What Else Could Go Wrong?!
Theme parks were something everypony enjoyed to go to. Families flocked to the various parks around the land every year, spending their hard earned bits on expensive souvenirs and cheap food as they posed for pictures with mascots and rode their favorite rides. One of the most popular parks in Equestria was one that was built by the Princess of the Moon herself. Lunaland was known for its thrilling rides, scary haunted houses, and extremely addicting carnival games. Having saved Equestria twice in the past year, the Elements of Harmony had decided that they would take a group trip to Lunaland. Along the way, they planned on visiting other cities and famous landmarks in an attempt to make it the best and most unforgettable vacation ever. Thus began the vacation of a lifetime…
A flash of pink galloped through the bustling Ponyville town square. It wove its way through the small crowd, breezing through and narrowly dodging earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi as they went about their daily routine in the market. Most of the ponies had simply learned to ignore the antics of the crazy party pony, so Pinkie Pie’s trek was largely ignored, leaving the streets crowded and any path through extremely narrow. But Pinkie Pie seemed to enjoy the challenge of making her way through the densely packed market unscathed. The pink earth pony’s reflexes were in top form that day as she managed to dance around a unicorn levitating a large load of vegetables in a basket without missing so much as a step in her progress forward. She gave a grin of victory as she broke through the last of the crowds, and began a beeline path towards her destination.
~~~~~
The petrified, hollowed-out tree that housed the hundreds of books publicly owned by Ponyville was by far the most unique building in the entire town. With the help of some unicorn magic to preserve it, the library had become a relic that stood for almost as long as the town surrounding it. Its leaves were a beautiful bright green, and the wood was a healthy shade of offsetting brown, making the tree look as if it still had life left in it. The lavender unicorn who currently resided in the tree was rather proud of her ability to make the library look better than when she had first arrived to town, taking a certain pride in making sure it was one of the more noticeable landmarks of the small town.
Twilight Sparkle stood in front of the door, her horn glowing with a purple aura as she levitated a book in front of her, quickly scanning through the page. She peeked at an apple that had been placed a few feet in front of her, furrowing her brow at it, as if she expected some sort of movement from the inanimate fruit, before returning her attention to the page she was reading, murmuring a bit.
Most of the unicorn’s friends had already joined her in the front lawn, mingling with each other as she engrossed herself in her study. After reading a few more lines, she closed the book as a grin crossed her face.
“I think I’ve figured it out!” she said aloud as she used her magic to place the book inside of saddlebag that lay beside her. Her outburst grabbed her friend’s attention as they all approached the librarian. She turned her focus to the apple, furrowing her brow in concentration as she stared at it. “Stand back everypony,” she said as she allowed her tongue to poke out of the corner of her mouth a bit as her horn lit up. The fruit became encased in a bright purple aura.
“Just what is it you’re trying to do here, dear?” asked the white-furred dressmaker. Rarity gave her fellow unicorn a confused look.
“Remember the spell I used to make our carriage for the Gala? I found a more powerful version of the spell,” Twilight managed to explain with a grunt as she began to focus her concentration and power on the small piece of fruit before her. The apple lifted into the air, vibrating a bit. The lavender unicorn closed her eyes and began to focus on the spell in her mind, channeling what she wanted to do with the fruit into her horn. A bright ball of light began to build up at the tip as she created the finishing touches on the spell. All she had to do was transfer to light into the apple and…
“Hi Twilight! Whatcha doing?!” shouted the pink earth pony from directly behind her. The lavender unicorn quickly opened her eyes, yelping in surprise. The ball of light being held at the tip of her horn shot forward, striking the apple, engulfing it with the bright magical aura. The sides of the apple began to prod out, as if a creature was inside trying to escape. Suddenly, the fruit expanded, shooting up and out in size until it was larger than all of the ponies present. As the magical aura faded, it dropped to the ground with a slight thud. Twilight stared at the fruit, dumbfounded, with her eyes wide and her jaw agape. Pinkie Pie stepped up and inspected the gigantic apple.
“Gee Twilight, I know we’re going on a long trip, but dontcha think this is gonna be hard to carry?” she asked with a giggle before taking a big bite out from the side nearest her. She happily chewed and swallowed the bite. “Mmm, deeeeee- licious! I hope you’re gonna do this to all of our food while we’re traveling!” she exclaimed.
Twilight shook her head, breaking the trance she had fallen into since her spell had failed, her eyes wide with surprise at the pink pony’s actions. “Pinkie, what are you doing?!” she asked in a panicked tone. “That was supposed to be our carriage, but you broke my concentration as I was casting it,” Twilight explained as she stepped towards the apple as she let out a small sigh “Now what are we supposed to do?”
