On to a New Plane

Chapters

Breakthrough
Relations
Into the Tunnel
On to the Surface
On the Road
At the Station
The Search Begins
New Developments
Reunions
Things Change

Breakthrough

Twilight just stood in the tunnel, staring at the improbable piece of modern plumbing. It felt like hours that she just stood there, when it was really only a few minutes.

“So, are we going to dig around this thing, or what?” asked one of the miners, startling Twilight.

“Oh, um, maybe you should wait to do that. We need, uh, some more help up here to break through this soil.” stammered Twilight, trying to stall for time while she put her thoughts in order.

“What are you talking about? We’re almost finished here. Let’s just get through to the surface, and then we can go back to Equestria to get back our magic, and collect our paycheck.”

“No!” yelled Twilight, startling the group behind her. “I mean, do you know what this means? There is a civilization up there! And judging by the metalwork of this pipe, these ponies have a lot of good craftsponies among them.”

Twilight studied the symbols painted on to the metal once more.

“It’s some sort of code.” thought Twilight. “Either that or they speak an unknown language.”

“Enough stalling, I’m going through.” said one of the diggers behind her, suddenly pushing his way past Twilight.

Twilight watched as the team began using their shovels to continue scooping out the soil, and moving it back down the tunnel. It took only about 15 minutes, since they were so close to the surface, and eventually, a shovel broke through to the surface, allowing sunlight to spill down into the hole.

“Ahh, finally, some fresh air.” said the miner, as he put down his shovel to gaze up at the new sky.

“Let me see!” exclaimed Twilight as she pushed the stallion out of the way to look through the opening.

Well, it looked like a normal sky, alright. It was blue, there were come stray clouds that dotted the scene, and Twilight could hear strange noises coming from off in the distance.

“Could you maybe make the hole a bit bigger, so that we can actually get out of this cave?” asked Twilight.

“Our contract said we had to just dig until we hit the surface, and that is exactly what we did. Sorry Princess Twilight, but you’re on your own from here.” And with that, the miners began plodding back down the tunnel, back to the gateway, leaving their shovels behind.

“Well that wasn’t very polite.” thought Twilight. “No matter, I can easily dig this out myself.” Twilight grabbed the nearby shovel in her hooves, and began scrapping away at the top soil of the alien world. Once the hole was big enough, she decided she could risk poking her head out of the hole to get a better view.

Allen felt like he was nodding off as he drove down the freeway. He had long since silenced the radio, as nothing good was on this time of day.

“I bet Jeffery is going to finally get his promotion today.” he thought as he looked down the road.

As there were virtually no trees on this route, any driver could see a long way down the road, at least until their vision was cut off by the hills that occasionally jutted up into the landscape. As Allen drove by, he spotted a hole down the road, and a strange purple thing poking out of it.

“What the hell?” thought Allen, but with a start, he realized that cars had stopped in front of him to get a look at what was going on. Allen quickly down shifted to gear 2, and slowed the car as much as he safely could. Even though he knew it was rubbernecking, Allen steered the car to the side of the highway, and stopped on the breakdown lane.

Allen noticed that nobody had gotten out of their cars to look at the creature who had its head poking out of the ground, and was looking around frantically from car to car. Then again, it was also safer to look at this thing from the car window.

Allen, realizing that nobody would believe him about this if he told anyone at work why he was late, quickly whipped out his iPhone and turned on the recording app. He couldn’t see through the windows of the other cars around him, but he bet that everyone else was doing the same.

Taking a closer look, Allen noticed that whatever it was had large milky eyes, a pale purple coat, and what looked like a horn jutting from the forehead. Then, as it turned its head, he noticed that it also had a short muzzle on its face. Before Allen could get out of his car to approach the creature, it quickly ducked its head back underneath the hole in the soil.

Allen got out of his car, noticing that some of the other people were doing the same. The small mob began to approach the hole, when the blast of sirens met their ears and flashing red and blue met their vision. Allen turned his head, and saw that a police car had pulled up, noticing the crowd of cars parked here.

“What’s all this about?” shouted the cop. “Has there been an accident?” He looked around the scene, and saw that every car parked was undamaged.

“Sir, you aren’t going to believe this,” said one of the bystanders, “but a weird looking giant purple mole thing with a horn came out of the ground right here.” he said, gesturing to the hole in the ground.

“Oh really?” replied the cop, looking skeptical. “And did this purple horned mole try to employ psychokinetic mind control over you, making you feel like you needed a cap made of foil?”

Allen was getting angry at this point. He had known paranoid schizophrenics in his life, and their condition was no joking matter. Allen stepped out of the crowd and addressed the police officer.

“Hey! He didn’t make believe the whole thing, because I saw it too! Not only that, but I’ve got a video of it on this!” he said, holding up his iPhone.

“Okay then. What’s your name?” asked the cop, now looking at Allen.

“It’s Allen Mizner.”

“Okay then Allen. I’ll play along. Why don’t you show me this video of yours?” asked the cop, starting to look smug.

Allen opened the video on his iPhone, and handed it to the police officer. As he watched the recorded footage, the cop’s expression became increasingly incredulous.

When all 90 seconds of the footage was over, the cop raised his voice, and addressed the crowd.

“Uhh, has anyone else gotten a recording of this as well?” he asked shakily.

Five more people raised their own iPhones into the air.

Author's Note

Sorry this is a little late. I'll try to keep to my usual schedule, but my college courses are interfering with my writing.

Relations

“I’m sorry I’m late,” said Allen to his co-workers as he entered the office, “but I got held up in traffic.”

“Well you didn’t miss much.” said Jeffery from across the room. “It’s only 9:15.”

Allen sat down at his desk and turned on his computer. He considered briefly telling his co-workers about why he was late, but even with the video footage he acquired, he doubted anyone here would believe him. Then again…

“Hey, have there been any brand new videos on YouTube that have gone viral recently?”

“Oh come on Allen, videos go viral on YouTube on a daily basis. You think that I keep track of them all?” asked Jeffery, looking annoyed at the question.

Still, Allen decided to check out YouTube to see if anything had come up. After he brought up YouTube on his old model Gateway computer, he searched for “Giant purple mole with horn in ground.” The results that came up were less than promising at a glance. But as Allen scrolled down the page, he saw a thumbnail that made his mouse pointer instantly click on the link.

Sure enough, as the video started playing, Allen saw that it was one of the clips that someone had taken on their iPhone at the place where he spotted the creature.

“Does this guy put everything he films up on YouTube the moment he’s done filming?” thought Allen as he turned his chair around to address his co-workers. “Hey guys, have you seen this new video on the internet?” he called out.

“Unless it proves that the value of my house is going to go up, I’m not interested.” said Jesse from her desk, as she continued to write her grant.

Allen looked at the view counter. It was still less than 300 views, and only had 40 likes, and 56 dislikes. He risked a glance at the comments section, and saw exactly what he expected to see. Comments like “Totally fake” and “Photo shopped rofl” littered the forum.

Allen resolved to return to where he first saw that purple creature after work, but for now, he had a chart waiting for him on Excel to finish.

Twilight was still sitting in the main chamber of the tunnel that was dug out. The portal leading back to Equestria scheduled to open soon.

