A Mirror of many Faces

by Jyuuma

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Discord, Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other
Length: 33877

Strange events begin to unfold all over Equestria, and it will be up to Twilight and her friends to figure out what's going on.

Strange events begin to unfold all over Equestria, all being observed by mysterious figures. When the situation reaches Ponyville, it will be up to Twilight and her friends to figure out what’s going on, and in the process discover their lives as they know them are endangered in more ways than one…

Published 2015-01-29 19:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2017-12-30 04:53:44 UTC

Prologue

It was a dark and cloudy night; the clouds in question were swirling around a particular phenomenon, an ominous sight taking place. The sky was filled with strange reflections: a large circle composed of several belts which rotated on opposing directions each, all of which contained ancient-looking runes, all made of pure light, was gently blinking in place. A single pillar of light was, as well, shining through the middle of the entire rune formation and into the cause of the spectacle…

Right down below, in the center of a forest in the middle of nowhere, a mysterious large pyramid-like structure could be seen, gently flickering in and out of existence, resulting in strange happenings to the surroundings, warping them on almost unbelievable ways, twisting their form constantly and reverting them to their original shape, repeating the cycle over and over. Its blinking was accompanied by warp-sounding noises, synched to the building’s strange behavior.

Not too far away, at the edge of a high cliff, 2 hooded figures stood, watching over the unfolding scene, keeping silent for a few moments as if in deep contemplation of what was happening before their eyes and its full meaning, until one finally breaks the silence.

“…So he went and did it, eh?” the first one began, in a girly, carefree voice, with a rather laid-back demeanor, as if trying to set a calmer mood.

“This cannot bode well.” The other replied, on a more serious womanly tone, seemingly more appropriate for the situation at hand.

“It can’t be THAT bad. I mean, in theory, he shouldn’t be able to do as much as he so foolishly thinks he can, right?” the first continued, still laid-back but with a hint of worry appearing in her voice.

The second one delivered a serious look at her, almost as if not believing her calm state in such a time, or her attempts at making it sound less of a deal than what it could really be. “If he’s been able to get THIS far, it only means he’s found a way to interfere in others’ affairs, so to speak.”

The first looked at her, clearly more worried now, before staring back at the scene still unfolding. “This still shouldn’t be that bad, we have a few clues of what he’s trying to do. It ain’t completely clear yet, and while I can understand what he may be going through… this just isn’t the way.”

“It isn’t, indeed.” The second continued. “Plus, this is all still in its theoretical phase and you know that as well as me. At this rate, and as uncertain as things are right now, he will end up causing more harm than good, not just to thousands, but to himself too.”

“But he’s a stubborn one.” Both muttered at once, in perfect sync as if they had practiced it for a long time, staring almost blankly straight ahead.

Breaking the silence of the moment, the first gazed upon the forest once again, before looking back at her companion. “So… what happens now?”

The second now follows her colleague’s staring at the scene as well. “From this point onwards… there should be all kinds of reactions happening all over the place, similar to this one, at least in nature if not in appearance. Small and subtle at first, but they will slowly become increasingly larger and more noticeable.”

“What should we do then?” The first wondered on an inquisitive tone, eager to set things in motion.

“… As much as I’m against it, we must take action, slow but steady, the last thing we need is unnecessary panic among the population.” The second replied in a more decisive tone.

“Are you sure about this? If our calculations are correct, then we REALLY shouldn’t be interfering this much.” The first replied back, clearly more worried than before, sounding aware and fearing of the implications.

“I do not prefer this either, but think about it. If we do not interfere, the results will be much more catastrophic. We can no longer ignore these matters. If we were to completely disregard this…” The second whispered as she once more looked down at the forest, shuddering at her last thought, then turned around and began to walk away slowly.

“Head North. If our information doesn’t differ as much, you should begin our warnings there.”

“You do know they won’t believe it at first.” The first replied.

“Maybe. But if they are as observant as we both hope they are, they will understand and take preemptive action and measures as well. Fortunately, given the circumstances, it shouldn’t take them too long to connect the dots, and I’m quite certain there are a few that you might want to contact first, to set things in motion the right way.” The second affirmed, with a small smile forming on her face.

“I shall continue to observe these sightings. Our team sent word of more of them, such as this one, unfolding all over the map. I’ll head to the pointed areas to confirm these reports.” She finished as she kept walking away, stopping for a moment to add a last statement.

“Good luck. We are going to need it.”

The first nodded as she saw the second walk a bit further away, still nervous, but with a renewed sense of calm, before she vanished in a spark of light. She returned her stare at the mysterious pyramid and rune circles, still fading and reappearing in the night, as she took off her hood, revealing her appearance: a light yellow coat and horn, her eyes and mane of different tones of clear blue, with black-framed purple shaded glasses partially covering them.

Why, oh why, did he have to be this persistent, she wondered. She indeed understood his position and feelings, but this just wasn’t the way. There was more at stake than what he thought. Then again, understanding his situation, it was clear he cared not for the welfare of others. His judgment was foggy, his reasoning, distorted. Letting him be was not an option, regardless of his final intentions.

And, just as her companion pointed out before leaving, they weren’t completely hopeless. It would be a matter of observation, but if their knowledge of this place was correct, at least up to a certain extent, they indeed would be able to locate the correct individuals to explain the situation to, and they would then be able to help them in assessing this endeavor. They would have to, one way or another, as it already involved their lives as well.

For some reason, that sounded the wrong way on her head for a moment, but she quickly shook it off.

“So this is how it begins.” She whispered to herself, before her horn glowed, vanishing into a flash similar to the one before, if not practically the exact same.

Chapter 1: Worrisome Times

“This is insane.”

The room was cramped to the top with what seemed to be an entire week of paperwork. Reports from several locations across the Equestrian map had been arriving during the last week, describing strange phenomena appearing during that time: Known landmarks suddenly being affected in unusual ways, apparently blinking in and out of existence, vanishing from place just to reappear on other spots on varying time spans; popular events getting delayed or downright cancelled due to clocks acting up in the strangest of ways, among other such happenings that would even astonish the very Spirit of Chaos. Wandering around the room was a rather stressed Princess Celestia, shuffling among a handful of the reports with her magic, getting increasingly worried as the minutes passed.

“This is definitely crazy.” she sighed as she walked towards one of the closest windows, staring into the horizon as she rested the papers she held with her magic on a nearby table. As her eyes continued to wander, the door creaked open and her sister trotted into the room, carrying with her even more scrolls.

“In a thousand years we hadn’t received such an outrageous amount of reports on unusual happenings. Just what in Equestria is going on, Tia?” the Moon Goddess sighed with a slightly sad tone, appealing to her elder sibling.

“How I wish I could tell for sure, dear sister. Only in Discord times would so many strange events arise, but alas, while he’s now free for good, reports of his acts of mischief have been reduced considerably. He’s certainly become one of our lesser motives of true concern in our current times.” replied the Sun Goddess, still staring into the distance.

“Indeed, since his release Discord has lived and worked alongside the holder of the Element of Kindness, and is one to be trusted nowadays… perhaps he could shed some light onto our misfortunate situation?” Luna wondered as she placed the scrolls among the rest, being careful not to disturb the delicate balance of the already existing pile. The last thing they needed was a bigger, and more difficult to review, mess.

“At times like these, I’m certain we’d appreciate help from almost anywhere.” Celestia said. “Anything that could allow us to further understand these recent events. Appleloosa’s clock tower vanishing and reappearing at the outskirts of Dodge Junction, Manehattan’s famous equine head statue fading in and out of existence… what else could possibly happen?”

“Um… Actually…” Luna whispered. “We might have better clues coming from the Crystal Empire, dear sister.”

Celestia stopped staring at the window and turned her gaze at her sister. “… Did Cadence and Shining find something?” Celestia asked her, curiosity on her voice and expression, and a small spark of hope in her eyes.

Luna’s horn glowed gently, bringing out a scroll from the saddle bag she carried, and began to look through it. “It seems they got reports of a mysterious temple, north of the Empire, in the middle of the mountains. This building has, apparently, just come into existence, as there had been no sightings of it before all these happenings began to occur.“ Luna read through the scroll she had on her grasp as Celestia looked attentively at her. “It also seems like this temple is constantly blinking in and out of existence, along with what appears to be a series of circles and runes made of light, reflected in the sky.” She finished.

Celestia stayed silent and pensive for a few moments, letting out a sigh before she continued. “As risky as it may sound, exploring that temple might enlighten us on our current situation. Shall we suggest Shining Armor to organize a team to uncover its secrets?” she asked. “However, they should immediately pull out if there’s the chance of any uneventful development…”

“I… was thinking the same, but…” Luna muttered as her expression became grim, looking down at the scroll she was still holding, not daring to raise her eyes back at her sister.

“But… what?” Celestia pondered, growing uneasy at her sister’s suddenly darker expression.

“… It… appears some disappearances have been reported already.” Luna followed, pointing at the pile of scrolls she had just brought. “They, fortunately, aren’t that numerous or of great social status, but they definitely cannot be ignored.”

Celestia stared once again at her sister, clearly more worried now than before, her heart almost skipping a beat at the thought of her dear ponies going missing just like that, picturing the reactions of their respective families, friends, among others. Regardless of the number of ponies missing, or their respective positions in their hierarchy, she knew they needed to redouble their efforts.

“Damn…” Celestia sighed, trying to recover her composure. “We… must tread carefully then. We cannot allow more live losses… no, we must stay positive.” She whispered, trying to keep a firm voice.

“What shall we do then?” Luna asked with a hint of anxiety in her expression.

“For the time being, let’s send a reply to the Crystal Empire; Cadence and Shining shall keep an eye on any relevant details and continue sending us their reports, as well as do their best in locating the missing people.” Celestia affirmed, her voice more steady now. “As for us… research it is. I shall browse Canterlot’s library, and contact Twilight and her friends to request their assistance in this endeavor. In the meantime, could you visit the ruins of the old castle in the Everfree Forest and see if you can find any books, notes, anything that could open our eyes a bit more on this matter?”

“I shall proceed with haste then, sister.” Luna nodded as she began to walk away, before Celestia stopped her for a moment.

“And Luna… please be careful.” Celestia pleaded to her. “I… really would like to avoid more disappearances.”

Luna looked back, smiling warmly at her. “I promise I will tread with caution, Tia.” She finished as she trotted out of the room, flying out of the balcony nearby, into the depths of the dark forest, hoping just as much as her sister to find the answers they so needed.

Celestia continued to watch her sister as she rushed away, before she turned around to grab an empty scroll and a quill.

“We must get to the bottom of this. Our people are in danger and we don’t know what else may happen… just yet.” She thought to herself, trying to shake off her growing concerns, before she began to write.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle and friends…”

Chapter 2: An Unexpected Visitor - Part 1

“All aboard!”

With ponies going and coming, to and from, all over Equestria, this had proven to be a particularly busy week. Reports of increasing strangeness had the population in distress: objects and even entire buildings blinking in an out of existence, and even a few disappearances, caused everypony to massively flood the mail and traveling via trains from their hometowns, business meetings, among other situations, to “safer” zones. Ponyville in particular had become a central spot for the many mares and stallions to reside until a better climate was met.

For this and a handful of other reasons, a certain purple alicorn had locked herself into the Library of the new castle in the village, relying on Spike and teleportation for any of her needs outside of the building. After all, it wasn’t easy to do research on what could be the disaster of the year when panicked ponies rushed to your side in search of answers you can’t even give. It didn’t help that the other Princesses weren’t reporting as much as she would have expected. It wasn’t until earlier that morning that Princess Celestia had finally sent a letter through Spike, giving a more detailed report about the current situation. If it weren’t for the fact she and her friends were finally getting on good terms with Discord (and vice versa), she would have rushed to put the blame on him.

Still, on the meeting she had with her friends immediately after receiving the Sun Goddess’ letter, she made sure to keep him as busy as she could: He and Fluttershy agreed to visit Zecora and meet with Princess Luna at the old castle ruins to assist her in search of clues, Rarity had some important business in Manehattan but agreed to report any unusual and relevant sightings, same for Applejack as she was attending a family meeting at Appleloosa. Rainbow Dash had been called to the Wonderbolts Academy as they had been requested to patrol different locations and report sightings as well, so they were busy too. She and Pinkie were the only ones left in the village, though she did confirm, and gleefully as usual, that Maud and her family had been constantly sending her letters, being worried about her, but they had nothing to worry about, at least for Pinkie’s side. She could understand her situation, as her parents, her brother and Cadence had been covering her in letters as well, which she made sure to reply back to immediately.

Twilight let out a deep sigh. “I don’t understand. As particular as all this occurrences seem, there’s no clues at all on these books…hopefully they should manage to find something at the old castle…” she whispered. Not having knowledge at all of anything in existence indeed stressed her, but it was worse when it was something of this magnitude, and that was affecting everypony. The fact she just noticed she skipped lunch wasn’t helping much either, as she felt her stomach growl.

“Well, even if there were clues, I wouldn’t be able to study them fully with an empty belly.” She told to herself. Being aware that Spike was outside running some errands for her and Pinkie, she prepared a note for him and made sure to place it near the entrance, where he wouldn’t miss it, and grabbed a hooded cape, wearing it so it properly covered her face. When she was ready, she focused on her teleportation spell once again, her horn blinking into life, and with a flash of light, she was off to the restaurant.

When she arrived, she was met with the sight she was expecting: Lots of ponies all over the place, rushing for a meal as well. The owners of many establishments had placed community boards outside their places, which were filled with Missing photos, many ponies were gathering around the boards as well, hoping for news of their loved ones. With a soft sigh, Twilight adjusted her hood, and went into the restaurant, hoping no one noticed the Princess of Friendship was around; not having answers was a thing, but not being able to give them to the ponies that really needed them was almost too painful.

She quickly paced to the counter and made her usual order to go, making sure to take something for Spike as well. As she waited there, she took a look around to make sure she remained unseen, and hoping for clues to pass right by her face; at that point she was willing to accept hints from almost anywhere.

After a few minutes, she noticed something.

Another hooded figure had apparently been staring at her general direction for a while now. Her discovery didn’t last long, as the figure noticed her realization, and calmly lost itself among the crowd.

Twilight blinked for a few seconds, confused, before the attendant brought her order. She quickly turned around, left some bits, and took her package. As she headed outside, she took quick glances around, trying to spot the other hooded figure, with no luck. Just as she was walking away of the establishment, she spotted Pinkie and Spike nearby, waving her hoof as she went to meet them.

“Hey Pinkie!” She greeted her, a bit silently as she noticed Spike was lumped on her saddle, it must have been a long day already, and it was far from over.

“Hey Twilight!” replied the cheerful pink pony, almost a bit too loudly, making Twilight jump for a moment, looking around to make sure nopony had turned their attention towards them.

“Sshh, Pinkie please!” Twilight whispered, relieved that nopony had turned around. “We’ve talked about this; you KNOW why I’ve chosen to remain as hidden as possible nowadays.”

Pinkie just giggled and tilted her head at her. “Oh come on, I still think this is a silly way to hide.” She replied on a slightly quieter tone. “Why don’t you just disguise yourself with your magic? Oh! Imagine all the possibilities! A cake, a cupcake, maybe even a piñata!” Pinkie continued, slowly regaining her higher volume.

Twilight couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle at her friend, trying to picture a living pastry strolling across the village, as they began to walk towards the castle. She could have certainly gone for a more practical method and use her magic to adopt a better disguise, but with most of her time spent on analyzing the reports she received from her fellow Princesses, and the stress involved as well, she simply didn’t have enough energy left to even attempt solid transformations. Sure, as an alicorn she had increased capabilities, but she was still working on being able to better control her newfound powers, and the last thing she wanted was to blow up half the village while trying even the simplest spells.

“So how are things at the bakery?” she pondered towards her friend, shaking off her previous thoughts for the time being.

“Quite lively actually!” she responded. “With all the ponies coming from all over Equestria, the Cakes and I have been very busy trying to cover all the orders! I just managed to sneak out for a short while to bring lil’ Spikey here back to you!” she continued, pointing at the sleeping baby dragon on her saddle. “You should have seen him back at Sugarcube Corner, he was helping us lots!”

She smiled warmly at Spike as she imagined him running from table to table, taking orders and delivering a variety of pastries along Pinkie to the expectant customers of the confectionery.

“What about you?” Pinkie asked Twilight as they approached the castle.

Twilight shook her head. “Not much progress, I admit, other than confirming some of the previous reports with the others. Applejack and Rarity confirmed the rumors of some of the landmarks in Appleloosa and Manehattan acting up, with a few disappearances as well, things are as messy over there as they are here, if not worse.”

“As for Rainbow, she hasn’t sent any replies just yet, but with things as they are I wouldn’t be entirely surprised that she indeed confirmed the reports of those strange constructs appearing all over Equestria.” Twilight continued. “Fluttershy and Discord should have met with Zecora and Princess Luna already, let’s hope they have better luck finding some clues…” she finished, thinking about all the knowledge still buried deep within the ruins of the old royal castle.

“I’m pretty sure they’ll find something in that old castle, it seems there’s always new stuff every time we visit!” Pinkie assured her friend, trying to lighten up the mood, gaining a gentle smile from Twilight, as they finally arrived back at the village’s castle.

The large building, dubbed by Twilight and her friends as the “Friendship Castle”, stood ominously near the edge of the village, around the spot where her previous home, known as Golden Oak Library, once stood. It had only come into existence after their latest struggle with one of Equestria’s greatest villains, and while Twilight highly appreciated to have it, not only as a new home but also as a major step towards her true destiny, she sometimes missed the humbleness of the old library, which she had grown quite fond of.

“Oh! I didn’t know you had a visitor!” Pinkie said as she looked towards the castle.

This brought Twilight back to reality. She wasn’t expecting anypony in particular other than her friends, but there it was, standing at one of the castle’s balconies, a familiar hooded figure that almost looked like a shadow in the sunlight, looking over the village and into the distance, as if it was in deep thought.

“HEY!” Twilight shouted at the figure. “Who are you, and how did you get in there!?” With all the recent events, a burglar was among the list of things she wanted to deal with the least.

The figure jumped at Twilight’s voice and looked down from the spot it was standing on. With a flash, it suddenly teleported from the balcony to right outside the castle, in front of Twilight and Pinkie.

“Sorry about that.” The figure said on a sunny yet still apologetic enough tone. “I get carried away quite often when I find places with nice views, and that balcony certainly counts as such.”

Twilight just stared at the pony right before them, as if trying to analyze it. By the way it teleported, it was clear it had some proficiency with magic, which meant it was probably a unicorn. She couldn’t quite tell just yet as it still remained with its hood on. Before she could bring up another thought, however, Pinkie jumped towards the figure.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m not sure we’ve met before, are you new in the village?” Pinkie asked on the cheerful tone she usually used when new ponies arrived to Ponyville. “If so, we totally need to make you a Welcome-to-Ponyville party! It will be so much fun!”

The figure stared at Pinkie, letting out a chuckle. “That sounds fun indeed!” it said. “However! I’m afraid there’s some important business I have to take care of.” The figure continued, looking back at Twilight as she took off its hood, revealing her light yellow coat and horn, blue eyes and mane, with purple glasses hanging from a thread around her neck, and performed a small bow before her.

“Sorry again for the intrusion.” It continued. “My name is Misty Evening, and you must be Twilight Sparkle. I was told that I could talk with you if I needed some assistance with some…issues.”

Twilight stared at the mare doing a reverence in front of her, feeling uncomfortable. A thousand years would pass before she could actually feel alright with having anypony bow down in front of her. Alicorn or not, she just didn’t feel it was right for others to look up to her that much.

