I: A Trip for Two
"Thanks again for helping me Pinkie Pie!" The purple alicorn Twilight Sparkle chirped with a smile as her bubbly, pink, and eternally energetic earth pony friend returned the smile tenfold.
"No problem Princess Twilight Sparkle!" she beamed causing Twilight to chuckle and shake her head in bemused exasperation.
"Pinkie, I've told you hundreds of times, you can still call me Twilight. I'm still the same pony I've always been, nothing's changed. Well except for the wings. those are a change." she added as an afterthought causing Pinkie to giggle.
Soon enough, both ponies found themselves in Twilights room in Canterlot Castle, where Spike was already waiting.
"Hey Pinkie! Long time no see! How was the trip? How's Ponyvillie? How's Rarity? Does she miss m-er us?" The stream of questions was something Twilight expected more from Pinkie rather than her assistant. Then again, they had spent the last six months living in the Castle while Twilight got acclimated to her new duties as a Princess, which to be honest, were much the same as her old duties as Princess Celestia's student. However, instead of writing reports about the magic of friendship to her former teacher, it was now her duties to teach it to everypony and make sure it thrived throughout Equestria.
Twilight assumed, and quite rightly, the Spike's hyper attitude was due to the fact that he missed their old friends in Ponyvillie and that today was the Celestia was allowing them to finally return to their old home in the tree library.
"We're going home today Spike." Twilight scolded lightly, adopting the semi-motherly tone she always seemed to when the baby dragon got overly excited "Don't attack Pinkie with questions as soon as she walks in the room. It's rude."
"It's alright Twilight! We've missed you a whoooooole bunch and I'm excited you're coming back! I've spent all week preparing a superty-duper welcome home party for when you came back! But then you wrote me telling me you needed my help to test a spell, and I was like 'I should bring the party with me!' but then I remembered that I'd need the girls to come with me but you only sent one train ticket, so I was like-"
Pinkie's typical stream-of-consciousness speech was cut off by Twilight stuffing her one of her forehooves into her friend's mouth until she got the message and quit speaking. "I need you to concentrate, remember the letter?" Twilight asked to which she received the muffled reply of,
"Mmmhmm,"
Never one to pass up an opportunity to practice her magic, Twilight had invited Pinkie to the castle both to catch up with her friend, and to test a long range teleportation spell she had been perfecting in her spare time. So far it had worked on rocks, flowers, and even a pillow. It was now time to test it on a pony. And Pinkie's chronically upbeat and cheerful attitude made her the easiest to work with. The earth pony was in no real danger, at worst she'd move only about a foot or so and end up with some singed hair and fur, but if all went according to plan, she'd be in Ponyvillie faster then she could say "party".
"Remember Pinkie, in order for this to work properly you have to help me by thinking about where you want to go." She instructed as she took her place next to Spike, her horn already beginning to charge with magic, "So just keep thinking about Sugercube Corner ok?"
"Okie Dokie Loki!" Pinkie exclaimed with a big grin before shutting her eyes tightly and chanting "Sugarcibe Corner" over and over.
Concentrating intently on Pinkies words Twilight closed her eyes and envisioned the gingerbread house-like bakery with its white paint which looked like sugary frosting and it's candy shaped adornments. With little more the a short soft grunt, the magic was released from Twilight's horn and hurtled towards Pinkie Pie, enveloping her in a purplish pink light for a brief moment before there was a bright flash and she was gone. The was not even any sign she had ever been there in the first place.
"That was incredible!" Spike exclaimed snapping Twilight back into reality, "You did it! you teleported Pinkie!"
"I-I did? Holy horsefeathers, I did it!" Twilight cheered nearly jumping with glee, "Spike, do you know what this means?"
"That we can go home?"
Twilight chuckled and allowed Spike to climb onto her back before she trotted triumphantly out of her room, "I was thinking more along the lines that I might have figured out a way to revolutionize transportation, but that works too. Let's go home Spike. I just hope Pinkie appearing out of nowhere doesn't scare the Cakes too badly."
"No, no darling! You can't hang a purple streamer next to an orange one the colors clash! It will look simply tacky!" Rarity set her drink on the table and levitated the steamer out of Applejack's hooves before moving it a few inches to the left and hanging it there. "see now put a yellow one next to the orange and then a green, then put blue next to purple."
Applejack sighed with irritations but obeyed her friend's advice regardless "Ah don't think Pinkie or Twilight will care sugarcube"
"I know, but it will irritate me if we don't fix it now. Say have you seen Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy? Shouldn't they be here by now?"
