Chapter 1 - A "great" idea!
“…and then my subjects tried to cut off the broken leg, because they thought it would grow back!”
The large, slimy immortal slammed his muddy arm into the table and burst out laughing from his own story. His insect-like friend joined him, and their loud snickering contributed to the already earsplitting volume in the castle. Unfortunately, their other two companions at the table had trouble finding the story amusing.
“Well, um…” the immortal being shaped with two legs and two arms stuttered. “That is um…”
“…most interesting…” Luna filled out for her friend.
“Ha-ha, oh, I never had so much fun in my entire life as a goddess!” the insect said after having recovered from his laugh attack.
“Yea, we should definitely try that again sometime. Maybe after some few millenniums, when every mortal have forgot about this or think it's a stupid tale or something. Then we should send some of my subjects to your world! Imagine how crazy that would be!” His friend agreed and right in the middle of their loud discussion over the possible ‘crazy’ scenarios that could happen, Luna’s friend interrupted them with a loud throat clearing.
“I am sorry for interrupting your planning.” He scratched his long beard nervously. “But I just want to know what happened after the slime people tried to, hrmm, ‘help’ Zaggeer’s subject? The poor little thing and her friends most has been pretty upset that she almost got one of her twelve legs decapitated…”
The slime creature started giggling again. “IF they were upset? They were furious!” he then said with a loud laugh. “They started to fight each other, and if we hadn’t intervened, they all would probably have died! Can you believe that they were actually ready to kill each other over such a little misunderstanding! How stupid isn’t that?”
“S-stupid? T-that is just evil!” the bearded man said shocked, his face turning white. “Didn’t you two foresee this so you could prevent it before it happened??”
The insect known under the name Zaggeer rolled all his one-hundred-and-thirty-two eyes in sarcasm. “Oh Jesus, you have always been such a pacifist!” He grabbed a piece of leafs and started eating them. “What’s the fun with sending someinsect to an adventure into foreign lands if there won’t be some dangers on the other side?”
“B-but…”
“To your information, everything turned out ‘fine’ in the end. My people learned that they should treat every individual being equally and Slymmeri’s subjects learned that they could feed on grass instead of their younglings.” With a loud ‘crunch’ sound, the insect took another large bite from the plant. “So no need to panic or anything. After all, I’m not evil, am I?”
The white clothed man didn’t know if he should continue arguing about their carelessness for their subjects or if he should ask Slymmeri why he had allowed his people to feed on their own children. It eventually resulted with a blank glare at the insect, as it chewed through the leaf and grabbed the next one.
Luna couldn’t prevent herself from making a faint smile. Jesus was just as credulous as Luna remembered him to be, despite after all these years. He was always assuming that every immortal/watcher/ruler/goddess would be as kind to their subjects as his father was to his. That was probably what had laid the ground to their friendship. He and Luna both shared the same vision of a world with eternal harmony in it.
“Speaking of grass, this leaf is the most delicious thing I have tasted in decades! Where did you get it Luna?”
The insect’s clicking-voice woke her up from her thoughts. “Thank you Zaggeer! I am especially flattered to hear those words coming from a plant eater like yourself! As a matter of fact, these leafs are actually one of my latest creations!”
“You made an entirely new plant just for this immortal-reunion? Now you are the one doing the flattering!” Zaggeer said meaningfully.
She blushed. “Oh, I wish I could say that was the case, but unfortunately I made these only to counter my selfish boredom.”
“And there is nothing wrong with that!” Slymmeri said while gulping in a large amount of Apple-cider through one of his many mouths.
“There is nothing wrong with your vegetables Luna, but I do appreciate that you managed to bake some bread as well,” she heard her friend say while he reached for another loaf from the breadbasket.
“Bread and water…” Zaggeer shook his head disappointed. “I swear that is the only thing I ever see you consume. Ever! Have you ever actually tried eating anything else?”
Jesus snorted. “First of all, it’s bread and wine.” He showed them his cup filled with water as it magically switched color to red. “And second, I do enjoy fish as well, but these immortal reunions tend to avoid serving meat...”
“Well, if I had offered you fish, all immortals watching over water worlds would go completely nuts! And when it comes to meat…”
Jesus signaled Luna to stop. “Don’t worry Luna, I did not accuse you for anything. Your buffé is perfect as it is.”
“Yes, I agree with Jesus on this one,” Zaggeer said between the bites. “You really must tell me the DNA combination for this wonderful plant. It would become a huge hit amongst my people, I can assure you that.”
The princess made a disappointed frown. “I am afraid that that is unnecessary…”
The insect’s many eyes formed a puzzled look. “And why is that?”
“Because your subjects don’t live on the moon, do they?”
The bug raised all his eyebrows (or at least what looked like eyebrows) with several clicking sounds as a result. “In the name of every immortal being in every parallel universe: why would you create anything at all on the moon? Unless your subjects miraculously invent space travelling (which I might add that no mortal will ever be smart enough to accomplish), no one will ever be able to appreciate such a creation.”
Chuckling from the bearded man made Zaggeer turn all his one-hundred-and-thirty-two eyes towards Jesus and every single one of them looked annoyed. “Did I say something funny?”
“Oh, don’t mind me!” Jesus got hold of himself and turned back to the humans' representative as he was supposed to be. “I’m just sitting here and minding my own business. Hrmm, please continue your conversation.”
“Well, after a thousand years alone on the moon, you tend to come up with something to kill the spare time…” The princess of the night stared sadly into her cup of tea.
“Oh right!” Slymmeri paused his drinking for a brief moment. “You revolted against your sister a couple of years ago, didn’t you? I must say, you really have some balls to go all like ‘the night will last forever’ on Princess Celestia’s ass-“
“I really don’t want to talk about it…” Luna interrupted.
“Well, I think that you have organized this reunion perfectly,” Her friend said, trying to change the subject into something more pleasant.
“Yes I agree! It has been so long since the last time I had the opportunity to converse with such lovely and trustworthy immortals such as yourse- HEY, is that really Saraslike?”
The insect’s gaze had locked on a snake-like creature with two arms attached on each of its side, sitting at a table across the palace hall. “That guy owes me money! Excuse me…” And with those words, the insect lord had rose up from his chair and with an incredible speed (which was expected from a creature with more legs than eyes), he was over at the other table.
“Hrm, actually, I have an unpicked mud-pile with Saraslike as well.” Slymmeri rose up from his now very dirty chair. “I hope you don’t mind?”
“Kick his ass!” Luna said and blinked smiling.
The mud golem grinned widely in return before slowly following his friend’s steps towards the serpent, leaving a large path of slime behind him. With that, Luna and Jesus were left alone with a half eaten salad and three empty tanks of what used to contain apple cider.
