> Cream the Rabbit comes to Ponyville > by AngelShy24 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A new World to Discover > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It’s a nice, beautiful, sunny day within a world unlike our own; the majestic land of… Mobius! It’s the home and sanctuary of the fastest thing alive, the true blue, the knight of the wind, the wild blue yonder… Sonic the Hedgehog! Unfortunately, this story is not focused on him. Amidst the wide colorful hills of Flower Fields, we see a young rabbit girl enjoying her time gathering flowers for her mother with her Chao friend. Who are they? It’s Cream and Cheese of course; who wouldn’t guess that? “Hey Cheese, do you think Mother would like these flowers more than the other ones I picked?” “Chao, Chao, Chao!” Cream giggled slightly, “Yeah, you’re right; Mother would like any flower I give her. I like them all too!” Cream was one who was fill with peace, kindness, and had a cheerful heart. She normally doesn’t like to fight, nor does she want to start one; but she has gone on many adventures to help out her friends whenever they may need it. “Come on Cheese, let’s look over there! After this, we can show Mother what we picked; she’ll think they’re lovely.” “Chao!” The two friends went on along to a patch of flowers that was nearby a giant hillside. Cream didn’t seem to notice just how big it was as she was too busy picking flowers for her mother. However, her friend, Cheese, suddenly heard a strange humming sound coming from the other side of the giant hill. His curiosity got the best of him as he started to head around to the other side of the hill. Cream looked up just in time to see her friend disappear around the bend. “Huh, Cheese? Cheese, where are you going; come back!” She suddenly got up and went after him to see what he was possibly going after. When she reached the other side of the hill, she noticed a hidden cave; it was hidden behind some branches that were dangling from above. She felt a little scared of going in there but she was worried about Cheese; so she bravely walked in and followed the path to find her friend. “Wow, I never knew about this cave before; seems a bit scary though.” She then continued to call out, “Cheese! Come on Cheese, where are you!?” “Chao Chao!” She suddenly heard her friend in the distance, further in the cave. She started to run towards it, “I’m coming, hold on!” Despite how frighten she was of the mysterious, dark cave, the young rabbit kept on running into the cave until she came at a dead end where her Chao friend was waiting on her. “Cheese, why did you run off like that,” Cream said while gasping for her breath, “you… had me worried!” “Chao, chao!” Cheese gained her attention as he pointed to the purple Chaos Emerald that was right there on the ground in front of them; giving off its colorful glow. “Oh my, it’s a Chaos Emerald!” Cream shouted in shock and excitement, “Is this why you rushed in here, because you sensed this Chaos Emerald?” Cheese nodded his head in agreement, “Chao!” The young rabbit picked up the shiny jewel and was admiring its brilliance. She couldn’t help but smile knowing that both her and her friend found an Emerald. “Come on Cheese, let’s go show Sonic and the others what we found!” “Chao, chao, chao!” Suddenly, before they took another step, Cream turned back around and saw something at the end wall. “Hey Cheese, look at this.” They both walked over to the wall and saw some weird carvings. There was an orb-like shape in the middle, and 6 unknown shapes around it. “Hmm… check out these carvings,” said Cream, “3 balloons, 3 diamonds, 3 apples, a lightning bolt, 3 butterflies, and… I think that’s some kind of magic star… I guess; but what are they and what do they mean?” Cheese just shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe if we find Knuckles he might know what these are.” “Chao, chao.” The young rabbit’s heart suddenly got startled when the jewel in her hand started to shine with immense power; its glow was overpowering! “Cheese what’s going on?!” Cream screamed, “the emerald is reacting very strongly to something, but what!?” Suddenly, the 6 symbols carved on the wall started to glow too as the orb in the middle started to produce what looked like some sort of portal that started to suck up anything near it. Cream and Cheese panicked as they quickly held on some strong, sturdy rocks on the walls very tightly. “Hang on Cheese;” Cream shouted, “don’t let go of the walls!” “Chao!” Unfortunately, the force was too strong and the rocks they grabbed on gave away and sent them tumbling into the portal. Cream grabbed Cheese and held him close to her to keep him safe. “Hang on Cheese; I promise I won’t let go!” They closed their eyes and braced themselves for wherever the mystical portal took them; no mattered how scared they were. Then just like that, everything went blank. ----- When their eyes re-opened they were wondering where they were. Could they be on a different part of Mobius? Or maybe in one of those other dimensions Sonic told her about. Cream held her head and looked at her Chao friend who was still in her arms, “Cheese, are you alright?” Cheese groaned slightly while his eyes were spinning, “Chao… Chao…” She looked up in front of her and noticed the purple emerald that they found was lying there on the ground. “The Chaos Emerald; we better grab it before we lose it again!” As she got up raced over to the emerald to place it in her pocket for safe keeping, she noticed that they were in some kind of forest; but no kind of forest that she recognized. “Wait, where are we?” Cream said while looking about their surroundings. “Cheese, I don’t think we’re in Mobius anymore; I don’t know why, but I feel like we’re somewhere completely different.” Cream started to walk forward while still holding Cheese and was having a look around; hoping that she was wrong and she would see something familiar. All she could see around her though was forest, forest and more forest. None of their surroundings proved to be familiar, and it was finally clear to Cream that they were lost. Where could they possibly be? Cream started to leak tears from her eyes, “I’m scared, Cheese; how do we get home?!” They kept walking for what seemed like hours, it was actually just ten minutes; but that would still seem like a long time for someone as young as they were. But suddenly, their hopes lifted up a bit when they saw a clear opening at the end of their path. They both quickly rushed to the end, and when they got there, their eyes grew wide upon finally seeing a bigger hope for both of them. “Huh, is that… a cottage,” asked Cream? “Chao, chao?” It was indeed a cottage; surrounded by grassy hills, a small open field and a flowing river that glistens in the sunlight. Within the area were many different animals of different species. However, they seemed to look a little different in Cream and Cheese’s eyes. “Wow, look at all of the animals, Cheese!” she said with a bright smile. “Chao,” said Cheese with astonishment. “They all look like the animals that they are, but something about them seems… a bit different… somehow.” A cottage nearby a forest filled with animals and a built-in fence… it started to make sense to Cream. “This must be some kind of animal daycare,” said Cream, “But… who runs it?” “Chao?” Cream knew that the only way she could find out was to walk up to the cottage and risk speaking with someone she’s never met… all by herself. “Well… we are lost,” stated Cream, “and we don’t know where to go from here…” She gathered all her courage and decided to walk over to the entrance of the cottage. All the animals were just silently staring at the two unknown creatures walking by them; Cream just awkwardly smiled at them all while feeling nervous. Once at the door, sweat was rolling down Cream’s fur as she knocked her hand against the door a few times. After a few seconds no one answered yet. “Umm… hello,” yelled Cream, “Is anyone here?! My friend and I are lost and we don’t know where else to go but here; could you help us?!” Suddenly, she heard the sound of the wooden door being opened. Soon, standing before them was yellow pony with a pink flowing mane… and she had… wings! “Oh my… whoa!” shouted Cream as she was startled by its presence. Cheese was also startled by the sight before him. The yellow pony looked at Cream with curious eyes; a bit surprised seeing a bunny her size and in such strange clothing, “H-hi there, you said that you needed help?” “You’re… y-you’re a… Pegasus!” Cream shouted while shaking her pointer finger at the yellow mare. “Chao, chao!” “Well of course I’m a Pegasus,” the yellow mare replied, “what else would I be; n-n-not that I’m calling you dumb or anything.” She held out her hoof wearing a smile, “M-my names’ Fluttershy… Um, what’s your name?” “My name is Cream; and this here is my best friend, Cheese.” “Chao, chao!” Suddenly, Fluttershy’s eyes went all aglow with daww-ness upon seeing the little flying creature. “Oh my goodness, aren’t you one of the cutest little creatures I ever did see.” Cheese appeared to blush a little. “So what kind of animal is she,” asked Fluttershy out of curiosity. “It’s a he, and he’s a Chao!” Cream answered in a cheerful tone. “A… what,” Fluttershy said as she pondered in her head, “I never heard of those creatures?” Cream smiled and happily explained, “Chao are peaceful and loving creatures; they’re very easy to get along with. Cheese here has been my friend since I was 2 and we’ve never fought over anything.” Fluttershy was quite astonished seeing a creature she had never seen before, but she was glad to see such a lovely friendship bond in front of her view. “Wow, you and your… Chao sure share a wonderful bond together. So, where are you from?” “We’re from Green Hill,” Cream answered, “do you know that place?” Fluttershy drew another questionable blank in her mind, “Well… there are a lot of green hills here and nearby Ponyville, but which one could you possibly live in?” Cream’s eyes grew semi-wide while looking at Cheese who was looking quite baffled, “Wait… did you just say… Pony-ville?!” “Yes I did,” Fluttershy said with a gentle smile, “Many ponies live in many cities and towns here in Equestria; didn’t you know that?” “Oh my gosh Cheese,” Cream yelled out of fear, “I don’t think we’re just lost, I think we’re lost in some kind of alternative dimensional world; I should’ve know!” “Chao! C-c-chao!?” “You and your friend are not from this world?” asked Fluttershy in slight shock. Cream just sadly shook her head while tearing a bit, “N-n-no… I guess not. Oh Cheese, what if I never see my mommy again?!” Cream suddenly started to continuously cry with flows of tears running down her cheeks while Cheese was trying to comfort her; even though he was feeling upset himself. Fluttershy felt troubled; she wasn’t quite sure what to do as she was panicking slightly. She got in front of the sobbing bunny, hoping to calm her down so she wouldn’t draw in too much attention. “H-h-hey… don’t cry, its okay. Um… I-I can try and help you if you want.” Cream’s cries came down a minimum, but she was still sobbing and filled with worry. “H-however… you two look a little parched. Do… do you want to come in my cottage and have some tea?” Suddenly, Cream’s sobbing stopped and her eyes lit up like Rarity when she gets a fashion idea. She stood straight up and looked at Fluttershy kind of giddy-like along with Cheese smiling brightly. “Would I?!” Cream exclaimed, “I would love too!” “Chao, chao, chao!” Fluttershy was quite startled and a bit surprised to see Cream go from sobbing to being very happy and excited, “Oh… o-okay.” She smiled a bit awkwardly, “Well, come on… oh?” Fluttershy stopped in her tracks knowing that she almost stepped on a certain bunny friend of hers who was standing near the doorway curious of what was going on. Cream looked down beside Fluttershy and saw him, “Aw, who your little bunny friend?” “Chao?” “Oh, that’s just Angel,” the yellow mare responded, “he can be a bit of a handful, and a bit stubborn sometimes, but he’s really a good little bunny.” Angel was just sitting there not doing anything but having a good look these 2 strange creatures. “Hey Angel, say hello to our guest,” said Fluttershy. Cream came over knelt down to him and gave him a soft little pat on the head; once again, all he could do was sit there and stare with curiosty. “Hello there, Angel,” said Cream with a smile, “aren’t you a cute little bunny. I’m Cream and this is Cheese.” “Chao!” “It’s very nice to meet you.” She stood back on her feet and was then directed into the cottage by Fluttershy. As they walked in looking around at their surroundings, Angel turned around to look at Cream again. He found himself to be lost in some kind of daze. ‘Who was that bunny?’ he thought, ‘and where did she come from?’ He felt kind of flustered and light-headed as he continued to look at her. ‘She looks so beautiful, and… she called me cute.’ Angel didn’t realize it, he also seemed to be blushing; and not of the embarrassment kind. He was… in love. After a bit of preparing, Fluttershy and Cream, as well as Cheese, were sitting at a table having a friendly conversation. Cream was telling Fluttershy all about her world and all the wonderful adventures she’s had with her friends; Fluttershy was quite intrigued. “Your world sounds really amazing,” said Fluttershy, “except for the dealing with the evil scientist part. But for the most part, I’ve never seen any creature like you before.” “Well you’re unlike any creature I’ve ever seen too,” Cream replied. Becoming more curious, Fluttershy asked Cream her next question… if Cream didn’t mind that is, “So, how exactly did you and your friend end up here in the first place?” “It was quite unusual;” said Cream, “Cheese and I were just picking flowers in a field back at home when we came across this mysterious cave that we’ve never seen before. Well… it was more like Cheese came across it and I followed.” She took a sip of the tea and then continued her explanation, “We ended up finding one of the Chaos Emeralds in there. It ended up causing this weird orb that was surrounded by these 6 interesting carvings on the stone walls to open a portal. Cheese and I tried to escape it, but… the force was too much; we were immediately sucked into it!” Fluttershy jumped a little like she was listening to a scary story, “Oh my!” “After we landed back on solid ground, we found ourselves here within that forest near your cottage.” “Oh Celestia,” Fluttershy exclaimed, “That must’ve been very terrifying to both of you.” “It was, actually,” Cream said while shuddering a bit. “Chao… chao.” Fluttershy became quite intrigued about Cream’s mention of Chaos Emeralds and asked about them again, “So, these Chaos Emeralds that you mentioned about; you said that each one hold an enormous amount of power and that there are 7 of them?” It suddenly hit Cream of how she could show her, “Oh yeah!” She dug into her dress pocket and pulled out the shiny purple emerald that she still had. “Here’s the emerald that we found in the cave back home.” As Cream sat it on the table, Fluttershy gazed at its glamorous presence but was careful not to make herself blind, “Oh wow, it’s so… bright, and I can feel… some kind of strange energy coming from it. So… what would happen if all 7 of the chaos emeralds came together in one place?” “Lots of weird stuff happens,” Cream replied, “But one important thing is that it’s never good if anyone bad or evil ever gets a hold on one of these; let alone all of them!” Cheese nodded in agreement, “Chao!” Cream quickly placed the emerald back in her dress pocket where it would be safe for the time being. “By the way, Cream,” said Fluttershy, “do you remember what those symbols that you said that you saw on the cave wall were?” Cream was only 7 so her memory wasn’t always clear. She scratched her head, trying to remember what they were, “Hmm… I’m not quite sure. I’m trying to remember but…” Suddenly, something on Fluttershy’s flank caught Cream’s eyes, “Hey, wait a minute; that’s one of them!” “Huh, where?” said Fluttershy while looking behind her. “Right there on your… b-body!” Fluttershy looked down at her flank and realized what she was talking about, “Oh, you mean my cutiemark?” “If that’s what you call it… then yes! One of the symbols was 3 butterflies just like that!” Fluttershy felt kind of confused. How could the little rabbit see a symbol in her world that looked just like her own cutiemark? But then like a sudden flash in her head, she remembered that Cream said that she saw 6 symbols and her cutiemark was one of them. Could it be possible that the other 5 were… well, she wanted ask first just to make sure. “Um… Cream; were the other 5 symbols by any chance 3 apples, 3 balloons, a cloud with a lightning bolt, 3 diamonds and a magic star of some kind?” Cream thought carefully for a second, and then she realized that the yellow mare had it spot on, “Yes, yes; that’s it! Those were the other symbols that we saw. But… how did you know that? Do you know what they mean?” “Chao?” FLuttershy was 100% curious now about this situation. Perhaps there was some similarity about their worlds that she didn’t know about. “Well, the thing is… I have 5 other pony friends with cutiemarks that look exactly like the carvings that you saw.” “By the way, what’s up with those… cutiemarks anyway,” asked Cream curiously, “Do they have some kind of meaning?” “Actually they do,” said Fluttershy happily, “they represent our special talents; what makes us… well, us. Some talents are harder to figure out than others, but they only appear when we figure out and discover what that talent is. My cutiemark represents my talent of being able to communicate with animals.” “Wow, neat,” Cream exclaimed, “Now I understand what the deal is with all the animals here!” “Yeah, well most of them came to me on their own accord,” said Fluttershy, “I love them and take care of them all the time to make sure that they all live a full, happy life.” “I envy you Miss Shy,” said Cream, “I sure wish I could have a cutiemark so others could tell what my special talent is.” “So what do you think is your special talent?” “Being kind to others!” Fluttershy suddenly felt a sense of weird coencidance, “Being… kind?” “Well of course,” Cream responded, “my mother has always taught me how to play nice and be kindly to others; and I happen to be very good at it.” Fluttershy felt that this little rabbit girl was one of the kindest creatures she’s ever met. She was willing to help her two friends out in any way she could. “Well, I think it’s time for me to be kind to you and your friend and help you find a way back to your home.” “Really,” said Cream. She went over and gave the yellow mare a big hug, “Oh thank you; thank you so much, Miss Shy!” Fluttershy smiled and hugged her back, “Why you’re very welcome, Cream.” Cheese came over and hugged Fluttershy too while feeling excited, “Chao, chao!” Fluttershy looked over at him and giggled a bit, “Oh, and of course you too, Cheese.” Cream broke away from the hug and looked at Fluttershy curiously, “So how are you going to help us, Miss Shy?” “One of my friends’ name is Twilight Sparkle; she’s a unicorn. “She might be able to lend a helping hoof.” Cream’s eyes lit up with glee as most non-pony girls would react, “A unicorn?! Wow, I can’t wait to meet her!” “Yeah, she's a real good friend,” Fluttershy replied, “You’ll really like her.” They walked away from the table in the cottage and started to walk towards the entrance door. Suddenly, their path was blocked by the same white rabbit from earlier; he mainly stood in front of Cream looking up with an awkward smile. Cream bent down and gave him another little pat. “Oh, hello again, Angel;” said Cream, “do you need something?” Angel started shaking a little and sweat was rolling down his fur; he reached behind him and held up a golden tiger lily flower. Cream paused for a moment and then realized his gesture. “For me? Aw, that’s so sweet.” She grabbed the flower and smelled it; it was unlike any tiger lily she’s ever smelled before. “This smells so wonderful; thank you.” Angel continued to smile and he was even blushing a little. Fluttershy felt that it was kind of weird seeing Angel being so nice like this, but she thought it adorable nonetheless. “Hey Angel,” Cream called out, “we’re going out to see someone; do you want to come with us?” His eyes lit up and he nodded his head yes; then suddenly he hopped up on her shoulder and gave her a light hug. “Aw, I think he likes you,” said Fluttershy. Cream just smiled lightly while rubbing Angel’s head, “Well, I guess it’s only natural; us both being bunny rabbits and all; but I don’t mind, he’s really cute.” Cheese came over to give Angel a hug himself, but Angel gave him a stern glare warning him to stay away. Cheese froze in his tracks and looked at him questionably. He wasn’t sad; he was just curious why the rabbit didn’t want him to get near it. He just flew to the other side of Cream and just stayed there continuing to look at him curiously. “Don’t worry Cheese,” said Cream who noticed him staring at Angel, “he’ll be friends with you soon; I’m sure of it.” Cheese just smiled and forgot all about Angel’s actions. He and Cream couldn’t help but wonder what they were about to witness as they started to head down the dirt trail with Fluttershy; but with a town name like ‘Ponyville, it sure sounds like something that they would never forget. > The Amazing Leone > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both Cream and Cheese were in awe as they finally approached the main town of Ponyville. They never saw such a beautiful sight in all their life. “Wow, look at all the colorful ponies, Cheese,” Cream shouted. “Chao!” “But I guess it’s not too surprising being in a town called Ponyville.” Fluttershy was grateful that her new friend was impressed by her hometown, “Yeah, it’s not the largest town in Equestria but it is one of the most renowned ones. You’d be surprised of all the things that has happened here.” Fluttershy then turned Cream’s attention to something that was above them, “If you look up there in the sky, you can see another city that’s above this one.” “A floating city,” said Cream, “Hey, Cheese, does that remind you of something?” “Chao, chao, chao.” “What, do you have something like that in your world?