My Little World

Chapters

1: Present and Past
2: It Came from Below
3: Professors
4: Nature of Reality Over Pancakes
5: Ponyville and the Creator
6: Departure
7: Heart to Heart with Luna
8: In the Cottage Time Forgot
9: How Equestria was Unmade
10: Stowaways
11: The Storyteller
12: The Canterlot Incident
13: How About a Deal?
14: Loophole
15: New Deal
16: Birth of Imagination
17: In the Beginning…
18: Key of Imagination

1: Present and Past

California. July 2019.

Lauren’s mind was being drawn a blank at the screen in front of her. Fingers lightly tapped on the keyboard but nothing was being added onto the white void of what would become a script for her latest show. Leaning back to stretch, her little office space was filled with frames of sketches, posters, some books, and an Emmy sitting on a shelf. Mementos of her career over the years. From the sketch of Sawyer she did for the film “Cats Don’t Dance”; to the poster of “The Iron Giant”; the plushies of the Powerpuff Girls; a sketch of the mane six from “My Little Pony”; a picture of her husband Craig when they were working on “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends;” and a bookshelf that had the original ideas for “Super Best Friends Forever,” which was next to the “Wander Over Yonder” binders. On her desk where her laptop were the notes for the “DC Super Hero Girls” being laid out.

Although she had some ideas in her mind she knew about the characters of her latest project, she stared at the blank space of her digital document as if waiting for inspiration to come and whack her over the head of something original to explore. There has to be something she could do with the notes of the previous meeting she had with the writing staff. Granted, there were some good ideas, but how exactly to begin this particular episode?

Her concentration was shattered when the door opened and the call of “Mom!” was heard. Snapping her attention away, a small girl with dark curly hair and blue eyes came stumbling in with lion plushie.

“What time is it?” She looked over at what her laptop said, “Woah, past nine already? Come here, Alice.” Lauren picked her up. “I’m so sorry, I completely lost track of time. Here, let’s get you over to bed.”

“Dad?” Alice asked. Being at the age of three, she wasn’t old enough to use complicated sentences, so she would use what words she learned to speak what was on her mind. “Where… where dad?”

“I told you,” she said as she walked out of her office and down the hall towards the nursery. “Daddy is gone tonight, but she should be back home to play with you.”

“Play? Mom play?”

“I can’t, you’re supposed to be in bed.” Lauren carried her through the door. Inside the nursery was a mess of toys, empty bottles, spare diapers, a small TV screen that displayed the DVD menu of a cartoon show, and a small bed with a tiny bookshelf filled to the brim of children’s books.

Her daughter looked at her disappointed. “Not sleepy.” She protested as she was placed on the bed.

“You need to sleep, sweetie.” The mother said, kneeling down in the corner of the bed and the bookshelf. “If you don’t, you’ll be all cranky and mean. Let me at least read you something to help you go to sleep.”

“I want play!”

“Of course you do,” she wrapped an arm around her, kissing her forehead. “But it’s already nighttime. Nighttime is meant for sleeping. Daytime is what playing is for.”

“Make it daytime,” Alice told her mother, pointing at the window.

Her mother laughed. “Sorry, I can’t do that. But I’ll tell you what I can do. How about we read your favorite story?” Lauren reached her free hand over to the bookshelf and pulled out a thin, blue book with a tall cat in a striped red and white hat.

Alice thought about this for a moment. “New story. Mom new story.”

Lauren blinked. “Hon, I can’t get you a new story now.”

“Mom make story.” Her daughter insisted. “Like in Moms’s room.”

“Ohh… sweetie, I don’t know. Mommy is… well… doesn’t know what to tell. She’s been trying to think of a new story for hours now.” Alice looked at her miserable. “But… let’s pretend that I did. What would you like to hear?”

“Oh! Oh!” she hopped off the bed, rushing over to one of the toys off the floor to pick it picking up. A purple alicorn with large eyes and a friendly smile. “Pony!”

“Really?” Her daughter handed over the doll as she climbed up on the bed. “You want me to make up a story about Twilight Sparkle? Had daddy been showing you that show already?”

“Pony!”