Jesus dipped gracefully his tiny piece of bread into the red wine and took a small bite from it. “Sorry for my outburst earlier,” he started. “It is just so hard for me to cope with that not all immortals share my philosophy that we exist for the best of our subjects…”
“Outburst?” His conversation partner chuckled. “That was as far as you can possible come to an outburst! But I do admit that I too sometimes forget that we are there for our subjects, and not vice versa…” Luna shook away the images of her being Nightmare Moon and trying to force everypony to love her. Oh well, that’s the past, even if she now was even more bored during the nights than she had been before…
“Your sister isn’t here, is she? It was a long time since I last saw her…”
“It is day back home in Equestria, she has her duties to attend to,” she explained. “I guess the same applies to your father?”
“Oh, you have no idea!” Jesus took another small bite from his wine soaked bread. “Lucifer seems to gain more and more ground for every month that passes, and every time I suggest we take the fight to him, my father only says ‘Son, chill out! I got this’. He says he has a plan of some sort but…” He shook his head confused. “It just makes me so angry to see that worm Lucifer corrupting more and more of Earth’s people every day, and the worst part of it all is that I think the humans actually wants him to corrupt them…”
Luna almost spit out the tea she had been drinking. “Wants to be corrupted? I am afraid you will have to explain that part a little bit better for me…”
“The humans knows they are polluting their planet, and still they continue to do it. The humans knows that killing is wrong, but still they declare war on each other. The humans knows that some of them are poor and starving, but still they refuse to share…” He let out a troubled sigh. “It is like they want to be evil you know? And Lucifer gives them the opportunity to be just that…”
“Well, if that is the case, why don’t you go down to your beloved subjects and correct them? Our little ponies turned against each other once, so we created a blizzard based on their hate, until they were forced to tolerate.”
“That is the thing: my father doesn’t let me to!” Frustrated, Jesus duplicated a new slice of bread. “It is like he expects them to learn how to love and tolerance on their own. It is just not going to happen! If he would just let me go down there one more time, I would fix everything! All that the humans need is a role model to show them that it is possible to be good…” He took a deep breath to calm himself down. It wasn’t many things that made Jesus angry, but this was one of them.
“I am sorry Luna, I just get so sad to see that the majority of my subjects are so immune to harmony. I look at yours and Celestia’s world and I just want mine to be the same…”
The alicorn made an understanding nod and took another sip from her tea. “Our world isn’t perfect either, but I agree that I and my sister have worked hard to come to were we are now. But you can impossible say that all of your subjects are evil, can you? Even I, an immortal from another universe, have heard about several humans that even exceeds my subject in kindness and love. Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha, Noak, Abraham Lincoln…”
“Yes, there will always be some righteous people left in my world, but they are getting fewer and fewer… At least they exist, I guess. Enough talking about my universe, how are you doing yourself Luna? It must have been tough to get back to work after a thousand years living on the moon?”
Now it was Luna’s time to sigh. “At first it was, but after some few months you are back into the same old boring routine that you were in a thousand years ago. It is just so boooring! The only difference between the past and now is that I now realize that I am doing it for my subjects, and not for myself.”
“Well, I am glad that you have realized that at least…”
“But it is still barely bearable!” She took a desperate sip from the cup. “Imagine yourself to be the ruler of a sleeping world! N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Happens! It makes me so frustrated! If just something would happen for a change! I wouldn't really care if it was revolting dragons or just a parasprite invasion, as long as it is something!”
The large tumult of several voices chanting in chorus made them both turn around simultaneously. Jesus could see that Zaggeer was now involved in a fist fight with Saraslike, and several of the other immortals stood around in a circle, cheering and taking bets. He didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. Sometimes he wondered if even the immortals had lost their moral. He turned back to the alicorn and continued the conversation.
“I wish I could help you somehow Luna, but unless you are interested in Diablo thre-“
“I GOT IT!” Luna suddenly slammed her hoof at the table, making Jesus spill wine all over his white coat.
“Hey, I just washed that!”
“I got the solution for both our problems!” she said grinning, and completely ignored her friends angry whining.
“Huh?” Her wet friend looked confused at her.
“We let some of our ponies visit your world to teach your people about harmony!” The princess was almost skipping with excitement.
“E-excuse me?” He started cleaning his ears just in case he had got some wine in it.
“We do just like Slymmeri and Zaggeer did: I let some of my ponies travel to your world for an adventure, and in the mean time, your people would get that role model you said they needed! Somepony from my world would easily live up to that criterion! In addition to it all, I will have an adventure to watch during my long and uneventful nights! It is the perfect solution!”
Jesus still looked skeptical at the alicorn, like if he was trying to figure out if it was a joke or if she was actually serious. “Didn’t you learn anything from Slymmeri and Zaggeer’s story? They ended up trying to cut each other’s legs off!”
Luna just waved away his objection. “But you know how brutish Slime people and Zergs are! Our species are far more civilized than that. Besides, we will of course always be present to prevent any catastrophe that might occur!”
“Because there WILL be a lot of catastrophes,” the bearded man said. “And my father will never agree to let anyone from your world entering ours! If he even wouldn’t let me do anything about it, he will certainly not let anyone else help to!”
The blue mare took a calmly sip from her tea. “Maybe your father doesn’t need to know…” she said with a seductive smile.
The red-stained man raised an eyebrow. “Y-you mean that we will do this behind my father’s back?”
Luna nodded. “Mhm, and I won’t say a word to Celestia either. Project ‘save earth’ will be a stealth operation. How exciting!”
“How foolish you mean?” He ate up the last of the loaf. “My father even knows when a sparrow in his world dies; it would only be a matter of seconds before he realized that a talking pony had suddenly entered his world!”
“Not with a un-detection spell.”
“Un… detection spell?”
“Yep, we cover the ponies with a un-detection spell! They will be like ghosts for your father, and for Celestia too for that matter!”
“Well, it would work…” Jesus remembered too well the un-detection spell Lucifer had used when he had tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. “…But I still don’t like doing stuff behind my father’s back, good intentions or bad. He got quite upset the last time I did something he didn’t agree to…”
Luna raised an eyebrow interested. “Oh but come on, what is the worst thing that could possible happen?”
Jesus gave the princess a sarcastic look.
“Oh right, the crucifixion… But what if this actually makes your people better persons? It would be such a shame if all that was needed to make your people less evil was some ponies to show them were the furniture should stand, and we didn’t dared to do it. I promise to take the blame if anything happens, your father won’t even know you were involved!”
The holy man shook his head. “No, if we get caught, I will take my responsibility. I do admit that the idea is tempting, but there are too many risks and my father said he already have a plan for it. We cannot-“
“One week.”
“Huh?”
“Just one week. If things don’t turn out the way we hope they will, we take them right back home after that, pinkie promise!”
Jesus thought about it for a long time. It would feel nice with a world full of harmony, and Luna had certainly an outstanding record when it came to worlds with harmony…
“Who are you thinking to send anyway? Are you going to teach my people yourself?”
