//------------------------------//
// Quest III - Shoo Be Doo 
// Story: The Trotzamore Stratagem 
// by The Rarispy 
//------------------------------//

Maybe if I just close my eyes, they’ll all go away…
 
Slowly and cautiously, Pinkie Pie finally opened her eyes. The children were gone, and so was the field she was in.
 
Instead, she was now in a playground, one that looked somewhat similar to the one near the Ponyville Schoolhouse.
 
“Huh? Now where am I?” she wondered. She looked all around, and immediately turned her attention towards one of the set pieces. “Oooh! Taffy!”
 
Immediately biting into the taffy jungle gym, her face lit up in pure ecstasy. And she didn’t stop with the jungle gym. It was still raining gumdrops, and she was trying to catch as many as she could in her mouth. Eventually however, her cheeks with bulging to the brim with gumdrops, and she had to swallow. With a satisfied exhale, she started skipping down the pink and yellow-striped road.
 
“La la la la, la la la la… Oh man, this is so great!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Why did I not like it here again? Hmm…”
 
Just then, there was a white flash, and Twilight appeared through some sort of white crack right in front of Pinkie.
 
“Pinkie Pie! Thank goodness I found you!”
 
Pinkie Pie leapt up in shock. Her eyes popped out for a brief second and all her hair stood on end.
 
“Twilight! Oh, thank goodness, you’re here! But where are you? And how are you even doing that?”
 
“That’s not important!” Twilight proclaimed. “I think I’ve figured out what’s going on, and we need to find a way out of here!”
 
“Why?”
 
“BECAUSE NONE OF THIS IS REAL!” She shouted. “It’s all a lie! All of it! You can’t trust those voices, Pinkie! They’re really—”
 
But she was silenced as the cloaked figure from the library appeared and covered her mouth.
 
“Simmer down and shush, will ye? This will all be over soon, talking pony!”
 
Twilight was forcibly dragged back in as the zip began to fold in. She struggled against her captor’s arm and tried to make herself heard.
 
“No…! Pinkie…! Don’t give in! All you have to do is—”
 
“Twilight?” Pinkie called back, as the zip fully closed and vanished. “TWILIGHT!”
 
“Pinkie Pie? Is that you?”
 
Pinkie felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see a familiar face.
 
“Rainbow Dash? Wha—How—What are you doing here!?”
 
“Well, I heard somepony screaming and rushed over,” Rainbow explained. “I’m so glad to see you’re okay. In fact, I need your help with something.”
 
“Sure? What is it?” asked Pinkie, bouncing with joy.
 
I’m so glad to see Rainbow Dash here! Maybe she can help me find Twilight. Although… is it just me, or is she talking kind of funny? Her voice sounds a little different, too. In fact, she almost sounds a bit like…
 
“What do you think of this new look of mine, darling?”
 
“What the!?” Pinkie fell back on her hooves in response to the pink, flowery monstrosity Rainbow had just placed on top of her head. “Rainbow Dash, why are you wearing such a silly hat? Isn’t that Rarity’s thing? …And wait a minute! Rarity’s the one who says ‘darling’, too! Wh-why are you acting so much like Rarity all of a sudden, Rainbow!?”
 
“I don’t understand what you mean, Pinkie Pie. After all…” She leaned in close to Pinkie, and all of a sudden, her face mutated into some monstrous deformation, as her short, scruffy hair transformed into a long, luxurious mane. “I always dress in style.”
 
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”
 



So-sorry about that. So, um… where was I again?
 
Oh, yeah. So after my, um… after I shouted, Applejack and I were walking down the forest path to follow the trail of the last gem.
 
I was really hoping AJ wasn’t going to mention anything about what happened back there. But sure enough…
 
“What happened back there, Rainbow?”
 
Darn it!
 
“Nothing, nothing. It was just… I had a leg spasm, that’s all. Yeah… Watching ponies climb rocks just makes me do that. Sorry.”
 
“…Riiiiight.”
 
And that wasn’t even the most awkward part. Because what happened next was… well, it was kind of creepy, actually. I’m not even sure I want to talk about it.
 
