Voided Light

It's very hard to believe in Displaced, its another to be a Displaced. Alice, however, had accepted that the moment the woman's lips graced her forehead. Unlike her brother, she had believed good would come of the Displaced, even if it happened to be an insane cat-goddess.

And it was for that reason, when she woke up, she wasn't surprised to find a few things different. Her pulse, very loud in her head in the silence, sounded like she had two hearts. Also, she was laying in the middle of a large forest. Unlike on her Earth, where few forests existed, and those were unhealthy too, this one was thriving. Not just that, she saw a manticore, mythological in her world, staring at her.

Of course, what she could see in the distance and that was what shocked her. The world had become ridiculous. Chessboard ground, floating trees, weird animals, flying fish, quite literally. Of course, weirdest of all, was the chimera style creature standing there talking to two... horses?

"OH, ho, ho, this is sooo much fun! How about a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony?" It asked, holding up the white ones tail, eliciting a giggle from Alice as the white horse looked back at her tail.

She gasped before speaking, "Playtime is over for you, Discord!"

He tossed a few seeds here and there, "Oh, I doubt that," he said, rather boredly at that. He held up a few seeds towards the horses, "Hungry?" They ignored it as the seeds bounced off their muzzles, "Suit yourself."

It was then that Alice noticed a smaller purple horse in the background and slid over to her, unnoticed. "Hullo!"

The purple horse started, "You can see me?"

Alice raised an eyebrow, "You're real aren't you?"

"Well, I, yes of course," the pony sputtered, "But..."

She was interrupted by the two larger horses being surrounded by light and wind, and a large burst of rainbow came from them before slamming down and turning the chimera into stone. When Alex turned back to look for the purple horse, she was gone. After looking at the spot quizzically, she moved forward and poked the chimera's statue as the horses turned around.

"Never seen that before..." She muttered, this caused the two horses to turn around and light up their horns. Alice's hands flew up, showing her surrender. "Don't shoot!"

"What are you? Some creation of Discord's?" The blue one demanded. Alice gave her a raised eyebrow.

"You mean him?" She pointed at the statue with her thumb. This got a nod from the white one, to which Alice shook her head. "I doubt that he could create anything similar to me. I'm human," she walked down towards the two horses, holding out a hand. "Name is Alice Waston."

"Human?" The white horse asked, putting her hoof in Alice's hand and receiving a shake, looking positively puzzled, "If that's your species, I've never seen your kind before."

"Figures, we seem to get into a fair bit of trouble. I'd know where I was if you could show me a map, then I might be able to go home," Alice said, smiling. The blue hesitated and opened her mouth but was stopped by the white one.

"Of course, I'd be happy too. I am Celestia and this is my sister, Luna," She said smiling.

"Lead the way," Alice said, smiling in return.

"It's definitely Earth," Alice said, biting her nails, "But it should be a bit different... Where are we?"

Celestia dotted a location near where Maine would've been. "That's Canterlot, our capital."

Alice frowned, "Have you found anything...interesting near by?"

Celestia dotted New York, "We've found the remains of a VERY large city in this spot."

Alice went wide-eyed, "Any clues of its name?"

Celestia looked at her, "A few. The remains of signs, Ne Yor, Ma hatt n, and Lo g I lan. All found in different spots."

Alice lowered her head, "New York, Manhatten, and Long Island. All part of one city. One of the biggest."

"You mean, this was your home?" Celestia pointed at New York with her pen.

"No, can I see that pen?" Alice held out a hand, which Celestia used her magic to place the pen in. After a moment of contemplation, she dotted where Missouri would have been. "This area."

Celestia's face went dark, "That's where we found the most destruction.  A huge crater. Although, it looks like a lake at first glance."

Alice nodded, "What else could I expect?"

Celestia reached a hoof towards Alice's shoulder, "I'm sorry."

Alice shook her head, "It's fine. If it's okay with you, I'd like to stay here."

Celestia nodded and spoke, "If you don't mind, I'll disguise you as a pony, so that the citizens don't go into a panic."

"Of course, I have one request. May I study the remain, offer my insight?" Alice's teary eyes looked at Celestia.

"Why wouldn't I let you do that?"

Over a Thousand Years Later

"Of course, I'd be worried about her too!" Rainbow Dash muttered nervously as the silhouette of a pony came to the door.

"What are you all doing here?" The pony demanded.

"A-A K. Yearling!" Rainbow squeed.

"We didn't do this, we swear!" Twilight yelled, looking extremely nervous.

The pony galloped into the house, "What did you do to my house?"

"We didn't do this, Ms. Yearling," Applejack said as the rug was yanked out from underneath her.

"We're awfully glad to see your alright," Twilight said as Yearling searched the house in a frenzy.

"Ok, clearly this isn't the best time but I've gotta say how much we all really love your books," Rainbow Dash told the pony digging though the desk. "Te, he he," she laughed nervously.

As she finished, a book caught Yearling's eye and she yanked it out from underneath Rainbow, sending her flying. After she set the book down, moved the metal rings on the spine, and it began to glow, she twisted the picture on the cover opening the book to reveal a large golden ring. "Hah, its safe." She then slipped it under her cloak.

"Great! Maybe now would be a good time for me to ask her how we can help move the new book on a little faster," Rainbow shoved her typewriter over. "Chop, chop."

Twilight lifted up Rainbow and carried her outside, "Rainbow Dash, a minute please! A. K. Yearling has made it pretty clear that she wants to be left alone. We need to respect her wishes."

Pinkie popped up and smiled, "You should tell that to those guys." She pointed her hoof at three stallions jumping in through an upstairs window.

Meanwhile, as the stallions snuck up on her, Yearling was in front of a mirror and saw them, only to throw her cloak and hat in their faces. Rainbow Dash and Twilight, outside the window, gasped, "A. K. Yearling IS Daring Do!"

"A.K. Yearling and Daring Do are one and the same. My mind is officially blown!" Twilight fangasmed.

Rainbow nudged her, "Ah, come on, I knew it all along."

As Daring Do fended off the stallions and in order to keep the gold ring away from them, Twilight and her friends watched in awe from outside. But then, Rainbow Dash distracted Daring momentarily when she called out her name, allowing the stallions to subdue her, and the gold ring fell at the hooves of Dr. Caballeron. Daring gave a growl to Dr. Caballeron, "Many thanks, Daring Do. As you've probably surmised, our earlier search for this treasure was... unsuccessful. So kind of you to find it for us. "

Daring grunted, "Give it back, Caballeron!"

The stallion looked at the author with disdain, "That's Doctor Caballeron to you."

Rainbow Dash let loose another squee, "He's from book four: Daring Do and the Razor of Dreams. He wanted to partner with Daring Do on her adventures."

Twilight gushed, "I know, but she refused! I can't believe it! The real Daring Do and the real Caballeron!"

Daring glared at the stallion, "So let me guess: Ahuizotl has put you up to this? You're stealing the ring to give to him so his hold on the Fortress of Talacon will be good for eight centuries as foretold by prophecy!"

"Close, but... no. I'm going to sell this to him, make a bundle, and retire from archaeology in splendor," the stallion grinned at the golden artifact.

Daring struggled to get up, "Caballeron, you fool! You're dooming the valley to eight centuries of unrelenting heat!" Doesn't this fool understand this is a human artifact? She yelled in her mind. It's older than Celestia!

"To market, henchponies!" The stallions exited the house as quickly as they had come.

"Uh... should we go in and help her, maybe?" Fluttershy brought to the attention of her friends.

This got a unison murmur, "Oh, right."

Rainbow Dash raced over to Daring, " Are you okay?"

"I got this," the author told the rainbow, This is beyond them. I'm the only expert in these artifacts.

"Daring Do doesn't need help. She handles her business herself," and for good reason, the author said.

"We've gotta go help!" Rainbow said.

"You heard her! She says she works alone!" Twilight told her cyan-colored friend.

"How can we just stand by and do nothing? You know what's at stake here! Ahuizotl has sought control of the Tenochtitlan Basin since book three!" Rainbow Dash argued.

Twilight nodded, "True, but in book four, she defeated Ahuizotl and secured control of the Amulet of Atonement, dispelling the dark magic of the Ketztwctl Empress, and thus protecting the basin with the Radiant Shield of Razdon!"

Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof in protest, "But the Radiant Shield of Razdon is vulnerable to the dark enchantment of the Rings of Scorchero!"

Twilight pointed a hoof at her, "But are you forgetting that the Rings were scattered to the four corners of Tenochtitlan, thus rendering the dark enchantment powerless?"

"Only if you assume that the Rings have yet to be retrieved, and the ring Caballeron just stole isn't the last to completely restore the dark tower and its cruel hold on Tenochtitlan! Did you ever think of that?!" Rainbow argued.

Pinkie Pie spoke up, "You gotta admit, Rainbow Dash makes a pretty good point."

Rainbow gave Twilight a see type of look, "We gotta help Daring Do retrieve the ring for safekeeping before it's too late!"

Twilight sighed, "Okay, but sounds to me like we're in way, way, way over our heads. We're going to need a carefully thought out plan... "

Rainbow flew off in an attempt to catch the archaeologist, "I'm coming, Daring Do!"

Twilight yelled after her, "THAT'S NOT A PLAN!"