Equestria Nova: Brave New World

by Al-1701

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Adventure, Crossover, Human, Anthro, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 73642

A colony of ponies travel to a new world to bring out its best, but the world might bring out the worst in them.

The mirror held in the Crystal Empire opens once every 30 moons to Canterlot High. At least it did.

The mirror has started to open once every five moons but not to Canterlot High. It opens to a completely different world. Celestia has created a colonization effort called Equestria Nova to establish a presence in this new world. Ponies from across Equestria have been selected to start a new life here. However, they soon discover this world works very differently from Equestria.

Proofread by Caden who also did the cover art.

Published 2013-09-22 01:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-04-27 16:38:34 UTC

Chapter 1: A Cheetah Looking for Gazelles

Cloudsdale was a factory town, one of the few in the agrarian Equestria. While farming towns like Ponyville and even the capital city Canterlot were still dark and silent, Cloudsdale was already awake and starting its daily duty of making and distributing clouds. Even on frigid, blustery morning like this, the city was filled with the sounds of the factories starting up and pegasi heading in.

Wind Whistler banked out of the wind stream and planted her hooves on the cloud in front of the towering structure of cumulous with pillars of cloud supporting the generous openings clouds floated out of.

She pulled her I.D. card out of the pocket of her heavy overcoat and flashed it at the guard in the gatehouse. He pushed a button on the control panel in front of him, and Wind Whistler walked through the turnstile.

The lobby was open to the weather like most of the weather factory. After all, the weather for Equestria was made in factories like this. It had to get out there somehow. Fortunately, the lobby was out of the wind with heaters warming the air to comfortable levels. She walked to the door to her office.

She could hear the vats bubbling and other equipment working. Weather factories practically run themselves.

Wind whistler came to the door and opened it enter. The first room was a reception area. It was cozy with couple couches sitting across a table from each other in one corner. Ten-Pad sat behind her desk. The older mare with a tan coat and orange mane was typing away at her typewriter. Wind Whistler often wondered how much of her typing was actually related to her job and how much might be her trying to give the sense she was busy.

Wind Whistler unbuttoned her overcoat and pulled her front legs out of its sleeves, uncovering the sleeves of her pink jacket. She hung the heavy, dark gray garment on a hook in the coat rack.

“What fascinating news awaits me today, Ten-Pad?” Wind Whistler asked dully.

“You’re way too young and new at your job to sound that cynical in the morning,” Ten-Pad replied.

Wind Whistler heaved a sigh. “I fear nothing will change with age or time in this position. That is the reason for my unenthusiastic disposition.” Though, she had hoped it was not so clear in her voice. “This is the three month anniversary of me being named factory controller.” Wind Whistler furrowed her brow. “The floor workers don’t intend to mark the occasion with secretly planned festivities, do they?”

“I couldn’t tell you either way,” Ten-Pad replied.

“True,” Wind Whistler replied. “Though, I don’t feel like celebrating. After three months, I have discovered a controller’s duties are as monotonous as a floor worker’s. Weather Management sends a quota I give to the workers, and they do it. I can give no suggestions for alterations or future planning. I just pass the orders along. It also seems to be the same quota every day.” Wind Whistler was never going to admit to it, but she tried a little experiment couple weeks ago where she used a quota from the previous week. Everything went along as usual with nopony noticing to her disappointment. “Aside from switching over to snowflakes for winter and the occasional problem, there’s so little variation or room for thinking.”

“Maybe that’s why ponies your age haven’t been promoted before,” Ten-Pad said with her normal dispassion. “You came here fresh out of college and Sprinkles tapped you to be controller after only six months on the floor. She broke the unwritten rule about seniority as well as several friendships because she thought you were the best choice for the job.”

“Which I am eternally grateful for,” Wind Whistler replied. “It’s just that this job does not utilize my intellect. I get quotas prepared by Weather Management which are really the demands from the Agriculture Bureau who gets their marching orders from the farms who want everything evenly and rigidly scheduled to make their lives easier.”

“That’s the point,” Ten-Pad replied.

“But it’s boring,” Wind Whistler sighed. “I look ahead in my life and just see the same routine over and over with no real need for my actual input for decades. I’m a cheetah that is given nothing but hares to hunt.”

Ten-Pad furrowed her brow. “A what?”

“A medium-sized, cat-like animal living on the savannah and known for its pattern of solid black spots, incredible sprinting speed, and specialized adaptations,” Wind Whistler explained. “I wish Equestria had some proverbial gazelles to test my limits instead having me do a job just about anypony could do.”

A knock came on the door to the lobby. “Come in,” Wind Whistler replied to it.

A yellow aura surrounded the door and it opened to reveal Princess Celestia. The alacorn was a sight to behold. She was much taller than the average pony with long, slender legs and a long neck leading into a graceful head. Her pastel mane waved like a flag in a breeze only there was no physical breeze. She walked in gracefully. Even her ducking to bring her long, fluted horn in under the door jamb was fluid.

Wind Whistler bowed. “Pleasant ante meridiem, High Princess.”

“Good morning, Controller Wind Whistler,” Celestia replied.

Wind Whistler stood up. “To what do we owe the honor of your unannounced visitation and at such an early hour?”

“I was actually hoping to speak with you personally before you began work,” Celestia replied in her angelic voice.

Wind Whistler turned Ten-Pad. “Ten-Pad—” she started to say.

“You’re morning has been cleared,” Ten-Pad said without looking up from the typewriter.

“Uh…thank you,” Wind Whistler said. She turned back to Celestia. “We can speak in my office.” She swept her leg to the pair of doors in the wall adjacent to Ten-Pad’s desk.

Celestia walked to the door and opened them to enter.

Wind Whistler walked up to a mirror on the wall to give herself a quick onceover. She had to look as professional as possible for the High Princess.

A young pegasus mare with a light blue coat looked back at her with large, pink eyes. The forelock of her light pink mane fell over her left eye, but it always did that no matter how much she tried to tease and tame it.

She wedged her pastern between her chin and the knot tying the corners of her white kerchief together and pulled the knot out. She removed it to reveal the rest her wavy mane and the white horseshoe band she wore in it. The kerchief had done its job in keeping her mane from being disturbed by the wind.

She moved down to her outfit. She wore a white blouse under her pink jack with a pale blue ribbon tied in a large bow around her neck and under the blouse’s collar. The gold broach holding an oval sapphire her dam had passed down to her sat on the knot of the bow. Wind Whistler adjusted the bow to make sure it was straight.

“The Princess is waiting,” Ten-Pad said with a little inflection in her mostly monotone voice.

Wind Whistler turned to the opened door into her office. She swallowed. Perhaps somepony did know I used the wrong quota, she thought.

Wind Whistler entered her office. Princess Celestia was standing in front of her desk examining the few ornaments Wind Whistler kept on it. Wind Whistler looked up. Celestia looked down at her with a small, but tender smile. “We have much to discuss.”

“About what?” Wind Whistler asked as she closed the doors.

“It’s about your possible future,” Celestia said.

Wind Whistler swallowed.

“I’ve been searching Equestria for certain ponies to take on a little project,” Celestia said. “Certain ponies like you.”

Wind Whistler furrowed her brow. “What kind of project?”

A yellow aura surrounded Celestia’s long, fluted horn. A shell of yellow energy surrounded them.

“Before I say anything, I have to ask that you never tell what I’m about to tell you to another living soul whether you accept or decline my offer,” Celestia said sternly.

She seemed to loom over Wind Whistler with the tip of her horn almost reaching the ceiling. Forget the fact she could move the sun, her very physical presence was both awe-inspiring and intimidating.

“Of course, High Princess,” Wind Whistler replied timidly.

Celestia grinned slightly. “Princess Celestia is fine.” She voice was gentle and comforting, putting Wind Whistler more at ease.

“Of course, Princess Celestia,” Wind Whistler repeated with the correction.

Celestia’s grin broadened. “That’s better. We should sit down. You should be comfortable to hear this.”

Celestia sat in a chair in the corner which was much too small for her. Wind Whistler walked behind her desk and sat in her chair.

“In the Crystal Empire is a very special mirror,” Princess Celestia said. “For the past year, it has turned into a portal once every five moons for three days. I intend to build a colony on the world on the other side.”

“Another world?” Wind Whistler gasped, “and you want me for this endeavor?”

Celestia nodded. “The next window begins a week from today. We will be sending an advanced team to prepare a site for a larger colony force when the portal opens again. I want you on that team.”

Wind Whistler’s jaw dropped.

“Do you accept?” Celestia asked.

“Y-Yes,” Wind Whistler stammered out hastily. “It would be a tremendous honor.”

Celestia stood up. “You will receive a train ticket from the trip from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire in the mail tomorrow. It will be for the day before the window begins. In the meantime, I suggest putting your affairs in order and bringing your most prized possessions as this world will be your new home should you choose to stay.”

Wind Whistler leaned back in her chair. She could not stop the broad grin forming on her face. A new world with new challenges was the answer to her prayers. A thought then crossed her mind. “What kind of world is it?”

Celestia looked to her. “That’s for you to find out.”

“Thank you for this, Princess Celestia,” Wind Whistler said. “You have no intellection of what this opportunity means to me.”

“You’re welcome, Wind Whistler,” Celestia replied. “I only ask you do Equestria proud.”

Celestia turned to the door. The shell around them dissolved and Celestia opened the doors with her magic. The doors closed after she left.

Wind Whistler heaved a sigh and chuckled. The gazelles had finally come.

She happened to look at the quotas sitting on her desk. It was going to be standard winter day in the land of hares. Her grin dropped into a frown. A week can’t pass quickly enough, she thought.

Celestia practically stumbled into her private chambers. Her wings ached from literally flying from one side of Equestria to the other and back. After lowering the sun for the day, she was ready to settle in for the night.

A topographical map and several files sat in a pile in front of her kneeling pillows. Celestia walked up and plopped down on her pillows in a very un-princess-like manner.

She looked at the map. It was of the rocky valley in the other world. There was an odd crater or depression on a mesa on the north side. There was a dried riverbed that expanded into what had been a decent-sized lake at one point.

“Sister,” Luna said.

Celestia looked up to Luna standing at her door which she had not bothered to close. Luna had that look that she got when she doubted Celestia’s judgment. There were only a couple times Celestia had seen that look since Luna’s return.

“What is it, Luna?” Celestia asked tiredly.

“Did you find the ponies you were looking for?” Luna asked with flat tone to her voice.

Celestia nodded and then removed her crown to place it on her dresser. “They all accepted. I expected they would. They’re the kind of ponies we were looking for.”

Luna deepened her scowl. “You aren’t telling them everything about this world,” she said sternly.

“We don’t know everything about this world.” Celestia motioned to the map. “Pretty much all we know about this world is this valley.”

“We know about what is waiting there for them,” Luna said.

“We know they’re waiting,” Celestia said. “We don’t know what they are. That’s why we’re sending such a diverse team there.”

“You also didn’t mention the mirror is malfunctioning,” Luna said more forcefully. “It should only open once every thirty moons to Canterlot High, not every five moons to that desolate valley. What if it suddenly stops and they’re trapped there?”

Celestia heaved a sigh. These were all very good points. “I have considered the risks. They are worth the opportunity.”

“What opportunity?” Luna asked, this time she took some of the sharpness out of her voice. “We don’t need to set up a presence on this world. We have plenty of resources and room in Equestria.”

“It’s not about resources or room,” Celestia said, letting her own voice sharpen.

Luna’s expression softened to be a more neutral one.

Celestia summoned her magic and lifted a deeply creased and wrinkled scroll off her desk and floated it to in front of Luna. Luna furrowed her brow as she read it.

“It’s a friendship lesson from one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends,” Luna said. “Applejack I believe.”

“No,” Celestia said in a low voice. “It’s a very rude wake up call.”

Celestia brought the scroll back to herself. She read the first four words after the greeting. I didn’t learn anything, no matter how many times she read Applejack’s arrogant opening, Celestia could not help the tension form in her body. She crushed the poor scroll like she had more times than she cared to count. Some ponies had stress balls to relieve tension. Celestia had this scroll. She had even put a preservation spell on it so it could always serve as a reminder and stress reliever.

“That stupid, arrogant hick of a pony,” Celestia snarled as she slammed the scroll on the desk and ground it in a little before finally releasing it from her magic.

Luna gasped. “That’s one of Twilight Sparkle’s closest friends you’re speaking of.”

“That’s what makes it even worse,” Celestia said. “And there are countless ponies exactly like her. Equestria has stagnated. New ideas and inventions trickle out and many are by conponies out to make a dishonest bit like the two who tried to take Applejack’s farm. I look upon my kingdom with its beauty and smell death and decay coming from it.”

Celestia heaved a sigh. She was too tired to get so upset. She held her head low out of fatigue and sorrow.

“It’s my fault too,” Celestia said quietly. “I built a clockwork country where everypony has their place and friendship and cooperation are valued more than anything else.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Luna asked.

“It’s a very good thing,” Celestia said. “However, in the process, I’ve removed the adversity that breeds innovation. Applejack didn’t even consider maybe changing how she makes cider. She just relied on her friends. I fear a day will come when Equestria faces a crisis we can’t simply rely on each other and be woefully unprepared.”

“That’s why you’re sending these ponies to the other side,” Luna said.

Celestia nodded. “The ponies I selected are restless. They feel boxed in by Equestria’s society. Perhaps colonizing this world will allow them to grow and rekindle the spirit of innovation on both sides. Perhaps we can learn from the races on the other side.”

“What if they have nothing worth learning?” Luna asked. “Our initial encounters have been hostile to say the least.”

“It’s only a small group,” Celestia said. “I can’t believe the whole planet is like them.”

Celestia yawned as her exhaustion made its presence known. “I should retire for the night. I’ve had a big day.”

Wind Whistler braced herself as the train made one last lurch before coming to a complete stop. She thought trains were fascinating pieces of engineering, but the ride left much to be desired. The constant rocking of the cars was disconcerting, and the view was not as picturesque as it would have been from the air. However, it was the only way to reach the Crystal Empire especially in the middle of winter.

The conductor stood up. “Passengers getting off at the Crystal Empire can now disembark!” he shouted.

Wind Whistler stood up from her seat and grabbed her suitcase from the overhead shelf. She turned around as best she could and worked herself into the line of ponies in the aisle. "Excuse me," she muttered to the ponies she got between.

It would have been much easier without the large, white skirt she was wearing. Wind Whistler wanted to look her absolute best when meeting Princess Celestia and her new colleagues, and by wearing it she did not have to store it in suitcase which would never hold it or her trunk. However, the skirt was a bit cumbersome for the train car. Even the most intelligent ponies can have a lapse in foresight, she thought.

She stepped out of the car and down the steps onto the platform. Despite being the middle of the arctic north, the weather was milder than in Canterlot. However, she could tell the warmth was not from the sun low on the western horizon, but the palace rising high above the city of crystal buildings.

She looked down the tracks they had traveled. The clouds and glaciers they had passed through suddenly stopped about a kilometer away. It’s like being in the eye of a hurricane, she thought.

“Who was summoned here by Princess Celestia?” a male voice asked.

Wind Whistler set down her suitcase and looked to the source of the voice. An orange pegasus stallion wearing crystal armor was standing at the end of the platform. Crystal earth ponies in similar armor were standing next to carts. Just about every pony on the platform raised their hoof and so did Wind Whistler.

“All right,” the pegasus said. “Load your luggage into the carts, and we’ll escort you to the palace.”

Wind Whistler picked up her suitcase and looked to the pallet being wheeled out of the baggage car. She needed to find her trunk. Fortunately it was on the outside and not under any of the other luggage. She trotted to the pallet and slipped her suitcase into the netting on the side. The trunk had wheels built into the bottom, so she just had to wheel it off the pallet and down the platform.

Her whole world was now in the trunk. All of her personal possessions she had emotional attachment to were in her trunk, suitcase, or on her back. She had named Cloudchaser as her replacement as controller. She reclaimed her deposit on her apartment and given her furniture to her parents. She converted all of her savings to gold and jewels since she doubted bits would be of much use. She effectively severed herself from Equestria, and it felt liberating.

A shout of “Watch out!” caught Wind Whistler’s attention. Wind Whistler looked up at the pallet. Ponies were frantically trying to keep the luggage from toppling. A unicorn mare with a white coat and a dark green mane streaked with red glared at an earth pony mare with a bright pink coat and a pair of sunglasses in her curly, vibrant yellow mane. The earth pony clutched a bag and seemed to shrink away from the glare of the unicorn.

“Watch what you’re doing, you klutz,” the unicorn snapped.

“I’m really sorry,” the earth pony whimpered, tears welling up in her light blue eyes. “I didn’t think my bag was as stuck as it was.”

“It was an honest mistake,” Wind Whistler said. “There is no reason to be overly-hostile.”

The unicorn turned her aqua-eyed glare on Wind Whistler. It was a sharp glare saying ‘Don’t mess with me.’

Wind Whistler swallowed. She decided it would be best to remove herself from the situation and pulled her trunk to the edge of the platform.

When she reached the edge, two crystal ponies picked up her trunk and placed it in the first cart. The other ponies brought their luggage to the edge. After loading the last of the luggage, the crystal ponies strapped each other into the harnesses of the carts and pulled them towards the palace.

The city was even more breathtaking from street level. Much like Cloudsdale, the architecture had an organic feel to it like the buildings were grown instead of constructed. That could very well have been the case since everything was made of crystal including the road they were traveling down.

Wind Whistler looked around the group for the soft spoken earth pony. She noticed her sulking behind the group. Wind Whistler stopped until the earth pony made it up to her and then walked with her.

“Are you all right?” Wind Whistler asked.

The earth pony nodded, but had a long frown on her face that suggested otherwise.

“My name’s Wind Whistler,” Wind Whistler said, hoping to break the ice. “What’s yours?”

“Shady,” the earth pony replied.

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Shady,” Wind Whistler said, trying to sound cheerful but not overly cheerful. She was admittedly not the best at social conversation, partially due to a lack of practice. She probably would not have bothered if Shady had not seemed so put down.

“Is it really?” Shady asked. “I don’t even know why I was chosen for this.”

Wind Whistler shushed her. “We can’t discuss our reason for being here in public,” she whispered. Though, she wondered how much ponies would surmise from a large group headed to the palace with so much luggage.

“You see,” Shady said despairingly. “I can’t do anything right.”

“Don’t say that,” Wind Whistler said.

“It’s true,” Shady replied.

Something hit Shady from the side, and she toppled into Wind Whistler. Wind Whistler planted her hooves to keep from falling over, but Shady slipped from her and hit the crystal pavement with whatever hit her.

Wind Whistler looked down. A unicorn mare with a turquoise coat and a frizzy mane streaked pink, white, a darker shade of pink, and dark green was sprawled over Shady. She was a very young adult or perhaps a late adolescent. The large, pink bow in her mane gave her a fillyish look. She opened her pink eyes which reflected light in polygonal shapes and looked down at Shady.

She jumped off Shady. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized frantically. “You aren’t hurt, are you? We were in a hurry, so I was running too fast and wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“It’s fine.” Shady got her legs under her and rose to her hooves. “I know how that feels.”

“Why were you in such haste?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Haste?” the unicorn asked, cocking her head to the side with a confused frown.

Wind Whistler rolled her eyes. She needed to remember to keep her vocabulary in check sometimes. “Why were you in a hurry?”

“Oh,” the unicorn said. “You see, we’ve been summoned to the palace.”

She motioned back to nine other ponies. All of them had manes and tails streaked in four colors and eyes that reflected light in polygons like the unicorn. A couple of carts filled with luggage trailed them.

“Are you going to the palace too?” the unicorn asked.

“Yes,” Wind Whistler answered.

“That’s great!” the unicorn cheered. “I’m Fizzy. Who are you?”

“I’m Wind Whistler,” Wind Whistler said.

“Shady,” Shady replied softly.

A unicorn mare with a pink coat and mane streaked red, dark pink, white, and reddish orange walked out of the group. “We should get moving. Your group is already leaving you behind.”

Wind Whistler looked ahead. The others were a half block closer to the palace. Wind Whistler galloped back to them as they came into the open area around the palace.

The palace rose high into the evening sky, shimmering in the low sun. They made their way into the area under the palace where it spread to what Wind Whistler could best describe as feet at its four corners. In the center was the Crystal Heart slowly spinning between spires of crystal coming up from the ground and down them ceiling.

“This is amazing,” a mare said in awe. “I’d seen pictures, but they don’t do it justice.”

“Princess Celestia is waiting in the throne room,” the pegasus in armor said. He pointed to the door in the foot ahead and to the left of them. “You can reach it through there.”

Celestia straightened as the guards opened the doors. The ponies entered in a disorganized mask. Some were taking in the sight of the throne room while there were a couple pairs whispering to each other.

Celestia immediately recognized her both new and old captain of the guard. Colonel Spearhead was a hard pony to not recognize with his gunmetal gray coat and mane the color of fresh blood and streaked with black. The older unicorn stallion marched to distance himself from the others.

Celestia cleared her throat. The ponies stopped and all face forward. Spearhead turned to face the group.

“Thank you all for coming,” Celestia said. “You’ve been chosen to take on ponykind’s most ambitious endeavor since Equestria’s founding. As you know, you will be the advanced team to lay the groundwork for a colony on a new world. At the moment, we’re calling the project Equestria Nova.”

Fizzy raised her hoof.

“Yes, Fizzy?” Celestia asked.

Fizzy put her hoof down. “Why did we have to keep it secret?”

“Because we want to introduce this to Equestria slowly,” Spearhead answered before Celestia could. “If we told everypony, there could be conflicts. Some would be frightened by the idea there are other worlds while others would only see it as something to exploit for their own short-sighted gain. That’s why all of you were chosen. You represent a desire to grow and learn which is needed both here and on that new world.”

“Thank you, Colonel,” Celestia said.

Cadence and Shining Armor walked up to the side of Celestia. “The maids will show you to your rooms,” Cadence said. “I have to imagine it’s been a long journey for many of you.”

Several crystal mares wearing frilled headbands walked into the throne room. “Your luggage has been dropped off in your rooms,” one of them said. “Dinner will be served within the hour.”

The ponies turned and walked towards the doors. The maids led them out, and only Spearhead remained standing there at attention.

Shining Armor walked around Spearhead to face him. “I see Princess Celestia dragged you out of retirement, Colonel. Or should I say Governor?”

“Either’s fine, Prince Shining Armor,” Spearhead replied.

“You can call me Shining Armor. You still outrank me in the Royal Guard.” Shining Armor motioned to the door. “Do you want a short tour? It’d give us a chance to catch up.”

“I was actually hoping to have some time with my best trainee before leaving.” Spearhead walked with Shining Armor.

The two walked towards the door, talking about something that became intelligible with distance.

Cadence got close to Celestia. “Are you sure he’s the best choice for governing this colony, Aunt Celestia?” she whispered in Celestia’s ear. “He’s always given me the creeps.”

“That’s just how he is,” Celestia replied in a hushed voice. “He might not be the friendliest face, but he’s loyal to Equestria and ponykind. He is the best choice to lead this colony.”

“What about Twilight Sparkle?” Cadence asked. “It would be proper to have a princess ruling what is essentially a new adjunct kingdom.”

“Twilight is a little too by the book,” Celestia said. “This world goes by its own rules, so we need adaptable ponies especially in positions of leadership. While Twilight has improved, she’s still too rigid in her thinking for this task. Spearhead is both adaptable and disciplined, a combination needed in a leader.”

Cadence heaved a sigh. “I guess you’re right, Aunt Celestia.”

Wind Whistler poked her head into the room the maid opened for her. It was spacious even compared to Cloudsdale’s open designs with a canopy bed against one wall and a vanity and wardrobe against another. A door opened out onto a balcony. The crystal columns in the walls looked like they had been grown to come to a point at the pinnacle of the ceiling where a chandelier hanged down. Her plain-looking trunk seemed out of place amongst this majesty.

“I hope the accommodations are to your liking,” the maid said.

“They certainly are,” Wind Whistler replied, still absorbing the room.

Wind Whistler walked into the room as the maid closed the door, leaving her alone. Wind Whistler immediately went to her trunk and opened it. Everything looked like they made the trip intact. There were her mementos, her more cherished foalhood toys she decided to keep into adulthood, her diploma from Cloudsdale University, and even the parasol and fan her dam said every lady should have.

Her thoughts fell on her family. She wished she could have told them where she was going. They were worried when she pulled up stakes like she did. However, she understood why they needed to keep the secret, and her family was supportive despite their concern. She was a fully grown mare after all.

She felt like a pit form in her stomach. Even though she would not miss Equestria, she would miss her family and the few friends she had. Perhaps when they had contact with Equestria she could visit them.

Wind Whistler picked up the blanket her granddam had made for her when she was born. The blue square of flannel fabric was a bit faded, and there was some tattering along the edges. However, it had weathered the years very well all things considered.

Wind Whistler held it up to her cheek and rubbed the soft, naturally cool fabric in her fine coat. The blanket was only big enough to cover a foal, so it was more like a giant kerchief to her as an adult. However, she found comfort in the tactile sensation of holding it and pressing it against her face and neck.

A knock came on the door. Wind Whistler quickly folded the blanket and placed it in her trunk before closing the lid. “Come in.”

The door opened and Fizzy poked her head in. “Hi, Wind Whistler, are you settling in okay?”

“Yes,” Wind Whistler replied.

“I was wondering if you just wanted to hang out until dinner,” Fizzy said.

Wind Whistler was left speechless. Fizzy was several years younger than her. Why would she want ‘hang out’ with an older mare. However, Wind Whistler saw no harm in indulging her. They were going to be living in the same community going forward.

“I suppose we can.” Wind Whistler walked to the door. “Is there anything you had in mind?”

“I just thought you could use the company,” Fizzy said. “You and Shady seemed so alone in the group.”

“Although cannot speak for Shady, I prefer solitude,” Wind Whistler replied.

Fizzy frowned and looked down at her hooves as she slid one across the floor in front of her. “I’m sorry. I hope I’m not being a pest.”

Wind Whistler sighed. For some reason she could not bring herself to say ‘no’ to this young mare. “I suppose some social interaction would be to my benefit.”

Fizzy jumped to stand up straight and looked to Wind Whistler with a huge grin. “Does that mean you’ll come?” she asked gleefully.

“In laypony’s terms: yes,” Wind Whistler said.

“That’s great.” Fizzy grabbed Wind Whistler by the neck and pulled her out of her room. “Why don’t I give you a tour of the palace? It won’t be much of a tour since I’ve only been in it a couple times, but I don’t think you’ve ever been in it. Have you?”

“No, I have not never visited the Crystal Palace or the Crystal Empire for that matter until this evening,” Wind Whistler answered.

Fizzy looked to Shady coming out of a nearby room. “Hey, Shady! Wind Whistler wants to come along too!”

Want is a strong word, Wind Whistler thought.

“Well, I guess that’s okay,” Shady mumbled.

A door near Shady opened, and the white unicorn came out. She looked to Shady and said, “There you are.”

Shady yelped and practically leapt over Wind Whistler and Shady and cowered behind them.

Wind Whistler looked to Shady trembling and then at the unicorn. She scowled and said, “Wasn’t your outburst at the train station enough?”

The unicorn scratched her head and frowned glumly. “That’s actually why I wanted to see her.” She her head low and pawed the floor bashfully. “I want to apologize,” she mumbled.

Shady looked out from behind Wind Whistler. “You what?”

“You heard me,” the unicorn said with sincere remorse in her voice. That angry glower she had at the train station had been replaced with humble frown. “I’m sorry for yelling at you and calling you a klutz. I shouldn’t have been so angry. Can you forgive me?”

“Please forgive her,” Fizzy said. “We’ll be living together and should learn to get along.”

“I suppose I can forgive her.” Shady walked out from behind Wind Whistler. “Just don’t do it again.”

“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll try,” the unicorn said. “I’m Gusty, by the way.”

“I’m Fizzy,” Fizzy said cheerfully, “and these are Wind Whistler and Shady. We were going to check the palace out before dinner. Do you want to come along?”

“I don’t know,” Gusty muttered.

“Please,” Fizzy begged, looking as cute and innocent as possible.

Gusty sighed. “It can’t hurt.”

If they ever weaponized adorable, Wind Whistler thought, Fizzy would be a device of mass destruction.

“Okay, we’ve been to the throne room,” Fizzy thought out loud, “so let’s check out the lounge first.”

Fizzy skipped down the hall. Wind Whistler followed her in a walk, and Gusty and Shady followed behind her.

A thought came to Wind Whistler watching the light glisten on Fizzy’s crystalline coat, mane, and tail. “Forgive me for saying this, but I thought all crystal ponies were earth ponies.”

Fizzy settled her skip into a walk and looked back. “Most are, but there are a few unicorns and pegasi too.” There was a quiver to her voice, and that ever present grin had been replaced by the slightest of frowns.

Wind Whistler remembered Fizzy must have lived through the horror of Sombra’s reign and decided to change the subject. “Tell us about the lounge.”

The grin returned to Fizzy face, and she turned forward. “The lounge is cool because it’s perfectly round despite the walls being made of crystal.”

“She certainly does bounce back quickly,” Wind Whistler heard Gusty mutter to Shady.

Wind Whistler frowned. Perhaps a little too quickly, she thought.

Wind Whistler followed the maid into the dining hall. The other ponies were already seated at the long table with the princesses at either end. The smorgasbord of grass, fruits, vegetables, and bread was lined up on the centerline of the table.

There were four empty chairs in a row. Wind Whistler looked back to the other three and motioned to the chairs. They walked in and took their seats.

“The gang's finally assembled,” an earthling stallion with a yellow coat and orange mane said. “Enjoy your last good meal in a long time, ladies.”

An earthling mare with a white coat and curly aqua mane frowned at the stallion. “I’ll make sure you eat your words with your first meal on the other side.”

The group laughed. Wind Whistler joined as best she could. She always had a hard time taking interest in small talk.

She was more interested in the plate of fruit in front of her and her empty stomach. A bright red apple topped the formation. Wind Whistler licked her lips as discretely as she could and reached for the apple.

The pony across from her had the same idea, as he was reaching for it as well. They stopped, and Wind Whistler looked into his blue eyes. He backed away. “You can have it,” he said politely.

“Thank you,” Wind Whistler replied. She picked up the apple in her teeth and set it down on her plate.

“You’re welcome,” the stallion replied.

She looked back up at the stallion. He was a pegasus with a white coat and a neatly-trimmed, wine red mane. He wore a blue, button down shirt with short sleeves and what looked like white hurricanes printed all over it. He picked up a bunch of grapes and set them down on his plate.

Wind Whistler felt strange. Her stomach felt like it was fluttering, and it felt like her heart was in her throat and pounding in her neck.

The stallion reached his hoof across the table. “I’m Hurricane, by the way.”

The stomach fluttering and heart pounding intensified. However, Wind Whistler knew to be polite and hooked her pastern in his to shake. “Wind Whistler, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

He was a handsome stallion and very well spoken. He also had a sense of manners that she rarely saw in the factory’s cafeteria which was nicknamed ‘The Piranha Tank’ for good reason.

Wind Whistler stopped the shake and pulled her hoof back gently. The stomach fluttering and heart pound subsided. What brought that about? And why am I giving him such detailed consideration compared the others? Wind Whistler asked herself in her mind.

Wind Whistler decided to take her mind off him by surveying the group. Discounting Princesses Celestia and Cadence and Prince Shining Armor, there were 46 ponies seated at the table including her. Thirty-four were mares and 12 were stallions. There were the ten crystal ponies whose manes were streaked in four different colors. She knew none of them which was to be expected, but she would get to know them as individuals soon enough. These were the ponies she would be living with on this strange new world.

Wind Whistler’s eyes fell on Hurricane again. He was eating his grapes quietly. I suppose I can start with him, she thought. The stomach fluttering and heart pounding began to build again.

“So, where are you from?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Mareami,” Hurricane replied. “I’m a foul weather rescuer.”

“Really?!” Gusty asked. “So am I. I’m from Vanhoover.”

Hurricane looked to Gusty. “Good to see a fellow rescuer from the Great White North.”

They smacked their hooves together.

Hurricane turned to Wind Whistler again. The sensations had been subsiding again when his attention was drawn away, but they were coming back.

“What do you do, or rather did before colonizing strange, new worlds?” Hurricane asked.

“I’m a weather factory controller,” Wind Whistler said, still trying to determine the reason for these strange sensations.

“A bit young for a factory controller,” a unicorn stallion with a blue coat and darker blue mane with a white streak commented.

“I’m actually the youngest in Cloudsdale’s history.” Wind Whistler hoped that did not come off as bragging.

“And certainly the most beautiful,” Hurricane said with a sincere grin.

The sensations intensified. Wind Whistler realized they were the result of physical attraction to the stallion. Her cheeks grew hot as she blushed; hopefully not to the degree it was noticeable under coat. I just met him, Wind Whistler thought. How can I be susceptible to something as illogical as falling in love at first sight?

Colonel Spearhead stood up and raised his glass with his magic. “I propose a toast.”

Everypony turned to him. The sensations stopped as Wind Whistler could concentrate on this welcome distraction.

“To Equestria Nova,” he said, raising his glass higher, “where we will forge a bright and glorious future for all ponykind.”

“To Equestria Nova,” everypony replied in unison.

Author's Note

Historian's Note: This takes place 15 moons after the events of Equestria Girls.

Chapter 2: Through the Looking Glass

‘Morning’ came early, literally. It was a good three hours before sunrise when the colonists were gathered. Wind Whistler immediately looked to the mirror they were going to traveling through. She could see the surface ripple slightly. Ponies in armor were also coming in and out carrying supplies.

As Wind Whistler had guessed, it was winter on the other side. The supplies included insulated tents, heating stoves, cold weather gear, and a lot of fuel. There were also a lot of barrels of dried food and fresh water. There were 46 adult ponies to feed in cold weather. Even with that many, the amount of food they were sending through could last them well into the next spring even with generous rations.

Other supplies included what they would need to set up a more permanent presence. There were seeds for all the important grain crops as well as temperate fruits and vegetables. They were also going to have plenty of tools for wood and stonework. There were even a couple of crates of colorful gems to sell and barter with.

There were also weapons. Spears and machetes had been loaded into crates. She also saw some unicorns looking over breach-loaded rifles. Hopefully they would not need these weapons. Since ponies only ate meat in the most desperate circumstances, their only purpose would be defense. However, they had to cover all the bases as who knew what was waiting for them in this new world.

The unicorns lifted their rifles up in their magic. They opened the back of their weapons and would have slipped cartages into the breaches of barrels to load them. They left them unloaded and snapped the gun closed. They held the rifles in their magic and took aim. One pulled the trigger, and the gun clicked as the hammer struck.

A unicorn mare with yellow coat a blue mane with a white streak watched them. “Okay. They seem to work all right. Put them in storage and prepare to head out.”

“Yes, Rosetta,” one of the stallions replied and set his rifle in a box. The other unicorns did the same.

“Easy now!” a pegasus mare with a white coat and a curly, vibrant yellow mane muttered to herself as she carried several film cans in her fount legs. She was a young pony, about the same age as Fizzy by the looks of it. She flew to an earth pony mare with a lavender coat and a mane a similar shade of pale pink as Wind Whistler’s only with more of a curl to it.

“I brought the films you wanted, Lickety-Split.” The pegasus set the film cans down in front of the earth pony apparently named Lickety-Split.

“Let’s see,” Lickety-Split murmured to herself as she looked at the film cans. Her frown sharpened with each can she looked at. She practically threw the fifth can down. “Surprise—” She glared at the pegasus, apparently named Surprise “—these are all family films.”

“So?” The pegasus, apparently named Surprise, shrugged while hovered.

Lickety-Split sighed a shook her head. “We’re not going to have families for the first five moons. It’s only going to be adults, so we should have films for adults.”

Surprise slouched. “Oh.”

“Don’t worry about it. I got my own collection,” Lickety-Split said.

Wind Whistler wondered what Lickety-Split meant by ‘films for adults.’

Somepony stumbled into Wind Whistler. Remembering last evening, Wind Whistler pushed in the direction of the collision to help the pony get back upright. The earth pony mare with an orange coat and curly, golden yellow mane got all four hooves under her. “Thanks,” she replied.

Wind Whistler immediately recognized her as Applejack. However, it made no sense for one of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s closest confidantes to travel to another world without the princess herself. She also did not remember Applejack having such a curly mane in any pictures of her.

“Applejack?” Wind Whistler asked.

The mare sighed. “Yes, but not the pony you’re thinking of.” She also lacked the rural accent Wind Whistler had heard Applejack speak in.

Wind Whistler furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

“My name is Applejack,” the mare said irritably, “but I’m not the matriarch of Sweet Apple Acres. That’s what I mean.”

“I apologize,” Wind Whistler said hastily. “I did not realize the subject was so offensive.”

“It’s just irritating,” Applejack said. “We we’re cousins born in the same year and looked so much alike our dams thought it would be cute to give us the same name. We even ended up with similar cutie marks. Then my cousin not only became the matriarch of the Apple Family’s flagship farm, but also a bearer of an Element of Harmony and confidante of the new princess. I’m always compared to her.”

“Is that why you agreed to be a part of this endeavor?” Wind Whistler asked.

Applejack nodded. “I’ll have a chance to start fresh and make a name for myself.” She walked past Wind Whistler. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to make sure I have everything in order.”

She stumbled but managed to keep her balance.

Hopefully she’ll make a name for herself for all the right reasons, Wind Whistler thought.

“So Wind Whistler,” Gusty said coyly from behind Wind Whistler, “what do you think of Hurricane?”

Wind Whistler turned back to Gusty, Shady, and Fizzy standing beside her. Gusty had a smirk on her face.

Wind Whistler resisted the blush forming in her cheeks, but her heart begin pounding. “I don’t know what you’re insinuating?” she lied.

Gusty rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You were making goo-goo eyes at him before the toast”—she batted her eyes as an illustration which made Fizzy giggle—“and then you went out of your way to act like he didn’t exist.”

Wind Whistler had hoped she had not given up any visual clues to her possible attraction to Hurricane. Unfortunately, her body betrayed her more than she knew.

“He’s a good looking and well spoken stallion,” Wind Whistler said. “He just got my interest.”

“Don’t be so embarrassed about your feelings, darling,” an accented voice said behind her.

Wind Whistler turned around. A pegasus mare with a pink coat and a noticeably darker pink mane with loose curls stood there with a huge grin. “I’m sorry. My name is Heart Throb. I’m a matchmaker.”

Heart Throb heaved a melancholy sigh. “I’ve seen that look in so many ponies’ eyes. You were absolutely enraptured for a moment.” She heaved another shy. “It’s just so romantic.”

Wind Whistler could not stop the blush this time. Was it that obvious? “I—I—” she stammered. She searched for any reason to get off this subject. “I have to question the logic of establishing a new settlement in the middle of winter.”

The four other ponies rolled their eyes and groaned.

“Hmph,” Heart Throb exhaled. “You can deny it all you want, but you’ve been bit by the love bug, darling. You can at least get to know him.”

“I am open to that,” Wind Whistler said, “but we will have more pressing matters on the other side.”

The reason they were starting in winter was because that was their window of opportunity. Fortunately, they would have shelter and plenty of food. Ponies were able to tolerate some cold weather, so as long as it was not too bitterly cold, they should be fine. Also, if worse came to worse when it came to food, they could eat the local grass if it was edible. Eating grass was not the most appetizing or satisfying diet, especially with the grass dormant for the winter, but it beat the alternative. They had the ability to cope, but there would still be a lot of work to be done before Winter Wrap-up.

“Make a hole!” a mare’s voice shouted.

Wind Whistler lost her train of thought and looked around. A pegasus mare had her pasterns hooked over the handle of a long pallet packed with books as she pushed it along. The mare had a white coat which made her curly, reddish-orange mane seem all the more vibrant in comparison. She wore eyeglasses with green, turtle shell frames and attached to a pearl chain going around the back of her head.

“That’s a lot of books,” Gusty said.

The mare stopped took her legs off the pallet. “Somepony has to make sure we have some culture on the other side.” She held out her front leg. “I’m Paradise.”

“Wind Whistler,” Wind Whistler replied as they shook pasterns.

“The colonists should prepare to enter the mirror,” Celestia announced.

“Well, see you on the other side,” Wind Whistler said.

Wind Whistler picked up her suitcase and walked up to the mirror. She took a second to gather herself. This was really happening.

“Good luck, my little ponies,” Celestia said.

The first ponies slowly walked towards the mirror. The last of the guards came out of the mirror.

A pegasus mare with a pink coat and a straight, lavender mane landed in front of the mirror. “Me first,” she said in a Trottingham accent. She turned to the portal. “To boldly go where no pony has gone before.”

“Except the scouting parties,” a stallion joked from behind Wind Whistler.

The mare turned back and glared at somepony in the crowd. She turned back to the mirror and practically leapt through it.

Hurricane and a pegasus stallion with a mint green coat and straight, aqua mane walked through. The ponies began to file through.

Wind Whistler took a cleansing breath and walked to the mirror. She stopped in front of it. Her reflection rippled on the surface. She touched the surface with her hoof and pushed it through farther. The ripples from it spread across the mirror. It felt like she had put her hoof in the water only it was not wet when she took it out. She closed her eyes and stepped through the surface.

She opened her eyes as her tail cleared the surface. Before she could understand anything before her she felt herself being pulled forward. She accelerated at a rate she could hardly comprehend. She feared she would be torn asunder by the change of velocity, but she remained intact. She passed through a tube that seemed to only go faster and faster. She could not breathe because of the speed, but did not feel the compulsion to breathe. The tube gave way to stars passing by her in a blink of an eye. She began to decelerate as she approached another tube. A light appeared at the end and enveloped her.

Wind Whistler opened her eyes and dropped her suitcase to inhale a deep breath. She looked around her. Everything was fuzzy in her vision and there was a slight ringing in her ears. She felt like she was floating despite clearly being on the ground.

“You’re okay, Wind Whistler,” Hurricane’s voice said but sounded distant.

She felt a pastern take hers. She looked to her side and saw it belonged to Hurricane who looked like a white mass with a red mass on top of it.

“The disorientation will clear up in a minute.” Hurricane helped Wind Whistler onto her hooves.

Wind Whistler wobbled a little. However, she felt her wherewithal coming back to her. She became more aware of her body. All four legs and both wings were where they should be. She even flicked her long, wavy tail to make sure it was still there.

Wind Whistler looked back at where she had come out. It was a mirror much like the one in the Crystal Empire. However, the frame was a gold trim crafted to look like leaves and vines. It also hung from the wall instead of being free-standing.

Gusty flew out of the portal. Wind Whistler jumped out of way before Gusty could land on her. Gusty landed on cushions placed right where ponies would land. “What a rush?”

Gusty got up and staggered off the cushion in time for Shady and Fizzy to come through. They landed on the cushion.

“Let’s do that again!” Fizzy cheered.

“Let’s not and say we did,” Shady grumbled.

“I don’t know how the guards could withstand going back and forth like that,” Wind Whistler said. Her head finally cleared. The guards seemed to be just fine coming out.

“It’s easier after your first time,” the mint green stallion said as he walked up to them. His voice was gravelly and had the air of both age and experience.

“You’ve done it before?” Gusty asked.

Hurricane held his hoof up to the stallion. “This is Monsoon. He was with one of the scouting parties, so he knows what he’s talking about.”

Wind Whistler looked around now that she was able to take it in. There were several lanterns providing some light. She could make out a dry fountain in the middle of the floor and a grand staircase behind it. They were in a large room with ceiling high above them.

“Where are we?” Wind Whistler asked.

“We’re in the grand ballroom of an abandoned castle,” Monsoon said. “It’s the only structure in this valley.”

“Then let’s get going already,” the mare with the Trottignham accent insisted. “There’s an entire world out there to explore.”

“Fold your wings, North Star,” Monsoon said to her. “We have more ponies and equipment coming in.”

Wind Whistler took in her surroundings. The room was cool but bearable. However, the air was also stale and a thick layer of dust covered everything. She could also see some cracks in the plaster and the probably once grand chandelier was uneven from the crystals missing.

