The Equestrian Venture

Chapters

prologue: the new world
Chapter one: magical talking ponies
Chapter two: awkward communication
Chapter three: pony friends
Chapter four: such a rarity
Chapter five: bad apple
Chapter six: rainbows and friendship
Chapter seven: scar tissue
Chapter eight: howl of the forest
Chapter nine: castle chasers
Chapter Ten: A Caring Hoof
Chapter Eleven: To Dress the Part
Chapter Twelve: Loot to Boot
Chapter Thirteen: Lounging Around
Chapter Fourteen: Blood Diamonds
Chapter Fifteen: Broken Pieces
Chapter Sixteen: Good Girl
Chapter Seventeen: A Night with Pinkie Pie
Chapter Eighteen: Apples
Chapter Nineteen: New Life
Chapter Twenty: The Forest's Secret
Chapter Twenty One: Giant Freaking Horses
Chapter Twenty Two: Arrival
Chapter Twenty Three: Prelude to Battle
Chapter Twenty Four: The Beast Riders
Chapter Twenty Five: Fire, Magic, and Rocks
Chapter Twenty Six: Free Falling
Chapter Twenty Seven: To Dust
Chapter Twenty Eight: She's Been Waiting
Chapter Twenty Nine: Rat Problem
Chapter Thirty: Recovery
Chapter Thirty One: Eighteen
Chapter Thirty Two: The Old Windmill
Chapter Thirty Three: Fluttershy’s Secret Revealed
Chapter Thirty Four: When it Comes for Me
Epilogue: Past and Future Secrets

prologue: the new world

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Prologue: the new world
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita Rainwater stood in front of her newest invention, the gateway. It was a device designed specifically for her to travel from the lab to the Castle and back within mere seconds, instead of days. She was proud of the device, although she had yet to test it. But before continuing on maybe we should talk more about just who Rita is.

Rita is a 17 year old human girl with great plans for the future of Arcadia, her home country. she is very blunt and will usually talk before thinking about it, leading her into trouble more often than not. She is also very intelligent and loves to work on creating new projects. And she never gives up without a fight.

She has messy light brown hair coming down to her shoulders, and she wears a red jacket, the arm sleeves are black, and a yellow streak rings around the neck before running down the torso, the jacket come down to her knees in length. There are also numerous pockets on her jacket, holding pens and a journal of hers. She also wears black shorts that are hidden by the jackets length. She is also wearing a pair of simple wooden sandals and her classic red and yellow stripped socks. her socks reach up just past her knees.

She is friends with Princess Estella, and works directly for her. Rita has made all kinds of unique devices which have advanced the technology of Arcadia by a vast amount. Most of her devices function on the fusion of magic and technology.

By imbuing various devices with magic runes, she could use them to draw the magical properties of gems. Gems being used as a power source for her outlandish creations. These gems are also what give’s said items their unique magical properties. She calls this new technology gemtech. With the advent of gemtech came the advancement of Arcadia’s technology. Rita was a huge proponent in the advancement of gemtech.

Rita could use a little bit of magic herself, but she was never very good at shaping her will without an object to focus on. She learned at a young age that she could do practically anything she wanted too if she only had the right tools at hand. Her creative talents made her an oddity at first. But during the war it made her into a hero, a villain, and a renowned scientist.

The past few weeks she has been spending time working on a new project especially for Princess Estella. If she could get this to work then she could see her best and only friend more often. Rita had put far more of her attentions into her studies, and her work than into anything else. Sometimes she found herself feeling lonely, and then she remembers that she isn’t alone. All of her creations are right at hand. Ready to give her the attention that few humans ever did.

Feeling a little nervous as she looked at the Gateway. The gateway was a giant archway standing against the wall of her warehouse. She examined the various gears and gems that aligned this thing. She had placed black agate at the base of the ring to root the power in place, and varying colors of gems placed all along the sides until reaching the top where a single white angel aura crystal sat proudly. There was also a walkway leading up to the middle of the arch.

Rita walked over to a giant machine covered in knobs, buttons, and a single large lever. The machine was a square shaped box connecting to the Gateway by tubes and wires. Much like the rest of her lap the machine smelled faintly of oil. Rita smiled brightly as she grabbed hold of the lever and slammed it down hard. The best part of her job was turning the machine on.

After a spark of electricity the gem’s along the side of the Gateway all began to light up brightly almost like a Christmas tree. Lightning then struck out in the middle of the Gateway’s arch striking out several times before a bright light flashed. The room for a brief instant was light up brightly, before it dimmed and left Rita staring in awe.

The middle of the Gateway’s arch had now become a flat surface almost like glass only this was a bright rainbow color. She could count all six colors of the rainbow…wait there was supposed to be seven colors to a rainbow. Oh well she didn’t care about that too much. Rita slowly walked up to the rainbow mirror being held by the Arch. The rainbow surface had replaced the wall that was standing just behind the arch, and it smelled faintly of candy.

She touched it with a bare hand, running her fingers along its surface. The surface felt a little like water and rippled at the points where her fingers touched. Rita took in a deep breath and psyching herself up, and walked through the mirrored surface with her eyes closed. She knew that the other portal was running right now, and that she was going to end up walking out the other side where the Princess and several scientists awaited her patiently.

***

After walking through she felt the air rushing by her. She opened her eyes just in time to see that she was now falling towards a green meadow. Rita prepared herself for the landing only a few seconds too late and landed on a slope, her knee hitting hard against the earth as she tumbled down the hill for a few seconds before landing on her face with her butt sticking up in the air.

Her face didn’t hurt very much, however her butt was sore from the tumble. She groaned before lying on her back and questioning aloud. “I landed on my face, why is it my butt that hurts?”

She laid there on the grass for a few moments wondering to herself, trying to get a grip on what just happened. She had walked through the portal, which should have carried her into the castle. But instead she landed in the middle of nowhere. She probably entered the wrong coordinates, or something.

She continued to lay there quietly resting hoping that she could get home soon, and fix her mistake. She than heard some kind of strange neigh sound followed by some gibberish she couldn’t understand, it sounded like some foreign language only the neighing sound threw her off. She then felt breathing on her face, hot breath that smelled faintly of frosting. Opening her eyes Rita came face to face with one of her worst fears.

A bright pink horse with a curly pink mane, stood with its muzzle only a few inches away from her face, it was grinning wide. Rita didn’t know that horses could smile. Though that didn’t matter right now, its teeth were bared and it was going to bite her, she just knew it. She froze solid for a second as it stared right at her with its bright blue eyes, and then it opened its mouth and began talking in its weird language. That was all she could handle, before she screamed in terror.

Chapter one: magical talking ponies

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter one: magical talking ponies
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita rolled over and tried to stand up, she fell as her knee exploded in pain from the pressure she put on it. She began crawling as the pink horse continued smiling and talking. Rita didn’t know what it was saying to her, but it was a horse and it was going to bite her.

A soft voice called out, it was somehow soothing to Rita. It also seemed so familiar to her, but she didn’t know what it was saying. A strange mixture of gibberish, nickers, and neighs. The pink horse behind her sat down looking a little sad. Rita stopped trying to crawl instead she now looked for the thing making the soothing sounds. She couldn’t see anything around her so she tried speaking to it.

“H-h-hello.” Was all the nervous Rita could manage to say at the moment.

The voice stopped for a few seconds and then repeated what Rita had just said, only in a very calm and soothing tone. It was almost like a veil of peace was draped over the scared Rita. Rita then spoke again saying. “Um…where are you?”

For a few seconds nothing happened and then she saw a butter yellow horse land five feet away from her startling her. The yellow horse had a pink mane and looked a little nervous herself. Although it was still a horse, Rita felt a little calmer seeing this one for some reason. These horses stood only a few inches shorter then Rita did. Rita looked at the yellow one before saying. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but um…my name is Rita.”

The horse stood there for a few seconds and adopting a complex look on her face as she concentrated. Then she or at least it sounded like as she said. “My name is Fluttershy.”

Rita felt very confused for a moment, the horse just talked to her. Horses don’t speak, they were...animals. Unless this thing was actually not a horse at all but something entirely new. Maybe some kind of new monster, but Fluttershy didn’t feel like a monster. Although she did have wings, so what exactly was she? Rita rolled onto her back holding her breath as pain surged through her leg form the movement. She then asked. “I…where am I?”

Fluttershy sat there a minute, almost like she was processing the question. She answered soon after saying. “Equestria.”

Rita wondered if there really was a place called Equestria, and who ever named it that needed to be punted. She didn’t like the way people named places with allusions. She shook her head before saying. “Wow, out of all the places I could have teleported to, it had to be a place full of horse’s named Equestria. This is dumb, and I just want to go home.”

Fluttershy spoke again with her soothing voice. “I’m sorry, if there is anything we can do to help we would love to.”

Rita looked at the yellow horse with wings and said. “Yeah, I could probably use a doctor. My knee is all screwed up.”

Fluttershy smiled softly at Rita while saying. “I’m a veterinarian; if you want I can take a look at that leg of yours.”

Rita cocked her head to the side and muttered dumbfounded. “What?”

Fluttershy blushed a little before explaining. “Well um…a veterinarian is a doctor who specializes in the care of animal’s and-“

Rita cut her off saying. “I know that, I’m just confused on how a horse got to be a veterinarian? Shouldn’t you be…I don’t know eating grass and pooping or something?”

Fluttershy’s smile disappeared and her face turned red as she stammered. “W-w-w-what? Why would you say that?”

Rita was becoming more confused by the second, until something clicked in her head. Both of these horses were speaking some kind of language, probably their own language. And Fluttershy was an animal doctor, and instead of offering to take Rita to the hospital she offered to treat her…using her credentials as a basis for her offer. Rita looked at Fluttershy and asked very carefully. “Do you think that I am an animal?”

Fluttershy struggled for a second to fight off her embarrassment before saying. “Well, um, you’re not a pony…so…yes.”

Rita looked at her leg which was throbbing only slightly in pain now that she had been off of it for a minute, and said. “I am not an animal. And I am guessing that you’re not one either…also what the heck is a pony?”

Fluttershy looked away from her using her pink mane to hide her face from Rita as she said. “I’m sorry, I’ve never seen anything like you before…and um….ponies are small horses.”

“Great,” Rita muttered to herself. “I go through a portal, and end up in a place filled with smart horses, or ponies, or whatever. This is the worst possible thing.” Rita completed the sentence by throwing her arm over her head dramatically.

Fluttershy took a few steps closer to Rita causing her to nearly jump. Rita shouted in fear “STOP. Don’t bite me…please.”

Fluttershy now only a couple of feet away from Rita laid down on the grass besides her while saying. “Why would I bite you?”

Rita explained. “Where I come from horses sometimes bite people, and a few times a year they kill their handlers.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my, that’s horrible. I promise I will never bite you.” She gave a small smile reassuring Rita that she was not dangerous.

Rita calmed down and looked at the blue sky and the clouds overhead. She saw some strangely shaped birds off in the distance, and realized pretty quickly that they must have been flying horses like Fluttershy here. Rita then closed her eyes letting the warm sun soak into her body.

Fluttershy then asked in a very quiet voice, a whisper. “Do ponies in your world really have…handlers?”

Rita opened her eyes to see a worried expression on Fluttershy’s face. She must have been upset by the idea. After all it may have sounded a lot like slavery to Fluttershy. Rita timidly stroked Fluttershy’s mane while saying. “Yeah…my worlds kind of messed up.” Rita gave a short laugh before saying. “Maybe that’s why I made a portal, I probably just wanted to leave. I mean…it’s not like anyone will even miss me.”

Fluttershy stopped Rita’s hand with one of her fore hooves and she looked into Rita’s eyes asking. “Is that true?”

Rita pulled her hand back and looked away saying. “Probably, even Estella only needs me for my mind.”

Fluttershy laid one of her wings down gently over Rita’s chest asking. “Would you like to be my friend?”

Rita barely stifled her laughter as she thought of the idea of being friends with a horse. It was a humorous idea frankly, but at the same time Fluttershy wasn’t just a horse, she was a pony. Maybe they could be friends, but Rita didn’t trust these ponies yet.

Rita sighed and said. “Maybe. We’ll see how long I’m stuck here for. I still want to get home as soon as possible.”

Rita looked over to where the pink one was and found something that brought a smile and a laugh to her. The pink one was balancing on her head with her legs sticking awkwardly into the air. She had managed to maintain a perfect balance until a butterfly came along, and flutters down landing on Pink ones muzzle causing her to sneeze violently and topple over. Rita found the sight hilarious and began laughing, at the same time the pink one laughed as well, even snorting a few times.

Rita found herself asking after the laughter subsided. “Who’s the pink one?”

Fluttershy then said. “Oh that’s Pinkie Pie, she likes to make ponies laugh.”

Rita smiled and said. “Nice show Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie bounced on her hooves saying something in more of the gibberish language. Now Rita was confused and asked. “Wait, how come I don’t understand her? Can she understand me?”

Fluttershy looked over to Pinkie Pie and said something in the Gibberish language they used before getting a reply. Then Fluttershy said. “She says she can tell your not happy inside, and that she is going to make you laugh until you feel better…”

Rita found that to be a nice idea but it didn’t answer the questions. Rita was about to ask her a second time before Fluttershy answered her saying. “She can’t understand you. And you can’t understand her because you don’t speak equish. I think I can speak to you because my special talent is communicating with animals.”

Rita supposed the language barrier thing made sense, it’s doubtful that they spoke Ardian. She however didn’t understand the special talent thing. Rita then asked. “What do you mean special talent, is that some kind of magic?”

Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin thoughtfully for a moment before saying. “We all have inherent magic, but the special talent is something that shows up as a cutie mark. It’s…complicated. Twilight would know more about it.”

She then pointed her head towards her flank causing Rita to look there as well. There was tattoo of three butterflies on her flank. The cheapest tramp stamp Rita had ever seen. Fluttershy then explained. “This is my cutie mark, they show up when we discover our special talent. Mine involves animals.”

Rita thought the idea of them just showing up to be balderdash. But she decided that if there was going to be magical talking horses which could fly, then there could be magical butt tattoos as well. Thank the heavens that she didn't have to deal with that, she would hate having a tattoo of…a gear? A shiny gem? Or whatever could be considered her special talent. Maybe an exploding fireball could be planted square on her butt cheek.

Pinkie Pie then said something in equish causing Fluttershy to smile. Fluttershy then said. “Let’s go visit Twilight Sparkle. She knows a spell to allow you talk to us.”

Rita only looked at her with skeptical eyes as she thought about her leg. Fluttershy then let out a sigh and said. “Oh your leg…maybe I can help, if I can look at it.”

Rita did not like the idea of letting a horse use their hooves to mess around with her hurt leg. But Fluttershy breathed an air of sincerity that made Rita feel more confident in her abilities. Rita finally gave in saying. “Alright…but no touching.”

Fluttershy smiled and looked at Rita’s right leg. She then said. “Um…your cloths are in the way. Do you mind removing them?”

Rita couldn't help but blush a little as she sat up and said defensively. “No way, I’m not stripping for anybody, especially not in public.”

Fluttershy looked taken aback by her reaction and then said softly. “Oh…I suppose you’re um…shy.”

Rita felt righteous fury rising inside as she was about to go on a rant explaining in egregious detail about how improper it was to undress in public…when it hit her that horses don’t wear cloths. She calmed herself down and said quietly, with a bit of spite in her tone. “It is improper for humans to go undressed…it’s a cultural difference.”

Fluttershy looked away shyly before saying. “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to offend you.”

Rita began to feel pity for Fluttershy; she was only trying to help. Letting out a sigh Rita decided she could just move her socks down and show the injury. Reaching over she began to gently pull on her sock, the slight movement of the sock caused slight pain to splash through her knee. She finally got the sock down past the knee.

Rita’s knee was swollen. She had seen this before; it looked like it was sprained pretty badly. The spot just behind the knee felt hard and every little touch of the grass underneath her caused her twinges of pain. Thankfully sprains would heal, but she would not be walking in the meantime.

Fluttershy gave a small sound that Rita picked up, Fluttershy sounded distressed. She then said in a very caring and gentle voice. “That looks bad. I don’t think you will be walking for a little while.”

Rita began feeling down as she replaced the sock carefully. She was in a foreign world, she had a sprained knee, and she was surrounded by horses. She was still a little nervous of Fluttershy, and really nervous at Pinkie Pie’s erratic movements. She sighed to herself and thought aloud. “It sucks being so weak and fragile. I wish I could be stronger.”

A caring wing was gently wrapped around her back as Fluttershy used her wings to give Rita a small hug. Fluttershy whispered. “You’re not the first one to feel that way.”

Looking into Fluttershy’s eyes, which were a lot bigger up close then Rita thought they were, she could tell that Fluttershy knew exactly what it felt like. Rita tentatively wrapped her arms around Fluttershy’s neck and hugged her. Fluttershy whispered again. “You’re in good hooves Rita.”

Rita let go and asked. “How are we going to meet Twilight, I can’t walk?”

Fluttershy smiled and asked. “How much do you weigh? If you um…don’t mind me asking.” She finished with a little squeaking sound.

Rita answered flatly. “Around ninety five pounds.”

Fluttershy gasped and exclaimed. “But you’re so tall, how can you weigh so little? Do you have a medical condition? Can I help?”

Rita gave a short laugh before explaining. “Human’s weigh a lot less then horses do. We’re also not naturally as strong. I’m actually at a decent weight for my short height.”

Fluttershy then blushed and said. “Oh…okay, um I have an idea. On how to get you into town I mean…if it’s okay with you.”

It took several minutes of complaining on Rita’s part but eventually Fluttershy managed to convince her to ride Pinkie Pie into town. Pinkie Pie was being very careful not to bounce her around too much. Rita had wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s neck tightly out of fear. Fluttershy spent most of her time trying to sooth Rita. Together the three of them were heading to meet Twilight Sparkle.

Chapter two: awkward communication

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter two: awkward communication
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rita arrived at the town. Rita had wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s neck. The town was small, and a lot of the buildings had wooden walls with straw roofs. The buildings were all spread out from one another at the edge of town and got more clustered the further in you got. The town was very quiet and peaceful looking.

Rita was getting really nervous around the large number of horses that moved about the town doing things. Some of them wore hats, others dresses, but most of them didn’t wear any clothing at all.

Rita was intrigued by their cutie marks. To her it seemed that all the horses had one on either side of their flank. Some of them looked very similar but most were vastly unique. She wondered at what kind of magic would allow a horse to obtain butt tattoos based on their special talents.

Pinkie Pie was being very careful about how she moved, trying her best not to jostle Rita. Although every now and again she would start move more erratically causing Rita to cringe with pain. Fluttershy gave a few cautionary words to Pinkie when this happened, and that calmed Pinkie Pie down.

Rita noticed an increasing number of horses were looking at her strangely, She guessed that the sight of a human was very odd. Rita gave a depressed sigh as she said. “This is just like home. All these horses think I’m a monster, don’t they?”

Fluttershy gave a reassuring smile to Rita while saying. “Their simply curious, you’re a new sight and they want to know more.” Rita felt a little better hearing that. Fluttershy then added. “By the way, were ponies, not horses. It’s..um kinda rude to call us that.”

Rita looked at Fluttershy and realized she had been saying the word horse the entire time, and also thinking it. Feeling slightly guilty Rita apologized saying. “Sorry, it’s just that in my world we have horses. I’ll be more conscious of it from now on.”

Fluttershy smiled softly at her. Pinkie Pie then said something loudly in equish causing Fluttershy to smile a little more. Fluttershy then said. “Pinkie just wants you to know that you’re safe with her. She also seems to be under the impression that you’re scared of ponies.”

Rita looked away from Fluttershy blushing a little bit before saying. “Maybe a little bit…”

Fluttershy stroked Rita’s hair with a wing tip while offering. “You don’t need to be scared, we are both here for you.”

Rita pushed her wing away and tried to change the topic away from her own fears. “Don’t we need to talk to some sparkly horse…er I mean pony.”

Fluttershy nodded in approval and explained. “Twilight Sparkle is one of my best friends, and she knows a spell that has let us communicate with other creatures before. So now were going to her house to talk to her.”

Rita looked ahead of them and saw a strange building. It looked like a giant tree house, only it was made completely of crystals. The crystal tree house stood at least eight stories high, four stories of it belonged to the tree itself. While the rest of it was a pink castle like building built into the top of it.

Rita continued looking at this structure with a little confusion before deciding aloud. “That is one of the most, ugly things I have ever seen, I mean it doesn’t even look like it belongs in this small little town. It looks like it belongs inside a toy box.”

Fluttershy gave a small squeaking sound before saying. “That’s Twilight’s house.”

Rita looked at her and then back to the crystal tree..castle. She finally looked back at Fluttershy and asked. “What kind of a blind architecturally ignorant person could stand living in such a place.”

Fluttershy gave another small squeak and her ears folded backwards as she said. “It’s…um…I…”

Feeling a little bad for the nervous pony Rita thought for a second on how to cheer her up. Finally she said. “It’s just a cultural difference I suppose. I won’t mention it again, promise.”

Fluttershy still looked very nervous and Rita began to worry that maybe she had hurt her feelings. Closing her eyes she forced herself to apologize. “I’m sorry…it’s actually kinda pretty up close.” Every word of that sentence felt like someone breaking her bones. She really didn’t like the way the tree castle looked.

Fluttershy looked a little calm now at least as she said. “Oh no it’s…okay. You don’t have to like it…just don’t tell Twilight that.” Rita nodded in agreement. Then they continued on to Twilight’s home.

It took a few minutes of walking before they arrived at the tree castle belonging to Twilight Sparkle. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie walked in through the front doors, closing them behind as they entered. Rita was still ridding Pinkie Pie, but at least her leg was not screaming in pain every time Pinkie Pie moved wrong now. Then they came to some stairs and Rita felt terror running through her.

“We’re not going up those stairs are we?” Rita asked nervously.

Fluttershy looked at her and Pinkie, than she looked at the stairs and asked something of Pinkie in equish. After getting a response she said to Rita. “Pinkie Pie says she can get you up the stairs without hurting you. She’s very agile, so I have faith that she can do it.”

Rita tightened her grip around Pinkie’s neck and buried her face into the back of Pinkie’s mane. To her surprise Pinkie’s hair smelled like frosting. She then said. “I’m ready.” Fluttershy said something in equish again, and that started the ascension up the stairs.

Rita didn’t even feel the bounce in Pinkie’s steps as she walked this time, and she didn’t open her eyes to see where they were going either. Finally she heard Fluttershy say. “We’re at the top, you can open your eyes now Rita.”

She did so and found the three of them now stood at the top of the stairs. Well actually it was Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy standing, while Rita timidly rode Pinkie’s back. They stood now in a long narrow hallway with a set of blue double doors at the end.

After getting to the door Fluttershy gave a quiet set of three knocks at the door. After a moment the door opened but Rita couldn’t see who had done so. She heard someone talking though and she looked around to no avail. After a moment she looked down and saw a small purple dragon standing on his hind legs looking up at the three of them. His mouth was agape as Fluttershy explained something to him in equish.

After a moment he scratched the back of his head and nodded before returning inside. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie followed him, into what looked like a living room. There was a blue couch next to the wall, with a large book shelf on either side of it. Fluttershy lead Pinkie to the couch while the dragon went into another room.

Pinkie Pie stood by the couch for a moment before the trio heard someone yelling something in equish from the other room. Fluttershy commented. “Oh my, such language.”

A purple horse…er pony walked into the room after that, the pony had both wings, and a horn. Rita had seen some ponies with horns on them before, but not anything with both of these features. The purple pony had a long mane of dark purple with a red and light purple streak running through it. Rita guessed that dying ones hair was popular in Equestria.

The purple pony walked up to them with a sneer on her face, she stood a little taller than her friends, and looked to equal Rita in height. The pony looked angry for some reason as she said something in low even tones to the two ponies, before glaring at Rita.

Fluttershy explained something in equish for a few moments, the purple pony calmed down as she continued talking. At the end of it the purple pony looked more intrigued then angry and said something else in Equish. Fluttershy looked at Rita and asked. “Twilight wants you to introduce yourself, can you do that Rita?”

Rita felt nervous, and foolish. She knew that only Fluttershy could understand her, but she did so anyway. Rita said sarcastically “Hello my name is Rita Rainwater, and I’m here to take over your land and eat all of your cake.”

The purple pony stood there for a moment before saying something in Equish to Fluttershy. Her horn then began glowing with light pink madder light. A necklace began to float off the table behind her and hovering in the air it moved towards Rita with a light pink aura, matching Twilights, surrounding it. Rita was unsure of what was going on and it was worrying her. Her first thought was that this was a ghost, but after a second she thought it more logical to be magic.

Fluttershy said. “Twilight wants you to wear the necklace; it will let you talk to us.”

The necklace simply hovered in the air before Rita as she reached for it. After grabbing it the aura faded and Twilight’s horn stopped glowing. She gulped as she wondered if this was actually some kind of trick. Rita looked at Fluttershy feeling fear rise up inside, Fluttershy gave a reassuring smile which strengthened Rita’s reserve. She put the necklace on.

Nothing seemed to change, no flashing lights, no explosions, and no dead Rita. She sighed before saying. “Well that was a fluke. I thought this was supposed to work Fluttershy.”

Then Twilight said with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure it didn’t work?”

Stunned Rita simply said. “So…I can talk to Pinkie now?”

Pinkie Pie shook a little bit underneath Rita as she said. “Yes, me and my newest best friend can finally talk to each other.”

Rita wasn’t sure what to say, she was so happy to finally be able to talk to them for once without using Fluttershy as a proxy. She found herself smiling despite the fact that she now had to worry about finding a way home.

Fluttershy then offered. “Would you like to take a rest on the couch?”

Rita nodded, and Pinkie turned letting her left side face the couch. Rita began to get off Pinkie’s back and slipped, and fell onto the couch. The sudden movement caused a severe rush of pain to shoot through her knee. Rita screamed in pain clutching her knee, but the pain didn’t subside right away. Fluttershy moved over to her and tried to sooth her saying. “Shh it’s okay Rita, it will be okay, hush.”

The pain took a few minutes to subside and before it was gone she was crying from it. Rita felt like a child for crying over her knee. But with Fluttershy wiping her tears away with a wing tip she felt a little better. Laying there on the couch Rita said. “This isn’t fair. I just want to be home, and I don’t want to be hurt. Why did this have to happen?”

Fluttershy simply shook her head saying. “I’m sorry, we will find a way home for you.”

Pinkie Pie said softly. “I’m sorry too, but I’m also happy. I never would of met you if you didn’t come here from your magic portal.”

Rita looked up at her and asked. “How did you know that I came here from a magic portal?”

Pinkie smiled and said. “Lucky guess.”

Twilight then walked up and said with her head hung low. “I’m sorry as well, I was upset that a human was in Equestria at first. Humans don’t exist in Equestria, and even after spending time with them, I…I’m sorry. I will help you get home I promise.”

Rita looked up at the three and feeling a little cheered up she said. “Thanks, I…I’ll need some supplies if I am to rebuild my machine. But first I need to heal.”

Fluttershy looked at her and said. “I have medical supplies at my house, I can get them and help you. If that’s okay with you…”

Rita sat up very carefully doing her best not to agitate her knee. She then removed the necklace for a moment and said. “I would love that, but only if I can come with you. I don’t trust Twilight yet…she’s a little scarier than a normal pony.”

Fluttershy looked back at the other two who looked a little confused and then nodded at Rita. After putting the necklace back on Twilight said. “Don’t you think it’s a little rude to talk in a different language in front of us like that? I didn’t give you the necklace so you could abuse it.”

Pinkie Pie looked over to Twilight and whispered just loud enough for Rita to hear. “She’s scared of ponies, and Fluttershy’s the first one to talk to her. I think you might have scared her a little when you were yelling earlier.”

Twilight sighed and said a little somberly. “I guess…you can do whatever. I trust Fluttershy’s judgment.”

Fluttershy smiled and said. “Okay, we will need to go to my house to treat her. But I think that we should rest here for a little bit.”

The four of them sat down and rested for the next little while. They made small talk and got to know each other a little more. The purple dragon named Spike, got an ice pack for Rita’s leg. After awhile they decided it was time to leave. Using her magic, Twilight picked Rita up with telekinesis. Rita let out a shriek as she was lifted onto Pinkie’s back again. Twilight apologized for scaring Rita like that. The three of them then set off towards Fluttershy’s house.

Chapter three: pony friends

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter three: pony friends
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Fluttershy lived in a small cottage at the very edge of town. It was a strange journey walking to her house. There were a lot more ponies staring at Rita time around, and thanks to the new necklace she was able to understand them now. Most of the ponies commented on the princess, Rita figured that Twilight must have been the princess in question due to her living inside a castle and all. Enough ponies however noticed Rita and made comments about her to make her feel out of place.

A lot of the ponies asked questions such as. “What is that thing on Pinkie’s back?” And also like, “is that a monster?”

Rita did not appreciate the comments, and neither did Pinkie Pie for that matter. Pinkie gave some of the ponies talking sneers, which stopped them from talking. Pinkie then asked in a joyous tone. “So Rita did you know that I have a pet alligator? His name is Gummy and I think you two would hit it off.”

Rita simply sat there pondering for a moment on whether anyone would actually be crazy enough to own a pet alligator. Pinkie must either be crazy, or she was telling a story to Rita. Pinkie almost reminded her of a friend from long ago. Rita shook her head trying to loosen those regretful memories.

She then said. “I suppose I’m not too popular around here. Figures, this always happens when I go outside the lab.”

That sentence got a look from Twilight who then asked. “Oh, what do you specialize in?”

Rita was about to tell her it was magic, but thought it better to lie. She then said. “I work on inventing new things, machines and such.”

Twilight was about to say something else when Pinkie butted in and asked. “Did you know that I work in a bakery? We make all kinds of stuff, like cakes and cupcakes and donuts and sweet bread and-“

Twilight cut in now saying. “I’m sure that Rita knows what a bakery is, and I’m sure she would love to visit later.”

Rita on the other hand was salivating at the thought eating of some sweets. She simply had to ask. “Do you have chocolate donuts?”

Pinkie Pie grinned wildly while looking back at Rita, causing her to flinch back a little. Pinkie then said. “Of course, the Cakes have everything you could want down at Sugarcube Corner.”

Rita made the mental note to check out the bakery when she was able to walk again. She looked up at the sky, the sun was a lot lower than it had been when she had walked through the portal. She theorized that there may be a time difference here, a quick estimate had her place it at eight to ten hours later then her worlds time. That was of course considering that the time wasn’t taken up from the portal itself.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a small pony with a yellow fur coat and a red mane. The little pony had a pink ribbon in her mane. She bounced next to the group of ponies as they walked and she asked excitedly. “Wow, are you the monster everypony is talking about?”

Rita thought the sight of the cute little pony was adorable, so long as they were bigger then her she was okay with ponies…almost. Rita answered her saying proudly. “My name is Rita, and I’m not a monster, I’m a human.”

The little filly then said. “I’m Applebloom, your pretty neat looking. Although I’m not supposed to talk to you. My sister said to stay away.”

Rita didn’t like to hear that, but the little one showed interest and intelligence. So Rita thought for a second and said. “Well you go tell your sister that I’m no monster. I’m friends with both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie after all, so how could I be evil.”

Applebloom thought about it for a second and squealed. “Your right.”

Two other fillies were watching Applebloom from in between two houses on the opposite side of the street. They looked a little scared of Rita. Applebloom looked at them and smiled, she then looked back at Rita and said. “Sorry I got to go get my cutie mark, see ya later Rita.”

Rita found herself enjoying the kindness of the little pony, and also from the ones around her. They seemed a little scared of her, but they were far more accepting then she thought they would be. Although that was also what worried her about them. This place called Equestria was simply too strange, and too nice be real. Something had to be off, and she would find it eventually, or it would find her. She wanted to be prepared for when that happened.

They finally arrived at a small bridge that crossed over to a winding road going up to a small cottage. The cottage had solid wood walls with a leaf covered roof. It was one of the oddest things that Rita had ever seen, but something about it felt…homey. After walking up to the door Fluttershy opened it and walked in inviting the others to fallow. Rita gave a small chuckle at the door once she realized it was very similar to a stable’s door.

Inside the cottage there was a green wooden floor, and a lot of rustic furniture. There were also a large number of bird houses inside, and a cat bed in the corner by the door. Rita could also see a stonework fireplace, and throughout the house were small walkways strewn about with squirrels climbing along them.

Pinkie Pie walked in with Rita on her back and after having taken a single look inside Rita prepared herself for the smell of animal urine. The thick smell hit Rita causing her to cover her nose and exclaim. “Why does it smell like PINE!”

Fluttershy looked at her shyly and said. “Oh…we just got done cleaning… this morning …again.”

Rita was surprised that the house didn’t smell bad, just strong. Pinkie Pie set Rita down carefully on the couch, and this time she didn’t get hurt. Rita looked up at the ceiling and saw a white bunny rabbit looking down at her menacingly from a hole cut into the ceiling. Rita stuck her tongue out at the rabbit, and it left, but not before twitching its nose threateningly at her. She had a feeling that the little bunny was going to be a great rival in the days to come.

As Rita sat there on the couch she began to feel alone again, she was stuck inside of a world with no humans. What if she was stuck here forever, she didn’t like this at all. This was feeling far too familiar and that was making her even more scared and paranoid. Painful memories of the war were playing in her mind, she had to find a way to fight them off before she broke down.

Rita tried to distract herself by asking Fluttershy. “So is this where you do your work?”

Everyone looked a little confused for a few seconds before Fluttershy said. “Oh…do you mean my veterinarian skills. Um…sometimes I do?”

Rita tried to relax on the couch using the pillows to lay her head down on, her leg was throbbing in pain again. She then said sarcastically. “Nope I meant the sensual massaging skills; Of course I mean you’re veterinarian skills.” After a moment Rita added bitterly. “It’s just a sprain, it’s not like I have a hole in my chest or anything…Just…go or whatever.”

Fluttershy blushed as she looked away and said. “Um…well…I can wrap your leg…if you want.”

After a few moments she looked over and noticed that Fluttershy was gone, and both Twilight and Pinkie were looking at her with serious expressions. Rita felt a cold rush of fear rise in her as she asked timidly. “Are you going to…bite me?”

Twilight shook her head and said. “No, but I think you need to be a little more respectful of Fluttershy.”

Pinkie Pie added. “Yeah, she’s taking care of you after all.”

Rita looked away and said dully. “I don’t need her pity, I don’t need anyone’s pity…I’m…” Rita couldn’t finish her sentence as she felt like something was caught in her throat. A sudden sinking feeling hit her, and tears began to water her eyes. All she managed to do was make a whimpering sound as she tried to speak again.

Pinkie Pie then said in a very soft and quiet tone. “I know you’re hurting, and scared, but you need to know that we’re all here for you.”

Rita wiped the tears away and forced her pain down deep inside and said. “I’m sorry, I just…I don’t know how to handle this. Being still is…hard.”

Twilight spoke next, she had a caring tone as well. “it’s alright, I can relate to that. You want to feel important, like you’re doing something worthwhile right? I promise if you keep trying, and if you start trusting us. You will feel a lot better.”

Rita looked over and saw Fluttershy standing behind the two of them, Fluttershy then said with her mouth around the handle of a medical box. “Ohm vhack.”

The two ponies looked at each other and back to Fluttershy. Fluttershy walked between them and sat the box down. She then opened it up and Rita saw all kinds of things inside the box. Bandages, syringes, even some pills. Fluttershy used her hooves to deftly pull out an elastic bandage, the kind used for sprains. Fluttershy then asked. “May I?”

Rita looked down at Fluttershy’s hooves. Rita than pulled down her sock and said. “Okay. Just please don’t hurt me.”

Fluttershy nodded and using her hooves she lifted Rita’s leg and placed a pillow underneath to keep it elevated. She then used her surprisingly soft hooves to begin gentle wrapping Rita’s swollen leg while saying. “Did you know that I am also a licensed chiropractor?”

Rita looked at Fluttershy’s focused eyes and asked shocked. “How can a pony be a chiropractor?”

Fluttershy gave a small laugh but didn’t remover her eyes from Rita’s leg as she said. “Well the first step was learning to be both gentle and rough at the same time. It was really hard, but it was worth it. I have helped fix back injuries before. In fact if you want, after you’re leg heals of course, I can show you my massaging skills. I want to make sure you didn’t injure your back when you fell after all.”

Rita muttered to herself curiously. “A pony and a chiropractor, now this I’ve got to study.”

Fluttershy stopped wrapping and looked to Rita saying. “Well, um there isn’t all that much to study…but if you want to.”

Twilight smiled along with Pinkie Pie while Rita examined her now wrapped leg. The wrap was white, and the brand name on it was, “race.” The pain was still there a little but it was better, and she didn’t even feel a thing while Fluttershy worked. Maybe she will have Fluttershy do some work on her back after her leg is better…probably not, those hooves were still scary.

A few hours later the other two ponies left Rita in the capable hands, er hooves of Fluttershy. Fluttershy treated Rita to a welcoming vegetarian diner of vegetable soup. Rita enjoyed the dinner although she couldn’t finish what was on her plate. There was simply too much food for her at the moment, though she did watch in aw at the large amount of food that Fluttershy had eaten. Fluttershy ate a lot more then Rita thought a sensitive creature such as her would normally eat. Another oddity was that the bunny rabbit, named Angel was also eating at the table. He had kept his beady little eyes carefully on Rita the entire time.

After dinner was over Rita found herself sitting on the couch looking out the window at the darkened night sky. She didn’t like sitting here like this doing nothing. She needed something to do, anything. If only she had access to some tools and some scrap metal she would be able to keep herself occupied.

Fluttershy walked up to her and asked. “Is something wrong?”

Rita looked up at Fluttershy and admitted. “Yeah, I’m going crazy just sitting still. I need something to do…in fact.” An idea began to appear inside her head. “Do you have any tools?”

Fluttershy nodded saying. “Yes, I have them inside my shed. I have to do a lot of modification to the house for the animals after all.”

Rita then said. “Okay I am going to need you to do something for me, something stealthy.”

Fluttershy grew a sly smile as she said. “Oh…I think I can do that. What did you have in mind?”

Rita grinned while saying. “When I appeared here, something from my lab may have come with me. I don’t actually know how the portal affected my lab after I used it. I’m hoping something came with me.”

Fluttershy frowned a little before saying. “Oh I’m sorry, but me and Pinkie Pie were watching. You’re the only thing that fell from the sky, and Pinkie Pie would have noticed if anything else fell.”

Rita’s hopes sunk a little bit, but then she asked. “Do you have any scrap metal?”

Fluttershy smiled again saying. “I might have something in my shed.”

Fluttershy had found a wooden stick about Rita’s height. The stick was to help relieve pressure on Rita’s leg so she could actually walk a little bit by herself. For some reason Fluttershy wasn’t too keen on the idea of having Rita ride her back.

Rita fallowed Fluttershy to a small wooden shed in her backyard. Inside she found an assortment of tools, and a few sheets of thin steel. Rita had to ask. “Where did you get those,” while pointing at the sheet metal?

Fluttershy explained. “Oh a long time ago my friend Rainbow Dash was working on a catapult, she didn’t need these so she just left them lying around. I thought I would get them out of the way for everypony. Why, what do you have in mind?”

Rita grinned with excitement. This was exactly what she needed. It would take all night, but she wouldn’t be so helpless afterwards. Rita looked at Fluttershy and said. “I’m going to make something, it’s my craft. It…um…helps me feel better when I’m depressed.”

Fluttershy smiled and walked with her over to the table. Rita stood awkwardly at the table, putting most of her weight on her uninjured leg. She could still feel pain while she stood though. Fluttershy looked worried as she asked. “How long is it going to take?”

Rita let out a sigh before saying. “Probably all night.”

“And you’re going to stand like that all night?” Fluttershy exclaimed.

Rita nodded feeling determined to get this done. Fluttershy turned sideways behind Rita and offered. “You can…um…use me as a chair if it helps.”

Rita looked over at her in surprise, and asked. “Really?”

Fluttershy nodded, and Rita said. “But I’m going to working all night long. Don’t you need to sleep?”

Fluttershy gave a short yawn before saying. “Ponies can sleep while standing up. It’s not something we usually do, but everypony takes naps like this sometimes. Especially Pinkie Pie.”

Rita didn’t know that ponies could sleep like that, but it was useful to know. Rita scooted up and onto Fluttershy’s back very carefully. The pain in her leg was already subsiding by the time she got comfy. Rita then said. “Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone I can do this.”

Fluttershy said. “Alright, I promise. But what are you doing?”

Rita smiled slyly while saying. “Magic.”

Rita stuck her right index finger out and concentrated for a second. After a moment her finger began burning at the end in a small bright flame. She then said. “I’m not very good at normal magic, but I am good enough to make the tools of my trade with my bare hands, and some scrap metal of course.”

Fluttershy watched in fascination as Rita began to cut the metal sheets with her finger, and then soldering them together to create something unique. By the time Rita had cut and fused together a crude gauntlet with wire coils on the back of the hand and a round open space in the palm. Fluttershy had fallen asleep.

This gauntlet was not a very protective device; it was mostly just thin strips of metal about the length of her finger, connecting piece together. Finger joints would be added later, but right now it wrapped in between her fingers and down to her palm before going back up along the sides of her hands and reconnecting with the main body on the back of her wrist.

Fluttershy had proven to be a great asset to Rita, and to her surprise a good…friend. Fluttershy gave a small shiver from the cold night air. Rita looked around and saw a light blue blanket lying in the corner of the room. She quietly got down and grabbed it. Ignoring the pain from her knee, she laid the blanket down over Fluttershy. Fluttershy murmured in her sleep. “Thank you…rainbow.”

Rita replied. “It’s nothing, good night Fluttershy.”

After climbing back up onto standing sleeping pony, Rita thought for a moment and found it amusing that Fluttershy made such a good chair, Rita then joked to herself. “Fluttershy is best chair.” After that Rita continued to work.

The final part of her job required her to make a needle thin piece of red hot metal. She used that to inscribe runes upon the gauntlet, it didn’t matter what the runes looked like so long as she put magic into them. They only served as connecting points for the gem, they would draw out the magical energies inside the gem and then focus them outward. She would only need a mirror and a gem of some sort to finish her gauntlet. Inscribing alone would take a few more hours. She also decided that she would use a simple cantrip spell to change the steel color to a nice copper color. It felt more appropriate that way.

***

Fluttershy woke up after a few hours, and was about to stretch out before realizing that there was a sleeping Rita on her back. Stretching out her wings she managed to keep Rita nice and safe on her back before she walked back inside the house. It was going to be morning soon, and Rita seemed to really need the sleep.

Fluttershy carefully carried Rita up the stairs and into her bedroom. Fluttershy carefully laid Rita down on her own bed before covering Rita up with the blue blanket. Rita then whispered in her sleep. “Please don’t…leave me…”

A tear was running down Rita’s face. After using a wing tip to wipe the tear away Fluttershy leaned down and whispered. “Shhh. I won’t leave you. I promise.”

Rita rolled over before saying. “Don’t leave…dad.”

Fluttershy let out a long yawn, and realized that she needed some more sleep as well. Her bed was big enough for the two of them to sleep on without bothering one another. Fluttershy got in on the other side and whispered. “Good night Rita.”Then she fell asleep and had happy dreams about her friends, including her newest one, the strange little human named Rita.

Chapter four: such a rarity

THE EQUSTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter four: such a rarity
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita was running across a fog covered field as fast as her injured leg would allow her. Her armor was beaten, and covered in blood stains. Gunshots and explosions sounded behind her as the ferocious battle raged on. She had to escape, the retreat had been signaled. She continued running through the muddy field when suddenly a soldier stood up from the mud ahead of her. The soldier was wearing a blue uniform, he was the enemy.

The soldier had his riffle pointed at Rita, she didn’t have time to react as he pulled the trigger. Time slowed down to a halt as the bullet flew towards her at a crawling pace. The round impacted on her chest, going straight through her armor. She felt the round exit out her back and then she fell to the ground. Gasping and struggling for air as she lay their dying. It was over for her. She closed her eyes and decided to let the void take her.

***

Rita woke up in a soft bed covered in sweat. She franticly patted her chest searching for the wound and found no injury. She found it odd that she was still wearing her favorite jacket. Why did she fall asleep wearing it, and where was she? Looking around the room she noticed that she was actually sitting in a small wooden bedroom with pink walls. There was a window next to the bed. Rita stood up, her knee tensed up and pained a little as she walked to the window.

She found a nice view overlooking the town below her from the window. The morning sun was shining down brightly across the happy little village. Rita stared out the window for a few moments wondering, ‘where in the world am I.’ It wasn’t until after seeing a flying blue pony with a rainbow colored mane flying around in the distance, that Rita realized that she wasn’t in her world anymore.

This was the first time it had hit her so hard, the fact that she really was stuck inside of another world began to finally sink in. This new world one filled with talking ponies, was a world without humans. She felt alone and scared. All she wanted to do was go home. Feelings of remorse began to pull at her heart, and Rita felt tears running down her eyes.

The sound of hoofs clopping against the wooden floor began were quickly approaching the bedroom door. Rita wiped the tears away and turned to face the door adopting a defensive sneer. She knew that she couldn’t pull off a fake smile, but she could use all the anger inside of her as a mask to hide her fears from anyone she didn’t trust.

The bedroom door opened a crack with a yellow muzzle poked a few inches inside. Fluttershy then asked. “Um…may I come in?”

Rita felt a little easier knowing that it was Fluttershy at the door. Rita replied flatly. “Yeah, come in.”

As Fluttershy entered the room Rita turned and faced the window saying. “I can’t believe it. I’m really stuck inside another world…what am I supposed to do now?”

Fluttershy was quiet for a moment but she finally said. “You can stay here with me, as long as you need to.”

Rita looked back at the kind yellow pony. Her kindness was far too much for Rita. Fluttershy looked at Rita with her big blue caring eye’s, something in them told Rita that she could trust Fluttershy implicitly. Rita could no longer hide her fear, her anger, her sorrow, and her pain. Falling onto her knees Rita broke down sobbing and saying. “I just wanna go home.”

Fluttershy approached carefully, and wrapped her wings around Rita pulling her into a gentle embrace and whispered. “I know you do.” Fluttershy simply held Rita like this for awhile allowing Rita to cry all of her emotions out onto her withers.

When Rita finally got done she felt hollow and empty inside. She shook a little bit underneath Fluttershy’s wings. She couldn’t just sit here doing nothing, if she did then she may never want to move again. There had to be a way home, and she would find it. Right now she prioritized arming herself for safety reasons, so gems and a mirror were her top priority.

Pushing herself out of Fluttershy’s gentle embrace Rita stood up and looked at her gauntlet. It offered no protection at the moment; it was the bare skeleton of what she was creating. Rita sighed at the task ahead of her. She clenched her hand into a fist and looked at Fluttershy feeling a determination to complete her new goal. She then said. “Alright Flutters, I think we’re going to have a fun day.”

Fluttershy smiled and said. “I’m glad to see you’re cheering up.”

The two of them went downstairs after that to enjoy a nice breakfast. Rita was glad to walk without need of her walking stick, although she had become endeared to it. So she decided that she would continue using the walking stick anyways.

Sitting patiently at the table Fluttershy had made some food for the two of them. A bowl with some hay in it was sat down in front of Rita before, Fluttershy went on to grab some for herself. Rita simply stared curiously at the bowl.

Fluttershy noticed Rita’s inquisitive stare and asked. “Is something wrong?”

Rita tilted her head to the side and said. “I don’t believe that it’s unhealthy for me to eat this, but at the same time I know that I won’t be getting any nutrients from it. Human’s have a hard time digesting stuff like hay.”

Fluttershy blushed a little and put a hoof over her mouth saying. “Oh…I’m sorry, I forgot that you weren’t…um what would you like to eat?”

Rita sighed and thought about it for a minute, she then said to herself. “Bacon, and sausage, and eggs, and toast, and muffins. Oh and some coffee with a little milk and a lot of sugar in it.”

Fluttershy stood there looking blankly at her for a few moments before saying in a quiet and timid voice. “Oh…um I don’t know what some of that is…but I can make you some eggs and toast…if you want.”

Rita stopped thinking for a second when Fluttershy mentioned egg’s, did horses really eat eggs? It took her a few minutes while Fluttershy made breakfast for her, before she finally remembered reading about horse feeds which including eggs as an ingredient. She had to learn a little more about horses then she had ever wanted too during the war, but she was thankful for that knowledge now.

Fluttershy turned and looked at Rita from the stove and asked. “Um…how would you like your eggs?”

Rita gave a small smile to Fluttershy and said. “Sunny side up, I would also enjoy some coffee if you got any.”

Fluttershy nodded and smiling softly she said. “Alright, and um…I’m sorry about the hay, I should have asked you what you wanted for breakfast.”

Rita gave an even wider smile at Fluttershy while saying. “It’s fine. You’re cooking for me and that’s awesome.”

Fluttershy blushed a little before turning away and going to work in the kitchen. Rita really did like this pony, after all Fluttershy had been a really good friend to her. She still found the idea of being friends with a horse to be a little surreal, but it was very enjoyable.

After breakfast Rita found herself following Fluttershy around town. As it turned out Fluttershy had some things to do that day, and Rita was going along with her. Rita wanted to meet some more ponies, but she also didn’t want to be left alone. Ponies around town were still giving her odd looks and murmuring things about her. Thankfully though there was a lot less attention focused on her then there had been the day before.

The two of them finally arrived at a cone shaped building with multiple floors. The walls at the base being painted baby blue and the upwards curving roof being a purple and pink diamond pattern. This house looked very much like some kind of toy to Rita, but at least it was kinda cute. The sign on the front door read. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique.” A sign just underneath that read. “We’re closed right now, please come back when we’re opened.”

Fluttershy went inside without reading the sign, and Rita followed along not caring either way. The inside was a little different to be sure. The floor was light purple, and the walls were blue although so many purple curtains hung around the area it was hard to tell. There was a small stage set in front of several mirrors. There was also an oak wood vanity mirror set off to the side of the room, right next to a few pony shaped mannequins wearing what could only be described as elegant saddle-dresses.

As Rita began walking over to the vanity mirror trying her best not to laugh at the mannequins, she heard Fluttershy say. “Rarity lives here, she’s a good friend of mine. If you complement her on her designs I’m sure you two will become great friends.”

Rita’s mind began to wonder about what sort of designs this Rarity had. Maybe she had designed a suit of pony armor that could shoot lasers from a tail mounted gun? Or maybe even a vessel for underwater travel. Or maybe she had designed a great flying death machine, one that could decimate entire cities by itself. Rita just had to find out what sort of mechanical designs Rarity had invented.

Fluttershy skulked about peeking into the kitchen while Rita investigated the vanity mirror. On the desk of the mirror sat a small blue Lapis Lazuli gem, next to a small mirror about the size of her palm. Rita picked up the mirror and examined it for a moment, it was almost a perfect fit for her gauntlet, it was only slightly too small. It would be a loose fit, but some adjustment could easily fix that. The gem however was a much better find.

Rita hadn’t worked with Lapis Lazuli in a long time, it was a type of ore that never wanted to work right for her ever since the war. Some of these gems worked better for certain types of people, she just wasn’t right for Lapis Lazuli. However she could still force it to work for her, though that came at a cost. It would cause burnout much faster than normal gems, not to mention that she wasn’t sure what it would even do.

She picked it up and placed it next to the back of her palm taking a good look at it, it didn’t feel too heavy and she could easily wrap the wire coils around it. Though testing could be dangerous without proper equipment. Rita was about to set the two objects down when she heard someone coming down the stairs. Rita had been so distracted that she had failed to realize that there was a staircase at the end of the room.

A white mare with a deep purple mane which curled fashionably, walked down the stairs. She had a horn but no wings. Rita guessed that this meant she could use magic but not fly. So far that makes three unique races of ponies she noted to herself, the horned ones being the most dangerous so far.

The white pony walked down the stairs and took one look at Rita. The pony’s eyes went wide and her pupils small. She then saw Fluttershy walking towards her peacefully and asked nervously. “Fluttershy darling, what is that thing by my vanity mirror.”

Fluttershy’s expression stayed kind as she said. “That’s my new friend Rita, she’s here to meet you. Also we have business with you.”

Rarity looked down at her own hooves and then back up to Rita and shook her head for a second. After that she seemed to regain her composer and walked gracefully towards Rita while introducing herself. “Hello darling, my name is Rarity.”

Rita looked back at the mannequins and said. “Hey. I’m Rita Rainwater. This place is…unique.”

Rarity paused for a moment and said proudly. “It is a creative little place is it not. My home is very fashionable.” She then took a good hard look at Rita before her eyes popped wide and she exclaimed. “Darling, where did you get that jacket? It’s absolutely perfect for my winter line up. Seeing as its spring now, I only have a little bit of time to prepare. Would you be interested in helping me with my winter line of clothing?”

