Twilight had decided to read to children at the library this weekend, and I decided to tag along. The purple unicorn had told me to come early, and I left my house at around 6. I was just about to walk out the gate when I heard a soft mewing coming from under my picnic table. I looked to see a black tabby cat, who was probably still hiding from the rainstorm last night.

"Hi, little kitty! Do you want to help me and Twi out at the library?" For some reason, the cat instinctively leapt onto my back, and stayed there as we arrived at Twilight's library. I knocked on the door, and Twi immediately came to open it. She greeted, "Hello, DD, and who's your little friend?" She was acknowledging the kitty on my back, and I explained, "This little guy was under my lawn table, so I decided to bring him here until we leave. Is that okay?"

"Sure!" she said excitedly. "I've got some milk in the kitchen he could have, and I'd love to take care of him if you can't find a home for him!"

"Actually, I'm gonna raise him myself, and do you really want a cat around when you have an owl for a pet?" The unicorn, a natural cat-lover, sighed, "You're right. Plus, Spike really hates cats, probably because of Opal." I looked around the library as I asked, "So what do you need my help for?"

"Spike is back in Canterlot helping Rarity with some super secret surprise something….and I need you to help set up for the kids. I'll get the cat some milk while you set some things up." After we made a small spot for the cat, some place out of the way, I helped set up snacks, cleared some stuff out of the room to make way for the crowd, and idly waited for the children to arrive. They soon did after we were done setting up, and I asked her once a crowd of kids had come in, "So, since I'm done setting up, what do you want me to do now?"

"You could always stay here and listen to me read," she replied, now sitting on a stool in front of the kids, book in hoof. I sat in the back behind all the children as Twilight announced, "Alright, kids. Today, I will be reading to you The Wizard of Oz." I sighed in the back as the young ponies cheered. I had this so many times, I nearly fell asleep reading it!

I woke up, finding that I had fallen asleep from Twilight reading the story. The library was completely deserted, save for my new pet cat who was in the kitchen. Where was everypony? I could hardly imagine her leaving me here unattended. Maybe she was just outside, I thought, so I pulled open the blinds of the kitchen window…

Only to see a tornado coming straight towards me. I panicked as it came and lifted up the entire tree that was the library, the whole room spinning. I grabbed my precious new pet, and feared for the worst as I blacked out from a crash.

When I awoke, the whole room was sideways. There were bits of sunlight coming through a blinded-back-up window, and I made my way through toppled over furniture and books to the door. The cat was following behind me as I opened up the door to see that I wasn't in Equestria anymore.

It looked like a small village that had cute ornaments all over it. There was a bunch of foals surrounding the scene, as if I were making a scene. I probably was, considering that the tree had just crashed into this town. I started to say, "I-I'm so sorry! There was a tor-!"

"The pink earth pony saved us from the witch!" one of the fillies from the crowd cheered. I then realized what I had done when I saw a pair of back hooves, wearing red ruby slippers. The leader of these foals then stepped forward, who looked like Celestia in a frilly pink dress and a silver crown. She said, "I am Glindestia, the Good Witch of the South, and thank you for crushing the Wicked Witch of the East!"

"I…well, I didn't mean to. Actually, I live far, far away from here in a place called Equestria. Is…there any possible way that you could take me back home?" Suddenly, a small explosion of black smoke signaled somepony else's arrival. It was a black allicorn that could've been Nightmare Moon, but instead of wearing battle armor, she wore a green witch's outfit.

"Not so fast!" She shouted to us, all the foals scared. "As the only remaining Wicked Witch, I'm the rightful owner of those slippers."

"You can't have them!" Glindestia retorted. She then used her horn to place the shoes on me. "You don't deserve that power, and you have no real power in this part of Oz anyway." The white allicorn turned to me and explained, "The slippers will protect you from any danger."

"In this realm!" The Wicked Witch laughed. "That's right…as soon as you leave this town, I'll get you, and you're little cat, too!" I then noticed my black cat was standing right next to me, and that the jet-black allicorn had left as she came: In a small explosion of smoke. Glindestia then finally answered my question, "I'm sorry, dear, but my magic is only limited to the North realm. You must go to the one who's power extends beyond it: The Wizard of Oz!"

"Do you really think he can get me home?"

"Yes, he's an amazing mage, and should be able to send you home! Just follow this yellow path here," she pointed a hoof to the path that led outside of the village, "and you should come to the EmeraldCity! Just show these red slippers to the guards at the gate. They're a status symbol."

Now understanding my situation and mission, I followed the yellow path. After about forever of walking, I came to a corn field, and exhausted, decided to lie next to the fence. I sighed, "It's probably going to be a lot longer before I get to the EmeraldCity."

