A Letter From a Friend II
The rope slapped the ground in rhythm with Dorothy's counting. "Ninety, ninety one, ninety two-"
"Princess Dorothy-"
Dorothy whirled around, startled out of her jump rope rhythm. "Oh, Jellia Jamb. It's you."
"Princess Ozma would like to see you." The young housemaid smiled at the little girl.
"All right, Jellia." Dorothy put down her jump rope. "Thanks." She ran out of the garden and through the emerald palace, her dog, Toto, trailing at her heels.
"Ozma!" Dorothy burst into the Princess of Oz's boudoir. The fairy ruler was on a loveseat, staring wistfully out of the window. "Ozma, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, Dorothy." Ozma sighed. "I'm just missing someone. Someone I knew before I was Tip, even. Someone I have not seen in- Well, nearly two thousand years."
"Two-" Dorothy's eyes widened. "How?" She walked over to sit next to the fairy princess. Toto curled up on top of her feet.
"Time flows differently in Oz and in Equestria, where my friends live." Ozma answered. "The Wizard thinks he only ruled Oz for forty, fifty years- And he did, in time outside of any fairyland. But in Oz- That was one thousand years. When you left Kansas that first time, you were in Oz for at least a week, but your Aunt and Uncle missed you for three days." Ozma pulled the younger girl into a hug. "Can I tell you about my friends?"
"Awright." Dorothy grinned. "Can I meet them?"
Ozma laughed. "I hope so! That would be very fun for everyone." She gazed off into the distance. "Celestia and Luna would be very good friends with you, I think. And the sawhorse."
"The sawhorse?"
"Yes." Ozma said. "I didn't say? They're alicorns."
"Ally-whats?" Dorothy looked at Ozma with a confused expression.
"A-li-corns. Ponies, with a horn like a unicorn and wings like a pegasus. They live in Equestria, a land entirely populated with ponies." Ozma explained, illustrating what she meant with dainty hand movements.
"So- What happened?" Dorothy asked. "And where do they live?"
"Across the Nonestic Ocean, only they call it the Antlertic." Ozma answered the second question. "Do you remember Inga? The prince of Pingaree?" Dorothy nodded. "We met on that island, before it was very well known. Luna, the younger one, discovered the pearls. We were playing hide-and-seek, and she thought she found Celestia, who has a shining white coat. But instead, she found a beautiful bed of many-colored pearls. Celestia had the idea to enchant them and give them to the king as a gift." Ozma sighed again. "I forgot them until I got the letter. The spell Mombi cast is still holding back bits of my memory." She frowned as much as such a pretty girl could. "I wonder what- or who else I can't remember."
Dorothy patted her hand. "I'm sure you'll remember sometime. After all, you're recovering thousands of years of memories, and it's only been about a hundred since you were freed." The little girl smiled at her best friend.
"I suppose. Glinda tried to help me and I thought she got everything. At any rate, Celestia sent me a letter and I responded. So much has happened since I knew her! I am quite excited to see where this goes." Ozma grinned again, her spirits lifted.
"Can we look in the magic picture?" Dorothy asked.
"Of course!" Ozma answered. She used her wand to pull back the curtains covering one of Oz's most valuable magic objects: A picture that could show anywhere in the world with a simple question. "Show me Princess Celestia!"
The picture swirled and showed an elegant white alicorn mare, with a flowing mane and tail. Dorothy gasped. "Goodness! She's really pretty!"
"Older than I remembered." Ozma said. "I knew her as a filly." The mare bent to talk to a smaller alicorn, a purple mare with a straight, squared mane.
"Is that Luna?" Dorothy asked. Ozma furrowed her brow.
"No. I have never seen her." Ozma answered. "Oh! There's Luna! And- Another one I don't know." A purple alicorn mare entered with a pink alicorn mare. All four seemed to be engaged in a conversation.
"I wonder what they're doing." Dorothy wondered aloud.
The four mares finished what seemed like a letter and magicked it away. A second later, it appeared in the room the two girls were standing in.
"Ooh!" Dorothy exclaimed as Ozma read it. A grin grew on the princess' face.
"Dorothy!" She exclaimed. "Celestia and Luna want us all to visit! An invitation for the entire court!" Ozma beamed. "Oh, yes! YES!"
Dorothy had never seen Ozma get that excited.
"Shouldn't you tell everyone else before answering yes?" Dorothy asked.
"Of course." Ozma calmed down. "We'll meet right away."
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Please do continue this. BTW, will Deety, Prof. Burroughs, Hilda Mae, Capt. Carter, and Gay Deceiver be making an appearance?
3799049 I mostly work with the original L Frank Baum characters, with a few Ruth Plumly Thompson. Like Kabumpo.
3799324
I'm guessing you might not be a fan of Robert Heinlein, then...
3799488 I actually haven't read him. I'm really into Eric Shanower's stories, though! Not the manga ones, the ones he illustrated himself. Blue Witch, Forbidden Forest, etc.
3799512
The characters I mentioned are from his novel The Number of the Beast in which the first four characters travel to, among other places Oz, in the A.I. continua craft Gay Deceiver. The novel itself if a great read, tackling ideas such as fiction vs. reality.
3799545 That sounds interesting. I'm more of an old-fashioned Oz fan...
3799560
I haven't been able to find any of the novels past the first 5.
What will Princess Twilight make of The Tin Woodsman or Tik-Tok?
3799571 Oh, gosh. You should be asking what Twilight and the Woggle-Bug and the Scarecrow will get up to.
Look up the Oz books on Project Gutenberg. They're public Domain, and all free online.
List of Oz books
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/42
3799589
Cool! Much thanks!
3799597
Project Gutenberg is super awesome for other things, too. E. Nesbit is what I use it for mainly.
3804168 OKay! Thanks!
Have I mentioned how much I loveloveLOVE detailed feedback? It's, like, my best friend.
Good! This chapter had far fewer errors. I love the way you introduced Cadence and Twilight, and the "teleporting letter part" was clever.
As for things that need fixing: I'm not sure if you intened it, but one of Dorothy's lines makes it sound as if she has a very strong accent. This immediately pulled me out of the story, and what really confused me is that she never spoke like that again afterwards. If this was accidental, I advise you change it. Some of Ozma's lines seem forced, and in some places Dorothy sounds, well, rather stupid. I know she isn't the brightest of people (no offense to Dorothy) but try to give her more lines that aren't one word long.
Other than that, I'm really liking this. I'll keep an eye on it.
(Apologies for the harsh words. I just finished Fallout: Equestria yesterday morning, so I'm still coming down off that "literary perfection" high that that story induces in me.
)
3804223 Ah.
Okay. I'm struggling with a balance between the Dorothy people know and Baum's original slightly stupid, slightly jerky little girl.
Thank you so much! I love your reviews. They're amazing.
3804238 Why thank you. I'm just happy that someone actually liked my story for once and gave it an honest review. I figured it's only fair to return the favor.
3804262 Your story really is great. To tell the truth, when you asked people in the Writer's Group to check out your story, I expected something really bad. Your story was the opposite. It was wonderful.
3804267 Wow, thanks so much!!!
I like it.