The sound of hoofsteps on stone softened as Starlight watched her friends leave. The further away they got, the quieter it became. She watched it all with an anxious smile, her mind uneasy with the thought of being left alone to care for the castle once again. It was far from the first time, and doubtful to be the last, but ever since the escapade in the Changeling hive, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the prelude to something happening.
Starlight felt a hoof on her shoulder, reminding her she was, in fact, not alone.
“Cheer up, the Great and Powerful Best Friend is here, and she will keep you company for the week.”
Starlight rolled her eyes, giving Trixie a baleful glare.
“Okay, fine. ‘I’ am here,” Trixie said, dropping the airs, “so you don’t need to worry about getting bored.”
“It’s not that.” Starlight sighed, causing the blue mare to adopt a confused look. “It’s just… the girls are gone. You, me, and Discord are all here. I know Thorax isn’t here, but I just feel a sense of foreboding.”
Trixie began to chuckle to herself. “You’ve been spending far too much time in Ponyville.” She giggled to herself again. “Come on, let’s go see what Spike and Discord are up to. I’d be lying if I said the story about his Ogres and Oubliettes game didn’t interest me.”
Hooves striking crystal, Trixie walked back inside. Starlight took one last look in the direction her friends and teacher had gone before shaking her head, putting on a confident smile, and turning to walk inside. The week was hers, so she was going to do something with it.
The pair soon found Spike in the library. Discord had commandeered most of the tables in the room, pushing them all together, and now their surfaces were covered in sheets and sheets of notes and one giant map.
Apparently, this was all prep work, and when the girls asked about it, they soon found they didn’t share that keen of an interest. Politely declining an offer to help out, the pair decided to take a look through Twilight’s collection of games and entertainment. Moving into the private library, they soon stood together, looking up and down at the set of shelves holding the games.
Focused on picking something, they failed to notice that a series of mana wires adorning a particular large mirror had sprung to life. With a faint noise, sounding akin to someone slipping on ice in the distance, their ears perked up. Next thing they knew, there was a loud thump.
“Son of a—ugh, that hurt.”
Eyes wide and horns alight, Starlight and Trixie turned to face their would-be intruder only to find an amber unicorn mare sprawled out on her back, twitching in pain.
“Sunset Shimmer?” Starlight gawked.
The prone mare stopped moving. “Starlight Glimmer?”
The purple-maned mare moved and helped the other to her hooves. “That’s me. How’d you know?”
“I’ve had run-ins with the alternate dimension you, so I know the voice.” Sunset rubbed the back of her neck, her face a little flush. “Same question back?”
“With the mirror and Twilight’s description, let’s just call it an educated guess.”
Both mares were somewhat startled when a hoof slammed the floor, the blue mare it belonged to wearing an irate scowl. “Would somepony please tell me what in Tartarus is happening here?!”
Trixie had stopped moving. Starlight was starting to grow concerned and waved a leg in front of her face.
They had spent the last quarter of an hour explaining the deal with the alternate dimension, Sunset’s theft of the Element of Magic, and the subsequent magic shenanigans on the other side. At some point, Trixie had stopped being able to comprehend it all and had just stopped responding.
With motion and talking having no effect, Starlight decided to try something bold. She leaned forwards and gave her friend a quick peck on the cheek. Instantly, the blue of her cheeks went red, and it slowly worked its way to the tips of her ears.
Sunset watched the exchange with intrigue, before Starlight shuffled across next to her. “And three… two… one…”
“She did all that?!” Trixie exclaimed, looking at the newcomer with a mixture of respect and fear.
“Yes, and like us, Twilight helped her to better herself.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Sunset stuck her hoof into the middle, “but speaking of Twilight, where is she? I came here to talk to her about something.”
The faces fell on the other two mares. “Sorry, Sunset, she and the other Elements have gone on a mission. They should be back in a few days if you want to come back later.”
“Ugh.” Sunset dropped to her stomach. “I’d rather just wait here, if that’s okay with you? I’d really like to talk to her in pers… pony before I have to do something.”
Starlight shrugged. “I don’t see that being an issue. This castle has enough rooms.” She looked across to Trixie, and the two shared a look, before she turned back to Sunset. “I’d never turn down more company, and if what Twilight tells me is true, you are quite the skilled mage; the three of us can talk shop.”
A distant crash echoed through the castle. Two of the three mares looked at each other and spoke at the same time: “Discord!”
When the trio made it to the library, the area was in chaos… which made sense, given that the Lord of Chaos was currently there. Half of the bookshelves had been overturned and one of the desks was still smouldering.
Facehoofing, Starlight sat down. “What even happened?”
