Chapters Several minutes later, the unicorn guard were returning to the castle, up a long arcing cliffside path. Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike were floating in their midst, imprisoned in a glowing sphere of shield energy.
Rainbow pounded angrily at the field with her forehooves, then flung her shoulders against it, first one then the other. "Aw, come on!" she yelled. "I've got wings, darn it. I can fly myself!"
"Calm down, Rainbow." Twilight was staring around at the sphere of magic, fascinated by it even given their predicament. "This is perfect, actually."
"Maybe for you, Twi." Rainbow flung herself down grumpily. "But for me it's embarrassing! I'm a pegasus, for crying out loud. I don't need somepony's freaky magic toting me around like... well, like some kind of wingless wonder!"
She blinked, noticing Twilight's raised eyebrow.
"Oops. Heh heh! No offense, huh?"
"None taken," Twilight muttered. "But look, we wanted to find somepony important to talk to. The guards are probably taking us to whoever's in charge. And look on the bright side, we don't even have to walk there."
"But what if they're just planning to chuck us in the dungeon and throw away the key?"
"I don't think it'll come to that."
Spike looked up at her fearfully. "Are you sure , Twilight?"
Twilight looked uncomfortable.
"Well... not really. We might need a backup plan."
Glancing around at the guards surrounding them, Twilight fished in her mane with a hoof, and pulled out a small wooden ruler. With it she gently poked and prodded at the field around them, with no effect. Then she dug in her mane again, producing a steel straightedge. She gently touched the end of it to the field, and the tingling in her fetlock made her nod confidently. She passed the wooden ruler to Spike, while she pulled a roll of tape from her mane and wrapped some of it around the end of the steel bar. Then she tucked the tape away again and settled in to wait.
The guards brought them up to the castle, and through its main doors, then along a connecting passageway and finally into a large, richly-curtained audience chamber.
The room was crowded with unicorns, all shouting loudly, making pleas and demands. At the room's far end, on a raised dais, there was an elaborately sculpted silver throne. And seated on this, primly and regally, there was a gleaming-white unicorn. She had flowing violet locks and wide, blue-irised eyes. On her forehead, just below her sword-like horn, she wore a blue crystal crown with a shining amethyst gemstone in its center.
And she was currently rolling her eyes in disbelief.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" she addressed the richly robed official kneeling before her. "We promised the Crystalsmith's Guild they'd have representation on this new Board of Trade. And never let it be said the Princess of the Unicorns doesn't keep her promises. Now, if we could only find somepony in the Guild who was actually worthy . And not snaffling the bits at every opportunity..."
"Er, Princess Rarity!" said a robed scribe, holding up a thick stack of parchment sheets. "I have the revised Decrees and Ordinances, ready for your review and approval."
"Oh my word! Would somepony puh-lease get me a strong cappuccino? Like, seriously, a bucket of the stuff?" She shook her head, putting a hoof to her forehead. "I'm going to need it to get through this lot, I can tell."
"Geez..." Rainbow said scornfully. "She looks... busy."
"She looks beautiful ..." Spike was staring rapturedly at her. "Don't you think so, Twilight?"
"Focus, Casanova," Twilight warned. "Are you two ready?"
"Uh, yeah!" Spike nodded. "Ready, Twi!"
Rainbow looked puzzled. "Ready for what?"
"Just follow my lead."
As the guards brought Twilight and her friends through the crowd, the Princess looked up, appearing less than pleased by the interruption.
"What is it now, Captain? Can't you see I already have a million things on my mind?"
The laureled stallion bowed importantly, but said nothing in reply.
Instead, out of the shadows to the left of the throne, a dark-robed, silver-maned unicorn stepped into view. "Highness," he growled importantly, "the guards captured these, ah, ponies ... down in the town. They were wandering around, asking questions of the townsfolk." The unicorn glared down at the captives, his eyes narrowed suspiciously, his horn shimmering with golden magic.
"Oh yeah..." Rainbow whispered eagerly. "This guy is trouble! He's got 'Grand Vizier' written all over him."
"He's also surprisingly well-informed," Twilight replied. "We only just got here."
"Eeeh! That's the mage I ran away from!" Spike shivered. "He's Aegagrus, the Royal Sorceror. They say he can see everything, no matter where he is. What if he wants me back?"
"Just stay close to us, Spike," Twilight advised nervously.
Aegagrus had turned his stern gaze back to the throne. "They came from... the Everfree Forest ," he intoned gravely, as if it was an offense all on its own. "They appeared to be trying to gather information about us, Highness. For what reason, we have yet to ascertain..."
"Ya coulda asked," Rainbow muttered crossly.
Twilight drew herself up, clearing her throat. "Your Highness, if I might explain..."
But the Princess was already waving a hoof dismissively. "No no no! I simply don't have time for this just now. See to it please, won't you, Aegagrus?"
"Of course, Highness." The sorcerer bowed readily. "At once."
Sensing she was losing her chance, Twilight quickly raised her voice.
"Ehem! I think Her Majesty will wish to see us now! "
Bringing up her hoof, with the steel straightedge clasped in it, Twilight plunged it like a dagger into the gleaming shield. With a loud pop, the field destabilized and winked out, dropping Twilight and Spike heavily onto the marble tiles of the floor. Rainbow of course had instinctively taken wing. She hovered in midair beside them.
Slightly winded by the fall, Twilight quickly scrambled to her hooves, then bowed deeply. "Your Majesty, I'm sorry for this intrusion. My name is Twilight Sparkle. And it's an honor to meet you."
The Princess was staring at them in wide-eyed surprise. "But... you're not unicorns."
"No, we're not, Your Highness," Twilight agreed. "I'm an earth pony. And Rainbow is a pegasus. And Spike here is a dragon. We're from... a distant land. We've come to your realm merely to visit. We mean no harm to anypony."
"I rather think we should be the judge of that," Aegagrus warned. "Wouldn't you agree, Highness?"
The Princess looked doubtful, yet intrigued. She stared at the prisoners, seemingly fascinated by them. Twilight held her breath. This might be it, make or break, if they could only hold her interest...
Then Rainbow suddenly snickered. "This is so cool, Twilight! It's exactly like Daring Do's Adventures in the Hyborian Lands , huh?"
"That was just a story, Rainbow," Twilight said absently, with her attention still focused on the Princess.
The pegasus blinked, then turned to stare at her.
"Just a story? "
"Yeah. You know, an adventure novel? You didn't think those stories were real did you?"
"What? I thought you loaned me those books to help me learn about earth pony history! They made you guys sound really cool! And now you're saying they're just stories? "
"Don't you have anything similar at home? Books you read for fun?"
"Read? For fun? " Rainbow looked scandalized. "We've got very different ideas about fun, Twilight. And why invent a bunch of stories anyways? The history of the Legion's got tons of great stuff -- which actually happened!"
"Military history? That's what you find entertaining?"
"Sure! What of it?"
"That is the most jingoistic, jar-headed attitude --"
"Well at least we don't have to invent a bunch of made-up stuff just to make ourselves sound cool."
"Rainbow!" Twilight paused, her mouth open, trying to collect her thoughts enough to launch a full broadside.
Then a different voice spoke up.
"Ahem."
Princess Rarity was smiling at them, bemusedly. "Am I still a party to this conversation, my dears?"
Twilight winced, and cleared her throat sheepishly. "My apologies, Your Highness. A slight difference of opinion here." She glared at Rainbow.
"Yeah, right." Rainbow frowned, crossing her forehooves.
"As I was saying," Twilight went on, "we came here out of curiosity, a wish to explore and meet other ponies. Nothing more."
"Well," Rarity said. "You must be a very knowledgeable sorceror indeed, the way you dealt with the guards' shield spell."
"Oh, that wasn't magic, Your Highness," Twilight said proudly. "Just basic physics. I used a conductor as an antenna, setting up a feedback loop which caused the field's own standing wave to cancel itself out!"
There was dead silence in the throne room, as everypony took this in.
Rainbow glanced around, then shrugged. "Don't bother trying to figure it out. She's an egghead."
"And the, er... dragon?" Rarity asked. "Is he your familiar?"
Spike gave Twilight a suspicious look. "What's she mean by that? "
"A spirit in animal form," Twilight whispered back. "Who acts as a magician's assistant."
"Oh!" Spike nodded. "Sure, that I can do!"
Before Twilight could stop him, the dragon had brandished his wooden ruler. "Back! Back I say! Or I shall use this magic wand she gave me to take you all on myself!"
He swung round and began hacking and slashing with all his might at the nearest of the guard unicorns. Who simply projected a blue warding spell, against which the rain of blows from Spike's 'magic wand' had absolutely no effect.
Winded and panting, Spike finally paused, waving a claw. "Okay... time out. Just... gimme a sec, here..."
"Ugh!" Twilight ran a hoof down her face in frustration. "Spike! That's not helping."
"Nice try though," Rainbow added. "You just need to work on your technique, buddy."
"Rainbow! For crying out loud! I --"
She was brought up short by a peal of laughter. It was Princess Rarity. Unable to contain herself she'd finally burst out laughing. Loudly, brightly, and at length. "Oh my!" the Princess finally said. "You simply must take this little performance on the stage, my dears. It's an utter delight, absolutely first rate!"
The onlooking petitioners, following the Princess's lead, also broke into a storm of derisive laughter. Twilight stared around at them all, her eye twitching.
"But... but I..."
"Now," Rarity went on, "that was just the break from routine that I've needed in... oh, I don't know how long! You've no idea how the work simply piles up around here. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, eh? I'd simply love to have a chat, find out more about where you're all from, and --"
"Ah, perhaps, Highness," interposed the silver-haired unicorn, "it might be best to do so at the conclusion of the afternoon's audience? There are, after all, so many deserving ponies requiring your attention."
"Oh!" The Princess stamped a hoof impatiently. "Of course you're right, Aegagrus. Duty first! I've always said so myself. Later then, my dears? Oh, Captain, do see to it that our guests are given someplace comfortable to wait in the meantime, mmm?"
The laureled unicorn simply bowed once more. And Aegagrus spoke for him.
The guard unicorns quickly caught up Twilight and Spike in a shield bubble, this time after carefully relieving Twilight of the steel straightedge. They also captured Rainbow in a separate bubble, before the startled pegasus had a chance to make a break for it.
"No! Wait!" Twilight called desperately, as they were levitated away. "Your Highness! If you'd just hear me out for a minute..."
But the Princess had already turned her attention back to the noisily clamoring throng, once more completely distracted by the endless tide of demands and minutia. Beside her, the silver-maned sorcerer nodded significantly to the guard captain. Who nodded back, just as significantly.
"Well," Rainbow muttered glumly, as they were toted away along the corridor outside. "That just happened. Any more bright ideas, Chief?"
Twilight just sat in her shield bubble, a miserable look on her face. And Spike stared up at her, looking both guilty and concerned.
The guards secured them in a small cell, high in the castle's tower. The room wasn't uncomfortable really. It had a quilted bed by the window. There was a side-table with a jug of water, glassware, and a basin. Yet the solid iron of the door, and the bars on the window, made it clear they weren't merely guests.
Twilight sat in the middle of the floor, her lips pursed in thought, and scuffed at the thin carpeting with a hoof. Spike sat beside her, twiddling his claws and trying to think of something helpful to say.
Rainbow turned from testing the window's bars once again, and flopped down disgustedly on the bed. "Ugh! This is agonizing! How long have we been stuck in here?"
"About five minutes, Rainbow," Twilight said.
