Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell

by G. M. Berrow

  “Well, it looks great! Gotta run!” Spike quickly said before heading off down the road. He had spent quite a bit of time listening to chatter about the latest beauty treatments in Ponyville, and now he was running late. Luckily, he had only one stop left. Rainbow Dash was the last pony he had to invite to Twilight’s secret meeting.

  “Special delivery for one Miss Rainbow Dash!” Spike shouted halfheartedly at the clouds. He was ready to call it a day by the time he reached Ponyville Park. It was directly under Cloudsdale, so there was a good chance of finding the Pegasus there. “Rainbow Daaaash!” he called out impatiently. “I have a very important invitation to a very secret meeting at Twilight Sparkle’s cottage!”

  “Hold your ponies, Spike,” Rainbow Dash said, swooping down from a cloud. “I’m comin’!”

  Rainbow zoomed by a cloud that looked empty, but hidden inside was nosy Gilda the Griffon—and she had heard every word!

  Suddenly, the “secret meeting” was not so secret.

  “So what in tarnation is this all about, Twi?” Applejack asked as she bit into one of the apple fritters she’d brought for the meeting. All five of Twilight’s best friends had shown up, even though surely they had other important things to do. Twilight knew she was lucky that they’d come to help her, no questions asked. It filled Twilight with a sense of pride and warmth that made her new necklace shine doubly bright.

  Twilight cleared her throat and looked at each of the ponies in the circle. “Thank you all for coming—” she began, and was immediately interrupted by Rarity.

  “Is that divine necklace around your neck made of Cosmic Spectrum?” She stared at Twilight’s new accessory with desire. “I have only seen pictures of it in books! My goodness, it’s gorgeous! It almost looks like a mini version of the Crystal Heart.” Rarity trotted over to get a closer look.

  “Thanks! It was a present from Princess Cadance.”

  “You know what they say about Cosmic Spectrum…” Rarity added, turning to the other ponies. “When you wear it, you must remember—”

  “Oh, totally. Yeah, I know all about it,” Twilight said in order to keep the meeting moving. Twilight didn’t want to listen to Rarity talk about gemstones right now. The clock was ticking! Rarity shrugged, a little hurt. She trotted back to her spot and plopped down.

  “Anyway, thank you all for coming on such short notice.” Twilight looked around at each of her friends with genuine gratitude. “I’ve asked you here because I desperately need your help—”

  “Ooooh! I know!” Pinkie Pie interrupted with a squeal. “You’re planning an undercover jewel-heist mission and you want us all to join ‘Sparkle’s Six’?”

  Twilight shook her head. “Not exactly, Pinkie.”

  Pinkie Pie was wearing a tan trench coat and a fedora hat in an attempt to disguise herself for the meeting. She had also brought along a drink she called “Secret Punch” as a refreshment, but she wouldn’t reveal what the ingredients were, because it was a “super big secret.” As a result, nopony wanted to drink it. “Or… you volunteered to plan this year’s Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant and you need us to help?!”

  “Pinkie, it’s still summertime,” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t think that’s it.”

  “Whatever it is, can we just get started?” Rarity whined. “I have lots of work to finish back at the boutique! Those hornaments are due in Mythica, Neigh York, by tomorrow morning and they aren’t going to finish rhinestoning themselves. Do you have the time, Pinkie?” Rarity motioned toward Pinkie’s Party Watch.

  “Sure!” Pinkie said, and looked at her wrist. “It’s ‘party.’ ”

  “Pardon me?” Rarity didn’t quite comprehend. Applejack and Spike couldn’t help but giggle, since they knew what was coming. “The time is party?”

  “It’s party tiiiiime!” Pinkie cheered, and did a skipping lap around the room. Everyone laughed except Rarity, who just looked annoyed.

  “Okay, everyone! That’s enough,” Twilight said. “Down to business.”

  The ponies finally listened as Twilight recounted her trip to the Crystal Empire, sparing no details. She told them all about Cadance’s journey to find the Crystal Heart Spell. Twilight explained that the only way she herself would find it was with the help of her friends. Just like Cadance.

