//------------------------------// // Through the Loop // Story: It's Like a Cake... // by SaliantSunbreeze //------------------------------// Scene 02: Through The Loop The next morning, Twilight and the other ponies had gathered themselves on the road leading out of Withersdale. The local pegasus ponies had made sure that the weather was as nice that morning as it had been the last few days. There was a shower scheduled for later that day, however, so it would be prudent to be getting a move on. Twilight’s friends were getting everything ready as she explained what she was about to attempt. Most of the explanation went right over their heads, of course, but they seemed to get the gist of it after a while. Rarity was immensely excited by the whole thing, not wanting to have to hoof it all the way back to Ponyville. The others, however, were a bit more skeptical about the proposition. “So, what yer sayin’ is that instead’ve havin’ ta walk back ta Ponyville, yer just gonna pop us back all quick-like usin’ yer magic?” Applejack was more than a little skeptical, giving Twilight a stern look as she adjusted her saddlebags. The purple unicorn returned a firm nod, confident in her plan as she trotted back and forth in front of the group, her tome open to the relevant chapter and floating half a length in front of her as she addressed them. “That is exactly what I intend to do.” “So… why didn’t ya just bring us ‘ere like that in th’ first place?” the orange mare questioned, leering out from under the brim of her hat, “It woulda saved us a lotta time an’ effort.” “Because I didn’t know how at the time, but I was doing some reading while we were on vacation-“ “Like that’s a surprise.” A familiar rasp interjected. Rainbow Dash blew past them with a flat-toothed grin, pulling a loop in the air over the group as everyone glanced upwards. She made a corkscrew upwards before straightening out and fluttering down gently a couple of lengths away. “Seriously! I’m surprised you didn’t bring the whole library with you, Twilight! Only you would take a vacation and spend the entire time doing something that you could have done just as well at home.” “And just who was it that spent her entire time on vacation napping? Hmm?” Rarity slid up between Twilight and Dash with a hooded smile as she peered over at the boyish mare. She brought a hoof up idly to examine Rainbow’s mane, which was nothing but week old rainbow and split-ends. Dash pulled back a bit and gave the pomp a dirty look, swatting the well manicured hoof away with her own. Adopting an audacious smirk, Rainbow threw her mane back and dismissed Rarity with a wave. “Yeah, well, but I was napping at the beach. Totally different.” “Well… we did have a good time.” Fluttershy’s soft voice spoke as she approached the group from behind Applejack, a pleased look on her face, “The local animals are all very nice, and it’s a lot easier to swim in the ocean than it is in a lake, though I… I don’t know if I care for the salt very much. Still—“she gave a gentle nod and gazed about to all her friends as a group of animals began to gather in order to see her off, “It was very nice.” A bluejay alit from the air onto Fluttershy’s muzzle, causing the pink-haired pegasus to squeak with delight. “Of course, I’d be happy to come back next year, though if any of you have any friends in Ponyville, feel free to stop by. It would be lovely…” Twilight smiled gently, nodded to each of her friends before noticing an absence. Leaning off to the side, she quickly scanned the surrounding area, searching for a certain candy-colored equine. “Pinkie? Where are you?” “Heeey everypony!” An overly cheery voice responded from the exact opposite direction Twilight was looking and everypony turned their heads to see the perky, pink pony bound in from… somewhere. Her matching saddlebags were packed full of various items and she giggled merrily as she approached, stopping a few lengths away. “This was a great trip, don’t you guys think! I got so many fun things from the shops, it was super! They had party hats and paper plates and punch bowls! I even got a set of shot glasses and a really big necktie! There were all sorts of different ponies selling stuff and I got a great deal on some fireworks!” As if to punctuate her sentence, there was a multicolored explosion and all the ponies ducked down as a barrage of bottle rockets shot off in every direction, a few screaming over their heads and flying far off into the distance. Pinkie remained standing, apparently oblivious to being singed all over, with a manic grin plastered on her face. “Neato, huh?” Rainbow just stared at Pinkie Pie, a front hoof up and her mouth wide open as she attempted to respond. A few seconds later, the bottle rockets exploded with a series of loud reports somewhere in the distance. “So, now that everypony’s here,” Twilight continued on, writing off what had just occurred. “Let’s give this a shot. If my understanding of the theory is correct, all I have to do is turn down the frequency of my magic in the spell, and it will take us much farther than I would be able to normally. If everything goes as planned, then we should pop out right next to Ponyville!” Twilight beamed with pride and shut her book with a loud thump, levitating it back into her bag. “Yeah, ‘bout that, sugarcube. What’s to say that yer not gonna pop us right in the middle of a rock, or somethin’? Or somewhere out in the Everfree Forest?” Applejack inquired. She was always straight shooter, and frankly, at the moment, she wasn't very comfortable with the whole thing. Apparently neither was Fluttershy, who swallowed hard and shrunk down a bit, looking rather frightened at the prospect of being dropped out in the middle of those dark woods. “Now all of you know how good Twilight is with magic. I highly doubt that someone of her talent would allow for something that dreadful to occur. I have every bit of faith that we will arrive safely.” Rarity smiling in a reassuring manner towards her friends, gesturing towards Twilight with her hoof as she trot over to lean against the other unicorn. “Isn’t that right, darling? You know more about magic than any pony I’ve ever met! I’m sure everything will be just fine.” “Yes. I’m sure it will! Thank you very much for the vote of confidence, Rarity.” Twilight gave an appreciative nod in return and motioned with a hoof at the group, signaling for them to move closer together. “Don’t worry so much, girls. We’ll be fine. Okay, what I need is for everypony to group-up close so that I can get all of us in one shot, otherwise you might be walking back anyway,” she said with a smirk, her friends moving into a tight cluster in front of her. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes, beginning to concentrate. Her horn began to glow. It started out as a dull light, encasing her horn in a faint liquid shimmer, but as she continued pouring her concentration into it, the light began to grow brighter and brighter. Soon the unicorn’s horn was lit up like a torch, shining with a bright white light as she strained to gather the required energy. She didn’t know exactly how much would be enough, but the equations she’d gone over in her head gave her a rough idea of what she needed. Once she was sure she had enough power, she started in on the difficult part: lowering the frequency. It was strange, trying to hold onto the magic while relaxing it at the same time, kind of like trying to talk while holding something in your teeth. It had to be loose enough to work with, but tight enough that you didn’t drop it. Pinkie Pie gave a high pitched “Oooh!” Her eyes lit up as the group slowly became surrounded in an odd translucent bubble, light swirling across it like the colors on the surface of a soap bubble. Applejack and Fluttershy glanced to each other nervously, moving a little closer into the group. Rarity, of course, was transfixed by its simplistic beauty, while Dash looked on, mildly impressed. “Cool.” The tomboy said with her customary grit. The colors of the sky darkened, shifting first to a darker blue, then through green and into a yellow before snapping back to blue again and repeating. The clouds became translucent and the hue of the countryside warped around them. Dash gave a glance over to Pinkie. “Pretty neat light show! So what do you think is supposed to happen ne-“ There was a loud pop and then a rush of white light. Twilight trembled, alone in the middle of a great white void. The sounds of distant voices and the roaring of the world rushing past her at high speed assaulted her ears. It was an absolute cacophony. Teleportation was always loud, but it had never been this intense before or lasted this long. Still, she held together for a few seconds more and after a crescendo of noise, it terminated in dead silence. Everything went black for an instant and the trip crashed to a halt. Literally.