Making choices

' What is this? ' Twilight wondered. There was multicoloured light in every direction, that was moving upwards along with them and constantly shifting colours. Also, apparently there was no gravity wherever they were. The unicorn saw Rainbow Dash desperately trying to move towards her and assisted the pegasus with her magic. The others were still randomly spread around the duo.

" Thanks, Twi. " the cyan mare expressed her gratitude.

" Any idea what all of this is? " she looked around.

" Wherever we are, this area seems to be lacking gravitational attraction... "

" Which means?? " Rainbow interrupted her scientific reflections on their surroundings.

" There's no gravity... nor any up or down. " the purple alicorn replied. Than she saw Applejack and Rarity, who were trying to stabilize unsuccessfully. She drew her other two friends and the small circle now consisted of four members.

" If you want to stay in one position, don't move. " the purple princess advised them.

" Oh. That's so much easier. Thanks, Twilight. " Rarity replied.

" Can you possibly inform us a bit more about this dreadfully confusing... tunnel, I believe? " the white unicorn asked.

" I know as much as you do. " the lavender mare answered and looked at her surroundings for the second time,searching for the others.

The big black figure of the dragon Hase had summonned was easy to spot. However, the others were scattered. There was another black dot, but Twilight wasn't sure if it was Luna, Hase or Vortex. The only ponies she could recognise were the ones closest to the circle.

The closest one, Pinkie Pie, was apparently having fun. The smile didn't leave her face, as she spun, flipped over and tried to move in some way. She almost collided with Fluttershy, but in the last moment she caught her and spun, throwing herself and the yellow pegasus at the group as a wheel. The purple alicorn caught them with her magic and her closest friends were all gathered, after Spike flew by as well.

" Spread your hooves, so that we could push aside! Ready? One, two... " Pinkie apparently thought they would push away from each other like acrobats, but Twilight stopped her:

" Pinkie, we just got together again! "

" Okie- dokie. " the pink mare shrugged her shoulders.

" Do you think the Princesses will know what this is all about? " Spike asked the lavender alicorn. She nodded.

" Ah think we're almost there... wherevah "there" is. " Applejack said, looking up.

The other girls and Spike also looked up and saw, that the tunnel (if it was a tunnel) got smaller and a piece of the sky could be seen again. The farmer mare saw the big dragon dissappear from that hole, just as the rest of the small dots, that were their friends, and soon the exit was so close it was clear it was their turn.

The tunnel suddenly threw them out, revealing the blue sky. The hole bellow them closed as Fluttershy, the last of them, got out and they realised they were now falling down. Gravity wasn't late to do it's job.

" Ugh! " Rainbow Dash panted, as she landed on the top of the pile. She was lucky today. That couldn't be said for Vortex, who was at the bottom. Formidon, who had managed to slip from the top to the bottom, was lying right next to the pile of ponies.

The black alicorn pushed the pile with his magic, and let it down as he got out. He than tried to help the group get back on their hooves. Celestia and Luna, the second and third pony to rise, helped him and soon the pile was gone.

" A bizzare anomaly. Was it any of our group's doing?  " Formidon was the first to speak .

" No, that happenned... " Hase glared questionably at the three tall alicorns.

" ... accidentally, I believe? "

" It wasn't me, Hase. " Vortex said him.

" Me neither. " Luna denied having opened the portal as well.

" It wasn't me. " the worried Celestia replied. She knew every foot of Equestria like her own hooves, and the scenery around them was different than anything she'd seen in Equestria... which meant they weren't in Equestria.

For a moment the dominion of the sun thought the portal had brought them to a different country, in which case she'd still have to move the sun around the planet, so she reached for it. The star didn't response. Somepony else was in control of it. Celestia was sure nopony could have taken over in such a brief period of time, and even if that was the case, Equestria's sun was much more familliar with the magic usually moving it, so it would have immeadietly linked to her magic, instead to the one of her substitute. Trying to reach this sun felt like the first time she tried to move Equestria's sun, when she was a filly. Which meant this wasn't Equestria's sun. The group was either on another planet...or in another world.

" This isn't our world. " her uncle confirmed her worries and Celestia trusted him. As its co- creator, Vortex knew the dimension Equestria was in the same way the princess of the sun knew the country itself.

She was thinking who would replace her and Luna in moving the sun and the moon, while they were gone. The most obvious answer was Cadence. The white alicorn hoped she'd react quick enough. Otherwise the ponies would start panicking.