“How big is this castle?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Big enough to house the advanced team,” Monsoon replied. “However, the valley is barren, so we will only linger here long enough to get our bearings and look for more fertile terrain.”

“What about the mirror?” Hurricane motioned to the mirror as another pony flew out of it. “It’s our only contact with Equestria.”

“We’ll take it with us,” Monsoon said. “Transporting the mirror in Equestria from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire didn’t seem to affect it, so we should be able to move this one with no trouble.”

“It’s too bad,” Wind Whistler said. “With some minor repairs this would make a fine home.”

North Star groaned. “You can stay here and wait for the others. I need to see something other than this room.”

North Star ran up the stairs. The hollow echoes of her hooffalls reverberated off the walls, ceiling, and floor. If not for the pastel color of her coat, she would have disappeared into the darkness.

Wind Whistler flew after her. “Wait! You shouldn’t go alone!”

The stairs led to a balcony that just ended to the left as best as Wind Whistler could tell in the dark. North Star pushed open a door to the right. Wind Whistler landed and ran after her into a grand hall. The hall was dark, but faint light was coming from Wind Whistler’s right. North Star was headed towards it. Wind Whistler followed her into a grand, two-story foyer. The foyer had double doors that led to the outside. Wind Whistler noted all this as she drew up a floorplan in her mind.

A blast of cold air hit Wind Whistler as North Star opened the door. She flew out and Wind Whistler flew after her. She gained altitude into the clear, night sky. There was a glow on the horizon that she figured was the coming morning if the time was the same as in the Crystal Empire. It was also winter given then chill, so they must be in the northern hemisphere like Equestria if it was the same time of year.

“You need to see this,” North Star gasped.

Wind Whistler turned to what she figured was the south. She gasped as she saw the arc across the sky. It was a system of rings, two wide bands separated by a gap and third narrow ring on the outside. The bands looked like they had grooves similar to a record going from almost white to dark gray. She had seen planets with rings, but now she saw what it looked like from the surface.

Above the rings were two moons in their last quarter. The larger looked about the same size as Equestria’s moon and the other appeared a little less than half the size. Both were light grey in color, but the larger had more dark patches while the smaller had more craters.

“We’re definitely not in Equestria anymore,” Wind Whistler said.

“Isn’t it thrilling?” North Star asked.

Wind Whistler grinned. “It is.” She could hardly wait to see what was out there.

Gusty was stunned as the ballroom filled with equipment. It was looking more like a warehouse with crates and barrels stacked on each other. Some things like the tents and heating stoves were taking outside immediately. However, most of it was being stacked up here. It made sense since they could keep it close by and easily conceal and protect it until they moved out.

“Please tell me it made it through okay,” a voice said.

Gusty turned to the side. A unicorn mare with a pink coat and a blue mane streaked with dark pink was using her magic to pull off the top of a crate. It was pretty powerful magic as she pulled it off nails and all. Gusty could not do that with her levitation magic.

The pony levitated a box out of the crate and opened it. She sighed in relief. “It looks like it made through in one piece,” she murmured to herself.

“What did?” Gusty walked up to the box and looked at it. It was a sewing machine.

Gusty furrowed her brow. “A sewing machine? We barely wear any clothes.”

“That doesn’t mean we won’t have a use for it,” the unicorn said.

The earth pony with a white coat and aqua mane walked up beside Gusty. She turned to Buttons. “Hi, Buttons.”

“Hi, Cupcake,” the unicorn, apparently named Buttons, replied. “My sewing equipment made it through okay. What about your cookware?”

“Every pot and spoon is accounted for,” Cupcake replied proudly.

“Be careful with that,” a mare snapped.

Gusty, Buttons, and Cupcake turned to the commotion. An earth pony mare with a white coat and her dark pink mane done up in a tight bun pointed at a crate while glaring at a guard. A nurse’s cap sat on top of her head. “This is vital medical equipment.” She spoke with a Mustangian accent that would probably be more refined if she was not shouting angrily.

“I’m sorry, Truly,” the guard replied timidly.

“That’s Miss Truly, to you,” Truly said.

The guard trotted around her and back towards the mirror.

“That’s everything!” a guard shouted. “Let’s move out.”

The guards passed through the mirror.

The last guard stopped and looked back. “Good luck.” He disappeared into the mirror.

“Well,” Cupcake said with the slightest unease in her voice, “that’s it. We’re on our own.”

Shady trembled as she swung her directional lantern from side to side. The grand hall had a high, peaked ceiling with chandeliers running down the center. The end opposite the foyer was a set of stairs leading up and down.

Fizzy walked towards the stairs. She put down her lantern and turned back to Shady. “Should we check out the upstairs or the downstairs first?”

If this castle was like most other castles, really bad things were downstairs like dungeons and torture chambers. Shady put down her lantern. “I say upstairs,” she said timidly.

“You don’t have to be so scared, Shady,” Fizzy said. “There’s nothing here but us.”

“You can never be too careful,” Shady replied, and then picked up her lantern.

Fizzy picked up her lantern and turned it to a door. She walked to the door and pulled it open.

Shady put down the lantern. “What’s in there?”

Fizzy put down her lantern. “I think it’s a kitchen. Check the opposite door.”

Shady picked up her lantern and walked up to the door opposite to Fizzy’s. The door was stone, but had been crafted to look like wood like many doors in the castle. She pushed down on the handle and pulled the door open. The large room had long tables and benches arranged in rows.

Shady put down her lantern. “It looks like a dining hall.”

“So, the ballroom, library, kitchen, and dining hall are on the first floor,” Fizzy mused aloud.

A thought crossed Shady’s mind. “Does the castle seem deeper and wider than it should be? Wind Whistler said this part of the building is ten meters deep and thirty meters wide from the outside. It seems twice as wide and four or five times as deep from the inside.”

“Maybe it’s a spell to make it bigger on the inside than on the outside,” Fizzy said. “Let’s check out the second floor.”

Fizzy picked up her lantern and so did Shady. The stairs went up halfway to a landing and then up again the opposite way. The second floor had a hall going to either side. Shady followed Fizzy where the hall to the left hall met another hall going to the front of the castle.

Fizzy pushed open a door. She put down her lantern. “These are bedrooms.”

Shady opened another door. A spacious room devoid of furniture was on the other side.

They walked down the hall to the doors at the end. Fizzy pushed it open. They stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the foyer.

They walked back to the stairs and went up to the third floor. They came to a pair of doors. The doors were stone like all the others despite looking like it should be wood.

Shady set down her lantern. “I wonder why all the doors and beams were made to look like wood but are made of stone.”

Fizzy set down her lantern. “Maybe they didn’t have wood, but liked the look.”

Shady shrugged. It was as good an answer as any.

Fizzy pushed the door open and light came in from the other side. They stepped out into a large, open room under what had been a glass dome. However, much of the glass was gone and the room was frigid.

An earth pony was standing next a large, circular area of soil in a raised part of the floor. She had a yellow coat and flowing, light pink mane with a white flower worked into it behind her ear. Other raised areas held dry, gray soil in a circle around the room. The earth pony looked worriedly to a unicorn stallion with a medium gray coat and straight, white mane streaked with black. He swept his horn across the soil with a gray aura around it.

“Are you absolutely sure?” the mare asked.

“I double checked,” the stallion replied. “There’s not a trace of organic compounds in the soil. I don’t know how to explain it. This planet has a nitrogen dominant atmosphere with abundant oxygen. Background radiation is also comparable to Equestria. This castle also means something lived here at some point. Yet, the soil is completely dead.”

“If the soil is dead, we can’t plant crops,” the mare said. “I hope the whole planet isn’t like this.”

Fizzy pushed her way through the door and trotted in. Shady sulked behind her.

“Hi,” Fizzy said cheerfully. “What are you talking about?”

The two ponies looked her as she came to stand in front of them.

“Who are you?” the mare asked.

“I’m Fizzy,” Fizzy said. She then motioned back to Shady as she came to stand behind her. “This is Shady.”

“Should we tell them?” the mare asked.

The stallion shrugged. “They deserve to know.” He turned to them and pointed to the mare. “This Posey, our botanist; and I’m Geiger Counter, our chemical analyst.”

“We were talking about the soil,” Posey said. “There are typically organic compounds in it, but there’s none in this valley.”

“Why’s that?” Fizzy asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Geiger Counter replied and then shrugged. “Right now we can’t explain it.”

Shady swallowed down a lump forming in her throat. Her feelings about this planet were growing worse by the minute. She almost wished the monsters had greeted them upon arrival. At least she would know. She felt like something was there with them, but always just out of sight.

Monsoon watched the clear sky. They might have rings and two moons, but there was one sun like Equestria. Though, it and the moons moved without any assistance he knew of.

Although it looked to be the same size and brightness of Equestria’s sun, something told him this sun was a much larger and more distant celestial body. Although many ponies believed Luna brought the stars out at night, they were actually ‘out’ all the time but drowned out by the light of their sun scattering through the sky. They were also suns only unimaginably far away. Yet, they seemed to not wobble like they would if being pushed around something. This could be one of those ‘fixed’ stars and this planet was circling around it. It was probably also spinning like a top to make it look like the sun was going around it.

Monsoon glanced down at the area in front of them. Astronomy was not important at the moment. Finding life on this planet was.

The valley was dry as a bone, but the surrounding area had a blanket of snow over it. However, he could still tell it was just as rocky and apparently desolate.

Three objects caught his eye. They were Hurricane, North Star, and Lofty. Hopefully they would have some good news when it came to life here.

Lofty was the closest. She had a yellow coat and curly, yellow mane. She came towards Monsoon and held up just above the ground before landing gently.

“Please tell me you have good news,” Monsoon said warily.

“There’s not much out there, but I did find life.” Lofty opened her saddlebag and pulled out some stalks of dried grass.

Hurricane and North Star landed.

“Let me guess,” Monsoon said, “just some dry grass.”

“I saw some thorn bushes,” Hurricane said.

“I also thought I saw a creature with the head of a lion and five goat legs arranged like the spokes of a wheel around it for a split second,” North Star said. “However, when I looked again, it was gone.”

“You got that much detail from a glance?” Lofty asked.

North Star shrugged. “I have a photographic memory.”

“The thing is, the soil is all gravel and sand out there,” Hurricane said. “We might be a hundred kilometers or more from anything farmable.”

“What gets me is how barren the valley is,” North Star said. “Looking at the topography, it should have plenty of water and life.”

“Well, it’s doesn’t,” Monsoon said. “At least we know this planet supports some life. We just happened to come out in badlands.”

Monsoon motioned back to the valley. “Head back to the castle. Geiger Counter will want to analyze your samples to see if we can eat the local vegetation.”

“What little there is,” Lofty added.

“Just get down there,” Monsoon snapped. “They probably need help with something.”

The three nodded. They spread their wings and flew away back towards the valley. Tomorrow they would be heading out farther. Hopefully they would have better news.

Rosetta stepped out into the cold courtyard. Narrow, three story buildings sat against the side walls. They had many doors and windows opening out onto balconies with stairs connecting the floors. The opened front gate led to the lowered drawbridge. Above it, Spearhead stood on the front battlement.

Rosetta concentrated. The world disappeared in a flash of green and then reappeared with her on the battlement beside Spearhead.

A flash of blue and the clack of hooves behind her told her Echo and Typhoon had joined them. Landslide was probably somewhere doing his own thing as usual. She turned back. The crystal unicorn mare with a pale blue coat and a mane streaked white, yellow, dark purple, and red stood in front of the pegasus stallion with a dark blue coat and blue mane.

Echo always gave Rosetta the creeps at first glance. Those ice blue eyes staring forward blankly and expressionless face was only compounded by the fact she was a mute. There was no telling what was happening behind that blank stare or if you wanted to know what was happening in there.

Typhoon bowed his head. “What are your orders, Lord Spearhead?”

A small laugh drew Rosetta’s attention back to Spearhead.

Spearhead smirked. “Lord? A rather lofty title, wouldn’t you say?”

“You are the highest ranking pony on this planet,” Rosetta said.

“The title of Lord suggests I’m a member of the old nobility,” Spearhead said coldly. “A noble I am not, nor would I ever wish to be. Call me colonel or governor. Those are my proper titles.”

Rosetta looked out at the valley. It was completely barren. Nothing but gray, rocky soil extended to the mountains in the distance. There was not even snow on the ground.

“Colonel Spearhead.” The familiar voice of Galaxy made Rosetta’s ear flick. She turned back. Sure enough, the crystal unicorn mare with a pink coat was standing in the courtyard below.

Galaxy disappeared in a flash of pink and reappeared on the battlement next to Spearhead. “Colonel Spearhead, I believe there is something wrong with this valley.”

In the short time Rosetta had spent around Galaxy, she discovered her personal magic was a kind of sixth sense. She could sense things about a situation that escaped the senses of others. When she said something was wrong, they more likely than not were.

“Wrong in what way?” Spearhead asked. Spearhead was a born skeptic as Rosetta had learned. Even if Galaxy was almost always right, he was the first to want more proof.

“I can’t say for sure,” Galaxy replied.

Rosetta could swear she saw Spearhead catch himself from rolling his eyes.

“I just have the feeling the valley shouldn’t be like this,” Galaxy explained. “It’s like something is making it barren.”

Spearhead smirked. “Fortunately it’s no concern of ours. We have plenty of stores, and once the scouts find greener pastures, we will leave this valley and any ill feelings you get from it behind.”

Galaxy frowned. “I hope so.”

Hydia stretched and scratched her hunched back. She hated winter. She should love it because it was when everything was barren, but the cold made her bones ache and the dryness made her skin itch. Making others miserable was just fine, but she should at least be able to enjoy it without suffering as well.

She walked up to her viewing pool. The viewing fluid bubbled as stream rose from it. She took in the noxious smell which made her feel better.

She waved her hand over the viewing pool and concentrated to cast her spell. It was time to take in her barren domain. It was almost lifeless year round, so she could enjoy seeing nothing but rock even when the weather was not giving her fits.

If anyone should happen to venture into the wastes known as the Land of Nightmares, well, then she could have some fun. She had an arsenal of spells to make their trek a nightmare, assuming the delightfully undesirable beasts and demons that lurked among the rocks and crevasses did not get them first.

Images of the rocky landscape covered in snow passed through the pool. She smiled as she watched the desolation pass before her.

She then came to the crown jewel of the desolation. The cursed valley her parents had hexed all those decades ago. They would have been proud to see it just as barren as when they cast their magic on it.

The image showed the barren landscape, but also more of those small equine creatures. She stopped the parade of images and had the pool stay on them. She thought she had scared them off two lunar conjunctions ago.

“What are they doing back?” Hydia grumbled under breath.

There were far more of them this time. Hydia grimaced at the thought of new neighbors, especially ones so cute and colorful. Even the small party she scared off the last time had some magical prowess. This many could even pose a threat.

“Reeka, Draggle, get your useless carcasses up here this instant!” Hydia shouted. Her voice echoed through the dilapidated walls of their castle.

Hydia waited a couple seconds before she heard the clambering and grunting of her two daughters making their way up the stairs in usual fashion. A few seconds later, they practically fell upstairs. Draggle, the stick of girl topped by a ratty head of red hair, and Reeka, a tub of lard with her black hair in pigtails, picked themselves off the floor.

“Can’t you even walk up a flight of stairs without screwing it up?” Hydia grumbled and then realized she asked this just about every day.

“Reeka wasn’t walking fast enough,” Draggle complained.

“You were behind me,” Reeka shot back.

“Then you should have been moving faster,” Draggle shouted in Reeka’s face.

Reeka pounced on Draggle and the two started to wrestle, kicking up the dust around them.

Hydia slapped her forehead and pulled her hand down her face. Her head suddenly throbbed like it did so often. If these two were any indication of the state of the next generation of the Gloom Witch Clan, she feared for the future.

“Girls,” Hydia said, keeping the irritation from her voice as best she could.

Reeka and Draggle continued to wrestle, rolling around. They bumped into the wall and almost caused some of the containers on a shelf above them to fall off. However, they wobbled back into place while Reeka and Draggle rolled away in the opposite direction.

“GIRLS!” Hydia shouted, letting her irritation flow freely into her voice. They did not have time for this.

The two immediately stopped and rolled away from each other.

“Yes, Mama?” Draggle asked.

Hydia’s blood suddenly began to boil. If there was no thing she could not stand, it was these two dingbats reminding her she made the stupid mistake of shacking up with their sperm donor and carrying them to term. Her face burned like the volcano below their fortress.

“What did you call me?” Hydia fumed.

“I’m sorry, Hydia.” Draggle backed up to the wall. “I didn’t mean to call you ‘Mama.’”

“You can suggest we’re even related when you stop being worthless screw-ups,” Hydia growled. “Now, we have visitors of the four-hoofed variety.”

Hydia turned back to her viewing pool. Reeka and Draggle gathered behind her.

“So, the ponies are back?” Draggle asked.

“Of course they’re back,” Reeka chastised Draggle. “What are you, blind?”

Fortunately no, but Hydia knew they were both dumb. Frankly, blind, intelligent witches would have been better than the seeing idiots she had. After all, there were seeing-eye spells, but she had yet to find a cure for the acute case of stupid these two had.

“I wonder where they come from,” Reeka said.

“Who knows?” Hydia replied. The world was full of portals leading to other worlds. The old castle apparently served as one of them leading to wherever these ponies came from, but Hydia had never discovered how. That was not important right now anyway.

“I wonder if they’re going to stay,” Draggle said.

Hydia gave a low cackle. “Not if I have anything to say about it.” She rubbed her hands together as she thought of the terrible things they could do them. “We should roll out the welcome wagon for—”

Hydia stopped as an idea crossed her mind. It was so twisted and sick she had to do it. “Wait minute,” she mused aloud. “We don’t have to do anything.”

“But, what if they take over that valley,” Reeka asked.

“Exactly,” Hydia said. “Why don’t we let the little curse your grandparents put on it have its way with them.”

Hydia looked down into the viewing pool with a grin. Those multicolored equines had no idea what was happening to them at that very minute.

Chapter 3: Stoned to Death

Wind Whistler woke up and felt stiff, really stiff. She felt stiffer than she had felt yesterday when she felt stiffer than the day before. These beds were not the most comfortable they could have brought over from Equestria, but they were not so uncomfortable that she should feel like this. The other ponies also seemed stiffer with each passing day.

Wind Whistler coughed. It was deep cough from the deepest parts of her lungs. She coughed up grainy phlegm and sat it into a spittoon at the corner of the bed. She had never spat like this before, but she was constantly getting fine sand in her mouth, throat, and even lungs.

Wind Whistler rolled out of bed. She forced her wings open which protested every millimeter. She folded them again with just as much difficulty. All of the pegasi were effectively grounded by the outbreak of stiffness, putting their search for greener pastures on hold.

The room she currently called home was one of the apartments in the side buildings of the castle. It was clearly meant for one occupant to do little more than sleep in it. There was a space for the bed they brought in as well as some other furniture. There was also a powder room to the side, but there was no water for the sink or toilet which was not built for a pony anyway.

Wind Whistler stretched to try to get the stiffness out of her. However, it persisted like it had for days. Several ponies had gone to Glory and Truly in the week since the mirror closed, but she had find nothing wrong.

Wind Whistler walked to the door and pushed it open to step out onto the balcony. She was greeted by the cold which did not seem to affect her as much as it did when they first arrived. She made her way down to the ground and walked out of the gate and onto the draw bridge.

The sun had just risen over the horizon. The larger moon was new and therefore unseen despite being in the sky. The smaller moon was also up, but it was still a sliver of a waning crescent. Every day they were farther apart and remaining up farther into the daylight hours and not coming up until later into the night. The larger moon in fact came up just after the sun at this point even if Wind Whistler could not see it.

Galaxy had figured out the moons were traveling in the same direction as the rotation of the planet. The larger, closer moon was rising and setting later at a faster pace than the smaller, more distant moon. She had even calculated their orbital periods. The larger moon completed an orbit once every 30 days or so like Luna’s cycles for Equestria’s moon, and the smaller moon completed an orbit once every 50 days. The phases were slightly different because the planet itself was traveling around the star and the moons reflected sunlight to seem illuminated. This explained why the larger moon was invisible as the sunlit side faced away from them. The solar days and actual days were also slightly off due to their movement around the sun. They were going to completely rewrite the science of astronomy on this planet just based on the lunar and solar cycles.

Then there were those rings of dust and small rocks circling the planet. There were also at least three tiny moons embedded within them, perhaps holding them in place. Wind Whistler thought they would make the night sky too bright, but they did not even cast as much light as a full moon. They were so thin they appeared translucent at night, and a sizeable part of the arc was shadowed by the planet around midnight.

The stiffness crept back into Wind Whistler’s mind. Why is everypony getting stiffer? she thought to herself.

“Not good, not good, not good,” she heard sompony grumble.

She looked to the side and saw Geiger Counter running across the drawbridge. He stopped and an aura surrounded his horn. Wind Whistler could see the panic in his eyes. He swept his horn over her while tapping his hoof.

He tapped faster. “It’s happening to you too.”

“What’s happening?” Wind Whistler neglected the fact he had just scanned her without even asking permission. He was too flustered to consider common courtesies, and she wanted to know what he was going on about.

“When I scanned for organic compounds, I looked for carbon since that’s what all life in Equestria is based on,” Geiger Counter said. “Well, I didn’t find any carbon, so I at first though the soil was dead. However, I thought I would scan for oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen to be sure. I started finding organic compounds everywhere only the carbon had been replaced with silicon.”

“Carbon and silicon are very similar elements,” Wind Whistler said, drawing up the periodic table in her mind and the fact silicon was right under carbon. “It is possible life on this planet is based on it and instead of carbon.”

“Except the soil and plant samples the scouts brought back had normal carbon-based compounds,” Geiger Counter said. “It’s just this valley. I then scanned those samples again and started finding silicon where carbon should be. The amount of silicon increased each day. I started scanning our supplies and found the same thing happening there. Then I started scanning ponies, and…” He stopped.

“And what?” Wind Whistler asked, wanting desperately to know what Geiger Counter was going on about.

“The carbon in our own bodies is turning into silicon,” Geiger Counter blurted. “That’s why everypony is getting stiffer. Silicon-based compounds are not as flexible as those based on carbon. Therefore, tissue like our muscle fiber is losing flexibility. The sand in our mouths and lungs is also because of this. The carbon dioxide we’re exhaling is turning to silicon dioxide.”

Wind Whistler tried to absorb all this. “What does it all mean?” she asked.

“It means we’re all turning to living stone,” Geiger Counter said plainly.

Wind Whistler’s jaw dropped. She had her explanation for the stiffness, but it was not the explanation she wanted.

Spearhead watched as Sparkler took up a canister of gunpowder in her magic. The unicorn mare had a pale blue coat and lavender mane streaked with red. She glared at the canister. The lid unscrewed and pulled away. The canister then upended and emptied its contents on the table. However, instead of black powder, it was light-colored sand tinted yellow by the sulfur.

“Our gunpowder and guncotton is all like this,” Sparkler grumbled. “Apparently it was affected the fastest because it had been refined.”

Sparkler went into a fit of coughing. It was deep and raspy coughing. She finally spat up a wad of dirty phlegm.

Sparkler looked back at the canister with her teeth set on edge and her brow deeply furrowed in an angry grimace. “It’s all useless”—she snarled the word ‘useless’ as she slammed the canister down on the table before releasing it from her magic—“just like we will be: nothing but pony-shaped statues.”

Spearhead did not even think of flinching at Sparkler’s outburst. It was natural for the demolition and munitions expert to be enraged by her materials being rendered useless right under her nose.

“We can’t even use our guns,” Sparkler snarled.

“I doubt firearms would solve our problem, anyway,” Magic Star said. The earth pony with a yellow coat and green mane walked up to Spearhead. “We know this is limited to the valley. There must be something about it causing this.”

“What about leaving the valley?” Sparkler asked. “Maybe it’ll clear up.”

Magic Star shook her head. “The pegasi are already too stiff to fly more than a few meters. There’s also the possibility this could use us to spread past the valley.”

“I have to agree,” Spearhead said. “We need to concentrate on reversing this. We don’t have time to secure our supplies for a long journey.”

Sparkler heaved a sigh. She looked to Spearhead with tears welling up in her purple eyes. “How long do we have?” she whimpered.

Spearhead kept a straight face. He would not show weakness in the face of this crisis. “Geiger Counter believes we will be completely transformed in a month. The crystal ponies have even less time as the crystalline structure of their bodies has accelerated the transformation process. However, this will not be allowed to get that far.”

Spearhead turned to Magic Star. “Work with Galaxy to find the source of this and how we stop and reverse it. Work all day and all night if you have to.”

Magic Star bowed her head. “It will be done, Governor.”

I won’t let this claim the colony, Spearhead thought to himself. We are meant for much greater things.

Wind Whistler coughed. The cough rang in her hears. She finally worked the wad of grainy phlegm into her mouth and spat it out.

She held up her leg and looked at it. There were specks of gray here and there. She had noticed them days before, but just thought they were stubborn dirt. They were getting bigger, and now she knew they were patches were her skin and coat were turning to stone.

She touched a particularly large area just above where her hoof started. It felt hard, but she felt a sensation from it. It was living stone like Geiger Counter had described. She wondered how it could remain alive, but pony science knew nothing about silicon-based life beyond it being a possibility since they had never encountered it.

She put her hoof down which resisted a little. They had much less time than a month. Even if their bodies were not completely transformed, once their joints petrified, they were immobile.

Wind Whistler heard a soft sob from an apartment. She pulled open the door and lloked. Fizzy sat inside with her head low and tears streaming from her eyes. She sobbed softly, her shoulders heaving.

Wind Whistler walked up to her. “What’s wrong?”

Wind Whistler knew exactly what was wrong. It was wrong with everypony. They were turning to stone. The crystal ponies were even worse off. While Wind Whistler had some patches of stone forming, noticeable sections of Fizzy’s body had become like quartz the same turquoise as her coat.

It had to be especially hard on her being so young. She was at that awkward age when you had the body of an adult but your mind was still developing. While they were all scared, it had to be terrifying to her.

“It’s my eyes,” Fizzy said.

Wind Whistler swallowed. She had not considered how their sensory organs would be affected. Crystal pony eyes were the most noticeable difference between them and normal ponies. It might be they were taken sooner by the petrification or rather crystallization in the case of the crystal ponies.

“Can you open them?” Wind Whistler asked, almost afraid to see what had been done to them.

Fizzy turned to Wind Whistler and slowly opened her eyes. Wind Whistler gasped as Fizzy’s eyes were revealed. Her irises looked like cut rubies.

“What’s happened to them?” Fizzy asked. “All the crystal ponies’ eyes are like this.”

Wind Whistler looked at them closely. “It appears the crystal structure of your irises have reorganized into an octagonal pattern.” The center over the pupil was an octagon with trapezoidal shapes around it to form a broader octagonal shape. The crystal was only raised a little like her original iris, and the edges were rounded.

Wind Whistler held up her hoof. “Can you still see?”

“Yes.” Fizzy followed Wind Whistler’s hoof with her eyes as she moved it from side to side. “Still, it’s so weird, and I’m really scared. What’s happening to us?”

Wind Whistler heaved a sigh. “I don’t know, Fizzy. I just don’t know.”

Fizzy wrapped her hooves around Wind Whistler and hugged her tightly like a foal embracing their parent or older sibling when they needed comfort. Wind Whistler was at first taken aback. However, she wrapped her hooves around Fizzy and cradled her. She could feel the parts of Fizzy’s body that had hardened.

Something came over her that she had never felt before. It was not like with Hurricane which she figured was physical attraction. This was a desire to be there for this young mare like a big sister for lack of a better term. She needed somepony to look up to here, and Wind Whistler wanted to be that somepony.

“However, everything will be all right,” Wind Whistler said tenderly. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“I wish I was brave and smart like you, Wind Whistler,” Fizzy said. She then sniffed.

“You are,” Wind Whistler replied, stroking Fizzy’s mane, “just in a different way. That’s what makes life special. How boring would the world be if everypony was like me?”

Fizzy laughed out of a sob. “I guess you’re right.”

Wind Whistler smiled at hearing Fizzy laughing.

Hydia watched the light blue pony with the feathery wings embrace the turquoise pony with a fluted horn coming out of her forehead in the viewing pool. Hydia pointed her index finger at her opened mouth and pretended to gag. She had no idea what they talking about, but she knew it had to be some sappy encouragement. The thought alone made her stomach turn.

“What a disgusting display of affection,” Hydia grumbled. “I want them to suffer, not come closer to together. Now I wish the curse would just hurry up and turn them to stone. I don’t think I can take much more of this sweetness.”

Reeka leaned over the viewing pool. “Maybe they’ll go home now that they know what’s happening to them.”

Hydia grimaced. “Or they could try to remove the curse.”

Hydia turned away from the viewing pool and walked to the spell cabinet. “We can’t let such sweet and caring creatures gain a foothold here.” She opened the cabinet and looked at the scrolls in cubbyholes. “The Gloom Witch Clan has maintained the dark magic in the Land of Nightmares for more than a century, and I won’t be the one to let it fail to a bunch of colorful, little equines.”

The Gloom Witch Clan was the most powerful group of spellcasters on this Earth, coming from an Earth with a rich magic force and the rigid philosophy of might makes right. The royal family had the most powerful magic, and the nobles had the next most powerful. The clan had been somewhere in the middle on their Earth, but here they were the top dogs here.

The clan used their magic to rule through terror like the royals and nobles back home. They transformed people into animals. They reduced kingdoms to ruin. Hydia’s sister was even a cannibal. They made sure everything with sapience on this rock understood who ruled the roost in the most brutal fashion possible or simply wiped them out if they refused to accept their place.

Laying down the law with newcomers like these ponies was especially important. They had to show absolutely no room for resistance. Either the new arrivals were ground into submission in short order or eradicated.

Nowhere was it more important to maintain their absolute superiority than the Volcano of Gloom and surrounding Land of Nightmares. The volcano was the source of their power in this world, and the surrounding wasteland served as a buffer against anything that would want to move against them. These ponies being practically on top of them had to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

“Do you think they could destroy the obelisk?” Draggle asked.

“I don’t plan to give them the chance,” Hydia said.

Hydia scanned the cabinet. She could turn them into frogs. She could turn them into flies. She could even turn half of them into frogs and half of them into flies and watch them eat each other.

“I’ll give the curse another week,” Hydia said. “After that, we’re taking things into our own hands.”

She turned back to Reeka and Draggle. “In the meantime I want you two watching that viewing pool like a hawk. If the ponies get near the obelisk, I want to know immediately.”

Hurricane forced his body to move forward. Patches of rock covered his body, ranging from pinpricks to a couple centimeters across. However, it was his joints and tendons he was worried about. His wings were frozen to his sides, and every step was an ordeal.

He finally stepped the end of the drawbridge. North Star and Lofty followed behind him.

Monsoon stepped out of a nearby apartment. “Anything?”

Hurricane coughed until he could hack up a wad of grainy phlegm.

“No,” Hurricane said. He did not want to shake his head. He let out another cough, but nothing came up. “I don’t even know what we’re looking for.”

“Magic Star believes whatever is causing this is tied to some magical object,” Monsoon said. “I thought it would be in the heart of the valley.”

“Well, we searched for three days and only got rockier for our troubles,” North Star said.

Wind Whistler walked towards a basin at the foot of the flat-topped plateau near the castle. She noticed an earth pony stallion. The stallion had a white coat and a yellow mane interrupted by patches of gray stone, and she recognized him as Topsoil. He looked up at the face of the vertical cliff.

“What are looking at?” Wind Whistler asked.

Topsoil turned back to her stiffly. “I figured I would take in the local geology before I became a part of it. This had been a beautiful valley at one point.”

He motioned as best he could to the basin and the wide trench leading from it. “This had been a lake with a river leading from it, past the castle, into a larger lake, and down the valley.”

He turned back to the cliff face. “Do you see the vertical striations in the rock?”

Wind Whistler focused. There were vertical lines coming down the face and the column of the rocks with the markings was particularly smooth. “Yes. The rocks also appear to be more eroded.”

“This was a waterfall at some point,” Topsoil said. “Rain and snow collected on mountains on the north side of the valley and flowed through aquifers into a spring at the top of this plateau. All the water that went through this valley started up there.”

“Fascinating,” Wind Whistler said, not even trying to sound interested. She had already guessed the system of depressions in the valley were an old river and lake system. If Topsoil had found the source of the magic that had turned half of Fizzy’s body to crystal and slowly claiming them all, she would have cared.

An idea suddenly popped into her head. It was crazy, but it might be true.

“Do you know where Magic Star is?” Wind Whistler asked.

“She should be at the castle,” Topsoil said.

That was all Wind Whistler needed to know. She turned around and ran as well as she could back to the castle. It would have taken a couple minutes to travel the half kilometer to the castle if her joints were not turning to stone and she could fly. Instead it was an excruciating quarter of an hour. However, she finally walked across the drawbridge as determined as ever to get the answers she needed.

“Where’s Magic Star?” Wind Whistler called out.

“I’m here.” Magic Star hobbled out of the main building with Spearhead. “What is it?”

“I have a theory,” Wind Whistler said. “Whatever is affecting us is altering the nature of this valley. Is it possible the source is using a natural process to spread its power?”

“It makes sense,” Magic Star said. “Magic related to nature uses the natural energy flows. What natural process are you thinking of?”

Wind Whistler motioned in the direction of the plateau. “The flow of water. When water flowed through this valley, it started up there. It’s possible the source of magic is up there and using the old water way to spread.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before,” Magic Star said. “Wind Whistler, you’re a genius.”

Wind Whistler was actually classified as a super genius, but she was not one to brag, especially during a crisis. It was just a case of doing what had to be done.

Wind Whistler noticed Spearhead’s mouth spread into a broad grin like a parent watching their foal achieve some milestone. “Excellent work, Wind Whistler. Let us pay a visit to the top of the plateau and see what’s up there.”

Hydia walked up the stairs to the viewing pool chamber.

“I wonder how far that curse has gotten today,” she mused to herself.

Hopefully the ponies were too stiff to move by now. They were scouring the valley looking for the source of the curse. Fortunately they were looking in the wrong direction. Her grandparents were far too clever and adept with the magic arts to do something as obvious or inefficient as place the obelisk in the center of the curse.

Hydia reached the top of the stairs. Reeka and Draggle were slumped against the wall of the viewing pool. They snored loudly as they slept.

Hydia ground her teeth as her face grew hot. She would give them the simplest tasks and yet they would still find a way to mess them up.

“Wake up, you two!” she snapped.

Reeka and Draggle jumped to their feet. At least Hydia still had fear working in her favor with them.

“We were just taking a short nap, Hydia,” Draggle said hastily.

Hydia rolled her eyes. They could have been asleep for hours for all she knew.

“The ponies that went out to search the valley just got back,” Reeka said.

Hydia walk to the viewing pool and looked in. The ponies had noticeable patches of stone on their bodies. Hydia felt satisfaction every time she looked in the viewing pool and saw the curse was progressing nicely.

“Gorgeous,” Hydia said. “The ponies turning to crystal are a little too colorful for my tastes though.”

The image in the pool changed to ponies making their way slowly up an incline on the face of a cliff. Hydia immediately recognized it as the face of the plateau that once had the waterfall. Her satisfaction disappeared for panic to take its place.

“Ack! They figured out where the obelisk is!” Hydia screamed. “Quick, to the airship! We have to stop them before they get to it!”

Hydia turned and ran down the stairs. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard grunts and rumbling from behind her. She looked back and saw and Reeka and Draggle tumbling down the stairs.

Hydia jumped and clung to a stalactite as they rolled down the stairs under her. She let go and landed on the stairs. Reeka and Draggle hit the floor with a thud and sprawled out across the ground.

Hydia stormed down the stairs. “Don’t just lay there, get the airship prepped!”

Reeka and Draggle scrambled off the ground and towards the hangar.

Hydia was not going to lose the obelisk to those equines. They were apparently the ‘Wipe them off the face of the Earth’ type. I should have done this sooner, she thought angrily.

Wind Whistler pulled herself up onto the top of the plateau. She got her front half up and then worked her back hooves onto the flat top. She looked back at the valley. She could see the castle across the dried riverbed.

She turned back to where they had climbed. The top of the cliff was flat. It jutted into the valley from the tall line of mountains making up the north side. The cliff was maybe two hundred meters high, but the nearest mountain was easily two kilometers from foot to summit. The mountains were as dry as the valley.

Topsoil led the others to the top. Wind Whistler could tell they were in as much pain she was from climbing up here. The unicorns appeared in colorful flashes.

At least we still have unicorn magic, Wind Whistler thought.

“Okay, we’re up here,” Gusty said grumpily. “What are we looking for?”

“Maybe that,” Surprise said.

Wind Whistler turned to Surprise. She pointed into a large depression taking up much of the plateau. Wind Whistler walked up to the edge and looked in.

In the middle was a large piece of obsidian sticking out of the ground. It was at least three meters tall and a meter wide. It was carved into the shape of an octagonal prism with an octagonal pyramid on top. It was hard to tell from its jet black surface, but Wind Whistler thought she could see something craved into its faces.

“It looks like you were right, Wind Whistler,” Topsoil said. “This depression is where water would gather before going over the fall. I think that thing is over the spring.”

“But is it turning us to stone?” Gusty asked.

“There’s only one way to find out.” Magic Star walked into the depression and made her away carefully towards the obelisk. She slowly approached it. She touched it and immediately let out a shrill scream. Wind Whistler could see Magic Star’s hoof touching the obsidian turning completely to stone and the petrification working quickly up her leg.

Wind Whistler bounded down into the depression. She ran as best she could to Magic Star.

“I can’t move my hoof!” Magic Star screamed.

Wind Whistler grabbed Magic Star and tried to pull her away from the obelisk, but she was too heavy and stiff. She braced her hoof on the obelisk and pushed off carrying Magic Star with her. Even for that split second she could feel her hoof petrify.

Magic Star fell backwards with her. She looked to her leg which was completely stone to almost her shoulder. “Thanks, Wind Whistler. I think this confirms the obelisk is the source of the trouble.”

Wind Whistler got to her hooves. Fortunately, the petrification did not reach much past her hoof to impede her movement. “I’ll help you out of here.”

Magic Star leaned on Wind Whistler. A blue aura suddenly surrounded Magic Star, and she lifted off the ground. Wind Whistler watched Magic Star lift higher. She then turned to the edge of the depression. Buttons stood there with the others and had the same color aura around her horn.

“I got you, Magic Star,” Buttons said.

Magic Star settled gently on the ground as Wind Whistler made her way over the edge. Magic Star wobbled slightly now with her petrified leg permanently raised.

“Thanks,” Magic Star said.

“All right, we know that thing is responsible for all this,” Sparkler said, “but what can we do about it? Our explosives are useless.”

A cruel cackle resounded around them. Everypony looked around. Wind Whistler felt a chill go down her spine.

Wind Whistler then caught another sound. It sounded like an engine getting closer. She then saw an odd airship made up of a ramshackle galleon suspended under a patchwork envelope. Two engines with propellers were bolted to the sides of the galleon and spewing gray exhaust.

Three beings stood on the deck. They were bipedal and standing erect, but the oldest one at the wheel appeared to have a hunched back. Wind Whistler figured they were primates as their body structure resembled apes to a degree. However, they were hairless except for their manes and their skin was pale in complexion.

The airship came closer and Wind Whistler could make out more of their details. All three were female if Wind Whistler’s assumptions about body type were correct. The tall, skinny one wore an ill-fitting, patched up jumpsuit and pink kerchief over her ratty red mane. The fat one had her black mane in pigtails and wore an orange dress just as patched up as the skinny one’s jump suit as well as an undergarment of some kind the dress failed to cover completely. The one with the hunched back was a gnarled old nag with a bulbous nose between her large, bulging eyes. Her ratty, red hair came out from under the hood of the dark blue, patched-up robe she wore with an ornament topped by small horns above her neck. They were ugly creatures, at least be pony standards.

The airship circled around them. The hunchback let out a cackle like the one before. She said something a strange language.

“What did she say?” Gusty asked.

The hunchback started screaming something in her language Wind Whistler figured was an expression of anger and frustration over them not understanding.

“Babel, translate,” Spearhead said to the blue unicorn with a straight, blue mane streaked with white.

“Hopefully she will ramble enough to form a translation matrix,” Babel said. A green aura surrounded his horn.

The hunchback continued to ramble in her language. “—you blasted creatures deaf?” she suddenly shouted in Equestrian or rather they understood it as if she was speaking Equestrian.

“I think I got it,” Babel said.

“Can you start from the beginning?” Spearhead asked. “We couldn’t understand you before.”

The hunchback snarled. “As I was saying—” she cleared her throat “—welcome to the Land of Nightmares, my little ponies.” She put special emphasis on ‘little’ and ‘ponies’ in a mocking way. “How do you like our cursed valley?”

“So, you did this to us?” Gusty asked.

“In a way,” the hunchback said proudly. “I’m Hydia, the head witch of the Volcano of Gloom.”

“We’re Reeka and Draggle.” The fat one pointed to herself signaling she was Reeka and then to the skinny one signaling she was Draggle.

“We’re Hydia’s successors,” Draggle said.

“Shut up!” Hydia snapped. The two flinched and looked up at her fearfully.

“You would have been better off staying home,” Hydia said, clearly to the ponies. “This world is not for the weak.”

“Who are you calling weak?” Gusty snorted and tried to paw the ground, but could barely move.

“Why did you do this?” Wind Whistler asked. “We can peacefully coexist.”

Hydia threw her head back in bellowing laughter. “That’s rich.” She heaved a sigh as she finished her laughing fit. “We live by the law of the jungle here. It’s kill or be killed. Speaking of which, now that you have found our obelisk you have to be eliminated.” Hydia drew out the word ‘eliminated’ as she pulled the opposable extension of her grasping limb across her neck like it she was slitting it.

“You have to beat us first,” Gusty said. A tornado formed around her horn and shot forward.

The tornado struck the airship and blew them away. The witches shrieked as they their airship grew more distant.

Gusty concentrated until she gave up and panted. “That bought us a minute.”

Spearhead snorted. “If I could move better, I could use my magic to plow through that blasted obelisk.”

Wind Whistler furrowed her brow as best she could. It was the time to put her full intellect into something. She wanted a challenge, and this situation was it. She had found her first gazelle and she had to pounce. The stakes were higher than she had ever faced, but a challenge should have huge rewards or dire consequences. She considered everything at their disposal which was not much. They basically had themselves. She then hit on Buttons’ unusually powerful levitation magic.

She turned to Buttons. “Can you use your magic to throw Spearhead into the obelisk?”

“I can try,” Buttons said. “I don’t know what good that would do against that thing.”

“They’re coming about!” Topsoil shouted.

Wind Whistler looked back to the airship. It had turned towards them and was steaming in their direction.

“Just get me moving forward, and I can do the rest,” Spearhead said.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do,” Buttons said.

An aura surrounded her horn and Spearhead. Spearhead lifted off the ground. He tucked his hooves in as best he could. “Just make sure I’m on target.”

“I’ll back you up as far as I can,” Buttons said.

Spearhead floated back.

Buttons swallowed. “Here we go!” She threw her head to the side.

Spearhead flew forward going faster and faster. He pointed his head forward. The blue aura released him. A red aura surrounded his horn and enveloped his body. He accelerated at an incredible rate into the depression.

Wind Whistler bit her bottom lip as she watched Spearhead shoot straight at the obelisk. This was a huge risk. Cheetahs were gamblers. If they failed to deliver the killing blow, the quarry would escape and they had expended all that energy for nothing. She could have just sent their governor to his death if she was wrong.

Spearhead struck the obelisk. It exploded into shards, and he plowed into the ground past it. The aura exploded off him and he stood up apparently unharmed.

“No!” Hydia screamed in the distance.

Wind Whistler felt the ground rumble under her. She looked into the depression. The stump of the obelisk shattered and a geyser of water shot up from hole it left.

Spearhead disappeared and reappeared beside Wind Whistler. Wind Whistler watched the water fly dozens of meters in the air and rain back down. She squinted as she thought she saw a blue glow to it.

