"Daddy!........DAAAAAADDDYYYYYY!"
Prince Shining Armor with the "crazy foal princess" riding on his back groaned before answering his daughter. "What is it, Flurry?"
"I'm hungry!"
"But you just ate an.....you know, I'm a little hungry too, let's hit the kitchen." The prince turned down an adjacent hall andmade his way quickly around the building, saying hi to every pony he passed as he made his way towards the area with the great food. Shining walked in, missing Princess Cadance already in there working.
"Hey, Sweetheart!" A voice said as he walked in, catching his attention. He looked towards the left to see his wife sitting at the table reading something and eating at the same time.
"Say hi to your mom, Flurry," Shining Armor said. Flurry Heart flew off and dive bombed her mother while he made them some lunch. Cadance yelped on impact when she knocked her down.
"That was a cheap shot, flurry," Cadance groaned from the crystal floor with her daughter laying on her face. She picked her up and looked up at Flurry's face. "You need to stop eating so much, sweetheart. Shining, what are you feeding her?"
Shining froze and turned to his wife before putting the massive bags of carrots back in the pantry. Cadance groaned and shook her head before a slither of magic came into the room, changed into a scroll, and fell on the table. "Shining could you read that aloud, please?"
Shining set down the food on the counter before picking up the scroll in his magic and unrolling it. Once it was opened, he cleared his throat and did as requested.
"'Dear Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor. It is with great regret to inform you that Equestria has been put on a nationwide alert due to a missing Element. The Element of magic.' Isn't that Twilight's element?" Cadance set down Flurry Heart on the table and nodded before he continued. "'It is also with great regret that I inform you that your sister, and sister-in-law has gone rogue and is believed to have taken the Element of magic with her. Please put your royal guard on alert to keep an eye out for her. She has become violent and unstable. We have already informed Night Light and Twilight Velvet of the situation.
"'Yours truly......Princess Celestia.'" Shining slowly lowered the letter before Cadance came over and took it, reading it for herself.
"I don't understand," Cadance said, shaking her head and turning to her husband. "Why would she go rogue and steal one of the elements?"
"I don't know. But whenever she does something drastic like that, there's usually a pretty solid reason behind it. Princess Luna could've been reverting back to Nightmare Moon, Sunset Shimmer could be after it again, a whole bunch of things. We probably just need to wait awhile before she returns. Maybe a week or two. After that, if she doesn't return, then we can start worrying. I'll go put the guard on alert. Could you feed Flurry Heart?"
Cadance looked over to their daughter...who was sleeping on top of the table. Shining sighed and stated, "If she says something like, 'I'm hungry' again, I'll just ask if she's tired instead." Cadance chuckled at her husband before he walked out, going to fulfill the task.
The Pserateps were quickly adapting to the possibility that hope had finally arrived. If this Alicorn could create grass, more versions of herself, as well as, what she calls, teleport, things just might get back on track. Of course it will all have to wait until tomorrow morning.
Just like she said, Twilight was exhausted. The king had offered to let her stay at the castle, which she took up on and didn't have any regrets. The castle was. Big. Large. Bucking humongous. When they landed in the capital, Twilight wasn't even focused on the damage the city had, too focused on the castle that was as big as Canterlot alone in Equestria. It was made out of a weird brick and had a golden accent to the doors, spires, handles, and plenty inside. The foyer of the castle was what Twilight would describe as a grand library without any books. Marble floors with a very fancy crest, tall columns made of artistic steel with—once again—accented points made of gold, and a lot of weird things above the doors of the castle that looked like thin black boxes with a glass front. King Madun said that they were display screens for many things. A bit vague but Twilight didn't pressure it. The castle was as big on the inside as it were on the outside. With long winding hallways with very tall ceilings, crafty design that rivaled Equestria's in many ways, and a lot of guards. What for, Twilight didn't know. But Twilight guessed this country's military power was great.
She had no idea.
