A magical mishap leaves Rainbow dealing with a new inhabitant of Equestria.
A long distance communication spell gone wrong has bizarre consequences for a strange being from another dimension and a blue rainbow maned Pegasus named Rainbow Dash.
"Why do I need to be the one to help with this again?" Rainbow said looking over at her lavender friend. Causing Twilight to roll her eyes and sigh as she explained once again.
"Because Rainbow. You owe me after the last time you crashed into the library." Rainbow Dash, the fastest and most talented pegasus in all of Equestria rolled her eyes and huffed before settling down onto a chair, making sure to sit on it backwards because it's cooler.
"Oh come on! I didn't mean to crash through your window! I said I was sorry!" Twilight brought a hoof to the bridge of her nose and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Rainbow Dash." Twilight said sternly. "You did a lot more damage than just crashing through a window. You destroyed several bookcases dumped hundreds of books onto the floor, smashed the vase my mother sent me last Hearth's Warming And! On top of all of that you somehow managed to catch most of those books on fire!" Twilight ended with a shout. Rainbow flinched back visibly and shrank into the chair. "Look, I'm glad your not hurt and I'm sorry I snapped at you but please help me with this." Twilight looked at Rainbow with pleading eyes before she sighed and her head drooped to the ground.
Rainbow absolutely hated to get emotional but this was Twilight, one of her best friends, she had to do something. Rainbow got up out of the chair and flew over to Twilight putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey." She said softly. "Look I'm really sorry, lets just... get it over with." Twilight instantly perked up.
"You really mean it? You'll help me out?" Twilight said with a gleam in her eye. Rainbow looked worried for a moment but covered it up quickly.
"Hehe yeah. What kind of friend would I be if I left you hanging huh?"
Twilight gasped and began hopping around Rainbow with her eyes closed while shouting. "Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!"
Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "But uh you mind going over it again? I still don't get it." Twilight stopped her excited tirade and in a flash of purple light teleported over to a chalkboard on a nearby wall. Twilight's horn glowed as she levitated a pointer up to the board. Rainbow walked over to Twilight to get a better look.
"Well, after weeks of magical theory I-" Twilight started but was interrupted as a hoof was shoved into her mouth.
"You know I don't speak egghead." Twilight blushed as Rainbow removed her hoof and started again.
"I've worked really hard and I think I've came up with a way to communicate to other unicorns from anywhere in Equestria."
"See that wasn't so hard. But whats wrong with writing a letter and having Spike send it?"
"Ah, but you see this spell will allow you to talk to them as if they were right in front of you. No waiting for a letter to arrive just a quick spell. And Spike can't send letters to just anypony his fire was enchanted by Princess Celestia herself and only goes to her."
"So, you came up with a faster way to send messages to ponies far away?"
"Well yes and no. See what it does is it temporarily transfers someponies spirit to another body."
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! You mean I'm going to be possessed?"
"Only kind of, you will still be able to control your actions their will just be somepony else at the reigns too."
"That sounds kind of dangerous."
"Oh I assure you it's perfectly safe and it will only take a minute." Rainbow looked worried but shrugged it off to put on a brave face. If Twilight said it was safe it was good enough for her.
"Fine, whatever, lets do this." Rainbow said waving her hoof dismissively, Twilight clapped her forehooves together as an excited grin spread across her face.
"Excellent now just stand right there and I'll do the rest. Just let me know when you feel something different." Rainbow rolled her eyes again and sat down on the floor. Twilight muttered quietly to herself. "Professor Bones will be so surprised, I told him this would work!" Twilight's horn began to glow, growing brighter and brighter as layer after layer of magic was weaved through her horn. Rainbow was surrounded in a purple aura as she began levitating off the ground. A minute of charging later Twilight released the spell causing a bright flash of light. Rainbow fell back to the ground landing with a thud. The pegasus got back to her hooves quickly shaking her head to clear her vision.
"Ow! Hey! Be careful Twilight." Twilight grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry Rainbow I didn't realize you were up that high. Now to see if it worked." Twilight walked up to Rainbow and used her hoof to raise Rainbow's head to look her in the eyes. "Professor Bones? Are you in there?"
"..." A minute of silence.
"I don't think it worked Twilight." Twilight sighed and let her head sink towards the floor.
"Maybe Professor Bones was right, this is just folly." Rainbow pulled Twilight into a hug.
"Oh come on Twi I'm sure you'll get it next time. I mean you can't get it right the first time all the time, take me for example I have to practice new stunts at least a few times before I get it right." Twilight hugged back and they let each other go.
"Thanks Rainbow, your right! Just because it didn't work doesn't mean it will never work I just need to go back to the drawing board and try again!" Twilight used her magic to erase the chalkboard and started her calculations over again.
"Hey! You can always count on Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow puffed out her chest and struck a pose. Twilight shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"You can go back to whatever you were doing before I called you here, I have to figure out what I did wrong." Twilight said as she dive back into her work.
"Alright Twilight, if you need me I'm going home to take a nap." Rainbow yawned and stretched her wings. "Later Twilight."
"See you later Rainbow." Twilight said already deep in thought and muttering to herself as she drew various shapes and numbers on the chalkboard. Rainbow flew out the door making sure to shut it behind her before looking up. 'I guess a few tricks couldn't hurt, Ponyville loves a free show.' With a smirk and a look of determination Rainbow launched herself into the sky. Doing loops and rolls and even a Fantastic Filly Flash for the ponies of Ponyville who watched in awe at the rainbow streak darting across the sky. Rainbow stopped and hovered for a bit. *phew* 'That was a great workout.' Using her great eyesight she spotted her cloud house floating lazily off in the distance. 'Time for a nap.' With a quick flap of her powerful wings she was off.
Rainbow loved flying fast but sometimes she liked to just slow down and feel the wind gently flowing across her wings. This was one such time as she slowly flapped her wings, using the thermals and air currents to stay aloft with minimal effort. 'It's too bad Fluttershy never got the hang of this.' Rainbow sighed. Fluttershy, the shy yellow pegasus that was afraid of even her own shadow. Best friends since flight school even though Fluttershy was never a strong flier. 'I should visit her later, after my nap. I haven't seen her for a while.' With her mind made up Rainbow flapped her wings harder and became her infamous rainbow streak as she darted across the sky to her home.
Landing with a soft *poof* on the cloud that made up the base of her home. Rainbow walked slowly up to the door of her two story cloud home. Going inside, the cloud home she made herself using the biggest clouds around. The inside was a bit of a mess as she hated to clean and didn't really care if things were a little messy. It's not like she got many visitors up here anyway. Rainbow felt her stomach growl and went to the kitchen to get something for it, Rainbow was by no means a gourmet chef but that didn't mean she couldn't cook, after all she couldn't go out and eat everyday.
After making herself a daisy sandwich, and eating it too, Rainbow fed Tank her favorite if only pet, Tortoise. With their stomachs tended to she headed upstairs to her nice comfy cloud mattress. Sure all clouds were soft but cloud mattresses were specifically designed to be even softer and more comfortable. Rainbow stretched out her wings and yawned one last time before curling up under the covers and closing her eyes, quickly falling asleep.
As I wake up the sun is shining through the window and onto my face while birds chirp nearby. I roll over away from the sun and try to go back to sleep in this soft bed. I feel a tugging on my back and a pressure on my arm as I roll, I adjust myself until I'm comfortable and settle back down. A moment later I feel a feather brush my face. "Mmm!" I wave my arm around in front of my face and smack something feathery. 'Wait a second! I felt that!' My eyes shoot open quickly and I look around. I'm in a strange room that I have never seen before. The walls, ceiling, and floor are white. 'Am I in the hospital?' I take a closer look, hanging on the walls are various posters of a group called the Wonderbolts a dresser with an open drawer and a bit of a mess scattered around the room. 'Heh looks like my room, except for the posters who are they? This can't be a hospital, it looks more like a bedroom. Where the hell am I?'
I roll out of the bed and try to stumble to my feet. I take a few steps before losing my balance. 'Not the face!' I quickly save my face from a date with the ground as I land on my hands. I take notice of my 'hands' and quickly bite my lip to hold back a surprised shout. 'WHY DO I HAVE HOOVES?! AND WHY ARE THEY BLUE?!' Holding me up are not the pale skinned five digit hands that I have had all my life but instead are two blue and furry stumps ending in a hooves. Trying desperately to keep from freaking out and running around in circles until I pass out from exhaustion. 'If I can even run.' I try to calm down. 'I need a mirror, now where can I find one? A bathroom! Okay, first figure out how to walk then get to mirror. Then I have to find out what the hell is going on.' I try to take a step and stumble around on my hooves for a minute trying to get to the door. After falling down several dozen times and landing on the surprisingly soft floor I finally reach the door and push it open. I cautiously peek my head out and look up and down the hallway before spotting the conveniently placed bathroom not three steps away. Finally getting the hang of not face planting as often I cautiously walk inside and right up to the mirror.
Staring back at me with bright magenta eyes now full of fear, wonder, and confusion is a blue horse. 'No, too small. A pony? I'M A PONY?!' I move my head around to check out the rainbow colored mane when I spot feathers. A quick stretching of my 'arms' and two blue wings unfold from my sides. With eyes widening in surprise I recoil away from the mirror. 'Not just a pony a pegasus pony! What's going on here!?' I feel the strength start to leave my limbs as my vision becomes blurry. 'No. NO! Stay awake! No fainting!' I stand still for a minute to let the dizziness fade. 'I need to lie down.' I carefully walk back to the room I woke up in and stare at the bed that is up to my chest. 'Maybe if I? No what about? AHA!' I lean back on my rear legs and lift my fore hooves into the air, before I lose my balance and fall on my face again I push off manage to get most of the way onto the bed. 'Okay now what?' With a bit of squirming I pull my rear legs up onto he bed with me. 'Well, here I am standing on a bed in a strange house in the body of a blue pegasus. Ha this is the craziest dream I've ever had ha hahaha!' With a pony like snort I lay down on the bed. 'And I'm going to wake up in the morning and laugh about this. I bet I'll wake up if I just go back to sleep.' With my mind made up I close my eyes.
"Mmm." 'Who's there?' Suddenly my eyes open and I get up and stretch. 'What the Hell?! I'm not doing that!' With no control over myself I sit back and watch as I hop down off the bed and with a gentle flap of my wings float back to the bathroom. After... relieving myself I discover that this pegasus is female. 'What the FUCK is going on here! Why am I a girl pegasus!?' Suddenly we stop, and my mouth opens as a raspy voice comes out.
"Is somepony there?" 'Wait, what? Can she hear my thoughts? Wait! She Can Talk?! Who the hell am I asking?' After a minute she shrugs and we go downstairs. 'This is the most fucked up dream I've ever had. First I turn into a pony and then I find out I'm a girl pegasus and now I have no control whatsoever!' After making a sandwich out of daisies. 'Uh oh.' She eats it and I can taste it. 'That, actually isn't half bad. It's kinda like salad but with more flavor.' She fills a bowel with plain old lettuce. 'Don't tell me, is it like cereal?'
"Tank I got breakfast!" 'Tank?' A Tortoise wearing a propeller on its back flies into the room nearly hitting us. Tank lands gently on our head and brings his head down to look us in the eyes causing her to giggle.
"Tank you silly Tortoise." She reaches up and grabs him setting him down on the counter in front of us. He smiles as he eats his lettuce. I can feel her smile as she goes to the door and steps outside. We look around taking in the view in the distance I can make out a large castle perched precariously on the side of a mountain. 'Wow, nice view-' Then she looks down. '-on a Fucking cloud!' I can feel her face form a smile as she jumps off the edge of the cloud.
'HOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYY SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!' With wings tucked to our sides we plummet to the ground at shocking speed. 'Please oh god above I don't wanna be a pancake!' I can feel the adrenaline pumping furiously as the ground rapidly approaches. 'Come on fly!' She waits until the last possible second to spread out our wings, I can feel the strain as she flaps furiously to regain altitude while maintaining our speed. She looks back, a rainbow colored streak is zipping along behind us. We fly fast, faster than I have ever gone in a car. She has a destination in mind as she heads for a small cottage at the edge of a dark forest. With four light thuds we land with all four hooves in front of the cottage and walk up to the door before knocking on it gently. 'Why haven't I woken up yet? Are dreams supposed to be this long?'
"Hey Fluttershy you in there?" She shouts. 'What kind of name is Fluttershy?' The door opens a crack and a yellow face partially obscured by a pink mane pokes out.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash, it's just you. What are you doing all the way out here?" The pony known as Fluttershy opens the door fully. 'I'm Rainbow Dash?'
"I just stopped by to hang out. I haven't seen you in a while." Fluttershy smiles and invites us inside. 'This is way to long to be a dream and way to real to be drugs. Maybe I'm in a coma? What happened last night?' They start chatting so I tune it out and try to remember last night.
"Hey Kevin your shift is over in ten!" I hear my boss shout. He always got angry if someone clocked in early or clocked out late but other than that he wasn't a bad boss.
"I got it!" I shouted back. 'Hopefully he won't bother me again.' I get back to work, I work the back room stocking, taking inventory, unloading trucks, and the like. It's hard work but the pay is alright and the hours fit into my schedule. Up at noon work till eight and video games till I fall asleep.
I finish the last of my tasks for the day and clock out, just in time too as my boss comes back to see if I'm done. "Good job today Kevin, keep it up and you might get a raise." 'A raise! That would mean I could finally afford to move out of that dump of an apartment!' I raise my hand in mock salute.
"Sir yes sir!" He gives me a look and chuckles.
"Go on, get outta here." With a final wave I head out to my car and start it up. I don't live far but the weather is supposed to turn sour and I don't want to get caught in it. I turn on the radio. 'Lets see if there is any good news today.'
"-ocal meteorologists are predicting tonight's storm to be the biggest we've had in a while so batten down the hatches folks it's going to be a rough night. In other news another pile up-" I click off the radio. *sigh* 'I guess not.' I drive back to my apartment in silence only the sound of the engine for company. I park on the side of the road next to my apartment complex and go inside. The complex is a mess but it's home. I fumble with my keys before finding the right one and sliding it home. My apartment is messy but I like it that way, after I wade through the discarded pizza boxes to my T.V. I turn it on. 'So what should I play hmm? Eenie meanie miney moe.' I pick up the game. 'Black ops it is.' I spend the next few hours mopping the floor with some noobs before someone with skill joins. After several kills going back and forth he beats me. 'Well played stranger well played.' I send him a congratulatory message and shut everything off.
With a sigh I stretch my arms popping a few things. Now satisfied I head to the fridge and pull out some cold pizza. I munch on it absentmindedly as I go to my room. Stepping around the mess I finish the pizza and fall into bed. Closing my eyes I fall asleep hoping tomorrow will be better than today.
"And that's how Equestria was made!" I snap out of my flashback as we stare at the bouncing pink pony in front of us. 'What? When did she get here?'
"Pinkie Pie you are so random!" Rainbow Dash says with a laugh. The pink mare called Pinkie Pie bounces over and looks us in the eyes. It was like she was staring into my soul with those blue orbs.
"Hey Dashie did you know you have a guest?" 'Ho hu wha?'
"What are you talking about Pinkie? Nopony is in my house."
"No silly filly. In here." Pinkie taps her hoof on her head and giggles. 'Weird coma dream pony why you no make sense?' Our head shakes as Rainbow laughs quietly. I mental face palm and chuckle at Pinkie's antics while Rainbow freezes on the spot. 'Oh crap did she?'
"Hey guys. I gotta go, see ya!" Rainbow runs out the door and flies up into the sky. 'Okay maybe she just wanted to-'
"Who are you and why are you in my head?" '-or she does know. Crap, what do I do now?'
"I know your in there talk to me!" I concentrate. 'I hope this works.'
'Um Hi?' She tenses, our eyes narrow and I can feel her anger rising. 'Okay she's furious I have to calm her down.'
"Who are you?"
'I'm Kevin.' She thinks for a moment.
"What are you doing in my head? Are you spying on me?!" She crosses our fore hooves.
'Spying? No! I don't know how I got in here i'm just as confused as you are!' Her anger starts to fade and in a low voice she says.
"How long have you been in my head?"
'I'm... i'm not sure exactly, but at least since you woke up this morning.' I can feel the blood drain from her face as she pales.
"You mean you saw..." Her voice trailed off.
'I have seen, heard and felt everything you have but I tried not to pay attention when you were in the bathroom, I am a gentleman after all.' She began blushing.
"Your not going to tell anypony about that are you?" I could feel the worry in her voice.
'What happens in your bathroom stays in your bathroom.'
*phew* "Good." She began lazily flying us towards town.
'So... where are we going?'
"To Twilight's." 'Coma, dream or whatever it doesn't look like i'm waking up anytime soon so I might as well play along.' She began flying faster, a large tree came into view near the center of town and she landed right in front of it.
'Wow that's a big tree, Um why are we here?' Rainbow huffed as she trot up to the door.
"To get answers and hopefully to get you out of my head." Rainbow knocked on the door hastily, warily eyeing the ponies who had stopped to see the mare who was talking to herself. The door opened and an exasperated Twilight glared at the intruder to her domain.
"This is a public library you know." She growled still giving us a death glare.
"Hehe oh yeah." Twilight sighed as we squeezed past her.
"So Twilight about that spell."
"Oh don't get me started on that spell. I've looked it over five times and found no mistakes, it should have worked perfectly. Why didn't it work?" Twilight fell back on her rump staring at the floor as she started muttering quietly.
"Twilight!" Twilight jumped and looked up at us. "It kind of did work, just not how you wanted."
"What?" Twilight looked us up and down as if looking at Rainbow Dash for the first time. "You mean? Professor?"
"Ah no. But it did get somepony."
"If the spell didn't get the Professor then who did it get?"
"He said his name is Kevin." Twilight snorted and started laughing.
"That name is ridiculous!" Twilight said as she rolled onto the floor.
'Hey! It's my name, what kind of name is Twilight anyway? It's a time of day and a bad book where I come from.'
"Kevin disagrees with you Twilight." Rainbow said holding in her giggles.Twilight calmed herself and stood up.
"So you can hear him right now? It really did work?"
"Yes." Twilight smiled.
"I Knew it Would Work! Can I talk to Kevin? He should be able to talk through you just relax and let it happen." Twilight levitated over a quill and parchment with her magic. Hey that's pretty cool.' "I want to know everything." She said as her smile turned a bit maniacal. 'And that's really fucking creepy.'
"I don't know about this." Rainbow said nervously.
"Just relax Rainbow you can even take a nap if you want."
"Well alright. Kevin you better not do anything I'll regret!"
'What! Don't leave me alone with her!' Rainbow snorted and lay down on the cushion. After a few minutes she fell asleep, I opened our eyes and stood up while Twilight stared in awe.
"Rainbow?"
"No, i'm Kevin." I say chuckling nervously, I stick out a hoof to shake before remembering I don't have hands. I try to pull it back but Twilight grabs it shaking it before letting go. 'How?'
"I can't believe it, my spell really worked! Yes!" Twilight hoof pumped and did a cute little victory dance. Seeing no reason to interrupt I let her finish. A minute later she stopped and sat back down quill and parchment at the ready with a huge not so maniacal grin on her face.
"All done?" She nodded furiously like her life depended on it, never losing her smile for an instant.
"Yep! Now I have some questions for you. Seeing as you were not the intended target of my spell I need your help to find out why you were grabbed instead." 'I still think your just some sort of coma induced hallucination, but why not see what you have to say.'
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"Well for starters I need to know where you were and the last thing you remember doing." 'Shouldn't a hallucination know this?'
"Well, ok I guess. I was in my apartment, and the last thing I remember doing was going to sleep."
"Sleeping got it. Now where in Equestria is your apartment?" Twilight said as she took down notes.
"I've never heard of Equestria. My apartment is in a country called the United States of America. Where I come from the only sentient species is a race of bipedal hairless apes with powerful brains." Twilight's smile may not have faded but the twinkle in her eyes had certainly died.
"Were you one of these apes?"
"Yes. We call ourselves humans." Twilight looked up from her parchment, staring at me for a moment before going back to taking notes.
"I've never heard of those before. Where are you from again?"
"Ohio."
"What?"
"Never mind. Can you send me back or not?" Twilight stopped writing and levitated her quill and parchment to a table.
"Do you have magic?"
"No why?"
"Then we have a problem." Twilight took on a serious face that worried me a little.
"Explain." I said trying to keep the worry from strangling my voice.
"The spell was designed for unicorns. The reason it is only supposed to be used on them is because they are able to use their magic to return to their bodies. But since you can't use magic."
"I can't send myself home."
"Right. However, I prepared for this. If the spell affected the wrong pony I can send them back myself, if I just use this spell-" Twilight opened the drawer of a nearby desk. "-here... Uh oh."
"Uh oh, what do you mean Uh oh?"
"The return spell I wrote down is kind of... missing." I took a step towards the desk eyes darting frantically for any sign of the parchment that held the key to my way home. 'What if the only way to wake up is to use that spell! How will I get home?'
"But you have another copy. Right?" I say as panic begins to rear it ugly head.
"You see, well, um. No, I don't. But I can remake it, I just need a week!" 'Great, a whole week in a coma dream thing.' I face hoof which seeing as hooves are hard, hurt a lot.
'Oww.''Stupid stupid stupid!'
"Whu? Ow! Why does my face hurt?"
'Sorry Rainbow, that's my bad.' Rainbow huffed and blew our mane from our eyes.
"Rainbow?"
"Yeah I'm awake. So what's up?"
"I'm afraid your going to be stuck with Kevin for a while." Rainbow tensed up.
"Don't you have a spell to send him home?"
"Well I did but it's gone and now I have to remake it."
"What!?"
"Don't worry I should be done in a week tops!" Rainbow started pacing back and forth in front of Twilight.
"A week! But the Wonderbolts future bolts competition is in a week!" Twilight flinched at the shout. 'The what?'
"I'll work as fast as I can Rainbow but you can't rush it. I don't want to accidentally scatter his spirit." Rainbow sank into the cushion and covered our head with our hooves. 'Wait. I can get scattered?!'
"I've got weather duty today Twilight, I gotta go." Rainbow muttered from beneath our hooves before getting up. Rainbow leapt up into the air and with a thrust of our wings was out the door.
'So what is weather duty anyway? I don't see and radar dishes anywhERE!' Rainbow started zipping back and forth across the sky kicking clouds faster than I could keep track. One moment she was kicking a cloud and the next she had already gone through two more. Suffice it to say it was an amazing display of speed and skill. After about ten seconds we stopped, she hovered in the air and puffed out her chest breathing heavily.
"That, is how I do weather duty." If I could move our jaw right now it would be on the ground. 'She just... all the clouds... in the sky...'
"Ten seconds flat." Rainbow rubbed a hoof on her chest then blew off some dust before gently floating back down to the ground.
'That has to be the most amazing display of speed I have ever seen!'
"What can I say? It's my talent."
'The agility, the speed, the amazing skill!' Rainbow's smile grew bigger and bigger as I went.
"Well I don't mean to brag but I am the only pony to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom."
'A what?'
"It's-" Rainbow started but was cut off by a voice from behind us.
"Dashie if your head swells any bigger you won't be able to fly straight." We spun around to see the pink bubbly mare known as Pinkie Pie already bouncing around us in circles and talking nonstop about something I can't keep up with or even attempt to follow. Rainbow shoves a hoof into her mouth and we wait a few minutes, when she seems to be finished Rainbow takes our hoof back. "And then I said are you crazy? You can't have a party without hot sauce! And then Surprise was like-" 'Hot sauce?'
"Pinkie you are So random." Pinkie stopped and giggled.
"Ooo that reminds me are we still going pranking today?"
"You know it!"
'Hey can I come too? Oh wait, I have to. Can I help?'
"Er. Hey Pinkie-"
"Of course you can help Kevin." 'What. The.-'
"-Buck?" Rainbow stopped and stared at her pink friend. After a few seconds she shook our head and started muttering to herself. "Just Pinkie being Pinkie. Just Pinkie being Pinkie." Over and over again until she calmed down.
