//------------------------------// // Double Trouble // Story: Majesty: Queen of the Castle // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// "Hey, girls! Good to see you back here!" Hollywood called out, as the other two mares approached where they stood in the ruins. "What took you so long?" The six ponies all met back in the center of the encampment, the others surprised to see Applejack and Wind Whistler return so quickly. As the two mares marched coldly up to the fire, Majesty cautiously approached her two friends, curious as to their whereabouts. "Applejack, Wind Whistler... so good to see you back here." Majesty told them, confused and disturbed by the two pony's eerie blank stares. "So, what did you find out there that kept you so long?" "We found a place... a wondrous place, where an equine can reflect on themselves." Wind Whistler replied calmly. "In fact, I do hypothesize that you will be beside yourself to get in." Really? That's... that's interesting." The princess replied, noticing the gestures that the two stallions were making at her that something wasn't right, and taking a step back from the two mares. "And- and what do you have to say about all of that, A.J.?" "Ahm totally with Windy, here. This place will change yer life." Applejack agreed, as she and Wind Whistler slowly edged closer to Majesty. "If fact, y'all be a different pony when y'all come outta heayah." The two mares were almost on top of the princess, when she suddenly cried out. "Boys, NOW!" The pair of males were upon the fakes in an instant. tackling them to the ground before they had a chance to react. Two two imposters bit, kicked, screamed and howled at the stallions, giving them cuts and bruises all up and down their bodies. Finally, the mountain boys managed to headbutt the two mares in the skull simultaneously, causing the to mares to explode and vanish into a puff of smoke. "Whoa, that was totally crazy!" Ice Crystal coughed and gagged, as the smoke cleared. "Is everybody here all right?" "Yeah, we'll live." Thundercloud replied, waving some of the smoke away with his hoof. "I can't believe those mares thought they might be able to fool us!" "But where in the world did they come from?" Majesty asked curiously, looking down at the spot where the two impostors had been. "This definitely wasn't a disguise spell, because they wouldn't have vanished like that. So what manner of magic created these imposters?" "It's Rugmatot's evil magic!" Hollywood declared, landing next to the other equines. "He is known for his power to make evil duplicates of good ponies, and now he has taken copied our poor friends, and made them disappear!" "If they have taken our friends, then in my opinion we must do our best to get them back." Majesty said simply, a determined look in her eye. "I'm not going to leave two of my friends to the not-so-tender mercies of an evil human wizard." "Then we should head for Rugmatot's palace, at once!" Hollywood declared, speared on by Majesty's bold attitude. "Before he can use them to make any more of his diabolical duplicates!" "Wow, Holly! That's quite a shocking thing to hear from you." Ice Crystal noted in surprise. "I mean, the way those two treated you and all." "Fellow ponies are in danger, Icy." Hollywood replied, flutter around over their heads. "It's time to put differences aside, and save our mean-spirited friends." "Where can we find Rugmatot's tower?" Majesty asked her, ignoring the flutter's crack at A.J. and Windy. "We need a path we ground ponies can follow you on." "Up, on the other side of the ruins, there's a path that lead's up to Wantall's peak." Holly replied with a shiver. "I had hoped we could avoid that terrible, horrible place... but here we go!" ... Far, far away from the site of the encampment, Tornado the stallion wandered aimlessly through the forests of the unicorn run. Having gotten hopelessly lost while on his scouting mission, the mountain boy pony was desperately trying to find his way back to camp. "Blast it, I think this is the third time I've past this rock. Wait is it the same rock?" Tornado asked aloud, with no one around to hear him. "Wait a sec, I think I hear somebody...." "Shooby doo! Shoop shoopy doo!" A voice called out from the river, with no visible source. ""Shooby doo! Shoop shoopy doo!" The eerie song filled the air all around Tornado, it's sweet melody falling upon his ears like a haunting call. The stallion was frozen in place, unable to move as the soothing voices called out to him. "The river... yes, I shall come to the river..." The stallion trotted forward blindly, paying no attention to his surroundings or whereabouts. Walking to the edge of the raging river, the blank eyed tornado stood there, inches from the swift and steady current. "Shooby doo! Shoop shoopy doo!" The voice repeated again, as if speaking to the stallion. "Shooby doo! Shoop shoopy doo!" "Yes, I will come in..." The stallion replied, in a bland tone. "The water is fine..." Without another word, the mesmerized stallion stepped forward, sinking into the swift current, and vanishing beneath the water's surface. Within a few moments, he was gone, as if there had never been a stallion standing on the bank a moment before. The forest then fell silent once again, entirely uncaring about the poor foolish equine that had mysteriously vanished into it's mighty river.