She looked down into the depression. The glow spread along the walls of the depression now filling with water. It continued to spread past the edge and watched over them.

Wind Whistler felt a warm, relaxing feeling come over her. She looked down and saw the patches of stone shrink away to nothing as the glow covered her body. She felt her body lose its stiffness. She opened her wings which she had not been able to do in a day.

The stoned parts of the other ponies returned to normal. Magic Star put down her leg as it returned to normal. “That’s so much better.”

Wind Whistler turned to the valley. The glow spread across it. She grasped as she saw the bare ground transform into grass. Trees and bushes sprang from the ground and almost instantly grow into maturity. The hills became rounder. What had seemed so harsh an barren just moments before seemed lush and welcoming now.

The glow around Wind Whistler retreated. She looked back. The glow concentrated around the dock of her tail. It flashed and left a white ribbon tied into a neat bow. The glow around the other ponies transformed into ribbons around the docks of the mares’ tails and kerchiefs around the necks of the stallions.

“This can’t be happening!” Hydia shrieked, now much closer.

Wind Whistler looked up at the airship looming over them.

“That’s it, equines,” Hydia snarled. “You’re dust.”

Hydia picked up a large book. She paged through it and quickly scanned it. She grinned broadly. “Let’s see how you little ponies like this.” She again put an emphasis on the ‘little’ and ‘ponies.’

She pointed at them. She chanted some strange words that did not translate, and a lightning bolt shot from her finger straight at Buttons.

Buttons winced. The lightning bolt shot towards, her, but stopped before hitting her as the pink ribbon around her tail glowed blue for a second.

Wind Whistler’s jaw hung open in shock. She looked up at the airship.

Hydia dropped her arm. “No. It can’t be.”

A pulse blasted from the geyser. The pulse hit the airship and blew them backwards while not affecting Wind Whistler of the others in the slightest. Hydia and the two others screamed and shrieked. The airship blew away like when Gusty hit them. However, they flew farther and farther away. Eventually it was nothing but a speck in the sky.

“No, it can’t be,” Hydia sobbed. “It just can’t be. The waterfall can’t be back. It can’t be protecting those ponies. The valley can’t be filled with life again. I can’t fail mom and dad.” She broke down in tears.

Everything her parents had worked for. Everything she promised on their deathbeds to continue. The greatest achievement in the clan’s history here was undone by colorful, little ponies of all things, and all she could do was watch.

“Let’s go home, ma---I mean Hydia,” Draggle said, taking the wheel. She brought them about and headed for home.

Hydia looked back at the valley, now green, and bright, and colorful. She clenched her teeth and snarled. She should not give into despair. She should turn it into rage against these intruders. “I hate those little ponies. I hate them more than anything else on this worthless lump of rock. Even if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll see them all wiped off the face of this Earth.”

“We’ll get them next time, Hydia,” Reeka said.

Wind Whistler took a step back mentally to try to absorb it all.

“What just happened?” Gusty summed up Wind Whistler’s thoughts nicely.

“We just witnessed some very powerful magic being unleashed,” Magic Star said. She looked back at the red ribbon tied around her tail. “And I think we’re wearing some of it.”

“I did see Buttons’ bow illuminate when Hydia’s attack failed to strike her,” Wind Whistler said. “Perhaps the ribbons and kerchiefs we’re now wearing are some kind of protective spell.”

“But, all we did was unstop a waterfall,” Topsoil said.

Magic Star turned back to the depression which was now filled with water and fell down the cliff. “These falls must have magical properties of their own. The obelisk was not just there to turn everything in the valley to stone, but also keep its power in check.”

The geyser subsided and sank into the water. The blue glow had also faded, but Wind Whistler suspected whatever magic it had cast was still in effect.

“I wonder how the others are faring,” Babel said.

“I’ll go see.” Wind Whistler spread her wings and took to the air. It felt so good to be able to fly again. She glided down into the now lush and green valley towards the castle.

She saw ponies gathered in the courtyard. The stallions had colorful kerchiefs around their necks and the mares had colorful ribbons tied in bows around the dock of their tails. She saw Fizzy jumping up and down and waving. She had a pink ribbon in her tail that matched the one in her mane.

Wind Whistler landed in front of Fizzy. Her body was free of the crystallization. However, her irises still had the octagonal structure.

“You guys did it!” Fizzy cheered. “I don’t know what you did, but whatever it was you did it.”

Wind Whistler was so pleased to see Fizzy again in good spirits.

“What about your eyes?” Wind Whistler asked. “It looks like the irises retained their altered structure.”

“Well, they were crystal to begin with,” Fizzy said. “I think I can even see a little better with them this way.”

A red flash caught Wind Whistler’s attention. She looked behind her and saw Spearhead walk up to them. “Well done, Wind Whistler. You’ve saved the colony.”

Wind Whistler pawed the ground bashfully. “I merely figured some things out and collected information. It was you and Buttons who actually destroyed the obelisk.”

Spearhead grinned. “I would like to invite you to dinner. There are things I wish to discuss with you in private.”

Wind Whistler was speechless and pulled up a complete blank as to why Spearhead would want to talk to her in private.

“These are matters regarding the future of the colony,” Spearhead said. “Please say you will attend.”

“I would be glad to join you for dinner.” Wind Whistler bowed.

Spearhead looked through the gate to the valley beyond. Wind Whistler followed his gaze. A blanket of lush grass covered much of the ground and trees and bushes both deciduous and evergreen were clustered in places. The deciduous trees were bare, and the grass would probably go dormant quickly in the cold.

It reminded Wind Whistler of home. However, it lacked that sameness. Perhaps it was the alien sky above it, or the knowledge this was just the small part of big world where anything was possible. Whatever the case, she felt welcome in this world for the first time.

“The original plan was to leave this valley behind,” Spearhead said. “However, now that it bears life, I think it would be a waste to give it up.”

Spearhead looked to Wind Whistler. “What should we call our new valley?”

“Dream Valley,” Wind Whistler said immediately.

Spearhead raised an eyebrow.

“Hydia called this place the Land of Nightmares,” Wind Whistler said. “I believe Dream Valley is a suitably defiant name for the little piece of paradise we’ve made out of the wasteland.”

Spearhead grinned. “I like the way you think. Dream Valley it is.”

Chapter 4: To the Victor the Spoils?

Wind Whistler adjusted the bow around her neck as she watched in the mirror. She made sure her blouse and jacket straight.

“You’re looking sharp, Wind Whistler,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler turned to Gusty. “Thanks. I want to look my best for my meeting with Governor Spearhead.”

Wind Whistler frowned slightly. “I’m not sure why he wants to have dinner with me, though. All he said was he wanted to discuss the future of the colony.”

“Maybe he wants to give you a medal for what you did today,” Gusty said. She furrowed her brow. “Wait. Did we bring any medals?”

“Why would he want only me to be there?” Wind Whistler. “It was a group effort.”

Fizzy’s giggles drew Wind Whistler and Gusty’s attention to her and Shady. They were examining the bows in their tails.

“Don’t they look cute?” Fizzy asked.

“They do,” Shady said. “Though, I wonder why they’re in different colors and each pony got the color they did.”

“I don’t know, but pink is my favorite color,” Fizzy said.

“That might be what determined the color,” Wind Whistler said to join in the conversation. “White is my favorite color.”

“What about Gusty?” Shady motioned to Gusty’s tail. “Hers is pale purple.”

Gusty glared at Shady. “And what if I happen to like lavender?”

Shady folded in on herself as Gusty glared her down. “Sorry. You just don’t strike me as the ‘lavender’ type.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Gusty asked sharply.

Shady swallowed.

“She probably thought it’s because you’re a tomcolt,” Fizzy said blissfully.

Gusty turned her gaze to Fizzy. “Well, I might be, but I can still like pink and lavender.”

Gusty went to the door. “In fact, it goes perfectly with my favorite scarf.”

She pulled a pink and lavender scarf out of bag she had brought in and tied it around her neck. “How does it look?” Gusty generated a slight breeze to make the scarf wave behind her. She puffed out her chest in a heroic stance.

Fizzy clapped her hooves. “I love the look.”

Shady looked back at the light blue ribbon in her tail. “I wonder how we’re supposed to get them on and off.”

The ribbon suddenly untied and flew into Shady’s mouth widthwise. She instinctively closed her mouth over it.

“Apparently that’s how,” Gusty said with an amused grin. “See if it’ll go back on.”

Shady held her head back towards her tail. The ribbon flew out of her mouth and tied itself around her tail in a bow like before.

“Now that’s just freaky,” Gusty said. “Convenient, but freaky.”

“Well, these ribbons and the kerchiefs and stallions wear were created by magic,” Wind Whistler said. “I would also suggest keeping them on as much as possible as they seem to protect us.”

Gusty glanced at a clock. “Hey, don’t you have a dinner date with the governor?”

Wind Whistler suddenly remembered. “You’re right. See you tonight.”

Wind Whistler rushed out of the room in the castle’s lower level. She walked to the stairs little with some candles sitting on the sconces.

She again tried to determine a reason for this meeting. However, nothing came to her. Spearhead was a cipher. He was a good leader, and his using his own body to destroy the obelisk showed he cared for his fellow ponies. Yet, he came kept what others knew of him to a bare minimum.

Wind Whistler walked up the stairs to the second floor and turned to the left. The door into the room Spearhead was using as a private dining room was open with flickering candlelight came from it. She walked in and saw the table in the center with a meal made out of the dinner rations for two ponies. Though, there was a pitcher of apple cider instead of water as well as a bowl of a half dozen ripe nectarines in the center. They had brought some luxury food items for special occasions as well as trading. There were also several lit candles around the room to provide plenty of light. Wind Whistler wondered what called for such luxuries.

Spearhead walked up to the table. He wore nothing but the blood red kerchief given to him by the Waterfall. Wind Whistler suddenly felt overdressed for the occasion

Spearhead held out his hoof in a welcoming gesture. “Please have a seat, Wind Whistler.”

Wind Whistler sat on the pillow at one end of the table. Spearhead sat on the other. This was the first chance Wind Whistler could really concentrate on their governor. He was an older pony with slight creases at the corners of his mouth and eyes. However, his muscles would rival an earth pony stallion in their prime in bulk and tone. He was huge, and Wind Whistler felt smaller in his presence with no other ponies around.

Spearhead picked up the pitcher with his magic. “I read up on you before we came here.” He poured cider into Wind Whistler’s glass. “You’re classified as a super genius with an IQ of at least two hundred with mathematics, science, and critical thinking being your best subjects.” Spearhead poured cider into his glass without interrupting his monologue. “You struggled in high school with only a B- average and a checkered discipline record.” He stopped pouring and set the pitcher down. “You then graduated with top honors from Cloudsdale University in five years, earning three bachelor’s degrees in weather management, engineering, and philosophy.”

“The college setting suited me better,” Wind Whistler said, a little uncomfortable Spearhead had read through her file and was apparently thorough about it.

“Indeed,” Spearhead said. “You were then hired at Weather Factory Iota and promoted to controller in less than a year. The reviews of your peers and subordinates describe a young mare who is not very personable but very efficient, level-headed, and creative in dealing with problems and running general operations.”

Wind Whistler remembered reading those reviews. “That is true. However, you seem to have me at a disadvantage. I know nothing about you.”

Spearhead snorted a laugh. “I was born in Coltcord to a local guard and his wife. I naturally followed in my father’s hoofsteps, enlisting in the local guard as soon as I was able, but then went well beyond. I was a very good soldier with certain gifts as you saw today and ponies in high places noticed. I was transferred to Canterlot and eventually became the Captain of the Royal Guard.”

“It’s rare for a guard who started outside of Canterlot to be promoted to such a high rank,” Wind Whistler replied, trying to sound interested in military matters she did not care for all that much. “You must have served Princess Celestia well.”

Wind Whistler reached forward and took a nectarine into her teeth delicately. She loved the sweet fruit. She wondered if they had been put out for her because Spearhead had read that in this file on her.

“I serve Equestria and Ponykind,” Spearhead said sharply. “Celestia is capable of taking care of herself in most circumstances. It’s the common ponies who need protection.”

Wind Whistler set down her nectarine. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.” Spearhead sat there for a second in silence. He then said, “In a sensible world, a mare of your abilities and accomplishments would have been made an alacorn princess. You’re just as worthy of the title as Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Wind Whistler was taken aback by Spearhead’s rather blunt statement. “I wouldn’t say that. Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon. They also resealed Discord and then convinced him to use his power for the Equestrian cause.”

Spearhead held up his hoof. “Note you said her and her friends. You, on the other hoof, didn’t need to rely on friends to get where you are. You got to where you are on your own abilities just like I did. Friendship is a wonderful thing, but sometimes you have to rely on yourself.”

“I never thought of that,” Wind Whistler replied.

“Case in point: what happened today,” Spearhead said. “You were the one who saved the valley. Everypony here owes their mobility to you.”

Wind Whistler’s cheeks warmed. She hoped it was not showing in her face.

“You’re giving me too much credit,” Wind Whistler said. “The idea only came to me because of Topsoil and Trickles, and then I needed Magic Star to confirm my theory. I didn’t even destroy the obelisk. You and the Buttons did.”

It was no different from how she ran the weather factory. She got information from ponies who had it and used it to formulate instructions for the ponies who could do something with it. Granted, the stakes were higher here and the problem was more complicated, but it was just a part of the job.

“But it was you who figured it out,” Spearhead said. “You also thought of using Buttons’ magic to propel me. You demonstrated true leadership when the stakes were at their highest, and friendship never once entered the equation, did it?”

“Well, no,” Wind Whistler admitted.

“Then there you have it,” Spearhead said.

Spearhead took another sip of cider. Wind Whistler took the opportunity to bite into the pleasantly sweet flesh of the nectarine. She chewed and savored the juice. Spearhead put down his glass. “You also put yourself in danger to save Magic Star. That was quite a heroic act.”

Wind Whistler swallowed. “We’re all in this together. My life is no more important than anypony else’s.”

Spearhead nodded. “You also have a healthy dose of humility.”

Wind Whistler took another bite of the nectarine. She again took her time chewing and savoring it. It could be a long time before she could enjoy the fruit again.

She was glad Spearhead thought so highly of her. Perhaps Gusty was right, she thought. Maybe he does want to give me some reward for my actions today.

“However, it’s not the past I wanted to talk to you about,” Spearhead said. “It’s the future. With this crisis averted, we need to begin our mission of establishing the foundation for our new colony. Part of that foundation is a power structure. While I can’t give you a horn, I can give you a position of power fitting your abilities. You are on a very short list of ponies I’ve been looking at to make my lieutenant governor. After the events of today, that list has shortened to one.”

Spearhead looked at Wind Whistler intently. “Do you accept the position of Lieutenant Governor of Equestria Nova?”

Wind Whistler swallowed abruptly and fortunately sent the nectarine down without choking. “I—uh…” She fumbled mentally for words. It was a huge honor, but also a huge responsibility. She had never considered a life in the political arena. Running a weather factory was one thing, but governor of even a small colony was a completely different matter. There were also some misgivings gnawing at the very back of her mind about his opinions. He did not seem to view friendship all that highly, though Wind Whistler thought the importance of friendship in Equestria was a little overstated herself. “I need some time to think about this,” she finally managed to say. It was the most honest answer she could give.

“Of course.” Spearhead gave a nod. “I’ll give you three days. There are others I have considered, but you are at the top of the list.”

The dinner had gone quietly after Wind Whistler said she would consider Spearhead’s offer. Spearhead had never been one for small talk. Fortunately, Wind Whistler seemed to have as little use for it. Over the course of the dinner, Wind Whistler quietly polished off the lion’s share of the nectarines. The infamous pegasus appetite was present even in the most petite of mares.

Wind Whistler excused herself once she had her fill and left the room. Spearhead followed after her into the dimly-lit hall. A glint caught Spearhead’s eye. He made no gesture like he had noticed it, but he knew exactly what it was: Echo. He waited until Wind Whistler disappeared around the corner and several seconds more to make sure she was not coming back.

“I know you were in there with us,” Spearhead said coldly. Of course, he did not mean she was physically in the tent. However, he knew she was using her magic of telepresence to take in every sensation in there.

Echo did not respond. She could not respond, at least not verbally. She was born without functioning vocal chords rendering her a true mute.

Spearhead turned to her. Her eyes had morphed into those octagonal gems all the crystal ponies’ eyes had become. It made her expressionless gaze all the more unsettling. She was an expert of keeping her thoughts and emotions from manifesting themselves as expressions and body language. Not only was she able to gather so much information so easily, she could completely control what information she gave out.

She just stood there, the ice blue gems she called eyes twinkling in the dim light. Maybe we should start calling them ‘twinkled-eyed’ ponies, Spearhead thought to himself as a joke.

Although Echo gave no indications, Spearhead knew exactly what was on her mind. It was what was on all his followers’ minds. He walked up to her.

“I know you and my other followers are displeased I’m looking to the outside for my second in command,” Spearhead said. “However, the point of this exercise is to spread our cause, not reward loyalty. Wind Whistler is not only a brilliant leader, but the kind of pony who would be sympathetic to our ideals.”

Echo blinked. However, it barely interrupted her blank stare. She nodded and turned away.

Rosetta looked up as Echo entered what had been dubbed the lounge. As if Echo’s blank stare was not enough to give you a week’s worth of nightmares, the new eye gems sent a chill through Rosetta like she had never felt before. She would prefer to just give the mute her space, but she wanted answers.

“What did Governor Spearhead say?” Rosetta asked.

An aura surrounded Echo’s horn. “The point of this exercise is to spread our cause, not reward loyalty. Wind Whistler is not only a brilliant leader, but the kind of pony who would be sympathetic to our ideals,” Spearhead voice said as if from a recording with an electronic quality to it. The aura around Echo’s horn disappeared.

Rosetta ground her teeth. Typically, Echo’s ‘playing back’ of conversations put her at unease, but not this evening. Echo could suddenly sprout a miniature version of herself from her chest, and Rosetta would not care. She was too angry to care. “And what if she isn’t?”

“We need to have faith in our glorious leader’s plans,” Landslide said casually. Rosetta glared down the earth pony stallion with a burgundy coat and blue mane. However, he did not flinch.

“Preaching the choir won’t bring the colony under our sway,” Landslide said. “However, Wind Whistler is considered a hero at the moment. Having her preach our ideals or at least back Governor Spearhead would make our cause more appealing.”

Rosetta gave a grunt. She saw the logic, but still disagreed. For one thing, as Spearhead’s first and most loyal follower, she should have been the second in command instead of some outsider. What good is loyalty if it gives you no rewards? she thought to herself.

Wind Whistler stepped onto the balcony to a welcome sight: snow. Flakes fell at a moderate pace and the courtyard was already covered in white. Several ponies were in the ten centimeters or so of snow, throwing snowballs or simply frolicking in it.

The snow meant water was coming into the valley. Not only was the curse turning carbon to silicon, but it prevented water from entering the valley as well. With a source of water and an abundance of plant life, Dream Valley now seemed like the perfect place to begin their hoofhold in this world.

Wind Whistler noticed a snowball come at her just in time to lean out of the way. The snowball splattered on her now wooden door. She followed the trajectory to Gusty and Fizzy standing in the courtyard.

“Come on down, Wind Whistler.” Gusty made a gesture with her leg conveying the same message.

Wind Whistler glided down to them and planted her hooves in the cold, spongy snow.

“It’s snowing!” Fizzy cheered. “It’s the best part of winter.”

“I’m more of a fall pony, myself,” Gusty said, “but do like a good snowstorm especially when it isn’t flying in your face at a hundred kilometers an hour.

“Is that why you hurled a sizeable mass of it at me?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Don’t tell me you never had a snowball fight.” Gusty fashioned another snowball with her magic.

“I was actually quite good at snowball fighting,” Wind Whistler said. “After determining mass, density, and wind conditions, I could plot a very exact launch path to strike my opponent.”

“You make it sound so complicated,” Gusty said dismissively. “You just point and throw.”

Gusty launched the snowball out of her magic like a stone from a slingshot. It flew towards front entrance of the main building.

Shady stepped out the entrance and duck as the snowball spattered on the column next to her. “We’re under attack!” she shrieked.

Gusty galloped to Shady. Wind Whistler followed her with Fizzy.

“We’re not under attack,” Gusty said. “It’s just a harmless snowball fight. They don’t even hurt.”

“Actually, over-packing the snow can make it haz—” Wind Whistler started to say.

“Shut up,” Gusty said through her forced grin.

Wind Whistler closed her mouth, realizing her extensive knowledge might be better left untapped in this.

Shady stood up and heaved a sigh. “I’m such a coward.”

“You’re not a coward,” Fizzy replied. “You’re just really cautious. For all you knew, it was an attack.”

“Especially after what happened yesterday,” Gusty said. Her grin broadened. “Were those ape things ugly or what?”

“I wish I could have seen them,” Fizzy said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“I don’t,” Shady said with a tremble to her voice. “From what everypony says, they’re really mean.”

Gusty exhaled and raised her hoof dismissively. “They’re pushovers. We destroyed their rock, and we have Wind Whistler to thank for it.”

Gusty’s comment brought the subject last night’s conversation to the front of Wind Whistler’s mind.

“Something on your mind?” Gusty asked.

Wind Whistler realized she was frowning in her thoughts. She lifted her expression flightly. “Last night, Spearhead offered to make me his lieutenant governor.”

“I say go for it,” Gusty replied.

“Yeah,” Fizzy said. “You’ll make a great lieutenant governor.” She paused and frowned confusedly. “What’s a lieutenant governor?”

“She’d be Spearhead’s second in command,” Gusty said.

“I suppose,” Wind Whistler said. “It’s just I feel like yet again I’m being thrust to the top too quickly. I rose to as high a position as a pony of my background could reach back home, and I fear this could be the same”

“First of all, being a lieutenant governor is different from being a factory controller,” Gusty said. “And take a look at the world around you.”

Wind Whistler looked at the courtyard and then up at the blanket of light gray clouds the snow fell from.

“This world isn’t Equestria,” Gusty said. “Ponies aren’t top dogs here. There’s still so much out there.”

Wind Whistler brought her attention back to Gusty specifically. “Take his offer,” Gusty said. “You’re the best pony for the job.”

Wind Whistler smiled slightly. Politics was different from being a factory controller. It would be a new challenge which is what she had been looking for. “Thank you, Gusty,” she said.

Scrapper came to the stone wall that marked the perimeter of the old castle. It had been a long time since a blark had come this way. He was surprised the old tunnels were still in good condition considering no one had set foot in them in his lifetime or his father’s lifetime for that matter.

He wondered if the old secret entrance still worked. Obviously it had to or he came all this way for nothing. He pulled his notes out of his vest and held them in the light of his lantern. The third block from the bottom and second from the left was the switch. He threw his weight into the block. It gave ever so slightly. However, he heard mechanisms clunk and pull from behind the wall. Several blocks pivoted in as a door.

“They certainly built stuff to last back then,” Scrapper muttered to himself.

Scrapper scurried into the lower most hall of the castle, and recalled the old plans. The castle did not have a dungeon, but instead used the two basement levels for storage and utilities.

Scrapper pulled the first door open. He shined his light in the room. It was a box of stone and completely empty. He heart sunk slightly. Even if there was nothing that could be considered junk, he was hoping for some evidence someone lived here like the rumors claimed.

He looked to the stairs. It might be whoever was here had just not gotten down here.

He scurried up the hall and up the stairs. The upper level of the basement included the lower level of the ballroom as well as more storage. If anyone was here, they had to have at least been to the ballroom. He pulled a door leading into the ballroom open and shined the light in.

He did not need the light. Several lights had been set up. The room was also filled with crates, boxes, and barrels.

Scrapper jumped for joy and laughed. There was someone living here, and they had a lot of stuff. He caught himself and looked around. No one seemed to be around.

While there was certainly stuff here, he wondered if there was any junk. Broken machines with some parts intact would be the best find. Everyone was looking for a hard to get gear or manifold that could come from an otherwise totaled device.

Scrapper set down his lantern and jumped on the side of an opened crate. It contained machetes. He went another with several old fashioned rifles. He whistled at the pristine state of the antiques.

Scrapper heard a shout in a strange language.

Scrapper dropped to the floor and looked around. He then saw a small pony walk out from behind a stack of barrels. Why would they let their beasts of burden in here? he thought.

The pony pointed at Scrapper and shouted another phrase in the language he had heard. He immediately realized this pony was not a beast of burden of the newcomers. He was one of the newcomers.

Scrapper scurried for the door. Green light surrounded the door and it shut itself.

Scrapper grabbed the door handle and tried to pull it down. However, it remained firm like it was being held in place. He turned back to the pony. The same green light surrounded the horn protruding from his forward.

Scrapper curled up in ball. Even if he was not here to steal anything of use, he knew he looked like a thief. His family would be dishonored. All he had left was his life.

“Please don’t hurt me,” Scrapper begged.

The pony stopped. He furrowed his brow. His horn flashed.

“Sorry about that,” he said and Scrapper could suddenly understand him.

Scrapper uncurled and stood up. “You speak Common?”

“No, I’m using my magic translate,” the pony said. “Fortunately I’ve already had an experience with what you call Common, so I didn’t need to form a new translation matrix.”

“What’s going on down there?” another voice asked forcefully.

Another pony flew in. He did not have a horn, but instead a pair of feathery wings he folded at his sides.

“What are you?” Scrapper asked, absolutely awestruck.

“That’s what we should be asking you, rat,” the winged pony growled.

“Rat?!” Scrapper squeaked. Admittedly, blarks were rodents from rat lineage, but it was still an insult. “How would you like it if I called you ponies?”

“We are ponies,” the horned pony said.

Scrapper lost his train of thought. He crossed his arms. “Well, I’m not a rat. I’m a blark.”

“You’re a thief!” The winged pony took an aggressive step towards Scrapper.

Scrapper pressed himself against the door. These ponies were smaller compared to most horses, but still a lot bigger than him. One kick could crack open is skull like an egg.

Scrapper swallowed. “I’m not a thief. All I want is junk you don’t use anymore.”

The horned pony held his front leg in front of the winged pony. Scrapper had never seen a horse able to do that. The horned pony turned to the winged pony and glared him down. “There’s no need to get violent.”

The winged pony wrinkled his nose at the horned pony. “Well, we should still take him to Governor Spearhead.”

The winged pony turned his attention back to Scrapper and glared down at him. “You’re coming with us.”

Scrapper swallowed again.

Spearhead turned away from his new lieutenant governor as Typhoon and Babel walked in with what looked like a large, brown rat wearing a vest. “What’s with the—”

“He doesn’t like being called a rat.” Babel cut Spearhead off before he could say the word. “He says he’s a blark.”

“We found him rummaging through our stores,” Typhoon said.

Spearhead bolted up. “So, he’s a thief!”

The blark backed into Typhoon and Babel’s legs. “No. I just want junk. My people have strict rules against thievery.”

Wind Whistler held up her hoof in front of Spearhead. “We should hear him out. Our mission is to make friends and spread the virtues of Equestrian culture. One of those virtues is not jumping to conclusions about those who are different.”

Spearhead turned to Wind Whistler. She put her hoof down and looked to him with an assertive expression. She was settling into her new position quickly.

“Fine,” Spearhead said.

He turned back to the blark. “What’s your name?”

The blark wrung his hands. “Uh…it’s Scrapper. I’m a junk collector.”

“Why would you want junk, anyway?” Babel asked.

“That’s what blarks do,” Scrapper replied. “We collect, keep, and trade junk and riddles. If you’re looking for a part or a brainteaser, you can come to us with whatever you don’t need or your best jokes and riddles.”

“Interesting,” Wind Whistler said. “Unfortunately, we do not have much in the way of salvage. However, we have a lot of riddles.”

“Well, I can take you to my city to see our leader,” Scrapper said. “Since you’re new here, we might be able to explain some things.”

“That would be a good idea,” Wind Whistler said. She paused. “I should take Babel, Paradise, and Fan Belt with me.”

“Excellent candidates,” Spearhead said. “I leave this first contact situation to you.”

“Thank you, Governor.” Wind Whistler bowed her head.

“Might I suggest Rosetta instead of Babel?” Typhoon asked. “She’s also a linguist.”

“I’ve already created an Equestrian–Common translation matrix,” Babel retorted. “This is a first contact situation, and it would be better to send the translator who already knows the language.”

“Agreed,” Wind Whistler said. “We’ll leave first thing tomorrow morning.”

“You can sleep with us, Scrapper,” Babel said.

“Thanks,” Scrapper replied.

Wind Whistler walked out of the room. Babel and Scrapper followed her.

Typhoon watched them leave. He waited several seconds apparently until he thought they were out of earshot. He turned to Spearhead with a frown. “Are you sure making her second in command was such a good idea? She’s already stepping on your hooves. Rosetta’s also going to blow her stack when she discovers you just let Wind Whistler throw her off an important mission.

“Babel is better qualified for the situation,” Spearhead said. “My policy is to send in the best pony for the job regardless of personal connections. You know that.”

“You also let her take this opportunity to form a possible alliance,” Typhoon said. “That’s a lot of political capital to let her take out from under your nose.”

“They’re junk dealers,” Spearhead said. “Granted having friendly first contact is a perk, but her being the face we present to them doesn’t weaken my standing. When we run across a possible ally who can further our cause, you can be sure I will be the one making first contact.”

Typhoon continued to glower.

“You have to be patient, Typhoon,” Spearhead said. “Everything is going as I planned.”

Author's Note

You might noticed in the last several chapters, many pieces of dialogue are italicized. This is to represent the fact that the speaker is speaking in a language different from the POV character and it's being magically translated. I intend to only keep this up for a couple chapters until the ponies learn and begin to speak Common.

I want to know what you think of this. Is it distracting?

Chapter 5: Encounters Friendly and Otherwise

It had to have been at least two hours of trotting through the tunnel. Wind Whistler had neglected to bring a watch. However, she knew they had been traveling for a while.

“How much farther?” Paradise asked tiredly. “My hooves feel like they’re made of lead.”

Paradise had bulging saddlebags slung to her sides. They were filled with books of Equestrian riddles and idioms. Hopefully the blarks would find them to their liking, especially after Paradise went to all the trouble to bring them.

Wind Whistler turned back to Fan Belt. He was an earth pony stallion with a yellow coat and a short, orange mane. He held the lantern with the glowing crystal Scrapper had brought. Scrapper sat on Fan Belt’s back since he would have never been able to keep up on foot and held onto his mane to keep from falling off.

“This is perhaps the longest tunnel we have,” Scrapper said.

Babel was using his magic to translate. Wind Whistler was considering having classes to learn Common started as soon as they got back. If the whole planet spoke it, they needed to as well instead of relying on their translators.

“It’s your location,” Scrapper said. “We typically have rest stops and outposts in our tunnel system, but this isn’t the most pleasant place in the world.”

“It definitely doesn’t sound like one,” Paradise said. She shuddered. “The Land of Nightmares, the very name sends a chill through me.”

Wind Whistler had to agree. It was a very blunt name that suggested they were in among of very unpleasant company. She doubted even the dangerous creatures of the Everfree Forest would stand much of a chance in the badlands surrounding their valley.

“The best way to get around the Land of Nightmares is underground,” Scrapper said. “It’s especially true at night since the most vicious creatures are nocturnal.”

“That’s good to know,” Fan Belt said worriedly. “The things that go bump in the night are what we should be the most afraid of.”

“What’s the rest of the planet like?” Wind Whistler asked.

“I guess diverse is the best way to put it,” Scrapper said. “There are forests, swamps, deserts, mountains, volcanic islands and ranges, plains, jungles, polar ice caps, you name it. It’s just the Land of Nightmares that’s really messed up.”

“I wonder why,” Wind Whistler mused aloud.

“Probably because of those psychotic witches,” Paradise said.

“No, it goes back long before they showed up,” Scrapper said. “They say it sits over a well of dark magic which prevents anything desirable from growing there and attracts the monsters and demons that call it home. And I bet you haven’t seen the most bizarre regions like the Jewel Desert where the plants are made of living crystal.”

“The valley we’re in is nice,” Paradise said.

“That’s because of the waterfall if you can believe the legends,” Scrapper said. “It sits on a well of light magic which is admittedly much smaller than the dark magic covering the rest of the place. However, it’s powerful enough to keep the valley alive and free of monsters.”

“Then the witches came and put that obelisk right in the spring feeding it,” Babel said.

“Well, you put an end that thing and gave the witches their first black eye since coming here,” Scrapper said. “They’re a bunch of nasty bullies terrorizing the kingdoms surrounding the Land of Nightmares. It was about time someone put them in their place.”

Wind Whistler noticed a light ahead of them.

“We’re just about at the end,” Scrapper said.

“Thank goodness,” Paradise said.

They trotted towards the end of the tunnel. It opened up into a massive underground chamber. Wind Whistler gasped at the scope and majesty of the cavern. Huge columns of rock as big as the grandest towers of Canterlot went from the floor to the ceiling dozens of meters above them. A couple had ramps spiraling up them led to holes in the ceiling.

“Topsoil would have a field day in here,” Babel said.

Wind Whistler turned her attention to the cave floor. A city of boxy buildings filled the space. A few blarks like Scrapper were out in the narrow streets.

“Welcome to Scrapsburg,” Scrapper said. “We’re just outside of the Land of Nightmares.”

Some of the locals took notice as Scrapped hopped off Fan Belt and lead them through the central street. “You need to talk to Dicker. He’s the mayor here and always eager to meet newcomers.”

Scrapper laid them to a three story building. He knocked on the door which looked like it had been made out of several mismatched planks. After a couple seconds the door opened and a heavier, older, blark stepped out. She was apparently female with two round shapes on her chest similar to the witches and a mess of longer fur on her head that might be called a mane. She wore a simple white apron as her only piece of attire.

“What do you want, Scrapper?” the female blark asked irritably. “It’s seven o’clock in the morning.”

Maybe starting at five was not the best idea, Wind Whistler thought.

“Those stories about the valley coming back to life were true,” Scrapper said excitedly. “I even brought some of its new residents.”

The female blark looked to Wind Whistler and her fellow ponies. She squinted as if trying to get a better look at them. “Just when I thought I’d seen it all,” she said.

“What does she mean by that?” Fan Belt whispered to Paradise out of the corner of his mouth.

Paradise shushed him.

“Well, come in then,” the female blark said. “I’m Drudge, Mayor Dicker’s housekeeper.”

Drudge turned back into the house. “Wake up, Mayor!” she shouted. “We got visitors!”

“I’m up,” a gravelly, male voice replied from inside the house.

“Makes yourselves at home.” Drudge motioned inside.

Wind Whistler took in the main floor as they entered. The decorations were a little worn and had some slight damage. They must have been tossed out by other races, but were still usable.

Babel used his magic to take a goofy-looking object that looked like a firearm of some sort. “What’s this?”

“It’s a gizmonk laser rifle.” Drudge jumped up to grab the rifle, but she only hung from it.

Wind Whistler watched as Drudge tried futilely to pull the rifle down. Babel released the rifle and both it and Drudge fell to the ground. Drudge cradled the rifle under her arm.

Drudge glared at Babel. “This is a souvenir from my time scavenging their dumps.”

“Sorry,” Babel said.

“What’s going on down there?” the gravelly voice asked.

A heavy, male blark slowly made his way down the stairs. He wore a red jacket over a white shirt, and a fez the same color as his jacket sat on his head. He heaved a sigh and adjusted the small pair of eye glasses sitting on his snout.

“Mayor, these ponies apparently beat the witches’ curse on the valley,” Drudge said.

“Greetings, Mayor Dicker.” Wind Whistler bowed her head. “I am Wind Whistler, the lieutenant governor of the Equestria Nova colony.”

“Equestria Nova, huh?” Dicker said as he lifted himself into a chair. “Well, welcome to Scrapsburg. Has Scrapper explained what we do?”

“Yes.” Paradise motioned to the saddlebag to her side. “I brought several books of our local riddles and idioms.”

Dicker wrung his hands eagerly. “Ooh, tell me one.”

“In exchange, we would like to know everything you know about this world,” Wind Whistler said.

Dicker sat back and tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm. Well, we don’t value general information that much since anyone can figure it out. I suppose I can give you a bit of a primer for one riddle. Just make it a good one that I don’t know. Also, no deal if it’s similar to one I do know.”

“You got it,” Paradise said. “In fact, I know one not even in these books.”

Paradise cleared her throat. “I have millions of eyes, but I live in darkness. I have four lobes, but I have no ears. I have no muscle, but I control two hemispheres. What am I?”

“Uh…” Dicker trailed off. “A vampire bat with radiation poisoning? No. A cave crab with dystrophy? Not can’t be it.” He shrugged. “You got me.”

“Your brain,” Paradise said. “It has millions of optic nerves, four lopes, and two hemispheres.”

Dicker laughed so hard his belly shook. “That’s a good one. Whatever we know about this world is free for the asking.”

“We also do not wish to simply make a few trades,” Wind Whistler said. “We came to this world to make friends. Perhaps we could open up more involved relations.”

“Really?” Dicker asked. “Everyone just comes here to trade junk and riddles and then leaves.”

“We’re not everyone,” Wind Whistler said. “We could mutually benefit from cooperation.”

“I’ll have to talk to the other mayors, but I’m sure we can come to an agreement,” Dicker said.

“Thank you,” Wind Whistler replied. “Anyway, what is this world? We came here through a portal.”

“That’s how just about everything living in this world came here,” Dicker said. “This Earth is like a multidimensional hub everyone calls Hub Earth. It’s got portals to hundreds of other Earths. Many races, creatures, and plant life have come here and settled over the millennia.”

“So, you’re not native to this world?” Paradise asked.

Dicker shook his head. “Nope. I’m not even sure what is native to this world.”

“What about the weather here?” Wind Whistler asked. “Is it controlled?”

Dicker wheezed a laugh. “Controlled? Where would you get such a silly idea? Sure there are some spellcasters who can tweak the weather, but the weather does what it does like on any other world.”

“Well, it doesn’t on our world,” Paradise said. “We pegasi maintain a balanced weather pattern across all of Equestria.”

“Well, rule number one about living here is, ‘forget what you did in your old world.’” Dicker wagged his blunted claw in front of them.

Wind Whistler swallowed as discretely as she could manage. She remembered what Hydia had said the other day. We live by the law of the jungle here. It’s kill or be killed. The power of friendship might not be up to the task taming such a world.

“I was wondering if we could look at some of your junk,” Fan Belt said.

“Sure.” Dicker jumped out of his chair. “I’ll show you to our main storehouse.”

Dicker picked up a cane and lumbered to the door.

“These blarks seem friendly enough,” Paradise whispered to Wind Whistler.

“They’re traders,” Wind Whistler replied. “Gregariousness is a job requirement.”

Spearhead knew Rosetta would be beside herself when she heard Babel had gone to the blarks to serve as translator. He just ignored her angry rant. It was not until she got into how she deserved to go that Spearhead decided to put an end to the verbal abuse.

“Rosetta!” Spearhead stamped his hoof loudly.

Rosetta stopped and took a step backwards.

“You deserve nothing,” Spearhead snapped.

Rosetta huffed angry. “I’m your first and most loyal follower. I’ve know you longer than any pony.”

“Then you should know I reward initiative,” Spearhead said. “Babel was the one who climbed the cliff. Babel was the one who encountered the witches. Babel was the one who created the Equestrian–Common translation matrix. Therefore, Babel is the one who earned the right to go on this mission.”

Rosetta curled her lips back. She was his most loyal follower. She was loyal to the point of believing she knew what was best for him better than he did. Sometimes she was right, but she could also let it get to her head.

“What about our agenda?” Rosetta asked, trying to sound calm. “One of us should have gone on this assignment to represent our interests.”

Spearhead flicked his hoof dismissively. “The blarks aren’t important. However, if you want assignments, you better be more proactive. We left Equestria to escape the sense of entitlement that permeates its society. I won’t coddle it anew here even among my inner circle.”

Rosetta frowned indignantly. She finally bowed her head. “Yes, Governor Spearhead.”

Spearhead looked to Landslide, Typhoon, and Echo. “What’s the attitude of the colony?”

“There’s a bit of a disagreement on how we should proceed,” Landslide said. “It’s regarding whether or not we should settle this valley or find another sight like we originally planned. The valley is obviously alive and suits our needs for now. However, it has a built in carrying limit, is surrounded by wasteland on all sides, and has the problem of unpleasant neighbors.”

“I have to agree that this valley should at least not be the extent of the colony,” Spearhead said.

He turned to Typhoon specifically. “Tell Monsoon to send his scouts out farther. We need to know the perimeter of this wasteland and what farmable land is unclaimed.”

Typhoon bowed. “I’ll go at once, Governor Spearhead.”

Typhoon trotted out of the room.

“What about the general attitude toward the princesses?” Spearhead asked.

“Luke warm at best,” Landslide said. “Most of the ponies here came from the fringes of Eqestria; Vanhoover, Los Pegasus, Mustangia, Whinnipeg, Fort de Trot, Mareami, Coltcord, Mountreal; well away from Celestia’s core power structure. They also in general seem unsatisfied with their lives in Equestria.”

“Thank you, Landslide” Spearhead said. He compartmentalized this information in his mind for when it would be of better use.

Wind Whistler watched Fan Belt’s eyes get as big as dinner plates and swore she saw the smallest drop of drool on the corner of his mouth. Like a foal in a candy store, she thought.

“I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Fan Belt gushed.

The blark’s storehouse was an engineer and tinkerer’s dream. There was every part in every style and every size sensibly imaginable.

“I could build almost anything with what’s in here,” Fan Belt said.

Wind Whistler turned back to Dicker. “I’m actually curious about the glowing crystal in Scrapper’s lantern. What is it?”

“Most everyone calls them sun crystals?” Dicker said. “They’re actually rather common in this part of the world. and pretty nifty. They absorb sunlight and when slightly compressed lengthwise they release energy as visible light. We use them in lanterns, lamps, you name it.”

“Probably a lot safer than the flames we use,” Paradise said.

“However, their best use is as a power source,” Dicker continued. “You can put them in electronics and they’ll run for a weeks on even a few hours’ worth of sunlight depending on their size.”

“I don’t know how useful that property will be to us,” Wind Whistler said. “We didn’t bring many electronics.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t build them,” Fan Belt said as he examined jars of chips sorted by size.

“I’ve been thinking of making a multi-purpose tool you could use with your mouth,” Fan Belt said, “but I’ve never had the parts.”

“Something tells me I’ll by telling a lot of riddles,” Paradise said.

Before Wind Whistler could reply, the ground shook violently and kept on shaking. She got low to the ground to keep from toppling over.

“What’s going on?” Babel asked. “An earthquake?

“Worse, gizmonks!” Dicker screamed as he ducked for cover.

Wind Whistler turned back. The buildings across the street crumbled and collapsed, filling the air with thick dust. Wind Whistler coughed as she tried to see through the cloud of brown dust. She could hear the crumbling debris and rattling and squeaking so loud it made her ears hurt.

She suddenly saw four square lights in the cloud. They pivoted away and Wind Whistler could make out a massive silhouette. The dust began to clear. She saw that the lights were on a massive, olive green machine moving on caterpillar treads. The front had a large scoop shovel almost as wide as the streets and a massive drill with sharp blades on it stuck out of the back. It began rumbling down the street shovel first. Thick, black smoke erupted from pipes running up either side.

Wind Whistler ran out into the street. The ground still trembled from the machines movements, but she could keep her hooves under her.

Dicker ran out. “No! No, no, no, no! They can’t be here!”

Sirens blared and blarks ran frantically away from the monstrous machine. Some were scooped up by the shovel. The machine stopped. The shovel lifted up and dumped the blarks into the large hopper between the shovel and the drill. Grabber arms pivoted off the machine and smashed through buildings. They came out of the rubble filled with blarks and dropped them in the hopper. The machine rolled forward again with the grabber arms tearing into buildings.

“What is that thing?” Paradise asked. “What’s it doing?”

“It’s a gizmonk slaving machine!” Dicker shrieked. “They use it to capture workers for their labor camps! And it’s in my city!”

