"I finally understand why your mother doesn't let you go out alone. Do you know how long we've been looking for you?"
Watching Aurora Glow, who had suddenly disappeared and then just as suddenly reappeared, Spike crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her, feigning sternness.
"Oh! I'm sorry, but I just went to find a book. I thought it might be able to solve our current trouble."
Regarding her rash departure, Aurora Glow acknowledged that she knew she was wrong, but she would do it again next time.
Spike looked at the book Aurora Glow had brought back and said, half-believingly.
"I thought you had gone off to eavesdrop on their conversation."
"You must be joking, right? How could I possibly sneak out just to do something like that?"
Aurora Glow waved her hoof dismissively.
To her, eavesdropping or whatever... was just something done in passing.
Aurora Glow really had just gone to the Golden Oak Library to find a book; she hadn't expected to happen to be going the same way as her sister, so it wasn't like she meant to listen. Moreover, to avoid being discovered, she didn't dare get too close, nor did she follow them the whole time, so she hadn't heard much of the content clearly.
As an outsider, she didn't quite understand their conversation, but relying on her sisterly intuition, she felt that her sister's aura during that moment was different from usual.
And with the two of them chatting alone, Aurora Glow could easily guess what they were talking about.
That mare named Sunset Shimmer, whom her sister could never forget.
Except for them, no other pony knew what had happened between Aurora and Sunset Shimmer. Aurora Glow only knew that they had separated before she was born, and there had been no contact since.
However, Aurora Glow knew that every time something related to Sunset Shimmer was mentioned or seen, it would make her almost perfect sister feel down.
Sunset Shimmer was truly an ungrateful creature; she had no idea how much she had lost, things that other ponies sought but could never obtain.
'If only my sister could forget her.'
Aurora Glow thought indignantly in her heart.
There were so many good ponies in the world; she felt her sister really didn't need to hang herself on one tree.
However, these were just angry words from Aurora Glow, merely a one-sided defense of her sister as a member of Aurora's family.
She didn't really understand what kind of pony Sunset Shimmer was, who only existed in the stories told by other ponies, but she trusted her sister's taste in friends.
Since she could make someone as rational as Aurora care so much, it at least showed that this Sunset Shimmer was indeed a great pony. If she could come back and make up, her sister would surely be happier.
In order to understand her sister's feelings, she tried to put herself in her shoes. If she and Gilded Lily had an argument, she would also prefer to make up rather than forget.
Of course, she still thought it was incredible that any pony could get into an argument with Aurora; it must have been the other party's fault!
"You certainly have quite the imagination, but don't let your wild ideas lead you into mischief."
Seemingly seeing through the various thoughts floating beneath Aurora Glow's innocent exterior, Zecora made a pointed remark, especially when she saw the book she had borrowed.
It was a book recording flight magic.
Come to think of it, she had learned of this book's existence while corresponding with Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie loved to chat; she had shared many details about Ponyville, including the existence of this book, and had even explicitly pointed out which page it was on.
Aurora Glow hadn't expected that this information would actually come in handy one day, nor had she expected that she would be bored enough to remember such knowledge that previously seemed useless.
Under Aurora Glow's direction, Zecora turned to the page she mentioned.
"This kind of magic is unusual; even for Aurora and Twilight, they cannot make every pony sprout wings and fly into the firmament."
Judging from the book's description of the magic's effect, it could allow non-flying creatures to grow wings and temporarily gain the ability to fly. The drawback was that the incantation was quite complex and required a lot of magical energy; usually, a Unicorn could only use it once or twice a day.
Aurora Glow didn't mind, taking the book back and putting it away: "At least it can serve as a reference book."
Zecora, Spike, and Fluttershy exchanged glances. They could sense that Aurora Glow was up to something, but they were helpless against it. They could only hope that Little Aurora's ideas wouldn't be too bad, or that her sister could suppress her urge to cause trouble.
After that, there were no more surprises, except that Carousel Boutique was closed for the day and Rarity wasn't there, which made Spike visibly much more dejected.
Later, they went to Sweet Apple Acres, but even Applejack wasn't there. It looked like she had been working at Sweet Apple Acres just a few minutes ago; from the traces at the scene, it was clear she had left in a hurry while halfway through her work.
This surprised Fluttershy quite a bit.
Ever since Applejack received her father's old cowboy hat, she had viewed the apple orchard as being as important as her own territory. It must have been something very urgent to make stubborn-as-a-mule Applejack leave her work halfway through.
Speaking of the Apple siblings' parents, there was no need to worry about them; they had just gone on a long trip.
After asking Big Macintosh, who was helping with the remaining farm work for Applejack, they learned that a few minutes before they arrived, Twilight Sparkle and Aurora had stopped by. Twilight had said something to Applejack, and then Applejack had taken a rope and left with them.
After hearing what Fluttershy relayed, Spike rubbed his chin and asked uncertainly: "Are you sure she said such a long and difficult sentence?"
"Yep!"
It sounded like they had suddenly encountered some trouble, as they actually needed Applejack to bring her gear to assist them.
Aurora "Fly" Glow rubbed her hooves; loving to join in the fun was a pony's nature, not to mention that Aurora Glow had come to Ponyville to have fun in the first place.
As for how to find them, that wasn't difficult; Ponyville wasn't very big, and it only took the time it takes to walk up a flight of stairs to find their location.
The scene was even livelier than she had imagined; after they arrived, basically all the ponies were there.
One could see the familiar Rainbow Dash, lying on the ground in the familiar posture again. Only this time, it wasn't just Pinkie Pie; Applejack was at it too.
One could see a cowboy rope tied around Rainbow Dash, and the other end had just been thrown onto the ground by Applejack. At this moment, she was fanning herself with her hat. A Rainbow Dash running wild was harder to pull than a sheep that had escaped its pen, and catching her had taken quite a bit of Applejack's effort.
Clearly, they had missed a spectacular contest by arriving late, but judging from the results, the one that won the MVP of this endurance and strength competition... was the rope.
Being pulled hard from both ends by the two tough ponies and remaining completely intact, the rope was undoubtedly the most impressive one.
"Goodness, what happened here? Why did you tie up Rainbow Dash?"
Spike scanned the scene while returning to Twilight Sparkle's side.
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