“Sorry, Starlight,” Spike said as he approached, broom in claw. “Discord wanted to try out a new enemy type, and he accidentally brought it to life.”
“Of course he did. Where is he now?”
Spike glowered. “He saw the mess, said ‘Oops’, and vanished.”
“Of course he did,” Starlight deadpanned, scanning the damages. “I’m sorry Sunset, I know you just got here, but do you mind lending a hoof?”
The mare in question shrugged. “I’m not sure where things go but I can repair broken things easy enough.”
With that, each mare began moving around the room, using their magic to clean, fix, or rearrange the room. Spike offered to help, but quickly found himself unable to keep up, choosing instead to go and make tea.
“So what kinda mission have the girls gone on?” Sunset questioned, a table currently floating along beside her.
“No idea.” Starlight pushed a few reading cushions back against the wall.
“The map only says who is needed, and where. Safe to say it’s a ‘friendship problem’. It must be a doozy too, needing all six of them.”
“Trixie thinks the whole thing is silly. We didn’t need a magic table to save Equestria.” Trixie rubbed one foreleg with another, “Though she admits she wished she was sent on important missions.”
With a slight creak, the side door opened, and in backed Spike, carrying a tray. He turned around and whistled. “Wow, you three work fast. Thank you, this would have taken me all day by myself.” Moving again, he set the tray down, giving everypony a look at his efforts. The tray was covered in sandwiches and snacks, along with a set of cups, a pot of tea, and a pot of coffee.
Without even a word, the three mares decided that they had all earnt a break. They finished their own task, and assembled around the table, laying on their stomachs. With three unicorns, it almost turned into a ballet display, sandwiches, cups, and pots floating around, each in a different color magic, until four places had been set, and filled.
Blinking, Spike marveled at how quickly the almost total strangers had synced up with one another. But a rumble of his stomach was more important right now, so he took his place at the table.
A comfortable silence reigned, and everything seemed perfect. Too perfect.
Before anyone could say anything, the castle shook, the lights going dark before flickering back to life. An alarm tone shrieked throughout, originating from the throne room. Spike and Starlight were instantly up and running, Trixie and Sunset having to play catch up, not sure what was going on.
As the group skidded to a halt in the throne room, the siren stopped, and the table flashed a warm yellow. From behind her, Starlight heard a gasp, before Sunset tapped her on the back.
“Starlight?”
“Yes, Sunset?”
“Why is my butt glowing, and why is my symbol on that map?”
’Deep breaths, just deep breaths Starlight, like Twilight showed You.’ Starlight held a hoof to her chest. She just couldn’t wrap her head around what her eyes were telling her. “I honestly don’t know.” She looked at Sunset with tired eyes. “A situation like this never crossed anypony’s mind. We all thought it was a link with the Elements of Harmony.”
“Ahem.” Sunset coughed and looked away, a foreleg absentmindedly scratching the back of her neck. Her pupils were slightly dilated and she refused to meet anypony else’s gaze.
Noticing what Starlight hadn’t, Trixie stepped forwards to challenge the amber unicorn. “Sunset, what aren't you telling us?” She frowned before she rose a hoof and poked her companion in the chest none too gently.
“Ahem, it’s just…” Sunset gave a forced grin and began to back away, heading towards the door that they had come in through. Before she could get there though, a loud bang reverberated around the crystal chamber; when she looked back she found that Spike had slammed the doors shut and now stood blocking the way.
By now, she found herself surrounded. Sagging her shoulders in defeat she then sat down. “I… may have left a tiny little detail out when I told you about what happened at Camp Everfree.” Every eye was now focused firmly on her, almost boring into her soul for answers. “After we defeated her, the seven stones each came to one of us. Our best guess is they are shards of the elements, which would make me the seventh element, or at least a combination of the others.”
“Which would explain why you are on the map!” Spike finished for her, looking more than a little excited.
Trixie hummed to herself. After glowering a little at Sunset, she then said, “Given the details Trixie has just learned so far today, this is one of the more believable ones, at least. I think she’s right.”
Starlight facehoofed. “I did not sign up for this.”
Sunset walked over to the map, placing her forehooves on the table before she pulled herself into a standing bipedal position. “Ok, so Twilight has talked to me about this map a little bit before, but my mark floating there...” She pointed her hoof at the floating symbol and a frown grew on her face. “What could it mean?”
“It means, girls,” a ghostly voice said as it reverberated around the room, “that your mission, should you choose to accept it…”
“Discord, knock it off!” Starlight found her patience for the lord of chaos wearing thin.
