Rainbow grunted and groaned as she shook the sense of dizziness out of her head; she was used to loops and twists and turns, but usually she was planning for them and performing them herself. She was sure she'd heard a familiar voice, but was still having some trouble coming to terms with what was happening and where she was. Her first focus instead was on Pinkie's wellbeing, as she had tumbled alongside her and was groaning with discomfort.
"You alright, Pinks?" she asked, gently setting her hoof on Pinkie's side. "That was quite a ride."
"Yeah, I'm good," Pinkie replied, giving Rainbow a big, dumb smile. "Nothing important got hurt. I landed on my head."
Rainbow took a deep breath and assessed the situation: she and Pinkie had been separated from the others and sucked through a magical portal into an alien—albeit familiar—world; Rarity was with Fluttershy last she saw them, and Applejack was last seen going after Twilight; she didn't know where their friends were, or if they were safe or hurt, or if they'd even gotten further separated.
But she'd been training with the Wonderbolts for years now and was learning to become a leader, somepony with a calm, composed demeanor in the face of a crisis. She had to if she was gonna take over for Spitfire one day. She needed to show confidence and strength, no matter how worried or afraid she was; panicking would just make others panic, and that didn't solve anything. It was best to take stock of the situation, learn what she could, and figure out a plan.
So, Rainbow glanced up and saw that she hadn't been seeing or hearing things earlier; she was indeed in some sort of office—Spitfire's wasn't this big, but had a similar layout—looking straight at Havoc and Dawn, the latter seated at the office's lone desk, the former standing before them utterly confused.
She smiled and gave a little wave. "Uh, hey. 'Sup? Long time no see?"
Havoc remained silent for just a moment, then threw her hooves in the air incredulously. "The fuck kind of 'hello' is that?! You come falling outta the fuckin' wall after seven years and all you've got is 'Sup'?"
"Hey, gimme a break, it's been a rough day," Rainbow huffed. She looked behind her—there wasn't anything there but a solid wall—then rubbed the back of her head anxiously. "So, uh… yeah. This wasn't how I was expecting today to go at all, lemme tell ya. Total déjà vu vibes, like I was saying earlier."
Havoc shook her head, then stepped forward and gave Rainbow a clap on the shoulder. "Well, it's great to see you again, whatever the reason. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, no trouble here. I've had worse crashes."
"What're you even doing here anyway? What happened? I thought we sent you guys home all safe and sound and shit. What gives?"
"I, too, would rather appreciate some elucidation on the circumstances of your return," Dawn said, adjusting her glasses; Rainbow didn't know where she got those glasses but it made her look more professional than she remembered. Kind of like when Rarity went into full workaholic mode. "I would also appreciate information pertaining to the rest of your collective friends, seeing as there are only two of you here at present, not six."
Rainbow tilted her head. "Well, as for what happened, today was supposed to be pretty much business as usual for us, even if Twi scheduled our monthly Friendship Council meeting a couple of days early."
"The hell is a 'Friendship Council'?" asked Havoc.
"Oh. Right, sorry, there's a lot to catch up on, huh? Uh… lemme see if I can sum that up. So, Twilight is basically the Princess of Equestria now and rules the whole kingdom, but she's sort of new to the job and wasn't sure she could do it alone, so she asked the rest of us to be like her advisors or whatever. That's the Friendship Council. I guess… technically that means Pinkie and I are like one-sixth rulers of Equestria?"
Pinkie gasped loudly, hooves on her cheeks. "I never thought of it like that before! I'm like, one-sixth Princess!" She then rubbed her chin in deep, serious thought. "Hmmm, what does that make the other five-sixths? Ooh, I know! One-sixth sugar, one-sixth spice, one-sixth everything nice, one-sixth fun, and one-sixth rock!"
"Why one-sixth rock?"
"I grew up on a rock farm, Dashie. There's gotta be a few granules in here somewhere." She tapped the side of her head, and to Rainbow's confusion, some grains of sand and dirt popped out. "See?"
Rainbow nodded with a tight-lipped smile. She'd never understood Pinkie's bizarre spontaneity sometimes, but then that was what she loved about her. One thing, anyway.
"Hold on," Havoc said, holding up a hoof. "You're tellin' me that your pal Twilight rules over your entire world?"
"Well, no, not exactly. Where we're from, Equestria's just one kingdom out of all the other kingdoms and such in the world. There's the Crystal Empire up north… but I mean, her brother and sister-in-law rule that, so…" Rainbow cleared her throat. "But there's Griffonstone and Yakyakistan, and—"
"So she holds jurisdiction over a singular nation," Dawn clarified, her expression an odd mix of both intrigued and relieved. "A remarkable development. Twilight never expressed any desire for such a position in our time together, so I find this incredibly ironic given my own position as Shadow Associate of New Pandemonium City."
"What's a Shadow Associate? Does that mean you rule the whole city or something?" Pinkie asked.
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
"Coool! Twilight'll love to hear about that!"
Dawn gestured at Rainbow. "Incidentally, if you would continue your tale on how you two came to arrive here?"
"Right, sorry. So, uh, we all were there at the meeting like we usually are, but Twilight scheduled it two days early to mark the anniversary of when we first came here to your world seven years ago."
"A truly momentous occasion," Dawn noted with a meaningful look to Havoc. "We owe a great deal of our current livelihoods to that fortuitous event."
Rainbow brightened and gestured at her jacket. "Yeah! So Twi was feeling nostalgic for it and even had Rarity fix up our old duds. I never thought Rares would hang onto them for so long, but I'm glad she did."
"Oh hey, yeah, that's your old jacket isn't it?" Havoc asked, reaching out to touch the collar. "Lookin' good on ya over that flight suit. You wouldn't look out of place down in Hope's Point at all, probably fit right in as a captain of a flight team."
"Thanks!"
"If we can cease these unnecessary interruptions?" Dawn grunted.
"Fuck off, Dawn," Havoc snapped. "I haven't seen Dash in seven years, I'm allowed to ask questions about how my friend is doing."
"Such frivolities can be postponed until after our discussion."
"It's alright, she's got a point," Rainbow said, patting Havoc's shoulder. "We've gotta figure out what's going on, so I might as well spell it all out first. We'll catch up afterwards."
Havoc grunted, then shrugged and nodded.
So, Rainbow continued, "Anyway, then Twi told us that she'd been spending some time working on a new spell or something so that she could check up on all of you guys. Twi looked in on Winter, Pinkie on Velvet, Rarity on Insipid, Shy on Lockwood, AJ on Flathoof, and mine was you, Havoc. Then something went wrong—I still don't know what—and we all got pulled into the portal we were looking through. Again. But a little different?
"Anyway, we got separated as we went through." She gestured to Pinkie. "I managed to hold onto Pinks here, but we lost sight of Rarity and Fluttershy, and Applejack jumped after Twilight and we lost track of them, too. Twilight wasn't in too good of shape last I saw her, either. So, uh… yeah, then we popped in here and here we are."
"So, wait, Twilight made a spell so you guys could see how we were doing?" Havoc asked, tilting her head. "Why?"
"Well, 'cause we haven't seen any of you guys for seven years and Twi figured we'd want to know how things are going here. I mean, we would've written a letter or something, but I don't think we can send mail across worlds or whatever."
"Derpy's good, but not that good," Pinkie giggled. "I mean, there'd have to be some sort of casual multiverse-traveling mechanism for that kind of postal service, and let's all be honest with one another, that kinda sounds hard to keep track of. Can you imagine? Me sending a letter to another me in another world? How would they get the right Pinkie? Do universes have addresses? Do I make out the letter to Pinkie Pie, or like, Alternate Pinkie Pie, or do I give her a number? Am I a number, and if so, what number? Or do other Pinkies go by different names to avoid confusion? Like… Susan? If so, are they even Pinkie Pie anymore? What makes a Pinkie Pie? Is there a 'main' Pinkie, like a Pinkie Prime? How does one determine who's Pinkie Prime or not? Is it a battle royale? A bake-off? Is there an entire society of just Pinkie Pies? If so, where's my invitation? In the mail? But wait, what if it got lost because it went to the wrong Pinkie?!"
