Time seemed to freeze for Uni, it was like that whenever things hit the fan – a certain brownish thing. Uni stared wide-eyed with terror at the one thing to ruin his plan, his loyal companion to the end; Obsidian. The black doberman had planted its snout on the glass window, its breath fogging the glass; Obsidian stared at Uni with a happy look in its eyes.

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!

Uni’s whole body was sweating – his hands, his feet, his face, his chest, especially his… “lower parts” – and as he slowly turned to face Luna… he realized she hasn’t made any sound or response. Partner… I think something happened to the VP.

You don’t think?

Well you better check.

Uni wanted to continue psychically arguing with Bill but he was right; turning slowly but quickly as well, Uni was met… with a happy Luna. No wait she wasn’t happy… SHE WAS ECSTATIC!

“A DOGGY!” shouted Luna.

“Whut?” In the speed to break the sound barrier, Luna ran past – or ran over – Uni and smushed herself against the window. She stared down at Obsidian as it continued to pant as it stared up at Luna with a weird far-off look.

“Oh aren’t you just the cutest thing eeevaaarr!”

Uni slowly got up but as he was going to, Luna ran over him again as she rushed to the front door. “...Ow...”

Luna reached for the front door and as she opened it, Celestia stood there – she held her purse and a bag of groceries – she too was shocked from her sister opening the door so suddenly.

“Oh sister, mind helping, the other groceries are in the-” Luna went past Celestia as if she was nothing but air; Celestia stared where her sister was with a confused look, before sighing. “car.”

Uni followed where Luna was and after he helped Celestia get the remaining groceries to the dining table, she helped him get his back straight – with a quick karate chop to the spine – in which he and Celestia went outside to find Luna.

“What’s going on Uni?” asked Celestia.

“I… can explain...” said Uni, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

The two made it to the back when they started hearing cooing and something talking like they were to a baby. “Oh who’s a good doggy! You are, you are!”

“Oh no,” said both Uni and Celestia, both surprised by the others’ response to Luna’s talking.

As the two turned, they found Luna with Obsidian – who was laying on Luna lap – as Luna scratched the back of Obsidian’s ear as the dog simply relaxed. Uni was ready to explode, but Celestia quickly caught to his response before he could speak.

“LUNA! You better give me a good response why you ran past me and to a stray dog like that all of a sudden?”

“But look at him Tia, isn’t he just the cutest. He was staring at me from the window I could tell; look!” Luna propped Obsidian up as his front legs dangled out before Luna; Obsidian looked at Celestia then Uni and barked.

“Wuf!”

Luna made a squeal as she started hugging the dog tightly; Celestia sighed and looked at Uni but noticed he stared at the dog venomously. “Uni… Do you know this dog?”

Uni was busy angrily glaring at Obsidian to realize who he was speaking to and spoke out of instinct. “Yep; his my dog.”

You stupid stupid idiot. The sound of Bill facepalming in Uni’s head, echoed.

Crud.

“Oh really?” Celestia folded her arms, while Luna continued to snuggle Obsidian; Uni simply chuckled awkwardly before gulping before he spoke his final – possible – words.

“He… followed me...”

Elsewhere; Sunset immediately went to her room and as she searched for her journal, she started thinking about many things in her mind about what has recently happened today.

Must tell Twilight about what happened! Uni is the new transfer student! I hope Sonata will be alright… and the other sirens. Where is that damn journal!? I knew I shouldn’t eaten that burrito for breakfast.

“Finally!” shouted Sunset, before shushing herself. After checking nobody heard her, she opened the journal and was ready to send a message to Twilight… when she noticed a new message in her journal.

Sunset read the message carefully, drinking everything written, but when she reached the very bottom of the message… her heart started drumming like a rocket. “Twalaght is hare!” shouted Sunset, her voice squeaking. Sunset nearly collapsed as she sat on her couch and started to feel her heart ready to bounce out of her body. She slowly calmed herself as she placed her hand where her heart was and breath in and out every two seconds.

