One Prologue Later...

by Brass Polish

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Original Character, Mystery, Spike, Comedy, Random, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, Lightning Dust
Length: 5825

Lightning Dust hatches the idea to liberate Amber Aldis from her glacier by means of an enchanted comic book… or rather an enchanted manga.

Lightning Dust hatches the idea to liberate Amber Aldis from her glacier by means of an enchanted comic book… or rather an enchanted manga.

Published 2017-01-28 19:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-01-28 19:10:01 UTC

1 Vale of Warriors

Spike was pickling some gemstones.

“Kinda funny how gemstones have to age for a while in the first place, and now they gotta age a bit more in this jar,” he chuckled to himself as he dropped some diamonds into the brine.

And no sooner had he screwed on the lid that the jar was sitting in the fridge.

“Okay. That’s my snack for Vale of Warriors ready for next week,” he grinned to himself.

“Who?” hooted an annoying voice.

Spike looked up to see Owlowiscious perched in top of the fridge.

“Vale of Warriors,” said Spike. “And it’s no someone. It’s a brand new comic series from Fengust.”

“Who?” hooted Owlowiscious.

Spike sighed. “Fengust isn’t someone. It’s a place. It’s where august roosters live.”

“What?” hooted Owlowiscious.

“August roosters,” groaned Spike impatiently. “They’re like griffons, but instead of half bird half wild cat, they’re half bird half deer. Now if you’re done asking me stupid questions, I gotta rewrite Twilight’s checklist for our trip to Canterlot next week… for the billionth time.”

He waddled out of the kitchen… then immediately rushed back in.

“DID YOU JUST SAY WHAT?!”

Further north, someone else was being pestered by a comic fan hyped for Vale of Warriors’ debut in Equestria.

“But it’s cheaper if you split a room,” insisted Updraft.

“Why don’t you get your stepsister to go halvsies on a hotel room?” suggested Lightning Dust huffily. “She’d be more likely to find enchanted comic books exciting. We both know how much she loves sending ponies into interactive challenges.”

“Oh, come on! She’s learned her lesson,” insisted Updraft. “That’s kinda why she’s not so interested in being sucked into a comic story.”

Lightning Dust huffed. “She can dish it out, but she can’t take it.”

“You said you were over it!” snapped Updraft.

“You’re not making it easy by badgering me to take time off and fly off to Canterlot with you in the middle of everything I have to do,” said Lightning.

“Come on. You took half a week off last moon to see your buddy Miss Pommel in that new clothing store.”

“I keep telling you, her name is Coco. Get it into your head,” grumbled Lightning Dust. “And that’s different. She’s like my only Manehattan friend. I don’t know anypony in Canterlot.”

“What about Cinnamon Chai?”

Lightning Dust scoffed. “I hardly know her. Plus, I can’t tell if her accent’s fake or not.”

“Please, Dusty?” pleased Updraft. “I’m your friend too, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. But I see you pretty much every day. You being in Canterlot is no excuse for me to drop everything and go there.”

“Oh, fine!” barked Updraft, turning tail and unfurling her wings. “You don’t have to drop what you’re doing… which is nothing!”

This wasn’t quite true. Lightning Dust was Loch Azure’s weather captain, meaning she had lots of responsibilities. And after hers and Spitfire’s knighting ceremony, she was determined to make good on the vow she made on her knighthood. But as time went by, she was sure she was in over her head. Frostaceans’ claws were as fast as light, and if any living thing tried to pass over the moat King Sombra made, they would be knocked backwards. Unicorn and alicorn magic was no match for a frostacean’s speed. The only way a pegasus could go fast enough to make it across was to perform a Sonic Rainboom, and even then, the claws would still make contact. And it was difficult and hazardous to get up that much speed in the arctic north. There was too much wind resistance in the snowy wasteland to gain a good enough momentum. And since Windigoes resided above the clouds, trying to get a good start from a high altitude wasn’t possible without being overcome with blinding rage and resentment. Not to mention the severe snowfall that followed when the Windigoes were agitated by an interloper. So if it looked like Lightning Dust was doing nothing in particular standing in the middle of the lake, it was because she was pondering how to free Amber Aldis from the glacier without anyone being pummelled by the long, quick reach of the frostaceans. The only thing that could pass over the moat without getting a crabby punch was something inanimate, like a scooter, or a tent, or food, or kindling, or a comic book, or…

“Okay, Updraft,” said Lightning Dust the following week. “I’ll split a room with you.”