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh yeah, we do! Remember that floating island I was telling you about earlier?” “That’s right,” Fluttershy exclaimed, “Well, the only difference here is that that city is made entirely of clouds. Most of Ponyville’s pegasi residents live there. As a matter of fact, no other ponies could live up there because only Pegasus ponies can walk on clouds.” “But… why don’t you live up there, Miss Shy?” asked Cream; she was quite curious why she lived in cottage here on the ground and not up in that city in the sky. “Well…” she said awkwardly, “I’m sorta, kinda… scared of very high heights.” “You’re a Pegasus,” Cream gasped, “and you’re afraid of heights!?” “Chao, chao!?” “Well that’s just me I guess,” said Fluttershy while slightly blushing from embarrassment, “But I am getting better. Now I can fly high up when one of my friends is there with me, and I can also do it under pressure.” Something else suddenly came up in Cream’s mind; something she couldn’t believe she forgot to tell her. “Oh, Miss Shy, I almost forgot to tell you; I can fly too!” “You can?” Fluttershy looked all around Cream’s body and didn’t know how that was possible, “But how can you; you don’t even have any wings.” Angel was looking too and even he wasn’t sure how a bunny like her could fly; after all, he couldn’t. Cream smiled and giggled slightly, “I don’t fly with any wings; I fly by using my ears!” She suddenly started to flap her ears very fast and she started to hover up in the air. Fluttershy gasped and her mouth dropped wide open as Cream started to fly around above her. “See, Miss Shy,” Cream shouted while waving her hands, “no wings!” Fluttershy started to panic and sweat was rolling all down her fur, “Oh my goodness! B-b-b-be careful! Please, don’t fly so high!” “Don’t worry; I’ve been doing this all the time so I’m used to it!” Cheese was up in the air flying along with Cream. “Chao, chao, chao!” Fluttershy did calm down a bit after some seconds; it did seem like Cream knew what she was doing. “Wow, that does seem pretty bizarre;” said Fluttershy, “even for our world.” However, Angel was shaking and clutching on tight around Cream’s neck; how could she even do that?! Cream stopped in mid-air and looked at him smiling. She then grabbed him with her hands and held him up where she could see him. “Aw, its okay, Angel; you don’t need to be afraid. I won’t make you fall; I promise.” She gave him a little hug while hold him close to her. Normally he would be embarrassed and would be trying to wiggle his way out of her hold, but instead he just smiled and enjoyed the warm feeling of her embrace. “Wow, look at that,” said Fluttershy, “you got him to calm down… and he‘s not trying to escape your hug. I haven’t seen him this happy and content since… well forever!” Cream flew back down onto the ground beside Fluttershy, “Well, what are we waiting for, let’s go see your friend, Miss Shy!” ----- As they walked into Ponyville, Cream seemed to notice that they were drawing attention from different wandering eyes. Cream felt a little uneasy having so many ponies looking at her. “Um… Miss Shy, I think we’re attracting attention; a bit too much maybe.” “C-chao.” “Oh, don’t worry, Cream,” said Fluttershy, “it’s just very unusual for us to see a giant rabbit wearing a ruby-red dress with gloves and shoes. Well, maybe not the clothes, just you in general.” “So bunny rabbits like Angel are the only kind you have here?” Cream asked, “For a world that has Pegasus and unicorn ponies, you do have a lot of normal creatures too.” “Well, we do have other creatures too,” said Fluttershy, “but I guess they would be more normal to us than they would for you.” Fluttershy was suddenly startled by one the town’s residents, “Hey Fluttershy, that amazing showpony is about to start his performance again; you and your new friend should come and watch!” Fluttershy, Cream, Cheese and Angel walked over to the Ponyville park area where many ponies were watching and cheering for a middle-aged unicorn pony who was putting on quite the spectacle. “Welcome once again, citizens of Ponyville! It is I, the amazing… Leone! Behold, as I once again give you a wonderful spectacle that you will never see anywhere else!” “This situation feels very familiar somehow,” thought Fluttershy to herself. Leone’s coat was dark-red and had a tangerine mane. He wore one of those fancy vests that usually make an image of business. His cutiemark was a whip… just a whip; but what could it mean? He had a platform stage made of rare gems and around the stage he had a bunch of caged boxes that held many different species of animals ready to help Leone entertain the huge crowd. “Who’s Leone?” asked Cream to Fluttershy. “He’s a showpony, who I heard travels all around Equestria putting on these wonderful performances with rare and exotic animals that he has rescued and trained. He’s been here for 3 days now; counting today, and I think he’s moving on after this.” Cream and Cheese could see the different crates that held the different creatures that the showpony had. They could see some normal ones like rabbits, dogs, and hawks; plus some unique ones like parasprites, and even some mini dragons. There were some others, and the friendly duo was astonished. “Wow, that’s so cool,” shouted Cream, “You wanna watch, Cheese?” Cheese was as excited as Cream, “Chao!” “Wait, I thought you two wanted to get home?” asked Fluttershy. “We do, but when will we get to see something like this again? We don’t mind waiting a little longer; right Cheese?” Cheese nodded his head in agreement. Fluttershy smiled and gave a little sigh, “Well, okay. It is a pretty neat show.” ----- The show lasted around 10 minutes before 2 hours, making the time around 3:30 in the afternoon. The entire crowd cheered for Leone and his animals’ wonderful performance, and Leone was enjoying their praise. “Thank you; once again you’ve all been a lovely audience,” he shouted out, “These animals know no limit to entertain many! Continue to shower them… and me with your wonderful applause!” Cream and Cheese were both cheering along with the crowd after enjoying the show. “Wasn’t that show wonderful Cheese!?” shouted Cream. “Chao! Chao, chao!” “Yeah, I thought so too. I wish I could see that all over again!” “It is wonderful to watch,” said Fluttershy with a smile, “but I can’t help but feel sorry for them that they’re not free and instead working for somepony.” “Don’t worry, Miss Shy,” said Cream, “you said so yourself that he rescued them and trained them all. And besides, what’s wrong with having a pet… or pets in Leone’s case; so I’m sure it’s no big deal.” “Chao!” “Yeah, I guess you do make a point,” Fluttershy responded, “My friends and I have our own pets too after all. Oh well, come on; we can’t keep Twilight waiting.” “But… she’s isn’t expecting us,” said Cream. They both started laughing together as they started to walk away from the park area; along with everypony else who was exiting the area. But unknown to them, their appearance suddenly became known to Leone. He had looked over at them while he was preparing to pack up only to notice a certain creature flying beside Cream. “Hmm, what do we have here?” he thought to himself, “What in Equestria is that creature? It seems rather… unique.” He chuckled slightly to himself. Fluttershy, Cream, Cheese and Angel were almost out of the park area when suddenly a puff of magic smoke exploded right in front of their path causing them to jump and yell out in being surprised. After they finished yelling, they looked up and the showpony, Leone, was standing in front of them; presenting them a bow. “Hello there, young ladies… and animals!” Angel and Cheese both made an insulted scowl. “I am the amazing Leone! I’m pretty sure that you have enjoyed my performance, did you not?” Cream was able to pull herself together so she could answer, “Oh, y-yes; w-we sure did, Mister Leone. We loved your entire performance!” “So tell me, what are your names?” asked Leone quite politely. Fluttershy walked up beside Cream and smiled, “Well, I’m Fluttershy; and this little bunny here is Angel.” “My name is Cream,” Cream shouted suddenly, “and this is my pal, Cheese.” “Chao!” Leone was observing Cream’s appearance and was quite fascinated, “Hmm, you’re very peculiar looking for a rabbit; and what’s with all the garments? Are you trying to make a fashion statement or something?” “Um… no; I always dress this way. Is that a problem somehow?” “No, but it is a free country I guess.” Leone then turned his attention back to the creature that caught his eye in the first place. “But never mind that; after my show I couldn’t help but notice your little creature here; Cheese is it?” Cheese smiled a bright smile, “Chao, chao!” “And all he appears to say is the word ‘chao’; is that the only thing he seems to say?” “To most he does,” Cream responded, “He’s part of a race called Chao and only few are able to understand them. Cheese and I understand each other because we’ve been with each other and communicating with each other for a long time!” All of this information was making Leone become quite intrigued by the creature who was Cheese, “So not only does it seem to only say ‘chao’, that’s what it’s called too; fascinating. So… how come I’ve never heard of these creatures?” “I’m afraid Cheese is not from this world,” answered Cream, “and neither am I. We both actually came here accidentally from another dimensional world!” That bit of info made Leone’s heart leap with shock, “Sacre bleu! A creature from another world, here; that’s amazing!” Many self ideas started to roll around in Leone’s head, “Imagine how much mon… ‘Ahem!’ I mean how many ponies would come to see such a creature!” Angel looked at Leone with a suspicious glare; that showpony sure did hesitate in correcting his words. Cream nodded in agreement to Leone’s statement, “I’m sure Cheese would attract a lot of attention, Mister Leone; he’s very adorable!” Cheese scratched his head while blushing. Fluttershy was to the side smiling watching Cream and Leone having a wonderful conversation. Leone had a suspenseful look in his eye while a brilliant idea brainstormed in his head… well, brilliant to him anyway. “Say, how would you feel about making a deal kid?” Cream and Cheese looked at Leone curiously, “A… deal?” “Chao?” “Your chum here has never been seen here by anypony in this land; not even the princesses themselves!” “Princesses?” wondered Cream. “Just imagine; with me, your Chao here could become big! He could become famous! He could make my show even more spectacular! Many ponies coming to see a creature that has been completely unknown to this world! So… how would like to let your creature stay here with good ol’ Leone, and in exchange I’ll give you anything you desire!” Cheese suddenly stopped smiling and became a little worried as he hid behind Cream. “Um… that’s really nice of you, Mister Leone,” said Cream, “but I’m afraid that’s not possible. We both have to get back to our own world! Besides, I don’t want to leave him… and he doesn’t want to leave me.” Leone started to get slightly desperate of the situation, “Why not give it a chance, huh? He could be happy here! I would make sure that he would receive special attention!” Fluttershy was getting kind of nervous of how fast the situation of the conversation was changing. “Cheese doesn’t really like being at the center of attention;” said Cream, “nor does he like making others feel like they’re beneath them or that he’s better than them. But still, I can’t give up Cheese; not for anything!” “Are you sure there isn’t anything I can give you to change your mind? Candy?” Cream shook her head. “Toys, everlasting flowers in many colors?” Cream shook her head again. “Any one of my creatures?!” This time Cream didn’t shake her head, but instead just slightly glares at him while crossing her arms; nothing Leone would say would change her mind. Leone couldn’t understand how a little girl would be so attached to a creature; he just decided to let it out. “Oh come on, he’s just your pet! What’s so hard about the trade anyway?! Is it because of some magical connection you have with him?! Besides… you can just get another Chao back in your world; am I right?” “Uh-oh,” thought Fluttershy as she saw Cream’s fists shaking and little trickles of tears rolling down her cheeks. Cream wasn’t always loud and bold, but this was an exception. “How… how dare you!” she shouted. She marched right up to him and gave Leone a piece of her mind. “You think pets are just possessions that you own and can do whatever you want to do with them?! Pets are not meant to be treated like items or any inanimate object! And Cheese is not my pet; he’s my friend… my best friend!” Cheese was beside her going right along with her, “Chao, chao, chao, chao!” Angel was just sitting there on Cream’s shoulder smirking at the showpony who was suddenly stepping back from Cream’s boasting voice. “Umm… Cream,” said Fluttershy, “maybe we should…” However, Cream kept on going, “Cheese is one of a kind; he’s completely irreplaceable! I’d love any Chao, but no other Chao could replace Cheese!” “Chao, Chao!” “You should act the same way with the other creatures you have; treat them more like friends and family… and not like items you can just trade away with at anytime!” “Chao!” All Leone could do was stand there and become completely shocked by this little rabbit girl’s bold action. “W-w-well, I-I-I…” Cream then stood up straight as she wiped away her tears on her face then turned away from the show pony facing her Chao friend. “Come on, Cheese,” she said in a slight huffy tone, “Let’s go on ahead to Twilight’s so we can figure out a way to get back home.” Cheese nodded and agreed, “Chao.” As they walked onward away from Leone, he saw the little bunny on Cream’s shoulder continue to smirk at him, and then he blew him a raspberry. “Um… um… good day, sir,” said Fluttershy to Leone as she was catching up to Cream, “Cream, wait!” As they disappeared, Leone just slumped down on his flank feeling completely humiliated. He couldn’t believe that he was told off by a 7 year old rabbit girl. Although he just couldn't stop thinking about how better his business could be with that Chao creature; but Cream just wouldn't part with it. “That girl dares to yell at me that way,” he scoffed to himself, “who does she thinks she is?!” He went back to his show equipment wearing a dark scowl on his face. When he looked in his tip jar a slight smile went back on his face, “Well… at least I made a huge killing on this town,” he thought to himself, “but it’s not like that rabbit girl made any tribute.” “Chao, chao!” Leone heard the sound of that Chao again as he looked nearby at a peach tree. He saw Cheese quickly fly over to it and grabbed a nearby peach. He smiled and began to eat it as he flew away again. Just then, Leone had a brilliant idea brainstorm in his head as a sly grin came upon his face. “Maybe things will turn out peachy-keen for me after all.” > Help from a Friend > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the way to Twilight’s house, Cream was pouting a little while walking in a stomping manner. “Can you believe that showpony, Miss Shy,” said Cream in an upset tone, “What would make him think that Cheese was nothing but a pet?” “Chao, chao, chao, chao, chao!” Cheese was right with her in her anger moment. “Well… I guess that’s what it seemed like to him in his eyes. I mean… a lot of ponies here have pets.” Cream grabbed Cheese and gave him a light hug to calm herself down, “I know, but… he seems to see pets as nothing but items that you can do whatever you want to do to them. Cheese is nothing like that to me.” Angel wanted to help Cream calm down too, so he gave her a nice snuggly hug around her neck. She looked over at him and giggled a bit while lightly smiling; it made him smile too. “You’re right, Cream,” Fluttershy responded, “but don’t let it get you down. However, I can’t help but wonder why he was so eager for you to give up Cheese?” “I think it’s pretty obvious,” said Cream while looking at Cheese who was still in her hands, “But who cares, there is nothing that will break me and Cheese apart!” “Chao, chao!” Cheese responded with a smile. “Do you agree, Angel?” asked Cream. Angel looked up straight in Cream’s eyes and rapidly nodded his head. His little bunny tail wiggled with happiness. “You know, this is the longest I’ve seen Angel this happy;” said Fluttershy feeling kinda puzzled, “it’s quite strange.” “Hey, is that the place, Miss Shy?” asked Cream. She was pointing ahead to a giant tall tree house; one unlike any tree house she or Cheese has ever seen. “Yep,” Fluttershy responded, “Come on, let’s go.” ----- Meanwhile… in the house… “Hey, Twilight,” Spike called out, “I’m going out!” Twlilight stepped out of her study room as she looked over at Spike who was already at the door. “Where are you going, Spike?” “To the Carousel Boutique,” said Spike in a dreamy induced voice, “Rarity asked me; that’s right, me; if I could help her gem hunt again. You know… for her masterpieces.” Twilight just rolled her eyes and smiled, “Well, of course you couldn’t say no to Rarity… no surprise there.” “Hey, just helping out a lovely friend,” said Spike with a nonchalant expression. “Have fun, Spike,” Twilight called out, “and remember to keep our claws to ourselves.” “Yeah, yeah; very funny.” Spike exited out the door and was about to make his way to Rarity’s place. Within his first few steps, he came past Fluttershy and waved, “Hey, Fluttershy.” Fluttershy greeted back, “Hello, Spike.” Then Spike slightly noticed Cream who was behind Fluttershy and waved at her as he went by, “Hey, giant rabbit girl.” Cream looked at Cheese confusingly and Cheese just shrugged his shoulders. She then smiled awkwardly and greeted the little dragon back, “Umm… h-hello, Spike?” Suddenly, Spike stopped in his tracks and just stood there for a second wondering what he thought he just saw. He turned around only to get a good look at Cream and Cheese who were looking at him. And on top of that, he saw Angel on Cream’s shoulder rubbing his cheek against her face. Then Angel stopped when he saw Spike staring; and all he did was smile and wave. Spike arched his eyebrow, and then turned back around away from them. He scratched his head wondering if he really did see what he saw; an unusual blue flying creature, plus a giant female rabbit wearing a bunch of garments and Angel cuddling against this giant rabbit and actually greeted him with a smile. Spike thought for a second without turning back around, and then he just shook his head and said to himself, “…Nah.” Then he went onwards to Rarity’s place. “Was that… a dragon,” asked Cream. “The only one living here in Ponyville,” Fluttershy responded. From inside the tree house, Twilight was tending to some regular business when she suddenly heard a couple of knocks on the front door. “I’m coming,” shouted Twilight as she approached the door. Once she opened it, she was welcomed by Fluttershy’s presence, “Hey, Twilight.” “Oh, hey, Fluttershy and… whoa.” Twilight was suddenly caught off guard when she saw Cream standing beside her friend and was looking at her with much awe. “Umm… Fluttershy,” said Twilight awkwardly, “am I the only one who sees a giant rabbit standing beside you?” “Nope; this is my new dearest friend, Cream.” “Cream, huh?” Twilight then saw Angel resting on Cream’s shoulder smiling; and it’s almost like she could literally see hearts floating above him. “Is Angel… alright?” she asked. “Oh, don’t worry about him,” Cream responded, “He just seems to really like me… a lot.” “I can only imagine why.” Twilight suddenly gasped, “Wow, you can talk?!” “What do you mean by that?” said Cream, “Of course I can talk.” “Oh, sorry; I didn’t mean any harm by it, it’s just… well, you’re a rabbit… and you talk… and… wow… umm… this is awkward.” Twilight’s eyes suddenly caught view of Cheese as he was hovering above Cream just staring at her. “Oh, and who is this little fella? He doesn’t look like any creature I’ve ever heard about.” Suddenly, she gasped again and smiled a bright smile, “Could he be a new breed of creature that has never been seen by pony eyes?!” Cream and Cheese felt a little uncomfortable of how close Twilight was to them being so excited and curious. “Umm… well, you’re part right,” said Fluttershy. “Part right?” Twilight wondered. Cream walked up closer to Twilight and gave her explanation, “Miss Sparkle, it’s very nice to meet you. I’m Cream and this is Cheese; and I think what Miss Shy is saying is that Cheese is not from here. Well… we’re not from here.” Twilight seemed confused of what she said, “Wait, what? You mean not from Ponyville?” Cream smiled and shook her head, “No, we’re not from your world. We’re from another dimensional world.” “Another… world? Well I guess explains a lot. Wait, what am I saying; you’re from another world! A whole new world filled with unknown stuff to us! OMG, you have to tell me all about it! Please; pretty please!?” Twilight definitely seems very interested into knowing about Cream and Cheese’s world; but they were just hoping that this outcome wouldn’t turn out the same way as it did with Leone. “Um… actually, we came here because Miss Shy said that maybe you could help us figure a way back home.” “Chao, chao.” “Oh… really?” Twilight responded. “Y-yes, I did,” said Fluttershy, “These two came out of the Everfree Forest and ended up at my house. They seemed very scared and confused at first, but I think they have somewhat gotten use to this place.” “Hey, wait; w-we w-weren’t that s-scared,” said Cream. “Chao, chao.” “Sure you weren’t,” said Twilight, “So if I am to help you find your way back home, you’re going to have to tell me a little bit about it, right?” “I don’t know; I guess I do,” Cream responded unsurely. “Wonderful! Come on in; tell me all about it! There’s no time to waste!” Twilight went deeper into the house getting it ready for her guests. Cream and Cheese looked at Fluttershy awkwardly, and Angel was watching Twilight while rolling his eyes. “She’s really eager to learn about our world, isn’t she?” said Cream. “Chao, chao, chao.” “Are you sure she can help us?” Fluttershy nodded her head, “Yeah, she can. As much excited she is to learn about new discoveries, Twilight does mean well. ----- After getting comfortable in Twilight’s house, several minutes went by as Cream explained to the highly curious unicorn mare the major situation that she and Cheese were in. The explanation of the symbols in the cave back at their world and how they got there proved to be truly mind-blowing to Twilight. “So let me get this straight; this cave was in your world?” “That’s right,” said Cream. “And the symbols around this portal that you’re mentioning are the exact marks that you said were there?” “Of course,” said Cream, “I wouldn’t have said so otherwise. Don’t you believe me?” “Chao, chao?” “No, wait. I do believe you, it’s just a little weird that these exact marks were in a place that’s not even of our world. This all points to something that has to do with Elements of Harmony, it has to; there’s no other explanation!” “Are you sure, Twilight,” asked Fluttershy, “I was thinking that maybe it’s just a weird coincidence; don’t you think so, Angel?” Angel looked over at her with an un-amused look while crossing his arms. “Oh, um… okay.” “Come on, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “this is no coincidence! The Elements of Harmony are located in this world, and this rabbit knew their shape symbols before we told her, and… and… well, you get it; no coincidence!” “Um… guys,” said Cream shyly, “what are the Elements of Harmony?” It was time for Twilight to tell Cream something about their world; maybe if she told her about their meaning, something familiar might come to her. “Well, they’re powerful treasures that exist here in the world of Equestria. They represent the power of harmony and friendship. Me, Fluttershy, and our other main friends are currently the wielders of these items and have used them to keep peace and balance in the world.” “Really?” said Cream in a questionable tone. “Chao?” “Fluttershy’s element represents Kindness, and mine is Magic. The others represent Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Laughter. Without any of them, they could never work at their full extent though.” Cream and Cheese was quite intrigued by these Elements of Harmony. But they couldn’t help but think that this kind of thing reminded them of something. “They sound like very interesting treasures, Miss Sparkle,” Cream responded. “So… do they remind you of anything from your world?” asked Twilight. “I’m not sure,” said Cream while scratching her head, “It reminds me of something, but I can’t think of it.” Cheese couldn’t think of anything either. “Hey, Cream,” said Fluttershy suddenly, “what about that glowing purple emerald you have?” “Oh yeah!” Cream once again pulled the emerald out from her dress pocket and showed it to Twilight. “In our world we have these. They’re called Chaos Emeralds and they each hold a huge immeasurable amount of power.” The light emitting from the gem was so bright that Twilight had to shield her eyes with her hoof for a few seconds, “Wow, so bright! It’s definitely unlike anything I’ve ever seen! Is this gem what possibly caused the portal in your world to open up and send you and you friend here?” “I think so,” Cream responded, “In the cave when I picked it up, it shot a huge glow of light, and suddenly the portal opened behind us; it was a bit scary.” “But wait a second,” Twilight continued, “You mentioned the plural word ‘they’, so how many of these gems are there in your world?” “They’re seven in all and each is a different color: red, blue, light-blue, yellow, green, white, and purple; the one we have!” “Chao!” “Seven Chaos Emeralds, huh,” Twilight responded, “That’s oddly weird.” “How so,” asked Fluttershy. “Well think about it; the 6 symbols of the Elements of Harmony around the portal in Cream’s world, and the 7 Chaos Emeralds that exist in her world. 