"Twilight!" the young earth pony called, "Twilight just CALM DOWN!" her cries fell on deaf ears, while the lavender unicorn took the liberty of zipping around the town square, packing everypony's bags for them.
"T-twilight...if it's not a problem, we c-can kinda pack our bags on our own." the yellow Pegasus said.
"Yes, it IS a problem because we've gotta be packed NOW!" Twilight shouted, seeming more frantic with every passing second. She rarely received letters from her beloved mentor, Princess Celestia, and tended to take things literally and assume the worst. In this case, she received a letter telling her to have them ready to go to Canterlot, the capital city, at dawn, and dawn was fast approaching.
"Now hold on suga'..." said the orange earth pony known far and wide as Applejack. "We're all ready, but getting all worked up and in a tizzy ain't gonna do no-pony no-good, no-how."
"But LAST time Princess Celestia summoned us it was to defeat Discord!" Twilight said with no small amount of alarm.
Up above her, a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane fluttered effortlessly down to face her. "Yeah but we'd STILL need to spend the better part of the day getting to canterlot...so we can't get there any faster if we freak out."
"I brought my PARTY cannon!!" yelled certain bright pink earth pony.
"Twilight, you REALLY need to calm down." Spike piped up, "I read the letter, she didn't seem frightened like with Discord, she seemed...giddy." The young dragon shrank back from the purple unicorn's panicked, twitchy glare, breathing a sigh of relief as she calmed down.
"Spike, mind reading over the letter again?" Twilight asked, calming down. "We've still got time before the chariots arrive."
"Ahem.." Spike cleared his throat before reading the scroll aloud. "To my faithful student Twilight,I require your presence in Canterlot, no later then by tomorrow afternoon. I will be sending pegasi chariots to pick up you and your friends."
"Well it don't sound like no emergency but it is kinda strange she wants us there so darn fast." Applejack mused aloud.
"I know, and THAT has what's got me worried..." Twilight said. "LAST time she wanted us at Canterlot in a hurry we had to fight the living incarnation of chaos and dis-harmony!"
"Hey now, say what you will about him being entropy incarnate, at least Discord had a sense of humor!" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "Also CHOCOLATE MILK RAIN!! I could go for some chocolate milk right now! Oh! Or a scone! No-no! A muffin! Muffins for everypony!"
"She's got a point, though." Dash replied, watching as the pegasi chariots arrived. "Hey, guys! So, what's the emergency?"
"No emergency, ma'am." Responded the main guard, "The princess just has something REALLY important she needs you for, no eldritch abominations or whatever this time."
"Oh...good..." Whispered Fluttershy. She didn't particularly want to go to the capital. But her friends were all going and the princess DID specifically ask for them. "I guess I'll..get my bags.." She said, hoping that she could stall for a few more minutes.
"Here I got them!!" Twilight yelled. The elements of harmony's assorted luggage, plus one tiny bag for a certain baby dragon, floated past in a purple haze of magical energy.
"...Oh...good.." Fluttershy muttered quietly.
"RACE YA THERE!!" Rainbow Dash yelled at the Pegasi manning the chariot and she flew off, becoming a multi-colored blur.
"Err..just ignore her. She's a might..showy." Offers Applejack as she climbed aboard.
"I wonder what the princess wants to show us?" Twilight pondered.
"She reused to elaborate so it's either extremely important, or she wants you involved in another one of her pranks." responded the guard Pegasus. within an hour,t hey had arrives at the entrance of Castle Canterlot, one of the most beautifully designed cities in the world.
The Pegasi didn't stop, giving a quick fly by over the elegant streets and spiraling towers of the pony metropolis. The royal guards made a beeline for the greatest and most beautiful building in the capital, the royal castle.
As they landed on the expansive courtyard, Rainbow Dash was waiting for them, tapping one hoof impatiently as they landed.
"GEEZE took you guys long enough!"
"Um...Rainbow..its NOT a competition." Twilight said dryly.
"Life's a competition. I've got gold medals in AWESOME!!"
"Oooooof course you do sugar cube." Replied Applejack as she hopped off the chariot...
And right into the path of a certain princess whom, in an act completely out of character from the norm, was imitating Pinkie Pie.
"My faithful student! You've arrived!" Princess Celestia cheered, apparently whatever was happening was making her either extremely worried...or extremely happy...
"Um, P-princess!" the purple mare stuttered, panicking at this unusual attitude. "Wh-what's wrong?"
"Wrong? Nothing's wrong! You're right on time! Come on!" The regal beauty practically carried Twilight on her back towards the castle, the young unicorn grabbing Spike telekinetically just in time, and followed promptly by the five confused ponies who had been asked to come along.
