Chapter 15: A Gathering of Friends
Chell had been waiting alongside Princess Luna and Wheatley for some time. She watched as Princess Luna had anxiously paced around the floor, waiting for any sign from her sister. But time passed like an eternity, and Luna’s patience did not last long. Yet, she was unable to do anything but wait. She paced in circles. Every few laps around the room, she would go off onto the balcony, glance at the mountains to the south where she had seen the brilliant pillar of light the night before, but every time she looked, she could see nothing.
Chell wanted to speak, but the unease in the room was palpable. She didn’t know what, if anything, she should say. But after a while of holding the thoughts in her mind, she decided to let them out. After all, she had the luxury of not having her words distorted by nervous lips.
“Why did she go off like that?” Chell asked her. Despite the perfect clarity of the voice that came from that little, blue gem on her necklace, there was still an air of unease in her voice.
“I don’t know,” Luna responded, “but I think perhaps my sister feels that as of late, she hasn’t been upholding her responsibility as protector of Equestria. Nightmare Moon, Discord, the changelings, King Sombra, and GLaDOS’s first invasion: throughout all of these threats, she had relied on others to carry the burden of saving Equestria. It has been ages since she alone has protected Equestria from such an enemy. I understand how she feels, but it was still foolish of her to go off by herself. If something were to happen, there will be nopony to save her, and we won’t even know until it’s too late to do anything.”
“What do you think we should do? I’m tired of waiting for her to come back.”
Luna sighed. “We must be patient. I have faith in her.” Even as Luna said this, though, she couldn’t resist the urge to pace in place. “I know she’ll come through. We just have to wait a little longer.”
Wheatley, in his boredom, was floating around the room like a bouncing bubble. The rotor that gave him lift was mostly quiet, emitting a gentle hum, but even still, his constant carefree bouncing was maddening amidst the tension. Finally, Chell could no longer stand the frantic pacing of Luna or Wheatley’s endless bouncing.
“It’s been too long. I’m not waiting around any longer.” She went out to the balcony and looked over to the mountain. She took her front right portal gun and aimed it at the tallest mountain in the distance.
“What are you doing?” Luna asked.
“I can’t let Celestia face her by herself. What if something goes wrong? Like you said, if something bad happened to her, we wouldn’t even know. I have to make sure she’s alright.” Chell fired a portal towards the tallest mountain. An orange ball of light traversed the span of many miles before planting itself upon the face of the mountain. She turned back and faced the exterior wall of the castle and aimed the portal gun at it.
“Stop!” Luna cried, but Chell ignored her warning and fired a blue portal on the wall. Beyond the portal was a powerful blizzard, but rather than blowing outwards, the lower air pressure from the mountain pulled a powerful gale of wind into it. The wind was beckoning her to go through. Wheatley had to keep his distance, for he wouldn’t have been able fly away if he had gotten too close. Chell allowed the wind to pull her closer. And when she reached the portal, she spread her legs across the gap of the portal onto the wall. She poked her head through and looked down. There was no ground below her for thousands of feet.
She felt something grab at her midsection and pull her back. It was the glowing, blue telekinetic grip of Princess Luna’s magic. She moved her far away from the portal and placed her back onto the balcony.
“What were you thinking?” she demanded. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”
“I know what I’m doing. If I had fallen through, these boots would have ensured that I land on my feet without even trying, and they would absorb the entire shock.”
“And then how would you get inside her lair? You’d freeze before ever finding your way in.”
“Then what do you suggest I do? Let your sister get killed?”
“She will come back,” said Luna.
“We can’t take that chance. I’ve stopped GLaDOS every time I faced her. And the longer we wait, the closer she gets to doing whatever it is she’s going to do, and then it’ll be too late.”
Luna took another sigh. “Alright, but go to Ponyville and tell your friends first, and bring Wheatley with you. You’ll have better chances if they are there to help you. It is them who have saved Equestria from most of its recent threats, after all. It’s a shame that Fluttershy and Twilight will not be there to help you, but even without all the elements present, the bond among these friends remains strong. I must stay here and tell the royal advisors that Celestia is gone.”
