Illusions

by Ember Dash

A meeting and a search party

It had been a few weeks now, a few weeks since Twilight Sparkle had first left Ponyville for parts unknown. She had managed to survive thus far using the spells in her books. They were quite useful - she could make a campfire now, and she could conjure up food.. But it came from places in the different cities and towns in Equestria. She was sure that they were perplexed at the missing food, but she was also sure they wouldn’t mind if they knew what she was doing.

She knew that she was nearing something that she had never seen before in all her years - the honest to goodness coastline of Equestria. Ponies didn’t usually come this way, as all the major cities and towns were closer to the center. There was also the threat of wild animals, and Twilight didn’t have very much faith in her abilities to fend off something as wild as a wolf.

The sounds of hooves trotting over the grass made her turn around. Was there another pony out here?

“Hello, there! Are you traveling too?” A red-brown pony called to her in a friendly manner. A Pegasus, it seemed. She had wings, and her cutie mark was that of a paw print. Maybe she’d get along great with Fluttershy.

“Yes! Yes, I am. My name is Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia.. And I’m on a journey to gain knowledge. What’s your name?”

“Oh, you can call me Ember Dash. I’m just out here ‘cus I want to be. No reasons or anything.” The pony known as Ember Dash replied. “I’ve never seen the coastline. I wanted to check it out!”

“Yes.. It’s my first time viewing it too. It sure is beautiful.” Twilight sighed. Yes, this view was beautiful, but she was viewing at the expense of her friends. Were they wondering where she was? Were they looking for her? Or.. Had they forgotten her completely? It seemed that she had zoned out, causing the red haired pony to speak to get her attention.

“You seem distracted.” Ember Dash commented. “Thinking of home?”

“Yes.. How did you know that?”

“Has anyone told you that you’re like an open book?”

“My brother, perhaps.. Once or twice.”

“Well, you are.”

“Oh, well then.”

An awkward silence happened after that, and Ember Dash fluttered her wings gently. A question was on her tongue, and Twilight could see that.

“Hey, do you want to travel together for a while? It might be interesting, and we’d be safer. Less of a threat of being picked off by wolves and the such.” Ember Dash proposed.

It seemed like a good idea to Twilight, and she consented to it.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville at this very moment, Applejack was running around trying to organize a search party for her friend. She knew that Twi had told her not to look for her, but darn it, she was her friend! They had to go find her!

Rainbow Dash was recruiting pegasi to help out with the job.. But the only one she got to join them was Derpy, the friendly male mare. She had assured Rainbow Dash that she could find a replacement for a while, and she returned to Ponyville with her.

Rarity was, of course, going to go as well. She had already decided that she would take care of her beloved Spikey-wikey (she had grown attached to him ever since he had given her that diamond he was going to eat for his birthday, and she was more than glad to be able to care for him in Twilight’s absence). She had informed Spike of their mission, and he, of course, wanted to tag along too.

Fluttershy had a hard time saying goodbye to her animal friends. She knew that they would all miss her. She had a bit of a hard time with Angel, but that was to be expected. The small white rabbit glared at her angrily, tapping his foot rapidly as he crossed his arms.

“Oh, don’t you see, Angel? I have to go with them! We have to find Twilight. She’s our friend.” Fluttershy pleaded with the rabbit. It stared at her for a few moments more, before sighing in irritation. It made a shooing motion with its hands, making Fluttershy smile. “Oh, thank you, Angel! I’ll be back before you know it!”

Pinkie Pie was in the middle of getting ready as well. Yes, she would have to pack the party cannon.. Because wherever Twilight was, she would need a bonafide Pinkie Party to cheer her right up! Pinkie’s parties were always a blast! Somehow, she packed the party cannon into her saddle bag (along with all her other party supplies, including food and drinks and the such). One cannot fathom how and why she was able to bring all this within her saddle bag.. But she was Pinkie Pie, and this was reason enough.

All five friends met at the Ponyville exit. Applejack was first, having brought along Big Mac, Cheerilee and Apple Bloom. Of course she was worried about the farm, but Granny Smith had shooed them off with a smile, saying that she would hire some nice young stallions to buck the apples from the trees while they were away. She wasn’t quite sure why Cheerilee was coming, though.. She was with Big Mac at the time Applejack found him. As for Apple Bloom.. She just wanted to go, and it was hard to say no to her big doe eyes.