Spike reached up to put a comforting claw on her shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Twilight."
"For what, Spike?"
"For messing things up. I thought you were trying to impress everypony, make them think you were a powerful sorceror too. I'm sorry if I got a bit carried away, and ruined your plan."
"What plan?" Rainbow demanded, waved a hoof. "There was no plan! We were totally winging it there! And trust me, I know what the word means."
"There was so a plan!" Spike objected, hotly. "Right, Twi?"
But Twilight shook her head sadly. "No, Spike. Rainbow's right. I was playing it by ear, figuring it out as I went. And I should have clued you both in, so you'd know what to do." She sighed. "I'm just so used to working things out by myself, doing everything on my own. I didn't even think to talk to you two about it. This happens to me a lot. I suffer from expert's disease."
"Eww." Rainbow eyed her. "Is that like... contagious?"
Twilight managed a smile. "It's when you think just because you happen to know something, everypony else around you must know it too. I just assumed you two would see what I was up to. I'm sorry about that."
Rainbow stared at her in surprise. Then shrugged.
"Hey, no biggie. And trust me, if it's goin' down, I am totally there. But... dropping a hint ahead of time, that wouldn't hurt either, would it?"
"Absolutely." Twilight nodded. "And I promise, from now on we'll work as a team." Then she glanced around at the cell. "That is, assuming that we aren't stuck in here forever."
"Well," Spike said, "the Princess did say she'd have time for us after the audience was over. She'll get to us eventually, won't she?"
"I dunno..." Rainbow muttered. "The way Greasy Eminence down there was giving us the stink-eye, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for him to remind the Princess we're stuck up here. He's just liable to have us flung into a real dungeon. And then burn the paperwork so everypony forgets about us."
"Oh! This is all my fault." Twilight stamped a hoof. "I went at this all wrong, and now we're stuck in here."
Then she looked up at the barred window. And down at Spike.
"Well, maybe not all of us..."
"Forget it, Twilight," said Rainbow. "Those bars ain't movin'."
"But Spike's small enough. He could squeeze right through."
"Yeah, I suppose so. Lucky for him."
"What?" Spike objected. "But... you guys would still be trapped in here."
Twilight shook her head. "That doesn't matter, Spike. This isn't your problem. We only asked you along as a guide. There's no reason you need to be trapped in here with us."
"But... Twilight!" Spike suddenly grabbed hold of her foreleg and hugged it tightly.
"What is it, Spike?"
He stared up at her, eyes damp.
"It's just... you're the nicest pony I know. Heck, you're the nicest anything I know! I'd never want to leave you trapped in here."
"Can't fault him for loyalty," Rainbow muttered, staring at the ceiling. "Not a bit."
"Spike..." Twilight put a hoof around him and hugged him back. "I appreciate the thought. I really do. But you need to get out of here while you have the chance. Like Rainbow says, they might move us someplace else. Someplace that might not have a convenient window available."
"No!" Spike crossed his claws determinedly. "I'm not abandoning you guys!"
"Aw, for cryin' out loud!" Rainbow grunted in disgust. Then she hopped up from the bed, swooped down and grabbed up Spike, then banked back to the window again and shoved him straight through the bars.
"Bon voyage! Send us a postcard!"
"Eeyaaaaahhhh!" Spike's terrified shout faded into the distance below. And was punctuated by a splash.
"Spike! " Twilight bounded desperately to the window, trying to force her snout between the bars to look down. "Rainbow! What the hay?"
"No worries." The pegasus shrugged. "There was a rain barrel or somethin' down there."
"I'll assume you knew that!"
"Sure I did. I spotted it when we were being toted inside. Huh! Thought you were the one who didn't miss little details like that."
Twilight shook her head irritatedly. Then she called out through the window. "Spike! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
There was a sputtering sound from below, then Spike answered. "Yeah! I'm fine, Twi! But what do I do now?"
"Just... head back to the forest," Twilight called. "And if anypony like us should come looking, let them know where we are, okay?"
"Sure thing! I'm on it!"
There was a pattering of scampering feet, and then silence below.
Rainbow looked at Twilight. "You really think anypony is gonna know where we are, and come looking for us?"
"No." Twilight shrugged. "But I had to tell him something, right? Or he'd never leave..."
Spike hardly needed a hint. He didn't stop running until he was well out of town and back on the hoof trail into the Forest. Then by degrees his pace slowed, first to a walk, then a trudge. Finally he came to a halt, all alone, peering up at the moss-hung branches, and around at the creeper-choked pathways.
He tapped his claws together anxiously.
"I gotta do something," he told himself. "I'm Twilight's familiar. Er, her assistant, I mean. She said so herself! At least, I think she did..." He considered it briefly, then shook his head, pounding a fist into his other claw. "Doesn't matter, I gotta help her! And Rainbow, too. But how?"
He gazed around again. He'd always been a little nervous, wandering around the Forest all by himself, hiding out in the weeds when the larger animals hove by, finding holes in trees or tight places under bushes to sleep at night. But his friends' predicament, that put an entirely different spin on things. Here he was, free, with the entire Everfree Forest itself before him. There had to be something here he could use.
Worse came to worst, Spike finally decided, he could get a few of the larger pack animals, the ones that looked like living brush piles, to chase him into town. And then in the confusion maybe spring Twilight and Rainbow. Assuming the toothy, wolf-like monsters didn't catch him first.
Spike gritted his teeth. It wasn't much of a plan. He really hoped he could come up with something better along the way. With that in mind, he turned off the hoofpath and clambered through the undergrowth, hoping that inspiration would strike. Or desperation, he thought. I'm not particular.
After bushwhacking for a while he came to a small creek, and started following it, mostly because the going was easier along its banks. The trickling flow grew into a small stream, which finally emptied out into the nearby lake, after winding through a clearing shaded by overhanging trees.
To his surprise, Spike found a cottage there as well. He hadn't known anypony else actually lived around here. The cottage was small and snug. It had a sod roof covered in moss, and was festooned with at least a half-dozen birdhouses, in varying shapes and sizes. Plus there were small animals scampering everywhere around the clearing. Chipmunks and squirrels, rabbits and groundhogs, even a family of ferrets and a sleepy-looking badger.
Curious, Spike trotted around to the other side of the cottage, where it faced the lake, to find out who lived there.
And found a unicorn, standing by the lake and staring down into the water. She was tall and willowy, her coat a warm buttery yellow, and she had a flowing pink mane and tail that seemed just a size too large for her. The mane in particular hung about her face as she stared down into the lake water.
And as Spike tiptoed closer, he could hear her gently sobbing.
"Uhh, hello?" he said to her, as quietly as he could manage.
"Oh!" The unicorn's head jerked up and she stared at him with wide, blue-irised eyes. She tensed, looking ready to spring away from him and bolt into the mists.
Then she suddenly registered what he was.
And it was as if a totally different pony was standing before him. "Oh my!" she cried, suddenly all melting smiles. "A dragon! An actual baby dragon! Aw... he's so cute!"
Spike frowned. "Humph! What is it with all this 'baby' stuff today? I'm a little dragon, all right? Actually," he added with a hint of pride, "I like to think I'm just the right amount."
"Oh, you can talk!" the unicorn said eagerly. "I didn't know dragons could talk. That's so wonderful!" She leaned close, staring at him rapturedly.
"Uh... right. My name's Spike. Nice to meet ya." He put out a claw.
"Hi, Spike. I'm Fluttershy." She hesitated briefly, then willingly shook with him, looking all the while like she wanted to just grab him up and hug him instead.
"So..." Spike asked, "you live out here in the Forest?" He glanced around at the cottage, the animals, all of it. "All by yourself?"
As if a switch had been thrown, Fluttershy became quietly sad again. "Yes. Um... I'm just more comfortable, living by myself, with my little animal friends for company. Which is kind of difficult, considering..."
"Considering what?"
"That... I'm the Princess."
"Huh?"
"The Princess of Unicorns. Didn't you know that?"
"Like I said... huh? "
In the castle's throne room, the afternoon audience was finally coming to an end. The remaining petitioners were filing out, still muttering crossly, arguing amongst themselves about the pecking order for the next session.
And Princess Rarity stared at the ceiling, gasping a relieved sigh. "Oh my word! These things just seem to take for-ev -er nowadays! And I can't seem to make anypony happy. Everything's so rushed and half-measure. But at least that's over with for one day. Ha! Now, I should very much like to have a chat with those unusual visitors who arrived earlier."
"I think, Highness," Aegagrus warned sternly, "that would be unwise. They are strangers, after all. From the Everfree ... with who knows what plans in mind to unleash against us."
"Oh, rubbish!" Rarity lofted her snout. "They seemed perfectly pleasant and reasonable to me. A little off the vaudeville stage perhaps, but one can make allowances."
"All the more reason, Highness, to have them watched, and closely." Aegagrus grinned smugly. "Appearances can be so deceiving, after all. One never knows what may lurk behind a pleasant exterior. And to that end, I have ordered them securely confined, until their real purpose amongst us can be determined."
"You did what? " Rarity stared at him. "I gave no such order! Oh, my word, what will they think of us? Being treated in such a high-hoofed fashion. Ahem! You will have them released immediately, and brought to me. And right speedily, too. Dear me, I shall have to come up with some way to redress this truly unforgivable, and most unfashionable, insult..."
"Ah... do I understand you correctly , Highness?" the sorcerer said. His sternly affronted tone caused the departing petitioners to look round in surprise. "You are proposing to treat with, and show deference to, unknown and potentially hostile foreign agents?"
"Have a care, Sorcerer," Rarity snapped. "I don't particularly like your tone. A polite word, yes, and an apology for the indignities of their brutish treatment at our hooves. If that's what it takes to make good your poorly-considered diplomatic blunder."
The silver-maned unicorn shook his head, tsk-ing gently. "It is as I feared, everypony. The strangers are sorcerers, of the worst stripe, indeed. As one myself, I know the signs all too well. And it would appear they have some hold, or influence, on our sovereign. Warping her judgement, weakening her resolve, to make her their pawn in some subversive plan. I think," he added gravely, "it would be best for all, including Her Highness, if the Princess were relieved of royal duties and confined, for her own safety. Temporarily, of course, until the source of this baleful influence can be found and neutralized."
"Hwat! " The Princess's eyes went wide. "Have you taken leave of your senses, Sorcerer Aegagrus? And believe me, I use the title advisedly!"
But the sorcerer was already nodding importantly to the laureled Captain of the Guard. The Captain quickly collected his soldiers with a silent nod of his own. Then together with them, moving as one, he and the soldiers advanced upon the throne, horns gleaming.
Princess Rarity was almost too astounded to act. Then she quickly charged her own horn, attempting to defend herself. She flung wards and tangle-hoof spells at the advancing soldiers. Which they easily deflected with warding spells of their own. And while she was able to beat back attacks from any one of them, the sheer number of them made the outcome inevitable.
In short order, the soldiers had her surrounded, and they began marching her silently and sternly from the throne room, under the watchful eyes of the ranks of startled petitioners.
"Rest assured, good citizens," Aegagrus continued loudly, as if Her Highness was not even still present. "We shall soon discover the source of this malign influence, and bring it to a proper end..."
Rarity glanced around at the soldiers, and the proudly indifferent Captain leading them. And then she looked at the scowling, disapproving gaze of the watching petitioners, as she passed them.
"So..." she muttered sadly. "This would be a palace coup, would it?" She bit her lip, frowning. "You know, after all the hard work I've been putting in lately," she grumbled, "one might have hoped for at least a token show of resistance from the citizenry..."
