//------------------------------// // Let's FINALLY get this show on the road! // Story: Mission to the Pony Planet // by ersmiller //------------------------------//            "Well so much for bein' back within the hour," Applejack sighed, looking over herself and Rarity.            The group had no real idea how long it had been since arriving on the pony planet.  They had eventually found clocks but they were hours different than they should have been considering what time it was in their world when they left.  They concluded that the two ends of the portal were in two different time zones. They knew it was just past noon when they left home, but it seemed the sun was still early rising in the pony world.  Even without usable timepieces, they knew that with learning how to walk and fly, and now with the time it took two of them to get dressed, they had to have spent close to two hours, or maybe longer, as ponies.  And they still hadn't even left the building.            While Applejack and Rarity got dressed, Rainbow Dash had gotten bored and left to check through the remaining rooms in the palace, promising to be careful and not try to pull off any more stunts.  What she really wanted to do was leave the palace but the others suggested they check every room first to make sure they hadn't simply missed someone who might know where Twi was. Rainbow had returned to find Applejack and Fluttershy tying the ribbon of the dress Rarity had chosen into a bow just behind her withers.  Applejack was already in the yellow dress and Pinkie didn't seem to be in the area.            "Do ya really need the bow, Rares?" asked Applejack.            "Yes, darling, it compliments the dress wonderfully, pulls it in to better show off my figure, which I’m assuming is still considered attractive here, and if we slide it forward a bit we can use it to cover what I believe are wing holes that would look horribly out of place on a non-pegasus like myself."            Applejack just rolled her eyes, "Fine."            "I think it looks very nice," added Fluttershy as she worked with Applejack to pass the ends of the ribbon between them to set up the knot.            "Are we still doing this?!" asked Rainbow.  "Why can't you just let it all hang out?  It's no big deal here."     "H-hang out?!  There's something hanging?" gasped Rarity.  "Someone please tell me I'm still female! I never thought to check!"     There were blushes all around, especially on Applejack.  "Uh," she said, "you are. Caught a peak earlier—accidently!"            Before there could be any followup to that, or even to check for her friends' reactions, Applejack quickly changed the subject.  "Did'ja check out the rest of the palace, Dash?"            "Yeah, and there's no one in here.  The whole palace is empty!" answered Rainbow.            "Why would a royal palace not have any guards, or maids, or, ya know, royals, in it?  Makes no sense."            "Do you think something is happening in town?  Some kind of—" Fluttershy gulped, "—m-monster attack?"            "Nah, nothing like that," Rainbow replied.  "I got a look out some windows and the town is full of ponies just walking, and flying, around like it's a normal day."            "Were any of them wearing clothing?" Rarity's eyes sparkled.            "Uh, maybe?" Rainbow thought.  "Oh, yes, um, a couple hats, some saddles and stuff, but most of them were as naked as me and Fluttershy.  Because we're ponies and covered in fur."            "A whole world of just ponies; isn't that wonderful?" asked Fluttershy.  "Oh I can't wait to see the town!"            "I'd like to see the town too.  You know; NOT through a window? I thought the whole idea of us all coming through was so we'd all look at the same time and get this done faster.  If I hadn't been waiting on the rest of you I might have found Twi on my own by now!"            "Just hang on to yer britches—er, tail or somethin’—Dash.  We'll be done here in jus' a moment. Ready, Fluttershy?" Applejack asked as they each gripped the center of a loop they made in tying the ribbon.            "Ready!"            And they pulled the loops tight, setting the bow in place.  "Why thank you, darlings. Let's have a look shall we?" Once released, Rarity walked to the nearest section of wall with good lighting and checked her appearance.  "Oh yes, this does look lovely. A bit large for me, but I believe we are ready."            "Ugh! Finally!" cried Rainbow looking over her friends.  "Wait. We are ALL ready, right?  Where's Pinkie?"            " 'Fraid the five minute break 'the voices' gave her earlier was up a while ago.  She's down the hall a bit mutterin' to herself again."            "Uhh …," started Rainbow hovering lower and speaking quieter, "she's not going to go psycho on us is she?"            "Rainbow!  That's not nice," admonished Fluttershy.  "This is our friend we're talking about. You even defended her when Sunset made the same suggestion."            "Yeah, well, that was old, mean Sunset talking so I had to defend Pinkie.  