Choose Your Own Adventure: Lyra’s Quest

by Wanderer D

Rating: everyone
Tags: Octavia, Random, Crossover, DJ P0N-3, Twilight Sparkle, Lyra, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike
Length: 19438

A Semi-CYOA starring Lyra with others as secondary characters.

Lyra is once more on the hunt for the greatest myth of all time... humans! But her attempts have been foiled again and again, even if proving their existence is the least of her objectives. This time, however, she seems to have finally found something that can only be made by humans! Can she, with your help, unravel the mystery and reach her objective?

Choose her path, and choose wisely, for once a choice is made, it cannot be undone! Whether she lives or dies, succeeds or fails is in your HANDS (remember she always wanted a pair of her own!)

Cover courtesy of NikkuWalkanov & WannabeFox

Published 2012-03-14 06:34:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-01 04:07:00 UTC

Ponyville

Hello everypony!

Welcome to "Lyra's Quest" this is a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' type of story. However, unlike traditional CYOAs, this will work on a voting system which will decide the one action to take. After I post this, you have 2 days to vote for which action our heroine will perform. Since characters and such can vary depending on your decisions, I will only start by listing Lyra alone.

After the 2 days, the voting is closed and no further votes will be counted for the chapter. Lyra will then proceed to do what most of you voted she should do.

You can only vote ONCE by posting a comment with your vote on it. (The comment can be the vote alone, if you don’t feel like saying anything.)

~WD

Lyra’s Quest

By Wanderer D

Lyra stared in complete bafflement at what she had discovered. Looking around, she made her way to the merchant, her horn alight as she levitated the metallic box behind her. “How much for this box?”

The merchant, an old pony with a dusty red coat, fading yellow mane with grey streaks and a pile of dirt for a cutie mark glanced at it and snorted. “That thing? 200 bits... but for you Lyra, only 100 because I like you and I want to get rid of it. It’s nothing but a solid piece of metal, even if it looks like a box. Believe me. I’ve tried opening it.”

Lyra smiled. “Thank you, Cheap!”

Dirt Cheap snorted again. “Whatever, Lyra. If you want to waste your money chasing mythical creatures, who am I to stop you?”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “You know they did exist, Cheap, you’ve seen enough evidence.”

Dirt Cheap coughed, looking away. “Lyra... I’ve seen some odd things but no evidence... no real, palpable, proven evidence, that humans existed.” He sighed and looked back at her. “Don’t you get tired of the same old story? You always get proved wrong, either by Celestia’s student or some other shenannigan. I even heard Miss Pie the last time I was here call your human-seeking adventures cliched.”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “That Pinkie Pie... she's always been one to share her thoughts...” she chuckled halfheartedly.

“And I hear Miss Bon-Bon is also not very happy with your spending habits, not to mention-”

“Do you want your 100 bits or not?” Lyra growled venomously. “Because from where I’m standing they just dropped to 80.”

Dirt Cheap shook his head and took the bits. “Just don’t be disappointed when it turns out to be something completely useless, okay?”

Lyra sighed. “I won’t be... I can almost feel it this time, you know?”

“No,” Dirt Cheap admitted promptly. “But I guess that’s what makes us different.” He looked at the sky. “Well, Lyra Heartstrings, it’s time for me to go, as always you were my first customer of the day, and the last.” He hesitated. “Since you, uh, checked everything I brought, did you find anything that’s worth selling for more than 500 bits?”

Lyra thought about it. “Well, there’s an old jar that seems to have been made by a skilled artisan... you might want to double-check with Twilight, but I think it’s old enough and in good enough condition to be sold to a collector rather than in the market. That might sell for a nice amount.”

Dirt Cheap nodded. “Yeah, I know which one you mean.” He smiled. “Well, good luck to you, Lyra!”

“Goodbye, Dirt Cheap!” Lyra said in return as she turned around and trotted towards her home, metal box floating behind her.

It took a few minutes for her to be safely installed at home as her eyes scanned the floating box as it rotated, allowing her to see every angle. “This one’s different... I can definitely feel it!”

Carefully placing the box on her table, she concentrated and summoned a pen and parchment from her desk. “The Human Conundrum, entry four hundred and seventy five.” She dictated as her magic wrote out her words. “I believe I have succeeded in finding something that is undoubtedly human-made. It is a metallic box. It seems to be made of separate pieces of black metal, but put together so tightly its almost impossible to see where the edges are, and Dirt Cheap, the merchant who sold it to me is convinced that it’s nothing more than a lump of metal which just happens to look like a box.”

She levitated the metal box and turned it around. “It might be too old to see correctly, but I believe there is a small indent on one of its sides. I will attempt to push one of my tools into it to see if anything happens.”

Choosing a screwdriver, Lyra levitated it and slowly pushed it into the indent she had found. Her eyes widened when something seemed to turn inside the box. An outline of a circle appeared on the front of it, backed by a blue light of some sort. Describing what happened, she continued. “... I don’t know where the light is coming from, or rather how it is originating... it does not feel like magic.”

She pushed her hoof against the glowing circle and the box shuddered, pieces sliding back as it somehow unfolded in front of her amazed eyes. “Oh, Celestia! The box it- it opened up and several strange symbols have appeared,there is a white dome of light forming in the center and its spiraling and... and... it’s not doing much else...” she bit her lip. “I’m afraid that this might be too much for me to try to understand on my own... I need help... but this is big! Who can I trust? Should I contact another member of the Hands Society? Or maybe Twilight Sparkle?” she put down the pen and stared at the box.

“Oh, what should I do?!” Lyra groaned.

o.0.o

If you want Lyra to contact:

Twilight Sparkle - Vote 1
Hand Society Agent Gray - Vote 2
Hand Society Agent White - Vote 3

Voting for this chapter Ends: Voting Closed!

Twilight Sparkle: 26 Votes
Agent Gray: 4 Votes
Agent White: 3 Votes

Ponyville

CHAPTER 2

Lyra sighed, looking at the box thoughtfully. “Hm... I’d better contact Twilight... she can take a look at this and we can make up our minds on who to call next... but...” her horn flashed, a quick spell letting Agent White know she had found something and would let her know later whether it was a lead or not. "There... now, Twilight..."

She looked out of her window at the Library, then back to the box. As it was, she would not be able to take it with her.

Making sure to close the curtains so nopony could see what was inside her house, Lyra went out of her house and trotted as calmly as possible to the tree that was Twilight’s abode.

She smiled nervously and returned greetings as she made her way to the Library, until, finally, she stood in front of the wooden door.

Lyra took a deep breath. “Come on, Lyra... you can trust Twilight, right?” Slowly she raised a hoof and, casting one final look around, knocked three times.

She waited.

“I’ll be right there!” a young male voice called from the other side. “Just so you know, Library hours are from 8AM to 6PM!”

“It’s me, Spike, Lyra!” Lyra called from the other side.

“Oh! Okay! I’m almost there!” she heard him say, followed by a loud bellow of “Twilight! Lyra’s here!”

The door finally opened and Spike smiled at the mint-green unicorn smiled back. “Hi, Spike!”

“Lyra Heartstrings!” Spike chuckled opening the door further and stepping aside. “Did you find something human-related again?”

Lyra eyed the dragon. “Maaybe... but let’s not talk out here...”

Spike nodded and closed the door behind them. Lyra took in the look of the Library. Unlike other times it was actually clean. That probably meant that Twilight’s friends had managed to not have an earth-shattering event today.

Twilight herself walked out of the kitchen, levitating a cup of tea. “Lyra! Would you like some tea? I just brewed it!”

“Uh, no thanks Twilight... I... I have something very important to tell you...”

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “Did you learn something new about friendship? Can you tell me what it is?”

“Um...” Lyra blinked. “I learned that if you get to know Dirt Cheap for long enough he’ll give you a discount?”

“Wow, even more of a discount?” Spike asked, impressed. “Just about everything he sells is completely underpriced... I can’t imagine him selling anything cheaper.”

Twilight was nodding. “Friendship does amazing things.”

“Yes...” Lyra ventured. “And speaking of friendship... I really need your help... as a friend and as a fellow researcher.”

Twilight frowned. “Fellow researcher? But the only subject of study you pursue with enough diligence is...” her shoulders slumped as she gave Lyra ‘The Look’.

Lyra knew ‘The Look’ well, it was something she faced most often when she opened her mouth to talk about stuff that she liked. ‘The Look’ was that facial expression of concerned annoyance that bordered on being condescending... and sometimes was, depending on who was the pony talking to her. Twilight never let it go further than mild annoyance, but it still hurt a bit.

“Well, at least this should be interesting from a historical perspective,” Twilight muttered loudly enough. “So, what is it? Those ‘gauntlet’ things you mentioned once? Did you find a ‘gun’? Or perhaps a set of... ‘cutlery’? Where do you get those names from anyway?”

“Oh, that’s something that Agent Gray comes up with, I don’t know how or where she got them from.” Lyra answered.

“Oh, Oct-”

“Agent Gray.” Lyra interrupted.

Twilight sighed. “So, ‘Agent Gray’ is the one that gets the names?” she chuckled. “You know, I never understood how she and V- I mean, Agent White, got interested in humanity.”

“Well, you’ll see why soon enough, Agent Purple.” Lyra said. “I have-”

“Hey, I never said I was part of your little group of Human-chasers,” Twilight said as Spike snorted. She glared at her assistant. “Shut up, Agent Zippo.”

Spike glared back. “What does that even mean? Seriously? Zippo!?”

Lyra coughed. “That was... Agent White’s idea.”

“Why do you even call yourselves ‘Agent Blue, White, Gray and Purple’ anyway?” Spike asked, rolling his eyes. “Everypony knows who you are!”

“I bet there’s people out there who were wondering who Agents Gray and White were until you almost spilled the beans.” Lyra said with an annoyed tick to her eyebrow.

“Hey, don’t look at me, Agent Purple here blew your cover,” Spike said.

“I’m not part of their club! What are we, the Cutie Mark Crusaders? We’re adults, lets call each other by name!” Twilight groaned.

“I’m not an adult!” Spike said.

“Shut up, you.” Twilight growled. She then turned to face Lyra. “So, what did you find?”

Lyra smiled sheepishly. “Well... I couldn’t bring it... I need you to come over to my place to see it.”

Twilight looked surprised. “Is it really big?”

“No, it’s... it’s done something... I don’t know what it’s doing exactly, so I came to ask you if you knew anything.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not very specific. Are you sure this can’t wait until tomorrow? It’s getting late.”

“Twilight... it... activated.”

That stopped the unicorn. “A-activated?”

Lyra nodded. “It doesn’t feel like magic... please, take a look.”

Twilight bit her lip. “But... all my research books are here... what if we need them?”

“Well... how about you bring Spike with you? That way if we need him to get some books he can run over and get them?” Lyra suggested.

o.o.o

Once Twilight had gathered her books, the pair of unicorns and the dragon left for Lyra’s house.

“I’m sure it’s just some sort of ancient unicorn relic,” Twilight said as they stepped into the house. “There’s plenty of those left around. From your description it could be an intricate lamp of some sort, or maybe...” she trailed off as she saw it.

The black, metal box was still where Lyra had left it, and the strange dome of white light was still active.

“L-lyra... this is...”

“Proof that humans existed?” the lyre player couldn’t keep the smug look from her face.

“I- I... this is just...” Twilight stammered, carefully walking closer until she could see the box. As if somehow detecting their presence, the dome shifted and a series of translucent squares and rectangles made out of light appeared in front of them in a small array, each had a different strange symbol on it that glowed brighter than the square it was set on.

Twilight started pacing. “Th-those don’t look like something a pony would make... but...” she looked back, eyebrow twitching. “That’s impossible... there’s no way...” she looked at Lyra and Spike, who were staring at the floating array in awe. “Humans don’t exist! They never have!” she said. “That must be draconic! Yes! That’s why it’s like that, you must use claws...”

“Uh, I dunno Twilight,” Spike said. “A dragon wouldn’t make something this small, and the symbols are not draconic.”

“I know!” Twilight snapped. “It’s just that the alternative...”

“Humans,” Lyra said after a moment. “Why is it so hard to believe, Twi? All the cultures we know have them in paintings and legends of some sort. From ponies to Gryphons...”

Twilight shook her head. “That’s just drawing conclusions, it’s been almost completely proven that there were some distant cousins of modern apes that were taller. There are some skeletons in the museum. What happened is that the ancients made them look like more than they were, that’s all.”

The box suddenly beeped and a ray of light washed over all of them as different lights suddenly seemed to flow out of the dome.

“What is it doing now?” Twilight asked.

“If I knew I wouldn’t be asking you to take a look at it and tell me!” Lyra retorted.

A strange voice, speaking in a language that they didn’t recognize emanated from the box.

“Dwh hwekw dfii. Opioads nas asded.”

