//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Down the Beaten Path // Story: Hoennshy // by Fenix //------------------------------// May, are you alright back there? It might’ve gotten a little bumpy back there at the end,” the silhouette asked, poking its head into the room. Fluttershy lowered the hoof from her face, looking outside as her eyes finally adjusted to the sunlight. “Moving day’s always tough, huh?” she said, with a laugh. The mare hefted a box onto her back and carried it to a house beside the strange, mobile room in which Fluttershy had arrived. She was a blue-eyed earth pony with a yellow coat and a long brown mane. She wore an orange shirt and a red skirt which covered up her cutie mark. “Well, don’t you want to check out the our new home?” After wiping her eyes, Fluttershy timidly jumped out from the strange room to the ground. She gasped audibly at what she saw, suddenly surrounded by flora and fauna she had never before seen in Equestria. A vast forest surrounded the small town. Between the trees she could see wolves with strange gray and black patterns, large striped ferrets, and tiny red, spiky worms to name just a few. The sight filled Fluttershy’s heart with a familiar sense of wonder and excitement. A sudden loud thud snapped her out of her dreamy state, drawing her attention back to the odd metal room. She watched as two stallions dressed in blue jumpsuits carried the last of the boxes out of the vehicle and brought them into the large house. Fluttershy trotted to the mare, just catching her before she went inside. “E-excuse me, miss? Where are we?” she asked. The mare stared at her blankly, seeming to look right through her. Fluttershy stepped back, dropping her gaze to avoid the mare’s perplexing stare. “I mean, d-do you know how I can get back to Ponyville from here?” The mare laughed, deepening Fluttershy’s growing confusion. “Oh May, what are you on about now? Oh, did you bump your head on the ride here?” she asked, examining Fluttershy’s head as a worried look crossed the strange mare’s face. Satisfied with her inspection, the mare gave her a gentle smile. “Sorry you had to endure that, there wasn’t any room left in the front of the truck.” “Oh, you have the wrong pony. My name isn’t May. It’s Fluttershy.” she explained, trying to keep her composure. “Is that what you’re calling yourself now?” The mare chuckled, placing her hoof about Fluttershy. Fluttershy shrank back shyly, slipping from the mare’s embrace. Nothing in this town made any sense to her. She tried analyzing what had happened as she was unwittingly dragged into the two-story wooden house. The home was filled with strange technology the likes of which she had never seen before, the walls covered with pictures of strange, almost animal-looking creatures in picture frames. “All your stuff is in your room now, go get it ready,” the mare explained, nudging Fluttershy towards the stairs before sitting down at the dining table. Slowly the pegasus ascended the stairs, her body on automatic as she tried to absorb everything that had happened. Down the hallway and to the right she found a room filled to the brim with cardboard boxes. This must be it. She trotted to the center of the room and plopped down. It was quiet, quiet enough for her to properly focus on her predicament. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind, something she had been able to do for quite a while. That poor hummingbird, its wing is still damaged and I’m not there to help it. How am I going to get back home? What about...that one pony that tried to help me? Fluttershy’s eyes jolted open. She lifted both of her hooves to her face, trying to recall the pony’s name. Oh my, how could I have forgotten her name? She started to shake, all the stress of the day’s events rushing through her. Did I really forget her name? No, it’s just the stress. What would Rainbow...something do? All she wanted to do was break down. Two names had slipped from her. I couldn’t have forgotten her! She was my first friend! A cold sweat broke out all over her body as she felt herself reaching the breaking point. What’s happening to me? I can’t take this! Fluttershy raised her head from her hooves and saw something strange on the other side of the room. It was a mirror, but it was the reflection staring back at her that had caught her eye. After rising to her hooves, she trotted over and looked at herself. Between thinking and worrying about her newfound problems, she had never paid much attention to the clothes that she now had on. An orange, sleeveless jacket with a black, bent-back collar was fastened