//------------------------------//
// Enter the Storybook 
// Story: Pony's Story 
// by Philosophical Tree 
//------------------------------//

        “So, what’s this all about, Twilight?”

        Twilight Sparkle, newly ascended princess of Equestria, sighed and turned to face her five friends. They had been watching her with concern, and it was obvious to her why. Although she still lived in Ponyville after she became a princess, the way that most ponies treated her - as royalty, and thus, as being above them - had made her somewhat reclusive. She didn't like the unwanted attention and level of reverence that the position brought, so she normally spent most of her time in study. Her friends worried for her, but it was her choice. She didn’t want to be treated like somepony special, so she hidden herself away. It was one of the regrets of suddenly finding a pair of wings where there were none before.

        But that was not why she had brought the Elements of Harmony to her home, the Golden Oaks Library. No, there was something else. Something dangerous. And something she hoped that they wouldn't have trouble believing. 

        “Well, Rainbow Dash, you of all ponies should know that I've been studying a certain book,” Twilight answered, flashing a smirk at the pegasus. Rainbow merely shrugged off the implied egghead jab and rolled her eyes. “As it turns out, the book is heavy laden with dark magic, and could be extremely dangerous. I've asked the princess for permission to dispose of it with the Elements of Harmony, but I can’t wield them alone. So, I need your help.” Twilight levitated a somewhat bulky tome onto her small table, which the ponies were gathered around. “We need to destroy this.”

        “But, Twilight... that’s Pony’s Story. That a foal’s pop-up book.” Rainbow landed next to the book and prodded it with a hoof. “How can this be dangerous?”

        “Yeah, especially when it’s super fun!” Pinkie Pie threw in, hopping over. “It’s a great story of a quest to save a land and defeat evil with well rounded characters and plot development, excellent artwork and gripping storytelling. Five and a half stars from me!” Twilight gazed at Pinkie in astonishment, shaking her head.

        “How did you get that... from this?” She inquired, gesturing to the book. Pinkie shrugged. 

        “I read the synopsis on the back.” Twilight shook her head again. There were some things she would never understand about Pinkie, so she chose not to even bother asking. Instead, she turned her attention to the only unicorn in the room. She hoped the flamboyant fashionista would back her up.

“Rarity, you sense the magic, don’t you?” Rarity nodded, but still seemed hesitant.

“Yes, dear. I can feel that there is something... odd, about that book.” Rarity waved a hoof absentmindedly. “But, really, darling... don’t you think you’re overreacting? What harm is there in a book for little ones? And it is such a precious thing. I used to read it all the time to Sweetie Belle. I would simply despise having to destroy such a gem.” Twilight’s right eye twitched. Rarity noticed and quickly carried on.

        “I mean, really, darling, is it that big of an issue if one single book houses dark magic? I mean, can’t you just lock it away or something? It is a book for foals, after all.” In response, Twilight gave her an aggravated groan.

        ‘This is not happening. Don’t they remember what happens when they don’t listen to me!?’ Don't they remember the Want It, Need It spell incident? Or Chrysalis, for that matter? In a bout of desperation, she turned to the other two ponies in the room. “Applejack, Fluttershy, what do you think?” Applejack, in her sound, southern manner, reached up and took off her Stetson, dropping Twilight an apologetic look.

        “Sorry, Twi, but Ah have to agree with the others here. It’s just a book. Ah used to read this before Applebloom could so much as say one word, and nothin’ bad ever happened to me. Ya’ll must’ve read it too, Twi. Ah mean, you’ve read darn near every book in the world.” Twilight stomped her hoof.

        “Of course I’ve read it, but that’s not the point! This book, this particular copy, is housing dark magic. And we have to destroy it.” Rainbow rolled her eyes again.

        “Look, Twilight, we all know that not listening to you has been an issue in the past, but with this... I’m sorry, but I just can’t agree with you here. It’s a book. What harm could a book do? Right, Fluttershy?” 

Fluttershy, who was staring at the book, merely nodded in agreement. She didn’t normally care for books, but the pegasus couldn’t help but feel that Twilight was going a little overboard with her reaction. She didn’t want to voice it, though. She still had problems with that after Iron Will’s Assertiveness Seminar, and the whole fiasco that turned into. 

        Twilight was trying to take it in stride, though she wasn’t doing it very well. She tried to disregard the twitch in her eye and the voice in her head that was screaming at the others for being so blind. Instead, she cleared her throat, calmly producing a piece of parchment from the table in front of them.

