12 Unexpected Visitors

It was the day after the CMC's cute-ceañera, which Pinkie Pie had taken care to make as big and celebratory as Ponyville would allow. Truly, it was the biggest party of its kind the town had ever seen, even bigger than the newly reformed Diamond Tiara's party. The next day, however, life moved on, and Ponyville went back to its normal routine. Twilight Sparkle, however, was not having a normal day, but rather, one that she had been looking forward to for a while. The library in her castle had a few empty shelves that she had been wanting to fill, and a new shipment of books was to arrive today. Truly, she was ecstatic at the thought of a perfectly full and organized library, which was all she could think about on her way back to town from helping at Sweet Apple Acres. Her friend Applejack was walking alongside her, and was struggling to get a word in as Twilight rambled on and on about the new books she would receive.

"-and there are so many books about ancient and foreign cultures! This one book promises to deliver a more in-depth analysis of the legends of the Marean God Quetzalcoltl than any book before it!"

"Yeah, that sounds great an' all, sugarcube, but how long is it gonna take to sort through all of those?"

"That's the best part! There are so many books that even with all of you fillies helping me, it could take the rest of the day to finish!" She said this with a wide smile on her face that threatened to tear the corners of her mouth.

"...uh-huh. Well, uh, I don't think I have the time to help fer that long. I have a lot of apple bucking to do, an'-"

"Hey, Twilight!"

Rainbow Dash flew over to the two mares with a look of worry and confusion etched on her face. Alongside her was Fluttershy, who took Rainbow's expression to the extreme. Despite how timid the butterscotch pegasus was, there were only a few times when Twilight saw her this panicky.

"You need to come to your castle! NOW!"

Before the purple princess could respond to that, Rainbow shot up into the sky, heading back towards Ponyville. Fluttershy, after composing herself, said "R-Rarity and Pinkie are in your castle right now, and they sent us here to tell you to come over...twelve ponies just appeared out of nowhere, and one of them is...really scary..."

Twilight looked both perplexed and worried at the same time. Fluttershy may be delicate, but she's not the type of mare to fear one pony over the other. The lavender alicorn knew that, so she knew that she needed to ask questions before rushing into the situation.

"What made them so scary compared to the others? Did they do something to stand out?"

"Well, um, he was very angry. He started shouting when he appeared and...um..h-his eyes started glowing g-green."

Twilight froze in horror. Glowing green eyes? That sounded exactly like the sirens in the human world, but as far as she knew, those were the only three in existence. Plus, something about a male siren seemed...off to her. Applejack noticed how pale her friend had gotten, and immediately asked if she was okay.

"I'm fine, AJ, but right now we need to get back to Ponyville! I don't know who or what these ponies are, or even if they actually ARE ponies! We need to go, now!"

Twilight knew that staying with her friends was the best option, so she opted to fly alongside Fluttershy while carrying Applejack with her magic. With Fluttershy's rather tame flying speed, it took them quite a few minutes to get to the castle. While nearing the outskirts of the town, though, the three could faintly hear a stallion shouting in anger, though they couldn't make out the words. He stopped before they could discern anything, though, which left the only priority to get to Twilight's castle before too much longer.

When they felt that they got close enough, Twilight motioned for them to stay behind a building. Peeking out, they saw the ponies that had spooked them and their friends, as well as the whole town judging by the silence. All of them were a tan color, save for one who was chocolate brown. Glancing at them all told Twilight that there were six stallions and six mares, with the group consisting of four unicorns, four earth ponies, and four pegasi. The last time such a coincidence happened was when she met her friends and formed the Elements of Harmony. But now wasn't the time to reflect; it was the time to observe.

One of the unicorns was panting slightly, as if he spent a great deal of time without breathing, or at least breathing too much. That plus the strained look on his face and the wildness in his pale, peach colored eyes told Twilight that this was who scared Fluttershy so badly. His mane was short and scruffy, sticking out in places like a mild case of bed head. His tail was pretty much the same, being much shorter than many tails ponies had. He shared Shining Armor's muscular physique, which most likely meant that he could hold his own against an earth pony if the situation called for it. The unicorn's Cutie Mark looked like a bizarre galaxy surrounded in a still image of a black glow, as if somepony took a picture of the symbol while it was glowing and slapped it on his flank.

