said, nodding wisely.

"Oh, I--- wait, what?" Scootaloo did a double take. She decided to shrug it off. "Egghead stuff," she muttered. "Still giving you those advanced lessons, is she?" she said to Nyx.

Nyx shrugged. "She wants me to know about unicorn and earth pony magic, since I'm an alicorn," she said. "Once they have some books on it she wants to teach me pegasus and  sea pony magic too." She grinned. "Of course she has to learn it all too..." She giggled. "Remember the waterspout?"

"Everypony in Ponyville remembers the waterspout, Nyx," Scootaloo deadpanned. "Ponies in Stalliongrad remember the waterspout."

"Did you all get that writing assignment done?" Sweetiebelle asked.

Applebloom nodded. "Yup. Big Macintosh and Applejack know all sortsa spooky ghost stories. Pickin' one to write out was pretty easy. What about you, Sweetiebelle?"

Sweetiebelle winced. "I almost didn't get it done."

"What, couldn't think of anything scary to write?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetiebelle shook her head. "No, I came up with a really really good scary story to write."

"So what was the problem?" Scootaloo said, eyebrow raised.

Sweetiebelle ducked her head, flushing. "It was so scary I had to keep stopping and running to the bathroom..." fresh laughter greeted this.

Willow grinned in spite of himself. The laughter was friendly and affectionate, not spiteful or cruel like he'd come to expect from other ponies and places. It was good to have friends.

They piled into the schoolhouse, ready for another day. It was Friday, and Miss Cheerilee was skipping handing out homework for the weekend today because everypony had done well on their tests the day before, so everypony in class was in a good mood.

About an hour or so before the end of the school day, Miss Cheerilee rang the bell at her desk for everypony's attention. "Okay, class," she said. "Now all of you remembered the assignment I gave at the start of the week. Did everyone finish writing their scary stories?"

"Yes, Miss Cheerilee," everypony said together, holding their papers up.

"Excellent!" She clapped her hooves in approval. "Today we're going to do something fun. We're each going to read our story for the class." Less than enthused groans greeted this. "Oh come on, now-- don't you ever tell scary stories around a campfire? It'll be just like that. In fact, let's do it right. Archer, would you get the curtains?" Archer nodded and flew around the room, closing the blinds and pulling the drapes. Miss Cheerilee went over and turned off the lights. Some of the foals squeaked in alarm when the room went dark.

Then she pulled a giant flashlight out of her desk and stuck it under her chin. "Now it's time to tell some scaaary stories, muwuahahahahha," she said. Most of the foals giggled. Some of them looked far less enthusiastic though, Willow noticed. He was fine, personally-- he liked spooky stuff and scary stories. Miss Cheerilee looked along the front row. "Okay, let's see. Snips, why don't you go first?" She motioned for him to come up front and handed the flashlight to him.

"Okey doke, Miss Cheerilee," Snips said. He stuck the flashlight under his chin and held up his paper so he could read. "I call this story-- the CURSED COFFIN... OoooOOooooo...."

In ten seconds Miss Cheerilee's class was rigid in their seats.

"...and no matter where the pony ran, the coffin followed him. THump, thump thump... He ran into his house and locked the door. It smashed through the door and kept coming! Thump. Thump. Thump. He ran up the stairs. It hopped up the stairs after him, Thump. Thump. Thump. He ran down the hallway. It was getting closer! Thump. Thump. Thump!

" It opened it's lid, it was gonna get him! Thump! Thump! Thump! He ran into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. Here came the coffin. Thump! Thump! Thump! He grabbed a bottle of cough syrup. Thump! Thump! Thump! He threw the bottle of cough syrup at it! Smash!

"...And the coffin stopped."

It took a second to sink in. Groans, boos, and wads of paper rained down on the colt, who just stood there grinning and doing a soft-shoe. "Yatatatata, yatatata, thank you, I'm here all week, try the chef's salad..."

Miss Cheerilee sat at her desk facehoofing and laughing in spite of herself. "All right, Snips," she said, rolling her eyes. "Pass the flashlight to the next student..."

"Here ya go, Sweetiebelle," Snips said. Sweetiebelle stepped up to the front, fumbling with the flashlight. "Um, I'm not sure if this is really scary enough..."

"Just go ahead, dear," Miss Cheerilee urged. "Just do your best."

"...And with a horrible, bloodcurdling scream, and a wet, bloody crunch! The little filly was gone. The horrible thing made of a thousand bloody screaming faces had Eaten. Her. Up.

"The end." Sweetiebelle smiled politely and gave a little bow before heading back to her seat. Every student in the class stared at her the entire way, their eyes round as dinner plates and their pupils pinpricks.

