Hop, Skip, and Slide

by Lloxie

The Device

“I f-found it when I was, um, checking on m-my bunny friends. A strange wolf c-came by and startled them into th-the, um... the Everfree,” Fluttershy was explaining. At the mention of the dangerous forest, Twilight's eyes grew wide, then narrowed as she raised an eyebrow and shook her head. The shy mare ducked behind her mane and gave one of her characteristic squeaks.

“Fluttershy, I really wish you wouldn't go in there by yourself, at least not without telling someone first. I know you're more experienced there than the rest of us, but it's still risky,” Twilight lightly chastised her timid friend. “No matter how good you are with animals, or nature in general, you could still get in serious trouble out there.”

“Oh, um, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, um, that is...*squeak*”

Twilight sighed and put on a reassuring smile. “It's alright, Fluttershy, I just worry about you sometimes is all,” she said, placing a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder gently. “Now go on. You were saying?”

Fluttershy took a breath and collected herself, then nodded. “Well, when I f-found them, they were all, um, looking at this s-strange little black... um, thing, with g-glowing red numbers on it. I s-saw some hoofprints nearby too, but they were old, and I didn't see a-any other signs of p-ponies nearby. I w-wanted to bring it to y-you, but thought maybe whoever it, um, belonged to might come back looking for it.”

Twilight rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “True, but at the same time, considering it's the Everfree, whoever left it there probably either made it out with no intention of returning, or... well...” There was another light squeak as the obvious implications struck her friend. “...yeah. Either way, they probably aren't coming back for it, especially if the hoofprints are old like you said. In any case, it sounds like it might be some kind of magical artifact, and I'd like to see it for myself.”

“But Twilight, do you really think it's important enough to go back to that forest? Weren't you just telling her how dangerous it is?” Spike said as he walked over to the table the two ponies were sharing, and set down a tray carrying some tea and sandwiches for them.

“Only to go in alone!” Twilight reminded him, defensively. “I'll see if I can get the others to join us. Besides, it wasn't that far into the forest, right Fluttershy?”

The quiet pegasus nodded slightly as she chewed a small bite of her sandwich.

“So it's settled then. After lunch, we'll go see if the girls are free, then take a quick trip to the outskirts of the forest, grab the strange... number-thing... then be back in time for dinner!”

“If you say so Twilight. Just be careful, alright?” Spike urged her. Things had been entirely too quiet and uneventful lately in Ponyville, so he felt they were well overdue for some kind of trouble or another.

“Of course, Spike. I'll even send the Princess a letter to let them know about our discovery when we get there, if that'll make you feel better.”

“It would, actually. That way if you get into troub-,” the little dragon began, then narrowed his eyes. “Wait a minute, does that mean you're dragging me along too?” he whined.

The unicorn chuckled lightly. “Yup. After all, I can't investigate strange magical artifacts without my number one assistant! Besides, what if Rarity needs your protection?”

Those two points seemed to do the trick. After only a moment's hesitation, Spike's put-upon look slipped away. “Well when you put it that way...”

“Right. After lunch, go pack some supplies for us while Fluttershy and I go get the others.”

*****

It was a bit later in the day than Twilight would have preferred when they finally reached the edge of the forest. Pinkie and Dash were easy to convince, having both been driven to utter boredom by the lack of activity recently. Applejack and Rarity, on the other hand, had taken some convincing. In a rare agreement between the two otherwise very argument-prone ponies, they both fought the idea on the grounds that it was a silly reason to go gallivanting into the Everfree.

Normally they would have claimed they were too busy as well, but their friends knew too well this wasn't true. Harvest season had just finished, so the farmpony couldn't use applebucking as an excuse. And Rarity's business had been slow lately, with the winter holiday rush still a few weeks off. Eventually they'd been convinced to come along, knowing they wouldn't forgive themselves if anything happened to their close friends and they hadn't been there to help.

Still, despite their initial reluctance, by the time they reached the clearing Fluttershy was leading everyone to, they were glad they came along. Despite the ominous nature of the forest, everyone seemed to be enjoying the trip, taking the time to catch up with one another as they walked. Clearly, they'd all been more starved for activity than they'd initially realized.

