Chapters Chapter 1: The Exchange
Loud hums and buzzing noises came from the basement of Twilight Sparkle's library. Inside the underground laboratory, Twilight was plotting points on a map of Equestria, while her loyal companion Spike recorded her notes. Inside two large steel wheels, galloping as fast as they could, were Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Between the two wheels was a cylindrical glass chamber containing Pinkie Pie, jumping up and down with excitement.
“I'm going to teleport!” squeed the pink Earth Pony. “I can't believe it! Can you believe it Twilight, 'cause I can't believe it! I'm going to be like 'woosh' and then I'll be in Canterlot! And then I'll grab a doughnut from Pony Joe, because man are those things good!”
“Settle down, Pinkie,” said Twilight, laughing a little bit at her friend's excitement. “I still need to send a letter to the Princess letting her know we're ready. Spike, take a letter.”
“Can do, Twilight,” said the baby dragon.
“Dear Princess Celestia, after months of exhaustive study, I believe I have discovered the truth behind teleportation. It is my hypothesis that unicorn magic pulls the subject into a sort of negative space while capturing the mental image of their desired destination. This dimension corresponds neither to time or space as we know it, and normal matter is completely alien to it. This causes the subject to immediately be rejected back into our reality in whichever place the subject was visualizing at the time. It is my belief that traveling through these dimensions requires an extraordinary amount of magical power, explaining why the ability has only been seen in alicorns and myself to date. However, it is my belief that if enough energy were generated and imprinted with a special signature, then Earth Ponies and Pegasi should be able to teleport as well. We will be sending our volunteer subject shortly. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
With a burst of Spike's green fire, the message was sent.
“Shoot, Twilight,” said Applejack. “This sounds like the craziest thing I've ever heard. Now how is me running in this here wheel supposed to zap Pinkie Pie all the way to Canterlot?”
“Simple,” explained Twilight. “The energy created by your galloping is being collected in the machine that Pinkie is in. I'm going to tag it with the spell I use to teleport, and it should be enough to pull Pinkie out of reality and then send her back to Canterlot.”
“Yeah,” said Applejack, rolling her eyes. “Real simple...”
“Besides,” interrupted Rainbow Dash, “Why even bother with this anyway? This is a lot running to transport one pony!”
“In time we'll find more efficient solutions,” said Twilight. “Think about the implications of what this will mean if successful! Instant access to Canterlot for everypony! Not just Canterlot, anywhere in the world! No need to ever take a train again. And it won't be just for ponies. Packages, letters, anything!”
“Sounds like a raw deal for the train folk,” said Applejack.
“Yeah, and Derpy,” agreed Rainbow Dash.
“And I send letters myself already,” chimed in Spike.
“Ah,” said Twilight, annoyed. “Where's your sense of discovery? And Spike, I've got plans for studying that dragon breath of yours next week.”
“Great...” brooded Spike.
“Come on, come on, come on, come on, COME ON!” shouted Pinkie. “I wanna be the first Earth Pony to be sent by teleportation! And I'm hungry!”
Applejack gave a concerned look towards Pinkie. “You completely sure this is safe?”
“Absolutely,” said Twilight. “The only thing that could mess this up is if somepony else were attempting to do this exact same experiment at this exact moment. And I'm pretty sure there's not a mind in all of Equestria who's even considered this before.”
“Canterlot!” shouted Pinkie. “DOUGHNUTS!”
“Okay, I'll take that as you being ready,” said Twilight, her horn lighting up. She grabbed the throw switch with her mouth, and got ready to pull it back
“WAIT A SEC!”
Twilight stopped and looked at Pinkie in confusion.
“Ten,nine,eight,seven,six,five,four,three,two,one,BLASTOFF!”
Twilight pulled the switch.
And with a blast of maroon energy, Pinkie Pie vanished without a trace...
…
Finn the Human and Jake the Dog were tasked with helping Princess Bubblegum test her latest experiment. This brought them to her laboratory, the same place Finn had seen two zombie apocalypses resolved. He hoped this experiment would go better.
“What's up with this glass tubey thing, Peebles?” asked Finn.
“That's the teleportation chamber, Finn. I'm pretty sure the science behind it is sound, but I want to check it out so I can observe the process as an outsider before trying it myself.”
“Rhombus!” said Finn. “So I'm going to get into this thing and you'll zap me somewhere?”
“No,” said the princess. “This chamber is where you'll end up. I want you to wear this ankle bracelet.” She handed him a pink, gem-filled bracelet.
“What?” asked Finn, surprised. “This has got to be the girliest thing I've ever seen. Couldn't you have at least made it blue, boy-style?”
“Come on, wear it man!” said Jake. “It's kinda awesome, actually. Like it's so obviously un-macho that it becomes super macho again. It just doesn't care, dude! I'll take it if you don't.”
“No way, dude,” said Finn, attaching the bracelet. “The princess gave it to me!”
“Sorry Jake,” said Princess Bubblegum. “Finn's the better subject for this, since his human DNA should be closer to my bubblegum-human hybrid DNA. Wait, is radiation harmful to human DNA?”
“I dunno,” shrugged Finn. “How does this work, anyways?”
