Chapters It was a perfect day in Ponyville, one of those rare occasions when the six best friends promised themselves that they would all agree to postpone their chores so that they could meet up together at Sugarcube Corner. In recognition of this treasured alignment, even the weather had turned out to be perfect too, although that was probably due to the resident weather pony, who was at that moment, sat back casually with her forelegs resting over the back of her chair looking cool.
Pinkie came out of the shop wearing an apron and fake moustache, looking like the phoniest waiter ever. The friends all giggled at the cliché apparition except for Rainbow who threw her head back, shielding her face with a forehoof and laughing loudly. The faux waiter then lowered the platter she held raised in one hoof and with a deft flourish, whipped off the linen cover to reveal the tasty treats underneath. The gathering of friends all thanked her at once and began the joyous task of choosing which delight they were going to gorge on first.
Good natured banter was being batted around the friends like a ball, whoever was the butt of the most recent comment swatting it straight back again amidst a mixture of giggling and laughter. When they reached a natural pause, Pinkie tentatively broached something that had been on her mind:
“Well girls” said Twilight “I think it’s time we went back and paid it a visit. Something’s going on, and I think we need to be there together.”
An air of anticipation hung over the friends as they finished their treats in a more reflective mood; no more banter, just knowing looks exchanged between friends each of whom having had the same dream. Once all were ready, they set off together for the Everfree; the further they got, the more the pool seemed to be calling to them.
They arrived at the boulder that Twilight had used to seal the entrance last time they had been there and stopped, each pony looking at every other, all feeling the same doubts.
Some of those present expected to see a cloud of ethereal vapour or hear a popping sound as it was pulled free, but the absolute nothingness they experienced was in many ways even more chilling. With a distinct feeling of trepidation, they set off down the winding tunnel that opened out onto a gradual incline leading down towards the pool.
The enchanted grotto was quiet and tranquil, illuminated by a shaft of light that seemed to turn the pool a beautiful translucent blue where it struck, dominating the scene. The glow from the pool permeated every feature of the grotto, from the few randomly placed stalagmite shaped rock formations to the occasional flowers that had rooted on the floor and up the rough-hewn walls. Nothing dared to stir lest it broke the idyllic serenity of this place. All was as it was supposed to be, yet some unseen and inescapable force continued drawing them in.
They moved closer until their hooves were nearly at the water’s edge, the sense of expectancy almost palpable.
Then it happened.
The line that separated the surface of the pool from the air above rotated round over their heads and two alicorns appeared in the pool as if from nowhere. The six friends all looked shocked momentarily, then moved forward to help pull out the two new arrivals.
The alicorns were both full grown females, each with a grey coat that shimmered like silver and a mane and tail of the purest spun gold.
The alicorns both gave a light nod in recognition of the compliment at precisely the same time:
The two new alicorns shot each other a quick glance, barely noticed by anypony except for AJ, who for some reason suddenly felt that she should be a little guarded.ermm , duplication.
“Do you rule over your land too, Twilight?” asked Sunaj directly.
Five of the six friends were not remotely surprised to see that the Everfree looked just as it always had in spite of the suggestion that Sunaj may have been a visitor from a parallel universe, although Twilight did look a little disappointed.
The party broke into two groups; one with Twilight and Rarity who were starstruck over one of the alicorns, whilst the other new arrival was in conversation with Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie who was bouncing along, at that very moment working out the details of the party she would throw for them when they returned. Behind them followed AJ, alone with her suspicions.
The closer they got to Ponyville, the more friends and acquaintances stopped to say hello and introduce themselves to the striking new alicorns, the slower their progress became. As a crowd formed round them, they all missed one of those running up to meet them who was a bit smaller than the rest, but more eager than any to meet the returning librarian.
The purple dragon ran up behind the forest of legs that formed the outer reaches of the crowd, but no matter how he tried to force his way through, he kept being forced back out again as ponies jostled to get in closer. Time after time he was pushed further away from his goal until eventually a tawny owl perched on a branch in a nearby tree shook his head and stretched his wings, leaving his branch and gliding silently over the crowd to land on Spike.
The tawny owl circled around and as soon as Twilight saw him she extended a forehoof for him to land on.
“Twilight, am I pleased to see you!” exclaimed the little dragon.
She was taking in the news and the coincidental arrival of two new alicorns when the door opened again and in came her friends with the two alicorns known as Sunaj.
Sure enough, Pinkie was readying a party for the two new arrivals in the Castle of Friendship’s ballroom and word was being spread among the eager populace. Twilight allocated Sunaj two adjoining rooms in the castle and allowed them to prepare whilst she met with her other friends.
Then she left to do some research in the library before the evening’s entertainment started.
