Wild Wings
by Squid-Hoof
The hot summer sun beat down on the Apple family as they diligently toiled in the northern orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. While Applejack and Big Macintosh slowly but steadily worked their way down a line of trees each while Applebloom ran ahead setting up the buckets that would catch the falling fruit as well as picking up any stray apples that missed the bushels. In spite of the heat, they had nearly finished the day’s workload, and not a moment too soon. The trio’s nerves continued to fray as the minutes pressed on.
“Applejack!” The sweat was gushing off of Applebloom’s forehead. “Are we done yet? We’ve been goin’ at this all mornin’ and I don’t know how much more of this Ah can take.”
“Almost Applebloom. A few more trees and we can git everything back to the barn. Ah told ya, the caravan’s leavin’ for Canterlot first thing in the morning and we’re short on bits around here as it is.” Applejack herself was straining under the heat, but she couldn’t let her little sister see how hard it was for her in the heat. Still, Applebloom was only a filly, and heat exhaustion at this time of year could be dangerous. “Why don’t ya go and put a couple o’ them bushels in your wagon and haul ‘em back. Big Mac and Ah’ll finish up here.”
With a happy skip Applebloom did as her sister asked and moved a pair of buckets into a nearby wagon and began carting them towards the house. Applejack sighed. There wasn’t much in Equestria that she held above all others, but family was one of them. No matter how badly her day went she could always count on her family to keep her spirits up. Even on a day like this, when the sun was nearly oppressive, working together as a family had kept her going well past what a normal pony could talk. As for Mac, well… Applejack chuckled to herself. She would never use the word “normal” to describe him.
Finishing up their work for the day, they collected the rest of the bushels and loaded up a pair of carts. Even at the current going rate for apples, Applejack was confident their harvest would bring in enough bits to finish up a few of the repair jobs that the farm had needed, as well as keep them afloat for a few more weeks. Running a farm was never easy, and there had been a few times where Applejack feared that she would lose orchard, not least of which being the time The Flim-Flam brothers attempted to drive them out of business, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Coming up to the barn, they could see Applebloom had already stashed her load and had run off, likely to find her friends. Applejack turned to Mac.
“Ah swear that filly’d rather be out gallivantin’ with her friends then putting in an honest day’s work on the farm. Ah thought she might wait for us to get back but Ah guess I was wrong.” Applejack was shaking her head.
“Eeyup.”
“She needs to learn family comes first. Family is the most important thing we have. If we don’t have family, then we ain’t Apples!”
“Eeyup.”
“What kinda fool just runs off and leaves her family behind? Getting’ her cutie mark can’t be more important than family. Not like Ah was like that when I was her age was Ah?”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac was barely stifling a smile. Applejack gave him a glare and hit him across the back of his head with her hoof.
“Aww enough outta you ya big galoot. Who asked you anyways?” Applejack said.
“Er uh, well, uh…”
“Never mind, don’t answer that.” Applejack started to laugh, and was soon joined by Big Macintosh. As the laughter died away, Applejack looked up at her brother. “Alright, let’s head on up to the house. Ah’m exhausted and Ah could use a drink of water.”
“Eeyup.”
Rainbow Dash had napped most of the day away in her home. Normally she would have found a nice cloud to nap on, but with the sun passing it’s zenith the heat was too unbearable to be anywhere but indoors. That was fine by Dash though, it just meant that not only was she out of the heat, but it made it harder for anypony else to bother her on her day off. Harder, but not impossible.
“HEYA DASHIE!” Dash groaned and rolled out of bed as Pinkie Pie bounced up just outside of her window. The pink mare continued to pop in and out of sight as a headache rolled across Dash’s head. “I was looking all.. Over town for you and… I couldn’t find you so I… thought to myself… where in the world could… Dashie be then I thought… well if she’s not out… having a nap on some… cloud and she’s not… out working the skies then… she must be at home so… I got myself a big trampoline… and came to see if I could… find you and what… do you know you’re… HERE!”