  “So I’ll need you all to come up with some ideas for my future kingdom. If you don’t, I’ll never find the spell and I’ll never learn to be a leader and I’ll never be a great princess!” Twilight said in one breath. She had the tendency to exaggerate things.

  “Calm down, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, patting her on the back. “I’m sure that we can all figure this out together.”

  “Together?” Twilight asked hopefully. “You’ll help me?”

  The rest of the ponies nodded and held up their full cups of Secret Punch in a toast. “Together!”

  CHAPTER 7

  Brainstorming the Castle

  The six ponies had been brainstorming forever, but Twilight somehow felt like she was even farther away from finding the spell than before. The conversation kept going in circles. They all seemed to have very different ideas about what they would do if they were in charge.

  “There should be an official Cake Day!” Pinkie said, licking her lips. “Everypony in the kingdom just eats cake all day like a giant birthday party!”

  “A royal guard made up of the fastest Pegasus ponies would be totally awesome,” Rainbow Dash chimed in. “We could hold a race to find out who’s the best.” Then she pointed to herself. “Other than me, of course.”

  Twilight took note, but knew this was not the sort of information she was looking for. She sighed heavily. “Applejack? Rarity? Any thoughts?”

  Applejack’s eyes lit up. “Oooh! How about making everypony have dinner with their families every night like the Apple family does?” she said earnestly. “Strong families build a strong community.”

  “Okaaay,” Twilight said, thinking of her own brother and parents and how far away they lived. It was a nice thought, but it wasn’t a practical suggestion. Not everypony was lucky enough to live near their family like Applejack.

  “I have an idea!” Fluttershy offered.

  “You do?” Twilight replied, her ears perking up. Fluttershy was soft-spoken, but she could be very creative and surprising. “Tell me!”

  “I was just thinking how great it would be if there were a place where all the baby animals could play together in safety, far from the scary creatures of the Everfree Forest. Like a nature reserve, but just for baby animals! That’s what I would do.” She stared dreamily out the window, imagining playing with all the adorable animals.

  “Ummm… okay,” Twilight said, and wrote down the idea.

  Twilight was starting to rethink her plan. She needed real ideas about how a kingdom works, not silly ones about baby animals and cakes. “Rarity, any ideas? You’ve been awfully quiet over there.”

  “Well, sure. If you actually want my opinion now…” Rarity grumbled. Ever since she’d tried to warn Twilight about the necklace and was shut down, Rarity hadn’t felt like saying a peep. “I would design a fashion line, just for the kingdom. Exclusive pieces made from extravagant fabrics so that everypony would look and feel their best!”

  Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded in excited agreement, but Twilight wasn’t impressed. “Fashions, Rarity?” Twilight shook her head in defeat. “Come on, you guys! Think outside the box!”

  “Well, sorry if my idea wasn’t good enough for you, Princess,” Rarity replied, and stuck her nose in the air. “I wish you luck in coming up with a better one.” Then she trotted out of Twilight’s cottage in a huff.

  “Whoops,” Twilight said, finally realizing she had hurt Rarity’s feelings. “I didn’t mean to make her feel bad. Guess I got a little carried away. Sorry, everypony. I guess that’s enough for tonight.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Gilda’s Got Game

  Gilda the Griffon waited patiently outside Twilig
ht’s cottage until the last pony had left the secret summit. Pinkie Pie had hung around for ages giving her friend suggestions for different holidays to start and celebrations to throw.

  “Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight said as she walked her to the door. “I’ll certainly consider making Gummy’s birthday an official holiday.” Gummy was Pinkie Pie’s pet alligator.

  “Great!!” Pinkie squealed. “He’ll be so excited when I tell him the news!”

  All of a sudden, a crazy noise started sounding from Pinkie’s watch. “Gotta go, Twilight! I totally forgot about the housewarming party at Berry Punch’s new place!” With that, Pinkie bounced off into the distance, singing a song. “Oh, the bestest cottage is a warm one! A cottage that is filled with frieeends! So let’s warm this house and fill it up with a party that never eeeends!”