'Rainbow? You okay? What was that all about?'
"No but I'll manage. I still can't understand how she does that but don't question it. It can drive a pony crazy."
'Uhuh.'
"Come on we have pranks to pull!" Pinkie said happily bouncing away into town.
A/N: In case you didn't figure it out. 'Kevin thinks like this.' he hears this.
'Talks in Rainbows head like this.' Rainbow hears this. (and Pinkie too)
"And talks through Rainbow like this." Everpony in hearing distance hears this. But Kevin can only do it when Rainbow lets him. As it is still her body she has control.
"Hurry up Rainbow! Were burning daylight!" Pinkie shouted from across the plaza. "I'll race you to Sugarcube Corner!" And with that Pinkie took off in a pink blur. With a determined grin Rainbow quickly flapped our wings and took off, flying quickly to make up for Pinkies head start. Now Rainbow is fast, really fast but that pink blur below us gave her a run for her money. Quickly darting around market stalls and over ponies as Rainbow zoomed overhead We were neck and neck before Rainbow put on one final burst of speed leaving the pink mare in the dust..
"Hah! I beat you Pinks." Rainbow said as we landed in front of a very large gingerbread house I assumed was Sugarcube Corner. The pink blur ran right up to us and stopped mere inches from our face a dust cloud following quickly behind. *Cough Cough*
"Aw, so you did. That was fun maybe I'll beat you next time!" Pinkie said already bouncing.
"Yeah maybe. So, you got the stuff?" Pinkie leaned in close to whisper in our ear but continued to speak in a normal voice anyway.
"You bet I do! This will be the best prank ever!" Pinkie led us to a small box behind Sugarcube Corner and looked around to make sure nopony was looking before lifting the tarp covering it.
"Oh yeah, this is perfect." Rainbow said quietly and began an evil chuckle, Pinkie followed quickly laughing maniacally.
'Um... What is it?' Rainbow and Pinkie stopped laughing and Pinkie stared at us. Rainbow looked around to make sure nopony was listening before whispering to me quietly.
"This right here is 100% pure rainbow extract, it is by far the spiciest thing in all of Equestria."
'Wow, okay cool but what are we going to do with it?'
"Were going to put some in one of Applejacks pies."
"Okay Pinkie you know the plan you distract AJ while I plant the rainbow."
"Silly Dashie you can't plant rainbows." Pinkie said as she bounced.
"Ugh you know what I mean!" Rainbow said with a groan while face hoofing.
"Okie dokie Dashy!" Pinkie gave a salute and bounced off to the house. Rainbow lifted off and flew silently to the back of the house waiting for Pinkie to begin her part of the plan. Through the open window we could hear the sounds of pots and pans being rattled as the pony inside moved about the kitchen.
"Now where in tarnation did I put the cinnamon? Ah, here it is. Perfect, now I just need to let it cool." Hoofsteps approached the window and the quiet clatter of tin on wood could be heard. "I'm sure nopony will notice if I just sneak a lil taste." *Ding Dong* "Darnit so close." The hoofsteps retreated quickly towards the front of the house.
"Hehehe too easy." Rainbow pulled out the bottle of rainbow extract and opened it pouring some of its super spicy contents onto the steaming apple pie, with a quiet chuckle we slinked away quickly heading for the front of the house. Rainbow peeked around the corner to see Pinkie still talking with Applejack.
"Pinkie I gotta get back to bakin, I still gotta make the fritters for our picnic tomorrow. I'll see ya later."
"Bye Applejack!" Applejack closed the door, Pinkie spotted us and trotted quickly over. "Ooo Did you do it? Did you do it? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
"Yeah we did it. Now let's hurry up and find some good seats to watch the show from."
"What show? I thought we were pranking Applejack."
"We are it's just an expression, come on." We snuck back around to an apple tree nearby the window and climbed into the branches. From our spot we could see the kitchen, as AJ continued to cook an elderly green mare came in on a walker.
"How's it comin Applejack?"
"I'm almost done Granny Smith just gotta put these fritters in the fryer."
"Good good." Granny Smith made her way over to the window and looked out over the farm before taking a glance at Applejack to see if she was watching. In a flurry of movement I didn't think she was capable of she snuck a taste of our booby trapped pie. Even from here we could see her eyes widen and begin to water.
"WHOLLY GEE WILLY WILLIKERS THAT'S HOT!" AJ spun around to see Granny Smith smoking from the ears as her face turned the many colors of the rainbow. We started laughing as Granny Smith tossed aside her walker and ran over to the sink to douse the fires on her tongue. 'I didn't know faces could turn those colors.'
"Granny!" AJ shouted before noticing the missing piece of pie. "My Pie!" She ran over and inspected it before taking a tiny taste. A little steam blew out of her ears as her face turned red. "Rainbow and Pinkie." AJ ran outside and started searching the trees. "I know your hiding in there somewhere! Come on out you two!" 'She definitely doesn't sound too happy.'
'I think it's time to beat a hasty retreat.'
"Quick into the party cannon!" Pinkie shouted as she grabbed us and pulled us into the cannon that she pulled from behind her back.
"Wait! Pinkie I can-" Pinkie hit the button causing a loud *BOOOOM* as the cannon fired us out into the sky. "-FLYYYYYY!" We flew out and over the orchard and back towards town Pinkie giggling the whole way. Halfway to Ponyville we started going back down. "Pinkie how are you going to land?!" Rainbow shouted a little worry in her voice.
"That's a silly question, we're going to land like this!" Pinkie pulled a remote from her hair and hit the button. As we flew over Sugarcube Corner a massive catchers mitt popped out and caught us before safely depositing us onto the ground and going back into its hiding spot. "WHEEE! That was fun! We should do that again sometime!" Pinkie shouted as she bounced around us.
'Ugh my eyes are still spinning.' Rainbow shook our head and our vision started to clear up.
"Pinkie, next time. Remember I don't need to be shot out of a cannon." Pinkie put a hoof to her chin apparently lost in thought.
"Hmm, okie dokie loki!" She said before breaking into a giggle fit. "Do you remember the look on Granny Smith's face when she took a bite of that pie?! She was like Wholly gee willy willikers and then she ran for the sink!" As she said this she pulled out a cupcake and a hot sauce bottle, she tried to pour some onto the cupcake but when nothing came out of the bottle Rainbow handed her the rainbow extract. Pinkie put a few drops onto the cupcake and ate the now rainbow colored cupcake. Pinkie had a similar reaction to Granny Smith except for the fact that she enjoyed it.
"Pinkie Pie you are so random." Rainbow said giggling, Pinkie yawned as the sun started to set on the horizon.
"Oh! I guess I should go and put Gummy to bed, goodnight Rainbow." Pinkie said as she waved goodbye and went into the bakery.
"Night Pinks." *Yawn* "I guess we should get going too."
'Yeah I guess we should.' Rainbow flew up into the air and made for her cloud home. Upon arriving she made Tank and herself dinner before going upstairs to her bedroom and plopping down on the bed.
'Hey Rainbow.'
"Hmm?"
'Today was fun.'
"Mhm."
'And I just wanted to say thanks.'
"For what?"
'For helping me not spaz out about being stuck here.' My only response was the soft snores of the sleeping pegasus. 'I could try flying while she's asleep...nah.' I pulled up the blanket and went to sleep.
I awoke to Rainbow getting Tank his breakfast. With a playful smile placed the bowl down before nuzzling the tortoise affectionately. "Who's my favorite Tortoise? You are!"
'Mornin Rainbow, having fun with Tank?'
"Ahh!" Rainbow jumped back flaring our wings defensively and smacking Tank's bowl with an outstretched wing and spilling some lettuce. "Don't do that while I'm distracted you... you startled me." I could feel our heart beating rapidly as she spoke but chose to ignore it instead of irritate her further.
'Didn't Applejack say something about a picnic today?' I questioned while Rainbow picked up the spilled lettuce.
"Yeah! Me and my friends have a picnic every week." Rainbow rinsed off the lettuce and put it back into Tank's bowl.
'So I get to see all of your friends?'
"Yep."
'Cool so who is going to be there?'
"Twilight, unless she forgot again, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity."
'I remember seeing Fluttershy yesterday but I wasn't paying any attention. Who is Rarity?'
"Rarity is a unicorn fashion designer, she hates dirt and is a total drama queen. But she is also one of most generous ponies ever, she made all of us dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala for free."
'Wow that must have cost her a lot.'
"Maybe but she refused to let us pay her. Anyway we should get going it's almost time for the picnic." With one final nuzzle from Tank she flew out the door and into the open sky. To describe the sensation you get to be able to fly, to be able to feel the air in your feathers and on your face. To have the freedom to go anywhere you want including nowhere at all. Well, that's the best description your going to get. Rainbow flew around Ponyville and landed on a cloud near a hill where several colorful blobs were walking towards a large tree.
Rainbow brought the cloud down with us and placed it near the tree. "Hey guys!" Rainbow called out to the approaching group.
"Well shoot, you ain't late this time Rainbow."
"Hey I'm not always late!"
'Late huh?'
Rainbow growled. "Shut up."
"Actually Rainbow you usually are. Last week you didn't show up until we were all heading home, and the week before that-" Twilight said while using her magic to unfold the picnic blanket.
"I get Twilight." Rainbow said rubbing the back of our head with a hoof.
"Good morning Rainbow." A small voice called out from below us.
"Hey Fluttershy, sorry about leaving early yesterday but I had to tell Twilight something important." Rainbow started as the white unicorn began levitating the picnic items from the wicker baskets each of them wore.
"Oh that's okay I don't mind."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, it's alright I know you wouldn't leave like that without a good reason."
"Rainbow darling what did you have to tell Twilight that was so important?" The white unicorn who I assumed was Rarity said while adjusting a pillow on her big red couch. 'Where did she get that?'
"I uh." Rainbow stuttered trying to come up with the words to describe the current situation.
"She was helping me with a spell and needed to tell me the unintended side effects that had shown up after an undetermined amount of time after the spells completion." The other unicorn gaped for a moment before regaining her composure.
"Side effects? Twilight I do hope you weren't testing something dangerous on Rainbow." A squeak came from Fluttershy's direction as the yellow pegasus darted behind the sturdy apple farmer.
"No, of course not. It was just a long distance communication spell."
"Oh? And did it work? I would love to be able to easily chat with my parents while they are on vacation."
"Well, only kind of. It brought someone just not who we wanted. And he kinda can't leave." Twilight said getting quieter and quieter until she reminded me of Fluttershy.
"...." Everypony stopped setting up the picnic to stare at the lavender unicorn as she shrunk into the ground.
"Everypony I want you to meet Kevin." Twilight said as she pointed her hoof to us. The others stared at us with looks of confusion clearly on full display as Twilight continued. "The spell pulled him into Rainbow's mind where he is currently trapped until I can finish the return spell." Pinkie with a massive grin that should not fit on her face but somehow does anyway bounced up to us and shook our hoof with a strength unheard of for her small frame.
"Nice to meet you again Kevin!" Pinkie shouted as she released our hoof still slightly numb from the experience.
'Hi Pinkie.'
*gasp* "I could throw you a party! But what would I call it?" Pinkie went over to the corner of the blanket muttering possible names for a party.
"Kevin huh? Well I reckon as long as you can be nice to Rainbow your alright with me."
"Yes darling I quite agree with dear Applejack."
"Um that's nice." Fluttershy squeaked as she changed hiding spots quickly darting behind Twilight.
"Fluttershy I'm still me, Kevin is just in here to watch." Fluttershy peeked warily from behind Twilight and came out slowly.
"Okay."
"Oh and before I forget here." Twilight used her magic to levitate an amulet over to us.
"What is it?" The amulet was a green gem resting inside of a silver frame. The chain dangled in the air before us as Rainbow grabbed it eyeing it warily.
"This amulet is able to read your mind and broadcast desired thoughts out loud. I enchanted it myself." Twilight said smiling and proud of her work.
"So it will let Kevin talk?"
"Hopefully." Rainbow shrugged and put on the amulet. "To use the amulet just focus on it and speak in your mind."
'Well here goes nothing.' I focused on the amulet and tried to speak. "Testing testing one two three." Everypony except Twilight jumped at the gruff voice coming from the amulet.
"It kinda sounds like him." Rainbow said scratching our head.
"It might need a little adjustment." Twilight said sheepishly as her horn glowed and the amulet lifted up in a purple glow before flashing brightly and settling back down. "Try it now."
"Uh shoop de woo?" The voice that came out sounded almost like mine although a little ghostly.
"Well, that's real eerie Twi but it works." Applejack said scratching her head as she readjusted her hat.
"I found it in a book while I was researching the return spell and the enchantment seemed easy enough."
"Thanks Twilight I can actually talk to people er.. ponies now."
"Yeah yeah it's really neat and all but can we eat now I missed breakfast for this." Our stomach growled to accentuate her point.
"Of course darling." Rarity's horn glowed and the remaining picnic baskets opened up as several dishes were lifted from inside. Fritters, sandwiches, and a pie were lifted from the basket as Pinkie pulled cupcakes, cookies, and a cake from behind her back. With a watering mouth Rainbow grabbed a slice of pie and took a large bite.
Applejack started chuckling lightly earning a look from Rainbow. "Whas tho wunny?"
"That's for yesterday Rainbow." Applejack said still chuckling.
"Huh?" She mumbled through the pie, and then it hit. The heat of the spiciest thing in Equestria, rainbow extract. 'HOLY MOTHER THAT IS SPICY!' As smoke began billowing from our ears Rainbow yelped and dove for the lemonade pitcher to quench the fires raging on our tongue. After downing the pitcher the heat became manageable, most likely due to the fact that out tongue was numb.
"I can't theel my tongue." Rainbow managed our tongue was lolling out the side of our mouth as she mumbled.
"Well played Applejack, well played indeed."
"Why thank ya, but it weren't my idea it was Granny's." Applejack
"I don't see the problem! This pie is fantastic!" We turned to look at Pinkie as she shoved the rest of the pie into her mouth. Her face turning the colors of the rainbow before she belched out a small flame narrowly missing us.
"Be careful Pinkie! You almost singed my perfectly coiffured mane." Rarity squealed as she levitated a small mirror to check for damage while she bounced her curls.
"Oops sorry." Pinkie muttered apologetically.
"No harm done, all is forgiven." Rarity said putting the mirror away. "Now, may we continue enjoying this marvelous spread?" Agreement came from all around as we dug in.
"Hmm..." Pinkie stopped her bouncing in mid air to think and completely defying several laws at the same time. "Nopey dopey!" She happily chirped before resuming her bounce.
"Go right ahead Pinkie saves me the trouble of taking it home." Applejack said with a chuckle.
"Whoopee!" Pinkie shouted as she lifted all of the remaining food and shoved it into her mouth, gulping it down in one bite as Pinkie's stomach extended far beyond normal means to accommodate it.
"I'd ask how you did that but I get the feeling I don't want to know."
"It's best not to ask when it comes to Pinkie."
"Point taken." I said as Pinkie belched causing her distended stomach to return to normal. "So if Rainbow is a weather mare and Applejack is a farmer and Twilight is a librarian. What do the rest of you do?"
"Pick me! Pick me! I want to go first."
My ghostly chuckle was mildly disturbing to hear out loud but didn't ruin the mood. "How about the pink mare in the front."
"Yes!" Pinkie hoof pumped and bounced happily. "I'm Ponyville's number one party pony! I'm the besterest at baking sweets and treats at Sugarcube Corner too! Okay Rarity your turn!"
"Quite. I am the fabulous owner of Carousel Boutique where everything chic unique and magnifique." Rarity said bouncing her mane in what i'm sure was a flattering fashion.
"But ponies don't normally wear clothes." My eerie voice easily conveyed my confusion of a fashion designer among the nude.
"That's what ah said!" Rarity pursed her lips and harrumphed crossing her forearms and turning away from us. Twilight gave us a light kick and glared us down.
"Uh! I mean, I'm sure you make amazing clothes! Yeah!" Rarity turned back to us.
"Yes I do, the dresses I create are works of art that even the elite of Canterlot clamor for." Rarity had a twinkle in her eyes as she spoke about her work.
"Yeah that's great. Uh what about you Fluttershy?" Fluttershy squeaked at the mention of her name and hid behind her mane. "Um Fluttershy?" When no answer seemed forthcoming Twilight stepped in.
"Fluttershy is the local veterinarian, she takes care of all the animals."
"Really? That must be a lot of work all by yourself."
"Angel bunny helps me." She squeaked barely above a whisper.
"What was that?"
"Angel bunny helps me." She tried again louder.
"That's very kind of him. You know, I used to have a pet."
"You did?"
"Yes, he was a big black labrador, we named him Truck. Ironically it was a truck that made him leave us."
"Oh my."
"You know when I get back home I think I'll get a new dog, seeing Rainbow and Tank makes me miss having a pet."
"Were they nuzzling again?" Applejack deadpanned.
"N..No! I was just uh. Okay fine! But so what!" Rainbow said as a blush began to form.
"Nothin, nothing at all. I just like to see you get all flustered about it." Applejack chuckled. Rainbow groaned and covered our face with our hooves.
'Hey, don't let em see ya cry.'
"I'm not going to cry!" Rainbow shouted as she flew up into the air and stormed off, a rainbow streak trailing behind. We flew for what seemed like hours, eventually the sun started to go down and we found ourselves hovering over a gorge. With a weary sigh we set down on a nearby cloud with a light *poof*.
'Rainbow listen-'
"Shut up!"
'But I-'
"I said be quiet! I need to be alone right now." 'It's not like I can go anywhere.' Rainbow sighed and lay down on the cloud with one hoof dangling idly over the edge. It was quiet as the sun set and then she started humming it was a gentle tune like a mother's lullaby.
The sunset glowed brightly one last time as she hummed the final notes before it finally sank out of view. The moon began to rise as the stars twinkled into existence one by one. 'Rainbow... that was beautiful.'
"Yeah well don't go telling anypony about that okay."
'But why?'
"It's personal."
'I won't tell anyone.'
"Pinkie promise?"
'I don't have a pinkie any more but yeah of course.'
"No like this." She raised her right hoof. "Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye."
'Now that's just silly, but okay. Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye.'
"Now I know you can't talk." Rainbow sniffled and rubbed an eye. "My mom used to hum that whenever I was scared. It's all I have left of her now."
'You mean she's?'
"Yes, she went to sleep one night and just didn't wake up the next day. Daddy was devastated, he cut himself off from everypony around him and he died a broken stallion a few months later."
'That's terrible.'
"I've moved on, it was hard but I did."
'What did you do next?'
"I dropped out of flight school and moved to Ponyville with Fluttershy. I don't regret it, I'll never leave my friends they're all I have left." The moon rose silently on its path across the sky. Crickets and other creatures of the night chirped and squeaked as she began humming again. When she finished her breathing slowed as she fell asleep.
'Goodnight Rainbow, sweet dreams.' I watched the moon rise for a few minutes before falling asleep the sound of crickets filling the air.
The birds were chirping and the sun was shining on another beautiful day in Equestria. I tore through the sky at high speed feeling the wind in my mane as I plummeted towards the ground. A white cone began forming in front of me creating resistance to my fall. I smirked and pushed myself harder, 'Today is the day I do it! Nopony is faster than me!'
"Rainbow? Rainbow Dash wake up." 'Huh? That was certainly a strange dream.' A gentle prod on our side and I opened our eyes. The teal eyes of the kind hearted pegasus known as Fluttershy blinked in surprise. I was lying on a cloud, pink hair blocking my vision. "Rainbow?"
"Rainbow can't answer right now please leave a message after the tone. Beeeep." I said grinning. *Eep* I stand up carefully as Fluttershy backs away to the edge of the cloud.
"Hey, calm down Fluttershy it's just your friendly interdimensional alien friend Kevin!" I smile in what I hope is a friendly manner but I'm not used to muzzles so who knows what it looks like.
"O..oh sorry. We got worried about Rainbow when she didn't come back yesterday."
"Oh yeah, that. Uh don't worry, I talked to her and it's cool now." Fluttershy smiled softly.
"Um if you don't mind we should get back to the others. I mean if you want to that is."
"Why sure thing Fluttershy but uh, I don't know how to use these." I stretched out the toned wings on our back waving them about a little.
"Oh... well, how about I move the cloud closer to the ground. Then you can just jump down."
"Wait. You can do that? That's so cool!" Fluttershy blushed and shrank a little at the compliment.
"Oh it's nothing special really all pegasi can do it."
"But no one back home can!" Fluttershy gave me a small smile and flapped her wings, she grabbed the cloud and began pushing it closer to the ground. About a foot from the ground I jumped off landing with a *whump*. "Thanks for the lift Fluttershy! I'd be stuck up there until Rainbow woke up if it weren't for you."
"Your welcome." Fluttershy said as she landed on the ground nearby.
"Should we get going?"
"Y..yes this way." Fluttershy turned towards a nearby path and started walking. The gorge began to leave our view as we slowly trot over a hill.
"So Fluttershy, you said you were the local vet right?"
"Vet? Oh yes I guess you could say that."
"What's it like? Taking care of so many animals, it must be a lot of work."
"Oh it is, but it's worth it to see the smiles of all my little animal friends."
"That's wonderful Fluttershy I'm glad you found something you really love to do."
"Oh um thank you."
"Do you think I could stop by for a bit? See what all you do and stuff? I could even help out if you like!"
"Oh uh ok if you want too."
"Cool!" Before long we came upon the hill where we had the picnic.
"The others must still be out looking. Look there's Applejack now. APPLEJACK!" Fluttershy whisper yelled it was quite adorable and louder than I had ever heard her speak before but still too quiet for the orange mare in the distance to hear.
"Here let me try. APPLEJACK!" Applejack jumped at the sound of my yell and looked over in our direction. We waved and she waved back as she started trotting towards us. The sound of pounding hooves announced the presence of the other three coming over the hill.
"Rainbow! Kevin! Fluttershy! We were starting to get worried you weren't coming back!" Twilight said as they came to a stop in front of us.
"Just me right now Rainbow's still asleep."
"OH! OH! Hi Kevin! Did you miss us? Well you weren't gone that long but it was long enough for us to get worried so it must have been long enough for you to start to miss us bec-" Pinkie's latest rant was brought to a halt by the orange hoof now residing within her mouth.
"Shoo Wee sugarcube you sure do like to talk."
"Hey Pinkie I have a challenge for you." AJ removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth.
"OH I like games! What is it?"
"I want to see how long you can go without saying more than five words in a sentence."
*gasp* "That could be fun! How do I win?"
"You have to last until I go home, and if you win I'll let you in on a little secret." Pinkie gave me a hard stare looking me deep in the eyes.
"Is it Dashie's secret?"
"Um uh what secret?" I said looking around nervously. 'Does she know something?'
"Okay then!"
"Well alrighty then. I gotta be gettin back to work now, make sure to stop on by now!" Applejack tipped her hat to us and left.
"Hey wait for me AJ!" Pinkie said as she bounced off after her.
"I should get back too, that spell won't finish itself."
"Yes darling and I must take my leave of you as well I have this marvelous idea for a new dress that I simply must get started on, tata!" Rarity and Twilight trot off towards town leaving me with Fluttershy and sleeping Rainbow.
"So..."
"Yes?"
"Well now's as good a time as any, can I help out?"
"Oh um yes?"
"Hooray! Just give me a task and I'll get it done."
"Well uh follow me." A quick trot down the path led us to a small cottage surrounded by dozens of small furry animals. We went over the bridge and up to the front door as Fluttershy let us inside. 'So much fluffy!'
Inside are a multitude of birds nests and other assorted homes for the smallest of woodland critters. As I step inside a carrot sails through the air narrowly missing Fluttershy and hitting me instead. Fortunately it was just a carrot so it didn't hurt much.
"Angel! That was very mean! I want you to apologize right now!" A small white rabbit with a scowl on his face crossed his arms and turned away from us.