' I hope she won't have anything against taking over again for about a week. I owe her an apology once we're back. ' the souverene of the sun thought.

Twilight also denied having opened the portal. The lords could only use elemental magic, and Rarity was far bellow the required magical skills for such a spell. The mysterious conjurer remained unknown.

The eyes of the ponies and the two dragons wandered elsewhere and stumbled upon a pony. A unicorn mare, coming towards them. She stopped, when she was 15 feet away and waved with a small white ribbon surrounded by her bronze brown magical oreol.

Her coat had the same colour. Her mane and tail were orange and her eyes stood out with their blue colour. Her cutie mark was a bell with a crescent moon next to it. She smiled nervously and didn't say a word. She only moved the white ribbon.

Fluttershy approached her carefully. The mare didn't leave her position, she only began to shake stronger. That became ridiculous when Fluttershy came right next to her.

" Umm, sorry if I'm being rude, but can you speak? " the yellow pegasus asked her. As she heard that, the mare abruptly turned her head to Fluttershy, scaring the shy mare, and shook off the shivvers tormenting her with a loud sigh.

" You speak my language! " she excalimed after she inhaled deeply, the reason for her previous worries becoming clear. She feared the group couldn't communicate. The unicorn wasn't sure if their intentions were good or not.

" Excuse me. " Fluttershy turned to the enthusiastic mare.

" Yes? " she turned to the pegasus again, this time with a smile on.

" Do you know how we appeared here? Because a minute ago we were just sitting on a lawn, and suddenly all of us are... " Fluttershy looked around. A mountain belt rose behind the group, spreading from horizon to horizon, with a big forest in its foot. In front of them there was what seemed to be a village with small, one storey houses only. Only a few two storey houses rose above the others like redwood trees above normal pines. They were only two of them in the whole village.

In front of the wall of the nearest house, which was approximately 75 feet away, stood 4 other pony figures. Probably the mare's friends.

" ... here. " Fluttershy finished her sentence.

" Of course I do! " the mare spoke proudly.

" I brought you here! "

Luna raised an eyebrow:

" You managed to conjure a portal to another dimension all by yourself? "

Twilight shared the princess of the moon's confusion. Portals were difficult spells, that often required two or more ponies to conjure them, if the conjurer didn't want to be absolutely exhausted afterwards. Now that she was an alicorn and her magic power had increased, she could conjure normal portals on her own, if she needed to, but a portal to a different dimension? That sounded way harder.

" I know, right? " the unicorn was overflowing with enthusiasm.

" I know I had it in me! Come now! " she headed back towards the village and the group had no choice but to follow her.

" Twilight... do you think that this mare has sufficient magical power to conjure such a spell on her own? " Celestia asked Twilight, whispering, while the mare was leading them to the village.

" Well... in the beggining, when you took me as your apprentice, I didn't look too special either. " the purple alicorn replied, whispering as well.

" And here are my noble companions! " the mare dramatically stepped aside to reveal the figures Fluttershy saw before that, now close enough to shake their hooves with the group.

" Noble? " an earth pony stallion with the size of Big Mac replied with irony.

" At least tell them the truth, Midnight. "

" So... your name is Midnight? " Twilight made a guess.

" Midnight Bell, actually. " the bronze unicorn corrected her.

" OK, Than. I'll be realistic. This is Forge, our group's smith, " the mare pointed the big stallion, that had spoken, with her left forehoof.

The light- brown colour of his coat was nothing special. His black mane and tail didn't strike the group as out of the ordinary either. His cutie mark - a hammer and an anvil - was what a pony would expect from somepony, named Forge. What really got the group's attention was his face. The long rumple on his forehead could only have been formed by multiple worries over the years. His deep brown eyes were welcoming, but threatening as well. The deep voice they had previously heard completed this image of a responsible and serious stallion. The sledgehammer on his back indicated, that if his group's well- being was threatened, the lightnings in those eyes wouldn't be symbols of empty threats. However, he still gave them a hearty welcome:

" Honestly, I didn't expect, that Midnight would succeed. " he spread his hoof.

" Neither did we. " Celestia took that hoof and shook it.

" Next to him is his sister, Arcane Bliss, our village's healer. " the bronze unicorn continued introducing the ponies of the small group.

