A Wacky Read

"And what exactly is he doing here?"

"Yeah, what am I doing here?", Spike asked the Lizards. He found himself in the hands of the blue shaded Rex, the mage dressed in black, and in the company of the other alien Lizards and the barely-Humans they were traveling with.

They were gathering in the dusty ruins of the old castle of the sisters on the other side of the Everfree Forest and above the Tree of Harmony. In particular they were standing in the hall that once held the Elements of Harmony in a solar-system-like contraption.

"Why", Rex was happily answering the little Dragon, "You are the key for our next step."

"Does Twilight know about this?"

Rex chuckled. "The Twilight Princess? You're fun, little Spike."

"What is the next step, while we're on it?", Krator asked him seriously. If he was frank with himself, he wanted nothing more than to end this madness, but he also had to save everyone from this damned planet. And so he was relying on Rex's power to bring them back, and only then he could make an end of him.

Rex was drawing his Inaji-Book from his coat, "See this, your Grace? This is our way home."

"What happened to your book?", Krator pointed at it in suspicion, "What is this?"

Even Spike was unsure, "I've never seen gems like this before."

"Somehow I knew that already, little Spike", Rex smiled. He gently petted the cover of the blue glowing book. "I'm calling it the Ih'Na'Ji'Sh Haff'Fa'Sha'Mr'Ah Zuh'Vin."

"A growing crystal blue as the rain?", Krator wondered. "Growing how?"

"That is the trick, you see. This stone is unique to the planet and responsible for its magic properties. One can find it here and there in larger clusters but really it is everywhere around us. It's in the air, the water, the food. Even we got infected with it by now. Well", Rex looked at Morty,
"Most of us anyway."

Hati stepped up to Rex and reached out for the book, "And you want to use it to get us back home?", but waited for Rex to hand it to him.
With a smile Rex laid the Inaji into Hati's hand and he checked it out.

"Why, yes. You see, the Inajish Haffashamrah Zuvin has the ability to store this world's magic and grow from it. Since the cosmos is depleted, the power of this stone is the only source I can use to create a portal through time."

Hati was looking at Rex, but when he touched the Inaji with his right hand, his curseth hand, it ignited into flames. Immediately he let go and gave the book back to Rex, while shaking off the flames until they were gone. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's use it and get out of here, before the Twilight decides to genocide us."

"I need more of it."

"How much more?", Morty asked.

"A lot more. This amount will suffice the portal of the size of a fist for two seconds. If you don't want anyone to stay behind, we need at least window size for twenty seconds."

"And how much is a lot?"

"Why, Doctor, it's no amount one could carry, I'm sure of that."

Spike pulled Rex's coat, "That still doesn't explain, why I'm here."

But the mage merely opened his Inaji-book and from cloudy mists that swirled around the little Dragon, a chain and collar were born into reality. "You're bait, little one."

"Wow-wow, what?!", Krator pushed Rex and he was little amused about it. "Bait for what? You said you needed Inaji!"

"Why, yes, your Grace!" Rex walked a few steps to the next glassless window and presented it. The others were joining him and looking through it. "This is what I need."

"The forest?"

"The clouds?"

"THE SUN!", Rex madly yelled before calming himself, "Its core is of pure Inaji, a moon-sized powercore of raw magic. This, Doctor, is the right amount, this is what we need."

"You're insane!", Spike yelled.

And even Hati shook his head, "But you can't steal their sun away, really."

"I'm not planning to keep it, dear. I'll just borrow some of its magic to sustain the spell. It goes back into the sky right after. A few thousand years of sunlight less won't harm anyone."

"No, the Dragon is right, you are insane", Morty claimed. "You can't possibly think to control the sun. It's way too far away for starters."

"Our sun would be, surely, Doctor. But this here is made. It's only a few thousand miles above ground and significantly smaller."