Luna grinned amused. “No no no, if I meddled with your world it would almost be a considered as a declaration of war! I think you know very well which six ponies I intend to send…”
Jesus almost spilled his remaining wine on his clothes. “Y-you can’t seriously be suggesting the elements of harmony?”
“Of course I am! Which six ponies wouldn’t show your world how it’s done better than them? The element of magic is even studying friendship as we speak!”
“But what if Equestria becomes under danger when they are gone? What if-“
“If there emerges a problem that I and Celestia can’t handle, we will of course take them back home,” Luna assured.
Jesus made another large sigh. “How are you even going to convince them to go on this mission at all? ‘Oh hi, my friend from another dimensional wants you six to teach his beloved subjects how to love and tolerate, but don’t say anything to your princess Celestia, it’s a secret’!”
Jesus’s impression of herself made the princess chuckle. “Oh Jesus, I think that will be our easiest problem, don’t you worry about it, but do you have a human subject that could show the ponies around? It would be rather cruel to send my little ponies into a strange world without any guidance at all, especially if its inhabitants is as cruel as you make them sound like.”
“I have some good humans that come to mind, yes, but it won’t be anyone important or with a big influence. Otherwise, my father will now about it almost immediately!”
“That is not a problem at all. Make the host for the guests prepared for the arrival with a home and food and the rest will fix itself.”
He made a troubled frown and massaged his temples. “I have a very bad feeling that I will regret this, but one week only. Not. A. Single. Day. More. Okay?”
Luna smiled joyfully.
“One week only.”
Chapter 2 - Operation "Save earth" begins
The library door suddenly slammed open with a loud bang, and a lavender unicorn rushed into the tree-house.
“SPIKE, I need you to fetch me-“
The unicorn’s words got stuck somewhere on its way to her mouth, when she saw in what state her precious library was in. The normally quiet and peaceful room had somehow turned into a chaotic warzone while she had been gone. Furniture lay savaged knocked over and books were scattered all over the floor. Dry coughing turned her attention towards her overturned studying-table, and to her horror, she saw that several of her experimental chemicals had been spilled out all over the floor.
She feared the worst. Her experiments were not something to play with!
“Oh no, Spike!”
With a quick teleportation spell, the mare stood in the middle of the mess and desperately looked around for her number one assistant, but the dragon was nowhere to be found.
“Oh Spike, please, say something!”
“A-a voice…” she heard someone say, but it wasn’t the squeaky voice from her little friend.
“Spike?”
She turned around to locate the source of the sound, but there was nothing more than the endless sea of books and her half-eaten sandwich from today’s breakfast. She made a disappointed frown. The sandwich had been delicious, and she had planned to have the remaining of it as a quick lunch. But now, it was lying on top of a book and looked depressively inedible. Oh well, she guessed that she will have to find something else to eat...
Suddenly, the crippled sandwich coughed up a bit of its insides over the book, making Twilight jump back with a shocked scream.
“Come closer…Please…” the lunch said to her.
For a second, Twilight didn’t know what to say. “W-what are you? Y-you are not supposed to talk!”
“Please… I don’t have much time left…” it begged her.
The mare’s brain functions and grasp of reality temporarily stopped working. The fact that the sliced double bread had actually asked her something was more than enough to knock her senses off. In pure shock, she did what she was told.
“Pick… Pick me up…”
With her whole body shacking, the unicorn picked up the food carefully. It looked like it had been smashed against a wall. Mayonnaise was leaking out from the long cracks covering the top-bread, and she could feel its tomato filling slowly drain down along her hooves, and eventually sliding down to the floor. The whole scene remembered Twilight of a war-play she had seen when she was a little filly, but instead of dying ponies, it was dying bread.
“Promise… To remember me… as a hero…” Its voice was filled with agony and pain.
Twilight couldn’t help but to feel pity for the clearly dying breakfast, even thought she found the whole scene ridicules. “W-what in Equestria has happened to you? And how are you even breathing? And what heroic deed have you done that makes you qualified-”
“Promise! I…die soon…”
She made a loud sigh. “Fine, I promise to remember you as a ‘hero’, will you please care to expl-“
“Blua!” The sandwich vomited out some sliced pepperoni in the mares hoof, and then stopped breathing.
For a brief second, Twilight just stood there, starring down confused at the now lifeless egg-mayonnaise sandwich which she had until recently intended to eat as lunch. Slowly, her brain finished processing what had recently happened. She had walked into her library, found it to be complete wrecked, a talking sandwich had made her promise to remember it as a hero for a deed unknown, and shortly after, it had died in what seemed to be a very painful way. Well, that just made so much more sense!
She leaned closer to the sandwich and inhaled its smell. She immediately dropped it and took a step back from the horrible stench the filling gave away. She had been right; the sandwich had indeed sucked up most of her spilled chemicals. Angrily, she filled her lungs.
“SPIKE! WHY HAVE YOU BEEN MESSING WITH MY CHEMICA-“
Before she could finish the sentence, a large crash behind her made her turn around startled. There, in the middle of the book sea, she found Spike on top of an struggeling Owloysius.
“Ha! I got you now you flying thief!”
“Who!”
“You, I have caught you!”
“Who!”
“Uhg, you are impossible, do you know that?”
“SPIKE! YOU STEP AWAY FROM OWLOYSIUS THIS INSTANT!”
The dragon looked up from its prey and found his master standing above him, looking down angrily.
“Ehm… I can explain!”
“You'd better, because this is NOT how the library looked like for some hours ago!” A window blew open, making some paper fly up in Twilight’s face. She felt her irritation level slowly increase to dangerous levels.
“O-Owloysius started it!” The dragon desperately pointed his finger at the barely moving owl. “I found him carrying my gem-box, and he refused to return it!”
“It is because I have told Owloysius to guard the box from you!” the mare said sternly. “You know that the doctor said you eat too much gemstones and that is why you get all your stomach pain.”
“Yes, but they are so delicious! I can’t resist!”
“And that is why I told Owloysius to guard it! And never EVER get near any of my experiments Spike! We should find ourselves very lucky that it was only a sandwich you accidently gave life to and not something else!” Twilight shivered from the horrifying mental image of thousands books rampaging through the library. She shook away the thought.
“I’m sorry Twilight…”
The unicorn snorted.
“And say sorry to Owloysius for striking him almost unconscious.”
The dragon looked sadly at the dazed Owl on the floor. “I’m sorry Owloysius…”
The animal didn’t answer.
The dragon gazed sadly at the chaos he had created in the library. “I guess I should start cleaning up this mess now…”
“You will have to do it later! First, I need you to find me a book called ‘The top ten most painful ways to torment a dragon’. The faster the better! I’m going to find something else to eat since you played Celestia with my sandwich.”
The little dragon’s eyes widened in horror.
“T-t-t-he t-t-top-p t-ten w-ways t-to t-t-t-“
“Oh Spike, I’m not going to use it on you silly!” she laughed as she tried to zigzag around the furniture. “I was just talking with Fluttershy on my way to Applejack, when it suddenly hit me: what if Fluttershy hadn’t been with us when we were trying to convince that sleeping dragon to move? What if she had been sick, or just on a holiday somewhere? We would have been toast!”