“Simple” said the princess. “The inside of this chamber is filled with quantum zanoids which are entangled to a pair on your bracelet. When you hit the three red gems on the side, it'll distress the zanoids in the bracelet, and they'll jump through non-space to be reunited with the ones in the chamber, pulling you along for the ride. I thought it would be an easy way to escape from the Ice King whenever he tries to kidnap me.”
“But that means, you wouldn't need me to come rescue you any more,” said Finn, trying not to show any emotion, but really flipping out on the inside. Some stupid girly macho bracelet's going to replace me? Sheesh!
“That's right, Finn! Think of all the afternoons you'll have off now!” It bothered Finn how cheery she was about that.
“Alright, guess I'll go into the other room and test this out...”
“Good luck, bro!” said Jake as Finn left the room. Then he turned to Princess Bubblegum. “So tell me straight, this isn't going to, like, turn Finn into a fly monster or blow up the universe or anything, will it?”
“No, silly!” said the princess. “Complete protonic reversal was worked out in the beta stages. Everything should go perfectly.
Outside, Finn got ready to hit the buttons that would bring him back into the lab. Stupid girly bracelet. Probably going to take me to the land of unicorns and rainbows or something. But at least that would mean it's a flop, and I can keep rescuing Peebee. Well, here goes nothing.
Inside the laboratory, there was an electric buzzing and a cloud of smoke filled the transportation chamber.
“Here he comes now!” said the princess.
“I don't know about that,” said Jake as the smoke cleared.
The transportation chamber opened, and out jumped a pink pony.
Princess Bubblegum and Jake were stunned.
And then the pony spoke.
“Oh my gosh, am I in Canterlot!?! Yippee! I'm the first Earth Pony to teleport in history! Now where's that doughnut, and what the heck are you guys!?! ”
“PRINCESS!” shouted Jake.
“I know, I know, I know, maybe I forgot to carry the four...”
…
Finn felt himself drop into a glass chamber. Welp , he thought, Looks like it works. Better congratulate the princess...
Then the chamber opened. Staring at him from outside were three ponies, one of which was a purple unicorn, another one was wearing a cowboy hat, and the third had wings and a rainbow colored main.
“Uh...Twi?” said the cowboy pony.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH” screamed Finn.
…
“How do you think the girls are doing back at Twilight's?” asked Fluttershy, deeply relaxed in a soak tub at the spa.
“Who cares?” said Rarity, equally relaxed.
I really hope you guys like it so far! Please comment and review, it will keep me motivated to press on!
Art used:
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/073/b/4/for\_science\_by\_luna\_sedata-d3bo36d.png
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/077/e/d/Science\_Help\_Us\_by\_BurnItUp.jpg
http://th08.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/136/a/b/rarity\_in\_a\_seaweed\_wrap\_by\_takua770-d3gh25k.png
Chapter 2: Ice Kings and Owlbears
“Dear Princess Celestia, we...still have a few issues to work out.”
…
Twilight had no choice but to magically keep the strange creature pinned against the wall.
“I ain't never seen a critter like this before,” observed Applejack, looking at the trapped creature with bewilderment.
“I think it's some kind of gross alien from that teleportation dimension Twilight was talking about,” said Rainbow Dash. “What do you think it did with Pinkie?”
“I don't think it did anything to Pinkie,” answered Twilight. She was now going through the bag the creature had dropped. “But it might know something about where she went.”
“Hey, man!” shouted the creature. “Or horse...whatever. You can't just go through my stuff like that!”
Twilight had been examining a pink sweater from inside the bag, but dropped it out of shock.
“Careful, that's my like-like sweater!” yelled the creature.
“You can speak?” asked Spike in amazement.
The creature struggled against its magical bonds. Then it gave up for a moment and said, “Of course I can speak, lizard-guy! Now will you creeps let me go?”
“Don't do it, Twilight!” warned Rainbow Dash. “For all we know, this guy could be capable of anything!”
“I dunno, Rainbow” said Applejack. “He doesn't really seem that dangerous to me. Poor thing’s probably scared out of his mind.”
Twilight looked the creature in the eyes. There seemed to be at least some glimmer of intelligence in there.
“I'm going to let you go,” she said. “I want you to promise not to hurt my friends.”
“What the- you're the ones that jumped me!”
“Just promise.”
“Fine.”
The magical bonds keeping the creature in place lifted, dropping him to the ground.
“Thanks, I guess,” he said as he pulled himself up. He was gangly, and a little taller than most ponies.
“Alright,” said Twilight. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the personal student of Princess Celestia. What is your name?”
“I'm Finn, the human boy.” Finn anxiously looked around the library. “And I have no idea where the heck I am.”
“Well Finn,” said Twilight. “Can you tell me exactly what you were doing before you found yourself here?”
“I was helping the princess with one of her crazy science experiments...”
“The Princess!” interrupted Rainbow Dash. “You know Princess Celestia?!”
“What? No, what's a Celestia?” asked the human boy, puzzeled.
All three ponies gasped at this.
“He's clearly not from Equestria,” muttered Twilight. “Or any place I've ever heard of. Finn, are there more like you, back where you come from?”
“Well, no,” replied Finn. “Not really. There's lots of people that look kinda like me, hyoomans and mutants and such, but I'm the only human I've ever met. Everyone thinks they all died out in the Great Mushroom War.”
“That's terrible!” said Twilight. “Tell me Finn, how did you get here?”
