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The Adventure Begins7,601 words
Out of the Rain and Into the Library4,051 words
Meeting the Pagemaster and New Friends5,452 words
Escape From Horror Land7,077 words
Of Killer Whales and Pirates5,194 words
A Daring Rescue and Reunion6,080 words
Heart of a Dragon8,525 words
The Return Home5,772 words

Meeting the Pagemaster and New Friends

Twilight and her friends kept themselves braced for the worst, their eyes clenched tight. Some of them even held onto each other out of fear; Twilight onto Ben, Nyx onto Phobos, Pinkie holding onto Rainbow, Rarity onto Spike and Fluttershy onto Applejack. After a few moments, Twilight slowly opened her eyes and double-blinked.

"... huh?" She managed out of confusion.

Spike opened his eyes next. "Hey, we're not dead!" He exclaimed until he felt his head spikes, "... are my spikes rounder or is it just me?"

"Hmm... it's definitely not just you, darling." Rarity answered, looking him over after she opened her eyes.

After opening her own eyes and looking at the group before checking herself, Pinkie exclaimed to the others with a grin, "Hey, we look just like how we were in the MLP movie and Rainbow Roadtrip!"

The others looked at her in confusion. "Pinkie, you are so random." Rainbow remarked.

"Wait a minute." Ben said, "If we're like this, what about Richard?"

The others turned to the boy in question, who was still crouched over with his hands over his head. After a few seconds, he slowly stood up and they were surprised to notice that he also changed. In fact, he looked like he walked straight out of a 90s Disney film. He opened his eyes, which looked slightly bigger, and looked both shocked and confused at how much different he looked now.

After moments of silence and confusion, Richard finally found his voice. “I… I’m a cartoon!”

"You... are all illustrations."

The group was startled by this as they jumped a little. “Who’s there??” Twilight asked, looking around in concern.

They soon turned to the source of the voice, which came from none other than a man. But it was no ordinary man. It was the same blue-clad elderly man from the center mural on the ceiling, wielding the same staff looking like a rolled-up scroll.

“… who… who are you?” Richard asked nervously.

"I am the Pagemaster, keeper of the books, and guardian of the written word." The elderly man responded.

“Wait, you’re the guy from up there!” Spike exclaimed, pointing up to where the mural was.

Richard looked around before asking the man, "Where are the others?"

"Why, they're here, of course!" The Pagemaster replied mystically, "And all around."

Applejack leaned to Rarity, whispering, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

"Beats me." Rarity replied softly with a shrug.

"Maybe you can show us the way out?" Richard asked. "Follow me." The Pagemaster said.

And with that, the Pagemaster began to walk towards one of the corridors of shelves. The others, especially Richard, hesitated to follow at first.

"Um... is that the way?" Fluttershy asked.

At hearing Fluttershy's question, the elder man stopped to look back at the group. "Oh, the only way."

"But... what way is that?" Nyx asked in curiosity.

The Pagemaster just turned to the approaching group with a grin. “Fiction A to Z! Where all is possible,” He replied, making a page appear from out of nowhere, “Where a boy’s imagination can take route and grow to incredible heights!” As the blue-robed being said that, he threw the page into the air. In an instant, the page transformed into a towering giant and walked on his merry way down the corridor.

The group looked amazed at seeing what just happened while Richard hid behind the Pagemaster.

"Whoa!" Rainbow gasped.

And from out of thin air, a Viking boat appeared. But it didn’t just appear, it rowed through the air as if it were flying. Men grunting was heard from the boat as it happened.

“Wow…” Spike managed.

"Where a boy's courage is a wind that moves them to discovery!" The Pagemaster continued.

The group just watched the Viking boat fly above them in awe as the Pagemaster spoke on.

"And where your journey... begins!"

Neither of them noticed a couple of carts rolling their way. But on "begins", Richard found himself, along with Nyx and Phobos, suddenly atop one, Twilight and Ben on another, Spike and Rarity on the third, Applejack and Rainbow Dash on the fourth, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy on the fifth. This in turn caused them all to let out cries of surprise. And as if by magic, the carts rolled on their own and sped down the corridor of bookshelves.

While our heroes wheeled off, the Pagemaster faded away as he spoke to them, "To find your way home, you must face three tests: horror, adventure, and fantasy."