“How absolutely cruel,” Paradise said forcefully. “We need to stop that thing.”

“How?” Babel asked. “We’re just four ponies.”

Wind Whistler looked down to Scrapper suspiciously. “Did you know about this?”

“That the gizmonks were attacking blark cities? Yes,” Scrapper said. “That they would attack Scrapsburg this morning? No.”

Paradise undid the strap of her saddle bags and slipped out of them. She scowled a determined expression.

“Where are you going?” Fan Belt asked.

“I’m going to make those gizmonk things stop!” Paradise shouted angrily.

Before anypony or blark could say anything, Paradise was airborne and flying towards the machine.

Wind Whistler took off after Paradise. “Come back, Paradise!”

Paradise banked with the machine as it turned a corner and disappeared behind a building. The drill slashed through a building as the machine pivoted, and the building collapsed into the street.

Wind Whistler landed on top of a building overlooking the next street. She was not sure if that was the best place to set down given how many buildings had been damaged or destroyed, but she needed a vantage point.

The machine thundered down the street. Blarks were now running straight down the street from it. They must have realized the buildings were no refuge and just hoped the thing would relent before it caught them. They fell into the shovel and the machine stopped long enough to raise the shovel and dump its load into the hopper that had so many blarks they were laying on top of each other. The grabber arms continued to smash through buildings and pull out more blarks and add to the numbers in the hopper.

Paradise swung around the machine. She barely missed a grabber arm going for a building. However, the rumble from it crashing through the wall struck her. She spiraled down into the street a few meters ahead of the machine and landed on her side. The blarks ran around her like a river coming to a large rock.

Wind Whistler flew down to her. Paradise slowly got to her hooves. Her right wing laid limb to her side with streaks of red staining her white feathers.

“Can you fly?” Wind Whistler asked out of a slight glimmer of hope.

Paradise looked to her wing. It barely moved, and she winced in pain. “I don’t think so. I think it’s sprained.”

Blinding light washed over them. Wind Whistler shielded her eyes and looked up at the machine rolling dauntlessly towards them, seeming so much larger and more terrifying from the front. Blarks tumbled helplessly into the shovel. Wind Whistler took off in time as it reached them, but Paradise was picked up in the mass of blarks.

The machine stopped. The shovel began lifting up. Wind Whistler saw her chance. She could not carry Paradise to safety, but she could catch Paradise as she fell from the side and push her just far enough to avoid the hopper.

Wind Whistler took position. She coughed on the hot, noxious smoke coming from the pipes. Her eyes watered and stung, but she kept them open as best she could.

The shovel tilted back. The blarks and Paradise fell out of the shovel. Wind Whistler in an instant planned her angle of attack and started flying. One of the grabber arms suddenly tilted into her fly path. She held up to plant her hooves on it. She watched helplessly as Paradise fell into the hopper with the blarks, a patch of white and reddish-orange in the sea of brown.

The shovel hit the ground. Wind Whistler expected the machine to begin rolling along again. Instead, the grabber arms folded against the sides of the machine like a pair of pegasus wings. The inner side walls of the hopper pulled up and closed over it as a top. The drill on the other end began spinning rapidly. Wind Whistler realized it was leaving.

She noticed a cab behind the shovel. She landed in front of it and braced her front hoof on the frame and banged her other hoof on the tinted windows.

“You have one of my ponies in there!” Wind Whistler shouted as she continued to pound on the window. “Release her now!”

The glass took the punishment. The machine suddenly began lifting up. Wind Whistler took off from it and flew several meters above it.

The machine tilted back with its treads still on the ground. The drill began cutting into the ground. It pulled the rest of the machine into the hole it bored. The machine withdrew into the hole.

Wind Whistler landed and watched the machine disappear into the darkness. The sounds of it that had drowned out almost everything during its rampage faded to leave an oppressive silence. There were shouts from blarks and the sounds of rubble shifting or being shifted, but they sounded so distant.

Wind Whistler could only think of that moment when she first met Paradise. She was arguing with Spearhead over bringing books. She then remembered her beaming to know Wind Whistler wanted her to come along with some of her collection.

Wind Whistler took a step back and tripped over a piece of rubble and ended up sitting on her flank. She noticed something green out of the corner of her eye. She looked to see it was Paradise’s eyeglasses under a piece of rubble. Wind Whistler kicked the rubble away. The pearl chain was still attached, but the frames were mangled and the lenses were shattered.

This was Wind Whistler’s fault. She was the one who suggested Paradise come.

Hot tears ran down her cheeks. I deserve to be an alicorn princess? Wind Whistler thought. My first duty as lieutenant governor and I got one of my fellow ponies captured. Her shoulders heaved as she let out a sob. She just let it all out and cried like she had not since she was a filly.

Spearhead looked at the floor plan of the castle. If it was any other floor plan, he would have believed the designer had indulged in cider that had been out too long. The rooms overlapped and the main building stretched far beyond the perimeter of the castle.

“This castle as space folding spells all over the place,” Landslide said. “The interior is five times larger than the exterior. The whole colony can’t live inside, but a hundred or so ponies could live in it comfortably.”

“This world is just full of surprises,” Spearhead said.

The buildings on the side walls held apartments connected by halls running their length. There were 50 apartments in all plus one large room on the second floor of both buildings building. From the outside, the apartments looked to only be two meters wide, but were actually four meters wide and four meters deep including a powder room. The main building had more luxurious quarters including a royal suite opening to the balcony and connected to the conservatory. There were plenty of storerooms in the basement that could also be converted to workshops and labs if need be.

“Governor Spearhead!” a mare shouted from outside the room.

“What is it?” Spearhead asked.

Masquerade poked her head into the doorway. She was a crystal pony with her eyes looking like cut emeralds. She had a yellow coat and her mane was streaked dark green, blue, green, and a vibrant yellow.

“Wind Whistler’s team is coming back,” Masquerade said. She paused. “There’s been an incident.”

Spearhead walked around the table. “What kind of incident?”

The top of the hopper opened and Paradise winced as light suddenly hit her eyes. Fresh air rushed in replacing the stench of body order and dust. At least, it would have been fresh air if not for the strange smoke smell. Paradise’s eyes adjusted to the light. However, everything was still blurry. She realized her eyeglasses were gone.

She was surrounded by blarks packed in to the point they were laying on top of each other.

Paradise tried to stand despite being half-buried in blarks. She noticed Drudge stand up on the pile and try to keep her balance. She knew it was here based on the mass of white on her front.

“Drudge, Drudge,” Paradise said. “Are you all right?”

Drudge replied confusedly with words Paradise could not understand. Paradise was confused at first. She then remembered she no longer had Babel’s translation matrix.

The hopper suddenly lifted up and tipped to the side. The whines of hydraulics echoed off the metal walls. Paradise instinctively spread her wings to fly away. Her left wing lifted, but her right wing responded by barely moving and shooting pain into her body. The hopper tipped to the point Paradise and the blarks tumbled out.

Paradise hit the cement, and several blarks land on top of her. She got to her hooves and looked around.

They were in a large holding area of cement with metal columns around them. Paradise squinted to just make out the barbed wire running between the columns. A city of tall buildings rose towards the sky with columns of gray smoke rising from stacks and created a blanket of gray above them.

Paradise turned her attention to ground level. Outside of the pens were lanky creatures that looked like monkeys. Paradise squinted again to see a little better and got closer. They did look like monkeys, but they were more than a meter and a half tall and covered in machinery. Their right arms and both legs were completely covered with mechanical facsimiles and what looked like a camera lens on the half helmets they wore covered their right eye. Paradise figured they must be the gizmonks Dicker had been talking about.

Paradise walked up to a group on the other side of the fence. “I demand you release us at once!” She stamped her hoof. Even if they could not understand her words, they could understand her anger. “You have no right to take the blarks against their will and use them as slaves!”

Paradise tried to reach between the wires, but spark of electricity arced from the wire to her hoof. She yelped from the powerful shock and pulled her hoof back.

The gizmonks looked to each other and muttered something. One of them motioned to another group. The group ran forward carrying staffs as far Paradise could tell.

The gizmonks ran to one of the columns and did something to it Paradise could not make out. A buzzer sounded, and the section of wire adjacent to the column opened inward in a frame.

Most of the gizmonks held their staffs at the blarks. Electricity sparked at the ends. The blarks backed up as the gizmonks thrust their staffs at them.

Two gizmonks slowly made their way towards Paradise. They held their staffs forward, but there was no electricity on the end. Paradise instead thought she saw a thin loop at the end of both staffs.

Paradise backed up. “What do you think you’re doing? Stay away from me.”

The gizmonks continued to approach. Paradise backed up until she felt a shock hit her flank. She jumped forward and looked back at the fence.

Something suddenly had her by the neck and tightened around her. She looked forward and saw one of the gizmonks had gotten her with his loop. She struggled, but he was too strong and she only hurt her neck with her thrashing. The second gizmonk got his loop around her neck. They pulled her back towards the open gate. Paradise tried to dig in her hooves, but it only served to hurt her neck where the loops held her tightly. She finally relented and walked with them.

The gizmonks laughed as they talked. It was sickening laugh like one a sadistic foal would make when they had caught an insect. It scared Paradise, but she would never show it to these things.

The gizmonks pulled her out of the pen. The gate closed behind them. They continued to pull her along.

“Where are you taking me?” Paradise asked insistently.

She looked back to the pen. Drudge stood at the edge. She looked on despairingly. Paradise could sympathize.

One of the gizmonks looked at Paradise’s injured wing. He said something to another gizmonk and that gizmonk ran off to somewhere.

The gizmonks pulled Paradise into a large building with a massive opening. The stench of filth immediately assaulted her nose. “What is this place?”

Paradise looked around. The huge, spacious building was filled with cages and tanks holding all sorts of creatures she had never seen before. Though, they were barely more than shapes in her poor vision. Many of the creatures were almost as big as their containers.

Paradise gasped as she realized with was some nightmarish zoo. “No! You can’t throw me in here! I’m not an animal! I’m a pony! I have sapience!”

The gizmonks did not even slow up. They brought her to one of the smaller cages. One unlocked the door and opened it. The gizmonks with the staffs holding her loosened the staff and took them off her. They pushed her in the cage and slammed the door closed behind her.

After locking it, the gizmonks left. They laughed and talked gleefully.

“You can’t do this to me!” Paradise shouted after them. “I’m not an animal!”

Paradise looked around at the creatures held captive. They appeared lethargic and ill from being held in such small spaces.

Paradise sat down. The smell of filth surrounded her. It assaulted her nose and stung her eyes. She knew it was permeating her fur, hair, and feathers.

“I’m not an animal,” Paradise whimpered. She sniffled as tears ran from her eyes. The gizmonks apparently thought differently.

Spearhead ran down the stairs into the lowest hall. Wind Whistler, Babel, and Fan Belt stood at the end and looked terrible. Dust covered their coats and their manes were matted to their heads and necks. Wind Whistler held her head particularly low.

“What happened?” Spearhead asked.

“The blarks were attacked by a machine from something they call gizmonks,” Fan Belt said. He motioned to a blark holding Paradise’s mangled eyeglasses. “They got Paradise.”

“We couldn’t stop them,” Wind Whistler muttered.

Spearhead looked to Wind Whistler. Her mane fell over her face even more than normal. The dust below her eyes was wet from tears.

“They killed dozens and injured hundreds more,” Wind Whistler muttered. “They tore the blark’s city to shreds just to get a couple hundred of them to enslave.”

Wind Whistler looked up to Spearhead. The eye not concealed by her mane was red and puffy from crying. However, her expression was tense and more enraged than sorrowful.

“We need to rescue them,” Wind Whistler said with a slight snarl. “The blarks didn’t do anything wrong. They don’t deserve this. And Paradise was only trying to save them. We can’t let the gizmonks use them as slaves.”

Spearhead kept himself from smirking. He knew he had made the right choice. “We will rescue them. What do you propose?”

Wind Whistler smirked. Her expression twisted to say she had a terrible idea that only desperation would make viable. “I know just how to deal with these gizmonks.”

Chapter 6: Preparations Before the Storm

Wind Whistler exhaled a cleansing breath. She had compartmentalized her emotional reactions in favor of logical consideration. She could not endanger her fellow ponies or their new blark allies with a plan born out of pure emotion.

Wind Whistler let the information sink in. The gizmonks, what the ponies had at their disposal, everything laid out in front of her. She had the latter literally laid out in front of her with files scattered across the ground. She then began arranging it into possible scenarios for rescue. She might have failed to keep Paradise from being captured, but she would see her safe return.

No, Wind Whistler scolded herself in her mind. I need to keep my personal feelings out of this.

“Are you okay, Wind Whistler?” Gusty asked from behind her.

Wind Whistler swung around. Gusty stood at the doorway.

“I’m fine,” Wind Whistler answered quickly.

“Liar,” Gusty said sharply. “I’ve heard what others have said. You were an emotional wreck when you came back.”

Wind Whistler heaved a sigh. “I was emotionally distraught, but I have regained control.”

“So, you do feel,” Gusty said. “There were times I had my doubts.”

“Of course I feel,” Wind Whistler said probably with more indigence entering her tone than she intended. “I might in fact feel too much. I just refrain from expressing my emotions freely to letting them dominate my decision-making.”

“Sorry, it was supposed be a stupid little joke,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler smiled. “I guess I do a good job of hiding them.”

“Can I come in?” Gusty asked.

“I suppose,” Wind Whistler said.

“Why are you down here?” Gusty asked.

“I needed a quiet place to gather my thoughts,” Wind Whistler said.

“Well, I want in,” Gusty said.

“Into what?” Wind Whistler asked.

Gusty frowned. “Don’t act dumb. I know we’re going to save Paradise and I want to be a part of it.”

“If—” Wind Whistler started to say.

“No ifs,” Gusty said. “I’m a part of it without discussion.”

Gusty walked into the room and sat down next to Wind Whistler. “My first month as a foul weather rescuer was during one of the worst storm seasons in recent memory. Storms were coming fast and hard, and we were being sent out constantly to rescue ponies on the water.

“One particularly bad night, a cargo ship was caught on the open ocean. The wind and rain were too much for the pegasi to fly through, so we had to go by boat. We got there just in time for one of the deckponies to be washed overboard.

“We tried to throw him a life preserver, but he was too far out and the waves were too dangerous to try to swim to him. We could only watch him disappear into the night. Even though we saved the rest of the crew, I see that speck of color bobbing in the waves every time I close my eyes.” Gusty turned to Wind Whistler. “On that night I swore I would never leave a pony behind again. No matter what is in my way, I will save them. So, when we save Paradise, I want to be there. I need to be there.”

Wind Whistler frowned. “This is a rescue mission, not a means to indulge emotional needs. We must use logic to determine the best course of action.”

“Ha!” Gusty forced her laugh. “Logic would dictate we leave Paradise to the gizmonks. We can live with one less librarian. Why endanger more ponies to rescue her?”

Wind Whistler paused to think. Gusty was right. Logic was cold and indifferent. It would ignore morality and sensibility. She could never bring herself to live such a life no matter how much she relied on logic.

Wind Whistler shrugged. “I guess I misspoke. After making the concession that we must save her for non-logical reasons, we must consider our options logically.”

“What is it with you and logic?” Gusty asked. “You need passion and desire to do something like this.”

“And I have them,” Wind Whistler said. “However, I will not let them cloud my judgment. We won’t help Paradise if we make a stupid decision.”

Gusty lowered her brow. “How do you know an emotional decision will be stupid?”

“Because I don’t trust my emotions,” Wind Whistler said. “I broke down when they took Paradise. I cried like I hadn’t since I was a little filly. I wanted to go down that whole and snap each and every one of those gizmonks necks with my own hooves. Yet, I got enough control of myself to know that wouldn’t help Paradise.”

Wind Whistler ground her teeth lightly. “I’m actually overly emotional. I get hurt easily. I get angry easily. I can’t even talk to the stallion without constantly worrying about saying I don’t mean or not mean in a way he could take it. I’ve learned to refrain from expressing what happens in my head. It’s what has allowed me to see through emergencies and be successful in life.”

“Hey, I got my own anger issues,” Gusty said. She let out a quiet laugh. “I can have major anger issues. I would have wanted to go after those things and clean their clocks right then and there too.”

She threw her leg over Wind Whistler’s shoulder. “But you can’t be scared of your feelings, or you’ll never get control of them.”

She drew Wind Whistler in closer. “Remember when I said I needed time to know if I wanted you as a friend. Well, I want you as a friend.”

“You wouldn’t want to be my friend to make me assign you,” Wind Whistler said.

“Perhaps, but not entirely,” Gusty said. “I’ve been looking for somepony who has to work to control their feelings and knows how hard it can be. I want somepony I can talk to about what’s frustrating me and knows how I feel. And I think that somepony is you.”

“Well, I am a good listener,” Wind Whistler said. “The truth is I would like somepony to talk about my feelings as well.”

“Then there you go,” Gusty said, patting Wind Whistler on the shoulder. She then started rubbing her hoof playfully in Wind Whistler’s head. “We’ll be great buddies.”

Wind Whistler winced as Gusty messed up her mane. “You do realize you’re doing this to your lieutenant governor, don’t you?”

Gusty stopped and let go of Wind Whistler. “Yeah. I need to remember that.”

Wind Whistler smirked. She grabbed Gusty and playfully rubbed her hoof in her mane. “Of course, you need to be disciplined for your disrespect of the office.”

Wind Whistler broke out laughing. Gusty laughed along with her.

Gusty pried herself out of Wind Whistler’s grasp. She laughed a bit more before she managed to say, “The first thing we need to do is teach you how to give a proper noogie.”

The two let out another fit of laughs.

Wind Whistler then remembered Paradise and stopped. “How can we sit here laughing when Paradise is alone and probably scared out there?”

“You can’t be all dour because you know somepony’s in trouble,” Gusty said. “You’d never have the time for joy. Paradise doesn’t want us to be moping around. She wants us getting ready to take action.”

Wind Whistler managed a small smile. “I guess you’re right.”

Paradise was happy her wing was being addressed. She was unhappy she was being treated like an unruly pet or zoo exhibit while they did it. At least they did not put her under. Though, having her muzzle tied, a couple of the loops on staffs around her neck and her legs tied together was still uncomfortable.

Several gizmonks came in and restrained her and menaced her with the staffs that made electricity at the end. One of them then started cleaning her sprained wing. Actually, he started plucking feathers around the injured area. Fortunately they were just the smaller fathers on the body of the wing that would grow back quickly and he only plucked enough to expose the scrapes.

Once the wing was plucked and cleaned, he dressed the wound. He used splints to keep the win open. This sent pain shooting into Paradise and she struggled against her restraints. He placed a pad on the scrapes and wrapped her wing in bandages, going between each primary feather.

He secured the bandage and stood up. He said something to the others and they undid her restraints. They exited the cage and closed the door behind them.

Paradise stood up and looked at their work. They knew how to dress a wounded wing at least. The beige bandage rolled to go between the primaries and spread out flat across the body. She could move the wing up and down, but not fold it. It also throbbed from being stuck in the open position.

Paradise again examined her neighbors as best she could. Many were just blurry masses of color. She had heard sounds from many of them. It was the strangest set of noises she had ever heard. She remembered what Dicker had said. Life on this planet represented life on hundreds of Earths. She could only imagine the worlds they came from just to be trapped in here. She wondered if any of the others were like her. Could they in fact be sapient, but these arrogant primates kept them as animals because they could not understand them?

Paradise looked to the locking mechanism of her cage. It was a standard padlock that needed a key. She was not going to get it open herself. They also came in as a group so she could not get away. Even if she could get out of the cage, she was grounded for the time being and had no idea where she was in relationship to Dream Valley. Her only hope of was rescue. Hopefully the colonists were already planning it.

North Star quickly flew down towards the castle. “I think I found them!” she shouted as she landed in the courtyard. “I think I found the gizmonks!”

Ponies came out of the apartments and gathered around her. They all spoke at once so it was hard to make what they were saying. Spearhead made his way to the front of the group. Everypony fell silent.

“What did you find exactly?” Spearhead asked.

“I found large machines making a lot of black smoke like Wind Whistler described,” North Star said. “They’re clearing a forest about twenty kilometers past the edge of the wasteland.”

Spearhead turned back to Rosetta. “Find Wind Whistler. I want to know what she’s thinking.”

Wind Whistler flicked her ear to a knock on the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s Rosetta,” Rosetta answered from the other side of the door. “We think we’ve found the gizmonks. Spearhead wants to know what you’re planning.”

“Come in,” Wind Whistler said.

The door pushed in and Rosetta walked in. She had a scowl on her face.

Wind Whistler frowned. “I thought you would be happier we have something to go on.”

“I am happy about that,” Rosetta said. “It’s you I’m unhappy about.”

“What have I done to offend you?” Wind Whistler asked.

“You’re in my way,” Rosetta answered in annoyance.

Wind Whistler furrowed her brow. “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“Spearhead and I have a long history,” Rosetta said. “I was a homeless orphan in lower Canterlot. While everypony saw nothing but a low-class street urchin, he saw my real potential. He took me in and raised me as his daughter. He taught me to refine my translation magic. I’ve done everything I can to please him. Yet, when I can reap the benefits for all my loyalty and hard work, he favors you.”

“I’m only trying to make this colony as successful as it can be,” Wind Whistler said. “It’s not my fault Spearhead has looked at my efforts favorably.”

Rosetta gave a short grunt. “Well, Spearhead wants to pick your brain, so get up there.”

Wind Whistler stood up and walked towards the door. She stopped as a thought crossed her mind and looked back at Rosetta. Rosetta glared at her.

“Please don’t take any of this personally,” Wind Whistler said. “I never meant to upstage you.”

“I know,” Rosetta said. “I’m more mad at myself for not being what he needs right now.”

Wind Whistler stepped into the room with Rosetta right behind her. Spearhead sat behind a table with a map spread out on it. Dicker stood on a stool next to him.

Spearhead looked up. “Rosetta, if you please.”

“Right,” Rosetta said.

A green aura surrounded Rosetta’s horn before fading away.

“Much better,” Spearhead said.

“Now that we can understand each other, let’s get down to business,” Dicker said.

Dicker pointed at the map. “The clearing machines your scout saw are probably from the same city as the slaving machine.” He tapped a depression in a plain. “Their city is right here.”

Wind Whistler walked up to the map.

“And where was your city?” Spearhead asked.

“We were right here on the edge of the Land of Nightmares.” Dicker pointed to just outside of the border.

“Are the gizmonks a threat to us here?” Wind Whistler asked.

“We’re about as safe as you can be from them here,” Dicker said. “They give the Land of Nightmares a wide berth. I’m surprised they came so close to attack Scrapsburg.”

Spearhead looked to Wind Whistler. “So, what is your plan for retrieving Paradise and our new blark allies?”

Wind Whistler exhaled a cleansing breath. “These gizmonks have no ethical or moral code we would recognize. Therefore, we should not expect them to negotiate in good faith.”

“Then you suggest a rescue by force?” Spearhead asked rhetorically.

“I suggest we offer an olive branch with one pastern and hide a dagger in the other,” Wind Whistler said. “If they’re willing to give them up, that’s great. However, we will be ready to rescue them by force if they refuse.”

Spearhead smirked. “I continue to like the way you think.”

“We’ll have two teams,” Wind Whistler said. “A diplomatic mission will go to the gizmonks to try to negotiate for Paradise and blarks’ release. A strike team will take up position just out of sight to await the result of negotiations. If things go south, they will move in and free Paradise and the blarks as well as create a distraction for the diplomatic mission to escape.”

“Very well thought out,” Spearhead said. “Though, this will still have tremendous risk. Who do you suggest for the teams?”

“The diplomatic mission will be you, governor, and I, a translator, and Fizzy and Gusty for protection,” Wind Whistler said. “The strike team is a little more complicated. I’ve found ponies who should be able to get in, free their prisoners, and get out with enough fanfare to cover the diplomatic mission.

“The first part of the strike team is the hilt or its support ponies. They will also have a translator. Masquerade and Whizzer will serve as advanced scouts. Stargazer can use his illusion magic to provide cover. Truly will be needed for her medical expertise since Paradise is injured as well as serving as the field medic for the team. Since we’re dealing with technology, Fan Belt will also come to deal with any technical issues.

“Then comes the blade of the dagger which will be unicorns with more offensive magic. Buttons’ superior levitation powers, Skiflier’s ability to manipulate gravity, Ribbon’s telepathic magic, Powder’s freezing magic, and Sparkler’s spark magic and knowledge of explosives make them prime candidates.”

“How would the strike team know what’s happening with the diplomatic team?” Rosetta asked.

Wind Whistler paused. She had not thought of that.

“Echo will join the strike team for support,” Spearhead said. “Her magic will allow her to know what is happening with the diplomatic team. She might also compliment Stargazer’s illusions.”

“Thank you for filling that hole in my plan, Governor Spearhead,” Wind Whistler said. “While I would prefer to iron out this plan more, we must act immediately. By sunrise tomorrow, Paradise and the blarks could be anywhere.”

“The gizmonks have labor camps all over the region,” Dicker said. “They’re all heavily guarded, so our best chance to rescue our citizens is before they’re processed and shipped out.”

“Then what’s our first move?” Rosetta asked.

“Going straight to their city might be seen as aggressive,” Spearhead said. “I suggest we make contact with this timber crew first. Let your team know what we’re planning and then prepare to head out.”

“Yes, governor,” both Wind Whistler and Rosetta said at the same time while bowing their heads.

Buttons stepped into the infirmary. The sterile smell of iodine and rubbing alcohol washed over her. Everything was white. The medical symbol, a red cross with pink hearts in the spaces, decorated the cabinet doors, like a patient would not know they were in a medical facility if one door was blank.

Truly stood at a counter in the back. She hummed a sweet, merry tune to herself as she worked on something.

She was wearing the full nurse’s uniform. Her white cap sat on top of her mane which was tied in a tight bun. She wore a long-sleeved dress the same shade of pink as her mane with the skirt going all the way around her waist. It actually looked more natural with her standing on her hind legs like a biped. She wore a white apron over the dress though all buttons could see of it was the straps crossing over her back and the large bow on the back of her waist.

Buttons walked around the examination bed. She could see Truly was polishing medical equipment laid out in neatly on a cloth. She held an obsidian scalpel in her pastern and rubbed it with a cloth draped over other hoof.

Button cleared her throat. She wanted to get Truly’s attention without startling her with a sharp instrument in her grasp.

Truly stopped humming and looked up to her. “Oh, hi there, Buttons honey,” she said in her Mustangian drawl.

Truly set down the scalpel so it was in line with the others.

“Did you hear about the rescue mission?” Buttons asked.

“Wind Whistler told me a few minutes ago,” Truly said. “That’s why I’m organizing and cleaning all the instruments. I like to leave a clean and orderly examination room before I leave.”

“I’m surprised she asked you over Glory,” Buttons said.

“Glory is a surgeon better suited to the operating room,” Truly said, putting the cloth down and smoothing it out. “I have field training she doesn’t.”

Truly dropped onto her front hooves. The skirt of her dress lay flat on top and went almost straight down in front of her hind legs. It looked so odd on a pony, but it was to protect the hindquarters. At least, that was what a nurse had told Buttons when she repaired one of her uniforms and offered to alter the skirt to a more conventional style.

“I can’t believe they want to throw me into this to tell you the truth,” Buttons said. “I’m a seamstress and a tailor, not a soldier. Yes my levitation magic is a lot more powerful than your average unicorn’s, but I don’t have any combat training.”

“You could refuse,” Truly suggested.

“And look like a coward?” Buttons scoffed. “I’d never live it down.”

“You act like this is a suicide mission,” Truly said. “If we can’t save our own from this gadgape things, we should just pack up and go home when the mirror reopens.”

“They’re called gizmonks,” Buttons said flatly. “It’s just I didn’t sign up for this. I wanted to share fashion and sewing techniques with a new wrold, not launch my governor into an evil obelisk and rescue a pony from a bunch of technology-obsessed primates.”

Truly placed her pastern gently on Buttons’ shoulder. “None of us signed up for this, but we’re in it now, and we have to save Paradise from those gizmonks. We need your power on this one.”

Buttons heaved a sigh. “All right, but I really hope this is it for the heroics.”

Galaxy stepped into the castle’s conservatory in time for a tiny planet to pass through her nose. She immediately realized it was an illusion her twin brother was making.

A miniature solar system with a yellow sun in the center filled the open space. Sitting off to the side was a unicorn stallion with a medium blue coat and a mane streaked dark blue, blue, white, and purple. He looked to Galaxy with his eyes that looked like cut sapphires. A blue aura surrounded his horn and illuminated the corner.

“Stargazer,” Galaxy said. “There’s been a problem. A pony has been captured, and we need your help.”

The solar system quickly collapsed to nothing and aura around his horn faded. Stargazer stood up and walked towards Galaxy. The hollow echoes of his hooffalls resounded around them. Stargazer had a scowl on his face like he always did when pulled from his train of thought.

“I can refine the model later,” Stargazer said. “What’s happened?”

“Paradise has been captured, and we’re forming a rescue party,” Galaxy said. “Wind Whistler believes your magic will be of use.”

Stargazer smirked the way he did when he was going to have a chance to show off. He was showmen. Either he was hold up in some corner like this refining his act or on stage giving the show of the century.

Stargazer chuckled. “I compliment Wind Whistler on her judgment.”

An aura surrounded his horn. Stargazers materialized around them, filling the room.

“With me around—” A Stargazer to Galaxy’s side said, or rather it was Stargazer actually throwing his voice into it.

“—there’s always an army on hoof,” another Stargazer finished the thought.

Show off, Galaxy thought lightly.

Sparkler carefully placed another tin of guncotton into a saddlebag. Finally there was a crisis where their explosives and weapons worked. The saddlebags were filled with tins of guncotton, cans of gunpowder, and rounds for rifles.

“Those gizmonks will see one pyrotechnic display if they don’t give up Paradise quietly,” Sparkler murmured to herself. “And they’ll see it up close and personal.”

Powder walked into the storeroom Sparkler had turned into temporary armory. The unicorn mare had a purple coat and a white mane streaked with red. She leaned on the doorway. “I see you’ve wasted no time preparing.”

“I’ve been waiting for an opportunity like this,” Sparkler said. “I’m a demolitions expert, but I rarely got to practice my craft in Equestria.”

“So, you’re ready to practice your craft against living creatures?” Powder asked.

“I’m not going to put a bomb on one of them if that’s what you’re asking,” Sparkler said. “However, they tore through the blark’s city for slave labor. I don’t see why we can’t shred their wallpaper a little saving Paradise.”

Sparkler rested her hooves on the table. “What do you bring to the table?”

“Freezing magic,” Powder said.

An aura surrounded her horn and ice formed in the air around her head.

“Neat, or should I say cool,” Sparkler joked.

Powder rolled her eyes. “You have no idea how many times I’ve heard that one.”

Masquerade pulled another cloak out of the box. She set it down behind a wide-brimmed hat. Both had a snowfield camouflage pattern like the other sets.

A streak of pink and a meld from purple to green above it passed in front of Masquerade with a rush of wind. One of the hats and cloaks were suddenly gone.

Masquerade looked to where the streak had gone. Whizzer hovered just above the ballroom floor. She had been a crystal pony like Masquerade, but her blue eyes now looked like sapphires. She had a pink coat so she looked like a pink streak when she was flying at top speed. Her mane was streaked dark purple, blue, green, and aqua.

“Are these what we’re wearing because they look kind of drab if you ask me, but I guess that’s the point since we don’t want to be seen, do we?” Whizzer said so fast her words practically melded into one another.

“Yes,” Masquerade said. “That’s the point of camouflage.”

Masquerade had to agree it was much more drab that she was use to. She typically made costumes and outfits for balls and other kinds of parties. However, she appreciated camouflage as well. She liked to conceal her identity until she was ready to reveal herself, and camouflage was just another method of doing it.

“They really did think of everything,” a female voice said.

Masquerade turned around. Moondancer held a cloak and hat in her magic. Her coat was white and seemed even more brilliant against her win red mane that was streaked with lavender.

“I insisted,” Masquerade said. “You never know when something like this can be of use.”

“Can you believe they want us on the rescue mission?” Whizzer said. “I hope this means I get to fly fast. I’m the fastest flier out there, even beating Rainbow Dash, but I’ve never managed a sonic rainboom. I wonder why that is. Is it because I don’t have a full rainbow mane?”

“You certainly talk fast,” Moondancer said, sounding like she was emphasizing every word compared to the almost constant stream of syllables that came out of Whizzer’s mouth.

Wind Whistler watched Ribbon. The unicorn mare had a blue coat and white ribbon tied in a bow around the reddish-orange streak in her otherwise vibrant yellow mane. Ribbon exhaled a cleansing breath.

“Do you know what you’re asking of me?” Ribbon asked in a low, soft voice. “Even ignoring the ethical issues, reading minds is stressful enough. Reading an alien mind of a species I had never even heard of is like entering a dark room. There’s no telling what going on in there.”

“I know this will be hard on you,” Wind Whistler said. “However, we might need to know what they know, and you’re the only unicorn with telepathic magic here.

“As for ethics,” Wind Whistler continued, “we are on the brink of war. If they refuse to release Paradise and the other captives, we will immediately enter armed conflict to rescue them. If we need to take information from their minds to save Paradise and the blarks, then it’s just another action on the battlefield.”

Wind Whistler sighed. “These gizmonks are dangerous. They’re more dangerous than anything in Equestria. If we let them just have Paradise, we will open the door for them to have their way with us.”

“Then why not just attack?” Ribbon asked. “If they’re that dangerous, why enter the belly of the beast?”

“Because—” Wind Whistler paused as she chose her next words carefully. “—if this does come to war, I want to know we at least gave peace a chance. Even if it means putting myself in danger, my conscience needs it.”

Ribbon exhaled another cleansing breath. Wind Whistler knew what Ribbon had to be feeling. She did the exact same thing to settle the storms that clouded her mind from time to time.

“I will go with the rescue party,” Ribbon said.

“Thank you, Ribbon,” Wind Whistler replied.

Wind Whistler flicked her ear to a soft cough to clear a throat. She turned back to Shady standing in the doorway. Shady rubbed her pastern on her opposite leg and looked down at the floor.

“Can I help you, Shady?” Wind Whistler asked.

“I…uh…” Shady drew out her words like she was still searching for the next one. She looked up to Wind Whistler. “I…I want to come on the rescue mission.”

“Are you sure?” Wind Whistler asked. “It’s almost a certainty this will dangerous.”

“I know,” Shady said looking back down, “and I’m not really sure to tell you the truth. It’s just I always want to prove I can be brave, but I’ve never found the courage when I need it. I really want to save Paradise, so please let me join you before I change my mind.”

Wind Whistler smiled, but kept it small. “Of course, you can join us. You can accompany the diplomatic mission.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Ribbon asked.

Wind Whistler turned back to Ribbon. Ribbon had a dour look on her face.

“Shady and I are from the same town, so I’ve seen her many ‘failures courage’ personally,” Ribbon said coldly. “She says she can be brave, but she always caves under pressure and becomes a liability. I don’t need to read her mind to know she’s within a whisper and losing it right now.”

Wind Whistler scowled. “That was in Equestria. This is a new world where we can make new beginnings.”

Ribbon shrugged. “I’m just glad she’ll be your responsibility.”

Ribbon stood up and walked past Wind Whistler. She walked to the doorway and Shady backed up and to the side. Ribbon glared at her, and Shady shrank away from her. Ribbon turned away from her and disappeared out of the doorway.

Shady looked down and rubbed her pastern on her leg. She heaved a sigh.

“There’s an old, pre-Equestrian saying,” Wind Whistler said. “I believe it was ‘Fools have no fear. Heroes persevere despite their fear.’”

Shady looked up. “Do you think I have what it takes to be a hero?” she asked meekly.

“As I said, this world has the potential for new beginnings,” Wind Whistler said. “You just need to take the opportunities when they come.”

Shady managed a small grin. “Thanks for standing up for me, Wind Whistler.”

Wind Whistler stood up and walked to the doorway. “Think nothing of it. I still wish to be your friend.”

Shady looked down and her smile dropped into a frown. She rubbed her pastern on her peg. Wind Whistler was surprised her leg still had its full coat from all the rubbing.

“You mean it?” Shady asked. “You’re not just taking pity on me?”

“Absolutely not,” Wind Whistler said. She placed her pastern on Shady’s shoulder. “I believe in you, Shady.”

Shady looked up. “What if I do cave under pressure and become a liability?”

“What if you’re the one who gets us out of there?” Wind Whistler asked in response. “Again, this is a world of new beginnings. The old Shady never went through the mirror. The new Shady is here, and it’s up to you to determine who she is.”

Shady smiled again, but it was broader smile. “Thank you, Wind Whistler. I’m glad to have you as a friend.”

Wind Whistler smiled. “The feeling is mutual.”

Wind Whistler put her hoof down and walked into the hall. “Come on. The others are waiting.”

Spearhead shook out his body to shake the snow off of it. The gray hats and cloaks kept the falling snow off their bodies, but the wet flakes were sticking to the fabric so fast it he could practically feel them accumulate.

Spearhead and his group trudged through the forest towards the clearing machines despite the deteriorating weather. He actually welcomed the snow storm. Hopefully it was also falling on the gizmonk’s city to conceal their strike team currently making their way to its outskirts.

The forest was unlike anything Spearhead had seen in Equestria. The trees were tall conifers with relatively slender trunks. The branches and needles were high above the ground, and there was almost no underbrush between their crowded trunks. He was use to the open fields and plains of Equestria and the thick underbrush and stout trees of the Everfree forest.

The snow added to the alien feel. Falling snow had the softest sound that was barely audible. It was unlike the pattering of rain, but more like a soft white noise in the background that filled the air and muffled other noises. Their hoof prints sounded eerily clear with more distant sounds being non-existent.

“Why are you so anxious all the time?” Fizzy asked. Spearhead assumed she was talking to Shady.

“I just am,” Shady replied. “I can’t seem to do anything right.”

“That’s because you’re always thinking of how things can go wrong,” Gusty said. “You need to picture how things can go right and then do it.”

Spearhead resisted the urge to express his frustration with the three mares Wind Whistler brought along for their ‘protection.’ He could think of literally hundreds of better candidates for guards. He feared she let her personal feelings for them affect her judgment.

“Would you all stop jabbering?” Rosetta snapped at them. “This is a potentially hostile contact situation, not a hen club.”

“What crawled in your mane and died?” Gusty asked sarcastically.

Spearhead could always count on Rosetta to say what he wanted to, but could not.

Wind Whistler walked abreast with Spearhead. He glanced to her while still facing forward. She stared forward with a neutral expression. It made Spearhead doubt his assumption about her letting her feelings have weight. She had been in such an emotional state just hours before, but she was now cool and focused.

“An interesting bunch you have chosen as our guards,” Spearhead said.

“I trust them,” Wind Whistler replied.

A high-pitched, raspy whine suddenly pierced the tranquility. They stopped as it echoed off the trunks around them. Then, as soon as it came, it wound down to nothing. More whines made their presence known clearly coming from ahead of them.

Shady swallowed. “What’s that?”

“Sounds like sawing,” Spearhead answered.

“The clearing machines?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Has to be,” Spearhead said.

“Then there’s no turning back.” Wind Whistler walked forward.

Spearhead followed. The forest had seemed to go on forever. However, he could see empty air ahead of them. The whines grew louder and clearer. They were clearly approaching a border.

They came to a drop off. Spearhead then saw them.

Colossal, gunmetal gun machines the size of buildings sat where the forest now ended. Black smoke streamed from pipes on their sides. They closed their massive claws on the trees and sliced them with massive chain saws that cut through the whole trunk in a single swing. The claw then lifted the whole tree back into the machine that pulled it in. Claws brought out logs stripped of their branches from the back and deposited them on stacks on flatbeds. Flatbeds full of logs pulled away from the machines so empty ones could take their place.

Spearhead looked past them. An expanse of stumps extended behind them to the horizon.

“This is incredible,” Gusty said in a gasp.

“It’s brutal and efficient,” Rosetta added.

“Just like that machine in Scrapsburg,” Wind Whistler said coldly.

“Do you think these are the gizmonks?” Spearhead said.

“Almost certain,” Wind Whistler answered.

Spearhead turned back to Rosetta. “A translation matrix, if you please.”

An aura surrounded Rosetta’s horn and then faded.

Spearhead faced forward. The drop down was almost ten meters. In a flash of red, he was at the bottom. Gusty, Fizzy, and Rosetta appeared in flashes around him. Wind Whistler landed ahead of them.

Spearhead turned back to Shady on the ridge. She looked down at them.

“How is she supposed to get down get down here?” Rosetta asked irritably.

“We improvise,” Spearhead said.

He concentrated on a nearby tree. He used his levitation magic to bend it towards the ridge. He then added to its momentum. The frozen ground held the roots hard, but eventually gave to let the tree continue to topple.

Shady jumped back as the tree hit the ridge.

“Come down the tree,” Spearhead said.

Shady gingerly stepped on to the trunk. She slowly and carefully made her way down the trunk. She jumped off and down to the ground.

“That was a lot of work to bring down one pony,” Rosetta grumbled.

“Shut up, Rosetta,” Gusty snapped.

“Enough!” Spearhead shouted. He turned to them and all five mares stared at him. “Save your fight for the gizmonks.”

Spearhead walked past them towards the nearest machine. The cab of the machine had tinted windows hiding their interior.

“I want to talk!” Spearhead shouted as loud as he could.

After a couple seconds, the door on the side of the cab opened. A creature stepped out and jumped to the ground. It was a primate, but more monkey than ape like the witches were. It was a lanky creature standing at well over a meter and a half tall and covered in a coarse, brown coat. It loomed over Spearhead, something few things in Equestria could.

However, it was the machinery covering its body that took Spearhead by surprise. The right arm and right side of the chest were covered by a mechanical limb. Both legs were also covered by mechanical legs. The right half of the head was covered by a helmet with a camera lens over the eye. All of these mechanical parts were covered in chrome casings that could use a polish with black corrugated material over the inside of the joints. The creature’s movements caused clicks and soft hisses of hydraulics.

Will wonders never cease on this world? Spearhead thought.

The creature’s natural eye glared at him and the aperture of the lens tightened as he, or perhaps she, scowled.

“Are you a gizmonk?” Spearhead asked.

“Who wants to know?” the creature asked. The low pitch of the voice suggested male.

“I am Colonel Spearhead, military governor of the Equestria Nova colony,” Spearhead replied. “I and my party wish to open a dialogue with the gizmonks over their unintentional detainment of one of my citizens.”

The creature glowered for a couple seconds. He turned back to the cab and climbed in.

The creature got into the cab and picked up a receiver before he closed the door. Spearhead stood there staring at the door waiting for something to happen. He built magic in his horn just in case. It was not enough to summon an aura, but enough that he could call on his powers in an instant should something the creature being planning something behind the tinted glass.

The door opened and the creature faced Spearhead. “We are the gizmonks, and my superiors did say a pony-like creature had been accidently collected. One of the flatbed drivers will take you to our city. I assume you want to meet our king immediately to talk about freeing your citizen.”

“Thank you,” Spearhead said.

He turned back to the mares. “One of the flatbeds will take us to their city so we may discuss Paradise’s release.”

Wind Whistler watched the landscape go by as the flatbed drove through the stump littered waste. It was a depressing site. Ponies only cleared forests like this to build communities and farms. Trees harvested for timber were harvested to thin the forests instead of clearing them so they recovered faster.

The flatbed jolted to jar her out of her train of thought. She faced forward. They drove down a path of dirt in the snow.

“It should take us about an hour to reach Gizmas City,” the gizmonk driver said. “You’ll have to discuss your friend’s release with King MacGyver.”

“Thanks for the lift,” Gusty said.

“I was headed home with this timber anyway,” the driver replied.

Wind Whistler felt a bit disarmed. She was ready to hate these gizmonks with every fiber of her being. Yet this driver seemed friendly and nothing like the heartless monster that had to be driving that slaving machine.

Perhaps these gizmonks are not all bad, she thought. Though, this species still captures and exploits slave labor.