After they walked into the large structure, they walked up some stairs and into another area, obviously residential. "This is where we keep guests," King Madun explained with the other advisers behind him. "It's not much but I hope it can satisfy you."
"Any place is fine," Twilight chuckled, grinning happily. "I just need a place to relax my wings. I have never been able to focus when my wings and legs are strained to the limit. I wouldn't be able to read, write, study, clean, or use my magic. So until I can get my strength back, I'll be pretty useless."
"Of course," King Madun agreed before opening a door into one of the rooms. It was spacy. Really spacy. There was a large window on the left side of the bed as well as two dressers on both sides. Both had big candlesticks on them, probably to enhance the flame, Twilight assumed.
"This is the room. I hope it suits your needs."
"It's great!" Twilight walked inside briskly and towards the window on the far side to see what the ground looked like outside. Sadly, she couldn't really see it due to the cloud layer blocking out the moonlight. "What is the name of this city?"
"This is called Cop," Madun answered, walking into the room and standing beside her, looking down with her. "It is surrounded by a mountain range that can delay or keep out invaders should an attack occur. Although it didn't keep out the bear."
"I would like to know more about this mountain range. If I'm going to help you, I need to know as much as permissible about Psera. History, height, places, stations, everything." She turned to face him with determination in her eye. "Psera will prosper again. I promise."
King Madun smiled and nodded. "Thank you. Is there anything else you need?"
"Do you have a map?" He nodded. "Then I'll need that and two guards for a cloud test tomorrow morning."
"Considerate it done, Ms. Sparkle." He stood back up and left for the entrance while Twilight walked towards the bed and unpacked her things. He cast one last glance at her and smiled before walking out, softly shutting the door. Once outside he faced his guards and advisors.
"Are you sure we can trust her?" One of his advisors asked him in the hall. "She literally showed up out of nowhere and wants to help us."
"I know," he agreed. "We'll see what she can do first before we decide that. Until then, have a map of Psera and two guards ready for tomorrow morning. She said she needs to learn first. I must go speak with Her Majesty and the council. Good night, everyone."
After Twilight Sparkle's leave, things in Equestria have been rather tight. The Royal Guard was upgraded and have taken positions all over the cities, keeping their eye out for a lavender coated mare. A powerful mage with a weapon of magic who had an itch to scratch was a terrible combination. Of course the guard might not be able to catch her because of all the spells she knows, but they have also been ordered to report a sighting at least. So far, no sightings or apprehensions.
Celesta couldn't even feel the element anymore, let alone Twilight. Hopefully she'll show up within a few days.
"Sister." She looked over her shoulder to see the glowing ethereal mane of Luna coming out of the dark of her room before revealing her full body. "You need to rest."
Celestia sighed and turned her sights back down to the city of Canterlot below, worry on her mind.
"I cannot sleep like this," she responded as her sister sat down on the balcony with her. "Twilight is angry with her friends and I, and has in her possession the most powerful weapon Equestria has ever had. Yes, it doesn't work without the others. But Twilight is smart, she could find a way to activate it."
"I'm more worried about her," Luna said, catching Celestia's attention. "Yes, the safety of our subjects is important. That's why I called for the Equestrian lockdown. But the safety of our subjects would not matter if Twilight is calm and relaxed. You know this as well as I do."
Celestia blinked and turned back to the city, sighing. "Let's find her first. Then we'll worry about that." Luna nodded before walking back inside. "Goodnight, Luna."
"Goodnight, Celestia."
The red glow of the sunlight that was filtered in through the cloudy layer above the entire land of Psera reached Twilight's face, making her sigh and open her eyes slowly. Smiling, she sat up and kicked the covers off of her, feeling the cold morning air that bristled her soft coat. She would have to fix that immediately so everyone else could enjoy the warmth of the sun that hit her face.
Jumping out of bed she began stretching. Although it were a foreign bed, she had a really good sleep. An amazing one actually. After that, Twilight walked towards the bathroom and got ready. Can't be smelly while trying to help others. Be a role model, Sparkle!
