adventure Trees Don't Grow to the Sky (or Do They?)

[Early Sunsets 2,106]

Submitting this with just over two hours to spare. Good job me  Procrastinating at every opportunity.

This one involves Rainbow Dash, Daring Do, and an OC I whipped up for the occasion traveling through a very dangerous foreign world and almost dying on a few occasions. I wanted to kill somepony off, but I also wanted to keep the rating for this story fairly low. No gore in this one. Just a little bit of blood (I actually mean a little bit. It's not an exaggeration). That's extremely tame for a story of mine.

There's a little bit of cursing, but nothing too heavy. Pretty sure it would still be rated PG-13 if it were a movie, as there is only one F-bomb (only one in 9,000 words of writing? Man, usually there's at least four or five in that many words, even more if it's a particularly exciting portion of text. I really toned it down for you guys). Also, I snuck in a cheeky Princewhateverer reference at the end.

I've got a short (for me) story for you. I separated it into spoilers because 9k words is a rather intimidating wall of text (over twenty pages on Google Docs). Enjoy. Or don't. It's up to you.

Also, sorry about the weird formatting. I'm used to writing on Fimfiction, so instead of separating paragraphs by a single space and indenting, I wrote using two spaces out of force of habit. Hopefully it's not too difficult to read.

One more thing. I didn't have time to proofread, so sorry about any errors that pop up (I'm sure there are many).

Part 1

Spoiler

Bubblegum groaned and rolled over, scrunching her eyes shut against the dim light. Soon she’d have to get out of bed and start the day’s chores; tending the fields with her older brother, helping her mom take care of the animals, and her dad was supposed to leave for town the next morning, so that meant loading more harvest into the cart so he could take it to be sold.

 

It wasn’t easy, living so far away from everypony else. Sure, there were acres of fertile land untouched by anypony else, but the closest civilization was three days away by hoof. Her dad was in town selling their crops more days than he was at home with his family, making things more difficult. There wasn’t much of a choice, though. They still had a long way to go to pay off the farmland they purchased, so somepony had to go.

 

 

Bubblegum’s bed shook suddenly, and she gritted her teeth at an aching pain that flared up in the back of her skull. Sometimes her brother would jostle her out of bed if she didn’t get up fast enough, but her headache in no way put her in a good enough mood to deal with him. “Fuck off, Candleberry. My head hurts,” she mumbled.

 

 

A rather sharp jolt launched Bubblegum a couple of inches into the air, and she came back down on something hard that was decidedly not her bed. She opened her emerald eyes in annoyance, expecting to see Candleberry’s mischievous face, but was met only with a dull light. Confused, she shook her curly magenta mane from her eyes and blinked the sleep from them. She could see what looked like canvas or a similar material a few inches from her face, with light faintly streaming through the tiny gaps in the cream-colored fabric. Now that she was more awake, she felt something fairly rough surrounding her body, probably the fabric. As well as that, when she looked down, her taffy-pink forelegs were tied together with a sturdy rope that dug into her flesh. Her hind legs were similarly and uncomfortably bound.

 

 

“What… What's going on?” Bubblegum thought, starting to panic. Tied up and thrown into a sack--just what had she gotten herself into this time? It also sounded like she was in the back of a cart, which explained the shaking. Had somepony foalnapped her? But why? If they’d been looking for somepony to sell, there were ponies much more attractive and much less rough around the edges than her.

 

 

The events of last night suddenly came rushing back to her memory; she’d seen a bright light streak across the sky from her window in the middle of the night. She’d thought it was a shooting star at first, until whatever it was landed in one of her family’s fields. When she’d snuck out to investigate, she’d found what had appeared to be a large glowing sapphire. A few moments later she’d felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and everything after that was black.

 

 

“Great, I’m part of a conspiracy now. What’s gonna happen to me?” Bubblegum wondered. If her captors were going to kill her, they would have done so already. What were their plans for her?

 

 

The cart suddenly came to a halt, and Bubblegum grunted as she slid forward and hit her head on something hard. Whatever they were planning, she hoped she wouldn’t find out the hard way. She needed to come up with a way to escape.

 

 

“Alright, this should be far enough,” a deep voice grunted. Bubblegum froze; whoever was speaking was standing right next to her cart. They’d probably knock her out again if they knew she was awake, so she tried to pretend she was still unconscious.

 

 

“Are you sure? I heard that the ponies following us are really fast,” came a breathless second voice from behind the cart. This one sounded a little nasally, and was mildly irritating to listen to.

 

 

“We lost them in the tunnels, we’ll be fine. Now help me set up camp. We’ve still got a long way to go to the dragon lands, and our clients aren’t exactly a patient bunch,” the first voice replied.

 

 

Before the other pony could speak, there was rustling off to one side of the cart. Immediately afterward, Bubblegum heard two grunts from her captors, followed by scuffling and a triumphant, raspy voice that sounded like it belonged to a mare.

 

 

“Aha! We knew you were up to something fishy!” the mare shouted.

 

 

“Fishy? We didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the ones attacking us for no reason,” the deep voice replied.

 

 

Bubblegum heard a pony breathe in sharply as if they were about to shoot back a retort, but another mare cut her off. “Don’t bother replying to him, Dash. We won’t get anything useful out of him. This pony, however… Hey! We know you two are working with the dragon rebellion. You were planning on selling the Angel’s Tear to them, weren’t you?”

 

 

“The what? I-I don’t even know what that is! And what do you mean, dragon rebellion?” the nasally voice shouted back.

 

 

Bubblegum glanced around the interior of her sack. With all four of the ponies distracted, maybe this was her chance to escape. A quick search revealed no holes larger than a pea or two, but there was a small rip in the canvas that she could barely reach with her teeth if she craned her neck around far enough.