Pinkie then held her head in her hooves. "Gahhh, multiverse theory is so confusing!"
Rainbow and Havoc blinked, then turned their attention back to one another. Better to let Pinkie have her fun and just move on, Rainbow had learned.
"So, uh… anyway, cool flight suit," Havoc said, pressing her hoof against Rainbow's chest. "Is that a skyball uniform in your world or something? Do you play professionally now?"
"Oh, naw, this is the official uniform of the Wonderbolts," Dash said, puffing out her chest. She pointed out the stripes on the side. "I made Second-Lieutenant a few weeks ago. So yeah, I'm a pretty big deal now."
Havoc grinned. "Oh hey, yeah, that flight team you always used to talk about. Second-Lieutenant, huh? Well, hey, look, not to brag, but I'm a Commander—" She paused, then glared at Dawn. "Wait, no, that's right, I guess I'm just a Captain now, right?"
Dawn didn't reply; she actually wasn't even facing the group anymore, having swiveled her chair around to look out the window. This actually drew Dash's attention to the window long enough to see what looked like the beginnings of a sandstorm outside… somehow? What? Weren't they in the middle of the biggest city ever? How was there a sandstorm going on outside?
"Hey! I asked you a question!" Havoc snapped at Dawn.
Dawn immediately swiveled back around, looking contemplative. "I am not oblivious to that, but I had more pressing matters to attend to. Namely contacting our sisters to ascertain whether any of them bore witness to any strange or suspicious occurences in the past several minutes, as we have."
"Have they?" Rainbow asked.
Dawn nodded. "Gray has informed me that she and Flathoof received communication from Crossfire, a request for their immediate presence before King Lockwood with Priority One protocols, which she noted as being particularly odd for him. It would certainly fit with the timing and subject matter."
"Yeah, that does sound pretty suspicious," Rainbow agreed. She paused for a second as gears clicked into place. "Wait. King Lockwood?"
Havoc gave Rainbow a sidelong glance. "Long story. Short version, ol' Dreamboat married the Pirate Queen of Hope's Point a while back, and they'd been secret lovers for years or some shit before that. Nopony knew about it, even Curaçao, and she supposedly knows everything. Heh, she was totally floored when she found out."
Pinkie gasped. "Oh. My. Gumdrops. Are you guys for realsies? Lockwood's a king? Wow! Wowee wowee wow wow. That's like… whoosh!" She buzzed her hoof over the top of her head dramatically. "That's a huge plot twist! I bet there would've been a lot of drama involved if it were revealed at a shocking moment! Like if one of our friends was totes crushing on him and stuff."
"I mean, there wasn't a lot of drama about it, really?" Havoc said with a shrug. "Just a lot of laughing because none of us knew and it was a pretty big surprise. I mean, we knew he was in a relationship—Curie figured that part out—but we didn't know he was shacking up with royalty. But hey, it was a good surprise. We've all benefited from it."
"Ahem?" coughed Dawn, raising an eyebrow. "At any rate, if King Lockwood has issued a Priority One request to Gray and Flathoof, especially considering his laissez-faire reputation when it comes to serious situations, it would be a logical assumption that something extremely critical has happened. Given the nature of the timeframe, the only conclusion is that somepony else in your group has appeared in Hope's Point, and specifically within King Lockwood's vicinity.
"Now, given your assessment of whom your collective 'Friendship Council' members each chose to monitor, the next logical conclusion would be to assume that Rarity and Fluttershy are the someponies in question, especially if one considers that they were separated from the two of you. I would further theorize that they are together, as logically Rarity would have ended up near Insipid otherwise."
Rainbow blinked and shared a look with Pinkie, who had somehow—without anypony noticing, as usual—replaced her chef hat with a deerstalker and was "smoking" a bubble pipe.
"Elementary, my dear Dawnie," Pinkie said, putting on a thick Trottingham accent. "A sound, logical assessment of the facts, if I do say so. Good show, good show indeed."
Dawn raised her eyebrow further, blinking away the same confusion that Rainbow felt. "Ah… yes. I appreciate the compliment."
"Yeah, well, if you're so good, then where are Twilight and Applejack?" Havoc snorted.
"Given that Applejack was monitoring Flathoof and yet neither she nor Twilight have manifested in the vicinity of any of our sisters, it stands that they must have been expunged from the portal at Winter Glow's location, whom Twilight was monitoring. Regrettably, I know not where that precise location might be, though I am aware of a sort of general whereabouts. A pity that I cannot confirm this, though I possess absolute confidence in my assessment of events."
"Then let's find out. Tell me where to start looking, and Dash and I can fan out and search for 'em."
Dawn scoffed, and gave Havoc a look of sheer contempt. "Not only would I not risk the well-being of our new guests by having them search fruitlessly in a potentially-lethal sandstorm, but I remind you, Captain Havoc, that you have been grounded, effective as of our prior conversation."
"You can't be fucking serious right now," Havoc seethed through clenched teeth. "This is more important than you and your fucking power trip!"
"I will continue to maintain communication with Gray Skies in regards to this situation's development," Dawn said to Rainbow, utterly ignoring Havoc. "In the meantime, while we attempt to assess these happenings and determine a cause and potential solution, it would be prudent to offer you two food and shelter in the interim. You are now guests here in Pandora Tower, and you will be safe so long as you are."
"Uh… thanks?" Rainbow said, glancing between the enraged Havoc and the bizarrely calm Dawn.
Dawn then turned to Havoc. "Havoc, bring our guests to Curaçao; she was in the tower gymnasium when we last spoke and will be awaiting your arrival. I have already communicated to her the details of our strange circumstances, so she will likely have already begun making arrangements. She, unlike some of you, possesses an impeccable work ethic."
Havoc's eye twitched. "You stuck-up—" She took a deep, loud breath. "We should take Dash and Pinkie to Hope's Point, don't you think? That way they can stick together with Rarity and Shy? I mean, assuming you're right about that little guess of yours, it would make sense to keep them as together as possible."
"Ignoring your preposterous assumption that my hypothesis is anything but utterly correct, no, we shall do no such thing." Dawn shook her head. "I am treading on treacherous ground in regards to Her Majesty Queen Blackburn as it stands, and delivering Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to her doorstep will needlessly complicate matters. I will not further weaken the already precarious position I am in."
"They're their friends! Blackburn won't give you any trouble for trying to keep them together! Hell, if I take 'em myself, Blackburn'll welcome them with open hooves!"
"Ah, so this is yet another pathetic attempt to finagle your way out of your allotted punishment?" Dawn rose up in her seat. "I have made my decision. My word is law in this building, in this city, Havoc. You will obey my orders, or you will face further punishment. Do I make myself clear?"
Rainbow noticed Havoc's hoof spark up with fire; she'd almost forgotten that her friend and her sisters had legitimate superpowers, and that Havoc's power was making and manipulating fire. However, as much as she would have loved to see Havoc in action—for real this time, not just lighting up a campfire or whatever—she didn't want to see Havoc get into a fight with Dawn. So, she stepped forward and put herself between the two of them.
"Sounds like a good point to me, Dawn," Rainbow said calmly. "We're safe here in this tower or whatever, like you said. And I bet Rarity and Shy are gonna be just fine with Lockwood and whoever else is with him, since he's a king now and all that. And if you're sure we can't go searching for Twi and AJ in this sandstorm, fine, I'll buy it. If we can't all be together, we might as well just play it cool for now."
"Dash, what—" Havoc started.
