A Tear in the Fabric

Chapters

01: Go with the Flow
02: Seeing Stars
03: Trust Me
04: Nuts and Bolts
05: Digdirt
06: Nice Day
07: Lobster Trap
08: Open Question
09: Rink
10: Potpourri

01: Go with the Flow

“Ugh, what’s the holdup?”

Warm afternoon sunlight shone down on the grounds of Canterlot High as Rainbow Dash leaned against the proud Wondercolt statue out front, crossing her arms with a huff.

“Sorry…” Twilight Sparkle spent a moment adjusting her glasses before resuming her task. “These screws must have come loose while I was carrying it around in my bag all day.”

Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes. “Chill, Rainbow. Building unique magical inventions is probably harder than she makes it look.”

Applejack quirked an eyebrow. “What’d you say this gizmo of yours was for, again?”

Twilight fiddled with the hinge on the small device she’d spent the past several minutes repairing. “After that incident with Juniper Montage, I thought it would be a good idea to have a sensor for detecting magical artifacts and anomalies ahead of time so we’d be more prepared to deal with them. I just needed to make sure this one didn’t… well, you know.” Closing the device, she lowered her hands into her lap and averted her gaze from the group at large, clearly unwilling to finish her thought.

“We know.” Fluttershy crouched beside Twilight and gently put a hand on her shoulder. “And you know we believe in you, don’t you?”

Smiling weakly, Twilight put her hand over Fluttershy’s. “Thanks… that means a lot, it really does. Thinking about the past still stings a little sometimes, that’s all.”

Sunset smirked. “I know the feeling.”

“Is it ready? Is it ready?” Pinkie Pie hopped in place, her flailing arms reminding Twilight of the needle on a particularly excitable seismometer.

One twist later, Twilight pocketed her screwdriver and held up the device. “It is now!”

“Great! Sooo…” Pinkie scratched her head. “What now?”

Twilight tapped the surface of the sensor’s diminutive interface, causing it to light up. “Well… now it needs something to - oh!”

Rarity blinked. “What is it, darling?”

“It’s picking something up! Something nearby, almost right behind me, like…” Twilight slowly turned around. “…the mirror portal. Duh.”

“I have an idea.” Sunset snapped her fingers. “Why don’t we see how well it keeps track of our magic?”

Twilight fiddled with her glasses. “Oh, that would be great! We’ll need a variety of tests to determine its precision, sensitivity, range, and - ”

“I’ll go first! Watch me!”

Without warning, Rainbow became a blur circling around the statue for a few seconds before taking off toward a nearby row of trees and disappearing. “Betcha can’t tell where I’m hiding!”

Twilight stared at the sensor in her hands for a moment. “Second from the left,” she declared.

Rainbow poked her head out from behind the leaves of the tree in question. “Hey, not bad.”

On the base of the statue behind them, the mirror portal shimmered.

“Ooh, me next!” Pinkie dipped a hand into her poofy hair and rummaged around for a moment. Having located her target, she grinned as she produced a small container of confectionery sprinkles, from which she dispensed a handful into her open palm. With a flourish, she twirled in place and flung the now-glowing sprinkles into the air above, where they ignited and spat sparks of all colors every which way, looking like a miniature firework show.

“Very good, Pinkie!” Twilight fiddled with a pair of knobs on the side of the sensor. “I’m picking up both the flight arc and energy output.”

The surface of the portal rippled like a calm lake disturbed by a stone.

“Uh.” Applejack pointed her thumb at the portal. “Is it supposed to be doing that?”

Sunset’s gaze followed along, causing her to scratch her head. “Doing what?”

Applejack glanced at the portal again, ready to point out what should have been obvious… only to find it looking the same as ever. “Oh. Uh… hmm.” She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. “Maybe I imagined it.”

Sunset gave the mirror a suspicious stare for a few seconds before turning back toward Twilight, who was busily tracking a large levitating crystal courtesy of Rarity.

“…and by adjusting the frequency, I can even trace it to its point of origin. This is excellent!” Twilight grinned as she stared at the sensor’s output screen. “Great work, girls!”

The sky above began to darken.

“Aw, we didn’t do much…” Fluttershy twirled a bit of hair around her finger. “You’re the one who built it, after all.”

“Yeah, don’t give away the credit.” Sunset threw the gentlest of punches at Twilight’s upper arm.

“I knew it! Quick, look!”

Applejack gripped her hat with one hand and pointed accusingly at the portal with the other, its surface swirling unnervingly in red and black.

Sunset gritted her teeth. “I’m… pretty sure that’s not normal.”

“I don’t think that is either,” Rainbow warned, pointing straight up.

The same pattern on the surface of the portal was also visible in the sky. Seven necks craned to watch the swirling void expanding above them as sky-colored fragments broke away from its edges and faded from sight as they fell.

Twilight trembled, clutching the magic sensor for dear life. “The… the sky is… cracking…?”

“Come on!” Sunset tore her eyes away from the bizarre sight and turned to her friends. “We can figure out what’s going on once we’re at a safe distance!”

“One minor problem with that plan, dear…” Rarity pointed worryingly at her feet, the ground sliding by beneath her as an unseen force seemed to draw them all toward the mirror portal.

“Rrrgh…!” Try as she might, the faster Rainbow ran against it, the stronger the portal’s pull on her became. “It… feels like it’s… pulling on the magic itself…!”

“Whoa, whoa, WAUGH!” Pinkie’s arms were a flailing blur once again as she lost her balance and effectively fell sideways toward the portal… only to be stopped suddenly by a large hovering crystal.

“I’ve… got you… Pinkie…” Sweat dripped from Rarity’s outstretched arms as she fought to maintain her hold on her crystalline projection, but it was more than she could bear for long; with a pair of terrified screams, the crystal dissolved and the two of them tumbled through the portal out of sight.

Fluttershy wrapped her arms around herself, gripping her sides as her eyes went wide with shock. “Pinkie! Rarity…! W-What do we do…?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We go in after them!” Without any hint of a second thought, Rainbow spun on her heel and dashed for the portal, vanishing in an instant.

“Don’t need to tell me twice! C'mon, everyone!” One hand still securing her hat, Applejack gestured for the others to follow and took her own mighty leap into the void.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my - waaaaaah!” Fluttershy’s scream seemed to echo as she finally lost her footing, reaching out to Sunset and Twilight in desperation as she too vanished from sight.

The two remaining girls stared into the portal as the void above continued its inexorable expansion.

Slowly, Sunset reached out and took Twilight’s hand. Though their staring lasted only a moment longer, it felt like an eternity had passed before they turned toward one another.

“Whatever this is… we’ll get through it together.” Fear had long since drained the color from Sunset’s face, but she gave Twilight the best reassuring smile she could manage all the same. “Like we always do.”

Twilight took the deepest breath she had taken in a long time and nodded.

The two stepped forward together. As if on cue, the portal’s pull strengthened, yanking the girls off their feet and drawing them into the void as the last of the world around them shattered away.

Though the emptiness around them pulsated with an eerie red glow, none of it seemed to reach Sunset or Twilight themselves, shrouded in darkness as they were. Their still-clasped hands were all the reassurance they got that anyone else was there - if their friends were anywhere nearby, they were indistinguishable from the void itself.

To Sunset’s increasing horror, she soon felt another pull from the void suddenly wrench Twilight’s hand from hers… and though she cried out in fear, no sound left her throat.

The swirling void seemed almost to be pressing against Sunset’s mind as her senses began to dull. Direction and motion soon became meaningless; whether she was floating, falling, drifting, or something else entirely, she neither knew nor cared. It likely didn’t make much of a difference anyway.

One final thought ran through her consciousness before it, too, seemed to fade into the darkness itself.

Please let them be okay…

02: Seeing Stars

The first thing Sunset Shimmer noticed as she awoke was the dull ache that seemed to permeate every muscle in her body. Flat on her back and eyes still closed, she wrestled with her frazzled brain to take stock of the situation.

A cool breeze blowing by and the texture of earth beneath her suggested she was very likely outside. With a grunt of effort, Sunset propped herself up on her elbows and opened her eyes, which spent several seconds focusing in the dim light. A cursory glance around revealed that it was night, briefly giving her pause to wonder how long she had been unconscious after getting dragged into the portal.

The portal…

She shuddered as the memories came flooding back all at once. It happened so quickly, too quickly for her to process, and thinking about it was making her already aching head hurt even more. What made it go berserk like that? Why didn’t it send her to Equestria like usual? Where were -

“Twilight!” Sunset scrambled to her feet, blood going cold as the realization hit her. “Rarity! Pinkie! Applejack!”

Her cries were met with silence.

Sunset’s mind raced. If she was alive, the rest of them must be too, right? Granted, that was assuming this wasn’t some sort of afterlife, but she certainly felt alive if the soreness was anything to go by; it felt like she had run a marathon right after bench-pressing twice her weight.

In an effort to stay calm, she distracted herself with taking a moment to properly examine her surroundings. She had awoken in what looked like a small impact crater several feet wide, loose dirt scattered about its edge. Beyond it was a field of tall grasses stretching as far as the dim light let her see, interspersed with the occasional cluster of trees. High above, set in a sky dotted with stars, an object that looked something like a glowing white ring cast a gentle light over the landscape. In one direction, she could just barely make out the outline of a jagged mountain range on the horizon; in the other sat a plain dirt road on which tire tracks were visible.

A road! Her heart leapt - that meant this place was inhabited! With any luck, she could find a way to get the locals to help her find her friends, assuming they had a way to communicate; it seemed unlikely she would be able to just talk to them. Perhaps Fluttershy’s ability would help? Assuming Sunset could find her, that is…

She shivered suddenly, her train of thought derailed as the strangest sensation struck her. It was subtle but still distracting, like the fusion of a pinched nerve and a spine chill, causing her mind to concoct the image of a bug carrying an ice cube up her back.

Before she could deduce the origin of the sensation, however, it faded just in time for her to catch a glimpse of headlights from an oncoming car somewhere down the road. Her heart skipped a beat - should she hide? Wave to get the driver’s attention? Hold her ground and wait to see what happens?

The car slowed to a stop on the far side of the road, giving her a better look at it - it reminded her of military vehicles she had seen in documentaries of an old war from over half a century ago, but it bore no obvious insignia. A moment passed before the door opened, a humanoid figure barely visible within.

Sunset stood still, watching the figure suspiciously. Even as they leaned out of the door, only their outline was visible in the shadow of the car; despite this, she could easily tell they were paying her rapt attention. The figure hesitated for several seconds before fiddling with a small object in their hands: a flashlight, judging by the audible click and the beam of light now aimed directly at her.

Sunset squinted at the sudden brightness, shielding her eyes with her hand. “You want to point that somewhere else, maybe?”

The figure lowered the flashlight beam… and spoke.

“Well, I dunno what I expected, but I don’t think this was it.”

The figure climbed the rest of the way out of the car and approached slowly, finally giving Sunset a better look at him. He stood marginally taller than her, with dark hair, light skin, and a strange-looking scar covering his cheek, but what stood out the most was his outfit: a tunic of medieval-looking armor covered in metal scales, with accompanying gloves, boots, and even a cape. It contrasted rather bizarrely with the car behind him, giving her the impression that he had just left some sort of Middle Ages reenactment.

Sunset shook her head to get her thoughts back on track. “Expected from what?”

“A red light visible from the next town over just shot out of the mountains and landed… well, probably about here,” the man explained, gesturing at the shallow crater in which Sunset now stood. “Wouldn’t have guessed it was gonna turn out to be a teenage girl with furry ears and weird clothes. That’s a new one on me,” he added with a smirk.

“Furry - ? Wait…”

Sunset reflexively reached atop her head, where sure enough, her pony ears sat proud and true. A quick check over her shoulder confirmed that her hair was now past knee-length, tied at the end in a cute little ponytail. “But… how did I pony up while I was out cold? I didn’t know that was possible… and how has it not worn off yet…?”

“Uh. ‘Pony up’?” the man echoed. “Yeah, I feel like I’m missing some context here.”

Sunset gave an impatient huff. “Sorry, I don’t have time to explain. My name is Sunset Shimmer, and I need to find my friends as quickly as possible. Have you seen anyone else around here?”

“Uh… right.” The man stared a moment longer as if to process this. “Alexander Abrams. Call me 'Tank’ though; it’s easier.” He put a hand on his hip and leaned slightly. “As for your question, there’s no one out here at the moment but us as far as I’m aware. Are there supposed to be more of you?”

Sunset sighed. “Yeah… yeah, there are. I guess I should’ve figured the portal would separate us just to make things more difficult…”

“Wait, so you did come through the portal?” Tank’s eyes widened as he glanced backward. “You know, if that’s true…”

“I mean, more accurately we got pulled through it against our will, but yeah.” Sunset leaned to one side, looking over Tank’s shoulder suspiciously. “Does that mean something to you?”

Tank turned back to face her and jerked his thumb at the car. “It means I know someone who just might be able to help you, if you’ll trust me.”

Sunset hesitated. Could she trust him? It didn’t take long for her to recall a way to know for sure. “Take off your glove and give me your hand for a minute.”

Tank looked perplexed for several seconds, but shrugged as he pulled off one of his gloves and held out his hand toward Sunset, who stepped forward to take it in hers with no particular ceremony. As she did, her eyes took on a magical white glow.

“…”

The spell lasted for only a moment, but it was all Sunset needed. Satisfied, she let go of Tank’s hand. “Well, it doesn’t seem like you have any ulterior motives, so I guess it’s safe enough to believe you.”

“Uh.” Tank scratched at his scarred cheek with his ungloved hand. “So was that a spell just now, or what? What did it even do?”

