After countless hours of research, Aaron has done it. He has made a way into Equestria. Now he can meet his favorite pony of all time Twilight Sparkle. Nothing can stop him! Wait a second, who are you, ponies?
This is what happens when you take too long to get things done. You end up in the wrong show.
A Gen 4 brony lost in the Gen 5 world. What could happen?
The year was 2017, and My Little Pony movie just came out in theaters. Now some may argue why a show about colorful ponies would be popular enough to warrant a movie. But one thing was for certain if any fans of the show were given a chance to go to Equestria, they would take it. Sadly such an idea was it's purely fiction. Some of the fans resorted to writing fanfic about their adventures in Equestria, while others waited patiently for the next episodes to be released, dreaming of an adventure that would never come. However, there were a select few that were trying methods a bit more daring.
In the mountains of a forest, a lone cabin stands with the light flickering in the window. Lives a man by the name of Aaron who works tirelessly on his project. Aaron spent most of his life like anyone else, working day in and day out to make ends meet and, hopefully, one day, retire wealthy. But last, such a dream was not meant to be. No matter how hard he tried, he could never seem to achieve his dreams. Aaron spent most of his days in his apartment watching shows of hope and joy of a life he wished he would have. He came across the My Little Pony show on pure chance. Some of his coworkers spoke highly of the show, but he can never understand why a show about cartoon ponies could create such a large fanbase behind it.
Then one afternoon, he gave the show a chance to find out why such a world of colorful ponies could bring such joy to people. Started with one episode, then two, then season 2 until Aaron had completely watched the entire MLP franchise. And then, before Aaron knew it he has fallen in love. Not the fact that the characters are ponies, but of their character, their growth, their humanity, and of course, their friendship with one another. And Aaron, just like most bronies wishes nothing more than to give up everything and go to Equestria. But he had no idea what to start or even how to go to such a world. Then one night, he had a revelation.
During the first Equestria Girls, Twilight Sparkles left her home world into another dimension without magic. But in order for her to get there, she had to use a magical magic mirror at a certain time that resembles a lot like ritual magic or ancient magic. With these types of magic, unless certain conditions are met, you cannot get enough magical energy collected in one spot to activate the spell or object in question. So, Aaron spent countless hours and days researching all forms of magic in his world to understand a concept, even a theory of how such an idea could be possible.
And then, after many failed experiments and an unknown amount of dollars in debt, he did it. He has created a mirror nearly identical to the one Twilight Sparkle used in the movie. However, just like in the movie, he must wait until thirty moons have passed for the mirror to activate. But there was no way he could wait in the city for the right time, so he retreated into the mountains and waited. And he waited and waited for the mirror to activate. However, he did not spend his time lying around but instead dedicated himself to learning everything about Equestria, from the ponies that lived there to the geometry of the cities, the lifestyle they would be living, and how to survive on the land. If he were going to Equestria, he would not go in blindly but have enough education and knowledge as a regular resident would have along with knowing how to live alone since there is no way Equestria would expect his money. But more importantly, he studied everything about the Sparkle family, to be precise, Twilight Sparkle.
Of all the ponies in the show he wishes to meet, Twilight Sparkles is his number one priority. He already had a plan of what to do once he saw her; it would be perfect to meet the pony that changed his life. Some people might call him crazy, “But who is laughing now!”
Aaron stands in front of the mirror, staring at his reflection. A touch on the mirror’s surface causes it to ripple, with light shining from where his finger passes through the mirror. “Well, what am I waiting for?” Quickly Aaron grabs a bag filled with essentials and some survival gear. He looks over to a flower he was able to pull from the portal earlier that day. It looks just like the ones from the show, which gives him a feeling of hope; however, he has no idea where in Equestria he will show up. Hence the bag. Aaron readies himself mentally, takes a breath, and enters the mirror.
Aaron feels like he is in a washing machine and spit out. “How in the world was Twilight able to handle this every time she went through the portal? My head.” He rubs his hoof to his head and stops once he notices that there is a lack of fingers on his person. “Guess I should have seen that coming,” Looking over himself, he sees that he has no cutie mark and is an earth pony stallion with a brown mane and red coat. “If I were blonde, I would be a small Big Mac. Hehe, I am a kid’s meal.” He laughs at his joke before grabbing his bag. “Good thing I make this able to become a saddlebag, just in case.” Once he was ready to go, he looked back at where he came from, “A tree, how poetic,” He gave it a quick salute which was a bad idea since he is a four-leg and not a two-leg creature. “I meant to do that,” He looks around to ensure no creature saw that. It is sunset, and he needs to find a place to rest for the night, but more importantly, “This does not look like Pony Ville, and what is up with the rainbow lighthouse?”
Aaron doesn’t recall there being such a building in the show, but there is no mistaking it. He is indeed in Equestria, but without a map of the area he is in the dark as to which part of Equestria he is in. After all, there is no way that the show would be able to cover the entire planet of Equestria. But he will not give up hope. He came here to meet Twilight and her friends, and nothing is going to… “TWILIGHT!” Aaron hides behind the tree as he sees a mare that looks just like Princess Twilight Sparkle going to the Lighthouse with four other ponies he has never seen before. “They must be new ponies that she made off-screen. No matter. Twilight is here and that is all that matters.”
Sunny and her friends have finished a hard day of work in Maretime bay and want to spend the afternoon at the Crystal Brightlhouse before calling it a day. Zipp hovers next, to them as the rest walk, but something was not quite right with one of the ponies in the group. Specify, one of them seems to be a different color than she was yesterday, “Sorry about the hair dye Sunny, I thought that paint was supposed to come off with water,” Izzy smiles at her friend,
“Don’t worry about it,” Sunny says, looking over her new purple body that Izzy was so kind to give her that morning, “It is not that bad, it will come off on its own eventually,” Worry crosses her mind as she looks to Pipp, “It will come off right Pipp?”
“Ah yes! In due time Izzy’s little prank should come off.”
“That good to-“
“In a day or two.”
“Hear,” Sunny replied dejected, as Hitch tries to cheer her up.
“Look on the bright side. You can pretend to be Princess Twilight Sparkle for a couple of days in the meantime. That’s good, right?”
Sunny thought about it and smiled, “You know you are right. They say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery one can give.”
Zipp looked confused, “Who says that, cause I don’t,”
“Zipp, you are not helping,” Her sister whispers to her annoyed,
Ignoring her, Zipp continues, “But more importantly, what are we going to do about him?”
“Him?” The others said in unison,
“Yes, him,” Zipp points to a stallion they have never seen before standing in their way to the lighthouse. None of them knew what to make of this situation; Hitch thinks that this stallion needed some help with something, Izzy thought she could make a new friend, Pipp thought that she he was a fan judging from how he looks like he could tip over at any moment, Zipp was on guard not sure to make of the stallion, and Sunny was confused and worry since the last time a random pony show up unannounced she lost her home.
Feeling a little brave, Sunny moved to greet the newcomer, “Ehm, can I help you?”
“I'm sorry, Hitch! I didn’t mean to do it!” Sunny bawls, grabbing her friend’s foreleg as he tries to remove himself from her.
“Sunny, calm down.” Hitch has no idea what happening. One moment Sunny was talking to a random stallion in front of the lighthouse before he dropped dead, and then this. “Zipp, a little help here; Pipp stop streaming this, and Izzy, stop poking the stallion,” He calls to each of his friends as they surround the unconscious stallion, leaving him to deal with Sunny himself.
“I am too young to go to jail. Please don’t arrest me!” Sunny continues to cry her eyes out while getting dragged across the ground as Hitch struggles to get free.
“Oh my goodness.” Pipp adjusts the camera to get a better view of herself before switching to show Izzy pocking the stallion with a stick, “So get this, Pipsqueaks; we were on our way to the lighthouse and found a stallion there waiting for us, like a total starker. However, he drops dead when Sunny went to talk with him,” She turns the camera back to herself, “This reminds me of when I met one of my Pipsqueaks. So, this stallion must have a crush on Sunny and came here to confess to her, but he couldn’t handle it and blacked out.” She squealy happily, “I can’t believe that my dear friend Sunny has an admirer and possible stallion friend now,”
“Pipp, I said stop recording this!” Hitch yells from the background getting her attention,
“Oh, but what is this? Sunny begging Hitch to forgive her?" Pipp gasps, "Could they be dating, and Sunny doesn’t want him to get the wrong idea?”
“Pipp, enough,” Zipp says sternly, turning off the stream,
“Zipp, I was in the middle of a live stream.” Pipp scolds her sister, but she rolls her eyes,
“Can we first focus on the dead stallion on our front lawn?”
“You know, he is not dead,” Izzy casually says, opening one of his eyes with her hooves and letting it snap back into place, “I think that somepony was just a little too happy to see Sunny that all.”
“So why does Sunny think that she killed some pony?” Zipp questions as Hitch calls some reinforcements of animals to help him, pulling from Sunny's rear hooves and Hitch's tail.
“Sunny, I expect this from Izzy, but not you. Let go!” Hitch cries one more time pulling with all his might and freeing himself from her death grip, which leads him to roll away, sending animals flying and himself into the lighthouse’s wall with a mighty crash.
“Hitch!” Everypony called out, rushing to his side, “Are you all right?”
“I had worse,” He groans as the animals also come to check up on him,
“I am so sorry, Hitch." Sunny helps him up before rubbing one of her forelegs against the other in shame, "I got so caught up with getting into trouble that I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing to you. Can you forgive me?”
“It’s all right, Sunny. Everypony makes mistakes.” Hitch hugs Sunny before they turn to their unexpected guest, “So, does anypony know who this is?”
“Ow, my head,” Aaron says, getting up from the couch, “What happened?” Looking around, he finds himself in a large spacious house with two stairs leading to the next floor, a living room where he is, and a kitchen to the side. Judging by the light from the window, it is the next day, but that is the least of his concerns. This should be Equestria, but the more he looks around, the more things are different than they were in the show. From his research, Equestria should be in a medieval era style of living. But with the blender, fridge, and TV. All point to a more modern style of living. Something is wrong, “I am getting a bad feeling about this,” he says to himself, “Did something go wrong with the mirror? Or am I just in another part of Equestria that is more modern than the rest? If so, then what was Twilight doing here on her own? And--TWILIGHT!” Aaron jumps to his hooves, “I almost forgot about her!”
Looking around, he couldn’t see her anywhere and moves to the door but face-plants on the floor, “Dumb blanket.” He grumbles as he untangles his legs,
“You okay there?” A voice called to him from across the room,
Aaron looked up to see the stallion that was with Twilight the other day getting up from another couch. How he did not see him till now was beyond him, but at least he can get some answer, “Where am I?”
“You are inside the Crystal Brighthouse. I am the Sheriff of Maretime Bay, Hitch Trailblazer.” He gestures to his badge on his sash, “And you are?”
“Oh, Hi, officer." Aaron stands up straight, "My name is Aaron Lopez. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise, Mr. Lopez,”
“Ah, can you call me Aaron instead?”
“Fine, Aaron, may I ask what you are doing here?”
Aaron tilts his head, “What?”
“You showed up in front of my friend and me yesterday afternoon but fainted-“
Hitch rethinks his words before continuing, “You passed out before we could get any answers. So, what are your intentions here?”
Aaron knows that if he lies, it will only come back to bite him someday. So it is best, to tell the truth, especially in front of the town’s Sheriff. Looking away in embarrassment, Aaron rubs the back of his head, “Well, you see, I came here to meet a mare,” A small gasp could be heard from upstairs, followed by someponies hushing another. Aaron disregards the sound and continues his tale, “I came a long way to meet her, and I when I found her the other day, I could believe how beautiful she is.” Some awe and giggling could be heard upstairs, much more apparent this time, which got both Hitch and Aaron’s attention.
“I thought we agreed on no eavesdropping.” Hitch calls out upstairs, causing ponies to retreat with the sound of a door closing, “Sorry about that. But you can’t blame them for wanting to know who you are. You did show up unannounced yesterday.”
Aaron's ears fold against his head, looking away, “Sorry about that. Everything happened so fast.”
“Back on the topic. Who is the mare you were looking for?”
Aaron opens his mouth but pauses. With how different things are now, Twilight could have changed her name or how she addresses herself. Unlikely, but possible. Better play it safe, so he knows whom he is talking about, “The purple mare from yesterday,” 'Hun, did his eye twitch?'
For some reason, Hitch is starting to dislike this stallion. But he is a professional first and a stallion second. He tries to check a professional appearance with a smile, “Really? I know she is an important pony, but why her thou?”
“She saved my life,”
Hitch frowns at his explanation, unconvinced, ears going down, “I am going to need a better reason than that.”
Aaron can't seem to understand why the Sheriff seems to be mad at him. He has done nothing wrong... nothing wrong here in Equestria. But how does he answer him? “Weeeellll…” Aaron starts looking away but can't seem to finish his thought,
“You don’t got one, do you?” Hitch deadpans, to which Aaron looks down in shame,
“No,”
“Well, as far I can tell, you mean her no harm or others. You are just a love-struck pony,”
“Thank you for understanding, sir,” Aaron bows a few times to show his sincerity,
“However, since the pony in question is a dear friend of mine. I wish to be present when you meet her again,” Hitch cut him off before Aaron could retort, “Non-negotiable. Unless you wish to be escorted off the premises without seeing her,”
“Ah, don’t be that way, Hitchy-poo,” Izzy says behind Aaron, causing him to attempt a ten-foot jump from ground level and succeeds, “He just wants to talk with the mare that he loves,” Aaron lands back on the couch with a loud thud with a grunt, “I am sure he is a good pony,”
“Izzy, we don’t know anything about this stallion. As far as we know, he could be a secret spy sent here to find a way to steal our magic or something precious to us,”
Somewhere in Maretime Bay, a mare sneezes.
“I am just watching out for everyponies safety as the sheriff.”
“Aw come on, Hitchy-poo,” She grabs Aaron like a cat and holds him in front of her, “Does this look like the face of a secret bad pony running from the law?” Aaron smiles nervously, with drops of sweat running down his head. Technically, he is on the run from the law, but not their law, so they don’t have to know about that.
Hitch stares intently at Aaron before he backs down and points a hoof at him, “Hum, I guess not. But try anything, and I will stop you. Are we clear on that?”
“Crystal clear, sir,” Aaron salutes, but this only causes Izzy to lose her grip, and down he goes again, “I need to get the hang of that,”
“Well then, Izzy, you can call Su-“
“Hitch!” A voice whispers loudly from the entrance of the lighthouse. Everypony turns to see Sprout trying to get Hitch’s attention, “Sheriff, I got to talk with you.”
“Looks like duty calls. Izzy, you watch over our guest while I deal with whatever my deputy needs me for,”
“Roger Wilco Hitchy,” Izzy salutes, not falling over as Aaron glares at her. Hitch exits the lighthouse as Izzy leads Arron upstairs, “This way Aaron,”
Halfway up, Aaron realized something, “Wait, I didn’t tell you my name,”
“I got good ears; I hear everything,” Izzy’s ears move up and down, bending backward and then staying straight.
Odd, “Okay, So long as I can see Twilight,”
Izzy stops moving as Aaron walks past her to the sound of a car screech, “Say what now?”
Aaron looks back at her like nothing is wrong, “Princess Twilight Sparkle. The mare we were talking about. I saw her yesterday.”
Izzy nervously laughs as if she did something bad, looking at anything but in Aaron’s direction, “Right. Twilight Sparkles.” Izzy quickly zips in front of Aaron, blocking him from a door, “Wait here while I make sure that her highness is ready for any guest,”
“No problem,” Izzy quickly enters the room, slamming the door behind her, “She is funny. She reminds me of Pinkie Pie,”
“Sunny!” Izzy calls from the doorway to her friend hiding under the bed. Curious, Sunny sticks her head out, “We got a problem,”
“So what do we do?” Izzy asks the others while Sunny starts pacing the floor.
“I am not sure. Not many ponies even know what Princess Twilight looks like. But Aaron thought I looked just like her, as if he had met her before. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Pipp looks up from her hoof-phone, “Maybe he thinks you look like some mare called Twilight?”
Sunny shakes her head, “I don’t think so. Remember, I was in my alicorn form when we met yesterday afternoon. So, there is no way he could have mistaken me for somepony else. And then he also said Princess Twilight Sparkles. That means he knows that Twilight is an alicorn with a similar appearance to how I look right now.”
Zipp lands next to Sunny, stopping her pacing, “But even if you look like her, we all hear Twilight’s voice from the message she left behind. And no offense Sunny. You sound nothing like her.”
“Perhaps it was the mere presence of an alicorn that looked like the princess that was enough to fool him. For that moment at least,” Pipp chips in,
“But it still doesn’t make any sense. With everything that has happened so far.” Sunny resumes pacing, “The only logical conclusion points to him being familiar with Twilight. But that is impossible. Aside from the message she left behind, the only form of identification of Twilight Sparkles is her cutie mark. But Aaron recognizes her from appearance alone.”
“Hold on a second. Wouldn’t that implead that he had met her before?” Pipp adds, “But would that make him thousands of years old?”
“Well, if he is a thousand years old. Then he aged well.” Zipp adds, with her sister agreeing with her.
“I don’t think that he is that old,” Izzy says, moving to the other side of the room.
“Why do you say that, Izzy?”
“Well, from what I found inside his bag.” She holds up said bag,
“Izzy!” The mares said in unison,
“He has a detailed map of Equestria and survival gear, but they look like stuff you can get in the market.” She pulls out each said item handing them to everypony.
“So, his knowledge is old, but his stuff is new.” Zipp says out loud, before she grabs her head, “My brain hurts,”
“But couldn’t he be a historian like you, Sunny?” Pipp says, looking up from the map,
“That could be a possibility. But if that is true, it would mean he has access to LOST KNOWLEDGE!” Sunny jumps in the air before running into her side of the room, rummaging through her stuff.
“Sunny?”
“Imagine what could be floating around in his head! This could give us insight into what happened to our ancestors and who knows what else!” Once she found her notebook and quill. She rushes to the door but is halted by Izzy blocking the way. “Izzy, get out of my way,”
“Listen, Sunny, you know we are good friends, right?” She nods, “And that I won’t intentionally try to wrong you,” She agrees, “But I, as a friend, have to stop you right here,”
“Why?”
“Because you are forgetting one important factor in this.”
“And that would be?”
“He came here to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle. Not Sunny Starscout,” She points to the lack of the horn and wings on Sunny’s being. In Sunny’s excitement, she has forgotten that her horn and wings have already disappeared for the day.
Sunny drops everything in her hooves, realizing that for once Izzy is right, “Oh, that is a problem,”
Ten minutes earlier, outside of the Crystal Brighthouse,
Hitch is a little unnerved leaving Aaron with his friends, but he trusts that Sprout has a good reason to call him away to talk in private. Also, he has a feeling that Aaron will learn to behave himself with Izzy testing his sanity, “Ok, Sprout, what do you need to tell me?”
Sprouts take a breath, calming down, “Okay, so you remember that stallion you asked me to look into?”
“Yes, I was about to ask about that, but I thought that you would still be busy looking into his background.” Hitch tilts his head confused. After all, Sprout only started the search two hours ago.
“Well, I was, but that’s the thing. I finished the search an hour ago.”
Hitch’s eyes widen in surprise, “That was fast. Good work. So, what did you find?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I found nothing,” A short silence passes between them as Hitch waits for more information. When none was passed, Hitch tries to clarify what he had heard,
“So nothing, as in you were searching in the wrong spot or-“
“I mean nothing, as in he doesn’t exist.” Sprout pulls papers out of his saddle bag, trying to find the right one while making a mess as papers fly everywhere, “I searched the entire database of an adult red earth pony stallion with a brown mane with no cutie mark. And got nothing. No stallion in Maretime bay fits his description.” Hitch stands there unamused as a piece of paper lands on his forehead, Sprout finds the paper, “The only one that came close enough is Mr. Apple, but he is married and of retirement age.”
Hitch blows the paper away and has a look at the report, “Well, go back to the station and look up a stallion named Aaron Lopez. That’s the name he gave me.”
“And if nothing shows up?”
“Then Mr. Lopez has some explaining to do downtown.” Hitch was about to enter the building when a thought occurred to him, “Hold on, you finish an hour ago, and it’s a fifteen-minute jog from the station to here.” Hitch stares intently at his deputy, “Just what were you doing for forty-five minutes at my desk?”
Sprout got nervous, not wanting to answer the sheriff’s question, “Ahhhh,”
Present time,
“Is everything all right?” Aaron calls from the door,
“Yes, everything is all right,” Izzy answers as Sunny struggles to get her alicorn form back, “You never had a problem before transforming, Sunny; what is wrong?”
“Normally, when I transform, there is a problem that I need to solve where my powers are needed. But I never willing tried to transform before.” She squints her eyes tight, trying to transform, “It’s not like I have a button or hoof-phone that transforms me automatically. It’s harder than it looks,”
“Can’t we just tell him to come back later?”
“But what if he leaves town in search of Twilight? We may never see him again,”
They all think about this when Zipp has an idea, “Hay Pipp, why don’t you distract him for a while?”
Pipp puts a hoof to her chest, surprised by the sudden center of attention, “Me? Why me?”
“Sunny is going to be at this for a while, and you’re the more social pony than the rest of us.” Zipp says, pushing her uncooperative sister out of the room, “SO, take him on a date, show him around town, or give him a mane cut. Something, anything, just get him out of here.”
Before Pipp knew what had happened, she was outside the room with Aaron waiting calmingly. Not wanting this to be more awkward, Pipp composed herself, “Hi, Aaron.”
“Hi there. Is everything all right?”
Pipp didn’t think this far ahead, but the girls were counting on her. Pipp looks around, trying to come up with a reasonable answer, “Yes, but uhm. You see… Uhm… Twilight. I mean, her highness is not ready to see you yet.”
