Caverns & Cutie Marks: High School, High Stakes

by TheColtTrio

Chapter 29: An Adventure without Time and Space

Wits End opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back in the grass of a forest. “Well,” he said aloud, “I can’t say I didn’t have that one coming.”

He started to sit up, only to find himself looking at a familiar purple girl. “Oh, Twilight! You’re… uh… not supposed to be here.” Wits stood, looking the girl over. “And, uh…”

Twilight stared straight forward blankly, shifting slightly under the weight of something on her back.

“Twi?” Wits waved a hand in front of her face. “Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone-” The moment he stepped to one side, Twilight began walking. As she passed, he realized that the thing on her back was another Twilight, draped over her shoulders with the same blank look on her face.

The mint-colored teen was silent as he watched Twilight carry Twilight into a looming cave behind him. “Well,” he said eventually, “I’m sure that will be the strangest thing I see in here.” No sooner had the words left his mouth did Sunset Shimmer brush past him, a second Sunset on her back, and make her way into the same cave.

A few seconds later, another Twilight, carrying yet another Twilight, walked past him and into the cavern. Followed by a pair of Rainbows Dash, Applejacks, and so on. Numerous copies of the six girls—sans Fluttershy—walking in a daze into the darkness, and each with yet another copy slung over their back.

Wits End’s mouth had formed into a thin line, his eyebrows narrowed. “Darn you, Schafer,” he muttered, falling in line behind a Rarity as it made its way into the cave.

The inside of the cave, despite appearing pitch black from the outside, was lit quite warmly with no obvious light source. In this light, Wits noticed a thin line wrapped around the Rarity’s wrist and extending further into the cave. “Hello, what’s this?” he muttered, picking at the line. It bent under his finger without snapping or losing its tautness, and returned to its original tension afterwards. “It’s like… Oh.”

The cave opened out into a large cavern, the walls and floor covered in massive spider webs. Each of the copies carried their duplicate to a part of the web and stuck them against it, slowly wrapping it in the webbing. Further along the wall, Wits could see even more copies fully wrapped in the web aside from their heads, all with the same dull expression. Once a copy had finished wrapping her duplicate, she picked her way through the webbing and disappeared into the darkness on the other side.

Wits’ grimace intensified. “Points for creativity, but still really, REALLY weird.”

“W-Wits?”

The mint-colored boy jerked to attention and turned towards the voice. “I’d know that stutter anywhere. Fluttershy?”

The young girl was standing where the webs converged, a nervous smile on her face. Thin lines of the web stretched up and out around her; a few wrapped around her fingers, others lightly coiled around her arms and legs. “I, um, wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting to see me here either.” Wits walked over, avoiding the denser pockets of web and the occasional mindless clone. “Are you alright?” He narrowed his eyebrows. “Are you the real Fluttershy?”

“Yes!” Fluttershy hesitated for a moment. “I mean, I am alright. And I’m the real me. I mean, I think I’m the real me.” She grew flustered, looking around for something to prove her identity. “Am I the real me?”

“Yep, you’re the real Fluttershy.” Wits sighed and shook his head. “Look, as much as I would love to unpack what we’re seeing here, we’ve got a world to save, so I’m gonna need you to tell me how to break whatever mind control shenanigans are going on here so we can get back to that thing. Okay?”

“Oh, um, okay?” Fluttershy shifted slightly. “Just, uh, one question?”

“Shoot.”

“What… mind control shenanigans are you talking about?”

Wits’ shoulders slumped. “Of course,” he muttered, “we’re doing this trope.” He straightened again and turned to face Fluttershy again. “Okay, we’re gonna work you through some deep psychological issues real quick. You ready?”

“What psychological issues?”

The mint-colored teen gestured to the web-covered cavern around them, and the tangled bodies of the girls caught in them. “Take a wild freakin’ guess.”

Fluttershy’s expression brightened. “Oh! I’m helping them!”

“You’re… helping them?”

“Yes! My friends.” She waited for Wits to respond for a few beats. “M-my friends. That’s who I’m helping.”

“Yeah, I know. I know, I got the concept.” Wits looked around. “You got a chair or something? I get the feeling this is gonna take a while.”

“Oh! Okay.” Fluttershy tugged at one of the lines around her. A Twilight walking by paused, turned, and walked over to them. When it reached Wits, it dropped to its hands and knees. “Please,” Fluttershy said with a smile, “have a seat.”

