NOTE: Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long. I've been pretty busy with other things. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 3: A Tornado Strikes and a New Place
Later that afternoon, Twilight and Spike were on the open road to nowhere in particular. Above their heads, dark clouds began to gather, indicating an approaching storm. Twilight was carrying a brown suit case and an indigo backpack, filled with her personal belongings. The girl and the puppy crossed over a rainbow bridge and noticed a traveling wagon was parked near the bank of the small stream.
Twilight approached the wagon and saw the logo on it spelled: "Professor Discord, acclaimed by the Crowned Heads of Manehattan". As the two runaways got closer to the wagon, a middle-aged man exited the wagon to roast some wieners. The man was named Professor Discord. He wore a brown sweater vest, a white shirt underneath it, black dress pants, and circular glasses. His hair was white and he had a short white beard.
"Well, well, house guests, eh?" Discord spotted Twilight and Spike as he sat down on a chair to cook a wiener over a small campfire. "And who might you be, young lady?"
"Well, I—" Twilight began before Discord interrupted.
"No wait, don't tell me. Let's see you're...you're traveling in disguise. No? You're...you're going on a visit. No, that's not right either. You're...you're running away."
"How did you guess that?"
"Professor Discord never guesses...he knows! Now, why are you running away?"
"Well, I—"
"No, no, no, don't tell me! They, uh, they don't understand you at home. They don't appreciate you. You wanna see other lands, big cities, big mountains, and big oceans!"
"Why, it's just like you could read what was inside of me."
"Well, it's my calling card. See what it says on the side of my conveyance?"
Spike, feeling a little hungry at the moment, grabbed and ate the wiener Discord was trying to cook over the fire.
"Spike, that's not polite! We haven't been asked yet!" Twilight scolded.
Discord simply chuckled and put another wiener on his stick. "Oh, I don't mind it. One dog to another, eh little guy? Now let's see, where were we? Oh, what exactly is wrong with your home? Isn't a great place to live?"
"No, it really is a wonderful home, but they barely even pay me attention or give a tiny little smidgen of respect. And worst of all, Christine, the county's owner, threatened to sue the farm unless Spike was destroyed. So, I decided to run away with Spike, so he'll be safe."
"...You chose your puppy over your home and family?"
"They gave me no choice. Besides, I can see the entire world this way. To see all the wonderful places that I've never heard of or even seen."
"Oh, but you don't have to leave to see the wonders of the world. In fact, you don't have to go too far from home...not too far at all. I'll show you what I mean."
Discord got up and opened up the side of his wagon and revealed a dazzling array of curios. Twilight took off her backpack and sat down in another chair. The professor grabbed a magic lantern and fed it slides as he began to sing.
[Professor Discord]
Twilight, there are other ways to see the world
So why don't you shift your gaze
To this extravagant appliance
Mainly magic, slightly scientific
With no stressful travel plans as
You don't have to move from Equestria, see?
The unabridged assembled wonders of the world
Fly the coop and cross the ocean,
Time and distance set in motion
Grab this chance to wonder yonder,
All the earth is ours to ponder
From the poles to the equator
No one could provide a greater view
There's the Nile now some don't give a
Hoot that it's the longest river
But we know in miles of course it's
Four-one-eighty sea to source
Its nature at its most prolific
Pyramids are quite terrific too
So welcome to the waiting of the wonders of the world
Sometimes we may feel something simply can't be real
Like a road beneath your feet that's paved with gold
I would be inclined to maintain an open mind
For truth is very strange if truth be told
There's the old Popocatepetl
Fillydelphia glass and metal
Everest unconquered mountain
Over five miles high and countin'
Here's the Arctic snow and polar bears
And northern lights and solar flares
A myriad exquisite wonders of the world
We don't have to take it slowly,
Here's Tibet remote and holy
Angel falls in Venezuela,
Eiffel Tower, humpback whale
A moment feeling all the thrills of
Being near the Seven Hills of Rome
Oh, so many sights to savor,
This has merely been a flavor
Maybe time for one more wonder,
Very strange, sounds like thunder
But the point that I'm conveying is
You see it all while staying home
And home is one of many wonders of the world
The unabridged assembled wonders of the world
Once Discord was finished, Twilight became intrigued with traveling the world even more.
"Oh, please, Professor Discord, couldn't we go with you and see all the Crowned Heads of Manehattan?"