“Really? Wow!” exclaimed Updraft gleefully. “What changed your mind?”

The whistle of the approaching train kept Lightning from explaining her plan, as she had to rush to the booking office to buy a ticket.

It was a day before Vale of Warriors was to be released in the House of Enchanted Comics, but there was already a line.

“What was the point of splitting a hotel room if you’re gonna sleep out on the sidewalk?” grumbled Lightning Dust.

“Hey, at least you get to sleep in a bed,” frowned Updraft. “And we’re still splitting the cost.”

“If you want me to buy you a lawn chair,” said Lightning, “I’m not splitting the cost.”

“You don’t have to get me a chair,” said Updraft. “You can get me a cloud.”

“Oh. Good idea,” grinned Lightning Dust. “Be right back.”

In less than a minute, Updraft had a soft, fluffy mattress to spend the chilly night out in the streets of the capitol.

“Better hope it doesn’t drift off and lift you into the sky overnight,” joked Lightning Dust. “Or you’ll lose your spot in line.”

Updraft hadn’t lost her place in line, but she awoke to find no one in line behind her.

“Really?” she yawned. “I’m the last one? That’s not good. They might sell out by the time I get to the front of the line.”

Miraculously, Updraft was able to buy the last copy of Vale of Warriors before they sold out. She rushed to the hotel room to tell Lightning Dust about her stroke of luck.

“That’s pretty cool,” grinned Lightning. “It’s like they knew how many ponies wanted to get the first look at Fengust comics.”

Updraft parked herself on the bed and cracked the book open.

“Oh, I didn’t tell why I wanted to come with you yet,” said Lightning Dust. “I’ll need to borrow that book for a bit.”

“Not now,” said Updraft promptly. “I just got this.”

“But I’ve got this great idea,” insisted Lightning Dust.

“Well you shoulda told me it earlier. It’s too late now. I’m reading this, and if you don’t want me to join you, you can leave me alone.”

Lightning Dust watched Updraft reading her comic for a few seconds.

“Is that an enchanted comic?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you have been sucked into it?”

Updraft groaned. “It starts like a normal comic. Then the last page has the incantation to suck you in so you can finish the story as one of the characters. I’ll get to that once I get through the comic panels. And you better not take this comic while I’m in here. You can use this book for whatever you want when I’m done.”

And she went on reading. But Lightning Dust, so proud of herself for her idea and confidence that it would work, didn’t want to wait.

“You know what? I saw Spike in line, and at the donut store. He’ll lend me his book,” she said. “He knows Amber. He’ll help me.”

And she rushed out of the room, leaving Updraft to discover that aside from having an enchanted last page with a written incantation and an exit word, this was no normal comic book.

Very rarely did somepony who wasn’t a student at the School for Gifted Unicorns go barging onto campus grounds, but there weren’t as many ponies about on weekends, so Lightning Dust’s entrance went unnoticed. She had learned from Rainbow Dash that Twilight used to have her own room at the top of the observatory tower when she was Princess Celestia’s student. She figured she and Spike might be staying in there during their visit to Canterlot, and found her guess must be right when she saw the little purple dragon rushing down the spiral staircase.

“Hey, Spike!” she called, flying up to him. “What’s up?”

“Oh. Hi Lightning Dust,” said Spike, surprised. “I’m just going to the donut shop. I was supposed to be snacking on some gemstones I pickled back home, but I grabbed a jar of pickled eggs by mistake.”

“I saw you in line for that enchanted comic from Fengust,” said Lightning Dust.

“Well, it’s not really an enchanted comic from Fengust,” said Spike. “It was translated and enchanted by the publishers from the House of…”

“Okay, okay,” said Lightning impatiently. “Anyway, you were in front of my friend. You got one, I take it?”

“Yeah. Why?” asked Spike. “Did I get the last one so your friend couldn’t get one?”

“No, no,” said Lightning Dust quickly. “She got one too, but she won’t let me use it.”

“Does she read faster than you?” asked Spike. “I know what that’s like. Twilight can finish a whole book before I’m even done with the list of chapters.”

“I don’t want to read it,” Lightning Dust waved her hoof.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Then what do you want it for?”

“I wanna try and get Amber Aldis off that glacier with it,” said Lightning Dust with a grin.