 

 

Being careful to not draw any attention to herself and hoping that all of the ponies had their backs turned, Bubblegum stretched towards the little strings hanging loose from the rip and grabbed them between her teeth. Slowly, she pulled on the threads, opening the hole wider and wider. It quickly got to the point where she could somewhat easily peek an eye through, and she glanced out at the open world, which was surprisingly nearing sunset, not sunrise as she had initially thought. They were also surrounded by trees, so they must have been in the forest near her farm.

 

 

From Bubblegum’s position she couldn’t see her captors, but she could see the two pegasi pinning them to the ground. One was khaki colored with rose eyes and a long grayscale mane. She was also wearing a green adventuring shirt, and a worn-looking safari hat sat on top of her head.

 

 

The other pony was a somewhat unusual sight; her light blue coat and cerise eyes weren’t out of the ordinary, but her rainbow mane wasn’t something Bubblegum had ever seen on a pony before.

 

 

“Quit the lying, we know you’re planning on giving it to the dragons planning to overthrow Ember. Are you gonna talk, or do we have to do this the hard way?” the blue pegasus said. From what the other pegasus said, Bubblegum assumed the blue one was named ‘Dash.’

 

 

“What’s all this talk of dragon rebellions? It sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me. You just want the gemstone we found for yourselves,” the deep voice retorted.

 

 

“Nonsense? We have evidence of you aiding the rebels. You’re as guilty as you are a liar,” Dash growled, leaning her head down toward the pony she was holding down.

 

 

The other pegasus nodded. “You, however, haven’t done anything incriminating quite yet.,” the khaki pegasus said as she glanced down at the other pony. “If you tell us what you know, we can make sure you only get charged with theft. A gift for your cooperation. That’s a much shorter prison sentence than the ten years your friend over there is likely to get.”

 

 

Nopony spoke for a few seconds. Bubblegum was beginning to think her captors would choose the longer prison sentence when the nasally voice piped up. “Okay, alright! I’ll tell you everything. Just promise I’ll have a shorter prison sentence.”

 

 

“Hey! You can’t, the dragons will-” the deep voice began before Dash placed a wing over his mouth.

 

 

“Quiet, you. It’s not your decision to make,” Dash said before looking back at the other pony.

 

 

The nasally pony sighed. “They were planning on using the Tear to destroy Dragon Lord Ember and any others who would stand up against them. After that, they wanted to turn the Dragon Lands back to the way they were before, hostile and unforgiving. We were supposed to meet them under the next full moon.”

 

 

“Interesting,” the khaki pegasus mused. “And where can we find the ponies you were going to meet?”

 

 

“In a small town by the sea called Smokeville. There’s a bar named ‘The Doused Flame.’ The booth in the back of the room. The dragon we were supposed to meet wears a black cloak that covers his face. His scales are pale green, and he’s fairly thin.”

 

 

Dash nodded. “That’s useful information. We’ll see what we can do about getting your sentence shortened,” she said as she pulled two ropes from a small pack across her flank. She flung one to the other pegasus and they both leaned down to tie up their captives.

 

 

“For now, though, we’ll need to leave you two tied up for security reasons.” They hauled the two ponies to their hooves, and the khaki pegasus pushed them both out of Bubblegum’s vision, probably to be tied to a tree or something.

 

 

Dash stretched her wings and glanced at the cart, and Bubblegum almost had a heart attack when their eyes locked. Dash looked equally surprised, and she jumped back a step. “Uh, Daring? There’s another pony.”

 

 

“Another one? Where’d they come from?”

 

 

“No, that’s not what I meant. They’re tied up in the cart,” Dash said as she crept closer.

 

 

“Foalnapping? We’ll add that to the list of crimes. Get them untied and we’ll see about getting them home.”

 

 

Dash walked up to the cart and tilted her head at Bubblegum. “Hi. Are you okay? Did they hurt you at all?”

 

 

Bubblegum nodded. “I’m fine. My head just hurts,” she said quietly. She knew the pegasi weren’t there to harm her, but she still felt nervous.

 

 

“We’ll get you taken care of, don’t worry,” Dash said as she got to work untying the knot holding the sack closed. “Did they take you from the farm the Tear landed in?”

 

 

“Yeah. My parents and brother live there.”

 

 

Dash pulled the rope free and helped Bubblegum crawl out of it. “Your family’s farm, huh? How old are you?”

 

 

“Seventeen,” Bubblegum replied. Dash made quick work of removing the rope binding her forelegs, and she rubbed the painful indentations left behind.

 

 

“We’ll get you back home, don’t worry. We studied this area before coming here, so we know exactly where we are.” Dash finished with the bindings on Bubblegum’s rear legs and nodded in satisfaction. “There, you’re all free.”

 

 

“Thank you,” Bubblegum mumbled as she maneuvered into a sitting position over the edge of the cart.

 

 

“I’m Rainbow Dash, by the way. My companion is Daring Do. Have you heard of either of us?” Dash asked, flashing Bubblegum a charming smile.

 

 

“I’m Bubblegum.” Bubblegum shook her head. “No, sorry. I rarely leave the farm.”

 

 

Dash shrugged. “Too bad. I’ve got some really cool stories I can tell you later if you want. It’s too late to travel, so we’re gonna camp here for the night.” She looked Bubblegum over quickly. “That’s definitely a fitting name for you.”

 

 

Bubblegum shook her head. “That’s just coincidence. My dad named me after a gumball tree in his parents’ yard. He’s colorblind.”

 

 

“Really? Huh, that’s interesting,” Dash said.

 

 

Bubblegum glanced over at Daring Do, where she was almost done tying up the two ponies. “Um, so what exactly is going on?”

 

 

“It’s a bit of a long story, and I don’t remember the whole thing anyway,” Dash replied. “The simple version is; there’s some sort of magical space rock that falls from the sky once every few thousand years. It’s immensely powerful, and Twilight thinks the Tree of Harmony grew from the last one that landed here. It’s also supposed to be a very well kept secret, so don’t tell anypony. That’s probably why they kidnapped you. They didn’t trust you to stay quiet.”