Sitting down, her back against the bookshelf, she looked into the eyes of a toy thinking. “It’s… been a while since I made a story with this one. But… give mommy a moment, let’s see what I can come up with…” Alice hopped underneath he covers, anticipating for her mother to tell her a brand-new story. “Let’s see… Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was once a pony called Twilight Sparkle…”

She went on, making up a story until her daughter was lulled to sleep. She told her of a story of her creation going on a quest with her friend across the sea; of encountering pirates and Sea Ponies; of forgotten islands and buried treasure. It took a long time, but before she could finish her story did Lauren notice that Alice had fallen asleep. Kissing her forehead, she said softly as she turned off the light. “…. And they lived happily ever after.”

She returned to her office, sitting back down on her chair and waking up her computer to figure out how to begin that episode with a deadline. As much as she studied the notes and trying to piece together in her head what Wonder Woman is going to be doing, she can’t get the story she told her daughter out of her mind. Once she figured out what her Twilight was going to be doing, telling the rest of her bedtime story felt liberating. It came out so fluently as if she knew that story all her life. If only she could do the same with this computer.

A ring interrupted her concentration, picking up her cell phone from the desk, she turned it over to find the words “Denny Lu” lighting up the screen. She knew perfectly who it was – one of the current directors of Friendship is Magic. With a swipe of a button, she put it on speaker.

“Hey Denny.”

“Hi Lauren,” the voice from the other end greeted her in a cheery tone, “How are ya this evening?”

“Besides coming down with the case of writer’s block, nothing much.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that.”

“I’ve been trying to piece together something for Wonder Woman for the show but… nothing is really jumping out at me. I mean there’s still a couple of good ideas on my desk, but I can’t really figure out what exactly to use. But enough about me, what’s up?”

“Well I’m calling in to let you know that we’re wrapping up the editing of some of the final episodes. The animators have been working around the clock and the voice actors are relieved that they got everything done. Of course, it’s gonna take a while to be sure that everything’s polished before these hit the air, but overall, we’re just excited to see the show go out with a bang.”

A sigh escaped Lauren’s lips.

“Is something wrong?”

“No… Not really.” She leaned back. “It’s just… I’m having some mixed feelings is all.”

“Yeah, I think I know what you mean.” Denny agreed. “As much as we’re looking forward to having this be done and moving on to other projects… I won’t be lying that some of us aren’t ready to let this go yet.”

“Considering that the show has been gone for nine seasons – going longer than I had thought it would – it’s amazing that it lasted this long and get the following that it did.”

“Oh sure. I guess everyone has mixed feelings with this being the final season and all. But at the end of the day, the Bronies are starting to get a little tired of it. I mean, I don’t blame them – most of them would rather end as something that’s still liked than to go on forever to become something that’s hated. Terra could easily testify to that.”

“Well, it’s not just that,” Lauren said, stretching out her arms. “I mean… don’t get me wrong, you guys have done an amazing job since I left production. You guys don’t get enough credit for evolving what I originally had and giving lessons to stories that I wished I came up with.”

“I sense a ‘but’ in that statement.”

She sighed again, “However, I still feel like that I wish I could have added something to all of this. I mean, there’s nothing I can do on my end since you guys have got everything done. But still, as a creator of the show, I would have loved to do some things that years ago I wouldn’t have been able to do. Just putting my personal touch here and there, you know? Maybe an episode or two per season. It’s just frustrating that all I am is a consultant on the show in which I have very little control over what happens.”

“But we’ve been trying to fill out what you wanted for your characters, Lauren. It’s not that we haven’t been respectful to your wishes. Rarity has opened her shops in Canterlot and Manehattan, Rainbow joins the Wonderbolts, Twilight is about to take up the role of what Celestia and Luna had. I could go on, but we have been trying to do what you have in mind.”

“And I still thank you guys for doing so. What I’m talking about here is that… I don’t know… I wish I could have at least added an episode to every season, where I could have made it go in the way I had in mind. Still… What’s done is done. I’m not allowed to add anything, not even draw up a simple comic book.”

“Well… look on the bright side. Once the show is over, maybe anything goes at that point. There’s still a fandom that’s buying the merchandise, the toys, and the episodes-”

“That’s another thing that’s worrying me.”

“What’s that?”

“Denny, I’m not completely unaware, but I’ve heard that the Brony fandom is weighing at the moment. You can be optimistic all you like, but the thing is that once the final episode airs, would there be a fandom left? I’m not just talking about the short term of a couple of months or a few years, but further than that. Would there still be Bronies that would still watch the show long after it finished? Would they still be talking about it like they do with Disney or Warner Brother cartoons? It’s not that I didn’t try to make it so that people would remember it years later, but now that it’s officially ending, would it withstand the test of time as other shows have?”