“Uh, bless you?” Spike said.

“What did he say?” Lyra asked.

“I don’t know!” Twilight replied, thinking hard. “That sounded like... Ancient Aquarian? Maybe we have to dunk it underwater to understand?”

Bzzzt! Bzzzzt! The white dome in the box started going through a series of sounds that sounded disturbingly like thousands of languages.

“What do we do?” Lyra asked. “Maybe I should have called the other members after all?”

Twilight shook her head. “What would a bunch of musicians with a hands fetish do? No, we need guidance, I say we take it to the Princess and see what she knows!”

“To the princess?!” Lyra shook her head. “Twilight, you know that the government has been hiding the existence of humans for thousands of years! She’ll take it away!”

“But we don’t know if its another ancient enemy!” Twilight insisted.

“Uh, girls?” Spike said, staring at the box as it slowed down and started to pulse with energy. “Whatever you want to do, you better do it now!”

o.o.o

Vote:

1: “Let’s contact the Princess! You know she’ll help us out, and I trust her!” Twilight said, nodding to Spike, who quickly scribbled down a note and sent it.

2: “No, I think we should let the others know, they can be here soon and they won’t betray us to the government!” Lyra said.

3: Wait and see what happens.

Voting for this chapter is over!

Option 1: 3 Votes
Option 2: 17 Votes
Option 3: 15 Votes

Ponyville

CHAPTER 3

Octavia relished the feel of the water running down her mane as she stood on her hind legs and indulged in a long, long shower.

It wasn’t often that she had the chance to do so. Her ensemble was constantly playing in one city or another and when she was home, she had little time to herself, as she preferred to spend that time with her friends or even attempt small variations on her music with the aid of her roommate just for fun.

“Ah, just let the thoughts fade, Octy, you did well...” she sighed to herself. “You don’t have to worry about another concert for the next few weeks, things are fine. You can indulge... let go of the stress.”

She sighed again in contentment, just letting the water cascade down her hair until the door to the bathroom was slammed open.

Octavia’s eyes snapped open as she turned in surprise to look at her roommate, Vinyl Scratch, who had just barged in, with a wild look in her face. This is it! I knew she wanted me bad but this... she’s such a beast! Octy thought, blushing a bit. “Vi-vinyl! What are you doing?! I know I put the sign outside and-”

“Octy! I just got a message from Agent Green!” Vinyl interrupted. “She’s confirmed that she has her hooves on something created by humans! Even Agent Purple couldn’t disprove it!”

Feeling strangely disappointed, Octavia slumped. “Oh, so that’s it then, that’s why you barged in here with no respect to my privacy!”

Vinyl coughed, looking at her roommate as the shower kept pouring warm water on them. Her eyes roamed Octavia’s body. She looked... well, really, really nice, standing like that... it really showed how well toned Octavia’s body was, strangely enough. “Well... yes?” Vinyl ventured. Don’t blush! Don’t blush!

“Couldn’t this wait!?” Octavia demanded, as she turned off the faucet and dropped to her four hooves in annoyance and deftly wrapped a towel around her with her mouth.

“Yeeee- NO!” Vinyl shook her head. “Octy, they said that this human thing... it was doing strange things! Things nopony has ever seen before! Things that only humans could have created!”

Octavia rolled her eyes. “Yes, I do remember quite clearly how this aquaintance of yours... what was her name... Trixie, yes... how she could do things ‘no other unicorn could ever hope to do’. Plenty of tall tales and exaggerations that came crashing down around her in the most monumental fashion...”

“But we’re talking about Twilight Sparkle!” Vinyl insisted. “She’s Celestia’s apprentice! She’s probably next in line if something happens to Celestia herself!”

Octavia frowned. “What about Luna?”

“Meh, everypony knows she’ll be spaced again sooner or later.”

“And you wonder why you’re never invited to perform at the Castle,” Octavia sighed. She trotted past her roommate giving her a playful slap to the muzzle with her tail. “Just so you know, I gave Luna one of your cds and she liked it!”

“Long live the Lunar Republic!” Vinyl called back as she took a deep breath, trying to remember that aroma forever. “I’ve already called an air taxi, so you should get ready!”

Octavia stopped. “Ready for what?”

“The adventure of our lives!” Vinyl smiled. “Don’t forget your Cello!”

o.0.o

Twilight paced in front of Lyra’s home. They had all run out and closed the door behind them and soon the noises had died down. Still, they had managed to send a message to ‘Agent White’ via Lyra’s pre-ensorcelled paper.

“Tell me again, Lyra, why exactly did you buy something like that? Instant messaging is expensive unless you have a dragon, like Spike.” Twilight asked.

Lyra looked at her. “For situations like this! Sure, at 50 bits a page it’s a little expensive, but then again I never thought I would really get to use it anytime soon!”

“Well, you did and we’re glad you did, since doing it means that we have more friends to help us!” Spike said.

“Hm... speaking of friends... maybe I should ask Rainbow Dash or Applejack for-”

“No!” Lyra stepped in front of Twilight with a resolute look. “There’s already too many of us involved, and you made a promise!”

Twilight blinked. “I did?”

“You did,” Spike confirmed with a nod. “When we were sworn into the Hand Society you promised not to get others who were not involved in Society business when called to duty.”

Twilight’s eyebrow twitched. “I did? When was this?”

Spike thought for a moment. “A couple of months ago, when you came back from partying all night at Canterlot for your birthday only to find that Pinkie had organized another party for you at the library, she got a lot of Applejack’s Special Reserve Cider and all those salt-licks... do you remember?”

Twilight shuddered. “Spike... I thought we would never speak of that night again.”

“Regardless you swore allegiance to the Hand Society that night, Twilight,” Lyra said.

“But I was drunk! And you never told me this when I said I wasn’t part of it!” Twilight complained.

“Well,” Lyra coughed. “I... thought you were saying that to have Plausible deniability... so I never pressed you.”

“Plausible-” Twilight’s eyes widened. “What the hay did you think we would be doing that I would ever need Plausible deniability?!”

“Shh!” Lyra put her hoof on Twilight’s mouth. “You’re being too loud!”

“Hey, girls! I think I see them!” Spike said, pointing up.

Both unicorns looked up as a chariot painted in yellow with a black and yellow checkered line in the middle and pulled by four pegasi landed in front of Lyra’s house.

“Heartstring Household,” the lead pegasus said. “Please watch your step and thank you for using Air Cab.”

“Thank you, good sir!” Octavia said as she pulled her Cello case out of the cab.

“I’ve left your tip in the car so you can get it when you get home!” Vinyl said.

“Thank you, ma’am!” the lead pegasus nodded just before they took off.

“Vinyl, how kind of you!” Octavia remarked. “I thought you had spent all your money on the fare! I was more than willing to pay for the tip!”

“It’s okay, Octy! I got it! I just hope they like it!”

That gave the gray earth pony pause. “Like it? What do you mean?” she glared at Vinyl. “What type of ‘tip’ did you leave them?”

“A sandwich!” Vinyl replied in stride. “Daffodil and daisy. Made by me! Delicious!”

“Weren’t you eating a sandwich on the way?”

Vinyl looked uncomfortable. “Um... yeah?”

“It wouldn’t be the sandwich you ‘left’ would it?”

Vinyl lowered her head.

“Vinyl Scratch,” Octavia glared at her roommate. “Tell me you didn’t leave a half-eaten sandwich as tip for the four pegasi that dragged us all the way here in a conveniently short time!”

“I... I didn’t?” Vinyl looked up. “It was more like, three fourths left...”

Octavia sighed. “We’re taking the train back. I just hope this trip is worth the aggravation... I might never be able to use their services again!”

“It’s worth it,” Lyra said walking up to them. “It’s really worth it! Octy... Scratch... I finally found it! Proof! And it’s irrefutable!” her smile almost lit up the night.

“Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves...” Twilight said, stepping up to them. “‘Irrefutable’ might be a bit too much...”

“Agent Purple,” Vinyl nodded.

Twilight arched an eyebrow and nodded back. “Vinyl.”

“Twilight, nice to see you,” Octavia smiled.

“Agent Gray, how are you?” Spike waved.

“Thank you for remembering the code names, Agent Zippo,” Lyra said.

“I hate that nickname,” Spike growled. “It’s all your fault, Vinyl!”

Vinyl chuckled. “Well, Lyra wanted something that sounded mysterious so...”

Twilight sighed. “Are we really going to do this? Let’s all be adults and one baby and call each other by our names, okay?”

“I say we leave it to a vote!” Lyra said. “Now, if you want us to call ourselves by code name vote 1...”

“No,” Octavia stomped her hoof down. “What is this? One of those ‘Dungeons and Humans choose your own adventure’ stories? I say we just call each other by name and be done with it.”

“But-” Vinyl started, only to wince at Octavia’s glare. “Yeah... I can live with that.”

Lyra sighed. “Fine. But we should really take a look at that box now...”

Twilight nodded. “Perhaps with our combined intellects, Octavia and I can figure out what that thing is.”

The group cautiously walked up to Lyra’s door. Twilight’s horn lit up and the knob turned.

“Heeeeeeey...” Vinyl suddenly said. “What do you mean Octy and you? What about me and Lyra?!”

“Exactly what you think!” Twilight whispered harshly. “Now, let’s go in, and be careful, Vinyl, Lyra, be ready to cast a shield if we need it!”

“I don’t know that spell!” Vinyl whispered back. “My magic is focused on music!”

Twilight groaned and glanced at Lyra.

Lyra sheepishly levitated her lyre and strummed it.

“Great,” Twilight deadpanned.

She opened the door fully and the group stepped in. There was a light shimmering in the living room where Lyra, Twilight and Spike had left the box.

“Okay gang, the box was doing something strange when we ran out, so be careful...” Twilight whispered.

“Gang? Seriously Twilight, you need to think of a better term...” Vinyl said. “That sounds so dorky.”

Spike snickered. “It is!”

“Aw, our Twilight is adorkable!” Lyra poked Twilight’s withers.

“Stop it!” Twilight snapped.

“Yes, please behave,” Octavia frowned. “This is not the time to behave like teenagers.”

“But, Octy, we’re barely young adults, despite what her Adorkableness would like to say.”

Octavia’s lips twitched. “Fair enough, but you should have a limit to your teasing, Vinyl.”

“No, I shouldn’t.”

“Shh!” Twilight growled. “Do you want the box to notice us?!”

Spike snorted. “It’s a box, Twilight, how could it-”

“GREETINGS!”

Twilight’s horn flashed so suddenly the others barely had time to gasp as they were flung all over the room while the purple unicorn jumped so high her horn scratched the ceiling.

The group fell down on their stomachs and faces and stared in surprise and fear as the box emitted a light that formed some sort of white translucent field around them.

“GREETINGS... SPECIES: EQUUS FERUS CABALLUS... PONIES. AND DRACONIS OCCIDENTALIS: DRAGON. UPADTING DATABASE: SENTIENT RACES. I AM G*zziorhg*” The box said, although its name sounded more like garbled and scratchy sounds than an actual name. “I HAVE BEEN DESIGNED TO INTERFACE WITH ANY SENTIENT SPECIES AND ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ANSWERED WITH MY EXTENSIVE DATABASE AND ALSO INFORM YOU OF THE INEVITABLE RETURN OF-”

“Are humans real!?” Lyra asked suddenly.

“HUMANS... SPECIES: HOMO SAPIENS. SENTIENT RACE OF BIPEDS ORIGINATING ON THE THIRD PLANET (DESIGNATION: EARTH) OF THE SOL SYSTEM-”

“Yeah, yeah, are they real?” Lyra interrupted yet again.

“YES.”

“YEEEEEEEEEEEES!” Lyra shouted, doing a pirouette as her horn flashed and her lyre levitated and started playing a merry tune.

“EQUUS FERUS CABALLUS... UPDATING DATABASE: UNICORN VARIATION DETECTED. UNICORN CONSIDERED MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURE. ADDING ENTRY TO ‘CONFIRMED LEGENDS’”

“Lyra! Calm down!” Twilight said, her horn glowing and stopping the bouncing unicorn in place. “Do you realize what we have here?! A complete encyclopedia that I believe covers entire worlds! More cultures than just simply humans!”

“Do you know of a way we could get hands?” Octavia spoke once Twilight’s and Lyra’s attention was on each other.

Instantly Lyra’s and Vinyl’s eyes were on the box as Twilight rolled her eyes.

“THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS IN WHICH SUCH MUTATION OR UPGRADE CAN BE ACHIEVED.” The box said, to Twilight’s surprise. “WITH SCANNED LEVEL OF LOCAL TECHNOLOGY, IT IS CURRENTLY IMPOSSIBLE IN THIS WORLD.”

The look of utter defeat in the other’s eyes made Twilight sigh as the next logical question popped in her mind. I know I’m going to regret this... “Box, you said in this world. Is there a way to go to another world and have it done?”