"And we're set!" as if on cue Rainbow Dash burst through the door to Sugarcube Corner, with Fluttershy trailing behind her
"Everyone in Ponyville has been invited! So how are the decorations coming along?"
"They'd be coming along faster if Ah got some help." Applejack said with a grunt
"I'm keeping the feng shui in balance darling" Rarity commented as she resumed levitating her drink and sipping it.
"I'll help you Applejack." Said Fluttershy gently as she flew over to assist her friend, as Rarity continued to give color pointers
The next few minutes were spent by the four friends making idle yet friendly conversation until Pinkie appeared tumbling out of the air with a bright flash. Shaking her head and slowly getting her bearings, the curly hared pink earth pony collapsed in a fit of giggles! "Woo! she did it! that was fun!"
The room fell silent as everypony took a few moments to absorb what had just occurred. Pinkie had always been able to do strange things, from her ability to vaguely predict the future with her "Pinkie Sense", to her ability to bend or even break the laws of physics at will, but appearing out of thin air with a flash of light was something that none of her friends thought they would see.
Applejack was the first to collect her thoughts and break the silence just before it became uncomfortable "Who did what sugercube? Weren't y'all going to Canterlot to help Twilight move back ta Ponyvillie?"
"I did!" Pinkie chirped in response, bouncing around the room happily as she did so "And she sent me back here with magic and it was so awesome at first I felt all tingly and then it was like whoosh and I was here!"
"Doesn't look like the other pony she sent with you thought it was fun." Rainbow Dash smirked pointing to the prone form of a white furred earth pony with a long light blue mane and tail which had been entirely braided with the exception of the vey front which hung freely over the right side of her face. The pony groaned as if dizzy or in pain causing everpony else in the room to come closer, in order to make sure that she wasn't hurt.
"Uh...Pinkie, Sugarcube?" Applejack spoke once again, "Who's yer friend?"
"I don't know." Pinkie admitted cocking her head to the side curiously.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Rarity butted in as she bent down for a close look at her cutiemark, which appeared not only on her flank but also tattooed up and around her right foreleg from ankle to shoulder, and resembled a bluish-grey cloud, or perhaps it was smoke, next to which was a pink object which appeared to be a cylinder, like the silo on Sweet Apple Acers, but with a pointed tip, almost like an arrow but not quite.
"I've never seen her before." Pinky admitted before smiling widely, "Which means, that Twilight's welcome back party can also be..." she paused for dramatic effect, "A WELCOME TO PONYVILLE PARTY FOR THE NEW PONY!" she exclaimed jumping up and down excitedly, he hooves clicking against the floor as she landed. The rest of her friends however were less enthusiastic, in fact, this made Pinkie's sudden appearance in Sugarcube Corner make even less sense then it had before.
"I doubt Twilight would have forgotten to introduce you." Fluttershy began in her normal soft-spoken tone, "Did you just forget she was there?"
"Nope. It was just me, Twilight, and Spike."
Another groan caught everypony's attention as this time it was accompanied by words, as the formerly prone and mysterious earth pony began to move.
"Uunh...how did Fat Hands pull it off? I had her beat."
"Hehe Fat Hands!" Pinkie giggled, "Wait...what are hands?" the collective glare from her friends let her know that she wouldn't be receiving an answer anytime soon.
Slowly the earth pony got to it's feet, and then using it's forelegs, pushed of the ground and reared up. It stayed in this position for a good two seconds before it lost it's balance and fell backwards onto the floor with another groan. it's eyes still closed.
"Stupid Summoners and their stupid teleport spells!" the mysterious mare complained as she rubbed the back of her head with her front right hoof which caused her to pause. "Wait, what the-? " she began, opening her eyes for the first time since her arrival. They were a bright red and almost seemed to give off a dim light. She glanced around at the five friends who were currently hovering over her, seeming to quickly and quietly tike stock of each face before letting out a scream and quickly reaching behind her but the absence of whatever she was looking for seemed to frighten her more.
"Fishbones? Pow-Pow? And my zapgun's gone too? Oh man where did you guys go?!" she rambled frantically before trying to back away from the assembled group, who looked on with confusion. "Um...nice horseys...or ponies...I'm not gonna do anything." she said as her back hit a wall.
"Hey neither are we." Rainbow Dash said with a genuine smile. "We just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt is all."