Stay calm Sunset… I need to get them to my place… but we can’t be out this time… but I do know who can help me get them without getting trouble with curfew.

Sunset reached for her cell, clicked a certain contact, and waited for “her” to answer. A jingle later, Sunset got a certain southern voice responding back.

“Hey Sunset; its almost sundown, is there something wrong?” asked Applejack.

“No no… well there is, but I need your help. Do you have your keys?”

“Uhhh yeeah? ...Sunset, I hope you’re not starting to be one of those friends who give bad advice when secretly they have a thing for another friend, but want to get their attention by doing reckless things… Are you?”

Sunset was about to respond but gave a weird look as she stared back at her phone and spoke. “What? No! Where did you get that ide- Rarity?”

“Rarity; she lent those weird romance books to me after I looked at one of her favorite books. I was just skimming one book. ONE!”

“Then why are you reading them?”

“… … …Never mind that; what is this about Sunset? Why do you need my car?”

Sunset took a deep breath and spoke her reason. “Twilight… She’s back,” said Sunset, a mix of joy and anxiety in her voice.

Applejack was silent, but a faint gasp was heard before Sunset swore she heard a swear – or one of Applejack’s southernisms – until she spoke again. “I’ll be at your place in five minutes; get ready,” said Applejack.

Sunset made a confirmed yes and as she ended the call, she changed to a new set of clothing and waited downstairs for Applejack. I wonder who else Twilight brought with her… I wonder if she brought Spike, and maybe somepony else.

“I’m soooo boooreed,” said Discord, slouching against the school’s statue.

Twilight, Discord, and Spike waited for this friend of Twilight’s in this alternate reality; Discord lazily leaned against the statue as he placed a gloved hand on his mouth. Twilight was busy reading the recently new entries on the journal from Sunset, while Spike sat down nearby, waiting for Sunset to arrive.

“When is this friend of yours going to come? Why can’t we simply go about and take in the sights?” asked Discord, with a grin that spoke all the wrong reasons.

Twilight flipped through another page without looking up at Discord. “Again, we don’t know about this town, and even though I been here before – twice – I had only been here for a few days at most, and it was mostly around the school. Sunset has been here as long as four or five years, so she should know her way around here… so wait for now Discord,” said Twilight.

Discord grunted in annoyance before examining his cane; Spike continued to sit down and was beginning to feel drowsy when he heard something. It was a soft but audible sound that slowly grew; coming around a turn was a big red truck, that slowly stopped in front of the school. Stepping out was the one person that Twilight had been waiting for, as two words were enough to tell her who it was.

“PRINCESS TWILIGHT!” shouted Sunset, running toward them.

Following behind was Applejack who stepped out of the truck; the two girls were wearing some clothing that showed while it was getting dark, it was still warm.

“SUNSET! It’s so good to see you!” said Twilight, reaching in for a hug.

The two girls hugged one another where Applejack came by, and saw the small figure of Spike who came up to the girls. “Hey there Spike; how’s working with Twilight been?”

“Its nothing I can’t handle,” said Spike, standing on two paws and pointing one paw to himself.

At that time when everyone was getting to reacquaint one another, a tall ominous figure approached from behind; Sunset and Applejack were the first to notice and looked up to see Discord, showing off his snaggle-toothed grin. “Hello there girls, it is a pleasure to meet you; Discord, the Spirit of Chaos,” said Discord, with a small bow.

At the mention of his name, Sunset instantly sprung into action and tackled Discord; Applejack tried her best to pry Sunset off the lord of chaos, before Twilight joined to help. After some quick explaining on Twilight’s part, Sunset was the first to explode in confusion and fury.

“YOU BROUGHT HIM!”