“Let’s just borrow one! This is taking too much time! I could have flown halfway to Lunaland by now!” Rainbow Dash said in an annoyed tone as she flew into the air and crossed her arms, glaring at Twilight.
“Now calm down, RD. Twi is tryin’ to save us some money fer our vacation. Least you could do is be patient with ‘er,” chimed in the orange earth pony, Applejack. She reached her head into her saddle bag for a few seconds and pulled out another apple, tossing it to the ground at Twilight’s feet. “Go ahead an’ try again,” she said with a nod.
Twilight gave her friend a small smile and stepped towards the new apple. “Alright everypony, stay back. This time, no disturbances,” she said. She closed her eyes once again and began concentrating, lighting her horn up with her magical aura. She could feel her mane and tail flow in the self-created wind behind her as the magical spell began to once again build up in her horn. She pictured the apple turning into a carriage in her mind as the light at the tip got brighter, causing her friends to shield their eyes.
Finally, the spell shot forward, striking the apple and disappearing into it with a bright flash. The apple shuddered a bit before beginning to expand rapidly. Once through with its transformation, the enlarged apple dropped to the ground with a loud thud. Twilight stared at it in disbelief as she felt heat swell up in her cheeks. She turned to face her friends, her cheeks noticeably red.
“Uh… I think we should borrow a carriage,” Twilight said, her voice shaking with embarrassment as she gave her friends a nervous smile. Pinkie Pie bounced forward and took a large bite out of the newly enlarged fruit, chewing it with a smile across her face.
“Mmm! Oh, Twilight! Please tell me you can do this to cakes! Oh, I have an idea! Let’s just stay here and have Twilight make us giant snacks! Why do you guys think? Huh? Huh?” the excited pink pony stammered as she bounced up and down in front of her friends. The rest of the group shook their heads as they gathered their saddlebags and headed back down the path into town.
~~~~~
Having had their carriage troubles solved thanks to the kindness of Mayor Mare, the group of friends began their journey towards Fillydelphia, the closest city to Ponyville.
“Alright everypony, we are a little bit behind schedule, but I think if we just crunch some of these things together, we can still fit everything in,” Twilight said as she took a seat on the plush cushion of the carriage and pulled out a roll of parchment from her saddlebag with her magic. She unfurled it in front of her eyes and put a quill to the top of it.
“Wait… schedule? What do you mean schedule?” Rainbow asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at the lavender unicorn as she hovered in front of her.
“I planned everything out for us. I read through a few books about touring Equestria and picked out all of the best sights for us to go and see,” Twilight explained in an excited tone. She hovered the parchment in front of the cyan pegasus, showing off the checklist she had written.
“But we’re going on vacation! Everything we do is supposed to be spontaneous!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, throwing her hooves up in the air in protest.
“I know, Rainbow, and I made sure we had time for any spontaneous activities planned in. The whole schedule is set down to a ‘T’,” Twilight said, bringing the list back in front of her face and giving it a rather proud look. The rainbow-maned pegasus groaned as she shook her head, giving up on the argument.
“Aww, don’t worry Dashie, We’ll have plenty of time to have lots of parties on the way to Lunaland! I’ll even make sure I throw them randomly, just for you! Oh, I know! Let’s have one now!” Pinkie said as she bucked her saddlebags off of her hips. It landed with a heavy thump on the floor of the carriage. Rainbow Dash flew down and studied the bag, which seemed to be bulging from the sides, the straps holding on for dear life to keep the bags shut.
“Uh… Pinkie. What the heck did you pack?” she asked the earth pony with a raised eyebrow
“Duh, Silly! Lots of party things! We’re gonna be on a long trip, so I had to make sure we had plenty of stuff to celebrate with!” the pink pony said as she smiled and flicked open one of the bags with her nose, causing confetti to shoot out. She dug her head into the contents and pulled out a party horn in her mouth, blowing on it and filling the air with a high-pitched whine. Rarity screamed in surprise, turning away from the window and shooting the party pony an angry look.
“Pinkie Pie! Not so loud,” the white unicorn exclaimed, placing a hoof on her chest. “You’ll scare us all to death before we even get into a haunted house!”
“Um… Rarity… We aren’t really going to… you know… visit the haunted houses while we’re at Lunaland are we?” Fluttershy asked, her voice still shaking from the recent scare. She was cowering back against the wall of the carriage. Rarity stepped down from her seat, taking a couple of steps forward and propping her forelegs up on the seat next to the timid yellow pegasus.