Spike cottoned onto the idea at once.

“Could that work?” he asked excitedly. “Do you think she’ll be able to go over the moat if she’s inside an enchanted comic?”

“We’ll need a fishing rod,” said Lightning Dust. “And your comic, obviously. You in?”

“This is great,” beamed Spike. “Twilight’s upstairs right now with all her friends from school. Amber’s pretty much the only one missing. Imagine how she’d feel if Amber joined them all at the Tasty Treat tonight.”

“Huh. That’d be a pretty cool surprise,” agreed Lightning Dust. “Okay. You go get your comic and I’ll go get a fishing rod. We’ll meet up at…”

“Wait,” said Spike. “I’ll need your help if I’m gonna sneak back into the observatory. You can fly me up to the window so I can jump in, get it, and get out without her noticing.”

Lightning Dust nodded and let Spike mount her before ascending to the bedroom window. The window was open, and from outside, they could hear Twilight and Moondancer laughing at Minuette’s and Twinkleshine’s anecdote about the time Lemon Hearts got challenged to a duel by the class hamster. There was nothing to stop Spike from leaping into the room, grabbing his copy of Vale of Warriors from his basket, and jumping out onto Lightning’s back.

Spike’s and Lightning Dust’s excitement grew and grew as they acquired a fishing pole and traveled north. They were certain that this idea would work. The only time Spike felt any kind of concern was when Lightning Dust asked him how exactly enchanted comics worked.

“Did you think this through, Lightning?” he asked.

“Well, I kinda get the general idea,” insisted Lightning Dust. “Ponies get sucked inside the book and turn into a character and have to act out their part of the rest of the story before it sends them back.”

“That’s right,” said Spike. “The last page of the book is blank, accept for some tiny writing.”

“Is that the incantation?” asked Lightning Dust.

“Yeah. They’re all the same one, though,” said Spike. “Take a closer look to…”

“Don’t say it now!” boomed Lightning Dust.

“Oops. Sorry,” said Spike, clamping the book against his chest. “That wouldn’t have been good. I haven’t even read any of it yet. I wouldn’t know any of the characters or places or the mission.”

“That, and if we both got sucked in right here right now,” said Lightning Dust, “who knows where the book would end up landing when we were done?”

“But there’s a safe word for if you want to leave before you’re finished the story,” said Spike. “It’s on the back of the enchanted page.”

“Are the safe words not the same for every comic?” asked Lightning Dust.

“No. They always have to be something that had nothing to do with the story so you don’t have to say it while you’re in the adventure.”

“Why are the incantations the same but the safe words different?” asked Lightning Dust.

“Well, actually, the incantations start with something about being able to come back to reality after you’ve defeated the main villain of the story,” explained Spike.

“Updraft did say comic books are more complicated than ponies think,” Lightning Dust rolled her eyes.

Being stuck in a snowy wasteland was taking its toll on Amber Aldis. Twice a week, someone from either Clopley Hill or the Crystal Empire would turn up at the moat and toss provisions to her. She was never short on food or firewood. But she was unable to keep time when the sun was obscured by the arctic clouds. She never knew when the next delivery or another visitor would come. Twilight and Starlight were the most frequent visitors, but they didn’t often stay long. They always said they would return, but whether they had a specific date in mind or not, Amber couldn’t keep track. Having so little company was making her a little tetchy. One thing that kept her morale was being able to use magic once again. Without the Venomodo’s poison, there was nothing to stop her from levitating objects, which she did constantly just to remind herself that she could. Whenever Twilight, Starlight, or somepony with supplies arrived, they could often see things floating through one of the foggy windows of Amber’s shelter. But by now, even the thrill of using her renewed magical abilities was wearing thin. The fact that her magic could not be used beyond the moat without coming into contact with a Frostacean’s claw was getting more and more demoralising.

Amber hadn’t forgotten the vow Lightning Dust had made at the knighting ceremony, but she hadn’t seen Lightning since then. She often asked about her when her friends visited, and all they could tell her was Lightning hadn’t come up with anything yet. So to see her appear from the misty window was thrilling.

“Lightning! You’re back!” she cried, bursting out of her shelter.

“Hi Amber!” called Spike.

“Oh, hit Spike!” Amber beamed. “Well? Have you thought of way to get me outta this wasteland?”

“I think we have,” grinned Lightning Dust. “Show her, Spike.”

