//------------------------------// // Book Two: Chapter Five // Story: Unity: A Tale of Arcadia // by Kieva Lynn //------------------------------// Book Two: Wizard Quests Chapter Five "I wish you didn't have to go." Sweetie Belle said. The filly was standing in the midst of Rarity's packing attempts with a plaintive expression on her face. "I mean, you always have to go. Can't somepony else go for once?" " Oh, I am sorry Sweetie Belle." Rarity answered. "But you do know why it has to be my friends and I." "But you don't even have the Elements." "This is true." Rarity conceded. She looked through the upper drawer again. Where did that red ribbon go? And the evening gown... They would be meeting with Celestia and Luna before embarking on their journey after all, best to be prepared. In fact, for that matter, she should probably pack formal wear for all of her friends. None of them would think to- "Rarity!!!" The mare was bought back to herself by the sound of Sweetie Belle shouting her name. "Yes?" "You're going on a dangerous quest. Do you really need bolts of fabric and a sewing machine?" Sweetie Belle pointed towards the pile of luggage, which was already bigger than the two of them put together. Rarity had the good sense to blush. "Okay, I have perhaps gone slightly overboard. But this may be our only chance, ever again, to set hoof in Equestria itself. And from what Twilight says there's plenty of room inside Mister Turner's machine." At the flat stare her little sister gave, Rarity insisted "Sweetie Belle I have packed only the bare essentials!" Sweetie Belle trotted to one of the suitcases and punched the lock with a hoof. The case sprung open, revealing among other things a hairdrier, a typewriter, two make over kits, ten packages of mane dye in different colors, and a kitchen sink. Rarity gave a nervous laugh. "Let's... Try to pare this down just a little then, shall we?" It took over an hour, but by the time they were finished the luggage was much diminished. It still outweighed Sweetie Belle, but was perhaps a tenth of what it had started out as. Nodding in satisfaction, Sweetie Belle said "Much better!" "Yes I suppose." Rarity agreed. "So, Spike is coming by later, but for now we've got some sister time to ourselves. What would you like to do?" Sweetie Belle smiled, and held up one of the make over kits, to Rarity's horror... XXXXX Applejack trotted along the rows of trees like a general checking the formation of a squadron of soldiers. "Now Y'all know I ain't gonna be around for awhile!" She addressed the trees. "But that ain't no license 't slack off! I expect those apples 't be as crisp an' juicy as ever when I get back!" Her eyes narrowed at one particular tree. "That's right I'm talking to you Groot Fifteen! Don't think I forgot about last time! 'Apple Blight' my hoof, y'all knew exactly what you were doing!" Bethany, Macintosh, and Apple Bloom stood watching at a distance. "Is she...?" Beth started to ask. "This happens every time she's gonna be gone for awhile." Apple Bloom explained. "Eeyup." Mac agreed. "Thing is though," Bloom continued, "It seems 't work. The one time she didn't do it all we got was nasty sick little apples while she was away." "Weird." Beth said. Pep talk finished, Applejack went to the waiting trio. "That oughta keep 'em in line for ya Mac." "Eeyup. For a while anyway." Macintosh nodded. "But y'all better be back quick." Apple Bloom said "By which he means, you better be back period." "Yeah, no losing me my future sister in law." Beth agreed. "Oh don't any of ya go worryin' about that. I'll be with our friends, and Gandalf. We'll be fine." "Shouldn't you get 't packing?" Mac asked. "Meh, not much need. Y'all know Rarity'll pack enough for a hundred of us." Applejack thought for a moment. "Suppose I should at least pack a few things in my saddlebags. I'll do it right quick before bed. Right now, all I want is some family time before we go." Apple Bloom cheered, "We're all ready all ready for that! Me an' Granny fixed up a whole five course dinner! And then we've got storytime an' board games for the rest of the evening!" "That sounds great 'Bloom." Applejack said. "Just the family, and that means you too Beth. So, I guess there's no sense in standin' around either. Let's get to it!"Macintosh and Bethany headed