But, you know; Pinkie has always been a bit weird and now this is weird on top of weird.            Fluttershy continued, "Pinkie once told us she's been hearing voices for as long as she can remember and she hasn't 'gone psycho' yet."            "No, she said she hears 'a voice' just one.  Now she's got how many in there?"            Applejack cut in, "She keeps sayin' she's fine and wants to help.  We already suggested she head back home but nothin' doin'."            Rarity sighed, "I'm afraid I'm not sure how much help she's going to be if she just continues to mutter to herself."            The girls thought for a moment and Fluttershy offered, "Why don't we ask her to stay here in case anyone comes to the palace while we're out searching?"            "Splendid idea.  And the rest of us will head in different directions and check back here every … half hour?  Hrmm, I suppose that won't work; none of us have watches or our phones."            "No prob!" insisted Rainbow.  "There's a big clock tower in town; we'll go by that."            "Fine by me," said Applejack.  "Every time the clock tower passes another half hour we pop back here and check on Pinkie to see if any of us has had any luck.  Oh! And check the journal too, ‘case Twily calls us."            "Sounds like a plan, darlings."            "Dash, which way to the exit?" asked Applejack looking up and down the long hall.            Rainbow pointed down past the bend where Pinkie had stopped to mutter, "Down that way, hang a left when the hall turns to the right.  Big staircase. Can't miss it. Have fun walking. I'm taking the shortcut!"            And with that Rainbow took off for the nearest window at top speed.  "Wait, Dash! That window's—" Applejack's warning came too late as Rainbow learned the hard way what she was being warned about.  "—Closed."            Rainbow slid down the window and landed with a whump.  "Ow, yeah, I knew that. Just, uh, kinda harder to stop than I thought it would be."  Fluttershy was at her side in short time to check on her crash-prone friend. Rainbow quickly shook off the birds and stars orbiting her head. “So ya spent all yer time earlier tyrin’ to go faster and never learned how ta stop?” “You only need to stop when something goes wrong.” “Like how ya just launched yerself at a closed window?” Rainbow shrugged, “Eh, learning how to stop is on the list.”  She then hovered back up to the window, and sheepishly looked for a latch.  Fluttershy hovered up alongside her and, spying the latch, they opened it together, thankful that the latch was simple enough to use with hooves.            A soft breeze flew in through the opened window carrying clean, fresh air, unlike any they had felt before.  It felt purified, ionized, yet still carrying gentle, pleasant smells of nature. They could clearly smell flowers, fresh grass, and morning dew.  Absent were chemicals, asphalt, car exhaust, all the smells of a city or even their mid-sized town. The breeze itself seemed to have a clean, sparkling, feel to it.  Too absorbed in the breeze were they to ponder how a breeze could feel sparkling.  It just did.            "Oh, oh my.  That feels so wonderful," sighed Fluttershy.            "And just look at those clouds."  So taken with the sky, Rainbow's hover began to silently drift forward out the window.            "Rainbow?  Fluttershy?" called Rarity as she looked quizzically at her winged friends.  "Yes it feels quite nice, but why are you two just …," she trailed off looking to Applejack who shrugged with one shoulder, just as confused as she.            "Snap outta it!" Applejack called a moment later waking Fluttershy from her stupor.   Rainbow, however, kept going forward.            "I gotta fly!" she cheered upon clearing the windowsill and took off like a rocket.            "Wha-wha—Rainbow!" came Fluttershy's voice having her senses returned.            "You okay, sugarcube?"            "I … I'm not sure what happened.  But, the air is just so wonderful here.  I guess I got a little overwhelmed. And … so did Rainbow?"            "Ah don't see what's gotten in'ta you two.  Sure it's nice an' all, but I don't see what's to write home about."            "Well, I suppose you're right.  It is just … a nice breeze isn't it?" Fluttershy pondered her earlier behavior as she slowly descended to the floor.  "Do you think Rainbow will remember to check in every half hour?"            "Ah hope so.  It's not like we have any chance of catchin' her at that speed.  We don't have no choice but ta keep goin' and hope she either comes by or one'a our pony selves grabs her an' brings her back here.  Come on; clearly Dash ain't doin' this all in 'ten seconds flat' after all. Les' go tell Pinkie the plan an' head out."            Fluttershy took another look outside the window.  First seeing the clock tower Rainbow had mentioned and then noticing the quaint little village around it made out of houses with thatched roofs, dirt roads, a little fountain with a pony statue, a tiny market, and most importantly: pastel-colored ponies!  