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Description
Rainbow Dash Presents: Past Sins
Original Story by: Pen Stroke
"Rainbow Dash Presents" by Dawnsomewhere.com

Twilight yawned as she made her way down the steps to the library main floor. Her mane was unkempt and her tongue felt fuzzy, and she still wasn't completely awake. She had been up late the night before, drinking scotch and whiskey until well past midnight.

She entered the kitchen, where the smell of burning pancakes met her nostrils. She groaned in agony as the smoke detector screeched its warning and Spike the dragon started spraying the stovetop with a fire extinguisher. After blowing up the smoke alarm and slapping Spike for agitating her hangover, she grabbed some Puff Tarts and stuffed them in the toaster. (We can't call them Pop Tarts due to copyright reasons.)

Meanwhile, a small alicorn filly sat at the table with a bowl of Apple Jackers cereal. Twilight had decided to name her Nyx after a famous superhero she read about somewhere as a kid. The hero would stalk the city at night in the days before Nightmare Moon appeared, beating up any criminals and ne'er-do-wells she could find. She was kinda like Batmare, except her franchise was owned by a different company.

Twilight had been spending the past few days trying to figure out what happened that night. She researched necromancy, resurrection spells, come-to-life spells, and other things I have no idea about. I'm not really into magic, being a pegasus and all, but she looked at a lot of spells. Sadly, her library's resources didn't have what she needed. She had sent in a request to the Canterlot library for more material, but Celestia gave her a live Bengal tiger instead.

After teleporting the tiger to Fluttershy's house and bandaging up the cuts from the animal's claws, Twilight began to ponder what to do next. She gazed at the child, who had her nose stuck in a book while she ate.

It turns out Nyx was actually a really smart kid. She took to reading like Rainbow Dash took to high-speed flying. It wasn't just stories, either; it was history, math, and all kinds of boring stuff. At first, Twilight thought it was a good idea to keep her occupied with reading, hopefully keeping her quiet, but it didn't work out that way. The kid kept asking all kinds of questions about what she read, and it was quite annoying. Twilight told her several times to go outside, but the kid was too scared.

As Twilight pondered this, she realized that maybe bringing an alicorn child out in the open might not be such a good idea after all. It would attract all kinds of attention, and who knows what would happen if Celestia got ahold of her? Although Twilight didn't usually care about anyone besides herself, there was no way she was going to let anypony grow up with the childhood she had experienced if she could help it. If Nyx was ever going to have a life, she would need a disguise.

As Twilight's Puff Tarts popped out of the toaster, she began to think of a plan.

Twilight and Nyx stuck to the shadows, slowly making their way to Rarity's place. Their movements were in part to make sure Nyx wasn't seen and partially to keep the bright morning sunlight from agitating Twilight's hangover. They arrived just as Rarity flipped the sign in her window from "Closed" to "Open", exactly as planned. This ensured that any stallions she had over the previous night had left, and no customers had arrived yet. The two ponies slipped inside.

"Hey, Rarity," Twilight called out.

"Ah, welcome to- Oh, it's you," Rarity replied. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I just stopped by to see how my friend is doing," Twilight said casually. Rarity's glare narrowed. "...Yeah, that sounded much more believable in my head. Look, I need a favor."

"I'm not a charity. I have a business to run," Rarity snapped, "so you can just take your favor and shove it up your-"

"Okay, fine! I've got a commission for you," Twilight groaned.

"Now that's more like it. What do you need?" Rarity asked. "And it better be something simple. I have other things to work on, too, you know."

"Well, it's not for me, it's for her," Twilight replied as she motioned towards the little filly, whom Rarity was just noticing for the first time.

"Well, yes, um... Let's go... pick out some fabric, or something," she said, motioning to a door leading to another room.

"Okay, fine. Nyx, stay here and... look at the dresses, I guess," Twilight instructed as she followed Rarity into the other room.

After the door closed, Rarity turned to Twilight and whispered, "Are you insane? That's Nightmare Moon!"

"So?" Twilight asked.

