Author's Note

This is part of a story that has been stuck in my head for a while so I’m putting it up also I’m sure there are a bunch of grammar issues because I’m not the best at English grammar so please let me know if you find something

Something else *Edited*

There was a bright flash in the throne room as Twilight teleported in. "Celestia, I came as quickly as possible like you requested." she looked around for her mentor, referencing the letter that she had just gotten from Spike.

"Thank you for coming Twilight," Celestia spoke drawing the young pony’s attention up towards the throne where her teacher was descending the stairs. "Over the last few months, my sister and I have been detecting the opening of rifts due to magic from another world. At first, were just assumed these rifts were an accident of some kind and could be easily dealt with. However, we can no longer deny that something is opening these rifts intentionally." Twilight was taken back by this. She knew the princesses had a tough job, but defending them against other worlds was not something she expected. Celestia continued, "But, with each opening, it has been getting harder to close each one, and we are afraid that whatever it is will be able to accomplish its task soon".

Twilight looked up at her teacher. "But what is it trying to do?"

Celestia shook her head. "We do not know, but we do know that not all worlds are as peaceful as ours. That is why I asked you to come here, I wish for you to gather together your friends and head over to the Everfree Forest where the rift continues to try and open." Celestia's horn lit up causing a map of Ponyville and the Everfree Forest appeared next to them. There in the forest was a small white dot indicating where to go.

"But if you and Princess Luna can’t close the rift, how are we supposed to help?" Twilight questioned.

Celestia merely gave her a comforting smile. "My sister and I are confident the elements of Harmony might be able to close the rift before any damage can be done...hopefully sealing it for good".

Despite her mentor’s words, Twilight could only feign confidence, still unsure about the daunting task given to her. "Very well Princess Celestia. I will gather my friends and the Elements and we will do all we can to avert this crisis."

"Please hurry Twilight, Luna and I will do what we can from here to hold the rift back, but I don’t know for how long," Celestia warned before Twilight teleported away.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

In an Unknown world

A small man approached a figure sitting on a throne bowing before them. "Sir, the world of magic, its defense is weakening. Soon we will be able to send an operative through. Who would you like to be selected?"

The figured smiled down on his subject. "It has been a while since we sent Simon to another world, I believe he’s more than due for a chance."

The small man looked aghast at the figure. "B...but sir should the portal..."

"ENOUGH! Are you questioning my word." the figure shouted, causing the fearful man to recoil and almost enter a blind panic.

"Of course not sir. It shall be done immediately." with that the small man left the room.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Outskirts of the Everfree Forest

"So I understand why the princesses called us but I don't know why we needed to bring the elements, I'm sure we can take anything that might come from a small magic hole easy." Rainbow Dash took a couple jabs in the air trying to emphasize her point.

Twilight sighed at her friend's usual cocky demeanor. "I told you already, the princesses believe that the elements will be able to close the portal permanently and I’d rather we go for a more permanent solution on this," Twilight spoke as they all rushed off to the spot Celestia had shown her.

As soon as they arrived they could see a swirling vortex of gray that was surrounded by a glow of yellow and blue, which Twilight presumed was her teachers magic.

"Alright, girls take your spot," Twilight looked to everypony as she readied themselves to use the elements the girls took a half circle positions around it. However, before they could do anything, someone poked through.

"Quick hide!" The group quickly disappeared behind the trees, peering slowly to get a glimpse at whatever was coming through the portal.

To their growing surprise, the thing in question was a black mass, silently wiggling as it popped the rest of the way through, flying forward a couple of feet where it stayed, it’s body some kind of black mass only slightly larger than a pony, topped by what Twilight could only assume was its head, which was all white save the black and red markings that made out a face. Soon a second one and then a third appeared, landing on either side of the first. Then the fourth one came through, this one though landing right in front of the vortex. It stood up, revealing itself to be much taller and slimmer than the others. The odd creature turned towards the vortex and started making noises, almost as if it was talking to the portal.