"What does that mean?!" Rainbow asked the others as she held on tight.

"I think we're on a quest!" Twilight replied as she held on.

"And remember this: When in doubt, look to the books!" They heard the Pagemaster's voice echo throughout the library.

"Aaah, how do you stop this thing?!" Richard cried.

"Wheeeee!" Pinkie cheered as she rode on the cart while Fluttershy held on.

As they traveled down the corridors, they could have sworn they heard other voices echoing throughout the library.

"Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!"

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past..."

"All the pirates shared a grave."

Up ahead, they saw the end of the corridor. Against the wall was a phone booth.

"EVERYBODY BRACE YOURSELVES!" Twilight exclaimed.

The group followed Twilight's words of advice as they rode toward the booth.

CRASH!!

Following the crash, books were strewn across the floor around the phone booth. The ponies and dragons were lying either above or under the piles of books while Richard lay halfway in the phone booth, the phone dangling by its cord off the hook.

After the busy tone was heard, the phone operator's voice spoke from it, "Due to the storm, all lines have been temporarily disconnected. Please try your call again later."

Richard groaned as he sat up, shaking his head. “This is not good. Definitely not good at all.”

The other ponies and dragons sat up as they recovered as best as they could from the crash. "Is everybody okay?" Twilight asked, rubbing her head.

"I'm okay, Mommy." Nyx replied.

Spike checked both his limbs, including his wings. "Nothing broken here."

"Glad my wings aren't broken." Rainbow remarked as she checked herself.

Fluttershy looked to the mess of books, more concerned about that than about whether or not she was hurt. "Oh, Mr. Dewey won't be too pleased with this mess..."

"You're most certainly right about that, Fluttershy." Rarity said.

"Don't worry, organizing books is one of my favorite things to do." Twilight spoke, getting up. With that, she fired up her horn and it began to glow. The fallen books soon also began to glow with the same aura that her horn did. Before she could make any of the books move with her magic, however, a sword popped out from underneath the big pile just in front of Richard. This, of course, caused him to scream in alarm upon noticing, startling Twilight from her element as she turned in the boy's direction.

"What is it, Richard?!" Twilight asked urgently.

Before Richard could even answer, a voice spoke from under the book pile. "Where's the son of a seabiscuit knocked me from me crow's nest?!"

The source of the voice yanked the book from atop it, revealing it belonged to a more anthropomorphic book. Its covers were brown and its arms a maroon color. A thick brown mustache rested under his big nose, the face and "spine" being a lighter shade of brown. On the book's right arm was a hook for a hand and he wore a dark brown belt and a black loafer on its right leg while the left was a peg leg. Atop the book's head was a red bandana while an eyepatch was over its left eye.

"Tell me I'm not the only one seeing this." Rainbow whispered to Applejack.

"You sure ain't the only one." Applejack whispered back.

The talking book shook off some pages as he shouted while looking around, "Where's 'e be?! Where's 'e be?!"

Everybody stood there, not sure what to say. … at least until Phobos broke the silence. “Uh… he did it!” He quickly exclaimed, pointing at Richard.

Looking at who Phobos was pointing at, the brown book shouted accusingly, "So here be the lubber who knocked me on me poop deck, and with no apologies, too!"

“Phobos!” Nyx scolded, glaring at the dragon in question.

"What?" Phobos asked while shrugging.

Applejack just facepalmed at hearing that. Before anybody else could say anything, the pirate-like book hopped atop the fallen cart next to him and Richard. The literally anthropomorphic inanimate object glanced at the boy inquisitively and spoke once more.

“Eh, you fiction or non-fiction?” He interrogated the young lad, pointing his sword in Richard’s face.

"Uh... R-Richard, Richard Tyler." Richard said nervously.

"What kind of book would that be?" Adventure asked suspiciously.

“We’re not books.” Richard answered, shaking his head.

"Got any proof?"

The boy looked to his pocket and dug out his library card. “See? Here’s my name.”

“And ours, too.” Twilight added, presenting her own library card.

