II - A Proposal for Adventure
Once upon a time in the magical land of Ooo... there were two regal princesses who thought themselves high and mighty. Together they claimed power over the moon and the sun. Promoting their ideals of “friendship” and “harmony” they brought ponykind together in the second largest nation on the face of the earth: Equestria. One might consider this impressive if it wasn’t so insufferably saccharine.
These sisters had an unpleasant habit of bestowing power onto their subjects rather than keeping their rule secure. For such powerful entities, it is hilarious to think of how often they were captured or defeated by seemingly insignificant threats.
~~~
Not even a full day after the skies of the world were painted purple, certain individuals across the land were giving detailed reports on the phenomenon. One of these was none other than the alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle, and in the limited timespan since the event she had amassed more information from observations than should have been physically possible.
Luckily for her, she was a master of magic. Some said her purple coloration made this obvious, but she always reminded them not all creatures with purple coats were masters of magic.
“...So, naturally, I started calling it the Sparkling Comet,” Twilight said, swirling a metallic pointer in the air. Absent-mindedly, she had commanded the telekinesis spell to rotate the pointer in a perfect circle around a pencil sketch of the Comet itself. Despite all the numbers and graphs she had next to the diagram, the image itself was little more than a purple circle with swirls in it, a clear indication of incomplete knowledge that Twilight was doing her best not to think about. Instead, she was focusing on her words, trying to get her point across without letting out an unwelcome snort or, Stars forbid, a neigh. As natural as the noise was for all equines, herself included, it never added anything to speeches and often threw comprehension out the window. She needed to be careful.
Twilight took a few steps to the side to reveal part of the whiteboard that her body had been hiding previously, her hooves clattering against the marble ground with every slight adjustment. “The Sparkling Comet itself was headed on a direct trajectory toward the planet, and all signs pointed to it crashing at these coordinates.” The magenta energy swirling around her horn brightened slightly as she put more effort into the telekinesis spell, ramming the pointer into a pair of numbers worked out to thirty decimal digits. “The sheer amount of number crunching required to get this level of precision was… outrageous. And probably unnecessary now that I think about it, who’d need to know precisely what tree it would hit? The crater would have a diameter of…”
She caught herself rambling, stopping short with a nervous ruffling of her wings. “Never mind, the point is, it was supposed to hit at those coordinates. But, instead, it just vanished. Middle of the sky, glowing bright enough to challenge the sun, it just poofed. The surge of arcane energy from the event was absolutely massive, more than anything I’d ever felt before, even when Tirek had all the magic of Equestria inside him at once!” She let out a laugh mixed with a snort. “That’s absurd! Nothing has that kind of power, not Discord, not the Elements, nothing! Furthermore, the signature didn’t match any known field of magic. It wasn’t dark, harmony, chaos, elemental, emotive, earthly, nothing.”
Putting on a smirk, she spread her wings wide and took on a posture she hoped was not only authoritative, but confident. “This is one of the greatest mysteries Equestria has ever seen, and with the scales involved it would be an immense oversight not to investigate. Which is why I propose that I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, journey to the Comet’s projected landing site to investigate the phenomenon up close. I understand that it is unusual for a Princess such as myself to take personal interest in such an event, but there are several reasons my personal presence would be better for the nation. Ahem. Reason one—”
One half of her royal audience interrupted from her throne. “Twilight, you can just go. You’re a Princess, you don’t need to ask our permission to do things.”
Twilight’s confident demeanor vanished in an instant, a nervous smile far too large crawling up her face. “B-but I didn’t even get to my points yet! There’s sooo many reasons, Celestia!”
The regal Celestia raised an incredulous eyebrow so high that it shifted the crown resting on her head. Like Twilight, she was an alicorn: an equine with both a set of wings and a magical horn. Unlike Twilight, Celestia was outrageously tall, had significantly thinner legs, and had a flowing mane of majestic pastel colors. “Twilight…”
“Look, I know you told me I could just, uh, go, but it’s a big deal to just leave Equestria like this all of a sudden and it’s definitely not in the handbooks and the ponies need official notice and…”
Celestia chuckled softly. “You still have to do things by the book.”
“Or write the book for things that don’t have books,” the other half of Twilight’s audience added, the dark Princess Luna. She was slightly shorter than her solar sister, and her mane was one of billowing stars, a mirror to the night sky if there ever could be such a thing.
Celestia put a hoof to her chin. “I would be tempted to argue with you on that point, except I do remember her writing a book for herself about ‘proper dragon raising etiquette’.”
Twilight threw her mane back in a huff. “And I’ll have you know that I published that book and it has become a bestseller!”