“Thank you, Princess.” Chell aimed the portal gun towards Ponyville and fired a portal on the wall of a house. The wind stopped blowing into the portal on the wall, and the scene inside changed from the blistery mountain sky to the peaceful country town.
“And Chell,” Luna called before Chell was about to cross through. “Gather your friends in Ponyville. I will meet you back at your place.” And then Chell was gone, and Wheatley had followed shortly after.
Luna looked out across the landscape towards the mountains far away, and she saw a spectacle of light and fire dance across the sky. “Sister… Please, please come back.”
Chell had emerged from the portal on the northeast side of Ponyville about a story high from the ground. Like always, the boots absorbed the impact upon landing, not that it would have hurt much anyway. When she made sure that Wheatley was with her, Chell closed the portal behind her so that Princess Luna’s balcony would not be accessible from Ponyville.
“So Chell,” Wheatley said, “who do you want to see first? Wait? I haven’t even met your friends, have I?”
“I’m going to go back home first. There, I’ll introduce you to Ditzy. She’s my closest friend here.”
“Ah, Ditzy, sounds like a lovely name. Don’t know why, but there’s something just lovely about saying that name. Don’t know why.”
Wheatley talking about Ditzy with the English accent reminded her of that odd pony in the blue box she saw the day before. The thought of him made her giggle.
“So,” he continued, “what’s it like living as a horse — I mean, pony? Do you eat hay now, and live in a stable?”
Chell laughed. “No, I don’t live in a stable. But, actually, hay is a very popular food over here. I’ve tried it, and it’s not bad. But they have a lot of the same foods that humans eat: mostly deserts, like muffins, cake, and things like that. And the society here is very similar to human society back on Earth, except much friendlier. These ponies live in houses and go to work, just like humans would, except here, they are usually the same place. Like, Ditzy and I both work and live at the post office. There are a couple differences in the culture related to the pony anatomy, but it wasn’t that difficult to get used to after I adjusted to my new body.
Wheatley noticed the multitude of colors coating the ponies that walked the streets of Ponyville.
“Hi Chell,” said a raspberry pink earth pony mare with blond hair.
“Oh, hi…” Chell started searching for the name of this pony whom she wasn’t too familiar with “… Lilly.” She had been acquainted with many of the ponies in town, but it seemed that more ponies knew her than she knew of them. Almost everypony knew the mare who had come from another world and saved Equestria from the terror that came with her. And she was easily identified by the portals she had for a cutie mark, and her enchanted gem necklace that spoke for her.
The passing mare couldn’t help but stare at the floating metal sphere, but she didn’t stop to ask about it and continued on her way. Chell wondered if ponies were paying more attention to her now in light of recent events. She tried avoiding too much attention for the flying metal ball, but some ponies stared in disbelief at her. Luckily, she didn’t pass by too many others on the way back.
“So, what’s with all the crazy colors?” Wheatley asked. “I mean, every time I see another pony, I have to resist saying: ‘Well, that’s a horse of a different color.’ Um… pony, sorry, pony.”
“Yeah, it’s all a bit strange, but you’ll get used to it.” Chell chuckled. “It was a shock for me too at first. I think the bright colors of pony’s coats help make everything more cheerful, even if it doesn’t make much sense from a practical standpoint. It’s a nice break from the droning blacks and whites of Aperture, I’ll give it that.”
“And how come some of them have horns, and others have wings, and then ones like you have nothing at all. Don’t you ever wish you had one of those? I know if I had wings, I’d be flying all over the place.”
Chell cocked her eyebrow. “Um… but you already can—”
“And what’s the deal with those pictures on the sides of your bums? And how come I can see right through yours?”
“Didn’t Princess Celestia explain any of this to you? That ‘picture’ is called a ‘cutie mark.’ Yeah I know, it sounds like a cheesy pun, but cutie marks are actually very important in their society… our society, I mean. Typically, ponies get their cutie mark when they come of a certain age and then discover their one true talent. Apparently, mine is working with portals. I’m not sure why it’s an actual pair of portals rather than a picture. Then again, I didn’t really earn it like everypony else.”
“Wait. Every what?”