The pirate-clad book examined the cards closely before he lifted his eye patch as he gasped in surprise. "Library cards!" He exclaimed. The book then bowed respectfully, “Beggin’ yer pardon, lad. Didn’t know ye and yer friends were customers! Name's Adventure, mateys." Adventure replied, "At yer service."

“It’s very nice to meet you, Adventure. I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight introduced herself politely before gesturing to Ben, “This is my coltfriend, Ben Valorheart.”

She then gestured to Spike, “And my number one assistant and adoptive little brother, Spike.”

“What’s up?” Spike greeted, a smile on his face.

"Hi there." Ben greeted.

“And my daughter, Nyx.” The lilac Alicorn added, gesturing to the little black-coated foal.

Nyx politely waved. “Hiya. This is my friend, Phobos.” She added, gesturing to the moon dragon in question.

"Yo." Phobos greeted.

Applejack came up, “Pleasure to meet ya, name’s Applejack.”

“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie added excitedly.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow said proudly.

"I'm Rarity. Pleasure to meet you." Rarity said politely.

"And I'm... Fluttershy." Fluttershy said shyly.

Spike managed to help Richard to his feet. “Look, all we wanna do is get out of here.” The latter replied cautiously.

"Of carse ya do, matey! We all do!" The book said with a smile while gesturing the books around him. Then he spoke softly for them to hear, "But this is a library, mates. Not everything's as it seems."

The ponies and dragons looked a bit nervous about hearing this, as was Richard. They knew that the pirate-like book wasn’t wrong, yet they didn’t feel any less uneasy. A clap of thunder brought them back down to earth and they turned back to the long corridor to see a ton of pages flying their way.

“Look to the books, look to the books…” A familiar voice echoed as the pages flew their way.

The group yelled out in startlement at this, but Fluttershy was the most freaked out. "I gotta get outta here!" She cried as she ran down the aisle.

"Fluttershy, wait! Come back!" Twilight cried.

At that moment, Fluttershy was too scared to even look back or even ahead of herself, cause she kept her eyes shut. But that was a bad idea, for she fell right through a hole in the library floor.

"FLUTTERSHY!!" The other Equestrians cried out as they ran up towards the hole. It turned out that Fluttershy tumbled down into a deep, dark pit with a pool of black water at the bottom. Just when she was about to hit the water with a big splash, a huge anchor swung down and caught her between the legs. The anchor began to swing back and forth across the pit.

Suddenly, Fluttershy heard a strange noise. It sounded like a clock ticking. But what would a clock be doing down here? She soon found out as she looked down. A giant alligator shot up out of the water and opened its powerful jaws, ready to snap at her. Looking down, Fluttershy saw that an old alarm clock was wedged inside its throat.

"The ticking crocodile from Peter Pan?!" Fluttershy asked fearfully. She braced herself as she screamed, "SOMEPONY HELP ME!"

"Fluttershy, hang on!" Fluttershy heard Nyx's voice cry out.

Just then, the anchor began to pull the yellow pegasus away from the water--and the alligator. She jumped off and collapsed on the library floor. Standing over her was her smiling rescuer, Adventure.

"Tick-Tock the Crocodile, here? I thought this was "Pagemaster", not Disney!" Pinkie exclaimed in confusion over what happened with Fluttershy as she and the other Equestrians and Richard walked up to her.

"Plus, Dinodisneylover1 got dibs on that movie already for the Disney Chronicles." Nyx commented in agreement.

"Don't forget, there are different variations of Peter Pan." Applejack said, "And there's a possibility that the author might do another version of Peter Pan."

"Since when are you random like Pinkie and Nyx?" Rainbow asked Applejack, weirded out by what she just did.

"Since Pony Life! Keep up, Rainbow!" Applejack explained, rolling her eyes at this.

"Are you okay, Fluttershy?" Rarity asked in concern.

The yellow pegasus sighed as she replied, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Then don't run off like that again." Applejack said, "We don't wanna lose you." Fluttershy shook her head in agreement.

Spike looked worried, “Is there danger around every corner here?”

"If there is, we better stick together to face it." Twilight warned.

"Y-you said you knew the way out?" Richard asked the pirate-like book.

"Is he seriously asking a book how to get out of the library?" Rainbow asked Applejack skeptically.