“Oh, not much.” Sunset crossed her arms. “Although now I know that you’re talking about a girl named Penny Richter and her uncle Darian Mobius who work at a research facility called Event Horizon specializing in portal study and extradimensional theory that’s about an eight-hour drive from here, but you don’t really mind because you were on your way back to your home town anyway to visit your folks and say hi to an old friend, and this place is only a short detour.”

For several seconds, all Tank could do was stare incredulously at the bizarre girl before him. “…Uhh?”

“My magic lets me read people’s memories,” Sunset explained. “It’s pretty handy for knowing when they’re telling the truth.”

“…Huh.” Tank continued looking entirely unsure of how to react. “Okay, so. 'Sunset,’ was it?”

“Yeah?”

“Let me be real with you for a minute here. This whole thing is pretty compelling so far, but I’m still not totally convinced it’s not some kind of prank.” He scratched at his scar again. “That said? Whether this 'mind reading’ thing of yours…” He wiggled his fingers to emphasize the point. “…is real or fake? It was pretty impressive either way. Like, credit where it’s due and all.”

Sunset smirked, chuckling to herself. “Well, the honesty’s nice, at least. Reminds me of - !”

Stopping mid-sentence, Sunset’s heart tripped on a beat as a familiar tingling-chilling sensation struck her… and this time, she knew instinctively what it meant.

“Uh. You feeling alright there?” Tank quirked an eyebrow. “I’m no expert on alien teenager biology, so…”

Sunset’s voice was barely above a whisper. “We’re being watched.”

03: Trust Me

Tank subtly lowered his head as he glanced around, slowly slipping his hand back into the glove. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure? Is this another spell of yours?”

“I’m not sure how I know…” Sunset’s hands clenched into fists as she looked Tank square in the eye. “…but there’s one person besides us nearby. Thirty feet away at most… and whoever it is, they’re not friendly.”

Tank took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. When I signal, run to the trunk of the car. It’s unlocked, so just pull up on the handle and it’ll open. My weapons are in there, right on top - grab them as quickly as you can, alright?”

Sunset nodded.

The two held their breath as a cloud casually drifted its way in front of the light source up above, darkening the scene until they could barely still see one another.

“Move!”

In an instant, Sunset took off like a bullet toward the rear of the car, catching only a brief glimpse of an unknown figure emerging from the tall grass behind Tank as she ran.

BLAM

Adrenaline surged through Sunset as a gunshot rang out behind her, causing her to stumble and reach out for the car to steady herself. To her relief, it was immediately followed by the sound of struggling - it seemed her impromptu ally wasn’t out of commission yet. Undaunted, she scrambled for the trunk and yanked upward on the handle, causing the hatch to open and reveal…

“A - A sword…?!”

Sunset stared in disbelief at the anachronistic sight. Sitting atop a pair of old duffel bags was a sword in a leather sheath and a large, fairly plain-looking kite shield. This couldn’t possibly be what he was talking about, could it? A world with cars and guns in it, and someone still fights with a shield and sword?

Another gunshot snapped her back to attention as she gripped the weapon with both hands and yanked it out of the trunk with a grunt of effort; it was heavier than she expected, but not unmanageable. There would be no carrying the shield at the same time, though, so this would have to do.

Rounding the corner once again, she caught sight of two figures fighting up close… but in the darkness, how was she supposed to tell them apart? She needed light, and she needed it now!

As though in reply, a white glow began shining from within the sheath in her hands. Curious, Sunset wrapped her hand around the hilt and slowly drew the blade, which shone so brightly it almost seemed to wash out the night around her. Now, Tank and his assailant were not only perfectly visible, but so distracted by the shining blade that they both paused to stare at it.

But of course this wasn’t the only thing it could do, right?

Consumed by her curiosity, Sunset let the sheath fall to the ground, the better to grip the hilt with both hands. Lifting it high over her head, she locked eyes with the unknown assailant and swung at the air in front of her.

“Haah!”

A bolt of light burst from the tip of the blade and struck him square in the face, knocking him to the ground three feet from where he had been standing.

Tank stared at the prone figure for a few seconds before walking up and giving the man a kick to the ribs; upon receiving no reaction, he turned to Sunset and grinned. “Hey, nice shot!”

Adrenaline now ebbing from her system, Sunset began rubbing her shoulder; apparently her still aching muscles didn’t appreciate the strain of swinging a heavy piece of metal around too much. “…Is he dead?”

“What? Of course not. He’ll definitely be feeling that one when he wakes up, though.” Tank picked up the gun the man had dropped. “Geez, highway bandits? Seriously? Welcome to three hundred years ago.” He glanced over at Sunset. “C'mon, we should get moving in case any more show up. He was probably drawn here by that light from before, same as I was.”

Sunset returned the sword to its sheath, placed it back in the trunk next to the gun Tank confiscated, and climbed into the passenger side of the car. With a roar of the engine, they took off.

It was quiet for a little while once they were on the road, which gave Sunset a chance to think… well, for all the good that would do; the questions filling her head were like jigsaw puzzles missing their boxes as well as half the pieces. Where were Twilight and the others? Did they end up in the same world? How was she supposed to find them? Even if she did, would they have any way back home? She slumped in her seat and crossed her arms.

“So was that your first time handling an enchantment, then?” Tank’s question was a welcome distraction. “If so, you picked it up faster than anyone I’ve seen; it took me ages to get that beam to work, and you got it in one try.”

“Uh… yeah, I guess.” Sunset sat back up a bit. “Was that what you meant for me to do?”

“We didn’t have time for a more detailed plan, so I was hoping you’d improvise. Trust me, I was not disappointed.”

An unfamiliar landscape flew by out the window.

“Anyway.” Tank continued. “For what it’s worth… welcome to Nexus, I guess. I promise most of us aren’t like Bandit McAmbushface back there.”

The joke barely registered in Sunset’s mind.

“Hey, you alright?”

This caught her attention. Her gaze shifted over to Tank just in time to see him turn back to the road - evidently, he had been watching her for a short while. Her first instinct was to be dismissive, considering she wasn’t terribly keen on opening up to someone she’d just met… but then, she had read his memories without asking; even if he seemed fine with it after the fact, it still felt sort of rude in hindsight.

“I’m just tired. Everything’s been happening so quickly…” Feeling like a hypocrite would be worse for her mood than talking about her feelings with some guy who seemed genuine enough, Sunset decided. “I’m worried about my friends. I have no idea where they ended up, or how any of us are supposed to get home… assuming it’s even possible in the first place.” She gave another annoyed huff. “Plus I’m still sore from… landing, I guess? I went straight from that weird space behind the portal to waking up in the dirt.”

“Well, that’s all fair enough, I suppose.” Tank shrugged, chuckling to himself. “It is the middle of the night here and all, and we’ll be on the road for a good few hours - there’s a pillow on the seat behind you if you wanted to try getting some sleep. Don’t worry, the pillowcase is clean.”

After a moment of hesitation, Sunset reached behind her to retrieve it, but ended up setting it in her lap as Tank spoke again.

“Oh, but first - if you don’t mind, would you help me with something really quick? We should probably give the lab a heads-up that we’re on our way.”

“Uh, sure.” Sunset glanced around. “How do we do that?”

Tank flipped a switch on the dashboard, activating a series of tiny lights that illuminated the instrument panels. In the prior darkness, Sunset hadn’t noticed that the panel in front of her featured several dials, switches, and meters, and began looking it over curiously.

“The radio’s always in front of the passenger seat,” Tank explained. “See those four dials there? Turn those to 34, 7, 21, and 29 in order, then press the square switch at the end.”

Sunset did as instructed, watching the mechanical readout tick by until the correct numbers lined up before pressing the switch, which recessed into place with an audible click. Quiet radio static now filled the air.

“Event Horizon? This is Abrams,” Tank declared. “Are Penny or the Doc around? I have someone here I think they’ll want to meet.”

After a pause, someone on the other end began to speak. “Tank? Uh… what’s your ETA? We’re a little busy with, uh… a 619 at the moment. I’ve never seen Doc so excited, he might not, uh… want to spare any time on anything else.”

Tank hesitated a moment before sighing. “Okay… what was a 619 again? I don’t remember all your protocol codes.”

“A humanoid creature came through the on-site portal,” the radio voice explained. “We’ve, uh… established peaceful communications, but the situation’s still a little tense. I’d recommend staying clear for at least - ”

“What kind of creature?” Sunset demanded. “Was it a teenage girl with long hair and pony ears?”

There was a long pause. “Uh… yeah, but like, I have no idea how you - ”

“Let me talk to her right now!” Sunset’s knuckles went white from fiercely gripping the pillow in her lap.

The attendant on the other end of this conversation was clearly far from prepared for Sunset’s fervor, as it took them another several seconds to reply. “I’ll… see if I can patch you through to the, uh… conference room.”

A few seconds of static later, an entirely different voice came from the radio. This one was rather high-pitched, somewhat nasal, and positively dripping with thinly-veiled impatience. “ - supposed to hold all my transmissions during a 619… Look, I’m in the middle of an unparalleled breakthrough, so unless this is vitally urgent, I’d like to ask you to call back another time.”

“If you insist, Doctor Mobius.” Tank shrugged, knowing full well the gesture wouldn’t carry over the radio. “I mean, I was gonna tell you all about my new friend Sunset Shimmer and how she’s orange and has pony ears and is real interested in talking to someone I know you’ve got in that conference room with you… but if you insist.” He gave Sunset a knowing wink. “Go ahead, Sunset. Hit the switch again to end the call.”

“Wait! Wait, don’t hang up yet!” pleaded a new voice. “Sunset, are you there? Please say something!”

“Twilight!”

A wave of relief washed over Sunset as she recognized her friend’s voice.

“Sunset! Oh, I was so worried when we got separated…” Twilight punctuated this with a series of sniffles before continuing. “A-Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where are you?”

Sunset hugged the pillow to hide her excited grin. “I’m fine! We’re on our way to you right now, but we’re still a few hours away. I’ll tell you more when we get there.”

“We?” Twilight sounded hopeful. “Does that mean the others are with you?”

Sunset hesitated. “…No. I have no idea where they are.”

Another sniffle. “Oh…”

Sunset took a deep breath. “Don’t worry, I’ll be there soon. We’ll figure out what to do then, okay?”

“Alright…” Twilight’s reluctance to end the conversation was almost palpable. “Be careful.”

“That goes for you as well, Abrams,” Mobius added, his earlier frustration replaced with a much more careful tone. “I, ah, apologize for my earlier impudence. Please make all due haste?”

“We’ll be fine, Doc. I’ll see you in about eight hours. Abrams out.” Tank nodded at Sunset, who slowly pressed the switch again. With that, the radio fell silent.

Sunset slumped in her seat, still hugging the pillow. It stung a little telling Twilight she hadn’t found the others, but knowing even one of her friends was still alive had lifted some of the gloom from her heart. Everything else could wait - she needed to focus on what she could do right now, not what was still out of reach. If they were going to get out of this in one piece, it would be one step at a time.

The first step, Sunset decided as she nuzzled into the pillow now pressed against the door beside her, would be getting some much-needed sleep…

04: Nuts and Bolts

“…and the spare key should be on the nightstand. If you need anything, the intercom is on the wall here.”

Twilight fiddled with her glasses. “Um… thanks.”

“Sleep well!” With that, the attendant left the room, the door closing quietly after.

Twilight’s eyes scanned the sparsely decorated room. It reminded her of a college dormitory: a bed, a nightstand, a desk, and a dresser were all the furniture provided.

She wandered into the attached bathroom. Like the room proper, it was fairly small, but at least featured everything essential. She glanced over the bathtub and briefly considered taking a shower, but decided she wasn’t all that keen on changing back into her dirty clothes afterward. Instead, she settled for looking herself over in the mirror for a moment, confirming what she had already assumed: yes, she did look just about as tired as she felt, her hair askew and her smudged glasses only barely hiding the dark color under her eyes.

Sighing, Twilight flopped face-first onto the bed. She wasn’t sure whether it had been the journey through the portal, everything that had happened afterward, or some combination of the two, but she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt nearly this exhausted… and it would be several hours yet before Sunset arrived, so spending at least some of the intervening time asleep sounded like the best idea she had heard all day. With a subtle wave of her hand, her glasses floated off her face and came to rest on the nightstand as she settled in on top of the covers.

…As it turns out, trying to sleep when you’re not used to having wings poking out of your back is somewhat difficult. It took several moments of tossing and turning for her to find a suitably comfortable position and close her eyes.

“…”

The only problem: she couldn’t sleep.

To be fair… after all that had just happened, how could she? With nothing else to focus on, Twilight’s mind raced, still trying its best to process the events of the past few hours…

“611! Repeat, we have a code 611! Doctor, report to the portal room immediately!”

Still disoriented from her trip through the void, Twilight struggled to shake the fog from her brain and take stock of the situation. Information trickled over her consciousness like water from a leaky faucet.

She looked to be inside a very large building, one that reminded her of a warehouse with its painted brick walls, corrugated metal ceiling, stacks of wooden crates here and there, and some large machinery here and there.

She was a few feet off the ground, but how? Oh, wings, okay… but how was she all pony-ified already? Her hazy brain couldn’t seem to tell her when that had happened.

“What is it? What’s it doing?”
“Look at those wings! That’s so cool!”
“Protocol, people! Stay back! This could be dangerous!”

Several people began yelling things, which immediately drew her attention. Looking below, she spotted four humans nearby, watching her intently. Each one held something in their hands, various objects pointed at her that looked - WAIT IS THAT A GUN

In a panic, Twilight swung her arm upward in an arc, a purple glow enveloping all four of them as telekinetic force lifted them into the air and ripped their weapons from their hands. In the same motion, she closed her hand sharply, causing each of the confiscated weapons to snap in half with the sound of splintering wood and creaking metal.