“It’s fine, Twilight. The natives were just curious to see you. That’s all.” she thought as she remembered those hulking multicolored metal beasts with wheels. “How can they have wheels?! Life can take a lot of strange shapes, but wheels need a bearing, and an axle that can spin freely of the rest of the body! It can’t happen in nature!”

She couldn’t hear them any more, as she was too far down underground. They moved so fast, much faster than anypony could run on their own. And when those few had stopped close to her, she just knew that they were looking at her somehow.

Thoughts of the metal beasts continued to assault Twilight’s mind as she stepped back into the depression and was whisked back to Equestria.

Upon arriving in Whitetail Wood, Twilight saw Princess Celestia speaking to some of the miners, most of whom were packing up their gear in large wooden crates, as their work was done.

“Simple contact with another earth pony should be sufficient” Twilight overheard Celestia telling some of the diggers. “Because the energy within the other earth ponies will briefly discharge between you, creating the spark you need to get your magic back. From there, your magic will restore itself from the field like normal.”

The three stallions that Celestia was speaking to all bowed their heads and set off to continue packing their gear. Celestia then looked towards the portal and spotted her former student walking towards her.

“Twilight, it’s good to see that you made it back safely. So, I take it you will be wanting your magic back now?”

“Yes Princess, I would, but also, I saw the surface of that other world. It’s not what I expected.” said Twilight, looking uncertain.

“Well Twilight. For your magic to return to you, simply touch your horn to mine, and I’ll do the rest. As for what you found within that other world, we will have plenty of time to talk about it.”

Twilight bowed her head as Celestia did the same. When their horns touched, Twilight felt energy rushing back into her body. Her coat color became more vibrant, her eye color returned, and her cutie mark reappeared.

“Thanks Princess, but I think I should tell you now that there is civilization on the other side of that portal, and the locals are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”

Twilight told Celestia about all she had seen and heard on her brief look above ground, all the while Celestia was doing a good job at hiding her expression.

“So Twilight,” Celestia said after a pause in Twilight’s speech, “do you think that these metal entities have some form of language or communication? I think it would be best at this point to go back and try to gain their trust. The way you describe them, they could be very strong, even without magic.”

“Well Princess, I did see some kind of writing on the water pipe that I first saw which indicated that the other world was populated. So I assume they have some sort of language as well. But I doubt they could follow us back through the portal. None of them looked like they could have fit completely inside the diameter of the portal, so I don’t think we are in any danger of attack.”

“But all the same, Twilight, I think it would be in the best interest of both ponies and this new race if we were to find a way to befriend them.”

“Of course Princess, I would have done the same.” Said Twilight with an expression of confidence. “So what’s our next move?”

“Well, I think at this point, I should be the one to go through the portal, if only for a short while. And to do that, Twilight, I must impart my magic to you once more.”

Twilight shuddered at the memory of when it first happened. All that power, and Twilight was just barley holding on to it.

“Don’t worry Twilight, What you experienced before was the combined force of three other princesses. This time, it will be just me.”

“Okay Princess Celestia, I’m ready.” said Twilight.

Celestia began to pour her magic out of her horn into a glowing sphere above Twilight’s head. Twilight noted that it was much smaller than before when it began flowing into her horn, and into her body.

Once Twilight had absorbed it all, she looked back at Princess Celestia. Her hair had stopped flowing, her eye color had faded, and her cutie mark was nowhere to be seen.

“Alright Twilight, I won’t be long. I don’t think you’ll need to assume my duties of raising or lowering the sun again. But just in case I’m not back within the hour, contact my sister immediately. She will know what to do.”

“Good Luck, Princess.” Twilight said to her old mentor, as she stepped into the portal, and cast the spell to open it.

There was the familiar flash of light, and Princess Celestia was gone.

Author's Note

New Chapter!

Into the Tunnel

“Come on, what could possibly be holding back this much traffic?” thought Allen as his car snailed on, the road so congested that he was moving at top speeds on 15 miles per hour. Even in Connecticut, where everyone left work at the same time every day, rush hour usually didn’t slow down a highway this much.

“Just my luck if an accident happened on this road, just as I’m trying to get another look at that thing I saw earlier today.”

As Allen kept moving, he decided to listen to the traffic report on the radio. Maybe he would get some clues as to what was going on.

“Good afternoon, listener,” crackled the low signal of the traffic report, “today we have some congestion on route 16 in Connecticut. My sources tell me that police have sectioned off part of the road in order to mount an investigation. Details of said investigation have not been released as of yet, but police will be directing traffic at the neck of the congestion.”

Allen turned off the radio at that. That was all he needed to hear. “Of course, I showed the police that footage on my phone, and now they won’t let anyone near that hole.”

Sighing in disappointment, Allen drove on. Eventually, he reached the spot where the police were directing traffic. He saw that, indeed, cop cars were parked in the same spot that he had parked earlier when he saw that purple creature come out of the hole. Police were milling around, talking on their radios, and taking photos.

Looking up, Allen saw an officer wave him past, and Allen was forced to drive on, sparing one last glance at the hole in the ground.

“Sir, the chief is on the radio, and would like to speak with you.”

Officer James Rowe looked upwards to see his partner, Judith, handing him a walkie-talkie.

“Thanks Jud,” he said, talking the device and holding it up to his face. “Sargent Rowe here.” he said into the receiver.

“James, what’s the situation down there?” came the crackly voice of the chief through the device.

“Well sir, we’ve blocked off the road, as directed. It has caused some congestion in the traffic, but we’re directing the cars through it.”

“Have you investigated the hole in the ground yet?” came the reply.

“Our initial search revealed it to be some sort of mine shaft. The opening is too narrow to fit through at the moment, but a visual inspection revealed iron support bars and electric lamps hung throughout a tunnel.”

“When you say the opening is too narrow,” said the Chief, sounding uncertain, “do you mean that whoever dug the shaft had tried to bury the entrance?”

James looked back at the undisturbed grass surrounding the hole. “No sir, whoever dug this was digging upwards from underground.”

“Well Sargent, I need you to get down that hole and investigate what dug it out by any means necessary. Report back to me with any new developments.”

“Yes, sir. Over and out.” James said into the receiver, clicking the button to shut off the device.

“Hey Jud!” James called out, “Do we have any spades or shovels in the trunk?”

“Yeah,” said Judith, her head inside the cruiser’s trunk, “we’ve got some. I presume our orders are to get down there and investigate?”

“That’s right. Let’s get to work here.”

And with that, the police began digging out the ground around the hole, widening the opening. It looked like it would be pretty easy to squeeze down that shaft, although the tunnel only looked tall enough for a man to fit through if they hunched over.

“Alright, I’m going in.” said James, once the opening was large enough. “If I’m not back in 30 minutes, call the chief for back up.”

James pulled out his flashlight and headed down into the tunnel. Looking around, it seemed like a standard mine shaft. Thinking he could find some clues as to who was down here, James grabbed one of the lamps off the wall.

He couldn’t identify the brand, and the light bulb inside did not look like any brand name he knew about. Instead of screwing in, the light bulb had two wires that ran out of it, and into two ends of a cube shaped battery.

