At first, there was nothing…

Then came the awareness of existence, followed by vaguely perceived stimuli, and after those, the actual sensations – touch, smell, taste, then hearing, and finally vision. Not that it mattered, as they floated far from any solid surfaces with nothing in sight but the immense, featureless white void.

One of them tried to talk, but no sound came out. She tried once more, and this time, the other two could hear a distorted buzz, as if they were hearing a voice from underwater. Even though they could not understand each other, it was sound, something that proved that they weren’t ghosts in the aether.

They grew more restless, more frantic, and with each beat of activity, colors other than the pure white registered in their eyes, as if their muscles painted the grey, brown, blue, orange, red and black into the canvas of reality. Sounds, heavily muffled at first, became clearer by the second, followed by the feeling of freefalling.

Scootaloo, having the instincts of a flying being, reacted by beating her wings fiercely to gain enough updraft and break her fall. It really wasn’t enough for a softer landing than her friends', who crashed to the ground – floor? – with small thuds.

“Owww… did anyone take note of the cutie mark?” groaned a dizzy Apple Bloom, attempting to get back up on her hooves. After a little while, she gave up and lay back down, holding her head where it had met the ground.

The pegasus, a little less disoriented than her earthen counterpart, shook her head to clear up the stars still in her vision. She was met with no success. “I don’t even know what happened…” she slurred.

“Ah don’t know either. Ah just remember us enterin’ the library after Spike, an’ then that big WHOOSH, an’ now we’re here and-” Apple Bloom was cut off by a soft moan she recognized instantly. “Sweetie Belle?”

On one of the dark room’s corners sat the little unicorn, moaning pitifully as she attempted to get up, looking even worse off than Apple Bloom was. A quiet grunt, and the sound of splashing came to the fillies’ ears.

Despite her repulse, Scootaloo only wrinkled her nose as she stepped closer. “Sweetie Belle?”

The unicorn’s retching diminished in intensity, down to dry heaves, and from that to heavy breathing. “My… my head hurts…” she moaned, “and my horn…”

“Come on, Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom’s over there, let's at least get to her...” the pegasus encouraged, stepping close to help her friend walk.

The complete darkness weighed down on the dazed and sickened young ponies as they huddled together in a search for comfort. Not much time passed before all three were in a deep sleep.

Twilight blinked. Then she blinked again. ‘What just happened?’ she thought as she looked around the library, which seemed normal except for three things.

One, Spike was slumped at the foot of the stairs, breathing raggedly with a hand over his chest.

Two, the Princess was sitting on her haunches, sweating profusely, with a distant, shocked look in her eyes.

And three, the floor around them was drenched with an unnatural liquid, an incorporeal substance with the consistency of both mist and molasses at the same time.

As it was, going first for her assistant, who, unlike Celestia, looked hurt, was a no-brainer. Spike was breathing a little more easily by the time she reached her, and looked at her with confused eyes. “Twilight… what did you do?”

“I don’t know, Spike. I didn't even notice I was doing anything.” She nuzzled him. “How do you feel?”

“Not very good…” the dragon admitted, stumbling onto his feet. Twilight offered a leg to support his efforts, and he smiled weakly at her. She took it as an ‘okay’ sign and readied herself to lift the baby dragon onto her back.

Of all things, the unicorn wasn't expecting to launch him at the ceiling with a speed that would make Rainbow Dash jealous. He landed with an ‘oof’ on her back. “Oh my goodness, Spike, I’m so sorry!” she immediately stammered, startled out of her wits.

Spike shook his head to put his spinning eyes back in place, rubbing his sore head. “Ow. What was that all about now?”

“I-I don’t know! I just tried to lift you to my back, and that happened! It’s like I have no control over my magic!”

“Twilight…” a voice called from nearby. Celestia, now a little more recovered, stood up and walked gingerly over to the two. “Are you two okay?” The dual nods tranquilized the alicorn to an extent. “What about the foals?”

“Foals?” Spike asked, confused. “There weren't any foals here, Princess.”

Celestia blinked. “I distinctly remember hearing at least three children's voices calling us when we stopped…” At that, her eyes wandered to the entrance, where something red caught her attention. Propelled by the breeze, a mane bow rolled off outside, and Celestia focused to get a hold of it.

The bow exploded like a firecracker, its ashes scattering all around by the pure force of the blast. And once again, Equestria’s head of government was left speechless.

“Princess…” Twilight broke the uncertain silence.

“My magic…” Celestia mumbled to herself, eyeing the cinders. Then, the alicorn looked at the mana flowing between their hooves, and did something no one would expect – she uttered a quiet curse. “Spike, lock down all doors and windows. Twilight Sparkle, collect the book we were reading. We have much to discuss and do.”

The urgent, stern tone didn’t leave any room for hesitance or questioning, and the two quickly moved to fulfill their orders.

A sudden, piercing noise scared the young trio awake. It rang out again immediately after, but this time, Scootaloo beamed. That ear-piercing whoosh of air, of something flying extremely fast, could only mean one thing. “Rainbow Dash!” she yelled in joy, pacing around in circles.