“Marvelous…!”

Standing before a set of double doors thrown wide open were two people in lab coats. The taller of the two looked quite strange - his skin was pale as a ghost, his ears were strangely long and pointy, and his thick glasses must have been obscuring his eyes in some way because Twilight could have sworn they were entirely white, featuring neither irises nor pupils. He seemed to be staring at her in awe, oblivious to anything else in the room.

The second was a girl with dark skin whose curly hair was tied back in a ponytail - not unlike Twilight’s own, but significantly shorter. Unlike her companion, her eyes shifted rapidly around the room, quickly noticing the people Twilight still held in midair as well as their ruined weapons on the floor nearby.

“Simply marvelous,” the pointy-eared man repeated. “I’ve never seen such powers before… Oh, where did I leave my clipboard? I simply must begin taking notes immediately!”

“W-Who are you? Where am I?” Twilight demanded, finally finding her voice. “What happened to my friends?”

The pointy-eared man gasped, suddenly beaming. “It speaks our language? Oh, this is unprecedented!”

“Uncle, focus!” his companion snapped. “Save your gawking for later - we have a situation to defuse!”

As Twilight watched, the girl straightened her collar a bit and began walking slowly and purposefully toward her, her demeanor completely different; where she had been all business just a moment ago, she now seemed much… softer, for lack of a better word. “Don’t worry… I promise we’re not going to hurt you.” Now that she was a bit closer, she looked barely older than Twilight herself. “My name is Penny. What’s yours?”

“T-Twi… Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight found herself making eye contact with a nearby crate much more readily than she could manage with this girl.

“That’s a beautiful name.” Penny’s smile grew. “Miss Sparkle, I’m here to help you… but I’d like you to do a favor for me first, okay?”

Twilight hesitated, still glancing about the room.

“I need you to put our guards down,” Penny explained, her hands folded in front of her. “I’m sure they’re sorry for scaring you.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to gasp; she hadn’t meant to hold onto them this long. As slowly and gently as she could manage, she lowered them back to the ground.

“Thank you!” Penny stepped closer. “Do you want to come down so we can talk? I’ll do my best to answer any questions you may have, but this isn’t the best place for it.”

Twilight descended one wingbeat at a time, landing somewhat clumsily on the floor below.

“Ah, and before I forget… this man here is my uncle, Doctor Darian Mobius.” At this, she sighed quietly and turned toward him. “That is how you handle a 611, uncle. Now it’s a much more manageable 619 instead.”

“Hoho! Splendid work as always, my dear Penny. What would I do without you?” Dr. Mobius chuckled, poking the bridge of his glasses to adjust them. “In any case… now that our guest has been sufficiently mollified, perhaps she would like to accompany us to the conference room? I have ever so many questions to ask!”

“Are you hungry, Miss Sparkle?” Penny asked, largely ignoring her uncle. “If you tell us about your diet, perhaps we can accommodate.”

“Thank you, but…” Twilight rubbed her elbow and looked back at the portal, swirling ominously in the air behind her. In spite of the hospitality, something felt very wrong. “My friends… W-We all got pulled into the portal together,” she explained. They had to know something, hadn’t they? “Has anyone else been through here?”

The two scientists stared at Twilight for a few seconds before exchanging blank looks.

Penny shook her head. “I’m sorry… you were the only one.”

“Oh.” Twilight’s heart sank.

“But… is that really true? You all entered the portal together, but didn’t end up at the same destination?” Penny looked worryingly over at her uncle.

Twilight swallowed hard. “Y-Yes… why?”

Dr. Mobius adjusted his glasses again. “I’m afraid that’s… impossible.”

Impossible…

The word echoed in Twilight’s mind. Obviously that couldn’t be right; Sunset was already on her way to prove them wrong… but what did it mean? Thinking about it only made her worry more. What if something catastrophically bad was happening that even these experienced scientists wouldn’t be able to solve?

Groaning, she sat up and raised a hand to her head. Trying to sleep was getting her nowhere, obviously. Maybe a walk would help her clear her head? Assuming no one minded her wandering about, that is.

Slipping the spare key into her pocket, Twilight snuck through the door, closing it behind her as quietly as she could.

“Can’t sleep?”

Startled, Twilight whirled around to find Penny leaning against the wall.

“Y-Yeah… sorry.” Twilight fidgeted with the end of her skirt. “I was hoping a walk would help calm my nerves.”

“I guess I can’t blame you. It’s been a pretty eventful few hours.” Penny approached her slowly. “You really shouldn’t wander the lab by yourself though. Would you like me to show you around?”

A smile slowly grew on Twilight’s face. “Yes please! I’d love to learn more about what you study here.”

“Great!” Penny motioned for Twilight to follow her down the hallway. “Let’s start with the senior offices, they’re just down here…”

05: Digdirt

“Ow, oof, ooh, ow, ouch!”

Rarity found herself tumbling across rough stone, stopping only when she collided with a wall several yards away.

“Ohhhhhh… I think I’m going to be ill. And now my skirt is all scuffed up, too…” Carefully shifting into a sitting position, she raised a hand to her head and gingerly rubbed the spot where it had thumped against the wall, her fingers lightly brushing a furry ear in the process.

“Hmm?”

Rarity paused, patting the top of her head curiously. Yup, those were definitely her pony ears. “Wait, when did I…?”

Her sentence trailed off as she finally caught sight of her surroundings. What appeared to be a cave carved out of sandstone stretched in two directions before her; daylight shone from one, while the portal glowed softly in the darkness of the other, tilted slightly as though leaning casually against the wall.

Carefully so as not to irritate her already upset stomach, Rarity braced herself against the wall and climbed to her feet. There was no one else in the cave with her, but how could that be? Pinkie had been right in front of her as they’d fallen into that strange red-and-black space.

“Pinkie?” Hand against the wall for safety, Rarity made her way toward the bright end of the cave. “Pinkie Pie, where are you?”

It wasn’t long before she reached the end… and the sight before her made her gasp.

The rocky slope on which she now stood ended only a few feet down, to be replaced with a vast desert that stretched as far as Rarity could see. Occasional outcroppings of sandstone like the one in which she had appeared were the only landmarks in the endless sea of sand. While the cave had been relatively cool, the daylight felt like a heat ray against her skin; in seconds, she was already sweating. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen.

Rarity retreated back into the shade of the cave and took a deep breath. “Alright, Rarity: focus. You’re officially in a survival situation, and you need to figure out what to do next to maximize your chances of… well… surviving.” With that, she began slowly pacing back and forth.

“Let’s see now… Option one, return to the portal.” She glanced back at it for hardly a second before scowling and turning up her nose. “Absolutely not. It’s what put you here in the first place, and it separated you from Pinkie in doing so; it’s as like as not to send you someplace even worse if you trust it like that.

"Option two, brave the desert and look for help.” Several seconds of staring out at it left her cringing at the prospect. “…Not exactly ideal. You have no supplies of any kind, no sense of direction, and no way to know if there’s even anyone out there in the first place.

"Option three, wait by the portal for your friends to catch up.” Her attention turned back to the portal once again, her scowl threatening to return. “But is that even possible? Again, you and Pinkie have been separated despite entering nearly simultaneously; assuming the rest of your friends did in fact follow you, it seems unlikely for them to wind up here alongside you.

"That means…” She sighed quietly. “…wandering aimlessly in the desert is looking like my best option.” Even so, saying it out loud wasn’t going very far in making it feel like less of a terrible idea. “Oh, and if I don’t find something soon, I’ll probably never get the sweat stains out of my clothes…”

At this, she shook her head. “Now stop that! Your vanity isn’t as important as making it out of this alive,” she scolded. “Although it would be nice to know that if I don’t, I’ll at least still look good for when they find my body.”

The thought made her shiver.

Standing at the edge of the cave, she spent several moments steeling herself before starting out into the desert proper.

Sweat poured from Rarity’s brow, slowly drenching her top as she trudged across the sand. She had rather quickly begun regretting her decision; the further she walked, the clearer it became that there was nothing here but rocks and sand. At the very least, she had passed by a few varieties of cacti, meaning the place wasn’t completely devoid of life. Hopefully, that was a good sign.

With no food or water and no shield against the heat, the best she could do was to rest in the shade of a rock every few minutes, but this didn’t provide much in the way of relief.

“Ugh, why couldn’t it have dropped me off at a spa instead? This place is dreadful.”

It also wasn’t doing much for her mood.

Knowing full well it wasn’t a terrific use of her dwindling energy, she gave the sand a frustrated kick. “I’m hot, I’m tired, I’m thirsty, I’m horribly sweaty… come on now, I just need - AAAAAAUGH”

Rarity fell to her knees, screaming as she felt the stinger plunge into her thigh. A perfectly sand-colored scorpion almost a yard long, far larger than any she could have imagined, emerged from its hiding place just beneath where she had kicked.

Trying to climb to her feet only caused her to stumble and yelp as pain shot through her body from the effort of putting weight on her injured leg. There would be no running.

But she could still defend herself.

With a wave of her arm, Rarity intended to summon a crystalline shield to shove the scorpion away. What she got instead was rather different: a hail of razor sharp crystal shards materialized over her head and plunged themselves into the creature’s body, piercing its carapace en masse like bullets shattering glass.

Oily black fluids oozed from the scorpion’s body, staining the sand as it twitched for a moment before finally lying still.

Gasping for air as though she had just run a marathon, Rarity clutched at her leg, now swollen and bleeding where she had been stung. The world around her began shifting in and out of focus as her vision blurred and everything started spinning.

“Well, it was… worth a shot… I suppose…”

She spotted something else moving out of the corner of her eye, but by this point she was too exhausted to care. She just needed sleep.

Sleep, then everything will be fine.

Sleep…

Cool.

Everything felt so refreshingly cool.

Did that mean she was dead, then? No matter, so long as she was free of the desert and the heat and the scorpions…

Wait, no - of course it mattered! What was she thinking? She couldn’t just leave her friends behind like that…

Rarity opened her eyes. They expressed their disdain for this by taking their sweet time focusing on her surroundings, but eventually gave in a few seconds of blinking later.

Was this… a hospital room? It looked like it had been designed on a fairly tight budget, featuring little more than a countertop, some shelves, an electric fan pointed at her, and the bed on which she now lay. Her clothes were hung up on a rack, pristine and spotless as the day she’d made them.

Wait a minute…

Still a bit dizzy, she took her time sitting up, a wet cloth falling from her forehead and landing in her lap as she did so. Looking down, she quickly discovered she had been reduced to her underwear. A large bandage wound around her thigh covered the spot where the scorpion had stung her. A cursory glance later, she found a second, smaller bandage on her upper arm.

Someone was taking care of her. Against what were likely ridiculous odds, someone had found her out there and rescued her.

As if on cue, the door at the other end of the room opened partway to permit a rather strange-looking girl. She didn’t seem to pay Rarity much mind at first, instead brushing a strand of blue hair out of her darkly tanned face, hooking it behind a pointy ear as she peered at the clipboard she was carrying.

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but quickly realized she had too many questions and no idea where to start. “Er…?”

The girl’s eyes lit up as they met Rarity’s. In an instant, she tore the top sheet of paper from her clipboard, slapped it down on the counter behind her, produced a pen from the pocket of her poorly fitting nurse’s uniform, and began scribbling furiously.

“So… you wouldn’t happen to be…?” Rarity began.

The girl looked up from her writing for only barely long enough to hold up one finger; Rarity simply watched. A few more seconds later, she held out the clipboard for Rarity to take, rushing from the room once again as soon as it had left her hands.

i’m so glad you’re awake!! don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe here!

my name is miri and you’re at me and my mom’s clinic! you’re suffering from heat exhaustion and a nasty dose of scorpion venom, lucky i found you in time! i have lots and lots of questions but they can wait till you feel a little better okay??

i’ll be right back, i need to get you some water because you’re really dehydrated BUT DRINK IT REALLY SLOWLY or it might upset your tummy!

The girl returned not long afterward with a tall glass of water that Rarity had to resist the urge to chug as quickly as possible.

“Hah… thank you, er… Miri.”

Miri beamed.

“Oh…” Rarity figured she already knew the answer, but it was still worth trying. “Did you happen to see anyone else out in the desert? Anyone, well… like me, perhaps?” Her pony ears twitched to emphasize the point.

Miri gave a silent gasp and drafted a response as quickly as she could. is someone else out there? oh no i’m so sorry! i went to investigate the bright light i saw way out in the desert but all i found was you… should i go looking again??

Rarity shook her head sadly. “No, that’s not necessary, dear! We got separated after we fell into the portal, so…” She paused, turning to look out the window. “I… feel like she probably ended up somewhere far away. I’m not sure how I know that, but…”

Miri held out the clipboard. YOU CAME THROUGH THE POR no, we should talk about that later. i’m really sorry about your friend :( you’re welcome to stay here until you get better! i should go tell mom you’re awake so we can make you some food!! are you hungry?

“That would be lovely, thank you!” Rarity smiled, but it was short-lived. “Oh, but… I don’t have any way to repay you for your care.”

She found herself staring at Miri’s uniform while she awaited the next written response. Not only was it clearly too big for her, but the stitching on the seams was uneven… and the whole thing was such a drab color to boot! Yet she had so expertly laundered Rarity’s clothes for her until not a hint of sweat stain remained…

Was there such a thing as an idea that was too perfect? Rarity hoped not.

“Actually,” she found herself saying, “hold that thought. Did you make that uniform yourself?”

Miri blinked, crossing out her old response and starting over. yes… i’m not very good at sewing though and we can’t afford so it was the best i could do

Rarity smirked and leaned forward. “What if I offered to make you and your mother an entire line of brand new uniforms?”