"Angel Bunny you apologize right now mister!" Fluttershy got right up in his face and gave him a harsh glare of disapproval, a few seconds later he was on the ground quivering. Raising his arms in defeat Fluttershy backed off and he hopped over. He looked down as he squeaked something in bunny that I could never hope to understand.
"Uh apology accepted?" Fluttershy smiled as Angel's jaw dropped to stare. His scowl returned and he jumped up grabbing the amulet and backing away examining it closely. Fluttershy gasped and stood frozen unsure what to do.
"Hey! I need that to talk when Rainbow wakes up. Give it back!" Angel got tired of just looking at it and tried hitting it biting it and all manner of ways to get it to do... something. All the while he was squeaking away as dozens of other rabbits came to watch.
"Angel give it back." I said taking a step towards him. Angel stuck out his tongue and hopped under the sofa. I looked under the sofa to find... nothing. 'Where did he go?' Some chittering from behind attracts my attention moving quickly I spin around and spot Angel diving into the large group of bunnies that had gathered to watch.
"Come on!" I slowly scanned the crowd for the amulet hoping to be able to spot it in the- 'Aha! I got you now!' Having spotted the white menace I quickly leapt into action attempting to grab the elusive rabbit only for the crowd to scatter and my target to hop straight up. I land with an *Oomph* as Angel comes back down from his hop to land in our mane. After untangling himself from the rainbow colored mess Fluttershy snaps out of her shock and scoops up Angel into her hooves taking the amulet from him in the process.
"Heh thanks Fluttershy." Fluttershy frowns at Angel as she hoofs over the amulet to me. I look it over before putting it on the gem inside appears to be undamaged.
"Angel..." The disapproving glare he received was enough to almost bring the bunny to tears. 'That is the saddest looking bunny I have ever seen.' His ears dragging on the floor behind him as he slowly hopped over to a small door in the wall. He stopped and looked back one last time before going inside. As the door closed Fluttershy sighed.
"What am I going to do with him?"
"Does he normally act like that?"
"No, he usually calms down after he throws something."
"I wonder what got him upset?" She turned around and looked around at all the animals that had gathered to watch.
"Oh my you must all be so hungry, Kevin will you help me feed them?"
"Well I did come to help, just tell me what to do!"
Over the course of the next hour I spent my time running all around the cottage inside and out grabbing bowls filled with food for various animals and taking them to the hungry critter. Finally I came back to the cottage to see Fluttershy resting on her sofa. "Does this mean were done?" I said moving to take a seat beside her.
"Yes, that was the last one. Thank you for helping me Kevin none of my friends ever have the time."
"I'm glad I could help, it was fun, and you were right all those smiles just make me feel all fuzzy inside." Fluttershy smiled at me.
"Ya know I'm surprised Rainbow hasn't woken up yet. Does she normally sleep this long?"
"Only on her days off, actually she should be waking up soon." *Yawn* 'speak of the devil.' Rainbow blinks our eyes and stretches before looking around.
"What the hay? How did I get here? Fluttershy?"
"Hello Rainbow."
"Kevin? When did we get here?"
"This morning Fluttershy woke me up, so after talking for a bit I decided to help her with her animal friends so I did and now here we are."
"Oh." Rainbow went silent as she digested this information.
"Rainbow would you like to join me for lunch?"
"Sure Fluttershy, oh hay I just remembered I have to go home and feed Tank! Back in a flash Flutters!" Fluttershy nodded and smiled in understanding as we took off. Rainbow zoomed out the door and up into the sky off towards the cloud house she calls home. After landing in front of the door we quickly trot inside. Rainbow went to the kitchen and prepared Tank's food.
"Tank! Come and get it!" The buzzing of helicopter blades came from upstairs as the tortoise flew down the stairs and into the kitchen. Flying right up to our face he gave us a lick and a smile. 'Eeeew!' Which made Rainbow giggle and smile as he landed to eat.
"I'll be back later Tank." The tortoise looked over at us and slowly nodded his head while still smiling. Rainbow took off back out the door.
"Hey Kevin, watch this!" Rainbow flew straight up higher than I've ever seen her go before, so high that Ponyville was just a small patch on the sea of green below. Then with the air getting thin and the temperature dropping rapidly she stopped flapping our wings.
'Here we go again.' We began falling towards the ground. 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' With wings pumping furiously we continued to pick up speed as we plummet towards the ground. A white vapor cone began to form in front of us as the wind began causing our eyes to water, with hooves outstretched she streamlined our body for one last extra bit of speed. And then something happened, The cone before us tightened and started changing colors before shattering in an ear wrenching *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* The air resistance faded and our speed increased exponentially as we shot towards the ground.
'Rainbow, I hope you plan on pulling up soon!' With a smirk we continued closer and closer until just a few feet from the ground she performs an impossible ninety degree turn bringing us level with the ground. We shoot towards Ponyville like a rocket flying down the road that led into town. We gained altitude as we approached town until we were above the tallest building. As we flew over town Rainbow executed a series of aileron rolls until we left city limits.
'Don't... do that... again. I'm gonna be sick.' She shook our head and finally began slowing down landing on a cloud. Looking back the rainbow streak that followed us was twisted like a coil from the rolls, we watched silently as it faded away.
'What, was that?'
"That, was my famous Sonic Rainboom." Rainbow took off again and flew lazily towards Fluttershy's cottage. 'This world is amazing!'
Lunch with Fluttershy was... interesting, first we had to coax her out from under her bed where she had hidden from the shock wave caused by the Sonic Rainboom. Then we had to convince her that nothing was going to hurt her before finally reminding her that she offered lunch. We sat at the dining room table as Fluttershy prepared the food while humming a cheerful tune. Rainbow made an offer to help but Fluttershy politely declined saying something about us being guests but in a whisper neither of us could quite make out.
A few minutes of waiting later and Fluttershy had brought out a fancy salad for the both of us as well as a few fruits. Normally I'm not a big vegetable eater but I'll have to give greens another shot when I get home! When we had finished eating Fluttershy told us that Angel wanted to really apologize this time, the small white bunny stood in the doorway a look of burning defiance on his face. As we approached his gaze softened and he gave a little bow before straightening himself and giving a smile.
"What the hay did you do to him Fluttershy? He's never done this before." Angel hopped to the side and waved a paw out the door as if to say you may go.
"Um I didn't do anything Rainbow." We stepped outside and stretched our wings taking a deep breath of the fresh air. Before getting a carrot to the back of the head. We looked back to see a smirk from the rabbit, Rainbow smirked back.
"I was wondering when that was coming, later Fluttershy!" Rainbow took off in a flash a dust cloud left behind in our wake.
'So Rainbow, what have you got planned for today?' Rainbow stopped and raised a hoof to our chin.
"Well, I don't know. Usually I'd practice for the Wonderbolts and then take a nap."
'Hey, who are they anyway?'
"If I didn't know you were from another world and currently trapped in my head I'd kick your flank. The Wonderbolts are the most premier flying team in Equestria!"
'So kinda like the Blue Angels but pegasi?'
"Who?" She shakes our head. "Anyway, it's been my dream to one day join them."
'A noble goal, I hope you make it.'
"Thanks, but if I win the Future Bolts Competition I'll be sure to make it in!"
'When's that?'
"A few days from now."
'Then let's get practicing! You have a competition to win!'
"Yeah!"
"YEAH!" A shout from below drew our attention to a burly white pegasus.
"How's it going Snowflake?" He smiled and waved before trotting away.
'Oo...kay?'
"Welcome to Ponyville." She grinned. "Crazy town Equestria." When I didn't respond she went back to flying. We flew over Ponyville circling the town from way overhead, a gentle breeze blew through our mane as we went giving me the feeling of complete relaxation from her. 'It's no wonder she loves flying so much, look at this view. And this feeling it's just so free.'
"Hey wanna see a few stunts?"
"Yeah!"
"YEAH!" Rainbow stopped and turned around to face Snowflake as he had come up behind us while we flew.
"What the hay!" He grinned sheepishly and flew away quickly.
"Don't say that word anymore." Rainbow whispers. "Anyway here we go!" Before I could say anything else Rainbow was off, she flew up into the cloud layer spinning around them at high speed. As the clouds spun with us they began changing shape to look more like a floating white pillar. After setting up several cloud pillars she set up another cloud forming it into a disk before punching a hole into it to form a ring. A few minutes of work later she had set up a homemade cloud obstacle course.
'Whoa.' Wiping the sweat off our brow she smirked obviously enjoying my amazement.
"And that is the warm up. Ready for the show?" A small cry of excitement from below attracts our attention.
"Woohoo."
"Oh boy Rainbow Dash is gonna perform!"
"This is sooo exciting!"
"Darn tootin!"
"Hi Fluttershy! Hey kids! Watch this!"
'Rainbow, let em have it.' Rainbow just grinned enjoying the feeling of entertaining a crowd. She took off, flying at high speeds as we flew a slalom course through the pillars and hoops. Adding in the occasional barrel roll and a loop here and there she kept the excitement of the fillies down below rising. A few more minutes of acrobatic flying later several more ponies arrived to watch, and Rainbow began her finale flying straight into a cloud and bursting it in a spray of water she flew faster and faster before coming to a stop a few feet from our audience a rainbow forming from the droplets. A panting Rainbow Dash landed softly in front of the cheering crowd that had gathered to watch.
"Thank you thank you I know, i'm awesome." The cheering crowd finished their hoof stomping and went back to their business.
"That was the most amazing performance you've ever done!"
"Scootaloo you say that every time she performs."
"That's because it's true!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Break it up you two. She's standin right here."
"Hey Fluttershy taking care of the CMC?"
"Oh yes we were just going for a delightful walk when we saw you setting up the clouds."
"What's the CMC?" The three fillies froze at the new voice looking around quickly for its source before finally resting their eyes in the amulet around our neck.
"Rainbow. Who said that?"
"Oh that's just Kevin, don't mind him he's just visiting until Twilight sends him home."
"Don't worry about me I"m not scary at all I'm just borrowing some of Rainbows unused space in here."
"Is that supposed to mean something?"
"Just that it's pretty roomy in here."
"Hey!" I chuckle and the fillies laugh a little too.
"But really, what's the CMC?"
"Ahm Applebloom!" Said the yellow filly with a red bow in her mane.
"I'm Sweetie Bell!" Sqeaked the white filly with a pink/purple combo mane.
"And I'm Scootaloo!" Said the orange filly with a purple mane.
"And together we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" They shout together.
"Oh, well that makes sense. What's a cutie mark?" Everypony comically fell over but quickly got back up.
"You mean to tell me Twilight didn't lecture you on all that stuff?"
"Well... no." Rainbow decided to become more acquainted with our hoof and left a mark in the process.
"A cutie mark is something everypony earns when they discover what their special talent is. It will then reveal itself as picture ah some sort on your flank."
"So that's what those are. I just though they were tattoos."
"What's ah tah tooo?"
"Uh it's where they use a needle to inject ink under your skin to leave a permanent image."
"That sounds painful."
"It is."
"Do you have a cutie mark Kevin?"
"Well no I don't. See where I come from we don't have magic so cutie marks don't work there."
"Don't work! But then how do you know what your special talent is?"
"You guess."
"Girls I think we need an emergency meetin!" The three fillies huddled together to whisper about something. After coming to a decision they turned back to us.
"We have decided that Kevin can join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
"I don't know about that."
"Aw come on Rainbow what's the worst that could happen?"
"Well okay just so long as I don't have to do anything."
"Yay! We get a new crusader! We get a new crusader! We get a new crusader!" They sang as they bounced in circles around us. "Come on we got to get to the club house!" The girls grab hold of us and almost drag us along into the orchard. A few minutes of walking later we found ourselves standing before a tree house, leading us inside they took up positions behind a lectern.
Sweetie Bell pulls a parchment out from under it and begins to read. "We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Kevin to join us as a brother, friend, confidaynte, alley, boss-om buddy, pal, compader, chum of chums..." Sweetie Belle stops reading and stares at Scootaloo.
"I thought you were going to change this?"
"Oh, uh, yeah..."
"Homeboy... Amigo... blah blah blah blah blah. Oh, yes, here. ...and fellow Cutie Mark Crusader! You are solemnly sworn in, here this day, in witness of your fellow crusaders, friends, confidantes... boss-om buddies... compadres...-"
"Congratulations!" Scootaloo said chuckling quietly.
"Cool, hey do I get a cape too?"
"Ah course, we'll ask Rarity to make one for ya."
"But a cape will just be extra drag!"
"But it will look really cool."
"Eh but..ohh fine." Fluttershy caught up but didn't interrupt instead just standing in the doorway as the crusaders came together for a group hug.
"Aw Kevin now ya got me being all sappy." Rainbow said trying to act tough through her smile.
"Aaapplebloooom!"
"Aw shucks I gotta go Applejacks a callin. Remember we got a meetin tomorrow bright an early."
"Sweetie Bell, are you in there? It's time to go home deary."
"Coming Rarity! Don't worry I'll be here. Bye girls!"
"Guess that means it's time for me to go home. Mrs. Fluttershy will you walk with me?"
"Oh yes lets get you home."
"Bye Rainbow Dash! Bye Kevin!"
"See ya tomorrow squirt." Rainbow said as everypony went their separate ways.
"Guess we should be heading back too huh?"
"Yep." 'I wonder.'
"Yeah!" In the distance we can make out a faint "YEAH!" "Oh that is too perfect." I say as we laugh. Rainbow goes out and takes to the sky heading for the now familiar cloud home floating in the sky against the setting sun. A quick thrust of our wings and a burst of speed later we land at the doorstep. 'Back in time to feed Tank. Heh if I stay here much longer I might start to think of this place as home.' Rainbow feeds the tortoise and heads for the stairs.
*Yawn* "Oh i'm beat. All of that flying wore me out."
'I feel you, literally.' We share a quiet chuckle as she hops into the bed.
"Tomorrow we can check up on how Twi's doing on that spell. *Yawn* Goodnight Kevin."
'Night Rainbow.' Rainbow sighs and is out like a light. 'That was fast.'
With a yawn of epic mouth stretching proportions I open our eyes and look about Rainbow's room. 'Hey, I woke up before Rainbow. Weird, I don't usually wake up before anyone.' I still feel a little strange about being in a body other than my own, not to mention the fact that the body is a small blue female pegasus and that i'm currently sharing it with its owner. I look out the window just as a bird flies past happily chirping a song. 'This place is just so different from Earth, no cars, no pollution, just peaceful ponies going about their lives without a care in the world.' I get up from the bed and hop down to the floor landing back hooves first before falling forwards to all fours. 'Hey! I didn't face plant this time! That must mean i'm getting better at this whole walking on four legs thing!' With a small smile starting to work it's way across my face I take a step towards the window, and another and ano-*wump* 'And there's the face plant. Good morning floor.' I push us back up and get over to the window somehow managing to not fall again. I stare out the window and watch as the sun starts to rise and the shadows begin their retreat from its morning rays.
From this window I can see the town below slowly coming to life as the ponies wake up to to begin their day. Small colorful blobs moving back and forth across the streets as market stalls open for business. If I listen closely and the breeze is just right I can hear a faint *thwack* coming from Sweet Apple Acres. I look back at our wings. 'It would be nice if I knew how to use these things.' I try to flutter them lightly somehow managing to hit myself in the face with one.
"PPPFFFBBBT! What the hay!?" Rainbow splutters as she spits out a feather.
'Good morning Rainbow.'
"Yeah, morning. What was with the feathers?"
'Sorry about that I was just stretching out the wings.'
"Well be more careful next time these feathers aren't meant for eating." With a deep growl our stomach added its two cents. "Speaking of eating it's time for breakfast." Rainbow looked over to the door and started over when a whirring noise began coming up the stairs. When Rainbow opened the door a small green smiling face was inches away.
"Are you hungry too Tank?" The tortoise stared at us blankly for a few seconds before his smile widened and he ever so slowly nodded.
"I think so." With a quiet giggle Rainbow took us down the stairs and into the kitchen where she got out two apples and a few carrots. "How about something special today?" Rainbow said grinning as the Tortoise flew in through the doorway. A quick glance at the apple and the Tortoise was on it in a blur of green and whirring blades.
'I take it he likes apples?' Rainbow giggled as she ate the other apple and some of the carrots, leaving the rest for Tank.
"Sweet Apple Acre's best apples in Equestria!" She scrunched our face into a frown. "Oh Celestia, I sound just like AJ!" Tank gives us a funny look as I take a quick glance at the cuckoo clock hanging from the wall.
I use my best high class accent. 'Oh darling I do declare, the Crusaders must be getting ever so worried. We were supposed to be at the clubhouse a few minutes ago.'
"BWAHAHAHA! Oh my gosh! That was Rarity perfectly! HAHAHA!" Tank's face contorted to one of intense confusion as Rainbow laughed out the door and took to the skies. A quick flight over to the orchard and we landed in front of the CMC clubhouse with Rainbow still giggling quietly.
"Rainbow Dash!"
"You made it!"
"Bout time." Three small voices squeaked from behind us.
"Heya squirts!" Rainbow said as we turned to face the three founding members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Hey kids!"
"Guess what! Guess what! Guess what!" Scootaloo shouted as she bounced around Sweetie Belle. Sweetie's eyes tried to keep up but only succeeded in making her dizzy.
Rainbow shook our head grinning at the display. "What?"
"Yesterday after Rarity took Sweetie Belle home they stopped at the library and Sweetie overheard Twilight talking to Rarity about the depen... depellen-"
"The Depellendam Anima Amulet." Sweetie Belle corrected as she shook her head of the dizziness.
"Yeah that." Scootaloo said as she grinned and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow curiously. "So what does it do?"
"Twilight was trying to figure out if she could use it to get Kevin home faster." Rainbow raised our other eyebrow now surprised. 'Wait. Home home?'
"Okay but what does it have to do with us?"
"Twilight was doing some research and said it was too dangerous." Rainbow began to grin. 'I don't know if I like that grin.'
"Hah! Danger is my middle name! I can handle anything the world throws at me, now do you know where this thing is?" 'And here we go.'
"I know where it is! It's in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters in the middle of the Everfree forest!" Sweetie Belle shouts with a squeak. 'The where in the what now?'
"I've been there. We can get it and be back in no time!" Rainbow started to turn towards a dark forest. 'Wait what?'
"Do I get a say in this?"
"You do want to go home don't you?"
"Well yeah."
"This amulet whatchamacallit might get you home faster so what's the problem?" I paused to think of a good reason not to go but came up short.
"Nothing I guess." Rainbow started to take a step towards the foreboding forest in the distance when three small voices squeaked from behind us.
"So you'll take us with you!?" We froze in our tracks.
"What!?" Rainbow shouted spinning around to face the Crusaders.
"Are you three crazy? The Everfree forest is no place for foals!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stared at the ground.
"But ah am a big pony!" Rainbow gave Applebloom a glare and she sank to the ground.
"But I know we'd be safe if Rainbow Dash was there to watch us." Scootaloo said trotting up to our leg and staring up at us. 'I know where this is going.'
"I know I could but that doesn't mean I should." Apparently that was their que for them to unleash the secret weapon of all cute things, weaponized adorableness. Rainbow tensed as they stuck out their lower lips with just a hint of trembling and the start of tears in the corners of their eyes. Rainbow tried to hold out and be responsible, but it was not meant to be. "Fine! Just stop with the faces already!"
"We're ready!" Where three kids managed to get all of this gear will forever remain a mystery for before us stood the Cutie Mark Crusaders wearing saddlebags packed with various supplies and tools. They stood with large grins plastered across their faces as Rainbow sighed and turned our head to look towards the dark looming entrance of the Everfree forest and gulped.
"Alright did you three remember to tell everypony I was taking you camping for a day?"
"Yep!"
"Mmhmm!"
"Yes'm." They all say with a quick nod of their heads.
'Are you sure about this Rainbow? This forest just feels eerie.'
"As long as we stick to the paths we'll be fine, Zecora uses some sort of potion that keeps the monsters away. And besides, if anything does show up I can handle it, I hope." Rainbow finished with a whisper as the Crusaders led the way into the forest humming a happy tune as they skipped down the path.
"What was that?" A scratchy voice called back, we looked up to see Scootaloo staring at us intently with a smile on her face.
"Nothing!" Rainbow says quickly.
"Oh okay." Scootaloo's smile fades as she turns to catch up to her friends. Rainbow started trotting, following from a few feet behind them.
'Rainbow you can't lie to me you're scared and I know it, so why are we doing this?'
Rainbow whispered. "Because I can't let them down they're counting on me to be a big hero who isn't afraid of anything."
'Why can't you be afraid?'
"Because... because I just can't be okay!" Rainbow nearly shouted as we stopped and she huffed.
"You okay Rainbow Dash?" We looked up at the Crusaders who had stopped to check on us after Rainbow's outburst.
"I'm fine." Rainbow's words seemed to do little to placate the worried fillies.
"Ya sure?"
"Yeah, come on it's this way." Rainbow took the lead as we tromped through the darkening forest. As the trees above grew ever thicker over the path I began to notice the distinct lack of generic woodland life. No birds calling out, no squirrels or rabbits jumping through the brush, just complete, and total, incredibly eerie, silence. Before long the path began to thankfully open up again as we arrived at a cliff. "We need to get down there." Rainbow said pointing over the cliff.
"Get the rope girls were goin down!" Applebloom said as Sweetie Belle helped Scootaloo pull a rope from her saddlebags.
"Right!" Rainbow shook our head and said nothing as we flew to the bottom to wait and catch them if they fell. Within a minute the girls were shimmying their way down. 'Those three will never cease to amaze me.'
"It ain't that much further keep goin! And don't look down!"
"Eep!" 'That doesn't sound good.'
"What is it Sweetie Belle? Why did you stop?"
"I looked down."
"Aw shoot. Can you keep going?"
"No!"
"Darnit! Rainbow! Can you come an get Sweetie Belle she froze up!"
"I'm coming Sweetie Belle hang on!" With a flap of our wings we flew up to Sweetie Belle who clung tightly to the rope eyes firmly shut. "I'm here Sweetie just grab hold of me and let go of the rope." She said softly in an attempt to calm the nearly crying filly.
"I'm scared!" Rainbow grabbed the filly in a hug causing the filly to relax her grip on the rope. With her eyes still shut we pulled away from the rope and gently fluttered down before softly setting back down on the ground and releasing the filly from our hug. Sweetie Belle lay there on the ground with her eyes closed as her friends made it down the rope safely before quickly trotting over to us.
"Are you okay Sweetie Belle?" Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and when she realized she was on the ground she got up slowly giving us a weak smile.
"I'll be okay. Thanks for getting me down Rainbow."
"Anytime pipsqueak. Come on we still have a long way to go." The Crusaders hopped back to their hooves as Rainbow turned to continue down the path. As we continued to walk down the path Rainbow began to grow nervous, darting our eyes left and right, ears swiveling this way and that searching for the faintest of sounds in the silent forest.
"What's going on Rainbow? You act like you're scared something is going to jump out and eat us."
"That's because I am. Last time I was here there was a huge Manticore on this path." A twig snapped to our right and the bushes shook as something moved within.
"What was that?"
"Ah.. Ahm n..not scared of a Manticore." Applebloom declared with a trembling voice as her whole body shook. The rustling grew louder as the creature came closer.
"It's coming closer!" Sweetie Belle nearly shouted.
Scootaloo jumped towards the bushes wielding a large branch in her mouth, "Go amay!" The rustling stopped at the fillies sudden shout. We all stayed frozen in place waiting for something to happen.
'Why don't we just fly over the bush and see what it is?'
"Hey yeah!" Rainbow took off flying over to the bush and moving it aside to find...
"A RABBIT?!" The small white animal looked up at us seemingly unamused with all the shouting, with a frown the bunny harrumphed and hopped away into the underbrush. We land next to the fillies a moment later as the shock of only finding a rabbit settled in.