“Like I said,” answered Finn, “I was helping Princess Bubblegum test her teleportation ankle bracelet, and it must have zapped me here instead.”
“Aha!” exclaimed Twilight. “I knew it!”
“Umm,” said Applejack. “Beg pardon, but what are you excited for?
“My theory was right!” said Twilight gleefully. “I just forgot to account for one thing. Negative space must be shared by more realities than ours alone. I haven't just discovered a means of teleportation, I've found a gateway between dimensions!”
“Yeah,” interrupted Rainbow Dash, “but Pinkie is still out in Celestia-knows-where, and we have no way of finding her!”
“Hmm,” pondered Twilight. “Finn, I think cooperation will be mutually beneficial from here on out. Can I examine that ankle bracelet of yours?”
“Uh, sure,” said Finn. “Wait! I swear I didn't choose the color, Peebles just has this thing for Pink...”
“Finn,” laughed Twilight, “I hardly care what color..,” but she was interrupted by the sound of hooves coming down the stairs.
“Twilight!” shouted Rarity as she reached the landing, followed by Fluttershy. “You've got to come quick!”
“Oh my, um,” stammered Fluttershy. “It's, well...”
“A horrible beast! It's monstrous! From the Everfree Forest!”
“Settle down girls!” said Twilight. “What exactly are you talking about?”
“It's, um,” said Fluttershy. “It's an owlbear.”
“A what?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“An owlbear,” replied Fluttershy. “They, well, they've got the body of a bear and the head of an owl. And really bad tempers.”
“Owlbear!” shouted Finn from behind the ponies. “That sounds flippin' awesome!”
For the first time, Rarity and Fluttershy noticed the human standing in the back of Twilight's laboratory.
“Twilight!” exclaimed Rarity. “What ever is that hideous thing that just talked?”
“Hideous?” scoffed Finn indignantly. “What's with your mane? It looks like someone tried to glue a mess of purple ribbon to a horse.”
Rarity gasped at the insult, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but giggle a little bit at the human's bravado. Fluttershy, however, had gone completely silent upon seeing the stranger.
“Settle down, everypony!” shouted Twilight. “This is Finn, it's kind of my fault he's here. It's a long story we'll figure out later. But for now, we need to move out. Where did you last see the owlbear?”
“Um...” peeped Fluttershy.
“Come on, girl,” demanded Applejack. “Spit it out!
“It...was going towards Sweet Apple Acres...” finished Fluttershy.
“Applebloom!” said Applejack. “Big Macintosh and Granny Smith! We gotta hurry!”
“Okay girls, let's go!” said Twilight. “Finn, when we get back, we'll get this figured out. Just stay here for now, and don't leave! I've got plenty of books upstairs, although now that I think about it, it's remarkable you even speak our language...”
“Pfff,” responded Finn. “Stay here with books? Stuff that noise, Imma go fight the owlbear!”
“You can't come with us!” said Twilight incredulously. “All the ponies will freak out if they see you! Besides...” Twilight examined Finn from head to toe for a second and continued “No offense, but you don't look strong enough to be fighting creatures from the Everfree Forest!”
“Not that strong? I'm an adventurer! Fighting evil is what I'm all about!”
“I don't think...”
Finn cut her off, simply saying “I'm following you whether you like it or not.”
“Come on, Twilight,” said Applejack. “That critter could be tearing up half the farm by now!”
“Fine!” said Twilight. “But I'm at least casting a spell to make him invisible! It will at least last until we're out of Ponyville.”
“Whoah,” said Finn, starting to feel excited. “I get to fight an owlbear AND be invisible. Math!”
Twilight's horn glowed and shot a magical beam towards Finn. Within seconds, the human began to vanish.
“Algebraic! What time is it?!?”
“Um, about a quarter till five,” said Rainbow Dash as they began to run upstairs.
Finn sighed.
“I miss Jake...”
…
“Catch that pony!”
The Banana Guards ran as fast as they could after the pink pony, but were no match for her speed.
“Ohmygosh, oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!” squeed the pony. “It's an ENITRE KINGDOM MADE OUT OF CANDY! This is the greatest thing ever!”
Jake and Princess Bubblegum ran down the hallway behind the guards, but they weren't getting any closer to the pony.
“Come on, Princess!” said Jake, getting on all fours and stretching himself to a larger size. “Hop on!”
Jake and the Princess now stormed past the guards, but the pink pony was no longer in sight.
“Oh my!” came a voice from one of the rooms.
“That sounded like Peppermint Butler!” said the princess.
“Hold on, man!” yelled Jake.
Jake burst through the door to find the pony licking Peppermint Butler with a joyful look on her face. Peppermint Butler seemed petrified with fear.
“The horror...” he whispered. “It's the Deer all over again!”
“Hey, man,” said Jake, resuming his normal size. “You can't run around eating the Candy People. They got aspirations!”
“Huh?” said the pony, her tongue still on the traumatized candied servant.
“Please stop...” gasped Peppermint Butler.
“'Ou can thalk?” said the pony, finishing one last lick. “Is that even vegetarian anymore? Great! I find a place made entirely out of candy, and I can't even eat anything!”
“Wait!” said Princess Bubblegum. “It's just the one's with faces that you have to avoid.”
