“C’mon, Power Ponies! She went this way!” a purple mare called, before leaping from the rooftop. She landed on another and kept running without missing a beat. Five ponies followed after her, followed by a slightly less graceful biped.
The group skidded to a halt as they reached the end of the street, peering over the edge of the rooftop.
“Did we lose her?” a blue pegasus growled as they scanned the streets below. Ponies were trotting around happily, enjoying the tranquillity of the late evening.
“Looks like it.” an orange mare snorted.
“Relax, Power Ponies. I’ll just-” the purple mare was cut off by a flash of blinding light. The blue pegasus, who was closest, cried out as she was sucked in.
The purple mare wrapped the pegasus in her magic, only to find herself being dragged along too. A pair of pink hooves wrapped around her barrel, but to no avail. The pink pony got the yellow mare’s teeth embedded in her tail. The yellow mare was grabbed by the orange mare, whose tail was grasped in the white pony’s magic. The white pony had a pair of purple claws grabbing their tail, but none of it worked. All seven figures soon found themselves blinding by white light.
The last thing they saw was seven more figures flying past them.
The Masked Matter-Horn groaned and blinked her eyes open. She shifted her wings and shakily stood up. On instinct she performed a scanning spell, satisfied in the fact that she had no injuries, although she was confused at her lack of costume. Another spell revealed her companions were nearby.
She was in a small stone room. A stone table lay in the middle of a room, with an open book on top. Curiosity getting the better of her, she glanced in the book.
Matter-Horn was surprised to find the pages empty. She flipped to the front of the book and recoiled. The Mane-iac’s grinning face stared back at her. With a shaky breath, Matter-Horn opened the book again and looked at the first page.
Her eyes went wide when she saw herself in the book. Her and the other Power Ponies were looking down on the streets of Maretropolis. Matter-Horn felt anger rise within her. Somepony had been spying on her! Somepony had been writing about her! Well, the second thing was kind of flattering but somepony had been spying on her!
Matter-Horn stomped her hoof angrily and slammed the book into the table with her magic a few times for good measure. Turning on her hind hooves, she fled the room.
She emerged into a crumbling hallway. Faded red carpet and cloths decorated the broken passage. Multiple holes in the ceiling revealed a midday sun. She had been asleep for hours!
Matter-Horn broke into a run, using her magic to guide her towards her nearest companion. She found Zapp unconscious in one of the many hallways.
“Zapp! Wake up!” she shouted.
The blue pegasus shot up immediately, eyes wide and scared. She quickly relaxed when she saw Matter-Horn.
“Okay! No need to yell.” She grumbled. Then she looked around. “Where are we, anyway?”
“I have no idea!” Matter-Horn exclaimed, forgetting the comic in her anger.
The pegasus glanced at her worriedly before flying up to the ceiling. The blue mare stuck her head through one of the many holes. She returned with a confused expression.
“We’re in a ruin in some sort of forest. I saw a village a few miles north but nothing else.” Zapp reported as she touched down.
Matter-Horn mused for a moment before laying out her instructions. “Fly around and see if you can find a way out of here so we can get to that village. I’ll look for the others so meet me back here once you’ve found something.”
Zapp saluted before flying off.
Matter-Horn sighed and tried another locater spell. Her next companion was just a minute’s trot away.
Zapp flew down another hallway, finally emerging into a large main hall. Two thrones sat at the head of the room. The floor had been stripped of the red carpet and was still a little wet from a recent washing. Rolls of fabric lay beside one of the doorways, along with a few buckets and sponges.
“Was somepony trying to renovate this place?” Zapp mused. The crumbling of the castle would make the task incredibly difficult, and her powers let her know that the weather around this place was terrible anyway.
The pegasus looked around a little more, and was satisfied in her search when she found a long, straight hallway leading to the outside world. The blue mare flew out, loving the feeling of the sunlight, and dove into the forest.
Matter-Horn jabbed the white unicorn in the side, eliciting a gasp and a quick reflex from the generally tame mare.
“Could you be any rougher, dear?” Radiance huffed disdainfully.
“Probably.” Matter-Horn admitted. “It’s not important though. We need to find the others so we can get out of here.”
“I should say so! This place looks awful.” Radiance scoffed.
“Stop being a neat freak and use your magic to help me find them!” Matter-Horn commanded.
“Very well.” The white unicorn sighed, lighting her horn.
Zapp panted as she landed in front of the fainted monster. The lion-like creature had bat wings and a scorpion tail. Its claws were still unsheathed from its battle with the pegasus, who had suffered a few scratches down her sides.
The blue mare took a few cautious steps back before spreading her wings and flying over the forest. So much for going through it.
Soon enough she arrived at the village outskirts. Ponies were trotting around happily, singing and laughing. Zapp was confused; even the ponies in the non-threatened cities weren’t this happy.
As a mint-green unicorn trotted by, Zapp grabbed them by the leg.
“Could you tell me why everypony’s so happy?” Zapp asked her.
“Because it’s a nice day, Rainbow Dash!” the unicorn smiled.
“You makin’ fun of my hair?” Zapp growled.
“Wh-what? No!” the unicorn began to back away slowly. “I didn’t mean anything!”
Zapp watched as the unicorn fled. The pegasus snorted with aggression before flying off.
Matter-Horn groaned as Hum Drum tripped on his cape again. The alicorn was waiting impatiently in the hallway with her companions. Radiance was using a summoned mirror to watch herself. Mistress Mare-velous was absentmindedly twirling her rope. Fili-Second would keep disappearing, only to reappear with random pieces of cleaning equipment. Saddle Rager was lying in a meditative state nearby.
