The connection

Chapters

The beginning
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 3

The beginning

The connection

Two worlds
One ours, one theirs
One pure, the other corrupt
Two sides of the same coin

„Are you sure well be able to do this? It has to be done at the same time, and on both sides. I doubt they’ll know what this even is.“
„Don’t you worry ma friend. This is not a problem at all.“
„Then how do you plan to do it?“
„The same way we do everything. Exactly the same way my friend.“

Two worlds
Always connected
Never one

It was a bright and sunny day in Ponyville. The sky has been clear of any clouds for several days, mostly thanks to the hard work of the local pegasus Rainbow Dash. Summer started not long ago, and keeping the weather clear and pleasant was something she was born to do.
But Rainbow wasn’t the only pony in Ponyville who had lots of work. Almost everypony had to get the city ready for the upcoming celebration. The celebration was something special for Ponyville, but more importantly, its origin was even more interesting.

One day, not unlike today, a simple baker pony came out into the streets with his cart loaded with all of his pastries, pies, cakes and everything he made that day and shouted
„Listen up everypony.“
Everyone stopped to see what he wanted to say
„My daughter will be getting married soon. My parents are celebrating their anniversary and my lovely neighbor has birthday today. This simply cannot go without a proper celebration so come get something from this cart as a gift from me to you and let us enjoy this lovely day.“

This simple act of generosity didn’t go unnoticed. Many more shopkeepers went out into the streets after they heard the baker, and just like he, they started giving out their products to celebrate. From this day on, every year during this day, everypony in Ponyville, who can and wants to make something special does so, and although not all give their items for free, the day kept its spirit and the name as well: The celebration day.

That’s why there isn’t one pony, skilled enough to make anything, which wastes time during these days and not only them. The celebration day has become famous all over Equestria, and ponies from all over come here in these days.

Two worlds
Pieces slipping through
Becoming part of both

„So are you sure this will work? I mean, this never worked when we tried it before. What makes you so sure that this time it’ll work? “
„Oh that’s simple my friend, you see...“he took out a small glass pebble from his pocket „...this is what’s going to make it work. “
„Oh“ he smiled „So that’s what you were trying to get so badly in the last weeks.“ he patted him on his back „Shall we get ready then?“
„Yes. Let’s begin. “

The celebration day
The liveliest day in Ponyville in the whole summer season. Each year bigger, each year more famous and each year more visited. This year Ponyville was shining from top to bottom, every house has been cleaned, almost every house, lamp, postbox, bench or tree have been decorated for the celebration. Stalls, carts, huge tables or just simple ponies with baskets were on the street, showing off their work. Bakers, candy makers, carpenters, painters, musicians, tailors, alchemist, street performers and magicians. No profession has been left out and no age has been forgotten either. Even little fillies were here to show what they drew in school.
But what would the celebration day be with only merchants? Nothing, and that’s why many ponies came from far and wide just to look, shop, enjoy and celebrate on this day. The streets were packed full, no corner left empty. It was joyous day for everyone.

„C’mon girls! Everyone’s there already. If we waste more time there won’t be anything left.“
„Oh c‘mon Twilight. Do you think they would come so unprepared to run out of everything in such a short time? Anyways, if there is at least one stall with good cider, then I don’t care about the rest“
„’Scuse me? There ain’t any better cider then what my family makes. Ain’t that right girls? “
„True AJ. But you always run out that I never get some. You have none today either so why not try something else. “
Suddenly Pinkie jumped out from behind them, hugging Applejack and Twilight at the same time
„I just hope there will be lots of candy. Nothing beats candy. “
She started giggling and hopping around them
„Really girls? Candy and cider? Is that all you can think of? How about you come with me so I can finally get some new cloths for your dresses? I want you all to look even better on the gala then last year. “
„Um....could we look at some pets too? ...I mean if you don’t mind...“
„Well if you hurry up well be able to look everywhere today. “ And as she said that she sped up her walk as well hurry up the rest of them too
„Last one buys the cider!“ said Rainbow Dash, and sped up to take the lead
„O no you don’t.“ said Applejack and ran after her.

The whole place was packed. Merchants describing their goods, bakers trying to lure ponies in by yelling how fresh everything they had was, candy makers watching the naughty fillies so they wouldn’t try anything, and of course, as Rainbow wanted, a few stalls with not only cider, but also lost of different drinks of known, but also secret ingredients. The closest stall with such a mysterious drink was where Rainbow and Applejack arrived first, and at the same time.
„I won. “said Dash
„Oh no, you didn’t. I was much faster. “
„Nopony’s faster then me! “said Dash and crossed hew hooves
They looked at each other, one waiting for the others response, the other thinking if there’s even a meaning for that. Luckily, the merchant was faster then both.
„Girls, Girls. You both came here at the same time. But if you don’t believe me, then why don’t you have a drink first? Your arguing might go better once you quench that thirst after a good race. What say you? Ill even give you a discount for my special brew. Two for the price of one.“ he said with a smile, knowing they couldn’t resist.
The girls looked at him, then at each other and started laughing. They took their mugs, paid for them and drank the mysterious liquid.
„Whoa. What in the hay is this.“ said Applejack and took another sip
Dash didn’t even talk after her first taste. She just smiled and continued, enjoying the mug she was holding
„I see you like it.“ he said „Its my special recipe from back home, which I won’t describe so I wouldn’t bore you, but I can say that nopony who has ever tasted my brew didn’t like it. I always make it with love and care, and everypony can taste the difference.“
By now the rest of the girls caught up to those two, and just as them bought a mug from the merchant. Since both Dash and Aj had finished theirs by now they bought another two and the six of them now had to decide where to go first.
„Well since these two have gotten what they wanted, I propose we go take a look at some cloths for your dresses while we still enough bits for them. “said Rarity
„Not to be rude or anything, but Rarity, you’re the only tailor in the town. I think the cloths will stay where they are even after a full day of being here. “said Twilight
„I just want candy. Can we get some candy? I’ve heard there were some awesome candy makers here. Candy. Candy. CANDY!“ Pinkie said while jumping around them all lively like usually
„Girls...we could go look at the pets first then...before they sell them all. I mean if you don’t mind. “said Fluttershy quietly
„Fluttershy, we all have pets already, and don’t you have hundreds of them already? “asked Dash „Oh and speaking of pets. Where Spike? “
„He stayed behind. He’s been feeling a bit sick lately, and he was even worse today so he went to take nap. I’ll take him once he’ll feel a bit better. “said Twilight
„Then why don’t we get something for the little Spikey-Wikey first just in case he won’t be able to come?“ said Rarity and she started looking around to find anything that Spike might like. The rest of them like the idea as well and so the six of them started their exploration of the various stalls in the street.

It didn’t take long for any of them to find something of interest. Fluttershy was the first one to find what she wanted. A huge tent has been raised in a alleyway, so it would block the streets too much, and in the tent were tens of cages full of little critters. Little puppies, cats, bunnies, hamsters, chicken even piglets, all specially rose to grow only so much. Fluttershy’s eyes started glowing like stars the second she saw them all, but not only hers. Many fillies came here with their parents, trying to get a pet or just to play with the small animals. Twilight even thought, that if they left Fluttershy alone in here, shed probably buy them all, which luckily didn’t happen. It turned out, that the lady owning the pets was a village not far from Ponyville, and that she had even more critters there, which made Fluttershy jump from joy even more then Pinkie normally does, and they left the tent knowing that one of them would be very happy for the rest of the day.

Dashes interest in various drinks and beverages didn’t stay quiet for long. Almost every fourd stall would have something to drink or to eat, so it was only a matter of time until a little contest broke out. Rainbow, Applejack and now Pinkie as well started going from one place to another to get something to drink, always making it a contest of who could drink it sooner. Of course Pinkie gave up soon after starting, not because she didn’t like the idea, but because, as she said „I gotta leave some room for sweets as well. Also I think I might have forgot to bring bits. “Rainbow and Applejack lasted much, much longer than that and only one stall stopped the contest, which to their surprise, stopped Dashes interest in the contest completely.

„O my gosh! “she squealed „Daring Do!“ Without realizing what she just said, she zipped right over and grabbed the book. She only came back into reality once she noticed the giggles from her friends silently watching her.
„I...Um...Uh yeah. I wanted to buy this for Twilight as a present. That’s why. Books are sooooo not awesome.“
„Of course they aren’t Dashie.“ said AJ throwing her hoof over Dashes neck „Why else would you read them so much if they weren’t awesome.“ now everyone burst out in laughter, to which Dash could only respond with a blush
„Ok enough.“ silence „I... love books.“ she said quietly so nopony could hear her
„What was that? We couldn’t hear you over here.“ said Twilight with a smile while the rest kept giggling
„I love books ok? Ever since I was in hospital... “the blush now stronger then ever before
„We all know that Dash. Do you think I wouldn’t notice my books missing after your visits or when you’d be reading them on your clouds when you thought nopony saw you? “asked Twilight, but before getting a response, if there would even be one she continued „Now grab one for me too and lets continue.“

Finding candy in this crowd proved to not be a problem at all. One thing that Pinkie was very good at was finding the bestest candy, or so she would call them, and lead her friends to it. That’s why after a short while every one of them had at least one bag of candy, hand picked by Pinkie herself from the various stalls all around the place. Of course Pinkie didn’t have only one bag with her once she was done, but nopony could really count how many because of her jumping around and vanishing and appearing all around the place. Also the question arose, how could she possibly afford so much, to which she replied „Silly me. I forgot I had bits hidden all over the place just in case of emergency.“ Even after such a long time together, the girls simply couldn’t understand Pinkies randomness powers.

Time was slowly running out as night was getting closer and so the girls finally decided it would be time to go buy clothes with rarity, even though they all knew she didn’t really need them for it. Once again, Twilight was right about still being enough to choose from, which pleased both Twilight and Rarity.
„Wonderful, wonderful! This ones perfect, this one too. This one.... not much.“ she started looking through all of them , picking what she thought was best while sometimes looking at the girls, as if comparing the cloths to them. Not even a few minutes later she had so many that even Twilight had to help her out with carrying them with their magic. Carrying all of them while still wanting to browse proved to be a really bad idea, because of all the balloons and decorations had the tendency to get hit so they had to drop them somewhere, and since Pinkies house was the closest they left all of them there with everything else they bought that day, just to not have to carry it around anymore.

They still had some time before night came and everyone would start packing up or be already packed so they went out to just look at what they have missed and then they remembered. A gift for Spike. How could they have forgotten about the poor little guy?
„How could we have forgotten about him? He’s home sick while were having a blast here. So not cool. “
„Think we can still find something for him? “
„What would be a better question. “Twilight wondered
Getting spike a gem would be probably the easiest, but also not worthy since the celebration was only once a year. Toys were out of option as well since he wasn’t really into that kind of stuff. That’s when they noticed something they haven’t on the first pass.
„Guys. That stall looks totally weird. How come we didn’t see it? “
„Because you and AJ had their noses in mugs.“ said Pinkie with a smile as the rest giggled
„Um...I saw it... “said Fluttershy quietly
„Why’d you didn’t say so sugarcube? “asked AJ
„Because it scared me and I didn’t want to go near it. “
„Aw shucks Fluttershy. There’s no need to be scared. Well protect you, right girls?“ said AJ and stood next to her to encourage her. Rainbow did the same from the other side and together they all went to see the mysterious stall, they didn’t notice before.

The stall itself was nothing special, just a simple table with a rug over it. But what was more interesting was the person standing behind it. It was a Zebra. At first they thought, while walking to it, that Zecora might have come to sell some of her magical potions but then they noticed that it was a stalion standing there. Once he saw they were heading his way he started smiling and once they were closer he said.
„Welcome. Welcome. Did the lovely ladies notice my humble stall between all these big ones. Or was it me who caught your eye. “he said and winked at Rarity, who wasn’t moved by this at all, but had praxis in responding to this. Once they were close enough, they let Rarity get the closest so she could work her magic.
„Oh my. Why does such a handsome stallion like yourself hide in this corner when you could be a center of attention out in the crowd? Don’t tell me you’re shy.“ she said and returned the wink she got earlier. The stallion smiled even more then before, indicating that Rarity managed to wrap another stallion around her hoof.
„O no no. I’m not shy at all. You see there’s a simple reason why I’m at this spot each year.“ to this the girls reacted with a simultaneous „What?“ clearly showing their surprise
„Years. But we’ve never seen you here once, and except one, we’ve all lived here our whole lives.“ said Rarity which for some reason didn’t move the zebra a bit, but now his smile started being a bit mysterious to the point where Fluttershy started getting chills down her back. Suddenly he laughed for a bit and then continued
„Exactly. I’ve been coming to this same spot every year for a while now. I even remember a few of you.“ he said and pointed at AJ, Rarity and Pinkie then continuing „You see the reason why you didn’t notice me before is simple. Magic. Me and my friend who lives close by, I think you might know her, Zecora, made a pretty interesting spell for this stall only. It cant be seen or sensed with magic unless you are looking for something special, and since all of you are here right now I guess you would like to „find“ something as well. Well then. Take a look.“ all six of them looked at the table and what they saw were various trinkets, chains, talismans, various stones and other items they could hardly tell what they even were
„Um… What are these.“ asked Twilight
„They’re stones duh.“ replied Pinkie instantly
„Actually no they aren’t just simple stones. Most of these have been enchanted by magic, or are said to have an effect on the owner. For example this one make you hair dry faster.“ he smiled and pointed at a little leather ball with what looked like fur glued to it, which seemed to disturb Fluttershy as much as Rarity. Both for a different reason.
„Actually we were looking for a gift for my baby dragon. I have no idea what he might need from here. “she said with a bit sad tone in her voice to which he replied
„Well since he’s a baby I might something for him here somewhere.“ he threw a quick glance at the items „This will help him with learning, this one will make him luckier, this one will make him successful in love life and this one will make his scales shinier. Just pick whichever you think is best. “
Twilight looked at her friends for suggestions „He’s your dragon Twilight. You probably know which one he needs the most. “disappointed with the help she got from her friends she chose one „The lucky charm then? Good choice I have one myself and I cant complain. Ill even pack it nicely as a present just for you. “as he said that he pulled out a little colorful box into which he placed the talisman and when he wanted to start packing it he heard Twilight whisper „Ill take the one for love too if I can.“ and she looked at Rarity with the corner of her eye, which luckily , she didn’t notice at all. „Sure.“ he said with a smile and after he packed the two talismans he then made a little ribbon on it, which made the girls wonder how that could be done with hooves. Twilight took the present for her little friend, paid and all of them turned around as to walk away but the zebra stopped them with a „Hey. Wait up. I’ve got something else for you too. “they returned and he handed each one of them one the pebbles, which Pinkie called stones before.
„As I said before, these aren’t simple stones. They have some magic in them and I have a feeling they might make things interesting if you keep them with you. “
„But...“ Twilight tried to say something but he stopped her
„Ah hush now. No spoilers. You’ll see for yourself one day.“
They thanked for the gift and left, none of them turning around except Fluttershy, and only once se was far enough, and she noticed the zebra still smiling their way.