Twilight and Rainbow were both surprised when the door to the cell was flung open by the guards.
"Huh," Rainbow said. "Looks like I was wrong. Maybe."
Twilight looked at her. "You admit that?"
"Eh." The pegasus shrugged. "It has been known."
As they watched, Princess Rarity herself strode in, stiffly and proudly. Twilight hurriedly got up and bowed politely. "Your Highness! It's great to see you again. Have you come to let us out?"
"Afraid not, my dears." The Princess winced as the door clanged shut behind her. "Apparently, I'm now just as much a prisoner as you are."
"Woah," Rainbow said. "How did that happen?"
"I'm not sure myself." The Princess shook her head. "For some reason, my Sorcerer Royale has taken an extreme dislike to you two."
"Hmph. The feeling's mutual."
"Do you know why?" Twilight asked.
"Apparently, he believes you two to be magic-wielders of some sort. And spies in the bargain, and it's not at all clear which of the two has him the more agitated." Rarity pouted. "He's completely out of line, of course! But he appears to have the support of the guard. And of the populace. So at the moment, there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it."
"I'm so sorry, Your Highness!" Twilight winced. "We didn't mean to cause you all this trouble."
Rarity looked surprised. "Oh, my dear, it's not your fault. If anything, I should be grateful to you for bringing this to my attention." She stamped a hoof, frustrated. "Why did I not see this coming? I've been so busy lately. Busy, busy, busy! So busy, in fact, I fail to see a palace revolt happening right under my nose!" She sat down, fluffing her mane distractedly. "Well, enough of that. Now we've a moment to ourselves, perhaps we can have that chat about where you two are from, what brings you here, and so forth?"
"Huh?" Rainbow stared at her in disbelief. "Your Highness, aren't you upset about being tossed in your own dungeon?"
"Oh, believe me, my dear," Rarity replied. "I'm cross beyond measure! But it's no reason to behave rashly, or incivilly. Everything in its time. And just now, we seem to have plenty of time for a chat. So we might as well avail ourselves of it, mmm? And I don't suppose," she added loudly, in the direction of the door, "that we might get the tea service in here, hmm? One should like to entertain guests properly, even in these dreary circumstances."
There was no reply. Rarity shrugged philosophically. "Ah me! So difficult to find good help these days. And speaking of which," she added, glancing around, "where is your small scaly companion?"
"Um... we helped him escape," Twilight admitted.
"By the dumb-waiter," Rainbow added smugly.
"There isn't one," Rarity objected.
Rainbow pointed to the window. "We... kinda improvised."
"Ah." Rarity nodded. "How ingenious. Well, so much the better. Perhaps he can find somepony in this benighted realm who actually gives two bits about their hard-working sovereign. Hmph!"
Then she shook her head, worriedly.
"I just hope he doesn't wander off into the Everfree," she added with a delicate shudder. "The stories one hears about that place! There's no telling what kind of dangerous creatures he might run into out there..."
"So," Spike said, munching a gem-sprinkled cupcake, "let me see if I've got this all straight..."
He and Princess Fluttershy were seated at a small table by the lake, which had been set with tea and small cakes by the Princess's animals. A raccoon was just topping up Fluttershy's cup. And there was a small white rabbit seated on the table at the unicorn's elbow, who seemed to have no purpose other than to scowl disapprovingly at everything and everyone.
"The unicorns originally lived in the Forest," Spike said, ticking off items on his claws. "And then a bunch of them built a city, and decided to live there instead. And they chose a Princess of their own to rule 'em."
"Yes." Fluttershy nodded. "It was really quite friendly actually. The Forest Princess and the City Princess acknowledged each other's rule, and decreed they would always work together to help settle any disputes."
"Uh huh. And then over time, the two unicorn tribes sorta drifted apart, and stopped talking to each other."
Fluttershy looked sad. "I'd really thought that Princess Rarity and I had started to fix that. When she ascended to the throne in town, and I inherited the title here, we used to correspond all the time. I'd send her letters by carrier robin, and she'd send her replies by pony courier." Fluttershy smiled at the memory. Then sighed. "Yet somehow, it all fell apart. My birds would come back saying they couldn't deliver my letters, because her window was shut. And Rarity's letters, when she sent one, were so rushed and formal and distant..." Her shoulders drooped. "Then she finally stopped writing at all. I must have said or done something that offended her. I wish I knew what it was. She must be cross with me for some reason."
"Well, I don't know about that," Spike said. "Seems more likely she's just been really busy lately."
"Oh!" Fluttershy looked hopeful. "Do you think so?"
"Yeah, I know so! She seemed really overworked, when I and my friends saw her earlier today --"
Then Spike suddenly smacked his forehead. "I forgot! My friends! They're being held captive in the castle."
"Oh my!" Fluttershy looked frightened. "That's awful."
"Yeah! I came here to find some way to help them." He eyed Fluttershy hopefully. "I don't suppose... you'd maybe, uh..."
"Gee, I don't know." Fluttershy hunched, looking like she was trying to hide in her voluminous pink mane. "I'm not sure I should meddle with things. Who knows what might happen?"
"But ya gotta help them! You just gotta!" Spike gave her a pleading look. "They're not from here. They're not even unicorns! They're from some place where ponies are completely different."
"Oh!" Fluttershy looked surprised. "You know, some of the birds did mention there was a strange contraption sitting on one of the trees, down by the old dry riverbed. They said it looked like it fell from the sky itself."
"Hey, yeah!" Spike grinned. "That must be the aircraft Twilight and Rainbow used to get here." Then he slapped a claw over his mouth. "Look, I wasn't supposed to mention this, but they're not even from this world ."
Fluttershy blinked. "Really?"
"Yeah! Twilight said she and Rainbow came from a completely different world than this one. I don't know how exactly, but we could ask her. And we must've gotten on somepony's bad side in the city, because we got picked up by the guards, and Twilight and Rainbow got tossed in a cell, and they're probably sitting in a dungeon right now, and... oh, geez..."
Spike covered his face with his claws.
"I'm sorry, Your Highness. I know this is a lot to ask, but... well, they seemed really nice. Especially Twilight. She's the nicest pony in the world... in any world. I'd feel terrible if anything happened to her."
Fluttershy thought it over. "Well," she finally said, "I've never met ponies from another world. It could be fun to hear about what their world is like." She nodded firmly. "And besides, if you live in the Everfree Forest, then you're one of my subjects. And a good Princess never turns down a petition for help from her subjects. I really should help, if I can." Then she hunched nervously again. "If I only knew how ..."
"Maybe you could ask Twilight?" Spike offered. "She's an inventor. She seems really smart. Maybe she'd have some ideas?"
"Oooo... I don't know." Fluttershy glanced around, at her cottage, the lake, the forest itself. "It's such a long ways. And I get so nervous around other ponies, even my own subjects. It's different with animals. I seem to get along so well with them."
The white rabbit next to her slapped its face with a paw. Then it clambered up her mane to sit atop her head. And pounded her head with its foot, pointing sternly. Fluttershy smiled up at it.
"You're right, Angel. I'm overthinking things again. I should trust myself and just go with the flow." She took a deep breath, and then nodded. "Just give me a moment to inform my subjects, Spike, and we'll decide what to do."
"Subjects?" Spike looked round. Then he realized he could see, in the misty distance among the trees, dozens of forest unicorns. They were all waiting and watching, attentively and respectfully.
Fluttershy's horn sang. With her magic she gently picked up a delicate china bell and rang it. Immediately a brown-coated unicorn wearing a formal cravat and vest, and carrying an elegantly-carved hardwood clipboard, trotted around the cottage and up to the table, to stand at attention.
"Hickory, would you please ask everypony if it would be all right if I rescheduled my appointments for a short while?"
"Absolutely, Highness. I'm sure nopony will mind."
"Thanks. And what else? Oh yes! Would you also ask the volunteer brigade to stand ready, just in case they're needed? And I might need to ask some of them to stay on watch a teensy bit longer than usual. So would you apologize to them for that on my behalf?"
"Of course. Consider it done, Your Highness."
"Thanks, Hickory. I think that's everything."
"As you say, Highness." Bowing, the major domo backed away, then turned smartly and headed off into the misty woods.
And Fluttershy smiled at Spike's amazed expression.
"What? I did say I was the Princess, after all."
The sun had set, and outside the cell's window the sky was turning dark. But aside from lighting candles against the fading light, the ponies inside hadn't really noticed.
Twilight and Rainbow had described their trip through the cyan void between the worlds, and Princess Rarity had sat listening attentively, a look of intrigued awe on her face.
Then Princess Rarity had returned the favor by describing a bit of her own history and rule. Which had one or two surprising aspects to it.
"Wait a minute," Twilight said. "Are you saying that you didn't want to be Princess?"
"Oh my goodness, nothing of the sort!" Rarity laughed. "It's been a dream, honestly. Having an entire pony tribe looking up to one, hanging on one's every word. And wearing this perfectly exquisite crown." She touched a hoof to the circlet on her forehead. "It's any filly's dream-come-true, really!"
But then she looked a little sour.
"It just wasn't my dream-come-true. Truth be told, I'd hoped I might one day become a famous fashion designer. With my connections amongst the nobility, the movers-and-shakers in town, I was sure I could make a go of it, create a brand all my own. Rarity Fashions , I planned to call it. And I felt sure I could make it work. Everypony would see I wasn't just another do-nothing royal, eating crumpets and waving a scepter during parades. They'd see what I could really do!"
She shrugged. "But then I didn't have a choice, did I? When Mother decided I was ready and chose to abdicate in my favor, that was it. I had to step up and be the Princess of the Unicorns, whether I wanted it or not."
Rainbow scratched her mane, baffled. "Uhhh... what kind of Princess just gives up her throne like that? Don't royalty usually hang onto the crown like grim death?"
"Pish posh," Rarity replied. "It's the way things are done. And rightly so! Far better indeed to have the transition take place voluntarily, at a time and place when everypony's ready for it, rather than waking up some poor dear in the middle of the night, halfway through a war or something, and saying 'Here's the crown, honey. Best of luck! Hope you can hack it!'"
The Princess rolled her eyes.
"Yet I had hoped that even with all the responsibilities, running the country, seeing to the needs of my subjects, and so forth, I might still carve out a little time for my own design work. A side-hustle I believe they call it in the 'biz. I could be a Fashion Princess, known for both my firm leadership and decision-making, and for my trend-setting, taste-making couture."
Rarity sighed. "But somehow it just never worked out. There simply weren't enough hours in the day! Even when Aegagrus offered to serve as advisor, to help organize my schedule and ensure I was focusing on the ponies most in need, the work just seemed to pile up. I never had as much as two seconds to rub together to think a complete thought. And as a result, nopony ever really seemed happy with my decisions and decrees."
She snorted. "Not as if I didn't try making a go of it. I felt it was my duty, in fact, my responsibility to the realm. If I had to sacrifice my own dreams for those of my subjects, so be it! But even with all the time I've put in, I just don't feel that I am, well... loved in the way that a royal ought to be. Honored and respected, cherished almost, as a symbol of the realm and all it stands for. Humph! I keep giving, and giving, and giving, and it's just never enough!"
She smiled with wry humor. "Perhaps it's just as well then, me being deposed. I certainly can't do much worse shut up in here than I already have done."
"Oh, I don't think that's true," a timid voice said. "I've always thought you were an excellent ruler, Rarity."