Miri stared at Rarity’s clothes for several seconds before responding. you can do that??

“Of course, darling! Picture it - the perfect blend of style and substance! Functional yet fashionable, durable yet dazzling! I promise you’ll love them, or my name isn’t Rarity!” At this, she paused. “…Which it is. I may have neglected to mention that,” she added with a sheepish grin.

Miri beamed the entire time she spent writing. your name is really pretty <3 that would be wonderful, miss rarity! thank you!! i’ll go talk to mom for a bit and be back with something for you to eat :) :)

After an affirming nod from Rarity, Miri left the room, grinning from ear to pointy ear.

The moment she was gone, Rarity let her own smile drop.

It wouldn’t do to dwell on what she couldn’t control. By all accounts, she seemed to be fairly well stuck here - wherever ‘here’ even was - and it sounded like her friends were nowhere to be found. But fashion! She always had a handle on that.

“You’ve been lucky so far,” she told herself. “Let’s ride that luck as far as it’ll go and show this world just what Rarity is made of!”

06: Nice Day

"Waaaaaaaaaah!"

Though her eyes were shut tightly, Fluttershy could tell from the wind whipping past that she was not only rocketing through the air, but also losing altitude. Surely she was about to hit the ground and perish! She braced herself for the inevitable impact.

"..."

Perhaps it wasn't as inevitable as she thought?

Curiosity soon replacing fear, she carefully opened one eye, then the other, and looked around. She was still in the air, but no longer plummeting - her wings had caught her while she was still several feet off the ground, which she was now approaching at a much more comfortable pace.

She let out a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding as soon as her shoes touched the dirt, a shiver running through her body as the adrenaline ebbed. Only then did she actually start taking in her surroundings.

Gently rolling hills stretched as far as she could see, covered in grass and interspersed with broad leafy trees and the occasional pond. Warm daylight came down from above, pleasantly complemented by a cool breeze blowing through that shifted the grass as it went, looking like waves on an ocean of green.

In spite of her worries, Fluttershy found herself taken in by the serenity of the place, closing her eyes for but a moment to let it soothe her nerves.

The dirt she had landed on turned out to be a road leading off behind the hills in one direction, and turning to the other made her gasp: an enormous building towering over the nearby landscape stood before her. It looked ancient but surprisingly well kept, its cool white stone columns and angular roof glossy in the light. It reminded her of ancient temples she'd seen in history books.

The temple was surrounded on all sides by tall walls of that same stone. A gap in the wall where it was met by the road should have granted access, but it was sealed off by a much more modern-looking chain link fence gate. Fluttershy approached the gate slowly, noting it was locked up tight and adorned with a very serious sign.

By local ordinance 017a, entry onto temple grounds is prohibited without written permission from Mayor Pifer. Please direct all inquiries to Lumina City Hall.

Fluttershy stared at the sign. If she saw fit to investigate, it would be a simple matter to fly over the fence... but she didn't want to get in trouble! Then again, what if her friends were in there? They had to be somewhere; it was bothering her that she hadn't seen any sign of them yet.

A chirping sound from nearby interrupted her thoughts. Whirling around, she found herself staring at a tree where several birds had stopped to rest, some of which were eyeing her curiously.

Fluttershy's face lit up - this was perfect! Hands held close to her chest, she took several slow steps toward the tree and cleared her throat. "Um, excuse me! Could I please talk to you for a minute?"

After a moment of hesitation, one of the birds left its perch and fluttered down to Fluttershy, landing in her now outstretched palm. On closer inspection, she realized she couldn't identify what species it was, but she pushed her curiosity aside for the time being; she had very important questions to ask.

"I'm looking for my friends," she said to the bird. "Have you seen or heard anyone around lately?"

The bird responded with a series of chirps, chitters, and tweets, Fluttershy nodding along seriously.

"Mhmm... a bright yellow light and a scream... from up there?" Her eyes followed along as the bird pointed its wing at a large opening high up on the front of the temple, not far below the roof. "But... that was me, wasn't it?"

This earned her an affirmative chirp.

"Are you sure that was it? No one else appeared or made any noise? Please, there must be something..."

The bird shook its head.

Fluttershy sighed, the ears atop her head folding back in disappointment. She glanced at the landscape once more, its peacefulness now making her feel more isolated than anything else.

"Well... thank you anyway." She began to raise her hand to prompt the bird to fly away, but suddenly stopped as she remembered something. "Oh, wait!"

The bird tilted its head at her.

"Do you know where, um, 'Lumina' is?"

With a chirp, the bird pointed its wing down the road, away from the temple.

"Okay." Fluttershy gently rubbed the bird's neck with her index finger, earning a happy twitter in reply. "Thank you for all your help."

A moment later, the bird took off to rejoin its fellows.

Another shiver came over Fluttershy as she started down the road.

Tall concrete walls rising over the trees meant that Fluttershy had finally found her destination, and she jogged ahead for a better look. An enormous open gate stood before her, a guard tower perched on one side causing her heart to skip a beat before a closer inspection revealed it to be empty.

Slowly, she made her way up to the gate and peered around one of the giant wooden doors for a better look inside. Old-timey houses packed fairly close together lined either side of the street, to be replaced with taller buildings stretching into the distance. Though she could see people going about their business a good ways down the road, there wasn't a soul for well over a hundred yards.

Fluttershy pressed her back against the gate and took a deep breath. She couldn't just stay out here; with no clues about where her friends had gone, she needed to ask someone for help... but what if they weren't friendly? What if they didn't like her because of her wings? What if they were mean to animals? What if...

She shook her head. Worried or not, she had to try; if there was any chance her friends were still out there somewhere, she needed to stay safe until she could reunite with them.

Summoning her courage, Fluttershy edged her way around the door and into the town. With no one close by to speak to, she walked carefully up the front path of the nearest house and stood on the porch. Her eyes lingered on the door, and the welcome sign adorning it; weather-worn though it was, she could tell the bright sunflowers on it had been hand-painted.

A brass door knocker sat above the sign. Slowly, she reached for it and struck it a few times, emitting a series of metallic clunk noises before taking a step back and waiting for an answer.

Several seconds went by in silence.

After a second attempt yielded similar results, Fluttershy glanced over her shoulder at the street behind her. She wasn't keen on trying every door if she could help it - drawing too much attention to herself was probably not a good idea.

As she reached for the knocker a third time just to be sure, movement drew her eye over to the window. She gasped - was that supposed to be a bunny? Only the ears gave it away; its round body was covered in sky blue fur, and it didn't appear to have any limbs to speak of. As it stared at Fluttershy, it began emitting a series of faint noises.

"Huh? W-What's wrong? You sound so scared..." Fluttershy blinked, tilting her head as she interpreted the bunny's frantic squeaking. "Someone's in danger? What should I do...?"

In reply, the bunny leapt away from the window and back into the house. A few seconds later, the door clicked and began to swing inward, the blue critter now hopping in place insistently on the floor behind it.

Before Fluttershy could voice her confusion at how a limbless critter could operate a door, it took off bouncing down the hallway, stopping at the end to look back toward her and continue hopping in place and squeaking.

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" Fluttershy jogged her way through the hall, slowing to a halt once she had caught up with the bunny... and turned toward the kitchen.

Her heart nearly leapt into her throat.

A young man lay on the hardwood floor next to an overturned chair, a half-eaten bowl of soup cooling on the table nearby. He wasn't moving.

As Fluttershy stared in horror, the bunny took an almighty leap from the floor up onto her shoulder, snapping her out of her stupor.

"Oh no, oh no, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do?" Her whole body trembling, she slowly knelt in front of him, gently lifting his head and shoulders. "H-Hey, are you okay? P... Please wake up, come on..."

Slowly, the young man's eyes fluttered open, but wouldn't focus on her. He drew in shallow, ragged breaths, and his pulse was almost audibly irregular. He looked like he had minutes left to live. "H... hos... pi... tal," was all he could manage in between gasps for air.

"Hospital... okay, I-I'll go find one! Hang on, please... You're g-going to be just fine," Fluttershy stammered, her own heart pounding like a hammer behind her ribs. Carefully as she could in spite of how much she was shaking, she scooped him up in her arms. He was lighter than he looked.

She was out the door in seconds, zooming down the street as quickly as her wings would carry her with a passenger and a half. Before long, she reached a street corner where a handful of pedestrians were going about their business. As soon as she rounded the corner, she slowed to a hover, took a deep breath, and yelled with all her might.

"S-Someone please help," she whispered.

Even if her pitiful cry hadn't gotten their attention, her bizarre appearance did; people began to stop what they were doing and gather around to stare at her, curious about the girl with wings carrying an unconscious boy in her arms and a bunny on her shoulder.

Unfortunately, stare was pretty much all they did. Fluttershy landed somewhat clumsily and staggered backward, shrinking away from their collective gaze.

"Out of the way!"

A tall figure forced past the other onlookers. An older man with patches of graying hair, he looked first not at Fluttershy, but instead at the boy she was carrying. "What happened?" he demanded.

"I, I, I... I don't... I just, I found..." Now it was Fluttershy's turn to gasp for air. When had she started crying? They weren't about to accuse her of hurting him, were they?

The man's tone softened somewhat. "Do you know where the hospital is?"

She shook her head.

"Can you fly over the buildings?" he asked.

She nodded.

The man turned around and pointed over the buildings on the other side of the street. "Downtown is that way, about ten blocks. There's a tall building with a large pink cross on it - that's the hospital, you'll see it from the air. ICU entrance is on the south side, facing the street. Have you got all that?"

She nodded.

He took a step back, waving an arm at the crowd to encourage the same of them. "Then go. Now."

Fluttershy instantly took to the air once again. She fought to keep her breathing steady as her wings started to tire... but allowed herself a sigh of relief when a building adorned with a pink cross quickly came into view.

It was hard not to feel thankful that this was one of very few times Fluttershy had occasion to visit the hospital.

His name was Riley Maudlin, as it turned out. The hospital staff had identified him rather quickly; evidently, this was far from his first visit, though it had been quite some time since his last. Having finally stabilized after an agonizing period of intense care, he now lay unconscious in bed, hungrily drawing in oxygen through a mask connected to a large canister nearby.

When the police showed up and asked her for a statement, she'd nearly fainted right then and there, but there were enough eyewitness accounts of her deeds that they saw no reason not to take her word in spite of her nervousness. Thankfully, their suspicion regarding her pony form seemed only surface level at the time... but when the lead officer left her a parting warning about "keeping an eye out for the sake of public safety," she couldn't help wondering if it was meant as a threat.

"Are... you sure he'll be okay, Miss Eclipse?" She glanced down at the bunny in her lap, whom she was idly petting as much for her own comfort as anything else, relaxing only slightly as she received an affirmative squeak in response.

"Riley!"

Fluttershy flinched as a middle-aged couple rushed into the room, taking no notice of her as they leaned over Riley for a closer look.

"Oh thank the stars," the man exclaimed as he gently clasped Riley's hand with his own.

The woman, however, quickly turned to Fluttershy. "You must be..."

Fluttershy gulped loudly, placing Eclipse the bunny on the chair behind her as she stood up. No one yet had attempted to accuse her of hurting Riley, but she still found herself waiting for the other shoe to drop. Her fears were again unfounded as the woman stepped forward slowly and gave her a careful but fierce hug.

"Thank you... thank you, thank you for saving our son," she sobbed.

Fluttershy cringed, standing as still as possible while this strange woman cried into her shoulder. "Um... y-you're welcome...?"

After an awkward eternity, she finally pulled away. "Oh, I'm so sorry... where are my manners? My name is Lily, and this is my husband Louie."

"I'm, um... Fluttershy." Before they could start asking curious questions, she turned toward the bed. "So... what happened?"

"Heart condition." Louie sighed. "Had it since he was a baby. Thought he was getting better." He shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Guess not."

"Miss Flutter...shy," Lily began, doing her best to sound like she wasn't incredibly curious about Fluttershy's name, "is there any way we can repay you? Please, there must be something..."

Fluttershy twirled a lock of her hair around her finger and glanced away. "Oh, that's not necessary... I'm just looking for my friends, that's all. We're, um... more than a little lost at the moment."

"Stay with us then."

Fluttershy and Lily both stared at Louie.

"You just flew through the air and saved a kid," he explained. "News will travel. Better to stay put - if they're looking, they'll know you're here."

Lily blinked, a smile slowly forming on her lips. "That's a wonderful idea! If you're lost, you must need someplace to stay, mustn't you? She could borrow the guest room," she added as she turned to her husband, who nodded in agreement.

Fluttershy's ears folded back. They seemed genuine enough, and it wasn't like she relished the idea of wandering a strange world by herself... "I, I mean if it's... not too much trouble. I wouldn't want to impose..."

"We would be terribly remiss to do any less," Lily insisted. "Come now. Where are your things?"

"Oh, I didn't bring anything with me," Fluttershy admitted. "We weren't exactly, um, planning to visit, so..."

Lily gasped. "Then you'll be needing a change or two of clothes, won't you?" She turned to Louie. "I'm going to take her by the department store and then help her get settled in. Will you stay here with Riley so he's not alone when he wakes up?"

Louie flashed her a thumbs-up. "You two get going. I'll be fine here."

"Wonderful! Would you come with me then, dear?" Lily beckoned Fluttershy as she started toward the door. "We'll be sure to get you a nice hooded cloak so you don't stand out quite so much. Oh, and maybe..."

Fluttershy followed along mutely, Lily's voice fading into the background as her thoughts absorbed her mind. This would probably be best, wouldn't it? If her friends were looking for her, they would expect her to find someplace to bunker down instead of braving the unknown by herself.

If they weren't, well. At least the people here were... nice?

07: Lobster Trap

"Whoa, ooh, ugh... oof."