She eventually reached the kitchen and let out an annoyed moan when she found it to be equally chaotic as the main entrance.
“But the next time, I will be prepared!” she screamed from the kitchen while scrambling through the inside of an over knocked pantry in a desperate search for something eatable.
“S-so you are not thinking to punish me for doing all this mess?” she heard her assistant stutter back.
“But of course not Spike! Everypony does mistakes, and I think cleaning up this mess is punishment enough!”
“G-good! I just wanted to check that hehe," the dragon laughed nervously. "You would, of course, never use anything like that on me. Hehe, how silly I was to think something like that…”
“But I’m going to need a test subject to practice on, of course…”
“Wha – BUUUUURRRRPP - ”
The familiar sound from the dragon receiving a letter made Twilight completely drop her quest for food and rushed out to the book-covered-floor.
“A message from Celestia?” she exclaimed surprised. “This must be really important! Celestia never sends me a message unless there is something really big going on!”
The dragon reached for the letter. “I wonder what it could be…”
Automatically, Twilight began thinking about the possibilities. “What if Equestria is in danger? Yes, I can see it before me: an insect-like alien is attacking Celestia companioned with a slime-like monster, and the elements of harmony are the only thing that can stop them! But we can’t stop them because they have been stolen and given to a resurrected Discord which in turn, has used them to corrupt Luna back to Nightmare Moon! Or what if-“ She gasped at the horrifying thought that came next to her mind.
“What if there is another dragon on the loose? I knew I should have read that stupid book earlier, I just knew it! Poor Fluttershy, everypony will expect her to deal with it like last time, and she is going to be so afraid… That poor thi –“
“It is not from Celestia…” Spike interrupted while unfolding the scroll.
Twilight stopped her theorizing and looked surprised at her dragon. “Not from Celestia? But I thought she was the only one who could send messages through you.”
Spike cleared his throat and held the letter up high.
“To Twilight Sparkle
I want to thank you for the wonderful time during your brother’s wedding. I’m still ashamed that I wasn’t there to help my sister when the changelings attacked. It has become something of an internal joke here in the castle, since my errand away from the wedding was to get a super-cheesy-extra-large burger from MacStallions in Fillydelphia (they renamed it to “The Luna burger” afterwards)… But the past is meant to stay in the past, and I can with confidence assure you that your brother’s love for Cadance haven’t decreased the slightest since the last time you last saw them. As for Cadance’s love for your brother… Well, let us just say that her stomach have grown quite much during the past few weeks, and I don’t think it is because of her sudden lust for chocolate pudding…
But the purpose with this letter is not to tell you that your brother is doing alright (even better than alright, if you know what I mean). I am actually writing this because I have a proposal to make. Gather the elements of harmony, plus Spike, and meet me outside your library 10:00 PM. I know you have a lot of questions in running around in your mind when you read this, but this is unfortunately all information I can give you at this moment. I will explain more upon my arrival.
With gracious greetings
Princess Luna.”
There was a moment of silence after Spike had finished the letter.
“So Luna can send letters through me too? Man, what I hate being treated like a walking mailbox…”
“Spike, do you know what this means?” Twilight asked horrified, totally ignoring her friend's concerns.
“Um… That Luna needs the elements of harmony to fend off an insect monster and his slime friend?” he guessed wildly.
“No! It means that you have to clean up this mess now! If Princess Luna comes to this library when it is looking like this… Oh-no-oh-no-oh-no-“
“Umm, shouldn’t you be worrying about what that ‘proposal’ is instead? Because I don’t think it is a marriage proposal…”
Twilight glared back deadly at Spike. “I will have far more things to worry about if you don’t get this mess fixed before the Princess comes! It is the Princess of the night we are talking about here, not some ruffian Griffin from Rainbow Dash’s past!” Twilight magically raised the overturned furniture and fit the scattered books inside of them in a completely unorganized order.
Suddenly, she stopped.
“But I guess you are right Spike. Grab me my ‘things-to-do-list’!”
Before the blink of an eye, Spike stood ready with Ink and the to-do-list. The stressed unicorn levitated the objects to her now upright studying-table, and examined it closer. She immediately gave the box next to “Meet up with Applejack” a satisfying green checkmark. Her happy grin was followed with an ugly frown when she forced herself to make a large “X” over the box next to “Eat the half-eaten sandwich for lunch”. “Read ‘Top ten best ways to torment a dragon’” could be read under the lunch planning, and she let that box empty with a note saying “Read tomorrow” next to it. The rest of the paper was blank.
She quickly added the afternoon’s planning based on the recent events. When she was done, she glanced proudly at her new list of things-to-do.
“Remember the half-eaten sandwich as a hero: [V]
Make Spike clean up the mess in the Library: [ ]
Check if Owloysius is still alive: [ ]
Inform the elements of harmony about Luna’s arrival: [ ]
Get something to eat for Lunch: [ ] Note: Not a sandwich.
Double check that Spike have cleaned up his chaos: [ ]
Worry about Luna’s proposal: [ ]”
With a heavy sigh, she decided to start doing the things on the list.
Carl considered himself to be rather lonely, despite the fact that he had a lot of friends that cared for him. But he didn’t thought about his loneliness in terms of it being depressing, but rather in the terms that it being peaceful. He was a timid teenager. He wasn’t much for wild parties as his friends were, and joining a local sport-team wasn’t very appealing to him either. He had played football once when he was younger, but after he had ended elementary school his team had decided to elite focus. Suddenly, he wasn’t good enough, and got kicked out from the club. He wasn’t mad about it though, he would never have managed the pressure anyway. Since then, he hadn’t even tried to do anything special in his spare time. He wasn’t much for studying either. Don’t take him wrong, he wasn’t bad in school, but he just never really cared about it. Although, he did have average grades most of the time…
Spring was coming up, and the famous “April-weather” was kicking in with a chaotic mix of rain and sunshine. Not for that there were any snow to melt away anyway. He found the whole thing rather depressing; a Swedish winter without snow was like playing chess without a king. You could still enjoy it, but it would never be the same as a real chess game. Of course, the reason for the lack of snow was global warming, but what was the point in complaining? According to the world news, the world was collapsing anyway. Earthquakes in Japan, wars in Middle East, poverty in Africa, oppression in China, large amount of polluting in US, economic crisis in Europe… Yea, he was sure that it was only a matter of time before it all would come crashing down into a world war or something.
His mother would be away for the next month, so he would have to take care of the apartment himself. He had never met his real father. His mother had told him that his father had left them when she was carrying him, and he had never returned. Carl didn’t know how to feel about this. Her mother had anyway got re-married, so he assumed that everything had went for the better in the end. But it didn’t lower his determination to find his father one day…
He was alone. He was an average. He was a “nobody”. His life was eventless, and he lived in the most eventless country in the world. He didn’t have any special talents at all, and he didn’t have any potential to become anything great in any field. He did nothing productive on his spare time, and he would probably grow up to become a cleaner in some dirty museum in a far away corner of the city.
