To Tartarus in a Saddlebag

Chapters

The Beginning
Connecting Threads
The problem with holding magical creatures...
Planning around plans... All according to plan!

The Beginning

Life. Such a weird word; something to describe things that can move, think, breathe, and just generally do things. Now, if one were to add the word "That's" in front of "Life," we'd get a whole other thing on its own. "That's life," is such a simple thing to say, yet it can also be used as a response to things that are either complex, or just unfortunate that happen to people.

Speaking of unfortunate things happening to living beings, something seems about ready to happen to a certain lavender unicorn filly, who's just gotten ready to take her entrance exam in order to get into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Ponies. (The last head teacher at the school had vehemently pestered Princess Celestia to change the name of the school, seeing as it actually accepted ponies of all types, not just Unicorns.) But anyway, we're getting a bit off track here...

Twilight had just entered the room where her entrance exam, as well as the examiners, were waiting for her. This was it, the final test, the one that would decide whether she got into the school or not. The tension in the room was palpable, but little Twilight let it roll off of her shoulders, and looked at the test. What laid in front of her was but a simple cart, which held what looked like a weird piece of coral. It was as big as one of Twilight's hooves, and yet seemed like it was broken off from a much larger piece.

The purple filly instantly knew what the piece was; it happened to be that same piece of coral that was reported on after it was actually found just lying about, just outside of Time Turner's home. Somepony probably tried to pick it up with levitation, which led to it being studied in Canterlot. What was so unique about it, was that it just absorbed any and all magic that came into contact with it, no matter what spell was thrown at it. The stuffy examiners had a differing opinion on what should happen, apparently, as they just gave Twilight an even look, and simply asked her, "This last test will be simple, yet not. Your test is this: try to move this piece of coral; it does not matter how it is moved, just that it is."

Now, normally when someone hears this, they would just nudge the thing they were asked to move and call it done, but this is Twilight "Tryhard" Sparkle; she just has to do things the hard way. As soon as the examiner finished the statement, Twilight fired up her horn, getting a levitation spell ready. As soon as she was sure she had pumped enough magic into the spell, she let it loose onto the piece of coral. It did nothing. No, wait, it did more than nothing, but it didn't do what Twilight had wanted it to do. It simply absorbed her magic, like it was a sponge.

'Alright Twilight, think,' Twilight said to herself internally, 'All it's doing is absorbing magic indiscriminately. There has to be a limit! It can't just suck up an unlimited amount of magic at any given time.' It was then that Twilight had formed an idea; it was a pretty stupid one, but it was all she had in terms of what she thought she could throw at it. Right now, it was go big or go home in Twilight's eyes; no problem was unsolvable in her eyes. Sure, it might cause her trouble, but she was also somewhat of an expert at getting out from that problem as well as of recently.

After a few seconds of gathering herself together, Twilight dug down into her core, and tried to unleash a teleportation spell on the piece of coral. At first, it didn't react. A few seconds into trying to get it to budge, Twilight hit some sort of wall. It wasn't coming from the coral, but the spacial plane of Equestria. 'That's it! I could try to open up a hole outside and tunnel it back to Equestria with another hole somewhere else! Perfect!' No, not perfect; in fact, that idea was far from perfect. Sure, it started to work as she just casually TORE OPEN A HOLE IN TIME AND SPACE IN ORDER TO FREAKIN TELEPORT A MAGIC-RESISTANT PIECE OF CORAL, but it wasn't a very bright idea really. The examiners were all set to just give her the damn grade almost as soon as she had passed all the other trials with flying colors, but no. Someone had the balls to give TWILIGHT MOTHERBUCKIN' "I HAVE NO NEED FOR THE LAWS OF REALITY" SPARKLE an impossible test. They had just insisted on being a stupid little pony, and the universe had decided to show them exactly why one does NOT hand Twilight an "unsolvable" problem.