"For some of us, it's a world away," somepony said. I looked around to find a scarecrow, one that looked like AJ in her Nightmare Night outfit, hanging up on two wooden planks. She greeted, "Howdy!" I, of course, nervously greeted back, "H-hi…you can talk?"

"I'm only smart enough to do that…" she answered, a few crows landing on her arms. "Smart enough to keep these crows away…not so much." The orange mare waved a hoof to scare off the crows again. It worked, but they only came back a moment later. "I'd really like to get off this thing and see the world. You'd think you could get me off of this thing so I can do it?"

"Yeah, sure. I could really use a companion on this quest to see the Wizard, and the cat's not doing it." I started to pull off the nails that were keeping her to the planks, and as soon as I was done, she leapt off the wood and onto the road. She said, "Before I leave off on my own adventure, I'm gonna ask the Wizard for a brain. Just a head stuffed with hay isn't working well on keeping the crows away."

"Well, come on! I need to ask the Wizard to get home, so let's go!" The scarecrow and I went further down the yellow path, until we came to what looked like a unicorn mare made entirely out of tin. We examined it, and Scarecrow asked, "What…is it?"

"Do you think it's alive?" I asked as well, and I got my response when the metal mare mumbled something. "Oi….oll.." I gasped as I realized what she was saying, "She is alive! She just needs oil, because her joints have rusted up!" I then noticed an oil can nearby, grabbed it, and started pouring the oil around her noticeable joints, and she began to creak them.

"Oh!" She exclaimed once all of her joints were unfrozen. "Thank you! I could never be happier that somepony finally helped me!" I casually said, "No problem. How did you get stuck like that, anyway?"

"Rainstorm," was the Tin Mare's only reply. She then asked, staring at both of us, "Where are you folks headed?"

"We're going to the EmeraldCity to get our wishes fulfilled by the Wizard." The silver mare gasped when she heard it. She excitedly asked, "The wizard?! Oh, boy! Can I come with? I just really wish he could teach me the magic of friendship, because I have no heart to learn so myself."

"I'm sure we wouldn't mind one other person," I replied. "Are you okay with that, Scarecrow?"

"I'm fine with it," she answered, looking ahead. "But it looks like we have to go through some scary-looking woods up ahead." Sure enough, she was right. The three of us all went into the woods, and they looked even nastier than the EverfreeForest. The Tin Mare explained, "Before I rusted, I came through these woods. I didn't see it up close, but I think I saw….a manticore…"

"R-really?" I asked nervously. Scarecrow nodded and added, "Yeah, an' I heard there were cockatrices in these woods, not to mention the Ursas Major and Minor."

"So…manticores, cockatrices, and Ursas…" I relayed back. "O-oh my…"

"Manticores," Scarecrow repeated.

"Cockatrices," the Tin Mare nervously said.

"And Ursas," I added.

"Oh my," we all said in perfect unison. Realizing the heart-stopping danger we were in, we all ran through the woods, all chanting, "Manticores, cockatrices, and Ursas, oh my!"

"Manticores, cockatrices, and Ursas, oh my!"

"Manticores, cockatrices, and Ursas, oh my!"

"Manticores, cockatrices, and Ur-!" We then heard a monstrous roar up ahead of the path, and all stopped to see a female manticore in front of us. She looked at my pet cat, who just caught up to us, hungrily, and pounced at it. The black cat moved out of the way just in time, but I still took action. I punched the beast in the face, and scolded, "You big, dumb meanie! You should be ashamed of yourself! Why don't you pick on somepony your own…"

My angry scolding faded as I realized the beast was crying. She could speak, and I realized this when she said, "I…I d-didn't mean to h-hurt your cat, I-I'm just…really hungry, and…" Feeling some empathy, I came to the manticore and told her, "Its okay, you seem like some kind of pacifist if you didn't really want to hurt him..."

"Cowardly," she sobbed, "they call me a coward just because I'm not good at catching prey, and I'm scared of my own shadow…"

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Sugarcube," Scarecrow bumped into our conversation, "but those are perfectly legit reasons for being called cowardly." I then explained, "Well, maybe you need some courage. We're actually heading to the EmeraldCity to meet the Wizard and I wouldn't mind another traveling companion. So, do you wanna come?"

"Oh, I'd love to!" the Cowardly Manticore said excitedly, coming out from her saddened state. Our now merry band of four happily hopped out of the woods, but my happy face turned to horror the second I saw…

"Poison joke?!" I exclaimed, shocked by the sudden appearance of the blue flowers. "I would've expected them to be in the forest back there, but never out here!" The Tin Mare was quick to reassure me, "Don't worry, I'm sure that as long as we stay on the yellow path and away from the flowers, we'll be safe!"

