Today was the day of the annual Ponyville Renaissance fair and everypony was taking part to make sure the event was a success. Some of the ponies had even come to the event dressed in costumes from that era. Two of these ponies were Lyra and Bon-Bon, who had dressed up as a minstrel and a knight respectively. At first Lyra had been reluctant to wear her outfit, and was just ready to parade around with her lyre, but Bon-Bon strong armed her into it. Currently the two were resting after spending practically the whole day walking back and forth around the town. They had originally been resting in a field, but moved to a bench in town so they didn’t miss out on anything.
“I love going to these things, what about you Lyra?” asked Bon-Bon.
“Yeah sure, whatever” replied Lyra, seeming distracted.
Bon-Bon turned around, to find Lyra trying to see through a crowd of ponies that had gathered at the town square. Realising that she was probably missing out on something, Bon-Bon jumped up, and dragged Lyra into the crowd. They made their way through the crowd causing a few to shout out in protest.
“Hey!”
“Watch it!”
Bon-Bon apologised profusely, and soon reached the front of the crowd, pulling Lyra to her side. In front of them was a wooden stage, cobbled together for the event, and probably within a few hours to boot. On the stage was the Mayor of Ponyville, Mayor Mare, alongside Twilight Sparkle, and resident mail mare Derpy Hooves. The Mayor was wearing a makeshift crown, most likely to mimic a member of the monarchy. Twilight was wearing a dark blue cape, adorned with various silver stars, and multi-coloured swirls. Whilst Derpy was dressed in a wizard’s robe, complete with pointy hat. She was happily prancing about in the background, dazzling the audience with her astounding ability to create bubbles, from nothing more than a soapy mixture and her ‘magical’ bubble wand.
“Attention everypony!” bellowed the Mayor, silencing the audience. They all focused their attention on the Mayor, all except Derpy, who was still making bubbles. “We now come to one of our many events for the day; this display comes courtesy of Twilight Sparkle!”
The Mayor stepped down and Twilight took centre stage, her horn already glowing with magic. A few ponies in the audience flinched, and backed away a little. They did this because Twilight had recently gained a reputation for messing up spells. She had sent ponies and other things to different dimensions, sent them to the moon, and even changed their gender, so they were right to be cautious. Twilight channelled more of her magical ability into her horn, causing the glow to intensify.
As Lyra and Bon-Bon were at the front, they could feel the energy radiating from her, making them feel a little tingly. Bon-Bon noticed something out of the corner of her eye, something that could potentially spell disaster. Derpy was still gleefully dancing about, but she was getting uncomfortably close to Twilight. One little knock, and everyone present could be spending an evening on the moon.
Twilight was entering the final stage of her magic prep, and her horn was glowing with intensity similar to that of a small star. She raised her head up, pointing her horn towards the sky, and readied herself to dispel the magic. It was at this moment that something unfortunate occurred. Derpy didn’t take note of where the stage ended, and placed a hoof onto thin air. This resulted in a loss of balance, and a lot of comedic flailing. Most of the ponies at the front of the audience moved out of the way, realising what happened next. Although Lyra and Bon-Bon remained where they were, ready to catch the falling wizard.
As Derpy fell, her flailing caused her to unintentionally whack Twilight on the back of the head. The force of Derpy’s hoof against Twilight, forced her head downwards, making her horn point directly at Lyra, Bon-Bon and Derpy. As pain surged through her skull, she lost concentration, dispelling the magic early. So now there was a bolt of powerful magic surging towards three very unfortunate ponies. The bolt struck the floor, throwing up dust and sparks around the trio. Beams of magic formed a bubble around them, and then, in a bright flash of light, they disappeared.
Twilight looked around, and noticing the distinct lack of a bubble blowing wizard, a lyre playing minstrel and a knight with an affection for sweets, she muttered under her breath.
“Oh dear…”
****
Bon-Bon opened her eyes, and was met with bright blue sky. She turned her head to the right, and saw Lyra sleeping away next to her. She sighed and guessed she had just been having a bad dream, and she was still relaxing in the field with Lyra. She rolled over to her left and gasped loudly. There, laid next to her was the bubble wizard Derpy, which proved that what had happened was no dream. She sat up and surveyed the landscape. They were currently sat in a wide open field, and in the distance, she could make out a large structure, possibly a town. She felt something heavy on her back, right where her wooden sword and shield should be. She unclipped them from her back, and made another shocking revelation. They had somehow transformed into a steel dagger, and a bronze shield, emblazoned with her cutie mark. Bon-Bon nudged Lyra awake, to tell her about this predicament.
“Lyra! Lyra! Wake up!” wailed Bon-Bon.
“Oooh, five more minutes…” spoke Lyra, in a sleepy daze.
“Lyra!” yelled Bon-Bon.
“Where’s the fire?!” exclaimed Lyra as she sprung awake.
“There’s no fire, but we have a big problem on our hooves!” exclaimed Bon-Bon as she grabbed Lyra “I think we’ve gone back in time!”
Lyra chuckled and threw Bon-Bon an “Oh you” sort of look.
“You get hit by one magical spell, and you think you’ve gone back in time. You really can be silly sometimes, you know that?”
