//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: The Cerulean Magician's Trials, and the Cutie Map Troubles 
// Story: Them's Friendin' Herds 
// by NotSoDogNinja 
//------------------------------//

And now, for the mysterious inner machinations of Twilight's mind:



OHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTWHERE'STHECASTLEWHEREISITWHEREISITWHEREISITCOMEONITISN'TTHATFARTWILIGHTYOUKNOWTHATBUTWHATIFITISWHATWILLIDOOHTHISISALLMYFAULTTHISISALLMYFAULTTHISISALLMYFAULTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTOHSHOOTWHATWOULDCELESTIADOOHGOSHOHGOSH-



This concludes the mysterious inner machinations of Twilight's mind.





Fortunately for them, they did not have any more encounters with any regular predators, although they have to take down a single timberwolf on the way back. And judging by the good time they had made, it was unlikely that they would meet any more before reaching the castle.

"Whew! Almost... there!"

"It took long enough." Oleander stared at the sky, and the sun, which showed that it was now dawn. "At least now I can get Fred back with me."

Twilight looked around the forest canopy. "Alright, it should be in this general location."

"But where, exactly?"

Twilight looked around again, then sheepishly smiled back at Oleander, a strange squeaking sound being heard as she did.

Oleander sighed. "I'm going to take that as an 'I don't know.'" She turned away from Twilight and put her hoof on her brow. "Great. Now what do we do?"

"Let's search around the forest? That seems like the obvious solution."

Oleander's ears pricked up. "I think I know where we are. We're on the outskirts of my old village."

"Well, that seems like a decent place to start. Let's go!" Twilight said as she pushed aside a couple of branches with her magic, and leading the way into the forest. 

Fifteen seconds later, she came back out again, as she realized Oleander wasn't following her. She had remained at the entrance, not really wanting to lose even more trust than she already had.

"Oleander? Is something wrong?"

Oleander remained aloof, staring at random leaves as they fluttered down from Twilight's disturbance.

"Oleander, what's wrong?" Twilight studied her face a while, before realizing, "Oh, you're afraid of what THEY think?" Twilight looked at the dark sorceress with concern in her eyes.

She faltered under the gaze of the princess, as if the voice came from someone much older than her. It was like that feeling when she was standing in front of all those other unicorns before. Just... calmer. Not wanting to criticize, but genuinely to try to understand. Certainly not what Oleander had faced those years ago.

She inhaled, attempting to keep them in, before relenting. "Well... no, but actually... yes?"

Twilight walked up to her, nudging her with a knee. "Don't worry! How bad can it be? Besides, I'm backing you up!"

She muttered under her breath. "Alicorn, you have no idea."

At least Twilight seemed to be happy. Oleander allowed herself, reluctantly, to be taken into the forest, and her old home.

As they approached the edge of unicorn village, Twilight looked confused, but ultimately shrugged it off. Probably thought about why Oleander wasn't living with the others. Well, that was obvious.

The alicorn and unicorn briskly wandered into the middle of the houses, all of them having some cheerful unicorns in front of them. In the center, a light blue unicorn was performing magic tricks to an adoring crowd on a makeshift stage in front of a cart, while most others were watering some plants for their own amusement.

Upon seeing Oleander, all of the unicorns stared at her for about half a minute. After recovering from their initial shock, they were all boarded up inside their houses within fifteen seconds.

"Huh... Maybe you're right..."

Oleander held her head high. "See? They fear me for my dabblings in the 'dark arts!'" She lowered her voice. "Do I have to break out the crayons to explain it to you again?"

Twilight shook her head, the same sparkles form earlier floating down to the ground. "I don't think you need to. Hey! One of the unicorns doesn't seem scared of you! Wait... isn't that-"

True to her word, one unicorn, the performer, was still outside. She shouted to the ungulates in the houses. "Hey! Aren't you going to wait and see the great, and powerful, Trrrrrrrixie!, do some SPECTACULAR card tricks?!"