"Heh, hehe, ha haha!" Like madmen- er ponies we all began laughing growing louder as the seconds passed.
"RRROOOOOOAAARRRR!" We all immediately fell silent from the loud roar echoing across the forest. While Rainbow tried to calm our rapid firing heart I tried to calm everypony else.
"Stay calm everypony it sounded like it was still pretty far away." I said managing to keep a level voice. The three fillies stared at us with their fear filled eyes before rushing up to us and hugging our legs.
"What was that?"
Rainbow managed to speak without her voice shaking. "I'm sure it was nothing to worry about. Heh, I mean i'm still here after all." Rainbow said puffing out our chest. The fillies looked up at us with fear clear in their eyes. "Hey it'll be okay. I won't let any mean old monster even touch you three. Now come on we have to keep going." The girls slowly nodded their heads in understanding as we started off on the path again the three fillies keeping pace behind us. We continued to trot through a pass and back into the forest.
As we trot the forest continued to grow especially dark, it grew darker and darker as we went until we could no longer see our hooves in front of our faces. "Grab on to each others tails so we don't get separated." I felt a light tug as somepony grabbed hold of our multihued tail. Rainbow walked slowly through the darkness one hoof outstretched to make sure we didn't run into anything as we stumbled about in the dark.
After what felt like an hour of bumbling about in the darkness but was probably more like ten minutes. We stepped back out into the blinding sunlight once more. Using the outstretched hoof to cover our eyes from the sun we took a look around as three gasps came from behind us. Before us a mighty river flowed cutting and winding its way through the Everfree forest. We trot up to it looking around for any sign of danger.
"Oooooh! If it isn't one of my little pony friends! Hellllo again!" We turned to face a very large purple sea serpent that was staring at us intently from upriver. As he swam over to us I noticed his golden styled hair and his manly golden and purple moustache.
"Oh hey it's you again." Rainbow said starting to smile the serpent smiled back as he finally made it the rest of the way over to us.
"Who's this Rainbow?" Scootaloo said hopping up onto our back.
"This is... well I don't know his name but he helped us cross this river a while back when we needed to get to the castle last time." The serpent continued to smile before speaking.
"Oh my where are my manners my name is Steven Magnet."
"It's nice to meet you mister Magnet!" Sweetie Belle shouted hopping up to him. She started looking closely at his scales examining her reflection in them. "Your scales are so shiny! I can see my own reflection!"
"Why thank you my dear I take great pride in my good hygiene practices."
"Hey Steven would you helping us across the river again?"
"Why it would be no trouble at all my little friends!" Steven coiled his serpentine body into stepping stones that the four of us quickly hopped across.
"Thanks mister Steven!" Applebloom called out as we reached the other side.
"Be sure to come back and visit now and again, tata!"
"Thanks again Steven see ya later!" Rainbow shouted back to the sea serpent as we trot away, he gave us a wave goodbye before diving beneath the water. As we looked forward we were greeted by a thick fog that covered the world from us.
"Do you know where we're going Rainbow?"
"Yeah, all we have to do is follow this path even if we can't see where we're going this path will take us right to the castle." We continued to trot a few more minutes.
"Are we almost there? Ahm gettin tired." As soon as those words left Appleblooms mouth a light breeze blew in revealing the castle up ahead for just a few brief moments before once more shrouding it in fog.
"There it is girls we're almost there!" The girls immediately regained the spring in their steps as we trot ahead a little more quickly. It wasn't long before we came upon an old wooden bridge being held up by old and worn ropes.
"Are you sure that bridge is safe?" Sweetie Belle voiced with worry as she looked the length of the bridge over.
"It held the six of us last time I was here, i'm sure it can hold three fillies." Rainbow said nonchalantly as she shrugged our shoulders. With a nervous gulp the three fillies peer over the edge of the cliff and down into the abyss below.
"I dunno about this. I mean there's gotta be a safer way across." The Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quickly nod their heads in agreement. "Maybe we sho-"
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR!" A tremendous roar from behind us caused us all to nearly jump out of our coats. We quickly turned to face the source and see a large creature leap out of the bushes twenty feet behind us. Its lion body was crouched low in a position ready to pounce should anything stray too close as a scorpion tail with a stinger bigger than our foreleg bobbed back and forth above its head.
"What the hell is that thing!?"
"MANTICORE!" Sweetie Belle shrieked.
"Quick! Across the bridge!" Rainbow shouts as we take a widespread stance between the Everfree monster and the fillies. She spread wide our wings ready for immediate action as the terrified fillies waste no time in beginning their precarious trek across the ancient wooden bridge. The Manticore grins wickedly at us as it bares its large fangs capable of biting right through armor. A small frown appears across its face when it realizes some of its prey is escaping and starts to close the distance between us keeping an eye on the fillies. "Stay back!" Rainbow shouts as she stomps our hoof to the ground, stirring up dust.
The Manticore stops as it stares us up and down attempting to judge if we were a threat to it or not before growling back at us in response. Its leg muscles tense before it pounces towards us in a bounding leap. Rainbow wastes no time as she quickly launches us into the air going up and over the charging beast. As it passes under us a look of confusion on its face a swift kick from our rear hooves to the back of its head drives its face into the dirt, the Manticore's momentum keeps it moving forward a few feet causing it to slide its face across the rocky ground. As we touch back down facing the Manticore it growls menacingly as it stands back up, it turns to face us, the fillies completely forgotten. It's lower lip is cut and its face is bruised as it puts on a look absolute hatred before roaring at us once more.
"Yeah yeah you don't like it when food fights back I get it, but we are not going to be food!" Rainbow rushes the Manticore using our wings to boost our speed, as we get close it swats at us with its massive paw just barely missing us as we slam shoulder first into its face. The Manticore staggers backwards from the blow as we fall back onto our rump, dazed from the hit. It shakes the stars from its eyes and raises it paw once again smashing it into us before we can recover and knocking us back a dozen feet.
"Ow. We're going to feel that in the morning." Rainbow said sitting up and rubbing our side as a bruise began to form.
"Rainbow we can't take this thing head on, I have an idea."
"I'm Rainbow Dash the most awesome pegasus in Equestria I can take anything." Rainbow said as we got up wincing a little from the bruise.
"I'd rather not risk getting killed if you don't mind"
"Fine. What do you have in mind?" We watched the Manticore as it grinned at us once again clearly satisfied with how things were going.
"Even with those wings on its back I don't think that thing can really fly."
"Your point?" The Manticore started circling us a predatory look in its eyes.
"The cliff Rainbow." Rainbow 'Ohed' and regained her signature determined smirk. The Manticore stopped its circling confusion again on its face. In a flash of blue Rainbow charged the beast bucking it square in the nose before jumping out of the way of the frantic swipes from its paws. Rainbow hovered in front of the Manticore and did something I was not expecting.
The look of rage that came across its face would have made Crocodile Dundee need a new pair of pants. Fortunately for us we weren't wearing any clothes to begin with and it wasn't me in control. The beast swiped at us with its claws attempting to knock us out of the sky but Rainbow always hovered just out of reach. We kept floating backwards away from its attacks as it followed us trying to close the distance eyes fully locked on us.
We kept going back and back until finally Rainbow stopped, looking down at the Manticore she smiled. The beasts confused look came to bear once again as Rainbow pointed down with our hoof. It looked down and once it realized the ground beneath its paws was actually air, gravity decided to start working again. The Manticore roared as it fell plummeting quickly before spreading its small wings and slowing its descent into the fog below. Grinning triumphantly we fly over to the three waiting fillies and land next to them.
"That. Was. Amazing Rainbow Dash! You've got to teach me those moves sometime!" Rainbow grinned down at the little orange pegasus as she crushed our foreleg in a hug. 'I wish I could move like that.'
"Yeah Scoots maybe some other time we should get to the castle and make camp for the night the sun's starting to go down." From our cliffside perch we looked out over the horizon as the sun started its descent below it.
"We made it to the castle! Cutie Mark Crusader Castle Explorers! YAY!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders took off towards the castle leaving a dust cloud in their wake.
"When do you think they're going to realize their cutie marks aren't going to be in something dangerous?" Rainbow watched the dust cloud until it started to settle before trotting along the path to the castle.
"Probably when it stops being fun." The path up to the castle was devoid of any animal life, the only sound was our own hoofsteps and some excited chatter from up ahead that I could not make out. As we approached the gate of the castle we found the CMC trying to open the large wooden doors with little success.
"Ok girls on the count ah three. One. Two. THREE!" Applebloom who was in front of the trio was hanging onto a large metal handle as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tugged on her tail in their attempt to pull it open. After a few seconds of tugging and the door refusing to budge the trio fell to the ground.
"Well that didn't work."
"Now what?"
Rainbow trot up to the door and placed a hoof on it before lightly pushing it open. "You could try pushing."
"Why didn't ah think of that?" Pushing the door the rest of the way open we went inside. The large entry hall was a mess, the walls were cracked and several chunks of the ceiling had fallen to the ground, shattering into hundreds of smaller pieces. With the girls safely inside Rainbow pushed the door shut again.
"We made it! Now we can find that amulet!" Sweetie Belle squeaked as she started to bounce towards a doorway.
"Now we set up camp." Sweetie stopped mid bounce before turning to look at us with her best pout face. "Nuh uh I missed my nap today and I'm tired were setting up camp now, we can find that amulet in the morning." Sweetie Belles lip began to quiver.
"Maybe you can get a cutie mark in setting up a campsite?" *Gasp*
"Cutie Mark Crusader Campers! Yay!" The three fillies tossed their saddlebags to the ground quickly retrieving sleeping bags and a tent. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle set up the tent as Scootaloo trot outside, she returned a minute later carrying a large bundle of wood. Using the chunks of masonry from the fallen sections of roof they fashioned a fire pit and set about lighting it. In less than five minutes the trio stepped back to examine their work, a tent large enough to fit four ponies and a fire pit complete with a roaring fire. They quickly checked their flanks for their elusive cutie marks.
"Awww."
"Maybe next time girls. Now how about a little dinner before we get some shut eye?" A quick rummage through their saddlebags and they came back with a small assortment of goodies ranging from Sweet Apple acres apples to Pinkies famous cupcakes.
"Stomach is pleased with your offerings, let the feasting begin." A giggle from the fillies and a head shaking smile from Rainbow later the eating began in earnest. 'We finally made it to the castle and in one piece to boot now only a search for the amulet and the journey home awaits tomorrow. Did I just call Ponyville home? Huh.'"Good night everypony."
I return to the waking world to the clatter of pots and pans. "Ah darn it." I open our eyes and look around. Applebloom was sitting by the fire next to a pot that was lying on its side.
"What's up Applebloom?" I say before yawning. A glance out of the hole in the roof to the starry sky which tells me that the sun has yet to rise.
"Whuh? Oh hey Kevin I was just tryin to fix up some breakfast." Applebloom says as she struggles to lift the large pot that is almost as big as she is. I slowly stand up and stretch feeling a few things pop in the process, I wince in pain when I stretch the side the Manticore smacked.
"Isn't it a little early to be up?" I ask as I carefully so as not to aggravate the bruise walk over to the filly and sit down next to her.
"Naw, Mac an Sis get up earlier than this to do their chores every mornin." She says lifting up one side of the pot.
"Need some help?"
"If'n ya please." I reach out and grab the other end of the pot with a hoof, we lift it up onto the stand Applebloom had set up earlier. 'Wait a second. How did I grab the pot without fingers?' I stare down at our hooves trying to solve the mystery. The blue appendage hovers in front of our face revealing no answers. *Ahem* I look up at Applebloom. "Since you're up ya mind helpin me cook some stew?"
I stare dumbly at her for a moment before realizing that she meant me. "Oh you mean me, sorry just used to Rainbow doing everything. What do you need?"
"We need some more firewood to keep the fire goin could you get some?"
"On it." I salute Applebloom before trotting towards the door gently pulling it open in an attempt to keep it quiet for the still sleeping fillies. *SQUEeeeaaak!* I wince at the loud noise before trotting outside. Outside the walls of the castle and the comforting light of the campfire the dark forest is just as eerie as ever. A light fog rolls gently across the forest as I make my way down the steps. 'Okay I just need to get some wood for the fire nothing to worry about I mean Scootaloo went out last night with no problems so I'll be fine.' I trot over to a tree and feel about in the fog for some wood.
After successfully stubbing our hoof into a few branches I manage to gather a decent pile of firewood. 'Nothing to it, now just to carry it all back.' I toss the wood onto our back and start off towards the castle. *Snap* I freeze mid step and slowly turn towards the trees behind us. Peering into the darkness of the forest I try to find the source of the twig snap and what I find kills any chance of a good mood today.
A Manticore, but not just any Manticore it was the same Manticore from yesterday, its lip was no longer bleeding but its face was still bruised as it glared daggers into me with all the hatred it could muster. 'It must have spent all night climbing back up here.' The Manticore starts to growl menacingly. 'I'd applaud its persistence if it wasn't trying to eat us. Also hands but I should be more focused on running right about now.' Without further ado I spin around on our hooves and take off back towards the castle. The Manticore roars as it gives chase, I dodge left and right as it swipes at us with its massive clawed paws. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" I scream like a girl as a massive paw knocks us into a tree.
*Groan* Still slightly dazed from the impact I hold our head and moan in pain, the Manticore takes its time walking over, getting mere inches from us before taking a big sniff, it sucks in our scent and grins wickedly. I shake the stars from our eyes as the Manticore readies its scorpion tail for the fatal blow. With adrenaline, and fear coursing through us I dodge to the side just in time causing the razor sharp barb to stab into the tree. The Manticore howls angrily as it thrashes its tail about in an attempt to free itself. Seeing my opportunity I run for the castle and burst into the entrance hall like a bat outta hell. "WAKE UP!"
The three Crusaders jump from their spots next to the fire and turn to look at us. "We are up! And why are you shouting?"
"MANTICORE!" I shout as I try to push several chunks of masonry in front of the door. The loud crack of splintering wood signals the Manticores freedom as I work even faster to barricade the door. The Crusaders move quickly to pack up their stuff managing to get the last of it back into their saddlebags just as the Manticore slams into the castle door. The door jars a little but holds as the Manticore continuously rams into the heavy door. Unfortunately for us time had taken its toll on the old oak frame and the Manticores persistence began to pay off as several cracks formed along it.
"We have to go deeper into the castle!" With the Manticore still attacking the door we sprint down a hallway in search of a safehaven. As the sound of flesh on wood faded into the distance we began to slow down, before long we began to tire from our run. "Anything yet?"
"No nothing, how long is this hallway?"
"I dunno but I hope we find something soon mah legs are too short for all this running." The castle shook beneath our hooves as the Manticore roared in triumph.
"It sounds like the Manticore got through the door, we have to hurry!" We continued to run until we came to an intersection. One side led up and the other side led down. 'Maybe we can find a small room to hide in if we go deeper.'"This way!" We trot down a flight of stairs and into a hallway lit by glowing green gemstones. The hallway continued for a short distance before the light from the gemstones cut off leaving the rest in pitch blackness.
"What is this place?"
"I don't know. But look at these glowing rocks!"
"ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRR!"
"No time! We have to find a place to hide!" I spot a small doorway and quickly rush over to yank it open. "This ones a broom closet!"
"Over here!" We all hurry over to Sweetie Belle and look inside the large double doors. The room through the doorway is huge, with multiple long wooden tables complete with benches and what appears to be a small back room.
"It looks like a cafeteria."
"There's some armor over there." Scootaloo said pointing to a black breastplate lying against the wall.
"If guards ate here then maybe there is a safe room." I trot over to the back room and hop over the low wall with the fillies right behind me. Metal cabinets line the lower walls with various cooking utensils strewn across the ceiling on hooks. A large brick fireplace sits at the back of the room the ashes long since grown cold.
The thud of the cafetorium doors slamming open fills my heart with fear as the sound of claws clacking across the old stone floors echoes across the room. 'Oh crap I should have known better than to go underground! Now theres nowhere left to run! What am I going to do now? We're all going to die down here and it's all my fault!' With one last look around the room I decided. 'I won't let these girls die, they're out here because of me so they're my responsibility.'"Girls, I want you three to hide in these cabinets until I say it's safe to come out." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle nod their heads fearfully as they pull open a cabinet door and climb inside.
"But what about you? Rainbow is too big to fit in one of these cabinets."
"I'm going to distract it and lead it away so you guys will be safe."
"No! The Manticore will kill you!"
"If I don't we all die." Scootaloo sagged into our hooves as I picked her up and carried her over to the cabinet her friends were hiding in. "Take care of each other okay?" They nod and pull Scootaloo into the cabinet, I close the door and go over to the low wall separating the kitchen from the cafeteria. Carefully peering over the wall I spot the Manticore halfway between me and the doorway its head was next to the ground as it seemed to be taking large whiffs of air. 'Almost like a dog tracking a racoon.' And then it dawned on me, before it tried to stab me it got a big whiff of Rainbow's scent and now it was coming right to us. 'This persistent bastard is clever. But lets see if it can outwit a human.'
With the Manticore thoroughly distracted by its attempts at tracking I snuck over the wall and over to the armor Scootaloo had spotted earlier. Carefully so as not to alert the beast I try to slide it on, after a bit of struggling I manage to slide it over our wings and find two slots in the armor for them to slide through. 'Pegasus armor? Even better.' The armor was several sizes too big for our small frame but it would have to do. 'Okay i'm slightly less likely to die today, now what?'
The Manticore growled as it reached the low wall to the kitchens. 'No time for a plan A time to go straight to doing something stupid!' With as fearsome a warcry as I can muster from a female pegasus I charge the Manticore. The beast turns around and stares confused at the partially armored pony charging fearlessly at it. When we got close I jumped up towards its face hoping to slam into it with the metal chestpiece. The Manticore seeing the pony jump towards its ducks low to the ground. We fly over it and land on its back with a thud as the armor absorbs most of the impact, I get back to our hooves and grab hold of the beasts scorpion tail. First the pony had tried to jump on its face and now it was hanging onto its tail tightly, the Manticore swung its tail around violently in an attempt to remove the edible nuisance.
The Manticore swung us around and around back and forth left and right in its frantic attempts to shake us off. I held on tight but all of the spinning was making me dizzy, and I had to let go. We flew away from the Manticore crashing into a table and shattering it into pieces. The armor took most of the blow but in the process had been badly dented, fortunately because the armor was too big for us the dent was not enough to crush us inside of it. I slowly roll to our hooves as I try to shake off the dizziness of the impact. The Manticore stomped up to us still quite thoroughly pissed off, the beast stood over us glaring down with all the hate of a thousand suns. As I squirmed in the armor trying to get it off the Manticore raised both its front paws off the ground up and up until it was almost touching the ceiling. Then with a roar it brought its paws crashing down. The floor cracked from the blow as the black armor was flattened becoming nothing more than a pancake under the weight of the beast. The Manticore roared in triumph before looking down to see nopony?
"Hey ugly! Looking for somepony?" I shouted from behind a nearby table I turned and tried bucking the table at the beast but instead only split it in two. 'Well that didn't work.' The Manticore roared and stomped forward creating more cracks in the floor as it walked. It continued to stare at us unaware of the cracking floor as its eyes were locked on us. 'Aha! I've got it! I just hope it works.' As the Manticore closed the distance I stood up on our hind legs, I looked down at the beast as it got within a few feet still stomping the floor heavily. With a smirk that Rainbow could be proud of I slammed our hooves down onto the floor with all the force I could muster. The spread wider spider webbing their way out away from our hooves and over to the Manticore who stopped with one final stomp of its paw.
The floor began to shift beneath us as bits of cracked floor started to fall away. The Manticore finally looked down and realized what was going on. It roared at us furiously one last time before leaping at us the floor giving way just as it lift off the ground. The beast slammed into us paws outstretched as the floor beneath our hooves gave way to our weight. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" We tumbled as we fell into the dark abyss below our hooves flailing wildly in every direction. In my flailing I managed to strike the Manticore in the eye temporarily blinding it. The beast howled in pain as it continued to tumble end over end. As it covered its face with a paw I attempted to open our wings, the unruly appendages flapped about in the wind before finally spreading out fully and catching air slowing our descent like a parachute. From below a loud smack echoed as the Manticore found the bottom. As we glided down I kept our wings locked in place not wanting to risk our lives to my inexperience.
We landed roughly jarring our legs but in one piece and not a pancake unlike the Manticore. I risk a glance at the remains and shudder before looking away, it was definitely dead. And so I stood there, panting from the fight and unsure what was next. 'I..I did it, I won, I'm alive.'"Ha. Haha. Hahaha! FUCK YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU MOTHER FUCKING MANTICORE ASSHAT! I BEAT YOU! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" My shout echoed around the dark cavern reminding me of my location. 'Now where the hell am I?' I hear some scuffling from above and look up at the hole n the ceiling.
"Kevin? Are ya alright down there?" Applebloom called from above.
"Nothing to worry about except it's dark and I can't get out of here."
"I got an idea hang on!" Scootaloo disappeared from the edge and returned a minute later a glowing gem in her mouth. "Camph!" She dropped the gem. I rushed over to it and managed to catch it in our forearms.
"Good idea Scoots!"
"Thanks! Can you see anything?"
"Hold on a sec!" I fiddled with the gem in our hooves for a bit. 'How am I supposed to hold this thing? Guess i'll just use our mouth.' With plenty of reluctance I put the gem in our mouth and bite down to hold it in place. Besides being really dusty the gemstone was flavorless. With my new light in mouth I set about exploring the cavern I found myself trapped in. 'I need to learn how to use these wings.' The cavern stretched out in a kind of oval shape, on one side a tunnel led off into the dark, on the other a set of stairs went up for a ways before being cut off by a collapsed roof. "I found a tunnel! I'm going to go check it out, you three stay safe until I get back!"
"It's not like we're going to get into any trouble, in a ruined castle, alone... No promises!" With as good a smile as one can give while holding a glowing gemstone in ones teeth I shook our head and trotted towards the tunnel entrance. The opening was small, barely three feet across and not even five feet high. With a gulp I pushed into the darkness the pale green light lighting my path. I traveled like this for probably fifteen minutes as the tunnel slowly curved to the side until finally the tunnel opened back up into another chamber. The light from my gemstone shined out into the darkness pushing it back but not to the extent of the cavern.
Looking about the edges of the chamber I came upon a carving engraved into the old stone walls. The engravings while not quite stickponies were rather crude. 'Okay so this one here looks like a pony and he seems to be holding a rock these markings might mean light so a glowstone? This one shows the pony next to three carvings it presses something then a different one then the third. Then bip bop boom something happens, question is... what?' With no more clues popping out of the air I searched the rest of the cavern, on the far side of the room from where I came in three carvings each situated over a square stone button and an engraving.
These carvings were carved with much greater care than the engraving from before, as they actually resembled real life ponies. The first carving was of a pegasus clad in armor resembling that of ancient Roman centurions, the pony stood steadfast with wings spread wide. The second carving was of a old unicorn, she wore a cloak and she looked down on her viewer with wizened eyes. The final carving was of an earth pony wearing a strange shirt and wide brimmed feather hat, below each carving the engravings read.
Always first through the storm, feel a pegasus might, be loyal and kind even in the darkest of night.
Creative and wise is the unicorn way, be generous with magic to light the way.
Brave and strong is the way of the earth, never second in bringing laughter and always honest at heart.
'What the hell does that mean? Okay lets recap the other engraving showed a pony touching three things in sequence and now these things have what? A message? A riddle? How am I going to figure this out?'"Pegasus. Unicorn. Earth pony." I move closer to the pegasus carving and take a closer look at the words. "Always first." I raise a hoof to the button. 'I hope this isn't a trap.' I squeeze our eyes shut and press the button it causes a series of clanks to sound from behind the rock face before falling silent once more. I open our eyes and look around, the button is pressed into the wall but other than that nothing has changed.
