Pony Dimension

Twilight lay in her bed thoughtful. She had spent a long time mourning of the situation. Time had given her the heart to be optimistic. She lifted her head out of the pillow she had sunk her face into and trotted to the window of her empty prison. It was low enough and the sill was large enough for her to sit on it. She sat gazing out the barred window.

It was dark for daytime, it was always that way in that strange, unnatural location. It was fitting to the gloomy way things were. The cirrus clouds covered the sky, dimming any light from Celestia's sun. From her window she had a good view of the courtyard and the buildings scattered about it. At least they were kind enough to give her that.

"It'll be okay," she told herself.

"What will?" Storm spoke suddenly, which caused Twilight to jump. Twilight didn't see or hear Storm at all. She wondered if she were oblivious or if her captor was just stealthy. Storm sat on the bed nonchalantly with her hind leg hanging off and her forelegs crossed, leaning against the wall. A moment of silence fell onto the two.

"Can I ask something?" Twilight inquired. Storm gave her a skeptical look, then nodded.

"You're not a normal changeling, are you?"

Surprised of her knowledge of changelings and accurate statement, Storm replied,

"How did you know?"

"Well," Twilight answered, "All of the books I've read on changelings describe them as very insect-like and identical, but you don't seem typical of a changeling at all. You're actually more like ordinary ponies."

"Do not compare us to your kind," Storm replied.

"Oh, sorry..." Twilight apologized. Another silent moment fell.

"Well," Twilight started up again, "can you tell me a bit more about your kind?"

"You want to know about me and my kind?"

"Well, yes."

Storm inhaled and let out a deep breath.

"Some of us have more resemblance to you ponies. We call ourselves 'Advanced Changelings.'"

Twilight held on every word Storm said. She valued knowledge and saw this as an excellent learning opportunity. She listened carefully, like she would as a filly in magic school.

"Some inherit the feature by birth, others go through transformations. We Advanced Changelings are generally more powerful than normal ones. He have enhanced physical strength and magic. We also don't need to feed on love. We do, however, lose most of our abilities to change appearance."

"Most?"

Storm changed her hoof mimicking Twilight's appearance.

"We can do it for a short time and it's not as accurate. This is the only thing we lose," she explained reverting her appearance to her own.

Twilight remained wide-eyed throughout the entire monologue. She had no idea there was such a thing as "Advanced Changelings" and was happy to learn of it. She felt as though she had just discovered an ancient artifact.

With sparkles in her eyes, Twilight left the window to turn to Storm.

"How are you one?"

"I was born with it."

Twilight seemed to forget that she was being held prisoner. She was instead interested on the subject of Advanced Changelings. She curiously inquired as much as she could without annoying the pegasus. Storm uncomfortably inched away as Twilight got closer than welcome.

'What's with her?'

Applejack took a step back with Spike.

"Who are you?" she said with hostility in her voice.

"Forgive me," he replied trying to sound fancy -- he failed terribly. "My name is Reckless Hoof," he said in his rough voice, "And who are you, pretty lady?"

Spike growled at the comment.

"Applejack."

"Well, Applejack, what'cha doin' in the 'experimental weapons' room?"

"Lookin' for someone."

Reckless took a long look at Applejack, observing her build gained from years of hard work. She was rough and weathered. He became curious about her strength, and was whelmed by an urge to fight her. He liked to fight. He had a light brown mullet for a mane and a tail in similar fashion.

'She's tough I can tell...'

"Afraid you won't find nuthin' but swords an' guns in here," he said as he pounded his hooves together, causing a clang to fill the room. It also caused him to fall on his face.

"I meant to do that"

Steel was attached to both his hooves. He swung his right foreleg around stretching his shoulder.

"I don't like hittin' girls, but..." he started, "Hittin' people's my job. Sorry, but I'm gonna put you through the ringer."

Reckless launched toward Applejack fiercely, pulling his hoof back in preparation for a swing. He swung hard at Applejack, but she jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the attack. He then threw a series of many punches, each one barely avoided by jumping from side to side.

"Yer good at runnin'," Reckless commented.

"I ain't runnin', I'm dodgin'," Applejack sneered.

From the left, from the right. They leaped around the room, knocking over a few things. Bolts, nuts, scrap metal, even some weapons fell to the ground in the heat of battle. Applejack pounced to one of the tables. Reckless threw another strike which failed to make contact. Instead, he smashed the table in two, the steel on his hooves slamming through, causing splinters to fly everywhere.

He pulled back his foreleg an additional length as he had her trapped between him and the wall. Applejack prepared to dodge. One of her hooves caught on a fallen bolt. She lost her ground and failed to keep her movements up.

'Crickets!'

"Gotcha!" Reckless shouted as he threw his hoof at her. Steel met flesh and fur in an impact that sent Applejack flying through the wooden wall. Debris scattered with the impact as a cloud formed from the flying shards of wood. Applejack fell out of the room and down to the dirt ground.