“Pinkie…” Dash groaned, rubbing a hoof across her forehead. Rather than continue a sporadic conversation she flew down to the ground and waited for Pinkie to stop bouncing. A few moments later the pink mare dismounted with a flip and landed beside her. Dash just shook her head. “Why are you here? It’s so hot out, how can you be bouncing on a trampoline? Don’t you have anything else to do?”
“Noperooni!” Pinkie had a huge smile on her face. “I finished up all of my chores at Sugar Cube Corner, and helped the Cakes finish selling off the morning’s baking, so I decided to see what everypony else was doing. Twilight was busy working on some new spell, Rarity has a huuuuge order due in a week, Applejack is in the middle of a harvest, and Fluttershy is taking care of some extra animals.”
“What about…” Dash waggled her hoof.
“Oh well, you know him. He’s up in Canterlot right now working on something for Princess Celestia.”
“Oh yeah, and how’s…”
“O-o-oh well…” Pinkie looked down and rubbed her stomach. Her normally cheery disposition had faded .“Twilight’s helping me keep an eye on it. Pretty good I guess.”
“You sure you should be bouncing on a trampoline considering your ‘condition’?” Dash had raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe not, butttttt…” Pinkie’s smile had returned. “There was no other way to get up to find out what you were doing, and since all you’re doing was napping, you can come hang out with me! I have such a great afternoon planned. We can go eat cupcakes and fly kites and go for a walk and oooo we haven’t played any good pranks lately. We could get Rarity so good! Remember the time we dyed her cat to look like you? That was HILARIOUS.” Pinkie stood on her hind legs, front legs spread wide in the air.
Dash looked dumbfounded for a moment, but try as she might there was no way to get around the infectious nature of Pinkie Pie. A smile slowly spread across her face and she nodded to the pink mare.
“Alright, alright. I am pretty hungry, and I was going to practice doing some tricks this afternoon anyways, so you can come give me a hand with that. As for a prank… yeah Rarity is long over-due. I’ve got a good one! You said she’s working on an order right? What if we were to…” Dash bent over and started whispering a plan into Pinkie’s ear. As she did Pinkie’s already large smile grew impossibly wider and she started to giggle excitedly.
“Oh that’s a good one Dashie! Let’s go do it!” Pinkie bounced away towards the Carousel Boutique.
“W-wait Pinkie! I’m still hungry!” Dash sped off after her shaking her head. Food could wait, they had a unicorn to prank.
“Mom!” Dinky ran into her house, a piece of paper sticking out of the side of her mouth. “Mom! Somepony is passing these flyers around town! Something about a magic show later tonight, can we go? Please?”
Derpy Hooves was in the middle of cleaning her home, having delivered the day’s mail already. She was just finishing dusting the living room when Dinky had burst in waving the flyer in her face. She sighed, watching a new layer of dust from outside settle on the floor. Still, she couldn’t ever remember being as happy as she was as a mother, and any amount of work was worth the time she spent with her little filly. A kind smile washed over her face.
“Let me take a look at that dear.” Derpy gently took the piece of paper out of Dinky’s mouth and spread it out on their table. While her one lazy eye had disturbed other ponies in the past, it never actually impaired her ability to see and she quickly read through it. According to the flyer, there was indeed going to be a magic show that evening in the town square, and everypony was invited. It was reminiscent of another performance that had been announced in a similar fashion a few years before, before Dinky was old enough to remember, however Derpy remembered clearly the aftermath of that night. It had nearly cost her her home. As long as the show wasn’t going to be put on by… “Oh no.”
“Huh?” Ditzy looked up confused at her mother. “What’s wrong mommy? Is there something wrong with the show?”
“Well, no not necessarily, but it’s being put on by Trixie, and the last time she put on a show she insulted a lot of ponies and her… ‘creative self-promotion’ caused Snips and Snails to attract an ursa minor under the mistaken belief that she had dealt with them before. I’ve heard she’s learned her lesson, but…”
“Oh but please mom? Everypony is talking about it! It’s going to be a great show I’m sure. Please? Please?!” Dinky’s eyes peered up at her mother, pleading for her to take her to the show. Against her better judgment, Derpy could not say no to those insistent eyes. She rolled her eyes and gave another motherly smile.
