“Alright, girls,” Rarity called out from her section of the ship. “where to first?”
“Someplace awesome!” exclaimed Dash.
“Someplace safe…” muttered Shy.
“Don’ matter to me non.”
“Anywhere’s good to me, as long as I learn something new.”
“Sound it out darling,” said Rarity.
“Oh-lym-pus. Olympus!” She beamed at successfully pronouncing the new word. “That’s it! He said that it holds tournaments for brave warriors.”
Twilight thought on it for a while before responding. “That does sound fun, but I think that we should explore some worlds that could give us information on Spike. It can’t be hard to find information on a half dragon, they are pretty rare, so people would remember if they’ve seen one.”
Shy shrank back into her seat. “If we do go, can I not enter the tournament.”
Dash flew over to her friend, and patted her on the back. “It’s cool shy you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I would probably win anyway.” She boasted.
“An’ iffin I were to enter?” said AJ with a challenging smirk.
Dash matched her face with one of her own. “Then I’d have a challenge.” If one looked closely, they could see actual sparks passing between the two friendly rivals. Twilight rolled her eyes, remembering how they’ve always been like this. Always competing to be the strongest.
Pinkie chose this moment to pop up in between the two. “Girls, girls, don’t fight here, we still need to pick a world first. I pick that one over there!” She exclaimed, pointing at a random world. It looked as though it had a volcano recently erupt, black smoke billowed around at least half the world’s surface. A hole could be seen at one of it’s poles where the smoke emitted from.
Dash stared at it for awhile. “Why that one, it looks creepy.”
AJ tipped her hat in agreement. “I’ll say….”
Pinkie only shrugged. “I don’t know. It looks important to the plot.”
AJ and Dash stared at her for a time, before deciding wordlessly to take what she said with a grain of salt. Like they usually did when she began to talk nonsense.
“Pinkie, if you’re over there, then who’s driving?” Twilight asked nervously. She didn't mean to sound cliche, but with the pink haired paradox, she needed to be cautious.
“Silly, Twilight," said Pinkie, "the autopilot’s driving it of course.” Apparently the ship decided to prove her wrong as it began to lurch and veer in random directions. Everyone who wasn't either sitting or flying, instantly felt the whiplash that the ship provided.
“Pinkie, you never installed autopilot on this ship,” The interface reminded. Pinkie quickly made her way back to her chair to take control, effectively restoring balance to everyone aboard. “Oopsie, silly me, I knew I forgot something that Saturday.”
Dash managed to keep her lunch in well enough to berate her friend. “How could you forget autopilot, it’s like, one of the most important, AND USEFUL, things in a ship. What were you even doing?”
Pinkie briefly thought back to that Saturday when she was out fixing the ship. She began to giggle a little at the memory. “Lets just say, that Genie shouldn't dare me to eat random things.”
The others stared at her, some in curiosity, others in bewilderment. They all came to an unspoken mutual understanding of ignorance. Pinkie looked back to the group and grinned. “So did you all pick a place to park?”
“That might be a tad difficult,” Rarity called out nervously. “we have a problem.”
Twilight began to panic slightly. She had just left home, and already they were running into problems left and right. If they had to return home so soon, Master Luna would definitely be disappointed in them. She wished greatly that Pinkie would have told her about the ship, so she could have helped. “What kind of problem, are we missing something else?”
“I would assume so,” said Rarity as she turned back to her screen. “This screen shows nearby worlds, but none of them have any information in their files. We are basically flying blind.”
Twilight turned back to their so-called pilot. “You didn't install proper navigation either!?”
Before Pinkie could answer, the interface spoke up once more. ‘She is not at fault. The navigation software in use is functioning properly. Current analysis suggests lack of data. Number of worlds visited: 0.’
Twilight visibly deflated, her face becoming one of understanding. “Oh yeah. I’m sorry for freaking out.”
“It’s alright Twi, you’re nervous and excited” Pinkie gasped loudly! “You’re nervouscited!”
Twilight giggled slightly at her friends understanding. “Pinkie, that’s not a word.”
“It is now!” She beamed.
“So, if we don’t have any info on the worlds we choose, how do we choose?” Dash asked as she finally sat back down in her chair. With Pinkie at the wheel, she didn't want to take anymore chances.
“Why don’ we choose at random?”
“B..but what if we pick a bad world by accident..” Angel simply facepawed at the nervous girl’s fears.
“Then we fix it of course!” Dash began to punch the air. “Kick the baddies asses, and move on! That’s what Luna sent us out here for. Right?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Technically yes, but-”
“Then I don’t think it matters what world we pick.” Dash forgot what she had learned moments before, and jumped out of her seat, to ran over to the nearby window. “I pick the one Pinkie chose. It does look kinda weird, but that might be a good thing.”