 

 

Bubblegum nodded, not entirely sure how to take that information. What was the Tree of Harmony? And who was Twilight? “Okay.” She glanced at the other sacks in the cart, one of which had to hold the Angel’s Tear. “Is it safe to be around?”

 

 

Dash shrugged. “We don’t know. I guess we’ll find out soon enough, though,” she said as Daring Do walked over, having finished tying the criminals to a tree.

 

 

Daring Do smiled warmly at Bubblegum as she approached. “Hi, I’m Daring Do. You’re safe now. They won’t hurt you anymore.”

 

 

Bubblegum nodded again. “Thanks.”

 

 

“So,” Daring Do said as she glanced at the other contents of the cart, “The Angel’s Tear is really in one of these bags?”

 

 

“Should be. I hope Twilight knows how to handle it. It sounds super powerful.” Rainbow reached over and opened one of the sacks, which ended up containing nothing but potatoes. Daring Do joined the search, and before long there was only one left to open. A faint blue glow could be seen through the canvas in the dying light, and Dash and Daring Do glanced at each other before they both reached for the sack.

 

 

“Here goes nothing,” Daring Do said quietly as they opened the sack. The rope holding it closed fell away and the canvas slowly opened to reveal the large glowing sapphire Bubblegum had seen the night before. It was a dodecahedron about the size of a small watermelon, and milky blue light swirled around inside of it, like an azure fog.

 

 

“Wow…” Dash whispered. “It’s incredible. I’m not a unicorn, but I can still feel it's magic.”

 

 

Daring Do nodded in agreeance. “I get what you mean. It’s out of this world.”

 

 

Suddenly the light coming from the Angel’s Tear pulsed brighter, and the three ponies had to shield their eyes from it.

 

 

“What did you do?” Dash asked, her voice rising in panic.

 

 

“I didn’t do anything! It just started doing it on its own!” The two pegasi dropped the Tear, allowing it to land in the dirt. They backed away from it, still covering their eyes with their wings as the artifact glowed brighter and brighter, never seeming to stop.

 

 

Bubblegum backed up in the cart, stopping when she felt herself hit the short wooden wall. She hadn’t signed up for this. Investigating last night had been a mistake. Now her family was probably worried sick about her, and there was a magical artifact going haywire right in front of her. Would it explode? Would it turn her to stone?

 

 

“Damn it. I should have just stayed in bed,” Bubblegum thought as the light from the Tear overcame her vision and all she could see was a blinding white.

 

Part 2

Spoiler

Bubblegum rolled over and rubbed her eyes, staring up at the vast open sky above her. “What happened?” she mumbled. She remembered the Angel’s Tear glowing after Daring Do had said something, but nothing after that. Also, it was just sunset. Why was the sky already bright again?

 

A strong breeze ruffled Bubblegum’s fur, and she shivered against it. The wind must have been really strong to blow through the trees that strongly. Did the Tear summon a storm or something? She shook her head and rolled back onto her stomach. They’d have to find a cave or someplace else safe and just wait it out.

 

 

As Bubblegum rolled onto her stomach, she was met with sand, which was unexpected. Why was there sand in the middle of a forest? She hauled herself to her hooves and glanced around, looking for the others, but her breath caught in her throat when she took in the world around her.

 

 

In front of Bubblegum was a massive sea of green leaves, rippling in the wind like waves on water. It met with the blue sky at the horizon, stretching far past what she could see. The swath of sand she was standing on transitioned into dirt toward the leaves, and as she walked closer, she could see what looked like tiny trees growing from the ground. Further out it looked like the trees grew taller and wider, but it was hard to see through the leaves. It was also strange that it seemed like every tree stopped growing at the same elevation. Was it the result of some kind of magic?

 

 

“It’s like an ocean of trees,” Bubblegum said quietly. She’d never seen anything like it before. She scowled to herself. Daring Do had said something like “out of this world” when she was holding the Angel’s Tear. It was supposed to hold an immense magical power; had it taken that as a request and transported them to another world?

 

 

“No, no, no. This is bad,” Bubblegum thought, glancing around wildly. She had to find the others, as well as the Angel’s Tear. If it had taken them there, it could also bring them back. Now where was it? She glanced behind her, but all she saw was a massive expanse of rock outcroppings and sand. No blue crystal or ponies.

 

 

Bubblegum looked back out at the ocean of trees, starting to lose hope, but something far away caught her eye. There was a bright pillar of light in the distance, coming from underneath the leaves and stretching up endlessly into the sky. Its light blue color must have been why she hadn’t seen it at first, since it blended in with the sky really well. “Is that the Angel’s Tear?” she wondered. It had to be. What else could give off that much light?

 

 

Bubblegum glanced around herself one more time. She wasn’t sure what other choice she had. With any luck, the others could come to the same conclusion, wherever they were. Tentatively, she walked up to the edge of the trees. The ones on the edge were packed tightly together, somewhat like a woody grass. They felt spongy to walk on, but they supported her weight, so she continued on. “If the rest of the way is this easy, then I might reach the Tear by the end of the day”, she thought, glancing up at the sky. She was a little startled to see two suns, one near the horizon and the other almost directly overhead, but she reminded herself she wasn’t in Equestria anymore, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

 

 

Suddenly one of Bubblegum’s forelegs broke through the leaves and she stumbled forward, cursing as she got a faceful of twigs. She shook her head and tried to stand back up, but it seemed like the trees had gotten large enough that she fell between the individual branches. There wasn’t much she could do except try to tunnel her way to the ground. If she lost sight of the Tear, she could always climb back up.

 

 

Bubblegum shook her head again as she forced her way to the ground, feeling a little lightheaded. The trees were about her height, forcing her to crouch as she weaved her way between the miniature wooden trunks. As the seconds wore on she found herself feeling increasingly faint, and she started tripping on occasion as she walked. “Why do I feel so dizzy?” she wondered as she began moving faster.