“Oh, so would you mind telling me where Ponyville is hmm?” retorted Bon-Bon.
Lyra looked around; sure enough there were no houses, not even the stage, but they couldn’t have gone back in time, could they? Then in the distance she noticed two figures making there way towards her, their features indistinguishable at that distance.
“See that Bon-Bon?” She pointed to the approaching figures “That’s probably the search team on their way. We were probably blasted out of Ponyville, not sent back in time.”
Bon-Bon looked at the approaching figures, maybe Lyra was right. Come to think of it, the whole sent back in time idea had been completely spontaneous. Plus it was only based on the fact that her once fake items were now real and deadly. A soft groaning from her left side caused Lyra and herself to look at the source. This was Derpy of course, finally waking up from the effects of Twilight’s spell gone awry.
Derpy rubbed her blonde mane with her hoof, then brought the hoof to her face, and stared at it with horror. Bon-Bon was about to ask her what was wrong, but Derpy suddenly started frantically searching the area around her.
“Where is it?” shouted Derpy, worriedly.
Again Bon-Bon was going to ask what it was she was looking for, but she soon realised. It was the bubble mix and the wand, or at least that’s the only thing that sprung to her mind. By this point the figures were closer, about a few feet away from the group. The leader called out to them;
“Hand over thy weapons and bits, and no harm shall come to thee!”
Bon-Bon just looked puzzled, but picked up her dagger and shield, just in case.
“You can drop character guys, it’s just us.” Replied Lyra.
“The lady doth speak with a foreign tongue! Men, take up thy arms!”
The two stallions behind the leader raised a battleaxe and a short sword into the air, using their own magic.
Bon-Bon had been right to pick up her dagger and shield, as once the guard relayed his command, the whole group charged forward. Lyra and Bon-Bon stood firm, whilst Derpy continued to scramble around for her missing bubble making tools. Bon-Bon swung her dagger towards the leader, hoping that if she injured him, the others would fall back. Lyra used the only thing she possibly could, her lyre. She swung it back and forth, mimicking sword slashes.
The stallions were relentless in their assault against Lyra and Bon-Bon. However the third seemed unsure about how to approach Derpy. He could’ve struck her down with ease, after all she didn’t seem to be paying much attention. Yet even though he lived by the code of thievery, there was always honour amongst thieves. It was this honour that stopped him from attacking Derpy. He would have his chance, as soon as she was finished with whatever she was doing.
“Found it!” exclaimed Derpy amongst the grunts and other battle cries.
The third stallion took this as his chance; he swung his sword towards her. Derpy’s response to this was to swing the bubble wand from the floor to the sky, creating a transparent wall. However the wall didn’t condense into a more cylindrical shape like it would normally. Instead it solidified, making the sword rebound, sending vibrations up it’s length and into it’s holder.
“Well that’s new…” said Derpy, rather dumfounded.
Before the guard had a chance to recover, Derpy was already blowing more bubbles. She huffed and puffed as much as she could, creating a huge bubble, big enough to hold a pony. It drifted towards the guard, and with a soft ‘plop’ noise, swallowed him up. Bon-Bon and Lyra were losing the fight against the others; they just weren’t ready for fighting like this. They were soon knocked to the floor, coming to a rest just in front of Derpy.
“Derpy! Don’t just stand there! Do something!” exclaimed a rather flustered Lyra.
All eyes fell upon Derpy, and she responded by raising the bubble wand to her mouth, and blowing. The stallions began to laugh; it was such a pathetic display. Bubbles against cold hard steel, it was obvious who would win. Except this was Derpy, and she had a new trick under her robe.
The bubble continued to expand to unnatural proportions, whilst Bon-Bon and Lyra just watched, suspended in disbelief. With each breath, Derpy’s eyes started to rotate a little in her head, giving a six and nine kind of look. It unsettled the stallions a little, but they didn’t show it. The stallions were getting bored now; it had been funny at first, now it was just stupid. Their leader swung his sword at the bubble, and was incredibly surprised when it just swallowed it up, and refused to let go of his hoof.
“What new sorcery is this?!” exclaimed the stallion.
The others watched as he was pulled into the bubble, with a familiar ‘plop’. The other stallion turned tail and ran, before Derpy managed to conjure up another bubble. As they left, Derpy’s eyes returned to normal, and her colleagues spoke their thoughts.
“That…that was incredible…” said Bon-Bon, rather surprised.
“How did you do that?” asked Lyra.
“I don’t really know…but I guess this really is a magic wand huh?” replied Derpy modestly.
Lyra got up and circled the captured stallions. It really was quite extraordinary, they were trapped behind the thinnest walls ever, and they couldn’t get out. Bon-Bon pointed to the structure she had noticed in the distance, and spoke to the group.
“We should head to that place in the distance.” She looked up at the sun, which was now setting in the sky. “Night will be here soon, and I’m pretty sure Derpy’s bubbles aren’t going to be much help then.”
The three of them gathered their stuff together, and made haste to the town in the distance. Lyra was starting to think that Bon-Bon may have been onto something with this whole time travel thing.