"Aren't you afraid she's going to destroy the whole town or something?" Rarity asked, on the edge of freaking out.

"She's just a filly. You saw how she is. She couldn't hurt a fly, and as far as I can tell, she has no idea who she is," Twilight countered. "Right now, she's about as dangerous as that yellow pegasus. What was her name again?"

"Fluttershy," Rarity answered.

"Right, her," Twilight continued. "I just need you to make a disguise to hide her wings, and I'll throw in a little extra for you to keep quiet about this whole thing."

"Fine, I'll see what I can do," Rarity said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. The two of them stepped back into the main room to see Nyx holding a string of beads and something that looked kinda like a cucumber.

"Twilight, what are these, and why do they smell funny?"

About an hour later, Nyx was standing still while covered in fabric. Rarity was going back and forth, completely involved in the design process. Nyx, though, had fallen fast asleep out of boredom. She was startled awake as a glob of cool mane gel was poured out on her head. Rarity slicked it back to make her look all fancy, just like those spa ponies, Alum and Locust.

-
"You mean Aloe and Lotus," Twilight corrected.

"Isn't that what I said?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No, you said- Oh, just get on with it!" Twilight groaned.
-

Rarity stood back to admire her work. Nyx wore a purple vest like the ones worn during Winter Wrap-up. She thought a moment, then put a blue headband around the little filly's forehead. "There, perfect," Rarity said. "What do you think, Twilight?"

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was almost normal," Twilight admitted. "Now for the last touch." She pulled a set of pink glasses with neon green zebra stripes out of her bag. "These are enchanted to hide her eyes."

Rarity, however, gasped and blocked the kid's face, preventing the glasses from being placed on her. "Oh, no. I am not letting you ruin my work with something like those!"

-
"And what is wrong with the color pink?" a voice yelled angrily. "It is discrimination, yes!"

"Go away, Pinkie. We're busy," Twilight growled.

"No, yes. Pinkie is staying; she appears later on in this chapter," the pink pony stated.

"Fine, whatever," Twilight relented.
-

"What's wrong with them?" Twilight asked.

"They're ugly! Go to the store and get some new ones," Rarity demanded.

"All right, fine!" Twilight replied. "I'll be back."

As Twilight stormed out the door, Rarity turned to Nyx and saw tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh, great," she grumbled under her breath. "What's wrong now?"

"She hates me..." Nyx sobbed.

-
"Hehe, you made a child cry," Pinkie chuckled.

"Shut up," Twilight grumbled.
-

"Don't take it personally. Twilight hates everyone," Rarity replied. At this, the tears started flowing even more and the sobbing got louder. Knowing she messed up, Rarity hastily corrected, "What I mean to say is that Twilight... isn't very good at being nice. She's clearly trying to be nice to you, but 'being nice' isn't really something she's done before, so she's bound to make mistakes." The unicorn sighed in relief as this seemed to console the kid. "Come on; let's get you some tea and something to read while we wait."

The two ponies went downstairs into the kitchen. As Nyx sat at the table, Rarity boiled some water and put the tea leaves in. After a few minutes, set out some cups, poured the tea, and sat down. As Nyx reached for the cup, Rarity gasped in shock. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"You're not planning on drinking that like an earth pony, are you?" Rarity asked.

"What do you mean?" Nyx asked.

"Use your magic, like this," Rarity instructed before levitating the teacup with her magic and bringing it gracefully to her lips. Nyx gazed and her own cup. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she charged her horn.

About fifteen minutes later, the fire department left the boutique. As Rarity stapled a tarp over the gaping hole that used to be the kitchen wall, she muttered, "Note to self: tell Twilight to teach that kid to control her magic."

Some time later, Twilight finally returned to the boutique. She had been gone much longer than she had expected. It turned out everypony in the glasses store was out to lunch, so Twilight had left to get her own lunch. She came back about half an hour later, just in time for them to reopen, but by then, there was a long line, so Twilight had to wait to get in.