You see, we were still walking along, when all of a sudden, I heard a voice.
 
“Why don’t you just tell her, Rainbow Dash?”
 
“What!? Huh? WHO’S THERE?”
 
“Um… what are y’all talkin’ about, Rainbow? Ah don’t see or hear nothin’.”
 
“Seriously, what have you got to lose? You should be more honest with your friend…”
 
“W-what are you talking about?”
 
“Hey, ah’m asking you that question!”
 
“You know what I’m talking about. I’m thinking of a little pony named… CARAMEL.”
 
“WH—How do you know about that!?”
 
“That’s not important right now. What is important is your loyalty to your friend. After all, if Applejack was to find out about it on her own, and then discover that you knew about it and didn’t tell her… how will you look, in her eyes? Like a loyal, trusting friend? I’m not so sure…”
 
“Rainbow, yer startin’ to scare m—”
 
“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”
 
“Well, fine then, ah will!”
 
“No, not you!”
 
“Then who are ya talkin’ to? You’re startin’ to scare me, Rainbow!”
 
“Let’s be real here, Dash. You and me both know she doesn’t deserve that lunkhead Caramel anyway. After all, what is a stallion at the end? Just a mangly mess of slander and lies! And you know what ELSE was a mangly mess back there?”
 
“Okay, that is just GROSS!”
 
“Gross? What’s gross? … Ohh, now ah see what’s going on here…”
 
And of course, Applejack started to get the wrong idea.
 
“Ah’m ashamed of you, Rainbow Dash! Ya see any couple out in public and it all just goes down to, ‘Ewww, yuck! Get a room, you two!’”
 
“Yeah, that… or a disued barn…”
 
“Can it,” I had to mutter.
 
“They’re just a couple that clearly loves all the thrill and danger of rock climbin’, Rainbow! Public displays of affection ain’t that much of a… whatchamacallit? A taboo!”
 
“She’s right, y’know. You’re clearly into OTHER sorts of taboos, and more PRIVATE displays of affection… Yup, a whole lot of privates there…”
 
“STOOOOOOOOOOPPPPP!”
 
“Um… okay. Sheesh, didn’t mean anythin’ by it.”
 
I waited for that voice to respond again, but he never did.
 
“Is… is he gone?”
 
“Is who gone?”
 
“The voice in my head! The one that keeps taunting me and telling me to do things I don’t want to do!”
 
…
 
“Yeah… okay. That’s it. When we get back, Ah’m gonna see Twilight about gettin’ you some real counselin’.”
 
Yeah, I probably should have worded that better. But still, what was that voice? And why did it sound so familiar?
 
I don’t know. I should just stop thinking about it and concentrate on finding that last gem...
 
Mmm…
 
Yeah, yeah I’m fine.
 
Hey, listen. I just wanted to say… thanks to you guys, for listening to everything I had to say. It feels, a bit uncomfortable to talk about this.
 
The problem is… I-I can’t just talk to you anymore! Venting all my problems here isn’t enough! This whole secret is just… I think it’s eating me alive! I can’t take it anymore!
 
I… I… I HAVE TO TELL HER! I JUST HAVE TO!
 



“I don’t get it! Why aren’t they listening to you!? I’ve never seen an animal attack you like this before!”
 
“They must be very protective over their child, and they might think we were trying to steal him or hurt him! You know, parents can become really aggressive when they sense that their child is in danger!”
 
“Yeah! I guess you’re… wait, how do you know all of this?”
 
“Um… lots of experience with animal families?”
 
I don’t know about Rarity, but my hooves were killing me. We’d been running from the angry polar bears for what seemed like hours. And unlike us, they weren’t showing any signs of being tired. They must really love their kid.
 
After a while though, Rarity and I finally spotted a saving grace.
 
“Quick, Fluttershy! Behind that rock! Hurry!”
 
She kicked dirt into their faces, making it hard for them to see, and then we dived behind a large rock to the side of the road, as fast as we could. Luckily for us, the bears were too busy coughing to see us hide, so they kept running down the path after us.
 