He was perfect!
Carl was playing “Skyrim” when an unfamiliar voice suddenly made him accidently press “Z” on his keybord, making his character “Fus-Ro-Dah” the Jarl of Whiterun.
“Whatz-up?”
He pause the game by instinct and turned around. The shocking sight of a shinning white man with two large wings made him fall of his chair and he landed painfully on the wood floor.
“Are all you humans that easily scared? Jeez…”
Scared over the strange sight, Carl started to crawl away from the level 80 paladin with legendary armor. Or well, of course it wasn't a World of Warcraft character, but he defenetly gave that impression!
“Seriously, chill out dude! I’m not here to kill every first born or anything! I’m only here to deliver a message.”
“W-what are you?” Carl asked, but he was quite certain that he already knew the answer.
“Oh but pleaaasseee don’t say that you don’t recognize an angel when you see one? Or wait, I might have gotten the wrong address.” The angel snapped his fingers, and suddenly, he was looking down at some papers that had magically appeared. “Your name is ‘Carl’ right? It is my first time visiting Earth, and I must say that I’m starting to regret that I even took this job.”
With his blood completely drained from his face, the teenager confirmed that his name was indeed Carl.
“Good, let’s get this over with shall we?” The Angel cleared his throat loudly. “Jesus wants you to take care of some guests that will arrive this Sunday night on the grass behind the grove outside your home. He wants you to clean your home and make room for six more persons to sleep in. You will receive a large sum of money about…” The angel looked down on his arm like he had some kind of watch on it. “…now!” Suddenly, Carl could hear something being dropped through the mail drop in the door.
“Jesus wants me to underline that you are only allowed to use the money to take care of the guests, and nothing else! They are all girls, so you should probably go and buy some tampons or something. They will be staying for around a week. Jesus wants you also to show them around, and you are bound to listen carefully to everything they say and learn from it. Everything they want to do, you must let them do it. If they are hungry, you are trusted to give them something to eat. If they are thirsty, you are trusted to give them something to drink.” The angel looked sternly at the now slightly recovered Carl. “Even if they would for some reason want to become professional Starcraft players, you are supposed to aid them in that, got it?”
More out of confusion than understanding, Carl nodded.
“Tell him about when the guests will come and where… Explain that he got money… Order him to show the six around and to take care of them… Yup, that seems to be it! Oh wait!” The angel snapped his finger again, and out from the thin air, a small book appeared.
“You are supposed to give this to the guests when they arrive. Don’t ask me why. That book is written in jidderish even for me.”
Confused, Carl grabbed the book and opened it up. The symbols were indeed nothing but jidderish, as they reminded him of a combination of Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese letters. Next to the weird symbols were illustrations of different body parts. It all was very confusing.
“That is it! See ya!”
The angle suddenly started levitating towards the roof. Carl watched as it slowly flew through the ceiling and disappeared on the other side. Confused and shocked, he tried to grasp what had just happened.
Suddenly, the angel picked down from the ceiling again. “You can continue play Skyrim now if you want, just remember that the Stormcloaks sucks!” And with those words, the Angel was gone forever.
Carl sat down a long time trying to figure out what had just happened. He browsed some more pages in the book but it only fueled his confusion. Always the weird symbols followed with an illustration of a body part. It didn’t make him any wiser.
He stood up and threw the book on his bed. “I-it must have been a dream,” he concluded for himself. “I-it really must have been a dream, and that book is just an illusion or something...” He sat down in front of his computer and sighed heavy when he realized that he would need to re-load his latest save game.
No Carl, this is not a dream.
“WAAAHHH!!” He fell off his chair again.
Please don’t be afraid. I know Bob didn’t make such a good first-impression, but we really don’t mean any harm…
Shocked again, the teenager started to tumble around in the search for the source of the new voice, but he found himself to be alone in the room.
“W-who are you? And who is Bob?” he screamed to seemingly no one.
Bob was the angel you recently met, but he isn’t as… polite as the diplomatic angels we usually send is. For myself, I go under many names. Frej, Krishna, Afrodite, Isa… but you know me as Jesus Christ.
“J-jesus?” he calmed down a bit. “I-is that really you?”
The one and only.
Carl didn’t know what to say. He had been a faithful Christian every since he was born, his mother had made sure of that. He always went to Church on Sundays, and praying the table prayer were something of a traditional. He had even sometimes put money in the collection box! But to actually be talking to the son of God was a completely different experience.
And I want to ask you for a favor.
"F-favor?"
Yes, you see: As Bob have told you, six of my friends will be visiting Sweden, and I want you to take good care of them. Just show them around and let them have a good time, it isn’t as hard as Bob made it look like. But I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do, so if you refuse, I understad..."
Jesus wanted him to do a favor? HIM of all people? So there was something that made him unique and special, and Jesus needed HIS talented gifts to do this specific task? Of course he wanted to do this!
"O-of course I'll do it Jesus," he said encouraged. "But why me?"
He could here some nervous coughing coming from the son of God. Well, hrmm, I have already asked six others and they all said no...
"Oh..."
Well, let me explain more about what will happen: Remember to answer honestly to all their questions, even if the truth is harsh and unpleasant, and don’t be afraid to ask them questions yourself. They are very wise, and I am sure that you will learn a lot from them. If they want to do something, help them with it, in a reasonable way of course. If they, for example, want to touch a power line, you should of course tell them why they shouldn’t electrify themselves. But they will probably want to explore a lot, so be prepared to do stuff you normally wouldn’t do, like adventures and stuff.
There was a short second of silence.
You know I can read your mind right?
“Yes, hrm, sorry…”
I forgive you, I know that your body is filled with hormones but… how could you even be misinterpreting that as something dirty?
“Sorry…”
Carl could hear Jesus clear his throat in his mind. Anyway, just take good care of them and give them that book and everything will be fine. They are only staying for a week anyway. There is one more thing I want you to do: don’t tell your mother about them unless it is really necessary.
The teenager nodded understanding. “Jesus, can I ask you something? Oh, wait, you already know what I’m going to ask because you can read my mind, right?”
Yes, it is true, but wouldn’t I be rather rude if I answered all your questions before you even had time to think more closely about them? For example, you have been thinking everything from “how big breast sizes do they have” to “Will this be hard?”, but that is how the brain works: it comes up with a theory and then you decide if the answer really is worth pursuing or not. I would strongly be intruding your privacy if I would answer every question you come up with without giving you a second chance to actually consider if it is worth asking in the first place.
The teenager was surprised by the wisdom in those words. “I-I have never thought about it that way before…”
Of course not! You haven’t lived in million of years either have you? Now, what was your question again?
