Magic Song

Chapter Six: Small Comforts

Trixie sat under her shelter, lifting a rock into the air.

Up, down, up, down – it flew as easily as if the unicorn mare had been performing such magic all her life. Which she had.

But never with a twenty-foot boulder.

Even though the ponies from another world were asleep in the back of the cave, even though they were tired and needed to rest, up and down the stone went, knocking branches and twigs out of the trees and sending them crashing to the ground. “Where are those two little idiots?” Trixie wondered out loud. “Trixie told them to hurry. They aren’t supposed to keep her waiting.”

As if answering Trixie’s call, a small pudgy figure appeared from a tangle of bushes. “We got him, your Great and Powerfulness!” he squeaked, his small red tail bobbing as he ran. “Bring him in, Snails!”

Another figure, this one orange and lanky, dragged a purple dragon out of the leaves. “We told him we found a bunch of gems,” the unicorn drawled, a dopey smile plastered across his face. “He started running after us, and then he ran into a tree.”

Trixie stood, snorting, and stamped her hoof, letting the boulder crash back down into the dusty ground. “You foals! When Trixie found you and asked you to help her, Trixie told you to get him here quickly! You took almost half an hour and Trixie was starting to get impatient.”

“Sorry, your Trixieship,” Snips said, bowing his head low. “You know how honored we are to be your assistants again.”

“Do you think you could vanquish an Ursa Major for us now?” Snails asked.

“Be quiet! The otherworlders are trying to sleep,” Trixie hissed.

“But you just slammed that boulder –”

“SSSSHHH!” The mare flattened her ears and glared at the two colts. “Now, put the dragon down. Trixie doesn’t want him escaping.”

Pointing her horn in the little lizard’s direction, Trixie lifted him into the air and made a birdcage materialize around him, locking the door and tossing the key into another bush. “Trixie will just have to forgive you for all the mistakes you keep making,” she sniffed haughtily, setting the cage squarely on Snips’ and Snails’ shoulders. “You’d better have brought the quill, ink, and paper Trixie asked for, too.”

“Oh – yeah, it’s right here!” Snips gasped, trying to pull a tiny saddlebag out from under the birdcage. Trixie yanked on it with magic and removed the feather pen and pot of ink.

She smoothed out the scroll and placed the tip of the quill in the pot, smiling darkly. Her eyes flicked to the cage, where the purple dragon’s stomach moved up and down in time to his steady breaths. “Here’s something new for you to remember: Once the dragon wakes up, be sure he’s ready to take a letter for Trixie.”

Twilight stood by the door of Sugar Cube Corner, sipping a glass of punch, her eyes rimmed red. Frankly, she couldn’t see how a party was going to help things. Spike was missing! Nopony in their right mind would be horsing around when a friend was in danger.

Then again, Pinkie Pie wasn’t totally in her right mind.

The party was in full swing, the music blaring so loudly that the windows were shuddering. Kin – who’d been pulled out of the library to join the festivities – and Kon were devouring cupcakes, Laney was talking to Applejack, and Corey was rocking out with Vinyl Scratch, who’d brought her mixing table at a moment’s notice. Twilight was the only one who didn’t seem to be having any fun.

And Pinkie Pie was, of course, in her element, mingling with ponies and introducing them to Grojband every other minute. Twilight couldn’t help but smile as the party pony leaped into the air, pirouetted, and knocked Pokey Pierce into a wall.

It wasn’t as if Pinkie had bothered to ask, anyway. She’d been so caught up in the prospect of four new friends that Twilight hadn’t been able to tell her about Spike’s disappearance, or even that Grojband was in a mirror world. The purple unicorn was tempted to sneak off to the library and search for a locator spell, but she felt like leaving the band members was a bad idea. They were still new to Equestria, after all, and if they let something slip in front of an innocent pony, they’d be mobbed by curious and possibly accusatory ponies. Twilight shuddered as she imagined the Flower Triplets screaming in horror, like they did whenever even the smallest thing scared them. Better to stand by and keep the band quiet than let them spill their secrets for all of Ponyville to hear.

Fluttershy squeezed out of the crowd and clopped over to Twilight. “Are you okay?” she said, trying her best to be heard over the thumping beat.