"And besides," Scarecrow added, "me and the Tin Mare aren't exactly livin'. If the two of you suffer any ill effects, we'll be quick to respond to them, alright?" I nodded, being calmed by their kind words, and told them all, "Alright, guys, I can see the EmeraldCity from here, so let's get through these Celestia-awful flowers and head out!" Everypony cheered as we walked through the path cut through the blue flowers.

"I…I feel f-faint…" I said as we were about half-way through the tremendous overgrowth of poison joke. I saw the Cowardly Manticore was starting to feel their effects to, as she started to yawn. It didn't take another second for me to hit the ground, in a deep sleep. The only thing I could hear was my friend's voices.

"Oh, no! The poison joke is affecting our friends!"

"Quick! Get DD onto the Manticore's back!"

"Okay, okay! Alright, now we need to get them as far from these things as possible! Then, we can find a safe place for them to breathe it off."

"Manticore! How are you holding up?"

"I-I'm…s-so….t-tired…."

"Keep it up! Keep up! Okay, we're far from the flowers now…DD should be able to breathe it off…"

"Hey, she's starting to wake up!" Scarecrow was right: I was starting to wake up. My eyes fluttered open, and once she saw I was awake, the Tin Mare asked me, "Doodledraw, are you alright?"

"I…I feel a little light-headed, but I think I can walk it off," I answered, and soon asked her myself, "What happened back there?"

"You passed out because of the poison joke. Apparently, you guys were close enough to get infected by them." I soon realized she was right, as I saw Scarecrow trying to coax the Cowardly Manticore back to consciousness.

"Alright, that makes sense. So, how far are we from the EmeraldCity?" I soon got my answer when I looked around and saw the pillars of the beautiful green city just a few yards behind me. Once I found the manticore was ready to go, we all headed to the gates of the city.

"Halt!" a guard at the gates said immediately upon our appearance. "Please state your business before we let you in." We all looked to each other before I finally stepped forward and stated, "I am Doodledraw, and these are my traveling companions. We have come here to visit the Wizard of Oz. I must return to my home, Equestria."

"Nopony sees the Wizard!" He then gasped when he noticed my footwear. "The Wicked Witch of the East's shoes! So you're the one who finally defeated her! Please, go inside! Somepony as famed as you must meet the Wizard!" The gates swung open and we all stepped inside to see the wonder and amazement that was the EmeraldCity. The guard explained, "I will show you to the Wizard immediately. Again, I apologize for being short with you before. I didn't know of your importance."

"Aw, it's okay, Sugarcube," Scarecrow reassured him as we headed for the castle. "You didn't know." The guard stopped at yet another gate that led into the castle, and another guard took us to the Wizard's throne room. This guard explained, "I will leave you to see the Wizard yourself. You will be among the lucky few who have actually seen him in person." As the guard slammed the doors shut, the Tine Mare nervously asked, "What do you think he meant, 'among the lucky few'?"

We suddenly got our answer when a flame burst from the throne in the front. Its voice boomed as it announced, "I AM OZ, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL. WHY ARE YOU HERE TO SEE ME?" The great, booming voice had shocked both me and the Cowardly Manticore to our limits, but I stepped foreword and stuttered, "I-I am Doodledraw, the one who d-defeated the Wicked Witch of the East. S-surely, you've heard the news by n-now."

"I HAVE NOT, BUT I DO KNOW HER BRIGHT RUBY SLIPPERS WHEN I SEE THEM. I ALSO KNOW YOU ARE NOT HERE TO BOAST. SO, WHY ARE YOU HERE, DOODLEDRAW?"

"I have come here because my friends and I require your assistance. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Mare wants a heart, and the Cowardly Manticore requires courage. I need to get back home; I come from a place far away called Equestria."

"HMM, I SEE…WELL, BEFORE I GRANT YOU THESE WISHES, I MUST FIRST ASK SOMETHING OF YOU."

"Well, what is it? I'll do anything just so I can get back home!"

"I NEED YOU…TO KILL THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST."

"What?! But I can't do that…me killing the Wicked Witch of the East before was a sheer darn coincidence! And a lucky one at that!"

"THEN I HOPE IT IS NOT BY SHEER COINCEDENCE THAT YOU KILL THE SECOND ONE." With that, we saw the flame die away and knew that our audience with the Wizard was over. We all went out of the throne room, and Scarecrow nervously asked, "D-do we really have to go up against the other Wicked Witch?"

