It was the late morning as we make our way to Ponyville. Most of the inhabitants were already bustling about with work and errands. In the Castle of Friendship, Twilight was no exception. She was in the middle of a friendship lesson with Starlight Glimmer.
"And even though the truth might hurt, it's better to be honest with them instead of trying to sugarcoat the problem or even lie to them." The alicorn drew on a chalkboard, conceptualizing the idea of honesty over lying.
Starlight studied the the chalk drawings.
"But, even if the truth is the better, what if the friend still ends the friendship right then and there anyways?" The lavender unicorn asked.
"There's always that possibility." Twilight admitted. "But, Applejack and I can attest to the fact that lying is the worst thing you can do to a friend. Honesty shows great faith and trust in any relationship."
"I...still am not one-hundred percent sure about this, Twilight." Starlight said hesitantly.
"Trust me, Starlight. The honest truth is much better to heal from than breaking the trust of a friend from lying." Twilight reassured.
Starlight sighed calmly.
"Alright. I'll be sure to remember that the next time I get into a situation like that." Starlight affirmed.
"Alright, that will do it for today." The purple alicorn said.
"Oh, good. I promised Trixie I would help her with some magic spells today." Starlight explained. "I suppose I can head over to her cart now."
"Alright then. Don't go too crazy though." Twilight warned. "You know how she is."
"Believe me. She's always aiming for the stars and I always have to bring back down to the ground. If you know what I mean." Starlight said as she began to head for the front doors.
"Don't worry, I know exactly what you mean." The alicorn chuckled a little.
Once Starlight was gone, Twilight was left in the room by herself with her thoughts. Only a month had gone by since there last adventure with Pooh, Piglet and the others. While the mission was riddled with danger, it was that adventure that helped Twilight gain some self-confidence. It was thanks to her talks with Rabbit and Celestia that made her feel a lot more capable as a friend, a leader, and most importantly a mother-figure. With her relationship with her friends getting stronger, her bond with Spike being seen in a new light, and Starlight getting better day after day, Twilight felt more than ready for the next adventure into the multiverse.
Fate could not have timed the situation better. Twilight felt the familiar sensation on her flanks. She turned her head back and noticed that her cutie marks were glowing once again.
"I couldn't ask for a better time." She said to herself.
The purple alicorn walked out of the study where she spotted Spike heading down the hall. His spines were glowing, just like her cutie mark
"Another adventure awaits." She commented.
"Definitely seems to be the case." Spike responded. "I hope it isn't as daunting as last time."
Memories of hanging over the gorge and being stuck in the crystal-covered cavern came flooding back. The little dragon winced.
"Don't worry, Spike. I won't let anything like that ever happen again." Twilight put a wing of Spike's back which made him feel a little better.
The pony and dragon made their way to the Cutie Map room and entered. To neither of there surprise, the entire table was glowing brightly.
"Are the others coming along, too?" Spike wondered out loud.
"We'll just have to see." Twilight answered simply.
And so the two waited. In the span of a few minutes, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all arrived at the room. Each of their cutie marks glowing.
Welp, it was bound ta happen eventually." Applejack stated.
"No kidding, I even made the mark the day on the calendar extra big." Pinkie pulled out a calendar from her mane and pointed at the big, red cross on the current date. It was so large it covered several others days of the month.
"Let's just hope it won't be perilous or be some silly misinterpretation like last time." Rarity said distastefully.
"You and me both, Rarity." Spike agreed, a slight blush appearing on his face.
"Agreed, I hope I never see that bird ever again." Rainbow grunted.
"Well, let's not waste anymore time. We have a friendship mission to complete." Twilight charged up her horn with the proper spell and casted onto the map.
The portal began to take form. First covering the top of the map and then enveloping it altogether.
"Aw, yeah! I've been itching for another friendship mission like this." Rainbow said excitedly.
"Ah feel like you say that every time this happens." Applejack said skeptically.
"So? It's not like I can't be excited for it." The rainbow-maned pegasus countered.
"I wouldn't mind if it was more relaxing than the prior ones." Fluttershy quietly interjected.
"Here's hoping, Fluttershy." Rarity said.
"All right, is everypony ready?" Twilight asked. The others nodded. "Then let's go!"
Together they all jumped through the portal for the next adventure. As they traveled within the portal, The Main 7 began to talk amongst themselves.
"So, what do you think this world is gonna be this time?" Rainbow asked playfully.
"One of candy and sweets!" Pinkie shouted joyfully.
"That won't give you a reason to eat them though." Twilight responded.
Then something began to happen. A blinding light began to envelop the ponies and dragon. They were all taken by surprise.
"What's going on?" Rarity asked fearfully.
"I don't know!" Twilight answered with just as much fear.
The Main 7 could only watch as the light swallowed their entire bodies.
Transformation had begun.
We arrive in a different world, but this time, we abandon the precious land for now and journey far into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. amidst the miles of calm, salty seawater, we find what looks to be a small island with shrubbery and a few palm trees. As we get closer however, we find the island is much bigger than anticipated. Through the humid, misty air and jungle-like plant life we find an unsuspecting human pulling a rowboat onto the shore of the island. He was wearing the quintessential pirate clothing, but his most eye-catching feature was the large and grizzly, rusty-orange beard that covered his chin and sideburns. Not far from the island a pirate ship lay anchored to it's spot. The pirate rolled out a map of the island and chuckled deviously. With the map in hand he began to venture to the inner-most part of the island.