She pulled a piece of candy out of her dress. “Here, have this!” she said, throwing the piece to the pony. Quick as a flash, the pony caught the candy with her tongue and pulled it back into her mouth. “Mmmm, Juicy!”
“Milady?” asked Peppermint Butler.
“Oh, I'm sorry, of course you're excused Peppermint Butler.” said the princess.
“But this is my room...”
“I said you're excused.”
The dapper peppermint grumbled a bit, and walked out of the room.
“Tell me, miss...” began Princess Bubblegum.
“Pinkie!” said the pony, chomping down the last bit of the candy. “Pinkie Pie! Want to be friends, candy lady?”
“Of course!” said Princess Bubblegum, forcing a smile. “But first you have to tell me, have you seen a boy with blue clothes, a green backpack, and a white bear hat?”
“What? No, what a silly thing for a pony to wear! Though you guys definitely aren't ponies, so maybe it looks good on him!”
“Ooookay,” said Jake. “I just wanna know where my bro is. Where'd you come from, anyway?”
“I'm from Ponyville!” said Pinkie, jumping up and down. “Everypony back there is a pony like me! Well, not exactly like me, there's unicorns and pegasuses... Pegases? Anyway, I was going to be the first Earth Pony to be teleported to Canterlot, but I guess I got lost along the way somehow.”
“Teleport!” exclaimed the princess. “Pinkie, I think I know what happened! You must have been in non-space the same time as our friend. It must have confused the quantum zanoids and sent them back to where you came from, while bringing you here!”
Pinkie's tale began twitching.
“Uh, guys?”
“So does that mean you know how to get Finn back?” asked Jake.
“Yes, I believe so. It would be a simple matter of taking the zanoids left in the chamber and distressing them to bring us to where Finn is. We just have to make a new set of entangled bracelets for the return trip!”
Pinkie began to shake all over. “Uh oh, this one's going to be a doozey!”
“Oh,” said Jake. “Sounds easy enough. Well, let's get started then.”
Princess Bubblegum was about to reply, but a loud explosion erupted, blowing away the wall to Peppermint Butler's room. When the dust cleared, Princess Bubblegum gasped. Flying by the power of his beard was the Ice King.
“Ice King!” shouted the princess. “What the heck!”
“Oooh, sorry,” said the old wizard, a surprised look on his face. “You know what? That was my bad. Guess I'm just clumsy today.”
“You destroyed half my castle!” fumed the princess.
“That's an over-exageration!” reasoned the Ice King. “It's like one wall! Oh, I guess it goes down a few floors. Probably better that you don't look, Princess.”
“Just get outta here!” yelled Jake. “We don't have time for this, we gotta go rescue Finn!”
“Yeesh, okay, okay,” said the Ice King starting to fly away. Then he turned around. “Wait, rescue Finn? As in he's not here right now?”
“No! He's off in some crazy pony world and we've got find him!”
“Oh,” said the Ice King. “Why didn't you say so?”
The Ice King swept down and grabbed Princess Bubblegum, creating ice restraints for her arms and legs.
“What? NO!” shouted Jake. “You're a real jerk, Ice King!”
“I think you mean 'real manly man'” giggled the Ice King. “I'll send you and Finn invitations to the wedding!”
“Finn's missing, you butt!” said Princess Bubblegum.
“Oh yeah, that's why I can get away with this in the first place!”
“Noooo!” screamed the Princess, as the Ice King began flying away.
Jake tried to stretch after them, but the Ice King had already gone too far.
“Oh man,” said Jake, resuming his normal shape.
“WHOA!” said Pinkie Pie. “That guy's a real meanie! What are we gonna do now?”
“The only thing we can do, Pinkie,” said Jake. “You're going to have to help me rescue the princess if you ever want to go home again.”
“Oh, wow,” said Pinkie Pie. “It's like it's quest hour!”
“Um,” said Jake. “Let's call it adventure time.”
“Fine, I'll come up with something catchier later.”
...
First off, you guys are awesome, I can't believe how many of you left me such great feedback! It got me motivated enough to try and get this chapter out as fast as I could. No promises the next one will come out as soon, but as you can see from above, some interesting stuff's about to go down, and I'm just as anxious to get to it as you are! If anyone has found some good MLP Adventure Time Crossover art, I'd be super grateful if you linked it to me for future chapters!
Until next time!
Art Used:
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/185/c/b/i\_want\_candy\_by\_toonfreak-d3kx9eh.png
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/240/0/c/a\_close\_encounter\_by\_uber\_tastee-d4855wo.png
Chapter 3: The Ghost of the Library
Finn ran as fast as his invisible legs would carry him, but he still couldn't catch up with the ponies. And thanks to being invisible, they couldn't tell how far behind he was.
Figures they're so fast , thought Finn. They are horses after all. Maybe I should have asked if I could ride one. Do talking ponies care if you ride them? Lady Rainicorn never really seemed to care, but she's way bigger than Twilight and the others.
It was hopeless. He couldn't even see the ponies anymore, and he had no idea where Sweet Apple Acres was. He couldn't even ask any of the other ponies around for directions, being both invisible and some kind of alien to them.
Guess I'll head back to Twilight's. Maybe there'll be a map or something I can use.
Finn turned around, taking care not to give himself away as he walked the streets of Ponyville. What a crazy place this is , he thought, noticing the neatly kept shops and homes. Only the Candy Kingdom back home is this organized. It really is a whole civilization of ponies...