securely around her torso, a green bandanna was wrapped about the top of her pink hair, her ears popping through a pair of holes. She turned to view her flank, a pair of black short pants with a trio of pink, butterfly patches sewn into each side. Dipping her shoulder, she could see that a green satchel was secured to her back as well. Before she could study herself further, she heard the mare call out from downstairs, “Come down, May, your father’s on TV! Oh, but make sure you set your clock first!” “Coming down, Mom!” Without hesitation, she jammed her hooves into her mouth at the sudden, involuntary outburst. W-what’s happening to me? was all she could think as her legs carried her down the stairs of their own volition. When she had reached the bottom, she felt a dizzy spell overcome her, but she shook it off quickly and continued towards the mare. With a blank face, she found the mare she had called ‘mom’ watching an odd, flickering box Fluttershy assumed to be the ‘TV.’ The only thing on screen was a news anchor who just finished talking about some event and had quickly shifted to a discussion of the weather. “You missed it,” the mare pouted. “Oh, I know! You should go introduce yourself to our new neighbors.” “I... I... no!” the pegasus squeaked in protest. Her cries went unheeded as the mare simply nudged her towards the door. She sighed and lowered her head, her mind was still racing and she simply allowed herself to be shoved out the door. “Go on, May, I’m sure they’ll be very nice,” the mare reassured her before closing the the front door behind the pegasus. The house door was roughly the same size as the one she had just been forcibly evicted from, and, as she looked at it more, seemed to be an exact copy. With a soft sigh, the yellow pegasus trotted reluctantly towards it. She arrived at the door, gulped, and knocked, quietly hoping nopony would be home. There was no answer. She waited a few seconds and tried it again; still nothing. After letting out a relieved sigh, she trotted around the corner of the house to see what the rest of the town had to offer. Like Ponyville, the weather was nice and balmy. A small breeze rustled every leaf on the trees, the sound alone calming her. But, as she felt her tensions drifting away with the rustling leaves, a loud yell shook Fluttershy from her serene state yet again. She looked around in a panic, waiting for the sound, and, after perking her ears up, she heard the cry once more. “Help!” the voice cried out, and without a moment’s hesitation, she galloped as fast as her hooves would carry her to the northern path out of town in search of the voice’s source. No, no, no!” Twilight yelled out in frustration, taking the hard-cover book and tossing it from her reading stand. It landed in a growing pile on the floor where the rest of her books now sat. Nothing she had read through even came close to providing her with a counter-spell or explaining what exactly had happened. Twilight simply couldn’t accept the ancient spell book’s interpretation. There had to be another explanation. Hastily, she brought over more books to scour before she heard a knock at the door. After her next book landed on the reading stand, she yelled out, “Come in!” and started to flip through it. She ignored the squeak coming from the door, thinking of the best way to explain the whole situation. “We’re back, Twi, and we’ve got Rainbow Dash,” Applejack stated as she walked in, followed by the rest of her friends. When Twilight finally turned around, she saw them staring at the mess of books that had overtaken the floor. Rainbow Dash stood with tan-colored saddlebags secured to her body, slightly bulging from the amount of content inside. Her mane appeared wind-swept and ruffled while a few patches of dirt and scrapes were scattered across her body. “So, why’d you have us leave like that?” “I needed to search the library for the counter-spell uninterrupted, but none of the books I have brought me any closer,” Twilight stated as she lifted the mess of books up off of the library floor, “I-I don’t know what to do, this has never happened before.” “We’ve all made mistakes, dear,” Rarity reassured her. Twilight stared back at the old text, then looked back up to her friends. “But it wasn’t a mistake! I performed the spell perfectly, yet it deviated anyway. I don’t get it.” “Can anypony tell me what's going on? I could be out looking for Fluttershy right now!” Rainbow protested, glaring at the other mares. “Rainbow, Fluttershy isn't out there,” Twilight said, “and we need you here to help.” “If she's not out there, then where is she!?” Rainbow