Filmatic Escapades: The Pagemaster

Chapters

The Adventure Begins
Out of the Rain and Into the Library
Meeting the Pagemaster and New Friends
Escape From Horror Land
Of Killer Whales and Pirates
A Daring Rescue and Reunion
Heart of a Dragon
The Return Home

The Adventure Begins

This series I am about to start is made in inspiration to the Cinematic Adventures made by extremeenigma02. Before we begin, I'd like to give a message to a few good people.

Mr. Enigma, let me be honest. You are kind of a trailblazer taking on huge writing projects as well as dealing with some huge hardship. I know what I did was no excuse, and I know I have zero chance of getting my old job back and no roleplaying... Nevertheless, I am going to move on from all that, stick with being a reader and commenter like everyday people, and enjoy your stories. In fact, I hope you would do the same for my series here because this is made in inspiration and dedication to your Cinematic Adventures.

Dinodisneylover1, this series is dedicated to you because it's also inspired by your Disney Chronicles. I must confess, I thought it doesn't interest me at first, but a few chapters later in your Snow White Disney Chronicle, I checked it out, and I fell in love with your series. And now I am a big fan of it. I can't wait to see more of it, starting with the end of Fantasia!

Phantom-Dragon, your Game Quest series is awesome as well, I love reading and reviewing it! I just wish you could unban me so I could keep reviewing it. I fell in love with your Game Quest series like I did the Disney Chronicles series. Who knows? Maybe you could do commentaries on Filmatic Escapades. But I understand if you won't. Nevertheless, thank you for picking up the slack of doing Discord's Theater. Even though I started it back in Willy Wonka, you have made what it is today. I just wish I could join back with it today, but what's done is done. Thus, I willingly pass the torch to you. But please, please unblock me so that I could read and review your stories. I beg you!

Dramamaster829, I’m not gonna sugarcoat about our relationship. I get on your bad side more times than I can count, even though in the past I was a bit childish, but looking back, I realized that you are teaching me about being mature and not being a baby. I know what I did was wrong, and no apology can change your mind about me. With that being said, I’m also dedicating this series to you because since you are a co-writer (or at least, an editor) of the Cinematic Adventures, you have every right to check this out, too.

With all that said, on with the show!

Three weeks have passed since a very special event had happened. Grackle and Dyre, granddaughters of the witch Hydia, wanted to finish what she failed to do: Destroy all pony-dom! And they wanted to do it eagerly, seeking revenge on the ponies who banished their family to the volcano ever since Hydia tried to destroy Ponyland with the Smooze long ago. So Grackle and Dyre created three new ponies- known as Violet Shiver, Shadow Storm, and Black Belle- to cause havoc. With the School of Friendship overloaded with students, Starlight Glimmer and the Mane Six reached out for help. That's where Violet Shiver, Shadow Storm, and Black Belle came in, joining the school staff. But as time went by, friendships began to fall apart thanks to the antics and teachings of the three new ponies. Shadow Storm interferes with a Wonderbolts flying show by mind-controlling Spitfire's subordinates and turning them against her. Black Belle destroyed the Hay Burger restaurant and implicated the management of the Ponyville bowling alley, causing animosity between the two establishments' staff members. Lastly, Violet Shiver froze the Apple family's crops, ruining their harvest for an upcoming festival and causing arguments among Applejack and her family. Meanwhile, back at the school, students have been using their new teachers' lessons to pull frightening and meanspirited pranks on each other. Violet Shiver, Black Belle, and Shadow Storm were pleased with the chaos and antagonism they have been causing around town, but Grackle and Dyre's pet Trench told them to go even further in their schemes.

Starlight Glimmer and the Mane Six tried to fix things up by arranging one of Pinkie's parties, but the Smooze-ponies sabotaged that effort, causing Twilight and Pinkie to argue with each other while putting up Violet Shiver's streamers in the trees when Zecora arrived. Twilight explained that the streamers gave off a foreign magic that was unaffected by her own, and Zecora believed the magic comes from another dimension. After some inconclusive scientific testing, Twilight theorizes that the magic coming off the streamers is what caused her and Pinkie to argue earlier, and she attempted to absorb the magic into her to determine where it came from. When Twilight did that, however, her body was suddenly possessed by a sinister entity, and she attacked Pinkie Pie. Before this entity could consume Zecora's magic, Pinkie used Zecora's potions to knock it into the river, whereupon it exited Twilight's body and Zecora captured it inside a test tube. Twilight recognized the strange, parasitic lifeform as being similar to the Smooze, but instead of craving gold and jewels, it wants to cause chaos and destroy friendship. She also sensed that this creature's intended target was not the ponies of Equestria, but similar ponies from elsewhere. Through some research, Zecora discovered a method by which they determine this Smooze's weakness and how to stop it. Later that night, the Mane Six and Starlight Glimmer gathered outside Zecora's hut, where Zecora brewed a potion using the Smooze they captured to create a magical doorway into another world. Upon stepping through the doorway, the ponies found themselves in the world of Ponyland, inhabited by ponies very similar to themselves.

Upon arriving in Ponyland, the Mane Six and Starlight Glimmer were greeted by Galaxy, Minty, Lofty, and others. Pinkie Pie, in her overexcitement, injured herself in her attempt to say hello. At Galaxy's house, Twilight Sparkle explained to their new friends what was going on in their home world of Equestria. The Ponyland ponies told them of their own previous encounter with the Smooze – how it was created by the evil witches Hydia, Reeka, and Draggle and was eventually defeated by the ponies' human friend Megan with the magical Rainbow of Light. The Ponyland ponies gave the Mane Six the locket containing the Rainbow of Light and offered to travel back to Equestria with them to help defeat this new Smooze, which North Star believed the witches sent to Equestria by mistake. Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Violet Shiver, Black Belle, and Shadow Storm continued scheming to ruin the party the Mane Six had planned to rid the town of its recent negativity and restore friendship. They used the magic-infused decorations that Violet Shiver created to spread even more chaos around town. Despite the Smooze-ponies' efforts to destroy friendship, however, their students at the School of Friendship adored them and showered them with praise, which was reflected in their homework assignments. Grackle and Dyre's pet Trench seized some of the students' homework to bring back to his masters. During some of his spying activities, Trench ran afoul of Rarity's pet cat Opalescence, who mauled him and bit off some of his fur before he escaped back to the Volcano.

The Mane Six and Ponyland ponies returned to find Ponyville in its worst state yet, and they took shelter from an angry mob inside Carousel Boutique. There, they tried to find a way to combine the Rainbow of Light's magic with that of the Elements of Harmony but to no avail. When Rarity discovered a piece of Trench's fur in Opalescence's mouth, North Star recognized the familiar sulfuric smell of the Volcano of Gloom emanating from it. This gave Twilight the idea to channel the Elements of Harmony's power through sulfuric crystals and focus it into the Rainbow of Light's locket. This greatly intensified the Rainbow's power enough to eradicate any evil thing it touches. Back at the Volcano of Gloom, an injured Trench reported his findings to Grackle and Dyre, and the witches were enraged to learn that Violet Shiver, Black Belle, and Shadow Storm have become popular among the ponies and were even helping them organize their party. However, upon realizing that the Smooze-ponies—having been created from the witches' magic—were able to use their powers in Equestria, Grackle and Dyre realized that their own powers would work in Equestria as well. With this realization, the witches prepared to invade Equestria personally.

Meanwhile, the Mane Six tested the combined magic of the Elements of Harmony and the Rainbow of Light on a sample of the sinister Smooze that was currently wreaking havoc across Ponyville, using their new friends Minty and Lickety-Split as test subjects. Twilight Sparkle split the Rainbow of Light's power into six pieces and created compact forms out of them for her and her friends to control more easily, and the test is a success. As for Grackle and Dyre, after entering Ponyville via an interdimensional portal, they were immediately drawn to the tasty smells coming from Sugarcube Corner. However, the presence of two strange-looking, bipedal humans in Equestria sent ponies into a crazed panic, and they chased after Grackle and Dyre as an angry mob. Black Belle and Shadow Storm find them, and they all went to find Violet Shiver so that they could cause some real destruction together. Elsewhere, Pinkie Pie found Violet Shiver still decorating for the "Bestie Festie" party, and Pinkie was so pleased with Violet's efforts that she thanked her with a shirt – one of a pair to match Pinkie's – to wear to the party. Violet felt guilty about her and the other Smooze-ponies' scheming and started to have second thoughts, but the streamers she created suddenly take hold of her and possess her body as they did Twilight's. As Grackle, Dyre, Black Belle, and Shadow Storm made their way through town, passing many angry and arguing ponies along the way, they saw Ocellus fleeing from the destruction they were causing. Black Belle, out of uncharacteristic concern for Ocellus' safety, escorted her to the party. Unable to enter the party without drawing unwanted attention, Grackle and Dyre stopped at Carousel Boutique and make a two-person unicorn costume.

Once everyone has gathered at the Bestie Festie, where Rarity introduced the Ponyland ponies in fashionable outfits, Twilight tried to convince the divided townsfolk to come together again in friendship. However, the party quickly came under attack by the evil Smooze and the possessed Violet Shiver. Twilight and her friends attempted to fight back with the Rainbow of Light, but it was not strong enough, simply bouncing off of Violet. Even Grackle, Dyre, Black Belle, and Shadow Storm were overcome by the Smooze's unexpectedly immense power. The Smooze ensnared everyone around it and caused general misery, taunting Grackle and Dyre as it had transcended their original desire for revenge. Realizing what she and Dyre had created, Grackle said she never truly wanted revenge on the ponies; she wanted freedom from her volcano prison and to make her and Dyre's mothers proud. She stood up to the Smooze, and the ponies stood alongside her. Channeling the Rainbow of Light through her own magic, Grackle destroyed the Smooze and freed Violet Shiver from its control. The Rainbow's magic spilled over onto Black Belle and Shadow Storm. Violet Shiver, Black Belle, and Shadow Storm started fading out of existence; having been created from Smooze themselves, they were unable to maintain their physical forms due to its destruction. As Grackle, Dyre, and the ponies shed tears over this, the Smooze-ponies' bodies suddenly become solid again, as accepting the magic of friendship had turned them into real, non-artificial ponies. They accepted Twilight's invitation to stay on as teachers at the School of Friendship. With their newfound freedom, Grackle and Dyre decided to explore before settling down in a new home, and the Ponyland ponies decided to stay in Equestria for a little longer.

Right now, Twilight Sparkle's adopted daughter, Nyx, and her pet Moon Dragon, Phobos, were walking along the streets of Ponyville. Both of them love making new friends, and they were in the middle of shopping at the Ponyville marketplace, which is busy, full of ponies going around to get what they want or need.

"Boy, this place sure is packed!" Nyx exclaimed.

"You said it!" Phobos agreed, "I wonder what we could find here at the marketplace?"

"Hopefully, some new Power Ponies comics! I love those!" Nyx remarked.

Just then, Phobos spotted something out of the corner of his eye. “‘Ey, Nyx?”

"Hmm? What is it, Phobos?" Nyx asked.

“Did ya know that Hope Hollow announced a new movie theater in their town?” He asked, his eyes on a billboard advertising a movie theater in said town.

Nyx turned towards the billboard on hearing this news, "A theater in Hope Hollow? Cool!" She exclaimed with a smile.

“We oughta tell Twilight and the others!”

"Yeah! They'll be surprised!"

"Hi, Nyx and Phobos!" Two voices greeted the duo, getting their attention. They came from Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, two earth ponies about Nyx's age, walking up to them.

"Toola Roola! Coconut Cream! Hi!" Nyx greeted happily.

"What's up, you two?" Phobos asked with a smile.

"We were getting some potions from Potion Nova's booth." Coconut Cream replied.

“How about you guys?” Toola inquired.

"We were looking around the marketplace, hoping to find some Power Ponies comics, but then, we found this!" Nyx explained while pointing towards the billboard.

Toola and Coconut looked to the billboard advertising the new movie theater in Hope Hollow. The two looked immediately awestruck at that.

"A new theater?!" The two asked in unison and awe.

"Yeah, in Hope Hollow!" Nyx replied.

"Wow!" Toola and Coconut exclaimed.

"Wait till Twilight and the others hear about this!" Toola remarked.

"That's exactly what we're planning to do: Tell them about it!" Phobos stated.

"We'll come with you!" Coconut said, "We love movies!"

And with that, the four rushed off to go tell Twilight and the gang. They could barely contain their excitement as they ran through the square.

Over at Twilight’s castle, the Alicorn in question and her faithful assistant Spike were going about their day how they usually would be. Twilight was busy reorganizing her books while Spike occasionally would help her do so while reading one of his old issues of the Power Ponies.

"You know, I'm so glad things have been peaceful lately," Spike remarked as he kept reading his issue. "It's like we deal more with fighting baddies instead of friendship."

"It isn't that bad. At least we get exercise out of it." Twilight commented. Suddenly, a pair of hooves covered her eyes. "Wha....?"

"Guess who?" A familiar voice spoke mischievously.

"Hmm, handsome voice, brown hooves, good fur." Twilight spoke, pretending to guess. "I know! Big Mac!"

"Very cute." The pony smirked as he turned Twilight around and kissed her.

"Ben!" Yes, it was Ben Valorheart, Twilight Sparkle's foalhood lover, coltfriend, and the adopted father of Nyx. He's also Princess Celestia's adopted son who disappeared for a while after a mean prank set up by his rival, Boris. He lived in the library with Twilight and Nyx before it was destroyed by Tirek. Now they live together in the Friendship Rainbow Castle.

Spike smiled, “Hey, Ben! What brings ya by?”

"Well, last time, it was a car. but then I forgot that we never have one." Ben joked a bit. "But I digress. What are you doing?"

"Putting the books in place," Twilight explained as she put a book into place and sighed. "Honestly, I am concerned how almost nopony comes by anymore."

“I can’t imagine why, darling.” The three turned their heads to the entrance at hearing the sound of that familiar posh-sounding voice. In walked their fashionista friend Rarity, followed by a familiar timid Pegasus by the name of Fluttershy.

Twilight smiled, “Hey, Rarity and Fluttershy. What brings you two by?”

“I wanted to see if you have anything that could help me with an idea for a new fashion line,” Rarity answered simply.

“And I was hoping you had any books on red pandas.” Fluttershy added, “Oh, they are so cute!”

“You planning to get some for the sanctuary?” Spike asked.

"Oh, yes!" Fluttershy nodded in reply, "My Sweet Feather Sanctuary is so successful, I might think of expanding it a bit!"

"I think that's an excellent idea, Fluttershy!" Twilight remarked with a smile.

"You know, we could expand on the library," Ben spoke, scratching his chin in thought. "I mean, why only one library in Ponyville when we can have more?"

Twilight smiled, “That’s actually a pretty nice idea!”

“MOMMY!!! MOMMY!!!”

That got the attention of the four ponies and dragon present.

"Nyx?" Spike asked in surprise.

At that, the little filly in question came rushing in followed by Phobos, Toola, and Coconut. From the looks on their faces, Twilight and the others could tell they had something exciting to share.

"MOMMY!! DADDY!!" Nyx cried as she and the others ran up to her parents, Spike, Fluttershy and Rarity.

“Hey, Nyx sweetie. What’s got you so excited?” Twilight asked, smiling at her daughter.

"Mommy! Phobos and I were shopping at the marketplace, and we saw a billboard announcing that there's a new movie theater in Hope Hollow!!!" Nyx explained excitedly while trotting in place.

Spike shot up from his seat, looking just as excited. “A new movie theater?!”

"Yeah!" Phobos replied while nodding eagerly.

"Oh, well, that's good. What is its name?" Ben asked his daughter curiously.

"The Grand Palace Cinema!" Nyx replied excitedly.

"Ah, we should see it sometime," Twilight spoke as she goes back to putting books on the shelves.

"Why not now?" Nyx asked her mother hopefully. "Nyx, I got to put these books back into place which may take all day. These books are like movies where they can take you to a world of imagination."

"Come on, Twilight. How about it, please?" Toola Roola pleaded to Twilight.

"Yeah, you have been here long enough." Coconut Cream agreed.

"Well, she does have a point." Rarity spoke out thoughtfully. "You need to get out more."

“Can we go there, mommy? Pretty please??” Nyx asked, putting on the cutest pleading face.

"No, I...." Twilight yelped as the other foals gave out cute puppy dog looks and pouty looks. "Oh no, please don't. No...."

"Pleaaaaaaaasssseeee?" The foals asked in unison, giving out shiny looks in their eyes.

Twilight yelped as they leaned forward, causing her to fall backward onto the ground.

"Ugh, you kids know I can't resist that." Twilight groaned out in defeat. "Okay, okay! We can go now."

“Go where?”

Every pony and Spike turned at the sound of a certain cowpony’s unmistakable Southern accent. In walked Applejack, flanked by their fellow Pegasus friend Rainbow Dash.

"There's a new movie theater now open in Hope Hollow!" Nyx explained excitedly.

“A new theater? Sounds awesome!” Rainbow cheered excitedly.

"I know, right?! It's called the Grand Palace Cinema!"

"Help, I'm a cute pony and I can't get up." Twilight spoke meekly, having a bit of trouble getting back up.

"Come on, Twiley." Ben said in an amused tone as he helped her up from the ground.

"Well, all right, we're here. Where's...." Twilight spoke, noticing a certain pink pony is missing.

"You called?" A familiar voice called out as a book opened and out popped Pinkie with a squee.

"Pinkie, you are so random," Rainbow commented in amusement.

"Did my Pinkie ears hear right? Are we going to...." Pinkie spoke, making a gasp. "....the movies?!"

"That's right, Pinkie." Twilight confirmed with a nod, "We're going to the movies, in Hope Hollow!"

"Cool!" Pinkie spoke playfully. "I haven't been this excited since I heard about the new Rifftrax: The Game! Coming soon to gaming consoles May 5th!"

"And besides that, we haven't been to Hope Hollow since we helped bring color back to it and all its inhabitants!" Rarity remarked with a smile.

"With Mayor Sunny Skies proposing to and marrying Petunia Petals!" Fluttershy added happily.

"And some other stuff and we will miss more unless we get going!" Phobos exclaimed eagerly.

"Well, all right, but we better bring some books to read on the way." Twilight spoke with a shrug as she puts some books into a saddlebag. May as well get something to read on the way, right?

"Right, Twilight." Ben agreed, "I'll go with you, too."

"Oh boy, I can't wait!" Toola exclaimed excitedly.

"Me too!" Coconut agreed.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders would be so jealous!" Nyx remarked.

"All right, Little Nyxie, if you think that way, invite them." Twilight spoke to her daughter with a mischievous grin.

"Invite us to what?" A familiar young voice asked in a Southern accent.

"New cinema in Hope Hollow." Nyx explained to her friends happily.

"New cinema?!?!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders asked excitedly in unison.

"Hoo boy, we done going 'ta need a bigger trailer." Applejack remarked with a slight chuckle.

"The new cinema is called the Grand Palace Cinema!" Toola explained to the three foals.

"Cool name!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"I wish I was dressed for this, but still..." Sweetie started with a smile before she started trotting in place as she squealed, "The Grand Palace Cinema!"

Rarity smiled in amusement but placed a hoof on her little sister’s back. “Calm yourself, Sweetie Belle.”

"Come on, Applejack, let's go!" Apple Bloom cheered while raising her hoof.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" A familiar voice spoke as a light grayish heliotrope unicorn with a purple mane came in. "You're letting me out of this one?"

"Oopsie! Almost forgot ya, Starlight." Pinkie said.

"And where Starlight goes, the Great and Powerful Trixie follows!" A familiar azure unicorn announced boldly as she came in from behind her best friend with a grin.

"Hey girls! Long story short? We're going to the movies!" Pinkie announced to Trixie and Starlight happily.

“Really? Whereat?” Starlight asked, looking very curious.

"The Grand Palace Cinema in Hope Hollow!" Toola and Coconut replied in unison.

“Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Trixie urged with excitement.

"Yeah! Glad to have you two with us!" Nyx said happily.

And with that, all the ponies and dragons present headed off to begin their trip to Hope Hollow, not knowing that they were about to begin the greatest adventure of their lives.

Moments later, while Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Nyx flew to Hope Hollow, the rest of the group followed in a hot air balloon.

"Oh, I can't wait till we get to Hope Hollow!" Starlight exclaimed in excitement.

Trixie shared her friend’s excitement. “I heard the town is literally brimming with color.”

"You have no idea." Applejack remarked with a wink.

"How long until we get there?" Toola asked.

"Could be by nighttime, darling." Rarity said, "It happened the last time my friends and I went."

"That long, huh?" Ben asked.

"Yep. That long." Twilight replied.

"Guess we'll have to wait for a few hours." Starlight said.

"Aww, but that's a long time!" Apple Bloom whined.

Sweetie looked to everyone else in the balloon. "Anybody brought a game we can all play to pass the time?"

Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out some playsets and figures as she suggested, "How about Tails of Canterlot?"

Yes, I'm including Pony Life references, too!

"Great idea, Pinkie!" Rarity exclaimed with a smile.

"It's a good thing I modified Twilight's game so that the amount of rules isn't extensive, and that gameplay is tolerable for everypony." Ben remarked.

"I appreciate the help in fixing the game, Ben." Twilight said, "That way, anypony can play my game!"

"It's fitting since it's gonna be a long time to get to Hope Hollow!" Nyx remarked.

Unknown to the traveling Equestrians, they were being observed by a mysterious figure who was viewing them from a big globe of light.

"Not as long as you think, my little pony." The figure spoke. Then its horn started glowing.

Just as Pinkie was about to set the game up, there was a bright rainbow glow ahead of the group.

"Huh? What the--?" Twilight asked in confusion as she shielded her eyes upon noticing the glow.

"What in the name of Celestia?" Rainbow asked in surprise and confusion, also shielding her eyes.

"What's going on?" Spike exclaimed in confusion and surprise.

"This didn't happen on our first trip to Hope Hollow!" Applejack remarked in confusion.

"What is it, Rarity? What's happening?" Sweetie asked in concern.

"Everypony hang on!" Twilight shouted as the rainbow glow flashed really brightly, enveloping her and the rest of the group.

A moment later, as the flash subsided, as the group unshielded their eyes, they slowly opened them and saw, to their surprise, that they were at the rainbow arch of Hope Hollow.

"Whoa. How did we get here so quickly?!" Spike spoke in surprise.

"I don't understand!" Twilight exclaimed in confusion, "We were in the sky for almost an hour, but then, somehow, we ended up here!"

"It feels like a teleportation spell happened with us!" Nyx remarked.

Rainbow looked to Twilight, "Twilight, did you have something to do with that?"

"No, I didn't do it at all!" Twilight replied as she shook her head, "My power is not that strong to teleport us to Hope Hollow!"

"Then... how did we get here so fast?" Scootaloo asked, rubbing her head in confusion.

"Sounds like a mystery!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"And you know how we solved some mysteries before!" Sweetie said with a wink.

"I know what you mean, Sweetie Belle." Nyx giggled.

"Just the same as Rarity solved a couple of mysteries herself, and so did Twilight!" Pinkie added with a smile.

"As fun as that sounds, we shouldn't forget the reason we dropped by here." Twilight reminded the CMC and Pinkie.

"Right. We gotta see the new theater!" Starlight agreed.

Spike noticed a nearby pony and walked up to him. “Hey there. You know where that new movie theater is?”

"Why, yes. The new movie theater is right ove--" The pony started as he turned towards Spike, but he cut himself off when he saw the group and recognized a few of its members as he gasped. "Oh my gosh! It's you! The Mane Six!"

“Yeah. It’s us.” Twilight replied with a nod.

"Hey, everypony!" The pony called out, "The Mane Six are here!" This announcement got the attention of almost all the residents in Hope Hollow. They almost immediately gathered around them as they cheered for the Mane Six, welcoming them.

Spike smiled to Twilight, “Guess you guys built a big reputation here, huh?”

"We sure did, Spike," Twilight said proudly.

"Princess Twilight!" The group turned to see the source of the voice; the Mayor of Hope Hollow, Sunny Skies, along with his marefriend-now-wife, Petunia Petals. "It's so good to see you and your friends again!"

“Good to see you too, Mayor Sunny!” Pinkie replied ecstatically, shaking his hoof.

"And it looks like you brought some more friends with you!" Petunia said upon noticing Spike, Ben, Nyx, and the rest of the group.

"Yep! This is Spike, my coltfriend Ben Valorheart, my adopted daughter Nyx, and Phobos the Moon Dragon." Twilight said as she introduced them.

“‘Sup?” Spike replied with a wave.

"Hey there." Ben greeted with a smile.

"Hi!" Nyx said as she waved.

"Yo!" Phobos greeted.

"This is mah little sister, Apple Bloom." Applejack introduced Apple Bloom.

"Howdy!" Apple Bloom greeted.

"This is Sweetie Belle, my little sister." Rarity introduced Sweetie Belle.

"Hi!" Sweetie greeted with a cute smile.

Rainbow pulled Scootaloo next to her. “This little squirt is Scootaloo.”

"Hiya!" Scootaloo said with a wave.

"My name is Starlight Glimmer." Starlight introduced herself.

"I am the Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie bragged.

"And this is Toola Roola and Coconut Cream." Starlight introduced the two foals in question, who waved at Sunny.

"Nice to meet all of you," Sunny Skies replied happily, "So what brings all of you here to Hope Hollows?"

"We all heard that there's a new theater in town," Twilight said.

"Ahhh, the Grand Palace Cinema!" Sunny said with a knowing smile, "Yes, it opened just a few hours ago after a generous donation by a new friend who owns the place."

"We all pitched in to help him build it," Petunia added.

"Especially me!" Torque Wrench added with pride.

“We’d just heard about it not too long ago thanks to Nyx and her friends,” Fluttershy replied, gesturing to the filly in question.

"Oh, good!" Sunny exclaimed with joy, "The word must've quickly spread to Ponyville just as our new friend said it would!"

Twilight looked curious, “Oh? Who’s this new friend?”

"Why, he's the owner of the Grand Palace Cinema!" Kerfuffle said with a grin.

"He's as smart as all get out!" Moody Root remarked.

"Oh, he's amazing!" Pickle Barrel added.

"He's magical!" Barley Barrel said.

"And... he wants to meet you!" Sunny said.

“RIGHT NOW?!” Pinkie exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement.

"Yes, right now!" Petunia replied with a nod.

“What’re we waiting for?! LET’S GO!!!” Pinkie shouted in excitement, practically picking up her friends in her excitement.

"Follow us!" Sunny said as he and Petunia headed off in a particular direction, and the group began following them.

On their way to the Grand Palace Cinema, everyone minus the Mane Six looked about their surroundings in absolute awe and amazement. Everything looked so peaceful and literally colorful to them. It was practically breathtaking.

"This place is beautiful!" Nyx cried.

"Look at all the colors!" Apple Bloom exclaimed excitedly.

Sweetie squealed as she cheered, "I'm in color heaven!"

Spike was amazed himself. “It’s almost like a living rainbow.”

"Wait till Sunburst sees this!" Starlight exclaimed.

"And Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, too!" Scootaloo remarked with a grin.

"Not to mention the students at the School of Friendship!" Trixie added with a smile.

"Especially Sunburst, Ocellus, Yona, Gallus, Silverstream, and Smolder!" Apple Bloom finished.

"Don't forget about Black Belle, Shadow Storm, and Violet Shiver!" Pinkie said with a wink.

"And our Ponyland friends! Great Grandma Megan and King Spykoran are in for a surprise when they see them!" Nyx said happily.

“Here we are!”

Upon hearing Sunny's announcement, the group looked up and gasped in amazement. What they saw before them was the Grand Palace Cinema. But unlike any movie theater they had seen, this particular one looked nothing like a theater. In fact, it actually resembled a castle straight out of a fairy tale. The bricks at the base were gray while the rest of the walls were colored cream. The roofs on the spires were blue while the tallest one's roof was golden.

"That's the Grand Palace Cinema?!" Ben asked in amazement.

"It's gigantic!" Twilight gasped.

"It's huge!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"It's gi-huge-ic!" Pinkie remarked in amazement.

"You said it!" Applejack agreed.

“It looks almost like a castle!” Spike said in awe.

"Not even Princess Celestia and Luna have ever heard of this!" Starlight commented.

"If you think the outside is amazing, wait till you see the inside!" Petunia said to the group with a wink.

“Well, what’re we waiting for?!” Rainbow asked in excitement.

Then the group headed towards the big red castle doors, where two unicorn guards dressed in armor the same color scheme as Rainbow Dash's were standing.

"Welcome to the Grand Palace Cinema." The two guards greeted in unison.

“Thank you,” Twilight greeted with a bow.

"The master has been expecting you." One of the two guards spoke.

“So we’ve been told.”

"Then guards, if you kindly open the doors for our guests, they shall go see the owner of the Cinema," Sunny said.

"Of course, Mayor Sunny Skies." The second guard said with a bow.

With that, using their unicorn magic, the guards opened the big red castle doors behind them. Once it was done, the guards spoke to the group in unison, "The master will see you now. Enter as you please."

The group then entered through the doors and they looked about the lobby in awe. The lobby was like the court of a castle, but with the front desk, ticket booth, and concession stand of a movie theater. Along the walls, posters for all types of films were on display. Colorful banners hanging on the ceiling decorate the place along with a stained glass window that gave a rainbow light from the sun shining through it.

"Even the interior of the cinema is beautiful!" Rarity gasped.

Spike was practically hypnotized by the look of the interior. “It sure is…”

"Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Flurry Heart would never believe this!" Twilight remarked in amazement.

"And neither would Grandma Celestia and Princess Luna!" Nyx added.

"We better stick together." Ben suggested, "Don't wanna get lost in a big place like this."

"You're right, Ben." Twilight said, "We gotta find the owner of the Grand Palace Cinema."

“But where do we start to find him?” Applejack inquired.

Just then, Apple Bloom noticed something that made her gasp in surprise. She turned to her sister as she said, "Hey, Applejack, look!" What she pointed at was a spotlight shining on an area and a set of doors opening within the area.

“What’s the matter, Apple Bloom?”

"There are some doors opening by themselves!"

"What?!" Twilight asked in surprise as she turned her head towards the direction Apple Bloom was pointing at.

"Apple Bloom's right! Look!" Toola gasped as she and the other foals saw the doors now fully open.

"Those doors are opening by themselves!" Coconut said, "Either they're automatic, or they're opening by magic!"

"Nonetheless, that's a good place to start." Starlight remarked.

“Come on,” Twilight urged the others as she headed for the doors.

"Right behind you, Twilight," Rainbow said as she and the rest of the group followed Twilight to the open doors.

After getting in the doors, the group was looking about in awe again, for inside was a majestic auditorium with rows of seats everywhere. The auditorium even had a mezzanine hanging over part of the general seating area. A huge golden curtain with a red lining on the bottom was seen down the front.

“Wow… this looks amazing!” Fluttershy spoke in amazement.

Twilight scanned the auditorium for any pony else. “Yeah, but there’s no pony else in here…”

"Come in. Come in, my little ponies." A mysterious voice spoke, getting the attention of the group.

“Huh? Who said that?” Rainbow asked, looking around frantically.

"Don't be frightened, Rainbow Dash." The mysterious voice said, "I've been waiting for you, and your friends."

Twilight took her turn to speak. “Are you the owner of this theater?”

"That's correct, Princess Twilight." The voice replied.

Then the curtain raised up to reveal a theater screen with a stage and stairway. On the stage was the source of the mysterious voice: a dark blue unicorn stallion about Princess Celestia's height with blue eyes, and a purple mane and tail whose style is equal to that of the pompous Prince Blueblood. He wore a dark violet cloak with a magenta braid along the turned-up collar. A purple sash is wrapped around the chest area.

“Oh. Hello there,” Twilight greeted, a smile suddenly on her face, “You must be the owner of this theater.”

"Indeed I am." The unicorn spoke in a wise and kind tone, "My name is Bethesda. Welcome to my theater."

"Bethesda," Nyx spoke, repeating the name to herself. "Interesting name. Is that mystic?"

"You could say that, yes," Bethesda replied with a nod.

"Right. My name is Twilight Sparkle...." Twilight started.

"Yes, I've heard of you, Miss Sparkle," Bethesda spoke as he interrupted. "I also know of your friends, their exploits, their past, present, and futures."

"Really?" Trixie asked eagerly. "What does the future hold for Trixie?"

"Well, if I tell you that, it wouldn't come true, would it Miss Lulamoon?"

“…touché,” Trixie replied.

"So... if you know about our pasts, you even know about me?" Nyx asked in wonder.