"Do you know any?" Discord asked, before realizing what she meant. "Oh, you mean the thing. Yes, well, I...I never do anything without consulting my magic crystal ball first. Let me get it. Stay seated please."
Twilight remained seated, while the professor went into his wagon, and came out later with his hands behind his back. When Discord sat back in his chair, he pulled out a small, shiny crystal ball from behind his back and handed it to Twilight.
"This is the same genuine, magic, authentic crystal used by the duke and duchess of Maretonia," Discord explained. "In which Zecora first saw the approach of Princess Amore and Prince Blueblood and...and so on and so on."
"It's so beautiful" Twilight gasped with huge eyes.
Discord chuckled in response. "Yes, very beautiful. Now, you...you'd better close your eyes, my child, for a moment...in order to be better in tune with the infinite. After all, we can't do these things without reaching out into the infinite."
Without asking, Twilight closed her eyes, and Spike, for whatever reason, did the same thing. While the two visitors couldn't see, Discord peeked into Twilight's indigo backpack, and found a small portrait frame containing a picture of Twilight and her mother standing in front of their home with the house and barn in the background. After taking a good look at the picture detail by detail, he put it back into the backpack and zipped it up.
"All right, now you can open them," the professor spoke, making the teenage girl and puppy open their eyes. "We'll gaze into the crystal. Ahh...what's this I see? I see a house with a picket fence, and a barn with a weather vane of a...running horse."
"That's my farm!" Twilight gasped with amazement.
"Yes...and there's a woman," Discord continued. "She's wearing a white apron, light purple flats, and her face is almost middle-aged."
"That's my mother, Twilight Velvet" Twilight confirmed.
"Twilight Velvet...that's a pretty name."
"Yes it is. What's she doing?"
Discord peeked a little into the crystal ball. "Well, I can't quite see. Oh, she's crying. It looks like someone hurt her or just about broke her heart."
"Me?" Twilight asked with uncertainty.
"Well, by the looks of it, it's someone she loves very much," Discord answered. "Someone she's been very kind to. Someone she's taken care of in sickness."
"I had the measles once - and she stayed right by my side every minute," Twilight said, before her eyes frowned with anger. "But that's when I was little. She doesn't care about me anymore, and I don't care about her."
"That's not what the crystal ball says" Discord replied.
"Christine was going to have Spike destroyed, and my mother did nothing to stop her!" Twilight said sternly.
"Oh, I don't see any of that in the crystal ball, Discord spoke gently. "All I see is a woman who loves her daughter very much, and misses her terribly."
Twilight immediately began to feel guilty about what she just said, and everything that she said to the others earlier. Sure, her mother didn't do much when Christine wanted to put Spike down, but it was only because Velvet loved her daughter and really wanted what was best for her.
"...What's she doing now?" Twilight asked with concern.
Discord looked into the crystal ball once more, before his eyes widened. "What's this? Why, she's...she's putting her hand on her heart...and...she's dropping down on the bed!"
"Oh, no, what's happening to her?" Twilight asked in alarm.
"Uh, I can't say," Discord said defensively. "The crystal's gone dark."
"Is this happening right now?" the teenage girl asked in anxiety.
"Well, it's not happening right now," the professor responded. "The crystal only shows the future."
Twilight instantly stood up from her chair with hope in her eyes. "So, that means I might be able to prevent this? Oh, well then I've got to go home right away!"
"But, I thought you and Spike were going to travel to Manehattan with me!" Discord said in surprise.
"I'm sorry, professor, but I have to get to my mother right away," Twilight apologized quickly, before she put on her backpack and picked up Spike in her arms. "Goodbye, professor Discord, and thanks for everything!"
With that, Twilight grabbed her suitcase with her left hand, and crossed over the rainbow bridge towards her home. While this was happening, neither one of them noticed at first that the wind began to slowly blow from both the north and the south.
"Good bye, and have a safe journey!" Discord called out, until the wind speed began to increase. "I better tend to the horse. There's a storm coming, it could be a whopper. Poor child, I hope she gets home all right. Hoo-boy, I better get undercover!"
However, back at Twilight's farm, things were only getting worse. A huge tornado could be seen in the distance from the farmyard. With the wind blowing really hard, dust and tumbleweeds were blown everywhere, and the chickens and ducks scattered in different directions. Night Light ran out of the house and met with Bob in the center of the farm area.
