“You know stuff, Wind Whistler,” Gust said. “What is it?” Wind Whistler, Gusty, Fizzy, and Shady were on their way to a field for a picnic when they encountered the strangest sight.
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Wind Whistler said. They were staring at a large, circular distortion hanging in the air. Light refracted through it, making jagged rainbow patterns. The patterns swirled and jolted around in the circle. The effect was somewhat discombobulating.
“It’s pretty,” Fizzy said. Shady hid behind the other three.
“Well, if you don’t know what it is, then I’m gonna find out,” Gusty said.
“I don’t think that would be—” Too late; Gusty had already galloped into the circle. “—prudent,” Wind Whistler finished.
Fizzy cantered around to the other side. “She’s gone!” Fizzy said.
“Oh, no!” Shady said. “This is all my fault.”
“Huh?” Fizzy said, poking her head around the circular distortion. “Why’s that?”
“The picnic was my idea,” Shady said. “If not for me, we wouldn’t have found the portal.”
“Portal?” Wind Whistler said. “It could be. After all, there wasn’t any visible or audible release of energy indicating combustion or the destruction of matter. Perhaps Gusty was simply transported across space.”
“D-destruction?” Shady whispered.
“It’s a possibility,” Wind Whistler said. “I frankly don’t understand the nature of this distortion.”
Fizzy had come back to the others. “Gee, don’t you think we oughta help Gusty?” she said.
“You’re quite right,” Wind Whistler said. “It could be dangerous, but I propose that we step through the distortion like Gusty did. Wherever she is, she could be in need of our aid.”
Wind Whistler heard Shady gulp behind her. “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”
“With our limited information, I believe it is our best option,” Wind Whistler said. “If it is indeed a portal, we have no assurance to its stability on this side or the other. Therefore, I propose that we all go in together.”
“Come on, Shady,” Fizzy said. “Gusty might need us.”
“Well, okay…” Shady stood on Wind Whistler’s right, with Fizzy on her left.
“We’ll step forward on three,” Wind Whistler said. “Ready? One. Two. Three!”
“I can’t!” Shady yelped at the same time. Fizzy was already leaping forward, but Shady was frozen in place. In a split-second decision, Wind Whistler stepped forward with Fizzy. If Shady stayed behind, she would be out of harm’s way. But Fizzy was going through, so Wind Whistler needed to go with her. The two of them stepped through the circular distortion, and Wind Whistler felt a falling sensation.
Thud. Wind Whistler lost track of up and down, her head was spinning, her ears were ringing, and her vision was foggy. The only sensation she processed clearly was the pain in her right hip, where she had landed on hard ground. “Darling, your tail bow is divine!” a voice said. “But what are you doing there in the dirt?”
“Heart Throb?” Wind Whistler said. She looked up and saw a white unicorn. Not Heart Throb. Was that Gusty?
“Heart Throb, who’s that?” the unicorn said. No, this wasn’t Gusty. Wind Whistler forced her eyes to focus. The unicorn had a carefully styled purple mane, rather than Gusty’s messy, turquoise and pink mane.
“A friend of mine,” Wind Whistler said. “Your speech patterns resemble hers.” Wind Whistler slowly stood up, still feeling dizzy.
“Are you quite alright?” the unicorn said.
Wind Whistler gasped. “Where’s Fizzy? Have you seen a teal, twinkle-eyed unicorn?”
“Right here, Whistles,” a voice behind Wind Whistler said. She turned to see Fizzy. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane was brushing her off.
“Are you hurt?” the pegasus said. Something about her seemed… familiar.
“No,” Fizzy said.
"Have we encountered each other previously?” Wind Whistler said to the pegasus. “You seem familiar.”
“Um… I don’t remember seeing you two before,” the pegasus said. “My name is Fluttershy.”
“And I’m Rarity,” the unicorn said. “Welcome to Ponyville.”
“Fizzy.”
“Wind Whistler. We’re looking for our friend, Gusty. She’s a white unicorn with five Acer saccharum leaves for her flank symbol. Have you seen her?”
“I certainly haven’t,” Rarity said.
“Neither have I,” Fluttershy said. “But we’d gladly help you look for her.”
Rarity gasped. “Darling, your eyes!” she said, rushing to Fizzy. “They’re dazzling!”
“Who, me?” Fizzy said.
“Yes, you,” Rarity said. “Who else?”