"It's very good of you to say so, Fluttershy, but --" Rarity's eyes went wide. "Fluttershy? "
The ponies all looked round, trying to see where the voice had come from. Then they thought to look through the window.
The butter-colored, pink-maned unicorn was hovering outside, suspended in her own shimmering golden magic field. "I hope you don't mind me dropping in uninvited like this," Fluttershy went on. "I know this is your realm, Rarity. I don't mean to trespass."
"Don't be silly, my dear!" Rarity replied. "You're always welcome. We are friends, are we not? Or at least, quill-pals?"
"It's just, well... you haven't written lately. And I did wonder."
Rarity looked shocked. Then she nodded sadly. "That one's on me, dearest. And I do apologize. Pressure of work and so forth. I'd never want you to think I didn't care. And I did so enjoy the visits from your little birds, bringing me your letters. A bright moment in an otherwise dreadful day, I always thought."
"I'm so glad!" Fluttershy smiled. "I missed your letters too."
"Well! I am very glad to see you, Fluttershy," Rarity said. "And not merely because I find myself in a bit of a pickle just now. But however did you think to come calling just now?"
"Spike asked me to," Fluttershy said. "To help rescue his friends."
The dragon leaned round her mane, waving from his seat on her back. "Hey, Twilight! Hi, Rainbow! Um... hello, Your Highness..."
"Spike, is it?" Rarity smiled warmly at him. "My own little knight in shining scales! My hero and defender. Words escape me!"
"Woahhhh..." Spike was dreamily agog. So much so, he almost lost his grip on Fluttershy's mane, and caught himself just in time.
Rarity nodded. "We definitely need a few more like you in the castle guard. Not like that useless ivy-headed Captain that Aegagrus picked out."
"But Rarity," Fluttershy said, "I didn't expect to find you in here. What's going on?"
"To keep it short and sweet, dear -- because that's just about all I can take at the moment -- I've been deposed! Betrayed!" She flung a hoof to her forehead, overwrought. "Shoved in this cell, awaiting what fate I cannot say. And for the life of me I don't understand what went wrong. Was it something I said? Something I did?"
"That's terrible!" Fluttershy agreed. "If there's any way I can help, Rarity, I will."
"My gratitude knows no bounds, my dear," Rarity replied. "I only wish I could invite you in, let you take a break from having to hold yourself up by your own, er... hoof-straps, as it were. But..." She gestured at the bars on the window.
"Oh! That's not a problem." Fluttershy concentrated briefly, her horn singing. There was a sudden flash of light...
... and she was standing on the carpet in the cell, Spike still sitting on her back. The dragon stared around nervously.
"Hey, uh, what just happened? Did the world turn inside out or somethin'?"
"Self-teleportation!" Rarity marveled. "And you did it so easily. I'm impressed! I've tried to learn it, but never quite got the knack."
"It's tricky," Fluttershy agreed. "But I just set aside a little time every day to practice. And I was doing it in no time."
"Meh, it's no sonic rainboom," Rainbow said, with poorly disguised envy. "But yeah... that is pretty cool."
"I can teleport other things as well," Fluttershy said. "In fact, I can get us all out of this cell, easily. You could come live in the Forest, Rarity. All of you would be welcome there."
"That would be nice," Twilight said. "Except it doesn't solve the real problem: getting Rarity her throne back."
Rarity nodded. "It might not have been the most pleasant of occupations, but I simply can't abandon my responsibilities, or my subjects. I need to show them I haven't given up, show them this crown really means something..." She smiled weakly. "However, at the moment I am open to suggestions."
The ponies and dragon looked at each other, doubtful and uncertain. All except for Twilight. She was biting her lip, thinking fiercely.
Then she looked up.
"Magic," she said. "Ponies in this world can use magic..."
"Yes, though fat lot of good it does me," Rarity grumbled. "I can't even fend off an attack by my own guards! To say nothing of Aegagrus -- after all, he's only the most powerful mage in the whole realm."
"But how does magic work?" Twilight asked. "Do you just wish for things, and they happen?"
"Oh no," Fluttershy replied. "There are spells one recites, which give a kind of shape to the magic. And the shape determines what happens." She demonstrated by powering her horn, then using her magic to gently levitate the water jug.
"These spells," Twilight asked, "are they written down anywhere?"
"Oh yes!" Rarity nodded. "There are old grimoires, with catalogs of spells that mages have discovered, over the ages."
"Would I be able to read those?"
"Twilight!" Rainbow laughed. "You could read every book in the world. Plus your world, and mine, too. But you can't work magic. You're an earth pony, remember?"
"Maybe so, but I'm also an inventor. And I find that when I have a hard problem to tackle, a useful way to begin is by learning everything I can about something I didn't already know." She shrugged. "Maybe I'd spot something Rarity or Fluttershy could use."
"Forthright thinking, my dear!" Rarity said. "And there are certainly books on the subject, in the castle's library."
"Just one problem with that," Spike pointed out. "It's out there? And we're in here?"
"I can teleport us out of the cell," Fluttershy reminded them. "Maybe even to the library, if you can tell me where it is."
Twilight shook her head. "The guards may notice if we're suddenly gone. We can't afford to raise suspicions. They might decide to split us up."
"Well, then," said Rarity, "Fluttershy, if you wouldn't mind popping down to the library for us?"
"Oh... I'm not sure I'd know what to look for. We tend to learn spells by rote in the Forest." She hunched fearfully. "And I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable, going there all by myself."
"I could go," Rainbow offered, "if you can tell me where this library is, so I can find it from the air. But... I wouldn't have any idea what books to look for either."
"Hey!" Spike said. "I spent a lot of time hanging out in Aegagrus's study, cleaning and organizing stuff. I could probably find the kind of books we want, if I can just get a lift there."
"All right, then!" Rarity nodded. "Here's how we'll work it. Rainbow and Spike, you head to the library, while Twilight and I stay here to keep up appearances. And Fluttershy, you tuck under the covers on the bed. We'll pretend that you're Rainbow, ah... napping."
"... which wouldn't be far from the truth," Twilight muttered dryly.
"And we'll have to hope," Rarity finished, "the guards don't take notice that Spike isn't here. But we can work that out somehow."
"Sounds like a plan!" Rainbow grinned. "Well, whaddaya say, Spike? Ready to go pull off a midnight raid on a top-secret vault filled with ancient tomes of forbidden magic?"
"You know it, Rainbow!"
"Then climb aboard, partner!"
Spike scampered over and clambered up on Rainbow's back.
"Ouch! Watch it, buster."
"Sorry," Spike said sheepishly. "Claws."
"Yeah, we need to get you a pedicure or somethin'." Rainbow hopped into the air, and hovered a bit, getting used to Spike's weight. Then she listened carefully while Rarity described the best way to reach the library.
Finally, she nodded. "Okay, I think we're ready to go. Now, what's a pegasus gotta do to get teleported outta this dump?"
"Just hold still," Fluttershy warned. "So I can judge the distance right."
"Eeeyeah..." Rainbow suddenly looked leery. "Just make sure my wings don't fall off or end up the wrong way up or something."
Fluttershy smiled. Then she lit her horn, concentrating fiercely.
A flash of light, and Rainbow suddenly found herself hovering outside the cell's window. "Woah. Is that all? Ha! I could get used to this. Okay, Spike, hang on!"
"Eeyaahhhh!" Spike barely had time to grab her mane as Rainbow revved her wings and dove out of sight.
"A rather excitable young lady," Rarity observed, as Twilight helped Fluttershy to hide herself. "Still, she has grit and determination, which cannot be discounted."
"I only hope," Twilight fretted, "she remembers that not every adventure works out like a Daring Do novel..."
The pegasus and dragon were gone for close to a couple hours, long enough for the guards to look into the cell once or twice. But apparently they only took a head-count of ponies in the room. Spike's absence didn't appear to raise suspicions.
And then suddenly Rainbow and Spike were back, Rainbow hovering outside the window and tapping softly at the bars with a hoof. Fluttershy teleported them back into the room. And then Spike hopped off Rainbow's back and unloaded their haul from the pockets of the carryall that Rainbow was now wearing.
"Sorry it took so long," Spike said. "We hunted all through the castle library, hiding out whenever the guards passed by. But we couldn't find anything that looked really useful there."
"So where did these come from?" Twilight asked, flipping open one of the creaky hardbacked volumes.
"Well... I remembered that Aegagrus had a lot of the good stuff on loan, sitting on shelves in his study, so..."
"Wait..." Twilight stared at him. "You stole these from him?"
"Eh," Rainbow shrugged indifferently. "Borrowed indefinitely."
Twilight looked about to object, then rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine." She paged through the book before her, and nodded. "Okay, this has some good examples. But I'll need to take some notes. Oooh, if I only had quills and paper..."
"Got 'em right here, Twi!" Spike dug into the carryall again. "Figured you might need 'em."
"Let me guess..." Twilight said dryly. "Borrowed indefinitely?"
She scowed at Rainbow as well. And then her eyes went wide. Rainbow was suddenly wearing a peaked cap covered with moons and stars, and grinning her cat-like grin.
Twilight was aghast. "You did not. Tell me you didn't..."
Rainbow shrugged again. "Eh, I figured if you're gonna work on sorcerish spells, Twilight, you need a proper thinking cap." Plucking the hat from her mane, she mischievously plopped it onto Twilight's. "Huh? Amiright?"
"Rainbow! " Twilight growled crossly. "Is there anything in this mage's study that's still actually nailed down? Are you two trying to land us in trouble? I mean, more trouble than we're already in?"
"I think," Rarity put in soothingly, "that I could easily see my way to extending royal clemency for this entire escapade. Assuming we can get my throne back from that benighted usurper, that is."
"Groan. Focus on the job, Twilight," she told herself. "Spike, would you be able to take notes for me? It'll help get through this faster."
"Not a problem, Twi." He held up quill and paper. "I took dictation for Aegagrus lots of times. I think it's the main reason he kept me around. Fire away!"
"And Fluttershy, dear," Rarity said, "you sit over here, where you're not in direct sight of the door. And be ready to teleport out, if they get too suspicious."
The ponies all settled in, trying to find ways to quietly pass the time, while Twilight steadily and methodically worked her way through each book, occasionally making little "Oh!" and "Aha!" noises, or asking Spike to make a note of something she'd come across.
Rarity and Fluttershy got caught up with each other in quiet whispers. And Rainbow tried hard not to be bored, and failed utterly. First, she flopped down on the bed and tried to take a nap. Then she got desperate enough to pick up one of the books and try reading it herself. She got through about two pages before giving it up as hopeless.
Fortunately by that point Twilight had come up with a small shopping list of references she needed to consult. So Rainbow and Spike were detailed again to go find them. And to return the hat, at Twilight's insistence, so there wouldn't be any unhelpful questions raised about it.
The two quickly came back, with disquieting news.
"Okay, the good part is," Rainbow said, "they don't seem to be worried about us just yet. Or about Spike and me raiding the study. The bad news is, like any good dictator, this Aegagrus guy has been moving guards into position, taking control of the palace and the city. The whole place is on lockdown. I'm surprised they haven't come checking up on us yet!"
Even as she spoke, there was a rattling of keys in the cell door and it swung open. Fluttershy gasped and froze, having no time to teleport away. Neither was there time to hide the books, or Twilight's copious pages of notes.
But Rarity didn't even blink. Her horn sang, and a particularly large grimoire flipped open and smacked Fluttershy in the face. Another landed in Rainbow's startled hooves. Rarity picked up one herself, and was suddenly wearing a pair of reading glasses, humming thoughtfully as she turned a page. Twilight was still blithely absorbed in the tome she was paging through, of course, not even looking up at all.
