During the same day, all the ponies, including Spike, got on the train for Canterlot after Twilight told the students there’s no school, having them leave to go back to their homes, her front hooves fidgeting on her seat, her eyes gazing out the window as the station moved away while the train made it look like it was doing so, seeing the other ponies waiting for their ride.
While she looked at the green grass swaying back and forth, her mind on the dream was planted inside her head, refusing to go away. It never made sense to her for at least a second because the changelings are now good, not evil anymore.
But Twilight has something she wanted to tell them right away. Something very important to the point where she began to get anxious, her forehead brimmed with sweat. She got off her seat, walking back and forth in the train car.
The dream… Who were those suited ponies? They don’t seem to be evil, fighting off those other ponies along with new changelings.
While she pondered this, Fluttershy went over to her. “Are you okay, Twilight? You seem tense,” she said in concern.
“I’m fine.” Twilight sighed, lowering her head down. “The dream keeps on bothering me. Why would there be new changelings?” Even she couldn’t come up with an answer of how much it didn’t make any sense to her, making her more worried. First for taking the Royal Sisters place and now this? She wished to teleport there right to the city, but she didn’t want to leave her friends behind.
Her hopes her theory of Chrysalis creating new changelings will be wrong, knowing for a fact she’ll need a male to help her since all babies are made by mares and stallions, unless she used some kind of spell to make brand new ones.
She had a hard time getting back to sleep, though, thinking of what’s going to happen. She’s known to panic over the smallest things, like missing a deadline or having to fix every object within her castle. Plus, she has to make sure the school is running smoothly, going according to her own rules, making sure the lessons are fun. She didn’t want them to get bored unlike last time when she first opened it.
Going back over the window, she climbed back on her seat, letting out a yawn, thinking a good nap will help ease the worry off of her.
A loud whistle went through her ears when the train stopped, screeching on the tracks, causing Fluttershy to fold her ears down due to the loud noise when it reached the station. She took her hooves off her ears, letting them go up, watching the other passengers get off the train, being replaced by new ones.
Twilight grabbed her saddlebags, setting the strap over her back, the saddlebags hanging on each side after she woke up, feeling almost refreshed. Even though the princess wants to see them right away, she suggested her friends go home quickly to grab some things in case they have to stay overnight.
Of course, everyone packed light unlike Rarity who has suitcases full of everything, like a raincoat, despite how sunny it is for being on the season of autumn. She opened one of them up, taking out a sunhat, placing it on her head right behind her horn.
Rainbow secured her bag, tightening it as she spoke. “Do you need all those, Rarity?” she asked. “We won’t know for sure if we’ll be there overnight for whatever reason why Celestia wants us for.”
“You won’t know what the weather will be like, Dash,” Rarity responded, giving her mane a few good combs. “Besides, I don’t want to burn my eyes from the morning sun.” She put her comb away. “Spike, would you mind carrying my bags?” She batted her eyelashes at him.
Spike, whose face turned a different color, blushed. “Sure, I’ll do anything for you.” He held out his arms, letting her put all her suitcases on him. He grunted from the weight, retaining his smile.
“Rarity, why can’t you pack like the rest of us?” Applejack checked to make sure she has everything. “It’s like you brought your whole entire wardrobe,” she commented, looking at all the suitcases, seeing three of them halfway shut from all the stuff she has in them.
However, she didn’t care what others think of her packing. She wanted to be prepared for anything.
Pinkie hopped up and down. “I wish I knew what kind of story this is. I don’t like waiting, but I’ll figure it out soon in no time.” Her statement only got weird looks in return. “Hey, don’t look at me like I’m some kind of crazy pony. Plus, you can’t rush the author.”
“What author?” Rainbow seemed to get annoyed by the pink pony’s randomness. “Pinkie Pie, what the hay is up with you? There’s no author. There’s no story. Quit saying we’re in a story, it’s driving me like an apple core.”
She giggled at her response, patting the blue pegasus on the head, batting her mane. “No need to feel frustrated, Dashie. You’re only feeling this way because the author is putting words into your mouth, and she’s doing the same with all of us.” Smiling, she left the train, the others going with her.
While they made their way to the castle, Starlight was next to the alicorn, a worried look on her face. “Do you think there are new changelings?”
Twilight wasn’t too sure to the point where she couldn’t answer. To her, it was crazy, even though she read about it in a book last night. She hopes everything will be fine. But since the princess wants to see them, it must be something important. Also, the dream keeps bouncing inside the inners of her skull.
