A/N: My editor was unavailable to edit this one, so I hope any mistakes aren't too glaring.
Chapter Three
Jim stuttered for a moment, taking in the sight of the current state of the Armory. In front of him was the pink mare whom he could only assume was Pinkie Pie. As he looked around, Jim began to note the new... decor. It was redecorated to match a young child's birthday party, complete with multi-colored streamers and balloons. What struck him, though, was the large, wooden table in the middle of the room.
There were several glass bowls with various colored liquids in them and large plates with what appeared to be pastries. Then he saw the cake.
To say he laughed would be an understatement. He was howling with laughter, practically floored at that, at the sight of his Armory, a factory of death, made into a party room. It wasn't for a few minutes that he could stand up again and turn to face the pink pony, who was wearing the largest smile that he'd ever seen.
"Hehe, something tells me you're Pinkie Pie." Jim said, still chuckling.
"Oh I'm so glad you could make it!" Pinkie replied, still smiling. "I mean, I know this is your space ship and all, but I'm super excited now that you're here so we can have a party! Do you humans like parties? Well you must because you were laughing a whole lot just now and I really really really want you to enjoy this party! So, what do you think?"
"It's nice, but I don't have the materials to have a party like this." Jim mused. "Where did you get all of this?" He motioned to all of the decorations and food in the room.
"Oh, that's an easy one." Pinkie reached behind her and pulled out what appeared to be a medieval style cannon. The barrel was baby blue and its wheels were purple with a pink trim along the outside and the image of a daisy in the center. "This is my party cannon. I never leave home without it!"
Jim was impressed by the simple contraption... until a few moments later when some details about it suddenly made no sense. "Hey, Pinkie. Can I ask you something?'
"You mean other than what you just asked me?" she responded.
"Uh, yeah. I was wondering, how does your party cannon work? Also, where did you get it?" Jim asked.
"Oh well it works like this." Pinkie turned the cannon away from Jim. "You just press this..." Pinkie pressed her hoof to the fuse on the cannon. "And... KABOOM!" A blast was heard as the party cannon went off, shooting more streamers and confetti into the room. "The party can now begin. Where did I get it? I built it, of course! My very own design and everything!"
Jim put his hand to his head and sighed. "No, Pinkie. What I meant was-" Before he could finish his thought, the doors to the Armory opened, with Twilight and Matt walking in followed by Rarity and Fluttershy, along with two ponies he didn't recognize.
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A few minutes passed in silence after Rarity had finished her explanation of how she and Fluttershy made it to the bridge, and for most of that time Twilight sat in thought. She was thinking not only of her missing friends, but also of home and of Spike. Most ponies already knew that they were as close as any siblings, so it was really hurting Twilight to know it would be a while until she would see him again.
Letting out a sigh, Twilight brushed those thoughts aside, strengthening her resolve to find a way to make it back to Equestria with her friends. Twilight then let out a gasp in realization. She quickly stood up, causing her friends and Matt to look at her and walked over to Matt, who had been examining the astral map.
"Matt, would it be okay if we went to the Armory?" she politely asked.
"I'm not sure that's the best idea, Ms. Sparkle." Matt replied.
"Please, just call me Twilight." Twilight said. "I want to go because I have a few suspicions about what's going on down there."
"Do you think it might be one of our friends, darling?" Rarity asked.
"Actually, yes." Twilight responded. "And I think I know who it is as well."
"If you think it's your friend, then I trust your judgment." Matt said. "You know your friends better than I do. I insist that you allow me to come with you, though. You don't know your way through the ship yet and we wouldn't want you to get lost."
Twilight thanked Matt for agreeing with her. She encouraged Rarity and Fluttershy to come along. Rarity was fairly quick to accept, though it took a little persuasion to get Fluttershy to come along. After a few minutes they were quickly making their way through the halls of the ship. Twilight took this time to take in all of the various technologies in the ship.
It was... different, to say the least. Twilight had never seen so much metal in one place before, but there was a kind of beauty to it all. How everything seemed to work together in harmony to allow such a massive vessel. If only a fraction of this technology could be bought back to Equestria...
Twilight was snapped out of her reverie when she walked headfirst into something coming out of a doorway perpendicular to the hallway they were in. The impact of walking into another being forced Twilight to fall back and sit down, making her more than just a little disoriented. Shaking her head to clear it, she saw two very familiar ponies in front of her.
"Applejack! Rainbow!" Twilight cried with glee, pulling the two ponies in question into a hug. "I'm so glad to see you girls."
"Aww, come on, Twi." Applejack said. "Ya'll had nothin' to worry 'bout us two, ain't that right, Rainbow?"
"Of course!" Rainbow said, wearing a proud grin. "Besides, we can take care of ourselves pretty well. After all, we are two of the toughest ponies in Ponyville, though I'm obviously tougher."
Twilight couldn't help but let her smile grow. It seemed that, even with everything that had been going on, her friends were no worse for the wear.
"Hey, Twi." Applejack began. "How 'bout you introduce the two of us to your 'friend' here?" she motioned to Matt.
"Oh, this is Matt Horner." Twilight replied. "He's the one who found Rarity and Fluttershy. He's been really helpful to us, along with a kind man known as Jim Raynor."
Applejack walked up to Matt and put out her hoof. "My name's Applejack. It's a pleasure meetin' you, Mr. Horner." Matt took her hoof and shook it. "Any friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine."
"It's very nice to meet you, too." Matt replied.
"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed. "I almost forgot, we need to get to the Armory." Twilight continued down the corridor. "You two can tell us what happened to you while we walk."
The rest of the group caught up with Twilight and Rainbow began telling them all what had happened.
"We woke up in an empty room. I don't know what it was for, but it being made of metal surprised me. Anyway, we decided we'd never find out where we were if we just stayed huddled in one place. Not that we were scared or anything, just... in shock. Yeah, in shock.
"Well, we were going through one hallway after another when we heard a voice everywhere. It kinda reminded me of how we could hear Discord when we couldn't see him. The voice said something about our names and what we looked like, and told others what to do if they found us. Then it told us to try and find someone to take us to a bridge or something.
"Personally, I thought it was a trap, but Applejack here said she could hear you, Twilight, and said we should try and follow it's instructions. I trusted her and, not much later, we ran into you! Well, I did, anyway..." Rainbow smiled sheepishly at that. "Sorry about that."
Twilight chuckled. "Don't be. I ran into you. There's just so much about this place that's so fascinating." Twilight's eyes sparkled with intrigue as she looked around at the corridor again.
Before she could get lost in thought again, Matt informed them that they had reached the Armory. The doors quickly slid open, revealing a perplexed Jim Raynor, Pinkie Pie, and the weirdest looking party room Twilight had ever seen.