“Um…I’m glad you thought of me as someone who could help.” She replied. “…However, I’m afraid I’m very busy right now, with all that’s been going on in Equestria, the whole deal with blinking buildings, disappearing ponies…”

The figure raised its head, letting out a soft chuckle. “Actually, it’s just about that.”

Chapter 3: The Figure in the Ruins

The Everfree Forest was certainly quiet that day, with nothing but the gentle rustling of leaves and tree branches, and the whistling of the breeze, all accompanied by clear skies and just a few clouds riding gently in the wind. If one didn’t know better, one would say it was the perfect place and time to lie down and enjoy the sounds of nature. The most experienced, though, could tell appearances were deceiving, and that regardless of the time of the day, one had to tread carefully, or else find themselves at the mercy of the many dangers that hid within.

Those dangers, however, were not the only source of uneasiness at the time for a couple of beings traversing the forest in that moment: A mare with a clear yellow coat and a flowing pink mane, and a strange creature of mismatched composition.

“I-I hope we get there s-soon.” Fluttershy said in a rather panicky voice, looking everywhere as if half-expecting a random monster to jump at them every 5 steps or so.

“Calm yourself, dear Fluttershy.” Discord assured her on a calmer, more confident tone. “Don’t forget who’s escorting you.” He continued in a playful tone, as he summoned a small clone of himself on top of his bear paw, making it flex a bit before dispelling it.

Fluttershy let out a soft chuckle as she watched the small clone doing tiny flexing poses and noises before it vanished. “Of course I haven’t forgotten my personal guardian.” She whispered to Discord as he continued to float besides her. “But I can’t help it, this forest always gives me the creeps.” She continued, lowering her face a bit.

“Well, I do reckon that even if I weren’t here, you still wouldn’t be completely helpless.” He mused. “Wasn’t there that one thing you used for emergencies? “The Look”? “The Gaze”?” Discord wondered in an impish voice.

“The Stare!?” Fluttershy exclaimed, apparently a bit scared of the idea. “Oh no! Even when it *is* needed, I don’t really like using it…” she muttered shyly, picturing what the creatures on the receiving end of her infamous gaze would really see, shuddering at the thought.

“I’m still not sure what the big deal is with that “Stare”.” Discord continued, doing air quote signs with his hands. “You tried it on me, back when I got released again and, as I trust you may recall, it had pretty much no effect on me.”

“That’s…true. I guess creatures that are ancient or powerful enough are immune to it?” Fluttershy wondered.

Discord just shrugged, before attempting to change the topic. Having lived with Fluttershy for a while, he knew there were some topics she preferred not to discuss too deeply, the Stare being one of them. “At any rate, do you think that zebra’s going to join us?”

“Zecora? I’m…not sure.” Fluttershy responded. “She mentioned she needed some ingredients from the village, and seeing how crowded it was, it’s not likely she’ll join us this time.” She finished as they got sight of their destination.

Sitting ominously across a cliff, linked by a rickety-looking yet strangely reliable bridge, were the ruins of what was, a long time ago, the castle of the Royal Sisters. No matter how many times Fluttershy and her friends visited the place, it always brought nostalgic feelings. But in the end, it was no real wonder, as so much happened in that building in the past, among those events the legendary confrontation between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon, and her subsequent defeat with the Elements of Harmony, by Celestia herself a thousand years ago, and by her friends and herself not so long ago.

On recent times, Fluttershy and her friends had visited the castle on several occasions, but nonetheless it always seemed to have something new for them to discover. That was, actually, the fact that Twilight and Celestia were counting on, given more recent events. As Discord and she crossed the bridge to the ruins, they could already see a tall dark figure from afar, waving at them with a gentle smile.

“Princess Luna! We are so glad to see you again after such a long while.” Fluttershy greeted the Princess of the Night with a small respectful bow.

Luna gave her a nervous smile. “Dear Fluttershy, I appreciate your respect and manners, but please, stand. Such royal manners shall be reserved for equally royal meetings and such.” She begged. “Anywhere outside the royal grounds…the *current* royal grounds, we shall be addressed just like you do with your beloved friends.” She quickly corrected herself noting the place they were standing on, keeping her gentle smile at Fluttershy, before turning her gaze at her companion.

“Hi Discord!” Luna greeted him with a smile, on a much more casual tone.

“Your…Majesty.” Discord greeted her back, performing an exaggerated royal bow, his snout just about inches from the floor.

Luna couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Oh shush you.” She waved her hoof at him as he stood straight again, letting out a chuckle himself.

“So what do you need us for, Princess?” Fluttershy asked. “I’m afraid Twilight sent us here in such a hurry so there wasn’t much of an explanation.”

“Right, dear Fluttershy.” Luna started, as the trio began to walk into the depths of the castle ruins. “As you two and your friends may have noticed, there have been strange events and sightings happening all over Equestria, leaving many ponies confused and in dire need of answers. As the rulers of this land that Celestia and I are, and as reliable ponies…and draconequus, that you and your friends are…” she added quickly, noting a slightly upset gesture forming on Discord’s face. “…we must be able to provide our people and loved ones the answers we all need on these difficult times.”

“To be able to do that, we must first get to the core of the mystery ourselves.” Luna continued. “And that’s just why we are back here in these very ruins.”

“To hopefully find clues on what’s happening?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Exactly.” Luna replied, as they continued to walk through the dusty halls, in the direction of the old library. “I trust you and your friends have been visiting this place quite a few times more recently?”

“Yes, indeed we did.” Fluttershy whispered. “But we didn’t have a situation like this in mind, so we didn’t really find anything specific. I think Twilight just had very little time to quickly browse some of the books within the old library.”

“I would have tried to provide you guys with some information myself…if I were able to.” Discord interrupted. “Even as the Spirit of Chaos, and an ancient being myself, I must admit I am indeed astonished by the events unfolding at present. Not even a thousand years ago would we expect something like this. It’s almost…out of this world, if I may say so.”

“I see…” Luna whispered. “Still, we must not lose hope. Every source of information must be perused for clues of this mess, and this ancient place shall be no exception.” She finished as the group arrived to the old library, a room that, just like the rest of the castle, had seen better days. Twilight and her friends had been able to clean it up a bit on previous visits, but a complete restoration was out of the question.

The room was a large area stretching from the path they came from, with a few gates leading to corridors to other areas of the place, and a large opening in the broken wall right in front of them, showing the outside of the castle. The pillars separating each set of bookshelves were each partially destroyed, but they remained stable enough to store their contents, which were likewise in decent condition even after all the time they remained in place. Where old and torn wooden tables used to be, scattered on the floor, now stood a single long table, with a few tomes piled on top.

“Alright then.” Luna sighed softly. “I rushed to pile some tomes that are most likely to contain some of the information we seek, but please do check other books from the shelves if you find them relevant as well.” She asked Fluttershy and Discord as she walked towards a particular chair on one side of the table, pushing it back a bit, triggering a mechanism that separated a couple of shelves nearby, revealing a hidden door.

“In the meantime, I’ll continue searching on the shelves over here.” Luna continued. “Let’s just hope we find something of actual use for our current situation.” She finished as she vanished into the previously hidden room.

Fluttershy was already used to the great amount of books that Twilight used to have at her previous home, but the sight of this ancient library was almost enough to weigh down on her.

“Shall we begin then?” Fluttershy whispered to Discord as she headed towards the pile that Luna had already selected.

Discord nodded as he clicked his fingers, bringing random books from the shelves with his magic. “This will be a long morning.”

“Have you been able to find anything so far?” Fluttershy asked as she continued to browse the pile, now reduced to just a few books left, with the rest on another side.

“I’m afraid not much to help our situation right now.” Discord said as he checked one of the several books he had picked form the shelves, as a few clones of himself floated next to the shelves as well, each checking a different selection. “Some seem to hint at previous studies that began with disappearing buildings, but most of them were apparently caused by misused magic or magical artifacts within those buildings.”

“Not much on these either.” She sighed as she set down another tome to the pile she had already checked. “Nothing really specific, at least. Some mention scenes related to failed teleportation experiments under different circumstances, but nothing like the reports Twilight and the Princesses have been getting.”

“How so?” Discord asked, raising an eyebrow as he set down the book he was checking.

“Well, it seems that on most of those failed experiments, the ponies involved arrived at different locations than what they originally intended, or they successfully teleported, but some of the items they carried along went missing in the process.” Fluttershy recited.

“However, the ponies that went missing due to failed teleportation spells were still able to be found quickly thanks to geolocation spells that were able to, at least, point into the general direction of the missing ones.”

“I’m still not getting how that’s different from what’s going on right now.” Discord said, confused. “Why don’t we use the same spells to find the ponies that went missing this time?”

“That’s the problem.” Fluttershy continued. “According to what Twilight mentioned from the reports, the Princesses have already been trying those spells in hopes of locating the missing people, but they didn’t work…it’s almost as if they vanished completely from Equestria.” She said, shuddering at the thought.

An eerie silence remained between the two, until Luna came out of the other room, bringing a few books with her magic and setting them on the table.

“Any luck, my dear friends?” Luna asked, looking at them as she opened one of the books.

“I’m afraid not, Princess.” Fluttershy muttered. “I was just telling Discord I had only found information on failed teleportation experiments, but Twilight did tell us that you had been already trying to locate the missing ponies with spells.” Fluttershy continued as Discord began to juggle random objects, among them some books, chairs, and a couple of jars of what seemed like peanut butter and caramel.

“Ah, yes, teleportation magic had rather messy beginnings…I still shudder thinking about *some* of the failed experiments.” Luna said. “It’s the kind of things that prevent you from eating properly for a few days. And, just as Twilight Sparkle confirmed, we did attempt special spells several times to try and locate the missing ponies this time, but we had no success.” She affirmed in a sad tone, lowering her ears a bit.

“At any rate…” She continued, shaking the previous idea off her head. “I believe I did have better luck.” She pointed at the open tome right in front of her, waving her hoof at Fluttershy, telling her to come closer.

“What is it that you found?” Fluttershy asked as she walked closer to the book, leaving Discord to his juggling for the time being.

“According to this particular tome, effects similar to what we are experiencing in Equestria at present have been, at least in part, theorized on ancient studies performed by Star Swirl the Bearded.” Luna said as she pointed at the contents of the book. Fluttershy followed her explanation as she observed the pages herself, and her attention eventually stopped at a particular image in the book, a picture in the form of a rather fancy mirror.

“Wait! I think I recognize this!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she pointed at the picture.

“It is no wonder, my dear Fluttershy.” Luna pointed out. “It is an artifact that you and your friends have seen before.”

“Is it…the mirror Twilight used to travel to that other world, to retrieve her crown back then?” Fluttershy wondered.

Luna shook her head. “Yes, and no. The mirror Twilight Sparkle used, and the one we all used to travel to the alternate Equestria are different and more stable artifacts.” Luna continued. “Each of them linked two specific worlds together, and had special requirements for them to work. One could not be used to travel to any world other than the one already connected.”

“The artifacts depicted in this tome were all theories brought up by Star Swirl himself.“ Luna went on, still pointing at the book. “Theories about the possibility of many other worlds and realities besides the ones we’ve seen so far.”

“And I’m guessing they stayed as theories for some reason?” Discord asked, pausing his juggling for a moment, though the objects kept spinning in the air by themselves.

Luna nodded at him. “Star Swirl only had the time and resources to create two mirrors. The first was a prototype that could be used at anytime, which he employed along with Celestia as part of their studies on the matter. I trust you remember the effects of travelling through that mirror.” Luna said, looking at Fluttershy. “While it had no trouble connecting the two Equestrias, it didn’t prevent the many “rips” between the 2 worlds from happening, and eventually they both started to have very specific effects on each other. If we hadn’t stopped its use, the worlds would have merged with each other on the worst of ways.”

“The second mirror-” Luna continued. “-was a device he managed to craft as a result of his studies after the first mirror, though he also counted with some help from the original Crystal Empire, hence why it was located there that time. This mirror had, however, some substantial differences from the first.”

“How so?” Fluttershy asked.

“That is something that I’ll be able to explain better along with my sister and Twilight Sparkle herself.” Luna affirmed. “Besides, it’s getting late, and I’m required back at Canterlot soon for my usual schedule, as well as to report to my dear sister about our findings today. It wasn’t much, but we are indeed not as clueless as before.” She concluded, as she began to stretch her wings, getting ready for her flight back to the palace.

“I thank you two again for your assistance today.” She smiled gently at Fluttershy and Discord. “We definitely need to meet more often,
maybe when Equestria doesn’t seem to be on the brink of destruction?” she chuckled softly as she finally took off.

The couple saw as Luna’s shape flew into the distance, shadowed by the oncoming sunset, before they began walking away, back to the village.

“I have to admit-” Discord began. “-that I’m certainly intrigued by those other worlds you and your friends have visited.”

“Well, you ARE a powerful being.” Fluttershy chuckled. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were actually capable of opening portals by yourself.”

“As thrilling as the idea sounds…” Discord trailed off. “I’m afraid I also have to admit I’m not THAT mighty.” The words came a bit forcefully out of his mouth, clearly pointing that he wasn’t completely comfortable with his recent revelation, even if he shared it with a pony he had grown to trust deeply.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy wondered.

“Well, I do take pride on being the Spirit of Chaos myself.” Discord claimed, trusting out his chest and striking a fearsome pose, making Fluttershy giggle a bit. “But even with all that power, I noticed with the ages that my magic is, just as Celestia’s and Luna’s magic, limited to this world. Even if I were indeed able to tear open “rips” between worlds, it’s quite likely I’d eventually lose control on them, effectively bringing an untold destruction upon who knows how many worlds.”

“Besides, contrary to what many ponies would believe, I don’t want to straight destroy Equestria.” Discord continued, as the duo walked along the corridor. “I just want to make it…brighter.” He smiled as he poofed some neon signs and small spotlights on himself, making Fluttershy chuckle again.

Her chuckle died soon though. As they arrived to the room that once contained the Elements of Harmony, they spotted a single figure standing in the middle. It appeared to be a male unicorn, and his personal appearance indicated he had been wandering around for a while: he featured a dirty light gray coat and equally dirty and messy black mane and beard, as well as purple eyes that indicated lack of rest. Among the dirt, his cutie mark could barely be distinguished: the upper half of a orange-ish sun. He seemed to be staring at the pedestals in the room, and apparently in deep thought.

“He-hello?” Fluttershy tried to greet quietly.

The stallion jumped a bit as he noticed the couple that just arrived at the room.

“A-are you…lost?” Fluttershy asked the stallion as they approached him slowly.

He frowned and stepped back, grunting as his horn began to glow menacingly.

“Wait! W-we aren’t-”

Discord pushed her out of the way just in time to avoid the magic attack the stallion had suddenly shot at her, his horn still at the ready.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Discord shouted as he quickly brought out the peanut butter and caramel jars he had been juggling earlier, tossing them towards the stallion, covering him from head to hooves with the contents as the jars crashed loudly into his sides. As the stallion struggled with the sticky substances holding him in place, Discord proceeded to summon what looked like a giant opaque blue bell on top of the angry stallion, and dropped it on him, effectively trapping him inside.

“Are you okay, dear Fluttershy?” He asked as he helped her rise back from the floor, with a shocked expression on her face.

“Y-yes, t-thank you.” Fluttershy managed to mutter as she stood back up. “What was t-that about!?”

“I have no idea, but I have all the intention to know.” Discord said, looking at the giant bell in front of them. “I trapped him in an anti-magic cage that prevents unicorns from using their magic to find a way out, and it also drains their energy so he should hopefully be a bit more chill now.” He continued as he walked towards the bell, clicking his fingers to envelop it on his magic, ready to levitate it. “Just in case, though, please step back.”

Discord clicked his fingers again, quickly lifting the bell. “And just what is the big de-”

They both remained silent and shocked. Where the stallion was supposed to be, only remained a mess of peanut butter and caramel. The floor hadn’t been tampered with so they knew he hadn’t just dug a way out. Still frowning, Discord quickly checked and shook the bell to make sure he wasn’t playing a trick of them. Nothing.

The mysterious unicorn had vanished into thin air.

Chapter 4: An Unexpected Visitor - Part 2

When the day began, Twilight was convinced that she wouldn’t like to meet anypony that sought answers or help for the strange events that had been happening all over Equestria, since she hadn’t come to any real conclusions just yet, and as such she felt she wouldn’t really be able to help for real.

And yet, she had the odd feeling that this unicorn, who had introduced herself just a few moments earlier, had more answers than questions. Well, she was about to find out.

After leaving Spike sleeping on her bed, in one of the rooms of the new castle, she walked back to the lobby, where the mare was waiting for her, sitting at a table and sipping some tea that she had quickly prepared before taking care of Spike. Pinkie had left in a rush as her break was almost over, but not before telling Misty about the party she was going to prepare for her.

Approaching the lobby, she hurried to finish cleaning up the piles of books, papers, annotations, and other assorted disorder she had left behind before leaving for lunch. When she saw everything seemed cleaner, she walked towards the table Misty was sitting at, and having a seat herself, Twilight cleared her throat and began.

“Sorry again for the mess. It’s… been a long day so far.”

“Oh, no worries Miss Sparkle.” Misty replied with a smile. “I understand what you are going through, and if it helps, this isn’t really the biggest mess I’ve ever seen.” She chuckled as she sipped some more tea.

“Heh, right.” Twilight scratched her head before pressing on. “Um… so, how may I help you?”

“Well...” Misty sets down her cup on the table, and reached for a scroll within her cape. “I was hoping you could help me find the pony on this photo.” She unrolled the scroll and passed it to Twilight.

The picture on it was that of a stallion, a unicorn to be more specific. He appeared to have a light gray coat, a short, combed back, black mane and well-trimmed beard, and dark purple eyes. On a corner of the picture was a symbol of what seemed like a sun rising at dawn, presumably his Cutie Mark.

Twilight looked intently at the scroll, making sure she’d remember the stallion in the photo for weeks to come. Still, she knew she still wouldn’t be much help, as she was aware the Princesses already had plenty of work with missing ponies, and adding one more to the pile didn’t imply much progress.

Twilight let out a soft sigh. “Hm… please, don’t get me wrong, I *really* want to help you, but I just don’t have the resources.”
Misty just smiled at her again. “Don’t sweat it. As I said, I do understand your position Miss Sparkle. For the record, though, you might want to bring some special attention to this pony.”

Twilight couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “And that would be because…?”

Misty took the scroll into her cape before she went on. “Because he might, and I stress MIGHT, know something about all these strange events.”

“And how, may I ask, do you know that?” Twilight inquired, her curiosity growing by the minute.

“Let’s just say my… associates and I, have been tracking this stallion for a while.”

“Your… associates?” Twilight wondered. “And how do you know this stallion might have something to do with these events?”

“… Actually, we are not entirely sure.” Misty said, rubbing her head with a slightly nervous smile. “We’ve only been able to spot him at most of the locations where the strange happenings took place. If it had been just once or maybe twice, we would have discarded him immediately, but it’s been way more than that.”

Twilight grumbled quietly, deep in thought. Something in the back of her head told her something was still not quite right about what this mare was telling her. If anything, she felt she was not telling her everything. Still, she seemed like the only source of actual information she had right now, and she was not quite willing to let it go just yet.

“Well, as I mentioned earlier, I’m lacking the resources to search for lost or suspicious ponies by myself, so I’m afraid I won’t be of much help for you or your… allies.” Twilight sighed.

“Oh, don’t worry about that!” Misty replied in a sunny voice. “For the time being, I’d just like you to keep your eyes extra open in case you spot him.”

“I guess I can do that much.” Twilight continued. “Wait… how can I contact you in case I do see him?”