As soon as they were gone, we both took a minute to sigh in relief. That’s when I heard something faint in the walls.
 
“Listen. It sounds like… somepony running.”
 
Just then, the cub popped out of a hole in the wall above us, and startled me half to death.
 
“EEP!”
 
“Rarr rarr!” And he was making a motion towards the hole with his claw.
 
“What’s he saying?”
 
“I… think he wants us to follow him inside.”
 
“Inside there? It looks awfully cramped.”
 
“I don’t think we have any other choice, Rarity. Come on!”
 
“Ohh… all right.”
 
Actually, it was kind of a tight squeeze. The little guy could crawl through it all right, being so small. But Rarity and I had to inch our way through. Rarity especially… well, um I really don’t want to sound rude towards her, but… I don’t think her diet is working in certain areas.
 
“Uhh! Uhh! How… much… farther? And what is this anyway?”
 
“It must be some kind of secret passage. Did you dig this all by yourself, little guy?”
 
“Rarrrrr,” he said, nodding.
 
After a few more minutes of crawling, I finally started to see the end of the trail.

“I see light!” I shouted.
 
“Light? Does… that mean we’re getting out of the cave? Not that I’m particularly thrilled about the idea of running into those bears again, but we still need to find that Gemstone!”
 
“OOF!”
 
When I popped out of the hole, I landed against a hard, smooth floor of ice. It hurt a bit, actually The passage led us into a ginormous room that seemed like a large cavern. It almost felt like… like we were at the heart of the mountain itself.
 
Even the walls and rocks around us were completely encased in ice. Huge, thick icicles hung from the high ceiling. I looked down at the ice at my hooves and saw fish swimming underneath it. And that’s when I finally figured it out.
 
We were on top of a frozen lakebed. There were holes punched throughout the ice layer into the lake below, and at the center of this huge cavern, was a huge nesting of rocks and twigs. And embedded inside the twigs… was something glowing red and giving off signals.
 
“Well… I think we found it,” I softly uttered. Rarity ran right over and started sifting through the twigs. She must have experience with this sort of thing, what with all the nest-making she does every Winter Wrap-Up.
 
“Aha! Found it!” I ran over to take a look at the thing we had been searching for.
 
“Oh, my. I think that’s a Goshenite,” I noticed.
 
“That’s right! Fluttershy, I’m impressed!” said Rarity, patting me on the head. I like it when she does that.
 
“Yeah, well… you know.”
 
You learn a lot when you’re watching your marefriend work with gems and help her out from time to time. I’m still probably not as good at it as Rarity, though. I bet she could identify any gem you showed her.
 
“The question is, how does this lovely stone even get in such a secluded place like this? Where did it come from?” Rarity wondered.
 
“M-m-m-maybe it came from… THEM!”
 
“AAAAIIIEEEEE!”
 
There are certain things I don’t like to see. Things that scare me really deeply. Things that give me nightmares later. Things that stay in the back of my mind for a long time. Things that just… things that I just hate seeing.
 
Things like skeletons on the ground, with torn, decimated clothes. Two of them were stallions, the other was a mare. No flesh left, but a few hairs near their skulls. Their jaws are wide open… like they died screaming.
 
I couldn’t even hear myself breathing over the beating of my heart.
 
“Fluttershy, sweetheart, please… calm down.” Rarity was massaging my shoulders, trying to relax me. But it wasn’t working. I couldn’t handle this.
 
“W-WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WAS THAT K-K-KILLED THEM!?”
 
“ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!”
 
Everything went dark around us… mostly because of the two giant shadows rising over us.
 
“I… I… I think we’re about to find out.”
 
Shivering to the bone, I looked behind us, and so did Rarity. We nearly screamed.
 
Their teeth were bearing down right at us (no pun intended), and their saliva dripping onto our faces. Their eyes were wider than ever, and they were growling extremely loudly. They must have been REALLY cross with us for trespassing on their home.
 