snapped. “That spell you did screwed up and she disappeared. If it wasn't a teleport spell, then what was it?” “The spell deviated. These old spells have a chance to turn into something else, and that's what happened.” “So you didn't do it right? You said you researched it and everything... How could you do this!?” “Rainbow Dash, calm down,” Rarity said, trying to calm Rainbow down, “Don't you think Twilight feels terrible enough about this?” Rainbow backed away from Twilight, plodding slowly away from the distraught unicorn. “I-I could've saved her...” Rainbow started, drawing attention away from Twilight as the cyan pegasus faced away from the group. “Fluttershy looked right at me, and I didn't do anything.” She darted through the air to Twilight, hovering in front of the unicorn, ears lowered. “I need to help her Twilight, somepony has to.” She landed, and looked at the unicorn pleadingly. “Please... just tell me where she is.” Twilight gulped, looking at Rainbow's shimmering eyes. Her knowledge of what had happened after she had passed out was still hazy, but Rainbow's was probably less so if she had bolted off right away. “The spell that was cast instead... sent her outside of Equestria's place in the space-time continuum. I don't know how to bring her back.” “Isn’t there anything we can do?” Rainbow asked, her body seeming to visibly sag at the news. “Hold on.” Twilight’s horn glowed, bringing the book on the lectern to her and flipping it open. After flipping through roughly half the book, she stopped and drew a hoof down the page until she found the spell she was looking for. She could feel all her friends’ eyes on her, and she desperately didn’t want to disappoint them. She exhaled heavily and turned the book around to show them. “This is a psychic communication spell. With it I should be able to contact Fluttershy. I tried it out earlier today, and I think it works, but I just need to confirm it. Now, Pinkie Pie?” “What is it, Twilight?” Pinkie responded. “Did you hear me try to talk to you about thirty minutes ago in your head?” “Oh yeah, I thought I was just hearing things.” Pinkie stated, starting to hop around the library. “It was so amazing, I started baking some cupcakes for everypony since the Cakes are away and when I heard you I was all like ‘wha?’ and I almost flipped the batter all over the kitchen but then I finished baking before coming back over,” she suddenly stopped bouncing. “When you talk to Fluttershy tell her Pinkie says ‘Hi,’ okay, Twilight?” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, “I’ll do that Pinkie, but I don’t know if this will work. We still don’t know exactly where she is.” She flipped the spell book back around and studied the text, absorbing every last detail of the spell. “Alright, here I go,” the unicorn stated as she readied her stance. She focused her energy to her horn, concentrating on all the intricacies of the spell and on Fluttershy herself. I hope this works. The forest was exactly as Fluttershy would have guessed as her gallop slowed to a quick trot; it was dense with trees, their leaves blotting out the sky from view. Small green sprouts sprang up through the mulch of the previous fall’s leaves while long, winding vines wrapped themselves around some of the older trees. She could hear some of the animals’ cries, the sounds fighting for her ears’ attention with the rustling leaves. The path she followed seemed to have been cut very methodically as it wove through the trees, but still, it was obscured by the forest’s overgrown underbrush. “Help me!” the deeply accented voice howled. Fluttershy immediately focused her attention on the voice, ignoring the forest’s curiosities as she burst into a full gallop. Just ahead she saw a figure running around in a panic with something attached to one of its legs. She skid to a stop, watching as the brown stallion with spiked back brown hair running around aimlessly, a long, striped ferret-like creature attached to his right foreleg, blood leaking from the bite wound and soaking into his white labratory coat. He turned towards her as she thought of what do to. “Could you help me? Please?” the pony desperately tried to shake the creature off. “There’s a briefcase over there. If you would, could you grab a Poké Ball and help me out? This thing just won’t let go.” Fluttershy stood there, confused. She was sure she had never heard of a ‘Poké Ball’ before, but it sounded somehow familiar. She looked at the briefcase, her body wanting her to move towards it, but instead she ran towards the panicked pony. “Hold still,” she said calmly to the pony. He stopped shaking, but