"Oooh! The Princess is giddy!" Squeals Pinkie Pie. "I like this already!"
"Well, her highness DOES have playful streak but..this..this seems almost joyful.." Adds Rarity with a raised eyebrow.
The Elements of Harmony trotted after the gleeful Demi-goddess as she lead them to a strange tower lined with stars and strange runic glyphs that glowed even in the day light.
Rarity and Twilight felt a strange twisting sensation in the magical energies that permeated Canterlot. Like the eye of a storm, magic was being drawn to the tower and yet begin calmed to form some sort of vortex.
"MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!" Rang out three very LOUD voices, one of which was easily recognized as Princess Luna, whom came barreling out of the room, followed by a gold-furred earth pony colt with REALLY strange hair wearing elongated triangular goggles, and lastly, a large brown hippogriff wearing comically large aviator sunglasses.
"SISTER!" Luna shouted, accidentally forgetting to negate the Royal Canterlot Voice.
"OUR HEAD ENGINEERS HAVE MADE A SUCCESS! COME QUICKLY!" She shouts, practically DRAGGING Celestia and the elements of harmony into the room, followed by the odd duo whom are practically DANCING with joy.
"What..in the name of Hay...is THAT???" Applejack exclaimed in astonishment, her eyes going wide in wonder and awe.
Looming over the gathered ponies and griffin, was a massive, smooth surfaced gemstone the size of a small house. It floated in a globe of rune carved golden bands and to the unicorns in the room, and even to the earth pony and pegasi, the massive gem radiated a strange, unearthly aura that drew their eyes too it.
Within the darkened crystal, tiny flecks of light slowly turned in a lazy orbit and at the center the ponies could see a radiant core of light.
"Ooooh those lights remind me of..constellations!" Spike said as he peaked over Twilight's shoulder. "You know like in your books Twi!"
"Your right Spike..they DO look a lot like the celestial bodies in my star charts.." Twilight agreed with a raised eyebrow. In fact, to Twilight's eyes the flickering lights looked exactly like stars. The resemblance was perfect. And the immense power radiating form the gem seemed to feel familiar.
"Such...a beautiful...gem.." Whispered Rarity, her eyes growing as big as saucers. She let out a wistful sigh and stared at the beautiful gem as Rainbow waved her hoof in front of the unicorn fashion diva.
"Um..I think we lost Rarity." She said with a slight chuckle.
"Well Spotted Spike..in a way..those ARE stars inside the gem..My Little Ponies..meet the STARWAY STONE!" Celestia said in a loud and proud voice, her wing sweeping majestically towards the massive artifact.
"So...what's it for, exactly?" Twilight asked, fairly certain that her beloved princess wouldn't get all frantic about something so simple as a mere stargazing device. As much as she loved stars, there was no need at all for her to be so excited over a new way to see them.
"Well, my faithful student." The lovely Demi-goddess/princess began, "Our head engineer, Mister Clockworx and his friend, Sir Southern Cross of the Griffin Kingdom," she gestures towards the spike-maned, apparently blind earth pony and the brown-feathered hippogriff in the cool shades, "Have been working in unison on a theoretical way to traverse the Void between Worlds."
"Wait...The Void between worlds!?" The purple unicorn shouted, her voice edged with shocked disbelief.
"Yep!" 'Clockworx' interjected, "The Void between Worlds! The Cleft of Dimensions! The endless Rift between realities! We've FINALLY BEATEN IT!" He shouted, downright giddy at the prospect before entering into a ridiculously long, almost pinkie-pie-esque explanation on how it works, talking so fast that no one can keep up and failing utterly t stop for a breath.
"What my pal MEANS is..." 'Southern Cross' interrupted, "Is that it's basically a high-tech teleportation spell. Pump in enough magic and it'll find a safe enough destination and teleport you there. Problem is, we've not tested it yet, and with the best unicorns and tech heads around already here, we're still short. That's where you six lovely ladies come in."
"You see the only problem with the Starway stone is the sheer amount of magic power need to safely turn the sucker on!" Adds Clockworx."Frankly the amount of energy needed would leave who ever tried to use it completely drained! Not at ALL useful if we plan to explore new worlds.."
"However we have seen on two separate occasions, the power of friendship." Southern Cross jumps in holding a small chalk board with dozens of strange magical calculations on it. "And frankly, you six posses enough juice to power the Starway stone and THEN some!"
"So, wait." Applejack spoke, "You...want us...to power this mechanical monstrosity? HOW!?"
