//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Long Distance // by Ezn //------------------------------// Chapter Four "Celestia! Celestia, good news!" Princess Luna's voice echoed off the walls and high ceiling of the royal throne room as she rushed in to join her sister. Luna was levitating an opened scroll, which she eagerly handed to Celestia just as she reached the room's two thrones. "What is it, dear sister?" Celestia asked calmly, levitating the scroll up to her face as Luna released it. "Read the scroll!" Luna replied. "The governor of the Lunar Republic says he'd be honoured to host me, and that he's having everyone on his staff prepare for my arrival. He's ever so grateful for the return of the moon's blessing to his country and wants to make a personal apology for the rudeness of his ancestors." "That's wonderful news, Luna! When do you wish to depart for the Lunar Republic?" "As soon as possible – uh, the day after tomorrow, I think. That will give me time to inform the gracious governor of my plans and sort out some stuff over here before I go." "When you are ready with a reply, have Wind Tamer send the governor a message hawk. Sadly, I don't think there are any dragons in the Lunar Republic, so our second-fastest communication method will have to do." Luna sighed at her sister's mention of dragons. Before her thousand year banishment, message hawks had been the fastest method of communication, bar none, and dragons had been dangerous monsters that clever ponies stayed well away from. "I do hope they get with the times soon," Celestia sighed. "Perhaps you could have a talk with the governor about that, if you can make time for it." *** White Noise, Sibwashie and Sky Wave had ambled into Ponyville as the sun was setting over the mountains behind the Everfree Forest. They'd walked there directly from Hoofington, something that had taken them the entire day, with very few breaks along the way. Needless to say, White Noise was dead on his hooves and desperately needed to lie down. "What a nice little town this is," Sky Wave said. "The buildings are so colourful and cottagey. It's such a shame that it's right on the edge of that creepy forest." The travellers were still a fair distance away from the centre of town when they came across the first ponies they would see in Ponyville. "Oh, look at that," Sky Wave whispered to her companions, pointing at the two ponies. "Some hard-working folk still working in their garden at this hour – I wonder what they're plant– oh my!" "No Ditzy," came an exasperated voice from the first pony, an orange mare. "You can't grow carrots faster by burying food with their seeds. Seeds cannot eat." "But aren't they just like eggs?" asked the orange pony's companion, a grey pegasus, as she dropped another muffin into the hole she and her friend were planting in. "Plant eggs, I mean. Like, don't plants come out of seeds in the same way chickens come out of eggs? And what if they're hungry when they get out? Plants don't have mommies to feed them, you know." "Plants do not – oh, hello," said the irritated orange pony, noticing her and Ditzy's three new spectators and changing her tone considerably. "I don't think I've seen you ponies before." "We're travellers, passing through on our way to Port Anchor," White Noise replied, offering a hoof. "I'm White Noise, this is Sky Wave and that's Sibwashie. Pleasure to meet you, Ms..." "Carrot Top." "My name's Ditzy Doo! Why do you have such a funny-looking coat, Mr Sibwa– Sibwa– Sibyouhaveafunnynametoo?" Sibwashie smiled at the pegasus. Normally, he might have been offended by such a remark, but there was something in Ditzy Doo's cheerful tone of voice that prevented him from harbouring even the slightest resentment for her. "I could say the same thing about your coat and name, Ms Doo What people see as normal and strange varies, this much is true." "Oh! You're a zebra like Zecora! You talk all sing-song, just like she does! And your coat looks like hers too, all striped and stuff. Oh wow this is so exciting!" Ditzy broke into a ridiculous grin at this point, and the three newcomers saw her pupils move in opposite directions – one looking up, and the other looking down. "You'll have to forgive Ditzy," whispered Carrot Top. "She's differently-wired from most ponies, and she's had a rather rough time lately as well." "You bet I have, CT!" Ditzy Doo blurted out, having heard her friend's every carefully-concealed word. "I used to work at the Ponyville post office, but the other day they kicked me out because they said my cutie mark wasn't enough like a cutie mark a mailmare should have. I told them all about bubble wrap and how wonderful it is, but they didn't agree. Which is actually good because I don't think my cutie mark is about bubble wrap, I mean that would be silly. I think it comes from my bubbly personality, or at least that's what my parents told me when I got it which bythewayisaninterestingstoryitallstartedwhen..." Ditzy kept on talking, her voice getting faster and softer, until she was rapidly moving her mouth without any words coming out of it. "I used to work at the post office too, Ditzy," Sky said sadly. Ditzy looked up at Sky Wave, her misaligned eyes lighting up. "But apparently a