 

 

The trees grew taller as the ground sloped downward, to the point where Bubblegum could stand fully without brushing her head on the lower branches. Still the dizzying feeling grew worse, and she stumbled blindly forward, not noticing the sudden dip in the ground that was rapidly approaching. She hardly felt the dirt disappear beneath her hooves, though the impact of her head hitting soil was enough to somewhat clear her head.

 

 

“Crap, this is bad!” Bubblegum thought as she tumbled down a sharp slope. She saw herself hurtling toward a tree and managed to dig her hooves into the ground enough to drag her out of the way, but that just put her right in the path of another tree that was much too close for her to dodge.

 

 

Bubblegum dug all four hooves into the dirt, trying to slow herself down as much as she could, but the slope was much too steep for her to stop. She shut her eyes, waiting for the impact and praying that she wouldn’t die.

 

 

Something slammed into Bubblegum’s side, and she opened her eyes in time to see the tree whiz by. She also noticed that she was no longer on the ground.

 

 

“Just in time!” a familiar voice said. It was Dash--she’d grabbed Bubblegum at the last moment and was now flying down the slope, weaving between the trees at what Bubblegum would have considered a very dangerous speed with so many obstacles, but Dash seemed confident they wouldn’t crash, which eased her nerves a bit.

 

 

After a while the ground began to even out, and when it was mostly flat, Dash put Bubblegum gently on the ground and stepped back. “Thank Celestia I saw you in time. That was almost really bad,” Dash said.

 

 

Bubblegum nodded. “Thank you.”

 

 

Dash looked up at the sky with a confused expression. “I’ve been trying to get above these stupid trees for a while now, but every time I get close to the leaves, I start getting dizzy and it throws off my balance. It’s super weird.”

 

 

“Was that it?” Bubblegum asked. “I felt dizzy when I got near the leaves, too. The surface wasn’t anything like that.” She glanced up and was surprised to see just how tall the trees were; they even rivaled the ancient redwoods of Equestria in size. It made her feel like an ant.

 

 

“The surface?” Dash asked.

 

 

Bubblegum nodded again. “Yeah. I woke up on a beach, except instead of water, it was these weird trees. Something’s making them all stop growing at the same height. I saw a light that looked like it might have been the Angel’s Tear, but I fell through the leaves and got disoriented.”

 

 

“You know where the Tear is? That’s our ticket home! Where is it?” Dash asked excitedly.

 

 

Bubblegum scratched the back of her head, trying to get her bearings. “Um… Somewhere in that direction,” she said, pointing toward where she remembered the light being.

 

 

“Great, we’ll start heading that way, then,” Dash said. She glanced around for a few moments. “So we’re basically in an ocean, but instead of water, it’s a forest. This shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve been in plenty of forests.” She looked back at Bubblegum. “You haven’t seen Daring, have you?”

 

 

“No, sorry,” Bubblegum replied.

 

 

“That’s okay, we’ll find her. After that, we’ll get to the Tear and figure out a way home.” Dash helped Bubblegum to her hooves and started walking in the direction she had indicated. “Alright, let’s start searching. Hopefully there aren’t any dangerous animals that live here.”

 

 

As if in answer to Dash, a low growl sounded from behind the two ponies, and they whirled around to see a red fox as large as an Ursa Minor prowling toward them. Wildlife had never scared Bubblegum before, but back in Equestria, there weren’t many things big or dangerous enough to be even a mild threat to ponies. This was totally different. She didn’t think she’d ever been so terrified in her life.

 

 

“Run!” Dash shouted, shooting into the air in time to avoid the jaws that slammed shut in the spot she had been standing in. The fox went to chase her, but its head whipped around toward Bubblegum when it noticed she hadn’t moved.

 

 

Bubblegum stumbled backward, trying to run away, but her hooves clumsily got in the way of each other and caused her to fall. She pressed herself into the dirt as the fox lunged toward her, and the world went dark as its shadow blotted out the light from the suns.

 

 

Something whizzed through the air past Bubblegum, and she glanced up in time to see Dash slam into the fox, kicking it in the face and causing it to stagger back a few steps. She flew down and picked up Bubblegum before whizzing off through the trees at breakneck speed.

 

 

“I should know better by now than to trigger death flags,” Dash muttered under her breath. Bubblegum glanced behind them, and was startled to see the fox chasing after them from a distance.

 

 

“It’s following us!” Bubblegum shouted.

 

 

“I know! We need to find someplace to hide! The lowest hanging branches are too close to the leaves. We need to find someplace on the ground. Keep your eyes open,” Dash replied.

 

 

Bubblegum looked around frantically, but she couldn’t see anything but trees. And the odd rock or two that were much too small to hide under. It was a forest--surely there was somewhere they could go?

 

 

“There!” Dash shouted. “A cabin!”

 

 

Bubblegum looked up and realized Dash was right. There was a cabin in the middle of this strange forest, which meant there was some form of intelligent life. Somehow that didn’t seem much safer than wild animals. “Are we really going in there?”

 

 

“Would you rather be eaten by a giant fox?” Dash shot back. Bubblegum couldn’t argue with that, so she stayed silent.

 

 

Bubblegum glanced back to check the progress of the fox, and she was startled to see that it was barely a dozen meters behind them and gaining fast. “Shit, it’s gonna get us!”

 

 

“No it won’t!” Dash shouted as they rocketed toward the house. There weren’t any openings. Did she intend to crash through one of the windows?

 

 

“Wait, what are you doing? Dash?” Bubblegum glanced at the fox and back at the window. Could they really make it through? The glass looked really thick, and she could imagine them breaking their necks on it, then being eaten anyway.

 

 

“Hang on, this is gonna hurt!” Dash wrapped her wings tightly around Bubblegum as they hurtled towards one of the cabin’s windows, and she felt the breath get knocked from her lungs as they smashed into it and the sound of glass breaking filled the air.

