Hands and Arms

by Dramaro

Chapter 2 - Departure

Chapter 2

Rarity sighed as they followed the path back to ponyville. The sun was barely rising, giving them time to pack up some supplies for their "extended trip."

"My ...err.. what you call them?" asked Rarity.

"Feet. They're feet, Rarity," muttered Twilight.

"Anyways my feet are aching and I'm hungry!" moaned Rarity.

"We'll be back home and then we can stock up on supplies."

"Have you ever camped before Twilight?"

"I've read a few books..."

Rarity frowned at Twilight's answer, "A few books isn't enough! I need my shampoos and everything to keep myself going! And the dirt... My Celestia the dirt! What are we going to do?!"

"We're humans for now. I don't think looks are that important especially since we don't want anypony to see us as this," muttered Twilight.

"But I can see myself and I don't want to look dreadful!"

"Stop whining!"
"I'm not whining, I'm complaining and there is no way we're traveling without the proper arrangements so we can rest without the fear of dirt," said Rarity.

"Just be quiet. We're getting close to ponyville."

The two quickly arrived at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres. The beaten path was only separated by a few fences but they were short enough, in comparison to their new bodies, that they did not bar them from walking onto the lands.

“If we cut through Sweet Apple Acres, we can probably reach the library before Sweetie Belle wakes up,” said Twilight.

Rarity frowned, “Ugh. Do you know how much mud there could be?”

“You rather walk through town square and see everyone as you are right now? said Twilight.

“I guess you’re right...” muttered Rarity, “But please, watch for mud?”

The two quickly jumped the fence and walked through the orchard. Rarity had quickly noticed how tall she was as she could easily reach up and touch the leaves and the apples that hung and glistened in the early sunlight.

“I wish we could take apples back home,” muttered Rarity.

“Maybe we can get Fluttershy to get us some before leaving but let’s concentrate on getting home first.”

The two were quickly cut off by the sound of barking nearby. In the distance, the figure of a small dog was visible and the two frowned at the thought.

“Uh oh.... I think Winona found us!” exclaimed Rarity.

“RUN!”

The two quickly booked it as they saw Winona come into view Instead of the smiling dog they knew, Winona had her sharp teeth bared out as she chased the two down. Apparently, they were just intruders to Winona was chief of security.

Twilight panted heavily as she and Rarity ran through the orchard. Winona was easily getting close to Rarity’s leg as she lagged behind.

“Get outta here ya apple stealin’ monsters!” yelled a familiar voice.

The voice quickly gave Rarity an adrenaline rush that allowed her to narrowly escape being bitten by the energetic dog as the two saw the borders of the orchard and freedom in sight.

"Jump the fence!" shouted Twilight as she quickly vaulted over the wooden barrier. Rarity on the other hand had heeled shoes and landed onto the fence post, forcing Twilight to pull her while Winona pulled on Rarity's shoe.

"Let go! Let go!" yelled Rarity as she tried to push herself off.

Twilight was surprised at Winona's grip as the dog held Rarity's shoe in its mouth. Eventually, Rarity wrestled her foot out of the shoe before landed into a small mud puddle behind the fence.

"Let's go! We need to get going!" exclaimed Twilight as she helped Rarity back up.

The two quickly ran off and away from the wooden fence that separated Sweet Apple Acres from public land.

An orange earth pony wearing a Stetson hat quickly arrived at the fence to find Winona chewing on some weird black leather thing.

"Ah guess ya lost em'" muttered the pony.

The dog barked in joy as it chewed on its prize, oblivious to what it was chasing.

"Those two weird creatures sure were fast," muttered the orange pony.

Rarity quickly flopped onto the ground as she found a chance to stop running.

"I'm now dirty and I lost my shoe! Oh how can this day get any dreadfully worse?!" exclaimed the white clothed girl as she stared at the leaves that rustled in the light wind.

"Let's just be grateful Winona didn't catch us..." said Twilight as she dusted herself off, "Besides, we're almost at the library and we're right nearby your boutique."

"Well if that's the case, I'll be heading back to my place and do some repairs. We can meet up after sunset when everypony is back inside, ok? Just please, keep Sweetie Belle off my back," said Rarity.