It wasn’t that windy, but Spike still had to hold onto his copy of Vale of Warriors tightly as he showed it to Amber.

“An enchanted comic!” boomed Amber. “Yes! The Frostaceans won’t see me if I’m inside that! Have you got a string or something?!”

Lightning Dust showed her the fishing pole.

“Oh! Be careful when you put the hook in!” warned Amber. “If you damage the enchanted page, the spell might not work!”

So when Spike grabbed the fishing hook and the book, he avoided piercing the last page and the back cover.

“Okay. We’ll cast the book over the moat, and you say the incantation,” said Lightning Dust. “When you get sucked in, we’ll reel it in.”

“Do it quickly!” said Amber. “We don’t want the book to fall into the moat and get caught on something!”

“Right,” nodded Lighting Dust, taking the book from Spike.

“And go around that way before you cast it!” Amber advised. “It’ll go downwind that way!”

So Lightning and Spike walked around to the other side of the moat. Amber was bouncing when they reached the spot where the wind worked to their advantage.

“After you get sucked in,” said Spike, “wait about five minutes before you say the safe word. We should have it over the moat by then.”

Lightning Dust took a firm grip on the fishing pole, and Spike raised the enchanted comic over his head.

“Ready?”

“Ready!” Amber cried ecstatically.

Spike threw the book over the moat, and Amber caught in. She instantly opened it to the partially blank page with the spell on it. Even though they were a long way from the book now, Spike and Lightning Dust stood well back in case they were within range of the page’s suction.

“You can return to the spot where you began when Prince Boxpok is defeated,” she recited quickly. “Take a closer look…”

“Wait! You gotta check what the safe word is!” called Spike.

“To join the adventure in this book,” Amber finished, not hearing a word Spike said.

She instantly tried to dive into the book, but the white light had not yet appeared, and they both hit the snowy ground. The white light erupted from the enchanted page, and Amber was quickly sucked in. The light vanished; Amber was nowhere in sight.

Author's Note

Partially inspired by the Red Dwarf episode "Backwards".

2 Sroirraw fo Elav

“She doesn’t know the safe word,” said Lightning Dust.

“You better reel it in quickly so we can go in and get her out ourselves,” said Spike.

Lightning Dust’s hooves were getting numb, but she kept a firm grip on the pole as she reeled the comic book in. Spike watched apprehensively as the book drew nearer to the moat. They could hear the wind picking up, and their hearts skipped a beat. If the gust was too strong, it might rip the pages from the hook, and they’d lose the book; maybe in the moat. Luckily, the wind wasn’t that strong, and it lifted the book well over the moat. There was no booming noise from beneath the snow, and the book remained suspended in the wind as Lightning continued reeling it in.

“It worked!” cried Spike. “The frostaceans didn’t stop her! You’re a genius, Lightning Dust!”

He dashed to pick up the comic book, took the hook out, and looked at the other side of the bewitched page.

“It’s Trams,” he told Lightning.

“Can we go to town before you go in?” asked Lightning as she dropped the fishing rod. “My hooves are freezing.”

“Okay, but hurry,” said Spike. “She might come across a villain in the story and wind up far away from the starting point by the time I get there.”

Lightning Dust chose to go to Clopley Hill rather than the Crystal Empire because it was downwind, and they had to minimalize resistance if they wanted to get to Amber before she was dragged away from the starting location by some character.

“Where can we go where no one else gets sucked in by accident?” asked Lightning Dust.

“Let’s see if the castle’s empty,” suggested Spike.

They were glad to find Caerfilly Castle was not having a tour. The courtyard was completely empty.

“Will we be able to go in even though Amber had a head start?” asked Lighting Dust.

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried it. But we gotta try,” said Spike, getting off Lightning’s back and opening the comic to the enchanted page. “You can return to the spot where you began when Prince Boxpok is defeated. Take a closer look to join the adventure in this book.”

After a second, the bright light enveloped Spike and Lighting Dust. They were lifted off the ground and pulled into the page.

They found themselves on a ledge in the middle of a large cliff face.

“Whoa!” shouted Lightning Dust through a beard net. “Does that hurt?”

Spike realised he had a bard wire net draped over his shoulder.

“Nah,” he said. “I guess there’s a dragon character in Vale of Warrior’s with thick scales. What- what’s this I’m holding?”