"Well, I do know one thing: I'm not giving up on getting home. So, it's kill the Wicked Witch or bust!" My friends, motivated by my short, but determined speech, moved foreword. We headed out into the city and found ourselves heading out into a desert. The sun seemed to be setting behind us, but the Tin Mare explained, "The sun setting indicates that we're in the West. The Wicked Witch of the West controls the moon, but refuses to let it set in her realm. The Good Witches raise and set the sun, but the night is moonless."

I nodded, realizing the sense in that, and we continued until the moon was high over our heads, still no sign of the Witch's castle. I told the rest of the team, "Alright, that's it. We're resting for the night…or at least until we don't feel tired anymore." We all agreed it was a good time to stop, and all sat down in the middle of an endless desert. We had all agreed to have Scarecrow on first watch for anything suspicious, and Tin Mare on second since neither of them needed to sleep.

I was just about to nod off to sleep when I heard Scarecrow yell at the top of her lungs, "Shadowbolts! There's thousands of 'em heading straight this way!"

"Wh…what?" I asked, still half-asleep. I jumped out of my half-sleep when I saw the blue and dark-grey pegusi surrounding us. The Scarecrow bucked at a few of them, the Tin Mare used what little magic she had to scare them off and the Cowardly Manticore stayed by my side, nervously shaking. Before I could take a stand for myself, two Shadowbolts got a hold of me and dragged me away into the night sky. I kicked and screamed, drawing the attention of my friends to me being carried away, but one of the Shadowbolts hit me in the face, knocking me out.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" I woke up to see a face I didn't want to: The Wicked Witch of the West was smiling cruelly at me, she being the one that asked the question. She answered it herself. "The little foal who will willingly give up her red ruby slippers to me."

"I will never give you these slippers! They'll protect me from you! Just you wait!" The black allicorn only laughed at my bold statement. She asked, "Haven't you forgotten? Those shoes will only protect you in the South. Which means…" She magically brought over an hourglass, and turned it over, "that when the sand runs to the bottom of the hourglass, so will your time in those boots. Make it count."

She slammed the door on me, and I knew there was no way out. I waited…and waited…and waited for what seemed what forever…until the door was slammed open. Scarecrow, the Tin Mare and the Cowardly Manticore had come to my rescue, wearing makeshift Shadowbolt costumes in an attempt to rescue me. It had worked and I exclaimed, "Thanks for rescuing me! I can't-!"

"Not so fast!" The Wicked Witch came in. Apparently, my friends coming in had broken the hourglass, and the sand was now pouring out on the floor. "Your time is up. Now give me the ruby slippers, and they'll be no tears." I didn't notice it until now, but there was a bucket of water nearby. I walked over to it, the black witch still watching me, and stated, "No! I'll never give them up!" I bucked the bucket onto the witch, leaving her soaking wet.

"Do you really think that a bucket…." her roaring laughter faded as she realized her hooves were dripping away, along with the rest of her body. She screamed, "No! NO! This can't be happening! The dress was supposed to prevent this! I can't be melting! Oh, what a world…" The rest of her screaming dissipated once all that was left was a puddle of black slime. I put on the green hat she used to wear with pride and announced, "Well, guys, I guess we can all get our gifts now!"

We cheered in victory and quickly headed home, I still wearing the hat, and quickly arrived back to the EmeraldCity. We quickly got another audience with the Wizard, and he appeared as a flame, like he did before. He asked, noticing my green hat, "AH, I SEE YOU HAVE DEFEATED BOTH WICKED WITCHES NOW…"

"Yes," I answered, "now can I have my way home?"

"And my brain?" The Scarecrow also asked.

"What about my heart?" The Tin Mare chimed in.

"A-and my courage?" The Cowardly Manticore nervously asked.

"IT…WILL TAKE THREE MONTHS FOR ME TO BRING THIS ALL TOGETHER…" In my rage at the Wizard, I didn't even notice my cat walking away. I yelled, "What?! Three months?! I would've expected a few days, but months?! You sir, have crossed the wrong pony!"

"HA! YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN DEFEAT THE GREA-hey! Get out of here, cat!-A-AND POWERFUL WIZARD WILL-get off that lever, cat! No! Don't play with i-!" The Wizard's voice changed from a booming stallion's to a now frantic mare's. There was a "huh?" and "what?" coming from our small group, but why the Wizard's voice had changed soon came to light. My cat pulled a lever, opening the curtains that hid the unicorn that controlled the "Wizard". She had a light blue mane, and striking light blue coat.