“COMPUTING: POSSIBILITY HIGH. THIS UNIT IS EQUIPPED WITH ENOUGH MEMORY TO TAKE A TRAJECTORY TO THE CLOSEST SOURCE OF POTENTIAL TECHNOLOGY OUTSIDE OF THIS PLANET.” Several numbers flashed on the miniature dome of light. “DO YOU WISH TO GO TO THE NEXT AVAILABLE SOURCE?”

The ponies exchanged glances.

o.o.o

Vote:

1: “YES! I WANT HANDS!” Lyra shouted.

2: “We should really think about this, as... enthusiastic... as you all are, we don’t know where we’re going to end up...” Twilight said. “We should really, really contact somepony that knows more about this, or if not, at least do more research...”

3: “Think about it Twilight!” Spike said, eyes flashing with curiosity. “All the worlds we have never imagined! Whole races, cultures... gems! Other dragons that are not jerks!”

Voting ends: March 21st at Midnight EST

Voting Closed!

Results:

Option 1: 7 Votes
Option 2: 7 Votes
Option 3: 20 Votes!

Note: After voting is done, depending on the choice a second round of votes might be required. That set will be updated on the blog and 'tagged' for this story, so if you are tracking it you should know it's there even if you don't have me on your 'watch' list for some obscure reason ^_^

Babylon 5

“Think about it Twilight!” Spike said, eyes flashing with curiosity. “All the worlds we have never imagined! Whole races, cultures... gems! Other dragons that are not jerks!”

Twilight winced, looking down at her assistant.

“Maybe one of those dragons will teach me what it means to be one!” Spike looked up at her. “Please! We have to go!”

“But, Spike, we don’t know what’s out there and-”

“This is our chance, Twilight.” Lyra interrupted, putting her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “For Octy, Vinyl and me... to get what we always wanted, for Spike to find better role-models, and for you to truly discover something new.”

Twilight gritted her teeth, but then sighed. “I do want to do something new... I just...”

The box whirled. “I WILL PRESENT THREE OPTIONS THEN.”

Vinyl arched an eyebrow. “Only three?”

“THIS UNIT WAS SENT THROUGH MANY WORLDS BEFORE REACHING THIS ONE. TO RE-CALIBRATE, THIS UNIT NEEDS TO REACH ANOTHER LOCATION AND RECHARGE TO OBTAIN A BETTER READING.”

“Sounds good to me!” Vinyl said, turning to look at the others.

Twilight blinked. “Wait, that-”

She was interrupted yet again, although this time by three spheres that were projected out of the box.

“PLEASE CHOOSE DESTINATION”

The spheres materialized in front of the perplexed mares. Each looked and felt different.

Octavia approached the first. It had swirling clouds of black, red and white. It looked strange to her, she was no unicorn, but she could feel, somehow, that there was magic in that world. The other two spheres gave her different feelings... one of dread, and at the same time happiness, the third and last made her feel... young... like an infant trapped in a game of ancient beings. “Well... the first one seems relatively safe,” she said after a moment.

Vinyl snorted. “Which is why we should go for this one!” she pointed a hoof at the one that seemed to have flames and a permeating sense of dread as well as some humor to it. “This one seems like fun!”

Twilight sighed. “As safe as the first is and as... fun... as the second one seems to be to you, Vinyl, the third one... it just feels like it had more to be explored and learn from.”

“So... which one should we take?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know, Spike,” Twilight sighed. “But it’s not for me to choose...” she turned to look at Lyra, who was considering all three spheres. “Lyra, I think you should decide.”

“Wait, me?” Lyra asked, looking at Twilight in surprise. “But... but you’re the smart pony here! Well, you and Octavia at least, why me?”

Twilight smiled. “Because this is your dream, and even if I am smart, I’m not an expert on humans, like you are.”

Lyra blinked. “Oh...” She smiled. “Well then... if humans went extinct, doesn’t it make more sense to go where we feel the most ancient knowledge is?”

Octavia and Vinyl looked at each other, before looking back at Lyra.

“It... kinda makes sense,” Vinyl said, frowning a bit. “I just hope we won’t end up in a dusty library for the next few months. I can’t think of anything more boring than that! No offense, Twilight...” she added, looking at the purple unicorn.

Twilight huffed and looked away.

Octavia shrugged. “Like Twilight said, you’re the leader of this... expedition... Lyra.”

Lyra nodded resolutely as she looked at the box. “Box... whatever your name is, we’ve made up our minds. We will take the third option.”

The group shut their eyes tightly as the box flashed with a powerful white light.

Lyra almost wanted to shout as the world around her closed eyes seemed to expand and contract. There was no pain, but it was decidedly uncomfortable. Finally when everything seemed to calm down, the first thing that she noticed was the noise.

Her eyes snapped open as she stared at where she was. Metallic columns raised and curved from the walls around the very large room she was standing at along with the others. However, that was not what really caught her attention.

Staring at them were not just one or two... but... dozens of wildly different creatures looking at them in awe, curiosity or fear. Lyra’s heart started beating faster. Some had scales, some had really strange hairdos, some had tentacles where their mouths should be... but... they all stood on their hind-legs! She couldn’t help herself as her foreleg wrapped tightly around Twilight Sparkle’s neck and hugged her hard as she pointed with her other hoof at the creatures. “They’re bipedal!”

*Cough!* “Yes!” Twilight wheezed, “I see that!”

“Okay, okay! What’s the commotion? What’s going on here?!” a voice shouted from behind the group of creatures. “Hey, move out of the way! Security here! Come on, people, let me do my job!”

Reluctantly the creatures parted to let another bipedal creature through. It had a short brown mane on the top of its head, and not much of a coat where the ponies could see its skin under the clothes it was wearing. It stopped and oggled the ponies for a moment.

“Oh, great, not only is it a security breach, it’s a first-encounter situation...” it mumbled. Its hand (Hands! Lyra squeaked in her mind) went up to his mouth as he spoke to the back of it. “This is Chief of Security Zak Allan, can someone please tell the captain that we have a bunch of unicorns in the premise? Yes, unicorns.” He shook his head, lowering his hand as several individuals dressed similarly to him started pushing the other creatures back. “Okay everyone, there’s nothing to see here! Carry on, just new guests...”

“Mr. Allan...” a new voice emerged from the crowds, carrying a different accent to it.

“Oh no...” The creature, now identified as Zak Allan muttered, cringing visibly. “Not him... why him? Why now?” He quickly looked down at the ponies.

“Look, I don’t know if you understand me, but whatever you are here for, it’s better to do it without his influence...”

“Mister Allan, how rude!” Another, similar, creature but with a considerably longer mane standing straight up and open like a peacock tail said, stepping up to the very edge of the crowd. “To think, that you would sully my reputation in front of our new arrivals! No, no, Mr. Allan, that is simply not how you do things!” the creature smiled a big grin.

“Londo...”

“Perhaps our new... friends would like to come with me? Hmm? I can introduce them to the wonders of the Station.”

“Not without proper identification,” Allan replied, glaring at him.

“As this is a first encounter, and I have considerably more experience with such, it is my duty, no, my pleasure, to help these... new friends... with their paperwork; certainly the Centauri Republic could do no less.”

“Girls, I think we should make a decision ourselves...” Twilight whispered to the others.

Octavia frowned and nodded. “I’d rather we got out of here, either way; we are just being stared at!”

“I say we go with the guy that has the crazy hair!” Vinyl said, grinning. “He looks like he can throw a party!”

“Yeah!” Spike agreed.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “What do you think, Lyra?”

But Lyra wasn’t paying attention. “Hands... they have hands! You called me crazy! But I knew!”

“Lyra!” Octavia grabbed her and shook her. “Snap out of it! What do we do?!”

Lyra blinked. “Oh... well... I think we should...”

o.o.o

Voting Has Ended

And the winner is:

1: “I trust this Mollari guy, his hair is funny but he looks like he knows what he’s doing.”

2: “Well, if Zak is the Chief of Security, we might as well listen to him, who knows what could happen?”
With 18 Votes!

3: “Hands! I must get some of my own! Let’s go!” Lyra shouted, horn flashing as she pushed an area free of gawkers with her magic.

Babylon 5

“This place is amazing!” Twilight said in wonder, looking at the completely different races of being walking around and eyeing them curiously. The amount had diminished once Zack had taken them to the ‘Green Sector’.

“With so much technological advances... it might be just possible to get what you want, Lyra...” Octavia whispered.

“You mean what we want, right?” Lyra replied, looking at the strange contraptions on the walls.

Octavia hesitated, looking at Zack’s hands. “Y-yeah... I just hope they look... well, nicer...”

Zack raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment and pretended not to hear. They were almost at the Captain’s Office anyway.

“Hey, what happened to the box?” Spike asked.

“It’s okay, Spike, my dragon!” Vinyl grinned. “I got it in my saddle bag!”

“But how did it even fit there?!”

“It... became smaller?” Vinyl scratched the back of her head with a hoof.

“But... how?”

“Magic?”

Zack snorted, but to his surprise, the little reptile nodded. “Oh, okay.”

“This is what I get for accepting this job,” he murmured by himself as he felt a headache coming. “I should have stayed out of command, why did I do this?”

“Hey, Zack!” A bald human came up and patted the security officer on the shoulder, looking down at the Ponies. “I heard about it, but I couldn’t believe it. My Little Ponies... In Babylon 5.”

“You know what we are!?” Lyra asked, eyes wide, looking at the new human *squee! Humans!* in surprise.

“Well, that’s because...” he leaned in conspiratorially. “I’m in the know.”

Lyra’s smile brightened the whole place as she looked at the others. “Oh, I like him!”

“That and you resemble a species that live in our planet, only... cuter and a cartoon from the late 20th Century,” the man chuckled. “Well, go ahead, don’t let me stop you.”

Zack gave the other man a look. “You’re not coming chief?”

“Zack, this is your turf now,” the man said, “And I don’t want to get in the way. I’ll see you all later!”

“Who was that?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

“That was my boss, or he used to be, Michael Garibaldi,” Zack said. “But he’s... doing other things now. Anyway, we’re here.”

The metallic doors slid open and they were lead into an ample office. They could hear voices, one of which they recognized as Ambassador Mollari.

“And I assure you, Captain that my intentions were nothing but friendly to our new guests.”

“I understand Ambassador, I will let them know.” Another man’s voice replied. “But a public confrontation with my Chief of Security is not going to earn you any points.”

“Confrontation? Bah, it was nothing more than a simple exchange of words, my dear Captain.”

When the ponies were in line of sight, the Captain, a man with brown hair and blue eyes glanced at them, then quickly turned to face the screen where the Centauri Ambassador was looking back at him.

“Well ambassador, as I said, I will pass your message to our new guests, but for now, I’m afraid I must let you go.”

“Captain I-”

“Good afternoon, ambassador.” The Captain said, turning off the screen. He sighed deeply and smiled warily at the group as they walked into the office.

“Captain Sheridan,” Zack spoke up. “Here are our new guests. Allow me to introduce you to Lyra Heartstrings, Twilight Sparkle, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia and Spike.”

“Welcome to Babylon 5,” he said a bit formally. “I’m sorry about Londo, but he is the type to take advantage of a situation. As it is I’ve already received several invitations from other governments to have you visit their representatives.” He sighed. “It is odd to suddenly have a first encounter situation on the station... we did not see any of your ships approach and, I hate to say this, but the war doesn’t help matters with trust right now.”

“War?” Twilight repeated worriedly. “We were not aware of that!”

The Captain shook his head. “I assumed as much, you all seem as surprised to be here as we are to see you... so, where do you come from? And how did you get here?”

When Twilight hesitated and turned to glance at a corner of the room, Lyra took a step forward. “We come from the land of Equestria,” Lyra said. “And I think we got here by magic.”

“Magic?” Sheridan blinked and looked at Zack for confirmation. The Chief of Security just shrugged.

“Well, it’s the only explanation we have...” Lyra said after hesitating for a moment. “I mean, it’s not that far fetched, right?”

Sheridan massaged his brow. “Just... out of curiosity, what is the level of technology in your world like?”

“Well... we have a train...” Octavia spoke up.

“And... there’s the air cabs...” Vinyl reminded her.

Octavia made a sour face. “Don’t remind me.”

“Flying chariots? That’s not bad...” Sheridan nodded.

“Yeah, but the pegasi pulling them charge a lot! And then they expect tips!”

“Pegasi,” Sheridan sighed. “So, you have unicorns, pegasi... uh, normal ponies and...” he looked at Spike.

“Dragons,” Spike said.

“Right, so you can spit fire? And the Unicorn’s horns have magic?” Sheridan asked after a moment.

“Yeah!” Spike grinned. “It’s not as much as a grown up dragon, but I can show you if you want!”

