Spike led Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie into the main hall of the castle, where Twilight had a certain mirror set up and modified. As they were approaching, Twilight put a counter into the device set to .00000; then moved it higher to test that it worked.

“What are we here for?” asked Rainbow, “I could be napping now.”

“This!” Twilight excitedly pointed at the mirror as if it explained everything. When the rest just looked at her confused, she continued, “It should allow us to see what we are doing in alternate universes! Who wants to go first?”

“I can see MYSELF being AWESOME? How could I possibly say ‘no!’” Rainbow replied with enthusiasm.

“I’ll need a hair,” Twilight said, pulling one from Rainbow’s mane. After Twilight put it into the contraption, she turned it on and moved the counter .00077.

The mirror showed a gravestone apparently belonging to Rainbow’s mother. “It says she died before I was born? How is this possible!” Rainbow complained. Twilight just moved the counter up to .00177. It showed Rainbow flying overhead.

“Oh! I love cupcakes!” Pinkie randomly shouted then zoomed out of the room.

“Pinkie dear, come back!” Rarity attempted to scold the hyperactive pink pony.

“Okay. Let’s see another,” Twilight said before moved the counter up to .00200. It now showed Rainbow trying to convince a door knob to marry her. “Alright, then. Another,” Twilight said confused about what they saw going on. Moving the counter up a bit rewarded them with a depiction of Rainbow trying to get a clock to go with her on a date.

Nearly half an hour later they get the mirror to show Rainbow hitting on a sink. At this point Rainbow is curled up and whimpering. “Know what, back to .00177 it is,” Twilight said moving the counter down. Now the mirror showed three cupcakes on a counter, no sign of Rainbow.

“That’s it. I’ll see what is wrong with this thing,” Twilight said, concerned that it does not seem to be working.

“I reckon this was a bad idea, Twi,” Applejack said before she followed the rest out of the castle.

=== ===

The crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire awake from cryo sleep, and start bringing the ship up to alert status. Captain James Cutter heads down to the lab while all that is happening to talk to Professor Ellen Anders. “Where are we, Anders?” Cutter inquires.

“Unknown, sir. The astro navigation system can’t pinpoint a location. We’re not on the map anymore,” Anders replied checking the astro navigation system.

Cutter walks to another console and pulls up the sensor logs. “Sensors show arrived via slipspace less than an hour ago,” Cutter informed Anders.

“Our slipspace drive is gone; however, we got here, it wasn’t use who initiated the trip,” she reasoned.

“Captain, scans have picked up life forms on the surface,” a crewman said over the intercom.

“Any chance they are Covenant, Lieutenant?” Cutter asked hoping they were not Covenant.

“Not likely. No ships, or major power sources detected,” the crewman replied.

“Red Team, you’re going down to the surface. Anders, get landing coordinates,” Cutter ordered before leaving the lab.

=== ===

The Pelican dropship carrying Red Team and their Warthog touched down in a clearing within a forest not far from a small village.

“We will scout out that village we saw on the way down,” Jerome-092 ordered after the team got off the dropship, “Mount up, Red Team.”

The Spartans boarded their Warthog and speed towards the village while the Pelican returned to the ship.

=== ===

Rainbow Dash and her friends minus Twilight and Pinkie had decided to stop in the town market. As Rainbow was still upset about what had happened earlier, her friends thought it would cheer her up a bit. Making their way through the market Rainbow spotted a dust cloud on the horizon, and it was getting closer.

“Stampede!” Rainbow yelled, and ponies started shutting themselves inside whatever nearest building they could enter, except Fluttershy who was nowhere to be seen.

=== ===

The Warthog swiftly approached the bridge into the town itself, then flashed by Fluttershy’s hiding spot. As it got near townhall, it came to a sudden stop before being obscured by the dust it had been kicking up. Fluttershy started slowly sneaking back towards her cottage on other side of the village.

“Looks like a ghost town, sir,” Jerome reported to Cutter. “Saw no sign of any life here since we landed.”

“We all could use some shore leave after being on ice for 27 years. Anders, want to go down there?” Cutter’s voice replied from the Warthog’s commlink.

“Yes, Captain, I would love to get a look down there,” Anders replied.

“I think Kinsano will be joining us down,” Cutter’s voice replied. “Pelican Echo-418, you’re our ride, be ready.”

=== ===

The second Pelican to the surface touched down in front of Sugarcube Corner, and the three passengers disembarked. Of course, the ponies hiding inside knew nothing of what these bipedal creatures were let alone what the machines were or where they came from. Fluttershy was backing into a dead-end alley to avoid being seen, fruitlessly.

“Captain, their like big cats!” Anders excitedly called to Cutter after picking Fluttershy up. “Big, ridiculously cute cats.”

“Anders, put the creature down,” Cutter said noticing Fluttershy looking very frightened. “You’re scaring it.” Cutter turned towards Kinsano, “Too much pink,” he said pointing a thumb at Sugarcube Corner, “even for me.”

“Anders, put it down, now. There’s more inside that structure,” Kinsano said gesturing towards think building Cutter pointed to earlier, “I see more faces like the one on the one you’re holding. I’d hate to need my flamethrower.”

“Is it just me, or does the one you’re holding have wings, Anders?” Cutter asked after deciding the wings were too obvious to not ask about.

“Apparently so,” Anders replied after looking at Fluttershy’s wings.

“Pegasus. I would not be surprised to see unicorns here, somewhere,” Kinsano said, answering the question no one wanted to bring up.

Author's Note

For those unaware, Kinsano may or may not be canon; she appears as a DLC leader in Halo Wars 2.