At least, James assumed it was the battery. Shining his flashlight on it, he could not see any brand name that might indicate who made it, but all he found were some weird loopy symbols on the bottom, as well as an acrid, tangy smell coming from the battery.

“These look hand made.” thought James as he put the lamp back down. “Plus, that didn’t smell like any battery acid I know. Maybe a different electrolyte was used.”

As James continued down the tunnel, he noticed that the air was getting stale, with a more artificial smell to it. Looking around, he spotted some metal canisters lying around. James guessed that they must have been the air supply that the miners used while digging this tunnel.

As James pressed onwards, he was certain of one thing. “Since these diggers were digging up, that means that this tunnel must lead somewhere else.” he thought as the slope downwards became less steep.

Eventually, James came down into a large (by comparison) cavern. Looking around, James saw some remains of discarded pickaxes, some more empty metal canisters, some lamps that had run out of energy, and most unusual of all…

“Where to now?” thought James. There were no other tunnels that led out of this cavern, and the only thing lower than the floor was a depression in the stone. Shining his flashlight down into the depression, he ran his had along its surface. It was unusually smooth, his skin couldn’t feel any bumps our contours in the stone curve.

Suddenly, James heard what sounded like a crackling sound coming from the depression. He quickly drew his hand back and backed off several paces, shining his flashlight at the spot in the cavern.

His vision was then blinded by a sudden flash of light, and James instinctively reached for his weapon, but the flash had dies down just as soon as it has come, and James suddenly realized that he was no longer alone in the cavern.

Standing in the stone depression was some kind of white furred four legged thing. It was vaguely horse like in appearance, and a long multi-colored mane and tail, and most surprising of all, a long horn jutting from its forehead, as well as a pair of wings at its sides.

Just as James was about to draw his pistol, the creature looked up at him, with large, pale eyes.

James paused for a moment. The irises were pale, with what looked like a white film over them. Perhaps this creature that had appeared out of nowhere couldn’t see him. James began edging back towards the exit of the cavern when the creature opened its mouth, and made some odd noises.

James wasn’t certain, but with the rhythm of the sounds, and the inflection that were put into them, he knew it was a sentence. This creature could speak, apparently.

“Well, I wonder how I’m going to explain this to the rest of the force…”

On to the Surface

Princess Celestia just stood there for a moment, staring at the tall, bipedal creature. It had two arms, ending in claws, each with 5 slender digits. The face was much flatter than a pony’s face, with a small nose jutting out from the center. The eyes were small, and there was a short mane coming out of the top of the head.

It was currently frozen with one claw reached near its waist, and was staring right at her. Deciding to quickly take the most peaceful course of action before the creature made its move, she spoke to it.

“Hello there, my name is Princess Celestia. While you aren’t what I was expecting, I hope that you can at least understand me.”

The creature gave a start, seeming to come to some sort of decision. It opened its mouth, and with a distinctly male voice, he spoke in a language that Princess Celestia could not recognize.

“Well, this complicates things.” Celestia thought, “Not that they weren’t complicated already, but how do I convince him to wait here until the portal opens again?”

Princess Celestia knew a translation spell that may solve this problem, but if these creatures, no, people were untouched by magic the same way that matter from their world was, then this would take a lot longer than she had first thought.

Suddenly, the tall biped reached towards his waist, and withdrew an oddly shaped black thing. It was roughly rectangular in shape, with a small black pole coming out of one side. Celestia watched as he pushed down a button on the thing, and spoke more of his language.

Celestia had to keep herself from stumbling in surprise as she heard more of the strange words being spoken. But instead of the creature in front of her speaking, the words were coming out of the black object he now held.

“How? How does that happen? Is it some sort of non-magical teleportation of sound waves?” asked Celestia, forgetting that he could not understand her.

The creature just shook his head, and tried to gesture with his claws by pointing at her, than at himself, then to the tunnel leading upwards to the surface.

Celestia watched as he repeated the gesture two more times.

“Does he want me to go up to the surface with him?” Celestia thought.

Deciding to follow this entity, seeing what he had in store, but very conscious that she no longer had her magic, Celestia stepped out of the portal’s radius, and followed the strange biped, as he began to walk backwards towards the mouth of the tunnel, always keeping one eye on her.

“Surprisingly good balance, for someone without a tail to walk backwards like that.” thought Celestia as she followed him up the tunnel.

“I would kill for a cup of coffee right about now.” Judith though as she leaned against the door of her cruiser. Suddenly, she heard her partner’s voice come out of the walkie-talkie she was wearing.

“Listen Jud,” she heard James’s voice coming from the speaker as she fumbled to get the device off her belt, “there is someone down here I’m bringing up for questioning. Be ready for when we emerge. ETA will be 8 minutes.”

“Uh, roger that, sir. We’ll be ready for whoever you’re bringing up. Ove-“ Before Judith could even finish her sentence, the signal cut out.

“Okay, something’s up. James and I may be close partners, but he at least waits to check if I’m listening before giving me instructions.” thought Judith as she put the device back on her belt.

She turned to the other two officers who were directing traffic.

“Hey you two, we’ve found someone to take in. Looks like our work here is almost done.” She called out.

The other two still looked bored as they continued to point and gesture to the drivers passing by. For a while, Judith just stood there, waiting. Then, she spotted her friend and partner, James, climb out of the hole.

“James, you’re back! But where’s the person you found? You said you found someone down there.” Judith looked her partner over, and saw that he was looking stressed, more stressed than usual. “Uh, are you alright? The person you found didn’t cause any trouble, did they?”

“No, nothing like that. And it’s a she, Judith. I’ve managed to tell her to wait near the opening until I went back for her.”

“Managed to? You mean she doesn’t speak English? Where’s she from?”

James let out a long sigh. “She’s… not from around here. That’s all I know about her origins. What’s important now is that when I bring her up, you must keep the traffic moving. Got it?”

“James, you’re starting to scare me. There wasn’t anything dangerous on this person, was there?”

“No, I mean, I don’t think so. Just don’t let any of the cars block traffic when people try to stop to stare.”

Princess Celestia was waiting near the opening to the surface. She could smell the fresh air of the new world fill her up, and while it smelled slightly different than the Equestrian air she was used to, it was still far more pleasant than that bottled air in the cavern She could also hear bizarre sounds filtering down into the tunnel, but the sources of the noises eluded her knowledge.

“Hmm, I wonder what he’s doing up there.” thought Celestia as she sat near the surprisingly well crafted water pipe that ran through the walls of the tunnel.

Suddenly, she saw the same person who she had seen before appear at the mouth of the tunnel, and make a waving gesture with his claw. While she wasn’t too familiar with these people’s body language yet, she recognized the signal that she was to come up and out of the tunnel now.

As Celestia stepped out, she saw that she was in a grassy field, next to a long stone structure, upon which dozens of the metal beasts that Twilight had described were rolling by. Before she could make a guess as to what the things were, she saw more bipedal creatures staring at her. They to, were wearing blue clothing, and had several devices strapped to their waists.

Celestia noticed that the one she had first met yelled something at the two who were standing upon the stone structure, gawking at her, who then quickly turned their backs, and began gesturing to the rolling metal beasts.