“Looks like a baseball bat made out of a cactus,” gawked Lighting. “I wish we had time to read the story so we’d know who or what we’re supposed to be. I’d love to know what I gotta wear a hair net and plastic gloves and this apron. What’s this on my apron? It looks like mud.”

Spike tried to examine his own apparel, but he didn’t realise how little space there was on the ledge until he slipped and fell sideways. But just as Lightning Dust was about to jump from the ledge and fly him to safety, she was surprised to find Spike floating upwards into the low clouds rather than down into the misty valley. She took off after him, finding him on the mountain top standing next to a mud puddle with a puzzled look on his face.

“How did I do that?” he asked.

“You character must have anti-grav powers,” thought Lightning. “Try letting go of your cactus club. See if it floats.”

“But I might need it,” said Spike.

“I’ll fly up and catch it before it gets too far away,” said Lightning Dust.

“But it’s covered in thorns,” Spike warned.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got these plastic gloves on. I’ll be fine,” Lightning Dust insisted.

Spike held his club out and let it sit in his palms, but it didn’t float. And it was a good thing, because at that moment, they were accosted by a spiked creature that looked like it was made of clay. It made contact with them both, nearly knocking them off the mountain top.

“Whack it! Whack it!” cried Lightning Dust as the creature growled fiercely.

Spike swung his cactus club hard at the clay creature. It hit hard, but it seemed that it the impact caused all the spikes on its surface to disappear. In fact, the cactus seemed to grow even more thorns. The creature was no longer growling. It slunk backwards for a moment, and then disappeared into the mist. As it slid out of sight, Lightning Dust realised two things; her apron was now clean, and the mud puddle Spike had been standing next to was gone.

“Why is everything happening backwards?” asked Lightning Dust.

“Backwards?”

“Yeah. I mean it things were going forwards, that clay creature would have snuck up on us, you would have spotted it and whacked it with your cactus club, it would have been covered in thorns and fatally wounded, pushed us off this mountain top as its last act before being reduced to a pile of slime.”

Spike scratched his head. He looked down and saw a crushed flower. He stepped on it and raised his foot. The flower was standing tall, proud, and colourful now.

“Weird,” he said. “Maybe we should’ve read the comic first. Like, even before we went to see Amber. We’re never gonna find her if everything’s backwards.”

They soon realised that there was a vast landscape on this mountain top. The mist made it looked like it was only as wide as a swimming pool, but there was actually a civilization beyond the fog. The ground also sloped downwards as they made their way past several little wooden huts and found themselves beside another cliff face.

“Look at that waterfall,” Spike pointed to the blue streak on the side of the cliff. “The water’s going up.”

They approached the river.

“What’s that floating in it?!” cried Lightning Dust.

They gasped when they realised the unmoving figure was a griffon fledgling floating face down on the surface close to the waterfall. They both felt pangs in their hearts when they saw that her wings were tied together. But suddenly, she drifted towards the waterfall, and then shot upwards, screaming, flailing, and with feathers dry as a bone.

“Oh. Well, whatever terrible thing happened to her, it’s being undone now,” said Spike, feeling much better. “Looks like everyone’s safe if everything’s backwards. No one can get hurt.”

“I still wanna see what’s going on up there,” insisted Lightning Dust.

So Spike hopped onto her back and she flew them up to where the waterfall started. The water in the river was still flowing backwards. They quickly saw the griffon fledgling; she was in the clutches of a creature with tentacles, one of which was holding her beak shut to keep her from yelling for help. Spike stepped forward, brandishing his cactus club.

“Let her…!”

“Wait,” hissed Lightning Dust. “Don’t you remember? Time’s going backwards. She’s not in danger. Look.”

The squid-like being released the young griffon and untied her wings. She then hand her a large golden key, and jumped into the river.

“This is way too weird,” groaned Lightning Dust as the griffon fledgling flew away backwards with the golden key. “But at least we know Amber can’t be in any real danger.”

At that moment, bears of many colours emerged from the fog, shuffling towards them with confused looks.

“What do we do?” asked Spike. “I know they can’t hurt us, but they must do something.”

The bears stood side by side, looking at Spike and Lightning Dust like they were the weirdest things they’d ever seen.

“What we gotta do is find Amber,” said Lightning Dust.

She flapped her wings, ascending a few feet from the ground. She took a deep breath, but then noticed that some of the bears started retreating.

“Oh. I think I know what their deal is,” she grinned.