  “Finally! I thought those ponies would never leave,” Gilda said, swooping down from a cloud and landing softly in front of Twilight. “Productive meeting, Twilight?”

  “Hey! How did you know about the meeting?” Twilight asked suspiciously. It was supposed to be a secret.

  “I have my ways,” Gilda said, pacing around Twilight. “And I listened to the whole thing. Didn’t sound like your friends had any good ideas for your kingdom….”

  “So what, Gilda?” Twilight sassed back. “You think you can do better?”

  “I’m just trying to say that if I were a princess like you—I wouldn’t be listening to anypony’s suggestions. I would do whatever I wanted! Make my kingdom all about Gilda!” The griffon cackled and flew off into the clouds again to cause some mischief elsewhere.

  Twilight brushed it off. Nopony in their right mind would take advice from Gilda, the notorious bully. Twilight still trusted her best friends the most. And why shouldn’t she? They had proven themselves to be honest and loyal.

  But then again, they didn’t have years of magical study with Princess Celestia under their belts like Twilight did. And her friends had never even lived in Canterlot, so it was silly to expect them to know very much about being royal.

  Twilight went back inside her cottage and looked into a large cerulean-colored chest. It was filled with her new gowns and jewels from the coronation. None of it seemed like hers. Twilight removed a tiara from its velvet case and placed it gently on her head. She looked in the mirror. The sparkling white diamonds and red rubies shone brilliantly. The tiara made her stand a little taller.

  Maybe Gilda had a point. Maybe the secret to leadership was listening to your own heart instead of everyone else’s. Isn’t that what Cadance had said?

  If she was going to be a real princess, maybe she just needed to start acting like one.

  The aimless search for the Crystal Heart Spell was beginning to wear on Twilight, even though she was doing her best to try to act like a princess. She still didn’t know where or how to look for it. It was making her crazy!

  She even felt like she was hearing voices, which was never a good sign. For example, that morning in the Ponyville marketplace she’d asked Cheerilee which type of berries she should buy. Cheerilee had suggested the blackberries, but Twilight could’ve sworn she’d heard a voice coming from a stack of crates saying, “Who cares what she likes? What kind of berries do you want, Twilight?”

  Later, when Twilight was looking after the Cutie Mark Crusaders—Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle—she’d heard it again. They’d all been in Ponyville Park, deciding what afternoon activity to partake in. Twilight was getting frustrated because she really wanted to read the fillies a story from one of her favorite books, but all they wanted to do was jump rope. She was sitting by, watching them, when she heard the voice again. “Look at them!” it whispered. “You know what’s best for them and they didn’t even listen to you. You’re the princess, for Celestia’s sake!”

  She’d looked around but hadn’t seen anypony who could have said it.

  It was so odd. Ever since Gilda the Griffon planted the idea in her head that she shouldn’t listen to her friends, Twilight had started to feel that everyone else’s opinions were wrong. But was Gilda right?

  Twilight decided to trot through the forest in hopes of clearing her head. The serene green trees and silence were usually comforting and helped her work out any problem she was having at the time.

  She was only alone for a few moments, however, before a loud crash signaled the presence of another, familiar pink pony.

  “There you are!” Pinkie Pie shouted through the trees. “I have been looking aaaall over for you! I want to show you my awesome plan for the new kingdom’s holiday celebrations… and also play and hang out and eat cupcakes and all that super-duperiffic great stuff!”

  “Thanks, Pinkie. But now isn’t a good time,” Twilight said calmly. “I’m sort of busy taking a walk.” She motioned to the leafy path ahead of her.

  “Okay! Will you be busy in ten minutes?” Pinkie asked, walking alongside her and smiling wide with excitement.

  “Yes,” Twilight replied. She was really starting to get frustrated now. She wanted be alone.

  “Okay! What about in twenty minutes?!” Pinkie asked. She thought everything was a game.