“Oh, that will be no problem at all.” Misty said. “I’ll be roaming around the village, just as you saw earlier. Besides, chances are if you spot him, he might be doing something big or suspicious, in which case it’s quite likely we’ll be nearby as well.”

Twilight just stared at Misty for a moment, not feeling sure about a suspicious mare wandering about Ponyville. For all she knew, she could be part of the problem as well. Still, she was curious about the stallion she mentioned, and how he seemed to be connected to the disaster unfolding on their dear Equestria.

“It’s… a deal then.” Twilight sighed. “However! I don’t mean to be rude, but all things considered, you are just as suspicious as the stallion you claim to be related to this whole mess. So just as you’ll be watching us, we’ll pay close attention to you and your ‘associates’ as well.”

“And I don’t blame you for suspecting of me as well.” Misty said with a smile. “If anything, I would have been surprised if you didn’t think I had something to do with this as well.” She continued as she calmly walked towards the door to leave.

“Still, if we really had something to do with the current situation, wouldn’t it have been better for me to keep quiet?” She finished as she opened the door and left the place, leaving Twilight with more questions than she had earlier.

Twilight looked out a window nearby, it was night time already, and she was still wondering about what had transpired earlier: Being told about a suspicious stallion, by an equally suspicious mare, both apparently related to the strange events that were occurring all over Equestria. Her only relief at the moment was that, at least, they weren’t alone on seeking answers.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the knocking on her door, now making her wonder who would come to visit at this time in the evening, when everypony was already turning in for the night. She rushed to see who was out there, with a slightly surprised expression on her face as she opened the door, as a yellow Pegasus and a mismatched being stood there.

“Twilight! I’m sorry we are coming here so late, but we need to talk.”

Chapter 5: The Mysterious Stallion

Despite the clear sunny day, Canterlot was a big mess. It had been a couple of days since Celestia asked Twilight and her friends to assist them on the crisis that Equestria was going through, and she anxiously awaited for her response, hoping she had better luck on her side, without the worries of the many reports of strange events and missing ponies that still kept coming.

Luna had returned that day, informing her of their findings at the old library in the Castle Ruins, and promptly began to browse the Canterlot library, with a slightly better idea of what to look for, though she still wasn’t sure if she’d be able to find straight answers to their pleas.

Other than that, things had remained the same, with several reports of missing ponies still arriving, certainly stressing the Royal Sisters, and the entirety of Canterlot, some distressed families would actually try to force an audience with them. But it would all be for naught, and maybe even make things worse, if the Sisters could not appease their people. They still would try to attend to a few that seemed to be particularly persistent, but after the first hundred or so they talked with, it all felt the same.

“Let the next one in, please.” Celestia asked to one of the guards nearby.

“Immediately, your Majesty.” The one guard replied as he went out of the door.

The Sisters had organized the throne room to attend the few lucky ponies that managed to get an audience with them. Most of them were quite polite in front of them, though they could still see the despair in all of them, and they had to try harder and harder to hide their own doubt as the morning dragged on.

It was so, until a particular stallion entered the room.

“The Princesses will hear you now.” The guard said to the stallion, guiding him into the room, and walking to one side of the door afterwards.

“Thanks.” He said calmly as he began to walk towards Celestia and Luna. As he approached, they took attention of his features: His coat and horn were of a light gray color, his black mane was combed back, his beard was properly trimmed, and he had purple eyes, which carried a serious expression. His cutie mark seemed to be that of an orange-ish half sun, as if representing the dawn of a new day. On his back he was carrying a saddle bag as well.

“Good morning and welcome to Canterlot’s Castle.” Celestia softly greeted the visitor.

“Your name and request please.” Luna followed her sister after her greeting. They tried to make it subtle, but they certainly had rehearsed those exact lines as the morning passed.

“Of course.” The stallion replied, giving a small respectful bow before raising his head again. “My name is Bright Dawn. I’ve travelled from a faraway land in search of my missing siblings, whom I haven’t heard of in nearly 2 weeks.” He said with a composed, yet still worried tone. “I must, however, apologize in advance for my request, as I understand my case is not the only one you have to deal with on these times.”

Celestia shook her head gently before she looked at the unicorn before them. “Please, do not let that worry you.” She replied. “While it is true that many ponies have gone missing, do not doubt that we are doing our hardest to locate and bring each and every one of them to their loved ones.”

Luna smiled at her sister for a moment before she looked at the stallion as well. “Could you describe your siblings for us?” she asked him.

He nodded, opening his saddle bag and bringing out two scrolls, passing them to Celestia and Luna’s grasp with his magic. “They are my youngest brother and sister, Midday Skies and Misty Evening. They were visiting this land, and had promised to return after 3 days. It has been, however, almost two weeks since then, and I caught news of the many other missing ponies and couldn’t help but worry, and attempt an audience with the authorities.” He finished, bowing down gently again.

They opened the scrolls as he finished, which were pictures of the stallion’s siblings. The first photo was that of a young stallion, about the age of Twilight, with a blue coat, white hair, and yellow eyes, and in the corner there was a symbol of a sun covered by a cloud, likely his cutie mark. The other photo was that of a younger mare with a yellow coat, light blue mane and eyes, and in the corner of the picture was her cutie mark, a symbol of a small crescent moon with mist lines slightly covering it.

As Celestia and Luna casted their magic on the scrolls to make copies of them, they couldn’t help but wonder about their whereabouts and, most importantly, their well being. They were definitely not the only young ones that had gone missing in this mess, and it wasn’t that they weren’t worried about older ponies, but the younger ones were always on a higher priority on their respective books, particularly on Luna’s mind.

“We’ll…do our best on finding your lost siblings, thanks for bringing them up to our attention.” Celestia said to the stallion, trying to keep her confidence up, even though deep inside she remained uneasy. While there were no confirmed good or bad news, both sisters knew they had to be prepared, physically and mentally, for the worst. They just hoped it wouldn’t get to that point.

Bright Dawn bowed down gently once again. “I’ll continue looking on my own as well, but I’ll really appreciate your help and concern, your Highnesses.” He continued, still on a respectful tone. “With that said, I’ll get out of your way. Thanks again.” He finished as he turned around and walked towards the doors.

Just as he was about to leave, though, Celestia spoke up for a moment, stopping him. “And…Bright Dawn, right? Thanks for putting your confidence in us.” She finished. The stallion smiled softly at her and her sister, nodding gently as he left the room.

Silence remained for a few seconds, before Luna spoke up. “…What was that about?”

Celestia looked at her, a bit confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well…don’t get me wrong, dear sister.” Luna continued. “While we are indeed worried for all and every single one of the missing ponies, and their loved ones as well, we’ve been trying to attend the ponies who came for an audience with us as fast as possible, so we are able to return to the rest of our duties sooner. Paperwork won’t finish itself, and we aren’t left out of the search missions ourselves, after all.”

Celestia stared at her sister for a couple of seconds, then looked down and raised her hoof to her chin, as if in contemplation. “That is true…still, I couldn’t help but feel something about this particular stallion, as if he knew more about this situation that what he seemed. I just felt it right to add something along the lines of that statement.”

Luna began to contemplate as well. “I do admit…there IS something about that particular stallion. I can’t quite put my hoof on it though…”

Both sisters remained in deep thought for a couple of minutes as they raised from their thrones and began to walk towards the gates themselves. Celestia shook her head just as they reached them. “Well, no real use to think too deeply about it right now. If there indeed is something special or strange about him, we’ll know in time. And besides, we can’t really accuse him of anything if we are uncertain anyway.” She pondered as the two of them left the room.

“So…let me get this straight.” Twilight began. “You guys found old reports of earlier experiments on Teleportation magic in the old library?”

It was getting late, but her castle was always properly lit by itself, regardless of the time of the day. Sitting around the large table at the main hall, both her and Fluttershy were discussing their recent discoveries over some tea, while Discord floated around the room, juggling random objects and turning some items in the room into random stuff as well.

“…Yes, though most of it seemed like failed attempts.” Fluttershy replied. “Nothing too bad, but it sounded like it caused quite a bit of trouble in the past…but nothing like what’s going on right now.”

“Yeah…from what I learned from my studies, earlier experiments only involved teleporting objects at first, not ponies or other living beings.” Twilight continued. “Missing items weren’t a real problem, it was when the live experiments began and…well, let’s just say the early attempts sometimes ended in disaster…not the funny kind.” Twilight added quickly as she saw Discord turning around with a small grin on his face.

“Fortunately, injured subjects were treated immediately, so most if not all of them were still…complete, so to speak. I can’t really blame them for being mad at the whole mess still…” Twilight whispered, looking to the side, shuddering a bit. “It took a while for magical teleportation to become an actual thing…and when it finally became a more stable process, experiments went one step further, as you saw in those records.” She continued, as the two of them now turned around to see the Magic Mirror in one side of the hall, the device containing a portal to another dimension, a place that Twilight had visited before, but that she never fully explored. “For good or for bad, the portal is still set to open under very specific circumstances, but I’m still trying to figure out a way to activate it at will.”

“Anyway!” Twilight exclaimed, putting those thoughts aside. “You guys also mentioned a strange pony in the ruins as well?”

As she asked, she could hear Discord letting out a small, low snarl, before getting back to his juggling.

“…We did, yes.” Fluttershy continued, a bit nervous. “We tried to talk to him but he just tried to attack us…if it wasn’t for Discord I…” Fluttershy trailed off for a bit. As she did, Discord continued.

“I would just like to know what his deal was.” He said a bit annoyed. “I’m used to people being mad, or at least slightly unnerved, with me around at first, but most of them would just turn tail and run away…Not that I didn’t have my share of actual opponents.” He chuckled at the end, snapping his eagle hand fingers and making a little sun and moon float around it. “Then again, he went straight to Fluttershy, who was the first one to speak to him, and not towards me. I just retaliated in her defense.” As he finished, he snapped his eagle hand fingers again, making the small sun and moon poof away, as he was now wearing a shiny chestmail and shield, making Fluttershy chuckle and blush a bit, and getting a raised eyebrow and a small giggle from Twilight.

“And for that I am thankful, oh my knight in shining armor~” Fluttershy recited in an overly dramatic tone, the kind that Discord was still getting used to, as he poofed the armor away and resumed his juggling, still chuckling gently.

“Anyway!” Twilight coughed and continued. “Any idea about what he may have been doing there?”

“…I’ll be honest, I really don’t know.” Fluttershy whispered. “He was, however, staring at the old structure where the Elements of Harmony used to be…wonder if he’s related to them on some way?” She finished.

“Hm…I’m not sure, but considering the way you described him, I don’t think so.” Twilight continued. “Besides, it sounds like he’s not from the village anyway…most if not everypony in the village already know the Elements are no longer in the old ruins by now.”

“It does worry me, though, that he managed to escape Discord’s magic somehow.“ Twilight pondered. “If he managed to evade him like that, what else might he be able to do?” She finished, on a worried tone.

The three of them remained silent for a few moments. All that could be heard was a gentle humming noise, apparently produced by the castle itself, mixing up with the noise of the objects Discord was still juggling. It wasn’t till Twilight looked up towards a nearby window that she, once again, realized of the time.

“Oh gosh, I forgot it was this late.” Twilight blushed a bit, looking at Fluttershy and Discord. “Guys, I really appreciate your help and I’m so sorry about keeping you up this late. You can stay the night in the castle if you wish! I reckon it sometimes gets lonely with just Spike and me here.”

“Don’t worry Twilight.” Replied Fluttershy, waving a hoof at her. “It was us that came here late to begin with, though we do felt the news we had were urgent enough.”

“And at any rate, while we do appreciate you offering us to stay the night, I’m afraid we still have a few things to do back home before we actually hit the hay.” Fluttershy continued. “Don’t get worked up about it, we do have a method of fast traveling.” Fluttershy finished, turning around and looking at Discord, who looked back with a little grin, snapping his eagle hand fingers, making the objects he was juggling before vanish in a flash. He was now inside a taxi, in the driver side, wearing a uniform as well.

“Ready to go~” Discord said, doing a thumbs up sign with his lion hand, as one of the taxi’s back doors opened for Fluttershy. As she walked towards the taxi, she turned around for a moment to talk to Twilight.

“We’ll keep our eyes open for anything that could help find the lost ponies. Please let us know if you find anything new as well. Take care and good night.” Fluttershy finished.

“Once again, thank you so much, and sorry for keeping you up for too long.” Twilight replied as Fluttershy stepped into the taxi, the door closing by itself as Discord pushed on the horn, and with another flash, the two of them disappeared.

Once again, silence filled the room as Twilight was by herself in the main hall. Letting out a little sigh, she stood up and began to arrange her stuff before heading to sleep herself. This day had certainly been more eventful than what she expected: The unexpected visitor that had stalked on her earlier, the news that Fluttershy and Discord had brought to her, and the mysterious stallion that attacked them in the ruins. If anything, she was left with more questions than before.

Just what in Equestria was going on?

Chapter 6: Rendezvous at Canterlot

In contrast to the crisis currently transpiring in Equestria, it was a perfectly charming day in Canterlot. Sunny, yet fresh enough to enjoy a stroll outside. This was, not, however, among Twilight’s plans, as she trotted towards the Royal Hall, Spike rushing right behind her, in the hopes of meeting with her mentor, Princess Celestia. Given the discoveries unveiled by her and her friends, and thanks to Princess Luna as well, she was in dire need of a better source of information. And what better place to seek such knowledge, than the Royal Library: a collection of the most important Equestrian works, ranging from cooking and knitting to the most complex political topics and intricate research, including tomes that, by royal decree, were considered of a “darker” nature, only to be perused on the most extreme of circumstances, and even then to be handled with care.

These were, indeed, such times.

Within the Hall, Celestia and Luna could hear a ruckus happening right outside, as Twilight was being held by the guards, as they had asked them to prevent anyone from interrupting the meeting they were holding with the ponies bringing requests of more missing ones.

After struggling for a few minutes, Twilight managed to crash into the Hall, rushing toward the Princesses.

“Princess Celestia, I need to talk with you immediately!”

For a few moments, Celestia, Luna and the earth pony they were listening to stared at her in surprise and confusion. It was, however, Celestia herself who broke the silence. Clearing her throat, she spoke in a serious tone.

“Princess Twilight, my faithful student, while I understand the urgency of your request, I’m afraid I have to ask you, likewise, to wait for our audience to end.”

Twilight looked up at Celestia, confused at first, then looked around and noticed that, indeed, they were in the middle of an audience, with several ponies waiting in line at the gates. The very line that Twilight had pushed through without any regard. Seeing that Twilight was getting quite flustered, Celestia continued.

“…Please, wait for me at your old place, the library. I’ll meet with you there when we are done.”

Twilight nodded, still blushing, and quietly walked out of the Royal Hall, earning some annoyed looks from the ponies waiting for their turn, as she went towards her old library place.

She let out a nostalgic sigh out when she arrived at the library she and Spike used to live, even though she was still embarrassed at her small outburst at the Royal Hall. She noticed the place was quite dusty, and wondered if it had even been used since they left it, after all that time when she moved to Ponyville, and her journey began. She couldn’t help but walk around and browse some of the old books of the immense collection, some of them she knew by memory already: Every page, every sentence, every word, and smiled when she thought of the times when she believed all that knowledge was all she needed to understand the world, until she discovered the magic of Friendship.
She didn’t notice how fast the time passed as she enjoyed re-reading the tomes, when she heard Princess Celestia entering the place. Before she could begin, Twilight rushed to her.

“Princess Celestia, I’m so sorry that I interrupted today’s audience, I didn’t know-”

Before she could continue, Celestia raised her hoof gently, cutting her off.

“Twilight, don’t worry, I understand your position. My dear sister, Luna, had informed me of your friends’ findings at the old library, and we both were expecting your arrival today. We…just didn’t expect you to be here so soon.” She explained. As Twilight nodded, Celestia continued. “I know that you may be considering browsing the most…secluded areas of the Royal Library and, truth be told, I was VERY reluctant at first when Luna brought up the idea.”

“However.” Celestia continued. “Both the fact that you are now a Princess, and that the current situation may demand for it, made me and my sister reconsider.”

Twilight remained nervous at her teacher’s pause. “Twilight Sparkle, you now have complete access to the Royal Library and its contents. And while I do trust you, I don’t think I can be clear enough about just using it with the purpose of researching what may be causing this mess. I know of your natural curiosity, but I must ask of you: If anything else catches your attention, you may consult it with Luna or me when this predicament is over, and even then, we may not elaborate too much about it. Trust me when I say there are works in there that we wish we hadn’t found.”

Twilight nodded firmly in response. “I understand, Princess. I’d like to begin as soon as possible.”

Celestia nodded back. “Then, please, follow me.” She said, before she teleported both of them back to the castle. As they began to walk towards the Royal Library, she remained in silence for a few moments, and then asked Twilight.

“By the way.” She began. “In regards to this situation, do you have anything else to report?”

Twilight looked up at Celestia. She pondered for a few seconds, then remembered the strange visitor she had the other day, as well as the stallion Fluttershy and Discord had encountered in the old castle’s ruins. They didn’t really say anything about keeping both happenings as a secret, and she felt they both had a connection to the events happening in Equestria, so she felt it right to report this.

“Actually, now that you mention it…a strange mare visited me the other day. I think she introduced herself as...Misty Evening. She asked me to pay attention to a particular stallion that could have something to do with this whole problem.” Twilight explained, taking out the copy of the picture she had obtained from Misty and showing it to Celestia.

“Likewise!” She continued. “Fluttershy and Discord visited me later that same day, after they were done checking the old castle’s library with Princess Luna. They mentioned a strange stallion attacked them when they were leaving, Discord tried to capture him after he tried to harm Fluttershy, but somehow managed to escape.”

Celestia stared intensely at the picture Twilight had shown to her. Something in the back of her mind told her that stallion looked familiar.

“This…stallion…” She began. “I’m not entirely sure, but a similar one was in an audience a few days ago. He came asking us to help him find his lost siblings.” She affirmed, as Twilight was now looking up at her, wondering if there would be a connection. As they were reaching the library, they met with Luna right at the entrance.

“Dearest sister, dearest Twilight Sparkle, our friend, we were expecting you.” She greeted them. Celestia smiled at her, and Twilight bowed gently before her.

“Princess Luna, thank you again for helping my friends at the old castle the other day.” Twilight replied. “If it wasn’t for the 3 of you, we still wouldn’t have any idea of what could be causing the disappearances.”

Luna nodded gently. “I’m glad we could help bring out some information to our attention.” Luna nodded. “And even if we didn’t have to deal with our current situation, we knew the day would come when you would feel the need to pursue higher sources of knowledge.” She continued, on an ominous tone.

“I know my curiosity can get the best of me sometimes.” Twilight began. “But even I can tell when some knowledge can be potentially dangerous.”

Luna nodded again. “As my sister may have told you, we discussed the topic, and we weren’t quite sure about giving you access to the most hidden tomes in Equestria’s collection. Or rather, the ones contained within these walls.” She continued, raising her hoof towards the Library. “We do not really discard the fact there may be works out there that may be perused with great care.”

“Still. Our current predicament demands of us to use every resource on our reach, and given that you’ve proven yourself many times in the past, particularly with your ascension to Princesshood, my dearest sister and I agreed to grant you access to this facility at last.” Luna went on. “You may browse the books within at your discretion, and we trust we do not need to repeat ourselves about being careful about what you may find on your quest, for here lies information that could potentially compromise Equestria and its inhabitants, perhaps at the very level we are dealing with right now.”

Twilight nodded firmly. “Understood, I will be very careful during this research.” She affirmed.