Whatever it was Twilight could see that it was intelligent and debated attempting some form of communication. However, she was startled out of her thoughts by Pinkie Pie suddenly appearing next to her. "Psst, Twilight I got a good feeling about this, I think we could make a new friend." She whispered while Twilight tried desperately not to scream at the sudden surprise.

"Wait, Pinkie no," Twilight whispered back but it was too late as the puffy, pink, party pony started approaching the four figures.

"Hi, new friend I'm Pinkie Pie." As she spoke the fourth figure turned around to face her, while the remaining three stood up very suddenly, causing Pinkie to stop in her tracks. They all looked the same except for their faces, each made out to look like a different animal. The rest of the girls jumped out from their hiding places to back up Pinkie. The three followed a similar tactic, spreading themselves out as if protecting the fourth.

"What do you want? Why have you come here?" Twilight shouted at them. The one in the back cocked its head to the side before making some noises of its own.

"Okay girls, I'm going to try and push these things back through the portal then we will need to act fast to close it," Twilight spoke to her friends.

"Uh, Twilight, are you sure it's a good idea to say our plan out loud like that?" Applejack asked feeling nervous about their current situation.

"It's okay AJ, I don't think those things can understand us. Just be ready for anything." Twilight said reassuringly to the others.

Twilight's horn began to glow for a few moments as she built up power before releasing a blast, intending to knock the one closest to the vortex back in. As the magic force was released from her horn the figure in the middle moved in front of the blast, taking it in full force, resulting in a large explosion. When the smoke cleared a little of the black mass was gone, revealing what appeared to be an arm and a hand similar to what a minotaur had, with a light blue, almost transparent vortex in front of it. Otherwise however, to her and the others shock, the creature was unharmed.

Before Twilight could charge up another spell, there was a rainbow blur and Twilight was off her hooves a few feet to the side. When she regained her senses and looked around, finding Rainbow Dash hovering where she had just been standing while the two remaining creatures were standing protectively in front of the fourth. Another glance revealed something shiny impaled in the ground where she had been standing, likely a weapon of some kind.

"Careful Twilight, whoever these guys are, they move really quick," Dash said before helping Twilight up. The two with the weapons moved back joining the one with the revealed arm.

"Girls, as much as I hate roughhousing, I don't think these, individuals, are going to leave peacefully." Rarity spoke.

The three strangers prove the posh pony right as they moved as one, rushing forward towards Pinkie Pie as she sat there, slightly stunned that her warm welcome was not returned. Twilight quickly shielded her, placing a protective bubble around her before the weapons landed.

"Listen Pinkie I know it's hard but now not the time." Twilight quickly used her magic to push Pinkie back, bringing her closer to her friends.

The three figures retreated again back to their original position, which The girls took as their chance to push back, with Twilight launching off another attack. Like before, it was intercepted by one of the creatures, but thankfully AJ and Rainbow had a follow-up. Aj had managed to wrap her rope around one of the creatures while Rainbow had sped in, knocking over the creature and taking some of the black mass with her, revealing that the weapon had taken place of its hand. Rainbow realized immediately that the black mass was actually some kind of fabric.

"Girls these things are just wearing weird clothing," Rainbow Dash shouted as she spat the fabric out before flying off, avoiding a swing from the remaining creature’s weapon. Sadly, this has the effect of the weapon it had cutting the rope that was tying the other down.

While the fighting was happening Fluttershy was in a nearby tree watching, yet unable to figure out how she could help her friends.. The figure that got knocked over stood back up before the three regrouped together again. It was then that Fluttershy had noticed something that might help but she had to get this information to Twilight. As the fighting continued like this Fluttershy took the moment to slide down the tree and move over to where Twilight was focusing on shielding her friends from the attacks coming at them while Rarity took over throwing blasts at them.

"Twilight those things, they move strangely," Twilight only glanced at Fluttershy for a moment before returning her concentration back to the fight.

"What are you talking about?" she questioned.

Fluttershy continued, "Well, um, they seem to either move as a group or one at a time." Twilight's eyes widened as she watched realizing that she was right. Suddenly her horn glowed and Twilight had teleported all six of them some distance away.

