Seekers in Equestria

by dracone

First Night and Day in Equestria: Claudia and Mandi

Claudia and Mandi managed to sneak out before the party had ended, those sorts things really weren't their sort of thing (in fact almost all Claudia's party memories were borderline trauma's waiting to happen, well in her opinion anyway). “Okay,” said Claudia as they came upon a decently sized pond, “this looks like a good place to practice flight, and I... Mandi, what's up?”

Instead of giving a verbal Mandi pointed up at cloud as the sun was beginning to set, what she was point with her hoof (which she was not commenting on by the way, which struck Claudia as odd) was Rainbow Dash watching from a resting point on cloud (without flapping her wings). “Hey,” said the cyan mare, “whatcha thinking? Ditching a Pinkie Party is a really bad idea, she takes her parties seriously and if you aren't enjoying she's going try again as many times as it takes to see you giving a genuine smile of joy.”

“No offense,” said Mandi, “but we just don't have a high opinion of parties, when you say party around my home it kind makes my dad a little crazy and I don't mean in a good way. Most of Claudia's party experiences have been... less than satisfactory. All we want to do is practice flying, we really don't have wings where we come from.”

“You seem to be handling the whole walking on four legs thing,” said Rainbow, “I heard you mutter something about having used to walking on only two legs and how walking on your hind legs seems to have become a skill that you really don't like you have to learn.”

The two just stared at the cyan mare, Claudia turned her head to Mandi and said, “bet a week of desserts I take to flying faster than you.”

“Don't be such an uncouth brute,” retorted Mandi, “I'll just ask that yellow mare we met on the way out for flying lessons, I have a feeling her lessons will be more my style.”

Rainbow burst out laughing, and was still doing so along with rolling around on her cloud in hysteria, saying, “Fluttershy? Are you serious? She's the most timid mare in all Equestria, that includes her flying approaches.”

“There's nothing wrong with being cautious,” shot Mandi, “you two reckless showboats do what you like, I'm going to see if I can pull Fluttershy away from the party and ask her for lessons on how to use my wings.” With that Mandi trotted off.

“Once I get the hang of flying let's arm wrestle,” said Claudia with a smirk.

“You're a lot nicer than Gilda was when she came for a visit,” said Rainbow, “any reason?”

“Rec, Mandi and I have been friends since we were eight,” said Claudia, “our eyes were opened to a world within our own we didn't know a few years back,” she gave a smirk, “Rec is the one who helped us with transition, if it hadn't been for that we would probably still be in denial and curled up in corner somewhere. He took everything with a calm approach. Also don't make him mad, he gets scary.”

“What?” said Rainbow, “is he a raging force that makes a manticore look like a kitten?”

“No,” said Claudia giving shiver, “he gets really calm and you swear the area around got really cold, he assaults his offenders with a cold logic that can only be described as terrifying efficiency.”

“That... actually sounds scary, when Twilight gets really mad she turns all white and her mane and tail turn into fire, granted she only did it once and it only lasted a few seconds, but still.”

“I get,” said Claudia, “normal Rec may seem calm about a lot of things, but its warm calm that can be very inviting, angry Rec is a cold calm that makes you fear for your safety. Now, I believe we have some flight lessons to start.”

*************************

After a few minutes Mandi found a very irate looking white rabbit on her way the crystal tree palace, stopping before the creature she said, “hello, you look unhappy, can I help.”

The rabbit gave a curt nod and pointed towards the tree.

“Well I'm headed there myself,” said Mandi, hop on. Word of warning, if you try anything funny or painful to me I will introduce you to someone that finds creatures like you... amusing, clear?”

The rabbit nodded and hopped up on her back, she would have given a quip about it being able to understand her, but given the life she lived and the day she'd had she decided to not put any real thought. Half way to the castle the rabbit started thumping her back hard as if he wanted to encourage a greater burst of speed.