"Bob, hurry up and get all the horses loose!" Night Light shouted to the farmhand. "Where's Flash? Flash! Flash!"
"He's probably in the barn!" Bob shouted back. "I'll go find him!"
While Bob ran into the barn, Patrick ran up to Night Light and pointed up to the sky. "It's a twister! A twister! There she blows!"
"It's heading straight for us!" Night Light nodded.
"The last time one of them struck, it tore the barn clean outta the ground and left a cow sitting on a telegraph pole!" Patrick added.
Even though the tornado was still a pretty good distance away from the farm, it began to creep closer and closer with every minute. Twilight Velvet ran out the backdoor, and looked around frantically for her daughter.
"TWILIGHT!" she screamed with fear, while the wind blew viciously. "Twilight!"
At that moment, Twilight and Spike arrived at the fence not too far from their farm, fighting against the wind. Bob and Flash opened the barn doors, and six horses ran out and galloped off to escape from the dangerous whirlwind.
"We freed all of the horses, sir!" Flash called out.
"Good lads!" Night Light nodded, before running off in the direction of the house. "Come on, everybody! Into the storm cellar!"
At that moment, Twilight managed to reach the front gate and the front porch of her house. Unfortunately, when she tried to open the screen door, it ripped from its hinges and flew off towards the whirlwind.
In the backyard, the farmhands began to open up the storm cellar, while Velvet ran up to Night Light, blind with panic. "Night Light, I can't find Twilight! She's somewhere out in the storm!"
"Honey, we can't look for her now!" the farmer shouted, as he urged his wife into the safety of the cellar. "Come on, get in the cellar!"
After the farmer and his wife got into the cellar, the farmhands worked together and they managed to close and lock the cellar door, unaware that Twilight and Spike were inside the house at that very moment.
"Mother? Mother!" Twilight called frantically around the house, until she realized there was only one place Velvet and the others would be. "Mother!"
With Spike in her arms, she ran out the back door and straight to the storm cellar door. She grabbed onto the door handle and tried to open it, but it was locked and the wind was too strong for her. She tried one last attempt to get their attention by kicking on the door with her boot.
"Mother! Father!" she hollered as loud as she could, but she got no reply.
Twilight all of a sudden looked to her left, and saw that the tornado was really close to tearing through the farmyard. Completely frightened, she ran back into the house and into her bedroom, still with Spike in her arms. She looked around the room, before turning back to her open bedroom door.
"Mother?" the teenage girl called out again, when suddenly, her bedroom window blew off its hinges and hit her on the head really hard. "OW!"
After receiving the blow, she fell down onto the bed and started to lose consciousness. Her eyes slowly closed, while the sound of the wind began to die down in her ears. Later, her eyes slowly opened, but she could tell that there was something off about her room. It was slightly bumping, as if she was riding in an airplane. She quickly realized that the house was floating in the air.
She looked out the window and saw that the sky was swirling. Spike was frightened by this and he jumped under the bed, whimpering. All of a sudden, Twilight saw a familiar face in front of her. Her good neighbor, Granny Smith, was sitting in her rocking chair, knitting, until she looked over and saw Twilight through the window.
"Well, howdy do! Hee hee hee!" Granny Smith hooted, before the wind carried her off.
Twilight received more visitors like a cow, two boys in a rowboat, and even a giraffe. The teenage girl walked over to the window and looked down. She suddenly realized that they were up inside the tornado!
"We must be up inside the cyclone!" she gasped, as Spike peeked out from under the bed.
When Twilight looked out the window once more, she was met with a horrifying sight. Somehow, Christine was up inside the tornado as well, riding her bicycle and looking for Spike.
"Oh, no, Christine! She's after you, even up here!" Twilight cried out to Spike in horror.
Christine didn't even seem to see or hear the teenage girl that was looking through the house window at her. As the woman floated slightly closer, she quickly morphed into a scary-looking witch, and was now riding on a broomstick instead of a bicycle. This caused both Twilight and Spike to jump away from the window and cover their heads with fear.
"Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" the witch cackled outside the house, as she rode on her broomstick until she disappeared entirely from sight.
A few moments after that, the house began to drop from the sky after being freed from the tornado. Twilight grabbed Spike and they got onto the bed for protection from the sudden stop that would eventually come. After a very, very long fall, the house suddenly touched ground with a loud crash.
