Chapter 4
"Are you okay back there, Robert?" Rarity asked me.
"I'm fine, Rarity," I replied, holding on tightly, "thanks for asking."
Riding on Rarity's back was soothing, believe it or not. However, I wish I knew who was the correct height - that was driving me nuts. When I don't know much about something, it really grinds my gears, if you know what I mean. I feel like it's in my best nature to know anything that happens around me as best as I can. I know I am unable to know about everything, but the subtle things, such as this one, for example, really do grind my gears. Suddenly, there came a noise from an unknown location. I thought it was just the air going by Rarity's mane, but when she stopped, I soon found out that that wasn't the case.
"Robert, darling, do you hear that?" asked Rarity.
I began listening a bit harder than I had been now. I began hearing faint hoofsteps coming from down the hallway. It couldn't have been Rarity's hoofsteps since she had just stopped moving.
"Whosoever is down there," politely started Rarity, "show yourself!"
"Relax, Rarity," a feminine voice said in reply, "it's only me, Twilight."
"And I," another voice called, "Lunar."
Twilight had lit up the surrounding area with her magic. It was revealed to me that both she and Lunar were their original heights, leading to my conclusion confirming that it was I who had shrunk in size and Rarity who had stayed the same height. Twilight approached Rarity and failed to notice me on her back.
"Are you by yourself, Rarity?" Twilight asked.
"No, not at all," answered Rarity, "I am with Robert right here."
Rarity motioned her head towards her back and showed her side to Twilight, who quickly noticed my change in size. Twilight's large eyes filled my line of view as she gazed into my soul, at least that's what it felt like.
"What happened?" Twilight asked, damaging my eardrums much like Rarity did earlier.
"I don't know, Twilight." I replied, rubbing my now-gentle ears softly.
"Somehow," Rarity added, shifting herself back to the way she was before showing me to Twilight, "little Robert here has shrunk in size as a result of King Sombra's magic."
"Little?" I immediately questioned.
"Oh," replied Rarity, turning her head around to talk to me, "it sounds more cute that way."
I began blushing a bit as Rarity turned her head back around to continue conversing with Twilight and Lunar.
"Perhaps Robert absorbed the majority of the magic King Sombra attacked us with." Lunar suggested.
"If that is indeed the case, can either of you help bring me back to my normal size?" I asked.
"I'm not too sure, Robert." answered Twilight, a bit more quietly than before. "Can you perform any kind of magic?"
"Not at all, Twilight," I meekly replied, "I seemed to have lost my ability to perform any and all magic."
"Do you think it's due to his smaller size, Twilight?" A concerned Rarity asked.
"That is a strong possibility, Rarity," answered Twilight, "perhaps Princess Celestia can help him out."
"We'd need to find her first." I insisted.
"Right, tiny," Twilight playfully replied.
"So let's find her, Princess." I playfully answered back.
Twilight gave me an annoyed look as I called her Princess. Hey, I may be tiny now, but that still doesn't mean I can have some fun messing with Twilight. Twilight glanced down at me heavily, proceeding to tell me something that made me really change my attitude fairly quickly.
"It'd be a shame if something were to happen to you, Robert," Twilight told me, motioning a hoof towards her stomach, "wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you, now would we?"
Quickly taking the hint, I answered back instantly. "Sorry if I offended you, Twilight."
"Apology accepted, Robert." Twilight told me.
Lunar approached Twilight and brought her away, smiling in the process. "Now, now," he said, kissing Twilight's cheek gently, "let's go find the Princess."
That really got me to change my approach towards Twilight. Once again, I may be small, but that doesn't mean that I have to have my life ended a second time in the course of a week. Twilight turned around and smiled at me, which I did in return, although it was a false smile. Eventually, Rarity, Lunar, and Twilight continued down the eerily dark and mysterious hall with me still riding Rarity's back.
"Where do you think we are?" Rarity asked Twilight.
"From the looks of it," Twilight started, "I'd say we're in the dungeons beneath Canterlot."
"I can confirm that we are in the dungeons," Lunar stated.
"How do you know?" Rarity asked curiously.
Lunar simply pointed to a nearby crystallized structure, telling Rarity that only that type of architectural genius could be found in Canterlot.
"It could also be found in the Crystal Empire, you know," Twilight pointed out.
Lunar shrugged. "That may be true," he answered, "but the Crystal Empire is far away from here and King Sombra doesn't seem to possess that kind of strong magic to teleport ten ponies far, far away on one try."
"Point taken," Twilight responded, "but this is King Sombra we're talking about."
"But Lunar is probably right," admitted Rarity, "teleporting ten ponies halfway across Equestria at one time isn't something even Celestia could probably do."
"And she is the most powerful pony, in terms of magic, in Equestria," Lunar added, receiving a cold glare from Twilight. He then rushed some words out in an effort to please Twilight again. "Present company excluded, of course."
"Thank you." smiled Twilight.
The trio of ponies kept slowly moving along the dark hallway while I was still positioned atop Rarity's back. Suddenly, a few more sounds rang down the walls of the hallway we were in, coming from all different directions. Rarity, Lunar, and Twilight had decided to stay put and let the sounds confront us. Twilight still lit the junction with her magic, trying to help out the sounds if they were coming closer to our position.
"Aren't they all still trapped in dungeons, Twilight?" I curiously asked after we had waited for a long while.
"Right..." Twilight responded.
"We should split up, Twilight," I suggested, "you and Lunar go down that hallway and free whoever is in any dungeon and Rarity and I will do the same down this hallway."
"Sounds like a plan, Robert." Twilight praised.
"Well, I may be small," I continued, "but I'm still a smart cookie."
"And a mighty tasty looking one, too." Twilight warned.
"Just saying." I immediately responded.
"Now, now, Twily," chuckled Lunar, "come along." He turned to Rarity next. "We'll meet back here when we're done, okay?"
"Sounds good, darling," Rarity remarked.
I managed to get a glimpse at Twilight before Rarity and myself headed down our designated hallway to check on any other ponies that were trapped here. She slyly smirked at me before heading down her designated hallway along with the Prince. Rarity and I proceeded down our hallway, trying our best to find whatever it was that was making the eerie sounds. Once we had met a nearby dungeon door face-to-face, Rarity asked if anybody was inside.