Sheridan chuckled. “Don’t worry, I believe you,” he slumped back in his chair. “Well, it seems that we don’t have to worry about ancient technology coming back to haunt us again...” he leaned forward. “I would like to talk to one of you further about your culture, but the rest of you could just get a quick check up at Medbay and take a look around the station. I’ll have someone I trust go with you and show you around...”

Twilight frowned and looked back at the captain. “But, what about the ambassadors? Didn’t they want to talk to us?”

Sheridan sighed. “In this political climate, Miss Sparkle, it’s better to see what’s happening before you talk to any of them. Babylon 5 serves as a neutral ground for all species, but everyone here, alien and human has their own agenda. So... look around, and the guide I’ll send with you will be more than able to answer your questions and, if you want, introduce you to the other races.”

“Well, I want to see the station,” Lyra said firmly. “I might find something that will help me with my final mission!”

“And what is that?” the Captain asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hands!” Lyra grinned.

“And I would like to listen to what the music is like here!” Vinyl said, rubbing her hoofs together.

“As do I,” Octavia nodded. “Although perhaps, Captain, you could tell me where I could enjoy some peace and quiet?”

Sheridan, who had been staring at Lyra shook his head to clear it and looked at the gray mare with the cello case attached to her back. “I can think of a good place,” he assured her.

“I’ll stay here,” Twilight said. “I’ll be glad to talk about this place and about Equestria with you, Captain.”

“Aw...” Spike groaned. “Do I have to stay? Are you going to be sending a report to the Princess about this, Twilight?”

Twilight smiled kindly at the dragon. “It’s okay Spike, I don’t know if you your dragon fire can actually reach the princess from here... I believe I heard somepony say that we were in a space station, that means that were hundreds of millions of miles away from home.” Her eyes sparkled with intense curiosity. “Oh, the things I could learn!”

“Then it’s decided,” Sheridan said. He brought his hand up and spoke. “Marcus, if you could come over to my office, I have some guests that could use your help.”

“On my way, Captain,” Marcus replied.

“Now, all we need to do is figure out exactly where you want to go and-”

Sheridan was interrupted when another man, tall with shoulder length hair and dressed in a different uniform strode in. His clothes were more like robes, but still designed for easy movement.

“And here I am, Captain!” the man said cheerfully, then suddenly stopped. “Captain, there’s unicorns in your office.”

“And a dragon, thank you very much!” Spike growled.

“And an earth pony!” Octavia sighed.

“Um, my apologies, my lady,” Marcus bowed to Octavia. “I am simply not used to seeing unicorns around, but I must say, to ignore a lady such as yourself with such a lovely voice is a crime onto itself.”

Blushing, Octavia looked away. “I... it’s okay, good sir, it was a mistake, nothing more.”

“Marcus, please show them around the station while I talk to Miss Sparkle,” he indicated Twilight with a slight inclination of his head. “Zack can take Miss Octavia to the gardens, so you don’t have to run all over the place.”

Marcus nodded, indicating that everypony should follow him.

Once they were gone, Twilight looked back at the captain. “Captain, before we continue... could you tell your friend to come out of hiding?”

Someone chuckled as a being unlike all the others Twilight had seen in the station was suddenly there. His head was long and high, he had a long moustache and eyes that were ancient... even older than Celestia or Discord.

“You are very perceptive, Miss Sparkle,” the alien said. “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Lorien.”

o.o.o

Outside of the office, Lyra, Vinyl and Spike looked at Marcus.

“Well, what now?” Lyra asked.

“I want to party!” Vinyl said. “I want to listen to the latest music!”

“I want to eat!” Spike added.

“And I want to shop around! Maybe I can buy hands!” Lyra said giddily.

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Well... I don’t know about hands, but after we visit the good doctor, where what would you like to do first?”

1) “We could go to the Dark Star, if you really want to listen to what’s new...” Marcus said after a moment’s hesitation. “I am assuming you are all adults? Because that place is... well, a bit uncouth. But it has the latest music.”

2) “If you’re hungry, there’s no place like Doug's Dugout,” Marcus said. “It’s a sports bar, but they have a really nice selection of dishes for all tastes!”

3) “If you must insist on shopping first... well, there’s the Zocalo. But I’m afraid that unlike the other two places, the shopping we cannot put on the Captain’s tab.”

Voting has ended!

Results:

1: 14 Votes - “We could go to the Dark Star, if you really want to listen to what’s new...” Marcus said after a moment’s hesitation. “I am assuming you are all adults? Because that place is... well, a bit uncouth. But it has the latest music.”
2: 13 Votes
3: 1 Vote

Also, if you feel like commenting, please do so! XD I'd like to read your thoughts on how the story is going!

Babylon 5

A quick note to B5 fans: Don’t try to scrutinize this too much, I’m placing this shortly after Sheridan’s return but before the whole Vorlon/Shadow war really explodes. Meaning, what? A few hours? XD It’s... a moment in time.

“IDs,” the Drazi bouncer said, looking down at the tiny purple reptile with the moustache and a top-hat for a moment before raising his eyes to meet Marcus’. “Or no entrance.”

Lyra looked at the Drazi in annoyance. While humans were intriguing, they were not necessarily attractive... and the Drazi less so... they resembled humanoid reptiles in appearance with a ridged brow and ridged scales down the back of the head. This particular one was green-scaled, while she had seen some that were purple and brown. She had yet to meet one that was remotely friendly.

“As I said, these are new guests who have no ID,” Marcus repeated himself. “You can check this credit chip; it’s tied to the special credit for new races by order of the Captain.” He showed a small card to the bouncer. “They are diplomats.”

The Drazi did not looked convinced.

“Listen, friend,” Vinyl spoke up. “I am actually a business pony and I am interested in what this place has to offer for future enterprises. I don’t think your employer would be too happy if he found out you had let a possible exclusive deal pass because of protocol.”

The Drazi cringed. “Fine, fine! Go in. See if I care.”

“You should,” Vinyl said as they all marched in. “It’s your job, after all!”

Marcus shook his head as he led them into the Dark Star. “I can’t believe I suggested this! By the Seven Sisters and Avalon, bringing two unicorns and a minor dragon into a Strip Club! The captain is going to kill me,” he muttered, then paused. “Delenn is going to kill me. She’ll talk to me about morals and duties and preserving innocence... oh bloody hell, this is not going to end well...”

The place was full of aliens of all shapes and forms, although again, mostly bipedal. Most patrons sat at the big tables overseeing the dance area where females of every species danced and twirled as they slowly disrobed.

Vinyl Scratch started nodding her head to the music from the moment she could hear it. “Oh yeah, this is what I was talking about.”

Lyra sighed. “But how will this help with our quest?”

Marcus looked down at her. “I keep hearing about this ‘quest’ of yours, but I haven’t heard what it’s about.”

Lyra sighed as they all sat down. “Hands.”

Marcus slowly raised an eyebrow. “Hands?”

Lyra nodded. “I’ve always wanted hands instead of hooves,” she said. “I can play my lyre well enough as I am, but imagine the possibilities!” She looked around. “Up until today, humans were a myth... and now... I’m in a bar with one *squee!* and I’ve also seen so many other species with... with hands! It’s not fair!”

Marcus blinked and hesitantly patted the unicorn in the back. “Uh... there, there, having hooves can’t be that bad, right?” He paused. “Wait... you play the lyre?!”

“Bah!” A voice said next to them, and they turned to see a familiar face sitting right next to them. “Hands! Hands are overrated,” Londo said, not taking his eyes of the dancer who was sensually making her way towards the Centauri Ambassador. “Useless things, sure, you can use them to point at someone, or even to lift things, but in the end, they just give you grief.” he shook his hands dramatically. “Trust me, Little Pony, you are better off without them. Or you could get tentacles, those are useful.”

Marcus rolled his eyes. “Mollari, why am I not surprised to see you here?”

“Surprised?” Londo chuckled. “Yes, I guess you could be, but given the circumstances where else would I be? Hm?” He smiled at the dancer. “Let me tell you something: I have learned that I do need to relax a bit before everything goes to hell.”

Marcus shook his head, then pushed Mollari aside as the dancer suddenly tried to stab the Ambassador. Deftly grabbing her wrist, the ranger twisted, dragging her off the table with a scream of surprise. She landed in a heap as the music stopped and the patrons stared in horror.

Londo, looking a bit shaken took a sip of his glass. “And that is why I have to relax.”

Shortly after the would-be assassin was dragged out and presumably taken to security, the group had settled down on a table overlooking the rest of the bar.

“So, I have a question...” Londo said after a moment. “Didn’t you bring two unicorns and a dragon?”

Marcus blinked and cursed. “Lyra, where’s Vinyl Scratch?!”

The music went silent as two spot lights turned on at the back of the main stage. The crowd quieted down in confusion; this was clearly not the usual start for the Dark Star’s main attractions.

Drum-based music emanated from somewhere as smoke filled the back of the stage. The music increased the tempo as chanting voices gave it a mystical feeling. Slowly the lights dimmed and where the smoke was now stood a certain white-coated unicorn with a blue and neon-blue mane, smiling cheekily at everyone in the club, the large purple-tinted sunglasses making it look like she was looking at everyone there when she looked around. The tempo increased and a double-beat jumped into the background music.

“Alright everypony!” Vinyl Scratch shouted, “Ock has given me the green light to party up this place!” she started nodding her head as a low beat surged from the hidden speakers. “Prepared to be awed by Equestria’s premier DJ!”

Her horn flared up with blue energy to the astonishment of all aliens present as strange black discs of some sort were levitated out of her saddle bags. With a sudden scratch the music changed into a much more modern beat.

“But don’t think I’ll take away your usual entertainment!” Vinyl grinned. “I wouldn’t dare! So with that in mind, bring your hooves, or hands, up for... Illleeena!” she announced as a stripper danced out from the backstage.

The crowd gave a whoop as the Centauri woman twirled around the stage.

Marcus slowly closed his mouth.

“Great, now we’ll stay here for a while,” Lyra groaned. “How am I going to get my hooves on some hands? Couldn’t we have gone to the Zocalo?”

Mollari chuckled. “Well, my dear equine, if you really want hands I wouldn’t buy them in the Zocalo...” he shook his head. “Here’s some free advice: You might want to go to Dr. Franklin to see if it is even possible to do what you want.”

Lyra blinked. “What? With all of this you can’t give a pony hands?”

“It seems Vinyl is having a lot of fun, Lyra,” Spike said. “What are we going to do? I’m still hungry and you still need your hands, but we can’t leave her here!”

“Bah,” Londo interrupted, his speech slurring after drinking even one more shot of whatever he was drinking. “I’ll call Vir, he can take her back to you. I’m sure that is within his capabilities.”

Lyra looked at Marcus, who shrugged. “I think Lennier was getting together with Vir today, you don’t know either of them, but they’re trustworthy.”

“Yes... Vir is both trustworthy and harmless,” Londo groaned. “A most tragic combination. I have tried to...” he thought for a moment. “Iron it out of him, but he insists on being nice. What type of Centauri is nice?”

Marcus shook his head. “I can tell Ock to only let Vir and Lennier pick Vinyl up,” he offered to Lyra. “But it’s up to you.”

o.0.o

1 - “I think we should wait though, your friend won’t stay all night here, right?” Marcus said.

2 - “I really want to go to the Zocalo,” Lyra insisted. “Please Marcus?” she turned to Londo. “Can you promise Vir will watch over her?”

Londo nodded, pressing a communicator. “Vir, I’m at the Dark Star, I need you here.”

“Oh my,” a worried voice was heard. “I’m not going to like this, am I?”

3- “If we’re going, why don’t we go to Dr. Franklin’s first, Lyra? It makes sense to have an expert tell you if you can get hands...” Spike suggested, noticing Lyra’s eyes straying to the door.

Voting Ends: Midnight Fri 6th of April
And the winnah iiiis: 3! By a landslide.

Also remember, all comments and constructive criticisms are welcome along with your vote! ^_^

Babylon 5

Intermission:

“And here we are,” Zack said, stepping out of the way so that Octavia could gaze at the gardens. She gasped. When Twilight had mentioned they were inside of a station she hadn’t truly believed it, until she had been forced to see that everything was inside some sort of huge structure.

It was even more impressive to find a place like this in the station. The gardens expanded all around her and it almost reminded her of the mazes in Canterlot Castle.

“This... it’s beautiful,” Octavia whispered.

Zack scratched the back of his head as he looked around. “Yeeah, I guess it is... it’s not really my thing...”

“I think I’ll be okay here,” Octavia said after a moment. “Am I allowed to play my instrument?”

Zack looked at her with a befuddled expression. “Uh, sure... I’ll issue you a permit.” He shifted from leg to leg. “Uh, listen, Octavia, will you be okay here? I have work to do and-”

Octavia nodded as she walked away. “I think I’ll be fine, thank you Zack.”