Thirteen minutes later, she walked out refreshed, a clear goal on her mind for today. Get rid of those clouds. She wouldn't be able to execute the whole plan until she could get rid of them. So they were a must. Twilight walked towards the door and opened it, not entirely surprised at what she saw waiting for her.
Three of the Pserateps from yesterday were discussing something while two guards were on the other side of the hall just watching them.
"I hope I didn't oversleep," she said, catching their attention.
"Not at all, ma'am," one of them said. She was a red coated, pink maned mare with pink eyes. "You woke up right on time. I'm Cherry Blossom, one of King Madun's advisors. This is Blue Comrade, and Sweetie Apple."
"Oh, so....only one stallion? Must be hard for you," Twilight inquired. Blue Comrade groaned and shook his head.
"You have no idea!" He complained. "Get me this, get me that! I'll tell this to the king! You mares." Sweetie Apple bopped him on the muzzle, making Twilight chuckle and get down to business.
"Alright. Well do you have a map?"
Sweetie Apple reached behind her back and pulled out a large scroll and held it out to her. Twilight took it and unrolled it with her magic, once again stunning the Pserateps. "So there are nine cities here. All major. How about that mountain range? What's the height of it? Since I was tired, I didn't actually measure it."
"Over twenty-five thousand feet," Blue Comrade answered. "May I ask what you'll be doing with the mountains?"
"Of course you can." She lowered the map and smiled at him. "Considering the mountain is the tallest thing out there, I figured I could send out my magic from up there and restore the city of choice below. The entire city will be fertile, grass can grow again, and the children can play. All with one shot. My magic is pretty strong and withstanding, so I can do up to five shots every three hours. But first, I need to be able to see the cities. And this dusty atmosphere and cloud layer cut off my vision. So that will have to go first."
She handed the scroll back to Sweet Apple before continuing. "Today, my main priority is getting rid of that cloud layer. My theory is that just like Pegasi, Pserateps can grab the clouds as well."
"Wait you're saying you can move the clouds?" Cherry Blossom asked skeptically.
"That's what I did yesterday when you showed up to......" She looked up to the ceiling, trying to remember the name.
"Merōl," one of the guards whispered.
"Yes, in Merōl. I just simply push them over. In Equestria, there are three types of ponies. Actually four. Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Alicorns, which is a mix of all three. There were only five Alicorns in Equestria until I left. In truth, Alicorns are supposed to be one of the princesses of Equestria. But apparently, I was not a ruler of Equestria since I didn't come from a royal lineage. 'It's only a title and means of respect,' so I was told. Anyway, my theory is that Pserateps and Pegasi share the exact same traits. You both have wings, although it seems Pseratep wings are far longer, making you faster fliers. So if you can do exactly what Pegasi can do, move the clouds, and do it as fast as you can fly, we can get rid of this cloud layer by day's end and move onto replenishing your land, as well as rebuild."
"So our main priority....." Cherry Blossom said.
"Is the clouds, yes. But first I have to make sure that you can move them. So guards, take me outside please." The armor clad Pserateps on the other side of the hall turned to the left and began walking, leading Twilight and company to follow along behind her. They made their way through another fancy hallway, through a few turns, and into another.
After a few minutes along, now that Twilight noticed it, the castle she was in was really big. Bigger than Princess Celestia's. It had at least ten floors. Well what she could count on the way down. Apparently there were more above her when she looked up.
"This........is a really big castle," she said aloud.
"Yes, it is," Sweetie Apple said, finally speaking as they walked down some more steps. "It takes up two thirds of the city of Cop. It took four years to build."
"Four years? That's longer than the pony sisters' build time!"
"The who?"
"The royal sisters in Equestria," Twilight explained, turning down another hallway. "They raise the sun and the moon and have ruled Equestria for over eight thousand years I believe." They turned to her in shock.
"You can't be serious," Blue Comrade said blandly. "There is no way a pony can live that long."
