//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Cutie Mark Crusader New World Explorers! Yay! // Story: Sword and Sorcery // by CCC //------------------------------// Rarity yawned widely, her mouth briefly extending to larger than her eyes. She reached out with her magic to open the boutique door in front of her, and, without looking where she was going, headed directly for the stairs. There was a sudden thump as she tripped over something that had been lying on the floor. Rarity sighed. “Sweetie Belle?” she called out. “Yes?” answered a meek little voice from the vicinity of Rarity's hooves. Rarity's eyes widened, and she looked back to see what she had tripped over. “Oh, Sweetie Belle!” Rarity quickly disentangled herself from her sister. “I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you there. Are you okay?” “I'll be fine.” the filly assured her sister. “And what were you doing in the middle of the floor, in any case?” enquired Rarity. “Waiting for you.” replied Sweetie Belle, promptly. “Your Discord picnics are always fun to hear about afterwards. Did you go to Cloudsdale this time? Ooo, or Prance? Were you in Prance? Or was it in a volcano again? Or maybe upside down under a bridge...” Rarity shuddered at the thought of sitting on the no-doubt muddy underside of a bridge. “No, dear.” she said. “We were in a forest. It was very nice. After the picnic, we played a very strenuous game of hoofball.” “Ooooh, ooooh! Which forest? What teams were you in?” “Ponies on one team, six Discords on the other team, with Spike as the referee. One of the Discords got in quite an argument with Spike about halfway through. The little fellow was really terribly biased. He allowed us to get away with the most shocking things, but hammered Discord the moment he put a claw out of line. Twilight had to have a word with him about that in the end. And I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea which forest it was, Sweetie. Discord said something about it being a good deal more remote than Horsetralia, but I really have no idea where it could be. We're going to go and explore it a bit more tomorrow morning. I'm sure there'll be all sorts of new fashions to look at there. Now, if you don't mind, dear, I really have to get an early night. After that game of hoofball, I am quite exhausted.” Sweetie rolled her eyes at Rarity's mention of new fashions. “Okay, I -” She stopped suddenly as realisation struck. “If it's further than Horsetralia,” she asked, “then how are you gonna get there tomorrow morning?” “Discord left a shortcut, dear. There by Fluttershy's cottage.” replied Rarity, thinking only of her upcoming bath. I think I'll use the herbal bubblebath tonight... I probably shouldn't, it's so indulgent, but I'm going to... “Really...” said Sweetie Belle, rubbing her front hooves together in a way that would have been a red flag to Rarity had she not already been halfway up the stairs. * * * There was a clattering sound at Applebloom's window. At first the filly slept through it, but in fairly short order it was repeated. And again. And again. Finally, Applebloom roused herself out of bed, and headed for the window. She reached it just as another hooffull of gravel struck it on the outside. She opened the window and looked out. ...had that bush always been there? As Applebloom frowned at the interloping foliage, Sweetie Belle's head popped out of the top of the bush. With frantic motions of one foreleg, she beckoned Applebloom down, and then ducked back into the bush again. Applebloom also noticed that, on the other side of the bush, there were either some very strange flowers or a pair of orange wings. She responded with a complex series of gestures which would most likely not have made sense to anyone except Pinkie Pie, and stared at the bush. After a few moments, Sweetie Belle popped out of the bush and beckoned again, more insistently this time. Applebloom sighed. She opened the window wider, and carefully stepped out onto the porch roof. She tippy-hooved along, taking extra care when ducking under Applejack's and especially when ducking under Big Mac's bedroom window. She reached her objective without incident, however, and slid – with some care – down the drainpipe. Then it was simply a matter of dashing across the open space to the small portable bush. For a brief moment, the bush was a scene of a hasty, whispered conversation. Then it rose on three sets of brightly-coloured hooves, and sneaked away from Sweet Apple Acres. * * * In the forest near the city of Cimmura, a stone archway stood where no archway had stood the day before. Emerging from the archway, as if from nowhere, there came a small, ambulatory bush; the branches from which it had been constructed wiped the ground clear of any tracks which may have lain upon it (the most recent being the tracks of a travelling magician and cart, heading out of the archway). The bush rustled and shook for a bit, and finally came apart into a pile of leafy branches. “Well, Ah sure don't know where we are now.” volunteered Applebloom. “It's got to be a really long way.” suggested Scootaloo. “All the stars are different.” “Rarity said further than Horsetralia.” added Sweetie Belle. “Let's go and explore!” “Why'd we have to come out here tonight?” asked Applebloom. “Because tonight it's still unexplored.” said Sweetie Belle, promptly. “By tomorrow, our sisters will have gone over the whole place. This might be our only chance our whole lives to try to get cutie marks in being the first to set hoof in someplace!” “Yeah, Ah guess.” murmured Applebloom. “So which way from here?” Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I don't know. Any way will do, I guess.” “That way!” said Scootaloo, pointing. “Why that way?” asked Applebloom. “'Cos that's where the music is coming from.” replied Scootaloo. “I bet you it's griffins. We're probably in the middle of the Griffin Kingdoms.” “Oh, don't be silly.” replied Sweetie Belle. “The Griffin Kingdoms are a lot closer than Horsetralia.” She listened closely to the music, and added “Besides, that sounds like some sort of pipe, or flute. You need lips to play those, you can't play them with a beak.” “Seriously?” asked Scootaloo. “Griffins can't play pipes?” “Nah, but they can do amazing things with violins.” said Sweetie Belle. “Couple of months back, Rarity took me to this recital in -” “We did Cutie Mark Crusader Music Critics last week.” interrupted Applebloom. “Come on, let's explore!” * * * Aphrael the Child-Goddess sat quietly in a tree, keeping her immortal eyes directed towards the portal. The presence of the Chaos Avatar had made it hard to see what was going on near the portal, both while Discord was there and for some time afterward, until the ripples of his presence has quieted; and staying in the castle as Princess Danae had made it even harder, as the minds, hopes and dreams of all the people of Cimmura had swept and bubbled around her. Normally it was comforting, but it certainly made it hard to see what was going on at a distance... Now, though, the Danae incarnation was asleep in bed; and while the Princess slept, the Child-Goddess was free to roam without revealing herself as the Princess. Now Discord's influence had quieted, and now the only minds that lay between Aphrael and the portal were the simple, straightforward minds of animals. She had sensed the arrival of the three fillies as soon as they had stepped onto the Eosian continent, and had been listening to their conversation. All other languages, as Aphrael had good reason to know, were degenerate forms of The Language – the language of the gods themselves. In order to understand Equestrian, therefore, Aphrael did not have to learn a new language; she merely had to learn how the Equestrian language had degenerated from one that she knew very well indeed. It sounded like these three fillies were loquacious. That was good; Aphrael needed only a few more sentences in order to be able to speak perfect Equestrian herself. And, in exchange for learning Equestrian from them, Aphrael took it upon herself to ensure that the Cutie Mark Crusaders remained safe through the upcoming night...