Before she could think of what all of this meant, the male creature pointed at her, then walked over to another metal wheeled thing, and opened it.

“So they are not life forms, but some kind of machine.” realized Celestia as she saw him point inside of it, where what looked like a soft bench could be seen inside.

On the Road

“Come in, Chief, this is Sargent Rowe.” James called over the radio.

After what seemed like an eternity, James heard the voice of his boss come over the link. “This is Chief Donavan, go ahead Sargent.”

“How do I explain this without sounding too crazy?” James thought as he spared a quick glance behind him to the white equine in the back seat.

“Sir, we’ve found a quadrupedal horned, winged equine, who is apparently intelligent enough to speak. Although she doesn’t speak English, we’re taking her back to HQ to see what we can learn from her.”

There was a long pause before James heard his chief reply back. “Care to run that by me one more time, Sargent?”

“Sir, he’s not lying.” Judith cut in. “In fact, I could livestream video footage right now over my iPhone.”

“Very well, Officer Mulroney, show me this, creature you found.” Said the Chief, still sounding highly skeptical.

Judith fumbled a bit in the glove compartment before pulling out her iPhone. “James, could you please not leave apple cores in here?”

Judith opened the app the livestreamed to another iPhone, and selected the number of her boss’s phone as the link. After a few seconds, the link opened up, and Judith knew that the Chief could now see what she was seeing.

She turned around, and pointed the camera at the sitting equine, who was now looking visibly stressed by the situation, her pale eyes darting around like a cornered animal.

“My god,” came the chief’s voice over the radio, “we’re going to need some extra help for this one.”

Twilight Sparkle was still waiting at the Equestrian side of the portal. It felt like days since Princess Celestia had stepped through it, but it wasn’t even an hour yet since she had gone through, so it was too soon to contact Princess Luna.

“Even so,” Twilight thought, “she should know where her sister went, and what her endeavors are.”

Deciding to contact Princess Luna, even though the hour hadn’t passed yet, Twilight teleported back to her palace.

“Spike!” Twilight called out, “I need you to take a letter to Princess Luna for me.”

Spike the dragon came walking out into the living room. “Hey Twilight, how’s the project going?” he said, as he began opening the desk to extract some parchment and a quill.

“Princess Celestia has gone through a portal into a strange world, and hasn’t come back yet. I need you to take a letter for me.”

Spike raised his claw, and began to write as Twilight dictated:

Dear princess Luna,

I’m sure you are aware of your sister’s endeavors to study this new world that we have found, but there has been a new development. It seems that the world we have found is populated, and Celestia wants to establish relations with the people of that world. She has left her magic with me, and departed through the portal roughly 40 minutes before this letter was sent. I am troubled by thoughts of what will happen if she does not return, and even though Celestia told me to wait an hour before contacting you, I feel that I need your help right now.

Your loyal subject,

Twilight Sparkle

Once Spike had finished writing, he rolled up the parchment, and blew green flame on to it, watching it turn to a green mist, and flying out the open window.

“There it’s on its way. Now we just have to wait for a response.” said Spike, as he watched Twilight pace the floor.

“Oh Spike, I think that Princess Celestia has made a huge mistake!” Twilight exclaimed. “How can she bring the magic of friendship between our worlds if she’s in a world where there is no magic?!”

Before Spike could respond, a bright flash filled the room, and Princess Luna appeared before Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle, I got your message. I felt that it was urgent that we meet, if my sister is indeed missing.” said Luna, her voice filled with concern.

Twilight, who was growing accustomed to visitors appearing in her home, blinked the stars out of her eyes before replying, “Princess Luna, thank goodness you have come! I think Princess Celestia may have gotten herself into a sticky situation.”

“My sister may be old, but her magic is strong enough that I am confident that she can take care of herself should she get into trouble. Nevertheless, if she has gone missing, it is urgent that I find her.” Said Luna confidently.

“Well that’s just it, Princess. Celestia doesn’t have her magic any more. She gave it all to me before departing through the portal.” said Twilight, looking at the floor.

“What?! How could she be so foolish?” Princess Luna boomed, her voice near the royal Canterlot voice. “Why would she give up her magic before wading into potential danger?”

“Princess, that world isn’t like this one. If she hadn’t given up her magic before going through, she would have died!”

“Explain, Twilight, as we now may be short on time to find my sister.”

Princess Celestia was the wisest, and most powerful pony in Equestria, and yet, right now she felt like a filly again. Nothing made sense here, as the machine she was sitting inside sped along the dark pathway, an unseen power source pushing or pulling it along.

Princess Celestia shifted uncomfortably on her seat, as the two bipeds controlling the machine had used that non-magical sound mover to talk to someone else. The material felt uncomfortably like the cured skin of another animal, and it was clearly not built with ponies in mind.

She looked out of the window from time to time viewing the scenery as they went, thinking on her decision to come here.

“This was a mistake. If I can’t return by the time I said I would, Twilight will worry, and may do something rash.” she thought as she saw another metal wheeled machine pelt past them in the opposite direction.

Ducking her head instinctively, Celestia realized that she had no power here, and most of her wisdom of her world wasn’t going to be of much use.

Her ride inside the machine felt like it was lasting hours, but it was really only about 10 minutes later, that Celestia began to notice that the scenery was changing. Here, there were structures. Houses, shops, and work areas from the looks of things. The two controlling the machine had remained silent the whole time while operating, not even responding to the additional messages of their kind over the sound mover.

The machine turned, stopped, and started again at regular intervals, probably to avoid colliding with other machines, until it finally stopped behind a building, and Celestia noticed that the vibrations coming up through the seat had stopped.

At the Station

Celestia considered her options as she stepped out of the wheeled machine once the male biped had opened the door and beckoned for her. She could try running, but she may not get far, as she did not know what these people were capable of.

She nervously approached the metal door of the stone structure that the female was holding open for her. Inside was a white painted corridor with what looked like rectangular electric lights worked into the ceiling. There were no paintings along the walls, or any sort of artwork anywhere in sight. This was clearly a building made just for utility.

Suddenly, another biped rounded a corner into the hallway, and stopped to stare at Celestia. Saying something she could not recognize, she looked him up and down. He was definitely older than the other two, as his short mane was turning grey in areas, and he was slightly wider than the other two.

“He must be in charge of this place.” thought Celestia, as she observed the group conversing. She was well familiarized with military conduct, and the inflections in speech, and postures they were giving indicated that they were not too far different than her own royal guards.

The older person stepped towards Celestia, then pointed at himself with one of his digits.

“Donavan.” he said, still pointing at himself. The he pointed to the other male. “Rowe,” he then pointed to the female, “Mulroney.”

Celestia recognized what he was doing from the centuries of experience with dealing with foreign politicians. “Clearly they are introducing themselves. I suppose I should do the same.” Celestia thought as she pointed to her own chest with a hoof.

“Celestia.” she stated, noting that the bipeds seemed mildly put off by the degree of flexibility of her foreleg. This was certainly going to be an interesting day for the Princess.

“Maybe several if I can’t get back to the gateway soon…”

Twilight Sparkle was still in her palace with Princess Luna. She had just finished telling the lunar diarch all she knew of the world that she way, and what Celestia’s plans were when she went through.