True to form, Pinkie’s party was excellent. It was always a mystery how she could pull together such a class event with little to no notice, but she never disappointed. The cider was flowing and ripples of laughter spilled out over the top of the music. There were two large groups of socialising ponies, one having coalesced around each of the two new alicorns, while others were content dancing to the band or seeking refreshments.
Pinkie was changing over the punch bowl when she accidentally dropped the serving ladle and had to get under the table to retrieve it. While she was there, she heard two sets of hoofsteps approach and giggled to herself; she would jump out at a time in their conversation when neither was expecting it and raise a laugh. She listened for her cue, but recognised that one of the guests was Sunaj, so jumping out was probably a bad idea – she was stuck until the conversation ended.
The voice was harsher and more sinister than she had heard before and Pinkie suddenly knew that she could not be seen to have been eavesdropping, but while she was stuck, there was nothing else she could do.
When he alicorns had gone to rejoin their respective groups, Pinkie emerged carefully, suddenly exceedingly self-conscious of her bright pink colouring; the more stealthily she tried to behave, the more of a comic parody she looked. She could see Twilight and knew she had to tell her what she had just heard, but just then a couple of lightly inebriated ponies came along to congratulate Pinkie on a magnificent party, and every time she tried to break away, the more they tried to pull her back – the cider and the punch taking their toll on the revellers.
Pinkie’s increasingly desperate attempts to break away were starting to attract interest, especially from two certain alicorns. The more they looked at Pinkie, the more guilty and frightened she looked until they realised that somehow she had found out something , and that was not allowed.
One of the Sunaj clones got up on the stage and her horn began to glow, an aura spreading out overall the ponies present. The music stopped and the last animated discussions died quickly away as the air began to crackle. The other clone stepped up onto the stage and together their auras merged in a brilliant spectacle of magical power.
“I am sorry to do this to you” said Sunaj in an intimidating voice “But somepony here found out something she shouldn’t have, so I have had to bring my plans forward. Firstly, thank you for the party; it has made it so much easier to cast my obedience spell on all of you at once. Secondly, don’t bother trying to get help from Celestia and Luna; I have already disposed of them.”
Sunaj cackled mercilessly as every attempt by the ponies to fight back was thwarted; it was insult to think that she hadn’t already considered their every option.
Pinkie sidled up to the lilac librarian who had been talking with Fluttershy before the mood of the party had changed:
With that, her horn glowed again and there was a big flash as all the windows shattered at once. Pinkie’s eyes grew wide in fear as she felt the bubble she was in edge towards a large hole where there had once been a window and tried running inside her bubble to keep herself from floating out.
Ponies screamed and milled around in panic while Pinkie’s bubble bumped along the ceiling heading for the unguarded hole in the wall. She was galloping frantically now, trying to stop herself disappearing into oblivion in a scene that would have been comical were it not a matter of life and death.
“Come with me Princess Twilight Sparkle ” said Sunaj “Take me to the Tree of Harmony.”
Rarity turned to AJ “Pull the cord and bring down the balloons now!” she shouted.
Most of the ponies had run away, but the friends congregated below Pinkie trying to work out what to do first.
Rarity knew that for her plan to work, they had to get to the Tree of Harmony before Twilight and Sunaj, so it was merely ten minutes later when Rarity returned to the castle panting and wearing a saddle bag. Noting that everything she had asked for was ready, including Spike who was flattered to have been asked for by Rarity in person, she shot a determined smile and gave the order to head for the Tree of Harmony.
The full moon was high in the sky, providing enough light to see their way. Although the Everfree was a scary place to be, especially at night, the ponies had done it before and all remembered Pinkie’s ‘giggle at the ghostly’ song that got them through. Spike hadn’t been there, but he had caught a ride on Rarity’s back and closed his eyes so as not to see, but clung on tight and breathed in her beautiful scent; this was as near to heaven as he could wish for.
Although they were encumbered they took the most direct route and Rarity prayed that Twilight had gone a long way round to give them some time. When they arrived at the top of the ravine, they looked over the edge and saw the electric blue glow from the Tree of Harmony, but could see no movement and no sign that any other pony had been there for some time. The comfort from this revelation was short lived as Rarity knew they had a lot to get through before the three alicorns arrived.
“Right” said Rarity “Set the net up on the roof of the cavern by the entrance and hurry!”
With the trap primed as best as they could manage Rarity showed them what she had brought in her saddle bags:
There were murmurs of approval all round and Rarity continued:
By the time Rarity had finished explaining the rest of the contents of her saddle bags and briefed them all on their roles, it was time to hide and then there was nothing more to do but wait. From where they were, the electric blue from the tree flooded over the night sky, its brightness blotting out their ability to see who may be approaching. In spite of this strong disadvantage, the glow was strangely comforting, like the presence of a wise grandparent, and that kind of reassurance was just what they needed while they were waiting to see if their plan would work.
