“Are you all prepared for what is about to happen?” a stern yet motherly voice questioned. It was easy to tell that the source of the voice was nervous, which was a trait Twilight rarely ever saw in her mentor. Princess Celestia, co-ruler of the most prosperous kingdom on Equis, deity of the sun, and a pony unrivaled in raw magical power. Suffice to say, Twilight could never really remember a time when her mentor wasn’t confident. Granted, giving the current circumstances she could understand why.
“We are ready sister, and I do believe young Twilight and Cadence are too,” Luna replied, though sharing her sister’s nervous tone. It wasn’t every day that the entire fate of not only Equestria, but of Equis itself rested upon the decision of others not from their world.
“Alright everypony. We will open the rift on my signal. Do you all remember how to do so?” Celestia asked. The alabaster alicorn was met with three nods before reciprocating one herself.
“Good. And please try to keep the portal open for as long as possible. The more humans we have, the better the chances,” Celestia finished. Each alicorn soon stood at their designated place within a large summoning circle carved into the stone floor of the castle. In the middle of the circle lay the catalyst of the whole spell. A large gemstone, mucky-yellow in nature, rested in the exact center of the four alicorns. It was an extremely rare gemstone, especially regarding how large the size of it was that also set the princess back more money than she would care to admit. It took the princess over four hundred years to find the one that was currently raising into the air between the four alicorns.
“Mother of Creation, please give us strength,” Celestia whispered to herself, before lighting her horn with a powerful flow of magic. The other three alicorns followed suit, closing their eyes and pulling from the depths of their magic reserves to cast the spell. The pressure within the room soon gained as the four princesses focused on the task at hand, their bodies arcing with stray bands of magic. It was then that four simultaneous rays of magic collided in the middle of the circle, impacting the gemstone with a staggering force to impress even the most resilient of dragons, before expanding outwards and forming a circular rift as dark as the night sky.
The air in the throne room crackled and sparked from the amount of magic pulling to hold the portal open. The fruits of their hard labor soon payed off though, as a pair of humans were the first to arrive through the portal, followed by even more. One by one, more humans started to arrive, looks of confusion and bewilderment etched upon their faces. However, only after about half a minute, the first alicorn was beginning to falter.
“Come on Cadence, you can do this!” the pink alicorn grunted to herself. She knew that out of the four of them she was the weakest when it came to magic, even though twilight was the youngest alicorn of the group. Digging deeper than she thought possible, Cadence focused all of her might into keeping the portal open just a few seconds longer, before collapsing into a sweaty heap on the floor. In an instant, the portal flickered before abruptly closing with no trace of the gemstone ever having existed. Gasps of breath soon filled the spacious floor area of the throne room, with all four alicorns panting heavily from the exertion the spell took on their bodies. Scanning the room with her open eyes, Celestia noticed just how many humans they had managed to pull from the other world.
“Seventeen,” the princess thought. It wasn’t exactly the yield she was looking for, though it was much better than what she could ask for. If it had been just her, the princess would have managed four, maybe five humans in total if she could even get the portal open in the first place. Regardless though, the princess was pleased to know that their efforts were at least in the double digits. Now though, came the hard part for the princesses. Rising to her feet with a wobble, Princess Celestia looked over her new guests. All of the humans grew silent as the white alicorn began her speech.
“Greetings our most esteemed guests. My name is Princess Celestia, co-ruler of the kingdom of Equestria,” Celestia stated with a slight bow of her head. “I am sure that many of you are confused, perhaps fearful of the environment you now find yourselves in. I wish to quell those fears and to say that you are in no danger.” The eyes of the alabaster alicorn scanned her guests, gauging their feelings by the expressions they wore on their face. Noticing an overwhelming sense of fear, the princess let out a disappointed sigh.
“Please everyone, you have nothing to fear. The truth of the matter is, we need your help,” Celestia added, hoping to spark some sort of helpful reaction in the humans. She had read and experienced that it is much easier to get somepony to cooperate with you if you ask them for help instead of relaying everything you need them to do at first.
“And what sort of help do you require?” A voice from the back of the humans questioned. The tone held no factor of fear, more so curiosity. Celestia quickly grew a small smile, sensing that her plan was working.
“We, as in every creature that resides on this planet, needs your help. As you may have noticed, we are not on your planet anymore or even in your home dimension. Now I know that this may frighten some of you, but please do not be alarmed. As I have said you are in no danger here and can return home with no recollection of any of this if you so choose. All that I ask is for you to hear our plight. If you choose to leave afterwards, then all you have to do is ask and it will be done. You will be returned home safely to Earth to live out the rest of your lives.” By this time, Luna had joined next to her sister with a warm and sincere smile on her muzzle, hoping to dissuade any further fear the humans may have felt.
“Allow us, I mean me to introduce myself. My name is Princess Luna, also co-ruler of Equestria. We are in dire need of your assistance,” the mare stated before gathering herself for the explanation ahead. “Imagine, if you will, that your dimension is actually tethered to many different dimensions surrounding it, sort of like a bubble held in place next to one another with tunnels. These tunnels are very strong, yet sometimes they can be damaged, or even severed. Luckily for us, the tunnel connecting our two dimensions was damaged, not severed. This means that it can be fixed, though it will take some time.” The princess watched as the humans looked at one another, trying to understand what the blue alicorn had told them.