“Okay,” Zack sighed as he turned around. “Good... then, good luck and I’ll alert security to help you if you need anything.”

Octavia walked through the gardens until she found a slightly secluded section. She sighed as she carefully put down her Cello. Then she sat down next to it and buried her face in her hooves. “What am I doing here?” she moaned. Taking a deep breath she looked up and around.

“This is crazy, completely and utterly crazy,” she muttered. “I knew Lyra was into something with the humans and hands but...” she shook her head. “I let myself get carried away by her enthusiasm and now I’m here...” She looked up at the distant end of the station and shuddered. “Okay, okay, time to distract myself before I go crazy.”

She slowly pulled out her Cello and strummed it slowly, testing the sound of the strings before slowly sliding the bow across. She had carefully tuned it before they had left home, so she knew it would be perfect, but she still needed to turn a couple of her fine-tuners for the exact sound she was looking for. Somehow she had left them a bit flat, or maybe interdimensional travel messed up acoustics. Soon enough she was ready. With a deep breath she stood on her hind legs, and started playing.

At first she just let her strings create a soothing sound, but soon her worries came back to haunt her. She closed her eyes and frowned as images of hands came to her mind. She had somehow imagined them... different. Less knobbly for one. She shook her head, she needed something more involved. Slowly the notes became clearer as the melody unfurled.

As she played, the music seemed to wash away everything that made her tense. She smiled a little but didn’t allow herself to lose the melody. This was why she played.

She let the music play and her thoughts became less heavy, her worries less pressing. The vibrations of the bow in her hoof brought her comfort; the steady notes gave her confidence.

When she finally stopped, she reveled in the sudden and deep silence that followed- until it was interrupted by clapping.

Octavia blinked in surprise and looked at the creature that was sitting on a bench. It was human-shaped, but it had a different complexion, clearly it wasn’t human. She had seen some like it around, red eyes, brown, leathery skin with darker spots on it. This one was taller than the average and had a look of profound amusement in his eyes.

“That was beautiful!” The alien said eagerly. “Seldom have I heard such a masterful portrayal. Johann Sebastian Bach, wasn’t it?”

“Sea Bastion...” Octavia murmured under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m glad you liked my portrayal, Mr...”

“G’kar, Citizen G’Kar, of the Narn Regime,” the narn introduced himself with a short bow. “And I must say it’s a pleasure to meet a musician of your talents, miss...”

“Octavia...” she replied, bowing a bit and flushing slightly at the praise.

“Octavia,” G’kar repeated, mulling over the name. “Strangely appropriate, tell me miss Octavia, did you choose your name after you found your skills with the cello, or has it always been your name?”

“It has always been so,” Octavia blinked. “I didn’t find my talent until I was in school and I would have needed a name by then.”

G’kar chuckled. “Quite true, quite true. Another question, if you don’t mind my prying; you seemed rather preoccupied while you were playing, is something bothering you?”

Octavia looked at G’kar with an arched eyebrow. “That’s a bit personal, Mr. G’kar.”

The narn laughed. “Fair enough, I only asked in case I could help.”

Octavia chuckled. “Thank you but, my worries seem so small right now,” she looked around her. “I have never seen a place like this... it’s amazing... and the thought of war...” she frowned. “We ponies understand the concept of what it is but, never in our lifetimes have we actually faced something like that...”

G’kar smiled. “No war... that is a foreign concept to me and my people... we’ve all lead lives full of struggle and death. To live a life free of it... it's an option we have sadly been deprived of.” he shook his head. “You ponies are truly blessed.”

Octavia was looking down. “I... I would like to understand... just a little... I don’t know where our travels will take us, but... I’m just a musician.” She shuddered. “G’kar... I’m afraid... for myself and for my friends... I fear that being nothing more than an Earth Pony I will only put us in danger... I don’t think any of us really understands what we are getting into... and I can’t let my friends take even more risks than we’re taking because none of us understand what a world or worse, a universe in conflict is.”

G’kar sighed and moved aside to let Octavia sit down next to him. “The things you want to know...” he said after a moment. “Are things I wish you will never understand, but... I am far too experienced to truly believe you will always be safe from them.”

“Is there no hope then?” Octavia asked. “Will we all just... get into a war at some point and die?”

G’kar shook his head. “Oddly enough I was recently meditating on this, when we thought all hope lost...” he paused for a second, pulling a book from his pouch. “The Book of G’Quan...” he explained as he showed it to her. “Which is sacred to my people... he wrote many things during the last Shadow War which help us even today, he lived during a bleak time... but his messages are always of hope...

“G'Quan wrote, ‘There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities, it is against chaos and despair.

“‘Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.’"

Octavia was silent, looking down at the bow in her hoof. “So there is no escape from pain?”

G’kar’s smile was sad. “I’m afraid pain will come to us all in one way or another, but the point is not that we have to face something that pains or scares us, it’s the fact that something greater and good will emerge from that based on our choices.”

Octavia nodded slowly. “When I started playing the Cello... I was told not to. ‘It’s an instrument for pegasi, who can fly and won’t break their backs, or for unicorns who can use their magic to play it.’ My mom would say...” she smiled with a little amusement. “But I knew my call was there. I stood on my hind-legs for hours, I did exercises that left me sore for days... but I always knew... I hoped... that I would surmount those challenges and become more...” she chuckled and shook her head. “And listen to me, I’m comparing my struggles to become a musician with war on an interplanetary level.”

G’kar chuckled as well. “Don’t put yourself down, Octavia. While it may be true that your struggles do not involve mortal combat and blood, they are the struggles you had to face, the pain you had to conquer. One that has never been in a war cannot truly comprehend what a soldier feels, but that doesn’t mean they cannot understand suffering, even if its on a different scale.”

Octavia smiled a bit at that. “Tell me more?”

G’kar sighed and nodded. “I do hope, Octavia, that by preparing you a little against what you might encounter, I don’t cause you more damage than you are ready to handle.”

“I know... but I cannot not know.”

o.0.o

A/N:

Despair not! The choice-making will continue soon!

I’d like to dedicate this little chapter to the memory of Andreas Katsulas. Some of you might remember him for his role in “The Fugitive” but to me and many, many others, he brought to life one of the most amazing characters to ever grace Sci-fi: G’kar. It’s an odd homage, for sure, especially after 6 years, but I hope he would have at least found it amusing if he ever read it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjX7xDEWGSY

~WD

Babylon 5

Lyra's Quest Ch. 7

The beat shook the bar as the group enjoyed a drink.

Downing the last of her own, Lyra’s magic slammed it on the table. “Dat’s twenteh fiveh, Mollaaari!”

Londo down another shot. “And that’s thirty-two, my dear. Are you sure you want to carry on with this?”

“Shure, whai not?” Lyra grunted. “How long before *hic* thisssswatsnameguy Viirrr comes around and I can get hands?”

“Londo!” A very worried voice shouted.

“There he is,” the ambassador chuckled. “Vir!” he shouted, then frowned. “Vir! Over here!”

“Londo! There you are!” Vir, a much younger Centauri said, coming up to them.

“He’s kinda hard to miss, y’know...” Lyra said. “With the hair... like... like a peacock! Puff!” she chuckled and slammed her face down on the table.

Vir stared, then slowly turned to look at Londo. “Londo, did that llama just talk?”

“Yes, she did, Vir.”

“Oh...” Vir blinked. “But wait! You said there was an emergency! That you needed to get to Dr. Franklin!”

“And there is! And she does.” Londo said, grabbing Vir by the shoulder and sitting him down.

The younger Centauri glanced at Spike, who was sitting next to him. Spike smiled and threw a ruby into his mouth and started munching it into pieces.

Vir leaned closer to Londo. “Londo,” he whispered urgently. “That... reptilian pet of the horned llama is eating that ruby pendant your third wife, Mariel, gave you.”

“Yes he is, Vir,” Londo said as he stood up and waved at Marcus who made his way to them. “Yes he is. Spike here has also eaten the diamond that Daggair gave me as well.” Londo chuckled as he patted Spike’s head appreciatively. “And you know what? It has already made me feel better, like a weight was taken off my chest.”

“Literally!” Spike said. “You had them hanging on those chains.”

“That’s right my scaled friend, and they are no more. The chains that bound them to me are broken, the gems gone, the gold used to buy us drinks. I cannot think of a more appropriate way of ditching old pains.”

“Well, about time, Vir!” Marcus cheerfully patted the ambassador’s aide on the back. “Take good care of Vinyl for us, will you? Ock knows you’re here for her.”

“Vinyl?!” Vir asked, looking around wildly. “Who’s Vinyl?”

“Vinyl’s on stage, Vir,” Spike said.

Vir turned to look at the stage and his eyes went wide as he started stammering. “The Pak'ma'ra strip dancer?! Are you crazy!?”

Marcus repressed both a shudder and the urge to look at the stage. The fact that most patrons were looking down at their glasses and each other rather than the stage was enough to confirm that what Vir had said was true.

Londo slapped Vir on the back of the head. “Not her, the llama with the horn!”

Marcus looked at Spike and mouthed ‘llama with the horn’?

“Don’t ask me,” Spike shrugged. “I don’t even know what a llama looks like. Are they like ponies?”

“No,” Marcus said. “Anyway, Londo, if we are taking Lyra to Dr. Franklin we should do it now.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Londo grunted as he stood up. Chuckling as Marcus proceeded to pick up the unconscious unicorn. “She’s a lightweight, that one.”

“Londo, are you going to Med Bay?” Vir asked, tearing his eyes away from the grotesque show.

“No, Vir, I am retiring for the night.” Londo patted Vir’s shoulder. “But I needed someone trustworthy to take care of miss Scratch.”

Vir smiled. “Well... I... thank you, Londo, for trusting me and-”

“Yes,” Londo said gruffly, apparently not having heard Vir. “Trustworthy, harmless and able to pick up the tab. I will see you tomorrow, Vir, but not too early.”

o.0.o

Lyra groaned.

“... and furthermore, Marcus, how could you let an equine drink so much alcohol?” a voice was saying annoyingly loud, right next to her. “A drinking contest with Mollari?! What if she had had a bad reaction? We don’t know what unicorns are made of!”

“Sparkles, candy and rainbows?” Marcus’ voice replied.

“oooh... please... speak more softly...” Lyra whimpered.

“Hey doc!” Spike shouted right next to her ear, giving Lyra a splitting headache. “I think she’s waking up!”

“Finally,” the voice she didn’t recognize said. Another human *weee!* approached her, his face serious but at the same time concerned, dark eyes scanning her face. “Miss Lyra? Can you follow the light?”

He held something up to her face and a light suddenly appeared, making her wince. Regardless she followed it with her eyes as everything came into focus around her.

She was laying on a bed, with a few cables attached to her body and a small tube connecting her forehoof to some clear liquid.

“Thankfully you resemble earth equines enough for me to know what to do, but you would do well not to engage in such an activity anytime soon,” the man said. “Or ever again for that matter.”

“Hey Lyra!” Spike said, grinning as he jumped on the chair next to her. “Feeling better?”

“I feel...” Lyra blinked. “Better than I should after drinking so much...”

Dr. Franklin chuckled. “Don’t expect that to happen often. Now, I heard you were looking for me?”

Lyra’s eyes went wide. “Yes! Yes I was!” Her hoof took hold of the doctor, something that seemed to bother him much more than breach of personal space should have. “I want hands.”

Dr. Franklin blinked. “You what now?”

“Hands, I need hands,” Lyra repeated. “We are here because we all want hands.”

Franklin looked down at Spike, who shrugged. “Not me. I have claws. And I’m pretty sure Twilight is happy with hooves. Dunno about Octy and Vinyl.”

Lyra nodded. “I heard I could obtain some in the market and I was about to go there, but Marcus thought it might be a better idea to ask you and Spike agreed and...”

“Okay, hold on.” Dr. Franklin made placating gestures with his hands. *Squee! Hands!* “While it is true that you could possibly find some ‘hands’ in the market to purchase, they would most likely be generic artificially made hands that would at best simply not work for you, at worst create a really bad reaction when your body rejects them that could eventually kill you. And that is without taking into account the sort of surgery that you would need...”

“So, what does that mean, Doc?” Spike asked.

“It means... that Lyra cannot get hands here... not with our technology.” He sighed. “The Vorlons might have been able to do something, but... we are at war with them and the Shadows and you wouldn’t want to pay the price they would ask if they were in good terms with us.”

Lyra slumped back. “There’s no chance then?”

Franklin shook his head. “I’m sorry, Lyra, but the process we have for attaching hands to people that have lost them would not transfer as well to you... there’s a lot of things to take into account: nervous system, compatibility... and how would you walk with hands? They are soft, they would be torn apart if you started galloping.”

“Oh...” Lyra looked down at her hooves. She had never thought about that.