“It is just like my sister to want to trust others. Going alone and weakened just goes to show how much faith she has put into this new race, even before they are understood.” said Princess Luna, looking pensive.

“She should have been back by now,” said Twilight, “are you going to go look for her?”

“As much as we would love to be the one to seek out our sister, we cannot.”

Twilight was shocked. Princess Luna didn’t care enough about her own sister to try to find her?

“But Princess, she’s your sister, and Equestria needs her!”

“Dear Twilight, you misunderstand. Our sister must be found, yes. But you must be the one to find her. I must remain here and ensure that nopony realize she is missing before you bring her back.”

“Are you sure you can keep a secret like that?” asked Twilight incredulously. “I mean, ponies are a talkative race. I’m sure word will get out sooner or later.”

“Yes Twilight, we believe that you are correct. However, I don’t expect this venture to take more than a few days. I believe I can keep the information contained until then. As for you, I will lend you a company of my finest night guards to aid you in your search.”

Twilight considered for a moment before asking, “Can my friends come with me too?”

Luna thought for a moment, then said, “We don’t see why not, but they would all have to give up their magic before venturing forth. Do you think they would be willing to do that?”

“I know my friends would do whatever it takes to help me, even if Princess Celestia wasn’t in danger.” replied Twilight, confidently.

“Then you should go and ask them. In the meantime, I believe I know a way to more efficiently store magic for later use, so that you can keep both your and my sister’s magic here before your journey.”

Thanking the lunar princess for her help, Twilight left to go find her friends.

“So chief, who was this expert you called? Will he be coming here?” asked James, looking over at his boss.

“I can’t remember what his name was, it was something foreign. As for when he was coming, he lives right here in town, and should be over within ten minutes.” Chief Donavan replied, still looking at the four legged alien, who had taken to observing everything inside the room they were all in. “He’s got a PhD in biology, and he graduated from CCSU.”

“Wow, so this guy might be able to help? Even considering that this creature is clearly an alien-“ began Judith before James cut her off.

“We don’t know if it’s an alien. All we know is that she seems to be female, intelligent enough to have a language, and appeared in that cavern underneath the freeway.”

Suddenly, the quadruped looked up, and said something. Quickly realizing that she wasn’t being understood, she began to show her teeth slightly apart, and began bobbing her head slightly over the nearby table.

“Uh sir,” James began, “I think she wants something.”

“Clearly.” Chief Donavan replied, “Maybe she’s thirsty? Judith, could you please go get some water?”

“Yes sir.” Judith said, and walked off towards the small kitchen in the break room of the police station.

After Judith returned with a cup of water, and placed it on the table, Celestia had an annoyed expression, and made the head motion again.

“I should be writing all this down. Judith, do you have a notepad I can borrow?” asked James, looking at Celestia with interest. “I’m sure that this expert who’s coming over would love any additional information we can provide.”

“Sure thing, James. Just look in the top drawer of my desk.” said Judith.

James went into his partner’s office, and opened her desk. Sure enough there was the notepad, and a couple of pens as well. James took the notepad, and decided to borrow a pen as well, and returned to his partner, beginning to write down what he had seen thus far.

When Celestia saw what James was doing, she instantly pointed at him, and made the head motion again.

“What does she want?” thought James as he began to write down what he saw. “She didn’t point at me until I returned with the notepad. Unless…”

Acting on a hunch, James held the pen and notepad out at arm’s length, and pointed to them. Celestia pointed her hoof clearly at the notepad and pen.

“Sir, she want’s these.” James said to the chief.

“Give them to her, James, let’s see where this goes.” Replied Chief Donavan.

As James placed the pen and notepad on the table in front of Celestia, the intercom sparked to life, and the voice of the secretary at the front desk was heard over the speaker.

“Pardon the interruption, Chief Donavan, but someone named Dr. Changpu has arrived, and claims that you invited him here for his help.” came the scratched up voice of the secretary.

“Perfect. He’s right on time. Send him in.”

Author's Note

Sorry this took longer to upload, I've been kinda busy with some other stuff

The Search Begins

Celestia observed the writing utensil with wonderment.

“What a simple, yet useful device. Like a quill and ink mixed together.” thought Celestia as she used her mouth to draw upon the paper she was given.

“And this parchment, it’s almost as white as my coat, and perfectly cut too.”

Celestia began by making a crude sketch of the highway from the point of view where she first emerged. It wasn’t easy, as the utensil she was using needed more pressure to distribute the ink than a quill did. It was also made of an unidentified material that made it more slippery than a quill, but it was flexible enough that Celestia was able to bite into it slightly.

When she was done, she handed the work back to the people across from her, who took it and looked it over. They said some more words in their language and Celestia listened to every word as best she could. Oh how she wished she could understand them. This would be so much easier if she could just talk to them.

Suddenly, she heard three sharp knocks on the door leading into the room, and the elder biped stood up, and opened it. In the doorframe stood another bipedal person, this one stood stalk still upon seeing her, and whispered something to the one who had let him in.

Then she saw the female who had been holding her drawing tear it right off, revealing another sheet of pristine parchment beneath. Celestia quickly gestured back towards the writing utensil and the parchment, and noticed that the newcomer, still standing in the doorframe give a surprised yelp at her sudden motion.

The elder said some more things to the newcomer, probably to console him, as the female handed back the utensil and pad of parchments.

Celestia thought, “How can I tell them to get me back to the portal?”

Deciding on what to draw next, Celestia began.

The Night Guards assembled more quickly than Twilight expected. At least a dozen armored ponies who were sprouting bat wings were already gathered at the portal when Twilight and her friends arrived. Princess Luna was already there as well, briefing the group on their objective.

Beside the group, there were what looked like dozens of brass canisters lined with blue crystals. Each one had an opening large enough to fit a hoof through.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle, you’re here, as well as your friends.” said Princess Luna.

Acting impulsive as ever, Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up. “So when do we get moving?”

“At ease, Rainbow Dash, first you must know what is in store for you on the other side.” said Luna, looking over at the pegasus mare. “You must all be willing to yield your magic to these devices,” she said, gesturing to the brass canisters, “and go through the portal and search on hoof. You will not be able to fly on that other world, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow looked nervous for a moment before responding. “No matter what it takes, I’ll never let Princess Celestia down, even without my wings!”

“Then what you must all do, that includes you all as well,” said Luna, looking at her company of guards, “is place your hoof inside these canisters. There is a magic sink rigged up in each one. You will lose your magic, but it will all be stored up in these things until you return.”

Twilight had never heard of these things before. A device that could hold somepony else’s magic for later use? Why hadn’t she ever heard of these before?

“Princess Luna,” Twilight spoke up, “are you certain we will be able to get our magic back from these devices upon our return? It’s just that I’ve never heard of anything like them before.”

“Your concern is valid, Twilight sparkle, but these devices were developed very recently, as nopony had ever thought that the construct within them was ever useful. But be assured, they have all been tested, and they definitely operate the way they are supposed to. You will most likely be needing two of them, as you currently hold the magic of two ponies within yourself.”

