//------------------------------// // The Adventure Begins... Again // Story: Twilight Manages to Screw Up More Than Usual // by Fire Gazer the Alchemist //------------------------------// Twilight had been pacing anxiously back and forth for nearly thirty minutes. As a result, a line of grass around her was pressed firmly against the ground and wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. The butterflies in her stomach fluttered ferociously and the sudden urge to throw up struck her. She beat it back, but still failed to quell her nervousness. After all, how could she? She was about to embark on a deadly quest into the Everfree Forest that involved the Elements. Well, okay, it wasn’t her first time, but this was different. Her brother and former foalsitter/princess were going to accompany her.  Not to mention… Twilight gulped, unwilling to even finish the thought.  Instead, she glanced at the train station behind her, as if the mere act of looking would ease her nerves. It didn’t. In fact, it made them worse. Turning, Twilight felt her near-bursting saddlebags flop against her sides. She’d packed them in a flurry after receiving her mentor’s latest letter, taking anything and everything that she might even remotely need. This included Spike, who — in Twilight’s haste — found himself nearly shoved into the sack with the Elements of Harmony. Luckily he’d managed to slap some sense into her before she’d latched her bags shut. As Twilight paced, she pondered whether Spike should come at all. Even though she had nearly packed him, Twilight still had reservations about bringing him on this journey. Undoubtedly he could be helpful — and he really wanted to help — but he was too young, too vulnerable and much too inexperienced for something as dangerous as this quest. Right now he was gone, claiming to need to get something before they left, but Twilight was seriously considering sending him home the minute he got back. She ceased pacing and tapped her freshly unsplinted hoof against the ground. No matter what she decided, she had to figure it out soon before he return— “Hey, Twilight!” Too late. Twilight turned. “Hi Sp—” she stopped short, jaw going slack. Spike stood before her waving and behind him five familiar mares were offering her smiles. It took her all of five seconds to think of a proper greeting. “Uh…” “Good to see you too, Smart Mare.” Vinyl grinned. “Uh…” Derpy giggled. “Surprised we’re here, huh?” “Uh…” Octavia cleared her throat. “Twilight, as… riveting as this conversation is, perhaps you should close your mouth before any bugs fly into it.” Twilight shook her head to come out of her confused daze. “What are you girls doing here?” “Spike got us all together,” Lyra told her. “He said something about you going off on another deadly quest into the Everfree Forest that had to deal with the Elements of Harmony and well, here we are.” Twilight groaned internally. “Let me guess, you’re here to stop me because you don’t think I should be wasting my time on the Elements and can’t seem to respect my decisions on the matter, right?” The five girls blinked in harmony, then burst out giggling. Twilight raised an eyebrow at this, only to notice the packed saddlebags that each mare wore. “Wait… you want to come with me?” Lyra was the first to come down from the laughing high. “Of course we’re coming with you, Twilight. I mean, we are friends.” The word jammed scissors into her ears. Twilight had to fight back a wince with a noncommittal shrug, hoping it would appease her acquaintances. “And besides, if it weren’t for us you would’ve died like, five times over in the Everfree,” Vinyl added. “You kinda need us, Smart Mare.” Twilight ground her teeth, putting aside her surprise that Vinyl had said something logical for once. She glanced down at Spike, who looked quite pleased with himself. Of course he had no idea the headache he’d just brought upon Twilight and how could he? Even so, he was about to find out. “Girls, could you excuse Spike and me for a moment?” “Uh, sure?” “Okay.” “No problem.” “Go right ahead.” “A’ight.” Twilight forced out a toothy grin. “Thank you. Spike?” She nudged her head off to the side and the two of them stepped out of the girl’s hearing range. Once they were in the clear Twilight dropped the smile. “Spike, why did you bring them here?” He blinked in confusion and shot a quick glance back at the five ponies. “What are you talking about? I thought you wanted them to come with you.” That was a slap across the face. “Wha— no! What gave you that idea?” Spike shrugged. “Well when you were shoving me into your saddlebags you kept mumbling to yourself about making sure you didn’t forget the Elements of Harmony and aren’t these guys kinda the Elements?” “The Elements are here,” Twilight patted her left saddlebag, earning a clink from the contents inside. “Those ponies technically are the Bearers of Harmony… and technically they’re not even that!” “Oh. Uh… sorry.” Spike lowered his head, disappointed in himself way more than he should be. Twilight sighed. “Don’t worry about it; I can just tell them all to leave. In fact, I guess the very least I owe them is a final