6 Elements, 7 emeralds; the only different thing about them besides what they can do is that there is an extra number in the emeralds. It all seems so weird.” “It does seem quite strange, “said Fluttershy. Cream was quite curious of whether or not they came up with something; it all became too confusing for her. “Does each of the emeralds have a special meaning behind them like the Elements of Harmony?” asked Twilight. “Not in particular," said Cream, "but there is a saying behind their existence. What was it again; the ser… vers are… the 7 Chaos. Chaos… is… Power? Um… oh, Power is enriched by the heart! That’s all I can remember; I think there’s one more part, but I don’t remember.” Twilight kept thinking on it, but still nothing came to her. “So… does any of that help you out,” asked Cream, “Have you figured out a way we could get home?” “Chao, chao, chao?” “I’m sorry, I can’t think of anything. I mean, if there were only 6 of those gems, and then maybe I would think they could have some sort of connection; but it just doesn’t seem possible.” Both Cream and Cheese both held their heads down in deep disappointment and sighed. So far it seemed like that they were going to be stuck there forever; not that they didn’t like the world that they were in. “S-so… were going to be here forever? There’s no way to get back?” “Chao?” Angel saw Cream crying slightly and tried to cheer her up by giving her a carrot; it always cheered him up…mostly. “Thanks, Angel,” said Cream, “but I’m not hungry.” “Don’t worry Cream,” said Fluttershy, “you and your friend are not stuck here, we just need to think of a better solution. I mean… you got here one way, right? So there has to be a way to get you back; there just has to be!” Cream and Cheese just wiped some of their tears away trying to stay calm. “Fluttershy is right,” shouted Twilight suddenly, “There wouldn’t be no way for you to get back if it was possible for you get here in the first place. There’s an answer, and I’m gonna find it!” “You really think that there’s a way that we would be able to get back home?” asked Cream. “With Celestia as our witness, I know there is!” A smile found its way back on Cream and Cheese’s face as they suddenly brighten up with relief, “Well, if you say that there’s a way, then we have to believe that you’re right.” “Chao, chao!” Fluttershy sighed with a slight relief; she was worried that they were going to start crying again. “Woah, look at the time,” said Twilight looking at the clock tower outside, “It’s already getting into the evening hours. Time files when you’re making new discoveries I guess.” Suddenly, Cream started to yawn very loudly along with Cheese as well. “Oh my goodness,” said Fluttershy, “are you two getting sleepy?” Cream was wiping her eyes trying to stay awake for the time being, “Well, we didn’t get too much sleep today because of the whole realizing what happened to us thing.” She suddenly yawned again, “And this is usually the time my mother helps me clean up and go to bed for the day.” “Well, I can take you back to my cottage and help you clean up so you can sleep;” said Fluttershy, “after a nice little something to eat of course. I’ll even wash your garments for you… if you’re okay with that. And tomorrow, we’ll continue looking for a way to get you back home. Sounds good?” Cream was wiping her eyes again but signaled her by nodding. “Say… Cream,” said Twilight, “do you think that you can trust me enough to hold onto that emerald for you? I need to use it to see if I can figure out something about it.” “Okay,” Cream responded softly as she slowly walked over to Twilight and handed her the emerald. Twilight picked it up using her magic and placed it in a bag that she had. “Don’t worry; it’s in safe hands,” said Twilight with a sweet smile. “Wow,” said Cream, “that’s so cool how you unicorns can just pick things up without bending or reaching to get something.” “Chao, chao.” Fluttershy noticed that Angel was already asleep on top of Creams shoulder; he must have been pretty tuckered out too. “Come on, Cream,” said Fluttershy, “you can ride on my back.” Cream floated onto Fluttershy’s back and laid herself there to rest on the way back to Fluttershy’s cottage. Angel and Cheese laid on top of Cream while resting themselves. Twilight couldn’t help but think that what she saw was one of the cutest scenes she’s ever seen. “Never thought I would find something that looks so weird so cute,” she said. “Will you actually find a way to get them back home, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy feeling a little worried. “You know I will, Fluttershy,” Twilight responded, ”Just make sure they get plenty rest; they’ll probably gonna need their energy tomorrow.” Fluttershy just went out casually carrying her adorable load on her back; being careful that none of them fell off. Seconds later, Spike walked back in the house while looking behind him feeling quite confused. He saw Twilight gathering some books and was wondering what had happened. “Twilight,” he said, “Is it just me or did I just see…” “No, Spike,” Twilight interrupted while smiling, “It’s not just you.” ----- Back at the cottage… Fluttershy was in the midst of giving Cream and Cheese a bath inside a wooden tub that she had for such uses. She was just rinsing her off to prepare to get her dressed. “I just don’t understand why you have to wear clothes when you sleep, Cream,” said Fluttershy, “What’s the point?” “It’s just our thing I guess,” Cream responded, “It’s no big thing, it’s just how we do.” “Well, Cheese seems to do well without clothes,” said Fluttershy with a slight laugh. “Chao!” Fluttershy quickly handed Cream and Cheese each a towel as they stepped out of the wooden tub. She then grabbed a long dress-like gown made of some old leftover cloth and handed it to Cream. “Here you go, Cream. I asked some of my animal friends to make it for you to sleep in. I wouldn’t be able to give any garments I may have because they probably won’t fit you. It’s not much, but don’t worry; your other clothes will be all clean by tomorrow.” Cream just slipped into the gown and had a good look at it. She just smiled at Fluttershy while getting comfortable in it. “Thanks Miss Shy; I love it! It feels really comfortable.” “I’m glad you like it,” Fluttershy responded. Afterwards, Fluttershy led Cream and Cheese upstairs to her bedroom to lay them down to sleep. Cream didn’t mind sleeping in the same bed as Fluttershy; after all, she does the same thing with her mother on multiple occasions. “Miss Shy,” said Cream with half-lidded eyes, “I just want to say thank you. Ever since we came here unexpectedly, you and other ponies we may have met were nothing but nice to us.” “Chao.” “Why of course; it’s not like we would be mean to you. Only a mean monster would act in such a way towards a little child like you.” Cream smiled a bit upon saying, “You mean like that Leone pony?” Fluttershy laughed a little along with Cream and Cheese, “Well… I guess he was a bit mean in the end, but he’s no monster. He’ll have to do something much bigger than harass you a bit to earn that title.” Both Cream and Cheese both suddenly made a huge yawn; it was time for them to go to sleep. “Okay, you two,” said Fluttershy, “you have to go to sleep now. You’re gonna need your energy tomorrow.” Both Cream and Cheese slowly nodded their heads in agreement. “Okay, Miss Shy.” “Chao, chao.” After tucking them in, Fluttershy suddenly asked Cream, “Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?” “Sure,” Cream responded, “I ask my mommy all the time.” “Chao.” Fluttershy then sat on Cream’s resting side of the bed and straighten out her voice. “Okay… then how about I tell you a story about the Princesses of this land; I know you’ll love it.” > Chaonapped! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was around midnight, and everything was quiet inside and around Fluttershy’s cottage. All animals in front of the cottage were fast asleep; including Angel. And at the top of the cottage, Cream and Fluttershy were both laying side-by-side in the bed fast asleep. Fluttershy’s bedtime story really did help Cream and Cheese relax and fall right to sleep; and she soon joined them after finishing tidying around the cottage. Cheese was relaxing and snuggling against Cream’s body and feeling comfortable; but suddenly, he felt this weird vibe coming over him. He struggled to stay asleep, but he couldn’t help but slowly open his eyes to see whatever he might be seeing. He did see something; it was floating in mid-air and it was round with a peachy color. Was it a ball, was it a marble… no, it was too big for a marble; but he soon recognized it as an actual peach. Cheese really loved peaches; he remembers the one he ate from that tree in the park earlier that day. Assuming that he was half-awake and there was a floating peach, he figured that he was just having a strange dream that just happen to take place in the same area of where he was sleeping. He slowly got up from the bed and started to fly up to the peach. But when he got about 3 inches to it, it suddenly started to float away from him and outside the window. Cheese decided to follow it; he really wanted that peach. As he flew outside, Angel, who was asleep outside, broke out of his slumber. He looked up in the near distance and saw Cheese lazily following something that was floating in mid-air. Whatever it was, it finally settled on the ground and Cheese finally grabbed a hold of it smiling and hugging it before he ate it. Angel tilted his head trying to make out exactly what was going on. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a little steel cage pounced on top of him and quickly locked him inside. Cheese became very frightened and tried to call out, but then his mouth was sealed closed by a magical aura. Angel finally became alert as he was seeing the event unfold before him. The cage that Cheese was struggling in floated upwards in the air; and below it, Angel could see a silhouette of a head that sported a glowing horn. Angel knew just how important Cheese was to that beautiful rabbit girl, so he decided to be brave and started to sprint towards the suspicious shadow in hopes of setting Cheese free. Unfortunately, the shadowy figure saw him coming and faced his direction with its horn glowing differently than it was before. Angel would not see it coming as a powerful aura beam shot at him faster than he could react. It was the last thing he saw before everything blanked out. ----- The next morning finally came as the celestial sun rose in the distance; shining the light upon the land. For Cream, it was supposed to be the start of a new hope to get back home; but instead, it’ll be like she’s still stuck in a nightmare. Cream rose up in the bed and stretched up her arms with a huge yawn. She looked beside her where Cheese was supposed to be… “Good morning, Cheese.” But a few seconds after saying that line, she realized that he wasn’t there. “Cheese… Cheese?! Cheese, where are you?!” Fluttershy suddenly rose up from the bed seeing Cream all in a tizzy looking all around the room. “What’s going on Cream?” “It’s Cheese; he’s not here! I don’t know where he is!” Fluttershy suddenly became concerned and flew out of bed to start looking with Cream. “Is he downstairs?” “I don’t know!” Cream quickly ran downstairs in her custom made nightgown and was frantically looking around on the bottom level area of the house. “Cheese… Cheese, where did you go?!” Fluttershy came flying downstairs wondering if Cream was successful. “He’s not down here either, Miss Shy!” said Cream who was beginning to tear up a bit. “I wonder where he could have gone,” Fluttershy thought to herself feeling a little worried for Cream. There was only one place to look now, outside. However, finding Cheese all out there could prove to be difficult. Cream just ran outside with slight tears in her eyes and yelled out with all her might while waking some of the animals in the process. “CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!! Where did you go?! Why… would you just… go away?” Cream just dropped down on her knees feeling a deep emotional pain of sadness fill her heart. She placed her hands over her eyes and began to lightly sob; her best friend was nowhere to be seen. “Don’t worry, Cream,” said Fluttershy as she approached from behind, “I’m sure he’s around somewhere. He wouldn’t just leave you like this.” Cream placed down one of her hands on the ground and uses the other one to wipe away some tears. But then, she looked to her right and saw a sight that didn’t make her feel any better. “Mi-Miss Shy… look over there!” They both ran over to the corner nearby the Everfree Forest only to find Angel; his body was frozen in an awkward position and he wasn’t moving. “Oh my goodness; Angel!” shouted Fluttershy as she picked him up in her arms. “He’s not m-moving,” shuddered Cream, “Is… is he…” Fluttershy held Angel’s body up close to her cheek and then shook her head, “No, his heart is still beating. It looks more like he’s been paralyzed. I wonder who or what did this?” Cream suddenly looked a few feet ahead near where Angel was laying and found a familiar object on the ground. Her eyes grew terrifyingly wide as she looked upon it, “Oh no… Cheese’s bow tie; he … he never takes this off unless I ask him too! D-do you think Angel saw what may have happened to Cheese?” While Cream was lamenting on that fact, Fluttershy was trying to contemplate everything that was suddenly happening. It wasn’t until just yesterday that she was spending some happy quality time with Angel and her two new unusual friends; and now they suddenly wake up only to find Cheese missing in action and poor Angel frozen stiff and not being able to move. “Not exactly how I wanted to start the morning,” she thought. ----- Acting like they had no time to waste, in this case they didn’t, they quickly got themselves together and rushed as fast as they could to Twilight’s place to tell her what happened. They did feel a little sorry for coming so soon and so early to her, but Twilight really didn’t mind; this did seem to be a huge emergency. “Yep, it’s definitely paralysis,” said Twilight as she examining over Angel’s frozen body, “He’s still alive but he can’t move any part of his body. And to think, all of this happens right after your little visit yesterday.” “We had no idea what happened until we woke up,” stated Fluttershy. They both looked over at Cream who was sitting on the nearby couch; she had her hands over her face crying and sobbing over missing friend. “Oh, Cheese… where on earth did you go?!” “Poor Cream,” said Fluttershy emotionally, “she’s so worried about her Chao friend.” “Where do you think he might have gone?” asked Twilight. “We have no idea,” Fluttershy responded; and then she sat the red bow tie on the table beside Angel, “All we could find was his bow tie.” It was truly a mystery to Twilight, “How weird.” Even though she just met them yesterday she was sure that Cream’s friend wouldn’t just leave without them knowing; this was all confusing. Fluttershy continued to look at Angel hoping that there was something that they could do, “Maybe once you can unfreeze Angel, he could tell us what he might have saw. Suddenly, Twilight had this weird feeling… “Wait… I sense…” She suddenly rushed into the other room where she caught Spike holding the Chaos Emerald that Cream let her borrow yesterday. “Ah ha! Don’t you even dare.” “Ahhh! Oh, hey, Twilight,” said Spike with a sheepish expression, “I was just… um, looking at your beautiful, delectable…” His eyes were beading wide and his mouth was drooling as he hung his tongue out at the emerald. “Spike, wait!” shouted Twilight. But Spike’s tongue already touched the gem, and it sent an electrical surge throughout his body. “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOW!!!” He then just stood there waving back and forth as some of his scales were smoking and the spikes still had a little charge leftover. “Wooow, such a shocking flavor.” “I’ll take that,” said Twilight as she floated the gem out of Spike’s claws and to her. “And I’ll… j-just take a quick nap.” Then suddenly, Spike lost his footing and fell flat on his face. “What was all that noise,” asked Fluttershy as Twilight came back carrying the emerald, “what happened?!” “Oh nothing; Spike just tried to taste a sample of this emerald.” “Curiosity killed the dragon?” “More like he got shocked and fell unconscious. But don’t worry, he’ll be fine.” As Twilight got in front of Angel and was conjuring up a spell that would unfreeze him, Fluttershy walked over to Cream to try and calm her down. “Don’t worry, Cream, I’m sure Cheese will turn up somehow.” “Bu… b-but… you don’t understand,” said Cream with light tears still flowing from her eyes, “Cheese and I always stay together; unless something bad happens, we never separate! That’s why I’m so worried!” “Alright,” Twilight shouted suddenly, “Angel is finally un-paralyzed; wasn’t as hard to do it as I thought.” Cream and Futtershy quickly rushed over to Angel so fast they nearly ran Twilight over; unintentionally of course. “Oh thank goodness!” said Fluttershy, “Are you okay, Angel?” Angel started feeling all of his limbs again as he sat up and shook his from being frozen for so long. He was completely tired of not being able to do anything. “We don’t mean to rush you, Angel, but please… you must tell us what might have happened to Cheese!” It all went so fast that Angel hardly remembered anything; but when he looked up at Cream’s desperate sad face, he suddenly started to remember and did his best to tell them. He began by pretending to walked towards something he desperately liked. “Was he sleepwalking,” said Fluttershy, “I mean… flying?” Angel shook his head for both, “Oh, he wasn’t?” Angel then picked up a nearby pebble and rolled it in front of him while doing the same walking movement towards it. “Wait, was he following something,” asked Cream. Angel smiled and nodded; and then he pointed at the window, “And then he followed it out the window!” “Wow, this is fun to watch,” stated Twilight, “I love charades.” Angel then walked to the pebble and glomped on it, “So… he caught it?” said Fluttershy. Angel nodded once again, “And then what happened?” Suddenly, Angel grabbed a small wooden basket and threw it up in the air; and then he let it land upon him to cover him up completely. “Oh no, he wasn’t trapped under a cage, was he?” asked Cream. Angel sadly nodded, but stood up proudly started sprinting in place. “So you decided to be a hero and rush forward to try and rescue him,” said Fluttershy. “So what happened?” asked Cream. Angel picked up the little pebble, and then threw it on his body and fake fainted on the ground. Cream suddenly gasped, “You got hit by something; and that’s how you got paralyzed?!” Angel looked up at her and smiled while nodding. He then plopped his whole body down on the ground feeling exhausted from the charade movements. “But wait,” said Fluttershy, “what exactly hit you?” Angel lifted up his head and pointed at Twilight. “What, me?” said Twilight, “It couldn’t be me, I was…” Angel just rolled his eyes and pointed at the top of his head. “Oh, you mean what you saw hit you was from a unicorn’s horn!” Angel slowly nodded and plopped his head back down. Twilight was pacing around trying to get to a conclusion on all of this info, “So based on all of this information, we can only say that Cheese must have been…” Cream’s eyes grew wide with slight tears in her eyes, “Chaonapped… Cheese has been Chaonapped!” “Chaonapped?!” both Twilight and Fluttershy said. They both wondered about the play on words, but they understood that it was just as serious. “That’s… terrible,” said Twilight sadly, “Somepony took him away from Cream right from under your noses!” “B-bu… but who would do such a thing?!” sobbed Fluttershy. “I think I know who,” said Cream in an upset and flustered tone; her fists also seemed to shaking a bit. “So who is it?” asked Twilight pleadingly. “It was… it was that mean showpony, Leone!” “Oh no, Leone?!” said Fluttershy. Twilight knew who she was talking about, but she was confused, “Leone; you mean that unicorn stallion that was just here putting on a show for the last 3 days? Why would you think it was him?” “That Leone,” scoffed Cream, “he sees animals like they are items that you can trade off and treat them anyway you want. He was eyeing Cheese ever since he saw us and he was real fixed on trading Cheese from me; but I refused!” “Why didn’t any one of you tell me about that?” Twilight asked. “We didn’t think that it was such a big deal,” Fluttershy responded, “He didn’t seem like one who would do such a thing!” “It’s him alright,” whined Cream with a scowl, “It has to be! All of Angel’s signs point to it! Leone has Chaonapped Cheese!” They all stood in awkward silence grieving about what had just taken place. How were they going to deal with this now? “So… what do we do?” asked Fluttershy. Cream wiped her tears away but her upset expression didn’t change, “What do you mean? Cheese has been taken away from me; and now, I’m going to go and get him back!” Fluttershy suddenly gasped, “What; all by yourself?!” “If I have to,” Cream responded. Fluttershy suddenly got in front of her feeling concerned, “Cream, I understand that you want to save you friend, but it could be too dangerous.” “I don’t Care!” cream shouted, “Cheese is my best friend, and I won’t let some big meanie take him from me!” Cream showed no sign of sobbing or crying, but rather she was only mad and full of determination, “I’ll show him that I’m not just some little girl that he can easily steal something from!” Cream started to head towards the door, and then she felt a little tug on her dress. When she looked down behind her, she saw Angel looking up and giving her a worried look. “I’m sorry, Angel,” said Cream, “but I need to do this. I may be small, but I’m not weak!” “Cream, Wait! You should think about this!” shouted Twilight. “What is there to think about?” Cream responded, “I’m going and that’s that.” “Cream,” Fluttershy started, “I know that you’re determined to do this and you don’t want anything to stand in your way; but you’re still very young and Leone could be very dangerous to you. S-so… so, I’m coming with you.” Cream looked over at her with wonderment, “You… want to go with me?” “Of course; I’ve looked out for you and Cheese since yesterday, so no sense in not helping you out now.” Cream smiled knowing that she could really trust her Pegasus friend to help her out when she needed it, “Thank you, Mrs. Shy; you really are kind.” Fluttershy smiled back and chuckled a bit, “Kindness is my element, what did you expect?” “Are you sure you could handle doing this, Fluttershy/” asked Twilight feeling concerned. “If it’s to help Cream and her friend, I’m willing