Collision

Joan was in a darkened classroom on the bottom floor, and was sitting next to Sour Kiss and his boyfriend, who Sour had introduced as Raspberry Delight. The beige unicorn, and a violet pegasus she didn't recognize had also showed up, as well as some ponies sitting a few rows back she couldn't quite figure out how to turn to see yet. A somewhat stuffy and faded looking dark teal unicorn stallion  was at the front of the classroom. He turned on an old projector, and floated a picture into it.

A picture of a large castle, with the caption 'Canterlot, capital of Equestria' appeared.

"All of you will be traveling, by boat, to Canterlot. From there, you will figure out where you wish to travel, whether that's one of the recently created newfoal cities and towns that have started up, an established pony settlement like Manehatten or Ponyville, or, for the more adventurous, you might want to try joining some of the settlers outside Equestria entirely."

"Not that last one!" said Raspberry.

"Nothing to worry about, you won't be forced to live somewhere you don't want to." He swapped the picture in the projector with two more, and a picture of the boat they'd be taking, alongside their route appeared.

"This is the Endymion, the boat you'll be taking. It sails through the barrier, and near the coast, past the Griffon Empire, and eventually lands near Las Pegasus, where you'll be flown to Canterlot. The whole journey is safe, fairly fast, and has been completed many, many times. Any questions?"

"What if I have a hard time finding a place to live or a job?" asked the violet pegasus.

"In the unlikely case that you cannot find employment, any employee of the Equestrian government will be happy to help, and many ordinary citizens!"

"So I won't end up homeless?"

"No, no, of course not. Equestrians look after each-other."

Joan was on her way to Equestria, aboard the Endymion.

They'd passed through the border between their universes, and could see the continent Equestria was on. Their route took them past the Griffon Kingdom, and thanks to an agreement between their ruler and Princess Celestia, they didn't have to deal with much harassment on the journey.

Most days, that is. Today they were under attack by changelings.

"Get the newfoals below deck!" yelled Captain Sharp Turn, and First Mate Clear Signal herded the terrified ponies where it was slightly safer.

"The heck are those?" Joan said, heart about to jump out of her chest. When they told you about Equestria they certainly managed to leave a few things out, she thought.

"Changeling drones," said Signal, "they're love stealers. Shapeshifters. Don't normally see them out here much, they must be trying to invade the Griffon Kingdom."

"Then why are they here," asked the violet pegasus across the table from Joan, "are they gonna eat us?"

"We're certainly not going to let them. I'll be back in a bit, gotta help fight these things off!" he said, and tromped back upstairs, lighting and charging his horn as he went.

"Are-are we safe down here?" asked Raspberry, who didn't look like he was able to stop shaking, and was currently holding on as tightly to the slightly less scared looking yellow unicorn next to him.

"Hey, they said they'd take care of it, so we're probably good-"

A giant cracking sound filled the air, and the ship slanted sharply to the side, sending the newfoals sliding across the floor.

"We're going to die!"

"They're gonna eat us all!"

Joan landed on the boat wall with a thump, landing next to the window. Outside, she saw the changelings in retreat, flying back towards the mainland. She hadn't been giving the crew enough credit, she thought. Then she saw a large chunk of the ship fall past the window, and everything went orange for a second.

"Change of plans!" yelled the first mate running down the stairs. "Up the stairs! The boat is sinking! We need to get you all on the lifeboats ten minutes ago!"

"We're still gonna die!" said the gray stallion, burying his head in his hooves.

"No, we're going to proceed in an orderly manner up the steps," said the first mate. "Follow me."

They followed him up top, and filed into the boats one at a time, until everybody was in once of the two bright orange inflatable boats.

Then the boat cracked again. The lifeboats broke free from their rigging with a whip like snap, and fell. Joan screamed. Everypony else in the boat also screamed.  The boats and the ponies in them fell the ten feet down to the water, and landed hard, knocking the air out of her.

She coughed, and looked up at the boat that was continuing to sink, pelting them with waves, until it finally broke in two, plunging the tiny boats under the water.

Joan woke on the beach, rough pebbles and rocks digging into her stomach and face.

"Hkf," she said, and sputtered, spitting out the dirt sand and water that had made their way into her mouth. She could hear some ponies crying somewhere, but all she felt at the moment was cold and numb.

"Hey!" said someone she thought was the first mate, "how are you doing? Does anything hurt?"

"Ugh."

"Listen, I'm going to roll you over, and make sure you haven't broken anything."

Her wet hair dripped onto the stones, as she stretched out her legs.

"Right, good. You're good. Captain! That's everypony, we're good!"

She sat up, grumpily.

"We're quite sure the Griffon Kingdom will have seen the flare we set off, so all we have to do now is wait for a rescue team. Thank god for that treaty we made ages ago, or we'd be stuck here."

It took a while for everyone to recover, and Joan spent the time waiting talking to the other ponies, in an attempt to distract them and herself from what had just happened. She learned Raspberry and Sour Kiss had known each-other before conversion, but never realized they felt that way about each-other until now. Sour Kiss had wrapped his wing around Raspberry, pulling him as close as it was possible to get to him.

"What are you two planning on doing when you get there?"

"Well, I think it'd be fun to open a pub or tavern or something," said Raspberry, who had managed to stop shivering and finally seemed to be smiling again.

