"FIRST STAR THAT SHINES TONIGHT" unformatted and just plain copied and pasted ^-^ Starry wings sighed as she glanced at the sky. Suddenly she saw a shadow creeping up the hill, as it came closer the shodow was distinguished as mist-eyes, [an extreamly light grey pony w/silver sparkled white hair and lilic twinkle eyes] like Starry wings sister [am i right here?] Ember she had no symbol. mist- eyes stopped a few feet away glancing sullenly at Starry wings, "the stars shine brightly tonight, do they not . . .?" she said eyes fixed on the nights sky that was filled with so many twinkling stars. . . The three ponies started to run, preparing to take flight (OOC: Not sure if Mist-Eyes flies. If not, then she's running to keep up with the other two.) But before they had moved two feet from their spot, a huge shadow descended on them from the night sky that was filled with so many twinkling stars.... End Rainribbon's turn! Enter Aliroos..... Blu Flyer was staring at the stars. Twinkling. Burning. Fizzing out their happy little lives... "Hark!" Said Trixxy, beside her, "I felt a disturbance in the Force!" "Been watching Star Wars again, Trix?" Blu asked without taking her eyes off the sky. "No, really..." Trixxy said uncertainly, "Something highly magical entered pony land." "Do you think we should check it out?" Blu asked, "My Ninetales is pooped. Maybe we should." Trixxy nodded and took out the TransDimensional Transporter. She dialed in the coordinates for Pony Land... Rainribbon glanced at the thing. Suddenly, a blueish purple light shone in the dark. Blu and Trixxy appeared. "What is it?" Trixxy asked, squinting. "A Hyppogriff," Rainribbon said. "Hypo-Griff?" Blu asked, peering at it, "No, I believe it is a Hyppoglyph." "How would you know?" "I studied in fantasy creatures on Earth once," Blu remarked. If I'm not mistaked, there are two commonly known equine-crosses: Hyppogriff, half eagle half horse, Hyppoglyph, half horse-half dragon. Or written Hippoglyph. More commonly known as a Glyph. Then there is, of course, the Griffon, or Gryphon Or Gryffin, which is half eagle, half lion...." "Hyppo-Whatever it is," Mist Eyes said, "It's going to eat us!" "Actually, I believe - ERK!" Blu began, and then erked as Trixxy pulled at her hair. "Lets get outta here!" She said. "Quite right," Blu agreed. "Where do you propose?" "How about down off this hill?" Starry Wings said nervously. "That thing's gonna be here any second!" They all looked at the dark shape they could now see in the distance. "Sounds like a plan to me," Blu commented. "Are there any more of you around here?" Mist-Eyes nodded. "ALL of the others are camping out! We have to warn them!" Trixxy nodded as well. "Lead the way!" Rainribbon took flight, pointing out the direction the other ponies were in. Unfortunately, that direction lay right in the path of the hippogryph-glyph, and indeed went right towards it. They all shuddered and increased their pace. "My, that's one big Hyppoglyph," Blu said, scanning the near distance as she bounded along. "Hippogryph!" Rainribbon called out happily from above. "No, no, I believe that's Hyppoglyph!" "Nah, you're getting it mixed up with--" "Maybe we should call him something else and save our breath for running," panted Mist-Eyes. "Does the hippo- thing have a name, Rainribbon?" Rainribbon was silent for a second, then she burst out laughing so hard she nearly lost control of her flight. "Ahahahahaha!! His name," she giggled wildly, "is Frances!" Everyone had to smile at that one. But then they were all struck with a wave of fear as a huge voice boomed out in the distance, "DON'T CALL ME FRANCES!!!!" "Frances! Frances, Frances, Frances!" Rainribbon taunted. "DON'T CALL ME FRANCES!!!!" "Okay, then!" Rainribbon shouted back. "THAT'S BETTER." "Hippo! Hippo, hippo, hippo Frances!" Rainribbon teased. "YOU LITTLE--! I'LL RIP OUT YOUR TAIL AND MAKE RATIONS OUT OF IT!" "What kind of a threat is that?" Rainribbon panted to her friends. Starry Wings gave her a Look. "Rainribbon, leave Frances alone at least long enough for us to reach the others!" she pleaded. Rainribbon considered. "And when we get everypony inside, then I can tease him all I want?" "No," Starry Wings said. "Then you can play Zelda some more." "Awright! Coolers!" the other pony cheered. "I'll lay off Frances until then!" "DON'T CALL ME FRANCES, YOU PUNY PONY!" Trixxy looked at the flying shape. "Wow, he's got good ears, doesn't he?" she said. Squinting slightly into the night sky, Blu calculated, "He's still at least four miles away. How far are we from this campsite?" "Dunno; I didn't know the others were out till Rainribbon told me," Starry Wings shrugged. "Rainribbon, would you tell us? Rainribbon! RAINRIBBON!!" "Huh? Oh, sorry," Rainribbon snapped back to attention. "It's right ahead of us, on the edge