My Little Human: Friendship Across Worlds

Only half of the Elements of Harmony had been rescued, but unfortunately they had to find the rest of their friends before they could return to Equestria, as Spike explained. That meant carrying on with their human lives. Twilight went back to work at the library, Pinkie back to the cafe and Fluttershy back to the veterinary clinic. This time, however, Spike accompanied Twilight to work so he could keep scanning for Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

As Twilight busied herself at the circulation desk, Spike wandered through the stacks, muttering names as he held the crystal amulet in his hand. By lunchtime, he had been upstairs and downstairs and all though the building, with no success. Finally, he plopped into one of the front desk chairs with a frustrated sigh.

“Cheer up, Spike,” Twilight told him softly. “There obviously aren't any ponies in here today.”

“Tamara, I'm just heading downstairs,” Brad sidled up to the circulation desk. “You want me to grab anything while I'm out? I'll buy.”

“Oh! Um... thanks, Brad, but I was just heading off to my usual lunch spot. You can buy me and Spike lunch there if you want.” Twilight gave Brad a goofy smile.

“Hey, nice necklace, Spike. Where did you get that? Can I just get a closer look?” Brad leaned closer to examine the pendant.

“Uh, sure, Brad...” Spike froze as Brad reached out to touch the crystal. Cadance had told Spike the pendant would have no effect on humans, but the dragon and the unicorn both reflexively held their breath as Brad caught the tip of the crystal between the tips of his thumb and forefinger. A heartbeat later, Twilight shrieked in alarm as Brad was hurled backward into the end of the nearest stack.

“Oh my gosh!” Twilight dashed over to the technician, who sat dazed on the floor. “Spike, you said there weren't any ponies here!”

“I wasn't looking for any stallions!” Spike said worriedly.

Twilight and Spike loomed anxiously over Brad as he slowly came back to reality.

“Brad?” Another member of staff came out of the office. “Is he OK, Tamara?”

“He'll be OK, I think he just needs to get some lunch into him,” Twilight told her reassuringly. “You know Brad, he works too hard.”

The staffer seemed to buy it and retreated into the office.

“I'm Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight murmured to 'Brad'. “Who are you?”

It took the stallion a moment to get his bearings, then he managed to croak out a response.

“It's Doctor Whooves. Where is everypony?”

*** *** ***

Twilight and Spike managed to get the Doctor down to the cafe, where Twilight had managed to signal to Pinkie Pie that they needed help. The four of them were ensconced in a booth in the rear of the cafe where Whooves was munching on some friands and sipping a latte.

“That amulet is quite a piece of magic,” the temporal scientist said admiringly after hearing Spike's version of events. “Did that come from the Crystal Empire?”

“Sort of,” Spike said. “Cadance made it using one of the gems from my stash. She's even better with gems than Rarity!”

*** *** ***

Carrot and Cup Cake huddled in the library basement with their now normally-sized foals. Shining Armor gave the shield generator a recharging jolt every now and then to keep Discord from getting hold of them, but he could sense the draconequus attempting to tear down the barrier.

“You can't keep that shield up forever, Shining Armor,” Discord taunted him. “Your sister's not here and not even your alicorn wife has unlimited energy.”

“What have you done with Twily?” Shining yelled through the barrier.

“I've tucked her and the other Elements of Harmony away where they can't impede my lovely chaotic rampage.”

“And the Great and Powerful Trixie shall make sure they remain there!” Trixie shrilled.

“Will you please go away, Trixie? You're so boring! You're even duller than Twilight Sparkle.”

“How dare you compare Trixie to that wretched foal! Were it not for The Great and Powerful Trixie, you would have mmmrrrffff...”

Discord snapped his claws and a zipper pulled itself shut across Trixie's mouth. The light blue unicorn whuffled indignantly and stomped her hoof on the ground.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie NEEDS TO BE QUIET, because she is giving Discord a headache!” Discord snapped at her. Trixie mercifully fell silent.

Meanwhile, Cadance and Spike were sorting through a box of gems.

“No, not that one,” Cadance muttered as she telekinetically tossed a large emerald into Spike's claws. “No, not that one either,” she muttered, tossing aside a ruby.

“Good, I was saving that ruby.”

“Aha!” Cadance held a rod-shaped clear quartz the size of a unicorn's horn aloft. “Spike, can I enchant this? You can have it back, I promise.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Spike wondered.

“I'm going to make an amulet that will help locate lost ponies,” Cadance explained. “Now that we know where they've gone, I can send you to the alternate realm and you can use the amulet to find and restore ponies.”

“Wait a minute, why am I going?” Spike sounded alarmed.

“Shining and I need to stay here and protect everypony from Discord,” the alicorn explained patiently. “I'll put as much magical energy into the amulet as possible since you'll probably be using it a lot.”

Cadance took the crystal over to Twilight's work bench and cast a series of spells. Her horn glowed a deep pink as she layered magic into the core of the mineral. After a small eternity, Cadance magicked a chain and pendant into the room and expertly set the crystal into the pendant. Then she levitated it through the air and fastened it around Spike's neck.

“There's a suite of spells inside that pendant that can help you,” she instructed him. “Tap it to open and close a portal between this world and the target world. To find a pony, hold it and say their name and the crystal will direct you to that pony's location. To restore a pony that has been transformed, there's a fail-safe spell that will activate the moment a pony touches it. It won't affect other creatures, just a pony, even if they're transformed into another form. If you need to contact us, you'll have to open the portal and send a message though by scroll.”

“Your fire might not work in that world, so just wrap the message around a rock or something,” Shining added.

“Just don't come back through until you've found all of the Elements of Harmony,” Cadance told Spike sternly. “We need all of them back here in Equestria or we won't stand a chance against Discord.”

Spike saluted. “You can count on me, Princess!”

Cadance leaned down and kissed Spike on the head. “Good luck, Spike. If you need any help, let me know.”

“Be careful, Spike,” Scootaloo said.

“Good luck, dear!” Cup Cake trilled.

“Go get 'em, Spike!” Carrot cake encouraged.

“Find Twily!” Shining urged.

Spike reached out, pointed the crystal at a blank section of basement wall and tapped it. Glyphs traced themselves onto the wall in a blue-white glow and the portal to the other realm swirled open. Spike took a deep breath, steeled himself and toddled through the portal. After a minute or two, the portal dissipated.

“You're our only hope, Spike,” Sweetie Belle whispered. The other CMCs held hooves with her as they listened to the pounding of Discord's attacks against the anti-chaos shield.