Soon enough, the rest of the bears backtracked and were out of sight.

“Amber!” she called. “Are you around, Amber?! It’s me and Spike! We came to get you out of here!”

The sound of her voice echoed around in the thick mist. There was no reply.

“See, Spike?” Lightning Dust touched back down onto the ground. “Those bears were following the sound of my yelling, but in reverse.”

Spike and Lightning wandered around the settings, witnessing several shocking things happening backwards. First there was a heap of twisted steel and wood tumbling backwards out of a ditch to form a passenger train that sped away backwards up a steep hill. Then a bruised kitsune stopped his howling when the pile of stone around him shot upwards to form a bridge connecting two gorges. Also, it was actually kind of funny when a hydra spit out a peach tree per mouth, each of which planted itself firmly into the grass. And in each place Spike and Lightning Dust ventured, crowds would gather close to them for about a minute before leaving. They knew what to do one they’d all left. But they got no response whenever they called Amber Aldis’ name.

“I’m getting tired,” sighed Lightning Dust hours later. “Can we go back and try again later?”

“Sure,” nodded Spike. “Trams.”

Nothing happened.

“Trams!” repeated Spike.

They were still there.

“Trams!” Spike and Lightning Dust shouted together.

The mist was still surrounding them.

“That stupid safe word doesn’t work!” cried Spike. “We’re stuck in here!”

Twilight was also in a panicky state as she flew around Canterlot looking for Spike. She had absolutely no leads. Spike had told her he was going to Donut Joe’s the last time she saw him, but Joe told her he never saw him all day. No one in Canterlot Castle had any information for her either. Princess Celestia tried sending Spike a letter, but got no response. Twilight considered the House of Enchanted Comics, as that was another place in Canterlot Spike was likely to go to, but she knew he’d already been there that day. She wondered if he might be inside his comic somewhere, but there was no sign of a copy of Vale of Warrior’s lying around either. As the night grew darker, she found herself hammering on the door of Carousel Boutique.

“What in the name of sock suspenders is going on?” yawned Sassy Saddles upon opening the door.

“Sorry, Sassy,” said Twilight, “but Spike’s missing. Have you seen him?”

“No, I haven’t,” said the bleary-eyed Sassy. “Oh, but somepony else came into the store just before closing asking me if I’d seen somepony else who’s missing.”

“Who?” asked Twilight.

“Uh, I didn’t get her name,” said Sassy groggily, “but I remember the pony she was looking for was called Lightning Dust.”

“Updraft!” exclaimed Twilight. “Maybe Spike and Lightning Dust are together! Thank you, Sassy!”

And she took off, leaving Sassy to close the door and return to her bed.

Twilight hoped Updraft hadn’t left town as she went from hotel to hotel asking for her at each front desk. Before long, she found the right hotel, and banged on Updraft’s room door.

“What is it?!” Updraft was looking just as exhausted as Twilight when she answered the door.

“I’ve heard you were looking for Lightning Dust,” said Twilight.

“Yeah!” cried Updraft. “Have you seen her?!”

“Uh, no, I haven’t. The thing is Spike’s missing as well,” said Twilight.

“Spike!” shouted Updraft. “Of course! I forgot! She wanted to use his enchanted comic for something because I didn’t want her to use mine until I was done reading it.”

“What did she want it for?” asked Twilight.

Updraft groaned. “She didn’t tell me when she agreed to come with me. She tried to after I got back with my book, but I was too happy that I got the last copy and I told her to wait for me to finish getting through it.”

“She must’ve asked Spike for his,” said Twilight. “But what do you think they did?”

“Probably got confused,” grinned Updraft.

She went back into her room for a few seconds and returned to the door with her Vale of Warriors copy.

“Take a look,” she said, passing it to the princess.

It didn’t take Twilight long to see that something was amiss with the panels.

“Why did the punch line come before the setup?” she asked.

“It’s in backwards order,” said Updraft. “I think in Fengust, they read books from back cover to front cover.”

“Hm. I’ve been meaning to study up on august rooster culture,” Twilight yawned.

“But look where the enchanted page that sucks readers into the story is,” Updraft continued.

Twilight found it at the back of the book, as she was used to.

“I think the publishers who translated the text didn’t realise that they put the enchanted page in the wrong part of the story,” said Updraft. “Even though it’s at the back, it’s still not at the end of the story. When I went into it, everything was happening backwards. And this story has a prologue that takes place 88 years before the main events.”