Rainbow turned briefly to Havoc and said under her breath. "It's not worth getting angry about. Believe me, I know what it's like to get angry over something you can't control. Let's just wait and see what happens, okay? We can plan things out once we know more."
Havoc growled, then took a deep breath and nodded, setting her hoof down and turning off the flames. "Fine. For you, Dash, I won't beat my sister to a pulp." She then looked at Dawn. "I'll take 'em to see Curie then. That cool with you?"
"I believe that is what I requested, yes," Dawn said simply.
"Whatever." Havoc gestured for Rainbow and Pinkie to follow her. "C'mon, let's get this taken care of first. We'll get lunch afterwards and get all caught up, yeah? I don't know about you, but I've got some stories to spill, lemme tell ya."
"Sounds good to me," Dash replied. "Right Pinks?"
Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, you bet, I'm starving. Who knew that traveling through an interdimensional wormhole could make a mare so hungry?"
*****
Lockwood took another bite of his meal, a cheesy casserole that this restaurant made and one that he was particularly fond of, then dabbed his lips with a napkin. "Still nothing?" he asked, trying his best not to sound upset. He was, of course, but not with the imposing mare with a metal horn across from him, so he didn't want her to think that he was.
Stellar Storm was the Chief of Security here in Hope's Point and had been for many years now. She was on a very, very short list of ponies who Queen Blackburn considered to be as absolutely and excruciatingly dedicated and resourceful as she herself was, which meant that Lockwood felt confident that she could accomplish whatever task was set before her, no matter how impossible it seemed.
Storm didn't turn her attention away from either of the two datapads she had in front of her. "Nothing," she replied, not hiding the fact that she was upset, though he knew it wasn't with him. "I've double-checked every single security feed in the city myself, admittedly with Gadget's facial recognition algorithm. The last time anypony saw Commander Havoc or Shadow Associate Dawn was shortly after the former was cleared from the hospital.
"Now, there are a few blind spots in the hospital's halls so as to respect patient privacy," she continued, her metal horn lighting up to allow her magic to pull her drink over, "so my prevailing theory is that Commander Havoc entered one of these blind spots, where Shadow Associate Dawn was waiting, and the latter simply abducted the former."
Lockwood raised an eyebrow. "Are we sure we want to use the word 'abducted' here?"
"What would you call it? According to the information I have from Her Majesty and from Commander Havoc herself, she would have had no reason to want to leave willingly at the time that she did unless it was a catastrophic emergency. I finalized her citizenship clearance myself, you know?"
"I know. Still, I find it hard to believe that Dawn would just… just take Havoc away from here without telling anypony. Including Havoc, who would've told somepony that it was going to happen. It has to be an emergency situation up north that we don't know about yet." Lockwood rubbed his chin, anxious. "That just worries me more. After everything that's happened this week, I don't think we can afford any more surprises."
Storm grunted. "Well, as you often say, it could be worse." With a grin, she added, "It could be raining. Though… I guess a sandstorm doesn’t help matters any. But it could be raining in the sandstorm?"
He smiled back, and was about to reply when something happened. The universe, it seemed, liked to respond swiftly when fate was tempted so blatantly.
The wall next to the booth he and Storm were seated in gave what sounded like a loud gurgle, then with only that brief instant of warning, immediately spit out a pair of ponies that landed on the table and sent food, drinks, and silverware flying every which way. The two ponies then slid across the table and onto the floor, where they landed in a groaning heap. The wall itself didn't look worse for wear at all.
He recognized the pair of ponies instantly: Fluttershy and Rarity, friends he had never expected to ever see again.
Both Storm and Crossfire—the large stallion at his side, who was his loyal friend, steward, and bodyguard—reacted swifty, the former drawing her high-powered sidearm with her magic, the latter putting himself between Lockwood and these two new arrivals. Lockwood could hear Crossfire arm his shoulder-mounted rifles, though he wasn't poised to aim at the mares just yet; Lockwood knew he didn't need to be, because even after his injury the big stallion was still a crack shot at any distance.
Rarity started to rise to her hooves, one hoof on her temple as she shook off whatever delirium she might have been feeling from whatever she'd just experienced. "Fluttershy? Darling, are you al—" She then noticed that there was a gun in her face. "Oh dear!"
"Hooves where I can see them, lady," Storm grunted, keeping the pistol steady and her expression and tone calm and collected.
Lockwood immediately gestured for Storm to lower her weapon. "Whoa whoa whoa, there's no need for that," he said, also patting Crossfire on the rear to get his attention. "These two aren't a threat to anypony."
"With all due respect, Your Majesty, two unknown individuals just teleported into our private booth. I think a little caution goes without saying, so you'll forgive me if I'm being cautious."
"Ugh… where are we?" muttered Fluttershy as she started to come to. She also noticed Storm brandishing her firearm, and instantly squeaked and clung tight to Rarity. "Oh! Wh-what's going on?!"
"You tell us."
"Chief Storm, stand down, please," Lockwood insisted. "These are two very good friends of mine. I understand that the circumstances of their arrival are very worrying, but they aren't anything to worry about individually. Trust me on this."
Storm kept her eyes locked on the two mares, then looked briefly at Lockwood, then back to the mares before sighing and relaxing her magic so that she wasn't pointing a gun at them anymore. Storm was always jumpy and strict, but she knew when to let those qualities relax.
Crossfire, too, relaxed and stepped aside a bit so that Lockwood could see his friends clearly again. "I sure hope ya know what you're talkin' 'bout," he muttered under his breath. "But in case ya don't, I ain't keepin' my eyes off of 'em."
Lockwood smiled and scooted himself out of the booth, patting Crossfire's armored side as he did so. "I do. In fact, do me a favor and get in touch with Gray and Flathoof for me, would you? Blackburn too, obviously, because this is a pretty big point of interest." He tapped his chin, then added, "And add Gilderoy to that list, if you would? Without Winter here, he's the most likely to be able to help us figure out this situation. Priority One for all of it, and don't bother with details just yet. Just get them here."
Crossfire turned to him and blinked, then nodded in understanding; he knew that when Lockwood actually started sounding like a king, that meant things were serious. "Roger that, boss, I'll get right on it." He then stepped aside with his hoof to his ear as he started quietly carrying out the request.
Rarity and Fluttershy, seeing that the situation had apparently been diffused, both rose upright. They didn't pay him or the others any attention at first; Rarity seemed more intent on making sure Fluttershy was alright, as she had been before. "You're not hurt are you, darling?"
"No, I'm fine, thanks," Fluttershy said. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, dear. Physically, at any rate. Dreadfully confused and concerned, but not hurt."
Fluttershy bit her hoof, looking around in the private area where the booth was located. "Nopony else came out with us, did they? Oh dear, we really did get separated…"
"It would certainly seem that way." Rarity then turned and looked directly at Lockwood, and she seemed to freeze a little. "Lockwood? Is that really you, darling?"
He gave her a smile and a nod. "It's me. Are you sure you two are alright? That didn't look like a pleasant experience you went through just now, whatever it was."
"I'm quite alright dear, thank you." Rarity then glanced down at the winter coat she was wearing and let out an annoyed grunt. "Though it would seem as though I've ruined your lunch and my favorite winter coat in the same instant, wouldn't it? What a dreadful mess…" She gave a quick glance at Fluttershy, whose dress had escaped most of the mess. "Well, at least you're clean, dear. Silver lining, I suppose."
"That's your priority right now?" asked Storm, eyebrow raised. "Your clothes? Seriously?"
Rarity turned to Storm and huffed, half-offended and half-airy, as she was known to do. "A lady's priority should always be looking her best. And you are?"
"This is Stellar Storm, Chief of Security here in Hope's Point," Lockwood said with a grin. "So if she seems a little miffed by your sudden, unexplained and unexpected appearance, it's because it was unexpected and because you're pretty much total strangers to her. It's her job to monitor that sort of thing."