After walking a little further, Finn reached Twilight's library. Just like his home back in Ooo, it was built into a giant tree. He wondered if he would ever see his own tree fort again.
Finn entered the library and thought it was quiet. Especially quiet, even for a library. Wasn't the lizard guy still here?
“Helloooo,” called Finn. “Anyone home?”
There came a loud banging noise from the basement, followed by a panicked voice.
“-should still have an hour before they come back, what was that?”
There was a sort of clicking, growling noise in reply.
“Well, maybe he got loose, go upstairs and check!”
Footsteps, very heavy sounding ones, began to climb the stairs. Finn looked around for a place to hide, before remembering he was still invisible. The footsteps grew louder, shaking the entire library. Then Finn saw it. Climbing up the stairs was a creature the size and shape of a bear, with the head of an owl.
The owlbear! If it's here-
The owlbear opened its beak and let out a screech, but Finn didn't budge. It looked around the room, then lumbered towards a closet. It opened the door, and muffled cries became audible. The owlbear screeched again, and the cries stopped. It closed the door and began lumbering back downstairs. As quietly as he could, Finn walked over to the the stairway.
The owlbear gave a clicking growl.
“Well, just stay alert then. Your friend only bought so much time, and we can not afford to waste this opportunity to find out what's really powering that pretentious purple pony.”
Finn moved from the stairwell to the closet the owlbear had opened. Taking care not to make the door creak, Finn opened it. Inside was a shaking, tied up sack.
“Lizard-Guy?” whispered Finn.
A muffled yelp came from inside the sack. Finn untied it, revealing Twilight's companion, Spike.
“Is that you, Finn?” he asked.
“Yeah, man, I'm still invisible from Twilight's spell” said Finn in a hushed voice. “What happened here?”
“I dunno,” said Spike. “Right after you guys ran out, somepony and an owlbear barged in here, and tied me up in this sack!”
“Who would do something like that?” asked Finn.
“Beats me, most everyone loves Twilight!”
The sounds of furniture and equipment scraping continued to come from the downstairs.
“Look, Lizard-Guy, I've got a plan for getting those guys out of here.”
“Yeah?” said Spike
…
She had to hurry, before it was too late. True, it pained her to associate with such brutes like these owlbears, but the Great and Powerful Trixie needed a diversion to get into Twilight Sparkle's library.
It had to be around here somewhere: the spell book, magical artifact, or whatever secret treasure the Princess had given to Twilight Sparkle. It was the only way a common unicorn could have bested the Great and Powerful Trixie in a show of magical prowess. Perhaps all these strange machines were her secret. Sure, the Great and Powerful Trixie was no stranger to supplementing her miraculous feats of magic with some fireworks or smoke, but that was just good showponyship. Maybe she would fire up the machines just to see what they did before Twilight got back.
“Oooooooooooooooooh” moaned a voice in the distance.
The owlbear let out his strange growl, and pointed towards the stairs. Descending the staircase was a figure wearing a white bed sheet, like some cliché storybook picture of a ghost.
“Ooooooooooooooooooh, I am A GHOOOOST! Leave this plaaaaace.”
Seriously? What pony would think they could get away with such a stupid disguise?
“That is just pathetic!” said the Great and Powerful Trixie indignantly. “Of all the cheap, moronic ploys...” Trixie pointed her horn at the fake phantasm and lifted the bed sheet, revealing...
A floating pile of books.
“I waaaaaaarned yoooouu! I AM THE GHOST OF THE LIBRARY!”
“It's not possible!” yelled the Great and Powerful Trixie. “You must be a spell of Twilight Sparkles!” She turned to the owlbear. “What are you waiting for, get that...thing!”
The owlbear looked towards the floating books, and gave a nervous growl. Owlbears were none too bright, and were notoriously superstitious in their primitive little tribes.
“I AM NO SPEEEEELL! Prepare to eat THE WRITTEN WORD, FOOLS!”
One of the books from the floating pile launched towards the owlbear, smacking it right in the face. It yelped in fright.
The Great and Powerful Trixie frantically tried to make sense of the situation. This was ridiculous! Had Twilight Sparkle prepared for such an intrusion in her home? Had she taught her little pet dragon a few tricks for such an emergency? Or... could the library really be haunted?
“The Great and Powerful Trixie does not fear any such nonsense,” said the unicorn, trying to sound as calm and dignified as possible.
“That's too baaaaaaad,” chided the voice. The books dropped to the ground while a bib rose and tied itself into a knot around the phantasm. “'Cause I'm going to eat you!”
That was too much for the owlbear to handle. It threw it's arms into the air, let out a terrified screech, and bolted up the stairs.
A moment later, a softer set of footsteps descended the staircase. It was Twilight Sparkle's little pet, the baby dragon.
“Well, you've really done it now, Trixie,” said Spike. “Twilight always warned me about the ghost of the library, but I've never actually heard it until now. What exactly did you do to make it so mad?”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't answer to the likes of you!”
A book flew from the pile towards the unicorn, barely missing her.
“I don't think it liked that answer,” said Spike. “Better tell the truth, I hear that's usually the only thing that can calm angry ghosts like this down.”