“Bon-Bon…uhm, do you still think we’ve gone back in time?” Asked Lyra sheepishly.
“Why? Are you having second thoughts?” retorted Bon-Bon smugly.
“Well, it’s just that those stallions that attacked us were either really fanatical about renaissance fairs, or they were generally from that era…” replied Lyra.
“If you want my honest opinion, then yes. I believe we have gone back in time, and we’re stuck here until we find some way back…” answered Bon-Bon calmly.
“Really? We’re stuck here? I suppose it’s likely that somepony back home is wondering what happened to us…maybe they’re thinking of a way to get us back?” Derpy chipped in optimistically.
“Maybe, but for now, we should hurry onwards. I don’t want to hang around more than we need to…” replied Bon-Bon with a quick glance over either shoulder.
So the three ponies sped up, dashing towards the distant structure, and towards more adventure.
****
Meanwhile back in present day Ponyville, the search for the three ponies was turning up nothing. Twilight was especially eager to find them as she was certain that she would be punished severely for misplacing three ponies. She had spent most of the day pouring over books, and responding to questions on what she was doing to remedy the situation.
“Think Twilight, think! There has to be some way to find them!” exclaimed a distressed Twilight.
Spike hurriedly rushed into the room with what could be the answer to Twilight’s problems.
“Twilight! I was looking through some of the older books in the library and I found this!”
Spike tossed a ratty old book onto the table where Twilight was working.
“Care to explain a little more Spike?” asked Twilight.
“I am, just let me find it again…” replied Spike as he skimmed the books pages.
“Uhm Spike? Are you sure you have the right book?” asked Twilight as she tried to get a look at the cover of the book. “I ask because I’m pretty sure ‘My First Book of Spells’ won’t have the answer…”
“You’d be surprised at what’s in her Twilight…Aha! Here it is, the Pony Tracker spell.” Exclaimed Spike as he moved aside to allow Twilight a better view.
Twilight skimmed over the pages, reading the spells’ description aloud to herself.
“Lost your pony? Wherever it is, whether it is lost to the unforgiving time stream, or just to another dimension, this spell can help!” read Twilight enthusiastically.
“See Twilight? Sometimes simpler is the answer!” chorused Spike.
“Of course Spike, now could you leave me be for a few minutes so I can concentrate? I’d hate for a repeat of last time…”
“Sure Twilight, I’ll go grab something to eat, and then come back to see how you’re doing ok?” asked the baby dragon.
“Yeah, sure, of course…” answered Twilight as she closed her eyes to concentrate.
Spike left, leaving Twilight alone so she could have the concentration she required. Twilight focused her magic, shutting out everything around her that could distract her. She tried to focus on the ponies, Bon-Bon in her knight outfit, Lyra in her minstrel outfit, and Derpy the bubble magician. Bolts of magic sprung from her horn, hovering in front of her face. The bolts then joined together, to form a circular object. Inside the circle were three colourful, fuzzy blobs, which were slowly coming into focus. Twilight was moments away from completing her spell, when she was distracted by an unlikely source, Twilight herself. She momentarily recalled Spike’s utterance about getting something to eat, only briefly, but it was enough to make her stomach growl, and break her concentration. The magic circle she had created collapsed in on itself, breaking the link between Twilight and the others.
“Hrm, maybe I’ll get something to eat and try it again afterwards, I mean they’re probably not that desperate to get home anyway…” said Twilight to herself.
Then she zipped out of the room and began her search for something edible.
****
“I’m starting to get a little desperate here, I really want to go back home…” said a slightly anxious Derpy, as they made their way through the muddy streets.
“Well I’m afraid you’re going to have to put some of that desperation aside, as we aren’t going anywhere soon…” replied Lyra.
The three ponies had made their way into the structure that had appeared on the horizon, and were now making their way down the cold deserted streets. Wooden cottages adorned the streets, towering over the ponies themselves, shadowing them. The ground beneath their hooves was damp and muddy, and made walking quite the chore. In the distance, a voice rang out, startling the group for a few seconds.
“Stop! Thou hast broken the law! Cease thy actions and surrender thyself!”
An unknown stallion burst through the group, sending them flying like skittles. As they lay face down in the mud, another stallion appeared behind them, his body covered in shimmering armour. It was obvious that he was some sort of guard, possibly one of the towns’ night watch.
“Halt! What art thou maidens doing roaming these streets at this late hour?”
“It’s not that late…” replied Bon-Bon through a layer of mud.
“Art thou challenging the laws laid down by our exalted Queen?” boomed the guard.
Before the ponies could reply, they were hauled to their feet, and made to walk on.
“Where are you taking us?” protested Derpy.
“To our Queens’ court, there we shall see just how your confidence wanes in her presence!”
They were led down many streets and soon emerged in front of an enormous stone castle. At the corner of each wall was a spire stretching up towards the night sky. Lights flickered at the various windows that adorned the walls, casting shadows onto the floor outside. Derpy, Lyra, and Bon-Bon turned their attention to the drawbridge that had lowered to allow them access inside. Flames flickered inside lamps hung either side of the drawbridge. The more the ponies looked at it, the more it seemed like it was some sort of animal maw, waiting to swallow them up. Reluctantly they took a few steps forward, edging ever further into the metaphorical belly of the beast.