Taking a deep breath, she finally answered. “Starlight, I’m not too sure. The dream I had about the changelings felt vivid. Celestia said Luna was watching me in my dream, with me wanting to tell her more about it. The dream was so...crazy.” Picking her head up, she turned to her student. “Only worrying about it will make it worse. Celestia will know what’s going on, right?”
Thinking about it, Starlight decided she’s right. Plus, the princess should know what’s going on, even when things seem to be normal.
Reaching the Canterlot Castle, they walked past the gate, heading to the white palace, entering inside, walking on the royal carpet, making their way to the Throne Room.
Arriving, the guards saw Twilight and her friends, giving the princess their full attention. She walked over to them, her wings opened in a regal manner.
“We’re here to see the princess,” she told them. “She wants to see us since yesterday.” She did her best to sound royal, like a real princess would sound like. “Tell her we’re here.”
“Yes, your majesty,” the first royal guard bowed.
“We’ll be right back,” the other one told her before the two opened the door, walking inside the room. They then came back. “She’s ready for you,” the second one said, going back to his potion, their faces glued in a stern manner.
The young alicorn nodded. “Thank you.” She led her friends into the room to see Celestia on her throne with Luna right beside her, along with Thorax on the other side. “Princess Celestia.” Twilight trotted over to her mentor, climbing up the steps, giving her a hug.
Celestia returned the hug, like she wouldn’t see Twilight ever again, giving her a nice embrace. “Twilight Sparkle, I’m glad to see you. How’s my number one pupil doing?” She released the hug, stepping back to view her.
Twilight, again, hung her head. “Not good, princess. I...have a theory about my dream, about the…”
“New evil changelings? Thorax came here to tell us since yesterday,” she informed, the good changeling nodding his head. “It seems like Chrysalis who’s with Grogar and the other villains have created a new army of them in order to take over Equestria.”
“A few have been spotted here,” the new leader of the reformed changelings said, stepping forward. “But I won’t be able to go to all the places here in this place in case there’s more. You girls need to keep a lookout for them, letting the guards know.” He shuddered. “It seems like the queen got tired of being the only bad changeling.”
Luna nodded her head. “And Twilight, we’ll talk about your dream later. For right now, all of you need to keep a sharp lookout. Clear?” All of them nodded. “Good, you can set your bags down. We’ll let the guards take them to your rooms.”
“Alright.” Twilight took off her saddlebags, placing it on the floor, the others doing the same. Spike, however, dropped them. “Wait, what about the suited ponies?” she then remembered. “Does the dream has to do with anything with them?”
The Princess of the Night, put a hoof to her chin. “I did see them in your dream, except I don’t know who they are. Fear not, Miss Sparkle, like I said, we’ll talk about it later.”
“Okay…” Sighing, she led her friends out the door, giving one last glance behind her before walking out of the door.
Once they were gone, the white alicorn gazed out the window. “Be careful, my little ponies,” she wished them.
Outside at the castle gates, Twilight gathered them up. “Okay, the princess says we need to keep a lookout for the new changelings. Rainbow, you take over the sky.”
“Got it.” Rainbow gave her a salute before zooming off into the clear sky.
“Applejack, Pinkie Pie, you check the bakery,” Twilight continued to instruct the roles for each of them.
“No problem, Twi. Come on, Pinks, let’s get going.” Turning around, the farm pony walked away, letting the party one bounce right next to her.
Rarity adjusted her hat. “I’ll be over at the fabric store. I do need new fabrics for the Gala dresses, and I don’t have enough at home.”
Shrugging, Twilight seemed to be okay with it. “Fine by me. Just make sure you don’t get too distracted, though. Changelings can form into anypony - even to make them look like us. So don’t trust anyone. Got it?” Making sure she was clear, the unicorn nodded. “Okay, now go on. Me, Spike, and Starlight will be at the library.”
“Aww, I wanna go with Rarity,” Spike pouted.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Okay, you can go with her.” She watched him leave with her, flapping his scaly wings. “Oh, Spike,” she sofly chuckled. “Fluttershy,” she suddenly turned and said.
“Yeah?” Fluttershy traced her hoof on the road. “Don’t forget I have an injured wing because I’m not going to fly.” She showed her the injured wing, thinking that she’ll be told to fly.
“No, I’m giving you two choices.” The shy pony opened her ears, ready for her choices. “You can either go to any store to check for anything suspicious, or you can ask anypony if they saw anything weird. What do you choose?” Since Twilight knows her fairly well, she knew what the answer would be.
It took a few seconds for her to respond, but Fluttershy finally decided what she’s going to do. “I do need to get food for Angel… so I’ll stick with the pet store. After I’m done, I’ll take whatever I bought back to the guest room I’ll be staying at,” she chose.