still winced in pain. Fluttershy grasped the ferret by its scruff, pulling it from the pony’s leg and tossing it gently to the side. Before it could turn to attack once more, Fluttershy had set herself in a wide stance, staring intensely at the creature. The instant their eyes met, the creature froze. “Don’t you do something like that ever again, do you understand me, mister?” she scolded. “It’s not nice to hurt other creatures like that, and you know it.” As her stare intensified, the ferret cowered before her, whimpering. She stepped closer, brushing its fur and giving it a pat on the head. “There you go, now run off little one.” With that the ferret ran off into the thicket and Fluttershy brought her head back up, closing her eyes and smiling, feeling more secure and comfortable with herself. Suddenly, a sharp, overwhelming pain coursed through her head, forcing her to the ground, both hooves pressed in vain to her skull. Then, as quickly as it had come, the pain was gone. Th-that’s never happened before... she thought silently, her chest heaving from shock. “You saved me without a pokémon, that was remarkable! I’ve never seen anything quite like it. You have an amazing way with these creatures,” the brown stallion complemented her as he walked over to grab his briefcase. “What’s your name, my girl?” Fluttershy lifted her head, shaking it as she tried to recover from the pain. Glancing at the pony, she swore she had seen him before in Ponyville... even the voice was similar if not the same. He wore a lab coat with an hourglass symbol sewn into both sides in the same manner as the butterflies on her own clothes. “I’m, uh...” she began, having to think on it for a moment, “Fluttershy, I think. I just moved in just south of here.” She dipped her head, ears folded back in confusion. “Fluttershy, interesting. I've never met a filly with a name quite like that. It’s quite a lovely name if you ask me. They call me the Professor. Professor Birch.” He shook his bitten forehoof for some relief from the pain. “You know what, take a pokémon as a reward. Obviously you’re better with them than I could have ever imagined. Take your pick, it’s fine by me,” the Professor said. There was that word was again. Pokémon. Like everything Fluttershy had witnessed here, it seemed familiar and completely foreign at the same time. Slowly, she trotted over to the briefcase and nudged open the latches. Inside, on small, black cushions, were three minuscule red and white balls with a white circular button along the center divide. She picked one up in her hoof and stared at it. “Um, thank you.” she whispered shyly, “It’s... nice.” The professor scratched his head, “Well you can’t see your new pokémon if it’s still in its Poke Ball. That’s just not how it works.” She looked at him with confusion before turning back to what she presumed to be a ‘Poké Ball.’ She had to know what this ‘Pokémon’ thing was and how it could fit inside such a tiny ball. She pressed the button with with hoof, eeping as the tiny ball suddenly tripled in size. It opened, sending a shining white light from it; the light and sound causing her to step back. She watched as the light started to take form into an animal. Her wings opened in a defensive posture as she stepped further back. The light faded, revealing a green upright standing gecko. It stared at her with its head cocked to the side. “W-what is that?” Fluttershy wondered aloud, not knowing what to think of the odd creature. The brown pony stared in disbelief. “You’ve never seen a treecko before? I would’ve thought that everyone has seen it on the television in Hoenn, or anywhere else for that matter.” He shook his head and nudged the treecko closer to Fluttershy. “Some kids these days. So sheltered.” Fluttershy dropped to her belly beside the treecko, examining it for a little while. Something told her that she already knew what it was. “Aren’t you adorable?” she finally said, drawing a dismissive harrumph from the creature. “I guess I need to name you, huh, little guy?” The lizard came closer and rubbed its head into her mane. She could only smile; meeting a new type of creature, even after the past events’ hardships, lifted her spirits. “How did you ever fit in something so tiny?” The professor walked over, seeing Fluttershy lay there with her new pokémon. He smiled and sat down next to her. “You have an impressive way with animals. I’m quite taken aback.” “Th-thank you,” she responded. Digging through his bag, he pulled out a thin, red plastic tablet and gave it to Fluttershy. “Here, this is a Pokédex. It will show you everything and anything you