“Alright, I get it,” said Twilight impatiently. “But we still have no clue as to where Spike and Lightning went with their copy.”

Updraft nodded. “I can’t think what she’d want with it. But whatever it is, it must’ve backfired.”

“And now Spike might be in danger as well,” groaned Twilight. “We’ve got to find them. Oh, I wish Amber wasn’t stuck on that glacier surrounded by frostaceans. She could find them with her special magical talent in no time at…”

Both Twilight and Updraft gasped.

“Look at this!” called Updraft over the arctic wind about an hour later. “There’s a fishing rod lying here next to the moat!”

“They did try to use that comic to get Amber off the glacier!” cried Twilight, half delighted, half anxious. “And it looks like it worked.”

She’d been shouting for Amber Aldis for the first two minutes of their arrival. Amber was nowhere to be seen and gave no reply.

“Or maybe it fell into the moat,” Updraft grimaced. “That could be why they’ve disappeared. They feel terrible for losing Amber forever and don’t know what to do with themselves.”

Twilight shivered for reasons that had nothing to do with the snow and wind.

“Why didn’t Spike tell me they were going to try this?” she groaned. “He knows Amber’s one of my best friends from school.”

Updraft had a suggestion for where to go with their investigation.

“If they’re hiding and brooding over this,” she said, “they might’ve gone either to the Crystal Empire or Clopley Hill. There’s castles in both places, right?”

“Yeah. There’s Caerfilly Castle in Clopley Hill, and it won’t be open for tours right now,” said Twilight. “And there’s Sombra’s spiral staircase in the Crystal Castle. They’ve both been in there before.”

So they split up.

Spike and Lightning Dust were watching a herd of caribou regurgitating tall blades of grass neatly onto a prairie field. They’d gone unnoticed for fifteen minutes before most of the herd looked up sharply at them.

“I guess it’s time to call for Amber again,” sighed Spike.

Lightning Dust nodded wearily as the caribou returned to un-eating the grass. They both took a deep breath.

“Amber?!”

That voice was not Spike’s or Lightning’s.

“Spike?! Lightning Dust?!”

“That’s Twilight!” cried Spike. “We’re over here, Twilight!”

Spike and Twilight kept shouting to each other and following the sounds of their voices through the fog. Then at last, Spike and Lightning spotted Twilight flying towards them looking like a member of the Protective Pony Platoons.

“I found you!” beamed Twilight as Spike jumped into her hooves. “But where’s Amber?”

“We can’t find her,” said Spike grimly. “She didn’t look at the safe word before she entered the comic.”

“And even though we did,” added Lightning Dust, “it doesn’t work.”

“We can’t figure out why. But you can,” said Spike hopefully. “I know you can. You’re smart.”

A small white hole opened up over the trio. Spike was quickly lifted off the ground and sucked into it.

“What?!” exclaimed Lightning Dust. “How?!”

“He said the safe word,” said Twilight.

Another white hole appeared, and Twilight disappeared into it.

Spike watched as the comic spat Twilight out.

“Of course! Smart is Trams backwards!” he shouted.

Lightning Dust was also ejected from the book.

“Thanks, Twilight,” she said.

“Yeah. Sorry if we scared you,” said Spike. “I was really worried no one would find us.”

“So was I,” said Twilight. “Don’t get me wrong. This was a good idea. But you should’ve told me you were leaving.”

Spike nodded. Lightning Dust frowned.

“Was it a good idea?”

“Well, you did manage to free Amber from the frostaceans,” smiled Twilight.

Lightning Dust perked up a bit.

“She’s still trapped though,” she admitted. “But I’m not giving up. You know me. I love a challenge.”

Twilight magiced the book up off the castle court ground and passed it to Lightning Dust.

“Good luck, Lightning Dust,” she said. “Now we better get to the Crystal Empire and tell Updraft that I found you.”

Lighting Dust nodded and took off north. Twilight knelt down so Spike could climb on her back.

“Can we head home?” he asked. “There’s something else I should’ve told someone.”

“What’s that?” asked Twilight.

“I don’t think Starlight knows that jar of pickled eggs in the fridge is actually a jar of pickled gemstones.”

Author's Note

I quickly realised that in a backwards reality, I could go as dark as I want and it'll still be considered appropriate for kids by scumbags.