"Yes, Nyx." Bethesda replied, "You are Nightmare Moon resurrected as a filly. However, after some problems with a cult, you changed for the better, deciding to become Nyx once and for all, and as 'punishment' for your actions, even though you defended Equestria from creatures of the Everfree Forest- which gave you your Cutie Mark, you became the daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and ever since then, you've been living together like a happy family."

"Wow!" Nyx exclaimed in amazement and disbelief. Bethesda really does know everything about her!

"He's good!" Scootaloo remarked.

Spike excitedly came up, “Can you tell me about my past? Before I got adopted into Twilight’s family?”

"Your grandfather is the original Spike, the first one to become friends of the ponies," Bethesda recalled correctly. "Your uncle was another Spike who is living with another set of ponies."

"AKA the ponies of Gen 3." Pinkie spoke happily to the camera. "Collect them all!"

Applejack looked to the 'fourth wall' in confusion, then back to Pinkie. “Who ya talkin’ to, Sugarcube?”

"To the people watching this." Pinkie spoke happily. "Including JusSonic who is writing this. And this, and this, and this. Oh! And JediPony just wrote what you just said AJ!"

“Anyways, we were surprised that news of this theater spread so quickly,” Twilight said, turning back to Bethesda.

"That's because I used my magic throughout Hope Hollow and any area close to it, including Ponyville, to post advertisements about my new theater," Bethesda explained.

"Hmm... I see." Twilight said in intrigue.

"And speaking of quickly and magic," Bethesda added, "I bet you're wondering about how you were brought to Hope Hollow in only an hour instead of having a very long flight to nightfall."

“Now that you mention it, yes. We are.” Fluttershy replied, still baffled by how they got there so quickly.

"As a matter of fact," Bethesda gave a chuckle before he continued, "I teleported you here."

"No way!" Rainbow exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's really advanced magic!" Rarity remarked.

"I mean, I've teleported myself and Spike before, but the longest range I went was from an alley in Ponyville to the old library," Twilight added, putting a hoof to her chin.

"Well, I guess you could say I've studied magic for a very long time." Bethesda said, "Even under Star Swirl the Bearded."

Twilight gasped at the mention of Star Swirl the Bearded. She had always seen the great unicorn as a role model and a lifelong hero and to hear Bethesda mention that name made her light up like a candle. The lilac alicorn quickly zipped over to the stallion with the widest smile on her face as her eyes sparkled.

"YOU STUDIED UNDER STAR SWIRL HIMSELF?!?!" She asked excitedly.

"Yes, I did." Bethesda said proudly, "The trials were hard, but I'm as great at them as you are at your spells."

"Thank you, Mr. Bethesda," Twilight responded, feeling very humbled.

"I was saddened when he and the rest of the Pillars of Equestria sacrificed themselves to seal the Pony of Shadows to limbo." Bethesda explained, "But then, you and your friends freed them from limbo along with the Pony of Shadows, whom you reformed and freed Stygian. For this, I am eternally grateful."

"It was nothing," Rainbow replied as if it was no big deal.

Applejack took her turn to speak. "I gotta say, this theater looks different from any other theater I've seen."

"Your words are as honest as you are, Applejack." Bethesda remarked, "The Element of Harmony fit for an Apple pony." Applejack smiled with pride as the stallion unicorn continued, "Indeed, this theater is not like any other theater, not only because it's designed to look like a castle. This is no ordinary theater. It's a magic theater!"

"Magic?" The CMC asked in unison and amazement.

"Yes, Cutie Mark Crusaders. Magic." Bethesda replied. He motioned to the big movie screen as he spoke, "The screen you see right here is not just a mere screen. It's also a magic portal into the movie."

"A magic portal?" Starlight asked in wonder.

Everypony, Spike, and Phobos looked amazed to hear that. Never before had they ever heard of a movie theater where the screens could act as portals into any film. But now that they had, the whole idea seemed very intriguing to them.

"How do we know it's true, and what it's like?" Ben asked in curiosity.

"I'm glad you asked, Ben." Bethesda replied, "Your first experience shall be in the film here."

“You mean we literally get to go inside the movie?” Spike asked in astonishment.

"Exactly," Bethesda confirmed with a nod.

Twilight suddenly looked concerned, “I just hope us being in the movies won’t cause too much interference with the stories.”

"Do not worry, Twilight." Bethesda said, "It won't cause interference with the stories at all. It's not time travel, you know. In fact, there are certain movies that will need some changes for the better."

“Changes?” Fluttershy repeated in curiosity.

"For instance, if you want to see karma happen to an antagonist who gets away scot-free, do something," Bethesda explained.

"Oh, like if we were in a bad movie like Manos, where the Master made Michael his slave as well as making Margaret and Debbie his wives, and Debbie is a little kid, which is reeeallly gross?" Pinkie asked randomly. "And we can make sure he's punished???" The others looked oddly....as well as uneasy by the last part.

"Yes, sure, why not?" Bethesda remarked with a shrug. "But lucky for everycreature, there are no bad movies in my theater. Not even Manos: The Hands of Fate."

"Thank goodness. Let the guys at Rifftrax handle them." Pinkie spoke happily. "Let us handle the goody-good movies."

"And the movies that Toonwriter picked," Nyx added.

"Okay, then. Let's begin, shall we?" Bethesda spoke with a smile. "The movie you are about to enter is something I know you will like, Miss Sparkle."

“Really? What is it?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's called The Pagemaster," Bethesda replied, "And it has one thing I know that you're very fond of... books."

“What, is it about books that come to life?” Spike couldn’t help but jokingly ask.

"As a matter of fact, it has a couple of those," Bethesda replied.

“… huh.” Spike managed.

"So, Twilight, Ben Valorheart, Nyx, Phobos, Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, step on stage and get ready to start your first film adventure," Bethesda instructed them.

"What about us?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah, we wanna go, too!" Scootaloo complained.

"Don't you worry, my little ponies." Bethesda said, "There is a special part arranged for the rest of you."

“There is?” Sweetie asked, going doe-eyed.

"Absolutely." Bethesda nodded in reply, "You'll find out what it is soon enough. Until then, you can take your seats and watch the film."

"Oh, I can't wait!" Toola cried eagerly.

"I don't know what the part is gonna be like, but I have a feeling we're gonna love it." Starlight remarked with a smile.

Doing as instructed by the theater owner, Twilight, Ben, Spike, Nyx, Phobos, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy stepped onto the stage. While some of them seemed hesitant at first, they were willing to oblige.

“Is… is it going to hurt?” Fluttershy inquired nervously, “Us going into the movie, I mean.”

"Fluttershy, you won't feel a thing," Bethesda assured the shy pegasus.

"O-Okay," Fluttershy said with a nervous nod.

The ten got to the front of the movie screen and faced it for a moment.

"Now what?" Rainbow asked.

"Step through the movie screen," Bethesda explained.

Hesitantly, Twilight reached her hoof towards the screen. To her surprise, along with everycreature else new to the theater, her hoof went through the screen in the same manner as when she first entered the magic mirror to the human world.

“Hang on, shouldn’t we wait for the movie to start before we enter?” Spike asked hesitantly.

"As a matter of fact, when the movie starts, that's when you enter," Bethesda replied.

The young dragon smiled, “Cool.”

"So when does the movie start?" Nyx asked.

"Right about... now," Bethesda said as the lights began to dim.

And just as soon as the lights dimmed, the projector in the booth began to roll.

As the countdown on the screen began going down from '5' while Starlight, Trixie, and the foals took their seats, Twilight turned back towards it as she took a deep breath before she said, "Let's go, guys."

Then, as the countdown went to '1', the ten slowly walked through the glowing movie screen. Fluttershy was one of the last ones to enter the screen. Despite Bethesda telling her it would be safe, the magenta-maned pegasus was still very hesitant.

Just then, she felt a hoof wrap around her shoulder and she saw it was Applejack, giving her a reassuring smile. “C’mon, Sugarcube. We got this.” The farm pony said to her timid friend.

Feeling comforted at this, Fluttershy smiled before nodding, and then the two followed their friends into the screen.

"You be careful, guys. And good luck!" Starlight said.

And so, the adventure of our Equestrian friends has begun.

And there you have it, the prologue of my first ever Filmatic Escapade. I'd like to thank JediPony and JusSonic for helping me in co-writing on this. I'm so excited about making this series because this is gonna be loads of fun! Keep watching for more chapters on Filmatic Escapades!

Out of the Rain and Into the Library

When we last left Twilight and the gang, they had gotten news of a brand new movie theater opening up in Hope Hollow. Naturally, they decided to go check it out. They were surprised to find that this particular movie theater was unlike any they had ever gone to. For the theater’s screens were actually portals into the movies they could see.

And speaking of portals, our Equestrian friends came out of one and stepped into a brand new world. Every pony, Spike and Phobos looked around upon exiting the portal. From the look of things, they were in what looked like a forest. But something about it seemed… different.

“What’s up with this place? Everything looks so… so…” Rainbow spoke, trying to figure out the right word she wanted to say.

“Bulgy?” Pinkie asked out of the blue.

"Something like that." Rainbow replied.

"Kinda looks... live-action or something." Nyx remarked as she looked around

Twilight walked up to a tree and inspected it. “Hmm… you’re not wrong. A lot of things here look like they have more dimension compared to back in Equestria.”

"I have to agree, Twilight." Ben said, "Kinda reminds me of that one dimension with that puppet Discord attempted to send Tree Hugger to back at the Grand Galloping Gala one time."

“But why have the portal drop us in the middle of the woods?” Rarity asked out of curiosity, but then suddenly looked worried, “You don’t think we’ll be pitted against a beast, do you?!”

"If we are, we'll be ready for it." Twilight assured Rarity, "Because we're all here together."

"I sure hope we don't actually encounter a beast..." Fluttershy said nervously.

Just then, lightning flashed up in the sky before a loud clap of thunder followed.

"EEK!!!" Fluttershy squeaked in fear as she hid behind Applejack.

Pretty soon, rain began to fall on them, practically drenching them all.

“Aww, man!” Spike groaned.

"Just what we need; a thunderstorm." Ben remarked sarcastically.

Before any of them could say another word, the sound of a child crying out in alarm, followed by a crash, caught their attention.

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

"I don't know," Nyx replied.

"Sounds like someone crashed into a tree." Applejack stated.

Being the curious one, Twilight was first to head off into the direction of the source of the sound. Fortunately, she didn’t have to go far at all because she saw what looked like a human boy removing his helmet as he sat next to his crashed bike. For whatever reason, the bike had headlights and was beeping.

The lilac alicorn’s attention quickly went from the bike to the young boy, who had blond hair and was wearing round glasses. He checked his head for any injuries upon removing his helmet. “No cranial damage.” He muttered to himself as he got to his feet.

Twilight walked up to the boy as she asked in concern, "Hey, are you all right?"

“I guess so.” The boy replied, not looking at Twilight at first.

When he looked up, he ended up doing a double-take at realizing the 'person' who asked him if he was okay was an animal. The young boy just double blinked at first and removed his glasses to rub his eyes before looking again to see Twilight still there. “… am I dreaming this?” He asked in confusion.

Twilight just gave him an equally confused look. “Not that I know of.”

"Wait...so...you're....you're...actually talking? No, no, no...this can't be right." The boy said as he backed away in shock.

"What can't be right? That I'm talking to you?" Twilight asked.

"I'm sorry...it's just...it's just...normally...I've never seen...whatever you are...that can talk." The boy stammered a bit.

“A pony?” Twilight responded, raising an eyebrow.

The young blonde nodded, not saying anything at first. “The only time I’ve seen animals talk was in movies.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Spike said, coming up next to Twilight with a shrug.

"No way...a dragon, too?" The boy asked in both surprise and shock.

“Yep!” Spike replied, smiling proudly.

Just then, another loud clap of thunder sounded its way across the sky, startling all of them.

“We should probably save introductions till we get someplace dry.” Applejack commented.

"And fast! A storm is blowing in!" Rainbow remarked.

Twilight looked about the forest frantically for a safe haven. If they didn’t find one soon, they’d be in for a very messy day. All of a sudden, the lilac Alicorn spotted something she hadn’t noticed earlier; a building of some sort and it happened to be just next to them. “Everybody, follow me to that building!” She spoke, gesturing to the building in the distance.

Not needing to be told twice, the ponies, dragons and boy almost immediately ran towards the building. The boy, of course, attempted to pull his bike up, but left it when he figured he’d rather not try and get any wetter trying to bring it along. In his rush following Twilight and the gang to the mysterious building, he threw off what they realized was a safety vest that they recalled many crossing guards wearing back in Equestria. The group barely noticed the lion statues flanking the stairs and somehow realized that this place was a library. The young boy stopped to look at one of the lion statues and when the lightning flashed, he could have sworn he heard the statue snarl at him. This had prompted him to keep running to the top of the stairs where the ponies and dragons were waiting for him before they rushed to the door. Much to their relief, it was unlocked and they hurried inside. Some of the ponies shook themselves dry, Rarity doing her best to ring whatever water she could out of her mane. The young boy simply unbuttoned his yellow rain jacket as he and the others walked into what looked like a lobby.

It was eerily silent and dark. Deciding to break the silence, Twilight turned to the young boy.

“So… who are you and why were you out in this weather?” She couldn’t help but ask.

"Uh... Richard. Richard Tyler." The boy replied, "I was out biking to the store to buy a pound of nails for my dad on an errand."

“Ah don’t get it. Couldn’t he have gone to the store and get ‘em himself?” Applejack inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“He could have, but… I don’t think he’s in the best condition to drive.” Richard answered, looking nervous all of a sudden, “Not after he fell from the treehouse he was building.”

"Oh." Applejack said sheepishly.

“Yeah, he tries to get me to do a lot of things that seem dangerous, like trying out for the Little League.” Richard explained to them, “But there’s always a chance you can get injured or poisoned doing anything at any time. Ya can’t argue with statistics.”

Rainbow leaned in to Twilight, “Next thing ya know, he’ll say he’s afraid of tuna sandwiches.”

“Well, he wouldn’t be wrong. There’s Mercury in fish sometimes and there’s a chance you’d get Mercury poisoning if you’re not careful.” Twilight pointed out.

"Mercury poisoning?!" Nyx asked in shock.

“… sorry I said that.”

Spike, deciding to distract the others from that, looked about the lobby. “Say, shouldn’t there be somebody in here?” He asked.

"You have a point, Spike." Rarity said, "This place seems abandoned."

Richard stepped further into the middle of the lobby. “Hello?!” He called out, the only response being his echo.

Just then, a door creaking sound was heard along with a light illuminating the group.

"W... what's that?" Fluttershy asked, feeling scared as she sees a shadow on the floor cast by the light.

The ponies, Spike and Phobos stood at the ready. Whatever was coming their way, they would fight it if necessary. But the shadow came from a book cart that was being pushed in by an old man walking into the dark room. At seeing this, they dropped their defenses. Even Richard looked less uneasy at seeing the elder man.

Soon, the elderly man stopped just near a desk. At first, the only hint he had of someone- namely Richard, Spike, Phobos and the ponies being there- was a flash of lightning from outside that barely and briefly illuminated the entire lobby. As he made his way closer to the desk, he kept his eyes on the apparent visitors until reaching the desk and flicking a switch. Almost immediately, a couple of overhead lights turned on around the entire lobby and the rest of the building. The first thing they noticed past the old man was shelf after shelf of books, confirming to them that they were indeed inside a library.

Smiling warmly, the old man approached Richard and the others before shaking the boy’s hand. “Welcome to the library, young man.” He spoke, then continued before giving any of them a chance to speak, “Don’t tell me. You and your friends are here for a special book.”

Spike leaned over to Twilight as he whispered, “He doesn’t seem to notice we’re not really from here.”

“Well, actually-“ Twilight began, looking to the elder man that she assumed must have been a librarian.

"Stop, stop, stop. Allow me to guess." The man said, cutting Twilight off, "I have a talent for guessing what people need." He turned to the boy as he spoke, "You're in need of... a fantasy. Brave knights, mythical fairies, ferocious dragons."

“Technically, we have a dragon with us.” Applejack replied, gesturing to Spike.

“Two dragons.” Nyx corrected.

Richard took his turn to speak. “L- look. All I want is-.”

"Adventure! Of course!" The old man exclaimed in excitement, cutting him off. Hearing this got Rainbow Dash excited, "You're a boy who loves adventure! Brimming with wicked demons, cutthroat pirates!"

Rainbow smiled to the others, “Sounds like something up my alley!”

“N-n-no! That’s not it!” Richard protested, still nervous.

"Horror!" The man suggested. Lightning flashed, illuminating his face, making the boy and Fluttershy nervous as he spoke, backing him and the other Equestrians to the desk as he spoke in a dramatic tone, "Ah, horror! Evil demons! Wretched monsters! Haunted houses! Graveyards!"

Fluttershy could feel herself shaking a bit with fear. “I- I- I don’t l-l-l-l-like the s-s-s-sound of t-t-t-t-t-that…”

While the librarian spoke his little monologue, Richard slowly backed up until he felt his back meet the lobby desk.

"Yes. It's horror for you, boy. I'm sure of it." The librarian said, "Your library card, please."

"I don't have one." Richard said.

“And neither do we.” Twilight added, feeling a bit awkward.

Seemingly not acknowledging Twilight’s words, the librarian- his attention on Richard- flicked his wrist. All of a sudden, a blank library card was in his hand.

"You do now." He replied to Richard, a grin on his face.

This had wowed not only the young boy, but also Twilight and the gang. Pinkie’s mouth was practically hanging from its jaw. Rarity, of course, closed her pink friend’s jaw for her without even looking at her.

The gang then walked up next to Richard as the librarian picked up a pen and clipboard that was sitting atop the desk before he handed it to the young boy.

“Sign here.” The elder man instructed, gesturing to a line on the paper clipped to the clipboard.

Richard hesitantly accepted the pen and began to write his name where he was told to. For a brief second, Twilight looked at the desk to see a name plaque with the name “Mr. Dewey” on it. She immediately assumed that this was the name of the librarian, who then turned to the ponies and dragons.

“Don’t think I forgot about all of you.” Mr. Dewey spoke, handing them each their own library cards.

“Thank you, Mr. Dewey.” Twilight replied politely, accepting the library card as it was handed to her.

"Yeah, thanks." Nyx said while accepting her own library card.

After giving the ponies and dragons each their own cards, Mr. Dewey accepted the clipboard from Richard once he was finished writing his name on it. The others soon followed suite and signed their own names where they were supposed to. Once they were all done, the librarian smiled to Richard.

“Richard Tyler,” He spoke, handing the boy his own library card, “Consider this your passport to the wonderful, quite unpredictable world of books.”

“But… we don’t want any books.” Richard replied, shaking his head.

"Hmm?" Mr. Dewey asked in confusion on hearing this.

"That's what we're trying to tell you." Richard said, "We only came here because of the storm."

“Ah mean, he ain’t entirely wrong.” Applejack agreed, “It’s rainin’ cats and dogs out there.”

“You mean you don’t need…?” Mr. Dewey began, the others shaking their heads before he continued in disappointment, “Oh. I see.”

And with that, he walked behind the desk to get to work.

“… is there a phone where I can call my parents?” Richard asked.

Rainbow looked to the others with disappointment. “Why do I get the feeling this is gonna be a really short movie?” She whispered to them.

“Through there.” Mr. Dewey replied to Richard, apparently not hearing what Rainbow said as he gestured past the rows of bookshelves.

"Proceed in a northeasterly direction until you all get to the rotunda, and from there, head west through the fiction section. And you'll find it. The public telephone. You can't miss it."

As Mr. Dewey spoke that, Richard- with the ponies and dragons following suite- walked past the desk and past the rows of shelves in the direction the elderly human pointed them towards. The glasses-wearing boy briefly stopped and turned to look back in Mr. Dewey’s direction as Twilight also stopped and looked back while the others slowly continued ahead.

The librarian stopped what he was doing and looked in the two’s direction. “Don’t be afraid, boy. If you or your friends lose your way, merely direct yourselves back to the exit sign.” As he said that, he gestured to the illuminated sign in question above the entrance and exit to the library.

Twilight nodded, “Will do, Mr. Dewey. And thank you.”

And with that, the Alicorn and Richard continued further into the library, going in the direction Mr. Dewey pointed them to. In their walk, they managed to catch up with the others who had been waiting for them up ahead.

“So are we really going to just go to the phone to call his folks?” Applejack whispered to Twilight.

"I don't know, Applejack." Twilight replied as she looked around, "Something about this library is getting me... interested."

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.

"Well... this reminds me of the library back in Canterlot, but almost better."

"I have to agree with Mommy." Nyx said, "This also almost feels like the Canterlot Archives."

A few minutes later, the group found themselves in a large rotunda. Upon reaching the center, they looked up to the ceiling and were in so much awe at what looked like four murals surrounding a circular one in the middle.

"Wow!" Richard exclaimed.

“Whoa…” Spike let out as they reached the center of the rotunda.

Neither of them had noticed that the display on the ground resembled a compass. For they were too focused on the murals on the ceiling. Their eyes wandered first to the mural of a valiant knight fighting against a ferocious fire-breathing dragon.

"Cool!" Nyx exclaimed in astonishment.

Their eyes shifted to the mural on the right side of the rotunda. This one displayed a scene with pirates on a beach, one of which was carrying what looked like a treasure chest. One of the pirates had a red coat and a black captain’s hat. Under one arm was what looked like a crutch and he was missing a leg, a green parrot perched on his shoulder. Richard and the others naturally guessed this particular pirate was the captain of the motley crew.

"Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed on seeing what was on the mural.

“Ooooh!” Twilight, Spike and Nyx let out in awe.

"Amazing!" Ben exclaimed.

As they gazed up at the murals, Richard failed to notice that the water dripping from his jacket slowly began to form a puddle under his feet. Even the ponies and dragons hadn’t noticed the water dripping from their fur and scales forming puddles underneath them. But their attention soon came to the top mural, depicting a scene of a silver-haired man standing in a boat in the sea. He was brandishing a harpoon in the direction of what looked like a giant white whale.

"Hoo-wee! That is one big whale!" Applejack remarked.

“I’ll say!” Pinkie agreed.

"And it's white!" Rarity gasped.

And the further they gazed at the murals, the puddles under their feet/hooves got bigger. The next mural displayed what looked like a scientist working on an experiment with a bubbling liquid in one of the beakers. Cast on the wall behind the scientist was the shadow of a deranged-looking man looking as though it were laughing maniacally.

Upon seeing this mural in particular, especially the deranged shadow, Fluttershy let out a frightened squeak and backed behind Rarity, who looked frightened yet intrigued.

"Geez." Richard commented in intrigue.

"Freaky." Phobos remarked.

"You said it." Nyx agreed.

And finally, their gaze fell on the central and final mural. This one portrayed an elderly man wearing what looked like a large blue hat with robes that matched in color. In one hand, he held a staff that mostly resembled a rolled up scroll and in the other, he held what looked like a tome.

"That looks like a wizard!" Nyx exclaimed.

Twilight wasn’t sure why, but the wizard reminded her of Star Swirl the Bearded. Then again, he actually seemed to bare a strong resemblance to Mr. Dewey.

"I wonder who that guy is?" Rarity said aloud.

Richard himself began to step back to get a better look at the mural of the wizard. However, he stepped on the puddle and ended up slipping, falling back with a cry.

"Richard!" Twilight cried upon noticing this. But the instant she turned around, the purple alicorn stepped on the puddle and slipped on it also.

“Twilight!” Spike exclaimed, turning around, only to step on the puddle before accidentally bumping into Nyx so hard that they both fell as well.

"Whoa!" Nyx exclaimed the instant the purple dragon bumped into her, causing her to bump Phobos.

"Hey! Watch i-" Phobos started, but yelled out when he slipped on the puddle as well.

"Twiley! Guys!" Ben shouted on noticing this, but as he turned to check, he stepped on the puddle and found himself slipping.

This in turn caused a domino effect with him bumping into Applejack, who slipped and knocked over Rainbow Dash. She, of course, slipped and bumped into Rarity, who bumped into Fluttershy, who bumped into Pinkie Pie. And as soon as they fell, they all hit their heads on the ground so hard, Richard, the ponies and the dragons all lost consciousness. As lightning flashed, it felt like the room spun around them while it turned completely dark. What felt like hours later, Richard was the first to come to and noticed the entire library was dark.

“HELLO?!” He called out, only his echo greeting him back.

Twilight groaned as she then came to, rubbing her head where she bumped it. “Ohhh. My head.”

"What a nasty fall." Ben groaned as he followed suit, shaking his head before rubbing where he bumped it.

Twilight immediately turned her attention to the unconscious Nyx and Spike. “Nyx? Spike? Are you okay?” She asked, gently nudging them both.

The two kids slowly regained consciousness as they moaned.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Mommy." Nyx replied.

"Me too." Spike added.

"Are you girls all right?" Ben called out to the other girls in concern.

"Yeah... I'm all right." Rainbow said as she woke up.

"Man, that was quite a bump we all had." Applejack remarked.

"No worries, MLP fans, no ponies were made in the making of this film." Pinkie spoke playfully to the camera.

"Pinkie, you are so random." Rainbow remarked.

As the others woke up from the nasty fall, the whole group could have sworn they heard the sound of swords swinging and clashing.

"Boy, I must've hit my head hard." Rainbow commented as she rubbed her head, "I'm hearing a sword fight."

"Ah don't think you're the only one who heard it, Rainbow Dash." Applejack remarked in slight concern.

"Mr. Dewey?" Twilight called out as she looked around, wondering if the librarian overheard the commotion.

What followed after was the sounds of a man roaring and an eagle screeching, along with the sound of horses neighing and galloping. The group looked around, wondering where the sounds were coming from.

"Uh-oh." Richard said in concern.

Applejack noticed the concern in Richard’s voice. “You okay, Suga-?”

She was interrupted when she felt something drip on her leg. “Consarnit, don’t tell me the roof is lea-!” The cow pony began to complain, lifting her leg to see the supposed raindrop, but instead found that what leaked on her was a bit of green paint.

"Uh... I don't think that's rainwater, Applejack." Fluttershy said in confusion.

“… yeah. I just figured that out.”

Richard felt something drip on his hand. He looked to see a drip of green paint on there as well. He simply shrugged it off and wiped it onto his rain jacket.

Twilight heard dripping and turned to see yellow and purple paint dripping on the floor. She cocked an eyebrow before speaking.

“Well, that’s weird.” She commented aloud.

As Nyx turned to see blue and purple paint dripping on the floor, she asked aloud, "What's going on?"

Out of confusion, Spike looked up to the murals. “Twilight! The murals are melting!”

"What?!" Ben asked in startlement as he looked up with his marefriend.

The rest of the group looked up to see that the murals were indeed melting. Almost immediately, paint began falling from the ceiling in torrents. Richard looked to his jacket to see the small splotch of green paint grow, turning it from yellow to green. He tossed off the jacket in panic and ran down one of the shelf corridors with the ponies and dragons following suit.

"Talk about a reading rainbow!" Pinkie remarked in a frantic tone as they ran.

“Less commenting, more running!” Rainbow exclaimed urgently.

They then stopped to look back and see all the fallen paint began to merge, forming the head and neck of a ferocious dragon. The paint dragon turned in the direction of Richard and our heroes before letting loose with a vicious growl. Only one word ran through all their minds: Run!

"DRAGON!!!" Fluttershy screamed in fear on seeing the paint dragon.

"EVERYPONY RUN!!!" Pinkie cried.

"This way!" Ben shouted urgently as he ran with the others following him almost immediately.

The paint dragon shifted into a wave of paint and followed after the group. As it splashed against the shelves in its pursuit, the shelves the paint wave splashed became more animated, literally. Each time Richard looked back, he screamed and ran further along the corridors of shelves with the others.

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!!!” Spike shouted in panic as they ran/flew.

"Run run run away!" Fluttershy cried out with a squeak.

"Get away from us!" Nyx shouted as she tried blasting the paint wave back with her magic.

Unfortunately, the blast had no effect on the paint wave and it continued to pursue our heroes. The chase eventually led them back to the rotunda.

“MISTER, MISTER! WHERE’S THE EXIT?!” Richard exclaimed in panic.

"Oh, Celestia, I think we've gone in circles!" Phobos panicked.

"We gotta find the exit and get outta here fast!" Rarity cried.

Before they even could think to do that, they turned to see the paint wave come down one corridor of shelves. They turned to another corridor to see another wave coming their way, eliciting a scream from all of them.

“We’re surrounded!” Applejack shouted.

"There's no way out!" Rainbow shouted.

All they could think to do in the moment was huddle together and brace themselves for the worst. And before they knew it, they were splashed on all sides by the paint waves.

Meeting the Pagemaster and New Friends

Twilight and her friends kept themselves braced for the worst, their eyes clenched tight. Some of them even held onto each other out of fear; Twilight onto Ben, Nyx onto Phobos, Pinkie holding onto Rainbow, Rarity onto Spike and Fluttershy onto Applejack. After a few moments, Twilight slowly opened her eyes and double-blinked.

"... huh?" She managed out of confusion.

Spike opened his eyes next. "Hey, we're not dead!" He exclaimed until he felt his head spikes, "... are my spikes rounder or is it just me?"

"Hmm... it's definitely not just you, darling." Rarity answered, looking him over after she opened her eyes.

After opening her own eyes and looking at the group before checking herself, Pinkie exclaimed to the others with a grin, "Hey, we look just like how we were in the MLP movie and Rainbow Roadtrip!"

The others looked at her in confusion. "Pinkie, you are so random." Rainbow remarked.

"Wait a minute." Ben said, "If we're like this, what about Richard?"

The others turned to the boy in question, who was still crouched over with his hands over his head. After a few seconds, he slowly stood up and they were surprised to notice that he also changed. In fact, he looked like he walked straight out of a 90s Disney film. He opened his eyes, which looked slightly bigger, and looked both shocked and confused at how much different he looked now.

After moments of silence and confusion, Richard finally found his voice. “I… I’m a cartoon!”

"You... are all illustrations."

The group was startled by this as they jumped a little. “Who’s there??” Twilight asked, looking around in concern.

They soon turned to the source of the voice, which came from none other than a man. But it was no ordinary man. It was the same blue-clad elderly man from the center mural on the ceiling, wielding the same staff looking like a rolled-up scroll.

“… who… who are you?” Richard asked nervously.

"I am the Pagemaster, keeper of the books, and guardian of the written word." The elderly man responded.

“Wait, you’re the guy from up there!” Spike exclaimed, pointing up to where the mural was.

Richard looked around before asking the man, "Where are the others?"

"Why, they're here, of course!" The Pagemaster replied mystically, "And all around."

Applejack leaned to Rarity, whispering, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

"Beats me." Rarity replied softly with a shrug.

"Maybe you can show us the way out?" Richard asked. "Follow me." The Pagemaster said.

And with that, the Pagemaster began to walk towards one of the corridors of shelves. The others, especially Richard, hesitated to follow at first.

"Um... is that the way?" Fluttershy asked.

At hearing Fluttershy's question, the elder man stopped to look back at the group. "Oh, the only way."

"But... what way is that?" Nyx asked in curiosity.

The Pagemaster just turned to the approaching group with a grin. “Fiction A to Z! Where all is possible,” He replied, making a page appear from out of nowhere, “Where a boy’s imagination can take route and grow to incredible heights!” As the blue-robed being said that, he threw the page into the air. In an instant, the page transformed into a towering giant and walked on his merry way down the corridor.

The group looked amazed at seeing what just happened while Richard hid behind the Pagemaster.

"Whoa!" Rainbow gasped.

And from out of thin air, a Viking boat appeared. But it didn’t just appear, it rowed through the air as if it were flying. Men grunting was heard from the boat as it happened.

“Wow…” Spike managed.

"Where a boy's courage is a wind that moves them to discovery!" The Pagemaster continued.

The group just watched the Viking boat fly above them in awe as the Pagemaster spoke on.

"And where your journey... begins!"

Neither of them noticed a couple of carts rolling their way. But on "begins", Richard found himself, along with Nyx and Phobos, suddenly atop one, Twilight and Ben on another, Spike and Rarity on the third, Applejack and Rainbow Dash on the fourth, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy on the fifth. This in turn caused them all to let out cries of surprise. And as if by magic, the carts rolled on their own and sped down the corridor of bookshelves.

While our heroes wheeled off, the Pagemaster faded away as he spoke to them, "To find your way home, you must face three tests: horror, adventure, and fantasy."

"What does that mean?!" Rainbow asked the others as she held on tight.

"I think we're on a quest!" Twilight replied as she held on.