“If you don't stop that I will show you something that is probably going to freak you out,” the rabbit continued. She reached into her pouch and pulled out what looked like a light gray stone dog's paw with dark gray toes and a purple oval shaped gem in the center with with a yellow highlight by its neck piece and yelled “guard the gates, Cerberus,” a stone covered dog with three heads crowned with fire and tail made of fire appeared next to her, “last chance to stop before I have Cerberus forcefully place you on his back,” the rabbit stopped, “good choice, Cerberus recall,” the three headed dog turned into a purple wisp and and shot into the amulets gem, “just remember I can call him up anytime you act out, so please behave, but since you are in a rush, NimbleFire,” she became encased in an orange aura and moved at a much faster paced run than the rabbit expected, before they knew it they were at the crystal tree and her aura had worn off “I hope you keep my friend a secret for the time being, I really don't know how anybody will take it.”

A few seconds later Fluttershy ran out calling, “Angel, Angel, where are you?”

The white rabbit jumped from Mandi's back to the back of the yellow pegasus, “So that's his name,” said Mandi, “sure wasn't acting like it a few minutes ago.”

“You silly bunny,” said Fluttershy, “what have you been up to?” The rabbit started gibbering in in the way rabbits sound and when it finished a few minutes later Fluttershy looked over at Mandi and said, “you can do magic? You can call creature named Cerberus? The Cerberus I know is guarding Tartarus's gates.”

Mandi gave a sigh and said, “I'm a Seeker, we can do magic and summon Titans. I have Cerberus amulet, it let's me summon a Cerberus. Wait a moment, Cerberus is real here?”

“Oh yes,” said Fluttershy, “and he's quite scary.”

“Well that's a sobering thought, are hydras real too.”

“Oh yes,” said Fluttershy, “there's at least one living in Froggy Bottom Bog.”

Mandi brought hoof to her face before taking deep sigh and saying, “I know dragons are real, I saw the little one Twilight has. Are manicores real?” Fluttershy nodded, “chimera?” Another nod, “sea serpents?”

“There's a friendly one in the Everfree Forest.”

“Jackalope?”

“I haven't met any, but I have read they're roaming around the plains near southern Equestria.”

“Well, that's... different,” said Mandi, “where we come from they're all titans that spawned stories. Listen, I would like you to be my flying instructor.”

“Rainbow's a much better flier than me,” said the yellow pegasus while trying to hide behind her pink mane.

“She also happens to be a brash showboat with massive competitive streak, I know the type because Cladia is the same way and currently taking lessons from Rainbow, no I want someone more reserved as my instructor, in my humble opinion you are a much better choice.”

Fluttershy giggled and said, “that does sound like Rainbow, believe it or not she actually used be worse. I'd be happy to teach you the basics of flying.”

“Now that we have that out of the way, what kind of power did you use to understand what your pet rabbit was saying?”

“My ability to understand animals is my special talent, because of it I can understand and speak their languages. What does your cutie mark represent?”

“I never really had one before arriving here,” said Mandi with a confused look at her flank before turning back to Fluttershy, “I've always felt it was my role in life to be a guardian. Truth be told most of my titan friends have some link to protection. Cerberus guards the gates to the afterlife in the myths about him in our world, Midnight Rook is covered in an armor made from stone, of tales of the hydra it was a guardian of a great treasure, Gold Ram is part of a tale about saving two children from a horrible mother, Invisible Knight has stories about being a warrior's spirit that was so loyal it kept its lord's greatest treasure safe after he had passed on, Tolivane has an ability that makes him really hard to hurt, Sentinel has an ability that allows him to make energy spheres and barriers that can keep him and others safe, Divine Mirror Kagami can reflect a varity of attacks and abilities, Mucalin has an ability that allows him to take attacks intended for others. And my first titan, Under Golem, has an ability that allows him to become as close to invincible as possible, of course it comes at the price of his mobility.”

“Your friends have interesting names, can I meet some? As long as it isn't Cerberus I'm find with it.”

Mandi reached into her pouch and pulled out Midnight Rook's amulet and said, “Midnight Rook,” suddenly the small bird titan was on her shoulder, “this is Midnight Rook, he's what's called a Litho-Titan, he may look cute, but he's actually pretty tough.”

