My Littlest Pet Shop: Escape from Equestria

by Drizzle Quill

Chapter Two: Paranormal Activity

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Twilight was so excited she felt like she could burst.

It had started that morning when she, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were in the library, helping Spike find one of Twilight’s lost books. She had been in an overall frenzy—it had been a wonderful read while it was there, and now it was just…gone!

“Star Swirl the Bearded’s Guide to Advanced and Complex Magic, Star Swirl the Bearded’s Guide to Advanced and Complex Magic…where are you?” the purple unicorn had wailed, using her horn’s magic to levitate about fifty books at a time. “Oh…no, no, no!” In frustration, Twilight had thrown herself onto a pile of books that had proven themselves to not be the one she was looking for.

“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash broke in. The Pegasus flicked her tail to one side. “Why so serious? It’s one stinkin’ book, and you’ve got, like, thousands!” A smirk appeared on Rainbow’s face. “At least it wasn’t the seventh Daring Do. I’m almost done with the sixth.”

About two seconds later the Pegasus had backed up nervously as Twilight threw herself in front of Rainbow, eyes wild. “THIS IS NOT JUST ‘ONE STINKIN’ BOOK!’”

“Um, T-Twilight? Is this your book?” Fluttershy murmured softly in the corner, holding up a large book with a bright red cover. But Twilight didn’t hear her, as she was still too busy yelling at Rainbow Dash about the importance of unicorn’s magic, all that she had learned from Star Swirl the Bearded’s Guide to Advanced and Complex Magic.

“Ooh, ooh! Is this it? Is this it? Is this it?” Pinkie Pie chirped, bouncing around the room and snatching books at random from the shelves. Fluttershy swooped out of the way to avoid the pink Earth Pony and held up the red book again.

“Twilight, this book says ‘Star Swirl the Bearded—‘”

“AND DID YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW THAT STAR SWIRL THE BEARDED IS HIGHLY CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL UNICORNS OF ALL TIME?” Twilight screamed at Rainbow Dash, who opened up her wings and zoomed to the ceiling, magenta eyes wide—

—and bumped straight into Fluttershy, who dropped the book with a loud thud in front of Twilight.

The unicorn blinked and levitated the red-covered book with her magic. With a loud squeal of excitement, she chirped, “This is it! Thank you, Rainbow Dash! I had no idea it was on one of the top shelves!”

“But—” Fluttershy said in an indignant tone, when she was interrupted by Spike, who had run in from the other room in the library, the room that Twilight used for putting her telescopes and charts reading paranormal activity in Ponyville.

“T-Twilight! You’re never going to believe this, but…” he trailed off, panting, rested one clawed hand on his knee, and pointed with effusive energy at the room.

The lavender unicorn cocked her head to one side and trotted into the room, Spike following wearily, his tongue still partway sticking out of his mouth. As soon as she reached her paranormal chart, Twilight shrieked and leapt backward. “SPIKE…what is that?”

For the chart was spiking and looping like it had never done before—picking up signals of who knows what. But the lavender unicorn knew, with a wild thrill of excitement, that she would be the first to discover whatever it is.

Using her magic to pull out a quill and a map of Ponyville and the surrounding areas, Twilight carefully began to study the patterns, copying them onto the map as she did. This wouldn’t have made sense to any other pony except for maybe Princess Celestia, who had taught most of what Twilight knew.

Finally, after some advanced study and magic, Twilight pinpointed that the signal was coming from right around the northeast outskirts of Ponyville. Shivering with excitement, she turned to Spike. “You want to come see what it is?”

The little dragon yelped, allowing a small green burst of flame to appear in front of him. “Uh…uh…I think I’ll stay here. What if it’s some dangerous creature from a new planet? What if it can’t understand me, and decides, ‘Oh, yum, a tasty little dragon to eat!’ Yuck, no thanks!”

Twilight’s violet eyes lit up. “I forgot about that! I need to cast a spell so that every unfamiliar creature—that is, not from Equestria—can understand us! That way we can talk about their alternate planet…oh my gosh, this will be so wonderful!”

“You know a spell like that?” Spike asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Well, it’s in Star Swirl the Bearded’s Guide to Advanced and Complex Magic,” Twilight admitted. “Not that I’d ever had any reason to do it before, but there’s no time like today, right?”

The dragon sighed. “Right…well, I can’t go anyways because I promised I’d help Rarity with her newest outfits.” His eyes lit up at the thought of his crush, who also happened to be one of Twilight’s best friends. The unicorn rolled her eyes.

“I guess it’s just me, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie…” she said, trotting out into the main section of the library. But immediately Twilight noticed the two pegasi soaring out the door. Fluttershy turned back and waved before flapping her wings as fast as she could to catch up with her rainbow-maned companion.

“What the…where did they go?” Spike said, hopping out after Twilight with a little broom he was using to sweep up all of the books.

“They went to go see Applejack, silly Spikey!” Pinkie burst in, bouncing around the two with joy in her bright blue eyes. “They said they were going to help her make apple cider today…or was it apple fritters? Ooh, maybe caramel apples, those are the best…but I get to go with you, Spike! I’m Rarity’s model today!”

“Are you guys telling me,” Twilight started slowly, “that I’m going alone to face paranormal activity and possible, very probable dangerous creatures from another planet?”

“That sounds about right!” the Earth Pony squealed, using her fluffy tail to lift Spike onto her back. “Let’s go, Spikey! Good luck, Twilight!” Pinkie bounced out of the door, Spike on her back, and just like that, Twilight was alone again.

The lavender unicorn rolled her violet eyes. “Well, it’s just me and my magic, then,” she murmured to herself. Lazily levitating the red-covered book up in front of her, she flipped through the pages until she discovered the “audible” spell.

“Ah, here we go…” Twilight grinned as she read the instructions. “Looks really tough…but who doesn’t love a good challenge?” Lowering her head slightly, she concentrated as her horn began to glow with a pinkish purple light. Suddenly a ripple of clear magic shot out all around her in a vibrating, rapidly growing circle. Sweating slightly, the unicorn raised her head and grinned. “That should do it. All creatures not native to Equestria can now talk to us ponies.”

Placing the book down carefully on its shelf, Twilight looked back once more at the spiking chart and smirked. “Paranormal activity, here I come.”

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“Wait,” the little creature—was it a hedgehog, or a porcupine? It looked so different from the creatures of Equestria Twilight wasn’t really sure—broke in. “You can understand us? I have so many questions—”

Twilight felt a puff of pride that her spell had worked, but now wasn’t the time. Something, somewhere, didn’t feel right. She had to get out of there. Now. “As do I,” she interrupted, looking around. Where was that presence? “But we can’t stay here. I have to get you back to the library.”

“I am not going through that town,” one of the other animals protested, but Twilight only grinned and prepared to use her teleporting spell. There would be a lot more creatures then she was used to teleporting, so it would be difficult, but she thought that she could pull it off. Lowering her head, a pinkish-purple light emitted from her horn, flickering and sparking next to the eight newcomers. Out of the corner of her eye Twilight noticed the—oh, what had Celestia called them? Humans?—the girl open her mouth, as if to say something, but then the light of the teleportation overtook them and the world was consumed by darkness.

Twilight’s last thought was: ]Paranormal activity indeed.'