"Don't look at me! Don't look at the mare behind the curtain!" She said in fear, trying to hide behind the green curtain once again. The orange scarecrow just pulled it aside to ask her, "You're the Wizard of Oz?"

"She seems to have made this using her magical abilities," the Tin Mare explained, "creating machinery to hide the fact that she can't really use her magic for…well, magic. Am I right?" The blue unicorn took a moment to respond, but soon sighed, "Yes, it's true. I'm a fraud to my whole name."

"So does that mean we won't receive our wishes?" The manticore asked, tears welling up in her eyes. The "Wizard" then looked like she had an idea, and told us, "I'll be right back" and went into a broom closet. She came out holding a box with her magic. She took some items out of the box, and came up to the scarecrow with one of the items: a rolled up piece of paper.

"Though you want a brain, you have already shown your cleverness. You have shown to be clever in tactics when standing up to a few of those Shadowbolts, and for that, I give you a diploma." She took the ribbon that kept the diploma rolled up, and then placed it in the orange mare's hooves. She then moved on to the Tin Mare, grabbing another piece of paper with a seal on it. The metal mare snarked, "Let me guess, another diploma? I don't need one, I already know I'm smart!"

"It's not a diploma. You wanted to have a heart to discover the magic of friendship? Well, you already have. You have shown the will to stand up for your friends and gave that amazing speech to convince the others to go back and save Doodledraw. For that, I give you…" She broke the seal, and unrolled it, showing it was a letter, "a pass into Glindestia's School for Gifted Unicorns!" The tin-plated unicorn held the letter close to her chest and squealed while the "Wizard" moved onto the Cowardly Manticore. The beast shyly asked, "Wh-what do I get, Miss Wizard?" The blue unicorn pulled out a medal.

"This is for your courage. You may not realize it, but you have faced many trials and didn't even run away from them. You even fought a few Shadowbolts and didn't back down. For that, you get a medal of honor." The unicorn pinned it to the Manticore's chest, and then placed herself in front of me. I asked, "Well, how are you going to get me home?"

"I have an idea." We all followed her to a balcony, where a hot air balloon lie deflated. She explained, "This is how I came to Oz. I was shunned by everypony for my illusions, not being able to do real magic. So, I decided to explore the world. My hot air balloon got caught in a storm, and I somehow ended up here. I've patched it up, and since I've now been exposed as a fraud, I think it's best to leave."

"Am I coming with you?" I asked eagerly. The blue mare laughed, stepping into the balloon "Of course! Why do you think I wanted to use this, anyway?" The four of us then helped her inflate the balloon, and get prepared to go off. The Scarecrow, admiring our work, said, "This is beautiful! DD, I hope you have-!" Unfortunately, as the orange mare walked towards me, she stepped off the rope that secured the balloon. In all our haste, we never thought to secure it! The "Wizard" screamed for somepony to help, but even the one with wings in our group was too afraid.

"Great." I said flatly. "Just my luck. I have no means of getting home now. Anypony have other means of getting me home now!?" Suddenly, a bright flash of light called to my answer. It was Glindestia, and everypony bowed when she arrived, even me. I quickly asked, "Glindestia, what are you doing here?"

"I heard about your predicament of still needing a ride home," she explained. "I actually found out today that the combined power of both the Wicked Witch's signature items is enough to grant one wish. Just click together the heels of the shoes!" I did as told, and as I clicked the heels, I said, "I want to go home…"

"Is she okay?"

"I want to go home…"

"DD should be able to wake up now…"

"I want to go home…"

"Hey, she's starting to wake up!"

I opened my eyes to see myself lying on the library floor, Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy surrounding me. I got up on my hooves and told them, "Oh, guys! Twilight, I'm so sorry! I fell asleep during the story, and I had one cool dream! And all you guys were there!" My cat came out of the kitchen, and Twilight giggled, "Looks like your cat and you are one in the same! He drank some milk and went right to sleep!"

Suddenly, Spike came in from his trip to Canterlot, holding a bunch of golden tickets. He announced, "I'm ba—AAAH!" only to get frightened by my cat. "What's this thing doing here!?"

"Spike, meet my new cat, Toothless." Spike grumbled, coming down from the bookshelf he was hiding on, "He doesn't look toothless to me, and I'm glad he's not staying with us…" Before the dragon had left, AJ stopped him and asked, "Whatcha' got in your hand there, Spike?"

"Oh! I almost forgot! Princess Celestia wanted me to give you guys these tickets to the Gala!" Spike handed them all out, leaving one for himself. I explained, "I don't mind not going. I don't really like those really formal parties. Besides, does it really matter to me?"