“Everypo — everypony…. Like everyone, but… well, you know, with ‘pony.’ It’s a habit. Just one of the many things I’ve picked up on from living here. Sometimes, I wonder about that. I mean, I wonder who I really am. I know I’m the same person I’ve always been, but… am I still human? Am I a pony or an alien who just took on their form? Sometimes I wonder if I’m truly one of them, but in my heart, I don’t think it really matters. After all, they accepted me as one of their own the first day I was here, and I couldn’t even talk. But even though I couldn’t tell them who I was or where I came from, I had never deceived them. And as soon as I was given the ability to speak, I hid nothing from them, and all the more, they accepted me for who I am. That is why I’m so happy here.”
“Hey, why did you become a pony when you came through, but not me?” Wheatley had wanted to ask that a few sentences ago, but as Chell continued talking without interruption, he held the thought until he was given the opportunity to speak.
“Ugh, I don’t know. I can’t even imagine what you would even look like as a pony. You’re a sphere. How can a sphere be made to be like a pony?”
“Um, good point, good point. Well, perhaps you just need to use your imagination. You humans are good at that, right? Uh… or wait… pony, I meant pony. Sorry, still getting used to this whole ‘pony’ thing. Anyway, first, imagine what I’d look like as a human. I’m sure my personality is based on some actual person. I’d be quite the looker, that’s for sure. Then imagine that person… but as a pony. But… then I’d be a real flesh and blood pony, not a mechanical one, so… I don’t know. But that would also be pretty cool too, right?”
Conversing with Wheatley amused Chell, but her mind was too preoccupied to place too much thought into such a seemingly pointless tangent of this conversation. If she had been less patient, she might have asked Wheatley to stop talking completely, but she enjoyed the opportunity to become his friend again, and so, enjoyed his company. His presence felt friendly and upbeat, just as it was when she had first met him. It was hard to imagine that he had ever betrayed her and tried to hurt her. Yet, that ugly truth lingered in the back of her mind as spoiled food lingered in the back of a refrigerator. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but she willingly pushed it aside to make room to let him in her heart again, and to begin to trust in him again.
They were approaching home, so Chell steered the conversation back to the matter at hoof.
“This is where I live. I share the apartment above the post office with Ditzy Doo. Just to let you know…. her eyes are misaligned, so please don’t react to it in a way which would make her feel uncomfortable. Some ponies are put off by it when they first meet her.”
“Oh, you don’t need to worry ‘bout me, love. When have I ever said the wrong thing?”
Chell gave Wheatley a stern look.
“Okay, okay, I’ll behave.”
Chell opened the front door to the post office and walked into the entrance area. Ditzy was busy playing with Dinky in the area in front of the sofa on the floor. It was then that Chell walked in.
“Oh, hi Ch—” The first thing that Ditzy had noticed was a white Aperture-branded mechanical sphere with a helicopter rotor. Her mind rushed with the memories of those flying turrets that swarmed the town and abducted so many ponies. She remembered when a portal appeared from under her hooves and sucked her into a strange place miles away. Even worse was the thought that one of them almost took Dinky. It sent her into a primal rage.
“Agged! Tome shoes cheese mousse sculptures flaming toes!” Ditzy screamed. She lunged at him without a moment’s hesitation.
“Ahhh!” Wheatley screamed.
“Wait!” Chell cried.
But before Ditzy could even think, she had quickly dashed toward the core and spun kicked him into the wall.
“Ow!” Wheatley recovered from the impact and righted himself, after which he said: “What the bloody hell was that for?”
But Ditzy had turned around to flee, intending to take Dinky with her, but before she could pick the filly up, Chell called out again.
“Ditzy! Stop! It’s alright! He won’t hurt you!”
“Wait… tau?” Ditzy was panting heavily, still hovering in place. Her heart was pounding from the brief moment of fear-induced adrenaline.
“This is Wheatley. You remember me telling you about him, right?”
Ditzy nodded. She had calmed down, but her expression showed that she was still confused.
“This is what Celestia had to tell me this morning. He somehow came through a portal last night, and into this universe. I’m not really sure how it happened, but the princesses found him on the moon, and long story short, I’ve forgiven him for what happened between us in the past.”