The first thing Twilight noticed was the tarp over the wall. Curious, she walked in through the door and headed straight to the kitchen, where she saw nothing but charred blackness everywhere. "Rarity? Nyx? Where are you?" she called out.

"Up here!" a little filly's voice replied from up the stairs.

Twilight headed up into Rarity's workroom, where she saw the unicorn and the filly sprawled out onto the floor with several magazines. "What the he-" Twilight started to say, but then remembered that one pony in the room was a child, so she decided to tone down her language. "What the heck happened?" she asked.

"My magic's a little stronger than I thought it would be," Nyx replied sheepishly.

"One more thing I have to do..." Twilight grumbled softly. "So, what's going on here?"

"Oh, just doing a little light reading," Rarity replied.

"Yeah," Nyx affirmed. Then, spotting something in the article before her, the filly picked up the magazine and asked, "Hey, what's a 'threesome'?"

Snatching the magazine away from the filly, Twilight yelled, "Da-, er, darn it, Rarity! Can't you go one hour without corrupting a young filly's mind?!"

"It's not my fault you took so long," Rarity replied.

"Considering you're the one who insisted that I go in the first place, yeah, it kinda is," Twilight countered.

"Whatever. Do you have them?" Rarity asked.

"Here," Twilight said as she levitated a pair of purple glasses from her bag. "I already enchanted them on the way here."

Rarity took the glasses from Twilight and put them on Nyx. Immediately, the filly's eyes changed from catlike to normal-looking eyes. "Perfect," the unicorn said. "Go look in the mirror."

Nyx trotted over to a full-length mirror and admired herself. "Coooool," she said in awe.

The three ponies went back downstairs. "Thanks for the help, Rarity," Twilight said. "Nyx, what do you say?"

"Thanks, Miss Rarity!" the filly said.

"Not so fast," Rarity said as she stepped behind a cash register and started punching buttons. With a groan, Twilight pulled out a large coin bag and started counting.

Finally, Twilight and Nyx left the boutique, only to be bowled over by an out-of-control pegasus. And not just any pegasus; it was Rainbow Dash, the most awesomest pegasus in Ponyville. "Hi, Twilight," she said as she rose to her hooves.

"Dash, what the he-... What is wrong with you?" Twilight demanded.

"I was helping Pinkie test out her new party cannon," the awesome pony replied. "Needs a little less pressure... or black powder, or whatever she uses in that thing."

It was then that she noticed the bawling filly next to Twilight. "Hey, what's wrong kid? Are you hurt? Do you need a bandaid?"

-
"Now you made a child cry, too, yes!" Pinkie exclaimed, once again chuckling with glee.

"She sure does cry a lot," Rainbow Dash observed.
-

"Dash, I think you've done enough," Twilight warned.

"But..." Dash protested.

"But nothing!" Twilight snapped. "Do I need to remind you what the judge said about you taking care of kids?"

"Oh, that was just for supervising them. He didn't say anything about giving them first aid," Rainbow Dash countered. "Don't worry, I've had a lot of practice. I end up giving it to myself all the time."

"Dash!" Twilight yelled.

"Okay, okay, sheesh. No need to be so grouchy..." Dash grumbled as she flew off.

After taking a few minutes to calm Nyx down, Twilight started heading for Sweet Apple Acres to test Nyx's disguise. When they arrived, they saw Applejack just sitting down for a break. "Hey, Applejack," Twilight greeted.

"Oh, hey Twi," Applejack greeted in return. "What brings you around here?"

"Oh, I'm just showing her around town," Twilight replied, motioning to the filly trotting beside her. "This is Nyx. She's, um, my cousin."

"Well, howdy there, Nyx. I'm Applejack," the farm pony greeted. She plucked a pair of apples, giving one to the filly and taking a bite of the other.

"Is it true you're a prostitute?" Nyx asked. Twilight was immediately covered in bits of half-chewed apple as Applejack executed a perfect spit-take.

"Who in the hay told you that?!" Applejack yelled.

"Miss Rarity," Nyx replied.

"Figures," Applejack grumbled.