"Well that's what being an Alicorn does to you. Immortality or extreme longevity, I'm not entirely sure. But there were history books that can back up their story, as well as them raising the sun and the moon. I've actually seen Celestia and Luna do it."
They finally reached the bottom floor and walked down a hallway before entering into a grand hall where King Madun was currently standing, talking with somepony. "King Madun, she has awakened," one of the guards announced.
The king turned around and graced Twilight with a smile. "Good morning, Lady Twilight. Are you hungry? We can get you something to eat before we get started."
"I'd like to get started first," she said, sitting down on the marble floor in front of him. "I've just finished explaining to the others the plan for today. We're going to move this cloud layer that is blocking my sights of the city and creating dirty air. As well as clean up the atmosphere and give it some heat."
"So how do you plan on moving it? The same way you did yesterday?"
"Yes. I am going to do a test run with the two guards behind me to make sure my theory is correct. And if it works, we can get it done by the day's end."
"Excellent. Well let's head out and see if it does." He stood up and turned around, making his way towards the front of the building with the two guards flanking him, where more Pserateps bowed before continuing on with whatever they were doing.
Soon, they exited out the door and stopped on the steps, where King Madun pointed up to the sky. "These clouds are pretty heavy with soot as you can see. Are you absolutely sure you can move them?"
"Positive." She flapped her wings and flew up into the air with the two guards behind her, who had to flap their wings more slowly than her due to their unstable speed and her tiny wings. Soon, they breached the layer where Twilight landed on the top of one, stunning the ponies once more. "Alright, so here's what you do. Just....land on it."
The two guards looked at each other before going to the area in front of her. They positioned themselves over a cloud and slowly lowered. Twilight watched intently, biting her bottom lip in anticipation before they lowered down onto the cloud and..........landed. They made contact.
"Alright!" She cheered, jumping up and down, nearly making rain fall out. "So just press on it and see if you get more resistance." The guard on the left pushed his hoof slowly into it, making it bend and break apart. "That's exactly what we need to happen. Alright, this is what I want you guys to do, grab hold of the side of the cloud and push it out towards the ocean. I'll show you." Twilight flapped off the cloud and hovered behind it before beginning to give it a light push. It moved forward and began to go at the same speed as she was going, demonstrating what they could do. "Now you try."
The guards in front of their own clouds and started pushing them towards the mountain range, smiling at each other before going faster and pushing them towards the city of Merōl, going for the coastline. Nodding, Twilight flew back down to tell the king the progress.
They were all looking up at the sky when she arrived, a gleeful smile on her face. "It works! We can get this done, let's do it!"
The king nodded before gesturing towards the general next to him, making him fly off to get more guards. "We're going to get you two full companies of soldiers for this. That's three hundred. Are you sure this will more than likely get done by the end of the day?"
"With that many soldiers.....it'll be cut in half. Which means that this land will probably be back to order......." She looked up to sky muttering, doing the calculations in her head before smiling back at the king again. "Between one or two and a half days."
Sunset Shimmer grabbed her purse from of the library floor in the remains of Twilight's castle that she had brought with her to Equestria before stepping towards the portal, that was luckily still functioning after the roof of the building had broken off.
"Are you sure about this?" Spike asked her before she stepped inside. He was standing to the side, shooting her a worried gaze. "I'm not too sure about.....TWO Pinkie Pie's."
"Well.....they'll wanna help us find Twilight regardless of what I say," Sunset explained. "I have to ask them if they've noticed something weird and they'll instantly jump in even if I say, 'Don't jump in.'"
Spike sighed and stroked his face before waving his hand, letting Sunset go. She immediately jumped in the portal, sending her careening through the colorful area before flying out the other side, sliding along the concrete....and right into Rainbow Dash. The two rolled a few more feet, stopping in front of Fluttershy's feet.
"Ow! Watch where you're going, Shim-shim!" Rainbow complained, pushing the girl off of her. "You've been hanging around with the egghead so much, you've gotten clumsy too." Sunset sighed sadly.
