Six Two Six Two

by lunabrony

2 - And Then There Were Five

Several hours after the attack on Celestia...

Twilight was alone in the first of several train cars, all hooked together on its way to Canterlot. The five of them had been called to Canterlot on an emergency assignment, although none of them yet knew what it was. The mystery and urgency of the sudden call bothered Twilight, as usually the Princesses were right up front with her, honest about everything. That was part of the reason she was so bothered. The other part was that it was Princess Luna herself whom had done the summoning.

Twilight didn't have anything against Luna, of course, but her paranoid nature couldn't help kicking in. Why had Celestia not summoned for her? Why had she not heard from Celestia yet regarding the matters of whatever was going on? She was supposed to be Sunbutt's favorite student, wouldn't it make sense that she should have been-

No. She was getting herself all worked up again. But still she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, very wrong. She really shouldn't be worried, it wasn't as if Celestia was alone, or even needed extra protection. But she took comfort in knowing that Applejack was already in Canterlot on family business, so the emergency came at a time of convenience, as far as that was concerned.

Twilight laid her head back on the seat, staring at the ceiling and just hoping that everything would turn out alright. Even though her gut feeling told her that something was incredibly wrong. And it was usually correct.

In the next car, Rarity was busily humming to herself and sewing. She wasn't as preoccupied with worrying about things as Twilight was, preferring to look on the positive side of things. In the months following what had widely becoming known as 'The Spaceboat Incident', sales had skyrocketed. Never before had Rarity considered bright blue a dominant color, but seeing how well it worked on Stitch had given her inspiration. Rarity had almost immediately afterward launched a new fashion line she called Stellar. The line was based on an intergalactic theme and had a very futuristic look to it. Open collars were once again in, and sales had gone through the roof shortly afterward.

The downside, of course, was that she was working overtime almost every night to fulfill such substantial demand, and as such had leaped at the opportunity to accompany Twilight to Canterlot. While she was there she could, after all, order more supplies, and perhaps even ask around about what high society ponies thought about 'That groundbreaking young lady from Ponyville.' Yes, that would do nicely.

The next car beyond the two front passenger cars was the dining station, in which a fairly loud commotion was being raised. A cider drinking contest, much to the amusement of the other passengers. They had never seen anything quite like what was going on.

At the table sat two ponies, one bright pink, another light blue. The blue pegasus was rapidly downing pint after pint after pint of apple cider, a result of having been challenged to not being able to hold down a drink. Which was absolute nonsense, and if anypony had the nerve to accuse her of flaking out of a competition, it wouldn't be today.

Rainbow Dash, for who else could it have been, was as stubborn as ever.

"Ha! Is that all you have, Pinkie?! I've seen bees suck up nectar faster than you!" It sounded meaner than it actually was. The two had been exchanging playful insults, as they'd been at this for several minutes now and she really was starting to feel rather unpleasant, due to the trains habit of violently bumping up and down.

"Never!" The pink pony, meanwhile, had her muzzle wrapped around the faucet of an entire barrel of cider, and showed absolutely no signs of slowing down. She'd been drinking constantly for the last ten minutes, a never ending stream of cider pouring into her mouth. The crowd grew even more rowdy as the stream gurgled and gave out, the barrel having finally run dry. The pink pony slammed her mug down on the table, a wild grin on her face.

"And that's how Equestria was made!" She announced.

"But...how...where did you even..." Rainbow Dash turned green, and raced out of the dining car towards the back.

"Whee! That was fun! Let's play again!" Pinkie chimed.

The pegasus raced through the back door and through the final car, nearly knocking over its only occupant, a quiet yellow mare, who squealed in sudden fright.

"Eep! Excuse me!" Fluttershy glared at the pegasus who'd charged through.

"You know, I would have moved, if you'd just asked..." She said quietly. "Was I in your way? I'm sorry..."