„It’s just a stupid stone. It’s so boring. What does he think will happen if I keep a stone with me?“ said Dash
„C’mon Dash. A gift is a gift, even when boring. Just keep it.“ said AJ
„Dash is right for once.“ said Rarity „Its just a stone. You know what I think about stones, don’t you?“
„Have you already forgotten your lost love Tom? Smooshie smooshie. “ Dash teased her to which she only got a angry glance
„I cant feel anything from them, he might have just been making fun of us. He was kinda weird if you ask me.“ said Twilight while checking the stone out with her magic
„Told you it was just a stone. Teehee. Now we got a stone for free. Yay!“ said Pinkie all exited
„Anyways its getting dark. We should get our stuff from Pinkie and head home. I can check the stones tomorrow.“ said Twilight
Getting their belongings from Pinkie went without problem, except for the cloths, which ones again had to be carried by two unicorns. Once Twilight got to Rarity’s house and helped her place them in her workshop she said goodbye to her friends and they all went home.

The tree-library was dark and quiet. Twilight carefully opened the door and stepped in. Nothing has changed beside a few books she didn’t manage to get back were now back in their places on the shelf. She walked silently over to where Spike usually slept, finding him curled up, sleeping but without his blanket. She carefully covered him and laid his present next to him, where he’d find it once he woke up. She then lay down into her bed, looking out the window and then at the mysterious stone she had gotten that day. „What could it be.“ she thought. „Ah well. Tomorrow is also a day.“ she said, laying the stone on her bedside table. „It was a good day.“ she thought before falling asleep.
It was a cloudless peaceful night.

Black and white
yin and yang
good and evil
sun and the moon

„Oh this looks perfect. How long did you say it took you to build it?“
„Two years give or take. With all the knick knacks it needed, all the people we had to get. But I think it was worth it. “
„You don’t know that yet. Nopony does. Are you even sure it will work properly? I mean there’s no way of testing it. “
„Well it better work or who knows what’ll happen. But the risks are worth it, and as long as it doesn’t explode we’ll be fine. “
„You’re right. Building something like this from scratch when were in this phase already would cost you a lot of money. How did you even get so much? Doubt some millionaire would sponsor a project like this. “
„Are you kidding me? Have you been on the internet in the last few months? The show we made got us so much money we could swim in it. “
„You made that? Hah. I was wondering how somepony could even come up with something like that. Ah well. So what do you need now to make it work? “
„Well time mostly. The machines built, we have the equipment and the team ready we just need to wait for them. “
„Very well then. Let me know about your progress later. “
„Will do. “

What happens,
when good meets evil?
Does one get corrupted,
or the other cleansed?

„So, Twilight. Found anything interesting about these....rocks I guess. “ asked Dash
“Actually I might have. I went to see Zecora about them as well, but she told me, that it would be better for me to find out myself. No help at all I guess.” she sighed “Anyways. I found an old book where there was a mention about mysterious pebbles, which would allow you to see far away places.”
“I don’t get it.” said Dash
“Urgh.” Twilight sighed again “To explain it simply. You have two stones You look into one, you see from another one. Get it?”
“Oowww.” Dash and Pinkie said at the same time, while the rest just looked at Twilight
“So the zebra just gave us these stones so we could see other places?” asked AJ
“Might be.” said Twilight, knowing that whatever the reason the Zebra had, she couldn’t read that out of any book she could find
“Wait a second. We all looked at them and none of us saw anything. They’re just rocks.” said Rarity while staring at the rock she got “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Urgh, it’s not even pleasant to look at.” she said while throwing the rock back at the table where the rest of them were

The girls sat quietly in the library, having the celebration day after them and now everything cleaned up and all the merchants being back home Ponyville turned back to its normal regime. At least for the rest of the village. These six had their thought about the mysterious zebra and the pebbles. Why would he give them such a weird gift? If you could even call it a gift… Was it a prank? Were they really these stones from the legend and if yes, why didn’t they work? Not even Zecora wanted to help them. None of them had any idea. But sometimes all you need to do is take things easy and have a bit of fun. Like Spike did.

“Maybe their batteries ran out.” he said from upstairs, giggling at how funny his joke was. He liked the present he got from the six; he wore them around his neck everywhere he went. They were supposed to make him lucky and help with his love life after all. What he didn’t know, was that one of his amulets might have actually worked now.
“That’s it Spike! You’re a genius!” yelled Twilight all happy, but unlike her, no one else understood what she meant. Not even Spike.
“Really? You know I was just joking right?” he asked, confused
“Duh. Of course I know it was a joke. These should be magical artifacts, who knows how many years old. Their magical reserves ran out a long time ago. “she said, hopping her friends would understand which luckily, they did
“So all we need to do is charge them? I guess that would be your job Twi. ”said Dash

Using your magic to start something is one thing, storing your energy in the item another. Twilight had to put a lot of energy into these stones until they started to at least show signs of it working. Rarity even thought shed pinch in, even though this kind of magic was foreign to her. She didn’t have to in the end. First the stones started glowing, slowly loosing the glow but getting more and more transparent. Each took a stone to look at what was at the other side.
Fluttershy saw roots of a tree, in a place she has never seen.
Rarity saw a cliff with a beautiful view on sunrise.
Applejack saw something that looked like flowing water, but she wasn’t sure.
Once Pinkie stopped moving and sat down to look at the stone, she only saw sand and nothing else.
Dashes stone was showing the top of an anthill, not much bigger then the grass around it. It was built not long ago, even the ants were still working on it, working hard together to make their new home bigger.
And Twilights? Well Twilight had the most interesting, although weird sight of them all. When she picked the stone up, all she saw was a dark room with a blinking red light in the corner. After a while the red light stopped and she thought nothing would happen again. But then something came into view. It was three ponies.

The six hugged together so all of them could see into the small magical pebble in Twilights hand. They watched the three as they stood there, talking about something, pointing at the stone and waving their hoofs around, as if explaining something.
All three of them were stallions. Two of them were earth ponies, the other one was a Pegasus but all three wore white lab coats.
The first earth pony had a cyan colored fur, a bit brighter then how Dashes was, and a dark blue mane with white, lightning shaped stripes on it. He was the smallest of the three.
The middle one, a Pegasus, was orange colored with a bright red mane and small stylish glasses, which no one even noticed until Rarity mentioned them. He was bigger then the other two.
The last one, a gray earth pony with a white mane was standing behind the first two, looking back and forth at his colleagues, then at the pebble.
None of them could hear anything. The pebbles only showed things, nothing else.
They watched them with interest, as the ponies talked, and tried to make out what they were talking about. Sadly none of them could read their lips on the small stone.

After a short while the gray pony left the room leaving the two alone. Not even a few second later he returned, causing the two he left behind to stop talking and stand in the corner of the room with him. Then another stallion emerged. He was also a pony, massive in stature, even bigger then the pegasus behind him. As his colleagues, he also wore a lab coat, his fur black as night and with a dark green mane. He stood exactly in the middle of the room looking at the pebble, then bent over to look at it closer, making his eyes show his dark green irises. He then straightened up, waved at his colleagues to leave him alone. He then took a clipboard from his coat and started writing.

The clipboard said: “Magic is the image, the sound and the taste. Magic is the connection.” and under it were some strange symbols none of them understood, except Twilight. She recognized them, all of them. They were magical glyphs, not unlike those, she had on her scrolls and in her books. She quickly gave the pebble to Applejack and hurried to get a clean scroll and a quill to write them down exactly as he showed them to her. Once she was done she came back and smiled at the pony to show she was done. The mysterious pony just nodded and then walked away, upon which the room turned completely black.

“What in the hay was that?” Aj asked looking confused at the pebble, just like the rest
“No idea. But lab coats? Seriously? So not cool.”
“Maybe they were making some special drinks and didn’t want to get their clothes dirty?” suggested Pinkie
“I really doubt that darling.” said Rarity, which caused Pinkie to get into a deep thinking stance, wondering what else they could be cooking with lab coats on
“Twilight didn’t he show you something at the end?” asked Fluttershy quietly so they almost overheard her
“Oh, yeah. Whatcha see there Twilight. All I saw was jibba-jabba.”
“Well they were magical runes. Some old spells are written in these so I don’t really know what the spell does or why he would show it to me. I don’t get the line before the spell as well. What could he mean by magic being the connection?” Twilight wondered. First they got what seemed to be useless stones, now they saw four stallions who didn’t make any sense at all and now this.

“Uh oh the suns gone.” said Pinkie from the window. Nopony noticed her move, which none of them seemed to find weird. She was Pinkie after all. What was more interesting was the fact, that they sat there for so long it was night already.
“Oh my. Well I guess you can sleep here. I have lots of place here and I got blankets too for you. You don’t need to go home so late at night and we could make it into a sleepover. What do you think? ”
“YAY. A slumber party. Weeeee.” shouted Pinkie again, starting to jump up and down and all around the place. She suddenly vanished on the top floor, appearing behind them with a tray of pink cupcakes with rainbow colored sprinkles on them.
“Here have some. No party can be without my cupcakes.” she said smiling, offering one to everypony present, then going back up to give one to Spike, who didn’t take it. Not because he didn’t like them, but because he had fallen asleep in the meantime.
“Where in hay did you get those…. You know what? Never mind. Ill go get the blankets, just gimme a second.” Twilight said and went to get a blanket for each of her friends while still thinking about the spell. What could it do? Should she ask Celestia for help or should she just try it? Didn’t matter that much at the time. She had friends over and the spell could wait for morning.

The sudden sleepover went much better than they expected. Could have been the fact that Pinkie was able to get even more cupcakes from somewhere and also a few games they could play. Once the first yawn was heard, they all decided that sleep might be good aswell and so ended the day with a good nights rest.

Morning came faster than any of them expected. Applejack had no problems with waking up soon thanks to her work at the orchard. Sadly the weather pony had bigger problems with waking up then the rest of them. Unable to wake the sleeping pony, they just gave up and went to have breakfast before deciding what to do next. Since it was weekend and none of them had to work today, or had made any plans for today, they decided to stay and help Twilight with finding the spell in her books. This pleased Twilight, because of the mysterious spell she had written down and she knew, that the rest, maybe besides Dash, were thinking about it too.

Searching for the spell proved to be easier with seven people looking for it. Dash with Fluttershy searched the top shelves while Pinkie and AJ searched the bottom. Spike took care of the books Rarity picked from the middle rows and Twilight flipped through them with the speed of light looking for the right one. And then they found it.
“Got it!” Twilight shouted excitedly
“Finally.”Dash sighed with relief
“So what does it do? “
“Hmmm.” the spell in front of her was the same as she had written down, but there was something about it, that felt wrong
“It says here, that this spell was used some time ago as a way of communicating. Something like those stones but more advanced.”
“So they just wanted to talk to us? Couldn’t they cast it themselves?”
“Maybe they didn’t have a skilled unicorn like our Twilight here is.” said AJ
“The spell seems to be easy and now that we know what it does we can try it without fear. Everyone ok with this?” Twilight asked, looking at her friends waiting for their response. None of them seemed to mind, except Fluttershy, who replied with a low “Well if we have to.”

According to the book, the spell would create a magical window which needed some space so the girls moved some of the furniture from the shelves to make place. Then the six of them stood near the wall behind Twilight and watched silently as she prepared the spell. At first, she just stood there, eyes closed. Slowly her horn started giving a faint glow which gradually gained in strength. Then there was a flash o magic and the spell was done.

In front of them stood a huge window like opening, which was three meters tall and wide, covering the shelves behind it. At first, all they saw was a pitch black “screen” which suddenly started flashing red, as the light in the corner turned on. This time though, they also heard the sounds. A alarm like siren was heard from the picture which made the ponies think, that whoever the ponies were on the other side, must have wanted to meet someone for a long time. Why else would they go to such lengths?
Then the door opened and In came the black pony and once again, stood in the dead center of the room, right in front of them. He watched them, from one to other, seeping in the details of the six ponies and a dragon who managed to use the spell properly. He then laughed, something none of them expected, and said “You did well, my friends.” and left.

The girls couldn’t even question this. They had no time. The flashing stopped, the siren went silent and before they could realize what was happening, not that they even could, there was a flash and they were gone.

“I can’t believe it. It worked. That actually worked? Finally...”
“Um... You should probably look at yourself before speaking.”
“What…. Oh you got to be kidding me. How to hell did this happen?”
“This might prove to be…well… a challenge, I guess.”
“You shut up before I smack you like never before.”

They stood there in the middle of a grassy field. Equipment they so carefully gathered at their sides, but their plan backfired. Scientists, once human and powered by greed, now in a world a pure innocence but changed. Not everything works as we think it does, which they would soon learn themselves.