"Nyx, do you even know what a prostitute is?" Twilight asked. Nyx shook her head, to Twilight's relief.

-
"That's somepony who looks for gold, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You're thinking of a prospector," Twilight corrected.
-

"Well, for your information, I'm a farmer," Applejack said proudly.

"So what do you do as a farmer?" Nyx asked. The next hour was filled with questions from Nyx and answers from Applejack. Twilight never expected an earth pony to be so knowledgeable on any subject- not even Applejack.

After that informative session, Twilight and Nyx started heading home. Halfway through town, however, their tranquil walk was interrupted by a loud explosion and a pink blur rocketing in front of them and through the wall of a nearby house. The pink pony in question, clad in a helmet, stumbled out the hole, shaking her head to clear the dizziness. "Need to work on the trajectory a bit more, yes."

"Oh, hey Pinkie," Twilight said.

"And who is your little friend?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"This is my cousin, Nyx," Twilight replied.

"So... the filthy alicorn population in Ponyville has increased..." Pinkie said.

"You mean 'unicorn'," Twilight corrected.

"Yes, that is what Pinkie said, yes," Pinkie said.

"Whatever. Come on, Nyx," Twilight instructed with a roll of her eyes.

"Wait! She has not yet had a Pinkie party!" Pinkie Pie pragmatically protested perfectly.

"I don't think she wants a party," Twilight said, looking at Nyx, who shook her head in confirmation.

"Oh, Twilight, you know what happens when ponies try to stop the Pinkie, don't you?" Pinkie cooed.

"Fine, whatever. You can throw the stupid party, but for now, we're going home." With that, Twilight and Nyx departed, with Pinkie heading off in the opposite direction.

"Twilight... that pony was scary," Nyx said with a shiver.

"I'll warn you now, kid: you haven't seen anything yet," Twilight replied.

-
"Say, Twilight, what were those things Nyx was holding earlier? You know, those funny-smelling things she found in Rarity's house?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight simply groaned and facehoofed, while Pinkie Pie laughed her usual mad laugh.

Description
Rainbow Dash Presents: Past Sins
Original Story by: Pen Stroke
"Rainbow Dash Presents" by Dawnsomewhere.com

Twilight yawned as she made her way down the steps to the library main floor. Her mane was unkempt and her tongue felt fuzzy, and she still wasn't completely awake. She had been up late the night before, drinking scotch and whiskey until well past midnight.

She entered the kitchen, where the smell of burning pancakes met her nostrils. She groaned in agony as the smoke detector screeched its warning and Spike the dragon started spraying the stovetop with a fire extinguisher. After blowing up the smoke alarm and slapping Spike for agitating her hangover, she grabbed some Puff Tarts and stuffed them in the toaster. (We can't call them Pop Tarts due to copyright reasons.)

Meanwhile, a small alicorn filly sat at the table with a bowl of Apple Jackers cereal. Twilight had decided to name her Nyx after a famous superhero she read about somewhere as a kid. The hero would stalk the city at night in the days before Nightmare Moon appeared, beating up any criminals and ne'er-do-wells she could find. She was kinda like Batmare, except her franchise was owned by a different company.

Twilight had been spending the past few days trying to figure out what happened that night. She researched necromancy, resurrection spells, come-to-life spells, and other things I have no idea about. I'm not really into magic, being a pegasus and all, but she looked at a lot of spells. Sadly, her library's resources didn't have what she needed. She had sent in a request to the Canterlot library for more material, but Celestia gave her a live Bengal tiger instead.

After teleporting the tiger to Fluttershy's house and bandaging up the cuts from the animal's claws, Twilight began to ponder what to do next. She gazed at the child, who had her nose stuck in a book while she ate.

It turns out Nyx was actually a really smart kid. She took to reading like Rainbow Dash took to high-speed flying. It wasn't just stories, either; it was history, math, and all kinds of boring stuff. At first, Twilight thought it was a good idea to keep her occupied with reading, hopefully keeping her quiet, but it didn't work out that way. The kid kept asking all kinds of questions about what she read, and it was quite annoying. Twilight told her several times to go outside, but the kid was too scared.