As Twilight had charged the spell and fired it off, she had just absolutely shattered her body's magical limits and started channeling magic straight from Elysium. If that wasn't reason enough to give Twilight an all expenses paid scholarship into any and all advanced magical training at the school, may Celestia eat her bedsheets. This was precisely when things had started turning ugly. The hole in reality that Twilight had torn open started reacting with the coral that she had attempted to move. It bathed the room in a sort of golden-yellow glow, similar to Celestia's own aura color, but it was completely different. It matched the raw and untamed energies as the background energy that flowed around the inside of the hole that she had ripped open in reality. It didn't stop there though; it started sucking her into the whole, and she had no way of controlling where she went. Twilight made a pitiful attempt at trying to cut off the spell, but it was like a runaway train without any brakes. Any and all attempts made to stabilize the spell and wind it down were completely futile. It had passed the point of no return, and the instructors had no idea what to do, aside from call Celestia into the room immediately.

When Celestia arrived at the scene, it was just seconds too late, as Twilight was almost completely swallowed up by the runaway spell. Just before Twilight was taken completely, Celestia put out a quick and simple pulse of magic, "I'm verry sorry my little pony, but I cannot contain this runaway spell. If I were to channel the sun in order to stop the spell, there would be far too much collateral damage in the resulting backlash of magic. The spell that I've just cast is a simple tracker spell. If you happen to land in a world where magic exists, then it will be a simple matter of finding you. Please know that we will never give up looking for you, ever. We will not rest until you are safely back in Equestria."

In her mind, Twilight knew that what Celestia said made sense. She wanted to help, but she couldn't for fear of causing too much damage and potentially costing many more lives than just the possibility of one. She, a small filly, knew this, yet it could not stop the tears from forming in her eyes as she was sucked away to worlds unknown. Celestia placed a hoof on Twilight's cheek just before she fully disappeared, "I wholeheartedly promise that you will be found, my little pony. Remember that wherever you go, Equestria will be waiting for you to return."

Seconds after she said this, the spell went through its completeion, and then nothing of Twilight sparkle remained. She had crossed time and space into a totally different reality, possibly one without even magic. This was all brought on because SOMEPONY had forgotten to read the scroll that was sent their way shortly before Twilight was due to arrive. Celestia looked right at Professor Inkwell, and gave him this look, which was blank and yet told him all the horrors that awaited him as soon as he got done with all of his other duties he had that day.

He had only one thing to say, “Buck me.”

Connecting Threads

Discord - Chaos God of Equestria, The King of Jokes, His Own Worst Enemy, That Weird Guy. Right now though, he could be considered the unluckiest being on the planet. Not that he would let anyone know that though... Right now, he had his mind occupied on what he considered the biggest problem to date: Ensuring his plans for worldwide, and then eventually universal domination carried out without any major complications. The thing was, his most interesting target for shenanigans had gone missing. Twilight Sparkle was nowhere to be found anywhere in the universe. It was as if she just disappeared from this plane of existence entirely; poof, gone like the wind. The problem with that though, was that there was almost no conceivable way for something like that to happen, unless she went through some sort of wormhole outside of this universe's space. That in and of itself was a monumental feat of magical power. It was that exact thing that bothered him, because as far as he knew, he was the only being capable of doing something on that kind of scale. What really rubbed the salt into it though, was the fact that he had planned on sending Twilight to that same world she was headed to, just a bit later on in her life.

Sure, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to plan for world domination, especially if you were put on what was essentially eternal probation, but that's what you get when you try to take over a country full of sentient beings and make them your playthings without consulting them. If he had his way though, he'd still be king of the land, instead of the infernal Sisters' pet. At one time or another, Discord had actually been the absolute ruler of everything, but then everything changed when the Equestrian nation attacked.

But alas, there was no use complaining about it, not when he already had another idea in mind. The only issue with that particular plan is that he had to wait a few years at least for things to cool down before he crossed the existential barrier between worlds. 'Well, at least I don't have to put up with anyone else stomping on my turf for a good few millennia.' Oh Discord, when will you learn to not tempt fate?