The book, not acknowledging Rainbow’s words, replied to Richard, “I know these waters like the back o’ me hook!” He then looked to his own hook, but let out a groan of annoyance before looking back and forth between the corridors. The book had even lifted his eyepatch so he could look with both eyes before coming to a conclusion.

“This way.” He answered, pointing down the corridor to his left.

"I gotta get home." Richard said as he started heading down the corridor, "My parents are probably worried sick about me."

Not saying another word, the others began to follow after him. The pirate-like book nearly caused the ponies and dragons to trip as he walked past and under them to keep up with Richard. “Well, I'm afeard I've been dry-docked in this library far longer than I'd like to remember.” He said to the glasses-wearing boy, “As I sees it, you with your library card are me ticket out of here! Is is a deal, Matey?!”

“Uh, yeah. I guess so.” Richard replied unsure.

The book laughed excitedly as he spun on his peg leg, “That’s the spirit, lad!”

“Can we get going now?” Richard asked a bit impatiently.

"Aye-aye!" Adventure replied as he saluted with his hook, turning towards a ladder as he spoke, "Let's scale this mast and get our bearings."

Applejack glanced at the ladder. “Uh… that’s a ladder.”

“Either way, it could help us get an idea of how to find our way out.” Twilight replied, heading over to the ladder, “Come on!”

"Yeah, let's go!" Nyx said as she followed her mother.

"Uh... you guys go ahead." Richard said nervously, "I kinda have this thing about... heights."

"Aw, come on, Rich. It's just a short climb." Spike replied, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Yeah. Nothing to it!" Pinkie said happily.

"Guys, 43% of all accidents involve ladders." Richard pointed out, "Another 19% involve bookcases. You're dealin' with a 62% probability. I'll just stay on the ground if you don't mind."

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow groaned under her breath.

"I'll take care o' that." Adventure said.

The ponies and dragons looked to see Adventure turn his attention to the shelf just next to the ladder.

As he looked through the books, he muttered while pointing to a couple of them, "Mysterious Island... Kidnapped..." When the brown pirate book saw the next book, he pointed to it as he exclaimed, "Aha, here we be!" He pulled out the red book and opened it as he said its title, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

Adventure looked at a page of the book which had a picture of a squid on it as he muttered, "The Squid... yes, that's it." Then he tossed the open book to the ground, and suddenly, the area began flooding with water.

"Adventure? What did you do?!" Fluttershy asked in panic.

Then slimy, giant squid tentacles squirmed from between the pages of the book as Nyx shouted, "It's a giant squid!"

"COME ON, RICHARD!!" Spike cried out, noticing the boy in question was practically frozen with fear.

Richard quickly scrambled up the ladder faster than a fireman, fearfully gazing at the tentacles reaching for him and the others.

he others climbed up the ladder in a panic as well. Some of them, especially Fluttershy, refused to look back out of fear.

"Head for the top!" Twilight cried.

The ponies did so, and as soon as our heroes neared the top, Richard turned to Adventure angrily, "What'd you do that for? You're supposed to be helping us!"

"I am helpin' ya. I'm helpin' ya find the exit." Adventure said. Then he pulled off his peg leg, and with three clicks, he gradually stretched it into a telescope, to the surprise of the Equestrians, "We'll just have a look-see," He explained as he placed the telescope over his good eye, scanning the territory.

Still clinging tightly to the top of the ladder, Richard and the other Equestrians slowly raised up to look over the top of the book stacks. Nothing had prepared them for the amazing sight they saw there. Laid out before them, like an incredible tapestry, the greatest stories of all time had come to life. Amazing sights and sounds were coming from every direction.

"Gracious!" Rarity exclaimed in awe.

"Wow!" Nyx gasped.

"Thar she blows!" a lookout shouted from the crow's-nest of a clipper ship, as it glided between the stacks. Nearby, a magnificent white whale jumped upward, then crashed back down, sending an explosion of water up into the air. Suddenly the boiling white water transformed itself into a cloudy mist, which moved across a yellow moon, then dipped down to surround a scary old house. A bolt of lightning highlighted a tall tower that rose high above the house. A shadowy swarm of bats came flying out of it.