ribbon isn't mail-related enough for those snobby ponies," Sky continued, motioning to her flank with a hoof. "I guess you could tie your mail up with a ribbon, but I didn't think of that at the time..." "It's not fair!" wailed Ditzy, suddenly audible again. White Noise cleared his throat and interjected with a word to Carrot Top, before the conversation got too depressing: "Could you perhaps point us towards an inn? It's getting late, and we're going to need somewhere to sleep tonight." "There's a nice one just over there," Carrot Top replied, motioning towards a white and brown wooden building with a thatch roof just down the road. "It's cheap, and I've heard that the rooms are clean and the service is decent. It's also your only choice – Ponyville doesn't get enough ponies passing through to need more than one inn." "Thank you Ms Carrot Top, that should do nicely," thanked White Noise gracefully, motioning to Sibwashie and Sky to tell them it was time to go. "We'd best be going to book our rooms. Thanks again for the help, and good luck with your gardening." The five new acquaintances bade farewell to each other, and as White Noise and his companions headed for the inn, they heard Carrot Top tell Ditzy that gardening wasn't her strong suit. *** The following morning, Sky Wave awoke to the sound of pebbles knocking against the window of her second story room in Ponyville's single inn. Clink. Clink. Clink. Rubbing her eyes, Sky slid out of bed and looked out the window. A grey face with mismatched yellow eyes smiled sheepishly back at her, and she heard a low whistle as a bunch of stones fell from the pegasus's hooves. "Ditzy?" Sky asked sleepily, pulling the window open. Ditzy tapped the side of her head a few times, her eyes coming further into alignment with each successive tap. Once they looked normal, she donned a serious expression and opened her mouth to let out a flood of words. "I remember yesterday when we met you said you lost your job at the post office just like I did because of the same reason and I was wondering if you could help me find something else to do I tried gardening with Carrot Top but she said I'm no good and I don't really know what else I can do and you seem to be alright and you look like a smart pony and..." "Alright! Alright, I'll help you, Ditzy," Sky cried, bracing herself against the torrent of words that threatened to sweep her away. "I'd be happy to help out a fellow former-mailmare." "You would?" Ditzy replied, her eyes starting to dislocate as her smile threatened to do the same to her jaw. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Ditzy flew through the window and tackled Sky to the ground with a very dangerous hug, fortunately not breaking any of the inn's furniture in the process. Ohmigosh I wish she wasn't so strong, thought Sky, as her breath went out of her under the force of Ditzy's hug. *** "Good morning boss! Ponyville Dragonfire Delivery operative Spaug at your service!" The green dragon snapped a claw to her forehead in a salute, and White Noise nodded appreciatively. Spaug was a few years older than Turquoise, and even though she nearly too tall to walk through the doors in Ponyville without stooping, she made a fine employee. "Glad to see you so eager," White Noise began. "As I said in the letter I sent you a few days ago, we're going to be opening up the Ponyville branch of Dragonfire Delivery today, so you won't have to hang around in the Post Office anymore. I trust you're prepared for your promotion to store manager?" "Yes sir!" she replied. "I started preparing the shop as soon as I got the letter. I've stocked the shelves, dusted the whole place from top to bottom, organized the storeroom and given the sign a fresh coat of paint. All the shop needs is your approval." "Excellent!" replied White Noise, already levitating his second "Yay! We're Open/Sorry, We're Closed" out of his saddlebag. "Judging by your performance in the past, I trust that that is exactly right." With Spaug's capable claws at the helm, Dragonfire Delivery's Ponyville branch's opening day went off very smoothly. The dragoness handled every customer who came in with grace and politeness, never losing her cool with even the most exasperating ones. She was the oldest dragon White Noise had in his employ, and her résumé indicated her experience in a number of previous service industry jobs. Spaug was doing such a great job that White Noise had become very bored sitting in the shop and watching her handle customers even better than he could. In his boredom, White got to thinking about something the Ponyville innkeeper had told him when he'd asked about the town. The librarian was apparently a student of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, just like himself and was said to keep a very extensive library. White Noise had perused every book on dragons, Dragonia and dragonfire he'd been able to find in the Canterlot and Fillydelphia libraries, but that wasn't saying much. Dragons were not, as a rule, very active writers – most seemed happy to take dictation. An avid reader and book collector living in close proximity to the Everfree forest may own some rare books on monsters, thought White Noise. And dragons are kinda like monsters... although