"Holy crap you can talk?"
"Uh yeah?" Rainbow said now thoroughly confused by this new pony as were all of her friends.
The new pony looked down at herself taking stock of her new legs and hooves, "Ok...so I'm a Pony now...in a place with talking ponies...ok then." With no further ceremony the earthpony collapsed back into an unconscious state, leaving everypony else in the room to silently wonder what to do with her.
Again Applejack was the first to speak, "Y'all think you can finish decoratin' on yer own? Ah rekon Ah best take this poor girl to a hospital."
"Of course we can! don't worry about a thing!" Rarity smiled as she trotted over to the table with the decorations and began sorting through streamers once more.
"Right, think ya could lend me a hoof Rainbow?" the farmpony said as she stared to lift the unconscious pony onto her back
"Sure thing AJ!"
Once the mysterious and heavily tattooed pony was safely across Applejack's back the middle child of the Apple family bid her friends goodbye and set out toward the Ponyville hospital, hoping that they could bring the mysterious mare to her senses.
According to doctors, whoever this new pony was, she was simply suffering from exhaustion and was otherwise fine. Just to be safe, they hooked her up to an IV and gave her a bed to rest in. Despite being told that she would be informed when the mare woke, Applejack had elected to watch over her. After all the poor girl had seemed frightened and confused, and leaving her alone would be rude, if not downright inhospitable at this point.
And so Applejack waited for the mysterious mare to awaken, which was taking far longer than she had anticipated, to be honest, and caused her to nod off a few times herself. Finally, sometime in the early evening, the farmpony was awoken by the soft tapping of a hoof on the door.
"Unh, come in." Applejack yawned as she come back to the waking world.
The door swung open slowly and quietly as the purple alicorn Twilight Sparkle let herself in accompanied by Spike who was the first to speak.
"Pinkie wasn't joking, look." the baby dragon whispered.
Twilight nodded, "I see her Spike. Don't disturb her alright?"
Spike nodded and approached the bed slowly as Applejack took her hat off to give the newest Equestrian princess a polite bow. For her efforts she received a friendly nuzzle in return. "There's no need for that AJ. I'm here as a friend not a princess. Is this the pony?"
Applejack blushed lightly in embarrassment, "Yeah, sure is. Is she a friend of yours?"
"No," Twilight admitted, "I've never seen her before. She appeared when Pinkie did?"
"Yeah." Applejack's remark caused Twilight to look over the sleeping mare intently, as if studying everything she could. "Whatchya thinkin' Twi?" the farmpony questioned after a few moments.
"We should find a way to send her back to where she belongs." Twilight remarked trotting back over to AJ, "I can't believe I was so reckless as to try the spell over such a long distance."
"No harm done Twi," Applejack chuckled, "Ya didn't hurt nopony an' ah bet you'll figure this all out in no time."
"But I took her away from her family. What if they're looking for her right now? I feel horrible."
"Don't worry, they don't care." The voice of the new pony joining the conversation directed eveypony's attention to the bed. The white-furred and blue maned mare with the strange tattoos sat against the headboard of the bed and yawned. Yawn complete, she open her eyes and give a mischievous smile . "Don't have parents anymore, and my sister's crazy. We don't hang out much."
The white mare looked around the room for a few moments before shrugging, "so I guess it wasn't a dream. you guys are real." She paused a moment "Wait is this a hospital? I hate hospitals. I'm getting out of here. Outta the way lizard dude!"
The mare swung her hind legs off the bed, nearly knocking Spike over as she did so. She then tried to tear the IV from the foreleg with her other hoof. Failing that she switched to her teath and succeeded. she hopped off the bed and started to trot away but found her path blocked by both Twilight and Applejack.
"Hey now sugarcube, you can't just leave yet!" the Orange mare said with a friendly smile.
"Oh yeah? Watch me!" The mysterious mare raised a front hoof in an attempt to push the other pony away only to find it stopped and held in midair by a purple field of sorts.
"Hold on a second!" Twilight scolded as she maintained her hold spell."I know you must be scared or angry, i don't blame you, but that's no reason to knock Spike over or attack us."
"I'm not scared or angry," the tattooed pony said with a bit of irritation at be held in place, "I just don't like hospitals."
After a moment's thought Twilight spoke once more, "Listen." she began, "It's my fault you're here, and I'm going to fix it. but I need time. For now I'd like you to stay with me and Spike at our house. But you need to work with me here ok?"
