Ponysona: Arcana Crusaders

by Phoenix Kitten


This... this isn't good...

Sweetie trotted through the eerily empty streets, glancing around. Everything was bizarrely quiet, especially seeing as the sun was still setting. Her ears twitched as the wind howled down the street she stood in, the rustling of a nearby bush catching her attention.

"Sugar Cube?" She asked as she trotted towards the sound, her voice echoing for what seemed like eternity.

The rustling stopped after she spoke, inciting her to reach forward and pry the branches apart.

"A-aunty S-Sweetie?" the chocolate brown unicorn filly muttered up from the fetal position she was curled into. "T-the dog didn't follow you did it?"

Sweetie shook her head and pulled the shaking filly into a hug. "No she didn't."

Sugar sighed and leaned into the hug, her shaking gradually reducing. "The emptiness around town didn't help me calm down at all.... I could hear dogs howling."

"Yeah... it is oddly empty isn't it?" Sweetie nodded, a small twinge running down her tail. "Sugar Cube did you notice anypony else around?"

"Uhh..." Sugar nodded slowly. " I saw...what's her name... big purple glasses with the lisp."

"Twist." Sweetie said absentmindedly as she scrutinized the dark corners and alleys of the street they were in.
"Where was she? I'm thinking we should grab her and take her back to Appleblooms place."

"I saw her... near...the clockwork store." Sugar eventually managed to get out. "Can... can I just start making my way back there now... this place is creeping me out... It's too quiet."

Sweetie shook her head. "Stay close to me... it feels like we're not alone and I don't want you running off and getting hurt."

"Okay." The brown unicorn nodded.

"Actually.... Go. Gallop back. It's not far. I'll try and find Twist then follow after you." Sweetie said as she broke off a sharp stick from the bush the other unicorn had been hiding in it and passing it to her.
"And tell Diamond Tiara to turn her laptop on and open the program."

Sugar Cube blinked a few times before taking the stick in her mouth and galloping back towards the farm as fast as she could.

Sweetie waited until she couldn't hear her niece's hoof falls and trotted towards the alleyway which housed the Velvet Door.

"Ah. Sweetie good to see you!" A cheerful voice greeted the white unicorn as she stepped into the familiar hotel lobby.
However, instead of the creepy and polite Igor sitting behind the desk with Theodore off to his right, she found herself greeted by two faces she had seen around Ponyville.

"Mr Whooves? Ditzy? What are you two doing here... wait..... how did you even get here?"

The brown stallion chuckled and ran his hoof through his mane. "Funny story, we're filling in for my good buddy Igor and his assistants until he gets done helping some other ponies in another universe in a very similar situation to yours that isn't really similar at all."

Sweetie tilted her head slightly.

"But I'd probably give you a massive headache from trying to explain the fundamental properties of space-time and how they can be manipulated on a local scale."

"I still don't understand most of it." The grey pegasus mare spoke up, the skill card compendium tucked under her wing.

"I... see." Sweetie shook her head. "So when can I expect Mr. Igor back?"

"Oh... uh in about a year... give or take a month." The stallion replied.

A sigh escaped Sweetie's lips as she closed her eyes. "Well um... Mr. Whooves."

"Professor" The stallion interrupted. "I have a PhD in quantum mechanics and am authorized to teach others about it."

"Okay.... Prof. Whooves... you know what... never mind... I'm still to confused by all this... I'll come back later." Sweetie shook her head. "I spent all my gems trading for cards with Theodore last time I was here."

"Okay then. See you soon." the Stallion replied, waving goodbye as the white unicorn retreated back through the door.

Sugar Cube burst through the door to the clubhouse panting, dropping the stick from her grasp. "Dia.... ara.... aptop.... program...." she gasped out before collapsing from exhaustion and falling asleep.

"What?" Silver Spoon asked the sleeping filly.

Applebloom shifted and looked at Diamond Tiara. "Ah think she was tryin' to give us a message from Sweetie."

"Oh." Diamond nodded as she fetched her laptop and powered it on, the desktop showing an image of her own and Silver Spoon's cutie marks side by side. "Right right... Here it is."
A few clicks from the track pad later and a map of Ponyville appeared, a small image of Sweetie in the upper left corner above a red bar which itself was above a blue bar.
A line drew itself from the picture of Sweetie to one of Ponyville's central streets, pointing to a small blue dot, which was surrounded by around eight red dots in a semi circle.
"Uh oh.... Applebloom, Scootaloo, Silver Spoon, in front of the abandoned recording station. Go!"

The three filled looked at each other and nodded, Scootaloo leaping out of the window and onto her scooter, followed by Applebloom who knocked her tail against the cupboard under the window as she leaped out of the same window and landed in the wagon attached to the back of the blue, pegasus propelled scooter.
Silver Spoon was the last out, undoing the braids in her mane as she followed suit, grabbing her sword from the weapon rack which had slid down from beneath the cupboard.

Scootaloo smirked and buzzed her wings before the trio took off down the dirt track towards Ponyville, leaving Dewey, Icing and Sunny confused and staring at Diamond Tiara, who watched as the three fillies pictures appeared on screen with a similar set up to the picture of Sweetie.