“Okay, me and her are going to the library. Good luck.” Using her magic, she used it to teleport both her and Starlight, leaving Fluttershy alone on the streets.
Looking around, the timid one made her way to the pet store, in hopes she doesn’t run into anything dangerous.
Getting to the pet store, she went inside, going up to the counter. The pony on the other side grinned. “Hello, how may I help you?”
“Yes, where do you keep the bunny food?” Fluttershy asked.
“Over there,” the shopkeeper directed in a friendly manner. “My, you are so pretty. Has any guys asked you out?” She placed her hoof on the countertop. “You’re way too pretty for some stallion not to stay away from you.”
Fluttershy bit her lip. “Ohh, um…” In her whole life, she never heard anyone say she was pretty. “N-No,” she answered, feeling a tad nervous. “No stallion ever came up to me and asked me out. I think it’s because I’m...weak.” She wasn’t afraid to admit it.
“Nonsense. You basically haven’t found the right one. Besides, you’re hair is a lot better than mine,” the pony deflected. “Some stallions like girls like you with long hair. Mine’s really short. Anyways, the food - the bunny food - is right over there. Let me know when you need anything else.” It was then she saw something. “Oh my, sweetheart, what happened to your wing?”
Shyly, Fluttershy gazed at it. “...one of my students slammed a door on it. It’s nothing to major about, it’s only a sprain. It’ll heal within a week.”
The shopkeeper sucked in a breath. “Ouch. It sounded like it hurt,” she said. “Also, it was an accident, right?”
The pegasus nodded. “Right. It was all an accident. I’ll be right back.” Leaving the counter, she headed to where the bunny food was at, remembering the directions. “Aha!” she proclaimed. “Bunny food.” Grabbing a bag, she went back to the counter. “How much would that be, miss?”
“One bag of bunny food costs four bits.” Taking the food, she put it in a bag while she got her bits from her client. “Thank you. Here you go, have a wonderful day,” she waved, handing the bag over.
Using her mouth, Fluttershy grabbed the bag with her teeth. “Thanks, you too.” She then left the store, heading back to the castle, not wanting to look for any bad changelings until she met somepony she thought she’ll never see in her whole life.
Canterlot was a big city, the Rangers can tell. When they crossed the bridge, they were amazed at all the buildings. They saw ponies, mostly unicorns, holding their heads up high as they walked.
Some of them stopped, turning their heads, seeing the new ponies. For some reason, they weren’t happy about what they saw, seeing the outfits they’re wearing. Troy sensed this, casting each pony a look, causing them to let out a huff, going back to their walking.
Jake looked around, uncomfortable the way the ponies are staring at them. “Why do they look at us that way?” A stallion with a top hat caught his attention, giving him a friendly wave. Only the stallion scoffed when seeing him, walking away. “It’s like their snobs.”
“Ignore them,” Gia advised him. “I bet these ponies are uptight about everything. I mean, they wear better clothes than us.” She saw a mare with a dress, holding an umbrella over her head. “Like, there’s nothing wrong wearing a black leather jacket,” she said.
“Same with silver…” Orion added into the conversation. “I hope not all of these ponies are uptight.”
“Uh huh. We should look for the visitors booth to get a map,” Emma suggested, looking around. “There’s one.” Pointing her hoof, the others followed her direction.
“Good eye, Em,” Noah praised with a smile.
Troy went ahead, the others right behind him. But when he got there, he stopped. “Huh,” he released, reading the sign. “It seems like whoever owns this is on vacation. It looks like we have to ask somebody for directions.”
Jake, not liking the idea, shook his head. “No way, dude. I know I’m the nicest person ever, but…” He looked around. “...I don’t want to get criticized by all means.”
“We can asked them.” Noah pointed his hoof on the other side of them where there are two ponies - a female and a male - seated at a table, a cup they each have in front of them, with a teapot at the center of the table. “I’ll go up there, asking them for directions to the castle,” he told them.
"Noah... I don't think it's a good idea..." Only he walked over there anyway, seemingly to ignore the warning from his new pegasus friend Emma, who stayed close behind, standing next to Troy, the others doing the same thing, all watching him go over to the table.
The two unicorns sipped their tea when they noticed a shadow creating over them. The mare set her cup down to see a stallion with glasses on his face. “Yes?” Her voice sounded something Noah had never heard before. “Is there something we can help you with?”
“Uh, yes, hi. I’m Noah Carver,” he greeted, sticking out his hoof. “What are your names?” he pleasantly asked.