"Is that you, Rarity?" A voice asked.
"Yes," answered Rarity, "are you alone in there?"
"No," the voice responded, "I'm here with Rainbow Dash."
This voice sounded like Fluttershy's voice but I wasn't too sure. Mainly, why would Fluttershy answer and not go crazy in this severely dark area and not Rainbow Dash. Either way, Rarity blasted the door with her magic and knocked it off its hinges, causing it to fall to the ground, generating a rather loud, metallic slamming sound upon hitting the ground. Once the doorway was cleared and it was safe to do anything, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had exited their dungeon and tagged along with us. Calling out to nobody in particular, Rarity made sure if all the other rooms were cleared before heading back to the junction. Confirming that all was cleared, Rarity, myself, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash started proceeding back towards the junction to meet up with Twilight and Lunar, hoping that they had found everyone else. We had waited for Twilight and Lunar for a few moments and, when they finally arrived back, she was accompanied by Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance.
"Where is Princess Celestia?" I asked. I had drawn a few eyes from those who hadn't noticed me before.
"What happened to you, Robert?" Princess Cadance asked me.
"Well," I began, "I believe King Sombra's magic is behind this doing."
"Right," added Twilight, "Robert must have absorbed the majority of the magic King Sombra attacked us with and that might have something to do with his smaller stature."
"And let me tell you," I continued, "I don't want to stay like this any longer. So does anypony know any spell that can change me back to normal?"
"Princess Celestia is the only pony who knows such spells and is the only one who can help you." Princess Luna told me.
"So where is Princess Celestia?" I asked the group of giant ponies.
"Is she not with you?" asked Princess Luna.
"We thought she was with you, to be honest." Twilight replied.
The commotion as to the whereabouts of Princess Celestia started getting out of hoof. I had decided to stay out of it until I began hearing something abnormal coming from deep within the dark hallways of the dungeons. I tugged at Rarity's mane gently, asking her to place me on the ground for a quick moment.
"What for, Robert?" Rarity quickly questioned, concerned about how safe I'll be in a room full of giant ponies. "I'm afraid of somepony stepping on you and crushing your cute little self."
"I need to know if I can feel any sort of movement." I replied. "Perhaps it'll help find our way out or even find Princess Celestia."
Rarity thought about that for a while. She appeared to be really concerned about my safety. Eventually, she answered me back.
"Fine, darling," Rarity told me, encasing me in her magic aura, "just be careful, Robert."
"I'll do just that, Rarity." I replied as Rarity set me down on the ground.
Fortunately for me, nobody above me was moving their hooves, so this made my concentration seem like clockwork. I crouched down onto the ground and began feeling vibrations of hooves striking the ground coming from down the hallway. I placed an ear on the ground so that I could track down the exact location of the vibrations. This was one of the easier things that I could do, but it would've been even easier had everyone not been bickering with each other. I tried tracing the little, subtle vibrations all the way back to its origin point, managing to do so within a few moments.
After successfully locating the vibrations, I stood back up strongly, only to be overshadowed by everyone. I looked up and started shouting out to them, only to be silenced by a gigantic indigo colored hoof crashing down into the ground from which I was originally standing. I had managed to jump out of the way at the last second and immediately looked up to scold the owner of the hoof that almost killed me, though couldn't find the strength to do so since the owner of that hoof was Princess Luna. One does not scold a Princess; it's simply inhumane.
I located Rarity and managed to get her attention, seeing how she was the only pony who was actually looking down on the ground, making sure I was fine up from above. She saw me waving at her and gently picked me up using her magic. Placing me on her back, I thanked her for saving me and kindly asked if she could get everybody's attention, doing just that and slowly getting the group to silence itself.
"Thank you again, Rarity." I smiled, finally able to think clearly for once.
"No problem, darling!" Rarity replied, hurting my eardrums by accident.
"What's the matter, Robert?" Princess Cadance asked me.
"My honing abilities have discovered some movement up ahead down that hallway." I told everyone as I pointed to the hallway the vibrations came from.
"Do you think Princess Celestia could be down that hall?" Twilight asked.
"Beats me," I answered, "but that is a very good possibility."
"Let's check it out then." Pinkie Pie said happily.
"Lead the way, Robert." Princess Cadance said.
"I'd love to, Princess," I responded, "but I think this will go a lot quicker if I traveled with one of you."
"Allow me," Princess Luna inserted, wrapping her magic aura around my body and bringing me up to her back.
"Thank you, Princess Luna." I told her.
"Careful, Luna," I heard Lunar say. Something tells me that he doesn't fully trust me yet.
"You're quite welcome, Robert, and I will, Lunar," Luna responded, turning to face me, "now hang on tight and tell me exactly where to go."
With that said, Luna quickly rushed down the hallway I pointed towards earlier. Upon reaching the end of that hallway, I told Luna to take a right turn and head down this new hallway. She followed my orders, which, on a side note, was a pretty cool thing in my mind. As we rushed down the new hallway, my ears began twitching violently, picking up the sudden sound coming from near the position I triangulated earlier.
"Whatever is nearby," I started, "they're making a whole lot of noise."
"What do you mean?" A tired Twilight asked.
"They're close by." I replied.
As we neared the end of the new hallway, my ears twitched towards the left side a bit, which was odd since the only thing on the left side of us was a doorway. On our right was a completely segregated hallway that kept on going into the never ending darkness. My ears violently twitched towards the door and I concluded that whatever was making the sound was just beyond this doorway.
"They're just beyond this door." I told Luna.
"Well then," Luna responded, "we meet our troublemaker then."
Luna grabbed a hold of the large, metal doorway with her magic and swung it open. He room inside was completely dark. I hopped off Luna's back and began triangulating the exact position of the being here in this room. It seemed to be a very large room, but I was able to navigate through the room and, once I managed to triangulate the origin of the vibrations, I'd started confronting them, regardless of size difference.
"Over here, everypony!" I shouted.
"Oh, dear me..." Cadance quietly spoke.
"Sister," Luna started, rushing over to greet her sister, barely missing me in the process, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine, my sister," Celestia responded, "simply fine."
"That's great news, my dear sister." Luna responded.
"Where are we?" Celestia quickly asked.