"And remember this: When in doubt, look to the books!" They heard the Pagemaster's voice echo throughout the library.

"Aaah, how do you stop this thing?!" Richard cried.

"Wheeeee!" Pinkie cheered as she rode on the cart while Fluttershy held on.

As they traveled down the corridors, they could have sworn they heard other voices echoing throughout the library.

"Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!"

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past..."

"All the pirates shared a grave."

Up ahead, they saw the end of the corridor. Against the wall was a phone booth.

"EVERYBODY BRACE YOURSELVES!" Twilight exclaimed.

The group followed Twilight's words of advice as they rode toward the booth.

CRASH!!

Following the crash, books were strewn across the floor around the phone booth. The ponies and dragons were lying either above or under the piles of books while Richard lay halfway in the phone booth, the phone dangling by its cord off the hook.

After the busy tone was heard, the phone operator's voice spoke from it, "Due to the storm, all lines have been temporarily disconnected. Please try your call again later."

Richard groaned as he sat up, shaking his head. “This is not good. Definitely not good at all.”

The other ponies and dragons sat up as they recovered as best as they could from the crash. "Is everybody okay?" Twilight asked, rubbing her head.

"I'm okay, Mommy." Nyx replied.

Spike checked both his limbs, including his wings. "Nothing broken here."

"Glad my wings aren't broken." Rainbow remarked as she checked herself.

Fluttershy looked to the mess of books, more concerned about that than about whether or not she was hurt. "Oh, Mr. Dewey won't be too pleased with this mess..."

"You're most certainly right about that, Fluttershy." Rarity said.

"Don't worry, organizing books is one of my favorite things to do." Twilight spoke, getting up. With that, she fired up her horn and it began to glow. The fallen books soon also began to glow with the same aura that her horn did. Before she could make any of the books move with her magic, however, a sword popped out from underneath the big pile just in front of Richard. This, of course, caused him to scream in alarm upon noticing, startling Twilight from her element as she turned in the boy's direction.

"What is it, Richard?!" Twilight asked urgently.

Before Richard could even answer, a voice spoke from under the book pile. "Where's the son of a seabiscuit knocked me from me crow's nest?!"

The source of the voice yanked the book from atop it, revealing it belonged to a more anthropomorphic book. Its covers were brown and its arms a maroon color. A thick brown mustache rested under his big nose, the face and "spine" being a lighter shade of brown. On the book's right arm was a hook for a hand and he wore a dark brown belt and a black loafer on its right leg while the left was a peg leg. Atop the book's head was a red bandana while an eyepatch was over its left eye.

"Tell me I'm not the only one seeing this." Rainbow whispered to Applejack.

"You sure ain't the only one." Applejack whispered back.

The talking book shook off some pages as he shouted while looking around, "Where's 'e be?! Where's 'e be?!"

Everybody stood there, not sure what to say. … at least until Phobos broke the silence. “Uh… he did it!” He quickly exclaimed, pointing at Richard.

Looking at who Phobos was pointing at, the brown book shouted accusingly, "So here be the lubber who knocked me on me poop deck, and with no apologies, too!"

“Phobos!” Nyx scolded, glaring at the dragon in question.

"What?" Phobos asked while shrugging.

Applejack just facepalmed at hearing that. Before anybody else could say anything, the pirate-like book hopped atop the fallen cart next to him and Richard. The literally anthropomorphic inanimate object glanced at the boy inquisitively and spoke once more.

“Eh, you fiction or non-fiction?” He interrogated the young lad, pointing his sword in Richard’s face.

"Uh... R-Richard, Richard Tyler." Richard said nervously.

"What kind of book would that be?" Adventure asked suspiciously.

“We’re not books.” Richard answered, shaking his head.

"Got any proof?"

The boy looked to his pocket and dug out his library card. “See? Here’s my name.”

“And ours, too.” Twilight added, presenting her own library card.

The pirate-clad book examined the cards closely before he lifted his eye patch as he gasped in surprise. "Library cards!" He exclaimed. The book then bowed respectfully, “Beggin’ yer pardon, lad. Didn’t know ye and yer friends were customers! Name's Adventure, mateys." Adventure replied, "At yer service."

“It’s very nice to meet you, Adventure. I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight introduced herself politely before gesturing to Ben, “This is my coltfriend, Ben Valorheart.”

She then gestured to Spike, “And my number one assistant and adoptive little brother, Spike.”

“What’s up?” Spike greeted, a smile on his face.

"Hi there." Ben greeted.

“And my daughter, Nyx.” The lilac Alicorn added, gesturing to the little black-coated foal.

Nyx politely waved. “Hiya. This is my friend, Phobos.” She added, gesturing to the moon dragon in question.

"Yo." Phobos greeted.

Applejack came up, “Pleasure to meet ya, name’s Applejack.”

“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie added excitedly.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow said proudly.

"I'm Rarity. Pleasure to meet you." Rarity said politely.

"And I'm... Fluttershy." Fluttershy said shyly.

Spike managed to help Richard to his feet. “Look, all we wanna do is get out of here.” The latter replied cautiously.

"Of carse ya do, matey! We all do!" The book said with a smile while gesturing the books around him. Then he spoke softly for them to hear, "But this is a library, mates. Not everything's as it seems."

The ponies and dragons looked a bit nervous about hearing this, as was Richard. They knew that the pirate-like book wasn’t wrong, yet they didn’t feel any less uneasy. A clap of thunder brought them back down to earth and they turned back to the long corridor to see a ton of pages flying their way.

“Look to the books, look to the books…” A familiar voice echoed as the pages flew their way.

The group yelled out in startlement at this, but Fluttershy was the most freaked out. "I gotta get outta here!" She cried as she ran down the aisle.

"Fluttershy, wait! Come back!" Twilight cried.

At that moment, Fluttershy was too scared to even look back or even ahead of herself, cause she kept her eyes shut. But that was a bad idea, for she fell right through a hole in the library floor.

"FLUTTERSHY!!" The other Equestrians cried out as they ran up towards the hole. It turned out that Fluttershy tumbled down into a deep, dark pit with a pool of black water at the bottom. Just when she was about to hit the water with a big splash, a huge anchor swung down and caught her between the legs. The anchor began to swing back and forth across the pit.

Suddenly, Fluttershy heard a strange noise. It sounded like a clock ticking. But what would a clock be doing down here? She soon found out as she looked down. A giant alligator shot up out of the water and opened its powerful jaws, ready to snap at her. Looking down, Fluttershy saw that an old alarm clock was wedged inside its throat.

"The ticking crocodile from Peter Pan?!" Fluttershy asked fearfully. She braced herself as she screamed, "SOMEPONY HELP ME!"

"Fluttershy, hang on!" Fluttershy heard Nyx's voice cry out.

Just then, the anchor began to pull the yellow pegasus away from the water--and the alligator. She jumped off and collapsed on the library floor. Standing over her was her smiling rescuer, Adventure.

"Tick-Tock the Crocodile, here? I thought this was "Pagemaster", not Disney!" Pinkie exclaimed in confusion over what happened with Fluttershy as she and the other Equestrians and Richard walked up to her.

"Plus, Dinodisneylover1 got dibs on that movie already for the Disney Chronicles." Nyx commented in agreement.

"Don't forget, there are different variations of Peter Pan." Applejack said, "And there's a possibility that the author might do another version of Peter Pan."

"Since when are you random like Pinkie and Nyx?" Rainbow asked Applejack, weirded out by what she just did.

"Since Pony Life! Keep up, Rainbow!" Applejack explained, rolling her eyes at this.

"Are you okay, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked in concern.

The yellow pegasus sighed as she replied, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Then don't run off like that again." Applejack said, "We don't wanna lose you." Fluttershy shook her head in agreement.

Spike looked worried, “Is there danger around every corner here?”

"If there is, we better stick together to face it." Twilight warned.

"Y-you said you knew the way out?" Richard asked the pirate-like book.

"Is he seriously asking a book how to get out of the library?" Rainbow asked Applejack skeptically.

The book, not acknowledging Rainbow’s words, replied to Richard, “I know these waters like the back o’ me hook!” He then looked to his own hook, but let out a groan of annoyance before looking back and forth between the corridors. The book had even lifted his eyepatch so he could look with both eyes before coming to a conclusion.

“This way.” He answered, pointing down the corridor to his left.

"I gotta get home." Richard said as he started heading down the corridor, "My parents are probably worried sick about me."

Not saying another word, the others began to follow after him. The pirate-like book nearly caused the ponies and dragons to trip as he walked past and under them to keep up with Richard. “Well, I'm afeard I've been dry-docked in this library far longer than I'd like to remember.” He said to the glasses-wearing boy, “As I sees it, you with your library card are me ticket out of here! Is is a deal, Matey?!”

“Uh, yeah. I guess so.” Richard replied unsure.

The book laughed excitedly as he spun on his peg leg, “That’s the spirit, lad!”

“Can we get going now?” Richard asked a bit impatiently.

"Aye-aye!" Adventure replied as he saluted with his hook, turning towards a ladder as he spoke, "Let's scale this mast and get our bearings."

Applejack glanced at the ladder. “Uh… that’s a ladder.”

“Either way, it could help us get an idea of how to find our way out.” Twilight replied, heading over to the ladder, “Come on!”

"Yeah, let's go!" Nyx said as she followed her mother.

"Uh... you guys go ahead." Richard said nervously, "I kinda have this thing about... heights."

"Aw, come on, Rich. It's just a short climb." Spike replied, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah. Nothing to it!" Pinkie said happily.

"Guys, 43% of all accidents involve ladders." Richard pointed out, "Another 19% involve bookcases. You're dealin' with a 62% probability. I'll just stay on the ground if you don't mind."

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow groaned under her breath.

"I'll take care o' that." Adventure said.

The ponies and dragons looked to see Adventure turn his attention to the shelf just next to the ladder.

As he looked through the books, he muttered while pointing to a couple of them, "Mysterious Island... Kidnapped..." When the brown pirate book saw the next book, he pointed to it as he exclaimed, "Aha, here we be!" He pulled out the red book and opened it as he said its title, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

Adventure looked at a page of the book which had a picture of a squid on it as he muttered, "The Squid... yes, that's it." Then he tossed the open book to the ground, and suddenly, the area began flooding with water.

"Adventure? What did you do?!" Fluttershy asked in panic.

Then slimy, giant squid tentacles squirmed from between the pages of the book as Nyx shouted, "It's a giant squid!"

"COME ON, RICHARD!!" Spike cried out, noticing the boy in question was practically frozen with fear.

Richard quickly scrambled up the ladder faster than a fireman, fearfully gazing at the tentacles reaching for him and the others.

he others climbed up the ladder in a panic as well. Some of them, especially Fluttershy, refused to look back out of fear.

"Head for the top!" Twilight cried.

The ponies did so, and as soon as our heroes neared the top, Richard turned to Adventure angrily, "What'd you do that for? You're supposed to be helping us!"

"I am helpin' ya. I'm helpin' ya find the exit." Adventure said. Then he pulled off his peg leg, and with three clicks, he gradually stretched it into a telescope, to the surprise of the Equestrians, "We'll just have a look-see," He explained as he placed the telescope over his good eye, scanning the territory.

Still clinging tightly to the top of the ladder, Richard and the other Equestrians slowly raised up to look over the top of the book stacks. Nothing had prepared them for the amazing sight they saw there. Laid out before them, like an incredible tapestry, the greatest stories of all time had come to life. Amazing sights and sounds were coming from every direction.

"Gracious!" Rarity exclaimed in awe.

"Wow!" Nyx gasped.

"Thar she blows!" a lookout shouted from the crow's-nest of a clipper ship, as it glided between the stacks. Nearby, a magnificent white whale jumped upward, then crashed back down, sending an explosion of water up into the air. Suddenly the boiling white water transformed itself into a cloudy mist, which moved across a yellow moon, then dipped down to surround a scary old house. A bolt of lightning highlighted a tall tower that rose high above the house. A shadowy swarm of bats came flying out of it.

"EEW! Bats!" Rarity exclaimed in disgust the instant she, Richard and the others ducked as the bats flew over their heads in a blind flurry. When they turned to watch them fly off, they turned into huge pterodactyls! The giant, leather-winged, prehistoric creatures circled slowly above a volcano that erupted in explosions of hot, orange-colored lava and black smoke.

Looking in another direction, the group spied a boy in a white turban, perched aboard a flying carpet. He was swooping and gliding around the tall minarets of ancient Baghdad. Then, above the distant horizon, an odd greenish light appeared.

"Hey, what's that?" Rainbow asked in confusion on seeing the light.

Richard pushed up his glasses and strained for a better look. Abruptly, he snatched the telescope away from Adventure and slowly brought the green glow into focus. "I see it! I see it!" The boy shouted. Through the lens of the telescope, Richard had spotted the precious exit sign.

Just then, the ladder started to shake. Applejack gave Adventure an angry look. "Hey! Stop messin' with the ladder!"

"Don't tell me." Adventure said as he pointed down, "Tell him!" Not far from the end of Adventure's finger, a giant squid tentacle was beginning to slowly weave its way up the ladder.

"Oh no! The Squid!" Ben shouted in alarm.

Adventure snatched back his peg and leaped across the aisle to the opposite stack. Catching a shelf with his hook, he swung himself up. "Jump, boy! It's jump or your life!"

Twilight looked down to see the squid’s tentacles wrapping around the ladder. “Okay, everyone! On three, we jump!”

“One…” Applejack said nervously.

"Two..." Rarity gulped.

“THREE!!!” Pinkie shouted, jumping from her spot to the opposite stack.

The other Equestrians jumped from their spots as well, Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Spike and Nyx easily making it using their wings.

Richard was the last to jump as the ladder began to lean towards the stack. He managed to grab a shelf the second he made it, just a few shelves above the others. However, the boy found his grip was slipping and he grabbed a few books out of panic in hopes it would keep him from falling. He managed to grab a thick purple book before he fell towards the ground with a scream.

“RICHARD!!!!” Nyx shouted in panic.

“I got this!” Rainbow exclaimed, zipping from her spot on the shelf to Richard to catch him.

As the books landed on the floor along with Richard's glasses and what looked like a golden wand, Rainbow flew to the bottom and held out her hooves, expecting to catch the boy... …only to find that Richard was somehow floating inches over the floor.

"Huh??" Rainbow asked upon noticing this as she looked up.

"Let go of my face! I can't breathe!" A muffled female voice grunted.

Richard looked up in confusion when hearing that voice. Much to his surprise, the purple book he was holding onto also had a face on its spine, much like Adventure. Except this book’s face looked more feminine and had a pink hairdo. She had on her nose triangular spectacles and atop her head what looked like a paper tiara. She was wearing a lilac skirt and glass slippers on her feet. And Richard realized the reason he was “floating” was because of the wings on the book’s back.

Quickly, Richard lets go of the purple book's face, causing her to gasp for air as he dropped into Rainbow's hooves.

The book flew up to them, practically getting in Richard’s face. “What are you doing, grabbing me like that and messing up my pantyhose?!” She snapped at him. She scoffed as she landed on the floor and started straightening herself, grumbling out loud, "Now I gotta straighten out my Little Mermaid underwear."

Rainbow placed Richard down so he could get his glasses. "Um... who are you?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

Picking up her wand, she replied in a grumpy tone, "I'm Fantasy." Then she realized what she just did and cleared her throat before she tried again in a sweet tone while batting her eyes, "I'm Fantasy!" Just then, she noticed Richard's library card on the floor while pointing to it with her wand as she asked in confusion, "What is this?"

Richard reached for the card, which the purple book, Fantasy, took with her foot, picked it up, and read it as the boy replied, "It's a library card."

"I'm a book, honey. I can read." Fantasy remarked sarcastically. Then she cleared her throat as she hovered before giving Richard his card, which he pocketed as the purple book asked, "Now tell me, what's the one thing you wish for more than anything in the world? Hmm?"

"Anything in the world?" Rainbow asked, looking a bit excited, "Well, even though I got my dream of being a Wonderbolt, anything sounds pretty-."

"Uh, I was talking to him." Fantasy interrupted, gesturing to Richard.

"Oh."

Richard looked a bit unsure at first, but replied, "I'd like to get out of here."

"I'll grant your wish, child, but you must do me one small kindness in return." Fantasy said while holding up one finger and gesturing it and her thumb on 'small'.

"Like what?" Rainbow asked.

"YOU GOTTA CHECK ME OUTTA HERE!" Fantasy shouted as she suddenly grabbed Richard by his cheeks while shaking him like a British nanny.

"That's it? Okay, let's go!" The blond boy exclaimed, briefly taking Fantasy by the hand before he stopped, "Do I have to click my heels or something?"

"Uh... wrong movie." Rainbow remarked with a chuckle.

Fantasy laughs as she said, "Honey, you're in the wrong story."

"Richard? Rainbow? Are you two okay?" The three looked to the top of the book stack to see Twilight and the others looking over the edge with concern.

"Yeah, we're okay, guys." Rainbow replied, calling back to the purple alicorn.

"That was a close one. Lad? Lad?" They heard the unmistakable voice of Adventure speak as he peered over the edge, "Hold on there, missus! The lad and winged horse are with us!"

"You know that short story and those colorful characters?" Fantasy asked Richard and Rainbow.

"Yeah, those are my best friends; Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Equestria, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, along with Spike the Dragon, Ben Valorheart- Twilight's coltfriend, their adopted daughter, Nyx, and Phobos the Moon Dragon." Rainbow replied.

"And the book's Adventure." Richard added.

"Honey, that's what they all say." Fantasy remarked, rolling her eyes.

"I heard that! I'll have you know I'm a classic!" Adventure snapped, unsheathing his sword.

"Mm-hmm." Fantasy nodded sarcastically, "A classic misprint."

Adventure obviously didn't take too kindly to that remark. "Why, you old sea serpent! I'll tear out your pages and use 'em for-!" Just then, he slipped off the book stack, screaming, "MAAAN OVERBOOOAAARRD!!!"

"Adventure!" Spike exclaimed in panic.

"Do something!" Richard shouted.

Fantasy looked like she was thinking of what to do. But then, she pointed her wand at Adventure and seemingly cast a spell in his direction. The “spell” did nothing and the pirate-like book instead literally fell flat on his face.

The Equestrians cringed the moment that part happened before Fantasy said a bit sheepishly, "Oops! I forgot. My wand doesn't always work outside the fantasy section."

"You mean that you can't wish us to the exit?" Richard asked in disappointment.

“That overdue shrew’s never even seen the exit!” Adventure groaned, face still to the ground.

As he said that, the rest of Rainbow's friends caught up to her and Richard, Twilight having to use her magic to carry Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie.

"More than you have, shorty!" Fantasy snapped as she glared at the fallen pirate book, "In fact, the exit's just beyond my fantasy section. Hmph!"

“But why are you over here in this section?” Ben asked, helping Adventure up.

"Yeah? Was there a special fantasy-themed promotion party event here or something?" Pinkie asked.

“Or a witch’s convention, maybe?” Adventure rudely asked as Ben dusted him off, using his own bandana.

"Look. I was misshelved." Fantasy explained angrily. She smiled and laughed a bit before she touched Richard's chin a bit as she spoke, "But that's over, now that young Prince Charming here has come to check me out." Then she grabbed his arm and attempted to take him off.

"My good eye, he is! The lad's checkin' me out!" Adventure exclaimed as he grabbed his bandana and grabbed Richard by his other arm before he started pulling him in the opposite direction as he said, "Come on, lads, we're wastin' time chummin' off this dinghy. It's on to the exit for us!"

Richard found himself unwillingly as part of a tug o' war as Fantasy kept pulling on him while saying, "If he thinks the exit's in that direction, you know it's got to be in this one!"

“Um… can’t we all just… well… get along?” Fluttershy asked meekly, not wanting to see them fight, but afraid she’d add to the conflict.

Ignoring Fluttershy's words, Adventure said to Richard as he kept pulling on him, "Don't listen to her, mate. She's not sailin' with a full crew!"

As she kept pulling, Fantasy rapidly fluttered her wings, and a blast of blue pixie dust sprayed into Adventure's face.

"Ah-ah-AHHH-CHOO!!!"

At that big sneeze, the pirate-like book sent himself flying a bit down the corridor and landed on his head. He let out a frustrated groan after the big landing. “Fantasy… she’s a bloody nightmare.” He muttered under his breath.

"Let's leave him." Fantasy told the others, "He doesn't even know where we are now!"

Twilight looked at Fantasy curiously. “Do you know where we are?”

“Well, I couldn’t say.” The fairy godmother-like book admitted with a shrug.

Adventure quickly interrupted, “But I do! We’re…” From his position, he turned to the shelf next to him. There, he spotted a book with the title ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’ on the spine. “Hound of Baskervilles…” He muttered, leaping to his feet and taking the book before handing it to Richard, “We’re in Baskervilles! Have a look-see!”

"Hmm..." Richard said as he opened it while looking through its pages before taking a closer look, "Huh?"

Just as the boy took a closer look at the pages, though, a black dog with red eyes literally stuck its head out of the pages, barking viciously at him and scaring him. This had also scared the others, eliciting loud screams of fright from all of them. Richard had tossed the book down in fright.

“LET’S GET OUTTA HERE!!!” Twilight shouted in panic.

The group ran like the dickens while the vicious dog, the Hound of Baskervilles, got out of the book and chased after them, tearing up the pages in the process.

Fantasy flew up towards a particular row of books that had a hole in it as she called out urgently while pointing in it, "Hey, this way! Through here!" Then she flew through it afterward.

Fluttershy, in her panic, practically dove through the hole. Spike immediately followed in his own panic.

"That thing's as vicious as a Timberwolf!" Applejack remarked in fright before she jumped into the hole.

“MAKE WAY!!” Rainbow shouted as she followed suit.

"I don't even want that creature's saliva on me!!" Rarity shouted as she followed into the hole.

"For a Sherlock Holmes character, that Hound sure would make a great horror monster!" Pinkie remarked in fright before jumping after her friends in the hole.

“Hurry!” Twilight exclaimed, scooping Nyx and Phobos up and pushing them each into the hole.

"Right behind you, Twilight!" Ben said as he got up to the purple alicorn, who quickly climbed after her daughter and the moon dragon before her coltfriend followed afterward.

"Nice doggy! Good doggy!" Adventure said in panic as he and Richard ran up to the hole.

“Hurry!” Richard exclaimed, scooping up Adventure and putting him on the shelf. Adventure let out a yelp when he nearly fell from the shelf, grabbing the upper shelf with his hand. Fortunately, Richard helped push him into the open hole a bit before he turned to see the vicious dog approaching him fast. The boy didn’t get a chance to react because the pirate-like book yanked him into the hole with him using his hook. And just before the dog could catch him with its jaws as it ran past. Then the hole was replaced with some books to complete the row.

On the other side of the shelf, the group leaned against it as they breathed heavily. Rarity had one hoof over her chest as she did her best to slow her rapidly thumping heart.

“That… was… too close…” She managed through her breathing.

"I... thought... we were... dog food..." Nyx panted.

"Me... too..." Phobos agreed through panting.

If she weren’t so freaked out and out of breath, Twilight would have given Adventure an earful for even having Richard take a look at that one book. But that happened to be the last thing on her mind when she turned around and saw they were in what looked like an entirely new land.

"Guys... look at that." She said while looking out at the area.

Everyone turned around to see what Twilight saw. Before them lay a dreary land with gravestones scattered about. The sky seemed to be perpetually nighttime and fog rolled along the ground.

“Ohhh, baby.” Fantasy said uneasily.

"Are we still in the library?" Richard asked nervously.

"Aye, lad, the horror section." Adventure confirmed.

"Ohh... it looks really scary." Fluttershy whimpered.

“And very ghastly!” Rarity exclaimed.

"That it does." Adventure agreed. He unsheathed his sword as he said a bit nervously, "Just stick close to me, and... and you got nothin' to worry about."

"Mm-hmm." Fantasy said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

“Do we have to?” Spike asked, not even attempting to hide his fear.

"If we wanna leave the library, Spike, we have no choice." Twilight said.

“… all right.”

And with that, the group began their venture into the dark and spooky land of the Horror section. Hopefully, they would be able to make their way through this literal living nightmare and find their way home.

Escape From Horror Land

Some time since entering the Horror section of the library, Richard, Adventure, Fantasy and their new pony and dragon friends had wandered through a graveyard. Rarity was doing her best to avoid accidentally stepping on a gravestone during their travels. Fluttershy was even observing their surroundings out of fear that a monster would hop out from behind either a tree or tombstone.

"Creeeeepy." Pinkie spoke, looking around. "And look at the graves." Some of them see a grave that say "I.M. Stupid". Another one is nearby that said "I'm With Stupid" with an arrow pointing at the previous one.

Spike couldn't help but find the graves' words really funny and laughed. "I'm sorry, I can't read those with a straight face!"

"If ye lie here, ye be dead by now"." Adventure spoke as he read a gravestone.

"Can we move on, please?" Rarity asked nervously. "This place gives me the creeps as it is!"

"And ah thought the Everfree Forest was spooky." Applejack remarked.

"Or the dungeon underneath Sugarcube Corner that I keep for something where we made...." Pinkie began to speak out randomly.

An annoyed Rainbow interrupted, "I thank you not to bring up "Cupcakes", Pinkie."

"What's so scary about cupcakes?" Fantasy asked in confusion.

"You don't wanna know." Nyx said grimly.

"Let's say it involves cannibalism and let's leave it at that." Phobos remarked in disgust.

"There it is, the exit!"

Everyone turned to see Richard excitedly pointing towards illuminated green letters that read "EXIT" as he rushed in the direction of the sign in the sky. However, when he saw what was under the sign, any sense of excitement was quickly replaced with worry and fear.

What was under the sign was a scary-looking haunted manor. Lightning flashed behind it and thunder boomed as a dark cloud started to cover the exit sign. "Looks like the only way to reach the exit is through that there house." Adventure stated.

"No way I'm going in there." Richard said in fear.

Fluttershy shook with fear. "I- I'd rather stay outside."

"C- can't we just go around it?" Spike asked nervously.

"Or over it?" Pinkie added, feeling just as scared.

"I don't even wanna know what's under it!" Nyx whimpered as she held Twilight.

"Me neither!" Phobos agreed as he huddled near the black alicorn filly.

"It's yer only chance, lads." Adventure tried to persuade the scared heroes as they and the rest of the group advanced slowly towards the house, "It's jest a house."

"Yeah, but 70% of all accidents are household-related." Richard said.

Rainbow just looked annoyed. ‘I swear, if that kid does the whole percent of accidents thing one more time…’ She thought to herself as they approached the front gate.

Nervously, the group walked up to and through the front gate. Fluttershy was still on the high alert as she observed their surroundings to make sure nothing would attack them from out of nowhere. It was just then that Fantasy noticed a plaque on one of the pillars, along with something either carved or scratched into the marble.

“”Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde.”” She read them aloud, then shrugged, “Must be a duplex.”

“Duplex? This place looks more like a hotel.” Applejack commented.

Spike looked worried, “You don’t think we’re gonna face that Jack Torrance guy in there, do you?!”

“Spike, please relax. This isn’t The Shining.” Twilight insisted, though she herself was hoping as well they wouldn’t come face-to-face with an ax-wielding psycho.

"Whoa." Richard said in amazement as he and the group went up to the stairs.

"Go ahead, matey." Adventure said a bit nervously, "I'm... I'm right behind ye."

Pretty soon, they found themselves just in front of the giant double doors.

“Well, ring the bell.” Adventure insisted.

“And if it’s out of order?” Fluttershy asked.

“Then we knock as loud as possible.” Applejack answered.

Nervous, Richard slowly reached for the rope and yanked it, ringing the bell. All of a sudden, they heard a voice cry out. Everyone looked up to see a figure fall from the roof of the house.

“SOMEBODY CATCH HIM!” Pinkie shouted in panic.

Sure enough, Richard caught the figure in his arms, which was revealed to be a hideous blue hunchback-like book creature with a yellow eye, a purple eye, a green face, matching hands, grey sleeves, and black shoes.

"Good catch!" Fantasy exclaimed with a smile.

"H-h-here, take it!" Richard said, attempting to hand the hunchback-like book off to Fantasy.

"Isn't he sweet?" Fantasy asked happily, smooching at the hunchback-like book.

The hunchback-like book looked apologetic, "Oh, I scared you. I'm sorry."

"Well, you did scare us. But we weren't scared by you, but by how you fell from the roof." Twilight replied, looking sympathetic.

"Yeah, you could've gotten hurt badly." Nyx said in concern.

Fantasy flew up to the tattered-looking book and patted his head. "You mustn't judge a book by its cover."

When he heard this, the hunchback-like book smiled a horrible-looking smile.

"Look, he's smiling." The fairy godmother-like book pointed out, smiling sweetly.

Richard, on the other hand, couldn't help but look a bit disgusted. "That's a smile?"

"All right, teatime's over!" Adventure snapped impatiently, getting everyone's attention as he made his way to the steps of the house, "Let's start navigatin' this house!"

Noticing that, the hunchbook-like book leapt from Richard's arms and ran up to the house as he shouted in fear, "No, wait! Don't go in there!" Then he pressed up against the door, blocking the way as he finished, "It's scary inside!"

"Ha! I ain't afeared of nothin'!" Adventure scoffed.

"I'm afraid."

"O- of what?" Fluttershy asked shakily.

"Of, of..." The hideous book creature replied before he imitated a monster roar, "And..." Then he imitated a bloodcurdling scream, "And..." Then he imitated a ghost while moaning like one, "And..." Then he imitated a woman screaming before playing dead while bringing out of nowhere a lily.

"I... I know how you feel." Richard remarked sympathetically.

"Me too." Fluttershy agreed.

After he sat up, the hunchback-like book spun his finger around on the ground as he said glumly, "Horror always has sad endings."

“I come from a world of happy endings.” Fantasy commented, flying up to the blue book, who everybody guessed was named Horror.

"And me and my friends come from a world where happiness is cherished as much as friendship." Twilight added with a friendly smile, "Why don't you join us?"

"Yeah!" Richard added, no longer feeling uneasy and instead feeling excited, "And maybe you could help us through the house!"

"Yeah!" Some of the Equestrians agreed in unison.

"Through the house?" Horror asked in confusion. He thought about this for a moment. Then he tried to say something, but he couldn't find the words.

"You can do it." Fantasy offered encouragement.

"'Kay." Horror said in hesitation.

The blue book looked to Richard, who had knelt down to his level, and extended his hand to the boy with a smile on his face.

"Friend?"

Richard gulped nervously before he reached slowly for Horror's hand. But then, a spider was seen crawling out from him on it, startling him. Fortunately, the blue hunchback-like book snatched the spider and opened his pages. He threw the small bug between the pages before slamming himself shut, in turn crushing the spider. Witnessing this, Fluttershy had nearly fainted.

"Come on." Horror requested, walking Richard to the front door as soon as the latter took his hand.

"Right behind ya!" Spike spoke, following them.

"He... crushed... the spider..." Fluttershy barely managed to say.

Applejack gently nudged her forward, "C'mon, Fluttershy."

Then Fluttershy started following them as well, shaking off what just happened.

"I'll ride on your back, Mommy." Nyx said as she hovered and landed on her back, "I don't wanna be separated from you, Daddy, Spike, or Phobos."

"Good thinking, Nyx." Twilight said before she started following Fluttershy with Ben and Phobos behind her.

"Like the old saying goes: The family that lives together, stays together." Phobos commented.

"Right you are, Phobos." Ben said.

Fantasy happily followed the group as they went up the stairs to the front door. Adventure ended up following after them, very reluctantly.

Soon, Horror opened the big door and peeked inside with the others as he shuddered nervously. As the door opened, a sliver of light cut across the dark room. Rats scattered across the shadows.

"He-hello? A-Anybody home?" Richard called out, his voice filling the darkness.

The only thing that lit up the room was a fireplace, which was right next to a long and huge flight of stairs leading upward.

Rainbow first entered the room. "Creepy." She commented.

"I got a bad feeling about this..." Twilight remarked nervously as she and the rest of the group entered.

"Me too, especially since my knee is getting pinchy." Pinkie said in worry.

Slowly, everybody else filed inside, very cautiously, of course. But just as they did, the shutters for the windows shut with an audible slam. This had caused them all to jump in alarm, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and even Spike letting out frightened yells.

"What was that??" Horror asked out of panic. Suddenly, the door the group went through slammed shut as well, to their alarm.

"NEVERMORE!!!" screeched a loud, croaky voice.

Before any of them could ask what that was, a huge, black raven swooped down over their heads, startling them. This was enough to make Richard, Horror and Fluttershy panic and rush back to the door. The young boy and Pegasus each grabbed a doorknob and frantically twisted and turned the knobs as they attempted to open the doors, only to find they wouldn't budge.