“Alright Dinky.” Derpy motioned her head towards the kitchen. “Come help me finish cleaning and making dinner, and then we’ll go to the show. If nothing else, it’ll be a good laugh seeing Trixie make a fool of herself again.” She giggled and gently pushed Dinky with a hoof. The two, mother and daughter, trotted off towards the kitchen, a smile shared between them.
Darkness fell across Ponyville, and most of the interested town’s folk had already begun to gather in the square. Trixie’s new cart, which seemed to have been given a new coat of paint, was set up ready for the show, it’s stage extended. A few ponies, like Dinky, had never seen Trixie perform and were eager to see a magic show, however a majority had come to watch Trixie make a royal fool of herself once again. A few eyes peered over the crowd to make sure Twilight Sparkle was in attendance, just in case something was to go amiss again. Fortunately for all assembled, the unicorn was indeed present with Spike mounted on her back eager for the show to begin. A small smile graced her face.
“So, uh, Twi, I know that Trixie’s changed and all especially after… well everything that’s happened to her, but do you think her show’s going to be any different this time around?” Spike craned his neck down so he could at least put himself in Twilight’s peripheral vision. She looked over at him, the smile staying in place.
“Of course Spike. Everything is going to be fine. Everypony knows what she is and is not capable of, and her ego has deflated.” As she spoke a bellowing came from the stage and they could see the mare in question poke her head out.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie’s show shall begin momentarily! Please take your spots in the crowd and prepare to be amazed!”
“Well,” Twilight sheepishly grinned, “mostly deflated.”
Spike just rolled his eyes and laughed. The show was going to be good, one way or another. Out of the corner of his eye he could see his favorite white unicorn making her way through the crowd, her right eye twitching uncontrollably.
“Rarity! Hey Rarity!” Spike stood up on Twilight’s back and waved frantically at Rarity. “Over here!”
“Spike! Twilight! How NICE to see you.” Her response was through gritted teeth and the pair could tell she was clearly agitated.
“Uh, what’s up Rarity? You look kinda mad?” Spike said.
“Have either of you seen Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie?”
“Uh, no? Why?”
“I was in the middle of putting an order together for Fancy Pants when the two of them thought it would be just hilarious to tie a paint brush dipped in paint to poor Opal’s tail. Five minutes later my boutique and half of my supplies, not to mention three of the dresses I had already completed It will only take me a couple of days to catch back up, but it’s the principle of the matter. Needless to say, as soon as I get my hooves on the two of them…” Rarity cut off her own words with a shriek.
“Rarity, I know those two can be a handful but don’t forget about Pinkie’s…” Twilight was covering her mouth with a hoof, trying to not let her fellow unicorn see her laugh.
“I don’t care! She should consider the consequences of her actions before pulling pranks like that! ARGH!” With that, Rarity stormed off into the crowd.
“Well, I’d hate to be in their place if she catches up with them, eh Twi?” Spike laughed.
“They’ve done it this time that’s for sure.” Twilight said. Applejack came up behind her a few moments later.
“Heya Twi, the show started yet?” Applejack said.
“Which one?” Spike snickered, earning himself a telekinetic whack on the back of the head from Twilight. The purple unicorn in turn sighed and turned to Applejack.
“Not yet. Trixie announced that she would be starting in a few minutes, but she hasn’t started the fireworks yet.”
“Good. Ah’m looking forward to seeing her stick a hoof in her mouth again.”
“Now Applejack, we’ve talked about this before. She’s gotten better. Really.”
“Uh-huh. Ah’ll believe it when Ah see it Twi. Either way it’s going to be a great show!” Applejack laughed and shook her head. Several of the other ponies within earshot joined along, having very similar expectations for the show. Even Spike couldn’t help himself. Finally, Twilight started giggling. Even she had to admit the likelihood of the show not crashing and burning was a stretch.
The moment arrived, and a hush fell over the crowd. Trixie walked out into the middle of the stage and took a small polite bow to the crowd before smirking. Throwing her fore hooves in the air, her cape caught a magical draft of wind she generated and she called out to the assembled ponies.