"This is… Hope's Point?" Fluttershy asked, glancing nervously about. "Isn't that the city of… p-p-pirates?"
Storm loudly let out an incredulous snort. "Have you been living under a rock or something? We're not in the 'piracy' business anymore, if that's what you want to call liberating wares from a corrupt corporate society that abuses its lower class to the point of working them to death, so that we could distribute it all to where it belongs: with the needy and downtrodden."
Fluttershy blinked, looked between Storm and Lockwood, and made to speak, but Lockwood interjected: "No need for that, Storm. She's not from New Pandemonium City. She doesn't know anything about what's happened in the past several years, so she's just going off of the outdated information she last heard about us."
"She's not from New Pandemonium, but she knows you? How could she know you but not know what's been going on lately? Especially considering your involvement with it all?" Storm glanced at Fluttershy, head tilted. "Unless she's from the south, but then she doesn't have any of the southern dialects that I know of, and I know them all. And she's not from around here, obviously."
"Once everypony's here, we can go over the details. Better to go over this whole kerfuffle only once, hmm? Trust me, it's complicated."
"I'll say," Rarity said quietly. She took a deep breath. "But if it's making ponies uncomfortable, perhaps we should explain—"
"No, he's right, just wait until everypony's present," agreed Storm. "Saves us all the effort. I can put aside my questions for now. Just know that I have them. Lots of them. You're a major security risk as far as I'm concerned, regardless of who's vouching for you just yet."
"Fair enough. Still, I simply won't have ponies upset with us because they don't understand where we're coming from or who we are, hmm?" Rarity extended her hoof to Storm. "Miss Storm, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Rarity, and this is Fluttershy."
Storm politely took the offered hoof, but raised her eyebrow. "Rarity and Fluttershy… your names sound familiar. Rarity in particular I'm sure that I heard fairly recently. Didn't I just—" Her eyes widened slightly and she glanced directly at Lockwood, her eyebrow raising so high it disappeared into her mane. "Aha. Interesting. The inspiration for the Priority Zero password, huh? Does the queen know?"
Lockwood cleared his throat. "Don't… don't think too much into it, Storm. It's complicated."
"At this rate, 'It's Complicated' needs to be the name of your biography. Everything revolving around you tends to get that way sooner or later."
"I thought we agreed 'It Could Be Raining' was going to be what we called it?"
"Changed my mind."
Crossfire stepped over, but didn't need to do anything to get everypony to focus on him; it was hard for his presence not to draw attention. "Yer Majesty, everyone's on their way, like ya asked. Gray 'n' Flathoof oughta be here first seein' as we're near the embassy, but Her Majesty won't be too far behind. Lorekeeper Gilderoy might take a lil’ bit longer, o' course."
Lockwood smiled. "Excellent, thank you Crossfire."
Rarity raised an eyebrow, looking positively shocked. "'Your Majesty', he said? Lockwood, are you… are you royalty?"
Lockwood blinked, then he chuckled and ran a hoof through his mane. "Uh… yeah. I am. You're looking at King Lockwood of Hope's Point. But you two don't need to go through all of that bowing business or calling me 'Your Majesty' and all that nonsense. You knew me as 'just' Lockwood, a simple landlord in a decent-quality apartment complex, and that's how you should continue to treat me. Please."
"If you insist, that won't be a problem. If there's one thing we know how to do, it's how to address royalty that doesn't want to be treated as such," Rarity said, nudging Fluttershy gently and giving her a small smile. "Isn't that right, darling?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Yes, we're quite used to it with Twi… Twilight." She gasped and turned to Rarity fully. "Twilight! We don't know what happened to Twilight! Or Applejack or Rainbow or Pinkie! Wh-what if something happened to them? What if they fell off the paths? What if—"
Rarity set her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Easy now, dear, easy. Remember your exercises: deep breaths. I'm worried about them too, of course, but this isn't the time to panic."
Fluttershy did indeed start taking a few deep breaths, in, then out. In, then out.
"Lockwood's here to help us, hmm?" Rarity continued. "If anypony's resourceful enough to figure out what happened to our friends, it's him. He's a king now, so I imagine it must be easier than ever."
Fluttershy nodded softly. "Right. Right. You're right, we're safe here with Lockwood, and… and he'll help us find the others and keep them safe too. Right. Okay." She let out a final breath. "I'm good now. Just had a little moment, that's all." With a glance at Lockwood, she added, "I've been taking lessons in anxiety relief."
"And you're perfectly justified for being anxious, dear. Believe me, I had the same thoughts, so I understand." Rarity turned back to Lockwood, her eyes flicking down towards his chest briefly then back to his face, a glimmer in her expression that he couldn't place. "At any rate… it is wonderful to see and hear you again, dear. Despite these… awkward circumstances."
He smiled. "Likewise. Both of you. I've often wondered how things were going once you two made it back home, so I think some catching up is in order once we settle things down, hmm?"
"Okay, what's the big—" came Gray's voice from outside the eating area. Lockwood looked to see the brick house of a pegasus mare had come in and immediately froze, her ears perked as she looked onto the scene with utter confusion all over her… well, everything about her, from her facial expression to the way she was standing.
"Fluttershy? Rarity? What the hell?" she muttered.
"Gray!" Fluttershy peeped, quickly moving over to hug her old friend. "It's so good to see you again!"
The huge mare awkwardly returned the hug to the smaller one. "Y-yeah. But… but how? What? I thought—"
"Is that Fluttershy?" asked Flathoof as he entered behind Gray. "And Rarity? What in the wide world of Equestria is going on here?"
"Flathoof!" Fluttershy peeped again, smiling and waving at him without pulling too far away from Gray, and pulling him in for a hug too when he approached.
Gray looked at Lockwood, eyes narrowed. "Okay, so… now I think I know what Dawn was getting at when she asked me about seeing anything strange or suspicious. This definitely qualifies."
"Hmm?" Lockwood asked.
"On my way here, she contacted me and asked about anything weird going on, though not in such simple terms, obviously."
"Obviously."
"I didn't get what she meant until just now." She looked down at Fluttershy, who looked up with a big smile. "I guess that means that some of your friends must've ended up in Pandora Tower. That's the only reason she'd bother asking me anything: something big came up. This is pretty big in my book."
"Will agree with that sentiment," came the voice of Queen Blackburn from behind Gray.
Gray stepped aside to let Blackburn through. Blackburn was, as her title obviously implied, Lockwood's wife. She was a pegasus mare with an ash gray coat and a brilliant turquoise mane, and today wore a white coat that covered most of her body, as well as a green-and-gold striped scarf; it wasn't particularly cold out today, but the scarf never left Blackburn's sight if she could help it.
Behind Blackburn was her own close friend, steward, and bodyguard, Gadget, a short unicorn mare with a pinkish coat and an orange mane, who almost always wore a set of purple coveralls if only because she was almost always tweaking something mechanical or electrical, and it protected her from potential shocks, or so she said.
Blackburn stepped into the room fully, and her sheer presence radiated enough off of her that everypony went silent; even the two newcomers who had never met her before in their lives seemed to sense the gravitas that Blackburn carried with her wherever she went and gave her all the respect she was due just by being quiet and letting her take her time assessing things.
Blackburn started with Fluttershy, scanned her up and down with just her eyes in only about five or so seconds and tilted her head just once, then nodded as if assured by something she'd seen. She then did the same for Rarity, though this was punctuated by a noticeable pause at the beginning, though Lockwood was positive that only he—and perhaps Gadget and Crossfire—noticed the pause at all.
"New guests, appeared in city through irregular means and completely unexpectedly," Blackburn said matter-of-factly. "Wouldn't make such a fuss about it otherwise, would have made contact through practical channels, or potentially been discovered and singled out for questioning as they are not in city's database."