The various residents of the Everfree gave the ponies space as they traveled amongst the underbrush. A squirrel peeked around a tree at one point, but quickly darted away when Fluttershy tried to approach it. The disappointed pegasus almost tried to follow it, but Twilight calmly reminded her of their goal, as well as the fact that the sun was getting uncomfortably close to setting.

Luckily, it didn't take much longer before they arrived in a small clearing which held the device they were searching for. The clearing was spotty with patches of grass and barren dirt. In the dirt, they could see the faded hoofprints Fluttershy had mentioned before, but there were no more recent signs of pony activity. The device itself sat on one of the grassy patches near the far edge.

Rarity's brow furrowed as they approached it, glancing up at the nearby trees. “Is it just me, or do some of these branches look a little... light?”

“Well it IS fall, Rarity,” Dash replied.

“No, she has a point, sugarcube,” Applejack chipped in, pointing a hoof upto the branches in question. “Look. Those ones there look sorta broken, and they're missing too many leaves for this time of year.”

“And that one limb is part of an evergreen. It should still be covered in needles, but this part is all-” Twilight added, before being interrupted by Pinkie.

“NAKED!”

Twilight rolled her eyes, but the others chuckled a bit. “ANYway. We'll need to be careful with this thing. I have a feeling its somehow responsible for all that. Everyone stay back,” she warned, then carefully lifted the foreign object with her magic. Everyone obediently took a few steps away while she examined it. It turned this way and that until she was staring at the side with the glowing numbers with them right-side up. She noticed several buttons on it under the numbers.

She also noticed that the numbers were counting down. It was currently reading 00:00:01:37 on the display. And it was easy enough to determine that the last two digits represented seconds. Her eyes widened at this realization and she threw the object back where it was found. “GET BACK!” she yelled as she bolted behind some trees on the other side of the clearing, followed by the others.

Time passed. Nothing happened. Even after waiting for double the time the device indicated, nothing continued to happen. Slowly, they all came out from hiding, taking a peak at the inert oddity.

“What in Equestria was that about, Twi?!” Applejack snapped, while Rarity tried to coax Fluttershy out from behind a bush. “Y'all trying to give us a heart-attack?”

“Sorry, but it looked like it was counting down and it gave me a bad feeling,” Twilight admitted sheepishly. “I just didn't want us to be near it in case something happened.”

She started moving toward it again when she felt a tug on her tail. She turned back to see Spike giving her a worried look. “Maybe we should just leave it alone Twilight. I don't like this.”

“Don't worry Spike, we'll be fine. I just want to take another look and make sure it's safe to carry. If it is, we can just take it and go home. If not, we'll just make a note of where it is and let the Princess know about it.” She stopped and looked thoughtful for a moment. “In fact, why don't we send her a message now? Spike, take a letter.”

At this, the young dragon perked up and retrieved the scroll and quill he'd stashed in her saddlebag.

“Dear Princess Celestia,
I am writing you to inform you of a small research trip I'm taking into the outskirts of the Everfree Forest today. This morning, my friend Fluttershy discov-”

Just then, she was interrupted by Pinkie. “Ooo, look, it's flashing now!”

Everyone's attention immediately spun to the pink pony. She was sitting next to the device with a big grin on her face, watching the red digits flash '00:00:00:00” over and over again on the display. “Flashy-flashy-flashy!” she cried excitedly as she picked it up. “I wonder what these thingies do?” she pondered aloud as she eyed several of the buttons under the display.

“NO! Pinkie, don't-!”

It was too late. Curiosity overwhelming whatever passed for common sense to Pinkie, her nose had picked a button and 'beeped' it. Moments later, a wave of transparent energy bolted from the front of the object and erupted into a swirling, colorful vortex about a yard or two away from her. “Wooooaaahhhh!”

The others shared Pinkie's sentiment as they stared at the portal with amazement. Even Twilight's anger with her pink friend subsided momentarily as she gazed at the strange disc of energy floating in front of them.

“What... what is it?” Rarity murmered.

“I'm... not sure. I've never seen or... or read anything like this,” Twilight quietly responded.

“Whatever it is, it looks awesome!” Dash declared as she zipped up near it. “It's like a little Rainboom! Just look at it, I bet-”

Suddenly, just as she reached out to touch it, she was sucked in. Everyone screamed.

“RAINBOW!” Applejack cried out, instinctively leaping in after her.