We were both fussing heavily, tears running down our faces. My eyes were getting so fuzzy, I could barely make out Rarity’s shape when I looked at her. My hooves trembled as we embraced each other, sweat and tears breaching down my neck.
 
“Goodbye, Fluttershy.”
 
“Goodbye, Rarity.”
 
They leaned in closer to us, opening their mouths even wider. I closed my eyes. I couldn’t take it anymore.
 
“I’m sorry I broke your first sewing machine!”
 
“I’m sorry I ruined your favorite winter coat!”
 
“I’m sorry I yelled at you and called your fashion pursuits frivolous!”
 
“I’m sorry I shunned you away when you told me you love me!”
 
And then we both said it.
 
“I LOVE YOU!”
 
I opened one eye, and so did Rarity I think, only to see a giant white claw coming down on us.
 
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
 
“Raaaarrrrr! Rarr rarrr!”
 
“Huh?”
 
We both opened our eyes and looked around. Just then, the cub jumped out from behind us and stood between us and his parents, barking at them.
 
The two parents looked at each other, and then at their child again. The mother pointed at us, and gave a soft, confused roar. The cub spoke something to them, nodding his head.
 
They stared at us for a few moments. Then suddenly, the father bear picked me up by the tail with his claw. I thought I was done for.
 
“Fluttershy!”
 
I closed my eyes and trembled.
 
“Aaaaahhhh……huh?”
 
To my surprise, he wasn’t chewing my face off. Instead, he was… nuzzling me with his nose and giving me a tight squeeze, no, a hug!
 
“Rooaarr! Rrrrrrrr rar rar rar.”
 
 “Oh… no problem. It was my pleasure. I just didn’t want to see the poor thing starve to death.”
 
The mother bear joined in the squeeze as well. It was all very sweet… even if I could barely breathe.
 
“You’re… welcome…”
 
Rarity began to step forward. “Oh, thank goodness w— AAH!” The father bear took a lunge at her with his claw, and she ducked just in the nick of time. So now I had to intervene.
 
“No, no, please stop! She’s a friend of mine! She helped me take care of your cub while we were looking for you.”
 
“Oh, yes! Um… happy to help. Mm-hm.”
 
With a smile on his face, he stroked Rarity’s forehead with his finger and gave her a gentle pat on the head.
 
“Yes, well… thank you.”
 
I couldn’t help but giggle at her remark. In fact, we both burst into laughter on the spot, probably more out of relief than anything. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life!
 
“So, the only question now is… how do we get out of here?” Rarity asked.
 
“Rrrr!”
 
The whole ground shook as the bears stomped to the wall on the other side of the room, where there were rocks all huddled up. With great strength, they heaved away the icy boulders, and there was a big light behind them.
 
I got really excited. “That looks like the way out!”
 
“Oh, thank you ever so much!” We started to make our way towards the exit, until Rarity stopped me with her hoof and whispered, “Wait, Fluttershy. The Goshenite.”
 
“Oh!” I turned around and spoke to the bears. “Excuse me, but if you don’t mind too much, could we please have that white rock in your den? We really need it.”
 
They turned around to, I think… discuss the matter between themselves. Just as I was biting my lip afraid they were going to say no, the mother bear nodded, and then the father bear picked it up and handed it to me.
 
“Oh, thank you so much!”
 
“Rarr?” the mother said.
 
“Babysitting?” I glanced at the cub, who seemed to giving me a playful smile as he purred. “Oh, no. I’m afraid I’m much too busy, and I don’t really live around here. I’m so sorry…”
 
“Rrrr?”
 
“Mmm, no, not quite…”
 
“Rrraaarrr?”
 
“Well, maybe…”
 
“Rrrr.”
 
“Mm. Yeah, I guess I am good with kids… Maybe someday.”
 
“Fluttershy, come on!” Rarity called. “We’d better go!”
 
“Oh, okay. Goodbye, bears! Bye, little guy!” I shouted, waving to them.
 
They all roared and waved back at me while I turned back around to catch up with Rarity. Right as we passed through the exit, I took one last look at the cub and smiled.
 
