To my faithful student
You are right to be cautious in this matter. We know nothing of these humans, or of what they may or may not be capable of. It speaks much of his bravery that this Sparhawk went through the portal despite the possibility of a waiting army; but now I must ask you to be similarly brave, and especially prepared.
I must also ask that you leave the Elements of Harmony in the library, safely locked in their case. It would not do for the Elements to be taken and lost in another world. Have Spike send me a message just before you leave, and another within ten minutes if all is well beyond the portal; if I do not receive the second message, then I will follow you through the portal.
The charges that Sparhawk levies against Krager are a further cause for concern. In light of this, and in order to keep Krager out of Ponyville during Sparhawk's tour, I would like to ask that you send him along to Canterlot Castle.
I am sure that I would enjoy talking to this human.
Eternally,
Princess Celestia
* * *
“If we're not going to be taking the Elements with us,” asked Fluttershy, “then do we really all have to go?”
“Well... I guess not.” said Twilight, as she put her tiara in the element display case. “Though I did think it would be a good idea for all of us to see this other world.”
“Oh. Um.” said Fluttershy. “But I don't want to leave Krager all alone either. I thought maybe I could go with him to Canterlot, so he's not all alone.”
“I assure you, I have no problems with being alone.” stated Krager firmly.
“But you might get lost.” pointed out Fluttershy.
Krager refrained from pointing out that he'd rather been counting on getting lost.
“I think,” said Rarity, firmly, “that I and Fluttershy should both accompany Krager to Canterlot, while the rest of you girls and Spike go on Sparhawk's tour.”
“I think I'd like to go to Canterlot, too.” said Spike, looking at Rarity.
“No, Spike,” said Rarity, “you need to go through the portal, so that you can send Celestia that letter to say that it's safe. I do not need to go through that portal, because there is a lot of mud on the other side; and Fluttershy and I are the members of our little group who are least suited for a purely physical altercation, should that become necessary. Besides, I've hardly had time to pack for that sort of tour.” She noted Spike's disappointed expression, and added “Perhaps next time, you can give me a tour through Krager's world.”
“Well,” said Twilight, “I guess that seems – reasonable?”
“Yeah, yeah.” grumbled Rainbow Dash. “Come on, it's been two hours, let's go and see the world of the slave-ponies.”
The group going on the tour filed out of the library, leaving only Rarity and Fluttershy with Krager.
“One last thing before we go, dear.” said Rarity to Krager. “Put Laughter and Generosity back in the display case, would you? It's really not worth the trouble of trying to steal them.”
* * *
Trixie's head burst above the murky waters. She took in a lungful of air. It took her only a moment to notice the young man standing on the bank in front of her, still holding the discarded bridle; and half a moment longer to magically zip his mouth shut, preventing him from crying out.
Then she turned about, and swam at full speed for the opposite shore. Once she had hurriedly clambered out of the river, she glanced behind, and saw the creature pawing ineffectually at its mouth.
Strange. Does it not know what a zipper is? Well, I can't leave it like that; it won't be able to eat, and I'm not going to make some strange creature starve.
She reached out with her magic, and tugged at the zipper, releasing it and causing the magic to dissipate. Then she trotted smartly forward, into the forest.
A bright blue pony has a certain amount of difficulty fading unseen into the undergrowth. But with a quick, slightly adapted mane-dye spell, Trixie's coat changed colour, becoming instead a smooth green.
It shouldn't be too hard to find a road – all Trixie needed to do was to loop around and meet the river again some distance downstream; follow it downstream until she found a road; and then follow the road (cautiously) until she found civilisation. It would then only be a matter of time – and a few shows – until she was back on her hooves again.
Maybe she could even figure out how far Equestria was from here.