Rarity glanced up at the guard, in feigned surprise. "Change of watch already? Capital! Shows you're right on top of things." Then she looked at the book in her hooves, which the guard was eyeing curiously. "What, this?" she said. "Oh, the previous watch were kind enough to allow my hoof-maiden here -- " She indicated Fluttershy, still hiding behind her book and trembling like a leaf. "-- to bring us some reading material as a way of passing the time. Such a positively dreadful selection to be honest. No page-turners at all. But beggars cannot be choosers, can they?"
"Uhh, Rarity --" Rainbow began uneasily.
The Princess put up a hoof for silence.
"Tut tut tut!" she said. "Less talk, more read!" Adjusting her glasses, she calmly returned to her own book, giving every indication of thorough fascination with it.
The guard eyed them a few moments longer. Then he turned and left. The door swung shut behind him.
And Fluttershy lowered her book, all but hyperventilating as she stared at her fellow Princess. "Rarity, that was amazing! I would never have been able to pull it off. I'd have frozen up, unable to say a word. But you managed it like it was nothing at all."
"Nonsense, my dear!" Rarity said. "One merely needs to project an air of absolute assurance and confidence. As if you have a perfect right to be doing whatever it is you're doing. Half the time, nopony will bother to question you, and the other half, well..." She fluffed her mane coquettishly. "That's what grace and beauty are for."
Immensely relieved, Fluttershy smiled. "You know, Rarity, it's so nice we're friends again. I've missed that. I can learn a lot from you."
"Likewise, my dear. And I promise, if we get out of this, I won't forget it, not for a second. We'll do lunch every week. And beyond that --"
"Ha!" Twilight suddenly shouted, looking up from her book. "I think I've got it!"
"Oh, what is it?" Fluttershy asked, politely. "Did you find something?"
"Something we can use against that good-for-nothing, turncoat Royal Sorcerer of mine?" Rarity snarled with venomous relish.
"Even better, if I have this right," Twilight said. "But there's only one way to be sure. Spike, take this down, please."
The ponies waited and watched as Twilight dictated a series of confusing syllables, which the dragon carefully jotted down. Then, consulting the book, Twilight rattled off another tongue-twisting torrent of syllables, which Spike was hard-pressed to keep up with.
"These are pretty rough," Twilight said, "little more than raw structure. If I had the time, I could fiddle with the wording, make them more lyrical and easier to say. But this should be enough for a test. Rarity, if you wouldn't mind, try to cast this spell here."
Twilight pointed a hoof at the first of the lines Spike had captured. Willingly Rarity powered up her horn and, muttering to herself, cast the spell. Which seemed to have no effect.
"Perfect!" Twilight said.
"Uh, Twilight..." Rainbow objected, "nothing happened."
"Exactly." Twilight put up a hoof for silence. "Now, Fluttershy, would you cast this one, please?"
Glancing around nervously, Fluttershy powered her own horn, and read off the complex incantation. Again, there was no apparent effect.
"Uh huh..." Twilight nodded eagerly. "Now if you would, both of you cast them, at the same time . On the count of three: one ... two ... three!"
Doubtfully, Rarity and Fluttershy again cast their respective spells.
And in the air between them, a bubble of soft luminescence formed, filling the room with shimmering light.
"Bingo!" Twilight said proudly. "See? Spells normally are cast by a single unicorn, and thus have only that unicorn's power to draw on. But I figured out a way that two unicorns can cast separate threads of the same spell, which weave together and interact, so the magic of both unicorns is in play. And that means the spell can be much more powerful, more than a match for any single unicorn -- hopefully, even Aegagrus."
"That's very impressive work, my dear," Rarity agreed. "But how does a luminance spell help us? Unless we need something more than candlelight to read by?"
Twilight grinned. "Because now that I know that the basic idea is sound, I can apply it to any spell. Give me a little time to find the ones that we'll need, and we're in business!"
She eagerly turned her attention back to the book, with Spike standing by at her elbow, ready to take notes.
And Rainbow looked smugly at the two Princesses.
"What'd I tell ya?" she said proudly. "Egghead, totally!"
It took some time to piece together the spells they needed. And for the Princesses to wrap their mouths around the tongue-twisting strings of syllables, which Twilight was forced to use given her inexperience with spellcrafting. But urgency leant dedication to the effort and they made rapid progress.
Shortly after sunrise that morning, they were ready.
The first the guards knew of it was when, with a brilliant flash, Princess Rarity appeared in the corridor before them. Snout held high, she sniffed with haughty displeasure.
"All right!" she said. "Up to now I've bided my time, hoping somepony around here would come to their senses and show the respect due the Princess of Unicorns. But sadly, it seems I'm forced to take matters into my own hooves. Now, are you two ready to re-swear loyalty to your rightful sovereign? Or shall I simply lock you two in the cell and go find some other guards more deserving of your, er... hoof-lockers, or whatever it is you have back at the guard-room."
The guards glanced at each other, then charged their horns.
Rarity's horn was already singing, and she easily disrupted the shield and tangle-hoof spells they attempted to cast. "Ah me!" she said. "I suppose I must take that as a vote of no confidence. Well, we can't have that so... upsy daisy!"
Her magic took hold of them, flinging them both to the ceiling and pinning them there, while she relieved them of their keys. "Fluttershy? If you would?" She passed the keys through the door's barred window. And in a trice, the ponies inside were outside, and the guards outside were inside.
Rarity slammed and relocked the door, with no little satisfaction.
"Ooo-OOO-oh!" she gloated, "I could so get used to this."
"Remember, Rarity..." Fluttershy nervously warned her. "We agreed we wouldn't hurt anypony if it wasn't strictly necessary."
"Don't worry, dearest. I hadn't forgotten. It is just so nice being able to throw one's weight about for once."
They proceeded downwards through the tower, Rarity leading the way and easily brushing aside any guards they encountered. Fluttershy followed close behind her, backing her up from just out of sight, and thus allowing Rarity to rebuild her image as the City Princess.
Rainbow flew overhead, Spike riding on her back, to serve as their Backup Aerial Assault Unit -- a title Rainbow had invented for herself on the spot, out of whole cloth.
And, at the rear of the group, Twilight trotted along, smiling in amusement at how excited everypony was. She was wearing the carryall, which now held her notes on the spells she'd devised, plus a couple of the smaller spell tomes for reference.
They soon reached the throne room, and stormed into it. There, they found Aegagrus seated comfortably on the throne, apparently trying it on for size and receiving the homage of the assembled unicorn guards.
Rarity cleared her throat importantly. "Ahem! I do believe somepony is in my chair?"
With her augmented magic, she snatched up several lengths of curtain-rope. Using these, she swiftly bound the robed stallion head-to-hoof. Dragging him from the throne she tossed him to the floor, directly in front of the startled guards and their laurel-wreathed Captain.
"Now," Rarity said, striding up to the dais and re-seating herself. "It's clear a few changes need to be made around here. But fear not! We can be lenient with those who were merely... led astray, shall we say, by poor counsel? Now, does anyone present still question my loyalty to this city and to its populace? Does anyone still doubt I would use every means at my disposal -- including a few tricks you have not yet seen -- to defend both? In short," she added with a mischievous smile, "is anypony here looking for a lengthy stretch in the dungeon? After all, never let it be said I would ask my subjects to suffer any indignity I have not already suffered myself!"
The unicorn guards looked around at each other, startled and uncertain. Then they looked to their leader for orders.
"Ahem, Captain?" Rarity hinted, with just a glimmer of power wreathing her horn. "I'm still waiting for my answer..."
The Captain stared back at her impassively. Then he lowered his head, submissively...
... and fired a bolt of searing energy, straight at her.
Rarity barely had time to put up a shield. And then her eyes went wide, at the power she was having to pour into it. "I say! Somepony's been -- urgh! -- practicing..."
"Oooh!" Fluttershy's horn was blazing as well. The two of them together were barely holding their own. Twilight frantically hoofed through her notes, looking for...
"Rarity! Fluttershy!" she shouted. "Looking-glass!"
"Ah yes," Rarity replied, through gritted teeth. "Thank you for that thought. One must look one's best, mustn't one?"
Rarity quickly shifted spells, and so did Fluttershy. Before them, a plane of mirror-like energy materialized, reflecting back the Captain's attack. He was forced to quickly switch spells himself, putting up a ward to block it.
Which distracted him just long enough so that Rainbow was able to swoop in and drop a soup tureen she'd borrowed from the kitchen over the Captain's head. Then, on a second lightning pass, Spike swing the ladle, smacking the metal pot with perfect polo form:
CLANNNNNG!
The Captain was stunned. He dropped to his knees, dazed.
"Oh, yeah!" Rainbow pumped a hoof. "Strikin' a blow for the good guys!" Then she held the hoof back over her shoulder for Spike to bump with his claw.
"That was... astonishing," said Rarity, still recovering from the ordeal. "And here I'd thought Aegagrus was the most powerful mage in my realm! Curiouser and curiouser! Still, all's well that ends well. There'll be no more hiding behind my Sorcerer Royale for this Princess!"
She waved dismissively at the still-pinned mage on the floor. And then stared.
"Wait... that's not Aegagrus..."
The bound form on the floor had altered, blurring and then changing form. It was no longer a silver-maned unicorn. Instead, it was a mangy-looking, floppy-eared, mud-colored donkey.
A booming chuckle made Rarity look up in shock. The Captain reached up a hoof and flung the tureen off his head.
"Well, well, well..." a gruff voice snarled. "Have we a ram amongst the sheep? Or is it just... me? "
Before them, in place of the laurel-wreathed unicorn, there stood a lithe and powerful blue ram, with massive curling horns, and infernally glowing eyes.
"Oh my!" Fluttershy gasped. "An illusion spell?"
"Uhh... who's that?" Rainbow asked.
"Grogar! " the ram snarled. "And it is a name you shall learn to respect! After you have been taught to fear it!"
He charged his curling horns, which shone with golden energy.
"Rarity! Fluttershy!" Twilight shouted desperately. "Faraday cage!"
"Are you sure, my dear?"
"Trust me!"
Nervously, Rarity and Fluttershy worked together to cast the spell. And bars of iron materialized around the ram.
"Ha! A simple cage? That is the best you can do?" His horns unleashed a blast of power, which washed outwards...
And had absolutely no effect, dissipating against the bars of the cage.
"What?" Irritated, Grogar cast again and again, with no effect.
He swung round, eyeing Twilight with barely contained rage. "You! How is it you are able to block my magic? You're no mage!"
"I'm an inventor." Twilight smirked. "Magic... meet physics!"
With a bellowing snarl, Grogar slammed his forehooves against the bars, with no more effect than before. Then he swung round, glaring at the still-bound donkey.
"Bray! Stop loafing around there, and come help me!"
"Yes, Master!" The donkey struggled fiercely. Finally, by sheer brute force, was able to burst his bonds. He frantically leapt to his feet, and charged.
Rarity stood her ground, ready for an attack. But the donkey wasn't aiming at her. Instead, he barreled across the marble floor towards Grogar's prison. But his plate-sized hooves slipped and slid on the smooth tiling, and he finally lost control, slamming full tilt into the cage wall. He nearly knocked himself silly, and ended up wedged between the bars.
Yet the force of the impact was just enough to bend the bars, creating a gap through which the ram's magic could operate. The ram wasted no time taking advantage of it. Charging his horns once more, he unleashed a blazing flare of energy...