As they entered the court yard, the drawbridge was raised again, sealing them off from the outside. In the centre of the courtyard was a humongous statue, of a pony dressed in a regal cloak, staring up to the stars. Something clicked in Lyras’ mind, something seemed familiar about the statue, or at least the pony it was representing.
“Bon-Bon, is that-?” whispered Lyra.
“Not sure, although I was thinking the same thing…” responded Bon-Bon.
“Silence!” interrupted the guard.
Not wanting to incur the guards’ wrath, Lyra and Bon-Bon quickly terminated the conversation. They were then led up some stone steps, and through a set of large oak doors, and into the castle itself. The interior was much more spectacular than the exterior. For starters the floors were decorated with a red fabric carpet, along the edges of which ran a golden trail. The walls were decorated with paintings of the townspeople’s glorious leader. They were then taken down these immaculate halls, and led into the stunning throne room. There the ponies’ jaws hit the floor. The hallways dulled in comparison to the throne room. The floors were made from a marble-like substance, and reflected their shocked expressions back to them. More pictures hung from the walls. Hanging from the roof was an enormous chandelier, with a few of the candles replaced by gemstones. Each of the stones twinkled from the candlelight, creating a dazzling visual effect. The throne itself was made from a mixture of wood and gold, whilst red velvet adorned the seat and backrest. Seated upon the throne was a blue pony, with a silvery mane. Atop her head was a triangular crown, with a red ruby fixed into the centre, whilst her back was covered with a purple robe, the hem of which was decorated with fur.
“Who dares disturb thy Queen?!” she bellowed.
“”Y-your majesty” replied the guard shakily as he bowed down before her “I caught these young maidens breaking your ‘home for the dark’ law…”
“What!? Dost they care not for their safety? Dost they not realise that I, Queen Trixie, am only trying to protect the subjects of Ponyville?!”
Trixie lowered her gaze from the guard, focusing it instead on the offenders.
“What dost thou have to say in thy- wait…” Trixie stopped suddenly and got down from her throne. She then approached the group and began to circle them, like a vulture would its prey. She stood behind them, and looked up to the wall behind her throne.
“It cannot be…” murmured Trixie.
The three ponies followed her gaze up to the wall, and suddenly shared the same shock that Trixie had experienced. There on the wall, was a stained glass window. Nothing special about that, but it was what was detailed on the window that made it special. There in a bright array of colour were Derpy in wizard robe, Lyra in her minstrel outfit, and Bon-Bon in her armour, all falling from a portal in the sky.
“Guard! I shall see to it that you are rewarded for bringing these to me. Now leave us in peace!” bellowed Trixie, retaking her more appropriate royal voice.
The guards quickly vacated the area and left their Queen alone with the offenders.
“Uhm, your majesty? Why is there a window with the three of us painted on it?” asked Derpy.
“Ordinarily I would have cut out thy tongue for speaking without permission, but I shall overlook it this once.”
Derpy was silent, the thought of loosing her tongue didn’t appeal to her. Instead Lyra chipped in.
“You didn’t answer her question…your Majesty…”
“For years my kingdom has been attacked by an evil warlock. On the eve of their most brutal attack, they took one of my subjects. Before they left, they spoke of a prophecy, telling of the only subjects that would have a chance to defeat her. T’was a ridiculous idea at the time, but we had that window made to remind us of the prophecy” replied Trixie.
“With all due respect your majesty; we can’t be the ponies of prophecy. I mean we barely know how to fight, let alone take on an evil warlock” replied Bon-Bon.
“Then you must be trained! First thing in the morn thou shalt be trained in the ways of the blade, the archer and the mage! For now, you should rest, here take this.”
Trixie handed over a note, and Derpy took it and slipped into a pouch on her robe’s belt.
“Uhm, what is that your majesty?” asked Lyra, pointing to the note.
“It’s a permission from your Queen; it will grant you free access to any inn or tavern, or wherever thou decide to rest” replied Trixie.
“Thank you, your majesty” chorused the trio.
Trixie dismissed them with a wave of her hoof, and the trio quickly left. Once they were back into the streets of Ye Olde Ponyville, they set about looking for a place to sleep for the night. Lucky for them the taverns and inns were pretty easy to find. For starters they were the only places that showed signs of life, whether it be candles flickering in lamps, or the sound of drunken laughter. Eventually they settled upon a place to stay, an inn called ‘The Happy Stallion’. Feeling a little nervous they made their way inside. Thankfully all the patrons appeared to have caught an early night, leaving the establishment empty. They approached the main desk, where an elderly stallion greeted them.
“Be you ‘ere about a room?” inquired the stallion.
“Uhm, yes. Three rooms please.” Answered Bon-Bon.
“I’m afraid I only have two rooms spare m’lady”
Lyra looked and Bon-Bon, and she returned the look.
“Two rooms will be fine!” exclaimed the pair.
“Very well, that will be seventy two bits…”
Derpy handed over the note, which the stallion promptly read.