Some time earlier, on the planet of Torvendis

Goliath looked out onto the plains of the latest planet he had come to, as he attempted to sit down on a lawn chair that was brought to him by some annoying, babbling Ultrasmurf that just wouldn't shut up about how great he is. Oh, he came back to pester Goliath some more…

"This lawn chair is the best lawn chair that has ever existed, because that is what it is! It was all thanks to I, Cato Sicarius, that you have such a magnificent chair to sit on!" The giant Bloodthirster, known simply by the name 'Goliath,' was barely able to fit on the chair at all let alone sit on it the way one was meant to. On top of that bit of annoyance, the Brother-Captain of the Second Chapter of The Ultramarines just would not leave him alone. Sooner or later, his patience was going to wear just a little too thin for his liking if that dimwitted yet somehow successful Ultramarine didn't shut the hell up within the next five minutes!

Finally, Goliath had pretty much had enough of Cato Sicarius' stupendously annoying ham-fisted self praising for one year, let alone one day. With one motion, Goliath got up from the chair, picked it up like an ancient human sports relic, and turned into a swing that struck the Ultrasmurf clear into the skies... If not into low orbit... He could've sworn he heard Cato Sicarius screeching out, "That is fiiiiiine I, the great Cato Sicarius, shall go assist someone eeeeellllseee!" With that nuisance gone, Goliath could then finally get around to figuring out how in the name of Malaal he was going to tackle the mess that is Torvendis.... Or so he thought.

It just so happened, that at the exact time he was about to actually sit down and think, Goliath could've sworn he'd heard some poor soul tempt fate itself to make things worse for him. It took Goliath all of two seconds to make up his mind, before he decided to leave the planet the way it was and head straight towards whatever world it was that was home to the idiot who had just asked for everything to go wrong for him in every possible way.

With a mighty flick of the wrist, Goliath tore a hole into the fabric of spacetime and walked right onto the world from which he heard someone say something eternally stupid.... and almost bowled over a bunch of..... Ponies? 'That can't be right... I felt someone just make an amendment to an evil plan and then ask what could go wrong, yet this world seems to be filled to the brim with cute and adorable creatures...' Goliath took a moment to compose himself before he walked any further, and then just picked a random direction to walk in, hoping that he didn't crush anyone by accident as he walked. With nothing else to do aside from walk around though, Goliath began to think of what he could do in the meantime.

'Hmmm, I guess I could open up a shop in the meantime, but what?' It took a second of looking around to see what shops there were around him, and it seemed that a majority of them were either magic related, or a library, one was some weird restaurant of some kind.... But then he saw it, a rundown empty building, which seemed to be an abandoned apartment complex. It was perfect. The only thing that stopped him however, was a guard. And then another, and another, and another, and another. Within a few short seconds, Goliath had been surrounded by a contingent of what appeared to be very irate guards, with their spears drawn.

Several tense seconds ticked by, before Goliath knelt down onto his knees to make himself seem smaller, and (he hoped) a little less threatening, and then spoke with as gentle a voice as he could muster. "Might I inquire as to whether it would be possible to speak to one of your leaders? I think I'd like to open a shop here in this fine city." Even more seconds ticked by, before there was a response from one of the guards.

"Absolutely not! You will be going to the dungeons until we can find out why you're here, demon!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Goliath complied with the demand by shrinking down his body size, so that he would be easier to shackle and transport him to wherever he was going to end up. When nothing happened after he shrunk himself, Goliath looked around at the guards, who happened to take a bit of a step back simultaneously. "What? I haven't done anything illegal, have I? I just got here."

This comment brought the guards out of their stupor, and one of them answered his comment, "Silence, demon! Just because you haven't done anything yet, doesn't mean you won't in the future. This is for your own good!" Immediately a pair of shackles were slapped onto Goliath's wrists and ankles, before he was hauled away in a carriage that just happened to be in a nearby convenient location for immediate use™.

A bit of time later, Canterlot Castle Throne Room…

Princess Celestia, Lady of The Sun, Princess (or Queen, depending who you talk to) of The Day, Benevolent Ruler of All, The Bright One, and Princess of Cakes sat upon her throne as she (sort of) listened to Blueblood rant on and on about some nonsensical thing that happened to bother him at that particular moment. If Celestia were honest, which she was most of the time, Blueblood was one of the most annoying ponies she had ever had the displeasure of adopting, let alone having to listen to whenever he had something to complain about. Whenever he had found something to complain about, he just kept going on and on, without ever shutting up. This was one of those times, unfortunately for Celestia.