“Please Sunset, Discord’s reformed, a lot has happened while you were gone. Discord is actually the one to find out that the cause of the anomalies in Equestria is coming from here,” said Twilight. “For that reason, I had to bring Discord and that we haven’t seen a version of Discord in this world.”

“Really? It would have been so satisfying to see another me.” Discord smiled about the thought before he found himself being stared down by all those nearby. “What? It would have been nice to find someone who had similar tastes of mine.”

After sighing, Twilight returned to the main reason why they came here. “Anyway… We’re here because of some strange anomaly is happening in town, we’ll be here until we find out what’s causing said anomaly.”

“That’s fine… You can stay at my place, I have enough space for you guys… But he needs to behave,” said Sunset, glaring at Discord.

“Don’t worry… I’ll behave.”

Discord and Sunset stared at one another – one’s was lidded while the other stared with mistrust in their eyes – when Applejack stopped their staring. “Alright alright, stop with the staring! Let’s get in my truck, I don’t want to be out here when curfew starts.”

With that, everyone stepped into the truck of Applejack’s – Applejack being the driver, Sunset in the side seat, Twilight and Discord sitting in the back with Spike on Twilight’s lap – and went their way. Elsewhere at the same time; Celestia, Luna, Uni, and Obsidian – who was panting and sitting near Luna – were all together on the dinner table. A spread was prepared, and before anyone could readily eat, Celestia waited patiently about Uni’s story of how and why he owns Obsidian. Luna busied herself by surprisingly not playing video games, but by petting Obsidian obsessively, making cooing noises and quiet giggles.

“And that is how I gained ownership of Obsidian… ever since then his been loyal to me, and has followed me… well… anywhere,” said Uni, fumbling with his fingers.

Celestia looked back with her hands grasped together before looking at Obsidian who stared back at her with his eyes. Those eyes are… Celestia shook the thought away and returned her focus back to Uni.

“Well… considering that while you don’t have any ownership papers on you… I don’t think you could of made up that story on the fly, so that is why there is one final question I need to ask you. Why did you name him Obsidian?”

Crap, I don’t know what to do?!

Well think of something, fast! Your the one to bring us down into this situation, and you are the one to bring us out!

With nothing else to think of, Uni simply scratched his chin and smiled innocently with a dumbfound expression. “I… didn’t… he told me to call him that,” said Uni, chuckling guiltily.

“He?”

“Obsidian… he told me to call me that...”

Celestia raised her brow, but before she could respond, Obsidian moved from his spot and approached Celestia. “Ohhh, come baaack,” said Luna, sadly.

Obsidian climbed up and laid his head on Celestia lap; Celestia was shook from the sudden contact, but relaxed. Obsidian stared up at her with his yellow eyes, until it began to climb up and start licking Celestia on the face. Celestia tried her best to fend herself, but was overwhelmed until she tumbled off her seat, and left as a pile with Obsidian on her – still licking her face.

“AHHH! STOP STOP STAAAAHH AHAHHA HAHHHA!” Uni watched this until he got off his seat, and ran toward Celestia and Obsidian, before grabbing Obsidian by the mid-section, and lifting him up.

“OBSIDIAN STOP!” shouted Uni.

The doberman stopped, but switched targets and pounced toward Uni, the dog began to lick Uni viciously as Uni was left in a pool of dog drool. Celestia got up and looked at herself, before sighing; she later grabbed a clean cloth and wiped the drool, off before lending in another cloth to Uni after Obsidian was done with his lick attack.

“T-Thanks...” Uni wiped the drool off before putting the cloth on the dining table. “Do you believe me now?”

Celestia looked back at Obsidian – he was with Luna as she scratched him behind the ears – and smiled. “Well, he is no ordinary dog… I suppose I’ll believe you now, but I will call back at your school to ask if you do indeed own a dog, alright?” said Celestia.

Uni nodded, and gotten back up to his seat; the three continued their meal before which the dishes were cleaned, and Celestia guided Uni to his temporary room. The room was a simple room with its own bathroom, and closet – a bed was placed near the corner and close to the washroom, the only source of light came from a window placed on the top of the room where sunlight and other sources of light would come through, right now the only light was coming from a lamp.

