"Books."
Twilight should have been on her way to Fillydelphia. Celestia was currently residing at a hotel there, enjoying the local tourist attraction. Luna was currently heading there from a mountain trip. Both had agreed to help her with her current predicament. She should be heading towards the city.
But she wasn't.
Because she was covered in something pink.
"Pinkie!" Twilight half-shouted at the pink pony of pinkish coloration. "It's here!" Said the pinkish equine while looking around the room. "Who's there?" asked Twilight with an annoyed tone. "The cake destroyer, slayer of sweets and blight of pastry!" Twilight didn't know how to react to Pinkie's antics. Which was the only way to properly react when she was involved.
"Look, Pinkie, I'm busy. I have to meet with Celestia and Luna to ask them some questions, so I really don't have time for any of your antics." Twilight was standing back up after having bumped into Pinkie. She was also picking all of her books and papers back up. The sight of her neatly organized files standing there unorganized on the floor. At least it was clean.
Until multiple cupcakes fell out of Pinkie's mane. Twilight face-hooved at the sight. "See!" She pointed at the cupcakes. "It struck again!" She shouted. "Who!" asked Twilight, more annoyed at her friends' antics. Twilight had to hurry. She knew there might be a chance to rescue Trixie. And she wanted to make sure it was actually true. And if possible, save Trixie before it was too late.
Which explained that she was carrying a 500 page book that was at least two millennia old. And that most pony would have frowned upon its contents. Twilight did not enjoy the contents of the old book, but she was morbidly curious. She was also doing this to try and save another pony. A particularly unlucky one.
This made her even less patient towards Pinkie's antics. Twilight picked everything back up with her magic and tried to leave. "Look I really need to leave. I had to shift my schedule around to have enough time to go to Fillydelphia. If I miss this meeting then I'll have to wait for months before having enough time available again. And I can't wait for that long." Twilight then left through the door.
"But...but the cakes..." Muttered Pinkie as she followed. A cake fell out her mane. "Pinkie, it was just cleaned yesterday!" Twilight shouted. She knew not to question why her friend kept anything in her mane, the only thing she would get was a headache. "NOOOOOooo..."Screamed Pinkie in anguish, not listening to her friend.
Twilight sighed. She didn"t have the time to lose. So she left while Pinkie was distracted. "Take me with you." Siad Pinkie taking twilight by surprise. "Why!?" She asked both in confusion and annoyance. "To catch the..." She proceeded to name three dozen different combinations of confectionaries and synonyms of destroying, to Twilight's dismay. She took a quick look at a clock on the wall. Only one minute before her train would depart.
Twilight teleported in a panic. Leaving Pinkie alone.
Twilight quickly reappeared. She grabbed some other papers she had forgotten. "SorryPinkiegotgottogo..." Before teleporting again.
Twilight sat on board of the train, reassured that he hadn't missed it. She felt slightly guilty about how she had left her behind. But the soft vibrations of the train were surprisingly sooting. It was going to be a fairly long trip and she hadn't slept well in a while, so why not take a nap?
However before she could take a nap she noticed a very colorful package out of the corner of eyes. Pinkie was obviously hiding inside that box. And because she thought that it meant Pinkie wasn't hiding in that. And that meant that she was actually hiding in the package. Which meant...
The whole I know that you know that I know that you know... That kind of stuff. Why was she even trying to rationalize it? It's Pinkamena Pie, there is no explaining it.
Another pony then picked the package up and walked away.
Hmmm, so Pinkie wasn't inside it. She had completely expected her friend to be in it. "Thump" She turned towards the window from where the sound had come.
"Tmwiligmth" "AAAAAHHH..."
"and that's why we need to stop it, because if not the cupcakeindustrywillcrum..." Pinkie had been extremely busy talking about some mysterious cake murderer. Fortunately she was so busy that she hadn't noticed when Twilight had cast a silencing spell and slept for a while. She was currently very tempted to cast it again. She wouldn't, she wasn't as tired anymore and not stuck on a train. Also she respected her friend too much to do that again.
Right now she had to meet the ex-princesses at their hotel. Which was the most luxurious one in the city. Because having Celestia or Luna use any of your services was one of the greatest honors and was some of the best publicities that a pony could get.
That currently wasn't very important to the situation. However the fact that it was close to the train station was important.
The two ponies quickly reached the hotel. The clerk had no problem pointing them to the ex-princesses room because Twilight was the current ruler of Equestria and had been told in advance about her arrival by Celestia. Their room was on the last floor and it was the "royal" suite.
And the elevator currently wasn't working.
Walking up the stairs wasn't challenging in any way as Twilight had the stamina of an alicorn and the pink pony did not know what tired meant. She also had not stopped talking about all kinds of nonsensical topics that somehow always ended with sweets getting destroyed by some nondescript entity. Twilight on the verge of a head-ache knocked onto the door.
It was quickly opened by disheveled and clearly tired Luna. "I did not know you were bringing a friend." Said Luna trying not to yawn. "It was a last minute change." Answered Twilight, or tried to before being interrupted by her friend. "Hi Luna, have you noticed the mysterious and horrible attackonallsweetsandcakesandcandy..." Luna simply stared at the rambling pony.