“Oh, hello,” Fluttershy said to the bird-like Titan, “what can you tell me about yourself?” Midnight Rook started cawing and flapping in manner he was talking to Fluttershy when he stopped Fluttershy said, “really? She did that? She's a really nice pony,” Midnight Rook gave few more caws and flapped its wings indignantly, “oh, sorry, I didn't know she wasn't a pony until that long ago,” she turned to Mandi and said, “you have a good friend, he told me about how you saved him from a terrible life.”

“I'm surprised you could understand him without a bond, and yes that's right. The more powerful a Seeker is or the longer they have a Titan the more a Titan takes on properties like their Seeker, Rook was the second Titan I ever achieved, he's one my best friends.”

“Can you introduce me to Under Golem?”

“That would be... ill advised,” said Mandi with concern, “he's really big, and can't really talk to you. Not having mouth does that for you, the only way you could understand him is if you had a bond with him,” she brought hoof to the amulet on her neck, “besides I don't want to cause a disturbance in town, when he moves you can feel the earth beneath you shake. Besides, when Seeker summons a Titan they use some of their magical energies and the bigger or more powerful the Titan the more you end up using. Under Golem is really big and pretty powerful, no offense to my flying friend here, but Midnight Rook is actually pretty weak by Titan standards,” the Titan cawed and flapped indignantly, “I'm aware of... you really have messed up priorities. No, I am not going let you hunt... Why, because you don't need to eat, or breath for that matter... Rook is this really the time to... no that does not sound like fun, but that other thing does... why am I not asking you, because you don't have hooves.”

“Um, all he said was that he regretfully agreed with you,” said Fluttershy.

“The bond gives a special mental link that allow me to understand him,” said Mandi, “and I just...,” she have deep sigh, “I acted like Rec when he interacts with his titans, that is a little weird... yes Midnight, I am aware of that, why are you so gabby all of a sudden?... Really, well that's... interesting.”

“What is it?” inquired the yellow pegsus mare.

“Midnight Rook says that the concentration of mystical energies here are strengthening our link, and few other things... Rook, I was planning on doing that from the beginning.”

“He asked you to go flying with him,” said Fluttershy with a sweet smile.

“That and he wants to watch me flounder around trying to fly, I'm the kind to stand firm and not back down. No offense to everyone who can fly, but I'm not the flighty kind.”

Fluttershy giggled and said, “none taken, we still have plenty of light for a few hours of practice. I'll take you down to my place so it will be easier to treat your injuries if you hurt yourself.”

“I appreciate the thought,” said Mandi with a courteous nod, “lead on.”

****************************************

In the time it had taken Mandi to get to the castle Claudia had made five face plants into the ground near the pond, seven unintended splash landings, pulled a wing and gotten a wing cramp over the course of her lessons with Rainbow, who laughed at every one of her crash landings, after her latest crash landing, which involved a tree branch and the pond (in that order) and more hysterical laughing from Rainbow, the cyan mare finally said, “and I thought Twilight was terrible with her wings when she was learning to fly after them. You're griffin! How is it you've never learned to fly?”

“I wasn't a griffon last week,” responded Claudia as she crawled from the pond and shook herself clean (resulting in making herself quite fluffy), “or yesterday for that matter, I used only walk on two legs without wings. I got flying license, but that's for piloting airships, airplanes and jets.”

“You just said two words that I've never heard before,” Rainbow (while still laughing), “and why would you need a license to fly? You have wings!”

“I didn't always have wings,” shot back Claudia, “I just told you that. Maybe there's someone I can call up that can help with this, besides I won't be able to fly for a while thanks to this cramp, I really shouldn't have tried that last attempt. Claudia reached into her her pouch and pulled out a blue-steel amulet that looked like a griffin's talon grasping a pinkish gray gem before saying, “nope, don't want to call him up if it's not important,” she put the amulet back and in the pouch and pulled out blue-steel amulet modeled after a dragon themed knight's helmet with a pinkish gray gem in the center, “he should do nicely! Fight with valor, Cavalier,” suddenly a pony with dragon-like wings in a black suit of armor with a muted gray helmet modeled after a dragon's head with a pair of flaming swords at its sides and red dragon insignia on it's chest appeared, “hey Cavalier,” said Claudia, “what happened to you?”