“Fine, fine! Spoilsport.” There was a flash of light; she then found herself face to face with a put-out looking draconequus. “Simply put, the map senses a problem, picks the right pony for the task, and sends them out to fix it. Apparently, today that special pony is you, my rambunctious little firebrand, and it wants you to go… here, wherever that is.”
The other two mares and Spike quickly crowded the table, each trying to get a look at the destination. Suddenly, Starlight fell back on her haunches as she whispered, “Oh no, not there…” She trailed of, panic shining in her eyes.
Trixie fell back, concerned. “What’s the matter?”
From the table, Spike gulped audibly. “The map is saying there is a problem… in Our Town.”
Trixie’s face went pale, the story already known to her, but Sunset had no idea beyond that it must be somewhere important to this group. “‘Our Town’? I know Twilight technically owns the demesne of Ponyville, but you have another town?”
A quick chuckle escaped Spike before his serious expression returned. “No, we don’t own anything else. ‘Our Town’ is literally the name of the town.” He stared at her pointedly and shook his head quickly, glancing nervously at Starlight. “Just… don’t ask. And we, but Starlight more-so, have friends there.”
“Okay, so, we just head on over there and boom, solve the problem?” Sunset wore a confident grin—or, she did at first, at least until she saw the look on Spike’s face. The pair glanced at the other two, as Trixie tried to reassure Starlight that her friends were fine.
“No, it’s never been that simple; Twilight and the girls all found that out the hard way. Don’t worry though, Twilight planned for this.”
Sunset bawlked. “Twilight planned for me being added to the map and being sent on a mission?”
“Not in so many words, no. I meant that she has since started planning for every eventuality, and a mission being handed out while she is away was one of them. Come with me.”
“What about those two?” She jerked her head in Starlight’s direction, also realizing that Discord had disappeared at some point.
“They’ll be fine, Star’s a strong mare.” He walked through the doorway, Sunset trotting to keep up with him.
“Star?” She turned to him slightly, eyebrow raised.
Spike blushed slightly at the implication. “Hey, it’s nothing like that. No, it’s… she’s been living with us for a while she’s kinda gotten close. Never as close as Twilight, but I now think of her like a sister. So like Twilight becomes Twi, I was hoping ‘Star’ would help to make her feel welcome here. It’s probably quite tough for her.”
“That is… remarkably grown up.” She sounded impressed.
“And we’re here.” He punctuated his announcement with a little spin, coming to a stop and facing a closet. He pulled the door open, revealing rack upon rack of prepacked saddlebags. “Just give me a second.” He pulled a reference book off a stand and began mumbling to himself, turning the pages quickly with a claw before thrusting it into Sunset’s face.
The Cutie-Map sends Earth ponies to Cloudsdale.
The Cutie-Map calls upon Celestia; Luna gets jealous again, leading to a new Nightmare Moon incident.
The Cutie-Map activates somepony new while I am away.
“There, see? Scenario 45.”
Rolling her eyes, Sunset levitated down the two saddlebags on the shelf marked ‘45’. “Why is there two?”
“Oh, the map never sends anypony out on their own. Guess one of the other two can carry the second. Ah, here they are now.”
Starlight and Trixie rounded the corner, the two bodies pressed together. There were clear tear marks running down Starlight’s cheeks, staining her fur, but there were no more new tears. “So what’s the plan?” Trixie asked, eyeing the well packed saddlebags curiously.
“Simple,” Spike said as stepped forwards, “we all make a trip to Our Town and investigate the problem, kick some flank, and be back before Twilight even knows that we were gone.” His face was one big smile and his enthusiasm so infectious that the three mares couldn’t help but smile back.
The saddlebags on the floor became enveloped in a light blue hue before they floated up into the air. Spike soon became airborne with them, not even phased after having Twilight do it to him so much, and they were both lowered down. The bags landed on Trixie’s back, while Spike was seated onto Starlight’s. “I can’t think of anything else we need, can you?”
Receiving two shaking heads, she nodded resolutely. “Then let's get to the train station.”
Three mares and one dragon trudged back into the castle lobby, heads hanging low. “How was I supposed to know there weren’t going to be any Bits in the bags?” Starlight groused. “How does Twilight catch the trains—I’ve never seen her take saddlebags. Or Bits.”
Spike looked at her pointedly. “She’s a princess—she gets free travel.” Realisation dawned on the faces of his companions. “Besides, I think she even has royal carriages, though she doesn't like bothering the rail company to use them.” He walked over to one of the chest of drawers, pulled open draw, and lifted up a hidden panel. He pulled out a small drawstring bag and then closed everything up again. The bag jingled, heavy with coins, causing the mares to gawk. “What? I get a royal stipend you know.”
And with funds secured, they once again left for the train station.