Franklin sighed. “I’m sure, if what Marcus tells me is true, that you might find a solution to getting the hands in another universe, but you should stop and think about the problems you would have if you got them as well as the advantages.”

Lyra nodded after a moment. “I think that makes sense,” she said, looking up. “This is just the first of all the stops we need to make yet!”

Spike arched an eyebrow. “Do you mean we’re going then?”

Lyra nodded. “We should get the others here...”

“I’ll page the Captain,” Marcus said, walking out of her room.

Lyra turned to look at Dr. Franklin. “Thank you, Doctor... I’m glad I didn’t just go and get a new pair!”

Franklin chuckled and nodded.

“Call’s made, Lyra.” Marcus walked into the room with a small smile. “The others will be here soon.”

o.0.o

The first to arrive had been Twilight Sparkle and Captain Sheridan. The two seeming very at ease with each other. The Captain stopped at the entrance to the room, allowing Twilight to walk up to Spike and catch up on what had been happening.

Octavia and G’kar followed soon after, with the Narn excusing himself and promising to return soon after Vir and Vinyl had arrived. He had exchanged some words with Vir before disappearing.

It wasn’t long after that G’kar pushed a mildly complaining Londo into the room, who gave Vir a glare.

“I told you I wasn’t to be woken up early!”

“Face it Mollari, a beauty sleep will do nothing for you,” G’kar interrupted.

Londo drew himself up as he glared at G’kar. “Yes, well...” he sneered. “Some of us need it more than others, G’kar.”

“So, Lyra, are we ready to go?” Twilight asked.

“I think so... is everypony ready?”

“I have a few data crystals with the music!” Vinyl said excitedly, her horn levitating a small case from her bag. “Ock gave it to me! And Marcus gave me this little device that allows me to listen to them and plug my headphones! Isn’t it awesome?”

G’kar chuckled. “Well, I got something for you, Octavia.”

The cellist blinked, surprised. “G’kar... I...” He placed a small case in front of her and opened it, revealing a few crystals inside. “These crystals contain standard dictionaries from our universe... it includes the Narn language... which brings me to my second gift,” he pulled out a tome from his bag. “A copy of the Book of G’Quan... I hope you find it useful.”

Octavia’s eyes brimmed with tears as she hugged the tall alien, who looked a bit uncomfortable. “Thank you... for the talk and for sharing this with me.”

G’kar smiled. “Dear, after the music you played for me earlier today, this is nothing but a small token in comparison to that one gift. Do take a look at the red crystal when you have the time, you will find it... interesting.”

“I got this for you too, Twilight,” Sheridan said after a moment. “A copy of the encyclopedia and a small reader. I don’t know if you’ll like them but you seemed like the studious type and I-” he stopped when Twilight started jumping up and down around him.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Twilight chanted happily.

Sheridan chuckled.

Lyra sighed. “All I wanted was a pair of hands.”

“Bah, hands are overrated. Just like wives. And lasers,” Mollari said. “I heard that you didn’t have luck this time. That’s a shame,” he patted Lyra’s head. “But I could not leave my drinking buddy go empty han-” he coughed. “Hooved... empty hooved... so, I got you this.”

He pulled out a bottle of some unidentified liquid. “This is Brivari... the most delicate and potent beverage of my people. Drink it wisely.” Londo proceeded to put it inside a sturdy box before allowing Lyra to take it. He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “In the case, there is a small gem; don’t feed it to Spike... it’s... a sentimental thing my people do to wish good luck.”

Lyra nodded, gratefully slipping the case into one of her saddle bags as she pulled out the box she had found originally.

GREETINGS the box said. PLEASE SELECT A DESTINATION:

o.0.o

Three spheres materialized once again. Two of them familiar, one different.

1) Oh, I remember this one! Said Vinyl Scratch, looking at the sphere with the flames. “It still looks like fun!”

“Even if it feels like it’s full of dead ponies?” Spike asked.

“Yes!”

2) “Hmm... this is the one that has magic in it...” Twilight said stepping up to the sphere that shifted colors. “It’s different from what I know but...” she closed her eyes. “I feel somewhat familiar energies there.”

3) Octavia walked up to the new sphere. “This one is strange... I feel... slightly mischeivous... and adventurous... and secretive...” she shook her head. “It’s very strange...”

Okay everypony! First world out! And it was short, yes, but I’m still getting my bearings, the other chapters should involve more decisions and longer visits (unless you decide it’s time to go!)

The Voting Is Closed!
The Winner: 3) Octavia walked up to the new sphere. “This one is strange... I feel... slightly mischeivous... and adventurous... and secretive...” she shook her head. “It’s very strange...”

Another dedication: Richard Biggs (1960–2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyD4L8yNtsA
Richard: maybe it was ironic that you played a doctor in most of your roles, or maybe, it was fate. Maybe you were fated to show us how a flawed and moral doctor could fight for his beliefs, struggle, fall and finally rise above things that would break lesser men. Thank you for bringing to life another much-loved and inspiring character. You have been missed and will continue to be missed. I hope you find this small appearance in a completely random story amusing.

New York

“LOCATION RECORDED: UNIVERSE CODE CDRR01DNY”

“What does that even mean?” Lyra grumbled, blinking away the spots in her eyes.

“I think it’s just telling us the designated name it has for the universe we’re currently in,” Twilight said.

“Where are we, anyway?” Spike asked.

The group looked around them. It was nighttime, and there were several trees around, but not enough to be a forest.

“I think it’s a park,” Vinyl stated.

“What makes you think that?” Octavia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, the fact that it’s surrounded with huge buildings...” Vinyl smiled, pointing a hoof at the structures raising past the trees. “Not very creative... but very, very big.”

“Wow, that’s impressive!” Spike gasped. “Have you ever seen buildings like that, Twilight?”

Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “I’ve seen something similar in Manehattan, but they weren’t that big.”

“Maybe we should go meet whoever lives in this world,” Lyra said. “Humans? Vorlon? Narns?”

Twilight frowned. “I don’t know if we’ll meet the same species that were in Babylon 5; this is a different universe, remember? They didn’t have unicorns in their universe so we might not exist here either.”

“Hm, that’s a good point, Twilight,” Octavia said, glancing at her. “What do you suggest?”

“How about we plan what we’re doing with what knowledge we can gather...” Twilight said, studying the area. “How about we sit under that large tree over there?”

“Looks good to me,” Lyra said, walking towards it. “I wonder if we’ll be able to get a set of hands in this world?”

“You still want hands, huh?” Spike asked.

“Of course!” Lyra raised an eyebrow, looking at the young dragon. “That is the whole point of having a Hands secret society!”

“Well, whatever it is they have here, I just hope it’s not dangerous,” Octavia stated as she settled down next to the tree, resting her Cello Case against it.

“Honestly, I don’t mind as long as they have Nightclubs!” Vinyl grinned. “And a city this big? There must be hundreds!”

“Is- Is she salivating?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” Octavia sighed. “I have to live with this every day.”

“WAH!” Spike yelped as something flew around his head. “Make it go away!”

Twilight’s horn flashed and the small creature found itself floating over the dragon, wide-eyed and shaking. “Oh, Spike, it’s just a bat.” Twilight chuckled, releasing the small creature, which immediately shot up into the tree.

Spike shuddered. “I... I just don’t like bats, Twilight, you know that... little bloodsuckers...”

Twilight sighed. “Spike, I’ve told you that’s just a myth! There are no such things as vampires.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “I guess, Twilight. I mean, it’s not like we discovered that aliens were real.”

“That’s besides the point!”

“Guys,” Vinyl interrupted. “Save it, I want to party, and the more you two argue the less likely it is that it will happen soon.”

“We should also rest a little before anything else happens,” Lyra added.

Twilight sighed as she lay down on the grass. “I just hope that the first beings we meet are friendly.”

o.0.o

The door slammed open, making the group in the living room jump in surprise. “Guys! You will never believe what just happened!” the female bat exclaimed, grinning widely.

“Oh, it’s you, Foxy,” Chip sighed, slowly picking up his fedora before sitting down.

“‘ello luv,” Monterrey Jack chuckled as he patted Zipper on the head. “It’s alright, mate, it’s just Foxglove.”

The fly sighed and flew happily around the bat before settling down on Monterrey Jack’s shoulder.

“Foxy!” Dale called, running up to the bat and hugging her. “Ready for our movie night?!”

“Wait, I want to hear this; what happened to you, Foxy?” Gadget Hackwrench asked, walking into the room while cleaning her hands with a rag.

“Oh, it’s the most amazing thing!” Foxglove giggled. “I just saw three unicorns and a dragon!”

All motion in the room ceased.

“Did you say... ‘unicorns’?” Gadget asked. “Golly! But-”

“But they’re not real!” Chip interrupted.

“Tell that to them!” Foxglove said, still grinning. “They’re sitting just under the tree.”

Without missing a beat, the rodents had all run out to one of the branches and were looking down at the group of unicorns, the pony and a small dragon.

“But... how’s that possible?!” Gadget asked. “Dragons and unicorns aren’t real!”

“Don’t you remember Darby Spree?” Chip asked after a moment of thought. “He was a leprechaun and also not supposed to exist.”

Gadget fidgeted. “Well... you have a point.”

“This is amazing!” Dale shouted. “We should talk to them! Or invite them over! Or ask them to grant us a wish! Don’t unicorns grant wishes?”

“Too-right!” Monterrey Jack said. “I’ve heard that if you touch their horns you can wish for anything. Why, I remember an old friend of a friend of my second cousin once met one and got a sweet mustache... I betcha I could get’em to get me some chee-heeesee...”

Dale’s eyes lit up with wonder as his smile grew.

“Hey, calm down!” Chip ordered drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “We have to come up with a plan. If they are real unicorns and a real dragon, they will be in danger if humans catch them.”

Gadget gasped. “They might take them to a lab and experiment on them!”

“Right, so let’s think of a good place to-” Chip stopped, looking around. “Where’s Dale?”

o.0.o

“... and that’s how Quantum Physics can explain ice cream.” Twilight finished.

“Wow,” Vinyl whispered in awe. “And to think, all I wanted to know was how they had crammed all that music into the crystal they gave me.”

“Oh...” Twilight blushed. “Sorry.”

“Well, as interesting as that was, we still don’t know what to do,” Octavia said, stretching. “What do you think, Lyra?” she asked, turning to face her friend. She blinked. “Lyra... you do know that you have a chipmunk tugging at your horn, don’t you?”

Lyra’s eyes slowly move upwards. “Is that what that is?” Her horn glowed and levitated the rodent up to eye level. “So, what’s the deal, chipmunk?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Lyra, it’s a chipmunk; they don’t talk.”

“They do wear nice shirts though,” Vinyl said, approaching the rodent as it floated in the air.

“Hey!” the chimpunk shouted. “Let me down! I want my wish granted!”

Spike elbowed Twilight. “You were saying?”

Twilight blinked and sighed. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Wish?” Octavia asked, approaching the chipmunk. “What makes you think that Lyra can grant you one?”

“I touched her horn! Unicorn horns are supposed to grant wishes if you touch them!” Dale explained.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Hey! My friend’s friend’s friend’s second cousin said so!” Dale replied defensively.

“Twilight, come over here,” Lyra ordered.

“What? No. Why... no, you are not touching my horn, Lyra!” Twilight took a step back. “You have your own horn, touch that one!”

Vinyl snorted. “That sounds sooo inappropriate, Twilight.”

Twilight groaned. “Don’t make juvenile jokes... Lyra, the chipmunk is clearly misguided.”

“Dale!” another voice shouted.

The ponies and dragon looked up to see a strange flying device made with a bottle and a balloon spiral down to them, followed by a familiar bat.

“Cool!” Spike said, looking at the machine in awe.

The plane landed next to them, and a large mouse jumped out, running to stand in front of the ponies and raising his fists, ready to fight. “Okay, you unicorns! Put my buddy Dale down, nice’n quiet!”

Twilight sighed. “Why are things never simple?”

Foxglove flew up to Lyra and hovered in front of her. “Please, please put my Dale down gently?” she begged.

Lyra sighed and lowered him down, only for him to be immediately glomped by Foxglove.

“Um, thanks, Foxy,” Dale said, blushing.

“Well, we’ve met some of the locals now,” Octavia said, nodding at the mice, chipmunks, bat and... fly. “How do you do? My name is Octavia, these are Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike the Dragon.”

“Hello,” Chip said. “My name is Chip, that’s Dale, Foxglove the bat, Gadget Hackwrench, Monterrey Jack, and Zipper. We are the Rescue Rangers.”

“Rescue Rangers?” Spike asked after everyone absorbed the information. “Rescue who from what?”

“Oh, we’ve had all sorts of adventures,” Gadget said. “But before we get to that, we need to take you to a safe place.”

“Safe?” Twilight asked worriedly. “This area is not safe?”