Rainbow looked over at the new pony and said, “this guy is awesome, and he has cool sounding name too. Everything about him just so cool.”

“Yeah, Cavalier is a Titan with some special rules attached him, you have to be really loyal and dedicated to the greater good to bond with a titan like this. We found a few on trip a few months back, all three of us have one, but I'm the only one that brought one with us on our assignment. I am going to throttle the jerk who decided to ruin the one week I could finally just goof around with my friends... well I wouldn't go that far... are you serious... wow, you really are one of those selfless noble types.”

“Um, am I missing something?” said Rainbow, “Cavalier just thought he would share a few things with me, which reminds me, why haven't you been this chatty before,” the titan just shrugged, “anyway I need some pointers on flying, think your up to it? I can't right now, I sprained my wing... yes I did do that... are you serious... okay, fine I'll try to avoid doing that next time around.”

“Um, nopony was talking,” said Rainbow.

“Since I'm bonded with Cavalier I he can say things to me through a mental link we both share. Cavalier, how are you going to use your flaming swords without digits?... Ah, magic field manipulation, that works for me.”

“Well he looks real cool,” said Rainbow, “how'd get here any anyway?”

Claudia gestured to the amulet in her talons, “he lives in this, all Titans reside in amulets. It's finding one that can be tricky, especially since neck based jewelry is so common place now, it makes it harder to identify Seekers by their choice of apparel. Some of the most powerful Titans reside in rings.”

“Wow, suddenly jewlrey doesn't sound as uncool as I thought, don't tell Rarity that okay.”

“Which one was that exactly?” said Claudia, “I didn't exactly pay attention in my mad dash to escape the party.”

“I still can't believe you deliberately ditched a Pinkie party,” said Rainbow, “the only reason I left early was to look for you so I could help explain why you made for the exit instead of the snack table or games.”

Claudia gave deep sigh before saying, “I've attended a bunch of 'parties' in my life, and of dozens upon dozens of parties I've attended only three were actually enjoyable while the rest made me ponder finding some means of purging my mind of the experiences. Granted the majority of 'parties' I attended more wealthy socialite meet and greet affairs with very little to do other than hang around the buffet table and try to stay out of everybody's way. I earned reputation early on that caused every elite school my dad's family would normally have the family attend actively bar me from admission into the institutes, so I was sent to public school, which I much preferred, of course up until I was eight I was home schooled.”

“You, lived with the social elite where your from,” said Rainbow with surprise, “and deliberately sabotaged your means of officially joining their ranks?”

“I'm a bit too much like my mother, we're both a bit aggressive when it comes to our interactions. And... thank you Cavalier, I'm well aware of that.”

Rainbow gave a chuckle before saying, “it's almost like your siblings!”

“Cavalier wouldn't have bonded with me if I wasn't pure of heart, he just doesn't agree with some of my approaches as you... you sound just like my friends now, I'm aware that I can be a bit of a brute. Sorry about that Rainbow, Cavalier really felt it was necessary to chastise my approach to things this time around.”

Rainbow looked over at Cavalier's amulet and noticed a longsword with wings icon glowing on gem, “question,” said Rainbow, “what's with amulet having a cutie mark?”

“That's Cavalier's icon,” said Claudia, “the gems glow with the Titan's icon when they're active outside their amulets,” she brought her talon to the amulet around her neck before saying, “the bond with Titans and Seekers is one of the oldest magic, the tale goes that long before recorded history a great evil fell to Earth and the one known as Lord Casterwill summoned the Titans to Earth to fight them, in order to remain in this world the Titans created the amulets to hold their power and maintain their link with their new world. Over time the battle with the great evil was forgotten and the Titans themselves became the inspiration for all the great stories of our world. Pegasus the winged stallion, the legend of the unicorn, fables of the griffin, the lores of the world were all created through the Titans and the Seekers that were bonded with them. While here what are considered myths lores in our world are living and breathing creatures, in our world their inspirations were Titans that were held by Seekers known as heroes and villains of history.”

