The three carriages bounced along the dirt path and Discord’s personal sky chariot hovered just behind them. Gladmane’s carriage held the king himself, Starling, Pen Pusher, Skyla, Cotton Candy, and Cannon Fire.
“Boy, oh, boy, I can’t wait to show you my beautiful Las Pegasus!” Gladmane smiled in anticipation.
Cotton agreed in excitement, “I know! We’re just as excited to get there! All the shows, carnival rides, arcade games…”
As Cotton rambled on and on, Starling nervously smiled, “She gets very excited when we’re going somewhere new.”
Gladmane chuckled, “Trust me: Las Pegasus is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Uh-huh-huh.”
In the crystal carriage behind Gladmane’s, Whirl Wind and his family were seated with Fire Spark and Dawn Twirl.
Gale groaned out of boredom, “Ugh. Why doesn’t Uncle Discord just snap his fingers and take us to Lost Pegasus?”
Fire replied, “Because Aunt Starling told him not to.”
The other adults chuckled at that.
In the third carriage, Apple Jewel was with her husband Asher, Gemstone, Seam, Dignity, and Mauve.
Asher asked, “So have any of you been to Las Pegasus before?”
Mauve answered, “As much as we would love to spend vacation time there, the paparazzi in Las Pegasus is notorious. Step one hoof in the city, even when you’re in disguise, and the cameras go flashing. I and my parents have experienced it before. No privacy! Can you imagine?”
Dignity said, “I should certainly like to keep our little Opulence out of the eyes of the public as much as possible.”
Seam added sadly, “If our kids are found.”
Apple Jewel corrected, “When our kids are found. When it comes to the royal family of Canterlot, the chances of success are very high.”
Gemstone added, “Speaking from experience.”
On Discord’s sky chariot drifting behind the third carriage, the spirit of chaos lounged on very comfortable pillows with his daughter and son-in-law seated with their own pillows just a few steps below him.
Screwball said to her father, “You know, Dad, I’m surprised you didn’t resist when Starling told you not to teleport everyone to Las Pegasus.”
Discord replied, “Well, she and everyone else may think that I complied just because she thought it would be rude not to let our ‘host’ act out of the goodness of his heart. But frankly, I’m tired of teleporting here and there for the last few days, so why not use this chance to relax for a bit?”
Mothball reluctantly pointed out, “I don’t think the guards can.”
As proof of his point, the Crystal guards pulling the sky chariot panted and wheezed almost every second.
The draconequus waved his paw in dismissal, “Oh, they’ll be fine. Besides, we should be reaching Las Pegasus soon.”
As if on cue, Gladmane leaned out his carriage window and announced, “Fillies and gentlecolts, I give you Laaaaas Pegasus!”
The guests in their rides leaned either forward or out their windows to get a better glimpse of the high-sloping bridge and the cloudy archway that served as the entrance to the city.
Cotton excitedly chattered, “I’m-excited! Are-you-excited?! I’ve-never-been-so-excited!”
The wheels of the carriages clattered over the golden-colored bridge as the coaches made their way up to the archway. To the surprise of the visiting royals, they saw long crowds of ponies and various other creatures cheering and waving their pennants on either side of the street. This was quite an animated welcome for the royals in the carriages and sky chariot.
Gladmane clarified as he waved to the crowd from his carriage, “Oh, I forgot to tell ya! I planned a parade in your honor! Oh, wait! It was a surprise!” He chuckled at his own joke.
Pen Pusher remarked, “We’re surprised, all right.”
In the sky chariot, Mothball breathed, “Wow…I can’t believe all these people turned out for our arrival.”
Screwball was irritated by this and said, “How can they? Almost all our children are missing and the only thing they can think about is our visit to Las Pegasus?!”
Discord humphed, “I agree. The nerve of some ponies.” He then looked at the crowd and waved to them as he said with a smile, “Still, it never hurts to receive a little adulation.”
Screwball rolled her eyes and said to her husband, “Classic Dad.”
In the second carriage, Sky Blitz held her daughter up so she could wave to the parade-goers with her mom.
Gale cheerfully shouted as she waved like a maniac, “Hi! Hi, there! Hi! I’m Gale! Hi, there! My name’s Gale!”
Just then, she noticed a bat pony guard with golden armor standing in front of a section of the crowd. Like many of the other guards on the sides of the street, he had his wings spread out to prevent anyone from walking or even running towards the carriages. However, Gale noticed that he was different from the other guards. His red eyes weren’t the first thing that caught the young filly’s attention. Rather, it was his black coat that was streaked with pale yellowish stripes and a pale yellowish spot that dominated much of his muzzle. To Gale, he looked like a huge bumble bee or a tiger or even a bumble tiger.