to help out in any way I can.” Twilight took a look at the emerald she had and was thinking that she needed more time to help them out anyway. “Well, as far as getting Cream and Cheese home, I’m still working on a way that will work. This emerald is more mysterious and complexed than it looks.” “Well it doesn’t matter;” stated Cream, “I’m not going anywhere until I get Cheese back.” “However, there is one little problem,” said Twilight, “How do you know where to find Leone?” Both Cream and Fluttershy froze and realized that Twilight had a point. Even though they knew who the culprit was, where would he be now and how could they find him? Fluttershy said the only thing she could think of at that point, “Aw… horsefeathers.” ----- Somewhere inside a deep dark room filled with many unknown unmentionables, poor little Cheese was sitting in a little steel cage sobbing feeling a mixture of sadness and fear. What happened last night? Who trapped him, and more importantly… where was he now? He was shaking and whimpering, wondering if he would ever see Cream again. “What’s the matter, don’t you like your new home?” asked a certain familiar voice. Cheese jumped up and saw a shadowy figure approach him with a sinister smirk. Once in full view, he saw that it was that showpony from the other day. He started getting mad and was banging against the cage. “Oh well, it doesn’t really matter whether you like it here or not,” said Leone as he got up all close to the cage, “You belong to me now, my little moneymaker.” Cheese got close enough to him and punched him right in the snout; and Leone ended falling on his back. He got up rubbing his snout while glaring at Cheese. “Well… for such a small creature, you pack a powerful punch. I had the same problem with some of my other performers; but don’t worry, you’ll fall in line soon just like them.” He suddenly lit up the room using an illumination spell and Cheese saw all the different animals inside cages. They were the all the same ones that he and Cream saw in Leone’s performance back in Ponyville, but they all seemed to be in some sort of trance with their eyes all blank and lifeless. He looked upon them with fright as he coward down in his cage. “See those purple diamonds each and every one of them are wearing,” Leone told the frighten Chao, “They’re mind-control gems, created especially by yours truly. Once I made those babies it was only a matter of time before they would help me be rich. They are all controlled by my magic; and once it’s on you, you no longer have any free will of your actions; not that creatures like you deserve any free will.” His magic suddenly got a hold of a little collar that sported one of his diamonds and held it up in Cheese’s view. Cheese was getting more and more frighten by the minute, and seeing that collar, he feared the worse. “Don’t worry, I have one just for you; it’ll help replace that boring old bowtie that you left behind. You are going to help me get my popularity back real quick; you will listen to only me now.” When Leone opened the door on the cage, Cheese tried to quickly fly out but was suddenly held back by Leone’s magic. Cheese looked at the collar as it got closer but he couldn’t do anything; he was helpless. “And don’t worry about that yellow Pegasus and that little rabbit brat of a child; once you’re under my control, you won’t remember them at all.” Cheese really didn’t want to forget his best friend; but it was futile as the collar was wrapping around his neck, and then suddenly… his memory went blank. > Departing for a Rescue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Ooh my goodness! Ooh my goodness!” said Fluttershy while hovering back and forth panicking, “This is bad; how are we supposed to find Cheese now if we don’t know where he could be?!” “We can’t give up, Miss Shy!” Cream shouted so desperately, “Cheese could be in serious trouble; we have to rescue him!” “Everypony, calm down!” shouted Twilight as loud as she could. Fluttershy and Cream both stopped panicking and looked over at Twilight while Angel was rubbing his ears from Twilight’s piercing shout. “Now listen; maybe we could think of something. After all, I don’t want Leone to get away with this either… now that I know. Did he say anything to you girls that might have given away of where he is?” “Not that I know of,” said Fluttershy. “For all we know he could be anywhere,” shouted Cream, “but I’m not going to give up!” They all suddenly heard a nearby groaning sound as they looked at doorway from the other room and saw Spike approaching. He was groaning and rubbing his head from being knocked unconscious earlier by the Chaos Emerald. “H-hey Twi… light…” “Well, look whose finally conscious from his shocking slumber,” said Twilight. “Hey, don’t j-judge me,” he retorted, “You were practically asking me to take that gem by just leaving it out like that!” Cream walked over to Spike to get a better look at him than she did the other day. She was quite amazed to see a real dragon up close because she’s never met a dragon; not even in her own world. “So you’re Spike the Dragon;” she said with a slight smile, “you’re very cute.” Spike just blushed a bit and took a little bow, “Why thank you; and you must be Cream. I have to admit though; when I walked out of here yesterday and suddenly saw a giant 2-ft rabbit I thought I was losing my mind!” They both laughed a little out of amusement; but then Spike looked around Cream and noticed that something, or rather someone was missing. “Hey wait a second; wasn’t there a strange little blue flying creature that was with you?” Suddenly, the sadness came back to Cream as she just dropped on her knees and started to sob a bit. Angel came over and was rubbing on her side to calm her down; and then he made a little glare at Spike. “Uh… was it something I said?” said Spike in a confusing manner. “No, it wasn’t, Spike,” Twilight responded, “I’m afraid that her little friend got Chaonapped.” “Chaonapped?” wondered Spike. “Well, you know… because he’s a Chao… and he was taken… Chaoknapped.” Then Spike finally got it, “Oh… so that’s what he is. So who took him?” “We believe it was Leone, that showpony that we thought left yesterday. He took Cream’s friend sometime last night without them knowing… except Angel here. However, he was paralyzed while trying to stop him.” “Whoa, that’s harsh,” said Spike in shock. “Cream wants to go and rescue him, but I’m afraid we have no idea where he could be right now; we may never find out!” Spike realized that he could help out with that situation, “Well actually, I heard that he was going to Manehattan.” They all had sudden wide eyes while looking at Spike; this seemed so sudden. “What; how do you know?!” shouted Twilight. “Well… I sorta had a little conversation with him the day before yesterday. He was talking about being in the spotlight, being pampered and rich and having the time of my life. He told me that he wanted me to come with him to Manehattan and he can help prepare me to be a star! I was a bit intrigued at first, but I soon left after that; he was kinda creeping me out.” This was great news indeed; at least now they knew where they could look for Leone… and bring him to Equestrian justice! “Well, I guess that was easier to find out than we thought,” said Fluttershy. Twilight scratched her head over what Spike had said about his encounter with Leone, “Well, it seems to me that Leone is a ‘get rich quick and not care for anypony but himself’ kind of villain and not ‘the take over Equestria’ kind.” “Well, what are we waiting for,” whined Cream, “Let’s go rescue Cheese!” “Not so fast,” said Twilight suddenly, stopping Cream in her tracks. “I think we need to run this by Princess Celestia first.” “Celestia,” wondered Cream, “Hey, she’s one of the Princesses that you told me about in that story last night, Miss Shy!” Fluttershy smiled and nodded, “Yes she is; but, Twilight, I am very worried about that little Chao too, and the more time we use up, who knows what could be happening to him. S-s-so, may I suggest that you can go to Canterlot and inform this to the princess while we can start investigating in Manehattan… um, that is if you want to.” “Wow, I’m quite surprised at you, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “You’re being a bit a bolder than usual.” “Just doing what I can to help,” Fluttershy responded with smile. “Well, are you sure that you’re up for it?” “Of course; I wouldn’t dream of backing down now. Are you still up for it, Cream?” “Yep,” Cream responded with a cheerful smile, “but what about Spike?” “Sorry, you guys have fun. I promised Pinkie that I would help babysit the Cake twins today. It was a favor made a week in advance, and today it’s a week.” Then, Spike took his leave from them yet again. “See ya guys; hope you find Cheese and bring Leone to justice!” “Suddenly, something just accrued to Fluttershy, “Wait a minute, why don’t we tell the other girls about this?” “No need to worry, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “This won’t take the need all of us, and I don’t want to trouble them. Besides, with Celestia knowing about it, Leone won’t stand a chance. And on top of that, Cream said she can handle herself, right?” “I know I can,” she said with a determined look or her face. Angel was feeling excited for her; it was so great seeing her being so brave like this. Cream just smiled and gave him a pat on the head; this rabbit seemed to really brighten her day. “Come on, let’s go get Cheese back, and make Leone feel sorry!” ----- Back at an unknown location, Leone was gleefully amusing himself using his magic to control Cheese’s actions. It was normally to just pass the time, but he soon realized that Cheese had major potential, more than any creatures he has controlled. “Oh yeah, the ponies are going to love you,” said Leone as he watched Cheese perform very impressive moves in his training area, “Such speed, agility, and stamina! The possibilities I could have with you. And making everypony think that you’re the only one of your kind in existence, you’ll make me a very rich pony.” Leone was getting really excited, and knowing what unknown creature he had, he was determined to discover its potential. “I wonder what else you can do.” He used his magic to drop a 100lb concrete brick from above Cheese. All Cheese did as a response was shooting straight up and smashing right through the brick; shattering it into many pieces. Leone was shocked and astounded by what he just witnessed. “Yes; I thought you seemed pretty strong, seeing that you had knocked me down earlier.” Leone was lightly rubbing chin just thinking about it; but he didn’t let that get him down, he was about place himself at the top of entertainment. “And the best thing about this is that rabbit is probably too weak and scared to do anything; she won’t even try to find me… or will she?” he wondered, “Hmm… well, she did seem rather attached to you… the way she was all up in my face and everything being all bold.” Suddenly, in his controlled trance, Cheese started to speak. “Chao, chao. Chao, chao, chao, chao… chao, chao.” Leone just grumbled to himself; he had no idea what he heard. “Ugh, why am I even trying to listen to you; I sure wish I knew what you were saying.” Then, he suddenly had an idea. “Wait a minute, I can!” He illuminated his horn and created a small psychopathic wave to appear between his mind and Cheese’s; it was known as a translator spell. “Now… tell me what you need to say.” He then suddenly started to hear the single Chao talk his language. “It’s the yellow Pegasus… named Fluttershy; she knows… Twilight Sparkle.” Leone suddenly froze and began to feel troubled, “Wait… did you just say… Twilight Sparkle? The newest student disciple to Princess Celestia; that Twilight Sparkle; and also the wielder of one of the Elements of Harmony?!” Leone realized that he could be in big trouble if the princess got involved in his business and he would probably be put away for a long time. “If all of this is true, and the rabbit girl finds out, her pegasus friend will inform Twilight, and then she will report to the princess, and they will search for me! Aww man, I really didn’t think this through enough!” Just then, another brilliant idea came into his evil mind; one that could possibly guarantee his safety. “Wait a minute… yes, oh yes; that could work. Oh Leone, you are so brilliant, thinking up such an incredible plan! That rabbit girl may think that she’s smart, but she is poorly mistaken. Nopony will ever stop me from getting to the top! ----- “Well, here it is;” said Twilight as she and company approached their recent destination, “Ponyville Central Train Station.” “You know Twilight,” said Fluttershy, “it might be okay if we fly to Manehattan; after all, I heard that Applejack walked all the way to Manehattan from here all by herself when she was just a little filly.” “Maybe so, Fluttershy,” Twilight responded, “but the train can take you there faster. We don’t want to waste any more time… especially since one of us is more desperate than the others.” Fluttershy looked beside her and saw Cream just standing there with her arms drooping and her head down. She wasn’t crying or anything, but she was still a little worried about her Chao friend. Angel was there on her shoulder feeling sorry for her as he was giving her a there-there on the side of her face. “What’s wrong, Cream?” asked Fluttershy as she approached her. Cream just sighed, “Nothing; it’s just that I can only imagine how terrified Cheese is right now. We have to find him as soon as possible, Miss Shy; we just have to.” “And we will, don’t worry. I’m sure he’s completely safe for the time being.” “ALL ABOARD FOR MANEHATTAN;” shouted the train conductor, “REPEAT, NOW BOARDING FOR MANEHATTAN!” “Well, I guess that’s us,” said Fluttershy. Cream looked down at Angel who was looking up at her and smiling. She smiled back, but she knew that she had to reason with him. “Sorry, Angel; it would be great for you to come along with us, but it might be too dangerous for you.” She then patted him on the head to make his sudden disappointed face disappear slightly, “But don’t worry, I’ll be back.” She started to head onto the train, but then she stopped and turned around to see Angel still sitting there looking longily at her. She made a wave motion movement with her hands to try and get him to go on. “Go on back home, Angel. Go back home now; go on.” Angel’s ears drooped down and then he finally hopped away towards the direction of the forest. Twilight looked back and forth at Angel and Cream and couldn’t believe that Cream couldn’t see the obvious situation between her and Angel. “You know Cream,” she said with a smirk, “if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Angel has a crush on you.” Cream had a sudden blush on her cheeks as she turned towards Twilight, “Huh, what makes you say that?” “Well, he’s been with you and to you as many times as he could, and he always seems to want to comfort you whenever you feel down.” “He also gave you that special flower when he first met you,” continued Fluttershy, “and I noticed that he always blushes every time you look at him.” Fluttershy giggled a bit, “You might be the cutest rabbit he’s ever seen.” This was completely oblivious to Cream thinking that Angel just took a really good liking to her; she didn’t know that it was more than that. “You mean… he liked-liked me?” she asked. The train whistle suddenly blew, signifying that it was going to be leaving in a bit, “Well, better get on the train;” said Twilight, “hope you’re successful in finding your friend. Oh, and don’t worry, I will try to join you two as soon as possible.” “Aren’t you getting on the train with us, Miss Sparkle,” asked Cream. “Sorry, but Canterlot is the other way. I’m waiting for a train that will be here in 10 minutes.” Cream and Fluttershy climbed aboard the train and then waved off to Twilight as the train took off. “See you later Twilight,” Fluttershy shouted out, “We’re going to be successful in our search; right Cream?” “Yes, we will,” shouted Cream while smiling. Twilight watched as the train took off in the distance and she was quite glad that Cream was handling this better than she was before. “And there they go,” she said to herself, “You know, I’m really starting to wonder more about this Leone character.” Suddenly, Twilight was startled by a sudden shout, “Ah ha!” “AHHHHH!” Twilight looked behind her and saw Pinkie looking around with an eager smile on her face. “Um… Pinkie, what are you doing?” Twilight asked. “Oh, you won’t believe it, Twilight! I started to feel this very weird twitching sensation in my tail; one that means that somepony completely new is here in Ponyvillie and I tracked the feeling right here! So where is she… or he… or… whoever it is?!” Twilight just smiled and shook her head, “Sorry Pinkie, you just missed her; but I believe you and the other girls might see her soon.” > Not what it seems > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Longer chapter... get ready!) A young rabbit named Cream and her Chao friend, Cheese had witness many things in Equestria after just a day; they just didn’t expect to be separated from each other so suddenly. Cheese was kidnapped by a greedy showpony named Leone, and unknown to Cream, Cheese has been place under his control and now obeying to no one except Leone. Right now, while Twilight was on her way to Canterlot to inform the princess of the situation, plus figure out a way for the split-up duo to get back home, FLuttershy and Cream were already on their way to Manehattan. Once there, they hope to track down and find Leone and rescue Cheese. “Um, Miss Shy,” said Cream softly while cowering in her train seat. “What is it, Cream?” Fluttershy responded. “I’m being watched.” Fluttershy looked around and saw some fillies and colts being curious of Cream; looking at her like she was a new toy or something. She was the biggest rabbit that they had ever seen; and before Cream knew it, they were suddenly asking questions to her while getting kinda close. “Hey, are you a hybrid of something?” “Where do you come from?” “Why are you so big?” “You can talk?!” “What’s your name?” “Why are you wearing so much clothing?” “Where are you headed?” Suddenly, Fluttershy decided to speak up to the children, “Um, excuse me, young foals; but I’m afraid that you’re kinda crowding my friend here… just a bit. Could you please go back to your mommy or daddy or whoever you’re with?” The foals realized what they may have been doing and listened to the yellow Pegasus. They said that they were sorry and they went back to where they were originally. “Whew, are you okay, Cream?” Fluttershy asked. Cream slowly sat back up in her seat and shook her ears loose and smiled shyly. “Y-yeah, I’m okay. A lot of ponies here really do become curious of me. Am I really that interesting and strange?” “Well, you’re not the most bizarre thing most ponies have seen, but you’re definitely the most unique one; I’m sure that you’re other friends in your world would be just as interesting for others to see just like you and your Chao friend were.” Cream really did miss Cheese; she was thinking about him during most of the train ride to Manehattan. The more time she spent away from Cheese the more worried she felt about him. Fluttershy notice her seldom face expression and told her… “Are you worried about Cheese again? He’s going to be okay; I mean, even a big meanie like Leone wouldn’t mainly hurt him, right?” “It’s not much like that Miss Shy,” Cream responded sadly, “I’m just wondering of how Cheese feels right now. He’s probably scared, worried, and wishes that he can get back home. He probably wishes that he never went into that cave in our world in the first place.” “Well… I least you two got something nice out of this;” said Fluttershy with an uplifting smile, “you met me, and Twilight… oh, and Spike. But I can tell you not much of us are big jerks like Leone. If anypony knows anything about him, we will find him; no problem at all.” “Have you ever had anything or anyone that was very precious to you taken away from you?” Cream suddenly asked. “Um… yeah I have, you’re not the only one who has dealt with a case like this.” “Well I shouldn’t be too surprised; there’s a lot that the evil villain in our world that has taken things from me and my friends, but we always fight to get them back!” “Well, I hope we don’t have to fight;” said Fluttershy, “but if we have to, then we’ll do it; I won’t let anything hold me back.” “Me neither,” Cream replied. Jut then, they heard the conductor, “Attention, ponies, 10 miles to Manehattan! Repeat, 10 miles to Manhattan!” “So are you ready?” asked Fluttershy. Cream nodded her head and smiled with determination, “Yes, I am very ready.” ----- Back in Canterlot… Twilight Sparkle had made her entrance on castle grounds and was making her way inside the castle to find Princess Celestia. She needed to tell her about everything that has been going on so that her new friends could be able to get back to their world safely; that is if they could find Leone. She found Celestia going through her book archive with her sister, Luna; they were both quite surprised to see her so suddenly. “Princess Celestia, thank goodness you’re here! I have some important news that you need to hear!” “Twilight, this is quite the pleasant surprise; you sound rather desperate in your tone so what you have to say must be really important.” Celsestia looked over at her sister and she just nodded, “Don’t worry, sister, thou will continue to look through here to find thy book; you must attend to whatever you need to take care of.” Celestia then walked away with Twilight close beside her to give her the news, “What have you come here for, Twilight Sparkle?” “Well… where do I start? I came here to tell you that recently Equestria has gained a couple of new visitors; but not just any visitors, but visitors from another dimensional world!” “Another world, you say?” Celestia asked. “I know; I was completely surprised myself! I mean… another world completely different from our own; it’s so exciting to find out something that no other pony probably doesn’t even know about… not even you, Princess!” Celestia gave Twilight a little amused smirk and chuckled a bit, “Well I wouldn’t exactly say that, my faithful student.” “Wait, what? Is there something that you never told me?” “Well… the existence of another world doesn’t surprise me a bit, mainly because they existed for as long as I remember… and probably even longer than that.” Twilight’s jaw dropped and she had to stop walking; her eyes glistened with excited shock, “Th-th-th-th-th-they?! You mean there are more existing dimensional worlds and they have all existed all this time; why have you never told me this?!” “I guess it wasn’t a main necessity… yet, so consider this a surprise history lesson. So… who are our little dimensional visitors?” Twilight really wanted to know more about the facts of different dimensional worlds, but she knew that she need to continue in her explanation because for all she knew they were running out of time. “Her name is Cream; she’s this giant-sized rabbit creature wearing quite the dress attire, and she has a little friend named Cheese.” “That’s a pretty strange name,” said Celestia, “What kind of creature is he?” “Cream says it’s a Chao. I know it sounds weird but, a lot of unknown things are.” Celestia was quite intrigued by this and wished to know more about Cream and Cheese; to be more specific, what dimension they came from. “Any information on how they got here?” she asked. “They said that they got here through some kind of portal inside some cave that was in their world. But that’s not the weirdest part; she saw carvings of the Elements