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Part 1: Someplace Happy
“Buffy, we need a vacation.”
“Need, yes. Can afford, no.”
“Okay, but we still need one.”
Buffy sighed. “What we need is a vacation from reality. To someplace...happy.”
Dawn idly plucked a toy from her drawer, and hummed. Shoo-bi-doo, shoo-shoo-bi-doop....
“I said happy, not spun-sugar sweet.”
“Hey, they had adventures! And fun!”
“They were also animated. Badly.”
“Still. I wish we could go there.”
Unseen, Halfrek grinned and said, “Wish granted.”
#
Buffy blinked. “It’s so...pastel.”
“You’ve got your vacation,” Dawn pointed out. “Let’s enjoy it.”
“But—”
“Hi, I’m Firefly!” said the winged pony as it landed. “Welcome to Ponyland!”
Part 2: Over the Rainbow
“Look, we need to get home.”
Dawn pouted. “So soon?”
“There’s probably disaster happening as we speak.”
Wind Whistler sighed. “Maybe the Moochik can help.”
#
“I don’t think you can get there from here,” the Moochik said.
“But we have to!”
“Well, there’s one possibility...”
#
The Rainbow of Light leapt upward; the Ponies sang. "Child of the Rainbow, child of the Rainbow, come down and listen, come down and hear...”
Several verses later, a gauzily-clad girl danced into view. “We need your help,” Firefly explained.
“Of course,” Polychrome said, waving for Buffy and Dawn to follow her into the sky.
Part 3: Follow the Yellow Brick – Ring?
“It’s complicated,” said Glinda the Good. “Your ‘reality’ isn’t the same as Dorothy’s and the Wizard’s.”
This time, Buffy pouted. “So you can’t send us home either?”
“Not directly. But I daresay I can get you closer.”
“A quest?” Dawn asked.
“Not exactly.” Glinda produced a box holding four rings. Two glowed yellow; two glowed green. “You’ll need these.”
#
Later, beside the Truth Pond, the girls donned the yellow rings. “Here goes nothing!”
“I just hope there are hair dryers where we’re going.”
They jumped in – and vanished.
#
“Uh-oh,” Buffy said, dripping. “Way too many choices.”
“And no road signs.”
Part 4: And Through the Wood
“Dimensional portals,” said Buffy, “suck.” They’d found pools leading to Smurfville, ancient Egypt, Castle Grayskull, and the Land of the Lost...but no hair dryers.
“Please, just one more!”
“And if it’s Jurassic Park? With raptors?”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“In my other pants. The dry ones. Back home.”
“Where we’ll never get unless we keep trying.”
“Someone could have posted signs.”
“What, and – wait!” Dawn pointed to a robed, silver-bearded man striding silently through the trees.
“Wizard?”
“Definitely.”
“Let’s see where he goes.”
They crept after him, watched him step calmly into a pool, looked at each other...and followed.
Part 5: Off to See the Wizard
“And ye ladies are following me, why?”
“We’re lost,” Dawn said. “You obviously weren’t.”
The wizard eyed them critically. “Ye aren’t from around here, are ye?”
Buffy scowled. “And your first clue was?”
The wizard sighed. “I suppose ye want directions.”
“You think?”
“Magic isn’t free.”
Dawn indicated her rings. “We could trade.”
“Trinkets – dangerous, too. Still, ye don’t belong in Shadowdale.”
Dawn’s eyes widened. “Shadowdale? Waitasecond. Then you’re—”
“Shush, lass – someone might hear. Let’s have those, now.”
“So you are helping.”
Elminster sighed again. “Aye. Farewell, lasses.” He gestured – and they vanished.
#
“Grand Central Station?”
“Hey, it’s closer.”
Part 6: No Place Like Home
“Dai stiho!”
Buffy blinked. “Die what?”
The tween girl frowned. “You’re not wizards? But you transited—”
“Extracontinual. And messy.” said an unhappy floor-level voice.
“Talking cat?” Dawn knelt to skritch.
It dodged. “Patch first, talk later.”
#
Later, Rhiow purred. “Lovely. Nonetheless...”
Buffy nodded. “Home would be nice.”
“I have coordinates,” Dairine said. “Elminster only missed by five strings.”
“Must there be tech-babble?” Buffy asked.
Rhiow rumbled. “You could land in Cleveland...”
“Endorsing the babble.”
“Good.” Rhiow and Dairine murmured, the air wrinkled, and the travelers vanished.
#
“Home again?”
Dawn checked the freezer. “We have shrimp!”
“Whew.”
“Best. Vacation. Ever.”