I wouldn't say that out loud in my present company. "I'm going to go see if I can find something at the library, Spaug," said White Noise. "Keep up the good work while I'm out." "Yes sir!" Spaug replied enthusiastically. *** "Okay, so let's start with your cutie mark," began Sky Wave, giving Ditzy a serious look. "Bubbles. What special talent does that give a pony?" "My mom and dad said that the bubbles were for my bubbly personality!" replied Ditzy enthusiastically. "They said I'm always smiling and happy and fun to be around, but I really don't know why anypony wouldn't always be all of those things! If I wasn't happy, I might get sad!" Sky gave Ditzy a blank stare. "No offense, Ditzy," she said, "but I don't think that 'having a bubbly personality' counts as a special talent. I'm sure your talent is something a little more concrete." Sky put a hoof to her chin and contemplated bubbles, soon losing herself in thought. Ditzy tried to follow her example, but the pretty shapes of the clouds kept distracting her. "Are you sure, Sky? Everypony always says I've got a bubbly personality – they use those exact words all the time and everything it's a little weird." Sky smirked and let out a long, knowledge-laden sigh. "Ditzy," she began. "My cutie mark is a ribbon. That ribbon represents me – it flows gracefully in the wind, just like I do when I dance. My friend White Noise, his cutie mark is a speech bubble, because he helps ponies talk to each other. Princess Celestia's cutie mark is a sun because she raises the sun, not for her 'sunny disposition'. I'm sure your special talent has something to do with actual bubbles – it can't be some weird metaphor." Ditzy looked perplexed at this, but went back to thinking. Sky followed suit. "Ah-hah!" Sky said at last. "Got it! Have you ever tried... cart washing?" "No, I haven't ever done that!" Ditzy said in response, smiling widely. "Maybe it's my special talent!" "It could be – there are a lot of bubbles in cart washing." *** Sibwashie strolled aimlessly through the town, feeling quite bored. Both of his friends had found things to do, and now he was alone, with a whole day to hang around in Ponyville and nothing to occupy it. With a deep sigh, he headed a first shop he came across, hoping that he would find something worth buying, or somepony to talk to. "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" said a cheery voice, belonging to a pink earth pony with a poofy mane. "What would you – GASP!" Sibwashie looked around frantically as the pink pony gasped and leaped into the air. Were they being attacked? Was the roof about to fall in and crush them both? Did he have something on his face? "I've never seen you before!" she exclaimed, landing back behind the counter. "And you're a zebra! This is so exciting I'm so excited! Why, I'm so excited I could just THROW A PARTY but actually I can't do that because Mr and Mrs Cake are out of town today and they left me to watch the shop all day long and I have to prove to them that I'm responsible and I promised not to throw any parties while they were out! So instead I'll just say 'Hello! I'm Pinkie Pie, who are you?'" Pinkie blinked. Sibwashie blinked. This mare was crazier than that grey pegasus he'd met the day before! "Hello! I'm Pinkie Pie, who are you?" Pinkie said, speaking slower than before. "I call myself Sibwashie - Student of the art of diploma-cy," Sibwashie replied, reusing his slightly awkward greeting rhyme from Hoofington. "Ooh... so you like talking to ponies and zebras and buffalos and other people?" said Pinkie. "That's so super-duper – you get to talk all the time! I love talking!" I guessed, thought Sibwashie, smiling outwardly. Pinkie Pie launched off into a speech about... something, and Sibwashie sat quietly and listened, nodding his head every so often. Just as Pinkie was getting into her opinion of bendy straws, Sibwashie heard another voice, coming from the shop's entrance. "«Never in my time here in Ponyville, did I expect to see another of my kind Young one, please tell me your name and your quest, if you wouldn't mind.»" Sibwashie's smile widened as the words of his native tongue reached his ears – not the stilted, mispronounced words of an inexperienced speaker like White Noise, but the rhythmic, natural tones of one who had been speaking his language longer than even he had. He turned to Zecora and bowed his head in respect for his elder, as was the custom among zebras. "«Good mother, I thank you, you have warmed my heart A zebra must not, from his own herd, be so long apart.» "«The name my father gave me is Sibwashie, and my quest is this: To see that relations between peoples are not of hatred, but of bliss,»" Sibwashie replied, comfortably slipping back into his own language. Pinkie raised a quizzical eyebrow as the zebras continued to talk in their language. She'd made up languages before – it had been a popular party game back home, as her parents thought that if they were going to have a party-pony for a daughter, she may as well play party games that stretched her brain. In any case, the language the zebras were speaking sounded nothing like anything she'd ever made up, so she decided against spouting off gibberish at the two. Also, a little thought in the back of her mind told her it might be considered rude, but that was only a secondary concern. As Pinkie was contemplating what little she knew about Zebrican language, Zecora, now speaking Equestrian, approached her counter and asked her for a bag of sugarcubes. "Flabbidy gabbidy gah!" Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully, grabbing a small bag with her mouth. "Shooben doogle wizzospotten." "«I'm beginning to think that this pony is a little bit crazy,»" commented Sibwashie. "«In Ponyville, the line between sane and insane is quite hazy,»" Zecora replied sagely. *** A short while later, Ditzy and Sky had become the two newest employees of Ponyville Cart Washers, "the cleanest place in town!" Sky had suggested a new slogan shortly after being hired, but as a very temporary employee, her opinion didn't have much weight. Ditzy Doo's first customer arrived soon. He was a wealthy, fit young stallion pulling a gleaming black cart with well-polished chrome wheels that shone in the sunlight. Ditzy got through the pleasantries alright, and soon the stallion had gone off to pay, leaving Ditzy to start washing his cart. "Cart-washing is boring!" she complained about three minutes in. "Sky, if this is my special talent, then shouldn't I be enjoying it?" Sky thought for a moment. She lived for her dancing, and her friends White Noise and Sibwashie had been driven far from their homes in their quests to realise the potential of their talents. White Noise in particular could jaw a pony's ear off for hours about dragonfire and radio and the nuances of different languages. "Maybe you just aren't doing it right," Sky said. "Being good at something often comes from approaching it from a completely different angle to what most ponies do, and you haven't tried washing carts in any other way than how the boss told you to." "Maybe you're right," said Ditzy, refocusing her eyes to show a thoughtful expression. "But I'm not sure how I can – ooh! I have an idea!" Ditzy zoomed off into the sky with call of "I'll be right baaack". Sky smiled to herself. This may just work out nicely after all. SPLASH! Sky squealed as a torrent of water rained down on her. "Sorry Sky," Ditzy apologized from above the cloud she'd just gone to fetch. "I should have warned you. Oh well! Pass me the soap, please!" A dripping Sky Wave grabbed a box of soap off the ground and handed it to Ditzy, who dumped the whole box's contents into the cloud, which she then proceeded to jump up and down on repeatedly. "I think it's working!" she shouted, her eyes defocusing with joy. "I found a new way to wash carts! I'm the best cart washer ev–" CRACK-A-THOOM! A bolt of lightning shot out of the bottom of the cloud and singed the sleek black paint off of a spot in the cart's interior. "My cart!" cried the wealthy stallion, having walked into view at exactly the wrong time. "Oops..." *** As he was walking towards the Ponyville library, White Noise realized how little he or anypony else knew about the dragon homeland. Dragons were not, as a rule, very sociable creatures, and although many parent dragons had been sending their children (some as mere eggs!) to live, learn and work in Equestria in recent years, their contact with ponies was still very minimal. All these thoughts were buzzing around in White's head as he finally reached the green door in the large oak tree that he assumed led into the library. Hoping that they would somehow have a book that he could use, he pushed the door open and walked in. "Oh, hello sir," said a meek, surprised voice as a purple head looked up from a thick book on a reading desk in the middle of the room. "I don't think I've seen you here before. How may I help you?" White Noise's eyes widened – the lilac mane – the purple hair and eyes – the bookish demeanour. It couldn't be... "Twilight Sparkle?" he asked, twisting his face quizzically. "Uh, yes," she replied. "That's me." "You actually left the library?!" "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight narrowed her eyes at the strange white stallion. "I'm White Noise," he said. "We were in General Magic together back in our first year at the School for Gifted Unicorns. Well, I don't think we ever really talked, but everypony knew about you, Twilight!" "Oh, well I guess they would," she replied. "I remember every time I went to the library, I'd see you sitting there with a book – just as you are now, I guess. We, uh, used to joke about how you probably had a sleeping bag behind the librarian's counter." Twilight blushed, thinking back to all the times she'd woken up with her face in a book and a crick in her neck from falling asleep in the library. In retrospect, it might have been a nice idea to have kept a sleeping bag behind the librarian's counter, she thought. "So what are you doing here in Ponyville?" White Noise asked snidely. "The idea of you leaving the school's grounds at all comes as quite shock." "Princess Celestia sent me here on an important mission for Equestria!" Twilight announced proudly. "I have been tasked with studying the magic of friendship!" White stifled a snicker, earning another glare from Twilight. "Hey, who's there, Twilight?" asked a voice from the stairs. "He sounds... oh. Hey, White Noise." A