“I’m Jet Set,” the stallion introduced. “This is my wife, Upper Crust.” Behind the Blue Ranger, he heard Jake let out a stifled laugh, possibly from the posh accent. It was cut off, probably from the Yellow Ranger.
“Nice names.” He kept his hoof out, waiting for it to be shook. “Me and my friends are not from here, we’re from Harwood County,” he spoke.
The two unicorns scrunched up their noses, wrinkling them. “Harwood?” Upper Crust repeated, sounding disgusted by the place. “You and your friends are from… Harwood?”
“Yeah…” Putting his hoof down since they’re not going to take it, he started to get uneasy around these two. “Is there something wrong…?”
“Something wrong?” Jet Set took a sip of his tea. “The place you mentioned sounded uncouth unlike here in Canterlot,” he criticized, having a shock reaction come over to the new horned pony.
It was then he got mad, placing his hooves on the table. “Are you going to tell us where the castle is? We need to see the princess; it’s important.”
“Please, the princess doesn’t want anything to do with you. Look at yourself. Where did you get your clothes? From the trash bin?” Laughing like a high horse, the mare levitated her cup, bringing the rim to her lips. A frown spread over her as she moved the cup away from her. “Seriously, those clothes are not appropriate for these ponies to see. So go away, you’re making my eyes bleed.”
“You heard her, get lost, you filthy boy.” They went back to their tea.
Stunned, Noah took his hooves off the table, feeling hurt by the harshness he received. No one has ever spoken to him the way they spoke to him, calling him a filthy boy. It was bad to the point where he backed away from them slowly, afraid he’ll end up doing something he'll regret.
What rude comments. It seems like they are too uptight to help him and his friends for how they treated him. All he did was to be nice, despite being a bookworm, wanting help to know where the palace is at.
Troy saw his friend walking backwards, his head halfway down, his tail tucked between his legs like a frightened puppy, or in this case, a pony. “Noah, is something wrong?” Seeing his friend upset made him concerned.
“Those ponies…” Noah manage to say. “They don’t want to help us. They said that the place we’re from sounded ‘uncouth’. She-” He directed towards the mare. “-made fun of my clothes I’m wearing. They already hate us.”
Jake shook his head. “I knew this wasn't a good idea…”
Looking at the couple, Troy turned towards Noah. “I’ll be right back…” Walking over to the table, he stopped. “Excuse me?” he spoke.
Upper Crust let out an annoyed sigh. “What?” She saw another unicorn in front of her. “What do you want? Are you the stallion’s friend? Because it seems like you’re worse than the other one.”
“Don’t give me the rude attitude.” He jabbed his hoof at her. “What makes you think you can’t help us despite the place we used to live? You shouldn’t talk to us the way you did,” he chastised, keeping his cool.
“We can talk the way we want,” her husband disputed, pouring himself another cup, the brown tea barely up to the rim before setting the teapot down. “You ponies shouldn’t even be here in this high class town.”
Now Troy wouldn’t put his hands - or hooves in this case - on a rude person. Instead, he narrowed his eyes. “Seems like you don’t respect other people for who they are.”
“We respect the ponies who live in Canterlot, not the ones who don’t live here.” This caused Troy to slam his hooves on the table top from the mare's spoiled tone, causing it to shake, the tea cup tipping over, losing its balance, spilling the liquid everywhere. “Hey!” she cried in alarm.
He ignored her outburst. “Tell us where the castle is. I’m tired of your attitude. Tell us where the castle is.”
“Jet Set, get rid of him! He’s ruining our morning tea.” Upper Crust avoided the brown drops dripping in front of her.
Getting off the fancy pillow, he stood up, planting his hooves on the ground, lighting up his horn, his eyes in an angry manner.
“Whoa!” Feeling himself getting picked off the ground, the Ranger found himself being levitated. Gosei did say unicorns can lift objects with their magic, but he never stated to where they can lift other ponies. “Ahh!” He was flung back over to his friends.
“Stay away from us!” the rude stallion growled, sitting back down.
The others helped him up. Troy fixed his shirt while Jake was about to go over there. “Don’t.” He was stopped by his leader. “Let’s find someone more polite who lives here,” he suggested.
The others almost hestitated, until they decided he’s right. They bet there are a lot nicer ponies around here then the ones they saw. Maybe they’ll find one with a map they can borrow. They do need to find the castle, to bring the princess to the Command Center where Gosei is waiting for them.
By the time Troy got his shirt and jacket straightened out, he began walking again, away from the snobby couple, the other five right behind him.
They reached the center of the city twenty minutes later, unable to find someone nice enough to help them until they saw a mare holding a rolled up paper. Troy, thinking she’ll be kind enough, went up to her. “Hey, miss?”