There was a pause from the other end of the call. Finally, Denny replied, “I can’t say that I know. But we have been trying to give what we got. The show has lasted this long, so who’s to say that it won’t last with people out there? There’s still a good amount of content the fans have been putting on the internet so… at least one can still hope.”

“Yeah… I guess you have a point.” She said, nodding. “I just hope that all that hard work wouldn’t be forgotten so easily.”

“I guess we’ll have to see. But for now, at least on our end, we still have a show to complete and deadlines to reach. I’ll try to keep in touch.”

“Thanks, Denny.” After the two of them shared their goodbyes, she hung up.

At first, Lauren wasn’t sure what she was hearing when she was being stirred awake. There were voices. One was familiar – her daughter laughing. And one not so familiar. The latter of which alerted her immediately to get up from her bed. Panic quickly rushed in as she ran to the closet to pull out a baseball bat.

Someone is with her daughter.

Running to her daughter’s door, she paused for a moment when she heard above Alice’s laughter, the sound of someone young; like a young teenager; in pain.

“Ow-Ow-Ow-Ow! Get off! Let go of me! Don’t pull on- OUCH! Stop it!”

She didn’t have time to think about why that other person was in pain, all she cares about is that someone had broken into her house and is with her daughter right now.

Holding the bat like a samurai sword, she turned the knob, flip on the light and yell. “GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER YOU…” Whatever threat she was about to say suddenly died on her tongue.

It wasn’t so much as who was with her daughter.

Rather, what was with her.

It was someone… she knew.

The very sight of which made her drop the baseball bat.

In her daughter’s room, where Alice was piggyback riding, was a stunned; obviously cartoony griffon. Mostly blue, yellow talons on its front legs and its flank, hind legs and paws of a lion. The creature looked up at her wide-eyed in fear and surprise. Its wings were spread wide.

Alice pulled on one of its wings.

“Ow!” the griffon cried out loudly. “Don’t touch that!”

“Alice come here!” Lauren immediately snatched her off the griffon and it immediately backed away in a corner.

“I didn’t know anyone was here!” The griffon cried out, “I swear, I didn’t know anycreature lived down here! If you let me leave right now I promise you won’t see me-”

“Gallus?”

The griffon named Gallus blinked. Several times in fact, as like the mother, was trying to process. “H-How did you know my name?” Lauren didn’t respond while her daughter wiggled in her arms.

‘Hold on… Am I dreaming again?’ the mother thought. ‘Am I having that dream where a pony came out from underneath the-’

“How did you know my name?” Gallus demanded.

“U-Um…” She looked between him and his daughter. “Well, you’re… blue… and a griffon. There are not many blue griffons around here so… you must be Gallus.”

The griffon raised an eyebrow. “And what are you supposed to be anyway? You’re not an ape, not a monkey, not a kirin no doubt, but… what are you?”

“A person.”

“Uh-huh…” He walked forward towards the center of the room, spinning around as he did so. “Again, sorry, I didn’t know there was anyone down here.”

“Come again?”

“The school,” he explained, “there’s a system of tunnels with crystal roots underneath it. We didn’t know if they lead anywhere but… I didn’t expect that they would lead to a… nursery? Bedroom? This place. And it’s nighttime apparently… that’s also really weird. Um…” He turned back to Lauren. “Well, this was nice, but I think I should really get back to the others before they think I’m missing or something. Bye.” Like that, he dove right under the bed.

Alice wiggled so much in her mother’s arms that she was able to get out of them, along with chasing the griffon underneath the bed.

“Alice!” Lauren quickly dropped to the floor, reaching out for her daughter, but when she tried to reach underneath the bed, she felt nothing. “Sweetie! Where are you!?” Frantically she tried to feel her out, her hand touching the walls, but as she got to the head of the bed; she felt nothing. Running back into her room to fetch her phone to turn on its flashlight, she illuminated what was underneath it.

There was a hole.

“I don’t care if this is a dream or not.” She said as she moved the bed out of the way to where she could see the hole. It was small; barely wide and tall enough for her to fit in. “I’m not going to lose my baby.”