Rarity cleared her throat. "Yes, we must apologize for the manner in which we've arrived. Believe me, if there had been another way to do it, we would have done so. Perhaps then I wouldn't have ruined my favorite coat, aha ha." She then offered her hoof to Blackburn; she clearly knew the other mare was important, just not how important yet. "I'm Rarity. And you are?"
Blackburn seemed ever-so-slightly shaken by the offer—again, barely noticeable to anypony but Lockwood—then took the offered hoof and gave it a light shake. "A pleasure, Miss Rarity. I am Queen Blackburn."
Rarity's eyes widened in horror; in normal circumstances, this would likely have been a major social faux-pas. "Oh! Oh, forgive me, I didn't realize—"
Blackburn tilted her head towards Lockwood. "Husband expressed desire not to be treated as 'royalty', yes?" Rarity made to speak, but Blackburn kept talking: "Do not need confirmation, know that he did. In his character, predictable, understandable. Same treatment given to all his friends. Will extend same wishes to you and Fluttershy."
Fluttershy blinked. "You already know my name too?"
Blackburn turned and gave a smile. "Recall you from discussion with Lockwood, regarding your friendships with him. Conversation was years ago, topic rarely crops up these days, still recall details."
Storm perked up in realization. "Aha, so that's where I remember those names from. It's been a long time."
"Indeed. You performed background checks on their group." At Fluttershy and Rarity's confused looks, Blackburn added, "To sate curiosity, of course. Lockwood forthcoming with most details. Not all, most. Still wanted to perform own investigation. Take no offense. Also assured me other details were restricted unless cleared by Winter Glow, could never ascertain exactly what."
"It's… complicated," Rarity said nervously, glancing at Lockwood briefly; he realized why she did, of course, and knew he'd have to assure her that there was no reason for her to be anxious about it. But that would have to wait for when they could speak privately.
Blackburn smirked. "Has been a 'complicated' week for everypony. Story for a later time, though; yours more prudent at present. Once Lorekeeper Gilderoy arrives, we may begin discussion."
"Then I suppose it's a good thing I hurried myself along, hmm?" came the voice of said Lorekeeper.
Gilderoy was… an unusual creature as far as the group was concerned. Gryphons had supposedly been extinct for centuries as nopony had seen one since the northern continent was first settled by ponies, and their old home in the Goldridge Mountains looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.
It had taken Lockwood some getting used to as far as having a living, well, legend walking around his city, and he knew that he wasn't alone in that. Blackburn had made the decision not to hide him away if Gilderoy didn't mind, and the old bird expressed that he was content with walking around in public; he seemed amused by the stares and the questions—particularly those that complemented his "costume"—and mostly enjoyed the opportunity to take in fresh air and new sights.
He was an old bird, of course, centuries old in fact, kept alive both because of the magic of the "Sanctuary" he had survived in following the fall of his race, and by the cybernetics that had replaced several parts of his body, such as his legs, one of his eyes, and most importantly, his heart and lungs. Gadget had been hard at work repairing the old technomagic that made the devices and upgrading them to modern sensibilities, and it seemed to do wonders for Gilderoy's health. Most of it was kept hidden under his purple robes, but not all.
As the old gryphon walked into the room, he took stock of the situation he was in and nodded once each at Rarity and Fluttershy. "These must be the 'unexpected company' Mister Crossfire spoke of. A pleasure to meet you both. I am Lorekeeper Gilderoy."
Both Rarity and Fluttershy smiled and nodded back in polite greeting. "A pleasure, sir," Rarity said. "I'm Rarity, and this is my friend Fluttershy."
"Hello," Fluttershy said with a little wave; she still kept close to Gray, and was eyeing the gryphon's implants nervously, likely confused by the sight of them.
Gilderoy looked between the two again, eyebrow raised, then twirled a talon through his beard. "Interesting. Most ponies react with such shock at my appearance that they can hardly form a coherent sentence, but even those not shocked into such stupor have expressed wonderment just from seeing me. You two, though, are oddly calm and collected for ponies seeing a gryphon for the first time."
"You're hardly the first griffin we've ever seen," Rarity said, visibly confused. "Admittedly I didn't encounter many until a few years ago, but it's certainly picked up since then. Why, a client of mine just this past spring was a lovely griffin aristocrat, Gertrude, and she commissioned a summer hat from my fashion line."
The group, sans Fluttershy and Lockwood, stared at Rarity with varying degrees of confusion, as though she were from one of Equestria's moons, likely the smaller one, as that's where the real crazies came from. Well, Gray and Flathoof didn't stare at her like that either, just with a normal degree of confusion. Even Blackburn was giving Rarity this odd look, as though she'd just said the most impractical thing known to ponykind.
Rarity looked at the looks she was getting. "Why is everypony looking at me like that? Is it something I said?"
"Yeah, you just spewed a whole load of nonsense, lady," Gadget blurted. "What psychedelics are you on? 'Cause golly, that's some good stuff you've got."
"I don't understand. Everything I said is perfectly reasonable." Rarity looked at Lockwood, a pleading cry for help in her eyes. "Right?"
"For you, yes, absolutely," Lockwood said with an understanding nod. "For them, no. Because in our world, gryphons are extinct, save for Gilderoy here."
Blackburn's eyes snapped over to him instantly. "'Our world'?"
"Oh, whoops, I let that slip, didn't I?" Lockwood said, purposefully not at all convincingly. "Winter's gonna be so upset with me for spilling the beans. Darn. Shoot. Oh well, I think it's best for us to get to that explanation, hmm? Otherwise everypony's gonna look at me like I'm crazy."
Rarity looked between the two, then cleared her throat. "I suppose it is. Ah, where to start…"
"Let's just start with how you and Fluttershy ended up back here," Gray said nonchalantly. "We can hit all the details about other stuff later." She gave a look over to Lockwood, an odd sort of approval actually. "And hey, good job on getting the cat out of the bag there. Saved me the trouble."
"Thanks," Lockwood replied. "Go on, Rarity. Tell us everything we need to know." To the rest of the room, he added, "And save the questions for when she's done. This is a lot to take in, trust me."
Rarity let out a breath, then started off with the most basic of information that she could: she and Fluttershy weren't from around here, "here" being this entire world. They were from another world, where Equestria was just a country and was ruled over by a princess—and Lockwood was baffled to learn that Twilight Sparkle had been given the job in the past year—and where the land was green and the sky was blue and ponies generally lived in harmony with one another and with other races. Fluttershy even helped with a few details here and there.
Seven years ago—exactly, if Lockwood was remembering correctly—Rarity and her friends encountered a portal that, through an unfortunate accident, drew them here to this world, whereupon it was thanks to the help of Lockwood, Flathoof, Winter, and Gray and her sisters that they were able to return to where they belonged. That in and of itself was a long enough story to fill a small book, so Rarity wisely kept it to that succinctly short summary for now.
As for why she and Fluttershy were here now, Rarity explained that Twilight was feeling nostalgic for their adventures here and finally had the power and the resources to create a spell that would let them get some closure, to see their friends again if only for a moment. Something went wrong—again—and they were drawn into the portal and whisked away to this world—again—but this time they got separated from one another, and they didn't know where the others were.
Once Rarity finished her explanation, the room went silent, and Rarity and Fluttershy both anxiously waited for somepony to say something.
Lockwood, who could process the story more quickly since he already knew most of it, spoke first: "How can we help?"
"I think the most important thing right now is finding out where our friends went," Rarity replied, looking relieved. "You've always been a tremendous help to us, Lockwood, so thank you in advance for anything you can offer."
"My pleasure, as always."
Gray drew the group's attention with a cough. "So, uh, while Rarity was going over her story, I got in touch with Dawn. I'll save us all a lot of effort searching around by telling you that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are up north in New Pandemonium, specifically at Pandora Tower. Dawn's already setting them up as guests there."