She was tempted to bring up the issue of slaves and labor camps, but this was not the right time. Better to take advantage of this glimpse into their better nature.

“It’s amazing how fast we’ve been clearing away this forest,” the driver said gleefully. “We should have the whole thing cleared by the end of spring.”

“What do you plan to do with the land?” Wind Whistler asked.

“We’ll be able to start strip mining once the trees are gone,” the driver said. “Timber is good to sell to the less advanced races, but it’s the metal ore under the forest we really need.”

“How will you restore everything when you’re done?” Gusty asked.

The driver wheezed a laugh and slapped his mechanical hand on the steering wheel. “Restore? That’s a good one. What do we look like? Dell Dwellers? There are plenty of forests elsewhere. We just move on to the next one.”

Wind Whistler swallowed. Her defenses were back up even stronger than before. Sure this driver was friendly, but he was just as depraved as the gizmonk driving the slaving machine had to be. He did not care about the devastation they will leave behind. His gregarious nature now had a macabre atmosphere to it that was choking her in the crowded cab.

Wind Whistler faced forward. There was now no doubt in her mind they were heading into a nest of scorpions; big, depraved, half-mechanical scorpions. Welcome to Hub Earth, she thought gravely. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

Chapter 7: Welcome to the Jungle

Chapter 7: Welcome to the Jungle

Hurricane surveyed the ground below. The landscape was covered in snow, but judging by the more rounded terrain and presence of trees, he figured he had left the Land of Nightmares. He quickly calculated he had traveled about 25 kilometers south of Dream Valley for reference.

He returned his attention to what was below him and noticed several dark objects in a large pasture. He flew lower and realized they were equines. “I thought we were the first ponies here,” he thought out loud.

He flew down and landed in the pasture. These equines were much larger than him with longer snouts and eyes placed more on the sides of their heads. Their manes were also thinner and more course than a ponies. Their coat mane colors were also less varied with white, gray, black, brown, tan, and copper colors being the most common.

“So, what’s up?” Hurricane asked a nearby mare with a chocolate brown coat.

The mare looked to him for a second and then turned back to the snow-covered ground. She worked her nose into the snow to get at the grass below. Her stare seemed blank with barely a thought behind it.

Hurricane scowled as he tried to figure out what was with her when it hit him. “Duh, these aren’t ponies.”

They were equines, but a different species. It was like how those witches were apes. This would be like one of them coming across a gorilla or a chimpanzee. They looked similar, but they would not manage much of a conversation.

Hurricane grinned and petted the overgrown equine. “Pleased to meet, you cousin.”

The mare raised her head and nuzzled him. He chuckled as she sniffed him. “We’re certainly friendly. Unfortunately I already ate the snack I brought with me.”

A loud whinny caught his attention. He looked up and saw a much larger stallion with black coat and black mane rearing up on his back hooves. He held his head low and snorted aggressively. Hurricane suddenly remembered how gorillas had a bad reputation due to their territorial, silver-backed males.

He forced a grin and backed away from the mare. “Uh…I come in peace.”

The stallion pawed at the snow. He gave another whinny and charged at Hurricane.

Hurricane yelped as he took to the air. The stallion ran across the ground where he had been standing. The stallion snorted and trotted back to the herd.

Hurricane wiped the sweat from his brow. He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out his notepad and began writing. Believe to have found southern border of L of N approx. 25km S of D.V. Encountered large, non-sapient equines. Males highly territorial: approach with caution. He put away the pad and spat the pencil into the bag.

He then remembered Wind Whistler’s trip to meet the blarks. She had gotten back by now. “Hopefully the more intelligent species gave her a warmer welcome.”

Ribbon surveyed the city. The ridge they had hunkered down on gave them the perfect vantage point. They could see everything on this side of the city while being able to easily remain inconspicuous by lying low in the snow storm.

Calling the city an eyesore would have been an insult to eyesores. It was an ugly collection of tall, metallic structures that made modern art look gorgeous in comparison. There was no rhyme or reason to their height or shape. A ten story building would be right next to a tower five times its height. Some looked like they had been added onto but with no attempt to meld the additions to the original structure. The only thing the buildings had in common was their dark gray color and rare, tiny windows. Smoke belched from stacks sticking out of the roofs.

Seeing this nightmarish scene made Ribbon miss home. She grew up in Hoofington; a small, rural community with beautiful houses and rustic farms. It was a perfect meld of nature and architecture. This was an open, festering sore on the earth.

Ribbon turned her attention to the pens between them and the first buildings of the city. She raised her binoculars to her eyes and adjusted the focus. She could barely make out the brown blarks in one of the pens. She was disgusted that they would just be left out in the cold and snow like this.

Ribbon looked for Paradise. Her coat would obviously blend in with the snow, but that red-orange mane of hers should stick out against the white. However, there was no sign of her.

“Do you see Paradise,” Ribbon asked Babel next to her.

“No,” Babel said. “They must be holding her elsewhere.”

“The question is where,” Ribbon said. “I was hoping to avoid using my powers, but if we can’t find her from here—”

Ribbon stopped as a flatbed loaded with lumber drove towards the main entrance of the city. It stopped and the doors on the cabs opened. A pony shape leapt out of the cab.

Ribbon, Spearhead’s thoughts entered Ribbon’s mind, we’ve arrived. Are you in place?

We’re on the ridge to your right, Ribbon replied mentally.

Any sign of Paradise? Spearhead asked.

No, Ribbon replied. I also won’t be able to read your thoughts or transmit messages to you once you get into the city. There’s too much mental noise.

That’s why we brought Echo, Spearhead transmitted. She should already be following us.

Ribbon looked back to Echo. She stared on even more blankly than before.

Fan Belt waved his hoof in front of Echo’s face. She did not move at all.

Fan Belt put his hoof down and turned to Ribbon. “I don’t think anypony’s home in there.”

Ribbon gave Echo a quick read. Only her most basic mental functions were there. Her actual consciousness was elsewhere with a wire-thin connection to her body. Ribbon followed it down to the group. It disappeared into the sea of mental noise with the others as they walked into the city.

It was the first time Ribbon had witnessed telepresence. It sent a shiver down her spine.

Wind Whistler tapped her hoof as the elevator climbed through the building. The numerical value digital display continued to increase. They were in the fifties and still going up.

It reminded her of the elevators in Manehatten. There was even a gizmonk standing at the lever like the elevator operators in Manehatten’s towers. However, this thing was much louder as the motor whined and strained.

The operator threw the switch back and the elevator slowed. Wind Whistler felt her innards continue up before they joined in the deceleration. The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

“Top floor: King MacGyver’s throne room,” the operator said dispassionately. “Have a nice day.”

“Thank you,” Wind Whistler said uneasily.

Wind Whistler followed Spearhead into the hall. It looked like it was under construction with all the pipes, ducts, and wires exposed. Everything was gunmetal gray and absorbed much of the light from the overhead lamps.

The hall led to a pair of massive doors with gizmonks standing guard on either side of them. The doors had a carving of gears and tools that apparently meant something to the gizmonks.

The guards held weapons like Drudge had. She had called them laser rifles. Wind Whistler was familiar with lasers and with rifles. She guessed these things could generate a laser powerful enough to damage a target at range. She took the opportunity to look more closely at theses weapons than she had at Drudge’s trophy. They looked like a flashy version of griffon muzzle-loaded blunderbusses; only the muzzle was parabolic and had a stalk ending in a red orb coming out of it.

Spearhead stopped in front of the door. “We’re here to see your king.”

The gizmonks hit buttons next to them at the same time. Dull clunks and whines resounded around them. The doors opened outwards and stopped with loud clunks. “Go in,” the gizmonk on the right said.

Wind Whistler walked in behind Spearhead and the others behind her. Once they were all in, the machinery started up again. Wind Whistler looked back at the doors closing. The thud of them closing made Shady jump.

Wind Whistler faced forward. A gizmonk sat on the throne at the other end of the room. He was lanky and covered in coarse fur like the others. However, the casing of his machinery was perfectly polished and had a gold tint to the chrome. The helmet also covered the top of his head completely, with spikes in a circle to make it look like a crown. Other than him, there were guards at the doors holding laser rifles like those on the outside. The throne seemed empty and unfinished, and their hooffalls echoed against the hard surfaces.

Wind Whistler also noticed Paradise was not in the room. When Spearhead said she was not in the pens with the blarks, she had hoped she was there to be handed over. She smelled a trap.

The gizmonk on the throne sat up. “I am MacGyver, King of Gizmas City.”

“I’m Colonel Spearhead, governor of Equestria Nova,” Spearhead replied. “We’re here to retrieve our citizen you detained.”

MacGyver sat back. Wind Whistler saw his mouth twist up into a smirk. “I’ll have her sent for, but why don’t we try to smooth things over after a terrible misunderstanding.”

Wind Whistler felt the fur on her back stand on end. She knew this was a trap. They were high value targets in the belly of the beast. She was not sure what to do in this situation. She ran through the possibilities to avoid the trap.

The idea then struck. They could not avoid the trap, but she could set it off when she wanted it to. She also knew just how to do it. She wanted to get this off her chest anyway.

“What your machine did in Scrapsburg wasn’t a misunderstanding,” Wind Whistler said sharply. “Why do you enslave the blarks and use such brutal methods collecting them?”

MacGyver scowled and glowered down at her. The aperture of his lens narrowed to a pinprick.

“Wind Whistler,” Spearhead mumbled.

“No—” MacGyver held up his natural hand. “—it’s all right. I think this young lady needs to know how things work here.”

MacGyver put his hand down. “We gizmonks are the producers of this planet. Most of the technology you see on this planet was built by us or derived from our devices. We believe everything should produce something.”

MacGyver looked down at Wind Whistler. “The blarks don’t produce. They’re parasites that root through dumps of other races for what they use. They add nothing to the world, so we put them to work.”

Wind Whistler scowled. “The blarks do add something. They add use to things thrown away before they’re completely useless. You, on the other hoof, collect resources in a way that hinders the biosphere’s ability to recover with no intention to assist in its restoration. I was a factory controller back home and find your methods insulting to industrial ethics. You simply convert one thing to another thing, and I would argue take away more from this world than you give back.”

MacGyver curled his lip to expose his sharp teeth. He gripped the armrests of his throne. “You lowly equine,” he snarled. “How dare you come here and insult us? Let’s see how high and mighty you are hauling ore.”

That’s it, Wind Whistler thought, get mad.

“Guards!” MacGyver roared, “restrain our new slaves!”

The two guards ran towards them. The doors opened as more guards ran in. Panels opened in the side walls and yet more guards flooded into the throne room. They were apparently more prepared than Wind Whistler thought.

“You just had to take the moral high ground,” Rosetta growled.

“They were lying in wait anyway,” Gusty retorted.

Shady hunched to make herself as small as possible. “What do we do?”

“Get down!” Spearhead shouted.

Wind Whistler ducked with the others. Spearhead held up his horn and a ring of red energy blasted horizontally. The energy struck the gizmonks and blasted them back.

“Echo, dagger,” Spearhead shouted.

The line connecting Echo to her body pulled in quickly. An aura surrounded Echo’s horn as she returned to her body. “Dagger,” Echo’s horn transmitted in Spearhead’s voice.

That was the signal things had gone south. Ribbon pulled the rifle out from under her cloak. “You heard the governor. Let’s take it to them.”

Wind Whistler followed behind Spearhead down the hall. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breaths came short and fast. The gizmonks would be getting their feet any second.

“So, how do we get out of this?” Rosetta hissed.

“The same way we came up,” Wind Whistler panted, “the elevator.”

“Only it’s currently twenty floors below us,” Gusty said. “We’ll be dog meat by the time it gets here.”

“Maybe we can get to it,” Fizzy suggested.

“How?” Shady asked.

“We can go down in one of my bubbles,” Fizzy said.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Rosetta snapped.

“No,” Wind Whistler said. “It’s brilliant. The bubble’s reduced terminal velocity will allow us to float safely down to the elevator.”

“Then get ready.” Red energy surrounded Spearhead’s horn. The energy surrounded his body and he shot forward. He crashed through the doors and Wind Whistler leapt into the shaft.

A bubble quickly expanded to envelop them. They floated slowly down the shaft.

“Just keep the bubble away from the walls,” Gusty said.

They descended to the elevator and bubble popped. Wind Whistler planted her hooves on the roof.

Spearhead opened the service hatch with his magic and jumped in. Wind Whistler jumped in after Gusty.

The operator looked to them in shock. “What’s going on here?”

Gusty swung around and bucked him in the hard in the head. She smashed his lens and he slumped over against the wall. She then wrenched the lever to the downward position.

The elevator began to descend and Wind Whistler felt her innards again lag behind the rest of her. She exhaled a deep breath as she regained her composure.

The call button flashed rapidly. MacGyver and the guards must have gotten back on their feet. Hopefully they had no way to cut the power. The numbers descended into the teens. They could not reach one fast enough.

Ribbon ran towards the pens. She saw gizmonks swarm out of the nearby buildings with weapons in hand.

Ribbon fired her rifle. The rifle shot a puff of smoke along with a barrage of shells. However, it now had to be reloaded. The gizmonks flinched for a second to the loud bang, but quickly collected themselves and took aim.

Ribbon hid behind a column of one of the empty pens. The others joined her. Red beams flew past them on either side, and Ribbon could hear more hitting the column they were using for a shield.

“This is just great,” Sparkler said sarcastically. “Now we’re pinned.”

Ribbon took a moment to catch her breath. “Maybe a bum rush wasn’t such a great idea.”

“Their guns are too good,” Fan Belt said. “If only we had some.”

“Be back in a sec.” Whizzer disappeared to the side. She was back a second later with her front legs full of the beam rifles the gizmonks were using.

“Where did you get those?” Babel asked.

“From the gizmonks,” Whizzer replied.

Ribbon peeked out from behind the column. The gizmonks were standing around looking confused and were unarmed.

She pulled her head back behind the column and looked to the others. The other unicorns already had beam rifles in their magic.

Ribbon picked up a rifle and dashed out from behind the column. She fired it in the general direction of the gizmonks. The odd sound it made firing was joined by the others. The gizmonks covered their heads and ran from the barrage of beams towards the buildings. They fired in such a way to avoid hitting them while still chasing them off. The gizmonks disappeared into cover.

Just as Ribbon thought they could relax, she saw more gizmonks running in with rifles. They took aim and started firing. Ribbon was back behind the column with beams flying everywhere.

“They just keep coming,” Truly said.

“What we need is a distraction,” Stargazer said.

An aura sounded his horn and copies of everypony appeared. He swung his head to the side and the copies ran. The beams chased after them.

“Don’t let them get away!” gizmonk shouted.

Ribbon again peeked out from behind the column. The gizmonks were chasing after the copies.

She turned back to Stargazer. “How long can you keep those illusions up?”

“I’ve projected to maybe a hundred meters,” Stargazer said. “It’s a temporary solution to permanent problem regardless.”

“Then let’s work fast.” Ribbon dashed towards the pen with the blarks in it.

Wind Whistler braced herself as the elevator came to a screeching halt and the overhead lamp went out.

“What happened?!” Shady shrieked.

“They must have cut the power,” Wind Whistler answered.

The floor display had gone dark with everything else, but she believed it had been on eleven before they stopped.

“Get back on the roof of the car,” Spearhead said. “We’ll have to find another way down.”

Wind Whistler fluttered through the service hatch and helped Shady up when she jumped up. The unicorns appeared in flashes. They were stuck between floors with a pair of doors just above the roof of the elevator.

Spearhead and Gusty used their magic to force the doors open. Wind Whistler flew into the opening and looked around. The hall was empty. “It’s clear.”

Shady jumped from the elevator to the floor followed by Spearhead and the other unicorns.

Gusty looked around. “You’d think there would be more guards.”

“The equine creatures are on floor twelve!” a voice shouted over the loudspeaker. “Repeat, the equine creatures are on floor twelve!”

“There soon will be,” Wind Whistler said. “We need to find stairs or some kind chute to the ground floor.”

“And how are we supposed to find stairs in this architect’s nightmare?” Gusty asked.

“I found some!” Fizzy cheered.

Wind Whistler and Gusty looked to Fizzy pointing at a door. “Are you sure they’re stairs?” Gusty asked.

“That’s what the sign says,” Fizzy replied.

The sign next to the door had a picture of stairs on it.

“Oh,” Gusty said sheepishly.

“Good work, Fizzy,” Wind Whistler said.

Gusty opened the door, and they all dashed inside. They descended the stairs as quickly as they could while still keeping their hooves under them. The steps were designed for bipeds, steeper than the stairs in Equestria.

They rounded the corner at the eighth floor when Wind Whistler saw the gizmonks crowded in the stairwell making their way up.

“What do we do now?” Shady asked in a panic.

Gusty growled. “I say we stop running and start fighting.”

Gusty blasted a huge gust of wind down the stairs and into the first gizmonks. She knocked them back into the gizmonks behind them who fell into the gizmonks behind them. The gizmonks fell backwards like dominos apparently all the way down to the ground floor.

“Do you always go in horn first?” Shady asked.

“You ask that like there was another way,” Gusty replied.

Gusty picked up a laser rifle with her magic off one of the stunned gizmonks and three more to the other unicorns who caught them in their magic. She then kicked in the door. “Let’s go.”

Ribbon slid to a stop in front of a closed gate in the pen. One of the columns to its side had a twelve button control pad on it to probably open a gate with a combination. A blark wearing an apron ran to the edge. She had her arms folded around her and shivered.

“Drudge,” Babel said. “Are you all right?”

“I’m wet, freezing, and waiting to be thrown into a gizmonk labor camp,” Drudge responded irritably. “What do you think?”

“We’re here to rescue you,” Ribbon stated. “Where’s Paradise?”

Drudge pointed to a nearby building. “They took her into an animal exhibit.”

Ribbon scowled. That was yet another strike against the gizmonks in her mind. “Thanks.”

Ribbon turned to the group. “Sparkler, Powder, Stargazer, Masquerade, and Truly; free Paradise. The rest of us will free the blarks.”

“And we better work fast since the gizmonks have figured out my illusions.” Stargazer pointed to the side.

A mass of gizmonks was running towards them.

Moondancer looked to Powder. “If you can slip them up, I think I can put them in their place.”

Powder nodded to her. “You got it.”

Powder pointed her horn at the wet ground in front of the gizmonks. A beam of purple energy shot from her horn and spread over the ground. The thin layer of water on the ground quickly froze into ice. The gizmonks ran onto the ice and slipped.

An aura surrounded Moondancer’s horn. The gizmonks lost their footing and literally flew through the air into an empty pen. Buttons took away the laser rifles with her magic and dumped them just outside of the pen. The gizmonks hollered and screeched words in apparently their native language as the translation matrix was ineffective.

“Go!” Ribbon shouted to the ponies assigned to rescuing Paradise.

The five ran around the pen and towards the building Drudge had pointed to.

Fan Belt reached his hoof towards the barbed wire of the gate. He pulled it back when an arc of electricity went from it to his hoof. He grimaced and shook it out. “It’s electrified.”

Ribbon glanced to the pad and then turned her gaze warily to the gizmonks. She was not sure if any of them knew the combination. She was also still uncomfortable entering any of their minds. She had always attached the image of fire to anger and hatred, and there was a raging inferno in that pen.

She turned to Buttons. “Do you think you can rip the wires down with your magic?”

“I can do better than that.” Buttons brought out a pair of wire cutters.

Sparkler ran into the building and was almost knocked over by the stench. She managed to avoid gagging and simply shook out the disgust. She quickly surveyed the cages and tanks holding a menagerie of bizarre creatures. She finally saw Paradise lying in a small cage.

Sparkler pointed. “There she is.”

The others followed Sparkler to the cage. Paradise picked up her head and looked to them. She jumped to her feet with the biggest, broadest grin she could manage.

“You’ve come to rescue me!” she cheered.

“Of course we did,” Powder said. “Put how do we get you out of there?”

“The lock needs a key,” Paradise said. “I’m not sure where they keep it.”

“I got your key right here.” Sparkler got out a tin of guncotton and opened it with her magic. She tore off a small piece and stuffed it into the loop of the padlock.

Sparkler backed up. “Go to the back of the cage, duck down, close your eyes, and cover your head.”

“What are you doing?” Paradise asked.

“Just do it!” Sparkler snapped.

Paradise backed up against the back of the cage. She got herself as low on the ground as she could, closed her eyes, and covered her head with her pasterns.

Sparkler summoned a spark on the tip of her horn. “Fire in the hole!” she shouted. She shot the spark at the padlock. The guncotton exploded on impact with the force of a small firework. The cage swung open from the impact.

“I love my job,” Sparkler said with a grin.

Paradise jumped to her hooves. “You’re absolutely insane, Sparkler!”

“You want me to find another lock?” Sparkler asked sarcastically.

Paradise walked out of the cage. “No. I want out of here and a nice long shower.” She walked past the group towards the door.

Sparkler could have sworn the stench got stronger as Paradise past by. Sparkler fanned the air away from her. “A really long shower.”

“Now we just need a distraction to cover our escape,” Powder said.

“A distraction like them?” Masquerade motioned to the animals.

Sparkler smirked and got out more guncotton. “I really love my job.”

Wind Whistler stopped at a door with a window to the outside. “I think this is an escape exit.”

“Then let’s use it to escape.” Gusty swing around and bucked it open.

Wind Whistler stepped onto the fire escape. They were still eight stories off the ground. She flew off and hovered several meters away. She looked around for any gizmonks. She would be a prime target for their laser rifles. However, the streets were empty.

Gusty came out and stopped. She looked down and Wind Whistler could say she saw her trembling.

“What wrong, Gusty?” Fizzy asked.

“I—uh…” Gusty trailed off. “I’m afraid of heights.”

“Oh for the love of—” Rosetta grumbled. “We’re gonna be put into slavery because Little Miss Tough Mare is scared.”

“Can you teleport down?” Wind Whistler asked.

“I—I don’t know,” Gusty stammered. “I can try.”

Gusty disappeared in a flash. She appeared in the alley below.

The others started down the stairs.

“I think the strike team is doing its job,” Wind Whistler said to the others as they made their way down the steps. “I don’t see any gizmonks heading this way.”

“Maybe we should have just done the strike only,” Rosetta grumbled. “It would have saved us the trouble of getting out of this city.”

“We had to give the gizmonks a chance,” Fizzy said.

The four ponies got to the second floor and jumped off the fire escape and planted their hooves on the pavement. Wind Whistler landed among them.

“Now what?” Shady asked.

“We have to get to the others on the northern edge of town,” Wind Whistler said.

“Easier said than done if we run into trouble,” Rosetta said dully.

Spearhead looked to a pallet of metal plates. “We need armor.”

Spearhead summoned his magic and created a dome with the plates over them. A gap between two plates in the front made it possible to see.

“Cool.” Gusty’s voice echoed around the dome. Wind Whistler flinched at the hollow sound.

“Follow me,” Spearhead said.

Spearhead ran towards the end of the alley with the dome following him. Wind Whistler and the others ran with him.

Ribbon watched as the blarks poured out of the gate now missing five rows of barbed wire. There were at least hundreds.

“How are we supposed to get all of them out of here?” Babel asked the question on Ribbon’s mind.

A blark stopped and pointed to a nearby building. “There are transport vehicles in that warehouse.”

Ribbon looked to Fan Belt.

“I’m on it,” Fan Belt responded to what Ribbon was about to say. He turned to Moondancer. “Can you help me hardwire one of them?”

“Sure,” Moondancer replied.

Fan Belt stopped some of the blarks. “We could also use some limbs that can grip.”

“We’d be glad to help,” one of the blarks replied.

The group dashed towards the warehouse.

I’m starting to wonder if they’re reading my mind, Ribbon thought.

Sparkler’s group came out of the building with Paradise. Ribbon exhaled a sigh of relief seeing her. The moment was shattered by bizarre animals running out of the building after them and dashing in various directions.

Sparkler’s group ran around the pen to Ribbon.

“We got her!” Sparkler shouted. “She’s safe!”

“Did you have a hard time finding her?” Ribbon asked sarcastically as they stopped in front of her. She caught the smell of animal filth coming off them.

“Hey!” Sparkler snapped. “Part of our mission was creating a distraction.”

Sparkler looked around. “Where are Fan Belt and Moondancer?”

“Getting our ride,” Ribbon replied.

Fan Belt watched the blark work on the wires pulled out of the steering column. Fortunately, they were close enough to Babel for the translation matrix to still be in effect, so they could communicate while they tried to hardwire this thing. Equestria had few motorized vehicles, but he had learned his way around their wiring. Hopefully the gizmonk vehicles had similar wiring.

“We sabotaged the other vehicles,” Moondancer said from behind Fan Belt.

Fan Belt turned back to Moondancer. She and the blarks held several wires.

“Good,” Fan Belt said. “They shouldn’t be able to follow us once we get this thing running.”

He turned back to the blark working on the steering column. “Speaking of which—”

“Cross your fingers—or hooves rather.” The blark touched two wires together.

The engine sputtered and turned over. The blark exhaled a laugh. “We’re in business.”

“Then let’s get the others and find Governor Spearhead’s group.” Fan Belt shuffled into the driver’s seat.

He quickly recalled his driver’s training. Fortunately this thing had automatic transmission meaning there was no clutch to deal with. He stepped on what he believed was the brake pedal and the engine did not ramp up meaning he had chosen right. He shifted to drive.

Moondancer got into the passenger’s seat, and the rest of the blarks climbed into the first passenger compartment behind the cab. The vehicle was more like a small train on tires with three passenger compartments behind the cab: the perfect escape vehicle.

Fan Belt released the brake and stepped on the gas gently. They pulled forward and he turned to the wide open door. They passed through the threshold and snow began splattering against the windshield. Fan Belt turned on the windshield wipers to brush the melting flakes away.

“Uh oh,” Moondancer said in a low voice.

Fan Belt stepped on the brake and turned to her side. Most of the gizmonks were occupied with the animals running around and some of the more aggressive animals were chasing after a few gizmonks. However, another large group of gizmonks were running towards them. Several metal plates surrounded by red auras hovered above them and slammed down on them.

The gizmonks falling to the ground under the plates revealed Spearhead and the others running towards them. They leapt over the stunned gizmonks and ran towards the vehicle.

Fan Belt exhaled a sigh of relief seeing them all alive and well. “At least we don’t have to find them.”

Moondancer rolled down her window and stuck her head out. “Governor, get in this!”

The six ponies ran to the back of the vehicle. Moondancer watched and then pulled her head into the cab. “They’re in.”

“Then let’s get the others and split.” Fan Belt pressed the gas pedal.

He drove between the pens to where the others were waiting.

“Everypony and blark get on board quickly,” Moondancer shouted.

Fan Belt watched the scene in the mirror. The gizmonks were starting to get control of the animals and some were running towards them.

“Come on, hurry it up,” Fan Belt said.

The gizmonks suddenly collapsed to the ground. They struggled to get to their fit, but it was like invisible weights were on them. Fan Belt immediately turned to Moondancer who had an aura around her horn. She strained with her teeth tightly clenched.

Moondancer looked to him. “I can buy us some time.”

Fan Belt looked behind them. The last of the blarks got on board.

Moondancer relaxed and the aura faded from her horn. She took a quick glance behind them before she turned to Fan Belt. “They’re all in.”

“Then let’s blow this industrial nightmare.” Fan Belt slammed the gas pedal to the floor.

They accelerated into the snow and onto the terrain ahead. The vehicle rocked and shook as they went over the rough terrain, but seemed to take it well and to not lose much speed. The gizmonks would never catch them on foot.

MacGyver ran into the open and his jaw dropped at the scene. Animals were everywhere, but most had been corralled. The pen that had held their latest batch of blarks was empty, but another was full of gizmonks as others tried to get the gate open. He just caught a transporter disappear into the snow.

“What’s happened here?” MacGyver snarled.

“It was the equine creatures,” a worker said. “They came in and wrecked the place. They freed the blarks and the equine we had. They then all got away in a transport vehicle.”

MacGyver clenched his robotic hand. All their technology and knowhow, and these equines made absolute fools of them. “Go after them. Kill them all as an example to their race.”

“We can’t,” another worker said helplessly. “They took all the ignition wires from the other vehicles.”

MacGyver growled. If he never saw a pony again, it would be too soon. “Don’t think this is over, equines!” he screamed into the snowstorm. “No matter what it takes, I will have my revenge!”

Hurricane sat in front of the passage to the blark tunnel. It had to have been hours since he came down here.

His sense of timing could not have been worse. He left on his scouting run maybe an hour before Wind Whistler had returned, and by the time he got back she was gone with Spearhead and a bunch of others. He could have gone on the mission with them, with her.

He heard the murmurs about how upset Wind Whistler was when she returned. He felt a pit form in his stomach which was still there. He was not about to say it out loud, but liked Wind Whistler. More than that, he was attracted to her not just as a beautiful mare, but as a pony. Her personality, her mannerisms, her intelligence, it all spoke to him for some reason. Hearing that she had been so hurt emotionally made him feel guilty for not being there. Though, as a scout, it was something you just had to accept.

All he could do was keep vigil until they returned, and that was exactly what he would do.

“How are you holding up?” Firefly asked from behind him.

Hurricane turned back. Firefly and Medley stood behind him. The two pegasus mares looked to him with concerned expressions. Firefly had a pink coat and blue mane she kept straight and short while Medley had a mint green coat and long, sea green mane that curled.

Hurricane managed to weak grin. “I guess I’m doing fine. I’m just waiting for them to return.”

“It’s too bad they left while we were gone.” Firefly hovered in the air and began shadow boxing. “I would have shown those gizmonks a thing or two.”

Medley ducked to avoid an errant punch from Firefly. “Our scouting missions are just as vital.”

“But not nearly as fun.” Firefly landed.

The door suddenly opened. Firefly and Medley faced forward, and so did Hurricane. The pit seemed to deepen in his stomach.

Spearhead walked out with Wind Whistler behind him. The others began filing into the hall with Paradise and dozens of blarks.

“Wind Whistler!” Hurricane shouted. Before he had thought better of it, he was embracing the shocked pegasus mare.

She smiled warmly. “We did it, Hurricane. We saved them all.”

“There was never any doubt in my mind,” Hurricane replied.

Wind Whistler brought him closer.

Gusty came in and tapped Wind Whistler on the shoulder. “Come on, you can be close later.”

Wind Whistler let go of Hurricane and followed Gusty. Hurricane stood there and watched her walk towards the stairs with the crowd. She was okay, both mentally and physically. Everypony was, and that was all that mattered at the moment. The pit was gone, replaced with relief and elation.

Wind Whistler climbed the steps to the main hall. Ponies were standing against the walls and stamped their hooves in celebration. Cheers and congratulations came to the group as they walked down the hall.

“You need to get used to this,” Gusty said to Wind Whistler. “You’ve been a hero twice in a week already.”

A thought crossed Wind Whistler’s mind. She remembered how angry she was about the damage and causalities the gizmonks caused in Scrapsburg. She wondered what damage and injuries they caused in Gizmas City.

“I just hope we didn’t injure too many gizmonks too badly,” Wind Whistler said uncomfortably.

Gusty scoffed. “I don’t. They were the enemy. It was them or us, and if we put some out of commission, it’s less we have to worry about.”

Gusty playfully nudged Wind Whistler. “Come on, let’s celebrate!”

Gusty ran ahead hooting a hollering with the others.

Wind Whistler slowed a bit. Those words from Hydia returned to the front of her mind. It’s kill or be killed. She had looked down at Hydia as a savage for that mentality. Yet, she and her fellow ponies were already becoming another beast in that jungle trying to scratch out their means of survival.

Chapter 8: Dell Dwellers

Wind Whistler wrote ‘Site 7’ on the map to indicate the town’s title. She had the quill on a band around her hoof. Most non-unicorns used their mouths to write, but Wind Whistler preferred her left pastern as she thought it gave her more control.

Writing with the pastern was particularly useful with the Common alphabet. Even the printed block letters required a much nimbler pen than the clunky letters of the Equestrian alphabet. Common had twenty-seven letters, but the ‘ñ’ was just an ‘n’ with a squiggle above it and seemed to only be used in some words derived from certain languages and dialects.

The colonists were wasting no time learning to read, write, speak, and comprehend the Common language, and all new material was being written in it like this map of the new pony communities. Paradise was particularly obsessed with becoming fluent in the language and was already getting ready to write Common versions of their literature. Along with learning the language, Wind Whistler was studying the mechanics and history of the language to understand it better.

Common was a combination of languages and dialects. The syntax was very similar to Equestrian which was also a composite language. That made learning it much simpler, as they could concentrate on the words. Babel and Rosetta decided to teach the words through their ideas instead of the corresponding Equestrian word. They wanted the colonists to think in Common, and it was working as Wind Whistler found more and more of her thoughts used Common words, even after just six weeks of study.

Even the use of Equestrian had changed. ‘Everypony,’ ‘anypony,’ ‘nopony,’ and similar words had been replaced by ‘everyone,’ ‘anyone,’ ‘no one,’ and the like, now that ponies were definitely not the dominant species here. On the other hoof, their gender identifiers; mare, stallion, foal, filly, colt; had translated into the Common language. Each race seemed to have their own names for genders, so there were no universal terms beyond the formal male and female. Though, dam and sire were being replaced by the many versions of mother and father, and slang terms like ‘guys’ and ‘gals’ were becoming common as well.

“I say, Leftenant Governor—” North Star said.

Wind Whistler sat up with a start.

“—it seems like your mind was elsewhere,” North Star said. Her Trottingham accent had translated into her speech in Common. Rather, she had picked up the Common accent and dialect that most closely mirrored the Trottignham accent.

“Apologies North Star,” Wind Whistler said tiredly. “My preoccupation with assimilating information has rendered my mind prone to tangential diversions.”

“Right,” North Star replied.

North Star looked at the map over Wind Whistler’s shoulder. Wind Whistler checked the map herself. The scouts were traveling farther and farther out now that the weather was improving. They were only three weeks from the equinox, as the blarks called it, which did not involve any kind of large scale cleanup. The snow melted by itself, and the weather got warmer by itself, and the animals and plants returned to their warm weather habits by themselves. Wind Whistler pulled herself off the latest tangent.

She focused on the map. Much of the region not within the Land of Nightmares had been claimed. Races like trolls and ogres had established their kingdoms adjacent to and even inside the edge of the Land of Nightmares. Then there were humans and other ‘benign’ races past that. There was also Gizmas City practically jumping off the map. They gave it and the depression it occupied a wide berth. The sites for possible colonies were mostly secluded valleys and other locations that were hard to access.

Wind Whistler blinked as she realized she was again going off on a tangent. “In truth, I’ve found my focus lately difficult to maintain. After the exceptionally provocative experiences of the initial fortnight here, these last six weeks have been starkly uneventful.”

They had certainly not been without activity. It was just more mundane without some threat looming over them. The peace gave the mind plenty of opportunities wander, especially with so much information to process.

Along with looking for colony sites, they had been restoring the castle. With the inventory of Scrapsburg at their disposal, the ponies and blarks had repaired the damage and restored the fixtures. The utilities were up and running, with sun crystals providing both light and electricity. They were currently replacing the glass.

The thought of glass made Wind Whistler think of Shady. She had barely seen her since the rescue mission. In fact, she seemed to be avoiding Wind Whistler. Fizzy and Gusty always wanted to hang out, but Shady would try to get out of Wind Whistler’s sight whenever she saw her.

Wind Whistler pulled the band off her hoof. “I want to check on something. Can we finish the map tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,” North Star replied.

Wind Whistler trotted out of the room and to the stairs. The castle seemed warm and welcoming with a sun crystal in every sconce and the walls painted in warm pastels. The air was comfortably warm with the heating system running. It was hard to believe it had been a foreboding derelict less than two moons prior.

Wind Whistler quickly walked up the stairs to the third floor. She could have sworn they were restoring the glass in the conservatory’s dome tonight.

She came up to the wooden doors and pushed one open. Shady was standing next to the patch of dirt in the middle. Four pegasi were lowering a plane of glass into the metal frame and blarks with soldering equipment stood at the corners.

“Steady,” Shady said. “Let it down slowly.”

The pegasi gently set the glass into the frame. The blarks dropped welder’s helmets over their faces began to solder the pane in place.

Shady exhaled the sigh. “We just have five more to go.”

“That’s good to hear,” Wind Whistler said as she walked in.

“Wind Whistler!” Shady jumped up and turned around to face her. “What are you doing up here?”

“I thought I would check up on you,” Wind Whistler said. “I haven’t seen you all that much. Is everything all right?”

Shady lowered her head and turned away from Wind Whistler. “I was worst than useless against the gizmonks.”

Wind Whistler cocked her head to the side. “You’ve been avoiding me for six weeks because of that?” she asked. “We completed our objectives.”

“In spite of me,” Shady said despairingly. “You could have flown and the unicorns have teleported to escape, but you had to look after me, which put you in unneeded danger.”

“Admittedly, Gizmas City did not lend itself to the natural strengths of earthlings,” Wind Whistler said.

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Shady said. “I’m not very strong, and I’m not good at running and jumping either. I’m not even good at farming.”

Wind Whistler looked up at the blarks soldering the window into place. “You’ve done a fine job replacing the glass in the castle. Having two panes with argon in between was a stroke of genius.”

“The blarks suggested it,” Shady said, “and what do I do when we’re done.”

“That’s what many pegasi are asking,” Wind Whistler said. “Our primary industry was weather management, but the weather works on its own here. We’re finding other things to do like scouting, as well as pursuing personal talents.”

“My personal talent is thinking of how things can go wrong,” Shady said. “Whenever I see something, what could go wrong just pops into my head.”

“Then maybe that’s what you should do,” Wind Whistler said.

Shady looked up to Wind Whistler and cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“You can play devil’s advocate in planning sessions,” Wind Whistler said. “You can figure out what problems we could encounter so that we can anticipate and counter them.”

“I guess I could,” Shady said halfheartedly.

Wind Whistler placed her pastern on Shady’s shoulder. “And remember we’re friends no matter how useful you are. I was happy to have you with us in Gizmas City.”

“Thanks, Wind Whistler,” Shady replied. “You really are a good friend.”

Wind Whistler smiled hearing this. She had not cared much about friendship in Equestria, since its importance was constantly drilled into her, but here she could enjoy its real significance. Having someone to care about gave her a sense of belonging unlike any other.

“We’re finished with this pane,” one of the blarks said.

Shady looked up. “Okay.” She looked back down to Wind Whistler. “I need to get back to work.”

Wind Whistler dropped her leg from Shady. “Then I’ll leave you to it.” She turned to the door.

Spearhead glared at Monsoon and Landslide. “This is unacceptable!” he boomed. The two winced at his outburst. “It has been almost two moons, and all we’ve done to prepare for the colony force is finding some remote perspective sites. We’ve done more to nest out this castle that barely houses us.”

“The problem is geography,” Monsoon said. “The Land of Nightmares is barely navigable even before you start considering whatever lives out there. Then, once you leave it, most of the usable land belongs to one kingdom or another who aren’t going to give any up. The only thing available to us is this valley which is isolated from the rest of the world. There’s also the problem with the gizmonks who we’re still technically at war with.”

“The scouts haven’t seen so much as a bolt of them,” Landslide said confidently. “I think we pasted them so hard they’re scared to move against.”

“Never get complacent with your adversary,” Spearhead said sharply. “It’s when you believe they won’t attack they choose to strike.”

Monsoon hovered off the ground so he could cross his front legs. “Personally, I would delay the main colonization for ten more moons. That would mean starting out early in spring and we would have had a whole year to establish ourselves and learn about this planet.”

Spearhead scowled. “Celestia made it clear she wants to bring in the main colony force during the next window and we’re to prepare a place for them.”

“She’s certainly in a hurry,” Landslide said.

“The longer the colonists are waiting on the other side,” Spearhead said, “the more likely information could be leaked to those in Equestria or out who would not take kindly to what we’re doing here.”

“Well they’ll have to rough it for the first year,” Monsoon said.

“What we need are allies, and I’m not talking about junk dealers,” Landslide said.

Several murmurs came from outside the royal suite Spearhead was using as his office. Spearhead twitched his ear to hear.

Landslide glanced to the side. “I wonder what has their attention.”

Spearhead walked towards the door. “Let’s find out.”

He pushed open the door and stepped out into the cold, evening air. They were in civil twilight with a definite glow to the west while the east was dark. A crowd of ponies in the courtyard were looking east and murmuring to themselves.

Spearhead followed their gaze. Something was in the dark, moonless sky: an airship. It was definitely heading their way and descending. Spearhead first thought of the witches, but he figured this was bigger and better constructed than the dilapidated craft they used. He also did not see an aircraft in Gizmas City.

“Who do you think they are?” Landslide asked, squinting to see.

“I’m not sure,” Spearhead replied, “but I suggest we take up defensive positions.”

“Everyone to action stations!” Landslide shouted.

The ponies scattered through the tents. They shouted action stations to others and grabbed whatever weapons were nearby.

Spearhead watched the airship. It was descending more quickly. It was still heading into the valley, but it would land in the woods at the very bottom.

It descended, still silent due to distance. It dropped in front of the row of mountains in the distance. It then disappeared behind the tall trees, but lights still shined out through the spaces between the bare branches.

“What would they want over there?” Landslide asked rhetorically.

Spearhead turned to Monsoon, “Send your scouts to the landing site to investigate.”

North Star flew towards the forest of tall oak trees around the foot of the valley. The river broadened and the land on either side of it became more marsh-like before it just stopped, but some said it actually continued underground as an aquifer.

North Star turned back to Scrapper sitting on Hurricane’s back. “You wouldn’t happen to have an idea of who dropped in our valley, would you?”

Scrapper shrugged. “I don’t have the slightest clue.”

North Star flew just above the tops of the trees with Hurricane and Medley in formation behind her. They came to a large clearing in the middle and the large, gray, cigar-shaped envelope of the airship. North Star stopped and hovered above the last oak tree.

She looked down. Portable lights had been erected to fill the clearing with light. Creatures were unloading pallets from the airship.

North Star eyed them more carefully. They were ape-like and covered in a coat of thick, brown fur. Most wore blue overalls over plaid shirts.

“They’re dell dwellers,” Scrapper thought out loud.

North Star turned to Scrapper who had everyone’s attention. “Dell dwellers?”

Scrapper looked to her and nodded. “Dell dwellers live underground. They’re about as technologically advanced as the gizmonks, but they use that technology to restore forests and terraform the less hospitable parts of the planet.”

“Are they friendly?” Medley asked.

“I’d say they’re not hostile,” Scrapper said. “However, they prefer to keep to themselves.”

North Star returned her gaze to the dell dwellers. Pallets with crates were wheeled into a hole in the ground.

“That must be why they didn’t drop in to say hi,” Hurricane said.

“It looks like they’re moving in,” Medley said.

“If they make less hospitable lands more livable,” Hurricane replied, “the Land of Nightmares would be a crowning achievement.”

“And it looks like they might have lived here before with that readymade hole,” Medley said.

North Star looked to Scrapper. “Do you think any harm would come from greeting them?”

Scrapper shrugged. “I doubt it. The worst they’ll probably do is ask to be left alone.”

“Then let’s meet the new neighbors.” North Star descended into the clearing.

The dell dwellers all stopped and looked in North Star’s direction as she planted her hooves on the snow-covered ground. North Star swallowed. Exploring was her passion, as seeing new places brought her the greatest joy. However, she wished she had brought Wind Whistler or Spearhead for the first contact part of it.

“Hello,” North Star said, trying to not sound nervous. “I am North Star, a scout for the Equestria Nova colony. I wish to extend our greetings and offer of friendship.”

A dell dweller wearing a black tailcoat and top hat walked out of the group. “I’m Derrick, Administrator of the New Land of Nightmares Restoration Project. I assume you come from the community near the castle.”

“That’s right.” Medley landed next to North Star.

“Well, as long as you don’t meddle with our operations,” Derrick said, “I’m sure we can live together in peace.”

“I told you they would want to be left alone,” Scrapper said.

“A blark?” a dell dweller asked.