 

 

The glass did little to slow the two ponies, and they continued to fly through the cabin’s interior. They bounced off of what Bubblegum thought was a giant chair before soaring in two separate directions. Bubblegum slammed into a wall and tumbled to the floor, but luckily the chair had reduced her momentum, and she didn’t feel like anything was broken. 

 

 

After taking a few moments to recover, Bubblegum hauled her battered body upright and looked at where they’d come from. The fox had apparently tried to chase them through the window and now had its head stuck in the opening, but the gap was too small for it to fit through, and it struggled to pull its head free. They should be safe inside.

 

 

Bubblegum glanced around, wondering where Dash had landed, but she couldn’t see the bright blue pony anywhere. “Dash? Where are you?” she called quietly, hoping whatever lived in the cabin wasn’t at home. There was a roaring fire in the cabin’s fireplace, and Bubblegum hoped she hadn’t landed in there.

 

 

“Over here,” came a reply. Bubblegum turned to see Dash clamber over the edge of a very large couch. She floated down, and Bubblegum was alarmed to see the large number of glass shards sticking out of her body, oozing blood around the edges. Luckily, however, none of them seemed to go too deeply. They’d both somehow survived.

 

 

A loud crash made the two poneis whirl around, and they saw what looked like a massive orangutan hobble out of a now open door in the back of the cabin. Its fur was more neatly groomed than Bubblegum would have expected from a wild animal, and it even wore a pair of simple leather pants. “Does that thing live here?” she wondered, watching as it grabbed reached inside the room it had exited and reared back as if it were about to throw something.

 

 

Bubblegum flinched back as the orangutan launched something heavy through the air, but it wasn’t aimed at the ponies. A surprisingly ornate stone axe whistled through the air and stuck into the wall next to the window, missing the fox by no more than a few inches. With a heave, the animal pulled its head free of the glass and shot off into the forest, disappearing quickly through the shadows of the trees.

 

 

After taking a couple seconds to calm her racing heart, Bubblegum glanced back at the orangutan in an attempt to get a better look at the strange creature. She was startled when she saw it had moved across the room to where she and Dash were, and it was reaching toward the two ponies. Before either of them could react, it had grabbed Dash between its large hairy hands and lifted her high into the air, carrying her kicking and screaming to the far corner of the cabin.

 

 

Bubblegum stared after them, worried that the orangutan was going to eat Dash, but something about the way it held her made her stop. It held her surprisingly delicately, and from what she could see, it was being careful to not touch any of the glass shards stuck in Dash’s body.

 

 

“Dash, stop struggling! I think it’s trying to help you,” Bubblegum shouted as she ran across the floor, trying to keep up with the large creature.

 

 

“Help me?! It grabbed me with its ogre hands and now it’s gonna squash me if I don’t get free! Of course I’m gonna struggle!” Dash yelled back, still trying to wriggle out of the orangutan’s grip. It placed her down on an end table and reached for a small cabinet suspended above its head. The door swung open, and from it the orangutan pulled a pair of wooden tweezers. “It’s gonna rip my wings off!” Dash shouted, struggling even harder.

 

 

“Dash, seriously. Can’t you tell when somepony’s trying to help?” a familiar voice scolded. Bubblegum turned to see Daring Do soar from the open door in the back of the cabin. She flew over to Dash and landed next to the blue pegasus. 

 

 

“Daring, you’re okay! Now help me get free!” Dash yelled, kicking at the tweezers and trying to keep them away from herself as the orangutan reached them toward her body.

 

 

Daring Do shook her head in amusement. “Honestly, he’s not going to hurt you. He’s just a big softie.”

 

 

Dash glanced at Daring Do skeptically. “A softie? It doesn’t look the part.” Despite her words, Dash trusted her friend enough to stop struggling, and Bubblegum watched as the orangutan grabbed one of the glass shards with the tweezers and pulled it carefully from Dash’s body. It slowly removed the rest of the pointy objects, and when it was done, it gently wiped her wounds dry with a clean towel from the cabinet. Daring Do flew down and carried Bubblegum up to the end table while Dash struggled to her hooves.

 

 

“See? I told you he wasn’t dangerous,” Daring Do said. The orangutan ambled across the cabin to retrieve its axe from the wall, and the three ponies watched him with varying degrees of suspicion, curiosity, and comfort.

 

 

“Not to us, maybe. But it certainly is dangerous.” Dash watched the orangutan easily pull the axe from the wall, which was buried scarily deep into the wood, before turning back to her friend. “How did you get here?”

 

 

“He found me hiding under a rock a bit earlier. I was scared at first, but he seemed harmless enough, so I let him take me back here. We tried communicating, but it’s hopeless. Our languages aren’t anywhere near similar.” Daring Do reached into a shirt pocket and pulled out a small object. “Also, I found this in the forest.”

 

 

The blue gem glinted in the light of the fire, but also in a unique light of its own. “Part of the Angel’s Tear!” Dash cried. “Where did you get that?”

 

 

“It was stuck in a tree next to where I woke up. Here, watch this.” Daring Do placed the Tear shard on the table beneath them, and the three ponies watched it immediately roll toward the wall, all on its own.

 

 

“What’s it doing?” Dash asked, staring at it curiously.

 

 

Daring Do picked up the small gem and placed it back in its pocket. “It always goes in the same direction. I think it’s trying to join up with the rest of the Tear, which could be our way home. Assuming we’re more careful with it this time. And don’t worry about the shard accidentally activating. I think it has to be in direct contact with a pony for it to work, so it should be fine if I leave it in my pocket.” She sighed and glanced at the fire. “I’m sorry. I think we’re here because of me. I should have been more careful about what I said while I was holding the Angel’s Tear.”

 

 

Dash shook her head. “It’s okay, we can still get back. We just have to be careful.”

