"Okay Girls, let's split up and find the source of this Spatial Cage," Twilight called out to her friends as they stood in the Throne Room, thinking of a plan to solve this disastrous issue.
"Pinkie Pie, I want you to go to the west wing, find anything that suspicious that could help us figure this out," She told her friend, receiving a joking salute from her pink pony pal.
"Rarity and Rainbow Dash, You go ask the guards in the barracks, if anypony has an idea of who could be behind this, it's them." She told two of her other friends, receiving an "Of Course, Darling," From Rarity and a "Leave it to me!" From Rainbow Dash.
"Applejack, I would like you to question the staff, They know the way around the castle better than anypony, if the perpetrator is hiding somewhere, they'll know where it is." She told her orange friend, receiving an "Okay Pardner," in response as she readjusted her hat.
"And Finally, Fluttershy, You and I will be searching for the source of this cage directly, if we find it we can disable the spell, and free us from this trap." She told her final friend, who nodded meekly and took a few steps closer to her.
"Ready girls?!" She asked her friends, getting a chorus of affirmatives in all different manners.
"Then let's stop this spell!" She cried, and the Elements of Harmony split to begin their search.
-----------------------
Starlight was blank-faced as she stared at the view outside the large windows from the hallway leading to the royal library.
She saw ships of intricate build, waves of water slamming against their hulls, And cannons firing from two larger ships towards three smaller ships as they sailed between a fleet of smaller ships.
Starlight looked back at the door of the Library, and opened it a smidgen, peeking inside to see her boss still staring intently at the little illusion he made on the table, grumbling to himself about the colors not being right.
She looked back at the Ships and boats outside the window, then she looked at the illusion that Blueblood created on the table.
Then back to the window.
And back to Blueblood.
Over and over, she looked at the two groups of ships and sails, one outside the window, and the other on a table in the library, before reaching a very important conclusion.
"Blueblood isn't in danger, So I don't need to do anything about this," She closed the door to the library, and sat on the floor, trying to relax.
"Ah, Miss Glimmer, so good to see you," She stiffened as she turned her head to see Princess Celestia smiling down at her.
"I see you enjoy sitting on the floor, as you should, Follow me," She told her and started walking, forcing Starlight to walk swiftly after her.
"Sorry Blueblood, But you're on your own," She said in her head, "Don't get into a fight while I'm with your Aunt, she might actually just kill me if you do," Her legs moved faster to catch up with the Tall Princess.
--------------------
Pinkie Pie is many things.
She is an Element of Harmony.
An Earth Pony.
Joyous and Fun.
Pink.
A Good Friend.
And so much more.
However, one thing that Pinkie Pie isn't, is good at following orders.
Even if the consequences of not following them are dire.
So, when she was told to explore a portion of Canterlot Castle to find clues as to what might be causing the Spatial Cagey thingamajig that Twilight was blabbering about, She asked herself a very important question.
What are clues?
So when she saw the large set of doors in the middle of the hallway, with nopony around to guard them, she saw a set of options in front of her.
Does she, A: Call one of the guards over to ask them what is inside the room?
Does she, B: Go and tell Twilight that she found a big set of doors and that she wants to check out what's inside?
Or Does she, C: Move on and continue her investigation?
If you chose one of these options, you are wrong.
Because Pinkie Pie clearly chose D: Enter through the doors without asking.
-----------------------
"I thought you said you would be staying outside," I said as I turned to see Starlight walk back into the library.
Only that it wasn't Starlight that I was looking at.
"Oh, I didn't know you were in here, I would've knocked if I knew, Hi my name is Pinkie Pie, I'm looking for an evil wizard who cast an awful mean spell on the castle to bring it to the middle of the ocean with ghost pirates because pirates are bad and so are ghosts sometimes but I don't know I never met a real ghost hey that thing you got there looks like these ghost pirates are you an evil wizard? Oh did I say my name was Pinkie Pie already? Because it is." I blinked at her words, my mind empty of responses to give to the Pink Earth Pony.
"OH!" She suddenly exclaimed, "I forgot! It's rude to ask for someone's name before introducing yourself, you know?" She said and stared at me with lidded eyes, "You should have introduced yourself before asking my name. It's Pinkie Pie by the way, what's yours?"
"..."
"Did I say my name already? It's Pinkie Pie if you're wondering." She smiled and nodded her head as if she did a good job and is proud of her accomplishments.
I stared at her blankly before I asked my question.
"Who are you?"
The pony quickly opened her eyes wide in shock, "Did I forget to introduce myself?!" She mumbled something to herself before wiggling her curly hair around as she rubbed her head before she looked me straight in the eyes and told me.
"I'm Pinkie Pie,"
"...Yeah, I'm too sober to deal with you," I said and stood up from the chair I was sitting at, turned off the magic powering the small illusion I tried to create, and walked out of the library.
Ignoring the steps of the pink earth pony following me.
------------------
"Look! The City is back!" One of the staff members of the castle cheered as he saw that the endless ocean and fleet of ghost ships that surrounded the castle was gone and the normal view from the castle was back.
Cheers rang out around the castle, and Celestia was happy to see that her student once again managed to solve a problem and save the day.
"But Princess," Twilight tried to explain, "We still don't know how that Spatial Cage showed up, or who cast it,"
"It is fine Twilight," Celestia told her student, "Leave the rest to the guards," She smiled.