“Welcome, one and all, young and old, to the new, improved, Great and Powerful Trixie Show!” With a flash of smoke and a rumble of explosions, several fireworks shot into the air punctuating her entrance. Regardless of their opinions of the show mare, the assembled ponies couldn’t help but stomp their hooves and cheer for the flashy entrance. Trixie smiled and gazed over the audience.
“The last time the Great and Powerful Trixie graced your town with her presence, her performance was… less than gracious. Many ponies homes were destroyed in the resulting chaos caused by the stampeding ursa minor. Of course, Trixie takes full responsibility for her actions that night.” A few of the crowd looked at the nervously grinning Snips and Snails, but their attention was quickly pulled back to Trixie. “Tonight, I shall be performing magical feats to astound and astonish, but first, I’d like to revisit that fateful night! Would anypony like to come up and ‘compete’ with Trixie? Perhaps the almighty Twilight Sparkle?”
Everypony’s eyes turned to look at the now blushing Twilight. She nervously glanced around and looked to Applejack for support. Applejack chuckled and shook her head.
“Git on up there Twi. Go on.” Applejack nudged the unicorn with her hoof. “If she’s so ready to make a fool of herself you might as well be the one to do it. It’s gonna be a good show, Ah can tell already.” Spike jumped down off of Twilight’s back and stood next to Applejack, motioning with his claws that she should go along with Trixie. Shaking her head, Twilight sighed and trotted up to the stage.
“Alright, Trixie, I’m here.” Twilight said.
“Everypony, let’s give a warm round of applause for Twilight! The Great and Powerful Trixie appreciates you coming up and humoring her on such short notice.” Trixie waved her hooves towards the crowd, and the assembled ponies stomped their hooves again, hooting and whooping for Twilight. Twilight’s blush deepened. As the cheering died down, Trixie addressed the crowd again.
“Now, last time Trixie made a mockery of anypony that came up on stage and tried to challenge Trixie. Trixie has something different in mind this evening.” Trixie turned to Twilight. “Twilight, Trixie asks that you choose a minor spell, any sort of spell, and cast it here on my stage.”
“Any spell?”
“Any minor spell. Trixie has seen some of the spells you have cast Twilight, and Trixie must say that if the whole town falls in love with Trixie there might be a problem.” Trixie winked to the crowd who all joined in on a good natured laugh at Twilight’s expense remembering the time she had enchanted her childhood toy in order to create a problem to solve. Twilight giggled along.
“Alright, alright Trixie, I understand. A minor spell you say?” Twilight stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth, deep in thought. “Ah! I know. Alright Trixie, how about this?” Focusing her magic on a point in the air in the middle of the stage, Twilight created a ball of fire that hovered in place. The crowd “ooed” in unison as the sphere of flame slowly spun in place. Smiling, Twilight turned back to Trixie and pointed her hoof at it. “That good enough for you Trixie?”
“Indeed.” Trixie nodded. “The Great and Powerful Trixie appreciates your participation. Now, it is Trixie’s turn!” Channeling her own spell, Trixie generated a powerful gust of wind that swept up the flames that Twilight had produced. A whirlwind of fire flew into the air bathing the town square in light and producing a wave of heat. It finally finished it’s ascent and exploded in the air. Everypony shielded their eyes, fearing for their safety, but a moment later they could see that the flames had spelled out ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’ in the night sky. A smaller line below it spelled out ‘and Twilight Sparkle’. Everypony cheered.
“Great trick Trixie!”
“Wow that was amazing!”
You’ve learned some neat new tricks!”
“Hey! Nothing caught on fire! We’re all still alive!”
Trixie glared at the last comment, but replaced it with a smile soon after. She was finally putting on the magic show she always wished she could, and everything was going to plan. At one point she would have considered Twilight assisting her as charity work on her part. What unicorn could possibly challenge the might of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Now, a small part of her felt blessed that Twilight had bothered coming up at all. Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder brining her out of her thoughts.
“Trixie, that was great! Your show is going to be just amazing!” Twilight gave her a warm smile.