"From the looks of it," Twilight started, "we're in the dungeons underneath Canterlot."
"Is everypony unharmed?" Celestia questioned, concerned about the health of everyone else.
"We're all fine, for the most part." Cadance answered.
"What's wrong?" Celestia responded.
"Umm...I'm wrong, Your Highness." I answered, glancing up at the gigantic alicorn herself. She was already taller than everybody in the room, but now she looked as if she could easily dispose of me without even trying.
"What happened, Robert?" Celestia asked, bending down in order to get closer to me. I appreciated that; it kept me from yelling.
"I shrunk in size considerably, Your Highness," I replied, "most likely the reason being King Sombra and his dark magic."
"I believe that Robert absorbed the majority of King Sombra's dark magic, resulting in his smaller stature." Twilight added.
"With all due respect, Princess Celestia," I continued, "can you please help me out?"
"I may be able to help you out, Robert," Celestia responded, "but since King Sombra's magic did this to you, my magic might not have any effect on you for quite a while."
"I'll take any chance I can get, Your Highness," I told her, "just please help me out..."
"Fine," Celestia agreed, "hold still."
I did my best to stay perfectly still, feeling Princess Celestia's magic begin to wrap itself around me and attempt to do something to my body. I had forced my eyes shut, only to open them back upon hearing an extremely loud sound reminiscent of a cork bottle popping after I felt something go a tad bit wrong. Looking up, I saw that Princess Celestia had literally been thrown across the room, slamming against a hard, unforgiving metal wall. The ponies in the room rushed over to check on Princess Celestia, which made sense because she was in a higher position above me on the social totem poll. Once Princess Celestia could stand under her own power again, the ponies then came closer to me to see how I was doing.
"Are you okay, Robert?" Princess Luna asked me.
"Are you hurt?" Princess Celestia added.
"I'm fine..." I meekly replied.
I looked around a bit and noticed that everyone was still taller than I was. I was a bit disappointed that the Princess' magic failed to fix me and change me back to normal.
"I see that the magic failed..." I confidently said.
"I'm sorry, Robert." Celestia told me.
"Don't be, Your Highness," I happily replied, "after all, you did say that there was a possibility that this would not work. I didn't really get my hopes up that high after you said that."
It did hurt me a bit to know that I'll still have to keep my guard up sky high when it comes to being near these ponies that can easily crush me. However, Rarity did levitate me up onto her back for my safety.
"I'd feel better if you were kept in safe hooves, Robert." Rarity exclaimed.
"Thank you, Rarity." I thanked.
Rarity smiled as she brought her head closer towards the top of mine. I wasn't too sure what she was doing, though I soon found out after Rarity had puckered up her lips and gave me a kiss.
That caught me way off my guard. I'm sure if Spike were here, he'd be really jealous of me at this moment. Based off of his actions earlier, I could tell that he really liked Rarity – liked like. Either way, I enjoyed that kiss, even if it came from a fictional character in a fictional world.
"How do we find a way out?" Applejack asked.
"Just leave that to us." Twilight answered, pointing towards Princess Cadance in the process.
"Just like old times, wouldn't you say, Twilight?" smiled Princess Cadance.
"Just like old times." agreed Twilight.
If anyone knew the way out of these dungeons, it was the two of them. After all, both of them had been trapped here back in Season 2's two-part finale while Queen Chrysalis wreaked havoc within Canterlot playing the role of Princess Cadance.
Twilight and Cadance led the lot of us through the dark and mysterious dungeons, finally reaching the outside world in almost no time at all. Once we had arrived outside, however, we were treated to a fairly unwelcoming sight.
All around Canterlot, dark gemstones, reminiscent of those back in the Crystal Empire when Sombra tried taking over again, had lined up everywhere and popped out of the ground.
"King Sombra is attacking Canterlot!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Thanks, Captain Obvious... I harshly resided.
"We must get back towards the Canterlot Castle in order to defeat him." Celestia told us.
Upon hearing that, we had all rushed over towards the castle as quickly as our hooves could carry us. Rarity made sure to be extra gentle with me, making sure I didn't slip off or get left behind. Sure we may have been the last ones to reach the Canterlot Castle, but it was vital that I was here. I may be tiny now, but that doesn't mean I still can't use my Element of Harmony. For all we know, my Element of Happiness could be the key to defeating King Sombra while using the other Elements of Harmony.
"We best attack now!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Hold on there, Rainbow!" I responded, getting Rainbow Dash to stop dead in her tracks.
"What!?" She shot back.
"That's what King Sombra wants us to do." I told her. "Trust me, villains all work the same way."
"Explain yourself, Robert!" Demanded Luna, her voice pounding my eardrums, causing me to tend to them a bit before replying to her.
"Well," I slowly started, "if I can recall upon every hero-versus-villain scenario I've seen in my life, every time the hero attacks shortly after being attacked and/or overthrown by the villain, the hero usually ends up losing once more. Back home, there was a superhero that went by the name of Batman who had a formidable opponent and arch-rival who went by the name of The Joker. The Joker had threatened and beaten Batman at his own game, causing Batman to take on The Joker face-to-face. Batman lost that fight so he had to change his approach a bit and, although that took a long time, he was able to defeat The Joker the only time he needed to beat him."
"What are you saying, Robert?" Lunar asked me, somewhat being skeptical of what I just said.
"Yeah," added Rainbow Dash, "what are you getting at exactly?"
"What I am 'getting at,' Rainbow Dash," I continued, "is that we need to plan this onslaught out carefully if we wish to overthrow Sombra from Canterlot. Do you get what I am saying now?"
"I guess so..." Rainbow Dash softly replied.
"But how do we go about beating King Sombra, Robert?" Twilight asked. "Last time, the Crystal Heart defeated him and, judging by the dark crystals around s, we don't have enough time to get it from the Crystal Empire."
"Nor would that even leave the Empire, Twilight." added Lunar.
"Leave that to me." I assured Twilight.
I immediately began plotting a way to overthrow that horrid King Sombra. It only took me a couple of minutes to fully derive a plan and, once I did, I shared it with the others.
"Okay," I began, "do I have everypony's attention?"
"You may certainly proceed, Robert." Celestia told me.