"EEW! Bats!" Rarity exclaimed in disgust the instant she, Richard and the others ducked as the bats flew over their heads in a blind flurry. When they turned to watch them fly off, they turned into huge pterodactyls! The giant, leather-winged, prehistoric creatures circled slowly above a volcano that erupted in explosions of hot, orange-colored lava and black smoke.

Looking in another direction, the group spied a boy in a white turban, perched aboard a flying carpet. He was swooping and gliding around the tall minarets of ancient Baghdad. Then, above the distant horizon, an odd greenish light appeared.

"Hey, what's that?" Rainbow asked in confusion on seeing the light.

Richard pushed up his glasses and strained for a better look. Abruptly, he snatched the telescope away from Adventure and slowly brought the green glow into focus. "I see it! I see it!" The boy shouted. Through the lens of the telescope, Richard had spotted the precious exit sign.

Just then, the ladder started to shake. Applejack gave Adventure an angry look. "Hey! Stop messin' with the ladder!"

"Don't tell me." Adventure said as he pointed down, "Tell him!" Not far from the end of Adventure's finger, a giant squid tentacle was beginning to slowly weave its way up the ladder.

"Oh no! The Squid!" Ben shouted in alarm.

Adventure snatched back his peg and leaped across the aisle to the opposite stack. Catching a shelf with his hook, he swung himself up. "Jump, boy! It's jump or your life!"

Twilight looked down to see the squid’s tentacles wrapping around the ladder. “Okay, everyone! On three, we jump!”

“One…” Applejack said nervously.

"Two..." Rarity gulped.

“THREE!!!” Pinkie shouted, jumping from her spot to the opposite stack.

The other Equestrians jumped from their spots as well, Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Spike and Nyx easily making it using their wings.

Richard was the last to jump as the ladder began to lean towards the stack. He managed to grab a shelf the second he made it, just a few shelves above the others. However, the boy found his grip was slipping and he grabbed a few books out of panic in hopes it would keep him from falling. He managed to grab a thick purple book before he fell towards the ground with a scream.

“RICHARD!!!!” Nyx shouted in panic.

“I got this!” Rainbow exclaimed, zipping from her spot on the shelf to Richard to catch him.

As the books landed on the floor along with Richard's glasses and what looked like a golden wand, Rainbow flew to the bottom and held out her hooves, expecting to catch the boy... …only to find that Richard was somehow floating inches over the floor.

"Huh??" Rainbow asked upon noticing this as she looked up.

"Let go of my face! I can't breathe!" A muffled female voice grunted.

Richard looked up in confusion when hearing that voice. Much to his surprise, the purple book he was holding onto also had a face on its spine, much like Adventure. Except this book’s face looked more feminine and had a pink hairdo. She had on her nose triangular spectacles and atop her head what looked like a paper tiara. She was wearing a lilac skirt and glass slippers on her feet. And Richard realized the reason he was “floating” was because of the wings on the book’s back.

Quickly, Richard lets go of the purple book's face, causing her to gasp for air as he dropped into Rainbow's hooves.

The book flew up to them, practically getting in Richard’s face. “What are you doing, grabbing me like that and messing up my pantyhose?!” She snapped at him. She scoffed as she landed on the floor and started straightening herself, grumbling out loud, "Now I gotta straighten out my Little Mermaid underwear."

Rainbow placed Richard down so he could get his glasses. "Um... who are you?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

Picking up her wand, she replied in a grumpy tone, "I'm Fantasy." Then she realized what she just did and cleared her throat before she tried again in a sweet tone while batting her eyes, "I'm Fantasy!" Just then, she noticed Richard's library card on the floor while pointing to it with her wand as she asked in confusion, "What is this?"

Richard reached for the card, which the purple book, Fantasy, took with her foot, picked it up, and read it as the boy replied, "It's a library card."

"I'm a book, honey. I can read." Fantasy remarked sarcastically. Then she cleared her throat as she hovered before giving Richard his card, which he pocketed as the purple book asked, "Now tell me, what's the one thing you wish for more than anything in the world? Hmm?"

"Anything in the world?" Rainbow asked, looking a bit excited, "Well, even though I got my dream of being a Wonderbolt, anything sounds pretty-."

"Uh, I was talking to him." Fantasy interrupted, gesturing to Richard.

"Oh."