“But of course, Fluttershy, darling! We just have to do everything we can while we’re there! I mean, how often do we get to go to a theme park?” the white unicorn asked, with apparent anticipation laced in her voice.
“Oh… um… well yes, we should have as much fun as we can… but I don’t want to go to the haunted houses… if you don’t mind,” the yellow pegasus said, curling herself back against the wall even more at the thought. Rarity gave her a disappointed look.
“But Fluttershy, who will I have to help me brave those scary haunted houses?” she asked, a pleading look in her eyes. The timid pegasus looked down at the carriage floor, avoiding the stare by her dressmaker friend.
“Um… I guess maybe I can… ” she started before being cut off.
“Don’t worry Fluttershy! They aren’t even that scary, and they’re so predictable. I can tell you before somepony tries to jump out and scare us,” Rainbow Dash added in an attempt to convince her fellow pegasus.
“Aw, let her be, ya girls. If ya don’t wanna go inta the haunted houses, we won’t force ya, Fluttershy,” Applejack said, nodding as if the issue was settled. Fluttershy gave her a small smile while the other two ponies pouted.
“Hey everypony! We’re almost to Fillydelphia!” Twilight piped in with her head sticking out the window. Off in the distance, the mass of buildings began to grow larger as they approached their first stop.
~~~~~
After having found a place to let the stallions pulling the carriage rest, the girls headed off into the city to find their first tourist attraction.
“Wow! I can’t believe how big this city is! Imagine if we threw a party and invited everypony from here to it! Hey, Twilight, do you think you could use that big food-making spell you showed us earlier for it? It would take years to make enough cupcakes and candy and punch for everypony!” Pinkie said as she bounced around, admiring the view of the buildings surrounding her. Twilight rolled her eyes as she felt the blush work its way back into her cheeks, remembering the embarrassment of her failed spell.
“Aw, this city is nothing. Just wait until we get to Manehattan. Now that’s a city!” Rainbow Dash said, holding her forelegs out in exaggerated description as she hovered alongside her friends. Applejack simply rolled her eyes.
“So what’re we gonna do while we’re here?” she asked to change the subject.
“Well, according to the vacation checklist, we should go to Fillydelphia Hall,” Twilight said as she used her magic to hold the parchment in front of her. “A lot of great pony history was made there. We could even see the official Decree of Equestria. It has all the laws and agreements they signed back when the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies all discovered Equestria and created Canterlot, Ponyville, and Cloudsdale,” Twilight explained with a twinkle of excitement in her eyes as she looked for her friends’ approval.
“That sounds so boring!” the cyan pegasus said, shrugging off the idea. “Hey, why don’t we get tickets to see Uppercut? He’s that Equestria-famous boxer from here! I’ve always wanted to see him fight!” she continued, the twinkle of excitement now building in her eyes
“I do like that idea, myself,” Applejack added. “So how about it Twi?”
“But… think of the history! This is how Equestria came to be! Aren’t you interested in that at all?” the lavender unicorn pleaded. She was met by resistant stares from most of her friends. Twilight sighed. “Fine… we’ll go watch ponies boxing.”
The group walked over to the arena, buying tickets for the fights that were supposed to happen that day. They found their seats in the arena and waited in anticipation for the fight to begin. Rainbow Dash looked around the arena, hoping to spot a glimpse of the boxing pony. After a few short minutes, music began to play and spotlights swirled down from the ceiling, illuminating the ring and the small pathway leading to it.
“Oh my gosh! There he is!” the rainbow-maned pegasus said in a high-pitched tone, pointing a hoof at the robed pony walking down the pathway towards the ring.
“Is everypony ready?! We sure do have a heck of a show for you today, folks. Introducing the current champion in all of Equestria. He has twenty-eight knockouts and has yet to lose a fight. Everypony, HEEEEEERE’S UPPERRRRRRRRRRRRCUUUUUUUUUUUT!” the announcer in the middle of the ring shouted into a small microphone in his hoof. He pointed towards the corner of the ring where the robed pony had stepped up and in. The boxer untied his sash holding the robe on and shook it off, revealing himself to the audience. The orange earth pony was rather skinny and frail-looking, with a messy brown mane that looked like it hadn’t been groomed in almost a week.
“Hey, are you kidding me?” the cyan pegasus said, exasperated. “That’s Uppercut? I’m tougher than that poor excuse for a pony down there! That’s nothing like how he looks on all of my posters!”
“Careful what you say there, Rainbow. The announcer said himself he is quite the fighter,” Rarity responded. “Albeit he is quite the mess in appearance. Perhaps I should go have a few words with the trainer.” The group watched as Uppercut bounced around the ring a bit, waving to fans before taking hold of the microphone from the announcer in the center.