of Harmony around it, and this was in their world, not ours.” “Is that so…” wondered Celestia, “Could it be that there’s more to the Elements of Harmony than I even know?” Twilight couldn’t quite make out what she was saying because she was speaking rather softly, “What was that, your Majesty?” “Oh, um… nothing; so what can I do to help?” “We figured that maybe you could help us figure out a way to get them back to their world; and by we, I mean me and Fluttershy; she’s the one who found them. Well… actually they found her.” Suddenly, Twilight dug in her bag that she had with her and pulled out the purple emerald that Cream let her borrow, “Can you make anything of this, Princess?” Celestia took a step back upon seeing the bright emerald as it shone with immense beauty, “Such… power; where on Equestria did you find this?” “It came from their world; Cream told me that this is what activated the portal that led them here. This gem is one of seven others; maybe there’s something of that fact that we can use to figure out a way to open a portal back to their world.” Despite her huge vast knowledge and her awareness of different dimensions, Celestia was quite astonished about what her pupil was telling her, and looking at this emerald just made her even more curious. “This really is all a big mystery… but no mystery that we can’t unravel. I’ll get together with my sister to see if we can figure something out.” “Unfortunately, there’s another problem, Princess,” stated Twilight. “Another problem?” “Yes; I’m afraid that Cream’s little Chao friend, Cheese, was kidnapped and taken away from her.” This became quite a serious matter to her aside from the other matter, “By who?” “Are you familiar with a showpony named Leone?” “Well I did hear of a traveling pony that puts on a show wherever he goes, and I hear that he owns quite the assortment of creatures.” “Yeah, he does,” Twilight responded, “except he doesn’t own Cheese! He saw him during his last show in Ponyville and realized that he was not from this world. To him, having a creature like Cheese would make him get more money out of other ponies since we’ve never had a Chao in our world and I’m sure a lot of ponies would love to see a creature that doesn’t exist in our world… at least that’s our guess of why he did this.” Celestia began to think more about Leone and his given actions from Twilight. Something about this was strangely familiar with her, “Animals, money, possession… why does this ring a bell to me,” she thought to herself. “Cream is really upset about this,” Twilight continued, “and she is willing to do anything to get him back.” “She sounds like a tough little rabbit,” Celestia responded with an amused smile. “I believe she’s tougher than we may think.” Suddenly, a tiny spark went off in Celestia head and a familiar thought of Leone came to her senses, “Oh no, is this who I think it is?” she thought to herself again. “Anyway,” said Twilight, “Fluttershy is with her right now and they’re probably already looking around for him in Manehattan; we all suspect that he’s there somewhere… hiding… lurking… you know, what usual creeps do.” “Wait, they’re there now,” said Celestia in a slight panicked tone, “looking for him; just those two?” “Well, yeah. We figured that he wasn’t much of a threat since he was just an animal smuggler; and Cream said that she has dealt with meaner creeps than him in her world anyway. So with your help, we can catch him easily.” Twilight suddenly realized the worried expression that was on Celestia’s face; she seemed to have something on her mind. “Are you feeling okay, Celestia; you sounded a bit worried there.” “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine. Both of these delemmas must be taken care of as soon as possible. I will get on this matter right away; however, you, Twilight, must get to Manehattan and find your two friends as quickly as you can to help them. If they do find him, it could get ugly.” “What do you mean by that?” asked Twilight. “If this pony is who I think it is, then your friends could be in trouble.” “What; I don’t understand! Is there something about him I should know about?” “No time to explain,” Celestia said suddenly, “but I will say that he’s more dangerous than he appears. Now hurry; I’ll send a small squadron of my guards as soon as I can.” Celestia then carefully picked up the purple emerald with her magic to make sure no dangerous reaction occurred. “Does your friend mind if I borrow this?” “If it helps get her home sooner, I’m sure she won’t mind.” Twilight waved goodbye for now to the Princess as she galloped towards the exit of the castle. She was wondering what Celestia meant by what she said about Leone; but if Celestia was this worried than it must bad. She needed to hurry as fast as she could; hoping that her friends haven’t found him yet. “Good luck,” said Celestia as she watched Twilight rush outside the castle walls, “and be safe.” She took the emerald, and brought it back to the archives where her sister was still searching through the row of books. “Luna, forget about the book we were looking for, a more important matter has come up.” Luna looked at her feeling puzzled and confused of the sudden change of plans, “More importance; what has happened, dearest sister?” “Luna,” said Celestia while holding up the purple emerald, “are you still familiar with the dealings of... dimensional worlds?” ----- Sometime a little earlier in Manehattan... Fluttershy and Cream had finally made it to Manehattan and were both looking around at their huge surroundings. They began walking around randomly looking to see if they could see any indication of where Leone might be; but it seemed like it was going to be next to near impossible to do so. “This is terrible, Miss Shy,” whined Cream, “This city is beautiful and all, but how are we going to find Cheese here; he could be anywhere!” “Relax, Cream,” stated Fluttershy, “I don’t think we can find him just by randomly looking around. Why don’t we ask some of the ponyfolk here if they know Leone and if they know where he could be; doesn’t that sound like a plan?” “Yes, of course,” Cream replied, “that sounds better! Sorry, Miss Shy, I wasn’t thinking.” “It’s okay. Hey look, there’s a nice looking stallion over there; let’s see if he knows Leone.” “Okay, I guess.” They both calmly walked over to the random stallion and got his attention. “Um, e-e-excuse me, sir;” said Fluttershy, “We were both wondering if you happen to know a pony named Leone?” “Sorry, I’m afraid I do not,” said the stallion in such a polite and elegant tone, “By the way, madam, that’s a very peculiar pet rabbit that you have there.” Cream scowled a bit upon being called a pet, “Hey, I’m not a pet rabbit, I’m… just a rabbit!” “Good heavens, it actually talks,” said the stallion in shock, “That’s something you don’t see every day. Well, carry on ladies; hope you find who you are looking for.” As the stallion took his leave, Cream still had an insulted look on her face while crossing her arms, “He called me a pet.” “Um, don’t worry,” said Fluttershy smiling nervously, “I’m sure he didn’t mean it on purpose. Let’s see if we can find and ask another pony here.” They came to another pony who was nearby and seemed very nice; a young mare who was sporting a blonde mane in pigtails and had a very upbeat attitude. “Can we ask you a question, Miss,” said Fluttershy to the random mare. “Of course, ask me anything you want!” The young mare suddenly saw Cream and squeed with daw-ness, “Aw, what a cute little rabbit you have dressed up there; is she yours?” “Um… w-well, she’s is with me,” Fluttershy quickly said, “and she’s not a pet.” Cream was just looking at the mare with curious look waiting to see how the mare was going to react. “Oh, well that’s nice too. So what do you wish to ask?” “We’re looking for a stallion pony named Leone; do you know who he is and where he is?” The young mare thought about it for a second and then it finally hit her, “Oh yeah, Leone. I do know about him; he’s a showpony with some cool looking creatures! Plus… he does live around here.” A bright smile came upon both Fluttershy and Cream as it seemed that this pony had the answer that they were looking for. “That’s great;” shouted Cream in excitement, “so where does he live?!” “Heck if I know;” the mare said cheerfully, “I’m afraid I can’t help you there.” The smile on Cream’s face went away again as her sudden hope suddenly disappeared. “Wait… holy celestia, you can talk!” the mare said suddenly. “Yes… I can,” said Cream sadly as she held her head down. “Amazing; oh well, sorry that I couldn’t help you guys. Good luck finding somepony who can help you better!” The young mare happily trotted away from them smiling and bouncing in her step, but cream felt anything but. “We can’t give up, Miss Shy;” she shouted while wiping away some tears, “We have to keep looking; we will find him and get back Cheese.” “Now that’s picking up your spirits,” said Fluttershy with a smile, “Let’s keep going.” Unfortunately, they still didn’t have much luck later on. Just about every pony that they asked knew about Leone but had no idea of his whereabouts. They were getting nowhere fast and Cream was getting very worried… and tired. “W-what now, Miss Shy? We must have asked about a hundred ponies about where Leone is.” “Um, actually, it was just 20,” said Fluttershy nervously, “We can keep asking if you like.” Cream just shook her head sadly, “No… it’s no use. Maybe we should wait for Twilight or your Princess to continue. Oh, but what if it’s too late by then!?” Just then, they both heard a mysterious voice speak up nearby, “I hear you guys are looking for Leone; you are, right?” They both looked over and saw a black mare with an emerald mane approaching them slowly with a seldom smile. But what was so strange about this mysterious mare was that she had no cutiemark; that alone became very suspicious to Fluttershy. “Um… yes, we are,” answered Cream quietly, “You wouldn’t happen to know where he is, do you?” “Why in fact, I do,” the mare said with a smile, “He likes to be private about his findings; but for you, I’ll tell you that he secretly lives inside that mountain way over there in the north side. Just don’t tell him that I told you.” “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” shouted Cream in joy as she hugged the mare tight, “Finally, we can rescue Cheese!” “But wait a minute,” said Fluttershy, “where’s your cutiemark? Don’t you have one?” “No, unfortunately I don’t, but don’t worry about it, I’ve gotten over not having a special talent now and I don’t feel bad anymore. Oh, and when you get there, make sure that you enter behind the mountain; it’s easier.” “Thanks, Miss Mare,” said Cream, “Come on, Miss Shy! We have to get there, quick!” Fluttershy looked back at the mare that had suddenly showed up and helped them and saw that she was just pleasantly smiling at her. “Um… well, thanks for your help;” said Fluttershy, “we appreciate it.” The young mare watched both of them run off in the direction of the nearby mountain as her eyes shimmered in the light and her smile suddenly darkened, “I was very glad to help… very glad.” ----- Before they knew it, Fluttershy and Cream arrived at the back side of the mountain. It seemed that this was where he was hiding after all, but it was still bothering Fluttershy about this whole situation of conveniently finding out Leone’s findings from that mysterious mare. “You know, Cream; don’t you find that suddenly getting the right info from that mare after constantly coming up short just a bit suspicious?” “But we’re here, Miss Shy,” said Cream, “She was nice enough to tell us where Leone was; maybe she was someone who knew about his place without him knowing. This is our chance to catch him by surprise and rescue Cheese!” Fluttershy thought about it and thought that maybe she was overreacting just a little bit, but she still felt a little weary, “Well, all right. But stay beside me, okay?” “Okay,” Cream replied. There was a double door way that they noticed and it was cleverly hidden… if wasn’t cracked opened a bit… strange. They both slowly walked in and closed the door behind them; and they looked around to find themselves in a semi-dark room that only had a couple of wooden tables. “Miss Shy, where do you think Cheese might be,” said Cream softly, “and where’s Leone?” “I’m n-not sure, but maybe we shouldn’t linger here too long.” Suddenly, Cream heard a familiar voice. “Chao… Chao…” Cream suddenly jumped up and looked in the direction of the voice, “Cheese… is that… you?” She saw a lone cage sitting on one of the wooden tables, and as she approached it, she saw that inside was who they were looking for. “Cheese, it is you! I was so worried that something bad happened to you!” “Chao…” “Um, Cream, I don’t like this,” said Fluttershy as she came from behind, “Why would Cheese just be right here alone in an almost empty room? This seems so weird.” “It doesn't matter now, Miss Shy; Cheese is here and that’s all that matters. So how do we get this cage open?” Cream then noticed that there was a key on the table right beside the cage, and she picked it up looking at it curiously. “How convenient, I wonder if this will open it?” She tried it and the cage door was unlocked allowing Cream to open the door. “Yay, it did work; we’re so lucky.” Fluttershy couldn’t help but think that there was something about this situation that wasn’t right. They were having a hard enough time just trying to find Leone and Cheese, then that young mare came out of nowhere and blatantly told them where to go; then it was easy for them to get inside and they found Cheese way too quickly than she expected and the key to the cage was right there beside it for them to use to release Cheese. It all just didn’t seem to make sense. “Cr-Cream… something doesn’t seem right here; we need to leave now.” “Of course,” said Cream as she left the cage door open, “Come on, Cheese, let’s get out of here!” But as they started to run, Cream stopped and looked behind her and saw that Cheese wasn’t moving a muscle. She went back to him and noticed that there was some kind of blank expression in his eyes like he wasn’t fully awake. “Cheese, what’s wrong? It’s us; we’re here to rescue you. What’s wrong with you? Can’t you even hear me?!” “Aw, having a little trouble getting a response from your friend?” said a different voice from nearby. Fluttershy jumped and zipped beside Cream; both of them were shaking a bit wondering who it was that spoke. “Wh-wh-who’s there?” said Fluttershy. Suddenly, a figure came into light from the corner of the room, and it was none other than Leone. He had an amused smirk on his face from seeing both of them shaking. “What’s the matter, are you not happy to see me?” Suddenly, Cream’s scared expression disappeared as she scowled at the mischievous pony, “Leone, what you did was not nice! You’re nothing but a big, dumb, meanie and you don’t deserve to be praised for your shows!” “Well… excuse me if I cry a river from having my feelings hurt,” said Leone sarcastically. Cream was done being nice to this pony as she was getting ready to get him back, “I don’t like to fight, but someone has to teach you a lesson! Cheese, let’s go get him!” But Cream didn’t hear anything; she and Fluttershy turned around and saw the same blank expression on his face as he just continued to just sit there. “Um… Cream,” said Fluttershy, “why isn’t he doing anything?” “I don’t know; Cheese wake up!” Cream then glared over at Leone; obviously he had something to do with this, “What have you done to Cheese!? Stop it right now!” “I’ve done nothing to harm him,” Leone responded, “He is in perfect health and perfect shape; but if you want to play with him, I’ll be happy to oblige.” His horn started to glow an ominous purple color, then suddenly Cheese rose up out of the cage and his eyes were glowing a dark purple color as well; he then was awaiting orders. “Oh Cheese,” said Leone with a smirk, “get them.” “What!?” shouted Cream. Cheese suddenly turned to them and charged right at them at full speed. Cream quickly dodged out of the way, but he was too fast for Fluttershy as she received a giant blow across her face and was knocked out easily. “Miss Shy!” Cream screamed out with tears in her eyes, “Cheese, stop; what are you doing?! Why are you listening to that meanie?!” Cheese didn’t respond as he dived back at her; but surprisingly, she stopped him by blocking with her hand. She was holding him back, but barely. “Cheese, what has he done to you; open your eyes! It’s me, Cream! Snap out of it so we can go ho…” But then she was hit with an impact spell from Leone that knocked her down and knocked her out completely. Cheese suddenly stopped his assault and flew onto Leone’s shoulder while still showing no expression in his eyes. Leone looked down at the young mare and rabbit girl that were both unconscious on the ground right under his hoof and chuckled over the fact that his plan was almost no longer in danger. “It’s like I said, my new trophy,” said Leone to Cheese, “Nopony will ever stop me from getting to the top… nopony.” > Who is Leone? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Now then… if I were a mysterious pony with a sinister background, where would I be?” Twilight was already in Manehattan, thanks from a little help from the royal guard and their chariot service. She was looking around for any signs of Fluttershy and Cream; but once she couldn’t find them herself, she started to ask other ponies around her if they saw a yellow Pegasus walking around with a giant bunny girl. Most of them told her yes but they had no idea where they could be at this time. Time did seem to be running out and Twilight still wasn’t having any luck locating her friends. “Where the hay could they be? I mean; a giant rabbit would really stand out here in our world! So why haven’t I seen her yet?” “Hey there!” said a random loud voice from behind her. Twilight literally jumped up in surprise and turned around to see a bright, smiling blonde mane mare looking back at her. “Are you lost; you look lost. Don’t worry about that though; a lot of ponies would easily get lost roaming these streets! Can I help you find something?!” Twilight took a big sigh knowing that it was probably going to not help much, “Yeah, there is. You wouldn’t have seen a yellow Pegasus walking around with a giant rabbit girl by any chance, would ya?” “Oh; that cute little bunny rabbit!” the mare squealed, “She was so cute!” “Well I guess you have seen them,” said Twilight, “but I guess you don’t know where they might be right now.” “Nope, I don’t,” said chipper the mare, “but if I remember correctly, I think I saw them one time heading towards that direction!” She pointed in the same direction where a giant mountain could be seen nearby at the near eastside of the city. “And that mountain you see was used for many things; climbing, and sliding and… climbing… huh, I guess that’s pretty much it. Oh yeah; I think it was also once used as a secret hideout or something, but no pony has used it for many years!” “Really,” said Twilight, “Maybe I should go over in that direction and and have a look around; perhaps I’ll find them there. Thank Miss…. Umm, whoever you are; you were a big help.” “You’re welcome; I love helping other ponies! Catch ya later!” And with that, the young mare hopped off continuing to wear a cheerful smile. Twilight chuckled to herself seeing her go off in the distance. “You know, that mare really reminds me of another pony I know back home.” Then she went off in the direction of that giant mountain in hopes of finding Fluttershy and Cream before anything bad happens. ----- Unfortunately, she was already a bit too late. Both Fluttershy and Cream had walked right into Leone’s trap. They were easy to fool to him; totally predictable. When they found Cheese, he seemed to be against them seeing that he was following Leone’s orders to attack them. After a little while since they both got knocked out, Cream was slowly gaining consciousness opening her eyes little by little and was beginning regain her vision. Once she had most of her vision back, she felt that she was being held back by something, and that there was something behind her too… or more like somepony. It was Fluttershy, and she was still unconscious. It turned out that they were both tied to chairs facing opposite sides of each other. Cream felt really scared and couldn’t completely comprehend of what just happened some moments ago. “Miss Shy… Miss Shy, I’m scared. What’s going on? Why are we tied up beside each other?! Miss Shy, are you awake?!” Fluttershy somehow heard Cream’s voice and was slowly waking up now and was panicking just as much when she realized her situation. “Oh my goodness, where are we?! Ow, my head.” “Miss Shy,” said Cream with frighten tears in her eyes, “what are we going to do now? How are we going to escape?” “I don’t know, Cream; maybe Twilight is on her way here right now… but she might also still be in Canterlot… or maybe she is here but has no idea to look here… and… oh dear, I’m not making this any better, am I?” Cream was still pondering over why Cheese was acting the way that he was. It was still obvious that Leone had done something to him. She had to find out how so she can figure out how to get him back to his senses. “Cream, can you fly up with your ears?” asked Fluttershy. Cream was trying her hardest to flap her ears as fast as she could, but she couldn’t even lift an inch off the floor. “I’m sorry, Miss Shy, this chair is just too heavy along with my weight; my ears are no help at all.” “Don’t feel so bad, Cream; my wings are pressed against the chair, so they’re not much help right now either.” Cream began to cry lightly again and Fluttershy couldn’t blame her; all of what happen must be too much for her, despite what she might’ve gone through in her own world. “We’re going to get out of this, Cream,” said Fluttershy, “don’t you worry. I’m really sure that Twilight’s on her way here right now.” “I wouldn’t bet on that exactly, my dear,” said an all familiar voice. Cream looked up with tears still in her eyes to see Leone coming into the room in which they were in. Flying right beside him of course was Cheese who still didn’t seem to be in his own conscious mind. Her eyes brighten up and she tried to call out to her friend again. “Cheese, Cheese, over here! Please help us, your friends! Please Cheese, why aren’t you listening to me?!” “I am sorry child,” said Leone with a grim smile, “but as you may have witnessed earlier, your friend here has no idea who you are, nor is he ever going to.” “Um, excuse me, sir,” said Fluttershy, “but do you think that maybe you can find it in your heart to let us go; we really weren’t trying to make any trouble.” “Nice try, but do you think I’m stupid enough to fall for that trick?! You’ll only tell everypony about what has happened; you’re not going anywhere.” “LET CHEESE GO!” Cream suddenly shouted out, “Just let Cheese go, please?! We just want to go back home!” “Do you really think I care anything about that? All I care about is getting lots of bits; and this little guy is going to make me tons of it!” “What have you done to him? Tell me what you’ve done to him?!” Leone just smirked and decided to entertain her, “Very well; seeing that you’ll never escape, I’ll tell you. Take a little look at the little trinket on around your friend’s neck.” Cream looked very closely at the gem around Cheese’s neck and noticed that it was imminating the same glow color shade of his changed eyes. “It looks like some sort of crystal; you’re controlling Cheese with it, aren’t you!?” “Congratulations, you hit it right on the nose! But this isn’t just any type of crystal, but one I personally