"Yes, and I happen to know EXACTLY how!" Clockworks said, before turning to the rest of the room's residents, whom had, so far, remained quiet. "Ladies and gents, let's get ready to rock!"
A nasal voice rang out in the tower as the doors. The voice belonged to a white unicorn with a blond mane, and the sight of him causes Rarity to grit her teeth.
“Aunties! I’m HERE! ....Oh....MORE commoners.” Prince Blueblood said as he entered the room with a grand flourish. He took his place alongside the other guests, which included Lyra, Bon-bon, Octavia and DJ Vinyl Scratch, and as he stood in front of them they collectively rolled their eyes.
“Oh what the HAY is that windbag doing here?” Mutters Applejack. Rarity quickly covered the earth pony's mouth with her hoof. “Not in front of said windbag’s Demi-goddess aunts dear.”
“What are they doing here Princess?” Asked Twilight with a confused expression on her face. None of the ponies coming in were experts in the fields of magic, and a few of them couldn’t use magic at all.
“Guests actually. We’re not going to be activating the full power of the Starway stone just yet, but rather using its secondary..but none the less impressive powers.”
Celestia added. “The Starway stone can be used like a telescope but on a vastly superior range to even the magical observatory.”
“A superior..what do you mean Princess?” Twilight asked feeling slightly confused. Pinkie Pie raised her hoof. “Oooh! Oooh! It means that we can peak at other worlds and see if there is a Party going on over there!”
“BLUEBLOOD!! I’m so glad you came!!” Princess Luna cried and rushed forward to hug the arrogant stallion. “Err..wouldn’t have missed it for anything Aunty Luna.” He said with a slight wince as the alicorn of the night gave him a hug. The smaller princess’s strength was not to be taken lightly.
“..why is she happy to be around that looser..?” Rainbow Dash muttered to Spike, who scratched his head. Unbeknownst to the Celestia had snuck up behind them.
“Who? You mean my nephew?” She asked with a innocent smile. Dash and Spike gulped loudly. “Well after my sister returned from the Moon she found herself rather..out of touch..not just with time but with the family. She’s been trying to reconnect with our family for a while now and Blueblood has been trying to make her feel welcome and at home...I know you have your issues with him but trust me...he’ll be on his BEST behavior today.” Celestia said to the gathered Elements of Harmony. “So..for Luna’s sake..be nice hmm?”
“Well..okay Princess if you say so.” Applejack said with a reluctant nod. Spike chuckled. “I don’t know what you girls are getting upset over..this is hilarious!” He giggled behind his claw and watched as Luna powerful “hug of doom” took its toll on the haughty unicorn.
“Aunty? Bones..I’m made of bones..brittle, easily broken bones.” He moaned. His back made a odd pop sound as Luna let go.
“Oh..that wasn’t supposed to pop like that..” Fluttershy said with a wince.
“Hey, where’s the new kid Clockworx?” Asked Southern Cross as she looked around. “She was supposed to help us fine tune this sucker for the big un veil..”
There was a flash of light blue, a puff of smoke, and in the center of the room, a blue unicorn appeared wearing a blue cape covered in stars and wearing thick protective goggles. Twilight Sparkle and the gang’s eyes went wide.
“TRIXIE?!?”
“The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie to you peons!” Laughed the unicorn. “And one of the chief architects of the Starway stone!”
“Um…we hired you to help us fine tune the thing. It was already built when you came here begging for a job.” Said Clockworx flatly.
"Humph, The Great and Powerful Trixie is still vital, for your 'specialist' wouldn't be able to fix the magical flaws without her!" Trixie began, only to be cut off by a clanging crack on the head with a large cello, courtesy of Octavia.
"Thank you, Miss Octavia!" Clockworx said, fishing about for a set of glasses made to help him see while blind. After locating the red, comically over the top, yet simplistic triangle 'Kamina Shades', he spoke again.
"honestly, everyone. While it's clear MOST of us know each other, I feel it's wise, for the sake of posterior, I mean posterity, that we make a full introduction. Then we can roll with the plot."
"Dude, Clockworx, the ass-based puns are MY job." Southern cross interjected.
"Well You all know me and my sister Luna.." Began Celestia. "And we're the ones who commissioned this project." Finished Luna.
"Twilight sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and Spike are here as special guests of her majesty, AND are hopefully the power source we need to make this thing work." Said Clockworx, pointing at the elements of friendship.
"Great. We're glorified fuel sources." Grumbled Dash. Spike nudges her in the side. "The best part is..if this thing explodes, implodes or transports you to some demon infested nether-realm..I'LL probably be fine since I'm just here to take notes!"