Armed with a sword, the pirate slashed his way through the thick vegetation. through an opening in the foliage he pulled out the map and looked through it again. That's when he noticed a sign with a skull on top of the post. In big, red lettering it read...
"Booby Traps"?" The pirate said aloud. He cut down the sign and laughed arrogantly.
The pirate continued to cut a path through the jungle plants before finally reaching his intended destination. In front of him was the overgrown remains of an ancient tribe grounds. Stone pillars littered the area and at the far end lay a skeleton in a clad, red coat sitting on a mossy throne. It was holding a book that depicted a bottled-up roll of paper in the title cover.
"There you are, my lovely." The pirate murmured.
Slowly, he crept out of the foliage before his stride turned into more of a dance routine, avoiding giant spikes that shot out of the ground. He sidestpped and tip-toed across the trap-riddled floor. With that out of the way, the pirate walked up the steps to the throne.
"What's that? Take the book?" He asked jokingly. "I don't mind if I do."
He hastily snatched the book out of the skeleton's hand, causing it to fall and tumble to the ground. The pirate chuckled triumphantly down the steps.
"At last, it is mine." He stared at the book. "Finally, you are mine."
Suddenly, the skeleton began to shake. Broken joints reconnected themselves and the skull reattached to the spine. It stood up, relocating it's jawbone. The pirate watched it with challenging eyes.
"All right. Let's do this. Bare knuckles." He taunted, ready for a fight. The skeleton pumped it's bony fists up. "Bring it on, skinny. You don't scare me."
The skeleton struck first with a one-two combo, but the pirate dodged both punches. The skeleton went in for a third. This time, the pirate used the book as a shield and laughed pompously. The skeleton retaliated with an uppercut that sent the pirate rocketing off the island and into the air.
Meanwhile, back at the ship, several seagulls were playing a friendly game of cards.
"You got any sevens?" One of them asked.
"Go fish." Another answered.
Just then, the pirate crashed onto the the deck of the boat, scaring off all the seagulls. The pirate dizzily got back up.
"Is that all you got?" He yelled toward the island. He laughed and kissed the book. His journey was complete.
Taking a rope, he swung from the bow to the stern of the ship. With the anchor hoisted and the sails wide open, the ship lurched forward. The pirate looked from atop the crow's nest with a telescope. He walk off it and landed on the poop deck. Turning to the helm, he pressed the "Auto Pirate" setting, allowing the ship to drive itself. The pirate sat down and opened the book.
"Man, this is way overdue." He said to himself.
"Once upon a time, under the sea, there was a little town called Bikini Bottom. In this town, there was a place called The Krusty Krab, where folks come to eat a thing called the Krabby Patty. Every greasy spoon has a fry cook, and the one who worked here was named SpongeBob Squarepants."
"There's only one thing worse than talking birds, and the would be...singing birds!" The pirate yelled irately.
"Okay, I promise not to si-i-i-ng!" One of the seagulls taunted.
Another cleared their throat, grabbing the singing one's attention. The second gull pointed to a cage that housed three parrot skeletons with musical instruments.
"Take it from us." One of the parrots said.
"He really does hate singing birds." Another confirmed.
The first seagull squawked, dropping his "droppings" in fear.
"just keep weading. Pwease, Mr. Piwate, sir." The second gull pleaded with an obvious speech impediment.
"Come closer while I tell you the tale." The pirate relented.
"Okay, start reading." Another seagull demanded.
"Not that close!" The pirate shouted.
A few of the gulls back away to give him space.
"Yeah. All right, here we go." He turned to the next page.
"Now, SpongeBob loved his job as a fry cook more than anything. And that is saying a lot because he loved everything! He loved his pet snail, Gary. He loved his best friend, Patrick. He loved blowing bubbles and jellyfishing. He loved making Krabby Patties for the folks of Bikini Bottom just as much as they loved eating them. Why, you may ask, do they love this greasy little sandwich so much? Why did they eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner despite the doctor's warnings?"
"He'll be gone in a week." The fish doctor said solemnly, watching the patient munch on a Krabby Patty.
"Oh, Harold!" The female fish sobbed.
Even with the heartbreaking news, both helped themselves to a Krabby Patty.
"It was a secret. No one was sure what was in these patties that made them so delicious. And, frankly, no one cared, except for Plankton.
"Eh." The little green being grunted.
"Plankton owned a restaurant right across the street from the Krusty Krab, where no one ate because the food was really bad."
"Now, is that really necessary?" Plankton asked crossly. The musty sandwich next to him deflated in a pool of disgusting fluids just to prove the pirate's point.
"Plankton had made it his life's work to steal the recipe."
Plankton hung by a rope, ready to snatch the formula from the open safe. That was until something began to force him away. It was SpongeBob with a reef blower.
"SpongeBob, please, let's talk about this!" The would-be thief pleaded. He was sucked into the reef blower before he could say anything else.
SpongeBob blew the dust off the vacuum nozzle.
"And SpongeBob was always there to protect it. But today, things would be different."
The pirate was not exaggerating. Plankton had a brand new plan cooked up for the yellow sponge. What wasn't known yet, however, was that a group of inter-dimensional heroes will be coming to SpongeBob's aid.
To be continued.