wanted to know about Pokémon and the Hoenn region. It should serve you well, being new to the area and all. It’s quite a handy device. Now take it, I need your help with something.” He looked down at his right foreleg and rubbed it to soothe the pain. “My son, Brendan, is out doing research. Brash boy, but I need him to come home. It’s getting dark and as you can see I'm a little out of commission at the moment, so I need you to go in my stead. He should be just north of Oldale Town which is at the northern end of this forest.” She nervously stood up, her ears drooping at the thought, “Oh no, I couldn’t do that,” she shuffled one of her forehooves in the grass, “I don’t know nearly enough about this place to be able to do that.” “No, you can do it,” the professor assured her, “Take that treecko and run with it. Travel the world! You’ve just moved here, and judging by you’re attire you’re here for adventure. You should be excited.” “Oh, I’m really not much for adventure... really.” “Nonsense. Just remember to find my son while you’re out there. I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can to avoid coming home, but even if you can’t, go and explore everything. Give adventure a chance!” As she made to protest further, Fluttershy felt something tap against her side, the treecko trying getting her attention. The confidence in its eyes astounded her, seeming to trust her completely within minutes of meeting her. “I guess her spell worked,” she thought aloud, grabbing the Pokédex with her mouth and slipping it into her bag. “I guess if I can help.” “That’s the spirit!” Birch stated, as he began to hobble back towards town. “Hopefully the trip will help you get your head straight.” Fluttershy watched him as he limped off with his briefcase back into the forest. “If you need anything from me just ask. I’ll be in my lab in Littleroot Town. I’m sure you’ll be fine without me, but if you ever need my help, I’ll be sure to do what I can.” As the professor disappeared into the forest, the wind began to blow through the tree, the calming sound of rustling leaves reaching her ears. She let out a small sigh and looked to her new gecko-like friend. “I suppose that if you’re going to join me, I should give you a name.” Fluttershy looked up at the forest around her thoughtfully. “How about Treecky?” The gecko scoffed and turned its head. “Oh, maybe Leaf?” It sneered, nostrils flaring as it huffed dramatically. Um... how about...” Fluttershy looked around for inspiration, spotting a familiar looking tree. “How about Alerce?” It thought for a moment before it looked up at her with contented grin. “Good. Now climb on and I can fly us over the town.” Alerce leaped into the air, landing with a small impact on Fluttershy. “Gently.” she said, unfurling her wings. She took a couple seconds to stretch out her wings and ready herself for flight before she broke into a short gallop before lifting off. The forest was so thick that branches and leaves obstructed her path to the sky. Carefully, she ducked and dodged her way through them without any harm done to herself or her passenger. Hovering just above the forest canopy, she checked to see if Alerce was alright, finding him a little woozy “Oh...I’m sorry about that,” she blushed, flying at a slow pace as to not upset him further. Slowly rising from the canopy, Fluttershy looked around at the massive expanse of land and sea. She’d never seen so many towns and villages, even when looking down from her old filly-home in Cloudsdale. It had been a long time since she had been so high above the ground. The sun was setting, the sky was painted with rich yellows, oranges, and purples. Flocks of blue and red birds flew along side her, squawking with delight. Fluttershy smiled back, happy with the wind flowing sending her long pink mane whipping about behind her. She felt herself becoming less anxious about the task she had been given as she tried her hardest to enjoy herself as she soared freely. Down below, she could see a small town with only a handful of buildings. If her instincts were right, this was the town that Birch had told her about. With a dip of her wings, she slowly made her decent near the northern pathway out of town. After landing, Alerce immediately hopped off Fluttershy’s back, dazed from the flight. “Are you alright?” she asked, getting closer to see if anything had happened. Alerce shook his head and body, getting rid of the woozy feeling he had, and began to walk down the small path north, Fluttershy following. The path looked exactly like the forest outside of Littleroot. She still thought having no memory of