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!" Richard shouted in fear, pulling and turning the doorknob he was holding.

But then, the doorknob Richard yanked on fell off and started bouncing and rolling across the floor. The group watched the sparkling crystal knob roll slowly into the house, until it stopped abruptly underneath the shoe of a tall figure. The figure lifted near its face a lit lantern, revealing said figure to be a kind yet stern-looking middle-aged man. He was wearing what looked like a suit that reminded Twilight of those worn by pony folk in a bygone era.

"May I assist you in some way?" asked the man, glancing at the nervous group.

Adventure brandished his sword, believing this man could be a threat. The others, however, just looked nervous, not sure what to say. At least, until Fantasy spoke up.

"Oh, hello there, Mister..." She began.

"Doctor." said the man, "Dr. Jekyll." Then he walked up to the group.

"Well, sir, we did ring the bell." Richard said as the man, Dr. Jekyll, took his hand and helped him up.

"It's all my fault," Horror admitted sheepishly, "I was trying to help them find their way to the other side of the house."

"The other side?" Dr. Jekyll asked in concern. The phrase seemed to disturb him. He laid a hand on Richard's shoulder and led him deeper into the house as he spoke, "My boy, I derive no pleasure in telling you that you are in extreme danger."

"D-Danger?" Richard asked in concern. That was one of his least favorite words.

As the others, except Horror, started following, Dr. Jekyll explained, "Even as we speak, lurking in this very room, waiting to strike, are forces of evil." As Dr. Jekyll spoke, a nervous Horror looked around the room before lifting a rug a bit, worried about what the doctor just said.

"Well, that's not something we aren't used to." Rainbow Dash commented as they followed Dr. Jekyll.

"That's for sure." Applejack remarked.

Then the blue book went to a broken mirror and looked at his reflection, which looked like it had a bunch of different yellow and purple eyes. Seeing this made him yell out in fright.

"Wait for me! Wait for me!" Horror cried as he ran after the group.

The group followed Jekyll to the other side of the room where a table full of test tubes and beakers stood. Twilight looked at the chemistry set in absolute awe as she walked by it.

"Every man is possessed of both good and evil." Jekyll spoke.

Much like Twilight, Richard stared at the chemistry set in amazement and curiosity. The tubes were filled with a bubbly, red liquid. At one point, he looked through the big tube in the middle and if you happened to be there and see his face through the tube, he'd look like a funhouse mirror reflection.

Horror, who caught up and leaped onto the table, passed by the same tube. Again, if you were there and if you see his face through it, surprisingly, his misshapen face was changed to that of a handsome-looking human man's head.

"Oh, yes." The seemingly "transformed" Horror chuckled with a smile.

"But enough of that." Jekyll continued, picking up an empty martini glass, "Anyone care for a drink?" He then picked up a beaker filled with the red liquid the group had previously seen in the tubes on the table and poured it into the glass. With that done, the doctor immediately added a touch of powder. This had caused the mixture to fizz and give off small plumes of vapor, changing the liquid to a dark purple, then to a watery green. After that, he put the beaker down before picking up an olive and dropping it into the martini with a satisfied smirk.

Spike took a whiff of the drink's scent. But as soon as the smell hit his nostrils, he grimaced and awkwardly smiled. "Uh... no thanks. I'm not thirsty."

All it took for both Twilight and Richard was one look at the drink for them to realize drinking it wouldn't be such a good idea. So they both just shook their heads no in response.

"No thank you." The lilac alicorn responded politely.

"Um... n-no thanks." Fluttershy said meekly while shaking her head.

"I'll have a go with ya, Doc." Adventure volunteered.

So Dr. Jekyll gave the pirate book the glass as the latter sniffed it while Horror eagerly walked up to him, reaching for the martini. Of course, Adventure shoved the blue book away as he snapped in annoyance, "Stay back! This is a man's drink!"

Rarity frowned disapprovingly, "Adventure, please don't be so brash."

"Can I have the olive?!" Horror begged excitedly, reaching again for the glass.

Of course, he bumped into Adventure as he did so, and the glass with the watery green liquid flew into the air. The group watched it travel across the room in a graceful arc before it landed with a shatter and a splash on the floor, making a big green puddle, which curiously began to glow a brighter shade of green.

"Uh-oh." Horror said upon seeing the spill.

"Now look what ye've done!" Adventure shouted angrily at the hunchbook.

"Buddy, you should be thanking him for that!" Rainbow spoke, looking annoyed with the pirate book.

"Why?!"

The multicolor-maned pegasus said nothing and pointed a hoof to where the liquid had spilled.

As it happened, the spilled drink began to sizzle and burned its way through the hardwood floor, making a big hole, much to the astonishment of the group, including Adventure.

"Whoa!" Richard exclaimed in shock.

"Ooooh!" Fantasy exclaimed.

"Wait. If that weird drink can do that to wood..." Applejack began, starting to look worried.

Then the group whipped around to see Dr. Jekyll holding a martini of his own with the same drink, olive and all.

"DR. JEKYLL, NO!!!" Twilight shouted in alarm.

"NO!!! NO, NO!!! NO!!!" Richard cried in alarm.

"Don't drink it! Don't! No!" Horror begged in worry.

"No, no, don't drink!" Fantasy protested in alarm.

"NO, STOP!!!" Ben shouted urgently.

"Stop, Dr. Jekyll!" Fluttershy cried worriedly.

"DON'T DRINK THAT!!" Rarity cried in alarm.

"DON'T DO IT!!!" Nyx shouted.

"NO, DR. JEKYLL!!!" Phobos yelled.

Unfortunately, their shouts of protest were in vain and fell on deaf ears as the doctor downed the drink in a few audible gulps.

Then the doctor began staggering around the room, holding his throat, screaming, and gasping for breath.

"What do we do? WHAT DO WE DO?!" Pinkie began to scream in panic.

"Well, I know in a situation like this, you should call the Poison Hot Line!" Richard answered, looking back and forth for a nearby phone.

"There's no phone anywhere around here!" Nyx cried in fright.

Then the doctor groaned as he clutched his chest in agony before his eyes turned red, and then he threw his martini into the fireplace, and then the fire roared into a green swirling inferno. After that, Jekyll screamed in agony as he glowed green electricity with a brief showing of his skeleton, and emitted a very bright glow on the group.

"My knees are getting pinchy again!" Pinkie said in worry.

"Pinchy knees?!" Spike exclaimed in fear.

"Something scary's about to happen!" Pinkie explained in fright.

"I think your Pinkie Sense is right!" Twilight remarked fearfully.

The group slowly began to back away as Jekyll slowly staggered in their direction, keeping his head down. As he staggered to them, Jekyll was still gasping for breath. Then he gripped a hand on Richard for support before his gasping turned into growling as the boy looked at the hand. It began changing, growing thick and hairy while his outfit became ragged. All Richard could do was stare in practically speechless horror. He managed to wriggle out of Jekyll's grasp before backing away with the books, ponies and dragons. The doctor collapsed on the floor, seemingly writhing in pain and covering his face in agony. Then he opened his arms and let out an evil, maniacal laugh. That struck fear into the hearts of the group, mainly the Equestrian heroes. Even the fearless Adventure was full of fear, holding his sword at the ready.

"Dr. Jekyll?" Fantasy stammered nervously, "Dr. J?"

Dr. Jekyll kept his face covered in apparent agony as he staggered around some more, until he spoke, "My name is..." Then he revealed his face to our frightened heroes as he finished, "...Mr. HYYYYYDE!!!!" Now the doctor's face was wretched and wrinkled and mad with anger. His eyes, which had once looked so kind, were glazed over with hate.

Everybody did the most logical thing anybody would do in their position. They screamed in terror at such a ghastly sight.

"I think we should get going!" Fluttershy squeaked out, scared out of her mind.

"No one leaves this house alive!" Dr. Jekyll, now known as Mr. Hyde, shouted evilly. With one brutal sweep of his cane, he shattered the delicate glass instruments in his laboratory.

"STAY BACK, YOU BEASTLY BEAST!!" Rarity shrieked in terror as they made a run for it.

Like a wolf toying with its dinner prey, Mr. Hyde thwarted every attempt by the Equestrians, Richard and the books to escape. He swung his cane to the floor like a hammer.

"Easy there!" Adventure said in worry.

Out of panic, Horror ran under Hyde's legs and past the lunatic. He then jumped onto a side table and from that, onto the chandelier. There, he swung for a bit before gazing down in fear as Hyde raised his cane to strike at the frightened group.

"I don't want to have to do this, Mr. Hyde, but you leave me no choice!" Twilight shouted, firing up her horn and getting it ready to fire a blast of magic at the deranged man.

However, the alicorn didn't have to do anything for the sound of creaking caught their attention. From atop the chandelier, Horror noticed the wooden beam holding its chain began to crack before it broke free. This in turn had caused the chandelier to fall to the floor below.

As it happened, before Hyde could use his cane, he felt some wood shavings from the ceiling hit his hand, making him look up in shock to see the chandelier falling and crash-landing to the floor, pushing him right into the hole that the powerful drink had made in the floor moments ago. He screamed as he fell inside, but he grabbed ahold of the chandelier chain as he did so, causing it to hold tight and break his fall.

"The stairs, mateys, the stairs!" ordered Adventure as he started running. Now was their chance to escape!

"No need to tell me twice!" Applejack exclaimed, following quickly.

The rest of the group began running like heck towards the stairs.

"Help, Master! Don't leave me!" Everyone turned around when they heard Horror's pitiful cry. The poor book was caught in the chandelier chain.

"Oh no! Horror!" Fluttershy gasped.

"This is no way to treat a library book. Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" Horror cried out in fear as the chandelier he was trapped in was slowly dragged towards the hole.

The reason he was dragged into the hole was heard; a hideous-sounding laugh coming from Mr. Hyde. He looked as if he was gonna take Horror with him to his death!

"SANCTUARY!!!" The blue hunchbook wailed as he desperately grabbed onto the floor in vain as his nails scratched the floor.

"We gotta help him!" Spike exclaimed in panic, flying to Horror's aid.

"Hang on, Horror!" Nyx cried as she and Phobos ran after Spike.

"We're coming!" Phobos shouted.

"Hurry, you guys!" Twilight urged.

"Honey, you've got to help him!" Fantasy pleaded with Richard.

"But I... I..." Richard was paralyzed with fear. There was nothing he could do!

"You coward!" Rainbow shouted in exasperation.

"Rainbow!" Applejack scolded her.

Frustrated with Richard's lack of action, Fantasy rushed to the aid of Spike, Nyx and Phobos; all three doing their best to undo the chains trapping Horror.

"At least this wand is good for something." Fantasy said as she started fidgeting with her wand.

She then pulled her see-through winds over her eyes for safety. Before Spike, Nyx and Phobos could ask what the fairy godbook was doing, the end of her wand ignited like a blowtorch and she immediately got to work cutting the chains trapping poor Horror. Getting the idea, Spike used his firebreath to cut through another part of the chains while Phobos used his own at the same time. Within a second, the chains came broken, freeing the hunchbook.

Nyx smiled at seeing this, but her smile quickly disappeared when she looked up. "Guys, look out!" She shouted.

Confused, Spike and the others turned to see what got the black-furred alicorn looking frightened. The baby dragon screamed in alarm to see Hyde's head poking up from the hole into the room.

"COME ON!!!" He shouted, grabbing Horror by the arm and causing him to jump out of the chandelier. The minute that happened, the chandelier slid across the floor like a hockey puck down the hole.

"AAAAAAHHHHhhhhhh!!!!" Hyde roared in defeat.

As soon as the books, dragons and Nyx ran back up to their group, Adventure gestured for them to follow.

“COME ON!!” He cried out, running as if the devil himself was chasing him.

“Right behind ya!” Rainbow exclaimed, following him.

"At least someone brave actually had to go and help Horror!" Pinkie remarked while following Rainbow and Adventure.

"Pinkie! Shame on you, making an insensitive remark like that!" Rarity scolded her.

Hearing what Pinkie said made Richard feel bad. He had proved to be useless. Horror moved over and tried to comfort him. "It's okay, Master. I'd-a been twice as scared as you."

With that, he took the boy by the hand and led him on with the rest of the group. Within seconds, they found themselves at the middle of a large staircase. One set of stairs led up while the other led down.

“Which way?” Twilight asked, looking back and forth between the two sets of stairs.

“Uh, down. Definitely down,” Horror answered while pointing to a set of stairs leading down to a lower floor, until he noticed a pulsating red glow from the bottom of the stairs accompanied by the sound of a loud, steady heartbeat, “Oh, uh- Up! Up! Definitely up!!!” As he shouted that, Horror immediately pointed in the opposite direction-- up! He ran towards the stairs as he cried frantically with the others following, "Up, up, up!!!"

"Yeah, not downstairs! I hear the loud beating of someone's hideous heart!!!" Phobos cried fearfully as he ran.

And with that, everybody followed the frightened hunchbook up the stairs. The stairs seemed to twist and turn for what felt like ages. The higher they climbed, the darker and scarier it got. In their rush, only Twilight at first seemed to notice the walls looked less like stone walls and more like bookshelves.

"Either my eyes are playing tricks on me, or it looks like we're in a stairway library," Twilight remarked in a tone that is a mix of intrigue and nervousness.

“It’s not just you,” Ben replied, noticing the shelves of books.

“The Haunting, The Shining, The Exorcist…” Rainbow read off some of the spines, then looked confused, “Those were all books?”

"Apparently, yeah." Twilight said.

"Books before they were made to movies? Who knew?" Nyx asked rhetorically as she shrugged.

Richard nervously walked near the shelf, not focusing on where he was going as he used the books for support. He hadn’t even noticed one book with the words “Ghost Stories” written on its spine slide out of its spot and his hand passed through it. Upon noticing this, he gasped and pulled his hand back, the gasp getting Spike’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” He asked in alarm.

"Uh-oh! Knees getting pinchy again!" Pinkie exclaimed nervously.

Fluttershy looked uneasy, “I think I know why…”

Before another word could be said, the group began running further up the stairs. Books soon began to literally fly from the shelves.

"What's happening?!" Applejack asked in panic.

Moans, groans, clanking chains-- the sounds of a haunting filled the air.

"W-W-What's going on?!" Richard asked in worry.

Ghostly book characters circled overhead--Jacob Marley, King Hamlet, Dracula. All the dead spirits of horror fiction flew by, then disappeared into thin air.

"Ghost stories." Horror shuddered while covering himself.

"RUN AWAY!!!" Pinkie shouted, running up the stairs.

The others followed suit, screaming as they avoided flying books, some of which flew after them. Richard barely ducked out of the way from a ghost that got in his way before zipping behind him with a laugh. That same ghost disappeared as another ghost- this one being a skeletal bride- flew through it while letting out a ghostly wail.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home! THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!!" Fluttershy chanted in panic, running with her eyes closed as she simultaneously tapped her hooves together over and over.

"GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!" Richard cried as he ran, brushing away the ghosts like they were cobwebs.

When the group finally reached the top, they saw a long hallway with different-colored doors on each side.

"Which way now?!" Spike asked, looking between the doors.

As he looked through the doors, Horror was confused. "The blue door? ...No. The yellow door? ...No. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..." he said, pointing at each door in turn.

Adventure had had enough. "Outta my way!" He said, pushing Horror aside. He reached for a doorknob.

"No, not that one!" Horror screamed.

"Why?" Pinkie asked in confusion.

Adventure had yanked open the white door, and what's inside answered Pinkie's question. Swoosh! A razor-sharp pendulum swung out from the room, nearly turning Adventure into a two-volume set. Adventure shut the door in a hurry!

"Oh. Now I see." Pinkie gulped.

"How about this?" Twilight asked, going to a purple door.

As soon as she opened the door, she was face-to-face with what looked like a clown with a red nose. Upon seeing the alicorn there, the clown smiled.

"Hiya, little pony!" The clown greeted.

Not sure what to do, Twilight awkwardly smiled, "Um... hi?"

"Don't you want a balloon?" The clown asked as he showed a red balloon.

"Um... no thanks." Twilight replied, slowly inching back as she reached for the door.

Somehow, she knew there was something very off-putting about this clown. But then, she remembered she was in a haunted house.

"Surely there's nothing to be afraid of about me." The clown said, "There's cotton candy, rides and all sorts of surprises in here."

"You mean there's a carnival inside?" Nyx asked with a smile.

"Of course, little filly." The clown replied, "And balloons, too, all colors."

"Do they float?" Phobos asked.

"They float, little dragon. They all float." The clown replied before turning to Twilight as he finished, "And when you and your family and friends are in here with me... YOU FLOAT, TOO!!!"

All of a sudden, the clown flashed his now evident razor-sharp teeth and looked very psychotic to boot. Twilight took the hint and literally threw the door shut in his face, keeping it shut with her magic as bangs from the other side were heard.

"That just reawakened my fear of clowns!" Applejack whimpered in fright. She suddenly noticed the blue door. "How 'bout this one?!"

The cowpony quickly ran up to it and threw it open. Much to her confusion, she saw identical twin girls with matching shoulder-length brown hair, blue dresses, knee-length socks and black mary-janes.

"Hello, Danny. Come play with us." The twins greeted in polite British accents.

"Um... my name's Applejack." Applejack replied in confusion.

"Did you find a way out?" Richard asked, coming up to Applejack.

"LOOK OUT!!!"

Confused, the earth pony turned to look back in the door. Instead of seeing the twin girls, however, she saw a crazed-looking man dressed in a red jacket and flannel limp-walking her way. In his hand, he held what looked like a firefighter's ax. Applejack let out an alarmed yell and threw the door shut just as it looked like he was about to swing the ax at her.

"Whew! That was a close one." Applejack sighed.

She spoke too soon as an ax splintered the blue door a bit, causing her to yell out in alarm before she saw a familiar face peeking in the hole as he cried out madly with a psychotic grin while glaring at the scared Applejack, "HEEEERRRE'S JOHNNY!!!"

Rainbow suddenly zipped in out of nowhere and bucked the psycho in the face so hard, that it caused him to cry out in pain and back away into the door. Thinking quickly, Rarity used her magic to repair the broken door and seal it. The white unicorn noticed a sickly yellow door and quickly opened it... ... only to be greeted by what looked like a shower curtain. She turned to look at the others with confusion but quickly turned back when the shower curtain was yanked open to reveal what looked like an elderly lady holding a kitchen knife. The lady's face was, somehow, obscured by shadows, but this didn't leave Rarity any less frightened as she screamed and threw the door shut.

"You okay, Rarity?!" Spike asked, coming up to the panicked-looking unicorn.

Rarity just stood there, shaking. “I think… I have a fear of shower curtains now.”

Fantasy went up to a pink door. "Always trust a woman's intuition."

When she opened it, she peeked in. Out came a gruesome-looking hand, which grabbed her by the throat and dragged her in.

"FANTASY!!" Twilight and Richard shouted in alarm, running up to the door.

The others ran up afterward, and they all could hear from inside the sound of bloodcurdling screams and noises that sounded like limbs being ripped apart. Just as they couldn't stand any more, the door swung open. Fantasy fluttered out, primping her hair. She slammed the door shut with her behind and muttered, "What a lightweight!"

Horror took this opportunity to run up to the black door and opened it. As soon as he did, he screamed in fright and slammed the door shut.

"W- what is it?" Richard stammered.

"A werewolf?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"It's so dark in there," Horror whimpered. "No nightlight."

"Seriously?" Rainbow asked dryly.

"Get in there!" Adventure shouted, whipping the door open and pushing the hunchbook inside.

The rest of the group followed them inside the room, which was dim and cold, and reeked of formaldehyde.

Rarity practically had to put both hooves to her mouth and nose. “What in Equestria is that ghastly stench??”

"It's formaldehyde. I recognize this smell from my biology class, where we had used the chemical gas to preserve dead things." Richard explained.

“Sounds gross.” Spike remarked.

"This is no doubt a laboratory for a mad scientist," Ben said seriously.

And indeed, the brown stallion was right on the button. They were in a laboratory. In the middle of the room stood a table covered with ancient-looking laboratory equipment and jars filled with pickled human body parts. Nearby, there was a long, stone slab covered by a sheet.

Rainbow looked uneasy, “Now what?”

"Up there." Fantasy said as she pointed her wand in the direction of an overhead trap door, "That looks like the way out." A narrow stone staircase led up to the door. Unfortunately, the staircase was at the other end of the room.

“But we gotta be quiet.” Twilight whispered, noting the sheet-covered slab.

"Yeah. We gotta get past that thing if we wanna get to those stairs." Ben agreed quietly.

Taking the lead, Adventure drew out his sword and clopped as quietly as he could past the slab. The others were bringing up the rear. All at once, they heard a low groan-- "Arrrgggghh."

"I hope that was your stomach." Richard said to Horror.

"I don't have a stomach." Horror replied.

“Knee’s getting pinchy again.” Pinkie noted in worry.

"Arrrgggghh!" There came the scary growl again. Then the slab rotated forward. The sheet slid down to the floor.

It was immediately revealed that the source of the growl was an eight-foot-tall person. Parts of this person looked like they were sewn together and he smelled so foul, some of the ponies were practically gagging, some put their hooves to their noses.

"What is that?" Spike asked, doing his best not to lose his lunch.

Horror stood up on the tips of his toes to get a better look before he said, "Um... it's either my Uncle Louie... or the Frankenstein monster."

"THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER?!" Pinkie asked in alarm a bit too loudly.

"Shhhh!" Twilight shushed her.

Unfortunately, the monster's eyelids flew open from Pinkie's shout. Its nostrils flared as it produced another horrible groan. "ARRRGGGGHH!!"

"RUN!!!!" Rarity screamed in fear, making a beeline for the other side of the room.

The others screamed as they dashed for the stairs, but the monster lunged forward and grabbed Richard by the shirt.

"LEMME GOOOO!" Richard cried as he struggled, but the monster was slowly dragging him back.

"The rope, lad! Look to the rope!" Adventure called down from the stairs.

Richard looked up and discovered a rope that secured a hanging platform of electrical equipment high above the room. He jumped and grabbed it. Adventure cut the rope at the other end with his sword, and the platform plunged to the floor, shooting Richard up out of the monster's grasp.

"ARRRGGGGHH!!!" The monster roared in frustration and anger, thrashing back and forth.

Thanks to the rope, Richard was now at the trap door, where he joined his friends. Together, they pushed the door open and scrambled to an outside deck at the very top of the tower. A gargoyle statue held a torch that lighted up the stone wall encircling the deck. Beyond, there was nothing but darkness.

As Fantasy took a long bone from a nearby skeleton, she shouted frantically, "Close the door!"

"Gladly!" Rainbow cried as she slammed the door before Fantasy shoved the bone into the two door handles to barricade the door after throwing it shut.

"Now what? That monster could be comin' up here soon!" Applejack exclaimed, frantically looking for a set of stairs, a rope or even a ladder.

"This way!" Twilight shouted as she ran towards an embankment, "This is our only way out!"

Richard looked down where Twilight was looking at, down into the deep, dark unknown. "Down there? I-I can't!" he objected.

"What's the matter with you, Richard?!" Rainbow asked in annoyance, "Are you chicken?!"

"Rainbow, that's not helping!" Rarity chided her.

Adventure jumped onto an embankment before turning to Richard as he called towards him, "Come on, boy! Even books have spines!"

BOOM! CRACK! Suddenly, the monster thrashed his way through the door. Horror scrambled toward the embankment, knocking over a cauldron of oil that spilled in front of the monster.

"Oh no! The monster broke through!" Nyx cried.

"I'll stop him!" Spike shouted in determination before he breathed fire on the oil, Instantly, there was a wall of fire between them and the monster.

"Great thinking, Spike!" Twilight praised.

"Thanks, Twilight!" Spike said with a smile.

"Hurry, Richard!" Ben shouted, "The fire's coming fast!"

Richard looked down. He looked back at the fire. He had to climb down. He just had to!

"Come, master!" Horror called from another embankment while climbing down the wall as Fantasy flew downward.

Richard soon started climbing down the wall as he said to himself cautiously, "I can do this, I can do this."

But not even a second after getting his footing on a ledge, the ledge crumbled away. Richard attempted to keep his footing, only to end up falling.

"RICHARD!!" Twilight cried out.

Luckily, Richard managed to grab ahold of a waterspout, whose head is shaped like that of a dragon. He was safe for now, but the question is, how long could he hang on?

The books, along with the Equestrians, watched Richard from a ledge below. "Master needs help!" Horror cried in worry.

"Help ain't what that boy needs." Adventure countered.

"Oh, you're the expert." Fantasy said sarcastically as she started to fly up to help Richard.

However, Adventure stopped her as he said, "Leave 'im be. It's time he started findin' his own way."

Suddenly, the waterspout's eyes glowed a piercing red as it growled. This caught Richard's attention and gasped, nearly letting go. It was then that he could have sworn he heard the Pagemaster's voice going through his mind.

"Reach deep within yourself, Richard," The Pagemaster's voice told him, "and seize the courage."

"Either I'm going crazy, or I thought I heard the Pagemaster." Applejack confessed out loud in confusion.

"That's funny." Rainbow said, "I could've sworn I heard his voice, too."

"So did I!" Rarity exclaimed, perplexed.

"I think we all did." Twilight said before noticing the books, who were still looking up at the hanging Richard. Then she said a bit softly for the Equestrians to hear, "That is, except for them."

"How'll he get down by himself?" Fluttershy asked in concern.

It wasn't until Nyx noticed the vine growing on the wall next to Richard before calling out to him while pointing to it, "The vine, Richard! Grab the vine!"

Richard looked to his left to see the vine along the stone wall. Cautiously, he reached for it before grabbing it with both hands. But as soon as he let go of the waterspout, the vine snapped off the wall! He yelled out as he found himself plunging toward the waves below. But instead of being swallowed by the waves, Richard landed on the ledge where his friends are. He had made it! He was all right!

"ALL RIGHT!!" Rainbow cheered excitedly.

"HE MADE IT!!! HE MADE IT!!! WHOOOOO!!!!!!!!" Fluttershy cheered in an uncharacteristically loud voice.

"YAY RICHARD!" Nyx started jumping for joy as she cheered.

"YAHOO!!" Phobos whooped.

"YEE-HAW!!! YOU DID IT, RICHARD!!" Applejack cheered.

"WHOO-HOO!!! TEN POINT LANDING!!!" Pinkie cheered as she held up a sign with a "10" on it.

"BRAVO! BRAVO!" Rarity cheered happily.

"Way to go, Richard!" Twilight praised happily.

"YES!! Nice one!" Ben exclaimed happily.

"WHOO-HOO!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!! RICHARD!!" Spike chanted.

"Yay! He did it! He did it!" Horror cheered while Fantasy laughed with excitement.

"That's grand, boy!" Adventure praised.

"Oh, hooray! Hooray, hooray!" Horror continued, giving himself a hug.

Richard turned and looked up at the top of the tower, where the sky above was now illuminated with a yellow/green light from the fire Spike set up at the monster.

"Wow." Richard said out loud in amazement with a smile. He couldn't believe what he had just done.

"That was really brave of you, Richard." Twilight told him, placing a hoof onto his shoulder as she smiled.

"We're very proud of you." Ben said happily.

Adventure turned around, looking very curious. But as soon as he did, his curiosity gave way to excitement as he looked about his surroundings, even lifting his eyepatch briefly. The pirate-like book then removed his peg leg and converted it into a telescope before looking through it to better observe the landscape. He took a deep breath through the nose and exhaled as he turned to the rest of the group with exhilaration.

"Do ya smell it? Breathe it in, mateys!" He cheered with that same exhilaration, turning to look through his telescope once again.

Through the telescope, he could see the illuminated letters of "EXIT" on the horizon. As the rest of the group headed up to Adventure, they noticed the green letters that the pirate book saw.

"The exit!" Nyx exclaimed excitedly as she got on Twilight's back.

Adventure laughed in excitement as he reattached his telescope peg leg. "The Land of Adventure!" he announced proudly while holding up his hook.

Richard noticed the green letters and smiled, "Look, there's the exit!"

Then the word "EXIT" disappeared as the sun began to rise over a vast and shimmering ocean.

"Well, guys, looks like we're off to travel through the Land of Adventure!" Twilight spoke with determination.

"Now that's my kinda place to journey through!" Rainbow remarked confidently.

"At last, we could leave that horror section!" Rarity commented, "No more scary stuff!"

"Come on, then, Mateys! Adventure awaits!" Adventure proclaimed, leading the way down the pathway that they knew led to the shore below.

And with that, the rest of the group started following the brown pirate book while making a careful trek down the cliff towards the shore, eager to leave the horror section posthaste. Even so, they wondered what could await them as they entered the Land of Adventure.

Of Killer Whales and Pirates

Sometime after escaping the haunted house, Richard and the gang trekked down the cliff to the shore below them. Adventure led the way down a narrow, book-lined path toward the rocky shore below. Horror followed, shouting, "Hey! Wait for me!"

During their descent, Applejack happened to notice something peculiar about the rocks. "Is it just me or do these rocks look an awful lot like books?" She observed aloud.

"They certainly do, Applejack." Rarity stated.

"Boy, with the sun coming out, the ocean looks beautiful." Nyx remarked as she gazed at the shimmering ocean.

"I agree with you." Fluttershy replied, in awe at the sunrise.

"So do I, Nyx." Twilight said as she also looked in at the sun, "I wonder if Princess Celestia's raising the sun?"

Richard didn't know what to say about that. Though the idea of a princess raising the sun did sound rather intriguing to him, he felt it best not to correct the lilac alicorn about how that was impossible for someone to raise the sun themselves.

Nearby, Adventure had already reached the shore. He then climbed to the top of a rock jutting out over the water. "Ha-ha-ha! Home sweet home!" He proclaimed with open arms.

As Adventure said that happily, Horror, who caught up to him, held out his arms open, expecting to give him a big hug. Noticing the hunchbook, Adventure glared at him in annoyance as he said rudely, "There's only room for one up here!" Feeling disappointed, Horror turned around and sat down, looking down glumly.

At seeing this, Rainbow frowned in disapproval and flew up to Horror, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

"Don't mind him. He's just not used to sharing all the fun," She told the glum hunchbook.

Not acknowledging what the rainbow-maned pegasus had said, Adventure turned to face the sea, unsheathing his sword. "From now on, it'll be smooth sailin'!"

Suddenly, a huge wave lifted up before him and splashed down over his head as he yelled out while sputtering. Upon seeing this, Horror began snickering into his hands. Rainbow bit her lip, attempting her hardest to suppress her own fit of laughter to the point of her eyes watering.

Spinning around, a sopping wet Adventure, with seaweed on his bandana and a starfish attached to his nose, glared at the two as he demanded, "What're ya laughin' at?"

Rainbow and Horror just let loose with a burst of laughter before they fell over, continuing to laugh. Adventure rolled his eyeballs around, trying to see what was stuck to his face. Horror laughed so hard that he slipped on the wet rock. Scrambling wildly to stay upright, he grabbed Adventure's peg leg, causing them both to slide off the side of the rock. Fortunately for them, they ended up landing in what looked like…

“A boat!” Adventure exclaimed, practically tossing Horror off of him when he regained his bearings. The others soon joined up with them, Richard looking cautiously at the boat.

"Oh, we're familiar with boats, Adventure." Nyx explained to Adventure with a grin. "We traveled with pirates."

"And my dad happens to be one." Ben admitted with a proud smile, recalling his father Jack Silver.

"Well, glad to be friends with the son of a fellow pirate!" Adventure said happily.

“Is it… safe?” Richard managed to ask.

Spike looked the boat over, “Looks pretty safe to me.”

"I wrote the book on sailin'." Adventure bragged as Richard and the others got on the boat. He continued as he started stamping his peg leg around, "In fact, I am the book on sailin'."

“How much you wanna bet he was used as a sail?” Rainbow whispered in a snarky voice to Applejack.

All of a sudden, Adventure drove his peg leg into what seemed to be a plugged-up hole in the boat. The pirate book, upon realizing he was stuck, attempted to pull his peg leg from the hole, but was having no luck.

“I’m impressed.” Fantasy replied smugly to Adventure, complete with a smug smile.

Adventure glared at Fantasy for that remark before he jerked his peg out of the hole, causing a geyser of water to shoot up, carrying the fairy godbook upward as she laughed.

“Adventure!” Twilight cried out in a scolding tone of voice.

"Ooooh, that's cold!" Rarity shrieked as she reacted from feeling the water.