Rita stood there stunned for a moment while she processed this. No one ever thought that she had good fashion, in fact Rita had been accused of being a crime against fashion before in the past. Ponies truly were weird.

Fluttershy spoke softly and said. “She might be able to help you, but were going to need something in return.” Fluttershy then whispered something into Rarity’s ear.

Rarity then said. “That’s just fine. In fact I would love to work on that right away.”

Rita than began laughing at the idea of setting new fashion trends. She then said. “Haha wait were you serious? I’m not a model or anything.”

Rarity then smiled and said. “Now don’t be so shy Rita. You would make a fantastic model.”

Rita simply shook her head back and forth and said. “That’s nice of you, but I don’t give a crap about fashion, I only care about going home as soon as possible.”

Rarity’s face screwed up as she stammered for a moment. “B-b-b-but…fashion.”

Fluttershy smacked her forehead with a hoof, and then she said. “Ow….Rita what did I say about complements.”

Rita replied. “But I haven’t seen any designs, I haven’t even seen any blue prints. I haven’t seen anything to indicate mechanical prowess at all. Where’s the flying machines, or the suits of armor? You told me she designed things.”

Fluttershy then said in a polite tone, the kind used by parents trying to explain things to there children. “Rarity designs clothing. In fact most of the clothing you see being worn in ponyville was designed and made by her.”

Rita stood there for a moment examining her surroundings. A stage with a mirror, pony shaped mannequins, and lots of drapes. Rarity was a simple clothes designer like Fluttershy had said. Rita’s hopes of seeing cool gemtech designs vanished in that moment. Rita still holding the Lapis Lazuli stone asked disappointedly. “If you make clothing, then why would you have gems lying around?”

Rarity took one look at the gem Rita was holding and said. “Oh darling that was for a dress I was working on earlier. I ended up with more gems then I needed so I was going to give all the extra’s to Spikey Wikey.”

Rita then asked. “Mind if I keep this one?”

Rarity pondered that for a moment before saying. “Alright, you can have that one. The rest are for Spike.” She then looked at the other thing in Rita’s hands and asked. “Oh…that mirror. Where did you get it?”

Rita then said. “I saw it lying on the desk next to the gem. I thought I’d use it for an accessory I’m building on.” Rita then thought about what she had just said and rectified. “If uh…your okay with that.”

Rarity frowned for a moment, and then smiled saying. “Alright you can have the mirror too. You simply must show me what you made when you’re done. Oh and if you need any assistance just let me know.”

Rita smiled at her and thanked her for the gesture. Afterwards Rita found herself being subjected to Rarity’s idea of fun. All of Rita’s body was being measured causing all sorts of paranoia to crawl around her mind. Thankfully Rarity was using her magic to measure with and not her hooves, Rita did not like being touched by hooves.

Rarity simply said she wanted the measurements for a project she was working on. Afterwards Rita and Fluttershy left Rarity’s home. Fluttershy then said. “Come on Rita, I’m going to introduce you to the others as well.”

Rita sighed as they walked away from Rarity’s home and admitted. “She’s nice, but completely insane. I mean her love for clothing is obsessive. I’m happy if I actually having something that’s not too big on me.”

Fluttershy gave a little smile before saying. “We all have our own little…hobbies, I personally love animals.”

Rita continued walking as she wrapped the blue gem into the wires located on the back of her Gauntlet. She then popped the mirror out of the little plastic case it was set in, and placed it on the circular spot on the palm of her gauntlet. She then used her magical fire to weld the mirror in place with a finger. it fit a lot better then she had expected.

Now admiring her gauntlet Rita heard Fluttershy ask. “What does that do?”

Rita grinned wildly as she said. “I have absolutely no idea.”

Chapter five: bad apple

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter five: bad apple
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita and Fluttershy walked a couple of miles heading towards sweet apple acres. There they would meet up with another one of Fluttershy’s friends. Rita’s knee was beginning to hurt a little by the time they arrived. To try and take her mind off of the pain she decided to ask Fluttershy a question that had been bothering her.

Rita asked. “So I noticed that there are several different types of ponies. Some are like normal horses; others have horns or wings, and a very few have both. Could you explain why there are so many variants in your species?”

Fluttershy took a moment to answer and sounded a little nervous when she did. “I um…I’m not sure why, but I do know that pegasi like me are able to fly. Unicorns, those are the ones with the horns, they can use magic. The normal ponies as you call them are actually called Earth Ponies, they are really good at farming. And when a pony has both wings, and a horn it’s called an alicorn. In fact I think only a princess can be an alicorn, which is why Twilight Sparkle is both an alicorn and a princess…I guess.”

Rita had wondered about whether Twilight’s royal connection had something to do with being alicorn before, she was glad to hear her theory was correct. Now she began wondering about crossbreeds of these three types of ponies, and how their unique physical aspects would change there off spring. She supposed that this could explain the alicorn race, but this didn’t explain why they had to be a princess, perhaps a perfect alicorn is so rare that they give them a special place in society.

The pair had finally arrived at the apple orchard where Rita was astounded to see how much of the land here was turned into an apple farm. She felt like she was staring at an apple tree forest. She looked at Fluttershy and asked. “How many ponies work on this farm?”
It had to be dozens if not more working on the farm. The farm was so big she could swear that the mountain barely visible in the distance was part of the farm. She walked next to Fluttershy admiring the work that had been put into the trees as she waited for Fluttershy’s answer.

Fluttershy said. “Three ponies, sometimes they have there cousins help out, but that’s rare.”

Rita couldn’t believe that only three ponies could take care of such an orchard. She had to be missing something important here. She examined her surroundings attempting to pick out what could possibly be off, and finally it hit her. Fluttershy had said that Earth Ponies were good farmers, maybe they had some kind of supernatural farming ability. Could this be part of the inherent magic Fluttershy had mentioned once?

It took a little bit of walking down the old dirt road but the two finally arrived at a clearing where she could see a barn, or was it a large two story house, complete with an attic. Actually it looked like the two things were fused together, it was a barn house. Rita found it amusing that ponies would live in barns in this world, and turn said barns into houses. A single red pony with a blond mane was walking towards them, judging by the shape of his body Rita guessed that this was a stallion.

On his approach he waved to Fluttershy saying. “Howdy miss Fluttershy.”

Rita stood frozen solid in fear though, since he got closer she noticed that this pony was a giant, in fact he wasn’t a pony at all. This had to be a horse, he was nearly six feet tall and he towered over Rita. Rita gave a quiet squeaking sound as she attempted to tell Fluttershy about the big scary horse. The big red horse had a piece of hay sticking out of his mouth.

Fluttershy then said. “Oh um…Rita this is Big Mac, he’s a nice pony. Big Mac this is Rita, she’s my newest friend.”

Big Mac bowed his head slightly and said politely. “Howdy miss Rita.”

Rita then began to back up a little and whispered to Fluttershy. “He’s not a pony, he’s a full fledged horse. And he’s so going to bite me.”

Fluttershy gave a soft little laugh before saying. “Big Mac may be big, but he is the most gentle stallion I’ve ever met. Isn’t that right?”

Big Mac looked away somehow managing to blush a little bit through his red fur coat. Rita could see from the way he held himself that, maybe Fluttershy was right about him. Rita tried to work up her courage as she said. “It’s nice to meet you…Big Mac.”

Big Mac smiled to her and said. “It’s mah pleasure.” He then began walking passed them saying. “Applejack is in the barn.”

Fluttershy then said. “Thank you Big Mac.”

He replied. “Ayep.”

As he left Rita watched him suspiciously for a few moments, not trusting the giant horse. She followed Fluttershy to the barn house while still feeling a little nervous. Rita then realized something that she was thankful for animals having, as she watched Big Mac walking away. She said to herself. “Boy am I glad that horses have tails.”

Fluttershy asked. “Why is that?”

Rita looked at her and said blatantly. “Because penises are gross enough on a human, but on a horse it’s just yuk. I mean, imagine having to stare at it while he walked? Eww, animal’s are gross.”

Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks, her face became a deep shade of red as she squeaked. As Fluttershy continued squeaking Rita wondered what had her so worked up. It took her far too long to realize that Fluttershy was a little shy, and scientific terms probably embarrassed her. So Rita decided to try and fix her mistake.

Rita rubbed the back of her head and said nervously. “Oops, I uh…guess you don’t like that word. Would it have been better if I said meat stick?”

Fluttershy squeaked again, and Rita stammered. “Um…fifth leg, his second tail, his Gentlemen’s cane?”

Fluttershy wasn’t even squeaking now, she was opening her mouth and no sound was coming out of it. Rita wasn’t quite sure what she had done to make Fluttershy so upset, most people were fine with the use of scientific terms when it came to animals.

An orange mare with a blond mane set into a ponytail, and wearing a cowboy hat walked up to the pair of them saying. “What is goin on here, what did ya’ll do to Fluttershy?”

Rita looked at the pony and answered. “I think she’s embarrassed by male genitalia.”

Applejack looked confused as she asked. “What?”

Rita explained. “Well I was talking about Big Mac’s penis and then she-“

Rita was cut off by the orange pony shouting angrily. “You said WHAT ABOUT MY BORTHER!”

The orange one was snorting steam out of her nostrils, and she began digging at the ground with a foreleg preparing to charge. Fear shot through Rita’s entire frame as she realized she had just said something exceedingly stupid…again. And gotten herself into trouble…again. This pony was going to attack her, and she had no way of defending herself. Rita looked over at Fluttershy who had clenched her eyes shut tight and was holding her breath.

Rita said in a nervous tone. “Fluttershy, I think she’s going to kill me. Fluttershy please help…Fluttershy?”

The orange one took in a deep breath and was about to charge when Fluttershy opened her eyes and stared sternly at the orange pony. Fluttershy then said in low even tones. “You will calm down, and be very nice to my friend Rita. I know she is very blunt but she doesn’t mean any harm. Calm down Applejack.”

The orange pony who was named Applejack fell flat on her hind quarters and exhaled, before saying. “Sorry.”

Something was very off about this moment. Applejack was going to kill Rita, or at least try her best, and considering the condition she was in that wouldn’t be a very hard task. But when Fluttershy talked to her, Applejack calmed down and even apologized although she was probably in the right here. Something just happened that made Rita very curious about Fluttershy, and she wanted to investigate more into it.

It took a few minutes for Applejack to completely calm down, and Fluttershy explained in a whisper that Rita needed to be a little more modest in the future. They all sat down on some bushels of hay in the backyard. There was an awkward stillness to the air as the three of them tried several times to start a conversation, and failing each time.

Eventually Applejack sucked in a deep breath and said. “So tell us a little about yerself.”

Rita found it funny that this was the first time anyone had actually asked her about herself. Rita thought about how to answer the question for a few moments before she finally said. “Well I’m a scientist, and a soldier. I’ve had a…different life. I’m one of the last of six friends, the war was hard on everyone, Sometimes you lose the battle even if you’ve won the war.”

Applejack and Fluttershy both looked intrigued by Rita’s words, although she wasn’t going to continue talking about herself. She was beginning to feel a little down now that she was thinking about the past.

A familiar earth pony filly with a pink ribbon in her hair walked up holding a plate by her mouth, on the plate were some glasses of apple juice. After setting the plate down next to them she said excitedly. “Rita, what are you doing here? Are you friends with Applejack?”

Applejack looked sternly at the filly for a second asking her. “How did you know her name?”

Applebloom looked nervous and backed away a little saying. “Um…I heard you say it.”

Applejack rubbed her face with a hoof while saying. “Ugh, Ah’d ground ya, but ah think Rita’s not such a bad pony. Just don’t get yerself in trouble.”

Applebloom smiled and ran off just as an old looking green coated pony with gray hair fashioned into a bun walked up. Rita couldn’t help but ask. “Whoa is she okay?”

Applejack gave a sneer towards her and explained. “That’s granny smith, and she’s just fine. She’s just a little old.”

Granny Smith walked up and said. “Now hear this you whippersnapper, I’m as young as a spring chicken.”

Rita gave a little laugh at seeing Applejack put into her place by an elder. Granny Smith then said. “Well ah believe you already know my name, what’s yours young’en?”

Rita smiled at the polite elder pony and said. “My name is Rita Rainwater, and I’m a human.”

Granny Smith snickered a little before saying. “Well don’t that just beat all, ah’ve never seen a human before, and ah’ve seen everything.”

Rita’s ears perked up at the hint of a good story. Rita then asked. “Really? I bet with how young you are, you have a lot of good stories.”

Granny Smith raised an eyebrow, as Applejack let out a sigh. Granny Smith then said. “Well I may know an interesting tale or two. But ya’ll couldn’t possibly be interested in them.”

Rita sat up and crossed her legs, she then said with barely contained excitement. “I’d love to hear one.”

Applejack whispered the words. “Why did ya go and do that?”

Rita shushed her and then said. “Please.”

Granny Smith beamed as she said. “Alright, I suppose I could tell you one. Ya see back in the my day, I was really good at swimming. In fact I was the ponyville…”

Granny Smith continued to relive her younger days with Rita listening attentively. Rita always loved to listen to stories, it was one of her favorite things. Although when she was younger didn’t enjoy it. She used to dislike the long boring stories that her dad would always tell her. But one day he was gone, and she was no longer able to hear them. She learned then that there are some things you should always cherish in life, because they won’t always be there for you, when you need them most. Granny Smith’s stories reminded Rita a lot of her father’s old stories..

By the time Granny Smith had finished, both Fluttershy and Applejack had fallen asleep, and Rita had learned more about ponies then she had ever thought she could. Not in terms of scientific facts, but in terms of culture and about whom they were. Ponies truly were people, and Rita was now feeling guilty over having thought of them only as advanced animals.

When Granny Smith yawned Rita knew that story time was over. Rita then said. “I loved hearing your stories.”

Granny Smith looked at the sleeping ponies and smiled saying. “I loved telling them to you Rita.” Granny Smith then looked at her and became a little more serious as she said. “You understand don’t you? The reasons why us old codgers tell you youngsters these stories?”

Rita looked away feeling her eyes water up a little, she then wiped her eyes on her jacket sleeve before saying. “Yeah, I do. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love hearing you’re awesome stories. You’re pretty awesome Granny Smith.”

Granny Smith smiled and gave a laugh before saying. “You can call me Granny, and you can come by and listen to me talk yer ears off anytime you want.”

Rita smiled and asked. “Really?”

Granny gave her a nod and said. “Of course, your part of the family now. Despite what Applejack here may think. Give her some time to warm up to you, and I just know that you two will become great friends.”

Applejack stirred a little, she raised her head slowly and asked. “What did ya say? She’s family already, but we hardly know her.”

Granny gave a little smile and said. “She’s a nice girl Applejack, and she needs good friends like you. So treat her nice or it’s you’re hide being tanned.”

Applejack shook her head as she tried to wake up. Granny looked at Rita and said. “Well ah ought to be going inside now, it’s time for my nap.” And with that she walked back inside the house.

Applejack was still waking up and Rita remembered that they were still supposed to meet one more person today. Looking over at Fluttershy, Rita placed a hand gently on her head and brushed the hair out of her face. Rita then said. “Hey Fluttershy we still have one more pony to meet today.”

Fluttershy opened her eyes and rubbed at them with her foreleg before saying. “What time is it?”

Rita looked up at the sun and realized that she had no idea how much time had passed. She then looked at Applejack for the answer. Applejack said. “It’s afternoon, which means ah got to get ready for the thing today.”

Fluttershy sat up slowly and gave a tiny little yawn before saying. “Oh…okay we need to meet with Rainbow Dash now.”

The two left Applejack and her farm behind. As they walked away Rita said. “I like the apple family. Although I feel like I might have made a poor first impression on Applejack.”

Fluttershy shook her head and said. “At least it’s going to be hard to make a bad impression on Rainbow Dash. She’s easy.”

Rita couldn’t help but giggle at the way Fluttershy said the word easy. Fluttershy then blushed a little and stated. “I meant she’s easy to please.”

Rita began laughing now. Fluttershy then said. “She’s uh…a…likes to be…um she…is….easy going.”

Rita couldn’t help but laugh at Fluttershy’s attempts to fix what she had said. Rita decided to end her torment after a few minutes, and in between laughing she said. “It’s okay, I understand, what you meant.”

Fluttershy seemed to calm down a little bit after that, and the two of them left to go meet Rainbow Dash.

Chapter six: rainbows and friendship

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter six: Rainbows and friendship
Written by TheCrimsonDM

We walked for a while before arriving at a field of grass. We were headed towards a hill with a large willow tree standing at its peak. When we got there Fluttershy looked up and said. “Um…Rainbow Dash, are you busy?”

Rita looked up and saw a blue pegasus laying on a branch, she had a rainbow mane. Rita had seen this pony just this morning flying over the town. Rainbow Dash hopped out of the tree and landed next to Fluttershy. The Rainbow maned pony’s eyes grew wide as she took in the sight of Rita and said. “Wow, what are you?”

Rita answered that question for what felt like the thousandth time since she woke up. “My name is Rita, and I am a human.”

Rainbow Dash grinned at her and said. “Awesome, I’m Rainbow Dash, and I’m a pegasus.”

Fluttershy gave a little smile to Rainbow Dash and asked. “Um…what were you doing just now?”

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head with a foreleg and said. “I was taking a nap, had a rough day working on the weather.”

Rita became instantly invested into this conversation as she asked. “What do you mean, working on the weather?”

Rainbow Dash sat down and leaned her back against the tree, she then said. “Us pegasi usually work on the weather. We make it rain, and cloudy, and snowy, and everything really. There isn’t any part of the weather that we don’t control.”

Rita was astounded to hear that the ponies had complete control over there weather. Weather manipulation was outlawed in her home lands after they discovered the devastating after effects on the region. Rita looked up at the beautiful blue sky and took a harder look at the clouds. There were a few pegasi off in the distance moving the clouds around by pushing them.

Rita returned her attention towards Rainbow Dash and asked. “And there hasn’t been any bad side effects from this?”

Rainbow Dash laughed and said. “Nope, it’s been like this for over a thousand years in Equestria.”

Rita then had a horrifying vision. She asked. “How many other countries are there, other than Equestria?”

Rainbow Dash looked up and said. “Other countries?...I guess the griffons have their home lands…but uh…there isn’t much outside of Equestria. It’s all kinda like a barren wasteland out there.”

That was exactly what Rita had feared. By manipulating the weather for so long in this region, the rest of the world was left to suffer, barren wastelands, never melting ice lands. There could be so many different races that have suffered because of the ponies, starvation was probably a very common problem in any place other than Equestria. And Rainbow Dash’s ignorance of other countries could indicate that the government here has been manipulating there people’s belief structures. Rita may have just found a glimpse of the darkness she knew was going to be here.

Rainbow Dash then looked at Fluttershy and asked. “So what have you two been doing all morning.”

Fluttershy said. “Oh we have been talking to everypony. You’re the last one to meet Rita.”

Rita then said. “Yeah but hopefully our meeting won’t go as sourly as Applejack’s did.”

Rainbow Dash looked intrigued and asked. “What happened with her.”

Fluttershy began to put a hoof up as Rita answered bluntly. “She doesn’t like me talking about her brother’s penis.”

Rainbow Dash began cracking out into a fit of laughter, even snorting a few times. Fluttershy’s face went red again. For a few seconds Rita thought everything would be okay until Fluttershy yelled in a loud squeaky voice. “YOU ARE SO EMBARRASSING!”

Taken aback by Fluttershy’s sudden outburst Rita jumped back and fell hard on her butt. Rita sat there for a moment, with her butt now sore, trying to get a grip on what just happened. She looked at Rainbow Dash who was covering her mouth with both hooves and eyes wide. Fluttershy’s face was red but her eyes was very serious looking. Fluttershy snorted and stared Rita in the eyes, she then said in a very low and even tone. “You will stop saying rude things.”

Rita wasn’t sure what was going on but she tried to remedy the situation by apologizing. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know how to shut up sometimes. Please don’t be mad, I’m gonna try and not do it again…but I can’t really control it.”

Fluttershy blinked in surprise for a few seconds. She then stared at Rita even harder; her stern expression looked strained as she said. “You will stop saying rude things. Do you understand?”

Rita didn’t know what was going one but she tried to explain again. “Look Fluttershy, I didn’t grow up like most people. I just don’t seem to be able to talk civilized all the time. I know I messed up, and I’ve been really rude to you…but I’m sorry. I really am trying my best okay.”

Fluttershy sat down and muttered to herself with a confused tone. “You’re just like discord.”

Rita had no idea what she had meant by that, or even why she had been trying to stare at her so hard. Rita didn’t care though she felt like she was about to lose her only friend. Closing her eyes Rita sucked up her courage and gave Fluttershy a hug saying. “I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt you.”

Rainbow Dash then said. “Wow, you must have said some really rude things to make Fluttershy do this.”

Fluttershy said in her soft voice. “Shush Rainbow. Rita it’s okay, I’m sorry I exploded like that. I hope I didn’t scare you.”

Rita felt some tears in her eyes and wiped them off on Fluttershy’s fur as she said. “Maybe a little.”

Fluttershy wrapped a leg around Rita and said. “I’m sorry. And um...it’s going to be okay.”

Rita pulled away and couldn’t help but notice Fluttershy trying to wipe the spot Rita had wiped her tears on. Rita then wiped the rest of the tears off of her face, along with some fur that got stuck to her face. Rita then said. “Sorry about crying on you. I know it’s kinda gross.”

Fluttershy blushed a little as she said. “Oh…it’s-um it’s fine.” She then gave a sheepish grin to Rita.

Rita turned away from the two of them and looked across the open field. There was a lot of beauty in the world, even if it was all condensed into one country. Rita let out a sigh and said. “This is a beautiful world you have here.”

Fluttershy walked up and sat next to her. Rainbow Dash joined her on the opposite side. Together the three of them enjoyed the scenery for a few minutes before Rainbow Dash turned around and said. “About time you all got here.”

Rita turned and saw Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and spike all standing behind them. They had a few picnic baskets and Rarity quickly got to laying out the picnic blanket. Pinkie Pie then said. “Of course were here, we couldn’t miss out on a picnic at our favorite spot.” She then looked at Fluttershy and said. “This was a great idea Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy looked away shyly and said in a near whisper. “Oh no, it wasn’t anything.”

Pinkie Pie gave an energetic bounce five feet into the air, causing Rita to flinch. Pinkie Pie landed and said. “Planning a picnic just for Rita was the best idea. Now if only this was a party.”

Rita looked over at Fluttershy and asked. “What do you mean a picnic for me?”

Fluttershy looked away shyly, and after a moment Twilight Sparkle answered. “We’ve all noticed that you have been having a hard time adjusting to life here in Equestria. So Fluttershy said she wanted to try and make you feel more comfortable.”

Rita was surprised to see everyone here, and even the ponies she didn’t like very much were here for her. Rita felt a warm feeling in her heart, something that had been missing for so long now. She closed her eyes and said. “Thank you.”

Rita felt a wing wrap around her shoulders, and looking up she saw Fluttershy looking kindly at her. Rita could feel tears coming on again, she wiped them away with a sleeve before they ran down her face. Rita didn't know just how nice everyone was going to be to her. Maybe things weren't as bad as she first thought they were.

Rita enjoyed the nice little picnic with everypony. She got to eat lots of cupcakes, and even ate a few daisy sandwiches at Twilight’s insistence. They all talked a lot and got to know one another pretty well. Although Rita’s blatant way of speaking caused a few awkward moments, they all ended up becoming friends. Somehow Rita had gotten friends.

It occurred to Rita just how strange it was that she had such a hard time making friends with members of her species. And yet these magical talking ponies were so easy to befriend and talk too. Rita really hopped that this wasn’t because of her own social problems.

Looking at all these ponies and there happy, peaceful life styles. She simply knew that they truly were the best things to happen to her. Hopefully no other human’s would ever discover this world, the thought of war breaking out here was too terrible an idea for her to conceive, and yet it was so easy for her to imagine it.

She wondered if this world had protectors, those who could stem off great threats whenever they arisen. Hopefully this world was protected by something, maybe something like her old group of friends. And if so, hopefully this group would avoid the tragedy that befell Rita and her old group.

Chapter seven: scar tissue

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter seven: scar tissue
Written by TheCrimsonDM

A few days have passed since Rita first entered the portal, and now she found herself living with Fluttershy. It was nice living with Fluttershy she truly was a nice pony. Rita had spent a lot of free time drawing up schematics for her portal, and attempting to figure out what had gone wrong. She didn’t dare attempt to rebuild it only to have it send her to a world even more dangerous than Equestria, although considering how peaceful this world was…that wouldn’t be a difficult task to complete.

Night had claimed this world once again causing Rita to feel a little paranoid. She always found that unless she was inside at night she became anxious. The night was not her friend, or at least it hadn’t been in a long time.

Rita sat on the couch inside Fluttershy’s living room staring at the white bunny rabbit. Angel Bunny was peeking his devious little head out from around the door frame to the kitchen watching Rita. Rita knew that he was planning something, but what It was she didn’t know. The pair continued the silent staring contest for a while before Fluttershy walked in and said. “Oh my, Angel you shouldn’t stare. It’s rude.”

Rita watched at Angel turned his head and left. She gave a happy smile to Fluttershy, who returned the smile. Rita then through her arms up and dramatically falling on the couch she said. “I’m feeling beat after all the walking we’ve done the past couple days. I’m thinking about going to sleep soon.”

Fluttershy then asked. “Um…maybe you should take a bath first.”

Rita scratched the back of her head and said. “Pfft I’m good, I took one last week.”

Fluttershy’s expression became one of pure horror as she asked. “You haven’t bathed in how long?” Rita began to felt a little embarrassed from Fluttershy’s reaction. Fluttershy then added. “Um…I…you need to take a bath.”

Rita gave a small nervous laugh and asked. “Why, I don’t smell that bad, yet.”

Fluttershy then stared at Rita with a serious expression and said. “You are taking a bath right now.”

Rita was feeling a little rebellious and stuck her nose in the air while saying playfully. “Make me.”

Fluttershy continued staring and said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Rita gave Fluttershy a wide grin and said. “Hmm…maybe if you should stop staring, and try a new tactic. May I suggest bribery?”

Fluttershy stopped looking so serious and relaxed before asking. “Fine…What do you want?”

Rita grinned and said. “Oh well…let me see. How about…you take me out to Sugarcube corner. Buy me some chocolate delights and I’ll take that bath of yours.”

Fluttershy gave Rita a small frown for a few seconds and then suggested. “How about I treat you to Sugarcube corner once a week, but only if you take a bath once every day.”

Rita sat there and considered it for a few moments. Weekly treats at Sugarcube corner would be fantastic. But a bath everyday, that’s time better spent elsewhere…doing things…like science. Who was she kidding, she was only being lazy. Rita reluctantly said. “Okay…I’ll accept your terms, you rogue.”

Fluttershy gave Rita a very confused look prompting Rita to explain. “It’s a saying from my world.”

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves and thought for a moment. She finally said. “It’s also a phrase from this world…that’s just a coincidence right?”

Rita considered the idea for a moment, that perhaps this world was actually an alternate universe to her own. But if that was true would she should have transformed into a pony or something when she came here? Furthermore there would’ve been a terrible war that had just ended, not to mention a Rita pony somewhere out there all alone with no real friends left.

Fluttershy walked up to the couch and gave Rita a slight push with her muzzle saying. “Enough with the distractions, you can contemplate this in the bath missy.”

The more time Rita spent with Fluttershy the closer Fluttershy became to her, acting increasingly bolder and open to Rita. It also seemed that Fluttershy was taking on a caretaker role with Rita, although this bothered her a little bit, it was also kinda nice.

***

Fluttershy had led Rita to the bathroom, making sure that Rita wasn’t going to skip out on the bath. The two of them stood inside the bathroom and although Rita had already been in here before, she still found the idea of ponies having fully functional facilities to be both a blessing and a little comical.

Fluttershy’s bathtub was crafted of stained wood, and matched her cottage. Fluttershy also kept an assortment of shampoo bottles and lotions next to the bath. Fluttershy explained how the faucets worked, and even pointed out which of the bottles was shampoo and which ones was conditioner. Since Rita couldn’t read Equish it was a kindness for Fluttershy to point those out. Rita already knew how a bathtub functioned but she didn’t want to interrupt Fluttershy, so she patiently let Fluttershy finish.

After Fluttershy finished explaining she turned the faucet on and began filling the tub with hot water. Rita began to take her jacket off and stopped as she realized that Fluttershy was not leaving the room. Rita looked at Fluttershy and felt a little embarrassed as she asked. “What are you doing?”

Fluttershy only stared at her blankly for a few moments before finally saying. “OH…oh my, I’m sorry. I forgot how shy you were.”

Rita waited until Fluttershy had left and shut the door behind her, before began undressing. First she took off her red and black jacket. She always wore a light gray T-shirt underneath it. Rita took a good look at the scars on her wrists which rung around like bracelets. She gave a shudder after looking at her wrists. The memories of what caused them were still fresh and still painful for her, even if it happened five years ago.

Next she took off her T-shirt leaving herself standing there topless with a bra wrap around her chest. Truth was her bra always reminded her more of a bandage wrap then an actual bra. That was because she had more experience with the later.

Rita was always a little angry with her small chest size. It simply wasn’t fair that she was so tiny when she found herself surrounded by almost nothing but voluptuous women.

Rita examined her right shoulder and felt her heart sink as she stared at the nasty scar laying there. She had once been shot in the shoulder during the war, she was lucky to have survived. Rita looked in the full body mirror for a second and then turned away refusing to look any further.

She never wanted to see what her back looked like again. Rita fought with the urge to not look for a few moments and finally gave up. She turned her back towards the mirror and looked in to it.

Her back was covered in scars, most of them were long lines stretched across her back. But there were also spatters of scar marks, and even a few burns. “That was five years ago, your fine now.” Rita whispered to remind herself that all her pain was over.

Rita took off her long socks next. Truth be told they were a lot closer to stockings in length, but she didn’t like the term stocking, so she stuck with calling them socks. Scar tissue littered her legs just a few inches under the knees and stretching down to her feet. The worst was the pair of scars rung around her ankles; these were a matching pair to the ones on her wrists. Rita closed her eyes and began to shake; she forced herself to stop and continue undressing with her eyes closed.

Rita spent most of the bath simply not looking down at her own body. She was ashamed of what she looked like underneath all of her cloths, and even though she was inside a world full of ponies. She still feared anypony seeing her body. Rita simply relaxed in the bath praying that this night would be over already.

The war had been rough on everyone involved and Rita was only one victim of it. So many people were hurt and killed, when they started drafting children into the battle…that’s when Rita was forced to grow up and her innocence was destroyed. Looking at her hands, she could still make out some of the light scaring on them, her hands were covered in the blood of her enemies, of her allies, and of her friends.

Just as Rita was about to cry she heard a small knocking sound at the door. Her thoughts now disrupted she heard Fluttershy’s voice from the other side asking. “Um…Rita…are you decent? I-uh…I need my Allergy lotion from inside there…would you mind grabbing it for me?”

Rita looked over to the bottles next to her and with terrible realization called back to Fluttershy. “What does it look like, I can’t read Equish.”

Fluttershy responded by saying. “It’s um…a pink bottle. It’s right next to the bath tub.”

Rita looked at the bottles sitting on the shelf next to her and then said flatly. “There all pink.”

Fluttershy was silent for a moment and then said. “Oh…that’s okay then. I…um…Oh my.”

Rita was becoming a little worried now, she had never considered horses having allergies, and if it was a lotion then that meant that Fluttershy might be breaking out in hives. Rita knew how bad those could get untreated. Rita really didn’t like this, but she hadn’t washed her hair yet and she Knew Fluttershy would be upset if she didn’t do that before bed tonight.

Rita clenched her eyes shut and forced herself to say. “You can come in…but only you.”

The door opened a second later and Fluttershy walked in and closed the door behind her. There were red bumps all over Fluttershy’s legs and even a few on her muzzle. Rita felt a little scared and sat up straight asking. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to answer but didn’t speak. Her eyes shot wide as she took in the sight of Rita’s body. Fluttershy then asked in a terrified voice. “Are you okay?”

Rita looked down and realized that Fluttershy could see all of her scars. Rita’s face began heating up from embarrassment, and shame. The shaking fear began to come back now. Rita covered herself up as best she could with her arms and said flatly. “I’m fine. I just…the war was bad.”

Fluttershy walked up to the bath tub and reached over it with her muzzle, she grabbed one of the pink bottles in her mouth. She then sat down and began applying the pink gel substance from inside the bottle over the affected parts.

Fluttershy didn’t look at Rita as she applied the lotion with her hooves. Fluttershy then said. “Mmmm this feels better already. I usually need to keep some Star Swizzle on hoof for allergy break outs.” Fluttershy then said in an apologetic tone. “I’m sorry.”

Rita kept her head hung low as Fluttershy sat next to her. Rita began to feel warm tears running down her cheeks. For a few moments Fluttershy was quiet, and Rita had wondered if Fluttershy was going to leave her here all alone. When she felt a feathery wing brush some of her tears away Rita looked up and upon seeing the caring face of her friend she knew she was alone.

Rita screwed up her face while trying to fight the pain back and not cry. She eventually managed to ask. “Do you think I’m ugly?”

Fluttershy answered her in a kind and soft voice saying. “No I don’t. I don’t have to know what humans usually look like to know just how beautiful you are. I don’t care if you’re covered in scars, or fur, or anything at all. You’re a beautiful person Rita and you’re my friend.”

Rita looked up and sniffled a little before saying. “Do ponies get scars too?”

Fluttershy smiled and said. “Of course we do, most of the time we can cover them up with our fur. But sometimes the scaring is so serious it’s…scary. We have really good doctors though, so scars are truly a rare thing to have like that.”

Rita let the tears stream down her face before saying. “It’s not fair. I…I never wanted any of this. War, fighting, death, I didn’t want any of this. Why does life have to hurt so badly.”

Fluttershy draped a wing around Rita’s shoulder and said. “I promise I won’t let you be hurt anymore. I’ll protect you Rita, I swear.”

Rita looked up and saw something new inside the kind sensitive pony. Fluttershy had a strong spirit inside of her, a protective and loving spirit. At that moment Rita truly believed that Fluttershy would fight an army to protect her, and she also believed that Fluttershy would win that fight. Rita hadn’t seen anyone like this since her father…and with that final thought Rita let out a wail of pain as she cried out with all her inner pain a single word. “DADDY!”

***

That night Rita barely managed to dress herself before crawling into Fluttershy’s bed. Fluttershy held her carefully but tightly as she cried into Fluttershy’s chest. Rita had been keeping all of her pain locked up inside for so long now. Since she was finally somewhere safe and sound, all her emotional wounds were being violently ripped open and all she could do tonight was cry. Rita couldn’t even contemplate what she would do without Fluttershy in her life. Fluttershy had become an invaluable part of Rita’s heart, something keen to that of a big sister and a mother. Rita finally didn’t feel alone, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t broken.

Chapter eight: howl of the forest

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter eight: howl of the forest
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita woke up the next morning with Fluttershy’s legs still wrapped tightly around her. It was a little awkward and she couldn’t help but lay there arguing with herself about crawling out of bed, or staying here for a few more minutes. After all she didn’t’ want to wake up Fluttershy. After a while she decided it better to simply lie in bed and enjoy Fluttershy’s company, Rita really just needed to be cuddled sometimes.

Rita was still a girl after all and that meant that crying and hugs were a part of life for her. Sometimes she just needed a good cry to flush all those pent up emotions out of her system. While cuddling next to Fluttershy she began to notice just how warm pony fur really was. It was almost like being wrapped up in a nice warm blanket fresh from the dryer. It was Rita’s firm belief that he simple things in life were truly worth cherishing.

After about an hour Rita got the call of nature, and although she had tried fighting the urge for a while she finally gave up and moved out of Fluttershy’s embrace. To her surprise Fluttershy didn’t’ wake up after Rita moved out of bed, instead Fluttershy simply nickered happily. Rita couldn’t resist petting Fluttershy’s mane once before leaving the room.

After having taken care of her morning procedures Rita walked down stairs and into the kitchen. She was hungry and needed some coffee to wake up with. To her surprise however she didn’t see any signs of the little white rabbit and his devilish little stare.

With no pony to bother her, nor rabbit, Rita was able to start the coffee pot on the stove and fix herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in complete peace and quiet. She sat at the kitchen table and stared outside the kitchen window. Rita had missed this kind of quiet.

It was clear that she was going to be stuck here for awhile, a few months maybe even longer. Heck at this point Rita didn’t know if she even could return home, or if she even wanted to. Her world was full of nothing but pain and loneliness for her, but this world was full of friends and happiness. She couldn’t stop thinking about the massive difference between the two worlds. That being said she still wanted to be with her own kind, and to meet up with Princess Estella again.

Rita was going to need to find the right components in order to return home though. Several types of rare gems were required not to mention she would need to rebuild the portal’s frame from scratch. It was going to be a long endeavor. It had taken her nearly two years to complete the portal the first time around , there was no reason it should be any faster to build a second time. So Rita was going to have to settle in for the long haul.

Rita remembered that she was going to start taking Equish lesions, hopefully she would learn to speak and read their language quickly. She hated being so dependent on this heart shaped magical necklace, the darn thing was so tight it was more like a dog collar.

She was also having fun meeting up with Granny Smith and hearing all of her wonderful stories. Finally Rita was meeting up with Rarity pretty actively, Rarity kept doing measurements on Rita for some reason. It was a little awkward. That had been her recent schedule, or at least until today.

The coffee pot began to hiss distracting her from her thoughts. Rita got up and poured herself a cup of black coffee. She sat back down at the table and after pouring some cream into her coffee she began adding a large amount of sugar. Rita grinned at her cup of sugary coffee and took a drink. After a moment Rita spat the coffee out on the floor with a sour expression. The coffee had tasted sour, and bitter and was absolutely disgusting.

Rita investigated the cream first to find out if it had gone bad, but it was still fresh and tasted wonderful. She then looked questionably at the bowl of sugar sitting in front of her. Rita licked her finger and sampled the sugar that sat before her. This was not sugar, it was salt.

That’s when Rita noticed that Angle Bunny the devil rabbit had been hiding around the corner and was snickering at her. Rita gave him an angry stare before turning away and proceeding to look for the sugar. It took her nearly ten minutes but she finally found where the real sugar had been hidden inside the cabinet and then she remade her coffee. This time she made real coffee and was able to enjoy it. Hopefully her hiking trip with Pinkie Pie would fare better than her dealings with Angel Bunny.

***

Pinkie Pie arrived to meet Rita right on time early in the morning, and today was a special day for her. Rita had managed to recruit Pinkie Pie for a hiking expedition into the Everfree forest. After hearing about all the monsters, strange plants, and the ancient castle to loot-er repurpose, she knew it would be the prime location for some gem hunting. Rita wasn’t willing to go there alone though and so she had asked Pinkie Pie to join her.

The Everfree forest was much closer to Ponyville and Fluttershy’s cottage then she had expected. For all the horror stories she kept hearing from Fluttershy about it, she found it unnerving just how close it really was.

Together they walked ever deeper into the woods. There weren’t any roads or paths inside the woods, and with all the dense forest Rita found climbing to be a valuable skill. Pinkie Pie didn’t seem to be having much of an issue with the woods, she continued to simply avoid the branches and rocks and other things. After awhile Rita decided to fallow in Pinkie’s shadow and found it much more hospitable there.

Rita began noticing some of the strange flowers growing from the trees to her left, they were orange and luminescent. Rita really wanted to grab one, but there was no telling if it was poisonous or not. With a sudden jolt of force Rita bumped into Pinkie Pie and fell back landing on her butt.

As Rita stood up rubbing at her sore butt she muttered to herself, “Why is it always the butt.”

Pinkie Pie was standing completely still, she was staring at a patch of blue flowers just ahead of them. They looked kinda pretty in Rita’s opinion but the fact they had caused Pinkie Pie to stop walking worried her.

Rita decided to ask, “So…what are those?”

Pinkie Pie looked back at her with a smile and explained. “Oh that’s Poison Joke, if you touch it you will be cursed. Me and my friends all got cursed by it once, it was silly. You might even become a pony if you get touched by it.”

Rita looked skeptically at Pinkie Pie for a moment, but she decided it was best to take her warning to heart. Rita crossed her arms and said. “Bah, there’s no way I’d ever become a pony.”

Pinkie Pie gave Rita an odd little smile before saying. “You wanted to see the old castle right. We should probably get a move on. We can’t stand around here all day. Well actually we can but it wouldn’t be very much fun.”

Rita agreed with Pinkie Pie and then the two of them headed off towards the old castle. They continued walking for a while in quiet peace. The trees became more dense, and twisted. Strange plants were growing more frequently as they pressed deeper into the woods. And sounds of branches creaking became more common. Eventually Pinkie Pie stopped moving and Rita stopped along with her.

Pinkie Pie’s tail began to shake a violently which looked very odd to Rita, and with a sudden jolt of force the pink pony jumped back and pushed Rita away. Just as Rita landed on her butt again a few feet away from Pinkie Pie a large wolf landed in between the two of them.

This wolf was made of branches wound together, and had glowing green eyes. Its teeth were actually sharpened stakes of wood, similar to its claws. They looked very sharp.

It looked at Pinkie Pie and then at Rita as it stood in between them. It gave out a low growl as it rested its view on Rita. Rita gulped as it snarled, the wood that made up its mouth shifted back to reveal just how many teeth it had.

Pinkie Pie turned and gave the wooden construct a hard apple bucking to the rear. The wolf went flying over Rita’s head and slammed into a tree behind her. It landed in a pile of crumpled wood. Rita quickly got up and Pinkie Pie looked at her with a serious expression.

Pinkie Pie then said, “We have to run, Timberwolves like to regenerate.” With that the two of them ran as fast as they could away from the Timber Wolf.

Rita was quickly falling behind Pinkie Pie humans were simply not as fast as horses. Rita lost track of Pinkie Pie in the forest pretty quickly, but she could hear the Timberwolf somewhere behind her. Rita looked down at her gauntlet, the one holding the Lapis Lazuli gem inside it. She hadn’t used it yet, and wondered if she could use it in combat. She didn’t have any clue as to what it would do though.

Rita nearly tripped on a branch as she ran, trying to chase after where Pinkie Pie had gone. Rita was terrified with the wolf behind her and no sure way to fight back. Suddenly she saw Pinkie Pie running at a much slower pace in front of her, Rita caught up quickly enough now.

“Get on my back, I’ll get you to safety,” Pinkie Pie offered.

Rita jumped on Pinkie’s back awkwardly and wrapped her arms tightly around Pinkie’s neck. Pinkie Pie took off in a gallop just in time as Rita saw the timberwolf catch up to them. Pinkie Pie was moving faster than the timberwolf and pretty soon the two of them were quite a bit ahead of it. But Rita knew it would only fallow there scent and get them when their defenses were down. Rita would have to deal with it quickly or else an entire pack may be on them soon. That was assuming that timberwolves acted anything like normal wolves. So Rita began to formulate a plan of action.

Rita explained to Pinkie Pie. “I need you to not jump or bounce or anything too jolting for a moment. I’m going to jump off your back and into a tree.”

Pinkie Pie sounded both excited and scared as she asked, “Are you sure?”

Rita replied without a second’s hesitation, “Yes.”

Rita stood up very carefully on the still galloping Pinkie Pie’s back. This was a crazy plan, and had an extreme chance of failure. Rita looked ahead of them and saw a branch she could easily make. Rita shouted to Pinkie Pie. “You will need to double back here to pick me up if you can. So don’t get yourself hurt.”

Rita jumped into the air and onto a tree branch hanging about eight feet from the ground. Rita quickly pulled herself up onto the branch and pressed her weight against the side of the tree. She aimed the palm of her gauntlet down at the ground bellow where she suspected the timberwolf was going to appear. Pinkie Pie was gone from her sight in seconds and for a brief moment Rita was frightfully alone.

The timberwolf came running out from the forest still chasing Pinkie Pie, but it didn’t suspect the human girl to be waiting for it. Rita focused her magic into the gauntlet and a sweeping veil of blue light enveloped the timberwolf as it ran passed her. The timberwolf continued running through the light and disappeared from her sight.

The blue light disappeared after a second and Rita looked at the gauntlet with dissatisfaction. The gauntlet didn’t do anything more then make a shiny light appear on the wolf. After messing around with the gauntlet to find the problem Rita accidently created another blue light. This one was smaller about the size of her hand and took the on a three dimensional shape. It looked just like the timberwolf.

Rita realized exactly what she was looking at and why she didn’t remember what Lapis Lazuli gems did. Rita was holding a hand scanner, useful for creating tracking devices, medical machines, and illusions. Unfortunately this was support gem, and Rita was not used to these, she preferred to use combat gems.

Rita sat there for a few moments wondering what she could do while examining the small blue illusion of a timberwolf in her palm. She noticed something odd about its chest, or rather what looked to be inside of its chest. There was an green globe inside of it, and Rita stared for a few moments before coming to the conclusion that this was its heart. Kill the heart, kill the beast.

Rita decided that she was going to deal with the beast on Pinkie’s return, and she now knew she was going to need to do this the old fashioned way. She stood up on the branch she was on very carefully and regretted the loss of her hunting knives. Looking around she did find a suitable weapon for the job. A nice looking branch, thick enough to use as a club, small enough to break off easily, and long enough to have some good reach.

After breaking the branch off the tree she began to hear the sound of hooves clopping against hard packed earth, it was coming towards her tree. Pinkie Pie was coming, but she had slowed down by sound of it. This was not a good sign.

Rita saw Pinkie Pie running towards her at a slower rate than before with the timberwolf right at her heels, or hooves, fetlocks maybe? Either way Pinkie Pie looked tired and Rita was going to need to do something about this situation.

Just as Pinkie Pie passed underneath the branch Rita was standing on, Rita jumped off of the branch with the stick being swung in a downward arc. The stick collided with the timberwolf’s head with enough force to knock it completely flat onto the ground. With cold emotions Rita stood up and began to strike the wolf repeatedly in the head sending slivers of wood to come splintering off in different directions. When it finally stopped moving she kicked the body over onto its back and began smashing chest cavity in with the intent on getting to the heart.

After a few moments of repeatedly smashing it Rita was able to see the green glow coming from its still beating heart. Rita turned the stick around to its sharp edge where it had once been attached to the tree, and stabbed the stick through its heart. The beast let out a whimper and retained its form for a few seconds before it exploded into a burning pile of wood.

Rita watched as the body burned and within seconds turned into ash. Something was shining from the ash though catching her attention. Rita bent down and picked it up, and to her excitement found two gems, one was a cracked green stone. This stone was unfamiliar to Rita. The other was much more valuable of a prize, a sunstone.

With deft ease Rita uncoiled the lapis Lazuli gem from her gauntlet and replaced it with the sunstone. And with a wave of her hand Rita said aloud. “And then I said let there be light.” Her hand caught a flame with magical fire and Rita shaped it into a small ball of fire.

She marveled at the ball of fire for a while until she heard a faint voice ask. “What…how are you?”

Rita lost her focus and the fireball vanished from her hand as she looked over and saw an exhausted and scared looking Pinkie Pie. Rita looked down at the pile of ash before her and then back at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie looked a little fearful as she said, “You killed it…you killed the timberwolf.”

Rita quickly grabbed the green gem and pocketed it for later research. Rita then stood and said as calmly as she could. “It was going to kill us Pinkie Pie, I saved our lives.”

Pinkie Pie looked frightened but nodded as she understood the danger it had posed towards them. Rita then closed her eyes and begged in a soft voice. “Please don’t tell anypony about this, especially Fluttershy.”

Pinkie Pie walked up to Rita and nuzzled her side while saying. “But why…you’re a hero, you saved me.”

Rita pushed Pinkie Pie’s head away gently and said. “Because I don’t want her to be scared of me…do you understand?”

Pinkie Pie looked up at Rita with her blue eyes and agreed. “Yeah…I understand. I Pinkie Pie promise that I won’t tell anypony about this. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Rita wasn’t sure what all of that meant, but she appreciated the promise. She gave Pinkie Pie a hug before saying. “Why don’t we head to that castle now, unless you need to rest?”

Pinkie Pie nuzzled into Rita’s shoulder and said. “I’m okay now, that wolf scared me that’s all. Let’s go to the castle, it will be tons of fun.”

The two of them began walking towards the castle when they heard a bone chilling howl in the distance. The two of them stood frozen for a few moments listening very carefully. Another howl sounded off from behind them, and then another. There was indeed a pack of timberwolves and in Rita’s mind they sounded angry. Both Rita and Pinkie Pie began moving as quickly and as quietly as they could towards the castle ruins.

Author's Note

I am trying a slightly different writing style for this chapter. I am hoping it distinguishes paragraphs from short breaks and long breaks a little more.

Chapter nine: castle chasers

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter nine: castle chasers
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Pinkie Pie and Rita had continued stalking through the Everfree forest until they came across the ruins of the old castle. The Castle of The Two Sisters, was from what Rita had been able to learn, one belonging to the princesses. Rita hadn’t been able to gather much information about the castle, after hearing about the magical secrets here, she forgot to ask and essential ran out the door to find the place. Sometime Rita was a little too head strong for her own good.

Despite the wolves on their tail, finding magical artifacts or gems was still Rita’s priority for this expedition to the castle. After she learns enough Equish she promised herself to return in the pursuit of knowledge. The old castle itself was in decent shape for thousand year old ruins. The majority of damage seemed contained in the entrance hall. Judging by the destruction wrought in this room Rita guessed that this may have been the sight of a battle.

Pinkie Pie fallowed closely to Rita bouncing joyfully next to her. Normally the quick movements from Pinkie Pie would scare her a little, but right now Rita was still on a combat high. She felt like nothing could stop her, although she knew better then to entertain such thoughts for more than a few seconds. The cocky soldier was the dead soldier.

Rita was still worried about the timberwolves coming after them. From what she could tell they traveled in packs. And that means that Rita had just killed one of their scouts, this could prove to be dangerous very dangerous as the wolves would most likely seek revenge.

Rita looked over at Pinkie Pie who didn’t seem to realize that they were still in danger. Pinkie Pie looked so happy, and Rita enjoyed that. Happiness was such a fickle thing in her life. Rita let out a sigh and swore an oath to herself. “I won’t let anything hurt you Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie looked over at Rita and asked. “What did you say?”

Rita looked up and felt a little embarrassed; she didn’t want to ruin any of Pinkie Pie’s fun so she lied. “Nothing. Has anypony ever fought timberwolves in the past.”

Pinkie Pie put a hoof to her chin in a thoughtful way while she continued to bounce on three legs. Rita couldn’t understand how Pinkie Pie managed to bounce in the first place, but on three legs, this was getting plumb ridiculous.

Pinkie Pie explained, “I know that Applejack has fought them before, and Spike actually killed a giant one. I mean it was like the king of all timberwolves.”

That was not a happy thought for Rita to contemplate. The normal timberwolf was bad enough, but giant ones. Those had to be there pack leaders and that could be very devastating for the two of them. Rita began wondering more about these creatures as the two of them continued walking, again Rita let Pinkie Pie take the lead.

Pinkie Pie said excitedly, “Oh hey look, that’s the place where we defeated Nightmare Moon. And that’s where me and my friends all became the elements of harmony.”

Rita looked around the room they now stood in. it was a long chamber with several sets of old cracked pillars and open spaces along the walls where murals used to sit. There was an old destroyed statue of a horse at the end of this room.

Rita then thought about exactly what Pinkie Pie had said and quickly asked. “Wait you did what with who now?”

Pinkie Pie grinned from ear to ear at Rita, Rita nervously took a step back fearing that Pinkie might decide to bite her. After a second Rita realized that it was probably a silly fear…probably.

Pinkie Pie then explained. “Oh yeah, Twilight came to Ponyville two years ago, and then she became friends with me, and applejack, and rainbow dash, and rarity, and Fluttershy. All six of us came up here to stop Nightmare Moon from covering the world in eternal night. That’s when we learned we were all elements of harmony and we were used our powers to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

Rita felt dumbfounded after hearing Pinkie Pie’s story. Imagining all six of these ponies in any kind of confrontation was simply…strange, save for Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The other thing which bothered her was that this Nightmare Moon almost sounded like a monster that she was all too familiar with. Rita then asked nervously. “What happened to Nightmare Moon?”

Pinkie Pie looked out towards the bright sun in the sky and said. “Well after we defeated her we rescued Princess Luna from the Nightmare spirits that had turned her into Nightmare Moon. Eventually those mean little guys came back and turned Rarity into Nightmare Rarity, we saved her too but this time we used the power of friendship…a little different then the elements of harmony…I think…sometime I get confused by all this magic stuff.”

Rita stood there feeling like her entire understanding of this world was destroyed. Rita cocked her head to the side and exclaimed. “But you’re a bunch of ponies. How can you fight such terrifying creatures? I can’t believe you girls could do any of that, I mean from everything I’ve seen so far. You all should of just ran and hid or cried or something. Not…fight back.”