She pointed to him as the carriage rode past the guard and said, “Mommy, Daddy, didja see him?!”
Whirl Wind nodded, “We did, sweetheart.”
Sky Blitz said, “I gotta say, he’s quite a looker.”
Whirl joked as he playfully tapped his wife’s shoulder, “Don’t you start.” They both chuckled.
When the carriages passed through the front gates of the palace, the giant doors closed behind them. The carriages then stopped in the inner court and the sky chariot landed gracefully onto the ground alongside the coaches. The Crystal guards attached to the chariot fell to the ground in exhaustion as they sighed in relief that the long and arduous journey was over.
As everyone stepped out of their rides, Gladmane told his guests, “Welcome to my wonderful abode! You’ll find lots of things to see and do while you’re staying here in my luxurious palace. It doesn’t matter what sorts of activities ya do here; mi casa es su casa.”
Apple Jewel whispered to her peers, “He’s sure talking fancy a lot. I don’t think I like it.”
Gale raised her hoof and asked, “Um, Mr. Gladmane? I saw someone in the crowd today.”
Gladmane lowered himself to her level and asked in a cheerful manner, “Oh, and who was that, my little pony?”
“Well, he has bat wings and yellow stripes. I dunno if he’s a bat pony or a tiger or a bumble bee.”
The stout Earth stallion gave a chuckle, “Oh-ho-ho! I assume ya mean that guard pony who was in the crowd, right?”
Sky Blitz nodded, “That’s the one. We saw him, too.”
“Well, lemme tell ya somethin’: I get lots of goodies from all sorts of places. I even get guard ponies, like the striped bat pony I’m loaning from Princess Luna herself.”
Skyla said in confusion, “He was – or is – part of Grandma’s guard? My family and I weren’t aware of that. Then again, he was probably a guard who worked during the late-night shift.”
“Yes, the fella likes to keep to his own routine, but he’ll make adjustments if need be. But to be honest, I got me some guards that will really knock your socks off. Follow me.”
Even as they followed him through a stone hallway, they saw it was as elegant as the palace’s exterior itself. The ceiling and the pillars separating the windows were pure marble and delicate climbing vines of flowers wrapped themselves around the pillars, giving the hall a feeling of enchantment and timelessness.
Gemstone breathed in wonder, “Gladmane, this corridor is so amazing! However did you manage this?”
Gladmane answered, “Well, darlin’, when you’re rich and famous, you can get just about anything you want. And I what I want is luxury, refinement, and naturally the best of everythin’!”
Starling remarked, “Well, your kingdom is certainly as glamorous as your palace and everything in it.”
He smirked in response, “I know.” He then stopped at an opening and said with his hoof gesturing towards an open field, “Well, here we are. The best guards in the entire kingdom.”
Some of the royals gasped, few uttered sounds of surprise, and others just gaped at what they saw. There were stags running across the field laden with a few pieces of training equipment.
Asher gave an amazed chuckle, “Deers?”
Dawn Twirl corrected him, “It’s ‘deer’ even when it’s plural.”
Fire Spark said in equal amazement as Asher displayed, “There haven’t been deer in a very long time! Gladmane, how did you -?”
Gladmane interrupted with a smirk, “I know what you’re gonna ask, and I’m gonna answer. Ya see, these deer had been roamin’ the land for a while, so when I heard tales of their darin’ deeds and their impressive ability to disappear completely outta sight, I thought ‘Hey, why not hire ‘em as my guards?’ And lemme tell ya: that decision was the best I evah made. Because of ‘em, my kingdom’s safe and I, their faithful king, am still grooving it today. Uh-huh-huh.”
Starling pointed out, “You know, I’ve read in some books that deer aren’t exactly sociable with ponies, or any other species for that matter. How did you get these deer to become your guards?”
“Well, it wasn’t easy, I’ll tell ya, but I have a certain magic that made my offer somethin’ they couldn’t refuse.”
Gale began to walk towards the field, “I wanna go meet them!”
Gladmane put his hoof in front of her as he said, “Sorry, lil’ darlin’. These deer are very shy. They get very nervous around guests. Ya wouldn’t want them to run away as soon as they see ya, do ya?”
Gale lowered her head in disappointment and sighed, “No.”