“You may report your findings to both Luna and me.” Celestia said. “And as explained before, any other knowledge that catches your eye may wait until we are done dealing with this situation, and even then, we may not fully disclose it.” She cautioned on a serious tone.

“With your permission, I’d like to begin as soon as possible.” Twilight requested.

Celestia and Luna nodded, and bowed their heads. Magic began to glow on their horns as the gates of the Royal Library resonated with it, slowly and ominously starting to open before Twilight. As she began to walk into the room, the sisters would speak to her once again.

“We shall now return to our duties. May you find what you seek.” Luna said as she turned around.

“What we all seek. Good luck.” Celestia finished, the gates now closing behind Twilight, as she nodded towards the Princesses.

After the gates had closed, Twilight found herself standing in the dark, being unable to see into the room, and also unable to hear any outside sounds. A bit nervous, she tried her own magic, which immediately interacted with the room, as several lamps began to glow with life on both the walls and the ceiling. Once she had more vision, she realized she was now standing on a balcony with gold railings, with fine details carved on both the railings and the walls. On both sides, there were stairs going up and down, leading to several floors containing immense bookshelves attached to the walls, which reached to the far end of the room. In front of her, looking over the balcony, she could see a large wooden table, also with fine details, as well as more bookshelves lined up in several rows on both sides of the table. Above the table hanged the largest lamp, with sun and moon motifs on it, which also glowed the brightest, giving even more light and life to the place.

She couldn’t help but stand there for a few moments, absorbing the beauty of the place, a room that she knew Rarity would have certainly loved, and almost unable to hold down her own admiration for the potential knowledge contained within these walls. Still, she shook her head, quickly bringing herself back to reality, letting out a soft sigh.

“Well, I better start now.”

There were now countless piles of books all over the table, many of them bookmarked. Twilight was still scribbling on several pieces of paper, when she looked up, rubbing her neck and taking a little break. She looked around, in a bit of a daze. She had been so focused she hadn’t really realized of how long she had been in the Royal Library. The room had no windows so she couldn’t tell if it had gotten dark already or not, though strangely the temperature within remained fresh enough somehow. Twilight just shrugged and assumed it was all due to magic. Before she could continue wondering about the time, she heard the doors opening as the Princesses trotted in. She rose from her chair and walked towards them.

“Dear Twilight, our apologies for taking too long.” Luna began. “We hope, however, that your time within this chamber was well spent.”

“Please inform us of your findings.” Celestia followed, as the doors closed once again behind them.

Twilight nodded. “First things first, I decided to focus my attention on 2 topics, based on your previous findings: The initial experiments with teleportation magic, and their eventual result and connection with the Mirror we used previously for me to retrieve my crown and Element of Harmony from the human world.” Twilight began, gaining the Princesses’ attention. “Upon further investigation based from the knowledge in these works, I managed to figure out a bit more about the experiments, and how they influenced in the creation of the Mirror, as well as knowing a bit more about how the Mirror really works. To begin with, the whole idea of it working JUST under specific conditions related to the Moon is…slightly less ominous than what we all may have thought at first.” Twilight continued, gaining a raised eyebrow from Luna at that statement.

“In reality, the connection the Mirror has with the human world is always there.” Twilight clarified. “However, the Mirror, at least up to this point, has always required a special type of magic to power it up; magic that so far has only been available under said Moon conditions. As for the experiments, as we may have expected, they did eventually bring the results we know nowadays: Our regular ways of teleportation via magic, and devices such as the Mirror itself.”

“However…” Twilight continued, though now with a slightly worried tone. “I found more about the experiments. They were rather…ambitious.” She clarified, seeing that the Princesses had noticed her worried tone. “Their objective wasn’t just to improve the knowledge we had at that time, but to go further and even opening up the possibility of discovering new worlds, way beyond ours.” She explained. “The details of those experiments are still not fully clear to me, but at this point we can tell this is the part that could be related to the disappearances still occurring in Equestria.”

“In other words, we indeed have to consider the idea that some, if not all of the ponies that have disappeared, may have ended up in completely different worlds.” Twilight speculated, much to the Princesses’ dismay.

“…Still!” Twilight resumed. “There could be good news. If we consider that possibility, we also have to consider the fact that there have been cases of buildings and other objects reappearing within our Equestria, although not on their original locations. If that’s the case, then it is possible that whatever, or whoever, disappears is still tethered on some way to our Equestria as well, so it’s either a matter of time until everypony who has disappeared returns by themselves. Likewise, we could apply tracking and anchoring spells to try and find them, though the risk still remains as, once again, we are dealing with completely unknown worlds.” She suggested.

“At any rate, that’s what I’ve been able to find so far.” Twilight finished. “I just wish I had gotten more conclusive or definitive results…”

Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “You’ve done an excellent in such a short time, my dear student.” She assured as Luna would nod as well. “Your new findings have given us more options, and with some luck, we may be able to retrieve the lost ponies sooner than expected. We’ll inform the Royal Guard about our newly acquired knowledge.”

“In the meantime, I’m afraid to inform you that it indeed is late in the evening at the moment.” Celestia continued. “You shall stay in the castle for the night, and decide on what you’ll do next in the morning.” She suggested, as they began to walk towards the doors, which opened once again.

“Thanks, Princess.” Twilight nodded. “While I’d like to continue this research, with your permission of course, I feel it would be best if I continue at another time, and returned to Ponyville. My friends are returning from their travels and I’d like to meet with them.” She asked, gathering her items and notes in her bag, and following the Princesses.

Celestia and Luna nodded, walking with Twilight outside the Library, as the doors ominously closed again. “You may want to get some rest then, as you may have noticed the train station is more crowded these days.” Celestia suggested, guiding Twilight to her room for the night.

Just as Celestia had told her the night before, the station was indeed very busy, in comparison to the many times she and her friends had used the service before. She would struggle to just find a seat to wait for her train to arrive. While she waited, she would take some of her notes and revise them, trying to figure out more possibilities, as well as coming up with a way to modify the Mirror so it would be available at any time. She admitted to herself that she missed her friends in the Human world, Sunset Shimmer in particular. She remembered how just a while ago, she had found a peculiar tome in her collection, which she could use to communicate with Sunset in the Human world, as well as a form of battery for the Mirror, along with a combination of other devices. Still, she felt that she could still do better, given the new information she now had.

Time passed quickly as she entertained these ideas in her mind, when she heard the loudspeakers announcing the arrival of her train. She quickly saved her notes and grabbed her saddle bags, walking towards one of the wagons. As she found her seat, she looked outside, staring at all the ponies still rushing around the station.

And then she noticed one in particular.

Twilight blinked for a moment, as she saw a mare in a hood staring at her from the crowd. It was difficult to discern any features from her position, and her outfit didn’t help either. Still, she squinted her eyes a bit, and then she remembered about a similar mare that she had met just recently…

“…Misty?” Twilight whispered to herself.

The hooded figure nodded gently, as if it had heard her, and proceeded to lose itself among the crowd, leaving Twilight just slightly confused. She knew she would still be around, according to what she implied during her visit in Ponyville, this time however…she couldn’t quite tell why, but she felt as a somewhat different mare.

As these new thoughts would now gain her attention, among her current research, the train finally departed, leading her back home, and soon to her friends as well. If there was ever a time when they needed to stay together, it was now.

Author's Note

I sometimes like to recall particular tunes when imagining some scenes. And while you are free to imagine them with a melody of your own knowledge and/or liking, my humble suggestion for Twilight in the Royal Library will be this one:

"Happy Hogwarts Loop" (skip to 7:49): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ38d5903BY

I just wish I had found a single video of the melody for a better reference. Still, a great OST overall.

Chapter 7: Heavy Rain - Part 1

If seeing the image of Misty Evening before leaving Canterlot wasn’t enough of a surprise, as she approached Ponyville the skies had turned cloudy. It seemed like it was about to pour heavily. She regretted not taking an umbrella with her, but then again, she would have hardly expected such a turn on the weather, since the day had clear skies earlier. She shook her head, knowing that no matter how much she thought about it, she had no control over things like these. Letting out a soft sigh, she looked outside, wondering if her friends had already returned from their respective travels. She wasn’t sure since she had left Spike in charge of the Castle, instructing him on sending her a letter if any of her friends happened to visit her place, particularly Misty, or if anything else happened, he’d be to ask Pinkie or Fluttershy for help, in case he really needed it. Since she didn’t get any letter, she assumed that either everything had been quiet while she was out of town…or that something happened that wouldn’t let Spike report back to her.

She began fidgeting her hooves a bit, getting nervous at the thought. As the train finally arrived to Ponyville, she picked up her stuff and rushed outside. It was already pouring lightly. Trotting out of the station, Twilight decided to check Pinkie’s place first.

Trotting towards Sugarcube Corner, she could see it just as crowded as a few days ago, particularly around the board that the Cakes had set up outside the confectionery, with all the Missing ponies posters and notes. Getting closer now, she could see Pinkie coming out of the building, holding a tray with assorted pastries with her mouth, bringing them to one of the outside tables.

“Hey Pinkie, how are things around here?” Twilight asked, approaching Pinkie, stopping and taking a few deep breaths.

Pinkie placed the tray on its respective table, before turning around and looking at Twilight. “Hey Twilight!” she greeted her on her usual cheerful tone. “As you can see, we are preeetty busy as usual.”

“Did…did Spike come here, by chance?” Twilight asked Pinkie, still nervous.

Just as she asked, Spike came out of the building, holding another tray and taking it to another table. After he left it, he turned around and saw Twilight, rushing towards her.

“Twilight! Back already?” Spike said, excited at first, then turning his head down a bit. “I…know you said I had to stay at the Castle, but--”

Twilight cut him off and pulled him into a hug, feeling very relieved. “Oh Spike, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you…” she sighed, still hugging him for a few more moments, before she stopped and pushed him away just a bit, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

“…and I indeed told you to stay at the Castle.” She continued, with a gentle smirk on her face.

Spike chuckled a bit nervously. “Well…you see…I was still at the Castle, when Pinkie came up, asking for some help at Sugarcube Corner. I insisted that you had told me to stay in, but she ended up just pulling me here somehow…” Spike said as he fidgeted his fingers.

Twilight continued to smile as her gaze went from Spike, to Pinkie, who had returned to attending more clients. She knew Pinkie sometimes had a knack for convincing others to follow her, usually with a big smile in her face, and it was good that it was never meant in a bad way. If anything, Twilight was glad that Spike was with a friend she could trust. Letting out a gentle sigh, she looked back at Spike.

“It’s ok Spike. Guess it beats being all alone and bored at the castle.” She assured Spike, with a smile in her face, making Spike let out a relieved sigh himself. “By the way, do you know if the others are back?” She asked Spike.

“Rarity and Applejack returned already, but went to their homes first to leave their stuff and check on things.” Spike replied. “They said they’d come here as soon as they were done, it shouldn’t be too long now…”

Just as Spike finished speaking, 2 mares approached them, both carrying hats: One was wearing a western hat, the other, a larger and fancier hat, complete with a ribbon on the side.

“I told you it was about to rain heavily today, Dash has been reminding us the entire week before we left!” Applejack exclaimed, clearly annoyed at how long Rarity had taken to just choose a hat to go out.

“Well darling, with all that’s been happening recently, I simply forgot about her warnings.” Rarity replied. “At any rate, I couldn’t allow myself to go out without a proper accessory, and I had this hat saved for the perfect time, with or without rain.” She humphed, however hoping the rain wouldn’t get too bad.

Applejack couldn’t help but shake her head at Rarity, then suddenly changed to a smile as she saw Twilight already at Sugarcube Corner.

“Twilight! Gosh darnit, I’m so glad to see you.”

“I’m so happy to see you guys again!” Twilight exclaimed as she rushed to greet and hug them. “It feels like we haven’t seen each other in ages.”

“Well now, darling, it has only been a few days, really.” Rarity began, smiling at her. “Though considering how things are going at the moment, every minute together counts.” She sighed.

“But anyway! I guess we all have much to gossip about, on these interesting times.” She continued, as she walked towards one of the tables nearby. “Come on, come on.”

“That’s right, I’m sure Twilight here has a lot to comment on.” Applejack chuckled as they all sat down.

Twilight nodded as she sat along with her friends, commenting on her findings at the Royal Library, her meeting with Misty Evening, as well as Fluttershy and Discord’s discoveries on the old Library, and their encounter with the mysterious stallion who tried to attack them.

“Oh my, are those 2 alright?” Rarity asked in a worried tone.

“Don’t worry, they are fine, just a bit shaken still.” Twilight replied. “Discord did a pretty good number at scaring that stallion away.”

“Yeah, I bet he was the knight in shining armor a certain maiden needed at the moment.” Applejack pointed out, making all 3 of them chuckle. Had Discord and Fluttershy grown that close, Twilight wondered herself.

“What about you guys?” Twilight pointed at Rarity and Applejack. “I don’t think I’m the only one with things to report.”

“Indeed dear Twilight.” Rarity began. “Among other pieces of landmark ruined, the famous head statue on top of one of the tallest building has been indeed blinking in and out of existence, as well as some strange sightings from the bridge connecting to the main land.”

“Yeah, same with the clocktower in Appleloosa.” Applejack continued. “And apparently the buffalo tribes have been reporting some strange abandoned buildings suddenly appearing around their lands. I’ve asked Braeburn about them and he told me they had never been there before.”

“By the way, do you guys know when Dashie is coming back?” Pinkie asked, as she arrived with their pastries. “I’m really missing her now. Oh! We could make a little party for her when she comes back!”

“No idea Pinkie.” said Twilight. “I can only imagine the Wonderbolt’s workload must be skyrocketing right now.”

“Here’s hoping Rainbow is doing just fine.” Applejack sighed. “She’s awesome and all but even her can get too stressed sometimes.”

A heavy silence fell between them for a few moments, after which Rarity decided to break the ice.

“Well now, let’s not get too gloomy, this is Rainbow Dash we are talking about!” She exclaimed. “Whatever the dilemma, she’ll know how to overcome!”

Twilight smiled at her. “You are right, she’s the kind to come out on top no matter the difficulty.”

“Eyup.” nodded Applejack. “She’ll surely be back home before we expect it.”

With the mood revitalized, the crew spent the rest of the afternoon happily chatting away. Their friendship sure would endure through the hardiest of times, even under a rain that would keep getting heavier by the minute…

The afternoon had passed quickly, and the light rain from earlier had become a straight downpour, catching everypony by surprise as they rushed home for the day, Twilight and her friends included. Midway to her castle, they met with Fluttershy and Discord.

“Hey guys! You missed the meeting at Sugarcube Corner!” Twilight greeted the pair.

“Hi girls, we are really sorry.” Fluttershy sighed. “We have been busy taking care of the animals back at home because of the rain.”

“It took us almost all the afternoon.” Discord explained, holding a large singing umbrella. “By the time we were done, the rain had become heavier. I tried to convince Fluttershy here to stay in, but she insisted on, at least, checking on Twilight at her place.”

Fluttershy nodded. “When we arrived and saw you weren’t there, we decided to rush to Sugarcube Corner, and well….here we are.”

“Drenched and still in the middle of the rain.” Discord pointed out, giving Fluttershy a stern look, making her blush a little.

“Well, we were all heading to Twilight’s place anyway, so may as well join us.” Applejack said.

“By the way darling, are you two alright?” asked Rarity. “Twilight told us about what happened after your meeting with Princess Luna.”

“Oh, that…Don’t worry, we are fine, though I don’t know what would have been of me if Discord hadn’t been there.” Fluttershy replied, as Discord poofed a medieval-looking helmet on his head, striking a pose, making the others chuckle.

Rushing to warm and safety, they soon approached Twilight’s castle. They just couldn’t wait to settle down, maybe have a warm drink. As they got closer, though, they were able to hear a crashing sound coming from the castle, loud enough to be heard even through the heavy rain. Normally, Twilight would have walked in calmly, expecting Spike to be the cause of the noise.

But Spike was already with them.

Realizing this, she rushed into her home, followed by her friends. The place was a total mess, as if someone had been looking through their stuff. Books and other items were scattered across the floor, discarded disorderly as if none of them were what the intruder was looking for. There was still some noise inside, which suggested the intruder wasn’t gone just yet. Soon they arrived to a particular room, the source of the noise.

“Who’s in there!?” Applejack shouted as they all broke through the door, rushing in. They all had been in this room before, except for Discord himself. It was one of the several libraries that the castle contained, with numerous books lined up in the walls, as well as some tables distributed around. What made this room special, however, was a device in the middle of one of the walls, a device of Twilight’s design, that she had used to aid her friends in the Human world, and under the machinery, the Mirror that served as gateway between both worlds. The artifact was, at the moment, inactive, and the place was in almost complete disarray: More books scattered all over the floor, as if the intruder had dismissed them immediately on its way.

And right in the middle of the mess, the intruder himself.

The very same stallion that had attacked Fluttershy and Discord before.

“Why, you…” Discord growled, as he rushed claws first towards the stallion. Unfortunately, however, he managed to vanish away right before Discord could stomp on him.

“Darn it! Come back you coward!” He roared, but to no avail.

“Was that the stallion you had mentioned from before?” Pinkie asked.

“Yes, yes it was.” Fluttershy nodded. “But what was he doing here?”

“I have no idea…yet.” Twilight pondered. “But given the mess he made, my best guess is that he was looking for something in here.” she said, as she began to rearrange the books littered all about. As she and her friends were getting done, however, she came to a realization.

“Oh no. Oh no no no no no…” she whispered in a panic, quickly looking through the shelves they had just arranged, then looking at the device and the mirror.

“What is it, darling?” Rarity asked. “Did you figure out what is missing?”

“I’m afraid so…” Twilight replied. “Sunset Shimmer’s diary…It’s gone.”

SUB-CHAPTER 1: Into a new world

The room was dark and filled to the brim with books, papers, and scattered office items. At first glance one could tell someone had been doing some hardcore research work on the place. Sticking near a wall seemed to be a large round object, covered completely by a mantle.
Some muffled noises could be heard from upstairs, and then a door opened with a loud creak, letting in some light from the room above. The noises then became more clear voices, which echoed in the room as they carried on their conversation.

“Yo, Sky, did you bring everything we need?” inquired a unicorn mare with a light yellow cloak and light blue mane and eyes, who was carrying saddle bags filled with rolled scrolls, which almost hid her cutie mark, depicting a crescent moon with mist stripes covering it.

“I…think I…do indeed, Misty.” replied a unicorn stallion with a blue coat, white mane and yellow eyes, as he struggled to carefully place down the seemingly heavy bag he brought with him, opening it to make sure about the items it contained. The bag was covering his cutie mark, consisting of a shining sun barely hidden by a cloud.

Misty brought out a scroll from the bunch on her bag and unrolled it, then brought a quill as well, and began to check the items on the scroll as the stallion brought them out one by one.

“Do you think it will work this time, sis?“ wondered Sky as he began to arrange the several objects from the bag in a classification only the two of them seemed to understand.

“Oh, it better does!” she replied in a sunny tone, putting down the list and helping Sky with the items. “We’ve been researching this thing for months now; it would all go to waste if we stopped now anyway!”

“That IS true I guess…” Sky continued. “Still, you’d think this kind of thing would be sort of…unstable.” he said with a worried tone, as he began to walk towards the large round object and reached for the mantle covering it, ready to take it off.

Misty gave him a gentle nudge on the side. “Hey. We will make this thing work, just like we did with all our previous inventions!”

Sky shuddered at first, thinking of the duo’s previous creations, having flashbacks of the countless failures they ended up as at first, with their fair share of explosions. Then he shook those thoughts away, as he smiled and remembered that they, indeed, ended up working just as intended.