Disoriented after her trip through the portal, Rainbow Dash staggered for a moment before falling to her knees. She raised a hand to her head to steady it as the world around her swam into focus, chaotic voices slowly growing more distinct.

With a quick shake of her head, she snapped to attention. It was night, but she could see well enough thanks to several portable-looking spotlights nearby. There were people running this way and that, wearing what looked like... were those supposed to be military uniforms? Why would anybody outfit their troops with bright red uniforms?

In seconds, one of the spotlights had been pointed directly at her, causing her to squint and shield her eyes... but she could still tell that several of them were pointing weapons at her; some brandished swords and spears, while others propped up their rifles on rows of sandbags.

"What the - ?" Rainbow scrambled to her feet, but suddenly found herself hovering as her wings seemed to automatically kick in. Momentarily distracted, she glanced at them over her shoulder. "Oh hey, cool! When did that - ?"

"Attention!" a voice called out. "You will land and submit yourself to military custody immediately, or appropriate force will be employed!"

"What?!" Rainbow shook her head again, glaring against the spotlights as her hands balled into fists. "No way! I haven't done anything wrong. I'm just looking for my friends! Who do you guys think you - ow!"

Something small and sharp struck her side. Looking down, she winced as she carefully plucked what appeared to be a small dart embedded in her skin and immediately threw it away. "Hey! What's the deal with you guys? I, ugh..."

Why were her wings getting heavy?

Rainbow could feel her strength gradually leaving her as she descended slowly, falling to her knees again. She looked up to see two of the soldiers lowering their weapons and approaching her, lifting her roughly under her arms and beginning to drag her away. She tried to summon the will to resist, but her body would no longer obey.

"You... guys... suck..." was all she could manage before her consciousness faded completely.

"...ugh."

Rainbow Dash was getting really sick of being dizzy.

Her surroundings had traded the military base for what looked like a crude cell, complete with iron bars and unpainted stone brick walls. Its only features were an equally barred window, a toilet, and a bed so uncomfortable she doubted she'd ever have fallen asleep on it if she hadn't been drugged.

She tried to reach for her head, only to find her arms wouldn't move - they were bound behind her back, as were her wings.

Rainbow fought the adrenaline urging her to leap to her feet as quickly as possible. Instead, she took her time with it to ward off the wave of disorientation she might have gotten otherwise and stood up gradually.

With that out of the way, her fear soon made way for anger, and she marched up to the bars of her cell to give one a solid kick. "Hey, let me outta here!"

"Good, you're awake."

A dark-skinned soldier stepped into view. He wore the same red uniform she'd seen before, but his had much larger and more elaborate patches on it - an indication of rank, maybe? She didn't actually care either way; she was too busy wishing she could punch him. "Who are you supposed to be?"

The soldier spent a moment idly straightening his sleeves. "You haven't heard of me before? Lieutenant Lucas Diamondback, youngest Victorian officer in decades? Master of the Illusion Blades?" He punctuated this by patting what appeared to be an empty sword sheath at his hip and smirking at her, as though expecting the gesture to mean something.

It really just made him look like a smug idiot.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Hmph. Tell someone who cares."

Lieutenant Whatever seemed particularly irked by this. "Hey, you're the one who asked! Besides, I'm cooler than any of you rebels will ever be!"

"You wouldn't know cool if it walked up and bit your tail," Rainbow spat. "Wait, 'rebels'? What the heck are you talking about?"

The lieutenant huffed. "Oh, don't bother. We already know you're some kind of secret weapon they developed to surprise attack us through the portal. Now we'll be prepared when more come through."

Rainbow's heart missed a beat as she remembered she hadn't been the first through the portal. "Wait a minute! Where are my friends?"

"I don't know." The lieutenant quirked an eyebrow, faking surprise. "You tell me. Where are your friends? And how many of you are there?"

Against her instincts, Rainbow bit her tongue. Whatever was going on, it was obvious this guy wasn't going to be any help to her in finding Pinkie and Rarity; any information she volunteered was as like as not to be used against them.

"Uh... n-nowhere," she stammered. Even if her lie was obvious, she at least owed it to them to put up an uncooperative front if it meant any chance at all of keeping them safe. "I-It was just me."

Were she not being held back by rope and iron bars, Rainbow would have been all too happy to see how much smirking this diamond-jerk would still be doing after she knocked half his teeth down his throat.

"Sure, whatever you say." He glanced at his watch. "Anyway, I have some preparations to oversee in case any of these not-friends of yours show up. Holler to the guards when you feel like cooperating; if you give us something useful to work with, we might even remember to feed you once or twice."

With a backhanded wave, he spun on his heel and marched down the corridor out of sight, leaving a furious Rainbow to stew in her own rage.

Sitting in a cell for hours on end was seriously the most boring thing in the universe.

Granted, the passage of time was pretty hard to gauge in this place; she couldn't see all that much of the sky from her barred window, but she could almost swear the sun hadn't actually moved. She could hear voices every now and then from down the hall, but no one else had shown up to bother her.

Her stomach growled. Immediately she was reminded of that comment from... what was it, Diamondface? She almost wished she had offered him some information about them, just for her own peace of mind... but it wasn't worth it. Giving that jerk the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten to her was unappealing enough, but the thought of potentially selling out her friends made her heart sink - she would gladly endure this by herself for their sake.

If nothing else, she could at least hope that their absence from the adjoining cells meant they'd found a way to escape, and she was just the unlucky one who got caught.

"Hey... hey, over here!"

A barely audible whisper came from somewhere nearby, snapping Rainbow to attention. "What? Who's there?"

"Shhh, careful..." The voice seemed to be someone just outside the window, which was just barely too high up on the wall for her to see them. "We're gonna get you out of there, okay?"

Rainbow scowled, but said nothing. She wasn't exactly in the most trusting mood, but it wasn't like it could make things any worse, right? She hoped not, at any rate.

"Stay away from the wall here for a sec," the whisperer warned. "Once it's breached, I need you to hang a left, head as far as the back wall, then turn right past the crates. Move as quickly and quietly as you can. Okay?"

"Uh... got it?" Rainbow quirked an eyebrow, but backed up all the same.

A few seconds later, she heard the footsteps of someone dashing away from the wall, followed by a low rumble. As she watched, part of the wall beneath the window crumbled to dust, leaving a hole barely two feet in diameter.

"..."

It wasn't exactly what she expected, but it would have to do.

After a minute of awkward squirming made more difficult than it needed to be due to her still being partly tied up, Rainbow found herself standing on dirt and dry grass between two low buildings, with no one else in sight.

Off to the left, a tall concrete wall reminded her of the instructions she had been given, and she marched toward them. A stack of wooden crates sat just behind the corner of the building to the right... but it didn't look like anyone was there.

Rainbow snuck slowly past the crates. "Uh, hello? Is anybody - "

SLASH

Something sharp swung just behind Rainbow, missing her by a hair. Immediately, she felt the ropes binding her arms and wings slip, prompting her to shrug them the rest of the way off.

"Whew, that's better." Rainbow rubbed at her sore wrists and flexed her wings. "Hey, thanks for the save back...?"

She trailed off as she turned around to find herself staring at none other than the very lieutenant who had given her such a taunting before. He held a strange translucent sword in his hand, which he turned and threw at the wall, causing it to shatter and vanish into thin air.

"There. Hopefully that, uh, evens things out a little." He turned back toward Rainbow. "Hey, are you... uh oh."

"YOU!" she snarled.

Diamondback flinched, staggering backward a step. "W-Wait, maybe you shouldn't - "

Rainbow didn't wait for him to finish. Wings flared, she took off toward him with her magically enhanced speed, ready to throw a punch that she sincerely hoped would send him through the wall behind him.

It didn't, but not for the reason she was expecting. Instead, she bounced backward as her fist connected with some sort of barrier that had formed in front of him, and landed in a heap in the dirt. "Ow! What the hay?"

"I would appreciate you not manhandling my informant, please."

A tall, pale woman stepped into view. Sporting a long green dress and a big green ribbon with long tails tied in sky blue hair that went halfway down her back, she was probably the silliest thing Rainbow had seen all day. Her hand was outstretched toward the lieutenant, but she lowered it as she approached, causing the barrier in front of him to fizzle and vanish. Crouching, she extended it to Rainbow instead.

"My name is Scarlet Lombardia, ally of the Cascadian Rebellion," she declared.

Rainbow stared for a moment at the offered hand before finally taking it and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "Uh... right. Then I'm Rainbow Dash."

Scarlet blinked, hesitating for a moment. "An... unorthodox name I suppose, but an amusingly apt one," she concluded, her eyes lingering on the teen's impressively ostentatious hair. "Rainbow Dash, I believe we can be of use to one another."

"Huh? What do you mean by - " Rainbow stopped mid-sentence, turning to Diamondback as a memory resurfaced. "Wait a minute! You said I was the one working with these 'rebels,' but that's what you're doing! What's going on here?"

"Shh, keep your voice down!" The lieutenant winced. "Yeah, I am. And I'm sorry about before... I, uh, kinda had to put on a good show until I could contact Scarlet here and put a plan together to get you out." He idly straightened his sleeves. "That trick I used will only work once, though; there'll be a guard tower back here by this time tomorrow, and the longer we stand here, the more likely you are to get caught again."

Scarlet nodded. "While you deserve a proper explanation, time is a luxury we can ill afford. In short, I am here to offer you a deal, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow glanced around. "A deal?"

"We of the rebellion fight for the liberation of this land from the very forces that detained you," Scarlet explained. "I believe you would be a valuable asset to our cause. Unless I am misinformed, those wings are no mere decoration, correct?"

More than happy to demonstrate, Rainbow hopped into the air and flew several speedy circles around them. The pair stared at her in awe, Scarlet in particular donning a delighted grin as the teen touched back down.

"Marvelous." Scarlet put her hands on her hips. "And yet, I saw a glimpse of even greater power just a bit ago, did I not?"

"Maybe you did!" Rainbow ran her fingers down the length of her wing. "I am pretty awesome, you know. Not really much of a soldier though," she admitted.

The lieutenant shrugged. "Oh, don't worry about that. Scarlet here is one of the best fighters I've ever seen. Found that out first-hand," he admitted, instinctively reaching up to rub his shoulder. "If anybody can teach you how to use your powers to fight, it's her."

"Wait, you can fight?" Rainbow looked Scarlet up and down. Her choice of dress seemed fairly lacking in the combat readiness department, and it covered a chubby frame that surpassed even the confection-loving Pinkie Pie. "No offense, but you... really don't look like it."

Scarlet hid her mouth behind her hand and giggled. "You are hardly the first to make that assessment, and I doubt you will be the last."

"Uh, more to the point," the lieutenant interrupted, "we're also prepared to do what we can to help you find your friends."

Scarlet nodded again. "The communication network in the region is rather heavily locked down, so while I can make no other promises, we will keep our eyes and ears open for any information that may lead us to them."

"So let me make sure I got this straight." Rainbow crossed her arms. "In exchange for helping me find my friends and teaching me how to use my powers to fight, you want me to help you beat up a bunch of punks who already shot me with a dart and locked me in a cell?"

Diamondback blinked. "Uh... actually, yeah, that's a pretty good summary."

Even now, she wasn't totally convinced she could trust them... but if she wanted to find Rarity and Pinkie, she could do a lot worse than finding allies, and here were two being handed to her on a platter.

Plus, it was a chance for her to impress them with her awesomeness. All in all, basically a no-brainer.

Rainbow Dash grinned. "When do we start?"

08: Open Question

Applejack awoke to a splitting headache and a chilly breeze blowing by.

Had she opened the window last night? Why would she do that if it was going to be this cold? Why did her head hurt this much? Why did her pillow feel like wood? The more questions popped into her head, the more it hurt.

With a groan, she sat up as gingerly as she could and opened her eyes slightly, raising a hand to her aching head. She appeared to be outside, which answered at least one question... and another was soon resolved when glancing behind her revealed she'd been sitting against a tree.

Or at least, the remains of one.

The forest around her carpeted the slope of a mountain range that stretched all the way to the horizon and featured a great variety of trees, leafy and evergreen alike. It petered out as it stretched into the valley below, making room for smaller shrubs and tall grasses at the very bottom.

Her pillow tree looked like a truck plowed into it; she had actually been resting against a rough-looking stump. Her gaze traveled its way up the mountainside, causing her to gasp: no less than a dozen other trees had toppled over in a similar fashion, a trail of destruction easily a hundred feet long.

As she climbed to her feet, Applejack let out a low whistle. "Well, I'll be."

The cool breeze blew through again, causing her to shiver and rub her arms for warmth. It also picked up an object she hadn't noticed was missing until it bumped into her leg.

She bent over and picked up the old cowboy hat. Inspecting it for damage, she frowned as she spotted several scuffs and tattered edges that hadn't been there the last time she looked. Was this the result of whatever knocked over all those trees, too? She had no particular reason to assume so, but the thought lingered in her mind all the same as she plopped the hat on her head.

kashoo!

Applejack jumped slightly at the sudden noise, looking this way and that for its source. Was there someone hiding nearby, or did one of those trees just... sneeze?

"Hello?" she called out. "Someone there?"

"Don't you move!"

A figure emerged from behind a large tree nearby. Slightly taller than Applejack, she had dirty blonde hair braided into pigtails and wore a red vest over a pink t-shirt, pink jeans, and hiking boots. A bit more striking were her eyes, completely white with no irises or pupils, and her long pointy ears. Strangely, she didn't look any better dressed for the cool weather than Applejack was, but that wasn't what concerned her the most.

That spot was reserved for the revolver in the girl's hands, pointed squarely at Applejack's chest.

