Back to Equestria

On the outskirts of Ponyville, far away from the center of town, and almost to the edge of the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, was a perfectly straight stretch of dirt road. It was long enough that if you were standing in the center and you looked down the road, it would appear as if it went all the way down to touch the very edge of the world itself. This path was flanked on either side by rows of apple trees which ran perpendicular to the road, each the same exact distance from its neighbor, and trimmed to appear almost exactly alike. This scene of uniformity and homogeneity was unbroken except for a strange wagon that sat on the dirt road, surrounded by six ponies.

“Now that we've lugged this thing here can you finally tell us wha’ in the name of Celestia are we doin’ with this contraption ?” Applejack said as she leaned up against the wagon.

Twilight, who was adjusting a large spider web of wires which ran the length of the wagon until they connected with a set of 4 harnesses that were attached to the front of the machine had a sheepish smile on her face as she admitted, “Alright, fine I’ll tell you.”

At hearing this, Pinke Pie, who had been inside the wagon, jumped out and exclaimed “It’s a parade float, isn’t it ? Or maybe a super duper fancy confetti cannon ! Or it’s a hug-”

“Pinkie dear, let her speak,” Rarity interrupted, who at the time was pacing somewhere near the front of the wagon. Pinkie let out an apologetic smile before looking back over towards Twilight.

“Ah, chill out Rarity,” Rainbow dash retorted as she hovered over the group, before landing atop one of the nearby trees, which sent down a shower of apples and leaves onto Fluttershy, who had been sitting directly below.

Fluttershy made a small yelp as one of the apples fell down onto her head.

“Sorry Fluttershy,” Rainbow said as she leaned over the canopy of the tree and looked down towards the bewildered pony, which sent down another small shower of leaves.

“It’s fine,” Fluttershy quietly let out as she reached up and brushed a leaf out from a lock of her long pink hair.

Rainbow gave Fluttershy a warm smile before looking over towards a now annoyed Twilight Sparkle.

“Anyway, as I was trying to say, I brought all of you out here to try and help me complete a spell that could solve many of the great mysteries of the Equestria !” Twilight exclaimed with her hoof raised up to point towards the sky.

Rainbow dash attempted to hold in her laughter at the overly-stoic Twilight, while the rest of the ponies just looked on with quizzical expressions.

Twilight lowered her hoof and turned back to face the group before continuing, “I’m sure you can all recall my costume from last Nightmare Night ?”

“Oh yeah ? The clown ? That was a really great costume Twilight !” Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, “No, Star Swirl the Bearded !”

The group looked back at Twilight with blinking eyes and expressionless faces.

Twilight groaned before lamenting, “He was one of the most important conjurers of the Pre-Classical era, and when Pinkie, Spike, and I went to his wing in the Canterlot Library Princess Celestia let me borrow some of his journals.”

Rainbow dash let out a short yawn, while receiving a sharp glare from Rarity.

“As all of you SHOULD know, before Equestria was even founded, he went into the Everfree forest and was never seen for over 30 years. But, when he finally did return he helped introduce the language we still use today, because beforehand each of the different tribes had a different language, and he also helped create many other pieces of technology that changed the pony world and helped move us into the Classical era !”

“Yeah, yeah, they told us ere in school that he lived in a cave or somthin’ and spent those 30 years makin’ spells an' stuff,”  Applejack said.

“I heard he went loony too,“ Rainbow dash said as she rolled her eyes around in her head and stuck out her tongue.

“Yeah, he said that everything was made up of tiny little thingies that are all the same, but just look different because they were arranged in different ways, like a big stained glass window ! What a weirdo,” Pinkie exclaimed from her resting place inside the wagon.

“Except, after I’ve been studying his notes I think I may have found out he didn’t actually stay in the Everfree forest, but instead that he did some spell that teleported him to an entirely different place,” Twilight exclaimed with a proud expression on her face.

“But, umm, don’ you do that all the time sugercube ? The teleportin’ thing,” Applejack commented.

“No, no, not like that. I can’t tell for sure from what he wrote down, but it seems like he went somewhere ... different,” Twilight spoke with a some-what worried expression on here face.

“You mean somewhere … scary ?” Fluttershy let out in her sheepish voice, from her resting place beneath the tree.

“Well, that is what we’re here to find out !” Twilight exclaimed as she dramatically rose her hoof into the air once again, before quickly lowering it and adding as she looked over towards Fluttershy, “But, I’m sure whatever it is, its not scary”.

Fluttershy flashed a small smile back towards Twilight before standing up and beginning to walk towards the wagon.