Ditzy put a hoof to her forehead and shook it, as if she was still shaking off her mad delirium. She then spoke to Wheatley. “Ugh… I’m so embarrassed about how I just acted. I’m so, so sorry I went crazy and kicked you. I hope I didn’t make a bad impression.” She sighed. “I’ve always been bad at making first impressions. I used to have this speech impediment, and although Chell has helped me a lot with it, it has never completely gone away. That’s why I said all that nonsense. But the reason I acted that way was because you reminded me of a bad memory. So that’s why I attacked you. I thought you were gonna take my little Dinky from me. But you must have thought I was insane. My crazy eyes probably didn’t help. I’m sorry.”
“Well, that still hurt. I don’t know why they gave us the ability to feel pain, but we do.”
Chell looked at Wheatley sternly again. This time, it was out of utter disappointment in his lack of concern.
“Hey, it’s not like that was my fault, unless getting kicked out of the air by some insane flying pony somehow was my faul— Ow!”
Chell had smacked him in the back. “Wheatley! Don’t be rude. She didn’t mean it. And if I can forgive you, then you can forgive her.” She then looked over to Ditzy. “Sorry about him. He knows you didn’t mean it, but we have more important things to worry about right now. Princess Celestia has gone off by herself to fight GLaDOS, and I’m not sure when or if she’ll come back. And if she doesn’t, then I have to face GLaDOS myself, but hopefully not by myself, which is why I need to gather the others. At the very least, I need to tell them what’s going on. We’ll meet back here, and after Princess Luna informs her advisors of the situation, she’ll be here as well.”
“Alrighty then. So, we’ve got Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie,” Ditzy summarized.
Wheatley laughed, although he tried to suppress it.
“What did I say this time that sounded so funny?” Ditzy demanded, putting her hooves on her waist as she hovered.
Wheatley was speechless. “I’m… I’m sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you, it’s just… those names. How do you ponies all get names like that? They sound like candy flavors.”
Once again, Chell gave Wheatley that look. She didn’t have to say anything to let him know to shut up. When he stopped talking, she spoke.
“I’d say, each of us should go get two of them. Ditzy, since you’re a pegasus, and Rainbow Dash lives in the sky, you should get her, and…” Chell pondered for a moment, for the other option was not trivial. “… Pinkie Pie. We’ll meet you back here. Just hurry. Time is of the essence.”
She looked up at Wheatley. “And you’re coming with me.”
The two mares had split off from each other. Chell’s first stop would be Sweet Apple Acres. She would waste no time walking to the farm outside the town. So she looked up towards the tallest structure she could see in the area, which was, without a doubt, town hall. A balcony bordered the rim of the roof, but she wasn’t sure if the curved surface of the roof could support a portal. The only way to be sure was to try it, so she fired a portal onto the roof. It stuck. Now, she just had to make a portal on the wall next to her.
The wall opened with a beautiful scenic view of the landscape as seen from several stories high. The view through the portal looked as though the horizon sloped downwards, which created an eerie sense that the world had been tilted. She walked through onto the balcony, leaving the portal at a slight upward angle. Wheatley followed behind. Out across some bit was the signature red barn of Sweet Apple Acres. She aimed carefully and placed another portal on the center of the wall of the barn. Then she turned around, and walked out of the wall of the barn, dropping about a story onto the dirt with only the slightest sensation of impact.
Wheatley, when he came through, noticed the endless acres of apple trees.
“Let me guess: this is where Applejack lives.”
“How’d you know?” Chell teased. She walked towards the house to see if Applejack was inside, but there was also a good chance that she would be out in the orchard. “Wheatley, could you please fly up and see if you can see her or her family out there? She’s the orange one, just a little brighter than my coat. Just don’t bring too much attention to yourself.”
“Alrighty then,” Wheatley said like a salute. He flew high, staying close to the barn to not be so visible against the sky. He looked around the rolling hills of trees. One area in particular caught his attention. A section of trees looked as if they had all been torn down rather carelessly. And surely enough, he could see some ponies in that area picking up the debris. “I think I see her!” he shouted.