"Whoa nelly!" Applejack staggered back a step and raised her hands. "N-Now why don't we just calm down a little, and - "

"What are you?" the girl demanded.

Applejack blinked. "Beg pardon?"

"You're bloody orange, and you've got animal ears on," said the girl. "And what's all this? Look what you did to the trees! How'd you manage that one then?"

A portion of Applejack's fear gave way to confusion. "Wait a sec. That sounds like..." Sure enough, a quick check over her shoulder confirmed that her hair was now long and flowing, easily reaching all the way to her knees. "But that ain't right... When did I - WHOA!"

Applejack yelped in alarm as the girl fired a warning shot at her feet.

"Don't ignore me!" The girl spun the revolver on her finger for a second before pointing it at Applejack again. "How'd you make that big glowing light and knock over all these trees? What kind of magic is that? What're you gonna use it for?"

Once her heart had begun beating again, Applejack glanced very carefully at the destruction around her. Her magically enhanced strength was really something, sure, but could she really have done all this? If so, why couldn't she remember any of it?

"Look... I'm mighty sorry about the trees," she said finally, "but I promise I don't mean any harm. If you'll put that there gun away, I'll give you the honest truth about everything I know."

"That seems a more than reasonable trade if you ask me."

A second figure emerged from the trees. This one was visibly armed as well, sporting a rifle on a strap over his shoulder. He too wore a t-shirt and jeans, gray and blue respectively, and a leather jacket. His hair was the exact same color as the girl's, and he featured the same pointed ears and blank eyes.

...Applejack seriously wanted to ask about that last part, but the timing felt slightly behind ideal.

"About time you caught up," the girl barked. "Help me with this, will you?"

The young man stepped forward, pausing for a moment as he surveyed the situation. After a few seconds, he scowled as he reached for the girl's gun and lowered it, earning him an irritated huff from her and a sigh of relief from Applejack.

"Hey!" the girl protested.

"Put that away," he warned. "A gun is not an intimidation tool. You know better."

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but changed her mind and closed it a second later. Glaring, she returned her gun to a holster at her hip and crossed her arms as the man finally turned to Applejack.

"My name is Brent," he explained, "and this is my sister, Rebecca. You'll have to pardon her belligerence; we're all a bit on edge these days."

Relieved that the situation had defused a bit, Applejack took off her hat for a moment and wiped a few weather-defying beads of sweat from her brow. "No harm, no foul, I guess. Name's Applejack."

"Applejack?" Brent echoed, raising a hand to his mouth. "With a name like that, I might have suspected you of otherworldly origins even without the rest of your unusual features."

Otherworldly...

The word lingered in Applejack's head. This really was another world, wasn't it? Her memory had gotten pretty fuzzy by the time she woke up, but now she found she could clearly recall everything that had happened with the mirror portal... at least, up until just after she'd jumped into it intending to rescue Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Everything between then and now was a complete blank - just how long had she been out, anyway?

She hoped that her impulsive rescue attempt hadn't been as foolish a decision as it suddenly felt.

"Look, I ain't here to cause any trouble," she said finally. "I'm just looking for my friends after we all fell into the portal."

"Hmph!" Rebecca huffed again. "See? I told you she came through the portal!"

Though he betrayed no other emotion, Brent's eyes narrowed. "I never claimed to doubt you."

"You thought it though."

"You can't claim that."

"Can too!"

"You - "

rrrrip

The two ceased their bickering and stared slack-jawed at Applejack, the splintered remains of a tree stump in her hands.

"Figured that might get your attention." She casually tossed it away as she spoke. "Now, that ain't getting us anywhere. 'Sides, I owe you two a story, don't I?"

Brent nodded. "Likewise. I should think a bit of hospitality is in order, but we ought to be cautious; I can't imagine the rest of the town will react to your presence much better than this one did."

Rebecca shot him a look. He didn't seem to notice.

Applejack tilted her head. "What's got you folks all spooked, anyhow?"

"Come with me. I'll explain on the way." He turned to Rebecca. "You should get back to your post."

"Whatever. Not my problem then." With a dismissive wave of her hand, Rebecca parted ways with them as Applejack followed Brent through the trees.

At the foot of the mountains, the trees gave way to a grassy clearing that seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon. The wooden ramparts of a small town rose over the grass less than half a mile away, two figures making their way toward it as they spoke.

"So what you're saying is," Applejack began, "You folks are right on the border with a not-so-friendly neighboring country and y'all are worried they might march up and take over at any time, so your sis gets paid to sit in a tower up there and keep an eye out?"

"A succinct - if somewhat contrived - summary, yes," said Brent.

Applejack scratched her head. "Well, that explains why she was a mite jumpy before. Reckon it means Dash and the others ain't been by, either."

Brent nodded. "Most likely. She would've spotted them as she did you."

"So what's your deal then?" Applejack quirked an eyebrow. "How come you ain't all suspicious of me and my magic?"

Brent adjusted his rifle strap as he walked. "I happen to believe in the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps a bit foolish of me, I'll admit, but you seem sincere enough that it would genuinely trouble me not to lend you a hand."

"Well, that's mighty kind of you."

As the two fell silent, Applejack found herself pondering the strange man walking beside her. He apparently trusted her, so she saw no particular reason not to return the favor... but a hint of doubt hovered in the back of her mind all the same. In spite of appearances, this world was very unlike her own; she would need to be careful about how far she extended that trust until she could reunite with her friends.

That is, provided she could do so in the first place... but the idea that she might be alone here after all was not one she wanted to spend too much time entertaining.

"Hold."

As the pair was about to round the corner of the outer walls of the town, Brent extended his arm, prompting Applejack to stop in her tracks.

"You'll want to look as inconspicuous as possible," he warned. "Tuck your ears into your hat and follow my lead."

Somewhat deformed as it was, Applejack found that her hat now hid her pony ears with little effort. Satisfied, Brent nodded and led her to the front gate, its massive doors slightly ajar to allow them inside.

It looked as though someone had taken an old wild west town and unceremoniously dropped it here in the grass; short wooden buildings stretched down either side of a central dirt road. Aside from a smattering of foot traffic, it was populated by both old timey-looking trucks and horse-pulled wagons carting things back and forth, their cargo consisting mostly of wood in varying states of processing.

"Altair isn't much, all things considered," said Brent, "but it's home. It also happens to be the biggest source of lumber in all of Victoria."

Applejack grinned. "I think it's mighty swell."

"Oi, Voral!"

A woman waved at the pair from nearby, bent halfway over a truck with the hood open. Her hair was tied in a bun and her shirt was splattered with grease.

"Good morning, Ayers," said Brent as he and Applejack approached. "Truck still giving you trouble then?"

The woman wiped her forehead with her arm. "There's something stuck in one of the pipes somewhere, and I'm liable to take the whole thing apart before I find it."

Applejack glanced under the hood. Was that supposed to be an engine? She almost knew more about Big Mac's truck than he did, and she didn't recognize any of the components inside this thing.

Ayers quirked an eyebrow at Applejack. "Say, who's that?"

"Oh, pardon me. This is, er..." Brent hesitated, staring at Applejack for a moment. "...Gala Macintosh."

In spite of herself, Applejack stifled a snicker.

"She sent us a letter about a month ago," he continued. "It turns out she's related somewhere on our mother's side, but we're not sure on the details quite yet."

"How come she's orange?"

"Rare magical skin condition," Brent suggested, hardly missing a beat. "It's entirely benign, not contagious, and only affects the pigment."

Ayers stared at Applejack for several moments, her eyes narrowing. "Is that so?"

Applejack gulped audibly. An image of Rebecca's gun pointed at her torso flashed through her head - if she couldn't convince these people that she was as 'normal' as could be, she was liable to wind up in a whole heap of trouble.

"O-Of course it is!" She flashed as nonchalant a smile as she could manage. "I, uh, just don't much like talking about it is all. Real sensitive, you know? Gets me stared at a mite more than I'd like," she explained perhaps a little too quickly.

Sure enough, though there wasn't much going on in the immediate vicinity, no less than half a dozen sets of eyes lingered on her as she spoke.

Ayers seemed to ponder this for some time, silently scrutinizing Applejack as though doing so might confirm the veracity of her claim.

"Well now, that's just lovely!"

Applejack had to resist a sigh of relief.

"Looks like you two have some family left after all." Ayers grinned at Brent before turning back to Applejack. "Are there any more of you back home, Gala? Oh, and do you mind if I call you that?"

"Not at all!" Applejack grinned back. "There's my big brother, baby sister, and good old Granny back on the farm."

"Lovely indeed." Ayers nodded. "Well, I'm sure you two have plenty of catching up to do, so I won't keep you. Have a good one!" She turned back to her work as the two wandered off.

Brent exhaled. "Well, Gala, I believe we may have just dodged a bullet."

Applejack frowned. "I don't like lying to folks like that, but I guess I don't see we've got much choice."

"Not likely." Brent shook his head. "In any case, the house is down this way. We have a guest room you can use for the time being."

"Huh?" Applejack blinked. "Wait, you mean you're gonna put me up then?"

"That was my implication, yes." Brent quirked an eyebrow. "Why? Was I wrong in assuming you would need a place to stay?"

"Uh, well... no," Applejack admitted. "I just didn't realize that's what you meant by 'hospitality,' is all. I don't wanna impose or nothing."

Brent held up a hand. "It's no trouble, I promise. Plus, Ayers works at the lumber mill; now that you've met her, she can put in a good word for you over there to help you find work. If you mean to reunite with your friends, you won't get far without money."

Applejack nodded. "Might need an excuse for why I need it, but that sounds mighty fine to me. Means I can offer you something back, too," she added.

Brent nodded in turn. Though she hadn't seen him smile once since they'd met, she could still tell that he was pleased with the arrangement.

Even if it wasn't quite what she was used to from the farm, the thought of having decent work ahead of her was a comforting one. She didn't relish the idea of keeping secrets from these folks though, for more reasons than the obvious; if the rest of the town proved to be as unhappy to see her as Rebecca had been, someone was liable to get seriously hurt.

That aside, she didn't want to spend any more time in Altair than was absolutely necessary. It wasn't a bad little town, by and large... but what mattered most was that none of the others were here. Were she just a bit more impulsive - perhaps like a certain colorful friend of hers - she might try to set out immediately, but taking care of herself had to come first.

She just hoped they had the luxury of waiting for her.

09: Rink

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

Pinkie Pie had no idea why she was soaring through the air, but it sure was fun!

Granted, that might not have been entirely clear based on the way she was screaming and flailing... but hey, sometimes those things can be fun, too!

It sure was hard to tell what was going on around her, though. It looked like there were a bunch of buildings somewhere below her, and that big sheet of white was probably an overcast sky? That was her best guess, at least.

Boy, all this spinning was really making her dizzy. Was this going to end soon, or what?

Just a few seconds later, she found herself tumbling across smooth stone for a moment before coming to an abrupt stop against the wall with a loud SMACK.

"Oww...!"

The twinkling stars faded from her vision fairly quickly, and she stood up to have a look around. As it turned out, she had landed on the rather expansive balcony of a really tall palace (was she twenty stories up, or thirty?) overlooking a city that stretched way off into the distance. It ended at a tall wall beyond which snow-covered mountains were visible. The buildings down below looked kind of old, but still somehow fancy at the same time. It was kind of cool, actually!

"Thi-i-is pla-a-ace is ki-i-ind of co-o-o-ol!"

Why did her voice sound so funny? Like, more than usual, even?

Only then did she realize she was shivering. Wherever she was, it was really cold! Looking again, she saw that the buildings below her were all lightly dusted with snow, which had also piled up a bit on the balcony nearby. Her teeth began chattering as though prompted to do so by the sight before her.

Pinkie glanced over her shoulder, quickly spying a fancy door that led inside the palace. Nobody would mind if she snuck in for a bit to warm up, would they? The ornate glass door slid rather than swung open, allowing her to step through.

To her dismay, the interior wasn't much warmer than the balcony had been, but a minor improvement was an improvement nonetheless. Warming her cupped hands with her breath, she let her eyes wander.

The hall in which she now stood stretched for several hundred feet before turning a corner. The walls and floor were pristinely polished marble, flanked by intricate tapestries and columns that stretched all the way to a curved ceiling about a hundred feet up. Candelabras set into the columns cast an eerie blue glow over the room, only barely bright enough to see by. There wasn't a soul in sight.

Frankly, the place gave Pinkie the creeps... but she wasn't about to let that stop her.

She held her hands up to the flickering blue flames of the nearest candelabra. To her disappointment, they gave off no heat whatsoever... which struck her as strange, even though she couldn't readily recall why. Breathing into her hands once more, she glanced up at the nearest tapestry, noting that it was probably within reach of a good jump; if there was no one around to mind, maybe she could snag it and use it as a blanket?

Well, Rarity would probably object on principle... but Pinkie frowned as she remembered that Rarity wasn't here. None of her friends were.

She was alone.

She shivered again.

Not much else to it then, she decided as she began wandering the creepy hallway, clutching herself for warmth. At some point it had dimly registered in her mind that she had ponied up; her impressively long hair, tied in a cute ponytail near the end, helped at least a little bit in keeping her back warm.

Something was seriously wrong with this place. Who would go to all the trouble of decorating a palace like this if no one was here? She passed by more doors as she went, but the few that weren't locked only led to dark, empty rooms... all except for one.

One door sat open, revealing a room even more ornately decorated than the hallway, and more brightly lit to boot. Most importantly, it featured a fireplace at the far end, in which a fire crackled gently.

Her face lighting up instantly, Pinkie dashed through the doorway, narrowly avoiding crashing into the long table in the center of the room as she skidded to a stop in front of the fireplace and dropped to her knees.

"Mmm, that's much better..."