goodbye.” “Final goodbye?” Spike asked, worry slipping into his tone. “What do you mean by that?” “I mean we’re probably never going to see them again,” Twilight clarified. “If everything goes according to plan, the Elements will work, Nightmare Moon will be healed, or dispelled, or… whatever, and we’ll get to go home to Canterlot. Those five aren’t part of the plan. They were never part of the plan.” “But… they’re your friends… right?” Twilight took a deep breath and walked past him, leaving the question unanswered. She headed for the girls, stopping a foot or so away, and cleared her throat. “Everypony I’m afraid there’s been a slight miscommunication: I won’t be needing you to accompany me on this journey.” Five pairs of brows furrowed and their owners exchanged confused glances with each other. “Why not?” Derpy asked. Twilight sighed internally. Celestia forbid they just leave and make it easy on me. “Because…” She caught herself. Because I don’t want you around. Twilight took a deep breath, using the time to think of a different excuse. Sure she didn’t want these five tagging along — especially considering the last adventure they’d been on — but she also didn’t want to hurt their feelings. She’d have to let them down with tact and grace. Or just use the strategy that worked last time. “...Because don’t you all have something else to do?” Twilight finished. This same question managed to drive away the original Bearers and she hoped for the same effect here. Unfortunately, there wasn’t even a pause before all five started shaking their heads. “But… Derpy, aren’t you supposed to go back to work?” “I’m still technically on leave, so my boss won’t mind.” Twilight scrunched her brow. “Uh… Bon Bon, don’t you have to look after your shop?” She shrugged. “Business has been good enough that I can afford to close up for a few days.” Twilight bit her lip. “Vinyl, what about you? Any conflicts of interest?” “Just an interest in conflict. Come on, Smart Mare, you know I’m down for this.” Right, how could I think she had any responsibilities to take care of. In desperation, Twilight turned to the last two mares. “Octavia, Lyra, surely you two can’t afford to skip orchestra rehearsal.” Octavia smiled. “I appreciate the concern, Twilight, but you need not worry. I gave everypony the day off and made some arrangements with Noteworthy in case we’re gone longer than that. Besides,” she nudged the green mare next to her. “I can use the time for some one-on-one practice with Lyra.” Lyra gave a cautious, yet hopeful, smile of her own. “As long as we don’t fall off another cliff then I’m good to go.” Twilight held her scrunched-brow-bit-lip pose long enough for her acquaintances to think she was constipated. Plan A had crumbled before her, so it was up to tact and grace to try and salvage this trip. Deep breath. “Look, girls—” She didn’t get any further than that. A high-pitched squeal of train wheels braking against the rail shattered their conversation and commanded Twilight’s attention. Her head whipped around followed by a gasp. “They’re here!” Vinyl cocked her head to the side. “Who’s here?” Derpy pinched her lip and shrugged. “They are… apparently.” With narrowed eyes Vinyl looked at Twilight. “Have you been making other friends behind our backs or something?” Excitement coursed through Twilight, enough that she didn’t even feel the need to correct Vinyl. She bounded up the steps of the train station, Spike on her heels. After a few looks of confusion, her acquaintances followed. Twilight reached the terminal just as the doors on the train car squeaked open. Normally ponies would be pouring in and out, even in a town the size of Ponyville, yet there was a stark emptiness around them. This was because the train was a private transit sent by Celestia herself and there were only a few passengers on board. The first thing out the train car was a suit of armor. Actually, it was more of a pile of armor plates that had been stacked on top of each other in a desperate attempt to hide the pony who wore it. This was likely an attempt to make a big reveal. It didn’t work, because just before his helmet was removed to reveal his shaggy blue mane Twilight knew who he was. “Shining!” She bounded forward as he finished taking off the helmet and nearly tackled him into a hug. “Twily!” he exclaimed, giving a surprised laugh and returning the hug. “Geeze, the way you’re acting you’d think we haven’t seen each other in months.” “Ugh, it’s felt like months,” Twilight said. “It’s only been a couple of weeks,” Spike corrected. “Hey Spike.” Shining exchanged nods with the small dragon, the brotherly version of a hug-hello. “Hey Smart Mare, you didn’t say anything about a stallion friend.” Twilight suddenly dropped her vice-like hug on her brother. “What are…” she glanced between her brother and her acquaintances. “Oh! No, no, no! Girls, this is my brother, Shining Armor.” “Brother?” Bon Bon raised an eyebrow, glancing from the blue-ish white to the lavender-ish purple. “I don’t really see the family resemblance.” Shining laughed. “Yeah, we get that a lot. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you all. You know, Twilight didn’t tell me she was bringing a few friends.” Twilight’s jaw clenched at the last word. “She must not be that good at telling ponies things then. After all, she didn’t even mention to us she had an older brother.” Octavia fixed Twilight with a glance. “You’d think that would come up, given all the conversations we had.” “Really?” Shining playfully rubbed Twilight’s mane in a light noogie, much to her chagrin, given the current audience. “Well then I guess introductions are in order. I’m Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard.” Vinyl pulled her shades up above her face. “Name’s Vinyl, but feel free to call me: anytime.” Shining blinked. “Uh… what?” Twilight nearly smacked herself. And then nearly smacked Vinyl. And then nearly smacked Vinyl again. Geeze, thirty seconds in and she’s already hitting on my brother. “I’m Octavia.” Octavia mercifully stepped in, saving the moment. “It's a pleasure to meet you.” “My name’s Lyra.” “Bon Bon.” “And I’m Derpy!” Shining gave a warm smile. “It’s nice to meet all of you.” “And it is very nice to meet you.” Vinyl’s voice was deeper than usual and the way her red irises drilled Shining had an almost… hungry feel to it. Twilight’s spine shivered at the thought. Shining Armor, however, took the wise decision to ignore it completely. “Well... it’s good that introductions are out of the way. Now we can—” “Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Heads turned back to the train car, Shining Armor’s the most reluctant of the bunch. Stepping into view was pink mare with a tri-colored — if not a little messy — mane and regalia befitting a princess. Her mere presence caused six gasps among the ponies watching. Twilight gasped with happiness. Seeing Cadance, her old foalsitter, was a welcomed inclusion along with her brother, given the five unwelcomed mares she currently had to deal with. Said unwelcomed mares, however, gasped with surprise. While Twilight saw an old friend, they couldn’t see past the horn, wings, and crown that Cadance wore. “Y-Your Majesty!” Octavia stumbled out, bowing immediately. Four more faces joined hers on the floor a moment later. Cadance blushed at the fanfare. “Oh please, there’s no need for that. I haven’t… I don’t…” She hastily ran her hoof through her mane in an effort to save face. “I just woke up.” “You sure she’s a princess?” Vinyl asked Octavia, their heads rising up from the ground. “Cadance!” Twilight squealed with happiness. She ran forward as a smile broke out on Cadance’s face. “Twilight!” They hopped in front of each other, beginning a dance. “Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” They ended the chant, their rear ends wiggling in the air. Shining and Spike barely paid the ritual any mind, having witnessed it plenty of times before. Twilight’s acquaintances, on the other hoof, had their shock levels set to ‘gaping mouth’. Recovering quickly, Vinyl leaned over to Octavia and whispered, “Definitely not a princess.” Octavia could only nod. “You’re a good dancer, Twilight,” Derpy offered. Twilight’s face dipped into a deep red. In her enthusiasm, she had completely forgotten her acquaintances were here. Judging from their reactions — everything from Vinyl’s smirk to Lyra’s giggles to Bon Bon’s surprised eyebrow raise — she wasn’t going to live this down anytime soon. Thankfully her brother noticed and was able to divert the subject of conversation. “Nice of you to finally join us, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Cadance’s blush dropped in favor of a more aggravated look. “Well, I would have been out sooner if somepony had thought to wake me from my nap.” Shining narrowed his eyes. “Sorry, but I just like you better that way. You make less noise.” “What?” Cadance fixed him with a hard glare. Twilight’s pupils shrunk and darted back and forth between the two. What was going on? Shining and Cadance had both been happy a second ago and now... “Ooh, tension!” Vinyl grinned. “This is getting interesting.” “Vinyl just… no.” Octavia shook her head. Twilight ignored them, walking in between the stare down. “Uh, Shining, Cadance… is everything okay?” They blinked, snapping out of their silent stare-down. “Uh… yeah, everything’s fine, Twily.” Shining relaxed a little. “Sorry about that. My guard and I were just… differing in our opinions.” Cadance brushed down a few more rebellious hair strands and offered Twilight a smile. “Right,” Twilight dubiously replied. Something was definitely wrong between the two of them. “You guys know you can tell me if something’s wrong. Are you having second thoughts about going with me?” Shining and Cadance shared a looked and just from their posture Twilight knew they were having a silent conversation. It was something that had always seemed to happen a lot between them, especially when Twilight was younger. It had always made her feel a little left out then and now was no exception. “Everything’s fine, Twilight. Trust me.” Cadance’s eyes darted back to the train car. “I wouldn’t back out of this. Auntie Celestia asked me to come along and given the circumstances there was no way I was going to refuse.” “And you know I’ll always be here for