Twilight stepped up to one, as did her friends, and put their hooves through the holes. Instantly, Twilight felt a great pressure leaving her, as all of Princess Celestia’s magic was siphoned away into the canister. The crystals that were lining it shone brightly with a golden light that matched the color of Celestia’s magic.

Twilight watched as her friends did the same, each one grimacing as their magic was drained away. Their eyes faded in color, their cutie marks vanished, and even their coat color seemed to have gotten a bit duller.

Finally, all that was left was for Twilight to give up her own magic. Once again, she placed her hoof into an empty canister, and once again, she felt that a great support that was holding her up disappear, and she had to fight for a moment to keep her balance.

“Well, this stinks.” said Rainbow Dash, now looking at her blank flank. “Can we please just get on with this?”

“Oh it’s not so bad, Rainbow.” said Fluttershy, “It’s only temporary, and we’ll find Celestia soon enough.”

As optimistic as Fluttershy sounded, Rainbow Dash still held a grumpy expression as all of the night guards each filled up their own canisters with their magic.

“Alright,” said Luna, “now that that’s done, it’s time for me to send you all through the portal. One by one, each of you step into the depression in the ground, and I shall send you over. Once you arrive in the cave, please move aside quickly so the next pony may enter. Twilight Sparkle, would you like to go first?”

“Of course Princess, I’m ready.” said Twilight with a firm resolve.

Twilight Sparkle stepped once more into the portal’s radius, and she watched as Princess Luna cast the familiar spell to open the way. With a flash, Twilight found herself back in the cave underneath that new world.

Stepping out of the portal, she watched as the area shone brightly again, and Rarity appeared inside the cavern.

“Oh, how drab this place is,” she said, stepping out of the depression in the stone, “after the incident with those diamond dogs, I told myself that I would only ever step hoof underground once again if there was no alternative.”

“Well Rarity,” began Twilight, “I’m sure that you will survive long enough for us to get out of here. The tunnel leading up isn’t that long, and I’ve already gotten a glimpse of the surface.”

Before Rarity could respond, the portal flashed again, and Pinkie Pie appeared in the cave. One by one, all of Twilight’s friends, and then the entire company of night guards were inside the now cramped cavern.

“Alright everypony,” said Twilight, “today we will all venture forth into a strange new land, and try to recover the missing Princess.”

Twilight began to walk upwards through the tunnel, her friends and the guards following close behind.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long to get out. Real life has been slowing me down like crazy. Expect any future chapters to be released at this rate in the future.

New Developments

Rarity was the first to step out of the tunnel and on to the grass.

“Oh how wonderful it is to be out of that filthy tunnel.” she said, looking around.

Twilight was next to emerge from the tunnel, and noted that there weren’t any of the metal rolling creatures to be seen upon the black pathway. She also noticed that it was starting to get dark out.

“Hmm, without any magic here, how is the sun lowered?”

She looked up, and saw that the bright orange ball of the setting sun was nearing the horizon. Looking further across the sky, she saw something that made her do a double take.

“The moon is already up? But it’s not even night yet!” Twilight thought franticly, as she moved aside to let the remainder of her friends out of the tunnel.

“Well, this sure doesn’t seem so bad,” commented Applejack, “I thought this world would be, like, nowhere without Earth ponies tending to the land.” Applejack looked over at Twilight to see her still staring at the sky. “What’s up, Twi?”

“The moon, apparently. Applejack, it’s still daytime, and the moon is up! Don’t you think that’s strange?” asked Twilight to her friend.

Applejack glanced up at the pale white semi-circle before saying, “Well, it’s mighty odd seeing the sky like that, but don’t forget, we’re here for the Princess. There will be time to figure that” she said, pointing upwards, “out later. Come on, let’s move. Princess Luna’s guards still need to get up here.”

Even though they hadn’t said a word all day, the bat winged ponies still looked a bit annoyed as they all emerged, one by one from the hole in the ground.

“So uh, do you guys know where we might start looking for the Princess?” asked Rainbow Dash, looking at the nearest guard.

“We can begin in any direction. This path will most likely lead to the nearest settlement. Princess Celestia would most likely be located there.” said the bat-pony, looking down the highway. “We should probably stick together for safety. We have no idea what kind of predators could be waiting in the shadows.”

“So, let’s get going then.” Rainbow said, trying instinctively to get airborne, only for her wings to flap with no effect. “Oh, right, we have to hoof it from here. Well, then let’s get going.”

As Rainbow Dash began walking alongside the black pathway, she saw what looked like a pair of bright eyes appear over the crest of a hill. As Pinkie looked in Rainbow’s direction, she noticed them too.

“Hey Rainbow, it looks like one of those metal things wants to say hello!” exclaimed Pinkie, optimistic as ever.

Pinkie Pie jumped out on to the pathway as the metal creature was coming closer and closer. Reacting instinctively from years of training, one of the night guards leapt out between Pinkie and the four wheeled beast that suddenly made the most awful screeching noise as is came to a quick stop.

“Halt, beast!” shouted the bat winged pony. “I shall not allow you to bring harm upon these ponies!” he shouted defiantly.

Suddenly, a large flap on one side opened up, and out stepped another creature. It was hard to make out the silhouette from the harsh glare of the metal creature’s eyes, but this new creature was tall, bipedal, had two arms, and a long curly mane.

Twilight stared at this new development with interest. “So they make some sort of symbiotic pair? Or perhaps the metal one isn’t even alive at all, but if that’s the case, then is it some sort of machine? What was moving it? How can it work?” As all these questions surged through Twilight’s mind, the bipedal creature spoke in a clearly female voice, but was using a language Twilight could not recognize.

All of the guards were standing fast now, ready to strike should the need arise, but the biped didn’t seem to want to strike at all. She extracted a small rectangular thing from a pocket on an article of clothing she was wearing, and began running the digits of her claw-like appendage over it.

“So, uh, have you seen Princess Celestia around here?” Rainbow Dash asked the female. She looked up when addressed, the rectangular device now pointing in her direction.

“Rainbow, she obviously can’t understand us,” Twilight explained, “maybe we could try using some sort of sign language to ask where she’s from.”

The bipedal female was breathing heavily now, the black rectangle shaking in her grip.

“Looks like she’s just going to hold that thing and just stand there.” said Rainbow Dash, looking annoyed at their lack of progress with the situation.

“Oh Rainbow, be kind to the poor dear. She is obviously frightened by our appearance.” said Fluttershy, walking towards the tall biped. “There there, we aren’t going to hurt you. We’d just like you to show us where the nearest town or city is.”

Fluttershy’s approach had a less than desirable effect. The female quickly re-entered her metal self-moving carriage. It roared to life, and began picking up an impressive amount of speed for something so heavy as it moved off into the distance.

“Well, that didn’t quite go as expected. Do doubt she returned to her people.” said Twilight as she looked down the path in the direction the machine was going. “I suppose we’ll just head this way until we reach some kind of settlement.”

And with that said, the group started walking alongside the path, away from the sunset, to a place where they could, hopefully, find some answers.

“Fascinating! Attempting to communicate through pictograms!”

Dr. Changpu was very excited as he observed the obviously intelligent female alien draw out yet another sketch with the pen and paper. Her previous two drawings showed what looked like a hole in the ground, and another showing a cross section of a tunnel going underground and leading towards a cavern.