“Really. Why?” Aaron is confused, he knows that girls can take a long time to get ready, but he was hoping that this is not the case, “Is everything all right?” Wait, didn’t he say that already?
“No,” Pipp suddenly says before her sights land on Aaron’s appearance, “I mean, Look at you,”
Giving himself a quick look over. Aaron doesn’t see anything out of place. So, what could this mare be talking about, “Is there something wrong with my appearance?”
“Yes, I mean, look at your mane, your coat,” Pipp does a quick sniff check before covering her nose, “Mother’s Bottom! Aaron, when was the last time you had a bath?!”
Aaron looks away, not wanting to answer that question, “Ahhh…”
“Too long! Back!” She commands him to start walking backward, to which Aaron cowardly obeys, not taking his eyes off her, “Back! Back you Fiend! Back!” Aaron returns downstairs in reverse until his rump hits a door, “Get in there!” She yells at him as he struggles to open the door before getting inside, slamming the door on his way in, “And don’t come out until your CLEAN!” Pipp stomps her front hooves and ruffles her feathers before heading back upstairs, not noticing that Hitch is opening the main door, “The nerve of someponies,”
“Ah, Pipp?”
Pipp shouts with pure rage at her friend, “WHAT!”
Hitch wanted to tell his friend about Aaron. He had a duty to do, and he had to tell her to be a responsible friend. But at that moment, Hitch’s self-preservation instincts kicked in, “Nothing,” Hitch squeaks meekly, quickly closing the door on his way out.
“NO! Hitch! Wait!” Hitch was long gone, “Oh, pony feathers,” Pipp grunts, “Maybe this is why Zipp says I can’t get a stallion?” she mumbles to herself, returning to the girls.
“Okay, girls, Aaron is taken care of,” Pipp says, entering the room; while Izzy is moving to and from Sunny with different kinds of makeup and paint, however, Zipp notices something off,
“Wait, where did you leave him?”
Pipp dismisses it by waving a hoof as Izzy finishes painting Sunny’s cutiemarks to match Twilight’s, “Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure about this, Sunny?” Izzy asks, touching up Sunny’s makeup, “What if he doesn’t believe you are Twilight?”
“Don’t worry about that.” Sunny reassures her, “I have an idea in mind,”
“If you say so,” Izzy says, unconvinced, as she fishes up her work,
“Now, all that is left are these?” Sunny stares at her tiny wings as they buzz quickly. Her horn is ready, but her wings are too small for her liking. “Why are these always the hardest?”
Before she could complain anymore, a giant crash echoes throughout the Crystal Brighthouse with a girlish scream, surprisingly not from any of the mares in the room.
“What was that!”
Aaron is stunned, lying on his back as he got Jack and the Bean Stock out of the Crystal Bright house. He lays on a large leaf with a death grip, afraid to move as some birds pass him. Looking above his head, the world’s most enormous flower head stands with him five feet underneath it. Thankfully the flower stopped growing after clearing ten feet of the roof, but Aaron wasn’t in the mood to find out how resilient his new body was.
“What kind of pony boobytraps a flower in their bathroom?” Aaron whispers, “I just finished my shower admiring myself in the mirror and saw a lonely flower on the windowsill. So, I thought, why not water it? But Aaron, you don’t have a cup; how can you water it? Well, I will tell you how. I have a mouth and squirt the water into the plant, and BOOM, I am up here!” Aaron says, not noticing that he has company,
“You, ok there?” Zipp asks, hovering nearby, unsure what to make of the situation. She thought for sure that earth ponies would have gotten the magic of their new magic by now,
Aaron’s eyes turn to Zipp but, more importantly, to her wings. Without hesitation, Aaron asks, “How many ponies can you carry?”
“Two. Why does- HAY!” Before Zipp could do anything, Aaron got a death grip on her body. Causing them to fly uncontrollably around in the sky, “Let go!”
“No!” Aaron shouts with his eyes shut,
By now, the rest of the mares had exited the building, but to their surprise, an airshow awaited them outside, “Oh, is Zipp trying out some new tricks?” Izzy says as Zipp cartwheels and loops above them,
“I don’t think so- DUCK!” Sunny says as everypony expects Izzy ducks as they pass overhead,
“Oh, Sunny, that’s not a duck. That is Zipp taking Aaron for a joy ride,”
“They are going for a ride all right,” Pipp says, having retreated into the house and peeking from the doorway, “but I don’t think the word joy is the right word.”
“Hold on, everypony,” Sunny rushes over to them as her magic kicks in, transforming her into her complete alicorn form and taking off in the air. Once in front of the pair, Sunny flaps her wings, causing a wave of glitter to cover them and give them a soft landing. Zipp breaks free from her shining prison with a gasp as Sunny lands to help her, “You two, ok?”
“Yeah. I am fine,” She coughs some glitter out of her mouth, “No thanks to Mr. Scaredy pony here,” she gestures to the shining stallion crawling out from the bottom of the pile,
Aaron spits out some glitter before looking over himself before looking at the others, “Where did all this glitter come from?”
“That would be me,” Sunny smiles apolitically, “Sorry about that; I couldn’t think of any other way of stopping you two safely,”
Aaron shakes like a dog sending glitter everywhere, “Couldn’t you have used your magic to stop us in mid-air?”
Sunny looks around, guilty as she tries to think of something, “Right, my magic. Well, I panicked and did the first thing in mind,” She smiles, sweating a little,
Surprisingly, it convinces Aaron as he shakes his head, “You have been hanging out with Pinkie Pie too long. Next, you are going to tell me that you can also summon her party cannon as she can.”
Izzy gasps, “A party cannon! What a great idea!” Izzy zips into the Crystal Brighthouse, causing working sounds of power tools and construction to come from within,
Everypony starts to worry about what Izzy is trying to make before Aaron clears his throat, “Ah, Princess Twilight. I have been meaning to ask, but who are these ponies with you, and where are the other members of the manesix?”
“Well, Aaron, you might want to sit down for this,”
“YOU LOST YOUR MEMORY!” Aaron shouts, causing everypony to cover their ears. Sunny’s idea was simple. By pretending that she lost her memory as ‘Twilight,’ she can make up a believable story so that he won’t get suspicious that she isn’t her. That way, she can slowly get all his knowledge about Twilight and the past by him trying to get her to remember things that she doesn’t know. It was foolproof,
Sunny rubs the back of her ear, “Well, kind of. I can’t tell you much about how that happened. Everything is fussy; aside from my name, most of my memories are the ones I have with my new life and friends. I don’t remember much from the past. You see, only recently did I remember my name is Twilight Sparkle. For a long time, I have been an earth pony mare going by Sunny Starscout.”
“But you are an alicorn.” He weakly points at her,
“Well, that’s the thing. For some reason, I can only become an alicorn for a short while of the day before I return being an earth pony.”
Aaron lowers his head in deep thought, “Sounds like you were hit with some curse that was meant to take away your magic and memory so that you can never be a threat again. Or it could have been meant to end your life but failed, resulting in memory loss and magic. However, I have no idea how you could be changed into an earth pony aside from chaos magic. Perhaps it was a side effect of the curse? Regardless, you were able to retain some of your alicorn magic for a short while, along with some of your memory.” Aaron rambles to himself as Izzy exits the Crystal Brighthouse with a small purple cannon and a smile on her face causing the Pegasus sisters to back away from her; however, Aaron and Sunny didn’t notice, “Are you sure you can’t remember Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Spike… anypony?”
Sunny slowly shakes her head, “I am sorry, Aaron, but none of those names rings any bells to me.”
“This is a catastrophe!” Aaron slams his face onto the ground, “The only mare that could have fixed this mess doesn’t remember who she is, her friends are, her family, anything!” Aaron groans before he jumps to his hooves, “Wait a minute!” He rushes over to Izzy, startling everypony and causing the cannon to fire, sending confetti and streamers everywhere, along with a random book, “You can use the memory spell to restore Twilight’s Memory!” Aaron says with determination, not caring if he gets covered by party streamers.
“No can do, Aaron.” Izzy cross her foreleg in front of her, much to Aaron’s disappointment,
“Why NOT!”
“Hate to break it to you, but Unicorns only recently started using magic again. Many magic spells were lost to time and superstition. The only spell I know how to do is lift things with it.” Aaron’s jaw drops, “If such a spell exists, it’s long forgotten by now.”
“This can’t be happening! This is worse than when Tirek stole all the magic from Equestria!” He groans, pulling on his face but pauses when a thought occurs to him, “You know, for some reason, I think somepony wrote fanfic like this. What was its name again? Divided by five or something?” Aaron taps his chin, “Wait, what do you mean only started recently using magic again?”
“Aaron,” Sunny spoke up, trying to sound sincere as possible, “I think it’s time you got a history lesson,” Sunny then told Aaron everything about how the three tribes of ponies were divided, the economic-technological advancements, how she met her friends and the unity crystal that return magic. When she was done, Aaron sat there dumbfounded. He had an idea that it had been a while since Twilight lost her memories and magic. But he had no idea just how long it had been.
“But if what you are saying is true. Then…”
“Everypony that I once knew is long dead. Along with most of the knowledge of magic. We are all starting from scratch, and that is not even covering the new earth pony magic.”
“New Earth pony magic!”
“Yeah.” Zipp says, getting the last of the streamer off her wings before pointing at him, “Where do you think that giant flower came from? You did that.”
“Earth Ponies can plant bend?” Aaron lowers his head, concerned, “Am I some kind of Poison Ivy now?”
“I don’t think so,” Pipp adds, “But some ponies have caused a huge outbreak of hay fever. While adjusting to their magic.”
“What about the Canterlot library? Surely something must have survived there.”
“Canterlot is a distant memory. No pony knows where it is. However, oh!” Sunny reaches down and grabs her notebook, and turns a page, “There are stories telling about Canterlot having something called the Gate of the Ancients. Its original purpose was to help ponies travel all over Equestria and back to Canterlot in the blink of an eye. However, no pony has ever found them.”
“Then that’s where we will start!” Aaron declares, getting a groan from Zipp,
“Aaron, are you listening to yourself? Even if they exist, these gateways have been lost for generations,”
“Zipp is right,” Pipp says, going through her hoofphone before looking at him, “Archaeologists have been searching for decades for any traces of Canterlot. What makes you think you can find it in a day when some ponies spent their whole lives looking for it?”
“Because I am not a pony that can be stopped by saying something is impossible. If it means retrieving your lost memories by finding forgotten knowledge from a lost civilization. Then so be it.” Aaron turns to walk away, but Sunny stops him by putting a hoof on his chest, concerned for his safety. Sunny didn’t think this was a possibility, but if he leaves to find Canterlot, she may never find out what he knows. It’s a fool’s errand, after all.
“Aaron, wait, you don’t have to do this. Don’t trouble yourself for my sake. I don’t need my old memories. I can make new ones. It’s not worth it.” She tries to convince him not to leave.
But Aaron would not be deterred from his decision. He gently grabs Sunny’s hoof and puts it down, “Trust me, Twilight, it is worth it.” Aaron walks around Sunny, heading to the town when Sunny calls out to him again,
“Wait.” Aaron looks over his shoulder, “If you are set on looking for Canterlot, then at least let me go with you.”
“Thanks,” Misty Brightdawn says, paying the waiter and eating her lunch. It was lunchtime for everypony, and she was no exception. Sure, Opaline would get mad at her for spending money on a sandwich when she could steal it, but Misty is hoping that Opaline won’t notice two bits missing. But more importantly, they are late.
Misty looks at Sunny’s smoothie stand, which hasn’t opened today. Usually, Sunny and her friends would come to work and leave the Crystal Brighthouse unguarded. She hoped to use this knowledge to enter the Crystal Brighthouse and find the source of the Prisbeam Magic coming from within. However, none of the ponies have should up work today. The only exception was Hitch, who was doing his daily patrol around town. Which makes her wonder, “What are those ponies up to today?” She took another bite when she could hear the voice of Izzy coming closer, “Speak of Nightmare… Wait, what!?” Misty did a double take when she saw the same group of ponies coming down the street, but something was different. For one, Twilight Sparkle was with them, along with a stallion she had never seen before. He looks like Sprout, but this one is differently taller and…
“WHAT?!” Misty shouts, startling the ponies around her. She covers her mouth before making herself scarce. Once she had entered stealth mode, Misty went to get a closer look at that stallion, “I must have been seeing things, but it couldn’t be,” Misty looks around a potted plant as Aaron talks with Sunny. And to her surprise, she wasn’t seeing things, “He doesn’t have a cutiemark,” She whispers to herself; Misty couldn’t believe it. She thought that she was the only adult pony here that didn’t have her cutiemark. But right there in front of her is a full-grown stallion without one as well. A glimmer of hope ignited within her heart. Perhaps her condition isn’t so unusual after all. Misty looks at her blank flank, rubbing a hoof over it. Realizing that she is getting off-topic, she shakes her head and listens to the conversation.
“I appreciate the help Twilight, but I am fine on my own looking for Canterlot.”
Sunny smiles back, “Don’t think anything of it. After all, if you do find Canterlot, I want to be one of the first ponies to see it.”
“If you say so,”
“So, got any ideas where to start?”
“I thought that you of all ponies would know that,” Aaron starts a pose, “To the library,” For some odd reason, a group of ponies with instruments was nearby and made a sound effect that Aaron could have sworn was the original Batman theme. Ignoring them, Aaron, and the others, enter Maretime bays library/bookstore, the Corner Hoof. It has seen better days with dust covering some of the books, but it will do. However, not everypony was enthusiastic as the rest.
“So, Aaron,” Pipp says, grabbing a random book from a shelf, “What are we looking for exactly?”
“Canterlot,” He deadpans, much to her dismay,
“We get that,” Zipp says, trying not to stir up a dust storm and resort to walking, “but if these books had the answers, other ponies would have found it by now,”
Aaron smirks, facing her, “Ah, but they were looking for the exact location of Canterlot. We are looking for the direction,”
“I don’t follow,”
Aaron browses through the shelves talking out loud, “You see, Zipp, over the thousands of years that passed. Hundreds of stories had been told since the time of Canterlot.”
“And?”
“Every story has a reason behind it,” He grabs two books looking between each one, “Be it fictional or nonfiction—entertainment or educational.”
“SO, what are you getting at?” Zipp presses on,
“I am saying that somewhere around in these stories, there may be some historical truth hidden within the story,” Aaron drops a stack of books on a table and opens one, “What we are looking for at the slight similarity between stories about some adventure leaving somewhere and the direction they took before they settle down. Then we will cross reference this with the reports that archaeologists have made to find Canterlot,”
“Aaron, that is such a long shot that I have no idea where to begin to count the odds against it.” Zipp rubs her head, “There is no way to tell if the stories are true.”
“You are right, Zipp, however, since historical knowledge was lost. Stories are all we have left to find what our ancestors left behind,”
“Aaron, you could be at this for days before you even find a clue,”
“Then I suggest that you girls start reading; we go a long day ahead of us,” Aaron says, making Zipp groan as she picks up a book,
“How did you ponies talk me into this?” As everypony starts reading, none of them notice the sound of hooves leaving quickly from the library,
Opaline's Dark Castle
Home to the only known alicorn in current Equestria, Queen Opaline. She growls, moving to her mirror that had interrupted her lunch, “Whatever that mare has to say, it better be important!” Once in front of the mirror, her reflection changes to that of Misty’s face, “Report,”
“Okay, so get this, I was in town waiting for Sunny and her friends to show up so that I could enter the Crystal Brighthouse,”
Opaline interrupts her, “Did you successfully infiltrate the lighthouse?”
“No, but-”
Enrage Opaline lashes out, “NO! Misty, you have one job! Get into the Crystal Brighthouse and steal the source of the Prisbeam Magic!”
Misty panics and tries to explain herself, “I know, but listen, Twilight is here!”
Silence is the only thing that can describe the scene. Opaline was at a loss for words. There is no way she heard Misty say that. Twilight Sparkle has returned to Equestria!
She grits her teeth, growling, “Explain yourself, young lady!”
“I saw an alicorn mare that looks just like the torn-up picture with the knifes sticking out of it, the one above the fireplace.”
“What were you doing in my room?” Opaline shakes her head, “I mean, are you sure it’s Twilight Sparkle? She has been missing from Equestria for thousands of years after she stole my magic.”
Misty scratches the back of her head, “I think so,”
“You think!” Opaline shouts, “I am going to need more than an ‘I think’ Misty! If Twilight Sparkle has indeed returned to Equestria! Then you need to capture her!”
Panic and fear cross her face, “Capture her! How? She an alicorn.”
Opaline scoffs, “Despite her being an Alicorn. Twilight’s greatest weakness is her friends. Look around for anypony that seems close to Twilight so that you can use them against her if needed. But I need her alive so she can return my magic to me after all these years!” She rubs her hooves together, “Once my magic is returned to me, I will finally take what is rightfully mine!” She chuckles, “And you, my faithful pony. Will finally get what you wanted,”
“My Cutiemark,” Misty says with hope in her voice,
“Yes, Misty. It will be yours once we get our hooves on Twilight Sparkle. Now then, you said you saw her in Maretime Bay. What was she doing there?”
“She was with Sunny’s friends and a stallion I had never seen before. From what I can get, they are looking for Canterlot for some reason,”
If a record was playing, someone did a vinyl scratch as Opaline's train of thought stopped, “Canterlot! Misty, why didn't you open with that first!”
Misty is so confused right now, “But I thought that the princess was more important to discuss first,”
“Forget about the princess! Misty, I need you to get to Canterlot before them!”
“But isn’t Canterlot just a myth? A ponies tale?”
“I can assure you, Misty. Canterlot is real. It has been unreachable to me for many years. But that is not important. Regardless I need you to look for a special book for me. It holds the key to restoring my magic from that ungrateful Princess. I originally thought of torturing her to get my magic back, but if I get my hooves on the book. That won't be necessary and will be much easier. It should be located in the secret archive in the lower chambers of the castle. I will send you a map later.”
“I get that. But Opaline. Can't you lead me to Canterlot instead?”
"I wish it was that easy. Let's say when I lost my magic. I also lost the ability to search or go to Canterlot actively like a curse. So, you will join their little group of explorers as their scout. That way, on the journey, once you find Canterlot, tell them that you will scout ahead to make sure it's safe and get to the archives before them.”
“Yes, Opaline,”
“Don’t fail me, Misty. This is one task that you cannot afford to lose.”
“Understood, Opaline,” Misty says as her image disappears while Opaline storms off.
Hitch had been unable to get back to the girls since he retreated to the station the other day. For some reason, there has been an increase in the theft of sandwich ingredients recently, and there have been no solid leads. Some ponies thought the animals had been getting bold, but after a quick discussion with them. Hitch found out that they were nowhere near the areas where the crimes were committed, which left Hitch back at square one. After promising to continue the investigation until he finds the culprit, Hitch finally remembers that a new stallion with no history showed up at Maretime Bay when these robberies took place.
However, Hitch has no idea where Aaron is at the moment since he left him with Izzy the other day. So, he is going to start with her. Hopefully, she is still at the Crystal Brighthouse. But…
“What the ‘Hamburgers’ happened to the Lighthouse!” Hitch exclaimed, causing Sparky to jump on his back, giggling as Hitch covered his mouth. "Sorry," Hitch whispered before looking back to see a giant flower sticking out of the roof of the Cyrstal Brighthouse with some birds making nests in the leaves. Judging by the size, Hitch can only conclude that somepony couldn’t control their magic inside the house. And since Sunny never had any problems with her earth pony magic, it could only be one other pony. Now that he thinks about it. Hitch can’t think of when Sunny used her pony magic outside the shiny glitter-making wings.
Entering the lighthouse, Sparky jumps off Hitch's back and goes to some building blocks in the living room as his dad looks around, hoping some pony could give some explanation for the new addition to the house.
“Guys?”
“Hay Hitch,” Izzy calls from the kitchen. She filled up a saddlebag with snacks and random objects without deforming it.
“Hi, Izzy. How's it going?"
"Fine, I am just picking up a few things. Before heading out,"
"Okay. Ah Izzy can you explain why is there a giant flower sticking out of the roof, and do you happen to know where Aaron is right now?”
“There is a Giant flower sticking out of the roof!” Izzy rush outside to see the flower with Hitch right behind her. Izzy was in awe of the flower before getting worried once a swarm of bees started bussing around.
“How did you not notice it, Izzy?” Hitch asks as Sparky comes back to him and he puts him on his back,
“Well, for starters, I normally keep my eyes forward while walking and hardly look up. And second, I think Pipp mentioned it the other day and something about the restroom and told me to use the other one for now.” Izzy and Hitch went stiff for a second when a bee flew over their shoulder; as Hitch shoos the bee away from them,
However, they were struck with fear when Sparky burp engulfed the bee in a magic fire. Before any of them knew it, the bee not only survived the flames but grew ten times its own size, looking like something from a monster movie. The two ponies gave a silent scream while Hitch covered Sparky's eyes. Thankfully the bee seemed more interested in the giant flower than pony flesh as they slowly went back inside and ensured the windows were closed before retreating to the bedroom chambers. Then only after ten minutes of hiding and ten cycles of breathing exercises did the ponies come out from under the beds,
“Okay, okay." Hitch says to himself as Sparky jumps on the beds before Izzy catches him, "We are going to have to deal with that. Izzy, do you have your hoof phone on you?"
"Sorry, Hitchypoo, I left mine charging at Pipps. What about yours?"
"Sparky thought it was a snack, and I meant to get a new one today. So we are going to have to get out of here and get help."
"Can't you talk to it?"
