Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack blinked and stared at each other as they walked around a small clearing they woke up in. They could have sworn that they heard a friend of theirs. It almost sounded like their bookworm friend was having trouble with her friendship letters again.Then they heard another voice which sounded more like the shriek of a certain fashionista pony. It sounded like somepony must have messed up her mane. Rainbow Dash chuckled at the thought of her friends misfortune.
“So it seems like they’re alright,” Applejack noted. “Let’s go, ponies.”
“You? You’re leading?” Rainbow indecorously asked. “I thought I was the leader!”
Before Applejack and Rainbow Dash could start into a fight, Pinkie Pie immediately noticed a cloth sticking out from one of the trees around them. She approached it, poked it, then quickly came to the two with a wide grin on her face. It was also just in the right timing as the country mare and the athletic pegasus paused.
“Hey girls,” Pinkie began, hopping up and down. “I just found the balloon! Or, well, parts of it! Let’s try to salvage something out of it! Maybe your ropes are there, Applejack!”
“If you say so,” they both replied as the group headed towards the suspicious cloth. Applejack was the first to recognize it.
“Huh,” Applejack tugged the cloth until something got dislodged and fell out into the clearing where they were. “Would you look at that.”
Rainbow Dash pulled out a thick, unfinished book and opened it and began to read only to have the book taken by Pinkie Pie who quickly shoved it into her saddlebag. Rainbow was about to complain until another huge cloth flew over her, surprising Applejack and Pinkie Pie.
“I think we hit a blue tiny horse with colorful mane with that piece of balloon,” Rarity said to Twilight Sparkle as their group approached the Forests of Firea. “This is what you call the Firea Forest, right darling?”
“Yup,” Twilight replied, still recovering from the panic attack. “The Forest of Firea is found near the border of Satyrn Beach and stretches until the city of Litteroot.”
“I thought it was the town of Litteroot,” Fluttershy corrected as she tugged their salvaged equipment.
Twilight blinked and then nodded. “Right, sorry. I just still can’t believe we’re here. I mean, I’ve been trying to remember the dreams of when I was here just to finish my book…”
“We know Twilight.” Rarity squinted as something headed towards them. “We got something coming!”
Pinkie Pie ran towards three figures that seemed was approaching them until she approached them instead.
“What!? Where?”
She knew those voices. She recognized the voices.
“Fluttershy, quickly, give me my travelling bag!”
The voices seemed to be drawing closer in every step of the way. ‘Because I’m approaching them, d’oh!’ she told to herself.
“Stop! Whoever’s there!”
Pinkie Pie didn’t stop, even if the speaker sounded like…
“Twilight!?”
…
Pinkie found herself above Twilight Sparkle who seemed to be not amused by the turn of events. She stood, stepped away, stared at the other group, pulled out the thick book she knew Twilight made from her saddlebag, looked straight at Rarity, grinned, looked away, and quickly ran as she giggled all the way.
Applejack felt movement and quickly went into a defensive stance only to learn that it was just Pinkie Pie moving through the forest. Sighing in relief, she approached Pinkie Pie.
“What was it that you saw Pinks?” Applejack asked.
“Oh, nopony,” Pinkie replied. “Nopony but our missing friends! GIRLS, COME OVER HERE!”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as three ponies went out into the clearing.
(Horseshoe Bay, Equestria)
Princess Celestia was not happy about the turn of events happening over her nation since her little ponies learned that Twilight ‘went missing’ after heading straight into a freak hurricane in the middle of the Celestial Sea. If she only would have gone to Canterlot and explained what happened and how it could be resolved… But no, she insisted her guards that she’d stay here in Horseshoe Bay. She falsely explained that she’ll investigate the mysterious hurricane herself, without guards. Most of the Royal Guard followed her orders, all except for a unicorn Captain named Shining Armor.
“You know Cadance told me that you sometimes do this stuff just to hide the truth, right?” Shining explained the Princess. “What happened to my sister?”
“She’s…” Princess Celestia looked in the direction of the sea. “She’s fine, Shining. You may leave.”
“Auntie,” a voice called out from the shorelines. “I didn’t expect you and Shining here!”
The pair looked over the west side to find a pink princess wearing beach dress and drenched in saltwater. Shining giggled at the sight while Princess Celestia tried to resist the urge to laugh and ended up chuckling instead. The pink princess stared at herself and joined in on the laughter.
“Wow,” Shining commented between giggles, “Cadance, I didn’t know you liked the beach.”
“How come I didn’t notice you there?” Celestia asked just after she stopped chuckling.
Cadence pointed to the small camp located right at the edge. “That, and we also found a balloon torn into two with a few ponies in it.”
Celestia’s eyes widened and quickly teleported to the location she pointed, leaving Shining Armor and his wife in the shore.
“Tell me dear,” Shining Armor asked. “Did the ponies that you found look familiar at all to you?”
Cadence shrugged. “I don’t know. My bodyguards just found the balloons, and I only got a glimpse of the scene. Why?”
He looked at her. “I think my sister’s in there, with her friends.”
“Oh.” Princess Cadence looked at Shining. “Really?”
“Well, there were reports of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony being lost at sea after their balloon crashed somewhere…”
The couple then ran towards Princess Cadence’s camp. They found that Princess Celestia was reading a letter and was…crying? In front of her were six bodies laid out in six tables, each one of them having life support. Shining approached the Solar Princess the same time she turned around, accidentally scaring the unicorn guard and the alicorn princess, causing them both to jump slightly. Princess Cadence and a few watching guards couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.
“Wha– wai– Oh.” Celestia recognized Shining Armor. “Events happen so fast, don’t they?”
As Shining nodded, Princess Cadance’s eyes landed on the letter her aunt was reading.
“What are you reading?” Cadence asked as she took the letter and saw who wrote it. “What in Equestria!?”
Shining took the letter from his princess wife and read it aloud.
To Princess Celestia,
I’m very sorry about their Equestrian bodies, especially if they end up having no legs, broken bones, broken wings and horn, and everything else that might have happened to them. I know that you sent them here for the wrong reasons, but I tell you, I gave you the wrong reason as well. The true reason I needed the Elements for Harmony is…
They’re back.
The same reason you and Princess Luna were sent here before is the same true reason I needed their help. The Spirits of Evil have returned to ravage this poor realm.
For now, you can either also come here and help, or guard the bodies against those who try to destroy them.
See you soon.
A future friend,
Twilight Sparkle IX
PS: Captain Shining Armor, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, try to give respect next time when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna talk about dreams, please? My brother here, King Armor the 15th, gets a lot of headaches.
Shining Armor read the letter again silently. And again. And again. And again until his mind couldn’t bear the confusion.
He gave out a “What?” afterwards.