“Hmm, in that case, follow me…”
The stallion moved out from behind the desk, handed Derpy the note back, and led them upstairs. As they arrived on the first floor, the stallion stood to the side and pointed down the hall.
“Last two on the left. G’night.”
He then turned and headed back downstairs, to take his place at the desk. The others made their way down the hall and stood outside their respective rooms. Bon-Bon and Lyra stood outside one door, whilst Derpy stood alone on the opposite side.
“I guess you two are sharing huh?” asked Derpy.
“Yeah, that’s ok with you right?” replied Bon-Bon.
“It sure is!” replied Derpy.
“Well then, goodnight Derpy” said Bon-Bon as she turned to enter the room.
“Yeah, goodnight Derpy” said Lyra as she followed Bon-Bon.
“Goodnight…” replied Derpy as she made her way into her room.
****
Back in the present, Twilight was preparing herself for another attempt at her recovery spell. This time she had chosen to hide away in the basement of the library, where there was no chance of her being disturbed. She quickly got to work, and soon enough the familiar circle had appeared, except this time there weren’t any blobs visible. Confused, she cancelled the spell, and took a moment to think about what could possibly be going wrong.
“I set up the spell the same way…was I not focused enough?” Twilight asked herself.
No, she always gave a hundred percent when it came to concentrating on spells, so there had to be another factor at work. Spike burst through the basement door, a worried look on his face. The look of worry was soon replaced with a more relaxed look as he noticed Twilight.
“Oh there you are Twilight…I was a little worried when you weren’t where I left you” sighed Spike, relieved.
“Oh sorry Spike! I moved down here so that it was more likely that I wouldn’t be interrupted” responded Twilight.
“Did it help? The being down here I mean?” queried the baby dragon.
“While it did help my concentration, I didn’t achieve the same level of success as my previous attempt. This needs further study, or maybe a few more attempts.”
“Well I suggest you work fast, the Princess and the mayor are at the town hall. They’re asking for you, they want to know how you’re remedying the problem” said Spike, his worried look returning slightly.
“Well I know the spell works, I’m just not sure of the specifics. Spike! Go get me that spell book please, while I prepare some notes for the mayor and the Princess” barked Twilight.
Spike gave her a hasty salute, and made haste for book that had been left lying around the library. Twilight on the other hand, levitated a nearby quill into the air, and made her way upstairs to search for parchment.
****
The next morning brought with it a loud knock at Derpy’s door, to which Derpy replied with a very sleepy ‘hello?’
“Open the door!” demanded a mysterious voice.
Derpy was unsure about how to react, but she did make her way closer to the door.
“Uhm, who is it?” she asked, now right up to the door.
“We’re looking for three maidens; Queen Trixie hath decreed that they begin training, be you one of them?”
Derpy opened the door a crack and peered through. On the other side was a gruff looking stallion, his face partially covered by an iron helmet.
“Uhm, I and two of my friends met with Queen Trixie last night, and she did mention training, so I guess you’re looking for us…”
Derpy opened the door fully, making the guard step back and cringe slightly.
“M’lady, please could ye clothe thyself?” asked the guard, nervously.
Derpy hadn’t given much thought to getting dressed, she was pretty used to moving about with nothing on, she guessed things were different in the past. She closed the door and slipped into her robe, before opening it again. This time instead of standing in the doorway, she stepped into the hallway.
“My friends are in the room across for me, should I wake them?” queried Derpy.
“Nay, we must make haste. The other guards shalt take care of thy ‘friends’.” Replied the guard, taking hold of Derpy and leading her down the hallway.
“Uhm, ok…” replied Derpy, as she took a quick glance at Bon-Bon and Lyra’s room before they descended the stairs.
They exited the inn and the guard informed his colleagues of the whereabouts of Lyra and Bon-bon, before taking Derpy to the castle courtyard. Once there the guard left Derpy standing next to the Trixie statue that Lyra and Bon-Bon had noticed the night before. Derpy was about to ask why he was leaving her, when another stallion approached her. This one was wearing a similar robe to Derpy, except his was blue, and lacked the astral patterns that Derpy’s had. The stallion’s coat was a very light grey, and was very unkempt. His mane and tail were a ghostly white, and incredibly messy.
“Be you here for training?” asked the grey stallion.
“Yes, are you the teacher?” asked Derpy.
“The magic teacher which is what ye be here for yes?”
Derpy nodded and smiled.
“This way then m’lady” The teacher gestured an open door on the other side of the courtyard.
The teacher set off, and Derpy followed, hot on his heels. Together they made their way through the castle to its centre. The castle’s centre was another courtyard, which also appeared to double as a garden. Dotted around the outskirts of the area were sacks of hay hoisted onto wooden sticks, obviously to double as targets for Derpy’s magical attacks. Her teacher brought her close to one of the targets and pointed to it.
“Show me what thou ist capable of…” ordered the teacher.
Without a word Derpy lifted up her bubble wand and mix, and focused. She wasn’t sure what to show him, but eventually decided on something simple. She blew into the wand and blew a bubble, a plain and simple bubble. Her teacher stifled a chuckle, but kept his eyes fixated on the bubble, waiting to see if it did anything else. It drifted over to one of the dummies, expanding just a little bit too fully encompass its head. Her teacher crossed over to the dummy and prodded the bubble, trying push through it, with no obvious success.