“Shh! Come back down here. You don’t want to scare her like you did with Ditzy. All of them went through that same traumatic event, you know.”
Wheatley silently complied and flew back towards Chell’s side.
Chell looked in the area that Wheatley was looking, but she couldn’t see anything. “Where did you see her?”
“There were a bunch of them over out a few hundred yards that way.” He didn’t have anything to point with, but he still looked in the same direction as before. “They were in some sort of clearing cleaning up a bunch of trees that fell down. Can’t imagine what would have knocked down all those trees.”
“GLaDOS did that. Let’s get going,” Chell said bluntly. She trotted hastily towards where Wheatley was looking.
“Wait, What?” Wheatley called as he followed behind. “Why would she do a thing like that? I never took her as someone who destroyed other people’s property.”
“I’m not exactly sure, but she has no regard for anyone. But I’ll explain more later. We should hurry.”
Chell quickened her pace and galloped across a diagonal path in the trees. When she finally came to the clearing, she saw the destruction for the first time.
“Oh… GLaDOS did… this? W… wow…” Chell had not expected to see as much rampant destruction as she had. A long clearing had been made through the trees, which had been toppled like dominoes. The fallen trees had littered the area. Some of them had been uprooted or snapped in the middle, while others had been slides cleanly from their stumps.
Applejack’s family was, just as Wheatley said, cleaning up the debris. Applejack and her younger sister, Apple Bloom each held an end of a saw in their mouths and were sawing through the trunk of a fallen tree. Her older brother, Big Macintosh was wearing a harness, which was attached to a wagon that held cut sections of trunks and branches. Even Granny Smith was helping pick up smaller branches and pieces of debris.
When Applejack and Apple Bloom had finished sawing through the trunk, Apple Bloom took the opportunity to complain.
“Now can I go play with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo?”
“We just started a couple hours ago,” Applejack said. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us if ya want to get this area all cleaned up.”
“But Ah was helpin’ all day yesterday while you were nowhere to be found. And I didn’t even get a chance to see Sweetie Belle and Scoots ‘cause Ah was so busy with this.”
“Hi Applejack,” Chell interrupted. Applejack and Apple Bloom turned their heads.
“Howdy Chell!” Apple Bloom beamed. You don’t know how glad Ah am to see you. Applejack’s been makin’ me clean up this mess all day yesterday, and now she’s makin’ me work today, as well.”
“Oh, hey Ch— uh, what the hay is that?” Applejack said upon seeing Wheatley floating in the air beside Chell. She was suspicious of the flying machine, which looked very similar to the flying machines that GLaDOS had used to abduct so many ponies, but Applejack was willing to give Chell the benefit of the doubt that the thing that accompanied her somehow was to be trusted.
“Applejack, this is Wheatley. Wheatley, Applejack.” Chell motioned to the young filly. “And that’s Apple Bloom,” she then motioned to the other two. “Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith.” Big Mac nodded when he was introduced, but Granny Smith was too busy in her work and too hard at hearing to notice what was going on.
“Hi,” Wheatley said.
“Woah, wai — hold — hold on a minute,” Applejack stuttered. “Um, Ah don’t mean to be rude, but… could you please tell me what’s goin’ on here?”
“It’ll take too long to explain everything now,” Chell said. “Right now, I need to get you and the others back to my place. There, I’ll tell you what happened.
Applejack turned her head back to Big Macintosh. He nodded slightly, which was everything she needed to hear.
“Alright, Ah trust that it’s important, so I’ll go. This mess’ll take a week to clean up, anyway. Ah swear, if Ah get mah hooves on that…” Applejack trailed off. She smirked sheepishly and rubbed her hoof behind her neck. “Um… never mind ‘bout that.”
“Can Ah go too, please?” Apple Bloom asked as adorably as she could, looking up at her big sister with large, precious eyes.
Applejack sighed. “Uhh… Ah don’t think that’s a good idea, Apple Bloom. Why don’t you stay here and help Big Macintosh and Granny Smith.”
Apple Bloom pouted furiously. “But all ah’ve done the past couple days is work here cleanin’ this dang mess!”