“You know what?” Wits looked down at the blank expression on the Twilight’s face. “I think I’m good to stand after all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, pretty sure. Besides, this isn’t that kind of story.” Wits stepped past the Twilight, trying to ignore it once he was past it. “So, let’s pretend I’m really dense and don’t know what’s going on here. Walk me through your process.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I’m not sure I-”

“Oh come on,” Wits whined. “You’re in a dark scary cave surrounded by mindless clones of your friends wrapped up in webs. I don’t need to be a genius to tell something’s going on, and I’m pretty sure you don’t either.” He shifted his weight, resting one hand against his hips while the other gestured. “You can tell something ain’t right, can’t you? Somewhere in that head, there’s a little voice saying this isn’t how shiii- stuff, is supposed to go down.” He raised an eyebrow. “Right?”

Fluttershy’s frown deepened as she began avoiding Wits’ eyes. “I, um, well…”

“Fluttershy.”

“I don’t, um… I don’t…”

Wits sighed. Fluttershy was drawing further and further in on herself, her voice getting quieter and quieter. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s try something different.” He walked over to one of the nearby webs, and stopped next to a wrapped up Rainbow Dash. The girl was staring blankly forward, not reacting as he put a finger in front of her face. “In five seconds, I’m going to let her out.”

“No, don’t!” Fluttershy took a step forward and held a hand out. Wits smirked as she saw several other clones turn their heads towards him.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” he muttered, turning back to the pink-haired girl. “Why shouldn’t I?”

Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably, twirling a finger around the end of her hair. “Well, they’re… They’re safe in here.”

“Safe?”

“Yes!” Fluttershy beamed. Out of the corner of his eye, Wits noticed the other clones turning back to their duties. “No-one here will hurt them. They’ll get food, water, anything they need! Look, see how docile they are now?”

“So you’re, what, protecting them?”

“Yes, yes! Exactly!” Fluttershy nodded, a bright smile on her face.

Wits jerked a thumb at another Rainbow Dash further down the web. “And why are there so many of them?”

Fluttershy thought for a moment. “Well, there’s so many of them to protect, I guess.”

“...Go on.”

“Well, there’s the Twilight from our world, and the Princess Twilight from her pony world. There’s probably a Twilight from the world you come from too.” Fluttershy paused to think again, not noticing the look of dawning realization that passed over Wits’ face. “So, I guess, I’ve got to protect them all by bringing them here.”

“So why isn’t anyone else here?” Wits asked. “There’s no Purple Hearts, which I can’t blame you for. No Flash Sentrys- Flash Sentries? Flashes Sentry? Whatever. No me’s…” He trailed off for a moment before recovering himself. “My point is; where’s everyone else?”

“I, um…” Fluttershy frowned. “I guess… they haven’t really needed me to protect them yet. If they did, I’d bring them here.” She looked up to see Wits stroking his chin. “Wits?”

After a few minutes, the mint-colored teen snapped his fingers. “A subconscious attempt to maintain the existing worldview by keeping those closest to them even closer,” he muttered. “Essentially, overprotective parent syndrome.”

“What’s that?”

“Just a little unprofessional attempt at psychoanalysis. Nothing to worry about.” Wits stretched his arms. “Next is prescribing a treatment plan, but we’re a little short on time. Would you say everyone you bring in here is guaranteed to be safe?”

Fluttershy smiled. “Oh yes, absolutely. Nothing bad can happen to anyone once they’re here.”

“Great. I’m gonna have to shatter that a little bit.” After rolling his shoulder, Wits turned back to the Rainbow Dash in the web, curling one hand into a fist in front of him. “Sorry about this, Dashie, but also I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”

“No!” Fluttershy reached out, but was too late. Wits End’s fist struck the Rainbow Dash in the face, distorting it as if in slow motion before the nose broke with a sharp snap. He was winding up for round two when several clones grabbed onto him from behind. “You can’t do that!”

“Really?” Wits pointed at the red smear on his knuckles. “I think, if you look closely, you’ll see that not only can I do that, but I already did.” He smiled, jerking his head at the Rainbow Dash’s bloodied face as more clones grabbed his arms. “See, Fluttershy? You can’t protect people from everything. Especially not from inside he-”

“No, you’re wrong!” Fluttershy sobbed from behind clenched teeth. “I can protect them!” She swept her hand as if pushing Wits away, prompting the clones to push him against the web. “I can protect them from you! I can- I can protect you, too!”