made myself! Whoever puts it on will be in complete control of my hold as long as it stays on and my magic keeps on going; it quite ingenious really.” “So that’s why Cheese wasn’t listening to you,” said Fluttershy, “However I still don’t get something. How did you know we were coming, let alone knowing when we got here?” “I didn’t actually, but I’m sure you two recognized this young friend of yours.” They both looked to their sides and saw the same young mare that they ran into and told them where to go; and then it suddenly changed into a random changeling. “A Changeling! You have a changeling!?” shouted Fluttershy, “But how?” Then they saw the same crystal trinket around the Changeling’s neck. “How else did you think, it was roaming the skies alone and I took it by surprise. It was quite the catch.” “So it was an obvious trap,” said Cream sadly, “and I fell for it.” “Take a look of all my performers,” he shouted as lights started to shine on all the cages that were in the room, “Every one of these cretins is wearing my greatest creation, and they listen to no pony but me! Pretty impressive to control this many minds at once, isn’t it?” “So… you didn’t rescue any of these animals!” shouted Cream who had stopped crying already, “You just capture them and have them perform for you against their will for money!” “Well duh! Did you really think I care for any of these animals? They only serve me for one purpose… to make me rich! But then again I didn’t really think you were all that smart anyway.” Cream felt so stupid at that point knowing that she led Fluttershy and herself there not knowing if it was a trap or not. But it didn’t matter, he wasn’t going to get away with this. “Just you wait, Mr. Leone!” she said, “Princess Celestia is going to find out what you did and she’s going to beat your sorry butt!” “Ah, Princess Celestia, how I despise that name; it’s only because of her that I have become what I am today.” “Huh, what are you talking about,” said Fluttershy, “Why do hate her so much… as you for some reason just mentioned?” “Well for one thing, my real name isn’t Leone, its Solar Dusk.” “Solar Dusk?” asked Fluttershy, “Are you somepony that worked for the princess before?” “Pretty much; I was her crystal manufactuer for about 20 years since 10 years ago.” *FlashBack “I collected different types of gems for Celestia so they could be used for different nonsensical purposes. It seemed okay at first, but I soon grew tire of the same old process of manufacturing them. So, in secret I came up of a different use for some of the crystals, and it was all thanks to my ingenious mind and my magic. Once I finally finished my secret project, I decided to share my wonderful invention to the Princess. It wasn’t what she expected but she was generous enough to let me demonstrate it; and that I did! It was great; showing what my own created gem could do. I had it on one of the guards and his mind went completely blank! Then with my magic, he started to obey any commands I gave him! I knew that the Princess would find these to be very useful; but unfortunately, she found it to be anything but useful! She called my invention a monstrosity and it needed to be destroyed. I tried to beg her not to, but she refused. Since I couldn’t fight back, I couldn’t help but watch as all my work based on that manufactured gem was destroyed completely; never to be seen again. But Celestia made one mistake, all the information was still in my cranium, and that she could not take away. I was furious at her and planned to take over her kingdom by putting her under my control with one of my crystals. It was a bit tricky to do it, but I was successful; she was now under my power! None of the guards couldn’t do anything; and since Luna was still fused with the moon, she couldn’t stop me either. However, I underestimated her power and she easily broke free of my crystal’s power. The guards were ordered to take me into custody, but of course I was all prepared for this as I quickly vanished myself out of there. Celestia had many of her guards go out to search for me, but they never found me. Since then, I swore that my gems will be used for what they are! So what if it makes others go against their will, Celestia is a fool to not see the usefulness that they possess!” *End Flashback Cream looked at him confusingly, “So now, all this time you stayed hidden to develop more of your gems so you could use them to control any animals and creatures that you captured to put on shows so you get rich while putting yourself under a new name?!” “It’s ingenious isn’t it?” said Solar Dusk. “No, it’s dumb! Creating those gems was dumb, your reason being out here is dumb, and you’re dumb thinking that this will all turn out okay!” “What do you know about being successful in life, child?!” “I don’t know; but what I do know is that Miss Shy here has many friends, and now that I’m a friend of Miss Shy, many ponies including the princess will be looking for you to save us and make you sorry. Never thought of that, did you?” “Actually I did,” Solar said with a sinister smile, “and I came up with a perfect solution that I’m pretty sure you’re going to hate.” “Wait, what did he mean by that?” asked Fluttershy. “I don’t know; but as long as the others find us we’ll be fine, right?” Solar Dusk came up to Cream stared at her straight in the eyes, “Are you familiar with the word amnesia, kid?” Cream was just 7 years old, but there were certain words that she knew. She started to shake a little as her eyes went wide with worry. “Amnesia; no… no, no, you wouldn’t!?” “Oh wouldn’t I? After all, you two know too much already. The best thing for me to do is to use more of my magic gems and have both of you under my complete control so nothing blabs out.” “What; but you can’t do that! That’s so inhumane!” “Inhumane?” wondered fluttershy. “And to make it even better, I’m going to have your Chao friend here place them on you; heh heh.” Cream looked up and saw Cheese holding up one of the bands with a magic gem in front of her. Cream was really frighten and wanted her mother really badly. “And to top it all off, I know the amnesia reflection spell! After both of you are under my control, I will use it so that everypony who has ever saw you will forget who you are; even your so called friends back in your dimensional world. Then you won’t have a reason to go back to your home now will you?” Cream was crying again; flowing tears of sadness thinking of all her friends back home no longer knowing of her existence… especially her mother. “That’s enough, Le… I mean, Solar Dusk!” Fluttershy suddenly shouted, “This is a whole new low, even for somepony like you! This is a little child who just wants to go back home to her mother with her friend and she has done nothing to you! Are you just going to take all of that away from her!?” “My brilliant work was denied, and I will not stop until my work is recognized by all of Equestria! These two just got caught in the cross-fire!” Solar Dusk then glared and smirked at Cream who was still crying, “And think of this as pay back for sassing me and humiliating me at the Ponyville Park.” Cream helplessly stared as she saw Solar Dusk commanded Cheese to place one of his gem collars on her. She knew once that happens, there was nothing that she could do to stop Solar Dusk from taking her memory away. “Please, Cheese,” she said softly to herself, “Please stop before it’s too late.” “Stop it; don’t do this to her!” shouted Fluttershy desperately. “Request denied, young mare,” Said Solar Dusk, “And once the collar is on her… your next.” Suddenly, right when Cheese was about to place the collar around Cream’s neck, a quick white blur zipped through between them and knocked the collar out of Cheese’s hand. Cream yelp from the sudden movement and Solar was wondering who was here. “What the… who dares interfere with my plans!?” Fluttershy and Cream looked over to their side and standing in a proud stance was… “Angel!?” Cream shouted in surprise, “Is that you?!” Angel looked up at Cream smiling and nodding his head. “What… that annoying little bunny that I knocked out last night?!” “That’s right!” Cream responded, “It’s thanks to him that we found out what happened to Cheese! He’s a wonderful friend.” “Angel,” said Fluttershy with a suspicious smile, “did you sneak onto the train and follow us here even though we told you specifically to stay put?” Angel blushed and smiled nervously as he shrugged his shoulders; he was caught red-handed. “You are going to wish that you had listened to your little buddies and stayed put in that pitiful town,” said Solar Dusk in a pissed manner, “Cheese, attack him now!” Cheese complied with Solar’s request and immediately charged towards Angel. Cheese was strong and fast, but lucky for Angel he was pretty fast himself. He dodged every fly-by Cheese made at him and even out ran him with his nimble feet. “Get him, you fool! Get him!” shouted Solar Dusk. “Cheese is not the fool, Mr. Solar,” shouted Cream, “you are!” Solar growled at her comment but turned his attention back at Cheese and Angel. Angel ran into a corner and stopped; waiting for Cheese to fly at him again. Once he did Angel leapt up at the right moment and caused Cheese to crash into the wall to knock him out. “Ow, that must of hurt,” said Cream. “Way to go, Angel,” Fluttershy shouted out, “Now try to get that collar off of him while he’s down!” Angel smiled and nodded, and then proceeded to try and pry the collar off of Cheese’s neck with any non-lethal way he could. Solar Dusk just chuckled a bit and didn’t even try to stop him. “I’m afraid that will not work.” Suddenly, when Angel partially removed the latch on the collar, a surge of magic shocked him and caused him to literally launch off of Cheese and onto the floor. Angel tried to get up, but was suddenly too weak to stand up. “Angel, are you alright!?” shouted Cream. Cheese suddenly got back up, still under complete control of Solar’s gem. “Nice try, little bunny; but what did you think you could accomplished?” He then signaled Cheese to strike again; only this time Angel wasn’t able to dodge in time as Cheese launched at him and sent him flying into a wall with one punch. Solar then held the wounded bunny in place with his magic as he approached him. “Angel, no!” shouted Cream, “Leave him alone, you dumb meanie!” “You’re quite nimble, as well as fast and pretty clever,” said Solar as he smirked at Angel, “Sounds like great material for another one of my controlled subjects. Doesn’t that sound good?” Angel began to struggle against Solar’s magic as another gem collar was floating towards him in an attempt to wrap around his neck and take control of his mind. “No; don’t you dare!” said Cream, “You’re not brainwashing another one of my friends!” Cream found herself struggling against the ropes that held her in place, and they began to loosen suddenly. She was using all of her strength and will to break free. “Let… him… GO!” And then, with one more push, her bonds broke and she launched herself at Solar Dusk. When Solar looked to his side, he was too late as Cream pounced on top of him; knocking the collar out of his hold. Angel had also fallen back down on the ground and was regaining his composure. “Angel,” Cream shouted out while holding down Solar, “quick, get Miss Shy free!” Angel nodded and quickly ran towards Fluttershy who was still tied up tight. “I don’t think so,” said Solar, “Stop him!” Angel was already gnawing on the ropes; but they seemed very thick. Cheese was racing towards him and he was running out of time. But then he thought up of an idea. It was a stupid one but it was worth trying. He hung from where the ropes were and closed his eyes as he found himself flying through the air again from Cheese’s impact. However, before he hit the ground again, he was caught by Fluttershy who was free and quite impressed. “Wow, Angel, pretty nice thinking on how to break those bonding ropes; are you okay?” Angel took a huge sigh and nodded; he felt relieved… and a bit sore. “Just how strong are you?” questioned Solar as he was held down by Cream, “Get off of me!” He tossed Cream up in the air by his magic, but she used her ears to regain her footing as she landed beside Fluttershy. “Is this sort of thing similar to what you’ve been through in your world, Cream?” asked Fluttershy. Cream just shrugged, “I’ve been through worse.” “You’re all a stubborn bunch, aren’t ya?” said Solar as he approached them with Cheese, “I’ve underestimated you all; you’re a lot tougher than you look.” “Um, actually,” said Fluttershy nervously, “I didn’t do anything to you yet.” “No matter… you still stand no chance. You’ll all become part of my soon to be revenge plan.” “Revenge plan?” said Fluttershy “Cheese… get them!” Cream, Fluttershy, and even Angel was getting ready to do anything they could to keep from being captured again. But before Cheese even laid a hit on them, he was suddenly stopped in place by an aura field that surrounded him; he couldn’t get out. “What now!?” shouted Solar Dusk in frustration. “Could it be?” wondered Fluttershy. Fluttershy, and Cream looked behind them along with Angel, and a big, bright smile came onto their faces as they saw sompony else enter the fray. “Oh, yes,” said Cream happily, “it is you!” > 2 Kind Hearts... together as One > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Sorry I’m a little late; guess it was good thinking for me to request that chariot ride here.” Cream, Fluttershy and Angel were just saved in the nick of time from a magic controlled Cheese by Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight,” shouted Fluttershy, “thank goodness you’re finally here… not that we couldn’t handle this ourselves.” “Twilight?!” shouted Solar Dusk, “The Twilight… as in Twilight Sparkle?!” “The one and only,” Twilight responded with a prideful smirk, “And you are the one that has causing a bit of trouble for our dimensional visitors, Leone!” “Um… actually, that’s a cover name for him, Miss Sparkle,“ said Cream, “It’s actually Solar Dusk.” “Really? Huh, could’ve fooled me.” The others saw Cheese punching and bounding around in Twilight’s aura bubble, and Twilight realized that she had to hang on pretty tight on the little creature. “Now then, Solar Dusk; can you explain to me exactly of what you were about to do to my friends?” Solar just chuckled, “Wouldn’t you like to know, most faithful student of Celestia.” “So you know about that;” Twilight just smirked, “of course.” “Miss Sparke,” said Cream, “this jerk of a pony is more of a jerk than we thought; he’s an evil jerk!” “Evil? Why does that not surprise me?” “He’s controlling Cheese with that stupid purple gem he has on his neck; and he was planning to use it on us when we found him! Oh… and he also used to work for the princess too.” “What?!” Twilight exclaimed, “he used to work for Celestia?! For what, being the royal fool?” They all started to laugh at Twilight’s joke, even Angel was on his backside cracking up; but Solar was scowling at them growling. “I excavated and manufactured gems for the Princess, thank you very much!” “Well, you definitely stooped down from your other level, haven’t you?” “Much lower than you think,” said Fluttershy, “Because Celestia didn’t approved his special manufactured gems he created and destroyed all his work towards it, he tried to use it to control her; but he failed.” “Well of course,” Twilight scoffed, “one can’t just simply control Celestia’s mind; no matter how powerful you are.” Solar Dusk suddenly smiled and started to laugh lowly. “Um, why is he laughing;” said Cream nervously, “Was that last comment supposed to be a joke that I’m not supposed to get?” “Why the uplifting laughter all of a sudden,” said Twilight. “Because… I think it’s so cute the way you guys think that you’ve won.” “Say what?” “It’s true that I wasn’t able to succeed back then; but that’s only because I wasn’t rightfully prepared for it. But since then, I had plenty of time to study and research over my information that was still planted in my head and figured out a way to make it stronger; surprisingly, this little Chao creature right here turned out to be my lifesaver. Who could’ve guessed that this little guy had so much potential energy packed inside of him!” “Oh Cheese,” said Cream worryingly. Suddenly, Solar held up a metal container that housed another one of his magical controlled gem collars. However, this collar seemed to be emanating with more magical energy than any of his other ones. “Oh no,” said Twilight, “Cream how can you explained this?!” “Back in our world, there’s a giant gem called the Master Emerald that basically controls all of the individual emeralds I told you about. A guardian guards it power, and from him… the… Chao draws power from it as well.” “Well… that would explain it.” “All of this talk about gems and power is getting me so interested in wanting to see your world more, little rabbit girl. But beside that fact, now that I have this, I finally have enough power to seize Celestia’s mind. And with her power by my side, all of Equestria will finally realize my true brilliance in magical science!” Cream felt really upset. She felt that if Solar Dusk succeeds, all of Equestria will be in grave danger because of herself and Cheese. “Heh heh… yeah,” said Twilight sarcastically, “that’s not going to happen. I’m going to stop you here before that even happens!” “Oh, and by the way,” said Solar with a smile, “that little plastic ball you call a shield that’s around the little Chao won’t hold against my power for long.” Suddenly, Cheese started to cause some cracks to appear in Twilight’s shield, and eventually broke through it. “No way! How can he be this strong?!” Cheese then charged at Twilight to tackle her down, but it was avoided as Angel dived into him and tackled him into the ground. “*Gasp* Oh that’s right,” said Twilight, “What’s Angel doing here?” “Never mind that, Miss Sparkle,” said Cream, “You have to stop that meanie! We’ll try and save Cheese, okay!?” “Okay; sure.” Cream and Fluttershy both ran over to where Angel was wrestling with Cheese on the ground in hoping that they could save Cheese without Solar’s interference. “I don’t think so,” he said as fired a beam in their direction. However, Twilight intercepted it with a beam of her own. “Excuse me, but I think your attention should be on me now.” “You got to be joking,” Solar scoffed, “Even if you are studying under Celestia, you’re nowhere near as powerful as me!” “Maybe not, but you’d be surprised what I’ve survived thanks to Celestia’s training.” “Then why don’t you show me… how strong you are!” Two magical powers suddenly clashed as Twilight and Solar went at it exchanging blows of different magic spells. Meanwhile, Angel was struggling with Cheese on the ground. It was still overwhelming to them of how all of this is going on and Solar Dusk could keep his magical hold on Cheese and the rest of the animals in the cages. He must have trained himself hard or something. “Hold him there, Angel,” said Fluttershy, “Let’s see if we can pull this collar off this time.” “No, wait!” shouted Cream, “Don’t you remember what happened when Angel tried to pull it off; he got seriously hurt! We have to stop this some other way!” “But how?” Suddenly, Angel was thrown off by Cheese and Fluttershy caught him again. Cream used this opportunity to try and reach him again. “Cheese, please! You have to remember! It’s me, your best friend, Cream! Don’t you want to leave here and go back home?!” Cheese stared in her direction and he didn’t seem to be attacking at first. Cream slowly approached him to see if he could understand her; but suddenly, Cheese dashed at her without warning and Cream just barely dodged it by a hair. “Cheese, Stop! I’m your friend, not your enemy!” She dodged another one of his flybys just barely, “Snap out of it!” Cream had to continuously dodge her Chao friend as he kept on dashing at her over and over. At one moment she bended so far backwards that she almost lost her balance and Cheese zipped under her feet that caused her to fall backwards on her back. As she was getting up, Cheese was charging at her again; but she wouldn’t be able to block him in time. However, Angel took care of that by tackling him again; but instead of falling on the floor Cheese gains his balance and grabbed Angel and started to spin him around very fast in a tornado-like motion. “Oh no!” Cream yelled. Angel was then thrown out of the spin at a quick, dangerous velocity. “Angel!” shouted Fluttershy. She quickly flew as fast she could and got in front of Angel’s path. She caught him, but the impact caused her fly backwards into a wall; “OOF!” But she was just glad that she cushioned Angel’s landing blow. “W-we’re… o-o-okay.” Cream stood up again and stood her ground as she stared back at her brainwashed friend with determined eyes. “Cheese, that’s enough; you have to stop this right now! That meanie, Solar Dusk, is controlling you! You have to break from it; I know you can!” Cheese looked at her with a low growl and dashed at her again; but Cream didn’t move. “Cream, watch out!” shouted Fluttershy. But of no surprise, Cream had caught Cheese and was holding on with all her strength trying to withstand Cheese’s brute strength while looking deep into his eyes. “I don’t care how strong Solar’s magic is; we’ve been friends forever and share a huge friendship bond. That’s stronger than what Solar’s magic will be any day!” Cheese’s controlled aggressiveness somehow started to reduce a little as he saw a single tear slide down Cream’s face. He was still struggling but Cream could suddenly see a little bit of her real friend showing. “Huh? *Gasp!