As Twilight pondered this, she realized that maybe bringing an alicorn child out in the open might not be such a good idea after all. It would attract all kinds of attention, and who knows what would happen if Celestia got ahold of her? Although Twilight didn't usually care about anyone besides herself, there was no way she was going to let anypony grow up with the childhood she had experienced if she could help it. If Nyx was ever going to have a life, she would need a disguise.

As Twilight's Puff Tarts popped out of the toaster, she began to think of a plan.

Twilight and Nyx stuck to the shadows, slowly making their way to Rarity's place. Their movements were in part to make sure Nyx wasn't seen and partially to keep the bright morning sunlight from agitating Twilight's hangover. They arrived just as Rarity flipped the sign in her window from "Closed" to "Open", exactly as planned. This ensured that any stallions she had over the previous night had left, and no customers had arrived yet. The two ponies slipped inside.

"Hey, Rarity," Twilight called out.

"Ah, welcome to- Oh, it's you," Rarity replied. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I just stopped by to see how my friend is doing," Twilight said casually. Rarity's glare narrowed. "...Yeah, that sounded much more believable in my head. Look, I need a favor."

"I'm not a charity. I have a business to run," Rarity snapped, "so you can just take your favor and shove it up your-"

"Okay, fine! I've got a commission for you," Twilight groaned.

"Now that's more like it. What do you need?" Rarity asked. "And it better be something simple. I have other things to work on, too, you know."

"Well, it's not for me, it's for her," Twilight replied as she motioned towards the little filly, whom Rarity was just noticing for the first time.

"Well, yes, um... Let's go... pick out some fabric, or something," she said, motioning to a door leading to another room.

"Okay, fine. Nyx, stay here and... look at the dresses, I guess," Twilight instructed as she followed Rarity into the other room.

After the door closed, Rarity turned to Twilight and whispered, "Are you insane? That's Nightmare Moon!"

"So?" Twilight asked.

"Aren't you afraid she's going to destroy the whole town or something?" Rarity asked, on the edge of freaking out.

"She's just a filly. You saw how she is. She couldn't hurt a fly, and as far as I can tell, she has no idea who she is," Twilight countered. "Right now, she's about as dangerous as that yellow pegasus. What was her name again?"

"Fluttershy," Rarity answered.

"Right, her," Twilight continued. "I just need you to make a disguise to hide her wings, and I'll throw in a little extra for you to keep quiet about this whole thing."

"Fine, I'll see what I can do," Rarity said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. The two of them stepped back into the main room to see Nyx holding a string of beads and something that looked kinda like a cucumber.

"Twilight, what are these, and why do they smell funny?"

About an hour later, Nyx was standing still while covered in fabric. Rarity was going back and forth, completely involved in the design process. Nyx, though, had fallen fast asleep out of boredom. She was startled awake as a glob of cool mane gel was poured out on her head. Rarity slicked it back to make her look all fancy, just like those spa ponies, Alum and Locust.

-
"You mean Aloe and Lotus," Twilight corrected.

"Isn't that what I said?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No, you said- Oh, just get on with it!" Twilight groaned.
-

Rarity stood back to admire her work. Nyx wore a purple vest like the ones worn during Winter Wrap-up. She thought a moment, then put a blue headband around the little filly's forehead. "There, perfect," Rarity said. "What do you think, Twilight?"

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was almost normal," Twilight admitted. "Now for the last touch." She pulled a set of pink glasses with neon green zebra stripes out of her bag. "These are enchanted to hide her eyes."

Rarity, however, gasped and blocked the kid's face, preventing the glasses from being placed on her. "Oh, no. I am not letting you ruin my work with something like those!"

-
"And what is wrong with the color pink?" a voice yelled angrily. "It is discrimination, yes!"

"Go away, Pinkie. We're busy," Twilight growled.

"No, yes. Pinkie is staying; she appears later on in this chapter," the pink pony stated.

