Exiled From Equestria

Twilight sips her steaming mug of hot chocolate and smiles warmly. She is inside a cozy log cabin, packed with large windows. Outside is bright and sunny; sunlight seeps through them onto the kitchen where Twilight sits at a small wooden table.

She levitates her piece of peanut butter toast to her mouth and takes another bite. “I cannot thank you enough for all of this.”

“It’s not an issue, Twilight, we’re happy to help,” Midnight replies from inside the kitchen, using her own magic to spread peanut butter on wheat bread. “Besides, you and your friends have saved the entire world before. I think a night of shelter, some food and water, supplies, and bits is the least me and Shooting Star can do.”

Before Twilight Sparkle fell asleep last night, she and Midnight Blaze were chatting in the guest bedroom where the purple unicorn was sleeping. She had told Twilight how Shooting Star has been her roommate ever since they graduated school together. They had been the best of friends since they were little fillies, and since neither of them wanted to get married with any stallions, they decided to become roommates here in Redwood.

“Where is Shooting Star, anyway?”

“Oh, that pegasus always loves to stretch her wings in the morning, preferably at sunhigh.” Midnight plops herself into the chair across from Twilight, a glass of tea held in her hooves, forming a v shape, and some peanut-butter toast levitating by her sapphire magic.

The peace in the cabin is disrupted by a loud crash at the front door. The crash in soon greeted by an orange pegasus covered in scratches and bruises, rubbing her neck with her hoof as she flutters down at the table. “Hey, mares.”

“What was that about?” Midnight Blaze asks angrily. “Please tell me you didn’t break anything.”

“Only the porch.” Shooting Star places her hooves on her back and stretches forward. Her back cracks and she smiles with relief. “Didn’t means ta go zat fast.”

Midnight Blaze rolled her eyes. Another piece of peanut butter toast levitated in blue magic in front of Shooting’s eyes. The bruised pegasus grabs it and starts nibbling hungrily.

Twilight leaps out of her chair and levitates her plate and mug into the sink. Then she levitates a pair of magenta saddlebags connected by a long strap onto her back. Inside of them are food, water, a map of Trica, and bits. “You don’t happen to have any blankets or tents lying around, do you?”

“I have some blankets, as for the tent, I can just hop into town and buy one real quick,” Midnight offers.

“Oh, if you don’t have one, there’s no need to go through the trouble. Just a blanket will do.”

“You speak nonsense, Miss Sparkles.” Shooting Star holds the back of her sore wing with one hoof and rubs the front side with her other hoof. “You might needs ta go through some campings. We are glad ta help a pony in needs.”

“Yeah, really, we have more bits than we need.” Midnight Blaze levitates two of her own deep blue saddlebags with a few bits and gems in them onto her back. “Besides, me and Shooting Star are thinking about joining you on your trip.”

“What?”

Shooting Star bounces over to a couple of daffodil colored saddlebags. “We could use some traveling times. No pony in Trica has ever seen Equestria.”

Twilight found herself being shoved through the front door onto the broken porch. Fresh morning light shines on dewdrops, the blades of grass glistening like stars in the night sky.

Midnight Blaze trots into a log shop titled ‘Mountain Supplies’. Shooting Star and Twilight Sparkle follow along.

Inside is fairly large, but cramped. They find the name of the shop very much accurate; they have almost anything you could think of that you would need to survive in the wild. Twilight would find this very much convenient if they didn’t live in a small town in a big valley surrounded by tall mountains.

“Hey there, what can I get you three?” says a spring green earth pony with chocolate hair and pink eyes. Her mane is short and curly, her tail also short and curving upward. She has a pinecone cutie mark and a pair of gold glasses that lay atop her nose.

“We needs a tent and some warm clothes. We’re goins on a long and quite possibly dangerous journey.”

“I see,” the pony replied. She strolls over to a corner shelf and pulls out a long, but packed up, tent.

“Um, is there a chance you have anything...smaller?” Midnight Blaze glances from the tent to her bags, obviously not finding their sizes to correspond with each other.

The earth pony pushes her glass farther onto her nose and shakes her head. “I sold a bunch of tents a few weeks ago to a large group of ponies about to go camping. This is the last one I have.”

Shooting Star looks at Twilight worriedly. The unicorn puts a hoof to her chest, breaths in, then lifts her hoof away from her body, and breaths out. She smiles and trots up to the tent. Her horn glows magenta, the tent glows magenta, and odd enough, the tent begins to shrink. By the time it stops glowing, the tent is as small as a mouse. “I also know the reverse spell for when we want to open it.”

“Wow, Twilight,” Midnight Blaze levitates the tent into her saddlebag and exchanges it with eight bits. “I know you’re the element of Magic, but I don’t think I could shrink anything with my horn.”

“I bet you could if you tried hard enough.” Twilight turned to the side, revealing her flank. “My talent itself is magic, that’s why. I was born to perform magic. But unicorns with different talents use their magic for different things. I know some unicorns who have never used their horns in their life.”

The yellow unicorn turns to her side, revealing her cutie mark of three blue stars. “My talent is astronomy. I can read any constellation, I can read direction just by looking at the stars, all that kinds of stuff.”

“Don’t you like you’re talent?”

“I just think it would make more sense if I was a pegasus. Pegasi can fly into the night and see the stars much better.” Midnight shrugs and turns to the store clerk. “Do you have blankets, snow boots, and jackets?”

“Sure do.” The green pony trots over to a pile of thick blankets and picks three out. Next she trots over to a shelf of colorful snow boots lined with white cotton ball fuzz. She picks out a pair of magenta boots to match Twilight’s bags, a pair of sapphire boots to match Midnight’s, and a pair of sunflower boots to match Shooting Star’s. Then she points to the rack of colorful jackets in the corner and returns to her counter and newspaper.

Twilight gazes across the jackets, torn between a magenta one with purple outlining to match her bags and boots, and a spring green one outlined in silver. After trying them both on and looking in the mirror, she decides that the green one gives her outfit a variety and sets it on the counter where the green pony sits.

“Just pick one already,” she hears Shooting Star complain.

“Hmm... I guess I’ll take this one.” Midnight Blaze trots over with a sky blue jacket outlined in gold. Shooting Star follows her with an emerald jacket outlined in turquoise.

The store pony observes the three blankets, boots, and jackets. “That’ll be 54 bits please.”

Midnight Blaze’s jaw drops. She reaches her snout inside her bag and grabs all the 21 bits she has with her and one ruby the size of a baby unicorn horn. “Will that do?”

“This ruby is large enough to count as seven bits. You still owe me 26 bits.”

Shooting Star sighs and opens her right saddlebag with her right wing and noses inside, bringing out 25 bits. “53 is close enough. We don’t gots no more.”

The store pony bites her lip, then nods, pulling the pile of cash and pushing the pile of supplies. The three ponies slip into their boots and slide on their jackets, folding the blankets and Twilight levitating them into their saddles. Then they trot out of the store.

“Twilight already gots a battle of water and three apples. So...” Shooting Star flies off to her house. Twenty seconds later she returns with six apples, two waters, and six large bags of oats. “Three apples and a waters fa Midnight and I, since Twilight already has water and apples, but two bags a' oats fa each of us. Plus, I gots me some flints and steels fa me and a campus fa Midnight.”

Each pony takes the amount of items that Shooting Star suggested and fits them in their bags. Midnight Blaze smiles excitedly.

“We ready?”

“I’m ready,” says Shooting Star confidently. They stare at Twilight who grins wider than she has ever grinned before.

“Off to Equestria!”