Richard looked a bit unsure at first, but replied, "I'd like to get out of here."

"I'll grant your wish, child, but you must do me one small kindness in return." Fantasy said while holding up one finger and gesturing it and her thumb on 'small'.

"Like what?" Rainbow asked.

"YOU GOTTA CHECK ME OUTTA HERE!" Fantasy shouted as she suddenly grabbed Richard by his cheeks while shaking him like a British nanny.

"That's it? Okay, let's go!" The blond boy exclaimed, briefly taking Fantasy by the hand before he stopped, "Do I have to click my heels or something?"

"Uh... wrong movie." Rainbow remarked with a chuckle.

Fantasy laughs as she said, "Honey, you're in the wrong story."

"Richard? Rainbow? Are you two okay?" The three looked to the top of the book stack to see Twilight and the others looking over the edge with concern.

"Yeah, we're okay, guys." Rainbow replied, calling back to the purple alicorn.

"That was a close one. Lad? Lad?" They heard the unmistakable voice of Adventure speak as he peered over the edge, "Hold on there, missus! The lad and winged horse are with us!"

"You know that short story and those colorful characters?" Fantasy asked Richard and Rainbow.

"Yeah, those are my best friends; Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Equestria, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, along with Spike the Dragon, Ben Valorheart- Twilight's coltfriend, their adopted daughter, Nyx, and Phobos the Moon Dragon." Rainbow replied.

"And the book's Adventure." Richard added.

"Honey, that's what they all say." Fantasy remarked, rolling her eyes.

"I heard that! I'll have you know I'm a classic!" Adventure snapped, unsheathing his sword.

"Mm-hmm." Fantasy nodded sarcastically, "A classic misprint."

Adventure obviously didn't take too kindly to that remark. "Why, you old sea serpent! I'll tear out your pages and use 'em for-!" Just then, he slipped off the book stack, screaming, "MAAAN OVERBOOOAAARRD!!!"

"Adventure!" Spike exclaimed in panic.

"Do something!" Richard shouted.

Fantasy looked like she was thinking of what to do. But then, she pointed her wand at Adventure and seemingly cast a spell in his direction. The “spell” did nothing and the pirate-like book instead literally fell flat on his face.

The Equestrians cringed the moment that part happened before Fantasy said a bit sheepishly, "Oops! I forgot. My wand doesn't always work outside the fantasy section."

"You mean that you can't wish us to the exit?" Richard asked in disappointment.

“That overdue shrew’s never even seen the exit!” Adventure groaned, face still to the ground.

As he said that, the rest of Rainbow's friends caught up to her and Richard, Twilight having to use her magic to carry Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie.

"More than you have, shorty!" Fantasy snapped as she glared at the fallen pirate book, "In fact, the exit's just beyond my fantasy section. Hmph!"

“But why are you over here in this section?” Ben asked, helping Adventure up.

"Yeah? Was there a special fantasy-themed promotion party event here or something?" Pinkie asked.

“Or a witch’s convention, maybe?” Adventure rudely asked as Ben dusted him off, using his own bandana.

"Look. I was misshelved." Fantasy explained angrily. She smiled and laughed a bit before she touched Richard's chin a bit as she spoke, "But that's over, now that young Prince Charming here has come to check me out." Then she grabbed his arm and attempted to take him off.

"My good eye, he is! The lad's checkin' me out!" Adventure exclaimed as he grabbed his bandana and grabbed Richard by his other arm before he started pulling him in the opposite direction as he said, "Come on, lads, we're wastin' time chummin' off this dinghy. It's on to the exit for us!"

Richard found himself unwillingly as part of a tug o' war as Fantasy kept pulling on him while saying, "If he thinks the exit's in that direction, you know it's got to be in this one!"

“Um… can’t we all just… well… get along?” Fluttershy asked meekly, not wanting to see them fight, but afraid she’d add to the conflict.

Ignoring Fluttershy's words, Adventure said to Richard as he kept pulling on him, "Don't listen to her, mate. She's not sailin' with a full crew!"

As she kept pulling, Fantasy rapidly fluttered her wings, and a blast of blue pixie dust sprayed into Adventure's face.

"Ah-ah-AHHH-CHOO!!!"