“Not for long,” Chip said. “When the day comes, it’s going to be full of humans!”

The ponies and dragon exchanged glances. “And... that’s bad why?” Vinyl asked.

“They might want to perform experiments on you!” Foxglove quipped.

“Or put you on display!” Dale added.

“And since you can do magic, you can be sure some of the bad guys will want to get their hands, or paws on you,” Chip stated.

The ponies looked at each other.

“Well then,” Lyra sighed. “What do you think we should do?”

o.0.o

1) “Well, I might know a bar where we can hide them, don’t know if they’ll fit in there though,” Monterrey Jack said.

“Or a nightclub?” Vinyl asked eagerly.

Monterrey Jack twirled his moustache. “I think I know of one that just opened.”

2) “We can hide them in one of the warehouses in the docks,” Gadget said.

3) “If I knew enough magic I could try and make them our size...” Foxglove said, earning a curious glance from Twilight.

Voting Closed! The results:

1 - 4 Votes
2 - 6 Votes
3 - 18 Votes

New York

“Wait, so you know magic?” Twilight asked, surprised. “I mean, I suppose I shouldn’t be too amazed, given that we’re in another world, but still...”

Foxglove nodded, flapping up to land on Twilight’s snout. “I read a whole magic book back when I used to live with Winifred, I learned a lot of theory, but never got a chance to practice!”

Twilight glanced at Lyra and Vinyl Scratch. “Well, between us and with your help, we can probably reduce our size to yours!”

Gadget looked skeptical. “But where does all the extra mass go? I know it’s supposed to be magic, but golly, there are some rules that must be followed!”

Twilight smiled at the mouse and nodded. “You’re quite right! The extra mass can be used for several things, if you convert it into energy. We could store it to be able to change back...”

“So, what are we waiting for?” Vinyl interrupted. “I want to see if I can jam it up in a small disco for rodents!”

“And I want to be able to find out whether I can or can’t get what I want without being captured by humans!” Lyra said at length. “Too bad Babylon 5 didn’t have what I needed...”

“As long as you make sure my Cello is safe, I’m okay with it,” Octavia said.

“Good! Then, do you remember how your spell worked, Foxglove?” Lyra asked. “With Twilight here there is little that could go wrong! She’s Princess Celestia’s personal student!”

“Wow! A princess?! Really? That’s amazing!” Dale chirped in, eyes glinting. “Is she a unicorn as well?”

Twilight chuckled. “No, Princess Celestia is an Alicorn... she and her sister, Luna, possess all the aspects and strengths of ponies. She’s stronger than any earth pony, more powerful than any unicorn and she can fly faster than any pegasus!”

“Wooooow!” Dale whispered in awe.

“Yes, she’s really something,” Lyra nodded sagely. “Now, let’s cast that spell, shall we? How about we lend you the magic and you cast it?”

Foxglove’s eyes went wide. “Y-you trust me to do that?”

“Well, you know this world’s magic better than we do,” Twilight said after a moment. “We can look at the spell and see if it should work.”

“Right!” Foxglove said, taking off. After a few moments she came back from the tree dragging a large book, which she set down on the floor in front of the unicorns.

Once it was opened to the relevant page, Twilight took a quick glance. “Hm, doesn’t seem too complicated...” she flipped the pages. “It’s pretty straightforward, what you lack in strength we can compensate for with our magic.”

“Go for it, Foxy!” Dale said cheerfully. “Best way to practice!”

The bat rubbed her paws nervously before nodding. “Okay, but you will be able to stop it if anything goes wrong?”

Twilight smiled. “I’m sure we can.”

“Okay!”

The group of ponies and the dragon, at Twilight’s instruction, stood around Foxglove, who got some encouraging words from Dale, which made her giggle, before he ran out to stand next to Chip and the other Rescue Rangers.

“Okay, Foxglove, chant the spell and we’ll slowly feed you our energy,” Twilight said. “Concentrate on the final results. A lot of magic is really defined by the objective rather than the process, as questionable as that might sound. It holds the same in this dimension as mine. Once you do this, you should be able to cast spells more easily from now on.”

Foxglove nodded, giving the book one last read before closing her eyes. She could feel a rush of energy around her and guided it with her mind as the simple spell escaped her lips,

“Powers of magic, great and small,
“Heed my words, and answer my call.

“Help these ponies and dragon achieve,
“the size and form which my mind will conceive!”

There was a flash of energy and suddenly the world around Twilight, Spike and Octavia looked so much bigger.

“I did it!” Foxglove shouted in glee, running up to hug a laughing Twilight. They were now roughly the same size, so it proved no problem to even pick up the pony with her exuberant energy.

“Um guys,” Spike interrupted. “I hate to point this out but... where’s Lyra and Vinyl?”

The group fell silent as they turned to where their two friends should be, only to find empty space.

“Oh, horseapples,” Twilight swore.

o.0.o

A flash of light and suddenly Lyra and Vinyl Scratch could see again.

“Wow, it worked!” Lyra cheered as she looked around. “That bed looks huge! And we’re the same size as those toys!”

Vinyl Scratched looked down at her hoof and an eyebrow shot out out from under her glasses. “I think it goes beyond that, Lyra...”

Lyra looked back at her friend. “What do you mean?”

Vinyl put down her hoof and looked at the toys. “Lyra... I think we are toys now.”

“But... but that’s impossible!” Lyra gasped, looking down at her hoofs and noticing, for the first time, that they seemed to be made of some sort of hard, rubber-like material. “It doesn’t make sense!”

“Hey!” a voice whispered out from somewhere. “You two! Quick! Under the bed, before Bonnie wakes up!”

Lyra and Vinyl Scratch looked at each other for a moment before they heard some mumbling from above. A really big hand slid from under the bed covers and the pair immediately ran under the bed.

“Um, thanks for the heads-up,” Vinyl started to say, only to let her jaw drop as several figures stepped into the light.

“Hello! You two must be new! Let me introduce myself,” the tallest figure said, smiling amiably as he took his hat off. “The name’s Woody, and this here is my friend and partner Buzz Lightyear... welcome to Bonnie’s room!”

o.0.o Voting closes: 21st of June, 2012 o.0.o

This time, you can vote twice! Once for Team A and once for Team B!

Group A: Rescue Rangers

1: “We should cast another spell to find out where they ended up!” Twilight said. “They have to be close by!”

2: “We shouldn’t trust magic right now,” Chip said, stepping forth. “We can find them the old fashioned style! Monterrey Jack, why don’t you find out from your friends if anyone has seen a pair of miniature unicorns?”

3: “We can try and follow the tachyon energy with one of my instruments,” Gadget said. “It will get us close to where they ended up!”

Group B: Toy Story

1: “Well, since we’re here, I say we party with the toys,” Vinyl said, looking at Lyra, who was checking out Mr. Potato Head’s arms and hands.

2: “And you said that this kid, sid, took apart toys and put them back together... and it worked?” Lyra asked, looking at the hand with a raised eyebrow. “Do you have... spare hands?”

3: “Wait, if you have friends looking for you, shouldn’t you contact them somehow?” Woody asked.

New York

"Okay! I have all the information we need," Gadget said, joining everyone in the middle of the park. "Now all we need..."

"Is to meet da boss!"

A loud voice shouted, and before anyone knew it, something dark and rough had snatched them all in, except Zipper, who managed to fly out of the sack just as it was being closed.

Shaking his head to clear it, he followed the cats and lizard that had captured his friends, already trying to figure out who to go for help.

o.0.o

"You're all toys!" Vinyl Scratch squealed. "Isn't this awesome, Lyra?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's pretty cool," Lyra replied. "We're still not where we're supposed to be. Twilight and the others were at that park, and we are in... 'Bonnie's Room', wherever that is. But I can tell you, it's not a park." She rolled her eyes and trotted up to Woody and Buzz.

"I'm Lyra Heartstrings, and this is Vinyl Scratch," she explained. "And this will sound really weird, but we were not toys before."

Woody and Buzz exchanged glances. "Uh, uh."

"Listen," Woody smiled. "We've met toys before that didn't realize they were toys until later on... but, I promise you, you're toys."

Buzz nodded.

"Well, yeah," Vinyl nodded. "Now we are, but we weren't before Twilight let Foxfire cast that spell." She turned to look at Lyra. "Any idea why it didn't work?"

"Hmm?" Lyra looked up from closely examining Buzz's hands. "Oh, uh... no. I imagine it was probably on the wording of the spell if anything."

"Well, we'd better find a way to contact Twilight so we can... why is there a portal of light appearing in the middle of the room?"

"Whatever it is, it's going to wake up Bonnie!" Buzz said urgently.

The light faded away and they all could see something with four legs and a white coat of fur standing next to the bed. Above them, Bonnie mumbled and turned in her bed, clearly making all the toys nervous.

Vinyl took a step towards the creature.

"Wait! Are you crazy!" Buzz stopped her, planting himself in front of her. "We can't let anyone see us! We have to pretend to be inanimate!"

"Uh... why?" Lyra asked trying to get past Woody to take a look herself.

"Because! It's how things work!"

"So, you're going to let this Bonnie face whatever it is that just appeared in her room on her own?" Vinyl asked, aghast. "But, what if it's dangerous?"

It was then that the creature outside spoke. "Hm... this is odd. That one isn't even a pony..."

Vinyl Scratch and Lyra looked at each other in amazement.

"I know that voice!" Lyra said, eyes wide.

Woody and Buzz had to scramble to tackle her before she ran out from under the bed, but they were unable to catch Vinyl, who ran out from under it and tapped the nearest hoof. "No! Stop! Don't reveal yourself to—"

"Sweetie Belle!" Vinyl Scratch shouted, "Down here!"

"Let me go!" Lyra growled, horn glowing as she levitated both toys off of her and tossed them to the floor. "What the hay was that for?"

"Vinyl?" Sweetie Belle gasped, lowering down to look at the toy pony. "What happened to you? Lyra? Is that you?"

"Shh!" Woody hushed all of them, running up to them behind Lyra. "Don't make too much noise! You'll wake up Bonnie!"

Sweetie smiled. "She won't, I cast a sleep spell on her when I noticed I was in somepony's room in the middle of the night. I didn't want whoever it was to wake up and start screaming."

Woody fell back in relief and was barely caught by Buzz. "Oh, thank God."

"So, it's okay to come out for now?" another voice asked, and soon several toys of all shapes and forms emerged from different parts of the room.

Woody quickly shook himself up and stood. "Okay everyone, it's fine, it's fine, since... Sweetie Belle... is not a human, we're not breaking any rules."

"But, what about animals? We usually pretend to be inanimate for them as well! She's not a toy!" Mr. Potato head complained.

"Guys, guys!" Jessie spoke up from one of the drawers. "Calm down! Since when have Woody and Buzz failed us? We all know how reliable they are!"

A series of mutters followed her statement.

"Calm down! Calm down! I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement with the alien!" Buzz called out.

"Alien?" Woody whispered.

"She's a unicorn. They don't exist," Buzz pointed out. "So she's obviously an alien."

"But unicorns aren't aliens!"

"Technically, he's right," Sweetie interceded. "I'm an inter-dimensional traveler that ended up in your world from a completely different universe. By definition that makes me alien to this world."

"Wow, Sweetie, that was pretty smart!" Lyra blinked in awe. "You're usually—" she cut herself short when the gigantic filly glared down at her. "Uh... less... verbose."

"Anyway," Sweetie rolled her eyes. "Why are you two here? And why are you toys?"

"We let a bat cast a spell on us to make smaller so we could join a group of mice and chipmunks and go to a bar," Vinyl explained.

Sweetie blinked. "Do they serve chocolate martinis at that bar?"

Lyra and Vinyl looked at each other before looking back at her. "I... uh, guess? Since when do you drink?"

Sweetie grinned. "Since Blueblood took me out bar-hopping with Soarin' and Spitfire!"

Vinyl looked at Lyra. "Kill Blueblood?"

"Kill Blueblood." Lyra nodded.

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want to kill my older brother?"

"...SO!" Lyra said loudly. "We need to find Twilight and the others. Do you have a way to get us there?"

"I don't even know where they are," Sweetie pointed out.

"We don't either," Vinyl sighed. "Other than being in this huge park."

"We need a guide..." Lyra's eyes narrowed. "Somepony reliable." She turned to look at Buzz and Woody.

"Oh, uh..."

o.0.o

"How is that you can see so well in the dark?" Lyra whispered, sitting on top of Sweetie's head along with Vinyl Scratch, Woody and Buzz.

"Empress Nightmare Moon taught me a spell to see in absolute darkness," Sweetie Belle explained. "It works very well in normal darkness."

"And why is it that you're not making any noise even on the hard surface of the road the humans made?" Vinyl asked.

"Queen Chrysalis' Spy Master taught me to be light on my hooves."

Woody whistled, and turned to look at the two toy unicorns. "Empress and a Queen? Your filly here has some interesting connections!"

"Sweetie," Lyra spoke after a moment. "I might not be Rarity, and I cannot speak for her... but, I don't think she would appreciate you hanging out with the two most evil beings she's had the misfortune of meeting."

"Oh, they're not that bad!" Sweetie giggled. "In fact, I just learned that in another dimension I'm Queen Chrysalis' niece!"

She had to stop and pick up Lyra.

"Sweetie," Lyra said once she had regained her senses, "Rarity is going to kill you."

Sweetie chuckled and shook her head. "Which way now, Buzz?"

The toy turned the map around trying to find their location. "Well, we're in the middle of New York, so we're close."

"It's too bad we have to stick to the alleys," Woody muttered. "It'd be easier if we could just go down the street. Even at this time of night, New York never sleeps."

"That's right, little guy!" A new, smooth voice chuckled. "It never sleeps, and it never, ever ceases to amaze!"

The group turned to look at dog that shook himself out of the trashcan. The mutt was white and brown, with a red bandanna tied around his neck, and had sunglasses covering his eyes even at night time.

Woody covered his face with his hands. "I'm so dead. Once the others find out that we've broken silence we're going to be melted into plastic. What are we going to do, Buzz?"

He looked at Buzz, who had gone rigid and with a blank expression on his face. Woody growled and elbowed him. "Come on, he saw us already!"

"Hey, hey, hey... little guys, don't worry!" the mutt chuckled. "Good ol' Dodger won't tell a soul! I promise! Cross my heart and hope to die!" he grinned. "And all that. I'm just curious, y'see, it ain't always that you see a filly such as this," he lifted Sweetie's hoof and kissed it. "All classy, well spoken and seemingly lost, in the alleys of ol' New York!"

Sweetie giggled.

"Hey buster!" Lyra growled. "Leave Sweetie alone! She's just a filly!"

Dodger chuckled. "Of course she is, which is why I'm offering to help!" he grinned at Sweetie. "So, tell me, little lady, how may this humble, lowly, ever-so-charming good-fer-nothin' help you?"

"I don't know if we can trust him..." Lyra grumbled. "He talks too smoothly."

"What are you talking about?" Vinyl grinned. "He's cool! I dig the shades!"

"I wonder why," Lyra grumbled.

"We're looking to get to Central Park," Woody explained. "But we have to do it without being seen. I'm sure you've noticed that Sweetie here is a unicorn, and humans would... well, it wouldn't be nice."

"I miss Babylon 5," Vinyl groaned. "We could do whatever we wanted there, go to bars, talk to humans, sing with aliens, but no, we had to end up in a world where we'd be used as experiments."

"Hey, hey." Dodge shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Ol' Dodger can take you there without being caught. Come on, follow me."

With little choice in the matter, Woody nodded to Sweetie, who ventured deeper into the city.

o.0.o

Zipper flew back to the Rescue Rangers HQ in desperation. The whole group had been captured by Fat Cat and he didn't know who to call for help. Twilight was apparently drained of most of her magic after the spell... either that or it had diminished in size with her... if he could only find Lyra and Vinyl, the other two unicorns might be able to help.

Zipper buzzed in frustration. Where to start looking?

"Are you sure this is the place?" a voice from outside asked, making Zipper blink and raise his head. It had sounded like a young girl, but it was too late at night for a little girl to be running around. Curious, he flew out of the headquarters and stared at yet another unicorn standing next to a mutt and with four toys in her head.

"Yep, that's the place Sweetie!" One of the toys spoke.

Zipper flew down to stare in undisguised awe at Lyra and Vinyl Scratch, who had been turned into toys! He started buzzing and gesticulating wildly.

"Hey, get off!" Sweetie complained, waving a hoof and trying to bat Zipper away.

"No! Wait!" Lyra called. "That's Zipper! He's one of the Rescue Rangers!"

Sweetie stopped in surprise while Buzz, Woody and Dodger blinked.

"That's one of the Rescue Rangers?" Dodger asked after a moment. "Wow. I had heard you fellows were small but not that small..."

"So..." Woody spoke up after a few moments of watching Zipper buzz and gesture manically. "Does anyone here understand what is going on?"

The gathered toys, ponies and dog looked at each other and shook their heads.

Zipper slapped his face with a tiny hand and flew up to the tree. After a few moments he flew down and gave Woody a piece of paper. He was a sheriff, so he had authority.

"Let's see," Woody cleared his throat, but Buzz Lightyear snapped the paper out of his hands.

"It says: Rescue Rangers and unicorns captured by Fat Cat!" He looked up from the paper with a stern expression. "Oh, no! We have to rescue them!" he declared, standing up and raising his fist to the air, before looking down at the piece of paper again. "I know where they are, just follow me."

"Follow the fly!" he ordered.

Sweetie sighed. "Sure, whatever." She looked at Zipper. "Lead the way!"

"Hold on!" Dodger barked, drawing everyone's attention to him. "I've heard of this 'Fat Cat' before, he has a gang, doesn't he?"

Zipper flew in front of Dodger and nodded.

Dodger grinned. "Then we can't just barge in," he said, rising one eyebrow. "But... I have an idea."

o.0.o

The horn sputtered with only a few sparkles of magic materializing. "Ugh, I'm sorry everypony," Twilight said, shaking her head. "My magic is not back yet."

"It's okay, Twilight," Octavia patted Twilight's back. "We'll get out, somehow."

"Too right!" Monterrey Jack said firmly. "Good ol' Zipper's got it."

"But he's a fly!" Twilight protested.

"Don't worry," Chip said confidently. "He's never failed us before!"

There was a knock on the door and a mangy cat and the reptile that Fat Cat had left behind to watch his guests looked at each other before opening it. A younger, much cleaner tabby walked in, holding in his mouth a tied-up Zipper.

"You were saying?" Twilight Sparkle groaned while Gadget, the chipmunks and Monterrey Jack stared in horror.

"And who's this?" the reptile asked.

The cat held Zipper in a claw and looked at them. "I caught this guy creeping around and I thought capturing him would be a good way to get a job with Mr. Fat Cat!" he said enthusiastically. Then he turned and revealed an old-style cowboy toy. "I also found this outside, is it yours?"

The grunts shook their heads, and shrugging, the new arrival left the toy next to the locked door.

"What is this now?" Fat Cat's smug voice echoed down to them. The cat himself sauntered around a box, dressed in his purple suit and sporting a purple gem of some sort on a chain around his neck. He approached the younger cat. "A new recruit? And he comes bearing gifts! The last Rescue Ranger, no less!" He grinned and tossed Zipper into an empty glass bottle, putting a cork on it. "What is your name, youngster?"

"O-oliver, sir," the newly identified cat stammered.

"And do you have any experience with crime, other than capturing would-be-heroes?"

"I worked for Mr. Sykes," Oliver said quickly. "A-along with Roscoe and DeSoto..."

"Pah," Fat Cat grimaced. "I am glad those three are gone, never work with dogs, although Mr. Sykes was... interesting."

Oliver nodded.

"Well then, at least you have some experience," the fat cat mused. "Welcome to the gang. These are Wart;" he pointed to the lizard. "And Mepps," he said, pointing at the cat. "You'll meet Snout and Mole later on."

Fat Cat then seemed to forget about them as he turned to face the rangers. "Ah, my dear Chip and Dale, I'm so sorry we haven't had time to talk at all!"

"You won't get away with this, Fat Cat!" Chip threatened, shaking his fist at the gray tabby. "You'll see!"

"Why, such a violent little rodent, aren't you?" Fat Cat chuckled venomously. "But I am far more interested in your little friends. Miniature horses! And one of them with a horn!"

"We're ponies!" Octavia snapped. "Not horses!"

"Whatever, my equine friend," Fat Cat waved her complaint away. "We're taking you to the Siamese Twins tomorrow. For now, I suggest you rest."

o.0.o

The lights had been turned off and everyone seemed to be asleep when Twilight's ear twitched. She slowly opened her eyes to see two familiar, if oddly... plastic-looking unicorns trying to magic the lock to their cage open with no success.

"I told you it wouldn't work," Vinyl hissed, and Twilight realized that's what had woken her up.

"How did you know that?" Lyra growled.

"Simple: that spell you used? It's for opening unlocked doors!" Vinyl whispered angrily.

"I should just—"

"Girls!" Twilight whispered urgently, getting up and close to the cage's lid. "You're talking too loud! You're going to—" she stopped and looked up in horror at the orange tabby that rose behind the two distracted mares. "Oh no! WAT-mmmph!"

Vinyl put her hoof on Twilight's mouth, shaking her head. "Be quiet!" She hissed, not aware of Oliver leaning down, ready to swipe them in his claws.

Twilight stepped back and away from Vinly's horn.

"Oliver, you think you can use your claw to get the lock?" Lyra whispered over her shoulder.

Twilight's jaw hung open, while behind her the Rescue Rangers and Octavia stirred awake in confusion.

"Ca-haha-ah..." Monterrey Jack was about to sneeze, but Chip's quick actions managed to get his nose and mouth covered. "Try not to sneeze, Monterrey!" Chip whispered furiously, watching warily as Oliver studied the lock.

"I'm afraid not, Miss Lyra," Oliver sighed after a moment. "My claws won't work on it, the lock is too tight."

"Great," Lyra muttered.

"Well, well, well," Fat Cat's voice echoed around them as the lights were suddenly turned on. Everyone cried out as the flash of light hurt their eyes, and they had to blink several times before they could make out the shapes of Fat Cat and his four cronies. "I knew I couldn't trust a cat that had worked with dogs," Fat Cat sneered.

"How about a cat that still works with dogs, then?" Dodger asked, grinning as he entered the warehouse followed by several other dogs of all breeds.

Monterrey Jack elbowed Twilight. "See, toldja Zipper would come through!"

"How did you get in?!" Wart exclaimed, looking wildly around. "I kept an eye on this traitor! He never got close to the door!"

"Heh, that's a secret!" Dodger said, grinning.

"Hey, hey! Dis looks fun! Let's get the gang war on!" a chihuahua barked happily.

"What are you waiting for?!" Fat Cat shouted, pushing his grunts at the dogs. "Attack!"

That was all the dogs needed for a signal, and soon the whole group was in a free for all fight.

"Wait! Fat Cat is getting away!" Twilight shouted, looking up and following the fat feline with her eyes. "Oh, if I only had my magic!"

Suddenly fat cat was enveloped in a white and purple aura, and pulled away from the boxes he had been climbing. The cat struggled in the air, trying to get free. "And where do you think you're going?"

Twilight and Spike stared. "Sweetie Belle?"

The unicorn filly, who now that Twilight noticed, had an eerily familiar cutie mark on her flank looked down, at the cage. "Oh, hi Twilight!"

"Let me go!" Fat Cat snarled, struggling in the air.

"Let me think about it..." Sweetie said ponderously. "No." Her eyes settled on the purple crystal he had on his chain. "I'll also be taking that," she said, and a burst of magic snapped the chain off of his neck.

"Hey! Give it back!"

"Nope, it's not yours anyway." Sweetie's magic conjured up a rope and used it to hogtie Fat Cat, following suit with his subdued cronies.

A freezing cold spell broke the lock on the cage and soon all ponies, dragon, dogs, mice, fly, chipmunks and cat were together.

"Well, that was it," Dodger chuckled. "We'll be taking these guys to the pound," he motioned with his head towards Fat Cat and co.

"Thank you so much for your help, Dodger!" Sweetie said. "And you too Oliver!"

"It was my pleasure, Miss Sweetie Belle," Oliver replied with a small blush. "Now, I'm afraid we must go," he looked at the gang of dogs. "Jenny knows I'm with you but I'm sure she'll be worried by now."

"Right you are, kiddo," Dodger nodded, turning to face the Rescue Rangers. "Hey, uh, listen. If you guys need help you know where to find us... uh," he scratched the back of his head. "We had a rough start, so if you hear some things from the police dogs... give us the benefit of the doubt."

Chip nodded. "After your help tonight? We'll be sure to put in a good word for you!"

"Hey!" Dodger chuckled. "Don't go that far! I have an image to maintain!" he seemed to wink behind his sunglasses. "I'm a rascal, after all!"

With that, he barked an order and the group marched Fat Cat and his gang out of the warehouse.

"Well, that's it," Sweetie sighed. "Anyway, everypony, it was fun but I have to go," she said, looking at everyone. "I'm sure you have everything under control now."

"We do, kiddo!" Monterrey Jack nodded.

Sweetie smiled. "Good. I'll be seeing you around!"

Her eyes turned to the purple crystal that had been part of Fat Cat's chain and suddenly both she and it faded away.

o.0.o Votes for the next chapter will be up at some point o.0.o

Author's Note

Where will the story take you now?! Click on the link to find out!