The Two Unicorns

by Lets Do This

The Word for World is...

The Forest was vast, gray, and numinous. Its gnarled boughs were a depthless thicket of massive talons. Wisps of fog filtered here and there among them, along creeper-choked hoof-trails. Every now and then something crashed through the underbrush, or hooted eerily, or creaked in a manner sounding neither mortal nor safe.

There was a word for the place. One word, describing it utterly:

Everfree.

Far above the Forest, higher even than the scudding, ragged clouds overhead, the sky itself was a calm, shimmering, placid blue.

Then with a rippling shudder, it splashed, like the surface of a lake. And disgorged two ponies. One was a lavender earth pony strapped into a broad winged airframe. The other was a cyan pegasus, who clung to hoof-grips on the airframe's upper surface, her own rainbow-fringed wings flapping for stability as the unusual craft righted itself.

"Woo hoo!" Twilight Sparkle punched the air with a hoof. "See, Rainbow? Nothing to it."

"Eeeyeah," the pegasus allowed, her gaze darting around cautiously. "We got here, I'll grant ya. But don't get cocky, Twi. You've only done this once before. Twice, if you count me lugging you back home the first time."

"But I was right! We only needed some kind of propulsion to navigate between the worlds. Getting back again should be just as easy."

"Heh!" Rainbow smirked. "Admit it, Twilight. You just wanted me along as a live engine, to power you outta here if anything went wrong."

"Of course not! We planned this together. And thanks to a little cloud-based structural material --" She rapped one of the airframe's smoke-gray spans with a hoof. "-- we've got an aircraft that's both lighter and more sturdy."

"Natch." Rainbow preened. "In Cloudsdale, we build stuff to last."

Twilight's goggled eyes swept about eagerly as she looked down through the clouds at the forested hills and valleys below, stretching seemingly to the horizon in every direction.

"Wow..." she breathed. "A entirely new world, one neither earth ponies nor pegasi have seen before. Wonder what's down there?"

"Meh. Looks kinda scraggly to me." Rainbow peered down doubtfully from her perch as Twilight banked the craft round. "And crowded, too. Wouldn't that be just our luck? We get all the way here and there's no place to safely land this bird?"

"I think I see an open area over that way." Twilight pointed. "Let's give it a try."

She banked the airframe around, and then down, and soon they were coasting to a landing over a stretch of what looked like moorland. It was bordered on either side by increasing ranks of gnarled trees, which were themselves backed by the even denser walls of the forest.

Twilight's hooves hit the ground running, and she jogged to a halt. Then Rainbow hopped off and obligingly helped Twilight unstrap herself from the airframe. Twilight pulled off her hoof-made goggles, and tucked them into a compartment under the right wing.

Then she stood for a moment, glancing uncertainly from the aircraft to the walls of forest nearby.

"I don't think we want to drag this along with us while we're exploring. But equally, we shouldn't just leave it sitting out in the open like this. Anything could happen to it."

"Yeah..." Rainbow nodded. "Oh, I got it! Leave it to me."

Flapping her wings, she re-hooked her forehooves onto the grips on the craft's upper surface, then lifted it easily off the ground. Angling around, she headed for one of the nearer trees, which had at least a thin crown of leaves on its upper branches. With care she lowered the craft in amongst the top branches so it was lodged securely, but not immovably. Then she flapped back down again.

"There! As long as we don't get a big windstorm or nothin', it should be safe. Nopony will mess with it up there."

"Thanks, Rainbow." Twilight grinned. "Now, which way I wonder? Ah, I see a path over there. Let's try that."

"Suits me."

------------------------------

They followed the path as it wound amongst the trees, then crossed into the depths of the Forest proper. And as they went, Rainbow became increasingly nervous and wary. She glared upwards at the thickening tree-cover overhead.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"Eh, it's a pegasus thing. We don't like being hemmed in, particularly overhead. Some houses back in Cloudsdale, they don't even have roofs since we don't have to worry about unexpected weather." She bounced up in the air, her wings flapping. "And this 'ground' stuff -- yick! It just feels wrong underhoof, not like clouds at all. Think I'll stick to my wings for now. That way I've got all four hooves ready in case anything comes at us."