you.” Shining rustled her mane. “Now come on, we got work to do.” “Yeah,” Derpy chipped in. “We better start walking if we want to make it to the Everfree at a reasonable time. Wouldn’t want to blindly stumble around it at night again.” “Oh we’re not walking,” Twilight told her. “Huh?” Twilight pointed behind her. “We’ll be using the train.” “There are train tracks in the Everfree Forest?” Vinyl blinked in surprise. “No, of course not.” Twilight groaned. “Look, I did a little research on the Everfree Forest this time around and I think I’ve plotted out the best route for us to take.” Her horn sparked to life and she sent her magic digging through her saddlebags, eventually pulling out a map of Equestria. She flung it onto the floor and everypony quickly gathered round. “Okay, look.” Twilight pressed her hoof over a blotch that represented Everfree. “Right here, there’s a dip in the forest. If we entered from there, we’d be able to get deeper quickly and safely, while also providing ourselves with an easy escape route if things get too dangerous. So we’ll take the train here.” She moved her hoof up, hovering over a dot that represented a town. “To Dodge Junction. Then in the morning we can head out, giving ourselves plenty of daylight to work with.” “Good going, Twily.” Shining grinned with pride. “I see that big brain of yours hasn’t been slouching lately.” “It sounds like a pretty solid plan,” Bon Bon agreed with a nod. “I’m sold.” “Thank you.” Twilight smiled, allowing herself to feel just a little bit of pride. “I say we get going.” Cadance backed away from the quasi-huddle. “We shouldn’t waste time.” The rest of them dispersed, shuffling toward the train car. Twilight stayed back to roll up her map and return it to her saddlebags. As she was doing so, Spike approached her. “So, I take it through all the plural pronouns you were using that you’ve changed your mind about bringing the girls.” “What?” Twilight froze. Her eyes darted over to the five extras ambling over to the train. No no no no no no no NO NO! It was too late to stop them, however. Shining and Cadance had already accepted them as members of the party. To force them away now wouldn’t look good. Not to mention she didn’t have a way to do so without coming off as condescendingly mean. She sighed. “Looks like they’re staying.” “Awesome.” Spike bounded forward, not wanting to be left behind either. “Hey, Twilight, you coming or what?” Lyra called back. Twilight turned just in time to see the mint-green unicorn be the first to step into the train car. However, the second Lyra turned her head back to the train, her entire face paled and she backpedalled, a scream blaring out from her mouth. “Um… Princess Celestia?” Her ears flicked at the voice of her assistant, Inkwell. She turned to the mahogany mare and regretted it immediately. Inkwell’s forelegs were crossed, her head bowed slightly with her eyes turned upward. It was her Princess-I-think-you’ve-made-a-horrible-mistake-but-I’m-too-scared-to-say-anything-because-you-might-fire-me pose. “Yes, Inkwell?” Celestia asked, attempting to inject a little mirth in her tone to put her assistant at ease. “I… are you sure you made the right choice about the Everfree expedition?” Inkwell’s voice was still the epitome of meekness. “Regarding Cadance and Shining Armor? I can’t say for sure.” She shuffled around the paperwork in her magical grip. “Ever since that little falling out of theirs they haven’t been able to stay in the same room for more than five minutes. But Cadance was so happy for a chance to get out of the castle, and Captain Armor was really grateful to spend some time with his sister, so hopefully they’ll put aside their disagreement for now.” She dabbed her quill in ink and scribbled her signature on a new infrastructure bill. “Then again, I’m not sure if either of them told Twilight yet, so it may become an issue later on. Hopefully not, but I can’t be too sure, no?” Inkwell rubbed her fetlock nervously. “Uh… I was actually more worried about your decision for them to bring along… her.” “You mean Nightmare Moon?” Inkwell nodded. “I can see why that would give you some concern.” Celestia let the papers lower so she could properly talk. “It wasn’t an easy choice to make, but in the end, it all came down to time.” “Time, Princess?” Inkwell’s brow scrunched together. “Yes.” Celestia turned her head to the window. Her eyes came to rest on the stone gardens just outside of the palace. “I’m afraid we don’t have much of it.” Lyra was breathing heavily into a paper bag. She had finally, mercifully, stopped screaming a few minutes ago in favor of hyperventilation. As the brown paper crumpled, Bon Bon patted Lyra’s back soothingly. Despite this, she didn’t show any signs of slowing down. To be honest, Twilight couldn’t really blame her. It must have been quite a shock to walk into the train car and see manifested darkness chained down onto a chair and giving her an annoyed look. In fact, Nightmare Moon was still giving her an annoyed look, just from several seats away. She would probably be spouting off complaints or death threats as well, but she was currently wearing a muzzle. Judging