  “No! I’m busy now, I’m busy in ten minutes, and I’m busy in twenty minutes. I’m busy all of the minutes!” Twilight snapped. Her necklace began to dim, the colors churning. “Can’t you see I don’t have time to talk about your silly little parties?”

  “What?” Pinkie Pie slumped to the ground, hurt. “Sorry to bother you, Twilight. I was just trying to help. I guess I’ll leave you alone and go where somepony wants me.”

  “Finally!” Twilight sneered. “That’s the best idea you’ve had yet!” As she trotted off into the distance, Pinkie began to wonder what was really going on with Twilight Sparkle.

  This time, she didn’t think it was something a party could solve.

  CHAPTER 9

  A Head in the Clouds

  Twilight Sparkle was planning to ask Rainbow Dash if she’d seen Gilda the Griffon anywhere. Even though the two of them were no longer the best of friends, Rainbow always saw most of the comings and goings of the residents of Ponyville. There were great views of the whole town from up in the clouds, so she might know.

  Maybe talking to the griffon again would shed some light on the situation. There had to be more to what she tried to tell Twilight the other night after she crashed the secret meeting. Or maybe not. But a princess should listen to everypony, Twilight told herself. Especially because she still hadn’t thought of a way to find the spell.

  Rainbow Dash was sitting on a cloud high in the sky. She appeared to be arguing with a large group of Pegasi. She didn’t hear Twilight trying to call her from below. Good thing I have wings now, Twilight thought, taking off. She enjoyed the rush of cool air as she soared into the sky. It was fun to be an Alicorn!

  “I have herded more clouds today than all you slowpokes put together!” Rainbow Dash shouted at the other Pegasi. “My skills are second to nopony!”

  “If you’re so good, Rainbow Crash, why don’t you help out the rest of us?” a big stallion named Hoops shouted back. His cutie mark was three basketballs.

  “Rainbow!” Twilight called out, but Rainbow didn’t notice.

  “You asked for it!” Rainbow shot back at Hoops, and took off into a showy barrel roll. She gathered a nearby cloud, combined it with two others, and then jumped onto it. A heavy flood of rain poured out the bottom of the massive cloud like a waterfall.

  “Just call me Commander Hurricane!” Rainbow yelled, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Rainbow Dash!!” Twilight yelled a little louder. Why wasn’t Rainbow listening? A princess was trying to speak to her! Twilight frowned. “Rainbow! Listen to me!”

  Rainbow Dash finally noticed her friend hovering there, looking a little strange. “Oh, hey, Twilight! Are you here to talk about my awesome plans for the new royal guard?”

  “No.” Twilight rolled her eyes like answering Rainbow’s question was really hard work. �
��Have you seen Gilda?” Rainbow cocked her head to the side. Twilight was acting really weird, and the colors on her necklace were swirling around.

  “Are you okay?” Rainbow asked.

  “Of course I am! Now, have you seen Gilda or not?”

  “I think she’s down by the farm with Trixie,” Rainbow said. “The two of them have been spending a lot of time together lately. If you ask me, it smells like trouble. Mixing pranks and magic is a bad idea, right, Twilight?”

  But Twilight Sparkle didn’t hear the last part, because she was already off, flying toward Sweet Apple Acres. She didn’t even say “thank you.”

  CHAPTER 10

  Drinking the Lily Pad Slime

  A good patch of leafy foliage was always ideal for spying. That was precisely the reason why Twilight Sparkle often found herself hiding behind tree trunks and peering through hedges while doing various sorts of field research.

  Today, Twilight crouched low behind a bush near the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. She had spent the last ten minutes watching as Gilda and Trixie rolled a barrel of fresh cider from the stacked-up stores and dumped it onto the grass. Glug, glug, glug. The cider spilled out quickly. Why anyone would waste the precious cider was beyond Twilight’s understanding. Yet the two of them snickered as they began to fill the empty barrel with some gloopy green gunk that resembled the lily pad slime from Froggy Bottom Bog.

  “These ponies will never know what hit ’em!” Gilda laughed triumphantly. “This might be one of my greatest pranks yet!”