“Rachelle please!” Rarity flipped her hair in disgust “I will not have our first journey be of a world that’s covered in icky black smoke.”
“I don’ know, I kinda agree with Rainbow on this one. That world does look kinda interestin’.” AJ agreed as she looked out the window.
“Well, that’s three against one, I personally don’t mind either way. Shy, what do you think?” She turned to recieve the girls answer, but only received the sight of her also staring out the window.
Shy didn't even hear her, she was too busy gazing out at a small peaceful world that looked like it came right out of a story book. Mainly because the world looked like a open book, with pictures of trees and honey covering it’s pages. Angel looked over at Twilight, and shook his head, answering in her place.
“Riiiiggghhttt, even so, Pinkie’s group wins th-” The ship interrupted her as it lurched sharply to the right, throwing everyone who had been standing against the far wall.
“Icky Black smoky world it is! ALLONS-Y!” With that, Pinkie turned to nosedive towards the surface of the nearby world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Guys, …..can I stop standing here now?” Pinkie called out as she turned her head away from the tree that they ordered her to stand in front of.
“NO! You don’t nose dive straight down when entering a world’s atmosphere!” Twilight’s voice echoed out from inside the ship. “You could’ve killed us!”
The Gummy currently sat, smoking, at the end of a long trail that the ship formed as it crashed, ending in a small clearing in the middle of a dense forest.
“I’m sorry darling, but I must agree with Twilight, you simply haven't learned your lesson yet.” Rarity added. Twilight appointed her as warden, tasked with make sure Pinkie suffered the worst punishment imaginable…….standing still.
Pinkie’s eyes began to water. “It wasnt my fault…...I was gonna pull up, but some meanies shot us down.”
Rarity wasn't convinced. “Be that as it may, you made us an easy target to begin with.”
“But I-”
“Twilight!” Rarity called back toward the ship. “Are you done rerouting the controls,” she said, ignoring Pinkies complaints.
Twilight emerged from the entrance to the ship, exhausted from trying to change the pilot program. “Sorry, I couldn't do it.” She lowered her head in defeat. “Everything goes through the interface. Pinkie must have worked hard on it,” Twilight’s face turned into an annoyed scowl. “.....because, it’s just as stubborn as the person it’s based on, like a rock. It won’t allow me to change any settings without her ‘willing’ consent.”
She paused for a second as she looked back at the interior of the ship. “I do have to hand it to her though, having had some time to look around, I can see just how amazing this ship is. I have an automatic book shelf in my room!” She squealed.
Even though she was facing the tree, one could tell by her posture that Pinkie was really happy about the compliment.
Twilight looked over to the side of the ship and called out. “Dash, Jackie, how does it look?”
Two distinct voices called back, but Twilight could easily tell who was who,
“Pretty bad, but not as bad as we thought.” Rainbow called out. “There’s a huge blast mark on the side though.”
“Yea, lotsa dents, dangs an’ scratches.” added AJ. “The left engine’s also messed up a bit”
Twilight pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. “Jeez, it’ll take days to fix the damage,” she sighed “we haven't even started exploring yet.”
“It’s fine, Twi.”
Twilight jumped in alarm as the pink haired girl appeared next to her. Rarity turned back to the tree, and sighed as she saw that Pinkie no longer stood there.
“Actually, Gummy will heal on it’s own, see watch.” Twilight looked down at the keyblade that was already in the girl‘s hand. It was slightly longer than Dash’s, with a single magenta streamer running around the length of the bright pink shaft. Running from the balloon shaped blue handguard, to the teeth that were shaped like a piece of cake. The chain ended in three small balloons.
Pinkie held up her keyblade, Laughter’s Sake, (That was it’s official name, but Pinkie calls it Candy Cane) and pointed it at the Gummy. Before Twilight could question her, a beam of light shot out from the tip, and struck a small lock shaped indent on the side of the ship. The entire thing began to glow before bursting into small shards of light, vanishing with the sound of a lock clicking. Cha-chink.
Dash and AJ, who were behind the ship, gawked in disbelief. Shy and Angel, who had been in the ship, plopped down onto the grass. Both looking very confused. Rarity looked on in amazement, and Twilight’s eyes sparkled in excitement.
“Pinkie……...did you just…...unsummon your ship?” asked Twilight in slight disbelief.
“Yup, Master Luna told me that my keyblade’s power is to-”
“You can take anything, mark it with your keyblade, and summon it to you! That’s how you summon things like Tigger!” Twilight exclaimed in realization. Now, after so long, she finally understood more about her friend’s strange abilities. This filled her with newfound hope and enthusiasm, completely erasing her earlier stress.
Pinkie giggled at Twilight’s, her-level of excitement. “Yup, It took awhile to learn but isn't it cool!” Practically hopping in place, herself.