“Why did you send Bob to tell me about all this if you were anyway going to explain it a second time? Couldn’t you have just talked to me directly instead of sending that… Bob to almost scare me half to death?”
No I cannot! You see, there is a very logical explanation why we send the angels to deliver our messages and that is…
Um…
Well, you see…
Um…
...
That was a bloody good question Carl: why DO we send angels all the time? I guess it has becomed something like a tradition to always send angels with our messages. Come to think about it, it is really unpractical. I think I will ask my father about this…
“I wasn’t even sure it was an Angel at all!” Carl explained. “It was not like he was the nice and kind angel that you see in movies…”
Oh, don’t judge every angel based on Bob. The angels we in normal cases send to earth are much more educated in how to handle humans than Bob is. In fact, before an angel is send to Earth, he or she needs to take a specific “Earth” class, which is in turn divided into “Soldier course” and “Diplomat course”. Bob is the rare exception that hasn’t taken any of those classes but was still allowed to visit Earth.
The young man reflected on what had just been told to him. “But why did you send Bob if he haven’t even done any of those classes? Isn’t there any other angel up there that would be more appropriate?”
A very wise question! I see that you have learned from what I told you earlier about picking questions carefully! I thought for a second that you were going to ask me “Have you schools for angels in heaven?”, which would have a pretty obvious answer if you think about it. Bob is… discrete, that is all I can say.
“He didn’t seem so discrete to me…”
Well, umm… HRM oh, I almost forgot: don’t tell anyone what I have said to you today. Or what Bob have said to you for that matter, not even to the guests. Oh, and you should probably buy some clothes for them as well.
“What, won’t they be wearing clothes when they arrive?”
I don’t think so…
…
…And you have a very perverted mind, my young friend.
The yellow Pegasus held the two books tight in her hooves, as she hovered near the high sectors of the library. “Um… was it here you wanted me to put these books, Twilight?”
“Right there Fluttershy! Perfect!” Twilight made a green check at her to-do list.
“The tea is ready, just as you wished for my dear!” The smell from Rarity’s tea spread across the room.
“Just in time Rarity!” Another green check mark appeared on the paper.
Pinkie Pie bounced out from the kitchen, balancing a plate with several cupcakes on it. “I’m ready with the super-duper-tasty-cupcakes!” she said while skipping to the studying-table which had been turned into a dinning table.
“Great job Pinkie, just don’t drop them. Applejack, is there much time left on the pie?”
“It will be ready any minute now sugercube, no need to worry!” the apple-farmer shouted back from the kitchen.
“And are you ready to wake up Spike, Rainbow?”
Rainbow Dash showed Twilight a bucket full of water. “I couldn’t be any more ready!” she said grinning.
“Excellent!” She made the last clearing marks on the note-list and grinned happily. They had been working all day to make the library as presentable as possible for Luna’s arrival. Now, she was exhausted. But they were finally done with everything! The tables had been cleaned, the books had been sorted... She had even polished her experiment test tubes for this occasion! Yes, she was absolute sure that Luna would be dazzled by their hard work.
She made a tiresome yawn. “Thanks everypony for helping me out with this! Without you all, it wouldn’t have been this perfect!”
“That’s what friends for!” Applejack said, while placing the newly baked pie on the table.
“But is it only me wondering what this ‘proposal’ is all about? I haven’t heard anything from Luna since that bachelor party!” the white unicorn said. "This request of her came out from nowhere!"
Dash flew down to the bottom floor and joined the conversation. “I hope we are going to fight some demons, just like ‘Daring Do and the gates of hell’!”
Applejack looked sarcastically at her blue friend. “Rainbow, you know that demons don’t exist, and we should be very happy that it is that way!”
The pink pony bounced up exalted. “It is OBVIOUS what Princess Luna will suggest, can’t you all see it?!”
Twilight looked puzzled at her exalted friend. “It is?”
“Of course it is silly! It is a surprise party for princess Celestia!” The pink mare spread out some random confetti over the floor. “That is why she is all this misty-mysterious!”
“Well, I can’t say I have a better theory mah self…” the orange earth pony said.
“Um, girls, I don’t want to be a bother but um… Luna is standing right outside…”
Like a lightning strike, timid pegasus had been pushed away from the window by the charging horde of friends that wanted to get a look at the princess.
Fluttershy was indeed telling the truth. Outside in the late evenning stood none other than the princess of the night, looking around confused as she was searching for something.
“Oh my, it is really her! And she isn't even wearing any dress!” Rarity snorted.
“Why is she just standing there?” the purple unicorn asked nervously.
“Ah think she is waitin’ for an invitation…”
“Dash, wake Spike, I go talk to the princess!” Twilight walked to the entrance.
“Got it!” Dash said, and flew back up to the upper floor while Twilight opened the door.
“Princess! Welcome!”
“But there you are Twilight.” Luna turned around happily towards her sister's student. “I was starting to wonder if you would show up at all! But where is the rest of the elements of harmony?”
“Oh, they are waiting for you inside! We have apple-pie and tea prepared for you, and after that, Pinkie have made some of her best cupca-”
“Well, umm, that sounds tempting and all," Luna interupted while her eyes were bouncing back and forth. "...but as I clearly wrote in my letter, I requested the meeting to be outside the tree-house.” The alicorn turned away from the disapointed mare's gaze.
“S-so you won’t come in at all?”
“I promise there is a reason for why I want this meeting to be outside Twilight, but I am glad you made the trouble to bake me a pie, even if I don't have the time to appreciate it.”
“But…”
“Please go and get your friends, and I will be waiting here outside.”
Disappointed that all the hard work was for nothing, Twilight went back inside. She later returned with the five mares and a wet dragon. They all made a short bow to the Princess.
“You may rise. I assume that Twilight have told you all why I have gathered everypony this delightful evening?”
“Yes, she told us alright!” Applejack said.
“We now all about what you are up to and your secret is safe with us Princess!” Pinkie said, skipping up and down.
Princess Luna’s eyes widened. “Y-you already know?”
“Pinkie!” Twilight whispered warningly to her friend, but the purple pony's concerns went right into the first ear and straight out the other.
“Yes, and we are all ready to help you with the surprise party at anytime!”
Luna looked confused at the pink pony. “Surprise party?”
“Never mind her Princess,” Twilight said with some nervous laughs. “What is your suggestion?”
The princess of the night cleared her throat. “I have talked to my sister and she had lent me permission to send you all on an adventure, assuming that you all want it of course. I will open a portal that will take you to another world were you will be spending the coming week in. Your mission is to improve that world in any way you can, and to have fun of course. I will give you all one hour to pack and-“
“Princess?”
“Yes Twilight?”
“Um, what if we don’t want to go?”
The Princess looked surprised at the six ponies. “You don’t want to go on an adventure?”
The unicorn scrapped a bit uncomfortable at the ground. “No, you see, we always do something crazy around here…”
“… And all we really want is some peace and quiet…” Fluttershy filled in.