"Good," I continued, "now, in order to beat King Sombra, this is what we're going to have to do. Since there is only one way of entering and exiting the throne room without flying, I'll need both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to fly up to two opposite windows and hold down King Sombra with your magic. After that, the rest of us will charge into the throne room and, while King Sombra is still dazed and confused, we'll use our Elements to defeat King Sombra. If, however, King Sombra reverts his attention back towards us, which is a high possibility, Princess Cadance and Prince Lunar here will use their magic to fully stop King Sombra in his tracks. If this all plays out as well as it's supposed to, we'll successfully be able to overthrow King Sombra and reinstate Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as the true rulers of Canterlot. Sound good to everypony?"
"It sounds good, Robert." Twilight praised me, closely followed by appraisal coming from everyone.
"Then let's overthrow ourselves a King." I confidently spoke.
With that being said, Celestia and Luna quickly and instinctively flew up to two opposite windows of the throne room, making sure to go undetected, while the rest of us charged our way towards the throne room. It didn't take long to get near the throne room, but it was tiring. There are a lot of stairs that lead to the room, you know.
Once we were outside the throne room, I gave a quick nod to Celestia and Luna outside the windows as the rest of us blasted through the large, double-wide doors.
"Alright, King Sombra," I shouted, watching Princess Celestia and Princess Luna fly into the throne room, "your reign of terror has..."
I was stopped short by some surprises that I was definitely not expecting.
"No..." I quietly said. "It. Can't be..."
"Surprise!" A familiar foe shouted.
"But...but why?" I asked.
"Why are you here?" demanded Celestia.
"Hahaha," King Sombra laughed, "this is truly a sight to see, isn't it Discord?"
"Oh, it truly is an amazing sight, Sombra." Discord replied.
"Why are you doing this, Discord?" A quiet Fluttershy asked.
"What about the magic of friendship?" I added, reminding Discord of his reformed days.
Discord flew over towards me and glanced heavily at me. He seemed to be a bit intrigued about my small size and appeared to toy with me a bit, though I couldn't really confirm that entirely.
"And who exactly are you?" Discord asked me.
"That's none of your business, you abominable freak!" I shouted in reply.
"Oh, I'm the freak, am I?" Discord answered, hovering his cloven hoof over my body in the air, sending it crashing down into the ground that once supported my weight as I jumped out of the way.
"Yes you are!" I told him.
"Have you looked in the mirror lately?" snapped Discord.
"Enough!" Celestia yelled out, trying to calm the tensions between Discord and myself.
"Come here, Robert," Rarity called, though it was more of an order, seeing how I was being forcefully brought over towards her and placed on her back.
"Thank you, Rarity," I said, "it would have turned a bit ugly had we been left alone..."
"And that's why we're here, darling," responded Rarity.
Rarity kissed me on my head once more as we paid our attention towards the two horrible villains that were presently in our presence. Celestia and Luna had approached both King Sombra and Discord respectively and began conversing with them. It sounded like negotiations at first, but after I put two and two together, I noticed that both Princesses were threatening the two villains to leave peacefully if they didn't want anything to happen to them.
"Hahaha!" laughed Discord and King Sombra.
"You really don't understand how villains work, do you, Celestia?" Discord asked through his horrid laughing.
"Why on earth would we simply give up like that!?" Sombra added.
"Unless you both want to deal with the Elements of Harmony..." Celestia started.
"...you'd better kindly surrender now!" finished Luna.
Discord snapped his fingers as Celestia and Luna threatened the two dastardly villains. Nobody seemed to notice this besides me, however, when I tried bringing it to everyone's attention, I noticed we had bigger problems to cope with at the moment. Discord's magic somehow transported the Elements away from all seven of us!
How can this be? I thought. I thought the Elements had a protection spell protecting them from something like this! How can they be gone!?
I tugged at Rarity's mane gently in order to grab her attention. Once she turned her head so that she was now facing me, I began to alert her that the Elements were transported away by Discord.
"That's preposterous, Robert," Rarity denied, "see?"
She pointed to her chest, only to find out that her Element was no longer attached to her neck. We glanced over towards everyone else and noticed that nobody had their Elements either.
"Twilight!" I called, fortunately getting her attention.
"What's the matter, Robert?" Twilight asked.
"Twilight, dear," started Rarity, "our Elements, they're gone!"
Twilight began touching the top of her head with her hoof, trying to feel her crown that was no longer present. Once she concluded that her crown was no longer perched on top of her head, she glanced over at everyone else and noticed that everyone's Elements was gone. Angry, Twilight glared at Discord and demanded that he bring back the Elements immediately.
"Come now, Twilight," Discord replied, "if you want your precious Elements so badly, all you need to do is solve this riddle!"
"What riddle?" Twilight impatiently asked.
"Again?" Lunar added quietly.
"You'll find your precious Elements once you solve this one rhyme," Discord laughed, "where does boiling and freezing at the same time!?"
"You'd better tell us where the Elements are, buddy!" Rainbow Dash snapped. "I mean it!"
"Oh come now, Rainbow Dash," Discord replied, "that's no fun."
"You'll never find your precious Elements of Harmony now!" King Sombra shouted as he used his dark magic to throw us all out of the throne room.
We had all hit the ground hard after King Sombra threw us out of the throne room. I had managed to stay atop Rarity's back the entire time, though when she landed on her back as we were tossed. I saw my life flash before my eyes when Rarity came crashing down on top of me. I could've sworn that Rarity would've crushed me to death there, but I guess I was spared there. Still, it was a pretty alarming site.
Everyone stood back atop their hooves as we began to think about Discord's riddle as to the whereabouts of the Elements of Harmony. Something about this riddle seemed oddly familiar to me, like I've heard it somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where or when I heard it before.
Where does boiling and freezing at the same time. Rang Discord's words in my head.
"What could that mean?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Boiling and freezing," I said quiet enough so that nobody could hear me, "boiling and freezing..."
"Perhaps it's," Lunar said, slowly drifting off, "no, that can't be right...""
I've heard that terminology before, I thought, but where...
"Ah don't know, y'all," admitted Applejack.
"Yeah," inserted Rainbow Dash, "c'mon Twilight. You gotta know this. You're like super smart."
"I honestly am just as stumped as you are, Rainbow," Twilight said.