Fluttershy, unlike the other four, was not particularly here willingly. She really did not leaving her home behind, and the only reason she was here because of Rainbow Dash. Upon learning that Fluttershy wanted to stay home and was refusing to leave her house, Dash had given her a kind reminder that they didn't know exactly what the emergency was. Not only were they all friends and needed to stick together, for all she knew there was a puppy stuck in a well somewhere.

A bit of a dramatic example, but Fluttershy had agreed immediately.

The five ponies had continued going about their lives as normally as possible since Stitch had left, and with the exception of Rarity, none of them really seemed all that different from having encountered him. Although it had certainly triggered a renewed desire in Twilight to study the stars, she had thus far had absolutely no luck in locating any additional interdimensional barriers.

Nor had Rainbow Dash any luck in breaking through them.

All in all, things had finally begun to settle down. But as fate would have it, that's just when things would start to heat up again.

The train chugged to a halt, and a booming voice echoed from the front.

"Canterlot!"

Twilight was off the train first, followed by Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash was last, a bit wobbly but otherwise recovering, and quickly caught up to Pinkie.

"Where do you put it all?" Rainbow asked in amazement.

"In my cider compartment, silly," Pinkie said. "Duh."

Twilight was frowning. "Girls, settle down. Come on. We have a job to do. Then we can have fun."

"Fun?!" Pinkie perked up.

***

The rest of the short journey to the castle had been uneventful. Entering through the Canterlot Castle gates, the five were personally met by Princess Luna.

"I'm sorry to call you all here under such dreary conditions," Luna said. "There are many things which must be discussed."

"Is one of them how to make a blackberry pie?" Pinkie asked hopefully.

Luna allowed herself a smile. "Sadly, no."

"Aww..."

Twilight looked onward. "What exactly is the matter, Princess?"

Luna frowned. "I think I'd best show you. Follow me."

She led them through several winding hallways, and up the stairs of a tower. The mood had gone from upbeat to sour in a matter of moments. Luna brought them to a large door, in front of which stood five guards who all moved aside on her approach.

"See for yourselves. I warn you, it's not good. Prepare yourselves."

Twilight swallowed the rock that was forming in her throat and entered through the doors. It was some sort of waiting chamber, decked out in elaborate displays. A guard was standing near a closed window, with the curtains drawn. In front of the window stood Princess Celestia.

Twilight approached, cautiously.

"Princess?" She asked.

No response.

Closer. The guard gave her a sympathetic look as Twilight finally realized what she was looking at.

"She's... stoned..." Twilight took a few steps backward.

Pinkie snorted. Rarity glared at her.

"I'm sorry," the guard said.

"Is she..."

"Alive," Luna said, coming to stand next to Twilight. "But in stasis, of sorts."

"How?"

"We don't yet. It would take powerful magic to do this. I'm sure you noticed the moon and stars in the night sky?"

Twilight looked confused. "Well yes, of course. But I don't see what that-"

"I don't suppose you also noticed that it's the middle of the afternoon?"

"..."

"Whatever magic my sister has, it has been frozen with her. Canterlot has been plunged into eternal night... however temporarily. The irony has not been lost on me."

Twilight was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry. That must be hard. Can't you..."

Luna shook her head. "Celestia has a thousand years of training that I did not have, I tried to raise the sun, to no avail. This was either deviously planned, or an incredible accident. That's one of the reasons I called for you."

"One of?"

Rainbow Dash's voice came from the other side of the room. "Twilight? You need to see this."

Twilight turned, hoping for better news, but only found worse instead. Her remaining friends had gathered near a smaller figure, equally frozen in time.

"...Applejack..." Twilight whispered.

Author's Note:

I have everything all planned out, so I realize a lot of this won't make sense just yet. But it will... at least I hope it does. It all makes sense in my contained little universe of logic.

Silly Applejack, she thinks she's a main character. Go back to the background!

Comments

[Einhander]

3343888

I love how he screams "ALOHA!"

[Soul Rider 936]

i'm liking this, please continue!!!!!

[CookieDo]

EEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPP