A Tale of Magic

Hi there, I'm back. I'm gonna attempt to do these weekly from now on, keyword being "try". These's a lot of stuff going on right now, as I'm currently plowing through my school-work, the fanfic, being a writer for GamersHavenNews and of course the whole My Little Pony RPG that we're making. Seriously, if you're an artist and want to help us out, go send a PM to inoeitall.

Chapter 3: Mission Im-Ponyville

The sun was high over the town of Ponyville. The town’s inhabitants were busy doing their own things; buying groceries at the market, going to and from appointments or simply just strolling around, talking to their friends.

The sky was clear, the sun shined, the grass was green and the bushes had eyes… wait…

“Now, I’m grateful that you want to help me Miss Sparkle, but I must ask you again; Why are we hiding?”

“And I’ll ask you once more to just call me Twilight! ‘Miss’ makes me sound old,” Twilight said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. “And to answer your question; there’s a certain earth pony that I want to avoid.”

“Are you supposed to keep me a secret? We’ve been on the run all morning.” Bright had absolutely no idea why Twilight wanted to avoid somepony, and because of him no less. Thinking back, even Fluttershy had been acting strange when Twilight came to fetch him that morning.

---FLASHBACK---

Waking up was for once, great. On this glorious day, Bright had finally come out on top after his fight with the horrible rays from the big ball of flames. ‘By the power of curtains, I’ll defeat you anytime, ya darn sun!’

He made his way downstairs, smelling the nice smell of Fluttershy’s cooking. Yesterday, Angel had been kind enough to satisfy his hunger, and he was immensely grateful for that, but nothing beats the smell of haybacon and eggs in the morning. He wished he could have some coffee… What he wouldn’t give for a mug of black Joe right now. But unfortunately, Fluttershy was more of a tea pony and therefore coffee wasn’t present in the house. ‘Darn shame!’

Yes, Fluttershy was indeed a nice mare and he was happy that she would let him stay… Scratch that; “demanded” him to stay at her cottage until he was feeling better. He had voiced his opinion about him lying around doing nothing, the night before, and mentioned that he should probably find somewhere else. Thinking back, that had been a stupid idea. Not only wouldn’t he have been able to heal properly, but Fluttershy had actually gotten angry! He shuddered a bit, thinking about it.

But that’s what retrospect is there for; to show you how much of a moron you are.

“Good morning,” he heard Fluttershy say from the kitchen. “Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes; I just need to feed Angel.”

Breakfast went peacefully. He and Fluttershy talked about nothing in general, just having a good time. But that’s where the peace and quiet stopped, as a knock on the door sounded. Fluttershy’s facial expression went from normal to a face filled with determination.

“Hey Fluttershy, it’s me, Twilight,” they heard from outside the door. Twilight was almost whispering and it made Bright feel all kinds of uncomfortable from the sudden change of mood. Was something wrong?

Fluttershy, now talking to Twilight at the doorstep, was whispering as well. “Is everything ready?”

“Yes, but we have to move quickly if we have to make it. There’s a long way to the library,” Twilight whispered just audible enough for Bright to hear it. The next thing he knew, he was dragged out of the door by Twilight with Fluttershy staying back, waving at them.

---FLASHFORWARD---

And that’s how they got to where they were now; sitting in the bush on the main road of ponyville.

“But why would you want to avoid this pony?”

Twilight seemed to think about this for a few second while looking around. “OK, I might as well explain it to you. Here in Ponyville, we have a… well to be frank, a “super-extreme-hyper-active-party-pony” named Pinkie Pie. Her parties are nice enough, but for once I think having one right now may be too much for us to handle, with you not being completely rested yet.”

“Couldn’t we just explain that to her?”

“Well Bright, I think you’ll understand when you meet her.”

For a few minutes, they stayed in the bush, planning their next move. Twilight’s mind was filled with thoughts and calculations about their progress. Where to go next, where to hide and countless ways for it to go wrong, was just a tiny part of the things that went through her head. Bright on the other hand, was only thinking of a small little tune that would fit this occasion perfectly. It was a nice and calm little tune, but came across as something that showed the intensity of the situation… Bright wasn’t really feeling it though. Why couldn’t music just start playing out of nowhere?

“Are you ready? On 3, we run for that alley over there.”

Bright Eyes nodded and prepared himself.

Twilight started counting. “1”… “2”… She never got any further before she was disturbed by a sudden voice behind them.

“Excuse me sugar cube, but what’s going on?” Both Twilight and Bright jumped when hearing the voice behind them. Turning around, Bright found himself looking at the most beautiful thing he had ever seen; the shape, the color… the curves, oh the curves. He almost shed a small tear at the sight. He was looking at a Stetson… oh yeah, and there was an orange earth pony under it as well he noticed.