Yeah. Maybe someday…




Meanwhile, Discord popped out from a bush, watching Applejack and Rainbow leave. He was wearing a headset and holding a microphone, and giggling to himself. Looking quite satisfied, he snapped his fingers.
 
“Oww!” Rainbow said, suddenly holding her hoof to her ear.
 
“What’s the matter?”
 
“I dunno, just… a sharp pain in my ear for a second there. Ahh.”
 
A tiny object flew from her direction and landed in Discord’s fingers. It was a small transmitter bug.
 
“Ahh, it sure is fun seeing old friends again,” Discord mused. “Catching up with their lives, messing with their heads, and just reliving the past… Ooh! Speaking of which, I wonder how my girls are doing…”
 



“Hey, come back, Pinkie Pie! Come on, play in the mud with me! Pleeeease?”
 
“No! YOU’RE NOT RARITY OR SPIKE! Get away from me, you freak!”
 
Pinkie Pie was charging through the distorted Ponyville landscape. The town was in a very bizarre state where on the large part, it still felt like a replica of Ponyville, just made out of candy and treats. However, it wasn’t feeling very familiar to Pinkie.
 
I don’t understand! Why do I keep getting lost? Even if everything’s made out of candy, I should still know my own know-and-love town!  But this is so strange… I swear, some of these streets and buildings don’t look like they’re from Ponyville at all, and yet… they still feel like Ponyville?
 
The locale was indeed some bizarre mix of towns and locations melded with the candy-built Ponyville. Before she knew it, Pinkie found herself dodging several deformed children in a large flowery field she had never seen before.
 
“Play with us, Pinkie Pie!”
 
“We can play hide-and-seek! I’ll leave clues everywhere for you to follow!”
 
“Or ‘Knock-Knock’! ‘Cause I’m a really good knocker, you know!”
 
“No!” Pinkie shouted back. “I’m finding Twilight Sparkle, and none of you weird, pony… things is going to stop—AHH!”
 
Suddenly, a small orange pony on a stroller kart slammed into Pinkie, causing her to fall face-first into a puddle of mud.
 
“Ow! Was that… Scootaloo?”

As she struggled to get up, a hoof reached out to her.
 
“Need a hand there, sugarcube?”
 
“Yeah, thanks, Applejack.” Pinkie Pie’s eyes fluttered open as she immediately sprung to her hooves. “Applejack, it’s you!”
 
“Of course it’s me,” said Applejack. “Who else would ah ever be?”
 
Apart from missing her hat and her hair being slightly more curled, Applejack looked very identical to the pony that Pinkie knew. She even had the same honest smile.
 
“Spike’s here too.”
 
“Really?”
 
“Hey there, miss!” a boy’s voice replied. To Pinkie’s shock, a bizarrely-shaped young dragon, whom seemed to resemble Spike only in size and color, appeared on AJ’s back. “Wanna watch me play the piano for our pal, Lickity-Split?”
 
“AAAHH! NO!” Pinkie revved up her forelegs and sped away from the duo.
 
“What’s her problem?” asked ‘Spike’. ‘Applejack’ shrugged.
 



Excuse me!
 
Howdy there. Me again. Just wanted to stop by really quick and see what she built up this time.
 
Yeah-huh… Uh-uh… Mmm, well that did happen… Yeah, there was a couple. And that’s exactly how Rainbow reacted… Yeah, ah don’t know what was up with her in the forest. Ah think ah’m gonna talk to Twilght about gettin’ her some mental help if she’s hearin’ voices all of a sudden.
 
Nothin’ else? No lies? No giant lobsters, or angry forest ponies, or sky demons or… any of that hay-pickin’ nonsense?
 
Huh. Well, what do you know. Guess that Rainbow can pull an honest yarn after all. Well then… guess ah’m done here. Alright. Bye.
 
Actually, can ah just say one thing? Because ah know y’all aren’t tellin’ my anything for whatever reason, but ah’d really like to know what’s going on around here.
 
Ah don’t know. Between Rainbow being all quiet and distant like she’s got a big secret, and y’all being your secretive selves, ah just… again, ah don’t know.
 