“Well, Galaxy’s eyes are even more… Wait, Galaxy’s not here right now!” Fizzy chuckled.
“Fizzy, I have to ask…” Rarity began. “No, I shouldn’t, it’d be r—But I must! Where in Equestria did you get eyes like that? Is it some new contact lens they’ve started wearing in Canterlot?”
“No, it’s, um… You see, there was this wizard who—”
“It is imperative that we stay focused on locating our friend,” Wind Whistler interrupted. “She could be in danger.”
“Maybe we can help you find her,” Fluttershy offered.
“Excellent idea, Fluttershy!” Rarity said. “If there’s a new pony in town, Pinkie Pie might know. Why don’t Fizzy and I visit Sugarcube Corner while you pegasi start scanning the town from the sky?”
“Sugarcube Corner?” Fizzy said. “I love sugarcubes!”
“Well… I suppose this could be more productive,” Wind Whistler said. “But we should have a predetermined means of signaling each other in case we find the others or we are in need of assistance.”
“I can make bubbles!” Fizzy said. Bubbles came out of her horn and shot upwards past the rooftops. “You should be able to see that from the sky.”
“I shall whistle at my highest volume,” Wind Whistler said. “I wish you exceptional fortune.”
“Good luck,” Fizzy said. Wind Whistler and Fluttershy galloped forward and took off.
* * *
“Here we are,” Rarity said. “Sugarcube Corner.”
Fizzy looked at the building, wide-eyed. “It’s like a giant gingerbread house!” she said. “Can you eat it?”
“No, but there are many things inside which you can eat,” Rarity said. They walked into the shop, and the smell of a thousand sweets hit Fizzy’s nostrils.
“Ooh, Cupcake would love it here!” Fizzy said.
“Hello, Miss Pie,” Rarity said to the pony at the counter. She was pink with a mane like cotton candy. “How is your day of work going?”
“It’s been slow,” Miss Pie said. “I think everypony in town still has leftover cupcakes from the Festival of the Two Sisters. So I’ve been doing some flavor experimentation in my spare time. Do you want to try a peach-mint cupcake with salted caramel on top?”
“Oh, I uh… I’m afraid I’m on a… diet,” Rarity said awkwardly. “Yes, a diet is what I am on…”
“I’ll try it,” Fizzy said.
“Thank you, pony I don’t know!” Miss Pie said. “WAIT, WHAAAT?” She darted up to Fizzy and shook her hoof vigorously. “I’ve never seen you here before. My name is Pinkie Pie, and I’m your new friend. Welcome to Ponyville…”
“Fizzy.”
“Welcome to Ponyville, Fizzy! You’re such a good friend for agreeing to try my cupcakes. I need some honest feedback from potential customers.” She shoved a cupcake straight into Fizzy’s mouth. “What do you think?” She looked at Fizzy with wide blue eyes.
Fizzy chewed and swallowed. There was a lot going on her mouth at once. “I like it, I think?” she said. “I may just be hungry. We were supposed to be having a picnic by now.”
“Hmm, interesting…” Pinkie said, scribbling notes so quickly that smoke was rising from the paper.
“Pinkie Pie, Fizzy is new in town, and she’s lost track of a friend of hers,” Rarity said.
“Gusty, a white unicorn with a greenish-blue and pink mane,” Fizzy said.
“Hmm… I don’t think I’ve heard anypony talking about her,” Pinkie said. “When did you arrive in Ponyville, and which direction did you come from?”
“A few minutes ago, and… up?” Fizzy said. “I’m not sure, really.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Rarity said.
“Well… we were in Dream Valley, and we were going to the fields south of Paradise Estates for a picnic. There was this pretty, colorful… thing floating in the air. Gusty stepped through, and she disappeared. Then Wind Whistler and I stepped through, and I remember falling and landing on my flank. And then we were here! That’s when you found us, Rarity.”
“Fascinating,” Pinkie said. “Was it a circular distortion that made rainbow patterns?”
“Yes,” Fizzy said. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess,” Pinkie said. “I’d say you stepped through a multiverse quantum orthogonality.”
“A multi… quantum what?” Fizzy said.
“A multiverse quantum orthogonality. They’re temperamental by nature, usually only stable on one side for a few minutes. If you and Wind Whistler stepped through together, that’s why you landed in the same place. But in our universe, the orthogonality was probably moving rapidly. Gusty could be miles from here.”