“Trixie appreciates your support Twilight.”
“I’ll just head back to my spot in the crowd…”
“No!”
“What?” Twilight turned back towards Trixie, halting her departure.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes for you to remain by the stage as her personal guest for the show. Please.”
“Uh… alright… I guess?” Twilight nodded and trotted down the stairs and took a spot next to the stage. Applejack and Spike made their way through the crowd and joined her.
As the show progressed, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were snaking their way through the assembled ponies keeping as low to the ground as they could. Every few steps one of them would pop their head up and search the crowd for a certain furious white unicorn.
“Dashie, I think we might have gone too far this time. I think Rarity’s really really mad at us. What are we going to do when she catches us?” Pinkie’s voice carried a tone of nervousness that was rarely heard from her.
“If. If she catches us, you mean. All we have to do is stay out of her mane for the rest of the night and we should be fine.”
“Well,” Pinkie started, “if we’re trying to avoid her, why are we here? Why can’t we just go home? She can’t reach you up In your house, and I can always hide out and Sugar Cube Corner.” Dash gently cuffed Pinkie on the back of the head.
“Think!” Dash’s voice was barely above a hiss. “If she can’t find us here the first place she’s going to go is to your place looking for you. As for me, well yeah I guess I could fly out of her reach but she’s pretty persistent. Twilight was saying she’s started to learn a few new spells, and if I know Rarity one of those is probably something to do with cloud-walking or flying. No, we’re much safer getting lost in this crowd. Besides, I wouldn’t miss seeing Trixie screw things up again for the world.”
“Ooooh…” Pinkie reach down and clutched onto her stomach. “This is too much excitement for me Dashie. I don’t know how much of this I can take.”
“Just a little longer Pinkie. It’ll all be over soon.” The pair snaked off into the crowd, still keeping an eye out for their stalker. Neither of them noticed Rarity slowly walk over to where they were just lying on the ground, a glint of malice in her eye.
Across the crowd, Dinky was perched on her mother’s back watching the ongoing magic show. Every few moments she would let out a soft “oo” or “ah” as Trixie performed more and more fantastic tricks. Most of the show mares repertoire was focused on the flashy and showy, but occasionally she would produce an effect that was on the level of a young Twilight Sparkle. Derpy watched on with her daughter and smiled. I’m so glad I brought her here. It’s so rarely that the two of us get a chance to get out and spend time like this together. After last time I was so worried that Trixie would cause more trouble, but she really seems to have gotten her act together.
“Whoo! Mommy look!” Dinky pointed at a rope hanging in the air that was magically creating images in the sky of various ponies. Several prominent members of Ponyville, Trixie herself, and a spectacularly accurate representation of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing side-by-side. Hearing the filly’s excitement, Trixie gave her horn a little flick and the rope shifted into an image of Dinky. Dinky herself nearly fell over in excitement. “Mommy mommy! It’s me! She made me!”
Derpy looked up at the image of her daughter in the sky and could feel a single happy tear welling up in the corner of her eye. Catching Trixie’s eye she silently mouthed “thank-you” towards the show-mare. Trixie gave a small smile and inclined her head gently. This really was a different Trixie. The flashy material finished, Trixie turned to Twilight and beckoned her back up onto the stage.
“Trixie will now perform her final trick! It is something that she has worked on for many months, and you, fair citizens of Ponyville, will be the first to experience it in all of its glory!” Raucous cheering filled the square. “However, it is potentially a dangerous spell, and for the safety of all involved she once more calls upon the assistance of Twilight Sparkle!”
Slightly more confident after her early participation, Twilight gladly hopped up on the stage and stood next to Trixie. Doing a little turn in place she bowed to the crowd, earning a few more hoots.
“Now now, Twilight, leave the showboating to the Great and Powerful Trixie won’t you? This is Trixie’s show after all.” Trixie was smirking. Twilight blushed again and nodded.
“Of course Trixie,” Twilight said.