"I don't think it works that way, and I am not going to try without Armor,"
"Point taken," Izzy set Sparky on the bed, rubbing his head before an idea came to her, "Armor!" Izzy starts zipping around the room, looking for random objects to see if they fit on their bodies,
It was then that Hitch remembered why he even came here, to begin with, "Hay Izzy, on an unrelated note, do you know where Aaron is?”
“Hum?" Izzy peeks from a hole in a saddle bag before tossing it over her head, "Oh. Well, Aaron is at the Corner Hoof with Sunny,”
“He is still around her?” Hitch is now more determined to find Aaron now for some reason, “I thought that he finished his business with her already,” Hitch got scared when The Bee started knocking on a nearby window as if it was asking to be let in,
“Well, nothing is making much sense even to me about Aaron and Sunny relationship,” Izzy says, digging through the closet, looking for anything that can protect them from The Bee,
“Relationship?” Hitch questions get closer to Izzy as she has a problem tugging a piece of fabric,
Izzy resorted to pulling with her teeth and got the blanket free; however, the closet made a loud groaning noise. Izzy and Hitch could only look up in despair before they were buried under a mountain of stuff. Sparky walks over to the pile before pulling his dad out. Hitch shakes his head before they pull Izzy free,
“Thank guys,” Izzy says before picking through the pile of stuff,
“No problem,” He ducks every now and then when Izzy tosses something random over her shoulder, “But what do you mean by their relationship?”
She taps her chin in thought, “Well, it's more of them having a common goal,”
“And that would be?”
“Why looking for Canterlot, of course,”
Hitch rubs an ear hoping that he heard her right, “Canterlot?”
“Yes, Canterlot,”
“Canterlot?”
Izzy faces him with a snorkel and googles on her face irk, “Hitch, I am a pony, not a broken record,”
“But why would they be looking for Canterlot? It's just a myth,” Hitch says before he gets covered in a poncho with a gas mask going over his face,
“Maybe, but Aaron is convinced that Canterlot is real,” Izzy says, finding a dark green rubber wetsuit, “And Sunny wants to help,”
Hitch lifts the gas off his head, not questioning why there is a gas mask in a lighthouse, “Why did my best friend have to be a mare that helps every random stranger that comes to her front door?”
“Because that is who Sunny is,” Izzy says, somehow getting in the wetsuit without Hitch noticing before she thinks about something, “Or is it Twilight now?”
“What?”
“I know, right? My head hurt just trying to think about it,”
“Izzy. Sunny is Sunny, and the princess is the princess. They are not the same pony,”
“But Aaron calls Sunny Twilight. Even though she is Sunny, but then Sunny calls herself Twilight, and Zipp is calling her Twilight,” Izzy grabs the side of her head, “but I know she is Sunny, but everypony is calling her Twilight. My brain can’t keep up with this!”
“Izzy! Calm down,” Hitch shakes Izzy trying to calm her down before her head explodes, “Now then, why is Sunny calling herself Twilight?”
Izzy eyes spin before refocusing, “Something about trying to find out what Aaron knows,”
“What?” Hitch questions letting go of her,
“Yeah, for some reason, Aaron knows things even we didn’t know about.”
Hitch tilts his head, “Like what?”
“Like Pegasus can sleep on clouds,”
“They can?!” Hitch exclaims,
“He also knows the full names of the ancient heroes of Equestria from what they look like and their personalities are like,” Izzy grabs her bag, getting ready to head out, “He said, I am like the element of laughter Pinkie Pie.”
Hitch rubs his head as Izzy cacoons Sparky in two blankets, “I don’t know where to begin to understand what you just said. How can he possibly know that about ponies that died off thousands of years ago?” He grabs the wiggling blanket as both ponies head downstairs,
Izzy looked out the window, searching for The Bee, “That is why Sunny is going undercover to find out. At least that is what I can get at least.”
Once Izzy determined the coast was clear, they made a break for it and didn’t stop until they were a reasonable distance from the Crystal Brighthouse. Only when they stop for a breathe did Hitch continue the conversation as Sparky was able to get his head free from his prison, “So are they alone there in the Corner Hoof or-“
“Oh no, Zipp, Pipp, and Misty drop by to help them out whenever they can. I was picking up some snacks before heading back to Sunny’s stands for the lunch rush.”
“Ok then. I will drop by when I get a chance. In the meantime, can you tell the others about Mr. Bee at the lighthouse?”
"Will do Hitchypoo. What are you going to do?"
"See if there is a way to remove our new guest at the lighthouse. Preferable a way that doesn't involve getting stung,"
Corner hoof
Misty is not sure what to make of Twilight or Aaron. She gets the feeling that she has met the Princess before, but that is impossible. So why can’t she shake this feeling? And don’t get her started on Aaron. She looks at the college researcher with his nose stuck in a book. He hasn’t said a word since she got here three days ago. If she hadn’t seen him move to grab another book, she would have thought that he was dead. Misty is starting to think that something is wrong with him. ‘What kind of pony dedicate their lives to only reading dusty old books?’ she thought to herself. At that same moment, Misty felt a sudden chill down her spine. Frighten Misty looks around, trying to find out what happened as Sunny looks between the ponies,
‘Misty has been a great help going through these books.’ She thought to herself, ‘Sitting here with them feels like I am in a study group or a book club.’ She smiles to herself, ‘I could never get the other girls this interested in history. It feels so good to be with someponies that can appreciate history as much as these two ponies. However,’ She looks at Aaron cross-referencing notes, ‘I have never met a stallion that is as dedicated to researching lost knowledge as Aaron does since my dad. I would if Aaron is making any headways?’
‘Keep… it… together… Aaron,’ He steals a glance behind him to see Twilight quickly going back to her book, ‘AAAAAAAAAAAHHH! I can’t handle this level of stress!’
‘Hum sandwiches,’ Misty face hoofs, ‘Great, now I am hungry,’
It has been a few days since Misty was able to convince them to help them in their quest, but so far, she has eaten ten sandwiches and read five romance stories, two adventures, four children, and half a horror story. She will never look at a cupcake the same way again, ‘What kind of pony writes a horror story with the deceiving title of cupcakes anyways?’ Misty shivers at the memories before she puts down her current book, “So uhm, Aaron,” She calls to him as he looks over his shoulder, “I have been meaning to ask. But why don’t we use maps to find Canterlot instead of reading these endless books?” She taps the cover of the book,
“Oh, great idea Misty,” Aaron replies, dripping with sarcasm smiling, “Why didn’t I think of that? In fact, why didn’t the twenty other ponies with much big budgets than we have thought of that.” He tosses papers in the air littered with the notes of past research teams who have also searched for Canterlot, “Oh wait! They did. And what did they found? Nothing!” He shouts, causing the others to jump a little,
Misty waves a hoof in a defensive manner, “Ok, I get it. Sheesh, I just thought I would ask,” She grumbles at the end as Aaron groans, slumping onto the floor,
“No, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that,” He rubs his head, “It just nothing is making any sense,”
“What do you mean, Aaron?” Sunny asks tilting her head,
“After comparing the research notes to the stories that I have read, along with the notes of the last researcher in Maretime Bay. I have concluded that Canterlot is located somewhere southwest of Maretime Bay. However, if you look at the map of Maretime Bay,” He points to a blackboard holding a map showing the location of Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, and Bridlewood, “The only thing out there is the ocean. The researcher also came to the same conclusion that Canterlot is a lost nation on the other side of the ocean and had made multi journeys to this lost land but were unable to find anything that points to Canterlot. However, I notice something significant that is missing from all these reports,”
“And that is?”
“The mountain,”
“What mountain?” The girls asked in unison,
“Exactly my point. I am talking about the mountain in which Canterlot was built into was never mentioned in any of their reports,” Aaron goes over his notes as Sunny and Misty try to make sense of what they're hearing,
“Wait,” Sunny shakes her head, “Canterlot was built into a mountain!”
“More like it was hanging on the side of one. For some reason all the researchers thought that Canterlot was a huge castle on a hill for some reason,”
“Are you sure about that?” Misty adds, scratching the side of her head, “I have always heard that Canterlot was a castle on a hill,”
“Trust me, it was on the side of a mountain,” He replies, not looking up from his notes,
“If that is true, then how come we only know it on a hill!”
“Without a living witness or a written testimony, it is very easy for facts to change over time. I can only guess that somepony went through an awful lot of trouble to remove Canterlot from history. That is why we are going through stories. No matter how hard somepony tried to erase something. Somepony must have come from there at one point and have told their children about it, and so on and so forth.” Aaron goes back to the blackboard holding the map before he reaches into his saddle bag and puts up his own map of old Equestria next to it. Aaron made this one before coming here just in case he ever needed it, and he is glad he did, “But that doesn’t explain why I am having so much trouble finding it since I have an accurate map of Equestria when Canterlot was still the capital,” Sunny ears perk up as her eyes widen, “Not to mention that none of the researchers notes landing sites match up with any of the coastal lines of Equestria,”
Before Misty could say anything, she was sent spinning around in the air before falling to the ground because of one alicorn mare. Who was not going to let anything get in between her and a new piece of history. This also includes running over and standing on top of Aaron like he was a rug as she got a good look at the map. “Aaron! Where did you get this map!? I have never seen such a detail map of old Equestria like this one before,” She asks before noticing the lack of response, “Aaron?” Sunny looks around, trying to find him, only to see Misty getting up from the floor, shaking her head,
“You mean your new rug?” Misty points to Sunny’s hooves and the blushing Stallion,
“Ah, Aaron!” She jumps off him, “You, ok?”
Aaron shakily gets up, “Ye… ye,” He slaps himself, regaining his focus, “Yeah, I am fine,”
“Sorry about that. Got a little carried away there,”
“It’s ok, anyways. We are back at square one, so what to do?” Aaron stares at the blackboard as a cheery voice sings a random tune and enters the room,
“Hi, everypony,” Izzy waves at them before setting down her bags and starting up packing,
Sunny smiles moving next to her friend, “Hi Izzy, what you got there?”
“Lunch,”
Aaron sighs and stares back at the maps, “I am good. You ponies go ahead and start without me,”
“Ah, Izzy,” Misty lifts a yellow cupcake with a nut on top of it, “What is this?”
“A pineapple upside down nutcake,”
“Don’t you mean a pineapple upside-down cake?”
“No, this is an upside-down pineapple nutcake,”
“Let me guess; the ingredients are a pineapple on top of a cupcake with a nut on it?”
“No, silly. This is a cupcake with bananas in it with a nut on top of it.”
Misty almost drops her cupcake in shock, “Why are there bananas in an upside-down pineapple cake?”
“I ran out of pineapples,”
“No, thank you,” Misty puts down the cupcake causing Izzy is whine a little,
Aaron smiles, shaking his head, trying to make sense of what he is hearing. ‘What kind of pony puts bananas in an upside-down pineapple cake?’ Aaron chuckles a little before he looks intently at the maps in front of him, “Upside down? Wait,” He whispers to himself before rotating the map with the three cities upside down and comparing it with his own. His eyes widen as he stares at what he sees, “It can’t be!”
“What is it, Aaron?” Sunny asks, putting her cupcake down as well,
“How could I not see this!”
“Aaron, talk to us,”
“Thanks to Izzy’s cupcake,” Izzy smiles at being mentioned, “I notice that Maretime Bay fits on my map of old Equestria in the northeast portion,” He taps the spot on the map before dragging his hoof to where Canterlot was, “Which means that Canterlot is truly to the southwest of Maretime bay.”
Sunny gasps in surprise, “So everypony was going in the wrong direction!”
Misty brain hurts before she shakes her head, “This makes no sense. How can a pony get the directions on a compass wrong?”
“Not unless the directions on the compass were changed without them knowing,” Aaron says without hesitation,
“What?”
“Think about it. If you wanted to hide something, what better way to hide something than to change which way is north and which way is south? However, this makes no sense since everypony knows that the sun sets in the west and rises in the east.”
“Ah, Aaron,” Izzy interrupts, “The sun sets in the east and rises in the west. Everypony knows this,” The other mares nod in agreement,
“What! Does anypony have a compass on them?!”
Izzy reaches into her saddle bags and puts out a small compass, but before she can say anything, Aaron grabs it and rushes outside with Sunny right behind him. Izzy blinks at her empty hoof before Misty speaks up, “Izzy, why do you have a compass with you?”
“Why, just in case I get lost. I know where to go, of course,”
Misty groans face hoofing herself, “Why did I ask?”
Aaron testing the compass with the direction of the sun five times, and he has confirmed that Izzy's statement was indeed correct. The directions on the compass haven’t changed at all. The needle is still pointing north; however for some reason the sun is setting where it is supposed to be rising. This revelation causes rage to build up inside him. This is the same guy that was able to hide from everyone while stealing attracts without getting caught, find his way out of any forest with nothing but a knife and a stick, and did not think to check the compass, “OF ALL THE-
The author has decided not to include the words that Aaron shouted due to the age restriction of this story. Let’s say that Aaron has a bad potty mouth and leave it at that. Back to the story,
Ponies stare with wide eyes in shock at Aaron huffs, catching his breath as Sunny stands next to him, flabbergasted. She notices the ponies staring at them as parents covering their children’s ears while some of them have fainted after hearing what he said. As the ponies start returning to their business, Sunny is finally able to get her bearing. She takes a deep breath and says in a calm, commanding voice, “Aaron,”
The next day, in front of Maretime Bay Police Station,
“Going to the Police Station first thing in the mooooorning, Ooo Yah!” Izzy sings a merry tune, dancing to the Station’s front door, “Going to See Hit- Friends!” Izzy quickly corrected herself and looked around to make sure no pony heard her, “I am going to see my friend's first thing in the morning, yah,” Izzy enters the station to a sight to behold. Hitch and Sprout were not surprised to see there since they work there; however, seeing Sunny and Aaron behind bars sure was. Sunny presses her face against the bars depress while Aaron faces the corner mumbling to himself, twitching now and then,
She is not sure exactly what happened yesterday, but when Misty and she went to find their friends earlier, they were nowhere to be seen. Izzy thought that they had gone to eat something else while. If it weren’t for Sunny’s text later that day, she would not have known that they were, quote ‘having a sleepover at the police station,’ unquote “Morning Everypony,”
“Hi Izzy,” Everypony replies, some more enthusiastic than others, as Izzy moves to greet everypony before stopping in front of Sunny,
“Hi, Sunny,” She looks around the cell, “So this is what it feels like being on this side of the bars. It feels rather odd since I was with you the last time this happened. But we had massage chairs and a mini spa,” Hitch gave Izzy a weird look at that statement, “Speaking of which,” She called over her shoulder, “You really need to upgrade your cells, Hitch. They don’t even have a comfy bed in there,” Izzy points to the wooden bench large enough for one pony to lie on with a flat pillow and a small blanket on it,
Perplexed, Hitch could only blink at what he was hearing, “Ahh… I will think about it, Izzy. But you have to remember that they are being punished for being bad ponies.”
“Oh, right. Speaking of which, why did you lock up two of our friends?” She taps on the bars, making them ring, much to Sunny’s discomfort.
Clearing his throat, Sprout speaks up while lifting a small clipboard in his hooves and flipping through the pages, “One of them is in there for battery and the other for disturbing the peace,”
Izzy was taken aback. The last time they were in jail was because of a misunderstanding and fear from the Royal Family of Zephyr Heights. This time Sunny has done something wrong on purpose. “Awe, Sunny, which one did you do?” Izzy leans in close to her friend as Sunny leans away,
“Is that really important, Izzy?” Sunny says unsure how to respond to her friend,
Without missing a beat, Izzy replies with a straight face, “Just curious, is all,”
Sunny throws up her hooves in frustration, yelling at the top of her lungs, “AAAHH! Hitch! How long do we have to be in here for?!” Sunny calls out to the stallion behind the desk,
Hitch looks at the clock on the wall, “About ten more minutes,”
In disbelief, Sunny could only blink, letting that sink in, “That is all?”
Hitch sits up straight in his chair, “Normally, this will be treated as a misdemeanor with a small fine of ten bits, and then you will be free to go. However, no pony came forward to press charges against you two,” He picks up a report going over the situation, “According to eyewitness reports. Most of the ponies were more concerned with teaching you two a lesson about your disorderly conduct rather than going through the trouble of the legal system. As a result, one night in jail is all you will receive so long as you are two behave yourselves,”
“That's good to hear,” Sunny says, glad that there is some good news about all this. However, it was at that same time that Aaron gave a crazy laugh before mumbling to himself again, causing everypony to be on edge,
“What is wrong with Him?” Izzy asks from the safety of hiding behind the sheriff, looking over his shoulder,
“I am not sure myself,” Hitch says as Sunny moves away from Aaron as much as she can physically possible, “He has been acting like this the whole time since they got here,”
“He reminds me of a filly that lost her little dolly down a well in the afternoon,”
Hitch gave Izzy a strange look, “That is an oddly specific comparison,”
Before Izzy could say anything, Aaron spoke up loud enough for everypony to hear, “North is South. East is West. Twilight hates me. Never going to find Canterlot. All the du da day.” He laughs before resuming his mumbling,
Everypony stares in silence, afraid that making too much sound would set him off. All of them expect Izzy as she nudges Hitch, “Wait, what did he say about somepony hating who now?”
“Okay, that's enough; Sprout get her out of there,” Hitch says, snapping Sprout out of it,
The red stallion looks back at Hitch with fear in his eyes, “Why do I have to go near the crazy pony?!” He asks before Hitch gets close to his deputy, staring him down and leaning over him as he speaks,
“Because you swore an oath of protection and loyalty to this town and its citizens, and you are my deputy and have to listen to my orders, and I can have you take night shifts patrols around the abandon warehouse districts if you don’t.”
Sprout’s face turns white at the implication of walking around one of the scariest parts of town at night, “Ah,” He replies pitifully, trying to get out of this situation,
“Now, Sprout!” Sprout moves away from his superior, stopping in front of the cell door,
Slowly and quietly, he opens the door, never taking his eyes off Aaron. However, halfway open, the door made a loud squeak causing everypony to freeze. They all look to the corner of the cell seeing the eyes of a crazy pony looking back at them. Sprout tries to close the door, but Aaron is faster and gets out of the cell, jumping over Sunny in the process, “Freedom!” He shouts at the top of his lungs charging through the front door.
“Aaron, wait!” Sunny calls out to him as everypony gives chase,
Aaron was able to get around the block before he ran into somepony, allowing the others to catch up with him. Aaron had run into Misty, who was passing by, causing her to drop her bags and spill groceries everywhere. Sunny moves to help him up as Izzy goes to check up on Misty.
“Aaron, you, okay?”
“Yeah, I am fine. What hit me?”
“What hit you?!” Misty growls, pushing Izzy out of the way and staring him down, “Why were you running around the corner at top speed without looking where you are going!”
Typically Aaron has no problem giving smack talk to anyone with an attitude toward him. But for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything except to apologize, “Sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking straight,” He looks around at anything but the mare in front of him, “I had to get out of there,”
“Right,” Misty says, unconvinced, as Aaron smiles weakly at her,
“Aaron,” Hitch says, making Aaron turn about-face,
“Yes, Sheriff?’ Aaron asks before Hitch slaps some hoof cuff on him, “Hay!”
“Sorry, Aaron. I was going to let you go. But I can’t anymore because you broke the law,”
“WHAT. When?” Aaron says in disbelief, looking at his hoofcuffs,
“When you broke out of the jail cell,” Hitch says before letting his deputy read Aaron his rights, escorting him back into the station. Sunny looks torn between following Aaron and Hitch while the sheriff goes to check up on Misty, “Sorry about that, Misty. I hope he didn’t cause you too much trouble,” Hitch says as Misty starts picking up her food,
“That is alright, Hitch,” She replies quickly; for some reason looks very guilty,
“Here, let me help you,”
“Oh, that is alright! I can handle this myself,” Misty says, trying to get everything before Hitch can get anything, but she isn’t fast enough. As Hitch picks up and inspects one of the cans,
“Property of Flower Bread?”
Misty smiles nervously, sweet going down her face as she tries to keep a straight face, “Yes. You see, I work there and was… getting more supplies for today’s lunch rush. Hehe,”
Hitch gives her a deadpan stare, “Misty,”
“Yes?” She squeaks, trying to walk away but was blocked by Sunny and Izzy,
Before she could do anything, Hitch puts hoof cuffs on her, “The Flower Bread is close on the weekends,”
Zipp and her sister had just finished their task at Zephyr Heights and just got back and were being updated on the current situation. They gather in the living room as Izzy looks outside the window in concern,
“Ok, let me get this straight,” Zipp says, rubbing a headache with both hooves, “We were gone to help out our mom for one day with her royal duties,” She gestures to herself and her sister, “And not only did you girls find out where Canterlot is. YOU,” She points at Hitch, “Lock up three of our friends and two of which are still there! Did I miss anything?”
“They broke the law, Zipp. I have a duty as the Sheriff of Maretime Bay to uphold the law,” He looks down in shame, “Even against my friends,”
“I still can’t wrap my head around Misty thou,” Pipp says putting down her phone, “Of all the things to steal. Why food? Was she that hungry?”
Hitch sighs, looking down, “It’s hard to tell if she was stealing food for herself or other reasons. Misty has refused to say anything about the matter.”
“So, what is going to happen to them, Hitch?”
Hitch looks to the ceiling in thought, “For Misty since she stole over 100 bits whole of food. That is a Class B Misdemeanor which is punishable by up to six months in jail along with a 2000-bit fine. As for Aaron, since he escaped with a misdemeanor charge, he can be sentenced to a year of imprisonment.”
“Really?!” The others say in unison,
“I didn’t think that their crimes were that severe,” Zipp says, and Pipp goes through her hoof-phone for confirmation as Izzy looks over her shoulder.
