Ah'll never get used to this... Ah thought as a burst of green fire appeared in front of mah face. A scroll materialized out of the fire an' fell to the ground. Ah stepped away from the tree Ah was buckin', picking up the scroll. Sigh, better see what Twilight wants.
"Hey, Big Mac, could ya finish up over 'ere?!" Ah yelled down the row of trees ta mah older, bigger brother. "Ah just got a letter from Twilight!"
"Okay."
That's mah brother, master of one word answers.... Ah started to walk back ta the farmhouse as Ah broke the seal on the scroll.
"Dear Applejack,
I hope this letter finds you taking a break. I would like to ask you to come to the castle and help me with the final stage of my latest experiment. I've already sent letters to the rest of our friends asking them to be there as well. If you could meet us in the Isolation Room in about six hours, I would be grateful.
Hope to see you tonight,
Twilight Sparkle."
What's she workin' on this time? Hmmmmm.... There are a few more chores that Ah could get done before Ah'd have to leave, but first Ah'd need to let Granny know where Ah'm goin'.
An', soon enough, Ah'm headin' into town with mah saddlebags, and a cart full of apples. Not to sell, mind ya, but ta bring ta the castle. Almost all the food made there comes from the local farms, an' yours truly supplies the most! Most of way ta town, Ah run into a good friend of mine. And by 'run into', Ah mean 'she popped out of mah cart'.
Again.
"What'cha doin'?" Pinkie Pie asked as her head emerged from the pile of apples.
"Takin' these apples to the castle storerooms before we gotta meet up with Twi'."
"Ooh, you got her letter, too?! Does this mean that the others'll be there soon, too?" Pinkie hopped out of the cart, not spillin' an apple. "But why would she want us to meet her in the Isolation Room? Isn't that at the veeerrrryyy tippy top of the castle?"
"Twilight mentioned in her letter somethin' about an experiment of some sort. Maybe-" Ah'm interrupted by Pinkie doin' a full body shiver, kinda like when she knew there was a doozie about ta happen an' lead us all to Froggy Bottom Pond. "What was that all about?"
"Don' know. But I do know that what Twilight's surprise is, it'll be a doozie!"
"An' that's.... Bad?" Ah couldn't help but worry. Ah mean, her last 'doozie' invovled a hydra.....
"Oh, nonononono. Doozies can be fun, too!"
"Right.... Ah've got a few more things Ah want ta get done before Ah meet up with Twi. You're welcome ta come with me."
Shunk.
Another set of heavy wooden boards fell into place, blockin' off the sunlight coming in from the window. Of the five windows in the room, only one remained uncovered, a stack of boards lying on the floor below it. The stack became surrounded by a purple aura as it was gently lifted into the air.
"Are ya sure that this here's a good idea, Twi?" Ah asked. Mah errands took a little longer then Ah expected, so Ah missed most of Twilight's explanation of what was goin' on. Pinkie was having fun followin' Rainbow Dash around the room, while Fluttershy and Rarity were shooin' Angel out. An' Twilight stood in the center of the room, wearin' her old saddlebags, carefully puttin' the last of the boards into place.
With a solid thunk, the room was plunged into near darkness. The only light came from the glow around Twilight's horn and the open door.
"Yes, Applejack, I do. This is the only way to know for sure." She replied. A small ball of flame ignited at the end of her horn, which she then sent flyin' around the room with a deft flick. Where ever it landed, it lit a torch or candle. "And, besides, I've done this test several times with apples, and nothing bad has yet to happen."
"Except for when you merged one with my tail." Spike deadpanned as he entered past Angel an' closed the door behind him.
"That must have been a simply dreadful experience. Whatever did you do?" Rarity simpered, holdin' a hoof ta her mouth.
"I just simply recast the spell on the part that was the apple, which left Spike's tail in one piece." Twilight stated as Spike gave a reassurin' "Don't worry, I'm fine." A long yellow an' black streamer was lifted into the air. Twilight carefully wrapped it 'round four thin metal poles driven into the floor in the center of the room. "It's because of that that I started to cast it up here, and in a roped off area."
"Wait! Isn't the spell you used on the apple the same spell you're gonna cast today? What is it? What does it do?" Pinkie asked as she zoomed up ta Twilight's face. Twilight's magic surrounded the energetic pink pony an' gently picked her up an' deposited her back outside of Twilight's personal space.
Twilight started ta pace 'round the room doin' some last minute checks against the list she held in her magic, Pinkie bouncing along behind her. "Well, I've been researching time spells now that we've had some time to ourselves since I became, and you all effectively became, princesses. However, all the spells I've found are all for traveling to the past or stopping time entirely. I want to try traveling to the future! the spell I've been testing has been able to send those apples into the future for up to five minutes ahead." Ah swear, she didn't breath in once durin' that.... Twilight turned back ta us, satisfied with her list. "Now I want to see if it can work on a pony."