Next to him and rubbing him on the shoulder (presumably to calm him down) was an earth pony mare with brown, worry-filled eyes. Her darkish blonde mane was of a medium length, and the bottom half of it was orange. Her somewhat short tail, however, had no orange on it, leading Twilight to believe that her mane was dyed. Her Cutie Mark was just as confusing, if not more so, than Cipher Splash's. The orange unicorn's Mark could at least be interpreted as a wave or two dolphins or something, but this just looked like a symmetrical, purple doodle. It looked...kinda like a face, she guessed? But yeah, it was pretty weird.

Staring at the angry stallion was another unicorn stallion with burgundy glasses that matched the color of his eyes. His mane was straight and brown, with his tail slightly curved up at the end. Speaking of his eyes, they looked normal, but looking right at them gave Twilight and the others an uneasy feeling. It was as if they were devoid of emotion or soul, and the three spies didn't much care for it. His blank face matched the emptiness in his eyes, staying stiff and unchanging in the face of a pony that had clearly been enraged until a minute or two ago. His Cutie Mark was comprised of six tiny, curved lines that were a blue so dark it was almost black.

Applejack (who Twilight had put down when they arrived, thankfully) looked up at the castle and saw a pegasus mare surrounded with a blue aura. She was clearly flying, but not using her wings at all. Looking around showed nopony was using magic to lift her, and the aura was too different from a regular levitation spell's anyways. Her Cutie Mark, which looked like a blue gust of wind (or maybe just toothpaste, though that was unlikely), was glowing blue, and AJ put two and two together to deduce that she was using this strange flying magic herself. Her black mane was sleek and streamlined, and her tail was small and slightly curled inwards. At the moment, her pale mustard eyes were fixated on her reflection in Twilight's castle.

Directly below the pegasus was a unicorn mare that bore an expression of amazement as she stared at her reflection. Her pale blue eyes were twinkling with wonder and fascination, something that Twilight's eyes did when confronted with the sight of something new and interesting. Three freckles dotted the sides of her muzzle, and her light orange-brown mane and tail were long and flowing. Her Cutie Mark was a teal circle with what looked like three tiny tentacles growing out of it.

An earth stallion was frowning at his reflection, his emerald green eyes focused on his very visible buck teeth and the way that his muzzle was formed to show them off. His mane was straight and black, with the back end of it curving up slightly. His tail was in a curve, going down starting from the base and going up at the tip. His Cutie Mark was a big, red gear. It wasn't anything extraordinary, but could they risk overlooking something if these ponies were involved? It certainly didn't sound like a good idea.

Another earth stallion was looking at his reflection, but seemed to focus more on the position and neatness of the fedora he was wearing. he was wearing. His mane was a vivid yellow and nearly went over his lime green eyes, with the back of it shorter, but still going slightly down his neck. His mane was simple looking enough to not hold his attention, but his eyes widened when he noticed his Cutie Mark, which was a yellow sun. It wasn't unusual for a pony other than Princess Celestia to have a sun Mark, but something about it seemed...different. He clearly didn't care, though, as he shrugged and went on to look at the others.

His eyes landed on who Twilight and co. were looking at; a pegasus stallion with a rust-colored mane and tail.  They were relatively plain, with his bangs sticking out and his tail following suit in certain areas. His Cutie Mark was a pair of wings joined at the base, and looking at them made the three spies feel...hopeful? Something about him seemed so trustworthy and noble. But what was the most interesting thing about him were his wings. They were shiny and gilded, almost as if they were made of solid gold. Pegasi like these were called Valkeries, and were as rare as a Thestral was before Luna returned. His mahogany eyes darted to the sun-marked pony, and he walked over to him and started whispering. He looked over his shoulder at the angry unicorn, probably to see if there was another outburst on the horizon.

Suddenly, Fluttershy let a squeak so high-pitched that it was a miracle that it was audible to pony ears. Upon finding where their friend was looking, Twilight and AJ found the cause of her distress. An earth pony mare with pale lavender eyes was watching the whole spectacle unfold. Her mane and tail, while of average length, were elegant and flowing. Around her neck was a blue scarf with darker blue horizontal stripes. The fact that she had bothered to wear a scarf was odd considering that it was a pleasantly warm day today. What was terrifying about her, though, was her Cutie Mark: a deep-looking gash that oozed blood. Twilight was struggling to keep her composure as she debated what the Mark could mean, and she didn't like any of the possibilities she was thinking of.