"Phew!" I rub a hoof across our brow in relief at not getting us killed. 'Why didn't anything happen though? Oh wait! I have to hit all three so which one next?' I move over to the remaining two engravings to read them again. "Creative and wise is the unicorn way, be generous with magic to light the way. Hmm. Brave and strong is the way of the earth, never second, ahah! Then that must mean the unicorn one. I hope." With slight hesitation I raise a hoof to the unicorn button. 'Here we go.' I press down on the button causing another series of clanks before they go silent again.
"And the last one." With a bit of confidence I depress the final button. The clanking reaches a crescendo as the entire cavern begins to grow brighter, small holes are revealed as small boulders are rolled away revealing the same glowing gemstones (albeit much larger.) as the ones up in the castle. As I was distracted by the lights I failed to notice as seams appeared around the unicorn carving, the seams grew until it revealed itself to be a stone door. As it swung open I turned to see it just in time to get hit in the face.
"Oww! Kevin!" Rainbow shouted rubbing our muzzle with a hoof.
'Sorry! I got distracted.' As Rainbow finished rubbing our muzzle she looked around realizing we were not in the castle entrance hall. She opened our mouth to speak but I cut her off. 'Were in the castle underground and no we're not here on purpose that Manticore from yesterday showed up and boy was he angry.'
"Bu-"
'The CMC are fine and the Manticore won't be bothering anypony ever again.'
"Uh okay then?"
'Any questions?'
"Just one. What's that?" She asked as she raised a hoof to point through the doorway and into another room. The room is about thirty feet in diameter and the ceiling stretches off into the darkness far beyond the light of the gemstones but the most interesting thing was a pedestal in the center of the room. Atop the pedestal was an amulet, it was silver in color and spiraled out from a center where it connected to an octagon shaped ring.
'I don't know you think it's what we're looking for?'
Rainbow shrugged and grinned as she stared at it from across the room. "I dunno but it looks pretty cool to me."
'Well lets get it and go the girls are waiting and who knows what they might do alone.'
Rainbow cringed at the thought. "Good point, i'll hurry." Rainbow flew up to the pedestal, we carefully checked for traps and seeing none she picked up the amulet in out hooves. "Heh piece of cake." Suddenly the pressure plate the amulet had rested on lifted and the room began to rumble and shake. "Maybe not." The clanking began again as the door began to slowly close while large boulders began falling from the ceiling above.
'Get us out of here!'
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Rainbow took off for the door closing the distance quickly as it inched closer and closer shut.
'Were not gonna make it!'
"Oh yes we are!" As the door got barely wide enough for a pony Rainbow tucked in our wings as we flew through the opening just in the nick of time. We landed in a heap in the carving room as the door clanked shut behind us.
'Too close for comfort.'
"Not *pant* a problem. *pant* " With the roof no longer coming down on us we trot over to the tunnel on the far side of the room.
'Remind me to never go on any adventures with you or anypony ever again.'
"Good luck with that something weird seems to happen in Ponyville every other week. And if I go you go. Now what happened this morning?" As we started off into the tunnel I began a detailed explanation of everything I went through while Rainbow slept through it all. By the time we reached the other side I had finished.
'So how did you manage to sleep through all of that anyway?'
"Just a heavy sleeper I guess." Rainbow grimaced at the sight of the Manticore before looking away. "Oh yeah, that's gross." With a flap of our wings we took to the air rising up to the hole in the floor and back into the cafeteria. We looked around the damaged lunchroom, tables and benches were broken across the room but what was really interesting was the array of medieval weaponry up next to the wall ranging from a catapult made from a pot, rubber tubing and wood scavenged from the tables, to a pike made from a kitchen knife tied to a piece of wood with a kitchen rag. Over in the corner of the room was a wooden 'castle' and I use that term lightly as it was made of two tables that were flipped onto their sides and pushed up against the wall, three knights guarded this castle with pots on their heads and makeshift crossbows in hoof as they watched the door to the cafeteria for intruders. "Girls!"
At Rainbows shout the three knights looked up from their fortress staring at us intently for less than a second. "RAINBOW DASH!" The orange knight zoomed up to us quickly grabbing hold of our foreleg in a tight hug.
"Heya squirt. What were you three up to?"
"Well first we tried to wait for you to get back but we got bored so we tried to play a game but then we heard a noise and Sweetie got scared so we made a castle to defend ourselves with from the scary monsters."
"How long ago was this?"
"Ah think it might ah been about ten minutes."
So you built all of this. in ten minutes?"
"I reckon so."
"Hey what's that?" Sweetie Belle squeaked as she ran out of the 'castle' and over to us. She took the amulet out from our hooves closely examining it from mere inches away. "It's just as pretty as the picture in Twilight's book."
"Wait Are you telling me we actually found the thing?"
"Mmhmm!" Sweetie hummed as she nodded vigorously. Before we could say anything more a loud growling came from the other side of the cafeteria door. The fillies tense up as they stared at the door deathly afraid of what may be beyond it.
"Quick hide!" Sweetie Belle grabbed us by the hoof and dragged us into their castle as the others ducked inside. Just as we got out of sight the door creaked open and the sound of several sets of hoofsteps entered.
"Ah told ya Twi ya shoulda ate somethin before we left now yer stomach's a grumblin louder than a Timber wolf."
"I know! I'm starving! But I couldn't waste time eating when Rainbow and the fillies could be in danger."
"Honestly dear you could have at least made a sandwich to go." The eyes of the fillies hiding next to us lit up at the sound of their siblings. Rainbow peeked over the wall.
"Twilight? Rarity? AJ? What are you guys doing here?"
"Rainbow?" The fillies hopped the 'castle' wall and rushed over to their sisters quickly embracing them as Rainbow flew out of the small fortress with Scootaloo close behind. At the door to the cafeteria stood three ponies all shocked by our sudden appearance.
"Rarity!"
"Big sis!"
"Sweetie Belle?"
"Applebloom?"
"Just what in tarnation were you doin out here? You told us you were goin camping not gallivantin through the Everfree!"
"Indeed I would like to know as well."
"Rainbow Dash you've got some explaining to do." Twilight said stomping over to us a small disapproving frown on her face.
"Look I know what this looks like but I can explain!"
"I'm listening."
"Well I..." Rainbow started before trailing off.
"It's our fault." Scootaloo said as she stepped in front of us head down.
"Scootaloo?"
Applebloom left her sisters embrace to stand by her friend. "Yeah it's our fault we're all out here."
Sweetie Belle let go of her sister to stand by her friends. "When I overheard Twilight talking about an amulet that could help Kevin get home I told the girls and we told Rainbow and Kevin."
Scootaloo stepped in front of her friends. "Rainbow wanted to go alone but we convinced her to let us go."
"We're sorry." They said in unison.
"Wait. You went looking for the Depellendam Anima Amulet?!"
"Yeah! And we found it too show her Sweetie." Sweetie Belle stepped forward with the amulet in hoof. Twilight picked it up with her magic bringing it in for a closer look.
"By Celestia! You really did find it!"
"YAY!" They cried in unison.
"But."
"But?" Applebloom asked.
"I'm afraid this amulet won't help Kevin get home."
"It won't?" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"No, this amulet was said to rid a pony of evil spirits. This amulet while a wonderful find for archaeology won't help Kevin get back home any faster."
"So this was all a big waste of time? We risked our lives for nothing!?" The ponies gathered stepped back at my sudden outburst. Their fearful looks filled me with regret immediately but I was not done yet.
"Kevin? You okay dude?" Rainbow whispered as she set back down on the ground sitting down on our rump.
"Okay? Okay!? No i'm not okay! I want to go home! I mean look at me! I was recently unwillingly sucked from my world and shoved into another body! Not only that but I changed species, and genders! Do you know how strange it is to go from an average human guy living his life to a pegasus girl?! It's freaking weird! At first I thought it was all just some sort of freaky dream and if I went to sleep I would wake up in my bed back home then I could go to work and laugh it off with my coworkers. But it's not! All of this, it's real, it's, all real." Twilight had slumped down as my tirade began but was now lying on the floor under the weight of my words. As the fillies cowered behind the two remaining mares who stood aghast at my frustrated rant.
"I'm sorry" Twilight said quietly.
"Now sugar it's not your fault."
"It is all my fault! Kevin would still be back on his world right now if it wasn't for me!" She shouted pounding her hooves onto the floor.
"That may be darling but you're doing everything you can to get him back are you not?"
"Of course!"
"Then cheer up. We'll never get anywhere if all you do is wallow in self pity." Rarity said as she helped Twilight back to her hooves before turning to us. "And you. Don't you think that just because you're trapped in a strange new world and body that you gain the right to yell at everypony here. I understand that this situation is very unorthodox but there is nothing we can do about it now. So I must ask that you apologize." Rarity glared at us hard causing the brave Rainbow the pony who stood down a hungry Manticore to flinch.
"I...I.. you're right Rarity. I'm sorry for venting on all of you especially you Twilight I know you're doing your best to help me get home and that you didn't mean for this to happen." Twilight perked up from her slouch to give us a smile.
"I promise you Kevin that I will get you home I just need a little more time."
"Thanks Twilight. That means a lot to me."
Rainbow stirred from our sitting position standing up and stretching out our wings. "Well, i'm sick of this old castle lets go home."
"Indeed this dirty old place is ruining my mane. Twilight would you be a dear and take us home?"
"With pleasure." Twilight's placed the amulet in her saddlebags as her horn lit up growing brighter as the air filled with magic. "Stay close to me and hold still everypony." We shuffled close and waited for Twilight to finish. The glowing from her horn grew increasingly brighter and brighter until we had to cover our eyes with our hooves and then with a *pop* we looked around at the edge of the Everfree forest. "Phew! That takes a lot out of a mare. I'm going to go home and put this amulet away for safekeeping, goodnight girls!"
"Yes we must be off as well it is getting late. Come along Sweetie!" Rarity sing songed as she trot towards town.
"Coming Rarity! Bye everypony!"
"Come along Applebloom we still have to talk about yer punishment fer goin into the Everfree, again." Applejack said with a very unamused look on her face.
"Ah sis! Do we have to?"
"Don't you backsass me let's go."
"Aww. Bye Rainbow, bye Kevin." Applejack trot off to Sweet Apple Acres a downtrodden Applebloom close behind.
"What about you Scoots? Need somepony to walk you home?" Rainbow asked turning to the last remaining filly.
"No, i'll be okay my house isn't that far from here."
"Okay then see ya later squirt." We took to the sky as the orange coated filly waved us off. We flew lazily back towards the cloudhouse seemingly in no hurry to arrive.
"Hey Kevin?"
'Hmm?'
"You know i'm not too good with all this emotional stuff but I just wanted to say that you can always talk to me if you need to vent, okay? I mean I opened up to you so it's only fair."
'Thanks for the offer Rainbow but I don't think I want to vent anymore tonight.'
"Oh." She muttered quietly. We flew on in silence landing softly at the doorstep of our cloud home. We opened the door to find Tank eagerly awaiting us. With a small smile for the airborne tortoise she prepared a bowl of lettuce for him which he ate happily. A growl from our stomach reminded us that we had yet to eat today so she grabbed an apple before heading upstairs to her bedroom. After eating the apple and tossing the core into a cloud bin she hopped up onto the bed. "Well, goodnight Kevin."
'G'night Rainbow. With a contented sigh Rainbow closed our eyes and fell into the realm of dreams. 'So, this is it. This is my life now, sharing a body with a pegasus mare in a strange new land. I hope Twilight figures out how to get me home soon. I don't know if I can live like this for much longer without snapping and hurting somepony again.'
The sun was shining and the birds were chirping on another bright sunny day in Equestria. "Hey Kevin, you up?"
'Unfortunately.' I mutter as Rainbow gets up and stretches.
"Heh, well I have a weather schedule to keep. It's rain all day today." We head downstairs. A quick glance out the window revealed a bright and shiny day free of clouds.
'looks like sun to me.'
"That's because I haven't started." Rainbow makes breakfast for Tank and quickly devours her own daisy sandwich. "Tank! Come and get it!" Tank buzzes into the room and sets down on the table. "I'll be back later Tank, it's going to be rain today so stay inside okay?" Tank nods his head slowly and goes back to his food. "Atta boy." Rainbow heads out the door and lifts off into the sky.
'So how is making rain different from clearing the clouds?' I ask as Rainbow heads towards an angry looking and very very massive thunderhead.
"Well first off I have to get the clouds. Then the weather team would move them into position over Ponyville, after that a good kick will set them off."
'Sounds simple.'
"It would be if the entire team didn't call in sick today."
'They all skipped out on us?'
"Yeah, now it's going to be a few hours before we finish." Rainbow flew up to a group of fluffy white clouds resembling a small office and flew inside.
"Morning Dash here for the rain? Hey where's your team?" A brown pegasus stallion said from behind his cloud desk.
"Hey Cloud, they called in sick, so which ones are Ponyville's?" Cloud waves a hoof over to the window pointing out a group of nearby dark clouds. "Thanks Cloud see ya!"
"Later Dash!" Rainbow flies out and heads over and grabs a cloud pushing it back to town and dropping it off before going back for another. 'Oh man this is going to take ages.'
'What! Really?' We looked out over Rainbows hoofwork, a blanket of grey clouds covered all of Ponyville and some of the surrounding area.
"And now for the kick off." Rainbow raises our fore hooves high and slams them down hard creating a rippling shock wave that quickly spread across the clouds, a few seconds later the sound of rain beginning to fall reaches our ears.
'Looks like another job well done for the Dash.'
"I know I'm awesome."
'I Think we should check up on Twilight I want to apologize again for blowing up on her.'
"Okay lets go." Rainbow bust a hole in the clouds and dove through them closing it back up behind us. The rain was coming down in buckets as we made our way to the library, Rainbow rapped on the door quickly and waited. We didn't have to wait long before the door opened revealing a small purple lizard with a bored look on his face.
"What is that?"
"What is what?" Said the purple lizard in a male voice looking around with a confused look on his face. "And who said that?"
"Hi I'm Kevin I'm currently living in Rainbow's head until Twilight can fix it, now what are you? Some kind of magic lizard?"
"Uh..." Rainbow waved a hoof in front of his face and he shook himself to snap out of his confusion. "I'm Spike. I'm a dragon, you know eats gems breathes fire that kind of stuff."
"Oh that makes sense, of course there are dragons here. We already have unicorns and pegasi. You know what? Why not griffins too!"
"O..kay?"
"Don't mind him he's not from around here. Can we come in? It's kinda raining." Rainbow says waving a hoof about.
"Oh yeah sure come on in." Spike the dragon stepped aside and let us in closing the door behind us. A lavender unicorn was muttering to herself as she poured over several book at once making notes as she went. Rainbow starts to approach when a Spike grabs our tail. We stop and give him a look. "Let me get you a towel your dripping on the floor." Rainbow looks down and sure enough we have a small puddle forming beneath our hooves. Spike rushes up the stairs and returns a moment later handing over a towel as he gets close.
"Thanks." Rainbows uses the towel to dry off as Spike goes back to whatever he was doing before we got here.
"No problem." Rainbow tosses the towel into a nearby basket before flying over to Twilight.
"Heya Twilight whatcha workin on?"
"Ah! Rainbow you startled me." Twilight shouts as she jumps before turning to look at us.
"Sorry. What are you doing?" Twilight goes back to her books.
"I'm just working on the return spell, for some reason I can't find... AH! Here it is." Twilight levitates a piece of chalk over to the blackboard and starts scribbling something I can't even begin to understand.
"Hey Twilight?"
"Hmm?" Twilight doesn't stop her furious scribbling.
"About yesterday again I'm sorry I know you're just trying to help." Twilight stops her furious scribbling and looks up at us a look of sympathy on her face.
"It's okay I understand that this situation is not something that anypony should deal with."
"So we good?"
"Yes Kevin we... good." Twilight starts to go back to her work.
"Cool. Hey Twilight, did that new Daring Do book come in yet?" Twilight stops her furious scribbling to think.
"Hmm, uh yeah, I think so. Spike!" Spike pokes his head out from the top of the stairs.
"What is it Twilight?"
"Can you check the new books stack for Daring Do and the Dragon's Amulet?"
"Sure thing Twilight." Spike heads down the stairs and goes over to a large pile of books in the corner of the room. He sifts through them for a minute before coming up with the aforementioned book. "Here you go." He says handing Twilight the book.
"Thanks Spike. Here you go Rainbow, we haven't registered it yet so you can't take it home but you can read it here."
"This is soo Awesome! I get to be the first pony in Ponyville to read it!" Rainbow squealed a little earning a look from Spike. "Eheh heh I mean cool." With a bounce in her step Rainbow took the book over to a cushion and sat down to read.
"Who's Daring Do?"
"Daring Do is just the awesomest pony ever! Besides me of course. She goes on epic adventures to find lost treasure in ancient tombs and stuff all while beating the bad guys like Ahuizotl."
"Reminds me of a human adventurer named Indiana Jones. This should be interesting." Rainbow opened the book to the first page and began to read.
"Daring Do and the Dragon's Amulet Chapter one." Rainbow begins a large grin plastered on our face.
Daring was on a mission, high atop a mountain in the distant Himaneighas she made her way through the freezing snow and blistering winds in search of the ancient Dragon Temple. 'Okay the map says that if I stay on this path it will take me to the ice caverns.' Daring looks up in an attempt to follow the trail, but finds her luck running thin as a storm crests the peak and starts heading down the mountain. 'I can't go back so I have to reach the caves.' Daring rubs the fog off of her goggles before continuing up the mountain and into the storm.
Daring pressed on through the cold and snow looking for any signs of the path that was long ago buried by the blizzard. A light in the distance attracts her attention as the storm continues to increase in intensity. 'Have.. to get to... shelter.' She thought as she trudged through the rising snow towards what she hoped was rescue.
Mountain Top warmed his hooves by the crackling fire trying to rub off the cold that chilled him to the bone as the blizzard raged outside. With a contented sigh he sat down on his favorite chair and opened a book to read. 'How to bake the perfect pie in ten easy steps.' He was about to learn how to do step one when a knock came from the door. 'Who could that be? No one comes to visit me up here and theirs a blizzard right now!' Mountain Top stared uneasily at the door hoping he was merely hearing things when another sharp knock came. With a frightened step he approached the door listening closely for any noise that could be heard over the howling winds when he stood before the door he steeled himself and swung it open.
The cold mountain winds swept into the small home chilling the occupant and threatening to douse the fire. Before Mountain lay an unconscious and shivering pony covered in several layers clothing that seemed to do little to protect from the cold. Mountain picked up the pony closing the door behind him and was surprised by how light it was 'Must be a pegasus.' he thought as he took the pony over to his chair by the fire and removed the wet clothing. Mountain was startled by what he saw. 'A mare?' Her shivering began to quickly grow worse. Mountain quickly gathered the blankets from his bed and wrapped the still freezing mare tightly into them before adding more wood to the fire.
Daring woke to the smell of soup wafting through the air. She took note of the crackling fire and the warm blankets she was wrapped in before spotting the steaming soup on a nearby table. She struggled a little to free a hoof from the warm cocoon before reaching out to pick up the soup. She stared at it giving it another big whiff before letting out a sigh. She slowly drank it down savoring the warmth that spread through her body. A smile began to creep up her face as she sat before the fire remembering times she had as a foal, a deep voice interrupted her daydreaming.
"Morning stranger." Daring turned to look at the source of the voice, a massive coal grey earth pony stallion with a light brown mane stood in the doorway watching her. "What brings you to my mountain?" He stood staring at her intently waiting her answer.
"My name is Daring Do and I've come in search of the Dragon Temple." The stallion thought about it for a moment before responding.
"No good comes to those who search for that ruin." Something flashed in his eyes, Sadness? Remorse? Fear? Daring took a moment to respond after she saw this.
"I've heard some of the stories." Daring said waving a hoof in the air.
"And yet here you are. You must be a fool or just plain crazy." The stallion replied a hint of anger in his voice.
"I've answered your question now tell me, who are you?"
"I'm Mountain Top and this is my mountain. My family has lived here for generations."
"Why? Surely the valley below would be better?"
"This mountain is my home, I cannot leave it." The two were silent for a time. Daring broke the silence.
"Thank you, for helping me. I would have died out there." Mountain seemed a little taken aback by this.
"Any good pony would do the same." He replied a little warily.
"Maybe but you have my thanks." Mountain grunted and turned to leave.
"Get some rest, if the weather is good you can leave tomorrow." Mountain Top left as Daring turned to stare into the roaring fire, she shivered again and felt fatigued. 'Maybe I can convince him to be my guide, if he's lived here all his life surely he can help me find the Temple. Ehh tomorrow I'm tired.' Daring drifted off to sleep to the sound of the crackling fire.
Mountain Top stood in the doorway watching the tan pegasus mare sleep. 'She is determined, I can see it in her eyes. Can she break my family's curse?' Mountain sighed and turned to the door gathering his snowshoes and coat he went outside. 'The herbs in the soup will keep her asleep until nightfall but I plan to be back before then.' The stallion trudged along a path visible only to him a path he traveled nearly every day. A few hours later he had climbed a nearby ridge overlooking his home. Five tombstones sat near the edge seemingly out of place on the frozen mountain.
"Hey, I'm back, I found a mare on our doorstep last night. She was nearly frozen solid but I warmed her up and she's fine now. She calls herself Daring Do, she says she's looking for the Dragon Temple." The stallion shifted in his shoes before continuing. "I think she might be the one to break the curse, I don't know what it is but their's just something about her. I have to go, I need to be back before nightfall." A warm breeze blew up over the ridge caressing the stallion causing him to smile as he began his journey back down the mountain to his home.
A purple claw snapped in our face garnering our attention. "Rainbow. Hey Rainbow you in there? The libraries closing."
"Oh sorry Spike I was just really into this book." Rainbow got up and stretched.
"I can tell I've been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes."
"Heh it was good? Well anyway We'll see ya later Spike!" Rainbow flapped our wings and took to the air flying out the door and into the sky.
'Just as it was starting to get good too.'
"Yeah I can't wait to check it out so I can finish it!" Rainbow barrel rolled the rest of the way back to the cloud house giggling madly.
'Urk! If I wasn't part pegasi right now I think I'd be sick. Ugh.'
"Oops sorry." Rainbow said as she landed. "But it was fun right?"
"Yeah!"
"YEAH!"
"Oh man that's fun."
"Hey don't abuse that he might catch on."
"Your right. Hmm, no more than twice a day should be okay." Rainbow shook our head and went inside. Where a green blur made contact with our face.
"Hey Tank did ya miss me?" He responded with a wet lick to the face making Rainbow giggle. "Come on Tank let's get you dinner." Rainbow placed the Tortoise on our head and trot into the kitchen, she quickly made some sandwiches and shared them with Tank. "Goodnight Tank." The tortoise yawned and buzzed out of the room. Rainbow climbed the stairs heading into her room and lay down on the bed. "Goodnight Kevin."
"Night Rainbow." When she fell asleep I stood us up and headed for the door. 'Now it's my turn to drive. After all, how hard can it be?'
'After all, how hard can it be?' I went down the stairs and out the front door. Quickly peering over the edge I backed away when I saw how far down the ground was. 'Okay Kevin you can do this.' I stretched out the wings I had been wanting to try out for myself ever since I first saw them being used. Working the muscles I managed to flap them. 'Okay that's the first step now to hover.' After a few more practice flaps I began flapping slowly at first then picking up speed until our hooves started to float off the ground. 'Haha!' I found my excitement a bit premature as a sudden gust of wind blew us into the wall. 'Ow. Come on, I can do this.' walking back up to the edge, I look down and remember just how high we are.
'Maybe this isn't such a good idea.' I back away from the edge trying to calm down. 'Ergh, but if I don't do this I'll never know what it's like to fly with my own two wings. That's it no more co-pilot for me I'm taking the Captains chair!' Mind made up I step up the edge once more. I spread open our wings feeling the cool breeze against the feathers. Looking down I grimace before looking straight ahead and step off the cloud.