The mare turned, smiling. “Yes.” She also turned out to be a unicorn. “Can I help you?”
Knowing this was his chance, he sent her the same smile he was getting from her. “Why yes. I see you have a map there, right?”
“Mhm.” She nodded her head with closed eyes. “Do you want it?” she offered kindly. “I don’t live here, I was on vacation.”
“Yes, thank you,” Troy thanked.
“Okay, here you go.” Handing the map over to him, she made sure he grabbed it. “My name’s Lyra Heartstrings,” she then introduced.
“Hi, Lyra, I’m Troy Burrows.” He gave her a nice greeting in return. “Thanks for the map.”
“You are certainly welcome,” she returned. She waved, heading off to where she’s going next, smiling at each of the newcomers.
Going back over to his pals, Troy presented the map. “Now we can look to see where the castle is at.” He went over to the table, his friends joining him, unrolling the map for everyone to see. “Hmm…” he thought. “We’re right here at the center of the city, with the castle right over there.”
While they studied the map, Noah looked around, seeing no other ponies around here when he spotted a yellow pony with wings, one of them wrapped with a white bandage, indicating she hurt herself somehow. She also had a long baby pink mane, her tail dragging across the ground, carrying a bag in her teeth. On her flank are pink butterflies.
In all his years of being a computer tech back at home, he never saw a girl that was so pretty before, unable to take his eyes off of her, smiling in hopes she’ll notice him.
His ears caught the sound of something rolling, breaking his attention to see a cart going down the hill.
Wanting to make sure she doesn’t get hurt since she wouldn’t be able to fly away, he began leaving the table.
Gia, seeing him depart at the corner of her eye, saw him walking away. “Noah? Where are you going? Get back here.”
Except he didn’t go back, he just went on, watching both the cart and the yellow pony, most likely on her.
At first it was a simple walk, until he picked up the pace, trotting to see the cart picking up speed. It was then the cart was going down too fast, and Noah switched his trot into a full blown gallop, time seeming to stop moving. He sucked in a breath before yelling out to the girl.
“Watch out!”
Immediately, she stopped in her tracks when she heard a holler. Turning, Fluttershy saw the cart heading her way, going straight towards her. She froze up, her body stiffening, clutching the handles of the bag tightly in her jaw, watching the cart unable to move. She was too terrified to move to the point where she thought it was the end of her life.
Before it could happen, a sudden force, something heavy, tackled her out of harms way, the bag dropping out of her mouth, her back landing on the ground, stunned at what had happened.
The cart went by her, hitting a wall from another building. With pupils small, she turned to the source, to see who - or what - saved her life.
There, right on top of her, is a young stallion with a light brown coat under a blue shirt and jeans, glasses on top of his muzzle, his hair black and curly. His brown eyes locked on her cyan ones.
Her face filling up with red, she managed to find her voice. “Um… I...I think you can get off of me now.” Her eyes darted from side to side. “Please,” she added it in. “You don’t need to be on top of me anymore.”
Noah snapped out of his trance. “Oh. Sorry.” He got off of her, getting back onto all fours, then held out a hoof. “Are you okay?”
Grasping his hoof with her own, Fluttershy picked herself up along with some help. “Yes, thanks to you.” Her voice sounded soft, yet gentle. “It’s nice to have someone like you around.” She shifted her head towards the floor.
Seeing her this way, he thought it was adorable the way she was acting around him. So he decided to give her his name to make her feel more comfortable. “I’m Noah Carver. What’s your name?”
“I’m...Fluttershy.” The redness around her face refused to go away, knowing straight away why she’s feeling this way.
“Fluttershy… Cute name. Fits you very well.” The girl smiled at his wonderful comment. “I want to apologize right away for what I did, I never wanted you to get-”
“You pushed the cart down on purpose!” a loud shout cut him off, bringing both him and the shy one to whip their heads around to where the loud voice came from. “I’m going to have to call the royal guards on you!” a male pony threatened the other one. “Go over there and apol-”
The pony brought back his hoof, punching the angered stallion, getting away from the scene, galloping past both Noah and Fluttershy.
“Do you think he…?”
“I believe so. Come on.” Noah ran off with her right with him.
Emma saw him run past the table. “Noah? Noah, where do you think you’re going?” she called, but he fell on deaf ears.
“Noah, get back here!” his leader hollered out to him.
“Where’s he going?” Orion wanted to know. “Also, who was with him?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Abandoning the map, Troy began leaving, the others close to his tail, following their teammate who has a pony with him.