familiar baby dragon entered the library from above and smiled at White Noise. "Spike! It's been a while," replied White, walking over to bump Spike's hand with his hoof. "How's life?" "Same old, same old," Spike replied casually. "I see your business is going well! It's been cool having another dragon in town." White Noise and Spike descended into conversation about Canterlot, their mutual friends from the school and White's business, while Twilight pretended to return to her reading. She decided that she would have to ask Spike how he made so many friends... perhaps she would be able to make a study of it... *** Sky frowned. Ditzy frowned. The two pegasi lay prostrate on the grass, their manes tangled and their coats covered in tree sap. "I wish we had had more success finding you a new job, Ditzy," Sky said morosely. "At least we tried." "It's okay, Sky," Ditzy replied slowly, weariness winning over the usual cheer in her voice. "I guess I'm just not good at anything. I don't have a special talent – just these stupid bubbles. What do you even do with bubbles? You blow them and they pop..." "Don't say that!" Sky exclaimed, startled by the depth of Ditzy's depression. "Everypony's good at something, Ditzy. And we'll find out what it is that you're good at, even if we have to get covered in tree sap again and again and again!" The two ponies heard the clapping of tiny hooves some distance behind them. Mustering up the strength to turn her head, Sky looked in the direction of the sound and saw three little fillies wearing red capes, who shortly walked over to the pair. The little yellow earth pony wearing a red bow was the first to speak. "You're tryin' ta find what makes you special too?" she asked. "But you already have your cutie marks." "Ditzy Doo does have her cutie mark, yes," Sky replied. "But she doesn't know what it means. When she got it, she thought it was because of her 'bubbly personality', but she has no idea what talent it represents." "But don't you just know what you're supposed to do when you get your cutie mark?" asked another member of the group, an orange pegasus. "When Rainbow Dash got her cutie mark, she knew it was because she was supposed to be the fastest flyer in Equestria! Same with all her friends and their boring stories!" Ditzy Doo hung her head in shame. Sky put a hoof on the sad pony's shoulder. "Not always, girls," she said to the three little fillies. "Cutie marks are just pictures – they don't come with instruction manuals." The little fillies looked downcast at this. Sky glanced at their flanks and noticed that none of the three had their cutie marks yet. "Getting your cutie mark is still an amazing experience, even if you don't understand what it means until later," she explained. "The day this red ribbon appeared... it was the happiest day of my life..." *** "So you really think that the... friendship... between ponies is a source of magic?" asked White Noise. "There's so much more to it than that, but if you must put it that way, then yes," replied Twilight. "Friendship is magic." The two unicorns were seated on two of Twilight's cushions, with Spike-made glasses of lemonade on the carpet next to them. White had forgotten all about any books he'd been looking for and was having an in-depth discussion about magic with Princess Celestia's star pupil: something he had never dreamt he'd do. "Guess I've heard stranger things," White said. "It makes a kind of sense – one of those 'invisible bonds that link us all' types of things." Twilight was enjoying this rare opportunity to talk to another gifted unicorn about magic. None of her earth pony or pegasi friends were really that interested in her greatest passion, and even Rarity didn't have an awful lot to say on the subject of magic. Twilight found herself wishing she'd made friends back at the school – having ponies to talk about her research with was very fulfilling. "Believe me, I didn't believe it at first either," Twilight said. "I thought magic was all about studying and learning the tricks of previous masters and about understanding the intricate relationship between –" Just as Twilight was about to recite the introductory paragraphs of the thesis she'd been planning, her train of thought was interrupted by the noisy entrance of three little fillies and two older ponies. "Wow, Sky Wave," said Scootaloo. "That was actually a pretty okay story. Not as awesome as Rainbow Dash's cutie mark story, but I never knew air-dancing could be that extreme!" Sky smiled modestly at the filly's compliment – the surprise on the faces of her friends indicated that to receive a compliment from Scootaloo was a rare honour, usually reserved for whoever this Rainbow Dash pony she kept talking about was. "Hey, Sky," greeted White Noise. "Made some new friends, I see. Oh, hi again, Ditzy Doo." "You have a talks bubble for a cutie mark," pointed out Apple Bloom. "Do you draw comic books?" "No," replied White Noise bluntly, "but a lot of ponies ask me that." Sweetie Belle walked over to Twilight to return a book while Apple Bloom launched into a barrage of questions about White Noise's cutie mark and special talent. "...It's not really that exciting," concluded White, as he finished satisfying most of Apple Bloom's questions. "Sure isn't," Scootaloo snorted. While all this was going on, Ditzy Doo was sitting very quietly in a corner, looking down at the library's carpet with a big frown on her face. "...sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith, Sweetie..." Ditzy caught a snippet of Twilight's conversation with Sweetie Belle. "...like when I was trying to escape a hydra near Froggy-Bottom Bog..." "Did somepony say hydra?" Scootaloo asked excitedly, her ears perking up to listen to Twilight and Sweetie's conversation as well. "Those things are cool." "Yeah, I'd like to hear about this 'hydra adventure' you had as well, Twilight," added White Noise. "I really enjoyed Monsters 101 back at school, and I've always wanted to see one with my own eyes." Sighing a little, Twilight related the story of her adventure with the hydra and the Pinkie Pie-themed events that led up to it. "So the moral of the story was that sometimes you just have to believe in things, even if you can't make sense of them," Twilight concluded. "I can imagine that would be difficult for you, Twilight," White Noise retorted. "The other moral is don't go near Froggy-Bottom Bog," Twilight continued, eyeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "It used to be perfectly safe, but it's become a hydra habitat in recent times. I think it's got something to do with the –" "Hey, where's Ditzy?" asked Sweetie Belle, preventing Twilight from educating the others on the care and feeding of hydras. The ponies in the library looked around to confirm that Ditzy Doo was indeed missing. She probably wandered off, thought Sky Wave. No big deal... she must have left when... oh! "I think she left around when you mentioned that giant... bubble..." I'm sure your special talent has something to do with actual bubbles – it can't be some weird metaphor. Everypony's eyes widened in realisation and they all raced out the door, Cutie Mark Crusaders included. "You girls stay here, or go home," commanded Twilight. "I already told you, Froggy-Bottom Bog is too dangerous." "Aww man..." Dejectedly, Scootaloo crossed "Cutie Mark Crusader Hydra Slayers" off her mental checklist, while the other two did the same with sighs of relief. *** White Noise, Sky Wave and Twilight raced across the town in the direction of the Everfree Forest. Froggy-Bottom Bog lay on its outskirts and had for a long time been considered a safe place for ponies to visit, but in recent months, frightening creatures from the Everfree had been encroaching on the bog, rendering it a danger zone. "Sibwashie, come, we need to get to Froggy-Bottom Bog! No time to explain!" Sky Wave yelled from her position in the sky, as she passed over the street Sibwashie had been nonchalantly walking across. Without even taking the time to compose a situationally-appropriate couplet, Sibwashie leapt into action and galloped after Sky, swiftly overtaking her unicorn companions. Sky arrived on the scene first. A grey blur shot towards her, and her heart sank. Maybe she found out what her cutie mark means? Sky hoped. "Help! A hydra's chasing me!" shouted Ditzy Doo. "The bubbles didn't listen when I told them to defend me!" Well, maybe not. Sky chuckled, and then swallowed nervously. "Get out of here!" she shouted. "I'll divert the hydra's attention, don't worry." Shouting a further command to Sibwashie (who had just arrived) to do what he could to help, Sky dove towards the bog, where she caught sight of the meanest, largest hydra she had ever seen. And it was already halfway out of the bog, bearing scowls of rage on its many faces. Most of its eyes watched the area of the sky where Ditzy had just been, but a few turned to face Sky, sending a shiver down her spin. She had no idea how she was going to deal with the hydra, but thought that maybe it would go away if she stuck a hoof in its eye or something. "FLY IN AND OUT!" shouted White Noise, his voice magically amplified. "TRY TO TIE ITS NECKS IN A KNOT!" Probably a better idea than just trying to poke it, Sky thought, adjusting her trajectory to accommodate her new plan. She flew down. The hydra's nearest head followed her. She flew up. Another head followed her. She flew towards the hydra's body. Both heads followed her. She twisted around, flew around the heads and flew up towards a third head. She couldn't see what was happening. She flew down, then left, then right, then in a zigzag pattern and finally flew away from the beast. Sky put on a cocky expression and glanced back at the knot she'd made of the hydra – except there was no knot. The hydra's heads bobbed up and down on its untangled necks, and she could have sworn one of them smiled viciously at her. "Aaah!" she gasped as one of the hydra's heads snuck up behind her. Sky flinched just in time for the head to pass her by with a loud WHOOSH of wind, riling up her mane but otherwise leaving her unharmed. Before the hydra was able to snap at her again with another of its many mouths, Sky soared out of the hydra's reach and made her way towards White Noise. "It's too smart for me to tie up!" she cried, hovering just above the hill White was standing on. "I've only managed to tire myself out; if I landed now, I don't think I'd be able to get up again." White Noise nodded in acknowledgement as he wracked his brains. He had been told by a grizzled old adventurer once that a nimble pegasus could trick a hydra into tying its necks together with the correct sequence of movements, but the effectiveness of that trick relied on the hydra being young and unaccustomed to the number of heads it had – neither of which applied to this vicious and crafty beast. "Tying the hydra in knots, that's got to be the solution!" White Noise shouted. "Maybe if we could cut off some of its heads to –" "Stop right there," Sky Wave interrupted, resisting the urge to give him a hoof to the face. "Have you seen how many heads that thing has already?" White Noise glanced over at the hydra. Three of its heads scanned the muddy ground, frantically looking for whatever creature had been poking and pinching at its sensitive underside. For a big guy, Sibwashie could be artfully stealthy when necessary. And he was also quite skilled at swamp-diving. That buys some us some time, White Noise thought. Maybe enough time for it to forget about Ditzy Doo and get back into the swamp. One of the hydra's heads swivelled around at just the right moment to catch Sibwashie surfacing above the mud. A roar and a lunge later, Sibwashie was out of the fight and the hydra had hopped out of the swamp entirely and was slowly ambling towards Ponyville. Or not. "Okay, if you can't make it tie itself up," White said to Sky, the panic showing I his voice, "then we need magic to tie it up ourselves – and while I'm not bad at tying bows on birthday presents, those necks are as thick as ponies! I don't have that kind of power!" "I do." Twilight Sparkle stood right behind the two ponies, her body lowered and tense. Her horn slowly lit up. "Normally I'd tell you visitors off for provoking a hydra, but this one is far too large and dangerous to be so close to town, and it looks a little too interested in chasing Ditzy Doo." Her horn glowed ever brighter as the tendrils of her magic reached out to touch and then surround the hydra. Twilight closed her eyes tightly in intense concentration as beads of sweat broke upon her brow. "Aah! Help!" cried the voice of Ditzy Doo, coming from behind Twilight. Ditzy zoomed past Sky Wave and White Noise, her goofy eyes wide with terror. "I tried to go back to Ponyville but there's an evil dog-thing and he's chasing meeee!" Sky and White watched in horror as a giant, three-headed dog – a cerberus – bounded out from behind a clump of trees and lunged at them. Frothy saliva hung from its mouths, and it had a look of blind rage in all six of its eyes. The creature was easily as tall as three ponies stacked on top of each other. White Noise had read about such creatures, but he hadn't been aware that they were able to grow to such enormous sizes. The beast's multiple aggressive roars were deafening, growing ever more so as he closed in on the three ponies. But suddenly, they came to stop with three low whimpers. "Gotcha," said Twilight, her voice straining just slightly as she held the hydra and the cerberus in her magic. White and Sky opened their eyes to find that they had been holding onto each other for dear life. They quickly disentangled and stared in awe as Twilight levitated the giant dog – now closer in countenance to a scared puppy – towards the hydra's many heads. Sweat poured down Twilight's face as she slowly tied the cerberus up in the hydra's necks. One neck, two necks, three necks... "They're... resistant... to magic," she grimaced. "Not... sure... why. Can... get through the barriers... but... takes... a lot... of magic. Running... out..." Twilight's horn glowed brighter than White Noise had ever seen a unicorn's horn glow before as she tied more and more of the hydra's necks together, but he could see she was close to breaking point. "Just... need... a little more... power." A crazy thought came into White Noise's head. "I can help," he said. White took a deep breath, and his horn started to glow. He looked at the hydra, and then back at Twilight. Magic tendrils extended from his horn and wrapped around the other unicorn, before shrinking to only cover her horn. White was about to try something that'd he never heard of anypony doing before. He let out his breath, and severed his magic. All of it. His face contorted into a pained expression as his magic rushed out of his horn and into Twilight's. The magic transfer held. With the extra surge of power pushing her just over the edge, Twilight's eyes glowed pure white as she quickly tied up the rest of the hydra's necks, making a neat cerberus bundle (nicely wrapped up in hydra gift paper). Twilight then flicked her neck dramatically and levitated the bundle up into the air. She released her magic, and the hydra-cerberus package flew high into the air, reaching its maximum height halfway to the horizon and dipping down into the depths of the Everfree Forest. Twilight collapsed from over-exertion, and tears leaked from White Noise's eyes. His horn appeared a shade darker than usual. Sibwashie had emerged from the swamp by this time and stood next to Sky and a still-shaken-up Ditzy Doo, mouth agape in awe of the spectacular feat of magic that he had just witnessed. "WOOHOO!" came a piercing cry, as Pinkie Pie appeared on the