“And how long would it take to fix this damaged tunnel?” the same voice from earlier questioned. It was now that both Celestia and Luna could make out the features of the human. He was young, barely in his twenties. He sported a short-black mane and a beautiful shade of hazel eyes, which held nothing but curiosity within them. He was slightly shorter than most of the male humans present, only coming up to about Luna’s chin. His attire was casual at best, sporting a pair of jeans and silly shirt with the letters ‘GENIUS’ spelled out with periodic elements. The blue mare pondered that he would most likely get along with Twilight, if she could convince him to stay.
“It depends on the amount of humans that remain here. If all of you were to stay here, it would take a little over six months to repair the bridge. The more of you that left, the longer it would take. If only a few of you were to stay, it could take close to three or four years.” The human in front nodded his head in understanding, certainly interested in what she was telling him.
“I see. And what would happen if the bridge wasn’t repaired?” The question turned the smile on both the sister’s faces into a frown.
“We would most likely cease to exist after the bridge was severed between our two dimensions,” Celestia responded. The air among the humans soon grew cold as some of them began to realize the situation of the beings that summoned them.
“That is why we have called upon your aid. By merely having your presence here in our dimension, the tunnel will slowly begin to repair itself until it is whole again. However, there is also a problem that arises after that point.” The statement caught the attention of many humans, including the human in front. With a sigh Luna relayed the final part of the task to ensure the survival of their existence.
“Once the bridge is completely repaired an anchor will be needed on this side to ensure that the bridge doesn’t break again, which would require one of you humans to live the rest of your life here in our dimension.” This new revelation sent another long chill and silence through the air of throne room. Asking to give up their entire life alone would convince most humans on the spot of what to do. And as much as the royal sisters wished they could keep that information to themselves, they knew it was not their place to do so.
“Of course, any who stay will be adequately compensated for their sacrifice!” Luna all but blurted out, hoping to sway some of the more unconvinced humans to their side. The tactic was for ill though, as any monetary compensation wasn’t worth the price of starting over in the human’s eyes.
“I am sorry, but I don’t even know if all of this a dream or not. All I know is that I have a family I have to take care of back home,” a middle-aged woman voiced. With a downtrodden look, Luna nodded her head before magic illuminated from her horn.
“Very well. We assure you this isn’t a dream, but your will is your own. We will open a portal for you to return to your world. We pray that you all will at least consider staying here, if only briefly. We can return you home at any time you please.” With those words, Luna cast her spell, opening another dark rift. The image of Earth was displayed against the black backdrop of space and stars. Hesitantly, the woman approached the portal before running a hand along the magical presence. It rippled in small waves as the woman ran her hands along it, before nodding to herself and stepping through the portal. She was soon followed by several more humans, as one by one the group of humans standing in the middle of the room dwindled down to six.
“Are there any more of you that wish to leave? Or are the rest of you going to stay?” the hesitant voice of Luna questioned. The six individuals looked around towards one another, a few giving shrugs and nods.
“You said we can leave whenever we want too right? How exactly does that work?” the young male from before asked.
“All you have to do is ask either Luna or myself and we can open a portal for you,” Celestia responded.
“I see. Well, honestly I can’t tell if this a dream or not. It seems so real, but also very hard to believe. If what you are saying is true, I can give myself some time to adjust before making my decision,” the human reasoned with himself. “Though for now, I wouldn’t mind something to eat. I’m not really a breakfast person and skipped lunch today,” the human added with a sheepish grin. Wasting no time, Luna called over one of her most loyal guards before giving her specific instructions on what to do.
“Very well. We will see that your need for substance is fulfilled. Windbreaker here will be your guide. Ask her and she will take you anywhere you want to go, within reason of course,” Luna added. She knew that humans were incapable of magic, or at the most, able to perform only elementary level spells. Still, she didn’t need any human becoming a dark sorcerer because they found an old book in the restricted section of the Canterlot Archives. It wasn’t with a human but it had happened before. The crazy unicorn became a tyrant and enslaved his own ponies. The thought alone shook the princess to her core.
“As for the rest of you, do not fret. You will all be accommodated here in the castle and your needs attended too. You will be treated with the utmost respect like any foreign dignitary would. If you would just follow miss Lemon Scent here, she will be more than happy to get you all settled in. Dinner will be served in a couple of hours and a guard will come to retrieve you. Again, we wish to express our most sincere thanks from the bottom or our hearts. We know that some of you may not stay, but thank you for at least giving us a chance.” And with those final words, the rest of the humans were ushered off towards their new guest rooms. As soon as the last human exited the room, both princesses collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion.
“D-Do you think any of them will stay sister? I mean, you saw how many left already without considering our plight.”
“If I am being completely honest with you Luna, I am glad we got as many as we did to stay, at least for now. I have a feeling a few of them will not make it by the week’s end. Though I pray that they do.” Luna nuzzled under her sister’s chin lovingly before pulling the mare into a hug.
“Sister, is it alright to be… scared?” Luna softed questioned. Celestia stroked her sister’s mane lovingly with a hand, thinking about how to properly respond.
“Luna, I have never been more scared or unsure in my entire life. The fate of Equestria lies in the palms of a species that does not call it home. I am hoping for the best outcome possible, but I am preparing for the worst sister. We must announce to the world what we know. I just hope it doesn’t descend into chaos when we do so.”
Author's Note
Hope you all liked this chapter. Not sure if I am going to continue, though I think this is a bit of a different take than most HIE stories, so I felt compelled to write it. As always feel free to leave a comment, because you know, I love comments!