“You are right, sis!” he nodded at her. “We can’t give this one up either! It might as well be the GREATEST of our inventions so far!” he claimed as he held a hoof up high, with a smile and sparkles on his eyes, as he took off the mantle off.

Standing in front of them was a large metallic structure composed of a round hollow part connected to a flat platform, and what seemed like an incomplete control panel on a side of the structure.

“Well, we better get to work then~!” Misty chanted happily as she began to bring the objects they had arranged before.

“Sure thing! This thing won’t make itself work after all!” he said as well, bringing their tools with his magic.

There were tools scattered all over the floor, as well as smaller pieces: bolts, nuts, screws and cables. The hours had passed, but the hard work and concentration kept the duo distracted enough to notice the clock on one of the walls nearby, as well as the light of dawn coming into the room from the single window in the room.

After a long night of putting everything together, the siblings stood next to each other, with sweat in their foreheads and bags under their eyes. It was like this every time they came up with an invention that they were sure would amaze the masses and make their lives easier. Many had already told them they had a promising future in engineering and similar careers, and they certainly looked forward to it. In the meantime, their minds would constantly come up with new ideas.

But none like this one so far.

They stared at the product of their arduous work, with sparkles in their tired eyes. The machine lied there staring back at them, almost like calling to them.

“…think it’s ready then?” Sky said, stretching out a bit.

“After all those all-nighters? It BETTER be ready for us!” Misty replied, letting out a long yawn.

They continued to stare at their new creation for a few more moments before the two of them just plopped in the floor, finally getting some rest.

Just as they did, another unicorn stallion walked downstairs, calling to his younger siblings. His coat was of a light gray color, a combed back short black mane, dark purple eyes and a trimmed beard. His cutie mark seemed to represent the bright morning sun rising out of a hill.

“Hey, Misty, Sky, breakfast is re-”

As he was speaking, he noticed the brothers were sleeping soundly on the floor, the blue stallion letting out small bubbles out his snout, and the mare letting out cute snores.

He couldn’t help but smile at the scene, as he kept walking downstairs, bringing a couple of mantles with him.

“Every time.” He chuckled to himself as he covered his siblings with the mantles, before taking a gander at the device they had spent the last night working on.

“Here’s hoping that thing doesn’t explode this time.” he whispered as if the other two could listen to him at the moment. After staring at the machine for a little while, he looked back at them as they snuggled on their covers.

“You two are going to go the distance.” he whispered to them this time. “Even if I don’t fully understand your devices and way of thinking most of the time, I just know your passion for your creations will take you far and wide. I just couldn’t ask for better brothers.”

“I still wish you didn’t have to pull all nighters every single time, but I guess I can’t blame you.” he finished with a chuckle as he walked back upstairs, leaving them to a well deserved rest.

“Project log, item #264, date is…September 27…place of origin…Stella…destination…yet unknown…making final preparations…”

It was night time once again, and the inventors were up again, ready to give their newest creation a test ride. Misty was recording the necessary information on their diary, and Sky was making the final arrangements on the device. As usual, they asked their elder brother, Bright Dawn, to be there for the test as a witness. It was how he was used to see their stuff exploding quite a few times in the past.

This particular case, however, had him a bit more worried than usual, as his younger siblings had done a very basic explanation of what their new device was supposed to do. It was revolutionary compared to their previous creations, indeed, but also seemed to carry some yet untold risks than the past artifacts didn’t really bring.

For safety’s sake, he felt compelled to ask them one more time.

“So…tell me again, what’s this thing supposed to do?”

“We’ve told you a hundred times already!” his sister sighed, putting down her tools for a moment as her other brother continued with his side of the preparations.

“But! You’ll be our witness this time too, so it’s only fair that you fully know what’s going to happen!” she sang in her usual cheerful voice as she looked up at her elder brother.

“Basically, this machine will allow us to visit places that no one else has seen before! Isn’t that neat?” the mare finished with a radiant smile in her face.

While the idea of discovering and exploring new worlds certainly was revolutionary, Bright still had his fair share of worries. What would they find on the other side? Would it be safe? Would they really be ok?

He decided to direct his next question to his younger brother, who was still making some last minute arrangements to the device.

“Where would you be going, exactly? And how do you know it’s safe?” he asked, with a clearly preoccupied tone on his voice.

Sky stopped for a moment, smiled at his brother, and turned around again, pressing some buttons on the machine’s console. As he finished the sequence, the machine hummed and lighted up, slowly showing what seemed like a mirror-like portal in the center of the large round part of the contraption. The “mirror”, afterwards, began to show an image on it, blurry at first, but it slowly became clearer, now showing what looked like a futuristic-like citadel, apparently seen from inside a cave, in a far away hill.

Bright was amazed at the sight in front of him. To be able to visualize such an alternate world was already quite the progress, and his brothers were about to step into it.

It was then that a couple more questions popped in his head.

“Wait, so you are 100% sure this…portal, will get you into that world. But how do you plan on coming back? And how long will you be gone?”

Sky smiled at him. “We already planned that. As it is right now, the portal is, indeed, one way only. However, on our previous tests, we had already been sending some pieces and tools in there, so the very first thing we are going to do once we are on the other side ourselves is to set up another platform similar to this one, though maybe less bulky, and work on stabilizing the portal so it should allow us to travel safely back and forth.”

“As for how long we will be gone…” Misty continued. “Since we already arranged the schematics for this device, it shouldn’t take us too long to prepare the platform on the other side. All things considered, it should take us about…3 days tops?” she wondered, looking at Sky, to which he replied by nodding.

“We will return immediately after we have secured the second platform in the other world.” He continued. “It’s a promise. So don’t worry and just wait for us.”

“Yep!” Misty said with a smile. “We’ll be back before you realize, so you better have some snacks ready to celebrate!” she chuckled, pointing her hoof playfully at Bright.

“Alright then, it’s not like I could stop you now, even if I tried.” he replied with a nod.

Misty and Sky nodded back at him with a smile before picking up their saddle bags with their tools in them, and a pair of carts with more pieces as well. They turned around one more time, still smiling, and waved at their brother.

“We’ll be right back!” They said, taking a deep breath and letting out heavy sighs as they stepped into the portal, towards a new and fantastic world, as Bright waved back at them, wishing them good luck and a swift return.

It had been almost 2 weeks since his brothers used their portal, and ever since then, nothing. Bright would come by the room every single day, expecting them to be just sleeping in the floor, but they were never there. He was at the edge of his nerves.

“…Come on guys…” he sighed as he once again entered the room. He began to look meticulously through the room, hoping to find them sleeping under a pile of papers or something, but still nothing. He then walked towards the machine, and looked through the controls.
While he wasn’t as gifted as his brothers with technology, they still had looked up to him on that regard. He had some knowledge about it in general, though nothing as advanced as this device. Still, he was desperate enough to try to figure it out.

“Let’s see…I should be able to, at least, get this thing running, and then…” he whispered to himself as he tampered with the controls, the machine buzzing out with life once more, after those long weeks.

After nearly half an hour of attempting to configure the device, the portal once again opened. The image on it began distorted, just like before, but after a short while, it shifted into a clearer form. This time, however, instead of showing a futuristic landscape, it showed something different. Something resembling a castle on the side of a mountain…

Bright looked at the portal for a few moments, aware of the difference, and thus unsure if he was desperate enough to give it a try himself. He shook his head, knowing that his brothers’ life could be at stake, and he decided. He rushed to grab his saddle bag and pick up all the things he felt would be of use on his travel. When he was done, he gave the notes on a table nearby another look.

“INTERDIMENSIONAL PORTAL – EXPERIMENTAL
Created and manufactured by Misty Evening and Midday Sky”

It was then that he noticed a little note scribbled on the side.

“This one’s for you, our Bright bro!”

“…I’m bringing you guys back home, I promise.” Bright Dawn whispered to himself, as he looked up, took a deep breath, and jumped into the portal himself, and into the unknown.

Chapter 8: Sky High Trouble

Cloudsdale had always been, by nature, a place bursting with life and activity, as Pegasus ponies of all colors and sizes would be seen flying around from one spot to the other, the majority of them taking care of weather-related tasks on a daily, scheduled basis. Given the current situation, however, with so many ponies disappearing, such tasks hadn’t been taken care of as usual, which meant an extra strain on the remaining ponies.

Including, but not limited to, Rainbow Dash.

“I swear…I had never wanted a nap…so badly…” she sighed to herself as she barely made it to her room. Being an official Wonderbolt, she couldn’t escape from the many Search & Rescue shifts the entire force was being assigned those last few days. Flying all over Equestria, day in and day out, was taking its toll on her, and at this very moment she wished for no more but a decent break.

Maybe a couple of hours had passed since she just plopped in her bed, but she felt them like mere 5 minutes, when somepony knocked at her door. At first she tried to cover her face with a pillow, but after some persistent knocking, she whined quietly and replied.

“…Alright, alright, I’m coming...” She said. “This better be good or else…” she whispered as she attended the door.

In front of her was standing a slender blue pony, with a white fluffy mane combed in swirls upwards, wearing an orange bowtie, with clouds as his Cutie Mark. “I’m terribly sorry for cutting your rest short, Miss Dash.” Apologized a worried Fluffy Clouds.

“…It’s ok, Fluffs.” She replied, stretching a little. “What is it?”

“I’m afraid to communicate all pegasi off-duty are being called to the rain factory. They said it was an emergency.” He said in a hurry. “Please gather whatever you need and come with us.”

“…Right. I’ll be there shortly.” She replied. Fluffy Clouds nodded back and took off. She turned around, picked up her saddle bag and started grabbing a few items, among them some snacks. As she was gathering her belongings, though, she stopped for a moment to look at a photo she had sitting on a drawer. It was a photo of her with her friends. She couldn’t help but stare at it for a few moments, hoping that she could reunite with them as soon as she could. Letting out a heavy sigh, she placed the photo back on the drawer, tied her bag, and flew away.

As she approached the factory she could sort of tell what the problem was. The very bottom of the facility was nothing but black clouds that seemed to threaten to pour down more than an entire dam on Ponyville, even with sightings of heavy thunder. She spotted a crowd of pegasi outside of the place, and hurried to join them.

“Alright everypony, I trust y’all have an idea of what we’re dealing with this time.” She could hear Crafty Crate say as she and the last available pegasi were arriving. “Since we all haven’t been able to take care of the weather on these last few days, clouds have been going out of control and, as y’all can see, they are threatenin’ to pour down one of the meanest storms ever, lightnin’ included. Y’all know what to do.”

All the pegasi nodded and took off. Some formed groups to assess the situation, but Dash was among the few that went in alone. As she flew closer to the stormy clouds, she could get a better view of them. An entire week of the clouds not being given proper care had rendered them into a dark and large cumulonimbus, which indeed was threatening to bring one of the meanest storms onto Ponyville just below, complete with thunder and all.

Difficult, but nothing she couldn’t help handle. Dash nodded to herself and flew into the clouds.

It had taken roughly an hour, but the pegasi had managed to reduce the cumulonimbus. While it wasn’t completely gone just yet, it had gone from a menacing thunderstorm to just a heavy downpour. It would take just a little longer till they would fully dissipate it…

“Emergency! Emergency at the lightning storage!” Fluffy Clouds would shout and fly toward the group of pegasi in a hurry.

“What’s going on Fluffs?” Dash asked, taking a pause from the clouds, along with a few other ponies.

“There appears to be some ruckus happening at the lightning storage, it seems we got a burglar!” he said.

Dash raised an eyebrow, then rushed towards the place in question. The lightning storage was a medium-sized building where they kept mass-produced magic power cells, which were created, charged by lightning and shipped with the purpose of powering up a wide range of devices. They were mostly sent to and used at big cities like Manehattan to power up its many buildings, though they were sometimes used for emergencies at smaller towns like Ponyville and Appleloosa as well.

They were also popular among manufacturers by their instability if mishandled.

As she arrived to the storage, Dash could hear explosions, and a commotion from the ponies that had arrived before her.

“What’s happening!?” she asked to a nearby Pegasus mare.

“I’m not exactly sure, they mentioned something about a burglar, and by the time we arrived there were explosions everywhere already. Whoever it is it seems it’s throwing power cells at us to keep us away.” The mare replied.

“Alright, I’m going to take a closer look.” Dash replied quickly before flying into the building. She could see the storage was a mess: Broken crates everywhere, scattered equipment, she could see ponies fleeing everywhere, and a few injured along the way. She rushed to help them, and told them to look for more injured ponies and help them leave safely as well. As she continued flying to the center of the building, she began to ponder. “This place literally only holds lightning power cells, and at most some office supplies.” She thought to herself. “If this guy’s just throwing the cells all willy-nilly like this, then what could they be looking for?”

Flapping her wings to get rid of the surrounding smoke, she finally arrived towards the center of the ruckus. Right in the middle, he could see a Unicorn stallion opening a large crate, grinning as he looked at what was contained inside.

“Hey you!” She yelled at him. “What’s the big deal!? You can’t just barge in and start making a mess just like that!”

The stallion turned around and snarled at her, clearly annoyed at yet another pegasus trying to interrupt him. He began to levitate a power cell and promptly threw it at her, but she managed to dodge it with ease. He levitated a few more cells, and began throwing them at her. However, he seemed to just throw them in her general direction, constantly failing to hit her.

“This guy sure has pretty bad aim.” Dash thought. After evading a few more cells, though, she started to realize the stallion’s intention, as the smoke she had dispersed before had returned, blocking her vision.

“Dang, is he trying to cover his escape? Not gonna happen!” She whispered to herself as she dived straight into the smoke again. Just as she did, though, the world around her felt as in slow motion, as another power cell was heading straight onto her face, her eyes widening as it started glowing…

Next thing she knew, her entire body was lying down in pain, particularly her head, her ears were ringing badly, and she could barely open her eyes. She only managed to spot the stallion through the dispersing smoke, as he grinned, levitated the crate, and teleported away.

“…N…no…w…w-wait…”

She tried with all her might to stand back up, but her body would simply not respond as she wanted. She was surprised to be conscious, or even alive, after the cell exploded right in front of her. She had little time to think of this, though, as the building was now in flames around her. She had to hurry out or surviving the explosion would be for naught. Knowing herself, she totally wanted to brag about surviving such a blast in the first place.

As she kept trying to stand up, thought, she managed to see a cloaked figure teleporting in, evidently another unicorn, looking around and spotting her, and rushing towards her to pick her up and take her to safety.

“W-who…are y…you…w-hy…are you…helping…m..e…”

Her ears were still ringing but she managed to hear the mare. “Sshh, worry not Miss Dash, you’ll make it out of here.” The mare unicorn replied in what sounded like a rushed voice, even though she tried to keep her composure. “I’m terribly sorry for arriving this late, we weren’t certain where exactly He would appear again, but at least now we have a better idea of his current plan…” She continued, as she carried Dash away from the debris.

“…he…plan…wh-what…” Dash trailed off, as she started to lose consciousness. She could hear the mare telling her to stay awake, but it was for naught, as she would finally faint, but not before being able to spot the mare’s cutie mark, a crescent moon covered by a fine mist.

“…hm…uh…hu…huh?” Dash mumbled, before she shot up, eyes wide open, and looked around herself. She was sitting in a hospital bed, bandages everywhere. Next to her bed, Spitfire, the current leader of the Wonderbolts, was sitting nearby.

“Hey Dash.” She greeted, smiling. “Glad to see you made it.”

“…Spitfire? I…what…where…how long…” Dash started, but stopped as a sharp pain cut through her side, making her wince.

“Now now, don’t rush it.” Spitfire said. “It’s been almost a day since the incident. The doctors said you were pretty lucky to survive an exploding power cell to the face. What were you thinking?”

“I…sorry.” Dash apologized. “There was this stallion at the storage…he was taking something…I just wanted to stop him. I didn’t think he’d try to trick me like that.”

“Stuff like this is part of the Wonderbolts training, you should have known better.” Spitfire said with a stern look in her face, making Dash look down. “Don’t worry, I’m not mad, just worried. We are friends, remember?” she sighed, her expression softening a bit.

“Besides, I’d hate to lose one of the best flyers in Equestria.” She joked, making Dash look up a bit, letting out a soft chuckle.

“Well, guess I get to brag about surviving a lightning explosion to the face, don’t I?” Dash grinned.

“You sure do.” Spitfire replied with a smile.

A few moments of silence passed before Dash spoke again. “Is…everypony alright?” she asked Spitfire.

“Don’t worry, we didn’t lose anypony.” She assured. “Just a few injured that spoke well of you too, and asked me to thank you for helping them out.”

Dash sighed, relieved, before she began to ponder. “Do you know what that guy took from the storage? As far as I know it’s only used to keep power cells, and he was throwing them all over the place, so I’m guessing he wasn’t looking for them.”

“I was wondering about that too, and went to ask the crew at the factory.” Spitfire said. “From what they told me, the only other thing kept in there besides power cells was an old device, some sort of prototype for a larger cell or something.” She continued. “They apparently never got it to work though. Other than that it seems he did take a few power cells anyway.”

“I see…” Dash replied, then she remembered something else. “Wait! There was somepony else, a mare that helped me out after the explosion! If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t even be here.” She continued. “She also seemed to know more about that stallion as well.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “From what the ponies that were outside the storage said, you were found lying alone outside as well, far from everypony else. There was nopony else with you.”

Dash stared at her, then looked down, deep in thought. After a few more seconds, she lied back down, and began speaking again. “After all this mess, I’d really like to talk with Twilight and the rest of my friends now, though I know they’ll be mad when they learn of what happened.” She said. “As much as I’d like to hurry back to them, though, my body just won’t respond as I’d like just yet, and I don’t want to make them worry more than what they already would…so I think I’m going to write them a letter instead.” She blushed a little. “Um…think you could help me with that?” she asked Spitfire.

She smiled back at Dash and nodded. “I’ll bring a scroll and a plume. And worry not, I’ll make sure to swiftly deliver it myself to Miss Sparkle and the rest of your friends as well. For now, just rest. We are going to need you back up as soon as possible.” She finished as she stood up and went out of the room.

Dash smiled at her as she saw Spitfire leaving the room, then stared at the ceiling, still deep in thought. She began to wonder about her friends in Ponyville, hoping they were all ok. With this wish in her mind, she felt her eyelids closing, slowly drifting to sleep.

SUB-CHAPTER 2: When everything went wrong

Among the many universes and dimensions in existence, just a few become aware of each other, and even fewer become capable of, if just barely, interacting with each other without breaking what could be a fragile veil that separates them.

Corona would, soon, be proud to say they were one of such places.

The inhabitants of Corona had achieved, on their time, quite some remarkable technological progress, which coupled with their natural magic abilities would lead to the outstanding style of life they carried.

But while they were indeed able to interact and even travel between dimensions, they were still, in a way, limited in their capability to do so.

Until today.

“So today’s the great day, eh big bro?” said Midday Skies, a young blue stallion with a white mane and a cutie mark of a sun covered by some clouds, sporting a gray jacket.

“After all the delays and issues we had to deal with…yes, finally, today’s the day.” replied Bright Dawn, Sky’s brother, an older stallion with a light gray coat, purple eyes, his black mane combed back, and a cutie mark of a morning sun behind a hill. He was wearing the same kind of jacket his younger brother was.

“Talking about delays, we should hurry; your sister and the rest of the team are waiting for us.” Bright continued. The two brothers walked down a clean white corridor, passing by several sliding doors. The corridor had a transparent wall that served as a large window on the side, through which they could see a futuristic landscape: the city below, covered in tall buildings that almost reached to the sky, filled with lights, bustling with life, aircrafts hovering in all directions, and the sun setting on the far horizon. Eventually, they reached the end of the corridor, in front of a double door, an elevator, which opened for them after a few seconds. After the duo entered, the doors closed with a quiet sliding sound, and the elevator began to descend.