“Hellz yeah it is.” Dash flew over and high fived the excited girl. “So can we finally check out this new world! I’m getting impatient.”
“Yea let’s go”
Pinkie almost literally jumped off the trees around her in excitement. Suddenly her face took on an expression of mock seriousness. She took out a brown pith helmet, and sat it on top of her curly hair. “Ok girls, this is our first adventure, so let’s get serious.” That sentence elicited eyerolls from some, and snickers from others. Including the small bush directly behind her.
Immediately, Dash and Twilight raised their keyblades in defence, causing the bush to let out a startled gasp. Despite warnings from Twilight, Pinkie bounced over to the bush and caught it fairly easily before it could escape. Pinkie wrestled around inside the bush for a while, before emerging with a small girl held in her arms.
“It’s ok guys, it’s just a girl!” Pinkie called out as she held said girl up. She had light brown, mid length hair. She wore a tattered, off gray dress that seemed to have been in constant need of repair, and she looked extremely frightened.
Everyone visibly relaxed and dismissed their weapons. Seeing the young girl in such a state sent Rarity into a frenzy. In speeds that dwarfed even Dash, Rarity bolted over, snatched the girl, and began taking measurements. Twilight was briefly reminded of the first time that they met, the situation being roughly the same. Knowing full well where this was going, Twilight stepped over to stop the frantic fashionista.
“Stop, Rarity, can’t you see that she’s scared to death.” Rarity snapped back to reality, and took in the sight of the girl in the clothes for the first time. She looked positively terrified, the mere fact that she was still conscious was a miracle in and of itself.
“Oh…...dear, I’m dreadfully sorry…...it’s just…….your attire….” She trailed off and backed away. Seeing that it was safe to proceed, Shy went into her own ‘caretaker mode’. She quickly flew over to the still frightened child, and gently soothed her over with soft words.
“I’m really sorry for startling you, someone shot our ship down and we crashed. My name is Shia.” She began in her soothingly motherly voice. The small girl looked up at her, and visibly relaxed. Shia took this a sign to continue. She gestured over to the other 5, introducing them, one by one.
The small girl looked over the 6 older females. Her gazy zeroed in on the one who had rainbow colored hair, and one looked like she was on a constant sugar rush. She began to smile softly, coming to the conclusion that these girls meant no harm. Wordlessly, she darted back to the edge of the forest. Before diving completely in, she motioned for the girls to follow her.
Most of the girls glanced at one another, shrugged, and followed her into the dense foliage.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been about 20 minutes since Twilight and the gang decided to follow the small girl into the forest. Wherever she was taking them, it must have been pretty far away for them to have been walking this long. Twilight had been mentally developing a few hypotheses on their destination, when she began to realize something pretty important.
‘It’s pretty quiet.’ Twilight thought as she continued to trudge through the forest behind the, as-of-yet, unnamed girl. She briefly turned back to her friends, and saw that they were still safely following behind her. ‘Nope, they’re still there, …..but why are their mouths moving……..I can’t hear any- OH RIGHT!’ She mentally slapped herself for forgetting. ‘I set up a sound barrier about five minutes after we entered the forest. I wonder why……”
Against her better judgement, Twilight chose to dispel the silence that she had cast, only to be bombarded with various noises.
“TWIIIILLLLLLIIIIIGHTT STOP IGNORING MEEEEE,”cried Rarity, “how faaarrr is itt we’ve been walking foreeeevvveerrr.”
“Girl, ahm tellin ya, Zeus would totally not win in a fight with Odin!” shouted AJ, “it’s no contest!
“And I’m telling you!”, shouted Dash, “a dude on a horse, can’t beat, the god of gods.”
“YOU PUT ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OOOTHERRR!” sand Pinkie.
“Oh dear, Mr. Bird, you’re just a few keys off. Please try again.” Shy instructed to a nearby bird that she had, apparently, been teaching to sing properly. Bird squawked once more, its sound grating against Twilight’s ears.
“Oh dear lord. Put it back up, put it back up!” Twilight’s magic obeyed her mind, and eventually, the offending noises ceased. The space around Twilight once more descended into peaceful silence, and he proceeded to retreat back into her thoughts in bliss.
Some undetermined amount of time later, Twilight’s mind came back to reality as she realized the the small girl had stopped, and instead began to pull on her shirt. Hesitantly she dropped the barrier once more, instead of annoying songs and grating noises, Twilight only heard the sounds of civilization. Looking up from the girl she could see a wooden gate, past it, however, she could see dozens of people moving back and forth, chatting, and going about their business. The other girls stopped beside her, and took in the sight as well.
Twilight’s chest filled with excitement as she took a single step forward, only for a large arrow to dig itself into the ground, right where she was going to step. A deep bellowing voice rang out.
“Who goes there!”
