Prologue ◈ Wake up.
“Twi-light.”
Twilight groaned under her blankets.
“Twiii-light!”
Another groan.
“Twilight, come on.” Spike opened the door. “I know you’ve been up all night again. Weren’t you planning on meeting up with the girls for a day at the pool today?”
Twilight’s eyes shot open. How could she forget? She hopped out of bed, rushing past Spike without another word. With how busy everyone had become with life, occasions like this were rarer than some of the books she’d read from Celestia’s personal collection!
“Breakfast’s on the table!”
“Thanks, Spike!”
Brushing her teeth could probably wait for later, right? After a near-tumble down the stairs, the mare plopped herself down at the table, staring into the bowl of oatmeal in front of her.
She shook the thought from her head. Now wasn’t the time to start going into tangents. She picked up the spoon and shoveled oatmeal into her mouth.
“Y’know, as a Princess of Equestria, I think it’d be best if you didn’t choke to death today.” Spike chuckled as he passed by. “Anyway, I’m gonna be waiting outside for you. What should I say if Luster Dawn’s parents stop by?”
“Shoo ’em away and say that their little filly doesn’t have class today!”
Twilight looked up from her breakfast, only to be met with Spike’s deadpan stare. She rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, so maybe don’t do that. Just tell them that there isn’t any class today. That filly needs to spend some time with her playmates before she turns out like I did when I was her age. Better?”
Spike popped a thumbs-up and disappeared behind the door.
“So...” Twilight turned her attention to the day’s tasks. “Let’s see... after the pool party, I’ve got a tax code to look over, check in with Starlight on the School of Friendship... reorganize the library again?” She lit her horn, teleporting away for a moment. “Nope. Library’s already at peak organization. For now. Spi--”
Right. Spike wasn’t always going to be by her side anymore. Not with how independent he’d become lately. She shook her head. How had things changed so quickly? It felt like only yesterday when... when...
Twilight frowned. What was she even trying to remember?
Nevermind. Breakfast first, then the pool party. Even after all this time, it was still hard at times to keep her priorities in line. Breathe in. Breathe out. Pick up the spoon, put food in mouth. Rinse, repeat, and get ready for the day.
Yes.
~~~
There really wasn’t that much to pack for a pool party, right? They were just there to have fun... right?
Twilight stared at the pile of pool- and party-related items she’d amassed on her bed. There were the usual pool floaties, enough air pumps for everybody if no one brought their own, snorkeling masks, pool toys, towels, a fire extinguisher in case something went wrong and the water from the pool couldn’t put out the resulting fi--
The mare narrowed her eyes. Was it just her, or was there something... off about the fire extinguisher? She leaned in closer. It wasn’t anything necessarily to do with the canister itself, just...
The fleck of color on the extinguisher’s side flickered again, growing a little larger. Twilight frowned. Was it something with the way the sunlight from her window hit it? She lifted the canister and placed it in the shadows of the pile.
Nope. The color splotch was still there. It grew again, this time to a size large enough for her to see a pattern in its colors: a strange checkerboard of black and magenta. She could hear Spike’s frantic footsteps approaching. Was it something he did that led to this?
“Twilight!” Spike’s distant voice cried. “Twilight! Something’s gone wrong!”
Twilight looked up from the fire extinguisher, only to find that her entire room was now plastered in that same checkerboard pattern. Eyes wide, she took a step back. Something definitely went wrong, that’s for sure. The room began to dim around her.
“Twilight!” she could hear Spike slam the door open. “Oh no. Oh, this is bad. C’mon! We gotta get you out of this, Twi!”
“Twilight!”
“...Twilight?”
Twilight lit her horn. Whatever was behind this, it was powerful. Not even her magic seemed to penetrate the darkness as Spike’s voice grew increasingly faint.
“Twilight...”
The dim light emanating from her horn flickered out on its own, the same way the sunlight did. Twilight gritted her teeth. Nothing was going to separate her from her friends.
Nothing.