"That is a very peculiar riddle, everypony." Luna sympathized.
Boiling and freezing... I repeated in my head, boiling and freezing...
"Could it mean that there's an ice cream truck on fire somewhere?" Pinkie asked, bouncing all over the place.
"I don think so, Pinkie," Twilight answered.
Boiling and freezing...
That's when it came to me. I've heard this same riddle before on an old cartoon. The answer to this riddle was so obvious! How could I not remember this earlier?
"I know it!" I shouted out, making myself the center of attention.
"What does it mean then, Robert?" Twilight asked me.
"Boiling and freezing is code for a specific location!" I replied.
"What do you mean?" Asked Princess Cadance.
"The freezing point of water is zero degrees Celsius while the boiling point it two hundred and twelve degrees Celsius." I explained. "So all we have to do us search the areas that have a coordinate plane of 212° East or West across the longitudinal plane and 0° on the latitudinal plane on any coordinates-orientated map! We locate these areas, we locate our Elements of Harmony!"
"Robert," Twilight replied, "you're a genius!"
"We need to hurry!" I warned. "We're running out of time to overthrow those villains! Come on, everyone! The quicker we grab the Elements, the quicker we can defeat those two villains in there!"
"Just one question, Robert." Rainbow Dash spoke.
"Sure," I replied, "what's up?"
"Well," continued Rainbow Dash, "it's more of a question Twilight has."
"Alrighty then," I said, turning towards Twilight, "what's your question, Princess?"
"Hey," Twilight explained, "watch yourself!"
"My apologies, Twilight. It slipped out." I told her. "Now what was it that you wanted to ask?"
"Well," started Twilight, glancing heavily down at me, "you do understand that there is no such thing as a 212° East or West, right?"
"But there is such a thing as a 212° coordinate plane, Princess." I replied.
Twilight glared at me harshly. "You're pushing it, Robert," she said, pointing one of her hooves towards her stomach, "wouldn't want anything to happen to you, you know."
"Am I detecting some negative aura reminiscing from you, Twilight?" I playfully asked.
I sometimes wish I could shut my big mouth from time to time. Why, you ask? Well, for one, it gets myself in trouble, especially now. Allow me to explain: Twilight took that comment the wrong way and wrapped her magic aura around my body, bringing me up and dangling me above her head. I tried reasoning with her and apologizing as much as I could.
"I'm sorry, Twilight," I pleaded, "I'm so, so, so sorry! I'll make sure it won't happen again! Please don't hurt me..."
Twilight stared heavily at me, shutting her mouth slowly. "Fine," she finally said after some tense silence, "I'll hold you to that promise."
She then gently placed me back on the ground and bent down so the she could whisper something else to me.
"However," she remarked, "if I feel that you're breaking your promise," she pointed towards her stomach once more, "next time, I won't be so nice about it."
"You have my word, Prin...uhh, I mean, Twilight." I replied.
"Good boy." answered Twilight.
How does Spike deal with you? I thought to myself.
It's as if Twilight read my thoughts as she turned around and gave me a very intriguing smile. As I watched her smile at me, I was being wrapped once more with some magic aura, this one belonging to Rarity seeing how it was a light blue colored aura covering me. I glanced over at Rarity as she placed me on her back once more. She turned her head to face me and smiled back at me.
"I don't know if I should be scared of Twilight or not." I whispered to her.
"Now, darling," Rarity quietly replied, "Twilight's just having some fun, seeing how cute you are, all small and tiny."
"I don't know, Rarity." I meekly answered. "After all, she was nearly close to eating me just there."
"I'm certain she wouldn't have eaten you." Rarity assured.
As Twilight walked out of the room with Lunar closely following behind her, leaving just Rarity and myself, I began questioning that logic.
"How certain are you of that, Rarity?" I asked.
"Fairly certain, darling," answered Rarity.
"I wish I could believe you, dear..." I said, unaware of how exactly I finished that statement.
"Pardon," Rarity quickly asked, "did you just call me 'dear,' darling?"
"I guess I did," I replied, "sorry if I overextended my word play."
"It's quite alright, Robert," Rarity said, "I actually like it. The way you said it with such sophistication and so professional like, it really was interesting and appreciative."
"Well," I chuckled, "there's more where that came from, dear."
I walked up to Rarity's face and gave her a kiss on her cheek. Heck, it might have been all that I could see, but I clearly saw her blush a nice, magnificent magenta color.
"Oh, Robert," Rarity quietly said so that she wouldn't hurt my ears, "how unexpected."
"Too much, Rarity?" I asked without hesitation.
"Perhaps," she replied, "but I do very much enjoy it, darling."
"Well, like I said," I continued, "there's more where that came from."
With that said, I once again gave Rarity a kiss on her cheek, which she seemed to enjoy, topped off with her giggling a bit.
"Oh, Robert, darling," Rarity said, "you do know how to treat and respect a lady with glamor and perfection."
She then turned her head towards where I was and lightly kissed me on top of my head. I felt my cheeks blushing into a pale pink color as Rarity smooched the top of my head. Thankfully, she didn't manage to see my blush.
Spike, I thought to myself, you surely would be jealous of me.
Suddenly, the door to the throne room opened wide up and out came Discord and King Sombra. Rarity had turned her attention over from me towards the two villains as she began shuffling backwards. The sudden appearance of them both startled us both, almost causing me to fall off of Rarity as she jerked back around to face the door. The two dastardly villains noticed us and slowly began approaching us.
"Well, well, well," began Discord, "look who we have here, Sombra!"
"A couple of stragglers left in our midst." Sombra replied.
"So it seems," smiled Discord, staring directly at us both.
I grew nervous, but managed to overcome my nerves for the short term. Standing up on Rarity's back, I approached her ear, whispering into it.
"Run, dear..." I whispered into Rarity's ear, hoping that she wasn't nervous enough to make a break for it and run after Twilight and the others.
She heeded to my advice, immediately turning straight around and attempted running away. Unfortunately, and I don't know how this slipped my vision, King Sombra was standing right behind us and began shunting us back into the throne room. With the heavy doors slamming shut behind us, Discord dragged us over towards the throne he had claimed as his own and began grounding us while Sombra held us down with his magic.