Fluttershy and Rarity immediately tried to grab the farmpony's legs, but were sucked in with her just as easily, screaming on the way in. Spike dropped the scroll and quill and ran in after Rarity, shouting her name.

“Ooo, ooo! Me next, me next!” Pinkie shouted and tossed the device to Twilight. “Come on, this looks fun!”

Twilight looked like she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. She didn't recover in time to stop Pinkie. With the logical side of her mind screaming bloody murder at her, she leaped in after her friends, and proceeded to feel the world collapse inside out around her.

*****

After what felt like riding a flying chariot from one of her worst nightmares, Twilight was spat out onto the ground, her fall only broken by her dizzy pink friend, who promptly wiggled out from under her and started bouncing around in circles, demanding to 'go again'.

With a groan, Twilight sat up and glanced around to assess the situation. She was simultaneously relieved and puzzled to find they were right back in the clearing again. As she nursed a headache, Rarity helped her up, groaning and giving Pinkie a death glare. “Pinkamena Dianne Pie, if you EVER do that again, I swear I'll-”

“OW! AJ, let me up! I'm fine, eesh!” Rainbow Dash blurted out as she struggled away from a certain cowpony, who was busy fussing over her pegasus friend with unusual panic.

Said cowpony eventually let her pegasus friend up. “S-sorry sugarcube,” she stammered as she trotted over to retrieve her fallen hat. Twilight could've sworn she saw a slight blush on her cheeks as she trotted past, but she chose not to mention it. Instead, the unicorn turned to her most timid friend, who was currently curled into a tight, terrified ball on the ground several feet away from her.

“Fluttershy, are you alright?” she asked quietly, after cautiously approaching her. When she was answered with nothing more than a faint squeak, Twilight moved closer and gently nuzzled her friend. At least she knew she was conscious.

It took a while to collect everyone and try to assess the situation fully. Dash and Applejack restrained Rarity from mauling Pinkie, while Twilight retrieved the strange device from the pink pony and scolded her for playing around with potentially dangerous magical artifacts. Her little speech involved a number of words that only confused the party pony, but she had the decency to seem somewhat chastened by the end of it nonetheless.

“I'm sorry Twi, I didn't mean it! It was just so shiny and flashy and I mean come ON! Those buttons were just ASKING to be pressed! How could I resist?!” she exclaimed, only to be given a glare from the unicorn. “Uh... b-but I guess I could, you know, check with you first next time.” With that, she wore a sheepish grin and kicked at a rock lightly by her hoof.

Satisfied that she would remain out of trouble for the moment, Twilight carried the device in her telekinetic grasp as she returned to the quivering yellow pegasus that was now being prodded lightly by her draconic assistant. After shooing him away with instructions to help the others calm Rarity down, she knelt down by Fluttershy once more and pulled her into a gentle hug. “Come on Fluttershy, it's okay now. Let's just get you home, alright?”

Slowly, with the thought of her peaceful, quiet home in mind, the frightened pony started to sit up, still quivering in Twilight's grasp. After looking around for frightening monsters, she took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “I-I would like that.”

Comments

A crossover with Sliders? Why has nobody thought of this before! I swear though, if you leave my favorite pony trapped in the Multiverse, I will hunt you down and hand deliver you to Princess Molestia.

Anyways, it was a good read. the events flowed relatively smoothly, The Mane Six were in character, and their were relatively few grammatical errors that I spotted. All in all, I might have to keep reading this one, but I am totally serious about Princess Molestia.

[OMJay]

15558
*gulp*

This guy'll do it, man! He's freakin' crazy! I swear!

[Lloxie]

15558

Ohnoes! *giggles* No worries, this is all in good fun and won't be getting too terribly serious. I personally detest the Dark and Tragedy tags, and tend to avoid Sadfics as well.

Thanks for the feedback!

15589

Okey Dokey Lokey. I'll hold you to that.

[Dusk_Runner84]

*Sees SLIDERS crossover, adds to Watch List*

Good read so far. I'd like to see where this goes.

[Lloxie]

Wow, thanks for all the support, everyone! I'm pleasantly shocked this has already gotten so many followers, after only the first chapter. I'm almost done with the second one, and hopefully I'll have it up tonight. Or Tomorrow night at the latest. On a related note, if anyone has any good tips for writing a character with a french accent, I'd appreciate it! I'm surprised how much trouble I've had with that so far.