“Ingenious! An impenetrable fortress made of the thinnest walls imaginable! Can thou do anything else?” asked her teacher, suitably impressed.
Derpy shook her head, a little embarrassed.
“Hmm. May I see thy tools for a moment?” asked the teacher.
“Sure!” exclaimed Derpy.
The stallion took hold of the bubble mix and wand, inspecting each of them thoroughly. He then handed Derpy the wand back, but kept hold of the mix. He waved a hoof over the top, muttering something which caused the liquid inside to glow a burnt orange, before it returned to its normal clear colour. He then handed it back to Derpy, who gave it a quick glance to see if anything had changed, which of course nothing had changed.
“What did you do?” asked a slightly confused Derpy.
“I merely fused it with a spell of my own creation, try it!” responded the teacher.
Derpy took her casting stance and began to blow bubbles. A multitude of bubbles drifted through the air, attaching themselves to the same dummy as before. The teacher leant in close to observe them.
“There doth not appear to b-”
He was cut off as the bubbles popped, but not in the traditional sense. Each time one popped, it was like a mini explosion. Chunks of straw that had been used to stuff the dummy erupted into the air, along with thin wisps of smoke, causing Derpy and her mentor to cough and splutter.
“Interesting, we shalt pursue this further…”
Derpy nodded and prepared for what was to come next.
Meanwhile Bon-Bon and Lyra were being taken from their training exercises by a guard, who was lecturing them on why two mares sharing a bed together was wrong.
“-it’s filthy and against the law” finished the guard.
“But we didn’t sleep in the same bed together! I slept on the floor!” protested Lyra.
“Then how did thou manage to end up in bed with this fair maiden when I entered thy room?” boomed the guard.
Lyra was about to respond but the sudden appearance of Derpy in the courtyard suppressed her initial outburst.
“Derpy!” exclaimed Bon-Bon as she rushed over to her.
Lyra followed after her, leaving the guard to grumble about how uncouth it was to leave in the middle of conversation.
“How was your training?” asked the grey Pegasus.
“General swordsmanship and battle planning for me, and Lyra got some practice at using a bow and arrow. She even got a courtesy bow, and should she lose that, she can use her lyre as a makeshift bow” responded Bon-Bon.
“Yeah, wasn’t all that interesting though, not something you would write about…” chipped in Lyra.
“Well now that we’re all trained up, we should probably head off then huh?” asked Lyra.
“Wait…don’t we need directions?” asked Derpy.
“Nah, we made sure to get them before we came to get you!” exclaimed Lyra in response.
Derpy then gestured to the exit, and the three of them set off to complete their task.
As they approached the warlocks’ tower, a few things struck the brave warriors. One was how under protected it was, the second was how well it played to genre conventions. There was lightning flashing around the top of the tower, and the sky was dull and colourless, a perfect example of pathetic fallacy if there was ever a need for one. The trio took a deep breath and made their way forward, stopping just outside the door. The door itself was blocked by a large metal portcullis, which would be unbreakable by mortal hooves. Lyra and Bon-Bon both realised that they could do nothing to this obstacle, so they stepped aside for Derpy to have a go at it. She took her place, standing a safe distance away, and raised her bubble wand and bubble mix. She dunked the wand into the mix, and whipped it back out, giving it a gentle flick to remove any excess. She then raised the wand to her lips and blew into it. A regular sized bubble formed and separated from the wand, drifting towards the portcullis. The bubble attached itself to the portcullis, and Derpy, Lyra and Bon-Bon put their hooves to their ears and turned away. Within seconds, an ear-splitting explosion ripped through the air, sending shockwaves through the ground. Smoke and dust billowed around the tower and the ponies stood in-front of it. Once it cleared, there was quite a sizeable chunk of the portcullis missing.
“Nice one Derpy” commented Bon-Bon, as she made her way inside.
“Yeah, maybe it could have been a bit weaker though…” noted Lyra as she followed Bon-Bon.
Derpy absorbed their comments, and followed after them, tucking her wand and mix back into her robe’s belt. She then followed after the others, not wanting to be left outside. No sooner had she joined them inside, did a magical aura cover the entrance. A voice rung down from the top of the tower,
“Fools! Art thou insane? Doth thou know whose domain thou hast entered?
The three ponies continued onwards, undeterred by the booming voice. They entered into a circular room, home to a spiral staircase. On the walls around the room were burning oil lamps, casting flickering light around the room. The ponies walked to the centre of the room, where an astral rune was carved into the floor beneath their hooves.
“Still here? Thou will regret not fleeing in terror!” explained the voice.
“Not that we had a choice, seeing as you shut us in…” muttered Lyra sarcastically.
The ground shook beneath the three warriors’ hooves, and the astral rune began to glow a sinister red. Cracks appeared in the floor, slowly getting wider, radiating the same sinister red.
“To the stairs! Now!” yelled Bon-Bon as she took point.
They wasted no time at all, and made a mad dash for the spiral staircase. Realising that the only pony that could put a stop to this was at the top of the tower, they made their way upstairs. As they ascended, Derpy took a quick glance downwards, and called out to the others.