All I DO know is that we got one more gem left. Hopefully, getting’ that one won’t involve anything bein’ broken.
 



“I’ve got to get out of here!” Pinkie cried. “I need to find Twilight! YIKES!” She ducked just in the nick of time to avoid being slashed by a large red hand. “What was THAT thing!? What’s going on? Somepony, please help me!”
 
“Need some help?” a high-pitched voice called.
 
“Huh?” Pinkie turned around to see several tiny insect-like ponies following her. “AAH! BUGS! SHOO, SHOO! MAKE THEM GO AWAY!”
 
Not looking where she was going, Pinkie ended up running right into the back entrance of a strangely-modern looking ice cream parlor. She smashed through the front window on roller-skates, and with an ice cream soda on her head.
 
“Whoooaaa-whoa-whoa!”
 
She ended up tripping on a branch and landed in front of three smiling ponies.
 
“Hi, Pinkie Pie!” they all said at once.
 
“Um, hi…” she answered, rubbing her head. “Do I… know any of you?”
 
“Well, of course! It’s us, Minty…”
 
“Toola-Roola…”
 
“…and Firefly! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Firefly held out a wrapped candy bar. “We had an extra candy bar and we were just wondering if you wanted it.”
 
“Really?” Pinkie stood up on her legs and looked at the candy. “I don’t know…”
 
“It’s white chocolate!” Toola-Roola chimed in.
 
“Really good!” Minty cheerfully added.
 
“Hmm…”
 
Pinkie was about to take the candy, when suddenly, she started seeing flashes. She had to rub her eyes as the chocolate bar flickered between two forms.
 
“Wait, that’s not a candy bar…”
 
Pinkie began seeing a mossy rock being handed to her. The bizzaro candy Ponyville transformed into the misty Lake Meghan, and as for the Pinkie’s so-called “friends”…
 
All of a sudden, they appeared in brief instants as grotesque pony-like sea creatures, with the lower body of a seahorse, but misshapen heads, greasy blonde hair, and yellow, chipped teeth filled with holes. Their eyes looked absolutely manic, their pupils looking more like red swirls than actual pupils.
 
“EaT THe caNDY Bar, PINKie…” they simultaneously beckoned. Their voices alternated between the sweet, innocent mares’ voices and deeper, demonic-sounding voices that chilled Pinkie to her very bone.
 
“W-W-WHAT ARE YOU?!!?” Pinkie screamed.
 
“PINKIE, WATCH OUT! THEY’RE SIRENS!”
 
“What?”
 
Another zip in space opened above their heads, as Twilight squeezed her body through the narrow space. She was straining to keep the glow in her horn.
 
“Don’t listen to them, Pinkie!” Twilight begged. “They’re sirens! They’re ancient creatures that lure you in with their singing, and trance you into hallucinations of your wildest fantasies and are even said to transmit visions of your past lives… right before they drain you of all your emotions and willpower!”
 
“STAy out oF this, MEDDLing pony!”
 
“I’m using my magic to try to null out the hallucinogen field!” she explained. “But we have to use our mental energy together to resist their influen—”
 
But she was interrupted again as the cloaked figure turned up again and grabbed Twilight by the neck.
 
“Enough! You’re a LOT more stubborn than your mother, pony!” It stated, in a vengeful tone. “But now, you and your new friend will ALL BE MY FRIENDS! FOREVER AND EVER!”
 
“I… don’t… THINK SO!”
 
Twilight nudged herself free and bucked the figure in its face, causing it to stumble backwards with a scream of pain. Taking a deep breath, Twilight next charged up her horn and started holding back the sirens with a series of magic white rings.
 
“Pinkie… quick! Overpower their mental influence!” Twilight beseeched. “Think of something you know about the real world that you hold in your heart strongly, and use that against them!”
 
Pinkie stared down the sirens, whom were no longer alternating between forms, as they advanced on her with the candy bar/moss rock. She stumbled backward as a look of terror still encroached upon her face, and her entire body trembled.
 