"I'm too tired for this." Luna said weakly. "Did you not sleep well?" Asked Twilight with a slight hint of worry in her voice. "Do not worry, I have just... hmmm. Fornication, I fornicated a lot for the past day and only went to sleep an hour ago." Luna quickly reassured. Twilight was both surprised and unsurprised at Luna's bluntness.
"Oh, I get what you're saying. Wink, wink!" Pinkie said while winking in a very exaggerated way. "I think it might not mean what you think it means." Luna said hesitantly. Pinkie quickly answered without a second thought.``Oh, I do. Me and Cheese Sandwich learned it together. It's when you..." "Pinkie!!" Twilight's face had turned red and Luna just stared in bewilderment.
The tension was lifted when Celestia entered the room.” Twilight, how it pleases me to see you. And you brought a friend. How unexpected." Unexpected was the correct word, Twilight silently thought. Pinkie then started ranting about cakes again while Celestia listened with a smile and Luna started with mild amusement.
Two hours later all smiles and amusement had disappeared. "....And that's why we need to bring a big mallet to punch it's cake destroying claws."
"That was... interesting. Now that you're finished I think we have something important to do." Celestia said as politely as she could. Luna was busy sipping from her fifth cup of coffee. "Uh..wha...Yes, Pri... I mean Celestia I brought this and need your help getting Trixxie back." Twilight had zoned out after having heard Pinkie repeat herself multiple times. She put the book and her notes on top of the dinner table.
Celestia took one look at the old book, but she didn't even need to as she already knew about it. "A deterrent to the dark and forbidden arts. A blunt but accurate title. Made with good intentions, it's writer used thousands of dark spells and artifacts so he could write them down as a warning for it's reader. So many dark rituals and sacrifices made to prevent them."
"Who was the writer?" Twilight asked with morbid curiosity. "No one knows. I was still young when it was written, around my thirties, Luna actually knows a bit more as the last artifact to have been written in the book was about the alicorn amulet, which Luna is partially responsible for creating." Twilight turned towards Luna.” There isn't much written about the amulet, do you know why?"
Luna, while still tired, dutifully answered. "He simply disappeared. After having put his hooves on the amulet, or more precisely the gem in the amulet. No pony knows how, did he die? Go mad? Leave the continent? The only thing he left was this book."
"What about the gem?" Twilight asked. She was going to ask as many questions as possible to satisfy her thirst for knowledge. "I created it with the help of some other magically proficient creatures. It was not pleasant. But it's not relevant to our situation. Except that all of that happened in a matter of a few months." Luna answered.
"Indeed." Celestia agreed. "We are here to help you rescue a certain Lulamoon. And you told us you had an idea which spells she had used, didn't you?" Twilight nodded and opened the old book on a specific page. The mistranslated book was written on the page. "What can you tell me about it?"
Celestia let out a short chuckle. "I shouldn't laugh but the title literally tells you what to know. None of the spells are evil, wrong, dark or anything like that. It's only dangerous because of some mistranslations and spelling errors. The spells still works, but it does something completely different. "Celestia's tone became more somber. "Which can and has ended in fatalities and worse than dead situations."
Twilight gulped. Celestia continued talking. "You suspect she used a spell from that book?" "Yes and I think it was an interdimensional travel spell. At least the thaumic energy are very similar to the mirror that leads to the human world." Luna spoke up. "That old spell book did contain some very powerful spells. Which can horrible backfire due to the spelling errors." "That's what makes it dangerous."
The three alicorns silently stared at the kitchen where Pinkie was busy rummaging through the fridge. They profited from her distraction to continue discussing their important topic. "So, do you have a way to track or find Miss Lulamoon so we can retrieve her?" Luna asked while rummaging through some of the notes.
"Yes, when I went to the place where Trixie had casted her spell, I could sense her energy. After doing some research and visiting some areas where she had gone. This allowed me to get a better grip on her presence. Which would allow me to use this spell." She pulled a copy of a spell that would create a tether between the caster and target.
"And with this spell you would be able to create a temporary rift in between the two worlds through which you could pull Trixie back into our world." Celestia concluded while holding the copy of another spell. "Correct." "However you obviously need our help to cast the second spell and keep it stable and to find the correct world." She continued. "Indeed, I brought several star charts and leyline maps to help us triangulate her location."
"We will need to find an empty area to cast the spell as the hotel probably wouldn't appreciate us casting it here. Or that." Luna pointed towards Pinkie. She had made a mess out of the kitchen preparing multiple cakes using ice cream and whipped cream.
"I already know where we can cast it." Twilight quite happily said. "Four actually." "You never change, don't you?" Celestia said while chuckling. "So we're leaving right now to prepare?" Luna asked. "Indeed."
"If you excuse me I need to say my goodbyes to the fine ponies who kept me entertained last night. If you kno..." "There's no need for us to get this man,y details." Celestia interrupted her sister. "Well were..."
Bang
The three alicorns were hit by a wave of sweet and creamy shrapnel before they could even turn to look at the origin of the sound. When they turned they saw Pinkie completely covered in cake. They also saw the remnants of a pile of cakes that had obviously blown up.
The three alicorns couldn't help but stare at the strange messy sight.
"nnnnnnnnnnnnnNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH..."