from the daggers Nightmare was staring, it only served to enrage her further, but Cadance had explained it was the only way she was able to make it through the trip without flinging herself out of the train. “Just breathe, Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “It’s all right.” The bag inflated and collapsed again. “So.” Vinyl looked at Twilight. “Just going to throw this out there, but did you plan on telling us about the seven-foot tall demonic alicorn we’d be riding with, or was it supposed to be a surprise?” I hadn’t planned on telling you, because I hadn’t planned on you all even showing up! Twilight took a deep breath. “I didn’t get the chance… sorry.” Vinyl shrugged. “Well, don’t beat yourself up over traumatizing Lyra, a’ight?” “Okay.” Twilight did, in fact, feel bad about it. Nearly giving Lyra a heart attack was never something she had wanted to do and just watching her breathe the same breath over and over in an attempt to calm down only served to make a guilty feeling bubble up in her stomach. The door to their car opened and Shining stepped through. “Just talked to the conductor. We’ll be heading out soon.” “I’m not so sure Lyra is ready for movement,” Bon Bon replied. She gingerly patted her friends back. Derpy weakly smiled. “Well, worst case scenario she already has a barf bag.” “Charming.” Twilight sighed. The sharp whistle of the train engine broke everypony’s train of thought. With a rhythmic chug-chug-chug, the wheels turned and they all lurched forward. Lyra’s breathing became less frantic, so the group around her gradually dispersed. Bon Bon stuck by Lyra until she was sure the hyperventilation phase was over. Shining and Cadance distanced themselves from each other as much as possible, marking their territory on opposite sides of the train. Octavia took a seat by the window, mumbling something about wishing she’d brought her cello along. Twilight plopped down on a chair with a huff. It was astounding how fast her plans had fallen apart. These mares were almost omnipresent; no matter where she went she could never get any peace and q— “‘Sup Smart Mare.” Vinyl dropped into the seat next to her. Unable to contain a sigh, Twilight looked away. “What do you want, Vinyl?” “Uh… to sit down?” Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Come on, Smart Mare, loosen up a bit, we’re adventuring!” “I’m perfectly loose, thank you very much.” Vinyl snorted. “Come on, Smart Mare, you’re wound up so tight your springs are gonna snap at any moment.” “Who’s springs are gonna snap?” Derpy poked her head over from the seat behind them. “Smart Mare,” Vinyl answered. “Oh yeah.” Derpy playfully smacked her head to assert the ‘duh’-ness of the situation. “I shoulda known. It’s a wonder her springs haven’t snapped already.” “Yup.” “Stop talking about me like I’m not here!” Twilight huffed. “Oh, sorry.” Derpy looked Twilight in the eye. “It’s a wonder your springs haven’t snapped already.” “That’s not what I meant!” Twilight rolled around. She locked her gaze firmly out the window, watching the landscape roll by in a green-brown-blue blur. Unfortunately her ears didn’t work the same way. “So are you sure you don’t want to relax a little?” Vinyl asked, sounding a smidgen more sincere this time around. “Yeah, you really should try it.” It was Twilight’s turn to roll her eyes. Unfortunately, she was still facing the window, which took a bite out of the effectiveness of the gesture. She turned around and gave her acquaintances another eyeroll point blank. “Have you ever tried to relax before? It’s a paradox.” “Well, pair of socks or no, you should give it a shot.” “You know, that place we’re going, Dodge Junction, I’ve been there before.” Derpy tapped her chin in thought. “They have this really amazing cherry field and the owner lets ponies walk through it for free. It’s a great place for taking a little breather. Especially if you just had to fly four heavy packages around for hours.” She took a long sigh. “Oh sure, let’s just waste time walking through a cherry field. Great idea.” Twilight fired off another point blank eye roll, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. “And maybe if we ask very politely, the owner would let us waste even more time and help her harvest the cherries.” Vinyl raised an eyebrow, well aware of the mocking tone. “Sounds good to me, how about you, Derpy?” “I’d like that.” “Wait, that’s not what I—” “Hey!” Vinyl called out. Every head in the train car turned her way. “Anypony else want to hit up the cherry fields with us at Dodge?” Twilight quickly stood up. “If we had time, that is!” She glanced at Vinyl. “Because we don’t.” “Wasn’t the plan to spend the night at Dodge Junction, Twilight?” Cadance drew everypony’s attention. “I see no reason why you can’t spend a little time with your friends before we all go to sleep if you want.” “I’m in.” Bon Bon nodded. “Sounds like fun,” Octavia added. Lyra wheezed. Twilight forced a smile. Wow, thanks Cadance. That’s just… great.  In the back of the car, Nightmare Moon groaned. Sitting back down, Twilight found herself agreeing with the dark alicorn. It was going to be a long, long, long adventure.