"Hey, we almost had them" shouted Rainbow Dash as she noticed their sudden shift in location. Rarity looked tired, not used to having used her magic in that way and AJ had a new hole in her hat from a close call. Twilight teleported in a quill and parchment and started writing.

"Listen, girls, I have a plan but I need all of us to get it to work." All the girls looked to Twilight including Pinkie Pie, having managed to snap out of her shock by the sudden teleportation.

"I think that those three figures are being controlled by the one in the back." Twilight paused "Fluttershy I want you to take this and, should anything happen to us, give it to Spike and have him deliver it to the princesses right away." She quickly rolled up the parchment before passing it on to Fluttershy.

"Now Rarity, you and I are going to continue to attack with magic from two different angles, both directed at the one in the back. Hopefully, we should be able to lock down two of those puppets while AJ and Rainbow incapacitate the other. Once that’s done Pinkie is going to attack the side, hopefully knocking the main one down to where we can then use the elements to close the portal." Everypony nodded in agreement, now more confident that they had an actual plan ready.

Back at the vortex, the group moved silently closer, noting the strangers had returned to their original position of facing the portal, now adjusting some strange objects around it. Quickly getting into their agreed positions, Rarity quickly struck with a powerful blast directed at the figure near the portal. As expected the puppet in the middle moved quickly, blocking all the shots before the puppet on the right followed up with an attack with its weapon. Twilight acted quickly, placing the attacker inside a bubble, halting its movement entirely. That only left one puppet, to which Rainbow Dash rushed at its side causing it to spin to avoid contact, only for it to find itself bound in a rope, courtesy of Applejack, who quickly tackled it to the ground and finished binding it up.

The last figure, now alone, showed a change in its body language, nervously taking a step back, as if preparing to flee into the portal. However, it’s body started to stumble when it found itself assaulted by party supplies, followed by a loud voice suddenly ringing out as Pinkie charged in full speed.

"YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND," She screamed as she headbutted the creature square in the forehead, sending it on it’s back and rendering it motionless.

"Now girls," Twilight yelled they all gathered around, quickly charging the elements before letting off the signature rainbow blast, causing the vortex to quickly shrink before it faded away into nothingness.

Once the portal was gone, the girls and their elements stopped glowing, allowing them a chance to breathe and smile at their handy work.

Sadly, their moment of victory came with one hiccup.

“So, Twilight, what are we supposed to do with this fella? We can’t just leave him.” Applejack asked as the girls gazes turned to the still unconscious stranger. However, before Twilight or any pony could respond, a loud cracking sound silenced them, finding the source to be being itself.

"Oh no." was the only words that Pinkie spoke as they all watched as its face cracked apart, starting at the point where Pinkie had headbutted it. Fluttershy was quick to rush to the creature’s side, concern etched all over her face as she gave it a look over. However, after a moment, her concern was replaced with relief once something was made clear to her.

"I think it will be okay girls." Fluttershy quietly used her wing to wipe at its now cracked face, causing pieces to fall to the ground, revealing a face unlike any creature they had seen before. It was very flat with no visible marks save for one large red mark from where it had been struck.

"What about the others?" Twilight asked. Applejack moved to the one she had tied up using her hoof to remove its mask.

"Uh, Twilight, either these things are a whole different species altogether or they were never alive to begin with.” Twilight trotted over to Applejack and found, to her surprise, the other creatures lacked any features at all underneath their masks, just a single blank face.

"Well I think we need to move them away from here, judging from how they moved I believe that they are controlled by sight.”

She turned her attention to the still unconscious main creature. “As for this one, we'll take it to Celestia and she can decide what to do with it." As Twilight quickly sealed the creature in a protection bubble the others moved the puppets.

"My goodness, would you just look at this" Rarity spoke up all the girls quickly swiveled their heads towards her. "These things are basically dressed in giant garbage bags, how utterly wretched.” The fashion pony started gagging and attempting to cover her mouth, almost as if she was ready to vomit.