She shadowboxed as she flew along, punching and swiping and bucking at the air. And Twilight smiled.

"Don't start any fights we can't talk our way out of."

"No promises. But what're we gonna say anyways, assuming we meet anypony? Hi, we're from another world? Take us to your leader? That kinda thing?"

"Hmmm. Maybe we should keep the 'other world' part to ourselves for now, just to be safe. We can always say we're... not local."

"Yeah, that works. We're about as not-local as it gets."

They continued onwards, following a trail that was increasingly dim and creeper-choked. Twilight peered around into the shadows, curiosity warring with caution. She wanted like anything to know who or what inhabited this world. Yet at the same time, she really hoped they'd turn out to be friendly.

Then she came to a halt, staring into the dense brush off to the right. Just for a moment, she thought she'd seen a brief flash of light. And off in the distance in that direction she could just make out... a pony? Yet even as she watched, the distant shape abruptly turned and slipped away, disappearing into the mists.

"What is it?" Rainbow asked, peering the same way.

"Nothing," Twilight said, shaking her head. "Probably just a deer, or some other animal."

They continued onwards. And as they went, the conversation turned as it often did to Rainbow's favorite subject: the Wonderbolts.

"Wish those guys could see me now," Rainbow said eagerly. "Bushwhacking through impassable jungle, exploring an unknown, probably forbidden land, ransacking temples, facing down who knows what kind of dangerous mythical creatures..."

Twilight shook her head. "I should never have loaned you those Daring Do books. Besides, it's just a forest. Which admittedly could do with a bit of groundskeeping." She shoved aside a creeper blocking her way.

"But hey, it could be dangerous, right?" Rainbow drew herself up proudly. "And I'm ready for it, a hundred and twenty percent! You gotta be brave and tough to get into the 'Bolts. They're the elite fliers of the Legion."

"The Legion?" Twilight asked. "Are they a kind of royal guard?"

"Nah. We don't have royalty in Cloudsdale, not anymore. The Legion runs the place. Nearest thing we have to a big cheese is Commander Bronzehoof."

"So... it's a military dictatorship? Uh, no offense."

"Hey, none taken!" Rainbow shrugged. "And who better to run a place than ponies who are honor-sworn to defend it?"

"I'm not sure about that," Twilight said. "It's a little easy for ponies in power to start thinking they know best, when really..."

But Rainbow wasn't listening. She'd come to a halt, hovering in midair, eyes darting round suspiciously, ears flicking.

"What is it?" Twilight whispered.

Rainbow put a hoof to her snout. "We're being followed!"

"You're imagining things, Rainbow."

"Oh yeah? Then whaddaya call... this!"

She abruptly swung round in midair and launched herself into the bushes on the far side of the trail. There was a loud scuffle, and then Rainbow crowed triumphantly. "Ha! Gotcha!"

Twilight hurried over and shoved through the brush. She found Rainbow standing with one hoof pinning down a small purple creature with green spines. The pegasus was glaring fiercely, her teeth gritted, looking fully ready to commit mayhem. Her prisoner by contrast was cringing, pudgy claws held in front of his face.

"Yahh! Don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me!"

"Awright, buster!" Rainbow snarled. "You got two seconds to explain why you're tailing us. Are you a spy? Huh? How many are ya!"

"Just me! I swear it!"

"Yeah, sure, likely story. Who sent ya?"

"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded. And then, when Rainbow reluctantly stepped back, and the small reptile sat up, Twilight gasped. "Oh my gosh! It's a dragon!"

"A dragon? Where!" The purple reptile stared around. Then he sighed, his tiny face falling. "Oh yeah, right. You just mean me."

"Huh? Woah woah woah!" Rainbow objected. "Aren't dragons supposed to be, like, huge? Big teeth and claws? Breathing fire? All that jazz?"

The dragon looked from one of them to the other, a little sheepishly. Then he drew a deep breath.

And burped, expelling a miserably small puff of green, sulfurous flame.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Better try that again. My heart almost skipped a beat there."