"Fine, whatever," Twilight relented.
-

"What's wrong with them?" Twilight asked.

"They're ugly! Go to the store and get some new ones," Rarity demanded.

"All right, fine!" Twilight replied. "I'll be back."

As Twilight stormed out the door, Rarity turned to Nyx and saw tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh, great," she grumbled under her breath. "What's wrong now?"

"She hates me..." Nyx sobbed.

-
"Hehe, you made a child cry," Pinkie chuckled.

"Shut up," Twilight grumbled.
-

"Don't take it personally. Twilight hates everyone," Rarity replied. At this, the tears started flowing even more and the sobbing got louder. Knowing she messed up, Rarity hastily corrected, "What I mean to say is that Twilight... isn't very good at being nice. She's clearly trying to be nice to you, but 'being nice' isn't really something she's done before, so she's bound to make mistakes." The unicorn sighed in relief as this seemed to console the kid. "Come on; let's get you some tea and something to read while we wait."

The two ponies went downstairs into the kitchen. As Nyx sat at the table, Rarity boiled some water and put the tea leaves in. After a few minutes, set out some cups, poured the tea, and sat down. As Nyx reached for the cup, Rarity gasped in shock. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"You're not planning on drinking that like an earth pony, are you?" Rarity asked.

"What do you mean?" Nyx asked.

"Use your magic, like this," Rarity instructed before levitating the teacup with her magic and bringing it gracefully to her lips. Nyx gazed and her own cup. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she charged her horn.

About fifteen minutes later, the fire department left the boutique. As Rarity stapled a tarp over the gaping hole that used to be the kitchen wall, she muttered, "Note to self: tell Twilight to teach that kid to control her magic."

Some time later, Twilight finally returned to the boutique. She had been gone much longer than she had expected. It turned out everypony in the glasses store was out to lunch, so Twilight had left to get her own lunch. She came back about half an hour later, just in time for them to reopen, but by then, there was a long line, so Twilight had to wait to get in.

The first thing Twilight noticed was the tarp over the wall. Curious, she walked in through the door and headed straight to the kitchen, where she saw nothing but charred blackness everywhere. "Rarity? Nyx? Where are you?" she called out.

"Up here!" a little filly's voice replied from up the stairs.

Twilight headed up into Rarity's workroom, where she saw the unicorn and the filly sprawled out onto the floor with several magazines. "What the he-" Twilight started to say, but then remembered that one pony in the room was a child, so she decided to tone down her language. "What the heck happened?" she asked.

"My magic's a little stronger than I thought it would be," Nyx replied sheepishly.

"One more thing I have to do..." Twilight grumbled softly. "So, what's going on here?"

"Oh, just doing a little light reading," Rarity replied.

"Yeah," Nyx affirmed. Then, spotting something in the article before her, the filly picked up the magazine and asked, "Hey, what's a 'threesome'?"

Snatching the magazine away from the filly, Twilight yelled, "Da-, er, darn it, Rarity! Can't you go one hour without corrupting a young filly's mind?!"

"It's not my fault you took so long," Rarity replied.

"Considering you're the one who insisted that I go in the first place, yeah, it kinda is," Twilight countered.

"Whatever. Do you have them?" Rarity asked.

"Here," Twilight said as she levitated a pair of purple glasses from her bag. "I already enchanted them on the way here."

Rarity took the glasses from Twilight and put them on Nyx. Immediately, the filly's eyes changed from catlike to normal-looking eyes. "Perfect," the unicorn said. "Go look in the mirror."

Nyx trotted over to a full-length mirror and admired herself. "Coooool," she said in awe.

The three ponies went back downstairs. "Thanks for the help, Rarity," Twilight said. "Nyx, what do you say?"

"Thanks, Miss Rarity!" the filly said.

"Not so fast," Rarity said as she stepped behind a cash register and started punching buttons. With a groan, Twilight pulled out a large coin bag and started counting.

Finally, Twilight and Nyx left the boutique, only to be bowled over by an out-of-control pegasus. And not just any pegasus; it was Rainbow Dash, the most awesomest pegasus in Ponyville. "Hi, Twilight," she said as she rose to her hooves.