Luna leaned in, her mane swirling from the motion. “You were my sister’s Protegée, anything you published would be a bestseller.”
“I… well…” Twilight rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. “Good point…?”
“I should buy a copy,” Celestia mused. “Or read the copy that you inevitably gifted me at some point that I’ve somehow forgotten about.”
“No!” Twilight shouted, suddenly frantic. “You don’t need to read it! Trust me, nothing in there you need to know! You were there for most of it, don’t need to relive it!” She laughed nervously.
“Well now I have to read it.”
With a dejected groan, Twilight rammed her face into the whiteboard, puncturing a hole right through the diagram of the Comet. I wrote it in a week and I’ve seen at least seven major errors and I can’t get another edition printed since it’s outdated. I’m doomed.
“Maybe you made the Comet disappear by stabbing it with your horn,” Luna suggested, gesturing at the hole in the whiteboard.
“Har dee har,” Twilight deadpanned. “...Luna, don’t you dare give me a dream about that tonight.”
The Princess of the Night gave an innocent smirk that Twilight didn’t buy for a second.
“Perhaps we should give Twilight a break,” Celestia said, standing up from her throne. “You did go out of the way to schedule this for our benefit, after all, when all you needed to do was send a written notice of your departure.”
Luna snorted. “It is... understandable.”
Celestia nodded, her smile growing slightly. “Twilight, you not only have my permission to go, you have my blessing. Go and solve this mystery for Equestria; have an adventure with your friends.”
“Friends?” Twilight gawked. “I didn’t mention my friends yet!”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “You’re the Princess of Friendship, I would be shocked if you went somewhere without your friends by choice.”
Twilight blinked. “Riiiight… yeah, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie want to come.”
“Pinkie Pie?” Luna asked, cocking her head. “She didn’t strike me as one to go on an adventure for the sake of science.”
“She’s not in it for the adventure or science. Ever since I told her it was in the Candy Kingdom, she—” Twilight stopped, sensing a dramatic change in the demeanor of the two elder Princesses. “...Is there something wrong with the Candy Kingdom?”
“Not… exactly,” Luna said, frowning.
“It can’t be the candy people themselves. I’ve seen a few in Ponyville. They’re not the brightest bunch, but they’re pretty harmless—sweet even!” Twilight cursed herself for the inadvertent pun.
“Oh, their people really are like that,” Celestia said. “And, really, there is no problem with the Candy Kingdom.”
“No problem?” Luna huffed indignantly. “Their Princess is a paranoid controlling despot who hides behind a cheery facade. We are still finding her spy cameras everywhere.”
“Luna, that’s hardly fair…”
“You know I’m not exaggerating.” Luna turned her gaze to Twilight, suddenly serious. “When you make it to the Candy Kingdom, do not be fooled by its colorful mask. There are dark secrets within. Do not let their Princess take you in with her smiles. Be careful.”
Twilight swallowed. This isn’t going to be as simple as I’m hoping, is it? “You can count on me, Luna. I won’t let her pull the blinds over me.”
“Good,” Luna said, withdrawing. “I only have one more question.”
“What is it?”
“How do you intend to cross the Everfree Forest?”
~~~
Twilight’s personal airship was a state-of-the-art masterpiece, and it couldn’t be any other way for Equestria’s newest Princess. Unlike many airship designs, this one had the balloon merged with the gondola to create a singular entity that was a significant upgrade in terms of structural integrity. Soft, silvery metal lined the lavender balloon, the center of which had the mark of Twilight displayed proudly upon it: a purple starburst with five smaller starbursts around it. The gondola itself had a dozen windows and could easily hold a dozen ponies within its walls. The exterior was laced with golden leaf designs that culminated in a pony sculpture just below the cockpit, hoof outstretched in friendship to whatever lay ahead of it.
Had it been equipped with any weapons, it might have been menacing. But when it had been built Twilight had refused to let the engineers install any. She was the Princess of Friendship; traveling in a mobile war machine simply wouldn’t do. If she wanted to travel in style, she was going to do so without being a threat. Even though the sight of a massive balloon might be immensely threatening to certain small tribes. There was a point where trying to make a good impression was an endeavor with diminishing returns.
Twilight stood at the front of the cockpit, gripping the levers with both her front legs and her wings. This was a doubly redundant setup—not only were the wing levers and leg levers functionally identical, the ship was also capable of flying itself due to a complex navigation spell Twilight had personally imbued within the craft. There was no need for her to drive at all.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take the time to enjoy the feeling of being at the helm of a craft ready to sail into the unknown, even if it wasn't really unknown. Just the Everfree Forest—an admittedly treacherous biome where magic ran free, making it so the pegasi couldn’t control the weather like they normally did across Equestria.