“Applejack! Don’t scare me like that!” Twilight almost shouted, before remembering that they were supposed to stay hidden, and adjusted her volume thereafter.

“Hehe, sorry Twi, Ah couldn’t help myself,” Applejack retorted chuckling. “Oh, who’s ya friend here?”

“Applejack, this is Bright Eyes, Bright Eyes, Applejack” Twilight quickly introduced them, before taking another look at the street.

“Howdy Grandpa, nice ta met cha!” She shook his hoof with the force of a small landslide.

*Tick*

“Grandpa!? I may be old, but…” was all he could say before getting shut up by Twilight. “She’s here” she whispered.

Around the corner came a pink earth pony. Normally this wouldn’t be strange, but for one: she was bouncing… downwards… and two: she was humming. Not just any song, but the very same tune that Bright had been thinking about less than 2 minutes ago.

As if defying physics themselves, she stopped in midair and slowly descended to the ground. Hereafter she performed, what to Bright, looked like a prench ballet-routine… with some improvisation of course. No prench ballet has a kickflip in midair. Had he been a judge he would give her an 8/10 for performance and a 10/10 for the element of surprise.

The look of wonder on Bright’s face was in pure contrast to the one on Applejack and Twilight’s. Sprouting looks of horror and determination, they started blurting out words that might as well have been prench for all Bright knew (Which was quite strange as they weren't anywhere near Prance).

Seeing as he couldn’t understand half of what was being said anyways, he decided to look around. Nothing new really... He had been in this bush for the last hour or so. Same lovely houses, same gardens, same vendors on the street and finally the same… Well, everything. It was a nice place, but after 1 hour of being in the same place, it was getting a bit boring.

Oh now something’s happening! A purple unicorn just stopped to talk to Pinkie Pie… Wait… TWILIGHT!?

“Come on gramps, no time tah lose! Twi can’t hold Pinkie forever ya know!” Applejack had a strange look of equal parts excitement and fear.

*Tick*

“And what is that mysterious ticking noise?” She said as she dragged Bright out of the bush and down the street faster than Pinkie on a sugar high. “We have to get to Rarity’s place quickly!”

Bright didn’t really have any choice in the matter and decided to just lay back and enjoy the ride.

---Other part of town---

About 15 minutes later

This was getting ridiculous! For every corner AJ and Bright (or mostly AJ, Bright didn’t have much to say in the matter), Pinkie would somehow be just down that street! Finally after somehow losing her, AJ and Bright took a stop in an alleyway.

Gasping for air, Bright couldn’t help but find this whole situation somewhat amusing. Here they were; running from a pink mare with hair looking like cotton candy and not once had they been able to escape her. The peace was however quickly disturbed by a loud shout overhead.

“ZEPHYR! YOU GET BACK HERE, RIGHT NOW!” was the only thing they heard before a loud crash was made just outside the alley. Peeking around the corner, Bright was meet by the sight of a tan-colored pegasus with a royal-blue mane, being held down by a cyan pegasus with a mane consisting of so many colors, that Bright’s eyes (get it? *Badum tish*… No? Well, worth a shot) almost started hurting.

“I don’t care what you say, Rainbow Dash. I’m not clearing all those clouds on my own!” the tan pegasus yelled, with his muzzle in the dirt.

“Oh yes you are, Zephyr. I’m the captain of the weather team so you have to listen to my orders!” the pegasus, now identified as Rainbow Dash, said with a smile on her face. The smile grew even bigger when she saw Applejack standing next to her. “Oh hi AJ. What are you doing here?”

“Just passing by right now. How’re ya doing Zephyr?”

“Oh I’ve been better. Just work you know?” he grunted, trying to wrestle his way out of Rainbow’s grip.

“Ah can see that,” Applejack looked amused by the whole scene. She motioned over to Bright, “Ah’m just getting mah new friend away from Pinkie.”

“Who, the old geezer?” Rainbow tilted her head as she said it.

*Tick* *Crack*

AJ and Rainbow both looked at Bright and then at each other. “What the…”

---On a bit of an unrelated note---

It was a warm day in Canterlot. Everypony who was somepony (or felt like being somepony) was out enjoying the company of other ponies “who were someponies”. Two such ponies were currently sitting in a high class café on the main street.

“What a spectacular day, isn’t it Fleur darling?”

“Yes…” said Fleur. Fleur de Lis was a pony of grace and beauty. Only the finest quality food and wine was good enough for her… and she was horribly bored! She had to admit that while most ponies in Canterlot wanted her, she only had eyes for her companion, Fancypants. But today not even he could make her amused.