"Trixie?!" Twilight ran over to the blue unicorn, who stopped her yelling and waved.

"Hello, Twilight. I wasn't expecting to see you. Here. How are you?" 

"Eh. Okay." Twilight rubbed one hoof with another, while Oleander stayed behind with a slight amount of amusement showing on her face.

Trixie looked around, but didn't seem to notice Olenader. "Where's Starlight? I bet she'd be absolutely enthralled to see this new place!"

"She's at the Castle of Friendship, and believe me, I really don't think she's really 'enthralled' to be thrown in this dimension."

"Oh." Trixie magically levitated her props into a chest. She then attempted to pick up the chest, but it fell out of her grasp before she could get it into her cart. "Well... hmmm... Perhaps I could join you? I WOULD like to see Starlight again."

"Perhaps." Oleander said, bluntly. 

Suddenly, Trixie started to scream, very loudly. She ran behind Twilight, ducking behind as much as possible, before peeking out from over her back. "S-s-sombra! Twilight, do something! Defeat him again! Or something! At least shoot him!"

Twilight explained, "Trixie, this is Oleander. she's a friend. And more importantly, NOT King Sombra. She's going to help us get out of here. A friend!"

Oleander extended a hoof in greeting, only for Trixie to slap it away, saying as she did, "If Twilight says you're a friend, I'll believe her. But I think I'm going to believe her from a distance. Alright? Alright." 

Both alicorn and sorceress rolled their eyes. After that short fiasco, Oleander attempted to get them back on track. "I think we should get going now. It's past dawn, and by the time we get back to the castle, it will probably be past noon, at this rate."

With the party now up to three, all unicorns that weren't scared completely out of their wits started heading over to where they hoped the castle lay, Trixie starting up her conversations again at once.





"...And that is how the Great, and Powerful... Trrrrrrixie! defeated a colony of changelings all by herself! With a little help!"

As usual for Trixie, she was bragging about her accomplishments (mostly consisting of things she helped Starlight out with). While very annoying, Oleander was paying close attention to whatever she said. She found it VERY interesting, especially what Starlight had done. She apparently had the ability to remove skills from people, travel back in time, and mind control people. But it seems that she gave up that part of herself when she moved on from being alone and afraid. As in, she literally put a spell on herself that stripped her, or anyone else, from doing what she had done.

"Well, that's all there is to ME. Now, I am wondering why Twilight chose you over me or even Starlight in this little quest."

That was powerful magic... Only how to learn it.

"Yes, I would like to get to know your magical abilities more. Starlight might be surprised. Not that it could compare to mine, of course. Maybe later, though."

But to be completely honest, Trixie's antics were wearing on them, even on someone as friendly Twilight.

"Wait!" Trixie stepped directly in front of a very confused Oleander. "What's stopping me from seeing just how strong you are right now?" She pulled out a large magician's hat. "I, the Great, and Powerful, Trrrrrrixie! hereby challenge you to a duel!" Then she paced away, counting from one to ten as she did. Oleander, who decided to humor this little pony, did the same, just more slowly.

They stood in silence for a few more seconds, neither turning to face the other. "Psst! Twilight! Say fire for us!"

"Huh? Oh!" Twilight stood up from where she was dozing. She looked back and forth at the unicorns for a few seconds, then confidently shouted the line. "Fire!"

Before Trixie could even flinch, Oleander had turned around. She fired a blast of magic straight at the mare's large hat, knocking it clean off.

Trixie stood in shock, looking from the top of her head, to the now displaced hat. Oleander suppressed a chuckle as she taunted, "Well, that was quite anticlimactic."

Trixie started to throw a fit. "What? How could you beat the great, and powerful Trrrrixie! At what she does best?"

Twilight walked up with a smile on her face. "I don't know. That's the second time in a row you've lost a duel to someone else."

Trixie snorted. "Well, that was only one. I demand more challenges!" She turned to face the unicorns again, searching their faces for anything remotely resembling approval. Fortunately for her, neither of them seemed to be against the idea.

Oleander butt in. "Because you suggested them, I will let you pick the challenges. What's the fun in doing what I know?"

Trixie nodded. "Alright. That seems fair to Trixie. So, FIRST-"

Challenge #1: Turn a rock into something else.

"Hmmph! This should be easy! Let's see..."

Trixie attempted to pick up a rock with her magic. She strained it harder, attempting to change it into something else, but just wasn't able to and dropped it on the ground. 

She tried again, focusing all of her magic into it, and finally managed to turn the rock into a nice looking teacup. "Ha!" She turned towards Oleander. "Try to beat tha-"

She stopped as she realized that Oleander was easily turning several rocks into crayons. She then pulled a couple of leaves  and branches from a tree and congealed them together to create paper and an easel. She sat down on the grassy floor, and started to draw some outlines of shapes.

"Hmmph... Fine. You win again. But this next one will drive you up your metaphorical wall!"

Challenge #2: Do a stage magic trick. Allowed: maximum of four props. Setup time: three minutes.

"BEHOLD! THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIE!" 

Suddenly, the entire backstage exploded with fireworks. "Hmmm...That was unintended."

"Hmmm..." Oleander looked past the broken stage. "I don't know much about stage magic... But I know some...sleight of hoof." She produced a red shiny apple from behind Twilight's ear, then threw it on the sketches she had made earlier. The apple's juices formed a lively cubism version of an autumn scene, as Twilight clapped enthusiastically.

"Ugh... Fine! You win again!" Trixie threw her hat on the ground. "One more! Then I'll be satisfied."

Challenge #3: Defeat one (1) Ursa Major.

"No." "What is that?" "Doesn't matter."

Challenge #3.1: Make one (1) drawing of yourself. A random entity will judge the resulting art.

Fifteen minutes later...

"Aaaaaaaand... Done!" "Aaaaaaaand... Done!"

The two competitors walked over to Twilight, drawings in magic hand. Trixie motioned towards the sheets of paper. "Send them off!"

"Okay!" Twilight readied a small flame, which consumed the drawings quickly. "Now, we wait for the results!" She nervously looked around. "I hope whoever this goes to listen to the message I attached..."





*bonk*

Pen: Ow! What was that?!

Pen: Huh? Judge the drawings... one to ten... throw it in fire when you're done... 

Pen: ...Ugh, fine. Where did this even come from?

Eraser: What's going on?

Pen: I got this message. It told me to judge some drawings. 

Eraser: Like hosting a contest? 

Pen: I guess. Done! That was easy. Pee-Ee-Enn! There! S-

Eraser: Wait! Don't send it with your name. We don't even know who sent it! Use a different name, or something. Just don't sign your own.

Pen: Uh... okay! Different name! Okay! Sending now!

Eraser: Good. What name did you use?

Pen: My legal name.

Eraser: Wait, wh-

Pen: Sent! Don't worry about it! Who'll even know?





The drawings came back in a flash of flame, that circled around itself before reforming into three sheets of paper. The competators eagerly checked the results of whoever reviewed their art.

They read:

Oleander: Pretty decent line art. Lots of white space though. Looks like crayons. 5/10
Trixie: What was that? A hippo with a hat? Pretty sloppy, messy color scheme. 2/10
Whoever wrote the note: You didn't give a name or give a drawing, so 0/10.
Oleander wins. Signed ~🅱en

"What?!" Trixie scanned the results again. "How couldn't he tell it was ME?!"

Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Maybe it was because he didn't know who you were?"

Trixie grunted, while Oleander reveled in the relatively painless victory. "Well, you've gotten what you've asked for. Now you know why Twilight chose myself over you; I have bested you in whatever you chose."

"Ugh... fine." Trixie bowed in defeat, and continued walking in the direction they were heading. Then immediately stopped and turned around.

"Actually, you know what?" Trixie said. "I will NOT stand for this! I hereby challenge you to a hoof-fight! Have at you!" She launched forwards, horn sparkling blue.


Fight!


Oleander stepped out of the way as Trixie fell flat on her face, eating dirt as she did.

Oleander crouched over the stage magician, hollering, "You're dumb. You lost! And you're dumb." as she did.


It's over!


"NO! I, the Great, and Powerful, Trrrrixie! Will not accept defeat!"

Oleander started to levitate, eyes starting to grow white. "Oh? Do you still want to fight?" Her hair started to fly in strange, unnatural angles akin to smoke, as the air around them started to turn a purple hue.

Trixie started to panic, and hit behind Twilight again, who stood on guard. "See, Twilight? Sombra! Take him down again! Please! I won't tell Pinkie Pie and Applejack to bake themselves in the oven again, Trixie promises!"

"I won't fight if YOU don't want to fight. Do you want to fight?" Oleander asked, in a booming voice.

Unable to do more than squeak, Trixie nodded in rapid succession, as Oleander stopped levitating and came back to earth.

"There. Now, with that out of the way, I see no reason why we should wait any longer here. We should make haste towards the castle at once."

"Alright." Twilight relaxed, Trixie still on her back. Oleander led the way through the underbrush, as they continued towards the castle.

"WAIT! You told Applejack and Pinkie Pie to bake themselves in the oven?!"

"Uh... a couple of days ago?"





The magical mares had reached the castle, at long last. It took them until sunset. Twilight sighed in relief, while Oleander cheered. "Finally! Now I can get Fred back with me."

Trixie looked at Oleander strangely. "Who's Fred?"

Oh boy. 

All three of them walked through the front door of the castle with a few creaks. Twilight called out while in the main hall. "Hello? Is anypony here?"

"Twilight? Look at this," Oleander said. She pointed at a note. It read, Meet us at the map. We'll explain everything. Don't get mad at Starlight. B̵r̸i̶n̴g̴ ̸c̸o̷o̷k̶i̷e̸s̴!̷

"Oh! The map!" Twilight facehoofed in embarrassment. "That would be logical for them to be."

Oleander looked, for lack of a better term, buffaloed. "Map? What's so important about a map?"

Trixie threw a hoof around Oleander's neck, causing her to recoil in disgust. "Don't worry. The map is really important. Trrrrixie! can prove it!"

"Oh, please do," Oleander sarcastically replied.

Twilight led them through a meandering course through the castle. Somehow, it's paths were as convoluted as the paths in the ruins, but that was beside the point. Curses!

Soon, they walked through a hallway longer than the others, into what appeared to be some sort of throne room.

Simply amazing! One crystal throne after another surrounded an equally impressive crystal table. Sunburst was sitting in one with a three butterflies etched into it, while Fred's book was sitting opposite, on a throne with apple markings on its front.

Upon noticing them, Sunburst looked up from his...actually it was pretty hard to tell... and greeted them warmly. "Hi, Twilight! Hi, Trixie! Hello...uh... Colander? No...Coriander? Wait... hold on... I've got this...Oleander! Yeah! Hi!"

"Hello... Sunbutt."

"Eh, close enough, heh heeeeeh??..." Sunburst seemed slightly more panicky than normal, even breaking out into a strange grin that Oleander had never once seen. 

Twilight looked at the seats. "Where's Starlight?"

"Well, uh... you see... uh..." Sunburst looked more and more unsure of himself by the second. "So, uh, like, you see, uh, the thing is... uh... try to understand... uh..." He fell silent.

"Sooooo-?"

"STARLIGHT IS MISSING!" he blurted out.

"WHAT?!" Twilight squawked. "I thought I told her to stay here with you!"

Fred's book started to talk. "Yes... but she just wasn't up to listening to you. First, her weird butt tattoo starts glowing, then it appears on the table, then she just up and left."