Rook was mumbling in the background, "A balloon. No, no air. A plane! No, again, no air. Also, where would we find a duck at this hour? A cannon? Yes, a cannon. I wonder how much explosives the Horses got on stock. It might just crack the planet in halves."

"Seriously though still", Hati asked him, "How would you get to the sun?"

And Rex was pulling up Spike on his chain, "That's what the bait is for, dear."

"I know it's been a hard time but I need to talk to her." Twilight was followed by her friends on her way to Starlight's chamber. Pinkie told her, that she was resting here after the work in the library tired her out.

"But I'm warning you, she was reeeaaally tired, so tired in fact that you couldn't even talk to her anymore."

"I'm sure she's fine now, Pinkie."

The magical glow of the Princess's horn opened the door and they stepped in. In her bed they found a bulge, but when Twilight was pulling back the sheet, it was only pillows.

"She's not here!"

"But I saw her right there."

Applejack shrugged, "Maybe she woke up sooner and made herself some snack."

"Yeah", Rainbow agreed, "She's probably just in the kitchen."

"But wouldn't she have come our way?", Fluttershy added.

"I'm tellin' you, guys. I didn't see her around since Rex put her to bed."

"Did you just say, Rex put her to bed?", Twilight was slowly turning to Pinkie and her fiery gaze clashed with Pinkie's nervous smile. "Yes? Why?"

She was storming passed her friends and out into the hallway, "That's it! Where is that Lizard?!" Then she stopped in the hallway and yelled, "SPIIIKE!", but he was not showing.

With a flash of her horn she summoned a teleportation spell and from a flash of light appeared a note before her. Confused she unfolded and read it. Her friends were there to listen to her mumbling. "Dearest apologies, but the Dragon you tried to summon is unavailable to this very moment. Please try again at a later moment in time. Yours truly, ReeEEEEX?!."
At once she crushed the note in anger and tossed it out the window. Heavily breathing and at the end of her sanity, she tried to figure out what to do next.

"Don't worry, darling", Rarity assured her, "We'll find him and this Lizard too, I'm sure of it."

Rainbow shrugged, "And how we're gonna do that?"

"Why, with a little investigation of course!", she halfway sang in high pitch. "Now, let's think about this. Where would Rex be? What does he want?"

"To go back home?"

"Wherever that is."

"But the Mirror is here. So why isn't he?"

Twilight turned around to them, "Because he doesn't need the Mirror anymore." Everypony was waiting for her explanation. "Rex is a wizard too. He might have found another way to get back home. What did he do here, while we were gone?"

Fluttershy was thinking, "Hmm. He was reading an awful lot of books. He wasn't interested into the Mirror much. But he did talk to Starswirl."

"Starswirl! Where is he?"

"Now that you mention it, I didn't see him since he talked to ... uh-oh."

"What in tarnation does he want from them?"

"Starlight Glimmer and Starswirl are powerful Unicorns that know a lot about magic after all", Rarity concluded, "They might have simply stood in his way."

"Or he uses them for his own magic. We've seen this before." Whatever it was, Twilight had to find them before any harm came to them. "Quick now! We need Celestia's help."

"Excellent idea, darling!"

And so they ran down the hallways to catch a train. This time the train would run faster in the service of Harmony Security.

"Now be a good little Dragon and send this letter to the Celestia."

"It's not the Celestia! It's just Celestia. Princess Celestia actually." Spike refused to do the bidding of the Lizard, knowing now that he is a villain.

"Do it", Rex asked him, "And this all will come to an end. Don't you want us to leave your Ponies alone? Do you even know what Brass'Ka eat?"

"Ehm ... Ponies?"

Rex was throwing Spike back to the ground, "Now do it. Use your magic or I'll take it and use it myself. I'm trying to spare you, little Spike. I'm not the enemy here."

"You're a bit harsh to him."

Rex turned to Hati, "Why, if you think you'd do a better job, so please, educate me."