“Scootaloo, not so loud, please…” Sweetie Belle complained, holding her head. “My head is still pounding.”

“Sorry, Sweetie Belle. But listen, Rainbow Dash is out there!”

“Y’all say it like y’didn’t expect that,” Apple Bloom remarked.

The filly’s mood soured. “Ugh, don’t you guys get it? If Rainbow Dash is outside, we’re near Ponyville! We just have to get outta this room.” She moved to the thin line of light reflecting off the floor and tried to push the lower flaps of the door open. They didn’t budge. “Ugh, I can’t see anything, this place is too dark! Sweetie Belle, can you give us some light?”

“Hold on, let me try…”

A moment later, a light flickered on the horn of the trio's unicorn, who stared at it in awe. “Wow, Sweetie Belle, yer improvin’!” Apple Bloom cheered. “Ya didn’t do it so easily before!”

The white foal nodded absentmindedly. Every time she had tried to use her magic before, it commonly didn’t work, or backfired outright, which usually resulted in her being sick and dizzy for a few hours. Nurse Redheart, at Rarity’s request, had examined her, and came up with a simple diagnosis: Sweetie Belle had problems with mana control. It was a normal condition, which would be taken care of naturally as she aged. For the time being, what little she could cast required her to focus some more and do it slowly. Telekinesis was out of question.

However, the light she had summoned came up both abnormally quickly and surprisingly easily. Furthermore, it relieved her of the aches she still felt. But this magic, it was… ‘smooth’, without the ‘spikes’ and ‘edges’ she felt her mana normally had; it was like she wasn’t using her own powers. It was strange, but it felt good.

“Hey, guys, look!” Scootaloo interrupted, pointing at the door: instead of the usual semi-oval shape with three flaps, this door was a solid wood rectangle with a doorknob much higher up than any they had ever seen before. It was like they were in a giant’s house.

A quick scan around their claustrum revealed other things, all of them a lot bigger than normal: a bed, a nightstand, and an open wardrobe, its contents, which they found out were clothes, strewn all over the place.

Forgetting all about their current situation, the Crusaders dug in, giggling happily. “Look at me! I’m a super-heroine!” Sweetie Belle called, a large towel tied around her neck like a cape.

“Ah’m a fashion superstar!” Apple Bloom called, balancing a comically large set of star-shaped glasses on her snout.

Scootaloo emerged from the pile of garments wearing an overly large t-shirt with an logo saying 'AC-DC' on it. “Doesn’t this look cool?”

They continued frolicking on the fabrics, laughing and cracking jokes, until the same noise that woke them up rang out again. This time, it wasn’t a scary chord, but a sound of joy.

The massive explosion that knocked them clear off their hooves and shook whatever building they were in to its very foundations killed the mood in an instant.

“W-what in tarnation?!” Apple Bloom stuttered out, struggling to get out from under the pile of clothes that had swallowed her.

Before any of the others could answer, a voice came from outside. “STOP BOMBING US!”

The three remembered they were most likely in the room of somepony that didn’t like the idea of sudden and unknown visitors on their quarters, and would be rather miffed at the mess they had made. Or worse, a bad-tempered, foal-eating giant!

In an example of subconscious teamwork, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood side by side, while Scootaloo jumped on their backs and twisted the irritatingly rounded knob with her mouth, finally opening the door. The area outside didn’t seem populated, so they scurried out, only to stop and cover their noses with their hooves. “Ewww, what’s this smell?” Sweetie Belle complained. “It’s worse than the Everfree Forest!”

A strange bellow, deep, raspy and a little choked, very reminiscent of an angry cow. And then a yell, “CHARGER!”

A shrill, angry ‘MOOOOOO!’. Fast, heavy steps. A deep noise of something heavy hitting stone. More yells, and then something the fillies could only think of as somepony setting off many fireworks of different types at once. A pitifully weak groan, and then silence.

Then, a shape emerged on the doorway seeping light into the room.

A witch left behind crying undisturbed, one less hunter in the world, and now a charger taken out without incident. In Coach's opinion, it was some really quiet going since they’d left the last safe house at very early dawn. Of course, the flyboys doing their best to level the city block they were running through – to cover a retreat, according to Nick – soured things a lot. They had to hurry; who knew when they'd pick the bridge as a target, and if they did before they'd crossed it to the CEDA evac...

He glued his back to the wall and peeked through the door-less entrance in front of him. It was clear – no zombies, no noises, just the darkness of an abandoned jazz club like the one they'd been through in Rayford. “Clear! Get inside, people!”

Rochelle went in first, followed by Ellis and himself, with Nick pulling the caboose. Ellis went to one of the benches and sat down for a second to adjust the scope of his newly-acquired rifle, while the others made a sweep of the other rooms close by. Nick grunted in approval as he looked at something in the adjacent room, not far from them.

As Ellis screwed one of the bolts a little tighter, something called his eye. He stood up to look behind one of the benches, and his pupils glinted. “Well, lookie over here…”

As Nick tore off strips of cloth from the bodies at one corner of the bar, thinking of the sin he was going to commit to good beverage, he heard footsteps behind him. “What’cha got, champ?” he asked, knowing who it was without even looking.