"Maybe he's a baby dragon?" Twilight suggested.

"Hey! Who you callin' a baby!"

"Sorry." Twilight smiled at him. "How about a little dragon?"

The dragon considered it. "Yeah, I'll cop to that." He held up a claw. "Name's Spike. Nice to meet ya."

"Hi, Spike." Twilight shook with him. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm an inventor. Well... sort of. And this is my friend, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow seemed reluctant for a moment, then she shrugged and willingly shook with her former captive. "Sorry if I was a bit rough on ya, kiddo. Can't be too careful, when you're exploring someplace new."

"Oh, where are you two from?" Spike asked eagerly. "I've never seen unicorns like you before."

Twilight stared, astonished. "There are unicorns in this world, too?"

"Uh, sure," Spike said. "But what do you mean this world?"

"Oops." Twilight bit her lip, glancing at Rainbow. "I know I said we'd keep it mum, but..."

Rainbow shrugged. "Your call."

"Okay. I'll tell you, Spike. But you may find this hard to believe. And you should probably keep it to yourself for now, okay?"

"No problem. Shoot!"

"The truth is, we're not actually from this world. There's another one, way up there." She pointed at the sky. "Well... actually, it's more sort of that way. It's where I'm from. And Rainbow, she comes from a world that's even farther away than that."

"Uh huh. Yeah?" Spike nodded. "And... ?"

Twilight blinked. "And what?"

"You said there's something I'd find hard to believe? I mean, just looking at you guys, I figured you weren't from around here."

Rainbow smirked at Twilight. "He's a sharp one, I'll give him that."

"But I didn't know there were whole other worlds," Spike said excitedly. "And other kinds of ponies. Wow! How'd you get here?"

"Well, it's... kind of a long story," Twilight began.

"Air mail," Rainbow said. Then grinned at Twilight's disapproving look. "What? It's the truth... sort of."

"We flew here," Twilight elaborated, "using an aircraft we built."

"Neat!" Spike nodded. "And these other worlds you two are from, there are ponies like you living there?"

"Oh yeah, tons of 'em." Rainbow nodded.

"Gosh!" Spike thought for a moment. "Hey! Maybe I'm from a world where there are dragons, huh? That could explain everything."

"What?" Twilight asked. "Aren't there other dragons here?"

"Not that I know of." Spike shook his head sadly. "Apart from me."

Twilight looked disappointed at that. Then her eyes suddenly went wide. "Wait! If that's true, it would mean... that we're not the first ones to cross between the worlds, Rainbow!"

"Oh great," Rainbow groused. "Here we go and do all the hard work, take all the risks. And somepony else comes along and scoops the credit. Figures!"

"It's only a guess. If we talk to the locals around here, maybe we'll learn more. Spike," Twilight said, turning back to him, "would you mind showing us where we can find some of the unicorns who live here?"

"Sure, no problem. Glad to help!"

They set out along the trail again, with Spike trotting along beside them, scurrying a bit to keep up on his small legs. And talking a mile a minute, as if he'd been saving it all up for just such an occasion. "... and I used to live with this mage pony," he said. "Kind of as his assistant and all. Assistant! Yeah, right. It was all fetch-and-carry. And he treated me like furniture. He'd kick me out of his study when he was working on stuff. Said he didn't want me around, pestering him."

"Well that's not very nice," Twilight agreed. "He should be glad you want to learn more."

"I know, right? I put up with it for a while, then I finally decided I'd had enough and ran away. I've been living wild ever since."

"But what do you find to eat out here?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"And it better not be ponies!" Rainbow added darkly.

"No way. Are you kidding? I eat gemstones."

"Gemstones?"

"Sure. There's a ton of 'em, all over the place. You just have to know where to dig." As he spoke, Spike paused and scraped at the ground with his claws, scooping out a small hole. Then he grabbed and tugged at something sharp-edged buried in it. And came up with a plum-sized purple gem, which he immediately popped into his mouth and crunched up with every indication of pleasure. "Mmm! Not nearly as good as rubies," he said indistinctly, "but I'll take whatever I can get."