Eventually they heard hoofsteps approaching from beyond the entrance and poised themselves to act. Sunaj entered first, her eyes adjusting to the light and her clone drew alongside to get a good view of their goal. They had to act now before Twilight came in too and right on cue AJ gave the release cord a sharp tug, pulling the net free and allowing it to drop over the startled alicorns. They both reared and pulled in opposite directions, pulling the net tight over them. At the same time Rainbow and Rarity each pushed one of the poles between the alicorn’s legs and ran round them in opposite directions causing the alicorns to trip and stumble, further enmeshing themselves in the net as they fell to the floor. This was Spike’s cue and he rushed forward bearing his two cones, forcing one easily onto its target, but the other was flailing around opposite him. Fortunately the alicorns had not yet regained their composure and Spike manged to work his way to the remaining horn and push the cone on with a satisfying splat.
Fluttershy and Twilight now got involved and helped ensure that the two alicorns were completely ensnared before removing the poles and running them through the net, one each side to act as improvised stretcher handles. The Sunaj clones were writhing around shouting threats, but the more agitated they grew, the more tangled they became. Rarity trotted back elegantly to her saddle bags and withdrew a pair of gags and some lengths of rope, returning to silence and hogtie the alicorns while she hummed a happy tune to herself.
“Well done girls!” exclaimed Twilight happily “I’m so pleased you were able to make such a good trap!”
Rarity double checked her binding to make sure that the ropes tying the alicorns up were secure and cut through the net so they were left with two separate hogtied packages.
The four ponies dragged and carried the unwelcome alicorns up the stairs to the top of the ravine and then set off towards the Mirror Pool that wasn’t too much further into the Everfree. Manually handling the alicorns would have been a lot easier had the unicorns got their magic or the pegasi not lost their wings but eventually they stood, tired and sweaty in front of the translucent pool where the nightmare had begun.
Their captives were sweating too, not from exhaustion, but from fear as they were now so close to what Pinkie had overheard them say was their nemesis. Twilight approached the quieter of the two and spoke to her;together , so it’s time you made up for all the trouble you’ve been causing. Now; I’m going to remove this gag and you’ve got one chance to behave or you’re both going in – got it?”
Twilight undid the strap holding in the gag and Sunaj started straight away:
Sunaj had been caught off guard by this last revelation and stared back at Twilight, stunned.
Rarity tugged and twisted at the magic inhibitor on the alicorn’s horn eliciting screams of pain as she tried to wrench it free. The howls of pain echoed all around the walls of the light blue grotto and Fluttershy turned away pressing her forehooves to her ears until Rarity eventually enlisted Twilight’s help to pull it free.was strong” gasped Rarity as the two friends eventually pulled off the magic inhibitor.
The friends were all a little groggy, but they recovered quickly, principally because they wanted to see if their captives had tried to pull a fast one, but all seemed as it should be; the one who had cast the spell was clearly exhausted from her effort while the other was still fully restrained. Only then did they look at each other and check whether their individual attributes had been returned to them.
“I think you’ll find that I have undone the spell we cast during the party. It took a lot out of me because I had to undo by myself what both of us had done together, but I’m sure it’s back to normal.”
Rainbow found Ponyville in celebratory mood; pegasi flying simply for the joy of flying, while unicorns were going around changing inanimate objects in to oranges or whatever they felt like, just because they could once more. What was more important to Rainbow was the fate of the pink party pony whom she had last seen in a bubble on the ceiling. Landing on a window sill overlooking the ballroom, she looked around and then diverted her gaze upwards, catching sight of Pinkie resting on a net suspended from the ceiling.
“Would you say everything’s back to normal round here?” asked Rainbow.
The cyan pegasus returned to find three ponies and a baby dragon waiting for her report on the situation in Ponyville.
Twilight turned to face Sunaj who was looking up pleadingly.seem to have done as you promised” said the librarian, the look of deep suspicion still etched across her face in spite of the good news.
Twilight had no choice other than to trust the duplicitous alicorns.
Twilight walked over to the other hogtied and gagged alicorn and stared her straight in the eye:
Twilight released the last of duplicates and she too struggled uncertainly to her feet and as soon as she was ready, set hoof into the pool and started walking, watched by five purposeful pairs of eyes. Just before she reached the point where her colleague had vanished, she turned back for a last glance at the ponies on the shoreline with a sad look on her face and shook her head gently, her beautiful golden mane shimmering as ripples ran down each hair, then she turned back and proceeded to face her destiny elsewhere.
The friends waited expectantly on the shoreline and about a minute later, the line that separated the surface of the pool from the air above inverted over their heads as two familiar forms appeared in the pool, walking towards their improvised welcoming committee.
“Um, Rarity” said the cyan pegasus a little hesitantly “You didn’t get your gags back …”