“Hey there everypony! I wanna thank you all for bein’ here for me today,” he started, his voice laced with a thick city accent. “Now, uh, y’know I like having a chance to interact with my fans. So today we gots a special treat for you all. Any fan who is willin’ to come down here and fight me for a few rounds and remain standing will win tickets to the rest of my fights for life!” he offered to a large round of cheers and applause.
Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up as she heard this offer. “That’s it, eh? I wonder what we would get if we knocked him out?” she stated as her eyes narrowed. A sly smile began to creep across her face. “I’m gonna go do it!” she said as she flapped her wings, taking off towards the ring before any of her friends could object. She landed down in front of the boxer with her chest puffed out in confidence.
“Well, well, no time wasted. Looks like we gots our first challenger. What’s your name, buddy?” Uppercut said into the microphone before holding it before the cyan pegasus.
“I’m Rainbow Dash, and you are totally going down!” she said into the microphone loudly, pointing a hoof at the earth pony. Her actions elicited loud cheers from the audience. She looked back up at her friends who all had a look of fear and terror in their eyes.
“What confidence! I don’t normally say yes to hittin’ a mare, but it sound like you can take it,” Uppercut said with a small chuckle. He waved over two trainers who put gloves on his and Rainbow Dash’s forehooves. The announcer stepped back into the middle of the ring, taking the microphone back.
“Alright, you two, the rules are simple. Get knocked down and I start counting. You have until ten to get back up. Keep it clean, above the flank. If I see one shot hit a cutie mark, you’ll get a warning. Do it again and you’re done,” he explained to the two. Rainbow Dash nodded anxiously, staring at Uppercut. The boxer smirked as he stepped back into his corner, propping himself onto his hind legs. Rainbow did the same as the bell starting the fight rang. She stepped forward, bouncing on her hind legs, swinging her arms around a bit. This’ll be a cinch! She thought as she bounced her ways towards her opponent.
The boxer stood calmly against the rope, awaiting his approaching opponent. He held his hooves up in front of his face as she got within striking distance. He could feel her hitting the sides of his forelegs as he protected his face, watching through the small space between his hooves for an open chance to strike. He narrowed his eyes as he watched the cyan pegasus pull back a hoof for a punch, recognizing it as his chance. He quickly jabbed out his right hoof, striking her in the stomach, doubling her over.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide as she absorbed the blow, her stomach instantly feeling as if it was on fire. She watched in what seemed like slow motion as Uppercut pulled his left hoof back a little and moving it forward and upwards. Oh no! She thought as she felt the punch connect with her jaw, lifting her off her hind legs a bit as she flew backwards, blacking out as she landed on the ring mat.
~~~~~
“Ugh,” the cyan pegasus muttered as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked around, noticing that she had been tucked neatly into the bed of quite a fancy room. She caught the flash of purple out of the corner of her eye as Twilight approached the bed, placing a hoof on her forehead.
“How are you feeling?” the concerned unicorn asked.
“Like I got punched in the face,” the pegasus replied, rubbing her jaw, which still felt as sore as it did the moment it got hit. Twilight grimaced a bit.
“We tried to tell you not to go, but you took off before any of us could get a word in,” Twilight explained. “You’ve been out for almost a day. We’re in Canterlot now. The princess was nice enough to let us borrow a guest room,” she said.
Rainbow Dash sat up, grimacing at the pain. “I guess I should write her a letter about this experience sometime,” she said. Twilight giggled in reply.
“Come on, let’s get you up and join the others,” she said, starting to pull the covers off of her cyan-furred friend. As if on cue, the door to the room swung open, with a rather distraught-looking yellow pegasus bursting into the room.
“Oh! Rainbow… you’re awake… um… Twilight… I have some bad news…” she said with a scared look in her eyes.
“What happened, Fluttershy?” the lavender unicorn asked in a worried tone.
“Well… we all decided to go shopping… and there were a lot of nice things… I mean it is Canterlot,” Fluttershy started, looking at the floor and then back at Twilight. “Well… um… you know all that money we had for this trip? Well… there were some really nice dresses… and Rarity… Well…” she trailed off.
Twilight groaned loudly. She was able to figure out the rest of what her timid friend was trying to say. She used her magic to hover the checklist over in front of her. “Great… So that means we’re probably going to have to cancel this… and this… and this… Fluttershy, exactly how much money did she spend?” Twilight asked.
“Um… well… I think all of it…” the yellow pegasus said quietly.