Twilight looked up to the top of the gate and caught sight of a large earthen man with short brown hair. He wore strange, kinda mismatched, armor, and had been flanked by a dozen or so others who all were currently aiming weapons directly at them. He looked down at them with a glare of suspicion, his eyes slowly lowered further to the smaller girl in front of them, before widening in surprise.
“Yuna,” he began, “who are these strangers, and why have you brought them here?”
The small girl, apparently named Yuna, answered not with words, but with arm gestures that the man seemed to understand.
“So, they are the ones who were shot down? I trust your judgement that they are not enemies.” The large man lifted his arm, and at his signal the others lifted their weapons. “You may enter.”
“Wooooo!” Pinkie cried as she dashed through the gate and into the town, Dash quickly copied her. Hesitantly the others walked through as well.
~~~
Inside, Twilight could make out three distinct details about the town: It was fairly small, everyone was an earthan, …….and everyone wore slightly tattered clothes. She watched in amusement, as Pinkie ran around attempting make friends with the townspeople. Dash wandered aimlessly, AJ and Shy walked over to the nearby animal shelter, and Rarity made polite conversation with a rather handsome guard.
Before she could find a place to wander off too, she caught sight of the man from before making his way over to her.
“Please forgive us,” said the man, “my name is Yukalai, and I am this camp’s chief of defense.”
“Camp?” said Twilight, “This isnt a small town?”
Yukalai looked mildly surprise before nodding in understanding. “Please, come with me, and I will explain the situation.” He began to walk off toward a tent that looked slightly larger than the ones around it. "Bring your friends as well.”
Twilight quickly rounded up her friends before heading off in the direction of the tent that the man entered.
Its interior actually looked rather spacious considering its relatively small size, even if it was big in comparison to the homes around it. Yukalai stood at the head of a round wooden table, and motioned for the group to gather around. Twilight briefly noted that Yuna was no long near her, and wondered where she went.
“So,” Dash began, “what’s with this place? It looks a kinda depressing.”
“The animals looked a little sad,” said Shy.
“I don’t like their clothes...” said Rarity.
The man held a hand up, silencing the girls. “Please let me explain. First; I know that you all are from other worlds.”
“How do you know about other worlds?” said Twilight, “I thought that knowledge was restricted.”
“Your sources are outdated. Several decades ago, a war forced the pathways between worlds open. Knowledge of other worlds are now common, as anyone with sufficient technology can travel between them freely.”
‘Why didn't Luna tell us this?’ thought Twilight. “Well if anyone can travel between them, who maintains world order?”
“Not many have sufficient technology for travel between worlds, nor the knowledge of its dangers.” Yukalai answered, “So currently everything is as it was.”
Twilight facepalmed at this new information. “This random stranger I just met, is giving me more information in 5 minutes, then Master Luna did in 8 years”
“Now that is rather interesting,” said Rarity, “but judging by your tone, I would guess that this world is an exception?”
Yukalai looked downcast as he nodded solemnly. “As you saw, the villagers do live in fear. This world has come under siege by a very evil man.”
“An who’s that?” asked AJ.
“He calls himself the ‘Dark King’. He and his forces appeared without warning, and attacked the inhabitants of this world. This isnt a town, it’s a refugee camp for those whose homes have been attacked. What you saw at the gate was only a meager defence, put together with random weapons and armor, a bluff if you will.” Yukalai actually began to look rather ashamed as he admitted this.
“Thats terrible,” said Shy
“Downright nasty if ya ask me!” exclaimed AJ
“Big meanies,” said Pinkie.
Yukalai looked up at the enraged faces of the girls and decided to get to the point. “You all come from another world, so you must have better technology. Will you help us stop him.”
Before any of the girls could answer, a large explosion rocked the earth beneath them. Dash and Shy took to the air by instinct, Rarity and Twilight fell to the ground, and AJ and Pinkie held their stance. Gunshots and screams began to ring out from outside the tent
“What in the world was that!” exclaimed Rarity.
“Someone is attacking!” Yukalai exclaimed as he ran out of the tent.
The others got back to their feet and followed him. Once outside, they were mortified to witness dozens soldiers, shooting, capturing, and assaulting people. Twilight looked further back and saw various vehicles letting more troops out.
“Those are the meanies who shot our ship down!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“They musta followed us here after we crashed.” said AJ
A single man in black stepped forward and projected his voice across the village. “Where are the trespassers who have broken his majestys law of travel! Come forth, or we we raze this miserable heap more than we already will.”
Looks of fury graced all of the girls faces as they simultaneously pulled out their keyblades and readied their stances. Yukalai looked on in amazement. He had heard tales of the legendary weapons used in the war, but never had he thought that he would see them in person, much less wielded by females.
Twilight stepped forward and pointed her key at the man, gaining his attention. She turned back to Yukalai and smiled.
“We will help you.”