"My, that was..." Miss Cheerilee said in a shaky voice. "Ahem. Very... enthusiastic,  Sweetiebelle. Oh my."

"What is wrong with you, filly?" Scootaloo said to her unicorn friend, her voice rasping in horror.

"Never gonna tell campfire stories with Sweetiebelle again, never never never never...." Applebloom moaned, her head on her desk.

"What say we take a little break, everypony?" Miss Cheerilee said in a very bright and chipper voice. "Get a drink of water, run to the little foal's room if you have to..."

"Too late," somepony in the back whimpered. Nevertheless, there was a stampede for the door.

The next pony up was Rumble. "This story is called 'the Creepy Crawlies,' " he said.

Willow blinked, then shot a quick look at the pony sitting next to him-- Flitter the Changeling. This could get awkward, he thought. Flitter happened to glance over. She must have figured out what he was thinking from the expression on his face, because she scowled and socked him in the shoulder with one hole-y hoof. "Shuddup," she whispered.

"But I didn't say anything--" he whispered back, rubbing his shoulder.

"You thought it," she whispered. She snorted. "It's just a story, dummy. Just because I look like a bug..."

Miss Cheerilee shushed them. Willow turned his attention back to the story. "Once upon a time, a colt went camping with his big brother..." Rumble said. "It was a lot of fun. They went hiking, and toasted marshmallows, and did all sorts of stuff. They went to bed that night under the stars."

"But the next morning he woke up, he felt something crawling in his sleeping bag..." Rumble gulped. "And when he opened the sleeping bag up, it was full of jillions and jillions of spiders, crawling all over him !" The foals in the classroom gasped. A couple of fillies squealed.

As the story went on, Willow realized something.  Most everypony in the class knew that Rumble was scared to death of bugs. Even being around Flitter gave him the jitters.  Rumble's story wasn't just a story, it was a confessional.

" ...and everywhere the colt went, he saw the Creepy Crawlies. Caterpillars on the trees. Spiders in the corners of the ceiling. Ants crawling on the wall. No matter where he went there they were.

"He tried to keep them away. He sealed up his windows with glue. He sprayed under his bed with bug spray till it made him sneeze and break out in hives. But the Creepy Crawlies kept coming. They'd creep in through the cracks in the walls and the doors and the floors and he knew that some night when he was asleep, the ants and the fleas and the roaches and the sp-sp-spiders would climb up on his bed and, and--"

Without any warning, Flitter let loose with a wild shriek and lunged out of her desk. Willow nearly jumped out of his skin. Heck, so did the rest of the class. Squeals and screams of fright abounded as the changeling filly began to thrash and roll about on the floor. "AAAahh, Get em off, Get em off, get em AWWWFFFF!!" She wailed in her buzzy voice.

Miss Cheerilee leapt up and turned on the lights. "Flitter! What is it--"

Willow nearly freaked. He could see little dark flecks all over Flitter... on her back, her legs, in her hair...

"Creepy Crawlies! Ahh! I felt 'em crawling on me! Get em off, get em off! They're in my mane, they're in my MAANE-- they're... they're..." Flitter stopped rolling around. She held up a leg and squinted at the little flecks. "Confetti?"

Simultaneously everyone in the room looked at the seat directly behind Flitter's. There sat Truffle, right next to the arts and crafts supplies, trying his absolute best to look innocent.

It was five minutes before everypony could stop laughing. Even Rumble was laughing fit to bust.

Nyx was getting into her story, full swing. She loomed over the flashlight, the light glowing in her cat-like eyes, grinning horribly as she told her tale of a pony strapped to a table in a room with a single, tiny spider. "And the helpless pony could only watch as the horrible poisonous spider dropped down towards his face, lower and lower, inch by inch..." Several of the fillies squealed; some covered their faces with their hooves while others gaped in growing terror.

Had she not been so wrapped up in her story she might have noticed that all the colts and fillies were staring in horror over her head, where a little black spider could be made out slowly lowering itself on its thread.

"Closer, and---" Nyx stopped and rolled her eyes as she felt something light and tiny land on her horn. "Oh very funny, Truffle. Fool us once, shame on you; fool us twice, shame on--"

Then it skittered down to her nose. Her eyes crossed brilliantly, Willow noted.

"WAAAAGH!"

Ziggy cleared his throat.

"The last pony in the world sat alone in an empty room.

There was a knock at the door."

There was a long pause. Scootaloo raised her hoof. "Isn't there any more?"

Ziggy looked surprised. "No. I admit/ that was it."

"That wasn't scary. Why would that be scary?"