back towards the farm house, following behind Apple Bloom who was galloping that way as fast as her little hooves could carry her. Applejack looked back at the grove, at tree 'Groot Fifteen' and gave it the "I'm watching you' motion with a hoof, then ran to catch up. XXXXX After Ponyville was abducted, it had taken Rainbow Dash several months to go through with building a new cloud house. Rebuilding had, at the time, just felt too much like giving up and admitting she would never see her old place again. It was only after communications had been established that she decided it was time. The new house was a virtual clone of the original, save that it floated at a much lower altitude. Unity building codes insisted on that much for safety. Well, the same save for the lower altitude an the fact that the spare bedroom was missing all of her old trophies and Wonderbolt posters. "Maybe it's still there." She thought. "Maybe I can find an hour while we're there to slip in, gather up some of my old stuff." Saddlebags packed with all she really expected to need (One Daring Do novel, a bottle of cider, a wing grooming kit, and a scarf in case they were going someplace cold) Rainbow flew out her front door, planning to get in some flight exercises with her new feathers. They still weren't all the way in, and she worried that such might compromise her skills. But as she flew over the school grounds, a familiar voice called up to her. "Rainbow Dash! Down here!" Rainbow descended to the ground, landing next to Scootaloo. "What's up squirt?" She asked, mussing the filly's mane. "As the official leader of the official Rainbow Dash Fan Club, I wanted to let you know that we'll all be expecting lots of awesome stories when you get back!" "Oh you don't gotta worry about that Scoots. This is gonna be the most awesome adventure ever! Superheros! Wizards! Evil Troll Dictator! On another planet! Trust me kiddo, you'll be able to write a book on this adventure by the time I get back!" "Whoo-Hooo!!" Scootaloo cheered. Rainbow gave her orange fan a stern look. "Just remember, I expect you to keep up your daily wing exercises while we're away." "Oh you know it! Watch this!" Scootaloo began to buzz her wings as hard as she could, and to Rainbow's overjoyed surprise actually managed to rise a few feet into the air. "Scoots! You're flying! That's awesome!" "Eh, kinda-sorta. That's all I can get so far." Scootaloo answered, dropping back to the ground. "Well it's still a win! Keep it up! In fact... Come on, we'll practice together..." XXXXX At the Golden Oaks library, Twilight was in a tizzy. So, same ol' same ol'. "Twilight calm down." Spike said for the tenth time in under an hour. "You'll wear yourself out before you even leave." "I can't calm down Spike. This is going to be an extremely important, extremely dangerous, mission. Which means I have to pack right! Pack smart! Take too much and I'm weighed down by stuff I didn't need and get captured! Take too little, and well, it was too little. But there are so many things that could be useful!!" "Twilight..." The unicorn held up a book, with a photo of a muscular outdoorsy stallion on the cover. "No Spike. According to Bear Grill, everything you need to survive can be fitted into a single pair of saddlebags!" Spike raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that the pony whose saddlebags are bigger than he is?" A single strand of hair popped loose from Twilight's mane. "Arrrrrrgh!!!" She exclaimed as she tossed the book. "Cheater." "Twilight you ran off to fight Nightmare Moon with nothing. That worked out." "Yeah, but... This feels different." Twilight shook her head. "By the way, I thought you'd be saying goodbye to Rarity. Why are you here?" Spike simply looked around at the mess she had been making in answer. "Heh heh. Right." Twilight sheepishly replied, and another strand of mane popped out. "Come on Twi, let's apply some common sense. Start with a first aid kit right?" "Right. And then... Then some magical reagents in case we need them... Cold weather gear just in case..." "Rope." Spike added. "Never know when you might need that..." With Spike's help, a much calmer Twilight finished packing in record time. It didn't quite all fit in her saddlebags, a couple of items poked out the top on both sides, but it