//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: You can't even lead a horse to water // Story: Dr. McNinja goes on an Equestrian Adventure // by Mysterious Stranger //------------------------------// Twilight stared at R.J., scarcely able to wrap her mind around the statement he had just made. She had always dreamed about the possibility of other realities, but she had never before considered the idea that other realities might have their own Bearers of Harmony. Then again, there was still the possibility that Radical Land and Equestria were only two different time periods in the same reality. If that were the case, R.J.'s parents might be a future or past incarnation of the Bearers of Harmony, depending on where they fit into history. But if Radical Land was a completely different reality, there could very well be hundreds, thousands, or even millions of other universes, each with their own Elements of Harmony. Twilight's mind swam with the staggering possibility of a meta universe containing a vast number of individuals learning about the magic of friendship and using it to do battle against countless evils. "Anytime you want to stop staring at me, feel free to do so," R.J. said, interrupting her thoughts. "Hm? Oh, sorry," Twilight said. "It's just that... I've never considered the possibility of others being the Bearers of Harmony at the same time as my friends and I. It's a lot to take in." "Wait, you're a Bearer of Harmony too?" R.J. inquired. "That would be correct," replied Twilight, sensing the chance for a proper introduction. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic." "Well that's weird," R.J. said with a raised brow. "My last name is Sparkle too. Rainbow Sparkle." "Really? That is odd," Twilight said, idly wondering if she and R.J. were somehow related. "Yeah, talk about... wait a second." R.J. said as he glanced at Rainbow Dash. Twilight followed his gaze. With a start, she realized that R.J. and Rainbow Dash both had rainbow colored manes. Ever so slowly, an impossible theory began to form in her mind. "No way..." R.J. said as his eyes darted back and forth between Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Apparently, the same idea was starting to appear in his mind as well. With effort, Twilight forced herself to ask the question in her head that was demanding to be voiced. "R.J.," she said carefully. "What do your parents look like?" R.J. gulped as the eyes of everyone gathered under the pizza trees locked onto him. "My... parents," he said slowly. "Look like you... and Rainbow Dash." Twilight Sparkle felt the metaphorical gears in her mind screech to a halt as screws and bolts popped loose and fell down into a cerebral void. The shattered pieces that remained creaked and rotated in a useless attempt to chug along at normal processing speeds. So lost was she within the confines of her brain, all she could detect of the outside world was laughter. Laughter. Twilight blinked twice as the world snapped back into focus. R.J. was standing before her, laughing uncontrollably. "Oh man!" he howled. "You should've see the look on your face! I really had you going didn't I?" Rainbow Dash blinked rapidly, as if she too were emerging from a state of mental malfunction. "Wait... you were lying?" she asked. "All that was a lie? Your name, your parents, everything?" "Oh no, not at all." R.J. chuckled. "My name actually is Rainbow Sparkle, and my parents actually are Bearers of Harmony. But they look nothing at all like you or Twilight. I just came up that that last bit on the fly and went with it." "Oh my gosh I just realized something!" Pinkie Pie blurted out. "What is it, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight said, more than willing to change the topic. "If Rainbow Dash and R.J. got married, their names would be the same," Pinkie Pie said. An uncomfortable silence fell over all as Pinkie Pie's awkward yet technically true observation hung over them. "Aaaannnnnyway," R.J. said, his face a little red. "There's a party going on at my place right now. What do you all say to coming with me and working out this whole Elements of Harmony thing over pizza?" "I like parties!" Pinkie Pie squealed. "Can we go to the pizza party, Twilight? Huh huh huh can we can we can we?! Twilight Sparkle glanced at Dr. McNinja. She was unsure as to why he had insisted that Sparklelord be called Batman earlier, but it wasn't a stretch on the imagination to figure that he had been acting on information she didn't possess. Until Twilight was up to speed, it seemed reasonable to her to let Dr. McNinja call the shots. "Sounds good," he said with an indifferent shrug. "Lead the way." R.J. turned and started to walk away, prompting the others to follow. Out of the corner of her vision, Twilight noticed Dr. McNinja and Gordito lagging behind, the latter of the two sitting atop Yoshi. As subtly as she could, Twilight slowed her pace so that they would catch up to her. The four of them were far back enough to avoid being overheard, although Twilight was pretty sure only three out of the four would be doing any talking. "So," Twilight Sparkle said quietly. "Batman." "Figured you were going to ask about that eventually," Dr. McNinja whispered back. "I'm fairly certain that the unicorn up front is Batman." "You mean R.J. is Spar— is Batman?" Twilight asked fearfully, recalling how Princess Luna had informed her that Sparklelord could drain magic from living beings. "Can we use a different codename besides Batman?" Gordito asked softly. "He looks just like Spar— Batman," Dr. McNinja said, ignoring his sidekick. "Only difference is that he's shorter." "Oh, so we must be in the past, when he was younger," Twilight said. "So why the different name?" "I don't why we're using a different name, its not like he can hear us," Gordito muttered. "No, I mean, why does he go by a different name now then the one we knew him by before?" Twilight said. "No idea," Dr. McNinja said. "Gordito, do you have a clear shot?" "No, Pinkie Pie is right behind him, and for some reason