“Fine! I came looking for the source of Twilight Sparkle's apparent strength! I was going to expose that proud pony for what she was, and prove that nopony can really match the Great and Powerful Trixie!”
Spike sighed. “Will you ever learn, Trixie? Twilight really is that talented! You obviously have better skill than most with your magic, why can't you just be happy with that?”
“You may have caught Equestria's greatest magician this time, dragon, but next time I'll expose what Twilight Sparkle is hiding. And also the truth about this 'ghost' of yours!”
Trixie threw down a pouch she kept for stage performances, creating a cloud of blue smoke just long enough to cover her escape. She ran past the baby dragon, up the stairs, and out of the library.
It was only a matter of time before Twilight Sparkle and her friends came back, and the baby dragon told them what happened. No matter, The Great and Powerful Trixie would just have to be more careful in her next plan.
…
Finn was regaining his visibility as he and Spike worked to clean up the library.
“Whoa, Finn,” said Spike. “That was actually pretty cool. I mean no offense, but you didn't strike me as brilliant when you first fell into the library and screamed your head off.”
“Thanks, man,” said Finn proudly. “I have my moments. Who was that anyway?”
“Oh, her? That was Trixie. A sorta nasty piece of work, but pretty far down the scale of jerks Twilight and the others have had to deal with. Though I don't know how she got the owlbears to work with her. Twilight might have a guess or two though.”
“Wait, you mean you guys get into fights like this often?”
“Well, kind of. I mean, there was the time the girls recovered the Elements of Harmony and stopped Nightmare Moon from creating eternal night.”
“Who?”
“Nightmare Moon, she's Princess Celestia's sister, and she kind of went off the deep end a thousand years ago and tried to take over the world, so Celestia had to banish her to the moon for a thousand years.”
“A thousand years!” exclaimed Finn. “That's flippin' nuts! How long do you guys live?
“Well most of us won't be around nearly as long as the Princesses, I'm pretty sure they're immortal. I might have a good shot at it though, being a dragon.”
Finn thought for a moment about what dragons looked like back in Ooo. It was nothing like the adorable little purple guy he was talking to.
“So you're saying that these princesses are immortal and can do stuff like shoot ponies to the moon? How the heck did Twilight and the others manage to stop one of them?”
“They found the Elements of Harmony, they're kind of like magical representations of goodness and order. When they were found by Nightmare Moon, the Elements activated and purified the evil out of her. Now she's back on our side as Princess Luna. She's still kinda creepy at times, but really I think she's just happy to be among her ponies again.”
The story reminded Finn a lot of his own friend from back in Ooo. She also seemed really dangerous and creepy, but just wanted some friends.
“Hey Finn,” said Spike, trying to clean a scuff mark from the floor. “What about you? You said you were an adventurer right?”
“Sure, what do you wanna know?”
“Any crazy adventures you can tell me about?”
Finn thought for a moment about all his past adventures. “Well, I guess the most nuts thing I've ever done was when Jake and I fought the Lich.”
“What's a Lich?” asked Spike.
“It's kind of this zombie wizard thing, except ridiculously powerful. Peebles said it wanted to kill everything in the world, and from what I saw, it had a good chance at it. It could do this thing where if you listened to it speak it would take over your mind.”
“That's insane!” said Spike. Sure he had seen some dangerous things, but even Discord, the Spirit of Chaos didn't try to kill anything. Finn's world must have been very different than Equestria.
“Yeah, luckily I had this sweater!” said Finn, showing Spike his prized Like-Like sweater.
“Um, because you were cold?”
“Nah man, although that's why the princess gave it to me in the first place. I found another use for it.”
“Yeah, what'd you do?”
“I shoved this sweater up into it's eye holes and ripped it's head off!”
Spike was speechless.
“Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Peebles got possessed for a while by the Lich, and we almost killed her, but everything turned out alright eventually.”
“Um, Finn?” asked Spike. “You've killed a lot haven't you? I mean, it sounds like you live in a dangerous place and all, but things just aren't like that here in Equestria.”
“Yeah,” said Finn, remembering some of his adventures. “It's just a different kind of world I guess. Don't worry, I promise I won't kill anything as long as I'm here in this world.”
“Thanks,” said Spike.
The door of the library opened. Twilight and the others came in, looking exhausted and ruffled.
“Well Girls,” said Twilight. “I don't think we'll have to worry about him coming back for a while. Where did you even get all of that honey and chicken wire, Fluttershy?”
“Oh,” said the yellow pegasus, “Um, you know. I like to keep plenty just in case.”
“And lookie here,” said Applejack. “Finn was back here all along! That's a load off.”
“Yeah, what happened to you!” said Rainbow Dash. “You raised such a storm about wanting to go fight the owlbear and then you snuck off back here?”
“I couldn't keep up with you guys!” said Finn. “Y'all run way faster than I do!”
“And you girls should be happy he had to come back!” yelled Spike.
“Why's that, Spike?” asked Twilight.
"Because that owlbear you fought was a diversion!"
Spike recounted what had happened between them, Trixie, and the other owlbear. When he got the the part about the ghost of the library, Rainbow Dash couldn't stop laughing.
“That was very clever of you, Finn,” said Twilight. “You stopped a full grown owlbear and magically adept unicorn with a simple trick. Of course, it was my invisibility spell that made it possible, but still.”
