The Rings

On the same day the crusaders found Sweet Pea...

"Hey, Twi, do you know what this is?" asked Spike. He and Twilight Sparkle were in the map room of Ponyville Castle. Twilight noticed that Spike was being followed by a yellow creature, about Spike's height on its hind legs, with long, black-tipped ears, red cheeks, three brown stripes on its back and a zigzag-shaped tail. Twilight Sparkle looked at it, confused.

"Sorry, Spike, but I don't," she replied, flatly. "I don't even think any species like that ever existed in Equestria. Where did you find it?"

"I found him by the town hall," Spike replied. "He was looking around, like he confused, then he started following me. He's kinda cute." He paused. "At least, I think he's a he."

The creature climbed upon the table, as if it was some kind of toy. "Chee!" it exclaimed. It tried to grab onto one of the mountains, then it became disappointed when it discovered that the map was a hologram.

"Get down from there!" Twilight shouted, levitating the creature off the map. The creature evidently objected to this, because once it was down, it electrified her.

"Did you... see... anything else... unusual... in Ponyville...?" she said, slightly stunned from being electrified.

"Well, I heard that some kind of plant monster attacked a foal the other day," said Spike.

"Spike," said Twilight, "I think this might need further investigation."

Lyra Heartstrings excitedly ran back to her house, not paying much attention to her surroundings.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

She couldn't believe that her greatest dream had come true: to see a real, live human! She was sure she had a book somewhere that contained a translation spell...

When she arrived outside her house, Lyra thought she heard a faint sound somewhere between humming and singing, she saw a grey pegasus mare delivering mail. She waved at Lyra.

"Hey, Lyra! What're you excited about today?" asked the mailmare.

"Well... I saw-" Lyra began to say, but she interrupted herself. Did she really want to tell everypony about what she had seen? None of the ponies approved of her interest in humans, not even her close friend Sweetie Drops. They'd probably just think she was joking, or tell her to get a reality check. "Never mind." She shook her head and went inside.

Lyra's fairly small house was very cluttered. There were piles of dust-gathering books all over the place, and crumpled sheets of music covered almost every surface. The shelves were so full that they looked close to collapsing.

"Nope... nope... nope... wait, when did I buy that?" said Lyra, as she searched through her books. "Nope... nope... oh, there it is! Complex Spells and You!"

She levitated the book up and was about to take it to a table, when she accidentally knocked over another pile of books. She stumbled out of the way, and was about to levitate the books back into a pile, when they glowed with a blue aura and were neatly rearranged.

"You really need to tidy up this place," a feminine voice said. Lyra hadn't exactly heard the voice; it sounded like it was in her head, but not like a thought. Lyra looked around for the source of the voice.

It was a short, bipedal figure, about half of Lyra's height, with grey and white skin. The figure had green "hair" with lines similar to those  on sheet music. The eyes on its rounded face were blue.

"Who're you? What're you?"

"My name is Meloetta," the biped said, "for that is what I am."

"Pleased to meet you! My name's Lyra Heartstrings, and I'm a-"

"Pony. I've been in this world for a couple of days, and have been learning about it. Being capable of telepathic communication and translation counts, but don't worry - I can't actually read your mind. My telepathy is limited. Allow me to demonstrate"

Meloetta sang a wordless tune - an aria. Her "hair" changed from green to orange, and curled around her forehead.

"Wait," said Lyra. "So you're from another world? By any chance, is that world the same one that's on the over side of that ring by the town hall?"

Meloetta sung the aria and transformed back. "Sorry, I couldn't understand you. I can only use telepathy in this form."

Lyra repeated herself. Meloetta nodded.

"Really? You're from the human world?"

"If you mean a world that contains humans, among countless other species, yes."

"Awesome! I came into my house looking for a translation spell so I could understand the humans. Speaking of which, why are you in my house, anyway?"

"I thought it was unoccupied. Sorry about that."

"It's fine. Just don't go breaking into anypony else's house!"

Lyra went back to the table where she had put Complex Spells and You down. She flicked through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

The translation spell will allow every creature in the immediate vicinity of you to understand you, and vice-versa. This spell will also affect other ponies near you. It wears off after a week.

I think a week will be enough... I hope!

She closed her eyes tightly and focused power into her horn. Several seconds later, she released a golden burst of magic that she could see through her eyelids.

"You won't need to use that telly-paffy thing anymore!" she exclaimed, turning to Meloetta.

"Do you understand this?" said Meloetta, without telepathy. Lyra nodded.

Lyra ran back to the ring by the town hall.

Twilight, Spike and the yellow creature were investigating Ponyville for anything unusual. A few ponies mentioned seeing a grey and white biped around, and a many other ponies were gathering around the yellow creature, finding it cute. Twilight, however, made sure they didn't get too close to the yellow creature, because she didn't want anypony (or a dragon) else to get electrified.

Eventually, they made it near a town hall, where Twilight noticed a ring showing a street of an unfamiliar, yellow city inside it. Spike began to approach it, but Twilight stopped him.

"Careful, Spike. Who knows what that ring could be?"

Suddenly, the yellow creature dashed towards the ring. At the same time, a pony, Lyra Heartstrings, followec by a grey and white biped, also ran towards the ring.

"Home!" a high-pitched, but recognisably male, voice exclaimed. Was it... the yellow creature? The yellow creature then dived into the ring, followed by Lyra, and then the biped, although the latter hesitated for a moment.

"You're still not going in there, Spike. It could be dangerous."

"But Twi-"

"We will discuss this back at the castle."

"Remember the mirror that lead to the place Sunset Shimmer had escaped to?" asked Twilight rhetorically.

"Yes," replied Spike. "Why?"

"What if those rings are similar to the mirror, only they lead to a different world?" Twilight's eyes widened. "Just think about the possibilities: an infinite number of worlds out there, each with their own laws and rules..."

"So what you're saying is that the yellow thing comes from another world?"

"Yes. Think about it: nothing like that has ever existed in Equestria! Imagine what life forms could be in the world on the other side of that ring, or any other world!" She paused. "But... I'm fine with staying in Equestria as is. Still, I wonder what Lyra was doing?"