The Reception's Been Canceled

by sister_mike

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Twilight Sparkle

Traveling with Trixie significantly slowed things down. They were so close to Zecora's hut, and yet it took them three times as long as it should have to get there. Many times Twilight considered sending the Shadowbolt ahead to Zecora's, but since he couldn't talk, he wouldn't be able to relay a message. Plus, she may mistake him for a changeling or something worse. Without Twilight there to explain that he was protecting her, there was no point in sending him first.

Then she thought of maybe making the Shadowbolt stay with Trixie while she quickly ran ahead to get Zecora to come help her, but whenever she tried, Trixie panicked and would run in the opposite direction of the Shadowbolt. She only seemed to tolerate him when Twilight was around.

So they slowly made their way to the Everfree Forest and slowly through it. Trixie got extremely distracted by the pinecones and kept trying to throw them at the levitating ones. Twilight figured she was trying to make them levitate as well.

"No Trixie, use your magic; you can't just throw them," Twilight said. She demonstrated. Twice Trixie got it right, but then she would suddenly just drop all the pinecones she was levitating, panic, and scramble to pick them up using her legs.

Why does she keep forgetting she can use magic?

After what seemed like decades, Zecora's hut finally appeared into view. Twilight had never been so happy to see it in all her life. There was smoke coming from the chimney—normal smoke, none of that gross green mist—and she could see the silhouettes of ponies inside. Ponies, plural! With any luck, her friends had noticed that there was no green coming from the forest, just as she had, and had decided to go meet up with Zecora.

"Trixie!" Twilight said, once she saw Zecora's hut, "I have an idea! Let's store all of your pinecones in there! That hut is more than big enough to store them all!"

Trixie jumped up and down, excited at the idea. This caused her twin pinecone to fall off of her hat. She shrieked and dove for it, knocking over her stockpile of pinecones.

"Great and powerful!" Trixie said. She coddled the twin pinecone.

Twilight couldn't wait any more. Before she could say a word, Twilight levitated all of Trixie's pinecones and hurriedly walked towards Zecora's hut. Trixie began to sob, and ran after the flying pinecones. Twilight kept them high above her. Trixie tried to jump up and grab them.

Twilight kicked the door open and dropped the pinecones in the first corner of the room she could see. Trixie dove in and sat on top of them, protecting her hoard.

"Twilight!"

Twilight looked over at Apple Bloom as she said her name. Tears sprung to Twilight's eyes. Apple Bloom, Applejack and Zecora all sat at the table. She wasn't surprised to see Big Mac standing by the window. She was surprised to see Derpy mixing something in Zecora's cauldron.

"Applejack, Apple Bloom! I'm so happy to see you!"

There was a round of hugs and rejoicing. Applejack cried again as she quickly relayed what happened to Granny Smith. Apple Bloom once again passed on the information about Scootaloo.

"I'm so sorry for both your losses," Twilight said. She wiped her tears away.

Big Mac suddenly glared at something over Twilight's shoulder. She turned to see the Shadowbolt.

"No, it's ok; he's with me," Twilight said. She then told the story about her special message from Celestia, and how she found Luna.

"Princess Luna is supposed to meet us in Ponyville; I'm surprised she's not here already. I went ahead and found Trixie along the way; we were attacked and she somehow transported us to the White Tail Woods," Twilight said. "Have you heard from the others?"

"Big Mac and I met up with Rainbow Dash and Derpy in Ponyville; Fluttershy was already here when we arrived. Once Rainbow Dash learned about Scootaloo however, she stormed out and Fluttershy went out after her; that was about twenty minutes ago. Haven't heard from Pinkie or Rarity," Applejack said.

Twilight and the Shadowbolt stepped further into the hut, closing the door behind them.

"So... what's up with the pinecones?" Applejack asked, nudging her head towards Trixie.

"She—"

The door suddenly burst open again. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy entered the hut, followed by two Royal Guards.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy! I'm so glad to see you guys are ok!" Twilight said. Another round of hugs.

"Twilight Sparkle; my name is Titan Wings. I was sent by Princess Luna," the grey pegasus said. He had black armor on; the white pegasus had gold armor on. "This is CloudsArmor; he serves Princess Celestia."

"Do you know where Princess Celestia is?" Twilight asked. CloudsArmor shook his head. "Where's Princess Luna?"

"The princess has been detained; she did not give me further information. From what I gather, while she was in the prison cell, the dark magic inhibited her sending out messages to her guards. There were a dozen of us stationed on the moon, and our orders were not to move until she instructed us to do so. Some others began to get antsy after we did not hear from her for months; some of them went looking and never came back. I never break commands, so I waited. Finally, she sent a message once you freed her, saying that I must go and find you, and aid you in your quest. And I recruited CloudsArmor along the way. We are now at your disposal, Twilight Sparkle," Titan Wings said.

"You're the captain's sister; it's only logical to take orders from you," CloudsArmor said.

"She was detained? I hope she's alright; maybe she's found Princess Celestia," Twilight said.

"Umm... what's wrong with Trixie?" Rainbow Dash said.

Trixie was sitting atop her pinecone pile, whispering things to her twin pinecone. When the others stopped talking and looked at her, she stopped whispering and hid the twin pinecone from view.

"I don't know," Twilight sighed, "She was like this when I found her. Something terrible must have happened."

"This pony has a scrambled brain, I can see that clear and plain," Zecora said, taking a step towards Trixie. Trixie glared at Zecora.

"Can you help her Zecora?" Twilight asked.

"Help her, I am not sure I can; for I do not know this curse's plan," she said.

"This is so frustrating. It's like she's forgotten how to use her magic, forgotten she has magic. I can't explain why she's obsessed with pinecones either, but nobody toy with them, or else. With her in this stage, her magic is unstable; it was that instability that sort of saved us when we were attacked by changelings," Twilight explained. "I don't know what to do to help, because I've never heard or seen anything like this before."

"I have."

Everypony turned their heads towards the voice at the door. Titan Wings and CloudsArmor stepped aside.

Behind them was Rarity.

Comments

[sister_mike]

[mbpony 512]

Aw snap, as if the gang didn't have enough emotional problems right now...I can almost tell that AJ isn't going to like it that Rarity brought back with her those "fake Apple Cider sellers."

However, desperate times do call for Desperate measures.

Great reunion between the girls and their allies, but now all that's left is Pinkie Pie, and I can only hope that she makes it back safe and sound as well with her little sister.

Please do keep up the good work upon such a great story line like this one.

[ctzmsc3]

Well, that answers my question from the last chapter.
Yay, they're almost all reunited!