“I think we should try to respond in kind. Do you have another pen and paper?” asked Dr. Changpu to the chief.

“Yes doctor, I think we can arrange that. But I must ask now, have you ever seen any other creature like this before?” the chief asked, looking at the doctor.

“Well, of course not. She only vaguely resembles an equine, and her being at least as intelligent as we are makes it very highly probable that she is not of this world. And thank you, Judith.” Said Dr. Changpu, taking the pen and notepad from the female police officer.

Changpu started to draw out an image of his own, but stopped when he was asked a question by the chief.

“If she is an alien, why do you think she came here?”

“Well, I would think that it would be obvious, don’t you? She came because there was life. Simply a moth to a flame, really. I mean, think about it. If we achieved interstellar travel, and had discovered a planet with life on it, don’t you think we would make a beeline for that planet first?”

“Uh, Doctor,” James spoke up, “This depiction of a tunnel leading into a cavern kind of looks like where I first found her. She appeared there, like something you’d see in a sci-fi teleportation scene.”

“Celestia.” said James. Celestia looked up at her name being said. James pointed at her, then at himself, and then to the cavern drawn on the paper.

She made a sound with an upward inflection, quickly pointing at herself, and then at James, and again at the drawing.

“What did she say?” asked Judith, watching the scene before her.

Dr. Changpu considered a moment before answering. “I think that was her word for “yes”, or at least some manner of positive for us understanding what she drew.”

Just then, the intercom turned on, and the voice of the secretary could be heard.

“Chief, there’s a woman here who wants to speak with you. She claims that she saw a bunch of four legged horse things near a hole in the ground on the freeway.” said the voice of the secretary.

Everyone in the room stiffened upon hearing the news.

“Thank you for the update, tell her that I will be there shortly. That is all.” said Chief Donavan.

There was a click as the secretary hung up. Chief Donavan stood up and addressed the humans in the room.

“I’ll be back soon. Keep our…” he looked at Celestia, “guest pacified until I’m back.”

In the lobby of the police station, Chief Donavan spotted a curly haired woman, no older than 28, sitting in one of the chairs.

“Excuse me, I believed you wanted to see me?” he said, addressing the young woman.

Looking up, she replied, “Yes, you have to believe me, sir. I really saw a bunch of small multicolor horses on the freeway, and they were saying stuff I couldn’t understand, one a couple of them had horns, and you have to believe me, I’m not crazy and I’ve got proof!” she said without pausing.

“Now ma’am, I need you to try to remain composed. Please, let’s start with your name.”

“Susan. It’s Susan Williams.” she said, still looking on the verge of collapse.

“Tell me Susan, what did you see? Start from the beginning.”

As Susan told the Chief all that she had seen and heard, Chief Donavan listened to every word, and managed to keep his expression neutral throughout the whole thing.

“You say you have proof that what you say is true.” said Donavan, “I want to see the evidence. Right now.”

Susan reached into her pocket and extracted her iPhone. She brought up the video she took earlier of the herd of alien equines on the freeway. Chief Donavan watched, and when it was finished, patted Susan on the shoulder.

“I thank you for bringing this to my attention, Susan. I suggest you go home and get some rest now. We’ll take it from here.” said Chief Donavan in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.

Susan simply nodded, and stood up, and walked out of the front door of the police station. Donavan went back into the room with Celestia, and Dr. Changpu.

“We have a development.” he said to everyone present. “More of her kind have arrived here.”

Reunions

Celestia watched as the biped who had just introduced himself as “Changpu” drew upon the pad in front of him. An image was starting to take form upon the page of what looked like a miniature depiction of herself as well as one of the biped’s standing next to a hole in the ground, as well as an arrow pointing upwards out of the hole.

Then, Changpu pointed at the drawing of the biped. “James,” he said, then pointed at the picture of Celestia before saying “Celestia.”

“Yes, he was the one who brought me out of the tunnel.” said Celestia, knowing that Changpu probably couldn’t understand what she was saying.

However, he did at least seem to understand that she was affirming his statement, and looked happier because of it. Just then, the door to the room opened, and the older biped, Donavan walked back inside.

He said some things to the other three present, and they all looked surprised. The female, Judith, said something while sounding angry, a sharp inflection in her voice. Had something gone wrong? Was there an emergency?

James asked a question to his commanding officer, and he responded, and then pointed at Celestia.

“Celestia,” he said, then pointed at himself “Donavan,” then he made a gesture that looked like two legs walking towards something, and then pointed at the picture that Changpu had drawn of the hole.

What did that mean? The legs walking looked like how there people moved around, was it their symbol for walking, or travel perhaps? If that was so, Donavan wanted to take her back to the portal leading back to Equestria.

Finally! Now Celestia could bring Donavan to Equestria and hopefully help him understand the situation a little better.

Celestia stood up, and walked over to the door, and looked expectantly at Donavan. The aged biped quickly got up, and opened the door for her.

“Are we there yet?” asked a grumpy sounding Rainbow Dash, as the group of 18 ponies made its way across the landscape, sticking right next to the black pathway.

“Do we look like we’re in a town, Rainbow?” snapped Twilight, losing patience with both her friend, and this broken world.

The group hadn’t seen any more of those large steel machines carrying those bipedal creatures any more, which was fortunate, because Twilight thought they didn’t need to attract any more attention to themselves.

“Ugh, I hate not being able to fly. If I could, I bet I’d have already found the princess, and we would be back home now.” said Rainbow, looking at the grass as she plodded along.

“I agree Rainbow, I don’t like being cut off from my magic like this. I keep trying to use it instinctively, but then remember that I haven’t got it anymore.” said Twilight, looking over her shoulder to her prismatic friend, “But don’t forget, this won’t take long, I hope.”

“Well can we maybe stop to rest sometime soon? My legs are getting sore, and I’m getting hungry.” replied Rainbow Dash.

“That is a good idea Rainbow,” said Twilight, “but I haven’t brought anything to eat or make camp with.”

“If I may, Princess Sparkle,” one of the night guards had stepped forwards, “I have brought provisions for the whole group to last us a few days. We can set up camp whenever you would like.”

Twilight then noticed that two of the guards were wearing heavily laden saddlebags in addition to their armor.

“Alright. We’ll stop to rest here. Maybe we can pick up some clues while we rest up.”

The night guard nodded to the one behind him with the saddle bags, and he put them on the ground. He then withdrew a box of tinder and a piece of flint. Seeing this, another guard went to a nearby tree, and began grabbing some of the fallen branches in his teeth before dragging them back to the group.

Within just a few minutes, the campfire was built, and the main six were huddled around it, roasting some sweet peppers on sticks over the fire.

“Pinkie, are you alright?” asked Twilight, looking over at her pink friend.

“Of course I’m alright, Twilight. I mean, apart from the whole, lack of magic thing, I feel super!” replied Pinkie.

“It’s just that, you’ve been so quiet this whole time. I was wondering if there was something bothering you.” said Twilight, noting that her other friends were paying close attention as well.