“Wasn’t it equine-like creatures that embarrassed the gizmonks at Gizmas City about a major month ago?” another asked.

“I heard it was also ponies that ended the curse on this valley,” yet another said.

“Are the rumors true?” Derrick asked.

North Star swallowed. “What if I said yes?”

Derrick grinned. “Then you have a friend in the dell dwellers.”

“Really?” Hurricane asked confusedly.

“The dell dwellers and gizmonks are mortal enemies,” Scrapper said. “They’re also not too keen on the Gloom Witch Clan.”

“Those bionic monsters leave nothing but wasteland in their wake,” Derrick said gravely. “The witches are just as bad. Obviously anyone who can stick it to them is okay in our book.”

“I wonder if the transit tunnel works again,” a dell dweller mused aloud.

“Transit tunnel?” Medley asked.

“Perhaps I should meet your leadership,” Derrick said. “I think there are things you should know about this valley.”

Spearhead sat opposite of Derrick. These dell dwellers were primates like the witches and the gizmonks. They looked kind of like gizmonks only their faces extended down instead of out, and they were much heavier. Derrick also had no sign of machinery on him.

“I have to admit,” Derrick said, “when I heard ponies humiliated the gizmonks, I thought it was a sick joke.”

“It was no joke to us,” Spearhead said. The inhabitants of this world seem to not hold equines in high regard.

“I guess I should be honest.” Derrick sat back at his chair. “We were hoping to find this valley alive but uninhabited.”

Spearhead dropped his expression into a scowl. “So sorry to disappoint you.”

Derrick looked from side to side warily. He leaned in. “This isn’t a joke,” he whispered. “Before the witches came and cursed the valley, there was a dell here for a very important reason.”

“Restoring the Land of Nightmares?” Spearhead asked.

Derrick furrowed his brow. “Yes, but also to use certain resources here. One is the spring feeding the waterfall, which dispels dark magic and poisons, but there is also a relic in this valley.”

Derrick sat back. “Few know this, but about 4 million years ago this world was inhabited by metal giants. I’m not talking about cyborgs like those simian devils. I’m talking about completely mechanical life forms standing between five and ten meters tall. Their technology is scattered around this planet.”

Will this world ever run out of surprises? Spearhead thought to himself. “What does this have to do with this valley?”

“Most of the technology is too degraded to use,” Derrick said. “However, there is a chamber in this valley that holds a transport device that can access any point on the planet instantly. The old dell used it to move materials in and out without having to deal with the Land of Nightmares. We were hoping to use it again.”

Spearhead fought the smile trying to form on his face. This was exactly what they needed, and these dell dwellers, while less than gregarious, seemed at least reasonable.

“Since we don’t plan on going anywhere,” Spearhead said, “I suggest we share this artifact. We also have a use for a rapid transit device.”

Derrick drummed his fingers on the table and scowled thoughtfully. “I suppose we can share it.”

Wind Whistler stared at the cliff next to the waterfall. It was made of light-colored volcanic rock. The plateau was probably a part of a volcanic formation from many millions of years ago, when this valley first began to form. There was nothing to suggest it was anything more than a natural formation. Yet something about it warranted coming out at first light.

Derrick pointed at a rock on a ledge about four meters off the ground. “Push the rock away from the cliff.”

Lofty and Firefly flew up to the rock and wedged themselves between it and the cliff. She pushed and the rock moved back. The ground rumbled and quaked under Wind Whistler’s hooves. Seams suddenly appeared in the cliff as a rectangular piece collapsed back slightly.

The part of the cliff face that had pushed in dropped into the ground to reveal a pair of huge, metal doors with heavy, riveted frames. Both doors had a symbol made of purple polygons arranged to look remotely like a scowling face with a pointy chin and points on the top corners of the head. The rumbling and quaking stopped.

“Push it farther!” Derrick shouted.

Lofty and Firefly pushed on the rock again and it pushed slightly farther from the cliff. The doors slid into the cliff. Beyond them was a tunnel that curved toward the waterfall. Small lights in the ceiling came on, but the tunnel seemed almost as dark as with them off.

“Come this way.” Derrick walked into the tunnel.

Wind Whistler followed Spearhead behind Derrick into the tunnel. Everything seemed to get darker as they progressed. The walls were made of dark metal and the lights were small and dim. Perhaps these ‘metal giants’ were nocturnal, Wind Whistler mused to herself. The light was similar to twilight where she could make out most everything, but barely.

The tunnel opened into a massive chamber that was just as dim. Wind Whistler squinted to see better. The wall opposite the tunnel had a huge, circular hole in it. The hole was lined with large rings and ramp led up to a dead end.

She turned back. A structure the size of a small house sat against the wall next to the entrance to the tunnel. A system of ramps led up to the top. The top was covered in various controls and had three large screens above it.

“So, this is your transport device,” Spearhead said. “How does it work?”

“We have to turn it on first.” Derrick walked up the ramp.

Wind Whistler spread her wings and flew to the top of the structure. She landed on an empty area. It was covered in buttons, knobs, switches, and sliders large enough to easily use with pasterns.

Derrick pulled a small box and a sheet of paper out of his coat pocket. He opened the box and held the sun crystal inside over the sheet of paper. “Start should be…” He looked around and stepped on a square button. “This should be it.”

The buttons lit up. The screens came up with readouts in a strange language of polygonal characters.

“I wish we could properly translate the language,” Derrick said. “We only know how to turn it on, turn it off, select a destination point, and activate it.”

“Isn’t that enough?” Sparkler asked from the floor.

Spearhead appeared in a flash. “There could be vital information and functions that we could use if we can understand these readouts.” He turned to Derrick. “Fortunately, we have very effective translators who should be able to decipher the language.”

Wind Whistler looked back at the tunnel. “This apparatus forms portals in that tunnel, correct?”

“That’s exactly right,” Derrick said.

Wind Whistler furrowed her brow. “And it’s perfectly safe for living things?”

“The trip can be disorienting and nauseating the first couple of times through, but it’s otherwise safe for even a butterfly,” Derrick said.

“If this device does what you say,” Spearhead said, “it’ll allow us to connect to our new settlements and form a mutual defense easily.”

Derrick and Wind Whistler turned to Spearhead. “There’s only one condition to our alliance,” Derrick said. “This device represents incredible power and must be used responsibly. We dell dwellers have sworn to never use the transit tunnel for unprovoked aggression. It can be used for normal transport, defense, and special cases like rescue missions. However, we won’t use it to pop in on the gizmonks to rattle their cage. We ask that you do the same.”

“We will,” Wind Whistler said immediately. “We would prefer to live in peace.”

“That we would,” Spearhead said. “Lieutenant, watch over things here while I get Rosetta to begin working this language.”

Wind Whistler bowed her head. “Yes, Governor.”

Spearhead watched Rosetta pace in front of her. Rosetta reached one side of the tent, turned around, and walked towards the other side. All the while she had that scowl she had when she was displeased. The scowl had been a frequent feature of her face since arriving here.

“I don’t like them,” Rosetta stated the obvious. “They’re too good.”

“Believe it or not,” Spearhead said, “there are races out there that believe deeply in a moral code. Not every civilization has to be duplicitous.”

Rosetta stopped and glared at Spearhead. “Then you trust them?”

“Not completely,” Spearhead said. “However, they made a big leap of faith revealing the transit tunnel to us. We should at least give them the same courtesy.”

“And you just let Wind Whistler agree to never use it aggressively.” Rosetta went back to pacing. “Your lieutenant governor seems to be running things more than you are.”

“She’s a highly intelligent pony,” Spearhead replied. “We should take advantage of her ideas.”

“How can you be so nonchalant about this?” Rosetta asked. Her voice almost cracked. “After all we’ve worked for, it seems like we’re getting nowhere.”

“We have to be patient,” Spearhead said. “When the colonists are ready to accept our ideals, we will present them. If we do it before, it will only fracture what ties we still have.”

Rosetta stopped and heaved a sigh. “I guess you’re right.”

“Now, if you’ve gotten off your ledge,” Spearhead said, “get into the underground chamber and see what you can do.”

Rosetta bowed. “I will start immediately, Governor.”

Topsoil watched Cupcake put his lunch rations on a plate. It did not look like the disks of hay and prepackaged greens they were, but he knew it was the standard lunch ration they had been eating for the past eight weeks. He could not wait for them to be able to start growing their own food.

He looked past Cupcake and the counter to Gingerbread working in the kitchen back. The mare had a white coat like Cupcake, but the blue, dark purple, light pink, and lavender streaks in Gengerbread’s mane set them apart when her sapphire-like eyes were hidden, like now as she worked.

“Here you go.” Cupcake placed the plate on Topsoil’s tray. “Have a good afternoon.”

“Thanks.” Topsoil pushed the tray down the line towards Sweet Stuff and the dessert counter. Fortunately, part of their rations was satisfying the sweet tooth.

Sweet Stuff looked to him with her amethyst-like eyes. Her coat was powder blue, and her mane was streaked lavender, dark pink, light pink, and white. She smiled sweetly as he came to her.

“Can I suggest the cherry gelatin?” Sweet Stuff asked in her soft voice.

“Sounds good,” Topsoil replied.

Sweet Stuff placed a small bowl of red gelatin cut into cubes on his tray. “Have a nice day.”

“Thank you.” Topsoil picked up his tray and carried it down the aisle between the long tables.

He noticed the usual group sitting at the end of a table ahead of him. He recognized them by Posey. Her yellow coat and long, pale pink mane stood out against the rust-colored brick walls. Next to her was Cherries Jubilee who had an orange coat and a curly, peach-colored mane.

Winter Wheat was sitting opposite to them and next to Applejack. Topsoil did not think winter when he saw him. Winter Wheat had a yellow coat like Posey’s and his mane was streaked orange, yellow, a more vibrant shade of yellow, and green. He turned back and waved, light glinting off his emerald-like eyes. “Hey, Topsoil, over here.”

Topsoil trotted to the table and set his tray down. Winter Wheat moved over to give him room.

“We were actually hoping to talk to you,” Posey said. “How’s the geological survey going?”

“Well, most of the valley is farmable,” Topsoil said. That was what they wanted to know. He could go into the details when he delivered his final report.

“Many of the trees are also apple and cherry trees,” Cherries Jubilee said. “Once the bee hives wake up, we should have plenty to eat and sell.”

“I also picked out the perfect place to plant the zap apple seeds,” Applejack said.

Posey furrowed her brow. “I thought zap apple trees needed the Everfree Forest nearby to produce fruit? There are the various signs with each stage of fruition.”

“This whole planet is one big Everfree Forest,” Applejack said, “and the signs are only the local nature reacting to the zap apples’ magic. The truth is Sweet Apple Acres claims the zap apples only grow near Ponyville to keep the market cornered.”

“I’m surprised they would give you seeds then,” Posey said.

“Yeah,” Cherries Jubilee added. “My aunt spent some time with Apple—” She paused when she noticed the death glare Applejack was giving her “—your relative. She said she never met a more tightlipped pony.”

“Something about being in another world keeps me from being a threat to their business,” Applejack replied.

“It’s certainly going to be a busy growing season,” Posey said.

“I’m more interested in our new neighbors at the moment,” Winter Wheat said. “We’ve heard they terraform, but I wonder what that entails exactly.”

“What does terraform mean anyway?” Cherries Jubilee asked.

“It means making an environment more hospitable for life,” Posey said. “We ponies technically do it constantly in Equestria by controlling the weather and nurturing plants and animals.”

“Maybe we could ask for the ten cent tour,” Cherries Jubilee said. “We’re naturalists. They’re naturalists. There has to be some common understanding between us.”

“I don’t know,” Posey said. “They want to keep to themselves.”

She motioned to the dining hall. There were a couple dozen ponies and a few blarks, but there was not a single dell dweller. In fact, aside from their leader coming to meet with Spearhead, Topsoil had yet to see any in this part of the valley.

“I’m not suggesting moving into their dell,” Cherries Jubilee replied. “I just want to see what they do.”

Topsoil shrugged. “It can’t hurt to ask.”

Topsoil tried to grin to Sander who glared at him with his hands on his hips. Dell dwellers only stood slightly taller than a pony at maybe a hundred twenty-five centimeters.

“Please, we just want a short tour,” Cherries Jubilee asked sweetly.

“We’re not even close to up and running,” Sander said. “We’re lucky the old equipment is still in good shape, but we have to make sure it’s all sound and install new equipment and upgrades. It’s a mess down there.”

“We know how much of a mess moving in can be,” Topsoil said. “We just want to see what you do.”

Sander paused for a second but seemed more like a minute. He finally exhaled a sigh. “As long as you don’t get in the way, I suppose I can show you around and explain some things.”

“Thank you, so much, Mr. Sander,” Posey said.

Sander grabbed a nearby sapling, or at least what looked like a sapling and pulled it back like a lever. A large, nearby rock slid back revealing a hole with stairs leading down. Sun Crystals in fixtures on the wall provided ample light.

“Come this way.” Sander walked into the hole and down the stairs.

Topsoil followed Sander down. The stairs, carved right out of the rock, spiraled down. The steps constantly coming into view and sun crystals spaced evenly on the walls had an almost hypnotic effect.

“I know the winged ponies fly and the ponies with horns on their heads have magical power,” Sander said. “What makes your kind special?”

“Earthlings have the greatest physical strength and stamina of the three breeds,” Topsoil answered. “We can run faster and longer, jump higher and farther, and carry and pull heavier loads. We also have a connection to earth and plant life. At least, we do back home in Equestria.”

“Sounds like we have much in common,” Sander said. “We dell dwellers raise and nurture plant life and condition the soil to be more productive. Our predecessors planted most of the oldest oak trees in the Macstificent Forest above us.”

The stairway finally opened up to a large cave. Long, slender sun crystals shined down from rectangular fixtures suspended from the cave ceiling. Chutes and conveyor belts went every which way. Tools covered long tables, and machines loomed over the chutes and conveyor belts. There were also crates and barrels stacked in alcoves.

“A pretty industrial setup for a bunch of naturalists,” Winter Wheat said.

Sander stopped and turned back to them. “It’s not that we’re against industry. We just believe it needs to be used responsibly unlike the gizmonks who just run roughshod over everything.”

Topsoil took notice of the other dell dwellers working around them. They were organizing tools and working lubricant into the machines and rollers of the conveyor belts.

A few walked towards them. “What’s with them?” one of them asked, clearly irritated.

“They’re interested in what we do,” Sander said to the group. “Since we’ll be sharing the valley, I thought it would be neighborly.”

The dell dweller who spoke pointed at Sander. “Well, they’re your responsibility. Make sure they don’t get in the way.”

“They’ll be fine,” Sander said dismissively.

The other dell dwellers backed away and went back to work.

“They’re certainly friendly,” Cherries Jubilee said, not hiding her sarcasm.

“You have to forgive them,” Sander said. “We prefer to work out of the eyes of others. You see, we don’t want to look like we favor one species over another in our work. Therefore, we keep to ourselves.”

“That’s understandable,” Posey said. She then cocked her head to the side. “Though, I would imagine that makes getting paid difficult.”

“Being surrounded by life is payment for us for the most part,” Sander said. He then smirked. “We actually have contracts with peoples looking to restore land. However, we have a policy of accepting contracts from everyone.”

Sander turned away and motioned for the ponies to follow him. Topsoil walked behind him.

“We’d even take a contract from the gizmonks if they offered one,” Sander continued his thought. “As it stands, we clean up their messes for no compensation at all.”

“Is that why you’re enemies?” Cherries Jubilee asked.

“As near as I can tell,” Sander replied.

Sander stopped in front of a sprayer above a conveyer belt. “This will water seedlings once we start working.”

“Does the water come from the aquifer the river descends into?” Topsoil asked.

“If the old schematics are right, it should,” Sander answered. “In fact, we’re working on getting the water works running now.”

A loud bang resounded through the cave, followed by the sound of rushing water. Topsoil looked to the sound. A muddy torrent of water fell over itself as it spread through the cave. Dell dwellers ran from the wave, but it fell over them.

Sander grabbed a dell dweller as he ran by. “What happened?” he shouted over the deafening noise.

“The pipes must have settled out of alignment!” the other dell dweller shouted frantically. “We opened them up and they pulled right out of the rock. Now the whole river is rushing in here!”

“We have to get help!” Cherries Jubilee screamed.

“Get everyone you can to safety!” Topsoil shouted. “I’ll run back to Dream Castle.”

Topsoil ran back to and up the staircase. The effect was even more stomach turning at running speed. He practically flew out of the hole and onto the snow-covered surface. He took a moment to get his bearings and ran up the valley.

Wind Whistler stepped out of the tunnel and winced at the sudden increase in light. She saw Fizzy, Gusty, and Shady running towards her.

“Is it true?” Gusty shouted. “Can that thing in there take us anywhere we want?”

They slid to a stop in front of her.

“We’ve yet to test it,” Wind Whistler said, “but if Administrator Derrick’s claims are true, then yes.”

“That means we can visit the other crystal ponies whenever we want,” Fizzy said.

Wind Whistler noticed Topsoil out of the corner of her eye. He ran towards them and slid to a stop. “The dell’s flooding—need help—now!” he got out between gasps.

Wind Whistler tensed. She was all too familiar with industrial accidents. She turned to Fizzy, Gusty, and Shady. “Gusty, get the word out! Shady and Fizzy, you’re with me!”

“I’m on it!” Gusty disappeared in a flash.

Wind Whistler spread her wings and took to the air towards the dell.

Shady followed Wind Whistler as best she could. Her throat burned from breathing, and her heart thumped in her chest. She could not remember the last time she had been in a dead run this long. She looked up to Wind Whistler who had her body completely streamlined and her wings beating quickly.

Wind Whistler rose up to fly over the stands of oak trees. Shady weaved between their trunks into the clearing. Wind Whistler landed in front of her, and Fizzy appeared in a flash.

Several dell dwellers and four ponies were standing around the hole. Many had blankets around them.

Wind Whistler took several short breaths before she asked, “Is everyone safe.”

“Rockfall is missing,” a dell dweller answered. “I didn’t see him come up.”

Wind Whistler looked down into the hole intently.

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking,” Shady said nervously.

“I won’t tell you.” Wind Whistler bounded down the hole.

“Wind Whistler, you can’t!” Shady shouted after Wind Whistler as she followed her in.

They ran down the hole until they reached the water taking step after step.

“It’ll flood the valley!” Shady shrieked.

“No,” Wind Whistler said. “The water level will rise until it’s level with the water table and then stop.”

“What about the dell dweller?” Fizzy asked.

“Can you form air bubbles” Wind Whistler asked.

“I can try.” Fizzy cast her magic.

Bubbles started to form and expand, but they popped. Bubbles formed above the water and sank towards the water, but popped when they touched the surface.

Fizzy cancelled her magic and slouched. “Water is too disturbed. I can’t keep them from popping. I’m so sorry, Wind Whistler.”

“It’s okay, Fizzy. You tried your best.” Wind Whistler turned to Shady. “How well can you swim?”

“Okay I guess,” Shady said.

Wind Whistler jumped into the water and disappeared under its murky surface. Shady paused for a second. Every atom of her being was telling her not to. However, she took and held a deep breath, dived into the cold water, and swam down the rest of the way. She could barely see, especially since she could barely keep her eyes open without them being irritated. She came out of the stairway and headed to the surface.

Shady breached and exhaled her held breath and sucked in another. Wind Whistler was floating nearby.

“Where do you think the dell dweller is?” Shady asked, he teeth chattering.

“Stay here.” Wind Whistler took a deep breath and disappeared under the water. She was gone several seconds. She came back up and sucked in a breath. “I think I found him.”

Wind Whistler disappeared again. Shady took in a breath and followed her. Shady could barely make out a dell dweller trapped under a piece of equipment. Wind Whistler tried to pull him out, but he was stuck.

Wind Whistler pointed to Shady, then to the equipment, and then made a lifting motion. Shady nodded as she thought she understood what Wind Whistler meant.

Shady placed her hind hooves on the ground and twisted her pasterns to cradle the equipment. She then put all of her strength into lifting the equipment. Wind Whistler took the dell dweller’s arms and began to pull. Shady could only lift the equipment a couple of centimeters, but it was enough for Wind Whistler to pull him out.

Wind Whistler draped the unconscious dell dweller over her back and swam back to surface. Shady breached with her and took a breath.

“He’s still alive, but barely” Wind Whistler said.

She went below the water again. Shady followed her down to the stairway and up to the surface. Shady shivered and chattered as she stepped out of the frigid water. Wind Whistler quickly trotted up to the surface making sure the dell dweller did not slip off. Fizzy helped keep him on Wind Whistler’s back.

They came out into a crowd. Truly made her way to the front. “How is he?”

“He’s stopped breathing!” Wind Whistler said more frantically than Shady ever thought she’d hear from her.

“Put him on the ground,” Truly said calmly.

Wind Whistler gently slipped him off her back. Truly spread his limbs out. She breathed into his mouth and then pressed her hooves on his chest. She then repeated.

The dell dweller coughed and spat up water.

Truly heaved a sigh. “And they thought it was a crazy idea back home.”

Gusty placed blankets on Shady and Wind Whistler. It did not help with the cold much, but Shady appreciated the gesture.

“That was some quick thinking,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler threw her pastern over Shady. “I couldn’t have done it without Shady.”

“Anyone could have done that,” Shady said shyly.

“But you were the one who did it,” Wind Whistler said. “That was very brave.”

Shady smiled. “It was, wasn’t it?”

Spearhead shook his pastern with Derrick’s hand. “It’s such a shame you have to leave so soon.”

“It is,” Derrick said glumly. “We had such great plans, but it seems the Land of Nightmares will get the last laugh.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing you can do with the dell?” Wind Whistler asked.

Derrick heaved a sigh. “The cave wall collapsed. The dell is now an underground lake.” He exhaled a weak laugh. “To think that device sat there for 4 million years and starts right up, and our equipment failed after several decades of disuse. It reminds you of how small we are.”

“What about building a new dell?” Wind Whistler asked. “There are many caverns in Dream Valley that could suit your needs.”

Derrick shook his head. “The Brotherhood would never give us the resources. Many believe restoring the Land of Nightmares is a fool’s errand. We got what we needed to restore the old dell, nothing more. Now that it’s gone, our project is over.”

Derrick turned to a group of a dozen or so dell dwellers. “Are you sure you want to stay?”

One of them nodded. “We might not be able to save the Land of Nightmares, but we can help the ponies with establishing their colony.”

“Good luck then,” Derrick said.

“To you as well, Administrator,” the dell dweller replied.

Derrick turned to Spearhead. “Although we won’t be sharing the transit tunnel, I still ask you honor our agreement.”

Spearhead placed his right leg over his chest. “The ponies will never use it for unprovoked aggression. You have my word.”

“You also have an ally in the dell dwellers,” Derrick said. “If you need our help, it’s yours.”

“We are also here to assist you if you ever need it,” Spearhead said.

“Then I guess there is nothing left for us here.” Derrick turned to the airship and trudged up the gangplank. He was clearly a defeated man. Spearhead had seen much of himself in the dell dweller, having such grand plans. Seeing him defeated by the very nature he loved so much was heartbreaking.

Derrick disappeared inside the gondola and the gangplank lifted up. Water poured out of the ballast tanks and the airship lifted up. Spearhead waved with the others as it lifted above the trees and slowly motored away.

Wind Whistler put her hoof down and heaved a sigh. “It’s really a shame. They’re such good people. They don’t deserve this.”

Spearhead watched the airship disappear from view. “I don’t believe in karma or luck. Life will give you what it gives you.” He fought the smirk trying to form on his face. And I’ll gladly take the transit tunnel, he thought.

Chapter 9: Equestria Girls Lost

Spearhead surveyed the readouts on the screen. Common lettering spelled out the names of readouts and displays. At the top of the center screen was the title ‘Ground Bridge.’

“Am I good or what?” Rosetta boasted. “Not only my first translation matrix not involving Equestrian, but I got the machine to deliver all its readouts in Common.”

Spearhead shot her a sharp glance.

Rosetta slouched slightly. “Okay, Fan Belt and Monsoon changed the language files.” She stood up straighter. “Still, it’s because I translated this language.”

“After taking three weeks,” Spearhead pointed out.

“Well, it’s harder to establish a translation matrix from text,” Rosetta explained. “It was from a completely alien way of thinking.”

“Considering the nature of the builders,” Monsoon said, “that might not be too far away from what it actually was.”

“So, what have you found?” Spearhead asked.

“It’s basically confirmation of what we found out while tinkering with it before,” Monsoon said. “It can only bridge other places with itself. We can’t open one end in one place and then the other end anywhere else but here. It also gets its power from the Waterfall, so that’s why it takes a half hour to recharge after every use.”

Spearhead’s expression dropped into a deep scowl. “A half hour can be an eternity in an emergency.”

Monsoon heaved a sigh. “I know. However, we did discover a couple new things. It’s possible to close a destination point and open a new one without closing the portal here. That means we could open a portal to bring in ponies from one place and then open a new portal to send them another.”

“I suppose that’s better than nothing,” Spearhead said.

“This thing also has a communication array that can reach anywhere on the planet,” Rosetta said. “Fan Belt and Babel”—the coat on her back bristled when she hissed the name of her rival through her teeth—“are working on portable radios that work with this thing. They already have three prototypes dones.”

“Excellent work,” Spearhead said. “Ring me if you find anything else of interest.”

Monsoon bowed his head. “We will, Governor.”

Spearhead teleported to the floor and walked up the tunnel to the entrance. He winced at the light. The sun was high in the sky with both moons in their waxing crescent phase just above the eastern horizon. Some quick math told him it had been 75 days since they arrived if the two were in conjunction again.

He inhaled the pleasantly crisp air carrying the scent of fresh grass and the earliest blooms. There was still snow on the highest peaks, but the valley covered in a green carpet speckled by early spring flowers. The apple and cherry trees were covered in blooms, and while the sugar maples and oaks were still bare. It was springtime at last.

Now that they had the ‘Ground Bridge’ up and running, they could go practically anywhere not just in the region, but on the planet. They might have dragged their hooves up to this point, but now they could establish their presence like he could not have imagined when they first arrived.

Heart Throb whistled to herself as she polished the crystals of the main chandelier in the ballroom. It was her favorite room of the castle. She could just imagine the grand balls they could hold here when they were in contact with Equestria.

She looked down at the mirror still hanging on the wall where it had been when they first arrived. They were about halfway to being in contact with Equestria again. She then looked at the cloth draped over her hoof. The mirror could use a good polish.

She flew down in front of the mirror. Her reflection seemed to shimmer on its surface. She paid it no mind since it was a magic mirror. She held up her hoof to begin rubbing it down, but it passed right through the surface.

Heart Throb pulled her hoof back and gasped. “The mirror’s open!” she shouted.

She flew towards the main floor. “The mirror’s open!”

Wind Whistler stepped onto the balcony of the ballroom. Gusty stood next to the door and began walking with her.

“You looked nice,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler looked down at her jacket and blouse. “Thank you. I was intending to converse with the blarks and dell dwellers about their progress establishing new habitations in the valley’s caverns, when this event took precedence.”

“Uh…right,” Gusty said confusedly.

Wind Whistler caught herself. “Sorry, my vocabulary can get away from me sometimes.”

They turned and descended the grand staircase. A dozen or so ponies had gathered around the mirror.

“Who was the first to notice the mirror is open?” Wind Whistler asked.

Heart Throb hovered out of the crowd. “It was me.”

The crowd parted to let Wind Whistler make her way to the mirror. She eyed her reflection carefully as it wavered just like it did on its counterpart when they first came here.

“I thought the connection was open only every five moons,” Wind Whistler said.

“It is.” Monsoon stepped out of the crowd as Wind Whistler could see in the mirror. “We watched it carefully for the ten moons before we came here. It never opened at any other time.”

Wind Whistler turned back to the crowd. She noticed Fizzy and Shady in the crowd. “As your lieutenant governor, I will see what has caused this change in the cycle. I need couple of volunteers.”

Fizzy grabbed Shady and raised her hoof. “We’ll go!”

“You know I always have your back,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler looked to Gusty. “Thank you.”

“See if you can bring back some news from Equestria,” a pony shouted.

“We will,” Wind Whistler replied.

She turned back to the mirror. She stood abreast to Fizzy, Gusty, and Shady in the wavering reflection. She took cleansing breath and jumped through the mirror.

She was vaulted forward through whatever connected their worlds. The sensation seemed different this time. Her body felt like it lost its shape for a moment before regaining it. She came to the light and fell out of the portal.

She landed on the ground, but her front legs bent sideways. She barely straightened them in time to avoid falling face first on the ground. It felt like her hooves were gone, as her now unusually sensitive pasterns pressed against the concrete.

She heard grunts as the others came through. “What happened to us?” Gusty grumbled.

“A better question is what are we?” Shady said.

Wind Whistler looked down. Coming out of her sleeves were hands. They were petite hands with slender fingers the same light blue color as her coat, which had disappeared. She willed the left hand to rise and it did, and turned it to show its dirty palm. She rippled the fingers and touched each one to her thumb.

“We look like the witches!” Shady shrieked.

“We’re not that ugly,” Gusty replied.

Wind Whistler got her hind legs under her. They ended in feet that protruded forwards from the ankle. She slowly and carefully rose upright. She wobbled slightly as she tried to keep her balance. Her center of gravity was off from where she would stand on her hind legs as a pony. She wiped her palms together to get rid of the pebbles and dirt.

She looked herself over. Her mane still fell over one of her eyes, but it seemed to not cover her vision as much. Her body was slender and curved in at the waist. Along with her jacket, blouse, bow, and broach, she was wearing a white skirt that came down to her knees. The thing flared out from her waist like a bell and had a pink fringe along the hem. Her cutie mark of three pink whistles and two baby blue whistles was printed on the skirt at several times its normal size.

She also realized the outfit was layered. She was wearing another dress under this, but it was light, smooth on her skin, and only hung loosely by straps over her shoulders. There were also other garments under that. She was wearing a pair of drawers that reached about halfway down her thighs. An apparatus also held the pair of growths on her chest most females from bipedal species had, and she realized they were mammary glands that were permanently enlarged for some reason.

Wind Whistler carefully held a foot out past her skirt. Her legs were covered in thin, white stockings that stopped a third of the way up her thighs, and her small feet were in pink slippers with bows on the toe box.

Wind Whistler turned back to the others. They had also been turned into bipeds with mostly humanoid traits and wearing full outfits. Aside from suddenly having arms, the most drastic changes were to the face. They did not have muzzles, but instead the small nose was separate from the mouth, and their eyes faced perfectly forward. They were not gnarled faces like the witches either, as the shape and curves of their faces were smooth and even, with features closer to the proportions in the pictures of human women Wind Whistler had seen in books on the species.

However, there some features that were unlike anything described in those books on humans. Their mostly hairless skin was the color of their natural coats. Their manes were also the same color and style as when they were ponies. The only change was that a part of each mane extended farther like a tail, with their ribbons tied at the base of the extensions.

Fizzy caught Wind Whistler’s specific attention first due to her size. She was noticeably smaller and apparently younger than the others. Her eyes were also completely normal without even the polygonal faces her eyes had before their transformation. Her attire was a light pink dress with a skirt filled with petticoats and a darker pink sweater over it. Her cutie mark of five magenta soda glasses with white heads of foam and magenta straws on top decorated the skirt like Wind Whistler’s, and she had frilly socks and shoes that buckled on her feet. Wind Whistler thought it was fitting for the bubbly young mare—or woman rather, considering they were now human, or something similar. Actually, girl would be the best word to describe her now, Wind Whistler thought.

Gusty still had her now signature scarf, but also a light, pastel puplre jacket that zipped up and had a hood. Her cutie mark of five purple maple leafs decorated the sleeve. Her bottoms were a pair of blue, denim jeans that flared slightly at the bottom to cover her boots.

Shady wore a light blue jacket that looked like it was made out of leather but was clearly a fabric imitating hide. Under it was a dark blue shirt with her cutie mark of five white-framed glasses with light blue lenses, and she had tight-fitting pants the same color as her mane that came down just below knees and randomly split at the very bottom. A pair of slip-on shoes covered her feet.

Wind Whistler then noticed something that separated them from humans, other than their skin and mane color. They still had pony ears sticking out of their manes. Wind Whistler reached up and felt in her mane. She also had a pair of equine ears just behind her hair band, which were covered in a very fine fur. She also open and folded her wings which came out of holes in the back of her clothes.

Wind Whistler felt around her strange body. The slender limbs and trunk gave back sensations to her touch. She felt her nose and sensitive lips. She used her tongue to feel her teeth, which were normal in the back but more like blunt knives in the front, and the teeth third from center came to dull points. Her binocular vision was also much better with her eyes both facing straight, while her peripheral view had narrowed. She let it sink in that this really was her body.

The other three got to their feet slowly and carefully, but Shady had to brace herself on the base the statue near them to keep from falling over. Gusty stood over Fizzy, being a full head taller than her.

“Why am I so short?” Fizzy asked Wind Whistler.

“I don’t know,” Wind Whistler replied honestly. “I don’t even have a reasonable hypothesis as to why traversing the portal would transform our bodies and place us in these garments.”

“In Common, Wind Whistler,” Gusty snapped.

“Uh…girls,” Shady said, looking past the monument. “We’re not in the Crystal Empire.”

“Here’s more breaking news,” Gusty said sarcastically, “the sky is blue.”

Wind Whistler opened her senses to the world around her. They were outside in a courtyard. The air was cool, but pleasantly so. The statue Shady was bracing herself against was a realistic depiction of a primitive equine rearing up on its hind legs. There was a paved road past the monument. Vehicles smaller and more aesthetically-pleasing than the ones used by the gizmonks traveled down it. There were other humanoid bipeds walking on the sidewalks with varying skin and hair colors like theirs. However, they had ears like normal humans, and Wind Whistler did not see a single set of wings on any of them.

“Where are we?” Fizzy asked.

“I don’t know—” Gusty put her hand through the front of the monument “—but it looks like this is the portal on this end, and we can return whenever we feel like it.” She took her hand out. “Let’s check this place out.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Shady asked nervously.

“I want to check this place out!” Fizzy cheered.

Wind Whistler turned around. The courtyard led to a massive, boxy building with wings on both sides and a dome above the central structure. It took her a few seconds to process what kind of structure it could be when a chill went through her.

Her knees suddenly buckled together, and she hunched make to herself smaller. She rubbed her hands together nervously.

“What’s wrong, Wind Whistler,” Gusty asked.

“I think I know what effect the transit had on us, and the reason for Fizzy’s lack of stature and physical maturity,” Wind Whistler whimpered. “Given the hormonal levels in my body, I would say I have reverted to an earlier stage in my life cycle, likely the latter portion of adolescence. We have also been deposited right in front of an institution of final primary education.”

“What did she say?” Fizzy asked.

“I think she said she’s been turned into a teenager, and that’s a high school,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler swallowed. “It’s my worst nightmare made reality.”

“I would think you loved school,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler shook her head. “High school is a monolithic, totalitarian institution designed to grind away your gifts by binding you with unspoken stipulations of social acceptability. Popularity and physical prowess are glorified, while academic achievement, freedom of thought, and curiosity are marginalized and punished.”

“So you were one of those geniuses who hated school,” Gusty said.

Wind Whistler turned back to the others. “Let’s go back. Since Shady wants to go back as well, we are deadlocked, and deadlock means taking the more conservative action.”

“Actually, if it’s just a high school, I’m okay with exploring it,” Shady said, taking a cautious step away from the monument.

“Then we have a majority,” Gusty said. “Let’s check it out.”

“But—” Wind Whistler started to say.

Gusty put her hands on Wind Whistler’s shoulders. “There’s nothing to worry about,” she said casually. “We’re not enrolled in the high school, so it can’t hurt us.”

Wind Whistler heaved a sigh. “I guess you’re right.”

Gusty wrapped her arm over Wind Whistler’s shoulder and turned her around. She walked her towards the school. “Then let’s check this place out.”

Wind Whistler placed one foot after the other to walk. It took a couple of paces, but both she and Gusty managed to keep their balance without needing to think about it. These feet were fortunately made for stability while walking on two legs.

Wind Whistler watched as they came nearer to the steps leading up to the front entrance. A new wave of panic flowed into her. “What if they mistake us for one of the students and sit us down in a history class that’s having a pop quiz we obviously know none of the answers to?” she stammered.

“You’re starting to sound like Shady,” Gusty said jokingly.

“Hey!” Shady snapped.

Fizzy ran up the steps ahead of them. She opened and held one of the doors as Gusty walked Wind Whistler inside. Wind Whistler looked back as Shady walked in behind them. Fizzy followed, letting the door close behind her.

Wind Whistler faced forward as Gusty let her go. They were in a large, two-story lobby with displays showcasing various trophies. Hallways went to either side and in front of them, with lockers against the walls.

“No doubt about it,” Wind Whistler said, “this is a high school.”

“So, were you shoved into any lockers or anything?” Gusty asked.

“Why don’t you leave Wind Whistler alone,” Shady scolded. “She’s clearly uncomfortable.”

“Where is everyone?” Fizzy asked.

A bell rang. Wind Whistler yelped and unconsciously jumped into Gusty’s arms at the abrupt break in silence. The doors in the halls opened and students poured out.

Gusty let down Wind Whistler’s legs. “It’s a good thing you don’t drink caffeine.”

“My dearest apologies,” Wind Whistler said. “It is just that in settings like this, I feel at my most inadequate.”

a voice shouted in Equestrian from behind Wind Whistler.

Someone grabbed Wind Whistler’s arm and spun her around. It was a girl perhaps a little older than Wind Whistler’s apparent age. She had yellow-orange skin and wavy, bright red and yellow hair.

The broad grin on the girl’s face sank into a confused scowl.

That was it. Wind Whistler’s body had had enough. Everything went dark in an iris close. Fizzy screamed, “Wind Whistler!” but she sounded far away. The last thing Wind Whistler remembered was falling back into a couple pairs of arms before everything went black.

Wind Whistler’s first sensation telling her she was returning to consciousness was the pungent smell of smelling salts and the itching sensation they were instilling in her nostrils. She snorted and wrinkled her nose.

She opened her eyes, but everything was blurry at first. Her surroundings started to form into fuzzy patches of color and then take actual shapes. Fizzy, Gusty, Shady, and the girl all stood in front of her. She got the wherewithal to know she was sitting on something cushioned and leaning against a wall. Gusty had the bottle of smelling salts under her nose and pulled it away.

the girl said in Equestrian.

Fizzy asked in Equestrian as well.

Wind Whistler held her head as things cleared up. she replied, using the Equestrian language like the others.

Gusty said.

Wind Whistler looked to the girl. She wore a black leather jacket that looked more authentic than Shady’s. The purple shirt underneath had a symbol of a stylized sun. An orange skirt and a pair of rather tacky-looking, purple boots completed the outfit.

The girl frowned slightly.

Wind Whistler sat up.

Gusty said.

the girl said.

Wind Whistler asked.

the girl said.

Fizzy said.

Sunset Shimmer shrugged.

Wind Whistler considered this when a mirror over a sink caught her eye. She stood up and looked at herself. She had a face much like the others. She was not a very good judge of humanoid beauty standards, especially since she had just learned of the species’ existence a little more than two months ago. She thought she looked visually pleasing, like she did as a pony, but there was no telling what the species’ tastes were.

Shady said,

Sunset Shimmer replied.

Shady asked.

Sunset Shimmer said.

A knock came on the door. Wind Whistler turned to it like the others. Sunset Shimmer replied.

A girl who looked like a human, teenage version of Truly walked in. She wore a pink and white striped dress and a white apron with her cutie mark of a forest green dove holding an olive branch and three pink hearts at one corner.

the human Truly asked in the same drawl her pony counterpart had.

Sunset Shimmer answered.

Wind Whistler said.

The human Truly exhaled a sigh in relief.

The human Truly walked out and closed the door behind her.

Gusty shuddered.

Sunset Shimmer said.

She frowned.

Fizzy said.

Sunset Shimmer asked.

Wind Whistler answered,

Sunset Shimmer said.

Gusty said.

Wind Whistler rubbed her chin.

Gusty grabbed her head.

Shady asked.

Gusty snapped.

Shady hunched away.

Sunset Shimmer rubbed her chin.

Wind Whistler stopped in midsentence, as everything fell in place in front of her. The grin forming on her face dropped into a loose frown, as she realized the implications of what her possible scenario would entail.

Gusty asked.

Wind Whistler repeated as the nightmarish scenario came together in front of her.

Gusty said casually. She stopped and her mouth opened slightly and her eyes widened in a horrified expression.

Sunset Shimmer asked.

Wind Whistler said in a low voice.

Sunset Shimmer held up her hands in a confused shrug.

Wind Whistler said.

Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms.

Gusty said,

The trip through the portal was different from what Sunset Shimmer remembered. Normally it was like traveling through a kaleidoscope with all the light and color. This trip was like flying through space at extreme speed. However, the sensation of transforming from human to pony was the same.

She reached the light and came out into a ballroom. She planted her hooves on the ground. She could feel the weight of her horn on her forehead, which was slight, but noticeable after being absent for 17 and half moons.

A wave of energy washed over her from nowhere. It spread across her body and gathered at the base of her tail before it suddenly disappeared. However, it felt like something was left behind. Sunset Shimmer look back to see a blue ribbon tied in a large bow around the dock of her tail. “What’s this?”

Wind Whistler looked back. “It’s something about this valley. We can explain later.”

Sunset Shimmer happened to look at Fizzy who now had what looked like cut rubies in her eyes. “What happened to your eyes?”

“Oh, it’s kind of a long story,” Fizzy replied.

Sunset Shimmer faced forward. A crowd of ponies stood in front of the mirror. One of the stallions said something in a language she could not understand.

“What did he say?” Sunset Shimmer asked.

“Right,” Gusty replied. “Equestrian isn’t spoken on this planet, so we mostly speak in Common.”

“Sorry about that,” the stallion said in Equestrian. “I asked, ‘Who are you?’”

“I’m Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset Shimmer replied. “I’m living in an alternate world from Equestria.”

“We can discuss that later,” Wind Whistler said forcefully. “I’m calling a meeting. Where’s Stargazer?”

“I think he’s practicing in the Conservatory,” a pony said. “What happened over there?”

“It’s what happened here that concerns me,” Wind Whistler said ominously.

The room Wind Whistler had named the meeting hall was the large room that took up half of the north building’s second floor. It was the only building that was folded vertically so it could be two stories tall on the inside and only take up one floor. It was inclined with risers looking down on a platform in front of a row of blackboards.

Ponies filed in through the door at the front of the room and took their seats. Whispers and murmurs filled the room. Wind Whistler had a solemn expression.

Rosetta and Sunset Shimmer walked in. The unicorn’s coat was the same color as her human form’s skin and her mane was the same. That sun symbol on her shirt had become her cutie mark.

“Can you tell me what you think happened now?” Sunset Shimmer asked irritably in Common.

Wind Whistler furrowed her brow. “You can speak Common now?”

Sunset Shimmer smirked. “I used an information absorption spell. Rosetta told me it’s taken weeks for you to learn the language. I wasn’t about to spend that much time, so I took the short cut.”

“I can’t argue with your logic,” Wind Whistler said honestly. “However, I’m surprised you would remember unicorn magic like that despite being humanoid for so long.”

Sunset Shimmer pointed to her head. “I have a photographic memory. What I see and learn is in there forever.”

“You might not like what you’re about to see and learn here,” Wind Whistler replied. “Have a seat and I’ll start the meeting.”

Rosetta and Sunset Shimmer sat on the front row.

Gusty looked into the hall. “I think we got everyone who’s coming.”

“Then pull the shades and hit the lights,” Wind Whistler said.

Shady pulled the shade over the window. Gusty did the same with the shade on the window in the door. Fizzy pushed a button on the wall in the back of the room. Most of the lamps hanging down from the ceiling dimmed to put the room into near darkness.

Wind Whistler stamped her hoof on a block of wood to make a loud banging sound. The whispers and murmurs quieted and everyone faced forward.