“Uh... What the hay was that?” asked AJ
“As if I’d know. Twilight what did you do?” said Dash angrily
“ME? Why do you think I did something?” now Twilight was angry, this was not her fault, nor any of them
“Um. Girls. I think you should look at something.” said Fluttershy
“At what?” replied Dash fast
“Yourselves?”
“WHAT? What is this? What are these? Where’s my fur?” said AJ confused
“ARGHAAA!” screamed Dash “My wings… they’re gone.”
“What the hay happened to us. Why are we looking like this?”
“I … I have no idea.” said Twilight, placing her hands on her head to try and think, only to realize that her horn was gone too

The six girls, taken from their homes. Taken from their world, into another, different, darker one. Changed to become part of it, but just as the other sides plan backfired, and made them simple ponies, the girls and the dragon kept something they owned. Although they didn’t know it yet.
All they knew was, that they were in a weird place, a different race, and naked.

“Oh what in the hell was that. Cant a guy get rest in here?” he said as he woke up, sun shining into his eyes. He tried to cover up his face with his hands only to get a nice wake up slam on his face. First pain from the hit, then confusion. Where once his hand was now only a green hoof remained.
“I think I might still be dreaming.”

Trying to wipe his eyes proved to be a challenge, since now he only had hooves and no hands nor fingers. He stood up, all four on the ground, and looked around. The place he was at was so familiar yet unknown. Where was he? Why was he there? And why was he now a pony? He would soon find out.

Chapter 2

All seven of them were sitting in a room, which they never seen until a few minutes back, still confused about the situation and of course their new bodies. None of them had any idea of what was happening or why. Loosing their wings and horns didn’t help either. What should they do? Where should they go? Sitting there wouldn’t help anyone but they didn’t have the mood to even stand up. That is, except for one

„Hey girls, look! Look! This is so awesome!“ said Pinkie while hopping all around the place, completely oblivious to the fact, that her new form brought some new „features“ aswell
„Pinkamena Diane Pie! You sit down this instance! That’s not how a lady should behave you hear me? “yelled Rarity angrily
„O-k. “said Pinkie sadly and sat down with her knees under her chin
„Pinkie, maybe we should first get you some clothes before you start doing that again?” said Dash with a smile „For some reason, I have this feeling, that this is not how we should be running around. “
They looked around the room, trying to find anything that could be used as clothing but unfortunately, there was nothing of that sort that. Disappointed, they started standing up one by one to explore the room further. Maybe there was something interesting there they couldn’t see. First to get up was Twilight.

“What do you think this might be?” said Twilight, now standing only a short distance from a circle shaped machine. Trying to recall every detail of the last few minutes, she realized one think. She quickly turned around, as if looking for something specific.
“Twilight? Are you ok?” asked AJ
“This is what we saw before.” she replied after finding what she was looking for
“See that?” she pointed into a corner of the room. It was the red light they saw in the pebble
“I think we might have been teleported to the other side.” she said now with a sad tone. She couldn’t help but to think that all this was only her fault. Why didn’t she contact princess Celestia first? She would have warned her about the spell or prevent this from happening.
“So if were here, then where are those four we saw before?” asked Dash but received no answer
“Let’s go look around. Maybe we’ll find someone who can explain this to us.”
“And maybe some clothes too.” added Rarity

They left the room, Dash and AJ in the lead and Spike with Fluttershy at the back. Right outside the room was a corridor with two ways to go, left or right. Since splitting up was a bad idea, on which they all agreed, they decided to start with the right way, checking every room on the way for anypony?
Luckily for them, the very first room they stumbled upon was some sort of laboratory. And as each laboratory, this one too had a few spare coats for each of them.

“Here girls, these look like our size.” said Twilight, giving everyone a coat, Spike too
“Here you go Spike. This one might fit you too.”
Spike stood in front of her, no longer a baby dragon, but a boy in his teenage years. He didn’t accept the coat though. He just stood there quietly, looking at the floor with his hands crossed in front of him, and with a minor blush on his face.
“Spike, are you alright? You don’t look so good.” said Twilight with concern before noticing his hands “Did something happen to you? Show me!” she said while reaching out to him only to be stopped by AJ
“Whoa there sugarcane, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“And why not?” said Twilight a bit confused
“Because he’s a colt.”
The words hit Twilight like a cold shower. How could she have forgotten something like that? Face red as much as her new body was possible, she quickly turned around while keeping the hand with the coat behind so he could take it. After he got dressed she turned back around and apologized for her mistake. Spike just smiled at her and replied with an “Its okay.”
Now that they were all dressed, at least partly, they went further down the corridor. The hallways seemed to be endless, which seemed weird because from the laboratory, they were only able to find two more doors, both locked and sturdy enough so none of them could break them down. The next one wasn’t.

They almost overlooked it. The door was a different shape and color then the other three they passed. This one was wider, and it looked as if it was in the middle of the frame instead of one side. Its surface was metallic, just like the walls around it, making it blend in. Something else was different about it aswell. There was a sound coming from the other side.
Applejack grabbed the handle and started slowly opening the door while the rest stood in a circle around her. Once partly opened, she peaked inside. It was another laboratory, but this one was different from the first one. Instead of various chemical glasses and equipment for experiments, this one had many screens with different texts on them and stacks of paper lay on most of the tables. Besides that, the room was empty so they entered.

Finding the source of the sound wasn’t hard at all. They found it by one of the screens. It was a printer, currently printing stacks of paper with various calculations, texts and graphs that none of the girls understood. Determined to find more, they spread out over the room, trying to find anything that might explain at least one thing. Spike was the first one to hit gold.

“Twilight I found something.” he said while holding a big book in his hands “It’s an anatomy book.”
“Let me see. Hmmm... So humans is it?” she said while reading a page after another
“What are humans Twilight?” asked Fluttershy
“We are. Or at least at the moment are. Look!” she turned the book around to show the rest. Inside it were various drawings of human anatomy, each part described in detail with information about each organ and bone. She turned the book back to herself and continued to read.
Besides the book, there were many other anatomical books, some for humans, others for different animals, some of which have none of them seen before, not even Fluttershy.
The papers on the tables were mostly useless. Almost all of them had the same stuff on them as the pile that was still being printed, only with different numbers.
The screens themselves were useless for them. All they were showing were endless calculations and they kept away from them just in case. Who knows what would happen if any of them stopped working.

And then the door opened.

Instantly, without thinking, Applejack who was at the left side of doors and Dash, who was not far from it on the right side, both tackled the man standing in the door, causing him to drop the cup of coffee he was holding. Both now pinning the man down just smiled and looked at him to make sure he wouldn’t try anything.
“Well girls. It seems its time for some answers.” said Twilight while slowly walking towards them

“Argh. How come it takes so long to get somewhere when you’re a damn pony? I mean aren’t horses made for this kind of stuff?” said the orange pony, annoyed from the long walk
“Would you shut up already? We’ve only been at it for a few hours so chill out already.”
“You’re no fun. You know I can’t just be quiet.” replied the orange one with a frown “Now gimme that map so I can try to find out where we are.”
“Jax. If you touch that map Ill cut your hand off and stuff it in your mouth.” said the black pony, completely calm but with danger seething from his eyes.
“You wanted to say hooves.” was the oranges smirk remark
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing, nothing….”

The sun was slowly setting, the day was almost over. The four were still walking in the direction which their map indicated. They didn’t have that much of a problem with carrying their equipment as they thought they would, since now they were “build” to carry heavy things. Jax was wondering, why they even needed most of that stuff, even more now when they had no fingers to use them, but he knew that asking had no point. Their boss had his reason for bringing it with them, and what he thought was basically a rule for him, whether he liked it or not. He just had to endure it somehow.
And then night finally came.

They managed to gather enough wood to make a fire and set camp around it. They brought lots of equipment and gear with them, food as well, but not one thought they would appreciate blankets as much as they did now. The gray pony prepared a simple meal for each of them, to replenish some energy and to chase away hunger. Once finished, they made a patrolling schedule, with the cyan pony as the first. The rest of them lay down close to the fire and tried to fall asleep. Except that one of them just couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Wow guys. Have you ever seen a sky this clear before. I mean most of the time you’d see planes or smoke blocking the way, or even those damned street lights. Hate those things. But look now. Nothing. This is so awesome.” the words came out so fast that it was hard to keep up with them. Jax didn’t seem to mind his way of talk, he didn’t even know how fast he could talk when he was excited. And lying on grass, looking at a wide clear sky covered in stars he had never seen didn’t help with calming down even in the slightest.
“Jax, seriously man. I know you love to ramble about everything, but we walked for hours. Can’t you shut up for a second? Or at least till I fall asleep? “the gray pony replied, now obviously annoyed... Again.
“But then you wouldn’t hear me.” said Jax with smile, trying hard to hold his laughter inside
“One day Jax. One day ill seriously hurt you.”
“No hurting before were done here you got that?” said Boss with a calm tone
Feeling the weight of fatigue creep onto him, Jax finally shut his mouth, as well as his eyes, and went to sleep. So did the other two. Not even a few minutes later, a silent snore could be heard coming from each of them, except the cyan one who silently watched over them.

The peaceful night passed faster then they thought it would. Now packed and ready to move further, the four set out in the direction the map indicated. This time with more energy and an idea in one of their heads.
“Guys. Guys listen. See these?” said Jax and pointed at his wings “Why didn’t I realize I had these yesterday. Think I could actually use them?” he didn’t even finish the sentence and he already tried moving them around, which was much easier then he had thought it would be. He was so amazed at the wings that now grew from his back that he forgot to look where he was walking and that’s why he landed with his ear first onto the ground.
“Ouch. Ouch. Dangit.” he stood up, flapped his wings a bit to test them out just a little bit more and then he tucked them back. Satisfied with his “initial body tests”, he now walked proudly in the middle with his head raised as high as he could, but now watching what was under him.
“You know, for the first time you might be actually useful.” said the gray pony
“Thanks mate ….. HEY! Wait a second.” said Jax with a frown after understanding what his friend meant. Knowing he has won this fight, and that he would get at least five minutes of quiet, the gray pony was the one with his head high now.

The walking took them once again long enough for the sun to sire and once again set behind the horizon. Once again they set up camp with a simple fire in the middle and once again were their blankets the best thing in the world. And once again Jax just couldn’t rest his mind.
“You know, I was thinking…” he started with a serious tone
“You can actually use your brain for thinking?” asked the gray pony with a smile
“Oh would you stop teasing me for a second and listen?” Jax replied, not changing his previous tone at all “Look. We came here with a plan. But what if she refuses or something else fails. Do we have a plan B.? Or even plan C. And what after that? I know we prepared for this for a long time but common, don’t tell me this didn’t cross your mind.” he finished and waited for a response. Any response actually.
“First we get there. Then we go with plan A just as we discussed. If that fails we come up with a new plan on the spot. Its not like we are idiots or that anyone here could actually stop us.” said Boss calmly
“As you say Boss.” he replied but his mind was not set at ease. He knew that this world was much more different than any of their team thought. But still, however this would end up; it would be a hell of a story later on.

Another peaceful night. Another day of walking. But according to the map they had, today would be the day they would reach their destination. Or so they thought. The map they had wasn’t a real map like any normal person would use. What they had was a compilation of places they managed to scout out through various methods, which they then placed into places they knew they were supposed to be at and at the distance they could only estimate and not measure. It wasn’t hard figuring out where they landed and which way to go. The problem they had the first day was how long it would take them to reach it. That’s why, around noon, they all thought Jax was about to start rambling again when he opened his mouth. But it was rambling what he said.
“Guys look at that.” he said and pointed in front of him “Can you see that?”
“What are you talking about? There’s nothing there.”
“No I’m serious. Look!” and he grabbed his head turning it in the direction he was pointing at before
“I don’t see any….. Oh my. For once you’re right. Good job.”
How he was able to see it before the rest, he didn’t know. Maybe his new body was the cause since he was a different pony then they were. He didn’t really care. He was right and he was proud of it. Their destination laid not much further from them and if they tried they would reach it the very same day. The only thing left in his head now was, what then.

“Aw man, my head.” he said as he tried to massage his head with his hooves, only to realize that his forehead no longer hurt, but instead the back of his head was being the problem. So he turned around and saw something he didn’t notice before.
What he lay on before he woke up was a completely smashed cart with lots of trash on it, no scattered all over the place.
“Oh. That’s why I smell so bad. Heh.” he smiled and looked around once again. The place he was now at was really familiar to him and yet he couldn’t figure out where he knew it from. And then he was spotted.

“Mate, are ya alright?” a brown pony came up to him, seemingly concerned for his well being.
“Yeah, yeah I’m alright don’t worry.” he said while still massaging the back of his head
“What happened to ya anyway? I didn’t see anything but I heard a loud crash so I came to check it out.” he said, now smiling and he raised one hoof up to him “Name’s Marksman by the way. Nice to meet ya …”
“Mark.” he shook he hoof “Nice to meet you too.” Mark smiled and put his hoof back on the ground “And I have no idea what happened. I just know I woke up here with one hell of a headache.”
“Maybe something happened while ya were flying over the town?”
“Flying?” How a pony could fly he thought but then he realized that he now had wings too. So he was a pony with wings, a pegasus. “Could be. It’s just that I don’t really remember anything before.” Mark said, knowing that if had said that he was a human before, everyone would think he hit his head too hard.
“Hmmm. Could be from the fall. Why don’t ya come stay with me for a while? Until ya get yer memory back at least.” he offered
“Why not? It’s not like I have anywhere to go.” he said and laughed
“Yeah.” Marksman smiled back “Lets go then before they’ll force ya to clean this up after yerself.” he pointed at the trash and then they quickly left

Marksman didn’t live that far. What stroke Mark, was that fact the house was really plain. No decor, no plants, nothing.
“I just moved in, in case yer wondering.” he said after noticing the stares “It’s been what, two days that I’m here? Unpacking isn’t fun to do alone ya know.” he smiled
“Don’t worry, we’ll get everything where you’ll want. It’s the least I can do to thank you.”
“That’s nice of ya.” he looked at him “But first ya need a shower. You smell really badly.”
Behind the house was a small well they could use to get water from. It wasn’t really cold so Mark just took a bucket and dosed himself with the water while Marksman brought some soap from his house.
“Whoa mate. How come you don’t have a cutie mark?” asked Marksman after coming back
“My cutie, what-now?” he asked but almost instantly realized. Talking ponies, a pegasus and now cutie mark? He was in Equestria, in Ponyville to be exact. For some reason he now was in a kids tv show.
“Oh you see, I can do many things but none of them better then the other so I still have to go around as a blank flank.” he tried to explain, even though he knew it wasn’t true. Humans don’t have cutie marks so it was normal that he wouldn’t have one either.
“Are ya sure that’s even normal? I mean little fillies have cutie marks and ya don’t look little at all.” he said, still sounding confused
“Beats me… I kinda got used to it by now. One day maybe?” Mark said and grabbed the soap Marksman brought him “Time to get this stench off.” he said and started washing him self properly, while still watching Marksman from the corner of his eye. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to let it slide just like that but that didn’t concern him at the moment. Actually, nothing did. He was in Ponyville. Most likely was this just a dream and he would wake up eventually, so why not play along for the moment.