“That's cool,” said Rainbow, “check your wing, I think it might be good now.”

Claudia gave her wings an experimental flap before saying I think you might be right,” she flapped a little harder and before she knew it she was off the ground, “oh yeah, time to break these babies in and then a little friendly competition.”

“I'm game,” said Rainbow with a smirk.

*********************************

“You know back home if I tried this I would fall straight through the cloud,” said Mandi as she messaged her wings on top of a cloud, “it feels weird using a cloud as a landing platform.”

“I wouldn't know what you mean entirely,” said Fluttershy, “Rainbow and I grew up in Cloudsdale, it's a pegasus city made from clouds.”

Mandi's eyes bugged, “there is a city composed entirely from clouds?”

“Several actually,” said Fluttershy, “Cloudsdale is just the largest.”

“Wow, so, what's the capitol of nation called?”

“Canterlot,” said Fluttershy, “we're a short train ride from there actually.”

“Sounds a bit like Camelot,” said Mandi furrowing her brow, “a legendary castle town established by King Arthur in all the stories about him. It was the seat of his power. With the wizard Merlin as his boyhood instructor and advisor in his later years he established a great kingdom. Of course that's the official tales, you see he was also a Seeker as well as a great leader. He had a number of Titans that have been lost to history, same with Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table. Sir Lancelot was Seeker from several centuries later that was inserted into the Arthur mythos. Ironically during that Seeker's lifetime, it's said he created traps and challenges based around the Arthurian tales told about him. She checked her wings with a quick flap and said, “okay I'm good... Midnight Rook, I just want you to perch on the cloud by my side... the rules are different here I saw a few birds perched on clouds during practice, one of which was very heavy looking owl, I think you'll be okay.” The stone clad bird ruffled it's wings a bit before flying up to perch next to Mandi, and giving her a perplexed look when it landed on the cloud. Fluttershy giggled and commented on how cute it looked.

“He agrees, this weird,” said Mandi, “he could never do this in our world. I really find this a little odd, I keep expecting to fall through the clouds to the floor. Where we come from weather doesn't work the same way, actually it sort of does. The world my friends and I are from has the properties of the Everfree Forest, minus the immense levels of magic.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy, “who looks after all the animals?”

“They look after themselves mostly,” said Mandi, “but truth be told some have been killed off by people of our world. Mostly because they unaware of the existence of the species, but any many cases they were wiped out deliberately for one reason or another.”

“That's horrible,” said Fluttershy with fearful surprise, “I can't believe anypony would knowingly wipe out the entire population any animals.”

“To put it bluntly, our world isn't very friendly. This world is very happy and free compared to ours, it really makes me wish I was born here. Of course if I had been born here I would have never become a Seeker, and I love being a Seeker. Uncovering lost secrets, seeing the world, making amazing memories with my friends, and saving long forgotten treasures from those that could potentially abuse them. While I'll admit I'm not much of the adventuring type, I don't mind it much with my friends at my side.”

“My friends and I've been on a few adventures ourselves,” said Fluttershy, “I'm much happier staying home and looking after my animal friends. Do you want to keep going with lessons or...”

“How is you keep beating me,” came the loud voice of Rainbow, “I mean seriously, I used both forelegs to your one and you still beat me.”

“Sounds like your friend is finding out how much of a beast Claudia is,” said Mandi with giggle, “and she probably isn't even using her powers.”

“Powers?” inquired Flutteshy as she landed on the cloud next Mandi.

“That's what we call Seeker spells,” said Mandi with an amused smile, “her favorites are DragonFist and StoneGlove. You see our magic works a little different than you might think, and trust me when I say catching others by surprise is always fun. Sometimes it happens to us, it is not fun. The set of events that lead to use coming here was a little odd, especially considering who opened the door.”