“Dear Auntie, I assure you that this idea will strengthen Equestria’s economy for years to come! Just think about it for a mome-” Celestia had apparently had enough of Blueblood’s selfishness when it came to, well…. Almost anything, really, and raised a hoof slightly to shut the little pompous asshole up.

“Blueblood,” she said, barely containing her strong disappointment in her nephew. Again. “What you have proposed might indeed bring the economy to new heights, but there’s just one problem: the middle and lower classes. As much as it pains me to say this, there are other wealth classes in this nation. To neglect them, or even think about outright taking even more bits from their income to pay for some venture will not stand. I will not have nobles putting themselves before the interests of the crown and the people.” Blueblood was about to turn and leave, but Celestia continued, “Further more, Scivarius Blueblood Dinglehom, if you shortchange the other two wealth classes again with a ludicrous tax hike to pay for what should be a personal venture, you will be stripped of your noble title, and will be mandated to live out the life of someone in the low income bracket. You will not have access to your funds until you genuinely learn what it’s like for them. Do I make myself clear?”

The fire in Celestia’s eyes raged like an unwavering inferno, and Blueblood could do nothing but sit on his haunches and watch the flickering flame wave to and fro within her eyes for a moment, before he could even think let alone say something. It was a couple of moments before he managed to squeak out an audible, “Yes’m. Perfectly clear.” Just as Blueblood managed to pick himself up off the floor, a pegasus guard strolled into the throne room with a look on his face that just screamed ‘I must report something but I’m not sure if you’re done with your annoying patron yet.’ It wasn’t until Celestia asked him for a report that he spoke.

“Your highness, my team and I have found a demon wandering around Canterlot.”

Normally one could say that Celestia was surprised; flabbergasted, shocked, amazed, and any iteration thereof would’ve also worked. The thing was, she didn’t seem to be. At all. This quite obviously tripped up the guard, but he continued nonetheless. “It just roamed around Canterlot, apparently in search of a shop, but stopped at a small apartment complex that seemed to be abandoned. We contained him as soon as he stopped walking around, and -”

“Did he hurt anypony?”

The guard stopped and scrunched up his face, confused. “N-no, your majesty.”

Celestia continued, “Did he make any attempt to harm you or resist the arrest, even though it was clearly unwarranted?”

That just confused the guard even more, “No, no he didn’t. In fact, he shrunk himself down so it would be easier to transport him.”

Celestia sighed heavily and put her face in hoof, “Then it stands to reason that he has not broken any laws. Like it or not, General Silent Wind, he is free to go. Bring him up here first, so that I may get a firsthand account on what happened.”

It wasn’t until a few minutes after Princess Celestia had brought about the request, that said prisoner had been brought into the throne room. She got a good look at Goliath, and could see why the guards had just arrested him on the spot.

The creature had massive black leathery wings, was bright red in color, had huge horns that protruded out and to the back of his head. He also towered over all the guards, and happened to be as tall as Celestia herself. The guards had said that he had shrunk down to accommodate the guards as well. He seemed to be wearing what looked to her like leg armor in place of pants, which had the added bonus of covering him up where it counted most.

Just as Celestia was about to speak, Goliath knelt down on one knee, while his left arm was crossed against his chest, and his right arm was out towards the floor so he could stabilize himself in said position. “Your majesty, I have come to this land, because I have overheard someone making potentially terrible plans for the future, and came at once to make sure they do not come to fruition. On a somewhat unrelated point however, is that I wish to purchase a property in order to run a tea shop. I figured that since I have retired from overtaking worlds and bringing order to different lands, I could run a tea shop to pass the time. Your presence would be most welcome, Your Highness.”

For a moment, Celestia had no idea what to do about the situation. She felt that she should check up on the matter of someone making plans, but it was decided quickly that she and him should talk more privately about the matter later, as there were other things to address. Chiefly among those things was his release from being detained. Celestia took a moment to gather the rest of her thoughts, before she spoke.

“First thing on the list of concerns: did you charge this creature - “

“My name is Goliath, m’am.”

Celestia glared at Goliath very briefly before she went back on her train of thought, “Thank you, Goliath….. Now, did you charge Goliath here with anything?”