“But Twilight, darling,” said Rarity. “That horrid Trixie got away! Surely we should do something about her!”
“Maybe later,” said Twilight. “For now, I think I just want to get some rest. You all must be tired after today.”
“Yeah,” said Finn. “I could do with some sleep.”
“Don't worry Finn, first thing we'll do tomorrow is get to work on getting you home.”
…Bonus
“Twilight's Song” (To the Tune of "Billy's Song")
Who's the greatest unicorn ever
A filly of renown?
Who sealed a chaos spirit
And cast Nightmare Moon down?
TWILIGHT!
And that time she hatched a dragon egg
So impressed the Princess fair
That she became her personal student
And earned a cutie mark right there!
TWILIGHT!
Also
SHE FOUGHT A BEEEEEEEAAAARRR!
...
What, no Pinkie Pie? Sorry guys, this was running pretty long and I figured it would be better to divvy up the stories into separate chapters. I also wanted to show a little bit about how Adventure Time is a bit darker than MLP at times by talking about the Lich, for those not familiar with the show. Anyway, thanks for continuing to be awesome, see you next time!
Art Used:
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/348/3/f/scary\_ghost\_story\_\_by\_adamscage-d4j4myw.png
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/267/d/e/twilight\_sparkle\_by\_elegantmisreader-d4asspt.png
Chapter 4: The Ca-RAVE-an
The Ice King paced excitedly within his frozen fortress home.
“Oh just you wait Princess, this wedding's gonna be tops. I'll get all the penguins and snow golems to help out and we'll have a real bash!”
Princess Bubblegum gripped the ice bars of her prison.
“Yeah, I'm super excited...” she said in her flattest possible voice.
The Ice King gave her a hurt look. “Something the matter, honeybunch? I don't want the bride-to-be feeling anything but comfortable and at ease on the night before her wedding, ya know.”
“Comfortable and at ease?” Princess Bubblegum said indignantly. “Then why do you have me in a prison cell!?!”
“We've been over this sweetheart,” explained the Ice King cooly. “You can't be trusted. But I love you anyway, despite your many faults.”
Princess Bubblegum groaned and turned to face the corner of her cell. Maybe if I could just get my head around the situation... she thought. If Finn were here, he would have already broken in and socked the Ice King in his wrinkly old face! Who knows how far Jake'll get on his own? Or if my stupid braclet had worked...
Then an idea came to her. The Princess turned around and gave the Ice King a pleasant smile.
“You know,” she said in an alluring voice. “If you want our wedding to be perfect, we still have a lot of planning to do.”
“Well I can't hel-wha?!?” said the Ice King disbelievingly.
Princess Bubblegum giggled. “I'm the princess of the Candy Kingdom! You don't think you can just treat me like some old hag from the woods do you? Our wedding's going to need class! Gifts! We need to make it an event for all of Ooo to remember forever!”
The Ice King was stunned. Then his face contorted into an enormous grin. “I knew you'd come around! Alright, future Mrs. Ice King, where do we begin?”
“We need our wedding rings, silly!” said the Princess.
“Yes of course! I've got some old...”
“No,” interrupted the Princess. “We need new, flashy rings. Important people have big flashy things, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” reasoned the Ice King.
The Princess gasped with as much excitement as she could force. “No! We need something even bigger and flashier than rings. Let's have wedding bracelets! That way we can fit all kinds of junk on them!”
The Ice King looked a little overwhelmed. “I don't know, Princess. This is sounding expensive...”
“Oh don't worry about that, I've got everything I'd need to make all sorts of flashy gems back in my laboratory!”
The Ice King considered her point for a moment. “Wait a minute...” he said. “I'm not gonna just let you waltz back home, how do I know you'd come back? Nice try Princess, I'll go get your lab stuff myself!”
“Fine,” Princess Bubblegum said. “Here's what I'm going to need...”
…
“And then I was like, it's been four weeks you lazy bum!”
“What are you talking about, Pinkie?” Jake asked.
“Huh?” said the pink earth pony. “Oh, nevermind, it's not important anymore.”
“Um, okay?”
Jake the dog and Pinkie Pie were making their trek across the Grasslands en route to the Ice Kingdom. It was a journey Jake had made many times. Heck, Finn and Jake hardly even begrudged the Ice King for it anymore, it was just a fact of life that the Ice King would kidnap a princess and they'd have to go rescue her. However, this was the first time Jake had ever gone without Finn.
Truth be told, he was a little nervous. Sure, Jake could grow huge with his stretchy powers and just wreck up the place until they found the Princess, but the Ice King was magic, and Jake was never good at dealing with magic. He didn't have that same reckless courage that Finn had. Finn could just throw caution to the wind and punch problems until they went away.
“So what's the plan, Jake?” asked Pinkie Pie. “I'm not used to adventuring a lot like this. Well, I guess every now and then a dragon or demi-god will come around and mess up Ponyville, but that's not too often. Mostly I just worry about making sure everypony is having fun!”
“Well,” Jake began, “I know where the Ice King is probably keeping the Princess. The best I can figure, we've got to sneak in, I'll finagle the locks a bit with my key hand-” Jake changed his hand into the shape of a key, “we get PB, and head home so we can get to work on rescuing Finn. We've got to be careful though. The Ice King has crazy ice powers than can freeze us if we're not careful. Also, some of those penguins can be outright vicious.”