“I can’t believe we are finally making this happen!” Sky grinned excitedly.

“Me neither, lil’ bro.” Bright replied with a gentle smile. “This should be the breakthrough of the last few years. I can’t wait to see the faces of the higher ups. To be scientists, they are a bunch of scaredy-cats.” He carried on, as the elevator continued to descend. Just like the corridor before, the elevator allowed them to see the city below, providing an amazing view.

After a few minutes, the elevator began to slow down, then stopped altogether, having reached its destination. Bright took a deep sigh and walked towards the door, Sky following right behind.

The doors slid open again with a soft whirring sound, letting the brothers into the next area. As they entered, they could see and hear all the noise from inside the large room, with several ponies in lab coats all over the place, adjusting equipment here and there. In the farthest wall of the room stood a medium-sized round frame on top of a platform, with panels on its sides. Right above the frame stood a large screen which, at the moment, showed only static. Several other screens surrounded it, all with smaller screens under them, pointing out the locations the screens showed. Every screen featured imagery of the locations they monitored: “Equestria”, “Stella”, “Dimaria”, “Karus”, “Lorethia”, and so on. Among the data shown on them, was the current date: September 27.

The duo walked past the ponies, walking straight to the panels near the platform, where a mare was performing some calibrations. As they arrived, she turned around and smiled gently at them.

“Well, it was about time you guys arrived.” The mare greeted them in a soft-spoken voice. She had a light yellow coat, light blue mane that mixed well with her eyes, and a cutie mark of a moon with mist lines. She was also wearing the same gray jacket as her brothers.

“Hey Misty.” Sky greeted her back cheerfully.

“Apologies for the delay, sis’.” Bright said, slightly annoyed. “I was stuck doing some paperwork for the administrators for the longest time once again. They should be arriving any moment now…”

Just as he said this, a group of older ponies in dark-blue suits arrived, overlooking the room from a balcony high above. They all had a serious, stern look to them.

“…Just look at them, waiting for things to go wrong.“ Bright snarled. As he turned around, his sister met him with the same look.

“Are you absolutely certain everything is ready?” Misty asked.

“Come on sis, not you too!” Bright said, clearly annoyed now. “I have told everypony that this is as ready as we are ever going to get!”

“Yeah! Besides, we should all be used to a little risk by now.” Sky added. “We haven’t gotten to this point in progress by being afraid every single time.”

“I know, I know, it’s just…” Misty went on. “This is…different, alright? At first we didn’t know, but in the end, we managed to discover and even interact with all those other worlds because they are all analog dimensions…We are ALL analog dimensions, as much as we would like to think our respective world is the ‘original’ one.”

“But this? We are completely unsure about this one.” She continued, pointing at the large screen just above the platform. “We haven’t been able to get clear enough readings on it to be able to tell fully about it…”

“Misty, listen.” Bright began, placing his hoof on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. “It’s always different. It’s always new. That’s a good part of why it’s worth exploring it.”

“Yeah!” smiled Sky. “Besides, the fact there was no full readings just means there’s just so much we can learn yet!”

Misty smiled weakly, without completely losing her serious demeanor. “Well then, there are still some things that need to be in order. Sky, could you come and help me with these panels? I’ll be with you in a moment.”

“Sure thing sis!” Sky said as he walked towards the panels by the platform. Misty watched him go, then turned towards Bright once again.

“You better get going, or else they’ll get too impatient.” She told him, staring at the committee that had just arrived. “And listen, you are right, we are all nervous, but indeed the only way to know how things are going to go is to just roll with it. It’ll be hard to get that through their thick skulls, but if someone is going to convince them, it’s you. Good luck.”

“Thanks sis, I’ll get to it now.” Bright said, returning a gentle smile. The three siblings had been, in great part, to acknowledge for the progress Corona had achieved so far, being part of the research teams for so long, they had slowly climbed positions, and Bright had recently become the chief investigator. While he had been excited about the idea, it had also been a pain in the flank for him, as he had to deal with such committees every time they reached a breakthrough. If it hadn’t been for his brothers’ support, he certainly wouldn’t know how things would have been for him.

As he saw his sister go and join Sky at the panels, he gave a deep sigh, rubbed the side of his head, and walked upstairs to meet with the group.

“Ah, Mr. Dawn, good to see you again.” Said one of the elder ponies leading the group. “Time for another exciting development, yes?” He continued, failing to hide his skepticism.

“It’s…a great day for everypony indeed.” Bright replied, trying to keep his composure.

“And have all the preparations been completed?” asked another elder pony.

“Our team, including my brothers, is making the final arrangements as we speak.” Bright nodded, still trying hard to not show his annoyance.

“Must we remind you, once again, of the through safety procedures that must be taken into account for every experiment, Mr. Dawn?” yet another elder pony inquired.

“It…won’t be necessary, sir.” Bright affirmed. “I can assure you all safety measures and procedures have been taken care of, and we should be ready for the experiment momentarily.”

The committee stared at Bright for a few moments, before they resumed. “We are aware our insistence can be difficult to keep up with, but you must remember that, while every step forward in the path of progress is highly appreciated, we must also veil for the wellbeing of both our world, and any other worlds that we happen to interact with.”

“I…understand sir.” Bright nodded, his expression more serious this time. “Preparations should be done by now. Everything shall go according to plans.”

With this, the committee nodded back, and Bright turned around to join Misty and Sky at the panels. Deep inside, however, he was just as worried as the elder ponies, if not even more. This was a whole new experience to everypony there. He was hoping, badly, that nothing terrible would happen.

He shook the negative thoughts out of his head for now. He needed to concentrate.

“Well guys, everything ready?” Bright asked his brothers.

“As ready as it gets.” Sky replied, excited. Misty nodded with a smile.

“…Here goes nothing.” He sighed, turning around and giving an indication to one of the lab ponies, who nodded back as they began the sequence.

Sounds of blinking lights and keyboard strokes filled the room, as the platform in the front, where the brothers were, slowly began to hum into life. The round frame also started to form some energy waves, which gently flowed from one side to the other. The screen above the platform continued to show just static for a few minutes more. Nearly an hour passed, and Bright started to worry. Their previous experiments with new portals did take their time at first, but never this long. He turned towards his brothers, who returned worried looks, then stared at the committee above. They had kept their composure for so long, though he could see one of them checking their pocket watch.

After yet another half hour, however, the waves in the portal began to swirl, and the screen above started to show a little less static, some erratic images, a green hill, a statue of a horse in a pedestal, a large red building…Bright, his brothers, and their team, began to smile at each other as the images became more clear, and the swirl formation in the portal began to settle more firmly. Some excited cheering could be heard in the room.

And then it all went wrong.

The lights began to flicker on and off, and the entire room began to vibrate in a strange way, along with a loud humming sound. The swirling portal in the frame remained firm, swirling faster and faster. The panels next to the platform began to sparkle, and the screens were all shut down, except for the main screen above, the Equestria screen, and the Stella screen, which were all showing erratic images, even switching between each other.

Bright looked back at his brothers, who stared back at him, now more worried than ever. This had never happened before. Even in the worst case scenario, they only had to deal with portals taking too long to fully form.

“Quick, shut it all down!” Bright shouted to one of the lab ponies.

“We are trying sir, but the system isn’t responding!” the lab pony replied, still desperately trying to shut the portal down.

“Dang it, dang it!” Bright whispered angrily to himself, running back to the panels in hopes he could still stabilize the portal. As he did, however, it began to expel energy out of control.

“Misty, Sky, get out of there!” He shouted to his brothers.

It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. He saw Misty running away from the platform, followed by Sky. Except that he was running in place. He began to levitate involuntarily, being pulled by the portal, slowly at first, then more roughly. Bright and Misty were paralyzed as they saw their brother being abducted into the portal. By the time they brought themselves into reacting, it was too late. The last thing they saw was their brother’s horrified expression as the portal completely absorbed him, into the unknown.

Bright felt his chest pressing on him, unable to breath properly, as the portal slowly stopped swirling, finally shutting down…along with his consciousness, as he fainted, with Misty’s voice calling upon both him and Sky, its sound fading into darkness, with everything else.

Bright opened his eyes and rose up all of a sudden. He looked around: he had been laying down in a bed in a quiet, white room, on what he recognized was the medical wing of the facility. His head began to ring loudly, hurting and confusing him. After a couple of minutes, the ringing and the pain decreased slightly, just as his sister, Misty, entered the room.

“Oh…you are awake.” She greeted him. He couldn’t help but notice there was an undertone of sadness, or worry, between her usually calm, serious demeanor.

“What…what happened..?” he asked, his head still hurting. “Where…where is Sky?”

Misty tried to keep her composure, but to no avail, as a couple of tears began to run down her face.

Bright’s expression became darker, getting angry. He rose up, ignoring his pain, and shook Misty.

“WHERE. IS. SKY!?”

“Brother, please stop!” Misty begged, but her voice fell on deaf ears. Bright was back into the portal room, carrying a saddle bag with various instruments, turning the system on again, hastily doing preparations and opening the portal again.

“I’m bringing him back.” He said to himself. “I’m. Bringing. Him. BACK.”

As he shouted, the committee entered the area, followed by a few lab ponies, and a couple of guards.

“Mr. Dawn, stop this at once!” one of the elder ponies ordered him. “You have no idea of where the portal may lead. Nopony knows!”
“Brother, they are right.” Misty pleaded. “We couldn’t get enough data on the portal when we first opened it, we have no clue of where Sky may have gone!”

“If anything, we saw the screens for Equestria and Stella were still working during the incident…” one of the lab ponies pointed out. “So maybe they are involved somehow…?”

“I don’t care, I don’t care, I DON’T CARE.” Bright said, rushing to the panels in the platform, as the portal began to swirl to life once again.

“For the last time, Mr. Dawn, do-not-do-this!” another elder pony insisted. “If you go, that will be 2 missing ponies! And what’s worse, that would be 2 of the only 3 ponies that fully know how these portals work!”

“This is all my fault, and he’s my brother.” Bright whispered in a low yet angry tone. “If anyone gets to go and rescue him, it’s ME.”

“Allow us to help you, Bright!” Misty insisted one more time.

“You heard them, sis, we can’t risk losing any more ponies.” Bright said, staring at her. “Besides, I can’t bear the thought of losing you too…This is my responsibility, and I’m bringing him back, no matter what I have to do!”

With these words, he turned around and walked into the portal. As he vanished, the screen above the portal, and the Equestria’s screen, flickered for a few moments, before the portal closed once again.

The room fell into a deep silence. Nopony dared speak a word. A few minutes had passed when, suddenly, the Stella screen began to flicker, making everypony in the room jump up in surprise.

“What…what is this…?” one of the lab ponies said. “Miss Evening, we are getting readings of an incoming arrival, it seems it’s from the Stella dimension!”

Misty stood there confused for a few seconds, still trying to take in everything that had just happened, then promptly shook herself out of it.

“I…alright, take us to the place.”

After another half hour passed, Misty and some of the lab ponies were outside, walking towards a cave in a hill just outside of the citadel, following the readings they had just gotten. As they arrived, they could see some energy gently flickering from inside the cave, along with a couple of voices.

“Alright, that should be enough to stabilize the portal on this side!” a cheerful mare voice said.

“Yeah, we should test it now.” A young stallion could be heard saying as well.

“Sure, but first…let’s explore outside a bit, shall we?” the mare said.

“Shouldn’t we make sure this is working first? We don’t want to be stuck here, you know” the stallion said.

“Pleaaaaaaasseeeeee?” the mare insisted.

“I…eh…oh alright, alright.” The stallion replied, defeated.

The mare could be heard squeeing, and the group saw as the duo walked from outside the cave.

Misty felt like time had stopped around her. The stallion that had just left the cave looked exactly like her brother, Midday Skies. Without giving it a second thought, she rushed towards him and pulled him into a hug.

“Oh thank god, Sky! I’m so glad you are ok!” she said, hugging the stallion so tightly she almost didn’t let him breathe. “How did you come back!? What happened!?”

The stallion just remained there, confused at what was happening. “Wait, hold on, hold on, who are you!?” he spouted, before finally pushing the mare away and looking up. Right in front of him, stood a mare that looked very similar to his sister.

“Um…Misty…you might want to…come over here…?” Sky said, shocked.

“What, what is it Sky?” Misty said, coming out of the cave.

Everypony just remained silent as, right there and then, 2 Mistys stood in front of each other. The Misty from the cave blinked, raised an eyebrow, then walked around the Misty from the group, as if inspecting her. They looked a lot like each other, indeed, except for the jacket that one of the Mistys was wearing, as well as their hairstyles, which were slightly different as well, and as they would soon discover, their personalities too.

“…WHAT IS GOING ON AND WHY DOES THIS MARE LOOK SO MUCH LIKE ME.” The other Misty blurted out in a mix of confusion, curiosity and frustration.

“I...would like to know that as well.” Misty inquired as well, confused, but keeping her calm semblance. She stood there silent for a moment, looking at her other self, then at the other Sky. She collected her thoughts for a moment, then looked at the other Misty.

“I’m…terribly sorry about the confusion.” She resumed. “I believe you 2 come from Stella?”

“Yes…yes we do.” Sky replied.

“How did you guys know?” the other Misty asked.

“We have our ways.” Misty replied. “Please, come with us, there’s a lot to explain.” She continued, as she turned around and began to walk back to the citadel, along with the rest of the group, soon being followed by the siblings.

“Oh and...” She paused for a moment. “…Welcome to Corona.”

“So…that’s why you hugged my brother.” Stella Misty said. They were back at the portal room, with the system still shut down.

“Ahem…yes. I apologize for that.” Corona Misty nodded.

“No no, don’t worry about it, we get it!“ Stella Sky affirmed. “I mean, sure, it was weird, but we understand.“

“Yeah, I certainly don’t know what I’d do, or how desperate I’d get, if anything bad happened to Sky here.” She said, pulling her brother into a hug, then nudging his head. “Or our Bright. And I know he’d worry about us too.”

“Yeah! Guess that’s brothers, huh?” Stella Sky said cheerfully. “So uh…about your Sky…do you know if he’s…?”

Corona Misty shook her head gently, before presenting a tablet-like device. “We know for sure that both our Sky and Bright are alive.” She said, pointing at the device. “This is an instrument we recently created that allows us to get readings on anyone from Corona that may be exploring any other dimensions. However, it’s still in development, so the data we get from it is very limited. If anything, it’s enough to tell if someone’s alive, and their condition up to a point, but not much, if anything, about their exact whereabouts.”

“It may also tell us, however, if anyone being monitored is, in any way, tampering with other dimensions as well.” Corona Misty continued. “As you may imagine, feats such as interdimensional traveling don’t come without consequences if done haphazardly, without any regard for safety.” She pointed out, then noticed the siblings were blushing a little. “Oh, do not worry, from what you’ve told us, I’m sure you’ve set up your portal properly. And besides, Corona has visited Stella before, so our links are stable. There should be no problem traveling between each other, though having an extra portal beside our own sure helps.” She nodded with a gentle smile, much to the duo’s relief.
“Well, that’s good to know!” Stella Misty said. “While I’m still really eager to explore Corona, with your permission of course, I was just as worried as Sky that we’d end up getting stuck here.”

Stella Sky nodded, then went on. “So…about that experiment…?”

Corona Misty sighed. “To begin with, we are also sure the link between Corona and Stella is stable because they are both analogue to each other, at least race-wise. We are all ponies on all the dimensions we’ve explored so far.” She began. “Think of it like boxes within boxes within boxes, if it helps: All of the dimensions we’ve explored are boxes, contained within a single box out of many that exist out there. That was what made this experiment so different: it meant our first attempt at exploring “outside of our box”.” Corona Misty paused for a moment, being fairly certain that such a convoluted explanation would cause some confusion at first.

“I…think I get it.” Stella Misty said after a few moments.

“Same here.” Stella Sky nodded. “So what do you know about the new dimension you wanted to visit?”

“Unfortunately, not much for sure.” Corona Misty replied. “With the little data we gathered, we could only infer 2 things: One, that we may not be ponies in that dimension, but another race altogether, and second, that with how awry things went, it is apparent another dimension caused some sort of interference at the exact same time the experiment was being carried on.”

“We know for sure it wasn’t Stella, though it may have caused some problems with your arrival here. A delay in time, perhaps.” Corona Misty continued. “At any rate, our team has just pointed out the other dimension that could have caused the issue: Equestria. Which is kind of worrying: We’ve visited there before, and very few ponies know of our existence, but we do know some early dimensional travel studies were carried out there in ancient times. It is possible somepony there tried to open a portal of their own at the same time, which would be a huge coincidence. And we’ve also discovered it’s the very place our Bright has unintentionally travelled to.”

“So you plan on travelling to Equestria to bring him back?“ Stella Misty asked.

“That, and to make sure everything is alright there.” Corona Misty said. “It is quite possible that, while there were little to no effects on Stella, there could be more of an effect in Equestria. Their magic can be…unstable, sometimes. We have to make sure everypony is alright in all the dimensions we interact with.”

“Is there any way we can help?” Stella Sky asked.

Corona Misty stared at the siblings for a moment. “I’d…rather not risk losing you 2 as well. Normally the link between Corona and Equestria should be stable too, but under these circumstances…”

Stella Misty stepped forward. “Please, allow us to help. Even if Stella was just another victim of these circumstances, we still feel some responsibility.”

Corona Misty remained deep in thought. “…Alright then, ONE of you may come.” She sighed.

“I’ll join you.” Stella Misty offered. “I know we just arrived, but the idea of visiting another world right off the bat still calls to me. Sky, would you mind staying?”

“Sure, I’ll stay.” Stella Sky said. “I’d like to get done setting up our portal back to Stella, and I’d also like to learn more about Corona, it seems like a very interesting and advanced civilization.”

Corona Misty looked at the young ponies, showing a little smile and even allowing herself a small chuckle. “I still remember when we were as eager as you about discovering exploring new places. Not that we have lost interest on that, mind you.”

“Anyway, I guess we are set then.” Corona Misty continued, walking towards the portal controls, turning the system back on. “I’ll start up the portal to Equestria, it should take me a few minutes. Sky, the lab ponies can help you with your portal, and will answer any questions you may have about Corona.” She continued, with Stella Sky nodding back.

A few minutes passed, and the portal was open once again, with both the Equestria screen and the main screen flickering to life as well, showing a variety of imagery and stats.

“Well, time to assess the damage.” Corona Misty whispered to herself. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as we get.” Stella Misty replied, picking up her saddle bag. “We’ll be right back, alright Sky?”

“You better do!” Stella Sky answered with a smile. “I’ll be waiting right here. Good luck.”

With a last nod toward her brother, she turned around and joined the other Misty at the portal, before they both jumped in, eager to visit another world so soon, and hoping that whatever effect the failed experiment had caused, wasn’t too bad.

Chapter 10: Leap of Faith

Everypony remained in silence for a few moments after Corona Misty had finished her story. It all sounded just so fantastic, even though everypony present in the Royal Hall, from Twilight’s friends to the Princesses, was perfectly aware of the existence of, at least, one other world besides Equestria. They all had questions, but one unicorn in particular seemed particularly stressed.

“So…everything that’s happening all over Equestria…it’s because of that experiment going wrong?” Fluttershy asked, with Discord at her side.

“That, and the very fact that all of us are here, coming from different dimensions, all at the same time.” Corona Misty affirmed. “Normally there wouldn’t be much of an issue, at least not on this scale, but a non-analogue world was involved in the mix this time, and your world is struggling to keep everything in place. Imagine it as a bucket that’s already full of water: Trying to fill it more will cause it to overflow, and some may be spilled.”

“I don’t understand, though.” Applejack began. “Twilight here traveled to that other world, not once but TWICE, just recently, and yet nothing strange had happened until now.”

“I…think I can explain that.” Twilight stood up. “But before that…could you tell us the date the experiment happened, again?”

Corona Misty stared at Twilight for a few seconds, then answered. “It was September 27…why?”

“And the date you guys traveled from Stella to Corona?” Twilight asked Stella Misty this time.

“It…was the same. September 27.” She answered, looking at her older brother, blinking at the realization.

“…Oh no…no no no…” Twilight began to whisper to herself, sweating profusely.

“Twilight? What’s the matter?” Celestia asked, noticing her student and friend was getting increasingly anxious, walking from one side to the other.

Twilight stopped for a moment, then stared at the group. “…This is all my fault.”

Everypony stared back at her. “What do you mean, dear Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked this time.

Twilight took a deep breath before she continued. “September 27…was the day I traveled to the human world for the second time. The difference with the first time, however, is that I sort of forced the Mirror portal to open that time, using the diary of Sunset Shimmer. The Princesses had mentioned, the first time I traveled, that the gate opens once every 30 moons or so, and with all that you guys have told us just now, I’m guessing that was some sort of safety feature…I was excited that I had managed to find a way to open the portal at will, and in such a hurry to go help my friends there, that I didn’t think about the consequences of forcing the portal…” she explained, getting more and more anxious. ”This whole deal is my fault! Your brother going missing, the anomalies occurring all over Equestria, all those other missing ponies, EVERYTHING…”

“Miss Sparkle, please stop.” Stella Misty interrupted her. “None of this is your fault.”

“My sister is right!” Stella Bright stood up. “If anything, it’s all a huge coincidence!”

“Indeed, miss Sparkle.” Corona Misty said this time. “You said it yourself: You had to travel to help your friends in the other world. You had no idea something like this could happen. Besides, if there is someone to blame, it’s us at Corona. We were too confident on our ability to discover and explore worlds, so we didn’t take into account the possibility of such an outcome…”

“At any rate, this is not the time to look for culprits, but to look for solutions.” Stella Bright pointed out.

“…You are right.” Corona Misty looked up at him. “We must find our brother before the anomalies worsen, or else our worlds may be in an even greater danger.”

“There’s just one more thing that doesn’t make sense.” Celestia pointed out. “How did he know the Diary was important to activate the portal?”

“Some of our equipment allows us to find objects with traces of magic or any other form of energy that may belong to a dimension different than the one we are on.” Corona Misty said. “It is not too far-fetched to imagine my brother carries such equipment as well, and used it in hopes of finding anything that could help his quest.”

“He might not yet know the exact function of that Diary, but he knows it carries magic that connects this world and the world the other Sky ended up at.” Stella Misty said.

“Anyway, how will we find him?” Twilight asked. “We can’t just wait for him to start another disaster for us to know where he is!”

“…I’m afraid to say this but, with no way to actually track him down, that’s all we can do.” Luna said, feeling helpless.

“Even our equipment would only bring his approximate location but only if it picked large enough amounts of magic.” Corona Misty continued, in a sad tone.

A few quiet seconds passed, before the contents of her saddle bag began to shine and whirr, making everypony in the room jump slightly.

“…Good riddance.” Corona Misty said, taking out some of her gear, something that looked like a radar. The device was making a whirring noise, as it had activated all of a sudden. Just as they were all approaching Corona Misty, a couple of guards broke into the Hall.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, an emergency has risen I the Everfree once again!” one of the guards shouted.

“…And that’s our cue.” Luna said. “Let us go and bring your brother to his senses once and for all!” she addressed at Corona Misty as the group departed.

(timeskip, around half an hour or so, the group arrives at the Everfree)

Half an hour passed and the group was still rushing towards the location Corona Bright had been spotted at. As they ran, Twilight directed another question at Corona Misty.

“Now that I think about it, how comes your brother was able to hide himself so well, and even managed to escape strong and skilled magic, like Discord’s?” she asked, catching his attention as well.

“…One thing that we discovered along our travels, Miss Sparkle, is that no matter how far we go, or for how long, we always retain some of our own magic with us.” She began to explain. “It’s complicated to detail, even for us, but it seems each different world abides by its own rules, even for magic. Or, I should say, especially for the way magic works.”

“However, it weakens depending on how far, or for how long, we travel. For this, we train ourselves to make the most of our magic, and when we lack power of our own, our gadgets do the trick.” She continued, pointing at her saddle bag. “Normally I wouldn’t wish any ill will towards my brothers, but in this particular case I’m afraid to say our Bright was one of the most proficient at this endeavor, so no matter who or what he faced, he would always figure out a way to prevail.”

“Even against Chaos magic?” Discord pondered. “How are we going to capture him then?”

“…Just in this case, I’m hoping that he won’t be able to deal with several opponents at once. Let us hope for the best.” She sighed. Just as she finished talking, they began to see a clearing ahead of them. What they saw as they left the dense trees behind was astonishing.

In front of them, on top of a hill, was a finished portal: A round gate in a platform, on its side was a panel and 2 devices, one holding the stolen battery, and the other the Diary. Standing by the panel was Corona Bright, the Mysterious Stallion.

“Brother!” Corona Misty shouted, making Corona Bright jump on his spot, turning around and throwing a menacing grimace. He rushed to press buttons on the panel, bringing the portal to life, beginning to produce white shining ripples within its frame. As it did, however, they could see the entire scenery beginning to shift in strange ways: The surrounding trees and plants began to produce after images, faint yet ominous echoes could be heard all over, and even a crack in the sky began to form, right above them.

“We need to stop the portal!” Celestia shouted. “Who knows what else could happen if we let it run?!”

“The Princess is right, if we let it be, the barrier between this world and the other world will break down for sure!” Corona Misty said as well, rushing towards the panel. However, once she got close enough, a magic blast pushed her back violently, Corona Bright’s horn glowing and at the ready.

“Mister Bright, you gotta’ stop this!” Stella Misty yelled at the Stallion.

“I WON’T! Not now that I’m so CLOSE!” Corona Bright exclaimed. “You should be helping me, Misty, this is OUR brother we are talking about here!” said to Corona Misty, catching her off guard. Still, she brought herself to respond.

“I WANT to help you, but not if it means hurting others like this!” Corona Misty replied, her voice sounding desperate at first, then taking a stern tone. “And as much as I want to help, for the sake of our brother, you don’t get to just ASK for my help, after YOU stubbornly ran away like you did!”

“Your sister’s right Mister Bright! If you don’t stop the portal it will only cause the links between dimensions to become more unstable! If those barriers break, it will cause chaos for EVERYPONY, not just here, and saving your brother will, unfortunately, become the least of our problems!”

“SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!” Corona Bright roared angrily. “If you won’t help me, then stay out of my way! I’m bringing him back myself, and you won’t stop me he-”

His chatter was cut short as Applejack and Pinkie had sneaked around and pinned him down from behind, with Rarity, Fluttershy, and the Princesses running in to help, keeping him down with their magic. As they did, Stella Misty and Sky, along with Twilight and Corona Misty, rushed to the panel and the Diary.

“Come on, come on, it can’t be late…” Corona Misty whispered to herself as she hurried to press buttons on the panel in an attempt to shut down the portal.

“We can help with the battery, go ahead and remove the Diary, Miss Sparkle.” Stella Misty said to Twilight, as they saw to dismantle the devices holding the battery and the Diary.

They worked diligently for a few minutes, amidst the shifting scenery around them, and the noises of a disgruntled Corona Bright, struggling under Celestia, Luna, and even Discord’s combined magic, with Twilight’s friends rushing in to see how they could help. After a few more moments, however, the entire machine began to shine and sparkle violently, with the scenery warping as well. Everypony near the devices had to step back, as it began to sparkle even more, apparently struggling to keep the portal open.

“That’s the best we could do…I couldn’t shut it down immediately, but it should begin to power itself down now.” Corona Misty said, exhausted.

“Since we couldn’t remove the Diary, we made it so it spends the battery faster…it should be a matter of time…” Stella Misty continued.

Just as she said, the device holding the battery began to slowly power down, consuming the battery’s charge faster than what it was supposed to. After a few moments, the portal began to sparkle a little more, still trying to maintain itself, before it slowly began to shut down.

“No...no…NO!” Corona Bright roared, finally breaking free of the magic holding him down in a violent burst, and rushed towards the vanishing portal. Stella Bright turned around just in time to spot him, making one last stand between the enraged stallion and the device, his horn glowing at the ready. However, before he could react properly, Corona Bright teleported himself right behind him. The next few seconds felt like an eternity, everypony standing on their spots as the stallion jumped into the portal, right as it closed.

A heavy silence fell as the device finally shut down, with the forest warping no more. A few more moments passed before anypony would speak up.

“He…he just jumped in…” Corona Misty said, astounded.

“Darn, I could have stopped him…” Stella Bright sighed. His sister approached him.

“Don’t beat yourself over this, bro’.” Stella Misty said. “We knew he was being quite stubborn, but indeed, to have this much determination…”

Twilight blinked, shaking herself out of the commotion. “…well…what now?” she asked.

Corona Misty walked towards them, deep in thought. “I’m…not sure yet. As things are now, we can only hope he did make it to the other world. One way or another, it will be a while until we see him again…”

Twilight approached Corona Misty, placing her hoof on her shoulder. “I’m terribly sorry we couldn’t stop him in the end.”

“Thanks, Miss Sparkle.” She said. “It’s…certainly not the best outcome, but it could have been worse. If we allowed the portal to keep running, who knows what amount of damage it would have caused. You all saw it, the entire place was getting warped. If we hadn’t acted immediately, none of us would have made it out of this.”

“Miss Sparkle, the Diary.” Stella Misty said, bringing her the Diary. Twilight nodded and picked it up. “For now, let’s disassemble the device. We can’t risk it activating again.”

Everypony nodded and began to walk towards the device, getting to work.

Only a few days had passed but it felt like it had been longer. Twilight and her friends helped deliver the battery back to Cloudsdale, and briefed Dash on all that had happened. The Princesses had returned to Canterlot to continue with the rescue operations. Corona Misty had assured she’d give them all the support she and her team could give them, since it was likely some of the missing ponies could be at Corona, Stella, or any other dimension, or that after the source of the chaos ended, they managed to return by themselves. At any rate, there was much work to do.

“I’ve been thinking…couldn’t we just open the portal in the Mirror and look for your brother in the human world?” Twilight asked Corona Misty. They were standing in a separate room in Canterlot’s Castle, along with Stella Misty and Bright, where they had assembled a stable portal to Corona, and were making the final arrangements before leaving.

“I was thinking about that too.” Corona Misty said. “But let’s wait it out just a little longer. As things are right now, this portal is stable enough to bring us back and forth between Corona and Equestria because they are similar worlds. The human world, however, is not. While there may be some similarities, the changes between that world and ours are bigger. From what our people at Corona have gathered, dimensions work in a smart way provided that one doesn’t force them too much. That said, they will sort of “fix themselves”, but it takes time. So for now, it would be wise to not travel to the Human world just yet. Let’s wait until things are more stable.”

“Still, I must say…” she continued, approaching Twilight. “The very fact Equestria had developed a link to such a different world, AND that you managed to stabilize it enough to travel at will…it’s a commendable development. And before you ask, don’t think too hard about it: this whole mess was just one huge coincidence. None of us had any idea all our experiments were happening at the exact same time, nor did we know they would cause such repercussions. I trust this won’t stop you from continuing your experiments. Now more than ever they will be necessary, not just for the sake of science, but to avoid another catastrophe.”

Twilight looked at Corona Misty for a moment, then nodded and smiled. “You are right. If anything now it’s the best time to see this as an opportunity. There’s much to do, for all of us.”

“That’s the spirit, Miss Sparkle!” Stella Misty cheered. “There’s just so much to learn and discover for everypony now…the sky’s the limit!” she said excitedly.

“Talk about that, we better return with our Sky first.” Stella Bright said. “He’ll be glad to hear about everything that has transpired.”

“I take it we are all ready then.” Corona Misty said. “Miss Sparkle, I *know* I’ve said this too many times already, but…Our deepest apologies for all the trouble we caused. You have no idea how grateful we are for your patience and cooperation.”

“It’s alright, don’t worry.” Twilight smiled. “It was a bumpy beginning, but in the end, we all got to meet new friends, new worlds, and new possibilities, right?”

“You are right, Miss Sparkle. It’s time to move on.” Corona Misty said, with a gentle smile. “Shall we, then?” she continued before turning to the panel and bringing the portal to Corona to life.

“Here’s hoping till the next time we meet!” Stella Misty said. They all bowed to Twilight one more time before walking towards the portal, with it closing shortly after they were all through.

Twilight remained standing still for a little longer, staring at the now-closed-portal, holding Sunset Shimmer’s Diary tightly.

“…Until next time.” She sighed. While they were all right about the opportunities in front of them all after this incident, she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty still. As she held the Diary close to her, she couldn’t help but wonder about the brothers, still stranded.

She let out another sigh, hoping with all her heart that they all would manage to reunite safely.

EPILOGUE: Redemption

Thump-thump…

Thump-thump…

Heartbeats, amidst the darkness.

Thump-thump…

A sudden flash of light appeared in front of Corona Bright, as he was thrown out of the portal, hitting the ground with an audible thump. He took a deep breath, as if he had just come out of the water. His ears were ringing. He turned around just in time to see the portal he had come from closing behind him, leaving no trace. He remained sitting down, regaining his breath and his senses. He held his head in slight pain.

It took him a moment, however, to realize something strange.

His body had changed.

He was larger, and no longer had hooves. His mane had become shorter, and he didn’t have a tail either. He was also wearing a jumpsuit.

“…Huh. This is…most curious indeed.” He whispered to himself, taking a better look at his body, waving his hands and fingers in front of his face, noting his nose was smaller as well, and that he was also missing his horn. Then he looked at his legs, grabbing his thighs.

“So I guess this is how a bipedal feels.” He pondered. “Strange, though I can’t say I dislike it.” He then tried to concentrate, as if trying to utilize his magic, but nothing happened.

“…That can’t be good.” He mumbled, then looked around. He quickly found a bag near him, and proceeded to check on its contents. “…Ok, good, it seems my gear still works somehow. I could certainly do with my magic though…”

Noticing he was still sitting, he tried to stand up. On all fours at first, then attempting to raise his body, putting his weight on his legs. After a few minutes, he was finally standing up, though still wobbling a little.

“This…is gonna’ be tough.” He thought. “At any rate, this is where he ended up, huh?” He said, looking around. He was standing in the middle of a green hill, overlooking a town, and a city nearby. “…Certainly not as advanced as Corona, but they both seem bursting with life.”

He whispered. As he continued to look over the scenery, a whirring sound came out from his bag, and he hurried to seek one of his tools.

“What is it now…hmm…September 26…huh, wait a second, this is…” He was surprised by the readings on his device. At the same time, he could hear a similar whirring noise coming from somewhere close…

“…could it be…could it really be…?” he heard a familiar voice say. Walking towards him, was his brother, Corona Sky.

It felt like time itself had frozen around the siblings as they stood still, looking at each other. After what felt like forever, the two rushed towards each other and shared a tight embrace.

“Sky! Oh god, are you…are you alright!?” Corona Bright asked, looking his brother all over. He was wearing the same kind of jumpsuit he had on, though a little dirtier, a few minor cuts here and there.

“Y-yes, I’m fine, bro, I’m fine…” Corona Sky said. “It’s just been a week, and I somehow managed to keep under the radar…but anyway! How did you manage to make it here? Does this mean our portal worked after all? Do you know what happened back then?” Corona Sky bombarded his brother with all these questions, and he couldn’t help but hunch over, sighing.

“It’s…it’s a long story.” Corona Bright replied, clearly ashamed. “I’d rather not talk about it right now. At any rate, first things first. Now that we’re reunited, we have to figure out a way to return to Corona.”

Corona Sky raised an eyebrow. He was tempted to keep asking, but decided to let it go for now. “…Right. Hm…We should have just enough gear to make a simple portal back, but unfortunately we don’t have a way to power it. There IS magic in this world, but it’s very faint, and it doesn’t look like people use it at all.” He said, rubbing his forehead, right where his horn would have been.

Corona Bright checked another one of his gadgets, something like a tablet. “Yeah…there is magic present in this world, but it’s not strong enough, at least not as present as in Corona or even--” he stopped for a moment. He remembered Equestria and all the problems he caused back there. He shook his head and focused again. “Anyway, looking for a way to power our portal will take us a while, so we better get started.”

“Yeah…we might be able to start picking up some stuff at…wait, what’s going on over there?” Corona Sky said, pointing at a large red building not too far from the hill they were standing on. The sky had darkened around the place, and a large sphere of light was shining from just outside the building. Corona Sky picked one of his tools and pointed it towards the unfolding scene.

“What the…brother, these readings…” he said, astonished.

“They are indeed off the charts.” Corona Bright began. “Almost like the thunderstorms beyond the citadels in Corona…”

The brothers looked at each other for a moment, nodded, then rushed in the direction of the building.

“What…is going on…?” Corona Sky pondered.

The brothers passed through the scattered crowd, students and school staff running away from the scene. In the middle of everything stood a smaller group and what seemed like a creature which handled powerful yet unstable magic. All over the place, tears in space were opening, seemingly mirroring another dimension.

“I…I recognize that place. That’s Equestria, the first place I ended up at, while looking for you.” Corona Bright said to his brother.

“Equestria?” Corona Sky asked. “Hm…could it be possible that this world and Equestria have a stable connection?”

“From what I gathered, that seems to be the case.” Corona Bright pointed out. “Anyway, as solid as that connection may be, this magic doesn’t look as safe.”

“Yeah, all these tears in space…our gear is going crazy here…However…maybe if we were able to secure one of these rips…” Corona Sky trailed off, before his brother interrupted him, holding him by his shoulder.

“Sky, no, it would be too risky, we are not going to end up separated again.” Bright said anxiously. “I’m…not losing you again.”

Sky stared at his brother, surprised. Bright was the kind of person to take risks whenever they presented themselves, and for him to be this worried about his safety, it certainly caught him off guard. Not that he doubted about his brother loving him, but still…“I…alright then, but other than these we still don’t have a faster way to return to Corona…”

“I know, I know…” Bright trailed, still swinging his device around, ignoring the fact they were approaching the core of the commotion.

“Brother, watch out!” Sky screamed, pushing his brother out of the way as a beam of magic brushed very close to him.

“Sky…thanks.” Bright nodded at his brother, then looked around. They were too close to the center of this mess, and from here, he could catch a glimpse of the people involved. And they looked quite familiar. Particularly the creature that was causing the disaster.

“…Aren’t they…?” he began to ponder, before his thoughts were cut short. “Wait, what is this?”

His device began to whirr once more, this time to point in the direction of a now-broken statue near the entrance of the building. As he walked closer to it, followed by his brother, the tool would ping more loudly.

“This…it looks like this statue has some sort of portal in it….it seems dormant though.” Bright pointed out.

“Yeah…think this is the actual link point between Equestria and this world?” Sky wondered.

“That seems to be the case indeed.” Bright answered. “However, with all the unstable magic around, this link may be unstable as well. It would be too risky to use this one as well.”

“True…besides, we still need to make preparations so the portal takes us straight to Corona.” Sky stated.

With a nod from his brother, they turned around and rushed back to the hill, pushing through the still panicking crowd.