Applejack sighed. “I know you’ve been workin’ hard lately, but this isn’t something I want you gettin’ tangled in. And besides, Big Mac and Granny need help here.”
Apple Bloom glared at Applejack.
“Look, Apple Bloom, I’ll do somethin’ fun with ya after I take of this business with Chell. Is that alright?”
Apple Bloom relented her glare and sigher.
“Promise?” Apple Bloom asked, with a big ol’ puppy dog face.
“Pinkie Promise,” Applejack replied.
The two Apple sisters mimed the Pinkie Promise, and then Apple Bloom went back to work as Chell and Applejack left.
As they approached the barn, Chell paced her way in front of Applejack and led them to the wall with the portal on it.
“This leads to the roof of town hall,” she said. She repositioned the portal lower on the wall so that she would be able to walk through. “It’s quite a view from up there, but it’s rather high up, I’ll just go through so that I can make a direct portal to Carousel Boutique from here.”
Chell fired another blank portal onto the wall to the right of the current portal with one of her other portal guns. She went through the original portal onto the roof of town hall. Out there, she walked around the circumference of the roof until she saw the familiar building that was shaped like its name implied. The façade was cluttered with ornate decorations and windows which would block any portal from being places, but she noticed some tent-like structures nearby that would serve as good portal surfaces.
So, she fired a portal onto one of these tents and went back across the roof and into the portal to the farm.
“Alright. This one will take you to Rarity’s,” she said, pointing to the portal to her left. She walked through into the area beyond and beckoned them to follow from the other side. Wheatley followed through shortly after.
“Ah never really liked going through these, you know,” Applejack said. But by now, she trusted that she probably wouldn’t get cut in half or end up in GLaDOS’s custody. “Alright, I’m a comin’ through,” she said as she made her way across as quickly as possible.
On the other side of the portal, they were just around the corner from Rarity’s. Chell knocked on the door, but there was no answer for a little while.
She knocked again. Still, no answer.
“Rarity!” she called. “Are you home?” The gem, despite its elegant, beautiful sound, was quite capable of generating a sound loud enough that Rarity could have heard it from anywhere inside.
“Rarity, somepony’s at the door!” A muffled filly’s voice shouted from inside. “Rarity!” the voice squeaked in exasperation. “Rarity, come get the door!” The voice made a few sounds of frustrated grunting, followed by the sounds of tiny hoofsteps approaching the door. After a time, the door finally opened. Inside the door was Sweetie Belle, whose mane and face were soaking wet. “Chell! Applejack! Thank goodness you’re here! Something’s happened to Rarity! She’s been crying to no end, and she’s been squeezing the life out of me!” she squeaked upon.
From inside, the painful sounds of sobbing could be heard. Sweetie Belle noticed Chell and Applejack, and then the flying metal ball. “Cool! What is that?” she squealed. Her excitement served to mask a deeper underlying worry.
“Sweetie Belle, this is Wheatley,” Chell began, “Why don’t you two get to know each other? Where is Rarity?”
“She’s in her bedroom,” Sweetie Belle said, pointing to the door on the other side. “Something bad must have happened, but she won’t tell me what.”
“Thank you, Sweetie Belle,” Chell said. She and Applejack followed the direction and into the other room, leaving Sweetie Belle and Wheatley alone in the the living room.
In the other room, Chell and Applejack saw Rarity sniffling on her bed.
“I’m so, so sorry, girls,” said Rarity. “Please forgive my inhospitality. I should have never left you standing outside as I did.” Her voice was low and heavy with despair. “Things have just been difficult for me… with... what’s been going on and all…” She tried drying her tears, but was having trouble composing herself.
Applejack and Chell both noticed that Rarity was not wearing any makeup. Her hair wasn’t brushed, and it lacked its normal lustrous shine. It was clear that had she made no effort to maintain her appearance, and it was obvious why. Yet, still, she retained a natural beauty that could never be tarnished by a lack of care. Her face was sullen from tears that have long-since dried out and wet from ones that were still fresh.
“Rarity,” Chell began, “we need to have a talk over at the post office about what’s been going on. It’s urgent.”