this place when waking up in the back of the truck was odd, but she simply chalked it up to stress. After scaling a rocky ledge, she spotted a young earth pony hunched over with several bags of supplies on his back, studying some of small creatures in the grasses. Fluttershy trotted over nervously. She didn't even know this was Birch's son. “E-excuse me, I’m so sorry for bothering you, but are you Brendan?” She slunk back a little as the light brown pony turned around to face her. He wore a strange headband and white hat combination with a black and orange jacket, his shorts were vertically separated black and dark-gray with a strange gold square with a cross through it stitched on the sides. “Yeah, who are you?” Fluttershy stood erect, trying to appear more confident. “I’m... uh...” W-what’s going on? Why can’t I remember my own name anymore!? “I... just moved in next door to you.” The colt eyed her suspiciously. She caught him staring at Alerce, squinting his eyes to get a more focused view. “That’s my father’s treecko. He normally has those under lock and key.” He lifted his head and walked towards a Poké Ball that lay in the short grass. He hit the circle button, sending out his pokémon. A small orange bird with three large feathers sticking out of its head popped out and chirped. “I know what’s going on.” Fluttershy looked at him confused, but went forward to examine the bird. “Oh my, you’re just so adorable.” The bird rubbed against her in much the same way Alerce had. “What’s your name little guy?” she rubbed the bird’s head and smiled.. “That’s Torchic, and I’d advise you to step away from my pokémon.” “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her head and ears, backing away. Torchic took on an aggressive posture, staring down Alerce as the gecko did the same. She looked at the colt who looked as if everything was completely fine. “Alright, let’s get this battle underway, shall we?” Brendan smirked, watching his torchic prepare itself. “Battle? Oh no, I could never do that,” Fluttershy said nervously. She couldn’t tell if he was serious, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She looked down at Alerce who also donned a fighting position. “Alerce no, we don’t have to—” Before she even could finish, she felt another throbbing headache come on, one (much) more intense than the others had been. Every synapse in her brain told her she had to fight, that she had no choice. She found herself on the ground, hooves pressed to her head as she desperately tried to hold onto herself. W-why is this happening, I-I don’t fight... I can’t take this... With her head still buried in the ground, she heard a strange but familiar voice pierce her thoughts, “Fl...rsh... is that you? Please, if you can hear me say something!” “Please... leave me alone,” she fought back against the wayward thought, not knowing how else to respond. “It’s me, Twilight. Are you alright? We’re so worried about you.” Tears rolled down Fluttershy’s cheeks, her body shaking as she sobbed into the grass. “Please, I don’t want to fight. Whoever you are, please make it stop!” The voice faded away as fast as it had come. Still shaking, she rose to her hooves, grabbed Alerce with a hoof, and planted him on her back. The world seemed to flash white and suddenly, in front of her, was a strange figure. The tears in her eyes blurred her vision, but there in front of her was a ghostly wisp with the same clothes she wore. The figure had brown hair and pale skin, with the same bandanna she had and a similar looking treecko. Across from her was another creature standing with a torchic, but its features were too washed out and obscured to see. Confused, she closed her eyes and shook her head; the ghostly figures disappeared from view as her eyes opened. Her vision back to normal, Fluttershy darted into the air and made for the forest. The urge to battle that had raced through her subsided, leaving her head clear. She sighed and with one last involuntary spasm she felt completely fine. Her tears dried as streaks on her face, but it didn’t bother her as she flew on. She was able to fight it off. She landed in a nearby forest clearing, watching the sun set behind the forest canopy. Alerce lay down and fell to sleep, Fluttershy smiling as she took a blanket from her bag. She had no idea how she knew it was there, but she began to trust her new instincts. She laid the blanket over Alerce and herself, preparing for the night. With her new friend in the grass and the wind carrying her worries away on the open road, Fluttershy knew she was finally home. Twilight’s horn stopped glowing as the