Suddenly the ground shook and a roar, which sounded something like “AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!” could be heard. Everypony in the street stopped for a second and looked around. Nothing out of place, oh well, back to business. As quickly as it came, the excitement Fleur felt disappeared, leaving her utterly bored once more.

---On an almost unrelated note---

In a galaxy far, far away

Sky Walker stopped for a second. His mission on Celestia 5 had been strange to say the least. His fight with the Grosh had been tiring, but right now he felt something. Like something far away was horribly wrong.

“I feel a disturbance in the force…”

---On a completely unrelated note---

It was that time of the day. It was time for Mobius’s daily muffin intake.

He and Hovermic had been spending the day trying to figure out which was better: muffins or donuts.

This had led to some rather strange competitions. One of these had been trying to figure out which made for the best armor, and if any of them could be used as phones. Surprisingly, Mobius had actually managed to connect to a guy in Manehatten, while Hovermic got a dead signal, something about the shape of the donut not making for a good receiver. At one point they even broke the 4th wall.

In the end they had to stop the competitions though. Everyone was getting tired. Just as Mobius was about to bite into the wonderful muffin in his paw, it split in half. The same thing happened with Hovermic’s donut.

“What just happened?” they both looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to eating.

---Where the heck are we?---

Alkaios, Fang Hua, Annabeth Edgeworth and J. Isaac Noe all looked at each other…

Confusion was ever so present, as none of them could figure out why someone had been yelling what sounded like “argh” from a distance.

---A few universes, a galaxy and a town back---

“*Pant* *pant* I’M NOT OLD!” Bright felt his vocal cords burning. AJ and Rainbow was just looking at him with blank faces. It was at this moment Zephyr saw his chance to escape. He quickly stood up, making Rainbow fall over in the process and zipped away.

“I don’t care what you say Rainbow, I’m not clearing the sky alone! You’re just trying to put all the work on me so you can take a nap!” Zephyr shouted from his ascended position.

“Yes!” Rainbow barked back at him.

“What!? You actually admit it? What kind of boss are you?” Zephyr yelled as he flew away.

“Yours! Now get back here!” she shouted, but as she was about to fly off she turned to Bright. “Nice to meet you Bright.”

Bright stood back, looking in the direction they had flown off in with a 1000 yard stare, not fully comprehending what had just happened. AJ on the other hand, seemed completely fine with the whole ordeal, and simply began dragging the still staring Bright towards their destination.

---Outside Rarity's boutique---

20 minutes later

AJ poked out from the bush she and Bright were currently occupying. She look around and went through a mental checklist (Twilight have had some influence since she came to Ponyville).

Skies clear? Check. No movement? Check. Planets aligned? ‘Why’s that important?’

She took a last look down the street, and made a mad dash towards the front door. Halfway, she kicked a small pebble and it hit the door handle, successfully opening the door. Still sprinting, she jumped inside, made a roll before standing straight up. The scene would have been a perfect display of action, had Bright not chosen this moment to casually stroll in through the door.

Applejack was actually a bit disappointed. Normally she was very modest, but the total lack of interest from Bright was a bit upsetting. Couldn't he at least act a bit impressed?

To his credit, Bright hadn’t actually experienced the show. When Applejack had taken off, he had gotten his leg caught in a stray root from the bush, promptly faceplanting. In a last attempt of upholding his dignity, he chose to casually trot towards the shop, his face not showing his embarrassment.

So now there were two ponies, standing in Carousel Boutique, both trying not to show their true feelings. One slightly disappointed, another embarrassed.

After a little while with none of them saying a word to each other, the silence was broken by a white unicorn entering the room, suddenly gasping loudly at the sight of Bright.

“Oh darling! What has happened to your mane!?” had Bright not already been completely out of it from today’s events, he would probably be a bit surprised by now. But no, this was what he had come to expect from this town by now. “And your beautiful coat as well! This is. The. Worst. Possible. Thing! It is a crime against fashion is what it is!”

She slowly crept towards Bright wearing a crazy look on her face.

“Is everypony in this town completely insane, AJ?” Bright asked turning his head towards Applejack.

“Oh trust me; this is an especially crazy day. Ah gotta say this is probably gonna go in the record books.”

Rarity was now getting dangerously close to Bright. Bright felt frozen to the floor. He couldn’t figure out if it was ice or glue, but figured it didn’t really matter. The only thing that mattered right now was the fact that he was bucked.

“Now let Rarity take care of this...” Bright went wide eyed and his throat slowly prepared for another outcry. This time a cry of fright.

---Back at 'Where the heck are we?'---

Isaac stopped once more. Where were these cries coming from?