So, grabbing the bat and holding it in the same hand as her flashlight, she also went into her office to get out a large spool of twine in which she used it to tie her ankle to the foot of a bedpost.

“Don’t worry Alice,” she called out as she crawled into the hole, “Mommy’s coming!”

2: It Came from Below

The crawlspace was barely big enough for Lauren. On her hands and knees with her phone in one hand and a baseball bat in the other with a thread of twine; she uncomfortably moved forward. Although something in the back of her mind told her that something about this was oddly familiar, she didn’t want to stop for anything. Not until she knew for a fact that her daughter was safe in this maze. From her only light source, she passed by the stucco, the wooden beams, the scattered collections of lost toys, knick-knacks, and neglected objects that she could have sworn were centuries old. But passing through the cobwebs and dust that threaten to suffocate her, only to pause to listen for any sign of her child, she pressed on.

Eventually, the material around her kept changing from stucco, wood, wires, and pipes; to dirt, roots, and stones; to eventually solid crystal. In the light of her phone, the colors of blue, lilac, dark purple, and turquoise. The same shades and shapes of the crystal that was underneath the School of Friendship. Eventually, the space she was crawling in became wider where she could finally be able to stand up.

Although mostly dark, the space she walked into was still light enough for her to see. And she couldn’t believe what was all around her. Although the cavern and tunnels were undoubtedly three-dimensional, yet, to her eyes, it somehow looked flat with its colors, shapes, and shading at the same time. She ran her hands over the reflective surface of the surreal walls, and they were solid despite looking animated.

Lauren looked down at her hands. “You’re dreaming again Lauren.” She muttered to herself. “You’re not in a cartoon. It’s just a dream. Alice is safe in her room and not run off to a world you created.” She took a moment to pinch her arm hard. Yet, despite wincing at the pain, nothing happened. “This… This place can’t be real. It’s… It just isn’t.” She flashed her phone left and right. “Unless… I’m hallucinating? But how can that be? I never had one before and I’m certain I didn’t take anything before going to bed.”

But in her ramblings, she paused at something terrifying. It wasn’t so much of what she saw or heard. Rather, the lack of it. In this cool crystalized cavern, it was quiet. When she was in the crawlspace, she could at least hear bits of her daughter. But now, there was nothing.

“Alice!” She shouted desperately. “Alice, where are you!?”

In the echoes of the underground, she listened intently, hoping to catch a giggle or a cry of her child. Instead, a moment later, something responded. A gentle clopping of hooves. At first, she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but it was getting closer.

“Hello?”

“Is somepony here?” Lauren was startled. Not because she heard a response, but rather because the one who responded… was in her voice. “Whose there?”

“Over… here?”

The hoofsteps got closer. Then out from one of the tunnels, she spotted not a shadow, but speckles of pink and purple light. It was faint at first, almost like a phantom, but Lauren could make out something shifting into a rather large horse. A thin white horse with enormous wings and a horn with a red, messy mane.

The figure stopped. Its eyes were wide in shock and amazement. “It’s… Is it you?”

Lauren instantly knows who it is. From the blue eyes to the quill cutie mark, this thing was her original character. Her Fausticorn looked back at her as dumbstruck as she was. The only difference was that this one was see-through and gave off a glow that was similar to what the Tree of Harmony gave when it went about in the form of Twilight.

The human mother raised a figure. “This raises so many questions.”

“How do you think I feel?” the alicorn copy questioned. “It isn’t every day that the author comes to this world. Let alone, the main one.”

“Okay, stop, stop.” Lauren dropped the bat and put her phone in the pocket of her pajamas, running her fingers through her hair. “How? What? What’s going on? Who are you? Why are you sparkling?”

“I am?” The Fausticorn blinked, looking at its hoof. “Huh. I guess I am. While I can say the same thing about you, I suppose a proper introduction might be in order. Although I take on many forms, I believe I’m known to you as the Tree of Harmony.”

She shook her head. “No, no you’re not.”

The alicorn tilted her head. “Why do you doubt me?”

“For one, the Tree of Harmony has been smashed to pieces. It’s been destroyed. Finished. And the only time it manifests itself as anything, it was of Twilight Sparkle.”

It nodded. “Yes, that is true. I do not deny that I was weakened by Sombra. But I am not gone. My roots are still under Equestria, and I have learned how to adapt, even in the grimmest of circumstances.” She walked closer. “Yet, now I sense a presence that is not of this world. Not just you, but another. It is this that I came to see.”