       “Well, despite all your protests, I'm sorry to say that we don't have a choice. While I agree, a book can easily be locked away and forgotten about, Princess Celestia has ordered us to dispose of it as soon as we can. I told her of what I found, and her reply... well, most of her letter is just proper disposal methods, but there’s something in the tone of the other parts, the parts she wrote more to me, which gives me reason to worry. Apparently, she knows of the magic in this book, and it frightens her. If it frightens Celestia, then it’s dangerous. And we have to get rid of it.” The other five nodded gravely, if a little confused. Twilight noticed this, and continued quickly. "I'm sorry I didn't explain this earlier, but I didn't have much of a chance with everypony dropping their opinion. Plus, I was curious as to how you would react. I apologize." Rainbow Dash smiled and shook her head.

        “Forget about it, Twi. We were kinda rude, granted, but we had our reasons, and we understand. The princess doesn't like it, and if she don't like it, then it's no good. Let’s get this done.” Rainbow stepped forward, waiting for Twilight’s affirmation. Twilight smiled and turned to face the glass case behind her, which held the Elements of Harmony inside. After having the Elements separated from them time and time again, Celestia had found it wise to leave them in Twilight’s care. Twilight carefully removed the glass and levitated the Elements to their respective ponies. 

One by one, the ponies felt the cold metal wrap itself around their necks, apart from Twilight, who gently set her tiara with the Element of Magic on her head. Nodding to the others, she began to focus her magic on the spell necessary to destroy the book, along with the dark magic inside. As she focused, her Element began to glow. The others took that as their cue to begin to focus on their Elements, trying to draw out their magic. None of the ponies present apart from Twilight had any inkling of an idea how they tapped into the magic of the Elements, but none of them complained about it. It was magic, and to them, that's just how it worked. 

The more they focused, the more the Elements glowed with life and magic, beginning to go from soft lights into full fledged beacons. By this time, the magic of the Elements was linking the six together with beams of prismatic light. Twilight felt the full power of the Elements enter her, and she redoubled her efforts on the spell, preparing to cast it and end the book once and for all.

        That’s when she felt it. 

        The magic inside the book spiked, and the book itself flew open. A powerful magic wind began to gust through the room, knocking books from their shelves and sending papers and pages flying. The ponies began to lose focus as the torrent began to increase in volume, and even Twilight, after taking a dictionary to the side of her face, could no longer concentrate on the spell. All focus was lost and the Elements ceased their magic, breaking the bond between the ones wearing them. Instead of trying to destroy the cursed object, the six mares had to fight against a strong tugging force, pulling them towards the book. They clung onto the shelves and other stationary objects for dear life. 

        “Twi! What’s happenin’? What is this?” Applejack cried over the roar of the wind, her grip on one of the bookshelves beginning to loosen. Twilight had to strain to hear her friend, and was about to respond when she was struck by The Complete Almanac of All Known Time. Losing consciousness, Twilight slipped, and was pulled by the unknown force up into the air, and then down. Down into the book. She disappeared from the world, nothing left of her to show she had ever been there. Her friends screamed As the last mare disappeared into its depths, her screams fading as she vanished, a great calm came over the library. The wind ceased to be, and all the books and papers hung for a moment before gravity kicked in, dragging them down to the floor. Where there had once been six ponies, there was now books and clutter scattered all across the library. 

        This was the scene that Spike walked in on. He had been out getting some ingredients for a gem cake he was finally planning on properly making. As he stepped in and saw the mess, and the distinct lack of ponies, he facepalmed and groaned.

        “Great. Twilight makes a huge mess, runs off, and leaves it for me to clean up. Figures.” He walked into the kitchen to deposit his groceries, then came back out to start cleaning up. As much as he wanted his cake, he knew Twilight would have a meltdown if she saw the library in the state it was in. And he didn’t want that to happen again.

        It wasn’t long before he noticed the tome on the table. He gave it a quick glance before turning back to his work. The book had slammed close after the wind died, and the cover was staring at the ceiling. Lodged into it was a familiar mark, but Spike thought nothing much off it. Even if the book had Twilight’s cutie mark glimmering on the cover, she had a bunch of books with that cover style. He thought it was quite vain, really.



__________



        “Oh... my head. Did anypony get the number of the almanac that hit me?” Twilight groaned, rolling to her hooves and struggling to rise. She had a nasty welt on her head that needed attention, but her friends came first. She needed to find them. She was lucky, as they were all scattered around her. But something was off. Something didn’t look quite right about them. 

        “Urgh... what happened?” Rainbow was the next to recover. As she blinked her eyes opened and stood up, shaking herself, Twilight gasped. Rainbow’s voice sounded different, younger. She also noticed that Rainbow seemed to be distinctly smaller, the whole of her body resembling that of a much younger, orange pegasus she knew. It was then that she noticed Rainbow's cutie mark.