And so Hati kneeled down by Spike and helped him up. "Look, Kid. You don't want this ashole to stay here, do you? If you help us, he goes back to where he came from and between us, we're gonna kick his ass right after. So, what do you say? It's not like there was much of a choice here."

Spike wiped his nose with his arm, "And he gets punished, once you're back?"

"I'll see to it in person."

"Alright." He went up to Rex and reached out his hand, "Give me that letter. Let's get this over with."

And once Rex handed the scroll to him, Spike burned it with his green Dragon fire. The magical smoke traveled through the air and into the sky, to deliver the message to Celestia.

"I still don't get what we need this Celestia for", Krator commented.

"She controls the sun", Rex explained, "We're going to ask her nicely, if we could borrow it."

Krator had his arms crossed and leaned onto some wall by a window. "I'd think that it was a decent plan, almost, if I wouldn't know you that well. Asking nicely isn't a thing you usually do."

"As I told you, I'm considering it."

"I'm asking you, Rex", Krator used his name to show respect and sincerity, and Rex noticed that gesture, "Don't harm them. Don't overthrow this kingdom. You don't have to."

After a moment, he looked at him and said, "I'm-"

"-Considering it", the others finished his sentence in a choir.

Rook mumbled, "I'm seeing a pattern here."

It wasn't long until the smoke made its way to Canterlot and it didn't take long for the white Princess to teleport to the castle. In a great flash of blinding light she appeared in the hall. She was obviously confused once she saw the crowd. Her first look went down to Spike, who was in chains still. "Spike! What is going on here?"

"It's Okay, they just want to ask you for a favour."

Her furious look turned to Rex, who was walking up to her. "Let. Him. Go!"

"Oh, sure, sure", Rex assured her and waved his hand at the chains. Immediately they puffed up into smoke and the Dragon was free to go. He wasn't going anywhere though, but grabbing Celestia's leg in search for safety. "I have no interest in him."

"Great Celestia", Hati was kneeling down in front of the white winged horse, "We don't mean any harm to your kind or kingdom. We got stranded in your time and all we want is a way home. But for that, we need to borrow your sun."

"The sun?!"

"Please, mighty white horse, I mean, Celestia! We are lost without you."

Rook leaned over to Morty who was standing near the walls with him, "Now that is how you ask nicely." And Morty nodded in agreement.

"The sun is not for bargain. And you have no right to ask of such a thing in the first place!", white horse yelled. "Your schemes and foolishness has gone far enough. You and the other Humans will be banned back into the Mirror from where you came!"

A laser as bright as the sun itself shot forth from the long horn of the mighty Alicorn. It passed the smiling Rex without harming him. Confused she shot again but again it went through him.
Glowing runes on the floor revealed a magical ring that Rex was standing in. The laser went into the ring on the one side and left it on the other. The space within wasn't touched and therefore save.

"I'm really sorry it had to come to this, but I really do need that sun." Rex took his Inaji out of the coat. The pure sight of it shocked Celestia's soul, since she was the first to recognise the nature of the crystal.

"No. What did you do? Where did you get that from?"

"Oh, why, do you know what it is? This?"

"There's only one place where you could have gotten it from." The angry eyes of Celestia began to wet. "Who was it?", she asked calmly.

"A donation from Starlight, Starswirl and this fool Tirek."

"You're never getting away with this!" In an act of pure madness, Celestia was about to charge the blue mage. She startled when she found her hooves stuck to the ground.
The look on her face, showing her pure horror and fear, was frozen in time when the magical field around her started its spell.

"Now she's frozen. What's next?", Hati asked. "She didn't give us the sun."

"I can get it myself. There's merely something I'll need from her first."

And as before, the fur and skin of the horse in the magical field was cut open and moved from the body like a winter's coat. Muscles and organs made way for Rex to reach the holy skeleton.

The others didn't trust their eyes, since the bones were covered with the Inaji the same way the book was covered in it as well. Now there was no question where Rex got the stone from.

"Is that what you have been doing?", Krator yelled.