“Now, for this trick, Trixie will show you a fantastic new spell that Trixie herself has developed! It is a spell that allows the caster to imagine a world of their wildest imagination! They don’t even need to imagine the whole world! They merely choose bits and pieces of what they want to see in the world, and this crystal ball…” she pulled out a glass sphere out of seemingly nowhere “…will find a world from far away that embodies those ideas. The magic tends to be unstable however. Trixie admits she has chosen Ponyville for her first showing due to the presence of a powerful unicorn that can assist her in maintaining the spell.”
The crowd began to murmur, and slowly but surely ponies began to shout out suggestions.
“Trees made out of rocks!”
“Edible dirt!”
“A place where ponies can’t talk and the dominant race are related to monkeys!” Several ponies looked towards who had given that suggestion, finding a sheepish looking Lyra being hauled away by a clearly embarrassed Bon-Bon. Trixie chuckled.
“Well that was an interesting suggestion, but Trixie doesn’t think she’ll be using that one.” The rest of the crowd laughed, and continued to shout out suggestions for the next few minutes, finally being stopped by Trixie. “Alright, alright, Trixie thinks she has an idea as to what sort of image to conjure. Now then, Twilight, would you be so kind as to cast a telekinesis spell on the crystal ball and float it out in front of the crowd?”
Twilight complied, gently lifting the ball in the air and allowed it to hover in the air, gently spinning in place and reflecting the torchlight illuminating the square. Trixie lowered her horn and channeled a spell through it. The crowd watched as the lavender hue encircling the orb changed to a lighter purple nearing blue. Trixie waved her fore hooves in the air and began chanting. Twilight smirked, realizing that it was mostly part of the show.
“Orb of power, crystal of vision, The Great and Powerful Trixie commands you! Worlds apart, or times gone by, show us the lands we can never reach!” The glow on the orb intensified as Trixie silently fed the ideas through to the ball. Twilight felt a slight vibration in the magical field she was maintaining, but overall the task she had been given wasn’t difficult. Finally, after a few more moments, the orb hung in place unassisted. Before Trixie could address the crowd again, however, several things happened all at once.
First, Rarity finally caught up to the two mischievous mares and screeched, grabbing hold of their tails in her own telekinetic spell. Pinkie was caught in place, crying out for somepony to save her from Rarity, while Dash managed to struggle free and bolt towards the stage. Seeing the commotion, Derpy looked over to the trio of mares and frowned at the show being spoiled. As she did so, she failed to notice Dinky slip off her back and wander up to the stage alone. Applejack turned to see Dash flapping towards her and dangerously close to the magical show.
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity continued her screeching. “When I’m finished with you, I promise you that you’re going to think it was the WORST. THING. EVER.”
“Rarity! Wait!” Pinkie was scrambling to get away, her hooves digging into the ground and leaving parallel lines in the dirt. “Don’t forget about my ‘condition’!”
“Oh don’t worry, I’ll make sure the rest of you is injured!”
“What about Rainbow Dash?! It was her idea!”
“I knew it!” Rarity dropped Pinkie unceremoniously to the ground and galloped through the ground attempting to get a hold of the offending pegasus once more. As Derpy watched her run, she finally realized that Dinky wasn’t on her back anymore and started to panic.
“Dinky? Dinky?! Where did you go?” Derpy frantically scanned the crowd, finally spotting her a few feet away from the floating orb. Taking to wing, she flew over the assembled ponies in an attempt to retrieve her errant daughter. Trixie lost her concentration in he resulting chaos, and to her dismay the crystal ball began to tremor in place and expand in size. Twilight’s eyes went wide.
“T-Trixie is it supposed to be doing this?” Twilight was recoiling from the expanding orb.
“Trixie has never seen this before!” Trixie attempted to re-assert her control over the crystal ball, but to no success. The orb continued to grow. Most of the ponies close to the stage began backing up themselves, unsure as to whether it was part of the show or a spell gone wrong. Ditzy finally reached the stage and began reaching her hoof up towards the oscillating sphere.