Speaking of water, it started to fill the boat as Horror panicked. "We're sinking! We're going down! Somebody do something!" He wailed while covering his head.

Of course, Richard reacted quickly to the emergency. He pulled out his handkerchief and stuffed it into the hole, causing the water to stop gushing before Horror looked at him.

"Thank you." The blue hunchbook smiled sweetly at Richard.

Adventure made his way to the front of the rowboat and commanded, “Shove off, lads and lasses!”

"Aye-aye, captain!" Pinkie exclaimed with a salute.

And with that, Richard, Spike, Ben and Horror began to row the boat as Adventure played an accordion.

As they rowed on, the sunny sky turned into a dark, sea-green hue. While it happened, Richard spoke nervously, "Geez, the water looks kinda... choppy. Maybe we should've stayed back there, where it was safe."

“Well, the only way out of here is forward.” Applejack reminded him.

"She's right." Ben said, "And besides, as my dad would put it: A ship in port may be safe, but that's not what ships were made for."

The group continued rowing onward into the unknown waters as Adventure continued to play his accordion. It wasn't until something caught the pirate book's eye that he ceased playing and looked ahead.

"Whalin' men!" He spoke.

"Huh?" Spike asked as he stopped rowing.

"Where?" Nyx asked as she looked around the ocean.

"Over there!" Ben exclaimed while pointing to where Adventure's gazing.

Sure enough, they saw a few more boats ahead of them. These boats were full of sailors, some of which carried harpoons. But the one boat that caught the attention of Richard, the books, ponies and dragons was the leading boat in which stood a silver-haired man clad in blue with a peg leg. From what they knew based on how he was dressed, this man looked like a captain.

"It's Captain Ahab, it is." Adventure said in amazement.

"Another guy with a peg leg!" Richard observed aloud.

"Mm-hmm. Seems to be a fashion statement around here." Fantasy replied with a bemused smirk, earning an annoyed glare from Adventure. That remark, of course, gained a snicker from Rainbow.

"Did you see it?" Captain Ahab shouted towards Richard, his eyes focusing on the ocean ahead of him.

"See what?" Richard shouted back.

"The devil of the deep!" Adventure said in concern as the rest of the group turned to him, "The white whale, Moby Dick!"

"Adventure, watch your language!" Applejack snapped at the pirate book, looking very offended.

"No, Applejack, he means the proper name 'Dick', not... that!" Twilight corrected her while looking worried, "Moby Dick the whale!"

"Oh! Sorry, Twi." Applejack said sheepishly.

"Moby Dick?!" Ben, Spike, Nyx and Phobos asked in shock and unison.

"Man, now I wish I read more adventure books! Besides Daring Do!" Rainbow remarked.

Just as Ahab noticed something on the horizon, everything seemed to take on an ominous dark red hue. "THAR SHE BLOWS!!!" He shouted, pointing to the horizon.

As green lightning flashed in the distance, what looked like a large geyser of water shot thirty meters into the air.

At that moment, Pinkie felt her knees pinch. "Uh-oh. Pinchy knees again!"

"If you mean something scary's gonna happen once again, I don't blame you, judging the ominous colors here!" Rarity remarked nervously.

"Not just that, Rarity!" Spike gasped, "Look at Captain Ahab!!"

"Sweet Celestia!!!!" Rarity cried in fright and shock upon looking where the purple dragon is pointing at.

"I grin at thee, thou grinning whale!" Ahab snarled, glaring in the direction of the water geyser as he held his harpoon at the ready.

"W-W-What's wrong with him?!" Fluttershy whimpered, scared of how Ahab is starting to act.

"He's possessed!" Fantasy gasped in shock.

"He's insane!" Horror screamed.

"He's my kind of guy!" Adventure remarked with a grin.

Before they knew it, they saw something swimming in their direction with the speed of a freight train.

"Look!" Horror cried, pointing in the direction of whatever was coming their way, "It's headed straight for them!"

Meanwhile, back in the Grand Palace Cinema, Starlight, Trixie, the CMC, Toola Roola, and Coconut Cream were watching the whole scene, illuminated by the dark red hue. So far, they've been enjoying the Pagemaster film, up to the current scene they're looking at. They were equally as shocked and horrified as their friends and the heroes from the movie.

"Oh my Celestia!" Starlight cried in shock.

"And I thought the horror section was scary!" Scootaloo remarked in worry, she and the rest of the CMC huddled together, shaking in fear.

"I got a real bad feeling about this!" Sweetie Belle added in worry.

"Me too!" Apple Bloom agreed.

"Some magic miracle would be really good right about now!" Trixie remarked fearfully.

Back in the movie, whatever swam towards the boats went underwater.

Spike looked around nervously, "Where'd he go??"

"Thou damned whale!" Ahab shouted as he readied his harpoon. Then the source of whatever charged towards him- an enormous white whale, thrust out of the water, somehow lifting its whole body completely above the ocean surface! This must be what Adventure was talking about, Moby Dick. "Thus, I give up the spear!"

The second Moby Dick emerged from the water, Ahab tossed his harpoon at the giant whale. However, the harpoon had hardly any effect and the large beast smashed into the boats, ripping them apart. Richard and the others looked about the wreckage, searching for any sign of life. But all they saw as far as the eye could see were the remains of smashed boats and discarded harpoons.

"So you think I scared it?" Horror asked.

"I don't think so. Why?" Phobos asked.

"He shouldn't swim right after eating, you know. He'd get cramps." Horror replied.

"W-w-where did he g-g-go?" Fluttershy stammered nervously.

"Uh-oh! Pinchy knees... and I'm shuddering, too!" Pinkie said nervously, "This is a scary doozy!"

"Doozy? You must mean that something that someone never expects to happen is gonna happen!" Twilight remarked in a nervous tone.

"You're not saying that Moby Dick is gonna get us next, are you?" Spike asked doubtfully, yet in worry.

Rainbow nervously looked over the edge of the boat. "Uh, guys?"

"What is it, Dash?" Applejack asked in concern.

The others looked over the boat, and Richard yelled out in shock and fear as something big and white was swimming toward them at an incredible speed, glaring at them with death in its eyes.

"ME AND MY BIG MOUTH!!!" Spike yelled in panic.

"IT'S MOBY DICK!!!" Fluttershy screamed in fright.

"H-HE'S COMING FOR US NOW!!!" Twilight cried in fear.

"ROW!! ROW FOR YOUR LIVES!!!" Adventure screamed in panic.

As the group screamed in fear, Richard and Horror grabbed the oars and began pumping as fast as they could. In fact, Rainbow flew out and started pushing the boat to make it go fast using her speed, hoping to evade Moby-Dick. Unfortunately, they hadn't gotten even one row away from their spot before Moby Dick shot up from underneath them, catching the rowboat in his teeth. Why, Rainbow was dragged along with the boat, unable to fly with it.

"No no no no no!!!" The cyan mare shouted in panic.

"ABANDON SHIIIP!!!" Adventure shouted.

Just as the pirate book said those words, Moby Dick chomped down on the boat, reducing it to splinters. This in turn launched Richard, Adventure, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos from his mouth and to the ocean below them.

"NOOOO!!!!" Starlight, Trixie, the CMC, Toola and Coconut yelled in unison, horrified from what just happened.

"APPLEJACK!!!" Apple Bloom cried.

"RARITY!!!" Sweetie Belle cried.

"RAINBOW DASH!!!" Scootaloo cried.

"FLUTTERSHY!!! PINKIE PIE!!!" Starlight cried.

"NYX!!!" Toola and Coconut cried.

"We gotta do something!" Trixie shouted desperately.

"But how?!" Starlight asked in concern, "We can only just sit here and watch!"

"Do not despair, Starlight." Bethesda said as he went up to them, "Remember the special part I told you about?"

"I think so." Starlight answered.

"The special part is coming up." Bethesda said with a nod and a wink.

"You mean?" The foals asked hopefully in unison.

"Yes. Now you may proceed." Bethesda while gesturing towards the screen.

Starlight, Trixie, Toola, Coconut and the CMC walked up to the screen. The pink unicorn looked slightly hesitant before she began to step through.

Trixie followed her best friend afterwards.

"Hang on, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash! We're comin'!" Apple Bloom shouted with determination. Then the five foals entered the screen last.

"Now the movie gets even better." Bethesda said with a smirk.

Back in the movie, as he sank underwater, Richard looked around before he saw a wooden barrel, swam toward it and grabbed it to help him float to the surface quickly. As soon as he surfaced, the blond boy gasped and coughed. Not long after, Twilight resurfaced with him, gasping for air. The two then spotted what looked like a raft nearby and swam over to it.

It wasn't until the two reached the raft that a familiar baby dragon surfaced, coughing and sputtering.

"Spike!" Twilight cried out, pulling her number one assistant onto the raft after she and Richard climbed onto it.

"GUYS! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Richard called out as he looked around for the books and the rest of the Equestrians.

"Uh-oh! Look!" Spike shouted in worry.

The purple baby dragon was pointing at a glow something stirring the surface of the water. A glow was seen underneath some bubbles, before the glow with the bubbles swam to the raft, to the fear of the three. Spike held onto Twilight out of fear, staring at the bubbles as they got closer. Twilight, though, glared in determination as she began to fire up her horn, ready for what would surface. Then the source of the glow came out of the water; a familiar black alicorn foal whose horn was glowing, as she gasped for air before she began sputtering and coughing, splashing around while trying to stay on the surface, her wings flapping rapidly.

"Nyx!" Spike exclaimed, letting go of Twilight to help the black foal onto the raft.

"Mommy! Spike! Help!" Nyx cried while attempting to stay afloat.

“Grab on!” Richard urged, holding out his hand for Nyx to take.

Nyx took Richard's hand, and as the boy pulled, she seemed heavy for some reason. Luckily, Spike took Nyx's other hoof, and the black alicorn foal was successfully pulled onboard. As it happened, the reason why Nyx felt heavy was revealed: A familiar moon dragon was hanging onto Nyx's tail, barely alive as he coughed out some water.

"Phobos!" Twilight exclaimed as she noticed.

“Are you guys okay??” Spike asked the two.

"Barely," Phobos replied after he spat out the last of the saltwater inside him.

"Nyx! Baby!" Twilight cried in relief as she hugged her adopted daughter.

"Mommy!" Nyx cried as she hugged back.

Richard looked about to the surrounding sea, hoping desperately the rest of their friends would show up. “Horror? Fantasy! Adventure?! Pinkie Pie?! Where are you guys?!”

"Ben?!" Twilight called out, worried about her lover.

"Daddy, where are you?!" Nyx cried.

Just then, the water near them bubbled, getting everyone’s attention. And from the water, a familiar pirate book emerged coughing and sputtering.

"It's Adventure!" Phobos exclaimed.

Richard helped the book onto the raft, hugging him. "Adventure! Boy, am I ever glad to see you!"

"So are we!" Nyx exclaimed.

Richard then unfolded and folded Adventure over and over as if he were a fireplace bellow, causing him to spit out water with each fold. After that, he shook the pirate book as dry as he could before hugging him again.

"All right. All right!" Adventure grunted, hopping out of the boy's hug.

After looking around a bit, Richard looked at Adventure as he asked in confusion, "Where's Horror? And Fantasy?"

"And Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack?" Spike added with concern.

"And Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Ben Valorheart?" Twilight added, sharing Spike's concern.

Adventure's annoyed expression changed to a look of heartache as he removed his bandana.

"A... Adventure?" Twilight asked, looking more worried.

"W... where are they?" Richard asked, sharing her worry.

"I searched for 'em as much as I could, mates." Adventure replied sadly, "I'm afraid... I'm afraid they've gone below with Davy Jones."

Nyx gasped in shock and horror on hearing this. "You mean they're...?!" She started as tears began to well in her eyes.

"No! It can't be!" Richard exclaimed, not wanting to believe him as he walked to the other end of the raft.

"Ben... Girls... No..." Twilight said sadly as tears formed in her eyes.

The sound of sniffling caught hers and the others' attention. They turned to see Richard sitting with his face buried in his arms. With tears in his own eyes, Spike approached the blond boy.

"Richard..." He managed.

"You guys are the only friends I've ever had." Richard confessed sadly as he began to cry.

Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos didn't say a word as they hugged their human friend and allowed their own tears to fall. Adventure came up to them, looking very sympathetic.

"She's a cruel sea, lads." Adventure said sadly as he handed Richard his bandana.

Richard accepted the bandana, wiping his eyes. "They gotta be out there." He said as he stood up and called out, "Horror! Fantasy!"

Despite shedding tears, Nyx shared Richard's determined action; refusing to believe that their loved ones are really dead. "Daddy!" She called out.

"Ben! Girls!" Phobos called out as he joined his best friend.

Twilight looked down at Nyx and Phobos, seeing the two join Richard in calling out. Soon, she felt the same as the three before she stood up as she called, "Ben! Fluttershy! Pinkie Pie! Rarity! Rainbow Dash! Applejack!"

"Guys!" Spike called out, at first not noticing a couple of dorsal fins coming their way.

A moment later, Richard noticed a few more dorsal fins appearing, swimming around the raft.

"Sharks!" He cried as he pointed to the fins.

Adventure unsheathed his sword, looking ready to fight. "We may be joinin' them other two sooner than ye think!"

"Well, if we're gonna go down, at least we can go down together." Twilight replied, firing up her horn.

"I'm with you, Mom." Nyx said as she fired up her own horn.

But then, Spike noticed two men rowing their way in a boat. "Hey, look!"

The others saw the men in the boat before Richard started waving them over as he cried out, "Help, help! Over here!"

"Careful, mate. Not all sharks are in the water." Adventure whispered to Richard, but loud enough so that Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos could hear.

"What's that mean?" The moon dragon asked in confusion.

"I think he means those two folks can't be trusted." Nyx said.

Despite the pirate book's warning, Richard still called to the men in the boat as they rowed closer, "Get us outta here! This way, help!"

As soon as the boat approached them, Richard and the others could see the two men looked to be dressed like…

“Pirates.” Spike muttered in worry, seeing said pirates smiling deviously.

"I can see what Adventure means by 'not all sharks are in the water'." Phobos remarked softly in concern, only that Spike, Twilight and Nyx could hear him.

Despite the two pirates’ sinister looks, Richard didn’t look any less relieved as the skinny pirate picked him up by the back of his shirt.

“It’s a good thing you guys came along.” He spoke with relief in his voice before he was thrown into the boat.

Twilight climbed into the boat, not wanting to be picked up, with Nyx on her back before Spike and Phobos followed them in.

“We’re missing two other books, like Adventure here,” The lilac Alicorn spoke, gesturing to Adventure as the latter was picked up by one corner of his cover by the skinny pirate, “along with six other ponies like me.”

“Did ya see them?” Spike asked, a bit of hope in his voice.

"He's all the catch we've had today." The skinny pirate replied.

Richard, Adventure, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos sat on the opposite end of the boat from the fat and skinny pirate. While the boy, ponies and dragons looked concerned, the pirate book just glared at the other two pirates with contempt and a growl escaping his throat. The skinny pirate then spat away from the boat before he and the other pirate both laughed. A glint on the fat pirate’s belt caught Twilight’s attention. She happened to notice the thing on his belt was a pistol. But neither she nor anyone else said a word before the skinny pirate blew what they presumed was a whistle, the tune of it being high pitched. Spike, Nyx, Phobos and Richard looked around into the ocean in confusion. Adventure looked ahead while lifting his eye patch at the same time Twilight squinted in the same direction and the other four turned to look at where the other two were glancing at. At that same moment, a whistle was heard in the distance. There, coming out of the fog, was what looked to be a large ship. When they looked up to the pole above the crow’s nest, Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw the flag was black and on it was a skull with crossbones.

“Oh, no…” She muttered in worry.

"I knew it! It's him!" Adventure whispered in shock and worry while pointing toward the top of the ship.

“Who?” Richard asked in concern.

“You don’t mean…?” Spike asked, feeling worried just from looking at the flag on the mast.

"The meanest, black-hearted pirate that ever sailed the seven seas, Long John Silver!" Adventure replied.

The fatter pirate laughed as he rowed. Adventure began to unsheathe his sword, but he was having trouble pulling it out. He only ceased when he noticed he was staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Just set your keel down, mate." The fat pirate said while pointing his gun at the pirate book, "John Silver's expecting live company."

The two pirates only kept laughing as they rowed to the side of the pirate ship. As they were climbed up, Richard, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos were the first to be tossed onboard, and no sooner did they recover from the throw did they find themselves surrounded by a whole crew of pirates.

“I got a bad feeling about this…” Spike spoke in worry, looking at the crew surrounding them.

"Me too, Spike..." Nyx agreed in the same tone.

A larger pirate jabbed his dagger in Richard’s direction, causing him to back off in worry. But almost immediately, he found himself trapped in a headlock by a bald pirate who smiled sinisterly down at him.

“Give the word, Cap’n Silver, sir,” The bald pirate spoke, pulling out a cutlass and bringing the blade just under the boy’s nose, “and I’ll show ye the colors of his insides.”

"Red! Red! They're red!" Richard shouted, hoping to convince the pirate that there was no need to open him up.

None of them noticed at first that the sky and sea no longer had a green hue and now had a normal one, revealing a blue mid-day sky. What they did notice was a pirate on the opposite side of the deck, staring off at the horizon. From the back, the group could see that this pirate had on what looked like a captain’s hat, red long coat and tan shorts. The most noticeable thing about him, aside from the green pirate on his shoulder, was that he was missing a left leg and had a crutch under his left arm.

"Stow yer cutlass, Tom Morgan." The pirate ordered as he turned around, "I want a better look at his outsides first."

“Long John Silver…” Richard and Twilight spoke in barely audible voices.

"From Treasure Island..." Nyx whispered in amazement.

“Aye, lads and lasses, the very same!” Silver answered, hobbling over in their direction, “Well, seein’ as how me men plucked ye out of the water like drownin’ bilge rats…”

Richard and his friends just stood there, looking nervous. Until the boy was shoved so he was directly face-to-face with Silver.

“Ye’ll be joinin’ our family as our new cabin boys and girls!”

Twilight’s nervous demeanor gave way for a defiant look. “And just what makes you think we’re going to go along with this?” She inquired, glaring at the captain.

"Yeah, what she said!" Spike agreed, sharing Twilight's defiance along with Nyx and Phobos.

Richard just smiled nervously, “Thanks, but each of us already has a family. We really should be getting home now.”

At that, he began guiding Twilight and the others away, only to find them surrounded by Silver’s crew. Each pirate now had their swords drawn and pointed menacingly towards the boy, ponies and dragons.

"Oh, I think you are home." Silver insisted with a cruel chuckle.

“Know any good spells?” Spike whispered to Twilight nervously. “I know one, but it’s not enough to take them all out.” She replied just as nervously.

"Oh, if only I'm as good at spells as you are, Mommy." Nyx remarked in worry.

“JOHN SILVER!!!”

Hearing that yell got everyone's attention. Standing on the railing of the ship was none other than Adventure himself.

“Touch one hair on either of their heads and you’ll be answering to me!” He declared, pulling out his sword on “to me”.

Silver could only laugh, amused at the pirate book's threat before he said while beckoning him aboard, "Well, come aboard, matey! Ha ha."

Before he could even jump onto the deck, Adventure got smacked forward onboard and landed on his back… unfolded. For a few seconds, he attempted to get back on his feet, flailing those and his arms like a turtle stuck lying on its back. After a few seconds of struggling, he finally sat himself up.

Silver leaned in menacingly close to Adventure as he asked, "You wouldn't happen to be goin' after me treasure, would ye now?"

“You ain’t got any treasure worth goin’ after!” The pirate book shot back, glaring daggers at him.

"No treasure?" The skinny pirate asked suspiciously upon hearing what Adventure just said.

"No treasure?" The fat pirate asked in confusion as he shrugged.

The other pirates, already distrustful of Silver, began to mutter uneasily among themselves. Immediately, Silver reacted to the mutinous grumbling.

“He’s lyin’! There’s plenty of treasure for all of ya!” He snapped in frustration, then pointing to the book, “Search ‘im! The boy and his friends, too.”

Then the bald pirate, Tom Morgan, grabbed Adventure by his peg leg and started shaking him upside down, and an arsenal of late-eighteenth-century maritime weaponry poured out from between his pages; Flintlocks, knives, sabers, axes, and cannonballs fell to the deck, along with a cannon and even his accordion.

Phobos looked baffled by this. “How the heck was he carrying all that?” He whispered to Nyx.

"No idea." Nyx replied, equally baffled. Suddenly, she was grabbed by her back hooves as she shouted, "Hey!" Almost immediately afterwards, Phobos was grabbed by his tail as he yelped, and the two found themselves being shaken upside down.

"My bits!" Nyx cried as her money was being dropped from her.

"My gems!" Phobos exclaimed as his valuables were dropped.

Spike backed away nervously from another pirate. “Now… don’t try anything! I… I’ll bite!”

Unfortunately, the baby dragon's threat was in vain as he was grabbed and shaken upside down. His gems were dropped as well.

“Don’t you even dare!” Twilight warned to another pirate, glaring daggers at him.

But the pirates did dare, as yet another pirate grabbed her from behind by the tail, lifted her up, and started shaking her. This caused her to cry out as she was shaken up and down. She was so busy having whatever valuable thing she had shaken off her person, she didn’t even notice Richard too had been grabbed and shook up and down as if by a schoolyard bully.

The fat pirate then picked up what the boy had dropped; his library card, a five-dollar bill, and a nail as he spoke with a smirk, "Why, lookee here." Then he handed the goods over to Silver as he said, "Here ye be, Cap'n."

Silver held up the five-dollar bill, looking at it with his parrot as he asked in confusion, "Now what might this here be?"

"Money! It's yours! Keep it!" Richard said, hoping Silver could be bought off.

“”Money,” he says?” Tom Morgan asked, looking ready to burst into hysterics.

“”Keep it,” he says?” Said the fat pirate holding Richard upside down, sharing the same sentiment as the time before they both let loose with laughter.

Silver started picking his teeth with the nail as he turned his attention to Richard's library card while his parrot looked at the $5 bill in curiosity. "Hmm... library card." The pirate captain said as he looked at the card.

"Library card?" The green parrot asked with a squawk as it crumpled up the bill and tossed it overboard.

“A cabin boy don’t need no library card.” Silver said, tossing the library card overboard with a laugh.

“No!” Twilight exclaimed, realizing what he threw overboard.

Adventure stood up upon recovering from being shook up and down. But when he realized what the captain threw overboard, the pirate book’s eyes widened in horror as he ran for the railing.

“There goes my ticket out of here!” He cried, lifting his eyepatch to scan the waters for any sign of the card, but to no avail.

As Richard stood up, also recovering from being shaken, adjusting his glasses, a voice called out from up in the crow's nest, "LAND HO!" This brought everyone's attention to see a pirate holding a telescope, "LAND HO!"

The entire pirate crew rushed to the side of the ship upon hearing that. When they saw what the pirate in the crow’s nest was pointing towards, they all looked excited.

“There she be, Mateys! Treasure Island!” Silver proclaimed, gesturing to an island in the distance as everyone- minus Richard, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos, all of whom looked curious- cheered and laughed excitedly. The island looked lush with trees while a huge rock in the form of a skull overlooked it all. Much like the cliffs from the shore Twilight and the group departed from, the structure making up the rocks looked very similar to books.

“Do you think…?” Richard began to ask Twilight.

“Yeah. Looks like we’re headed for Treasure Island.” The lilac Alicorn nodded.

"I sure hope Daddy and the others are okay..." Nyx said in concern.

“We can only hope, Nyx.” Spike replied as they began sailing towards Treasure Island.

A Daring Rescue and Reunion

When they finally reached the shore, Silver and his crew disembarked onto the beach and walked forward into the jungle. Richard, Adventure, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos followed against their will because Silver had them all looped with the same rope; Richard and Adventure looped by their midsections while the ponies and dragons had the rope looped around their necks.

"Well, this isn't humiliating at all." Spike spoke dryly, not liking how he literally had a rope around his neck.

"Stay on your toes, mates." Adventure told the others quietly as he trailed them, "When they go for the gold, we'll make our break."

"Quit yer squawkin'!" Silver snapped, yanking on the rope and pulling them further while it hurt some of them in the process.

"Ow! Easy with that!" Twilight snapped, glaring at Silver.

"Oww! That hurts!" Nyx whined, also glaring at Silver.

Ignoring their complaints, the captain turned to his crew. "Look to the map. What's it say?"

Looking at the map in confusion, Tom pointed to what looked like a picture of a waterfall with the letter "M" and an arrow above pointing to it as he replied, "It's, uh... in the middle, by the waterfall."

The fat pirate took the map and turned it, making the M look like a weird-looking "E" while the picture looked different as he said, "No, it's east, by some broccoli."

"Give me that!" Silver snapped in annoyance as he snatched the map.

"Broccoli?" The parrot squawked as the captain turned the map to reveal what it actually was showing; a picture of a tree above the letter "W".

The captain glared at his crew while pointing to the map as he shouted in annoyance, "You half-wits, it's west by a tree!" Then he groaned in exasperation before he continued on as he grumbled, "Oh, east by broccoli..."

"They're all idiots." The parrot remarked.

Spike couldn't help but snicker as he reflected on the crew's bickering and assumptions.

He then whispered to Twilight, "Hey, Twilight?"

"Yeah, Spike?" Twilight whispered back.

"Why don't we just magic or cut our way out of these ropes?"

The lilac alicorn's eyes widened in realization. "You're right. We could do that. But maybe not when they're looking." She replied through whisper, looking to the pirate crew.

"How about we do that when the time is right, before we fight the pirates and get our valuables back?" Nyx suggested quietly.

"Good idea, Nyx." Twilight approved, "Unfortunately, there's only four of us."

Their quiet planning was cut abruptly when they came to a halt. When they looked ahead, they saw why. The rest of the pirates stood frozen with fear at seeing a skeleton lying in the sand with its arms pointed upward.

"What sort of way is that for bones to lie??" The fatter pirate spoke fearfully, "It ain't natural!"

"This island's haunted." Tom Morgan said in fear. He grabbed the fatter pirate by the collar of his shirt and shook him like a British nanny as he cried, "It's accursed, it is!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Oh, brother. It's just a skeleton." She muttered to herself.

"Superstitious scaredy cats." Nyx said quietly in amusement.

Silver shoved Tom Morgan and glared at the fatter pirate as he snapped in annoyance, "Oh, you're all yellow dogs! Open your eyes!" As he said that, he poked the fatter pirate enough to push him to the ground, before he pointed in the direction the skeleton's arms were, "The bones is the compass pointin' the way to the doubloons!"

Upon seeing that, the pirates gasped in excitement before they almost immediately broke into a run toward the treasure. Once they reached the treasure chest, they opened it to check what's inside. To their shock, the treasure chest was empty.

"It's gone!" Tom Morgan cried in shock as he reached his hand inside the chest.

Looking shocked, Silver hobbled over to them, letting go of the rope that held Richard, Adventure, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos. "Dig deeper, boys!" He commanded in disbelief. The pirates started digging inside the hole, hoping to find at least some treasure. "I say dig deeper! Find the treasure!"

Soon enough, after searching, upon lifting up the empty chest and picking up what he could find, he held up... "One gold piece!" Tom Morgan exclaimed in outrage. He held the coin towards Silver defiantly before Silver as he shouted, "This is your treasure, is it?!"

Then he and the other pirates started scheming as the former whispered, "Let's kill him and eat his parrot."

“This is gonna get ugly.” Spike quietly said in concern.

"Stand by for trouble." Adventure warned him, the other Equestrians and Richard.

“We might’ve known you’d double-cross us!” One of the pirates shouted accusingly at Silver as he and the rest climbed out of the other side of the hole.

Without a second thought, the one-legged captain pulled out his pistol and aimed it in the direction of his crew. But before he could say anything, the rest of the crew pulled out their own pistols and aimed them at their captain.

“Throw down your weapons, John Silver!” The stout pirate ordered as they glared daggers at him.

"Look out." The parrot squawked.

"Why, you pack of back-bitin' dogs." John Silver snarled as he reluctantly tossed down his flintlock, "You'll be regrettin' this, George Merry."

"Save your speeches." The fatter pirate, George Merry, snapped as he aimed his gun, "Dead men don't bite."

Twilight began to fire up her horn, ready to teleport herself, Richard, Spike, Adventure, Nyx and Phobos away from the chaos about to unfold. But before she could even go through with her spell, something made her stop.

"Sixteen men on a dead men's stomach." A horrible, ghostly yet familiar voice sang, getting the pirates' attention and scaring them.

"No, no! Chest! Chest!" Another familiar voice snapped, correcting the first.

“Oh, oh! Chest, chest!” The ghostly voice spoke before giving a goofy yet spooky-sounding chuckle. While the pirates looked around cautiously for the source of the voice, Twilight and the others looked confused but stunned.

“It couldn’t be…” Twilight muttered.

"Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" The spooky voice sang while Richard looked nervous from hearing the voice.

"Evil spirits!" Tom Morgan cried fearfully.

"SANCTUARY!!!"

All of a sudden, somebody swung in on a vine from the top of a tree in the direction of the pirates, most of them scattering except for George Merry. The pirate in question ended up getting kicked by whoever had swung in to Richard and company’s rescue before that pirate fell to the ground unconscious. Before the heroes could wonder who their savior was, they landed on their feet looking victorious, revealing themselves to be…

"Horror! You're alive!" Richard cried in delight upon seeing the hunchbook standing boldly.

"Not for long!" Tom Morgan remarked cruelly as he aimed his gun in the blue book's face, causing Horror to scream in fright.

“Hang on! I got this!” Nyx exclaimed, firing up her horn to blast the pirate.

However, Nyx didn’t have to do anything because from out of the trees flew a familiar fairy godbook, leaving pixie dust in her wake and in Tom’s face.

"AH-AH-CHOO!" Tom Morgan sneezed as he unintentionally moved his arm upward and fired, shooting some coconuts which landed on the head of another pirate, making him dazed. Then the book flew up to him and blew on him, making him topple over before flying up to the tied-up group.

“Fantasy!” Richard, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos exclaimed excitedly.

"Naturally." Fantasy said proudly as she curtsied, "Well, who were you expectin', honey, the Tooth Fairy?" She laughed at her tease.

“But how did you…?” Spike began to ask.

“GET THEM!!!”

The group turned to look at the pirate crew advancing towards them real fast.

"Ha-ha! At last, a good fight!" Adventure exclaimed excitedly as he picked up his sword.

“Let’s ask questions later!” Twilight proclaimed, using her magic to destroy the rope tying her, Richard and the others together, “And let’s take these guys down!”

"Right!" Nyx said in determination.

"It's payback time!" Spike shouted in confidence as he held up his fists.

Twilight blasted at a few pirates, though she accidentally sent one at Adventure, launching him into the air. He ended up landing in the open treasure chest, the lid falling shut and trapping the pirate book inside.

"LET ME OUTTA HERE!!" Adventure yelled as he started banging on the chest, trying to escape.

"Leave my family alone!" A familiar voice shouted.

Twilight looked in the direction of the voice. Could it be...?

A familiar brown stallion stood boldly with a determined look on his face as he shouted, "And give them back their valuables, you scurvy dogs, or you'll have to answer to me!"

"BEN!!!" Twilight cried excitedly.

"DADDY!!!" Nyx exclaimed excitedly.

"Well, who were you expecting? The Care Bears?" Ben teased.

Some pirates roared as they prepare to attack, but Ben brought out his Master Sword and waved it. "Go ahead, try anything. I got my dad's skills." Ben taunted the enemies while waving his sword in determination.

"Wait, if Ben's here, does that mean...?" Spike asked, looking excited.

"Hang on, Benny! The cavalry is here!" A familiar voice called out.

"Up here, ya scurvy scum!" Another familiar voice shouted at the pirates, imitating a pirate accent.

At hearing the voices, Richard, Twilight, and the others looked up to the trees with excitement while the pirates looked up in confusion. It was Pinkie Pie and Applejack, respectively, along with not only Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, but also Starlight Glimmer, Trixie, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, the latter group now in the same form as the Mane Six, Spike, Ben, Nyx and Phobos. Right now, all the arriving ponies were dressed like pirates!

"NOW!!!" Applejack shouted as she pointed toward the pirates.

And with that, the unicorns and earth ponies in the trees swung from vines at the pirates while the pegasi (minus Scootaloo, who rode on Rainbow Dash) flew towards them, all making their attack. Applejack bucked one pirate so hard, it literally sent them flying off into the distance. Fluttershy, being the nervous mare she was, curled up into a ball as a pirate ran at her, but didn’t stop fast enough and tripped over her, sending him reeling into another pirate.

“Girls! You’re okay!” Twilight exclaimed, running up to Applejack and Fluttershy as the latter stood up.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed happily as she hugged the purple alicorn.

Twilight hugged back before breaking the hug. “But how did you guys…?”

“We’ll tell ya later. Let’s take down these ol’ bilge rats!” Applejack replied.

"Right!" Twilight nodded.

"Twilight, watch out!" Starlight shouted.

“Huh?” Twilight asked, spinning around to look.

A pirate was about to fire its gun at her, but a magic blast hits him in the chest.

"Take that, you scoundrel!" Starlight shouted in triumph from using her horn.

Please note: She still has all four legs unlike how she is portrayed in the pic.

Trixie blasted another pirate as she bragged, "A pirate is no match for the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"She's mad!" One pirate exclaims in alarm.

"She's possessed!" Another pirate added.

"She's crazy!" A third pirate added in.

"Good shot, Trixie!" Starlight praised her best friend.

"Thanks, Starlight!" Trixie said as the two hoof-bumped.

Meanwhile, Pinkie had brought out her party cannon, which Rarity was stuffing with various fabrics. Rainbow, on the other hand, was distracting a handful of pirates, zipping back and forth between them.

"That the best you can do?!" She asked, a smug smirk on her face.

As soon as they finished stuffing the cannon, both Pinkie and Rarity began aiming at the pirates their multicolor-maned friend was distracting.

"Ready..." The party pony said.

"Aim..." The fashionista unicorn added.

"FIRE!!!" They both shouted as they fired the cannon as soon as the pirates got into the line of fire.

Before any of the pirates knew it, they were decked out in very pretty but frilly dresses. The group of pirates noticed their new attire, did double takes and screamed in shock and horror before they made a run for it. Though they had a bit of trouble with the high heel shoes they were also somehow now wearing.

Rainbow just laughed at the fleeing pirates, "Nice dresses, "Ladies"!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie cheered as she and Rarity gave each other a high hoof.

Spike noticed two of the pirates looking around cautiously and smirked. He then leaned to Horror. "Hey, Horror. How good are ya at tying knots?" He asked deviously.

"Just watch." Horror replied with a wink.

He then climbed up into the treetops really quickly. Before Spike knew it, the hunchbook was hanging upside down over the two pirates and tied the tips of their hats together in a double knot. Suddenly, Horror and Spike, who happened to fly up next to the book, made funny faces at the pirates.

Then the two chased after the two, the hunchback going underneath a tree root. Of course, the double knot in their hats got caught in the tree and caused the two pirates to collide with each other, literally knocking them silly.

A bald pirate grabbed Fantasy- who was flying in front of him, by her feet with his club raised.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, casting sparks in the pirate's face, blinding him.

"Why, you...!" The pirate shouted angrily.

He then began blindly swinging his club in an attempt to hit the fairy godbook. Deciding to use this opportunity, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran into battle. Scootaloo first came behind one pirate near the bald one.

"Down here!" She taunted.

The bald pirate swung at Scootaloo, but he missed, causing him to hit the pirate Scootaloo hid behind.

Sweetie Belle ran up near another pirate. "Hi!"

The bald pirate swung at the cute unicorn foal, who dodged, causing him to conk the pirate on the head.

"Howdy!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, standing near one more pirate.

The bald pirate swung at Apple Bloom who dodged, making him hit the pirate she stood near.

"Nyah nyah!" Coconut Cream taunted as she stood near another pirate before the bald pirate swung at her, causing her to dodge and make him hit the pirate.

"Nah nah!" Toola Roola taunted as she stood near yet another pirate, making the bald pirate swing and hit the pirate when the foal dodged him.

A smirking Nyx flew onto the bald pirate's head and sat on it before knocking on his head as she said with a devilish grin, "Knock knock knock!"

Glaring, the bald pirate made a swing at Nyx with his club. Unfortunately for him, she flew up off his head in the nick of time before he whacked himself in the face. He then groaned as he swayed back and forth dizzily.

As the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream all laughed at that mishap, Nyx and Phobos, the latter dragon who flew up, blew on him, causing him to fall over onto his back.

Amidst the chaos of the battle, John Silver began hobbling over in the direction of the boat on shore. However, he stopped upon realizing something and turned to Richard before hobbling his way.

"Get aboard, boy! We're gonna be shovin' off!" He practically ordered, "And bring yer friends, too!"

"I'm not going with you!" Richard retorted defiantly as Horror stood nearby, attempting to hide in his own covers.

"And neither will we!" Twilight shouted.

"You want my family? You'll have to go through me!" Ben warned as he stood in front of Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos, readying his Master Sword.

"The sword, honey," Fantasy whispered to Richard, gesturing to the lone cutlass at the boy's feet, "Get the sword."

Silver's gaze shifted from Richard to the cutlass, then back to Richard as he warned in a threatening tone. "Don't even think it, boy! Ye ain't got the heart!"

Richard stared at Silver nervously, then to the cutlass, back to Silver and back to the cutlass as he weighed his options. Acting quickly, he grabbed the sword just before the captain could grab it and pointed it at the latter.

"Stay back!" The boy practically commanded.

"Avast there, laddy," Silver spoke nervously, complete with nervous smile as he held up his hands, "Somebody could get hurt with that blade ye got there."

"Be careful, master." Horror said in concern.

"Get going." Twilight spoke, giving Silver a stern look.

"We're warning you." Ben threatened as he pointed the Master Sword.

Silver only backed away cautiously as his parrot squawked, "In the boat."

Seeing his parrot pointing to the rowboat, Silver said calmly to Richard and Ben pointing their swords at him while heading to the boat, "Easy now, mateys. Easy. I'm goin'. Right ye are. Into the boat. Aye aye."

He took another look in Richard's direction. "Ye be a hard lad, Richard Tyler." The captain spoke as he chucked his crutch into the boat.

Richard and Ben only kept their swords pointed at Silver as the latter pushed the rowboats from the shore and into the seawater. With that done, he hopped into the boat and shot one more smile in the boy and the others' directions.

"Good sailin' to ye, shipmates." He spoke before rowing away as he sang, "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest. Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum."

Richard just stood there, looking a bit dumbfounded as he watched Silver row off as he still held the cutlass. He couldn't help but wonder if that was actually him who stood up to one of the most dastardly pirates in all of fiction. As soon as he let that sink in, he smiled and dropped the sword.

"Yes!" The boy exclaimed, doing a fist pump.

The instant Richard did that, the others came up to him, cheering for him.

"Way to go, honey!" Fantasy praised.

"That was AWESOME!!" Spike exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, you ROCK!!" Scootaloo cheered.

"Oh, I wish my dad could've seen me!" Richard spoke excitedly.

He then turned to Horror, Fantasy and the other ponies. "Boy, I thought you guys were goners!"

"We almost were, until this enchanting fellow discovered he could float." Fantasy said while gesturing to Horror.

"It's hollow." The hunchbook replied, knocking on himself to prove his point as he chuckled.

"Oh, Ben, girls, I'm so glad you're all okay!" Twilight exclaimed happily as she hugged Ben Valorheart and her five best friends who all hugged her back.

"How'd you guys get here?" Spike asked, looking surprised, "You all couldn't have floated on Horror at the same time."

"Easy, I had a raft in my mane!" Pinkie replied, pulling said item out of her mane.

Richard looked surprised by this, "How did...? Um... never mind."

"We were almost shark food, of course, until they came along!" Rainbow said as she indicated the approaching new ponies.

"I can't believe you're all here!" Nyx exclaimed happily as she and Phobos hugged the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream altogether in a group hug.

Just then, the sound of loud knocking came from the chest in the hole nearby.

"What's that noise?" Toola Roola asked on hearing the knocking.

"It came from over there." Sweetie replied as she pointed to the chest.

"Oh my gosh! Adventure!" Nyx gasped.

"We totally forgot about him!" Spike exclaimed, rushing to the dug-up hole.

Horror went up and got on the lid and sat on it before he asked aloud, "Who's there?"

"Adventure!" Adventure replied from inside the chest.

"Adventure who?" Horror asked. He liked riddles.

"WHADDYA MEAN "ADVENTURE WHO"?!" Adventure yelled angrily as he banged on the chest, alarming Horror, "OPEN THE BLASTED DOOR, YOU DOG-EARED..!!!"

Horror frantically searched the chest for a way to open it. Finally, his eyes fell on the latch keeping it shut and moved it up. Almost immediately, the lid of the chest flew open, launching the hunchbook off of the top as Adventure popped out with a shout. Then he looked around and discovered that there was no one left to fight.

Fantasy looked amused, "Perfect timing."

Adventure snarled and kicked at the sand, realizing it was all over. Gesturing toward Fantasy, Horror, and the new ponies, Richard said with a smile, "We were just thanking these guys for saving us."

The pirate book growled in frustration, "Arr! I could've taken the lot o' 'em with one hand tied behind me back!"

Waving his hook in the air, he stomped off down the beach.

Richard just smiled, "That's just his way of saying "thanks.""

"Well, in that case, he's welcome." Rainbow retorted dryly, glaring in the direction Adventure stomped off in.

"That's gratitude for ya." Starlight remarked sarcastically.

"You said it." Trixie agreed.

Horror picked up a purple pirate bandana and a cutlass nearby before he waved at Adventure while calling out to him happily, "You're welcome!"

Pinkie then looked like she just realized something. "Oh, by the way, Twilight? I think you, Spike, Nyx and Phobos dropped these." She spoke, digging in her mane.

"Dropped what?" Twilight asked in confusion before Pinkie pulled out a few cards. But no ordinary cards...

"Our library cards!" Nyx exclaimed happily as she took her library card with her magic.

"How did you...?" Twilight began to ask, looking confused.

"Remember when we were grabbed by Moby Dick?" Pinkie asked.

Spike shuddered, "Don't remind me..."

"Ohhhh! We must've lost them during the attack, and we didn't notice!" Twilight exclaimed in realization.

"And speaking of not noticing, we got these back for you guys." Starlight said as she levitated some familiar valuables with her magic.

"My gems!" Spike exclaimed, accepting them.

"Mine, too!" Phobos exclaimed while taking his gems.

"My bits!" Nyx said happily, taking her coins.

"You got our stuff back! Oh, thank you so much, Starlight!" Twilight exclaimed happily as she took her bits.

"Did you happen to get my library card?" Richard asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid none of the pirates we fought have that, Richard. I'm sorry." Starlight said sadly.

The blond boy's smile faded into a hopeless look before he sulked towards the shoreline. The others only looked on in sympathy as they watched their friend walk out of sight.

"Poor Richard." Fluttershy said in concern.

Neither of them had noticed Horror following Adventure, still wearing the purple bandana and holding the cutlass he found. The latter hadn't noticed him because he was too busy walking and grumbling in frustration.

"Ahoy, Matey! Aye, we're lusty, adventurous men!" The hunchbook proclaimed, attempting to sound adventurous.

"Go away!" Adventure snapped in annoyance as he glared over at Horror before he resumed his trek along the beach, "You don't know what you're talkin' about!"

Horror looked a bit hurt, "I- I know I'm not your favorite kind of book. But I could be just like you!"

Hearing this got the pirate book irritated before he zipped back to the hunchbook as he yelled at him, "You'll never be Adventure! Ye ain't got the spine for it." Adventure then pointed at Horror's bandana as he finished, "And take that stupid thing off!"

Then the pirate book resumed storming off as Horror, whose lower lip began to tremble, pulled off the bandana as he said timidly, "S-sorry."

"Oh, he thinks he can be a pirate..." Adventure grumbled as he walked off, leaving Horror feeling alone and rejected. Sighing sadly, Horror slowly hobbled off down the beach in the opposite direction, not paying much attention to where he was going as he dropped the purple bandana and cutlass in his depression.

Meanwhile, with Richard, he was sitting on the shore, drawing the word 'EXIT' into the sand with a twig. Much like Horror, he was also depressed at the prospect of not being able to fulfill his promise of checking out Adventure, Horror or Fantasy.

"Seize the courage, Richard. Then you will reach the exit." The Pagemaster's words echoed through the boy's mind as he drew a line beneath the 'Exit'.

At that moment, a small wave slid up and washed the word away. "I'll never get home." Richard sighed sadly.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked up to Richard, all looking concerned. "What's the matter, Richard?" Sweetie asked.

"Yeah, why are you so sad?" Apple Bloom asked in worry.

"You were a real hero." Scootaloo complimented Richard.

Fantasy fluttered down in front of Richard as she said, "The kids are right. You did good, honey."

"Silver threw Richard's library card overboard after he and his crew captured us." Twilight replied to the fillies and fairy godbook, looking sorry.

Richard added glumly, "Yeah, and I can't check anybody out. We'll never get to the exit now."

Then he rested his hands on his knees. It seemed that all hope was really lost this time.

Fantasy put a comforting hand on Richard as she spoke, "Honey, never say never around Fantasy, because sometimes, you've got to fight to make a wish come true." Then she helped the boy to his feet as she said, "So come on, don't quit on me now."

"She's right, Richard," Twilight added, helping the boy to his feet, "We can't go quitting now."

Richard could only put his head down, still depressed.

Fantasy only lifted his head so he was looking up with a small smile. "Yeah."

Farther down the beach, Adventure was grumbling and kicking his way through the sand.

"Huh! That crazy hunchbook." Adventure scoffed, "You don't see me pretending to be Horror."

Soon, a small piece of paper got stuck to his peg. He tried to shake it loose, but it wouldn't come off. So he lifted his leg and peeled it off. His eyes opened wide and gasped as he smiled when he realized what he was holding. Of course, he yelled out as he tried to keep balance, but landed on his back.

Not long after, he came rushing up to Richard and the others, the former sitting glumly while the others looked sympathetic. "Well, why are ya sittin' around like a bunch of old wenches at teatime?" The pirate book asked, coming up to them as he hid his hand behind his back.

Then extending both his hand and his hook toward Richard, he said, "Pick one."

"Mmm..." Richard murmured, contemplating his choice before pointing to the hand obviously, "That one."

Adventure chuckled as he opened his fist, revealing, to the shock and delight of the others... "My library card!" Richard exclaimed, his face lighting up as he took the card from Adventure.

"Adventure, where'd you find it?" Twilight asked with a smile.

"Wrestled it away from three sharks who was eyein' it for breakfast, at no small threat to me life, neither." Adventure bragged while twisting his hook.

"Mmm-hmm." Fantasy murmured, clearly not buying it.

"Suuure ya did." Starlight said sarcastically.

"Hey, where's Horror?" Spike asked, not seeing a blue book in sight.

"Hey, yeah, where is that blue hunchbook?" Apple Bloom asked in confusion.

"Wasn't he with you?" Richard asked Adventure.

"He was, but he, uh..." Adventure stuttered, "I mean, I sort of, uh... He, uh..."

Noticing this, Rainbow glared at him. "Don't tell me you had something to do with it!" She snapped accusingly.

Looking at Rainbow for that remark and realizing what she meant, Scootaloo gasped before she glared at Adventure also. "You yelled at him, didn't you?!" She demanded angrily.

"What did you say to him now?!" Fantasy asked Adventure in anger, sharing the two pegasus ponies' anger.

Applejack, not wanting things to get out of hand, came up to three. "Okay, okay, girls. Let's try to not let things get outta hand." She spoke to them, looking between them before asking the pirate book calmly yet sternly, "But yeah, Adventure. Were ya bein' mean to him again?"

"Well, I, uh, I, uh, I just, uh, uh... I'll go find him."

With that, Adventure started to awkwardly shuffle away and walked down the beach to look for Horror.

"Yeah, you'd better go find him." Rainbow said, glaring at the walking pirate book.

"And be quick about it!" Fantasy added.

"Horror!" Adventure called as he looked around. He climbed to the top of a sand dune, "Horror!" He gasped in shock and amazement upon what he saw, "Horror!"

What he saw was an unconscious Horror before what looked like a small village that almost resembled a toy village. Strangely enough, this little village was indeed populated by very tiny people. However, the one thing the pirate book was focused on was the unconscious hunchbook being held down by tiny ropes that the villagers were hammering into the ground so he couldn't move.

"Horror..." Adventure said in concern. Then he quickly drew his sword as he shouted urgently, "Hang on, mate! I'm coming!" Then he charge toward the village to rescue the hunchbook.

When they heard his thunderous voice, the tiny people quickly gathered in military formations and shot little arrows at Adventure.

"Tolgo phonac!" they shouted.

Seeing the arrows flying at him, Adventure yelped and shielded his face, bracing himself for the impact. However, the arrows only bounced right off him and landed in the ground. The pirate book noticed this and smirked at the tiny villagers, pointing his cutlass at them.

"Yer lucky I was published with a thick hide!" He shouted proudly.

Just then, one of the little arrows landed on his peg leg. Of course, that had no effect on him at all as he looked at it dryly with an expression as if asking, 'Is that the best they can do?' before he shook the arrow off of him and roared as he charged straight at the tiny men. Seeing him coming, the diminutive archers screamed in panic and retreated in confusion into the brush.

"Come back, ya jellyfish!" Adventure shouted confidently as he raised his sword in triumph.

Once the miniscule people cleared off, Adventure turned his attention back to the unconscious Horror, cutting away the ropes holding him down and freeing him. "Speak to me, mate." The pirate book spoke, hoping he could hear him.

But Horror didn't answer. It was like he was lifeless. Adventure gasped in horror before he picked him up and slowly pulled him into a hug as he said sadly, "Ye had a good heart, and ye was braver than ye knew. I...I'd walk the plank if I thought it would... bring ye back."

"That's beautiful."

"Huh?!" Adventure asked in surprise, his eyes opened wide as saucers. Horror had just suddenly spoken to him.

Richard, Fantasy, the ponies and dragons had just caught up to them while this had happened. They all looked relieved to see Horror was okay, though Rainbow, Scootaloo, Spike and Phobos had on knowing smirks.

"This is too cute." The fairy godbook commented with a smirk.

"Well, well," Applejack spoke, an amused smirk on her face, "I had a feeling deep down, ya had a heart."

At this moment, Adventure quickly dropped Horror before turning to the others with a sheepish laugh.

"Are you okay?" Richard asked out of relief.

"Thanks to my friend here." Horror replied with a smile while looking at Adventure before he gave him a big hug.

"Get off me!" Adventure shouted in annoyance as he struggled to break free from the hunchbook's hold.

Just then, Fantasy's wand gave off a powerful green spark, causing her to laugh with excitement. "Did you see that?" She asked.

"See what?" Spike asked in confusion.

"My wand! It's blinkin'!" Fantasy replied excitedly as her wand sparked some more, "That can only mean one thing!"

"The exit!" Richard and Twilight exclaimed excitedly.

"The checkout!" Adventure proclaimed, sharing their enthusiasm.

"A happy ending!" Horror said happily.

"The Land of Fantasy!" Sweetie announced excitedly.

Fantasy's wand continued to blink, prompting her to fly off into the woods as it blinked more and more. This caused Richard and the others to follow her with feelings of excitement.

"At this rate, the adventure will be finished in no time!" Nyx exclaimed happily.

"Yeah! I'm just so excited, I could burst!" Sweetie squealed.

The group continued into the jungle, hoping they would be in the final stretch of their journey through the magical library.

As they walked, Richard looked to the other ponies he wasn't introduced to yet. "By the way, my name's-."

"Richard Tyler, we know." Starlight said with a smile.

"Yeah, we filled them in on who you were." Twilight added.

"Anyways, my name's Starlight Glimmer." The pink unicorn spoke, introducing herself before gesturing to Trixie, "This is my best friend, Trixie."

"Pleased to meet you." The blue unicorn greeted.

"Ah'm Apple Bloom!" "Apple Bloom introduced herself, "Ah'm Applejack's little sister!"

"I'm Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister!" Sweetie said happily.

"I'm Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash's, um... well..." Scootaloo began, not sure how to word it.

"She's my number one fan, who is like a little sister to me!" Rainbow Dash said with a grin as she ruffled Scootaloo's mane.

"Yeah, what she said!" Scootaloo exclaimed with a smile.

"Together with Nyx and Phobos..." Apple Bloom started.

"We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Nyx and Phobos exclaimed in unison.

"My name's Toola Roola." Toola introduced herself.

"And I'm Coconut Cream." Coconut added.

"Nice to meet all of you." Richard said with a smile.

“Nice to meet you, too.” Starlight replied politely.

"Come on, girls!" Nyx exclaimed excitedly as she got on Twilight's back.

With that, the gang rushed into the jungle following Fantasy as her wand sparked more and more. Some time later, deeper into the jungle, the group was walking along excitedly, looking forward to reaching the home stretch.

“Let’s go, come on!” Richard spoke excitedly, holding Horror by the hand.

"Oh, Trixie never realized adventuring with Princess Twilight and her friends would be so thrilling!" Trixie exclaimed happily.

"Isn't it, Trixie?" Starlight asked rhetorically, sharing Trixie's excitement.

Adventure got on top of a rock before he asked Fantasy, "Are you sure that... swizzle stick of yours is working right?"

"Hmm... I don't know." Fantasy replied in sarcasm with a shrug before putting on a devilish grin while holding her wand ready like she was going for a golf swing, "Maybe we should test it!"

All of a sudden, she shot a powerful burst of magic at Adventure, who just struck a simple pose. In a flash of light, he was now pink in color, his mustache and bushy eyebrows were purple and he wore a red tutu with frilly sleeves. On his only leg, he had a white loafer. Over his eyes was cyan eyeshadow, lipstick on his bottom lip and atop his head was a blond curly princess wig and a gold tiara. Even his sword had a frilly bow on it. Before he knew it, he began floating in the air. Seeing this, Spike, Rainbow, Scootaloo and even Applejack were doing their best to hold in their laughter. Of course, they failed and just burst out loud with roars of laughter.

Not realizing he was floating, Adventure glanced at them. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothin’!” Applejack replied, trying to calm herself.

“Pfft. Yeah!” Rainbow added, stifling more laughter, “… Princess Adventure!”

"Princess Adventure? What're you talking about, Rainbow Da--?" Rarity started in confusion as she and the other Equestrians turned around. But when they saw Adventure's transformed look, they found themselves almost immediately joining Spike, Rainbow, Scootaloo and Applejack in the laughter.

"Nice dress, Adventure!" Apple Bloom laughed.

Catching on, the pirate book looked down at himself, stammering in confusion. “YOU’VE GONE OVERBOARD, MISSUS!!!!!” He shouted, swiping at himself with his sword and tearing off his dress until he looked back to normal.

The yelling made everyone laugh even harder. And upon being back to normal, Adventure was in midair for a moment, but then, he fell down to the ground and crashed, causing the Equestrians to roll with laughter.

Twilight managed to quell her own laughter after a few more seconds. “Okay, I think that’s enough laughs for now. C’mon.” She spoke, gesturing for the rest to follow.

"Right behind you, Twilight." Ben said after calming down.

As soon as everybody had calmed down, they all got to their feet and hooves again before they continued their journey through the forest. The only thing they hoped was that whatever waited for them in the Fantasy section was nowhere near as dangerous as the Horror and Adventure sections.

Heart of a Dragon

As they moved further into the jungle, Richard, Twilight, and their friends noticed that the colors around them began to change. Many new and more brilliant hues fanned out before them.

"Wow..." Twilight spoke out in awe, pushing her way through the flower-lined thicket.

"Look at this place!" Richard exclaimed, feeling the same as Twilight.

"It's so beautiful!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

Soon, the group arrived at a magical meadow. Fairy dust shimmered everywhere. Groves of trees hung heavy with fat, juicy buds. As they walked past, the ripe buds unfolded, offering not flowers, but books. "Is this the Fantasy section?" Nyx asked in wonder as she looked around in amazement.

Spike, noticing a satyr playing a panpipe as they walked past him, spoke, "I got a feeling it is."

Not long after, they found themselves at the top of what looked like a cliff overlooking an enchanted forest. The group looked on in awe at what lay before them just as an old lady flew by on the back of a larger-than-life goose.

"Look! Mother Goose!" Richard exclaimed, recognizing the old lady.

"Hey, girl!" Fantasy called out.

As she flew past, Mother Goose passed by a castle tower where a handsome prince was climbing up a ladder made from long, golden hair. Pinkie noticed a magnificent carriage drawn by horses speeding down the road. In the carriage was a young woman dressed like a very beautiful princess.

"Hi, Cinderella!" She exclaimed ecstatically, waving to the maiden as she rode by.

The princess, Cinderella, waved to the group as her carriage drove on.

"This place is amazing!" Ben remarked.

They soon noticed a group made up of a young girl clad in a blue gingham dress and silver shoes, a little black dog, a scarecrow, a man made from tin and a lion happily skip down the road past the group. Before anyone could say anything, a group of cheery mice bounced around Adventure's feet, offering squeaks of friendship.

"Arrrr!" Adventure grumbled with disgust, "Happyland."

The mice scampered toward Horror, who accepted them enthusiastically. He fell back onto a soft bed of giggling flowers, ready to burst with joy. "I could be misshelved here for a long time," he said.

"Awww! Hello, little mice!" Fluttershy greeted the mice happily. The mice squeaked happily on seeing the kind pegasus.

Soon, six blue shimmering fairies arrived. They danced through the air around Richard, the books, ponies and dragons.

"Whoa!" Nyx exclaimed on seeing the fairies.

"Hello, my little babies. Hi!" Fantasy greeted her twittering little friends in baby talk.

Richard cupped his hands and allowed one of the fairies to land inside. Bringing his hands down, he looked in awe to see the little fairy dancing in his hands like a graceful ballerina. Before long, three more of the fairies landed in the palms of his hands and danced to their hearts' contents before they flew off.

The foals smiled in amazement as the fairies flew over them, illuminating them with their light. The fairies then flew back around Richard, two of them taking his glasses. The boy just laughed before he chased after them. Adventure found no humor in this and drew his sword.

"I knew it! They're all little thieves!" He proclaimed before the other fairies descended on him and made off with his sword, "Hey, now they've got my sword!"

"Oh, they're just being playful." Fantasy said, defending her little friends.

""Playful?" I'll show 'em "playful" when I get hold of the little..." The pirate book snapped, clopping after the fairies, "Come back here with my sword!"

"So ya wanna play, huh?" Nyx asked the fairies with a playful smirk.

"Come on, after them!" Apple Bloom exclaimed eagerly as she started chasing after the fairies with the other foals, except Sweetie following her lead.

"Wait! I'm coming, too!" Sweetie called out as she joined the chase.

The group chased after the mischievous fairies down the yellow brick road, rushing past many fairy tale settings and characters. One of these characters was a slumbering maiden in a glen and her prince stealing a kiss, awakening her from her slumber.

As they went on down the road, Fluttershy, Nyx, Phobos and Spike waved to three pigs who each were building a house; one of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks. The pigs waved back at the Equestrians who waved at them.

The fairies came near an egg, Humpty Dumpty, having trouble sitting atop a wall before he eventually managed to gain balance. Humpty smiled upon seeing the two fairies carrying the glasses, before they placed them on the egg’s face and he immediately felt dizzy. Humpty soon lost his balance as he yelled out before he fell off the wall and, as his nursery rhyme usually goes, had a great fall. The fairies took the glasses off and held them up while the egg crashed onto the floor with a crack.

In a matter of seconds, Richard, the books, ponies and dragons followed the mischievous fairies to a cave. "Hey, come here! Those are my glasses!" Richard exclaimed, chasing the fairies who still had his glasses up the rocky hill, "Hey! Don't go up there!"

"Wait up, Richard!" Phobos said as he, Nyx, Spike, Twilight and Ben followed him up the hill.

"Come back, you little rascals!" Scootaloo shouted playfully to the fairies as she and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up the hill also.

The fairies carrying Adventure's sword entered the cave at the base of the hill. Adventure, Fantasy, Horror and the remaining ponies looked into the cave, not sure what they would find in there.

Inside the cave, a strong wind whipped ribbons of red smoke around rows of sharply pointed stalactites and stalagmites.

"It looks... s-s-scary in there." Horror stammered.

"I agree." Fluttershy whimpered, "I don't think we should go inside."

"What's the matter? Is Adventure afraid to go in?" Fantasy asked teasingly, giving the old seaman a mocking glance. She knew that he was stalling.

That struck a nerve with Adventure, who turned to glance at the fairy godbook. "What? I live for moments like this!" He retorted, turning around and walking further into the cave.

"Um... you guys go on." Fluttershy said nervously, "I... think I'll just... go back. Or... be with Twilight."

"Come on, scaredy-pony." Rainbow said while pushing Fluttershy forward, "We gotta find that sword."

"But... but..." Fluttershy tried to protest, but it was no use. Then she gave a tiny little whimper.

Speaking of Twilight, she, Richard, her family, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders continued up the rocky hill, searching for the fairies and his glasses. Fortunately, the blond boy didn't have to look too far for he found his glasses on the ground just after the fairies flew away and put them on. When he looked up, he gasped happily.

"What is it, Richard?" Twilight asked, walking up to him.

"Look! There it is! The exit!"

Indeed, just as Richard had pointed out at the top of a very high and steep-looking mountain were the unmistakable glowing green letters displaying an "Exit" sign.

"We're close to the end!" Twilight added, looking excited.

"Let's go!" Ben shouted with confidence.

"All right!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Nyx, Spike and Phobos cheered in unison.

Back down in the cave, Adventure was cautiously walking deeper inside, carefully observing his surroundings as Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed him.

"We better be careful, Rainbow Dash." Applejack warned her blue pegasus friend, "Whoever or whatever's in this cave could be dangerous."

"Applejack, aren't you forgetting all the things we went up against?" Rainbow asked, a bit of smugness in her voice.

"Point taken." Applejack said, "But still, we have to stick together."

Adventure, not acknowledging either mare's words, looked ahead and beamed widely. There at the back of the cave was none other than his sword.

"Me sword!" He said excitedly, picking it up.

"Well, well! Looks like we found the sword!" Rainbow remarked with a smile.

Adventure hummed to himself in delight, swinging the sword around. Applejack and Rainbow both kept their distance so he wouldn't slash either mare by accident. However, he did end up slicing a stalagmite from the ceiling. What followed then was something neither of the three were anticipating; the cave began to violently shake.

"Whoa! What the hay?!" Rainbow asked in shock as she briefly struggled to keep her balance before she took to the air.

Outside the cave, the rest could feel the earth shaking as well.

"Good heavens, what is that?!" Rarity asked, trying to stay steady.

"What's happening?!" Toola Roola asked in fear as she and Coconut Cream got near Starlight.

"Uh-oh! Pinchy knees!" Pinkie said in concern despite bouncing from the shaking like a jackhammer.

Atop the hill, Twilight took to the air with Spike, Nyx and Phobos. "I got a feeling I know what it is!"

Richard, Ben and the CMC managed to hold onto a pointed rock for support as the former and the lilac alicorn both shouted, "EARTHQUAKE!!!!!"

"Whoa! Hang on!" Ben shouted as he, Richard and the Cutie Mark Crusaders struggled to climb onto the pointy rock. Then in front of them, Twilight, Spike, Nyx and Phobos, two huge round rocks rolled off, revealing a pair of red-hot eyes!

Spike's eyes shrank at seeing this. "Oh, crud..."

Richard yelled out in fear and alarm at seeing the large red eyes. Back down in the cave, Adventure, Applejack and Rainbow were making a beeline for the entrance of the cave. The reason? A wall of fire was coming their way.

"MAKE WAY!!!!" Rainbow shouted in panic.

"RUN!!!!" Applejack cried in fright.

Just when it seemed like neither of the three would make it, Horror, Rarity and Pinkie were waiting at the entrance and pulled Adventure, Applejack and Rainbow out of the way of the wall of fire.

"JUMP!!!!" Pinkie screamed as she and the other five in the cave jumped out of the entrance, narrowly dodging a fireball. At the same moment, Fluttershy and Fantasy flew out quickly, ahead of the others.

The "cave" shook even more, shedding its rocky exterior to reveal that it wasn't a cave at all. It was a giant dragon!

"DRAGON!!!!" Fluttershy cried in fear.

"Richard, Ben! Let go of that thing!" Twilight cried.

"No need to tell me twice!" Ben said frantically as he quickly lets go of the pointy rock, which turned out to be the dragon's horn on its snout. Thinking fast, he jumped off and headed to the others on the ground.

"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo! You too!" Nyx cried.

However, Richard- along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders- were too frozen with fear to let go. As the dragon stood up and tall, it noticed the boy and fillies practically latched onto its horn snout and literally tried shaking them off to get them to let go.

The instant she opened her pages, Fantasy turned to Horror as she said urgently, "Quick! Find page 1,001!"