"Now," Discord said as he chained down Rarity, "we'll never be defeated!"
"The Elements of Harmony won't work without all of you!" Sombra added. "Not that you would've found them anyway."
Discord then spotted me as I tried hiding myself inside Rarity's mane. Rarity noticed this and tried to motion her mane so that I could attempt to escape from Discord, however, he grabbed me with his horrible, dreadfully piercing claw.
"Now, what do we have here?" Discord said, dangling me in front of his face.
"Put. Me. Down!" I demanded.
"Now why would I do that?" Discord added.
"Put that pest in this." Sombra requested, magically spawning a little jar to put me in.
"Excellent idea, Sombra!" praised Discord, dropping me into the jar and slamming the lid shut.
"Robert, darling!" Rarity cried.
I got back up, only to stumble down as the jar I was in had been slammed down on a table located next to Rarity.
"Robert, darling," Rarity asked, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine, dear," I replied, "how about you?"
"Simply fine, darling," answered Rarity, "though I wish these shackles were taken off of me."
"Can't you use your magic?" I asked.
Rarity motioned her head so that her mane would move out of the way so that I could see her horn, which was being covered by this unusual dark pebble.
"Whatever this is," Rarity told me, "it's forbidding me to use my magic..."
"And that's a great way to keep you two here!" shouted Sombra.
"And when the Elements of Harmony return with Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and that pesky Lunar," added Discord, "we'll finally get rid of them all!"
No... I thought.
I looked over towards Rarity, who had a look of disbelief attached to her face. Looking back at Discord and King Sombra, I vowed to myself that they would pay for what they have done.
I had paced around inside this small jar for what seemed like hours. Outside, the sun had set a long time ago, so now it was as dark as it was when we were inside the Everfree Forest searching for the Element of Happiness.
Haven't these guys ever heard of a candle? I thought to myself.
I glanced over towards Rarity, who had collapsed on the ground due to exhaustion. She had fallen asleep for the night – this eerily lengthy night – as did Discord and King Sombra, leaving me as the only pony who had still been wide awake. Come to think of it, I haven't seen or even heard from King Sombra or even Discord in a long time.
Ugh, Discord...how could he betray the ponies of Equestria..twice no less!?
I was pacing around to search for a way out of this jar I was in. I looked up and noticed a tightly screwed in cork, making an escape from the top futile. However, when I looked down towards the bottom of the jar, I noticed that the jar wasn't fully placed on the table I was on.
I began deriving a plan almost instantaneously afterwards. Hmm...if I could somehow tip over this jar, maybe the impact will be strong enough to shatter this jar and free me.
I took a long look around the room and noticed that Rarity and myself were the only ponies inside this room, making now the perfect time to escape from the clutches of the two evil villains. I backed up all the way to one side of the jar then, taking a deep breath, charged towards the opposite side with all my might, crashing into it and making the jar tilt a bit, but not tip over. I had backed up all the way once more, and proceeded to pull the same action as before.
As I crashed into the side of the jar, I began to feel it tip over. I tried attaining some sort of grip on the side of the jar, but couldn't do so, sending me spiraling out of control as the jar was sent crashing down to the ground. My head was near the ground when the jar started to shatter but, fortunately for me, the shattered glass scattered elsewhere around the room and away from my head.
I shook off the motion sickness fairly easily and located Rarity, whose elegant body was lying on top of the chains that were keeping her grounded and motionless. The chains looked a bit rusted compared to when they originally were attached to Rarity, so I decided to focus on them right now.
I tried removing the chains from under Rarity myself, but seeing how small I was and how heavy Rarity was compared to my current state, that did not go well. Seeing how that failed, I positioned myself face-to-face with the slumbering Rarity and rubbed myself against her cheek as gently as possible so that she wouldn't be too startled, should she have woken up.
My horn had begun scratching Rarity's elegant, white colored fur as I began my attempts to wake the lovely Element of Generosity up from her lovely looking slumber. Even with chains attached to her body, Rarity still made that look so incredible.
Getting back on track here, after a while, Rarity had begun waking up. Startled and annoyed, she quickly glanced over towards the other side of the room, noticing that it was completely empty.
"Robert, darling," Rarity quietly started, "how on earth did you escape your jar?"
"I'll explain later," I replied, "but now we need to escape here."
"How do you suppose we'll escape?" questioned Rarity.
"Well, for one," I said, "I'll need you to stand up fully while I attempt to uncouple these raggedy, old chains."
"Fine," agreed Rarity, "just please be careful, dear. I don't want to hurt you, you know."
"I'll be extremely careful, dear," I answered in reply as I started uncoupling Rarity's gigantic chains.
It wasn't hard really, seeing how my hooves were smaller than the keyhole to each ankle bracelet. All I did was stick my hoof inside each keyhole and shuffle it about for a few moments. Since I picked tons of locks back home – something that I'm not entirely proud of, by the way – I knew exactly what I was looking for and immediately managed to pick each lock, successfully unlocking each ankle bracelet and freeing Rarity from her chained imprisonment. The last thing I needed to work on was getting off the pebbles that had attached themselves to Rarity's horn.
"Could you crouch down, Rarity, so that I can remove the pebbles from your horn?" I politely asked.
"Sure thing, dear," answered Rarity, "watch out."
Rarity crouched her entire body down onto the ground slowly, making sure she wouldn't crush me in the process. She touched base with the ground so smoothly, I didn't even hear the roar I usually hear when anything moves and touches the ground. She lowered her head so that I may examine the black pebbles a bit further.
"Okay," I started, "I'm going to try something right now. If it begins to hurt you, please tell me to stop."
"Sure thing, darling," replied Rarity, allowing me to climb onto her horn.
What I had planned in mind was to use my horn to scrape off the black pebbles from Rarity's horn. If it worked, then perhaps Rarity's magic abilities wouldn't be disturbed anymore.
I had started grinding my horn onto Rarity's horn, plucking off some of the weaker pebbles. I had scraped off the weaker pebbles first, then focused on those pebbles that were a bit harder to clear away.
"Does it hurt, dear?" I asked.
"Not at all, sweetie," answered Rarity.
I like the sound of that, I thought after hearing that answer, sweetie.