---Carousel Boutique---

1 hour later

Have you ever gotten into a shower and the hot water was turned up to max and someone else had just gotten out of it? Then gotten said water on you, but instead of feeling hot, the water actually feels cold for a few seconds? This was kinda what Bright felt like right now. But instead of feeling hot or cold, he was so clean that it felt dirty... Yes, THAT clean! What he had just been through... he never wanted to speak of it again! At least his beard had been trimmed and now it didn’t look like he had been living as a cavepony for the last few years.

Rarity was apologizing furiously. “I’m so, so, sorry. I simply don’t know what went over me! It was just... the dirt! I couldn’t stand it!” she exclaimed, falling onto a couch that she suddenly summoned from Luna knows where.

“It’s… ehm… alright? I mean, it was kinda scary at first (or all throughout actually), but at least I came out… what did you call it?” Bright struggled to come up with the right word. “Fabulous?”

At this word, Rarity seemed to do a complete 180 in mood! Bright was surprised that she didn’t get mental whiplashes from it, but she seemed to come out just fine... or she was just already damaged beyond repair. “Why yes! Your mane looks absolutely stunning! And the way your coat seems to radiate in the light. Simply beautiful!” Bright couldn’t help but blush a little at her comment. Was she getting onto him? Nah, he was way too old for her, and this seemed more like she was proud of herself than anything else. “Oh! I do believe I’ve forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Rarity, ponyville’s prime fashionista. And what might yours be?”

“Ehm… Bright Eyes…” was all he could say before Twilight burst into the boutique looking slightly frantic. She instantly looked at Bright, ran over to him, and without a word, she grabbed him. A moment later, Bright was once more surrounded by the familiar streets. The most notable differences from last time, was that instead of having AJ pull him along, it was Twilight. The other difference was the speed they were going at. Instead of hiding in the bushes like before, Twilight had sacrificed all manners of stealth for speed.

In the distance, Bright thought he saw a pink spot come towards them. Next thing he knew was the pink spot turning into a pony and ran past them as Twilight skidded to a halt, and shifted direction. They were now running through a park. You know, one of those parks where foals are running around playing hoof-ball and the elderly are playing chess. The stealth was again present when they stopped and hid in a bush, just beside the chess-playing ponies. Surprisingly none of them noticed them jumping in there. Bright couldn’t help but think if he was going to end up like them before his time at this rate…

“Why are we running again?”

“Pinkie Pie,” was Twilights simple, yet perfect answer; short and to the point.

The very next moment, Twilight was on her way again. Dangling behind her was a tired elderly pony, who didn’t much care for the sudden takeoff and simply chose to keep his mouth shut. Bright just stared at the sky as she ran.

10 minutes of frantic running later

They had finally reached the library. Twilight didn’t waste any time and simply bolted in through the door.

“OK, we’re safe now… why is everything so dark?” In the dark, no one could see her eyes widen at the realization. “Oh no…”

Suddenly the light was turned on, and a massive “SURPRISE!” was heard. The entire library was filled with ponies and in front of them stood Pinkie Pie.

“Hi! Were you surprised, were you, were you, were you? I heard that there was somepony new in town, and I always throw a party when there’s someone new here and…” Pinkie’s usual ramble was cut short, as confusion took over. Behind her stood 4 other ponies; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and finally Fluttershy, all wearing confused looks on their faces. The confusion was mainly because no one knew how they had arrived at the library. Suddenly they just found themselves in the dark waiting for Bright and Twilight to arrive. However, that confusion suddenly got redirected as they looked at the newly arrived.

“Ehm… Twilight?” Rainbow said, clearly thinking that she might have missed something. “Who’s that?”

“Why it’s Bri…” Twilight looked back at the pony she was carrying. The silence in the room was thick. Can a silence even be thick? It could now! “Old Bones!? Why are you here?”

The old stallion stood up. “Where am I?”

“But if you brought Old Bones here, where’s Bright Eyes?”

---The park---

“Checkmate sonny,” All Wrinkle said in a raspy voice, smacking his lips. “You’re not very good at this are ye?”

Bright had just lost his 4th game of chess to this guy. And how come he was calling him ‘sonny’? Why was he either too old or too young for everypony? How had he ended up in this situation? Why had Twilight just left him? How come, he was always ending up in these kinds of situations?

And why did he want to win so badly? “Best out of nine!”

First off, I wanna give an apology to my pre-reader Kiroberos, whose brain I might have fried in this chapter. Sorry mate

Secondly, I felt kinda stupid while writing this, so if it shows, that's why

References: Memory Pending, Not the Afterlife I Signed Up For and A Rising Light

Cameo: Zephyr

Special thanks to my pre-reader Kiroberos