of the woods. See the little flame glowing outta the trees? Stupid Frances!" she added under her breath. "What? What is it?" Mist-Eyes asked. "He blocked me out!" Rainribbon said indignantly. "I can't get into his thoughts anymore!" "Oh, no," Starry Wings moaned. "Now how will we predict his actions?" Blu nodded to no one in particular. "We'll just have to do things the old-fashioned way," she said. "And what's that?" Trixxy asked her friend. "See what he does and then run screaming from it," the other finished. Mist-Eyes shook her head and grumbled, "We're in for it this time." "The edge of the woods!" Starry Wings exclaimed. "I can hear the others!" "Wait!" Mist-Eyes said. The others stopped. "What is it?" Blu asked. Mist-Eyes looked at her friends. "We have to plan out our strategy before we go in there. If we run in yelling that there's danger coming and everyone get inside, the others will start stampeding everywhere at once and it will very difficult for anypony to get inside the Estate. We should split up and tell them quietly a few at the time." The rest of the group nodded. "Very perceptive, Mist-Eyes," Starry Wings whickered as they headed for the campsite at a much more leisurely pace, though they very much wanted to run. As they finally came up to the fringes of the woods, the small group looked up and each of them stood frozen as.... End Rainribbon's turn! A couple of Sweetheart Sisters stumbled out of the brush, giggling. "Bright Night, did you hear what Sherbert said to me?" one of them giggled, tossing her mane. Blu growled. Trixxy could hear her mubling under her breath. "....Just great....." The two teens finally noticed the others. "Oh! Hello!" One said. The ponies started making "shhhhshing" sounds, pointing at the sky. Just then Frances *BIG GRIN* glided above them. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Screamed the sisters enthusiastically. They both jumped up and sped to the Estate. "Stop them!!!" Mist Eyes yelled. Rainribbon sparkled out, and reappeared in front of the sisters. "Never rush out into the Meadow," she said. Shen she shook her head. "I mean, don't go screaming into Paradise Estate. You'll have to stay with us. If you go running in there, everyone'll run out and get EATEN!!!" The sisters blinked. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEE-" They started. Then they fainted. "Huh? I couldn't be that intimidating, could I?" Rainribbon asked. She grinned and turned around. Face to face with Frances. "Why, hello....." she started. "IF YOU SAY FRANCES I AM GOING TO TOAST YOU RIGHT NOW!!" the . . . beastie, blasted. Mist-eyes jumped in, "Frank, may I call you Frank?" she asked, in a soft voice, the hyppogryph [close right?] bewildered by the sudden curtious introduction nodded jerkily. Mist-eyes inclined her head sullenly and continued, "I go under the name of Mist-eyes, might I enquire what has drawn you to Dream Valley?" Franks` gaze was locked on liliac twinkle-eyes, and for a few moments not even silence was heard ...Then Rainribbon's voice spoke up. "Toast me? Yeah? You and what army?" Frances' head swung towards her. "I don't need that coming from a tiny pony!" "Yeah, whatever," Rainribbon retorted. "So what're ya doing here besides wasting our time?" "You know very well!" Frances said angrily. "You're the one who invaded my private thoughts!" Rainribbon considered. "Oh yeah. Hey, that really ticked me off, shutting me out like that! Meanie! Ya wanna take this outside?!" Then, realizing where she was, "Oh." Mist-Eyes shook her head in despair and stepped back to where Starry Wings was standing. "Well, I tried...." she said to Starry Wings, who nodded sympathetically and wondered how many more plans Rainribbon was going to mess up. Blu stepped forward. Trixxy knelt by the Sweetheart Sisters. "Frank!" Blu called up boldly. "You realize we can't let you take the ponies' magic. They need it to live!" "And I need it to get into the Guild of Mages," the creature shot back. "What's more important--my guild membership or some weak ponies' well-being?" "What shall we do?" Mist-Eyes whispered to Starry Wings, who was shaking Bright Night gently. "I don't know," the other replied, "but at least those two are buying us some time while we think up a plan." "Look!" Trixxy whispered excitedly, pointing behind Frances. The ponies camping out in the woods had finally realized what was going on beyond the trees and were very quickly and quietly creeping into the Estate. "Great!" Starry Wings said in relief. "Now we just have to get ourselves out of this mess!" Trixxy looked at the huge hippogryph. "Easier said than done." "I've had enough of this!" Frances roared. He tossed his head, throwing back his mane. The small group could see a large chain he wore about his neck with three small (well, small on Frances