A few moments more had passed by before I scraped off the last of the black pebbles from Rarity's horn. After jumping off, I turned and faced Rarity, telling her that she should be able to perform magic now without any kind of disturbance.
"Let's see, sweetie," said Rarity, focusing her magic on me.
I began to feel a sort of warm sensation as I began to get wrapped up in some light blue aura. I jumped to the conclusion that Rarity was able to use her magic once more, but didn't say anything until I had been released by the magic. The magic aura brought me from where I was on the ground, looking up at the beautiful, giant unicorn, up to Rarity's back, where she had gently placed me on top of. There, Rarity turned her head around and gave me a little kiss on top of my head.
"Thank you so much, sweetie, for helping me out so much!" She told me.
"No need to thank me," I replied, blushing again from Rarity's adorable kiss, "let's just focus on escaping from here first before anything else happens."
With that said, Rarity had began rushing out of the deserted throne room with me notched upon her back. We had escaped the throne room with ease, though it was escaping the castle that would prove to be a challenge seeing how this place was oozing guards all over the place.
"We need to make sure we escape undetected, dear," I whispered.
"Exactly what I was thinking, Robert." Rarity replied as we began traveling down a flight of stairs.
Rarity quietly climbed down the long flight of stairs until we had finally reached level ground again. Once that happened, I quietly called out to Rarity in order to get her attention.
"What's the matter, Robert, darling?" Rarity whispered, coming to a halt where we were.
"Wait here," I told Rarity, jumping off her back for a quick second, "let me make sure the coast is clear."
"Sure thing," answered Rarity, "just please be careful, sweetie."
I gave a flirtatious nod back at Rarity, then turned the corner and positioned myself so that I could detect anything coming from anywhere else in these hallways. My body hugged the ground while my ear touched base with it and, after a few tense minutes, I was able to confirm that we were alone for the time being.
I came back to Rarity and told her that we could proceed down the next few halls, seeing how there was not a single trace of anybody down any nearby halls. Rarity nodded, then slowly and quietly began following me. I had to sprint while Rarity maintained pace with me utilizing an extremely slow pace. For every dozen steps I took, Rarity probably only took one or two, that just goes to show you how different in size we are.
I came to a sudden halt as I started hearing something from a hallway further down from where we were. I felt Rarity's hoof touch my rear side, which honestly scared me more than getting caught. In fact, that probably frightened her more than it did me, seeing how she jumped back and immediately started asking me if I was hurt or unharmed. She felt so bad that she almost crushed me, but we had bigger problems at the moment. I let the near miss slide for now – though I would've let it slide, period – while I hugged the ground once more and placed an ear on the ground.
"Someone's down that hallway." I told Rarity, pointing towards a nearby entrance to the castle.
"But that's our way out..." replied Rarity.
"Wait..." I said, "they're coming closer..."
"We need to hide." Rarity exclaimed.
Instinctively, I stood up and hugged Rarity's hoof. I wasn't scared or anything. Honestly, I was more scared of being around gigantic ponies that could easily crush and kill me. However, when I hugged Rarity's hoof I felt an odd sensation; a magical sensation, if you will. I don't understand why I felt it hugging Rarity's hoof and not while I was on her back, but the sensation was making my horn glow my emerald colored aura once more. I tightly gripped Rarity's hoof, and after that, I felt nothing.
I had my eyes shut the entire time I hugged her hoof, so when I opened my eyes to see where she was, to my surprise, she was no longer there, though her voice was as close to me as it was prior to these unpredictable events.
"Robert, darling," she asked me from an undetermined location, "where are you sweetie?"
"Rarity?" I spoke at the same time. "Where are you?"
"Why, I'm still in the same spot as before, dear," answered Rarity.
"As am I, sweetie," I responded.
"So what happened, then?" asked Rarity.
"I don't-"
I was cut off as I heard a door to the castle open up. I heard the door creak and creep open, followed by eight feminine voices and one masculine voice. I assumed that they were Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Celestia, and everyone else, but I wasn't too sure since I still had no visual of them all.
As I gazed over towards the doorway, I saw two constantly moving shadows. The two shadows were taller than everyone else in the group and the part that was moving appeared as if it belonged to someone's head.
"I think it's Twilight and the others, Rarity." I said.
"Let's make sure that it is them first, Robert." replied Rarity.
"Right." I answered, paying more attention over towards the open doorway.
The shadows that were originally standing inside the doorway had finally begun moving and started proceeding further into the castle. As I got a closer look at the group, I confirmed that they were simply only Twilight accompanied by everyone else.
I had lifted my tight grip from Rarity and proceeded towards everyone else. What I didn't know was that once I had let go of Rarity, both myself and herself had reappeared fully in front of our eyes.
"What was that?" I asked myself out loud.
"Were we invisible?" questioned Rarity.
How is that possible? I thought to myself. I can't perform any kind of magic whatsoever...
"That was indeed intriguing, Robert, darling." Rarity finished.
"You can say that again." I added.
Twilight and the others heard us conversing with each other and came over to greet us right away. The way Twilight greeted us, it was as if she hadn't seen us in years. She hugged us both tightly, which to me felt like she wanted to squeeze me to death, and then saw the confused looks in our faces.
"Lighten up, Twilight," I said, "we've been here for only a few hours."
"Few hours?" Twilight repeated.
"Why, yes, Twilight," Rarity assured, "we've been trapped in the throne room for-"
"For a few years." interrupted Lunar.
"Few years?" I immediately responded.
"Yes," assured Twilight.
"How can that be?" Rarity asked as she turned her attention towards me.
"Why, we were kept inside the throne room for mere hours." I told Twilight. "I remember that you and the others went in search for the Elements of Harmony that Discord hid accompanied by Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, and Prince Lunar."
"That happened about two years ago, Robert." Twilight meekly replied, crouching down to talk to me face-to-face.
"How could that have been a few years?" I questioned. "I was awake the entire time...at least I think I was."
"Robert," Celestia calmly started.
"Nopony has seen or even heard from either you or Rarity in two years." Luna added.
"You've both been gone during that time and we never found you." Cadance spoke.
"But if we've been here for that amount of time," I retorted, "how come nobody thought to search for us?"
Silence trickled down after as nobody dared respond to my question.