Rita felt out of breath after saying all of that, which allowed Pinkie Pie time to explain. “We do stuff like that all the time. We save the world about once every three months. From things like Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, and even Lord Tirek. I guess that’s a lot of fighting compared to your world huh.”

Rita sat down hard on her butt and sat there on the hard stone floor for a moment attempting to take all of this new information in. The world of ponies was threatened every three months and saved by six barely stable characters. And yet everypony was always so happy and cheerful and nice. Did this have a connection to the danger they were all constantly in? Was it simply that everypony was trying to ignore the horror of it all by being so happy and innocent? Rita was beginning to realize that there were layers of darkness to this world comparable to those of her own. And did Pinkie Pie just say King Sombra?

Rita quickly opened her mouth to ask her who this person was, this person who sounded again very much like someone from her world, but stopped when she heard a loud howl echoing throughout the building. The timberwolves had arrived.

***

The two of them were running through the hallways of the old castle. Rita had her stick in her right hand, and was hoping not to need to use her magic quite yet. The sounds of claws scraping against hard stone could be heard from behind them along with the sound of growling. One of the timberwolves was right on their tails.

Rita knew that they would not outrun the timberwolf for long, even Pinkie was looking tired. Rita had decided not to ride Pinkie’s back this time because of how exhausted she was from the last time. The pair turned another corner and found a staircase leading down to their right, and could see the courtyard a floor below to their left.

Rita stopped at the foot of the stair case and motioned for Pinkie Pie to get behind her. The timberwolf turned the corner and saw the two of them. It charged them without any loss in speed. Rita swung the stick like a baseball bat as hard as she could into the monsters face. The timberwolf was knocked onto it’s side from the blow, and the stick snapped in half from the force of the attack.

Rita quickly created a fireball with her gauntlet and tossed it at the timberwolf before it could get up. The fireball exploded with enough force to send burning pieces of wood splintering everywhere. Rita raised her arm just in time to shield her eyes from them.

After a momentary pause Rita looked at the beast again, only to find a pile of ash where the beast had once been. Fire it seemed was an effective tool to use against them. And Rita really liked her fire.

Rita looked into the courtyard and saw two more of the Timberwolves down below. They looked back at her for a moment before they charged back into the building. Rita knew that they would be coming after her and Pinkie Pie, and they would try and flank the two of them. Rita wasn’t going to allow that to happen.

The stick in Rita’s hand was broken and useless now, and she knew that with only one gauntlet she would not stand a chance. Fireball or no she couldn’t kill them if she couldn’t hit them, and they were quick. Rita looked over and noticed Pinkie Pie holding something that she wasn’t expecting to find in this castle. A spear.

Pinkie quickly gave the spear to Rita. Rita took a quick look at the spear and realized that it was old, very old. It was made of a light metal, but would probably break after a few uses and considering how tough these guys were. Rita looked behind where Pinkie Pie was standing and noticed several sets of pony armor, along with various types of weaponry. Spear’s, lances, swords, and even an axe were all parts of the weaponry. Rita would come back here sometime looking for some daggers at a later date.

There was nothing that Rita truly wanted to use here at the moment, but she had Pinkie Pie grab another spear. Considering the awkward way that Pinkie Pie held the spear in her mouth Rita assumed that she didn’t know how to use the weapon. That was okay though because Rita had no intentions of letting Pinkie Pie fight these things anyway.

Rita began going down the stairs with Pinkie Pie behind her and once Rita got half way down she saw a timberwolf come running into view. The creature slid to a stop at the base of the stairs where Rita had already signed the monsters death warrant.

With acrobatic prowess Rita leaps off the stairs and into the air. The spear pointed downward she collided into the timberwolf having the spear go right through the back of its neck. There was no blood from these creatures, they were after all only a bundle of sticks. The second that the spear stopped moving and with the creature now pinned beneath her, Rita took her left hand and placed it on the creatures back and unleashed another explosive fireball.

Rita was sent flying back onto the staircase where she landed with a hard thud. The spear was launched forward and through the wall ahead of her. It stuck into the wall and jutted out awkwardly. The sounds of claws against stone were approaching again, this time from upstairs.

Rita had Pinkie Pie come down the stairs next to her and took the extra spear from her. Rita could feel the burnt flesh on her skin from the close proximity of the fireball. Her hair was also singed a little, along with small burns on her clothing.

With great speed the timberwolf came running down the stairs and it leaped into the air towards Rita. With spear held high Rita allowed the beast to come at her, impaling itself on her spear. The excessive weight and movement caused the Timberwolf to knock Rita down onto her back with its body atop hers.

It wasn’t dead however as it began to claw at Rita’s arms and tearing through her jacket cutting her arms. Pinkie Pie used both of her hind legs to kick the timberwolf off of Rita. The timberwolf went flying down the hallway along with the spear. Rita was in pain but didn’t have the time to cry over it. She created a fireball in her left hand and then rolled over throwing it at the Timberwolf. The timberwolf was trying to stand up even with a spear sticking out of its shoulder. The fireball connected with the timberwolf and exploded into a fiery spray of burning splinters. The last timberwolf was dead.

***

After taking a small rest and being thankful for not having any severe wounds. Nothing more than a few cuts and first degree burns. Rita also managed to loot the piles of ash for more broken green crystals and a few more gems of varying types. It wasn’t odd that these constructs would have gems inside them to give them life and animate them, but the fact that they had gems which they seemed incapable of using had confounded Rita. There was more to these timberwolves then what she could see at the moment.

Pinkie Pie looked a little frightened but after Rita explained that she was okay, and after Pinkie Pie gave her a big loving hug, she seemed to feel better. Now that Rita had discovered the castle and explored it a little she felt that her curiosity was satisfied for the moment and decided it would be best to return home now.

Maybe she could barrow one of Fluttershy’s sowing kits to fix up her jacket. Rita was disappointed it had been damaged in the fight, she wasn’t going to get a replacement for it after all. On the way home Pinkie Pie continued to talk excitedly about how ‘awesome’ Rita was in a fight. On several occasions Rita made sure to remind Pinkie Pie that this entire trip was going to be there little secret, to which Pinkie Pie reluctantly agreed.

Rita couldn’t place her finger on exactly why, but for some reason she felt like something was off. Something was going to happen soon, and whatever it was it would be big. Rita didn’t like the feeling at all, and forced herself to pass it off as simple paranoia. After all she was going to start learning how to speak and read Equish tomorrow from Twilight, why ruin that with depressing feelings of an unknowable and frightening future.

Chapter Ten: A Caring Hoof

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter ten: A Caring Hoof
Written by TheCrimsonDM

It was late afternoon before Rita and Pinkie Pie returned to Ponyville, and Pinkie had been insistent that she drop off Rita in person. The sun was no longer visible, and the sky was a wonderful purple color. After returning to Fluttershy’s cottage Rita watched Pinkie Pie walk away in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. Just as Pinkie walked out of sight Rita let out an exhausted sigh and walked inside. Rita was a little surprised to find Fluttershy sitting on the couch with her forelegs crossed with an upset expression on her face.

Feeling concerned for the yellow pegasus Rita asked, “What’s wrong?”

Fluttershy looked over at Rita and her expression hardened before asking with a hint of restrained anger, “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me where you have been all day?”

Rita opened her mouth to tell her about the castle but was interrupted as Fluttershy said, “I don’t want to hear it. I already know where you went, I had been searching all over town before I finally heard from Rarity that you and Pinkie Pie were exploring the old castle ruins.” Fluttershy finished by letting out a huff of air.

Rita felt poorly now, she hadn’t meant to worry Fluttershy. Although it now occurred to her that she hadn’t really told anypony where she was going, and after meeting the timberwolves she realized that she had been foolish.

Rita grabbed at her arms where the cuts were and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would worry about me…”

Fluttershy looked hard at her for a few seconds before looking down and noticing the wounds on Rita’s arms. Fluttershy’s expression instantly turned to worry as she asked in a soft tone, “What happened to you?”

Rita couldn’t look at Fluttershy and instead focused on the floor. Rita said, “Nothing, I just got hurt when hiking…that’s all.”

Fluttershy began staring at Rita with a serious expression. Rita couldn’t help but look at Fluttershy. This serious face that Fluttershy would make sometimes was a little more than odd.

“You will let me take care of your injuries,” Fluttershy said in an even tone.

A stubborn feeling came over Rita, so she crossed her arms and said, “Nope.”

Fluttershy continued staring for a few more seconds before relaxing. Fluttershy let out a sigh and said, “You are more stubborn then even Discord is. I can use the stare on him if I try hard enough but you’re completely immune.”

Confused as to what Fluttershy had meant Rita asked, “What do you mean by the stare?”

Fluttershy looked away timidly and quickly replied, “Um nothing.”

If she hadn’t been so tired from the fights earlier Rita would have pressed Fluttershy for an answer. As it was though she just wanted to get off her feet and rest for a while. If Rita could sleep for a few days without trouble it would be a blessing. Fluttershy’s expression grew worried again as she continued looking at Rita’s arms.

“Rita,” Fluttershy began saying, “You are under my care while you stay here. And that means that I’m going to care for you, but you have to show me some trust. I won’t ask about how you got injured, but you are going to let me take care of you.”

There was a determination in Fluttershy’s voice that made Rita feel like she didn’t have a choice, but there was a gentleness to it as well that made Rita feel safe. Rita didn’t like it, but she felt like crap and arguing anymore past this point was silly. Rita walked over and plopped herself down next to Fluttershy while saying, “fine. Work your magic Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy had left for only a few moments to grab the medical supply kit before she began working on Rita’s arms. Rita had to take off her damaged jacket, there was a feeling of lose over her jacket. Even if she spent the time to work on repairing it, the jacket would never be the same again. The wounds however were far worse than Rita had anticipated. Although they had stopped bleeding temporarily they needed to be cleaned and that was a very painful process.

Fluttershy began converse with Rita in hopes to distract her from the pain. It didn’t work very well, but Rita had delt with much worse pain in the past.

“So tell me about your world, I’d like to know more about it,” Fluttershy begged.

Rita wasn’t sure where to start so she began with a brief overview. “My world consists of three different continents, two of them are very large while one of them is fairly small,” Rita began explaining, “I come from the southern continent of Arcadia, and my home country is Thunder Realm. It’s governed by the High elves, and they in turn watch over the earth races including humans.”

Fluttershy smiled and said, “Wow, so elves are real in your world? That’s amazing. There just fantasy here in Equestria.”

Rita was insanely curious about that, but she decided to leave the questions for now and continue her lecture. “There is also the northern country of Ark Dawn. It’s filled with humans and dragon kin, and other monster races. The last continent is Kazar and it belongs mostly to the animal races. The war left Kazar mostly untouched.” Rita gave a long pause before saying, “My world is surrounded by a giant rainbow wall of destructive magic, no one has ever been able to go through it since the catastrophe over a couple thousand years ago…And that’s the overview of my world, the world of Dacana.”

Fluttershy looked a little interested but also a little timid almost like she had a question that she was afraid to ask. Fluttershy continued cleaning the wounds in silence until she touched a sensitive spot sending a shiver of pain through Rita. Rita yelped at the pain and cringed.

Fluttershy quickly asked, “So tell me about the war, why would your people fight like that?”

Rita looked at Fluttershy and reminded herself that ponies did not many many wars, if any. Rita closed her eyes and explained, “There are a few different technologies in my world that are becoming popular. Diesel is a common thing used for vehicles and generators. The recent discovery of gem power however was the event that started this last war. We discovered that a lot of magical energy was held inside of gems, and began mining them like crazy. Soon enough we ran out of them in Arcadia, so we went to Ark Dawn to get them, but the dragons worship those gems like crazy. So we decided to take them. People died for rocks…a lot of people.”

Fluttershy stopped cleaning Rita’s arm and began wrapping a bandage around the wound. Rita let out a sigh, this was just going to be another scar for her. After that Fluttershy opened a small jar containing a green ointment. Fluttershy carefully scooped some onto her hoof and began raising it towards Rita’s face.

Rita leaned back in surprise and asked, “What are you doing?”

Fluttershy looked a little shocked, then she looked embarrassed as she explained, “I um…this is for the burns. So that it won’t hurt anymore, or leave any marks.”

Rita relaxed a little now that she knew what Fluttershy was doing. Rita had to fight with the urge to push Fluttershy back. Having Fluttershy’s hoof touching her face was a terrifying process. Rita closed her eyes and tried to relax as Fluttershy began putting green ointment on Rita’s face. After a few seconds the burns stopped hurting and a cool feeling spread through her where the ointment was touching. It was heavenly for Rita to not be in pain anymore.

Fluttershy got done after a few more minutes. As Fluttershy began putting everything into the box she paused for only a moment. Fluttershy asked, “Have you killed people?”

Rita felt her heart skip a beat, that question asked so nonchalantly was a dreadful topic. She didn’t want to answer it, she never wanted Fluttershy to know. But Fluttershy was a smart girl…mare. Rita looked away from Fluttershy and painfully admitted, “Yes, I have.”

To Rita’s surprise Fluttershy actually relaxed a little more. Fluttershy said, “I’m glad that you were honest with me. I was scared that you would lie to me. I will admit that ponies aren’t the nicest creatures all the time, and we have killed members of our own race…even I have had to fight a few times.”

Fluttershy gave an uneasy pause before asking, “Can you keep a secret?”

Rita answered, “I have been tortured over secrets and never revealed them. So you can trust me, I pinkie Pie promise. Cross my heart hope to fly, stick…something in my eye.”

Fluttershy didn’t look at Rita, her smile told Rita she was happy. Fluttershy said, “Me and my friends…we have done a lot of fighting, and I mean a lot. I look back at all the fights we’ve been in sometimes. Changelings, pirates, even monsters. And I have to wonder…did we ever kill anypony by accident? I don’t recall having done so, but with so much fighting…how could we know for certain?”

Rita looked at Fluttershy now and was reminded of an old friend she used to have. Rita wrapped her arms around Fluttershy before saying, “I don’t think you have ever killed anyone. It’s not something that you wonder about when you do it. You know that you killed them, and their faces will haunt your dreams. Sometimes I dream that all those people come back for me, and they tear me to shreds for the sins I have committed.” Rita let out a sigh and tightened her embrace a little. Rita then finished, “unless you have those kinds of dreams, then you have not killed anyone.”

Fluttershy shook a little in Rita’s arms but she sounded a little more happy as she said, “I’ve never had any of thing like that happen to me. Thanks for listening, I didn’t want anypony else to know what I was scared of.”

Rita simply smiled and said, “Sometimes Fluttershy, you worry about the silliest of things. But so long as I’m here, you can tell me those worries, and I’ll do my best to fix them.”

Fluttershy and Rita stayed like that on the couch for a few minutes before Rita heard a beeping sound in the kitchen. Fluttershy stood up suddenly and said, “Oops, I forgot that I was reheating dinner for you.” Fluttershy ran into the kitchen leaving Rita there on the couch. Although Rita was sitting in that room by herself, she didn’t feel alone…she had friends, she had peace, and she had Fluttershy.

Chapter Eleven: To Dress the Part

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Eleven: To Dress the Part
Written by TheCrimsonDM

A week had passed since the fight with the timber wolves. Rita sat on a pillow in Twilight’s living room where she waited for Twilight to finish her lesson for today. The clip board in Rita’s hand had a notebook attached to it. The notebook was now held a collection of messy looking notes. Although Rita knew exactly what she was reading, if anypony else looked at it they may think it more resembled a piece or art than anything else.

To Rita’s pleasure she was picking up the Equish language fairly quickly. This was mostly thanks to the fact that it was very similar to Sylvan, the language of the elves. It had been a long time since Rita used a lot of Sylvan and the Equish language although similar had a lot of different elements; mostly in the actual speaking of the language. It was hard for Rita to speak the language, her ability to imitate horse noises were…lacking.

Writing however was something she could do very easily, and she could also understand a little of what they were saying now. The written part of the language was where the similarities to Sylvan existed in abundance. According to Twilight Sparkle, Rita should be fluent in Equish anywhere between four to six weeks.

After the day’s lesson was done Rita found herself chewing on a pencil wondering what to do next. Twilight looked delighted as she began wiping away the chalk board she had been using for the lessons. Rita looked at the pen in her jacket pocket and sighed. The thing had run out of ink awhile back, she could refill it but she needed some ink.

“Hey Twi,” Rita began saying, “you got any spare ink?”

Twilight looked back at her and smiled. “Of course I do, I also have an assortment of quills to choose from.”

“I just need some ink to refill my pen. It’s been empty for awhile,” Rita explained.

“But pen’s are so…plain. Quills are much nicer,” Twilight explained.

“Pens are more functional though, you don’t need to worry about getting more ink, at least until it runs out. And you can carry it anywhere you want to. It’s a little more difficult to bring jars of ink everywhere,” Rita explained.

Twilight looked dumbfounded for a few seconds until she said, “you’re…right…I can’t believe that I have been using quills…I need to get a pen.”

Rita gave a little laugh and said, “there was a store down the way, they had a few pens for sale. A quick warning though, they were kinda expensive.”

Twilight smiled and looked away saying, “yeah, I don’t need to worry about money…but wow, I’ve been using Quills thinking that Celestia’s argument that they were better because they were classic was accurate. I guess she is just used to the old things. It takes her awhile to get used to the new stuff.”

Rita stretched and stood up. Rita looked at Twilight and said, “I’ve heard that name a few times now. Who is Celestia?”

Twilight gave Rita an awkward look and said, “how could you not know who Celestia is? Princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria.”

Rita felt silly for not having asked before now. She could have sworn that she had heard somepony talking about this before, but she couldn’t remember who. Rita gave a smile to Twilight and said, “oh…sorry, I still haven’t learned much about this world’s history.”

Rita had felt like she had heard the name Celestia before, but wasn’t sure where. There have been similarities and familiar things all over Equestria so far. Rita felt like she was looking at small pieces of a giant puzzle, one that she couldn’t piece back together by herself. Maybe she could recruit Twilight to aid her in this endeavor.

Suddenly Rita remembered that she was supposed to visit Rarity today. Rarity had specifically requested her presence. It was probably just for some more weird measuring things but Rita was trying to befriend her so she would deal with it…for now.

***

The walk to Rarity’s was a quiet one, the ponies in Ponyville had gotten used to seeing her about town. She even knew a few of them by name. Rita waved to both Lyra Heartstrings and Bonbon as she passed them. It was nice being accepted somewhere, Rita really enjoyed walking around town and talking to the pony folk. They still scared her a little sometimes but she was getting used to them now. Even Pinkie Pie’s bouncing hadn’t worried her the last time she was at the Sugarcube Corner.

Rita walked inside Rarity’s store and saw the white unicorn working on something in the corner. A gift box from what Rita could tell. Rita walked toward her saying, “hi Rarity, you wanted to see me?”

Rarity finished wrapping a bow around the gift box and turned to her saying, “of course I did darling. I have something for you after all.”

Rita wasn’t sure what she was getting at but stood there waiting for an answer. Rarity lifted the little gift box into the air with her magic and then levitated it over to Rita. “This is for you, I do so hope you enjoy it. I have a few more projects like it in mind for the future.”

Rita grabbed the box, it was light despite how big the box was. Carefully Rita unwrapped the ribbon and opened the box. Inside she found something that took her by surprise. Very carefully Rita took the red dress out of the box and took a hard look at it. It was a sleeveless red dress with a rose pattern near the bottom. There was also a black long sleeved shirt inside the box.

“Fluttershy told me you like to wear things with long sleeves. She also told me about something else you may like,” Rarity said.

Rita picked up the black shirt and looked underneath it too find a pair of red and black fingerless gloves. “Where did you learn about gloves?”

Rarity smiled and fluttered her eyes a few times before saying, “oh darling, I don’t make dresses only for ponies. I have clients of both Griffon, and minotaur relations.”

Rita smiled and asked happily, “do you mind if I try these out while I’m here?”

Rarity smiled and said, “of course not; you’re welcome to use the changing room.”

The changing room was a good and secure place for Rita to undress in. She had only allowed Fluttershy to see her body, and never wanted anyone else to see her like that ever again. Thankfully Ponies still had changing rooms, even if it didn’t make sense for them to use them. The clothing all fit perfectly surprising Rita. The dress went down just past her knees allowing her to still show off her favorite socks.

When Rita came back out she was wearing the black long sleeved shirt under the red dress. Rarity looked amazed to see Rita. Rarity walked circles around Rita while asking, “does it all fit? Is it comfortable? Do you like it?”

Rita smiled and said, “I love it. I haven’t worn a proper dress in years. Thank you Rarity.”

As Rarity stopped walking and stood in front of Rita she said, “it’s my pleasure. I love to help you.”

Rita couldn’t help but wrap her arms around Rarity and give her a big hug. Rita really hadn’t worn a dress since before the war. She was so happy to be able to wear one again. Rita fought with herself to not cry as she said, “thank you so much.”

***

Rita decided that she was going to continue wearing the dress for the rest of the day. She needed to wash her other clothes again anyway, so a change of clothes was nice. Rita was happy to hear that Rarity had already sent some more clothing to Fluttershy’s for her. Rarity had saved the best to show off in person. Despite how strange it was to be wearing a dress again Rita had to admit one thing was true. It was nice to feel pretty again.

She simply couldn’t help but walk around with a bounce in her step. As Rita continued walking she met up with Pinkie Pie who grinned wildly at her. After spending just over a week with the ponies Rita had become much more accustomed to their movements, although Pinkie could sometimes still cause a jump from Rita.

“So,” Pinkie Pie began asking, “how are you feeling?”

“Awesome. I haven’t been this happy in years. Look at this beautiful dress,” Rita proudly stated.

Pinkie Pie looked to be just as pleased with the dress as she was. And soon Rita found herself following Pinkie without question into Sugarcube Corner. Rita had spent quite a bit of time here eating cake and enjoying the company of her new friends. All seemed to be well in this world. Although she still missed home, she was content with this world for now.

Rita sat down at a table and waited patiently as Pinkie Pie brought out a piece of chocolate cake for her. Just as Rita began to eat she noticed a light blue shape out of the corner of her eye. Rita looked just in time to see Rainbow Dash flying towards her. Knowing Rainbow Dash Rita prepared to grab her cake and defend it with her life; Rainbow had a tendency to destroy things when flying too fast.

Thankfully Rainbow Dash had decided to slow down and not crash into her table today. As Rainbow Dash sat down across from Rita she said, “I have the most awesome story to tell you.”

Rita had heard all of Rainbow Dash’s “awesome” stories before, and she still didn’t find them too amusing. “Oh and what race did you win this time?”

Rainbow Dash replied, “pfft. Not a race this time. I just found out that there is a secret treasure room inside The Castle of the Two Sisters. It should be awesome to explore, ya know, if you’re brave enough.”

Rita’s eyes lit up as she heard the words, secret treasure room. This wasn’t a story, but it was an awesome rumor, and if it was true then it would be more so. Rita grinned slyly as she said, “oh yeah, I think I can handle a spooky old castle. When do we leave?”

Chapter Twelve: Loot to Boot

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twelve: Loot to Boot
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita stood inside Fluttershy’s kitchen with a very cross looking yellow pegasus staring at her.

“You want to do what?” Fluttershy asked her tone was gentle, but Rita could feel the strength behind it.

“I’m going on an adventure with Rainbow Dash. What’s so wrong about that?” Rita said.

“You are going to get yourself hurt again, and this time it might be worse. What am I going to do if you get hurt again?” Fluttershy asked still staring into Rita’s eyes.

“What are you, my mom? Look I’m going to be just fine, it’s just a little expedition into the castle to learn about some old equestrian lore. I want to know more about your world, and about your people,” Rita explained. Fluttershy continued giving her a hard stare, and Rita added, “It might help me fit in more…”

Fluttershy’s eyes softened a little and she let out a deep breath before saying, “Okay, Rita. You can do this, on one condition.”

“Yeah, what’s that?” Rita asked her voice becoming hopeful.

“Swear to me that if you do come back hurt, that you will make it up to me,” Fluttershy said.

“I swear by my honor as the most awesome mage in Arcadia, that I will return safe, and if not, that I shall spend my life making it up to you,” Rita said proudly.

Fluttershy let out a sigh before saying, “Okay…and thank you. Now get going, Rainbow Dash has a low attention span and she might leave without you if you don’t hurry.”

Rita turned around and ran out of the kitchen while shouting, “Thanks, Fluttershy. I’ll be back before dinner this time.”

Fluttershy simply sat there and watched as Rita ran off. She didn’t like sending Rita off to go into dangerous places, or letting her do dangerous things. But Fluttershy couldn’t force Rita to stay here against her will either. She had already learned that lesson with Gil.

***

Rita and Rainbow Dash had trekked through the forest and finally arrived at the old castle where she knew that there would be adventure. Of course she was a little upset that she had worried Fluttershy, but that wasn’t why she had gone home first. She needed to change into some more terrain friendly clothing, so she did that and when Fluttershy had asked why…well Rita couldn’t very well lie to her best friend after all.

Best friend…that was an odd term for Rita to think of someone as. It was nice having friends, especially one like Fluttershy who took care of her. Rita only hoped that she could prove to be a good friend for Fluttershy.

“Hey, you go brain dead or something?” Rainbow Dash asked teasingly snapping Rita out of her thoughts.

“Um…no, I was just thinking about Fluttershy,” Rita said.

“Yeah, she sounded pretty upset about this little adventure of ours…although she has come here, like a whole ton of times, so I don’t get what’s up with her,” Rainbow Dash said.

The two of them walked into the old castle, debris lay scattered around the area forcing them to walk around it carefully. Rita explained, “I got hurt pretty badly the last time I was here. Did you know that Timberwolves scratches hurt like a bi-“

“Hey check this out,” Rainbow Dash shouted, fully interrupting Rita.

Rainbow Dash flew up to the second floor staircase and Rita followed as quickly as she could on her legs. At the top of the steps was a long hallway leading to a library and Rita asked, “What in the world are we looking for?”

“I saw a glowing light up here, but it’s gone now,” Rainbow Dash said.

Taking caution Rita said, “Don’t count on that. If something is here, it’s surely dangerous.”

They moved cautiously into the library and Rita was surprised by great condition this place was in. The last time she was here she had Pinkie Pie with her, and they had gotten a little lost. This time Rita was following a pony who actually knew where things were. She enjoyed this very much.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of an old statue of a soldier pony. She stared into its purple gem set eyes for a few moments, suddenly its eyes flashed with a pale purple light and Rainbow Dash jumped back in surprise. Rita took a combat stance and waited for several long seconds. The glow disappeared after that and seemed to be gone for good.

“What was that?” Rita asked.

“Don’t know, I’ve never seen that happen before…maybe Twilight would know more,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Hmm…maybe,” Rita said as she looked around the room. This room’s design was a little off, but it was exceedingly familiar to the castles from her world. If her suspicion was right, then she would find a secret room right…aha. Rita walked over to a book shelf and grabbed one side of it and began pulling it back. It slid open slowly, but after a few long moments Rita moved the bookshelf revealing an open hallway just behind it.

Rita stared inside the dark hall, and smelled dust. “I think it’s in here, come on, Rainbow.”

***

The two of them walked into the dark room and after discovering a staircase leading down Rita decided it was time to do something about the lighting. She summoned a small flame to her left hand and held it stretched her arm out to illuminate the hall. The staircase wasn’t very long, nor very steep. She could spy a metal door at the bottom of the staircase.

“Whoa, how did you do that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Rita looked at Rainbow Dash and let out a sigh before saying, “I’m an inventor, and a scientist. I can make some pretty cool stuff when I am feeling creative.”

Rainbow Dash followed Rita as she made her way down the stairs carefully. At the bottom of the stairs Rita opened the door and took a look inside. The inside of this secret chamber was lined with weapons, all sorts of weapons were in here, and all of them were very unique looking.

Rita stepped in cautiously and said, “Do not touch anything yet, I’m sure that there are traps in here.”

Rita made her way around the room, examining all the weapons one after another. One of these had to be what she had wanted, just one of them. Finally Rita’s eyes rested upon a set of daggers. The daggers were curved and serrated. One of the daggers were made of gold, with red rubies lining the handle, the other one was blue and had amethyst stones built into its hilt. There was a name plaque on the daggers, but Rita could only make out the words “sun and moon”.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash, what does this plaque say?” Rita asked.

Rainbow Dash flew over and took a look at it before saying, “It says ‘Daggers of the Sun and the Moon.’ What are these, Celestia and Luna’s daggers or something?”

Rita didn’t care who used to own them, because they just got a new owner. Rita said, “Get back, Rainbow Dash.”

When Rainbow Dash moved out of the way Rita brought up a leg and kicked the glass holding her brand new weapons. Her foot hit the glass but bounced off and knocking Rita onto the floor. She landed on her butt, hard.

“Ha, what was that supposed to be?” Rainbow Dash said.

Rita stood up rubbing her sore hindquarters while saying, “Why is it always the butt?”

Rita decided to disregard caution and tossed a fireball at the glass. After the small explosion, Rita found herself treated to a melted glass container. Rita carefully grabbed the daggers and pulled them out. She had brought a bag wither her, one that was made to hang around the neck and leg, so Rita just wore it like a normal book bag, or purse. Rita placed the daggers inside it.

“Alright Rainbow Dash, take your pick. What weapon in here do you want?” Rita said.

Rainbow Dash already had a diamond sword in her mouth and mumbled something at her. Rita let out a sigh and said, “Okay, let’s get going before the traps come after us.”

The two of them ran upstairs and back into the library. They ran towards the door leading out of the library and stopped as Rita realized that something was missing from this room. She looked behind herself and it didn’t take any longer then a second to notice that the pony statue was missing. Well, this was going to be a wonderful day now wasn’t it.

Rita said, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, guess I might be breaking that promise after all. Maybe I can bring home a cute animal for you to cuddle or something to make up for this.”

***

The two of them watched with careful eyes for any signs of where the statue had gotten off to. Rita stood in a combat ready stance, her new daggers pulled out, one in each hand. She held them in reverse positions, a defensive stance. Rainbow Dash stood in a position with her back arched low, ready to pounce. Rita could see the fear on Rainbow’s face however.

After a few long and quiet moments Rita heard something moving just behind them. She turned just in time to see the statue charging her, its horn lowered. Rita rolled to the side and the statue continued its path forward for another few feet before it began turning for a second charge.

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and shouted, “What the hay, what is that?”

Rita summoned a fireball and tossed it at the statue while shouting back, “It’s a damned golem!”

The fireball exploded harmlessly against the golem’s stony surface. This was going to suck big time. The golem charged again, and Rita ran toward it. Just before colliding with it Rita jumped into the air, ran across the monsters back and jumped off again landing behind it. Rita continued her run towards the windows on the opposite side of the room. She had only one plan to get rid of this thing.

Rita tossed another fireball at the window and watched it shatter. Rita stood at the front of the broken window and looked behind, the golem was indeed chasing her. Rita stood and readied herself to jump. The golem got close and Rita jumped as high as she could into the air, and the golem passed underneath her. Rita landed safely as the golem ran outside the window and fell the very long distance down to the earth below.

Rita wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked outside the window. The statue had shattered on its impact with the hard stone tiles of the courtyard below. Rita nodded at Rainbow Dash and the two of them quickly went downstairs to check out the wreckage.

***

Downstairs Rita saw the remains of the statue, the purple gems set in its eyes were scattered about. She picked through the shattered pieces for a few minutes before discovering something that worried her. Another green gem, this time it wasn’t cracked though, and held a soft green glow from deep within its surface.

Rita marveled at the stone for several moments before asking, “Rainbow Dash, do you know what kind of stone this is?”

“Nope, I don’t do rocks,” Rainbow Dash said.

Rita closed her eyes and concentrated on the stone. She could feel a great power coming from within it, and then the power quickly vanished. Rita opened her eyes and the stone had become cracked, and no longer glowed. Rita pocketed the stone and said, “Well…I think I need to ask Twilight a few questions then.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth but stopped short of actually speaking as her eyes grew wide, her pupils becoming mere pinpricks. Rainbow Dash was staring at something in the sky, and Rita turned to see it.

A stone dragon, with glowing purple eyes was flying overhead. Rita instantly grabbed Rainbow Dash by the foreleg and dragged her into hiding before she continued watching. The dragon circled the castle a few times gaining more height, before it turned and flew off in a seemingly random direction. Rita couldn’t believe her eyes as she stared at this thing before it finally vanished out of sight. She had just seen, what she believed could only be, a dragon golem…things were going to get serious wherever that thing was heading.

Chapter Thirteen: Lounging Around

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Thirteen: Lounging Around
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Almost a week had gone by without much incident since Rita and Rainbow Dash’s foray into the castle. It was beginning to dawn on her that something was going on in that forest, something in that castle. Rita had tried to tactfully get information out of Twilight since then but was not receiving any satisfactory answers. At least her lessons had been going along wonderfully.

It was mid afternoon and like usual she found herself at Sugarcube Corner with Fluttershy and Applejack. It felt natural to follow Fluttershy when the group was getting together for anything. So Rita found herself at one of the corner booths, lying on her back with the back of her head resting on Fluttershy’s flank. Fluttershy made a good pillow after all. The window behind her was letting the light in and made it much easier to read the book that she borrowed from Fluttershy.

“Uh…Rita, ain’t it a tad bit rude to be restin like that?” Applejack said.

Rita reached over and groped the table until she found the box of donuts and grabbed one to bring back to her mouth. She took a bite and continued reading without saying a word.

Fluttershy shifted a little under Rita’s head trying to get comfortable before saying, “I don’t mind. Rita’s head isn’t very heavy, and she’s warm.”

“Do you two even realize what you like when yer like this?” Applejack asked.

“I…um…well it doesn’t matter. Me and Rita are the best of friends, and she lives with me…and um…this isn’t that odd. Rainbow Dash is much worse sometimes,” Fluttershy explained.

“Ah have heard ponies talkin about you two though, t’aint all friendly neither. Ah’m just sayin Ah don’t want anypony’s feelings to be hurt,” Applejack cautioned.

“Applejack, she is only seventeen. She isn’t even a full grown adult human yet, so your concerns are unjustified,” Fluttershy said in an almost authoritative tone.

Rita finished her donut and said, “You know, I shouldn’t be enjoying this book as much as I am, but this is seriously a good book.”

“What are you reading?” Applejack asked.

“It’s called ‘The Tale of two Mares’, it’s apparently a romance novel about two mare’s who fall in love and there is some adventure and some really crazy things going on,” Rita explained.

Fluttershy moved a little nervously underneath Rita’s head.

“Ah didn’t know you were into romance,” Applejack said.

“Neither did I, but it wasn’t like Fluttershy had anything else to read,” Rita said.

The doorbell to Sugarcube corner chimed as Pinkie Pie led Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash inside. The four ponies made their way over to the table where Rita was at and found spots to sit. It was a bit awkward when Rita and Fluttershy refused to move. After everypony was seated comfortably, except for Rainbow Dash who preferred to fly, even when indoors, the conversation began.

“So tell us darling, is what Rainbow Dash tells us true?” Rarity asked.

Rita looked away from her book and gave Rainbow Dash a quick study. Rainbow Dash looked away and said, “Tell ‘em, Rita. About the golem and how you fought it and everything went whoosh, and boosh, and crash, and smash, and-“

“Okay,” Rita said interrupting her. “Me and Rainbow Dash were checking out the old castle and one of the defenses went off. We fought a stone golem and I destroyed it. Not really a big story or anything, especially since Rainbow Dash wasn’t supposed to-“

“And she used magic,” Rainbow Dash said excitedly before doing a loop de loop in the air.

Rita face palmed at Rainbow Dash’s stunning ability to keep secrets. Twilight nearly shouted, “You can use magic!”

Rita looked at her flatly and explained, “Not really, but I invented something that can.” Rita showed off her gauntlet before explaining, “This gauntlet lets me manipulate magical energy and shape it into some really cool stuff, depending on gems that is. This world is so full of gems and magic that it really doesn’t take a lot of work for me to do this. Yesterday I was walking around town and tripped on a sapphire for crying out loud.”

“I will need to do research on this later,” Twilight said.

“I’ve also heard that you are one tough cookie,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, I guess. Why does that mater?” Rita asked setting the book down on her belly.

Rarity was quiet for a few seconds before saying, “I am going out to gather some gems tomorrow, and I could use somepony to guard me.”

Rita stifled a laugh at the thought of her being chosen to guard someone. Rita took a deep breath and relaxed herself before saying, “Alright, I could do that for you. Sounds almost like an adventure.”

Twilight happily said, “I’m glad to see you reading. It’s good to know that my teaching has helped you.”

“Yeah thank…Celestia for that. I was going to lose my brain if I couldn’t read for much longer,” Rita said.

Fluttershy wiggled a little more and Rita was forced to readjust her head to get comfortable again before reading some more. The others continued talking for a while and eating donuts. Finally after a few hours Rita and Fluttershy began heading back home. It was weird just how close Rita had gotten to Fluttershy, and sometimes she could swear that she could see someone that she used to know in her.

A lot of the things they did together also felt familiar, and the way they did them as well. At some point Rita had simply forgotten about going home, and was simply happy staying here, in this strange world, by Fluttershy’s side forever. In Rita’s mind, they had truly become the best of friends.

***

Later that night Rita lay in bed next to Fluttershy while staring at brown ceiling. For some reason Rita was unable to get to sleep right away. Something was bothering her, though the question was; what was bugging her so much?

Although Rita hadn’t spoken up when Applejack was talking earlier, she was listening. Rita rolled over and stared at the back of Fluttershy’s head, her pink mane was lying across the bed. Rita finally decided to ask, “Fluttershy, is this weird? I mean, with how close we are sometimes…is it weird for friends to do that?”

Fluttershy rolled over and looked at Rita with gentle eyes in silence for the longest moment before she finally said, “No it’s not. Applejack is just old fashioned about friendship. It’s not weird for a pony and her human to be close like us.”

“What do you mean by, your human?” Rita asked.

“Um…I’m really tired,” Fluttershy said just before yawning. “I’m being a little silly right now I guess. We are just friends, best friends. Applejack and the town can go ahead and worry if they want, there is nothing wrong with our friendship…you keep me from feeling lonely, and maybe I do the same for you…so it’s all perfectly fine.”

“Yeah…last time I had a friend as close as you…well it didn’t end so well,” Rita said as she rolled over facing away from Fluttershy. Fluttershy scooted closer and wrapped a leg around Rita and held her close.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked in a whisper.

“Well me and her used to spend a lot of time together. We slept in the same bed, we ate at the same times. We even read books together, she would let me rest my head on her lap while we read…it was really nice,” Rita said in a quiet voice. “But…well she found out I had a crush on her one day…if it wasn’t for the fact that the only survivors of our group…well it’s just the two of us…I think she would have broken off our friendship. Instead she now feigns being my friend, she acts weird around me, like she finds me disgusting or something…I just wanted to keep her as my friend forever and she…I guess I screwed things up with Estella.”

Fluttershy was quiet for a few moments before tightening her embrace around Rita. Fluttershy quietly whispered, “I’m really sorry that happened to you, but I swear that I will always be friends with you. I took you into my home, and cared for you until you were healthy again. You are my responsibility, Rita, and I will always take care of you.”

Rita snuggled into Fluttershy’s embrace and said, “Thank you, Fluttershy, that means everything to me.”

“Good night, Rita,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Night, Fluttershy,” Rita said back.

Rita closed her eyes, and drifted off gently into a deep and wonderful sleep.

Chapter Fourteen: Blood Diamonds

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Fourteen: Blood Diamonds
Witten by TheCrimsonDM

The next day Rita walked along side both Rarity and Spike as they traveled through a barren waste, covered in rocks. Every now and then Rita would find a gem sticking out of the earth and pick it up. Although she was serving as a guard for Rarity and Spike, they didn’t seem to mind her grabbing the small gems she found on the ground.

Finally they stopped and Rarity proclaimed, “We are here at last. Rambling Rock Ridge, where the gems are plentiful…but so are the dogs.”

“Dogs?” Rita asked concerned.

“Why that’s why I brought you along darling, you see the last time I was here I was fillynapped by those wretched beasts. They wanted to use me for slave labor, it was a frightful experience, but the elegance of Rarity was simply too much for them, and they found themselves overwhelmed,” Rarity explained.

Somehow Rita doubted that things had worked out that simply, but that wasn’t the important part. Rarity had been kidnapped, or fillynapped rather. That meant that Rita was going to stay on guard, and if any dogs tried to get there dirty paws on her, Rita was going to cut them off.

Rarity’s horn began glowing and then she pointed at some random patch of earth. Spike went in to dig at the spot and after digging he found a treasure trove of gems. Rarity and Spike continued to repeat this routine. Rita stood guard and checked her side bag again. Her daggers were indeed still in the bag, just waiting for her to use them. Something about the daggers made Rita hungry for battle, she closed the bag, and with it her appetite for violence.

***

It was a good several hours before Rarity who had brought a cart with her, had filled it past the brim with shining gems of various colors. A small mountain of gems rose from the top of the cart, and threatened with every move to spill over. Rita had found a nice hill to climb up on so she could scout out the area around them.

The entire time she had been here, she had not seen a single sign of any dogs. They might’ve left this area a long time ago, but something felt off. Rita looked around from her perch and saw Rarity and Spike a little ways away from her position. Rita simply watched as the pony and the dragon talked to each other, although she could not hear their words, she could read their expressions. They were happy, with a hint of something a little more going on. Then Rarity leaned over and kissed Spike on the lips.

Rita stared in disbelief for a few seconds before she realized that even after a few seconds the pair was still kissing each other. Rita quickly looked away feeling her face warm up a little. She didn’t realize that what she was actually doing here was making sure that nopony disturbed the young couple’s date. Why didn’t Rarity tell her about this, it was almost like she was trying to keep it a secret.

Suddenly Rarity let out a terrible scream and Rita looked over to see Rarity staring at the ground. A gray hand was sticking out of the dirt, and had grasped Rarity’s foreleg tightly. Rita quickly jumped off the hill and landed in a roll. She was going to save them, no one was getting hurt on her watch. Rita charged towards Rarity while drawing her daggers from the side bag.

The second Rita caught up with Rarity and Spike, she swung down and stabbed the hand with one of her daggers. The hand was pinned down as Rita held her knife in place. Rita quickly looked up at Rarity and said, “Get to the Hill, it’s got a solid base. GO NOW!”

Rarity and Spike began running towards the hill and Rita pulled her knife free and took a few steps back. The hand disappeared back underneath the dirt. The ground began shifting in front of Rita and then the ground sunk inwards creating a small hole. Rita stared at the creature that climbed its way out of the hole.

The creature had elongated arms that dragged on the ground, much smaller hind legs then he should have for its height, and it wore a red vest. Its head was very dog shaped and its hand was bleeding from where Rita had stabbed it. This thing looked strong, and there was no doubt in her mind that it could easily crush her with its hands, let alone what its claws could do.

Rita took a defensive combat stance, and watched as the dog stared at her. The dog’s face was a mixture of pain, and anger. He spoke slowly, and with a growl in his voice, “You, you hurt dog. We only want pony. Not you, you are… monkey, you are useless to dog. Why you attack dog?”

Something inside Rita was breaking; an old feeling was stirred at his words. She felt that the way he spoke felt like he had no respect for Rarity or her freedom, and considering the fact that they had actually captured her in the past. Rita could only imagine what dark things happened in those tunnels, and as she thought about what they could do to Rarity, she felt that old feeling come back in full force.

Rita grinned as she brought the golden dagger up to her lips. The blade coated with a red liquid. Rita licked the blade, tasting the coppery flavor of the dog’s blood on her weapon. The dog’s face turned sour as it said, “Why you do that? That is not what monkey supposed to do.”

“Mmmm, Dog. It’s been awhile since I’ve eaten it,” Rita said wickedly as she lowered the weapon.

The dog’s eyes grew wide and it took a few steps back before saying, “You, you are crazy. You stay away from dog.”

“After all the horrible things you did to her, I think not,” Rita said in a low voice.

The dog began to turn just as Rita sprang forward and kicked the dog in the gut with enough force to knock the creature onto his back. The dog began sitting up and Rita ran forward and kicked him in the face knocking him back down.

Rita looked around and noticed that there were two more holes appearing and two larger dogs climbed out of those. They both wore gray vests, probably some kind of ranking system. Rita turned to face them and ducked as one of them swung at her, the blow going right over her head. Rita then jumped back and threw a fireball at the dog that was now left open from over extending his attack.

The fireball exploded against his chest sending him rolling back a good fifteen feet before he stopped. The last dog looked at her with surprised eyes for a second before charging and Rita jumped into the air. As the dog got within distance, Rita kicked him midair in his fat face. The dog was sent off his feet and onto the hard ground floor.

The three dogs stayed down and Rita walked up to the one she had taken down first, the one with a red vest. She kneeled down and brought her knife to his throat. She looked at the creatures hand, from where had cut it. She could see the padding on the palm of his hand and realized that these were not quite hands, they were closer to paws. The blade had gone straight through his paw and out the other end. Painful, especially considering how the blades were curved.

Something was telling Rita to finish it, to press the dagger down and end the dog. Something else, a kind and gentle voice in the back of her mind was telling her to show them mercy. It was so much easier to fight constructs; living creatures were always harder to kill.

“Swear that you will never attack an innocent pony again, and I will let the three of you go,” Rita said.

“Dog promise, never to attack pony ever again. Please don’t kill dog,” the dog begged.

Rita stood up and returned her blades to the side bag. Rita then turned and left towards her friends who were hiding on the hill watching Rita. Rita looked back at the dogs, the one who had been hit by the fireball was only limping after the attack, he was tough. The other two were disoriented but they returned back down their holes. The holes then closed up after them.

Rarity and Spike met Rita after that and Rarity quickly attached herself to the cart she had brought with her. Rita followed in silence as they began the return trip to Ponyville.

“Please don’t tell anypony about me and Spike,” Rarity said in a quiet tone. “I believe that Twilight might be angry with me…”

“I won’t tell anyone. Just don’t go around telling ponies about this fight. I didn’t really like it when Rainbow Dash told you guys about the castle thing. It’s nicer when we don’t have to talk about this crap,” Rita said.

“I promise, it would only be rude to talk about your heroics here today without your permission,” Rarity replied.

“This wasn’t heroic, this was a fight…a brutal contest to see who was the bigger monster. Those dogs or me. I guess that I’m still the top dog, so to speak,” Rita said quietly.

Rita’s mind was now thinking on about things other than the gems, or the kiss. She almost killed that dog, it was scared of her, and she still wanted to go back and hunt it down. It was wrong, and she knew it…but she still felt that urge inside of her. It wasn’t because she was human that she felt this way, it was because she was a soldier, and killing had become a way of life for her. If even a single enemy escaped, then that would risk the entire mission. She truly was a monster inside.

Chapter Fifteen: Broken Pieces

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Fifteen: Broken Pieces
Written by TheCrimsonDM

That afternoon Rita stomped through the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage and slammed the door shut behind herself. Fluttershy who was sitting peacefully on the couch and knitting jumped into the air and hovered there with a shocked expression. Rita gave her a quick glance but she was too frustrated to really care if Fluttershy was mad at her for the rude entrance. Rita walked past Fluttershy at a brisk pace and continued up the stairs without saying a word.

Upstairs Rita walked into the room she shared with Fluttershy and went straight to the dresser. She dug around for a moment before she finally found the item she was looking for; a long nightgown. The nightgown was green with images of pink flowers sowed throughout, Rita let out a sigh. She had gotten this from Fluttershy along with the other articles of clothing she had received from Rarity, but she hadn’t really worn this much. For some reason Fluttershy had been getting more insistent that she wear this, and tonight she felt like wearing something relaxing and light.

Rita marched out of the bedroom and straight into the bathroom and saw the old tub that she had gotten so used to. She closed the door quietly and quickly undressed, all she wanted to do at this point was wash the filth that she felt off of her body. The long hike wasn’t the only thing that was making her feel dirty, fighting with those diamond dogs had left a horrible filthy feeling crawling over her skin.

All she could think about was how she had attacked those diamond dogs, and what she wanted to do them still. She felt the red hot rage building up inside, her hands began trembling with fury, and she could imagine all the wonderful ways she could kill them. She hated everything about feeling this way.

The bath she took lasted about a half hour before she decided it was time to get out and dress into something nice. Rita was beginning to wonder why Fluttershy had not approached her about the door being slammed shut, it had obviously startled her, but Rita had assumed that Fluttershy would have gotten angry about it by now. Everything in the house seemed quiet, too quiet.

Rita looked into the mirror, she stared at the wet naked, and horribly scarred figure that was reflected back at her. Rita’s hands were still shaking with violent intent, but even more so Rita hated herself. She was damaged, broken, and ruined beyond hope, she knew it, anyone who saw her knew it, the only person who didn’t care was Estella but even she eventually left Rita. They all left her after eventually; sometimes they had to get to know her, before realizing how broken she was.

Rita’s shaking slowed down as she stared at the mirror, she wondered if Estella was looking at a mirror at the same time, if somehow they could be connected with each other through something so simple as a mirror. With gentle movements Rita placed her hand against the mirror, she could imagine Estella’s pink hair, with streaks of green, purple, and blue running through it. Estella’s perfect purple eyes, and her tall, goddess like body these were things Rita always admired.

Until the kiss that is. The painful memories of Rita kissing Estella, and Rita confessing her love for her, only to be pushed away forever afterwards. It hurt even more when Rita remembered that she only confessed to Estella after losing her family, and friends in that finally battle. Tears began to build up at the edges of Rita’s eyes, threatening to spill over.

She knew that after that kiss, things had never been the same between her and Estella, but now everything was so dark and lonely. She just wanted to take it all back, to make Estella forget about what had happened. Sadly life didn’t work out like that, so instead she decided to find something that would help her forget. That’s when she started her project to build something impossible, a teleport. It wasn’t intended to be a portal to another world, but maybe this was for the best; at least now Rita didn’t have to be a shameful burden for Estella.

Instead Rita would just come to a peaceful little world and rage all over it, ruining the local population’s innocence when she finally snapped and started killing things. After all Rita was a soldier, a killer, trained to fight and die, there was nothing else for her to do. That feeling of anger began building up inside her chest again, and this time when she looked at herself in the mirror all she could see; was the monster that she had slowly become over the years of conflict.

There was no thought to it, there was only anger when she pulled her arm back. There was no intention, only disgust when her arm shot forward towards the reflection of her face. There was no understanding her own actions, when the mirror cracked under the weight of her fist. For a second Rita stared at the mirror in anger, she hated it for breaking when she hit it, and then suddenly the pain shot through her hand and she crouched down screaming.

The bathroom door swung open only a few seconds later and Fluttershy was standing at the doorway with a determined expression. Rita looked at Fluttershy, then at the bleeding hand she was holding tightly, and then she looked at the mirror that was cracked, finally she settled on closing her eyes tightly and sobbing.

Rita heard the door close gently and after few hoof steps before Fluttershy laid down in front of her. Rita felt a pair of warm feathery wings wrap themselves around her and pull her into a close embrace against Fluttershy’s chest. Rita continued sobbing relentlessly for a long time with Fluttershy whispering gentle words and petting Rita’s hair. Finally Rita slowed down her sobbing enough to actually hear Fluttershy speaking.

“It’s okay, shhh, Rita. I’m here for you, I’m right here, shh,” Fluttershy whispered gently.

Rita sucked in a breath and whimpered for a moment before managing to say, “I screwed up everything, I ruined my friendship with the one person that I truly loved. Now I’m nothing but a horrible monster, who fights, and kills, and breaks stuff.”

“You are not a monster,” Fluttershy promised.

Rita pushed Fluttershy’s wings away gently and made a gesture with her arm to make Fluttershy look at her naked body. Specifically Rita wanted Fluttershy to see the scars, and when Fluttershy looked down at Rita’s tiny wet form Rita said, “Just look at me, I even look like a monster. How can you tell me that I’m anything else?”

Fluttershy looked Rita in the eyes, smiled, and said gently, “You’re beautiful, Rita. You are not a monster.”

Rita shivered a little while saying, “It’s easy to say that when you look at the one place that isn’t all messed up, you couldn’t say that if you were looking at my horrible, disgusting body.”

Fluttershy looked down and her smile only grew as she said, “You are absolutely beautiful, Rita. I know you don’t think so, but you really are.” Fluttershy wrapped her wings around Rita again and pulled her into another embrace. Rita couldn’t help but sob some more into Fluttershy’s chest.

“Everyone I’ve ever known and cared for has left me, they either die, or they leave because I’m wrong. Please don’t leave me,” Rita begged while simultaneously wrapping her arms around Fluttershy’s neck and hugging her tightly.

“I will never leave you, Rita. I promise, that no matter what, you will always have a place here with me,” Fluttershy assured her with a gentle tone.

“And don’t let me leave you either. Please don’t let me ruin our friendship when I do something stupid. I know I will. One day I’m going to get angry at you, or I’ll scare you, or something, but please don’t let that ruin us, I… I won’t mean any of it,” Rita begged into Fluttershy’s warm, soft chest.