“Dinky no!” Derpy rushed in and threw her hooves around Dinky pulling her away from the potentially dangerous device. Her grasp proved to be too aggressive though, and as soon as she had managed to get a hold on her daughter she slipped away again tumbling into the crowd behind Derpy. Derpy turned to go after her again, but found herself frozen in place unable to make any progress forward no matter how hard she beat her wings.
Applejack watched Dash’s approach and realized she was going to run headlong into Twilight. No time to think things through, she recklessly dove towards the unicorn.
“Twi! Look out!” Applejack shoved Twilight out of the way just as Rainbow Dash collided with her in mid-air, forcing the two of them into a tumble. Twilight was shoved to the ground and fully lost her telekinetic grip on the orb. The sphere dropped to the stage and began rolling towards the immobilized Derpy. Applejack and Dash continued to roll over each other in a tangle of legs and hooves, finally barreling into Derpy and dragging her along. Coming to a stop the three could only watch in horror as the orb rolled into them. All at once there was a flash of light and loud explosion. Everypony instinctively shielded their eyes.
Taking a chance, Twilight looked out from behind her hoof to see the crystal ball had returned to it’s normal, inert, non-magical state. With a sigh of relief she lowered her leg to the ground… and then her jaw dropped. Where before there had been three ponies, there were now none. Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Derpy were gone.
“Trixie, what happened to them? Where are they? Where did they go?” The normally calm Twilight was beginning to panic.
“Trixie… sorry… I don’t know! This was just a trick! It wasn’t really supposed to show a different world, it was just images and show-mare-ship! I don’t have any idea what’s happened to them!” Trixie took one last look at the crystal ball before breaking down and crying. Rarity and Pinkie Pie approached the stage.
“Twilight, darling, what’s happened?” Rarity feared the answer.
“They’re gone Rarity. They’re just… gone.”
Untangling themselves from each other Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Derpy stood up and inspected their surroundings. While relatively unharmed, they were most definitely not in the town square anymore. Instead, they seemed to be in some sort of large cylinder. Along the sides there were several strange objects that pointed out of open windows. A gaping hole was in the floor a few feet away from them. From somewhere an almost deafening humming assaulted their ears and the entire area seemed to be vibrating. Applejack trotted over to one of the windows and peered outside. A moment later she went white as a ghost.
“G-girls, Ah know yer pegasi and all, and that it probably don’t bother ya none, but uh… we ain’t on the ground.” She pointed a shaky hoof out of the opening. Dash wandered over to the window herself and glanced outside, confirming Applejack’s words. Not only were they airborne, but based on the movements of the clouds they were traveling at a rapid pace.
“Where in the heck are we?” Dash turned to Derpy who was sitting alone in the middle of the room. The grey pegasus had begun to cry. “What’s wrong Derpy?”
“All I wanted to do was take my daughter out to a nice magic show. Now the three of us are Celestia knows where. I don’t know what went wrong. It was going so well.”
“Well,” Dash sighed, “There isn’t much point in standing here, let’s go see if we can find anypony else to tell us where we are. The three made their way to the end of the hallway and found a ladder. Climbing up, they could see two earth ponies wearing bizarre outfits sitting in front of a display with dozens of knobs, switches and controls. One of them was shouting into a microphone.
“This is Captain Pear Blossom of the B-17 All-Amareican. We’ve taken heavy flak damage over Germareny and are coming in hot, two Kraut-suckers on our tail. Most of our crew lost to enemy fire. We repeat, coming in hot with two bogeys. Requesting assistance. Please respond!” He turned to the other pony. “Dammit, I’m not getting through to them and we’re running low on fuel! I think we’re toast this time.”
“Don’t give up now Pear Blossom! I can see coastline up ahead. We just have to hold out a little longer and even if they can’t hear us, they’ll be able to see us!” There was a series of rapid pops and several holes ripped through the cockpit between the mares and the pair of earth ponies. While nopony was hurt it forced the three newcomers to scream. The pair of earth ponies whipped their heads around to find they suddenly had three stow a ways. Applejack broke the stunned silence first.
“Well gals, Ah think we can safely say we’re not in Equestria anymore.” Applejack glanced between her friends and the two ponies seated ahead of them. Derpy keeled over and fainted.