The guard just rapidly shook his head. Celestia counted that as a win in her books. The less paperwork needed the better. No one had any idea how much paperwork went into clearing names of the falsely accused and/or charged…. None at all.

“Good, at least that’s settled.” Celestia turned to him, “Goliath, you are no longer required to stay under the supervision of the Royal Guards, as you are hereby released from detainment as of immediately. Second, I grant you ownership of the property you had expressed interest in when you were arrested, under condition of course.”

“Of course Your Highness.”

Tia rolled her eyes, “Please, just call me Celestia. There is only one condition to your receivership of this property: I’d like you to come and have afternoon tea with me every Wednesday.” In that moment, Goliath saw something in Celestia’s eyes: they looked extremely tired, despite them being bright and motherly.

Without even moving from his earlier position, Goliath absolutely slathered the reply with brown-nosing. “Thank you Celestia, for bestowing upon me this gracious gift. It will forever be treasured.”

There was an audible sigh that had no doubt come from Celestia, “Please rise, Goliath.” He did so, finally. “These events aside, today has been pretty dull, honestly. I know that you’d like to speak your mind, and I appreciate you holding back in present company; just remember, you can always talk to me in private when you feel the need. I have a feeling we’d get along just fine.” There was a glint in Celestia’s eye that Goliath hadn’t noticed before. He was intrigued.

“Thank you, Celestia. I will not forget this wonderful gift.”

Almost as soon as Goliath was escorted out of the throne room, Celestia pulled out a small clear bottle which contained a dark amber liquid. A very small glass floated into view from behind the throne, and Celestia poured out a shot of Griffondale Whiskey. She slammed it back, and then teleported both the bottle and her glass into her private bedroom. Specifically, the kitchenette counter.

“That makes the third unwarranted arrest this week. Buck me.”

The problem with holding magical creatures...

Quite a few years had passed after the older couple had found the purple unicorn in the park without incident, though they had no Earthly idea the events that they had unknowingly set into motion by having her brought across the border and into the US. Twilight was transferred to the custody of the United States Government, but that's as far as the little paper trail goes; knowledge that the US Government had a tiny purple unicorn was embargoed harder than Cuba and the US-operated numbers station combined. There wasn't even a need-to-know basis, unless you happened to be (un)lucky enough to actually be a part of the project to see what information could be gleamed from her.

Twilight floated in a tank, filled with some sort of amniotic fluid she didn't know the name of, in what seemed like a base of some sort, based on what she could scarcely recall when she had last been able to perceive the outside world... Properly, anyways. Shortly after she had arrived and been put into the tank, she had been purposefully kept under. She was constantly stuck in a dream, which inevitably enabled her to have on continuous lucid dream. Anything that she could imagine, happened; Twilight was totally in control of what she interacted with and perceived, a complete wonderland of endless entertainment - or so it seemed. Just weeks in, she grew bored of her environment; she needed to interact with someone, anyone, it didn't matter who!

As weird as it sounds, she longed for the rare days that she was woken up and brought in for questioning. The first time it had happened, she could already tell that they didn't have very good intentions for the information they demanded from her. Though she was still young, she already felt that she shouldn't give them any useful information. Things like names of ponies and places were changed. Twilight forded the minefield of whether to embellish or downplay magical capabilities of ponies, and went with downplaying it a little bit - she didn't feel the need to tell them that one of their own raised the sun while another raised the moon. The mentioning of weather manipulation by the Pegasi had turned out to be a surprise to them, which lead her to assume that they hadn't had to deal with needing to manage their weather. The next time she was brought out of the tank, Twilight downplayed the abilities of Pegasi; they could walk on clouds, and manage minor weather manipulation. They didn't get much else out of Twilight over the years, some small details here or there, though they were mostly mundane facts and such.

It was shortly after the most recent trip outside of the tank when Twilight witnessed something that both gave her hope of escape, and yet also terrified her to the bone... For in Twilight's mental bubble, sat a lone human. That fact alone wasn't what terrified her though, as she sometimes interacted with apparitions of those she talked, or was shouted at by, when she was thoroughly bored. No, what disturbed the purple unicorn, was that she could feel that this human was actually another person. What bugged her even more however, was the fact that this person seemed to be no older than thirteen years old.