Wits struggled as the clone began wrapping the web around him. “Hey, wait a min-”

“Whatever mind control you were talking about must be affecting you!” Fluttershy continued. “But don’t worry, Wits! I can keep you safe so you don’t hurt anyone else.” She smiled, despite the tears in her eyes. “I can protect you while we figure out how to make you all better. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

“As great as that sounds,” Wits muttered, only half-sarcastically, “this is not the outcome I was looking for!” He shoved one of the clones away, but his waist and left arm were already immobilized by the webbing. “I was hoping that showing harm can still come to those under her protection would do it, but we can see how that turned out.”

“Please, Wits, stop struggling.” Fluttershy stepped closer, holding a hand out to the rapidly entangled teen. The clones around him parted to let her in. “I’ll protect you. No-one will be able to hurt you now.”

Wits paused. “No-one?”

Fluttershy nodded.

“You promise?”

“You have my word, absolutely.”

“You’ll do anything to keep me safe?”

“Of cou-”

“Anything?” Wits was leaning forward as much as he could now, looking into her eyes.

Fluttershy nodded again, her smile widening. “Anything.”

After a moment, Wits smirked. “I’m gonna hold you to that one.” The teen’s fist slammed into his own face, eliciting a yelp from both Fluttershy and himself. “Shhhhhhhugar honey iced tea, that hurt!”

Fluttershy flinched as Wits punched himself again. “W-What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like?” Wits called back, socking himself in the jaw. “Can’t stop, won’t stop!” Another punch, and he paused. A moment later, he spat out a bloody tooth and grinned. “See? Boy, that one hurt.”

“Why are you doing this to yourself?”

“You want me to stop?” Wits ignored her question to give himself another blow to the nose. “You wanna protect me? You’re gonna have to break free of whatever’s making you do this!”

“Nothing’s making me do-”

“Whoop, there goes another tooth!” The mint-colored teen’s grin had a noticeable gap now. “Fluttershy, you’re the kindest person I know.” Another punch. “So if you want me to stop,” another punch, “then you’re gonna have to use that kindness,” another punch, this one with the sound of something snapping, “and get us the hell out of here!”

As if turning on a light, everything shifted. In an instant, the cavern, the webs, and the clones all vanished. The two of them were standing in the forest, with no sign of the cave to be seen. Beams of sunlight danced off of the green grass around them. In the distance, the sound of bird calls echoed slightly.

“Wits?” A faint glowing aura surrounding Fluttershy dissipated. “Oh my gosh, are you alright? Here, let me-”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Wits wiped his bloody nose on his sleeve. “This is some sort of mindscape. None of this is real.” He sniffed and winced. “Ow.”

“Here.” Fluttershy put a hand on Wits’ shoulder, passing the other hand over his face. As she did so, the teen’s self-inflicted wounds healed themselves, with a small pop as his nose shifted back into place.

“Huh.” Wits ran his tongue over his newly regrown teeth. “Neat trick.”

“Well, um…” Fluttershy glanced around at the trees that surrounded them. “I guess, I don’t want you to get blood all over my mindscape.”

Wits grinned. “Nice to have you back. How’re you feeling?”

“Um… I’m not really sure?” Fluttershy frowned. “What I was doing before… It felt like me, but- Wits, I-I would never hold someone- you- anyone against their will like that!”

“I know.” Wits put his own hand on her shoulder. “That’s why I bet on you breaking free to help me.”

“B-but, what if I just wrapped you up so you couldn’t move?”

Wits paused. “Um… I… did not plan on that.” He thought for a moment. “But, you didn’t either, so that worked out okay.”

Fluttershy nodded, a gentle smile spreading across her face. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she glanced at their hands on each others shoulders. “Um, W-Wits?”

“Huh?” Wits followed her gaze. After a beat, the two of them drew back as if they had been touching a hot stove. “S-sorry about that,” he stuttered, his face turning red.

After an agonizing awkward second, Fluttershy perked up. “Wait, what about the others? Are they alright?”

“For a certain definition of ‘alright’, yes. Let me explain.” Wits paused. “No, there’s too much. Let me sum up. Everyone originally from this world went into a magical trance-slash-coma, leaving Sunset, PH, Patchy, and I to figure out how to get you all out of it. Sunset hooked each of us up to two of you so we can help you break out of whatever’s going on in here. After I kill Count Rugen.”

“Who’s Count Rugen?”

“Never mind. Just wanted to bookend the reference.” Wits End sighed. “In any case, you should get back to the physical plane. Sunset’s still out there waiting for us to get back.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m not going to leave my friends behind.”

“Relax, I’ve got this.”

“Any of my friends, Wits.” Fluttershy stared intently at this mint-colored teen. “That means you too.”