Ellis lifted his catch proudly to eye level. “Fifty bucks, all mine!”

“Yeah, great, save them to buy us a drink when we’re outta here.” The former con man knew better than to call Ellis out on his weird tendencies after so much time with him. Besides, Keith’s tales, an obsession with amusement park rides, and plain and simple harmless lunacy were an always welcome break from the daily struggles and pains they faced. Not that he wouldn’t drop dead before admitting it, of course.

“A'ight. Say, what’s that yer doin’, Mollies?”

“Wanna help?”

“Sure!”

“Did ya see that?” Apple Bloom asked after the weird creature with the stallion voice disappeared through the doorway. “That thing talked!”

“I’m just happy that he didn’t see us,” Sweetie Belle whispered. Unlike the other two, she wasn’t exactly curious about the enormous talking ape-bear-pig thing.

If Scootaloo was afraid, she didn’t show it as she strutted forwards and out of cover. “Where are you going, Scootaloo?” the unicorn questioned, a tone of urgency in her voice. “Get back here! If he sees you…”

“Oh, come on, that big guy’s a doofus, he won't even know we're there! Let’s see what he'll do!” With that, the pegasus ignored her friends’ warnings and proceeded to peek past the doorway. Her target was in her sights, messing with something in the corner.

A movement distracted her, and she looked up. The creature in white, which seemed to have stopped messing with a bottle that for some reason had a rag on its mouth, looked back at her.

He blinked.

She blinked.

They blinked together.

Nick’s hand immediately went for the holster on his leg when the… thing, appeared on the doorway, but the sight made him reconsider. It was too small, too bright, and too steady in its movements – whatever it was, it wasn’t an infected. Then, it looked straight at him with a surprised face.

He analyzed the situation: irritability, lack of concentration, hallucinations… yeah, he knew what sleep deprivation could do to one’s brain. “I need to get some more rest in...” But when he lowered the hand he'd just used to rub his eyes, the thing was still there, staring fixedly at him with a confused expression. “What the…?”

He took a step forward, bending down with a hand extended. Halfway through, the spot of orange seemed to notice his arm, its purple eyes locking straight onto his hand, and, with a scream, it ran away from him. The sound, shrill and terrified, startled him out of his confused reverie, and he yelled as well, falling on his rear down on the floor.

Ellis was with him in an instant. “Nick! The hell was that, man? Ya scared the shit outta me!”

The other two survivors came down, skipping the stairs in a sprint. “Nicolas?” Coach asked worriedly as Ellis helped him up to his feet. “We heard screaming from down here. You okay there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He brushed off the hand on his shoulder, collected his trusty P226 and sneaked into the back hall of the jazz club, the way they had entered through. The others followed him, knowing something was wrong – Nick would normally retort to everything with an at least slightly snarky remark; for him not to say a thing, something was definitely off.

They watched as the younger man leaned to look under tables and behind benches, their fingers on the triggers. Eventually, the former criminal uttered a quiet ‘what the hell?’, which prompted them to approach. As they leaned down, each had different reactions.

Ellis made a confused face comparable to Rochelle upon her first contact with the mud men a week before.

Rochelle turned to look at Nick, looking just as befuddled as he was.

Coach arched an eyebrow. “You gotta be kidding me.”

There, hidden in a corner of a deserted, run down jazz club in a zombie-riddled New Orleans, three creatures that could only be described as miniature cartoon ponies were huddled together, trembling under a table.

As Celestia spoke, Twilight found her entrails in an increasingly tighter knot. “… so I cannot trust my magic. Whatever happened when we were reading this tome has amplified my powers far above what I believe is safe to test out,” she finished.

The smaller pony shook her head. “Just a second, Princess. Let me organize these thoughts."

“Very well,” the alicorn said with a serene tone. “I can’t ask you to help if you don’t understand the situation.”

Relieved by the free pass, Twilight nodded. “So, something in your book has altered our magic?”

“Yes.”

“And some foals were caught in a spell you’ve cast unintentionally?”

“Precisely. A teleportation spell, to be exact. The pattern of mana ripping through dimensions is very characteristic.”

“But, Princess, isn’t it impossible for one to teleport anything if caster isn’t included in the teleporting mass?”

Despite her grim mood, Celestia smiled fondly. Twilight was her favorite student for a reason. “And therein lies our problem. This variation of the teleportation spell has never been accounted for before. The Research Council has tried to make a variation where the caster doesn’t have to move as well for over two millennia, but we’ve never had any success.”

The younger mare’s eyes lit up at that, the information overloading her synapses and common sense. “Princess! This is revolutionary! You have invented a completely new transportation spell!” Her mouth flew out of control as her mind was flooded with ideas of how the new variant of magic could be applied. And its uses! And how much they could discover from that! It was a completely new branch of magic!

An ‘ahem’ from her teacher brought her right back down to earth. “Twilight, while I appreciate the excitement, don't lose focus. I did not so much as cast the spell as much as my magic flared out of control, and right now, we have three foals somewhere out there, possibly in danger, and we have to get them back before something happens to them.”

Author's Note

The clothes scene was shamelessly written for the d'aw factor alone. Sue me.