“Who opened the door for you to come to us?”

“Her name is Janusea the Gatekeeper, she's a Titan that's been with Rec a really long time. The Titan he's been with longest is called Vitaguard, and trust me I say that you see them together you will think there is probably no better team,” she brought her hoof to amulet around her neck again, “our first Titans are always the ones we have the greatest sentimental link to, if we were to lose them it would be like losing a trusted friend. Rec has been with Vitaguard almost his entire life and Orchid has been with her Jirwolf since she was six, compared to them we haven't been with ours all that long. I've only been with Under Golem for about four years, the same holds true with Claudia and her Fireblade.”

“You said Orchid has connection with some kind of wolf, that's so nice.”

“Actually most of her Titans are a bit like animals,” said Claudia with smirk, “the bear like Breaker that Rec gave her after she came home with Jirwolf, the squirrel like Springer, the crocodile like Ammit Heart Eater, and the cat like Hellynx are just some of the Titans she has access to.”

“Most of those sound nice, but...” Fluttershy looked around with a clear distress before saying, “why does one have to eat hearts?”

Mandi laughed a bit before saying, “that's just what the Titan is called, it was the basis of mythical creature in Egypt named Amutt which was said to consume the hearts of those whose hearts weighed heavier than the the feather of truth when somebody was judged by the scales of the afterlife. If your heart equaled the feather's weight it meant you were good person in life and permitted to enter paradise, if Amutt ate your heart that meant you were to be sent to place of eternal punishment.”

“If you failed he ate your heart and you got sent to Tartarus?”

“No, Egypt didn't believe in Tartarus, they just referred to it as the Underworld. Greece had the Underworld, Tartarus and the Elysian Fields.”

“What's the Elysian Fields?”

“A place for those who did good things and earned the right to peace and relaxation, in other words those who did good for others like great heroes.”

“That sounds like a nice place.”

“Oh come on,” came Rainbow's voice, “how can you beat me and AJ with one foreleg? It shouldn't be possible.”

“She probably used one of her favorite spells for that one,” said Mandi with amusement, “let's go check on them.”

“After I get Angel inside and fed,” said Fluttershy as she descended.

“I can wait,” said Mandi with a smile.

A few minutes later she and Fluttershy were trotting in the direction of a rather irate Rainbow Dash. After several minutes they came upon the trio, with a lone AJ preparing to arm wrestle the griffin. Mandi trotted up to Claudia and whispered, “no powers this time, I can understand in a two on one match, but one on one it's a bad idea.”

Claudia huffed and said in an irritated voice, “fine, but if she starts using more than one limb the deal's off.”

“Whut was tha' about?” inquired Applejack.

“Just reminding her to not cheat, she probably did when Rainbow tried using more than one limb or called you in for help taking her down.”

“Ah didn't see any cheatin',” said Applejack.

“You mean you don't know,” said Mandi with a smirk.

Claudia shot a “don't you dare tell them” look at the pegasus mare, a look that she ignored.

“Claudia can use spells, so can I,” said Mandi with smirk, “in fact her two favorites spells are about physical enhancement.”

The three mare mares stared at the two, “what kinda spells do ya prefer?” inquired Applejack.

“Defensive,” said Claudia with smile before saying, “BreakSpell,” holding her hoof towards Claudia causing the image some kind essence fall from the griffin.

“Thanks for that,” said Claudia, “there goes my fun.”

“You can still have it,” said Claudia with a smirk, “you just won't have any of your little boosts to do so. They have time limit anyway, I just zeroed the timer early.”

Claudia gave a huff before placing her elbow on the tree stump and waited for Applejack's hoof to meet her talon.

A few seconds later Applejack brought her hoof to meet the griffin's talon. “Yuh ready?” said the orange mare.

“Let's do this,” said Claudia, the two started their wrestling match.

************************************

It had been almost forty minutes and neither combatant had given ground, it was at this point Mandi said, “I've seen a match like this before, it lasted for seven hours, no joke. Let's go get some food, maybe the smell of our midnight snack will get them to give up on the competition, but I doubt that will happen.”