"Why'd you come back so early?" Twilight asked as the two stood up. "Is everything alright?"
"It's the exact opposite," she said, straightening her shirt and black jacket. "Twilight's missing."
"WHAT?!" They all yelled.
"Yeah, she's upset. VERY Upset. Turns out the Equestrians lied to her about being a princess for four years and called her names. So she took the Element of Magic and left. Have you guys seen—"
"Well, we've gotta find her!" Pinkie Pie went behind everyone and pushed them all into the portal before jumping in herself with a, "WHHEEEeeeee!"
Spike went around the library, picking up the books that had fallen off during the giant explosion that he somehow slept through when a bunch of voices from the portal caught his attention. He looked over and deadpanned, "Oh no."
Seven ponies flew out of the portal and straight into the stack of books he had setup for reordering. He face palmed and groaned. Because now he has to restack the books, and get these girls out. "Sunset! Why are they here, Celestia's going to have an aneurism!"
"I told you," Sunset said, getting back on all four hooves. "I didn't even get to say the word, or phrase, 'Don't come' before Pinkie pushed us all into the portal."
"Great," he groaned before approaching the group. "Hey people, it's great seeing you again, but you gotta get outta here."
Rainbow dash opened her eyes and shook her head lightly to keep it from spinning. Then focused on the green and purple dragon in front of her. "Spike? Dude, you're a dragon?" She got on her hooves and tried to walk, falling flat on her face. "Ouch."
"Yeah it's tricky the first time, you'll get used to it," Sunset responded, going over to help everyone up. "Just take it one hoof at a time and everything will be okay."
"No it won't, TWILIGHT'S MISSING!!" Pinkie yelled, somehow already getting the walking thing down since she was already running around the room. "WE GOTTA FIND HER!! WE GOTTA—Oh, wait. She's right there." She pointed a hoof at the pony stuck under the massive amount of books that had a bun and a pair of glasses on her face.
"No, Pinkie. That's the other Twilight," Rarity explained, flipping her hair around. "Our Twilight. Girls, my hair is gorgeous, don't you agree?"
"Ohhhhhhh I totally forgot to tell you," Sunset said sheepishly. They all looked her way while she explained. "Ummm.......she's also a wanted fugitive for taking the Element of Magic with her and Equestria is on a lockdown. Which means there are guards everywhere, including inside of this building. If they see her....."
"Hey!" They all looked towards the door to see three guards running into the room.
"They'll do that. RUN!!!" Sunset pulled Twilight out of the books right when they jumped in, burying themselves underneath them. Pinkie grabbed everyone, somehow in someway, and led them all out of the room, leaving the guards to get themselves out.
"That wasn't really smart," Spike said as they ran towards the entrance. "Even if this was the real Twilight Sparkle, do you think it would be smart just to jump on her?"
"I'm not Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight said, adjusting her glasses and getting her footing right. "So the Element of Magic is what, a weapon or something?"
"The greatest weapon of Equestria," Spike explained as they exited the castle and turned, heading into the woods. "The Element of Magic helped us get rid of Discord, Sunset Shimmer—"
"Don't remind me," Sunset Shimmer groaned as they slowed down, coming to a stop in a clearing.
"—and more I can't remember," Spike continued, catching his breath. "Either way, the Element of Magic was our best weapon, but it only chose Twilight to wield it. So she took it with her when she left. So now...Equestria is paranoid. Put everyone on lockdown until she's found. Which so happens to be you."
"But you're forgetting something very important."
"Which is?"
Twilight got into his face, before adjusting her glasses. Then yelled, "I'm not Twilight Sparkle!!...pony Twilight Sparkle.......ORIGINAL Pony Twilight Sparkle, jeez. Look, I'd love to help find her—"
"You," Pinkie corrected. "Find you."
"Find HER, but I don't see how we can be much help here."
"Neither do we." They all turned to the other side of the area to see Princess Luna and Celestia staring at them.
"Ohhh......poop," Sunset muttered.
Twilight watched from beside a group of Twenty Pserateps as they pushed a large thunderhead out from the airspace of the city of Fenix, which was very important. The town there specialized in food, vegetation, and plant life, which were not getting enough sun to grow. Looks like that was changing. Satisfied, she checked off a box on her checklist, smiling at another accomplishment.
"Lady Sparkle!" She looked to her right at one of the soldiers, a mare, coming over with a report on the movement of the clouds. "Everything is going smoothly," she reported, stopping next to her. "We've cleared the skies over the cities of Lavender, Capita, Eventa, and Rayray. The ponies are celebrating all below."
Twilight beamed and looked down to see that she was right. There were multiple Pserateps down below walking around, talking, and pointing to the sky, obviously amazed on the achievement of the strange pony that recently showed up not even twenty four hours ago. "Excellent!" She said. "Report back to me as soon as the sky is clear over the rest of them."
"Yes, ma'am!" The soldier flew back down to the ground and stopped in front of the king to give him the report as well. Satisfied, he sent her back to work and looked around him, seeing his people smiling. After nearly five years of agitation, grief, and suffering, they were finally smiling again. Which in turn made him smile But there was one thing bothering him. What did Twilight want? Ponies here just don't do things for free, that much was true.
"You're thinking about what I want aren't you?"
"Yes," he answered, unaware that Twilight was standing right next to him. "Ponies here don't usually—WAIT, WHAT?!" He turned his head to the right and saw Twilight smiling at him. "Where....where'd you come from?"
"Teleported. I have magic, remember? And to answer your question, I don't expect anything in return."
Madun said in disbelief, "You're kidding." Twilight shook her head. "Twilight, we can't just expect you not to get paid, you just cleaned the whole sky!!" She shrugged.
"It's an everyday thing for me. I come in, help, and then... I don't know, move on I guess."
"You're not going anywhere, Twilight Sparkle." He ordered, making her cock her head to the side. "You said you were able to find us by the clouds. And that was it. If you leave, you'll have to go back to Equestria, which we both know you don't want."
She looked from him back to the sky, sighing. "You're right."
"And if my sources are correct, the only clouds that come here are usually from Equestria. But they're usually small. Ever since we've heard about this land you're come from, we've been rethinking everything we've known so far about events and beings that have randomly shown up here. Such as that big bear that destroyed our land to begin with."
"That more than likely came from Equestria," Twilight admitted. She and Madun watched another group of Pseratep Guards move the last cloud out from over the city of Cop, making all the ponies down the steps to the castle cheer. "I just don't know how though. It could've swam here, but I don't know why. Besides, that is a long swim."
"Either way, we're keeping a close lookout for it. If it returns, do you know how to get rid of it?" Twilight nodded before turning back to him.
"Yes. You would have to send it back to Equestria. But that will only happen if it shows its face again. If we try and track it, it may become more violent than it already is."
"Alright. But like I said, Twilight Sparkle. You are stranded out here. So the least we can do to repay you is by having you stay and live with us." Twilight looked to him in shock.
"Are you sure?!"
"We are absolutely sure." She turned around to see another Pseratep walking towards her, the same one that gestured for her to demonstrate what she could do when she first arrived. "We haven't been formally introduced. I am Bold Shoulder, Defense Secretary of Psera. I manage the arms of the country."
"It's great to meet you, Bold Shoulder," she said, shaking his outstretched hoof.
"So far, it looks like your plan is working. What's the next step?"
Twilight grinned before gesturing to the mountain range. She finally found her purpose. "Each city is cut off from the capital by the mountain range to stop incoming enemies by the air. Which means I now have a clear shot at the area below. The cities. So I will do what I demonstrated yesterday with the grass. Only far far stronger. It will create trees, grass, flowers, and more. I will buildup my magic for three minutes and fire it in a wave onto the land below, restoring it. What do you think, King Madun?"
"Do it," he answered, a vision already in his mind. His people were going to live again.