“Girls! We may have a problem here…”
Lyra and Bon-Bon both looked down and shared the same gasp as Derpy. Rising from the cracks in the floor were ponies, skeletal ponies. Their frames were made up of pure flesh stripped bone, floating amidst a darker purpler aura. A few of them looked up and gave a unanimous battle cry. The cry momentarily froze Derpy, Lyra and Bon-Bon in place. The skeletal ponies saw their opportunity and began to ascend the stairs, slowly at first, but gradually they began to pick up speed.
“We have to go…now!” yelled Lyra as she made a dash forward.
Bon-Bon followed hot on her trail, but Derpy remained where she was.
“Derpy! Come on!” exclaimed a desperate Bon-Bon.
“Keep moving! I’ve got a plan to slow them down!” responded Derpy.
Bon-Bon was reluctant to adhere to Derpy’s commands, but Lyra pulled her onwards regardless. Derpy took out her trusty bubble mix and wand, and prepared for another spell, this time one of the first she had ever used. She dipped the wand in the mix and started to wave it wildly in the air. The mix hung in the air, creating solid transparent strands. Satisfied that she had slowed them down, she retreated further up the staircase.
“Derpy! Hurry up!” screeched Bon-Bon, as Derpy stopped again to make another wall.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” responded Derpy.
Lyra and Bon-Bon were approaching the top of the tower now, and Derpy was still fairly close to the bottom. Lyra hauled Bon-Bon out onto the top of the tower, where their target was waiting for them. Suddenly Lyra’s bow and Bon-Bon’s sword were plucked from their resting places and pulled towards a cloaked pony.
“These are the best that she could muster? I am insulted, deeply insulted.”
The cloaked pony took down her cloak’s hood, giving her purple mane a shake to sort it out. Derpy rushed out onto the roof and began to speak;
“Hey, we need to-” she paused and looked at the cloaked pony.
“And would thou be the third brave warrior?” asked the pony.
Derpy nodded and moved closer to Lyra and Bon-Bon, pushing in the middle of the two. She leant in close to Bon-Bon and whispered to her.
“What’s up with her horn?” whispered Derpy.
“Speakst thy mind for all to hear!” commanded the pony.
“Uhm, I was wondering what happened to your horn?” said Derpy, a little less confident.
The pony’s horn was in quite the state. Deep fissures ran up and down its length, smaller cracks jutting out from the larger ones. An entire section of the tip had broken off, and the ponies couldn’t fathom the pain that must have caused her.
“T’was that whelp Trixie! I deserved the throne, but I was robbed as t’were. We fought, and I paid the price with my horn. Yet this should not be! They should be worshipping Queen Sparklight!”
Sparklight stood up on two hooves, thrusting her forelegs into the air, striking a post reminiscent of the typical villain.
“But how can you still do magic? I thought that when a unicorn’s horn broke, they lost their magical ability?” queried Lyra.
“Thou ist correct. However I stored my magic elsewhere, in a separate vessel where it is still accessible to me…” replied Sparklight, as she pulled a wooden cane embellished with a ruby on the tip.
Sparklight continued on a tangent about how difficult it was to store her immense magical ability inside such a tiny ruby. This gave Bon-Bon time to formulate a plan. She whispered a few ideas to Lyra and Derpy; they both nodded and prepared themselves. Derpy flew into the air, flying over Sparklight, and hovered under the ramparts, just out of sight with her bubble mix prepped. Lyra pulled out her lyre and magically took hold of an arrow from her quiver.
“I grow tired of this meeting, I shalt leave thou to my minions…” sighed Sparklight as she rammed her staff into the floor.
Red veins of energy pulsed outwards from the bottom of the staff, and were met with a loud battle cry. The three ponies knew exactly what this meant, and realised that now was time to act out their plan. Lyra levitated her lyre and arrow, so that the arrow was placed on the strings. She pulled them back and let go, causing the arrow to shoot forth as if it had come from a regular bow. The arrow struck its mark; the ruby on the top of Spark light’s cane, causing it to crack.
“Fools! Dost thou realise what thou has done?!” exclaimed Sparklight.
Behind them the skeletal ponies roared and sped up, no longer bound to serve Sparklight. Lyra stepped away from the entrance to the tower roof, and nudged Bon-Bon to begin her part of the plan. Truth be told, Bon-Bon was nervous about exacting her part of the plan, but as the skeletal minions filed out onto the tower roof, she realised she didn’t have much choice. Without another thought on the matter, Bon-Bon charged for Sparklight, with Lyra hot on her heels. She lowered her head charging Sparklight, and knocking her back with incredible force. Sparklight staggered backwards, tumbling over the ramparts. Bon-Bon leapt after her, followed by Lyra, who made sure to telekinetically grab their seized weapons before she followed Bon-Bon. As the three of them tumbled down the tower, Sparklight’s cane finally gave up trying to contain the power within. It cracked and pieces splintered off it, before it exploded in a rainbow of colour, releasing a shockwave that caused the tower to crumble.