And he suddenly wasn't there. Neither was the donkey. Both were at the far end of the throne room, rapidly disappearing through the doors leading out.
"He's getting away!" Rainbow yelled. She shot after them, with Spike clinging to her mane for dear life.
Startled, Rarity nevertheless recovered quickly. She glanced about at the astonished unicorn guard.
"Ahem. We can discuss the finer points of responsibility and duty and so forth at a more prudent time. For right now... after them, all of you! "
The guards jumped, then swung round and stampeded after the escaping ram and donkey. The Princesses and Twilight hurried along in their midst.
The chase led them out through the castle doors, then down the curving hillside path, heading straight into town.
There Rainbow met them coming back, and pointed a hoof forwards. "They're in that market-square place, up ahead," she called. "But c'mon! You gotta see this!"
She blasted away, and the others quickly followed. When they'd all reached the square, there was indeed a sight to see.
The ram and donkey were standing in the middle of the cobbled square, being watched nervously by the shop and stall owners. And by a solid wall of pastel-hued Forest unicorns, wearing a mixed collection of berets and flowers in their manes. They were currently blocking all the exits leading out of town, their horns flickering warningly.
"Oh good," Fluttershy said in relief. "The volunteer brigade. They're so punctual." Then she glanced at Rarity. "I hope you don't mind? I know this isn't their jurisdiction."
"Fluttershy, dear," Rarity scolded, "There is a very old saying: never look a gift cavalry in the mouth."
With Fluttershy's brigade in front, and Rarity's unicorn guard closing in behind, Grogar and his accomplice were surrounded. The ram glared around, angrily, as if seeking a way out. Magic flickered about his horns, but he seemed unable to settle on a target.
Then he found one. His magic lashed out, snatching up a pony.
It was Twilight.
The carryall with her notes and books fell to the ground, as she was yanked straight out from under it. She was hauled through the air to hang, helplessly, before the ram's glaring eyes.
"You are responsible for this," he growled. "Moons planning it, weeks putting up with these benighted, backwards fools. Keeping them all occupied, keeping them distracted. Setting them against each other, taking charge. And then you show up," he roared, "and bring it all crashing down in barely a day! Who are you? Well? "
He shook Twilight crossly like a rag doll. Then, as if reaching the limit of his patience, he scowled dangerously, horns charging.
"If you are such an expert on magic," he grated. "Then why don't you show us! Show us all! Urrrhh! What are you waiting for? Fight me! "
Twilight gulped, staring into his fierce, infernally-glaring eyes, feeling utterly helpless.
Then Princess Rarity spoke up, stamping her hoof. "She doesn't have to! She has friends to do it for her!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow shouted. "Powerful friends! Right, Fluttershy?"
"Oh. Um..." Fluttershy looked anxious. "Yes... I suppose..."
"What? Are you kidding me?" Rainbow pointed accusingly. "He's the jerk who's been turning this place upside down all along! So what are we waiting for? I say let's get him!"
Not waiting for anypony else, Rainbow launched herself straight at Grogar. She was already swinging her forehooves, readying herself to deliver a hail of punches and cross-cuts.
Spike clung to her mane in terror. "Rainbow, wait!" he cried.
Then Bray, seeing an opportunity, leapt up and caught Rainbow's fluttering tail in his teeth, yanking her bodily down out of the air.
"Yahhhh!" Spike was catapulted off Rainbow's back, tumbling uncontrollably through the air dead ahead...
... and smacking straight into Grogar's face, right between the eyes.
Furious, the ram shook his head, trying to dislodge the dragon. His magic lost its coherence, and Twilight fell heavily to the cobbled street.
"Get off me, you parasite!"
With a final toss of his head, the ram flung Spike to the ground as well. Then, with an almost casual swipe of a hoof, he batted Spike out of the way. The dragon went flying, landing in a nearby pottery stall with an ear-splitting, expensive-sounding crash.
Ignoring him, Grogar advanced on Twilight. His teeth gritted, his eyes glared, his horns were fully charged. He was ready to exact merciless revenge.
And then:
"Are... you... kidding me? "
All eyes turned to Fluttershy, who was staring at Grogar with a look of astonished rage.
"I mean, I know you're evil and all that. But that's no reason to pick on a helpless creature, who never intended you any harm!"
There was something about the look in Fluttershy's eyes, an unhinged, unappeasable fierceness. It froze everyone who saw it dead in their tracks, assailed by a sudden, uncounterable, paralyzing sensation of deep guilt and burning shame.
"Why, you're just a... great... BIG... MEANIE! "
Fluttershy's horn blazed. Her magic enveloped her, lifting her into the air. And from every direction, winds began howling. A restless moaning and shrieking filled the air. The claw-like branches of the Everfree itself, all round the town, began tossing angrily. Stormclouds swiftly gathered overhead, rumbling and crackling with lightning, promising a deluge the likes of which nopony had ever seen.
But all that was as nothing beside the roaring avalanche of Fluttershy's own massively amplified Voice:
"WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEPONY YOUR OWN SIZE?"
Her eyes blazed bright green, her mane and tail lashed in the winds. Her hooves were spread wide, as if preparing to summon Doomsday itself.
"WELL? HUH? WHY DON'T YOU TRY ME -- IF YOU DARE!"
Grogar stared up at the nightmarish, unleashed fury before him. Then his horns suddenly gleamed...
... and a shimmering round portal sprang open behind him. Through it an immensely old city was dimly visible, in a smoggy haze, its crumbling ancient towers sagging wearily under a deathly gray sky.
The vista filled everyone present with a nameless, unsettling dread. It was a dying world, rapidly nearing its end...
Thankfully it was only visible for a few moments as Grogar's magic snatched up Bray. Then, with a final venemous, vengeful glare at Twilight Sparkle, the ram dove through the portal, dragging the donkey helplessly through the air after him.
The portal slammed shut, cutting off the horrid, murky realm. Everyone present breathed a small sigh of relief at that.
But Fluttershy was still hovering overhead. The winds still lashed, the storm still raged. And her attention now swung to the crowd beneath her, as if seeking a new target for her fury.
"WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU LOOKING AT?" she thundered.
"Ah, Fluttershy, sweetness," Rarity coaxed, her voice shaking with terror. "You did it, you scared him off. You can relax now, really you can." Noticing Spike just crawling groggily out of the wreckage of the pottery stall, Rarity quickly grabbed him up with her magic and gently brought him over. "Look, Spikey is just fine! And Twilight, she's fine too!"
Twilight managed a smile, trying not to shudder at the cold fury in Fluttershy's otherworldly gaze as it swung her way.
"Hey, just for the record? I'm fine as well." Rainbow bounded into the air, testing her wings. "Not that I wasn't already awesome," she couldn't avoid adding.
"See, Fluttershy?" Rarity said. "Everything's all right now. Just perfect, in fact. So please... won't you come down from there? Pretty please?
Fluttershy's green-eyed gaze swung from one of them to another -- doubtfully, judgingly, menacingly...
And then the green glow in her eyes abruptly faded. It was replaced by a look of utter, mortified embarrassment. The winds died, the stormclouds slowly dissipated. The Forest ceased lashing restlessly. Fluttershy descended from the air, to land gently on the ground.
Then she flung herself down on the cobbles, covering her face with her hooves, sobbing inconsolably. "I'm... I'm so sorry!" she gasped. "I try not to let my magic run away like that. But sometimes I just get so... so..."
Rarity quickly moved to put a comforting hoof around her.
"Dearest, it's all right now. You got a little cross, that's all."
"A little ?" Rainbow muttered. Then she shut up, seeing Twilight's warning glare.
"Nopony here would hold that against you," Rarity went on. "Not at all! It only shows how truly dedicated you are, to your subjects, all of them, great and small."
"Oh, please don't hate me!" Fluttershy moaned. "Please don't!"
"Why, Fluttershy," Rarity gently laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. Your subjects clearly love you." She gestured to the Forest unicorns, who all looked like they wished they could comfort their Princess as Rarity was doing. "And what is more, you are my dearest of friends. And anypony here who has a problem with that," Rarity added with a hinting growl, to her own guards and subjects, "had best keep it to themselves, mmm?"
The soldiers and populace quickly bowed respectfully.
Fluttershy finally allowed Rarity to help her sit up, still glancing around uneasily. "Thanks, Rarity."
"Not at all."
"Like I said, I can learn a lot from you."
"It sounds to me, Your Highnesses," Twilight put in, "like you each can learn a lot from each other. If you don't mind me saying it?"
"Of course not." Rarity nodded. "And I quite agree! Fluttershy, you are a natural monarch. I have always thought so. With your kindness and empathy, you know just how to encourage your subjects to love you and honor you as their sovereign."
"But," Fluttershy objected, "you're a much better leader than I am, Rarity. You know how to use your charm and influence. You're able to tell ponies what they need to hear, even when it's unpleasant. And you're good about laying down the law when it's the right thing to do. After all," she added. "There's being kind, and then there's being nice... and sometimes one has to be a little... not-nice, in order to be properly kind."
"I'll try to take that as a compliment, dear," Rarity said. "Once I've figured it out..."
The two of them laughed companionably together.
"Maybe..." Twilight cautiously suggested, "you might consider re-uniting your two realms? And serving as co-rulers? That way each of you would be available to advise the other as needed."
Rarity looked startled at that. But not unpleasantly. "Not a bad idea." She looked at Fluttershy. "With the two of us working side-by-side, we could take care of everypony's needs properly. And still find time for all those little things that we each adore. You, your little animal companions, and me..." She gestured grandly with a hoof. "... Fashion! "
Fluttershy laughed in a quiet, hummy sort of way.
"I think I'd like that, Rarity. Very much so."
"Well then, what do you say, co-ruler?" Rarity drew herself up formally. "Dost thou concur?"
"Oh, I concur." Fluttershy matched her form-for-form, and nodded. "Whole-heartedly!"
And a relieved cheer went up, from the guards and citizens of both realms.
Rainbow looked at Twilight in wry amusement.
"Okay, Twi. You can quit looking so darn smug. That's my thing, after all..."
A short time later they were gathered in the castle throne room, which was packed with guards and citizens from both City and Forest. A second throne had been set upon the dais, for Fluttershy to use when she was visiting the city.
And at the front of the audience stood Twilight, Spike, and Rainbow, the heroes of the day.
"Ahem!" Rarity called, in the silence that had fallen. "In gratitude for services rendered to the realm -- both realms, I should say -- we feel a proper reward is in order. Thus, we dub thee, Twilight Sparkle, as our new Sorcerer Royal. You have taught us things about magic, my dear, and about its proper use, that we would never have achieved on our own. For that, we are eternally in your debt."
Both Princesses bowed their heads to her.
"Way ta go, Twilight! " Spike whispered, elbowing her.
"Hush, Spike," Twilight said, smiling sheepishly. Then she bowed in gratitude to the Princesses.
"And Spikey!" Rarity called. "Our little knight in shining scales, step forward please!"
Nervously, Spike trotted forwards, and bowed before her. Rarity leant down to tap his small shoulders, the left and then the right, with her horn.
"We hereby dub thee Sir Spike, the Brave and Glorious -- valiant defender of our realm!"
"Woah!" Wide-eyed with disbelief, Spike quickly bowed again. Then he tottered back to stand by Twilight. He leaned on her for support, his heart audibly thumping. Twilight rolled her eyes indulgently.
"And finally," Fluttershy added, "not to overlook her unstinting loyalty and service in the line of duty, we should like to dub Rainbow Dash as Captain of our realm's Air Patrol."