Getting cleaned and drying took longer then expected. The stench could be smelled even with the soap, so a few more rounds of soaping and scrubbing had to be done. Drying wasn’t easy either. Mane does dry longer then human skin, as he found out.
Marksman’s house was just as empty as he said it would be. Besides the furniture that was inside, but still not in its place, only boxes covered the floor. Some were open and even more were just stacked on each other by the wall. Only the most necessary stuff was unpacked, like plates and cutlery for the kitchen, some blankets for the bedroom, some hygienic items like soap, shampoo and toothpaste, but besides that nothing.
“Ugh. You have lots of boxes in here.” Mark said while looking around the place “Are you even sure you can keep so much in here?”
“I used to live in a bigger house before, so I do have lots of things. But don’t worry though, they’ll fit. Somehow.” he replied with a smile
Mark looked out the window. The sun that woke him up before was now only a small smudge on the horizon. He didn’t even realize how fast the day had passed.
“So…Where will I sleep?” he asked while looking for a couch or something else where he could lay
“Upstairs. I have a guest room prepared for when my family would come visit. So far they didn’t so ya can have it.”
“And what if they come tomorrow?” he asked
“There should be a couch around here somewhere.” Marksman said jokingly while lifting a crate up.

The night was really quiet. At first it was a bit creepy. No street light, no music from a nearby disco or party, no cars either. Only thing that would sometimes make a sound was a dog barking here or there, which didn’t happen more then twice though. Unable to sleep, Mark walked over to the window, trying to see something in the dark Ponyville he was now in. He could notice only a few details here and there but nothing else. The town was sleeping. He looked up... The sky was as beautiful as it ever could be. Nothing was blocking the sight and everything could be seen clearly, which amazed him to the point where he started thinking. How could he be seeing all these things just like that and even have control over himself? He never saw these parts of the city in the series neither the pony who was his host. If this was really just a simple dream, then it was the best dream he had in a while and for a second, the thought came up that he could stay here forever. But it was just a thought. He knew that such things don’t happen and that his life was waiting for him.
He lay back onto his bed in the only position he could imagine himself sleeping, and while looking through the window at the sky, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The poor man didn’t even realize what was going on, that’s how fast they were at binding him up his coat. He didn’t even understand how that could be done with a coat but he had time to wonder later. The seven now stood in front of him.
“Who the hell are you people and what are you even doing here.”
“I don’t think you’ll get to ask any questions just yet.” said Twilight with her arms crossed over her chest
“Tell us where “here” actually is. What is this place?”
“This “place” as you call it is a research and development facility which spreads underground all over
America.” he said with a proud voice “How can’t you know where you are? This is a high security facility. No one just gets in.” he asked, realizing that whoever they were, there wasn’t something normal about them
“Ameriwhat?” asked AJ “Never heard bout that.”
“Say what?” he asked confused “What cave did you crawl from that you don’t know what America is?” now he knew they were weird
“Cave? How dare you call our home a cave? Were from Equestria, just so you’ll know, and comparing it with a cave is a disgrace.” said Rarity with anger in her voice. Never before has she heard someone insult their homeland like that
“What? Equestria?” he looked at them and waited for a smile or a smirk or anything to indicate they were joking. Nothing came “Are you telling me you’re from Equestria? “ he now started laughing. This was surely a joke. A really bad one.
“What do you think is so funny about that?” snapped Twilight. None of them seemed to understand, why the man was laughing so hard
“Because Equestria doesn’t exist. It’s just a made up country from a kids show.” his laughter continued, but not for long. It was suddenly interrupted by a loud thud and then a bang. Applejack just couldn’t stand the man any longer and she was sure he wouldn’t be able to help them either. None of them had a problem with her action. They just left the now unconscious man down on the floor.

The six had to talk. What did he mean by a kids show? They all were real, so were their friends, their homes, all the memories they had and shared. And what was this America he was talking about.
“This is really weird. At first I thought we were just teleported to the other ponies that we saw and that this form was just a joke but now….I don’t think were even in Equestria anymore.” said Twilight
“So you’re saying…?” asked Fluttershy
“Well, I think we might be in a completely different world from ours.” she replied
“Then how in tarnation are we going to get home then?” asked AJ
“Yeah, it’s not like you can cast your spells here without your horn.” said Dash leaning forward so she could be heard well. This for once proved to be a mistake. Dash, still not used to her new body, couldn’t hold her balance and fell forward. But she didn’t hit the ground; neither did any of them catch her. She stopped only a few centimeters from the ground. Even without her wings, she was able to levitate. And if she could levitate without her wings, that would mean she could also fly. Not wasting a second she tried to move herself, but with nothing to control the flight she just hovered a bit higher.
“This might take a while.” she said from underneath them. But even if she couldn’t fly yet, she didn’t manage to do something. Give the girls hope they so far didn’t have.
“Dash if you can fly then that means that Fluttershy can as well, and that me and Rarity could use our magic as well.” said Twilight, now full of renewed energy “How did you even do it?”
“How should I know? I just didn’t wanna fall.” she said, now standing up and trying to levitate from an upright position
“Seems like well just have to figure it out ourselves.” said Twilight, still determined to do her best
“But I think we should find someone else. Maybe one of those four we saw before? They seemed to know what they were doing. Even the spell came from them, so if they had that, they might have something else too.”
“But darling, how do you want to get around this place. He did say it had a high security.” said Rarity
“Maybe he has something on him that might help.” said Twilight
“Already done.” said Spike proudly; showing the rest what he had taken “He didn’t really have much besides this watch and this weird card.”
Spike kept the watch for now and gave the card to Twilight. It was rectangle shaped and had information about the man and his security clearance on one side, and a black line on the other.
“This might be useful. Good job Spike.” she praised him, causing a minor blush on his face
“So shall we go on?” she asked, looking for approval from them. She didn’t wait long
“Let’s gooooo!” Pinkie screamed and turned around to leave the room, only to stay still for a moment and then suddenly jump. If Dash could fly why couldn’t she hop around like she was used to? At first it didn’t go so well because of her new body but she quickly got used to it and was now hoping around like always. This just proved to the girls, that no matter how they looked, they would always be the same inside. And so they continued their exploration.

As they approached their destination more and more details started to show, and the closer they got, the clearer it was to them, that they were in the right place. Even from far they could see the shapes of the trees, which were completely twisted from roots to the top branches, which didn’t have a single leaf on them. They were only dark or completely black. Even the ground has been scorched by something, still green in places, not from grass, but from a weird substance they had no idea what it was from that far. Even the sky was different. The closer they got, the hazier it was. Their vision was mildly obscured by a greenish fog that was present all over the place. And then one more thing. It was completely silent. They didn’t even notice it because of hot the place looked, but once they got close it was really clear that the place was deserted by all kinds of life, plant or animal.
But it was the right place. This is where they were heading and this is where their target was. Now to only find it.

“Woah. Can you believe such a place even exists? I mean look at it. It’s completely dead. And what’s this green gooey thing?” Jax spoke up once they were inside the dark forest, checking the place out and pointing at various things
“Again? We can all see it. Were standing two meters from the damn trees. And I dare you to touch that…slime.” the gray pony said, once again irritated by Jax’s rambling
“Dare me as much as you want. I ain’t touching that stuff.” Jax looked at the good with disgust “Who knows what it is. Cant we just analyze it or something, just to be sure its safe?”
“It’s not important. Just keep walking and be quiet for once.” Boss said while looking around as if he had heard something. Once Jax stayed quiet he noticed it too. The forest was as silent as it was when they entered, but now he could sometimes hear a weak buzzing sound. He couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from, but he was sure it wasn’t just him because now all four of them where trying to locate it.
“I think you got us the attention we needed.” said Boss once again, now with a smile “Lets continue.”

They continued along something that looked like a path between the trees. They could clearly see it branching on both sides, but never was the path bigger then the one they were on, which gave it the appearance of a main road.
The buzzing sound could still be heard, only in the distance, just as before, but now more frequently and with no source.
As they walked along the path the forest was slowly turning darker, the trees even more twisted, in some places cracked, the ground completely bare and the fog now thick enough to block out the sun completely, giving the forest a mild green glow. How could a place become like this was one of the things Jax had on his mind right now. Unable to speak out, he had to at least say something to himself. Luckily for him he didn’t have to stay quiet for much longer.

“Stop!” Boss ordered “I think they’re ready.” he said calmly and looked around, only to stop and look at one point. The rest looked in that direction as well. He was right, just as he always was. The buzzing sound became clearer and louder, the source of it approaching them from it hiding place among the trees. And then they could see them.

There were five of them. All of them were fully black, only their eyes blue and something that looked like a cape on their backs. Their wings, which were the source of the sound, were transparent, not unlike those of a fly. Their bodies looked ragged and with holes in places, as if someone had shot them several times. Their heads were completely emotionless, the dark skin hiding any movement their faces would make but clearly giving away the two fangs they had. Their head had one last feature, and that was a horn. The four have just met who they looked for since the start. The changelings.

The five of them landed right in front of them. Boss, now in the lead and the other three behind him, spoke.
“Hello there my friends. We came to talk to you. With your queen to be precise.” he sounded confident and with a grin on his face waited for a reply
The five looked at each other as if discussing something, but the four were unable to understand anything nor read from their lips. Not only was their color mixed with the dimmed light perfect for hiding their faces, the four couldn’t yet read from pony lips properly.
Then one of them spoke.
“Very well then. Follow us.” He then turned around and started walking along the road they were on; the rest of them spread into the forest around them and continued watching them just as they did before.
The four followed, satisfied with how their plans were going, Jax showing his happiness by starting his endless speeches once again. This time he wasn’t stopped by anyone. They were all happy and not even he could ruin it for them. Plan A was now in full operation.

Once again, he woke up from sun shining straight into his eyes. But he didn’t get up just yet. He didn’t want to. Instead he covered his head with his blanket and tried to fall asleep again.
“Oh man. I kinda wanna go back into that dream I had.” he thought. Although he was there for only one day, not even a whole one at that, he felt better there. But sleep did not come. So he opened his eyes and noticed something strange about his blanket. It wasn’t the one he always used. He quickly threw it of himself and looked around. He wasn’t home. He was still in Ponyville, everything just as he had left it the day before. A smile emerged on his face. He was still here.
And then the realization hit him. How was this even possible? If this wasn’t a dream, then this world was real. And if he was now here, he had no idea why or how, nor how to get back. What would he do? He knew noone, he had no job, simply nothing. First thing though would be to get something to eat. The rest could come later, since he now had all the time he never expected.

When he got downstairs he already smelt something good. Apparently Marksman got up earlier then he did and was already preparing breakfast.
“Morning Mark. Slept well?” he asked once he saw him
“Oh, hey there. Awake already? And yea I slept quite well.” he replied with a smile.
“Yeah I have to. I’m going to try and get a job at a local orchard and ya should never be late for stuff like that.”
“Whatcha cooking anyways? I smelt it all the way upstairs.” he said while looking into the kitchen
“Food mostly.” he replied with a laugh “You want some?”
“Sure! I’m starving.” and without a single moment to spare he took as much as his plate could carry. Toast, two eggs and some apples and a glass of apple juice. A simple breakfast and yet it all tasted great. That’s when he realized that his previous thought was correct.
“Listen. Think they would take me on that orchard as well?” he asked while sipping his apple juice
“Hmmm... Why would ya want to get a job? Yer memory might come back in a few days and you’ll be off in no time.” Marksman said while also finishing his drink
“Well, you don’t know that. What if it won’t return for months, or never? You can’t take care of me forever and this way I could be useful.” he said with the most convincing tone he could muster.
Marksman just laughed.
“Yeah, yer right. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get hit on the head again and you’ll get yer memory back.” he said and finished his juice. Once the dished were cleaned they both went to the orchard.

The walk didn’t take long, maybe only 10 minutes, and although the sun was already up, most of the town was still asleep or in their houses getting ready for work. He didn’t have to worry about not having a cutie mark yet. First he had to get the job.
And then they arrived.
“Here we are.” said Marksman “Sweet Apple Acres. Pretty big if ya ask me.” he waved his hoof, as if introducing the orchard and went in first. Mark didn’t need to be introduced to the place. He already knew it, as well as the ponies living and working there. He wondered why they needed help since only the Apple family used to work there but he didn’t really care. As long as he got a job that is.

Once they got closer to the farm they noticed a big red stallion, already waiting there for them, or at least Marksman, since he was there unannounced. Once he spotted them he started walking in their direction.
“Hey there Big Mac.” Marksman greeted the stallion
“Hello Marksman. It’s good to see you again.” he then looked at Mark “Who’s your friend?”
“Long story short, he’s a friend in need of a job. If you want the longer story, we could tell ya that too if ya want.” he looked at Mac with a smile
“Maybe later.” he looked at Mark and pointed a hoof at him “Nice to meet you. I’m Big Macintosh.”
Mark shook his hoof.
“My name’s Mark. It’s nice meeting you too.”
Big Mac then looked at both of them
“You’re both lucky. Applejack just went missing with her friends and applebucking season is around the corner. If she doesn’t come back I will need all the help I can get so you both get the job.”
“Applejacks gone?” asked Marksman surprised “I saw her only two days ago. Where would she go?”
“Another adventure I presume. She’ll tell us once she’s back, but now we need to get to work.”