Applejack just rolled her eyes. "Ah think we can discuss this creatures choices in clothing later Rarity, for now, let's just move these things."

The girls quickly placed the puppets behind a group of trees nearby, only for Fluttershy’s attention to change for a moment and notice something. "Uhh, girls, I think it’s waking up."

Twilight was quick to return to the creature, with the others following suit while Rainbow remained with the puppets. "I'll stay back here, just in case these things start moving again," she said.

The creature groaned lightly, its hand moving to its forehead as it sat up and tried to regain it’s bearings, only to find itself trapped within Twilight’s bubble. As it slowly became aware of its situation, Twilight couldn’t help but feel a nagging sensation in the back of her mind, like she’d seen this creature somewhere before. When it had looked towards where the girls were it did something she wasn't expecting... It smiled and waved at them.

Taken back slightly, Applejack was the first to speak up, "Um, girls, are any of the rest of you getting the feeling like you know it from somewhere." Twilight's eyes went wide as she looked around at all the girls nodding.

Thinking quickly her horn started to glow. “I’m gonna put up an anti-magic shield, if this creature is influencing us with some kind of spell, this should short it out.” A lavender colored shield quickly encircled the girls, and suddenly the feeling of familiarity vanished.

“What was that,” Fluttershy asked looking to Twilight since she was the one to have the answer. All the while the creature was silently pacing around it’s cell, running it’s hand along the shield.

“I think that was some sort of defense mechanism, just think, if this thing is supposed to infiltrate new worlds then a sense of familiarity would help to stop it from drawing attention to itself.” Twilight guessed. The creature suddenly made a wide sweep motion with its hand.

"Uh, something's happening over here," Rainbow shouted out. The girls all turned their head to where Rainbow was. Black spots had appeared on the ground underneath the puppets and they were slowly sinking into it until they were completely gone. Rainbow Dash quickly flew over inside of Twilight's bubble. When the girls turned back to the creature, it was no longer in the bubble.

"Over there," Pinkie shouted the girls all looked where Pinkie was pointing, the creature was over where it had originally appeared from the vortex and then, it did something none of the girls expected... It started laughing.

The creature turned towards the girls a big smile on its face and started walking towards them. Twilight quickly put up a bubble of protection around them all but it didn't stop. Once it had reached their bubble it reached out to touch it but right before contact was made its hand disappeared into a black spot where it began digging around.

"What is it doing?" Fluttershy asked but before anyone could answer it suddenly pulled its hand back out, revealing a couple small black rectangles with what looked like a clip on the side.

It affixed one to what Twilight could only assume was its ear before taking the second one and placing it on the ground near them and backing off. "Oh my gosh, I think it really does want to be friends" piped up Pinkie.

"Hang on there Pinkie, this could be a trap." Twilight interjected as she wrapped the object in her magic and brought it to her. Wordlessly, she started putting the object on her ear just like she saw the creature do, but once in place, all she could hear was a beeping sound.

"Well Twilight, what is it doing," Rarity asked. As she spoke the thing continued with another soft beep.

"Yeah, don’t keep us in suspense here sugarcube," added Applejack.

"Hang on girls, it’s making some sort of noise." Twilight silencing them, as they all stood there in silence nothing at all happened. "Wait, now there’s no sound at all." As Twilight spoke another soft beep came through, confusing Twilight further as she did her best to try and connect the dots.

"Wait girls, I think this thing is trying to translate our language." Twilight looked back at the creature, finding it was just sitting on the ground rubbing the red spot on its head. “I think we just need to keep talking and hopefully we’ll be able to communicate with it.”

"Are you sure that's such a good idea egghead, I mean, we did just beat the thing up. Might not be in the best mood to talk," Rainbow voiced her opinion. The girls continued to discuss whether or not this was a good idea but the object made a new noise suddenly there was a monotone, masculine voice in her ear.