"My my, she works fast," Rarity said.
Fluttershy interjected, "Wait, you spoke with Dawn? H-how? She's nowhere around here, is she? I didn't see you use one of those… um, 'phones'."
Gray paused, then smirked and put her hoof on Fluttershy's head. "Right. Forgot that you never found out about that. Uh, so… Dawn's a real genius with magic and stuff, and she developed a spell that allows our family to communicate with one another telepathically over pretty much the entire continent. So yeah, there's that."
"That is a tremendous convenience," Rarity said with a grin. "So Dawn has found Rainbow and Pinkie, thank goodness. Anything about Twilight or Applejack, though?"
"No, nothing. Dawn has a theory, though, and wanted me to pass it along so that nopony gets worried. She said that since Twilight was apparently looking in on Winter, and since the rest of you ended up where your, uh… 'targets' were, she's guessing that Twilight and Applejack ended up wherever Winter is."
"Indeed, only logical conclusion given evidence presented," Blackburn agreed.
Gray raised an eyebrow. "You think she's right?"
"In this case? Yes. Again, only logical conclusion. Do not get along with your sister in many regards, do not agree with her methods, do not enjoy her company. However, would be foolish not to admit she possesses sound mind and keen intellect." Blackburn let out a breath and nodded firmly. "Had already come to same conclusion."
"Well, this is excellent news, then," Rarity said, her grin turning into a legitimate smile. "Where is Winter exactly? I remember seeing her in a cavern of some sort. Do we know where that is?"
"Goldridge Mountains," Lockwood said. "The cave system underneath is vast, and she's heading to the old gryphon city to do some tests on an anomaly she discovered there." He paused for a moment, realizing that there were many other things that Rarity and Fluttershy were going to need to be caught up on. But those things could wait; foal steps were needed here.
"Indeed. Timing of anomaly and unexpected visit, too close to be coincidental," Blackburn said. After a pause, and with a slight tilt of her head, she added, "Not accusing Twilight Sparkle of inciting things, of course. Illogical conclusion; Winter claims anomaly was discovered weeks before Twilight began successful testing of her spell according to your story. But timing is odd, nonetheless."
"I couldn't agree more, hmm hmm hmm," Gilderoy said, stroking his beard rapidly. "This entire story is fascinating. Other worlds and new spells that work across worlds? Yes yes, I would very much like to speak with this Princess Twilight of yours posthaste. It would certainly be the highlight of what has otherwise been a stressful, complicated week. The nature of Chronomancers and their work always intrigued me."
"Speaking of complicated weeks, this is definitely the most stressful week I've ever had to deal with," Storm snorted, shaking her head. "I'm gonna jump the gun and assume I need to get these two cleared through security procedures so they can freely walk around, so I'll get right on that."
"Astute as always, Chief Storm." Blackburn turned to Rarity and Fluttershy. "Will offer similar treatment to you two as Dawn offered to your friends: you are guests in my city. Will make accommodations at royal palace for personal friends of the king." She then paused and glanced at Gray, eyes narrowed. "Incidentally: Dawn is back at Pandora Tower?"
"Yup," Gray said with a nod.
"And Commander Havoc?"
"She's with her too, yeah." Gray then raised an eyebrow; she, along with everypony in the room, could see that Blackburn's expression was… well, displeased. "Uh, why?"
Through clenched teeth, Blackburn replied, "Dawn took her without my knowledge. Have been searching for Havoc for past hour. Suppose I could have asked you, didn't want to disturb."
"Wait, Dawn just took Havoc home? She didn't even clear it with you or anything?" Gray then stomped a hoof on the floor hard enough to shake what was left of the silverware on the table. "Dammit, Dawn! Again with this shit?"
"I'm sure she had a good reason," Lockwood offered, earning a harsh look from Blackburn; he always tried to play devil's advocate when Dawn was concerned, but he could admit it was getting more and more difficult every time she did something like this. "Besides, she can just bring Havoc back once she finishes their business there."
"She's not bringing Havoc back," Gray snorted. "Apparently Havoc needs to be up north to help transition in the new Admiral of the NPAF now that Hotstreak retired. I know the new guy, Jetstream. Probably just feels like he's in over his head and that he needs Havoc's help, and Dawn's making sure everything goes smoothly."
Lockwood's face fell. "But… but Dawn's not bringing Havoc back? She knows that the sandstorm's already picking up, right? Havoc won't be able to get back here for weeks."
"Dawn's making her stay as part of the assignment, I guess, so Havoc'll just have to deal with it. But hey, it's not like anypony's traveling the land route during the storm anyway, so at least she's got something to do and isn't gonna be bored or anything. Especially not if Rainbow's up there with her."
Lockwood blinked, and his face fell even more. "Oh, that's right. You don't know yet. Damn, I forgot she hadn't said anything to you about it."
Gray tilted her head. "Know about what?"
"Havoc was keeping it a surprise, but she asked Blackburn and I to help rush it along so we know about it. She was leaving the hospital to go meet with Cotton."
"Ah, right. Cotton doesn't know Havoc's gone." Gray hummed and tapped her chin. "Yeah, that could be a bit upsetting."
"Oh, worse than that. Cotton and Havoc got engaged over the past few days, and we helped organize a small wedding for them. It was supposed to be tonight. Havoc was going to surprise you with the invitation and everything."
Gray paused, and Lockwood could see her jaw clench; her expression was the angriest he'd ever seen on her. "I see. That changes things. Havoc definitely wouldn't have agreed to this." She shook her head and looked between Lockwood and Blackburn. "Well, I'll tell you this much: if Havoc doesn't end up killing Dawn by the end of the day, I'll be impressed."
"Discussion for later time, unimportant at present," Blackburn grunted. She turned to Rarity. "More important, dealing with current situation, ensuring wellbeing of our guests."
"And finding out exactly where Twilight and Applejack are, of course," Rarity noted. "If these caverns are as vast as you say, then they could be anywhere. I'd be happy to lend a hoof as part of a search party."
"Me too," Fluttershy said with a grin. "At least we know where they are, right? And Winter's a smart pony, she'll know you'll be looking for them and will bring them someplace where it'll be easy to find them."
Blackburn looked between the two, then shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, no search parties will be sent at the moment."
"What? Why not?" Rarity asked.
"The sandstorm I mentioned," Lockwood said, putting his hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "It's the largest sandstorm in history. Our meteorologists have already determined that the wind sheer alone is strong enough to be potentially lethal, like a… a tornado, or a hurricane. We can't even send our ships out into it because the sand particles interfere with flight guidance systems, even through our shields."
"Storm is infused with magic," Blackburn added. "Powerful magic. Risk too great for any search party. Apologies, but cannot find your friends just yet. Once sandstorm subsides, will do so. My promise to you."
"I see… so, no search party just yet. Fine, I understand. Safety first." Rarity took a breath. "Well, we'll be ready to help as soon as the sandstorm abates, then. I don't know much about sandstorms, but I do know about blizzards, so I know all about taking shelter and bunkering oneself at home for a few days."
"Not 'days'. Weeks," Blackburn said. "Sandstorm is predicted to last three weeks, potentially four. Cannot send airships out until then. Again, apologies."
Rarity's jaw dropped. "Three weeks?! But… but what about Twilight? And Applejack?"
"Winter's a smart pony, like Fluttershy said," Lockwood noted, gesturing at the equally-shocked Fluttershy. "She'll take good care of the two, no matter what happens. I trust her, and I know Twilight and Applejack do too. For now, let's just worry about you two, alright? I promise, everything's going to be a-okay."
Rarity and Fluttershy shared a brief look between themselves, then nodded and smiled.
"You certainly still know how to make a mare feel cared for, Lockwood," Rarity tittered. "And I suppose things could be worse, couldn't they?"
"Yes. It could be raining, too," finished Fluttershy.