'Ahhh..ah...ha...HAHA! I'm doing it! I'm gliding! Take that nature! Humans can fly!' This is amazing! The wind in my face the air flowing over my wings the feeling of freedom, that sense of openness that comes with flight. My glide continued like this for a few minutes as I looked around trying to take in the world around me, from the stars in the sky to the glowing lights from the town below. 'Okay now lets try flapping to get up to that cloud there.' I look at both wings still locked in glide mode. 'Now how does it go? Come on I've been here for a few days surely I was paying enough attention to that. Lets see in, up, out, down. Yeah that sounds right.'
I pulled in my wings and immediately began plummeting. 'AHHH!' In a panic I flap our wings hoping to regain some control. But to no avail as I fall faster and faster coming closer and closer to the ground. Seeing no way out I resign myself to our fate. 'Aw man I'm sorry Rainbow.' At the last second my flailing wings spread wide catching the air, slowing our fall and softening the landing leaving only a dull ache in our knees. I quickly realize i'm not dead and try to calm my breathing and return our heart rate to normal. 'That was close. I almost turned Rainbow into a pancake!' I look around to see where we are. 'Ponyville is there, and the cloud house is up-' I squint in the darkness looking for it. '-There! But how do I get up there?' I look back at the town. 'I can't get back up there on my own I need help.' With a heavy sigh I wonder how I'm going to explain this as I begin the long march into town.
The moon shines brightly on the ground before me as I walk lighting the path nicely. The trees lining the path leave shadows and rustle ominously on the breeze. As I trot my hoofsteps clopping along in the stillness of the night create an eerie feeling of loneliness. I begin to notice something strange. 'Where are all the bugs? The owls? Anything? It's so quiet.' I stop and listen hoping for some sort of noise. My hooves stop hitting the road but the sound of hoofsteps hitting the path does not. 'I'm not alone.' I feel my heart beat faster as I realize this, somepony is out and about and their nearby. But who? And why are they out here? Looking around quickly I spot a large bush and hop inside trying to make as little noise as possible.
The sound of approaching hoofsteps grows louder and louder as the pony came closer and closer. I could feel our heart rate rise until it was beating so loud I thought it would wake Rainbow. But still the hoofsteps came closer, I was starting to panic when I came to a stunning realization. 'Now wait just a second here. Why am I so scared of another pony?' Chuckling quietly at my own mind scaring me I'm about to step out of the bush when the clopping stops. I peek out of the bush to see where they are. Before my eyes I see a figure in a cloak the shadows obscuring its face but still showing two glowing yellow orbs. I'm about to scream in mortal terror when a voice comes from it.
"Greetings my colorful friend it is unlike you to be out at such an hour I certainly hope the reason is not sour." I jump in fright and leap out of the bush heart pumping furiously I'm about to run when. 'Wait what did it say?' It lowers its hood. 'A zebra?' The zebra is smiling but gives me a concerned look when I don't respond.
"Is something the matter? Zecora is sorry for making your heart pitter patter." I give her a strange look. 'Does she always speak in rhymes?'
"Has the cat got your tongue? Or will you speak while we're both still young?" Zecora tilts her head still giving me a worried look.
"Oh yeah uh sorry." Zecora's face changes from confusion to worry and back again.
"Hmm... what is this strange aura?" She mutters as she starts to circle us.
"Look this is just a misunderstanding I'm Kevin and I was just going for a walk while Rainbow was asleep." Zecora stops in front of me.
"Who are you to walk in the hooves of another?" Zecora takes a step forward as her face adopts a not so friendly look.
"I'm not in here on purpose. Twilight was trying a new spell and I kinda ended up here."
"This I can see, a talk with Mrs. Sparkle I will have later indeed." Zecora stepped back but kept looking at me like I was going to try something.
"Yeah but I have a problem. See, I need to be getting back to the cloud house but I don't know how to fly." Zecora raised a hoof to her chin before speaking.
"There is no need to worry Twilight can send you home in a hurry. Follow me."
"Oh good." Zecora set off for Ponyville at a brisk trot with me following close behind. "So Zecora."
"Hmm?" She said turning her head while continuing to walk.
"What are you doing out here? I mean shouldn't most ponies be asleep?"
"That which you say may be very true but most ponies I am not. I seek the moon flower that glows luminescent it blooms only when the moon is not a crescent."
"Cool, you mean like those plants over there?"
"A good eye you have, it is indeed the flower I need." Zecora picked the flower placing it into a small pouch at her side.
"Do you always talk like that? All mystical and rhymy?" Zecora raised a hoof to her chin.
"Hmm... No." Zecora smiled and laughed making me laugh too. After we settled down we continued into town Zecora brought me to the library after telling me a bit about herself and the first time she met Rainbow and her friends. 'I have to get some poison joke for a prank.' She bid me goodbye at the entrance disappearing into the shadows. I looked at the door and gulped. 'Maybe she won't mind being woken up?' I knocked. *Knock knock knock* Some hoofsteps and the door opened revealing a tired looking purple mare. Behind her a desk filled with notes and books a sleeping dragon laying in a basket off to the side.
"Hey Twilight just who I was looking for." Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"It's really late what is it?"
"Ah ya see I was wondering if you could help me get back to the cloud house." I said rubbing a hoof on the back of our head.
"Can't you just fly?" Twilight's eyebrow raised even further.
"Um no." I gave her a sheepish grin. As she closed her eyes putting a hoof to the bridge of her nose.
*sigh* "Fine, hold still this will tingle." Twilight's horn started to glow brightly pulsating before growing brighter, before releasing a bright flash of light. I shielded our eyes too late and when I opened them I was seeing spots. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. The sight of the front door to Rainbow's cloud house was very welcome. 'Finally back, safe and sound to boot too.' I open the front door of the cloud house and step inside. I walk towards the stairs and see Tank fast asleep on the couch. Heading up the stairs I go into Rainbow's bedroom and hop into bed. I look out the window. 'Just in time too the sun's coming up.' After getting comfortable I yawn and close our eyes. 'Never doing that again.'
"KEVIN!" I awoke with a start as Rainbow shouted my name. "What did you do!"
'Huh? Whu? What are you talking about?'
"I'm talking about this!" She lifted a hoof revealing the underside which was currently dirty.
'A dirty hoof?'
"It wasn't dirty when I went to sleep last night!"
'Oh.' Rainbow Growled. 'Oh shit I'm so busted.'
"Now what did you do!?"
'I kinda sorta tried to fly?'
"You WHAT! You could have gotten hurt and put me in the hospital!"
'Or worse.' I tried in a small voice.
"You almost got me cratered didn't you!" She said seething in anger.
'Maybe?' I could feel her rage climbing up higher and higher. Before it started to fade out with a sigh.
"Hopefully you learned something from this, Because I can't beat it into you how stupid it was!" She finished with a shout.
'Yes ma'am. Never again ma'am.'
"Good." She sat on the bed for a minute before getting up. I could tell that now was a bad time for a chat so I kept to myself. We went downstairs where Tank was already awake and waiting at the kitchen table a look on his face that seemed to be worry.
"It's okay Tank I just had to straighten something out. How about some breakfast? Would you like that?" The Tortoise nodded his head slowly and smiled. Rainbow put on a small smile and got him his food.
"I'm off Tank, be good!" Rainbow flew out the door the breeze from our wings blowing the door shut behind us. We flew through the air up and over the town below. We approached a cloud sitting off on its own Rainbow was about to set down when a grey head with a blonde mane popped out, it looked around frantically before spotting us and waving us in closer.
"Derpy? What are you doing in there?"
"I'm hiding before the bad things happen." She looked around for the unseen danger.
"Bad things? What bad things?"
"Pinkie told me, she said her Pinkie sense was telling her about a doozy." Rainbow brought a hoof to our face and slowly dragged it down.
"A doozy?"
"Who said that?" Derpy's eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she stared down the amulet.
"Oh that's just Kevin he talks through this amulet here." Rainbow said poking the amulet.
"Really? Where is he? Why does he need this amulet to talk?"
"Ugh. Long story short he's in my head."
"Wow I know you get into some weird things sometimes but wow." She said rubbing the side of her head with a hoof.
"Yeah I know. Hey I gotta go good luck with your hiding."
"Thanks Rainbow Dash see ya!" Derpy took one last look around before going back into her cloud. Rainbow flew down towards town headed straight for Sugarcube Corner. After landing we started for the entrance when a shout came from above.
"Hi Dashie! I knew you were coming! I made you breakfast cake!" Pinkie shouted from the upstairs window.
"Mmm breakfast cake." Pinkie giggled and Rainbow sighed.
"Uh thanks? I guess? Hey Pinkie what's this I hear about another doozy?"
"Come inside! I'll be right down!" Pinkie disappeared into the bakery shutting the window as she went. Rainbow went to the front of the bakery and went inside. The bakery was quiet as the store had yet to open, we went over to the stairs to wait for Pinkie. A few seconds later the pink mare bounced down the stairs.
"Dashie! It's good to see you!" Pinkie said as she pulled us into a crushing hug.
"Yeah... you too Pinks... you can let me go now... I like to breathe."
"Okay!" Pinkie let go, causing us to drop unceremoniously to the floor.
"So Pinkie about that doozy." Rainbow said after getting back up.
"Oh yeah, but first. Kevin, can I talk normally?" It took me a moment to remember what she was talking about.
"Yeah go ahead."
"Well, I was just baking some muffins with Derpy when all of a sudden my tail twitched and my ears flopped then my knees went all wibbly wobbly and-"
"We get it. So what does it mean?"
"Oh! I got another one coming! Lets see ear flop, twitchy tail, pinchy knees, oh my shoulders achy I forgot to take Gummy out of the tub again, ooo eye flutter haven't done that in a while.
"What does that mean?"
"That Twilight knows what the doozy is."
"Really?"
"Yeparooni."
"Right now?"
"Uh-huh."
"Then lets go!"
"Okay!" Pinkie suddenly pulls out her party cannon.
"Oh no." Pinkie grabbed our hoof and pulled us in with her. "Pinkie. Not this again! I told you I can already-" Pinkie fired the cannon. "-FFFFFFLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" We shot out the door and starting flying up in an arc. We passed by the Carousel Boutique leaving a stunned Rarity behind us.
"WHEEEEEEEE!"
"Pinkie! Your crazy!" Pinkie giggled the whole flight over Ponyville as the giant tree library came into view.
"Hang on!" Pinkie pulled us close as we crashed into the branches and leaves. She let us go when we stopped. Rainbow shook the leaves out of our wings as she stood up.
"Pinkie! Are you okay?" Pinkie was lying on a branch covered in sap. 'What?' She bounced up quickly without a scratch on her.
"Yep! Oooh tree sap! Yummy!" With a loud shlorp she somehow managed to eat all the sap.
"We didn't just see that."
"See what?"
"Good."
"Oh! We should get down now. The ponies are getting worried." Rainbow flew up and grabbed Pinkie floating her down in front of the library. Where several dozen ponies stared expectantly.
"Just Pinkie everypony!" They all nodded in understanding and went about their business. The front door to the library burst open revealing a slightly disheveled Twilight.
"Your here! SPIKE!"
"Yeah Twilight."
"Go get Rarity!"
"On it!" Spike shouted as he ran off towards Carousel Boutique.
"Pinkie go get Fluttershy!"
"Okay!" Pinkie pulled out another cannon and hopped inside. "This is how Pinkie travels!" The cannon fired launching Pinkie in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage. "WHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Rainbow can you go get AJ?"
"What the hay is going on Twilight?"
"I'll tell you when you get back now hurry!"
"Geez alright." Rainbow took off launching us into the sky towards Sweet Apple Acres.
"I'm a comin Rainbow. You just hold on a minute I ain't got no fancy wings!" Rainbow huffed and slowed down a little so Applejack could keep up as we raced to the library. Looking ahead I could see that the others had already arrived.
"Rainbow! Applejack! You made it!"
"Yeah *pant* now what *pant* is so important *pant* I had to rush into town Twi?" Twilight's eyes narrowed as she took a deep breath.
"This morning Princess Celestia sent me a letter with dire news. The seal we placed on Discord is weakening-" *Gasp!* "-and nopony is sure as to why."
"That is just dreadful! Whatever are we to do?"
"We'll kick his sorry flank until he begs us to hit him with the rainbow!"
"Oh Dissy can make me a new cotton candy cloud!" Pinkie received several blank stares as the group broke into silence. One that I broke with a simple question.
"Who is Discord?"
"Really Twilight I thought you were going to tell him some of these things?"
"I've been really busy okay! And why didn't you?"
"I thought you did!" Twilight and Rainbow began a stare down that I interrupted quickly.
"HEY!" They all freeze and stare. "Would somepony please just tell me who this guy is?" Surprisingly Fluttershy who had been quiet this whole time stepped forward.
"Discord is the spirit of chaos and disharmony he likes to use his magic to cause chaos and it can do almost anything. We also sealed him in stone but that wasn't very nice." She finished in a whisper as she realized we all were looking at her.
"And now he is about to break free again. The Princesses are trying to slow it down but if we don't get there soon it may be too late."
"Then that settles it. Pack yer bags girls, we're goin to Canterlot."
"Then that settles it. Pack yer bags girls, we're goin to Canterlot." Rainbow grinned fiercely, I don't know exactly what we're up against but I know that at least one of us is ready. With a quick thrust of our wings we take to the skies quickly zooming through the warm morning air back to a familiar home in the clouds. We land on the puffy cloud that makes up the front yard and push open the door.
"Tank!" A buzzing grinding noise echoes out drifting down from the stairwell from across the house. Rainbow frowns and quickly flies up the stairs, of the four doors along the hallway only one is open, the bedroom. We go inside and scan the room for a few seconds, suddenly the blankets wiggle about and the buzzing noise comes again seemingly from the bed itself. We trot over to the bed and move the blanket to discover Tank. The intrepid tortoise grins as he looks up at us from his fluffy prison. Somehow the little guy had gotten a propeller tangled in the sheets. "There you are." We quickly free him earning a nuzzle from the tortoise. "I've got to go to Canterlot for a little while so I'm going to leave plenty of food out for you, don't eat it all at once okay?" The tortoise nods and Rainbow smiles, she nuzzles the tortoise before flying back downstairs and getting out enough food to feed Tank for a few days.
With that done we head back upstairs and pull saddlebags out from under the bed. The saddlebags are a deep blue color and have Rainbow's cutie mark emblazoned onto the flaps. Rainbow casually tosses them over our shoulder and they land perfectly onto our back. 'Showoff.' Rainbow smirks as we head over to the only storage space in the room, the dresser. We pull open the top drawer and look inside, within is an expertly woven rainbow scarf, a blue Wonderbolts cap, and four also expertly woven rainbow colored socks.
'You have an entire dresser but the only articles of clothing you own are a scarf a hat and socks?' I feel heat rise to our face as Rainbow blushes and quickly closes the drawer.
"I.. I uh... don't need to pack anything anyway!" Rainbow says a little too quickly grabbing her saddlebags with our mouth, canvas tastes really weird by the way, and tossing them back under the bed.
'Psh your acting like those socks are something more than just hoofwear. I mean come on it's not like you guys wear clothes anyway.' Her only response is more heat in our cheeks as her blush intensifies. Processing data...working...connecting dots...done. 'Oh...oh! Nevermind then.' Rainbow nods before taking to the air once more, we fly out the window because who needs doors when you can fly anyway? A minute of awkward silence later finds us landing next to Twilight and Pinkie Pie who are already waiting in front of the library with their own custom saddlebags hanging from their backs.
Twilight glances at us and raises an eyebrow. "Not bringing anything with you to Canterlot Rainbow?" We nervously smile at the naturally curious mare.
"N..no." Twilight continues to stare at us for a few moments before shrugging seemingly satisfied with our answer and going back to listening to Pinkie Pie recount the dream she had last night and the adventure she had in it. A few minutes later, as Pinkie was just about to save the universe from the dreaded army of attack kittens with her party cannon and an infinite supply of cupcakes, Fluttershy and Rarity both arrive each carrying their own saddlebags across their backs. Rarity looked stunning, for a pony anyway, in the time she was gone she had managed to restyle her mane adding many more curls and even using a conditioner of sorts to make it almost shine in the sunlight. But that wasn't all she also now wore a dress it was blue with a golden saddle and had frills around the collar. Her horn glowed as well as several small bags that floated around her head and what I assumed was Spike huffed along behind her carrying several large cases that completely blocked the little dragon from view.
"Spike? Is that you under all that?" I ask the large cases that plop to the ground a moment later and a panting baby dragon steps around to greet us.
*pant* "Don't *pant* worry about me. *pant* I'll be fine. *pant* Anything for lady Rarity." Spike stares dreamily at said unicorn. 'Poor kid, he's got the love bug.' moments later his eyes turn into hearts and he starts to float up into the air nearly a foot off the ground. 'I realllly hope that's normal.' I mentally shudder as we turn to face his center of attention.
"Rarity isn't this a little much for an emergency?" Rarity looks upon us with horror clear upon her face as she quickly splutters out a response.
"If you must know, I left behind all but the most essential of things."
"Those are essential sugarcube?" Applejack says as she trots up behind us her eyebrow raised and her own orange saddlebag resting on her flank.
"But of course, a lady must always be prepared for anything after all." Rarity closes her eyes and fluffs her mane as the rest of us roll our eyes. Twilight glances quickly at the clock tower near the center of town and frowns as the clock strikes 8:45.
"Come on girls if we don't hurry we'll miss the next train to Canterlot." Twilight starts off in a quick trot and we all quickly follow suit. The love struck Spike quickly picks up the large cases and floats along close behind Rarity seemingly no longer affected by their immense weight. Upon arrival at the train station Twilight quickly trades a few words and a small bag of bits with the ticket mare for six one way tickets. Twilight uses her magic to pass one to each of us as we make our way through the station entrance.
The station is small but nice in its own quaint little way, while the building is painted a nice lavender color that is slightly faded from the weather the overhang is made of wood and covered in a layer of thatch, the platform itself is relatively small no more than twenty feet across but more than big enough for the relatively unlively station. The train which was already waiting on the tracks was colorful to say the least with many different decorations adorning its various colorful cars. The engine marked in black paint was dubbed the Friendship Express. '...too corny for comment.'
Over by the front of the train the conductor, who was a light blue stallion with a short black mane and mutton chops. He wore a dark blue vest with a red tie and a blue cap with a red sash. He readjusted the spectacles he wore upon his nose as he checked his pocket watch. "All aboard! Last call for Canterlot!" We trot over to the stallion and show him our tickets, after a quick inspection he punched our tickets and stepped aside to allow us passage. The others start filtering in one by one as a purple hoof stops Spike from boarding.
"But Twilight-" Twilight cut him off with a look that sent a shiver down our spine.
"No Spike, Discord is far too dangerous for me to just let you come along. I could never forgive myself if anything happened to you."
"But what if you need me?"
"Then I'll have Princess Celestia send for you at once." Spike crossed his arms and locked Twilight in a fierce gaze, Twilight returned his gaze and raised him a disapproving frown. The battle of wills lasted but a short few moments before the scaly assistant looked away in defeat.
"Take good care of the library for me until we get back ok?" The purple dragon looked up at Twilight his eyes starting to water.
"Y..you got it Twilight. Just make sure you stay safe, alright? The place just isn't the same without you around." Twilight's expression softens as she pulls him into a hug.
"I'll miss you too Spike." The teary embrace ends and we board the train with Rarity's bags held in tow by Twilight's magic. We look back as the door closes behind us, the little dragon waves us off before heading for the station exit. Although we are the only ponies to board the train the cars are already filled to the brim with ponies of various color, clothing, and race. While we observe the crowded car searching for the others, Twilight taps our shoulder, directing our attention to the door on the far end of the car where a very terrified yellow pegasus was making feeble attempts to wave us over. Unfortunately in order to make it over to the other side we had to pass through the sea of travelers many of which were moving about the cabin hustling and bustling and creating obstacles of themselves.
"Oi! Watch it!"
"Sorry."
"Be more careful where you step please, yah?"
"My bad."
"Pffh! Keep your feathers to yourself!"
"Oops." We pass through the pony filled car and rejoin with our friends in the next car where we find that it is completely devoid of other travelers. The others settle in, depositing their bags on the provided luggage racks. The train whistle sounds loudly marking our departure from the station. The train lurches forward as it starts to move, quickly picking up speed as it rolls faster and faster down the tracks towards it's next destination, Canterlot. With everyponies bags stowed away for the time being we all gather around Twilight.
Applejack has a hoof on her hat as she speaks in a worried tone. "Do ya reckon we'll make it in time Twi?"
Twilight looks back at us all worriedly fear flashing across her normally vibrant purple eyes. "We have to, if we don't there's no telling what kind of chaos Discord will cause." Applejack pulls off her hat and gulps as the mood in the car begins to darken. Then like a light was switched on, Pinkie, for just a split second got a very determined look in her eyes before it was hidden behind a broad smile.
"Silly fillies!" Pinkie bounced into the center of the group looking at each of us in turn as she continued. "That meany mcmeanerpants can't win! We've got a secret weapon!"
"We do?" We all say in unison as we look incredulously at the bubbly pink mare whose cheery smile is starting to become infectious.
"Well duh! Isn't it obvious?" Our blank stares don't seem to phase Pinkie. "Kevin!" The silence that followed was almost palpable so with my own obvious question in mind I ended it.
"Me?" They all stare at us and we stare at Pinkie with mouths not quite hanging open and a look of incredulity plastering all our faces.
"Him?" Twilight seems to be the most shocked of us all and only manages to parrot my own question.
"Yuhuh!" Pinkie grins while shaking her head up and down hard enough to make her own eyes spin around when she stops.
"How is Kevin supposed to help? It's not like he can do anything when he's stuck inside of my head. No offense Kevin."
"None taken. I am pretty useless in here."
Pinkie waves a hoof dismissively. "Oh that's easy! Discord wants to be free."
"We already know that Pinkie, I don't think anypony would want to be a lawn ornament."
"But he 's a meany."
"Which is why we blast him with the elements and make him stay a lawn ornament anyway."
"He'll try to stop us."
"So he'll try to zap us with his chaos magic again and we'll go all anti harmony and stuff so we won't be friends anymore and we can't use the elements on him." 'Lawn ornaments? Zapped? Anti harmony? Just what are we getting into?'
"Kevin can harmonize Rainbow! Then Rainbow can harmonize us!" Pinkie grins widely as she stares at Twilight expectantly.
Twilight frowns and shakes her head. "Pinkie that's crazy how is Kevin supposed to even try to keep up with... oh."
"Now you're getting it!"
"He doesn't need to keep up, because Rainbow can never get away from him in the first place! Pinkie your ingenious!"
"I'm igneous? I'm a rock? Ooh can I rock!?" Pinkie hops up onto her hind legs and pulls an electric guitar from behind her back and strums a few chords. 'But, hooves?' Perplexed doesn't even begin to describe how watching the things that mare can do will make any sane at least semi-normal being feel.
"No Pinkie!"
"Aww." Pinkie sets the guitar down and crosses her forelegs in response.
"So Rainbow can't get away from me. Great, how does that help?" The others fall silent as Pinkie rubs the back of her neck.
Applejack steps forward and places a hoof on our shoulder. "I'm sure you can think of somethin sugarcube."
"So, the backup plan for if things go wrong is for me to wing it and hope we don't all die?" Pinkie nods enthusiastically as the others stare blankly at Pinkie and Twilight just frowns. "Excellent at least were all on the same page."'Well we're all going to die, and it's going to be my fault... greeaat.'"So Twilight, how long until we get to this Canterlot?" Twilight tilts her head slightly as she thinks.
"Canterlot is the capitol of Equestria and where the Princesses live and work. The Friendship Express is due to arrive in Canterlot at exactly 10:45 AM give or take a few minutes. Barring any unforeseen circumstances we will be met by an escort that will take us to the castle, but we'll have to hurry when we get there, we have no idea when Discord will break free so we need to be ready for when he does, therefore we should get some rest before we arrive." We all nod our heads in understanding and split up to claim seats, Rarity and Fluttershy sit down together at the back of the car as they begin whispering quietly about something. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie and Applejack find seats across from each other as they start a debate about who makes the best pie. Twilight frowns and moves away from the group choosing to take a seat near the front of the car, where she stares out of the window silently.