It seemed relatively hard to believe that, just the day before, a creature with uncontrollable magic power was unleashed upon this location, ripping open unstable portals. As the brothers returned to the broken statue, carrying their gear in their backs, they could see the remainder of the now-gone chaos, smaller pieces of debris scattered everywhere, with no people in sight.

“And here I was thinking this was an entirely magic-less place when I first arrived.” Sky pointed out, putting his bag down.

“What surprises me more is that they managed to control the situation in such a short time notice.” Bright replied, placing his bag down and taking out some metal pieces. “Not even in Corona were we able to keep an event of such magnitude under control so quickly.”

Silence settled for a short while as the brothers began preparing their gear around the stone pedestal, talking only to properly arrange their tools. After a couple of minutes though, Sky decided to break the ice.

“So…Equestria, eh?” he addressed Bright. “You mentioned you were there before you found me…How was it there?”

Bright looked up at Sky, deep in thought. He was perfectly aware of what he had done in his blind stubbornness. What could have happened if he actually went and further messed with reality, warping it beyond repair. He wouldn’t be standing right here and now, next to his brother, about to return home.

“It…was a nice place. Lots of magic.” Bright began, still nervous about the topic. “It sure was different to actually see it, compared to just checking the readings we have back at Corona.”

”True…according to our studies, Equestria seemed to be a rather stable place to travel to and from, right?” Sky pointed out.

“…Stable. Yes.” Bright blurted out. He was aware of the pun, yet his guilt overpowered his sense of humor at the moment. To avoid an uncomfortable silence, he pushed himself to keep talking.

“It…felt like Corona in reverse, somehow. We do have magic, but rely the most on our technology. Equestria’s the opposite. There’s magic in everything and everypony, even in their pegasi and earth ponies. They also seemed to have some more…diversity. I’m pretty sure I saw a baby dragon…and I think a draconequus too.”

“A draconequus!?” exclaimed Sky, surprised. “We haven’t seen one of those in millennia back in Corona! Lucky you…”

“Well…luck is a word. If anything, I could tell, firsthand, he was as powerful and resourceful as we expected from those old books…” Bright said, then stopped for a moment. He felt he might have said a little too much.

“Firsthand?” Sky wondered, perking up. “You mean…he attacked you?”

Bright remained quiet for a moment, trying to dismiss the question by focusing on his task with the stone pedestal. Just as he expected, though, Sky insisted shortly after.

“…Brother, there is something you aren’t telling me, isn’t it?” Sky inquired.

Bright stared at his brother, unsure of how to begin. What he was sure of, however, was that Sky would learn of his crimes sooner or later. He’d rather tell him right here and now. He took a deep breath and looked up at his brother.

“…Right, it’ll be better to tell you now that I have the chance.” Bright started, collected his thoughts for a moment, then proceeded. “After you got sucked into the portal during the experiment, I got…desperate. I felt responsible for your disappearance and took it to myself to bring you back, no matter what I had to do. Literally.”

Sky remained staring at his brother. “What…what did you do?”

“I…I put a lot at risk, including innocent people, ponies and other beings alike as well.” Bright sighed. “The experiment back at Corona should have been a sign for me to stop for a moment and look for other solutions, but as I said, I was desperate. I felt that if I waited too long, I’d lose you forever.”

“So I took it upon myself to find you, regardless of what I had to do.” Bright continued. “By the time I realized my actions were negatively affecting the dimensions involved, bringing them to the danger of breaking the very fabrics of space and time, I couldn’t stop. I had to continue or risk losing you forever. I simply couldn’t allow that, and I couldn’t think of anything else either.”

At this point, Bright was holding Sky by his shoulders, gently but not letting go. Sky wasn’t walking away either. He remained there, processing everything his brother was confessing.

“I’m…not sure what to say. I can barely believe you went through all that just to bring me back!” Sky claimed, feeling himself on the verge of tears. He wiped his face with his sleeve and took a deep breath before he continued. “…however, you do know you’ll have to deal with the consequences once we return to Corona, right?”

“I know.” Bright whispered. “I’m willing to take whatever punishment that committee of old geezers see fitting.” He remained quiet for a moment, then let out a chuckle. “But to begin with, we have to get back first.”

Sky nodded at him, then the siblings returned to their work. After a few more minutes, their setup was complete. As they took their gear back and stood back from the pedestal, they could already see a portal, waves forming on the surface of the stone. After a few seconds, they could now see an image in the waves, that of a futuristic citadel.

“Well, if these readings aren’t wrong, this seems to be it.” Sky started.

“Indeed. It’s time.” Bright said. He remained silent for a moment. He knew the people at Corona would be aware of everything that had transpired and the consequences of his actions. He had put the very fabric of time and space in jeopardy, and all because he had been too stubborn all along.

These thoughts got cut short by his younger brother, who walked by his side. “The return won’t be easy considering everything that you said went down…but remember, whatever you have to face, you aren’t alone.”

“Sky…” Bright whispered, looking at his brother, then they both nodded reassuringly at each other. “…Right. Let’s go, don’t wanna leave Misty waiting any longer.”

The brothers took a deep breath, gave one last look around the place, and turned around, walking into the portal, which closed right behind them.

Shortly after, the door of the school building nearby opened, and a young girl with red and blonde hair looked outside, thinking she had heard something. She looked around, then shrugged and went back inside.

Chapter 9: Heavy Rain - Part 2

As soon as Twilight got Rainbow’s message from Spitfire herself, she gathered her friends and rushed for Cloudsdale. On the way, they could see part of the mess left by the incident at the battery storage, with Pegasus ponies still picking up the remaining debris. When they arrived at the hospital, Dash greeted them warmly, and Pinkie was the first to run up to her to give her a big hug, crying loudly, showing how worried she was. How worried they all were. Dash reassured her friends that she was fine, “out of the game for a while” in her words, though. They all got to hug her still, though very carefully as to not hurt her. When the mood was more stable, they started to discuss what they all had found out so far.

“Ok, so lemme get this straight.” began Rainbow. “Some loony mare in a cloak told you that this whole mess is being caused by that stallion, who also attacked us at the storage?”

Twilight just nodded.

“Same stallion who attacked you guys at the Everfree ruins?” she asked again, this time Fluttershy nodded.

“And you believed her?” Dash scoffed at Twilight. “For all we know she could be involved with him as well!”

“I know.” Twilight said. “Don’t get me wrong, I do suspect that mare as well, but at this point, this is the best lead we have.”

“By the way, what was the thing that stallion stole?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not entirely sure myself, but according to Spitfire, it was some sort of special battery that never really worked as it was supposed to.” Rainbow replied. “This is the first time I had heard of it as well.”

“Hm…that, coupled with the fact he also stole Sunset Shimmer’s journal…just what is he planning?” Twilight pondered.

“Maybe he’s trying to make a portal of his own?” Pinkie suggested.

Everypony stared at her. They had learned to see her hunches on a 50/50 possibility, though it was interesting how she sometimes nailed it.

“I…had considered that as well.” Twilight said. “But really, very few ponies –just us and the Princesses, really—know of the existence of that journal and what it can do. How would he, of all ponies, know what he can do with it?”

“Well, we did find some stuff about old portal experiments when we were at the old castle, with Princess Luna.” Fluttershy pointed out. “And we encountered the stallion there as well, do you think he could have heard us and figured something out?”

“Whatever it is, he can’t be up to anything good if it’s going to involve more missing ponies and landmarks.” Dash insisted. “That Misty pony ain’t out of suspicion either, even if she did save me.”

“Well, until we locate one or the other, all we can do is speculate.” Twilight continued. “Anyway, that’s all we’ve got so far, so unless there’s anything else to add, we should probably get going and let Dash rest.”

“Yeah, besides it’s getting late and I think I heard some of those ponies saying that the storm they were trying to control before was getting bad again.” Applejack said. “One way or another it’s gonna be a bumpy ride back home.”

“Yeah guys, while I’d prefer you to stay safe here, if you do plan on returning, you better get going now.” Rainbow said. “That’s a nasty storm and I can’t tell for how long the other ponies will be able to contain it.”

They all nodded, and gave their friend one more gentle hug before they departed.

“Ah’ can’t wait to get back home, here’s hoping Granny, Applebloom and Mac are doing fine.” Applejack began to rant as they walked towards Twilight’s balloon. “Some rain is usually nice for the apple orchard, but a storm is something else alright.”

“I agree darling, I’d hate to get this lovely piece ruined by some dirty water.” Rarity said, showing off her dress, making her friends chuckle a bit.

As they neared the balloon, they spotted a pair of Pegasus waiting for them. “Hello guys, is everything alright?” Twilight asked them.

“Hey! Well, as you’ve seen, this storm is looking nasty.” The duo began. “While we are still lacking some personnel due to recent events, most of our colleagues are busier than ever trying their best to control the storm, but it will take even longer than expected.”

“While we’d rather suggest you to stay due to the storm, if you are in a hurry to leave, we offer to escort you back to the village.” They continued. “We’d like to take the chance to see how things are down there.”

Twilight blinked, then looked at the girls, who in their place looked at each other, shrugged, and nodded. She smiled back at them, then turned back to the Pegasus duo. “Alright then, we certainly would appreciate it if you helped us go back home.”

“Alright then!” they nodded. “Please hop aboard and hold tight on your seats, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

The journey back was indeed a perilous one. If it hadn’t been for the pegasus assistance, they would have most certainly crashed in the messiest of ways. After they arrived back at Twilight’s castle, they waved the Pegasus duo and thanked them for their help, as they flew towards the town.

“Well, there goes another of my favorite hats.” Rarity sighed, still trying to dry up the large hat she had brought with her.

“I know the feeling.” Applejack tried to cheer her up, fixing up her own Stetson.

“I can’t wait till we get some hot chocolate or something.” Twilight said, still shivering a bit from the rain they had just gone through.

“I would love some chocolate.” Fluttershy nodded. “I probably should bring some to Discord as well, it was so kind of him to stay and take care of the animals while I was out.” She added, giggling softly at the thought of him having to deal with her little critters, particularly Angel.

“Chocolate sounds great! I could help to bake some goodies!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing behind the group as they were entering the castle.

The chocolate and pastries would have to wait for now, though.

“P-Princess Twilight! Emergency! Emergency at Ponyville!” shouted one of the Pegasus that had escorted them as he flew in a hurry towards them.

“What is it? What’s happening?” Twilight asked him, giving him some time to recover his breath.

“An…an Ursa Minor! In the town!” he said, flying off back to Ponyville. The girls were left behind speechless for a few seconds, before they stared at each other in shock. Last time an Ursa Minor had been left rampant in town, it almost caused too much damage, and it was only because a couple of colts had lured it there. What could possibly bring such a creature back? Not wasting any more time, Applejack reacted first and hurried towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“I’m bringing ropes, see y’all in town!” she shouted from afar, the girls nodding at her.

“Alright, we’ll move on ahead!” Twilight replied, and the group took off towards Ponyville. As soon as they arrived, their fears were confirmed: an Ursa Minor was indeed running wildly in the town, with several ponies running away from it towards safety. There was something strange, however: Last time an Ursa attacked the town, it was only chasing the ponies that had lured it there, and other than that it wasn’t really going after anyone else, except for Trixie as well. This time, however, the creature was more aggressive, stomping from one corner to the other without a specific target, as if something were enraging it. To make things worse, the storm had become stronger as well; the rain pouring heavily, lightning crashing and roaring among the darkened clouds, worsening the Ursa’s behavior, and making ponies panic even more.

Twilight shook herself out of her thoughts and rallied her friends. “Pinkie, Rarity, go help everypony get to safety, Fluttershy and I will go help the ponies near the Ursa and see if we can do anything to calm it down, get ready for when Applejack returns with the ropes!” she briefed them, they nodded back, then trotted away to help in any way they could. Fluttershy and her, in the meantime, flew up and towards the Ursa, spotting several ponies trying to round it up, in hopes of preventing it from rampaging even more, among them the Pegasus couple that had escorted them earlier. They had relative success, as they were slowly cornering it towards a less crowded area, but it still waved its claws around, failing by inches to injure anypony. Just a few minutes later, Applejack arrived, bringing Big Mac along with some ropes. They hurried towards the ponies near the Ursa, passing the ropes along and throwing them above the Ursa, trying to pin it down, or at the very least, to slow it down.

“Twilight, the Ursa’s rocking around too hard, neither the ropes nor us will last too long here!” Applejack shouted at her friend.

“Right! Fluttershy, think you can help us figure out what’s making it behave like this?” she asked her while holding some of the ropes with her magic. “I know for a fact these are not normally THIS bad, even when taunted!”

“O-ok, I’ll try to see if there’s anything wrong on it.” Fluttershy nodded, then flew off, circling the Ursa, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. After a few moments, she gasped, and flew back towards Twilight.

“It looks like it has something on one of its ears!” she pointed out. “Maybe that’s what’s making it act like this?” Just as she finished, Rarity and Pinkie returned.

“Alright dear, that should be everypony for now.” Rarity said, still recovering her breath.

“Yep! The Major’s taking care of the rest!” Pinkie said, hopping in place.

“Alright, hold onto these ropes, I’m going in!” Twilight said, passing the ropes to her friends, and flying towards Fluttershy. “Ok, show me what you found.”

Fluttershy nodded and guided Twilight to the spot she had mentioned, somewhere around one of the Ursa’s ears. Approaching it carefully, Twilight managed to spot something sparkling there. Upon closer inspection, she could see it was some sort of earring that seemed to be shocking the creature, indeed making it behave in such a hostile manner.

“Guys, we found the problem!” Twilight shouted. “Keep holding it down, I’ll try something!” she said, as her horn began to glow once again.

She carefully aimed her magic towards the earring, trying to shut it down. After a few moments, the ring sparkled a little more, then fizzled, and with a snap it unlocked and fell off, just in time as the ponies and the ropes were ready to give out. The Ursa finally stopped struggling, swayed in place for a moment, then with a growl it plopped on the ground, exhausted. Fluttershy hurried to gently pet the Ursa on its head, soothing it even more.

Applejack and the rest of the ponies let go of the ropes, and slowly approached the now calm creature, organizing so they could bring it back to its home outside the village. The crowd began to walk out, seeing the Ursa had finally stopped, and began cheering gleefully. Twilight sighed in relief, flying towards her friends.

“Good job everypony.” She began. “Is everypony alright?”

“Yeah, we are fine.” Applejack said. “Thanks for figuring out how to stop it, one more minute and the ropes would have been ripped apart.”

“Twilight, here’s the thing that was causing all this trouble.” Fluttershy said approaching Twilight, handing her the now defused device. Upon closer inspection she could tell that, while containing some traces of magic, the ring seemed to be pretty technologically advanced. It certainly picked at her curiosity.

Before she could think of examining it more, however, she could hear someone call upon her. From among the crowd, a hooded mare approached her in a hurry.

“Miss Sparkle, is everypony alright?” Misty asked Twilight and her friends, trying to catch up her breath.

“Yes, we are all ok…but what are you doing here all of a sudden?” Twilight asked, surprised to see Misty once again. “Did you find out something?”

“Yes, please, you must come with me, now!” she said as she began to trot towards the Everfree forest. “Your friends should come too!”

“Misty, wait!” Twilight shouted as she began to run after her, with her friends following right behind. “What’s the matter?”

“Bright…I mean, the stallion, we spotted him deep in the forest!” Misty said.

“Wait, really!?” Twilight said, her friends finally catching up to them. “Why didn’t you stop him?”

“We—I was about to, but I heard some noises coming from the village, and wanted to make sure everypony was alright.” She explained. “We must hurry, though, before he’s gone again!”

Twilight and her friends nodded and kept trotting deeper into the forest. A minute passed before they reached a clearing, and on a nearby hill, there he was, the Mysterious Stallion. It looked like he was handling some sort of platform, on which the stolen battery had been placed. Onto the platform were attached some cables and an antenna, almost as if he had been assembling some sort of lightning-catching device. As they approached, they saw another hooded figure walking towards the Stallion, apparently pleading to him.

“Bright, please, you must stop this now!” they could hear the figure say. “Can’t you see you are doing more damage than what’s necessary?”

The stallion ignored the figure’s pleading as he continued to arrange his device.

“Many ponies have gone missing, and some could have been injured, or even worse, due to you releasing that creature onto the village!” the figure continued, they could hear it was a mare. “If you keep going, many more will be lost, not just here! What do you think he would think if he saw you like this!?”

The stallion stopped for a moment and turned around, clearly angry. “Don’t you dare, DON’T YOU DARE!” he shouted at her. “I’M DOING THIS FOR HIM!”

Just as he shouted, some huge lightning fell on the platform, making the battery sparkle. After a few moments, the lightning dissipated, and the battery continued to glow, as if fully charged. The stallion grinned, walking towards the device.

“PLEASE, let us help!” begged the mare. “You should know better than us of the immeasurable damage you can inflict!”

“I…must…do…this…ALONE!” the Stallion screamed again, before his horn began to glow, encasing the platform and the battery with his magic.
“Stay right there!” Twilight shouted, stepping forward, her own horn glowing this time, casting a purple bubble around the Stallion and his construct. Misty and her friends began to approach the now trapped Stallion…

But he sneered. “They won’t stop me, and neither will you.” He said before his horn sparkled more intensely, effortlessly cracking Twilight’s bubble, and finally shattering it, before teleporting himself and the platform with the battery away.

A few moments passed, with Twilight and her friends still shocked at the recent development. Even if she was still getting the hang of it, how was it possible for somepony to break out of alicorn magic so easily? She remembered what Fluttershy had said before, about the Stallion being able to escape even Discord’s magic. She set these thoughts aside for the time being, as Misty began to approach the hooded mare, who seemed to be crying now.

"I…wanted to help him…I really wanted to…” she sighed sadly.

“I know, we both wanted to.” Misty tried to calm her. “But he’s indeed as stubborn as you told us.”

“We must…stop him…many are at stake…” the mare continued, apparently calming down a little.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t stop him.” Twilight said, approaching the two mares. “Fluttershy had told us how he had been able to escape from Discord’s magic, but I wasn’t expecting him to be this powerful.”

“It’s…okay, Miss Sparkle.” Misty smiled weakly. “If anything, I should have been a bit more through to you about him and his skills.”
Just as she finished, another flash of magic boomed near the group.

If they had been shocked just a moment ago, now they were completely speechless. Standing near them was what seemed to be the very Stallion they confronted a moment ago. However, his whole appearance seemed more clean, and his demeanor more calm.

“I’m sorry I took so long, but the situation at the nearby village is more stable now.” The new stallion said. “They already started to take the Ursa out of the village and--”

He stopped for a moment, looking around. “…oh. Guess I didn’t make it in time, then.”

“Don’t worry; he would have been able to evade your magic too.” The hooded mare said. “He’s got quite a handful of tricks, more than what even I was expecting.”

“Yeah, we knew he was being reckless, but we weren’t expecting him to just shock a creature and release it into the village as a distraction while he charged that battery.” Misty said.

The stallion looked down for a moment, then he raised his eyes towards Twilight and the group, who were still staring at the trio, trying to understand what was going on.

“We…probably should tell them.” The stallion pointed out. “You said they wanted to help too, didn’t you?”

Misty and the hooded mare nodded at him. “…Right, it’s long past the time we could think we could handle this on our own, even though we are, in part, to blame as well.” Misty said.

The hooded mare nodded at Misty, then stood up and began to walk towards Twilight and her friends. “My deepest apologies for not fully disclosing things earlier.” She began, as she took off her hood.

Standing before them, was another Misty Evening. However, she seemed to have a slightly more serious expression in comparison to the Misty that Twilight had met before. Upon this revelation, Twilight and the others were now absolutely dumbfounded, their jaws practically dropping to the floor.

“We, indeed, owe you an explanation.”