Chapter One: The Round-Up
Twilight opened her eyes. The room around her was unusually brighter than normal - that could only mean one thing - rolling out of the bed onto all-fours and dashing to the window confirmed it. She’d overslept. Again. Why hadn’t Spike woken her up like usual? Twilight left the bedroom and migrated into the main library to try and put an answer to the question.
“Spiii-ike? Are you up yet?” She made her way down the main staircase, eyes scanning the library for the small purple dragon.
“Gah!” yelled Spike, as Twilight carelessly tripped over the third step that Spike had chosen as a napping place. Twilight’s face hit the wooden floor rather hard, but not enough to do any concerning damage. After a short delay, Spike reconnected with reality and spotted a contortion of limbs right next to him. “Twilight? What are you doing down there?”
“I was busy trying to find you, but you weren’t answering me. That’s when I stumbled into you, in quite the literal sense,” replied Twilight groggily.
Spike felt a little bit of guilt for having some involvement in Twilight’s incident, but tried to hide it. “You’re usually more careful than that, Twilight. Is something bothering you?”
Twilight lifted herself off the floor and effortlessly twisted Spike’s own avoidance of guilt against him, “The only thing bothering me right now is your lack of regard for anypony’s safety.”
Twilight’s horn started to ache slightly and her cheek was rather sore from the collision. It would probably bruise later, but she wasn’t too worried about it. She had started the day late already and there was so much to be done. Twilight could remember there were several important things to be done, but couldn’t recall exactly what they were. Thankfully, Twilight had asked Spike to make a list of most of them the night before.
“Hey, Spike? You remember that list we made last night?”
Spike responded, “Don’t you mean the list I made?”
Of all the days in the month, Spike had to pick today to be snide. “What does it matter? I just want to know where you put it, because there are things we need to be doing, and some of those things probably involve your co-operation.”
Spike continued to play the role of the hurt victim, and attempted to make the task look like a sacrifice on his part. “Ugh, fine. You could have just asked nicely.” Spike reached up for a shelf, where a crudely-rolled piece of parchment lay. Before Spike had a chance to unravel it or even try to pass it to Twilight, it was snatched out of his claws by a deep red aura and hovered towards Twilight.
Using her telekinesis, Twilight unfurled the parchment and rapidly scanned the list with her eyes. “Now, let’s see. Get up? Check. Get Spike up? Check. Argue with a grumpy baby Dragon because he overslept?” Twilight glanced over the parchment towards the scowling Dragon. “Not on the list, but check.”
Twilight continued to rehearse the list. “Groom myself? I’ll skip that one today. Round up the team? I’ll have to do that. Go to Canterlot. Sounds important. Meet Princess Celest-” Twilight broke off, realising what she had forgotten and why it was important.
Twilight was in a panic now, “Now I know what I’m supposed to be doing and I’m gonna be sooo late! I have to meet The Princess in 30 minutes, and in that time I have to find Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack, and then we have to make our way to Canterlot. The journey itself already takes over an hour on a good day!”
Out of the blue, Twilight had an idea. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would give her a chance to salvage what had been a bad start to the day. Twilight hastily grabbed her saddle pack and gave Spike a quick nod. “I’d love to stay and chat Spike, but I’m very late. Gotta run!”
Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. Rainbow’s Cloud House, she said in her head. Rainbow’s House. Twilight’s horn started glowing and after a few seconds, there was a white flash and Twilight was gone.
Spike rubbed his eyes from the bright flash that had dematerialised Twilight and decided he was now alone enough to start humouring his own guilt. Did I really have to be that snappy to Twilight?
Twilight opened her eyes. The whole world seemed foggy and so far away, and for a moment, Twilight didn’t have a care in the world about anything. Feeling a sudden rush of energy from the base of her skull, her mind came back into phase with reality. Teleporting long distances could have that effect on a pony.
Twilight quickly tried to get her bearings. Just inches off to her left side was a shallow, but very muddy ditch. Any further off with her calculations or any kind of distraction could have meant a very messy landing. Some way off to her right were green fields, and behind her, the Village Square of Ponyville was visible. Just above her was a collection of clouds mashed together to resemble a house.