"Translation complete." Twilight stared up at the creature as it stood up stretched out after staying sitting this entire time. Sometime while they were talking it had removed the black cloth covering its body, revealing it still had clothing covering its entire body, but now it was two distinct pieces. The creature again started waving, trying to get her attention and it started moving its mouth, resulting in a new voice in her ear.

"Hello, my name is Simon. Also, I'm sorry about earlier." Twilight’s eyes went wide as she stared in disbelief. The voice in question was different than the first and not only was this thing suddenly using their language but it was also apologizing for attacking them.

"Hello, Equestria to egghead, we were just talking about how we think we should destroy that box thing when you spaced out on us," Rainbow said to Twilight while she was waving a hoof in front of her. Twilight shook her head snapping herself out of.

"It..it just spoke." Twilight said slightly stunned.

"What!?" All the girls said in unison.

"It just spoke to me," Twilight said just as stunned.

"Well, what did it say darling?" Rarity asked.

"Was it a threat?" asked Rainbow.

"What did it sound like," asked Fluttershy.

"Hold on girls." said Twilight still trying to process all this information. "It told me its name is Simon but it also said that it was sorry for attacking us."

"Well, of course, it's sorry for attacking us, it lost." Rainbow interrupted, a hint of pride obvious in her voice.

Twilight ignored her comment instead she walked towards the front of the protection. "I want you girls to wait here, I'm going to try talking to it."

"Na-uh sugarcube, if you're going then so are we." Applejack said as she stepped up next to Twilight.

Twilight smiled. "I understand wanting to help but I'm afraid that if we all approach at once it might think we are going to attack again." Her friends saw little point in arguing as Twilight dropped the shield and moved towards Simon. Once she had covered half the distance between the girls and Simon she stopped. Now up close she could see Simon’s features better, with it having a short but spiky mane that was colored to look like actual fire while its eyes were two different colors, it's left being blue and it's right being red. She was about to ask if this creature was able to understand her when the answer came from the device.

Simon started to speak, with the translation coming through a half second later. "You know, your friends could have come up too." Simon sat back down so that he was just about eye level with Twilight. Twilight figured if this thing was translating for it then maybe it was doing the opposite for them. "Also you can tell them that I was not making any kind of threat, technically you all attacked first and you can tell them that I sound dreamy, Egghead." Simon wiggled his eyebrows then started laughing at his own joke. Twilight was confused before she remembered that Rainbow Dash called her egghead after it had done its job.

"What?" Twilight started to question before she realized what it was referring to the question that her friends asked and had to face hoof. She had only just started communicating with this thing and she already wanted it to be over with. Twilight waved back at her friends for them to all join them. The rest of the girls joined them at their own pace with Fluttershy nervously trailing behind. They all watched him nervously but Simon stayed sitting on the ground with a smile on his face.

Simon spoke and Twilight heard the voice again. "So, now that we’re all here I can only assume you have some questions for me. So, what would you like to know?" The rest of the girls all gave confused looks to Twilight.

"It said, so what...Wait, am I going to have to translate for you the entire time." Twilight shot a slightly annoyed look at the creature. Simon thought about this for a second then shook its head reaching out to the side its hand disappeared into the black spot again. It rummaged around for a bit before pulling at a different, small black box. This one was more recognizable because it looked similar to the speakers used at some concerts. Simon then proceeded to remove the object from his ear and placed it near the box. He then held out his hand towards Twilight. She was confused for a second before he pointed at the object he just removed from his own ear. Twilight grabbed the object with her magic from her ear and placed it in his hand. Simon took it placing it near the speaker he grabbed some strings that were attached to the speaker and attached each one of the objects.

Simon spoke again this time half a second later a voice came out of the box. "There is this better." Simon looked at Twilight.

"Yes, much better." Half a second after Twilight started speaking she heard her own voice but it was speaking this creature's language. This unnerved her a little but she put it aside. "Why are you here." she asked.

"Because I was told to come here," He answered simply. Twilight face hoofed again.

"Look we need you to come with us we wish to take you to our princesses where you can explain everything," Twilight said with a sigh.

Simon shrugged "Sure."