she's hopping up and down instead of walking," Gordito replied. "Wait, hold on, are you talking about killing him?" Twilight whispered harshly, her voice rising up a little bit. "You can't do that." "Why not?" Gordito said softly. "It's no different than going back in time and killing Hitler. It’s like the number one rule of time travel. If you have a chance to kill a psychotic mass-murderer before he does some mass murdering, you gotta do it." Twilight had no idea who Hitler was, but decided not to press the point. "That doesn't matter, because you don't know for sure if he's Batman," Twilight said. "What if this is some sort of alternate reality where he never becomes Batman? You would be killing an innocent unicorn. Besides, if he's telling the truth about his parents, he might be our only way of finding the Elements of Harmony." Several gasps and exclamations of surprise from the others up ahead suddenly caught Twilight's attention. While she and the two humans had been talking, the rest had passed the tree line and had stopped in front of a large golden object. Once Twilight herself had caught up with them, she understood why. Surrounded by a moat of some strange yellowish green liquid was a tall castle made of solid gold. For roofing it had a variety of colored gemstones that sparkled in the evening sun. Curiously enough, not a single wall of the structure was completely vertical. Instead, they were slightly slanted, and curved wherever there could have been a corner. It was very easy for Twilight to imagine someone dropping a ball out of one of the tower windows, having it roll down and then roll up the wall of another tower. The purpose behind the unusual design became clear as Twilight spotted a unicorn drop out of a tower window on a skateboard. The skater zipped down the incline and straight up another tower before disappearing through a window. Twilight's jaw dropped. The castle was more than just a home. It was a giant skateboard park. "Ladies and gentlemen," R.J. said with a grin. "Welcome to Castle Sparkle." R.J. continued on, leading the quest-goers over a drawbridge that was also made of gold. When they were halfway across, six dolphins shot out of the yellowish green liquid below, three from one side of the drawbridge and three from the other. Surprisingly, each one wore sunglasses and held an electric guitar in their flippers, which they used to play a quick little tune as they passed over everyone's heads before splashing back down into the moat. "Well, that's not something you see every day," Spike said. "Is there something wrong with the water here?" Fluttershy asked Flora as she glanced over the drawbridge. "It doesn't look clean." "I've never heard of water until today, so I don't know," Flora shrugged. "That stuff down there is Mountain Dew." Twilight glanced down at the moat with worry. If Radical Land didn't have any water, she doubted anyone from Equestria would last for long. A pony couldn't go without water forever. "This is the courtyard," R.J. said as they all entered the golden gates of the castle. "It usually looks nicer than this." Twilight glanced around. The courtyard did indeed look less than impressive. Although there many interesting statues of things she didn't recognize and many beautiful plants, the tranquil atmosphere was offset by a large pile of rubble coated with some strange pink substance. "What happened to that statue right there?" Rainbow Dash asked as she pointed a hoof at the pile of rubble. R.J. gave Rainbow Dash a confused look. "You happened," he said slowly. "Don't you remember? You crashed right into it." "I don't remember that," Rainbow Dash replied with a slight frown. "I wouldn't worry about it," Flora assured her. "You hit your head pretty hard. Short term memory loss isn't an uncommon result of doing something like that." "Oh, well, sorry I broke your statue then," Rainbow Dash said as she glanced at the cast on her wing. "Don't worry about it," R.J. said dismissively. "I can just ask Ron to fix it with magic next time he swings by." "Is Ron the Element of Magic in your world?" Rarity asked. "Surprisingly no, considering he's the greatest wizard in Radical Land," replied R.J. "He's King Radical's court magician." "I think I might be able to fix the statue," Twilight said. "Really?" That would awesome," R.J. said. "Let's see what you got, Element of Magic." Almost immediately Twilight regretted her offer. If R.J. was indeed Sparklelord, demonstrating that she had a lot of magic to be drained was probably not a smart move. But the offer had already been made, so Twilight widened her stance and concentrated. If magic in Radical Land worked the same as in Equestria, a simple restoration spell would do the trick. Pink light burst from her horn and struck the rubble. With a flash, a statue of what appeared to be a wingless dragon with very short forearms appeared. The very next moment a pink substance started to flow out of its open jaws and began to fill up a pool at its feet. “Oh wow. I forgot to tell you it was a ice cream fountain too, and yet you still fixed it," said R.J., clearly impressed. "Glad I could help," Twilight said courteously. "If you don't mind me asking, where exactly are your parents and the Elements of Harmony?" "It's kind of a long story," said R.J. "Is it alright with if I tell you over pizza? The party is right through that door over there." "Is there a reason you can't tell us out here?" Dr. McNinja asked suddenly. "Well... no. I'm just... hungry you know?" R.J. answered carefully. For a moment not a word was spoken as Dr. McNinja and R.J. looked at each other. "Are we going to the party or what?" Pinkie Pie said impatiently. "Yeah Doc, are we?" R.J. inquired innocently. "Sure, go ahead. We're all right behind you," Dr. McNinja said evenly. R.J. gave Dr. McNinja an odd look, but proceeded to walk up to a golden door and walk through nonetheless. One by one everyone else entered as well. Twilight paused momentarily at the door when it was her turn. Then, for better or for worse, she entered.