Lockwood paused, smiled, then let out a good, hard laugh.
Fine, the circumstances weren't ideal and there was a lot on the plates of him, his friends, and his family, but this was nothing new to him. He meant what he said, and he'd do everything in his power to see it through: everything was going to be a-okay, or he wasn't King Lockwood.
*****
Winter paused and scratched her head for a moment, staring at her Timekeeper, the little pocket watch that Chronomancers such as herself used in their day-to-day work maintaining the safety and stability of worlds. It had given off an indication of a Void anomaly only a few seconds ago, but there was no indication whatsoever that there were any nearby, and the reading had only been brief in the first place.
Normally she'd chalk it up to a minor hiccup; these things happened all the time, usually the result of a teeny tiny shift in the world's balance between, as far as this world was concerned, Light and Dark magical forces. A shift so small that it had essentially solved itself by shifting the other way almost immediately, a metaphorical tug-of-war. Either that, or it was a glitch.
But, with everything that had happened this past week in regards to the safety and stability of the world, a tiny hiccup could mean anything, from the status quo returning to normal to the system just getting worse.
Her apprentice, Hourglass, noticed her in thought and asked, "Something the matter?"
Winter shook her head. "Bloody thing picked up an anomaly for about a minute, but it was so small that I couldn't trace anythin’ and now, poof, it's gone like it was never there in the first place. Just a lil' hiccup or somethin'."
"Ugh, with everything that this bloody week's already thrown at us—"
"Exactly what I was thinkin'," Winter chuckled. "Crikey, I don't think I can handle any more surprises, eh?"
Winter sighed and was about to put the Timekeeper back when it suddenly lit up green again and gave a little shake; she opened it up and looked over the graphs and figures it was displaying, which didn't make any sense whatsoever.
"Bloody hell, this thing isn't broken, is it? I'm gonna have to recalibrate it or somethin' when we get back home."
"Why? What's the reading look like?" asked Hourglass.
"Says there's a legitimate portal openin' up within the next few seconds, and bloody close by, too. We went over the data earlier in the week, and we weren't expectin' anythin' so soon, eh?"
"Oh yeah, that we did. It's not a glitch or anything, is it?"
"Maybe. Must've been thrown off by everythin' that's been goin'—"
Then, the ceiling above them shimmered for a brief moment before it tore open to quite literally spit out a most unusual cargo: a pair of ponies. The latter of the two she recognized almost immediately as Applejack, oddly enough wearing exactly what she had been wearing the last time she'd seen her: a red plaid work shirt and her trademark stetson. Winter had an exquisite memory; it came with being a Chronomancer because of all the things she had to memorize.
The other looked like Twilight Sparkle, at least as far as her colorations were concerned; the colors of Twilight's coat and mane had been burned into Winter's brain so thoroughly that she'd never mistake them for anything else. But it couldn't be Twilight Sparkle, because this mare was not only significantly taller, but also had wings in addition to her horn, which were both proportioned properly for her larger size.
Applejack, however, almost immediately threw Winter's doubts into question when she scrambled over to the larger mare and tried shaking her awake. "Twilight! Are ya alright? C'mon girl, say somethin', anythin'!"
"A-Applejack?" Winter muttered, eyes wide with shock. "What in the fuck is goin' on?"
"Oh, hey Winter," Applejack replied before turning back to—apparently—Twilight. She then paused, snapping back to Winter. "Winter! Thank goodness, ya gotta help us. Somethin's wrong wit' Twi! She's hurt or somethin', I dunno!"
Winter's mind was abuzz with so many questions that she didn't know where to start, but she shoved them all aside to do what she could to help. She'd never been particularly skilled with Restomancy—healing magic—but she did know a thorough diagnostics spell so that she could at least pinpoint the problem. She lit up her horn and performed the spell now, even as more and more questions kept flooding into her mind.
"Hmm… oh bloody hell, that's not good," she muttered after only a few seconds. "She's suffered a ley line fracture."
"I got no idea what that is. But ya said it ain't good," Applejack murmured, holding her hat over her chest. "What's wrong wit' 'er?"
"A ley line is a specific part of a unicorn's anatomy, a part of the inside of their horn. Think of it like… well, like a bone, I suppose. Like the ones in your legs. If one gets broken, ya can't bloody well walk on it, eh? Same concept here: Twilight's magic strained itself so much that she won't be able to use it for a while. The shock of the injury must have knocked her out."
"Shoot, that's just as bad as ya make it out ta be. Is there anythin' we can do?"
"It settles itself on its own so long as she doesn't use her magic, just like a bone sets itself if you keep it straight and don't put pressure on it," said Hourglass. "She'll just need plenty of rest, food, and liquids."
"I think we might have enough, but that's a bit of a stretch," Winter said, stroking her chin. "A big stretch, on account of her bein'... bigger."
"Yeah, um.. I was gonna ask about that. You never mentioned that Twilight Sparkle was an alicorn, Winter."
"That's because she was a unicorn when she left." Winter shook her head and turned back to Applejack. "But that can wait. Now, normally I'd do this myself since I'm no slouch with magic, but she looks like she might be too big for me to move on my own. You're strong, AJ, so you'll have to help me move her, 'cause she's bound to be out for—"
Twilight stirred, letting out a low groan. "Hnng… my head…"
"...a while." Winter scratched her head, utterly bewildered. "How in the—"
"Twi! Are ya okay?" asked Applejack, swooping in to attend to her friend.
"Applejack? Is that you?" Twilight asked, blinking away a stupor. She glanced around the cavern a little, likely trying to get her bearings. "Where are we? What happened?" She winced as she looked into the light of Winter's magic, which had been keeping the whole cavern alight for her and Hourglass earlier.
"You're in the caverns under the Goldridge Mountains," Winter answered. "As for the latter bit, I'd like to know that myself, eh? Are ya alright, Twilight? I'd say ya shouldn't be, but then you're up and talkin' when ya should still be out of it, even if ya don't sound like you're at one hundred percent."
"Is that… Winter?" Twilight said, eyes wide. She straightened up but did so too fast, as evidenced by her sudden dizziness and stumbling. "Wh-whoa. Why does… why does my head hurt so much?" she asked, rubbing her temple in clear pain. "It feels like my horn is on fire…"
"Ya suffered a ley line fracture," Winter explained, stepping forward and setting her hoof on Twilight's chest; she couldn't reach her shoulder without stretching. "I still don't know how you're standin' up and talkin' already, but then this is all a little wonky, eh?"
"A ley line fracture…" Twilight murmured. "I… I must have strained myself too hard." She glanced down at Winter, apparently just realizing that the smaller mare was touching her chest, and gave her a nervous smile. "It's… good to see you, Winter." She then winced, clutching her head again. "Ah, oww. It even hurts to think. That's… that's not fair…"
Winter paused for a long moment, then gave a small smile back. "Good to see you too, Twilight. Even like this." She then shook her head. "But how in the bloody hell did ya get here, eh? What happened? Void rifts shouldn't be openin' up in your world anymore, not as of last year at any rate."
Twilight, still fighting off some grogginess, looked at Winter, confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Your world is stable now, at least accordin' to the reports I read from Summer Rains, your world's previous Chronomancer. I know ya remember her. She kept me in the loop considerin' that I helped her wrap up the fiasco of you and your friends endin' up here in the first place. She owed me that much."
"What… what does that have to do with this?"
"Stable worlds are essentially sealed off from the Void," Hourglass added. "That means rifts don't open up on their own; your world is basically free from the threat of the Void forever, hence why Summer got to retire." She paused, then cleared her throat and offered her hoof. "I'm Hourglass, by the way. Winter's training me to take over for her soon enough."
"Don't sound too eager, mate, ya might come across as wantin' to take the job after all," Winter snickered.
Hourglass stuck out her tongue. "Sod off."