“Tell ya what? I have a fun room in my castle that’ll be sure to cheer you up. It’s got games, carnival rides, arcades…”
Gale’s face lit up with excitement as she said, “Really? Wow! Mommy, Daddy, can we go?”
Whirl Wind chuckled at her cuteness, “How can we say ‘no’? Let’s go!”
His daughter jumped for joy, “Yippee!”
Everything was a blur to Mischief as he regained consciousness from the crash landing he and his friends had at the bottom of the cliff. Within a matter of moments, his vision cleared and the pain in his head ebbed away. With a hoof near his antlers, he saw that they were in a misty patch of the jungle. He could barely make out anything beyond the trees and vines that were like a border guarding its section of the jungle like it was sacred. As he stood upright, the others followed suit, though some of them groaned while doing so.
Mischief turned to his friends, who had some bruises and/or scrapes, and asked, “Is everyone all right?”
Skater shook her head and her legs as she said, “Yeah. More or less.”
Roller grumbled, “If only we’d seen that log sooner.”
His sister snapped, “We’re in a strange new place, so of course we should’ve seen where we were going!”
Suddenly, they heard rustling around them. Mischief shushed them so they could all hear the sound - or maybe sounds – better and try to pinpoint the source.
Apple Butter asked in a nervous whisper, “Do you think there’s - *gulp* - carnivorous animals surrounding us?”
Blaze chastised her in a hiss, “Don’t be silly, AB! The rose said that Paraddock is a safe and happy place for the kids, so no, there wouldn’t be dangerous beasts lurking in the jungle to eat them.”
Zealot nodded, “He’s right. The worse we’ll probably get are monkeys.”
No sooner had he said that than a troop of spider monkeys came bursting forth from the brush, screeching and bent on attacking the strangers. Even in the midst of the chaos, the group noticed that there was something odd about the monkeys: they had four arms, four legs, four eyes, and fangs, just like real spiders! Not only that, but they also had wings of all things!
The ponies screamed, “AAAHHH! FLYING SPIDER MONKEYS!”
Roller shouted, “Now this is something out of a nightmare!”
As the group started using magic or their own devices to ward off the monkey onslaught, Mischief sarcastically remarked, “Oh, sure! Like this is going to be safe and happy for the kids!”
Zealot said as he either punched or kicked the spider monkeys away from him, “I’ve been to many places in the world while I was under Flog’s ownership. I know for a fact that whenever monkeys or other jungle creatures are provoked by something, they attack! Whatever’s going on with Paraddock must be making them aggressive!”
Skater grunted as she used her wings to fan the monkeys away, “Are you sure it’s not us?”
“If it was us, they would’ve attacked us while we were still unconscious! It has to be Paraddock!”
Suddenly, a few monkeys used their tails to grab Apple Butter’s mane and tail.
She grunted, “Hey! Let go! Let go of me, you crazy monkeys!”
A few more of the winged primates used their tails to grab her hooves and the group of spider monkeys started lifting her off the ground.
“Oh, no! Oh, no!” she cried. She then gave a shriek of distress, which caused the other ponies to look up in shock.
Flurry cried, “AB!”
The alicorn created a force field that pushed away the monkeys surrounding her. She flew a few feet above the ground when more monkeys grabbed her and blinded her vision. By the time Apple Butter was carried over the open canopy, her friends were too distracted dealing with the monkey ambush below. Even if her chances of being rescued were starting to become slim, AB continued to call out for help while trying to chase away the monkeys carrying her at the same time.
“HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME, PLEASE! Let go of me, you naughty things! HELP! Ouch! Don’t pull on my mane so hard! Honestly, if you were on ground level in Equestria, you wouldn’t be acting this bad! HEEEELLLLLPPP!!!”
That particular shout reached the ear holes of a young griffon napping on a branch. Her head perked up at the sound and her moderate turquoise eyes flew open. As she began to hear more cries for help, she climbed up the tree and poked through the canopy to get a better view. She gasped when she saw a group of flying monkeys carrying a full-grown pony in the air. She knew this was trouble, so she scurried down the tree as quickly as she could. When she reached the second lowest tree branch just several feet off the ground, she jumped off to spread her wings and fly through the forest floor.
As she flew over a tiny mushroom, she used her tail to press it. Instantly, a piece of bark on the tree opened like a drawbridge to reveal a passage big enough for the griffon. She dove into the passage with no problem and continued to fly through the tunnel. Within a matter of moments, she reached the secret hideout and found her young pony friends still napping. These new pals of hers were none other than the royal kids of Canterlot!