 

 

A loud thud next to Bubblegum made her jump, and she turned to see a large bowl of water that could probably substitute as her bathtub sitting on the table next to her. A large hand placed a trio of breadcrumbs next to it, though ‘crumb’ was hardly a word to describe them. Each was large enough to be a full meal for most ponies.

 

 

Bubblegum looked up to see the orangutan brushing the smaller crumbs from its hands as it eyed them curiously. It reached a hand back in toward Dash, and she flinched as it brushed her mane lightly with one finger. “Um, what’s it doing?”

 

 

Daring Do chuckled. “I think he likes your mane, Dash.”

 

 

“Well, he can’t have it,” Dash replied as she took a few steps back. The orangutan shrugged as it walked back to the broken window, where it began patching the hole with supplies in a nearby cabinet.

 

 

“What do we do now?” Bubblegum asked.

 

 

Daring Do picked up one of the breadcrumbs and took a bite from it. “I guess we follow the shard and hope the rest of the Tear isn’t too badly mangled. We should leave as soon as we can.”

 

 

The three ponies ate and drank their fill in silence, not wanting to waste time. The orangutan had finished repairing the window and now sat at a nearby table, eating its own meal and occasionally glancing back at them.

 

 

Once they had finished, Daring Do stood up and stretched her wings. “Let’s get going now. I don’t know how long the sun stays up in this world.”

 

 

Dash nodded and scratched the back of her head. “I wish we could thank him somehow,” she said with a glance at the orangutan. “We did kind of smash his window and barge into his home.”

 

 

Daring Do glanced at Dash’s mane, but she shook her head stubbornly. “No. He doesn’t get to keep my mane.”

 

 

“What about your tail? It’ll grow back,” Daring Do suggested. “He seemed to really like the colors, and we don’t really have much else to give.”

 

 

Dash was silent for a moment, considering their options. After a few seconds, she sighed in defeat. “Fine. I guess we don’t have much of a choice, considering we need to keep the shard if we want to get home.”

 

 

“Yeah. Speaking of which, I should be able to use it to cut off your tail. The edges are really sharp,” Daring Do said as she retrieved the Tear’s shard again.

 

 

“Is it really sharp enough to do that?” Dash asked skeptically.

 

 

Daring Do nodded. “I accidentally cut one of my wings with it when I pulled it from the tree. I think that’s why he helped me out, because I was injured,” she said, jerking her head in the direction of the orangutan. “Alright, hold still.” Daring Do carefully gripped the shard between her teeth. With a swift motion, she sliced neatly through the hair fibers before putting the gem back in her pocket.

 

 

“There. Now give that to him and we can go,” Daring Do said. Dash reluctantly picked up her severed tail before flying across the room and landing in front of the orangutan. Daring Do picked up Bubblegum and followed, placing her a ways off behind Dash.

 

 

“Here. Thanks for helping us. And sorry about the window,” Dash said with an apologetic nod toward the now boarded-up window. The orangutan nodded appreciatively and took the colorful hairs from her. The three ponies waved goodbye to him, and Daring Do picked Bubblegum back up before flying toward the exit.

 

 

Dash flew up beside Daring Do and Bubblegum. “Now let’s get out of here,” she said, relieved that they were finally on the way home again.

 

 

Daring Do nodded. “Yeah. And let’s use the door this time, okay?”

 

 

Dash sighed in annoyance. “Yeah, yeah. I know.” She flew over to the large wooden door and grabbed onto the doorknob with her forehooves, placing her rear hooves against the door frame so she could pull it open easier. With a grunt, she twisted the knob and heaved the door open enough for them to leave through. After Daring Do had flown past with Bubblegum, Dash flew around to the outer knob and pulled the door shut from there.

 

 

“I can’t believe we just gave my tail to a monkey,” Dash muttered as they started flying off into the forest, using the shard as a guide.

 

 

“It could have been worse. He could have squashed you or ripped your wings off,” Daring Do joked.

 

 

“Hey, you try being suddenly snatched up by a giant monkey and tell me you’re not scared,” Dash protested. “Not that I was scared, because I wasn’t. I was just surprised. Anyway, let’s keep going.” She flew off ahead of Daring Do, leading the way through the massive trees that seemed to get taller and taller the further they went.

 

Part 3

Spoiler

“How much further do you think?” Dash asked as they took a break from flying. They’d been traveling for what felt like hours, yet the light level had barely changed. Bubblegum thought the light difference might actually be due to the ever increasing height of the trees causing the ground to be darker.

 

Daring Do shrugged. “I don’t know, but the shard pulls harder the closer we get. It can’t be far.”

 

 

“Is it just me, or do the trees get taller the further we go?” Bubblegum asked as she gazed up at the canopy. The trees here seemed to stretch higher than clouds, almost as if the leaves themselves were the sky.

 

 

“I noticed that, too. Hopefully the animals living here aren’t any larger than before,” Daring said, rubbing a sore spot on one wing.

 

 

Bubblegum glanced into the forest. Daring Do’s comment had made her feel uneasy, and she really hoped there wasn’t something out there. They were sitting ducks out in the open, and the world they had arrived in hadn’t proven to be completely safe.

 

 

A moving shadow caught Bubblegum’s eye through her peripheral vision, and she looked in time to see a shape barreling toward them through the trees at an alarmingly fast speed. “Look out!” she shouted, scrabbling out of the way. Dash and Daring Do flew off in time to avoid a large rodent creature that landed heavily where they had been sitting moments before. It glared around angrily, its eyes black pits of malice.

 

 

“What is that thing?” Daring Do asked, hovering in the air a safe distance away.

 

 

“I don’t know, but it isn’t friendly,” Dash replied. The creature spun its head around suddenly and locked its gaze on Bubblegum, who backed away slowly. “Hold on, I’ll get you!” Dash shouted as she soared down toward the pink pony. She flew too low, however, and the creature whipped its head up in time to smack Dash straight in the chest with its muzzle, sending her flying into the shadows of the forest with a grunt.