“ Okay,” Twilight said in authoritative tone, “ It says here,” at this twilight magically levitated a scroll out from the wagon and in front of here face, unraveling it to face the group, “ that we need to be doing the spell while moving at 8.8 wing power.” Twilight pointed to the anemometer from Tornado Day, which was now attached firmly to the front of the wagon.

“Easy as Granny Smith’s apple pie!” Rainbow Dash retorted as she jumped down from her perch and landed onto the ground next to Applejack.

“But, you’ll need to be pulling the wagon with me and Rarity inside of it, since this spell is too powerful for me to do by myself,” Twilight retorted back, causing Dash‘s arrogant smile to fade, “And, that is why you, Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy will all need to be pulling the wagon at the same time."

“But, hun’ how did Swirl Smoothie the Bearded manage to do the spell without anyone’s help, seeing that he wasn’t a pegasus ?” Applejack questioned.

“Well …” Twilight sparkled mumbled as she lifted her hoof up to rub her chin, “it seems from his journals that he jumped off a cliff, and used his velocity in order to get up to speed, and then did the spell before he hit the ground.”

The other five ponies sat silent for a moment with bewildered faces until Rainbow Dash quietly commented, “Okay, I like the wagon idea, yeah, lets go with that." The other ponies all nodded in agreement, as they began to walk to their places.

Rainbow dash glided over and lifted the front right hitch to the wagon up onto her back, with Fluttershy gently did the same to the front left spot. Applejack squatted down and hitched herself up behind Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie jumped down from the wagon to the hitch directly behind Fluttershy, which caused the entire machine to rock back and forth slightly. Rarity carefully made her way up into the back of the wagon, while Twilight, who was already inside, was making adjustments to a panel of crudely made switches.

Suddenly, a object that looked like a metal ice-cream cone with a long wire coming out of the tip magically was lifted up and set onto Rarity’s horn by Twilight.

“Oh, isn’t that just … stylish,”  Rarity commented in a sarcastic tone as she craned her neck to look towards the contraption that was not affixed on her head.

Twilight, oblivious to Rarity’s sarcasm, said “Oh, its not for style, it conducts our magic so that it can be combined and can also be conducted down the entire wagon.”

“Yeah, don’t worry you look just fine Rarity!” Rainbow dash yelled from the front of the wagon as she burst out into a small fit of laughter.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she lifted up another magic-conductor-Ice-cream-cone-thingy and attached it firmly on her horn.

“Alright, you girls ready ?” yelled out Twilight as she and Rarity moved to stand directly across from each other.

“Ready to rock !” yelled out Rainbow Dash over her shoulder.

“I reckon’ I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Applejack said as she pawed the ground slightly with her hoof.

“Lets DO THIS,” Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped up and down in her harness.

“Ok … I guess,”  Fluttershy said in an almost inaudible tone.

“I do believe I’m ready,” Rarity commented as she turned her head down to look towards the anemometer readout.

Alright then, lets GO !” Twilight yelled out, and directly after she bent low and started exerting all of the magical energy she could. Rarity also bent over and began to do the same. Suddenly, the entire wagon jolted forward, partly due to the sudden surge of magical energy, and partly because Rainbow Dash had leapt forward as soon as Twilight had yelled out go, with Applejack, Pinkie, and Fluttershy doing so only a moment after.

As the wagon began to rattle down the dirt road, with a large dust cloud looming up behind them, the machine started becoming enveloped with what looked to be like a clear magical bubble.

Beads of sweat were developing on the brows of Twilight and Rarity as they continued to put all of their effort into conducting magic into the machine. Sparks shot from the wires, and as the wagon began to speed up faster and faster, the magical bubble that surrounded them became thicker and thicker.

“5.5 wing power, keep it up !” Twilight yelled out over the roar and rattle of the wagon. The magical bubble, which had now enveloped the entire wagon, was becoming so thick that all you could see through it was the general outline of trees rushing past on either side of the road.

“7.7 !” Rarity exclaimed before clamping her eyes shut due to a combination of overexertion and adrenaline.  Sweat rolled down the necks of the four pulling ponies as the pounded down the dirt road, with each step bringing them slightly closer to their mark.

Then, just as the dial hit 8.8 and Twilight started to yell out in exclamation, the now solid white bubble of magic shrunk inward and a bright flash of light immersed the ponies.

As the light slowly faded and the dust died down on the dirt road, the only sign of the ponies’ exploits was a line of fire that ran along the rutted marks where the wagon’s wheels had tumbled along only moments before.