Bat Transfer

"Luckily, we managed to revert everything back to normal and Applejack did eventually designate a bat sanctuary. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight was lying on some pillows, looking at her loyal assistant. The library was quiet enough for her to hear the soft scribbling of his quill on the piece of parchment he was holding in his other claw. When he reached the bottom of the page, the scribbling stopped and he looked up at her. "Done?" Twilight asked, receiving a slight nod in response. "You can send it to Princess Celestia then." She looked at the clock while Spike mailed her letter to the Princess. "And then I think it's time to get you off to bed."

"Off to bed? Already?" moaned Spike, now looking at the clock as well. "It's only—"

A long yawn interrupted the young dragon in the middle of his sentence. Twilight smiled gently. "I know, it's early, but we've been up so late last night. We should catch up on some of that sleep." She stood up and nudged her assistant in the direction of the staircase, causing him to slouch forward while mumbling that he wasn't tired yet. Twilight closed the windows and tidied up the library, and then followed Spike to the bedroom.

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The tranquillity of an early morning was violently disturbed by somepony banging on the front door of Ponyville's library. Upstairs, Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. Her bedroom was dark still, the outline of Spike's snoring body just barely visible. The alicorn rose from her bed and opened the curtains, letting in the day's first beams of sunlight. As she walked downstairs, she wondered who could be knocking on her door this early. She would gladly help anypony with finding a book any time of day, but she didn't expect that to be actually requested.

Opening the door revealed her early visitor to be Rarity. But she didn't look like she came to borrow a novel. No, she looked very much upset. Her makeup was smeared and her eyes a bit red. And Twilight could see that although Rarity tried hard not to show it, she had trouble catching her breath after what was probably a long run to the library. Shocked to see her usually proper friend in this state, Twilight stepped aside and told her to come in.

"No!" Rarity shouted in between gasps. "Fluttershy... Come with me."

Twilight hesitated. She desperately wanted to see Fluttershy, make sure she was fine, having seen the state Rarity was in. But she couldn't ask the unicorn to run all the way back before giving her a chance to rest up. And she couldn't just leave her here: Fluttershy is as important to Rarity as she is to Twilight. Luckily, there was another option. She rested a hoof on her friend's back, trying to comfort her. "Hold still. We'll solve this." Magic flowed to her horn, and after a flash, both ponies disappeared from the library.

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An instant later, in front of Fluttershy's cottage, another flash brought about the reappearance of the duo. Twilight let go of Rarity and walked to the entrance. The door to their friend's house was wide open. She carefully stepped inside, afraid of what she might find. Rarity, who had followed her inside, tapped her side and walked to the staircase. "Upstairs," she whispered. The way she bit her lip sent shivers down Twilight's spine. Her hooves felt like lead when she walked up the stairs, while her mind ran out of control, conjuring up images she wished never to see become reality.

But when they reached Fluttershy's bedroom, she was forced to face them anyway. The room was filled with all kinds of animals, each of them looking at their pegasus friend with sorrow. Fluttershy lay in her bed with her eyes shut and her mouth in a peaceful smile. Her usual yellow coat had faded to a mere beige and her mane had similarly lost its colour. Twilight gulped. She didn't want this to be true. How could it be true? It made no sense. She moved closer to her motionless friend. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Oh, Fluttershy," she whispered. "How could this have happened?" She sniffed. "I'll fix this. I'll find a spell to make you better. This cannot be the end. I—"

"Twilight!" Rarity shouted for the third time. Twilight snapped from her thoughts and looked at the unicorn. Rarity just shook her head. Twilight saw the tears under her friend's eyes. She noticed that she herself had also started crying. And finally, she broke down sobbing on their lost friend's body.

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In a small town like Ponyville, news travels fast. Many ponies stopped by at the library, where Twilight and her four remaining friends decided to spend the rest of the day. It was slightly comforting, and they thanked each pony that visited. But the events of that day had been exhausting, so the five ponies decided to go to sleep early. Although aside from Rainbow Dash, none of them would truly be alone at their homes, none of them wanted to go and Twilight didn't want them to go. Instead, they chose to transform the library's main room into a sleeping hall. But despite being with their closest friends, none of them slept easily.

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Twilight quickly sat up. Images of the terrible nightmare slowly faded from her mind and were replaced by darkness. It was probably still very much night. Surrounded by the soothing snores of her friends, she lays her head on her pillow again.

She jolted back up when she heard a sound coming from the kitchen. She slowly slid out of bed and tip-toed to the kitchen, careful not to make a single sound. More noises came from the kitchen, causing Twilight to freeze. She looked behind her, wondering if she should wake up her friends. But the day had been tough and they were all probably exhausted. Twilight slowly pushed the door open. The light in the kitchen was on. She slipped inside and hid behind a cupboard. From across the kitchen came various eating noises. Somepony was definitely there.

Twilight closed her eyes and with all her courage jumped from behind the cupboard, pointing her horn at whoever was there. "Freeze or I'll blast you!" she yelled. When she dared open her eyes, she looked into the startled face of Applejack.

"Whoa, Twi! Easy!" the farm mare said.

Twilight relaxed. "Applejack? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

"I got hungry, so I made a midnight snack. Did I scare ya? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

Twilight sighs. "It's fine. It's just that—"

A sudden wave of dizziness hits the alicorn and she collapses to the floor. Applejack rushes over to her friend, helping her back up on her hooves.

"Did you even eat today?" she asks her. "I know it's hard what with what happened and all, but you should really look out for that kind of stuff. Here, let me make you something to eat."

Twilight smiled as Applejack started putting together a sandwich, thankful for her care. And now that she thought of it, she did feel hungry. She watched as the earth pony grabbed ingredient after ingredient as if it were her own kitchen she was working in.

But when the earth pony had finished preparing the meal and turned around to bring it to her friend, she froze in shock. Twilight's heart dropped. She wanted to look behind her, but was afraid of what she might find. For seconds that seemed like hours, she hesitated, until finally the fear of the unknown won over and she turned her head, only to find nothing was there.

She looked back at Applejack.

"Applejack? What's wrong? You look so..."

Her thoughts trailed off as her dizziness returned.

"You look so..."

Twilight smiled, revealing two long fangs.

"So tasty."

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