Rarity wiped her face and sat up on her bed.
“I can’t leave Sweetie Belle here alone, or else I’d come,” Rarity replied.
“Hey, how ‘bout she come over to Sweet Apple Acres so she can play with Apple Bloom,” Applejack offered.
“We just came from there though a portal,” said Chell. “It’s just a step away.”
“Oh, what a good idea,” Rarity sighed. “Just give me a minute to get myself together.” She sat up, and took some deep breaths, putting her mourning aside. She sighed. “Okay, I’m ready to go, now. Sweetie Belle!”
Sweetie Belle entered the room, with Wheatley hovering close behind.
“Hey Rarity, you’ve got to check this out. He’s like, the coolest thing ever!”
Rarity was about to speak before the sight of the flying personality core took her by surprise. “Ahhhh!” She fell over on her back. “What…. what is that?”
Chell sighed. She was getting very tired of this. But before she could explain, Applejack had already taken the liberty.
“That’s Wheatley. You remember Chell tellin’ you about him, right? Ah guess their friends now. I really don’t know what’s goin’ on, either, but she says it’s important. So, that’s why we gotta go.”
Chell nodded.
“Alright, I’ll take your word for it,” Rarity said. “Sweetie Belle, dear, I need to go out for a little while. Would you like hang out with Apple Bloom?”
Sweetie Belle smiled. “Do I ever!”
Chell placed a portal on a wall within the room, linking to the one that was already at Sweet Apple Acres.
“It’s alright,” Rarity said. “You can go.”
With that, the unicorn filly jumped through the portal. When she waved goodbye, Chell closed the portal.
“Let’s get going,” she said.
Ditzy had flown up to Rainbow Dash’s floating cloud home and was standing outside the front door. She knocked.
“Rainbow Dash. Are you home?” she called.
“Ditzy? Is that you?” Dash asked from inside, though she couldn’t really mistake the sound of Ditzy’s voice, and realized the answer to her own question fairly quickly. “Just come in. The door isn’t locked.”
Ditzy opened the door and walked in, but she couldn’t see where Rainbow Dash was. Then she realized that she had never seen the inside of her home before. It seemed like a very nice place, which made her wonder why Dash seldom had any company over.
“Hi Ditzy. What’s up?” Dash greeted quietly. It was then that Ditzy realized that Rainbow Dash was lying on the sofa face down.
Dash looked up at her guest and tried to wipe her face, but it was clear that she had been sulking. She sniffed. “I hate it when ponies see me like this. But I don’t care anymore. Just don’t talk to me about it. So, what’s going on?” Dash asked as directly as she could. She hated emotional confrontation, and she had enough of that last night, so she tried to act uncaring and distant, not that she was doing a very good job of it.
“Chell wanted us all to meet at our place. Something important is happening, and she needs us all gathered so she can tell us.”
“Did she say what it was about?”
“Yeah, but it’ll be easier to explain once we’re all together. It’s related what’s been going on.”
“Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash got up from the couch and headed out the door. Ditzy rushed to follow behind her. Even getting out the door was a race for Dash.
“Wait! Do you even know where we’re going?” Ditzy asked.
“Duh! The post office,” Dash said. She crouched into a ready position on her doorstep, having not even bothered to close the door behind her. “Now, let’s get going before GLaDOS takes over the world, already!”
“Um, actually… we’re going to tell Pinkie Pie first.”
Rainbow Dash was practically thrown off her starting position. “Oh, duh! Of course. Well, let’s go!” And just like that, Dash zoomed off.
“Wait!” Ditzy called. She hadn’t a hope of catching up.
Rainbow Dash must have heard, because she turned back, grabbed Ditzy by the arm, and flew away, faster than Ditzy could even see.
There was a knocking on the door to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie put on a happy face and opened the door to see a little orange pegasus filly.
“Hi, Pinkie Pie,” the little filly greeted.
“Hi Scootaloo,” Pinkie said back, somewhat less enthusiastically than usual. “You know you don’t have to knock, silly. This is a bakery, after all.”