“What?!” yelled the unicorn. She felt herself get dizzy as she fell to the floor, fainting from the shock.
~~~~~
“Twilight? Twilight, darling? Oh, she’s coming to, everypony,” said the familiar voice of her fellow unicorn. Twilight slowly opened her eyes, blinking as everything came into focus. She saw the familiar white face and purple mane of the unicorn that was to blame for the new situation they were in. Twilight immediately scrunched her face into a look of anger and disgust.
“All of our money, Rarity?! Why all of it?!” she asked angrily. The dressmaker recoiled backwards a bit, allowing the lavender mare to sit up, rubbing her head with a hoof. Rarity gave a guilty smile.
“Darling, if you had seen these dresses, you would understand why I needed them. Think of the regality! I’ll even let you try a few on when we get back to Ponyville!” she attempted to explain. Twilight gave a loud, angry groan, causing the white unicorn to shrink back to the other side of the carriage.
“That’s alright… it’s just a little misstep. Everything is fine,” Twilight told herself as she stood and properly seated herself. “Nothing else could possibly go wrong. Nothing at all. We’ve been through the worst of it, and we will finish this vacation strongly. Now, where are we?” she asked.
Applejack brought her head in from outside of the front window. “We’ve been goin’ fer a while now. The stallions are lookin’ a might tired. They said that we’re almost to Appleoosa, if you wouldn’t mind lettin’ ‘em rest,” the orange earth pony explained with a frown on her face.
Great… Almost to Appleoosa and we still haven’t done anything on the list, Twilight thought to herself. Using her magic, she brought the checklist out of her saddlebags and in front of her face. With a quill, she scratched off what the group had missed out on doing so far. She grimaced at the amount of activities she had to strike a line through. She heaved a small sigh, noticing she was near the bottom of the list but allowed herself to smile as she noticed the next activity.
“Yes, I say we let them rest. I can find a hotel and try to contact Princess Celestia to see if she’ll let us borrow some money, and then we can all go and check out the Great Appleoosian Plains together, how does that sound?” she asked. Everypony nodded in agreement.
~~~~~
“You guys go on ahead and enjoy yourselves, we’ll be in town for a couple of hours, so rest up as much as you want,” Twilight said to the two carriage stallions, who nodded quickly and trotted into the hotel restaurant for a bite to eat. The lavender unicorn turned to face her friends as they got out of the carriage. “Alright, everypony. Go on ahead to the Great Appleoosian Plains. I’ll catch up after I talk to the princess!” she said with a smile.
“We’ll see ya in a bit, Twi,” Applejack responded, waving as the rest of the group turned and walked off into town. Twilight watched them walk off for a few seconds before turning around and walking into the hotel. The lobby was rather homely and welcoming. The western theme couches and decorations blended well with the more modern looks of the walls and elevators. Despite having been built only a few years ago, the hotel gave the appearance of something that would have come out of an old western tale, like the ones Twilight used to read as a filly.
The lavender unicorn walked up to the counter and rang the bell. She waited a few seconds and frowned as she looked around, noticing nopony coming to her attention. She rang the bell again, swinging her head back and forth. It seemed as if the staff had completely abandoned the front desk. Frustrated, Twilight rang the bell repeatedly until finally a stallion came around the corner with an annoyed look on his face.
“Can I help you?” he asked, giving Twilight a glare.
“Yes, I was wondering if you would do me a favor and send this letter and transfer to Canterlot for me?” she said, pulling out two pieces of parchment from her saddlebags and setting them on the counter. The stallion looked them over as his eyes went wide.
“A request to Princess Celestia? For that much?! I’m sorry miss, but this is something we are going to have to verify first,” he responded, looking back at her as if she were crazy.
“What do you mean? I’m Twilight Sparkle, shouldn’t that be enough proof?” she asked in a confused tone, hoping the stallion would remember her and her friends from their trip here a few months ago. The stallion narrowed his eyes and gave her an annoyed look. “You know, the apprentice of the princess? The Element of Magic?” she continued to hint. He shook his head.
“Yes, sure, and I’m the king himself. I’m sorry miss, but you are going to have to wait for verification,” he explained. Twilight gave a defeated look.
“How long?” she asked.
“Three days,” he responded before turning and walking back around the corner.
“Three days?! But… That’s…” the lavender unicorn stammered. Out of frustration she slammed her hooves on the counter, groaning loudly.