“Oh, that’ll make it hard to find her,” Fizzy said.
“Wait, how do you know all of that?” Rarity said.
“Pinkie sense. If you want to narrow your search radius, you could ask Twilight to do a triangulation for disturbances in the space-time continuum.”
“A triangle… for space-time what?” Fizzy said.
“A triangulation for disturbances in the space-time continuum, whatever that means, Miss Pie,” Rarity said, glaring at Pinkie.
“I will write it down,” Pinkie said. She scribbled and passed a note to Fizzy. “Just give this to Twilight and… oh, she lives in Canterlot now.” A few tears appeared in Pinkie’s eyes, but she was still smiling. “Find Starlight and give this to her. She may have to look up a few spells to make it work, but she’ll figure it out.”
Fizzy tucked the note into her mane. “Neat,” she said. “How do I find Starlight?”
“She’s the Headmare at the School of Friendship,” Rarity said. “Pinkie, darling, is there any chance you could take her there? I don’t want her to get lost, but I should be getting back to Carousel Boutique.”
“I wish I could,” Pinkie said. “Even though it’s a slow day, I can’t just leave Sugarcube Corner unattended, and the Cakes are on a business trip to Appleoosa.”
“Hmm…” Rarity mumbled. “I really must keep working on my designs for my next winter line, but… I shall find time later. Come with me, Fizzy.”
* * *
“The only white unicorn I’ve seen so far was Rarity,” Fluttershy said. “What about you?” They stood on a cloud above the center of town.
“I’ve fared no better, I’m afraid,” Wind Whistler said.
A rainbow blur sped past them and called out, “Hey Mom. Hey Fluttershy.” The blur slowed down suddenly, and Wind Whistler realized it was a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. “Whoa, whoa, what?” She flew back to them.
“Hheeeyy, stranger who I totally didn’t mistake for my mom,” she said. “Who’s this, Fluttershy?”
“My name is Wind Whistler.”
“Wind… Whistler…” The rainbow pegasus stared at her like something was confusing her.
“Oh, she does look a little similar, doesn’t she?” Fluttershy said. “I didn’t think of that.”
“I can assure you that I am not a mother,” Wind Whistler said. She deduced that she resembled the rainbow pegasus’s mother, and Fluttershy definitely reminded her of somebody. Oh, it was Posey! Fluttershy looked like Posey but with wings. She even talked a bit like her. This was remarkably peculiar.
“Anyway, I’m Rainbow Dash. How do you know Fluttershy?”
“We just met,” Fluttershy said. “We’re looking for her friend, Gusty.”
“I can find her in a jiffy,” Rainbow Dash said. “What does she look like?”
“She’s a white unicorn with a dark turquoise and pink mane, five Acer saccharum leaves in their autumn hue as her flank symbol, and green eyes,” Wind Whistler said.
“On it!” Rainbow said, and she darted off. She zipped between the buildings of the town, trailing a rainbow behind her.
“Her agility and acceleration are quite remarkable,” Wind Whistler said, looking down at the town. She moved so quickly that her rainbow trail was lighting up multiple streets at a time. “She may even be more adept in aerobatics than Whizzer.”
“She’s the best in all of Equestria,” Fluttershy said. “I just hope she’s searching thoroughly and not just going so fast to show off…”
Rainbow Dash darted back up to their cloud. “She’s not in Ponyville,” she said. “I did see a unicorn I didn’t recognize. She had a tail bow like yours, and she was blowing bubbles into the air with her horn.”
“That’s almost certainly Fizzy,” Wind Whistler said. “Where did you see her?”
“Over by Sugarcube Corner,” Rainbow said. “Follow me.” She dashed off. She was far faster than Wind Whistler, but at least she left a rainbow trail to follow.
* * *
“Who’s there?” Shady called out. Something had definitely moved in the shadows of this murky forest. There was something in the corner of Shady’s eyes. She turned quickly, but it was gone. The image of glowing, angry eyes staring at her lingered in her vision.
“Gusty!” Shady called out. “Wind Whistler! Fizzy! Is anybody there?” The only response was cawing crows and groaning wood. Shady should have gone through the portal with Wind Whistler and Fizzy. She had frozen in fear, but after they disappeared, she thought they might need her help, so she stepped through the portal alone. The others probably didn’t even know Shady was here. They would be looking for Gusty, and if they found her they’d all go home without Shady. “Oh, now I’ve really gone and done it,” she mumbled.