Rainbow trots over to an empty corner and lays down on the bench. "We have a while until we get there so I'm gonna take a nap." She lays our head down on our hooves somehow manages to immediately fall asleep. 'How does she do that?' Rubbing our head in wonder I stand us back up and look over to Twilight who is still staring out of the window, the city still steadily approaching in the distance. With nothing better to do I trot over and sit down next to her. Twilight is so engrossed in her own inner musings that she gives no response to our arrival, although now that I can see her face I notice the worry and frustration that are fighting for dominance across it. 'This spirit of chaos must have really rattled her last time he showed up.'
"Hey Twilight." I try speaking softly so as not to startle her.
"..." No reaction from her not even a twitch.
"Twilight." I try a little louder.
"..." One of her ears twitch but she still does not react.
"Twilight!" I nearly shout as I place a hoof on her shoulder.
"AH!" Twilight jumps and spins around to face us as her face quickly goes from shock and fear to anger and then embarrassment as she formulates a response. "Rainbow? Sorry I'm just, a little distracted right now."
"Rainbow hit the snooze button. She was out just like that!" I raise a hoof to snap my... 'Oh yeah, no fingers.' Twilight smiles a little while I glare at the offending hoof.
"That sounds like Rainbow alright." Her smile quickly fades away to be replaced by a frown.
"Are you going to be okay Twilight? You look pretty down."
"It's just... the last time Discord broke free he almost destroyed Equestria as we know it. He nearly drove apart my friends just for fun! I...I'm afraid. I'm scared that this time he won't fail, and I'm terrified that this time he'll take my friends away forever. I... I don't want to lose my friends, I don't want to be alone again." Twilight slumps with her eyes closed as a tear rolled down her muzzle.
"Hey, cheer up Twi." I place a hoof under her chin and raise her face up to look us in the eyes, Twilight opens her eyes to look at us. "You know, I've only been here about a week, and I still don't know jack squat about this world of yours. But, If anypony can kick that dude's butt, I'm sure you six can. And besides." I shrug and give her a sly grin. "Like Pinkie said, this time around you guys have me to back you up so I'm sure we can do this no sweat." I give Twilight's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. 'What did I just squeeze with?!' I almost stop to stare at our hooves again but remember that I already tried that and didn't learn anything from the uncooperative appendages.
Twilight wipes away the tear her frown not quite leaving. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Kevin. But, I still don't know how we're going to beat him. The last time he showed up he didn't think we would be able to stop him so he gave us a free shot, twice. But this time, this time he won't be so overconfident."
"Then we'll just have outsmart him, I mean come on, I have never met anypony as smart as Twilight Sparkle I'm sure she can think of something." Twilight sits up and I let our hooves fall back to our sides.
"I'm not so sure I can do this. What if I can't think of something? What if Discord zaps Rainbow and you get affected too? What if-" I place a hoof on her runaway mouth silencing any further protests.
"No more what ifs."
"But what about-" I cut her off again.
"No Twilight, what you need to do right now is focus. I know you can do this." I wave a hoof towards the others. "They know you can do this. So tell me, what do you need to do to beat him?"
"In order to defeat Discord we have to hit him with the elements of harmony." Twilight taps the bench lightly with her hoof.
"And how are you going to do that?"
"I..." Her hoof rises and her mouth hangs slightly ajar as she takes a moment to think. "If we can, somehow trick him into letting his guard down, even if it's just for a few seconds.. then we can hit him with the elements of harmony."
I smile and nod to the now smiling lavender mare. "See! There you go already." I turn to go but a hoof on our shoulder stops us. I turn back around to face Twilight.
"Thanks." I smile and she smiles back before turning to stare out the window again this time deep in thought. With nothing else to do and the pie debate still unresolved I decide to join Rainbow for a quick nap.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO With a yelp we jump up into the air our eyes immediately snapping open. In the brief moment before gravity begins to take effect we take in the scene around us, through the window I can see that the sun is still shining but the platform was new. Inside the coach which was housing five other ponies now only Applejack remained, she stood watching us from a few feet away with a mix between a smile and a gasp on her face. With our moment over we ungracefully fall back to the ground as gravity reassert itself over us, we narrowly miss the bench we had previously been sleeping on instead managing to land in a heap on the floor.
"Gyah! What the hay was that!?"
"Jus the train whistle sugar, you okay?" We look up to see an orange hoof extended down to us.
"I'm fine just... startled is all." Rainbow accepts AJ's helping hoof and stands us back up. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it sugarcube. Now come on, the others are waitin on us." Applejack walks past us to the door sliding it open with her hooves before heading out, we follow just behind her and after Applejack steps down onto the platform I finally see it. The city of Canterlot, grand capital of Equestria, and home to the bigwigs of this society. Tall white marble buildings stretch into the sky on both sides of the large cobblestone street. Fancy ornaments and decorations made of gold, silver, and other precious metals adorn many of the buildings and cause much of the city to glimmer in the sunlight. But by far the most regal building of all sits far down at the end of what must be the main thoroughfare, the buildings tall towers and banners easily mark it as the home of pony leadership. The walls and large gate also help to distinguish it from the other large manors nearby as a place not just anypony can just waltz into.
The ponies of the city who strut about with their heads held high are mostly unicorns with a few earth ponies and pegasi scattered about, all are dressed in either a fancy suit or a dress. Top hats, monocles and sun hats grace the streets as far as the eye can see. But before my mind can start to swim from all of the unrestrained fanciness strutting about with little care, Applejack sets off over towards four familiar ponies. Standing just outside the stations exit they were busy conversing with three more unfamiliar ponies. These unfamiliar ponies all wore armor, two of them carried spears and were clad in ornamental golden armor. Of them one was a grey unicorn and the other was a white pegasus. They stood stoically a few feet behind the third pony, this pony was a white unicorn but he seemed to stand a little bit taller than the rest from within his shining purple armor. As we trot over to them he removed his helmet revealing a flowing blue mane with a lighter blue streak and smiled as he waved us over.
"Rainbow Dash! It's great to see you again! What have you been getting up to lately?" We bump hooves and step back.
"Hey Shining Armor! Or should I call you Prince Armor now?"
"Shining Armor is fine. No need for any formalities with you six. Especially not my little sister." Shining Armor wraps a leg around Twilight and pulls her into against his chest. 'Twilight has a brother? Wait, Prince!?'
"I've been training for the Future Bolts Competition! It was going to be soo awesome, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to make it." 'Twilight never said she was related to the fucking royalty!'
"Yeah he..." Shining Armor's eyes dart around as he scans the crowd all around us. "Has some really bad timing. But enough chit chat we need to get to the castle the Princesses are expecting you."
"He? You mean Dismph!" Rainbow was cut off as a white hoof attached to a purple armored pony found itself inside our mouth. 'Blegh! Now I know how Pinkie feels, it tastes like dirt.'
"Shhh! Don't say his name out in public we don't want to cause a panic." He hisses quietly and in a commanding tone. Rainbow nods and he removes his hoof.
"Ugh! Did you have to shove your hoof in my mouth? Bleh!" Rainbow grumbles as she tries to remove the taste of dirt and sweat from our mouth, it didn't work.
"Yeah! Come on man we don't know where that's been!"
"Sorry but... who said that? Stallions!" The two guards tense up and rush to the other side of our group their eyes darting about as they search about for any unwelcome extra members to our group. Twilight opens her mouth to speak but is hushed when Shining Armor raises his hoof. "See anything?"
"No sir." They say in unison as they continue to look about for anything suspicious. Shining Armor turned to Twilight with a questioning look in his eyes as his face remains stoic.
"As I was about to say before I was interrupted." She glares as Shining Armor who grins sheepishly in response. "That voice you heard was Kevin, and don't bother to look for him you won't find him."
Shining Armor raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"
"Because he is currently trapped inside of Rainbow Dash's mind."
"Wha-"
"I'm not done. He is an extra dimensional being that I accidentally summoned here with a communication spell." Shining Armor stared, and stared, and stared some more. He continued to stare for about a minute as even the stoic guards stopped scanning the surrounding crowd to gawk at us although the unicorn guard was the first to simply shrug and go back to watching the crowd.
"You mean... somepony...is in her head?" Shining stuttered as he raised his hoof, quickly moving it back and forth between Twilight and us like his life depended on it.
"Don't worry he's harmless. And besides I'll be sending him back home as soon as I finish the return spell."
"I...uh... alright, you know what fine. Rainbow has another pony in her head. Certainly isn't the weirdest thing Twily's done."
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
"Anyway yes it is something like that." Shining Armor sighs and rubs his head with a hoof while the pegasus guard continues to stare at us. Rainbow starts to fidget under his scrutinous stare, becoming uncomfortable from the sudden attention.
"Hey buddy keep your eyes to yourself." The guard didn't react at first, at least not until a grey hoof impacted the back of his head. The guard grinned sheepishly before turning away. With Rainbow eyeing him nervously the entire time.
"You'll need to explain the situation to the Princesses when we get to the castle. Moving along, he." Shining Armor emphasized with air quotes amazingly not falling on his face in the process. "Needs to stay hush hush, need to know ponies only. Got it?" Shining Armor turned to Pinkie Pie who literally zipped her lips shut locked it and threw the key off into the distance. 'Jaw meet floor, laws of physics have a nice vacation.' "O...k. Lets get going then." The girls gather their bags as Shining Armor in his shining armor led the way down the street. The golden guards move to flank us keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity. The fancily dressed ponies part before us as we trot, they watch our group warily always keeping a particular eye on the Prince. The buildings we pass all range from small stores to residential buildings and apartments all the way up to workshops and manor houses complete with hedges. As we begin to near the castle gates an aristocratic voice calls out to us that causes Rarity's eyes to light up.
"Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Lady Rarity?" Our group stops to face the source of the voice.
A well dressed white unicorn stallion flanked by a white coated pink maned unicorn mare stood smiling at our group. The unicorn guard moves to stand between us and them as a smiling Rarity trots forward past the guard to greet them. "Mr. Fancy Pants! And the lovely Fleur, how are you darling?"
The mare nervously smiles. "Hello." Fancy Pants smiled at his companion even as she shrunk away behind him.
"I'm doing quite splendidly my dear, although I am a bit worn."
"Oh? And why is that?"
"It seems you made quite the impression with the upper crust here in Canterlot. Since your last visit to Canterlot the ponies here have been clamoring for more of your designs. And seeing as I was the one closest to you during your last stay naturally they assume that I must know all about you and your work." Fancy Pants smiled. "But do you know what I told them?"
"And what is that dear?"
"I told them that lady Rarity resides down in the quaint little town of Ponyville of course! And that if they wanted a Rarity original they would need to go and speak to you. Oh but they scarcely believed me, they said that it was crazy for such a refined mare to be living so far from Canterlot. Away from 'civilized' society."
"Oh they didn't."
"They did. But who is this with you today?"
"Oh where are my manners these are my friends." She said gesturing to our group. Fancy Pants scanned our group until a look of recognition crossed his face as it settled on Twilight.
"Ah yes the charmingly rustic bunch from the garden party awhile back. I remember that charmingly simple dress you made for what was it? Ah yes a birthday. Quite generous of you." Rarity blushed a little as she recalled said event.
"Quite right darling. Certainly not one of my better moments." Rarity mumbled under her breath.
"So what brings you to Canterlot my dear? Are you here to reveal a new Rarity original?"
"Oh I wish but no, something far more serious has come up and I simply do not have the time to talk about it right now. If I find some time later though we simply must have a proper chat." Fancy Pants looked our group over slowly before locking eyes with a rather annoyed Prince.
"Ah! Business with the royalty then? I understand, I hope to see you later tata!" The white unicorn trot away with his female companion close behind. With no more distractions we set off once more for the castle.
"That mare doesn't talk much does she?"
"Who? Fleur? Yes she does tend to shy away from the public eye whenever possible nowadays. A shame really she was such a lovely model. But you don't seem to talk to many other ponies all that much yourself dear."
"It's not easy to be very social when your just baggage for a pony to carry around. At least you guys can understand what I'm going through."
"Yes, there is that isn't there." Rarity went silent as she was deep in thought. Rainbow noticed and picked up the pace to move to the front of the group, we passed Fluttershy, who was trying to hide from the eyes of the surrounding crowd from behind her mane and in between Applejack and Pinkie Pie, both of which were once again debating pie, and then on up to where Twilight was talking to Shining Armor.
"And then Rainbow flew in to tell me that the spell did work."
"So he has been inside of Rainbow's mind for almost a week?"
"Yes, and I'm getting worried. If I can't figure out the return spell soon we'll have to resort to more drastic measures. He can't stay in there forever."
"I hope it doesn't come to that."
'Hold on did she say drastic?'
"Hey!" Rainbow shouted as we flew forward and landed with a thump right behind the two unicorns. Twilight and Shining Armor stop and turn around to face us as the rest of the group inadvertently runs into us from behind creating a literal ponypile.
"What in tarnation!"
"Oh my!"
"WEEE!"
"Ah!"
Rainbow lifts Fluttershy off of us. "Ow." And we get back to our hooves slowly as we shake off the impact. We stomp towards the confused unicorns with a glare that would cause a manticore to back down. "Nopony is going to be doing anything drastic to Kevin! We promised to get him home and I won't let you back out now!" With one final stomp we stop our advance at mere inches from them, all the while Twilight's eyes are closed as she replays the last few minutes over and over to come up with a response. Then suddenly a gasp as it clicks and her eyes snap open, pupils wide with horror.
"I..its not how it sounds!" From behind a series of gasps break the silence that follows.
"Then tell me what it sounds like because it doesn't sound very good to me!" Twilight shrank away from us as she continued to work her jaw in an attempt to respond.
"Me neither!" Rainbow shouted as Shining Armor stepped between us and Twilight. Shining placed his hoof on our shoulder and spoke in a low and commanding tone.
"This is neither the time or the place to make a scene. Twily can explain everything later at the castle when we don't have a third of Canterlot watching, but in the meantime you need to chill out." Around us most of the nearby ponies have stopped whatever they were previously doing to stare at us. Any anger we still had shrunk away from the sight. Shining Armor's gaze softened as he looked back to check on his sister, before hardening into the scowl of a rather pissed big brother as he returned his gaze to us. "Am I understood?" I look past him to Twilight who was nearly in tears as she shrunk down onto the cobble below.
"Yes sir."
Rainbow crossed our hooves as we took to the air and hovered overhead. "I'm gonna go... clear my head or something, I'll catch up with you guys later." With a furious stroke of our wings we began a rapid ascension.
From down below I faintly hear somepony shout. "Rainbow wait!" Either Rainbow doesn't hear or no longer cares as we don't stop until we reach the cloud layer. From below we can just make out Shining Armor and the girls in the streets below.
"Nothing to see here go back to your business!" Faintly I hear Shining Armor shout before he turns back to his sister in an attempt to comfort her as the others crowd around her, presumably to find out just what happened. Twilight shakes her head and heads towards the castle with the others in tow. From our vantage point we can see the entirety of the city as well as much of the surrounding countryside, while the view is great my attention is drawn away from all of it as Rainbow herself goes through several emotions in rapid succession.
"RrrrrrAAAHHH!" Rainbow slams our hoof onto a nearby cloud easily dispersing it into nothing. With a maniacal grin we eye all of the remaining clouds, a mere moment later Rainbow lets out a war cry that shakes the air and creates the illusion that the clouds were shaking with fear before us. With one final roar we tear into them with lightning speed smashing and bashing all that floated before us. One minute and several dozen clouds later we land atop the only remaining cloud, panting as sweat dripped from our brow and down a cheek.
'We should go back, they still need you.'
"Yeah." We look out over the edge of the cloud to the crowded streets below. Even with the rush of lunch hour the girls are easy to spot, the ponies around them part before the guards giving them a wide berth. A few steps and deep breath, Rainbow walks off the edge of the cloud. With our wings tight against our sides we plummet, as we quickly approach the ground Rainbow spreads our wings wide catching the air like a parachute and leveling us off at building height. Using our remaining momentum we soar over the streets of Canterlot over markets and stalls and the ponies themselves as they go about their day completely oblivious to our passing. As the gate to the castle comes into view so too does Shining Armor and the group, we swoop in from overhead and come to a complete stop, before folding our wings back to our sides and falling the last few feet to the ground right next to Fluttershy.
"Eep!" The timid yellow pegasus jumps as we land with a thud. She looks over fearfully but relaxes when she sees us.
Rainbow smiles sheepishly. "Sorry Fluttershy." Fluttershy smiled back letting us know that we were forgiven.
"Halt!" We all stop at the command as we turn our attention to the guard who issued it. Standing next to the gate spear in hoof a brown coated earth pony who was clad in the same golden armor as his comrades went wide eyed and quickly saluted. "Prince Shining Armor sir! Welcome back!" Shining Armor crisply saluted the stallion in return.
"Keep an eye on everypony while I go inform the Princess personally of our arrival." The guard lowered his hoof and nodded as he went back to being stoic. Shining Armor trot through the gate and across the castle yard swiftly disappearing through the main door.
"MM MM MMM MM!" Pinkie attempted to shout as she bounced in front of the guard while smiling creepily at him through the zipper across her mouth. He visibly shrank back from the attack on his personal space as he attempted to stutter a response.
"W.. wh...what?" Twilight sighed and with a quick spell the zipper and lock were removed from Pinkie's face.
"Thanks Twilight!" Pinkie turns back to the guard and takes a deep breath, he takes a step back in an attempt to get some distance from the pink pony.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?" Surprise was clear on his face as he quickly tried to regain his long lost composure.
"M...my name is Hard Rock but my friends call me Rocky."
"Oooh! Hi Rocky! Can I be your friend?"
"Uh yeah I guess." The guard relaxed a little as Pinkie refrained from spewing out words like their was no tomorrow but quickly tensed as he was enveloped in a massive hug courtesy of his newest friend.
"Yippee!"
"Sergeant Rock!" Rocky quickly attempted to scramble out of Pinkie's iron grip but to no avail, and he stopped squirming after a few seconds. A quick look in the direction of the shout revealed a pink unicorn mare who was standing on a nearby balcony. She backed off a bit before rushing forwards and leaping over the railing. 'Holy shit!' Before spreading open her wings and gliding the rest of the way down to us. "Why didn't you tell me they had arrived?" 'Wings and horn... the fuck?'
"They just arrived Princess Cadence." 'A Princess!? Her?'
"Cadence!" Twilight shouts, a quick glance to where she was standing previously revealed nothing but empty air, quickly looking back over to the winged unicorn I found Twilight in the midst of performing a silly dance with her.
"Sunshine sunshine ladybugs awake!" They crouch down with their forehooves as they wave their tail ends back and forth through the air. Before moving to sit on their rumps and clapping their hooves together.
"Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They end with large smiles plastered across their faces as they embrace each other in a warm hug.
"...what just happened?" From our peripheral vision a stetson floated along beside us bringing with it its orange apple farming owner.
"Cadence used to foalsit Twi here when she was just a little foal. That right there was a game they used to play." After a minute of hugging they release each other. Princess Cadence smiles as she trots over to our little group stopping in front of each pony in turn to greet them personally, she continued until she got to us. As soon as she stepped up to us her hooves faltered stopping her in her tracks, her smile faded away immediately being replaced by a small frown.
"Hi Princess!" Rainbow excitedly stuck out a hoof towards Princess Cadence undeterred by Princess Cadence's lack of enthusiasm.
"Rainbow Dash?" Noticing her frown Rainbow pulled back our hoof as she tilt our head to the side as we stared at her confused.
"Cadence?" Princess Cadence shut her eyes squeezing them tight in concentration her horn flickered briefly for a few moments glowing brightly in a pink aura. 'That's weird.'
"I sense..." Princess Cadence started before she shook her head quickly. "No it couldn't be." Cadence looked us over again taking in every last bit of detail.
"Is something wrong?"
"No nothing, I just thought I felt something... off." Cadence smiled awkwardly as she continued watching us.
"Oh... are we okay then?"
"Yes. Fine. But we should be going now, to the throne room, I'm sure Princess Luna will be very happy to see you." Cadence started to turn towards the castle. But was stopped when a slightly worried purple unicorn spoke up.
"Isn't Princess Celestia going to greet us?" Cadence looked over to Twilight.
"Under any other circumstance you know she would Twilight but Princess Celestia is in the gardens right now. Last I saw she was trying to bolster the seal on Discord." Twilight frowned and nodded, and Cadence smiled at her warmly. "Don't worry Twilight, Princess Celestia has been around long enough to have a few tricks ready for mean old Discord." Twilight gulped before nodding again and looking at the ground.
"Y..yeah."
"Aw cheer up Twi I'm sure the Princess'll be fine." The apple farmer placed a reassuring hoof on Twilight's shoulder earning a weak smile and a quiet pause. That stretched on, and on, and on. Until finally Rainbow couldn't take it anymore.
"AHHHHHH! Can't we just go inside already!?" Rainbow stomped our hoof onto the cobble road as we easily took to the air. We swooped over the yard and right up to the large wooden doors of the castle. "Lets just goooOAA!" As we go to push the massive wooden doors open, instead of meeting the resistance created by attempting to push open very large very heavy doors. We instead push forward into open air as the massive doors swing open seemingly on their own. This in turn causes us to fall forward and crash into a very nonplussed purple armored pony and easily bowling him over.
"Rainbow while I appreciate your enthusiasm can you please get off of me?" Rainbow blushes and mutters an apology as we quickly get off of the Prince and help him to his hooves. Shining Armor brushes the dirt from his coat and rubs a speck of dirt from his armor as he stands up straight composing himself before in a very dignified tone addresses us. "Ladies, Cadence, Sergeant Rock, Kevin." He stares at us for a few moments at the mention of my name. 'He looks upset with us.'
"The Princess awaits." He gestures with a hoof into the castle proper as he steps to the side to allow entry.
"Finally!"
"Yippee!" Pinkie bounces happily into the castle with the rest of us close behind. Once inside I got a look at the entrance hall. A red carpet stretched from the entrance across the entire room, it went between several marble pillars and up a massive marble staircase that rose up to a second floor that led deeper into the castle. The walls were high and adorned in various carvings and the stained glass windows set into them cast many colorful shadows as they depicted ponies in various poses. The one of them near the end of the hall showed six familiar ponies enveloped in a bright light. Looking up the large room seemed to stretch into the sky as the ceiling domed fifty feet overhead. The dome, made of clear unstained glass revealed the still rising sun as it neared its apex for the day.
Pinkie continued to bounce across the room with her eyes closed as she started to hum an unfamiliar tune. Shining Armor shook his head at her antics smiling softly as he did. Princess Cadence walked up next to him a smile on her face. "The world could end but Pinkie Pie will always be Pinkie Pie."
"I couldn't agree with you more." Shining Armor pulled her closer with a hoof embracing the Princess tightly. She closed her eyes a smile never leaving her face. As Pinkie Pie reached the top of the stairs across the room she stopped and turned around finally realizing she was alone.
Pinkie looked around for a moment before spotting our group slowly walking across the hall. "Well? Come on everypony! The Princess is waiting!"
"Just how many Princesses do you ponies have?"
"Just three. Celestia, Luna, and... myself..." She trailed off as she looked over to us and not seeing what she was looking for moved her head to look behind us while looking very perplexed.
"Cadence? What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for the mystery stallion who asked that question, but I see that nopony is there."
"I'm right here." Princess Cadence's horn flickered several times when I spoke. Her jaw falling open as she stared at us in disbelief.
"Uh Princess?"
"..."
"Oh uh... I guess you haven't met Kevin yet have you?"
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance your highness."