She saw them walking and trotting around on the ground to and from the different little buildings and market stalls. Everything was so colorful! She saw trees populated with squirrels and birds; some breeds not known to reside in her own Canterville. She looked up to the sky where Rainbow had vanished and she saw a few clouds with little houses on them that appeared to also be made of clouds.            As she watched, stunned and trying to make sense out of what she was seeing, a pony came out of a house-shaped cloud and she watched it fly back down.  As the pony neared the ground Fluttershy had drifted forward, not even realizing she had returned to a hover, and peered over the edge of the windowsill to keep track of it.  And that's when she noticed how far away the ground was. "Eeeeekk!" she screamed, the shock having caused her to forget the fact she was safely hovering with her own wings. She panicked, her wings snapping to her sides, and she dropped.  Fluttershy put her forehooves out and they caught the windowsill as she fell past it, the rest of her body swinging down and smacking into the wall. "Aaaaaahh! Help!"            "Darling, you're alright!" Rarity rushed up to her.            "She's right, sugarcube, jus' let go.  I promise; jus' let go and you'll be safe," Applejack arrived a step later.            Fluttershy considered her friends' words and knew they wouldn't lie to her, but the decision to trust them and drop or not was literally taken out of her hooves when she lost her grip.  "AAAAAAHHHH—!" and fell about two inches to the floor behind her.            "Them windows ain't that high up on the inside."            "Oh my goodness, I feel so silly.  Of course I was alright the whole time; I’m sorry."            Excited tweeting came from the window and they all turned to see a little bird chirping at them with a worried expression.            "Oh my, it's okay, I'm alright," Fluttershy reassured the little bird.  "I'm sorry to have startled you, my little friend. I just had a little panic attack, nothing to worry about.  But thank you for the concern."            Relieved, the little bird wiped its brow with a wing, chirped happily again and flew off.  Fluttershy turned back to Rarity and Applejack. "What a nice little birdie he was. He was so worried I may have been in trouble that he—" she stopped, her jaw dropped open and her eyes widened.  "I … I think that was an Ectopistes migratorius! They've been extinct for a hundred years!" She turned around to face the window, "WAIT! LITTLE BIRDIE, WAIT!"  Before Applejack and Rarity could respond, Fluttershy had taken off after the little bird almost as fast as Rainbow had earlier, and in a moment, she was out of sight.            "”Fluttershy!”" her friends called in vain as they rushed to the windowsill and placed their forehooves on it.            "Well …," said Rarity, turning to Applejack, "We were planning to split up after all.  Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash just have a head start.  Nothing to worry about."            "Ah suppose," Applejack thought for a moment, looking over the town.  "Ya think it's the wings?"            "What do you mean?"            "As soon as that window opened, Dash and 'Shy were in la-la-land.  Granted they was closer to the window than us, but still, it didn't do nothin' to us 'cept smell nice."            "Twi and Sunset have mentioned there are some fundamental differences between the pony types.  The fresh air could have sparked something in them."            Applejack thought on that and dropped from the windowsill and back onto all fours, "Gives new meaning to the phrase 'bird brained' if'n that happens to all 'em pegasi, ah guess."            "Then what about Pinkie?" Rarity asked, also dropping to all fours before they began to walk toward their other friend,  "She ended up an earth pony like you, but she's acting crazy and you're not."            "Ah think she just hit her head somptin' fierce."            "Pinkie hits her head rather often but rarely seems to ever be phased by it."            "Straw that broke the camel's back, maybe? Might be time to get her skull an X-ray ta be safe."            "Perhaps.  I do hope we can get her back home soon."            "As soon as we get out of this palace we can join ….  Well, honestly, it might be down to just us two at this point.  With Pinkie how she is, Dash gallivantin' 'round the skies, and Fluttershy apparently chasin' birds, ah think we're the only two who're gonna be looking for Twi."            "I'm afraid you might be right.  We'll just have to split the town into two, instead of five, and take half each.  As long as we keep meeting back here regularly to give Pinkie our updates we should be fine."            "Uh, Rares.  Ain't this were we left Pinkie?" asked Applejack looking at what shouldn't have been an empty hallway.            "Oh dear." ***   *** ***            After a few minutes of searching and calling Pinkie's name, while heading in the direction Rainbow indicated would lead them out the palace, the two remaining off-worlders in the group found themselves … needing even more minutes figuring out how to safely walk down stairs on four hooves.  