"Dash, what the he-... What is wrong with you?" Twilight demanded.

"I was helping Pinkie test out her new party cannon," the awesome pony replied. "Needs a little less pressure... or black powder, or whatever she uses in that thing."

It was then that she noticed the bawling filly next to Twilight. "Hey, what's wrong kid? Are you hurt? Do you need a bandaid?"

-
"Now you made a child cry, too, yes!" Pinkie exclaimed, once again chuckling with glee.

"She sure does cry a lot," Rainbow Dash observed.
-

"Dash, I think you've done enough," Twilight warned.

"But..." Dash protested.

"But nothing!" Twilight snapped. "Do I need to remind you what the judge said about you taking care of kids?"

"Oh, that was just for supervising them. He didn't say anything about giving them first aid," Rainbow Dash countered. "Don't worry, I've had a lot of practice. I end up giving it to myself all the time."

"Dash!" Twilight yelled.

"Okay, okay, sheesh. No need to be so grouchy..." Dash grumbled as she flew off.

After taking a few minutes to calm Nyx down, Twilight started heading for Sweet Apple Acres to test Nyx's disguise. When they arrived, they saw Applejack just sitting down for a break. "Hey, Applejack," Twilight greeted.

"Oh, hey Twi," Applejack greeted in return. "What brings you around here?"

"Oh, I'm just showing her around town," Twilight replied, motioning to the filly trotting beside her. "This is Nyx. She's, um, my cousin."

"Well, howdy there, Nyx. I'm Applejack," the farm pony greeted. She plucked a pair of apples, giving one to the filly and taking a bite of the other.

"Is it true you're a prostitute?" Nyx asked. Twilight was immediately covered in bits of half-chewed apple as Applejack executed a perfect spit-take.

"Who in the hay told you that?!" Applejack yelled.

"Miss Rarity," Nyx replied.

"Figures," Applejack grumbled.

"Nyx, do you even know what a prostitute is?" Twilight asked. Nyx shook her head, to Twilight's relief.

-
"That's somepony who looks for gold, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You're thinking of a prospector," Twilight corrected.
-

"Well, for your information, I'm a farmer," Applejack said proudly.

"So what do you do as a farmer?" Nyx asked. The next hour was filled with questions from Nyx and answers from Applejack. Twilight never expected an earth pony to be so knowledgeable on any subject- not even Applejack.

After that informative session, Twilight and Nyx started heading home. Halfway through town, however, their tranquil walk was interrupted by a loud explosion and a pink blur rocketing in front of them and through the wall of a nearby house. The pink pony in question, clad in a helmet, stumbled out the hole, shaking her head to clear the dizziness. "Need to work on the trajectory a bit more, yes."

"Oh, hey Pinkie," Twilight said.

"And who is your little friend?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"This is my cousin, Nyx," Twilight replied.

"So... the filthy alicorn population in Ponyville has increased..." Pinkie said.

"You mean 'unicorn'," Twilight corrected.

"Yes, that is what Pinkie said, yes," Pinkie said.

"Whatever. Come on, Nyx," Twilight instructed with a roll of her eyes.

"Wait! She has not yet had a Pinkie party!" Pinkie Pie pragmatically protested perfectly.

"I don't think she wants a party," Twilight said, looking at Nyx, who shook her head in confirmation.

"Oh, Twilight, you know what happens when ponies try to stop the Pinkie, don't you?" Pinkie cooed.

"Fine, whatever. You can throw the stupid party, but for now, we're going home." With that, Twilight and Nyx departed, with Pinkie heading off in the opposite direction.

"Twilight... that pony was scary," Nyx said with a shiver.

"I'll warn you now, kid: you haven't seen anything yet," Twilight replied.

-
"Say, Twilight, what were those things Nyx was holding earlier? You know, those funny-smelling things she found in Rarity's house?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight simply groaned and facehoofed, while Pinkie Pie laughed her usual mad laugh.