Rainbow was eyeing him in bemused horror. "You'd be one really expensive house-guest, Spike."

"Nah. Like I said, there's gems all over. Good thing for me, huh?"

"Good thing," Twilight agreed. Then she eyed him curiously. "Spike, assuming you're from a different world, the same as we are, how is it that you're able to speak Ponish so well?"

"I dunno." Spike shrugged. "I've never had a problem with words. Even when I was still in my egg, sitting on that mage's bookshelf, I can sorta remember hearing him talk and realizing I knew what he was saying. It's like I already knew how to use the words. I just had to hear 'em to pick them up."

"That's amazing!" Twilight grinned. "You're one smart dragon, Spike."

"You think so, Twilight? Gosh, thanks!"

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Hate to break up this little warm-and-fuzzy society, but which way now?"

They'd come to a small clearing by a lake, with paths leading off in many directions. Spike unhesitatingly set off down the path leading away from the lake. "This way. It leads to the town. And the Royal Palace."

"No way," Twilight gasped. "There's a palace here, too?"

But when they'd finally ascended a small hillside and stood hunched behind a low stone wall, staring up at a mountain in the distance looming above a small town, Rainbow snorted derisively.

"That's a palace? Looks pretty dumpy to me."

"Certainly not much to write home about," Twilight agreed.

The "palace" was basically a small stone castle, with a single lofty tower, situated on a commanding promontory above the town. And the town itself was somewhat plain, being mostly stone-walled, thatched cottages.

"Well..." Twilight said, staring at the town, "we're not gonna meet anypony as long as we're skulking around up here. Let's head down, see if we can find somepony to talk to."

------------------------------

They followed a hoof-trail leading the right way, and soon were walking up one of the main streets of the town. And it must have been a market day of some kind because the place was packed... with unicorns.

Twilight tried not to be rude as she stared around at all of them, in particular at the glowing horn on each pony's forehead. It seemed the unicorns did everything with magic: opening doors, carrying supplies, making repairs on houses, weeding gardens, even just combing their manes. Everywhere, there was the singing glow of unicorn magic in action.

Twilight and her friends quickly reached a kind of market square, and the air around them rang with the shimmering of horns at work. Ponies haggled and traded hoof-crafts, vegetables, and other items. The din of salesponies crying their wares, and of unicorns chattering to each another as they trotted between the market stalls was nearly overwhelming.

Yet strangely enough, none of the town's inhabitants seemed to take any notice of Twilight or her companions.

"Huh," said Rainbow, crossing her forehooves. "You'd think they had visitors from other worlds droppin' in every day."

"Maybe they do," Twilight said. "Maybe we're not the first ones here. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Yeah, I guess." Rainbow muttered. "So much for us being bold, daring adventurers. Maybe we're actually the last ponies to figure this all out. At least then we'd be famous for something."

"Cheer up, Rainbow. Let's quit speculating, and start getting some answers."

Turning, Twilight approached a unicorn selling bouquets nearby. "Excuse me, ma'am. I wonder if you could tell me --"

The unicorn turned right around, as if Twilight wasn't even there, and trotted off. Surprised, Twilight turned to a pair of unicorns passing by, wearing simple-looking cloaks.

"Pardon me, but we're new here, and --"

The unicorns brushed past as if she hadn't spoken. Stunned, Twilight stared after them.

Rainbow snarled. Her wings flapping powerfully, she arced overhead to hover right in front of them. "Hey! We're talkin' to you!"

The unicorns eyed Rainbow cautiously, but still said nothing. Passing to either side of the pegasus, they continued on their way.

"Huh? What is with these ponies!" Rainbow was about to chase after the departing unicorns, then she reluctantly gave it up when she saw Twilight waving her back.

"They're deliberately acting like we're not here," Twilight said. "Maybe we've done something wrong? Offended them somehow?"

"Like how? Just showing up and saying hi?"

"Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they're not used to strangers. They don't know how to deal with us, so they pretend we're not here."