Once they managed to reach the bottom of several flights they found themselves, finally, in the palace foyer, looking at the front doors.  One was left open.            "I do believe this means she's gone on without us," concluded Rarity.            "Right, so, same plan, just without checking in with Pinkie?"            "Yes, seems like the best plan for now.  Every half hour, on the half hour; and remain here for about five minutes should some of us not quite make it on time."            "An' all we're doin' is lookin' for Twi, someone that might know where Twi is, or one of us; well, our pony us'es anyway."            "Exactly, darling.  And we should refrain from telling anyone we are from another world.  Even in a world of magic I suspect that may be odd enough to attract the wrong kind of attention."     “Right.  We ain’t lookin’ to get holed up in an equine nut house.”            They made their way across the foyer toward the doors, pausing just before them.  "Do you think this is gold?" asked Rarity pawing at the closed door.            "Well it is a royal palace," answered Applejack pushing the other door the rest of the way open.            They saw before them what appeared to be a solid gold staircase, with six steps between a pair of curved banisters, leading down to a well-traveled dirt and stone hoofpath.  This path led toward the marketplace of the little pony village. The clock tower was easily visible standing above the pony activity, it read 6:48.            "Alright, so we meet back here first at seven thirty and then every thirty minutes after that," said Rarity, closing the large royal doors before following Applejack down the steps.            "You got it, Rares, we're doin' this together an' no more dilly-dallying is gonna—" Applejack stopped, her whole body freezing once she stepped her right forehoof onto the ground from the bottom stair.            "Applejack?" said Rarity.  Not receiving a reply, she proceeded down the steps on her stockinged hooves.  Walking around to Applejack's front, Rarity saw complete shock on her face. Applejack's eyes were wide, her pupils large and slowly continuing to dilate further, her mouth hung open, and her breathing was deep and slow.  "Applejack!" Rarity tried again reaching out a hoof to press against her friend.            The surprise of being touched caused Applejack to step back, her front-most hoof raising into the air from the ground.  She shook her head as the shock drained from her face. "Whut? Rares?" She looked down at her hoof and tentatively touched it to the ground again.  Immediately upon contact her eyes widened again. "You feel that. Rares? This world is alive! It's all around us."            "Darling?" Rarity took a step back as Applejack walked her other three hooves off the stairs and onto the ground, never lifting the first in the process.            "It's amazin'!  It's like the whole world is a living, breathing person."            "P-perhaps you should—"  As Rarity began to offer a suggestion Applejack splayed out her four legs and laid her belly flat on the ground.            "Ah hug the Earth, and the Earth hugs back!"            "Darling, I think maybe you should get back on the stairs."            "What am ah wearin' this thing for?" Applejack stood and struggled to pull off the yellow dress.  "Ah don't need this." Finished undressing she lay back down and began rolling on the ground ending up on the grass to the side of the hoofpath and closed her eyes.  "Rares, ya need to feel this! There's life all 'round us. Ah can feel the ground, the grass, those flowers planted by the palace."—Rarity looked over to see that there were indeed flowers planted by the palace. —"Ah can feel … trees … apple trees.  Apple trees!  Home!"            Applejack's eyes snapped open and grew wide.  She jumped to her hooves and galloped, expertly, toward the south.  "YEEEEEEEHAWWW!"            Rarity stared after her friend as she ran off, far faster than she herself could hope to match, and disappear over a gentle hill.  Once alone, she looked around. There were a few ponies in the distance around her, mostly toward the marketplace, only one or two had looked back after Applejack's cheer, and those had already gone back to their errands for the day.  She looked at the clock tower. 6:50 it read. Forty minutes until their first scheduled regrouping. Then she thought over her friends' actions in the past two hours or so.            Dash fully absorbed in her wings.  Fluttershy chasing a bird. Applejack … chasing trees?  Pinkie … what was even up with Pinkie? And they hadn't even told Pinkie the plan yet.            They had all gone off on their own, all acting in strange ways.  Pinkie started not long after arriving on the planet, Rainbow and Fluttershy as soon as that window opened, and now Applejack the moment she touched the ground.  Would they all make it to their regroupings? But more importantly Rarity wondered …            "Am I the only sane one left?!"