Or the lack thereof.

        “Rainbow! Your cutie mark!” Rainbow glanced at her quizzically, then turned to look at her flank. Her jaw fell open, and she screamed.
        
        “Where... where is it!? What happened to me!?” Rainbow turned her attention back to Twilight. “What happened to you!? Your’s is gone, too!” Twilight’s eyes went wide, and turned to look at her rump. Sure enough, her cutie mark had disappeared as well. Not only that, but she seemed to be considerably shorter. And, to top it all off, her new wings were missing. She could think of only one thing.

        “We’ve been turned into fillies.” She muttered, putting a hoof to her mouth as she pondered this new development. Rainbow hadn't heard her. She was too busy lamenting the loss of her beloved cutie mark. The sounds of her complaining managed to wake the others, who quickly took in the situation and added their voices to Rainbow’s. Twilight was still pondering this when the voices broke through her thoughts, and she glared at the others.

        “Will you quit whining? I’m trying to figure this out!” Rarity glared at her, ready to correct the unicorn, but decided against it. Instead, she gestured to the others and they went a few paces away, leaving Twilight to her thoughts. 

        ‘So, the dark magic somehow turned us all into fillies. All I can remember is being hit with an almanac and being dragged by something... after that I must've blacked out.’ she mused, frowning. ‘And, to top that off, the Elements of Harmony are gone. I didn't see any of the girls wearing them, and I don't have my tiara. I warned them that the book was dangerous, and look where it’s got us... speaking of that.’ She looked around. They were most certainly not in the library anymore. 

        “What the... where are we?” The land around her was nondescript. It was a decent sized wooden chamber, with a large door near to one side, the opposite of which were standing the other five ponies. It was pretty dimly lit from a large lantern hanging near the roof, the flames providing just enough light to see where everything was. The only information she could glean from her surroundings was the fact that the color seemed... painted. Almost like... “A storybook... oh, sweet Celestia, no...” She turned to face the other five, who seemed to have come to the same realization that she had. 

        “Twilight... are we in the book?” Rainbow asked. Twilight simply nodded in answer, watching the reactions of the others. Rainbow seemed comfortable with the information, if not a little taken aback by it, as did Rarity. Pinkie was hopping excitedly, and Applejack seemed disconcerted. But Fluttershy’s reaction was most odd to her. Fluttershy seemed terrified, but Twilight saw something in her eyes. Longing. Something about Fluttershy told her that the pegasus dearly wanted to be there. Maybe it had something to do with the book itself. She made a mental note to ask her about it.

        “Well, here’s what I can figure out,” Twilight said, trotting over to them so she didn’t have to shout. “The dark magic I warned you about has pulled us into the book and turned us into fillies. Whatever it is, it really doesn’t like the Elements of Harmony - which, on a similar note, are missing - and it reacted violently. It has effectively trapped us here, and I don’t know what to do. My magic won’t be enough to get us out.” Her expression became filled with regret, and she gazed at her friends, sadness building in her. “I’m so sorry... I never meant to drag you all into this... I had no idea this would happen.” 

        “Get that thought outta yer head, Twi,” Applejack scolded. It was kind of comical to hear a filly scolding somepony, and the fact that without her trademark Stetson she looked far less intimidating than she could have, but that didn't matter to Twilight. Applejack’s voice was serious enough to make even Trixie stop and pay attention. So Twilight did just that. “We shoulda listened to ya from the start, but we couldn't have seen this coming. Nopony could've. But we can't just sit on our flanks and do nothin', now can we? No, we gotta focus on gettin’ back home. So...” She looked around the small room, taking in all she could. “Where do we start?” Twilight looked down at her hooves and shuffled.

        “I really don’t remember much of this story. Do any of you?” Finally, Fluttershy spoke up.

        “Oh, yes!” She whispered eagerly. Twilight was surprised by her enthusiasm, but allowed her to continue. “The story follows six fillies who quest to recover the Tree of Harmony, which had been stolen by a dark creature known as... um... Bow... Bow... something with a Bow in it. He wasn't very nice at all. Anyway, each page of the book is a different area that the fillies had to trek through, and in the end, their bond with harmony defeated the villain and won them the Tree back.” As Fluttershy finished, she found the other five staring at her. Not seeing anywhere to hide, she ducked under her mane, blushing furiously. “Um, well... that is... that’s all I know...” Twilight shook herself.