* Fight it, Cheese; fight it!” Cheese did seem to be acting a bit odd all of a sudden. It was like he was trying to fight against Solar’s magic, but Cream’s strong compassion was causing him to try even harder. Cream could sense it too, but she had to do something to help him. Then she looked down at the collar around his neck and remembered what happened when Angel tried to pull it off. However, she felt like she had no other choice. “No, I have to do this.” Fluttershy realized what she was about to do and panicked as she reached for the collar. “Cream, wait!” Cream suddenly grabbed onto the collar and started to pull on it with all her might. The same shocking magic surge went throughout Cream’s body, but she was doing her best to resist it. Even though she was in pain, nothing was going to stop her from saving her friend from Solar’s magical hold. “Oh dear, oh dear!” said Fluttershy to herself. Cream could suddenly feel the collar slowly starting to break apart; she was making huge progress! She knew that she went through worse things than this so she knew that this was nothing to her. She kept pulling and pulling and the collar became looser within some seconds. “A-almoo… st…” Then right at the brink of collapsing, the collar around Cheese’s neck finally broke apart, and the dark gem within it flew up in the air and onto the ground. Cream collapsed on the ground partially while groaning and holding her head tight from the pain. She was wondering if she was successful; but then she heard a familiar sound. “Chao?” “Huh, Ch-Cheese?” She looked up to see Cheese over her and looking down at her with normal looking eyes wondering if she was okay. “Cheese, is… is that really you?” Cheese smiled and held his arms forward at her feeing happy, “Chao, Chao!” Despite how tired she was, Cream jumped up and gave her Chao friend a huge hug while leaking tears of joy. “Oh, Cheese! You’re okay, and you’re back!” I knew that meanie’s magic couldn’t last forever on you!” “Way to go, Cream,” shouted Fluttershy in total relief, “you did it! That was impressive; scary… but impressive!” “Mm-hmm; our friendship bond will never be severed by anyone!” Angel then came hopping up beside her and held up the gem that fell out of the collar that used to be on Cheese. “Thanks, Angel,” said Cream while grabbing the gem, and then looking at it with an annoyed expression, “I know just what to do with this.” She suddenly threw it on the ground beside her and then crushed it under her feet to little pieces. “There we go. What Solar mentioned from the Princess is right; these are nothing but a monstrosity!” They all suddenly looked to their side and saw Twilight Sparkle in a magic duel against Solar Dusk; and it seemed that she was getting a bit exhausted. “You’re… pretty good…” said Solar while panting slightly, “for an understudy of the Princess.” “Thanks; you’re… not bad either,“ Twilight responded, “… for an evil mindless jerk.” “Keep on making jokes, but it seems that you’re getting a bit tired; you’re in no shape to provoke me.” Twilight didn’t want to give it away, but she was getting tired. Despite her training, Solar’s magic still proved to be stronger than hers; and Solar could see it in her expression. “You’re using a lot of power against me, aren’t you?” he said with a sinister smile, “A lot more than you usually can. Heh; so much for Celestia’s #1 student.” “Oh no, Miss Shy!” shouted Cream, “Come on, we have to help Miss Sparkle!” “We… w-we do?” said Fluttershy nervously. “Of course; we have to stop Solar ourselves. We have to be brave!” Fluttershy thought about it and then realized that she did come this far, and that took her some real guts! She did feel brave and she had some friends beside her to help her. “Y… you’re right! You’re right! Let’s go teach this unicorn some manners!” ----- Solar was approaching Twilight who was trying to stand strong, but was just too exhausted. “Well, well… it seems that I’ll have yet another pawn to control when I overthrow Celestia,” said Solar while chuckling to himself, “And best of all, she wouldn’t lift a single hoof against you.” “You’d be surprised,” Twilight responded while breathing heavily, “Celestia would do anything she’d have to… to protect her land. And don’t think that the royal ponies and the rest of my friends won’t hesitate to try and stop you.” Solar got up in Twilight’s face while holding up another one of his collars holding one of his dark gems, “Why don’t we worry about that once I absorb the consciousness out of your mind.” “Hey, Solar Dusk,” shouted Cream nearby, “Absorb this!” Solar suddenly looked to his side and saw Fluttershy flying at him with Cream riding on back. Before he even knew what hit him, Cream stretched out her foot and gave him a quick fly-by kick in the face. He fell flat on the floor and groaned out of frustration. “That was great,” said Cream, “I hit it right on the bulls-eye!” Solar quickly got up and glared into their direction, “You are going to be sorry that you did that. Quick, my little Chao, get them!” But Cheese didn’t come to his aid. “Um, hello; little Chao? Where is that ungrateful little…” Suddenly, he looked over at Cream and saw Cheese floating beside her wearing a scowling face and no gem collar. “Chao, chao, chao!” Angel even gave him another one of his raspberries to mock him. “What the… but how?! How did you take it off; and why didn’t I realized it?!” Twilight smirked and shook her head, “Wow; for somepony as powerful as you, it must be embarrassing to know that you didn’t even sense that.” “SILENCE!!!” “You could’ve never had kept me and Cheese apart for long!” Cream exclaimed, “Our bond as friends will make us stronger than any of your stupid spells combined!” “Chao!” “Now you’re just speaking nonsense, ya little brat!” “W-we’ve tried to be nice, Solar,” said Fluttershy who hesitated a bit in her speech, “but… but now we’re going to have to stop you ourselves!” “Don’t make me laugh,” Solar chuckled, “You two are too soft and kind-hearted to do any form of fighting!” “Even kind-hearted creatures like us have to fight sometimes,” shouted Cream, “even if we don’t want to. And our kindness and tender hearts is not what makes us weak, it’s what makes us strong!” “So… your cutsie-wootsie, innocent, kind hearts is what makes you strong, huh?” said Solar in an annoyed tone, “Then come on; try and stop me!” Fluttershy and Cream got ready and charged at Solar again; but he was ready. He fired a beam at them to make sure they stayed down this time… “Cheese!” But then, Cheese responded to Cream’s command and automatically deflected the beam to the side with his little hands. “What the…” Solar exclaimed. Then right after the beam, Cheese gave Solar a good ol’ uppercut blow across the chin… sending him up in the air. “Now, Miss Shy!” Fluttershy quickly thrusted her flank upward while running to ricochet Cream in the air to meet Solar. She gave him a cute little smirk before knocking him back down with a painful downward kick. “Wow, I’ve never felt so alive:” said Fluttershy feeling slightly excited, “It feels so wonderful!” Cream landed down on Fluttershy and yelled, “Again, Miss Shy!” Fluttershy complied as they charged towards Solar again. “Oh… no you don’t,” said Solar as he got back up. He casted a spell that form little energy spheres and was rapidly shooting at them. Fortunately, Cheese was there again and blocked every one. Cream then quickly ricocheted from Fluttershy’s flank again and glided forward and knocked Solar down again. Then, Angel followed up by stepping on his face and doing a little rapid stomp before hopping off feeling satisfied. “Yes, two for two!” shouted Cream with excitement. Solar was slowly getting back up groaning and feeling a bit insulted, “How… how can they be so strong!?” “Come on, Miss Shy,” said Cream, “Let’s go and prove that we kind creatures are no pushovers!” Suddenly, a bright glow suddenly surrounded the both of them and some kind of object was forming around Fluttershy’s neck. “Oh my,” said Cream, “Is that…” “The Element of Kindness!” Fluttershy replied. They both looked at each other and nodded their heads while smirking. Solar once again saw them coming towards him. He had enough; so he casted a wide shield around him and charged up his horn. “Go Down!” He fired a massive beam right towards the group; but as they charged, a huge neon shield in the form of Fluttershy’s element emanated in front of them. The beam made contact but was quickly absorbed by the Element’s shield. Solar started to perspire when they made impact against his shield; he was actually struggling against their power to keep his shield stabilized. “Ah shoot…” But it proved worthless as they broke through and rammed into Solar once more as he kept skipping across the ground and tasted it in the process. Soon afterwards, the Element suddenly vanished out of view. “That was… Awesome!” shouted Cream in excited shock, “Wasn’t that awesome, Miss Shy?” “Y-yeah, it was. I… I-I didn’t even know that I could do that!” “It was all of us; you, me and Cheese, working together!” Cream suddenly felt a little tug on her leg and she looked down and saw Agnel pointing at himself. She just giggled as she picked him up, “Oh yeah, and you too, Angel.” “I have to admit,” said Twilight as she staggered over to them, “you guys were pretty awesome. I guess you and you’re little Chao friend can hold your own… just like you said.” “Of course; but you know, Angel actually came in here and rescued us first before you did. If he didn’t come in here and prolong Solar Dusk and bought you some time, we would’ve all been under his control.” Twilight just came over and patted Angel on the head, “Pretty impressive. Guess it’s a good thing that you didn’t listen to their request of staying at home in Ponyville, huh?” Solar was starting to get up again after being rammed down into the ground; he was panting from his own exhaustion. “This is… impossible; how can I be beaten by these… pansies!?” “Give it up, Solar Dusk,” said Twilight, “I’m afraid you have been beaten. I think you have a date with Princess Celestia’s royal court.” Solar couldn’t believe it; he had the upper hand earlier and if Angel hadn’t butted in, he probably would’ve won. “Darn these ungrateful miscreants,” he thought to himself, “My whole plan is ruined! If only I had placed my amnesia spell on that rabbit and her pony friend, no force would be against me and no pony would’ve been looking for them… because they would have no idea who they…” Suddenly, a sinister, yet gleeful smile came upon on his face as a brilliant idea came to him, “Yes, yes, that’s it! It’s foolproof; why didn’t I come up with this last minute plan before?!” “W-what are you talking about,” said Fluttershy hesitantly, “Y-you’re beat; you can’t try to run away anymore.” “Perhaps not, but I should’ve came up with a back-up plan in case I was caught. But now I do; all I have to do is… cast my reflective amnesia spell… on me!” “What; why would you want to do that?” questioned Cream, “If you do that, then all you’ll do is erase the memory of yourself from everyone’s minds and no one will know who you are and…” Suddenly she gasped, “Oh no!” “Oh yes! Once I cast it on me, no pony will know me anymore! They’ll have no memory of seeing me, knowing about me, or even knowing what I have done; including Celestia herself! I’ll have a clean start, and recapture all of you easily, and no pony will ever see my scheme coming, and all of Equestria will be under my brilliance!” Solar casted the spell up in the air in the form of a sphere so it would come back down on him and activate the effects on him. “Stop!” said Cream as she ran towards him; but then Twilight quickly brought up her hoof to block her path. “Miss Sparkle, what are you doing; we have to stop him!” Twilight just shook her head and smirked, “Just trust me on this.” The spell landed on Solar and there was a bright light that literally lit up the whole room. Once it was done, Solar started to laugh out loud feeling that he was home free. “Yes, it worked! Now no one will remember me, and my ingenious plan can continue! Revenge will be mine!” “Um, Miss Sparkle,” said Cream suddenly, “What happened? He did the spell, but I still remember him.” “What…” said Solar. Twilight just looked at Solar with an amused expression, “We all still do, Cream.” Solar was wondering what was going on; why did they still remember him? He did the same procedure over again, but when he looked at them again, their expressions didn’t change. “Sorry, we still remember you,” said Fluttershy. “No… no, no, no; why isn’t the spell working!?” “Well,” said Twilight, “if you were a true genius that you claimed yourself to be, you would know that certain spells… like the reflective amnesia spell, has no effect on the caster.” Solar felt furious; he almost got away with it again, but came up short once again from a drawback. “No! This isn’t fair! This can’t be happening to me! This was supposed to be my moment to shine!” Solar then saw Cream and Cheese suddenly in front of him and caused him to startle as they glared at him. “Game over, Solar Dusk!” The last thing Solar saw was Cream’s Chao friend, Cheese charging at him at full speed; then his whole world went black. ----- Solar Dusk was out on the ground like a light, and a huge bruise was seen on his cheek; left by Cheese who knocked him out with one strike. “Wow, impressive strength,” said Twilight feeling shocked; “Now I realize why I was struggling a bit with my magic against him earlier.” “Cheese and I do make an excellent team! We don’t usually like to fight, but sometimes we have to. When it comes to protecting loved ones, every bit helps.” Cheese agreed, “Chao!” “Well thank Celestia, everything is okay, and that you guys are okay.” Fluttershy was looking over at all the cages with the different animal creatures and realized something different about them. “Hey, um… guys, the animals are all out of their trance. Shouldn’t we… you know… let them loose?” “Good idea, Fluttershy,” said Twilight, “Now that Solar’s magic is not active, it should be easier to take off those collars now. You and Angel can get those things off and set them free.” “Right,” agreed Fluttershy; along with Angel who did an understanding salute. “Cream and Cheese, care to help me break a few hundred gems with me?” “Sure thing,” shouted Cream, “Ready to ruin Solar’s work, Cheese?” “Chao!” ----- Solar soon woke up and found himself wrapped in a trap spell that came from Twilight. Plus… he soon realized something different about his surroundings. “What the… the gems; MY GEMS! They’re all smashed to pieces!” “Well, we had to do it,” said Ceram nearby, “After all, they were all defective anyway.” “We also released all of the creatures that you captured and were controlling against their will, “ said Fluttershy, “and they all left already… w-well, all except one.” Suddenly walking up to Solar… was the random Changeling who was not happy as it kicks Solar in the face; making him fall over on his back. It then loomed over him and gave him a fearful growl. “You have a lot of nerve doing what you did. You better be lucky I don’t sick my Queen on you.” It then thank the others again for setting it free and then went on its way. “We really didn’t want to do all of this to you, Solar,” said Cream while standing over beside him, “but you were nothing but a big, evil jerk who wanted to take over everything with your evil things! You’re just like someone Cheese and I know back in our world.” “You idiots… ruined… everything!” shouted Solar, “I should’ve never come to Ponyville.” “Well thankfully… you did,“ said Twilight while smirking, “You sure saved us a lot of trouble finding out who you were.” Solar was struggling against Twilight’s trap spell trying to get back at her, “Wipe off that stupid smirk on your face! Show somepony older than you some respect!” “Unfortunately, you don’t deserve any!” said a familiar voice. They all looked to their side and saw a whole bunch of royal night soldiers enter the room; led in by… “Princess Luna!” they all shouted. “Bring thou ungrateful traitor of our sister to thee!” she ordered to her guards. Solar was soon brought over and dropped in front of Luna, who was scowling down upon him with angered eyes. “P-P-Princess L-Luna,” said Solar nervously, “wh-what an honor seeing you… here… in my presence. I’m pretty sure whatever Celestia told you about me were a bit exaggerated, right? Maybe you can cut me a break… y-y-you’re majesty.” Luna’s guards backed up as she straightens her throat and took a deep a breath; then she let it all out. “DO NOT SHOW US SUCH A RESPECTFUL GESTURE AFTER EVERYTHING THOU HAVE DONE TO OUR SISTER!!! SHE BROUGHT THOU INTO HER OWN CASTLE AND GAVE THOU A GOOD USE FOR THOU SPECIAL TALENT!!! THEN JUST BECAUSE MY SISTER DIDN’T APPROVE OF YOUR RESEARCH, YOU PLANNED TO GAIN REVENGE AGAINST HER AND TAKE OVER OUR LAND!!!?” Solar couldn’t say anything because he was too much in shock from Luna’s very loud Canterlot voice. Cream and Cheese stood there feeling a bit shocked as well, but they were quite impressed. “Take thou away out of our sight,” ordered Luna to her guards. They complied and dragged Solar out of their view. Cream and Cheese then walked up to Luna feeling very cheerful. “Wow, you have very impressive, strong lungs, Princess Luna!” said Cream. “Chao, Chao!” “Thank you, child,” Luna replied, “You two must be our little dimensional visitors.” “We sure are! Miss Shy, and Miss Sparkle treated us very well and we like it here… despite what we had to go through.” “Chao.” Luna just slightly nodded her head, “Yes… Solar Dusk; we hast never heard of him until thy sister told us recently. We guess she didn’t wish to dwell on… thy past. So... is everypony here okay after Solar’s shenanigans?” “Yeah, we all are,” said Fluttershy, “Cream and Cheese are the ones who actually took Solar down; they are very brave little creatures.” “We made the decision to come down here to give any assistance, while our sister continued to research over the purple gem that you allowed us to borrow.” “The Chaos Emerald!” shouted Cream. “Chao, chao!” “Any luck finding a way for them to get back to their home?” asked Twilight. “We are making a breakthrough, but do not expect any confirmation of it just yet.” Luna then looked at Cream and rubbed the top of her head, “Thou should do your best to get a good night’s sleep, young ones; thou will need it.” Cream just giggled, “We will.” Luna then looked at everyone there and requested, “Does thou wish a ride back to Ponyville on our Chariot?” “That… would be wonderful, your highness,” said Twilight with relief. Luna began to lead Twilight and the others out of the mountain and Fluttershy noticed Cream walking beside her smiling, and lightly humming to herself with Cheese with her close by. “You seem to feel a whole lot better, Cream. I feel relieved that that you and Cheese are back together again; I really didn’t like seeing you sad.” “It’s okay, Miss Shy,” Cream responded, “I may have felt very sad mostly today, but I had a great time here, and I got to go on an adventure unlike any I’ve ever been on! I will miss this world when we go, but I will always remember it for as long as I live!” “It’s great to hear you say that, Cream. When we get back to Ponyville, you and Cheese deserve a good long rest. Doesn’t that sound good?” “It sure does, doesn’t it, Cheese?” “Chao!” Angel soon jumped up and landed on Cream’s shoulder. He leaned his head against her cheek and smiled happily. He was just overly glad that she was okay after everything she experienced today. “Oh Angel,” Cream chuckled as she patted his head, “You’re just dying to be the center of my attention, aren’t you?” At one point outside, Luna looked over at them and noticed Angel cuddling against Cream’s cheek. She looked at Twilight questionably and asked… “Excuse me, um… Twilight Sparkle; is that… little rabbit… having a crush on…” “Yeah, he is,” Twilight interrupted, “but… it’s okay; let him have his moment.” > This isn't Goodbye > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cream and Cheese went through a lot over the past couple of days after being transported to the land of Equestria. They have been on wild adventures before, but none quite like this. A mischievous pony named Leone whose real name ended up being Solar Dusk kidnapped Cheese and used his power to create a gem powerful enough to control the powerful mind of Princess Celestia. But thanks to the efforts of the unique duo and Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy… and Angel, his plans were thwarted and Equestria was safe from his power before it even started. After dropping off Cream, Cheese and their new friends back in Ponyville, Luna and her guards made their way back to Canterlot with Solar Dusk in custody. At the palace, Solar was put before Celestia and the Royal Court for a quick trial; though it wouldn’t be any help for him at all… he already lost. “Well, Solar Dusk,” said Celestia, “it seems that you’re back in Canterlot. Hope you’ve been well all these years because… we’ve all missed you.” “Oh please spare me your sarcasm, your highness,” Solar growled, “I always found it to be rather annoying.” Celestia made an un-amused expression to Solar’s comment, “Anyway, you stand before the Royal Court to be charged with going against the kingdom and yours truly. And not only that, you have been capturing and enslaving different creatures to follow your command against their will; and you actually had the nerve to harm 2 of my subjects and their new friends! I’m afraid that your plan to unleash your invention upon Equestria has been halted; interesting strategy of changing your identity though.” Solar couldn’t believe his position at that moment; just moments earlier he was at the peak of his plan because of the two inter-dimensional creatures that appeared in their world. Now it was because of them that his entire plan more than 7 years in the making was ruined; now he wished that he never even saw the two creatures. At least then his plan would’ve still had a chance to prevail. “Do you have anything to say on your behalf?” Celestia added. “Sure I do,” Solar responded, “You do know that it was you did this to me, right? My new invention was brilliant; it was something massive; it could’ve help change the world! I honestly wanted to show you what I created in hopes that you would agree, and what do you do, you had everything that was based on it destroyed and treated my masterpiece like it was a complete travesty!” “Um… it was a complete travesty,” said Celestia nonchalantly, “Any magic dealing with mind control is considered forbidden… I do not allow it in my kingdom.” Solar just smirked and chuckled a bit at the Princess’ speech, “So what are you going to do to me? Turn me to stone; turn me into smoke; have me executed; or better yet… send me to the moon?” “Silence!” Luna shouted, “Do not mock our sister with thou frivolity! Your sentence will be her decision and hers alone! So, dear sister, what is thou verdict?” Celestia smiled and chuckled a bit to herself, “Well… as much fun as it would be, I won’t be doing any of that stuff to him; I have a much better idea in mind.” “What’s the matter, Princess,” said Solar smirking, “those punishments too good for me?” “Indeed they are. Now don’t get me wrong, you’re still facing some pretty good amount of years in my dungeons… in which surprisingly I haven’t used in quite some time; but on top of that, I’m sentencing you to continue working here while doing what you hate most… housekeeping.” Luna looked at her at her like she wasn’t thinking straight, “Housekeeping; thou can’t be serious, right sister?” “Quite the opposite; if there’s one thing Solar Dusk hates more than dealing with creatures regularly, it’s cleaning… especially if it’s somepony else’s mess. Isn’t that right, Soar Dusk?” Solar leered at her knowing that she truly did know what he hates; or in this case what he hates to do. But even at that, he figured that he could get around this somehow. “It’s true that I despise cleaning messes, but I’m sure I can find some perks to it.” “Yeah, I thought you might’ve said that,” said Celestia coyly. She then signaled to one of her soldiers to place a collar around his neck that had a sparkling blue gem inside it. It clamped shut against Solar’s coat and he started to get this weird feeling. “What the hay is this?!” he shouted. “Oh, just a little special gem that I had one of my other manufacturers created just for you. It’s made with a type of pure stabilizing energy and it cuts off the magical powers of the wearer.” “What… no!” Solar Dusk tried to use some magic, but none came forth no matter how hard he tried. He was then panicking and trying his best to pull the collar off, but Celestia gave him a fair warning. “Oh, and you might not want to try and take the collar off because you might be in for an unconscious shock; and you will be watched over at all times 24/7. Aren’t you glad that you’re back here in Canterlot?” Solar leered and growled at Celestia from the mischievous smile she was giving him; and Luna was looking questionably at her sister like she was having too much fun. “Your first task awaits you in the royal party room upstairs; I heard the guards had quite the party that I allowed them to have last night and no pony has cleaned it up yet. That is such a conscience.” Some of the guards around the room looked at each other snickering under their breath. “Take him there, please,” commanded Celestia. As they carried him off to his ordered destination, Solar threw a violent fit of rage and anger, “You can’t do this to me; this is a complete insult to my brilliance! I’ll get you back for this; just you wait!” Luna just sat there and looked over at her sister who was just sitting there while smiling proudly. “Thou are getting a good laugh from