Twilight sighed, "That's fine. I'll see you soon."

Sweetie Belle sighed as she walked into her big sister's boutique. Spending the night at Twilight's with Spike foal sitting her was boring enough. He was completely stringent on keeping her from touching the numerous books and from going downstairs where Twilight's sensitive experiments were. The only fun was the Sweetie Belle did get a chance to crusade with her friends. The little filly looked around as she looked for some fabric she needed to "borrow." It was quiet with the exception of the sound of the shower going on upstairs.

"Rarity is back? I thought she had to run off to Canterlot for some important fashion business," muttered Sweetie Belle as she ascended the stairs.

Rarity's room was normally clean except a strange dirt patterns across the floor. Sweetie examined the dirt spots in confusion as she wondered why there was even a speck of dirt in Rarity's bedroom.

"Did Opal get outside again?" asked Sweetie Belle as she followed the trail. The dirt spots eventually lead to the door to the private bathroom that the showers were and Sweetie Belle could easily see steam creeping from below the door.

The filly slowly opened the door before being buffeted by a cloud of steam. The shower was hidden behind a curtain but a large silhouette was visible behind the curtain moving about. Sweetie Belle eyed the silhouette before slowly closing the door, making sure not to alarm the creature as she galloped back downstairs and out of the door to tell her friends.

"I got my very own monster!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle as she ran towards the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse.

Rarity looked around her room as she used an extra large towel to dry herself. She could have sworn she heard Sweetie Belle's voice but the violet haired lady quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind as she began recreating the shoe she had lost earlier in the morning. It didn't take long as Rarity quickly recreated her lost black heeled shoe that fit her foot perfectly. The toe area had a diamond embedded just like her other shoe and it made Rarity feel better that she can at least keep her image going even as a human.

"Now to make a few things. Maybe a saddlebag for us so we can bring more things with us can help," muttered Rarity. The lady quickly began drawing down ideas before going into full on work mode in making functional bags for the two.

At the library, Twilight looked around as she tried to pick which books to bring with her.
Bear Growls' How to Survive Everfree and Other Dangerous Places and The Atlas of All Things About Areas were good picks to bring with her as so was a book titled The Numbered Guide to the Numerous Nuts in Nature.

"How many books do you need? Why not take the whole library?" asked Spike sarcastically as he collected the books Twilight rejected by throwing them into the ground.

"That would be nice but I can only carry so much and I can't use my saddlebag. It's too small," muttered Twilight.

"How long will this trip take?" asked Spike.

"I don't know. I assume a few weeks," said Twilight.

Spike smiled at the thought of two whole weeks alone with his comics and the up and coming marathon of Massive Monster Movie Madness.

"So you should really pack some things with you Spike," added Twilight.

"What?"

"You're not thinking I'll be leaving you here along now did you?"

Spike sighed, "Fine..."

Like on cue, Rarity quickly entered the library wearing some sort of saddlebag for humans.

"What is that?" asked Twilight as she looked at the second bag in Rarity's hands.

"It's a backbag! I named it myself!" exclaimed Rarity as she showed off her backbag.

"Backbag.... sounds better than what I was thinking," muttered Twilight.

"Oh and what name did you come up with?" asked Rarity.

"Bookbag since it's perfect for my books," said Twilight.

Rarity eyed Twilight with a sour look, "Really?"

"What? It was at least a good try."

"Now then, I've gotten a few things for our trip. Blankets, towels, hats, extra clothes, brushes, All the fruits and vegetables that weren't horrendous tasting that I had. Tent supplies I had in my basement from Cupcake Cadets, a first aid kit, some puzzles, and a few eating utensils, a multi-use saddle knife, lighting fluid. Flashlights, an outdated guide to the poisonous plants of Equestria, compasses, maps of known camping grounds, thermometers, barometers, raincoats, flare gun, and bug repellent."

Twilight looked at Rarity in confusion.

"Did... did you just make a proper list of mostly essential supplies that ARE actually needed?!" muttered Twilight.

"What? It was the first thing I learned in that dreadful Cupcakes Cadet back when I was a filly. I still remember the horrible nights of camping in the.... DIRT!" muttered Rarity.