“…But we don’t get much of that since we are the Elements of Harmony…”
“…So we want to spare the few moments that we have… Um, if you don’t mind…”
Luna looked surprised at the six mares. She didn’t know what to say. She had been certain that the six would want to go, she hadn’t even considered the possibility that they might say no.
“D-does this apply to all of you?” she asked stuttering.
Applejack nodded. “I have mah farm to take care of…”
“And I have dresses to design!”
“I umm… want to take care of my animals…”
“We cannot go on an adventure when we are supposed to plan Celestia’s surprise party silly!”
“I just want to study…”
“I want to do what Rarity does!”
Luna desperately gazed over to the last one who hadn’t said anything yet. “Please don’t say that YOU also aren’t interested in this adventure?”
Dash looked sceptical at Luna. “Is there any demons involved?”
“Huh?”
“Demons. You know, big red massive things with red wings... are there any demons to fight off in that other world?”
The immortal made a puzzled look. “I do not think so…”
The blue pegasus started to inspecting her hoof. “In that case: Meh…”
The alicorn’s mind stopped working for a second. The elements of harmony not wanting to be part of the adventure? That would ruin the whole plan! Seems like Jesus got it his way after all... Or should she find some other ponies to fill up the gap? No, Jesus deserved the best of the best, and she was going to give him that! But right now, it seemed pretty hopeless...
Unless…
“Applejack.”
“Yes, your majesty?”
“I promise I will personally make sure that you will grow zap-apples for an entire month if you do this adventure for me…”
The apple-farmer gasped. “Zap-apples… for an entire month?”
“Yes!”
The farmer was stricken speechless. With that much bits she would get from those zap-apples, she could finally be fixing up that barn, and Granny Smith would finally get a proper grave! This was the opportunity she had been waiting for...
“Ah will be off packin’,” she eventually said and started moving towards the farm.
“Wait Applejack! Be reasonable here!” Rarity stopped her friend. “This whole idea is stupid, think about it! Improving a world that we have completely no idea what it is like? There could be anything waiting for us on the other side. Dragons, parasprites, Manticors... Celestia knows what else could be in there! Every zap-apple in entire Equestria isn’t worth the risk provided with such a stupid travel.”
“I will let you design my next Grand-galloping-gala dress if you follow Applejack on this adventure…”
“I think this adventure is a great idea! We will have an exceptional time together while we are exploring a completely glorious world, and I will get a lot of inspiration for my upcoming dresses! And not to mentioning all the zap-apple products that will be waiting for our arrival! We just simply must go!”
“But what about Celestia’s surprise party?” Pinkie said frowning. “She would be sad if we didn’t have one…”
Luna looked sarcastically at Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie… there is no surprise party…”
Pinkie's eyes widened. “You are cancelling it?”
“There never was a party to cancel!”
“But what was that suggestion Twilight mentioned you had for us if it isn't the suprise party?”
“It was…” She cut herself short. “Haven’t you listened to anything I have recently said?”
“Not much…”
The princess let out an annoyed groan. “Pinkie, my suggestion is the adventure…”
Ponyville's number one party animal immediately lightened up. “But why didn’t you just say so? An adventure would be super-duper-fun!”
“But I did say-... Nevermind...” She decided there was no use. Instead, she turned to her sister’s student. “Twilight, do you still don’t want to follow your friends?”
The unicorn made a deep sigh. “I will of course be there for my friends, but my personal opinion will always be that I just want to study…”
The dark blue alicorn gave the unicorn an encouraging smile. “Twilight, I admire your hunger for knowledge, and I can promise you that the world I’m sending you to is one of the most advanced and innovative worlds out there. I promise that there will be a lot of interesting things to study.”
Twilight wasn’t fully convinced about that, but she made a short nod anyway.
Luna turned to the element of kindness. “Fluttershy?”
“I-I-I d-don’t want to g-go b-but I don’t want to b-be l-left alone either…”
“There are animals in the world I’m sending you too…”
Fluttershy didn’t respond at first. “I guess it can’t be that bad then…” she eventually whispered.
“And you Dash?”
Dash crossed her front-legs demonstrative. “What is the fun going on an adventure if there won’t be any fighting? If this is just a boring 'spread love' mission, my friends can handle it without me!” she said stubborn.
Luna thought about what to say for a long time. This one would be a though nut to crack. Suddenly, she got an idea!
“Take this,” she said and suddenly, some kind of book-shaped box appeared out from nowhere. “...And give it to your guide. He will show you what to do with it, and I think you will understand the rest after you have watched it.”
Dash grabbed the strange rectangular box. There was a picture of a bat on the cover, and some strange symbols written across of it. It wasn’t written in Equestrian, that was for sure. “What does it say?” she asked annoyed. “And who is this ‘guide’ you are talking about?”
“You will soon be able to read it," the alicorn assured. "As for your second question, let me explain more about the mission.” She coughed before continuing.
“As I earlier said, your task with this adventure is to make the world you come to a better place. Don’t worry about what to do, or how to do it; I am quite certain that each one of you will find away to contribute to that world in your own special way. When you arrive to the world, you will be greeted by a guide who will show you around in the new world, so you won’t be fumbling in total darkness. He will provide with food and a roof to sleep under. Don’t be frightened by his appearance. He is friendly minded, even if he might look like a monster from another planet.
Come to think about it, he is a monster from another planet.
Anyway, go and pack your things and I will see you here in an hour.”
The party split up and headed back to each individual home.
Twilight groaned loudly. “Come on Spike, let’s pack our things…”
“I am afraid that the dragon will have to stay here…” Luna said with her commanding voice.
The librarian turned around surprised. “And why is that?”
“Trust me on this one: the place I’m sending you to is not a suitable place for a baby dragon. I am sorry Twilight Sparkle.”
The element of magic frowned and turned to her number one assistant. “I’m sorry Spike…”
“That’s okay, I can take care of the library while you are gone!”
Twilight gave her dragon a sarcastic look.
“I won’t make a complete mess like last time, promise!”
The sarcastic gaze was still there…
The dragon rolls his eyes .“…And I promise to be nice to Owlyvious when he returns from the veterinarian…”
Now the glare disappeared. “Good Spike! I believe that you will take good care of the library while I'm gone! just don’t eat too many gemstones so you get sick again, alright?” She gave the dragon an encouraging pat on his back.
In reality, Twilight made a silent prayer to Celestia that the tree-house wouldn’t have burned down when she returned.
"I promise!" the dragon said merrily, and embraced Twilight's leg. "You will be careful too, right?"
The purple mare couldn't help but feeling touched by the dragon's concern. It was moment like this she remembered that she was basically his mother. She gracefully returned the hug. “I promise!"
After they had hugged eachother for a while, Twilight broke the silence. "Now, let’s get going so you can pack my things…”
After an hour, the six ponies, plus Spike, stood ready with saddlebags attached to their bags.