The first day at the orchard wasn’t as hard as he had thought. His new body was stronger then his human body ever was, and even though he was now a pegasus, he still had what was needed for the work. Even his blank flank went unnoticed, or simply ignored, because Big Macintosh didn’t ask or comment it once during the day. Once they had prepared and done everything that was needed for the applebucking season, buckets and crates for the apples mostly, they did some work around the farm and its animals they both went home. Neither of them even noticed how late it had gotten, and neither of them had a problem with it. They both had a job now, and they both proved that they were capable of doing it properly which made them happy. One less problem to solve in the coming days of their new lives. One in a new town and the others in a completely new world

Chapter 4

„This is just too weird.“ thought Twilight. Even after all what happened to them, and what they saw up to now, she knew for sure there was something they were missing. Whatever it was, she was sure it would help them get back. Or at least figure a way to help them.
While the rest was still looking through the information book, she went back to the stacks of papers and documents that she found on the table and shelves. While she tried to find anything useful, she threw one glance over to the group. Seeing that Applejack, Rainbow and Pinkie being unable to help much in this room, she told them “You could go check out one of the other rooms. But together okay ?”
She knew that keeping them occupied was a good choice, and that it might even speed things up.

The three picked the door on the left to explore as first. They didn’t get far though.
“Uf. Its locked.” said Rainbow as she slammed into the locked door. She was the first to get to it and didn’t slow down a bit from excitement. The locked door did it for her.
“What now ?” she asked, rubbing her shoulder
“We could break it down ?” suggested AJ. The door didn’t look as sturdy as those before and the two of them would be able to do it.
“Yeah. Let’s break it down.” Pinkie approved
The two of them got ready to break it down, with Pinkie only waiting, since there wasn’t a spot for a third person. And just as they wanted to try the first time Twilight stopped them.
“No! Wait!” she yelled, instantly stopping the two of them from moving
“Oh common Twilight. What now.” said Rainbow with a clear disappointment in her voice
“Don’t break it down just yet ok ? There could be something behind it that would give us away. I know we haven’t seen anyone, except that one guy you knocked out, but you can never know.”
No response was needed. She was right and the door wouldn’t leave while they checked the next room. And this one wasn’t locked.

The three entered, instantly shielding their eyes with their arms. The room had white walls and had a bright light turned on, which in contrast to the rest of the facility was a sudden turnaround. Once their eyes adjusted they stopped just as fast as they entered. The room was another medical one. As those empty ones before, this one had lots of medical equipment, like scalpels, some chemicals, different books and other equipment they didn’t recognize. And just as before, there was a table in the middle with the strong light above it. But this time, the table was a dissection one. And it wasn’t bare.

“Girls….I think you need to see this.” Applejack said to the others while Rainbow and Pinkie went to check the cupboards and shelves for something useful, and at the same time avoiding the body on the table.
First to enter were Rarity and Twilight with Spike and Fluttershy behind them, although the later two didn’t get past the door. Rarity managed to stop Fluttershy while Twilight stopped Spike. Neither of them could handle the body on the table, or at least that’s what Twilight and Rarity thought. Spike was simply too young for this and Fluttershy was always bad with death. Nothing was more painful for her then losing one of her pets, and this looked even worse.
The two looked at them with confusion in their eyes, but then realized without asking, that whatever was inside was not meant for them, and so they returned to search the first room.

Closing the door behind her, Twilight stepped closer to the table, which Applejack was already looking over. For some reason she didn’t mind it as much as she thought she would, or as much as the rest of the girls. She didn’t really know why it was like that, could have been from the looks of the body. It was as tall as she was, had no hair, eyelashes or anything, and it was really skinny, as if the person didn’t eat for months. Also the skin was white, not far from how white snow was. It didn’t have any cuts, bruises or any marks on it. It was just frail looking.

“What do you think happened to it ?” she asked Twilight once she was able to look it over as well
“I don’t know.” she replied checking the body. She didn’t notice anything specific. Why was it here ?
While examining the body, both of them circled around the table. Applejack didn’t think she’d be able to explain anything, but she might be able to notice something Twilight didn’t. And that’s when her coat got caught on something. It was a medical chart. She took it and gave it to Twilight, happy she managed to find something. Twilight returned the smile and then looked into the chart. It had several pages, the first being some personal information about the person, the second and third were his medical history. And then she looked at the fourth one. Her smile vanishing instantly, she looked at the body again, then into the chart once more.
Holding the chart tightly, all she was able to say at the time was “Those monsters.”

All that was left for the four was to wait. There wasn’t anything they could do to help with preparations, except for Boss to give directions. They all got a room as well, with boss having his own, and since the Queen was somehow able to direct and order the changelings without any problems or mistakes, Boss stayed in his room with the cyan pony guarding his doors.

“I feel kinda bad for him.” said Jax to his friend
“For who ?” he replied with confusion
“Fenix. Who else ?” Jax looked at his friend “He has to stand there all day, and do nothing else then guard the door. That’s so boring.” He lowered his head a bit to show his disapproval but then raised it back up after a few seconds.
“Anyways, have you noticed how strange this place is ?” Jax said while looking at the changeling town they were in. Besides the fact that the houses looked ragged and destroyed, the changelings seemed weird. Not only were they hardly talking to each other, but they didn’t even make eye contact with each other, as if they didn’t need to or weren’t allowed to. Either way it creeped both of them out.
“I just hope we won’t have to stay here for long. This place gives me the chills.”
“I agree. Let’s just go back to our rooms. There’s nothing that can be done or seen here anyways.”
Jax just nodded in agreement and they both left the town.
The place they left behind them had something in there that was just weird. They had some information about the changelings, but none from this place, since it was somehow hidden.

“So we will be able to start tomorrow ?” Boss asked the Queen who called him into her throne room. Apparently, the changelings were able to finish what they had to in not even half a day., which Boss didn’t expect in the least. He tried to push his surprise back, but he knew that she noticed it the instant she told him.
“Yes. My subjects are hard workers.” she smiled but this time it was a somehow pleasant smile. If she felt something for her people, they might use it later against her somehow, but now the plan was a priority.
“That’s great.” he replied “Have you decided on how many will be sent and how many will stay in cover ?”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got more changelings than you can see here, some of them have already been sent out to scout the area.”
Bosses face now clearly showed his happiness, he wasn’t even trying to hide it. Soon Canterlot would be his and he would have what he wasted so much time on. Only thing he had to make sure was that these Changelings wouldn’t mess it up for him.

“I see you’re not that bad at this.” someone said from behind them, making Mark jump up a bit. They turned around to see who the stealthy pony was, only to be met with a lovely smile on an older mares face. Mark had never seen her before but to his surprise Marksman did.
“Hello there. Lookin' as lovely as always, aren’t we ?” he smiled at her to which he got a blush as a response
“Oh you Marksman. Always a flatterer.” she smiled while talking, making Mark think that she was a really nice person for some reason
“So what brings ya to us ? I thought keepin' the machines up and running' was hard 'nough work for ya?” Marksman asked her. That’s when Mark noticed that the mare had a horn hidden in her big mane, and that it had a faint glow around it.
“Years of practice darling. I don’t need to concentrate as much on them any longer. And when I saw the two of you a moment ago I just had to come ask you something.” she looked at them
“Did we catch yer eye ?” Marksman said jokingly
“Maybe.” she replied with a smile “But that’s not what I meant. You know were having a competition today don’t you ?”
“What kind of competition ?” Mark asked to which he only got a laugh from both of them
“Ya do know where ya are right now, dontcha?” Marksman asked with a smirk. He totally forgot and now felt stupid.
“Well it’s going to be a gaming competition and you two seemed to be quite good at it so why not join ? You can win a month of free playing here.” she said, knowing that the free time would attract them
“Really ?” Marksman asked “And where’s the catch ?”
He saw right through her. How he did that, Mark had no idea. Maybe he could teach it to him one day but maybe that was just his superpower or something like that.
“You got me there boy. Its fifteen bits for joining. I have to make a living too you know.” she smiled, even after she was discovered like that
“Uhh. I can’t afford that now, I only got so much from Mac and our paychecks are a few days from now.” he said, but Mark knew he was lying. Big Macintosh gave him more than enough and if he asked, he would get more for sure.
“How about you sonny ?” she looked at Mark now “I don’t think we met yet either. My names Flashy Screen, but friends call me Flashy.” she introduced herself and lifted one hoof into the air
“Names Mark. Nice to meet you Flashy.” he shook her hoof and smiled at her “And about the contest. I think I’ll join in. Sounds like fun.”
“Well then you should get ready. We’ll be starting half an hour from now.”

The place was crowded for a simple contest. Many ponies came to watch the show, some for fun, others to place bets on who would win. The contest itself didn’t have that many participants as Mark thought it would have. There were only twelve of them standing there, waiting for it to begin. Mark seemed to be the oldest, or the second oldest there which was a bit awkward to him, even more when he found out that the youngest one there, a small brown colored colt, was the reigning champion of the last contest. He had to try his best to not loose to a little child. Also he wanted the free month just as well.
They didn’t have to wait for long. Flashy came out and stood on a low stool just so the crowd could see and hear her better.
“Fillies and gentlecolts. All of you are gathered here to witness another one of our game competitions, but this time will be different. Now that we have an actual game house, and not just a few machines, we can have more rounds and make it more interesting this way.” she spoke with confidence and never once did she stop to smile. The crowd started cheering a bit and talking about what would happen next.
“I will explain what will happen next. Since we have twelve contestants and you don’t want to be here for a week till everyone plays a game, we will have elimination rounds.” she got off the stool and went over to twelve machines that were already ready for playing. The crowd was now silent, mostly because they didn’t know what type of elimination there would be.
“Everyone take a place. I’ll explain once you’re ready.” she ordered the contestants
The twelve each took a spot at one of the machines, with Mark taking the spot between a purple filly on one side, and the brown champion on the other.
“Now.” she said a bit louder so all could hear “You will play the game I choose and for how long I choose. The three of you with the least points will loose so do your best.”

All of them got ready for the first game, none of them wanted to drop out in the first round. Not a single sound could be heard from them and once the machines lit up from Flashy's spell, only the pressing of buttons could be heard.
The first game they played was the game with the filly head eating fruits. Mark never liked the game and was doing really badly. Once Flashy stopped them, he was sure he had lost already, only to find out that he did much better than half of them. The first to leave were the filly on his side, one cyan colt on the edge and a black colt.
The second game was jumping game. They were all controlling a pink mare that was collecting candy in different worlds. For some reason, Mark thought that the mare looked a bit like Pinkie Pie, even if the mare had a different hairstyle.
Once again, Flashy stopped the contestants to see who had how many points. Mark was the third one in points this round, which made him happy. That didn’t last long when he found out that the brown colt next to him was the first one. With an annoyed grin on his face he turned back to the machine, not even looking at who dropped out this time.
The third game was a shooter game of some sorts. The player had to shoot timberwolves, which jumped out of a dark forest and at the same time avoid hitting ponies running away from them. The game was fun to Mark, and he didn’t even notice how fast the round went. To his surprise, this round he was the victor. He had the most points and he even noticed Marksman cheering at him from somewhere in the crowd with a funny sounding “Woohoo.” The ones that dropped out this turn were an orange filly that sat on the left end, a reddish colt that was sitting next to the champion and a dark blue colt sitting somewhere on the right from him.
The last round was here and Mark could hardly keep his hooves calm from the excitement. In his previous life, he spent lots of time playing games, but at the same time he had hands and not simple hooves. This time though, the game didn’t just start.
“OK, stand back a few steps please.” Flashy asked them from behind them. Once the three that were left stood back Flashy cast a spell. Her horn shone white and the machines started rumbling a bit. Slowly they started changing in shape and size until Mark realized that the machines changed into the driving game he played with Marksman before. The realization that the machinery he was playing at was so advanced only flew through his mind for a few second when he sat into the chair and made himself comfortable. Last round. Now or never.
The round started and the three sped up, the champion taking the inner edge of the road and taking the lead, Mark being right behind him and the gray colt last.
For a while it seemed like none of them would change places since the champion was successfully blocking them from getting past him.
Not wanting to loose, the gray colt tried to get past them in one of the bigger curves. Mark let him get past him because he had problems controlling his car on that part of the track, but the champ had other intentions. One he noticed the car next to him, he tried to ram it with the back of his back bumper. This idea greatly misfired when the two cars got stuck into each other and the gray colts car greatly slowed the other one before they disconnected. Mark used this moment to get past both of them and with a smile on his face continued the track with the other two behind him. The gray colt had given up at this point and was just slowly doing his laps. The champion on the other hand tried to get past him again and again, but without success. Mark just used the same tactic the little guy used on them before. Not much longer and the game ended just like those before. Mark was the clear winner and from joy he jumped out of the machine, screamed a loud “Yeah!” and started jumping around the place. He was really happy. His first big accomplishment in a new life, even thought minor, but still great for him. While jumping, people got closer to congratulate him. He stopped so ponies could get closer to him. All he could hear were cheers and congratulations, and many even shook his hoof. Stallions and mares switched one after another, most of them he never even saw before. All went so fast he only slightly noticed a flash of light from his sides, thinking that someone took a picture. So full of joy, he didn’t even notice what the ponies were saying until Marksman got past them.
“Mate. Congratulations.” he said fast and started shaking his hoof
“Thanks. I didn’t think I would be able to win like that.” Mark thanked him with a wide smile on his face
“Oh yeah. That too.” Marksman replied
“That too ? Did I do something else ?” Mark was now half confused and half happy
“Look behind you !” Marksman told him, grabbed his head and turned it around
At first he had no idea what to look for until he saw it. The flash of light from before wasn’t a photo being taken, but magic happening. His previously blank flank was no longer bare and Mark finally had a cutie mark of his own.

“Twilight ?” the girls looked at her with concern.
At first she didn’t respond, thinking about what she just read and if she should even tell them about it. Keeping secrets in this situation was not wise thought, and so she started talking.
“You know the portal we went through, right ? Well it seems like they found a way to replace the magic that was needed for it to exist with something different.” she said and went silent again
“Common Twi. Please continue.” Aj tried to make her continue
“Well…” she started again “…in some of the scrolls I found some things about magic in this world. It exists in every living being here, but most of them don’t have the ability to harness it like we can.”
“Quit the science stuff and get to the point.” Dash couldn’t handle it anymore
“Dashie don’t be mean to Twilight.” Pinkie scolded her
“Anyways,” Twilight continued once more “these guys figured out how to harvest the magic in them and power up their portal. And that’s how they do it.” she finished and pointed at the body on the table
“The magic in them is bound with their lives, so that is the only thing that is left after they have what they need.” she put her hoof down and swallowed. She looked at the girls, thinking how they were taking this. Applejack and Dash seemed to take it without any problems, Rarity and Pinkie seemed to be broken by what they just heard. She was just as down as they were. Using someone else’s life for something like this ? What did they plan to gain from such cruelty ?

They looked at the body, then at each other, silently standing there until finally someone spoke.
“But, you seemed to use a lot of your energy to open the portal up. How many lives would they need to open it up on this side ?” ask she finished her question, each mare in the room turned to Twilight. She knew the answer but did not want to tell them. She could no longer keep it from them now.
“Hundreds actually, maybe even thousand.” she replied and lowered her head. She didn’t want to see their reactions to that
“Where would they even get so many humans down here ? This place is completely empty.” Dash said while the others were lost in thoughts
A good question to which none of them knew an answer.

There was nothing else left in that room that could help them any further. Twilight had some doubts that what they found out helped anyone else but her. Now most of them felt down and there was nothing she could do to cheer them up. She hasn’t found a way to open a way back or contact the other side. If she could figure either of those things out, they would be saved. For now thought, they just had to stick together, and to explore the door on the other side of the room.

Just as before, Dash and Applejack took their spots on sides of the door, waiting for Twilights nod of approval. Once they received it, both of them hit the door with all their might, shattering the weak wood into pieces and making Dash loose balance and fall. Luckily her hovering saved her from hitting the floor face first. All seven of them entered, Pinkie helping Dash to stand up again, and looked around. The room had no lights turned on so seeing anything was impossible. The girls looked around the doors for a light switch but could see anything in the dark.
“This is totally ridiculous.” said Dash angrily, and threw a punch at the wall. Her hasty action would normally go unnoticed would she not have caused the lights to turn on. The place she hit was the light switch they were looking for, built into the wall for some unknown purpose. Dash seemed pleased with her accomplishment, even if it was completely random.

The girls looked away from the cheerful Dash and looked at the room. Before their eyes lay a big laboratory, bigger then the two rooms before combined. And what was in the laboratory itself made another pony smile widely.
“Yes.” Twilight said under her nose and headed to her discovery

“My queen,” a changeling entered the throne room “the preparations have been completed.”
The queen looked at her subject and nodded in approval.
“Also,” he continued “the scouting team has sent a report.” he finished and approached her, handing her a weirdly glowing scroll. The queen took it and dismissed him. What was in that scroll, Boss wanted to hear. Since the day started, they have been discussing how best to follow the plan, and even though there were some mutual agreements, they still argued on some.
Although the queen knew the strengths of her kind the best, Boss spent most of his time in observing equestrian, trying to find out the most about its defenses and people, or in this case ponies. He was sure that getting his way would take some time with her, mostly because of her royal pride, but if things got dire, he could always pull out the “You lost one attack already.” and crush her pride a bit.
For now arguments would suffice.

The queen opened the scroll and lay it down on the table. It was completely empty, besides a faint green glow covering its surface. Some kind of secret message he thought, and he was once again right. The queens horn lit up with the same green glow as the scroll and once she touched it, its content was revealed and fully readable.
“Nice way of hiding the message.” he complimented the spell
The queen just threw an unpleasant smile and looked at the scroll.

“Seems like they got pretty close to the city already.” she started explaining the scroll
“According to their scouting, the city has just the basic defenses, nothing special like the last time.” he smiled when he heard the last part. She still had her defeat on her mind. His smile froze once the queen started laughing.
“Ah this is just brilliant.” she continued once she stopped laughing “We couldn’t have asked for anything better.
Now he was confused and interested at the same time. What was so funny for her ? She noticed his interest, but did not explain. She waited a bit, giggling a bit, before saying anything. A way of punishing him for the arguing maybe ?
“Guess who’s not home at the moment.” she told him while smiling. The same insincere and evil looking smile she had every time she smiled.
“I have no idea.” he answered
“You’re no fun. Cheer up a bit. Our little princess isn’t home and we can do whatever we want.” she said in the most unroyal fashion she could muster
He looked at her, confused about what she just said, but quickly realized. Celestia was the princess she meant. His mouth turned into the biggest smile he had in a while. Not only were they ready to strike, but the strongest opponent was not even there to stop them. He didn’t care that the lunar princess, Luna, was still there. During the day she was basically incapacitated, and in the night, she had enough work with the moon to be of any use. Now the only obstacle for them was the third princess and her husband. Easily dealt with.
He looked at the queen, still smiling.
“Shall we start then ?” he asked her and her response was a simple nod
“Get your people, well be heading out shortly.”

“Fenix, get those two idiots.” he ordered the cyan pony when he left the throne room. “I’m going to my room for some stuff. Meet me there when you find them.”
The cyan pony nodded and darted off into the city, looking for his colleagues.
The first one he found was the gray one.

“What’s the hurry ?” the gray stallion asked
“Boss called us over. I think it’s time.” Fenix replied and looked around. Jax was nowhere to be found “Where’s Jax ?” he asked
His friend only smiled and lifted his hoof, pointing upwards. Fenix followed his hoof and looked up at the sky. At first, he couldn’t see anything, but then he noticed something moving in the mist above. The something suddenly sped up and charged right at them, stopping only a few meters above their heads.
“Hey Fenix. What brings you here ?” Jax asked his friend, hovering above their heads
“You can fly ?” his friend asked surprised
“Yeah.” Jax answered and started laughing “Wasted my whole day trying to figure it out. But it was worth it.”
“Useful . Anyways, Boss is calling us.” Fenix said, turned around and headed to bosses room, the two of them following him, one on land, the other flying.

“Gentlecolts.” Boss said and looked at them, one after another “It is time to head out and fulfill what we came here to do. You all know what your mission is, don’t mess it up.” he said, lifting his backpack and placing it over his back.
The four of them were ready, physically and mentally, for what the mission was about to bring them.
Now the true test would begin, and only the better one would come out of it alive.

With the competition over, and after congratulations were given to the winner, the crowd was no longer to be found. Everypony went on with their daily routines, as well as Mark and his friend.

“Well that was fun.” said Marksman as they headed home. After Marks victory, there was no need for them to say there anymore. They bought all they had to beforehand and even with the time spent at the competition, they still had almost half the day left for whatever they wished to do.

“It really was.” Mark replied with a smile. “And if you think about it, I actually won two prices instead of one.” he said and laughed a bit. He had a good reason to be happy. Not only did he beat Ponyville's champion in video games and with that won a free month at the arcade, but he also managed to get his cutie mark as a bonus. The idea that getting a cutie mark in something he was good at on earth didn’t even cross his mind. Now, he would no longer have to try and hide. He was a normal pony, just as anyone else in Equestria.
The two of them walked slowly towards their home, both carrying bags with groceries and both of them smiling. Only thing that crossed their minds now was, what they could do the rest of the day. Mark was the first one to say something about this.

“So what do you think we can do today ?” he asked
“Hmmm.” Marksman replied and his face showed that he was thinking
“Well we could finish unpacking the boxes that are still left and clean the house up a bit.” he said after a moment
“Sounds boring.” Mark said and laughed a bit “But you’re right. We could finish cleaning up your house so it’ll look more cozy.”
“Ya’ll help right ? “ Marksman asked
“Of course I will. I’m not a freeloader.” he replied and both of them started laughing.

The rest of the trip home went faster than they thought, mostly because they didn’t even notice that the house was only a few meters away from them.
Putting the stuff they bought in their places, they now could start with the unpacking. The various crates and boxes littered basically every room now, which was all Marksman's fault. He didn’t mark the boxes with what was inside, so finding something usually meant checking every box separately.
Mark decided that the best would be to start with the boxes that were in each room first, then get back to the main storage, which was the living room.
The first room was Marksman's.

They both entered, Mark for the first time, and looked around. Mark was never here before, he had no reason to and exploring someone else's room seemed rude to him. The first thing he noticed was that the room was basically the same as his, only flipped around. The only difference was the amount of boxes. While Mark only had three boxes in his room, Marksman had six or seven scattered around. He wasn’t sure if he counted them all because the room was a bit messy.
“You got the same bed as I do.” Mark said one he looked over the furniture “Actually, everything seems the same as in my room.”
“Yeah they're the same. The place I got 'em was doin' some kind o' deal because they were closin'. T'was get one and ya’ll get a second one for half the price.” he explained
“Good deal then. The bed is awesome.” Mark said as he grabbed the closest box and started unwrapping it.

The box was filled with Marksman's clothes, which made Mark wondered why ponies even needed clothing. None the less, they started taking the clothes from the box and hang them in the cabinet. Most of them were leather jackets, except one coat which didn’t even look his, but he didn’t seem to notice.
The last piece of clothing he took out from the box sparked a sudden reaction in Marksman.

“Oh my god.” he grabbed it “I was looking everywhere for it.”
What he got looked like a simple greenish rug, but once he unfolded it and tied it around his neck, Mark realized it was a neck handkerchief of some sort.
“What is that thing mate ? It looks so old. “ he said while looking at his friend, breaking his happy smile.
“Oh this ?” touches it “It is something I keep to remind me of my past.” he says, his face turning into a sad smile
“How about we clean up this mess and then go get a drink ? We could call Big Mac as well since he’s all alone on the orchard.”
Marksman smiled and looked out of the window.
“Yeah. It’s a long story though, so we better hurry.” points at the window. The sun was already setting. How fast the time passed by was a mystery, even more so because they didn’t even finish one box yet.

The other five boxes, which Mark was able to gather into one place were much easier to unpack, mostly because they were filled with basic stuff from the kitchen or bathroom. It was kinda funny to him how Marksman was able to stack so many utensils into his room, and not realize it until now.
Once the room was done, the sun was almost down, only a bit was still seeable.
“Took longer than I expected.” Mark said when he placed the last pieces of cutlery in the kitchen
“Yeah. These boxes are evil...” he replies from the living room and starts laughing.
“Think we still have time to get Mac ?” Mark asked.
“We still have enough time till the bar closes so yeah.”
With that said, the two of them left the house, heading towards the orchard. They managed to only clean up a few boxes, but at least they managed to do something. Sadly, the day was nearing its end, but not before Mark would find out more about his friends past.
This town was full of secrets and surprises he had no idea they existed, and that one of them would soon show itself.

Chapter 3

The facility proved to be an even bigger labyrinth then the one in the royal garden. At first, it was only the one corridor they started at, but then the first junction came. Unable to decide which way to go, they picked the right one to follow the golden rule of escaping a labyrinth. Always pick one side and follow it till the end. But as they kept walking, even more junctions came, some went left and right, some in front and left or right or all three ways together. It became clear that this way of going would only lead them back where they came from just because there was no way to identify each junction. All the doors they passed had the same design as first two they found, while the one that could be opened to both sides was only rarely used, and that didn’t help at all. Even the walls had the same pattern and a metallic looking color. And so they went to the last room they had passed and did a thorough search, but now looking for something specific. The last few rooms they passed on their way here were all unlocked, and all of them were empty as well. How could such a huge facility, with so many laboratories have no one doing anything there? No researchers, no engineers or technicians, not a single soul. Also, the rooms they explored were fully equipped for whatever they were used for, or would be used for if anyone was there. Besides the first room with the screens and the laboratory, they found something that looked like a chemical lab, with all the chemical glasses, burners and chemicals themselves, another room with screens, which was smaller than the first one and without a printer. The next two ones were double rooms with a window separating them, one side having a few chairs and the other one surgical equipment and tables. They also found one room which was completely empty.
The room they were now searching was the monitor’s one. At first it seemed like they would have to go even further to find what they needed but luckily, they didn’t need to.

“Got one.” Spike said raising his arm. In it, he was holding a bright orange marker. “There are some more here as well. Should I take them all?” he asked while handing the marker to Twilight.
“This one’s great. Good job Spike. And I think it might be a good idea for everyone to have one. Just in case.” she said and helped Spike give each of them a marker with a bright color. They were really lucky with their find. The metallic walls and doors were too dark for any pencils or pens, and finding crayons here would be impossible. These markers on the other hand, had colors which would show on most of the surfaces here, if not wiped off. And since they haven’t met a single other person here, there was little possibilities for that to happen.

Continuing their search, now also marking their path, they continued to take the right turn on each junction, but still no people or rooms with something important for them.
“Argh! This is taking too long. I wish I had my flying back. I would just zip through the rooms and come back if I found something.” Dash said with a frown. She had been trying to get her flying back ever since she found out she was able to float a bit. She made some progress, but even with trying, she wasn’t able to float more than a few centimeters higher.
“And what would you do if you met someone? What if you got lost, or something happened to you? We’re not as fast as you.” Twilight scolded her. Dash was the only one with part of her abilities back, if you don’t count Pinkies jumping around as an ability, and that gave the other girls hope their powers would be back sooner or later. Twilight was just glad that Dash didn’t have her flight fully back yet. Holding her down and calm would prove to be a challenge without magic.
“I would just fly away? You know I’m the faster flyer ever, don’t you?” replied Dash with pride in her voice
“Well now you’re not sugarcube, so stick with us for now ok?” AJ joined in
Dash didn’t reply to that. She just floated next to them as they continued.

