Goldstar was a colt who didn't like the desert, and hot sun who would him harass
Goldstar left his home in sandy Appleloosa, for some Ponyvillian grass
Trot back, trot back, trot back to where you once belonged
Trot back, trot back, trot back to where you once belonged
Trot back, Goldstar!
Go home!
Trot back, trot back, trot back to where you once belonged
Trot back, trot back, trot back to where you once belonged
Trot back, Star!
The song went into an instrumental section, and Rarity asked "What is this song? Who sings it?"
Pinkie Pie, seeming really enthusiastic about the song, answered "It's the super duper debut song by a new band from Trottingham, the Galloping Hooves! Their sound is a little new, but a lot of ponies love it!"
The song was not something Rarity would normally listen to. "Indeed, I've never heard anything quite like this before. Not really to my taste, but far from me to judge somepony for her music."
Pinkie Pie started quivering, shaking, convulsing in various parts of her body. From anypony else that would warrant immediate medical attention. From Pinkie Pie... it meant that no matter how crazy her next words would be, you should probably listen to her. "Twitchy twitch! A twitchy twitch! A big one too!"
Pinkie's friends all knew what that kind of behavior meant. Twilight went over and asked her, with a sense of urgency, "Pinkie, what is it?"
"Something really big is going to happen at the water hole! We have to get there quick!" It was not the sort of Pinkie Sense reaction she got over normal everyday stuff. The last time she got such an extreme reaction, it was when Twilight learned for the first time that some things in the world simply could not be explained rationally.
As they ran out of Sugarcube corner, to hurry to the water hole, the record continued "Bon Bon as a filly, to big dreams aspired..."
-Earlier, in another dimension entirely...-
Tokyo, Japan, 2013.
8 heroes, 7 of them wearing color coded outfits with helmets over their heads and 1 dressed like a high tech Roman soldier, stood in the remains of Tokyo, victorious over a group of alien (not in form, but in origin) terrorists and criminals that they had been dealing with for almost a year. In fact, they had been away from Earth for that much time because they didn't want to lead the criminals to it. Something that would not have been a problem had their original leaders not been stranded Earth astronauts trying to get home.
The leader, a female figure in red, initiated a group transport. In a few minutes they were now standing on a hill overlooking what remained of Tokyo. The red one pressed a button on the device on her wrist, and her costume vanished, replacing it with a black leather jacket, plain white T shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of white tennis shoes. "Nobody around now, it's probably safe to change back. While we didn't exactly do what we did for the last year to become famous, we have all been gone from our respective homes long enough to be considered dead. I'd rather not go from being a nobody to being treated like a god in my own world."
GUARDIAN RED HIME - Eri Marshall (USA)
She was Asian and in her early 20s, but her accent was American and she spoke English like an American as well. The cup size for her chest was... nonexistent. Her clothing was also a little oversized and loose fitting, enough to hide her female curves and make her need a belt, and her mannerisms couldn't possibly be any more tomboyish.
The other 7, one of which had been wearing a male version of her outfit, changed back as well. The following is how they looked.
GUARDIAN BLUE - Ryoko Midoriyama (Mashin Republic)
The blue one was a woman in her early 20s. From an Earth perspective a mix of qualities of various ethnic traits, But where would you see a blue haired, blue eyed woman with tan skin anywhere on Earth? Additionally her outfit was a somewhat loose outfit, not matching any Earth style and the markings and lettering on it did not match any culture on Earth.
GUARDIAN YELLOW - Nerys Lockwood (Canada)
The yellow one was female too, and looked like she was just starting to leave her teens but was not quite in her 20s yet. She was Caucasian, her hair was blond, her eyes were blue, and she was a C cup at least. Her attire had the look of a 1980s party girl to it.
GUARDIAN GREEN - Guy Donovan (USA)
The green hero was a Caucasian male, in his late 20s. He had dark brown hair and green eyes, was a little muscular in appearance, and had a couple of bullet wounds in his arms. His attire consisted of a rather old style Southern shirt, like what would be worn in the Old West, and he wore a pair of old fashioned boots with spurs on the back. Other than that, nothing that was TERRIBLY outdated.
GUARDIAN BLACK - Ken'ichi Matsumoto (Japan)
The black hero was an Asian male in his mid 20s, covered in scars and looking a little stronger than the average man. His attire was that of a Warring States era Japanese person, and indicated high status. Maybe not a wealthy person or a Lord or other ruler. But still high status, like a warrior, guard, or servant to someone in a high position. His outfit was also adorned with the clan crest of the Oda clan, indicating membership or servitude to the ancient Oda clan.
GUARDIAN BREAKER - Yamatai no Sabiko (Japan)
The white hero was by far the youngest. An Asian girl, no older than 16 or 17, clad in a simple outfit with a sort of ancient Asian tribal look to it, but not quite matching anything in recorded Japanese history. She was also adorned with a few accessories that looked old fashioned enough to be museum pieces, in fact the accessories resembled pre 8th century Japanese artifacts.
GUARDIAN RED OUJI - Eric Marshall (USA)
The other red, the guy, was Caucasian, and was in his early 20s. He had brown hair and green eyes. He, like the other red, was also very modern looking. Aside from the Regular Show T shirt, there was nothing special to point out about his attire. Just a pair of blue jeans and basketball shoes.
GOLD SENTURION - Gaius Decius Malleolus (Italy)
The last one, the one who did not look like the others, wore what could be described as a gold and blue suit of power armor in the form of a Roman Soldier's armor. But his civilian outfit consisted of a loose fitting robe-like attempt at converting a Roman style toga into a shirt and pants.
Eri/Guardian Red used her wrist device to make a radio appear in front of her. Turning it on, one could hear "[The invasion appears to be mostly over, and the mystery Sentai who appeared during the alien invasion have vanished without a trace. The mysterious UFOs that appeared and fought back the invasion fleet have also vanished...]"
She then started glowing. "The last will of the Light and Dark Guardians was that we only use their power in emergencies. Well, look what those scumbags did to Earth. I don't want to hang around if I have to spend all this time doing construction work. So let's clean up their mess, and even get rid of the remaining crooks."
The other red cut in, worried about such a use of that power. "But Earth is only one planet. I know I've only been with the group for a few days but that seems like a waste."
Eri turned around for a moment, answering with "Huh?" as a bright light surrounded them. In a moment the light vanished and the radio that had been talking about the wreckage in London caused by the invasion was now saying "[...and now the newest hit song from Orange Range...]", The Tokyo in the distance was no longer a partially destroyed ruin but a shining example of what it was before the invasion.
A quick internet check by the confused heroes, their leader not being among the heroes checking to see if the Earth had been sent back in time, indicated that the time was the same save for a few seconds, but something was still off. The other red recognized this feeling, it was a very familiar one.
"Wait, is this MY Earth?" he asked.
"Yes" the leader said. "I used up more Guardian power than I would want to use again anytime soon, but I moved our universe's ruined Earth along with it's moon and satellites somewhere else and put your universe's pristine Earth, moon, and satellites in the old spot, and got rid of the remaining terrorists. I even swapped out the dirt of your Earth and added a planetary control system to it, so that it could be part of the network. I'll call this one 'Second Earth' and the original 'First Earth'"
She smiled slightly as she gave designations to the 2 Earths.
"But you just used my Earth to repl-" the male red had started to say, as the 8 all felt a bit of pain.
Transporting back to their ship, the leader's glowing hand got put on the computer console, and the computer showed a large list, all the names of the Devo Ice gang's remaining members, and all... in different dimensions?
"But... I got rid of them. I was hoping they would be gone like Earth's dinosaurs." Eri stared at the screen in disbelief. "Well team, I guess our mission is not quite over..."
-LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND-
In his own era, in his own part of the galaxy, Armin Soran, Spectre General as his groups organizer and leader had code named him, was a seasoned expert on all forms of destruction, torture, and killing. But with his technological advantage over the primitives of this world, he was singlehandedly bringing down an entire squad of armed and trained soldiers.
But when he had murdered 80% of his attackers, he saw a bright light. The soldiers watched as the armored individual just... vanished. Armin felt the awareness of his physical body go away, as his existence became one of thought. He felt himself passing from place to place, coming near but not quite entering various places, until he felt himself regaining his physicality. He had... FOUR legs? His hands and feet were gone too... and he had a hard pointy thing on his head that was amazingly powerful. His armor had changed to accompany his new form, but something went through his mind through the mind link between his brain and armor, as his power armor's programming changed to accommodate his new body, and all traces of Armin Soran would, for the time being, cease to exist.
THE WATERING HOLE, SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE PONYVILLE
The Mane 6 arrived at the water hole as they saw a suit of armor and a unicorn stallion, who shape-wise looked like what the grown up version of a hypothetical foal Princess Luna had with Big McIntosh or King Sombra would look like and was just as large and impressively built as that description sounded, appear in front of the shore of the water hole. He had a red body, red like exposed blood. A blue mane and tail, not unlike the color of an intense flame. His eyes were red, the red eyes usually given to villains and demons in fiction. His cutie mark depicted a large yellow mushroom shaped cloud, but they were not quite sure what that represented, having never seen an explosion that large.
Pinkie was the first to approach him. "Hi, you must be new! I'm Pinkie Pie! Though it's short for Pinkamena Diane Pie but that's a little long, don't you think? Who are you and what brings you to Ponyville?"
Some of the others (Rarity and Fluttershy) were more hesitant to approach the stranger, put off a little bit by his appearance. Applejack, while not unwilling to talk to him, was a little hesitant to just get so close to him.
The stranger replied "Pony...ville...?"
Pinkie Pie replied "Your name is Ponyville? What a coincidence! Nice to meet you!" as she somehow grabbed his hoof with hers and started shaking it.
"No... what is Ponyville?" the stranger said as he struggled to get on his hooves, only to walk very uncomfortably, the walking equivalent of a baby that somehow had fully developed muscles. He awkwardly turned around and looked at his reflection in the water. "Is this me? Who am I even?"
Pinkie Pie was surprised by that. "You don't know who you are?" she asked as she tried to assist the tall stranger who even had a hard time walking.
Moved by her kindness, the stranger tried to remember something, anything. "I seem to remember being called Spectre General. But it seems like everything else is gone or locked away."
The orange and blond mare, Applejack, was not one to leave somepony to suffer. Nor was Fluttershy, the yellow one with the pink mane and tail. In fact they all helped get him and his armor back into Ponyville.
-OUTSKIRTS OF PONYVILLE, LATER THAT DAY-
A pink mare with a white mane that had a purple stripe in it, and a cutie mark of 1 black star orbited by 5 others appeared outside town. She was able to stand ok, but her first attempts to walk were a disaster. She wasn't entirely sure why she had an equine form, but figured it must be to conform to the norms of this world. But that was not the biggest surprise for her. A breeze revealed something that would be unpleasant where she came from... she was naked.
Oddly enough, that was more or less what the Generation 1 Twilight looked like. What would her teammates look like...?
The shock and horror went away in a few minutes when she saw other equines of the area, they were just as naked as she was. She wasn't against being naked in public if it was the norm. The same probably couldn't be said of all her teammates though.
Taking slow steps, but still uncomfortably holding her tail a little closer to her rear than the other equines probably would, she entered the town and realized it looked a little familiar. She had, in fact, seen this place many times before. In fact it's inhabitants with their upbeat attitudes and the positive messages of their stories had helped her through a tough job.
She was now a pony. This was Ponyville. In the land of Equestria. She had seen it several times as the setting of a show that relaxed her after having to sometimes commit hard to stomach actions to protect good and/or innocent people.
This was the same Ponyville from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and that was Derpy, Sweetie Drops, Jeff Letrotski, Lyra Heartstrings, and Cherilee she was looking at.
Which begged the question. Did the show inspire this dimension, or did this dimension inspire the creators of the show? Regardless, if a merciless terrorist with no regard for anything that doesn't conform to his needs or goals was here, Equestria might be in a lot of trouble.
But being named "Eri Washio Marshall" might be a giveaway to how foreign she was to this world. Normally she hated to lie... but she had to blend into this setting as much as she could. What to call herself...
While trying to think of a name, she suddenly realized that she now had some magic skills as well. If anyone asked, her name was Twilight, no relation to Twilight Sparkle, since that is what her cutie mark said. Judging from the horn... if anyone asked, she has always been a unicorn. and in the unlikely event the fanon about Lyra was true, she didn't even know what a human or hands were. At least that was her story. Wouldn't want to contradict the show in any way. In fact, if possible she was going to see to it she and her team made as few footprints and ripples on this world's knowledge and culture as possible.
Eri, or "Twilight" as she was calling herself for the time being, knew she would probably have to get money before she could do anything... so she walked off towards an empty part of town. Instinctively trying to reach into what was once a backpack but now a saddlebag using her right front leg... she could not. Horse legs do not work that way. Instead, trying out her horn, a communication headset, once shaped for a human head but now sized and shaped for a pony head floated onto her head... as an earpiece went off to the side and into an upright pointy horse ear near the top of her head. That was something new for her indeed.
Wait... would calling herself Twilight, just Twilight, be smart when a very similar looking pony was Twilight Sparkle's mother, named Twilight Velvet? No big deal, if anything was asked she could call it a coincidence or say she is a many times great relative a few times removed or something...
Surely there would be bits lying around somewhere... a scanning spell spotted one off near the side of a building in the shadows and basic magic lifted it to her. Tapping a button on her headset, she heard a lot of unpleasant sounds, which she had come to recognize as "dimensional tuning" of sorts as 2 different space time continuums were connected for a communication signal. Thankfully the sounds stopped, indicating the needed routes had been made and linked.
"Guys, I'm here" she said as she put her leg down, making what was undeniably the sound of hoof clopping. The obvious reply, and the one she got, was "That is good to hear, and are there horses nearby?". It was her brother (not related by blood).
"You're talking to one" she said. "Sapient horses are the main species here, so I was transformed into one just before physical arrival. Anyway, I need you to replicate me some money, of which I have a sample, and send it to me in an old style wooden cart along with supplies that could be used by intelligent horses, preferably pulled by Haul Horse, Lucy, and Maxwell." Magically getting out an item scanner and using it on the "bit" coin, she asked "Can you replicate these?"
"Can do, sister." the voice said, followed by what sounded like suppressed laughter.
"If that was to a joke about riding me like a horse... I'm a horse. Even though we are not blood relatives, the fact I am a horse right now and you aren't makes that disturbing..."
"Sorry sis, couldn't help it" he replied. "Anyway, just give it 10 minutes or so and find a place to place the transport beacon, preferable someplace outside town. Have you had to change your name there, just in case that information would help?"
"Thanks. And the name is Twilight now."
"A horse named Twilight? What world are you in?" he asked her.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, and I want to see the surprise on everyone's faces so don't tell them" she replied. To which she heard him saying "Are you telling me..?"
Later...
Eri/Twilight waited outside Ponyville with a short metal staff stuck in the ground, as a ripple appeared in the air and through it came a cart with all kinds of bags in it. It was pulled by 3 Earth Ponies, all in the MLP style, though she knew they were regular horses back where she came from. Well one of them was, the mare and the larger stallion had actually been genetically and technologically altered a lot to be human in their intelligence and were originally fitted with speaker collars allowing them to talk audibly.
One was a stallion that looked like an Equine version of Hol Horse from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (complete with blue eyes, a blond mane and tail, and a coat colored like the mild yellow-orange of his clothes as seen in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle) with a cutie mark of a speeding wheel leaving behind flames, one was a mare that looked like like Epona from The Legend of Zelda games (specifically Ocarina of Time) with blue eyes a cutie mark of a giftbox containing a big pink heart shape with a smiling face, and one was a Big McIntosh style stallion that looked like Red Hare from the Dynasty Warriors games with mid brown eyes and a cutie mark of a first place trophy.
"Good, you're here. Now to find a home that myself and my teammates can all stay in, or enough houses for myself and all of them..."
"Ok, Miss Eri- Twiligh... wait, how can I talk without the collar?" the mare, Lucy asked. To which Eri/Twilight replied "This world is is run by talking horses, so you've all been changed accordingly." With that they headed into town (or back into town, in Eri/Twilight's case), after Eri/Twilight removed the transport beacon, to find housing. It took a lot of willpower for Haul Horse, the yellow stallion, not to audibly marvel at how wonderful the world was now that he was smart enough to notice.