“Oh,” Scootaloo said in slight embarrassment. “Pinkie, you haven’t seen Rainbow Dash, have you?”
“Dashie? Not yet today. Why do you ask?” Pinkie chirped.
“No reason really, I just wanted to see if she’d speak at next week’s Rainbow Dash fan club meeting,” Scootaloo replied.
“If I see her, you’ll be the first to know, Scootaloo!” Pinkie Pie responded. “Do you want any cake?”
Scootaloo shook her head no and turned to exit. Just as Pinkie shut the door, she heard a knock at the door. She opened it to see both Rainbow Dash and Ditzy standing in the doorway.
“Rainbow Dash! Just the pony that I was looking for. Scootaloo just came by ask if I’d seen her–”
“Another time, Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “There’s a meeting at the post office, and we must hurry there!”
However, Pinkie Pie was suddenly nowhere to be seen. All that was there was a wooden sign that read: “Gone to Post Office. Be back soon!”
Rainbow and Ditzy just looked at each other confusedly and shrugged.
On the way back home, Chell had stopped in her tracks when she realized that she forgot all about Spike, who of all ponies (and dragons), was the most affected by Twilight’s absence. The poor little guy was probably all alone in the library with nopony to keep him company with the exception of Owlowiscious, who certainly could not look after him and take care of him the way Twilight did, who was like an older sister or a mother to the little dragon. So, Chell told the others to go to her place and wait for Ditzy, if she wasn’t home already. And she would go to the library and find Spike.
In just a short matter of time, they would all be gathered: six mares, a dragon, a personality core, and in time, the Princess of the Night. But until then, each of them could only wonder about the exact nature of what had occurred that was so important for Chell to gather them. None of them, with the exception of Ditzy Doo, Chell, and Wheatley, had any idea that the Princess Celestia had even gone missing. And even then, nopony knew of her fate.
But no matter how happy these friends would be to see each other again after such a dreadful night of uncertainty, two of their friends would be sorely missed, and their absence would be an uncomfortable reminder of the current situation. But for the time being, the others would still have each other.
Stats
Page generated in 0.05 seconds
Total duration
736 users online
1,185,574 hits today, 2,151,698 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Can't believe I didn't notice Spike being left out. And I call myself a Spike fan.
Just saiyan, GlaDOS is far more interesting than Chell >.>
3521458
Yeah... Insane AIs tend to be more interesting than silent protagonists. But there'll be more of her in the next chapter.
Woo! Go Scootaloo!
Too much dialogue for my taste but still good chapter.
I was hoping to see Rick the adventure core in this chapter.
I thought wheatley had an australian accent
but he princesses found him
I thought you gonna take my
quietly enough for Apple Bloom not to here
but made sure to hush Apple Bloom anyway.”
1. The.
2. I thought you were gonna take my.
3. Hear.
4. Extra closing quotation mark.
3522971
He is voiced by Steve Merchant, who is English.
3522971
You fool, Aussie accent sounds NOTHING like Wheatley. I should know, I'm an Aussie.
3521235 Spike being left out is the norm. It's not like this story is missing Lyra or anything.
3523223
Well, that's a new record low! I just started using TTS to proofread. It helped me catch so many mistakes.
3521235 You're not the only one. I'm glad he was included though. Have a thumbs up b^.^d
I could hear thousands of FlutterDash shipper's hearts breaking...
It didn't feel like much happened during this chapter. They still had to wait a while for the princess, why not just kill time by walking?
There was a lot of needed dialogue here though. I just felt a little slow.
3639144
I'll leave the FlutterDash relationship to your interpretation.
And yeah, this was a slow chapter, but I felt it was needed. A lot's been happening lately, and I just wanted to take a break from the plot and just see how the Mane 6 minus Fluttershy and Twilight were coping. After all, they all lost two of their closest friends, plus there's the ever impending doom. And then there's Wheatley. I could have easily just said, "Chell went around town and gathered all of her friends," but doing it this way allows for the reader to have a better emotional connection with these characters. I never intended for the chapter to be as long as it is, but I hope it was still worth reading.
I think that the fact core should have come instead of Rick, if only for his "relevant" insights.