Several expressions shifted over Wits’ face over the next few seconds, eventually settling on a bright red blush that gave off enough heat to make steam. “Wowee,” he mumbled. “We haven’t even had our first date… And I’ve already managed to hit the friend zone!”

“Are… are you alright?”

“Are you kidding? This is definitely in the top 10 best days of my life! Number 4 will shock you!” Wits coughed. “Alright, let’s go help Rarity, then.”

“Oh, um, okay…” Fluttershy looked around the serene forest landscape that surrounded them. “How do we… get to her?”

“How should I know? This is your brain, and we’re connected via Sunset’s magic. You can probably make a door or a rainbow bridge or something into her mindscape.” Wits shrugged. “Honestly, I’m making this up as I go along. Give it a shot.”

“Okay…” Fluttershy closed her eyes and concentrated on creating a way to get to Rarity. After a moment, she felt something shift. “Did it work?” she asked, slowly opening her eyes.

“I mean…” Wits was standing next to a horse-sized version of Rarity’s cat Opal. “I guess? I’m not really sure how this is supposed to work, but maybe we can ride-” When the teen tried to grab onto the giant cat’s fur, he ended up slipping and disappearing into it.

“Wits?” Fluttershy took a few steps closer. “Are you alright?” She looked up at Opal’s blank stare. “What happened?”

The giant Opal looked down at her. “Meow.”

Fluttershy cocked her head. “Really? It’s that easy?”

“Meow.”

“Well, if you say so…” Fluttershy took a deep breath, and pushed her way into the giant cat’s fur as well.”

* * *

“Okay, so,” Wits shivered as he and Fluttershy took in their new surroundings. “I don’t know about you, but when I think of the inside of Rarity’s mind…”

“This isn’t what you imagine?” Fluttershy finished for him.

“Yeah…”

The two of them were standing on a mountain path with icy winds whipping around them. A line of wooden marionettes stretched along the path in front of them, and even more were behind them, as the path led down the mountain into the clouds below.

“Somehow, I expected more clothes,” Wits mused.

“Maybe this is an example of her hidden depths?” Fluttershy asked. “Um, or something like that.”

“Was it an example of hidden depths when you were in a cave?”

“...Is that a joke, or an actual question?”

“It’s tough for me to tell sometimes.” The two of them were interrupted by the marionettes moving forward along the path, forcing them to move forward as well to keep their place. “At least the queue is moving,” Wits said.

Fluttershy frowned. “But where?”

It took time, but every couple of minutes the line move forward again. Fluttershy and Wits End kept their position, doing their best not to look down as the path narrowed towards the top. Eventually, they made it up to the top. “Again, points for creativity,” Wits said as they took in the sight, “but also, still really weird.”

The top of the mountain was flat, with a large stone throne carved into the center, and columns of similarly carved stone ringed the edge of the plateau’s sheer edge. The line of marionettes stretched up to the foot of the throne, with the closest one bent into a bow. Seated in the throne was Rarity, a silk blindfold over her eyes, a set of scales set to one side of the throne, and a sword leaned against the other.

“What’s going on?” Fluttershy whispered. Up ahead, Rarity seemed to be talking at the closest marionette.

“Scales, sword, blindfold…” Wits muttered. “Blindfold. Blind. Justice is blind? Some sort of courtroom? I’m just not seeing where the drama comes in with this.”

The two of them watched as Rarity stopped talking. With a sweep of her hand, the kneeling marionette was flung away, sailing off the edge of the cliff into the clouds below.

Wits blinked. “Ah.”

“Um, that’s bad, right?” Fluttershy asked.

“Only if she does that to all of them. If this is supposed to be justice, then some of them should be-” Wits was cut off as another marionette sailed away, this one hitting a column on the way and its broken pieces clattering down the mountain face. “It might be bad.”

Fluttershy frowned as the line shuffled forward, a cold breeze blowing across the plateau. “What do we do when we get up to her?” she whispered.

“We try to convince her that this isn’t right,” Wits replied.

“And if she throws us off the edge?”

“We hope there’s beds at the bottom of the mountain.”

“Wits…”

“It’ll be fine.” Wits shot her a smirk. “I got you out by putting you in a position where you had to act in your true nature. We just gotta do the same with her.”

“And how do we do that?”

“I haven’t gotten that far yet.” He glanced over and saw the look of both concern and disbelief on Fluttershy’s face. “Relax. In my experience, things like this present a solution right before things go completely wrong.”

“You say that like you live in some sort of poorly written fanfiction.”