She would've pondered more upon this, but Twilight's internal monologue and entire thinking process was interrupted, when she noticed a final, world-shattering fact: this person, whoever they were, could wield magic. This little nugget of information was dumped upon Twilight, due in part to the very nature of how the two were within her mind in the first place. Eventually, Twilight managed to open her mouth and ask a very pointed question.

"How? How are you here? The very fact that you're here should be viewed as an impossibility, but here you are..." Twilight couldn't help but circle around the person. They had stark white hair just past shoulder length, fiery red eyes burned with the flames of a thousand suns, and stood at a meager five-foot-two. It also appeared that the person was in fact female.

After a couple seconds, they spoke, "Ever since I was little, I've been able to do things.... Weird things... Things that defied any explanation or sometimes flat out broke the laws of physics at the very least. I found a way to turn myself invisible, store a near-infinite amount of items outside of reality, and just recently I've started accidentally opening doors to completely different areas than they should have lead to. The last thing I remember thinking about before I went to sleep just a bit ago, was wishing to be able to talk to someone who could help make sense of what I'm able to do. I know it's magic, it has to be, but I just can't reliably control it without help..."

Twilight seemed apprehensive at first, but eventually warmed up to the idea of teaching the young girl how to control and utilize her magic. 'I could teach her so many things, and with any luck, I'll be free of this place. Sure, it's comfortable..... when I'm in the tank, anyway... But they've been getting more and more aggressive in their search for usable information as of late, and more frequent.' The lavender unicorn gave the girl with a faint smile, "I would love to be able to pass on my teachings of magic and spellwork." She paused for a moment, "Unfortunately, most of them require a basic understanding of how magic itself functions... I can't exactly teach it, because it is something more 'felt' than 'taught'."

The girl brightened up at the prospect of having someone teach her to control her magic that seemed to do nothing but grow as she did. Her ensuing smile was so bright, that the area they were in seemed more vivid and bright within the dream. She grabbed one of Twilight's forelegs with both hands and gave it a hardy shake, smile still plastered upon her face. "Thank you, so much! You have no idea how much this means to me." Twilight's hoof was shortly thereafter released from the girl's tight grip as she continued, "The name's Alena Noel, by the way; what's yours?"

Twilight put down the hoof that was so energetically shaken with enthusiasm. "My name is Twilight Sparkle," she said, with a pleasant smile upon her face. That however, did not last long.

Alena could not help herself, and decided to have a little fun. "Twilight Storkle?" The name was posited with as much seriousness as a Monty Python movie.... Which, one would say, would be none at all. Twilight however, took exception to her name being mispronounced on purpose.

"No, it's Twilight Sparkle," the mare repeated, saying her name slightly slower and with more emphasis on 'Sparkle.'

Alena decided that once was definitely not enough. "Toilet Sparkle?"

The mare's eyes went wide, "*HAY NO!* That's a toilet cleaner from back home, and my mom bought that one every so often, simply because she liked to tease me sometimes." There was silence for but a second. And then, "It did not help at all that the bottle happened to be the very same shade of purple as my coat." Twilight punctuated her point with a pointedly disappointed pout.

After Twilight's indignant pouty face, Alena came to the decision that trolling Twilight would have to wait a little while. "Alright, relax, I was just messing with you; though I'll probably call you either 'Sparkles,' 'Sprinkles' or 'Twi' unless I happen to be serious about something." Twilight was about to open her mouth, but Alena cut her off, "Yes, I do this with most of my friends, this isn't anything new."

"Well, I guess I can't argue there." She was about to say more, but Alena started to fade out of the dreamspace they were in. "Wait, what time is it!?"

Alena looked around, seemingly at nothing and yet something. "Probably around 7am, if my fading out is any indicator; it's a school day, so I kind of have a need to get up and out of bed. We'll talk more later when I get home from school."

Twilight waved goodbye to Alena as she was almost gone. Before completely fading away, she regarded Twilight one last time, "Don't get too bored without me!"