"B-But the perpetrator is still out there!" Twilight tried to get her Princess to see reason, but she was ignored, forcing Twilight to groan as she went to search for her friends.
"Hey Twilight! I don't really understand what happened, but we did it!" The first to be found was Rainbow Dash, who had a victor's smile on her face as she flew loops near the tall ceiling of the hallways, soon Followed by Fluttershy and Applejack, and later Rarity after a few minutes of searching.
She was talking with one of the maids about the dress codes for the staff.
Now everyone was gathered and ready to return to Ponyville, everyone except for Pinkie Pie.
"I didn't see her anywhere," Applejack said as the group started looking for the last Element of Harmony.
"Excuse me dear," Rarity called out to a purple and aquamarine Mare who stood outside a door, "Have you seen a Pink earth Pony nearby? She has a large head of hair and a bouncy... personality."
The mare stared at Rarity before silently pointing her to a specific room nearby, her eyes unblinking and twitching.
"Oh, Thank you?" The Purple haired unicorn told the mare as she opened the door.
"Wowee this thing is delicious! How high of a percentage did you say this was?" Only to blink as she saw her friend Pinkie Pie, standing on one leg as she balanced on the backrest of a chair, an open bottle in her hand.
"It's only 12 percent, It's simple wine after all, not anything advanced," Rarity quickly turned away from the door and hid by the wall as she saw the other pony in the room, sitting regally on a sofa, an expensive glass in hand as he slowly sipped from the wine, his muscles at ease as the drink went down his throat, his golden hair reflecting the sunlight coming through the window like a field of golden wheat, his white coat smooth yet rugged.
A Beauty in the streets, a Beast in the sheets.
Rarity had to stop herself from squealing in excitement from being in the same area as the prince of her dreams.
"He can't be allowed to see me, I need it to be at the Gala," She thought to herself as her plans for the best night ever came to mind.
"I need somepony else to get Pinkie Pie away from him, and not ruin my chances in the future... Rainbow Dash? No, She's a bit too obnoxious, she will definitely make me look bad. Fluttershy? She's too quiet and feminine, she might accidentally steal him. Twilight? No, She must have some sort of history with him already, being a student of Princess Celestia means that her chances to get with Blueblood are too high. Applejack?"
Rarity blinked before she giggled to herself in a voice she would never publicly be caught making.
Before she made her way to search for Applejack.
--------------------
It wasn't long before the mare who went by the name Pinkie Pie was asleep on a couch, an empty bottle of wine in her grasp as she hugged it closer to herself, a snot bubble blowing from her nose as she mumbled in her sleep some unintelligible words before giggling in her sleep.
And Prince Blueblood could do nothing but stare blankly at the pony who according to Princess Celestia, was a national hero who saved the nation multiple times.
The prince looked at the sleeping pony, and then at the half-empty bottle next to him, then at the emptied wine glass near his sofa.
Before he picked up the entire bottle and chugged its contents before making his way back to his room, intent on catching some early sleep.
------------------
Applejack sighed as she found Pinkie Pie, sleeping with a bottle of alcohol in her grasp, a soft smile on her face as the snot bubble above her nose grew larger and larger.
She groaned as she picked up her sleeping friend on her back and made her way back to the rest of her group.
"You need a diet," She mumbled quietly to the sleeping Pinkie Pie.
POP
And then grimaced as she felt something sticky and wet roll down her neck.
"Yuck."
--------------------
Cosmos smiled as Prince Blueblood once again appeared in her prison dimension.
"Before you say anything," He told her as he took his place of lying on the void next to her, "Check this out,"
And with a glow to his horn, a small screen appeared in front of him, followed by a weird remote with colorful buttons and two joysticks.
"Here," He said as he passed her the illusionary controller, "This should be working because I'm asleep, you should have seen me try something like this awake," He smiled at her as another controller appeared in front of him.
"Is this-" Cosmos wanted to ask, but was stopped when the prince chuckled to himself before looking at her from the corner of his eye.
"I thought it was boring to just sit here and do nothing all the time, so I learned a new spell," He smiled as the screen he created started showing a room made of stone, on a throne in the middle sat a skull wearing a crown, two bubbles floated above the throne.
One held a pale-skinned, dark blue-haired human-looking girl, while the other held what looked like a toaster with a face.
A tanned man with green hair and a pair of glasses slowly approached the skull, before the screen changed to showcase a night sky and a sea of clouds beneath it, with the title of the game he put on.
Cosmos smiled widely as she looked at what her prince did for her, before she turned to him with a wide smile, and swore to herself that she would one day repay him hundredfold for what he did to her here today.
But with a flurry of emotion going through her non-corporeal heart, she could only simplify the things she wanted to say to three short words, words that she knew she couldn't say right now.
So she settled with two other words.
"Thank you,"
Blueblood just chuckled and pressed the green button on his controller.
Cosmos looked at him go to the two-player option on the screen before she smirked.
"So, you wanna' go out with me now?"
"No."
"Haha! Shut down once again!" Cosmos smiled widely at the routine of questions she built with him already.
She turned her head to her controller, and her two antelope horns glowed a weak pink, as she tested the buttons and joysticks of the illusion dream controller.
"You know," She wanted to say, "Maybe being stuck here isn't so bad," But she didn't.
So with a glow to her horns, she pressed the button with the letter 'A' and joined the game.