Ziggy scowled. "It wasn't anypony," he said. "He was the last pony in the world, remember?"

"Well then who knocked at the door?" Scootaloo demanded. "If somepony knocked at the door, then there was obviously somepony else, so he couldn't have been the last pony on earth."

It wasn't," Ziggy said in exasperation, running his hoof through his striped mane. "It wasn't any pony!"

"Oh, so it wasn't a pony knocking at the door. Who was it then?"

"Well, it could've been a zebra," Sweetiebelle pointed out.

"Yeah," Applebloom added. "Or a gryphon. Or a donkey or a cow." The other students made sounds of understanding.

"That story really isn't scary, Ziggy," Archer said. "I think you need to work on it a little--"

Ziggy scowled. "I don't know why I bother with you lot...."

"Um. The Scariest Thing Ever."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"

Willow clutched at his chest with his hooves. What the hoopty heck? Snails had turned on the flashlight, put it under his chin and then screamed bloody murder at the class. What was that supposed to be??

Miss Cheerilee flipped the lights on again. Everypony in the class had another laugh; half the class members with wings had ended up in the rafters when Snails had cut loose with that scream. "Snails, what in the world was that??" Cheerilee demanded.

"It's the scariest thing ever," Snails said. "That's what we were supposed to do, right?"

Miss Cheerilee rubbed her forehead. "Snails, dear," she said patiently. "You were supposed to write the scariest thing ever..." she glanced down at the paper Snails had left on her desk. "And... apparently you did." She flipped the paper over and read. "... Verbatim."

Snails hung his head. "Another after school talk?" he said dolefully.

Miss Cheerilee rubbed her forehead again. "Just... just forget about it, Snails."

Doubloon's wind-chime voice sent chills up the foals' spines. " 'But you have gone out into the dark waters, like I warned you not to,' the wise old seapony said. 'And now you must pay.' And his smile grew wider, and wider, and wider, and the little seapony brother and sister could see terrible shark's teeth in his mouth..."

"There's a terrible creature that lives in the dark. It has eight lidless eyes... long, hairy legs...."

"Ooh, like a spider?"

"No, not like a spider. It's horrible, and huge. It never sleeps. It has no love inside it. And it can SEE changelings, no matter who or what they look like... and it lays in wait for them, and when it catches them it traps them---"

"In a web?"

"It's not a spider!.... and then when it's hungry it bites them, and sucks their insides out--"

"Geez, this is the fourth story with spiders in it since we started--"

Flitter stamped her hoof angrily. "IT'S NOT A SPIDER! Doggone it, just because I LOOK like a bug..."

"Once upon a time," Silver Spoon began. "There was a little princess who lived with her family in a beautiful castle with her mother and father. They loved each other very much, and the little filly was very happy.

"But  the little princess had a nurse. And the nurse was a mean old witch. When the king and the queen weren't around, she'd lock the little princess in the cupboard for being bad-- in the dark, all alone. She'd take away the little princess' night light, to punish her for crying." Silver Spoon's voice quavered a little and the flashlight trembled in her grip.

"And when she thought the king and the queen weren't listening, the mean old witch told the little princess all about the shadows. That the shadows wanted to get her, and if she ever wandered off alone, the shadows would come get her, and drag her away to an awful place where there was no light anywhere, and she would be trapped in the dark forever.

"The little princess was scared of the dark, more than anything in the world. So she tried very hard to be good.

"Then one day she woke up, and there was nopony in the palace. There were no servants, no guards, noone in the kitchen, noone in the drawing room... and no matter where she looked, her mother and father weren't there. Not even the mean old witch of a nurse.

"She ran from room to room, crying for somepony, for anypony. Then the sun started going down. It got darker and darker, and the shadows in the corners and under the furniture and behind the stairs got darker and darker, and longer and longer..." Silver Spoon's voice was a warbling wreck.

"And the shadows got her. And nobody ever saw her again. And she never saw her mother or father again and she was trapped in the dark forever and ever and--"

Miss Cheerilee started to rise from her seat; she was going to turn on the lights and comfort the poor filly. Suddenly there was a glimmering in the dark. She turned, surprised, to see where the light was coming from. It was Willow, the thestral colt. He was holding a tiny fairy light between his hooves, holding it up so the light fell on him and those around him.

Willow had never realized how afraid somepony could be of the dark. He had night vision; he could see in this darkened room with ease. It must have been like a coal-black sack to the other foals in the room-- well, except for maybe Nyx and Flitter. Silver Spoon wasn't a nice pony, not by a long shot. She was snide and spiteful and she toadied after Diamond Tiara. But Willow couldn't leave anypony crying in the dark.