Lauren laughed. “This is crazy!” she started walking in a circle. “I’m in my own show and now my daughter has apparently gotten lost in it! And to top it off, the Tree of Harmony is somehow not only dead but is going around as my OC.”

“OC?”

“Original character, but you know what? No.” She waved a hand at the alicorn, in which case it went through. “You are just a figment of my overworked imagination and I’m just in the process of having a mental breakdown. That’s it! That’s what all of this got to be. Just my brain giving me a hint that I’m working too much again.”

Before she could start heading towards the crawlspace, she felt a strange, tingling sensation – like that of having one’s foot falling asleep – that surrounded all around her, Lauren found herself a foot off the ground. She swings her arms and legs; and shouts to be put down. But she noticed that the horn of the translucent alicorn was glowing.

“Author of another world,” the tree said to her, “do you believe in me or not?”

“Put me down!” Lauren demanded. “Alright! You proved your point! Put me down!” The transparent creature did. “You’re not telling me that… this is real?”

The Fausticorn nodded. “I wouldn’t have come unless it’s something most serious.”

Lauren gasped. “Alice! If this is all real then, that would mean that she could get hurt by the other creatures, the spells, and other dangers in this place! Where’s my baby?!”

Closing its eyes and touching one of the crystalized roots, the tree focused as a light shimmered outward. “With Gallus, heading towards the surface. In the school library with students.”

“Do you know how to get there?” Lauren asked, untying the twin around her ankle and then weaving it around a rock. “I need to get Alice back as quickly as possible.”

The Phantom of the Tree leads the way.

An air vent cover was moved aside where Ocellus’s head peaked out. A light blue Changeling with shiny eyes, a soft red mane, and chitin on her back. Looking around, there wasn’t anyone around as she climbed up.

“I guess I must be the first here.” She mused, unrolling a piece of parchment. It was a rough map of the tunnels that were underneath the school – or at least, her portion of what she found. “I hope they didn’t go too far.”

She heard the sound of pebbles being kicked aside. Turning around to the air vent, she was in time to see her Yak friend squeezing through. One that had brown, long fur, a braided mane, and a traditional green cloak on her back. “Where friends?” Yona asked.

“I’m not exactly sure, but I’m sure they’ll be here soon.” Lending a hoof, she pulled her large friend out from the tight space. Once freed, she asked, “So did you get far with your tunnel?”

She nodded. “Yona drew new tunnels and rooms. Some big as huts back home.” Taking out her map, she unrolled it on the floor. “Yona’s tunnel go on further. No time to record all. And nothing down there.”

“Makes you wonder how come no one noticed this place when they built the school.” A third voice joined in. Out from the vent was a dragoness with orange scales, a pair of horns, and a purple fin on her head and tip of her tail. Smolder emerged from the tunnel entrance with a map of her own. “I swear they must go on for miles. It’s like a maze down there.”

“Where’s Silverstream, Sandbar, and Gallus?” Ocellus inquired.

“No clue.” The dragoness shrugged. “It’s nearly noon, and I haven’t seen any sign of them yet.”

“Did you find anything?”

She shook her head. “Besides crystals as far as the eye can see, nothing much to munch on.”

“Yona hopes they’re okay. Underground easy getting lost in.”

“Hey guys!” A voice called out along with an excitable quick trot of talons and hooves. Out from the air vent, Silverstream appeared. A light pink hippogriff with a mane as blue as the sea. Around her neck was a necklace that held a piece of a pearl. “There are tunnels that go underwater too! I tried to map those out but…” She held up a dripping wet parchment with smudged lines, “It got wet.”

“So I guess you didn’t find anything either?” Smolder asked.

“Well… I did find a city of gold, a cup that says ‘Holy Grail’ – whatever that means – and a chest that had Starswirl’s name on it that contained a bunch of weird magazines. Oh! That reminds me, did you know that Starswirl was into-”

“Anycreature there?” A male voice interrupted.

Smolder leans over the hole. “We’re up here Sandbar. Did you find anything?”

“Nah, not really.” A moment later, a sea green pony with an unkempt mane and three sea turtles as a cutie mark walked out. “I just keep finding a bunch of dead ends. Did anycreature find anything?”