“There’s nothing wrong, Twilight, really. My mind is just unusually quite here. I guess I just don’t have much to say right now. That’s not a bad thing, right?” asked Pinkie.

“No, of course not, Pinkie. I was just curious is all.”

Just then, another one of those metal rolling machines appeared over the crest of the next hill. This one looked slightly different than the others Twilight had seen, it was much shorter than the other behemoths Twilight had seen moving along the path, and Twilight could just make out a rack of what looked like glass cubes sitting on top of it. The sharp glare of the electric lights momentarily blinded Twilight as it approached, but is it was about to pass them by, it began to slow down.

The twelve night guards withdrew their small daggers from sheathes in their armor, as they made themselves ready for a potential fight, but the machine just rolled off to the side of the road where it came to a complete stop.

Twilight squinted towards the thing, not able to see much through the haze of dusk, but she could definitely tell there was motion inside of it. Suddenly, one of its doors burst open, and out stepped…

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted, as she saw the tall white form of her old mentor straighten up, now free of the confines of the machine.

Celestia looked over and spotted her old student.

“Twilight! I’m glad to see you.” Celestia said, trotting over the pathway until she reached the camp on the other side. The two shared a brief nuzzle before Twilight asked the question that was on everypony’s minds.

“Are you alright?” she asked, not caring about how obvious the answer apparently was, as Celestia stood before her, undamaged.

“Yes, I’m fine, Twilight. I’d like you all to meet my new acquaintance, Donavan.” said Celestia, looking back and gesturing towards the bipedal figure who had emerged from the vehicle as well, as was looking quite perplexed by the whole scene.

Author's Note

Sorry this took so long to get out, real life and all that...

Things Change

Twilight Sparkle looked past Celestia to the figure who had emerged from the four wheeled machine. It was similar to the one they had seen earlier, but the vague lines on the face and the greying hair suggested an older age. He was rapidly talking into an object in his claw, and never took its eyes off of the group.

“So these people,” Twilight began, “haven’t tried to harm you since you got here?”

“No Twilight. So far, I have given them no reason to fear me, so why should they?” replied Celestia.

Suddenly, one of the night guards stepped forwards, and gave a low bow towards Celestia. “Princess Celestia, if I may, your sister is worried about you, and would like you to return home at once.”

“Yes, I suppose I have been gone much longer than I said I would be.” replied Celestia. “Very well then, let us be off. I assume you all came this way on hoof?”

“Yeah, it kinda stank not being able to fly,” interjected Rainbow Dash, “I’m ready to be back home now.”

“What about the native?” asked Twilight, pointing at the ‘Donavan’ creature, who now had his back partially turned and was still talking into that black rectangle he held.

“I’m sure we will meet him again, and if not, I’m sure he can take care of himself.” said Celestia. ”He thought it best that I be with the rest of you when he was informed of your arrival.”

“Alright then,” said Twilight to the group, “I guess it’s time we got going.”

One of the night guards scrapped up a hooful of dirt, and smothered the camp fire, and began packing up everything at the makeshift campsite.

Allen wasn’t feeling very well as he opened the door to his apartment.

“It’s fine,” he kept telling himself, “The authorities have everything under control, they won’t let this be the end of the world, or anything like that.”

Allen unpacked his groceries, then sat down at his couch and turned on the news channel of his television.

“We are still receiving videos from over YouTube that are all remarkably consistent in quality, and they all seem to have been shot from inside a car.” said the reporter to the camera.

“Tell us Jonny,” said a woman in a red coat sitting next to the reporter, “what exactly are these videos showing?”

“Well, they all appear to be footage of what looks like a large white unicorn being led by police into a cruiser. They are all of amateur quality, and taken from many different perspectives.” said the reporter to his colleague.

“Jonny, is there any chance that these videos are fake?”

“Well Suzie, I think there is always a chance that any content uploaded to YouTube is fake, but considering the consistency of detail from these many different angles taken, I think that the chance these are all hoaxes is quite slim.”

“Wow, so, you heard it here first everybody,” said Suzie, looking into the camera, “creatures of myth spotted on the interstate highway. I’m Suzie Lawrence here with Jonny Chad, and this has been CNN evening news.”

Allen turned off the TV, feeling a little dizzy. He heard the telephone ring in the kitchen, and shakily stood up to go answer it.

Upon picking up the receiver, Allen had to hold the phone away from his head, as a familiar voice practically shouted into his ear.

“Hey! Allen! Did you catch that news segment that was just on?”

Of course, it was his friend Spencer. He would be home now, and no doubt that the news of mystical looking aliens would be on many different news stations.

“Yes Spencer, I just got back from my weekly grocery shopping, and managed to catch the end of the segment. I guess the whole world knows now.”

“Yeah, I know. Hey, you don’t sound too good. Are you feeling alright?” asked Spencer with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” replied Allen, “It’s just, this is really happening, isn’t it? I mean, I caught a glimpse of one of them on my way to work this afternoon, but I’ve been trying not to think too hard about it.”

“Holy smokes, dude! You actually saw that thing on the news?” asked Spencer, sounded ecstatic. “Hang on, one of them? You mean you saw another one while on the road?”

Allen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before replying, “Well, sort of, the one I saw before was little, and purple, and I only saw its head, nothing else, and it was just for a few seconds anyways.”

“Okay, so, real unicorns, huh? Think this is something that’s going to change the world forever?” asked Spencer, sounding, for some reason, almost hopeful.

“I don’t know,” replied Allen, “Maybe we’ll turn on the news tomorrow and this will all be revealed to have been some secret project made by the government which got out of hand.”

“You sound like you don’t think this is going to lead to something really exciting.” said Spencer.

“Well, to be honest, I kinda like the way things are now. Changes this big just complicate things. I mean, I know that in as little as three decades, half of Florida could be underwater, but the beliefs of almost an entire planet being shifted in just the span of a few days would shake up things quite a bit.”

There was a long pause before Spencer replied. “I get that you have a routine that works for you, and you are comfortable with your life, but don’t you ever wonder if there could be more out there?”

“I know that this is a vast and strange universe, but I don’t think I want that strangeness so close to me, especially in my current state of affairs. I’m always at least a month behind with the mortgage, I need to repaint this house, and I have to find my mother a birthday present.”

“So you just aren’t ready for this to happen? You have too much else going on?” asked Spencer.

“Yeah, but if you are right, then ready or not, change is coming.”

“Yeah, I guess so, Allen.” Spencer paused for a seconds before saying, “Look, I have to go now, tell your mother happy birthday from me.”

“Alright Spencer, bye then.”

“Yeah, bye.”

Allen heard a click as his friend hung up. Still feeling a bit light headed, and not hungry at all, he went up to his room, intent on turning in early.

A mint green unicorn lay on her back on her sofa in the small living room, staring out the window at the night sky.

“Lyra, dinner is almost ready!” called a voice from the kitchen.

“I’ll be right there, Bonbon.” said Lyra, getting off of the sofa.

“There it is again,” thought Lyra, as she saw a faint flash from the window in the general direction of Whitetail Woods, “what could be causing that?”

Author's Note

Hey everyone, I'm practicing a new technique called "necroliterature" which means writing from beyond the grave! I hope this chapter made it through alright.