"You mean he's not? Oh good." Our procession finally came to a halt as we reached the foot of two large and ornate wooden doors. The guards to either side nod to us, lighting up their horns and causing the doors to take on each of their respective magical auras as they opened partially.
"Huh?" The head of a small brown stallion in a gaudy medieval looking outfit peered around the door he looked at all of us in turn before turning to the far side of the room and announcing in a voice louder than I thought capable for a being his size.
"Presenting! To her majesty Princess Luna! The elements of harmony and their majesties Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor!" The doors swung the rest of the way open when he finished revealing the throne room itself. It was huge, not as big as the entrance hall but still quite large in and of itself, the marble walls were also inlaid with stained glass pictures although these all featured a cycle of the moon and sun. A bright red carpet led all the way up to the throne itself where a tired looking dark blue winged unicorn with silver regalia and a black crown sat hunched over and staring out a window. Her mane was a marvel in itself as it glowed and sparkled like the night sky. It flowed and swayed as if a gentle breeze that never stopped was blowing through it. 'Her hair it's like, like it's alive. Moving this way and that like magic... come to think of it, it must be magic.'
"Princess Luna!" 'That's Luna?' We crossed the room quickly so we would not have to shout.
"AH! TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND FRIENDS! YOU HAVE ARRIVED! IT BRINGS ME GREAT JOY TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN!" Although Princess Luna did so anyway, very very loudly.
"AHH! WHY ARE YOU YELLING!?" Princess Luna's horn flickered briefly startling her and the rest of us as she stared at us confused.
"I AM *ahem* I am sorry but most ponies choose to stay at a distance too great for a normal speaking tone. Now, TELL ME WHY I CAN SENSE CHAOS MAGIC ON YOU?! IS DISCORD FREE!? WHAT ABOUT CELESTIA? IS SHE OKAY? DID YOU HARM MY SISTER!?" Princess Luna continued to shouting at us throwing accusations that caused Rainbow's temper and frustration to come to a boil.
"BE QUIET!" Princess Luna stopped shouting as everypony else including the guards by the throne stopped to stare at us. Rainbow fixed them all with a glare that caused even the Princess to back off a step. "I have had it! First Twilight wants to abandon Kevin! And now you!? Accuse me!? The bucking element of bucking Loyalty! Of hurting Princess Celestia!? Of Betraying my friends!?"
"Rainbow-" Twilight started.
"Stow it Twilight, I'm still mad at you. And you!" We affix the blue winged unicorn with a dangerous glare. "I outta buck you in the head just for even thinking that I would ever betray my friends! But you know what? I'm done. See ya later." Twilight looked hurt but didn't try to stop us as Rainbow took to the air, Princess Luna on the other hoof...
"Thou shall not leave!" Princess Luna's horn lights up and we are engulfed in a navy blue aura the same as her horn.
"Let us go!" Rainbow squirms inside the magical grasp as the no longer frozen guards moved forward using their spears to block us should we escape the Princess's powerful magic.
"I shall not. Now tell me, who is this us?" Princess Luna frowned refusing to show any more emotion. As we are forced to stare into her piercing teal eyes.
Meanwhile In The Castle Gardens
Princess Celestia stood stock still, her horn was glowing and her face was scrunched up tight as she concentrated on the completion of a spell. "Nrrgh. Ah! There we go, that should hold him for a little while." Princess Celestia gave a weary sigh before sitting down to rest as a bead of sweat trickled down her face. "A good thing too, I'm beat." Princess Celestia wiped the sweat away as she cast her gaze down the mountainside.
A sudden commotion from the castle proper rouses her attention for a moment before a powerful surge of chaotic energy sweeps out from the castle flying over the gardens and heading straight for the statue of Discord. Princess Celestia's eyes go wide as they fill with grim a determination. Using the last of her strength she erects a quick magical barrier in an attempt to keep the chaotic energy from reaching the statue. Just as the shield completely surrounds the statue there is a bright flash of light as the chaotic energy slams into the barrier. For a few moments it holds as the two opposing forces push against one another, but it does not last. Princess Celestia's strength finally fails her causing the shield to shatter completely. "No..." The chaotic energy slams into the statue. A wicked laughter fills the air as the Princess's heart filled with dread.
"Now tell me, who is this us?" Princess Luna's piercing glare didn't let up for a second and neither did her magic as Rainbow continued to futilely resist the hold.
'Well this escalated quickly.'
"You don't say?" Rainbow says making sure to be extra heavy on the sarcasm as she rolls our eyes.
"I do say, now speak." Princess Luna glares at us a very unamused expression across her face as Twilight steps forward.
"Princess I can explain every-"
"Hush Twilight Sparkle, of this matter you would not be apprised. This pony is emitting very low levels of Chaos magic so low in fact that I doubt even Starswirl himself could have detected it. Nay, only an Alicorn could."
"Ch.. Chaos magic! Wha bu-but how?"
"That is what I wish to know." While Rainbow continued to struggle against the magical bonds that bound us I had been quite busy panicking. 'Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit-' "Guards detain this pony until further notice." A crisp salute and two pegasi swoop in with iron chains ready to restrain us.
"STOP!" My shout clearly shocks the Princess as well as the guards as they return to glaring at us.
"What are you doing?" Rainbow hisses as quietly as possible hoping the guards don't hear. She has no reason to worry though as the guards have already averted their gaze and their ears to the Princess in search of new orders for this unexpected development.
'I have no idea but hopefully it saves our flank!' Princess Luna looks us over obviously curious about this new voice emanating from a pony she thought she knew.
"Did you have something to say?"
"I, have a proposal." The Princess raises a brow obviously surprised.
"I shall hear it."
"If I promise to answer all of your questions truthfully and to the best of my ability. Will you, in return promise me that nopony will hurt Rainbow?" The Princess contemplates my proposal as she intently looks us up and down as if for the first time. Her eyes finally settle upon the enchanted amulet narrowing for just a moment before she returns her gaze to the rest of us.
"So be it. You have my word as ruler of the night that the one known as Rainbow Dash shall not come to harm."
"Thank you."
"But Prin-"
"Be silent Twilight! Or do I need to have the guards remove you?"
Twilight's eyes go wide before she sinks to the ground. "No Princess." Quietly she slinks behind the rest of our group who themselves are a mixture of fear, anger, sadness, and confusion.
"Good. First question who or what are you?"
"My name is Kevin, and I'm a human." The Princess stops a moment to think before continuing to her next question.
"Why are you residing within the pegasus Rainbow Dash? And how long have you?"
"The first one is kinda complicated and I don't know the specifics but if I just say magic will that suffice?"
"No."
*sigh* "I thought so. Well, to put it simply I went to bed one night back home and when I woke up the next day here I was. If you want the specifics on how I got here you'll have to ask Twilight because I don't understand any of it." The Princess raises a thoughtful hoof to her muzzle as she turns her gaze to the purple pony attempting to become one with the floor from behind a still glaring purple armored pony.
"And for the second?"
"Uh.. about a week from today actually. And I gotta tell ya this has been the weirdest week of my life."
"That explains much."
"Pardon?"
"I-" The sound of shattering glass quickly followed by a loud thud echoes across the large hall interrupting the Princess and causing all of us to jump in surprise. Spinning around we all turn to see a pony shaped object embedded into a newly created crater in the marble floor. Before anyone can even think about what they are seeing Princess Luna leaps into action. "SISTER!" We are unexpectedly released from the Princess's magic as she rushes over to the bloodied mass of fur and feathers now lying motionless on the floor. 'What happened to her?'
"Princess Celestia!" All of us including Rainbow and the stoic guards rush over to the fallen Princess. The formerly white pony that now lay on her side was stained with blood and dirt. Her wings lay sprawled on the ground twisted at awkward angles and in places they shouldn't twist at all, all the while her long horn was blackened and smoldering in the daylight.
"Please Tia, please be okay." The fallen Princess's face contorts into a painful grimace as she weakly opens her eyes.
"Lulu?"
"Yes Tia, it's me, I'm here."
"You mustgatherthe elements." The Princess's eyelids slowly shut with each weakening breath.
"Tia? Tia!? Somepony get a doctor!" A guard rushes out of the room to return a minute later with two more ponies a mare and a stallion that both wear white outfits and carry a stretcher on their backs. The stallion pales as he rushes forward, dropping the stretcher behind him which clatters to the floor.
"Oh.. oh dear. Nurse! Check for a pulse!" The mare drops the stretcher and rushes to the fallen Princess. "You two! Guards! Place her onto the stretcher.. gently please. Nurse, how is she?" The nurse looks up with a grim expression.
"A weak pulse but she's still breathing, barely. We need to get her to the E.R stat!"
"Guards. One, two, three, lift! Good! We can take it from here. Nurse!" The two ponies take the stretcher and hurry out the door a trail of blood following them out.
"I should go with them maybe I can be of some help." Princess Luna can only nod to Cadence as she is still in shock from Celestia's brutal entry.
Moments after she leaves Shining Armor snaps out of his shock. "Wait for me Cadence!" He shouts rushing after his wife he quickly slips out the door and leaves us two fewer and none the better. Not moments after they leave the door slams shut as a deep almost maniacal laughter fills the air sending shivers down our spine.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The laughter is followed by a deep cackling voice that speaks from all around us and nowhere at the same time. "I did tell her not to do it." It sighs audibly before continuing in a slightly somber yet sinister tone. "But nopony ever listens to me do they? How about you little Loony? It seems I need a new playmate now that Celly is... indisposed.."
"How dare you harm my sister you monster!"
"Ah ah ahh temper temper, Princess. I only want to play a game." The voice chuckles again creating echoes around the room.
"I will not play games with the likes of you!"
"HAHAHAHAHA!" A blinding flash of pink light, well... blinds us for a moment, when our eyes clear floating before us is a strange creature. The creature, which must be a crime against nature by its mere existence is a random amalgamation of various animal parts that are seemingly slapped together to create a functioning body, a horse like head with a goatee and two bald patches on the top of his head, a dragon tail, and a snake like body he merely grinned a toothy grin as he gazed upon us all.
He slithers forward through the air over to Princess Luna with his red eyes staring deep into hers. "You don't have a choice." A feeling of terror washes through not only me but the colorful pony I inhabit as this creature leans back. A malicious smile across his face as he looks around the room staring at each of us in turn. "Now sit still and be quiet I don't want to waste time like I did with your sister." He holds a claw up towards Princess Luna and snaps his talons, the area around the Princess flashes and a metal cage appears around her. 'Surely this thing isn't-' Twilight snorts and stomps a few steps towards it.
"Discord! I don't know how you broke the seal the elements placed on you but you're going back!" 'It is... well... shit.' Then under her breath as she turns back to us. "What happened to his horns?" Princess Luna looks as though she wants to say something but doesn't get the chance.
"It was quite a simple thing really, and I never even lifted a claw!"
"What are you talking about? Nopony would ever help the likes of you!" Discord looks down at her and smiles.
"And nopony did my dear. I merely allowed myself to help myself!" He finishes by poking himself in the chest with a claw. At that moment a flash of light appears next to Discord revealing a miniature Discord. Waving a claw over it he pats it's head in a fatherly manner. "Isn't he handsome? A true chip off the old block! Too bad there can only be one. Back you go mini me!" Big Discord grabs the mini and places it on top of his head, it squirms for a moment before being overtaken by an orange glow. The glow brightens and flashes a few times, forcing us to look away. When we look back the mini Discord is gone, replaced by a single misshapen horn.
"Now where did the other get off too? Hmm." He taps his chin with a claw as he mumbles a little under his breath. "Ah! So that's where you went." Grinning he turns towards us. "Oh? And you brought something with you? Hmm, I've never encountered one of his species before." 'He knows about me? B-but how?'
"I..I don't know what your-" Rainbow starts only to be hushed by his claw on our lips.
"Oh please, you all can't really think that little Twilight here-" He waves a lion paw at her for emphasis much to her displeasure as she growls back at him. "-really has the ability to pluck the mind of a living being from its body all the way in another dimension, then transport it across the dimensional divide and then safely deposit it into little Rainbow's head without a little help. Do you?" His question was answered with an uncomfortable silence that ended when he continued on his own. "Oh you did didn't you? You all did." He sniggers a little before covering his mouth with a paw.
"This should remain between us Dis*snap*MMPH!" Princess Luna is silenced by the appearance of a muzzle over her mouth.
"Hush Loony you'll spoil my fun."
"Just what are ya tryin ta say Discord? That Kevin here is actually another one of those mini you's or somethin?"
"Bwahahaha! Chaos no dear Applejack! My mini me just modified Twilight's little spell to target a far more... desirable subject. And boy did he choose right! It hardly took any time at all to collect the chaos I needed to bust me out of that rock!"
"What are you talking about!?"
"He can speak! Wonderful! So very clever of you Twilight." Discord chuckles as he lazily floats above us wearing sunglasses and sipping a cup of chocolate milk with a little umbrella in it. After he finishes the drink he tosses it out of the hole in the window where it promptly lands somewhere in the gardens and rather violently explodes. "Hmm, I believe it's starting to lose its touch, but I do so love a good explosion. But you know, As much fun as it would be to play with you like this dear boy I believe you do deserve a little reward for freeing me, well.. that and I want my other horn back." Discord sets down on the ground and starts walking towards us a menacing grin on his face.
"What do you mean a reward? What are you going to do?" In fear Rainbow starts to back away but before we can get far we find ourselves backed into Luna's cage with nowhere to run.
"Do? Little human I can do whatever I want! I am the Lord of Chaos after all. Besides, what are you going to do about it? Try to stop me? HAHAHAHAHA!" Discord's face darkens and he snaps his claws, disappearing in a flash of pink light.
"Where did he go!?" Another bright flash right in front of us and were staring face to face with the terrifying Lord of Chaos himself. His dark glare sends shivers down our spine, as his are eyes filled with a ferociousness that is rivalled by none. Not even the furious manticore could compete with this monster. Our eyes widen in fear as he pulls back his eagle talons, they glow a vibrant orange as he grins maliciously.
"Oh don't worry it will all be over soon enough and it will only hurt, well... quite a lot I'm told actually." Behind him all our friends are frozen in place staring in complete shock and horror unable to move as he laughs and swings his talons at our head. We grit our teeth and shut our eyes expecting the worst, and we are not disappointed.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
"AHHHHHHHHH!" The worst pain I can imagine has nothing on the piercing, burning agony that is rampaging through us. It's the indescribable feeling of someone literally reaching into your skull and digging around in your brain. It lasted what felt like hours but was probably only a minute or two with Rainbow and I screaming in agony the whole time. Finally, and before either of us could black out from the pain he found what he was looking for, me. I felt him slowly wrap his talons around my consciousness, squeezing my essence into the palm of his claw and then, everything faded to black.
All around me I'm in darkness, a feeling almost like floating is my only sense in this vast expanse of void. 'What is this place?' I wonder as panic begins to edge its way in. What feels like moments later I begin falling, 'Ahh!' I accelerate as I fall going faster and faster sending me deeper and deeper into the void, then as suddenly as it began I stop. Gasping from the sudden stop I continue to float there for a few minutes. 'Where am I!? Hello!?' A light, barely visible in the distance appears before me. It swoops this way and that shining a beam of light around as if searching for something in the dark. It's then I realize that it might be searching for me but before I can decide if I should start panicking or call out to it it shines its light down on me.
'Kevin?' The voice comes from everywhere and nowhere all at once but its owner is unmistakable.
'Princess Luna?'
'Thank the moon! I was afraid you may have been lost.'
'Lost? What happened to me!? The last thing I remember was pain and.. Discord! What did he do to me!?'
'Calm yourself you are well.'
'Calm? Calm!? How can I be calm at a time like this!? I'm wherever this is and I don't even know where Rainbow is or if she's okay! Oh! And did I mention I don't have a body right now!?'
'I can answer those questions. You are currently in the dreamscape which is how I am able to talk to you right now. As for Rainbow she is still within her own body and will suffer no long lasting ill effects. However, your last statement is not quite true.'
'What are you talking about?'
'While it is true that you have been separated from Rainbow Dash Discord has been true to his word and rewarded you. The 'gift' of which Discord spoke is a body of your very own.'
'What?'
'Do not worry, you are a handsome male pegasus.'
'What!?' An ethereal giggle echoes across the void. 'Stop laughing! This is serious!'
'Indeed it is and I am sorry. After transferring your mind to your new body Discord's mini self rebelled, it refused to become one with Discord himself. And after a brief standoff escaped via teleportation before he could capture it.'
'I don't think he would be very happy about that. Didn't he say it was his other horn?'
'Indeed he wasn't and indeed it was. In a fit of rage Discord sealed the element bearers within their own elements and summoned minions to guard them while he began to search for his mini.'
'So why exactly are you telling me all of this anyway? Wasn't I bound for the dungeons not too long ago?'
'You speak the truth young one. However, as Discord is now free that is no longer necessary.'
'But why tell me anything? For all you know I could be working for Discord.'
'Yes, that is true and while I may not fully trust you I find I have little choice in the matter.'
'That is.. well.. it sounds bad.'
'My guards have been routed and the Elements of Harmony, our only defence against this monster have been taken.'
'So what exactly do you want me to do about it? Even with a body of my own I won't be that useful I can't fly, I can't fight, I can barely run in a straight line!'
'Believe me I would much rather go myself but I cannot. All of Equestria is depending on the elements to stop Discord and now the elements are depending on you. It is imperative that they are retrieved. Can I count on your help?'
'Wow, that was such a great pep talk that I'm all fired up and ready to go right now.' If I had eyes in this dreamscape they would be rolling with extreme prejudice.
'Excellent then I shall wake you up.'
'What?! No! That was sarcasm! You can't really expect me to-'The light that was Princess Luna grew brighter expanding until it encompassed everything around me and continuing to get brighter and brighter until everything went dark once more.
The first thing I notice, besides once more being in the dark, was a cool breeze blowing gently back and forth across my arm. 'Wait! My arm! I get to control myself!' With this realization I became flooded with information being provided by my other senses. 'Touch? Lying on a cold hard marble floor? Check! Smell? Not much but check! Hearing? Well I can hear my own breathing at least. Sight?' Slowly I open my new eyes for the first time, the first thing I see is a cerulean blue foreleg lying before me on the ground. 'Yep still a pony. Damn, I was hoping I would just wake up and be me again.' The small blue hairs blow gently to and fro from my breathing. When I finally manage to tear my eyes away from myself I notice colorful shadows stretching across the ground from the stain glass windows. Towering above my prone position about a dozen yards away stand six doors, each door is different in color and each has a familiar cutie mark emblazoned upon it.
With a groan I put my new hooves underneath me and shakily get up off the ground. 'Looks like I'm a little bit taller than Rainbow now, because I don't remember the ground being so far away!' Now that I am on my own four hooves I turn my head to check out the rest of my new body. Looking back a pair of outstretched feathery blue wings collide with my open mouth. "PFFT!" 'Definitely still a pegasus.' I notice my flank lacks a cutie mark but ignore it for now as my tail which was kind of spiky and a mixture of purple and a faded red swished from side to side. A quick check to make sure I am indeed sporting the proper..er equipment so to speak, and I turn back to the doors in front of me satisfied that I am finally male once more. 'At least Princess Luna wasn't lying to me. I really am a male pegasus.'
"MMPH!" A muffled shout from behind draws my attention, looking back I see Princess Luna still trapped and muzzled as she stares at me with pleading eyes. 'How did I miss that?' With careful steps on my shaky new hooves I make it to the cage without falling flat on my snout. She nods and puts her head next to the bars motioning to the straps with a hoof. I dumbly stare at the straps then at my hoof then back to the straps. 'Well, you know what? Fuck logic.' Reaching out I fumble with the straps and a few minutes later somehow remove the muzzle.
"Thank you. That was really starting to bother me." She says rubbing her jaw.
"No problem, so what's with the doors?" I say waving to the color coded doorways.
"The Elements of Harmony lie beyond those magical doorways each guarded by Discord's champions."
"And I'm the only one who can go and get them?"
"I am afraid so. I would go in your stead but Discord's magic prevents me from escaping this blasted prison." For added emphasis she fires a bolt of magic at the bars only to have it fizzle out on an orange shield before reaching the bars.
"Of course."
"You are our only hope to free the Elements and stop Discord."
"So let me get this straight because I'm not sure if I'm hearing you right or not. You, Princess Luna want me, Kevin to go on an incredibly dangerous mission, by myself I might add, to recover these Elements of Harmony from whatever it is Discord has summoned to protect them. Me, a flightless pegasus with no plan no equipment and no skills whatsoever. Does that sound about right?"
"I do not ask this lightly! I know very well just how dangerous Discord can be! But there is nothing else I can do. If you do not try then there is no hope of defeating Discord and restoring harmony."
"Would letting him win be that bad though? I mean is it really worth me getting killed over?"
"You do not know as you are not Equestrian. But it would be very very bad if harmony should fall to chaos, I would sacrifice my own life if it meant preventing that monster from being free to cause havoc across the land."
"As bad as that sounds, what's to stop me from just walking out that door right now and leaving you to figure this out on your own?"
"If you were to abandon Equestria in its time of need, if you were to simply let Discord win because of cowardice, If you were to care so little for those six ponies who would call you friend, then there would be nothing I could do to stop you. However, while I highly disapprove of cowardice it is your choice to make it seems." Princess Luna sits down and closes her eyes remaining motionless save for her gentle breathing.
'My choice. My decision. So what do I pick? Should I just up and run? Or do I stick around and play hero? Running certainly sounds like the safest option.' I look over to the door, it stands wide open seemingly inviting me to just run away and leave it all behind to start a new life somewhere far far away. 'But do I really want that? To live the rest of my life as a pony? In a world I barely understand? Without any friends? Or place to call home?' I start towards the door. 'Maybe I could ask Discord if he could send me back or at least make me human. After all he's the one who caused this in the first place. But then, if Princess Luna would rather die than let Discord rule would it really be any safer? Can I trust Discord? Or would I just be trading a really good chance of dying for a 100% chance of living hell with a creature from my nightmares? I-'
"Wahh!" My train of thought is broken as I trip over something and land on my face. I look to see what I tripped on only to find a blue pair of saddlebags emblazoned with Rainbow's cutie mark. 'Rainbow...' Around me lie five others all crumpled upon the floor. 'Can I really just leave them? Those girls put up with me, offered to help me get home, and be my friend. I can't just leave them, can I?' I look back towards Princess Luna, she hasn't moved from her spot her eyes still closed as she sits. 'No. No, I can't leave, those girls need me. My friends need me.' With newfound determination I get back to my hooves and pick up the saddlebags in my teeth. 'I can't taste it if I don't use my tongue.'
As I trot back over to Luna's cage she speaks with her eyes still closed. "I see you have decided to stay." I Place the saddlebags on my back carefully maneuvering the straps around my wings and tightening them.
"I've made my choice. I want to help my friends. And as much as I don't want to die, if I don't do something now it may be too late later." Princess Luna cracks open an eye and smiles.
"It will be a difficult task but with perseverance and quick thinking I know you can succeed."
"Soo... what should I do first?" Princess Luna waves a hoof over to the colored doors.
"The doors before you will transport you near to the element they represent. It is up to you to defeat its guardian and return with the element. You need merely select which door is first." I look over each door. 'Damnit how am I supposed to pick between friends!? Wait I got it!' A quick game of eenie meenie miney moe later and I approach the selected door. I place a cautious hoof against it, the door vibrates slightly at my touch sending a strange tingling sensation up my foreleg. I gulp and push the door open. Through the doorway is a swirling vortex the same color as the door itself stretching off into the distance. I peer around the frame and see the rest of the room behind it. 'Magic does some weird shit.'*gulp* 'Well Twilight, I guess you're first.' Without waiting to think I leap headlong into the vortex before I can change my mind.
"Ahhhhhhh!" I watch my own body contort and stretch as I spin around and around the vortex. As my vision begins to fade and I start to slip into unconsciousness I remember one last very important detail. 'Didn't Rainbow leave her saddlebags at home?'