“You’ll stay here until we can find a more permanent place for you to stay; many of our students live by themselves, like Sunset.”

“Sunset lives alone?”

“Now now, don’t get ideas; while you two may be old friends… Having a boy and girl stay close in the same building or floor is a bit-”

“I-I-I WOUL-ULD N-NO-T! Sunset’s an old friend, I would never!”

Celestia’s expression changed to a coy smile before chuckling, Uni sighed as he was tricked by Celestia. “By your reaction, I suppose you are indeed being honest… Well, I must go; while the weekend is indeed coming up, you still have a lot of work to catch up on… it is the middle of Spring after all, so I hope you’re well with adapting with sudden changes.”

Celestia left Uni’s new room; Uni did not bring a lot of his personal items, as he only brought two bags – one his school bag, the other a luggage bag. The school bag had his pencil case, some binders, an agenda, notebook; the luggage bag had something interesting items other than the needed essentials like some toothpaste, a toothbrush, some shampoo, a brush for his hair, and spare cloths, but other than that, a strange object was in the luggage. It was as big as his hand but wasn’t that interesting… to the common observer. The object was a pendant, with strange symbols etched on to it; a soft glow came from the pendant before it stopped.

“No abnormal sources here… With that done,” said Uni, slowly turning to face to particular figures. “Explain; why are you here Obsidian, and why did you not tell me you knew Bill?”

Bill floated beside Obsidian who sat down, staring back at Uni; Bill calmly raised one hand as he lazily pointed a finger toward Obsidian. He did it.

Obsidian turned to face Bill, before he growled back at Bill… Uni sighed knowing this was going to be a loooong night. Why can’t I have these two not be at each others throats.

Sunset stepped out of Applejack’s truck, followed by Twilight, Spike, and Discord. “Thanks for doing this Applejack,” said Sunset, closing the truck’s door.

“No problem; at least now we have a reason for setting up that picnic,” said Applejack. “See you on Sunday!”

Sunset nodded, as she watched Applejack drive away; Sunset went inside as Discord, Spike, and Twilight followed behind. Once inside, Whisper was at his usual spot until he spotted the two newcomers – either he not noticed Spike or didn’t bother as he didn’t knew Spike could talk – and stood up with a purposeful slowness.

Sunset saw what was to come and approached the old man. “Uh Whisper, these are some friends of mine. Their out of town and came over to visit; is it alright they could stay at my place for awhile?”

Whisper looked at Sunset, and glanced at her “friends”; the girl with purple dress was okay… but the tall man with that strange get-up was a bit suspicious… too suspicious. Whisper walked up to Discord before Sunset could stop him, where the two ended up giving each other the eye.

“Hello, how can I help you?” asked Discord, with an innocent smile.

Twilight watched, her sweat going down like a waterfall, Spike watched and knew not to speak up for if he did… then the situation would be worse as it is. Whisper continued to give Discord the eye, before Discord did something nobody expected him to do – he started making faces.

Sunset and Twilight were now raining down sweat, when suddenly Whisper gave a surprised look… before he chuckled. Sunset has never heard him chuckle or make any sound of amusement, not once, so hearing him chuckle was… well pleasing. Whisper’s chuckle was somewhat relieving as it gave a warm feeling inside you; Whisper tapped Discord’s should and walked past Sunset and made her hair a mess after he started shaking her lightly.

“I know I know, I’ll try not make a mess…” said Sunset, leaving with the others. Before Sunset could head up the stairs, she turned to Whisper. “Whisper… Thanks...”

Sunset went up the steps; Whisper was busy reading a newspaper but a smile crept up the old man, and he spoke when he was sure he was alone. “You have some interesting friends...”