"Fine." the white earth pony sighed, "Can you let me go?"
"Will you try and fight us again?"
"No."
With a gentle smile Twilight released her spell and let the earthpony's hoof fall to the floor.
"So, let's get acquainted shall we? My name is Twilight Sparkle." the princess began before pointing a hoof at her orange companion, "That's Applejack, and the baby dragon over by the bed is Spike. What's your name?"
The smile on the tattooed earthpony's face returned this time even wider than before, "My name's Jinx."
About ten minutes later Twilight and Applejack had checked Jinx out of the hospital and had begun the walk to the tree library which served as Twilight's home.
"So uh...Jinx, where ya from?" Spike asked as he rode atop Twilight as he often did when traveling long distances.
"Zaun. but I moved to Pitover. But it's more like Lame-tover. It's too neat!"
Spike raised a brow, "I've never heard of either of those places. Where are they?"
Jinx made a sound which made it clear she had no idea, which in turn caused Twilight and AJ to stop.
"Y'all don't know where ya live?" Applejack couldn't hide the surprise in her voice as she and Twilight turned to face their newest companion.
"No idea where I am so I couldn't tell ya. Jeez, get off my back would ya? When I woke up this morning I didn't expect to come here, or be hanging out with talking ponies!"
Twilight and Applejack stopped completely, causing Jinx to walk past them before stopping in confusion herself. "What?" she asked in a slightly snotty by genuinely confused tone.
"That's the second time she's said us talking was strange Twi." Applejack remarked causing Twilight to wrack her brain. The strange tattoo and cutie-mark and the unknown places Jinx had mentioned brought a new possibility to light, one which Twilight hadn't even considered possible. What if she hadn't simply teleported Jinx from somewhere between Canterlot and Ponyville, but had instead had accidently tore her from another world or dimension when she teleported Pinkie.
"Jinx," Twilight started, swallowing hard, "you weren't a pony before you came here were you?"
"Nope!" Jinx chirped with a smile, "full blooded human!"
As soon as the tattooed earthpony had completed he sentence, Twilight took off at full gallop toward her home without so much as a warning, Spike clinging onto her for dear life as Applejack and Jinx tried their best to keep up.
"Twilight, sugarcube, slow down! We can sort this out, but y'all are gonna hurt yerself or Spike. Calm down!"
"Celestia's...gonna...kill...me!" Twilight panted as she galloped along, speeding up even more and flapping her wings for an extra speed boost as her home came into view.
She slammed her hooves into the dirt skidding to a halt only centimeters from her door, spike holding onto her just barely. The alicorn pushed open her door and rushed past Time Turner who had graciously agreed to take care of the library in her absence. He had a greeting or a question for her but it hardly registered in her brain. If she didn't send a letter to Princess Celestia telling her what had occurred, then her princesshood could be stripped, or worse yet she could be banished.
"What the hay was that Twilight?" Spike gasped as he hopped off her back and caught his breath.
"Spike! Language!" the purple alicorn reprimanded before answering, "I'll explain everything as best I can as soon as there's time, but suffice to say I'm gonna be in a lot of trouble if we don't write Princess Celestia right away. Go get the ink and the good parchment."
"On it!" Spike remarked resolutely but as soon as he turned toward the shelf where Twilight kept her ink and parchment, his cheeks puffed out and he belched out a gout of green flame which quickly condensed into a rolled up letter which fell nearly soundlessly to the floor in front of him. "Uh oh...Um Twilight?" Spike said nervously as he bent over to pick up the scroll.
"Oh no...no no no no!" Twilight stammered, was it possible that that Celestia somehow knew of her mistake already? The world seemed to slow down as Spike broke the seal, unrolled the scroll, and cleared his throat beginning to read
My Dearest Twilight,
Earlier today three objects of unknown origin were found in the castle gardens. As a mare of science I believe that these objects may be of interest to you, and that you may be the best pony to help us identify what these objects are and how they are used. Please return to Canterlot tomorrow with your friends.
Sincereley,
Princess Celestia
Twilight hyperventilated and took a moment to collect her thoughts. "Ok..ok...this could work if we take Jinx with us. Celestia will be more likely to help us if she sees Jinx, and then I can apologize to her in person...this might all work out!"
The sound of Time Turner gently clearing his throat caught Twilight's attention. She turned her head to see the brown stallion looking around the corner.
"Forgive me Princess," he apologized, "Applejack, and her friend are downstairs, and I've got to head out to Sugarcube Corner for your party.