“You're right about that,” said Rainbow, “me and AJ have some pretty big competitiveness, but a snack sounds good. Hay, how about hayburgers, if they're open this late, it's on me. You sure they'll be at it for hours?”

“Eeyup,” said Mandi, “those two will be in the same stance and face when we get back.

***********************************

A few minutes outside the Hayburger building Ponyville. “I never thought a burger could taste that good,” said Claudia as they walked out of the restaurant with three bags filled to the brim with burgers.

“You inhaled six of the first dozen I ordered,” said Rainbow with a smirk, “ya musta been pretty hungry.”

“I had a missed lunch because of our coming here,” said Mandi, “and am really regretting skipping out on the party as well.”

“Dude, it's Pinkie Party,” said Rainbow, “it's like an unwritten law you don't skip out on a Pinkie Party.”

“Not seeing your smiling face will make Pinkie really sad,” said Fluttershy, “maybe you should apologize for skipping out on the party and explain why you did it.”

“I was planning on it,” said Mandi.

“Good,” came the chipper voice of Pinkie Pie, “the party's over now, I'll be holding another one for the two of you special in couple of days.”

Taking a deep sigh Mandi said, “I'm sorry for ditching your party, I'm just not very comfortable in party environments. The last twelve parties I attended I was the one covered in goo and silly string in addition to being the one to be 'mistaken for the donkey' in a game of pin the tail on the donkey, forced into breathing an entire balloon's worth of helium before saying a complicated rhyme that It was also forced into reciting, And covered in real mud for three hours. So, you could say I haven't had the best party experiences before coming here,” when she finished the look of a very annoyed Pinkie accompanied by the sound of Rainbow Dash laughing really hard was all that hung in the air for almost two whole minutes.

When there was silence again Fluttershy said, “Oh my, you poor thing, no wonder you made for the exit when the party started.”

“Ah yeah, that gave me some really great ideas for some pranks,” said Rainbow.

“The ponies at the last few parties were really mean! Don't they know a party is supposed to make everypony happy? When I find them I am firing from my Party Cannon! And that's that,” said Pinkie.

“Please tell me that the part about a cannon was a metaphor,” said Mandi.

“No,” said Fluttershy, “she really does have 'party cannon', but she usually uses it for decorating places in a hurry.”

“You do realize that makes next to no sense,” said Mandi.

“To most ponies Pinkie makes almost no sense,” Rainbow, “but we just act like her eccentricities are no big deal and move on with our days.”

“Defying the laws of physics is not a quirk, it's an ability that shouldn't be possible, ever.”

“Are you really trying to explain away my Pinkie Senses?” said Pinkie.

“No, you being able to sense things that might occur the future isn't that odd,” said Mandi, “you firing a cannon and decorating in manner that isn't a complete mess does not make sense. You being able to out run a flier conceivably breaking the sound barrier makes no sense, you being able to bake a cake that is fully decorated right out of the oven makes no sense, me having a highly informed conversation about quantum physics with a professor makes no sense, me being able to call out a giant creature from an amulet makes plenty of sense. The point is there some things that seem to make no sense yet really do, and some things that should make sense but don't.”

“Ooh,” said Pinkie, “an oven that also decorates the cake, that sounds cool. Where can I find one?”

“To my knowledge,” said Mandi, “you can't, they only exist as a gag in comics that are intentionally funny.”

“Ah,” said Pinkie, “no party ovens exist, I'll find a ways to fix that.”

“It might take a few years, an expert in magic, and a bit more resources than you might be willing to dedicate to the project,” said Mandi.

“That's okay,” said Pinkie, “I'm working on how to make full on party business, and when I finally have it I'm totally having a sizable portion of my R an' D department find a way to make an oven like that possible.”

“The worst part is that she's probably serious,” said Rainbow as they all headed to where Claudia and Applejack were.

“So where we headed, Dashie?” said Pinkie.