The second unicorn in the group had light- green coat, red mane and tail with two or three white streaks and bandages for a cutie mark. She smiled heartily, laughed and spread her hoof as well. Unlike it was with her brother, the cares seemed to pass her muzzle without changing it in any way. This unicorn probably looked the same way when she began working. Perhaps the hundreds of wounded ponies, that had passed through her cabinet, had made her stronger.

Those were the thoughts, passing through Rarity's head, as she took the healer's hoof.

" This is our group's... " Midnight probably couldn't pick the right word. Luckily, she was helped by the mare she was about to introduce:

" Fighter for justice. "

" I thought we were all fighting for justice? " the stallion, that had yet to be introduced, objected.

" This group's cause is merely a charity. After all, how will you help the country by bringing down a dictator, only to crown another? No, my cause is fighting for justice. Yours is fighting for nothing. " the mare replied with an even voice. Forge knit his brows, Arcane showed signs of concern and Midnight Bell looked dissappointed. However, the last stallion just laughed.

" Oooh! Buuurn! " he noted and continued laughing.

Forge looked crosser than before..

This conversation made it clear to the group, that this group wasn't as united as they hoped it would be. As brother and sister, Forge and Arcane were, of course, used to act like one pony, but Celestia wasn't sure about the others.

The mare, that had spoken, had an obvious rebellious look. Her gray mane and tail didn't fall down in any specific way, she had just let them fall the way they fell, giving the light grey mane and tail a very scruffy look. The only two things in her, that seemed kept in good shape, were here dark purple wings, with the same colour as her coat, and the two knives, placed in their respective sheats, which were tied above the knees on her two forehooves, so that she could reach for them any time. Her cutie mark represented crossed knives.

The scruffy mane passed an inch above her purple eyes, which were slightly lighter than her coat. Those eyes, like Forge's, were full of lightnings, indicating their owner was ready to face any threat. However, they were also full of unhidden spite. That spite didn't seem to be towards anypony of their group or the Equestrians. In the end, Luna decided she probably held some kind of vendetta against somepony.  Knowing how she probably felt, having felt such spite many times when she was still Nightmare Moon, she spread her hoof, but the pegasus didn't take it.

" That's Dagger. " Midnight Bell noted, with an unsure voice.

" And finally, " the last stallion in the line spoke before anypony asked him to, earning an annoyed glare from the bronze unicorn.

He was a unicorn with a light grey coat and gold yellow mane and tail. His cutie mark were notes, coming out of a sword. He had a real sword in a sheath on his back.He smiled charmingly, although he didn't manage to charm anypony, and completed his sentence:

" , fillies and gentlecolts, the best of this group, the second greatest swordspony to ever exist, Metal Chord! "

This stallion immeadietly struck the Equestrians as overly boastful, even arrogant. The Mane 6 had long ago learned, that in a group everypony is equally importrant, but this swordspony had yet to learn that lesson. Left with bad impressions of him, nopony wished to shake hooves. As he saw that, Forge smiled and laughed. Subtle smiles also appeared on the lips of the three mares.

" Anyway, " Midnight Bell spoke once again.

" , welcome to the land of Runcinia! May we know your names as well? "

" Celestia. "

" Luna. "

" Vortex. "

" It's Twilight Sparkle. "

" Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier of Equestria! "

" What's Equestria? " Arcane Bliss asked the cyan mare.

" It's the land we come from. " Celestia replied instead and the other Equestrians continued introducing themselves.

" Pinkie Pie! "

" You may call me Rarity. "

" Ah'm Applejack. "

" Um, Fluttershy. "

" I am Blaze, Sentinel of Fire, and those are my brothers by duty, Cobalt, Sentinel of Rock, Neptune, Sentinel of the Seas, Hydro, Sentinel of the Rivers and Tempest, Sentinel of the Storms. " as their leader, Blaze spoke from the name of all the Sentinels.

" I'm Spike. "

" My name is Hase. "

" And mine is Formidon, also known as Obstructer of Skies! "

It was first than that the Equestrians noticed, that the Starfliers, Discord and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were apparently back in Equestria, which relieved Rarity and Applejack.

" 15 ponies, 4 of which alicorns, and 2 dragons, one of them fully grown? That's a good back- up! " Forge pat Midnight's the shoulder.

" Back- up for what? " Rarity was interested.

" To fight the dictator, known as Bladewaltz, who has been terrorising this land since 10 years ago! " the bronze unicorn proclaimed.