The griffon fretted in her mind, Ooh, this is no time to be napping! I don’t want to wake them up, but this is really important!
She really didn’t want to do it, but she took a deep breath and shouted, “Teeen-hut!
Her screechy call was enough to startle the young ponies into waking up with a jump and a simultaneous shriek. The frightened expression on their faces soon wore off when they saw their fine-feathered friend.
“Gabby!” they all cried happily.
“I’m very sorry to wake you, but we have a mission.”
The kids chattered excitedly amongst themselves before Corona asked Gabby, “What’s the orders, Gabby?”
The griffon explained, “There are flying monkeys heading this way and they’ve got a pony! So it’s up to us to rescue her!” She sheepishly added, “Or him. It might be a ‘him’.”
Turquoise asked, “So what do we do?”
Oddball suggested, “Smash them!”
Jamboree suggested, “Kick them!”
The twins suggested while they stomped, “Stomp them!”
Gabby chuckled, “Wow, you guys are coming up with a lot of ideas, but they’ll be super-high up in the air.” She then gasped, “I know! We should throw rocks and other stuff at the monkeys so they’d drop her.”
The kids cheered, “Yeah!”
They excitedly chattered amongst themselves as they grabbed rocks, sticks, and the hoofmade weaponry they had found when they first discovered the long-abandoned hideout.
Gabby waved her claw as she ordered, “Follow me!”
Some of the ponies followed Gabby out of the hideout while others took different routes connected to the tunnel. Gabby, Turquoise, and Opulence came out of the bark doorway; the twins slid out of two hollow branches pointing downward; Jamboree slid down the branch that hinged down to open the hole the colt came out of; and Corona pushed Oddball out of a hollow knob in a tree after he got stuck momentarily. The ponies followed Gabby to a rocky outcrop as high as the trees in the jungle. From here, they could almost see over the canopy and most of the sky was visible.
When the flying monkeys and their struggling pony captive came into view, Opulence cried as she pointed towards the sky, “I see it!”
The twins said in unison, “Me, too!”
As Gabby and the ponies got ready to give it their all, she said to them, “Ready…aim…”
They then shouted with her, “FIRE!”
The spider monkeys and Apple Butter were suddenly ambushed by flying projectiles. When the monkeys wouldn’t let go of their captive, the rocks, sticks, and strange weaponry kept hitting them. Oh, and Turquoise blew long-range fire at them, which fortunately did not touch them.
Apple Butter remarked, “Either that’s my rescue team or – ow! – some jungle natives trying to get a sacrifice for their god.”
Eventually, the projectile ambush overwhelmed the monkeys and they released AB before flying away. Apple Butter screamed as she fell through the canopy. She gasped when she saw the jagged rocks on the jungle floor below and braced herself for a quick and painless –
SWOOSH!
Death?
Much to her surprise, Apple Butter found herself in the arms of a moderate cerulean Pegasus stallion with a green cap covering much of his sharp and short light sea green mane as well as the very pale highlight it had.
As the stallion set her down on the ground and landed on a flat-topped rock, he laughed in triumph, “Ha-ha! Once again, the day is saved…by Pony Pan!”
He struck a heroic pose.
Apple Butter couldn’t believe her eyes. There he was: the real Pony Pan! She thought he looked different in the book illustrations, but the fact that she was seeing him in real life filled her with awe.
She could not contain her excitement as she began jabbering, “Oh-mygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh! You’re him! You’re Pony Pan!”
Pony Pan took off his cap and bowed in respect, “At your service.” He then noticed that since he was on the rock, he was a bit higher than Apple Butter. “Oh, sorry. Let me get down from here first.”
After he did so, a Pegasus mare with a wavy mane streaked with light shades of blue, green, and yellow burst from the brush.
She said as she flew towards him, “Sky – uh – Pony Pan!” She embraced him as she continued, “You saved a pony’s life! You’re so wonderful!”
Pony Pan chuckled, “I do my best.”
The moment he and the mare shared a kiss, Apple Butter knew who she was. After the kiss ended, AB said, “Let me guess: you’re Windy, right?”
Windy batted her eyes at her beloved as she answered, “His one and only.”
Zealot then raced out of the brush as he panted, “Apple Butter! Oh, thank goodness you’re all right! Did the monkeys…?”
He trailed off and his eyes widened when he realized there were two ponies standing behind his marefriend. He recognized the stallion’s cap from the illustrations in the books about Pony Pan. He himself had not read the stories as a young colt, but thanks to the kids, he got introduced to the plucky hero for the first time.