"Oh...right. Thanks again for watching the library while I was in Canterlot. I'll send you your payment by the end of the week." Twilight ended with a soft smile causing the stallion to blush
"It was my honor princess." with that, he disappeared back into the other room.
Spike gave his caretaker a pat on the side for reassurance. "Just relax Twilight just go enjoy your party! Let's show Jinx a good time, I'm sure you'll feel better if you see her having fun."
The ceiling and walls of Sugarcube Corner were covered in decorations of all sorts, from streamers to glitter, laser lights and even a huge mirror ball. The building was packed wall to wall with ponies of all types, sizes and ages, who after a speech by the mayor welcoming Twilight back to town, had begun drinking, eating, dancing and even playing party games to their hearts content. Overall, the party would go down as yet another one of Pinkie Pie's masterfully produced celebrations, where everypony could have a blast; everypony that was, except Jinx.
Despite the warm welcome she had received from everypony and the loud, catchy electronic music being played by a unicorn with large colored sun glasses, that looked almost exactly like Jinx herself, she was bored stiff. This place seemed like a country version of Pitover, just as dull orderly and safe. in fact, standing in the back of the room Jinx had found that she had already fallen asleep several times out if pure boredom. Little did she know, her chance for a bit of fun was about to hand itself to her on a silver platter.
A gentle poke from a scaly claw brought Jinx back to consciousness.
"Hey Jinx, y'alright? you were sleeping." Spike said with a friendly smile, offering Jinx a cup of punch which she flatly refused.
"I'm bored. hasn't been any fun here since this party started." the tattooed earthpony complained as she shook the last traces of sleep from her mind.
"I get like that sometimes." Spike admitted before he chugged the cup of punch Jinx had refused. "I'm the only dragon in a town of ponies. Sometimes I feel out of place, but these ponies are great just give the chance." Spike's smile returned. "Hey maybe we can hang out and I could help you cheer up. Whatd' ya say?"
Jinx considered the proposal for all of five seconds. "Yeah...hey, yeah!" She smiled as she spoke and started to head for the door motioning for Spike to follow her.
Once safely outside of the overcrowded bakery Jinx turned to Spike with a mischievous glint in her red eyes, "You can breath fire right dragon dude?"
"Uh...yeah, why?" Spike swallowed nervously, everytime he used his fire in the past for doing anything other than sending Twilight's letters or roasting an occasional marshmallow seemed to get him in trouble.
"Because," Jinx chirped as she began walking for where she could only assume was the center of town, "I think it's time I showed these ponies how *I* party."
Twilight sipped her punch and sighed gently as she made her way toward the front of the bakery. She found a empty spot by a window and stared out into the peaceful night, losing herself in her own thoughts. She was glad to be home and with her friends to be sure, but she wasn't sure how long it would last. Celestia was already requesting her help back in Canterlot and then there was the whole matter of helping Jinx get back to wherever she belonged. For all Twilight knew come tomorrow she might have to leave her friends for another six months or even longer. Twilight couldn't help but chuckle as she thought about the last few months and what lie ahead. A few years ago she would have given Celestia anything she had in order to avoid coming to Ponyville, but now she would give anything to stay.
"Twilight Darling, are you alright? Pinkie's just about done setting up the piñata and the girls were wondering if you'd like to go first." Rarity's voice broke Twilight away from her reflections.
"Oh, hey Rarity," Twilight smiled weakly glancing over at her fashionable friend, "I'm fine, it's just-" Twilight found herself trailing away and staring out the window once more.
"Just what dear?" Rarity pushed, concern now clearly evident in her voice.
"I know it's silly," Twilight spoke after taking a few minutes to find the right words, "but when Pinkie wrote me last week to tell me about her plans for this party, I was hoping it would just be the six of us." Twilight paused to finish of her punch, levitating the cup to her mouth with the magic. "As much as I appreciate everpony's welcome, I've had to go to so many functions over the last few months I was just hoping for something small with the ponies I care for the most."
Rarity smiled a knowing smile and nodded, "Between you, me and the wall, I would have preferred something small as well. but you'll have to forgive us Ponyvillians." She chuckled at the last word, "It's not every day we get a visit from a princess, much less have one living in our town. Besides, now that your back I'm sure we'll have lots of time to catch up."