“Oh, don’t even get me started...”

The marionette in front of them knelt in front of the stone throne. “And what do you want from me?” Rarity said, her voice hoarse as if she had been asking that question all day.

“Is she talking to us?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not yet,” Wits said. Even with the blindfold on, Rarity’s attention seemed to be on the wooden figure in front of her. “In fact, I don’t think she can hear us.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “I don’t think you can hear us!” he called. The fashionista remained unphased. “Yeah, she can’t hear us.”

“A quest?” Rarity asked, as if ignoring him and replying to something the marionette had said. “In a distant land? Where is this city you speak of?”

Fluttershy and Wits leaned in to try and hear what was being said, but the marionette stayed completely silent.

“Gallopilli?” Rarity asked. “Sounds faintly baroque. And there’s a princess in danger, you say?”

“I’ve heard this story before,” Wits muttered.

Fluttershy turned to look at him. “Where?”

“That poorly written fanfiction.”

Rarity leaned back in her throne. “Well... it sounds like this princess of yours chose to return there of her own free will. I can’t very well be responsible for bailing out every princess who regrets her decision in hindsight. I’d never had a moment’s rest, and I’ve got enough work on my hands as it is.” She paused for a moment, cocking her head as if to listen to the marionette’s rebuttal. “Well you should have thought about that before wasting my time coming up here.” With a wave of her hand, the wooden figure sailed over the edge of the cliff, clattering against the rock face on the way down.

Wits hissed through his teeth. “Sounds like that could’ve gone better.” Fluttershy replied with a soft whimper.

Pushed forward by the marionette behind them, Wits and Fluttershy found themselves standing before the throne. “And what do you want from me?” Rarity rasped.

“For you not to throw us off the cliff?” Fluttershy offered meekly.

Rarity’s expression changed to one of surprise. “Fluttershy? Not that it’s not wonderful to hear your voice again, but what on earth are you doing here?”

“We’re here to help get you out of here!” Fluttershy took a step closer. “Both of us! Wits and I-”

Rarity’s nose wrinkled. “Eugh.”

“I heard that,” Wits complained.

“It was intended for you, dear.” Rarity turned her focus back to Fluttershy. “Now, what’s all this about getting me out of this place?”

Fluttershy looked back at Wits, who only gestured for her to take the lead. “Well, um… Do you remember what we were doing before you were… here?” She gestured at the mountaintop around them.

“Darling, I’ve been here,” Rarity mimicked Fluttershy’s gesture remarkably well despite not being able to see it, “for what feels like an eternity. You’ll have to forgive me if my memory is a bit hazy about my life before coming here.”

“Oh, well, actually,” Fluttershy said, “you haven’t really been here that long. It’s only been…” She looked back at Wits. “How long has it been?”

Wits shrugged. “I have trouble telling how long it’s been when I’m making eggs. You expect me to be able to tell in here?”

Rarity’s eyebrows narrowed. “What do you mean, ‘in here’?”

“Well, um,” Fluttershy searched for the right words for a moment. “We’re actually… kind of inside your mind? I think? It’s... a little confusing, to be honest. But all of this is like a… a dream, I guess?”

After a moment of thought, Rarity turned towards Wits End. “What did you do?”

“I ain’t done no things!” Wits shot back. “You girls got stuck in this multiplayer Psychonauts level, and I volunteered to get you and Fluttershy back out into the real world so we can go kick some Hydra butt.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “You volunteered to help both of us?”

Wits paused. “Fluttershy first,” he admitted. He glanced up from his feet to see Rarity still staring blindly at him. “And it was a choice between you and Applejack.”

“You chose me over Applejack?”

“It would’ve meant you were stuck with Patchy.”

Rarity’s mouth curled into a grimace. “Eugh.”

Wits held his arms out at a jaunty angle. “What can I say except ‘you’re welcome’?” he sang.

“That aside,” Rarity said, “let’s say I believe you, and that the Hydra really is still out there.” She held up a finger to hold off Wits and Fluttershy’s oncoming correction. “If that really is the case, then what is it you want me to do about it?”

Fluttershy stepped up again. “Well, we-”

“Hang on.” Wits waved Fluttershy towards him. “Can we take a moment?”

Rarity raised an eyebrow behind her blindfold. “Why? Is there something I should be aware of?”

“That’s what I want to check in on.” Wits tilted his head to the side. “Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked between the two teens. “Um, well…” She looked back to Rarity. “We’ll just be a minute, Rarity.”

After a moment of thought, Rarity shrugged. “Go ahead. I’m certainly not going anywhere.”

Wits gave her a thumbs up. “Cheers.” The mint-colored teen guided Fluttershy to one side, stopping next to one of the columns that ringed the plateau. One they were there, he turned back to her with his hands together. “This feels like a trap.”

“Huh?” Fluttershy looked back at Rarity, who was checking her nails in spite of her blindfold. “W-what do you mean?”

“I don’t know, it just…” Wits End hissed through his teeth. “She asked that last puppet what it wanted before turning it down and flinging it away, right?”

Fluttershy looked over the edge of the cliff. The arm of one of the marionettes was stuck between two rocks below them, disconnected from the rest of the body. She let out a soft squeak and backed away. “Y-yes?”

“Well, what if asking is some sort of test? If they fail,” he jerked his head towards the cliff. “We really don’t want that to happen to us.”

“Why would she do that to us?”

Wits scratched the back of his head. “I’ve been trying to figure that out ever since I landed in your mindscape. The Hydra’s obviously having some sort of influence, but it’s not affecting your personalities in any really significant way. It’s more like it’s taking some aspect of your personalities and twisting them.” He switched over to stroking his jaw, then frowned. “Doesn’t work so well without the beard.”

“It’s like, um,” Fluttershy searched for the right words. “When you say ‘aspect’ of our personalities, could that, maybe, be like the Elements that Princess Twilight has in her world?”

“The Elements of Harmony?”

“Yes! You said before that the Hydra is trying to make our world like that game world, right?” Wits nodded, prompting Fluttershy to continue. “And that world was based on Princess Twilight’s world, right? What if the Hydra is doing something based on the Elements that our alternate universe selves represent?”

“If it is the Elements…” Wits thought for a moment. “The pony-verse’s version of Fluttershy’s Element is Kindness. And you were saying that you were saving those copies of your friends when you were under the Hydra’s influence. That’s like Kindness, or like… coddling, I suppose.”

“And to break me out of it, you had to force me to use real kindness,” Fluttershy continued. “So if we want to save Rarity…”

“We need to get her to display true generosity,” Wits finished for her. “It’s not gonna be like with you where I could shock you out of it. We need to convince her to come with us, not because it’s best for her, but because it’s best for us.”

“But how do we do that?”

“I dunno, I was hoping this’d be easy. I only took Psych 101 as an elective, and they never covered emotional manipulation.”

“What in the world were they teaching you at your school?”

“Computer Science,” Wits replied. “Which, I gotta say, is so far 0-for-2 in applicability to our adventures.”

“If you don’t mind,” Rarity called to them, “but could we wrap this up? Not that I don’t enjoy having you two here, but I still have a few people to get to.” She motioned to the seemingly endless line of marionettes that stretched down the mountain path. “Quite a few, actually.”

Wits and Fluttershy looked at each other. “Just keep her talking for a while,” Wits said as he turned back to the throne. “I’ll try to come up with something.”

“Um, actually…” Fluttershy grabbed his coat sleeve to hold him back. “Could you, maybe, keep her talking instead?”

Wits blinked. “You have an idea?”

“Just the start of one, really. If you want, you could-”

“No, no, go for it!” Wits held his hands up slightly. “You know her better than I do. I’ll keep her busy, and you can give me a signal when you’re ready.” He grinned and gave her a thumbs-up. “Teamwork!”

Fluttershy smiled as she started walking back to Rarity. “Friendship.”

Wits End waited a moment as she walked past him, before doubling over and clutching his heart. “You’d think I’d be getting too old for this,” he wheezed under his breath. After taking an extra second to recover, he trotted back over to the throne.

“Well?” Rarity asked. “Have you two finished figuring out what you want me to do to help you?”

After a quick glance at Fluttershy, Wits cleared his throat. “So, uh,” he said, “what’s the deal with eggplants? I mean, they’re not eggs, they’re not plants…”

Rarity stared at him from behind her blindfold. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know that myself half of the time.” Wits shrugged. “Look, the truth is that we’re not really sure what we want from you. The whole mindscape thing makes it tough to tell what are powers you actually have in the real world, and what powers are the ones you have in here.”

“You keep going on about mindscapes,” Rarity said. “What makes you think we’re in such as thing in the first place, anyway?”

“I mean, last time I checked, Canterlot isn’t near any giant icy mountains.” Wits paused. “It isn’t, is it? My grasp on the geography of Canterlot High and its environs is hazy at best. There’s no mountains in Canterlot, is there?”

Rarity leaned back in her throne, crossing one leg over the other. “Look, I’ve been here long enough that it’s entirely possible you came from the other side of the world to visit me. Why do you think this is near Canterlot at all?”

“Because we,” Wits gestured to himself, Rarity, and Fluttershy, “just came from Canterlot like less than half an hour ago. We were in a cave going to fight the Hydra-”

“There’s no caves in Canterlot,” Rarity interrupted. “Are you sure you’re quite alright, darling?”

“Yes! No! Wait, hang on.” Wits pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes, I’m sure I’m alright. We were in a cave because the Hydra put it there, because it’s trying to rewrite your world with its world instead. This is a mindscape, so it can look like whatever you want.”

“Let me stop you there and ask a hypothetical question.” Rarity learned forward, resting her arm against her thigh and her chin against her knuckles. “You seem quite set on this being a mindscape of some sort, so let me ask you this: who’s to say this isn’t your mindscape instead of mine?”

“Hey, if this was my mindscape, I think I’d be the first one to know.”

“And how would you know that?”

Wits paused, clearing thinking about how to articulate his answer. “Well, there would be more cute girls for one thing.”

“Two isn’t enough for you? Oh my...”

“Hey, don’t put words in my mouth! The rating is fragile enough right now as it is!”

Rarity grinned. “And what type of cute girls would there be in your mind, Wits? Given what I’ve seen of you, I imagine a lot of them would look like Flut-”

“I’ve got it!” Fluttershy’s exclamation interrupted the rapid-fire back-and-forth already in progress. She looked between the two other teens, who were staring at her in stunned silence. “Um, th-that was the signal, by the way.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Wits muttered. “It was very subtle, but I got it.”

Fluttershy’s gaze panned towards the ground. “S-sorry. Did I interrupt you two? I can wait if you want.”

“Nope! Go ahead!” Wits took a step back and gestured to the pink-haired girl to take over. “There was no way I was gonna walk away from that conversation as the winner anyway.”

Rarity chuckled as she turned her blindfolded gaze back to Fluttershy. “What is it, darling? Have you decided what you want from me?”

Fluttershy nodded, taking a few timid steps forward. “Yes. What I-” She glanced over at Wits, who gave her a thumbs up. “What we want from you,” she continued, “is for you to send us back home.”

“What?” Rarity asked.

“What?” Wits echoed, but his question was quickly cut off as Fluttershy continued.

“We can both see that you’re really quite busy,” she said, gesturing to the line of marionettes, “and we can’t exactly help you to finish it any faster, so-” she glanced at Wits again, “so the best thing for us to do is to just get out of your hair and let you get back to work.”

Rarity tilted her head slightly. “Really? That’s all?”

Fluttershy nodded. “That’s it. If this is a mindscape, you can just send us out of it. And if this is the real world, you can send us back to Canterlot. Seems like it would be easy, to me at least.”

After a moment of thought, Rarity shrugged. “Well, if that’s all you really want-”

“And we’ll just let you get back to work on your own.”

Rarity paused. “What?”

Fluttershy’s eyes were locked firmly on her shoes; only glancing up for a moment. “S-sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt you. It’s just… with us out of the way, you won’t have anyone to... to distract you from your work. You can, um, just keep working your way through the line.” She made a half-hearted gesture towards the line of marionettes.

Wits blinked, suddenly getting where Fluttershy was going with this. “Yep!” he said, stepping up to stand next to her. “You can just send us back home, and we’ll get out of your hair. You can get back to asking them what they want and flinging them off of cliffs all you want.”

“On your own,” Fluttershy added.

“Forever,” Wits added as well.

“If that’s okay with you,” Fluttershy muttered.

“Geh…” Rarity frowned as she thought about their request. “Are you sure that’s what you really want? I mean, it could take a some time before we see each other again.” Her blindfolded gaze shifted to the line again. “A very, very long time…”

“Oh, we wouldn’t want to impose on your time,” Wits said. “We still have a Hydra to beat, and with you busy here it’s gonna be all hands on deck to beat it. I mean, just think of who’s waiting for us back there? There’s Sunset and SciTwi, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash…”

“Light Patch and Purple Heart,” Fluttershy offered. “And Applejack too.”

“Side Track and Witstang are waiting too,” Wits mused. “Not to mention the rest of the school.”

“Don’t forget about Agent Coltson and his team.”

“Good point. I’m sure he’s very eager for the Hydra to be taken care of.” Wits clapped his hands together. “Well, we really should be going, so just go ahead and give us like a door or a magic carpet or something, and we’ll get out of your way.”

As if on cue, a large, intricately detailed golden door appeared next to them. “Oh,” Rarity said, as if she was surprised at how easy it had been. “Well then. I suppose that will take you back home, if that’s really what you want.”

“Great!” Wits gave her a wink. “Good luck with the forever.”

Fluttershy gave a small smile as Wits put his hands on the door handle. “It was great to see you again, Rarity.”

“Yes,” the blindfolded girl said slowly. “You too…” She bit her lower lip as Wits turned the handle. Just as she heard the mechanism click, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Wait!”

Slowly, Wits craned his head around to look at her. “Yeeeeeeees?” he asked.

“Well, um…” Rarity shifted in her seat, as if the stone had suddenly become uncomfortable under her. “What if… I don’t want you to leave yet?”

“Are you forcing us to stay here?” Wits asked.

“No, no! Of course not! I wouldn’t want to take that choice away from you, but…”

Fluttershy turned around to face her friend. “Rarity?”

“It’s just…” Rarity fought with herself, torn between speaking her mind and leaving them to do what they had wanted. “I mean, you only just got here, and I’m sure we have so much to catch up on. It’s not like my work here can’t wait for a little bit, and… and…” Her voice trailed off until her last words were little more than a whisper. “I really don’t want to be left alone here.”

“And there,” Wits said smugly, “as I believe the youth put it, is the tea.”

“Rarity,” Fluttershy said, walking back to stand in front of her throne, “I think you have a choice to make.” The blindfolded girl perked up slightly. “Wits and I have to go back, or else the rest of our friends will be in trouble. You can either stay here, and it will be as if we never came,” she held a hand out to Rarity, “you can come with us.”

Rarity’s covered gaze moved between Fluttershy’s open hand and the line of marionettes. “I…”

“What do you want to do, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

Rarity was shivering now, her hands balled into fists. “I…”

“Rarity?”

Suddenly, Rarity tore the blindfold from her face, flinging it away from her as she took Fluttershy’s hand. “I want to get out of this awful place!” she shouted. “It’s cold and it’s hard and there’s only stupid dolls to talk to and I’m so incredibly bored with it all!” She practically leapt off of the throne and wrapped her arms around Fluttershy in a hug.

Wits grinned as he watched a breeze carry the blindfold over the edge of the cliff. “Nice to have you back, Rares.”

“You,” the fashionista said, pointing a finger at him without letting go of Fluttershy, “shut up and don’t ruin the moment.”

“You got it.”

After a new more moments, Rarity released Fluttershy from the hug. “Fluttershy, darling,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “What on earth am I doing here?”

“Some sort of spell the Hydra put on us,” Fluttershy explained. “According to Wits, all of us were under it except for Sunset and the boys.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “I understand Sunset not being effected, but what makes those boys so special?”

“How long have you got?” Wits asked.

“The point is,” Fluttershy continued, “Wits came to help us break out of the spell, and the other two are helping the rest. We really do need to get back soon to stop that Hydra, though.”

“Right,” Rarity straightened her clothes and brushed her hair back into its impeccable place. “We’d better get through that door then.”

“Yeah, about that,” Wits opened the door, revealing that it didn’t actually lead anywhere. “Door machine broke.”

Rarity blinked. “What? Why?”

“You’re not linked to the outside world,” Wits End explained. “Fluttershy was able to get us here because you were both connected by the spell, but there’s no direct route from you to the real world.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I kinda just put it together when I realized the door didn’t go anywhere. It’s entirely possible I’m wrong, and you just suck at magical doors.”

Rarity glared at him. “Just this once, we’ll assume your theory is correct. How do we get out of here, then?”

Wits grinned. “It means I get to use this again.” He snapped his fingers, which seemed to echo on the mountaintop.

The girls waited for several seconds before Rarity spoke. “Was that supposed to do-”

Her question was cut off by the sound of the wind whistling around them. A surprisingly loud wind, almost like a loud, cyclical wail.

Just behind Wits End, a faint blue shape behind to materialize. It appeared to be the source of the wail, with the sound growing in intensity as the shape became more opaque. Finally, an old-fashioned blue box came into focus, with the wail ending with an audible thud. Across the top of the box read the word “Police”.

Rarity blinked. ‘What.”

“Never gets old.” Wits’ grin widened as he opened the door to the police box, revealing a room that was far bigger than seemed to fit inside. “Allons-y?”

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[Dravkwn]

Princess Bridle and the Teens Allons-y'ing Rarity Damsels In Scapes.