"Hear, hear!" Rarity assented. "A well-deserved commission."
"Omigosh, thanks!" Rainbow grinned at Twilight. "Wait'll the Wonderbolts back home hear about this , huh?"
"Of course," Rarity added honestly, "as far as an Air Patrol goes, you're pretty much it at the moment. But it's no less deserved, for all that."
"Eh, who needs anypony else?" Rainbow shrugged. "I'm just awesome!"
There was a round of applause from the assembled crowd, guards and citizens alike.
Rarity allowed it to continue at length, then put up a hoof for silence, and got it. "Now," she said, "while we do understand your wish to return to your own, er... lands as it were, it is our hope -- nay our royal command! -- that you will find it in your hearts to return one day soon and visit us again. You shall always be welcome in the Castle of the Two Princesses!"
"Absolutely!" Fluttershy said. "Hear, hear!"
Together, the Princesses bowed to them once more. And the crowd cheered, applauding and stamping their hooves, as Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike turned, then trotted out together through the throne room doors.
"See? What'd I tell ya?" Rainbow said, as she fetched the airframe back down from the tree. "Not a scratch on it."
Twilight wasn't paying attention. She was staring into the distance, muttering thoughtfully under her breath.
"That portal that Grogar opened," she finally said. "It must be how he got here. And brought Spike's egg along with him. So he must be able to visit other worlds, too. I wonder if it would be possible for us to come up with a spell like that? One that we could use to create portals between the pony worlds? That way, we could get back and forth more easily and safely."
"But even if you had one, you couldn't cast it yourself, right?" Rainbow objected. "You still can't work magic."
"Well, that's what I have friends for," Twilight replied, grinning as she put on her goggles and buckled herself in. "Besides, Rainbow, I'm an inventor! It's fun just to think about it, really."
Rainbow shook her head. "Only you, Twilight!" But she was smiling as she said it, with reluctant jealousy.
"Now Spike," Twilight warned, "We don't have seatbelts on this thing, so you'll just have to hold on tight."
"Will do, Twi," Spike said, climbing onto her back.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry," Spike said. "Claws again."
"Heh. Now ya know how I feel," Rainbow muttered. She hopped up onto the top of the craft and took hold of the grips. "Okay... everypony ready?"
"Contact!" Twilight called.
"Contact!" Spike added cheerfully.
Rainbow revved her wings. "Then look out sky! Here we come!"
In the Castle of the Two Princesses, Rarity and Fluttershy were just finishing their first morning's audience. And thus far, it had flowed with an ease that left Rarity breathless.
Before, she'd been faced with seemingly endless shouting and jostling for priority, a thousand requests and a thousand documents to review and approve, threatening to drown her in a sea of privilege and paperwork. But now Fluttershy's calm and kindly smile seemed to work a spell over the assembled petitioners and scribes, which caused them to meekly await their turn, and speak in quietly respectful tones.
And whenever Fluttershy became a little flustered by all the attention, Rarity would quickly step in with firm decisiveness, settling the issue at hoof and comforting her with a companionable smile.
In short, it was all working out swimmingly. Rarity was already looking forward to a couple of hours to herself in the afternoon, and had plans to rework the cell upstairs into a small design studio, then begin laying in a supply of fabrics to work with.
And then, without warning, her reverie was interrupted by a loud, grandly ebullient voice calling from the open doors of the throne room.
"Your Highnesses! My Lords and Ladies! Fillies and Gentlecolts of All Ages! Prepare yourselves for an awesome entertainment spectacle, the likes of which has never before been witnessed by pony eyes! "
Everyone turned to see a small sky-blue mare, dressed in a peaked hat and a cloak with stars and moons on it. She was standing in the doorway, gesturing grandly with her forehooves, as if she was the most important pony in the room just by being there.
"Watch in awe!" she went on, in portentous tones, "at the miraculous, the marvelous, the mind-blowing spellwork which could only be presented by the one, the only, the incomparable... the indescribable... Great and Powerful --"
Ten seconds later, the showpony was standing outside the throne room doors, with a decidedly painful flea in her ear. The doors had just been shut behind her, with a firm and incontrovertible click.
She sniffed, frowning in exasperation.
"Huh! Who the hay is this 'Twilight Sparkle', anyways?"
Back in the earth-pony world, in her farmhouse kitchen, Twilight Velvet was teaching herself how to bake a pie. She brushed back her bedraggled mane with a hoof, and peered hopefully into the oven. She was determined to get into the whole down-home, country living thing, though as a lifelong town pony she had to admit it was going to take a bit of practice.
Hearing the door open behind her, she turned and smiled.
"Twily!" She smiled. "Where have you been all afternoon?"
"Afternoon?" Twilight Sparkle asked, puzzled. "I was sure it'd been a day at least. Wow... maybe time works differently, in the other worlds?"
"Other worlds?" Twilight Velvet smiled indulgently. "What have you been up to, dear?"
"Oh, not much..." Twilight said. "I just got back from a world of magic, inhabited by unicorns, where I saved a Princess from being deposed, and reunited two magical realms that had been out of touch for ages. And I may have made myself the eternal enemy of an evil sorcerer, who'd probably like nothing better than to cast some horrible spell on me." She shrugged. "Oh, well. Rough with the smooth, I suppose."
"Twilight..." her mother chided. "What a vivid imagination you have." Then she blinked, surprised. "Oh, and who's this?"
"Ah." Twilight grinned sheepishly. "This is Spike. He's a dragon."
"Hi!" Spike waved, with a hopeful smile. "Nice to meet ya!"
Twilight eyed her mother.
"He followed me home, Mom. Can we keep him?"
The End
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and My Little Pony: A New Generation,
The Forest was vast, gray, and numinous. Its gnarled boughs were a depthless thicket of massive talons. Wisps of fog filtered here and there among them, along creeper-choked hoof-trails. Every now and then something crashed through the underbrush, or hooted eerily, or creaked in a manner sounding neither mortal nor safe.
There was a word for the place. One word, describing it utterly:
Everfree.
Far above the Forest, higher even than the scudding, ragged clouds overhead, the sky itself was a calm, shimmering, placid blue.
Then with a rippling shudder, it splashed, like the surface of a lake. And disgorged two ponies. One was a lavender earth pony strapped into a broad winged airframe. The other was a cyan pegasus, who clung to hoof-grips on the airframe's upper surface, her own rainbow-fringed wings flapping for stability as the unusual craft righted itself.
"Woo hoo!" Twilight Sparkle punched the air with a hoof. "See, Rainbow? Nothing to it."
"Eeeyeah," the pegasus allowed, her gaze darting around cautiously. "We got here, I'll grant ya. But don't get cocky, Twi. You've only done this once before. Twice, if you count me lugging you back home the first time."
"But I was right! We only needed some kind of propulsion to navigate between the worlds. Getting back again should be just as easy."
"Heh!" Rainbow smirked. "Admit it, Twilight. You just wanted me along as a live engine, to power you outta here if anything went wrong."
"Of course not! We planned this together. And thanks to a little cloud-based structural material --" She rapped one of the airframe's smoke-gray spans with a hoof. "-- we've got an aircraft that's both lighter and more sturdy."
"Natch." Rainbow preened. "In Cloudsdale, we build stuff to last."
Twilight's goggled eyes swept about eagerly as she looked down through the clouds at the forested hills and valleys below, stretching seemingly to the horizon in every direction.
"Wow..." she breathed. "A entirely new world, one neither earth ponies nor pegasi have seen before. Wonder what's down there?"
"Meh. Looks kinda scraggly to me." Rainbow peered down doubtfully from her perch as Twilight banked the craft round. "And crowded, too. Wouldn't that be just our luck? We get all the way here and there's no place to safely land this bird?"
"I think I see an open area over that way." Twilight pointed. "Let's give it a try."
She banked the airframe around, and then down, and soon they were coasting to a landing over a stretch of what looked like moorland. It was bordered on either side by increasing ranks of gnarled trees, which were themselves backed by the even denser walls of the forest.
Twilight's hooves hit the ground running, and she jogged to a halt. Then Rainbow hopped off and obligingly helped Twilight unstrap herself from the airframe. Twilight pulled off her hoof-made goggles, and tucked them into a compartment under the right wing.
Then she stood for a moment, glancing uncertainly from the aircraft to the walls of forest nearby.
"I don't think we want to drag this along with us while we're exploring. But equally, we shouldn't just leave it sitting out in the open like this. Anything could happen to it."
"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded. "Oh, I got it! Leave it to me."
Flapping her wings, she re-hooked her forehooves onto the grips on the craft's upper surface, then lifted it easily off the ground. Angling around, she headed for one of the nearer trees, which had at least a thin crown of leaves on its upper branches. With care she lowered the craft in amongst the top branches so it was lodged securely, but not immovably. Then she flapped back down again.
"There! As long as we don't get a big windstorm or nothin', it should be safe. Nopony will mess with it up there."
"Thanks, Rainbow." Twilight grinned. "Now, which way I wonder? Ah, I see a path over there. Let's try that."
"Suits me."
They followed the path as it wound amongst the trees, then crossed into the depths of the Forest proper. And as they went, Rainbow became increasingly nervous and wary. She glared upwards at the thickening tree-cover overhead.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.
"Eh, it's a pegasus thing. We don't like being hemmed in, particularly overhead. Some houses back in Cloudsdale, they don't even have roofs since we don't have to worry about unexpected weather." She bounced up in the air, her wings flapping. "And this 'ground' stuff -- yick! It just feels wrong underhoof, not like clouds at all. Think I'll stick to my wings for now. That way I've got all four hooves ready in case anything comes at us."
She shadowboxed as she flew along, punching and swiping and bucking at the air. And Twilight smiled.
"Don't start any fights we can't talk our way out of."
"No promises. But what're we gonna say anyways, assuming we meet anypony? Hi, we're from another world? Take us to your leader? That kinda thing?"
"Hmmm. Maybe we should keep the 'other world' part to ourselves for now, just to be safe. We can always say we're... not local."
"Yeah, that works. We're about as not-local as it gets."
They continued onwards, following a trail that was increasingly dim and creeper-choked. Twilight peered around into the shadows, curiosity warring with caution. She wanted like anything to know who or what inhabited this world. Yet at the same time, she really hoped they'd turn out to be friendly.
Then she came to a halt, staring into the dense brush off to the right. Just for a moment, she thought she'd seen a brief flash of light. And off in the distance in that direction she could just make out... a pony? Yet even as she watched, the distant shape abruptly turned and slipped away, disappearing into the mists.
"What is it?" Rainbow asked, peering the same way.
"Nothing," Twilight said, shaking her head. "Probably just a deer, or some other animal."
They continued onwards. And as they went, the conversation turned as it often did to Rainbow's favorite subject: the Wonderbolts.
"Wish those guys could see me now," Rainbow said eagerly. "Bushwhacking through impassable jungle, exploring an unknown, probably forbidden land, ransacking temples, facing down who knows what kind of dangerous mythical creatures..."
Twilight shook her head. "I should never have loaned you those Daring Do books. Besides, it's just a forest. Which admittedly could do with a bit of groundskeeping." She shoved aside a creeper blocking her way.
"But hey, it could be dangerous, right?" Rainbow drew herself up proudly. "And I'm ready for it, a hundred and twenty percent! You gotta be brave and tough to get into the 'Bolts. They're the elite fliers of the Legion."
"The Legion?" Twilight asked. "Are they a kind of royal guard?"