After the next junction, where once again they took the right path, the corridor seemed to become endless. There were no rooms on either side of the wall, which made Twilight wonder a bit. How could humans build such a huge facility underground, or at least she thought they were underground since there weren’t any windows anywhere, and without magic at that. But she had time to think about that later on because now interest shifted at what was in front of them.

All seven of them now stood at the end of the corridor. Before them stood a massive double door, not unlike those before, but this one seemed to be even sturdier then those before. AJ and Dash didn’t wait for any orders. Both grabbed a handle on both sides and pushed. Nothing... The door didn’t even move an inch. They tried again but with no success. The door was either too heavy for both of them or was somehow barred. Breaking it down wasn’t even suggested this time. What was behind the doors that needed so much protection?
“What about this?” asked Pinkie and pointed at something none of them noticed before. It was a small black box, approximately in the middle of the wall right next to the doors. Its colors were hiding it well and it didn’t seem to have any buttons on it. Only one thin part of it was missing, going from top to bottom.
“What do you think it is?” asked Pinkie excitedly
“I have no idea.” replied Twilight while checking the box out
“Try the card.” said Fluttershy from the back so quietly she was almost overheard
“You mean this card?” asked Twilight while taking the card Spike took from the man before “How?” she asked with confusion
“Let me show you.” Fluttershy said, taking the card from her and then swiping her through the part that was missing. The box beeped silently and then a unlocking sound could be heard from the doors.
“How did you know that?” asked Twilight, now with even more confusion in her voice
“I’ve seen something similar in one of the hospitals I once went to. It looked differently but I thought it might have been the same.” she explained
“Good work darling.” Rarity praised her
“Thanks.” she replied, now a bit louder
AJ and Dash took the handles just as before and pushed again. Now the door flung open with ease. But what they were now looking at was something none of them could explain or understand. Just outside the now opened doors was a thin passageway going to the right, as well as left, but it wasn’t a corridor. On the other side of the path was now a railing instead of a wall, and behind was a huge room spreading into every side, horizontally as well as vertically with none of the ends visible. Only the wall on the opposite side of them could be seen, as it was glowing in a bright green color. There were also numerous rails going from side to side, which after closer inspection seemed to be moving the green lights from place to place.
All seven of them stepped into the room, with Dash and AJ going right up to the railing, with the rest following them only for Rarity to take a step back once she looked what was below. Just as the ends on both sides couldn’t be seen, neither could be the bottom.
“Whoa. This place is huuuge.” said Dash
“What is this place?” asked Rarity while looking around and squeezing the wall. None of them knew, but soon they would find out.

With the help of their guide, they arrived not longer than half an hour later at the castle. Not that they wouldn’t have found it without him. The path they were taking was the one the guide led them on the whole way, not once changing paths on any of the junctions. This little detail didn’t bother them at all. It just proved Boss to be right once again. But what they were led to, they just didn’t anticipate. In front was the castle they were looking for. They knew that from looking at it, but its condition was horrid. They thought that the castle would be only damaged a little, or not at all since every structure like this was built to withstand a lot, and in a magical land even more, but this?
The castle stood on a patch of land, floating in the middle of deep pit, which was half full with the green ooze they saw in the forest before. They could clearly see the castle move slowly up and down, which either meant that it was floating on the ooze, or was held up by magic. Either was possible. The draw bridge was long and wide enough to support at least one wagon with an escort on its sides, but that would be hardly possible now. The bridge had no chains, which would keep it from falling or drawing the bridge up. Also, parts of the bridge were missing or were broken, making it look extremely unstable. The castle itself was in the worst condition. Made from a dark grayish stone, the structure stood tall on the land with two towers on each side. The wall itself was build from one tower to the other, making the castle walls spherical. The damage the castle has received made the magnificent structure look even older that it probably was, and also, as if it was besieged by an huge army with either explosives or catapults. Parts of the wall were missing completely, holes could be seen everywhere, some only a few centimeters small, others big enough for a human to stand in. The top of the wall closer to the left tower had a part missing, which looked as if something had bitten it off. The towers weren’t spared from the holes either. While the left one had a chunk missing right in the middle, the other one was missing its roof.

Upon entering of the castle grounds, the four could see the damage better. The houses that were scattered asymmetrically and at random were also damaged. While still standing, most of them didn’t have any doors, parts of their roofs, or any roof at all. The few stores they saw had basically no merchandise. This made the four wonder, what they have gotten themselves into. Everything looked as if it was just waiting for the last push to fall apart completely, yet still, something was odd. The changelings that were living here seemed as if they didn’t mind at all. Could have been by the fact that seeing any emotion in their faces was almost impossible, but still the feeling lingered in the air. Not even the presence of four strangers would cause a reaction, just as if it was all normal for them.

They moved between houses, following their guide who was making sure they wouldn’t get lost. After a while in the house labyrinth, they arrived at the only building in the castle grounds that wasn’t missing anything. It still looked ragged and unclean, but it had a door and a roof, even windows and a chimney. Clearly a house of someone important.

Upon entering they realized that not everything was as it seemed from outside. What looked like a simple house from outside was a huge hall on the inside. Tall black pillars were supporting the ceiling, the floor was covered in black and gray tiles clean enough to reflect an image of the one looking into them, the wall were not decorated by various dark colored fabrics, paintings as well as suits of armor, which weren’t meant for ponies, nor any creature the four could identify.
At the end of the long hall was a throne with a dark purple carpet leading right to it. Behind it was a huge glass mosaic depicting a once green forest with a black sun and its dark rays in one corner, and the yellow sun in the other? And on the throne sat the person they were looking for.

“Wait here!” the guide ordered them and then walked towards his queen. Once he was close enough to her he bowed down and said
“My Queen. I bring you the intruders.” he then waited for his queen to nod in approval and then walked back to them
“You may approach her.” he informed them and proceeded to stand by a nearby pillar
As they started walking towards the queen, who was now watching them from her throne, they once again noticed the buzzing sound, but this time they knew who made it. At first they didn’t see anything until they realized that the ceiling was even darker then before. And then it hit them. The whole ceiling was covered in changelings, all of them watching them to make sure they wouldn’t try anything. Boss led the way, just as before, and once he was as close as their guide was he kneeled before the queen and so did the others.

“My queen, me and my companions are grateful that you had accepted us into your castle.” he then looked her straight in the eye and waited. To his surprise, she smiled.
“Stand up! And don’t lie to me again, or you’ll ruin my mood. I can see through you so before we get to business, since that’s why you’re here, why don’t you tell me the truth. And nicely from the beginning.” as she finished, she straightened up in her throne, making her look even more terrifying and dominant. Boss swallowed. He knew he had to tell truth once, and he was ready for it.

“So you crashed and lost you memory? How unlucky can a pony get?” asked Big Mac
“Tell me about it…” Mark replied while sipping his cider “At least I didn’t loose all my memory. I still recall bits and pieces, like my name for example.”
“You’ll get your memory back eventually. No need to worry.” Marksman assured him
“Well see.” Mark replied

It has been two days now that they were working with Big Mac in the orchard. The work was hard, even more for someone who was just getting used to his new body, but it came with a feeling of satisfaction which he just couldn’t understand. But that wasn’t the only thing that he had to get used to. This whole world was different and discovering it whole would take him more than what time he had spent here. Working for almost the whole day didn’t help either. They both woke up early in the morning, Marksman being always the first one, and went to the orchard while the sun was still slowly rising. Most of the day consisted of preparations for the applebuck season that was nearing and of some training for the two, so they knew how to actually buck the apples down. Those that went by the orchard were looking really confused when they saw a green pegasus, one who they never saw in Ponyville before, learn how to buck apples, but Mark didn’t mind. He still wasn’t able to fly so getting a job as a weather pony was out of options for now. The day before they ended working late in the evening, while the sun was already setting, just because they were still getting something done and they could end sooner the next day. And since today went without a problem too, Big Macintosh decided to invite the two new ponies for a drink.

“So Mac, tell me…” Mark said “What do you think about me not having a cutie mark?”
“Well…” Big Mac started but he was interrupted
“I’m just asking because this guy totally freaked out.” he said with a smile and pointed at Marksman
“No I didn’t…” Marksman replied and quickly took a sip from his drink, blushing mildly
“I find it weird that a pony as old as ya are doesn’t have one. But I’m not one to judge… Ya just need to find that one talent that yer better at the rest.”
Mark nodded, accepting his answer. He knew Mac noticed it while they were working but never heard any comment about it, nor did he see a reaction on the stallions face. He just hoped that there would be more ponies like he was, because one day he would walk in Ponyville during daylight, and he didn’t want to become the center of attention.
“Maybe ya’ll get your cutie mark during the applebuck season.” said Marksman, no longer blushing
“Who knows? I never did it before so I anything can happen.” he replied, thinking about it. He definitely needs a cutie mark if he wants to stay here without an incident, but in what? On earth, he was just a normal guy who did what he was told to, and following someone’s orders isn’t a talent at all.
“What about Applejack?” he asked after he remembered that she and all her friends have been gone “Heard anything about them?”
“Not yet. I just hope shes ok.” Mac replied with a sad look on his face.
“Now you’ve done it Marky. You made him sad.” was the only thing that was now in Mark’s mind
“Don’t worry, mate. How many were they? Seven? And they already did some dangerous stuff if I heard correctly, so they’re probably just somewhere without post or somethin’.”
This lame attempt of cheering someone up would normally not work, but for Mac it did. He smiled and the sadness was completely gone.
“You’re right. Lets have a drink on them, so they’ll be safe and successful in whatever they were doing.” he said and raised his glass, and so did the other two. After finishing their glasses they started looking at each other with a serious expression on their faces, only to burst into laughter after a few seconds. Maybe it was from the situation, or from the cider that was really well made, but Mark knew one thing. He had found another friend.

Time flies by really fast when you’re having fun with friends. The three didn’t even notice that the sun was long gone, and now the moon was ruling the sky. Not even the bar getting emptier stopped them from having a good time. What brought them to a halt was something they totally forgot and that was the fact that Big Macs wallet wasn’t bottomless. Since the two haven’t been paid yet, and this was Big Macs idea, he was the one leaving with the lighter pockets. But he didn’t mind. Mac knew this would happen that’s why he only brought so much and once they got their paycheck, they would be the one inviting him. That’s what friends are here for, aren’t they?
Once the tab was paid, and the bar behind them closed, the three split to go home.

Another peaceful night, another sunny morning. Just as the days before Marksman was up early, making breakfast. How he was able to wake up so early Mark had no idea, but at least he had breakfast ready when he came down. “This would be a day like before.” he thought while eating, but he was wrong.

“You want me to do what?” Mark asked confused
“Fly up to the barn roof and fix that wheel. You just need to tighten the screw, that’s all.” Big Mac explained to him once again
“Uhmm….Well….That could be a problem.”
“How could flying be a problem for a pegasus?” now Mac was the one being confused
“You know how I told you I lost my memory right? Well I also forgot how to fly.” Mark lied while trying to look as ashamed as he could muster. The truth was that he just didn’t have the time to even try it, mostly because he thought he had all the time he needed.
Mac just looked at him, not knowing how to react to this. After a while, most likely after thinking this through, he said.
“Hmmm. I’ll need a ladder for this.” said Mac calmly and then headed to the barn to get one
“Wait. Ya know I can use this don’t ya?” Marksman said while pointing as his horn
“Forgot you were a unicorn there.” Mac replied with a smile and so did Mark. It wasn’t hard to not notice Marksman’s horn. His frizzy hairstyle made sure it was hidden in the mane and his strength, which was much bigger than that of a normal unicorn made him look even more like an earth pony.
The fact that they both forgot about him was just too funny not to laugh at. After calming down, Marksman walked up to the barn and concentrated on his spell. A faint greenish aura appeared the wheel and weak creaking noise could be heard from the screw getting tightened. Once done, the aura simply faded away.
“Yay. You did it.” Mark cheered
“Thank ya. Thank ya.” Marksman bowed.
After this simple display of Marksman abilities, and Marks sad disabilities, the three of them returned to other work they had that day.

“Ya should probably find someone who could teach ya how to fly tomorrow.” said Marksman while they were taking care of the animals.
“Yeah... Why don’t I just go to the town square and shout: Who can teach a blank flank how to fly?” replied Mark a bit irritated
“Not a bad idea.” Marksman smirked “But I think ya would just get laughed at.”
“That I would.” he agreed. He only had two options. Either learn how to fly alone or find help. And tomorrow was a good day for either, since they had a day of. And maybe his luck would help him at least this one time.

Once again, work was done once the sun started setting, and so they went straight home. No invitation from Big Mac tonight. Neither of the two minded, since both of them were tired. One because he spent more energy on thinking about his flying then on working, and the other because looking proud while working hard isn’t as easy as he had thought.

After a light dinner and then a quick shower both of them just couldn’t wait to go to bed.
Mark opened his window, just like he did the nights before, so he could watch the stars from his bed before he fell asleep. This night though, his sleep didn’t come as fast as it normally did. His mind was too busy thinking about his wings and what would happen tomorrow. It was clear to him, that staying inside the house the whole day would be just weird, which also meant he would have to show his blank flank to the whole town since everyone would notice a new pegasus in town, even more when he wouldn’t be flying. And that was another thing he had to take care. He had no idea what he would do, but eventually, he decided that he would just let luck help him improvise.
Once his mind calmed down a bit the sweet sensation of sleeping finally enveloped him. His thoughts drifted off into his dreamland and all was now quiet.

“What in the hay is this place?” asked AJ while trying to find something that would let them know.
No answer came. There simply wasn’t an explanation for what they were able to see from there. Only thing clear to them at that point was that the facility was huge in all dimensions, and that finding a way back home would take more than they thought. That’s when Dash walked over to the rail and leaned over it.
“Guys look how deep it is.” she told them while leaning over it, a bit too much at that. If not for a Fluttershy’s quick reaction, Dash would now be falling into the deep pit.
Now both on the ground, one with eyes wide open with an image of what could have happened if not for her friend, the other still holding her tight, not letting go for anything in the world.
“Thanks Fluttershy, but could you let me go now? I kinda can’t breath.” asked Dash with a weak smile
“Ok” replied Fluttershy but didn’t want to let her friend go. Only after a little push from Dash she finally stood up.
“Are you insane Dash? You want to die?” Twilight scolded her “Don’t ever do that again.” she finished, but then added a silent “Please…” which she thought no one heard, but was mistaken. Dash stood up and was still shaking a bit. The image of her hitting the bottom must have made an imprint in her mind.
“I’m sorry.” she finally said once she managed to rid herself of the thought “Kinda forgot I still couldn’t fly.”
“Just be careful okay?” said Twilight “We still have no idea where we actually are and this…” she pointed at the lights in the back of the room “…doesn’t help at all.”
“Can we get moving?” asked Rarity while still at the wall, but with a bit more courage now.
Since there was nothing note worthy there, they started moving again and once again they took the right path.

The more they walked, the creepier it got. The light from the corridor was long gone, and now the only lights showing them what was in front were small green lights, too small and spread for them to chase the dark away. The color didn’t help either. The place simply gave the feeling or something bad, somehow familiar to them but they just couldn’t figure it out. Whatever it was might have been caused by the lights on the other side. They clearly covered the whole wall, and were too close to each other and far bigger than those next to them, so they weren’t part of a walkway. Also there was something weird.

“Guys wait!” Dash ordered them and hurried to the railing again causing Fluttershy to move closer almost instantly. Dash noticed this but she didn’t mind. She grabbed the railing with one hand and pointed with the other.
“Can you see that?” she kept pointing but her finger was moving from side to side. The rest of them all came closer to the railing, except for Rarity who still didn’t get used to the height, and started following her finger.
“What are you talking about? There’s nothing there.” said Spike trying to figure what her friend saw
“Oh…. Do you mean that?” asked Fluttershy and pointed at something
“How can you two see something while we can’t?” asked twilight
“Uh... I can see it now! Look, look!” Pinkie jumped from joy as she finally found what the two were now pointing at.
After a bit more focusing and finger following, the rest managed to notice it too. What they thought were simple lights on the other sides, were actually moving. From side to side, switching places, some going as far as they could, before they disappeared and some coming back from the sides. If the place was weird before, now it was just ridiculous. But watching the lights didn’t give them anything and so they once again continued.

After walking for a few more minutes, some of them started thinking that there might not even be anything on this side of the path. But returning and going the other way might not bring anything either and splitting up, just as before, was out of option. If not for Spike, who just as always didn’t really get join arguments like this, they would have missed something important.

“Girls stop arguing and look at this!” he ordered them and stood next to something that was on the wall. Once they came closer, they noticed it was another black box, but this one looked a bit differently. This one was a bit smaller and had rectangle piece missing, starting from the swiping slot and spreading up to the corners of the box.
“I wanna try!” Pinkie squeaked, grabbing the card from Twilight, who just took her out from her pocket and without hesitating swiped the card in the slot. This time though, there was no sound of doors unlocking. Only a beep and after it, the rectangle missing lighted up. Confused, all of them just stared at it until it went off.
“That wasn’t there before.” said Pinkie with a sad voice
“Maybe we have to do something to it?” suggested Spike
“Yeah but what?” asked Dash
“Lemme try.” said AJ and took the card. She swiped it in the slot and once the lights went back on she made tried tapping on it with her fingers, hitting it with a fist even drawing on it with her finger. Nothing helped.
“I give up.” she said and tried to lean onto the wall with her hand, but miscalculated her distance and landed straight on the rectangle. The box beeped once again and suddenly, a door shaped piece of the wall slid to the side, revealing an entrance. The six just stared at AJ with mouths wide open.
“You are the luckiest mare in whole of Equestria, you know that?” said Dash, to which AJ just blushed. That something like this happened, and that someone wasn’t Pinkie, just made this day even more confusing.

Since Applejack was the one who discovered it, she decided shed go in first. The hallway she discovered didn’t seem long, but it had no lights, except the one on the end, and it was too narrow for more then one person.
At the end of it was a room, quite big in size. It had two doors on the left and right side of the hallways they just came from, four bookshelves right in front of the passage with many different books, scrolls and stacks of paper. There was a wooden desk as well, with an old lamp on it and even more scrolls and papers. On the opposite side from the table, right on the wall next to the door was a huge map. The girls started looking around and noticed that behind them, right next to the hallway they used to enter this room, were windows showing the green lights on the other side.
Not wasting a second, they split up to search the whole room for anything, their hopes high because of how well hidden the room was.

The first discovery, that was even hidden, was the map.
“Girls look. It’s the map of Equestria!” Spike said while examining the map “It even has its border countries.”
The map that was on the wall did indeed show equestrian, with many details like location of towns and their names, lakes and rivers, even the Everfree forest, but it was not correct. Twilight noticed the differences instantly, because she already saw a map of Equestria, even maps from neighboring countries. The map was missing some minor mountains, rivers and a few towns that were close to the border. The neighboring countries only had their capitals noted, but those were also in the wrong place or had a wrong name.
“How did they get a map of Equestria?” Spike asked. Twilight didn’t know, but an answer might be somewhere in the room.

“Look guys! I found our pictures.” Pinkie said with a smile, giving them a stack of photos she had found. Not only were they there, but many other ponies from Ponyville, Canterlot or other cities they had visited. There were also ponies that they never saw, even dragons and other species they hadn’t met yet.
“What’s wrong with these people? Why do they have these?” Rarity asked with a clear disgust in her voice
“I…I think they might have been studying us.” said Twilight slowly. She was now browsing the scrolls and papers on the table. The pile seemed even bigger, which proved to be right once the girls noticed that some stacks from the shelves were missing. The speed she was able to flip through them amazed all but Spike, who had seen this before. When she wanted, Twilight was able to read a whole book in a matter of seconds. A few papers would take even less.
“What do you mean by “studying us”?” once again Rarity asked
“I’m still not sure why, but look at this.” she said while handing her a think book. Rarity opened it and she was shocked. What she had in front of her was info about most of the ponies they saw on the photos. All their names, abilities, personalities and others.
The girls flipped through the pages to see if they were in it as well, which they were. How these people could find so much information?

The room still needed to be searched more, just as what was behind the doors. But the girls, although creeped out by their recent discovery, knew they were getting closer. But would they find the truth, and if yes, could they handle it?

Telling her the truth might be a challenge. He didn’t want her to know more then she needed to, but on the other hand, he had no idea what shed to if she found out he was keeping something from her. She did see through them instantly before, so risking it might end more than just their plan. He had to improvise.
“My queen. Just as you have guessed, we aren’t real ponies. Were not even from this world.” he started to spark her interest
“We come from the planet earth, which you could never have heard of. You probably want to know how we could get here, well I’m not going to bother you with the details.” he said but quickly realized his bad wording when he noticed her face “Not that you wouldn’t understand. Its just that we aren’t completely sure how we did it, so trying to explain it would be useless.” he added, safe for now. He was good at talking, but having an entire army above his head was something new to him.
“What we did was, we managed to open a portal in our world that allowed us to cross over to yours.”
“Silence!” Unlike before, the queen now had an expressionless face. Was she thinking about what he just told her, or about the most entertaining way of their disposal?
And then she smiled. It was a smile that sent chills down the spine but a smile nonetheless.
“Interesting.” she said while piercing him with her green eyes. “Now tell me…Why would you go through so much trouble to come to this world, and most importantly, right into my domain?” she asked.
This was what he was waiting for. No more pointless explanations, just the continuation of his plan. Now the smile was on his face.
“What would you say, if I offered you not only this whole world, but also ours as your own personal kingdom?” he asked and watched her carefully. And he saw it. The spark he was waiting for.
“So you came here to take over two worlds and you need my help? You are one brave man.”
He was. His plan worked, he had her where he wanted to and she didn’t even realize.
“I take it you like the idea of this?“ He asked, even though he already knew the answer
“Sounds fun.” she replied

This simple proposal of something so big was of course not enough. The queen needed to know more. The details, the whole plan, everything they needed to prepare and get before they even began this. After almost two hours of discussion, the boss had said and explained every single piece of his plan, apart from the ending of course. He knew that the queen of changelings was power hungry, even more so after her last bitter defeat and he would use it against her. He had something in stock for her, and she wouldn’t enjoy it as much as he did.

Their plan was now in full motion. They made it to a different world, found their allies and managed to convince them to help and it didn’t even take them as long as they thought it would. Boss just couldn’t wait to see the expressions on the royal faces once he stood above them, and he certainly didn’t have to wait much longer.

Morning came faster than he could imagine, mostly because his mind was thinking only about this day. Even his dreams were playing out various different scenarios, which could never happen in reality, but his mind thought they were possible. In one of them he ended up being the new king of Equestria. Even after waking up, his first thought was “Oh no. Its morning already…” Not even the sun smiling at him from his open window helped. At least not right away. What made his mind forget his “small” problem was the smell of breakfast. As always, Marksman’s cooking was top notch making Mark wonder how he could wake up so early and then manage to make something so delicious.

“Slept well, mate?” he asked while still in the kitchen, getting some more apples for himself.
“Meh. Couldn’t really fall asleep.” Mark replied
“Why so? Don’t tell me ya were worried about yer wings.”
He managed to hit right in the middle, which he knew once he saw the look on Mark’s face.
“Ya shouldn’t worry about stuff like that. Not everypony is perfect, and there are some who are just like ya. I think I heard about a girl who couldn’t fly yet either who lived here.”
“Yeah. A girl. Do I look like a filly to you?” he asked a bit irritated.
Marksman looked at him, as if analyzing him, and then said “A bit.” with a wide smile on his face.
“Thanks…” Mark replied and finished his breakfast “So what are we going to do today? We got the whole day free.”
“Well, we need to get some groceries and we might go look at the town a bit. Ya didn’t see it yet, did ya?”
“Only in the morning and evening when we went to work.”
“Didn’t have time for sightseein’ while falling did ya?” another funny comment from Marksman, but this time taken better.
“Naah. Fell too fast to notice anything.”
The both of them burst into laughter and once Marksman was done with his breakfast and the dishes were clean they set out for the marketplace.

It was still a bit early and not many ponies were outside, which gave Mark a bit more time to try and cover his flanks with his wings. He knew that no one would really mind if he was walking, but after they would see his flank, they would know he was different. Sadly, his wings weren’t as long as he had thought and they didn’t reach far enough without looking awkward. He gave up before he would hurt himself.

Getting to the marketplace didn’t take more than a few minutes, but it was long enough for more ponies to fill the streets, all of them trying to get what they needed while it was still fresh and available. Another good thing since no one cared about anyone who they didn’t know, and just hurried from stall to stall. So did they.
The marketplace was just like any other he had seen before. Ponies of all shapes, sizes and gender all trying to sell their stuff, just a bit smaller then he had expected it to be.

Being able to somehow dodge everyone and not bump into them, they were able to get all the food they wanted and needed. Since Big Macintosh gave them some money the day before so they could go shopping, so he paid the half just as he had promised the first day, and he still had a lot left. Food was much cheaper then on earth, which made him feel a bit rich, even though he didn’t have that many coins, or bits how they called money here. And then he saw something he didn’t expect to even exist in this world, even less likely in Ponyville. It was a gaming house, or so the title indicated. Not wasting a second, he hurried over to the building as fast as his hoofs could carry him, which was quite fast even though he still carried some of their groceries. When Marksman realized what was happening, Mark was already standing in front of the doors.

“Oh… My… gosh. Please tell me I’m not dreaming.” he said, clearly excited about his discovery
“Well no, ya aren’t. Ya’ve awake for some time now.” Marksman replied with a smirk on his face “But I think ya might be referring to the place in front o’ ya, so no, yer not dreamin’.”
“I didn’t think that it would be here in Ponyville. It’s not something you see everyday.”
“So from all the things ya remember, it’s a gamin’ place? That’s kinda funny.”
Once again he was right. He completely forgot about his story from all the excitement.
“I told you, I remember some parts, I just didn’t mention it.” he managed to save the situation since Marksman seemed to accept this explanation.
“All I know about this place is, that after the royal wedding, some rich ponies decided to build it here as a thanks for helpin’.”
“Oh. So that’s why it’s called The mare six game house.” now he knew why it was here, all that was left now was to go in. “Sooooo… Can we go in now?” he asked while trying to make a small filly’s voice
“Well, we did buy everythin’ we needed, so why not?” Marksman agreed and they both went in.

The place looked almost as he had remembered them from earth. Bigger on the inside than from the outside, full of different machines to play on, music playing all over the place with the lights a bit dimmed to create a better atmosphere. It was like a dream come true, since back home he used to love going to places like this. But then he realized something. How was he supposed to play anything without hands? Improvisation would have to be used here.
Not knowing where to start, they both just walked between the machines to find something that would catch their interest. And they saw a lot. Many games he knew just by seeing them, some he had never seen before. There were many copies of the games he played himself, for example a game like Pac-man was on a few machines but instead of a yellow ball eating things, and it was a little filly’s head.
Finally they found something they could play together and against each other at the same time. It was a racing game with its own car-like booth. It had pedals and a steering wheel, only the seat was shaped in a weird way, so a pony could sit on it. Both of them sat down in one and threw in their first bit to start the game.
Without even knowing how, Mark was able to beat Marksman with ease, even though at first it looked like he would loose, since he didn’t know how to grab the steering wheel. After coming up with sticking his hooves into the wheel he was all set to win.

“Oh yeah! I win!” Mark yelled with joy
“Ya were just lucky. Another one?” Marksman replied to him while trying to look like a fighter
“Of course. Beating you is just too much fun.” Mark said and started to laugh, not just from the victory, but also because Marksman’s face looked funny, and not fierce as he wanted to.
Who would have thought that he would be able to find a place he would love to visit so soon in his new life. Or even more, what else waited for him that day.