"How come nobody searched for us for two years if you knew where we were?" I demanded.
I actually was fuming right now. However, I figured that since I'm still much smaller in size compared to everyone else, I'd better not lose my cool, or else I'd be the one who would pay for their actions.
"Twilight," Rarity called while using her magic to place me on her back.
Twilight stood back up as I was placed down on top of Rarity's back. I guess Rarity knew the circumstances of my fuming mood and knew just what could happen if someone took it the wrong way, so she made it a mission to provide me with safety. Twilight looked away while I was placed upon Rarity's back.
"Discord and King Sombra are the ones who rule Equestria now." Twilight regretfully spoke.
My jaw dropped as that sentence penetrated and violated my ears. Honestly, loud sounds could hurt me, but this just killed me. What happened to the two of us? How was it that we were gone for that long of time? What did those monsters do to Rarity and myself?
"Say it ain't so, Twilight," I sighed ruefully.
"I'm afraid it is, Robert." Twilight answered.
"How is that possible?" I asked Rarity.
"What exactly happened on the day we formerly disappeared?" Rarity asked Twilight, though she was looking at me and wrapping her head around my body.
I swear I felt a tear come down the side of Rarity's face as she wrapped her head around me. I knew how hard this was for both of us to take in, especially her. Because the two of us went missing for the last three years, Equestria was left without one of its most powerful means of defense. It hurt me pretty badly to know that, because of our absence, Equestria fell to the likes of Discord and King Sombra.
"Well," began Twilight, "after we left the throne room, we immediately rushed toward the location you gave us, 212° and 0° according to the you."
"Once we arrived," Pinkie Pie continued, "we found the Elements of Harmony hanging from an oddly planted tree."
"It was then when we finally figured out that neither one of you had followed us there." Rainbow Dash said.
"After we rounded up the Elements," Applejack spoke, "we rushed straight back here to find y'all."
"But...umm," Fluttershy quietly added, "what we...umm...found was..."
"What we found was that Discord and King Sombra had taken over and had you two as hostages." Celestia told us.
"The two threatened to end you both if we ever tried to break you out of the prison they had you in." Cadance added.
"We ultimately were forced to surrender, seeing how not a single one of us had the power to defeat either villain, let alone both of them." Luna said.
"After that, Discord and King Sombra forcefully removed us all from the throne room and assumed control of Equestria and...and it just hasn't been the same since then..." finished Lunar.
"And to think," I softly spoke to Rarity, "none of this wouldn't have happened if we had followed Twilight and the others out of the door to find our precious Elements."
"Oh, Robert, dear," Rarity replied, "don't be so hard on yourself."
I felt Rarity's head turn a bit. I'm assuming that she turned her head to face Twilight.
"I'm certain that there is a way to bring them down, if you will." Rarity stated.
"We've already tried that, Rare," Applejack answered.
"But that was without our presence," I butted in, "perhaps if we were there to help, things might've ended a bit differently."
"Do you have any idea how hard it was to bust out of the prison Dipwad and King Stupid put us in?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"Nothing can defeat us when we are all together." I protested.
That last statement made everybody think. I mean, really, really think. It was like I asked one of those life questions that everybody had to think about to get an answer to.
"Separate," I picked up after some tense silence, "we are all very different from each other, are we not?"
I saw everybody glance around towards each other, including the three princesses, though my statement was meant more towards the mane six, plus myself and, indirectly, Lunar, even if I still didn't have his full trust.
"Rainbow Dash is greatly athletic," I spoke, "whereas Rarity, here, is a unique fashionista. Applejack is a cowgirl herself, whereas Fluttershy is a timid Pegasus with many animal friends. Twilight here is an outgoing librarian and, now, a Princess, taking everything seriously with high sophistication and high needs, whereas Pinkie Pie is an outgoing pony, partying all night and day, while still finding energy to help out others. And you, Lunar. I don't really know much about you, but I do know that you bring constant happiness to Twilight here." I paused for a brief moment to collect my breath. "As for myself, I don't fit in here. My special talent is a talent that this world has yet to discover, at least that's what I believe. I am just as different as all of you, yet deep down, we are all the same, having the same problems and being brought closer together. Deep down, we all may be drastically different, but we are all friends and, more importantly, we are all ponies - mares and, in my case and Lunar's case, colts. We all may not have a lot in common, but we all do bring out the best in each other, which is what makes us all great friends. It doesn't matter if we all had nothing in common or everything in common. What matters is that we are all great friends that have adventures, together, while bringing out the best in us, together, and while overcoming every obstacle, together, no matter what is thrown in our direction."
That was a truly deep statement I said. I began feeling a tear escape from my eye, so I quickly wiped it away with my hoof, hoping that nobody saw me tear up a bit. What I said, what everyone heard, was the honest and generous truth. We are all loyal towards each other, sharing plenty of laughs along the way, but deep down, we are all kind spirits; our friendship, truly magical. Together, we made ourselves truly happy and together, up until now, we have been able to overcome all obstacles that were thrown at us. Now, in a really tense time, the friendships we've all crafted need us now more than ever because it is within the friendships that we have that will change the world for the better. I took one last breath and finally finished my long, inspirational speech.
I think I'm starting to sound exactly like Twilight, aren't I?
"Together, we've been able to overcome all challenges thrown at us." I continued. "This is no different. Our friendships need us now more than ever and it is within out friendships that we will find the strength to defeat Discord and King Sombra. What do you say?"
I held out my tiny hoof, hoping everybody would join me. After giving each other quick glances, everyone started joining me in unison, touching my tiny hoof in the process.
"He's right," Twilight agreed, "it is because of the friendships that we have crafted that we have been able to overcome all challenges thrown in our way. This challenge is no different than any other challenge given to us."
"Right," Celestia added, "now it's up to the friendships each of you have created and shaped up to bring down one of the most greatest threats Equestria has ever witnessed. It is up to you to bring order, peace, tranquility, and harmony back to Equestria. Are you up to the task?"
"We are, Princess," everyone stated.
"Good," Celestia continued, "now let us go and bring down Discord and King Sombra, together, using the Elements of Harmony and the magic of friendship."
With that said, Twilight led the group out of the castle we had been trapped in for a while, leading us straight towards the new castle that Discord and King Sombra called home.