scene, seemingly out of nowhere. "This calls for a celebration!" *** An hour or so later, Pinkie's party was in full swing. Everypony in town bombarded Twilight with gratitude for saving Ponyville from the terrible wrath of the enormous hydra and its friend the gigantic Cerberus, which made her feel quite uncomfortable. "These travellers helped too!" she insisted, desperately motioning towards Sibwashie, Sky Wave and White Noise. The three travellers smiled politely at the townsfolk, who soon returned to swamping Twilight, leaving them to talk in peace. "Are you sure your horn's okay?" Sky asked White. "It looks odd." "That's because I gave Twilight my entire magic reserve back at the bog," replied White. "My magic will replenish itself in a day or two, but until then I just won't be able to do magic. It's an annoyance, but it's only temporary. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some punch... without levitating anything." As White Noise ambled over to the punch bowl, his mind returned to something Twilight had told him on the way back to Ponyville. "Beasts of that size have no reason to be so close to Ponyville," she had said. "When I talked about hydras in Froggy-Bottom Bog, I meant young ones: hydras that just get lost in the Everfree, or runts that get chased out of the bigger swamps. That one was certainly way out of the age range of 'young'. What's more, I know of the cerberusi – or is it cereberi? – who hide in dark caves in the forest's depths, but they seldom come out and definitely don't journey as far as the bog when they do." "Maybe they just got lost?" he had replied. "I'm sure it happens to older hydras and cereberi as well." "I was thinking that as well, but then I started using my magic on the hydra. As soon as I tried to move its first neck, I felt that... sense of disconnection you get when something has been enchanted to resist magic. It wasn't a very sophisticated enchantment, but it was there." White Noise shuddered as he thought back to the magical resistance breaking course he had barely scraped through in school. Even the "not very sophisticated" enchantments would leave him with a massive headache. So Twilight thinks that somepony was behind the attack, at least indirectly, White though as he looked to both sides, checking to see if other ponies were watching before dipping his muzzle into the punch bowl and taking a long drink. Not sure what anypony would have to gain from enchanting huge monsters and sending them to Froggy-Bottom Bog though. *** In another, lonelier corner of the party, Ditzy Doo felt a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey Ditzy," said Sky Wave kindly. "How's it going?" Ditzy looked at the ground, too ashamed to make eye contact. "I'm so sorry!" she bawled. "I nearly got everypony killed!" "Don't say that!" Sky reprimanded. "It wasn't your fault that there was a hydra hiding in the bog! And besides, if I hadn't been so insistent about the meaning of your cutie mark..." "Wait..." began Ditzy, as she brought her eyes into focus. "So, you're saying that you were wrong? That my cutie mark does mean what my parents told me it means?" "Yeah... I guess," Sky admitted. "Okay fine. Yes. I'm sorry, I was wrong. Forgive me?" "Well..." Ditzy thought about it for a moment, before nodding her head and wrapping her forelegs around Sky. Sky smiled and returned Ditzy's hug. "Ahem." A gruff voice interrupted the two ponies, and they turned around to see a middle-aged brown pegasus stallion. He had a few days' worth of stubble on his muzzle and was wearing an expression that showed him to be feeling very sorry for himself. "Mr Brown!" Ditzy exclaimed. "Uh... are you okay? …Sir?" "Ditzy Doo, this is really embarrassing for me, but, uh," the brown stallion mumbled. "D'ya wanna have your old job back?" Ditzy's eyes widened in shock, and her pupils lost their focus as her irises drifted in opposite directions. "But I thought my cutie mark –" "Yes, yes, that's still how it is," interrupted Ditzy's old boss. "But the thing of it is this: the Equestrian Postal Service cannot spare any more mailponies from anyplace else. The mailmare who was supposed to transfer here from Trottingham has been reassigned, and Ponyville doesn't have a mailpony right now. Folks are gettin' agitated." "She'll take her job back," Sky offered coyly. "At double the salary!" Mr Brown raised an eyebrow, and Sky immediately regretted her demand. "Not my call to make. Ditzy, the offer to get your old job with your old pay back still stands. We'll make a plan to deal with the bureaucrats at headquarters." Ditzy barely had to think before nodding her head vigorously and wrapping her "new" boss in a bone-crushing hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" exclaimed Ditzy. "I can't wait to get back on the job! Back to my old route, with my old mail bags and my old breakfast muffin and my old..." Sky smiled to herself as she trotted off to find her travelling companions. Ponyville had been full of excitement, and she'd made a number of great new friends, but she found herself hoping that the next stop she and the others made would be a little less eventful. If she ended up having to fight any more hydras, she would have to ask White Noise for a raise.