Ding! She heard. She looked around, thinking she had knocked the bell to the ground when she noticed the cash drawer for the register had slid opened. She stared at it for a few seconds, stunned. She looked around, making sure nopony was watching before activating her horn. An aura formed around the register as the money was lifted out of it. She quickly rolled it into a spare sheet of parchment before quickly putting the notes into the register and closing it with her magic. She grabbed the money-filled parchment off the counter with her mouth and galloped out of the hotel.
“Quick! Start pulling the carriage. Go to the lookout spot for the Great Appleoosian Plains” she yelled out to the two carriage stallions as they sat down for lunch. The stallions groaned as they watched the unicorn jump into the carriage. After a moments hesitation, they did as they were told, saddling up and pulling the carriage to the lookout area.
Once there, Twilight quickly hopped out and galloped to her friends. “Alright everypony, great stay, let’s go, into the carriage, time to go,” she stammered, stepping in front of her friends and ushering them towards the carriage.
“But Twi… dontcha wanna see the plains?” Applejack asked in a confused tone.
“Yes, you’re right,” Twilight replied, turning around .She quickly looked left to right and turned back to her friends. “Beautiful. Now let’s get going. Time’s wasting!” she said.
“Is everything alright, Twilight? Did you get us some money?” asked Rarity as she hesitated before stepping into the carriage. Twilight laughed nervously.
“Yes, yes I did. Now let’s get going, I’ll explain later.” She said. With that, the group boarded the carriage and began the final leg of their journey to Manehattan.
~~~~~
So, after a long and hard journey, the group finally has made it to Manehattan, the town in which Lunaland was located. Despite all of the bad turns the trip had taken, everypony felt their spirits renewed as the carriage crossed into the city limits and started down the main street to the theme park.
“Everypony! Look!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, pointing a hoof out of the side window of the carriage. The friends all stuck their head out of various windows to catch sight of a sign that was erected on the sign of the road:
Lunaland:
5 furlongs
The group cheered as they saw the sign, hugging each other. They all sat back inside of the carriage as the air filled with life around them.
“Well, it sure has been a trip, but we made it!” Applejack stated, smiling brightly. The group nodded in agreement as they all buzzed with anticipation of being at Lunaland.
“I’m going to ride the ferris wheel first! I wonder what it would be like to throw a bunch of confetti out of the windows at the top!” Pinkie said, eliciting a laugh from everypony in the carriage.
“Forget that! It’s all about riding the roller coasters and getting a thrill,” Rainbow Dash said, holding her hooves out and waving them up and down.
“I wonder if they have a petting zoo?” Fluttershy asked as she pictured the idea of being around cute animals, beaming at the thought.
“All that matters is that we made it everypony. Look, we’re almost there!” Twilight said.
They watched out the window as the stallions pulled the carriage off of the main road and into the carriage parking area of Lunaland. Everypony cheered as they came to a stop. The group stepped off of the carriage and looked around, smiling.
“First ponies here! Awesome!” the rainbow-maned pegasus said, pumping a front hoof. “C’mon! I’ll race you all to the gates. Last one there has to go into a haunted house by themselves!” she said as she took off. Fluttershy emitted a small yelp as she followed closely behind. The group giggled as they raced each other to the main gates, a sense of victory washing over all of them.
Until they reached the main gate and noticed it was closed. Everypony gave a confused look to each other as Twilight stepped forward, spotting a note on the iron bars. She read it aloud to the rest of the group.
Notice: Lunaland will be closed for two weeks for ride maintenance and cleaning. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.
Twilight felt her jaw drop as she finished reading. “Closed… Closed?! After all of what we went through, they’re closed?!” she yelled. She could feel herself getting angrier with every passing second. The lavender mare bucked the gate out of frustration and reread the sign. She growled at the sign and turned around, thinking for a few seconds before nodding to herself. “Everypony, stay here. I’ll be back in a bit,” she said as she galloped past the group and into the carriage parking lot. The rest of her friends gave her a confused look before turning their attention back to the sign that had dampened their spirits.
~~~~~
A short time later, Twilight returned. She had her saddlebags strapped to her back with a book poking out. A smile was across her face as she trotted up in a rather carefree manner. “Everypony, follow me!” she said as she trotted passed the group. The friends obeyed her after a series of confused looks were exchanged. Twilight trotted around to the side where a security guard was sitting in front of an alternate gate. Spotting the friends, he stood up and walked forward. He held out a hoof in a manner to stop the group from advancing.
“Sorry folks! We’re closed. The sign in the front should have informed you of that,” he said in a friendly tone with a smile. Twilight nodded and stepped forward.
“Yes, yes, we saw the sign,” she said. Her horn suddenly lit up with magic, and a silver bolt of lightning shot out of the tip, striking the ground in front of the security guard. The guard yelped and cowered back against the gate. “But I say you’re open. Got it?!” she said, giving him a glare.