The hunchbook frantically searched through the pages until he reached the one Fantasy indicated. "Arabian Nights?"

"That's it!" Fantasy replied.

Horror then tore out the page, nearly flinging himself away as he did so. Fantasy looked to the torn page, waved her wand and zapped it, magically turning it into a magic carpet.

"Get the boy and the fillies!" She commanded the carpet, which took off instantly, flying towards the dragon.

In that same instance, the dragon successfully shook Richard, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo off its snout horn. The four could only scream as they fell a hundred feet to the ground. Luckily, for them, the magic carpet caught them in the nick of time.

"Richard! Girls!" Nyx exclaimed as she saw what just happened before she and Phobos flew towards the four that landed on the carpet.

"Whew! That was too close for comfort!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, feeling shaken.

"Yeah!" Sweetie agreed, scared from what just happened.

Scootaloo then noticed the dragon getting ready to breathe fire at them. "STEP ON THE GAS, GUYS!!!" She shouted in panic.

""Gas?" We're on a magic carpet." Richard replied in confusion.

"Whatever! Just go, carpet! GO, GO, GO!!!" Apple Bloom yelled frantically.

As if not needing to be told twice, the magic carpet zipped off through the trees, barely avoiding the blast of fire the dragon launched at them. Richard and the CMC shouted in panic as they held on tight to the carpet, Nyx and Phobos flanking them. They barely avoided running into Adventure, who ducked down and they skidded to a halt, causing the boy and fillies to fall off the carpet.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted in concern as she ran up to the fallen kids.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried as she followed Applejack's lead.

"Scootaloo!" Rainbow shouted as she flew towards Richard and the CMC.

Twilight flew up to Richard, "Are you guys okay??"

"Yeah, thanks to the magic carpet." Richard replied as he held his head.

Speaking of the magic carpet, it scooped Richard back on top of it with the CMC.

"Come on, the exit's up there!" He said, pointing to the top of the mountain in the distance.

"We're with ya, Richie!" Pinkie said as she and the others got onto the carpet.

"Let's go!" Spike cried as they took off.

As they flew, the group gasped in unison while looking behind them as the giant dragon gave chase, breathing fire at them, burning the landscape and the trees in the process. Richard, the books, and the non-pegasus ponies held onto the carpet tightly as they streaked up into the clouds. It glided smoothly over the clouds. Though Richard was scared of heights, the ride excited him. He almost didn't want it to end. Then the carpet veered and swooped down lower, taking them over magical cloud worlds filled with giants, genies and castles.

Then the carpet began to soar upward again towards the top of the mountain, where the exit resides.

"We're gonna make it!" Richard cheered while raising his fist.

"Hooray, we're gonna make-!" Horror cheered, waving his own fists, but accidentally smacked Fantasy's wand out of her grip, "Oops!"

"My wand!" Fantasy cried. As it chased after our heroes, the dragon, who was flying after them while flapping its enormous wings, snapped its mouth, catching the fairy godbook's wand.

"Oh, baby." Fantasy remarked in concern upon seeing that, "I wish that hadn't happened."

Twilight gulped and murmured, "Well... it can't get any worse..."

But then, the giant dragon stopped for a moment, opened its mouth wide open, took a deep breath, and let out a huge streak of fire, which made a direct hit on the group riding the carpet, causing them all to scream while most of them held their butts from the intense heat.

All of a sudden, the magic carpet began to go down towards the mountain. Twilight, Spike, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Nyx and Phobos quickly followed after them as the carpet began descending in the direction of the mountain. There, upon reaching the side of the mountain, the carpet skidded a couple times along the cliff before crashing into a bunch of rocks that resembled books.

And when they finally came to a stop, the rocks fell on top of the group. Thankfully, Richard lifted one of the rocks on top of him and shrugged it off like it was nothing. He looked up to see the "Exit" sign just above him.

Twilight immediately flew up to him, "You okay??"

"Better than okay!" Richard answered, gesturing to the "Exit" sign above them, "We're almost there!"

"Holy Celestia, you're right!" Rainbow exclaimed as she looked at the mountaintop.

"Come on, guys! The exit!" Richard shouted urgently as he looked at the fallen group while pointing to the top of the mountain.

Applejack groaned, "I heard of bein' on fire, but that was nuts."

"Now I really wish I could fly." Scootaloo groaned.

The books themselves were tangled up in a heap. Richard, Twilight and Spike hardly noticed their friends not following and made a mad dash for the "Exit" sign.

"This way, guys!" The blond boy exclaimed.

"I'll race you guys!" The lilac alicorn proclaimed.

"You're on!" Spike retorted, racing the other two.

"Twilight! Spike! Richard! Wait!" Fluttershy cried.

"The others are in trouble here!" Rainbow cried.

"Get off me!" Adventure snapped, struggling to get Horror and Trixie off of him.

As Fluttershy, Rainbow, Nyx and Phobos helped the remaining group members to their feet, they noticed a dark shadow looming over them. When they looked up, they all saw something that made their hearts stop out of fear. The dragon was right over them about to land! As it searched for them, the blue sky turned into a fiery orange before it found them while glaring at them. Rainbow looked around in panic before noticing a crevice in the side of the mountain.

"In there! C'mon!" The cyan pegasus cried, zipping towards the crevice. At that moment, the dragon breathed fire at the group, who screamed as they ran into the crevice, avoiding the flames that hit near the narrow opening, blackening the area around it.

Meanwhile, with Richard, Twilight and Spike, the trip kept climbing up the side of the mountain, unaware of the fact their friends weren't right behind them. Halfway, the alicorn and dragon had decided to climb up with the glasses-wearing boy because they figured flying would give them an unfair advantage.

"Almost there!" Spike exclaimed, climbing up. Richard had stopped for a few seconds to look to his right. Not too far from them, he saw on a nearby ledge a skeleton wearing armor and clutching a sword and shield. Without a second thought, he kept climbing with Twilight and Spike, his eyes on the "Exit" sign as they got closer.

Soon, the three successfully got onto the mountaintop, seeing the exit sign hovering over an ancient dome-shaped observatory.

"WE MADE IT!" Richard shouted triumphantly with a jump.

"We did it! We did it!" Twilight exclaimed, hopping up and down like an excited filly.

"I knew we could do it, guys!" Spike shouted ecstatically.

However, they didn't hear the other ponies or books sharing their excitement. At that, the three looked around to see no sign of their friends. It wasn't until they heard a growl from below that the boy, alicorn and dragon finally looked back to see they were alone.

"... Guys?" Richard asked in confusion.

"Where'd everypony go?" Spike asked, sharing Richard's confusion.

Looking down the side of the mountain, Twilight spied the dragon, the source of the growl, near the crevice.

"Oh no! In our rush to get to the exit, we left the others behind with the dragon!" The lilac alicorn cried in horror and realization.

Back down in the crevice, the remaining members of the group looked fearful. They immediately pressed themselves against the wall as tightly as they could just before a billow of fire and smoke blew inside. Pinkie, being the random pony she was, brought out of her mane a pole with a marshmallow stuck on one end and held the marshmallow over the flames. As soon as the flames died down, she brought the stick back to reveal her marshmallow was nice and toasty.

"Perfect!" The party pony exclaimed excitedly, quickly pulling the marshmallow off and sandwiching it between two graham crackers and pieces of chocolate and then eating it.

"How could you eat at a time like this?!" Trixie asked in annoyance.

"I practice." Pinkie replied simply, a smile on her face.

After getting off the wall, Adventure drew out his sword as he shouted in determination while starting towards the opening, "This dragon is history!"

Before he could make an inch to the crevice's entrance, Fantasy stopped him by holding onto his arm.

"Don't try to stop me!" Adventure snapped as he got his arm off while glaring at the fairy godbook.

Fantasy only looked concerned as she landed. "Be careful." She managed to tell the pirate book.

This got Adventure to soften while looking surprised. He didn't expect to hear that from Fantasy. While keeping his eyes focused on her, he tossed his cutlass over his shoulder behind him, to the purple book's surprise, before the brown book put his hook behind his back and held her hand with his only hand while getting on his knee and bowing to her.

Fantasy smiled and giggled. "You really are a classic." She spoke modestly as she looked away... ... only for Adventure to turn her around to face him again, causing the fairy godbook to gasp. What happened next was something nobody else was expecting; Adventure leaned his face towards Fantasy's and immediately pulled her into a deep kiss! The purple book, at first, flailed her arms in shock, but let them droop as she melted into the kiss.

As it happened, Horror smiled before laughing bashfully as he covered his eyes while turning away before he uncovered his face while looking at the romantic moment. Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack looked shocked at the sight, not expecting this to happen.

"Oh... my..." Fluttershy gasped, bringing a hoof to her mouth as she blushed.

"Oh, how romantic!" Rarity said lovingly at the sight.

"Whoa nelly!" Ben exclaimed in shock.

The CMC, Nyx, Phobos, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream looked shocked at this as well for one moment, but then... "Awwww!" The foals and moon dragon exclaimed lovingly in unison, all of them hovering for a bit. They all find this moment romantic.

After seconds of holding the kiss, Adventure finally broke it and Fantasy looked at him with a dazed yet goofy smile. The pirate book then lifted his eyepatch and wiggled his eyebrows.

"How would you like to... curl up with a good book?" He asked in a romantic tone of voice.

SMACK!!!

Adventure got smacked so hard by Fantasy, he got sent flying out of the cave and into the open.

"Oh, me binding!" He cried as he tumbled over and over.

An irate Fantasy stormed out of the crevice as he complained.

"IN YOUR DREAMS!" Fantasy yelled angrily in response to the pirate book's suggestion.

Rarity then joined her, looking annoyed. "After all, there are children present!" She snapped.

Turning around, Fantasy scoffed while fluttering before she flew back inside the crevice. Rarity turned around, turning her nose up with a 'Hmph' before following Fantasy back inside.

Adventure groaned, clearly dazed from being shoved so hard.

"Adventure! Up here!" Richard called from the top of the mountain.

Hearing the boy's voice calling out to him, Adventure turned around, looking up at him, Twilight and Spike as he shouted, "Go on, lads! Save yerselves!" A familiar dragon flew up over the ledge, glaring down at him. Unaware of what's behind him, Adventure spoke to the three at the mountaintop, "You think a bag of hot air is enough to stop me?! Dragon. He's more like a dragonfly, he is! And with big teeth!"

"Uh... Adventure?" Spike asked, pointing behind the pirate book.

"LOOK OUT!" Richard shouted, also pointing behind Adventure.

"BEHIND YOU!" Twilight yelled frantically.

Adventure turned around and looked up, becoming immediately frozen with terror as the large dragon towered over him. The large beast glared down at him before blasting him with fire, causing the pirate book to scream. The rest of the group inside winced as they watched what had happened before Adventure stumbled back into the crevice, looking charred.

"Hoo-wee. That's one way to get fired up." Applejack commented, feeling bad for Adventure.

"You said it." Rainbow agreed, feeling just as bad.

The pirate book's bandanna was burned, and one of the hairs on his big mustache was sizzling. Then he landed on his rear end between Fantasy and Horror.

"Happy birthday." Horror remarked before blowing out the fire on his mustache. Then the fried pirate book fainted. Fluttershy looked at Adventure with concern and sympathy then at the dragon with fear. She looked back at the pirate book for a moment.

"How dare you?" The yellow pegasus asked as she glared at the giant dragon with determination and anger. "HOW DARE YOU?!?"

Rarity looked nervous for her timid Pegasus friend’s sake. “Um, Fluttershy darling? I don’t think-.”

Ignoring the white unicorn, Fluttershy flew out of the crevice and up to the dragon's level, landing on the snout and trotting up to stare it eye to eye.

"Listen here, mister!" Fluttershy shouted, "Just because you’re big doesn’t mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth and sharp scales and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, you do NOT HURT MY FRIENDS! You got that?!"

Those were almost the exact same words she yelled at the giant red dragon back in Equestria, who cowered from her assertiveness. However, this dragon, who never cowered from her yelling or her glaring, only snapped its jaws at the pegasus, making her dodge in the nick of time. Fluttershy parted her mane out of her face to glare at the giant beast.

"So that's how it is, is it?" She asked calmly yet angrily, "There's no taming you?" The yellow tossed her mane fully away from her face as she shouted, "Fine! If you'd rather try to kill us..." Then she puts on a fighting stance as she finished, "Then give it your best shot!"

The dragon breathed fire at Fluttershy, who dodged it by zooming upward, flew towards it, and punched it across the face!

From where they stood, Richard, Twilight and Spike watched on in concern for their friends.

“We gotta do something!” Twilight said in concern. The blond boy looked to the exit, then back to the large dragon and once again back to the exit. His eyebrows lowered in determination as he made up his mind and looked back to where their remaining friends were.

“Hang on, guys! We’re coming!” Richard called to them, making a dash back toward their trapped friends.

Spike smiled, flying after him. “Atta boy, Rich!”

"Yeah! Let's go!" Twilight shouted with confidence, following the two.

The three were nearly down the set of stairs when Richard once again noticed the armor-clad skeleton. “A sword!”

He quickly ran over to the skeleton and picked up its helmet, placing it atop his head. The boy at first had trouble keeping the helmet from falling over his eyes, but tilted it back. He then took the shield from the skeleton, whose arm crumbled to dust as soon as he yanked it off before taking the sword just as the skull also crumbled.

"Now you look like a knight!" Spike praised Richard.

"Just what we need! Come on!" Twilight said.

With that, they charged back towards the action. Richard stopped briefly, looking determined and with a “Yes!”, he ran down the steps towards the dragon with Twilight and Spike following him.

“Hey, Horn-Head!” Twilight called to the dragon, getting its attention, “Over here!”

The dragon looked in the direction of the three charging at it.

"Richard! Twilight! Spike!" Fluttershy exclaimed in delight on seeing them.

“Hope we didn’t miss too much!” Spike replied, zipping up next to Fluttershy.

"Not at all!" Fluttershy confirmed.

“Sorry for leaving you guys. We thought you were right behind us.” Twilight apologized, looking a bit guilty.

"It's all right." Fluttershy replied, "Everyone was still barely recovering from the crash."

Spike turned to Richard, "We'll distract him. You show that dragon who's boss!"

"Right!" Richard nodded before he charged at the dragon with his sword and shield ready.

Watching the action, a determined look grew on Ben's face. "They're not gonna be the only ones fighting that dragon!"

"Yeah! Can't let Twilight and Fluttershy have all the action!" Rainbow agreed, sharing Ben's courage.

"I agree! For Princess Twilight, I'll fight, too!" Starlight shouted with bravery in her eyes.

"If Starlight is fighting, then the Great and Powerful Trixie will fight, too!" Trixie shouted with determination.

"You know what?" Rarity asked, narrowing her eyes, "I, for one, am inspired by Fluttershy's courage and determination after she was rudely rebuffed by that brute even when she talked it down!"

"Well, what're we fiddlin' around here for? Let's get out there and throw down!" Applejack shouted.

"Yeah! Let's help our friends!" Pinkie shouted.

"And slay that giant dragon!" Nyx added.

"We're with ya, Nyx!" Apple Bloom said as she stepped up boldly.

"We're not afraid of it anymore!" Sweetie agreed in determination.

"We fought countless evil creatures before, starting with when we helped against Boris!" Scootaloo remarked.

"I'll fight him, too!" Toola Roola said with a determined look on her face.

"Me too!" Coconut Cream agreed, "We're not scared of the dragon anymore either!"

Ben brought out his Master Sword as he shouted, "Then fellow Equestrians, LET'S GO GET HIM!!!!"

Then the Equestrians charged out of the crevice towards the dragon, crying out like warriors in a battlefield.

Seeing Richard charge at the dragon, a recovered Adventure smiled proudly. “HA HA! THAT’S IT, BOY! GO FOR THE GIZZARD!!”

Richard slashed his sword at the dragon's ankle, hitting it a couple times.

“Bite him! Bite him!” Horror encouraged, barking and growling as if he were actually a dog. Spike quickly punched the dragon in the nose. The bigger dragon was, of course, not entirely phased by this, but glared at the smaller one as if he made a huge mistake. It snapped its teeth at Spike, who fortunately zipped out of the way in time.

“Missed me, missed me! Please don’t kiss me!” Spike teased in singsong before blowing a raspberry at the great beast.

Scootaloo jumped onto the monster's foot and bit onto one of its toes as hard as she could, but she was shaken off.

"Hi-yah!" Apple Bloom shouted as she hit the dragon's ankle with a flying karate kick. That didn't affect the giant dragon, of course, as it glared at her and Scootaloo before snapping at them. Luckily, Apple Bloom was narrowly saved by Applejack who roped the former to her with her lasso at the same time Rainbow swooped from the sky to snatch Scootaloo.

"Gotcha, little buddy! Now hang on!" Rainbow said as she put the orange pegasus filly on her back.

“Hey! Pea-brain!” The dragon looked down to see Richard holding his sword at the ready. Just then, the scaled monster shot a blast of fire at the boy. Thankfully, he had his shield up despite letting loose with a frightened yell as the fire came down on him. Once the fire cleared, Richard glared in determination and charged into battle, flailing his sword like crazy.

"You mess with Richard, you mess with me!" Nyx shouted at the giant creature angrily as she started glowing before she turned to her Battle Form and flew up with Phobos. The two charged at it and fired at it with their magic and fire respectively.

Bothered by the blasts, the dragon swatted at both Nyx and Phobos as if they were pesky flies, but the two dodged its swats.

“Let’s PARTY!!!” Pinkie shouted, aiming her party cannon and then firing a giant cake at the dragon.

After being hit by the cake, the dragon shook off the contents before glaring at Pinkie in rage before breathing fire at her.

Fortunately, she bounced out of the way just before she could feel the flames.

"Eat diamonds, you beast!" Rarity shouted as she used magic to conjure a swarm of diamonds at the dragon.

Growling, the gigantic creature swatted away any diamonds that came his way.

“Over here!”

The dragon spun his head around to see Trixie standing there with a smirk on her face. It then breathed fire at her just as she twirled clothes around herself, seemingly charring her to ashes. However…

“Yoo-hoo!” The great beast spun around to see Trixie standing in a different spot, unscathed.

“Now, Starlight!” The silver-maned unicorn cried.

Smirking from nearby, Starlight fired up her horn and shot a ray of magic at the dragon. As soon as the ray of magic died away, the gang found in the dragon’s place a small, harmless frog.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Starlight laughed in triumph.

"Wow! How'd you do that?" Richard asked in amazement.

"Magic." Starlight replied proudly.

"Women." Adventure grumbled under his breath, "Everything's magic to them."

The dragon-frog suddenly croaked. Its eyes bulged out and it grew a tail that expanded to three feet. This had caused everyone to once again look worried.

“Starlight? How long was that spell supposed to last?” Twilight asked nervously.

"I forgot! On a dragon this size, a spell wears off really fast!" Starlight explained fearfully.

The frog croaked again one more time and grew to twenty feet back into a dragon! It let out a bellowing roar of rage, making everybody freeze with fear. Everyone, except Richard who charged into battle just below the beast’s underbelly.

“Richard, WAIT!!!” Twilight shouted.

"STOP!!!" Ben shouted.

“COME BACK!!!” Spike shouted, flying after him.

“WATCH OUT FOR HIS TAIL!!!” Fantasy exclaimed.

"RICHARD!!!" Nyx, Phobos, the CMC, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream cried in unison as they ran/flew after the boy with Spike.

Spike, Phobos and the fillies had caught up with Richard, who was standing just below the lower part of the giant dragon’s neck, presumably where its soft spot was. But before he could strike, the dragon whipped its tail around and snatched the boy, along with the smaller dragons and little ponies.

"Get him! You got him on the run!" Adventure shouted as the mishap happened.

Fantasy just screamed as she, Adventure, Horror and the remaining ponies looked on in shock and dismay. Richard did his best to look determined, but his determination, along with his sword, shield and helmet, ended up being literally shaken off of him.

"The knight gear!" Scootaloo cried as she saw it happen.

Then the giant dragon held the helpless kids towards it, glaring at them with a growl.

Despite struggling in vain and the situation they're in, the nine all glared at the creature as Richard pointed at it while shouting in defiance, "I'm not scared of you!"

Unfortunately, the dragon saw this gesture as no threat and threw the nine into the air before catching them in its mouth and swallowing.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Starlight screamed in horror and despair on seeing what just happened.

"APPLE BLOOM!!!!" Applejack cried.

"SWEETIE BELLE!!!!" Rarity wailed.

"SCOOTALOO!!!!" Rainbow screamed.

"SPIKE!!!! NYX!!!! PHOBOS!!!!" Twilight cried.

Inside the dragon, Richard, Spike, Nyx, Phobos and the other fillies slid down the throat as they screamed. They felt as though they were going down a slide at a playground or amusement park, except they weren’t too excited about this slide. Eventually, they landed onto what seemed like an acre of land within the dragon's stomach.

"Oooh, rough landing!" Phobos commented as he rubbed his rear from the hard fall.

“Now what?” Apple Bloom asked, looking around for a way out as she coughed a bit.

"I don't know." Sweetie replied, also coughing some. Richard coughed as well, then yelled out in startlement as a bubble in the stomach acid burst, letting out a blast of fire, before he coughed again.

“We gotta get out of here, that’s for sure.” Richard answered, attempting to climb up the walls, only to fall while attempting to get his footing.

In the spot he fell, the boy felt something poking against his rear end. He pulled it out to reveal that what he found was… “Fantasy’s wand!” He exclaimed hopefully.

"Oh, right! The dragon swallowed that stick!" Toola Roola said, remembering what happened earlier.

"Maybe there's still some magic in it to get us out!" Coconut Cream said with hope.

Richard smiled at the thought of that. He then began waving it, hoping to get some magic sparks from it. What he got, however, were just a few pitiful squeaks with each wave, dampening his and the others’ spirits.

“Well, it was worth a try.” Spike said defeated.

"This is not good." Richard sighed as he pocketed the wand, "Definitely not good at all."

"Now what'll we do?" Scootaloo asked with a frown.

“We could fly up there.” Nyx spoke thoughtfully, looking up.

“We could, but there’s one problem.” Spike added, “We can’t carry everyone at the same time.”

"And besides that, I can't fly." Scootaloo added.

Sweetie looked at Nyx, “Can you teleport all of us out?”

"I could try, but I'm not as good as mommy or Starlight." Nyx replied, "In other words, teleporting out of a creature like this is an advanced spell."

“There’s gotta be something we can do…” Phobos added, looking around for a possible exit.

All of a sudden, a familiar elderly voice echoed through their minds, “Look to the books. Looks to the books…”

"Look to the books..." Richard repeated aloud before turning to a pile of books cluttered nearby, "Look to the books!"

“Oh yeah!” Toola Roola exclaimed, rummaging through a few of the books.

Almost immediately, the others followed suite and sorted through the books, hoping to find one that would help them escape the literal belly of the beast.

Richard picked up one book and looked at the cover, entitled... ""Alice in Wonderland"." Richard read aloud before he opened the book and started skimming through the pages.

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!!" The head of the crazy Queen of Hearts yelled as she popped out like a jack-in-the-box. Her hysterical yelling made Richard's hair, along with the manes of the ponies, feel like they were blowing in the wind from that before the boy quickly slammed the book shut and the queen was gone.

The other kids had to cover their ears at the loudness of the Queen of Hearts’ voice. “Geez, she didn’t need to yell.” Spike grunted.

"That's for sure." Scootaloo agreed while rubbing the inside of her right ear.

"Let's try something else." Apple Bloom said as she resumed searching through the books.

After recovering from that scare, Sweetie pulled from the pile of books The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. “How about this one?” She suggested.

""The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"? Let's see." Nyx said as her unicorn friend opened the book with her unicorn magic while skimming through the pages.

Suddenly, a massive green head popped out from the pages. “I AM OZ THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE!! WHY DO YOU SEEK ME?!” The head known as Oz boomed in a deep and thunderous voice, glaring down at an alarmed Nyx.

Startled by this, the Alicorn filly shut the book, making the head disappear.

"Yikes! Definitely not that one!" Sweetie exclaimed.

“How about this one?” Spike suggested, showing Richard a book titled Peter Pan. The latter looked it over and shook his head, putting it down.

"Maybe... this one?" Apple Bloom suggested while showing another book.

Richard looked over the book titled Beauty and the Beast. He again shook his head and put it down. But then, he noticed another book and picked it up.

“Jack and the Beanstalk!”

"Yeah, this should help!" Nyx exclaimed eagerly.

Richard searched through the pages briefly before he found a specific section. Upon doing so, he placed the open book down as it shook.

“Stand back, guys.” He insisted as he took a couple of steps back.

The fillies and dragons did as Richard said while looking at the book. After a moment, a thick beanstalk started to shoot up out of the pages! The stalk grew faster and faster, coiling up through the dragon's throat.

"A beanstalk!" Scootaloo cried.

“Quick, grab on!” Richard exclaimed as he did so himself.

The others leaped onto the stalk and the kids all shot up with it.

"Hang on, guys!" Nyx shouted.

"I hate HEEEIIIGGHHTTSS!!" Richard cried as he held on tight.

Outside of the dragon’s mouth, the great beast felt something coming up its throat. It suddenly opened its mouth as the beanstalk shot up and grew out of its great maw parallel to the side of the mountain as a certain boy, dragons and fillies held on tight.

The Mane Six, Ben, Starlight, Trixie, Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror watched in amazement. They were even more surprised when Richard, Spike, Nyx, Phobos, the CMC, Toola, and Coconut came riding up out of the dragon's mouth.

Their surprise turn to excitement as they started cheering in joy and delight while jumping.

"MATEYS!!" Adventure cheered.

“They’re alive!” Fantasy shouted excitedly.

Fantasy, Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy flew alongside the kids on the beanstalk just as Spike, Nyx and Phobos let go so they could fly themselves. As they neared the ledge where the others were waiting, Richard opened an arm to catch Adventure and Horror as he neared them.

“Come on, guys!” He called as he scooped up the pirate book and hunchbook.

“Let’s go!” Starlight exclaimed, hopping onto the beanstalk and holding on.

“Right behind you!” Trixie called, hopping on.

"All aboard the Beanstalk Express!" Pinkie announced as she hopped on.

“Goin’ up!” Applejack said as she held on and the beanstalk grew towards the top of the mountain.

"Jump on, Rarity!" Sweetie said to her big sister.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Rarity replied, hoping she wouldn’t accidentally miss the beanstalk, but leaped and managed to catch a grip.

"Here I come!" Ben shouted as he jumped and grabbed onto the beanstalk.

Up and up the beanstalk grew to the top of the mountain’s peak. Everybody looked eager and excited as the exit sign came closer and closer within their grasp. Richard reached towards the ledge as they got closer and closer. Meanwhile, down below, the giant dragon chomped on the beanstalk, causing it to shake.

"Whoa! Jump!" Ben shouted urgently the moment that happened.

“Hold on, Sugarcube!” Applejack said, scooping Apple Bloom onto her back before jumping onto the ledge.

Richard and the rest quickly jumped from the wobbling beanstalk and to the ledge. The boy at first had trouble holding on because he was holding Adventure and Horror in one hand but managed to pull himself up with Twilight’s help.

Afterwards, Richard was laying down and found himself laying down in semi-consciousness.

"Whew!" Richard sighed in exhaustion and relief.

"Are you all right?" Fantasy asked in concern.

"W-Wha...?" The blond boy regained consciousness.

"Master, you saved us!" Horror exclaimed happily as he hugged Richard's face with joy.

"That ye did, matey." Adventure said proudly.

“That was awesome thinking, Richard!” Spike added excitedly, “Using the beanstalk so we could escape the dragon!”

And that reminded Richard. He reached into his back pocket and pulled from it Fantasy’s wand, which gave off a golden shimmer.

"Fantasy's wand!" Rarity exclaimed in delight, the others smiling excitedly with her. Seeing her wand, Fantasy beamed happily.

“Baby, you’re the greatest!” She proclaimed in delight, accepting her wand before giving the boy a big kiss on the cheek, "My hero."

“Come on, guys.” Twilight spoke happily, helping Richard to his feet, “It looks like our journey’s end is right in sight.”

"I can't wait!" Nyx exclaimed in excitement.

Richard, Twilight and the group slowly approached the tower that stood before them, the “Exit” sign hanging over it in the sky like a beacon leading them to shore.

As they walked further to the tower, the group could have sworn they heard angelic voices vocalizing as though they were approaching the gates of Heaven. Upon reaching the tower at last, they noticed the giant golden doors looked like the spines of books. On the doors read four simple words they remembered hearing throughout their journey:

‘Look to the Books’

"I wonder what's behind those huge doors?" Trixie pondered aloud.

"We'll soon find out, Trixie." Starlight responded.

Upon reaching the doors with his friends, Richard reached up to push the monolithic doors open. However, before the young boy could even touch them, the doors pushed open on their own, allowing them to walk right inside.

"Ooh! Automatic doors." Pinkie said in amazement.

"Whoever's inside is no doubt expecting us." Ben assumed.

The group looked ahead in amazement as they progressed into the very circular room. Their faces were illuminated by a blue twister-like funnel of light rising out of a gigantic crystal dome.

Suddenly, something shifted in the shadows.

“Hello?” Twilight asked, looking to the shadows.

"Who's there?" Richard asked, straining for a better look. Slowly, a figure stepped out into the light. It was a familiar blue-robed man wielding a scroll-shaped staff.

"The Pagemaster." Adventure said as he removed his bandana and bowed respectfully at the same time Horror groveled with a light sob while Fantasy curtsied.

"Hey! How'd you get here?!" Richard demanded the Pagemaster angrily, not too pleased to see him again.

“Quit it!” Fantasy sharply hissed to Richard, beaming a nervous yet forced toothy smile to the Pagemaster, “We’re in the presence of the Pagemaster!”

“I know who he is! He’s the guy who did all this to me, Twilight, Spike and the others!” Richard snapped, not even bothering to calm down before turning his attention to the Pagemaster, “Do you have any idea what we’ve been through?!”

"Tell me." The Pagemaster said, seemingly interested.

The blond boy just scowled as he began to rant, “We were nearly torn apart by a crazy doctor. We were made slaves by a bunch of mangy pirates! And eaten- Got that?- eaten by a fire-breathing dragon!” During the boy’s ranting, Twilight nervously looked back and forth between Richard and the Pagemaster as if either the former were going to burst into flames from being so angry or the latter would smite him where he stood. Spike was practically backing up behind Twilight like he was worried about what the Alicorn was also worried about.

"He don't mean it, my Pagemaster." Horror insisted in worry, "He don't mean it."

“And not to mention being tossed, squashed and scared practically to death!” Richard finished, taking deep, heaving breaths as soon as he was done. Despite being nearly out of breath, he still glared with a seething anger at the Pagemaster.

The blue-clad wizard, of course, look unfazed by Richard's rant as he said with a smile, "Yet you stand before me."

The boy’s expression softened at hearing that. “Well… yeah.”

"Oh, Pagemaster, please forgive him for his tirade." Starlight begged the wizard, "Like Horror said, he doesn't mean it."

"Nonsense!" The Pagemaster said, "The boy is right. I purposely sent him and the rest of his friends, including you, Trixie, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, through the fiction section."

“Wait. So you admit it?” Richard asked, feeling a sense of vindication.

"Of course!" The Pagemaster replied, "Think, boy! What kind of an adventure would all of you have had if I brought you here with a turn of a page?"

He raised his staff and the light emitting from the crystal dome wavered as a maniacal laugh echoed through the chamber. Spike yelped when he saw a familiar madman appear in the funnel and backed behind Twilight, who looked just as unnerved. The others gasped as Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow in fear.

"Back for more, Mr. Hyde?!" Ben shouted as he readied his sword.

Suddenly, the ghostly visage of Mr. Hyde morphed into the kindly Dr. Jekyll who smiled gently. “You prevailed over evil.”

Seeing and hearing this put smiles of relief onto the Equestrians as Ben put away his sword.

"Jekyll." Twilight said warmly.

Before they knew it, the image of Jekyll was replaced with a proudly smiling Ahab. “Ah, you looked Moby Dick in the eye, boy.” He spoke proudly.

"Ahab." Applejack said with a warm smile.

Instantly, Ahab transformed into John Silver, who gave Richard a wink. “Aye, ye had pirate stuff, m’lad. And don’t let no one speak any different.”

"I know we won't, John Silver." Rainbow remarked with a wink.

The Pagemaster then turned to the group as he spoke to Richard, "If I had brought you and your friends here from the start, you never would have found the courage to face your own fears."