He breathed, “Are you…?”
Pony Pan replied, “Pony Pan’s the name, adventure’s my game.”
He continued with a stunned tone, “You’re really him. You’re really Pony Pan.”
Flurry’s voice cut through the jungle, “AB!”
The other Guardians came rushing out of the brush and embraced Apple Butter.
Flurry exclaimed in relief, “Thank goodness!”
Nova looked at her friend and asked in concern, “Are you hurt, AB?”
AB smiled, “No, Nova, I’m fine.”
Blaze suggested, “I say we get out of this jungle before it kills us all.”
Suddenly, they heard high-pitched shouting coming towards them. They prepared to meet the enemy head-on until they saw that the source was –
“Kids!” the Guardians cried in unison upon seeing the excited tots running towards them.
Turquoise spoke up, “Guess what? I got the monkeys with my fire breath!”
The twins pushed her aside and came forth while claiming, “You did not! We did it!”
Jamboree argued, “Did not! I did!”
The twins shot back, “No way! We did!”
Oddball pushed the three aside and shouted, “Nuh-uh! I did!”
The tiny ponies then began to tussle with each other. The pile of squirming ponies was so chaotic that one could say it was the very definition of the word “brawl”.
Pony Pan interrupted the fracas by shouting, “Attention!”
In an instant, the tots stood in an orderly line and saluted, just as the Lost Colts would do in the Pony Pan stories whenever their leader called for order.
At that moment, Gabby appeared from the brush and gasped, “You’re him!” She then squealed excitedly, “You’re Pony Pan! EEEEE! You’re the real deal! I never thought I’d get to meet you because you were supposed to be imaginary and everything, but here I am!”
Mischief asked, “Um, just how are you here?”
“Okay, long story short.” She took a deep breath and said, “I was living in Griffonstone and I became old enough to live on my own. Everything was great, but then those awful black guys came in the middle of the night and wrecked a lot of stuff. I was afraid to go back to sleep at first, but then I fell asleep at midnight. When I woke up the next morning, I was in this gorgeous field with lots and lots of flowers! I’d never seen anything like it in my whole life, so I played in it all day until I found this jungle.
“It was so exciting to be somewhere I’ve never been to before! I explored the jungle and found all kinds of amazing things! But you know what’s the most amazing thing I found? A secret hideout!”
Jam piped up, “Yeah! When we get here, we see the field and the jungle. Gabby find us and take us to the secret hideout.”
Pony Pan put his hoof to his chin and smirked, “This wouldn’t happen to be the hideout of the Lost Colts, would it? Because if it is…then I got myself some Lost Colts! Wanna join me and have many adventures together?”
Gabby and the tots answered in hearty agreement, “YEAH!”
Roller Blade waved his hooves to quiet down the cheers, “Hey! Hey!”
When the kids became hushed, Flurry said to Pony Pan, “Look, we appreciate your offer of taking the kids on extraordinary adventures with you, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to say ‘no’.”
The kids let out a disappointed “awww” in reply.
Mischief nodded, “Yeah, we have to take them home. Their parents are very worried.”
Apple Butter held up her hoof and said, “But wait! Didn’t we promise the flowers that we’d help them? And what if there are Crystal Fairies on Paraddock and they're in danger?”
The kids’ eyes widened at this and they exclaimed, “Crystal Fairies?!” They then engaged in excited chatter over how they wanted to see a Crystal Fairy in real life. They even pleaded to the adults to take them to the Crystal Fairies.
“Pleeeease?” they asked with puppy eyes.
Skater sighed, “Guess there’s no way out of this.”
Zealot said, “Maybe this is why the map sent us here. Not just to find the kids, but also save the Crystal Fairies and maybe Paraddock, too.”
Mischief held out his hoof and said, “So are we all in?”
The rest of the Guardians and Zealot put their hooves on top of Mischief’s and said in unison, “Guardians of Equestria, now and forever!”
Flurry turned to the kids and said with a smile, “Looks like you’re going to get your wish after all. Next stop: the Crystal Fairies!”
The kids cheered as Gabby hugged the princess and said, “Oh, thank you - thank you - thank you! We’ll be on our best behavior, I promise!”
“I don’t doubt you will.”
Pony Pan suggested, “Say, kids? Since we need food, water, and all that stuff before going on a great big adventure, why don’t we stop by my famous treehouse for a bit?”
The kids erupted into glad cheers.