With that final statement, Twilight was once again left to her own devices within her own bubble of dreamspace. It wasn't much, but it was hers... Though it seemed as if Alena's farewell comment fell on deaf ears, because as soon as she had left, Twilight was irrevocably boooooored.

Just as Alena was in the process of waking up, she could've sworn she heard Twilight let out an indignant "Well, fuck..."

Author's Note

I know this is a slightly shorter chapter than usual, but the root of that problem was that my laptop restarted before I could hit the save button and lost half of my work. Still, I think it turned out pretty okay nonetheless. Stay tuned, for I have a pretty neat interlude chapter, based upon one of Alena's comments about a magical mishap!

Planning around plans... All according to plan!

Fate, master of choice and destroyer of plans and free will, looked to what was bound to happen with Discord on the path that he was. Fate was not pleased, at all. Discord rising to Elder Godhood would mean the end of all worlds, which displeased Fate a great deal. Something had to be done, that much was certain, but Fate was unsure about directly affecting things. There were rules, even for the forces of Life itself. The most Fate could do, is make small changes to souls before they move on to be born.

That was when Fate got an idea, which was to do just that. Fate looked around at all the souls about to be sent off to be born, when it saw a particular family was about to conceive a child. 'Ah, the Noel family. They have been my favorite, as of late. Always pushing against me and somehow succeeding in ways not even I could predict. I think I know just how to help things along.' It was immediately after that thought when Fate got to work. Only a couple of changes were needed, and were well within the rules of small changes, yet they had the potential for a big impact.

'Firstly, this child will not be bound by my whims, and she, by the looks of it, will do great things. Second, she will be born with the ability to wield magic. They may seem like small changes, but they will be enough to accomplish what needs to be done. You have my blessings, dear child.'

The last thing Fate did, was guide Twilight from between worlds, over to the one it had just sent the child to be born, the moment her soul adheres to her body. This was to ensure that the child was exposed to magic as early as possible, so she would be able to wield it when the time came for her to do great things.

For the first time in a long time, Fate felt that things were going to turn out okay for all of existence, for Fate had felt the touch of Hope for the first time in eons.

Jessica Noel looked at her husband John as he lay beside her in their bed, and felt overcome with love and affection. The two had recently gotten married, and just finished moving in a few days prior; the two of them felt on top of the world, and neither wanted to come down. She looked him up and down - his slightly muscular body made her feel safe when he held her close, his lively green eyes were like endless fields which held nothing but love for her. Whenever she cuddled with him and buried her face into his neck, she played with his soft, short brown hair that always seemed to smell faintly of coconuts. It might have something to do with her telling him one night that she absolutely loves the flavor as well as the scent of them. That didn't matter though, not as much as he meant to her that is. He was slightly taller than her, at 5'11", which also contributed to her almost insatiable need to hug him at every moment.

She whispered into his ear, "John. Hon, I have something to ask."

John pulled back a bit and put a finger on his wife's lips. "If it's what I think you're about to ask, don't." She was about to get upset, but then he continued, "You don't need to ask, because I already have an answer: yes. As much as I love spending time with you, I'd also love to have someone else to share our happy moments with."

Jessica excitedly moved closer to John and glomped him, her long fiery orange hair spilling over herself and partially onto him as well. Almost immediately, John got a little excited; sure, it could've been due to what was to come, but it was also attributed to his wife's soft chesticles squishing into him as well. Sure, he loved them, but he also loved everything else about his wife as well. Her somewhat short build, which put her at around 5'8", her piercing red eyes which seemed to always burn with fiery passion, and her soft lips that always threatened to keep his sealed there.

The two of them started kissing softly, which almost immediately went into deep, passionate kisses that went on and on. With glacial movements, they got into the moment and did things to one another that would not be suitable for daytime television. It got hot and heavy, but also went slow and lovingly, not like other times when it was just "for the fuck of it." Usually it was almost all over the house, but this time it stayed in the bed. This was a special moment, the two of them lost to their love and passion for one another, and for their joint desire to hear the pitter patter of little feet coming from down the hall.

Just as they both finished, there was what sounded like an explosion, but was mostly muted from both the music and their (mostly her) cries of ecstasy. Seconds after it though, it seemed as though Jessica was glowing. It was for but a moment, though only John saw it, as her eyes were closed. In that moment, his wife had looked more beautiful than the day he had first laid eyes on her. They were both moments that he would treasure forever. Soon after though, the glowing stopped, and things went back to normal.