“Hmmm,” said Pinkie Pie. “Maybe we could get them all together at a party! It would be a distraction party, with games and cake, the works!”
“Pinkie, that's crazy-” Jake started, before thinking about just who the Ice King was, “enough to work! But how are we gonna throw a party? We've just got you, me, and whatever we can pick up along the way.”
Pinkie shrugged. “Maybe we could ask those guys for help?”
Jake was about to ask who she was referring to before seeing a line of horse drawn wagons in the distance. Fireworks shot up from the wagons, sparkling brightly. Jake hadn't realized it, but there was a faint hint of music ahead.
“They look like they know how to party,” said Pinkie approvingly.
“Let's go check it out,” said Jake, dropping down to all fours as the ran to the wagons.
The music swelled as they drew nearer. It was a catchy dance beat that Pinkie began to bounce along to. Everywhere around the wagons, small bears were dancing and lighting off fire works. Many of them were carrying around honey energy drinks.
“Hey, I know these guys!” Jake shouted over the music.
“Cool!” Pinkie shouted back. “I love their music!”
A taller bear wearing a fedora made his way to the front of the party-goers.
“Jake!” he called. “Jake! It's been too long man!”
Jake resumed his two legged stance and fist bumped the bear. “What's up, Party Pat! Haven't seen you since we all almost got killed by lava in that monster's stomach!”
Party Pat straightened his fedora. “Yeah, had some good times in that stomach! But alas, there's so much partying left to be had elsewhere in this world, so we took our show on the road. Welcome to Party Pat's Ca-RAVE-an!”
“Hey Party Pat!” interrupted Pinkie Pie. “Awesome part-ay you got going here! From one party master to another!”
Party Pat blinked twice. “Did that pony just talk?”
“Did that pony just talk?” repeated Pinkie Pie. She nudged a nearby horse. “Can you believe this guy? Ha, did I just talk...”
“Uh, Pinkie?” said Jake. “Horses and ponies don't really talk around here, they're just animals for the most part.”
Pinkie looked back at the horse. It whinnied, then lowered its head to graze.
“Creepy...” she said with a disturbed look on her face. “Wait, just animals? You're a talking bear! And you're a talking dog for that matter!”
“It's complicated,” said Jake. It was hard to distinguish the smart animals from the dumb animals in Ooo sometimes.
“Far out,” said Party Pat. “I've never met a talking pony before. A rainicorn once, but that's not too big a deal. Pleased to meet you, miss...?”
“Pinkie Pie!” said the earth pony, sticking her hoof out. Party Pat grabbed it and shook cordially.
“Well Pinkie,” he said, gesturing out to his ca-RAVE-an, “My party is your party! Grab a drink and enjoy some games!”
“Sounds like fun!” said Pinkie, grabbing a honey drink from a nearby bear. She then bumped flanks with some dancing bears before wandering off to explore the rest of the wandering party.
“She's got spirit,” said Party Pat approvingly.
“Hey man,” said Jake. “I need to call in a solid favor.”
Party Pat lifted an eye brow.
“What is it?” he asked.
“The Ice King nabbed Princess Bubblegum, and we need a distraction to get into his fortress.”
“What happened to Finn?” asked Party Pat. “This is his kind of deal, right?”
“Finn got mixed up in some kind of Pony dimension,” said Jake. “That's where Pinkie came from. We need to get PB back since she's the only one who can help Finn out. Oh, I'm also pretty sure the Ice King is going to try and marry her against her will.”
“That's pretty messed up,” said Party Pat with a slight frown. He thought for a moment, and then smiled.
“Well, I suppose we can't let them rush into the wedding without an engagement party, can we?”
“No,” Jake agreed. “We can't. What did you have in mind?”
“Give me a second,” said Party Pat. He pulled himself on to the top of a wagon and gestured the DJ bear to kill the music.
“What's up party people!?!” he bellowed out to the bears. There was a loud round of cheers from the bears, and a high, lone “Yippee!” from the back.
“We have truly brought the funk out to the Grasslands today!” he shouted. “But next, we're heading to some place a little cooler. In fact, it's going to be downright chill! We're taking this party on to the Ice Kingdom, baby!”
There was more cheering from the bears, as some jumped into wagons and pulled out little sweaters, hats, and snowboards. The music kicked back on.
Party Pat turned to Jake and quietly said, “This is going to be a night to remember for that old popsicle alright.”
“Party Pat,” said Jake while dancing along to the music. “Why don't we hang out more?”
“Beats me, baby,” replied the bear, losing himself in the music as well.
Hey guys, sorry this update took so long! If you're curious about what I've been doing in the meantime, my entry in the February write-off should be available for examination soonish. The next chapter will probably continue on from here instead of shooting back to Finn and Ponyville. A lot of the feel this chapter comes from Adventure Time rather than Friendship is Magic, so I hope it was still enjoyable to those unfamiliar with Adventure Time. And don't worry, an update will come along quicker this time. Pinkie wouldn't let me hear the end of it otherwise....
Art Used: http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/267/5/6/the\_ice\_king\_by\_yuji28go-d4atfgj.png
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/100/b/6/partying\_in\_a\_monster\_\_s\_tummy\_by\_detectivetoony-d3dpol6.png