"Ok. Anyways I got what I had in terms of food and I got some books with me," said Twilight.

"I already packed your bag with the necessary supplies. I had to make adjustments to the blankets and towels but they should be fine," said Rarity.

"I guess I should go pack my spinebag," interjected Spike as he walked upstairs.

"Is Spike coming with us?" asked Rarity.

"Yeah. Is there a problem?" asked Twilight.

"We don't have enough food to feed him."

"Relax. I packed him the food we can't eat as humans. His stomach is made out of iron, remember?"

"Oh yeah." muttered Rarity.

The two waited for Spike before doing the final preparations. After a good few hours, the sun eventually settled. The two looked around wondering when the Princess of the night would appear.

“You’d think she’d be here on time,” muttered Rarity as she kicked her feet across the ground.

“Come on. Give her a break. She has diplomatic things to do and raising the moon has to be time consuming,” muttered Twilight.

Just then, the two were quickly buffeted by a gust of wind as a tall dark figure appeared in a flash of light.

The figure was a woman clad in deep midnight blue with silver jewelry adoring her wrists, shoes, tiara, and neck that easily placed Rarity’s jewelry to shame. Her deep blue hair was as fine as gossamer yet it was surrounded by a cloud of cosmic dust with infant stars in the strands that danced and twinkled. Two deep blue eyes stared at the two as the new arrival frowned.

“You two look quite overburdened,” said the lady in Luna’s “new appropriate” voice.

“THAT’S YOUR HUMAN FORM?!” exclaimed Rarity.

“It’s what I always looked like when I had to visit the human cities. Allows me to fit in better with the crowds. Some humans thought that Celest and I were related to Aetas,” said Luna.

“But you’re not, right?” asked Twilight.

Luna stared laughing heavily, easily causing some books to fall out of the shelves. “No, no. We’re not related to Aetas by blood. She’s an eternal embodiment of time as we are the embodiments of the Sun and the Moon. Time has no opposite so Aetas was an only child,” said Luna.

“Ok, so you’re going to bring us right to Princess Aetas, right?” asked Twilight.

“One it’s Empress. She preferred that title instead and no not really. The last magical humans erected a barrier that separated the few humans from the rest of the world, isolating it from everypony. I can punch a temporary hole through but it will be a one way trip. Once we’re through, only Aetas herself can bring us back,” said Luna.

“Oh dear. So if we can’t find Aetas?” asked Rarity.

“We’ll probably be stranded then until I can fully regain all of my power to bring us back. Even Spike’s magical fire will only move scrolls. The barrier will take too much of my power to teleport us straight to Aetas. We’ll probably be on the outskirts of the lands or so. Now there is also something I need to tell you. Humans have been known to war against each other. It’s a slight fault in their beings that makes them go to war at each other just because they wants power. Many try to control the desire but there are those who will hurt others to gain what they do not have. We could be finding ourselves in the middle of a large war,” said Luna.

Twilight and Rarity both frowned at the idea. Equestria had a few wars in the past but only in self-defense and most ended in diplomatic treaties. The idea that there were beings that went to war for the majority of their lives for petty reasons seemed something straight from a horror novel.

“Now there’s also the talking. They use “body” like “somebody” instead of somepony so you’ll have to get used to that and they have... “colorful” idioms,” muttered Luna.

“Are you ready Spike?” asked Rarity as she watched the baby dragon place his spinebag on his back.

“Ready when you are!” exclaimed Spike.

“Ok, this will be a bumpy ride,” said Luna as she closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Luna’s hands were covered in a deep blue aura as she concentrated her magic. The energy slowly built up around the four as Luna thought of the distant lands humans were located. In a quick flash of light, the four disappeared, leaving no trace of their departure in the now empty library.

Comments

[lubu343]

good so far...continue.

[Nekobladen]

Man! Every time I read a chapter I can always find that one little slip up 'hehe', don't worrie though, if I have to try so hard there aren't that many right?

Having both Luna and Spike come along is really going to chance the dynamic I had previously in my mind, now I'm rather curious about how spike is going to react if the girls need to change clothes ^///^

Most of all I wonder if Rarity is going to learn from this, or if Twilight is going to go through some kind of mental crisis when she has no control over anything.