“To check on Claudia and Applejack's arm wrestling contest,” said Mandi, “it's been over an hour since they started and I want to see who's gotten the advantage. Pinkie gave a confused look to Mandi. Not looking, but sensing the look Mandi said, “the last time Claudia got into contest like the one she was having with Applejack when we went to get a midnight snack it last for several hours before she and her opponent were forced to give out by the crowd and just call it a draw, and by that I mean Rec and I had use a few spells on the the crowd, her opponent and her because the restaurant was supposed to have closed two and a half hours prior. What can I say? Well other than she really wanted that week's worth of free lunches the owner was promising if he got beaten.”

Rainbow burst out laughing again before saying, “that totally sounds like something I would do too.”

“Yup,” said Pinkie, “Rainbow's really competitive.”

“so is Claudia,” said Mandi.

“So, what' your full name?” inquired Pinkie, “Mandi and Mandolin are nice and all, but we should really know your full name.”

Mandi gave a deep sigh before saying, “she isn't going to drop it is she?” the other two ponies just shook her head before she gave another sigh and said with a defeated voice, “my full name is Mandolin Serenity Guard, please don't laugh.”

“Are you foaling us?” said Rainbow, “that name is pretty cool sounding.”

“I think it's rather pretty,” said Fluttershy.

“I like it,” said Pinkie, “what about your friends?”

“Claudia's full name is Claudia Raptor Nelverius, believe it or not the Nalverius is a very wealthy and influential family where we come from, but as far as any of us know Claudia's the only Seeker among them. As for Rec his full name is Recorded Formula Magus Mage Staff.”

“Alright,” said Rainbow, “Claudia has an awesome sounding name, I don't think Rec could have more egghead sounding name.”

“Doesn't help that he is one,” said Mandi, “so is Orchid, and their mom. Their dad and older siblings, not so much.”

“What's Orchid's full name?” inquired Fluttershy, “you don't have to tell us if you don't want to.”

“It's fine,” said Mandi, “her full name is Orchid Spell Talisman Mage Staff.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Rainbow, “they have the same last part of their names, that's a little weird.”

“Mage Staff is their family name,” said Mandi, “that's how it's done where we come from, the family name is the Last Name of someone.”

The three other ponies all looked at each other before Pinkie said, “the place you come from is weird, I'd like to see it some time.”

“We need to find a way of getting back home first,” said Mandi.

After a few minutes of trotting they came back to the image of the Claudia and Applejack not giving ground. “We should have gotten a timer for this,” said Rainbow, “I think this is the longest AJ's hoofwrestled somepony before.”

“It's only been an hour and a half,” said Mandi offhoofedly, “Claudia's gone a full seven and a half hours like that.”

“How do ya know how long et's been?” came Applejack's voice.

“Oh, Mandi's got a really good sense of time,” said Claudia while refusing to take her eyes of her opponent, “she's a better time keeper than a stopwatch really.”

“A proper guardian needs to know how much time has passed at any given point so they can accurately debrief the one coming to relieve them or debrief their superiors,” said Mandi, everyone turned to look at her (Claudia and Applejack still keeping their contest going), “why is everybody looking at me like that?”

“I think you should totally apply for the Royal Guard,” said Rainbow, “you're just the kind of pony they need.”

“Already have a job, thank you very much,” said Claudia, “one that I was supposed to be taking a break from when this all happened.”

“Supposed ta?” inquired Applejack.

“It was our week off from Association related activities,” Mandi and Claudia said in Unison.

“But we got called in for an assignment just before we could get to goofing off,” said Claudia, “that mission lead to the events that brought us here.” With that everypony returned to the competition in earnest.

Author's Note:

Well, now that we got that out of the way we'll get back to Rec and Orchid for a bit in the next chapter. If you have any suggestions as to what Inari and Discord could possibly have done with all the things she listed off send me a PM about it so you don't spoil a potential surprise for the other readers. Also feel free to use any resources provided I provided in your own projects, just drop me a line about it so I can help out(and courtesy is something that should be practiced a bit more in my opinion). Twilight's lessons in new kind of magic (to her anyway) will continue, with a few nice little surprises.