but really about horse-sized) crystals hanging on hooks from the chain. He removed one of the crystals and opened it. It reminded Blu suspiciously of a crystal coffin. "Drat! We have to get away from here!" she hissed at the others. "What about the Sweetheart Sisters?" Starry Wings asked. "Leave 'em," Rainribbon, who didn't like teenyboppers, replied. "How can you say that?" Mist-Eyes said. "We can't leave them to that thing!" "Why not?" "Ah! Run for it!" Trixxy said, as a huge shadow fell over them. As they ran away from it, Mist-Eyes looked back over her shoulder and saw Bright Night being scooped up in the crystal, which the hippogryph quickly put back on its hook while taking down another. The group screeched to a halt a short distance away, watching as the other Sister was taken up also. "What'll we do??" Starry Wings cried. "Celebrate?" Rainribbon suggested. "Mist-Eyes, you and Starry Wings run for the woods. Make sure everyone got out all right, okay? We'll handle the Hyppoglyph," Blu said. The two ponies nodded and dashed off quickly. "Now," Blu said to Trixxy and Rainribbon, "we need to somehow knock loose those crystals from the chain. And he still has one empty one left, so we must be careful," she added, dodging as the crystal swept past her. "Boy, he doesn't discriminate on his targets, does he? Anyways," she said as they darted away again, "The three of us have special powers that should help us take him down. Rainribbon, you teleport in front of him and play tag to keep him busy. I'll go around behind and try to climb up on his back. Maybe there's a catch on the chain I can release. Trixxy, you go around to the side and watch in case I get knocked off. You may have to shapechange, so be ready. Everything clear?" "Stupid Sisters," Rainribbon muttered, nodding and fading out of existence. Trixxy and Blu quickly went to take up their positions. Rainribbon ended up right between his front legs. "Ack!" She quickly steeped into his line of sight. "Hey, Frances!" she taunted. "Ya want my alicorn? Come and get it!" She teleported rapidly back and forth. Frances growled as he swiped at her with his crystal. Blu changed into a bird and landed on the creature's back. She really wanted to take on Frances, but knew they couldn't endanger the Sweetheart Sisters. Taking a deep breath, she turned into a slick serpent and crawled into his mane. "This is harder than I thought!" she said to herself as she became entangled in the thick hair. "Hope I can get loose before Rainribbon wears down." Down on the ground, Trixxy was watching anxiously in case she had to catch Blu and Rainribbon was panting between teleports. Finally, she sat heavily for a very quick breather. Frances was still looking for her at the last spot she had teleported to, so she had a few seconds. "Geez, what a lamer!" Rainribbon thought, blinking sweat out of her eyes. Upon opening them again, she realized that a huge hippogryph like Frances could cross a large space with only one step. "Stupid Sweetheart Sisters! Why'd I have to get caught for teenyboppers like them?" she panted as the large open crystal came down on her.... Trixxy glanced up as the crystal swooped down on Rainribbon. She flashed over, but was too late, and Rainribbon sparkled into pure magic and was absorbed by the crystal. She cursed quietly and hoped that Blu was doing okay. And she knew what she had to do... "HEY BOZO! MOVE IT OR LOOSE IT!" She yelled. She slowly began to increase in size and change in shape, until she was a just a gigantic version of her normal shape. She materialized a pair of boxing gloves and socked him in the snout. "What is she doing??" Mist-Eyes asked, "She's gone nuts!" Trixxy dodged an attack, then did the unexpected: She twinkled out and reappeared as a cloud of purple glitter...And charged one of the crystals. She disappeared. Meanwhile, the camping ponies were standing around, taking pictures. "Oooooooh. Aaaaaaah" "All right people, move out!" Starry Wings said, beginning to shoo them away, "We don't want anyone to get hurt...." Blu managed to find the clasp. She changed into a human and made use of her hands, trying to both unhook the clasp and get untangled from the thing's hair. She tugged at the clasp, but it wouldn't budge. She even tried biting it. She growled, and finally gave up on the clasp. She made her way up to his head, dragging the chain with her. Meanwhile, Frank, or frankly, Frances, was glaring around. Mist Eyes and Starry Wings were doing their best to keep him away from the gathering crowd, who had refused to move. Rainribbon came to. She seemed to be in a dark chamber, only lit by a purple lantern. She saw Trixxy and the two sisters nearby. Trixxy looked worried, which was a bad sign... Rainribbon looked around at the others and at her surroundings. Behind her was only