was a fair enough job. Satisfied, Twilight had sent Spike on his way to visit Rarity, brewed a cup of tea, and settled into her favorite chair to spend the evening with a book. The tome of choice was the same book she had been reading the day Ponyville was abducted, which she had somehow never gotten back to: 'Manticores are from Mars, Venus Flytraps are from Venus.' "Manticores invariably fail to comprehend that Venus Flytraps don't want to solve their problems, they just want to talk about them." The book insisted. "This naturally leads to both species being angry with each other, and it is not uncommon for either to end up eating the other in frustration..." Twilight chuckled. This book was so weird... XXXXX At Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was working busily behind the counter as if it were a normal day. "Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Bert asked as he accepted a tall coffee and apple fritter from her. "Nah, I've got everything I need right here." Pinkie motioned to her mane. A serious expression crossed her face. "It's actually kind of amazing how much I can fit in there." Bert would have questioned this, perhaps even said something cutting, but he was cut off by Gummy's head popping out the top of her mane and looking him in the eyes, the aligator's own eyes blinking out of sync. "Riiiight...." He mumbled, shaking his head. "Right!" Pinkie agreed. "Of course, I'll leave Gummy with Fluttershy's animal friends for Silver Spoon and the others to take care of while I'm gone." "Well don't forget he's in there." "Whoa, yeah, that'd be embarrassing." Pinkie nodded sagely. "I should totally write myself a reminder note." She pulled a block of post-its, a nib pen, and an inkwell from her mane, wrote 'Gummy's in my mane' on one of them, and stamped the sticky strip to her forehead. "Not bad Pinkie." Mrs. Cake said as she trotted out from the back room, "But, dear, it's facing out. Unless somepony else sees it and reminds you..." "Good point." Pinkie contemplated options for a moment, then moved the note to the lower curl of her mane, facing in towards her eyes. "There we go!" Bert just stared. He knew, you see, he knew, that this was Pinkie and he should let it go. But... "Can you see where you're going with that blocking your eyes?" "Who said that!?" Pinkie whipped her head around. "Yeah, that's about like I figured." Bert sighed. He turned and walked out. "Thanks for the coffee." "You're welcome mystery voice!" Pinkie waved in the wrong direction. After Bert had left, Pinkie continued serving customers, amazed at the number of mystery voices today. Yes indeedy, it was shaping up to be a weird day even by Pinkie's standards... XXXXX "Don't worry Mi- um, Fluttershy!" Silver Spoon said, "We've got this!" "Yeah!" Micheal agreed, "We'll be here for feeding and care three times a day every day for at least a half hour each time, and Angel will let us know if anything comes up." "Oh I know. And thank you all for taking care of them while I'm gone. It's just so scary to not be here for them all." Fluttershy managed a very small smile. "Please try not to. We'll be fine." Silver insisted. Fluttershy's eyes went wide. "Oh but what if something heavy needs to be lifted!?" "The stitches come out in three days. And I've got everyone else in the meantime." "And if something bad happens we're all here too, and we're right in town." Micheal added. He looked down at Angel. "Besides which, this rabbit can take care of himself no problem." "Sorry. I really do trust you all. I'm just a worrier." "Well worry about yourself." Silver said. "You're the one going on the dangerous mission." "Yes, you're right. I will." "So, you're leaving first thing in the morning?" Micheal asked. Fluttershy nodded. "Twilight wants us all at Mister Turner's house before sunrise. Gandalf is already unhappy with the delay, and I get the feeling Twilight is too. Not to mention Mister Blinky has to be there before sunrise anyway, so we might as well all arrive together, I suppose." "Well good luck! We'll have to throw a big party when you get back!" Silver cheered. "That sounds like fun. As long as it's not too big, that is." "We'll keep it small for you." Fluttershy smiled, bigger this time. "Okay! So, let's go over the feeding chart one more time..."