After taking a few breaths, Twilight, without even speaking, picked up her backpack, put it on, picked up Spike in her arms, and opened her bedroom door. The teenage girl moved cautiously to the front door, turned the doorknob and opened the door. What stood before the girl and dog was so shocking, that it both their jaws dropped with awe.
They saw that the tornado dropped the both of them in the middle of a beautiful and colorful village. There were really small houses, bushels of flowers of all colors, a pond filled with blue water, chirping birds, and a big, blue sky above them. The most wondrous of all sight was that in the center of the village was a road made of yellow bricks that was swirled like a lollipop. While taking in the beautiful sights, the two were unaware that they were being watched from the bushes by millions of tiny eyes.
"Spike, I have a feeling we're not in Equestria anymore," Twilight smiled. "We must be over the rainbow!"
"Yeah, it's beautiful, isn't it?" the puppy suddenly spoke with the voice of a 14-year-old boy's voice.
"Daaaah!" the teenage girl suddenly screamed in fright and dropped the puppy on his feet.
"Twilight, why did you drop me like that?" Spike asked in surprise.
"Um, oh, I don't know," she replied with a scared voice. "Maybe it has something to do with the flying house, or the colorful village, or my talking dog!"
"I know, it's weird, right?" Spike asked, before using his hind leg to scratch his ear.
"Great, now I feel like Doctor Dolittle" Twilight sighed.
Before Spike could reply, the both of them saw something above them that made them speechless. Floating towards them was a pink bubble that was the size of an enclosed carriage. The bubble softly landed in the center of the village and it dissolved. Standing where the bubble used to be were two women, one who was almost middle aged, and the other one was 10 years past Twilight's aged. The older woman was wearing a white dress that went all the way to her feet, and she carried a wand that had a sun on the tip of it.
The younger woman also wore a dress, but it was dark blue instead of white. The woman also has a wand, but she had a moon on the tip instead of the sun. The one thing that the two women had in common was that they were both beautiful. The two of them walked over to Twilight and Spike, who were staring back with amazement.
"Now I know we're not in Equestria" Twilight whispered to Spike, who nodded in agreement.
"Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" the woman in the white dress asked kindly.
"Who, me?" Twilight asked, as the two women nodded. "Why, I'm not a witch at all. I'm Twilight Sparkle from Equestria."
"Oh. Well, is that the witch?" the woman in the blue dress gestured to Spike, who tilted his head in confusion.
"Uh, no, ma'am, I'm a just a dog" the puppy replied.
The white-dressed woman chuckled awkwardly. "Well, I'm a little confused. The Munchkins called me and my sister here, because a new witch arrived and killed the wicked witch of the east. And you and your dog are the only new folk around here."
"But I never killed anybody" the teenage girl responded.
"Well, in that case, your house must've killed her, my dear," the blue dressed woman said, as she pointed her wand towards the farmhouse. "See? There are two feet still sticking out from under the porch. And that's all that's left of Repestra, the wicked witch of the east."
Twilight looked over to where the woman was pointing and gave a gasp of fear. True to the woman's word, two feet were sticking out from under the front porch. And the dead person was wearing beautiful ruby shoes with striped socks.
"And so, what the Munchkins want to know is: are you a good witch or a bad witch?" the blue-dressed woman in blue further questioned.
"But I already told you, I'm not a witch at all" Twilight reminded her.
"Besides, witches are old and ugly!" Spike added.
From everywhere around them, there came the sound of people giggling in high-pitched voices, startling Twilight and Spike.
"What was that?" Twilight asked.
"The munchkins," the woman in white chuckled. "They're giggling because my sister and I are witches ourselves. I am Celestia, the witch of the north."
"And I am Luna, the witch of the south" the woman in blue introduced herself.
"You are?" Twilight gasped, before doing a polite curtsy. "Oh, beg your pardon, but I've never heard of beautiful witches before."
"Only bad witches are ugly," Celestia answered. "The Munchkins are happy, because you have freed them the tyranny of Repestra."
Twilight was still baffled by this information. "If you don't mind me asking, what are Munchkins?"
"The little people who live in this village," Luna answered. "Their favorite color is blue, and you're their national heroine, my dear."
"It's alright, everyone. You may come out and thank her" Celestia spoke up.
After she said those words, Twilight was taken by surprise when she began to see little people, half her own size and wearing different colored clothing, coming out of the bushed and houses to get a good glimpse of their new heroine.
Well there's the third chapter of the story. Catch you later!