Fluttershy was quiet for a second before saying quietly, “I promise. So no matter what you do, I’ll always be here for you… just don’t hurt yourself anymore, please.”

Rita looked again at her hand, the crimson blood had been smeared into Fluttershy’s fur, and was covering the entire back of Rita’s hand by now. Rita looked up into Fluttershy’s big, round eyes and said, “I’m sorry. I messed up your fur.”

“It’s okay, now let me take care of your hand and you can tell me all about what’s bothering you, okay?” Fluttershy offered. Rita simply nodded knowing that tonight was going to be a long night, but at least Fluttershy was here to take care of her.

Chapter Sixteen: Good Girl

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Sixteen: Good Girl
Written by TheCrimsonDM

After getting dressed Rita found herself sitting in the living room while wearing her nightgown. She had to admit that it was really comfortable to wear, and after sitting on the couch quietly for a few minutes she decided that she was going to wear it a lot more. Fluttershy came out of the kitchen with a plate being balanced on her back, there were two wooden mugs sitting on top of it. Fluttershy carefully gave one of the mugs to Rita and set the plate down on the coffee table before joining her on the couch.

Rita looked at the mug with distrust. The liquid inside was a dark brown color and foaming over the lip of the mug. Whatever it was, Rita wasn’t sure that it would taste very good. She took a sample sip of the drink and was startled by the rich apple flavor with a hint of something else.

Rita quickly took another much larger drink to which Fluttershy gasped and said, “Rita, don’t drink it that quickly. You’ll get sick.”

Rita looked over at Fluttershy and then back to her drink and asked, “Why?” after a momentary pause Rita added, “Is there alcohol in here?”

Fluttershy’s cheeks began turning pink and she looked away saying, “Um… it’s apple cider… so um… yes.” After a long pause Fluttershy’s expression turned to worry. “Can humans consume alcohol? Do I need to make you puke?”

Rita snickered and said, “Human’s get drunk all the time... not me of course but other humans do.”

“Okay, good. I wouldn’t want to poison you by mistake,” Fluttershy said quietly.

Rita scooted a little closer to Fluttershy and smiled before taking another sip. Drinking was never her thing, so she could only assume that it wouldn’t take much to get her intoxicated. Fluttershy began brushing a wing tip through Rita’s damp hair before saying, “Rita, when did you last brush your mane?”

“I don’t know,” Rita replied. She really hated brushing her hair; the act was beyond tedious in her opinion.

Fluttershy quickly reached over and slipped something wooden around her hoof. Rita was a little unsure of how to react when she realized that it was a brush. The brush in question had a hole that was made for a pony to slip there hoof into, which made sense to Rita considering ponies didn’t have hands.

“What are you gonna do with that?” Rita asked. Rita took another drink of the cider.

“I’m going to brush your mane, don’t worry I’ll be gentle,” Fluttershy said in a kind voice.

Rita simply shrugged and said, “Whatever.”

Rita was surprised to find out just how gentle Fluttershy was when brushing through her hair. Rita always got caught on knots and hurt herself every time she brushed it herself, but for whatever reason Fluttershy had no such difficulty. Rita quietly drank the cider while Fluttershy worked her magic. After a few minutes Rita’s face began getting really hot, and she felt warm inside. The best part about this new found feeling was the fact that Rita felt at peace, truly at peace with herself, and the world around her. It was a wonderful feeling that she had missed so dearly, it had been such a long time since she last felt that way.

After awhile Fluttershy put the brush down and Rita found herself smiling for no apparent reason. Fluttershy very quietly said, “Thank you for letting me do that. Your mane was getting messy.”

“It’s cool, and it’s called hair… screw that I like it being called a mane better. It makes me fit in more,” Rita said.

Fluttershy reached over and picked up a small plate from the table, Rita didn’t really know where Fluttershy had gotten the plate from, for all she knew it had come in with the cider. The small plate had a chocolate chip cookie on top of it. Fluttershy gave the plate to Rita and said, “This is for letting me brush your mane. Thank you, Rita.”

Rita smiled and reached over taking the cookie off the plate. She had a mug of cider, a brushed mane, and now a cookie. Rita was content. She took a bite out of the cookie before she began to feel as though something was off about this whole situation. She tried to think about what it was but it just didn’t come to her. She got a drink to help her calm down, then she got her hair brushed, and then as a reward she got herself a cookie. A reward…

“Did you just give me a treat for good behavior?” Rita asked.

“Oh, it was just because you were so good about letting me brush your mane and all… I really thought you would say no,” Fluttershy said. “I was going to give you the cookie either way…”

Rita thought about it for a second and even though something still felt off about this, she decided it was all well and good. “Okay, sounds good to me. Thanks for the stuff.”

“It was my pleasure,” Fluttershy responded.

After finishing the cookie Rita began feeling tired, she had exhausted herself from crying earlier and now it was finally starting to hit her. She leaned over and slumped against Fluttershy’s side. Rita looked up at Fluttershy’s face and said, “I’m sleepy,” she yawned, “I want to go to bed.”

Rita set the mug down very carefully on the edge of the table, Fluttershy quickly pushed the mug further away from the edge, and then Rita stood up. The world became dizzy and although standing perfectly still, Rita somehow found herself sitting on the couch again, the world was still dizzy though. Fluttershy smiled and said, “Alright sleepy head, I’ll take you to bed.”

Rita smiled and said, “Thanks, the world is all dizzy, I don’t know what’s wrong with it.”

Fluttershy smiled even wider at Rita as she helped Rita climb onto her back. Fluttershy carefully took Rita upstairs and laid her down on the bed before tucking her in. Rita looked up at Fluttershy with the biggest puppy dog eyes that she could muster before saying, “Will you sing me a lullaby?”

Fluttershy was beginning to blush again. “O-o-okay… I don’t feel afraid of singing in front of you, so I’ll do it.”

Rita waited impatiently as Fluttershy slowly began singing in a soft and soothing voice, “Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head…”

Fluttershy stopped singing as soon as she heard the snoring. Fluttershy leaned in and kissed Rita gently on the forehead before turning and leaving the room. The door closed quietly behind Fluttershy as she left and the room was filled with a quiet darkness, save for the sounds of one lone human snoring peacefully after a having such a rough day.

Chapter Seventeen: A Night with Pinkie Pie

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Seventeen: A Night with Pinkie Pie
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The morning sun shone through the windows and into the kitchen lighting up the little room. Birds were chirping their songs outside of Fluttershy’s cottage and the fresh smell of morning air filled the kitchen. Rita leaned back in the wooden chair, the chair being balanced on its rear legs. Rita rested her legs across the table with her hands behind her head she stared at the window. Fluttershy was working on breakfast quietly while Rita thought to herself about the night before.

It was nice to finally have someone to help her when she was feeling down, someone who would make all the pain go away. Rita hadn’t had anyone to help her like this in years, but finally she had found a true friend. This brought a small smile to Rita’s lips as she thought more about how nice Fluttershy was to her.

“Hey,” Rita said, “Fluttershy, I just wanted to say thank you for last night. It really does mean a lot to me to know how much you care.”

Fluttershy was quiet as she finished making the sandwiches. Fluttershy flew over to the table and set the plates down gently. Fluttershy sat down after that and began eating in peace while looking around nervously. Even Rita could tell that something was bothering the butter yellow pegasus.

“What’s up?” Rita asked. Rita waited for a moment but after seeing that she wasn’t going to get a reply she added, “I was thinking about fighting a dragon, want to join me?”

“WHAT!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

“Just kidding, I won’t ever see that thing again. So tell me what’s eating you up?” Rita said.

“Oh… it’s, um, nothing. I just… would you mind staying with Pinkie Pie tonight?” Fluttershy asked her voice a little shaky.

Rita leaned forward, the chair slammed against the floor, and Rita nearly shouted, “What did you say? Are you kicking me out? Did I do something wrong?”

“No no no, it’s nothing like that. I just need some alone time tonight, it’s been a while since you moved in, and I’ve been needing to do something… please don’t be upset,” Fluttershy said in a timid voice.

Rita’s heart was pumping fast and hot. She was still worried that something was wrong but at the same time she didn’t want to upset Fluttershy any further. Rita closed her eyes and after breathing slowly for a moment she said calmly, “It’s okay, I just want to make sure that I didn’t do anything wrong. If you just need some alone time, then I guess I don’t mind staying a night at Pinkie’s house,” Rita wanted to add ‘but it will be lonely without you’.

Fluttershy smiled a little cheesy grin at Rita, and Rita thought she saw something wrong with one of Fluttershy’s teeth, but the smile faded to quickly for her to get a good look. It was probably just some food that was stuck on her tooth or something. Fluttershy looked towards the wall and said, “You know Pinkie will be so happy that you are willing to spend the night with her. She’s wanted to have a sleep over since you came into town, but I’ve told her no. I didn’t think you were ready until now. I believe that you will be just fine, and you will really enjoy getting to know her more.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Rita said lamely. She loved hanging out with the pink party pony as much as anypony did, but she didn’t want to stay away from Fluttershy for too long. One night couldn’t do that much harm, could it?

***

That afternoon Fluttershy and Rita arrived at the Sugarcube Corner’s front door. Fluttershy was carrying a saddlebag full of various things for Rita that night, while Rita stood next to her looking uncomfortable. The front door swung open and Applejack stepped out of the store, she gave Fluttershy a friendly smile, and a stern look to Rita.

“Ah’ll be bringing them apples over in a bit,” Applejack said while avoiding Rita’s glare.

“Thank you, AJ. You’re help means a lot to me,” Fluttershy said kindly.

“No problem, were friends after all. Is Rainbow gonna be there tonight?” Applejack asked.

“Oh, um, yes,” Fluttershy admitted timidly.

Rita looked at Fluttershy hoping to get an answer as to what exactly was going on tonight, she did not receive one however. Applejack got out of the doorway as another pony walked in past her. Applejack gave another friendly smile to Fluttershy before saying, “Ah hope you two have fun.”

“Not too much fun, I hope. I don’t want be rough on her by accident,” Fluttershy said while her cheeks began reddening.

“Ya’ll will be fine fer tonight, so long as Rainbow Dash doesn’t try to do what she did last time,” Applejack said.

“Oh, it will be fine. Rita here is going to be staying the night with Pinkie though, I want to be alone with Rainbow Dash tonight… you know,” Fluttershy said her cheeks growing even more red.

At this point Rita was sure that Fluttershy was intending on being intimate with Rainbow Dash, and she found herself trying not to imagine what that was going to look like, she failed. Rita crossed her arms and in a big showy motion she walked through the front door while saying, “I’m going to talk to Pinkie. You two can do whatever out here, I don’t care.”

Fluttershy quickly followed while saying, “I’m sorry, we’ll continue this conversation later, if you still want to.” Applejack just glared at Rita for a moment before leaving. Rita wasn’t sure what Applejack’s problem with her was, but she was beginning to get upset about it.

Once inside Fluttershy and Rita were greeted by Pinkie Pie who smiled brightly at them, Rita always enjoyed how one smile from Pinkie would light up an entire room. Now smiling Rita waved at Pinkie and Fluttershy said, “Thank you so much for watching her tonight, Pinkie.”

“Hey,” Rita interrupted, “I’m not a child, I just need a place to stay for the night… not a pony to watch over me.”

Fluttershy gave a kind smile to Rita and said, “Of course, I’m sorry.”

Rita looked away and huffed. Pinkie Pie giggled before saying, “It’s going to be a slumber party, just for us fillies.”

Fluttershy gave the saddlebags over to Pinkie before explaining, “She has a particular diet, so ask her what she can eat before cooking for her. And she needs a bath at seven, so that you can brush her mane before bed time. Also don’t forget that she has night terrors, so she might need cuddles to make them all better.”

Rita stared at Fluttershy in astonishment, she was not some child and yet here was Fluttershy acting like she was. Rita stomped her foot down hard, effectively grabbing the attention of the two ponies. “I am not a child. I’ll eat whatever I feel like, bathe if I feel like, and I have nightmare’s not ‘night terrors’.”

Fluttershy looked taken aback for a moment before looking down and apologizing quietly. Pinkie Pie laughed and said, “It’s fine, we’re going to have so much fun tonight. I’ve been wanting to do this since you came to Ponyville.”

There was a little more awkward conversation before Fluttershy finally left. Pinkie brought Rita up to her bedroom, located on the top most floor of Sugarcube Corner. Once inside Rita couldn’t wait for the night to be over already, it was bad enough to have Applejack acting like she had some sort of grudge, it was even worse to have Fluttershy acting like Rita was some sort of child. Rita could already tell that it was going to be a long night.

***

A few hours later Rita found herself sitting quietly on the floor. Although Pinkie had tried to make a conversation start a few times, Rita had just not felt like talking much. The awkward silence filled the little room to the brim, until Pinkie Pie left downstairs quietly. Rita was upset about Fluttershy’s behavior, but that wasn’t the real problem here, Applejack’s attitude was. Rita was trying her hardest to figure out exactly what was wrong with Applejack; it wasn’t like Rita had done anything to her.

Rita gave up for a moment and looked around at the room she was in. Pinkie’s room was small, with a balcony just outside letting her see the night sky along with the full moon. The room was lit up by a lantern and the fire light cast strange shadows all over the room. She didn’t like being up here all alone. The room was round, and had only one rather large bed that took up most of the space the little room had to offer. The longer she stared at the shadows in the room, the more unnerved she became. All she wanted to do was go home to Fluttershy and cuddle up next to the yellow pegasus.

“Pinkie Pie,” Rita called out.

The door opened slowly, and Pinkie Pie walked in with a tin plate balanced on her head. Pinkie Pie looked off balanced as she walked awkwardly towards Rita and nearly fell before reaching her. Rita smiled at the silly pony as the plate was set down on the floor next to her. Rita looked at the plate and after seeing the chocolate cake sitting there her smile grew wider.

“So did anypony want cake?” Pinkie Pie said while leaning in far too close for Rita’s comfort.

Rita raised her hand and warned Pinkie Pie away from her face while saying, “Hey, not so close… I’m still a little nervous around ponies… and the weird shadows aren’t helping.”

Pinkie Pie looked around the room and then her smile faded a little bit as she said, “Oh, you don’t like it here do you?”

“It’s nice, it’s just not home. Fluttershy’s house is my home, and this place is new,” Rita said quietly.

Pinkie Pie sat down next to Rita and picked up a slice of cake with her hooves. Pinkie opened her mouth wide and shoved the whole slice of cake into her mouth in one bite, swallowed and licked her lips clean. “Mmm, cake. I’m sorry that you’re scared. It’s nice here though, I promise.” There was a pause and then Pinkie Pie said, “Oh, I know what will help. Let’s talk about stallions, or mares, whatever you like.”

“Stallions are kinda tall, so they scare me a little. I like mares though,” Rita said thankful for Pinkie’s presence, just having somepony to talk to made her feel safer about being in a strange place for the night. It dawned on her then that she had actually found a home for the first time in years, and the feeling although strange, was wonderful.

“Awesome, I like mare’s too. So is there any mare that you like in particular?” Pinkie asked her voice getting a little higher pitched at the end.

Rita thought about it for a moment, she liked a few ponies, Fluttershy, Twilight, Granny Smith. There was also one other pony that Rita liked as a good friend. “I like you, Pinkie.”

Pinkie’s mouth dropped and she stared with wide eyes for a long moment before shaking her head and asking in a quiet tone, “You, like, me?”

Rita nodded and said, “Of course I do. After all you carried me on your back when I was injured, and you saved my life from a timberwolf, and you give me free chocolate cake all the time. How could I not like you a whole lot.”

Pinkie’s eyes began to water up, and her smile turned soft as she stared into Rita’s eyes. Pinkie quietly said, “But nopony like’s me that way. I’m too childish, or too crazy. A lot of ponies don’t really trust me because of that… but you actually like me?”

“Yeah, I do. And if that’s how everypony see’s you then I’ll just have to like you even more,” Rita said proudly while pointing a thumb at herself, she then gave Pinkie a happy grin.

Pinkie Pie wiped the tears away from her eyes before giving Rita a hug and saying, “Thank you, Rita. I… maybe it won’t make me popular but I’d like to be marefriends with you… I mean that’s what you want isn’t it?”

Rita thought about it before, she had a couple of girlfriends in the past. She didn’t like the term girlfriend too much, considering she was actually into girls it had the possibility to make things confusing. That being said Pinkie was a pony and she knew that there was no way that she could fall in love with one, so being girlfriends with her, or marefriends as Pinkie put it, would be just fine.

Rita returned the hug and said, “Sure, I’ve never had a marefriend before. Maybe we could do each other’s manes or something… girly.” She said the last word with a sickening taste in her mouth, but at least she said it.

Pinkie Pie pulled back and she was wearing a goofy looking smile, one that Rita had never seen the pink pony wear before. Rita had to admit that Pinkie did look kinda cute with that smile on though. After that the two of them finished off the cake before Rita and Pinkie went to finding something to do.

After a few minutes Rita found herself in a very comfortable position that she needed to try with Fluttershy at some point. Pinkie Pie laid down on her side with her legs sticking out to one side while using her mouth to draw in a sketch book. Rita laid in between Pinkie’s legs while propped up against Pinkie’s belly. Pinkie’s soft round belly made for an awesome pillow in Rita’s opinion. Rita was reading one of the history books that Twilight had lent her, something about a famous wizard named Starswirl. She was pleasantly surprised to see that things were looking nice for her tonight.

***

Later that night Rita found herself lying on the floor wrapped up in a sleeping bag unable to sleep. She stared out the window watching the full moon feeling exhausted, but she was missing something. Suddenly Rita saw a pegasus silhouette fly past the moon at a threateningly fast pace, followed by another pegasus. Fear raced down her spine and Rita found herself beginning to shake. She tried to tell herself that it was just some night flyer’s but being in a new location at the dead of night was not helping her feel safe.

“Fluttershy, I just saw something outside,” Rita said instinctively. After a moment of silence she remembered that Fluttershy wasn’t there to hold her. Rita closed her eyes and whimpered as the feeling of loneliness joined her fear.

“Rita, are you okay?” Pinkie asked drowsily from the bed.

Rita tried to calm herself as she said, “I-I-I’m fine.”

Pinkie Pie yawned before saying, “If you want to, you can join me up here. My bed is really soft.”

Without hesitation Rita jumped off the floor and climbed into Pinkie’s bed. She wrapped the covers over herself and cuddled into Pinkie’s back still shaking a little. This room was dark, it was different, and she saw shadows moving outside. There was no way that she was going to get to sleep like this, but Pinkie Pie somehow made her feel safer.

Pinkie Pie rolled over and stared into Rita’s eyes, Pinkie had her hooves wrapped around a teddy bear and she looked concerned. Rita looked down at the teddy and smiled. Rita’s shaking began to slow down a little bit as she asked, “Who’s that?”

Pinkie looked down at the teddy and smiled before saying, “His name is Mr. Cuddles, he keeps me safe at night, but I’m sure that he is willing to offer the same protection for you tonight.”

Rita smiled wider at the gesture and said, “Thank you Mr. Cuddles, that means a lot to me.” After a short pause Rita added, “But it might also help if you were holding me too…”

Pinkie Pie yawned again before saying, “Okay.”

Rita rolled over and Pinkie Pie scooted closer before wrapping her legs around Rita’s waist. Rita made herself comfy before she closed her eyes and began drifting off to sleep. Pinkie Pie whispered, “Thanks for being my marefriend, Rita. I’ve never actually had one before… this means the world to me.”

Rita felt far too tired to actually respond but she thought to herself, ‘Your welcome, Pinkie. Being awesome friends with you will be cool. Doing each other’s hair, and make up, and stuff like that sounds fun, maybe we can talk about the ponies you have a crush on too, so long as it’s not weird.’ Rita fell asleep after that.

Chapter Eighteen: Apples

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Eighteen: Apples
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The room was filled with silence as Fluttershy sat quietly on the floor of her living room. Rainbow Dash was sitting on a box with the trademarked apple family insignia on it; a bright red apple. Fluttershy glanced outside at the quickly darkening sky and felt remorse at having left Rita over at Pinkie’s for the night. “I hope she’s okay,” Fluttershy said to herself.

“She’ll be fine, she’s an adult,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No she isn’t, she is only seventeen!” Fluttershy protested while staring at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash shrugged and ignored Fluttershy’s comment, but Fluttershy didn’t mind right now, she had more important things to think on. Her eyes slowly drifted down Rainbow Dash’s side and settled on staring at the blue pony’s athletic flanks.

After a long moment Rainbow Dash snapped, “Hey, bad Fluttershy. My eyes are up here, beside’s you know that you can’t have any yet. It’s not the right time.”

Fluttershy shyly and said, “I-I-I know that, I just really want it…”

Rainbow Dash leaned back and kicked her legs playfully in the air while saying, “Yeah, I can see that.”

Although it was hard, Fluttershy managed to peal her eyes away and return her vision towards the window. She saw the stars beginning to appear, along with the full moon sitting in the night sky. Fluttershy’s blood began pumping and her chest began heating up, she returned her stare towards Rainbow’s rump.

“Fluttershy, are you okay? It’s not late enough to do that you know,” Rainbow Dash said, her voice sounding a little strained. Fluttershy didn’t listen to her though; she was too occupied with what she was staring at.

A few minutes passed by slowly, the clock on the wall was ticking and with ever tick, it seemed that something hot was building inside of Fluttershy, something powerful. Finally Fluttershy could no longer contain herself and she charged at Rainbow Dash, pushed her off the box and threw open the lid. Fluttershy stared down and her eyes widened at the sight of a completely empty box.

“Where are they?” Fluttershy asked.

“I told you it wasn’t late enough!” Rainbow Dash said while standing up slowly.

“I said; where are they?” Fluttershy asked again, before focusing on Rainbow Dash. She began glaring at the rainbow maned pegasus and began breathing heavily.

“Okay, I’ll tell ya. I hid them out all across the forest. I thought it would be fun to have an egg hunt, only I’m using apples. Sounds fun right,” Rainbow Dash said proudly.

“You will take me to them,” Fluttershy hissed.

“That would ruin the game though,” Rainbow Dash said, as though trying to explain the simple concept to a child.

“Do not patronize me, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy demanded, her voice rising in volume. She looked back into the empty box and licked her lips, if a game was what Rainbow Dash wanted, than a game is what she would get. “You have five seconds.”

“Five seconds for what?” Rainbow Dash asked sounding confused.

“Five seconds to run as far, and as fast as you possibly can,” Fluttershy explained coolly. She waited a second before staring Rainbow Dash in the eyes.

“Five.”

Rainbow Dash gave a short chuckle before looking away and saying, “That’s funny. Like I’d really believe you.”

“Four.”

“That’s not as funny as you think,” Rainbow Dash said while stomping a hoof on the floor.

“Three.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she began saying quietly, “Your eyes…”

“Two.”

Rainbow Dash turned and flew as fast as she could towards the door. She opened it quickly.

“One.”

Rainbow Dash flew out into the night sky at break neck speeds. Fluttershy grinned, her heart racing as fast as Rainbow Dash could fly, and she took off in flight after Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was determined to get what she wanted, and nopony, especially not Rainbow Dash was going to stop her tonight. As Fluttershy began catching up with Rainbow Dash she screamed, “Where are my APPLES!”

***

The next morning Rita and Pinkie Pie walked together through the town. It was yet another quiet and peaceful day here in Ponyville, but boring as it may be, Rita enjoyed it this way. Pinkie Pie hadn’t stopped smiling since the moment she had woke up today, and Rita found herself smiling along with her. The day promised to stay like this until Rita saw a blue coated pegasus hanging from a tree branch by a bunch of ropes.

Rita walked over and grinned before saying, “What’s up, Rainbow Dash? Oh wait I know, it’s you. You’re up, in a tree.”

“Very funny, now get me down,” Rainbow Dash said as she struggled uselessly against the ropes.

Pinkie Pie giggled a little before asking, “Weren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye on Fluttershy last night. It was you’re turn after all.”

“Turn?” Rita asked curiously.

“Yeah, well things didn’t go as well as planned,” Rainbow Dash said lamely.

“Did you use the apples to play fetch with her again? Cus last time you did that she gave you a black eye,” Pinkie Pie said.

“No this time I hid the apples around the forest, I was hoping that she would have fun looking for them until the sun came up… she didn’t like that,” Rainbow Dash said. “Seriously don’t hide apples from Fluttershy.”

Rita looked skeptically at Rainbow Dash while saying, “You know I have a hard time believing that Fluttershy did this to you.”

Rita shrugged and pulled a dagger out of her side bag. Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened at the sight and she said, “Um… you are just cutting me down, right?”

“Actually I like your wings, thought I’d take them,” Rita said with a sinister grin.

Rita quickly jumped high, and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried uselessly to move. Rita made a few quick slashing motions before landing on her feet, using her free hand to brace her impact. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground a few seconds later with a thud and a dazed look on her face.

After a moment’s rest Rainbow Dash stood up slowly with the rope falling to pieces around her. She looked at the rope and then back at Rita and said, “That was cool.”

“Well I’m awesome, what did you expect?” Rita said before putting the dagger back into her side bag.

Rita walked with Pinkie Pie further into town leaving Rainbow Dash alone by the tree. When they had gotten just out of sight Rita looked at Pinkie Pie and said, “I don’t care what kind of kinky weird stuff they were doing last night; I just don’t think it was okay to do it in public. Especially when leaving Rainbow Dash alone like that. I’m going to have to have long conversation with Fluttershy about this.”

Pinkie Pie giggled and said, “You have no idea. It’s kinda cute when you’re clueless though.”

“What?”

“Never mind,” Pinkie Pie said before she started bouncing alongside Rita.

Chapter Nineteen: New Life

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Nineteen: New Life
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita walked through the town with a bouncy pink pony at her side. The morning was quiet and peaceful as usual, but that also meant that it was threatening to become boring as well. Pinkie had been wearing a goofy smile all day, and although Rita couldn’t place a finger on why, she enjoyed seeing Pinkie so happy.

Things were going well until Rita came across the one pony she didn’t want to see right now; Applejack. Rita was still concerned about Applejack’s attitude towards her and after receiving yet another glare from the farm pony she decided she couldn’t afford to care right now, she just wanted to be left alone with Pinkie.

“Howdy,” Applejack greeted more for Pinkie’s sake than for Rita’s.

“How ya doin cousin?” Pinkie Pie asked merrily.

“Ah’m doing fine, how are ya’ll doin today?” Applejack asked.

Pinkie Pie grinned madly and jumped high into the air. Rita ducked and stepped back quickly as Pinkie’s jump propelled the pink pony more than five feet into the air. At the top of Pinkie’s jump, Rita could swear the Pinkie stopped mid air just long enough to shout, “I HAVE A MAREFRIEND!”

After Pinkie Pie landed back on the ground Applejack tipped her hat to the pink pony and said, “Wow, Ah’m mighty proud of ya. Who is it?”

Pinkie Pie looked over at Rita and rolled her eyes saying, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s this really cute human that I know?”

Applejack looked at Rita then at Pinkie back to Rita and finally settled on Pinkie. “You two are dating each other? What about Fluttershy? Ah thought that Rita and her had a thing.”

Rita stomped her foot down and said quickly, “What the hay are you talking about?”

“Look the way you two act around each other, either you and Fluttershy are secretly dating or yer her pet,” Applejack said.

Rita crossed her arms and glared at Applejack while saying, “Look I am not dating Fluttershy. She’s an animal, and I’m a human.”

“But yer dating Pinkie?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course not, that would be bestiality. We’re just girl friends, er mare friends,” Rita said in protest.

Pinkie looked over slowly at Rita, her eyes were wide and watery as she asked, “Wait… do you think I’m just an animal? You don’t like me that way?”

Rita stared flatly into those light blue eyes for a moment before looking away. She couldn’t stare into those sad eyes of Pinkie’s for long. “Yes, no, I mean I don’t know.”

Pinkie Pie’s mane drooped over and fell flat against the side of her face, her tail followed suit. Tears began streaming down her face and she closed her eyes. Rita reached out a hand but Pinkie turned and fled away in a fast gallop before Rita could do anything. Rita wasn’t sure how this happened but she now realized the depth of her mistake.

“Now see, this is why Ah have a problem with you. All you do is treat ponies like we are underneath you, and you say some of the rudest things Ah have ever heard,” Applejack snapped.

Rita gave a quick angry glance at Applejack and said, “Well at least I try to fix the messes I make.” Rita then took off after Pinkie Pie. She knew that she couldn’t keep up, but hopefully she could track the pink pony down and apologize. Rita wasn’t even sure how she was going to make this up to the pony but she now realized that she had been treating these equines like they were less than human, and thanks to that she now had a giant mess to fix.

***

Nearly a half hour of searching and running through the town and still with no signs of where Pinkie Pie had run off to, Rita was beginning to think that she might never see her friend again. Feeling fatigued Rita sat down against some bushels of hay and let out a frustrated sigh.

“Why, why do I always screw things up and hurt the ones I love,” Rita said to herself. “I can’t believe that I was so dense that I didn’t even consider the possibility that Pinkie could want to be with me.”

Rita thought about it though, what did Pinkie actually expect from Rita in a relationship. Surely Rita could never let Pinkie kiss her, she was terrified of being bitten by a horse. But these ponies despite being equine shaped were not quite horses were they now? Their heads were far too round, their eyes huge and intelligent, but most of all Rita had seen Pinkie Pie walking on her hind legs without any trouble in the past. So were these strange creatures truly that close to horses? Rita suspected not. In fact the thing that disturbed her the most about them was also their most redeeming factor, these ponies were far too human.

It could be possible that the ponies were actually slowly evolving into humanoids, and over the course of centuries they would slowly become like the animal races of Rita’s world. Rita began to wonder exactly what she would do with Pinkie if they had gone into a relationship. They could cuddle, that was something they’ve already done and it didn’t scare Rita despite how much bigger ponies were then her. They could enjoy each other’s company over dinner, and keep one another from being lonely, that was a certainty.

But what could Rita really offer Pinkie, what did she have that Pinkie couldn’t get from anypony else? Rita could never be physically intimate with Pinkie Pie, not as long as Pinkie was still a… no Pinkie was pony not a horse, a person not an animal. It was so hard to look at these ponies and not think of them as being anything other than intelligent animals. This would be like the humans who decided to have relations with dragons in her world, it was weird and wrong, but it happened a lot.

“Ugh, why can’t I just make everything okay,” Rita said again while trying desperately to find a way to make this acceptable. What she really needed to do was talk to Pinkie in person and discuss this in more detail. “I need to find her and talk to her. Maybe if I know more about what she wants from me… maybe I can make this all work out somehow.”

Suddenly Rita heard a sniffling sound from her right. Very cautiously Rita peaked her head around the corner and found Pinkie Pie lying down and looking up at her with those big, sad blue eyes. Rita’s heart hurt to see her friend like this and suddenly everything she was trying to understand vanished from her mind.

“Pinkie, can we talk about this? Please?” Rita asked with as kind of a voice as she could muster.

“What’s there to talk about,” Pinkie Pie said. “You’re just another pony who can’t love me.”

Rita opened her mouth and started saying, “But I’m not a p-“ she stopped herself as she realized that Pinkie Pie didn’t see Rita as being different from her; in Pinkie’s mind Rita had to be a complete equal this entire time, hadn’t she? Rita took in a slow steady breath and forced herself to ask a dreadful question. “If… if we were to be in a relationship, marefriends as you call it. What would you expect from me?”

“Nothing, I wouldn’t expect anything because I wouldn’t know what to expect,” Pinkie Pie admitted. “I’ve never had a special somepony before, I guess I still don’t have one either. Look I know that you’re scared of ponies because we are a little bigger and stronger then you… but I wouldn’t ask you to do anything other than love me. That’s all I want, is somepony to love me, somepony like you?”

Rita’s heart throbbed in pain as she heard those words. Someone who actually wanted Rita, someone who didn’t care what Rita looked like, scarred, broken, different, none of that mattered to Pinkie did it? No, Rita knew that Pinkie didn’t care about looks, she just wanted a companion. Rita looked deeply into Pinkie’s eyes and said, “I’ve been broken, I’m scarred all over my body, I only wear so much clothing to hide it. The only person I ever loved I scared away and ruined our friendship, and I’ve killed people before. Do you still want someone like me to be with you?”

“Your beautiful, Rita. I mean I don’t know what other humans look like but I think you’re pretty. And I don’t care if you have killed before, me and my friends have killed changelings so I understand. Rita, you… you actually listen to me and respect me, you think I’m more than just a crazy, childish pony, right?”

Rita smiled softly she could couldn’t help but feel her heart lift at Pinkie’s kind words. “No I don’t think you’re a child. No more than I am… but I guess that I am a little childish huh?”

“But you won’t be with me will you?” Pinkie Pie asked voice was shaky.

Rita reached out a hand and gently wiped away a few tears from Pinkie’s cheeks. Pinkie’s fur was damp from crying, and it broke Rita’s heart to know that it was all her fault. Rita knew that she had to do something to make this better, and there was only one option left at this point. It didn’t really prove to be too out of the realm of possibilities when Rita considered the fact that even if she did build a new portal, without proper understanding of coordinates she was never getting home. This world, Equestria was her new home, and the sooner she accepted it and started building a real life here, the better.

Rita forced herself to say some of the hardest words that had ever came out of her mouth, “If you still want to, I’m willing to give this, to give us a shot. Will you be my special someone, my special somepony?”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up like fireworks and her hair suddenly inflated and became bouncy again. Rita felt as though a heavy weight had just been lifted off of her heart. Pinkie Pie smiled brightly again and said, “I’d love too!”

“Well, this might not be how I imagined doing it, but I guess this is the start of me actually building a new life here. I wonder what kinds of adventures we’ll have,” Rita said.

“We’ll have all the best kinds, forever, because we’re special someponies!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

“Yeah, Pinkie, we are,” Rita agreed.

Chapter Twenty: The Forest's Secret

THE EQUESTRAIN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty: The Forest's Secret
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The sky was blue with no clouds in sight, the grass was warm, and the sun shined down across Rita’s back to keep her nice and warm as she lay face down in the grass. A pony laid beside her lightly snoring, and together they enjoyed an afternoon nap.

Rita opened her eyes slowly and groaned as she rolled over onto her back. She looked at Pinkie’s back and decided not to wake the sleeping pony just yet. Rita just closed her eyes and thought to herself silently, all the while enjoying the sounds of Pinkie’s snoring. Rita couldn’t point out exactly why, but she found the snoring calming.

It had been about a month since she first came to this world now, and she was still trying to understand it. She had picked up reading the language much faster than Twilight had anticipated and speaking it was also something she was learning quickly, although it she still had difficulty with it. She had made a nice group of friends, although she realized that she wasn’t fully integrated into their little group, but she was determined to force her way into it one way or another.

Fluttershy had been so kind to Rita, letting Rita stay at her cottage was a wonderful experience and taking care of her was even more important. Now that Rita had decided to attempt a romantic relationship with Pinkie Pie though, she had some new questions that needed to be answered sooner rather than later. Being lazy and sleeping around Fluttershy’s house all day wasn’t going to work anymore.

The first thing that Rita now needed to do was figure out what her boundaries with Pinkie were in this relationship. It was weird and crazy, and she couldn’t fathom just how Pinkie could so easily be with a human without any concerns. Once Rita figured out how this relationship would work she had another objective. Figure out what she was going to do in this world, she needed to find a proper place here, but all she was good at was inventing things… though that in itself could present some interesting opportunities. Equestria’s level of magic technology was sorely lacking after all.

Finally after those two questions were answered she still had one more thing to do. She needed to get her own home, preferably something just outside of town. Close enough to visit every day, but far enough that she wouldn’t be bothered by people meandering by when she was working on her projects. The best part would be that she could finally live in a home that had no animals or smelled like pine cleaner all the darn time.

Rita let out a content sigh as she imagined what her tower would look like. It would be several stories tall to say the least, have a library, a lab, a workshop, and a training ground. Pinkie Pie rolled over and suddenly wrapped a foreleg around Rita’s waist and drew her in close for a hug. Pinkie Pie smiled softly at Rita and said, “That was a good nap. Thanks for that.”

“You were upset earlier, of course you needed a nap. I needed one too, so don’t mention it,” Rita said before returning the smile.

Pinkie Pie stretched out her legs while saying, “I know a beautiful little place where we can be all alone. I think you would like it.”

“Oh yeah, where is it?” Rita asked.

“It’s in the Everfree Forest. There’s mushroom monsters there though, so it’s a tad bit dangerous,” Pinkie Pie admitted.

“Sounds like an adventure to me. Let’s go,” Rita said excitedly and finishing with a grin. “But first we will need to stop by my place, I need to get some supplies if we’re going somewhere dangerous.”

***

Back at Fluttershy’s cottage Rita stood silently in front of the living room bookcase. She examined some of the books that rested on the shelf; romance, action, and adventure were all some of the books that Fluttershy owned. Other books on the shelf included history, various sciences, and of course books on magic; these were all part of Rita’s personal collection.

“So we’re getting a book? Ooo is it going to be a story book? Will it have pictures? Will you read it to me?” Pinkie asked with such speed that Rita had a difficult time keeping up.

“Um… actually I’m just getting one of the books about monsters. Next we’re going to get my stuff from the shed,” Rita explained while looking through the shelf trying to find the bestiary that Twilight had leant her.

Suddenly Pinkie’s head appeared next to Rita’s without warning causing Rita to stumble back in surprise. Pinkie’s mouth opened and grabbed a book before turning to look at Rita and say, “I vound eh.”

“What?” Rita asked.

Pinkie leaned her head forward and waited. Rita stared flatly at Pinkie without comprehension until she looked at the title of the book that Pinkie was chewing on. It read ‘All You Need to Know about Monsters and More’.

“Oh, you found it,” Rita said as she grabbed the book timidly from Pinkie’s mouth. Once Pinkie Pie let go, Rita quickly began wiping the saliva off of the book with the sleeve of her jacket. “I have no idea how you ponies get around without destroying everything if all you can do is slobber on stuff.”

“Sorry,” Pinkie apologized.

Rita looked towards the kitchen and its back door while saying, “It’s okay, let’s get that stuff I mentioned before Fluttershy stops us.”

Pinkie Pie smiled and followed Rita as she walked towards the shed out back. Once in the backyard Rita grinned at the changes that had been made. A few scarecrows stood off to the left of the house, scorch marks and deep tears covered them. The poles they stood on had been duck taped in multiple places causing Rita to consider getting some new training dummies.

There was also a series of hay bushels that were stacked in awkward and rather nonsensical ways. The highest stack actually led up to the top of Fluttershy’s cottage. Rita remembered how weird Rainbow Dash had thought it was that Rita was using these as platforms to train her acrobatics; of course after actually watching Rita in action Rainbow Dash realized just how cool it really was.

When at the shed door Rita placed her hand around the handle gently and said, “Now bear witness to the greatest thing in all of Equestria, my treasure horde!”

With a grand sweeping motion Rita opened the door outward and showed off the inside to Pinkie. Pinkie’s mouth was left agape for a moment before she exclaimed, “That is so neat!”

“Neat? Not awesome, or epic, or even cool… neat? Huh, I guess that’s one way to describe it,” Rita said feeling a little put out.

Inside the shed the walls now lined with various weapons and armor and even a single shield that Rita had found from her forays into the Castle of the Two Sisters. She had tried to fight the urge to go back and loot the armory there, she really had, but the magical weapons were just too much to ignore; in the end her lust for shiny objects had gotten the best of her. Some of these weapons though really stood out to Rita as they should not have been able to be used by ponies, such as the golden bow she had found. There was also a scythe of the deepest blue, and white gold spear, these had obviously been weapons of some importance, considering they had the symbols of the moon and the sun on them, and those from her understanding belonged specifically to the princesses Celestia, and Luna.

After giving Pinkie a few minutes to ogle the weapons and everything Rita quickly went inside and grabbed a few things of choice. The first thing she made sure to grab was actually a secondary gauntlet that she had constructed from old pony armor, it was steel colored with lines of intricate designs in gold on the sides. She was proud of this gauntlet and thanks to the useful material she was even able to add in several gems as opposed to only one.

The next things she grabbed included her twin crescent blade daggers that she had found in the castle during her first venture into them. These things might hunger for blood but in a fight against monsters that was not necessarily a bad thing. Finally Rita made sure to grab the side pack she had which was now full of useful things that she could use while out in the field. She slipped her monster book into the bag and made sure to keep it close on hand.

“So,” Rita asked as she walked out past Pinkie Pie, “What weapon do you want?”

Pinkie Pie looked at Rita with wide eyes for a moment with a shocked expression. After the momentary silence Pinkie asked, “Do you mean I can have one?”

Rita put a finger to her chin and looked away before saying, “Maybe, right now I’m just lending one too you. I can’t have my marefriend go into a dangerous monster filled forest without proper protection, now can I?”

Pinkie Pie beamed at Rita before jumping into the shed. After a few minutes of looking around Pinkie walked out with a peculiar object in her mouth, Rita admired her choice. With her mouth Pinkie held a teal colored mace, Rita could only imagine that this weapon was crafted with some amount of mythril but considering it lacked any sparkly shine to it, the crafter hadn’t used pure mythril. Pinkie set the weapon down against the side of the shed before ducking back in and after rummaging around for a moment she came back out dragging out a blue tinted chest piece.

Rita examined the two objects in silence for a moment before grinning. “That looks like it will work. I’ll help you get that on you.”

“You know how to put armor on a pony?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah well I was trained on how to use horses back in my world. That included armoring them so they could enter battle, although after a… certain accident I couldn’t go near them anymore,” Rita admitted.

“Oh… is that why you’re scared of ponies?”

Rita picked up the mace and gave it a test swing. It was definitely still too heavy for her to use properly, so she set it down. “Let’s get you dressed for adventure. You were right to grab armor, if you’re going to fight, you should keep yourself safe.”

Pinkie’s ears folded back for a few seconds before popping back up. Pinkie looked back at the shed and asked, “Is it okay with Fluttershy that you have this thing right here?”

“She’s fine with it. When I get a new tower I’ll be sure to make one of the floors into a treasure horde, I want to have all the magical weapons, armor, and artifacts that I can find. I’ll be sure to show it off to you,” Rita said.

Pinkie smiled and said, “Sounds like fun. I’m all about fun!”

***

The forest was dense and the ground was becoming increasingly difficult to traverse as the two walked side by side. Pinkie Pie was leading Rita through the Everfree Forest to someplace that she had promised was going to be entertaining. Although the two of them had been walking for quite some time they had not yet reached their destination, Pinkie however continued to promise that they would arrive soon.

The mushrooms on the forest floor were growing larger then she had suspected possible in a region such as this. The mushrooms in question were tall with white shafts and purple spots, most of them reaching Rita’s shoulders. The trees were also very tall, and the sky had nearly completely vanished above them. Suddenly something unique caught Rita’s eye and she stopped to kneel down and examine it.

“What’s up?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Rita gave her a quick glance and admired the blue chest piece and the mace slung around Pinkie’s side before returning her gaze to something glowing just underneath one of the tall mushrooms. “Come here and take a look at this.”

Pinkie walked over and lowered her head to see what Rita was so interested in. A blue glowing mushroom about a foot tall and a foot wide was growing underneath the larger mushroom. Rita had seen mushrooms like this back in her own world, just not quite so large. These blue mushrooms had some amazing healing properties, and if mixed into a potion, their healing factor increased exponential.

Lifting up her right arm Rita used the scanning spell from her new gauntlet. The blue light from the scanning spell mixed in with the light being emitted by the mushroom making difficult to see exactly what was being scanned. After a few seconds she stopped the spell and stood up. She opened her palm and took a look at the mushroom she just scanned. A blue transparent illusion of the mushroom appeared on her gauntlet along with some text just under the mushroom itself.

“AZURE SHROOM: Has incredible healing properties, often used in potion making.”

“Wow,” Pinkie admired, “How does that thing of yours know what that is?”

A small smile grew on Rita’s lips. “I was scanning a bunch of books that Twilight gave me, including monsters, ore, and plant life. I’m glad to see the scanner works so well, I just wish it was written in Arcadian, not in Equish. Oh well, I can read it just fine at this point so I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

“That’s awesome,” Pinkie said. Rita agreed with that sentiment.

After carefully taking a chunk out of the mushroom Rita tucked it away into her side bag. Having a little bit of a healing mushroom couldn’t be a bad thing now could it? Rita and Pinkie Pie continued walking after that, she couldn’t wait to find out what else was in store for her on this trip.

***

The further in they walked the larger the mushrooms became until they reached a point where the trees were being replaced by giant mushrooms. Another thing that Rita had noticed along with the steady growth of the mushrooms there was a decline in the terrain, meaning that although walking down right now was easy, walking back up for the return trip was going to be a hassle. Rita spotted a few more of the blue glowing mushrooms along the way, she made a note to return here to collect them at a later date.

“So why haven’t I seen you using that new hand thingy?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Rita carefully stepped over a giant root sticking out of the earth before answering, “You mean my new gauntlet? Well it’s not really combat effective yet, so far it’s just a scanning device, but I’m working on making it into a secondary magic weapon. Right now I can work with just a single magic gauntlet for fighting, I don’t feel that I need to make anything too powerful just yet.”

“But don’t you have an arsenal of weapons at home?”

“Yeah but those are more of a collection than anything else at the moment. I don’t plan on actually using most of that stuff, but maybe I’ll sell it and get some good cash for building my tower,” Rita explained.

“But… didn’t you kinda, sorta, maybe just a little bit… stole all of those weapons?” Pinkie asked.

“They were left to rot in that old castle, it’s not stealing its repurposing. Hell, I might even sell this stuff to a museum if I can find any that do that kind of thing. Unfortunately most museums in my world don’t buy artifacts unless they are exquisite,” Rita explained.

“Hmm, I think that you can try that here, but you might be better off selling them to a merchant or a collector or something,” Pinkie Pie explained, all the while easily avoiding the rough terrain.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Rita said.

A sudden rush of creaking noises made the two of them stop dead in their tracks. Rita looked around scanning the area with her eyes, all she could see were mushrooms and grass, and puddles of stale dark liquid. Pinkie Pie seemed on edge too, but she was wearing a little frown as opposed to Rita’s grin. Pinkie Pie cleared her throat before saying, “Um, did I mention that the mushroom monsters were a little bit crabby?”

“Well I figured that any monster worth its salt was going to be at least a little aggressive,” Rita replied.

“Um, not quite what I meant,” Pinkie Pie said. “Look over there.”

Rita followed Pinkie’s outstretched leg with her eyes and stopped as soon as she saw a mushroom moving towards them. It suddenly stopped as Rita noticed it, but as she continued to stare she saw the six crab legs, and the crab body which held this mushroom aloft on its back, along with its two giant pincers that were as big as her hands. As she continued to watch it she realized what it was, this was a land crab, which had grown a giant mushroom on its back. With the mushroom included, this monster stood about Rita’s height.

Rita quickly grabbed one of the daggers out of her bag and watched the crab carefully. “Pinkie, watch our surroundings, these things could be anywhere. And ready your weapon.”

Pinkie quickly grabbed the mace and wielded awkwardly in her mouth. Rita was beginning to suspect that Pinkie had never actually used a mace before, that could prove troublesome if these things were dangerous. Suddenly Pinkie began making muffled noises causing Rita to turn around and notice that three of the mushrooms were advancing towards her position.

With great swiftness Rita summoned forth a fireball with her left hand and threw it at the group of mushrooms. The fireball sailed through the air and on contact explored. Chunks of mushroom went flying everywhere along with a purple cloud spreading out from the bodies. The cloud was clearly not a good sign and so Rita turned and said, “Stay away from the cloud.”

Rita began running back as the cloud dispersed and Pinkie Pie followed. Another group of mushrooms looked ominously at Rita as she moved through the forest. She decided not to use another fireball this time. Instead Rita lead Pinkie through the mushrooms carefully, some of these must be the crabs, using mushrooms on their backs as cover was a perfect camouflage in this environment.

Suddenly a mushroom leaped out at Rita from behind, she turned just in time to notice the crab; its pincers sharp and aiming for her throat. A blue blur came swinging down at the crabshroom and sent it into the ground hard before it bounced back up, and with another swing of the mace, the crab was sent flying off into the distance. This time it did not explode.

Rita looked at Pinkie who was wielding the mace in her mouth and felt thankful for having the pink pony by her side. It was good to know that Pinkie did indeed know how to fight. Rita turned and continued moving on.

Rita saw a mushroom with legs on it standing in front of her, so she quickly spun around and kicked it, hard. The mushroom broke in half and was sent flying as a cloud of purple mist began spreading rapidly from the mushroom. Rita looked down and realized with horror that the legs she had seen had fallen over from her kick and revealed themselves to be sticks. She cursed not being able to see properly in this dark forest.

The purple smoke swept over Rita but she held her breath and ran backwards away from the mushroom’s poison. She wasn’t actually sure that it was poisonous, but she wasn’t willing to risk it. On her way back Pinkie Pie took the lead this time and ran into several more of the crabshrooms. Pinkie began swinging at them wildly and managed to hit them every single time. Rita charged in and using her dagger began stabbing the crabs in their sides. They fell quickly to the two’s teamwork.

Rita stood and looked around, with Pinkie at her back. Fighting crab monsters was a job best done with bashing weapons, not piercing ones. These daggers of hers though were hungry enough that they could still kill the mushrooms without much effort. She was still a little fearful of her daggers blood lust.

The two worked together to fight off a few more of the crab monsters before everything seemed to calm down. Finally after all was said and done, they were left alone standing together in victory. Rita was grinning along with Pinkie Pie. They had just fought off a group of monsters and the best part was that they did it together.

***

After the battle Rita and Pinkie decided to find somewhere safe to relax at, and Pinkie knew just the spot. After using several of the smaller mushrooms to climb up on they had made their way onto one of the largest mushroom trees in the forest which was actually conjoined with an even taller tree. From this spot they could stare out over the impossibly long stretches of forest as the sun began to set, its orange light casting a serene mood over the entire countryside.

Pinkie Pie was lying on her belly and Rita was sitting down next to her. Rita raised her arm up but set it down quickly, while feeling unsure. Pinkie Pie just stared over the forest with a soft smile on her face. Rita looked up at the tree above them and thought aloud, “I wonder how long this mushroom forest stretches?”

“It’s not actually that big, in fact it’s actually quite small compared to the rest of the Everfree. I discovered it by accident once, and fell in love with this as my little secret place. I haven’t shared it with anypony else… until now,” Pinkie Pie explained quietly.

Rita’s heart filled with warmth at this revelation of Pinkie Pie’s but she still wondered if their relationship was really going to work. Rita raised her arm up again, she began stretching over towards Pinkie’s neck but stopped. Her face was heating up and she couldn’t explain why it was so hard to just give Pinkie Pie a hug now, she decided to put her arm down again.

Pinkie Pie looked up at Rita and spoke with a gentle voice, one that Rita wasn’t used to hearing, “I’m sorry about all this fuss I caused today. I know how weird this is for you, trust me it’s actually pretty weird to me too. I… I know that we might not last long, but I’ll cherish every moment that you decide to give to me, I can promise you that.”

Rita heard these words but despite the gentle tone that Pinkie used, she also heard something else behind them. Rita’s heart throbbed painfully for a moment as she thought about how little self worth Pinkie Pie actually had, it was just like her own pain. Rita raised her arm up and draped it over Pinkie’s shoulders. “I don’t know how long this will last either, but I promise to make it the best that I can. It’s still weird, and I don’t know if this is right but I do want to see where this goes. I’m stuck in this world, Pinkie, it’s my new home, and I refuse to be lonely forever.”

Pinkie Pie smiled at Rita and she returned the favor. For a long while the two of them just watched the sunset together in complete silence but eventually they were going to have to head home; or else Fluttershy might get worried, and Rita didn’t want to happen again. Rita was the first one to stand up and as she did so she noticed something shinning on the tree. Just a small glint that she never would have noticed if the light wasn’t in the right spot, and if she hadn’t decided to stand right there in that exact position.

“I see something,” Rita said as she cautiously walked across the mushroom to the tree. The tree’s bark looked a little strange in one square spot, and after touching it Rita realized that it wasn’t actually bark, it felt like some kind of metal, but it looked almost exactly like the tree that it was attached too. Whatever it was Rita wanted to know more.

She took out one of her daggers and found a small line where the metal was separated from the tree itself and stuck the tip in. She pried at the metal for a second and it gave loud groaning noise before popping open so suddenly that Rita fell forward a few steps. Pinkie Pie made an audible gasp and Rita felt her heart racing, she just discovered a secret stash, but what could be inside?

Unfortunately Rita only found a single piece of paper. Sure it was ancient, and written in both Arcadian and Sylvan but that didn’t make it special. It wasn’t some kind of super secret artifact like a magical ring, or anything like that it was just a piece of paper that was written a long time ago. She set the page back inside the hole and was about to close the metal door when it hit her that it was written in Arcadian, her language, from her world.