this, aren’t you sister?” “Of course I am; is there a problem?” “Nope,” said Luna while suddenly smiling herself, “just making sure that we’re both on the right page.” ----- Back in Ponyville, Cream and Cheese were able to sleep in peace now that they were back together again. Fluttershy was talking over some things to Twilight after putting the two to sleep. She found out something from Celestia that was reported to her by Spike and she wanted to prepare a little special surprise for Cream and Cheese. The next morning, the sun rose and its bright light shined all over the land, and the little duo was still fast asleep in the bed. They seemed too sleep a little more into the morning; which was reasonable seeing what they went through all day yesterday. After a while, the eyes of the young rabbit started to open up, and she felt a great sense of relief waking up only to see Cheese still resting beside her and not gone and missing. “Morning, Cheese,” she said while yawning, “rise and shine sleepy head.” “Chao…” He woke up suddenly stretching and yawning from the long sleep he had. Cream looked over on her other side and realized that Fluttershy wasn’t there. She did just wake up from a deep sleep so she was making sure that she saw it correctly. “H-huh, where’s Fluttershy? Did we sleep in today?” Just then, she looked at the foot of the bed and saw that Angel was sitting there like he was standing guard over them. “Oh, hi Angel;” said Cream, “Are you keeping an eye on us?” Suddenly, she noticed that he had a slightly sadden expression on his face. “Hey, what’s wrong; you look sad.” More tears started to build up in Angel’s eyes as they started to leak out, and then he ran over to her and literally latched himself on her and started to cry. Cream was looking at him feeling worried of what he was sad about. “Um… Angel, you okay?” “Morning, Cream,” said Fluttershy as she suddenly walked into the room, “Did you and Cheese sleep well?” “Yeah we did,” Cream responded, “but… what’s wrong with Angel?” Fluttershy saw Angel hanging onto Cream continuously sobbing, and she just smiled and stated, “Oh, you’ll see; but first, get dressed and follow me. I have a surprise for you.” Cream and Cheese looked at each other feeling partially curious and partially excited. What kind of surprise could she be planning for them? She did remember that she had a little something for Fluttershy as well, but she supposes that she could wait a bit. After changing into her normal clothing, Cream quickly rushed downstairs with Cheese and Angel following behind her, and she went outside the front door where Fluttershy was waiting for her. But once she got there, she stopped and made a huge gasp expression as she saw the surprise that Fluttershy was talking to her about. “Oh my goodness!” “Chao, Chao!” Awaiting her outside was the rest of Fluttershy’s main friends; and they were all really interested in meeting her. “Cream… Cheese,” said Fluttershy, “these are my friends; Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and… I believe you two already met Twilight.” Cream was astonished by Fluttershy’s friends. Sure, she’s seen many other ponies around her during her time here, but these ponies somehow seemed to stick out more to her. “Wow, you ponies look so pretty,” said Cream. Suddenly, Pinkie came over and gave her and Cheese a big hug, “And you two look so ADORABLE! I was wondering who the newcomers to this town were, but I had no idea that they were a bundle of CUTENESS!” Cream and Cheese laughed a bit nervously as they backed away to give Pinkie space to daaw over them. “Cream and Cheese, Huh?” said Rianbow Dash, “You know, your names sound pretty weird, but I heard that you two totally kicked butt with Fluttershy yesterday! Man I wish I could’ve been there to see it for myself.” Then Rarity approached her to admire clothing attire, “Oh, I just adore your lovely dress; it really goes well with your tie and fur coat. Not to mention those cute little shoes.” “Um, thanks,” said Cream, “My mother made them for me; she’s not a fashion designer but she is pretty good for what she does.” “Designer or not, I wouldn’t mind meeting her.” Just then, Cream realized the marks on all of their flanks, “Oh that’s right! I recognized those cutiemarks; they are the exact same symbols that I saw in the cave back home. That means that you all represent the Elements of Harmony!” “That we are, sugarcube,” Applejack responded, “I can honestly say that you and Cheese’s impact here was very helpful; ya’ll help find, discover, and stop the plans of an evil tyrant!” “Oh, it was nothing really;” said Cream as she and Cheese blushed, “I feel that Cheese and I got here by accident.” “It was no accident,” said a voice approaching them from behind. Cream and Cheese turned around and both let out a huge gasp as they finally got to see the other Equestrian ruler. “Pr-Pr-Princess… Celestia!” “Chao, chao, chao, chao!” “If you and your little Chao friend didn’t come here,” continued Celestia, “who knows how much longer we would have had to search for before we found Solar Dusk; and by then, it might have been too late. I do believe that fate had brought you here to help save Equestria.” Cream and Cheese had no words to say at that moment. They knew that they have helped their friends in their world to stop evil before, but they never thought that a completely different world’s fate would be resting on them alone. “You and Fluttershy showed true courage through the Elelment of Kindness and it’s because of that that Solar Dusk has been brought to justice.” “So, Princess…” said Cream nervously, “have you found out a way for Cheese and I to get back home?” “Yes, me and my sister, Luna has discovered a way but it wasn’t quite easy to figure out.” Celestia took out the purple Chaos Emerald and handed it back to Cream who was quite relieved to see it again in one piece. “With this Chaos Emerald alone, we knew that it had the properties to send you back; but its power and inner workings were so complicated to us, we thought we would never figure it out.” “So what happen?” asked Cream. “Chao?” “Well, it’s a good thing that Luna and I are very familiar with the existence of dimensional worlds. The truth is that there many different pathways to many different worlds and they are all unknown to most ponies. You were actually pretty lucky to find one in your world.” “Wow, so you’re saying that a portal pathway to any certain dimension could be located anywhere; even the simplest of places?” asked Cream. “Exactly; and I guess it could have been obvious to where that portal that you two found would lead you since you claim that the symbols of the Elements were around the portal.” “So… how do we get home?” “Well… that gem in your hand is your key back home. You did say that there are seven of those, right? We’re going to try and link that Emerald to the other ones in your world and bring them here; and then I’m sure you’ll know what to do next.” Cream was quite impressed of the knowledge she was experiencing from Celestia, “This is great and all, but how are you going to gain enough power to do that?” “That’s where we come in;” said Twilight, “The power of our Elements focusing on that sole emerald should do the trick in drawing the other emeralds from your world to our location.” “Wait, wait!” Pinkie shouted suddenly, “Huston, we have a problem; if there are seven emeralds, how can we get them all with just six elements!?” “It shouldn’t be too hard,” Celestia responded, “However, just in case, I’m lending my alicorn magic to help.” “We’d be happy to have as much assistance as we can, Princess,” said Cream. “Chao!” After that Cream led them to the exact spot inside the Everfree Forest where she and Cheese appeared at when they came into their world. It was a rather wide clearing that some ponies cross by all the time, but unknown to them, the clearing area was the same shape as a Chaos Emerald; pretty weird huh? Cream carefully laid the emerald down on the ground in the middle of the clearing and backed away to give the ponies room to do their thing. Celestia, Twilight, and the rest of the pony gang had their elements ready (not Celestia) and surrounded the emerald. “Alright, girls,” Celestia commanded, “focus your energy on the elements and try to draw power from the emerald.” The scene in front of the duo was so awe-inspiring to them. They saw the elements around each of the pony’s necks glowing with immense bright light and Celestia’s horn shining with power. They all looked like they were in deep concentration as the emerald was starting to respond to them. “Wow, Cheese, this is amazing!” “Chao…!” “Keep going girls!” shouted Celestia as she could feel the presence of a brand new power coming forth. Just then, the emerald floated up in the air and it was soon joined by 6 balls of light and then a loud boom noise sounded and the Element’s power and Celestia’s magic was now holding and containing all 7 Chaos Emeralds… but for how long? “Yes, there they are;” shouted Twilight while trying to contain her power, “the other emeralds! Cream, quickly; what do we do now?!” Cream snapped out of her gaze and was thinking of what to do next. “Um… um… oh; with all 7 Chaos Emeralds, we can convert our thoughts… into power… and then into wishes! Make a wish upon the emeralds!” “You heard the rabbit!” said Twilight. They all worked together, and in their minds they all were thinking the same wish… lead the way to Cream and Cheese’s home! All seven emeralds started to spin around at a very fast rate; and then, another bright shine of light emitted in front of them and the emeralds’ power caused the ponies to ricochet away from them. When they all looked up, there it was in plain sight. “Did… d-did we do it?” said Fluttershy feeling exhausted, “That really took a lot out of me.” The same portal that Cream and Cheese witnessed was there once again as they could see their world on the other side; although it wasn’t sucking things in this time. “There it is Cheese,” said Cream with a bright smile, “our home!” “Chao, Chao!” “Whew! Well, we did it,” said Applejack. “Wait,” said Rarity, “where are those lovely emeralds?!” “They must’ve disappeared into our world,” Cream responded, “and then scattered all over our land again.” “Oh well,” said Rarity feeling slightly disappointed, “it’s not like I would’ve been able to keep any of them anyway.” Fluttershy walked up beside Cream who was just standing there and smiling at the sight of her world again. “Well… there’s your home; you can go back and see your other friends and your mother again.” “Yeah!” said Cream, “Y… yeah…” Suddenly, she was very silent and the other was wondering what was wrong; but then, Cream suddenly turned around and gave Fluttershy a big hug. Some tears started to form in her eyes and also did Fluttershy’s; she knew what was going on. “Miss Shy, are we never going to see each other again? Is this… goodbye?” The others was seeing this spectacle and most of them were starting to cry as well… even Rainbow Dash who was trying not show it. “I… I don’t know, Cream,” Fluttershy responded, “but shouldn’t you be more relieved to be going back home?” “I am, but… I’m going to miss you… and all your friends; even though I just met most of them just now.” “Chao…” Suddenly, Angel latched himself on her again spouting tears of sadness; he was practically begging her no to go. “Oh, Angel,” said Cream smiling as she grabbed Angel and nuzzled against his cheek, “I know you don’t want me to go; I partially want to stay here too. But I have to go back; my other friends and my mother are probably all worried about me; and besides… I know you have a crush on me, but… it just wouldn’t work out. But, we can be very best friends, okay?” Angel looked up at her cute brown eyes and then blushed as he nodded his head. Cream then handed Angel back over to Fluttershy and told him to stay there and don’t try to follow her. She walked up to Celestia asked, “Princess Celestia, do you think that I will ever see Miss Shy, Angel, you or any other pony here again?” “It’s hard for even me to see that,” Celestia responded, “But you and Cheese did a great deal here and made some wonderful friends. So if there’s a way to easily see each other again, it will be discovered, and you two will be able to see us again.” She then suddenly gave her a smile, “And who knows, maybe we’ll be the ones to visit you and we can meet your friends.” “That would be great!” shouted Cream. “Chao, chao!” “Well, you better hurry, Cream,” said Twilight, “that portal isn’t going to stay open forever.” “Right.” Suddenly, Cream remembered something, “Oh, I almost forgot!” She quickly went into her pocket and pulled out a flower crown that she made secretly yesterday after they came back to Ponyville. Then she went over to Fluttershy and placed it on her head; and Fluttershy was speechless. “When I feel like it, I like to make flower crowns for all my best friends, but I only had time to make one. Do you like it?” “Of course I do,” said Fluttershy as she hugged Cream, “I’ll keep it for as long as I can and remember that it was made by you.” Finally, Cream and Cheese made their way to the portal, and then she stopped and turned around to face everyone. “I just want to say that Cheese and I had a wonderful time here and even though a mean, nasty pony tried to ruin our friendship we had fun taking him down! I really hope we all can see each other again.” They all tried not to tear up again, but that proved to be impossible as they watched the duo step into the portal and disappeared; and then the portal closed completely leaving only the leftover whistling wind surrounding the area. “Aww, don’t cry, Angel,” said Fluttershy as she comforted him while he was lightly sobbing, “We’ll be able to see her again; right your highness?” “It might take some time… but yes, I’m pretty sure of it.” “Too bad we didn’t get to spend more time with her,” said Pinkie, “I would’ve loved to have a flower crown too!” “In due time, I think we may all get to see her again,” said Applejack. As the others started to head back to Ponyville, Fluttershy remained standing there staring at the spot where her two new friends disappeared and feeling the flower crown on her head. “Well Angel, I just hope that now that they’re back in their world they don’t… forget about us.” Angel nodded in agreement while still shedding a single tear. “Not to worry, Fluttershy,” said Celestia as she walked up beside her smiling, “I believe she won’t forget any of us anytime soon once she gets back.” “Huh; what do you mean?” Fluttershy asked. “We secretly planted a little something on Cream for them to remember us by,” said Twilight. “Oh!” shouted Fluttershy, “That… you mean… that’s why… yesterday we…” Suddenly, Fluttershy was tearing up again… tears of happiness. “Yeah… she’ll never forget us; our friendship will last forever.” > Back Home Again! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than a whole day had passed since Cream and Cheese disappeared and came into Ponyville of Equestria; but in their world, more than 2 days had passed since they left. Cream’s mother, Vanilla, was at her house lamenting over the sudden disappearance of her daughter and her Chao. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy just finished trying another go in finding them… but they were still unsuccessful in their search. Vanilla was desperately worried and was beginning to lose hope. “Where on earth is she?!” Vanilla sobbed, “It’s been more than 2 days since Cream and Cheese vanished and we still can’t find them anywhere; what if something terrible has happened to them?!” “Don’t worry, Vanilla,” said Amy, “I’m sure they’re okay wherever they are.” “Though they have been gone for quite a while, don’t you think?” stated Tails. Amy suddenly gave Tails a little flick on his ear and lightly scowled at him, “You’re not helping.” “It’s… it’s okay,” Vanilla responded while wiping away some tears, “maybe… I should just give up; you guys have gone at it long enough for me.” All of them gasped and looked over at her like she lost her mind. “You can’t be serious, right?” said Sonic as he walked into the room, “This is Cream and Cheese we’re talking about here! If your decision now is to give up then fine; but I won’t rest until I do find them, no matter how long it takes!” “Me too!” shouted Tails. “I agree!” said Amy. “Same here,” said Knuckles who was nearby meditating. “Even the Chaotix are doing what they can to find them;” Sonic continued, “They are just as precious to us as they are to you and we won’t give up!” Amy smiled and just sighed from Sonic’s speech, “I love it how he stays so cool and never gives up.” Tails and Knuckles just rolled their eyes and groaned. “Th-thank you… Sonic,” said Vanilla as she calmed herself down, “you guys are too kind. I don’t know what went over me.” “It’s okay,” Sonic responded, “you were just feeling overstressed and that’s understandable. But don’t worry, we will find them; I mean it’s not like they’re suddenly going to show up out of the blue and walk right through that door.” Suddenly, the door did start to open… very slowly. Everyone except Vanilla looked over and saw two small figures poke their heads into the doorway. One of them spoke in a very familiar voice. “Hello?” They all gasped upon seeing who it was and it seemed that they weren’t dreaming. “Um… V-V-Vanilla,” Sonic stuttered, “you might want to turn around and see this.” Vanilla suddenly got up slowly and turned around to see who was at the door; and much to her surprise, there standing at the door… was her daughter, Cream and her friend, Cheese. She was almost at a loss for words when she saw the miraculous sight in front of her. “Is… is that you… Cream?” she said with tears in her eyes. Cream was smiling with some slight tears in her eyes as well, “Hi, mother.” “Chao, chao!” Vanilla practically ran over to her daughter and latched her arms around her and Cheese and held onto them tightly while crying some more. “Well…” thought Sonic to himself, “I guess I stand corrected.” “Oh Cream,” Vanilla sobbed, “I missed you two so much!” Cream and Cheese couldn’t help hugging her back and sobbing as well, “We’ve missed you too, mommy!” “Chao!” The others just stood there enjoying the miraculous heartwarming scene; and they were all smiling… even Knuckles was smiling, slightly. Vanilla broke away from her daughter and looked at her in the eyes, “Do you have any idea of how worried sick I was about you?! I feared that that something absolutely terrible had happened and I would never see you again!” “We’re sorry for making you worry so much;” Cream responded, “but we’re back now.” “So, Cream…” said Tails suddenly, “Eggman didn’t capture you, right?” Cream just shook her head, “No way; Eggman had nothing to do with what happened.” “So what did happen to you two;” asked Amy, “where did you two go?” “You wouldn’t believe it! Cheese and I were out in the fields picking flowers, and then we came inside this secret cave that we had no idea about, and there… we found a Chaos Emerald!” “A Chaos Emerald?!” shouted Sonic. “Yeah; but we don’t have it anymore. But for some reason, it opened this portal in the cave and me and Cheese got sucked in. And before we knew it, we found ourselves in a completely different world… inhabited by… Ponies!” “Chao!” Suddenly, the whole room went silent and they were staring at them quite awkwardly; even Vanilla. “Seriously,” said Knuckles, “Ponies? Sounds like a little girl’s fantasy dream to me.” “What’s wrong,” scowled Cream, “you don’t think it’s true?!” “I’m just saying, a world inhabited by ponies; that’s just… weird.” “Did you really appear in a world full of ponies, Cream?” asked Vanilla. “Yes I did… we did! I’m not lying, honest!” “I believe her,” said Sonic suddenly. “What, really?” stated Knuckles. “Well sure; I mean if Cream says that she and Cheese were transported to a world of ponies, then that’s what happened.” Amy and Tails had believed her too and asked her some questions. “Were they all nice ponies?” asked Amy. “They were all very nice; although there was one that was just downright evil!” “Were there other animals there too,” asked Tails. “Plenty of them!” “Chao!” Vanilla gave Cream another hug, “Well I believe you too, Cream. But no matter what happened all this time, the point is that you two are back home safely.” “Yeah, I know… and it’s good to be back home; but even though you guys do believe me, I just wish that I had something to show you to you guys as proof.” Suddenly, Cheese noticed something inside the pocket of Cream’s dress. He got her attention and pointed to her dress pocket. “Chao! Chao, chao, chao!” “What’s that, Cheese? Huh, is there something in my pocket?” She reached in her pocket and pulled out a folded 4x6 piece of paper. “What could this be?” However, when she unfolded it, it wasn’t just a piece of paper… it was a photo; a photo of the main pony friends that she and Cheese met in the other world. “Oh my… oh my goodness! Mother, guys, look; it’s them!” The others came over and saw the photo; and they couldn’t believe their eyes. “Well I’ll be…” said Sonic. “See everyone, see!? That’s them; these are the ponies that we met! The yellow one here is Fluttershy; she took real good care of me and Cheese while we were there! And these two, Luna and Celestia, they’re the rulers of their land!” They were all blown away as Cream told them about each of them and how nice they were. It sounded like they had quite the experience. “Wow, look at all of them,” said Amy, “they are real!” Sonic made a little snicker at Knuckles, “So Knuckles, still think it was just a girl’s fantasy dream?” “Oh like you weren’t thinking of something like that at first.” “So Cream,” said Tails, “now that we’ve seen proof, exactly how did you and Cheese get back?” “That’s easy;” Cream responded, “our friends used their own power to focus on the one emerald that we had with us and drew in the other emeralds from this world to the other ! And then, they simply used the emeralds to open a portal back here; it was so amazing!” Everyone was quite intrigued by her story and Sonic himself was kinda wishing that he could have been there to make new discoveries on his own. “So that explains why the few emeralds that we already had suddenly disappeared,” said Tails, “Great, now we have to find them all over again.” “No sweat, Tails,” said Sonic giving him a thumbs up, “it’ll be fun trying to find them all again!” Vanilla felt very proud of her daughter; it sounded like she had quite the adventure while she was missing. “You know, Cream, if you want to, we would love to hear all about what you and Cheese went through in that world.” The others nodded and agreed; but Knuckles wasn’t quite up to it. “Not me; I’ll go and contact the Chaotix and tell them that the search is over.” And with that, he left and closed the door behind him. Cream just smiled and became very excited along with Cheese. “I’m so excited; I can’t wait to tell you guys all about it! Cheese and I helped take down a bad guy!” “Chao!” Cream’s mother and her friends were in for a heck of a story; and based on it, it seemed that she was really growing up. ----- That’s the story of Cream and Cheese’s wonderful adventure in Ponyville… well, technically Equestria. To both of them, and Fluttershy and the rest of the pony gang, it was completely unknown of when their worlds would cross paths again; that is if it was even possible to do so in a simpler way. But every time Cream looks at her photo souvenir that she displayed in her room, she remembers her time with Fluttershy and it always reminds her of a well taught lesson… No matter the obstacle that befalls on you, or how soft and kind your heart is… there is no force stronger than the power… of Friendship.