//------------------------------// // Interlude 2: Return to Ponyville // Story: Sealed by a Minute // by Revanius //------------------------------// It was a quiet train ride back to Ponyville, Rainbow Dash had been back by morning on the train still exhausted from her flight to Canterlot and stressed from thoughts of Twilight, so she spent the ride back sleeping. Applejack spent most of the ride next to Pinkie Pie who had been unusually silent on the way back home, her normally poofed mane lying flat on her neck, that left Fluttershy and Rarity together on their bench. Rarity stroked the yellow Pegasus' mane while Fluttershy quietly cried, normally she would have left comforting Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash or Twilight but with the latter lost in another dimension and the former out of energy she took up comforting the shy pony. It at least gave her something to do and not feel entirely useless. "She does want to come back, right?" Fluttershy asked breaking her weeping, Rarity stopped, mid-stroke when she heard the question. Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked up. "You don't think she might have chosen to not come back." "Where in Equestria did you get that idea dear?" Rarity asked. "Before her crown was stolen she kept saying how uncomfortable she was with all the attention of being a Princess," Fluttershy said. "Dat don't mean she'd run off to another dimension and not come back," Applejack interjected. "She probably just lost track of time, she can get a bit distracted ya know." Rarity nodded. "Yes, that is almost certainly the case, and I am sure she and Spike will figure out a way back home in no time, I assure you." "Or that meany Sunset Shimmer hurt her," Pinke added solemnly. "Princess Celestia did say she was a former student of hers," Fluttershy pointed out. "She was trained like Twilight, and who knows what she might have learned in the other dimension." "Now just stop," Applejack stomped her hoof down. "Twilight's fine, We know she is, Ah mean it's Twilight, she's fine and safe and knowin' her made a bunch of friends to help her. Now no more talk of her not comin' back!" "Wha!" Rainbow Dash snorted lifting her head. "I agree, we know she will find a way home, and until she does we should make sure her home is nice and ready for her and Spike," Rarity said. "Agreed," Applejack Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy said, the latter two a little less certain than Applejack. Rarity settled back in for the rest of the ride. "Seriously, what's going on?" Rainbow asked. *** Soon after the train pulled into Ponyville Station Fluttershy excused herself from the group telling them she wanted to get some rest, Rainbow Dash had asked if she wanted company for the fly but Fluttershy told her she'd be fine. Back in the safety of her own home, the yellow pegasus let her tears flow freely again, her animals gathered around her in comfort but she barely noticed them as her thoughts turned to Twilight. No matter what Rarity and Applejack said she feared they would never see the friend that brought them all together again. "Oh dear," A familiar voice said above her. "This wasn't the reaction I hoping to see from my dropping in." Fluttershy's tears slowed as she looked up at the floating Draconequus above her. "Discord?" Two other Discords appeared beside the first. "The one and only," All three Discords said in unison before two vanished. "And what has my favorite little pony so sad? Missing chicken, sick bear?" "I guess you don't know yet," Fluttershy said wiping the tears from her face. "Twilight's crown was stolen by a pony named Sunset Shimmer and Twilight went through a portal to stop her, but she didn't get back before the portal closed." "Hmm, I thought something seemed off..." Discord said. "I just thought it was... ah never mind, soo Sparkle's gone? That is so sad, oh would you look at that, I've sprung a leak from sadness." He pointed to a spot on his long body where a hole formed, and a small trickle of liquid flowed from it. That got a little laugh from Fluttershy, Discord smiled as he plugged up the hole. "Would you like some tea while your here Discord? I just got some before I left." "Now that sounds lovely," He said landing on the ground. *** "Luna? What are you doing?" Celestia asked walking into her sister's room. Princess Luna was levitating her personal items into serval suitcases. "Why are you packing?" "I'm not sure," The younger Princess said. "I just feel like I need to go somewhere, Ponyville actually." "And what brought this on?" "A dream, it told me I would be needed there." Celestia cocked her head slightly at the odd reasoning, but her sister was sometimes like that. "If you feel that this is right then I won't stop you, perhaps your presence will help Twilight's friends in this troubling time." "Agreed, and it will be nice to see more of Equestria outside of the dream and nightmare of the land," Luna agreed, placing more of her items in the cases. "And... it would help to be away from palaces for a time. At least until whatever is needed of me is complete." "I hope you enjoy your stay in Ponyville and when you find the reason for your travel I know you will succeed," Celestia said turning away, letting her younger sister finish her packing in peace. "But I wish you did not go," She muttered sadly to herself. *** "I truly am sorry about Sparkle, Fluttershy," Discord said, sipping his tea. "I was actually hoping to spend some time with her soon." Fluttershy sipped her tea in turn. "She was already worried about being a Princess, I can only imagine how scared and confused she is wherever she landed. If there was only a way we could help her." "Yes, shame." A thought crossed Fluttershy's mind, that thought turned into an idea. "Discord! There is something we could do to help her. You could open a portal and we could all go in and find her." "I was wondering when you would say that," Discord said setting his teacup down in mid-air, it floating as he cracked his fingerers. "Thought I would need to wait to open a portal home for you to ask." Stretching back to where his head touched his tail, he straightened back up. "One pony Princess coming right up," He snapped his fingers. And nothing happened. Discord frowned. "How odd, that doesn't normally happen." He snapped his fingers again, Fluttershy heard a faint fizzling sound but no portal. "Hhhmm, I wonder... You said Sparkle went through a portal, what did it look like, was it black, red, swirling? Where did it come from?" ​ "Um, it was purple and it came from a mirror Princess Celestia had been keeping with her." "Oh dear," Discord said looking away. "What is it Discord?" "Well... I can't exactly create a portal to that world," He said, his eyes rolling back. "But... how?" Fluttershy asked shocked, she didn't think there was anywhere Discord couldn't go. "I don't like to talk about it." "Oh, okay then." "Well if you insist! I'll tell you," Discord said throwing his hands up. "There is too little magic there, I'm not sure how old beardy face created a portal to it but that world is like an endless hole that sucks away anything magic and condenses it, locks it away. It was quite effective against some of my old playthings." "Huh?" Fluttershy asked, not quite getting the last part. "Nothing important, ancient history. Just that I can't create a portal." Despair started to find its way again into her. The spark of hope Discord gave her faded away. "So there is nothing we can do?" Discord sighed, his usual jovialness absent. "The mirror portal is the only way and unless its magic can be connected with the locked magic of the other world Sparkle will just have to wait for it to open on its own again. I am sorry Fluttershy, truly."