purple haze. In front of her, way down on the ground, she could see all the ponies assembled. Everything was shaded purple, like looking through a colored window. The two Sweetheart Sisters, who had recovered rather rapidly upon realizing that there were many male ponies outside, had fixed themselves up as best they could without their makeup kits and were giving the boys helpless-damsel looks. Shaking her head at their ditziness, she walked forward and into an invisible wall all, where the edge of the crystal was. Examining it closer, she realized that it looked a lot like rock candy. Delighted, she bit at it, but her teeth slid across the smooth edge, so she contented herself with licking the wall. Bright Night, who seemed to have heard of Rainribbon's infamous appetite, asked, "Rainribbon! Can you eat our way out of here?" "Certainly!" came the chipper reply. After about five minutes where the only sounds were Rainribbon's tongue and the yelling of ponies outside (and who was that SINGING at a time like this?!), the other Sister, who Rainribbon didn't recognize, asked, "Umm...how long will it take you to break through, exactly?" "Not long at all!" came the reply happily. "Certainly not more than five or six years." A long sigh, accompanied by large sweatdrops, filled the chamber. Trixxy looked down below. "I hope Blu is doing okay out there," she said anxiously. Rainribbon looked at her curiously. "What are you doing here? I thought ole Frances only had three crystals." Trixxy looked apologetic. "I tried to bash the crystals after you disappeared, but they just sucked me right in. I'm not sure if I'm trapped since I'm still thinking up ideas, but it looks like it." Another sigh filled the place. Outside, the new unicorn was attacking Frances vigorously. Blu was uncertain what the mystery pony was doing until she felt Frances melting, shrieking, beneath her. With a few desperate jerks, she finally pulled free of the hair, bringing more than a little of it out with her as she changed into a bird. It didn't matter if Frances knew she was on him now. But.... "Stop!" she called to the unicorn, as the chain and crystals started to disintegrate into dust. "If you destroy the Hyppoglyph, you'll also destroy our friends trapped in the crystals!" Before she finished, all that was left fell to the ground as dust. Slowly, she landed on the ground where Ember was talking to the other ponies and took her natural form. "I apologize," the new pony said to Blu. "I underestimated my own power. I am Lastly, a friend of Ember's." "What can we do?" Blu asked. "There's nothing left of the crystals!" "Your friends are trapped in the Shadowlands, as the purple color of the crystal teleporters indicated to me. To find them, you must enter this land of the dead. I will accompany you, as I am the one who destroyed the monster prematurely. I have been chasing him for years. He destroyed my home, and I'm afraid I let my mission blind me to your plight. Please accept my assistance. I can help you enter the Shadowlands." "Fine," Blu agreed readily. "Now we need to choose who will go. We'll leave ASAP!" "Okay," Blu said, looking around. "So our current group is Lastly, Starry Wings, Mist-Eyes, and myself. Now to get to the Shadowlands. It won't be any trouble for me, but the rest of you will have to enter through some dimnesional rift or something. Lastly, I assume you can help with that?" Lastly nodded somberly. "There is a rift near here in a glade in the woods. If we can rotate the rock so the invisible door faces sunsetside when it opens and perform the right rituals, then that will allow us into the Shadowlands." "I'll come enter with all of you. I'd go ahead, but if we got separated before ever entering the Shadowlands, we might never find each other again. Who knows where we'll end up when we arrive?" Blu said. "Right. Let's go!" Starry Wings put in, anxious to get going. "Forward....MARCH!" Starry Wings shouted in a voice larger than herself. Then, as the others looked at her incredulously, she blushed and whispered, "Umm....Let's go?" "It's a plan to me," Blu grinned as they ran into the woods, Lastly leading the way. The unicorn stopped in a peaceful clearing. "This is the place." She indicated a large rock with a toss of her mane. Blu stepped forward. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "This looks familiar." "Right!" Starry Wings said with a smile as she realized where they were. "This is the gate those rat-thingies got thrown into. But, Lastly," she said with a little apprehension, "Are you SURE this is how we get into the Shadowlands? I mean, what if we let the flying rodents out again?" Lastly let a tiny smile escape. "You shouldn't be afraid. Depending on the rituals you perform and the direction the gate faces, it will take you to different worlds when it is opened." She immediately got to work pushing the stone into place. It rotated easily with only her strength behind it. The others looked at one another and waited for instructions. Blu was mumbling something about wormholes and the Starship Enterprise. They watched as Lastly threw some glittery powder over the rock. "Great, now it's scenery from Labyrinth," Blu said, fidgeting. "When are we going in, Lastly? I can't stand doing nothing when I could be in the Shadowlands right now!" "Right now," Lastly said, tapping the rock with a hoof. The gate flew open and purple light washed over the clearing. The group exchanged glances once again. "Here we go," Starry Wings said. "I hope we make it back all right." "We have to," Mist-Eyes said matter-of-factly. "Otherwise, there goes our contract with Hasbro." "Huh?" the others chorused, but Mist-Eyes was halfway in the gate. Lastly had already slipped through. With a deep simultaneous breath, the others followed. "What a weird place!" Starry Wings exclaimed. That seemed to just about sum it up. The world was lit by an invisible purple sun, the landscape kept shifting, and there was no sign of life, but quite a few signs that no one in their right mind would ever want to be in this place. "So now what?" Blu asked Lastly. The unicorn looked around. "Now we find your friends," she said noncomittally. "Yes. How?" Starry Wings asked. "Where do we start? Where do we go?" "What were the crystals made of?" Lastly asked Blu instead. "What??" "Since the land is constantly changing in this world, you can travel long distances in an instant by thinking of where you want to go in terms of what the landscape there is made of, what it looks like, feels like, etc.," Lastly patiently explained. "Did you manage to get close to the crystals? Any of you?" They all shook their heads. "Drat! If only they hadn't turned to dust so fast!" Blu said. "I was so close to them...." "Hey!" Starry Wings jumped. "I heard Rainribbon say something about rock candy! Does that help?" "Not where Rainribbon is concerned," Mist-Eyes muttered, hiding a smile. But Lastly shook her head. "Purple glucose-base," she mused to herself. "And the hippogryph probably wanted to be able to find them easily, so he would have made the crystals out of a rare substance," she added aloud. "All right, everyone, think of purple rock candy. And hopefully we'll all end up in the same place," she finished, dropping her voice again on the last sentence. "OW! Get your foot off my face, Rainribbon!" "That's not my foot. Mine's in Bright Night's ear!" "Your OTHER foot! You've got four of 'em, ya know!" "Oh yeah. Sorry 'bout that. Hey, I still can't see!" "Then try opening your eyes!" "Yeah, the light's back on!" Rainribbon disentangled herself from the others where the tremor had flung them together and stood up. Sure enough, the light was back. It had gone completely dark while the shakes lasted. They still couldn't make out the source of the purple light, nor could they tell where they were. A room, a cave, out in the open...everything looked foggy to obscurity. "Man, I wish I could figure out what was going on," Bright Night trembled. "You can't even figure out which end is your head," Rainribbon muttered under her breath. Aloud she said, "Well, why don't we walk, then? Maybe we'll find something out. Anything at all! C'mon, let's go!" She started forward and hit an invisible wall. "Ow! Hey, this tastes like those crystals! Yum!" "Rainribbon, quit eating the--whatever--it is!" Frilly Flower said. "A wall?" Trixxy said. She walked to Rainribbon and reached out gingerly with her hand. "Hey, it is! And I can see it now that I'm close. Everything is just purple here; it all looks too much alike to make anything out without looking closely." She walked the opposite way and hit another wall with her palm. "One here too. They're nearly invisible in this light." "Everything looks Smoozed," Rainribbon mused. "I think I've had enough purple now. And there's nothing but wall over here." "And here," Bright Night said from behind them. "If there's any way to go, it's forward." "It looks that way," Frilly Flower said. "I haven't hit a wall yet." She kept on walking around a curve. The others hurried to catch up. "Ah! It's shaking again!" Trixxy said. "Hold tight, everyone!" The light dropped out and they all tumbled back and forth. A few minutes later they got back to their feet shakily as the light returned. Trixxy started forward and immediately ran up against a wall she knew had not been there earlier. "The passage changed shape in the tremors!" she cried out. "We have to look for another way!" "This way's open now!" Bright Night called from the left. They rushed down the new opening. "This place is too freaky!" Rainribbon said. "I hope we get out of here soon!" "I hope so