"That's just it," Twilight said with a resigned sigh, "Princess Celestia wrote me just before I came here. Her letter said I need to head back to Canterlot tomorrow to help them identify something. She wants me to bring you girls to help out but..." Twilight took another moment to collect her thoughts and wipe away the tears which had begun to form in her eyes, "how much longer will it be before my duties force me to spend all my time in Canterlot?"
"Ah yes, well..." Rarity couldn't hide the tinge of disappointment that she was feeling though she tried her hardest, causing Twilight's countenance to fall even further, "Normally I'm not one to hand out folksy wisdom darling, that's Applejack's forte, but if I were you, I wouldn't focus on how many days lie between then and now. Just live for today and tomorrow and cherish the ponies around you. You'll find you'll be much happier that way." Rarity concluded her advice by wrapping her front legs over Twilight's shoulders and pulling her friend in for a reassuring hug.
Twilight sighed again, but this time out of relief not resignation, "Thanks Rarity, after all we do have the train ride to Canterlot tomorrow, I'm sure we can all catch up the-" Twilight stopped mid word and peered out of the window. the sides of town hall were unusually bright for the time of night, and if she squinted Twilight was sure she could see the dancing shadows of nearby homes on its face.
Suddenly with a screaming whistle, a green light shout out from the gap in between Town Hall and a nearby neighborhood shooting just over the rooftops and exploding just over Sugarcube corner itself, bathing the area in neon green light, and crating a sound that could be heard even over Vinyl Scratch's Djing. The music stopped, the laser lights when out, and there was another explosion, this time causing a blue light.
Within second's what had once been a party for a princess became a silent gathering of worried ponies, seconds away from panic. Without a moment's delay, Twilight's natural leadership instincts kicked in and she turned to address the crowd.
"Everypony! Remain calm, remain here, and keep your heads down! I'll let you know when it's safe to come out! Come on girls I think we know what we have to do!"
With no further delay or prompting, the six friend sprinted out the door and towards the source of the commotion. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony raced towards danger without a second thought as they had always done. But even all their adventures and battles, what they found at the center of town was shocking even to them.
There, in the center of town dancing, whooping and hollering, were Spike and Jinx. The pair of them were dancing and laughing around a large bonfire constructed out of trash, wood and various other items which they doubtlessly had found discarded or forgotten about town.
Jinx held a large firework in her front hooves and aimed it once more in the general area of Sugarcube Corner. "One more dragon dude!"
Spike giggled playfully and lit the fuse with his breath, the pair of them watching gleefully as it soared into the air and exploded with a red flash of light .
"This is great! you were right!" Spike exclaimed before he and Jinx collapsed into a fit of laughter, "I wish I could see Twilight's face!"
"Spike!" Twilight growled, snapping the Dragon out of his revelry, but not even phasing Jinx, who continued to laugh in a way that put even Pinkie Pie to shame, "I thought I taught you better than this!.
Before, Spike could even react, he was lifted into the air with magic and dropped right in front of his oldest friend.
"Twilight I-" Spike began only to be cut off
"I don't want to hear it Spike!" Twilight scolded. "This was completely reckless, you've scared everypony in town and could have hurt somepony! As punishment, you're going to be staying here tomorrow and help everypony clean up this mess for as long as it takes. Now go home and go to bed...Now!"
The hoof pointed in the general direction of the tree library let the dragon know that Twilight was dead serious. Without further word, or any attempt a protest, he hung his head in shame, and began to walk home
"I'll walk ya home Spike." Applejack said in a rather deadpan tone, not wanting to seem any less angry than Twilight or undercut her threat. She turned to Rainbow Dash before departing "can you and Fluttershy put out the fire sugarcube?"
"Yup sure thing!" Rainbow said with a resolute nod, "Come on Fluttershy. there's gotta be some rain clouds around here someplace."
The three ponies and Spike departed, leaving Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie with Jinx, who had finally ceased laughing, but still wore a twisted smile.
"Wow, you ponies are harsh! It was just a little fun!"
Twilight glared at the tattooed earthpony, "I don't know if this is how they have fun where you come from, but in Equestria this is terrorism. I'm going to find a way to send you back to where you belong tomorrow. But for now, you're coming home with me. Come on girls, let's let everypony know they're safe."
Jinx sighed to herself and followed Twilight reluctantly. Without her belongings she couldn't hope to do anything other than obey. It was during the walk back to the bakery that Jinx found that despite him being a pain in her butt, Jinx really missed Fishbones, and that she wished she still had fingers, because she'd defiantly be showing two of them off to Twilight.