“Twilight! What in the hay are ya doin’?! Where the heck didja learn to do what yer doin’?!” Applejack exclaimed at her friend’s sudden action. The lavender unicorn turned around with a smile across her face and observed all of her friends cowering back away from her.
“We all came this far, didn't we? So I wanted to make sure we have to have some fun! I ran to a bookstore and bought a spellbook of attacking spells. I figured the guard would be pretty easy to influence to let us in this way. Now come on everypony, let’s go enjoy ourselves!” she said, turning back towards the guard. Her smile instantly turned into a serious frown. “You’re coming with us. Unlock the gate and start up the rides. I want everypony to have the time of their life.” She said. The security guard nodded nervously and fumbled with a key, sticking it into the gate and unlocking it. He swung it open and stepped inside, with the lavender unicorn following close behind, her horn still glowing.
“She’s gone crazy…” Applejack said to the rest of the group quietly. They nodded in agreement, their eyes wide from the shock of the events that had just occurred. After passing around some nervous glances, the rest of the group walked forward and joined their unicorn friend. Twilight brought hovered the checklist out of her saddlebags, unfurling it in front of her face. She studied it for a few seconds before looking up.
"Well, according to the list, we should ride a roller coaster first," she said as she rolled the list back up and put it back in her saddlebags. She faced the security guard again. "Which one do you suggest first... uh... what was your name?" she asked.
The security guard stepped back as she pressed forward. "M-my name is N-Nightstick, miss," he said stuttering. Twilight nodded and looked back to her friends.
"Well, Nightstick, don't worry. Everypony here just wants to have a little bit of fun." She said, giving the guard a smile in hopes of calming him down. "Now, what roller coaster should we enjoy first?" she asked.
"I-I've always enjoyed B-Banishment," he stammered as he continued to back further into the park.
"Banishment it is!" said Twilight in an excited tone, trotting up along the side of Nightstick. "Show us the way. Is everypony ready for a good time?!" she asked her friends behind her. The group walked in silence, not sure if they should answer.
"Duh! Of course we are!" Pinkie Pie spoke up. She trotted up along side the lavender unicorn, beaming as if nothing was wrong at all.
"Well.... we might as well have ourselves some fun," Applejack reasoned to the group. "Besides, it's what we came here ta do, right?"
"Yeah! Let's have ourselves a blast!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, nodding in agreement. The rest of the group caught up with the three lead ponies, heading towards the towering tracks emblazoned with the word 'Banishment' across the entrance.
~~~~~
Despite the awkward air of the situation, the group managed to have several hours of fun rides and games. Exhausted, the six friends began to head towards the main gate to leave the park, with Twilight and Nightstick leading the way.
Nightstick had remained silent for most of the walk, not wanting to upset his main captor in any way. However, one thing continued to bother him. The guard gave Twilight’s horn a glance before swallowing nervously, finally summing up the courage within himself to ask the lavender unicorn the question that had been scratching the back of his mind the entire day.
“Um, miss… If you don’t mind me asking… Are you going to attack me when we’re all done?” he asked, his voice rather quiet and timid. Twilight smiled and shook her head, giggling a bit.
“No of course not. I wasn’t even going to attack you at all. But I had to know a spell to scare you into letting us in,” Twilight said, giving him a wink. The guard was taken aback, but thought about the situation for a moment before allowing himself to be overcome with relief and laughter. The lavender mare joined in, falling into a large fit of laughter along with all of her friends as they heard the explanation. After the laughter died down, she took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m sorry it had to come down to that though,” she said. Nightstick shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it. Just, uh, don’t plan on ever coming back, you hear? I do have to report this, after all,” he said.
“FREEZE! STOP ALL MAGIC THAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY USING AND STEP AWAY FROM THE GUARD!” yelled an aggressive male voice, right on cue. Twilight’s eyes went wide as she instantly cut off the aura from around her horn. The six friends all obeyed instinctively, freezing in place and looking out at the main gate ahead of them. They could see several black and white carriages beyond the gates, with dozens of unicorns in police outfits poking out from various points, their horns all aglow with a magical aura.
"Oh my... are we in trouble?" Fluttershy asked hypothetically.
"PUT YOUR HOOVES IN THE AIR! DON'T MOVE!" yelled the voice again. Through the main gate burst several of the police unicorns. The group of friends instantly stood on their hind, holding their forelegs high above their head. The policeponies grabbed ahold of the six friends and shoved them up against the iron bars, pulling their forelegs down behind them and snapping hoofcuffs around their wrists. Twilight felt a pit in her stomach grow as she looked at her friends.