She called up to the house, hoping that Rainbow would be paying enough attention to hear her. No response. Twilight felt an eye twitch; this was going to be a long day.
“Rainbow! Hellooo?” yelled Twilight. “RAINBOW DASH!”
Fed up, and now starting to feel a sore throat, Twilight quickly came to the conclusion that Rainbow must be napping. Really, now. Why must I have to do everything myself?
Thinking back to her day visiting Cloudsdale, Twilight tried to recall the spell that allowed her friends and herself to walk on clouds. Closing her eyes and focusing her concentration, she tried to take her mind back to how she felt when she had cast the spell before. Twilight found that recalling emotions was a powerful and motivating way to fuel her magic when she found a spell difficult to conjure. She felt the energy from the magic well-up inside and shivered as the magic took hold.
Twilight suddenly felt the sickness associated with losing a lot of weight in a very short space of time. Her body mass was now comparable to that of a Pegasus. Twilight accepted the nausea as a sign of success, swallowed the feeling down and looked up towards the Cloud House.
In another flash, Twilight was now standing on soft white clouds that formed the landing outside Rainbow Dash’s front door. She knocked on the door - as a habit of courtesy more than anything else, and then decided to open the door anyway. If Rainbow was going to answer, she would have done so already.
Walking through the door, Twilight found herself in an open living area - straight into what would be a lounge, with a staircase off to one side, and a half-height wall that separated the main living area from what was probably the kitchen.
Rainbow Dash cooks? Twilight asked herself, before quickly shooting-down that assumption with another assumption that Rainbow’s house was simply built with one, regardless of whether or not she intended to use it.
This trail-off of thought was cut short by a sudden snort - it made Twilight jump a little, before quickly relaxing again. Rainbow was here, and probably not far away either. Twilight moved towards the centre of the living room and peered over one of the cloud couches she found there. Sure enough, Rainbow Dash was sprawled across it, on her back, snoring gently.
Twilight tapped Rainbow on one side with a hoof and received the desired effect. Rainbow stirred from her slumber, opening her eyes a fraction and noticing Twilight in front of her. Rainbow spoke in a slurred manner, “Ohhh, hey Twilight. Can you give me a few minutes?” She closed her eyes again, as if to sleep once more, while the thought slowly ticked inside her head. A unicorn. In my cloud house?
Without warning, Rainbow snapped alive and alert - springing off the couch as though somepony had hit Rainbow’s backside with an electric current. Her wings were outstretched in a defensive manner and her legs were slightly bent, as though she were a cat preparing to pounce on its prey. “Twilight - what the hay is going on here? What are you doing in my house, and how are you even in my house?”
Twilight quickly responded to the surprised Pegasus, “Relax, Rainbow. You didn’t answer when I called you, so I assumed you were asleep. I decided to use that spell that got us into Cloudsdale before, so I could come and get you up.”
Rainbow froze in place for a few seconds, as her adrenaline-charged brain slowly tried to understand the response given to her. Once she had decided the claim was a legitimate one, she relaxed a little and folded her wings again. “Sorry Twilight. I was just having a really strange dream, and the last person I expected to see when I woke up was you.”
Twilight accepted the apology with one of her own. “That’s perfectly understandable, Rainbow, and I can only apologise for spooking you. However, time is of the essence and we must round up the others as quickly as possible, because we’re about to be late for an important meeting with the Princess.”This took Rainbow by surprise.
“Woah, really? Do you know why?” Rainbow asked.
“Nope.”
“Why weren’t we told sooner?”
“I only received the letter last night.”
“Do you know why she wants to see us?”
“Nope. She didn’t say.”
Frustrated by Rainbow’s interrogation with the minutes wasting away, Twilight abruptly ended the Q and A with orders for Dash. “Right, Rainbow. Let’s see if we can round up the other girls as quickly as possible. You go and fetch Fluttershy, I’ll go and fetch Pinkie, and we’ll all meet-up at Rarity’s.”
Rainbow energetically accepted the mission. “Got it, Twi!”, and with a Rainbow-coloured blur, Rainbow Dash shot out the door and was gone, leaving Twilight alone once more.
Pinkie Pie was next in Twilight’s list of victims. By this time of the day, Pinkie would have left home and would probably be at Sugarcube Corner either baking or devouring cupcakes - Pinkie Pie never slept.