“HURRY, PINKIE! AAGH!” The white void was quickly closing in on Twilight, who was still trying to hold the sirens back with every last fiber of her being.
 
“IT’S YOU, TWILIGHT SPARKLE! YOU’RE MY STRONGEST LINK!” Pinkie shouted. This revelation seemed to cripple the sirens, who stepped backwards, holding their heads in pain.
 
A smile rose on Pinkie’s face, and with a look of determination, she walked forward, confronting them to their faces with the truth.
 
“Yeah, that’s right, you nasty bullies! TWILIGHT SPARKLE WILL ALWAYS BE THE ONE THING THAT’LL BRING ME BACK TO SANITY, BECAUSE I CAN’T LIVE ANYWHERE WITHOUT HER! SHE IS MY PARADISE! THE PONY I CALL MY BEST FRIEND, THE PONY I LOVE, THE PONY I… THE PONY I WANT TO BE WITH FOREVER!”
 
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
 
“Horsefeathers!” One of them cried in Firefly’s voice.
 
The sirens’ skin quickly began to decay, as a great white light consumed the entire dimensional plain.
 
There was a flash, and Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie landed on the hard shore of Lake Meghan, stumbling around several times before finally breaching impact against the sand.
 
“Wha—what happened?” Twilight groaned, as she struggled to stand. “Ohhh, my head…” Pinkie Pie still lay unconscious next to her. She nudged Pinkie’s body several times, until she finally began to stir.
 
“Mmmmm… wha? What, what happened?” At once, Pinkie sprung to her hooves. “AAAH! YOU SURE YOU WANNA COME? YOU MIGHT GET DIRTY!”
 
“What?”
 
“Huh? What? What happened?” She grabbed Twilight and started shaking her. “Did we do it? Did we beat those nasty siren thingies?”
 
“Uh… yeah,” Twilight responded, as her eyes rolled in all directions. “My memory’s a blur, but yeah… it looks like you were able to overpower them.”
 
“HURRAY!”
 
Pinkie began doing a sort of victory dance. Twilight watched on, and giggled to herself as she watched her friend dance. She noticed her saddlebag lying on the beach and immediately ran over to it, counting all the books inside.
 
“Twelve… thirteen? One of them’s missing… Wait! Where’s—”
 
Just then, there was a screech on the sand. She turned around to see her unmarked book washed up onto the shore. And right on top of it was…
 
“The gemstone!”
 
Twilight picked up the book and the orange chalcedony stone, and proudly displayed them to Pinkie.
 
“Look, Pinkie!” she said, ecstatic. “We found it! The gemstone!”
 
“Never mind that!” said Pinkie. “What’s inside that book?”
 
“Uhh… nothing!” Twilight sharply replied. She held the book away from Pinkie’s grabby hooves as her cheeks flushed lightly. “Besides, this is more important! Now that we have this one, we only have one more gemstone left!”
 
“…in the FORBIDDEN Cliffs of Lyshacria!” Pinkie recited in a deep voice, finishing off with a spooky laugh. But then, she and Twilight both burst into laughter.
 
Hoof in hoof, they deposited the book and the chalcedony in their respective saddlebags. As they walked down towards the forest path, Pinkie turned to Twilight.
 
“Hey Twilight, do you believe in reincarnation?”
 
“Hmm…” Twilight pondered. “It’s an interesting theory, but as far as I’ve read, no proof exists to justify its soundness. Then again, there are some mysteries of the universe that I guess we’ll just never understand. Why do you ask, Pinkie?”
 
“Well… I don’t know why. Just wondering, I guess. So, who was that pony in the cloak, anyway?”
 
“That’s the thing. It was definitely no pony…” Twilight shakily replied. “I-I don’t know what it was, but… yeah. Trust me, you don’t want to know what it really looked like.”
 
They passed by a lake sign identifying the name of Lake Meghan, although the ‘H’ in ‘MEGHAN’ seemed to have been scribbled on with a crayon. A tall, dark cloak lay against the base of the sign, and swaying in the wind on top of the sign was a distinctive pink ribbon.