“Yeah, isn’t that a bit much?” Pipp says, scrolling through her phone,
“That is just what they are charged with and what could be a possible outcome. I am sure that they can get a lighter sentence once they head to court.” Hitch clarifies, calming everypony down,
“So, what now?” Izzy asks out loud,
“What do you mean?” Sunny speaks for everypony in the room,
“I mean, do we wait for the court case? Or do we head out to Canterlot without them?”
“Right,” Sunny nods, “I would prefer to wait for them to be with us before heading to Canterlot. If it weren’t for Aaron, we wouldn’t consider looking for it. Let alone finding out where it is,” The others agree with her statement except for Hitch, who crosses his hoofs over each other,
“That is if his information is to be trusted,”
Hitch's words made everypony uneasy as Sunny leans towards him, “Hitch, is there something you aren’t telling us?”
He looks away from her and rubs the back of his head, taking a breath to calm himself, “When Aaron first came to Crystal Brighthouse. I had Sprout look into his background to see if he had a record.”
“What did he find?”
“Nothing,” Hitch cuts her off before she could get a word out, “And before you say anything, I mean nothing, as in nothing. No stallion lives in Maretime Bay with the name of Aaron or fits his description. No birth certificate, no work history, there is nothing to find. It’s as if Aaron appeared out of nowhere one day.”
“So, Aaron doesn’t exist?” Pipp says, astonished by what she is hearing,
Izzy puts a hoof to her chin in deep thought, leaning towards Zipp, “Sounds like we have a mystery on our hooves,”
Zipp rolls her eyes at her friend before pushing Izzy away from her, “Could Aaron be a pony that went off the grid a while back?”
“Maybe, but if that is true, why would he risk being found by getting into contact with Sunny in Pony?” Hitch replies, shaking his head,
“You are right,” Sunny says, looking down in thought, “Nothing that Aaron does makes any sense,”
“Maybe he just wants to meet Sunny?” Izzy says, hopping next to Hitch,
Hitch shakes his head, “No, remember he came here to meet the Princess, not Sunny. She just so happens to look like her when they meet.”
“But No pony has seen Princess Twilight Sparkles in years,” Pipp says with a groan, “If it weren’t for that message she left behind, we would even know what she looked like.”
“Then how did Aaron know?” Zipp asks her sister, to which she shrugs,
“Oh right, Sunny; I almost forgot something.” Izzy reaches into her tail and pulls out a picture, “I found this in his bag the other day and completely forgot about it,” Sunny glares at her friend before taking the picture. It was a picture of Twilight Sparkle with the other Mane Six and Spike have a group photo in front of Castle Friendship,
While everypony huddles around Sunny, Zipp is looking between Izzy and the picture multiple times, trying to figure something out, “Hold on, Izzy, where were you hiding that?” However, none of the ponies paid her any mind, much to her disappointment,
“Nice picture.” Hitch comments as Sunny is struck with a moment of realization,
“Wait, isn’t that The Princess in the middle of those ponies?!”
“Yes, but is that all you can see?” Izzy tries to imply leaning toward them,
“What do you mean?”
Izzy was getting a little annoyed that they weren’t seeing what she was seeing and held out her hooves in front of her, trying to get her point across, “It is a picture of Twilight Sparkle!”
“We get that, Izzy.” Pipp states, “What’s the point?”
Izzy taps on the side of the picture multiple times, “The picture! The picture!”
“What is wrong with it?” Hitch tilts his head,
“Nothing!”
“I don’t follow,”
Izzy pulls on her face, “Nothing is wrong with the picture!”
“Nothing is wrong with the picture,” Sunny says to herself, giving the picture a go over, not seeing anything wrong with it. There are no wriggles, faded color, bends, or yellowing on the back of the picture. There is nothing wrong with this picture. But then she gets it, “Nothing is wrong with the picture,”
Pipp groans, “Now Sunny, don’t you start too,”
“No ponies listen. Izzy is right; there is nothing wrong with the picture.”
Sunny shakes her hoof in disagreement, “No, no. You don’t understand. This picture shows Princess Twilight Sparkles with the other heroes of Equestria!”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Sunny, get to the point!”
Sunny clears her throat, getting into educator mode, “If this photo was taken when these mares were still alive. That would make this picture a historical relic, but it looks like it was taken yesterday! Even if this picture was well taken care of, there should still be some form of damage due to its age,”
Zipp and Pipp gasp as they finally get it, “But that is not possible,” The sisters say together,
“Now you get it!”
Pipp grabs the picture, trying to make sense of the situation, “But what does this mean about Aaron?”
“I am not sure. This doesn’t make any sense,”
“Could he have some kind of magic mishap?” Zipp asks,
“I can’t say for certain. The knowledge of magic, in general, is still lost to us. There are only stories about what Magic was once able to do. Especially for the unicorns.” Everypony turn to Izzy,
“Me?”
“Yes, Izzy, you. Unicorn magic is still a mystery for us. Thanks to you, we only got a glimpse of what it can do.”
“You’re welcome,”
“But there is no telling what its limitations are.”
“Right, like how Earth ponies sneeze can change flowers’ colors,” Hitch says,
“Or how Pegasus can move clouds around,” Zipp adds,
“All fair points. So maybe?” Sunny grabs her head as s headache was coming along, “I am getting a headache just thinking about this.”
“Can’t we just ask Aaron about this?” Pipp asks,
“Kind of hard to do that when he is in jail,” Her Sister points out,
“Yeah. He wasn’t doing so well the last time that we saw him,” Sunny says, “I hope he is doing ok.”
Later on that day at Maretime Bay jail cells,
“One is the Loneliest number that you ever knew,” Aaron sings much to Misty's misfortune,
“HUSH IT, YOU DUMB STALLION! SOMEPONIES ARE TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP HERE!” She calls out to him from the bed, covering her ears with a pillow, ‘I want some sleep. How can one pony possibly sing random nonsense songs for over three hours!!? At least he stops singing about winter round-up, being a princess, and smiles. But I am not sure if I would rather hear that or whatever this is. I am sure that this is considered torture somewhere,’ She thinks to herself as her left eyes start twitching,
“Two can be as bad as one,”
“BUT YOU ARE NOT ALONE HERE!”
“But the Loneliest number is the number one,”
Misty rushes to the bars of the cell, banging and pulling them. Hoping just maybe she can get out, “Help! HELP! Somepony, get me out of here!”
It's a sunny day at the Maretime Bay daycare; Colts and fillies roam around the play area outside the building, chasing each other, going up and down slides, and playing in the sand or some toys they have available, as Three adults stand on the sideline. Two of them are confused about the purpose of their visit. “Ah, sheriff?” Aaron asks, ducking a flying ball, “Why are we here?”
“After the judge reviewed your cases, you were both sentenced to three months of community service,” Hitch says, waving as some of the children run,
“I got that when he told us. But I thought we were going to pick up trash, clean up paints from buildings, or help out at a food shelter,” Aaron moves his forelegs, mitching the actions he just described.
Hitch taps his chin in thought before he smiles, “Hay, those are some good ideas. Let me go ask the judge about that,”
“NO!” Aaron calls out to him, stretching and foreleg before he composes himself, “No, I mean. This is fine. I wasn’t expecting it,”
“Good then. You two report to Miss Cherry, and she will give you your assignments for the day,” Hitch says before getting in close to Aaron's face staring him down and making him lend back, “Just be warned. I am watching you two. Always watching. Always,” Hitch says before lending the two puzzle ponies,
Misty blinks looking between the two of them, as Aaron shivers, “I wonder what he means by that?” Misty asks before moving out of the way when two fillies run by,
“Can I at least get my stuff back?” Aaron pleads with the sheriff, only for him to close the door in his face,
“I believe that is a no. He did even give me back my stuff either,”
“Whatever, let's just get this over with,”
Ten minutes later,
As part of the punishment for their crimes, Miss Cherry had outfits ready for them to start their shift. They are required to wear these outfits for the duration of their sentence. Aaron starts down at his red and blue clown outfit, complete with a rainbow-colored wig and a large red rubber nose, “So this is where dignity dies. Misty, where are you?” Aaron calls out to the restroom door waiting for her to come out,
“I am not coming out!”
Aaron double-took what she said, “What are you talking about? You have a way better outfit than me.”
“I look ridiculous,”
“Misty, if I must spend all my time here as a clown. Then you must play your part as well!”
Reluctantly Misty opens the door and enters the room. Unlike Aaron, she was dressed not as a clown but as a princess. But not like the princesses in Zephyr Heights. Instead, her outfit is a bright pink dress covering her whole body with a matching hennin with a yellow ribbon coming off the end. Misty rubs her forelegs in embarrassment with a light blush on her face, “I still don’t like it,”
Aaron grunts, shaking his head, “You have to be the only girl I have ever met that didn’t want to be a princess,”
Misty glares at him, “I have seen princesses before, and they only have to wear a tiara. Not an oversize pink dress that gets in the way of walking!” She grabs her pointy hat, “And what is with this hat!”
“Girls are so picky.” Aaron rolls his eyes as she puts her hat back on,
“I heard that!” She barks at him as they pick up toys from the play area that kids left lying around before heading inside for nap time,
“Whatever. But I am trying to understand how this is punishment,”
“What do you mean?”
Aaron quickly puts the toys away in the toy box, talking over his shoulder, “I am sure we have to wear these outfits and take care of these kids, but how exactly is this punishment for committing a crime?”
“You got a point,” Misty agrees as she puts her hoof full of toys away, “I wonder what the catch is?”
Before Aaron replies to her, he notices that one of the children didn’t head inside with the others and is still playing outside with some wooded blocks. But that is not what got his attention about this one. “Oh, look, a baby dragon!”
“A WHAT?!” Misty turns around and gasps in horror as she sees the baby demon building a tower of blocks,
“A baby dragon. I didn’t think I would see one.” Aaron crouches next to Sparky, “Hay there, little guy, how you are doing,” Sparky babbles nonsense words to Aaron as he tries to build his tower, “You must have hatched recently since you can’t talk yet. But hold on,” Aaron looks behind Sparky in shock, “You already have wings?! But dragons don’t get their wings until their first molt. There must be something exceptional about you, little one. What do you say, Misty? Misty?”
It is then that Aaron notices the lack of his companion as she retreats into the restroom. He would have asked if anypony has seen her, but seeing half a hat stuck in the door frame is a good giveaway. He moves in front of the door unamused as he tugs on the hat a few times before gently knocking on the door. Aaron stares in silence as Misty doors the door just enough to lose her hat and pull it in with her, “Oh, come on. Misty! What is wrong now?” He whispers to her,
“I am perfectly fine spending my sentence from in here, thank you,”
“You know that Miss Cherry let alone the sheriff, wouldn’t allow that. Get out of there!”
“No! You can’t make me,”
“Misty, I am not going to spend my time talking to you from the bathroom! Get out of there now!”
“Or what?”
“I will start singing again,”
“Mr. Yoder. May I remind you of the last time I stopped you from singing?”
Two days ago, in jail,
“Never going to give you up!” Aaron sings, unaware of the unhinged mare, quietly closing in on him from behind with a wild look in her eyes with a twitch in her left eye. Slowly she raises a pillow over her head before letting Aaron have it,
“Never going- AH!-*Beep*”
Sorry, but the author has determined the following violence unfit for this story,
Back to the present,
Aaron shakes in memory, “True, but I am willing to take that chance,”
“Aaron, children are sleeping here,” Misty tries to reason with him, not getting a reply from him, “You wouldn't dare!” Aaron clears his throat and does some voice tune exercise, “Aaron, I am warning you!”
“OOOOOOOOOOHHHH!”
Meanwhile, at the Dark Castle,
“Misty, come in.” Queen Opaline growls at the lack of response from her minion, “Misty!” However, no matter many times she tries, Misty wouldn’t answer her, “Something is wrong,” She marches to her throne before her voice shakes the whole castle, “Shadow Cloak!”
Without making a sound, Pony, in a black cloak, enters the room, not showing their face. Queen Opaline's eyes remain focused on her guest for any sudden movements. The stranger stops in the middle of the room, lifting its head towards her, “Go to Maretime bay and find out what has become of Misty,” She commands him but growls at the lack of response, “Your payment will be given to you once it's complete,”
He nods, “At once, your Highness,” Shadow Cloak replies calmly and leaves without making a sound.
“If he weren't so expensive, I wouldn't ever employ him. But I need to know what happened to Misty. One wrong move could spell disaster when dealing with Twilight Sparkles,”
Back at the daycare,
Most of the children had woken up from their naps to watch the chaos unfold in front of them, while the others remained asleep, to the surprise of the others, “What is going on?” One of the kids asks her fellow kin,
“I am not sure myself. I think the clown was trying to woo the princess.” The other child replies as Aaron runs from Misty as she tries her best not to trip over her dress, “I think it works,”
“Oh, so she is chasing him to give him a kiss?”
“Na,” an older kid added to the conversation, “I think she is going to hurt him,”
“No, she is not. She is a princess,” The filly said as Sparky claps and giggles at the sight before them,
“Want to bet on that?”
“I bet my gummy corns on it.”
“You’re on!” As the two fillies shake on it,
“What is going on here?!” Miss Cherry demands, entering from the kitchen before seeing the two adults wrestling each other in the play area, “You two stop this at once!” She scolds them, causing them to stop mid-punching each other, looking at her, “I am ashamed of you two. Here you are given a second chance. And all you can do is put my little ponies in danger and cause one of them to cry!” She starts rocking Sparky in her hooves, calming him down as Misty gets off Aaron.
“Sorry, Miss Cherry,” They say together, ears going down in shame,
“Now, we need to get lunch ready for the children. So, both of you to the kitchen NOW!” Both adults grumble to get other, not seeing the eyes of a little dragon staring hate at one of them,
“This is your fault,” Misty says, entering the kitchen,
Sunny and her friends are stopping by the daycare to check up on Aaron and Misty. Hitch got caught up at the station and was unable to make it. Somepony broke into the station last night and is looking for any leads on who and what they were after. So far, no luck; whoever it was, they are either professionals or realize where they just broke into. It is hard to tell.
But that is nothing to what the girls must deal with when they enter the building. Each girl has their hooves covering their mouth, trying not to laugh at Aaron. Aaron stares at them deadpanned after their morning greeting and reluctantly spoke again, "Don't laugh," He spoke in a high squeaky voice that made them all lose it and laugh their hearts out, including some foals that were nearby, "Is a pony in a clown outfit really that funny?"
Zipp waves a hoof above herself, falling, dropping to the floor, laughing, "No, dude! It's your voice, Aaron! What happened? Ha-haha hahaha. I can't breathe,"
He rolls his eyes as every pony starts to calm down, "I was helping them make balloons for the children and was tying a knot on one of them with my mouth when I ripe the balloon and inhaled all the helium that was inside,"
"You got to admit, Aaron, that was comedy gold."
"What's going on? Oh, hay girls," Misty says, just noticing their guests before Pipp rushes over to see her,
"Misty, what are you wearing?" Pipp looks her over as Misty stands perfectly still,
"For the record, I like to state that I had no control over what outfit I was forced to wear. For that reason, I'd like to clarify I am not intentionally insulting any ponies that happen to be offended by the way I'm dressed,"
Pipp Quickly moves to get a selfie with Misty before stopping in front of her, "I wasn't going even to say that. I'm saying that pink does not go well with your color or your mane. Perhaps if it was a Dusty rose, Peach, Lavender, Lilac, Navy blue, or a Midnight blue."
"I get the picture,"
"So you two are stuck here for two months?"
"Three months," Aaron corrects her,
"For three months. But all things considered, it could have been worst," Aaron shrugs at her before Sparky came out of nowhere and starts pulling on Misty's dress get her attention.
She stands perfectly still as Izzy grabs the little guy and takes him the play area. It was only then that Misty left out her breath much to Aaron confusion.
"Oh this is Sparky daycare?" Sunny adds, "If I know that Sparky was attending this Daycare. I would have warned you two about him,"
"A little late for that," Aaron deadpans as his voice returns to normal,
"Sorry," Sunny's ears go down, looking apologetic,
"Don't be sorry," Misty adds, "Hitch should have warned us that Sparky was here when he dropped us off here,"
Aaron gives Misty a questionable look, "Why would he know about Sparky?"
"Oh, because Sparky is his baby dragon," Zipp says, getting up, finally having her fill of laughter, as Izzy rejoins the group.
This made Aaron puzzled for a moment before looking at anypony to elaborate. When no pony did, he turned to Zipp, "I am going to need more context on that statement. But I am going to assume that you mean his adopted baby dragon,"
"Yes, that's what I meant. What did you think I meant?"
"Nothing," Aaron quickly says, looking away,
"Anyways, Aaron," Sunny speaks up, "We were wondering if you were still going to Canterlot after this is all over?"
"Yes, I am still planning on going to Canterlot. But it's a little hard to do that when I am," Aaron clears his throat before saying in a proud and loud voice, "The Great and Power Jeeeeester!" He throws up his forehooves above his head as balloons fly up behind him from fillies that lost hold of their balloons, hitting the ceiling out of their reach. Everypony stares at him, confused, as the fillies start to cry,
"Why did you say it like that?" Zipp asks as Aaron grabs the balloons and gives them back to the fillies,
"You wouldn't understand,"
Sunny composes herself, "Well, in that case, why don't we make plans to go there on your off time and be ready to go once your sentence is over,"
"That seems fine to me. Now if you excuse me, I have some foals to impress with balloons,"
"Later, guys," Misty and Aaron return to their job as the girls leave the building. They didn't get far away before Izzy got Sunny's attention,
"Uh, Sunny,"
"Yes, Izzy?"
"You are going to have to tell him,"
"Tell him what?"
"You have to tell Aaron that you aren't Princess Sparkles,"
"Right," Pipp adds, "I mean, even if we head to Canterlot and find the memory spell. We all know that it is not going to work,"
"I know everypony. At first, it sounded like a good idea. But now that I got a chance to be with him and learn just how important Princess Twilight Sparkles is to him. I am afraid that the truth would devastate him, and he won't want to be my friend anymore,"
"But Sunny, he isn't your friend," Zipp flies in front of Sunny, "He's friends with Princess Twilight Sparkle. Not Sunny StarScout. Even if you tell him the truth, You didn't lose anything because he wasn't your friend in the first place,"
"Your right,"
"So when are you going to tell him?"
"Soon," Sunny says, not seeing a shadowy figure leaving the scene nearby,
Meanwhile,
"Hi, Sparky, what are you doin-" Sparky sneezes in front of him, making a cloud of magic mist before dropping candies, much to everypony's delight. As the foals move quickly to eat the free snacks, Aaron is stunned at what just happened, "Magic fire. Ok. No Biggy. Spike fire sent scrolls to and from Canterlot in seconds," Aaron picks up Sparky, unconsciously moving him up and down, "Yours seem to transform things similar to transmutation magic," Aaron quickly moves Sparky above his head as another breath of fire came from the baby dragon.
The flames engulf his wig before turning into a duck. The duck quacks before looking down at Aaron as he looks up in shock before more flames turn it into an eagle. The eagle cries before flying away as Aaron slowly puts Sparky down and backs away very carefully, "Or you have access to chaos magic, and I should run for my life. If you happen to have the hiccups," Aaron pauses mid-turn when a thought occurs to him, "Hold on a second," He turns back to Sparky as he watches a small ant trail marching across the side of the playground, "How do you have chaos magic? The only creature to have that is Discord," However, any other train of thought that Aaron could have was cut off when another breath of magic fire made giant ants, "Fudge,"
In a secluded location of Maretime Bay,
Shadow Cloak places a stone on a table as an image of Queen Opaline appears above it, "Report,"
"Misty is on patrol at the Maretime daycare for three months for theft,"
Queen Opaline puts a hoof to her head, "I thought I taught her better than that. To think that she would get caught. Anything else to report?"
"It would appear that the pony named Sunny is disguising as Princess Twilight Sparkles,"
Queen Opaline's eyes twitch at this news, "What?!" She bellows, shaking the table, but Shadow Cloak remains unfazed,
"It is unclear why she did this, but it has something to do with a stallion named Aaron. Who is with Misty serving the same sentence,"
The Queen looks to the side in thought, "Misty did mention that she saw Sunny's friends with a stallion she had never seen before. Now what could be so special about this stallion that Sunny would pretend to be Twilight Sparkle? Unless,"
"Unless he knows things that he would only talk to Twilight Sparkle about," Shadow Cloak finishes, "But that is what also confuses me."
"Go on,"
"Even if this stallion believes that she is Twilight Sparkles. Her height is all wrong. The princess was as tall as Celestia towards the end of her reign. But this Aaron recognizes her before that happened,"
"The more I hear about this stallion. The more I am intrigued. The only logical conclusion is that he is a pony from the past that got sent to the future. Shadow Cloak-" Before she could finish, and high pitch sound came from within Shadow Cloak's cloak.
*ping*
Shadow Cloak pulls out a hoof phone with the display showing that time is up. Queen Opaline grinds her teeth in anger with a menacing look, "Drat!"
"I am sorry, your highness, but your time is up, and our contract is complete. If you wish for more of my services, you are going to need to pay the toll," He says, not breaking his professionalism.
"NO! You greedy stallion! Now that I know that Twilight Sparkle isn't a real threat. I have no need for your services anymore!"
"Very well then, your Highness, I will take my leave." He moves to cut off the connection before he stops, "Also, I should mention that Sunny and her friends have found where Canterlot is located and are going to wait for Aaron and Misty to finish their probation before heading out. And I have a copy of the map they will use to get there. It would be a shame if somepony else got involved and was going to get to Canterlot before they did. It might drive some ponies to become desperate. So desperate that they might even break a few rules and ruin their perfect image. But then again, what do I know? Have a good day," He says casually as he moves to turn off the magic stone.
"Wait!" Queen Opaline says, stopping him. She grits her teeth they're thinking about all the bits she's going to lose on this, "The same price, right?" Shadow Cloak smiles.
Sunny expects nothing interesting to happen today. So, imagine her surprise when none other than Phyllis Cloverleaf as her to come to Canterlogic out of the blue that morning. “Hello,” Sunny calls out as she enters Miss Cloverleaf's office,
Miss Cloverleaf was taken back at Sunny’s appearance, “Miss Sunny?”
“Yes, that is me. I was trying out a new look,” Sunny says, her hoof across her mane,
“Right, *Ahem* Well, I called you here because I need your help with something,”
“With what?”
“As you know, we here at Canterlogic strive to make a better place for ponies’ everyday lives, be it daily necessities or personal protection. But recently, a stallion came by and ask to create an all-terrain vehicle for long-distance journeys with smaller vehicles for more difficult terrain. Naturally, I decline his proposal for such things, but that is when he showed me this,” Miss Clover Leaf pulls out a map from her desk and presents it in front of Sunny, “What do you make of this Miss Starscout?”
Sunny stares in disbelief at the map in front of her. It was none other than the map of Equestria during its golden age. The same one that Aaron had shown her, “But that’s-Ahem,” Sunny stops herself knowing that she must maintain a level of professionalism in this conversation, “Yes, well. It’s my professional opinion that this is a map of the golden age of Equestria,”
“Are you sure, Sunny? You didn’t give it much of a look-over. This could be a fake,”
Sunny shakes her head, “I can guarantee you this is an accurate map of Equestria’s Golden Age. Did this stallion say where he got this map?” Sunny gives a closer look at the map for any flaws,
“No, he didn’t go into detail on where he got it. Only that he wishes to use it to find Canterlot,”
“Well, it's going to be hard to go to Canterlot when you are in jail,”
“Miss Starscout, please don’t say such things out of the blue like that. But what do you mean?”
“You see, Miss Cloverleaf. The only known map of Equestria’s Golden Age belongs to Aaron, and it is currently locked up at Maretime Bay Police Station. Furthermore, there was a break in the station recently where nothing appeared to be stolen, but this map proves that wrong!”
“Are certain about that, Sunny? Because as much as I would love to call my little Sugarcube and make an arrest. I am going to need more than your word on this matter,”
“I will just call Hitch and have him check to see if that map is still at the station, and if it's not them ask him to make an arrest,” Sunny quickly grab her hoof-phone and calls Hitch, “Hay Hitch, I was wondering if you can check if Aaron’s map is still at the station? It is urgent. Thank you,” She hangs up as Phyllis gives her a knowing smirk,
“You have Hitch on speed dial?”
“Yes, I mean, we are old friends, after all. It's only natural that I would have his number,” Sunny replies, not understanding what she was hinting at,
“Getting back on topic. We had a prototype in the works already to meet his demands; with a few more modifications can be ready for field testing this afternoon. And we want you to join us on the exhibition to find Canterlot Sunny. That is after we have determined whether or not this map is not stolen-”
“Which it is,”
“Regardless, I would still like you to join us in this endeavor. What do you say, Miss Starscout?”
“Oh, thanks for the offer- Hold that thought. Yes?” Sunny answers her phone, but her smile slowly turns upside down, “What!?”
“Here it is, Sunny. Aaron’s map. Right where I left it,” Hitch puts the map back in the evidence locker and closes it with his back hoof,
“But How?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Sunny. But something doesn’t sound right about this. I mean, somepony broke into the station and takes nothing but leaves nothing behind?”
“You think whoever it was wanted a copy of the map?”
Hitch rubs the back of his head, unsure what to think about this situation, “Hard to tell. Not only was this the only map known, but the only ponies that knew about it were those in our friend circle. And we were already making plans to head to Canterlot ourselves,”
Sunny ponders this as a thought comes to mind, “You think somepony overheard us?”
“I don’t know. Did you talk about the map anytime before the break-in?”
Sunny shakes her head, “No, the only time it came up was when Aaron shows it to us,”
“And you were at the bookstore when that happened. But the Bookstore doesn’t get that many customers, so it’s unlikely that somepony overheard you then. Either that or somepony was looking for something and found the map by chance. It is hard to say. So, what are you going to do, Sunny?”
“I don’t know. But Aaron desires to know, at the very least,”
Meanwhile,
Aaron stares at Sparky playing with the other colts and filly as he sidesteps next to Misty, “Hay Misty,”
“What do you want?” She replies, not looking up from making sandwiches for the foals,
“I want to talk about the dragon in the room,”
She pauses and looks at Aaron, mildly confused, “You mean Sparky?”
“No. I mean another fire-breathing death trap in the playroom,” Aaron sarcastically replies before raising his voice near shout, “Of course I mean Sparky!”
“I rather not,” Misty replies, going back to her task,
This remark flabbergasted Aaron, “What do you mean not!” He gestures to the baby dragon waving at them, “Are you trying to say that we should ignore that baby dragon? Who is ten feet away from us, by the way. Who also created Maretime Bay's biggest Ant farm known to pony kind in one afternoon!” He points to the giant ant hill ten miles out of town which can be seen outside the nearby window,
Misty rolls her eyes as she finishes up her task before she gestures to Aaron to help her load up the refrigerator, “I am saying that if it wasn’t for the parole, I wouldn’t be anywhere near him. The last time I was alone with him, I thought I was in a filly alone movie,” She opens the fridge and loads the shelves as Aaron passes her more sandwiches,
Aaron has no idea what she is talking about, but the movie's name sounds familiar to him, “You mean the movie about trap happy kid that got left behind during the holidays?”
“That’s the one,” She replies, closing the door as Aaron groans, covering his face in his hooves,
“Thank you, Misty. I didn’t need more reason to be afraid of the little guy. But thank you,” He pulls down on his face confusing Misty with his choice of words,
Misty tilts her head, unsure how she helped him, “Uhm. You’re welcome?”
“But in all seriousness, what will we do with him?” Aaron lay his upper body on the counter and rest his head on his forelegs, looking towards the play area,
“Give him food and toys to play with, and hope he doesn’t breathe fire,” Misty says, casually checking on their drink supply for the day, not seeing Aaron bolting straight up,
“And if he goes missing?”
“Panic,”
“No, Misty, I mean, they are all gone!” He grabs her shoulder to turn her to face the empty play area,
“And like I said. PANIC!” Both adults scramble everywhere, trying to discover what happened to the children. They search high and low all over the play area and couldn’t find them. It was as if they vanish into thin air.
“Where did they go!?” Misty says, going through the toy chest as Aaron checks a closet before getting buried in supplies.
Aaron pulls himself out of the pile, shaking his head, “Why are you asking me for? I don’t know!”
“What is going on here!?” Miss Cherry says, entering the room and causing both Ponies to freeze stiff. She glares at them, disappointed that they are making another mess again, “Clean up this mess, you two!” She barks at them as they quickly obey her orders, “Honestly, I can’t leave you two alone for one second without something happening,”
“Sorry, Miss Cherry,” They reply together, feeling dejected,
“Well, once you are done. Head to the front of the building to watch over the children. Some gentle stallion came and started giving them free ice cream. Make sure not to lose any of them. Furthermore, I have a family emergency that needs my attention, and as much as I don’t like it. I am going to leave you two in charge of them. I already informed the children's parents to come and pick them up. Don’t make me regret this, you two,”
“We won’t let you down, Miss Cherry. You can count on us,” Aaron says as Misty nods in agreement, but this doesn’t fill her with confidence,
“That is what I am afraid of. Just make sure that everypony gets back inside and waits for their parents or guardians to arrive,” She says before leaving them in a hurry, once she was out of sight, Aaron let out a breath that he was holding,
“Oh, thank Celestia,” He says, getting a confused look from Misty before they move to the front of the building seeing the children surround the ice cream pony as the little ones chant ice cream over and over.
Aaron leans his body against the door frame as Misty stands next to him. They stand in silence as they watch the Ice cream pony’s foolishness of offering a horde of children ice cream as he slowly loses control of the situation. The children have already started getting on the cart, trying to get the goods from inside. Aaron chuckles as he sees the chaos unfold before his eyes, “Hay Aaron,”
“Yeah?”
“I know we haven’t known each other for very long. But I had noticed that you say things that other ponies wouldn’t say. Like at all, as if its common knowledge,”
He shrugs at her as a cry for help could be heard, “Let's say that I am part of a lost generation of pony and leave it at that,”
“If you say so,” She says, not convinced. She can’t put her hoof on it, but something doesn’t add up with Aaron, and it’s driving her crazy thinking about it,
After another minute, the children came running back inside the building, causing the two adults to move out of the way to avoid getting swept up in the stampede. “Is that everypony?” Missy asks while Aaron effortlessly counts them coming back as his eyes track each of them,
“I think so- hold on, a green menace is missing,” He recounts everypony three times but still short one dragon. He thinks about where Sparky could be before his eyes fall upon the ice cream pony pulls what is left of his cart around the corner of the block, “He wouldn’t,”
“Aaron,” Misty says, getting his attention with worry in her voice, “He would,”
“Get THAT DRAGON!” His cries out as they gave chase,
“STOP in the name of ME!” Aaron shouts, causing ponies to become bewildered, seeing a clown and a princess chasing down an ice-cream pony dragging his chart right behind him. Misty trips on her dress before making a tear in front of it to allow more legroom and resumes the chase. No pony knows why this is happening, but they have opted to get out of the way rather than get involved. For something, this kind of thing is starting to become the normal around their town.
“Leave me alone! I don’t have any more Ice cream.” The vendor begs the two crazy ponies. He has no idea what they want, but when somepony starts chasing you, you run, no question asked,
“We are not after Ice Cream,” Misty calls out, trying to clear up the misunderstanding, but it only fuels the fear in the pony’s eyes. Unimaginable horrors enter his mind of the possibilities of what she meant, spurring him onward faster,
“Some Pony, Save ME!”
“Misty, you are not helping! Will you just stop and listen to us!”
“What did I do to deserve this?!” He made a sharp turn hoping to lose them, but he had forgotten the importance of the laws of physics, specifically one's momentum. Sending himself and his cart sliding into the side of a building. He shakes his head in a daze and looks in fear at the ponies before him that finally caught up. Hoping to save some of his dignity, he lays flat on the floor with his rear end facing away from them, “Please. Don’t hurt me. I will do anything!”
“Anything?” Misty wonders,
“Misty, not now!” Aaron scolds her snapping her out of her daydream,
“Right, sorry,” At the moment Sparky pops out of the ice cream cart, shaken but fine, “There you are Mr,”
The ice cream pony looks back between the two ponies and the baby dragon. He looks again, seeing two adult ponies going after a lost baby, “Oh, you two were after your baby; that makes more sense,” He says out loud, relieved that they weren’t after him. However, his comment causes a mixture of emotions to cross Aaron and Misty. Specifically, bewilderment and flabbergasted, respectively,
Misty has a minor breakdown before she found her voice, “WHAT NO! He is not my baby, He is not my husband. He just ran away from the daycare that we work at,” Misty clears up, pointing between the two of them,
Aaron ignores most of Misty’s comments before moving to retrieve Sparky, “Sparky, you can’t ju-” Aaron pauses, seeing that, for some reason, the baby dragon is shaking up and down with a happy smile on his face. Suddenly he remembers where Sparky was and looks back at the cart as Sparky starts shaking more, “No,” Aaron orders him as Sparky's feet start tapping on the ground, “No, No, No,” Sparky jogs in place before taking off in a random direction, “Oh Come on!”
“Not again,” Misty groans as they gave chase. Try as they might, they can’t catch the speedy little dragon, “Get Back here!” They would get close to him, only for him to start running again. This game of tag went on for a while with no end in sight, all the while not paying attention to the way they were going. As a result, they didn’t notice the open fence gate with the keep-out sign Test Area for Canterlogic or Just missing the security pony coming back from the bathroom,
Miss Cloverleaf stands on the side of the testing track as their new prototype comes to a jittery stop in front of her. This was the first test of the all-terrain vehicle with a live pilot. It appears like an old military Jeep with no roof or doors. It had a rough start, but it’s showing promise. She reminds optimistically as the pilot crawls out, “So how did the testing go?”
“Ah, bad; no, really bad. The steering is off, and I think there is something wrong with the accelerator. I was lucky to get this thing to stop. Any longer who knows what might happen,”
Miss Cloverleaf is disappointed with the news, but she refuses to let that dampen her spirits, “That a shame. But that is what testing is for. Please report your finding to the development team and get some ponies to drag this thing off the track, please,”
“Right away,” They leave the track before heading inside the main compound two seconds before a group of three wander upon the track.
“Sparky, please stop!” Misty cries out, running out of breath as the Baby dragon hops into the prototype. She takes a breather putting a hoof against the vehicle as Aaron does a double-take at what he is seeing,
“Wait, is that a Jeep!”
“A what?”
“Never mind, just get the dragon,” Misty hops inside, finding Sparky taking a nap. She sighs in relief, moving to grab him when she hits a button on the dashboard, trying to readjust herself, causing the thing to come alive, “Ah Aaron, I think it’s alive,”
“Get out of there!”
Misty quickly grabs Sparky, but her dress got caught by something between the seats preventing her from leaving. She panics and tries to pull on the dress, but she doesn’t have enough leverage to free herself, “I am stuck! My dress caught on something!”
“Hold on, I am coming!” Aaron jumps into action and climbs over her, trying to help, not noticing that he causes Sparky to fall to the floor of the car and against a pedal causing the tires to screech as they are sent into the seats while the vehicle goes followed.
“It is a car!”
“What is a car!”
“This thing is a car,” Aaron stands up and gives a hard yank ripping the dress and freeing Misty,
Misty looks at her ruined dress in grief, “Aaron!”
“Can we talk about this later!” Aaron grabs Sparky and hands him over to Misty before he assumes command. After all, it is a car, and he knows how to drive a car, but the is one itsy bitsy little problem, “How do you work this thing?!” Aside from the steering wheel, everything else is different. There is only one pedal by his hindleg and what he assumes to be a stick shift with two gears on his right with a dashboard of none label buttons, “Where are the brakes on this thing!?” Aaron pushes random buttons hoping something would stop this death trap of a car,
The AC came on and off, music blasts from the speakers, the whippers clean the windshield, the chairs started going back and forth, the horn echoes, and the worst part is they are running out of track.
“Aaron!” Misty cries out as they approach the gated fence. They went through it as if it wasn’t there, not slowing down,
Meanwhile,
“What do you mean that they are not here?” Sunny asks the last filly at the daycare,
“Like I said, after we all got ice cream, we came back inside, and they were gone,”
“But why would they just up and leave?”
“Sunny, nothing; those two do make any sense anymore,” Hitch says as his radio shouts at him,
“Sheriff Hitch, come in, Sheriff Hitch!”
Hitch grabs with walkie talky, “Go ahead, Deputy,”
“We got a break in at Canterlogic. Unknown suspects have stolen an experimental vehicle and are running wild in Maretime Bay. They were last seen heading Northeast of Canterlogic,”
“Roger that. I am in pursuit,” Hitch says, taking off dead sprint with Sunny right behind him, “Sunny, what are you doing? This could be dangerous,”
“But I still want to help. My magic could come in handy,”
“Ok, but you follow my lead,” They run towards the disturbance passing by Pipp’s mane saloon as the sisters were exiting the building,
Pipp smiles, seeing her friends and trying to get their attention, but they zoom by her, “Hi guy-“
“Can’t talk on the job!” Hitch says as they go around the corner, leaving Pipp confused,
“What? Rude. You don’t run away when somepony is talking to you,”
“I think something is happening, Pipp. Even Sunny getting involved,” Zipp reasons with her Sister as they go after their friends,
“Out of the way! Get out of the way!” Aaron cries out to ponies in front of them as they dash down the streets of Maretime Bay, swerving to avoid any ponies. Misty has a death grip on Sparky, who surprisingly remains asleep during this whole ordeal,
“Aaron, stop this crazy thing!”
“I am trying,” He pulls on the gear shift that, causes the vehicle to slow down. Relieved that he finally found the break, he pulls a little bit harder, only for it to break off in his hoof. Aaron and Misty look in horror at the broken piece of plastic, “I am sorry,” He weakly says before looking forward as trees start coming into view. They scream in terror as the car heads into the forest.
Aaron does his best to avoid the trees and heavy terrain, but the Jeep couldn’t avoid all of them. And before they were going to hit a huge tree head-on. One of the wheels hit a huge pothole, making them swirl away from danger; the engine starts to make a clunking sound as they start losing momentum. Aaron turns again to avoid another tree before the vehicle came to a complete stop running into a large rock. Aaron and Misty groan after hitting the dashboard head-on, but luckily, they were only going about 15mph when it happened, so they didn’t get hurt too badly. “And that is why you need seat belts. But all things considered, it could have been worse,” Aaron says before a loud beeping sound, “What is that sound?” Was all he could say before all the passengers were sent flying into the sky and crashing into the forest below, screaming all the way.
When Aaron came to, he felt like a boulder is crushing him. But it turns out to be only Misty and Sparky who landed on top of him. Testing out his limbs to ensure nothing is broken, he groans, getting up, heaving due to the extra weight. Aaron was never the most physically fit person, but he wasn’t out of shape, either. It has been a while since he had to put his back into doing something. Surprisingly even after getting up, his two companions remained where they were on his back, not waking up, a blessing in disguise.
He rather not deal with unnecessary conversation while lost somewhere unknown. The trees above his head make it difficult to determine how long they were unconscious, but the light fading has him on edge. If he was to make a guess, they have about an hour before nightfall. He must get out of the forest before that happens. Who knows the kind of dangerous animals that live in this forest? He rather not find out. That would be the ideal plan if he was alone or with ponies who know what they are doing. But with a city mare and a baby dragon depending on him, he needs to find a place to camp and start off in the morning, “What a day,” He grumbles to himself.
After watching the shadows of the trees for a moment, he found where the sun is setting and walks in the direction of Maretime Bay at a slow pace. But that this rate, they are not going to make it out before nightfall. Many thoughts ran through his head: how is he going to explain this to the sheriff, how is he going to pay for the damaged jeep, is all this some kind of punishment for his misdeeds on earth, and what is the point of all this? It was sunset when Misty starts to wake up.
“Ow,”
“Good evening to you too,”
“What? Aaron, what happened? Where are we?” Misty gets off his back, leaving Sparky there,
“Somewhere in the forest. But that is not important right now. We were out for a while, and night is falling,” Misty starts panicking, looking and moving in random directions but not going too far from Aaron. Aaron gives her a questionable look as he continues to walk, “Now we continue to head in this direction-”
“Quiet, just be quiet!” Misty interrupts him causing him to turn around to face the craze mare,
“Misty, this is no time to panic,”
“I think that this is a perfect time to panic. We are lost. We wretch that car thing,” Misty waves around them and stomps her hoof, and points to the baby dragon before poking Aaron in the chest accusingly, “And with Sparky here, they are going to think we did all this on purpose, and it's all your fault!”
Flabbergasted, Aaron shakes his head before defending himself, “My fault! If your dress didn’t get stuck in the jeep in the first place, we would be back at the Daycare explaining to Hitch where his little boy went off to,”
She growls at him, “No! I mean that this is all your fault!” she paces before him, never taking her eyes off him, “I got sent to jail because you ran into me and made it worse by dragging me into all this. I am never going to be able to get my cutie mark at this rate. And Opaline, AAH! Queen Opaline!” She pulls on her jaw in horror as Aaron stares at her mental breakdown, “I don’t remember when I last called her. She must be so mad right now. I am so dead; my life is ruined!” She trembles as Sparky wakes up and hops off Aaron’s back. Aaron has no idea who this Queen Opaline is, but if she is anything like Opal, she is bad news. But that is a topic for a later date,
“Nothing is ruined but that jeep Misty,” He tries to reassure her, “Anyways, you should be glad that we can even have this conversation in the first place,”
However, this didn’t have the desired effect on her as Misty did a double take, “What?! What are you talking about?”
“We are in an unknown location of the forest that could be filled with hungry predators that lust after pony flesh, and we were fortunate that we didn’t run into a pack of them when we landed. We also have a baby dragon that can burn the forest down with us still inside,” He gestures to Sparky, chases after a flying bug before he nabs him when he got too close to him, “And I alone of the two of us can safely navigate us out of the forest without getting lost. We should be able to make it back to Maretime Bay by lunch tomorrow if we hurry,” He rubs Sparky's head, “But we first need to find a place to sleep with the time we have left because I want to see tomorrow. And you, Misty, are going to help me find a way to get a baby dragon back to sleep before he attracts unwanted attention to us,” Sparky struggles to get out of his loose grip and dodges Aaron’s weak attempts to catch him again. However, during their little play time, they fail to notice the crazy look in Misty's eyes as she loses it,
“YOU! ARE! CRAZY!” She shouts at him, causing Sparky to hide behind Aaron, “We can’t go back to Maretime Bay because they will put us in jail for life. You are the worst stallion I have ever met in my life!”
Aaron has met many kinds of people in his life; some of them have their reason for hating him and have called him all kinds of things that he rather not go into detail about, while others could care less what happens to him. But being called crazy for trying to survive using logic is a first. He blinks, trying to come up with a reasonable response, “You are a sad, strange little mare. You have my condolences,” He puts Sparky on his back and raises one hoof at Misty for some reason, “Farewell.” He turns to walk away, getting a growl from her,
“Oh yeah!” She turns to march away, not watching where she was going, “Well, good riddance you-AAAAAAHHH!”
Hearing this, Aaron rushes over to see that Misty had fallen into a large den of some kind. It was big enough to fit over a dozen ponies comfortably. Even in the dim light, he could tell this was abandoned for quite some time, “Misty?! You, okay?”
“I am fine, just fell down,” Misty puts pressure on her left hoof before holding it close to her chest, “AAH! Hamburgers!”
Aaron stares down at her in disbelief, ‘A fall from twenty feet left us with light bruises, but a slide down a steep slope is capable of injuring a pony? What kind of logic is that?’ He thought to himself, shaking his head, “Misty, is there any blood?”
She feels around her hoof, not finding any, “No,”
“Good,”
She looks up at him, questioning his logic, “How is that good?”
“It is good because you won’t get any infections,” Aaron slides down next to her safety, “You have to remember we are on our own until we make it back; so any kind of infection would be the worst-case scenario,” He looks up seeing Sparky rolling down next to them giggling, “More importantly there is no way you are getting back up there like this,”
“What do we do?”
“Honestly, the best thing to do here is to wait until Morning,”
“You mean make camp here?” She looks around the den, unsure about all this,
“We have no other choice by the time I get you out of this hole. It will be nighttime, and we wouldn’t be able to travel safely in the dark. I have a hard enough time just watching after Sparky with you now injured; we would be asking for more problems. The best way to use the time we have left is to make camp and get a fire going. In the meantime, you hop on over deeper into the den and get comfortable; it’s going to be a long night,”
Slowly Misty was able to drag herself deeper into the den and lay down against the stone wall. Sparky spent his time going up the hillside before sliding back down, laughing all the way. Aaron gathered rocks and sticks to make a small campfire ready to burn. Just when she thought he was getting nowhere with his efforts to light it, a small fire came to life.
“Aaron?” She calls out to him as he blows on the fire, “Any reason you didn’t try to get Sparky to light the fire?” Aaron turns to face her and lowers his eyes with a blank stare at her, “Right, dumb question,” He leaves the den and returns, making a pile of sticks to feed the fire as Sparky pulls on a root sticking out from the wall. He has a rather sizeable pile now; as the fire burns away safely, Misty stares at him in wonder, “Have you done this before? You got that fire going rather quickly,” Misty says out loud, not realizing that she had as Aaron stares into the fire,
“I spent some time ruffing it before coming to Maretime Bay,” Aaron looks at his hooves, ‘It just to a bit to get used to the hooves, that is all,’ he whispers to himself before moving in front of Misty,
“What?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Aaron gave Misty's hoof a look over, doing his best not to hurt her, “It looks like you're only sprained it, nothing serious. You should be fine in the morning. Just try not to sleep on it during the night,”
“Okay,” She takes back her hoof, looking away as Aaron returns to the fire keeping it alive as Sparky moves next to him, staring into the flames. As the night goes on, Misty's gaze keeps returning to the stallion before her. Aaron is an enigma to her. The more she learns about the stallion, the more questions she has. But no matter how she puts it, there is one thing for certain. Aaron is much older than he appears to be. When they first met, she thought he was a young stallion without a Cutie Mark just like her, and maybe she could be with some pony else that also knows her pain. But Aaron has shown himself to be way more capable than most ponies would be given credit for, no matter what may happen. Perhaps he may not be as crazy as she thought he was, “Sorry for yelling at you earlier,”
“Don’t worry about it. Water under the bridge,” Aaron stops Sparky from touching the flames before pulling him to his chest, “You should get some rest, Misty. You will need it in the morning,”
Misty sleeps as best she can as the fire burns through the night. Morning came quickly, much to her disappointment, so she snuggles deeper into her warm bed, pulling her pillow to her chest. . . ‘Wait, I don’t have a blanket and pillow!’ Misty eyes open to find that Aaron and Sparky have turned her into a pony sandwich in the middle of the night. A heavy blush crosses her face as she remains perfectly still. On one hoof, this was an invasion of personal space; on the other, it is very welcomed. She is so confused. She turns to Aaron's sleeping face, gently blowing air on her mane. As much as she would like to deck him for cuddling her in his sleep, another much louder thought goes through her head if he is with her, then maybe everything will be alright. Misty quickly shakes her head, blushing madly. ‘Bad brain, where did that come from?!’ However, her movement causes Aaron to stir as they stare at each other. Aaron slowly slides away from her, looking away.
“Sorry about that,”
“It's alright,” Misty replies, looking away and squeezing Sparky, “It was cold last night,”
“Right,” Aaron rubs his forelegs together,
An award silence covered the campsite as both ponies try to compose themselves. However, they didn’t have long to think to themselves. As grinding rocks sound from the stone wall as a door opens, causing both ponies to turn around. The stone wall they thought was a dead end was a secret door as a Pegasus mare stops halfway through, shocked to have been discovered.
Both parties stare in shock at the sight of each other in awkward silence. The mysterious mare smiles nervously and stays frozen like a deer in a headlight. Misty is unsure what to think of this situation; on the bright sight, they found a mare that may help them get out of this forest, but on the other and more pressing matter, there is a stranger in the campsite. She hides Sparky from view using her body and mane as much as possible. While Aaron's face is of glee, fear, and wonder as war wages through Aaron's mind in the face of this mare. ‘It’s not possible. But that long flowing pink mane and yellow wings; there is no mistake who she is. But it has been over a thousand years. But she looks so much like her. I must know,’. Aaron shallows raising a shaking hoof at the mare, “Fluttershy?”,
The mare gave a weak eep before rushing back where she came closing the door behind her, “Wait!” Aaron goes to the door, trying to find a way to open it. He taps the floor and the door, trying to find a switch or a button but found nothing. He thinks to himself before speaking out loud, “Open,” Nothing, “Angel Bunny, Mellon, Open Sesame, 00000000, Swordfish, Buddy, Tiger, 12345, I accept the risk,” Aaron continues to say random passwords hoping one of them would work. That is, if this door works with a password and not a lever on the other side. Misty gives him a strange look as he continues to say nonsense,
“What are you saying!?” Sparky wakes up to the noise before he gets up and tries to find out what Aaron is doing.
Aaron sits there for a hard minute before giving this one last attempt. ‘If this doesn’t work, then nothing will,’ “Friendship is magic,” The door opens halfway as he smacks the ground in frustration, “Knew I should have started with that one,”
Aaron reaches for the door, which alarms Misty to get up quickly, “Aaron, wait! You don’t know where that leads.” Much to her surprise, Aaron closes the door before saying the phrase again and closing the door before opening it one more time, “Ah?”
Aaron looks over his shoulder as if nothing is wrong, “I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a fluke.”
“So, you close the door to make sure it would open without knowing if it would open ever again?!”
Aaron rubs the back of his head as Misty moves next to him, “Well when you put it that way,”
“Yes, it sounds as dumb as it is!” She looks at the half-open door worriedly, “So what now?”
“We go after her,”
Misty did a double take trying to understand his logic, “WHY?!”
Aaron opens the door revealing a dark hallway lit with torches lining the walls, “Misty, there is a good possibility that this mare is from a thousand years ago. From the Golden Age of Equestria and one of the heroes of Equestria. If she is still alive, then there could be others, and no pony has seen them for over a thousand years. We must go after her!”
Misty thinks about this as Sparky tries to walk down the hallway before Aaron stops him, ‘On one side, we are already in trouble with the law, so what more could we possibly do to get in trouble? And on the other hoof, if Aaron is right, then we might get a pardon for discovering a long-lost group of Ponies. But then again, there is no way to know if these ponies are friendly since that mare ran away at the sight of us.’ She quickly looks over herself and Aaron, ‘Then again, we look like we survive an encounter with a chainsaw. My poor dress.’ She lifts the helm of her ruined dress,
“Ok, fine,” She reluctantly agrees before heading inside, “It beats staying lost out here, at least,”
“Also, for the record Misty. We were not lost,” Aaron calls after with Sparky on his back,
“Don’t start!”
They walk for about a minute in silence until they came to a double door half open with light coming through at the end of the tunnel. Aaron pulls the door open, and they are greeted with the sight of a ruined city with no signs of life anywhere. It is hard to tell what happened here, but even with the city in this state, no pony could mistake where they find themselves, “Canterlot,” Aaron says for the both of them as they gaze at the once great capital of Equestria,
Misty looks back at the tunnel exit and sees that it is connected to a small house. She walks around it a few times and scratches her head in confusion, “But where is the rest of the tunnel we came from? I don't remember going up or down coming from there,”
“I remember reading something called the Gate of Ancients that has the power to take ponies to Canterlot, like entering the room next door. Maybe that passageway had one of those inside, or it works similarly to one. But considering that this is located in the center of the plaza, where it leads, and the fact that the door opens inward. Makes me think that this was some form of emergency evacuation route,”
“Maybe. But it wouldn't explain why the passageway was hidden on the other side and needed a password.”
"Maybe it was added later on. But this is all speculation," Misty agrees with him as he notices one important missing feature to their location, “Where is the mountain?”
Misty tilts her head, “What Mountain?”
“There should be a mountain here. This city was built into- WHAT am I talking about? Where did Fluttershy go?” Aaron remembers why they came here in the first place,
"Fluttershy, you mean that mare we saw earlier? How do you even know her?"
"Can we talk about this after we find her?"
Misty reluctantly agrees with a sigh. Both ponies fan out, looking for any signs of the mare. Misty is a bit pessimistic, thinking that she would be long gone by now, before seeing a pair of eyes quickly leaving the window of one of the shops nearby, “Over there,” Misty says, causing Aaron to head her way,
“Oh, poor Joe’s Doughnut Shop. You have seen better days,” Aaron reminiscence as they enter the abandoned establishment, Misty looks around for the mare as Aaron looks at an old dried-up doughnut, “You never had a chance,”
“Can we focus here, Aaron?” Misty snaps at him,
“Right, sorry,” He drops the doughnut in a hurry, and it rolls across the floor before stopping at a long pink tail sticking out from under a table. Aaron rolls his eyes at the failed attempt to hide as Misty also notices the tail, “Gee, I wonder where she is hiding?”
“Ah, Aa-” Aaron covers her mouth, shaking his head, and moves next to the tail, “So are you coming out of there, Fluttershy, or do I have to pull you out?”
The tail retreats under the table as a scare mare peaks out, “Ah, please don’t do that if you don’t mind,”
Misty is not convinced that this mare is as sweet as she appears to be; Aaron, on the other hand, ‘OH MY GOODNESS, SHE IS SO CUTE!’
“Ah, so if you don’t mind me asking. Who are you ponies?”
“Oh, right!” Shaken out of his trance, Aaron compose himself, "I am Aaron, this here is Misty, and the one on my back is Sparky,” He points to each one of them as the mare peeks out a little more,
The mare stares in awe at their little companion, “Oh, a baby dragon. Are you two babysitting him?”
“Well, not exactly,” Misty says, “He got lost, and we went after him and ran into you in the forest. Speaking of which, why did you run?”
“Oh, I am not good at meeting new ponies. I got scared and ran away,” She looks away, thinking before looking at Aaron, “Also if you don’t mind me asking, how do you know my name?”
“Well, you are Fluttershy, the element of kindness, hero of Equestria, and the befriender of all,”
“Wait, she is that Fluttershy,” Misty says, finally inform on who this mare is,
“Oh, well-” She start before a cold wind blows between the ponies causing Fluttershy to become concerned, “Oh dear,” Before Aaron could say anything, he and his companions were sent into the ceiling, stuck as if gravity went in reverse for them with great force. The groan in pain was stuck and helpless as Fluttershy emerged from hiding, calling out into the room, “Dystopia, don’t hurt them!”
“Don't worry, Fluttershy,” A voice calls out into the room, “I will deal with them,”
“Dystopia, stop this right now,” She says, gaining the courage to stand up to Dystopia, “Or I am going to tell your mom,”
“Mom?” Aaron grunts. It was then he was able to look at Fluttershy cutie mark and see one large butterfly instead of three small ones, ‘She is not the Fluttershy I know,’
“What, why? I am only trying to help,”
“This is not helping. You are hurting them. So, stop that right now,” She stomps her hoof on the ground, which was no more than tapping the ground,
“Fine,” Gravity went back to normal for Aaron's group as they fall down to the ground before stopping halfway there and landing safely. Aaron looks up to a flash of light as what he can only describe as a young teenage female Discord staring at him. If the Twilight-style hair and butterfly hair pins were anything to go by, “So who are these ponies, cousin?”
“I was getting to that before you came in and started hurting everypony,”
She swims in their wrapping around Fluttershy before combing her mane and patting her head with her claw, “It was only a little gravity manipulation that would have sent them to the moon. If the ceiling wasn't there. Nothing to sneeze about,"
Fluttershy looks unamused at her cousin, “You know Grandpappy won't approve of your methods,”
"Not from what Grandmama told me,"
“Can somepony please tell me what is going on here?!” Misty says, interrupting the two as Dystopia's eyes turn into flames of fire as she slowly walks to Misty,
“Excuse me. We are having a family discussion here!" Misty unconsciously hides behind Aaron as Fluttershy gets between them, staring down the small entity of chaos,
“Dystopia, that is enough. I will tell on you if you keep this up,” Dystopia huffs and mumbles something before teleporting away in a flash of light. Fluttershy sighs and looks back at the ponies as Misty walks away from Aaron as if nothing happened, much to his confusion, “Sorry about that. She can be quite protective of our family. Please forgive her if that is okay with you, that is,”
“I'm not too sure about that, but on another note, Who are you, ponies?”
“They are the descendants of Fluttershy and Discord,” Aaron says out loud, answering for the everypony,
Misty looks at Aaron, annoyed that he knows more about what's happening, and leaves her in the dark as Sparky starts roaming the room, “Aaron, we really going to have a nice long talk one of these days!” She emphasizes the long part,
“So, what happened here?”
“Don’t ignore me!”
They exit the shop and start walking down the street, going nowhere in particular, not noticing that Sparky is trying to grab a fallen donut only to kick it away from him, “I don’t know all the details. Grandmama said something terrible happened here that scattered many ponies far and wide. She and her friends stay behind to fight back and won, but at a great cost,” They passed by a hole in the wall which Aaron had to do a double take because it looks strangely Discord shape, “Grandmama wanted to gather everypony together again, but the others wouldn’t have it. And said that they should be left alone. But Grandmama was able to gather a small group of ponies and settle down in Ponyville.”
“PONYVILLE! It’s still around!”
Taken back, Fluttershy steps back a little at the fanboy, “Ah yes. That is our hometown. It’s nothing fancy, but we get by,”
“Can we go there, please?” He says with big sparkly eyes, as Fluttershy looks at anything but him,
Being fed up with being ignored all this time, Misty shouts at the top of her lungs, “Aaron!”
“What!” He turns to face her, annoyed,
“Aren’t you forgetting something important?” She tilts her head, raising an eyebrow, “Like the very reason why we wanted to come here in the first place?” She looks away, suddenly remembering her own mission, ‘Speaking, which I have to also figure out somehow to get away from these two so I can look for that artifact,’ Before she was captured and sent to jail, she was able to hide a map that her Queen has given to her. It wasn't easy, but she knew if she lost this map, there would be many things to answer. She keeps it hidden in her hat for safekeeping; all she needs to do now is make up an excuse to search the castle grounds.
“RIGHT, I forgot. Fluttershy, do you know where the old castle is?”
“You mean the Canterlot’s ruins? It’s down the street; you can’t miss it,” She points in the direction before tilting her head, “But why do you want to go there?”
“We are hoping to find any traces of the memory spell,”
“A memory spell?”
“Yes, it has the ability to restore lost memories. I am hoping that there will be a copy of it in the Canterlot library,”
Fluttershy thinks about this before a look of realization crosses her face, “Oh, I see. But you won’t find anything there,”
“What, why?!” Aaron and Misty exclaimed before having to stop Sparky from eating an old donut,
“After the fall of Canterlot. Everything that had any importance was moved into the crystal museum,”
“The Crystal Museum?” Aaron looks between the mares while playing keep away with a baby dragon, “What Museum?”
“The one in Ponyville,”
Aaron didn’t have to think long before he understands what building she was referring to, “Castle Friendship,”
“Oh, no pony calls it that anymore,”
Aaron had a mental breakdown hearing that, eyes and head twitching, ear flopping before he shook his head. This, unfortunately, gave Sparky the chance to grab the donut, “But why? That is the home of Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was given to her after she became a princess,” He raises his hoof and looks out into the distance, “Wait. She has been missing for a while, so that makes sense that somepony would move in and change up the place,” he clarifies much to Fluttershy's confusion,
“Are you sure that everything was moved into this Museum?” Misty asks, hoping that maybe just maybe, the artifact she's looking for was still in Canterlot, “Everything?”
Fluttershy nods at this, “Yes, as far as I know. The Great and Powerful Trixie spent most of her life trying to save what she could of Canterlot after the fall. Many other scholars have ventured into Canterlot throughout the years, also searching for anything that she might have missed. But they stopped sending any more ponies about a few decades ago. Once reports started coming in, that the castle was falling in on itself.” Fluttershy says, not seeing the look of frustration and disappointment on Misty's face,
Misty cannot believe her luck. Here she is somehow magically teleported into Canterlot, which has been missing for thousands of years. And the very item that would please her Queen is most likely behind a glass case at this museum. She's going to have to return to the Dark Castle or get in contact with her Queen as soon as possible. Because things just got a whole lot more complicated.
“Thank you, Trixie,” Aaron says, looking up in the sky, thanking an unseeable pony while Misty stops the ground in anger as Sparky looks in awe between the adult now sucking on his new magickly turn giant gummy corn, “Is there any way that we can see the magic spell books?”
“Oh, you are going to have to ask the Curator,”
“And this Curator. Are they available?”
Fluttershy shakes her head, unsure, “I don’t know. We don’t talk much. But he spends most of his time in the museum. So, you are going to have to ask him yourself,”
“And that means going to Pony Ville,” He squeals, “I always wanted to go there,”
‘Weirdo,’ Misty thinks to herself, “So which way to Ponyville?” She asks as Sparky has finished his snack as has started running laps around the adults,
“A half-day flight south,” She points, using her left wing to answer her,
“You mean that you spent half a day flying here to Canterlot?”
“Oh no. I have Dystopia drop me off here,”
“Speaking of which,” Aaron interrupts, “Why are you here in the first place if there is nothing here?”
“Oh, every year, my family and I pay our respect to the fallen. I was making sure everything was ready for the visit. I was waiting for Dystopia to pick me up when I wanted to see how far I could go down that tunnel,” She looks away, embarrassed, “I am trying to become braver,” Aaron can understand where she is coming from, but Misty is taken back at something that the butter-colored mare said,
“The fallen?” Misty questions as Sparky starts jumping on her back and going between her and Aaron,
Misty glares at the Dragon while Aaron remains unfazed, “She means she was paying respect to a monument dedicated to the ponies that lost their lives in the fall of Canterlot, right?”
“Yes, and it also serves as our graveyard,” She replies as if nothing is wrong with what she just said,
Misty stares in horror before covering her ears, “I didn’t need to know that!”
Confused, Fluttershy looks between the ponies trying to understand what she said wrong, “But death is part of life. What is wrong with talking about a graveyard?”
“It makes me uncomfortable. Can we change the subject!” Misty begs before saying nonsense words trying to drown out any mention of that word,
“Okay,” Fluttershy says, not sure if Misty heard her,
Aaron covers her mouth, not taking his eyes off Fluttershy, “So, how are we going to get in contact with Dystopia? Last night check she left in a hurry,”
“Oh, she will be back. She is probably back in the chaos dimension sulking for about ten more minutes before she teleports back to here,”
Misty pushes the offending hoof away, having calmed down, “How can you be so sure?” She asks before Sparky started to swing on her mane, causing her to grab the little troublemaker, “And how can you be so hyper!”
“It's just how she is. She can be a bit stubborn at times, but she means well. Also, he is a baby; it's part of the deal,”
“I can imagine,” Aaron says as Sparky tries to grab Misty's mane again as she holds him away from her as far as her hoofs can, “So you think that she will take us to Ponyville?”
“Maybe. I know she will help me, but I can’t be sure about you two,” Fluttershy grabs Sparky away from Misty as the dragon stares at her in wonder,
Misty nods at this before she leans in close to Aaron, whispering in his ear, “Aaron, can I talk with you for a second?”
“Sure,” They walk a good distance away from their host before Misty stops facing Aaron as Sparky looks torn about where he should go, “What is it?”
“What are you doing?”
“What?”
“I mean, we just meet this mare and her chaotic cousin, and you are acting like this is another day in the park,”
“It was a miss understanding, Misty. I am sure she had her reason for attacking us like that.”
“That's another thing I want to talk about. Why are you so trusting of ponies that you just meet? As far as you know, they are secretly evil ponies that will backstab you when you least expect it,” Her eyes look away in disbelief, ‘I can’t believe I am the one saying that,’
“Because everypony is just a friend you haven’t met yet, that is why,”
“That is the most childish reasoning I have ever heard of. Aaron, not everypony is trustworthy!”
He huffs at her, being reminded of the problems in life, “I know that, Misty. I just get this feeling when I meet somepony. It is hard to explain, but it has never failed me before. And my gut is telling me that I can trust her. The same way that I can trust you. Isn’t that enough?”
“No,” She whispers quietly, looking away,
“What?”
“Nothing. So fearless leader. What is the plan?”
Meanwhile, in the chaos dimension,
Dystopia paces in a rant in front of two figures sitting against a tree, one taller than the other, with the smaller one being a mare. The taller one has his right arm on top of the mare, holding her close as animals of every kind roam the area, “And then she said that she would tell my mom on me. Can you believe that? That is a low blow. I never expect her, of all mares, to use the mom card on me. That's blackmail. And I didn’t do anything wrong!”
The taller one chuckles softly, “Dystopia, my sweet child. I understand. You should have seen what it was like when I befriended my first pony. It had its ups and downs, but I wouldn’t change what happened for the world. Ponies will always have a hard time getting along with us. But the same thing can be said for us as well. But if making and keeping friends was easy, then nopony would put in so much effort to protect them. After all-“
“Friendship is magic. I know Grandpa. You keep telling us that since we were little,”
“Because it is true, Dystopia,” The mare says softly, “So where did you leave your cousin?”