Willow's father had given Willow one of the fairy-lights he used for his work. Willow always carried it with him. It was small and bright and it ran forever on just a little bit of magic. It entranced him; he couldn't say why. But when he saw Silver Spoon start to cry, he'd known just what it was for. He pulled it from his saddlebags and held it up in his hooves so she could see.

"It's okay, Silver Spoon," he said. "You're not alone. " He smiled awkwardly. "My Dad always says "You're never alone in the dark if you carry the Light with you.' " He could see the pale blue light glimmering in the wet of her eyes.

His little blue light was joined by a tiny green one. He looked over at it; Flitter had lit up the tip of her horn, making a tiny marble of green light at its tip. Sweetiebelle was next, with a pale mint green light from her horn. Then Nyx, smiling as her horn lit up indigo. Dinky Hooves pulled her Happy Bunny night light out of her saddlebag and lit it, grinning. Then Rumble held up a penlight. Truffle held up a birthday cake candle. Even Snails, after considerable grunting and straining, lit up his horn with a sputtering orange glow. Pretty soon every colt and filly from Applebloom to Ziggy was holding up some sort of light or glow-dot or candle, till the room looked like it was full of stars.

Silver Spoon just sat there, sniffing and pushing her glasses up so she could rub at her eyes and smiling from ear to ear. "Thank you," she said, her voice croaking.

Willow set his fairy light on his desk. He shifted his rump in his seat, ignoring the faint flash of light around him. Darn, sitting up that way made his flanks go all numb and tingly.  Silver Spoon came up to his desk and-- shock-- gave him a quick hug. She pulled away of course just as quickly, as if she was ashamed of it. Oh well. She went back to take her seat next to Diamond Tiara, who -- surprise again -- gave the gray filly a comforting hug.

There was a rather theatrical honk from the direction of Miss Cheerilee's desk, followed by a loud sniffle. "Oh, pardon me, children," Miss Cheerilee said. "Must be the dust in this old classroom. Ahem. It seems we're running a little short on time, so anypony who is still left, we'll let you read your story in class next Monday--"

There was a loud rattle from the back of the classroom. Everypony froze in their seat and gasped. Several horn-lights winked out. Those who still had working lights turned them to the direction of the sound. They lit up the storage cabinet. As they watched the doors on the cabinet rattled again. The school foals gasped; those closer to the cabinet leapt out of their seats.

"Everypony, come up front and get behind me!" Miss Cheerilee said. The students couldn't move fast enough to obey. They huddled behind their teacher, whimpering.

In all the fuss, nobody thought to turn on the lights or raise the curtains.

Miss Cheerilee crept toward the cabinet in the dark, holding the flashlight in front of her like a holy sword. "Whoever's in there, you'd better come out!" she shouted in her sternest voice. The only response was more rattling and thumping from the cabinet. "All right, I'm... I'm coming in there..." the teacher said. She reached one hoof slowly towards the latch and flipped it up--

The doors burst open. Everypony screamed; Miss Cheerilee went "YEEE!" and toppled over on her back, all four legs sticking up in the air. Somepony finally remembered the lights and flipped them on just as Pinkie Pie leapt out of the cabinet in a cloud of confetti and balloons.

"SURPRIIISE!!" she yelled.

The foals all sagged in relief. Some outright collapsed to the floor. Miss Cheerilee got back to her feet, patting her chest and not quite hiding the death glare she was giving the giggling party pony. "Pinkie Pie! What are you doing in my supply cabinet?" she asked.

"Waiting for somepony to unlock the door and let me out," Pinkie said. "Did you know there's no door handle on the inside of that thing? By the way, I reeeeeeeeely gotta pee, so let's make this quick."

"All day?? Wait; how did you get in there in the first---" Cheerilee started, then waved a hoof. "Never mind." She took a deep cleansing breath. "Pinkie... why are you here?"

"To pass out the invitations to Willow Wisp's party!" Pinkie beamed. She produced a stack of envelopes wrapped in a ribbon and handed them to Cheerilee. "You can pass these out-- oo, except for this one--" she slipped an envelope off the top and hopped over to where Willow was standing. "This one is for YOU." She hoofed it over to him.

"A... party?" Willow said uncertainly.

"Of course, silly!' Pinkie said, beeping his nose. " I told you I throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for every and I mean every new pony in Ponyville! And that means you!" She stopped and pooched out a lip. "I'm sorry I didn't get your invitation to you sooner but when I found out you were a batpony I realized I had to make it an extra special party because you're the first batpony in Ponyville too so I had to add some extra decorations and party favors and I had to change ALL the invites and the signs and that's why I went--" she stopped, bugged her eyes out and went GASP--- "and ran off so suddenly--"

"A party for me?" Willow held up the envelope and looked at it. "Wow. Nobody ever threw a welcome party for me--"

"Well now somepony has, and--" Pinkie stopped, slapped her hooves to her cheeks and gasped.