She pulled the page out quickly and began reading it aloud, not so much for Pinkie’s benefit but more out of complete disbelief that this could exist in this world.

“My dearest princess, I have been working on those guardians like you advised me too. But unfortunately I have not been able to reproduce the same magic as was once used long ago by the mages of old. That being said I have been able to create self repairing constructs made of wood, these things are surprisingly tough and capable of defending the castle’s surrounding forest.

In the case of an invasion I have been preparing the dragon golem, who will be able to defend the castle, along with you and your sister. If all else fails, he will return to your old homeland to find whatever may be left to save us. This is of course a last resort that we should never have to worry about, so please my dear princess know that you and your kingdom are safe from the darkness that is spreading outside of its borders. I, The Great and Mighty Starswirl shall find a way to save our new found home from this ever growing darkness,” when Rita finished reading the letter she fell to her knees.

Pinkie Pie ran up to her and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Rita looked up into Pinkie’s wonderfully, worried blue eyes and said, “This… this is written in Arcadian, a language from my world!”

Chapter Twenty One: Giant Freaking Horses

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty One: Giant Freaking Horses
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Two days had passed since Rita had found that letter of Starswirl’s and yet she still couldn’t decide what to do about it. She could tell Twilight, and ask for some assistance with finding out more about what was going one, but Twilight’s obsession over the old stallion could prove to be a hindrance to her search. If only she could find more of these letters, there simply had to be some more of them out there.

In other news Rita was spending an awful lot of time with Pinkie Pie, although neither of them felt ready to tell anypony about their relationship quite yet. Applejack might have figured it out, but Rita didn’t care about the orange ponies thoughts on the subject, in Rita’s personal opinion, Applejack could butt out.

Rita still felt as though her relationship with Pinkie was weird, she was having a hard time looking past the fact that Pinkie looked like a horse. Rita really wished that she had thought this out more, at least gave it some time to think about what to do before just committing to a relationship with the pink pony. Then again she hadn’t fully committed to it had she? She had said that she was only giving her a chance, right?

Fluttershy had been more quiet than ever before, in fact the silence was becoming worrisome. Today was the final straw and Rita could no longer sit back and do nothing, so instead of hanging out at Fluttershy’s she took to some opportune exploring of Twilight’s castle. Rita had been inside a few times but only glimpsed a few rooms, and with the princess’s intelligence, Rita just knew that there had to be some sort of lab somewhere. What she did not expect to find however was a computer.

Rita stood silently in front of the crystal table which held a holographic display of the entire country of Canterlot. Rita reached out with a hand and carefully touched Ponyville’s spot on the map and grinned as the map zoomed in to the location to show Ponyville in its entirety. Six orbs of various hues could be seen across ponyville. An orange one at the Apple family farm, a yellow one near the Everfree Forest, a blue one was flying circles around the town at an incredible speed, and a purple one was inside the castle.

It wasn’t too difficult for her to figure out that these were all of her friends, the elements of harmony. She found it amusing that Equestria had one piece of technology that was equivalent to what she was used to back in her world, and the best part of it was that she could use this computer in ways that Twilight probably didn’t even know was possible.

As Rita knelled down to examine the walls of the table which conjoined with the floor she stopped as a brand new dot appeared suddenly on the castle. It was another purple dot, but that didn’t make sense. Maybe this one was Spike’s place on the map? After all he did have a seat in this room next to Twilight’s although it was rather tiny.

Rita reached out and touched the castle on the map and watched the castle grow in size until she could see a 3-d display of the entire castle’s layout. The new dot was inside the map room, sitting right in front of the map table, right where she was. Rita also saw the other purple dot walking to the room and stopping only for a moment, Rita heard the door open, and the dot continued moving into the room.

“Rita, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked in surprise.

“I uh… was just using your computer,” Rita said.

“My what? Wait we don’t have computers in this world, I’ve only seen them in the human world,” Twilight explained.

Rita turned and looked hard at Twilight for a moment before turning back to her task and examining the sides of the table. After a moment she found a crystal that jutted out awkwardly and she pushed it in. a hidden panel on the side of the table opened up and revealed to Rita the various gems, and runes at work in this computer. Half of the gems were glowing while others were darkened with dull colors. Rita let out a sigh as she wondered at just how half of the gems had been burned out.

“What are you doing to my table?” Twilight asked, concern laced in her voice.

“My job, I’m going to fix this thing for you,” Rita said.

“Well you can do it later, the princess’s are coming over soon and I don’t need you here while I talk to them,” Twilight said.

“That’s good for you, I’ll leave when I’m finished. Shouldn’t take too long, I always carry some spare gems on me,” Rita said while reaching in and pulling out a rather pathetic looking gray gem.

Twilight stomped her front hoof and said, “You need to leave, Rita.”

“I’ll leave when I’m done,” Rita growled back.

“But this is my house!” Twilight said loudly.

Rita didn’t look back and instead choose to ignore Twilight. Rita would leave after she was finished using this table, but right now she had a way to actually examine the strange green crystal’s she had found. Twilight could simply wait for Rita to get down with her research; this could prove to be very valuable not just for her, but for Twilight as well.

Twilight turned around and said, “I’ll be back with the other princess’s in a few minutes. I don’t want to see you when I come back, you got that?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be done in a jiffy,” Rita said.

Twilight practically stomped out of the room while muttering to herself, Rita found it amusing that a so called princess would allow herself to act out like that. Honestly weren’t princess’s supposed to never show any anger, only kindness and stuff? Suddenly memories of Estella appeared in Rita’s mind. A sudden throb of old pain surged through her heart, and so she went back to work focusing all her attention onto the task before her.

***

A few minutes later the room was completely silent, Rita had made her way onto the side of the table opposite of the door. When she heard the door open and the sounds of multiple ponies hooves clip clopping against the crystal floor, she knew that Twilight had returned even without being able to see them from her position.

“Whew, I was worried there for a moment,” Twilight said with great relief.

A kind and much more mature voice stepped in softly to say, “Oh, is there a problem we should know about?”

“Just a friend of mine, her name’s Rita, she was being obnoxious and wouldn’t leave my castle earlier. I thought it very rude of her,” Twilight explained, Rita could virtually hear Twilight sticking her muzzle into the air in disgust.

Another voice, one not so refined and rougher then the mature mare’s had been said, “You are a princess Twilight; you should not take this kind of attitude from serfs.”

“Luna,” Cried yet another unfamiliar voice. “They are not serfs, that’s rude.”

Luna replied, “Oh, but was this pony not being rude in the first place? And to a princess none the less? If I should meet this so called Rita, then I would very much like to teach her where her place is.”

Rita found herself grinning at the challenge and loudly closed the panel she was working on. After hearing the notable gasps from the ponies in the room Rita rose still grinning and said, “Oh, I would like to see you try.”

Then Rita looked at the ponies before her and only had one response, “GIANT FREAKING HORSES!”

Rita quickly ducked behind the table, with her breathing rapid and heart racing. She hadn’t just seriously saw that, did she? Rita braved herself to look one more time and poked her head over the table.

What she saw terrified her beyond measure, not just because there were giant horses in the room, but also because these were intelligent giant horses. If they were going to bite her fingers off, they’d be doing it out of malice, and that thought only made it worse for her.

Twilight stood on the far left, next to her was a pink coated mare who stood a head higher then Twilight. The pink mare’s mane had strands of gold, magenta and violet colors. Next to the pink one stood another mare who was just a few inches taller than her, with a navy blue coat and a mane as blue as the deep sea. A purple aura surrounded the blue one’s mane and it seemed to be flowing as though being touched by a nonexistent wind. The most amazing part of the blue pony’s mane was the fact that Rita could see stars inside it.

Finally on the far right stood a horse, there was no way the Rita could think of this giant monster as a pony, horse was the only term that she could use to describe it, but even that failed to properly convey its size. Standing much taller than anypony else in the room this white mare, with a sparkling mane of green, blue, pink, and purple, stood proudly at nine feet tall if not taller. The look of complete disbelief on the giant horse’s face held Rita’s attention for a moment, until the mare took a step forward causing Rita to shriek and hide behind the table again.

The already silent room fell into an even deeper silence as nopony moved for the longest time. Finally Twilight spoke up and said, “Rita, it’s okay. These are the other alicorn princess’s… nopony is going to hurt you, I promise.”

Although Twilight’s voice was full of kindness and that helped to calm Rita’s racing heart a little, in the end it just wasn’t enough to make everything okay. Rita poked her head up and over the table and watched the other ponies very carefully. Nopony moved an inch but aside from Twilight, they all looked shocked, clearly they had never seen a human before.

“So Twilight, would you care to explain how a human got into our world?” The white one asked with a gentle voice.

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck and admitted, “It looks like she built some kind of portal to Equestria. She is trying to find a way home, but it might take a few years.”

Rita heard those words and even though she was still afraid she felt a tad bit guilty of having not told anypony other then Pinkie the truth. Rita closed her eyes for a moment and said, “Actually, Twilight, I… I’m not going to be able to get home. Even if I rebuilt the portal, chances are that it would just take me to another world, one that might be uninhabitable for me.”

The blue one raised an eye brow and said, “Could we not send her to that human world that you discovered?”

“That wouldn’t work, she comes from a completely different world, one filled with dragons, and magic, and well it’s very similar to our own world,” Twilight explained.

Rita looked carefully at the three giant ponies, she might be able to handle the pink one, and the blue one, although being much taller than her they were still understandable, but the white one was a giant amongst these other ponies and that was not something she was able to cope with.

Twilight quickly said, “Oh I’ve forgotten to introduce you to the princess’s.” Twilight cleared her throat and explained, “Standing next to me we have Princess Cadence, ruler of the Crystal Empire and my sister in law. Next to her we have Princess Luna, she rules the night and commands the moon. Finally we have the benevolent ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia.”

Fear gradually gave way to curiosity as Rita stood up unsteadily and said, “So you are the pony that I wanted to speak too.”

“Oh, I would love to speak with you,” Princess Celestia said with her expression being soft and kind.

“Good because I have some questions about-“ Rita began.

“We do not have time for idle conversation dear sister, there is a dragon attacking from the south,” Luna interrupted.

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, when she opened them again her expression had turned grim. “You are right. As much as I would enjoy speaking with you, Rita, we have more pressing concerns. Will you join us?”

“Why would you want her to join us? Isn’t this supposed to just be royalty meeting about a common threat?” Twilight asked.

Celestia smiled and gave a wink to Rita before explaining, “I have a feeling that, Rita, might have some very intriguing information that could aid us.”

Rita wasn’t sure what Celestia had in mind but it was true that Rita did have experience in fighting dragons, as terrifying as they were, it would be helpful to have someone with information about them at a discussion like this. Rita smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll join.”

***

At least a half hour of useless discussion about this dragon had commenced before Rita began getting bored. Even back when she was with Estella she could not stand these discussions for long, and usually she would end them early by forcing everyone at the table to make up their minds and decide on a course of action, that usually brought a small laugh from Estella.

So far, as Rita sat as far away from Celestia as she could, Rita had learned that this dragon had come in from the north, flew to somewhere in the south, and then returned to begin causing trouble on one of the towns on the border. Dragons didn’t usually partake in this kind of behavior unless they felt threatened, but something was different about this situation.

“What kind of dragon is this?” Twilight asked, finally a question that Rita could work with.

“We do not know,” Replied Luna. “It is gray and seems to be carved from stone, its eyes are like great purple gems that can pierce one’s hart, and finally it has yet to use any fire breath. We do not know what the origin of this dragon is.”

“Hmm, this sounds awfully familiar to the dragon golem that was made by Starswirl to guard my old castle’s treasury,” Celestia said.

“So wait,” Rita said now standing up from the table. “This could very well be the dragon that flew away after I looted the Castle of the Two Sisters?”

Silence again covered the room, and then Twilight broke that silence when she screamed, “YOU DID WHAT?”

Celestia gave a soft chuckle which grabbed the attentions of Cadence and Luna. Rita looked at Twilight and said flatly, “I looted the castle, it’s not like anyone was actually using any of the weapons there.”

Twilight jaw dropped and she stared flatly at Rita. Rita continued staring back at Twilight until she realized that Celestia was still laughing, Rita looked over and saw the giant pony holding her side and her eyes closed as she tried desperately to stifle the laughter, failing utterly of course. Rita found it amusing and hilarious that such a giant pony and ruler of a country would have such a hard time trying not to laugh, and so Rita ended up joining in the laughter. Luna and Cadence looked at each other in disbelief for a moment before nervously joining in the laughter as well.

After a few minutes things calmed down again and Twilight looked at Celestia and asked, “How can you find this funny? She robbed you!”

“Twilight, everything in that castle has been abandoned for such a long time. I don’t think that I will ever return to that castle, so if anypony finds something they want from it, I don’t mind in the slightest if they take it. Beside’s that, Luna has already grabbed everything she wanted from that castle,” Celestia explained calmly.

“Yes I did, although there was not much left alone from the ravages of time,” Luna said.

Rita sat back down and relaxed in the chair she had been sitting in, it was the chair with an apple on it. “So that was pretty awesome. I like you Celestia, you’re an awesome princess,” Rita said.

“Thank you, I have not had many ponies call me ‘awesome’ before. I’m grateful for the complement,” Celestia said.

“So this dragon golem, what do we do about it?” Rita asked the group.

Everypony was silent for a moment before Celestia said, “I would like it if you and Twilight went to stop it. I’ve had somepony keeping tabs on it for me lately, but I’m afraid that she isn’t able to defeat it on her power alone, although her power is sizable.”

“Oh, who is that?” Twilight asked.

Celestia smiled gently and said, “It’s my new apprentice, Trixie Lulamoon. I assume you are familiar with her.”

Chapter Twenty Two: Arrival

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Two: Arival
Written by TheCrimsonDM

“So who’s this Trixie that were going to meet?” Rita asked as she walked down the center of town alongside Twilight Sparkle.

“She’s one of my old classmates, and kind of my rival. I’m actually surprised that Celestia has made her into her apprentice,” replied the young princess.

A few friendly ponies waved at the two and Rita returned the gesture before asking, “So is Trixie incompetent or something?”

“Well I wouldn’t go that far. She’s very determined, and confident, but she’s also very… egotistical,” Twilight admitted.

“So she’s just like Rainbow Dash?” Rita asked.

“Yeah, only she’s a unicorn, and Rainbow Dash has us to rain her in when she gets out of hoof.”

Rita thought about it for a moment before asking, “Doesn’t Trixie have any friends to temper her personality though?”

“I don’t think that she has any friends at all,” Twilight said.

Rita walked alongside her in silence for a few minutes as they neared the edge of town. Rita finally said, “I guess I can relate to that.”

“Relate to what?” Twilight asked as they began walking up hill.

“Nothing,” Rita replied. “Looks like we’re here.”

“Good, now hurry and get your things, I don’t want to keep the train waiting any longer then we need to,” Twilight said.

Rita took in a deep breath and really hoped that Fluttershy would take this information well, after all she was about to go on leave for a few days, and Fluttershy might not like that. She reached out a hand and grabbed the handle, she peaked inside the door and after not seeing Fluttershy she walked in. She just needed to get her stuff, and leave a note for the kind mare explaining as to where she went; that plan would work, wouldn’t it?

***

“You’re going where?” Fluttershy asked her voice a little louder than usual.

Rita crossed her arms and reclined in her chair with her legs propped up on the table. “I said I’m going south with Twilight Sparkle for a few days.“

“And who exactly is going to take care of you while you’re there?”

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me, I can take care of myself!” Rita said while looking away.

Rita had already set up her backpack, and filled it with everything that she was going to need for the trip. Just as she had begun heading down the stairs Fluttershy walked in and after telling Fluttershy what was going on things took a turn for the worse. When Twilight attempted to solve the situation Fluttershy had actually asked Twilight to leave very kindly, but an act like that from a quiet pony like Fluttershy spoke volumes about her feelings towards this situation. Rita actually had an increasing sense of worry about this situation the longer she talked to Fluttershy.

“Look Fluttershy, I want to do thi-“ Rita started.

“I don’t care if this is what you want to do. Have you ever thought about what would happen to me if you left for that long? I would worry myself to death over you, and I can’t simply trust Twilight to take care of you,” Fluttershy said, her voice rising in volume.

Rita looked back at Fluttershy and stared deeply into the yellow pony’s blue eyes. “I screwed up and caused a mess, I need to fix it.”

“What could you have possibly done?”

“I unleashed a dragon golem onto Equestria’s citizens, the thing flew south looking for its old home or something and now it’s back and hurting ponies. Please understand that I have to-“ Rita said just before getting interrupted again.

“A DRAGON!” Fluttershy shouted in surprise. After a short nod from a completely stunned Rita Fluttershy added in a frantic tone, “No, you cannot go and fight a dragon. You are not allowed to go, do you understand me? I won’t let you go anywhere near one. That’s the end of that!”

“But I’ve fought them before.”

“I don’t care, I am putting my hoof down,” Fluttershy said while simultaneously stamping her hoof into the floor.

Something was off about the way Fluttershy was acting. Yes it was true that Rita generally had to argue a little when it came to her adventures in the Everfree Forest, but Fluttershy was acting worse than Rita had ever seen her before. And there was something about the way Fluttershy was staring into Rita’s eyes, something that worried Rita beyond measure. Rita wanted nothing more than to hide away and cry herself to sleep at the moment, but she fought the urge to run with every fiber of her being.

It took all the strength that Rita could muster as she stared into Fluttershy’s eyes to simply move her legs off the table and sit up straight. Rita then tried to speak but a heavy invisible force kept her heart pinned down so that all she could do was whisper, “I just want to help.”

Fluttershy’s stare for a moment became more intense as a frown formed on her face. Fluttershy then said in the most authoritative tone that Rita had ever heard the pony use, “I’m sorry, but no. You are not allowed to go.”

Rita’s heart shattered and she felt herself beginning to shake as she simply nodded. There was no fight left in Rita, the only thing she could feel was fear, she wasn’t even sure what she was scared of, but she felt it so strongly that she could only give up. The longer Rita stared into Fluttershy’s intense stare the more she shook. A few warm tears crawled their way down Rita’s face and she muttered, “I’m sorry.”

Fluttershy smiled and her eyes softened and in that very moment the heavy weight over Rita’s heart disappeared and she let out of a breath that she hadn’t realized she had been holding. Rita however continued staring fearfully at Fluttershy for a few seconds before closing her eyes tightly and trying to remain as still as possible, although that didn’t work so well. The fear that she felt was still on her, and she couldn’t get rid of it no matter how hard she tried.

“Rita?” Fluttershy suddenly exclaimed, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to… I thought the stare didn’t work on humans. A-a-are you okay?”

Still shaking Rita tried to answer but found herself unable to, she just sat there in complete silence for the longest time. Finally at great length Fluttershy whispered, “Thas was an accident, I didn’t mean to do that to you. I-I-I’ll never do it again, I promise.”

It might have helped if Rita knew what Fluttershy was talking about, but she was completely clueless as to the nature of Fluttershy’s rambling. Either way Rita couldn’t think about that right now, all she knew was that Fluttershy was mad at her and she was scared more scared then she had been in years. Rita just sat as still as she could, which was hard from all her trembling, and listened to the sound of her own heart beating a thousand miles a minute.

Three knocks at the door called both Fluttershy’s and Rita’s attention and suddenly the fear that Rita had been feeling began to disperse. Rita glanced at Fluttershy but looked away quickly, she was still scared to look at Fluttershy. Rita used the sleeves of her jacket to dry her wet cheeks and wipe the tears out of her eyes.

“You should probably get that,” Rita said with a shaky voice.

Fluttershy didn’t respond but Rita caught a glimpse of Fluttershy’s guilt ridden expression. Rita couldn’t blame Fluttershy for getting upset so badly, after all fighting a dragon was a scary thing and Fluttershy had no way of knowing how sensitive Rita was. Heck even Rita didn’t realize that all it would take was a little attitude from her best friend to make her break down like this, it was actually a little embarrassing now that she thought about it; maybe living in Equestria had softened her more then she realized.

Fluttershy walked to the door and opened it quietly. Rita listened in as Fluttershy greeted the pony at the door, “Princess Celestia, what brings you here?”

“I came down for a cup of tea with a dear friend, unless this is a bad time of course,” Princess Celestia replied.

“Oh no, everything is… okay. I’m so glad that you came over, I know that we missed our last tea time,” Fluttershy said nervously.

Rita watched as Fluttershy opened the door all the way and allowed the giant pony inside. Rita had to admit that as scarily tall as Celestia was, seeing her barely fit inside a pony’s home, with her head almost bumping the ceiling was a humorous sight. A small giggle escaped Rita’s lips as Celestia noticed her sitting in the kitchen.

“Oh, Rita, I’m so glad to see you again. I would have thought that you and Twilight would have already left on the task that I sent you on,” Princess Celestia said.

Rita opened her mouth to speak but another wave of sudden fear plunged through her heart and she looked away from Celestia. On Celestia’s approach that wave of fear took a nose dive into the depths of terror as the giant horse was suddenly turned from being somewhat comical inside this small house, into something much worse. Rita stood suddenly and backed away keeping as much distance as she could from the princess, although logically speaking, if Celestia really wanted to hurt Rita, she could just lash out with her magic, but although Rita knew this she couldn’t help but feel terror as she looked upon the princess.

“You asked Rita to go fight a dragon?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“I did not ask her to fight the dragon, I only asked her to stop it. There is no reason that this should have to end in unnecessary bloodshed,” Princess Celestia said. “I believe that her and Twilight can handle this.”

Fluttershy looked down at her own two hooves for a moment before saying, “Rita, take your backpack and go. I’m sure that Twilight is still waiting for you at the station… and I’m sorry about earlier.”

With Rita’s heart being lifted up to hear that apology and the permission being given to go out for this, Rita picked up her backpack from the floor and said, “Thanks, Fluttershy. By the way, I think it’s cool how you two are friends.”

“Please don’t tell Twilight,” Fluttershy asked quietly. “She doesn’t seem to understand that it’s possible to be friends with Celestia, and she might get mad, or jealous of me. I wouldn’t want this to get between us.”

Princess Celestia smiled softly at Rita and agreed, “Yes, it is true that Twilight has a hard time seeing me as a person. I’ve always found it a little difficult to deal with her enthusiasm over me. Although, knowing you, you will probably find the bluntest way possible of telling Twilight, and then you’ll somehow make it even more direct.”

Rita turned her head, crossed her arms, and huffed. “I’m not that bad, and I’ll try and keep this secret.” With that Rita turned away and walked towards the door trying her best not to let the princess’s words get to her, after all the princess only had two meetings, and hearsay to go on. It’s not like she was really that blunt now, was she?

***

After hurrying as fast as her legs would carry her she darted across town and managed to make it to the train stop just in time to find Twilight Sparkle standing next to a purple dragon that was almost her size with green spikes along his back. The dragon stood on his hind legs and waved a friendly hello to Rita as she slid to a stop in front of the two. If forced to choose between giant horses and pony sized dragons, she would choose dragons every time.

“Um… hello,” Rita greeted with a little nervousness.

“Were you crying?” the dragon asked sympathetically.

Rita hadn’t realized it was so obvious that even a dragon could guess that she had been crying. Rita quickly gave a fake laugh and said, “Nah, I just had a hard time getting here is all. So who are you?”

The dragon blinked in surprise for a moment then he looked down at his body and smiled before saying, “Oh, you haven’t seen me since I grew up have you? It’s me Spike.”

Rita cocked her head to the side and wondered how he got so big so fast? Maybe he started to horde things, suddenly her mind raced back to those gems that Rarity was collecting, could it be possible that Rarity helped Spike create a dragon horde to increase his size? It would make sense if the two of them were actually serious about their relationship, maybe Rita would be seeing a few baby dragon ponies in the future. Hopefully Rarity enjoyed eggs, because that was all Rarity was going to have after getting with a dragon.

A familiar voice called out from behind Rita saying, “Spiky Wiky!”

Rarity ran past Rita and up to Spike. The two of them stared longingly into one another’s eyes for a moment before Spike asked confused, “Rarity, I already said good bye, why are you here?”

“I’m here to see you off silly. What kind of ‘friend’ would I be if I didn’t do at least that?” Rarity responded.

Tears began to pool up in the corner of the dragon’s eyes as a smile grew across his lips. Finally he sniffed and said, “Thank you, I’ll be home soon.”

“And then you can help me with my new clothing line. The work will take all night though, so I hope that Twilight doesn’t mind,” Rarity said, as her cheeks began turning a light shade of pink. Rarity looked at Twilight and asked, “You don’t mind do you, darling, if I take him away from you for a night?”

Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah, sure. That will give me time to find out where he hid that horde of his.” She focused on Spike and said, “I swear that when I find out where you hid it, I’m going to burn it down. You know that you can’t handle a horde.”

Spike coughed nervously and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe this is just natural for Dragons.”

Ponies finally began walking onto the train and Twilight walked in first saying, “Come on everypony, we need to leave.”

Rita followed Twilight but just as Twilight disappeared inside, and Rita stepped on, she took one last look back and saw Spike and Rarity hug. A warm feeling filled Rita’s heart and she knew just how much those two loved each other, some part of Rita’s mind wondered if she could ever have that kind of relationship with someone? She had Pinkie Pie but she didn’t know how she actually felt about her yet.

After getting inside Rita followed Twilight, Spike was close behind them. Twilight led them to a private booth and there they found seats and waited for the train to start. Rita looked out the window and saw Rarity waving at them. After the train started to move Spike let out a sigh, and Rita tried to find a relaxing position. This train ride was going to take all night and she was determined to get some good sleep at very least.

***

A silence filled the darkening landscape, the ridges of this barren desolate land rose up like claws trying to scratch out the heavens, with the only evidence of light being the setting sun just past them. The air was thick and tasted like dirt and the ground was sharp and uneven. Every now and again a small pool of stagnate water was found as they journeyed across this ruined landscape. The only thing that stood out for miles in any direction was a single towering object, as it reached high into the sky, higher than anything Rita had ever seen. The Tower of Torment, its outer walls red as though drenched in blood, and the top of it sparkling as it caught what little light was allowed to enter this valley.

Rita looked to her left and saw the six foot giant of a man with long red hair, and crimson armor to match, a long sword rested at his side. She then looked to her left and saw the old man with long gray hair that touched his shoulders, the purple cloak he wore over his black leather armor had the symbol of a crow.

The red haired man spoke with a strong powerful voice, one that could lead entire armies to march against the very heavens themselves, “Rita, Crow, we have almost arrived at the tower. No matter what, we will rescue her.”

Crow, the old man to Rita’s left said, “It’ll be dangerous, and the possibility of us dying here is fairly high. The Lord of Chaos wouldn’t allow us to simply take her back without some kind of desperate fight, it wouldn’t be entertaining otherwise. Are you sure that we can’t just go home?”

The red haired man laughed before saying, “I know you don’t mean that, Crow. Even if me and Rita left right now, you would still go on by yourself to save one of your friends.”

“We’ll I do have admit that I would do almost anything for a lady as beautiful as our Estella. Her eyes are like lilac’s of the deepest shade, her grace like that of a swan dancing across the water, and her butt is like-“ Crow started.

Rita quickly kicked him in the knee and said, “Me and Lamont do not need to hear your perversion right now.”

Lamont laughed again before placing a hand on the hilt of his sword and saying, “It’s going to be rough, but once we get to Estella everything will be fine. All that we need to do is hurry, before they use her power to change the world.”

Rita looked up at him, way up, and a smile spread across her face. With friends like these, even a little kid like her was capable of surviving the worst of the world and still come out on top. The three of them looked once more at the tower ahead of them and knowing that within minutes the fighting would start all over again they decided to do one thing before hand.

“We’re doing this for friendship,” Said Lamont.

“For family,” Said Crow as he looked down at Rita with a kind smile, the kind a father always held for their daughter.

“For the world,” Said Rita her heart beat becoming rapid. She then added in a whisper, “And for love.”

Suddenly as though on cue with their newly formed vows the ground began shaking violently. The rocky terrain ahead of them began shattering as a giant black claw broke out of the earth followed by another. Rita watched in horror as a giant black scorpion bigger than a house crawled its way out of the earth and stared down menacingly at the trio. Suddenly Lamont pulled his sword free from its sheath and Rita watched as the blade lit on fire. Lamont charged forward while wielding the sword in both hands and saying, “Feel the fire of our friendship!”

Although it was the cheesiest thing that Rita had ever heard come out of his mouth, and Lamont had a tendency to say horribly cheesy things, she still found it invigorating. She activated her wind boots and began gliding a few inches above the ground, she then charged towards her target, while pulling electricity in both of her hands. Crow pulled out his bow and notched a diamond tipped arrow, none of them had spared any expense in this plan to save their friend, and now that they were here, the fight was on.

***

Rita opened her eyes only to see the metal ceiling of the train cart. The dark sky outside was turning purple indicating that the sun was rising soon. The window had been left open a crack and the cool air breezed through, Rita cuddled into her blanket thankful for the fact that she had one. She listened to the sounds of snoring coming from her friends, and she felt the vibrations of the train as it rolled right along the track.

“New Slate,” Rita whispered to herself while wondering what the town was going to look like. Hopefully it wouldn’t be anything at all like Ponyville. Ponyville was a nice place, but it was far too quiet and really dull most of the time. She wanted action, danger, and excitement. Rita rolled over and stared down from her bunk at the sleeping form of Twilight Sparkle. Rita smiled at the peaceful scene of the princess sleeping.

“Rita,” Twilight mumbled in her sleep before kicking her hind leg a few times.

Rita couldn’t help but wonder what Twilight was dreaming about, especially after hearing the lavender pony say her name. Maybe Twilight was dreaming of adventure, much like what Rita enjoyed dreaming about? Or perhaps Twilight was dreaming about arguing with Rita? Either way Rita found it amusing.

Rita carefully climbed out of bed and walked unsteadily to the window. The terrain the train was driving through now was a desert wasteland, filled with dull gray land. Off in the distance Rita caught the first rays of sunlight creeping over the horizon and the jagged mountain edges reaching towards the sky. An unsettling familiarity set over Rita.

“Rita?” Spike said slowly.

“Oops sorry, did I wake you?” Rita whispered.

“No, actually I’m surprised that you didn’t. My hearing has gotten better since I’ve grown,” Spike said.

“Maybe that’s because I’m quiet as a mouse when I want to be, stealth is a very important part of the arcane ops after all,” Rita whispered back.

Spike let out a small laugh reminding Rita that although his voice was a little deeper now, it still sounded very much like him. “Well Twilight could sleep through almost anything, she never gets any sleep so when she does crash, she crashes hard. She slept for three days in a row once, the town caught fire while she was sleeping and she didn’t wake up at all. It was a little scary.”

“Wow, so how does she take care of herself when she sleeps like that?”

Twilight let out a particularly loud snore grabbing the attention of both Rita and Spike. After that the two of them giggled quietly before Spike answered, “If it wasn’t for me I don’t think she would be in good shape. Half the time she has spent sleeping, I’ve spent with Rarity, and it wasn’t until after our first… well a special moment happened during a Ponyville festival one day, and I think that’s when we started our little secret. I remember that day so clearly, the crusaders stole a bunch of fireworks and a wagon, Big Mac was running around town like crazy, and even Princess Luna and Celestia were in town. It was a fun day.”

Rita scratched her chin for a moment and considered Spike’s words before saying, “You know what, I think what you have with Rarity is pretty awesome. Can you keep a secret for me?”

“Hello, my name is Spike and I’m Princess Twilight Sparkle’s emotional dumping ground. I have more secrets kept away then you could ever imagine, and I’ve only broken my oath of silence a few times. So I’m pretty good at keeping secrets,” Spike said.

Rita sat down next to Spike’s bed and stared at the sleeping Twilight. Rita was tempted to wake Twilight up after noticing the trail of slobber running down the alicorn’s face, and hearing Twilight’s breathing increase, followed by Twilight’s cheeks becoming a light shade of pink. Rita didn’t do that however, instead she whispered quietly, “I bucked up and broke Pinkie Pie’s heart a few days ago. After that I tried to make it up to her by becoming her marefriend, but even so it doesn’t exactly feel right. You’re the only one that I know who is in an interspecies relationship with somepony else, how do you deal with this?”

Spike looked up at the roof above him which was actually the bunk bed that Rita had used, and he whistled. “That’s an interesting problem. I don’t even know if a normal pony would be okay in a relationship with Pinkie Pie. She’s one big bag of crazy you know, but if you’re already in this spot I can see where it could get tough. The big difference here is that Rarity actually had time to get used to the idea of being with a dragon over a long period of time, sadly with you and Pinkie it doesn’t seem like you had as much time.”

“But I don’t even know if I love her, I like her a lot, but love? I don’t know if that’s actually possible between a human and a pony,” Rita admitted while hugging her knees to her chest.

“Love goes beyond physical limitations, Rita. Even Princess Celestia was in love with a pony from another dimension, another world, once,” Spike explained.

Rita considered this for a moment and smiled, it was true that she enjoyed Pinkie’s company and maybe Spike was right, love could transcend physical bodies, it used to happen in her world all the time with Dragons and humans. “Thank you, Spike. I needed to hear that, I just hope this doesn’t end in heart break for her.”

“I’m sure it will all work out,” Spike reassured her.

***

The train came to a slow stop at the station and everypony got off, or more specifically about six ponies got off. Two of which were actually just delivering supplies to the small town of New Slate. The landscape was dull and gray dotted and with large rocks. A single long dirt road could be seen heading down to the small town. Rita couldn’t see very many buildings, and only a few farm houses dotted the landscape although it didn’t look like they had many crops.

“Welcome to New Slate,” said a sarcastic sounding mare, “The liveliest place in Equestria!”

A light blue pony walked out from behind a sign, the mare in question had a light blue and silver striped mane, and wore a purple cloak with a golden star pattern sewn in, she also had a magician’s hat to match her cloak.

Twilight gave a small smile to the pony and said, “Hello, Trixie. How have things been here?”

“Horrible,” replied the blue mare, Trixie. “Aside from the dragon attacking at random intervals, there has been a rise in monsters, but the worst part so far has been the close proximity to the Pie family rock farm… Also it’s really boring here, can we please leave?”

“I’m afraid we can’t leave just yet. We need to stop the dragon first, then you can come back home to Ponyville if you want?” Twilight said kindly.

“Great, so either way Trixie is stuck somewhere that she’s ostracized, oh woe is Trixie,” Trixie replied with a dramatic fake fainting.

“Oh you’ll be just fine,” Twilight replied while walking towards the town. “The sooner you show us around, the sooner you get home.”

“Trixie will be pleased to get home and sleep. She does not enjoy being the backup Twilight Sparkle,” Trixie said while following.

Rita and Spike followed alongside the two quietly. Twilight however was not quiet. “You are not the backup me.”

“Oh yes Trixie is. Celestia has Trixie doing all kinds of tasks when you are busy. Do you even know the perils that Trixie has faced because you were busy doing some kind of research, or off in the crystal empire?”

Twilight ignored Trixie and asked, “So what has the dragon been targeting in its attacks, and how exactly is it attacking?”

Trixie let out a low growl before saying, “Trixie was not done lamenting yet.”

“I know that.”

“Fine,” Trixie replied. “Trixie will tell you what you need to know miss busy pony. The dragon has been targeting random buildings, but it was always putting on such a performance and making a show of things. Only a few ponies have been hurt so far, and only one reported causality. Um… the dragon also uses claws.”

Twilight quickly said, “So it’s basically not doing anything serious yet. That’s good to hear, maybe that means it will be easy to stop. I feel bad about the causality though; tell me who it was?”

Trixie suddenly took an odd step and stumbled before catching herself and saying, “Walk slower, Trixie cannot keep up with an Alicorn’s long legs.”

Rita hadn’t noticed Twilight walking any faster than normal, though now that Rita was examining Trixie’s movement she noticed something wrong with the way Trixie walked. She couldn’t quite place what was off about it though.

Twilight slowed down her pace a little and said, “Sorry, I hadn’t noticed. So tell me who is… gone.”

Spike leaned over and whispered into Rita’s ear, “I didn’t notice Twilight walking any faster than normal.”

“She wasn’t,” Rita whispered back, “But something is wrong with the way Trixie is walking.”

Trixie was quiet for a moment but she finally said in a quiet voice, “Miss Direction.”

“What did you say?” Twilight asked.

“Her name was Miss Direction,” Trixie replied quietly.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief and said, “I’m glad, for a moment I was worried that it was one of Pinkie’s relatives. Did Miss Direction have any family here?”

“One sister,” Trixie answered.

“I’ll see about doing something for her, I’m not sure what Celestia would do, maybe I’ll ask for some advice on the subject,” Twilight said.

The rest of the trip was oddly quiet until they reached the town, and then Trixie lead the group over to the small inn that was to be their base of operations while they stayed here. Along the way Rita noticed that there was a large number of guards patrolling around, all of them wearing the same golden armor. Most of the guards seemed to be stallions, Rita had wondered where all the stallions were before, and now she knew. Most of the stallions in Equestria were probably soldiers. The guards gave Rita odd looks but stayed quiet.

The second that Rita entered the inn she noticed a large presence of guards, including ponies who were higher up in rank. The tables were covered in maps, documents, and various plans. A group of pegasi sat in the corner talking very quietly with each other, they all wore blue uniforms with yellow bellies, the costumes barely exposed their muzzles, eyes, mane and tails. They glanced over at Rita’s direction for a moment before returning to their task. Rita was a little shocked that nopony here had actually tried talking to her. At most she received a few long and nervous stares from obviously new recruits.

After going upstairs and into the room they were sharing with Trixie while they stayed. Rita looked around, two large beds, a table with a few chairs and a single bathroom were what they got to enjoy. Rita sat down on one of the chairs and said, “So why didn’t anypony downstairs bother asking me, what I was?”

“What are you talking about?” Trixie asked.

“I’m a human, shouldn’t that bring out their curiosity?” Rita asked feeling concerned.

Trixie looked at Twilight and Spike before staring back at Rita and asking her, “What do you mean, human? Aren’t you just one of The Hidden?”

“The what?” Rita asked.

Twilight interjected, “That’s a race of dog’s from southern Equestria, they tend to wear a lot of clothing, usually covering all of their bodies except their eyes, tails and sometimes fingers. They have a religious fear of showing ponies what they really look like, although Equestrian scientists have discovered that they are actually upright dogs related to the diamond dogs.”

“That’s a wonderful explanation Twilight, now does that explain why nopony really consider me a monster here?” Rita asked.

“The Hidden people have worked with us in defense of our borders for a few hundred years. It’s not odd to have a few of them working with our soldiers this far south. They proved exceptionally useful during the changeling war,” Twilight explained.

“Lovely, so they all think I’m some kind of giant dog. Yay me,” Rita replied sarcastically.

Trixie looked out the window and said, “Trixie doesn’t care. Trixie just wants to go home, can we please get this done and leave?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll work on this tonight, and stop the dragon tomorrow. It’s been attacking daily right?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, but it was only the first assault that did any harm… that’s when the most severe injuries were caused,” Trixie explained.

A sudden knocking at the door made everyone stop talking suddenly. Trixie walked over and using her magic opened the door. A brown unicorn stood at the door, his mane was a darker shade of brown and he looked like a train wreck. He looked at Trixie with serious eyes and said, “There’s been a change, you need to come with me right away.”

Trixie nodded and said, “Of course Doctor.” She turned to Twilight and said, “Trixie will be back later tonight, she trusts that you are competent enough to handle this on your own.”

“Wow, thanks for the support,” Spike said.

And with that Trixie left the three in that little room to discuss the plan. They were going to fight a dragon and that required a plan, and if monsters were involved, this could become a bloody mess. At least they had soldiers to protect them for now. Rita let out a sigh, and said, “Okay let’s get to work.”

Chapter Twenty Three: Prelude to Battle

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Three: Prelude to Battle
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The door to the Tower of Torment was huge, standing at least twenty feet in height. It was a single door made of some red stained metal, the earth around them was coated in the same tinted dirt. This place was the end of life, and a deepening sense of dread quickly surrounded the three.

Rita looked up at her friends and asked, “So all we need to do is go in, make our way to the top, and then we are free?”

Lamont who was still wielding his flaming long sword walked forward and gave the door a push. It slid open with a loud screech, something akin to hearing the tortured screams of a dying man. After the door opened as far as it would go the wind picked up again and blew some of the red colored sand inside.

Lamont entered first with his sword casting its light across the room, it was empty except for the single staircase spiraling up into the dark roof, and the red sand covering the floor. Rita followed second with Crow at the rear.

“You need to be careful here,” Crow whispered to Rita.

“I know, dad. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself though, and besides we have Lamont here,” Rita said back.

Lamont stopped at the base of the staircase and said, “Okay everyone, now we go up. Estella is somewhere up there and we are going to save her.”

Rita took a few steps forward, her metal shoes although light were still heavy enough for her to feel the weight slowing her down. She would still be using the spell that was implemented into them to make them sail across the earth, but it was a taxing spell and required time to rest between uses. So she was back to walking. Suddenly something grabbed hold of her foot and she jerked forward.

Fearfully she looked down and saw some light blue crystal substance surrounding her boot. Rita screamed and yanked her foot back but the crystals held fast, and it grew upwards covering a little more of her boot.

“Take off your shoe,” Crow shouted.

Rita quickly followed her father’s advice and undid the straps and pulled her foot clear. Just in time too as the second her foot was free, the crystal substance jumped out and surrounded her boot completely. Now with only one shoe Rita groaned at the thought of now having to walk barefoot up the stairs.

Suddenly Rita was lifted up off the ground and set back down onto her father’s shoulders. Rita looked down at the back of top of his head and said, “You know that I can still walk.”

“Yeah, but this way you don’t have to hurt your feet. You’re my little robin, and it’s my job to keep you safe and healthy,” Crow replied cheerfully.

Rita found herself grinning despite feeling a little childish. She looked up at Lamont who was smiling back at her and she said, “Fine, but you need to set me down before we encounter Estella. I can’t let her see me like this.”

The three of them continued up the stairs and Rita glimpsed back one last time at the metal boot now frozen in a chunk of crystal. She was surprised at how clear the crystal was, and she wondered if the boot would be there forever, encased inside the crystal that would keep it safe until the end of time.

***

Rita opened her eyes and saw the dark room around her, the only light source being the moonlight. She looked over at the other bed to see Twilight and Spike sleeping peacefully, both of them snoring loudly. Rita closed her eyes to go back to sleep, but something felt off. She opened her eyes and looked around again, the room was quiet. Nothing had changed since Twilight, Spike, and her went to sleep, they had even left the door unlocked just for Trixie… that’s it! Trixie was still missing.

Rita very quietly got out of bed, and slipped her wooden sandals on. She needed to find out where Trixie was, it was far too late for a mare to be out alone especially with monsters on the loose. Rita grabbed her backpack and slipped out the bedroom door and snuck off down the stairs and out of the inn.

Once outside Rita found herself not sure as too where to go so she questioned several of the guard ponies around her. Most of them gave her an odd look, and they didn’t know where Trixie was. One of the unicorn stallions had made mention of Trixie being an amazing mare for still taking command of the unicorn forces after the first assault, and that she needed a break, when Rita questioned that further he refused to make comment on what the first attack entailed. After that though she decided to change her topic and ask instead of where the doctor had gone, apparently there was only one doctor around here and he was working out of a small house trying his best to heal the injured ponies, one mare in particular was in really rough shape.

Rita followed the information and arrived at the house. There was a garbage bin outside the house and Rita could glimpse a mess of red stained bandages. Rita also noticed a blue mare sitting alone on a rocking bench on the front porch just staring up at the starry night sky. The mare’s cloak and hat made it perfectly clear that it was Trixie who was sitting there all alone.

Rita took a seat next to Trixie and watched the night sky with her. “So, you haven’t come back to the room yet.”

“Did Twilight send you to drag me back already?” Trixie asked.

“No she’s asleep, so is Spike. I kinda snuck out to check up on you, I was getting worried,” Rita said.

“Trixie doesn’t know why you would worry. She’s not worth it you know,” Trixie said.

“I think that everyone is worth it. Besides that you look so lonely here, that I just needed to give you some company,” Rita said while kicking her feet out.

“Peppers Ghost is inside there, and she’s in bad shape. Even the doctor’s magic isn’t able to heal her, and that’s his profession. She lost her twin sister in the first assault… I don’t know what to do,” Trixie said.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not like it’s your fault,” Rita tried to comfort her.

Trixie jumped out of the chair suddenly and turned on Rita while snarling. “You think it’s not my fault! I was the first one here you know, and it’s not because there was a monster threat. I was here with my assistants just trying to get some money on the road for food, we were making our way to Saddle Arabia. And then that dragon appeared and attacked us, along with the monsters that followed it. Celestia then demanded that I stay here and take command of the unicorns while Spitfire did her thing with the pegasi, and Copper Axe with the earth ponies.

“If I had my say I’d be half way through a deep bottle of whisky right now,” Trixie said, but when she finished tears had already begun running down the sides of her face.

Rita still surprised by the sudden change in Trixie was still for a moment, but she regained self control just enough to try and reach out with a timid hand. Trixie swiped a hoof at Rita’s hand and knocked it away while saying, “No, I don’t want your pity. All I do is hurt the ones I love, first Maud, then M.D. and P.G. if you try to get close to me you’ll end up hurt too.”

Trixie turned around and suddenly took off galloping away. Rita just sat there clutching her hand, it was in pain but that wasn’t a huge concern right now. Trixie had obviously needed someone, and Rita wasn’t able to help her, although if not Rita than who? Rita knew better than anyone what loss felt like, and this was going to be a painful process for Trixie. Rita doubted that Trixie had even been given enough time to grieve yet, she was still holding it all in and trying her darndest to not fall apart. If Rita was given the chance again, she would do her best to help the blue unicorn through this painful experience, because no one should be left alone after such a loss.

***

The top of the staircase ended in a level platform with a single door leading to the only room up here. Crow set Rita down gently and she slipped on one of her wooden sandal’s to help level herself out. Lamont looked around worriedly and whispered, “Why isn’t this place guarded?”

“It is strange that after the scorpion we haven’t encountered a single enemy here. What do you think is going through the Lord of Chaos’s mind?” Crow asked.

“He’s the Lord of Chaos, I don’t think there is anything going through his mind,” Rita said with a smirk.

Lamont carefully went to the door and grabbed the handle; he turned back to them and said, “Okay, this is it. After I open this door we grab Estella and run.” After everyone nodded in agreement he opened the door and the three rushed in.

The room was large, much larger then Rita had expected to see in here, and empty save for the strange clear crystal that was standing in the middle of the room. The crystal was the same kind that had devoured her boot earlier, only this time a lone woman was standing inside it. Her long pink hair had strands of green, blue, and purple throughout it. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was sleeping peacefully.

Just before anyone could react however the crystal suddenly shattered and Estella fell to the floor. Rita charged after her first, followed by the other two. When Rita got to Estella’s side she slid to a full stop and kneeled down to pick up Estella’s head. The other two arrived just in time to see Rita cradling Estella’s head on her lap and brushing Estella’s hair out of her face.

A few tears escaped Rita’s eyes and fell silently down onto Estella’s face. Rita looked up at her father and stared him in his gray eyes while asking, “Why? Didn’t we do good enough to save her?”

Crow frowned and with a dirty hand wiped away Rita’s tears while saying, “We did our best, little robin. We did our best.”

A sudden fit of coughing startled everyone and Estella rolled over and coughed a few more times. Rita’s heart froze as she looked at her best friend suddenly moving again. Estella turned her head and looked back at Rita with those deep purple eyes and Rita’s heart soared to new heights. Without warning Estella jumped over and wrapped both of her arms around Rita while saying, “I was so scared. I knew that you would come to save me, I just knew I’d see you again, Rita.”

Rita returned the hug and said, “I-I-I’ll always be there to save you. No matter what stands in my way.”

A sudden spout of dark laughter broke out from the doorway, and a smooth deep voice said, “Look at the little bird reunited with her owner. Isn’t it beautiful? I do so hope that you enjoyed your stay, princess.”

The four of them looked over to see the man standing at the doorway. His hair was a dark gray, his skin was light brown and he had two horns on his head. One of his horns was blue and spiraled, the other one was an antler. He swept his arms in a wide gesture showing off his hands, although his hands looked human the left one had a set of claws reaching out. He gave a small smile showing off his teeth, including a single fang. Finally he looked at the group with his hate filled eyes, where the whites would normally be was a sickening yellow, but that only added to the menace of his red irises. The last thing to note was his brown suite.

“The Lord of Chaos,” growled Lamont.

“Oh please, I call myself the Chaos Lord, and the spirit of discord,” The man replied.

Rita felt her blood beginning to boil at the sight of this monster who had taken her friend away from her. This was going to end in another difficult fight, but even so Rita was determined to kick him where it hurt the most. Crow notched an arrow and asked, “Why did you take Estella here?”

“Oh now that wouldn’t be any fun, just giving you the information for free would ruin the game. You have to earn it!” The Chaos Lord replied. The Chaos Lord’s wings spread apart one of his wings was blue and feathery; the other one looked like a brown dragon’s wing. The only things that Rita knew about this monster before her were that he was supposedly the last of his race in human form, that he was incredibly powerful, and finally that she was going to kill him for taking Estella.

***

The next day Rita awoke and went about the morning feeling anxious. Trixie had only reappeared in the morning before falling asleep on the other side of the bed, and although Trixie was still sleeping, Rita wasn’t sure what to do to help her. Breakfast was less then enjoyable, they served mush for breakfast, understandably the mush had been lacking in flavor. Next she had to get ready for the meeting that Twilight and her were going into. The leaders of each of the different corps were gathering together to talk strategy about how to defeat the dragon. Spitfire, Trixie, Copper Axe, and the leader of the local militia were going to join in as well, all them being under the command of Princess Twilight Sparkle. At the very least Rita was going to finally see how ponies dealt with big threats.

The lower level of the inn had been emptied of ponies almost completely save for a select few, most notably the three ponies sitting around one of the tables in the middle of the room. A yellow pegasus with an orange mane reminding Rita of an open fire was sitting on one end of the table, this was Spitfire and for some reason it bothered Rita to see her out of uniform. To Spitfire’s left was a light brown earth pony stallion with a bronze colored mane, he wore a suit of golden armor, this was Copper Axe. Lastly there was another earth pony, this time a mare with a purple mane in a similar style to Twilight’s, a gray fur coat and wearing a deep blue dress. Rita was unfamiliar with this pony, but suspected this to be the local militia’s leader.

Twilight Sparkle sat down first, followed by Spike and finally Rita. Trixie was going to join them any second now, but before that Rita wanted to know who the gray mare was. Twilight smiled and said, “Alright everypony, it looks like introductions are necessary really quick. As you all know I’m Twilight Sparkle, with me I have Spike the dragon, and Rita the human.” She then motioned to the other ponies and said their names as she did, “We also have Spitfire, leader of the Wonderbolts, Copper Axe representative of the Equestrian Guard, and Maud Pie leader of the local voluntary militia.”

Rita felt that she had heard Maud’s name once before, but she wasn’t quite sure where at. As the sound of somepony walking down the stairs drew everyone’s attention they all turned to see Trixie walking down them, cautiously. Spitfire nodded and said, “Morning, Trixie.”

“Yeah, Trixie knows that Trixie is late. You do not have to patronize her,” Trixie replied, her eyes firmly placed on each and every step as she made her way down. When she finally reached the bottom stair she muttered, “Trixie hates stairs.”

Trixie walked to the table not lifting her head once and as she grabbed a seat next to Rita she asked, “So what can The Great and Powerful Trixie do for everypony today?”

“Actually we just started, so we’ll be discussing that now,” Twilight explained.

“Wonderful,” Trixie said sarcastically. Trixie then looked up for the first time and saw the ponies around the table, but her eyes widened as she saw Maud. Trixie’s pupils shrunk and her ears folded back and she said quietly, “O-o-oh… Maud’s here.”

Rita looked at Maud but saw no reaction on the gray pony’s face, just the same flat expression that she had been holding since she first saw her. It was weird to see a pony acting so stoic. Maud did look at Trixie though and muttered, “hmm… Trixie’s here.” Rita looked between the two of them wondering what had happened between them to cause such obvious tension.

Twilight spoke up and broke the tension, “So what have you been doing to fend off the dragon so far? I need to know actual tactics so that I can find a way to stop it.”

Copper Axe grinned and said, “We’ve been destroying it whenever it comes around.”

Spitfire frowned at him before saying, “Yes and all it does is rebuild itself. It just won’t stay down when we kill it.”

“So it can regenerate?” Twilight thought aloud. “That’s troubling.”

Rita then joined in saying, “Yeah Starswirl did mention that he created some golems with regenerating properties. He made the Timberwolves after all, and this dragon was designed to defend the old kingdom with an absurd amount of power. I suspect it returned to its homeland first, and that could explain why there are monsters showing up, maybe it has some plan.”