At that big sneeze, the pirate-like book sent himself flying a bit down the corridor and landed on his head. He let out a frustrated groan after the big landing. “Fantasy… she’s a bloody nightmare.” He muttered under his breath.

"Let's leave him." Fantasy told the others, "He doesn't even know where we are now!"

Twilight looked at Fantasy curiously. “Do you know where we are?”

“Well, I couldn’t say.” The fairy godmother-like book admitted with a shrug.

Adventure quickly interrupted, “But I do! We’re…” From his position, he turned to the shelf next to him. There, he spotted a book with the title ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’ on the spine. “Hound of Baskervilles…” He muttered, leaping to his feet and taking the book before handing it to Richard, “We’re in Baskervilles! Have a look-see!”

"Hmm..." Richard said as he opened it while looking through its pages before taking a closer look, "Huh?"

Just as the boy took a closer look at the pages, though, a black dog with red eyes literally stuck its head out of the pages, barking viciously at him and scaring him. This had also scared the others, eliciting loud screams of fright from all of them. Richard had tossed the book down in fright.

“LET’S GET OUTTA HERE!!!” Twilight shouted in panic.

The group ran like the dickens while the vicious dog, the Hound of Baskervilles, got out of the book and chased after them, tearing up the pages in the process.

Fantasy flew up towards a particular row of books that had a hole in it as she called out urgently while pointing in it, "Hey, this way! Through here!" Then she flew through it afterward.

Fluttershy, in her panic, practically dove through the hole. Spike immediately followed in his own panic.

"That thing's as vicious as a Timberwolf!" Applejack remarked in fright before she jumped into the hole.

“MAKE WAY!!” Rainbow shouted as she followed suit.

"I don't even want that creature's saliva on me!!" Rarity shouted as she followed into the hole.

"For a Sherlock Holmes character, that Hound sure would make a great horror monster!" Pinkie remarked in fright before jumping after her friends in the hole.

“Hurry!” Twilight exclaimed, scooping Nyx and Phobos up and pushing them each into the hole.

"Right behind you, Twilight!" Ben said as he got up to the purple alicorn, who quickly climbed after her daughter and the moon dragon before her coltfriend followed afterward.

"Nice doggy! Good doggy!" Adventure said in panic as he and Richard ran up to the hole.

“Hurry!” Richard exclaimed, scooping up Adventure and putting him on the shelf. Adventure let out a yelp when he nearly fell from the shelf, grabbing the upper shelf with his hand. Fortunately, Richard helped push him into the open hole a bit before he turned to see the vicious dog approaching him fast. The boy didn’t get a chance to react because the pirate-like book yanked him into the hole with him using his hook. And just before the dog could catch him with its jaws as it ran past. Then the hole was replaced with some books to complete the row.

On the other side of the shelf, the group leaned against it as they breathed heavily. Rarity had one hoof over her chest as she did her best to slow her rapidly thumping heart.

“That… was… too close…” She managed through her breathing.

"I... thought... we were... dog food..." Nyx panted.

"Me... too..." Phobos agreed through panting.

If she weren’t so freaked out and out of breath, Twilight would have given Adventure an earful for even having Richard take a look at that one book. But that happened to be the last thing on her mind when she turned around and saw they were in what looked like an entirely new land.

"Guys... look at that." She said while looking out at the area.

Everyone turned around to see what Twilight saw. Before them lay a dreary land with gravestones scattered about. The sky seemed to be perpetually nighttime and fog rolled along the ground.

“Ohhh, baby.” Fantasy said uneasily.

"Are we still in the library?" Richard asked nervously.

"Aye, lad, the horror section." Adventure confirmed.

"Ohh... it looks really scary." Fluttershy whimpered.

“And very ghastly!” Rarity exclaimed.

"That it does." Adventure agreed. He unsheathed his sword as he said a bit nervously, "Just stick close to me, and... and you got nothin' to worry about."

"Mm-hmm." Fantasy said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.

“Do we have to?” Spike asked, not even attempting to hide his fear.

"If we wanna leave the library, Spike, we have no choice." Twilight said.

“… all right.”

And with that, the group began their venture into the dark and spooky land of the Horror section. Hopefully, they would be able to make their way through this literal living nightmare and find their way home.

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