unicorn slumped down. The spell had taken more out of her than she had anticipated. “Well Twilight, dear? Were you able to talk to her?” Rarity asked. “I was, but she didn’t recognize me,” she began, eyes wide and watering, “It sounded like she was crying... and she said something about fighting. I think she could be in trouble.” Everypony looked worried. The situation seemed dire; they had no idea where Fluttershy had ended up and she was in danger. Rainbow hovered in the air, staring down at the spell book that had caused the whole mess, then up at the purple unicorn, a fiery determination in her eyes. “Send me over there.” “What?! Are you crazy? The last time I cast the spell it was just a deviation. If I cast the deviation... Who knows what the deviation of the space-time rift spell could be!” Rainbow Dash was undeterred. “You said you performed the spell exactly, right? Just perform it exactly again.” Twilight lowered her head to think. She didn’t want to risk the safety of another friend... but Rainbow’s brash confidence was infectious. “We don't even know if it'll result in the same spell, why are you so eager to do this?“ “We can't just sit here and hope. I'm willing to take the risk... Worst case, I end up looking trustworthy,” Rainbow stated confidently. Twilight gulped, afraid of what might happen. The teleportation spell didn’t have a set course; Rainbow Dash could easily end up in a completely different part of space-time than Fluttershy. She didn't want to take the risk, but she was running out of options. “M-maybe I should talk to Celestia first before we do this. Just to be safe.” “We don't have time for Celestia, Fluttershy is in danger now,” Rainbow protested. “Trust me, I'll be fine. I'm sure if Fluttershy has somepony to help her through this, it'll be a load off your mind.” Twilight brought the ancient spell book to her and looked over the spell again, then turned back to her friends, solemn-faced. “What do you girls think? I don't know what to do...” “This all seems a mite risky,” Applejack said, “but right now Fluttershy needs somepony to help her. Who knows what she's going through over there.” “Yeah, plus it would be super fun to see ponies she knows, right? Ooo, maybe I can get some—” “Well,” Rarity cut her off, jamming a hoof into Pinkie’s maw before the pink pony could being to ramble, “I don’t see how it could hurt. Rainbow Dash, I should get you a jacket or something before you leave, it might could be positively frigid there.” “I’ll be fine,” Rainbow Dash said, landing and folding her wings to her body. “I’m sure you girls can come up with something to get us back while I’m gone.” Twilight was shocked at the responses she had received. Every one of her friends was in agreement with Rainbow’s brash and ill-conceived plan. Twilight had to admit, she was running out of options. “Actually,” Twilight pondered. “I do know Canterlot’s eastern library has a book by the same author; maybe the spell to bring her back is in there.” “Great, you girls go to Canterlot and I’ll hang out with Fluttershy. I can’t leave her all alone in some weird place.” She stood in front of Twilight, waiting for her to cast the spell. “Ready when you are!” Looking around, Twilight saw that everypony seemed to be in agreement. With the spell in front of her, she focused on Rainbow Dash. “Alright.” She readied herself, planting her hooves. She was still apprehensive about this plan, her breath caught in her throat just thinking about it. Finally, she closed her eyes and focused all of her energy on Rainbow Dash. Her horn started to glow with the intense purple light of the previous attempt. She went over every calculation in her head, checking for any discrepancies to make sure this went as smoothly as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was to lose another friend. “Hey Rainbow Da—” Pinkie started, but Twilight could only hear that much as all sense of her surroundings faded away. The light of the sun seemed to fade as the light from her horn eclipsed everything else. Violent tremors shook the library, but she ignored them, concentrating and keeping her eyes closed and mind focused. Her knees shook as the tremors vibrated through the tree, sweat dripping down her hide. Panting, she could feel the energy reach a singular point at the tip of her horn and with the last of her energy she released her hold on the spell, launching it towards Rainbow Dash. Exhausted, Twilight’s body went limp as her vision blurred. As the light that now surrounded Rainbow Dash grew drastically brighter, her eyes slowly shut as she collapsed face first into the old tome.