“Starswirl did what?” Twilight exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me this was one of his creations sooner?”

“Because he’s dead, and this was actually the reason that I was on your computer. I needed to see if I could use it to find out any more information, unfortunately that didn’t seem to pan out,” Rita explained.

The room was silent for a moment before Trixie asked, “But if Starswirl built it, how can we possibly stop it? I thought that Timberwolves were invincible.”

“I killed a giant one,” Spike admitted proudly. “So we can totally stop this thing if we just figure out how it works.”

“I agree with, Spike,” Rita said, “What we need is to find out how it works, or more accurately we need to find the gems powering this thing. Once we do that we can destroy them until it stops moving. As for the increase in monsters, unless they are directly connected to the dragon’s presence then I don’t know what to do about them.”

Maud spoke, suddenly reminding ponies of her presence, her voice was completely monotone, “I’ve seen three different gems inside of it. There bright green and glowing. I suspect that the gems are actually Aether stones.”

Rita gave a short chuckle and said, “Aether stones, ha those are useless in construction. The Aether hasn’t worked for hundreds of years, thats why our world is so screwed…” after a momentary pause Rita thought about it and realized that this was not her world. “Actually that’s only true for my world, does the Aether actually function here, does it even exist?”

Twilight nodded and said, “There was once a time in our world where the Aether didn’t work, but that was during the dawn of ponykind. Now the Aether works just fine and so the does the world. Aether stones could theoretically draw endless amounts of energy from the Aether itself.”

“What is Aether?” Copper Axe asked while scratching his head.

Twilight looked at Rita and said, “I’d like to hear your explanation, and if there are any differences in our theories I’ll discuss them afterwards.”

Rita shrugged and stood up. She began pacing around the table while explaining, “The Aether is the space in which all magic moves, magic is said to exist in every part of the world at the same time, but on a different plane then the physical one that we all experience. So if magic exists on another plane, how does it come from its plane down to ours? The answer is the Aether, a sort of inter-dimensional plane that exists in both planes at once. Magic is drawn from the Celestial plane through the Aether and into our plane. Of course in my world the Aether has been dead for a few hundred years which is why magic comes from our souls as opposed to the Celestial plane.”

“Wow, that’s actually one hundred percent accurate. Except for the fact that the Aether works in this world, and that’s where we get our magic from. A unicorn’s horn is a tool used to draw energy from the Aether and channel it into our world. I’m surprised to hear that our worlds are this similar,” Twilight said.

Rita nodded before sitting down again. Copper Axe scratched his chin and looked up thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging and saying, “Nope, I don’t get it. Thanks for trying anyway.”

“Look the dragon is going to be here soon, we need to figure out a way to actually stop it not talk about how magic works,” Spitfire interjected.

Twilight frowned at the pegasus, but after a moment she let out a sigh and said, “You’re right, education can wait just this once. I have a strategy already planned out for this battle.”

Twilight went on to explain her plans to the various group leaders around the table, assigning them each unique tasks for when the fight starts. The discussion carried on for almost a half hour before everything was set up and finally they were ready for battle. Rita was going to stand by Twilight’s side along with Spike as they watched the battle from a good vantage point, and if anything went wrong Rita was to jump in and aid the ponies in any way she could. Spike however was going to be Twilight’s personal guard for the battle, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chapter Twenty Four: The Beast Riders

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Four: The Beast Riders
Written by TheCrimsonDM

At the edge of town a dark storm was seen approaching with incredible speed, the storm would arrive soon, and with the storm would come the dragon. A squad of five earth ponies stood bravely in front of the town facing the oncoming storm, their feeless leader Copper Axe marched before them with his golden armor and axe blades strapped to his four hooves. He gave an uplifting speech that riled up his fellow soldiers, preparing them for war. Meanwhile the Wonderbolts flew over head with Spitfire coaching them on what techniques they would unleash once the monsters arrived.

A small group of unicorns stood behind the soldiers, all of them wearing either a red robe or a blue one. From Rita’s understanding the robes indicated what their specialty in magic was, a similar concept was used in her world. Trixie stood in front of them with a stern expression but they all looked up to her with what Rita could only describe as pride. She had heard one of them calling Trixie the most determined pony they’d ever met, and that she never backed down even when the world was crumbling around her. Rita enjoyed the sentiment, but secretly she worried that Trixie wasn’t stable enough for this fight.

A group of unarmored ponies stood near the earth ponies and looked at the oncoming storm with grim determination. Maud, their leader stood firm in front of them and spoke quietly. Whatever she was saying obviously meant a lot to the ponies she was in charge of but Rita couldn’t hear a word of it from her position.

Meanwhile Rita stood on the roof of a small house alongside Twilight and Spike. Twilight was using this position so she could watch the battle and direct it, she would use a series of whisper spells to get messages across to the other squads and direct them from here. Spike and Rita were to be Twilight’s bodyguards and her spotters, keeping a look out for anything that needed immediate attention during the fight.

Rita wanted nothing more than to go to battle alongside the ponies on the ground, but without her proper equipment she didn’t want to risk it. Instead she just looked at the newly added gem in her left gauntlet and prayed that the Aether stone she had added would work the way she planed. After all it would be a real shame if the gem didn’t work after she had put so much effort and time into it.

The storm was still on its approach and would take a few minutes to arrive. Until then this was a waiting game, and the anxiety was only rising as the storm raged closer. Whatever threats loomed inside the storm, Rita was sure that it would be a rough battle. This whole scenario felt so similar to all the ones she had been in back in her own world, and she was already dreading this battle.

***

The storm arrived covering the town and blocking out the hopeful rays of sunlight causing the entire town to take on a dark and moody atmosphere. Now that the storm had arived the sounds of boots thumping hard against the ground could be heard by all, along with seeing the cloud of dust that was coming for the town. Just in front of the dust cloud tiny figures were visible; they looked almost like monkeys with dirty gray fur. The creatures’ mouths opened large showing off the two rows of extra sharp teeth as they cried with blood thirsty voices. They wore leather armor and wielded crude metal weapons, the small size of these creatures didn’t detract from their horror factor especially not after one saw their pale yellow eyes.

Twilight’s horn suddenly glowed pink and she called out, “We have goblins incoming. Lots of them.”

Rita looked further into the cloud and noticed something following just behind the goblins. Huge black wolves with spiked ridges along their backs. Sitting atop the wolves were diamond dogs, each with metal armor, and long reaching weapons. Rita didn’t like the look of this, and from Twilight’s expression neither did she.

With her horn still glowing Twilight said, “And we have Dire Wolves with Beast Riders. Be ready for incoming everyone.”

Twilight’s face grew grim as she waited for a moment and then she said quietly to Rita and Spike, “The goblins they’ve fought before, but the riders are new. This is a bad sign, and the worst part is that I still don’t see any signs of the dragon.”

“Crap, this is going to get brutal isn’t it?” Rita asked, cursing their luck.

Spike watched on for a moment before asking, “Can I join in? They could use my help, Twilight.”

“An AoE melee combatant who is nearly indestructible, of course they need your help. Go on, and… please be careful,” Twilight said.

Spike looked at her for a moment in shock before a smile found its way onto his lips and he said, “Don’t worry, I have a good reason to come home. I’ll see you when the dragon is stopped, good luck you two.” And with that Spike leapt off the roof top and nearly sailed his way to the ground before landing and taking off again on all fours at an incredible pace.

Twilight stared sadly at him as he ran off to join the earth ponies for a moment before returning her eyes to the sky. “I have launched some of my most powerful attacks at him before, and he was just fine. There is nothing that these monsters can do to harm him, especially not now that he’s grown.”

Rita smiled and said, “Dragons can be absolutely terrifying in combat. He’ll do just fine against some goblins and dogs.”

***

The goblins crashed into the earth ponies first and Rita could only watch as swords were swung and goblins felled with practiced ease. The earth ponies slew the goblins easily enough but the large numbers of the wicked little creatures kept them occupied as the Beast Riders charged in. One of the riders used a flail and knocked one of the guards into the air, he flew a feet before crash landing into the dirt. Copper Axe noticed and took off towards his fallen comrade. While the rider posed his beast in a position to finish off the wounded guard, Copper Axe jumped into the air. Copper Axe spun in the air once before bringing both of the axe blades down into the wolf’s skull. The large creature fell hard and its rider lost his balance before falling off as well. Copper Axe pulled his blades free and quickly finished the dog.

Meanwhile the Wonderbolts were having their own affair in the battle. The pegasi were able to swoop down and take care of the hardiest of goblins and riders alike with great speed while the ground troops distracted them. A few of the others were flying in a circular pattern with increasing speed and as Rita was just beginning to wonder at what they were doing a tornado suddenly appeared in between the pegasi. The pegasi much to Rita’s bewilderment then guided the tornado into the oncoming forces of monsters, picking them up off the ground and into the air only to be tossed out into random directions and falling to their doom.

The unicorns lead by Trixie, were casting either shields over their allies when needed or shooting down key enemies with bolts of solid energy. Occasionally they would stop long enough to heal one of the wounded soldiers. Trixie’s group was there for support not for actual combat, and from the dead look in Trixie’s eyes, Rita could tell that the blue unicorn was tired and desperately needed rest.

Finally Maud’s militia was shocking Rita even more with their own unique brand of combat. Maud would stand behind a relatively large boulder and using her hind legs kick the boulder with enough force to make it into a rolling ball of mass destruction, crushing all those who stood in its way. The ponies underneath Maud’s leadership used similar tactics and from the amount of boulders around them, they would have plenty of ammunition for the fight.

A large burst of green flame rose up through the crowd of goblins and a whirling mass of purple chaos tore through enemies as they tried to push through the guards. Spike was using his claws to rip deep gashes into his opponents and his fire breath to get rid of large numbers of foes at one time. A single goblin made it through his offenses though and swung for the dragon’s unprotected belly. Rita’s heart skipped a beat as the goblin’s dagger hit hard against the dragons scales, only to bounce off without leaving so much as a scratch on Spike. The goblin was shocked to say the least, giving Spike more than enough time to tear into him relentlessly. Rita was suddenly thankful for Spike being a dragon, if that had been a human down there in his stead, Rita would have lost yet another friend.

The battle raged on but there seemed to be no end to the monsters in sight. Twilight stomped her hoof down against the roof’s shingles and said, “Darn it, where is that dragon. We can only keep this defense up for a while longer before ponies start...”

Rita looked down at the ponies fighting hard against the oncoming forces. Twilight was correct, although they could keep the enemy at bay for a while, eventually numbers would win over power. Rita couldn’t figure out exactly what she could do to help in this battle, not yet anyway. If only that dragon golem would make its appearance already. Rita stomped her foot against the roof and swore, “Damn it, please just show up already you stupid dragon.”

Chapter Twenty Five: Fire, Magic, and Rocks

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Five: Fire, Magic, and Rocks
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Spike stood proudly after unleashing a torrent of flame upon the goblins in front of him, as they fell to the ground screaming and rolling he found himself inside a moment of calm. He used the time to analyze his surroundings. The guards were taking down enemies with an efficiency that he had not seen before in battle, the pegasi were unleashing terrible weather magic upon the enemy ground forces, and the unicorns were providing ample support.

Something hit him hard in the stomach with sudden force and felt himself flinch from the blow but he stood his ground none the less. He looked down to see a goblin with a fearful expression and holding a dagger, the goblin’s fur looked scorched from the fire and Spike couldn’t help but smile as he raised his claws causing the goblin’s eyes to shoot wide in terror. Spike swung down hard and his opponent dropped a second later. Spike’s claws were stained with the thick black blood of these vile creatures.

Spike felt the ground beneath his feet shaking slightly and he whirled around just in time to see one of the Beast Riders riding a dire wolf and charging him. With no time to move out of the way he braced himself for the impact, even if the weapons couldn’t hurt him, the dire wolves were another story all together, their incredible strength actually stood a chance of penetrating his scales and he knew it.

The wolf snarled and opened its mouth wide in preparation to bite when a gray-blue blur slamed into the side of the beast knocking it off the ground and into the air. Spike stared in amazement as Maud landed on her hind legs in front of him, her dress whipping about in the wind caused by the pegasi. She turned to look at Spike with a flat expression drawn across her face just as the dire wolf plus rider landed behind her with an earth shattering crunch.

“What did you do?” Spike asked, his ability to reason gone out the window for the moment.

Maud looked back at the fallen wolf and said with her monotone voice, “I killed it.”

Five more goblins charged with drawn short swords and Spike focused his attention elsewhere. He sucked in a deep breath and felt his throat burning as he held his breath waiting for just the right time. As the goblins got within range he exhaled and with it came a bright green fire that covered the goblins in front of him. Three of the goblins were caught head on by the fire while the other two rolled away just in time to avoid it. Spike charged and with a few swipes of his claws the goblin fell dead, meanwhile Maud ran on her hind legs at the other goblin and with her forelegs she hit the small creature sending them sky rocking into the distance.

Spike turned around to see even more goblins charging his position than before, there were five of them last time, and now there was at least ten. He sucked in another breath and felt his lungs burning even worse than before, he knew that he was using his fire breath far too often in this battle and soon he would be left without it if he wasn’t more cautious. He unleashed another blast of green flame, this time taking down seven of the darned creatures. The three that were left turned and fled. Maud however gave chase and struck them all down within mere seconds.

Another giant rock rolled by Spike’s position and into the advancing horde trampling dozens if not more of the little monsters. Spike grinned at the effective tactic and watched as Maud picked up a rock that had been lying around. The rock was only the size of her hoof. Maud looked at one of the incoming riders and tossed the rock, it flew at an alarming speed and crashed into the Beast Rider’s head causing him to fly off his mount. The wolf however was still charging.

Maud hunkered down for a second and just as the wolf reached her it tried to take a bite of the gray mare. Maud however grabbed its head and lifted the beast into the air, over her shoulder, and slammed it back down into the ground behind her so hard that the impact cracked the earth around it. Maud was certainly one pony that Spike never wanted to make angry.

The battle continued to rage on like this for a while. Maud seemed to be able to fight without any weakness, her strength never lacking. Spike fought with all his strength and even though his muscles burned, and his throat was sore he continued onward, the idea of getting home to Rarity gave him the drive to strive forward. The goblins never seemed to end, and the riders continued to appear at the worst possible times.

Finally a group of fifteen goblins plus three riders charged at the two. Spike sucked in yet another breath, and as he released it the pain in his throat became too much to bear and he coughed violently instead of bathing his enemies in flame. This was bad. Maud charged forward and while standing on her hind legs she used her forelegs to unleash a torrent of attacks to decimate whatever she struck. Goblins got past her though on their way to Spike and quickly surrounded the purple dragon.

Spike stood and using his claws tore at his enemies but for every enemy he struck down, two more took their place. Even though the goblins were unable to penetrate his scales they still managed to cause bruises with every strike, and the blows still hurt, Spike feared that they might cause internal injuries if things kept up like this. One of the riders brought a spear down and swung it at Spike.

Spike grabbed the shaft of the spear but not in time to stop it from entering his right shoulder. A burning pain screamed through his shoulder as the spear dug deeper with the dog pushing it in. Spike clenched his fist and shattered the wooden shaft of the spear inside his hand. The dire wolf swiped at Spike and knocked the dragon back into a crowd of goblins and they were crushed beneath his weight. The wolf walked up, saliva dripping down its jaw as it showed its sharp teeth.

The wolf lashed out with its mouth and just as it was about to bite the wounded dragon a purple bolt of energy hit the monsters face causing it to shirk back in pain. A black cloud formed just over the rider’s head and a lightning bolt struck out and hit the wolf, the wolf spasmed for a moment as it was electrocuted before the beast fell along with its rider. As smoke rose off the bodies as Spike pulled the spear free from his shoulder and stood up. Another goblin jumped out of nowhere wielding two daggers, Spike spun the spear head around and struck the goblin with it.

Spike looked over and saw Trixie standing in the fray with two earth pony guards at either side of her, she smiled and winked at him. Obviously it was Trixie who had just saved him, and he although thankful for it, he just knew that he was going to regret this later.

Another group of goblins rushed at Spike and he was quickly thrown back into the fray. However this time Spike saw Maud standing alone in front of three charging wolves. She stumbled forward and grabbed at her side while staring them down. Spike tried to break away from the goblins but the little creatures blocked his path keeping him from getting to her. Spike tried to shout for Maud to run but she just stood her ground. The wolves all jumped in unison, their large bodies alone threatened to crush Maud beneath them.

“MAUD!” Trixie screamed.

The wolves all stopped mid air, a light purple aura surrounded them. Spike looked over to see Trixie’s horn glowing, her hat lying on the ground next to her hooves. Trixie was sweating, and her horn was sending off sparks, but still Trixie held the wolves in the air and then Spike watched in horror as the wolves were all electrocuted inside Trixie’s aura. They fell to the ground never to threaten anypony again.

Spike struck down yet another goblin as Trixie ran with a limp over to Maud’s side. Spike finally managed to break away from the goblins and ran towards the two mares, just in time to hear part of their conversation.

“Trixie can’t let you get hurt!” Trixie exclaimed.

Maud frowned at Trixie before saying, “I don’t want your help. You hurt my sister.”

“Trixie has apologized over and over again, now it’s time for you to shut up and let Trixie help you. This battle is getting dangerous and Trixie can’t let you get hurt!” Trixie insisted.

Maud still held her side, and Spike saw the trail of red running down the gray mare’s leg. Spike looked between the two ponies and after a moment he roared grabbing both of their attention. “I don’t care about your infighting; we are in the middle of a battle. Just work together until it’s over, after that you can squabble all you want!”

The two ponies looked shocked to see Spike taking command but he was not in the mood for this. They quickly nodded and turned to face yet another group of goblins. Spike charged ahead of the others and just as he met the goblins he thought, 'Twilight better destroy that dragon soon, or else we’re all in trouble.'

Chapter Twenty Six: Free Falling

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Six: Free Falling
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The battle raged on below, goblins fell, dogs died, and the ponies were tired. Rita hadn’t seen such a conflict in a very long time, and the more she watched this, the more she felt like she wasn’t any further away from her old world. Twilight stood by her side watching with a grim expression, her eyes strained to see every detail of the battlefield, and finally she was beginning to growl.

“What do we do? The dragon hasn’t shown up yet and our defenses are being whittled away by these monsters,” Rita asked.

They had been shocked when Spike showed just how powerful he was in combat, they were worried when Maud had been injured, and Twilight was enraged when Trixie broke formation to help Maud out. Rita wasn’t sure how long this fight could last, the only ponies who were still on top of things were the Wonderbolts, but then again there were no flying monsters on the field.

Rita stomped her foot in frustration when she saw the new wave of monsters coming in. Along with the ground forces came a group of flying bats with dogs riding them. Twilight stared forward her expression turned to rage as she screamed, “OH COME ON!”

Rita watched with grim fascination at what happened next. The Wonderbolts collided with the bats as the battle finally took to the air as well as the ground forces. The dark clouds only aided to dreariness of this conflict but something new came from within the cloud; a huge dark shape with two wings flapping powerfully was growing in size. A horrid cry sounded over the village as the creature approached ever closer. Twilight stared angrily at the cloud and said, “That’s it, that must be the dragon. Come on, Rita. It’s time to join the fray.”

Without a moment’s hesitation Twilight’s horn began glowing and the air around them popped. A blinding pink light followed by disorientation left Rita trying to find out what just happened. She looked around only to realize that she was no longer on the roof top with Twilight, instead she was on the ground in the front lines of battle. Twilight was at her side and already firing pink lasers from her horn at the enemies around them.

Rita growled and focused her attention on the task before her. Goblins came at her, and she struck them down with her daggers. A few clusters of goblins received a fireball along with the riders. Rita charged forward and using her daggers took out as many of the goblins before her, goblin, after goblin, after goblin fell to her blades, but no matter how many she struck down, they just kept coming.

Twilight didn’t fare much better as she used her magic to strike them down. Twilight focused on the larger targets over the smaller ones when she could, leaving Rita to more or less take care of the goblins that surrounded them. Rita wasn’t sure what they were doing on the ground, not when the dragon was still on its way that thought gave her incentive to look back at her comrades that were still fighting. The ponies were actually a lot further away then Rita had thought they were which meant that Twilight had teleported the two of them as close to the dragon as she could.

That same terrible cry sounded a second time this time the volume had increased so loudly that it hurt her ears. The goblins around her winced in obvious pain, most of them turned away from Twilight and Rita and focused on charging toward the town. The riders were beginning to avoid the two of them as well. Soon Rita and Twilight stood alone on the gray rocky plain while staring at the dark shape flying above them.

The monster’s wings flapped slowly causing a slight breeze. Twilight smiled and turned to Rita. “Get on my back.”

“What?” Rita exclaimed.

“I’m taking that thing on in the air, and I need you to help,” Twilight explained.

Rita didn’t like it but it was a sound a plan as any other, the dragon was clearly not going to come down to them, so that only left one real option; take the fight to it. Rita nodded and quickly climbed up onto the princess’s back, something felt odd, maybe even wrong about doing this. Rita braced herself and after securing a safe seat she said, “Okay, I’m ready.”

Twilight grinned, Rita couldn’t help but do the same, and together they took off into the sky. As they soared the dragon above them became clearer, it wasn’t quite as large as Rita had once imagined, but it was still big enough that its entire head was the size of a pony. Rita held on tightly to Twilight’s neck and suddenly had an insight into what Twilight was planning. Rita ducked her head behind Twilight’s and felt magic surge through her own body as the air around them crackled with pink electricity. A pink lightning bolt shot out from Twilight’s horn and struck the dragon golem’s stony underside.

The dragon looked down but didn’t react to the attack other than acknowledging the pair’s existence. The dragon quickly looked away and kept flying straight. Rita thought about using a more concentrated blast and suddenly Twilight said, “Good idea.”

Rita wasn’t sure what just happened but she ducked again as Twilight charged up for a second attack. Twilight flew in close and when only a few feet away from the dragon she unleashed the spell into the dragon’s chest. The dragon let out a painful cry as the stone shattered and disintegrated. A large hole now lay open in the thing’s chest, large enough for Twilight to fly through. As they made their way through the dragon’s chest Rita saw a green stone that glowed with a menacing light.

Once on the other side of the dragon Rita heard Twilight telling her to destroy the gem. Rita turned her head and stretched out her right arm. She took aim but noticed that the hole they had just made was already beginning to close from the regeneration spell. Rita charged magic into her gauntlet and a beam of white energy flew out from her palm and towards the hole. The beam struck the gem and on contact the gem exploded.

The dragon gave a shriek before its altitude lowered as its wings jerked. The dragon quickly recovered, but now having injured the dragon, Rita felt the adrenaline surging throughout her tiny frame. Twilight laughed merrily before saying, “I can’t believe that you did it. That’s one down, two more to go right?”

Rita smiled and replied, “Yeah, only two more.”

Twilight looked back at Rita and asked, “What are you talking about?”

“You just asked me how many gems were left,” Rita explained.

“No I didn’t,” Twilight said, her face growing a little worried.

“But I just heard you say it.”

“I was thinking about it, but I didn’t say anything out lo-“ Twilight tried to explain but stopped mid sentence.

Rita instantly knew what Twilight was staring at, even though she couldn’t see the dragon that was now aimed at them with its open mouth, and the rows of razor sharp teeth, somehow Rita knew exactly how terrifying the creature looked to Twilight. Rita also knew that inside its mouth was another green gem.

Panic shot through Rita’s heart as she turned quickly and upon actually seeing the dragon she through a fireball into its mouth. The fireball exploded uselessly against the inside of its stone carved mouth, it kept flying unhindered.

Twilight’s speed was beginning to drop and Rita knew why. Quickly Rita turned to face Twilight who was still staring right at the dragon, and without hesitation Rita smacked the alicorn princess’s cheek. Twilight’s speed fell greatly for a second as Twilight snapped out of the fear filled trance that she was in and just as the dragon’s mouth began covering the two, Twilight focused and for a second time Rita was blinded by a pink light.

Rita’s vision returned quickly this time, and without any disorientation as she saw the dragon ahead of them. The dragon snapped its jaws shut tight, and continued flying upwards for a moment. Twilight’s breathing was rapid and she was having a hard time simply hovering in the air. Rita saw the dragon disappear into the storm cloud above them and took the moment of peace to calm herself.

“We… we almost got eaten,” Twilight said in disbelief.

“Yeah but we didn’t,” Rita said.

“I should be used to this kind of threat by now, but I guess I’ve never fought an actual dragon before. How did you used to do this?” Twilight asked.

“With a good plan, good friends, and a heart full of fear,” Rita explained.

“What, what do we do?” Twilight asked.

“Easy, we just need to get it to open its big dumb mouth,” Rita said coolly.

“Easier said than done,” Twilight stated.

“Well we’re about to find out.”

Twilight looked up and saw the dragon had returned with its jaws open and ready to strike at the pair. Rita aimed her left arm at the dragon’s open mouth, the gem was in there, she could see its glow, but its mouth wasn’t opened wide enough for a clear shot yet. Rita hissed in frustration at this situation.

Twilight flew towards the dragon, magic surging through the two of them, and Twilight’s horn began to glow. “I’ll get it to open its mouth, you just get ready to shoot the gem.”

Rita nodded and even though she knew that Twilight couldn’t see it, Twilight had gotten the message. Twilight unleashed another beam of pink energy, the beam this time went through the dragon’s mouth knocking out many of its teeth. The head however was still intact only now the dragon was trying to ram the two of them. Twilight quickly turned and darted downward.

Rita took aim at the creatures open mouth, and unleashed another beam of white energy. The green gem was sitting open and ready for another hit, and Rita watched as the beam struck the gem. As planed the gem exploded and the dragon gave another howl of pain as its flight was interrupted. This time the dragon’s body began to crumble, large chunks of the dragon’s stone body falling off and tumbling to the ground below.

Rita could only watch in horror as the dragon swatted one of its large wings at the pair. The wing came off of the dragon and shattered into a storm of large rocks that flew towards the two at extreme speeds. Twilight was forced to try and dodge the rocks coming at her blindly, and Rita using her new beam gauntlet started destroying the rocks she could. She got the first rock, Twilight dodged the next, Rita shot down another one, and then Twilight turned left and one of the large rocks blind sighted her.

The rock bounced off of the alicorn’s head and suddenly Twilight went limp. A sudden burst of pain shot through Rita’s skull and she fell off the princess’s back. The dragon however was still chasing after them. Rita looked down and saw the ground rapidly approaching, she didn’t know how far she was from the ground but she knew that she was going to hit it soon.

The dragon’s entire body had crumbled into many large rocks by this point, all of it except for a skeletal structure which was made of obsidian. Rita caught the glimpse of a green glow coming from its forehead and she knew that this was her last chance to stop it. Rita took aim and fired her beam gauntlet. She missed, so she shot again, this time a rock got in the way and took the blow instead. Rita screamed in rage and unleashed one final energy beam at the dragon, the beam raced forward, nearly hit another rock, but in the end it struck the dragon’s forehead. The dragon’s head exploded, and the obsidian skull shattered, among the remains of the skull Rita could see the shattered fragments of the green gem; the last green gem.

Despite the fact that she was falling towards her death, she still managed to smile. One last opponent, a dragon none the less, she could call this an acceptable ending. Rita closed her eyes and felt her body spinning around in the air. She had been fighting for a long time now, and even though she didn’t want to die yet, she could accept this. The Plane of Glass awaited her, maybe she could be reunited with her friends there.

Rita’s world was suddenly brightened by a pink light again. She quickly opened her eyes and screamed as she fell towards the sky, she slowed down, stopped mid air and began falling backwards. Rita slammed her back into the ground almost instantly and the pain shot through her body. She made a point of staying still for a moment, at least until she began coughing.

“You… you okay?” Twilight asked in between heavy breaths.

Rita looked over to see the Princess kneeling beside her with a trail of crimson coming down the side of her face. Rita reached out but stopped as her back screamed at her, she decided just to look away and say, “I’m breathing aren’t I?”

Chapter Twenty Seven: To Dust

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Seven: To Dust
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Later that evening Rita sat around the inside of the inn with a mug filled with super sweet mead and a plate with two hay burgers and some actual french fries on the side. Around her table sat Trixie, who was slowly sipping a glass of whisky with a small smile across her face. Spike sat across from them and was devouring a plate full of gems. Rita couldn’t help but smile at her companions, but even though she was smiling she couldn’t help but wonder as to where Twilight had gone after the fight was finished.

After the dragon had crumbled, the storm clouds above dissipated, and the remaining forces of goblins and riders retreated south. It seemed like losing their dragon had destroyed their moral. The soldiers didn’t give chase but the Wonderbolts did send out a scouting team to make sure that they left Equestria’s borders without causing trouble. After that Twilight vanished and left the ponies to celebrate at the inn and around the town, mostly by getting drunk and singing.

Rita chose to tactfully stay out of the singing, and instead stayed inside to eat some decent food. Trixie joined her soon after, and eventually Spike found his way to the table as well. So far everything was going pretty well for the three of them, even though they had noisy, happy ponies in the inn making conversation difficult between the three of them.

“So what are your plans now, Trixie?” Rita asked loudly, attempting to speak over the volume of the ponies around her.

“Wait for Peppers to get better, and then Trixie will head home with her. If Celestia says otherwise, we shall just tell her where to stuff it. Trixie won’t drag her friends into trouble again,” Trixie explained.

“Glad to hear it, let me know if you need anything,” Rita said.

“You have been nice to Trixie, and you haven’t told Twilight about Trixie’s failures… Trixie considers you to be a candidate for friendship,” Trixie said.

“I’m honored,” Rita replied before taking a drink of her mead.

The front door of the inn swung open with a sudden force although nopony noticed since this had been happening all night. When the purple alicorn walked in, not a single pony noticed, when she stomped her hoof down and glared at them they just blew her off. So when her horn lit up and everypony was suddenly covered in a pink aura, it wasn’t surprising that they all hushed up and looked fearfully in her direction.

Twilight snorted angrily, and took slow steady steps toward Rita’s table while glaring right at Trixie. Trixie’s ears folded back and her eyes widened as she watched Twilight’s approach. When Twilight finally reached the table she simply stood there in complete silence for a few moments. Finally Twilight spoke slowly, with a venomous tone, “So tell me, why exactly did you break rank in the battle today?”

Trixie’s pupils shrunk and her body began shaking slightly. Spike saw the fear ridden unicorn and spoke up, “Twilight, she doesn’t need to-“

“Shut it, Spike,” Twilight snapped.

Spike did exactly as he was told. Rita simply watched as Twilight stared at Trixie. Trixie swallowed and even through a shaky voice she managed to say, “B-b-but Maud was in trouble.”

“And I’m glad that you saved her, but I saw everything. You could have helped her from a distance, or brought her back to rear, you did not have to abandon your post for almost the entire duration of the battle,” Twilight stated, her tone was filled with anger.

“Trixie is sorry, she didn’t mean to get caught up like that,” Trixie replied.

“Did you know that several unicorns were injured because of your actions?” Twilight said with a twisted grin.

“W-w-what?” Trixie said, tears beginning to stream down her face.

“Do you want to guess at just how bad the injuries are?”

Trixie’s entire body began trembling and she moved her mouth, but no words came out. Twilight grinned and said, “They only have minor injuries and will pull through, but I want you to think about your actions, and what they could have resulted in.”

Suddenly Twilight’s horn stopped glowing and her spell was lifted off of everypony, but nopony moved nor spoke. Twilight just stood there, looking down at the shaking Trixie who couldn’t find the words to respond. Rita however had a few choice words to spare for the cocky princess.

First Rita slammed her fist into the table garnering everyponies attention, second Rita stood up off her chair and stared into Twilight’s eyes. Twilight was taken aback and this gave Rita the moment she needed to get the final blow in. “Twilight Sparkle. Do you even know what Trixie has been through here? What she has lost? Guess what, that pony who died, that was one of Trixie’s only two friends. And that other pony who was injured horribly, that was her other friend. So if Trixie saw somepony that she cared about, one who was about to be hurt, maybe even killed, can you actually blame her for breaking rank to make sure that no matter what happened, that the pony would be safe?”

Twilight’s eyes were wide, her mouth was hanging open, and she was back stepping from the table. A look of horror was worn across her face as she shook her head back and forth slowly. Twilight ended up staring down at the floor and closed her eyes shut tightly, a few tears escaped as she did.

“So, what do you have to say now, Twilight?” Rita asked.

Everything was silent for a very long time, but finally Twilight began to say, “I’m sor-“

Twilight was interrupted as the brown stallion from earlier galloped into the inn and past her. He stood in front of the table with blood stained scrubs, his face was dark. He looked at Trixie and spoke gently, “Trixie Lulamoon, I have some bad news.”

***

Everything was quiet as the three stood outside the doctor’s house. There were no smiles, and no frowns, sure Twilight was crying silent tears, but aside from that everyone was just hollow. It would be more helpful if they could hear Trixie crying from inside, but only silence filled the air. Rita looked at Spike, he didn’t return her gaze instead he focused on Twilight. Twilight’s head was hung low, and she refused to make eye contact with anypony.

Rita knew that Twilight didn’t know about what Trixie had been through, she knew that Twilight couldn’t have even guessed at how horrible Trixie was feeling, but she still felt angry at the lavender mare. At this rate it looked like Twilight and Trixie would never truly become friends, right now the only thing that Rita could do was try her best to keep Trixie afloat.

The dark sky loomed over the world reminding Rita that sometimes the world is filled with darkness. It can’t always be happy and cheerful, sometimes life was just unfair, and brutal. If only Rita had known that there was an injured mare here, if only she knew that Trixie was hurting so badly, Rita would have been able to something… right?

The door opened slowly, and everyponies eyes were drawn to it. Trixie stumbled out, she looked lost. Trixie walked past the three and onto the street before heading back towards the inn. No one knew what to say, so they just followed her in silence trying to make sure that she was safe.

Back at the inn everything had quieted down, several ponies were lying over the tables drunk and sleeping. Trixie went back to the table they had been sitting at, she found her seat and sat down. She looked at the mare who owned the bar and within moments there was a bottle of whisky sitting on top of the table. Using her magic Trixie pulled the top off of the bottle and gave it a somber look. Trixie then put the bottle to her lips and began chugging.

Trixie slammed the bottle down hard onto the table and gave Twilight a hateful look. “You are taking me home tomorrow, understand?” Twilight nodded and Trixie smiled. “Good, now I’m going to get stinking piss faced drunk, and if you or anypony try to stop me, I’ll send them straight to the moon.”

Trixie went back to chugging the bottle down. Rita grimaced at the act, drinking whisky like that had to be a terrible experience, but if you wanted to get drunk… Spike sat down at the table across from Trixie and said quietly, “I’ll stay up with her, you two get some sleep. And, Twilight… never mind.”

Twilight walked away slowly. As Twilight began walking up the stairs Rita crossed her arms nervously and said, “If you need anything, Trixie. I’m here for you.”

Trixie pulled her lips away from the already half empty bottle and smiled. “That sounds pleasing, but I’m afraid that I have to disinterest. I’m into Maud ponies, like earth.”

“What?” Rita asked feeling a little confused by drunk Trixie's speech.

“You know what I’m mean. Too bad that I’m such a bitch that all I’ve do is make earth hate me. Shoulda never ever gone in and hurt the pink one,” Trixie said.

Spike turned to her and spoke in a very gentle tone, “It’s okay, Trixie. Pinkie isn’t mad at you for what happened, you were under the effects of dark magic after all.”

“But she didn’t care, do you know what she did to me when she found out that I hurt her sister?” Trixie said in protest.

That was when Rita decided that it was about time to leave, despite how curious she was to learn about what happened with Trixie and Pinkie, she knew that she could always ask Pinkie in person. Right now Rita felt exhausted and she needed sleep more than anything else. She went upstairs but she knew that something was wrong.

The room was dark, and Twilight was lying underneath the covers, but Rita could still hear the princess. Rita listened in for a second and quickly discovered that Twilight was crying softly to herself. Rita let out a sigh, it just seemed like everyone was falling apart around her, and yet she was the only one who was not breaking down, well her and Spike. Rita walked over and climbed into bed with Twilight.

“What are you-“ Twilight began to ask but stopped when Rita wrapped an arm around the princess.

“Shh, Trixie is sad, but Spike is taking care of her. You are sad, so I’m going to take care of you,” Rita said.

Twilight was quiet for a moment, and then she scooted into Rita’s embrace and made a soft noise in the back of her throat. Rita thought it was an adorable sound, and so she tightened her embrace around Twilight’s waist.

After a long quiet moment Rita began drifting off into sleep, and that’s when Twilight decided to say, “You know, I really like humans… so um… thank you for this.”

Rita nuzzled the back of Twilight’s neck and replied, “Your welcome, I’m beginning to think that everyone needs cuddled sometimes.” After that Rita fell asleep with Twilight in her arms.

***

The room was dimly lit by the fireplace, but Rita didn’t care about the lack of light. She just wanted Estella to be home already. The other two people in the room with her didn’t seem as bothered by the lack of a really cute princess as she was. Rita rolled over on the couch she was lying on so that she could better see the two friends that had stayed with her.

A woman with pale skin, and long white hair holding strands of light blue, sat on a couch reading a book. This woman wore a blue kimono, and with the pointy ears Rita could easily tell that she was an elf. The woman known as Snow by most had a real name that she only gave to her friends, Rita was one such friend.

“Hey, Sapphire,” Rita said quietly.

Snow replied, “Please call me Snow, we are not in a safe enough location for you to be using my true name.”

“Fine, Snow,” Rita replied.

“That’s better, what did you need little one?” Snow asked.

“What time are Estella and the others getting back?” Rita whined.

“They should be back soon, probably after you fall asleep. It is already far past your bed time after all,” Snow answered while turning a page in the book she was reading.

Rita stretched out and yawned. She was exhausted, but she refused to go to sleep without Estella to hold her first. Ever since Estella joined their team the two had never slept alone, so not having the princess with her now was painful for Rita. Rita turned her head and looked at the other person sitting on the floor.

The young boy was about fourteen, the same age as Rita. He had brown hair similar to Rita’s only his was cut shorter, and he wore a set of blue monk robes, but considering the monastery they had picked him up in this made a lot of sense. Rita pointed a finger at him and said, “Reed, make me some coffee, I want to wake up.”

Reed opened his eyes and turned his head back towards her before saying quietly, “I was meditating, please do not interrupt this moment of silence.” He turned his head away and after a moment he added, “Besides, you need to sleep. You have been pushing yourself again, and it is worrying the rest of us. Why do you think that Lamont didn’t take you with him on this task?”

Rita pushed herself upright and said angrily, “What?”

Snow let out a noticeable groan before closing her book and saying, “We weren’t supposed to tell her that.”

“She needed to know the truth, she needs to know how much we worry about her,” Reed replied calmly.

Rita swung her feet off the edge of the couch and tried to stomp her feet onto the floor. She couldn’t reach the floor though, and so her feet just dangled in the air uselessly. “Ugh, why didn’t you tell me about this? I could keep up with them, I’m not a useless little kid!”

Snow stood up carefully, she stood five feet and eight inches tall, as tall as Rita’s father. Rita hated being a shrimp compared to everyone else in this team, Estella was six feet tall, if not taller, and Lamont was a giant of a man. Only Reed and Rita were short, although they were the same exact height.

Snow grabbed the cup of coffee she had poured for herself earlier and walked with graceful steps towards Rita. She leaned over and gave the cup to Rita while saying, “Here you go, I know that it’s only half full but I’m afraid that we used the last of the coffee for this cup.”

Rita took the cup gratefully and smiled at Snow. She took a sip and tasted the strange but delicious spices that Snow always added to her coffee. After a moment she looked up from the cup and said, “You didn’t have to do that you know. I’m just being a butt because I’m tired and need Estella.”

“I know, but you still need her before you can sleep right? So if I can help you in any way, then I will,” Snow replied.

Rita couldn’t stop smiling at her dear friend. Rita knew that she would probably fall asleep before Estella got home, and when she did the nightmares would start all over again. It wasn’t fair that nightmares plagued her every time she tried to sleep alone, but at least she had some minor comfort in knowing that when Estella did come back, she could sleep in the princess’s warm loving embrace again.

***

The morning came and went without complication, Trixie and Spike had crashed on the other bed and Rita imagined how hilarious it would be if Rarity could’ve seen them, of course even Rita wasn’t dumb enough to tell Rarity about this one. After that Rita and the others packed their things and moved on to the train station. Everypony noticed the limp that Trixie carried in her walk, but avoided saying anything about it to her.

Once everypony was finally on the train, they took their seats inside one of the private booths. Twilight and Spike sat together on one side, Rita and Trixie on the other. Trixie made no attempt at speaking instead choosing only stared blankly out the window. Twilight still looked depressed, and Spike looked pretty upset as well. The air in the room was tense, and it looked like nopony was going to try and break the silence. Once the train got rolling along the tracks, Rita decided that if nopony else was going to try and cheer up the room, then she would.

Rita looked at Trixie and said in as gentle of a tone as she could, “So, you were really insistent on leaving today.”

Trixie grunted in response.

“Um… look if you need anything just let me know, okay?”

Trixie gave a quick glance at Rita and said, “You can’t understand how I feel. So stop trying to.”

Rita sunk back into the couch and pulled her legs up to her chest. This was a terrible idea, and Rita knew that it was just going to backfire. Rita let out a sigh and resigned herself to not being able to fix this situation. After a moment of silence Rita said, “You’re right, our situations are different. My friends and I all knew that death was a possibility, in fact it was more likely that we were all going to die in that final battle… the fact that only four of us died was a miracle.”

Trixie looked over at Rita, and after a moment of silence Rita gave her best smile to Trixie before continuing. “You see, they were all my friends, and they were my family. One of them was actually my father… sadly the only two who survived the final conflict were me, and Princess Estella… the only person who I ever truly loved. Of course after that battle, I lost her friendship too… so that left me completely alone.”

“Rita, I didn’t know,” Twilight whispered.

“I’ve told you bits and pieces of this before,” Rita said quietly, the old pain was creeping up over her scarred heart. “So, Trixie, if you need anything just let me know… I was all alone when I lost the people that I love, I don’t want you to suffer like that as well.”

A blue leg quickly wrapped itself around Rita’s shoulder and Trixie asked, “Is this good?”

“What?”

“Trixie is trying to hug you, is this good?” Trixie explained.

Rita gave a tiny laugh before scooting in closer to Trixie. Rita then nodded and said, “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Good, because Trixie doesn’t like it when you cry. You are too small and it reminds Trixie of a foal crying, so please don’t cry,” Trixie said.

“But I’m not…” Rita stopped talking the second she felt the tears running down the sides of her face. Rita sniffled a little and wiped them away with her sleeve. “Thanks, for that… guess I’m not quite over it yet.”

Trixie looked back out the window and for a moment Rita thought that Trixie was going to return to her silence, but she didn’t. “Trixie is a strong mare, she will be okay. Trixie just needs a few days to sleep, and plenty of alcohol, but eventually Trixie will return to her traveling shows… that’s all Trixie has anymore.”

“You have me,” Rita said.

“Yes, Trixie does, doesn’t she?” Trixie said with a small smile.

“Will you really be okay?” Rita asked.

“Trixie just lost the only two real friends that she had left, but that does not mean that Trixie is all alone. This is not nearly as bad as when Trixie was forced to leave the rock farm,” Trixie explained.

“What do you mean by forced? I thought that you left because you hated it, and wanted revenge on Ponyville?” Twilight asked.

Trixie closed her eyes for a moment and then looked out the window again, her smile had faded. “Trixie went back to the rock farm after Ponyville. It was peaceful at the rock farm, and for once in Trixie’s life she had a place she actually belonged to. However a few days later Maud received a letter from Pinkie… and it was over, Trixie’s only home was again taken away from her.

“Trixie might have talked rudely about the farm, but she actually enjoyed it… even if the work was really difficult for Trixie. The ponies did not care if Trixie was an ex magician, or if she was a failure, they did not listen to the slanderous lies spread by certain ponies from Ponyville. Everything was actually calm, and they accepted Trixie into their family,” Trixie explained. “But when Pinkie Pie told them of Trixie’s deeds they kicked her out.” Trixie began rubbing at her bum leg with a distant look in her eyes, as though she was remembering something from a long time ago.

“I’m sorry to hear that… you know Pinkie Pie doesn’t hate you for it?” Twilight said.

“Trixie knows, but she is not even allowed to befriend the pink mare now… Maud would get mad again,” Trixie explained.

Rita finally had it with not knowing about what exactly happened to her marefriend, obviously it wasn’t so serious that everypony here hated Trixie, but clearly it was still important. Rita looked up at Trixie and asked, “What exactly did you do to Pinkie Pie?”

“Trixie used a spell to remove the pink pony’s mouth… for a couple of days, she didn’t like hearing the pink one talk rudely to her,” Trixie explained. “Trixie could’ve starved Pinkie Pie, but it was not Trixie's fault, she was possessed by an evil amulet that made her… do bad things. Trixie did not even know of most of the spells she used during that time, so the magic couldn’t have come from Trixie…”

“The amulet gave you access to magic that you would never have known normally, in fact I believe it even went so far as to take full control of you at certain intervals,” Twilight said.

“Trixie still did wrong, and she has been punished. Now Trixie just wants to live a quiet life, but all she knows how to do is perform on stage,” Trixie said.

“If working on a farm was such a fulfilling experience for you, why don’t you just work on the apple farm?” Rita suggested.

“Trixie does not have the… strength to buck trees like Applejack does.”

“So, they have carrots and potatoes and other vegetables and stuff. I’m sure that if you ask Applejack she could help you find something to do,” Rita suggested.

A smile grew on Trixie’s lips as she considered this and then she said, “You are right. Applejack would surely help Trixie with this. After all, Trixie and Applejack are… almost friends.”

“Don’t kid yourself, after you helped Applejack out with her sister, and her cousin, she’d be willing to help you with pretty much anything. You’ve earned her friendship,” Spike said.

“What?” Rita asked.

“Long story, but I guess we have time… How about you tell it, Trixie?” Twilight suggested.

Trixie grinned and her horn lit up. Several illusionary puppets appeared floating in the air in between everyone. Trixie cleared her throat before saying, “Once upon a time, Trixie was working in Manehattan, she however wanted to attempt making up with some of the ponies she had wronged in the past. So a cunning strategist like Trixie could only come up with the most wonderful of plans, sending free tickets to those same ponies, so that they could see her new show. These tickets were even front row seats, securing seven front row seat tickets was however difficult.

“At the same time the police were looking to capture an infamous jewel thief, and they needed Trixie’s help. Trixie knew that this was going to be an exhausting endeavor but she had to set things right in the world, what Trixie didn’t know was that there were forces at work to ruin her plan…”

Chapter Twenty Eight: She's Been Waiting

THE EQUESTRIAN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty Eight: She’s Still Waiting
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The train pulled in slowly to Ponyville station, and everypony was thankful to finally be back in a place full of life. The battle had worn hard on them but now that it was over, and that they were home, they could finally rest. The trio stepped out of the train smiling as the bright sun warmed their bodies and lifted their hearts. It was nice to be home.

“Welcome back everyone,” Celestia said.

Rita’s eyes shot wide at the sight of the giant princess amongst a nervous crowd of tiny ponies. Fluttershy and Rarity stood by her side looking quite out of place. Rarity walked up and gave Spike a hug which he returned gratefully, Fluttershy did the same to Rita. Trixie growled before stepping forward.

“Are you expecting a report from Trixie now?” Trixie asked bitterly.

Celestia looked taken aback for a moment before grabbing hold of the situation and giving a stern expression to Trixie. “Only if you wish to give one.”

Trixie turned her head and began walking away while saying, “Twilight and Rita can do it. I’m going to sleep.”

Celestia watched Trixie leave for a moment before turning towards Twilight and asking, “What was that about?”

Twilight began digging at the wooden platform with a hoof while avoiding eye contact. “She lost her friends to the dragon in the initial assault. I’m surprised that she’s held out as long as she did… I don’t think that I’d have that kind of strength if I lost any of my friends.”

Celestia hung her head and frowned. “I didn’t know that things had gotten so bad. Maybe there is something I can do for her.”

Rita pulled away from Fluttershy’s embrace. “Give her time to rest. That’s about all we can do for now… but Twilight was right about her. She’s strong, and she was able to lead the unicorns without fail until the final battle when things got difficult. Even then she still managed to save ponies in the middle of battle, even though it could have cost her life.”

Celestia closed her eyes with a thoughtful look on her face. After a moment she spoke quietly, “Hmm… maybe she’ll succeed after all.”

“Succeed at what?” Twilight asked.

Celestia opened her eyes and gave Twilight a gentle smile. “Oh it’s nothing to concern yourself with, Twilight.”

“Okay,” Twilight said before trotting along. “I’ll start working on my report, and I’ll have Spike give it to you as soon as possible.”

“Before you go home, could you pick up some more of those delightful cheesy treats that you had?” Celestia asked.

Twilight raised an eye brow and said in a confused tone, “Um… sure.” Twilight looked at Spike and said, “Come on, Spike. I’m going to need your help.”

Spike gave a sad look to Rarity but then quickly smiled again and said, “I’ll see you tonight.” He then turned and walked away with Twilight Sparkle.

Fluttershy quickly and quietly whispered into Rita’s ear. “Celestia has been staying at Twilight’s ever since you left. I don’t know why she hasn’t gone back to Canterlot yet, but ponies are very worried about her being here.”

Rita raised her arms above her head and stretched before saying, “Yeah, that’s kinda weird. But she can do whatever she wants.”

Celestia gave a kind smile to Rita and asked, “Would you like to spend some time with me? I’d like to get to know you better.”

Rita gave a short yawn before saying, “That sounds like fun.”

“Actually, darling, you might want to apologize to Pinkie Pie first. I don’t know what you did, but she has been very upset with you for a few days now,” Rarity explained.

Rita gave a confused look to Rarity for a moment while trying to figure out why Pinkie would be mad. The only thing she could think of was the fact that she didn’t invite Pinkie to fight the dragon, in fact she had been in such a rush to get going that she missed her chance to even say good bye to the pink pony. Rita nodded and said, “Sure, I don’t want her to be mad at me after all.”

***

Later on at The Sugarcube Corner a very angry Pinkie Pie sat in one of the booths while glaring at Rita from across the table. Rita looked back towards the door and saw Celestia standing outside the window waiting for her. Rita folded her arms and looked back at Pinkie Pie.

“So… what’s up?” Rita asked.

“What’s up? What’s up? I’ll tell you what’s up. You left town for three whole days, and you didn’t even tell me that you were leaving, that is what’s up!” Pinkie Pie snapped.

Rita groaned and covered her face with her hand. “That’s all.”

“What do you mean ‘that’s all’, that is a HUGE deal!”

“I’m sorry. I guess I should have told you. I was in a rush though, and unlike Spike, I didn’t get any time to say goodbye,” Rita said.

“I have been worried to death over you, I mean what if you didn’t come back home? What would I do if you were gone? Huh, do you have an answer for that?” Pinkie demanded.

Rita stood silently for a moment before letting out a sigh and saying, “You’re right. I’m sorry that I did this to you. If Fluttershy wouldn’t have kept me stuck at home for so long, I would have been able to tell you.”

“This discussion isn’t over, Rita. I need you to understand how much it hurts me when ponies abandon me like this,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Now hold on a second, I never abandoned you. I just forgot to tell you that I was going on an adventure,” Rita defended.

“Oh so now you forgot? Which is it, Rita? Did you not tell me because you didn’t have time, or because you forgot too?”

Rita was beginning to get frustrated, she had a hard time seeing how one little mistake like this could make somepony so angry. Rita turned around and said, “Look I already apologized, what more do you want?”

“I want us to become official,” Pinkie Pie said.

Rita looked back at her and tilted her head to the side before asking, “What does that mean?”

“I want everypony to know that we’re more than friends. We can tell them together if you like,” Pinkie Pie explained.

Rita thought about this for a moment, if we did tell everyone, would it be a good thing, or a bad one. Surely they wouldn’t hate either of us for this, but would they actually accept this. Hell even I don’t know if I accept this yet, it’s still weird to think about. I mean it’s not like me and Estella, I used to freak out if Estella was gone for longer than a few hours…

“Pinkie,” Rita asked, “What were you doing while I was gone?”

“I was either crying, or fuming, or I don’t know. Why does that matter?” Pinkie said.

Rita walked over to Pinkie’s side of the booth and wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s waist. Rita pulled herself into a tight hug with her face against Pinkie’s chest. At first Pinkie refused, but after a moment Pinkie couldn’t help but to return the embrace. Rita began stroking Pinkie’s back as she said, “I’m so sorry that I did this to you. I didn’t realize how much I meant to you… if you really want us to come out to everypony than I won’t argue. Okay?”

Pinkie smiled softly and said, “I wasn’t really that mad… but thank you. I would like it if we let everypony know about us.”

Rita didn’t want to pull away from the warm soft embrace of Pinkie’s but she had to go and entertain Celestia. Whatever the giant princess wanted, it sounded like it could prove entertaining. Rita looked into Pinkie’s giant blue eyes and saw the love that was held for her there. Rita’s heart went a flutter and her cheeks began warming up before she could force herself to look away and say, “I have to hang with Celestia. I’ll come back and we’ll do something fun soon, I promise.”

“You better,” Pinkie Pie said. After a moment she added, “I missed you, Rita.”

“I missed you too,” Rita said. Now Rita faced towards the door, it was time to do whatever the princess had wanted to. Hopefully the princess had something fun planned.

***

They walked through the town together for a while in silence, the giant princess, and the tiny human. Everypony who saw the pair instantly straightened up and attempted to look as polite as they possibly could. It was a little unnerving just how fast the ponies would change from being relaxed to being stiffened up like statues in the presence of their beloved princess.

“I give it two weeks,” Celestia said calmly as they walked down the main road.

“Two weeks for what?” Rita inclined.

“Two weeks before they get used to my presence here,” Celestia explained.

Rita stayed silent for a moment wondering if she should really ask, but she just shrugged and asked anyway, “What makes you want to stay here for a whole two weeks, don’t you have a kingdom to run?”

“They will be fine without me for a few weeks, or months… or longer if I should feel the need. Beside the fact that I have chosen a capable council to run most of the kingdom, my little sister has shown her ability to rule in my stead. In fact I have played with the idea of just leaving the entire place to her once or twice, but after the initial shock and fun wore off, I’m afraid that she would grow to hate me again if I did something so brash,” Celestia explained. After she finished she lowered her head down to a patch of flowers and sniffed at them. As she watched Celestia’s graceful movements Rita began to realize just how careful this giant of a pony was with every single movement.

Rita, still keeping a few feet of distance, walked to the flower patch and kneeled down as well. The flowers were of some unknown bread to Rita, they were red with green tips and looked lovely. As Rita plucked one and sniffed it, she watched Celestia sniff the flower bed again. Rita enjoyed the smell, but she wasn’t sure why Celestia would just stop and admire some flowers, it seemed to her like this was to peaceful and laid back for a ruler of a country to do. When Celestia ate one of the flowers Rita realized that she wasn’t just admiring them, she was having a snack.

“So… does it taste good?” Rita asked.

“Hmm, it’s not as sweet as I had imagined. This reminds me of Twilight though,” Celestia said.

“Oh?” Rita inquired.

“She might be a little upset after she sees the state her pantry is in,” Celestia explained.

“Why? Did you eat something she likes?”

“Yes, while I was staying at her castle for a few days I might have eaten something she loves… actually I might have eaten everything ,” Celestia said with the slightest blush.

“No, you couldn’t have. I’m sure that you left something for her,” Rita said, figuring Celestia was telling a joke.

“No I ate everything. I am a lot bigger then her after all, and I had thought that she would’ve had more food for her servants… but then I remembered that Twilight does not have servants,” Celestia explained.

Rita face palmed and said, “Wow, and here I thought that she was going to be upset about the cheesy whatever’s.”

“Oh those were quite good, I don’t know where she had gotten them, but those tiny bars of orange cheesiness were absolutely delightful. I would like to know where she acquired them, it was like a candy bar made of cheese,” Celestia said her eyes glossing over as though she was day dreaming about the fabled cheese.

Rita laughed a little and said, “Wow, I kinda like you. I mean sure you’re a giant monster of a pony, but you are seriously pretty cool.”

“Thank you,” Celestia said with a smile. “Again another complement that I have not heard before, cool. May I ask you something more serious?”

“Shoot for it.”

“Have you heard about the Ark, the Aether Generator, or of Rainbow Myst Syndrome?” Celestia asked.

“Um… no. Should I have?” Rita asked.

“No, not yet anyway. Let us be off then,” Celestia said before standing up.

Rita stood up as well and folded her arms. That was an odd series of questions for the princess to ask of her, and the way she said ‘not yet’. Rita wanted to know more, and so she opened her mouth to ask. Celestia looked at Rita with a playful expression and said, “Do you wish to ride me over to Twilight’s castle? I know that she would never approve of such a thing, and so it could prove entertaining to watch her as ponies like to say, blow a gasket.”

Rita was suddenly grinning from ear to ear. Rita simply nodded, and after being lifted on to Celestia’s back via magic, the two set off towards Twilight’s. This was going to be most insanely funny thing she would ever do to the purple alicorn, and Rita knew exactly what to say when she got there.

Chapter Twenty Nine: Rat Problem

The Equestrian Venture
Chapter Twenty Nine: You’ve got a Rat Problem
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Twilight Sparkle and Applejack stood on the edge of the balcony overlooking the town, their attention drawn toward the powerful form of a giant white alicorn flying towards them. The alicorn landed proudly on the balcony and the two smaller ponies couldn’t help but stare at the human girl who was riding on her back.

Rita grinned madly, and with a waving motion she said, “I have taken over Equestria, and now with my faithful steed, Celestia, I shall take over the world! And I’ll eat all of your cake, you must please me with cake… immediately.”

The two smaller ponies jaws hit the floor and before they were even given time to react Celestia bowed her head and said in a somber tone, “It is true, Twilight. I simply could not defeat her cuteness, it overpowered me. Please bring us cake before she decides to punish us.”

Twilight stared in complete silence along with Applejack for nearly a minute, the whole time Celestia and Rita fought a difficult battle within themselves, to not burst out into hideous laughter. After the minute finally passed they could no longer do battle with the giggling forces inside and so they began laughing. As Rita was doubled over on top of Celestia’s back with her face partially buried into the tri colored mane she watched as Twilight finally figured out what was going on.

With a sudden explosion of anger Twilight shouted, “THAT’S NOT FUNNY!”

Applejack joined in the laughter as well for a short bit only adding to Twilight’s frustration. Twilight blew steam out of her nostrils, and her mane stood on end. She took a few steps toward the taller princess and asked in as calm of a voice as she could, “Did you actually need something, Princess Celestia? Or are you simply trying to play pranks on me?”

Celestia stiffened up and raised her head, Rita and Applejack began laughing slower, and slower, before stopping altogether. Rita saw the serious expression on Twilight’s face, and the one on Celestia’s. Something was very wrong here. Applejack instantly butted in saying, “Now that was a funny little joke, princess. Ah’m glad that ya’ll came over to say hi, aren’t you, Twi?”

Twilight stood as tall as she could before saying, “You ate all of my food. All of it! Princess Celestia, I do not have the money to go and restock that much food. The reason I called Applejack over right now was so that I could work out a deal with her and maybe have enough to eat for the rest of the week, to make matters worse she has a problem with some animal’s sneaking in and eating her stores right now.”

Celestia frowned and looked away. “I am sorry, Twilight. I had originally believed that to be you’re servant’s food store. Surely, I thought, you had more food that I couldn’t find right away. Fluttershy did the kindness of explaining that you did not have servants… nor did you have a lot of funding. I swear to personally see to this matter and repair the damage that I have caused.”

Twilight’s eyes brightened up and she smiled. “You mean it?”

“Yes, on one condition,” Celestia added slyly.

Twilight suddenly looked worried as she remembered her station and took a nervous step backwards. “What is it that you want, Princess Celestia?”

“I’m going to stay here, in my own private room,” Celestia stated.

“Oh… for how long?”

Celestia touched a wing to her chin, and Rita felt her heart skip a beat as the wing suddenly swung over her. “I could probably get away with a few months, maybe a little longer. My sister has been looking for more responsibility as of late, so I think this vacation would be good for her.”

Twilight’s face suddenly turned into pure panic and she began stepping back and asking, “What? Why would you do that? For how many months? You aren’t trying to pry into my private life are you? I swear I’m not keeping any secrets from you.”

Celestia smiled warmly and thought out loud, “But this would leave my sister completely alone for a few months… she would get lonely.”

Twilight’s eyes became sharp, intelligent, and cunning. “So what you’re saying, is that Luna will be completely alone for a few months while you are here… doing whatever it is that you wanted to?”

“Yes, that sounds about right.”

Twilight grinned and looked almost evil for a moment before trotting away and saying, “You have my permission to stay as long as you need to. I have business to tend to.”

“But what about mah farm?” Applejack asked.

Just as Twilight stopped Celestia spoke up saying, “Oh I’m sure that Rita could handle that. Now couldn’t you?”

Rita leaned back and said, “Yeah, yeah, I’ll do it. Twilight, go get yourself a break. You look ready to snap already.”

“Yes! Starswirl’s library is ours,” Twilight said excitedly,” I mean… er… I’ll be investing some time doing research in Canterlot.”

Celestia looked directly at Twilight and asked, “Aren’t you going to visit my sister?”

“Yeah she’s helping me explore, um studying up on Starswirl…”

Rita looked up at the clear blue sky and sighed. “Well at least I’ll be having some fun.”

***

Rita walked silently alongside Applejack for almost an hour before reaching the farm, and when they arrived they darted left and made their way towards a small three story house. The house was orange and seemed to be halfway constructed with giant barrels. A metal carrot stood on top of the house, spinning slowly in the breeze. Rita had to admit that it was probably one of the most unique looking homes around Ponyville.

“Well it took long enough to get here,” Applejack said smartly.

Rita folded her arms and growled. “It’s not my fault that humans don’t walk as fast you ponies. My legs are tiny, look at them.”

“Ah don’t care about that, what I care about are the giant rats that are eating our food stores,” Applejack explained.

Rita suddenly picked up her walking speed and asked, “Did you just say giant rats?”

“Ayep, those filthy vermin have a habit of taking haven inside our cellars every now and then. Usually we get Fluttershy to help us try and remove ‘em peaceful like. But these vermin are needin’ a good buckin’ Ah reckon. Just so ya know, we are aiming to wipe out these hostiles, so don’t be holding anything back on ‘em,” Applejack explained.

“That’s a bit harsher than I expected from you ponies, at least when Fluttershy is at hand, er hoof,” Rita stated.

“Yeah, well this is what happens when ya’ll attack one of our own and get them sick an all. We aren’t playin’ nice this time round, so kill as many as you can,” Applejack said.

As the two arrived at the carrot house they heard a strong and loud voice calling out and demanding, “DON”T MOVE!”

The two saw a blue stallion with an messy silver mane standing on his hind legs. He held a bow in between one of his fetlocks and an arrow in the other. The arrow was drawn back, and he was aiming right at the two. Rita felt her heart plunge as the arrow was loosed and with such speeds that she couldn’t keep eye contact, the arrow flew.

The arrow sailed right past Rita’s ear and stuck something. She saw the arrow’s shaft floating in mid air out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly she became aware of the shadows at her feet, her shadow, Applejack’s shadow, and one other shadow in between the two of them. Rita jumped forward and turned around only to see the monster that had snuck up on them.

A giant rat stood on its hind legs staring cross eyed at the arrow stuck between its eyes. It reached up with a scaly arm and grabbed at the arrow for a moment before hissing, “Thisss isss…” its eyes rolled back into its skull and it fell over, dead.

Rita stared at the rat for a moment before suddenly turning around and with extra caution, she advanced towards the stallion. Applejack gave a whistle at the sight of the fallen monster and followed Rita.

The stallion settled back down on all fours before giving a nod to Applejack and Rita. “Morning, AJ, ma’am. You’re here to help us with the monsters?”

“Ayep, this here is Rita. She’s a human, but she’s apparently a good fighter. Rita, this is Heart Drizzle, he’s one of my cousins, he was in the military,” Applejack introduced them.

Heart Drizzle stood a few inches taller than Rita and looked her up and down before saying, “If you can’t spot them sneaking up on you, you should just stay inside with the foals. These rats are aiming to kill this time around.”

“Darn it, the last invasion they just were stealing food stuffs. Why are they fighting back now?” Applejack asked before stomping a hoof into the hard ground.

Heart Drizzle looked around and said, “They are probably being chased out of their natural habitat south of here, with no other direction they decided to go north. It’s sad that we have to put them down like this, but they tried to kill our young. There is no forgiveness for that.”

Rita suddenly had a heart wrenching image of Applebloom and couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Is Applebloom okay?”

Applejack gave Rita a curious look for a moment before answering, “Yeah she’s fine, she wasn’t the one who was hurt. It was Carrot Top’s filly who was hurt.”

Rita let out a sigh of relief and said, “Alright, let’s go kick some monster butt.”

***

Rita walked alongside Heart Drizzle in silence for a few minutes as they made their way towards the southernmost end of the farm. Applejack had run off to assist in another location leaving these two to take care of matters on this side. While they walked Rita took the time to appreciate her new companion’s weapons.

On Heart Drizzle’s left side hung a short sword with a golden hilt, she could see a faded image of the sun on its sheath. Heart Drizzle’s bow however was something more curious. The bow itself was an almost standard long bow save for the little hole that allowed it to hang from a hook that was worn on Heart Drizzles right side. He also had a nearly full quiver of arrows to spare, this stallion was prepared for a good fight, and Rita approved.

With a sudden uneasiness Rita noticed that Heart Drizzle was staring back at her. She looked up into those eyes and saw an intelligent, hardened being looking back at her. Somehow she felt instantly scolded and looked away shamefully.

The silence was broken as Heart Drizzle suddenly spoke, “You’ve seen real hardship. Those eyes of yours betray you’re past as a warrior, though I’d dare say that you have been out of touch with that side of yourself for quite some time. Did you retire?”

“There was one last battle near the end of the war, it was brutal and I couldn’t find myself enjoying combat like I had used to. I still hold some rank, but it’s in a safe position, Estella believes that I’m too dangerous to let out into the field again. Ever since I came here though, things have been much easier for me… I really like it here in Equestria,” Rita explained. An air of trust was forming between the two soldiers.

Heart Drizzle looked forward and suddenly stopped walking. Rita felt something was off and she halted as well. Together they looked around and out of the earth two giant rats popped out on either side of them.

Heart Drizzle grabbed his sword in his mouth, pulled it free, and leapt on top of the one to his left, his sword plunging down into the monsters back. Rita jumped high into the air with a spin, soared over the head of the rat to her right and as she came down behind it she pulled her daggers free and with a flash of her blades she landed. A second later the rat took a step forward, turned around to look Rita in the eyes and fell over dead. The rat that Heart Drizzle was on was felled as well.

With her heart pumping hot blood and her body filled with energy she couldn’t help but grinning as she stared back at Heart Drizzle who was doing the same. They just stared at each other in silence for a moment, both of them seeing and approving of the other’s skills.

Heart Drizzle hopped off the body and said, “I’m sorry that I doubted you earlier.”

Rita waved a hand saying, “I had already forgotten about it.”

Heart Drizzle looked ahead of them and Rita followed his gaze, a corn field stood proudly and in the distance a small house. Three shapes were struggling on top of the house. With sudden speed Heart Drizzle took off in a gallop, and Rita hurried along although she was quickly left behind. Rita didn’t argue though, because the closer she got to the house the more she realized the danger ahead of them.

A brown mare with bright red pigtails stood on top of the small two story house. Two of the rats were climbing the roof and slowly advancing towards her. Heart Drizzle quickly stood on his hind legs and without delay he fired an arrow. Before the arrow even hit its mark he loosed a second arrow. The two arrows hit their marks and the rats rolled off the building and fell to the ground limp.

The mare waved back at Heart Drizzle just as Rita caught up. Heart Drizzle looked dangerously around and said, “I’m glad that Acorn is safe, but where is her father?”

Rita looked around and unable to see anything she suggested, “Maybe he’s inside?”

Heart Drizzle nodded and the two of them crept on stealthily through the field towards the house. After reaching the house they began hearing some voices from just around the corner. Rita peaked around the corner of the building and saw a flattened area with a small dirt road leading out. Five different rats stood in a circle on the road speaking to one another, it was hard for Rita to distinguish the voices from one another.

“This pony was easy enough to kill.”

“Why do we have to take pony land? This is not a home.”

“The two legs and the ponies already took our home, with their magic sticks and fire. We cannot return, and so we will take the ponies’ home. Remember to kill any pony who stands in our way.”

Rita looked harder at the ground inside the circle and saw the body of an old looking stallion, his brown fur was stained red. A dark brown cowpony hat sat atop his gray mane. Rita pulled her head back and let out a shaky breath.

“He wasn’t inside the house was he?” Heart Drizzle asked, although from his tone he already knew what Rita had just seen.

“No… he’s out there surrounded by five of the monsters,” Rita said quietly.

Heart Drizzle looked at the open door to the house and he said quietly, “Let’s go inside. The two of us can’t just-“

Rita summoned a fireball to her right hand and began looking for a good trajectory to toss it at. Suddenly she heard Heart Drizzle hiss, “Put that out! Are you trying to set the corn field on fire?”

Rita released the spell and looked at him flatly for a moment, she hadn’t thought about an accidental fire starting. That basically left her with one attack spell and her daggers, thus turning this into a dangerous proposition.

“How do we kill them all then?” Rita asked.

Heart Drizzle let out a sigh before explaining, “I was going to say that we will have to take them on from cover. If we get inside we can get the advantage and tear them down before they can even reach us. Please tell me that you won’t try to set anything on fire again.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think about starting a fire…” Rita apologized while feeling rather stupid for not thinking ahead.

The two of them took precaution to be extra quiet when walking into the house next.

***

Inside, the house was a wreck. Furniture had been torn open and food was scattered everywhere. It looked as though these rats had taken their time to destroy the little home as much as they could. The two of them quickly searched the first floor and after seeing no signs of any monsters there they made their way up the staircase to the second floor. Once on the second floor they were treated to a balcony that overlooked the front entrance and a hallway that lead to several rooms and a ladder that lead up into the attic.

Heart Drizzle walked forward quietly checking every room along the way. Rita stood at his back and made sure that nothing snuck up on them. Heart Drizzle stopped after reaching one room in particular and Rita took a quick look inside. The walls were covered in sketches of ponies and the bed had two pillows on it. There was also a suit of golden armor, covered in scratches, sitting against the wall.

“I’m so glad that he’s in Canterlot right now,” Heart Drizzle whispered to himself.

“Who is?” Rita asked.

Heart Drizzle closed the door and explained, “8-bit, he’s a… friend of mine. That’s my room right there, and whenever he’s around town he spends a lot of time with me there. I’m just glad that he’s somewhere safe right now.”

“That’s great, but we still have Acorn to take care of. So let’s hurry,” Rita said, not wanting to spend any more time inside this house with those rats outside.

Heart Drizzle nodded and suddenly he stood on his hind legs again. Rita ducked to the side as Heart Drizzle grabbed his bow and an arrow. That’s when Rita saw the rat that had crawled out of the room at the end of the hall. A single arrow flew past Rita’s face and glided down the hallway before embedding itself into the rat’s skull. The rat fell backwards and out of the window that was just behind it, causing a loud ruckus on its way out.

“Crap!” Heart Drizzle shouted as he got back on all fours and quickly grabbed his bow with his teeth and went to the head of the staircase. Rita followed.

Just as they arrived five angry looking rats poured into the front door. Heart Drizzle stood, loosed another arrow, and dropped one. Rita pointed her right gauntlet at another one and shot a beam of white energy at it. The rat fell on the staircase, but the other three rats quickly climbed over their fallen companion.

Heart Drizzle dropped to all fours and ran to the ladder with Rita hot on his trail. The two quickly climbed up to the attic and turned just in time as one of the rats stuck its body halfway through the attic entrance. Rita unleashed another beam into the rats face. It fell back and down the ladder. Not even a second passed before another rat stuck its head up and Heart Drizzle fired an arrow into it. That rat fell down as well.

The two waited for the final rat to come up for a moment, but nothing came. Heart Drizzle pulled his sword and charged forward before jumping down the ladder. Rita followed him and watched as the last rat tried to flee only to be cut down from behind by Heart Drizzle’s blade.

After that things turned quiet and Heart Drizzle made his way up to the attic, out the window and onto the roof where he helped Acorn get down. The three of them retreated to the living room and Heart Drizzle took one of the thick red curtains and walked outside. Rita’s heart sunk as she was reminded of the body outside.

Acorn sat nervously and looked up at Rita, the mare was a few inches shorter than average and looked a little younger as well. She was still shaking a little as she asked, “Do you know where mah pa is? He was supposed to be home by now.”

Rita forced herself to not glance towards the road as she changed the topic, “Why don’t you tell me what happened first?”

Still shaking Acorn began to explain, “Ah was just listening to some music in mah room, when suddenly Ah heard the front door getting kicked in. Ah looked outside mah door and when Ah saw the rats Ah snuck up into the attic. They didn’t find me for a while, but when they did Ah had to run to the roof… it was scary.”

Rita’s neck hairs stood on edge, and she knew that something was wrong. All she had time to do was see the shadow of the giant rat just behind her before she could react. Rita shoved Acorn as far away from her as she could while shouting, “HEART DRIZZLE!”

A searing hot pain tore into her back and she fell forward. Rita rolled over and screamed in agony as she turned herself to see the giant rat that had managed to sneak behind her. Rita tried to move but her back sent a torrent of pain across her entire body and her vision blackened. The last things she saw was both Applejack, and Heart Drizzle staring at her from the doorway, Heart Drizzle had his bow and arrow ready. The arrow was loosed and that’s when the world went plunging into the deep end and Rita’s blacked out.

Chapter Thirty: Recovery

The Equestrian Venture
Chapter Thirty: Recovery
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The day was quiet and peaceful, a day the likes of which Fluttershy always enjoyed. In fact it was so nice out today that Fluttershy had decided to bring Pinkie Pie along with her for a relaxing picnic. So there she was lying on the blanket and staring longingly into the bright blue sky, with Pinkie Pie who was currently eating a plate full of cupcakes. Fluttershy looked over at Pinkie and gave the pony a gentle smile, Pinkie returned the smile.

“Isn’t today just lovely?” Fluttershy asked.

Pinkie Pie stretched out her forelegs and replied, “It is the best day for a picnic, thanks for inviting me, Fluttershy. When are the others arriving?”

“Oh, well you see, um, I didn’t exactly invite anypony else,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Why not?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.

“Well, um… I don’t want to sound rude… but if you really want to know…” Fluttershy trailed off.

After a moment of silence Pinkie Pie said, “Of course I want to know.”

“Oh, okay. Well, Twilight likes to study while we picnic so it always feels like she’s not really here. Rainbow Dash either sleeps, or she can’t sit still. Applejack is working today. Rarity doesn’t like to roll in the grass like we do. And Rita is busy with Princess Celestia today,” Fluttershy explained. “So I decided that maybe, if you wanted, we could spend some quality time together.”

Pinkie Pie just smiled brightly before saying, “Aww, that’s so sweet. Thank you so much for inviting me.”

“You’re welcome,” Fluttershy said.

The two of them continued to bask in the relaxing sun for a long while afterwards. Until Celestia and Applejack showed up that is. Applejack’s face was grim, and Celestia’s serious. Fluttershy noticed right off the bat that Rita wasn’t with Celestia, and that worried her instantly. With Fluttershy’s ears folding back she forced herself to ask the two new comers, “What’s wrong?”

Applejack covered her face with her hat and left Celestia to answer. “Fluttershy, Rita’s been hurt.”

Fluttershy jumped into the air, her blood pumping hot and furious. She stared angrily for a moment at Celestia and just as quickly as her anger came in, fear and panic followed. Pinkie Pie was up and on her hooves almost as suddenly. Fluttershy felt herself begin to shake but she ignored it and asked, “Where is she? Where is my Rita?”

***

The night was cool and the stars shone brightly above and Rita lay there in their sleeping bag with Estella holding onto her tightly. Rita looked over and admired the sleeping form of Estella, seeing the princess always made her smile, especially at night. Rita returned to gazing up at the stars and wondering what they would be doing after this war was over, after they defeated The Chaos Lord. Nobody had really talked much about what they would do afterwards, and the topic always darkened the mood.

Honestly speaking out of everyone there, Rita had already decided what she was going to do after it was all over. She was going to tell Estella how she really felt, she was going to kiss the princess for the very first time, and then she was going to live happily ever after. Of course this would take awhile to accomplish but everything was going to be perfect.

The sound of footsteps grabbed hold of Rita’s attention and so she quickly pretended to sleep. Rita didn’t have to look in order to know what was going on. Crow had come back from his shift and he was going to trade places with Lamont for the rest of the night. Snow had already done her shift, and for tonight at least Reed, Estella, and Rita were allowed to sleep unabridged. Rita however woke up in the middle of the night and decided to just enjoy the night sky until she could fall asleep again.

Crow sounded serious as he said, “Okay, Lamont. I did the reconnaissance that you asked for… and you’re not going to like the results.”

Sounding very much as though he had been awake the whole night Lamont answered quietly, “What did you see?”

“They have three dragons, a platoon of dragonkin warriors, and worst of all Chaos is there in the middle of it all. He’s already taken control of the Spire. If we can even manage to get past all of that, we still have to contend with Chaos… and from the looks of it, he’s reverted to his original form. Frankly put, I think that we’re screwed,” Crow explained.

A dead silence filled the air for a couple of minutes and Rita could only imagine what Lamont looked like as he sat there thinking about what to do next. He was the tactical one, and he would have the best strategy but in a situation such as this, Rita believed that Lamont could still pull through.

Finally at great length Lamont spoke again, “We are going to pick up what’s left of the knights, and if we’re lucky the Arcane Society will have some Sentinels left. If we can get them we will be able to push through and make our way to Chaos without much trouble. Speaking of Sentinel’s how many did you spy at the Spire?”

“I didn’t see more than five of the generation two Sentinel units. That’s good news in and of itself. I guess if we can get those knights on bored we will be able to walk right through the enemy lines. Perhaps we should also invest in some bards for our victory march after we win,” Crow said.

“Ha, that would be a terrible idea. Though you and me both know that before we even begin our assault we will need to discuss just how difficult this battle will be. It’s a suicide mission, chances are that none of us are coming back in one piece, if at all,” Lamont said darkly.

Silence again filled the air, and only after a moment did Rita hear Crow say, “Wait a minute, Rita’s breathing changed. She’s awake!”

***

Pain filled Rita’s world as she opened her eyes and tried to scream. For a moment she couldn’t figure out why nothing came out and then suddenly she inhaled deeply. She quickly fought the urge to scream a second time as the white hot pain flashed through her back. She looked around quickly and saw Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and even Princess Celestia staring back at her.

Fluttershy walked over with quiet slow steps before sitting down in front of the bed that Rita found herself on. Fluttershy gave a timid smile to Rita but said nothing. The pain in her back began to subside allowing Rita to think clearly, and the first thing she did was try to figure out where she was. The room she was in was a plain wooden room, with a few paintings on the wall, and some furnishing but for the most part it was empty.

Rita stupidly tried to sit up and as the pain came flying back at great speeds she gave up on the idea. Rita instead stared pitifully at Fluttershy, praying for some information as to what was going on. Nopony spoke to her but they all looked nervous, except for Fluttershy who smiled worriedly at Rita.

Finally having enough of the silent treatment Rita managed to ask, “What happened?”

Fluttershy used a wing tip to gently brush back Rita’s hair as she explained, “You were hurt while you were saving Acorn.”

Rita thought back to the farm, the rats, and the pony trapped on the roof. The memories suddenly all flooded back and she remembered how that one rat had gotten her in a sneak attack. Rita closed her eyes and said lamely, “I failed…”

“No you didn’t, sugarcube. If it wasn’t for you Acorn would be gone… you saved mah family, Rita,” Applejack said in what Rita could almost believe to be a kind tone of voice.

“I got attacked because I was careless, I could’ve gotten Acorn killed, I could’ve gotten Heart Drizzle killed. I failed Applejack… I’m sorry,” Rita apologized quietly.

“Now Ah don’t want to hear that kind of attitude from you. You just saved mah family at risk of yer own. So you better straighten up that act and realize that you did good, much better than most ponies could,” Applejack said.

Rita couldn’t believe that Applejack was actually acting like she cared about her. Rita gave up on arguing the point with Applejack and just said, “Whatever.”

Rita looked down at her body which was covered up by a blanket and the sudden realization of the fact that she was topless underneath the bed made her give out a tiny yelp. Fluttershy quickly asked, “Are you okay?”

“I-I-I’m naked! Fluttershy, they took my clothes off, they saw me…” Rita closed her eyes tightly and began wishing that the world would just end.

“We’re all naked, Rita. What’s the big deal?” Applejack asked.

“First of all, it’s not appropriate for humans to be naked. Secondly, that means that you saw my… you saw my scars,” Rita explained quietly.

Nopony made a sound after that but Fluttershy did continue to brushing Rita’s hair. After a long moment Pinkie Pie walked up to the bed a little quickly for Rita’s taste, and suddenly she grabbed the blanket and everypony gasped as Pinkie swiftly removed the blanket. Rita was left speechless at Pinkie’s actions but her attention was quickly drawn to the bandages they had wrapped around her chest. Pinkie Pie just stared in silence.

“What the hay, Pinkie!” Applejack cried out.

Pinkie smiled a sly little smile and said, “You see, Rita. You were hurt pretty badly by the rat and so they had to bandage you up. You shouldn’t feel bad that they got to see you naked either, because you’re beautiful.”

Despite the pain and embarrassment, Rita sat up and reached out for the blanket, quickly the pain became too much and the world darkened. Her body became weightless and she fell forward. She stopped and felt her exposed skin brushing against soft pink fur. A warm furry leg wrapped itself around her lower back and Pinkie Pie said, “Shh, I know you’re mad at me right now. But I just wanted to see… you truly are beautiful.”

Rita could’ve hit Pinkie if the effort to move wouldn’t have threatened to knock her unconscious. Rita instead just growled and sunk into Pinkie’s warmth. After a moment she began to really enjoy how warm Pinkie’s fur was, it was like being hugged by a giant kitty. Rita let out a sigh of frustration and said, “Whatever, just… you aren’t allowed to stop holding me now. I don’t care if you had plans for anything else, I decided that you have to hold me now. The end.”

Pinkie Pie smiled softly and said, “Anything you want.”

The bedroom door opened and three more ponies filled the already almost full room. Rita looked at the seven ponies and groaned, it was only expected that all six of them would be converging in on an event like this. Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash all stared with big worried eyes at Rita.

Rarity looked over at Applejack and asked, “Do you know how hard it was to find Acorn’s house? It is all the way in the very back of your farm, darling. We had to get directions from Golden Harvest.”

“Carrot Top is nice like that, though Ah’m surprised she was able to talk with her daughter being hurt an all,” Applejack said.

Rita looked around and although the room didn’t stand out immediately she did feel like it would’ve belonged inside of Acorn’s little home. Of course with her father gone, it felt more like she was invading the poor mare’s space.

“What is Acorn doing?” Rita asked.

Everypony looked a little surprised to hear Rita ask that but Applejack answered, “She’s being taken care of by Heart Drizzle. He’s going to take care of her for awhile until she’s healed from this. It’s hard losing a parent.” When Applejack finished saying that, Rita spotted a sad look coming from the orange mare that only lasted a second.

Pinkie Pie helped Rita to sit up straight on the bed and then she turned around to look at everypony. Rita got a sudden feeling that Pinkie Pie was about to do something that she wouldn’t like. Pinkie Pie grinned brightly.

“Everypony we have wonderful news for you,” Pinkie Pie started. “If it’s okay with, Rita, that is.”

“Might as well tell them now, considering I’m too injured to do anything else.”

“YES!” Pinkie shouted with joy. “Me and Rita are dating!”

Everyponies mouths hit the floor, all except for Celestia who just smiled in quiet approval. It was like everypony had just been shell-shocked and had no idea what to do, nor how to process the sudden information. After a bit everypony began looking very awkward.

Fluttershy was the first one to calm down from the shock and she smiled. “That’s so cute. You two are adorable together.”

Rarity smiled nervously and said, “Well… I suppose that I can’t be one to judge who you should be with. If you need anything I’ll support you.”

Rainbow Dash starched her head and asked, “Uh… how does that work. You know how do you two have-”

Rarity kindly put a hoof up to Rainbow’s mouth and said, “Darling, it is rude to ask those kinds of questions.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow and said, “You know Ah had my suspicions but Ah didn’t actually think that you would go this far. Pinkie, you do realize that Rita isn’t a pony… right?”

“I don’t care what she is, she’s my special somepony and that’s all that matters,” Pinkie Pie stated proudly.

“Alright, so long as you know it’s gonna get awkward,” Applejack said.

Twilight shook her head and said bitterly, “Crap. This isn’t fair, I thought that you were… ugh. The one human that comes to our world and you get to her first.”

Everypony looked at Twilight suddenly forcing her to explain, “What I like humans. You all knew that already when I told you about Flash.”

“This explains why you haven’t tried spending much time with the pony version of him,” Rarity said.

Rita leaned against Pinkie’s back and wrapped her arms around Pinkie’s neck before saying, “You know, I haven’t told anyone but I think my birthday might be coming up.”

“Yep, in exactly four days,” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

“H-h-how do you know that? I haven’t even told Fluttershy?” Rita asked.

“I’m the party pony, Pinkie Pie, duh…” Pinkie replied.

Rita gave up on trying to understand Pinkie’s nonsense and instead chose to snuggle into the pink curly mane that was in front of her. Rita smiled as she took in the scent of frosting. Now that everypony knew about this, Rita didn’t have to hide it anymore, although they weren’t really hiding it in the first place.

Rita yawned and a sudden wave of exhaustion hit her. Rita carefully and painfully laid down after that. It took a moment but Pinkie Pie managed to get in and snuggle her without actually hurting Rita. Pinkie Pie stretched her neck back to look at everypony and said quietly, “its nap time everypony. If you don’t mind, we would like to sleep alone please. We can gossip about this later, okay?”

Nopony argued although Rita heard a few confused comments from the group as they fled out of the bedroom door. As soon as the door closed behind them Pinkie laid her head just above Rita’s and said, “You’ve been working really hard to help us, and you totally deserve a break. I’ll be here when you wake up, promise.”

After that Rita slipped away into her dreams. Even though she was being held by a lovable pink pony, she still had strange dreams that shifted from being a virtual paradise, into a complete nightmare. Oftentimes hanging on somewhere in between the two. Her sleep wasn’t going to be very restful.

Chapter Thirty One: Eighteen

The Equestrian Venture
Chapter Thirty One: Eighteen
Written by TheCrimsonDM

Clip-clop, clip clop. That was the sound that treated Rita’s ears as she traveled via pony into town. It had been four days since Rita’s injury, and she still wasn’t able to walk around without aid. Fluttershy was kind enough to give the poor girl a ride into town so they could meet up with Pinkie Pie, it was Rita’s eighteenth birthday after all.

Looking at the back of Fluttershy’s head, Rita had the sudden urge to begin petting the pink mane. She didn’t actually go through with it, because of the awkward reaction she had received from the pegasus pony last time. But the temptation was still there.

“How much longer?” Rita asked, it had taken far too long to get out of the house today. All she wanted to do was meet up with Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy’s gentle voice was soothing to listen to as they traveled. “We will be there shortly. Pinkie Pie put a lot of work into this for you, so I’m sure that you’ll like it.”

The slight jostling of Fluttershy’s movements caused pain in Rita’s back, but it was still easier than trying to walk. The last time she tried to walk without aid, she nearly fainted. It was a little awkward being stared at by the ponies throughout the town. They weren’t judging her though. The looks she received came alongside friendly smiles, waves, and slight nods. It would seem that after defending Applejack’s farm, Rita had earned some measure of respect from these ponies.

“Okay, I’ll be-“Rita started but stopped. A familiar blue unicorn trotted out to meet them. A gift wrapped package was being levitated next to her. Rita couldn’t help but to exclaim happily, “Trixie!”

Fluttershy looked over and smiled at the blue unicorn. Trixie gave a small smile to the both of them and joined them on their walk.

“Trixie hears that today is your birthday,” Trixie stated.

“Yeah, it is. Are you going to join the party?” Rita asked.

Trixie shook her head, and Rita’s heart sank a little. Trixie explained, “Trixie would love to, but she would not be the best company at a party just yet. In addition, Trixie is afraid that Pinkie Pie is running the party, which makes it impossible for Trixie to join.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because Maud would be very upset if she found out that Trixie went anywhere near Pinkie Pie,” Trixie explained, her limp was still noticeable. “But Trixie did get a present for you.”

As the package neared Rita, she grabbed it. The movement caused a slight pain increase in her back, but she ignored it and held the package tightly. It was odd, but Rita couldn’t help grinning like an idiot at Trixie.

“Thanks, we should totally hang out sometime,” Rita said.

“Trixie would like that, maybe when Trixie has more free time.”

Rita raised an eye brow and now interested in what Trixie was up to, she felt the need to ask, “What’s going on?”

“Princess Celestia has Trixie doing some investigating around the village borders. There’s been reports of strange monster sightings, but no conclusive evidence has been found. If there is something to be found though, you can be sure that The Great and Powerful Trixie shall find it,” Trixie explained, she sounded a lot better off then she had been only a few days ago. It made Rita happy to see the unicorn recovering so quickly.

“Trixie must leave now, but she will visit you later,” Trixie promised as she trotted off.

Rita couldn’t help but reply, “See ya later, Trixie. I’ll probably be at Fluttershy’s.”

After that Fluttershy and Rita continued on their way to Sugarcube Corner. Rita decided to wait to open the present until after she got to the party, it would only be fair to open them all at the same time. Today was already looking to be one of the best days in her life, hopefully this trend would continue.

***

The party was about as big as Rita had expected it to be, with her six closest friends, Spike and even Princess Celestia all there to make her special day just that much more special. The cake had been delicious, and watching Twilight Sparkle make an attempt at dancing was entertaining. Finally things settled down and with everypony sitting down at Rita’s table, it was finally time to open gifts.

The first gift that was set on the table was a small rectangle shaped package, without any waiting Rita tore off the paper and smiled at her new prize. A brand new journal, with a black leather binding and red trim greeted her with promise. She couldn’t help but look up at Applejack, who had given her the gift, and smile.

“Thank you, Applejack. I’m going to use this, a lot,” Rita said.

Applejack simply tilted her hat down and said, “No problem sugarcube.”

The next gift that Rita was given came from Rarity in the form of a small but elongated box. It looked like something you’d keep a toothbrush in. If she got me a tooth brush for my birthday, I swear I’m going to freak out.

With a lot less enthusiasm then the last present Rita took off the wrapping paper, and found a small wooden box. She opened the box and much to her surprise she saw a red pen with gold equish letters etched into the side, the letters spelled out the name Rita Rainwater. Seeing the smile shared between both Applejack and Rarity made it clear that they had worked together to get these for Rita.

“Rarity, this is a really nice pen, I’ll be sure to make good use of it,” Rita complemented.

“Oh I’m so happy to hear that, darling,” Rarity said with smile.

Rainbow Dash wasted no time in planting her gift on the table next. Her speed got her a few cold stares from the others. Rita didn’t waste any more time then Rainbow Dash had in grabbing the package and tearing into it. She was more curious than anything else in learning about what kind of gift an awesome pony like Rainbow Dash would get for her.

There was a smaller box inside of the big one. Rita glared at Rainbow Dash who snickered in response. Rita opened the second box only to find an even smaller box inside that one. Rainbow Dash was now laughing. Once again Rita opened the box and found yet another box inside of it. Rita gave a death glare to the rainbow maned pegasus who then fell onto the floor, rolling with laughter.

Rita opened the tiny box before her, and this time she was pleased to find an actual present inside. It was a pin, one that resembled a lightning bolt with a pair of wings. She wasn’t really sure what to do with it, but she picked it up smiled anyway.

“Um, thanks…” Rita said.

“Yeah, I know. You weren’t expecting a Wonderbolt pin, but hey that’s just what kind of friend I am. Enjoy,” Rainbow Dash said.

Next Twilight carefully used her magic to levitate a large box over to the side of Rita’s chair. Rita bent over to open it, and the movement caused a sudden bout of pain to shoot through her back. The box was half her size and looked very heavy, there was no way she could simply pick it up and open it.

“Um…” Rita said nervously. Rita stared with pleading eyes at Fluttershy. I don’t want to sound weak, or rude… but I don’t think I can open this one by myself.

Fluttershy figured out what was wrong with Rita and offered, “I can help you open it if you want.”

Twilight was now beginning to look a little guilty.

Rita looked down at the package shamefully. She wanted to be able to open it herself so badly, but pushing it right now would be a horrible idea. With a little resentment Rita said, “Fine.”

Carefully, Fluttershy unwrapped the top half of the box and opened the lid for Rita to see inside. The top of the box was lined with a series of encyclopedias and from what she could see there were a lot more books underneath them. The gift was really nice in the way that Rita was dying for more history on Equestria, but a bunch of encyclopedias were still a hard sale for a birthday present.

“Oh, that’s neat,” Rita said. “I’ll certainly enjoy reading them later, but uh… you do know that you aren’t supposed to give out boring books for a birthday present, right?”

Everypony was silent for a few minutes as they looked between Rita and Twilight Sparkle. The strange thing was that Twilight was smiling, when she had expected the princess frowning at her for the explanation.

“Oh,” Twilight said slyly, “I didn’t know that. Hmm, well you really shouldn’t look any further into that box then.”

Fluttershy went ahead and lifted the first book off of the top row and smiled. “Oh, Rita, I, um…”

Not entirely sure of what was going on, Rita followed Fluttershy’s gaze and saw something she wasn’t expecting. There was a Daring Doo book staring at her from just underneath the encyclopedia. Rita looked back up at Twilight and raised an eye brow.

“Oh, didn’t I mention,” Twilight said playfully, “There’s more than just encyclopedias in there. In fact with your recent revelation that you and Pinkie are dating I added a few books that could help you.”

Rita looked over and moved a few books out of the way. Romance novels, fantasy novels, history books, maps to Equestria and one book entitled, ‘Don’t worry it’s just Mating Season’. After the last one, Rita decided it was best to leave the books until later. The last book had set her mind into places where it really wasn’t designed to go to.

“Wow, thanks, Twilight. Anyone else have a present for me?” Rita half joked.

Spike walked up, and put his present on the table. It wasn’t wrapped but it didn’t need to be. The carved wooden box had images of various animals in the center, with gems around the sides. Carefully Rita opened the box and saw a mess of various gems, from the size of her hand to tiny pebbles, all of which were different in color. The machines that Rita could build with these if she only had a workshop.

“Spike,” Rita said slyly, “Thank you. The things I could do with these… if the world is destroyed tomorrow then you can safely blame me.”

“I… what?” Spike asked confused.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything crazy… yet,” Rita said.

Next Fluttershy lifted up a small package and set it gently down on the table. She smiled faintly at Rita and admitted, “I… um, well I couldn’t afford anything like a gold pen, or a box of gems… but I hope you like this anyway.”

Rita smiled back at Fluttershy before grabbing the small gift and carefully unwrapping it. Inside she found a portrait with a picture of Fluttershy and the others all smiling at the camera. Rita couldn’t help but to smile at Fluttershy. Having a portrait of her new friends reminded her of the old days, when she was in her own world and surrounded by her friends. Usually when she remembered the past, it was sad and dark, but right now all the happiness of those times came flooding back to her.

It’s just like back then, I have friends who care about me, and a place to actually call my home. This time I won’t let anything bad happen.

“Rita,” Fluttershy cooed softly. A gentle wing tip came up and brushed away a tear from Rita’s cheek, she hadn’t even realized that the tear was there.

“I-I just,” Rita attempted to defend herself, but the words never came. She simply shook her head and muttered, “Thank you guys… for everything.”

This was when Rita noticed a distant look in Celestia’s eyes, it was almost like she wasn’t quite there at the moment. Carefully Rita looked up at the giant pony and asked, “Are you okay?”

Celestia nodded and smiled, “Just remembering the past. I’m old and sometimes that happens. Don’t worry about it, in fact...” Celestia’s horn lit up and a document lifted up from just out of sight and was laid down on the table. “Here’s your birthday present.”

The document was actually the deed to a windmill and the land around it. The windmill in question was just outside of Ponyville. The best part was that the document was signed over to Rita. Why would she give me this?

“I see the confusion in your eyes, allow me to explain,” Celestia offered. “You’re a permanent resident of our world now, and you will need a place to live and work. If I understand correctly you like to build things. So this place is just remote enough that I think you could have all the fun in the world building whatever your heart desires without distraction, but close enough that you would never have to be alone.”

Rita examined the document a second time. This was by far the greatest gift she had received, at least in terms of monetary value. But one did not simply give out patches of land for birthday gifts, something was off.

“Why?” Rita asked.

A cunning look came into Celestia’s eyes and she smiled. “You’re worried that something’s wrong are you? Well don’t fret too much. This land has been abandoned for years, and will need a lot of reconstruction before it is livable again. I’ve been trying to sale the land, but nopony wants it.”

“Why?” Rita asked again.

“Because it’s too close to the Everfree Forest,” Celestia explained.

Fluttershy added, “Nopony wants land so close to the forest, that’s how I got my home for so cheap.”

That was a little weird, but after seeing the timberwolves, Rita could see the fear of the forest. She still didn’t entirely trust Celestia’s motives, but she gave the princess a break. Maybe ponies were truly kind hearted and not manipulative after all.

Pinkie Pie trotted up to the table with a package on her back, the gift wrapping was the same color as her fur which made it blend in a little too well. Pinkie bounced into the air, and the package sailed over her head before landing perfectly on the table. Pinkie’s smile only made Rita want to open the present right away, but she had one thing to do first.

“I’m actually going to save your present for last, Pinkie,” Rita explained while nodding at Fluttershy. Fluttershy took the hint and quickly retrieved Trixie’s gift from the corner and set it on the table before Rita.

“Who gave ya that one?” Pinkie Pie asked cheerfully.

“Trixie did.”

A few uncomfortable stares found their way towards Rita and the gift. Pinkie simply continued to smile. Rita ignored the staring ponies and opened the present, she couldn’t wait to see what the unicorn was gifting her with.

“A…” Rita said as she pulled out a red scarf. “Scarf.”

“She does know that scarves are out of season, doesn’t she,” Rarity critiqued.

“Ayep, it’s not even cold out,” Applejack agreed.

“Fashion has nothing to do with weather, darling.”

Rita examined it further and saw a golden star pattern laced into it. A letter accompanied the scarf. Rita read it aloud.

“I know you might be confused as to why I choose to give you a scarf, and I can’t say that I blame you. Sure it isn’t cold outside, but it’s not exactly about the weather. You see I was trying to figure out a way to repay you, for how you took care of me in my darkest hour, when my heart had frozen over from all the pain and suffering. You kept me warm, you kept me safe, and you stood up to me when Twilight berated me for saving the pony I care for most in this world.”

Rita smiled and explained, “She’s talking about Maud.”

After a few gasps at the mention of the name, Rita continued reading. “So I decided that I would make this scarf for you. That way when the world grows cold, I can be there to keep you warm as well. It’s not often that I meet a pony who can see past my flaws, one that I can call a friend. But Rita, I feel comfortable in calling you just that, my friend. With the greatest of honor, Trixie Lulamoon, the best protégé that Celestia will ever have.”

For a long time everypony was silent, and Rita could only smile at the letter and the scarf. All of that was true, but Rita hadn’t realized exactly how much of an impression she had made on Trixie. It seemed like the unicorn’s entire life had been changed for the better by meeting her, and that brought a warm feeling in Rita’s heart.

“Well she might have been a bit over the top there at the ending, but that was beautiful,” Twilight said, thus breaking the silence.

Rita looked at Twilight and said softly, “I’m just happy to know that she’s doing better.”

Only after carefully placing the scarf into the box and closing it, did Rita take a second look at Pinkie’s present. A slight fear hit Rita’s heart as she suddenly realized that there was a chance that Pinkie didn’t get her something as good as Fluttershy, or Trixie. It was entirely possible that Pinkie’s present wasn’t all that great, and it would be only too obvious to everypony if Rita didn’t like it as much. Now she wasn’t sure what to do.

Almost as though Pinkie Pie had read her mind, the pink pony said, “It’s okay if you don’t like my present like you did the others. The fact that you’re smiling right now is enough for me.”

“Pinkie, I,” Rita started but stopped when Pinkie Pie shook her head. Rita finished lamely, “I’ll open yours now.”

Carefully she took the wrapping off and set it aside. Then she opened the box and found a sash inside. It was red, which matched her color scheme, but there were black cog symbols on the sides. It was certainly unique.

“Thanks, Pinkie,” Rita said.

Pinkie smiled and said, ‘You don’t get it do you?”

“Um… not really. It’s pretty clothing right?”

“Nope!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. “If you put it on right, the symbols will cover your flanks.”

“I… okay.”

“It’s a cutie mark!” Pinkie explained joyously.

It took a moment to sink in but the longer she stared at the sash, and the symbols. The more it made sense. Everypony else had cutie marks, so why shouldn’t Rita. The fact that they were cogs indicated her talent for building and inventing things, so they fit her perfectly. Pinkie Pie was doing her utmost to make sure that Rita fit in with Pony society and felt at home. Sure it wasn’t as emotionally powerful as the other presents, but this was a really cute present.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Rita said. “Come over here.”

Pinkie Pie walked over to Rita’s side and smiled at her. Rita couldn’t help but to grin with Pinkie Pie for a moment. With Rita riding an emotional high, her feelings towards the pink pony were stronger than ever before. So as surprising as it was to everypony else, to her it only felt natural, as she leaned in and pressed her lips against Pinkie’s cheek and gave her marefriend a kiss. The soft pink fur tickled her nose and lips a little on contact.

As Rita pulled away she couldn’t help but notice the goofy smile on Pinkie’s face. Despite the surprise that everypony had to the event, Pinkie Pie quickly recovered and asked, “Hey… can I um…”

Rita rolled her eyes and said, “You may.”

As Pinkie Pie leaned in Rita closed her eyes, for a brief moment she was still terrified that Pinkie would bite her by mistake, but that fear was gone the second Pinkie’s soft lips touched upon Rita’s bare cheek. A fire raced across her face. She opened her eyes a moment later to find Pinkie Pie staring into them. With her face still aflame, Rita could only stare deeply into those beautiful blue eyes.

Chapter Thirty Two: The Old Windmill

The Equestrian Venture

Chapter Thirty Two: The Old Windmill

Written by TheCrimsonDM

A couple of days after the birthday party Rita managed to convince Fluttershy to take her over to see her new windmill. The road out of town took longer than she had originally planned, but the walk was quite peaceful. A long road stretched from the town, through some woods, and out into an open field where there sat a lonesome windmill upon the top of an old hill.

The windmills blades had long since stopped turning and with all the damage they had received from the ravages of time it wasn’t hard to figure out why. Several bird nests had been built into the blades themselves. The outer walls of the windmill were for the most part intact, with vines growing up them and a few holes here and there. This place might be more of a hassle than I had originally hoped.

As the two approached the front door of the windmill in question Rita stopped and admired the old mailbox that was situated on the side. Covered in rust and full of holes, the mailbox was in its death throes, but there was something special about it.

The front porch was covered in dirt, but an old rug could be seen jutting out from underneath. It read, “Welcome.”

Rita looked over at Fluttershy and smiled. At least I’m walking again.

“Let’s go in,” Rita said. She then pushed against the door, it didn’t budge. The hinges were rusted over, and the door handle itself refused to move. Rita had a solution to this. She took a few steps back, and motioned for Fluttershy to join her. Carefully Rita lifted up her left hand, the purple gem shoved into the back of her palm began to glow dimly. Okay this has to work.

Suddenly an invisible force flew out from her hand and shoved against the door. For a moment the door held fast, groaning as it strained to stay upright, than the hinges snapped and the door went sailing inward before crashing against the far wall. Oops… that might have been a bit too much force.

The inside of the windmill was dark and the smell of mildew wafted out. A thick layer of dust and dirt covered the floor, various plants were growing along the wall, and some grass even grew by one of the boarded up windows. Great, well this explains why she gave it to me for free.

Carefully Rita walked inside and the floorboards creaked underneath her steps. Okay, note to self, be wary of possible basements.

Fluttershy stood nervously at the front door and looked down at the floor with caution. “Um, Rita, are you sure that this is safe?”

“Safe, no. Fun, still no. But mandatory, yes. Celestia gave me this place, so I need to see what I’ll be working on fixing up after all. It’s almost like a tower, so maybe I can do something nice with it,” Rita explained, as she daringly walked further inside.

The first floor of the windmill was virtually empty of furniture, but with a staircase leading to a second floor, and a door under that which looked like a possible entrance to a basement, there was plenty for her to explore. Carefully Rita made her way to the staircase and began walking up it. The steps cried out in agony with each step, but she managed to make it to the top without any mishaps.

The second floor was actually a nice big open loft with most of the windmill’s mechanical parts still here, just broken. The second floor was much brighter than the first floor was, mostly due to the windows not being boarded up. There was also less dust and no plants up here, which was a good sign, but that didn’t mean it was usable just yet. This place still needed renovation before it would good enough to live in.