Her ship was prepared for it, though. Protective enchantments for rain, wind, lightning, and snow doubled with enough food and supplies for two full months out in the world should it be required. The hardest things to get were the various pieces of advanced surveying equipment, but even those had arrived eventually. It had taken a few agonizing weeks to set everything up for the voyage, but it was finally time. They had already said their goodbyes. All that was left... was to set off.
“Hey. Hey Twilight,” whispered a bouncy pink pony with a mane that looked and smelled of cotton candy. “I think Dashie’s getting impatient.”
“Me? Impatient!?” Their other companion, a cyan pegasus with the build of an athlete and a mane containing every color of the rainbow, snorted. “Hardly. I can sit here however long I want.”
“Oh. Okay!” The pink one turned back to Twilight. “Dashie’s not bored, just keep waiting! Savor the moment!” She reached into her massive tangle of a mane, pulling out a cupcake and munching on it.
Twilight released her grip on the levers to levitate the bits of cupcake and sprinkles away from her coat. With a roll of her eyes, she waved at Pinkie with her wing. “Pinkie, we can’t just eat cupcakes next to the controls. It’ll gunk everything up!”
Pinkie gasped. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t even think about it, I was just thinking about savoring the moment and marking the start of our journey and candy people.” The grin on her face threatened to cut her head in half. “Bring on the exploration, I’ll bring the punch! Hmm, now will that be fruit flavored or hoof-to-the-face flavored?” She trailed off, listing off different words and ideas relating to “punch” that Twilight automatically tuned out.
“...Rainbow, is it just me, or is she acting stranger than usual?” Twilight asked her friend.
Rainbow shrugged with her wings. “It’s Pinkie Pie. It’s really hard to tell. And I mean reaaaaally hard to tell.”
Pinkie shot bolt upright, jittering like she was a filly that had ingested way too much caffeine. “I’m just super duper fantasticalabulously excited to go to the Candy Kingdom! Did you know that it’s not just the people that are candy? It’s the houses! It’s the street! It’s the trees! Everything is made of candy and I’m gonna eat it!”
Twilight and Rainbow stared at her.
“Well, not the people, duh, and I’ll ask permission before eating anybody’s house. I’m not some kind of candy-eating monster from a horror movie, that’d be silly.” She put a hoof to her mouth and giggled. “Although, I bet I could get some good pranks out of that idea…”
“Pinkie, remember, we’re going there for a reason,” Twilight said.
“Yeah yeah,” Rainbow said, dismissively. “Go investigate the weird purple thing for the safety of Equestria.”
“...I thought we were doing it to satisfy Twilight’s curiosity,” Pinkie said, cocking her head.
“Both!” Twilight snapped, blushing right after she did. “We’re doing both.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Riiiight. Well, while you’re rolling in egghead business and Pinkie’s rolling in sugar content so high it should be toxic, I’ll be exploring!”
“The Candy Kingdom isn’t exactly unexplored, Dashie.” Pinkie held up a map and pointed at it. “See? We’ve got all its borders and everything!”
“That doesn’t mean there’s no exploring to be done! No adventures to be had!” Rainbow flapped her wings, hovering in the air to get some height on her friends. “There’s going to be something amazing on the other side of the Everfree, I just know it. And I’m going to be the one to find it!”
Twilight chuckled. “All right, all right, we all have different reasons for going, and we’ll all get to do what we want. But first… road trip!” She jumped back on the levers and pushed all of them forward.
The airship immediately went backwards, ignoring Twilight’s currently misguided sense of direction in favor of the correct, westward, route.
“Nice,” Rainbow snickered.
“Oh, be quiet, I’m the one who crafted this navigation spell, I’m still technically driving.”
“So did you beat yourself, or lose to yourself?” Pinkie asked.
“I beat m—wait, no I lost? But then I would win and I would lose and…”
Pinkie let out another giggle. “This is going to be a great trip! C’mon Dashie, let’s sing some traveling songs!”
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Twilight's description is a little lackluster, I can't find any description of her being purple and with the context that this is supposed to be an introduction for people completely unfamiliar with MLP it definitely feels like there should be more to it, not sure exactly what though.
Twilight's precision reminds me of this comic.
10258131
May have been added after your comment, but it's there now.
AIRSIHP
I absolutely love the description of Twilight's airship, and I definitely won't be ruminating over its description for my own purposes for my own airship ideas.
Probably should be "your departure".
That's Pinkie. So what other types of punch are there?
Wait, is AdventureTime really the land of Candy? I knew it was "Princess Bubblegum", but a pure candyland?
Yes.
10264578
The candy area is only one of several countries in "Adventure Time".