"How is that good?" Dash asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Its good for me."
"THIS nutjob is Clockworx, the head artificer for this project." Said the hippogriff scientist, while the mad engineer grinned and pointed back at him. "AND this wacko is Southern Cross, the head Astral physicist!"
"And together we ARE!! SUPER TEAM SCIENCE SQUAD!!" They yelled out together.
"Team and squad in the same sentence is redundant." Twilight added with a raised eyebrow.
"Silence or I shall hit you in the head with some science!" Clockworx declared and waved pipe wrench at her.
"Lyra over there is our expert in inter-species biology." Southern Cross continued. "Bon-bon helped us with chemistry, Vinyl-scratch here is the magitek-electrician.."
"Turns out..everyone likes chocolate!" Said Bon-bon. "Even aliens!"
"Its true! Science proven." Lyra nodded her head sagely. Pinkie Pie also nodded her head. It was, after all undisputed fact.
"And my job was to make sure their work didn't explode..to much." Said Octavia with a decidedly annoyed look at the mad-science duo. "TWO of the team's efforts blew up. A lot."
"Some explosions where made in the name of science yes.." Clockworx said in acknowledgement. "But we're trying to make history here..a few explosions are to be expected in new science!" Southern Cross chimed in with "Yeah! Why don't you MARRY safe science if you like it so much!"
"Should I be worried? I think I should be worried." Fluttershy whimpered. Apple Jack patted her back. "Ah am too sugercube...Ah am too."
"All though I must admit..Miss Trixie's contributions to making the Starway stone function where quite remarkable...WHEN she wasn't posturing needlessly." Octavia added just as Trixie was inhaling to begin another boast. The blue unicorn's self congratulation died in her throat and instead came out and grumpy "Humph."
"His ROYAL Highness Prince Blueblood is here because he will be leading future diplomatic missions to alien worlds." Clockworx pointed at the Prince as he spoke, and the Prince puffed up his chest in pride.
Rarity looked like she was about to say something, but Celestia shot her a pleading look and the white unicorn mare sighed and remained silent.
"And finally the crucial team member who helped us coordinate efforts across the land, as well the courier who gathered rare materials for us..Ditzy Doo!" Southern Cross crowed and nodded to the grey Pegasus. Ditzy blinked. And looked behind her.
"..that's you sweetie." he said with a deadpan tone.
"OH! YAY!!" Ditzy replied and clapped her hooves.
"..Ditzy Doo." Rainbow Dash said flatly.
"...was a VITAL part..." Apple Jack continued.
"..of..this...project..?" Fluttershy whimpered.
"All in favor of running away like scared pixies?" Asked Spike, raising his hand.
"......" Twilight looked at the Starway Stone and its immense aura of power, back to her friends.
"...Leeeeeet's call that "Plan B."
"Plan B is good." Clockworx interjected, grinning happily. He zips around to nuzzle up to Celestia, winking at her. "Your majesty, will you take the honors?"
"Very well." The Princess of the Sun said, rolling her eyes at the goofy sycophant. "Girls, let's fire it up!"
"You heard the Princess, ladies!" Twilight said, quickly getting into her military mentality. "ELEMENTS OF HARMONY! FORM UP!"
Magically donning the powerful weapons of balance known as the Elements of Harmony, Twilight and her friends called upon the Element they represent.
Twilight Sparkle charged in Godlike Magic.
Applejack drew out pure and refined Honesty.
Rarity poured out pristine Generosity.
Pinkie Pie unleashed unrestrained Laughter.
Fluttershy fed out clear and clean Kindness.
and Rainbow Dash[and spike] let loose indomitable Loyalty.
The six raw forces of Harmony coalesced into the most powerful, most feared, and yet most beloved Weapon of Mass Destruction.
The legendary Rainbow of Light!
The rainbow of light condensed and swirled around the room before encircling the Starway Stone in a brilliant maelstrom of color.
"Readings are coming in, she's powering up! 80% 90% We were right! The elements have all the juice we need and more!" Clockworx cackled. Then he blinked. "100%...120...um...okay girls that enough..."
"We...CAN'T!!" Apple Jack moaned.
"IT'S...SUCKING...OUR...POWER!!" Yelled Twilight.
"Turn it off...NOW!! Yelled Celestia. Southern Cross gasped. "200%!! She's active!!"
The Starway stone glowed with a azure light that blinded every pony in the room with its radiance, even the living goddess of the sun herself! The air in the room suddenly sucked into the center of the tower and then the light returned to normal.
The room was empty. No ponies. Nothing but the Starway Stone.