too," Trixxy said as they ran. "But where ARE we? What world is this, what are we in, why is the light so funny, and why is everything shifting?" "Which question would you like answered first?" The ponies and Trixxy stopped in their tracks [Rainribbon of course stopped a little too late crashing into the others] Spralled on the "rock candy?" floor they looked through the purple blur that incased them and saw a vaguely familiar figure. Looking up through the floor at them was Oracle. He was not known to either Bright Night or Frilly Flower, and had only encountered the other two once. "What are you doing here?" Trixxy asked. Oracle quirked a corner of his mouth, "Now what matters more, where you are, what world your in, why the light is strange, why everything is shifting or what I'm doing here?" "Err, I guess you've got a point there. So Spill. What's going on?" Trixxy inquired. Then elbowed Rainribbon who was hungarly eyeing the rock-candy floor. "You are incased in a 'Purple glucose-based' substance," Oracle started. "Say what?" Rainribbon looked up . . .ah, down at him. "As you guessed, rock-candy," he restated. "Hah! I knew it!" Oracle waited a moment, " As I was saying, you are incased in," glancing at Rainribbon, "rock-candy, the light as you guessed is only strange because of the pigment in the glucose, -no let me restate that, the color. The glucose sphere is unstable because its maker the hippogryph was destroyed, if it is a normal glucose-based sphere then is should collapse altogether soon." winking at Rainribbin, "So I'd enjoy it while it lasts. This is the same world that Sugar Belle condemned the shapeshifter and the grats to. Does that help?" Oracle asked as he finished. The others looked at each other [except for Rainribbon who had taken Oracles advice and was enjoying their 'prison walls'] Frilly Flower understood naught, so it was up to Bright Night and Trixxy to soak up all that Oracle had explained. A tremor sped through the glucose sphere, throughing the ponies and aliroo into one another, and causing a hungarly pony to bite her tongue. Trixxy glancing up at the ceiling stated the obvious. "Looks like it's about to collapse." Oracle winked out and the sphere fell shattering where he had once been. Just then a familair voice called out ,"There you are, I have been looking for you, we got seperated! "Lastly! What shall we do?'' Rainribbon cried. "We are doomed!!" cried Bright Night. "Stupid,stupid sweetheart sisters", muttered Rainribbon. Trixxy laughed but just then...... Blu Flyer fell on top of her. "What a ride!" Blu cried enthusiastically. "Hey, it looks like the gang's all here....But where's Trixxy? Ohhh...!" Blu hurriedly scrambled to get off her friend. "Thanks," Trixxy gasped. "So we're all here?" Starry Wings asked, looking around. "All of us and then some," a deep voice came from the darkness around them as everything shifted again. When the light came back and the world was still the ponies and aliroos could see Oracle standing nearby, and with him was.... "Ember!" Mist-Eyes cried. "What are you doing here?" The little pony blushed shyly. "Oracle came visiting to Ponyland after you left! I told him what happened, and he wanted to come here. He said he knows Lastly too!" "Aye," Lastly said somberly, but with a slight smile. She stepped gracefully to Oracle. "It's been a while, dear friend." Oracle smiled too. "Still the ever-formal one, I see. It's great to see you, Lastly. But I must admit, I don't care for the circumstances under which we've met." "So let's get out of here!" Starry Wings said. Rainribbon immediately began to burrow out huge chunks of rock to take with her, trying to bite around her tongue. "This glucose substance will soon vanish, as it was the hippogryph who created it here," Lastly stated. "This dimension is a realm of subjective reality." "Whatevah that ith," Rainribbon mumbled around her tongue. "If reality ith thubjectiff, then how can you juthtify it ath thubjectiff?" The others all stared at her. "Rainribbon!" Starry Wings cried. "I believe that's the most intelligent thing you've ever said!" "Whatevah thee thaid," Bright Night lisped. Frilly Flower giggled. "Anyway," Lastly broke in, trying to hide a smile, "We must get out of this glucose rock immediately." "I thought glucose was the sugar present in the body?" Starry Wings said. "No, that's sucrose," Mist-Eyes replied. "I'm fairly sure it's lactose...." "Doesn't matter! If it's an "-ose" then it's a sugar, and sugar rules!" Rainribbon said delicately to avoid biting her tongue again. "It's GOOD, and that's the important thing!" Blu started upon noticing that Rainribbon was now wearing two huge saddlebags which were filled with rock candy. "How'd you do THAT?!" Bright Night asked, starled as well. "I subjective reality-ed it," Rainribbon said