Dystopia's eyes widen alarmingly, “I left her at Canterlot!” In a flash of light, Dystopia vanishes in a panic,
“Kids. Always have their heads in the clouds,” The taller one said as a teenage green dragon lands nearby and sniffs around before giving chase to a rock that transform into a small blue changeling flying away laughing,
“Maybe,” The other figure pets some bunnies that move to her, “So what are we going to do about this?”
“Don’t worry, my dear. Don’t forget we have planned for their return after all.” He plucks a flower before shaking it like a bell making a ding noise before another pony appears before them in a flash of light,
She is an earth pony mare with a bright pink coat with a purple mane with white streaks, but what stands out from this mare is the fact that she is floating in the air. She looks confused before her swirl pattern eyes land upon the figures under the tree, “Hi Mommy, hi Daddy,”
“Aaron? Misty? Sparky?” Sunny calls out into the woods as her friends search nearby.
After reviewing Canterlogic security footage, Hitch learned that Aaron and Misty were responsible for the stolen property. However, after talking with the test pilot, it was clear that it wasn’t their fault for crashing the stolen property. They are impressed that Aaron even got where it is with minimal damage. Even the pilot said that he had a hard time using it without crashing into something. Regardless, the problem remains that Aaron and Misty have broken their parol and will get an ear full from Hitch once he gets his hooves on them. But first things first, they must find them.
“Where are you?”
“Why didn’t he use his earth pony magic to make a big tree or flower so that we could find him easily?” Pipp asks Sunny as she shakes her head,
"Ah Pipp. We are in a forest,” Pipp smile embarrass realizing what she just said,
Zipp flies over head, looking to and fro before moving on. Hitch talks with some of the animals nearby for any clues as Izzy goes around a tree before seeing a hole big enough for her head to fit in at the bottom, “Anypony there?” She asks, not getting a reply before sticking her head inside, “HELLO!” Izzy’s voice booms from the tree scaring off any creature that where in it and nearby, much to Hitch’s distress,
“Izzy!” He scolds her as she pulls her head out covered with dirt, she coughs regretting her bright idea,
“No pony in there,” She declares, coughing out a leaf that got stuck in her throat, “But I will find them,”
“Thank you for your enthusiasm, Izzy, but please refrain from scaring away the extra help,”
“Sorry,”
“Hay, I found something!” Pipp calls out,
The other move next to her, finding the remains of Aaron’s campfire. Hitch quickly descends into the den and checks the campfire, “Its cold. They must have camped here before moving on,” Hitch says as Sunny looks around, confuse before the rest of them descend into the den,
“This doesn’t make anything sense. If Aaron was able to make a campfire. He should have been able to get out of these woods easily,”
“What makes you say that?”
“Most ponies that can 'ruff it' to say can navigate out of the most environment with relative ease. So why haven’t we found them already?”
“Uhm, guys?” Izzy says, starring at the end of the den, “There is a door here,”
“Why is there a door here?” Zipp asks as Izzy pushes open the door revealing the hallway with torches lining the walls, “A secret tunnel?”
They all stare down the tunnel, all thinking the same thing that the ponies they are looking for took the spooky tunnel. But just when they were about to head inside, a strong gust of wind came from the other side of the tunnel, snapping out the torches in an Erie sound of a dying pony with something colorful coming flying at them, “AAAHHHH!”
All ponies present quickly ran away, screaming in the opposite direction of the cry hiding amongst the trees. They stay hidden for a good five minutes before Sunny was brave enough to descend from her hiding place, “Is every pony already?”
“What was that?” Hitch says from behind a tree with Izzy right behind him,
“I don’t know. But considering that nothing else happened. It safe to say that nothing else is going to happen,” Sunny calmly says, bringing her friends out of hiding,
“You don’t think that somepony died on the other side of the tunnel, do you?” Pipp nervously asks as Zipp lands next to her,
“No, I don’t. Although I will admit that they scared us pretty well. I believe that is all to it. It must have been something to keep ponies away. Look, the torches are lit again,” Sunny points to the tunnel where the torches are indeed lit once more, “I guess that somepony didn’t want ponies using this tunnel,”
“So, if that is the case, why did they hide it?” Zipp asks as Sunny moves back to the door with everypony else nervously and reluctantly moves closer as well,
Curious, Sunny examines the door before noticing that one side of the door is stone while the other side is wood. She gasps in surprise, not because of the clever camouflage on the door, but at what the camouflage was hiding, “It a Gate of the Ancients,”
“A what?”
Sunny grabs hold of Hitch, shaking him in her excitement, “IT is a Gate of the Ancients! The ponies of old used to use gateways like these to travel all around Equestria using Canterlot as the center point of travel,” She looks in awe with stars in her eyes at the tunnel as Hitch falls to the ground once Sunny lets him go in a daze, “I only heard of their existence from stories for nopony could find them. Now we know why. We have to go in,”
Zipp rushes in front of her friend, spreading out her wings, halting her moment, “NO!” She shakes her head, “Sunny, that is a terrible idea!”
“Zipp, it was just a spooky tunnel, and now reveal the Gate of the Ancients; nothing is going to happen,”
Zipp disagree, “I believe somepony just forgot about the screaming death we hear earlier. Somepony went through an awful lot of trouble to hide these gates. There must have been a reason for it. Besides, if this tunnel scared us, there is a good chance that Aaron and Misty also got scared away as well. So, there is no need to go inside,”
“Normally, I would have to side with Zipp on this one, but there is one little problem with that idea,” Hitch declares before moving close to the ground, “There are two sets of tracks that lead down the tunnel from the campfire with another set of smaller tracks around the campfire. Suggesting that Aaron and Misty did indeed go down this tunnel. Also,” He points to a discarded rainbow-colored wig outside the tunnel, “I saw the wig coming flying out of the tunnel when the torches went out. It is my professional opinion that they did indeed go down this tunnel. And since there are no small tracks leaving the campfire can only mean that they took Sparky with them,” Hitch declares before giving off in a dead sprint down the tunnel, “DON’T WORRY, SPARKY! DADDY COMING!”
“Hitch, wait!”
They rush after him without stopping until they reach the end of the tunnel. But what was waiting for them on the other side was nothing anypony expected. It was a grand throne room of emerald color walls with pillars reaching into the ceiling lining both sides of the room. At the end of the room, two fire pits stand on opposing sides in front of a staircase with a red carpet leading to an empty throne. They all stare in wonder at the sight before them, not sure where they are. However, before anypony could say anything, the fireplace booms pillars of fire, leaving clouds of smoke in their wake as a shadowy figure emerges. Its shape is disfigured and undetermined as two purple eyes with white swirls stare at the mane five with nothing but hated in them,
Its voice echoes in a mighty voice, causing everypony to stare in awe and fear, “I am the Great and Powerful Mistress of Chaos! Who are you!” It says demands from them as the fireplaces send pillars of fire in the air each time the shadow spoke,
The mane five tremble and shake with fear holding onto each other with Sunny being in the middle of them at the sight before them. Thoughts of retreating cross their minds but the doors closing behind them quickly eliminated such silly ideas. They look at each other before they shove Sunny forward as she pushes against her friends, not like the idea of being volunteered. She looks back at her friends, seeing that they have retreated behind a pillar for safety as they give her smiles of encouragement and mouthing words of ‘You got this.’
Sunny gulps before turning to face the Mistress of Chaos. She has heard of a Lord of Chaos but never heard of a Mistress of Chaos. And judging by what is going on here, they are not welcome and have intruded on her home. If this Mistress of Chaos has even a fraction of the Lord of Chaos' magic. Then she and her friends are in serious danger. Even the Ancient Heroes of Equestria couldn’t defeat their Lord of Chaos but befriended him instead. Maybe she can do the same here.
Her legs shake as she takes two steps forward, “I- I- I am Sunny,” She answers meekly, “Sunny Starscout, and these are my friends Hitch, Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy.” She points to each pony respectively, “We came here-”
“Enough!”
Sunny fall onto her belly in fear as the shadow looms over her. She continues to shake, staring into those swirling eyes, “I know why you are here,” The shadow passes over all of them, scaring them all to the floor, “You have come here for the ponies that came here before you,”
“You know where they are,”
“Yes, they are in my care,”
“What about Sparky!” Hitch cries out, regaining some courage, “Did you see a little dragon with them!”
Shadow turns quickly to face him, “You will speak once spoken to!” It scolds him, causing Hitch to faint. Izzy moves quickly to his side, checking on him before cradling him in her hooves,
“That wasn’t very nice. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Frightening him like that. He is only looking for his baby,”
“Silence!” Everypony gathers around Izzy and Hitch as if trying to protect their fallen comrade, “Whippersnapper! I have already decided to help you meet your friends,” She says as the shadow shrinks and fades, revealing a pony, “There is no need to fear me,” The floating mare says, starring disappointedly at the group of ponies as Izzy tries to wake Hitch up,
“Wait, if you were going to help us, then why the scare show?!” Zipp says now that the danger is gone regaining her bravo,
“I had to be sure that you meant no harm to my family,” She takes a bow while remaining in the air, “Let’s start over, I am the Mistress of Chaos,” She looks up at them with a smile, “You may call me Screwball,”
“Hi, Screwball. Uhm, we didn’t mean to enter your house unexpectedly,” Sunny says, apologizing,
“Don’t worry about it,” She says pushing her hoof behind herself, and to everypony’s surprise, the throne room that they were in disappears as if they were standing in front of a painting as the background scenery falls to the floor like a movie set. Revealing the ruins of Canterlot in its stead, “It was a just rental,”
“How?!”
“Chaos Magic, my little pony, is an amazing thing once you get used to it. But at last, there can only be one user at a time," She disappears and appears next to Sunny wearing a blue jumpsuit with yellow lines and a random number on the back, "Can you imagine what our world would become if everypony could make an instant house with no cost and no time at all?”
“I can imagine it being a little out of control,”
“That is why it is chaos magic. Nothing it does makes any sense," Screwball teleports in front of them again in a blue Sunday dress holding a matching umbrella talking in a professional tone, "And that is the beauty of it,”
“So, are you a Draconequus or an earth pony?” Pipps says, scrolling through her hoof phone for anything about the mare in front of them,
“Both, actually," Screwball says as her dress disappears before she moves next to Zipp, pulling a mini Discord and Fluttershy from Zipp's mane, much to her confusion, "I am a hybrid between a Draconequus and a Pegasus,” She waves the figures around before putting back where she got them causing Zipp to see if they are indeed stuck in her mane,
Zipp shakes her head, not finding anything before she notice something about Screwball, and checks her back to make sure, “But where are your wings?”
“That is what I like to know!" Screwball groans falling to the floor like liquid before pulling herself together and staring up into the sky with her hooves behind her head, "I mean, come on. Here I am, a beautiful earth pony mare born from a Pegasus, and no wings here," She gets off the ground and hoovers in the air, "I mean, I can give myself some wings,” She grumbles as a pair of feathery wings come off her back before they puff in a cloud of feathers, “But that is not the point,”
“I get what you mean," Sunny says, understanding a little of where Screwball is coming from, "So where are our friends?”
"Oh, I had sent them to PonyvIlle for the Harmony feast. But first thing first," Screwball grabs Sunny next to her before pulling a chain above her head causing a shower of water to drench Sunny, revealing her in her normal colors, surprisingly not soaked to the bone, "If you didn't know that we were here and having a festival for the Elements of Harmony. Why are you dressed up as the Princess of Friendship?"
Misty was surprised at how large this Ponyville is. From what Flutter has told her, it sounds like a small rural town, but that is not the case here. If she would have to guess, this place is about as big as Maretime Bay, if not bigger. It reminds her of a small city that is stuck in the Middle Ages. She feels like she has traveled back in time with everything around here. The ponies interacting with each other, the stone roads and houses, the giant crystal castle in the middle of town, the biggest Apple orchard in Equestria, and the silver knight’s armor ponies patrolling the streets. Suddenly she doesn’t feel out of place with her outfit, but it is getting annoying to be mistaken for a princess by the locals here. She sits at a table, waiting for Aaron to return from his conquest.
It turns out that Ponyville holds a festival once a year at the start of the year known as the Harmony Feast. The Harmony Feast was a festival held in memory of the Ancient Heroes of Equestria, the Manesix, or the Elements of Harmony. The festival lasts for three days before everypony journey to Canterlot to pay their respects to the Fallen. At least that is what she got from the brief reading of the brochure she received when they arrived, but she could be wrong. She thinks it mentions something about the princesses of old, but that is not important.
When they first got here, both were in awe of this town, but Misty seems to have underestimated how much being here would affect Aaron. She looks at one of the stalls in the festival, where a few of the vendors seem to be trying to refill their prizes with anything available for other ponies to win. Some might think that many ponies must have come to their stall and won their prizes but no. This was the work on one stallion. One hyperactive determined stallion. Shortly after getting here, Aaron bolted into the festival, only returning with spoils of war for her. At first, it was sweet, but then it starts to get a bit much. She looks to her left at her sizeable pile of assorted goods ranging from dolls to small plastic statues of the manesix and random ponies she couldn’t identify, along with other collectible items, which now stand as tall as her. She grumbles as she sips from her new refillable Princess Twilight Sparkle cup with a picture of said princess cutiemark and matching colors scheme all over it. One of the few things that he got for her, among other things.
She looks down at her New Princess dress. The main part is pink with a golden sash rapping behind her with a small pink bow on each side. The neckline has a golden collar with a red stone in the center. And at the end of the dress, there is a long white skirt. She was also given golden sabatons for each hoof with a purple gem shaped like a star and a matching tiara. She must admit it’s a beautiful outfit, but something tells her that it was meant for somepony else. She glances at Sparky, now sporting a Twilight wig dragging behind him with fake feathery wings covering his real wings so that they move alongside his real wings as he tries to fly but fails.
She didn’t ask him for her new outfit, not that she is complaining, mind you. But one might wonder how he can continue to gain the spoils of war when he has no bits to speak of. He wasn’t stealing anything of this. Oh no, nothing like that. Was it because of the type of games they have that made the prizes easier to obtain? Maybe, but she believes it has something to do with the cost of admission.
She stares disappointedly at the sight before her, “Let's go to Ponyville, he says; it will be a grand old time, he says; we can stop by the museum, he says,” She says to herself as Sparky climbs up on the table and sits next to Misty, ‘I know that he was an oddball when we first meet, but he was normally so composed and rational. What happened to him?’ She thinks to herself before giving Sparky a small Twilight plushie from her horde. Sparky plays with it before trying to get it before trying to squeeze its stuffing out. An earth pony stallion makes his way beside her with concern as he stares at the pile of goods.
“Uhm, excuse me,” Misty turns her eyes to him, “But are you his companion?” He gestor back to one of the stands in the festival,
Misty turns back to see Aaron wearing a fake golden knight’s armor with a sword strap to his side, his clown outfit long since discarded. He has successfully beaten another Carnival game and walks away with more loot in his bag of goods like a successful hunter. The vendor stares in disbelief at what just happened.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, we would like it if you could convince him to stop for a while and leave some prizes for the other ponies. We are starting to get some complaints about this,”
Misty is confused at this as she sets her cup down, “Why don’t you talk to him about this?”
He looks back at Aaron winning more prizes before turning back to Misty, “Well, we did, and his response was, and I quote, ‘Stay away from my precious.’ End quote. Whatever that means,”
“Ok, but what are you answering me for? What do I look like, his marefriend?” Misty says jokingly, taking another sip,
“Well, yes,” Misty does a spit take, causing the stallion to question himself, “Oh, was I mistaken?”
Misty ponds her chest clearing her airway, her face lightly flushed, not sure between the lack of air or the statement he just made, “No! I mean, Yes. I mean, we are friends at best, but no, Aaron is not my special somepony. What makes you think such a thing? Ahahaa,” Misty eyes swirl as she panicky trying to clear up any misunderstanding looking away from the stallion,
The stallion tilts his head, unsure what to say, “Well, I thought that after his consent offering to his princess, I thought-”
“I AM NOT HIS PRINCESS!” Her face is heavy with a blush, “He is doing that just to annoy me. He only wants me to look after his horde, nothing more,” She taps the pile of goods as some prizes fall from the top of the pile, “But what do you want me to do? He started acting this way after one of you ponies told him that everything is free so long as you can earn it since there is no currency here,” She declares, calming down her blush,
“Yes, but most ponies would have some form of self-control when attending a village festival,”
Misty chuckles at this as another vendor cries in disbelief in the background, “Oh, he has self-control, all right. It went right out the window after he saw the Giant Princess Twilight plushie,”
The stallion rubs his head before looking back to see a vendor physically blocking Aaron from playing at her stall, “I have never seen a stallion so obvious with a winning everything before.” Aaron shrugs before moving to the next stall but notices that there has been an increase in ‘out to lunch’ signs for some reason,
“That makes two of us,” Misty grumbles sipping her drink, “But I am sure that he will get tired eventually and stop on his own. See here he comes now,”
Aaron returns to Misty and presents her his current loot bowing to her, “I have returned my Princess with more spoils of war,” Misty blushes at this but chooses to keep a neutral face, “What are orders, your Highness?”
She looks away, turning to hide her face from him, “I require a refill,” She dangles her cup before him, “Fetch me some water, sir knight,”
“Your wish is my command,” He takes the cup and leaves them as Sparky chooses that moment to jump into the pile of goods, making a mess. The stallion from earlier looks between the two of them, but Misty cut him off before he could say anything,
“Not a word,” He tries again, but she glares at him, “I can tell him to get me all the prizes in the festival if you want,” The stallion closes his mouth, knowing that the threat is not a joke and choose to leave her alone, “That's what I thought,”
Misty smiles triumphantly before becoming sad with a hint of anger as she sees Aaron winning another Twilight prize. He smiles, squeezing the prize next to his cheeks before moving on to the next stand to get her refill, “Why can’t you look at me like that?” She looks away, sighing, not seeing a group of fillies and colts staring at her treasure pile.
Meanwhile, at Maretime Bay,
“What do you mean that Misty is missing!” Queen Opaline shouts at Shadow Cloak as he rubs his ears at her outburst,
“It would appear that Misty is not at the daycare and is missing in the woods nearby town,”
Her eye twitches, baffled, “How? WHY!?”
“I am not sure of the details myself since the investigation is still underway. From what I can tell, there was something to do with the Canterlogic prototype crashing into the forest, and Misty was there for some reason. This really puts a damper on our plans,”
“And nopony knows where she is?”
He shakes his head, “No, A search party of ponies has been dispatched to look for her, but they have yet to return. They also mentioned that a pony named Aaron and a baby dragon also went missing alongside her,”
Opaline frowns, not sure what to make of this. ‘On one hoof, Misty is lost with the baby dragon. Perhaps she did it on purpose to steal the dragon and bring him to me to steal his magic, but that wouldn’t explain Aaron.’ She groans angrily. ‘Aaron this Aaron that. Ever since this stallion has shown up one way or another, he is involved somehow, and everything has gone out of control, and I don’t like it.’ “We are going to have to deal with this Aaron. He is starting to become a nuisance,”
Shadow Cloak smiles, “As long as you are willing to pay me. I can deal with him,”
“On second thought. He is not a priority,” Her eyes look away, quickly changing her mind when a thought occurs to her, “And this search party you mention. Do you know who is in it?”
“I believe Sunny and her group were leading the search party,”
“Perfect,” She rubs her hooves together, “If they are all looking for Misty, then I can go after the unity crystal at the Crystal Bright house,”
“A rather large beehive has made a nest near the Crystal Bright house and has scared away anypony trying to get close. And before you ask, these bees are the size of ponies, so I would think twice before going anywhere near the Crystal Bright house,”
“I see,” She looks away in shock, not expecting to hear that, “Well, in that case, I will have you go there instead,”
“Are you sure?” He raises an eyebrow, “This is not part of the original agreement. This will cost extra,”
The Queen grunts, clenching her teeth, “Can’t you give me a discount since I have been a loyal employer?”
He scoffs at her comment, “We both know you are many things, but loyal is not one of them,”
“Fine!” She barks at him, “Charge the extra. But get me that Unity Crystal!”
“Very well,” *Ping* Shadow Cloak looks at his phone before cutting off the communication with one final word, “Tomorrow,” He laughs to himself, hearing the half scream of rage coming from the other end, “When you are desperate your highness you can easily be taken advantage of,” He looks from his window to the Crystal Bright House concerned, “Now how to deal with you?”
Flutter and Dystopia are getting some ice cream from a love-struck vendor, "You are sure that it was okay to bring them into Ponyville, cousin?" Dystopia asks, noticing the dreaming eye stallion looking at her cousin,
"They didn't seem like bad ponies. And the festival of Harmony was today, so I thought it would be a good experience for them," She replies, not noticing the stallion as they move through the festival,
"Well, true, but what if they are bad ponies pretending to be good ponies to steal everything we know and love?" She says, making a little puppet show of Queen Chrysalis robbing a bank, laughing while doing so before turning into smoke,
Flutter looks at her as if asking her are you serious? "Dystopia. You really think that your mom would let anything happen in here that would put ponies in danger?"
Dystopia pouts before eating her ice cream in one bit angry, "No, you're right. I was testing you. Mother would never let anything happen if she could help it," She replies as part of her mane start turning into ice, causing her to panic and getting a laugh from Flutter,
"Speaking of which, where is your mom?"
Dystopia gets a small ice pick breaking the ice trying to save her precious mane, "I am not sure. She is normally in the center of the festival performing for everypony, but I haven't seen her today," She flicks her mane to free it from the last of the ice and starts combing it when a loud voice gets their attention,
"HELP!"