The purple mare looked up hopefully as a shadow covered one of the ceiling holes. Zapp flew back in and touched down, confusion on her face.
“Well, I found the village, despite some… obstacles.” The pegasus motioned to the scratches across her sides. Radiance summoned some bandages. “But the ponies here aren’t like those from Maretropolis… and they called me ‘Rainbow Dash’!”
“Looks like we aren’t in Maretopolis huh guys?” Fili-Second called from where she was examining a bucket.
“Ah gathered as much.” Mare-velous snorted.
“It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look around. Fili-Second, see if you can go find anything of use.” Matter-Horn commanded.
The pink pony zipped away, returning a second later with the comic in her hoof.
“All I could find was this comic about us do you think it has something to do with where we are?” Fili-Second asked, handing Matter-Horn the comic.
“Hold on, let me check.” The comic was quickly the victim of a scanning spell. Traces of dark magic remained on the book. “Some sort of modified teleportation. Somepony must have…”
“Matter-Horn? You okay?” Zapp frowned.
“Somepony took our places!” Matter-Horn gasped. “That’s why we don’t have our costumes! That’s why our hairstyles are different!”
“Dear, what are you saying?” Radiance tilted her head slightly.
“Somepony read that book and switched places with us! Right now they’re in Maretropolis, possibly fighting the Mane-iac!” Matter-Horn worried. “We’ve taken the place of a bunch of innocent ponies who were just trying to clean this castle! And now they’re in danger!”
“Well then we need to get back in that comic.” Saddle Rager decided calmly.
“Right.” Matter-Horn took a deep breath and channelled her magic. “Radiance, could you lend me a hoof? Just channel some magic into me.”
The white unicorn nodded and lit her own horn. Together the two horned ponies began to draw magic from the comic. However, they only got halfway when a flash of light sent the whole group flying backwards.
Matter-Horn groaned and kicked the rubble off of her. From her place in the rocks she could just about see her companions buried under similar piles of rubble. In the centre of the hallway were seven figures.
“Ha, that was awesome!” exclaimed a rainbow-maned pegasus.
“Ah’ll say.” An orange mare laughed.
“I still don’t get how it was possible…” mused a purple alicorn.
“Relax, Twilight!” a pink mare giggled. “It doesn’t really matter. Want a cupcake?”
“Pinkie, when did you…”
“Eh, we had a good half second before we got sucked back out of the comic, and the Maretropolis bakery was only sixty-five blocks away!” Pinkie grinned widely.
At the mention of her hometown, Matter-Horn lit a spell and threw the rubble off of her and her companions.
“Whoa! Am ah seein’ double?” the orange mare gasped, glancing between Twilight and Matter-Horn.
“I’m afraid not. I am the Masked Matter-Horn. The real one.” Matter-Horn growled.
“The real Masked Matter-Horn?” a small dragon gasped.
“Indeed. And I believe you currently hold my doorway home.” Matter-Horn gestured to the comic, which the dragon was now clutching to his chest.
“Aha! I was right!” Twilight exclaimed triumphantly. “We did take the places of the Power Ponies!”
“I don’t care who you are, I just want that comic!” Matter-Horn yelled as her companions trotted up behind her.
“There’s no need to rush…” the dragon muttered, clutching his comic harder.
“Yes there is! If we don’t hurry then the Mane-iac will destroy Maretropolis!” Zapp shouted.
“The Mane-iac?” the rainbow-maned pegasus mused. “Nah, we took care of her.”
Matter-Horn stomped her hooves against the ground. “Nopony can beat the Mane-iac except us! Now stop lying and give us the comic!”
”Are ya’ll tryin’ to threaten us?” the orange mare frowned.
“We might if ya’ll don’t give us that comic.” Mare-velous growled.
“I don’t appreciate you threatening my friends.” Twilight glared.
“Give us the comic and we’ll stop.” Matter-Horn’s horn began to glow angrily.
“Now, I’m sure- hey!” Twilight gasped, leaping aside as a beam of magic struck the floor she’d been standing on just seconds before.
“Give us the comic!” Matter-Horn cried, charging another spell.
Twilight raised a barrier around herself and her friends, which easily deflected Matter-Horn’s beam. The alicorn stared in shock; her magic attacks were unstoppable!
“Spike, just give them the comic!” Twilight pleaded.
“But…”
“Spike, please!”
“Fine…” the small dragon sighed, releasing his comic.
The barrier was dropped and Matter-Horn quickly grabbed the comic in her magic. With an unspoken signal Radiance began to feed magic into Matter-Horn, who began her spell again.
“So, you’re saying that for a few hours we switched places with them?” Rainbow frowned.
“Yes, Rainbow.” Twilight sighed as the group emerged into Ponyville.
“What if they did something we probably wouldn’t have done while they were here?” Pinkie cocked her head to the side.
“Well we’ll find out soon enough.” Twilight mused.
“Rainbow Dash!” the group stopped as a mint-green unicorn ran up to them. “O-or do you not want me to call you that anymore? Either way, I just wanted to say I’m really sorry if I offended you!”
“Lyra?” Twilight blinked. “Why wouldn’t Rainbow want to be called Rainbow anymore?”
“Well it’s just because earlier you thought that I was making fun of your hair…” Lyra explained.
“What, no no no that wasn’t me.” Rainbow laughed.
“B-but… then who was it?”
“A character from a comic!”
“Wh-what?”
“Magic, Lyra. Magic.”