"Applejack!" Spike shouted from his spot inside to his friend. Reckless had generally ignored him thus far, and he hadn't moved much from his place.

'I gotta help her!' he resolved. His eyes darted around the room. 'What's something Applejack could use?' He rushed to a pile of weapons lying on the ground. He picked through each of them. He picked up a knightly sword.

"Too light for someone as strong as Applejack," he deemed. Then a dagger. "Way too light." He spotted a large battleaxe, and shivered, "Too heavy."

Applejack lay on the ground panting. Her eyes spotted the hole she was sent through, then observed herself. She was covered in scratches. She began to stand. When Reckless saw this, he hurled himself through the opening. He resolved he wouldn't let the fight end until one of them was out cold.

"Perfect!" Spike exclaimed as he gripped a bastard sword in his claws. It was weighty, and could be used with either one or two hooves. It was an excellent longsword that came between shortsword and greatsword.

'Applejack should easily be able to use this with her strength!'

Spike grabbed it by the handle, started walking, and was pulled down by the weight. He exerted himself in various positioned trying to move it. He then found it was easier to distribute the weight when he held part of it by the blade.

Reckless went down through the air aiming for Applejack, She rolled out of the way, causing him to punch this ground, tossing up chunks of earth.

"You can take a hit," Reckless remarked.

Applejack grit her teeth as she rose up.

'He's strong. And those hooves,' She glanced at them 'He's got steel on 'em. At this rate...'

"Applejack, here!" Spike shouted. He tossed the sword with all the strength he could muster. It flew through the air, rotating as it traveled. Applejack made no attempt to catch it (hooves aren't the best for that), but instead let the top of the blade sink into the ground. She at first began to take it in her mouth but then decided she didn't want any broken teeth.

She gripped the grounded sword in her right hoof and lifted it out of the dry dirt. She observed it as she held it in her hoof, then gave it a few practice swings. It was weighty, which gave it more force, but it wasn't too heavy for her to use single-hoofedly.

"Thanks, Spike," she said, "This'll make things a lot easier," she added rising to her hind legs.

"What do you mean the path is blocked?!" Trixie huffed.

"There was an avalanche and now the path is blocked," replied the amber unicorn.

"Surely there must be another route?" Trixie hoped.

"Well, there is one way..."

Trixie lit up.

"...But it's full of monsters, so I'd advise against it."

"Ha! They can be no match for the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

The other unicorn rolled her eyes.

"Just don't get yourself killed."

Trixie paused.

"Is it really that dangerous?" she inquired, now worried.

"Well, a lot of ponies who go that way end up missing, so yeah."

"Perhaps you wouldn't mind... being Trixie's guide?"

"I was going that way anyway."

They trotted side by side via a poorly maintained cobblestone road, Trixie pulling her cart-home across the desert sand. Her companion levitated a map out of her bag and positioned it in front of them.

"You see this?" she pointed, "We're here. Normally we'd just go north to Las Pegasus, hop on a train and be done with it. But because the path is blocked and the mountains are too steep we can't go that way."

Trixie stood listening quietly, nodding from time to time.

"There's a big rock farm to the west that's private property, so we'll have to go around that. Instead, we have to follow this river south into Arlmaspt Territory, circle around it, and pass through a piece of land between said river and Macintosh Hills."

"Arlma what?" Trixie gawked.

"It has a giant skull on it and is supposed to be really dangerous," she replied rolling her eyes. Trixie shrunk hearing the statement. Skulls don't just appear out of nowhere for asthetics after all, things die. If there's one big enough to be shown on a map, who knows what kind of creatures have been or are still there?

"Anyway, if we follow the river north for a while then go east we'll end up in Appleloosa, we can catch a train there." She curled the map up and levitated it back into its place.

"Why not just cut across the river?" Trixie inquired.

"It's wide and the rapids are fierce this time of year. Without a proper boat we'd just get shredded before we got across," she looked at Trixie, "And I don't think either of us can afford a proper boat."

It was true. The nomadic lifestyle isn't always very profitable. You sometimes end up spending more bits than you get. And you usually get them by odd means. If not, it's usually either thieving, or thieving from thieves if you prefer something more legal. Not that the law had eyes everywhere, they'd actually gotten lazy with the low crime level recently.

"The name's Sunset by the way, Sunset Shimmer," Sunset added. Knowing names is important of you're going to be risking your life alongside someone, although she didn't expect much from Trixie.

"The Great and Powerful-"

"Yeah I know, you've said it a million times already."

Trixie pouted.

'She better not slow me down.' Sunset thought.

And so the two followed the map, which Sunset dug out again when she needed it. They traversed the barren land until it gradually changed to the grassy riverside. Their separate journeys became one for time being.