Back downstairs Rita checked out the door which did indeed lead to a basement. Carefully Rita moved down into it. It was far too dark down here to see properly, but Rita was prepared for this. She quickly swapped out the gem on her left hand gauntlet and brought a light spell to life. With her gauntlet now casting a bright light all around her she moved forward into the darkness.

Downstairs Rita was surprised to say the least. The room down here was well built to stand the test of time, with stone walls, and even a reinforced roof to keep the floor above from collapsing. Little to no damage had been done down here. There was still more to this room that got her excited. Machines, a furnace, anvil, and various other workshop tools were down here. It was like a little secret workshop for metal crafting.

A small desk over in the corner had a few binders and notes on top of it. Rita couldn’t help but to quickly go and check them out. The binders were full of schematics and notes, the names on the sides showed what the contents of each would be. Binders ranging from communications to weapon research were all down here. One particular book actually seemed to be a journal or logbook of some kind. Rita took a look at the first page.

“Day 1.

Today our research begins here in our new safehouse. We are here mostly for research and development. But we also have to keep an eye out on the local monsters coming out of the Everfree Forest. It also doesn’t help that I’ve heard rumor of some kind of bugbear. After the incident at our Canterlot Facility, we’re on thin ropes with Princess Celestia. If we mess this up, we can kiss our career and possibly our old lives away completely.

Sweetie Drops, celebrating a new life.”

Rita skipped forward a few pages.

“Day 20.

As a team of three, it’s been weird being the only one who was moved here under a new name and disguise. The members of my team know my real identity but that doesn’t help very much when I have to go out and pretend to be a different person altogether. I’ve met a cute mare though, and we’ve been going out a lot. Lunches, bench sitting, and just generally talking to her have all been amazing experiences. If it wasn’t for her, I’d have lost my mind with this new identity thing… but she gives me hope that I might be able to live here without trouble.

Sweetie Drops.”

Rita moved to the last written page in the logbook. She had to figure out why they just abandoned this place altogether.

“Day 90.

So today we go the order from Princess Celestia. The bugbear caused enough damage and chaos that there are ponies protesting in her streets. The worst part is that this monster ties back to our group. So Celestia has ordered us to either go into hiding under new names, and lives, or if we were already undercover to stay that way. It could take years before we are allowed to take our old lives back, if ever.

I would be more upset, but recently I’ve been sharing my home with a particular unicorn mare. We actually moved in together, and even if I only have one bedroom and one bed, I’m not complaining. Actually that just makes it all the better if I’m to be honest. I don’t know how she will take it if she ever found out who I really was, but I don’t know if I’ll ever come out of hiding so long as I get to hide away with her.

So we are closing down this safe house, and locking it away. Hopefully it will never have to be used again, but if it does we have our machines just for that occasion. All three of us are staying here in Ponyville for the time being, but since we no longer have our organization we are allowed to leave if we want to. Though I know that I won’t move, I like it here too much.

Sweetie Drops, signing off for the last time.”

“Well then,” Rita said to herself. This has certainly been a discovery and a half. I should probably try and keep this bit of information a secret, after all Celestia must’ve known that I’d discover this place if I came here.

Next to the log book was a key, Rita quickly grabbed it and went back upstairs. She had a feeling that this key went to the basement door, and once she was upstairs she tried the lock and it worked. Now feeling more secure up here Rita turned to face Fluttershy. The pegasus still hadn’t crossed the front doors threshold yet.

“Um, Fluttershy,” Rita said. “Do you want to come in or are we going to be going back home now?”

“Can we go home? I don’t like this place very much.”

Rita looked back at the basement door. Well I for one love it here.

“Yeah we can go home,” Rita said.

Rita couldn’t help but to wonder how long it would take to actually convert the little windmill into a new home. A week, two weeks, even longer? She didn’t know. But she had a feeling that it would be a very busy and tireless time until then. Her little adventures would probably have to be put on halt until it was done, and that was slightly annoying. That being said, this could be a time of information gathering for her. What kinds of things would Rita discover during that time, what rumors and myths could she find out, and what kinds of secrets she could discover were all a mystery to her. A mystery that excited her more and more by the second.

Chapter Thirty Three: Fluttershy’s Secret Revealed

The Equestrian Venture

Chapter Thirty Three: Fluttershy’s Secret Revealed

Written by TheCrimsonDM

The days went by as Rita worked on repairing the old windmill, with the help of her friends time flew by and the repairs were made quickly. Soon those days turned into weeks, and the old windmill was nearly finished. In fact she could probably have moved in and started living there already.

She was so close to seeing a new home for her, a place she could call her own, a place where she could safely make all of her crazy inventions without bothering anypony. She couldn’t wait to get to work and start introducing her inventions to this pony world.

There was a question left on her mind now that she was this close though, a question that plagued her for awhile now. What about Fluttershy? What would she do without me there, and what would I do without her? I hate being alone, and so does she. Is moving out completely really a good idea?

Standing on Fluttershy’s front porch and watching the sunset wasn’t doing much to help her answer the question. The sunset only made Rita feel lonely and lost. Both Fluttershy and Rarity are inside the house right now, so I’m not alone. But then why do I feel so lonely out here… what am I missing?

”Darling,” Rarity called from the doorway. “Are you coming in anytime soon?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there shortly.”

Rita looked up at the darkening sky. It’s been nearly two months since I first arrived here in this strange new world. I’ve already made a name for myself, and have a new role to play here. There is still something totally weird going on though.

It was already fairly late, it was time to go in. So Rita walked in the front door and found a place to sit next to Rarity. Fluttershy was sitting on the floor and facing away from Rita. Rarity looked uncomfortable. Well this is awkward.

“Hey,” Rita said, “So it’s pretty late outside, do you want me to walk you home?”

Rarity raised an eyebrow at Rita and asked, “Didn’t you know that I’m spending the night?”

“Uh, no not really. Fluttershy didn’t exactly clue me into that,” Rita admitted. Actually she hasn’t been talking to me very much today, period.

“It’s my turn to help Fluttershy with her condition,” Rarity said.

“What condition?” Rita asked.

Fluttershy scooted a little further from Rita.Rita might be dense, but even she knew something was strange about the way Fluttershy was acting. What’s going on here?

“Fluttershy, for shame,” Rarity said disapprovingly. “You haven’t told Rita about your monthly problem? She lives with you and deserves to know the truth.”

Monthly problem? I’m pretty sure that I know what that is, but I wouldn’t call it a condition… more of an annoyance really.

Fluttershy looked back at Rita, there was fear in her light blue eyes. Fluttershy licked her lips and flashed her teeth, and for a moment Rita saw two very sharp teeth in the Fluttershy’s mouth. With a rough voice Fluttershy said, “Would it be too much to ask you to explain it?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and said, “Fine, but you really should have done this yourself.”

“I know.”

After clearing her throat Rarity explained, “A long time ago our dear Fluttershy here was turned into a bat pony monster thanks to a spell that Twilight used making a mess of things. After we fixed it, or thought we fixed it, Fluttershy returned to the normal pegasus that we all know and love.

“For a long time Fluttershy was just fine, but then she started turning again. Not fully mind you, but partially into the old creature of the night. Once a month, during the full moon, she turns and becomes a bat pony. It changes her personality a little bit, and she becomes… different. We have taken shifts watching her during the full moon for a long time now, making sure that she has enough apples to eat, and doesn’t go out making a fuss for everypony.”

“Why not just tell Twilight she messed up?” Rita asked.

“Because Twilight has a tendency to make giant problems out of small ones. We’d rather just keep this all a secret from her and take care of Fluttershy ourselves. Tonight you get to help me,” Rarity said. When Rita raised a judgmental eyebrow, Rarity added, “Oh come now, it’ll be fun.”

Rita thought back to a month ago. Fluttershy had kicked her out of the house for the night, Rainbow Dash had stayed over, and the next morning she found the rainbow pony tied to a tree. Rita was beginning to regret not taking Rainbow Dash more seriously back then.

“So, what should I expect?” Rita questioned.

“The unexpected,” Rarity replied.

***

A couple of hours went by without much happening. Eventually Rita decided to check out the pantry and see if she couldn’t find anything to snack on, the rumbles in her stomach agreed. Once inside the kitchen she stopped, for on the table sat something rather simple, but delicious. A bright red apple, shiny and pristine, juicy and sweet, sat there staring at her, begging her to simply take it.

She picked it up, took a bite out of the apple and her mouth salivated at the flavor. It was simply divine. She took another bite, followed by two more, and before she even realized it over half of the apple was gone. Her stomach was feeling much better now, and she smiled.

Something soft smashed into the back of her head. She spun around and was blinded by something white before being hit in the head a second time. She stood there, shaking her head for a moment. Angle Bunny sat at the hallway, a proud smirk on his face. The two white pillows at her feet gave her an idea.

Angle Bunny hopped away as Rita reached over and grabbed the pillows one in each hand, and gave chase. She ran down the small corridor and swiftly caught up with the little scamp, she didn’t hesitate before slinging one of the pillows at the rabbit.

Angle Bunny did a back flip over the pillow, caught it with his paws mid air and landed. Now armed he faced Rita, and menacingly stared into her eyes.

They both charged and swung the pillows at each other. The pillow that hit Rita’s leg actually managed to knock her footing away and she fell, while the pillow that hit Angle Bunny sent the little guy hurtling into the wall.

They both lay on their sides staring at one another.

“You’re actually pretty good,” Rita complemented.

Angle Bunny’s nose twitched.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. It’s our job to keep Fluttershy safe, and you know what we stand a better chance at doing that if we work together, rather than fighting each other,” Rita said. She held out a hand. “Truce?”

Angle Bunny lifted his paw threateningly, and for a moment Rita believed that he was going to smack her hand away, his eyes softened and he touched his paw to Rita’s. Together they shook, and the deal was sealed.

That’s when Rita noticed the odd looking shadow that was being cast on the wall from behind them. Rita and Angle Bunny looked up at the same time to see Fluttershy staring down at them. Her eyes had become red, two fangs stuck out over her bottom lip, and her fur had grown long and fluffy.

“You two were fighting again?” Fluttershy asked coolly. Something about her stance, and her tone gave Rita the shivers.

Rita sat up and said, “Yeah, we were just fooling around. We’re friends now so it’s all good.”

“That’s nice, one less thing to be mad about I suppose,” Fluttershy said. She let the comment sink in for a moment before adding, “But I’m still wondering, who ate my apple?”

Rita tilted her head to the side. “You’re upset about that? It was just an apple, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes, and let out a sigh. “Figures it would’ve been you. You’re always embarrassing or disappointing me somehow. Honestly, I’ve had much better pets then you.”

For a moment Rita stared in complete shock at Fluttershy’s comment. After a moment it sunk in and her initial surprise died down. Rita felt her heart throb painfully. For a little while Rita only sat there quietly, thinking about the comment, tears formed in the corner of her vision but she fought to keep them inside. It took a bit but the final part of what Fluttershy had said finally sunk in. She just called me a pet!

Rita looked up at Fluttershy and saw the pony still staring down at her with disappointment clear across her face. The pain was quickly overtaken by another feeling, a burning feeling, and Rita stood up. Anger began fueling her as she repeated the word in her mind; pet.

“Fluttershy,” Rita said in a low voice. “Do you actually think of me as your pet?”

So many things made since now. Fluttershy hadn’t thought of Rita as a friend, or a child, but rather as an animal to take care of. In Fluttershy’s mind, Rita couldn’t be sure if she was even considered a person anymore. All of that just made Rita’s anger burn brighter.

“Of course you’re my pet. You’re one of my favorite, and best one’s too. That’s why we make such good friends,” Fluttershy replied calmly. “And I really don’t think that you trying to go live on your own is a good idea. You should stay here, where I can take care of you.”

Rita shook violently. “Are you crazy?”

“What?” Fluttershy asked, shocked.

“I am a person. I’m not your pet, you can’t treat me like this. I’ve survived things you couldn’t even imagine, I’ve destroyed armies, I am a soldier. You cannot treat me like an animal,” Rita demanded.

Fluttershy shook her head and trotted back to the living room. “You’re so cute when you’re angry. Just try and keep that anger of yours in check, or else I might have to ground you.”

At this point Rita was fuming with rage, but the small little pats on the back of her leg from Angle Bunny helped her calm down. She crossed her arms and huffed. “At least I won’t have to be treated like this much longer.”

Angle Bunny hopped in the living room, he made a squeaking noise before disappearing. Rita wasn’t sure what it was supposed to mean, she didn’t exactly speak rabbit, but if she had to guess, it was something along the lines of, “Try not to cause any trouble.”

Rita stayed in the hallway silently for a few minutes, quietly fuming to herself. Finally she let out a sigh, and decided to join the others in the living room. Hopefully the night would be over quickly, and without any sort of trouble.

Back in the living room Rita found a place to sit against the wall, furthest from the couch that Fluttershy was currently occupying. Rarity was sitting next to her with a small mirror and a makeup bag by her side. Every now and then she would lower the mirror, take a look around the room, and then return to prettying herself.

Minutes turned over slowly, one by one, as the anger sat inside on a slow boil. Finally Rita slammed her hand down against the floor boards garnering everyone’s attention. They all looked at Rita with expectation, but whatever they were expecting wasn’t her concern.

“Why?” Rita asked. “Why didn’t you tell me what you thought about me sooner?”

Fluttershy bit into the apple in her hooves and sucked, within seconds the apple’s juices were sucked out leaving a dried out husk in her hooves. She tossed it into a bin next to the couch and sat up. “It should have been obvious.”

“Well it clearly wasn’t to me.” Rita said bitterly. “I thought that we were friends, sisters…” Something crawling in the back of her mind forced her to remember all those nights where she had been cuddled to sleep by the kind mare. “Maybe we were too close. I should have realized something was weird, and Pinkie even mentioned once that it was strange how close you and me were, especially after I started dating her.”

“I still think it’s weird that one of my pets is dating Pinkie pie, but I suppose if it makes you happy it’s okay,” Fluttershy said thoughtfully.

Rita shook, her anger was rising again. “I am not your pet.”

“Oh but, Rita, who took you in and nursed you back to health? Who was it that helped you integrate into our society? Face it, Rita, you are my pet,” Fluttershy said, her tone was stern, but held a hint of playfulness in it.

Rita balled her hand into a fist, her arm shaking with rage. “I am a person, damn it! Treat me like one.”

Fluttershy shot a cold look at Rita and hissed, “Language.”

“Screw language, and screw you.” Rita said, her anger built to a point that she couldn’t hold it in. She unleashed her furry against the hardwood floor. She slammed her fist down, once, twice, and then a third time for good measure. She pulled back to do it once more, when an outburst of pain shot through her hand. She cringed and hid her hand under her sleeve.

Rarity’s eyes were wide, her ears pinned back. Fluttershy stared calmly at Rita. Rita looked away from either of them, refusing to make eye contact.

Fluttershy leapt into the air, and soared a small distance, before landing in front of Rita. Rita pulled back and pressed herself against the wall. “What do you want?”

Fluttershy looked down at Rita’s hand. “Show me what you did.”

Rita tightened up. “No, I don’t want to.” She cringed as her fingers touched the inside of her sleeve.

“Show me now, or I won’t fix it for you,” Fluttershy threatened.

“It’s your fault in the first place, so why should I care if you fix it or not. Actually I don’t want you to fix it, I don’t want you to touch me at all,” Rita spat.

Fluttershy lifted a wing and swiftly brought it over to Rita’s face. Rita looked away and tried to pull herself further into the wall, but she was already pressed as flat against it as she possibly could. The feathery wing gently brushed against Rita’s face.

“Shh,” Fluttershy said. “I’m not angry with you. I must have done something wrong, and I apologize for it.”

“Wow,” Rarity commented. “Flutterbat never apologizes to anypony.”

Rita lifted her wounded hand and brushed the wing away, the mere contact caused a spike a pain that made Rita yelp. Fluttershy pulled away, but her red eyes stared intently at Rita’s hand. After a moment, Rita slid her sleeve down to look at her hand. When Rita saw her scarlet fingers her heart froze. Blood trickled down her fingers and around her palm before dripping onto the floor.

“Rita, stay calm,” Fluttershy said. “It’s just a little booboo.”

Rita’s breathing was speeding up. “What did I… I didn’t mean to do that.”

Fluttershy gave Rarity a look. “Get the first aid kit.”

Rarity didn’t argue, but for a moment she hesitated while looking at Rita’s hand.

“Now!” Fluttershy demanded loudly.

Rarity snapped to attention and quickly ran into the kitchen. Fluttershy looked back at Rita and sighed. “You know, I’m sorry that you got mad at me. Usually when I’m like this, Rainbow Dash pisses me off and I get into a fight with her. But now I never wanted you to get hurt.”

Rita shook her head. “I just want to be your equal, I don’t want to be your pet… your… toy.”

“Is it really so bad to be my pet? I can take good care of you, feed you, nurse you to full health, and even cuddle you at night. Is all of that really so bad?” Fluttershy said.

“No, that’s not the problem,” Rita said quietly. “You seeing me as a pet means that you think you own me, that you’re above me. I don’t want that.”

Fluttershy lowered her head. “Oh… I see.” She was quiet for a moment, and then to Rita’s surprise Fluttershy giggled. “You know I went through this with another pet I had a long time ago. His name was Gil… I guess I just didn’t want to lose you, so maybe… I turned you into a pet. I never meant to hurt you.”

Rita smiled and wrapped her uninjured arm around Fluttershy’s neck and pulled her down into a hug. “So long as you promise not to see me as a pet again, I swear never to leave you. I’ll be your friend forever, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy leaned in close to Rita’s face. There was a sparkle in her eyes, something that Rita recognized, and for a moment she couldn't fight against the irresistible pull of those eyes. Fluttershy’s hot breath brushed against Rita’s face, making her head swim. Rita was lost in the moment, and her body went limp.

When Rarity’s hooves sounded near the living room, Rita snapped out of it, and pulled away. Rita’s face was burning from embarrassment. That was... akward.

“Okay, I found the first aid kit,” Rarity said proudly.

Fluttershy smiled and nodded. Rita just looked away from everypony, but held her hand out to be fixed. As Fluttershy began wrapping bandages around Rita’s hand, she could only hope that the rest of the night wasn’t as awkward as this.

Ugh why do things always have to be so confusing?

Chapter Thirty Four: When it Comes for Me

The Equestrian Venture

Chapter Thirty Four: When it Comes for Me

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Rita stood in the ruins of a fallen building, smoke rose from the ashes as she listened to the sounds of fighting that could be heard off in the distance. Her attention was at first drawn to the red sky, although the moon was out, the sky held a dark burning red. A rock fell from behind her and drew her attention. She regretted looking.

Lamont lay on his back, impelled by a broken piece of stonework. Next to him lay Jade, her back faced Rita, but from the pool of crimson growing around her, Rita could tell that Jade wasn’t getting back up. Reed was hanging upside down from what was once the second floor of this ruined carcass of a building. He was far too still. Finally she saw her father, Crow stood with dozens of arrows sticking out of his body. Crow looked back to Rita, and smiled. He tipped forward and fell, never to rise again.

Her knees shook, and threatened to let her fall. A hand fell gently onto her shoulder. She looked over at Estelle, and tried to smile, her lips simply wouldn’t obey her.

“We’ve got to go,” Estella said coldly. “Come on.”

Rita began to follow but stopped short as she saw another Estella standing and facing them. The copy had a trail of red running down her face as she stared with angry eyes at Rita and herself. Rita looked between the two versions of her best friend, and took a step back.

What’s going on?

“Rita, stay with me, that copycat won’t hurt you if you stay here,” The first Estella said with a smile.

The copycat spat blood out to the side and strode forward. Anger filled her words as she said, “Get away from my friend you sick freak!”

Rita backed off even further from the first Estella, who now took to laughing manically. The first Estella looked back and said, “Well it’s not like you will have any chance of living through this anyway. I might as well have some fun, don’t you think so?”

The first Estella’s eyes turned a sickly yellow, and a single fang grew from her mouth. She turned to face them. “NOW Let the lord of Chaos show you how it’s done!”

Something inside of Rita pushed the darkness, the mind numbing terror, and the shock aside. That very same something grasped onto Rita’s soul and tugged hard. It was like something woke up deep inside, as everything around her became clear. She could see like she never had before. Her fallen friends all had auras around them, Lamont’s was blue, Jade’s was white, Reed’s was orange, Crow’s was pink. Estella had an aura as well, a yellow aura. Rita looked down at her own hands and saw a purple aura surrounding them, along with the rest of her body.

Rita reached out mentally and grabbed hold of her friends energy, fallen or not, they could still help her win. Power unlike any other filled Rita. She felt the burning power of the universe itself flowing through her. The Chaos Lord simply laughed at Rita, not fully realizing the power that she now held.

A hand placed onto her shoulder, she looked over and saw a transparent and ghostly visage of Lamont by her side. Another hand rested on her other shoulder, this time belonging to Crow. Then Reed joined in, and Jade. All of the ghosts of her departed friends stood firm behind her, their love flowing into her, and collecting into an ocean of power. Once more Rita faced The Lord of Chaos, and watched as the real Estella joined her side. She was the last one to place her hand on Rita’s shoulder, and then with the power of her friends added on top of her own, she knew that victory was now at hand.

“Chaos, it’s time to end this. For good,” Rita said.

“Go ahead and try. Seeing the ghosts of your friends has actually made me curious as to what trick you will pull now,” He said playfully. “Take your best shot.”

Rita raised her hand. Energy ran through her entire body and focused on the base of her palm. The gems on her gauntlet all exploded, as a fiery beam of golden light flew from her hand and out toward Chaos. The light covered him, and he screamed. The illusion he took was ripped away, leaving a brown skinned man before her, and then the fire burned him. The fire raged around him until Rita could no longer see, and for at that moment, the universe let out a deep relaxing sigh of relief.

The magic vanished, and Rita dropped to her knees. Pain screamed throughout her entire body, and the edges of her vision blackened. She refused to give into sleep just yet. The golden fires died down, and Rita stared on at The Chaos Lord, his body stood in a still image of agony, his skin, and clothing all turned to stone. The Chaos Lord was nothing more than a statue now.

Rita looked back at the ghosts of her fallen comrades; they all smiled at her, and one by one they vanished. Crow stayed the longest, and took one last chance to brush Rita’s bangs out of her eyes. After that he too disappeared. They were gone now.

A sudden torrent of wind ripped through the environment, tearing at Rita and Estella. The invisible force grabbed hold of something inside of her, and ripped it out. Rita screamed as pain exploded in her chest, but no physical wound could be seen. Estella screamed as well.

The wind vanished, and Rita saw something lying on the ground in front of her. A magenta six pointed star shaped gem. She carefully picked it up and felt the warm energy coming from deep inside. This was a part of her.

Rita looked back to see Estella holding a pink butterfly shaped gem and staring down at it as though it was the single most important thing in the world.

Rita looked to where her ghostly friends had just stood. And saw four more sparkling gems of various shapes and colors. “What’s going on?”

“I think that… maybe these are… us,” Estella said.

“And what does that do? What do we do with these… gems?” Rita asked.

“Keep them safe. If these are all pieces of us, of our friends, of everything, then we may need them again one day,” Estella said as she hugged the gem to her chest. “But it feels like something important has been taken from me.”

Rita felt it too, the loss of some important part of who she was, what she was. Whatever force had created these gems had needed something important form them in order to make it. She had to wonder; what parts did the force take from her friends? They were dead though, so whatever it took wouldn’t bother them now…

Rita sobbed.

***

“WAKE UP!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Rita rolled over and off of the bed. The floor came rushing at her fast, and slammed into her face. It took a bit of effort but she managed to pick herself up and look at the flying pegasus. Rainbow Dash had her diamond sword hanging from her side, and her eyes showed off a mixture of anger and terror.

“Where’s Fluttershy?” Rita asked.

“She’s with the others trying to keep that thing from causing anymore trouble until I could get you. I don’t know why but it really wants to see you,” Rainbow Dash said.

“What thing?” Rita asked.

“I think it called itself a sentinel.”

Without warning Rita dropped down, and slid a bag out from underneath the bed. She quickly attached her gauntlets and strapped the daggers to her side. Rainbow Dash landed and lowered her wings. Rita stared at her for a moment.

“Get on,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll fly us there.”

“Good plan. We need to deactivate it quickly, I’ve never created a more dangerous construct,” Rita said as she climbed up onto Rainbow Dash’s back. “You need to go fast.”

“Oh I’m all about fast,” Rainbow Dash said. She leapt into the air, and Rita instantly wrapped her arms around Rainbow’s neck and held on tightly.

Rainbow Dash flew out the window, and into the air. The view from up here was wonderful, seeing all the homes and the various ponies going about there daily lives really put things into prospective for her. Sadly, it also reinforced the danger that she already knew they were in. Just a single sentinel could easily wipe out a small village, these things were designed to go toe to toe with adult dragons.

As they left the town and flew down the road leading into Ponyville, Rita had enough time to ponder exactly what was going on. How did a sentinel arrive here in Equestria? Did one of them follow me through the portal? Was it sent here by someone? Ugh these questions aren’t even the most important ones. How are we going to deal with it is more important.

“What has it done already?” Rita asked, as they flew over some trees

“It attacked a few ponies and is holding them hostage,” Rainbow Dash explained.

Rita let out a curse at Rainbows words. She knew exactly who she was dealing with now… and she really didn’t want to believe that she could have missed it following her. “It’s Legend Two. He’s my most stubborn creation, and the most erratic. I kept him close to me so that I could keep an eye on him. It only goes to figure that he would have followed me into the freaking portal.”

In a clearing up ahead Rita spotted the rest of her friends, all facing a suit of humanoid armor, or at least what looked like a suit of black armor. Behind it sat three foals, Rita recognized them as being the litter sisters of her friends. This day had just gone from horrible to abysmal.

The second that Rainbow Dash landed, Rita leapt off, hit the ground rolling, and ran in front of her friends. She faced the black armor. Various spikes jutted out of the suits shoulders, and helmet, two glowing violet eyes stared at her from the pitch black darkness underneath. A dark broad sword rested on its back.

“Legend Two, I am here now,” Rita said.

It stood still for a moment, and its eyes flashed blue. A strong male voice called out to her, “Identity confirmed. Mom, why are you here with these animals?”

“They are not animals, they are people just like us. Now will you please let those fillies go?” Rita said in a flat and even tone.

The sentinel nodded, and pointed towards the tree line. “You may leave now. You have been released.”

The fillies nodded and left to the shelter of the trees. Scootaloo was limping, and had to lean against Applebloom for support. Applejack, and Rarity made their way to the trees to meet up with their siblings. Rita didn’t budge an inch.

“Did you hurt them?” Rita asked coldly.

“The orange one assaulted me,” It replied.

Okay, so he’s showing great restraint right now. that’s good, thankfully he hasn’t snapped.

The sentinel raised its left arm, and pointed his palm towards Twilight Sparkle.

“What are you doing?” Rita shouted. “Cease this immediately.”

“Her magical signature is identical to yours, she must be eliminated.” He replied. A bright white light emitted from his palm.

“What the hell! She’s a freaking pony, she’s not anything like me. Stop this or else I will be forced to deactivate you,” Rita screamed.

For a moment nothing happened and the world stood completely still. Then Twilight leapt into the air. Rita looked back at her and opened her mouth, “Don’t move, you idiot!”

It was too late, as a beam shot out from the sentinel’s palm and struck Twilight’s wing. The energy beam went cleanly through the wing and Twilight loosed a howl of pain as she plummeted to the earth. Rita felt her shoulder burn and she fell to her knees screaming as well. Rainbow Dash vanished in an instant, and reappeared just under Twilight catching her. Another white light began glowing on the sentinel’s palm.

There wasn’t time to talk this out now, Legend Two was on a murder streak, and it was up to Rita to stop it. She pushed away the burning sensation in her shoulder and brought her palm to bear. A fireball shot out towards the sentinel striking it dead center in the chest. Rita knew it would barely scratch the sentinel, but it was just enough of a distraction that she could issue orders out.

“Take Twilight to the hospital, than return here and prepare to fight. Everypony else, take the kids and run, or fight to the death, your choice,” Rita shouted.

Rainbow Dash took off, Rarity and Fluttershy vanished with the foals, leaving Pinkie Pie, and Applejack by her side. That was enough to keep the construct distracted she hoped. Deactivating it without her proper tools was going to be tough.

When the smoke cleared from the sentinel’s vision it looked right at Rita. There wasn’t even a scratch on its chest, and its violet eyes drilled into Rita’s. She could feel an immense amount of hate ebbing off of her creation. Legend Two had always had more anger issues than most of the sentinels, dealing with them had proven tedious.

“Yer sure we can beat this thing? It’s not even scratched,” Applejack said.

“I told you we were going to die fighting it, I never said we would win,” Rita corrected.

“Oh… darn, guess that makes you a liar, because Ah sure ain’t gonna die against some heap of scrap metal,” Applejack said confidently.

Pinkie Pie smiled. “We can totally do this, friendship beats out big mean machines any day.”

Rita gave the pink pony an awkward look. You do not belong here.

“Mom,” Legend Two said. “Why are you defending these creatures. They are in clear violation of the Thunder Realm monster policy. They are not supposed to be here.”

“That only applies to mutant humans, horses are not part of the equation.”

He stood silent for a long moment, before deciding, “My parameters state that if you are compromised and defend the enemy, you are to be captured or destroyed.”

Damn it, I shouldn’t have programmed that into them. I was too worried about becoming a threat to Thunder Realm that I didn’t realize it would backfire like this…

The sentinel charged, his speed was almost too much for Rita, as she leaned back and back flipped away from his arm. With his free arm he slid his sword free and swung at Rita. All emotion slowly faded from Rita’s mind as she stepped into her battle sense, dodging by reflex alone, no thought, no plan, just survival. She refused to die to her own creation.

Applejack got behind the sentinel and using her rear legs she gave a mighty kick to its back. To Rita’s surprise it actually lifted off the ground, and rolled forward. As it rolled past her she saw small cracks where Applejack had kicked it.

Pinkie Pie stood on her hind legs and a cannon stood in front of her.

Where did she get that? Was it here the whole time?

With a tug of the cannon’s string, Pinkie Pie shot a bright pink bowling ball at the sentinel. The bowling ball collided into the sentinel’s chest and exploded. Pinkie hoof pumped at her successful hit.

As the smoke cleared from the second explosion the sentinel rose. Applejack charged towards it, but it backhanded her. Her body flew limply to the side as though she was nothing more than a ragdoll. Rita’s heart pounded furiously as she witnessed Applejack’s body collide with the dirt, leaving behind a small trench.

When the sentinel turned to focus on Pinkie Pie, Rita screamed in protest. It raised its arm and shot another beam of energy, but not at Pinkie Pie directly. Instead the beam hit Pinkie’s cannon, and must have ignited whatever was inside of it, as the cannon exploded. Pinkie’s body sailed through the air and into the tree line vanishing from sight.

“Now,” Legend Two said as he focused on Rita. “It is time for me to end this, mom.”

“I created you, you can’t do this!” Rita shouted.

“You made me into this. I was a proud soldier,” he said. “I had a family, a daughter, and a wife. I had a pet dog, and you turned me into this walking nightmare.”

Panic raced down Rita’s spine. Oh crap, he remembers his past life again. No wonder he’s doing this. Goddess damn it.

“You died on the field of battle, Two. You’re soul was not supposed to remember any of this, let alone suffer for it. I am deeply sorry for what happened but you served your country well, you saved us from the dragons. Isn’t that enough?” Rita asked, although she already knew the answer.

“I want my life back, could you give it back to me?” He asked rhetorically. When Rita didn’t answer right away he made a scoffing noise. “Then why should I let you live. You are the monster that birthed me, and now I’ll fulfill my duty as a weapon, and kill you.”

He raised his palm, and a white hot light began to shine. Rita closed her eyes. without all of my gear, there is no way I can survive this. I don’t even have my old powers… those died alongside my friends.

A rainbow streak sailed through the air, and Rita saw it for only a brief second as it collided with Legend Two. The second they touched, the world exploded into a rainbow colored nightmare. The ground erupted, and a shockwave shoved Rita back so hard that she was lifted off the ground. A hole opened up in the clouds above as the rainbow colored explosion reached up into the heavens. Rita’s back hit a tree and pain screamed across her body.

The explosion disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, and Rita hit the ground, hard. She saw Rainbow Dash lying on the ground, her sword shattered next to her side. Legend Two still stood after the explosion, but his armor was covered with cracks, and his left arm had been cut cleanly off revealing the black oozing shadow beneath. Thick inky shadows dripped onto the ground from his stump.

The original sentinels didn’t have any internal structure, just dark magic and a human soul. That was the problem with the legend models… their souls could remember the past.

“You… you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked. She then let loose a torrent of horrible coughs. “I haven’t pushed myself like that in a while.”

Rita pushed herself up yet again, her every muscle crying in pain from the effort. Her shoulder was finally numb, and the burning sensation had moved onto her back where she hit the tree. Legend Two took a step forward, and locked eyes with Rita. He still had his sword in his right hand, so even the loss of his left arm did not make him any less dangerous.

“This needs to end,” He said.

“And I’ll be the one to end it,” Rita stated. She closed her eyes, and reached out to the surrounding aether. All the magical energy this place had to offer was hers for the taking, if only she opened herself up to it.

I might be a crappy mage, but I can still use magic!

She thought about Twilight getting shot, and pain hit her. She thought about Applejack being tossed aside like a child’s plaything and fear shot through her heart. She saw Pinkie Pie being thrown into the trees from the explosion, and rage filled her chest. Finally she saw Rainbow Dash’s explosive attack, and Rita’s mind was burning with regret.

All these emotions combined into a powerful force that Rita couldn’t easily explain. But that she could easily use. She pulled it altogether, and forged it into a little ball. That ball became a source of power, but not only that, it became a light, a light that revealed a single sliver of a power so deep, so strong and so pure that it made every fiber of Rita’s body shiver just seeing it. Rita grabbed onto that power.

She opened her eyes, and saw everything in perfect clarity. She took a single step, and the ground trembled at her presence. Rita raised a glowing hand, and aimed it at Legend. Small rocks levitated as she poured magic into her hand. The gem popped and crackled with energy, Rita knew that it was too much for the gem to handle, but that was a mute point.

Legend’s eyes narrowed onto Rita, and the two stayed completely still. For a second that felt like an eternal nightmare, she was given more than enough time to mentally prepare herself for what was coming next.

Legend charged toward her, his movements were as fast as ever, but to her current clarity they looked sluggish and slow. With a mere whisper of power, Rita unleashed all of that energy into a single beam of amber light. The light focused into a beam and struck Legend in the gut. For a moment, he stopped running, looked a little confused, and then he exploded.

The torso flew forward, while the rear legs simply shattered. His right arm flew from his body and black shadows bled everywhere before dissipating. Legend’s torso landed at Rita’s feet, and he looked up with sad blue eyes at her.

“I… told… you… it had to… end,” He said.

“Yes you did,” Rita said calmly. “It’s too bad that this is the ending you chose.”

“I… will be… free?”

Rita kneeled down, and stroked his helmet. “Yes, you will be free.” The magic quickly drained from her body, and she could feel every single nerve ending pinch. “Shhh, good night, Two.”

Legend Two’s eyes blinked, once, twice, and then they were gone. The shadow’s leaked out and vanished. Rita was left staring at the hollow corpse of a suit of armor, forever empty of life. Legend Two was gone.

The rest of the magic Rita had summoned into her suddenly vanished, the gem in her gauntlet shattered at that instant and every single inch of her body shrieked in total and complete anguish. The pain quickly overcame Rita’s senses and in an effort to protect herself, her mind shut down and she blacked out.

***

When Rita awoke she felt sluggish and dull. At least her pain was dulled down to the occasional throb. The room she was in blue walls and a green ceiling, and the bed she was resting in was rather uncomfortable. On the floor next to her lay a sleeping pink pony. Rita smiled.

“Hey, Pinkie,” Rita said in an attempt to wake up her sleeping marefriend.

Pinkie Pie stirred a little, and one of her bright blue eyes cracked open. Pinkie smiled at Rita.

“How long have I been out?” Rita asked. Judging by the fact that Pinkie wasn’t in a hospital bed herself, Rita could only summarize that she had been in here for awhile. There were still a few bandages wrapped around Pinkie’s legs though.

Pinkie let out a loud yawn. “Four days. They didn’t know what happened to you, but I saw it, and after I told Twilight, she became really worried about you. I’ve been here waiting for you though.”

Rita smiled. She stayed by my side the entire time that I healed…

“I love you, Pinkie,” Rita said.

Pinkie Pie shot up right and placed her forehooves on the bed. This time the sudden movement didn’t even make Rita flinch. Pinkie beamed at her. “I love you too.”

It hurt to force herself to sit up but she did so anyway. With her hand she gently brushed Pinkie’s soft cheek, leaned in and ever so lightly pressed her lips to Pinkie’s. When she pulled away, the pink ponies face had become a deep shade of red.

“You’re so cute when you blush,” Rita teased.

“I, uh, well… can we do that again?” Pinkie asked.

“We can kiss all you want,” Rita said. She stayed quiet for a moment and then added, “I’m just so happy your okay.”

Pinkie’s smile grew impossibly wide. “Me too.”

Rita laid back down and closed her eyes. Her body was still in a little bit of pain. “After that fight, I think that I’ve decided to take a break for the next little while. Adventuring and fighting is fun and all that, but I just want to spend some time with you, and forge a life for myself here.”

Pinkie Pie laid her head down next to Rita’s shoulder, and Rita wrapped her arm around Pinkie’s neck pulling her a little closer. With fingers running through Pinkie’s curly mane, Rita felt a warmth grow in her chest.

“You know,” Rita said. “I never thought that I would be able to love again, but now that I have you, I can’t see how things would have worked out in any other way.” Rita reached over and kissed Pinkie on the top of the head. “Thanks for being there for me.”

“We’re special someponies, of course I’m here for you, silly. And I’ll always be here,” Pinkie Pie said quietly.

“That’s all I ever needed,” Rita said, quietly. She slipped away into slumber, but this time she could only dream of a bright and happy pink pony, and the life they would share together.

The End

Epilogue: Past and Future Secrets

The Equestrian Venture

Epilogue: Past and Future Secrets

Written by TheCrimsonDM

Morning, the smell of dust and fresh rain filtered through Rita’s world. The warm fury body lying behind her snuggled a little closer, the blanket was drawn tightly over her. Rita rolled over, the bed made a squeaking noise, and she wrapped her arms around the bundle of pink fur next to her.

Pinkie looked back at Rita with tired blue eyes and smiled.

“Morning,” Rita said.

“Morning,” Pinkie replied.

Rita moved in and kissed Pinkie’s cheek gently. The fur tickled her nose. Pinkie rolled over and laid a foreleg across Rita’s waists, and leaned her head in towards Rita’s. Rita didn’t pull away, after how long they’d been living together; her fear of the pink pony had completely vanished. Rita pressed forward and their lips met.

For a long moment Rita and Pinkie stayed together underneath the warm blanket, holding each other and lightly kissing. Eventually the dawn’s rays peaked through the blinds on her upstairs room and lit up the refurnished windmill. After the rain last night, it promised to be yet another beautiful morning.

Rita rolled out of bed, and looked around the hardwood floor searching for her clothes. Sure she could run around naked all day, and nopony would question it, she actually tested that out a few weeks back just to see what her pony friends would do. They hardly even noticed. She actually preferred to wear her clothes out of habit, and the left over shame of the scars covering her small frame. Getting dressed in some sweat pants and a long red shirt that went down to her knees with sleeves that swallowed her hands, she looked back at Pinkie and gave the pony a sly wink.

Surprisingly the pink pony could still blush, and when she did Rita grinned. Oh yeah, I’m the king baby.

“You wanna make breakfast for us while I finish the touches on my last piece of armor?” Rita asked.

Pinkie smiled. “Pancakes or waffles?”

“Either is fine with me, your cooking is always the best after all,” Rita said honestly. She hopped to and found a few socks lying around. She quickly tugged them on, and then frowned. They didn’t conform to her feet, and she let out a frustrated grunt as she yanked them off. “Pinkie, where are my socks? All I’m finding are yours.”

Pinkie shrugged. “You were kinda in a hurry last night, maybe you left them downstairs?”

Last night had been a bit more wild than she had originally planned. Rita remembered the cake vodka that Pinkie brought home, and shivered a little as she remembered how imposing the stairs had become, but she beamed when she remembered how enticing the bed looked.

Yeah, last night was insane. Awesome and insane.

Rita went downstairs, her socks weren’t there and she gave up on finding them. Barefoot she quickly snuck into the basement, she had to fumble with the key to it for a moment but when she figured it out she opened it. Downstairs she found a manikin that she had constructed out of scrap metal, it was vaguely human shape. Two metal boots with various gems built into were attached on its feet, and two gauntlets of similar construction were there as well. Finally there was a pair of goggles with a few small gems along the sides, and runes etched into its brown leather straps.

She took the goggles off and put them on, she pushed one of the small gems on the side, and the dark room was suddenly lit up in her vision by a light blue light. She took the goggles off and the room returned to darkness. She decided to keep them on for now. She examined the manikin and pressed another button, the word manikin appeared above it written in equish.

“Awesome,” Rita said to herself. “These things are working just fine. The ability to see in the dark, and to scan and register objects. I can’t believe that I didn’t make a pair of these sooner.”

“Rita, foods ready!” Pinkie called from the top of the stairs.

Rita slid the goggles up and onto her forehead, but she didn’t put them back onto the manikin. Her months of work did not go to waste on this. The only thing missing was a leather duster jacket. Rita trotted up the stairs and paused only momentarily to look at the necklace around the manikins neck. It had been so long since she’d actually needed to wear the translator device, if it wasn’t for her selfishness, Rita would’ve given it back to Twilight already.

Upstairs, Rita locked the door behind her and sat at the table. To her surprise she saw Celestia sitting there with a smile across her giant head. Rita smiled back at her.

“What do we owe the pleasure,” Rita asked.

Celestia nodded slightly. “I came by to give you a quest.”

Rita raised an eyebrow at that. A quest from the princess was a serious thing, so whatever it was it should pay off in good loot. It’d been awhile since Rita’s last chance at obtaining some sweet new toys so she was certainly interested.

“What’s up?” Rita sat down, and was quickly offered a plate of waffles.

Pinkie pushed a big plate of waffles toward Celestia as well before sitting down next to Rita. Celestia smiled and said, “It’s a simple one. There is an old cave by the Ghastly Gulch, and inside are some ancient ruins. I could use somepony like you, to go and inspect them, make sure their safe.”

Rita nodded. “That sounds easy enough. I could get a small crew together and explore it easily enough.”

“You’ve been here for almost half a year,” Celestia said kindly. “The things you’ve given to our culture have been incredible to say the least.”

“Well your world was behind on technology, I figure so long as it’s not a weapon I can give it to you guys,” Rita said.

“And if I were to request such a weapon,” Celestia asked, there was something hidden in her tone, but Rita couldn’t exactly figure out what it was.

Rita was however, a little upset to hear those words from Celestia. Rita looked up and stared into the princesses eyes. “I’d have to say no. Your world is peaceful, it doesn’t need the tools of war.”

Celestia smiled. “That’s what I was hoping to hear.”
“Good,” Rita replied.

“Um,” Pinkie Pie stepped in. “Will it be dangerous?”

Celestia shook her head. “I do not know. What I do know is that it’s a sacred place that has not been seen in many years, protective spells have kept it safe from the ravages of time. If something is dangerous, I’m sure that Rita can handle herself.”

Celestia was quiet a moment before adding, “Anything you find in there belongs to you, Rita.”

“I’d planned to take some good loot either way,” Rita stated. “That’s part of the price of hiring me after all.”

Celestia frowned. “Yes, your contract was a bit… difficult to work with at first. But at least you are willing to negotiate with me on what is or isn’t okay to take.”

Rita leaned back on her chair. “How long do I have to complete the mission?”

“You can do it at your own leisure. But I feel that you may wish to see to this sooner rather than later,” Celestia said.

“Okay, tell you what. I’ll get a crew together today, and we will head out if at all possible. I know just the unicorn to drag along, if you don’t mind that is,” Rita said.

“Oh?” Celestia inquired.

“Yeah, I could use the local expert on ancient ruins, well the one who isn’t going to get pissed off that I’m looting the place,” Rita said. “I’ll need Trixie.”

***

The small house that Rita stood at was blue with white stars painted along the sides. A small vegetable garden was growing outside and a giant tree loomed over the house with dark green leaves. All in all, Trixie’s house didn’t look too shabby. Rita knocked on the door.

A moment later the door swung open revealing the unicorn, she was already dressed up in her magicians cloak and hat. She smiled at Rita and stepped out with a saddlebag worn on her back.

“So you needed the great and powerful Trixie. It’s only expected that you would seek out the best unicorn in the village to help you out,” Trixie said.

“Yeah, but she was busy, so I came to get you instead,” Rita joked.

Trixie scoffed at the statement.

“Anyway, I see you’re already ready to go. Are you sure that you can handle this?” Rita asked.

“After Celestia told Trixie that you were in need of Trixie’s expertise, it was no problem at all to get ready. Trixie however has one request,” Trixie said.

“Oh, what is it?”

A yellow head poked out from inside the doorway, pink hair falling in front of the mare’s face. “Hi, Rita.”

“Trixie requests that we take her along. Fluttershy has proven herself to be a most adequate friend and assistant,” Trixie said proudly. After a second her eyes narrowed on Rita. “You must keep this a secret though. Fluttershy does not need her friends causing a fuss over being Trixie’s friend.”

Rita looked at Fluttershy, Fluttershy avoided her gaze. With a hand on her hip, Rita let out a sigh. “Okay, you can join us Fluttershy. But it might be dangerous, so… please be careful.”

Fluttershy nodded but remained silent.

“An adventure with Trixie and Fluttershy,” Rita said to herself. “This sounds promising.”

***

The trek took a couple of hours, and by the time they finally reached the gorge they had to rest. After a short break, and a snack they made their decent. It was easy enough for Rita to stick close to the wall, and Fluttershy simply flew next to them, but Trixie had a harder time getting down with her bum leg. After reaching a small plateau they were met with a large cave entrance that declined at a steep angle. There was also a small signpost sticking out of the ground. Despite being worn from age and exposure it was still legible.

“These caves are blocked to the public. No entry without Princess Celestia’s personal permission.”

Rita smiled. Man I wish I had known about this place sooner. I would have totally snuck in.

Fluttershy landed next to Rita and gulped. “I-i-is it safe?”

“Trixie is sure that it’s safe enough. Do not worry shy one, you have both the great and powerful Trixie, and the awesome might of Rita to protect you. There should be no worry,” Trixie said.

Fluttershy nodded.

Rita was the first one to step into the cave. The air practically crackled with energy inside. Glowing gems grew from the walls and strange mushrooms cast light enough for them to see by. Just in case Rita brought her goggles down and waited for the moment that she would need to use them.

The trio continued onward, and as they did the magical energies increased. For Rita the energy was like a rush of pure unrestricted power, she felt like she could take on the whole world and win. Trixie seemed be moving with a bounce in her step as well. Fluttershy on the other hoof was looking around nervously, her ears twitching every so often.

Minutes turned by quickly, and the trip didn’t seem so long. When the trio exited the tunnel and entered a large cavernous area something struck Rita as she felt very awkward. A bright yellow miniature sun floated in the center of the room near the ceiling, lighting up the entire area. An old warehouse stood in the center of the area surrounded by a field of green luscious grass spread out covering the ground.

This entire area was an artificial environment. Not only had Rita seen this place before, she had been here, many, many times. Without warning Rita strode forward, nearly taking off into a run. Behind her Trixie and Fluttershy followed.

“What is this place?” Trixie asked.

“It’s so pretty,” Fluttershy stated.

Rita stared with hard determined eyes at the warehouse as they approached. “It’s an artificial environment created to survive any hardships. This is only a miniature version of it though. Like a testing chamber, though after the project was finished, I took over ownership of it.”

“That’s… wait what?” Trixie asked.

Upon reaching the warehouse door, Rita noticed the old rusted lock. With the blunt end of her dagger she snapped the lock off and pushed the door open. It moved slowly, and screeched with the strain of moving for the first time in who knows how long. When it was finally opened Rita walked in and her nose was assaulted by the scent of oil, dust, and rusted metal.

She reached over to her side and flipped a switch on the wall to her side and the hum of ancient generators turning filled the air. The lights overhead flickered, some of them exploded, but the remainder lit up the workshop decently enough. Rita looked past the tables of junk, the humanoid shaped exoskeletons and the giant generator. Her eyes focused primarily on the metal ring laying against the wall, almost every single gem had been removed from it, leaving empty slots like pockmarks upon its ancient surface.

Rita walked towards it, her mind blank, her heart frozen and her lungs empty of air. An old stained piece of paper sat on the table. The portrait of her and all her dead friends that rested on top of it caught her attention. Rita picked up the portrait, and heard the gasps from her friends.

She inhaled deeply, and exhaled a shaky breath. She set the portrait up right, and frowned. The page was ancient but she could still make out what it said. With gentle fingers she picked it up and read the arcadian words aloud.

“Dear Rita.

I’ve commissioned the Ark to be built for our survival. Between people turning into rainbows, dying from the disease, and this project; I’m… I’m scared Rita. Without you by my side to give me your support I’m just so scared.

I’m sorry that I pushed you away like I did. I should have known how you felt about me, and I should have been nicer to you about your feelings. If I could go back in time and change what happened, I would have handled myself differently. If by some chance you ever read this my dearest friend. Please forgive me for my mistakes, for my sins.

I’m going to initiate the plan to save our world tomorrow. If I somehow change to where you don’t recognize me, or if I lose my memories of you, please just remember how good things were when we were together.

You closest and dearest friend, Princess Estella.”

Tears streamed down Rita’s face. She clutched the letter closely to her chest and stood in complete silence for the longest time. When she did finally look behind her she saw both Trixie and Fluttershy staring at her, concern covered their faces.

Rita looked once more at her portal, the one that she had made to travel between worlds. The rusted metal stood silent, dead, and forgotten; just as she should have been.

“And all I wanted to do was go back to my own world,” Rita said. It was humorous in a way, and utterly shattering in another. “Guess I got my wish huh? I accidently created a time machine, an unstable and probably very dangerous time machine.”

“Rita…” Fluttershy said quietly.

“I don’t understand at all?” Trixie complained. “If… if humans really existed in the past, then where are all the humans at?”

“We’re right here,” A tired, old and very gentle voice said from behind the three of them.

Rita spun around and stared at Celestia in shock for a moment, and then anger flared as she realized that Celestia had known about this the whole time. Rita stomped her foot into the ground and pointed a finger at the princess. “YOU KNEW!”

“I’m sorry. Rita... could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?” Celestia asked.

Rita looked back at the portal. “You… ugh, I don’t know. It’s just so hard for me to wrap my brain around this. Maybe I can forgive you for keeping secrets… eventually.”

“Not for that, Rita,” Celestia said. Rita looked back at her and Celestia’s eyes softened and she frowned. “Can you ever forgive me for what I did to you?”

Rita stared in silence at her. Slowly gears began to turn, and something horrible began to emerge in her head. When Trixie had asked where the humans had gone, Celestia replied with, ‘we are right here.’ The implication made her flinch. “No… No, NO! You can’t be…”

She shook her head slowly, and looked once more into those soft purple eyes of Celetia’s. That look she gave her was so familiar, and the color of her hair was perfect. The kindness, friendship, and jokes that they had shared were things Rita had remembered so well, but could never place. Finally Rita recalled how Celestia had looked at her, and how she had acted the first time they had met… it was like Celestia had already known her… Rita slumped against the table.

Celestia lowered her head. “I didn’t think you would.”

“Estella?” Rita asked.

Celestia smiled and looked up at Rita. “Yes?”

Rita’s legs lost all their strength and she fell to her hands and knees. Her body shook horribly and her mind was petrified with the realization of what was going on. “But you’ve been so nice to me, and we have had so much fun together. It… it was just like…”

“Old times?” Celestia finished for her.

“Yeah…” Rita muttered lamely. She looked back up at Celestia. She’s been holding all that guilt for over a thousand years… guilt over breaking my heart…

Rita pushed herself up and marched toward Celestia. Fluttershy ducked back, and Trixie stared in disbelief. On her approach Celestia looked away.

“You shattered my heart when I was at my weakest. It took me jumping who knows how far into the future, and a group of magical talking ponies to mend the damage you did. And now you have the audacity to ask me to forgive you?” Rita stated.

Celestia shrunk back.

Rita wrapped her arms around Celestia’s neck and hugged her oldest friend tightly. “Of course I’ll forgive you. Even after all I’ve been through, even if you are a giant magical horse, I still l-… I love you. I’m with Pinkie Pie now, but that doesn’t change how I feel about you. Nothing ever will.”

Celestia met Rita’s eyes and for a moment they simply stared deeply into each other’s gaze. Celestia smiled. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Rita said.

The End.