Once again, Twilight’s teleport was precise. She appeared out of thin-air, right in front of a very startled Berry Punch. Berry would blame it on the drink, but Twilight briefly apologised anyway and made her way inside the confectionist. There was a sweet scent of raspberry-flavoured cupcake icing in the air. One of Pinkie Pie’s favourites, partly because it matched her hair colour.
Twilight walked past the small queue of customers, around the counter, and into the kitchen located in the back. Twilight approached Pinkie’s rear, who currently had her head in an oven, removing a tray of freshly-baked goods. She waited for Pinkie to put the tray down again before attempting to spook her with an introduction. The moment Pinkie had put the tray down and dropped the oven glove. “Hey Twilight! What’s up?”
Twilight wasn’t too surprised that Pinkie knew she was there. “Wow, I still can’t surprise you Pinkie - I just wish I knew how you did it. Are you finished baking for today? We have an audience with The Princess in less than half an hour.”
Pinkie knew that a meeting with Princess Celestia was probably a serious matter, and trotted up to Twilight rather than being her usual bouncy self.
“Oh. Okay. Um, do you know wh-” Twilight cut her off mid-sentence so as not to have a repeat of the conversation she had with Rainbow earlier.
“Before you start asking loads of questions, the simple answer is ‘I don’t know’, and we’re going to meet all the others at Rarity’s boutique.”
Pinkie could sense Twilight’s tension and decided to keep quiet.
“Now, in order to arrive on time, I’m going to need to take you with me.”
Pinkie started to show some concern for her well-being. “Hold on a second. Do you mean... teleport? Is that safe?”
Twilight tried to reassure her, “Relax, I’ve done it a million times already.” She rolled her eyes as she said it, as though it were no big feat. “Now, hold still.”
Pinkie was going to ask Twilight if her past experience included teleporting other ponies, but Twilight had already shut her eyes in concentration. Her horn started to glow and Pinkie Pie shut her eyes tightly in anticipation, trying to take her mind off worrying, but she couldn’t think of anything to distract her. They both disappeared in a bright flash of light, just as Mrs. Cake entered the kitchen.
Twilight and Pinkie Pie landed right in the middle of Rarity’s boutique - barely a meter away from where Rarity, Rainbow and Fluttershy were all standing. The three of them were a little startled to see Twilight and Pinkie Pie appear together, unannounced, when they expected them to come through the front door.
Twilight quickly shook off her teleport-induced stupor, and checked to make sure Pinkie Pie had come through okay. Her mouth was hanging open slightly, and she had a fazed expression on her face. Everything but Pinkie’s attention had joined them. Twilight gave Pinkie Pie a quick nudge, which seemed to be enough to bring her attention back into the room.
Pinkie shook her head; her focus returned to the world and she looked around. They were all there; Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy. “Yay! All five of us are here!” Pinkie exclaimed in her usual jolly self.
Twilight looked around her and counted four ponies - five including herself. That seemed to be everyone. “Well, well. My on-the-spot planning seems to have accounted for everyone! If our success continues like this, we might just arrive on time for Celestia’s meeting.” Twilight stopped. The number five didn’t sound right. Why didn’t it? Twilight couldn’t proceed any further until she was certain about everything being in order. She counted again. Five. That wasn’t right. There should be six ponies, not five.
“Oh, darn it!” Twilight exclaimed, face-hoofing at the same time. “We forgot Applejack!” Twilight had had enough of formalities at this point, and closed her eyes tightly. Using her magic, she tried to seek-out The Sweet Apple Acres in her mind and tried to picture Applejack being there. After a few seconds, she felt it, and pulled. Applejack would be able to forgive her later for this.
Applejack materialised right in front of the herd. She was standing on all-fours, with her eyes closed, neck outstretched and her mouth wide open. She chomped on the air, and then opened her eyes to try and work out where her breakfast had gone. Her eyes darted around and scanned the room in front of her. Wait a second. This isn’t the farmhouse... What the hay is going on here?
She lifted her neck back to its normal position and turned around to survey the scenery behind her. Her eyes landed on Rainbow Dash first, then Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and last of all, “Twilight Sparkle?” Applejack asked in a disbelieving manner. “Where did ma apple fritter go, and where did ma house go?” Her tone was more confused rather than angry.
Twilight responded, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. We’re just under some tight time constraints.” She turned her attention to focus on the herd. “I’m sorry for ruining your mornings, everypony, but I received an urgent letter from Celestia last night, requesting we have an audience with her today. I have no idea why she wants to see us, but it has to be important.”
Twilight stopped and thought. Does Celestia really want to see us urgently? Princess Celestia did have a reputation for sugar-coating things and humouring herself at other ponies’ expense, but Twilight wasn’t going to make that assumption until they arrived in Canterlot.
“Okay, huddle together and try to form a circle.” The five ponies did so, leaving a space for Twilight to squeeze into. “Right, this might take some doing. I’ve taken one passenger with me before, but I’ve never had five passengers tag along with me, so this might be tricky. Rarity, I could use your concentration too - you’re the only other Unicorn here and I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
Rarity hadn’t mastered the act of teleportation, or indeed many of the various other skills that Twilight had acquired during her studies. Rarity knew this.
“But Twilight darling, I’ve never performed much magic beyond telekineses and gem-searching. How can I possibly be of help? Surely I’ll just end up slowing you down?‘ Rarity did have some limited knowledge of magic, though, and she may have been able to share some of her magical capability with Twilight, no matter how small.
“Don’t worry about it, Rarity. All you need to do is focus on sharing your magic with mine. You don’t need to have experienced teleportation to be able to help me do this. I’ll worry about that part.” Twilight closed her eyes and started to concentrate.
The two Earth Ponies and the two Pegasi all looked at each other, in a moment of awkward silence that seemed to last an eternity. Rarity had her eyes shut tight in concentration, desperately hoping not to fail Twilight in her time of need. Twilight herself had her eyes closed tightly, with a slight grimace on her face as she started to strain herself.
Twilight’s horn was glowing unusually brighter than normal - the occasional wisp of magic streaming off the end of her horn as the magic intensified. The other four participants followed suit and shut their own eyes in anticipation. Gradually the six were enveloped in light, and with a sudden blast of light bright enough to stun to any bystander, they were gone.
Princess Celestia sat in the grand hall with her younger sister at her side. Twilight and her friends were due in just a couple of minutes, but no guard had arrived to notify the Princess of their arrival. Perhaps they were running late? No matter how good Celestia’s poker face was, Luna could still see right through it. Something was bothering her older sister.
Luna broke the silence, “Is something troubling you, sister?”
Celestia appreciated her sister’s concern, and answered, “Twilight is always early for our arrangements. I asked her to meet me at midday, but there is no sign of her or any of her friends.”
Luna tilted her head slightly and replied, “Twilight Sparkle? Oh, ‘Tia. You really do worry about your protégé far too much. She and her associates have probably just been delayed somewhere. I don’t see any cause for undue alarm here.”
Celestia sighed. Her sister was right. There was no need to fuss about the group being a bit late. Friends would always lose time over little things, because that’s just how they had their fun.
Luna chuckled slightly and continued to berate her sister. “I thought you were supposed to be the comedian here, Celestia. Why start panicking now?”
Celestia didn’t answer. Her horn was itching slightly, and there was a slight tingling sensation in her nostrils. Magic was in the air. A lot of it.
With nothing but Celestia’s intuition to serve as an advanced warning, the group of six flashed into existence right in front of the two regal sisters. Something wasn’t right, though. Even though the six had arrived in the castle, they were still surrounded by Twilight’s deep aura. Twilight couldn’t seem to shut it off, and the six of them remained imprisoned inside the purple bubble.
Celestia immediately knew there was trouble - her student’s teleportation spell wasn’t dissipating. She looked toward Twilight with deep concern, and Twilight looked back. Her eyes were open, and her horn didn’t appear to be glowing - even though it was hard to tell within that haze of purple.
“Princess! I can’t stop it!” Twilight shouted through the disturbance. The Princess could believe her - it felt like something else was feeding the spell. All the while, the other five ponies immersed in the aura were too afraid to budge or even speak. Before the Princess could even think about attempting anything, the purple entity snapped out of existence, and so did the ponies within it.