proudly. Oracle laughed loudly. "You're a trooper, Rainribbon, you know that?" "I do now!" Mist-Eyes ahem-ed to get everyone back on the serious subject. "I hate to rain on everyone's parade, but HOW exactly do you propose we get out of this rock candy? Can we subjective reality ourselves out of it and back into Ponyland?" "I don't see why we can't," Lastly said, but just then.... She had an idea. She reared up on her hind legs and pointed her horn straight up."Cover your ears guys," she said. She waited till everyone had covered their ears and then her horn glowed purple. Suddenly a huge sonic boom echoced thoughout the rock candy and then it shatttered. They were free! At last! They walked away from the ruins. But... before they got very far a high pitched voice called out "Someone help! Embers caught and I can't get her out!" Frilly Flower was so distressed [for ember] that all she could do was prance back and forth. Oracle rolled his eyes "I'll get her carry on," he motioned for the others to advance in the direction that Lastly was leading them. Picking his way carefully across the shattered glucose he reached the spot where Ember and Frilly Flower were. "Go with the others," he directed Frilly Flower nodding towards the others. "But," Frilly Flower Protested. "Go," he smiled at the sweet heart sister and she waltz over to the others. "There we go Ember," Oracle said as he freed her from the glucose. Then calling to the group, "Lastly, you can make a portal by yourself can't you?" he recieved a brisk nod, "Great, I've found a nice little reflecting pool just a ways back, I'm going to take Ember back to ponyland," he explained. "you and your puddles," Lastly muttered. "I'll be back to close the portal when you leave,"then Oracle turned with Ember and headed towards the reflection pool he had seen. Lastly looked at the group . . '' That silly pony always has a problem," she said. "How do know her if she lives in Ponyland and you live...Where do you live?" asked Blu. "She used to live where I live in a place called Star Manor. "What's that?" asked Blu. "Its a wonderful place. Star Manor is the name of the mansion all the ponies threr live in," Lastly explained. "Each pony has a special power. I have the power of sound. I can cause great music and other sounds with my horn." "That's what shattered the rock candy." "What do the other ponies look like?'' asked Blu,who was getting more and more curious. "Would you like me to tell you,or should we go there?'' asked Lastly. "GO THERE!"all the ponies yelled,unamisously.(sp?) "All right, I can make a portal." Lastly said. Suddenly her horn glowed brighter than ever. A wide portal was forming in the ground. "Let's go!' cried Blu, jumping the hole. Frilly Flower,Bright Night,Rainribbon jumped in after her. Lastly and Mist Eyes were the last to go. They arrived in a beautiful land with ponies galloping all over. Lastly gestered to a large pink and purple manison. "That is Star Manor and this is where I live" she said. "Wow" the ponies all cried. They had never seen a place so beautiful. A pegasus came soaring through the air and landed in front of them. She was a gorgeous pony. She was a green pony with forest green hair and a sparkling sun on her hip. "Greetings to all of you, I'm Shiny." "Hello,Lastly," she said. Other ponies were coming up to greet them. "Each pony has a special power like I said, and each has a special object that gives them addtional powers," Lastly said. She showed them a gold ring with a white stone. "I can read minds,I used to read Ember's a lot to see what she was thinking,she is such a innocent thing,so kind too," she told them. "Does Ember have a power too?'' asked Frilly Flower. "Yes, even though her mother came from Dream Valley,her father,Knight Light,came from here. Her power is the power of fire. She can make light appear anywhere. Its a wonderful power and I envy it." Lastly replied. "Do you know that gold locket she wears?" she asked the ponies. "That is her special object. She has two special objects cause she is one of the lucky ponies who do. She has a voice like an angel,but doesnt think so. Her other one is the gold dolphin ring she wears. Her other powers are: controlling the waves,causes water to appear,sound,and she is psychic. 'Wow, she sure does do alot, commented Mist Eyes,who at this time had been silent. "Yes,but its a pity,she does not know she had any of these powers,except the mind reading. But all of us here have that." "Will she ever find out her powers?" asked Blu. "Yes,one day,for you see, I am like her teacher and I watched over her while she was here." "I will let her know one day," Lastly replied. 'What powers do you have?'' Blu asked her. 