Next to show up was Rainbow Dash, with Derpy and Scootaloo in tow. If it were up to Rainbow Dash, Scoootaloo would of never joined the party. It made her feel better to see that Apple Bloom was there too - and this meant that Rarity probably would take Sweetie Belle with her. Rainbow Dash didn’t really have any official duties besides the weather, and there were more than enough pegasi to take care of that. So she was free.

After Rainbow Dash came Rarity. Spike was riding on her back, and just as they had predicted - there was Sweetie Belle. The three fillies ran to meet each other and cheered something or other about the Cutie Mark Crusaders going on an adventure to parts unknown to any pony before. It was kind of surprising to see Spike with Rarity, but then again, she would be the first he’d run to if he didn’t have Twilight.

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had shown up at the same time. They, too, both had saddle bags filled with things that they thought they would need - at least, Fluttershy did. Pinkie Pie’s bags were filled with party supplies, and nothing else. Well, if the going got tough, she could eat one of the many pies she had fit in there.

“Alright, so y’all know the mission plan, right?” Applejack asked, pacing until she got to the front of the group. “We gotta find Twi at any cost. Nopony knows what’s really out there, and ah don’t want Twi to get hurt.. Or worse.”

“So can we just go already? We’re wasting daylight!” Rainbow Dash complained loudly. Applejack gave her a look that said, ‘don’t mess with me’ and walked ahead of them, officially starting the long journey ahead of them.

Twilight Sparkle and Ember Dash were just walking along the coastline, chatting and getting to know each other. The awkwardness had finally passed, and they were trying to learn things about each other before they left. Twilight had learned that Ember liked to draw and that she was pretty good with cats - that’s how she got her cutie mark. Ember had learned that Twilight liked studying, and that she had best friends back in Ponyville.

“Hey, don’t you think we should head out now?” Ember asked. “We should see if we can find more ponies.. Or a cave! A cave to explore! We can be like Daring Do!”

Her excitement reminded Twilight of Rainbow Dash, who just adored the Daring Do book series. It made her chuckle to see yet another Pegasus who enjoyed the book series as much as she.

“Of course. Let’s head.. Well, I don’t know. Let’s just go this way.” Twilight swung her head in the direction that she wanted to go. Mountains loomed in the distance, the tips obscured by thick, misty clouds

“Sounds good. Maybe we’ll find some buried treasure or something!” Ember shot into the air. Twilight watched her fly around a bit, and decided that she wasn’t as fast as Rainbow Dash. Nopony was as fast as her friend, and that was a proven fact. The only ponies fast enough to beat Rainbow Dash in a race would be the Wonderbolts, but aside from that - nopony could beat her.

And so they went on. They continued to walk until Princess Luna raised the moon, and even then, they walked on a bit further. But all ponies have the weakness of sleepiness, and these two ponies were plum tuckered out. So they settled next to an odd looking rock formation. It loomed probably about 5 feet above their heads, and it looked like there was some sort of miniature cave inside: perfect for a pair of ponies to camp out at for the night.

They decided to take shifts and watch out for any danger. It was Ember Dash’s turn to keep a lookout first, and she flew up onto the top of the rocks to watch out for any danger - predators or other. Twilight crawled into the tiny cave and passed out as soon as her head hit her hooves. Traveling was sure tiring.

(A/N: Sorry. Boring, filler chapter. Also, don't mind Ember Dash. She's my pony OC as well as my username.)

Comments

[Mossflower]

good chapter considering its a filler. my hope is that twi will learn that she is being followed and thus try to shake them of as she doesnt want them to come with her as they will just keep trying to get her to change her mind; creating a sort of drawn out cat and mouse game. i would also like to know what the princesses think about this, especially celestia.
lastly! i want more!

[Spamotron]

I wouldn't be surprised if Celestia was beating herself up with guilt over this. She dismissed Twilight's fears along with everypony else. So much for "I trust you, completely." If Chrysalis had killed Twilight instead of imprisoning her all would have been lost. Now Twilight has taken upon herself a quest of extreme danger to make up for her failings.

[Patata1312]

This story is really good, are you going to continue it??