"It's a… pleasure to meet you, Hourglass," Twilight murmured, weakly taking the younger mare's hoof and shaking it briefly. "I'm Twilight."
"Oh, believe me, I know who you are." Hourglass then tilted her head towards Applejack. "And this is Applejack. I'd wish you two a good afternoon, but this seems like anything but, huh?"
Applejack tipped her stetson. "Howdy, nice ta meet ya. An' yeah, this is kind of a weird lil' pickle we're in."
"Let's not get off track," Winter interjected, giving Twilight a curious look. "I need ta know what happened. I'm not exactly able to get in contact with HQ right now to find out anythin' from your world or what's happenin' there, so the only account I can get is yours. If I've gotta send ya back home—again—I need ta know how it happened in the first place."
Twilight coughed into her hoof and grumbled; she was still groggy, and Winter hated having to make her strain herself for an explanation, but Twilight would give a better account than Applejack would.
"Well… I know it's been a long time, Winter, but I missed— my friends and I all missed the friends we made in this world, and… it hurt not knowing how things were going. With all the other friends I have, if I want to talk to them or… or find out how they're doing, it's just a matter of sending a letter to hear from them again. That won't exactly work with you.
"So… um, I set about trying to make a spell that might help me. I figured that there are dozens of different communication spells out there, so it wouldn't be impossible to tweak and modify some of them to reach out across worlds to get in touch with you again."
Twilight chuckled quietly, then groaned in discomfort. "It was harder than it sounds, though. I had to enlist some friends for help and bring in some powerful tools to make it work, but… I managed it. I created the spell.
"So my friends and I all met each other for one of our… monthly Friendship Council meetings—I'll explain later—and I told them about my new spell, and we… we all agreed it sounded like a good idea at the time."
She shook her head; she was clearly struggling to finish. "I tested the spell over a hundred times, and I never had any problems with it working before, but… something happened. I still don't know what it was, but something wrestled control of the spell away from me."
"Is that what happened?" Applejack asked, scratching her head. "Ya mean the spell just didn't go haywire, somethin' actually tried ta break it?"
"That's… that's one way of looking at it, yes. That's what made me strain myself so hard: trying to keep the spell under control and keeping whatever that thing was from hurting me or any of you. I… guess it didn't work out so well, huh?" Twilight sighed and shook her head again, then looked at Winter. "So that's how we ended up here, and…. Winter? Are you alright?"
Winter had kept quiet the entire time Twilight had spun her story, and while at the beginning of it she was nothing but sympathetic and concerned for the well-being of her closest friend and the other acquaintances she'd made all those years ago, now, Winter was… she actually couldn't think of a proper word to describe the sheer, unrestrained anger she felt.
But she knew exactly how to express it.
"So that we're clear," Winter said through clenched teeth, “ya created a spell that tore open a rift in the Void? The same Void that I made explicitly and abundantly clear was capable of destroyin' entire worlds? Ya meddled wit' forces ya don't understand… because ya wanted to what? Check up on me?"
Twilight nervously rubbed her shoulder. "I… I was very careful—"
"You absolute idiot! You fuckin' moron! What the bloody fuckin' hell is wrong with you?!" Winter snapped, snapped so hard that Twilight stepped back against the wall and very nearly tripped. "If I told ya once, I told ya a thousand fuckin' times that Void magic isn't somethin' to fuckin' play with!"
"Winter, I didn't—"
"Do ya have any idea how fuckin' stupid what ya did is? There's a reason ponies like me do the work we do! Protectin' entire worlds from that shit and from stupid fuckers that try to mess with it!"
Twilight, looking incredibly hurt and vulnerable despite her height, shrunk back against the wall. "I just… I wanted—"
"I don't care what ya wanted! I care about the fact that ya fucked around with somethin' that I thought ya had the sense not to!" Winter held her temples. "Think, Twilight! Ya could've torn your whole world apart!"
"Hey!" Applejack shouted, stepping between Winter and Twilight. "Lay off 'er, Winter. You're outta line."
"I'm outta line? Mate, she put your whole world at risk—"
"Just because she wanted to see you! Yes!" Applejack snorted and towered herself over Winter, easy enough for her to do since she was almost as tall as Twilight. "We all wanted to see our friends again, but she wanted ta see you more'n anything!"
Winter, not intimidated by Applejack—much, anyway—fired back. "And she put you all at risk to do it!"
"I get that, but she said she did everythin' she could ta keep that from happenin'. Now I hear what you're sayin', an' alright, maybe Twilight done went too far 'n' messed things up. I get it. It happened. But somethin' else caused whatever this was, not her—she ain't no idiot—so yellin' at 'er ain't gonna fix nothin'." Applejack then poked Winter in the shoulder, hard. "So just cool yer jets an' help us figure out how ta fix this."
Winter glanced at the spot Applejack touched, then growled. "If ya put your fuckin' hooves on me again—"
"What, ya gonna start yellin' at me like I'm a lil' filly who done somethin' wrong, too?"
Hourglass forced herself between the two mares. "Enough! Both of you! Bloody hell, you're both adults. Start acting like it." She turned to Applejack. "Winter's right: Twilight's actions put your entire world at risk for selfish reasons." She then looked at Winter. "But Applejack's right: shouting and getting angry isn't helping. Believe me, I understand how mad you are. But we need to do our job first. Okay?"
Winter paused, looking at Hourglass, then Applejack, then Hourglass again. She sighed. "Right. You're right. We need to come up with a solution." She took another breath. "So, the situation's fucked from the get-go. Twilight's magic doesn't bloody work with that ley line fracture, so she needs to get back in good shape to be of any use. We don't have the supplies to do that and do the work we're out here to do."
"What work're y'all doin' that ya can't spare the time 'n' effort ta help us?" Applejack asked.
"Chronomancer business, but I don't expect anypony here but me 'n' Hourglass actually cares about how important our work is." Winter glanced briefly at Twilight, who had sunk back against the wall completely and was clutching her head. "I thought otherwise until today, but here we are." She then turned back to Applejack. "What matters is that it's important for keeping our world safe. It can't be put aside."
Applejack tilted her hat and spat in the dirt. "So what're we supposed ta do, huh? Besides Twi 'n' me bein' in a pickle on account o' her bein' hurt, we don't even know where our friends are. I don't suppose y'all know how we can figure that out, do ya?"
"No, I don't. And that's just another bloody problem in this whole situation, eh? You all really screwed the pooch on this one." Winter took a deep breath. "I've got to have time to think about how we're gonna handle this. It's not cut-and-dry like I want it to be, and I'm in a rush to get my work taken care of."
"So what're doin' fer now, then?"
"For now… you two are comin' with me and Hourglass. We'll make camp like we intended to before ya threw us all for a loop, and in the morning we'll come to a better decision on movin' forward."
Hourglass nodded in agreement. "That sounds like the best decision at the moment." She turned to Applejack. "You have to understand that we've got our own problems to deal with now, and they're not exactly simple and require our full, undivided attention. You two showing up makes things… complicated." She then snorted. "But then what isn't lately?"
Applejack grumbled, then nodded. "Fine, sounds good ta me. Lead the way." She turned back to Twilight. "C'mon, Twi. Ya good ta move 'n' walk yerself, or d'ya need help?"
Twilight shook her head; she had a vacant, defeated sadness in her eyes. "It wasn't my fault… I just wanted… I didn't mean—"
"S'alright, sugarcube," Applejack said, wrapping her hoof around Twilight's shoulder. "It's all gonna be alright. You'll see. We're gonna take care o' this right quick, just you watch." She then glared at Winter. "Right?"
Winter stared at the despondent Twilight for a long moment and felt her heart starting to ache. But before she could let those thoughts well up and distract her further, she grunted and headed off in the direction she and Hourglass had been moving in before the interruption, not saying another word.
A Chronomancer's work was never done, even when they thought it was.