"I can't look!", Elisa cried and cowered in some corner of the stone hall.

"Rex!", Hati yelled at him, "I'm not asking Why, I'm not asking How, I know the answers to those questions. But I ask of you, please, don't murder these fine horses."

Rex turned to his servants. "You're fools, all together! Do you put the life of some animal, or some Unicorn from a planet of the far future, before your life or the fate of Xerexarea? What do you think will happen to your home, to your family, the Temples and kingdoms, when the Flesh God wins the war?"

Hati looked away, squeezing his eyes to avoid a tear. "How many Unicorns did you need to get your book covered?"

"Not much, I assure you. Merely two, plus a Centaur."

"Are those the sacrifices of war, the casualties we have to take?"

"It's not like they would remain dead, dear. Once I'm done, I can fix everything."

While Hati and Krator were making up their minds, if they stood up against the Lizard Wizard's hazard, Rex was casting his spell to the end.
The Inaji of the white Alicorn chipped away from the bones to join the book. The horn, power and magic of hers was now his, and he felt the rush of the new spells invading his mind.

Calmly he went to the window and gazed upon the sun. With the grasp of his hand up into the sky, the sun started to shake and move in the ways of his claws.

Chuckling Rex shook his head. He actually managed to do it. After so many trials. The sun was his. Now he could finish this misery.

Embracing the power, Rex floated out of the window. The sun was his anchor on which he was able to hang on, granting him the ability to fly.
In front of the castle and high up in the air, he started to pull on the sun, making her ultimately bigger in the bright summer sky.

The heat was rising quickly. Plants started to lose their colour and clouds vanished into thin air.

Rex, as heartless as he might have been, saw the problem clearly. He needed a box to stuff the sun in, so he could work on it safely. The castle beneath him wouldn't do, it was crumbly and cluttered with holes.

With the book in his hand, he summoned a round portal in the air, frameless like a mirror and leading to another place. Elegantly he flew through it and when it closed behind him, Rex was gone.

Hati was coming out of the castle, watching him leave. Beholding the sun together with his friends, he knew they screwed this up. "We might have screwed this up."

"Aye", Rook nodded, "So I've read."

"You know he will ruin their sun, probably forever", Krator worried. "A few deaths for a greater war isn't that much of a deal, though I promise you, the bastard will pay for it. But fiddling with their sun, their nature, that's messed up. Just look around you. The planet is dying."

"It was dying anyway", Morty commented.

"Then it's dying faster now", Krator grunted. "While we're still on it."

"I know that we can't", Hati turned to his friends, "But we'll have to try and stop him. Getting home is great and all, but this price is too damn high. What do you say?"

Krator shrugged with his arms crossed, "What do I say? I wanted to punch the crap out his this bitch since the first time he opened his filthy snout."

"He can fly now. He probably won't let you."

"Then I will die trying, if needed."

Hati nodded, Krator was on board. Morty shrugged, he had nothing to lose. Even Rook gave him a thumbs-up.

Elisa had concerns, "But we'll need help", and she was right.

Hati turned and looked over the treetops into the far distanced Ponyville, crowned by the pink castle. "And I know just who to ask."

On the other side of Rex's portal, he reached the pink castle. Basically owning the place now, he got rid of the gates and floated through the hallways.
This was a wonderful box, roomy and solid.

As soon as he arrived in the center hall, the hall of the crystal table, he started to cast his spell. Draining on the Inaji of the Alicorn, he pulled on sun and earth alike. A ring of runes appeared around the castle's ground. And soon, accompanied by an earthquake, the granite split into cliffs. Like an island, the castle started to rise up into the sky, floating away like an airship.

The floating fortress then set course to Canterlot-Mountain while steadily soaring.
With a wave of power, Rex ripped the blue crystal thrones around the table off the floor and sent them flying into all corners of the room. Only one, the biggest one, the throne of Twilight, remained for him to sit on like the emperor himself.