It was like an oasis in the desert, or perhaps the exact opposite of that. She closed her eyes for a moment, the better to drink in the warmth of the fire.

"Ahem."

In hindsight, it should have been obvious that a lit fireplace wouldn't be left unattended.

Pinkie hopped to her feet and spun around, spying a nearby figure she hadn't noticed in her earlier haste. He was tall, pale-skinned with jet black hair, and wore a really expensive-looking blue robe trimmed in gold that would have made Rarity envious. He seemed to be scowling.

"Oh, excuse me!" Pinkie flashed him a pleasant grin as she brushed some dust off her skirt. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything! It's just that your house is really cold and I didn't have time to grab a jacket before I got sucked through the mirror portal, not that I knew I'd need one in the first place, oh and do you mind if I borrow one of the tapestries from the hall, because this fire is super duper cozy, but it's still pretty cold in here and I could really use a blanket!"

The strange man stared at her for several seconds before speaking.

"You have no idea to whom you speak."

It wasn't so much a question as a simple statement of fact.

"Well, you know what they say - a stranger is just a friend you haven't made yet!" With that, Pinkie grinned at him as she stepped forward and extended a hand. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

The man stared some more - first at Pinkie, then at the outstretched hand, then back at Pinkie. He otherwise did not move.

"Aww, are we a little shy?" Pinkie leaned forward, tilting her head at him cloyingly. "I know what'll help you out of your shell!"

As though from nowhere, she suddenly produced a brightly-colored cannon. Aiming it at the table, she gave the string on top a hearty tug.

BOOM

In an instant, the room was decorated quite differently. Streamers and confetti floated gently to the floor, balloons bobbed up and down near the ceiling, and a spread of various treats - cupcakes, cookies, potato chips, and even a bowl of punch - was laid out on the table.

The strange man's eyes widened slowly.

"There we go, that should do it!" Pinkie dashed over to the table and helped herself to a cupcake, devouring it in seconds. "You should try the punch! It's my secret recipe," she offered, her cheeks smeared with blue frosting.

Before the man could reply, two more people burst through the door. In contrast to the general feel of the palace, these two wore very modern-looking military uniforms in a deep blue, and each one carried a very strange sword in one hand. If Pinkie didn't know better, she would have said they were made of ice! But that was silly, wasn't it? A sword made of ice would just melt! Then it wouldn't be very helpful anymore.

"Your Imperial Majesty!" one of them said. "We heard weapons fire! Are you well?"

Three pairs of eyes traced their way over to Pinkie. In an instant, the two guards rushed forward and pointed their ice swords at her. "Intruder!"

"What? Me, intruding? Pah! The only intruders I see here are you two!" Pinkie scoffed, but her scowl quickly traded itself for a friendly smile. "If you wanted an invitation, all you had to do was ask!"

The two glanced at one another for a moment and nodded before looking back at Pinkie. One of them marched his way around her and jabbed her in the back with the pommel of his sword.

"Hey!" she protested.

"We'll lock her up right away!" said the rude man with the sword. "She won't be - "

He stopped mid-sentence at the sight of the robed one's raised hand.

Everyone else in the room stood stock still as the strange man stepped forward, served himself a small cup of punch, and casually took a sip. Though the rest of his expression was inscrutable, his eyebrows raised. Before long, he'd drained the cup.

Pinkie grinned. He must have liked it! Maybe now they could be friends!

"Did you like it?" she asked. "Does this mean we're friends?"

The guards stepped back as the strange man approached Pinkie.

"I am Emperor Pyradon of Itantea," he declared. "I have never seen the like of such talents, and I would have them at my disposal. You will be made to swear allegiance to your Emperor, and promptly brought into shape as an imperial agent."

"Hey, that's kind of rude." Pinkie frowned, poking her large belly. "How dare you insinuate I'm not in shape? Round totally counts as a shape!"

Pyradon's eyes narrowed. "You will be competent, and you will be obedient."

Pinkie eyed him suspiciously in return. "And what if I refuse?"

"Then you will be tried as an enemy of the state and summarily executed," he said coldly.

Pinkie blinked. Not only did she not know her new friend well enough yet to tell if he was joking, she wasn't even sure if they were friends at all yet! For one thing, his intimidating presence reminded her a little too much of a certain Adagio Dazzle, a girl she had been all too happy to forget about. That, combined with the glaring and the staring and the swords pointed at her... If this was a joke, it wasn't very funny. As a matter of fact, she realized as her pink pony ears folded back in dismay, she was quite certain it wasn't a joke at all.

These weren't friends.

She was in danger, and her actual friends were nowhere to be found. She really didn't have a choice in the matter - if she refused, it may well be the last thing she ever did.

Pinkie giggled half-heartedly, twiddling her fingers. "Um, heheh, well... how could I say no to that...?"

10: Potpourri

"Hey... wake up. We're here."

A soft voice and a gentle nudge caused Sunset to stir.

Instinctively she began to stretch, only to be quickly reminded of the confines of the car as her hands reached the ceiling. In the few years she'd spent in the world on the other side of the mirror portal, she hadn't had occasion to take any long road trips like this, and so wasn't used to sleeping in the car. As a result, she found herself dimly surprised she had nodded off at all, let alone stayed that way for nearly the entire trip.

Groggy and stiff, the pillow that had been mushed between her face and the window got tossed over her shoulder into the back seat as she fumbled with the door handle for a second before pulling on it and stumbling out.

The daylight reflecting off a series of large buildings made Sunset squint. They looked surprisingly modern and industrial, composed primarily of corrugated metal and painted brick, the gaps between them bridged in places by wires higher up and pipes running along the ground. The small parking lot into which they had pulled was otherwise empty, tucked away in a nook between two of the buildings.

Freed from her prison, Sunset reached as high as her arms would go, her efforts rewarded when her back emitted a satisfying pop.

"You need a minute?" Tank pointed his thumb at a set of double doors on the nearby wall of the building. A sign next to it read Singularity Labs - Operations Center B. "Your friend should probably be in here somewhere with Penny and the doc."

Sunset shook her head. "Let's go."

The doors opened up into a hallway lined with what looked like offices and conference rooms, judging by the messy desks and long tables respectively. Tank poked his head into one of the former. "Hey, where's Doc Mobius?"

The woman inside looked up from some papers on her desk. "Oh, hello, Mr. Abrams! He should be in conference room A at the end of the hall. He's expecting you."

"Thanks!" He flashed her a smile before turning away.

Sunset tilted her head at him as they continued down the hallway. "So how do you know all these scientists, anyway?" she asked.

Tank patted the pommel of his sword over his shoulder. "After I found Lightbringer here, I wanted someone to analyze it for me and ended up bringing it to these guys. When they realized how unique it was, they decided they wanted to see the thing in action to collect more data, so they asked me to be their go-to freelancer whenever they need stuff done. Doesn't hurt that they were impressed with me for finding it in the first place," he added with a smirk.

While that sounded like a story she needed to hear at some point, an entirely different idea pushed the thought aside, an impish grin creeping its way onto her face. "So what you're saying is they were really pleased with your big sword, is that it?"

"I mean, I guess that's one way to - " Tank stopped mid-sentence as the realization struck him, narrowing his eyes at Sunset. "...really?"

Sunset stifled a snicker.

"...and the thaumic flow has ceased completely? You're sure?"

Voices carried into the hallway from the open door of conference room A. It was largely undecorated, featuring the same brick walls painted white, linoleum tile floors, and drop ceiling as the hallway. Sunset and Tank quietly stepped inside, noting three figures staring at a marker board as they did so. The better part of it was covered in complex-looking equations that Sunset doubted she could decipher on her own in a hundred years.

"Our instruments all confirmed it," said one of the three, idly twirling a marker in his hand. "And we're getting similar reports from the other sites."

"But what does it mean?" asked another, her purple wings twitching nervously.

"It means somebody ought to be looking behind her," said Tank.

In an instant, all three whirled around.

"Sunset!"

"Twilight!"

The two girls immediately dashed toward one another, colliding with a quiet 'oof' as they embraced.

Instead of her usual outfit, Twilight wore a slightly oversized white lab coat, a pair of holes cut hastily into the back for her wings. Her long purple hair was damp, suggesting she had showered recently, for which Sunset was slightly envious.

Twilight backed up only just far enough to look her friend in the eye. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine," Sunset insisted, offering a reassuring smile. "Just a little stiff from the long car ride is all."

"Splendid work, my boy!" Mobius clapped his hands together. "No troubles on the way, then?"

Tank shook his head. "There was a minor kerfuffle with a bandit when I first found her, but nothing beyond that."

Twilight's pupils shrank. "You got attacked?"

"Uh... kind of?" Sunset grimaced apologetically. "But we took care of him pretty quickly, so..."

"I can imagine you girls have a bit of catching up to do, so why don't we come back to this later?" Penny set her marker down on the table. "Have you two eaten? I can send for some food if you'd like."

Tank's eyes lit up. "Actually, food sounds like a great idea."

"Yes please!" Sunset agreed.

Sunset and Twilight sat across from one another, happily munching away at their first proper meal since their arrival. A platter of deli sandwiches, half empty, sat in the center of the conference room table. It was flanked by a bowl of fruit, pitchers of various drinks, and a large bag of potato chips, each one more depleted than the last.

"Oh, before I forget... Have a look at this, Sunset."

Twilight wiped her hands with a napkin and reached into her pocket, producing a familiar device.

"The magic sensor?" Sunset asked through a mouthful of sandwich, which she finished before continuing. "I'm surprised that thing made it through the portal in one piece."

"I am too, but I'm really glad it did." Twilight held it out to Sunset. "Do you see anything strange?"

Sunset peered at the interface for several seconds before replying. "No, it looks normal to me. The only thing it seems like it's picking up right now is Tank's sword."

Twilight blinked, glancing down the table at him for a moment. "I was wondering what that was. Do you know why it's reacting?"

Sunset looked up at Twilight. "Because it's a magic sword that glows and fires bolts of light on command," she deadpanned.

"Uh... okay." Twilight hesitated, fiddling with her glasses for a moment as she attempted to get her train of thought back on the rails. "Anyway, I had to recalibrate the sensitivity based on the density of this world's ambient magic. See what happens when I turn it back to the settings I was using when we were at school before." She fiddled with a couple of dials before showing the sensor to Sunset once again.

Sunset nearly choked on a mouthful of fruit punch. "What? It's reacting to everything! The whole display is lit up!"

"That's because this world is completely full of magic," Twilight explained. "It's literally everywhere - in the ground, in the people, in the air... and now it's in us, too. Energy always flows from high to low concentration, and it seems magic is no different."

Sunset leaned back in her seat, idly tapping the rim of her cup. "Is that why we're stuck ponied up like this? It doesn't usually happen on its own, or last nearly this long."

Twilight nodded. "That's my best guess. The people here are accustomed to it, but we're not, so our bodies are reacting to the sudden influx of magic by using our pony forms to burn some of it off." She glanced over her shoulder at her wings, flapping them gently to illustrate the point. "I don't know what would happen without them, but we seem to be fine so far."

"Well... we do, at least."

Sunset hadn't meant for that to sound quite so dark. She winced as she watched Twilight's gaze fall to the table and stay there. With a sigh, she stood up and moved to the seat beside Twilight, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. "Hey... we'll figure something out, I promise. We always do."

"I've... been trying not to think about it too much," said Twilight in a low voice, "but it's a stroke of luck that we're both here now, isn't it? The others could be anywhere - lost, hurt, scared and alone..." She shivered at the thought, leaning closer to Sunset.

The two suddenly grew quiet as something a little different began to fill the air, interrupting another conversation going on nearby.

"Fair enough, Doc, but I don't... think that... uh." Tank trailed off as he began looking all around the room. "Wait a sec. Where is that music coming from?"

RARITY:
I once thought that I knew what my fate had in store
Now the future is shrouded in haze
Though my life has been spared, am I now to be trapped
In this world for the rest of my days?

FLUTTERSHY:
Though the people are nice and the animals warm
Still I can't help but feel a little cold
Somewhere out there my friends might be lost and alone
Who knows what their tomorrows may hold?

RAINBOW DASH:
I don't care how much danger may come
I will fight for as long as it takes
This weird world better bring on its best
I won't lose when my friends are at stake!

APPLEJACK:
I'm sure scared, I'll admit, but I gotta be strong
Home has never been so far away
But my friends trust that I'll always be by their side
That I'll do all I can, come what may

PINKIE PIE:
Yeah, at first I thought maybe this place might be fun
But I sure got myself in trouble fast
There is sunshine in me keeping my head held high
But I don't know how long it'll last...

SUNSET SHIMMER and TWILIGHT SPARKLE:
This world seems ever vast and unknown
But no matter the fight, we won't fail
Friendship binds us in all that we do
When united as one, we'll prevail!

Sunset and Twilight went quiet once again, hands still clasped together.

Tank blinked. "...What the hell did I just witness?"

Penny tilted her head, the sandwich in her hands long forgotten. "I... haven't the foggiest idea."

Mobius adjusted his glasses. "Fascinating...!"

Sunset took a deep breath as she let go of Twilight and turned to their hosts.

"I'm going after them," she declared.

"...Uh." Tank quirked an eyebrow. "You're what now?"

"Five of our friends are still out there somewhere," she explained, crossing her arms. "They don't know any more about this world than we do, and if that bandit was any indication, there's every chance they're in danger. We're going to rescue them."

Penny set her sandwich down on her plate. "Sunset Shimmer, are you really sure you know what you're proposing? There are hundreds of portals all across Nexus; if what we understand so far is accurate, they could have emerged effectively anywhere."

"Such as the far reaches of the Frontier, hundreds of miles from civilization!" offered Mobius with just a little too much excitement. "Or the blistering Kasarosian desert, the frozen wastes of northern Itantea, or even the dense jungles of - ow!"