Wind Whistler stared forward. “While the mirror is open, it is not leading to the Crystal Empire. It is instead leading to a different world completely, and the transit now causes a strange transformation. I have a hypothesis as to why this is the case.”

Wind Whistler turned to Stargazer standing next to a desk. “A visual aid please.”

Stargazer nodded, and an aura surrounded his horn. A simplified model of their planet and its moons and rings appeared above them. The planet was a blue sphere and the moons were white spheres. Red rings represented the orbits of the moons. The moons were aligned compared to the planet.

“This is the time you wanted,” Stargazer said.

“Thank you.” Wind Whistler looked up at the model. “This was the position of the moons relative to the planet thirty-six hours into the window we used to come from Equestria to here. As you can see, the moons were in conjunction.”

She looked to Stargazer. “Now move it up to the second time index.”

Stargazer nodded. Wind Whistler turned her attention back to the model. The moons started to move.

“The moons orbit the planet in a three:five resonance,” Wind Whistler explained. “Luna Major’s true orbital period is thirty days, and Luna Minor’s is fifty days. That means they are in conjunction once every seventy-five days.”

The moons once again stopped moving, upon reaching the second time index. They were once again aligned with the planet, but on the other side.

“This will be the position of the moons tomorrow at the thirty-six hour mark of the window into the other world,” Wind Whistler said. “They are in conjunction again, but on the opposite side of the planet, as observed from some distant point. In another seventy-five days, the moons will be in the same position they were in when we first arrived here. It will also have been five Equestrian moons, meaning the mirror will be connected to the Crystal Empire again.

“My hypothesis is that it is no coincidence that the mirror is open during these lunar conjunctions. I believe the mirror is tied to the moons and the conjunctions power its magic.”

Sunset Shimmer raised her hoof. “The portal originally only opened once every thirty moons and bridged Equestria to Canterlot High directly.”

“I believe that is because a larger conjunction occurs at those intervals,” Wind Whistler said. “Stargazer.”

The spheres shrank in size and a much larger, yellow sphere appeared.

“This planet orbits its sun once every twelve Equestrian moons. So every thirty moons, the moons are either new or full, when in conjunction,” Wind Whistler said. “This means that the moons, the planet, and the sun are all aligned. This likely strengthens the mirror’s magic, so it can make a direct portal. However, I have no explanation for why the mirror was only opening direct portals before, or why it started making portals with every conjunction, starting twelve and half moons ago.”

Sunset Shimmer gasped. “I think I know.”

Every set of eyes turned on her. “This was my fault.”

“How’s it your fault?” Gusty asked.

Sunset Shimmer sighed. “When the direct portal last opened seventeen and a half moons ago, I returned to Equestria and stole Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Element of Magic and took it through.”

A collective gasp came from the room. “Why would you do that?” Gusty asked.

“I only cared about gaining power then,” Sunset Shimmer said sadly. “It was only after I tried to use it that I realized what a terrible path I had been traveling. I started to mend my ways with the help of the alternate version of the Element Bearers. The point is, I fear that taking the Element of Magic through the portal changed it, so it opens to this world now, and I believe the alternates came through the portal, hoping to find Equestria, only to end up here.”

“That brings us to the current crisis,” Wind Whistler said, “or rather a fifteen month old crisis. If the alternates of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s court did indeed use the portal to come to this world—” Wind Whistler shuddered at the thought “—they were likely caught by the Witches from the Voclano of Gloom.”

Another collective gasp filled the room. Whispers and murmurs followed. Wind Whistler stood there and shook her head. She hoped she was wrong about this part of her hypothesis.

Hydia walked down the winding stairway to the vault. She needed something cruel and dour to lift her spirits. With spring upon them, the world was becoming green and filled with life again. It was the worst time of year, and this year brought the added irritation of those ponies infesting that valley. Fortunately, she had her own little chamber of permanent lifelessness to which she could escape from all that.

She came to the bottom of the stairs and pushed in the block that served as the switch, and door pivoted up. She strolled in and hummed to herself.

All around her were victims of the valley’s curse. Those wretched ponies might have destroyed the obelisk and brought the valley back to life, but her collection was still as stone as ever within the volcano’s crater.

The collection was mostly animals that were living in the valley when her parents made the obelisk. However, she was the one who added the collection’s crown jewels.

Standing on a platform were five humanoid, teenage girls. It had to have been six lunar conjunctions since they stumbled out of that strange castle and into her trap.

She looked across the line. They were frozen in the positions they were in right before she turned the obelisk’s full power on them. The one with long, flowing hair was hunched with her knees buckled and her hands over her face in terror. The one with poofy hair who never grasped the gravity of the situation had her hands in the air and a huge smile on her face. The one with hair that curled at the end was much like the one with flowing hair, only her pose with more dramatic with one arm out and another covering her eyes. The one with the hat was in the midst of rolling up her sleeves like she could honestly win by brute force. The last one with the leather jacket had her hands in the air and her teeth clenched in anger.

Hydia grinned. “How is everyone today?” She paused as if she would get an answer. “As stoned as ever I see.” She cackled at the joke.

Chapter 10: A Hot Rescue Mission

Many thought using telepresence would be a disorientating, but Echo had done it so many times it seemed natural. She left her body in a safe place and proceeded to where she needed to go. Her consciousness was able to “see” and “hear” despite having no eyes or ears. The more complicated senses were impossible to replicate, but she never needed them.

She pictured herself as a cloud in this state. She could fly through the air and pass through solid objects. She could travel through environments that would kill a pony instantly with no problem at all. From the edge of space to the deepest ocean trenches, nothing was out of her reach.

She flew over the tortured landscape of the Land of Nightmares towards a mountain range. Towering above them all was a volcano with a plume of white smoke and steam wafting from the crater. This was the infamous Volcano of Gloom the witches called home.

She scanned the area, looking for a sign of habitation. There was a ledge spiraling up the volcano towards the summit. Although it was unlikely they lived in the volcano, she flew up to the crater to investigate.

She flew through the smoke and steam that would have been poisonous and lethally hot if she was not in her disembodied state. There was no possible way they could live in the crater. However, there was a castle on a large spire of black volcanic rock with a natural bridge leading to the rim. The steam and gas seemed to rise away from the castle to create a clear area. Echo reminded herself that these were witches.

The castle was a dilapidated wreck of a building. There were gaps in the faded shingles and more were out of place. Not a single wall was plumb. Of course such shabby-looking creatures would have a shabby-looking home.

She passed through the wall into the castle. The interior was just as shabby, with worn furniture in various states of disrepair and decorations that would not be fit for a dump.

“Reeka! Draggle!” a voice shrieked.

Echo turned to the source of the voice. Hydia stormed into the room and tapped her foot impatiently. Reeka and Draggle clambered into the room from the opposite direction.

“What do you want Ma—” Draggle stopped herself when Hydia glared at her “—I mean Hydia,” she corrected hastily.

“I need some mayhem in my day,” Hydia said. “Go dump some salt in the fields while the edge kingdoms are planting.”

“Sure thing, Hydia,” Reeka replied.

“But where do we get the salt?” Draggle asked.

Hydia grimaced. “You’re witches, you moron!” She picked up a large book from a nearby table and shoved it into Draggle’s midsection. “Conjure it!” She pointed to the front door. “Now get going!”

Reeka and Draggle scrambled to the door.

“And be back before nightfall!” Hydia shouted after them. “I need my ugly sleep!”

Hydia turned away from the door and stormed off to somewhere.

Echo of course recorded this conversation like she recorded everything. Information was power, no matter how inconsequential it seemed at the moment.

She began her actual mission. If Wind Whistler was right, the five missing humanoids from the other world would be held here. The trick was finding them in this labyrinth.

There was no sign of them in the castle. However, there were a couple stairways leading down into the spire. Obviously prisoners would be in the dungeon.

She descended into the spire. There was an armory filled with crude melee weapons, a torture chamber filled with crude devices to inflict pain and even death, and a hall filled with paintings of what she figured were other witches based on their ugly looks and shabby clothes, though one was of a young, well dressed woman.

She then came to a stone door with an activation switch next to it, but she simply passed through it. She came through and surveyed the room. It was filled with stone statues of animals ranging in size from small frogs to raccoons and foxes. She then saw three humanoid statues that matched the photograph Sunset Shimmer had provided. They were in various states of terror or rage except for the one with frizzy hair who seemed to be enjoying herself. These were obviously victims of the same curse that had almost turned them to stone.

Her mission complete, Echo headed directly to her body. She passed through the walls of the spire and rim of the volcano. She flew over the landscape, faster than any Pegasus, to Dream Valley and the castle.

She flew straight into her body. The sensations of it quickly entered her mind. She opened her eyes and looked to the ponies standing around her.

“What did you find?” Sunset Shimmer asked worriedly.

“Give her a moment,” Rosetta said. “She has her own way of answering.”

Echo rolled over onto her hooves and stood up. She summoned her magic and created a dome over them. She projected the room with the stone statues.

“Oh no,” Sunset Shimmer gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. She walked to the five girls. “What have they done to you?”

Spearhead glared at the statues. “Summon everyone. We have a complicated rescue mission to plan in a very short time.”

There were times when Wind Whistler hated to be right. She wished the logical conclusion was somehow incorrect. Sometimes it was incorrect because of some variable she had not considered, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Then there were the times like this time when she was right despite her hopes.

Spearhead stamped his hoof on the block. The ponies, blarks, and dell dwellers on the risers quieted.

“We now know the witches are holding the five missing girls from the other universe captive as stone statues,” Spearhead said. “We need ideas for rescuing them and returning them to flesh and blood.”

A brilliant white hoof went into the air belonging to a unicorn mare with a straight, dark purple mane streaked with blue. It was their surgeon, Glory, meaning a medical question was on its way.

“What is it, Glory?” Spearhead asked.

“We believe they’ve been like this for more than a year,” Glory said. “Are we sure they’re even still alive?”

“The transformed parts of our bodies were still living tissue,” Geiger Counter replied. “In terms of their physical condition, they should be alive.”

“Even if they’re alive,” Ribbon said, “what state would their minds be in after fifteen moons like that?”

“These are things we can only know when we get to examine them,” Monsoon said. “Obviously, our Ground Bridge is the best way to send in and extract the rescue team and the captives.”

“Hold on there a minute,” Auger shouted.

Everyone turned to the particularly heavyset dell dweller sitting towards the back. He scowled forward with his arms crossed. “Don’t forget you gave Administrator Derrick your word you would not use the ground bridge for aggression.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Spearhead said. “This is a rescue mission.”

“Then no weapons,” Auger said flatly.

“Done,” Spearhead replied.

A collective gasp went through the meeting hall.

“With all due respect, Governor,” Rosetta said, “sending the rescue team in with no weapons is insane. We’re sending them to face the witches on their home turf.”

“No, we’re sending them to save these girls,” Spearhead said. “If anything, turning this into a shooting war would put them in needless danger, so my standing order is to avoid contact with the witches as much as possible.”

“Then might I suggest we execute the mission when the witches would be asleep?” Wind Whistler asked.

An aura surrounded Echo’s horn. “And be back before nightfall!” her recording of Hydia’s voice shouted. “I need my ugly sleep!”

“Uh…thank you, Echo,” Wind Whistler said, a little unsettled by her interruption.

“That means we should go at night,” Moondancer said, adjusting her shoulders. “Not the ideal time for us either, but at least we’re expecting it.”

“There’s also another problem,” Hurricane said. “Their castle is in the crater of that volcano. If we’re even a meter off with the ground bridge, we could send the rescue team right into boiling lava.”

“It could be pegasi only,” Firefly suggested.

“I should be there to make sure they’re still in those statues,” Ribbon said.

“I also want to go,” Magic Star said. “This is a rare opportunity to investigate the witches’ arsenal of magic.”

“I’m also going,” Sunset Shimmer said forcefully. “If you’re going against witches, you should have a unicorn who specializes in magic.”

“We also need to get these poor dears back to Dream Valley,” Truly added.

“What we need is a beacon for the ground bridge to lock on to,” Monsoon said. “Two would be even better.”

“The transponders in the radios,” Hurricane said. “We need two pegasi to fly to the Volcano of Gloom to tag it. I volunteer.”

“So do I,” Lofty chimed in.

“Any other volunteers?” Spearhead asked.

“If we aren’t using weapons, I suppose I should come along,” Moondancer said.

“I’ll also go as the mission commander,” Wind Whistler said.

“If you’re going,” Gusty said, “then we’re going.” She pointed to Fizzy and Shady.

“I think ten ponies is a suitable rescue force,” Spearhead said.

“What about blarks and dell dwellers?” Scrapper asked.

“This should be ponies only,” Spearhead said. “We’re protected from dark magic, so we have less to worry about from the witches.”

“Then comes the next problem,” Glory said. “How do we return them to flesh and blood?”

“The water from the waterfall obviously,” Topsoil said. “Just standing in the valley as it flowed cured us. We can take some with us and pour it on them.”

“If that doesn’t work, we’ll need to take them back to the ground bridge as stone,” Wind Whistler said. “I’m not sure how we’ll accomplish that.”

“Then you might need my help,” a voice said.

A cloud of mist appeared and materialized into Twilight Mist. The unicorn mare had a pink coat and a straight, white mane streaked with dark purple.

“Ah, Twilight Mist,” Spearhead said graciously, “so good of you to grace us with your presence for once.”

“The subject of the meeting interested me for once,” Twilight replied. “I can teleport them wherever you need.”

“Then it’s all settled,” Spearhead said. “Make your preparations. We begin at twenty-two hundred hours tonight.”

“Yes, governor,” everyone said at once.

Hurricane scanned the horizon. Fortunately, the night was clear so he could tell where the ground ended and the sky began by where the stars were. With the moons down, the Land of Nightmares was completely black below them, with no discernible features. Even Lofty was nothing but a black, pony-shaped silhouette against the starry sky.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more thankful to have been born with wings,” Hurricane said. “You couldn’t pay me to try moving around down there.”

“I know,” Lofty replied. “It’s great to just be able to fly over it all.”

Hurricane faced forward. The ground began to rise toward them in several craggy peaks, as a volcano loomed ahead, taller than all the rest. The volcano’s crater billowed dark smoke which was illuminated from underneath by a reddish-orange glow.

“That must be it,” Hurricane said. “The thermals can mess up your lift, so be careful as we get close.”

They flew towards the crater. Hurricane took deep breaths as the air got thinner.

“How are you holding up?” Lofty asked, apparently not affected by the altitude.

“I’ll manage,” Hurricane replied. “You seem to be doing fine.”

“I grew up in the mountains, so I’m used to it,” Lofty said.

They came to the rim of the crater. The heat hit Hurricane like he had just opened a blast furnace and he coughed on the stench of sulfur. He squinted as his eyes stung, but managed to make out the castle and the bridge leading to it.

“We should follow the bridge,” Lofty said.

“No arguments here,” Hurricane replied.

The air over the bridge was still noticeably hot, but bearable. There was also barely a scent of sulfur. Hurricane followed Lofty to the front of the ramshackle castle. She planted her hooves at the front door and Hurricane landed behind her.

The only thing of notice was the mat in front of the door stating “BUZZ OFF”. “Friendly,” Hurricane commented.

Lofty looked around the large area in front of the castle. “There should be plenty of room. Let’s call it in.”

Hurricane touched the button on his headset. “This is Hurricane calling in.”

Static answered. He could make out some garbled words from Monsoon. “—read you—no—signal.”

Hurricane groaned. “They’re not getting our signals.”

“I wonder why,” Lofty said.

“Whatever spell the witches have up to deflect the heat and gas away is probably scattering our radio signals,” Hurricane grumbled. “We’ll have to go to the rim.” He heaved a sigh. “That means we’ll have to get those girls to the rim to return home.”

Lofty sighed. “It’s never easy, is it?”

“At least we don’t have to start at the foot of the volcano.” Hurricane trotted down the bridge. It was fortunately broad, so it was not like they would be running down a narrow line where a slip meant a lava bath.

He came to some large rocks on either side of the bridge at the rim of the crater. “Get behind the rock on the right. “I’ll get behind the rock on the left. Hopefully we will get a signal here.”

Hurricane got behind the rock and touched the headset again. “Can you hear me now?”

“Loud and clear,” Monsoon replied over the headset.

Hurricane heaved a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” Monsoon asked.

“We can’t get a signal next to the castle,” Hurricane said. “We had to go to the rim. Are you picking up our transponders?”

“We’re picking them up just fine now,” Monsoon said.

“Well, the bridge is right in between us,” Hurricane said. “You can send in the team at your leisure.”

Sunset Shimmer watched the center screen. There were two red dots on the bluish-purple display with a space between them. A box pointed to the dot on the right with Hurricane’s cutie mark of two red and black storm flags up a flagpole and three red hurricane symbols around it. Another box pointed to the one of the left with Lofty’s cutie mark of a pink hot air balloon surrounded by five red stars. A red targeting sight appeared between them.

“Coordinates set,” Monsoon said.

“Then we just need Magic Star to get here with the water,” Spearhead said.

“I’m here,” Magic Star shouted as she galloped into the chamber with a five liter jug to her side. “I got the water right from the spring. Hopefully it will be powerful enough.”

“Especially since we’ll have to pick you up at the rim,” Spearhead said. He turned to Monsoon. “Prepare to open the ground bridge.”

Sunset Shimmer the other members of the team gather at the mouth of the dead end tunnel opposite the screen and platform with the controls. Wind Whistler checked a set of saddlebags, and straightened a headset connected to the left bag by a cord.

Seeing all this technology well past anything she had seen before made Sunset Shimmer wonder if these were Equestrian ponies. Though, this was a different world, and she knew you had to adapt to your surroundings. When in Rome do what the Romans do, was an old saying.

However, she wondered how standing in this chamber would get them anywhere. “So this thing will take us to the volcano?” she asked Wind Whistler.

Wind Whistler turned back to her. “Yes, this device works on a similar principle as the mirror.”

“Open the ground bridge,” Spearhead said.

The inside of the rings lit up in sequence as a sound of something revving up filled the chamber. With a sound like a garbled clap, the tunnel filled with a vortex of light and color, with a gentle buzzing coming from it. Sunset Shimmer looked on, her mouth hanging open. The others ran up the ramp.

Gusty knocked into her. “Are you going to gawk at it or move out?”

“Right.” Sunset Shimmer ran after her up the ramp. The ponies ahead of her disappeared. The vortex seemed to engulf her, and suddenly a trail of rock leading to a castle appeared before her.

She planted her hooves on solid ground and looked back at the vortex swirling between the two rocks. It collapsed away into nothing.

Wind Whistler pushed a button on a watch around her pastern. “Thirty minutes and counting.”

Gusty looked over the edge and backed up a step.

“Just don’t look down, Gusty,” Fizzy said.

“Of course we have to cross a bridge,” Gusty said with a quiver to her voice.

“I know a half hour seems like a long time,” Magic Star said, “but there’s no guarantee this water will work here, or how long it will take if it does.”

“Agreed,” Wind Whistler said, “head into the castle and remember the point is to avoid contact with the witches.”

The walk across the bridge was easy enough, but Gusty seemed uncharacteristically tepid. She stayed as close to the middle as possible despite plenty of room and set her hooves down carefully. They finally got to the spire and the shabby-looking castle.

Wind Whistler pushed on the door and it swung open.

“They don’t bother to lock the door?” Hurricane asked.

“They live in a volcano in the middle of a wasteland populated by monsters,” Gusty stated. “It’s not like they normally have visitors.”

“Is anyone awake in there?” Lofty asked.

Wind Whistler looked in, but everything looked dark from Sunset Shimmer’s view. “I don’t see any activity.”

Sunset Shimmer walked past her. “Then let’s go in and find them.”

Sunset Shimmer was quickly engulfed in darkness as she entered. It was around room temperature inside, but the air was stale and thick with the stench of rotten food and body odor covered with sulfur. Ribbon turned on a lantern to provide some light.

Hurricane gagged. “I thought my college dorm reeked.”

“I wonder where the witches are,” Fizzy thought out loud.

“I can find out.” Twilight disappeared in a shower of mist.

Ribbon set the lantern down in the middle of the room. It illuminated a room as shabby as the exterior. Much the construction utilized natural rock, and the stone blocks making up the artificial structures were covered in pocks. The furniture was worn and placed in a random pattern.

The ponies spread through the castle, their hooffalls echoing off the walls. Sunset Shimmer followed Magic Star as she looked through a bunch of artifacts.

“I’ve never met an earth pony interested in magic,” Sunset Shimmer said.

“Well, I’m glad to be the first,” Magic Star replied. She shook her head. “There’s no telling what’s a magic charm and what’s a piece of junk in this sty.”

“It’s the staircase farthest from the door we want, right?” Moondancer came out from behind a corner. “Because I think I found it.”

Twilight appeared and spat out a pair of keys. “The witches shouldn’t give us any trouble.”

Wind Whistler checked her watch. “Then let’s head down.”

Ribbon picked up the lantern and led the way down the hall to a staircase in a wall of natural rock. The staircase wound through a tunnel and ended at the opening of a chamber. The walls were covered in all sorts of melee weapons, and the next chamber had seemingly every torture device imaginable.

“I bet they have some wild parties,” Gusty joked, but her weak laugh afterward betrayed how she was just as unsettled by the sight as everyone else.

“Check this out.” Hurricane picked up a brown sack and looked into it. “It’s like it doesn’t end in there.”

Ribbon brought the lantern back to him, and Wind Whistler and Sunset Shimmer joined them. The brown burlap was unremarkable from the outside with 'PROPERTY OF THE MOOCHICK' printed in black as the only marking.

“Should we take it with us?” Hurricane asked.

“I wouldn’t,” Wind Whistler said. “We shouldn’t trifle anything we don’t have to.”

Hurricane shrugged and through the bag on the table.

They walked through the torture chamber and into a gallery of paintings. These paintings were even more unsettling than the weapons and torture devices. They seemed to follow them with their eyes as they made their way to a stone door at the end.

Sunset Shimmer remembered getting used to that other world. It did not hold a candle to this place, with strange technology on one side and dark magic on the other. However, a part of her actually relished all this oddness. Since she had stopped trying to control everything, the mirror world seemed rather dull. This world was anything but.

Ribbon pushed on a switch and the stone door pivoted open. She walked inside and Sunset Shimmer followed with the others.

Sunset Shimmer gasped when she saw the stone animals crowded on shelves and lined up against the walls. She then saw the five girls in the middle.

Sunset Shimmer walked up to them, sobbing quietly. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” It was probably the most sincere thing she had ever said. A year and half ago she could not have cared about these five or the consequences of taking Twilight’s Element of Harmony. It hurt that after coming so far her reckless actions had come back to haunt her and hurt perhaps the only five people in that world who cared about her.

An aura surrounded Ribbon’s horn and she waved it over the statues. “They’re still in there. However, they’re in the deepest mode of sleep. They’re not even dreaming.”

“Interesting,” Wind Whistler said. “Perhaps the transformation made it impossible for them to maintain consciousness, so they have gone into a state of suspended animation.”

“What do we do?” Sunset Shimmer asked wiping a tear from her eye, “dump the water on them?”

“Basically.” Magic Star gave Lofty the jog. “Pour a liter on each of them.”

“Okay.” Lofty hovered above the alternate of Rainbow Dash and opened the jug. She poured water on Rainbow Dash and then moved down the line until she poured the last of it on Fluttershy.

Nothing seemed to happen as the water ran down them.

“What now?” Moondancer asked.

“We wait until we have ten minutes left,” Wind Whistler said. “Then we take them back to the pickup site and expose them to the spring directly.”

“What about all of the animals?” Lofty asked.

“I’m not sensing much from them, but animals are harder to read,” Ribbon said.

“We could stuff them in that forever bag I found,” Hurricane said.

Wind Whistler scanned the room and all the animals. “I suppose we can rescue these animals as well since we’re here. Get the bag and gather them up.”

“Be back in a flash.” Hurricane ran out of the room.

Heart Throb came to the wall of the ground bridge chamber and turned around to pace to the other wall.

“You’ll wear a trench in the floor,” Bow-Tie commented.

Heart Throb glanced to the earthling mare with a blue coat and yellow bows tied into the sides of her long, curly, pink mane. She then glanced up at Monsoon at the control panel. “How much longer, Monsoon?”

“We’re a little more than halfway through the recharge cycle,” Monsoon answered.

“And you’re sure you can’t even talk to them?” Heart Throb asked.

Monsoon shook his head. “Something about that castle scrambles our radio signals.”

Heart Throb sighed. “I’m all for drama, but I hate not knowing.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Bow-Tie said.

“I’m not talking about their safety,” Heart Throb replied. “I have full faith in them. I’m talking about Wind Whistler and Hurricane. This is the first time they’ve been together for any significant period of time, and I want to know what it will do for their budding relationship.”

“Really, Heart Throb?” Bow-Tie snapped. “This is a rescue mission, not a pleasure cruise.”

“You never know what adversity can do to a developing relationship,” Heart Throb pointed out.

Bow-Tie rolled her eyes.

Wind Whistler watched the digital display tick down from 10:00 to 09:59. She looked at the statues that were still completely stone. “All right, put them in the bag and let’s get return to the pickup point.”

“Wait.” Ribbon pointed to Rainbow Dash.

The statue’s mane was gaining color and returning to hair. The others began to transform from the top down. They wobbled and slouched as their bodies regained their mobility.

Applejack stopped and looked around.

Pinkie Pie pointed at Wind Whistler.

Rarity kneeled to look Sunset Shimmer in the eye.

Sunset Shimmer, a relieved smile forming on her face.

Pinkie shouted.

Gusty shushed her.

Wind Whistler pointed at her watch. She turned to Hurricane and Moondancer putting a quail in the bag.

Hurricane pulled the string of the bag closed and gave it to Ribbon.

Fluttershy made herself as small as possible and looked from side to side nervously.

Wind Whistler said.

She turned to the door. Hoof and footsteps echoed behind her as they made their way through the gallery, the torture chamber, and the armory. They made their way up the stairs. They just had to leave the castle and reach the rim.

“This has actually gone smoothly,” Shady said.

Wind Whistler reached the top of the stairs and something ran into her. The light from the lantern illuminated Hydia’s face, framed by her hair in pink curlers and covered in a mud mask.

Wind Whistler was so startled she hovered into the air. Her heart pounded in her chest as Hydia got her bearings.

“Gah!” Hydia choked. “You locked my door.”

“You wouldn’t believe this is a nightmare, would you?” Hurricane asked with a grin.

Hydia grimaced until her lips curled. “Reeka! Draggle!” she shrieked. “We have a pony infestation!”

Magic Star shouted.

Wind Whistler flew towards the front of the castle, with everyone close behind.

“You just had to jinx it, didn’t you, Shady?” Gusty growled.

Hydia ran to the door of Reeka and Draggle’s room. She summoned fire on every torch in the castle to provide light. Bangs came at the door as it shook. The door burst open and Reeka came out holding Draggle horizontally.

“Why did I have to be the battering ram?” Draggle complained as she rubbed her head.

“Because your head’s harder,” Reeka snapped.

“Shut up and get the Jar!” Hydia barked.

Draggle swallowed. “The J-j-j-jar?” she stuttered.

“And be quick about it!” Hydia snapped.

Wind Whistler rounded the corner with the rest of the rescue team and escaped captives close behind her. She caught sight of the front door and checked her watch as it ticked past 03:00. They were practically home free.

“I thought you took care of the witches,” Gusty snapped at Twilight.

“I locked them up,” Twilight huffed. “What more do you want from me?”

“Just shut up and run,” Wind Whistler said. “In three minutes this will all be academic.”

A red light came from behind her and she felt something attempting to drag at her but slipping off. She looked back. The bow in her tail as well as the other’s bows and Hurricane’s kerchief were glowing with a blue light. They all stopped and looked back.

The humanoids flew backwards towards the source of the light. Their shrieks got higher pitched as they shrank in size and disappeared into the light. The light faded to reveal Hydia holding a jar with the five miniature girls inside. She slammed the stopper on it and let out a loud cackle.

“What did you do to them?” Magic Star asked harshly.

Hydia grinned. “I just wanted to make sure they were safe. We can’t let any filthy equines take our collection.”

“But why didn’t it work on the ponies?” Reeka asked.

“We’re protected from your magic,” Magic Star declared.

Hydia’s grin broadened. “You are, are you? I might not be able to cast a spell on you—” Hydia shot a beam at a stalactite that fell and everyone scattered to avoid as it shattered on the floor with a thunderous crash and sent rock flying everywhere “—but I bet I can kill you the old fashioned way.”

Three stone fists erupted from the floor holding a mace, a ripple-bladed sword, and a club. Hydia took the sword while Draggle took the mace and Reeka took the club.

“We still outnumber you almost four to one.” An aura surrounded Sunset Shimmer’s horn.

Hydia held up the jar. “I wouldn’t be so gun ho, my little pony. If this jar is cracked even the tiniest bit, they’ll never return to their normal size.”

Rainbow Dash had been pounding on the glass, but Applejack pulled her away.

“Now, I want you off this world,” Hydia said. “Leave, and I might consider restoring these girls.”

“How about we stick around and take them with us?” Gusty blasted a gust of wind at Hydia. The wind knocked her and her daughters down and blew the jar into the air.

“Catch it, Fizzy!” Gusty shouted.

“I got it.” Fizzy summoned her magic and a bubble surrounded the jar. The jar floated to her.

“And I got the witches.” Shady bucked a lever. The winch attached to it spun as the chandelier held up by the rope fell on the witches.

“Nice move, Shady.” Gusty held out her hoof.

“Thanks.” Shady smacked it.

“Come on.” Wind Whistler flew to the door.

She was almost happy to be hit by the heat of the outside as she came out into the open. She checked her watch in time for it to tick past 00:30. She then looked back at the others running out of the castle. She flew over them as they ran down the bridge.

“Can we go home now?” Fizzy huffed.

Wind Whistler checked her watches. It was down to 00:15. She looked up as Hurricane and Lofty hovered at the rocks marking the rim.

“Get those ponies!” Hydia shouted from behind them. “Don’t let them escape!”

Wind Whistler looked back. Hydia, Reeka, and Draggle ran out of the castle and down the bridge.

She then heard beeping. She looked at her watch which was flashing 00:00. A beep came from her headset. She touched the button and answered, “Wind Whistler.”

“We’re ready to bring you back,” Monsoon said over the headset.

“Stand by,” Wind Whistler replied.

She looked down to Moondancer. “Can you slow them up?”

“Piece of cake,” Moondancer replied.

An aura surrounded her horn. The witches staggered as they seemed to have a harder time moving. They finally fell to the ground and tried to push themselves up.

“I feel like I weigh a ton,” Reeka groaned.

“How’s that any different from normal?” Draggle asked.

“Open the ground bridge!” Wind Whistler shouted into the headset.

The vortex of color appeared between the rocks. Hurricane took the jar in the bubble and flew in. The others ran into it and disappeared.

Wind Whistler looked down at Moondancer. “We’re clear.”

Moondancer cancelled her magic.

Hydia felt the sudden heaviness leave her. She got to a kneeling position and watched the last two ponies. The white unicorn jumped into the vortex that had formed at the rim. The blue pegasus turned and disappeared into the vortex as it collapsed to nothing.

Hydia stood there as her brain tried to piece together the events of the past few minutes. All that came to her was rage: rage at the ponies who come to their fortress, rage at the ponies stole her collection, rage that they humiliated her and her daughters, and especially rage that they were able to get away. Her face burned so hot it made the heat off the volcano seem cool in comparison. She let it all out in a primal shriek that echoed off the walls of the crater.

Spearhead faced forward as the vortex formed into the tunnel. The chamber was silent except for the buzzing. After a split second that felt so much longer, the rescue team appeared and walked or flew down the tunnel. He saw no humanoids, though. Instead, Ribbon had a sack slung across her back and Hurricane held a jar in his pasterns.

Wind Whistler quickly followed Moondancer as the last pony to return. The vortex faded as they reached the mouth and the machinery revved down.

“I don’t see any humanoids,” Spearhead said as his eyes adjusted to the dimness.

“You need to look a bit harder.” Hurricane hovered in front of him and showed him the jar. Miniature, humanoid versions of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s court stood in the jar. Fluttershy hid behind Applejack.

Wind Whistler landed in front of Spearhead. “Unfortunately, the witches used the jar to capture them before we could make good on our escape, and I have no solutions to the conundrum of returning them to their typical stature.”

“I have an idea!” Fizzy chirped.

She used to her magic to take the jar out of Hurricane’s pasterns and bring it to herself. She wrapped her pasterns around it and took out the stopper with her magic. Wind Whistler audibly gasped as Fizzy reached into the jar and scooped the five girls up.

Fizzy set the girls on the ground and took several steps back. A blue light surrounded them and they enlarged to a height more typical of human adolescents.

Wind Whistler’s lower jaw was hanging slack from her head. “Fizzy,” she managed to say, “what made you think of that?”

Fizzy looked to Wind Whistler and giggled. “Well, it’s a jar, and I figured if you take out whatever’s in the jar it would return to normal.”

Wind Whistler stood there in dumbstruck silence. She then smacked her hoof on her forehead. “The logic is so rudimentary I’m embarrassed to have not even entertained it.”

Spearhead chuckled. “Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one, Lieutenant Governor.”

Fizzy put the stopper back on the jar. “What should we do with it?”

“I’ll put it in my dangerous magic collection,” Magic Star said. “It should be safe there.”

Applejack asked in Equestrian.

Rainbow Dash added.

Pinkie Pie said eagerly,

Spearhead said, recalling the old language.

Spearhead led them up the tunnel to the surface.

Fluttershy said timidly behind him.

Twilight Mist commented.

Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight answered.

They reached the doors to the outside. The five gasped at the same time as they caught sight of the rungs arching over the sky with the shadow almost due south.

Rarity gushed.

Hurricane said,

Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash said.

Spearhead said as he turned back to them.

Applejack said.

Wind Whistler said in a solemn voice.

The five gasped in shock.

Fluttershy choked.

Tears welled up in Applejack’s eyes.

Sunset Shimmer said, with a clear pain in her voice.

The five slouched. Fluttershy sobbed and Rainbow Dash patted her back to try to comfort her, but she had a dour expression herself.

Wind Whistler said.

Fluttershy asked.

Hurricane said, rubbing his hoof on his chin.

Wind Whistler came out of the statue and planted her hind legs. She took a moment to make sure she had her balance. She looked back as the five girls stepped out of the statue and looked around.

Rainbow Dash commented.

a girl with light yellow skin and a red mane tied in a bow ran from a group around Sunset Shimmer and Hurricane. She practically tackled Applejack.

Applejack held Applebloom at arm’s length.

A large, young man with pink skin and a short, blond mane walked up behind Applejack and picked her up to give her a hug.

Applejack choked.

Applebloom asked.

Applejack asked rhetorically as Big Macintosh put her down. She looked to Hurricane who nodded.

Hurricane and Sunset Shimmer walked up to Wind Whistler. Hurricane had gained a pair of loose fitting shorts coming down to his knees to go with his shirt. His mane was short, but had a long tail tied at the back of his neck.

Wind Whistler said.

Applejack said.

Applebloom looked to Wind Whistler and the others.

Hurricane threw down a ball that exploded into a ball of thick, black smoke. He walked to the statue. “Let’s go.”

He passed through the statue. Wind Whistler jumped in and went through the transition that had become second nature the fourth time around, even transforming from humanoid to pony.

She came into the ballroom as a pony and fluttered to land softly.

Hurricane walked up to Spearhead. “We got away before drawing too much attention.”

“Good,” Spearhead replied. “It’s best the denizens of that world do not know what’s here. We don’t need the curious or adventurous popping in at every other lunar conjunction.”

Spearhead turned to Sunset Shimmer looking at the mirror. “Aren’t you staying in that world?”

“No.” Sunset Shimmer turned away from the mirror. “I realize now my place has been with ponies. Equestria was too constrictive for my tastes, but the colony you’re setting up sounds interesting, and I want in.”

“Very well,” Spearhead said. “Welcome to Equestria Nova.”

Spearhead walked towards the staircase and Sunset Shimmer followed. Wind Whistler watched them exit through the door.

She heard Hurricane clear his throat and turned back to him. He pawed the floor bashfully and clearly had something on his mind. “You looked very nice as a human.”

Wind Whistler blushed. “Thank you. You’re quiet handsome as one too.”

Hurricane swallowed. “I know it’s going to be a media circus there for the rest of the night and morning, but maybe we could possibly take in more of that world together in the evening.”

Wind Whistler smiled. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Well, when rescuers had a particularly stressful mission, we would go out on the town to unwind,” Hurricane said, scratching the back of his head. “I figured we could do the same.” He stopped and heaved a sigh. “Yes. I’m asking you out on a date. I’ve wanted to for the past several weeks, but there’s nowhere that both comfortable and private around here especially with Heart Throb on the prowl. I figure since the mirror is open we could take advantage of it.

“It would just be a small date, nothing too elaborate. Maybe we can have dinner together and perhaps even take in one of their films if any of them interest you. Do you want to come?”

Wind Whistler giggled like she was a schoolfilly. “Of course I’ll come.”

“Really?” Hurricane asked with a cautious grin.

Wind Whistler nodded with a smile.

Hurricane laughed and did a flip into the air. He flew up the staircase through the door.

Wind Whistler exhaled a sigh as she relaxed. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her. That answered the question she been putting off regarding Hurricane reciprocating her feelings. It would also be a welcome distraction after this night’s excitement.

It’s strange how one could go from flying for their life to looking forward to a date in a matter of hours, she thought.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay. I did a massive rewrite of the whole story to tighten up the plot a bit. Check out the other chapters to see the changes.

Chapter 11: New World Order

Chapter 11: New World Order

Wind Whistler scanned the edge of the forest. She took in a deep breath to take in the sweet scent of spring blooms coming from the meadow in which she was standing. It was pleasantly warm as puffy white clouds passed leisurely across a sky streaked with the glowing white rings far above. The two waxing crescent moons were a conspicuous reminder that this was not Equestria, but in a comforting and majestic way. The sky of Equestria seemed so barren now with only either the sun or the moon up at any given time.

The surface was also more pleasant today. She was glad to find somewhere other than Dream Valley that harbored life. After the industrial wasteland of Gizmas City and the just plain barren Land of Nightmares, standing among tall grass in front of a thick forest made this world feel more welcoming.

The sound of grass being pushed aside caught Wind Whistler’s attention. Auger lumbered towards her. “What do you think?” he asked.

“This will be a perfect site for a settlement,” Wind Whistler said. “This area can support a community of roughly a thousand ponies, including cropland, and it is close to blark, dell dweller, and human settlements.”

Auger turned to forest. “Of course, that means clearing much of the forests away.”

Wind Whistler looked at the tree line with a wall of underbrush marking its border. It was a shame they would be clearing much of it away. “Well, we’ll have to clear the fields completely, but we should try to preserve the mature trees where the village proper will be built. These are also prime timber trees to build structures instead of harvesting from elsewhere.”

“You seem to have an excellent plan in place,” Auger said.

“We need to have one,” Wind Whistler replied, turning to him. “Our main colony force will be arriving in less than two and half major months. They need places to build their villages.” She turned back to the forest. “As is, they will likely have to live off little more than grass and whatever supplies they bring the first year. They should at least have the first phases of settlement done for them.”

“Well, I guess I should help set up the boundaries—” Auger walked past her “—good day, Lieutenant Governor.”

“Good day, Auger,” Wind Whistler replied.

Even though she had held that title for two major months, Wind Whistler had a hard time believing it was her they were referring to. Though it was the same as when she was named controller of the weather factory back in Equestria.

She turned her attention to the sky and thought of Cloudsdale and what the pegasi were doing. Winter Wrap-up would have been completed weeks ago, and they would be well into making the springtime weather patterns. The ponies here did some things two wrap up winter, but winter became spring on its own for the most part.

“Hey, Wind Whistler,” Gusty’s shout caught Wind Whistler’s attention.

Gusty bounded across the field with Fizzy and Shady behind her.

“How’s the rest of the valley looking?” Wind Whistler asked as they stopped in front of her.

“Topsoil found a deep aquifer, so we’re good in the water department,” Gusty said. “We were actually curious about where you were last night.”

“Last night?” Wind Whistler asked nervously.

Last night she was a humanoid in the mirror world on a date with Hurricane. “I was elsewhere.”

“Come to think of it,” Gusty mused out loud as she rubbed her chin, “Firefly was asking where Hurricane was last night too.” A smirk formed on her face as she glanced towards Wind Whistler. “You two weren’t…”

Wind Whistler sighed. “He and I spent the evening together in the mirror world.”

“So you were on a date,” Shady said coyly.

“Yes, but don’t tell Heart Throb,” Wind Whistler whispered.

“Our lips are sealed.” Gusty crossed her chest with her hoof.

“What did you do?” Fizzy asked.

“Well,” Wind Whistler said as she walked towards the woods and the others followed, “we took a small amount of gold and converted it to the local currency. He then treated me to dinner, and we saw one of their science fiction comedy films, which had a poor grasp on science but was entertaining nonetheless.”

“Did he kiss you good night?” Gusty asked teasingly.

Wind Whistler turned back to Gusty and wrinkled her nose. “Really, Gusty, even someone as socially inexperienced as me knows it’s a serious faux pas to kiss and tell.”

Gusty glanced back to the others. “He kissed her.”

Wind Whistler blushed.

“Wind Whistler!” Sundance’s shriek was all too welcome to put an end to this.

Sundance burst out of the woods. The earthling mare had a white coat and a curly, pink mane a few shades darker than Wind Whistler’s, but not as dark as Truly’s. She looked around and saw them. “Wind Whistler, some of the scouting party’s been captured.”

Hurricane flew over the thick forest. Typhoon and Scud followed behind and to either side of him. Hurricane glanced back to Typhoon and then to Scud. Scud was an odd stallion who seemed to zone out easily. Despite being from the Crystal Empire which had been wherever it was for a thousand years, his manner of speaking reminded Hurricane of counterculture groups from a few decades ago. He was certainly easy to pick out of a crowd, even when he wasn’t speaking, with his bright orange coat and flat mane streaked white, yellow, orange, and red.

Scud weaved a bit. “It’s so rad to be flying over such a paradise. It’s a shame we’ll be turning it into just another village.”

“Not everyone can be one with nature like you,” Typhoon grumbled.

“You should respect nature, man,” Scud replied in his dull way of speaking. “Here, she’s her own mistress.”

Hurricane rolled his eyes and turned his attention back down to the ground below. They came to a clearing with something in it. He stopped and lowered to get a better look.

As he descended, Hurricane realized it was a group of a half dozen scruffy looking humans wearing brown and olive green clothing, with hoods covering their heads. The only clean-shaven one of the group was lanky except for his pudgy gut. There was also a net with a lot of colorful objects in it. Hurricane gasped when he realized it was ponies.

“Those humans captured some of the earthlings!” Hurricane shouted up to the other two.

“Then let’s get ‘em.” Typhoon raced past him.

Hurricane dove after Typhoon into the clearing. He landed a few meters from the men, but Typhoon landed hooves first into one of the bearded men. He toppled over and the others backed away.

“Are we glad to see you guys,” Applejack said from under the net with Cherries Jubilee, and Posey.

Typhoon flew off the man and landed a few meters from them.

The man without a beard smirked as he picked up a net. “Well, it seems we have more freaks for the sideshow.”

“Sideshow this!” Gusty shouted as she jumped out of the underbrush. As soon as her hooves hit the ground, she loosed a powerful gust of wind at the men. They tried to stand against the wind, but eventually fell backwards.

The clearing quickly filled with ponies. Auras surrounded horns and hooves scraped at the ground aggressively. Hurricane felt his body tense as he was ready for a fight.

The men got to their feet and the shaved one grinned sheepishly. “Would you believe this was all a misunderstanding?”

“No!” everyone shouted in unison.

The men backed away a couple steps before turning and running for a gap in the ponies.

“No you don’t.” Typhoon flew after them and grabbed the shaved one by the cloak. He flew up above the tree line with the man dangling from his cloak and screaming.

Seeing Typhoon carrying the terrified human to a dangerous height, Hurricane took to the air and flew after them. Unburdened, he quickly caught up to Typhoon. “What are you doing?”