 

 

Daring Do flew after Dash to try and help her, but the rodent had switched its attention to her. It reared back before launching itself high into the air, startling Bubblegum and catching Daring Do completely off guard. It swung at her with one of its clawed hands, but she managed to duck away at the last moment. That maneuver left her off balance, however, and she slammed into a tree before plummeting to the ground below.

 

 

The rodent landed a second later, and Bubblegum watched as it turned and paced menacingly toward Daring Do. “It’s gonna kill her!” she thought in fear. She glanced around wildly, but couldn’t see Dash anywhere. Bubblegum wasn’t the heroic type. She couldn’t do anything to help… Could she? “I have to try. They’ve already saved me on two separate occasions,” she realized. Bubblegum took a deep breath, forcing her terror down, and charged toward the creature.

 

 

Bubblegum shouted and leapt at the animal’s head in an attempt to knock it unconscious, or at least daze it for a few seconds. The impact knocked the air from her lungs, but it seemed to do the trick. She also heard another pony shouting, and looked up in time to see a blue blur rocketing through the air from the opposite direction. “This is gonna hurt,” her mind registered just as Dash slammed into the other side of the rodent’s head. The force traveled straight through the creature’s skull and into Bubblegum, who went flying in the opposite direction as a result.

 

 

Bubblegum tumbled across the ground, rolling over and over through the dirt and fallen leaves. “Damn, how hard can Dash kick?” she thought as she finally skidded to a halt about ninety yards away from where she started.

 

 

“Are you okay?” Dash shouted as she picked up Daring Do and flew over to Bubblegum.

 

 

“I’m fine,” Bubblegum called back as she sat up and rubbed her aching head. She felt something give beneath her as she did that, and she looked back to see that she had come to rest on the very edge of a ravine. “Shit,” she said as she began sliding down the cliff face.

 

 

Bubblegum smacked a few roots on her way down, but she came to a halt rather quickly and very much in one piece. She sat up again and glanced upward to see the ravine wasn’t nearly as large as she’d thought--it wasn’t even a ravine, really. More of a gully.

 

 

Dash flew over the top of the gully and let out a relieved breath when she saw Bubblegum. “Thank Celestia. I thought you’d have fallen much further,” she said as she set Daring Do down and landed.

 

 

“Me too,” Bubblegum said as she pulled herself to her hooves and brushed herself off.

 

 

“And don’t worry about that rat or whatever it was. We knocked it out with those kicks,” Dash said. “I was impressed, by the way. I didn’t know you had that in you, and it might still be awake if you hadn’t done that.”

 

 

Bubblegum nodded, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. “Thanks,” she replied. She wasn’t used to being the hero, and it was kind of an embarrassing feeling.

 

 

“Hey!” Daring Do said suddenly, making Bubblegum jump. She turned to see the khaki pony fumbling with something, and a moment later a small blue object whizzed from her hooves and through the air. It bounded down the gully and around a turn, where it disappeared from view.

 

 

“Was that the shard?” Dash asked.

 

 

Daring Do nodded. “It just slipped out of my pocket. Come on, we need to follow it.” The three ponies charged after the magical gem, and for the first time, Bubblegum found herself feeling something very strange. Despite having been in rather severe danger for most of the day, she found herself feeling happy at the time she’d spent with Dash and Daring Do.She almost didn’t want it to end.

 

 

As they neared the corner the shard had disappeared behind, Bubblegum felt a familiar prickle in the air. It was similar to what she felt when the Angel’s Tear had transported them to this strange world, and as they rounded the bend, there it was, looking quite worse for the wear. Cracks spiderwebbed through it, chunks of inert sapphire littered the ground around it, and it was about half its original size, Bubblegum noted with worry.

 

 

“It’s destroyed. We’ll never get back now,” Bubblegum said as her hopes rapidly fell.

 

 

“No, I’m sure it will still work. It--it has to,” Dash said as she ran over to the damaged gem. “Come on, let’s try.”

 

 

Daring Do eyed the Angel’s Tear warily. “Do you think it has enough magic left?”

 

 

“We’ll never know if we don’t try.” Dash carefully picked up the gem and held it out so Daring Do and Bubblegum could each rest a hoof on it. “Should I?” she asked.

 

 

Daring Do nodded. “You might as well.”

 

 

“Okay. Here goes.” Dash took a nervous breath and glanced back at the Tear. “Take us back to Equestria, the exact place you brought us from.”

 

 

Bubblegum felt her hoeps returning as the Angel’s Tear suddenly started glowing, just as it had before. It was short lived, however, as the gem fizzled out and returned to its usual dull mily light.

 

 

Dash glanced at Daring Do, confusion and fear warring on her face. “What happened?”

 

 

Daring Do shook her head, unwilling to say the terrible truth. It had taken too much magic to bring them there, and now they were stuck in a dangerous, unfamiliar world.

 

 

“T-take us back to Equestria, to the exact location you brought us from,” Dash repeated desperately. The Angel’s Tear flashed again, but still they remained in the forest. “Take us back to Equestria! Take us back, damn it!”

 

 

“Dash, it’s no use,” Daring Do said quietly.

 

 

Dash stared at the glowing gem in her hooves. “But…”

 

 

Daring Do shook her head again. “We aren’t going back.”

 

 

Dash dropped the Tear into the dirt and slumped onto the ground. “Not going back.” She fell back into the dirt and lied there, staring up at the sky. “I’ll never see my friends again.”

 

 

Bubblegum turned around and walked back in the direction they came, trying to wrap her head around what had happened. The Angel’s Tear couldn’t bring them back, even after everything they’d gone through. The forest was full of things that wanted to kill them. How long would they last? A month? A week? A day?

 

 

A glint in the dirt caught Bubblegum’s eye, and she turned to see a piece of the Tear buried in the ground. “That’s the shard Daring Do found,” she realized. It seemed to still have some magic left, but would it be enough? There wasn’t any harm in trying. Desperate for it to work, Bubblegum dug the shard from the earth and whirled around. “Look! Do you think this will be enough?” she asked excitedly.