Shortly after their throes of passion had ended, the two of them had the best sleep in their lives, content with the belief that something special had just happened. However, exactly just how special of a surprise they would receive would not be known until later in their lives. For now, they would be content with each other for just a bit longer.

Pain. Everything and anything she felt was pain. Twilight couldn't think, for whenever she tried, she was met with even more pain coursing through her mind and body. But then, within either seconds or hours (she couldn't really tell), the surge seemed to be winding down. A few moments later, she was able to finally touch the ground beneath her hooves. Twilight looked around her, and saw that she definitely wasn't in the castle at the very least. It looked like a park, but everything seemed so much bigger, even bigger than what would be made to fit adult ponies.

'It really happened, then. I'm in another world...' With that thought alone, Twilight was overcome with sadness. Sure, she knew that she had a tracking spell placed on her, but what good would that do in a world that had no magic of its own, as far as she could tell. It started as a few hitched sobs, but then almost immediately turned into full blown bawling. She just couldn't hold it in anymore, and let out a stream of tears that could not be stopped by anything.

"I... I... I'm n-never go-going home agaaahahahaaaaaain!"

It was that action alone that had alerted a nearby house, who's owners stepped outside in the dead of night to find out who in the seven circles of hell would leave a child in the park at 3 AM. When they drew closer, they could tell that it wasn't a child, but what seemed to be a miniature horse. Its bawling quieted down to heaving sobs, and then the oddest of things happened. It spoke.

"Hello?"

The older couple had no idea what to do about what they were seeing, but they had to do something. The two of them started whispering to each other.

"Harold, what do we do?"

The man looked at his wife with an incredulous face, "I have no idea! You see that thing? It's a purple horse that can talk! Last I checked, I'm not Dr. Doolittle, and this isn't fucking Wonderland! I know for certain that neither of us are on any drugs, so that leaves the fact that this thing is real! The crap thing is, we can't take it in. It's a fucking alien, for Christ's sake! God dammit, Martha, the only thing we can do, and I hate the very idea of it, is call my cousin. He works in some government facility south of the border, somewhere near Rady Park or something. He'll know what to do with it, or at least know where to take it."

The two of them went back inside, and not twenty minutes later an armored RCMP vehicle showed up. A swarm of officers rushed out and secured the area, before a lone official got out of the vehicle and approached Twilight with an apple. "Hey there, you okay?"

Twilight sniffled, "No, I'm not okay. I'm alone in a place I don't know, and I don't think I can ever go back."

The official knelt down and held out the apple to Twilight, "I can't take you home, but I hope this will help calm you down."

Twilight thanked the official and took the apple in her magic. This shocked a few of the officers, but the official waved them off. The apple was eaten nearly whole, and shortly after, Twilight began yawning. "Whaaa...... what was in that apple? I feel sleepy."

"I put a little bit of ketamine in it, to help calm you down and make sure no harm comes to these officers under my watch."

Twilight pouted, or at least she tried to. "But I wasn't going to do....." She yawned, officers refused to acknowledge that she was cute doing such action. "I wasn't going to do anything."

"But how could we know that? It is just a precautionary measure. I hope you understand."

Twilight passed out before she could give the official response. The official carefully picked Twilight up, and brought her into the van. All of the officers got back into the vehicle as well, and then it drove off to Emperor knows where. Over the course of half a day, Twilight was transported to an undisclosed underground facility, where the US counterpart to the official waited. Twilight was exchanged between the two, along with the promise that she would not come to harm, as per the unofficial agreement between the two governments. He hoped against hope that no one could sense the purple horse's presence, else there might be a bloody battle for retrieval, sooner or later...

Author's Note

Alright, it seems I've finally got my mojo back, and will be writing more regularly. On another note though, Twilight is around the age of eight years old when she takes the test and ends up on Earth (in this story's universe, anyway.)

And for those of you that figured out who was referenced as Fate, please don't spoil it for those that don't know. It's a surprise for later :pinkiecrazy: