Lapis comes to town

by Dudofall

Chapter 4

The Amarok is widely believed to be an inherently mean-spirited wolf. This is not true. Despite its magical ability to smell weakness and hear the steps of someone traveling alone, the Amarok only rarely hunts out of spite. Most of the time, it doesn't even hunt sentient beings. However, tonight it was certainly hunting for spiteful reasons. Its shaggy black legs stalked stealthily in the snow and its mystical nose probed the night air for prey. The Amarok was only a few feet taller than an adult yak, but it wore those feet well. In addition, its off-white eyes were better than a yak's at seeking out prey in the darkness. Tonight the frigid mountainside was host to a lone traveler who seemed like easy pickings to the giant wolf. A pony was rare enough in this area, and this one's purple coat stood out from the snow like a sore toe. The Amarok drew closer. The pony kept walking, not noticing it in the slightest. Drool ran down the wolf's jagged jaw. The pony's wings stayed at her sides, and her horn was lit only with a simple light spell. Something seemed too good to be true about this prey, something the Amarok hadn't experienced in a long time.

"Are you lost?" she asked suddenly.

The Amarok was not prone to speaking to its prey. Still, it wasn't rude. "I know where I am."

"That's good."

"Are you lost?"

The pony shook her head. "Oh no, I know exactly where I'm going." There was an uneasy silence between the two, and neither was brave enough to break it until they'd almost reached the yak village.

"I've got a reputation to uphold, so would you mind-"

"Oh not at all! It's been too long since I ran away from a dangerous monster."

"You're too kind!" The Amarok followed this with a fearsome roar, the kind that wakes up an entire yak village and their alien guest. It proceeded to chase Twilight Sparkle over the hill and straight to the gates. She teleported excitedly past the walls, and the wolf howled a goodbye. It would later eat a few too many snowshoe hares and get an unequivocally nasty stomachache, but that's neither here nor there.

What was there, then? Or who? Prince Rutherford, of course, closely accompanied by Lapis Lazuli. Naturally he ordered the gates opened for the benefit of the Princess of Friendship. It was the principal of the thing that mattered most. The two royals met amicably in the prince's hut, which was slightly larger but no less spartan than the average Yak abode. There, the dialogue began, with the yak speaking first.

"Yaks always happy when ponies visit! How is equestrian yak ambassador Pinkie Pie?"

Twilight tsked, but answered. "Pinkie's fine, she keeps talking about cars revolutionizing party transport, but that's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Actually, I'm here to talk to an alien who was brought here by Discord."

Lapis nodded. "That's me. I don't have much to do out here. I'll talk."

"Very well. Yaks need sleep, see you in the morning!" Rutherford decreed, and his guards slammed the doors as Lapis and Twilight left. They wandered a bit until they found the town's fire pit, with a small blaze still crackling. The princess fed the fire.

Lapis stared into it. "How did you know I was here?"

"Oh, Discord told me. We're...friends...kind of? It's hard to tell with him." Twilight replied.

"Do you even care that I was trying to go somewhere else when he kidnapped me?"

Twilight nodded. "Of course I care! As soon as I found out, I went out of my way to find out if you were okay! I had to cancel several meetings..."

The blue gem smiled slightly. "At least there's someone who hasn't given up on me yet..." She summoned her water wings and used them to cover her eyes. She could almost imagine that she was still on earth with Steven, walking towards a boat on that fateful day. They'd had some fun, but the boat had sunk and she'd been forced to fight a gem she never wanted to see again. As her mind wandered, she noticed a purple light coming from the pony princess. "Are you here to fight me?" she asked without moving.

The alicorn was taken aback. "Fight? No, why?"

"Where I come from, gems glow when they're about to summon their weapon."

"Well here in Equestria, magic is used for all sorts of things! I'm just trying to scan you. It's odd that you're able to control water like that without a horn."

"You really don't know anything about gems, do you?"

"No, would you like to explain?" Twilight floated a quill and parchment out of her saddlebag and made to give them to somedragon who wasn't actually there. She instead let them remain in the air, ready to take notes.

"I'm a Lapis Lazuli, so water is kind of my thing. It does what I want."

The alicorn nodded. "Go on."

"That's about it," Lapis attempted.

Twilight challenged Lapis with a Look. "What about other gems?" she asked deliberately.

"Well, Rubies have gauntlets and can create heat. Pearls use spears, Amethyst has a whip, Steven can summon a shield and a bubble, and Per-" her voice caught. "Peridot-" She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. "Peridot has metal powers and is hard to poof."

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to upset you!" Twilight said apologetically. She patted Lapis on the shoulder.

The gem sighed shakily. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"Worrying is one of my duties as a princess."

"That sucks."

"I guess it does..."

Lapis looked at her shoulder. "Twilight."

"Yes Lapis?"

"You can stop patting my shoulder now."

She blushed a bit as she removed her hoof. "Sorry!"

Lapis crossed her arms. "It's not like I like you or anything! b-baka!

Twilight guave her a wink. "Of course not!"

"Besidddes, I'mmm alreaddy dabbing someone else," Lapis said.

Aw, that's to bad," Twiglit said.

"Too bald for you, naybe," Lapis said.

"What does taht evin meen?" Twiggles said.

The Frank Ocean gem twirled her hair with a figer. "Now let's get to the beach and put on bicinis!"

Then Discord jumped out of a can of fhis and said-

"Twilight, wake up!"

"Gah! I don't know what a bicini is!" Twilight yelped as she came to her senses.

Lapis smirked. "Do you always fall asleep in the middle of conversations? Steven never does that."

"It's nothing. I'm probably just tired from walking here in the snow."

"Why didn't you just fly?"

"I couldn't get the balloon fast enough, so I took a train to the crystal empire and walked from there."

"I meant with your wings," the gem clarified, pointing to them.

Twilight shook her head. "It's much too cold to fly, and if there was a snowstorm I wouldn't be able to see where I was going."

Lapis looked up at the clear sky. "We should fly now. There's no snow."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup. I'm looking at it."

"I mean, are you sure you wanna fly in this cold?"

The gem shrugged. "I don't mind the cold. It's warmer than space and that's enough."

"I suppose a flight couldn't hurt if we keep it short," Twilight conceded as she stretched her wings.

"Great." And with that, the two jumped into the air. Twilight had the early lead, since her wings were bolstered by alicorn magic, but Lapis wasn't one to be out-flown. In the sky, she was in her element. A few heavy flaps propelled her side-by-side with the princess.

She grinned, purple mane waving in the wind. "Let's have a race!"

"Okay," Lapis said, and leapt closer to the speed of sound. Twilight was not one to be outdone, so she too accelerated rapidly. As they both edged closer to creating a sonic boom, the snow below shifted into ocean. The princess said something about geography that Lapis couldn't hear over the wind. She flapped her water wings powerfully and soared above the clouds. The sonic boom she created was heard only by her flying friend. Lapis wondered if the organic nature of the princess would stop her from wanting to continue to race at high speeds. Since her body was made of light, the gem was unaffected by the altitude and the air resistance.

Twilight burst out of the clouds, causing a sonic boom of her own. "We're going too fast!" she yelled over the wind. Lapis wouldn't have heard her over the wind but for the use of a spell that allows for impeccable lip reading.

"Okay," Lapis replied. She air-braked with her wings and began to decelerate. Twilight did so as well, and for a while they were quiet as they dropped below the speed of sound, then below the average speed of Rainbow Dash, then finally to a comfortable flying speed that gave the princess a chance to catch her breath.

"I've never seen anypony fly so fast before!" she said finally.

Lapis shook her head. "I'm not a pony. I am a gem."

Twilight laughed. "But you know what I mean, right? Don't tell her I said this, but you're even faster than Rainbow Dash!"

"Who's that?"

"She's one of my best friends in all of Equestria!"

"So that's the name of this planet? Equestria?" Lapis wasn't one to judge a planet based on its name.

Twilight giggled. "Actually, there's constant debate on that in the astronomical community. Copper Nickels thinks the planet should be called Equus, with two u's, and Head Canon thinks it should be spelled E-q-u-i-s!"

"Cool."

"So what's your planet called?"

"Homeworld."

"That's...creative," Twilight attempted.

"It's descriptive. Homeworld is the home of all gems. It's where I used to live, before I got stuck on Earth." The ocean gem glided slowly towards the ground, which was sandier than the ground in Yakyakistan.

Twilight followed suit, then looked around. "I think this is the San Palomino desert. If we go east far enough, we should be able to take the train back home from Appleloosa."

"Why not just fly back?" Lapis asked.

Twilight blushed. "In order to catch up with you, I used up most of my magic reserves on a speed spell. I couldn't fly back to Yakyakistan nearly as fast..."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried to! I said, 'If I know my geography right, we should probably turn around before I run low on mana.' You just didn't hear me over the wind!"

"Fine, let's walk to the train and-" Lapis paused. "What's a train?"

"A train is a vehicle that rides rails between predetermined stations in order to transport ponies to towns or cities," the princess rattled off.

"So it's like a van, but you can't drive wherever you want? That's stupid."

"What's a van?"

"I don't have time to explain this, just point east and let's move."

"Fine!" Twilight used a small compass spell. "That's east," she said, pointing east. She dispelled the compass quickly to maintain mana. They began walking together.

Comments

[AngrySnowman]

"Well, Rubies have gauntlets and can create heat. Pearls use spears, Amethyst has a whip, Steven can summon a shield and a bubble, and Per-" her voice caught. "Peridot-" She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. "Peridot has metal powers and is hard to poof."

Yesssss :d