Twilight rubbed her eyes with a foreleg, setting down her punch glass on a nearby table. “Well, no, Fluttershy, not really. I’m just so worried for Spike. Is he lost? Was he dragonnapped? If not, why would he run away?”

“He did try it once,” said the yellow Pegasus, “but I don’t think he would do it again.”

“I just hope he’s all right,” Twilight said, sitting down on the wooden bakery floor. She sighed. “I’m sure Rarity feels the same way.”

“Rarity’s in the bathroom, crying. She doesn’t feel like partying while Spike’s missing.” Fluttershy sat down next to Twilight, extending a wing over her friend's back. “I don’t think this is the time for a party either. But when Pinkie Pie gets out her party cannon…”

“There’s really nothing we can do,” Twilight said, giggling a little through her tears.

"Do you think it would offend Pinkie if we, well, if we left early to look for clues or something?" asked Fluttershy timidly. "I don't want to upset anyone..."

Twilight glanced over at Corey, who was laughing loudly at some joke Vinyl had just told. "I don't think she'd mind. It's just that I'm worried Grojband will let something slip while we're here and terrify somepony with ideas of aliens. I mean, who knows who here has been reading comics like...Spike's?"

The unicorn held in another sob, and Fluttershy's wing tightened over hers barrel in a comforting hug. "It'll be okay, Twilight," she murmured, as if speaking to one of her animals. "There, there."

At this opportune moment, Pinkie Pie bounced up to Twilight and Fluttershy. She had suspicious smears of frosting dotting her mane and coat. “Hi, you guys! Having fun?” she chirped happily.

Twilight took another sip of her punch while Fluttershy answered, “It’s…a very nice party.”

“Thanks! Corey, Laney, Kin, and Kon seem like such nice ponies! And they have great taste in music. Vinyl just loves them! Hey, have you tasted the cupcakes? I didn’t make them, Mr. Cake did, but only because I was watching Pound and Pumpkin –”

“Slow down, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “I’m kind of distracted right now.”

“Oh, okay. Is something wrong? Anything I can help with?” Pinkie asked, a worried look clouding her big blue eyes.

Twilight felt herself tearing up again, but she forced herself to relax. Spike wouldn’t want me to cry about it, she thought. He’d want me to do something.

The unicorn opened her mouth to talk, but a loud crashing noise stopped her. A table had tipped, spilling cake frosting and punch all over the floor. “Hold on a teeny-weeny second there, Twilight,” Pinkie said cheerfully. “I’ve gotta clean that up!”

As Pinkie skipped off to get a mop, Fluttershy looked helplessly at Twilight. “I…I guess if you wanted to go out and try looking for Spike, I could keep an eye on Grojband a-and…”

Twilight flicked a tear from the corner of her eye and smiled gratefully. “Fluttershy, that means so much to me. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“I think so.” The pegasus shifted her wings. “Do whatever you have to. I want the little guy home safe and sound just as much as you do.”

“Thanks.” Twilight was almost about to cry for a third time; she could feel the tears threatening to spill over as she hugged her shy friend. “I owe you one.”

“Good luck, Twilight!” Fluttershy said softly as the purple unicorn trudged out of the bakery, leaving the sugary sweetness and pounding bass of the party behind her.

Twilight dashed through the door of the Golden Oak Library and flicked a lamp on with a small burst of magic. The room lit up, illuminating the shelves upon shelves of books that spanned the walls. Any one of these books could hold the answer to saving Spike, the mare thought as she scanned the books' spines, her horn glowing a dark pink. The books shivered, then began to fly, one by one, off the shelves, parading in the air in front of Twilight, and she started reading through titles.

“Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone…won’t be any good…Predictions and Prophecies…don’t think so…Mane-Care Tips for Pony Stylists…not useful at all…”

A teetering tower of books was growing ever taller behind the frantic unicorn, but she kept reading titles. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. This could be it, this next one, this could give me a spell…

No names jumped out at her, and the books kept coming, streaming past her in an unending flow of knowledge - History of the Wonderbolts, The Earth Pony's Guide to Stringed Instruments, Basic Harmonic Magic. Twilight felt like she was going to scream. It’s okay, there are plenty of books left, oh Celestia please let me find what I need…

The line of books shuddered as another rush of cold air swept through the library. It was smaller than the first – the one that had predicted Grojband’s appearance in Equestria – but it was there. Twilight could feel the fur on her neck rising and her sensitive horn begin to tingle ever so slightly. Immediately, she released her magic, letting the books drop to the floor. Something else must have entered the world from outside!

The unicorn rushed over to the entryway, grabbed the saddlebags she’d dumped there, and flung the door open. She cantered across the square, nearly bowling over a confused Granny Smith. “Sorry!” Twilight called over her shoulder. “Gotta run!”

As she ran, Twilight's heart rose into her throat. She wasn’t sure what this new development could have to do with Spike’s disappearance, but the connections between the arrival of Grojband and this new pulse of magic were too great. Maybe, wherever she was going, there would be another clue.

The tingling in her horn wasn’t as strong as the first time, but if Twilight concentrated it was easy enough to follow. She passed Sugar Cube Corner, which was quieter than before, but she was honestly too busy to stop and see what was going on.

Her horn was leading her, once again, past the boundaries of Ponyville and in the general direction of Fluttershy’s house. How odd if it turns out to be the same place, Twilight thought. That would be another connection between the two incidences.

However, instead of turning down the soft dirt road to her friend’s cottage, Twilight’s horn pointed her straight ahead, toward the dark, mysterious, spooky Everfree Forest.

After multiple visits to Zecora’s hut, Twilight had become much less scared of the forest, but with the fading sun behind it, the darkness seemed almost ominous. The path thinned, and Twilight had to slow down or risk falling headfirst into a patch of Poison Joke. She brought herself down into a steady trot, continuing to follow the strengthening magical energy thread.

The forest grew darker every moment, and it wasn’t long before Twilight had to light her horn. She was in a small clearing, full of exotic-looking plants and trailing vines. There was a small rock overhang on the far side of the clearing that looked to be just about the right size for a pony to sit under. But Twilight wasn’t focused on those things.

She was focused on the gaping hole that appeared to be floating in midair at the center of the clearing.

Taking a hesitant step forward, Twilight peered at the hole. Its interior was black, as if someone had painted a dark black dot into the sky. Its edges were tinged with pink, and it flickered softly, twinkling in the cool evening air.

Twilight walked around it, examining it from all angles. Now that she looked at it, it looked more like a disk of black paper somepony had levitated and forgotten to take down - or maybe a glossy, smooth shard of black stone. One edge seemed as if it had been stretched the tiniest bit, pulling the disk into an oval rather than a perfect circle.

The unicorn reached out, as if hypnotized, toward the edge of the hole. Her foreleg trembled. She licked her lips nervously, steeling herself, and then she touched it.

It was an otherworldly magic, the likes of which she had never seen before. Twilight gasped as she felt the odd vibrations ripple through her. There was something vaguely familiar about the energy coating the edges, but otherwise, she recognized nothing. “This proves it,” she whispered to herself, “This really, really proves it. Grojband really is from another world.”

She carefully stood on her back legs, holding onto the edge of the hole with both hooves, like it was a window ledge. She peered into the darkness, but couldn’t see anything; all she could hear was a faint, low humming, which seemed to emanate from the hole itself.

With no warning, her hoofhold twisted under her forelegs, spreading a little wider, and sending out a pulse of energy similar to the one she’d just gotten at the library. Twilight slipped, gasping sharply, then jerked back from the hole, gasping as her horn took in the spell and the edge of the hole turned the same dark pink as her magic.

Other than the chilly breeze ruffling her coat, nothing seemed to happen, so after retreating a few meters away from the hole, Twilight let herself relax.

And then tensed up again. The unicorn could hear a faint rustling coming from the bushes behind her, growing louder with every moment. The humming of the hole still ringing in her ears, Twilight turned around, hoping that Spike would be hiding in the bushes, popping out and saying “Gotcha!” even though she knew that it was an empty hope.

Instead, she found herself muzzle to muzzle with the one pony she hadn’texpected to see.