“Oh no! I’m sorry everypony!” she said as tears filled her eyes. Applejack shook her head and gave her friend a comforting smile.
"Don't worry Twi. We were all in this together," the orange pony said as she winced from the tightness of the metal bracelets.
"Yeah, besides, we can just break out later. These ponies don't look so tough," Rainbow Dash added in, surveying the various policeponies surrounding the group.
"Rainbow, darling, now is probably not the best time to try and be tough," Rarity argued. "So please, be quiet!" she added with a glare towards the cyan pegasus. Twilight smiled at the antics of her friends. Even in the worst of times, they can find a way to cheer me up, she thought to herself. Her ears twitched as she heard the sound of a carriage's doors slam shut. The sound brought her back to the reality of the situation at hand as she stared down at the ground.
“Right this way, princess. They’re over here!” a gruff male voice said. The lavender mare felt a pit drop in her stomach. Oh no, Princess Celestia is here?! Why would she be here?! Oh no, she’s going to banish me. Oh no! What have I done?! Twilight thought to herself as she listened to the sound of hooves galloping in her direction. She closed her eyes out of fear of seeing her mentor, as her hind legs began to shake.
“Twilight… Sparkle?” she heard a familiar voice say. The unicorn opened her eyes, realizing it wasn’t Princess Celestia who spoke those words. As a policepony turned her around, she recognized the midnight blue coat and the flowing purple and blue mane of the princess of the moon. “What is going on here?” she asked.
Twilight hesitated at the sight of the moon princess. She looked back at her friends, biting her lower lip. She wasn't sure what to try and tell the Princess. Tears welled up in her eyes as her brain worked in overdrive trying to figure out what to do. Finally, she fell to her knees, crying. “I’m sorry princess! We just had the worst trip of our lives! First, I couldn't make a carriage, then Rainbow got knocked out, then all of our money got spent and we had to get more! It all lead up to us coming to your park and it being closed! Nothing went according to plan! Our checklist was useless!" Twilight stammered as tears flowed down her cheeks. She levitated the checklist out of her bag and flew it over to the princess, unfurling it. "So finally, I decided to take matters into my own hooves, and I guess I got a little out of control! Please, princess, don't punish my friends. Punish me! I'm the one who deserves to get banished!" she continued to wail, her crying beginning to stain the fur beneath her eyes.
Princess Luna took the parchment with her magic and began to study it. She noted that every activity written down was scratched out rather than checked. The box at the bottom was left untouched, however. She smiled as she read the activity listed next to it:
Have the best day ever at Lunaland!
Princess Luna lowered the checklist and looked at her sister's pupil, then at her friends, who all were beginning to cry a bit at the sight of their friend. She looked back at her with pity in her eyes. She processed the situation in her mind silently. After a few moments, the policepony next to her cleared his throat to get her attention.
“Do you want us to arrest them, ma’am?” he asked. Luna simply shook her head.
“No. No that won’t be necessary,” she said, facing the stallion. She turned her attention to Twilight and approached her, getting down on her haunches to face the lavender unicorn. “Don’t you worry. Nopony is going to be banished," Luna said with a gentle smile. "However, I cannot allow this to go without punishment. When you return to Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, you will write my sister a letter. You will explain everything that happened to you on the trip, including your actions here today. You will also explain exactly what you learned from this whole experience,” She continued. She allowed Twilight a moment to process the thought before calling back her attention and looking her directly in the eye. “I will also be reading this letter. So make it nice and interesting, okay?” she finished with a wink. “Now, pack your things and head on back home. By the time you get there, I bet you and your friends will be laughing about this whole trip."
Twilight nodded as the policepony removed the hoofcuffs from around her wrists, She brought a hoof up to her eye and wiped away the last remaining tears as she returned a smile to the moon princess. "Oh, and one more thing, Twilight Sparkle," the princess added. "Next time, please at least ask before you break into my park,” Luna finished with a laugh. The rest of the group, relieved, joined in the laughter with the princess.
~~~~~
Twilight flopped down onto her bed as soon as she returned home, letting off a huge sigh. It had been a long and arduous journey, but one that she would certainly remember.
“Well, we didn’t specify that it would be a good sort of unforgettable, did we?” she asked herself as she giggled at the thought of the nightmare vacation. “Well, I better get that letter over with,” she said as she activated her horn and brought a quill and a roll of parchment before her face. Using her magic, the quill began to scribble across the parchment:
Dear Princess Celestia…