"What, what's wrong?" Willow asked.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Omigosh, just look! Now it's gotta be a 'Welcome to Ponyville' and 'first batpony in ponyville' AND a Cuteceneara... or wait, you're a colt, isn't that a Cutie Mitzvah..."

"But I don't have--" Willow looked down at his flank and eeped. On each hip was a round blue flame with a trailing, wispy tip.

"Dude, you got your cutie mark! Awesome!" Snips said. He slapped Willow on the back. There was a round of backslaps and congratulations from all the other students.

"Phooey," Pinkie said, sticking out her lower lip. "I'll just get another banner and an extra cake. ...Now remember everypony, tomorrow at Sugarcube Corner, don't be late! And now to the little filly's room. GANGWAY!" She galloped from the classroom like her tail was on fire.

The foals all clustered around Willow as they left the schoolhouse. "So what does it mean?" somepony asked. "What's your special talent?"

"I... I'm not sure," Willow said.

There were groans and "come ons" from all around. "You gotta have some idea!" Scootaloo said, pointing to her own shooting-star mark. "I mean, it happens when you know, you know?"

"Yeah," Applebloom said, looking proudly at her own mark-- an apple blossom over a crossed wrench and hammer. "I didn't think mine was ever gonna come in-- but when it did, it was like everything fell into place. I dunno how you couldn't know what your own cutie mark means..."

"Definitely," Sweetiebelle said. "Besides, it's usually pretty obvious what it means." She waggled her rump, showing off her heart-shaped musical note.

"Not for everyone," Nyx pointed out. "It took Mom and me a while to figure out what mine meant. Heck, you guys thought my moon and shield was a shovel!" Everypony laughed at that.

"Well... I think I have an idea," Willow admitted. "But I... I sorta want to think it over before I say it." Which was sort of true. He had a pretty solid idea what his cutie mark was telling him-- but he didn't quite know yet how to say it without feeling silly.

I'm at home in the dark. I can see when other ponies are almost blind. But that doesn't make me feel proud, or special. What makes me feel special is when I can help other ponies see.

That's what my special talent is. They say a will o' the wisp can light the way to your fate. That's what I want to do: To light the way. To help other ponies find their way in the dark, so they can find their way home.

It felt right. It felt... good.

One by one the other foals peeled away, heading home or off on some adventure with their friends, with goodbyes and promises to come to the party tomorrow. Soon Willow was walking almost entirely alone.

Almost. He realized that one filly was still walking next to him; Diamond Tiara. She walked beside him, glaring straight ahead. Oh no, what does she want? He wondered. She said nothing. The silence pressed against his nerves.

After a minute or so she finally spoke. "So you were nice to Silver Spoon," she stated. He made a sorta-yes sound. "She's my best filly friend since forever. So I guess that earns you a  point with me, Newbie." She glared at him and pointed. "But only ONE point! So don't push your luck. Got it? "

"Got it."  He kept his mouth shut. They walked a bit more, if not in sociable silence then at least in a state of wary truce. He finally bit his lip and asked "Is she okay?"

"She will be.  She's still scared of the dark, but... I fixed that thing with the nurse."

Willow's ears twitched. "How?" he asked.

Diamond Tiara's mouth spread in a smirk. "Once upon a time there was a good little princess who was scared of the dark," she said. "Because a mean old witch of a nurse scared her. But the little princess had ANOTHER princess as a friend," here she struck a pose, "who was as mean as a snake." She shot him an evil grin.

"When the mean-as-a-snake princess found out the nurse was making her very best friend cry, the mean little princess went out digging in the trash and found lots of empty bottles of Applejack's Finest, and Old Diamond Dog, and Philomena Thunderbird. And sommmmehow," here she put a hoof to her chin and put on a tee-hee-innocent face, "Sommmmehow all those empty bottles found their way into the nurse's room, and the nurse's bathroom, and the nurse's big old handbag, and the nurse's carriage, in all sorts of places where the good little Princess' daddy would find them. And find them he did.

"And now the mean old witch lives in a shack on the edge of town and collects bottles herself-- to trade in for pennies so she can buy soup." She stopped and poked Willow in the chest with her hoof, smiling like a shark. "And the moral of the story is: Don't buck around with my friends." She spun around and sauntered off, her nose in the air.

Willow stood there thinking over all he had just been told. There was only one word that could really sum it up, he decided.

"YYYYikes," he said.