All of a sudden, a larger image formed in the light and took the shape of the dragon they all faced earlier. The dragon let out a mighty roar before fading away.

"That giant dragon doesn't scare me anymore." Fluttershy remarked with a confident tone equal to that of Rainbow's, "After what it did to my friends, it's nothing to me!"

“Anybody else reminded of The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy was never told about the Ruby Slippers’ powers till the end and how if she knew the second they were put on her feet, she wouldn’t have learned any valuable life lessons in wisdom, kindness and courage?” Pinkie couldn’t help but ask aloud yet thoughtfully.

"You sure got that right, Pinkie Pie." Applejack remarked, "But still, what had 'ta be done, had 'ta be done. Richard found his courage just the same as Fluttershy did."

The Pagemaster turned to look at Richard, “And in doing so, you triumphed here and always.”

Then with a wave of his staff, the crystal dome glowed brightly. The group gazed into the glass. They were looking down into the library rotunda, where the bodies of Richard, the Mane Six, Spike, Nyx and Phobos all lay motionless on the floor.

"Look!" Apple Bloom cried.

"Hey, that... That's me!" Richard exclaimed.

"And us!" Twilight added.

"That was you." The Pagemaster said.

“I’m ready to go home now.”

But then, he remembered Adventure, Fantasy and Horror, along with the Mane Six, Spike, Ben, Nyx, Phobos and the other ponies.

“I mean… we’re ready.” He added, kneeling down to hug Horror as Adventure sheepishly scooted over next to them both.

“Is this the part where we close our eyes, tap our heels three times and think to ourselves, ‘There’s no place like home’ over and over?” Pinkie asked.

"Wrong story, Pinkie." Trixie said in amusement.

Suddenly, lightning flashed around them as the Pagemaster raised his staff. “The world awaits.” He spoke.

"Whoa!" Richard exclaimed as he, the books and the Equestrians found themselves levitating from the floor.

The vortex of light suddenly became a whirlwind that swept up Richard and the others. “Godspeed to you and your friends, boy!” The Pagemaster called out to Richard as the group flew into the vortex.

"Wait for me!" Horror called to Richard and the others as he followed them.

“Hang on, guys!” Twilight exclaimed, grabbing hold of Spike, Nyx, Phobos and Ben.

"Stay with me, Apple Bloom!" Applejack said as she held onto her little sister.

"Okay, Applejack!" Apple Bloom held onto her big sister tightly.

Rarity had clutched onto Sweetie Belle while Rainbow held onto Scootaloo. Fluttershy quickly took hold of Pinkie, who held onto Toola Roola and Coconut and Trixie did the same with Starlight.

Round and round they all spun about the vortex, not sure when it would all end. Most of them had shut their eyes so that they wouldn’t feel sick from the nonstop spinning. Twilight briefly opened her eyes to notice that the vortex around them began to take on multiple colors.

Before either of them knew it, they all fell to the bottom of the vortex!

The Return Home

“Fiction A to Z, where all is possible.”

"The devil of the deep! The white whale!"

"Every man is possessed of both good and evil."

"The meanest, black-hearted pirate that ever sailed the seven seas..."

"Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"

"And they all lived happily ever after..."

Those were the phrases Richard and Twilight remembered hearing as they and their friends spun around in the vortex they had been lifted up to and now held meaning to the boy. After falling from the vortex, Richard, Twilight, Spike, and the rest of their pony friends fell to the bottom of the rotunda with yells. Down and down they fell towards where their unconscious selves lay at the bottom. Their spirits landed smack dab in their bodies, which jolted. As for the ponies who had joined them halfway through the movie, their falls came to a slow as they got closer to the floor and lightly landed on their hooves. Next to them, Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror- now simply ordinary books- hit the marble floor. SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

Then the Equestrians' eyes opened wide. They were stargazing up at the portal, which disappeared and was replaced by the mural from earlier, looking as if it had never melted. The last thing to fall from the former portal now mural was Richard's library card, which landed beside his body. Turning to the unconscious boy, ponies, and dragons, the conscious ponies approached their friends.

Starlight lightly shook Twilight and Spike. "Hey, you guys okay?" She asked with a smile.

The purple alicorn and dragon moaned as they slowly regained consciousness.

"Applejack. Wake up." Apple Bloom spoke softly, gently nudging her older sister.

"Rarity?" Sweetie said, gently shaking her own sister.

"Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo said as she gently nudged her sister-like figure.

The ponies the CMC respectively spoke to start waking up. Richard himself slowly woke up as the others followed suit. The first thing he noticed was the reformed mural at the top of the rotunda. His gaze was fixed on the painted image of the Pagemaster. All of a sudden, a familiar voice called out to him and the others.

"You and your friends took quite a spill, young man."

"Huh?" Richard asked in confusion, trying to think more clearly.

Before the boy knew it, Mr. Dewey stepped into his line of sight, leaning over him and blocking the Pagemaster's image. "Are you all right?" The old librarian asked him, just as Twilight and the others got up on their feet and hooves.

"Yeah, we're okay, Mr. Dewey," Twilight replied.

Richard slowly climbed to his feet and looked around. Above the stacks and rows of bookshelves, he saw the exit sign, looking as though it had always been there. Without hesitation, thinking, or saying a word, the boy began running toward it.

"Careful, you'll slip again!" Mr. Dewey called after him.

At hearing those words, Richard skidded to a full stop as if he had remembered something. He whirled back around and rushed into the middle of the rotunda where the elderly man began collecting the three books from the floor.

Seeing this, Twilight spoke up, "Hey, wait a minute!"

"Wait!" Richard also exclaimed, just stopping before Mr. Dewey to kneel down and pick up his library card, "I forgot something. Here."

The librarian examined the card with interest before he turned to Richard and said, "I'm afraid you can only check out two."

At that, he began to remove Horror from the top of the stack.

"Horror?" Richard asked, looking disheartened. This left the ponies and dragons looking shocked and saddened. Twilight stepped forward.

"Wait! I'll check him out!" She offered, holding up her own library card.

Richard shook his head, "No, Twilight. I promised him I would."

Hearing this, Mr. Dewey cast the boy a curious look. "Promised whom?"

Richard turned to Twilight, not sure what to say next. The lilac alicorn gave him a reassuring smile and nodded as if telling him to go on. Nodding back at her, albeit with an unsure look, the blond boy turned back to the elder librarian as he sighed and spoke.

"Look, I need..." He began, not sure how to explain that he promised a book he'd check him out, "... just this once?"

"Please, Mr. Dew-?" Spike pleaded, standing next to Richard and Twilight.

Mr. Dewey raised a silencing hand. "Shh. I have a talent for guessing what people need." He glanced around to make sure that no one, save for Twilight and Spike's friends and family, was around to witness what was going on. He then placed Horror back in Richard's arms. "Just this once."

"Oh, thank you so much, Mr. Dewey." Nyx said with a warm, thankful smile.

“My pleasure, Nyx.” Mr. Dewey replied to the black Alicorn foal.

Richard smiled to Mr. Dewey and turned again to rush off, holding Adventure, Horror, and Fantasy in his arms tightly. Feeling as though their own work was done, Twilight, Spike, and the others rushed off after the blond boy down the aisle and toward the exit. “Godspeed to you all!” Being the last one down the aisle, Twilight stopped briefly and turned back towards Mr. Dewey, who stood alone in the rotunda. She only glanced in his direction, remembering how the Pagemaster had said those exact words to her, Richard, and the others before sending them back to the library in the real world. Mr. Dewey only smiled back and winked at her, as if he knew exactly what the lilac Alicorn was thinking. Twilight then smiled and nodded in gratitude before turning back to join her friends.

The rain-washed streets glimmered with the orange light of the setting sun. The storm had passed. Richard rode his bike with confidence down the tree-lined street. The three books were nestled comfortably in the bicycle basket. The ponies and dragons trotted/flew alongside the boy, some of them chattering about the unbelievable adventure they had gone on. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were riding on the backs of their respective sisters (sister figure for Scootaloo) while Toola and Coconut rode on Starlight and Trixie's backs.

"Oh, man, that was the coolest adventure we've ever had back at that library!" Rainbow exclaimed excitedly.

“It was pretty scary at times,” Fluttershy replied sheepishly, “but most of it was beautiful.”

"Just wait till Grandma Celestia hears all about it!" Nyx grinned.

"And Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, too!" Apple Bloom added in excitement.

"Not to mention Sunburst and the students at the School of Friendship!" Trixie added.

As they chatted on, the group turned a corner before they noticed Richard had stopped. When they looked ahead, Twilight, Ben, Rarity, Starlight, and Trixie quickly cast spells on themselves and the group minus Richard, making it seem as if only Richard sees and hears them and not anyone else. Just ahead was a makeshift ramp made from a large wooden board propped up on a concrete cylinder. The reason the alicorn, her coltfriend, and her unicorn friends had this necessary spell was because of the group of children on bikes surrounding the ramp.

"Hey, look who came back!" One of the kids called upon noticing Richard.

"Hey, Tyler, ya gonna chicken out again?" Another asked tauntingly.

Rainbow looked offended on Richard’s behalf. “Nobody calls one of my friends a chicken!”

"Yeah, no one!" Scootaloo agreed.

Richard, however, didn’t seem too phased by the other kids’ taunts. Compared to what he and his friends went through in their journeys through the lands of Horror, Adventure, and Fantasy, their jeers were nothing but words. The boy barely noticed Twilight as she trotted up next to him.

“You got this, Richard. Show them what you’re made of.” She spoke encouragingly.

"Yeah, don't listen to those punks." Ben agreed.

"Go on, Richard!" Nyx encouraged the boy.

"Yeah, show 'em!" Spike agreed eagerly.

Richard gripped the handlebars of his bike, looking determined. His heart pumped fast but sure as he pedaled towards the ramp. The more he pedaled, the faster he was going. The bike picked up speed. Faster and faster it went, faster than it had ever gone before. The other kids scrambled to get out of his way. Richard hit the ramp at full speed. The bike lifted into the air, higher than any of the kids in the area had ever gone. The other kids watched in awe as it landed solidly on the wet asphalt.

"YES!!!" Richard cheered right after landing.

“Woo-hoo, Richard! Way to go!” Applejack cheered as they rejoined their human friend.

"Yeah, that stunt back there was so awesome!" Rainbow squealed.

"Best. Biking. EVER!" Scootaloo cheered.

"Yeah, you rock!" Sweetie remarked with a grin.

Richard looked back briefly to see the other kids’ priceless expressions before turning his attention back to the road ahead of him. He had the biggest smile on his face as he and his Equestrian and draconian friends kept going on their way.

“Good! That was definitely good!” The boy exclaimed with exhilaration.

As the group continued down the street, the street lights turned on, illuminating the soon-to-be dark neighborhood. Eventually, they stopped at Richard's home as the boy got off his bike and laid it down on the ground.

Fluttershy noticed the house, “Wow, Richard. This house looks really nice.”

"I agree. Lovely place." Rarity agreed.

"Hey, that's a really cool treehouse!" Apple Bloom exclaimed with a smile upon seeing the treehouse.

Richard looked up at the treehouse, remembering how his dad had tried getting him to climb up into it and how he insisted it was safe despite the blond boy telling him there was a chance of an accident happening with it.

He then smiled, “Yeah. I guess it is. Even though it’s not quite done yet.”

"And your dad accidentally fell from up there? Yeesh!" Phobos remarked with a cringe.

“Well, um… it was kind of my fault, really.” Richard replied, looking ashamed.

"Your fault? What do you mean?" Twilight asked in concern.

“Remember when I said he sent me to get nails from the hardware store?”

"Yeah. Why?" Rainbow asked.

“Well, he asked me to bring a bag of nails up to him, but I was too nervous to go up the ladder. So he asked me to lift it up to him in a bucket attached to a string. I got distracted and I, well, accidentally dropped the bucket on his head, causing him to fall from the treehouse.”

"Oooh!" The Equestrians exclaimed as they cringed at the sound of that.

"Well, since you faced your fears and all in that epic adventure we had back at the library, I bet you want to climb that treehouse now, right?" Pinkie asked happily.

Richard took another long look at the treehouse. As he did, he realized that given the adventure he went on and the fears he faced, almost everything he considered dangerous in real life seemed like nothing worth being afraid of. The blond boy then smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He replied.

"Attaboy, Richard!" Rainbow praised the boy with a grin.

"We're so proud of you," Twilight said happily as she put a hoof on Richard's shoulder.

“Thanks, Twilight.” He replied.

"You know, I was wondering." Spike said as a thought came up to him just now, "Since we pretty much finished our adventure here, and Richard is back home, how do we get back home?"

Twilight looked confused as she scratched her head. “Well, um… to be honest? I’m not sure.”

"That's a very good question, Spike," Applejack remarked. At that moment, Nyx sensed something that caused her to look in a direction with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, what's that?" The black alicorn foal asked in curiosity.

The others turned to what Nyx was looking at as Sweetie asked in confusion, "Huh? What's what?"

Then what they saw got them all curious. There was a glowing circle that slowly expanded until it revealed itself to be a silver magic portal.

“Is that…?” Spike began to wonder aloud.

"A portal?" Phobos finished in curiosity.

At first, everyone was curious, until Rainbow remarked in an excited tone, "That's our answer to how we can get home!"

““Get home?” What do you mean?” Richard asked, feeling very confused.

Twilight turned to Richard as she decided that the time had come to tell the truth. "Richard, me and my friends are from another world called Equestria." She said.

Richard would have looked shocked by this, but he had already been used to the fact that his new friends weren’t human. Especially given how he spent hours exploring an enchanted library to get home with them.

“This Equestria… is it inhabited by ponies and dragons like you guys?”

"Precisely." Twilight nodded in reply, "In fact, it also has other creatures that inhabit it; Yaks, hippogriffs, griffons, changelings, Kirin, Breezies, zebras- almost all kinds of equines you can think of."

“Wow…” Richard managed to say, looking amazed.

"But you can't tell anyone, not even your parents," Ben said.

"The only ones you can tell, though, are Horror, Adventure, and Fantasy." Starlight said with a wink while pointing to the three books in Richard's basket.

Richard thought it over, then nodded in agreement. "I won't tell anyone. They might think I'm crazy."

"Thank you so much, Richard," Twilight said with a grateful smile. She hugged the boy as she said, "You're a real true friend." The rest of the Equestrians joined in hugging Richard, who smiled warmly as he hugged them all back.

"I'm really gonna miss you guys." The boy commented out loud.

“We’ll miss ya too, Rich,” Applejack replied sweetly.

"You all won't forget me, will you?" Richard asked.

“As long as you won’t forget us,” Twilight replied, hugging Richard once more.

"Yeah, maybe we'll meet again someday," Nyx said with a smile.

"When the co-authors get to that bridge, no doubt we will!" Pinkie said with a grin.

Everyone else looked at Pinkie in confusion at this before Rainbow remarked, "Pinkie, you are so random."

"Well, everypony, I guess it's time to go," Ben said.

After having said their goodbyes, the ponies and dragons made their way through the portal. Once all of them were through, the portal disappeared. Richard immediately went inside the house and came back out minutes later with a lantern before gathering up Adventure, Horror, and Fantasy and climbing up the ladder into his treehouse.

The silver portal opened again as Twilight and her friends stepped out and onto the stage in front of the big movie screen. They have returned to the Grand Palace Cinema in Hope Hollow and Equestria.

"Well done, my little ponies."

The group looked to see Bethesda standing before them, smiling proudly.

“Hey, Bethesda! You’re a sight for sore eyes!” Pinkie greeted cheerfully.

Bethesda chuckled at the pink pony's statement as he said, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It's great to see you again, Bethesda!" Twilight said happily.

"Likewise, Twilight." Bethesda nodded in agreement, "So, how did you and your friends like being in the movie, so to speak?"

“Well-.” The lilac Alicorn began, but Pinkie cut in.

“It was so amazing! We went up against a crazy doctor, a giant whale, a gang of pirates, and even a ferocious dragon! And we met a ton of cool characters!” The party pony exclaimed really fast and excitedly.

"Yeah, it was awesome!" Rainbow agreed, sharing Pinkie's excitement.

“Some of it was very scary…” Fluttershy admitted sheepishly, but then smiled, “But most of it was beautiful.”

"And we even became friends with Richard Tyler who found the courage to face his own fears!" Applejack added honestly with a smile.

"Splendid!" Bethesda exclaimed, "I knew you would enjoy the Grand Palace Cinema."

"Man, I wouldn't mind doing it again, now that I know what this experience is like!" Spike remarked excitedly.

"Me too!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Nyx, Phobos, Toola Roola, and Coconut Cream all said at the same time, sharing Spike's excitement.

"I quite agree!" Rarity nodded with a smile, "But I think we better head for home, 'cause I got some work to do on making new outfits."

"Awww, but don't you wanna see how the movie ends?" Bethesda suggested a bit playfully, winking at the Equestrians who had their first movie adventure.

Starlight smiled, “Now that you mention it, I would like to.”

"Trixie would love to see it, too!" Trixie said eagerly.

"Ya know what? I wanna see how it ends, too!" Applejack said with a grin.

"Can we, Twilight?!" Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, Spike, Nyx, Phobos, the CMCs, Toola Roola, and Coconut Cream all asked in excitement and unison.

Twilight smiled and giggled. “I don’t see why not. After all, it’s like they say, “It’s not over until the fat lady sings.””

"Wonderful! Now, let's watch the show and see what happens." Bethesda said happily.

With that, the ponies, Spike and Phobos turned their attention back to the screen as they took their seats. On the screen, it was now nighttime at Richard’s house as a car pulled into the driveway.

"I can't imagine where he could be. Maybe we should call the police." A woman's voice said in worry.

At that, a car pulled into the driveway. In the driver’s seat was a man in his mid to late thirties with light blond hair while a woman around his age sat in the passenger seat. Her hair was shoulder-length and brown. Twilight and her friends knew off the bat these two must have been Richard’s parents.

Just then, the woman spotted the bike in the driveway and gasped.

“Alan!” She exclaimed, getting out of the car as soon as her husband stopped the car and turned it off, “He’s home!”

As she got around the car, Richard's mother looked down at the bike before she looked up to see something that made her look shocked. Just as Richard's father, Alan, closed the door while looking down at his son's bike in confusion, the woman's shocked expression turned to a delighted grin as she said aloud, "Alan."

"What's wrong, Claire?" Alan asked.

He noticed his wife, Claire, looking up at the treehouse. Following her gaze, he noticed a certain boy up inside the treehouse sleeping. A warm yellow light glowed from within the walls.

"That's impossible." He muttered.

Deciding to take a closer look, Alan went to the ladder of the treehouse and began to climb. Upon reaching the top, he opened up the door at the top.

"Rich?" He inquired, but his presence didn't so much as cause the boy to stir.

Even so, he was in disbelief that Richard, a boy who was supposed to be usually fearful about heights and almost other stuff, had actually climbed up the treehouse, and he didn't know it until now. But there was Richard, asleep in the treehouse as the lantern cast a yellow glow over him and the three books nestled under his arm.

Not even ten seconds later, Claire climbed up the ladder and saw Richard asleep and smiled at her husband. She then picked up Richard's glasses, which were lying by his face.

"We probably should put him in his bed." She suggested to her husband.

"Let's let him sleep up here tonight," Alan said.

Claire chuckled and climbed back down the ladder, leaving Alan alone. The latter smiled and laid his jacket over Richard and kissed him on the head.

"Love ya, Richie." He spoke as he turned off the lantern before climbing down himself.

Richard's parents then headed inside the house through the back door. Before he followed Claire in through the door, Alan turned to look up at Richard one more time.

"Good night, son." He said before heading inside and turning off the lights.

Just when Twilight and her friends thought the ending couldn't be any happier, something stirred in the darkness of the treehouse--the sound of pages rustling.

"It's dark out here." A familiar voice spoke up timidly, surprising Twilight's group, "I wish there was a nightlight."

"Honey, wish granted." Another familiar voice replied.

As if by magic, the lantern once again became illuminated.

The first voice gasped in delight at what just happened. Then it laughed giddily as he exclaimed happily, "Oh, hooray! Hooray, hooray!"

Much to the Equestrians' surprise, the shadows of three familiar books were cast on the wall of Richard's treehouse.

"It's Horror, Adventure, and Fantasy!" Nyx exclaimed softly.

"As shadows!" Phobos added also softly.

Adventure took a deep breath and exhaled, a grin on his face.

"Breathe it in, mateys." He spoke proudly, raising his cutlass, "This be the land of Adventure. Ye can lay to that."

Then, as the pirate book sheathes his sword, Horror began to cry, much to the concern of the other two books and the Equestrians.

"Come here, handsome. Why you cryin'?" Fantasy asked gently.

"Because I have friends." Horror replied with a sniffle.

Hearing the hunchbook's teary statement put warm smiles on Twilight and her friends' faces as they watched the film with Bethesda.

Adventure chuckled, "That ye do, matey. Aye, that ye do." He then cleared his throat before speaking again.

"You know what would make this a happy ending? A kiss." The screen faded to black as Horror's voice was heard saying,

"Duh, o-okay." Horror said. Then Twilight's group all widened their eyes and, except for Rainbow who grinned widely and looked like she was about to laugh, dropped their jaws in shock as they heard what sounded like Horror giving a big kiss.

"Grrr! I meant from her!" Adventure's voice shouted, and after that was the sound of him spitting in frustration and Horror and Fantasy laughing hysterically.

The Equestrians watching the film, including Bethesda, couldn't resist joining the laughter.

Rainbow did her best to regain her composure. "Guess he got what he asked for." She said between snickers.

"You said it." Applejack agreed with a laugh as she wiped away a tear.

"Oh my!" Fluttershy laughed, going into giggles. "I got the giggles!"

As soon as he relaxed, Bethesda said to the group, "Now, my little ponies, the movie has ended."

"Mr. Bethesda, thank you for an amazing experience." Twilight praised with a smile.

"You're quite welcome, Twilight," Bethesda said with a bow.

"That was a great movie!" Scootaloo exclaimed happily.

"Ah agree!" Apple Bloom said with a smile.

"Me too!" Sweetie agreed excitedly, "Being on an adventure through the Pagemaster movie and helping Richard face his fears was so much fun!"

Upon hearing the white foal speak the last word in a squeal, Bethesda gave a chuckle as he remarked, "Until now, I never realized how you have such an adorable voice, Sweetie Belle."

"Whoa, careful now." Apple Bloom teased. "She is done too young fer ya."

"Relax, it was a compliment," Bethesda explained to Apple Bloom with an amused smile, knowing she was teasing.

Sweetie giggled as she blushed from the dark blue unicorn's compliment.

"Ah don't understand the Pagemaster's poor box office performance in real life, or those critics giving the movie negative reviews." Applejack commented, "Ah thought it was great!"

"Right, it's like liking a film no one else likes," Nyx explains in concern. She added quickly, "Not saying that the author of this story likes everything his friends like!"

Twilight turned to Applejack, "Still, your statement about the Pagemaster just now- what brought that on?"

"Oh, just somethin' ah thought of," Applejack remarked.

"Ahh, you must be referring to the reception of the Pagemaster seen on the net." Bethesda said as he held up a cell phone of his own, "Even I don't care what those negative reviews or critics say about the Pagemaster. Because like I said, there are no bad movies in my theater."

"That's good to know," Applejack confirmed with a nod.

"And Spike, regarding yours and the other kids' statement before." Bethesda said as he put his cell phone away, "Since all of you now know what the experience is like, you all shall indeed visit the Grand Palace Cinema again." Then the theater owner gave a wink as he said, "But that's another movie."

"Really?" Spike asked, looking excited.

"Of course." Bethesda replied happily with a nod, "You and your friends deserve more excitement and more adventures."

"That would be so cool!" Pinkie spoke eagerly.

"Yeah!" The foals agree in unison. "Mom, Dad, and Aunt Luna would never believe this!" Ben remarked excitedly.

"Oh, they will learn about this theater soon enough, Ben Valorheart." Bethesda said, "Just wait and see. Until then, my little ponies, you're all now free to return home."

"Goodbye, Bethesda. And thanks again!" Twilight spoke as she made her way to the door.

"Farewell, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Bethesda said as the purple alicorn and her group left the theater, "See you next time." As soon as Twilight's group left and the doors closed, the dark blue unicorn remarked out loud, "This is only the beginning."

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, a statue stood in the garden. It displayed a former changeling queen, a scrawny centaur, and a pegasus foal. All three of them looked to be frozen in poses of terror and defiance. Of course, due to the events of the Knights of Harmony attacking Equestria some time ago, the statue was beginning to crack, showing only a dark green eye with an elongated oval pupil, and a twitching black leg full of holes. Curiously, the statue doesn't seem to be cracking any further, as if what the Knights of Harmony did wasn't enough to break them free. Just then, a red flash of light appeared a few feet close to the statue as Chrysalis's eye looked towards it in confusion and curiosity. At that moment, one of the royal Canterlot guards was walking along, inspecting the area, when he just noticed the glow.

"What in the name of Equestria?!" The guard exclaimed in shock, his eyes widened.

Walking into view were nine humanoid figures. The guard witnessing this nervously looked on as he attempted to hide from view, not sure what they wanted.

"Why do we have to go to this disgustingly adorable world?" One of the figures asked rudely.

"Yeah, and what do we need a stone statue for anyway?" Another figure asked.

"This world we're in is full of magic." The figure leading the group explained in a demonic-sounding voice, "And this is no ordinary statue."

From his hiding spot, the guard made out the details of the figures as best as he could. The leader was mostly red, save for his chrome crown and mask. Flanking him was what looked like a witch who carried an odd staff. And looking at the figure that asked about the stone statue, the guard also saw that it was a half-white, half-camouflage-color skeleton of some sort.

"That's the ugliest-looking statue I've ever seen!" remarked a short, blue-skinned hobgoblin-like creature with a large horn.

“I say we smash it. It’s a real eyesore!” Suggested the winged lion-like creature wearing gold armor.

"Eyesore is right! It's so ugly, it's hurting my eyes!" A comment came from what looked like a tall, slim, black, and vampiric creature that resembles a cross between a monkey and a bat with crippled wings. He wore a monocle over his left eye and what appears to be a pocket watch on his chest.

"If I had a mace, I'd be sure to give it a whacking!" An armored pig remarked snidely.

"Hmm... Judging from the looks of this statue, it appears to be of three unique looking creatures," The white bird-like leprechaun creature said in intrigue upon inspecting the statue. "And it appears to be cracking, like something inside is trying to come out."

Suddenly, the guard who was hiding looked determined and made his presence known as he hopped from his hiding spot. He glared at the newcomers as he held his spear at the ready.

“Halt! Who are you and what do you want?!” The guard spoke.

"Don't mind us." The red figure said evilly, "We just want to take a look at this statue. In fact, you look like you've been working all night. I think it's time for you to take a rest!" As he said that, he pointed his metallic staff with the "Z" on the tip, and the guard with his spear at the ready was zapped by electricity. He screamed from the shock, but then, he fell to the ground and dropped his spear, passing out. Chrysalis's free eye on the statue widened in shock and amazement at seeing this.

“I could do that. I just choose not to.” The pig commented.

"Oh, shut up!" The female dressed like a scorpion snapped in annoyance.

On taking a closer look at the statue, Rita sees the cracked statue of Chrysalis and the centaur.

"Ahh, perhaps you were right about this statue after all." The witch carrying the weird staff said, "I'm sensing powerful dark magic from it."

"Good, you see my point." The red figure approved the witch's remark, "These three creatures will be very useful to us. And now, let's crack this statue and free its prisoners!"

"With pleasure!" The witch agreed as she and the red leader held up their staffs and shot magic at the statue, causing it to start cracking even more. Chrysalis's freed leg started twitching even more. This time, shaking a little harder as the cracks spread. In fact, the statues of Cozy Glow and Tirek began cracking as well. A pale red hand was seen as soon as it broke free and clenched into a fist. Next, the foal's pegasus wings started fluttering once they were loose.

Soon, the three villains' eyes began moving around in all directions, but it was too dark and blurry to make out their surroundings. As the stone flakes chipped off of their mouths, they started breathing again while discovering that they could move their whole bodies, including their faces. All the stone flakes finally fell off in thin chunks. Chrysalis and Tirek fell to the ground, while Cozy plopped on top of the large round pedestal that was magically formed underneath them when they were cursed. They groaned and slowly began to stand up and shake off some of the remaining flakes. They looked around to see it was night. They were in what appeared to be the Canterlot statue garden with Canterlot City in view, on the edge of the mountain.

“What just happened?” Cozy asked in confusion.

“Were we just turned to stone?” Tirek asked as he stood on his four horse legs and began flailing his arms around, shaking off the flakes.

“Those fools! How long were we out?!” Chrysalis shouted as she stomped on the ground in anger.

"You three have been out for nine months." The witch explained, getting Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy's attention.

“Who in Equestria are you?” The centaur inquired, eyeing the group suspiciously.

The red leader stepped forward as he replied, "I am Lord Zedd, sworn enemy of all that is good and decent, Emperor of all I see."

The witch stood next to the red leader, Lord Zedd, as she spoke. "And I am Rita Repulsa, Empress of evil. We have been looking for the three of you."

"Looking for us?" Cozy Glow asked in confusion, a bit intimidated by Lord Zedd's appearance, "What do you mean?"

"We learned a lot about the three of you of the different times when you tried to take over this world," Rita explained.

"And we see lots of potential in you." Lord Zedd added, "Your powers, your manipulation, your cruelty- they are all so incredible, we would love to have you join us."

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Chrysalis said as she raised an eyebrow, "What's in it for us?"

"If you pledge your loyalty to us, we can conquer not only your world but countless others as well!" Rita exclaimed.

Tirek looked intrigued, “We’re listening.”

"You help us destroy our enemies, we will help you destroy yours." Lord Zedd spoke.

"We'd love to consider that, really, but there's one teeny-weeny problem." Cozy said out loud, "We're powerless."

"Indeed." Chrysalis agreed with a frown, "You wouldn't want three useless Equestrian creatures that have no powers."

"No powers?" Lord Zedd asked, "I believe we can fix that. Can't we, Rita?"

"Precisely!" Rita nodded in reply with a grin.

"You can what??" Tirek asked in confusion and surprise, but then, he, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow were zapped by the same magic from Zedd and Rita's staves.

Then, the three Equestrian villains, surprised by what's happening to them, found themselves levitating before they started glowing. After a bright flash that caused Lord Zedd and Rita's minions to cover their eyes briefly, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy levitated back on the ground. Then they looked at themselves. To their shock, they saw that Tirek and Chrysalis now look exactly the same as when they unlocked the power of the Bewitching Bell, while Cozy was not only an alicorn foal but also wearing the same collar she wore when she tried to destroy the School of Friendship. Except that instead of the pendant of the shield of the School, on the front of the collar was a pendant whose design was the same as the tip of Rita's wand. After a moment, their shock turned to wicked delight.

“We’re back in business!” Chrysalis exclaimed, grinning psychotically.

"YIPPEE! I'm an alicorn again!" Cozy cheered excitedly as she did a loop-de-loop.

"I feel young and strong again!" Tirek shouted with a confident grin as he flexed his muscles.

"Are you satisfied now?" Rita asked with a wicked smile.

"Oh, we are definitely satisfied!" Chrysalis responded gleefully.

"Now, about my proposal." Lord Zedd said, "Are you in or are you out?"

Tirek bowed before the red demon as he said, "Because you gave me what I desire, I, Lord Tirek, am at your service, Lord Zedd."

“I bow to no one, but for you, I’ll make an exception,” Chrysalis added, bowing before the demon.

"As long as I have power again, I'll do anything for you, Lord Zedd," Cozy said as she bowed before the evil monster.

"Excellent!" Lord Zedd said evilly, "Together, we will conquer our world, yours, and many others and our enemies will have no choice but to surrender to us or be destroyed! Nothing can stop us now!!!!"

Then the red demon began laughing evilly, along with Rita. Their minions joined in the evil laughter, while at the same time, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow joined in as well. This is the beginning of a new and dangerous threat to Equestria...

THE END?

Author's Note

And there you have it: The end of my first Filmatic Escapade! Shocking cliffhanger, isn't it?

And considering the appearance of new villains, who I'm sure most of you are familiar with (if you watched Power Rangers), that means my next Filmatic Escapade is going to be...

That's right, True Bronies! Twilight and her friends are gonna be teaming up with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!!!!

(Insert crowd cheering wildly here)

In fact, you know what? I think I shall start writing that Filmatic Escapade next month, as a way of promoting Power Rangers' big 3-0! That would be very appropriate!

So until next time, this is Toonwriter signing off!