"Uh, did the book just talk?" Trixie asked, pointing at it.

"Yes, I did. Don't think about it too much."

"Well... I wouldn't call it a butt tattoo, Fred. I've already explained it to you. Oleander, do you know what cutie marks are?"

Oleander shook her head. Sunburst leapt off of the throne, and pulled off his starry robe that was only half as annoying as Trixie's hat. She was suddenly aware of a marking of a solar flare on his flank.

"Long story short, these marks, well, mark our destiny! Or personality. Whichever works. Like look at Twilight, and try to figure out what that means."

She did, and came up with royalty, leadership, and perhaps a greater destiny. "Yes? So?"

"Yes," he continued, motioning them to sit at the table as well. "You see, it is important because Starlight's cutie mark showed up at a spot, THIS spot." He motioned towards a port area. "...which means that there was something that the *ahem* friendship magic? To put it simply? wanted from her there, so she just... went."

Oleander raised her hoof to try to get more clarification, but Twilight beat her to talking.

"Wait..." Twilight motioned towards the entire table. "Is it me, or does the Map seem more... dense to you?"

Oleander scanned the "map." There were several places that she couldn't make out... but she saw several places from Foenum. The Tundra, the Prairie, Meadowlands, even entire cities and towns were in remarkable likeness on the map!

"You're right! The map must have picked up... wherever you come from, Oleander!"

"Well," Oleander finished, "Since we have an idea of where Starlight went, then there's no time to waste finding her." Her horn flared up, but quite literally out of nowhere, Twilight rested a single hoof on it. "Twilight? Explain yourself!"

"Hold on, we can't just teleport to her. What if we end trapped in a wall there? We haven't even been there yet, so there's no real telling where we go or what we find?"

Oleander snorted. Twilight was right, there. They could easily end up in a place that would lead them to a swift end. "So now what? We can't just stand here." "Well, actually we can, Olly." "Do NOT call me Olly."

"I guess we walk, then? It's the best option." Twilight suggested.

"Well, no use arguing with that, I suppose." Oleander yawned. "Though, now would be a good time for some sleep..."

"I agree." Fred popped out of his book in all of his demonic glory. "How about we all hit the sack for tonight?"

Everyone agreed with that. Not really wanting to search for any bedrooms in the castle, they found some blankets in a nearby closet, and had a peaceful sleepover in the throne room.

Except Trixie, who was far too alarmed by the sight of Fred to do anything but sit wide-eyed in silence. But that's still pretty cool.





Pen: Well, thanks, Rarity, for letting us stay here before! But I really think me and the boys should get going.

Rarity: Oh, no worries at all. Take care!

Applejack: So, you're gonna walk all the way back to where you were?

Pen: Nope! THIS IS HOW! *Dramatic pointing*

Everyone: *Audible silence*

Pen: So?

AZ: What is that?

Pen: It's a supervan!

Eraser: Yeah, I know that, but when did you steal this supervan from Freesmart?

Pen: Steal? What are you talking about? Nah, I just found it!

Blocky: From where?

Pen: For free! It was lying in a big puddle of glue, so I fished it out! Remember? I got the second most votes in IDFB!

Rarity: Well... that's certainly interesting. But will this get you where you need to go, quickly?

Pen: Yep!

AZ: 'Ow does it work?

Pen: Basically, fire. It's kinda complicated.

Blocky: Just... don't run anyone over. I don't think these guys have recovery centers.

Pen: Okay. Well, then, bye!

Everyone: BYE!

vroom vroom











Pen: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH (confident)

Eraser and Blocky: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH (in fear)

*splintering noises* *crashing* *ouchy ouch*

Eraser: WHY DID YOU CRASH INTO THE FRONT GATE?!

Pen: IT WAS THE FASTEST WAY OUT OF HERE! THIS VAN IS REALLY DURABLE!

Blocky: WHO LET YOU DRIVE?!