He stopped as Penny kicked him under the table and pointed at Twilight, whose face was gradually draining itself of color.

Sunset shook her head. "I don't care. Those girls were there for me at the lowest point in my life, and I don't know if I'd have made it out otherwise. They never gave up on me, and I'd be throwing away everything I've learned about friendship if I turned around and gave up on them."

Tank stood up. "You've got spirit, sure, but that's not going to be enough. You have no money, no clue where to go, and basically no combat experience as far as I can tell. If you try to go on some grand adventure to rescue these friends of yours, all you'll do is get yourself killed."

Sunset smirked. "Then it's a good thing I have an ally who can help me with all that, isn't it?"

Tank sighed, raising a hand to his forehead for a moment. "Look, hon. I sympathize, don't think I don't... but traveling the whole world looking for five people is going to take a very long time and a very large amount of money, and I don't have either of those things right now." With another sigh, he crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you."

Sunset's ears folded back as her confidence faltered. If Tank wouldn't help her, it wasn't terribly likely anyone else would, either. If she had to do this on her own, it could be years before she was ready to even set out looking for them...

"Oh, pish posh! Of course you can!"

Tank blinked. "Uh. Doc, what?"

Mobius stood up and pressed a button on a nearby radio. "Bring it in, please."

"Right, uh, right away sir," came the radio's slightly muffled reply.

"My boy," Mobius began as he turned back to Tank, "if the tale these girls tell us is true, we are at the forefront of a phenomenon bigger than any in recorded history, and I believe their presence will be required for us to get to the bottom of things! As such, Singularity Labs is prepared to offer you a most handsome commission for retrieving them safely."

Twilight raised a hand to her cheek. "Wait, but... weren't you just going on about how dangerous it'll be?"

"Oh, I make no illusions about that," said Mobius. "Scientific breakthrough is rarely without risk! A fellow scientist like yourself should be familiar with that, I would imagine."

Twilight bit her lip as the incident at the Friendship Games resurfaced in her mind. "More than you know..."

If Mobius noticed the melancholy in Twilight's voice, he gave no indication of it.

"So, uh." Tank put a hand on his hip. "Exactly how 'handsome' are we talking here?"

Mobius smiled as an attendant entered the room and placed a fabric bag on the table before backing up. "Have a look for yourself!"

Sunset leaned over the table for a better look as Tank opened the bag and peered inside.

He gulped. "Yeah, that... is a very large amount of money."

Sunset's eyes widened at the contents, a multitude of brilliant, finely cut gems in a variety of colors. Each one appeared to display a number when viewed at a certain angle. This was their currency, then? The largest denomination by far were the colorless ones she assumed to be diamonds, more numerous by far than any of the colored ones.

"Our offer is this," said Mobius. "There hundred thousand up front, plus another hundred thousand upon the safe return of each of the first four girls. The last will be another three hundred thousand."

"...Dude." Tank stared into the bag. "You're... literally offering me a million gems."

Penny crossed her arms. "Uncle, you had better be absolutely certain about this. I'm sure I don't need to remind you how tight our budget is this year."

"That won't be a concern for long once I start sending reports on all this to our members on the Council," said Mobius. "And, I might clarify, that offer is for both of you together," he added with a look at Sunset.

Sunset shook her head. "I don't care about the money. We can spend my half on whatever we need for the job."

Mobius grinned. "So what do you say, my boy? Think about it - your decision here today just might make history!"

Tank stared a moment longer at the bag of gems in front of him before turning to Sunset, her face hardened with determination.

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Sunset's shoulders slumped as she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Splendid!" Mobius beamed, his pure white eyes practically sparkling with excitement.

"So what happens now?" asked Twilight.

"We need to look for clues before we can begin the search in earnest," explained Penny. "It won't do to go wandering willy-nilly. Singularity is part of a network of laboratories I can call on for information; I plan to gather and catalogue as much local news from them as I can."

"The sudden appearance of brightly-colored teenage girls with wings and pony ears must have made a splash somewhere or other," said Tank.

Twilight perked up. "Oh, I'd be happy to help with that!"

Penny nodded. "I was hoping you would."

Tank turned to Sunset. "Meanwhile, I'm going to head into town and get you some gear with our down payment. You're going to learn how to fight."

Sunset nodded. She didn't relish the prospect by any stretch of the imagination, but she would stand by her decision - if her friends needed her, she would do everything in her power to save them.

"But we should start on all this tomorrow," said Penny. "You two have had a rather trying time of things, I'd imagine. Let me show you all to your rooms so you can get some rest."

Sunset rubbed her neck idly. "As much as I'd like to get started right away, that car trip wasn't exactly relaxing..."

Penny turned to Mobius. "You, meanwhile, have work of your own to do. Once she hears news of anomalous behavior from the portals, the prime minister is going to want an official statement from the lab, and it would be in our best interest to have something prepared ahead of time."

"Too right, you are," agreed the doctor. "No time to waste!"

With that, he scurried out the door and down the hall.

"That should keep him busy for a while," said Penny. "Now then, let me get you two set up over in the guest quarters. There should be plenty of rooms next to the one we gave Twilight..."

Sunset stared down at the plain white pajamas she had been issued, finding herself impressed that they were genuinely comfortable.

The term "research campus" she had heard bandied about earlier that day suddenly seemed rather apt; outfitted as its facilities were for daily living, Singularity felt very much like a well-stocked university, albeit with significantly fewer lecture halls. It made enough sense in hindsight; the place was a few miles out from the nearest actual town, having been built around a naturally occurring portal, so such amenities were far too useful not to have on-site.

Her gaze shifted to the night sky out the window. She hadn't noticed the sun setting; as far as she could tell, it had just gradually grown darker over time until the stars came out. She made a mental note to ask someone about that later, as pondering it on her own was making her shudder a bit. This wasn't just a different planet or anything like that (although that would have been plenty enough to give her pause); it was a completely different... dimension? universe? plane of reality? Whatever she wanted to call it, it operated under very different rules than she was used to.

Granted, she was less of a stranger to the concept than most. She had done it once already when she found a way to escape Equestria, but if anything, her foreknowledge only made things more frightening. The context could hardly have been more different; she had been working alone before, for one... and having done at the very least a modicum of research beforehand, not only did she have a fair idea of what to expect from the other world, but she had also maintained a degree of control over her movement to and from it. None of those things were true here.

If that scenario had been like stepping into a wind tunnel, this was more like getting swept up in a hurricane.

She shuddered again.

Contrary to her earlier complaint, she had ended up spending most of the afternoon looking around the facilities of Singularity Labs and answering curious questions from the scientists. While she and Twilight had been reassured that they were by no means being held against their will, they were strongly advised not to leave the facility proper. It was a recommendation Sunset had little trouble taking - where would she even go, and to what end? - but it meant that for the time being there was little else for her to do with her free time.

Unfortunately, though answering questions all day had left her plenty tired, she found herself unsure if she was actually ready to sleep. Instead, she quietly opened her door and poked her head out into the hallway.

The building was predictably quiet this late at night. Twilight was in the room adjacent to hers, and Tank had been given the one opposite, across the hall.

Would either of them even be awake?

Sunset crept quietly over to Tank's door and knocked. A few seconds later, it opened.

"Oh - Sunset?" Tank blinked. "I figured you'd be asleep by now. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, no, uh. Everything's fine," said Sunset, running a hand through her ludicrously long hair. "Just... not quite ready for bed yet, I guess."

Tank took a step back, opening the door further as he did. "Did you want to come in?"

It felt odd to be entering a guy's room late at night, but Sunset stepped inside nonetheless. As Tank closed the door behind her, she realized this was the first time she'd seen him outside of his armor, which was propped up against the wall next to the desk. Instead, he was wearing just a green t-shirt and shorts, which had a side effect of making the scarring on his cheek much more prominent. Sunset had made a point of not bringing it up in case it turned out to be a sensitive subject, but now she could see that it stretched much further than she expected - not only down his neck but over the collarbone, leading out of sight beneath his shirt. What could have left a scar that big?

She shook her head. It really wasn't important right now.

Tank took a seat on the bed and motioned for Sunset to take the chair at the desk. "Nervous?"

Sunset held up her hair with one arm for a moment as she took her seat. "At the risk of implying I haven't been ever since I woke up in a crater on an alien world? Yeah, I am."

Tank chuckled. "Fair enough. I guess I'd probably be more worried if you weren't."

Sunset tilted her head. "Have you ever done anything like this before?"

"You mean, taking on a rescue mission? Sure, a few times." Tank leaned back, propping himself up with his arms. "But nothing on a scale anywhere close to this. Doc wasn't kidding when he said your friends could have ended up in some really scary places."

Sunset busied herself with plucking a couple of bright red hairs off her pajama pants instead of replying.

"...Let me level with you for a minute, Sunset." Tank sat up. "Nexus is a large and dangerous world, and it's likely going to take us a long time to find all your friends. There is every chance that we won't be able to bring them all back alive, and you need to be prepared for it if we find out we were too late."

A chill ran through Sunset's body, causing her to shiver. Like Twilight, she had been doing her best to keep her thoughts away from the heavier implications of their situation, but she knew she was going to have to address it eventually. She had faith in them, of course she did... but anytime they had been in danger in the past, they had gotten through it by working together and relying on one another.

Separated as they were... she was a lot less confident.

"I know," she said finally, her fists pressed firmly into her thighs as she spoke. "But I'm not giving up on them, no matter what. I owe them that much."

"There's that spirit again." Tank smirked. "Still not good enough all by itself... but it just might pull you out of a dark spot someday. Never let go of it."

Sunset nodded, but said nothing else. A moment of quiet passed between them.

"Well, thanks for that, I guess. Sorry if I disturbed you or anything," Sunset said finally as she stood up. "I'm gonna go see how Twilight is doing."

Tank rose to his feet as well. "No, no, you're fine. Just remember to get some sleep, alright?"

"Of course." Sunset made for the door, but stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot. Tank?"

"What's up?"

Sunset turned to him and smiled. "Thanks for your help."

Tank shrugged slightly, smirking again. "Hey, don't give me too much credit. You saw how much we're getting paid for this, right?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "I meant in general, but sure, that too."

Tank seemed to hesitate for a moment. Taking a step forward, he held out his hand, his smile more genuine than usual. Sunset looked down at it for a moment and smirked as she too stepped forward, gently wrapping her arms around him. Caught off guard, he tensed for a moment, but his smile soon resurfaced as he returned the hug.

The two waved to each other as Sunset closed the door behind her on her way out.

She soon found herself staring at Twilight's door. A part of her felt a little guilty for hoping her friend was still awake when she should really be getting some sleep, but she knocked nonetheless. A few seconds later, a pair of purple eyes peeked out at her from behind the door.

"Sunset? What are you doing up?" asked Twilight.

Sunset crossed her arms. "I could ask you the same thing."

Twilight pulled the door the rest of the way open. As Sunset stepped inside, she glanced over the desk in the corner, which featured a pair of open textbooks and some scrap paper covered in notes.

Sunset blinked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. "Wait, you... didn't somehow bring your homework with you, did you?"

"No, of course not!" Twilight shook her head. "I'm working on translating my formulas for the scientists here so they can adapt the principles behind my magic sensor to their technology. They think it might help us figure out what happened with the portal."

"And did they tell you they needed this by tomorrow morning?"

Twilight's ears drooped. "Well... not exactly..."

Sunset climbed onto Twilight's bed and sat with her back against the wall. "Then I doubt they meant for you to lose sleep over it."

"But this is really important," insisted Twilight, her wings fluttering as she spoke. "They came to me for help even though I barely understand what's going on, and I don't want them to think I'm not taking it seriously."

"My statement still stands, though," said Sunset. "You won't be much help to them if you're dead on your feet tomorrow, now will you?"

Twilight bit her lip and looked over at the books on her desk, a thought suddenly surfacing in her mind. "Hey, I could say the same to you. Aren't you supposed to start training tomorrow?"

Sunset rubbed the back of her head. "Well, yeah, but..."

Twilight smiled softly. "You're nervous."

Sunset huffed. "Of course I am. Who wouldn't be?"

"That's my point." Twilight climbed onto the bed and took a seat next to Sunset, a yawn escaping before she could continue. "Well, that and... you're not alone."

Sunset sighed, her gaze drifting to the ceiling. Sure, she was nervous about the prospect of having to fight without all her friends by her side (and using a real weapon to boot), but the more she thought about it, a part of her relished the thought of finally being able to do something about the situation. The prospect of going from being largely helpless to having at least some control over her situation was reassuring.

She gasped as something heavy fell onto her shoulder. Warmth filled Sunset's cheeks as she realized it was Twilight; without a problem in front of her to solve, the day had finally caught up with the poor girl, already out like a light.

Immediately, Sunset began pondering how to sneak away without disturbing her friend, but she was interrupted by a yawn of her own. To be fair, she decided... if Twilight wasn't bothered, how much did it really matter?

In moments, her head rested atop Twilight's, the both of them sound asleep.

Author's Note

You have rescued a crew member! :twilightsmile: Five remain.

The song in this chapter is set to this track, so feel free to open it in a tab and follow along! (Note: the third and sixth parts, Rainbow and Sunset+Twilight respectively, follow the alternate melody instead of the main one, and those bells are sorta quiet...)

Declassified Intel: [File 01], a rough map of Nexus marked with the approximate landing points of each of the seven girls.

Once this goes live, I'll be taking a break from this story for a while to get back to my other fic, Domain of Friendship. I'll do my best to keep appraised those to whom it may concern so you'll know which one I'm working on at any given time. As always, feel free to give me a poke either here or on Tumblr if you feel like a chat. Catch you on the flip side!