"Nah. We don't have royalty in Cloudsdale, not anymore. The Legion runs the place. Nearest thing we have to a big cheese is Commander Bronzehoof."
"So... it's a military dictatorship? Uh, no offense."
"Hey, none taken!" Rainbow shrugged. "And who better to run a place than ponies who are honor-sworn to defend it?"
"I'm not sure about that," Twilight said. "It's a little easy for ponies in power to start thinking they know best, when really..."
But Rainbow wasn't listening. She'd come to a halt, hovering in midair, eyes darting round suspiciously, ears flicking.
"What is it?" Twilight whispered.
Rainbow put a hoof to her snout. "We're being followed! "
"You're imagining things, Rainbow."
"Oh yeah? Then whaddaya call... this! "
She abruptly swung round in midair and launched herself into the bushes on the far side of the trail. There was a loud scuffle, and then Rainbow crowed triumphantly. "Ha! Gotcha!"
Twilight hurried over and shoved through the brush. She found Rainbow standing with one hoof pinning down a small purple creature with green spines. The pegasus was glaring fiercely, her teeth gritted, looking fully ready to commit mayhem. Her prisoner by contrast was cringing, pudgy claws held in front of his face.
"Yahh! Don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me!"
"Awright, buster!" Rainbow snarled. "You got two seconds to explain why you're tailing us. Are you a spy? Huh? How many are ya!"
"Just me! I swear it!"
"Yeah, sure, likely story. Who sent ya? "
"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded. And then, when Rainbow reluctantly stepped back, and the small reptile sat up, Twilight gasped. "Oh my gosh! It's a dragon!"
"A dragon? Where!" The purple reptile stared around. Then he sighed, his tiny face falling. "Oh yeah, right. You just mean me."
"Huh? Woah woah woah!" Rainbow objected. "Aren't dragons supposed to be, like, huge? Big teeth and claws? Breathing fire? All that jazz?"
The dragon looked from one of them to the other, a little sheepishly. Then he drew a deep breath.
And burped, expelling a miserably small puff of green, sulfurous flame.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Better try that again. My heart almost skipped a beat there."
"Maybe he's a baby dragon?" Twilight suggested.
"Hey! Who you callin' a baby!"
"Sorry." Twilight smiled at him. "How about a little dragon?"
The dragon considered it. "Yeah, I'll cop to that." He held up a claw. "Name's Spike. Nice to meet ya."
"Hi, Spike." Twilight shook with him. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm an inventor. Well... sort of. And this is my friend, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow seemed reluctant for a moment, then she shrugged and willingly shook with her former captive. "Sorry if I was a bit rough on ya, kiddo. Can't be too careful, when you're exploring someplace new."
"Oh, where are you two from?" Spike asked eagerly. "I've never seen unicorns like you before."
Twilight stared, astonished. "There are unicorns in this world, too?"
"Uh, sure," Spike said. "But what do you mean this world?"
"Oops." Twilight bit her lip, glancing at Rainbow. "I know I said we'd keep it mum, but..."
Rainbow shrugged. "Your call."
"Okay. I'll tell you, Spike. But you may find this hard to believe. And you should probably keep it to yourself for now, okay?"
"No problem. Shoot!"
"The truth is, we're not actually from this world. There's another one, way up there." She pointed at the sky. "Well... actually, it's more sort of that way. It's where I'm from. And Rainbow, she comes from a world that's even farther away than that."
"Uh huh. Yeah?" Spike nodded. "And... ?"
Twilight blinked. "And what?"
"You said there's something I'd find hard to believe? I mean, just looking at you guys, I figured you weren't from around here."
Rainbow smirked at Twilight. "He's a sharp one, I'll give him that."
"But I didn't know there were whole other worlds ," Spike said excitedly. "And other kinds of ponies. Wow! How'd you get here?"
"Well, it's... kind of a long story," Twilight began.
"Air mail," Rainbow said. Then grinned at Twilight's disapproving look. "What? It's the truth... sort of."
"We flew here," Twilight elaborated, "using an aircraft we built."
"Neat!" Spike nodded. "And these other worlds you two are from, there are ponies like you living there?"
"Oh yeah, tons of 'em." Rainbow nodded.
"Gosh!" Spike thought for a moment. "Hey! Maybe I'm from a world where there are dragons, huh? That could explain everything."
"What?" Twilight asked. "Aren't there other dragons here?"
"Not that I know of." Spike shook his head sadly. "Apart from me."
Twilight looked disappointed at that. Then her eyes suddenly went wide. "Wait! If that's true, it would mean... that we're not the first ones to cross between the worlds, Rainbow!"
"Oh great," Rainbow groused. "Here we go and do all the hard work, take all the risks. And somepony else comes along and scoops the credit. Figures!"
"It's only a guess. If we talk to the locals around here, maybe we'll learn more. Spike," Twilight said, turning back to him, "would you mind showing us where we can find some of the unicorns who live here?"
"Sure, no problem. Glad to help!"
They set out along the trail again, with Spike trotting along beside them, scurrying a bit to keep up on his small legs. And talking a mile a minute, as if he'd been saving it all up for just such an occasion. "... and I used to live with this mage pony," he said. "Kind of as his assistant and all. Assistant! Yeah, right. It was all fetch-and-carry. And he treated me like furniture. He'd kick me out of his study when he was working on stuff. Said he didn't want me around, pestering him."
"Well that's not very nice," Twilight agreed. "He should be glad you want to learn more."
"I know , right? I put up with it for a while, then I finally decided I'd had enough and ran away. I've been living wild ever since."
"But what do you find to eat out here?" Twilight asked, concerned.
"And it better not be ponies!" Rainbow added darkly.
"No way. Are you kidding? I eat gemstones."
"Gemstones?"
"Sure. There's a ton of 'em, all over the place. You just have to know where to dig." As he spoke, Spike paused and scraped at the ground with his claws, scooping out a small hole. Then he grabbed and tugged at something sharp-edged buried in it. And came up with a plum-sized purple gem, which he immediately popped into his mouth and crunched up with every indication of pleasure. "Mmm! Not nearly as good as rubies," he said indistinctly, "but I'll take whatever I can get."
Rainbow was eyeing him in bemused horror. "You'd be one really expensive house-guest, Spike."
"Nah. Like I said, there's gems all over. Good thing for me, huh?"
"Good thing," Twilight agreed. Then she eyed him curiously. "Spike, assuming you're from a different world, the same as we are, how is it that you're able to speak Ponish so well?"
"I dunno." Spike shrugged. "I've never had a problem with words. Even when I was still in my egg, sitting on that mage's bookshelf, I can sorta remember hearing him talk and realizing I knew what he was saying. It's like I already knew how to use the words. I just had to hear 'em to pick them up."
"That's amazing!" Twilight grinned. "You're one smart dragon, Spike."
"You think so, Twilight? Gosh, thanks!"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Hate to break up this little warm-and-fuzzy society, but which way now?"
They'd come to a small clearing by a lake, with paths leading off in many directions. Spike unhesitatingly set off down the path leading away from the lake. "This way. It leads to the town. And the Royal Palace."
"No way," Twilight gasped. "There's a palace here, too?"
But when they'd finally ascended a small hillside and stood hunched behind a low stone wall, staring up at a mountain in the distance looming above a small town, Rainbow snorted derisively.
"That's a palace? Looks pretty dumpy to me."
"Certainly not much to write home about," Twilight agreed.
The "palace" was basically a small stone castle, with a single lofty tower, situated on a commanding promontory above the town. And the town itself was somewhat plain, being mostly stone-walled, thatched cottages.
"Well..." Twilight said, staring at the town, "we're not gonna meet anypony as long as we're skulking around up here. Let's head down, see if we can find somepony to talk to."
They followed a hoof-trail leading the right way, and soon were walking up one of the main streets of the town. And it must have been a market day of some kind because the place was packed... with unicorns.
Twilight tried not to be rude as she stared around at all of them, in particular at the glowing horn on each pony's forehead. It seemed the unicorns did everything with magic: opening doors, carrying supplies, making repairs on houses, weeding gardens, even just combing their manes. Everywhere, there was the singing glow of unicorn magic in action.
Twilight and her friends quickly reached a kind of market square, and the air around them rang with the shimmering of horns at work. Ponies haggled and traded hoof-crafts, vegetables, and other items. The din of salesponies crying their wares, and of unicorns chattering to each another as they trotted between the market stalls was nearly overwhelming.
Yet strangely enough, none of the town's inhabitants seemed to take any notice of Twilight or her companions.
"Huh," said Rainbow, crossing her forehooves. "You'd think they had visitors from other worlds droppin' in every day."
"Maybe they do," Twilight said. "Maybe we're not the first ones here. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Yeah, I guess." Rainbow muttered. "So much for us being bold, daring adventurers. Maybe we're actually the last ponies to figure this all out. At least then we'd be famous for something."
"Cheer up, Rainbow. Let's quit speculating, and start getting some answers."
Turning, Twilight approached a unicorn selling bouquets nearby. "Excuse me, ma'am. I wonder if you could tell me --"
The unicorn turned right around, as if Twilight wasn't even there, and trotted off. Surprised, Twilight turned to a pair of unicorns passing by, wearing simple-looking cloaks.
"Pardon me, but we're new here, and --"
The unicorns brushed past as if she hadn't spoken. Stunned, Twilight stared after them.
Rainbow snarled. Her wings flapping powerfully, she arced overhead to hover right in front of them. "Hey! We're talkin' to you!"
The unicorns eyed Rainbow cautiously, but still said nothing. Passing to either side of the pegasus, they continued on their way.
"Huh? What is with these ponies!" Rainbow was about to chase after the departing unicorns, then she reluctantly gave it up when she saw Twilight waving her back.
"They're deliberately acting like we're not here," Twilight said. "Maybe we've done something wrong? Offended them somehow?"
"Like how? Just showing up and saying hi?"
"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they're not used to strangers. They don't know how to deal with us, so they pretend we're not here."
Spike grunted. "Now ya know how I feel," he said. "The mage I lived with wouldn't let me wander around outside by myself. Not sure why -- even when I did follow him around on errands, nopony paid any attention to me. It was like I wasn't even there."
"I wonder what's wrong?" Twilight said. "Why don't they even want to talk to us? Surely somepony around here has to be curious about..."
She got no further. In the distance there was a trumpeting of horns. And then, from around a corner, a phalanx of richly-robed unicorns strode into view. Their horns shimmering, their heads held high, they marched into the marketplace and quickly took possession of it. The townsponies hurriedly stepped back, making space for them.
Into the open area cleared by the robed unicorns, a taller, laurel-wearing stallion strode. His hooves were gilded, his horn finely polished. The cloak and sash he wore were richly expensive, yet surprisingly simple in design, with no excess ornamentation. One simply got the sense that this was the pony in charge, almost without really perceiving why.
Rainbow nodded, and nudged Twilight. "Oh yeah! This is more like it. They were just waiting until they could give us the proper welcome. I'll bet this is their equivalent of the Legion, come out to greet us officially."
"Maybe..." Twilight said. She felt Spike huddling close, hugging her foreleg.
The laureled unicorn came to a halt before them, his snout lofted importantly. He eyed them severely. Then he gestured sharply with a forehoof. All around him, the robed unicorns charged their horns.
And a hundred shimmering spears of pure magic materialized around Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike, completely hemming them in.
Shocked, Twilight fumbled for words. She heard herself say:
"Uh... hi? We're from another world?"
Rainbow nodded. "Take us to your leader?"
Spike just gulped, terrified.