"And I'm going to help, I did a bit of bar-tending as a human years ago, and I think doing almost anything with Raspberry would be lovely," said Sour, kissing him firmly on the muzzle, making him blush. Joan wasn't quite sure about how blushing worked with ponies, but 'magic' seemed to be as good an answer as any.

"How about you? What are you going to do when you get there?"

"Not quite sure yet. Though, I'm an earth pony, so I'm sure I can do some sort of physical work, right?"

"Got a name picked yet?"

"Not yet. Maybe when I figure out what sort of job I can get, since ponies seem to pick names that way. Don't they?"

"Well, usually based on what they're good at or like, or something related to who they are. We actually picked ours based on our favorite drinks!"

"Close enough, suppose."

The trees on the the edge of the beach started shaking, and everyone was on guard again.

"Relax," called an armored griffon, walking out of the forest, "we're friendlies."

"Oh thank Celestia," said one of the newfoals, quietly.

"Do you slumber quietly in a quiet field?" said the captain, not letting his guard down.

"With my sword laid aside."

"Then we may be friends."

"What's that about?" Joan asked Raspberry, quietly.

"Well, I asked the first mate about it earlier and he said Canterlot got attacked by changelings a while ago, and they had to introduce code phrases to make sure they weren't going to get ambushed every time the went anywhere."

"No spells for that?"

"Well, I hear there are, but most unicorns can't actually use them, so they're not very helpful..."

"I'm sure you'll be able to someday, since you're the best unicorn ever," Sour Kiss said, nuzzling his cheek.

Two more armored griffons followed the first out of the forest.

"I'm Captain Gwyn, of the Griffon Kingdom. We saw your flare, thought you could use a hand."

"We're very happy you came, our ship was destroyed by changelings, on the way here."

"Are all you ponies able to walk? We've got an outpost fairly close by."

"We should be good. Please lead on!"

They trekked through the forest for a while, until some of the newfoals got tired and had to rest.

"This forest! Why is it so hot? And long?" said a beige unicorn.

"Because it hates you, mostly," said Gwyn, grinning.

"It does not!"

"We named this place the Forest of Spite. It's always like this, except when it's worse."

The unicorn squeaked. The forest did seem pretty inhospitable in places, with its incredibly tall trees, spiked bushes and ferns, and occasional fifty foot drop into the rivers below.

"Just stay close to me though, and you'll be safe enough-"

Gwyn was tackled from the side by a black blur, and slammed into a nearby tree.

Twenty or so changelings slipped out of the trees and circled them. The captain, first mate, and the two griffon warriors surrounded the newfoals. The griffons brandished their short spears (winged creatures avoided bladed weapons for a reason), and the ponies braced themselves.

"Why do you guys always have to play so rough?" Gwyn choked out, as he tossed the changeling pinning him off. He dashed over to the outer ring outside the newfoals, and braced himself.

"What are you waiting for? An invitation?"

The surrounding changelings leapt at once, four engaging each person in the outer circle. They were locked in combat for a few minutes, each of them managing to knock out a few changelings apiece, until they were knocked out, the changelings having finally broke out their stun spells.

All but Gwyn, that is. He seemed to be holding his own, and had dealt with the changelings that had been focused on him, and they lay where they'd been tossed. The newfoals were all trying to hide behind him now, except for Joan.

"Hey, Pony! You gonna help?"

"Hey," she said, trying to keep how scared she was out of her voice, "the worst that can happen is that they kill us anyway, right?"

"I'm not sure about that, but okay! You take the ones on the right, I've got the ones on the left!"

They charged, and Joan felt her shoulder impact a changeling, flinging it backwards. She felt steady again, and Instinctually flung out her forehooves, smashing the noses of the two changelings nearest her, and they fell backwards, clutching their muzzles. The two that were left charged their horns, and green light blasted her backwards.

Blood dripped down her side from where the combined beam had hit her, and the pain made it hard for her to get up again, and the changelings laughed, growling and unkind. But she did, and charged them again, spinning at the last minute and bucking her legs out, contacting the changelings and flipping them into the bush behind. Then she collapsed, spent.

"Hey, not bad for a pony," said Gwyn, offering her a clawed hand.

"Maybe it's my special talent," she gasped, sides heaving.

"Hey, you! Green and pink ponies! Give me a hand waking these guys up again..."

The trip back was uneventful, aside from the occasional break after those who had been injured had to take a second or two. The griffon camp was small and spartan, but still had a certain something thanks to the griffon habit of using traditional patterns for camouflage. Gwyn and Joan were sitting outside his combined office and sleeping area.

"You did good out there. You ought to give yourself more credit. Hey, next time I get into a fight, I want you on the front lines."

"Hey, I did what I had to. Defending people is a pony thing, I hear."

"Not like that it isn't. You deserve a damn pat on the back for that."

"Well, thanks," she said, smiling.

"I'm going to get some sleep, and we'll figure out what to do to get you ponies to where you're supposed to be in the morning. I've got soldiers watching the walls, so we shouldn't have much to worry about."

Joan headed to the building the ponies had temporarily taken over, and Gwyn grinned to himself as he closed the door to his room, then smiled larger as his body was replaced with shiny black.