“Well, as much as I hate to admit it,” she confessed. “We’re probably gonna have to do what they did. If this... Tree of Harmony is anything like the Elements, it may be able to help us. Although, Celestia knows why it’s a tree. I mean, really, who wrote this?” Fluttershy’s gaze suddenly locked on Twilight, a sinister look in her eye. Twilight didn’t notice, as she was too busy looking towards the large door. “I guess we should see what’s on the other side. Come on.” As one, the small group of fillies trotted over to the large, wooden door. From behind it, they could hear some faint noises, but it was quiet enough where they couldn’t make it out. Twilight saw no way to open the door by hoof, so she charged her magic and focused on the door. Oddly enough, there was a handle, of sorts, made out of pure magic hanging off the door. She latched onto it and pulled.

        Instantly there was a blinding flash of light. The fillies covered their eyes from the bright sun and blinked, trying to take in what was around them. As they adjusted to the brightness, a lovely scene unfolded before them. What appeared to be pleasant fields, bright trees and flowers, and glorious sunshine lay before them in the watercolor splendor of the book’s art style. They could hear the singing of birds, the buzzing of insects, and the melodious sound of a stream flowing gently on its course. Despite the dire situation they found themselves in, the fillies couldn't help but smile at the world in front of them.
        
        ‘Wow, Pinkie wasn’t kidding. This is beautiful.’ Twilight mused, before turning to her friends. “Well, I guess this is where we begin. I don’t know what lies ahead, but if it’s anything like this, then we shouldn’t have much of a problem. Now, come one, let’s... what?” She tried to step out the door, but found herself held back by an unseen force. She tried to reach out with her magic and find it, but it evaded her. Focusing again, she found that the barrier wasn't really a magic wall, but something more sinister. It almost seemed to be alive. And it didn't want her to leave.

"Something's holding me back. I can't get through." She grunted, still trying to get a grip on the slippery essence that was containing her. "Can any of you get past?" The others stepped forward, each attempting to puncture the barrier. Only one pony managed to step through, meeting almost no resistance. As Applejack stepped out onto the path, she turned and got a quick look at the others. She chuckled at the antics of her friends.

Rainbow, after finding out she couldn't get through, had decided to mercilessly beat the barrier holding her back. Pinkie was trying to offer the barrier baked goods, which wasn't helping her get through. Rarity was attempting to charm the barrier - Applejack snorted at this - but wasn't faring any better. Fluttershy stood back timidly, politely asking the barrier to let her through. It was quite adorable, but didn't faze the barrier in the slightest. And Twilight was still trying to magic the barrier into nonexistence. After a moment of watching, Applejack decided to break them out of there trances.

        “Hey, look! Ah got-” She got no further as the door slammed behind her, leaving her alone in the storybook world. She knew that Twilight wouldn't have shut the door, so it must have been the force that had held the others back. She dashed up to where the door had been, which now consisted of empty space, and began shouting.

“Hey! Come on now, this ain’t funny! Girls! Can ya’ll hear me?” She sat in the dirt, the beginnings of tears creeping into her eyes. She hadn’t felt this way since she was very young, and she didn’t like it. It was close to how she felt when she had gone to Manehatten as a filly, and how alone and out of place she felt. “This... ah don’t wanna do this alone...” In her heart, she knew that no matter how much she complained, the mysterious force would not relent. It wanted each of them to go it alone. And she couldn’t let her friends down.

That was one thing she refused to tolerate. Rainbow Dash may be the Element of Loyalty, but it would be a cold day in Tartarus before Applejack abandoned her friends. Sniffing and wiping her eyes, a new determination in her heart, she rose to her hooves and turned about with a smile. Head held high, she trotted off down the path, taking in the beautiful sight around her. It had been a long time since she had read this book, but fond memories of days long gone came flooding back.

        “Ah remember this place. This is the openin' part, after the Tree of Harmony gets nabbed from it’s home. The heroes start here. It seems... different, somehow.” She had noticed that there was something odd in the air around her. Things seemed to be much more dark, despite the brightness of the noonday sun, and even the sun itself seemed to be somewhat tinted. It was as if a perpetual shadow was hanging over everything. She was unnerved, but pressed on, determined to do what she had to.

        It didn't take her long to find her first landmark. It was a four way fork in the road, with signs pointing down each path. Applejack took a moment to read them all. The text was somewhat faded on three of the signs, but the first looked brand new, if scrawled rather messily. Either way, she found them all legible. 

        “Don Pach E. Derm’s Turf, The Land of Surprises, Cloud Lift Central, and The Tower of Unremarkability ... huh.” She paused for a moment and scratched her head with her hoof. “Looks like Ah can only go down one path. But Ah have to decide which one. Only one, huh... hmm.” Biting her lip, she lowered her hoof from her head and pointed in the middle of the roads in front of her.

        “Ah’ll go...”