“Watch out, the whole tower’s coming down!” yelled Lyra amongst the chaos.
By now the combination of wind resistance and gravity had flipped the three ponies around to face the floor. Bon-Bon and Lyra were both relieved to see that Derpy had completed her part of the plan, and they shut their eyes waiting for the moment to end. Sparklight on the other hand was hurling insults at Lyra and Bon-Bon, cursing them for destroying her home, and ruining her plans. However, even she was silenced when they suddenly stopped floating, instead left to hover a few feet off the ground.
“Derpy really outdid herself on this one!” exclaimed Bon-Bon.
Outside the bubble, a grey silhouette could be seen hovering outside of their captive field. The silhouette lifted up one of its forelegs and swung it down towards the captive ponies. The protective bubble that they had been caught it disappeared, taking its effects with it. The three ponies fell the final few feet, and landed with a soft ‘thud’ against the floor.
“Hey Derpy!” exclaimed Bon-Bon.
“Nice to see you again Derpy!” exclaimed Lyra.
Sparklight took this reunion as a chance to make a quick getaway, although Derpy was quick to restrain her. She used small bubbles and placed them over Sparklight’s hooves, to act as makeshift shackles.
“Well then, should we take her back to Trixie?” asked Derpy
“Indeed we shall!” exclaimed Bon-Bon as she struck a heroic pose whilst holding her sword.
“Onward!” mimicked Lyra.
The three ponies erupted into laughter, whilst Sparklight muttered something about being defeated by imbeciles.
****
Twilight raced over to the Ponyville Town Hall, her notes clutched tightly between her teeth. She had prepared a speech on her ideas about where the ponies had gone, and how she planned on bringing them back. She hoped that the Princess and the Mayor would see that she was trying to correct her mistake, rather than sitting about doing nothing. She arrived outside of the town hall, took a deep breath and made her way inside. The Princess and the Mayor were quick to turn around at the opening of the door.
“Ah! Twilight, good to see you’ve arrived!” exclaimed Mayor Mare.
“Indeed. Good evening Princess and you Mayor.”
“So Twilight how is your research into this morning’s, incident coming along?”
“It’s been productive so far, although I seem to have hit a snag” replied Twilight a little sheepishly.
“What’s the problem?” asked the Princess.
“Well Spike found a spell to locate ponies, regardless of where they are in time and space. So I used it and managed to create a link to them, but I lost concentration…” replied Twilight.
“Please tell me that you haven’t lost Spike…” asked the Mayor nervously.
“Oh no no no! I didn’t lose Spike; he was outside at the time. However when I went back to try and do the spell again, I didn’t seem to be able to create the same link as before” replied Twilight.
“Hmm, I have heard of such problems occurring before. It’s commonly due to your location compared to their location. For example if I sent you back in time fifty or so years, and you stayed still and didn’t move from the spot you were in, I could bring you back due to how close we are in distance. This does cover a wide radius, so maybe you were only out by a little bit?” responded Princess Celestia.
“Hmm maybe yo-”
Twilight stopped mid sentence as she felt a tingling sensation in her horn. She backed up a little as tiny sparks flew from her horn.
“What’s happening?” asked Twilight as she tried to hold back the oncoming spell.
“Just go with it Twilight, let us see what this is...” replied Celestia.
Feeling that she had no other alternative, Twilight let the spell continue. A bolt of magic shot from her horn creating a portal right there in the town hall. Twilight looked up as she struggled to maintain the portal, to find Lyra, Derpy and Bon-Bon staring back at her, each looking more confused than the last.
“Twilight…?” chorused the three ponies is unison.
****
A few minutes before the sudden appearance of Twilight and her portal, Queen Trixie’s warriors found themselves in the royal throne room.
“Thou hast done thy Queen proud! Thou shalt be honoured greatly, thy achievements captured for the ages!”
“Thank you, your majest-what?” chorused the trio of ponies.
A jagged aura of magic formed in front of them, a picture forming inside the outline. At first it was hazy, but it soon focused to show Twilight engaging in some sort of magical act.
“Twilight…?” chorused the three ponies in unison.
“H-hurry…I-I-I can’t hold i-it…” explained Twilight.
The three of them looked at each other and leapt through the portal. Once on the other side, they came crashing into Twilight, knocking her to the ground.
“Ow…nice to see you back again…”
“It’s good to be back, although it wasn’t too bad back there…” answered Bon-Bon.
Derpy let out a loud ‘awww’ as she saw her enchanted bubble mix spilt over the floor. Bon-Bon and Lyra chuckled and everypony else joined in, although they weren’t really entirely sure what they were laughing at.
“Well I guess, we’re going to go get changed out of these clothes…” said Bon-Bon as she slowly stopped laughing.
“Yeah, we’re probably looking pretty out of place right now…” replied Lyra.
“Wait aren’t you going to tell us what happened?” asked Twilight.
“Of course, we will! We just want to get out of these clothes first, and then we’ll come right back and tell you!” replied an enthusiastic Derpy as she made her way to the door.
“Uhm, that’s good too, I guess…” responded Twilight.
“See you shortly!” chorused Lyra, Bon-Bon and Derpy as they disappeared outside.