Sunset approached the door of her room, and unlocked it with her key, once inside the group made themselves comfortable. Discord removed his jacket and slung it over a chair, while Twilight settled herself on the couch with Spike exploring Sunset’s home. Sunset sat opposite of Twilight on an armchair and focused her attention toward Twilight.

“What’s this about abnormalities Twilight?” asked Sunset.

“We can worry about that later… What’s this about a boy?” asked Twilight, with inquisitive look in her eyes.

Discord caught the question and approached with intrigue, while Spike later came along and noticed the conversation. Sunset blushed and shied away as she covered her face with her own clothing, slowly ducking her head in her shirt.

“I… it… he… his an old friend… when I first came here; his name’s Uni, he can be somewhat rude somewhat like Rainbow but his a swell guy – not that I have any interest on him!” said Sunset, waving her hands in panic.

“My my, this has gotten interesting – strange magical bubbles, an old friend, and this place is just… BRIMMING with chaos… Almost as if something is spewing the stuff out like fire.”

Twilight found that last point odd but ignored Discord before going back to Sunset. “Well I’m happy you knew someone here, but there’s also something else I need to know. What is this about a yellow triangle terrorizing the Sirens?”

At that Sunset stopped her embarrassment and calmed her nerves before continuing to speak once more about the strange attack on Adagio and her group. “A strange entity attacked them, but I’m not sure why… If this thing has anything to do with strange anomalies appearing all over Equestria then we might want to find out what this thing is and its master.”

“Master?”

“This thing has a boss… Interesting.”

“There’s a guy called Uni?” Everyone looked at Spike’s remark, as he looked back with a defensive pose. “What?! I just joined the conversation!”

Twilight sighed and continued to respond with what she now knows. “Well we can figure all of this later… For now, we need to rest; Discord can sleep on the couch, while myself and Spike can stay in the guest room, if that is alright with you Sunset.”

“Of course; well, have a good night everyone.” Sunset got ready to sleep, as well as everyone else, but after a few hours, Sunset couldn’t sleep and went to the kitchen to grab a quick snack, when she saw Discord on the patio.

Discord stared off to the night sky, a strange look in his eyes as he was staring at a certain part of town for some odd reason. Sunset sneaked up behind him, but the chaos spirit wasn’t that easy to sneak behind.

“Is something the matter… Lightstop was it?

“Sunset… What are you doing here, shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“Oh I thought some stargazing would be a good way to keep myself busy before I took a nap...”

Sunset looked out and noticed how nice it was tonight; the moon was out, as the stars surrounded it, giving a blue light around the town. It looked so peaceful, but Sunset felt an uneasiness… it was unnoticeable but now she looked more carefully, something was definitely off, and she wasn’t alone.

“You feel it, that raw energy… I haven’t felt something this strong since-” Discord stopped himself, before he had a far off look in his eyes. He then stretched his limbs and yawned loudly, stopping Sunset in her own dazed look. “Welp, I’m pooped; have a good rest, Miss Lightstop.”

“Its Sunset.” Sunset watched Discord disappear into the darkness of the living room, before she too returned to her room. That night, the town slept peacefully… ignorant to the strange rifts appearing in the sky.

That Saturday, not much occurred other than that Twilight, Sunset, and Discord – with Spike of course – explored town to see if they could find anything. At that same day Uni was going out alone, and nearly met them… that however is another story to tell later; so far nothing much happened, other than that Bill was busy roaming around, while Obsidian stayed behind with Luna and Celestia.

The day prior afterwords… that was when things started to get interesting; the day was planned by the girls for a picnic by a hill near Applejack’s place, where they all meet around noon, but before that, the girls had one final thing to do… They had to find out where Uni was staying and invite him, it was easier than they thought… problem was that something… came up…

A certain blue-haired problem.

Author's Note

We reaching some interesting stuff as the characters will start to meet one another; sadly that has to be stopped by another mini-chapter: Time for some mall shenanigans!