ACT I:
IMPROMPTU ENLISTMENT
The pounding at the door became louder. No matter how much Twilight Sparkle attempted to block it out, it only became worse.
Go away, she thought to herself, Who would knock on my door this early in the morning?
She sat straight up in her bed, on the second floor of her cozy library in Ponyville. The purple mare suddenly realized that there would only be one pony who would knock this early….
Almost like an answer from above, a voice from behind the door yelled, “TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! ARE YOU UP?!?!? THE FESTIVAL IS TODAY! THE FESTIVAL! REMEMBER?!?!?”
Pinkie Pie. Of course.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” the scholarly unicorn grumbled groggily. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves, and looked down at her “Number One” assistant and friend, Spike, still curled up in his bed, snoring the waking hours away. How can he sleep through all this racket?
She was careful not to disturb his slumber as she slowly walked to the door. Using her magic, she pulled open the library’s door, and reeled back in shock.
There was Pinkie Pie; her eyes slightly bloodshot, a massive load of bags on her back, in mid-knock. Noticing the door open, she regained her happy, flamboyant composure. The pink pony flashed her massive smile.
“Pinkie Pie…” said a half-asleep Twilight, “What are you doing here so early?”
“Twilight, you silly goose, why aren’t you ready? The train leaves in a half hour!”
The unicorn scratched her mane with her hoof, racking her brain for an answer. “…Train, what train?”
“The train to Appleloosa! Goodness, Twilight – of all ponies, how could you forget the Anniversary of Good Tidings?”
Twilight’s eyes shot wide open. The Anniversary – that was today.
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” she yelled to nopony in particular, “How did I forget? Why am I not up yet?” She gasped. “My alarm! It didn’t go off! But why?”
She began to dance around, all over the place in one spot. “How did I forget? Oh, gosh, I’ve got to get ready! I’ve got to pack! No, wait, I did that already. Did I? Oh no why – ”
Pinkie Pie placed her hoof over Twilight’s mouth. “Twilight! Calm down! You dropped your stuff off with AJ last night, remember? To be ‘provocative’ or something.”
Twilight stopped her crazy clog dance for a second. “You mean ‘ proactive.’”
“Right, right! But we’ve got to GO! NOW!”
With that, Pinkie Pie grabbed Twilight by her shoulders, and yanked her out into the square, kicking the door shut with her back hoof.
“Oh, wait, what about - ?” Twilight tried to say.
“Spike can meet us there later! But, we’re going to miss the train!”
“Right, right!” With a frizzy mane, and worries put behind her for now, Twilight led the way to the Ponyville Train station, at a full gallop, followed closely behind by Pinkie Pie.
“Where are the others?” asked Twilight between breaths.
“Um…” replied Pinkie Pie, “Most of them are at the train station. But, we’re not going to get on until you’re on, so let’s get a move on!”
The rest of the way there, neither said a word – the only ambience being their large breaths, and the clanking and banging of all the supplies on Pinkie’s back.
The orange pony trotted around the station nervously. “Okay, now where could they all be?”
Her fashion-loving friend replied, “I don’t know, but what I do know is that I could use more beauty sleep. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to take a nap on the train - ”
As she walked towards the door of the open car, a dive - bombing Rainbow Dash stopped her, causing Rarity to rear back a little bit.
“AH!” exclaimed the unicorn.
“Not now, Rarity!” advised the pegasus, “We all agreed that none of us were going to get on ‘til all of us are here. We stick together. If we all make it, we make it. If we don’t – we all don’t.”
Rarity stomped her hoof on the ground. “How come Fluttershy gets to go onboard, then?”
“She’s putting our bags in the train!”
Almost on cue, a grunting was heard from within the sleeping car, followed by a thud. From the darkness, Fluttershy stepped out, hyperventilating but cheery. “All done,” she said, “Except, for of course, Pinkie Pie’s things, although I’ve got Twilight’s all set to go…Where are those two?”
Applejack turned suddenly around to her yellow friend. “I don’ know! It ain’t like Twi’ to be late fer anything! Mighty unusual.”
Rarity yawned. “I know, this isn’t like Twilight at all. Do you…do you suppose something happened to them?”
The thought went through all of their minds – they all simultaneously shook their heads, trying to dismiss any bad things that could happen to their friends.
Applejack stamped the ground with her hoof. “Where are they? I don’ wanna be late for this…I’m an honorary speaker! All o’ them in Appleloosa are countin’ on me to deliver the Good Tidings speech!”
It was important. It had been half a year since the Appleloosian residents and the local buffalo tribe had come to an agreement, and this long-lasting harmony was cause for proper celebration. AJ had played a big role in it – it seemed only natural she would play a part in the Anniversary.
Fluttershy walked over to her distraught friend. “Relax, Applejack. They can’t be too far from the train station by now.”
Before anypony could say anything else, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: “All aboard! Next train to Appleloosa leaves in one minute!”
They all stared, slack-jawed, at the P.A. system. The system spoke once more. “Oh, sorry, my bad, folks – that’d be two minutes. There’s some sort of pyrotechnics being set up, and we don’t want the train to be in the middle of their tests. Thank you.” It cut off.
Thank Celestia for the Mayor’s Annual Harvest Roast being held today, too. Festivities usually went all out, and the firework team might just buy them some time. Even so, Applejack frantically turned to her friends. “Two minutes! Two minutes! They ain’t gonna make it, they ain’t gonna make it!”
After a period of silence, Rainbow Dash decided to offer up some support. “Now, let’s just try and calm down. When’s the next train, if we miss this one? Like an hour or two?”
“Three days.”
“Three days?” Rainbow was taken aback at this. She hadn’t expected this answer at all.
The farmpony nodded rapidly. “Trains to Appleloosa are a long ride, and there ain’t many of them. Oh, horsefeathers! Where are those two?”
The train blew its whistle in the early hours, just as the sun began to come over the horizon. It was time to go.
All of a sudden, Twilight and Pinkie Pie appeared from the distance. The ponies at the station cheered.
Rarity waved a hoof over. “Hurry up, you guys! The train’s about to le – “
BOOM! A massive explosion was heard down the track, shocking all the friends in their hooves. The firework team – why couldn’t they have waited longer?
The train blew its whistle again, and creaked, its engine beginning to go.
“They ain’t gonna make it, they ain’t gonna make it!” AJ repeated.
“Everypony get ready to board the train!” yelled Dash.
The two ponies running kicked it up a notch, and approached the station at speeds they didn’t know they could. Especially Pinkie Pie, with all the supplies on her back. At this rate, they might just make it –
But, no. The train whirred to life, and began chugging slowly down the tracks. By the time the baker and the scholar arrived at the station, the train was already down the tracks, and it looked like they weren’t going to make it if they tried running.
They missed the train.
“No!” yelled Applejack. She took her hat off and stomped it into the ground.
“I’m so sorry, AJ,” said Twilight softly, “It was all my fault. I accidentally – “
The farmpony shook her head wildly, then cooled off a bit. Picking up her hat, “Don’t worry about it Twilight. I’m sure I can give the speech…after the celebration…”
“Arrgh, we were so close!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, “Why can’t Twilight move at the physics-breaking speeds I can?”
“Pinkie Pie!” scolded Rarity.
“Oh, um, I mean – it was probably the stuff on my back…”
Twilight hung her head. No, it was her fault they didn’t make it. Why hadn’t she heard her alarm going off? For a librarian, she sure wasn’t as organized as she thought she ought to be.
She had to make this up to all of them. Especially to Applejack. But…how?
The lavender unicorn looked down the track, towards the train that kept chugging its way to the end of the horizon, past the small area where three ponies were working with what looked like a rather large firework. One of them said, “This one’ll give ‘em a show – one minute, you see it, it disappears – then, boom! Massive explosion somewhere completely different! They never see it coming!”
Disappearing…reappearing…teleporting…
A thought came to her mind. Twilight wasn’t entirely sure, her teleportation wasn’t at its full potential yet, but it was pretty decent, still – she might be able to teleport all the way to the train. She could pull the E-brake there and get everyone aboard, too. But, chances are she might not make it to the train.
Anything was worth a shot. Especially now.
The chatter of her friends began to fade away, as Twilight got in position on the edge of the station. She took a deep breath, inhaling the coolness of an Equestrian morning.
And she bolted right off the track, getting a running start for her teleport.
“Really, Pinkie Pie – you have to watch your mouth when near friends! I doubt that Twilight needed any more guilt put on – hey, wait, where’s Twilight?”