The duo quickly ran to the scream to find a pony princess trying to hold off a horde of foals from stealing her treasure pile. She was outnumbered ten to one as a baby dragon is in a tug of war with a colt for a rather large pony plushie.
Flutter was having a problem deciding where to start to help anypony, causing her eyes to spin. As for Dystopia, she wasn't sure what to make of the situation. On one hoof, she is torn between finding the parents/guardians of these children and giving them a piece of her mind. While the other is wondering how in Equestria did, the new pony wins so many prizes from the festivals when she herself had such a hard time winning anything from the festival, and she only won ten times in her whole fifteen years trying. But there are more pressing matters on her mind, "Wait! Is that the one-of-a-kind Lifesize Plushie of Pre-Princess Twilight Sparkles with the lifelike mane and tail that nopony has been able to win for the last ten years?! How did she get that!"
"Dystopia, not now!"
"Right, I-" Dystopia got ready to intervene with a Terrifying Roar of pure rage bellows across the town, freezing everypony in the tracks.
“SAVAGES!”
Everypony turns to see a pony in golden armor staring down the group of foals; his eyes were hard to make out with his helmet on. He raises his forelegs in the air and slams them into the ground, causing ripples and cracks to form, reaching the group of ponies before vines emerge from the ground, wrapping around the foals and lifting them into the air away from the Princess, but one of the foals was still holding onto the giant plushie refusing to let go. The stallion marches over the Princess before about-face to the children looking at them, "How dare you fends try and steal from My Princess!" He growls at them notice, noticing the beat-red Princess behind him,
"Aaron!" Flutter shouts in fear for the children's safety flying over to them, trying to free them but failing to do so,
"Huh?" Aaron dumbly says as if he was waking up from a trans, "What happened?"
"Aaron, let them go!"
"WHAT! Hold on. I did this!?" He says, looking at the dangling ponies as Dystopia tries to pull one of them free like a carrot unsuccessfully,
"Aaron!"
"What do you want me to do about this? I don't know how I did this in the first place!"
Dystopia flies over to Aaron and grabs his foreleg, "Just concentrate and feel out the vines," She puts his hoof on the ground as Aaron closes his eyes, doing as she says, "Now imagine that you are the one holding onto the foals and are going to set them down," Aaron squeezes his eyes trying to do as she says as the vine slowly lowers to the ground letting go of their captives. The foals, scared of the knight and his vines, ran to hide behind Flutter, crying. She comforts the children as Aaron looks around him, seeing the eyes of so many ponies looking at him. So, of them were in awe at what he did and looked at their own hooves as if wondering if they could do the same while others, "RUN AWAY! KILLER VINES!" A random pony shouted,
Without missing a beat. Other ponies started screaming before running in random directions leaving the marketplace deserted. Aaron's eye twitches, seeing that only he, Misty, Sparky, Dystopia, and Flutter's group are the only ponies left.
"Are you ponies kidding me right now!" Aaron shouts at nopony in particular as Dystopia rubs her eyes with her paw, "Foals stealing from us doesn't set you off, but vines coming out from the ground is considered a natural disaster!? You ponies have seen worse!"
"Don't bother Aaron," Dystopia groans, "They will be hiding for an hour at least before they send a volunteer to check to see if the coast is clear. And hide for another hour if a leaf touches the pony, causing said pony to scream. At which point-"
"At which point. The ponies call in their friendly neighbor Mistress of Chaos, for help," Another voice interrupted her. Everypony turns to face the newcomer as she floats in the air looking over the situation, "But I was already on my way here," Screwball says before flying in a circle around everypony.
Aaron starts at her in disbelief; his jaw drops as Misty rubs her eyes to make sure she isn't seeing things; Sparky looks between him and her, trying to understand how she is flying without wings, and flaps his own to double-check. Dystopia looks at her with a nervous gaze as Flutter looks at her with a warming smile along with the children, to which the latter wave at her.
Once Screwball is satisfied with going over what is in front of her, she hoovers in front of the group, "So everypony. What happened?" She asks while looking at the new faces in town,
Dystopia told her everything that happened as she looked back at Aaron, not expecting an earth pony to be able to use magic like that. Once caught up, Screwball waves her hoof causing a colt to float in the air next to her as he still has the plushie while Aaron was being held back by Misty, physically preventing him from moving towards the Mistress of Chaos, "That doesn't belong to you, little one,"
"But it was on the floor! Discarded with so many other things. It's mine!" He protested,
"IT'S NOT!" Aaron shouts, causing Screwball to flick her other hoof, causing Aaron's mouth to disappear. Aaron panics, trying to claw at where his mouth used to be as Misty stares at him in horror,
"Yes. I am aware of the rules of finders' keepers. But these ponies are new in town, and they didn't know about that. It is not fair to take something from Somepony that didn't know better,"
"But I want it," The colts say, squeezing the plush with a sad look in his eyes,
"Well, why don't we ask the owner what he wants to do?" They float on over to Aaron as he looks at her in fear, "SO, sir. Can this colt have this plush?"
"Aaron, you, okay?" Misty asks him as they take a seat. Screwball return Aaron's mouth only after giving the colt the plushie. He was also forced to give up the horde he collected from the festival that they weren't currently wearing. Afterward, Screwball took them into the Ponyville guard house interrogation room to talk privately with them. As for Sparky, Flutter is looking after him until the adults are done talking,
"I will be fine. It was just so much goooods," He says, sobbing into his hooves as Misty gives him petty pats,
"Oh, get over it," Screwball says, closing the door behind them and taking her seat across from them, "Even if you kept all of that. There was no way you could have been able to carry all of that back to your house,"
"I don't have a house,"
"Even more reasons not to. Wait!" She did a double take, "What do you mean you don't have a house? Everypony has a house to go back home to!"
"Not this stallion," He says as if nothing is wrong with his statement; much to Misty's surprise,
"Whatever. We will get to that later. Moving on. Talk!" Screwball says before reaching over her head and pulling down a lamp to shine at his face, "Who are you? Who sent you? What are your plans?"
"Aaron and Misty. Nopony. We can here by pure coincidence. In which circumstances allowed us to get here earlier than anticipated," He answers, trying to block as much of the light as possible with his hooves,
"Ah ha! So you were planning to come here,"
"Yes, for a spell book. Can you cut off the light I can't see,"
"Not, yet. I still have some more questions,"
"So do I,"
"Me first,"
"Why do you get to go first?" Misty says,
Screwball lowers the lamp to give her full action to Misty, "Because I am the lady. That is why,"
"You're not a lady," Misty says as both mares stare each other down, "You're -"
"GIRLS!" Aaron gets between them and pushes them apart, "Can we please stop this before we say something that we might regret? Please!"
"A little late for that, but you are right," She pulls on the lamp like a ceiling fan cord sending it away to who knows where, "We will let bygones be bygones," They all took their seats as Screwball grabs a smoking pipe and blew bubbles from it, "Now. Let's say that you get this spell book of yours. What then?"
"We will use it to restore Twilight's memories,"
"Oh, a friend of yours lost her memories. That is terrible. And then?"
"Then I can tell her how I feel about her," Aaron sheepishly says as Misty stares in shock at this revelation,
Screwball blinks before tossing the pipe over her shoulder, hitting a random cat, "Oh, this Twilight is somepony special to you?"
Aaron blushes, looking away, "I would like for her to be my special somepony," Misty jaw drops,
"Oh my. How bold. Just like my hubby. You must tell me more about this Twilight," She teases, giggling to herself,
"Yes, AARON! Please tell us more about this Twilight of yours! I would love to hear it," Misty growls at him, much to his surprise, causing his ears to go back suddenly, more afraid of the mare next to him than the logic-defying pony across the table,
"Ah, Misty, you, okay?"
"Never been better," Misty forces a smile trying to be nice, but she looks like anything but nice as Screwball eats popcorn with a side of snacks and drinks to the sudden melodrama, "So, this whole time, we have been looking for a way to restore Princess Twilight's Memories just so that you can tell her that you LOVE HER?"
"In a nutshell, yes," He says dumbly, looking anywhere but at her, 'Was she always this scary?'
Misty stares down the stallion as she looms over him as he falls out of his chair, "But why didn't you just do that when we saw her at the daycare?"
"It wouldn't be the same," He raises his hoofs defensively, "I fell in love with Princess Twilight. Right now, she is just Twilight. A mare from Maretime Bay, not the one from Ponyville,"
"BUT WHAT ABOUT ME!"
"What?"
"DO I mean nothing to you!"
Aaron gets back on his hooves, baffled by Missy's behavior, "Misty, you are my friend. I dare even say one of my best friends. Of course, you mean something to me. Where is this coming from?"
"But then, why did you string me along like you did!"
"String you along? What are you talking about?"
"Giving me gifts and beautiful dresses! Calling me your Princess!" She stomps her hooves, "Did that mean nothing to you?"
"Misty. We were roleplaying a loyal knight to his Princess. You don't get many opportunities to do that. I will admit. I should have asked you if you were okay with me talking to you in such a manner, but you didn't seem to mind,"
"Because I like being called 'Your princess',"
"So, if you are okay with me calling you that. Why are you so upset and making such a big deal about this?"
"BECAUSE I WANT TO BE YOUR ONLY PRINCESS!" Misty covers her mouth in shock, filling the room with silence.
Aaron stares in shock as Misty looks between the ponies before her. Before anypony could say anything, Misty tries to leave the room only to find that the door is suddenly missing. Misty panics as she tries to find a way out, "Don't bother," Screwball says, putting down her popcorn and taking a sip of soda, "So long as I am here, you are going to see this through to the end, Misty. I am not going to sit through a whole other book just so that you two can talk about this,"
"Misty?" Aaron calls out to her as she tries to hide in a corner lying on her stomach with her hooves covering her eyes, "When did this happen?"
She lifts a hoof to look back at him before lowering them from her face and looks away from him, "Recently, at the campfire,"
"But Misty, all I did was look after you,"
"And only one other pony ever did something like that for me," She raises her head, locking eyes with him, "But she never made me feel as safe as you did,"
"I see," He takes a moment to reflect before lying down in front of her, "Misty, I am sorry I lead you on like that. I never had a friend that was a mare before. I didn't think too much about how my actions would affect you. For that, you have my most sincere apology," He lowers his head as Misty looks away,
"I don't want your apology. I want it to have been real," She sighs in defeat, grabs her tiara, looking at it, "But you only have eyes for Princess Twilight," She drops it in front of her, causing it to clink on the ground before she lays her head on her forelegs, trying not to cry,
Aaron looks torn about how to help his friend without hurting her more than he has. Looking back at the tiara, he grabs it before putting it back on Misty's head, much to her surprise. She stares at him, confused with a little hope in her eyes, "Misty, I can say without a shadow of a doubt. If I haven't fallen in love with the Princess. I would have given you a chance," He extends a hoof at her, "Friends?"
She looks at the hoof before grabbing it with her own, shaking it, "Friends," But for some reason, Aaron couldn't get his hoof back as Misty seems to be thinking about something. Before He could say anything, Misty pulls him close and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "For now," She gets up as Misty smiles, leaving a stunned stallion on the floor, "Even to a Princess. I won't give up. You hear me?"
"AAWWWEE! You two are so cute together!" Screwball says, squealing, causing both ponies to blush, suddenly remembering that they are not alone in the room, "You remind me of how my hubby confessed to me. But with far less crashing into things and a lot more words,"
"Uhm, okay," Aaron dumbly replied,
"Anyways, I have a question that I have been meaning to ask," She clears her table of snacks and drinks before sitting up straight in her chair, "Every time one of you mentions this other Mare, you refer to her as Princess Twilight," She holds two pictures in her hooves one of Twilight sparkle and the other of a mare that has the same color scheme as Twilight but with a darker tone, "Just for clarification. Is she a princess who so happens to be called Twilight? Or are you talking about the Alicorn known as the Princess of Friendship?"
Without missing a beat, Aaron replies, "The Alicorn known as Princess Twilight Sparkle. Why do you ask?"
Her eyes widen at this news before giving them a flat stare, "She is an imposter,"
Both ponies double-take at her response, causing Misty to wonder what she is talking about while enraging Aaron, "Why would you say that?" He gets on the table, forgetting who he was talking to, "You haven't even met or seen her. How can you be so certain that she is not Twilight?"
"How do you know she is who she says she is?" Screwball raises an eyebrow, unimpressed at his outburst, "Last I checked, Princess Twilight ruled over Equestria a thousand years ago before the fall. And somehow, some random mare that looks like her, who comes from outside of her own Kingdom, claims to be said, Princess? Unlikely," She raises a hoof, cutting him off, "Even if you are correct about her being the Princess of Friendship. How do you know that she is Princess Twilight?"
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you so,"
"Try me,"
Aaron studders trying to explain himself, "Uhm, well, I have documents about her,"
"What kind?" She says, leaning closer to him and making him lean back, "I want details,"
"Uhm, well,"
"Aaron, is there something you want to tell me?" She grins at him, causing him to squirm.
"Not really,"
"Eeh. I will know soon enough," Screwball grabs Aaron's foreleg pulling him over the table as she materializes a pair of tweezers and moves them to his hoof. Aaron tries to protest, but she isn't having it as she repositions herself to lock his foreleg in her armpit, giving her better access to whatever she made in mind for his hoof, "Enough acting like a crybaby. Hold still," She manages to take a piece of his hoof-nail and let him go suddenly to fall off the table with a thud, "Ah, there you are. What are you hiding, my little friend," Screwball says as the center of her eyes expands in a circle like a robot's eye filling half her eyes. Screwball started stating scientific statements that the others in the room couldn't keep up with, only getting bits and pieces. Misty and Aaron stare worriedly at the mare as she finishes up her investigation.
"-twenty-eight years old, favors his right hoof, sucks on his left, and doesn't bathe regularly," Misty gives Aaron an uneasy look as he tries to play it off like she is crazy, "There is also the evidence of magic residue that is used for dimensional travel," Screwball looks at them for a moment scarring them as her almost normal eyes are more frightening than her swirl ones. But then, much to their disgust Screwball licks the nail before glaring at Aaron as her eyes return to normal, "You're a human!"
"How did you-"
"This is an outrage! You must leave at once," She quickly tackles Aaron making a cloud of smoke, causing random noises like a cartoon as Aaron tried to fight back while she was chanting, "OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT!"
"What is a human?!" Misty asks, completely taken aback at Screwball outburst as the dust settles, revealing that Mistress of Chaos had hog-tying him before she pulls on the rope one last time, tightening them,
"Something that doesn't belong in Equestria, and am I not going to deal with this one! So, I will send this one back where it came from!" Screwball says, causing a portal to appear, and starts dragging him to it. Misty tries to interfere but is trapped in a steal cage with a flick of Screwball's hoof,
Aaron looks on with fear before pleading with the all-powerful mare, "You can't,"
"And why not?" She stops short of the portal, wanting to humor him, "I am the Mistress of Chaos. I could turn all Equestria into cotton candy if I wanted to! Give me one reason!"
"BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO GO BACK TO!" Aaron shouts, causing the room to go quiet. Screwball makes a motion to him to continue, "Look, I've been alone for a very long time. I was 18 years old when I lost my family. I tried to become something back where I came from and failed many times. No one wanted anything to do with me. I had no future there. And then, one night, I was thinking of ending it. But that's when I found Twilight," He looks up to Screwball as she tilts her head, "She saved my life. I came to Equestria to thank her; also so that I could experience the love and friendship that Equestria has to offer,"
"And that is why you fell in love with her," Screwball summarizes, taking a breather as she gets rid of the portal, "Fine. I will let you stay. On the premises that you don't cause any more trouble for my little ponies, got it," She bops his nose as they both smile,
"Got it," Aaron tries to get up but forgets that he is still tied up and fell, "So about the magic spell book?"
"I will talk with the Curator and get back to you later. But Aaron, I meant what I said about your Twilight being an impostor," She flicks her hoof setting Aaron and Misty free,
"How do you know?" Aaron asks as Misty gives him a hug that he returns,
"Trust me. Aaron, she is a fake," She sighs before clapping her hooves together with a smile, "Now that the unpleasantries are out of the way. I will let you two go about your day and enjoy the festival. Also, Aaron. Come back and talk to me so we can fix your housing problem, okay?"
"Got it,"
"Now then, I got some ponies to talk to. Happy Harmony Day," She says before vanishing in bright light with the door to the room returning,
Misty holds the hug for a moment longer before letting go, "You think she is telling the truth about her not being Twilight?"
"I don't know. I wanted her to be wrong, but something is not right. How is she so certain that I am wrong?" Aaron looks down before whispering to himself, "And she spent the rest of her life making a museum,"
"Aaron?" He turns to leave the room without saying another word as Misty reaches out to him but only touches air before giving chase, "Aaron, where are you going!"
"To Castle Friendship!"
Present time with Sunny's group,
Once Screwball let Sunny go, she had her explain everything that happened to them since Aaron came into their lives. Once she had finished her tale, Screwball rubs her eyes with her hoofs, "So let me see if I can get this straight," She points to Sunny, "You pretended to be Twilight Sparkle so that you could gain Aaron's trust to gain his knowledge of ancient Equestria,"
"Yes,"
"And instead of simply asking him for his knowledge and that you were accidentally cosplaying as Twilight Sparkles. You decided that it was better to continue with the lie which led you to discover the location of Canterlot somehow, along was gaining most of his knowledge of ancient Equestria in the process," She starts pacing in front of them, moving quickly wearing out the ground underneath her, "And then once you have the location of Canterlot you were making plans for an exposition to come here; however, Aaron ends up getting himself arrested along with Misty for escaping jail. As a result, delay your plans of coming here while they serve community service. But it all didn't matter because you all got here by sheer coincidence. After all, you were looking for Aaron and his group after they got lost in the forest for using a stolen prototype motorized wagon while still serving their sentence?"
She stops in the middle of her trench, grabbing her head, "DID I MISS SOMETHING?!" Screwball throws her hooves above her head, causing an explosion behind her, scaring everypony, "I mean, sure, it totally sounds like something I would come up with, but this was not my idea. What is wrong with you, ponies?"
Everypony has a look of embarrassment and confusion as to the certain events that led them here, "I was going to tell the truth," Sunny insisted,
"But you should have done that at the beginning," Screwball scolded her, "Now look at the mess you are in,"
"I know. I'm going to make things right,"
"Don't say that to me. You got a stallion to talk to. However, I think you might be a bit late on that,"
"What are you talking about?" Hitch asks,
"Last time I saw Aaron. He and Misty were getting ready for the Harmony Festival. However, it wasn't later that I discovered he and Missy had spent the rest of the day going through Equestria's History at the Crystal Museum. And from what my daughter told me. He's not doing so well. I believe her words were that he is suffering from denial."
"Denial?" Hitch says as everypony look at each other with worry. Sunny speaks up,
"Screwball, where is he?"
She shrugged her shoulders before remembering something, "Right, he should be with everypony else. At The Fallen,"
"The Fallen, what's that?" Zipp asks,
"It's a memorial cemetery we ponies of Ponyville made to honor those who gave their lives during the fall of Canterlot. And every year on the second day of the Harmony festival, we come back to Canterlot to pay our respects to the fallen,"
"Which way to The Fallen?" Sunny pleads with her,
"Let's see you go down this street, go about three blocks, take a right, go around another two blocks, then the left until you see a fork in the road; you want to take a right, and then once you find the massive crater where the mountain used to be, you are there," She finishes saying with a smile before noticing that she lost her audience half through her explanation, "However, since you are new here, I would suggest just follow everybody else," She gestures to the small group of ponies walking down the street nearby, "I'll be making my way there myself, but I need to pick up a couple of ponies. Take care," With that, Screwball disappears in a flash of light,
Sunny's group looks at each other and silently agrees to follow the ponies. They walked for a good fifteen minutes passing through the ruins of Canterlot and what is left of the castle; before long, they could see the gathering of ponies around a Giant Red Gazebo in the middle of the biggest crater they had ever seen. The entirety of Canterlot could fit within this crater with room to spare. The Gazebo sits on a solid stone foundation thirty feet by thirty feet by ten feet with steps leading to the center on all sides where the monument of The Fallen stands. Candles line the edges of the steps of the Gazebo, with offerings of flowers and trinkets surrounding the monument of The Fallen.
Some ponies would walk up the steps and offer their respects to the monument while others wait at the Gazebo's base for their return. Some ponies would be singing songs that Sunny and her friends never heard before while others played instruments feeling the atmosphere of a tender afternoon. Sunny and her friends waited for their turn to walk up the stairs to see The Fallen.
Once they had climbed the steps, they could see at the center of the Gazebo stands fifteen-foot statues of four alicorns back-to-back facing East, West, North, and South, with two of them taller than the others. Even as statues, you can see how their mains and tails blow into the breeze, their wings above their heads with their forelegs hanging in the air as if they're soaring into the sky. A golden plack lies beneath each one with the names of their respective alicorns written in gold. The last final feature of all four of these alicorns was their faces. There were no traces of anger, frustration, sadness, or morning. No, all four of these princesses were smiling.
And in front of one of the alicorn statues were two familiar ponies. One of them was trying to comfort the other as he stared at the Princess's name before him. The mare took notice of their company and struggled to decide whether to inform a stallion of their presence or remain silent. However, this proved unnecessary; as if suddenly realizing they were behind him, Aaron turns to face them. He recognizes some of the ponies before him, all except for one, but even with the change in color scheme, he knows who she is. After all, he's been talking to her for the past two weeks. He gets up and moves to them, revealing the name of the alicorn statue, 'Friendship is Magic, Twilight Sparkles, The Princess of Friendship,"
Sunny looks away, overwhelmed with guilt. This is not even close to how Sunny imagines telling Aaron the truth, but before she could say anything, he spoke with a cold and empty voice,