Spike grunted. "Now ya know how I feel," he said. "The mage I lived with wouldn't let me wander around outside by myself. Not sure why -- even when I did follow him around on errands, nopony paid any attention to me. It was like I wasn't even there."

"I wonder what's wrong?" Twilight said. "Why don't they even want to talk to us? Surely somepony around here has to be curious about..."

She got no further. In the distance there was a trumpeting of horns. And then, from around a corner, a phalanx of richly-robed unicorns strode into view. Their horns shimmering, their heads held high, they marched into the marketplace and quickly took possession of it. The townsponies hurriedly stepped back, making space for them.

Into the open area cleared by the robed unicorns, a taller, laurel-wearing stallion strode. His hooves were gilded, his horn finely polished. The cloak and sash he wore were richly expensive, yet surprisingly simple in design, with no excess ornamentation. One simply got the sense that this was the pony in charge, almost without really perceiving why.

Rainbow nodded, and nudged Twilight. "Oh yeah! This is more like it. They were just waiting until they could give us the proper welcome. I'll bet this is their equivalent of the Legion, come out to greet us officially."

"Maybe..." Twilight said. She felt Spike huddling close, hugging her foreleg.

The laureled unicorn came to a halt before them, his snout lofted importantly. He eyed them severely. Then he gestured sharply with a forehoof. All around him, the robed unicorns charged their horns.

And a hundred shimmering spears of pure magic materialized around Twilight, Rainbow, and Spike, completely hemming them in.

Shocked, Twilight fumbled for words. She heard herself say:

"Uh... hi? We're from another world?"

Rainbow nodded. "Take us to your leader?"

Spike just gulped, terrified.

Comments

[Teraunce]

Well that's a rude greeting.

[Yoshifan30]

"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded. And then, when Rainbow reluctantly stepped back, and the small reptile sat up, Twilight gasped. "Oh my gosh! It's a dragon!"

Oh so this is the time they actually meet Spike for the first time

[Yoshifan30]

"Gosh!" Spike thought for a moment. "Hey! Maybe I'm from a world where there are dragons, huh? That could explain everything."

Hmm I mean it could be possible they're probably different creatures out there not just ponies I still want to know what and how does this traveling World works

[Yoshifan30]

So we're back to Twilight and Rainbow traveling through worlds which I'm surprised Pinkie Pie or Applejack didn't come along oh well maybe next time anyway it looks like they made it to the Unicorn world which they have no idea until they met a dragon named Spike and then once they got to that place apparently the unicorns are not that very welcoming in fact they just straight-up ignore them and it looks like some of the royalties looks like they're very hostile to strangers I wonder what Twilight and the others are going to do

[Latecomer]

Hmm... one thing I did feel was missing was one of them noting that this world was more similar to Twilight's than Rainbow's, and wondering if it might also be home to earth ponies. (Twilight could probably go off on a whole lot of speculation about world-templates, too.)

(For that matter, if all the worlds know of dragons, they might well be the world-travel pioneers.)

Are there gemstones in Rainbow's world, or did she read about them in Daring Do?

And it seems Ponish is an inborn rather than learned language - or Twilight did all her geeking out over "wait a minute, how can we understand each other?" between first.

[Scyphi]

"Gosh!" Spike thought for a moment. "Hey! Maybe I'm from a world where there are dragons, huh? That could explain everything."

"What?" Twilight asked. "Aren't there other dragons here?"

"Not that I know of." Spike shook his head sadly. "Apart from me."

Well, then that just raises questions as to how Spike managed to get here, especially seeing he seems to have no recollection of such a trip.

[Axolotl222]

"Nah. We don't have royalty in Cloudsdale, not anymore. The Legion runs the place. Nearest thing we have to a big cheese is Commander Bronzehoof."

"So... it's a military dictatorship? Uh, no offense."

"Hey, none taken!" Rainbow shrugged. "And who better to run a place than ponies who are honor-sworn to defend it?"

Huh. This must be the most causal dictatorship ever if they openly let ponies call them one.

[Draco Dei]

I chortled with delight upon seeing what this was a sequel to.

Further comments may or may not be forthcoming.

[Zubric]

This is pretty neat