Rarity stopped scolding Pinkie Pie, and began looking around the station. She’s completely vanished, she thought to herself, Where is that pony off to now?
After some brief searching, Fluttershy found her: “Look, there she is! She’s galloping down the tracks!”
The pegasus’s soft voice rang in Applejack’s ears. The orange earth pony looked over, only to see that Twilight was indeed sprinting down the length of the railroad track.
Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side. “What is she doing?”
“I don’t know,” replied Applejack. She really didn’t, either. Was…was she running ‘cause she was upset? Twilight was very...unexpressive sometimes, but AJ got the feeling that she could get very emotional at times. And, when somepony who’s usually quiet takes off down a set of railroad tracks – it can only mean one thing. “I’m going after her. Y’all stay here.”
AJ thanked her lucky stars she was faster than her target, and took off after her, bolting down the tracks, at a rate just a little bit faster than Twilight’s. She’d catch up to her.
At some point.
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “What do you think she’s doing?”
“I don’t know,” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, “But, check it out, those guys are gonna shoot off another one!”
The pink pony pointed a hoof towards the pyrotechnics area, where the firework crew was lighting another fuse to a firework. The flame struck the rope, and began to climb up the rocket-like explosive.
Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof and gasped. “It – it’s going to go off right near them! They could get hurt!”
Fluttershy gasped as well. “Oh no! How can we tell them? Do you want me to yell for them?”
“Ponies, please.” The cocky voice came from the sky blue pegasus now hovering in the air. “I’ll get them to stop.”
Rainbow Dash backed away a little bit, and zoomed off the platform, flying towards the two ponies at breakneck speeds.
Twilight soon realized she wasn’t going to catch up to the train anytime soon. It was now or never.
The unicorn lowered her head, and squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating all her magic on this. She tried to envision the inside of the train car, and her standing there, and at once felt her horn begin to tingle. All sounds were blocked out, and all she could hear was her heavy breathing, the massive clops of her gallops, and the magical aura of her horn.
The tingling intensified, and a high-pitched sound came out of her horn, as the inside of the train car soon became a clear image in her mind. Teleporting time.
Applejack remained vigilant through her running. She hadn’t stopped, and fatigue was only now just starting to get to her. It wasn’t going to stop her, though.
Twilight lowered her head as they rounded a bend in the tracks. Just a few more steps, and AJ could literally touch Twilight at this point.
The farmpony’s friend’s horn began to glow. AJ didn’t even question it, and in a mighty lurch, jumped out to grab her friend. A high-pitched whine came out of her friend’s use of magic as her hooves hit purple fur.
Rainbow Dash only focused on flying faster and faster. She’d catch them, all right – there was no question about it.
The ends of her mouth flew back, a result of the speeds she was traveling at, and tears began to fly from her eyes. She wasn’t sad right now, she knew that – Dash did know what soon could happen, though.
As if scripted, once that thought entered her mind, the air pressure around her began to increase, enclosing her in a barely visible cone of pure air. Dash looked down, and saw Twilight and Applejack only moments ahead of her. A new energy swelled up inside of her as the pegasus got closer to the ground.
It never hurts to add a bit of style to a rescue, Rainbow thought to herself, and pushed herself a little more, breaking the cone and causing a fantastic prismatic phenomena.
The explosion came from her right.
The firecracker, designed to keep ponies in suspense due to its crazy flight pattern and near-invisibility, went off right near Rainbow Dash, in unison with her Sonic Rainboom, creating an insanely loud boom, mixed with a now shining bright rainbow emitting from the blast zone.
At the exact same time, Twilight teleported, taking AJ with her.
The resulting combination of forces created a spectacle like no other ever seen in Equestria.
A large, rainbow-colored sphere encased the three ponies, flashing incredibly brightly, and shooting out in all directions at the same time as its flash. It reached multiple ponies within the area, but, when the blast reached Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, they, too, became encased in a large, ever-expanding rainbow ball. It seemed only natural that such a harmonious phenomenon would take the Elements of Harmony captive in their wonders.
The last thing the six of them saw was a blinding flash of indescribable color, before they were erased from the early hours of the morning.
Twilight had teleported, like she had intended to.
But, none of them ended up on the inside of the train car.