 

 

Dash sat up slowly, and her eyes lit up when she saw the shard. “Where’d you get that? Doesn’t matter, bring it over here! Hurry!” she said as she picked the Angel’s Tear back up. Daring Do also seemed to regain a little bit of hope, and she put her hooves over top of the gem.

 

 

Bubblegum raced over and placed the shard in one of the holes where a chunk was missing. The Angel’s Tear seemed to pulse for a moment, and the three ponies glanced at each other. “Ready?” Daring Do asked.

 

 

Dash nodded and turned to Bubblegum. “You say it.”

 

 

“Okay.” Bubblegum took a deep breath and gazed into the crystal. It seemed to be over half its original size with the new addition, but it was hard to tell in its damaged state. She would just have to hope. “Take us back to Equestria, to the road in front of my parents’ farm.”

 

 

The Angel’s Tear started glowing like it had the previous times, except now it seemed more sure, as if the gem knew it had enough magic to do what it had been asked. The light grew brighter and brighter, to the point where it was all Bubblegum could see, and she sighed with relief as the world disappeared around her.

 

Part 4

Spoiler

Bubblegum shook her head, trying to clear the haze from her vision. When she looked around she saw the familiar land of her home lit by the gray light of early morning, and she pulled herself excitedly to her hooves. They’d made it back to Equestria!

 

“Yes! We’re home!” Dash shouted as she did flips in the air to celebrate.

 

Daring Do jumped to her hooves and rushed over to give Bubblegum a hug. “You did it! We’re back because of you!”

 

Bubblegum smiled, unsure of what to say. Daring Do made it sound like she did something amazing, but all she did was notice something stuck in the ground. Dash and Daring Do did more of the work.

 

A weight suddenly crashed into them as Dash bowled the two ponies over, and they laughed as they tumbled through the grass, exhilarated at having survived their journey through a dangerous world.

 

“Bubblegum!” a familiar voice shouted. Bubblegum turned to see her mom racing toward her from the front door of their house.

 

“Mom!” Bubblegum struggled to her hooves and ran over to meet her mom, who embraced her warmly. Her dad and brother weren’t far behind, and they joined in on the hug.

 

“You came back!” Bubblegum’s mom said, choking back tears. “I was starting to think we’d never see you again. I started to lose hope after the first week, but your brother wouldn’t let us stop--”

 

“Wait, week? But mom, I can’t have been gone for more than a couple days,” Bubblegum said.

 

Her mom pulled back a little bit and stared at her, confused. “A couple days? But it’s been nearly a month since you disappeared.”

 

Bubblegum stared at her mom, her mouth agape. A month? How could she have been gone an entire month? There was no way she could have been unconscious for that long.

 

Conversation behind them caught Bubblegum’s attention, and she turned to see Dash and Daring Do walking down the road, with the blue pony tossing a small glowing stone up into the air every few seconds before catching it on the way down. Were they going to leave without saying goodbye?

 

“Hold on, I’ll be right back,” Bubblegum said as she pulled away. Something held on to one of her forehooves, and she turned to see her mom holding on with a worried expression. “I’m just going to talk with them. I won’t disappear again,” she said comfortingly. Her mom nodded reluctantly before letting go, and she turned around and ran toward the departing ponies.

 

“Wait!” Bubblegum called as she neared Dash and Daring Do. They turned around as she approached and stopped walking. “You’re leaving?”

 

Dash nodded. “We have to get this back to Twilight. Plus, we need to figure out what happened to the two ponies we tied up,” she said, holding out the stone for Bubblegum to see. She realized it wasn’t a stone at all, but a piece of the Angel’s Tear no larger than a strawberry. “Kind of pitiful, huh? It’s the only piece left with any magic. I don’t think we have to worry about something this small going haywire. Oh, and all those broken shards of sapphire lost their magic, so they’re yours to keep. I’d recommend selling them.”

 

“I wish you could stay a little longer,” Bubblegum said. She was surprised at just how sad she was at the prospect of them leaving even though they’d only known each other for a day or so.

 

“Us too, but we really do have to go,” Daring Do said. “We can always come back to visit sometime. We’re usually busy, but I’m sure we can find time.”

 

Bubblegum nodded, a little bit of her excitement returning. “Okay. I’ll hold you to that.”

 

“We’ll have to honor it, then.” Dash turned to go, but she stopped when she had a thought. “It’s not like a huge change or anything, but you don’t seem like the same pony I met tied up in a cart.”

 

“Really?” Bubblegum asked.

 

“Yep. You’re not as quiet or shy anymore,” Dash said.

 

Bubblegum smiled. “I guess that’s partially thanks to you two.”

 

“Well, I do tend to have that effect on ponies,” Dash joked. Daring Do smacked her with one wing, and she chuckled. “Anyway, we really do have to go. If it’s really been a month, Twilight will be worried sick. I guess time passes differently in that world or something.”

 

“Okay,” Bubblegum said. Dash and Daring Do pulled her in for a quick hug before turning back down the road, talking calmly back and forth as if life-threatening situations weren’t anything new for them.

 

“That was an incredible journey,” Bubblegum thought, smiling as she watched the two pegasi disappear from view. A bright light suddenly filled the left side of her vision, and she turned to see the sun peeking over the distant mountains. “I think Dash was right. Maybe I did change.” She certainly felt braver, more sure of her actions. It wasn’t super noticeable, but it was a start.

 

Bubblegum sighed as she watched the sunrise. Someday the memories of that journey would begin to fade, and eventually she might not even believe it really happened. She was certain that the friendships would remain, though. Even if they wouldn’t visit very often, she looked forward to the next time Dash and Daring Do would stop by. She smiled to herself. Despite nearly dying multiple times, she couldn’t deny that it was all worth it.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Booker
Italicized a bunch of text that unitalicized itself.