The princess was smiling in front of them. “Before you go, I must cast a powerful spell on all of you that will allow you all to read, write, and understand every language that you will come across in the new world. Since its population speaks many different languages, this is necessary. So there is no need to be afraid by what I am doing right now.”
Luna’s horn light up, and a dark blue aura surrounded the six ponies. With a complex spell only an immortal with thousands of years of practicing could perform, the six ponies could now understand every single language, written or spoken, that existed in any of the universes. But the powerful translation-spell wasn’t the only thing that was cast on the ponies by Luna that evening…
Eventually, the aura faded.
“Okay, now you’re ready.”
Rainbow Dash inspected her wings and her hooves. “I don’t feel any different, how can you be sure that its working?”
The alicorn made a short chuckle. “Take a closer look at the box I gave you.”
Dash reached curiously for the strange plastic box Luna had given him earlier that was now lying deep inside one of her bags. To her surprise, the weird symbols had now changed to perfectly understandable Equestrian, and the title clearly said “Batman begins”, followed by a lot of strange names Rainbow Dash had never heard before. It looked cool and mysterious at the same time.
“Woa, what is this?”
“It is a DVD. Your guide will tell you more about it when you arrive.”
“So when are we arriving? It beginning to get too chilly for a lady like me to whitstand…” Rarity said with her snobbish attitude.
“There is one more thing I have to say to Twilight Sparkle before I can let you go.”
Twilight twitched surprised. “M-me?”
“Yes, please follow me.”
Luna led her some meters away from the group before stopping.
“Listen carefully element of magic: this mission shouldn’t be dangerous, but just in case, take this.” She handed over a scroll, sealed with a red signet, to Sparkle. “If you ever get in some kind of extreme emergency, open this and read it out loud! A friend of mine will then come to your aid and help you with whatever situation you have gotten yourself into. But only use it as a last resort, when all else have failed. Understand?”
Twilight made a serious nod and put the scroll deep inside one of her bags.
“I didn’t want to say that to everypony. There is no need to make them panic over nothing.” At least she hoped it was nothing. “That is all, let’s go back to the group.”
Once they had returned, Luna smiled at the friends. They looked so happy together. Yes, there was no chance that this mission would fail...
“Good, are you all ready?”
The six mares nodded and looked eagerly at Luna (well, except Fluttershy, but nopony really expected her to be eager).
“Great!” The alicorn started to channel up her magic again, and out from nowhere, some kind of blue portal emerged.
“It will take you to the next world. And remember: the first person you will see is friendly! I don’t want to see any fights or panicking, alright? Treat him with the respect you want him to treat you with!”
Again, the mares nodded in agreement.
The princess smiled merrily at them. “There are some few more things I want to make clear before you all go: don’t mention me or Celestia to anyone n the other world, not even to your guide! You are allowed to explain your mission if you want, but be very careful not to mention us or how you got there. It is extremly important that that knowledge doesn't falls into the wrong hooves... Did everypony get that?”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” The pink mare picked up a cupcake from one of her bags and showed it into her eye.
Luna couldn’t help but laughing.
“Okay, then all I can say is: Good luck, have fun, and most importantly: be yourselves. You can enter when you feel ready.”
The mares gazed nervously at the blue portal. No pony was really in the mood of leashing herself into a strange world without knowing what was waiting for them on the other side. Second thoughts began to go through everyponies minds, and if the purple mare hadn't taken a brave step forward, they would probably have changed their mind about the princess's offer.
“I guess I should go first since I’m the element of magic…” she said doubtfully. No pony argued with her, as she nervously approached the dark blue circle floating in the air. She closed her eyes, and with a big step, the portal had devoured her with a loud “swoop”.
The group watched anxoiusly as their friend disapeared in a mist of blue energy.
“We better follow Twilight so she won’t have time to end up in trouble where ever she might be right now.”
The party agreed with Applejack, and one by one, they all disappeared into the strange portal, each with the loud “swoop” sound as a result.
Eventually, it was only the baby dragon and the princess left.
“I don’t get it,” Spike said. “If I wouldn’t even be allowed to follow them, why do I even had to be a part of this meeting at all?”
The mighty immortal made a seductive smile towards the young tiny dragon. “Because I need you to write a letter to my sister…”
Carl was standing a bit restless in the middle of the meadow where he had been told to wait for the guests at. It had been a very, very strange day, and he was still feeling a little bit dazed by the 5 000 dollars he had found on his door step. Where did all that money come from anyway? It had been hard to only buy clothes for the guests with the money. His family was below average when it came to wealth, and he had never got hold of so much money before!
He tightened his anxious grip around the book. He had been peaking some more in it, but there wasn’t really any use. Whatever it was, he would never understand it. In his other hand, he held a plastic bag filled with women clothes for the guests. He had found it rather embarrassing to walk around the female part of the cloth-store, asking around what bra-size was the average. Looking back at his conversation with Jesus, asking how large their breasts were didn’t seem like such a bad idea anymore…
Speaking of which: he had no idea how they would look like. Would they be tall? Small? Fat, tiny, red haired, black, white, Chinese… How old would they even be? If it would be six pensioners looking for a place to stay while their retirement-home was being rebuilt, he would have brought completely wrong clothes for them. The same problem applied if it would turn out to be kids. Yes, he really regrets that he hadn’t asked more about his coming guests…
And how would they even arrive? Would they be walking, or come flying from the sky, or even emerge from the ground? Hell, anything seemed possible after having met Bob… The fact that he hadn’t been given a precise time didn’t make things any better. He had been waiting for about an hour now, and nothing had still happened.
He made a large yawn and took a glance at his digital watch. It was flashing 22:34 with a green light. He moaned annoyed. This late evening would result in a veeery hard day in school tomorrow…
Suddenly, something happened. A large orange hole emerged out of nowhere, forming what strangely reminded him of a “Stargate Atlantis” warp-hole. More because of instinct rather than because he was afraid, he took a step away from it. It seemed like the guests would make a flashy entrance at least! He had suspected the guests to be somehow not-natural, but this felt like an overkill.
His grip tightened even harder around the book. This was the moment he had been preparing for. Soon, six ladies would emerge from that hole that was right now warping space and time, and they would be in dire need for clothes. He would act like a gentleman, lending them the plastic bag with clothes and then turn around without giving them any perverted looks. Even if he had the desires like any teenager in the middle of puberty has, he wasn’t that kind of person that was a pervert.
Eventually, something stepped out from it.
Oh God!
Don’t say that was a…
Oh yes, it definitely was!
A purple horse had jumped out from the orange portal, and was now stumbling around disoriented. It eventualy restored its balance and started looking around curiously until its eyes got stuck on Carl. It looked just as frightened as he was, and it took a scared step backwards. Very carefully, it started to approach the teenager, and when it was around a meter away, it slowly stretched out its hoof towards him.
“I-I assume that you must be our guide,” it said with a slightly scared voice. “I-I’m Twilight Sparkle…”
Oh just great, it speaks!
