To Babysit a Crusader

To Babysit a Crusader

Written by: Chuck Baleigh

It was a normal day in Ponyville. Everypony went along with their normal business as usual, whether they were working, shopping, or doing anything in between. However, if one were to go to the library, they would find that there were two ponies in there doing something that, really, wasn't normal. In fact, these two unicorns were doing something that had never even been done before (or been thought possible), so the chance of the act being normal was thrown out the window. The two ponies that were participating in this act were Twilight Sparkle and Lyra Heartstrings.

"C'mon Twilight! You should be more trusting of humans!" Lyra stated to Twilight across the library.

"I can't just assume that any human we let in here will be perfect," Twilight shot back.

It had been a couple months since Twilight had accidentally discovered Earth and the human world. All she was really doing that day was practicing spells that involved portals and teleportation, though she was also curious to see if there really were alternate dimensions, like in many of the books she had recently been reading (At that point, sci-fi was one of the only genres she hadn't read much of). She never expected one of the portals she created to actually work. Going through it, she had found herself in a city filled with bipedal creatures. It was such a strange sight! These creatures appeared to be as intelligent as ponies as far as Twilight could tell! They could talk, read, and had established a society she had never even heard of! It wasn't long, however, before she found herself being scared back into the portal by a speeding metal monster with lights.

After this discovery, she made it a priority to tell her friends of the find. Oddly, out of all the ponies Twilight told, Lyra was the most excited. She seemed to know exactly what kind of creatures Twilight was talking about.

"But they're HUMANS. I bet they'll learn to be on their best behavior once they get here!"

"There's also a chance they WON'T learn to be on their best behavior. That's why we're testing one to see if it's worth bringing one here."

Lyra had explained that day humans and anything about them. From that point on, Twilight had tried to find any information she could on humans. But strangely, there was nothing. No books, scrolls, letters, or any writing in between. Twilight had asked Lyra how she discovered humans, and it turned out that Lyra had an old human history book hidden away in her house. Apparently, it was the only copy, considering Twilight had never seen or heard of it. However, it appeared very outdated (At least, Twilight thought it was, considering how neither her nor Lyra knew how old it really was), so it didn't seem like a reliable source of information. Twilight wondered why no ponies from that dimension had ever tried contacting this one, let alone tell them about humans (obviously if there was a book about humans here, some ponies had to have gone there)! It would've seemed like a much more efficient way to keep updates going on about that world! So

Twilight, being ever willing to learn about new things, formulated a plan to bring a human to Equestria, so that they could share each other's cultures! However, they couldn't just trust any ol' human they brought in. That's exactly why they were initiating this test...

There were knocks on the library door.

"Come on in!" Twilight shouted across the room.

The door opened, and in came Applejack, along with her little sister, Apple Bloom. Next, Rarity entered. Behind her was Sweetie Belle, her little sister. Finally, Rainbow Dash entered, with her adoring fan Scootaloo right next to her.

"Hey girls! Glad to see you could all make it." Twilight greeted cheerfully.

"Howdy Twilight! Ah see you n' Lyra are ready." Applejack responded.

"Oh most definitely!" Lyra chimed excitedly. She couldn't wait to finish this test and maybe see a human before her eyes.

"Thanks again for volunteering for this girls. I couldn't do it without you." Twilight said.

"Oh, it's nothing really dear." Rarity said with a wave of a hoof.

"I just thought it'd be a pretty cool thing to check out." Rainbow Dash said, sounding a bit uninterested.

"And I'm sure you're excited about the whole thing too." Twilight said to the Cutie Mark Crusaders with a smile.

"We sure are!" Apple Bloom shouted.

"I can't wait to see another world!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Maybe we'll get our cutie marks for going to another dimension!" Scootaloo concluded.

"Whether you get your cutie marks or not, it should be quite the unique experience." Twilight assured them.

"Alright, so how do we get there again?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.

Twilight pointed to the center of the library with her horn. "All you have to do is stand there while Lyra and I conjure a portal."

"And remind me again dear. What exactly are the details of this 'test'? Rarity asked.

"All I need you to do is leave the fillies in the care of a human for about a day or two. I'd like to see how exactly they react to being around ponies, and I figured foal-sitting would be the perfect way to test that. Surely there are ponies that coexist with them, but I wanted to see what a human does when alone with a pony. And don't worry. I'll be monitoring the whole thing. If anything goes wrong, I'll cast an evacuation portal." Twilight answered.

"Can we get this thing started?" Lyra asked impatiently.

"Yes Lyra." Twilight answered her with a small giggle. She pointed to the center of the library. "Everypony please stand over there."

As instructed, the group of six stood in the area Twilight pointed to. As they walked over, Twilight and Lyra started the portal spell, both of their horns glowing. It was almost silent, only the sound of magic being used breaking it.

Rainbow Dash yawned. She missed an afternoon nap for this? It didn't look like anyth- there was a large sound, something along the lines of paper being ripped, that rung through the library.

Before everypony's eyes, there was a large hole being ripped into the middle of the library. It had appeared out of thin air, and it was floating as it continued to rip. All ponies not working on the portal looked at it in awe. It was an amazing sight, seeing a hole being created in the fabric of reality. As they looked on, Twilight and Lyra stopped their magic, and the portal gently floated downwards.

Twilight was slightly panting. "Whew, it's a good thing you helped me Lyra. A portal that big would've taken much longer to make on my own."

Lyra beamed. "Oh Twilight, you know I'd help out anytime."

With that, Twilight gestured towards the rest of the ponies to walk in. Applejack was apprehensive.

"Ya sure this is safe Twilight?"

"Positive. It may make you feel a bit tingly, but I haven't observed any other side effects as of yet. All you have to do is walk forward to get to your destination."

Rainbow Dash, not wanting to look scared, went first. She slowly approached the portal, put a hoof into it, and the rest of her body followed.

"Come on in guys! It's not so bad!" Dash called from within the portal.

This gave Scootaloo the courage to go in next. She, like her idol, didn't want to appear cowardly (that and she figured since Rainbow Dash went in, she should too), and stepped forward to the portal. She put her two front hooves in and then took the rest of her body with her into the portal.

"C'mon you guys! Don't make me come back out to drag you in!" Scootaloo shouted, more specifically to the other crusaders.

Apple Bloom bloom made a dash for the portal and jumped right through it.

"Ah do feel a bit tingly." Apple Bloom said.

Applejack went next, more so to go after her little sister. She, like Apple Bloom, ran and jumped through the portal. That left only Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Before going in, the two sisters gave each other a re-assuring look, getting ready to actually do this.

"Should we jump in on three?" Sweetie asked her sister.

Rarity shrugged. "I don't see why not." She said, giving Sweetie a smile.

The two counted down together. "One...two...three!" And at that moment, the two jumped into the portal. Now there was nopony left in the room but Lyra and Twilight.

Twilight called out to the six. "Now girls, once you drop off the fillies, come back the way you came! I'll keep the portal open so you can come back! Have a good trip!"

With that, the six ponies in the portal walked forward as Twilight had instructed, and then faded away from sight.

At that moment, the door to the library opened, and Twilight's assistant Spike walked in. He had just finished running around doing errands, and was shocked to find a gaping hole in the middle of the library.

"Geez! What did I miss Twilight!?"