Pinkie started ta bounce up an' down, hoof in the air as if she was at school, "Oh! Ohohohoh! Cast it on me! Cast it on me!"
Twilight shook her head. "Sorry, Pinkie, but I can't cast the spell on you. Any of you. I know how the spell works, and I've memorized a spell to come back to this point in time should something go wrong."
"So, what yer sayin' is, is that if thin's go right, you'll appear where ya cast the spell in 'bout five minutes, an', if thin's go wrong, it'll seem like ya never moved?" Ah asked.
"What if you don't reappear at all?" Fluttershy faintly asked, "We might never see you again!"
"Don't worry, if she doesn't reappear in about ten minutes, I'll be sending a report to Princess Celestia so that she knows what happened and the notes Twilight's been keeping of this spell." Spike said.
"I just don't understand why ya gotta cover up the windows to cast the spell." Rainbow Dash inquired, hoverin' by one of the said windows, "Does the spell require it to be all gloomy and dark?"
"Well, remember all those loud bangs and pops over the past few weeks? That's because the apple left behind an empty atmospheric void in it's place upon completion of the spell. The air around the apple rushed in to fill said void at supersonic speeds, causing a rather loud implosion. This is the same effect as what happens when one teleports."
Rainbow turned to Spike, "Translation?"
"Sigh. The apple left behind an empty space in the air. The air rushed in to fill it, causing a bang." Good ol' Spike. Ya'd think Twilight would've learned ta use layponys' terms by now.....
"Uh, right." Twilight stepped over the caution tape an' stood in the center of the room, "Well, that small apple-sized bang can knock over a stack of papers from across a room. If that's what a small one could do, then what about a pony-sized bang? I've done up some calculations, and you'll be fine." She waved a hoof at the windows, "Those, however, would shatter."
"Ya really thought o' everythin', huh?" Ah pushed mahself off of the wall, "So, what're we here for, then?"
Twilight opened her saddle bags and pulled out a group of quills and note pads, "You're here mostly to help Spike take notes." She passed out a quill and note pad ta each of us, "But, you're also here in case something goes wrong. This is unknown magic we're dealing with here. We can't ever predict what the side effects could be." She turns ta look at Pinkie, "Except, maybe, you."
We all turned ta look at Pinkie, who just stared back with a quizzical look on her face, "What?"
"Anything on your Pinkie Sense, dear?" Rarity asked.
"Ooh. Noperoodle, nothing so far!"
It looked like she was about ta say more, but was interrupted by Spike, "Well, the sooner we start, the sooner we're done, right?" He turned ta Twilight, "You ready, Twi'?"
After makin' one final look through her list, Twilight finally gave a nod an' put it away. "Looks like everything is set, so I'm as ready as I'll ever be." She looked at us each in turn. "Remember, I need you to record as much as you can." She closed her eyes an' started to, Ah don' know, focus on her magic? Ah know next ta nothin' about unicorn magic....
After a moment, Twilight started to mutter.... The incantation? ....A focusin' mantra? ....Somethin' under her breath. Pretty soon, she finished up with that, and started ta float off the floor, an' her normally purple eyes glowed pure white when she opened them. Nothin' new there. She does that whenever we use our elements, or when she's castin' a high level spell.
None o' us could take our eyes off o' Twilight to write in our notebooks. Not only were Twilight's eyes glowing, her whole body was startin' ta, too. Ah could see Pinkie violently shiverin' on the far side of Twilight from me. We looked at each other, and it seemed like she was tryin' ta say somethin'. Her mouth was movin', but Ah couldn't hear any sound. But Ah could still understand her look of panic. This was the doozie!
As the light condensed around Twilight, Ah stepped forward ta try ta break her concentration. A lance of white lightnin' speared past me and almost hit Fluttershy. More an' more of these bolts started to fire out from Twilight as her saddlebags burned up. The last thin' Ah saw was Twilight silently screaming in pain, before ah was pulled off mah hooves toward her, then thrown against the wall.
Ah don't know how long Ah lay there. Ah remember comin' to ta see Rainbow's worried face an inch from mine. Ah could hear a tinkling' noise, like somepony had hung a glass wind chime out on a windy day. As Ah started ta get up, Rainbow let out a breath Ah'm not sure she was holding.
"Geez, AJ, ya had us worried there." She backed away to give me some room, "You were the last one I could wake up."
Ah surveyed the room. There was glass tricklin' from beneath the boards coverin' the windows, makin' that wind chime-sh noise. Rarity was helpin' a sobbing Fluttershy outta the room. It looked like not all of the bolts missed everypony. Fluttershy had a black-charred gash runnin' down her left side an' wing. Rainbow had flown across the room, an' was helping a very shell-shocked Spike to his feet. Pinkie Pie was tryin' to keep the glass shards from fallin' to far into the room.
Twilight....
..... Twilight wasn't there. Just a black mark on the floor an' ceiling where she had been standing.