What surprised her the most was the pegasus mare standing next to the blood-marked pony. Her light brown mane was short at the front and back, but there was a long lock of hair at the left and right sides. Her golden eyes were filled with worry, and she was standing close to the mare with the gory mark, as if she was more comfortable in her presence. Around her neck was a Purple Heart medallion on a purple ribbon. Those were awarded centuries ago to ponies who were injured in war, but since Equestria was peaceful now, they were all either family heirlooms or simply lost to time. Her Cutie Mark looked like a strangely shaped black skull with a spiky cranium and no mandible.

Twilight was put in a trance by the scene, but snapped out of hit when she heard what sounded like a stallion going "Woo-hoo!" and laughing. A pegasus soon flopped into view, apparently trying to fly. As he tumbled along the ground attempting to take to the air, the alicorn and her friends were trying to stay out of his ever-changing line of sight. They had no clue whether or not these ponies were malicious, and if the stallion's tan eyes detected them, things might get ugly. His orange mane was cut into a mohawk, but his tail looked more natural. On his left foreleg was a watch with a blue strap. It was surprisingly durable, given the fact that it stayed intact despite his flopping smashing it against the ground. His Cutie Mark was a dark pink heart that was only halfway filled in.

The last pony, the brown unicorn mare, was watching the goofy pegasus with exasperation in her pale navy blue eyes. Her black mane went right to her knees, and her tail was long enough to be dragged on the ground if it drooped. Out of all of the ponies' there, she was the only one who had fur that didn't cover her hooves, revealing the darker brown underneath. Her Cutie Mark was a simple green wisp of grass, though it was most likely more than that.

After Twilight sized up all of them, she set to work theorizing. Who were they? What did they want? We're they malicious? Benevolent? Simply apathetic? It was impossible to tell at this stage of the "study", but the mare with the bloody Mark certainly raised a few flags. Then again, the one with the Purple Heart seemed to look to the former as a form of comfort and protection. Then again again, her Mark was also disturbing, albeit to a lesser degree. As this sort of back and forth thinking continued in the purple princess's head, the emotionless unicorn spoke to the angry one.

"Have you gotten it all out of your system?"

"No, but that's as much as I can let out without breaking something, and I don't think whatever lives in this world would appreciate that."

"So you know for a fact that we're in another dimension? Interesting. What about our new bodies?"

"To put it simply, this universe is frigging wonky. Space seems to have different rules here, and quite frankly it's giving me a headache trying to understand it. Our physical forms changed to give us an easier time adjusting to the physics of this place. That's giving me an even bigger headache because WE'RE FREAKING HORSES WITH FREAKING PASTEL TATOOS ON OUR FREAKING BEHINDS!!! HOW IS THIS BETTER THAN WHAT WE HAD BEFORE!?"

The earth mare next to the now raging stallion wrapped a foreleg around him. Her face had concern written all over it, yet didn't seem to show any fear of the pony who was clearly very unstable at the moment.

"Randall, deep breaths. We may have woken up in a new world, but it could have been a lot worse than this. That doesn't mean you can't be angry, but we need to keep our heads and figure out where we are. And WHAT we are."

'Randall' slowly started controlling his breathing before getting it back to a regular pace.

"Yeah, you're right, sis. I'll take horses over corpses any day of the week. Maybe not Monday, though."

The other unicorn cocked an eyebrow at the last part of that sentence, but decided it was best to change the subject.

"Well, we're all here, so that's relieving. I'm trying to figure out everything I can about this place, but everything seems so...cloudy. For the first time in a while, there are secrets being kept from me. Is it bad that I'm somewhat okay with that?"

"So that's it!? We're stranded!? Oh, fan-freaking-tastic! WHEN I FIND WHO DID THIS, I'M GONNA-"

As the angry stallion's sister started to calm him down again, Twilight looked back to her friends. Applejack seemed just plain confused and Fluttershy was terrified out of her wits. After motioning for them to get fully concealed by the building they were behind, she cast a mass teleportation spell. As the three of them appeared in Twilight's throne room, they saw all of their friends standing there near the windows, presumably to keep an eye on the mysterious newcomers before Twilight got back. The purple princess looked towards Spike, her assistant, and told him all he needed to hear.

"Spike, I need you to write a letter."