“I’m making an example for those who would threaten us,” Typhoon got through his clenched teeth.

“They were running away,” Hurricane said. “We already demonstrated our might.”

“Please, this was all a misunderstanding I swear!” the man blubbered. “Just put me down.”

Typhoon looked down at the man and smirked. “You want down?” He opened his mouth and the cloak slipped from his teeth. “Here you go.”

The man fell screaming with the ground three kilometers below them.

“No!” Hurricane tucked in his limbs and went into a sharp dive. He squinted and clenched his teeth as the air ripped across him.

Hurricane reached the man. “Grab onto my neck and swing yourself over my back.”

“Is this some kind of trick?” the man shrieked.

“Just do it!” Hurricane snapped.

The man grabbed his neck and swung himself so he was on Hurricane’s back. Hurricane opened his wings and twisted his body to expose more surface area to the wind. He adjusted his wings to put them into a glide as he spiraled towards the clearing. The added weight forced him to make some adjustments, but he managed to get them into a safe descent velocity. Once he was a couple meters off the ground he flapped to slow himself and landed gently.

The man jumped off him and clambered in the direction the other men had run into the forest.

Hurricane panted and took in a deep breath. Full-grown humans, especially men with pudgy guts, were hard to keep in the air, even at a glide.

“You idiot!” Typhoon screamed from above.

Hurricane looked up at Typhoon diving at him. He leapt away as Typhoon landed hard where he was standing.

“Hey!” Hurricane snapped. “What are you trying to do?!”

“Why did you save him?!” Typhoon growled.

“Because killing him wouldn’t have solved anything!” Hurricane replied in a snarl. “They were running away!”

“Hey man,” Scud interjected, “you’re giving off some major negative vibes.”

“Shut up!” Typhoon snapped at Scud.

Spearhead stepped out of the underbrush with Rosetta. “What’s going on?”

“This soft-headed fool saved a human who had captured three ponies,” Typhoon answered.

“Which doesn’t justify murder,” Hurricane retorted. “We had already chased them off. They’ll never threaten us again.”

“I’ve had it with beating around the bush,” Typhoon growled as he turned away from Hurricane and walked towards Spearhead. “We’ve been playing your game for the past two and half months. I say we do what we came here to do.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Spearhead said.

“What do you mean?” Wind Whistler asked.

Spearhead looked around the crowd. “I’m calling off the scouting mission for today. We’re going to have a general meeting in the courtyard within the hour. I think I need to explain our true mission statement.”

Wind Whistler looked over the railing of the balcony. All 36 ponies not on the balcony, as well as the dell dwellers and blarks living in Dream Valley, were standing in the open area paved with cobblestones. She looked back. Fizzy, Gusty, Shady, and Hurricane stood on one side, and Landslide, Rosetta, Echo, and Typhoon stood to the other. Spearhead stood at the point of the semi-circle protruding from the castle’s main building. He looked down at the crowd.

Spearhead cleared his throat. “We are on this world for a very specific mission, unknown to even Princess Celestia. The nature of this mission had been kept secret to all but my closest followers—” He glanced to his followers before facing forward again “—but I believe it’s time to reveal the truth about Equestria, and what must be done here.”

Spearhead leaned over the railing. “The era of the princesses has made ponykind weak and indolent. Their shortsighted quest to elevate friendship and harmony has come at the expense of the power of the individual. Instead of nurturing the gifted and talented among us, those not fortunate enough to have social or economic connections are thrown into boxes where they can never grow to their full potential, and are left to rot.” Spearhead’s voice was filled with a passion Wind Whistler had never before heard from him, and yet it seemed to come so natural Wind Whistler felt chills go through her, listening to him.

Spearhead backed away from the railing a step. “The social and economic elite have also calcified their positions of power to prevent any competition to their status. They uphold traditional values and methods as sacrosanct, and any suggestions of change are decried as dangerous or counter to the good of society.” He leaned over the railing again. “The truth is they’re only protecting their personal interests, and technological and social advancement has been almost nil for more than a century because of it.” He pounded his hoof on the railing to punctuate the statement.

Spearhead backed away and began pacing. “And what has our quest for harmony and upholding the status quo gotten us?” He stopped and returned to the railing. “A nation so decrepit that a bunch of lowly parasites led by a buffoon almost brought our very capital to its knees.” Spearhead again pounded the railing. “Is that the kind of nation you want to live in? Is that the kind of nation you want to raise your foals in? Equestria, for all her external beauty, is rotting out like a dead tree on the inside. Canterlot has become a tumor on the pony race and made Equestrian society so rigid it has become brittle. Equestria must change if we are to survive.

“And that’s why we’re here. Removed from the toxic social structure of Equestria, and amongst dangerous enemies, ponies will be able to live up to their full potential and pursue social and technological development that would never be permitted back home. This colony will be a crucible where we make a new society. Then we will return to Equestria to destroy all its enemies inside and out, and create a new nation not built on harmony, but on excellence.”

Wind Whistler looked down at the crowd. They were all staring up, enraptured by this tirade. She looked back at her friends who were just as dumbstruck. However, Spearhead’s followers were beaming.

“That’s not why we’re here!” Firefly shouted from the crowd.

Spearhead looked down at the crowd and disappeared in a flash. He reappeared in front of Firefly. Wind Whistler fluttered down to the courtyard.

“You may not like how things are run,” Firefly said forcefully, “but you don’t speak for all of us.”

“Neither do you,” Magic Star interjected. “Spearhead is right that our society is in desperate need of an overhaul. Most of us were kept from pursuing our potentials by stupid social norms back home.”

“Thank you, Magic Star,” Spearhead said.

“However, I don’t think we should throw the foal out with the bathwater either,” Magic Star added. “We can work towards social change peacefully.”

Spearhead glowered at Magic Star. “Do you think the princesses will concede any of their power, especially when they keep adding to their numbers?”

“If we make a valid argument,” Magic Star replied, “they will see reason. If we use violence to force our reforms on Equestria, the public will hate us instead of them.”

“We’re also not going to have any part in this,” Auger interjected. “If you want to overthrow your government, you won’t get any help from the dell dwellers.”

“We don’t need your help in that regard,” Spearhead replied.

“I say we put it to a vote,” Wind Whistler said. “There are clearly varying opinions here, and we should poll the group to determine what represents the attitude of the majority.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Magic Star said.

“Fine,” Spearhead and Firefly snapped at once.

The ponies that had been on the balcony ran out of the main entrance and into the courtyard.

Wind Whistler stepped up onto the top of the stoop. “Since is a pony-only matter, only ponies will vote,” she shouted to the crowd. “Blarks and dell dwellers can then decide their own courses of action.”

The crowd faced her.

“The issue up for a vote is how we plan to deal with Equestria’s current state,” Wind Whistler said. “So far, the options provided are overthrowing the princesses by force, maintaining the current state of Equestrian society, and pursuing reforms through peaceful means. Are there any other options we should consider?”

The crowd was silent.

“Then if there are no additional opinions,” Wind Whistler said, “I put the issue to a vote. Indicate your vote by raising your hoof. You can only vote once, so vote for the plan that you agree with most. Any abstentions will be considered votes to maintain the status quo. If no issue holds a majority of the group, the two opinions that received the most votes will be voted on again. Are there any objections to these rules, or suggestions for additional rules?”

The crowd was again silent.

“Then those who wish to overthrow the princesses indicate your vote now,” Wind Whistler said.

Spearhead, Rosetta, Landslide, Echo, Typhoon, and Sunset Shimmer raised their hooves. Those were all expected.

“You can put your hooves down,” Wind Whistler said. “Those who wish to maintain the current state of Equestria indicate your vote now.”

Firefly, Medley, Bow-Tie, Glory, Moondancer, Posey, Surprise, and Sundance raised their hooves.

“You can put your hooves down,” Wind Whistler said. “Those who wish to pursue reforms through peaceful means raise your hooves.”

Every other pony raised their hoof. Wind Whistler raised her hoof as well. Something needed to change in Equestria, but violence was not the way to initiate it.

“You can put your hooves down,” Wind Whistler said. “The opinion of pursuing peaceful reforms of Equestria’s society wins, with thirty-three votes out of forty-seven.”

The dell dwellers huddled and whispered something to each other that Wind Whistler could not hear. They faced forward with Auger in front. “If that’s the case, you will continue to have the support of the dell dwellers.”

Most of the ponies broke into cheers. Firefly and the others who voted to keep things the way they were separated themselves from the group.

Wind Whistler looked to Spearhead. He just glared at her with rage simmering in those red eyes of his. Wind Whistler realized just how big and powerful he was. He was an older pony, but his muscle tone rivaled an earthling stallion in their prime. Even without magic, he looked like he could take on any pony or even a small group of ponies. He then turned away along with his followers and Sunset Shimmer.

Fizzy looked out from the dark crystal to the twisted, jagged mass of black crystal across the street. She looked around the deserted area and then dashed to the next crystal, as fast as her short legs could carry her, and hid behind it.

This part of the Crystal Empire was like the rest. Black crystal growing out of the ground and crystal buildings, and the sky was a sickening orange color. The wind carried the chill from the surrounding ice fields that made Fizzy shiver with every gust. Her dam would bring her to her side to comfort her, but she had disappeared with many of the other unicorns.

“Mama?” Fizzy asked timidly. “Where are you?”

The street crossed another street, and there was nopony ahead. She looked down the crossing street. There was nothing to the left, but to the right she saw a crowd.

She looked to make sure nopony was watching. She snuck from crystal to crystal. About halfway down the street, she noticed opposite the crowd was a single pony with a profile that was unmistakable. It was King Sombra with that arced horn of his.

Fizzy made herself as small as possible as she snuck the rest of the way as quietly as she could. The evil unicorn king seemed to not notice as she snuck into a mass of crystals with several holes to see out of.

Sombra was a nightmare made pony. He was gunmetal gray with a jet black mane that seemed to have a life of its own. His horn had no fluting and it curved upward. However, what were most terrifying were his red eyes with whites that glowed green and were surrounded by an ominous purple glow.

She turned her attention to the crowd. They were all unicorns and pegasi, ranging in age from young foals to the elderly, with their legs held by black crystals. They all held their heads low and looked drained of all energy. She then saw her dam, Soda Float, a white mare with her mane streaked pink, red, purple, and blue.

Fizzy tried to leap through the hole, but something caught her by the mane and pulled her back. She looked up at Galaxy standing over her.

“Galaxy,” Fizzy said.

Galaxy put her hoof to her mouth and shushed her. “You shouldn’t be out here, Fizzy. It’s dangerous for us unicorns.”

“But I found my dam,” Fizzy said. “We have to rescue her.”

“Why are you doing this, King Sombra?” Soda Float asked with no passion in her voice.

Fizzy turned back to the hole. Sombra loomed over her dam.

“Let us go,” Soda Float pleaded. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Not yet,” Sombra said, his oily voice sending a chill through Fizzy. “However, you unicorns and pegasi don’t fit into my plans for this empire, and pose a threat to my new order.”

“We’ll never move against you,” Soda Float said.

“No—” Pulsing, purple magic and black lightning surrounded Sombra’s horn as the energy around his eyes increased “—you certainly won’t.”

Something blocked Fizzy’s vision, but she could hear the sickening creak of rapidly growing crystals and raspy screams with her mother’s standing out from the others. Then they all stopped suddenly and a suffocating silence enveloped Fizzy.

Fizzy woke up and bolted into a sitting position. A cold sweat covered her body. She breathed so heavily her chest heaved as she became aware of her surroundings.

She was young mare in her apartment in Dream Castle. She heaved a sigh of relief as she realized it was just a nightmare. It had happened, but it was a thousand years ago, and she had made it through okay.

However, it was the first time she had had that nightmare in years. Something brought that horrible moment to the surface again. She needed to talk about it, and she knew just the pony to talk to.

Wind Whistler woke up with a start to the sound of rapid knocking on her door. She looked up at the digital clock that read 02:07. Another round of knocks came at her door.

She worked out from under her covers and planted her hooves on the floor. She held open her curtains to look out onto the balcony. A steady rain was falling, but that did not explain the knocks. She looked down the balcony towards her door and saw Fizzy standing there under the dimmed sun crystals. She knocked on the door again.

Why is she up at this time of night? Wind Whistler wondered.

Wind Whistler undid the deadbolt lock and realized it was the first time she had used it. She opened the door to let the cold, wet air tumble in.

Fizzy had a frown like Wind Whistler had never seen on her. It was a frown of uncertainty. “Can I come in and talk?”

“Certainly, Fizzy.” Wind Whistler got out of the way and hit the switch to make the sun crystal in her ceiling lamp glow. Fizzy walked in and Wind Whistler closed the door. “Is there a particular subject you wish to discuss?”

“I had a nightmare,” Fizzy said. “It was a nightmare I had a lot as a filly, but hadn’t in years until now.”

“I’m afraid I am not a psycho analyst,” Wind Whistler said, “but if you need a sounding board, I’m happy to oblige.”

Fizzy turned to her. “There’s a reason there are so few crystal unicorns and pegasi. When Sombra took over the Crystal Empire and made himself king, he rounded up all of the unicorns and pegasi he could find—” Her lips quivered “—and executed them.”

“My word,” Wind Whistler gasped.

“My mother was one of the first,” Fizzy continued despairingly. “Galaxy was her best friend and raised me as if I was her daughter. She and a small band of unicorns and pegasi evaded Sombra’s ‘Cleansing Campaigns’ for years until Celestia and Luna came and defeated him. We were holed up in a secret bunker when the Empire disappeared, and we weren’t found until weeks after it returned.”

Tears ran from Fizzy’s eyes and the gems glistened. “I was there when he executed my mother, hiding where he couldn’t see me. Galaxy covered my eyes before he killed them, but I heard their screams.” She shuddered. “That’s what my nightmare was.”

Wind Whistler sat next to Fizzy and drew in close as the young mare sobbed. “I’m so sorry, Fizzy,” Wind Whistler said. “I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been.”

Fizzy sniffed. “It was horrible—” She looked up and managed a small smile “—but I discovered my special talent and purpose in life after it. I learned how powerful hope is and how important it is to keep it alive. Sombra destroyed hope in the Crystal Empire, and he could hold it all alone because there was no hope to stop them. That’s why I tried to keep everyone’s spirits high, because as long as you have hope, you have power.”

Wind Whistler paused to let this soak in. She knew there was more to Fizzy than met the eye. She seemed so innocent and oblivious to the seriousness of the situation at times. Wind Whistler had even caught herself thinking Fizzy was an airhead. Her demeanor made so much sense now.

Wind Whistler rubbed Fizzy’s shoulder. “You’re a much stronger pony than many of us, to look for light in that kind of darkness.”

“I don’t understand why I had the nightmare now, though,” Fizzy said.

“Perhaps because our future seems a little more uncertain now,” Wind Whistler said. “We need hope that things can be worked out for the better, and you might subconsciously expect us to look to you for that hope.”

“I guess you’re right, Wind Whistler,” Fizzy replied. “Thanks so much for listening. You’re like a big sister.”

“Big sister?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Yeah,” Fizzy said. “You’re someone to look up to, and I’ve always wanted a big sister. I know you’re not really my sister, but maybe you could be one in all the ways that count.”

Wind Whistler paused. “I suppose I can be.”

She caught a light coming out from behind the top of her curtain. She went to the curtains and held one away to look out. Several dark figures with lanterns ran across the courtyard towards the drawbridge that lowered to let them leave. Many of them had carts filled to capacity dragging behind them.

“What is it?” Fizzy asked.

“Several ponies are going out with carts,” Wind Whistler said. She furrowed her brow. “Let’s go, Fizzy.”

Fizzy walked up to the window. “Go where?”

“I think they’re deserting.” Wind Whistler opened her door and stepped onto the balcony. The drawbridge was rising, but that was no problem for her as she leapt over the railing and flew over the outer wall. The cold rain pelted her, but she ignored it.

Pink flashes brought Fizzy to outside the castle and she looked around the dark landscape. “Where did they go?”

Wind Whistler hovered and looked across the valley. She then looked towards the chamber holding the Ground Bridge. If she was going to leave, she would use it to bypass the Land of Nightmares. “To the cliff.”

Wind Whistler flew to the cliff and landed at the rock that served as the door switch. Fizzy appeared in a flash next to her. They braced themselves against the rock and pushed it away from the cliff. Their hooves slipped on the wet ground, but the rock gave slightly and the doors parted.

Wind Whistler glided through the opening into the dim tunnel and saw a pink flash out of the corner of her eye. She saw light and a soft buzzing coming from inside meaning the Ground Bridge was active. “Hurry, Fizzy!”

Wind Whistler flew around the curve of the tunnel into the main chamber. A vortex filled the tunnel as ponies ran up it. The last pony looked back: Spearhead.

“Governor, don’t!” Wind Whistler shouted.

“I no longer hold that title,” Spearhead said. “Good luck, Wind Whistler.”

He turned away and ran up the ramp. He disappeared and the vortex faded.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Wind Whistler flew at the tunnel, but it was dark by the time she reached its mouth. She fluttered down and landed at the start of the ramp. The machinery wound down to a deafening silence. Wind Whistler breathed heavily as she tried to gather thoughts.

Fizzy ran up to Wind Whistler. “Who was it? Where did they go?”

Wind Whistler shook her head. “It was Spearhead and likely his followers. As for their destination: I have no idea.” She had no idea how anything worked here now.

Chapter 12: Going Native

Monsoon scanned the list on the center screen. He occasionally glanced to the recharge countdown on the left screen to make sure it was actually there. “The ground bridge was definitely used, but there’s no record of its usage.”

“How is that possible?” Wind Whistler asked.

Monsoon turned to her and Fizzy on the floor. “My guess is this device has a clandestine mode to keep certain uses secret.” He glanced to the side and scowled. “Something Rosetta failed to mention if she came across it.”

“Failed, or deliberately concealed?” Wind Whistler asked rhetorically. “Spearhead and his followers have been scheming behind our flanks since probably before we even came through the mirror.”

Monsoon ground his teeth. “That’s why he was so calm about us striking down his plans. He had contingencies.”

“We should return to the castle,” Wind Whistler said. “They had several carts no doubt filled with supplies and weapons.”

Monsoon glanced at the center screen again. To think this stallion was within hoof’s reach of Princess Celestia, he thought.

Magic Star turned to Sparkler as she walked into the office. “What’s the state of the armory?”

“There barely is one,” Sparkler grumbled. “They took all the laser rifles and breach-loaders, most of the gunpowder and guncotton, and half the machetes.”

Magic Star rubbed her hoof on her chin as she processed the list. “That’s a lot of firepower.”

Cupcake walked in slowly. “Governor Spearhead, Rosetta, Echo, Landslide, Typhoon, and Sunset Shimmer are the only ones missing. A week’s worth of food for six ponies and five kilograms of gold are also missing.”

“I bet their personal items are also gone,” Sparkler said.

A knock came at the door leading to the balcony. Magic Star figured that had to be Wind Whistler and Monsoon. “Enter.”

The doors swung open and the two pegasi she was expecting to see walked in.

“Where did they go?” Magic Star asked.

“They hid their destination point,” Monsoon said. “They could be anywhere on the planet.”

“Figures,” Magic Star grumbled. “Then we’re not going to go after them. We have more important matters than going on a wild goose chase.”

“What do we do about leadership?” Cupcake asked. “Spearhead was our governor.”

“Was being the operative word,” Magic Star said. “He abandoned us.” She turned to Wind Whistler. “As the lieutenant governor—”

“No,” Wind Whistler cut her off. “My position was given to me by Spearhead and now I realize it was fruit from the forbidden tree. I step down as lieutenant governor and nominate you for our new governor, Magic Star.”

Magic Star paused as she contemplated.

“I second the nomination,” Monsoon added.

“Fine,” Magic Star said. “We’ll see if anyone wants a vote tomorrow morning, but being unopposed at the moment, I accept the office of acting governor.”

“What if they do something?” Sparkler asked. “It would instantly fall on us.”

“Then we’ll explain the obvious to whoever they harm,” Magic Star grumbled. “The moment Spearhead and his followers stepped through that ground bridge, they ceased to be citizens of Equestria Nova. They’re rogues, bandits, whatever name you want to call them. They’re no longer our responsibility. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the four ponies around her said.

“At dawn we’ll continue like this didn’t happen,” Magic Star said as she stepped away from the desk. “We have less than two and half major moons before the first wave of colonists arrives. They need a home besides this enclave.”

Sunset Shimmer walked as best as she could across the uneven and unstable ground. She had spent so much time as a human, walking on four hooves took getting use to, especially when the ground could give way at a moment’s notice.

She looked around them. They were in a barren wasteland with rocks ranging from pebbles to boulders the size of cars. The rings arched across the sky that glowed blue in the morning twilight. She remembered the first time she entered the world of the humans. She was running their high school almost immediately. However, she had a major advantage of those simple-minded apes and only needed to worry about that small area. She was ruthless, and more mature mentally than her human body suggested. This world made her seem small and insignificant even with her magic at her disposal. She almost regretted leaving the valley where the mountains seemed to confine the world.

“Congratulations, Colonel,” Rosetta grumbled, grabbing Sunset Shimmer’s attention, “we managed to convince a grand total of one pony who didn’t even come with us from Equestria to join our cause. Even your hoofpicked golden filly turned against you.”

“Shut up,” Spearhead snarled. “Our hand was forced too early by those filthy humans.”

Sunset Shimmer caught Typhoon out of the corner of her eye.

“Out of curiosity, why did you join us?” Typhoon asked.

Sunset Shimmer scowled. “It had been drilled into me since forever that friendship has power. However, these last few days showed me the truth.”

“Which is?” Typhoon asked.

“Friendship only has power if your friends are powerful,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Those five girls were able to do incredible things with Princess Twilight Sparkle with them, but those idiots in the volcano were able to trap them easily. You seem to understand that.”

Typhoon smiled. “There might be hope for you.”

“Do you think those intellectuals and dreamers would have ever been turned?” Landslide asked. “They seem to believe the pen is mightier than the sword.”

“Then we simply need to find a bigger sword,” Spearhead said.

Sunset Shimmer looked around at the barrenness. “So we’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Not quite,” Spearhead said. “In fact, we’re not alone.”

Forms jumped out from behind the rocks all around them. The group collapsed around Sunset Shimmer and brought the strange beam rifles to bear. Lights flooded the area to reveal several creatures that looked like human-sized monkeys with machinery replacing their legs, right arm, and right eye.

“What are those things?” Sunset Shimmer shrieked.

“Gizmonks,” Spearhead answered calmly.

“You led us into gizmonk territory?” Rosetta’s voice cracked. “Did you want us to get killed?”

The gizmonks trained their beam rifles on the group. “Don’t move, ponies.” A gizmonk with particularly shiny machinery stepped forward. “King MacGyver wants you alive.”

“We’re here to ask for an audience with your king,” Spearhead replied.

The gizmonks snorted and snickered, but the one with shiny machinery only scowled at them. “You have nothing to say that would interest our king. However, he is very interested in your backs for our mining crews, or your bodies for study.”

Spearhead glowered forward. “Wrong answer.”

The mechanical arm of one of the gizmonks suddenly exploded, throwing sparks in every direction as it separated just below the shoulder mount. The arm dropped on the ground and the gizmonk grabbed the stub as he shrieked and collapsed. As he fell to the side he revealed Echo stand behind him with a beam rifle suspended in her magic.

The gizmonks trained their weapons on her. She turned to them and the aura around her horn intensified. The gizmonks dropped their weapons to grab their heads and shrieked and moaned in pain. They fell to their knees and collapsed on the ground, rolling around as if to find a position that would save them from some agony.

Sunset Shimmer stared at Echo. She expected to see anger or at least an expression of intense concentration for inflicting a spell like this. However, she only stared on with that blank expression frozen on her face.

She then looked to the gizmonk at her hooves. Both the arm and the socket to which it had been attached had half-melted wires hanging out of them and some kind of fluid that was thankfully not blood running from them. Apparently the machinery replaced the parts of their bodies they resembled.

“Excellent work, Echo.” Spearhead walked up to the gizmonk with particularly shiny machinery and kicked the rifle away from him. “Release this one.”

The gizmonk stopped writhing and rolled over onto his belly. He tried to push himself up, but Spearhead planted his hoof on his back and forced him down. “If you want your men to know anything but overwhelming agony again, you will return to your king and tell him to meet me here with no more than two guards. Am I clear?”

“Yes,” the gizmonk exhaled.

Spearhead stepped off the gizmonk. “Then go.”

The gizmonk scrapped to his mechanical feet and ran towards the hills in the distance.

Spearhead turned back to Echo. “Knock them unconscious and bind them.”

Echo nodded and her horn flashed. The gizmonks suddenly stopped moaning and moving to relax on the ground. Ropes surrounded by auras came out of saddlebags and carts as the gizmonks were brought together.

Sunset Shimmer felt truly small now. It took a few seconds for it to all sink in and to form the words she wanted to say. “What kind of ponies are you?”

“The future,” Spearhead answered. “It’s like you said. Friendship only has power when your friends are powerful.”

Sunset Shimmer watched as the others bound the unconscious gizmonks. It was hard to believe these ponies were from the Equestria Princess Celestia had told her so many times was built on love and friendship. She had never seen the aggression, cruelty, and total domination she just witnessed. Even the ‘intellectuals and dreamers’ they had left behind were more violent and under-hoofed than any pony she had met in Equestria. However, there was no arguing with their results. Perhaps instead of escaping into the world of the humans she should have sought out these ponies, as they knew the truth. When push comes to shove, power really was all that mattered.

Ribbon pawed at the cobblestones of the castle courtyard as she let her consciousness melt into her magic power. Her perception expanded like water being poured into a dish, reaching further and further. She could sense the minds of all forty-one ponies, twenty-two blarks, and fourteen dell dwellers there. She could even sense the simple minds of the animals. They were like bumps in that dish her perception flowed around. She could penetrate most of them easily enough, but dared not.

Besides, it was not the thoughts of those she knew were here that concerned her. She was searching for that eerie mind that could lurk far from its host body. However, she found no trace of Echo to the point that her perception included all of Dream Castle and the mysterious chamber. They were alone at least at the moment.

“Ribbon,” Wind Whistler’s voice said, seemingly impossibly far.

Ribbon brought her perception back to her body. She returned her concentration to her eyes, ears, and other physical senses. Wind Whistler stood in front of her with a concerned expression.

“Is there something troubling you?” Wind Whistler asked.

“I’m afraid Echo could spy on us at any moment,” Ribbon said.

“Galaxy thought of the same conundrum,” Wind Whistler said. “She presently wishes to converse with you on the subject of a possible defense.”

“I suppose I should see what she has planned,” Ribbon said. She took notice of the equipment Wind Whistler had, including a pickaxe and shovel. “What are you doing?”

“I plan to remedy our recently developed shortfall of gunpowder,” Wind Whistler said. “This valley should have the chemical components needed to make it ourselves. Since I am no longer engaged in the political arena, I suppose I can lend my scientific expertise and pragmatism to the operation of the colony.”

“Right,” Ribbon replied as she tried to absorb all that Wind Whistler had said. “Well, Sparkler will probably be eager to see your results.”

Wind Whistler turned to the front gate. She was halfway to it when a thought crossed Ribbon’s mind. “Wind Whistler—”

Wind Whistler stopped and turned back to her. “Yes?”

“Did Spearhead ever give you any indication this was going to happen?” Ribbon asked.

Wind Whistler paused for a second. “Now that I look back at his actions and statements, yes. However, I was oblivious to his intentions at the time. I should have been more perceptive.”

“Hey, he fooled a telepath and a semi-clairvoyant,” Ribbon replied with a smile. “We won’t hold it against you. Speaking of which, I’m going to talk to Galaxy.”

Wind Whistler turned to the gate and walked out onto the drawbridge.

Ribbon turned to the apartments on the southern wall. Since they had moved in, they had personalized the castle a bit. Each pony had claimed their apartment by painting their cutie mark on the door. The red stars representing Galaxy’s were painted on a door on the second story. The world disappeared in a flash of green and reappeared with the door right in front of her.

Ribbon knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Galaxy’s voice replied from the inside.

“It’s Ribbon,” Ribbon replied.

The door opened and Ribbon stepped in. “You wanted to talk about keeping Echo out?” Ribbon asked as she looked around Galaxy’s apartment.

Along with personalizing the outside, the ponies had made their apartments their own private sanctuaries. Ribbon’s was filled with the colorful ribbons she had collected since foalhood. Galaxy’s was filled with astronomical equipment and material. Star charts took up much of the walls and a decent-sized reflecting telescope sat in the corner.

Galaxy sat at her desk with a case in front of her. “Yes. I think I have just the thing,” she said without turning around. “However, I need you keep how exactly we do this a secret.”

“Sure,” Ribbon replied. She then scowled. “Can I ask why?”

“Because it involves an artifact of the Crystal Empire even most crystal ponies don’t know is real.” Galaxy slid to the side to reveal a clear crystal in the exact shape of a pony’s skull.

“A crystal skull?” Ribbon asked confusedly.

“Yes,” Galaxy said. “There were originally twelve, but Sombra destroyed nine of them when he took over. While eluding his cleansing campaigns, I and my followers protected the remaining three.”

Ribbon walked up to the desk and looked at the skull. “It’s pretty in a kind of…creepy way—” she fought off the urge to shudder at being in the same room as something that even resembled a pony body part “—but I don’t understand what a crystal sculpture has to do with keeping Echo out.”

“They’re not a crystal sculptures,” Galaxy said. “They’re artifacts with mystic power rivaling the Crystal Heart. Some say they are the skulls of the first ponies to discover the wellspring of crystal magic the Empire is built over. If we cast our magical energies on it, it will create a barrier preventing other telepathic magic like Echo’s telepresence from entering the area.”

“Are you sure it will work against her?” Ribbon asked. “She’s a crystal pony too.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Galaxy said. “Crystal pony, non-crystal pony, non-pony, all will be repulsed by this artifact.”

“So what?” Ribbon asked. “We just cast a spell on it?”

Galaxy stepped away from the desk. “Yes.” She turned and pointed her horn at the skull as a pink aura appeared around it.

Ribbon pointed her horn towards the skull and called upon her magic. However, before casting it in the skull, she swept the area for Echo. Fortunately she was nowhere in the valley.

“Are you ready?” Galaxy asked.

“Yes,” Ribbon replied. She cast her magic at the skull and felt her power concentrate within it and then burst out. It felt like a shell, a thin layer of magical energy that passed over her as it expanded with nothing within.

“We should make the barrier large enough to include the underground chamber,” Galaxy said.

Ribbon continued to cast her magical power into the skull and the shell expanded. It engulfed the castle and the surrounding areas. Finally, once the underground chamber and most of the area the ponies frequented was contained, she relented. The shell stopped expanding and faded from her perception. It was still there, but the skull was maintaining it instead of her.

Galaxy raised her head. “We will probably have to charge it from time to time, but we should have nothing to fear from Echo or anyone else trying to peek in on us.”

Ribbon looked up. She sighed and shook her head. “To think we have to defend ourselves from our fellow ponies.”

“The worst part is I knew them,” Galaxy said in a low voice as she placed the skull in its case. “I met Spearhead shortly after the Crystal Empire reappeared. He was driven and considered Equestria’s safety to be more important than anything, but I never thought he was this extreme.” She looked towards the window. “Even I can’t tell you what he and his followers are doing out there in the wilderness.”

Spearhead sat on one of the larger rocks in the field. It gave him a good vantage point of the area. He kept his eye towards the general direction of Gizmas City the gizmonk had run towards. However, he glanced behind him to the unconscious gizmonks tied together every few minutes. A bargaining chip had to be watched closely.

After glancing to the captives again, Spearhead returned his gaze to the hills on the horizon. Lights emerged from a pass as a vehicle motored towards them. Judging by the ugly appearance he assumed they were gizmonks.

“Look lively,” Spearhead said, not bothering to take his attention from the approaching vehicle. “They’re coming.”

The other ponies took up position in front of Spearhead’s perch. They watched as the vehicle came closer. It finally reached them and came to a top.

Spearhead felt his body tense as the door opened. The thought that this could be a trap nagged at the back of his mind. The vehicle could hold perhaps a dozen gizmonks, which could be a challenge. However, King MacGyver stepped out, flanked by two armed guards.

MacGyver looked up at Spearhead, his lens almost completely collapsed to mirror the lowered brow over his natural eye and his teeth showing in a grimace. “You have some nerve, pony. You trespass in our territory and take my soldiers hostage. Then you expect me to give you an audience? Have you forgotten we’re still in a state of war?”

Spearhead leapt from his perch and planted his hooves in front of the others. “Kind of hard to remember since you haven’t attacked us, even when we leave our valley,” he replied casually. “And your war is with the other ponies. They wanted to attack over our objections for capturing Paradise. It was also you who tried to stab us in the back last winter, and it was your soldiers who attacked us here.”

MacGyver’s grimace tightened.

“We could have killed them,” Spearhead continued, “but we decided to return them mostly unharmed as a gesture of goodwill.”

MacGyver’s expression relaxed somewhat, but he crossed his arms. “Why would you want to show goodwill towards us?”

“Because we’ve been exiled from our valley by the others,” Spearhead lied, but it came out so naturally it might as well have been the truth. “We have plans for our mother country they don’t agree with.”

“While your political exploits are probably fascinating,” MacGyver said dully, “they’re no concern of ours.”

“What if we had something that we could both benefit from?” Spearhead asked.

“Go on,” MacGyver said, sounding slightly more interested.

“Have you heard of the metal giants?” Spearhead asked.

MacGyver said nothing, but his shifting eye and lens told Spearhead he had struck a chord. “I thought you might have. We learned of them from the dell dwellers.”

“Then you should know most of their technology is too far gone to be of any use,” MacGyver said as he unfolded his arms to plant them on his fists and his mouth sank into a slight frown. “Besides, you need to know their language to really use whatever is salvageable.”

“And that is what we offer.” Spearhead motioned back to Rosetta. “We have a matrix for translating their language to Common. In your…activities, I’m sure you have run across their tech.”

“Nothing of use,” MacGyver answered. He then paused as his eye darted around in his socket. “However, the Skree claim to have the mother of all artifacts buried under the sands of Skree-Rah.”

“The Skree?” Landslide asked.

“They’re flightless birds that look like ostriches,” MacGyver said. “Skree-Rah is in the deserts southeast of old Blarkland.”

“Perhaps we could speak with these Skree,” Spearhead said.

“Perhaps, but how do we benefit from your discovery?” MacGyver asked.

“You and the Skree will have a share of what we can be salvaged,” Spearhead said. “I propose an alliance with the translation matrix and your soldiers as our consideration.”

MacGyver scowled. “I never thought I would bargain with you ponies, but your offer is tempting. We’ll take you to Skree-Rah to see just what can be salvaged, and if there’s enough, I will personally write up the treaty.”

Spearhead bowed. “Thank you, King MacGyver.” He turned back to Echo and Rosetta. “Wake up the soldiers and release them.”

The two nodded and ran behind the rock.

Wind Whistler walked out of the main entrance into the courtyard. The sky was clear, giving a perfect view of the rings and the stars twinkling against the blackness. The thought that each point of light was a sun, impossibly far away, with planets like this circling them, crept into her mind. She was staring into infinity; something that the ponies of Equestria dared not think about. To this day, even adult ponies believed the stars were like light bulbs Celestia and Luna turned on and off. The thought that on a planet circling one of those stars some manner of life form was staring back at the point of light they were circling was bordering on blasphemy. Yet, here it was a real possibility.

In fact, this world had changed them. It changed the language they spoke, their understanding of the universe, and even their value to friendship. Wind Whistler had on occasion heard griffons talk about going native. If a griffon began to eat, dress, or in general act too much like a pegasus, they would be called back to their homeland. She wondered if they were starting to go native.

Wind Whistler caught a glimpse of turquoise on the roof of one of the side buildings. She spread her wings and flew from the courtyard to the roof. As she suspected it was Fizzy laying on her back and staring south.

“Good evening, Fizzy,” Wind Whistler said.

Fizzy turned to her with the start. “Oh! Hi, Wind Whistler.”

“Can I join you?” Wind Whistler asked.

“Sure,” Fizzy said.

Wind Whistler dropped on her belly. The slate roof was still a little warm from absorbing sunlight. She carefully rolled over, minding her wings. She spread her wings across the slate to absorb more of the warmth they were radiating. She followed Fizzy’s gaze to the rings arcing across the sky.

“What has you preoccupied at the moment?” Wind Whistler asked.

Fizzy scowled in thought for a second. “Oh! What am I doing? I’m thinking about the rings. What are they made of and where did they come from?”

“Planets farther from their sun tend to have rings composed primarily of ice, dust and rock,” Wind Whistler answered. “However, at this distance from the sun, the composition of this planet’s ring system is of dust and rocks with highly reflective minerals giving them their luster. As for their formation, they are either the remnants of a third moon that strayed too close to the planet and was torn apart by gravity, or material that failed to form a moon and is held in place by the complex gravitational interactions of the planet and its two comparably large moons.”

“Uhh…right,” Fizzy said, but her voice betrayed her confusion.

“Sorry,” Wind Whistler. “I suppose that explanation was too technical.”

“That’s okay,” Fizzy said. “I love the way you talk. I wish I was super smart like you.”

Wind Whistler turned to her. “Don’t sell yourself short. As I said last night, you have incredible inner strength. However, I do appreciate your company and would like to take you on as my little sister of sorts. I never had any siblings either, so perhaps we can make up for each other's deficiency.”

Fizzy smiled a broad smile. “What a pair we make.”

Wind Whistler grinned. “Indeed. While I’m not the most knowledgeable on the subject of friendship, I would say we make quite a pair.”

“What are you doing now that you aren’t vice governor?” Fizzy asked.

“Lieutenant governor,” Wind Whistler corrected. “I’ve set up a workshop in the basement. I’m currently replacing some of our stores of gun powder. The first samples should be ready tomorrow morning.”

“Can I watch you test them?” Fizzy asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Wind Whistler replied.

“Wind Whistler?” Fizzy asked.

“Yes?” Wind Whistler replied.

“What do you think Spearhead is doing right now?” Fizzy asked.

“Given the hour,” Wind Whistler answered, “he and his followers could very well be sleeping. However, in terms of his current overall goals, I cannot say with any certainty.”

Wind Whistler also did not want to hazard a guess. Her mind was capable of dark thoughts she figured other ponies were incapable of comprehending, except perhaps Shady who seemed to see the darkest possibilities out of compulsion. She did not want to turn her imagination loose on what Spearhead and his followers could be doing out there. Whatever it was, it was not anything good.

Sunset Shimmer was jarred awake as the vehicle reared and came down from hitting a bump. Her mind quickly pieced together their current situation. They had left Dream Valley, were in a tentative peace with the gizmonks, and were headed to Skree-Rah, where they had some kind of artifact.

Her vision came into focus. It was morning, and she and the others were in the large cab of some vehicle. King MacGyver sat in the passenger’s seat and another gizmonk was driving. They were driving through another barren, rock-strewn desert with mesas in the distance. “I swear, this world is one wasteland after another,” she grumbled.

“Sorry if the view isn’t to your liking,” the gizmonk driver replied. “However this desert is home for the skree.”

“In fact this is about where we need to be,” MacGyver said. “Stop the vehicle.”

The driver pressed the breaks the vehicle came to a stop. Sunset Shimmer looked through the windshield and windows. There were no buildings or entrances to something underground. There were just rocks.

“I think we’ve been had,” Rosetta muttered to Spearhead.

“Then they’ve made one monumental mistake,” Spearhead growled.

Sunset Shimmer hopped out of the door as the driver opened it. She landed in the soft sand and it gave to bury her up to her hooves. She looked at one of the nearby rocks. It was about the size of a pony and an almost uniform shade of gray. It was oblong in shape with a rounded surface. It would make a handsome lawn decoration, but there was nothing of note to it.

“Where are the skree?” Landslide asked.

“All around us,” MacGyver answered.

The rock in front of Sunset Shimmer began to tremble. She backed up a few steps as the surface began to take on the texture of feathers. The gray was replaced by blacks, whites, and deep purples. The feather-like texture became feathers and stubby wings flexed from the sides. A neck that had been hidden by the sand pulled itself up until it uncovered the head dominated by a large beak. The body lifted on legs that kept going until there were at least two meters from the clawed feet to the head. She looked around and other rocks were going through the same transformation.

One of the birds with a more elaborate crest walked up to MacGyver. “My dear King MacGyver.”

“My dear King Fleetfoot,” MacGyver replied.

Fleetfoot’s beak formed as much of a grin as it could. “I bet three to one you would return.”

“An odd thing to wager on,” Rosetta commented.

“The skree love making wagers,” MacGyver said. “However, they carefully word the bet in their favor. Like simply making it my return instead of trying to guess the reason.”

“Why stack the odds against you?” Fleetfoot asked rhetorically. “What does bring you to Skree-Rah, and with ponies no less? I thought they handed your head to you this winter.”

MacGyver scowled and tightened his aperture. “These ponies want to form an alliance. They claim they can translate the language of the metal giants and want to see that supposed mother lode of artifacts you crow about.”

Fleetfoot scratched his throat. “What’s in it for us?”

“Obviously whatever we can make usable will be split between the three of us,” Spearhead said. “I’m sure there’s something your people would like to use as more than a tourist attraction.”

“I suppose,” Fleetfoot mused aloud. “We’ll take you to the biggest artifact. Let’s see if your translation can do anything with that.”

“Lead the way,” Spearhead replied.

Fleetfoot jumped into the cab of their vehicle.

Sunset Shimmer walked near Echo as she approached the vehicle. “Cybernetic monkeys and now birds that turn into rocks. The planet just gets weirder.”

Echo glanced at her blankly before jumping into the cab. Sunset Shimmer then remembered she was talking to mute.

Spearhead watched the driver take them in the direction Fleetfoot had given them. Skree-Rah was a particularly desolate land. There were the occasional oases where there was some green. However, most of it was sandy desert, perfect for burying your head and hiding as a rock.

Spearhead glanced back to Fleetfoot. Hiding and making safe bets were the acts of cowards and hardly suitable allies. However, these Skree had something he might want, and he was a stallion of his word, so he had to just put up with them.

They came to a massive plateau and Fleetfoot instructed the driver to stop. He did so and opened the doors.

“Buried under this plateau is the largest single artifact on the entire planet,” Fleetfoot said. “It’s yours for the taking if you can do anything with it.”

The face of the cliff had a relatively square alcove in it. Spearhead figured it was a door like the one leading to the Ground Bridge in Dream Valley. There was even a rock on the ledge that probably served as a switch to open it. “Typhoon, if you please.”

Typhoon flew up to the rock and pushed it away from the wall. The back of the alcove parted and the two halves retreated into the rock. The ground trembled until the halves disappeared and stopped their motion with a thunderous clunk.

“Perhaps it’s another Ground Bridge,” Landslide suggested.

“It’s much better than that,” Fleetfoot said with as much of a grin as his beak cloud manage.

They walked into the opening, which was much larger than the entrance to the ground bridge. It also did not curve. The hall was short as they emerged into a massive, dark chamber.

“Hit the lights!” Fleetfoot shouted, his voice echoing through whatever kind of cavern they were in. Just by how many times voices reverberated, Spearhead figured it was large enough to hold a decent sized city. “It’s on the wall about four meters up.”

Typhoon fumbled around the wall until he came to a lever. He used his whole body to pull the switch up. It came up quickly and it was all he could do to regain control.

Lights started coming on in sequence. They started where they were and spread in both directions. They kept going for hundreds of meters until Spearhead could swear they were more than two kilometers from either side.

What was in front of them was just as massive. It was a pit with the opposite side at least a kilometer from them. In the pit was a massive structure of metal with large, sharp blades jutting from it, except the back which was completely flat and devoid of features. The whole thing was dark gray in color, much like Spearhead’s coat.

“What is that?” Sunset Shimmer asked, looking over the edge.

“It looks like a ship,” Rosetta replied.

Spearhead’s lips peeled back in a grin. “That’s exactly what it is.”