'Sound,music and mind reading,portals and telepathy," Lastly replied. "I am can make the sun come and go, and make it bright and dark. I can make it night too," Shiny told them."My special object is this amythest ring I wear. I dont have two objects,like Lastly and Ember. "My other one is the necklace I wear. Its a silver cross and with it, I can do many things," Lastly added. Other ponies were now listening to her talk and wanted to share too. A pony named Myst came up. "I can make it fog,rain and snow. My object is my ring. I only have one,but its opal and can make allkinds of weather." Another pony approached,this time,one named Venus. 'I control the planets. My ring with a turtle on,symbolizing rebirth,is my magic charm." 'Now, would you each share your powers?'' asked Lastly to Blu,Mist Eyes and Comapny. "My power is.....began Mist Eyes said. She looked around, "you didn't know I possed [sp?] any powers did you" *small smile* " I'm a wind-singer, a mist-maker, a strong sender and I can render myself invisable. Do you know that until you inquired only one other pony knew of my powers?" "I think I can guess what a mist-maker is but what is wind-singing and sending?" Lastly asked ready to asorbe new knowledge. "Wind-singing is just that, singing like the wind, but with it the wind can be called or banished, sometimes even it to needs a soul to converse with," another small smile, "Sending is communicating through thoughts. It is not exactly the same as mind reading, your not born with the ability to send. Being a strong sender allows me to talk to anyone, ANYONE, wether barriers are set within your mind or if you cannot send yourself. And with sending there is only a small anount of thought sensing, only emotions." Mist-eyes looked around, then her eyes glazed over "Laslty I am going to take a walk in your beautiful land" she started walking and her figure stared to fade as she did so, looking over her shoulder at the others "I'll only be a short while" then disapeared altogether. "Well," Blu looked again to where mist-eyes had been then looked back at the group, " My powers are . . . "....Normal of those aliroos which you know. Or that you don't. Some people don't like us because they think we are selfish all powerful furrs. But we're not!" Blu stops to emphasize the point. "All aliroos have the inborn ability to shapeshift and conjure things. We are also 'normally' stronger than most beings that we hang out with, like you guys and Star Fox-" "-And Star Trek people!" Trixxy exclaimed, "Also, we don't have powers to change things, like some people think. We can create but not change. and each aliroo has its own ICF, or Individual Color Frequency. Mine's purple, Blu's is blue, Strype's is gold and black." "Oh, how....Um, .... Interesting," remarks Bright Night, having most of the stuff *swoosh* over her head. She giggled warmly like she understood. Blu arches an eyebrow and then turns back to listeners. "And, when we get our lisence for transdemensional traveling (i.e. permission to mess with other life forms), we get a transporter. Which comes in handy. But it only transports aliroos, which can be annoying." "Well, that is very interesting, Blu, but my powers ar *far* more neat," Rainribbon starts... "Oh, are they, now?" Blu grinned. Rainribbon grinned back. "Okay, I lied," she giggled, "but it got your attention now, didn't it?" Trixxy teased, "Okay, but you called it, Rainribbon. Now follow through on it! Tell us about yourself." Rainribbon strode mock-proudly to the center of the group, only falling flat once. "My powers," she began, pretending to read a proclamation from a scroll, "are as follows: teleportation, telepathy, and various other random talents that I can't control, like precognition and other sporadic skills." She grinned broadly. "And I'm gettin' new ones all the time, so watch out!" "I'm surprised she even knew what those words meant," mumbled Bright Night. Blu, who knew Rainribbon better than that and didn't really care for Sweetheart Sisters either, jumped in. "She's not stupid, ditzy, or even bubble-headed. No offense," she offered. Rainribbon eyed her. "Are you SURE you're defending me?" she said. Blu laughed. "Y'see, the problem with being a telepath is that the thoughts of everyone around you push in on your own constantly. Most telepaths can shield them out with no trouble, but Rainribbon's shields don't stay up without concentration for some reason. And to keep from losing her mind, she lets it wander off in a million different directions at once." "Always looking for a chance to show off your knowledge, eh, Blu?" Trixxy smiled. "Dang!" Rainribbon whistled. "Who told you all that?" "You did, Rainribbon." "Me? Oh--uh, yeah!" Rainribbon trotted happily out of the center, eating her imaginary parchment as she went. But naturally her wandering mind had already forgotten who'd gone and who hadn't. "Um, okay," she said, "Whoever's next, go for it!"