“Silverstream might have.” Yona pointed out. “Silverstream found weird magazines from Starswirll.”

“Really? Of what?”

Before the hippogriff could excitedly tell it to her in detail, there was a scream that pierced through the moment like a butcher’s knife.

“HELP! SOMECREATURE HELP ME!”

However, before any of them could make a move, a blue griffon rushed out, slammed the cover of the air vent, and proceeded to put a bunch of heavy books on top of it.

“Gallus, what happened?” Silverstream asked.

Out of breath, he flew on top of the pile, sitting on it. “Guys… I think… I found something…” He said, panting.

The Changeling could sense from her friend that the griffon was afraid. “Did you find a monster?”

“I don’t know.” He said between breaths. “I found a crawlspace… it led to a… bedroom… I was ambushed…”

“How did Griffon get out?” Yona asked.

Gallus took a moment to catch his breath before speaking again. “Turns out, the thing that attacked me, was only a little kid, and its mother came with a club but… she didn’t hit me with it. Somehow… somehow that mother knew me so I was let go. But the kid uh… followed… me.”

There were a thousand questions from the students, but before any of them could ask one, they heard a muffled voice of a little girl, knocking against the vent. “Cat bird. Play with me.”

“Ugh! I am NOT a cat bird!” Gallus hollered to the floor. “And leave me alone! I don’t wanna play!”

The library echoed out, and the griffon received the “Shush!” of shame.

“Well… what creature is it?” Sandbar asked, tapping against the pile of books.

“I don’t have a clue,” Gallus replied. “I don’t know what this… thing is.”

“Play! Cat bird play!”

The griffon stomped on a book. “My answer is still no.”

“Can we see it?” Ocellus asked. “If this a new creature, don’t you think that maybe we should at least try to learn about it?”

Smolder put a talon to her chin. “Actually… that wouldn’t be a bad idea. After all, we do have that report for Professor Fluttershy’s class coming up. So imagine the grade we’ll be getting if we do ours on a creature no one has seen before.”

“I vote we study something else,” Gallus said, raising a claw. “Just not to the thing that really ought to go back to its mother.”

“But I wanna have a peak,” Silverstream said. “C’ mon, let us see.”

A groan escaped from him. Flying up to the second floor, he dove into an empty suit of armor, telling them that he was now ready. The other students pushed the heavy books aside and the cover for the air vent was pushed open. Forming a ring around the entrance, the creatures watched and hesitated with caution about what might be coming out.

The first thing they saw was what they could describe as a soft claw. It wasn’t hard like a dragon, griffon, or hippogriff. It was almost a pink, sandy color. This was attached to an arm that was covered in a sort of flowing, fuzzy gown. Another such thing joined the first, and together they pulled into the light, a head. One with brown curly hair and an adorable round face. The face itself had no fur, or feathers, not even a beak or a muzzle as far as they could see it. It was perplexingly flat except for a nose that pointed out. The teeth weren’t sharp, nor did they realize that it had any claws or a tail when it crawled out and stood up. As far as they saw it, the thing was weird-looking, no doubt about it, but it didn’t come off as dangerous either.

“Huh…” Smolder said with a raised eyebrow that matched her perplexed look. “Now there’s something you don’t see every day.”

“What is that?” Silverstream reached out, touching the creature’s hand which was just as confused as she was. “It feels… squishy.”

“Bird?” Alice asked.

She giggled. “No silly. Hippogriff.”

Alice still looked confused. “Hippo… quaff?”

“Griff. Can you say, Griff?”

The three-year-old took a moment to process this new word. “Gr…if?”

“Mhmm.” Silverstream nodded. “That’s right. Griff. Now can you say, Hippogriff?”

“Hippo… griff!”

Upon hearing the name, she clapped her talons. “That’s it. That’s what I am. I’m a Hippogriff.”

“At least it shows some signs of intelligence,” Sandbar commented.

“Pony!” Alice ran over to the young stallion, wrapping around his neck like a boa constrictor and trying to swing a leg over his back.

“Heyheyeheyheyheyhey!” Sandbar started running around the library while the child tried to mount on his back. “What are you doing!?”

“Get off Sandbar!” Yona shouted as she and her friends tried what they could to get the strange creature off of the panicking pony. As much as they tried to pull her off, the girl stubbornly refused to be separated, if anything, it made her grip around Sandbar’s neck tighter.

“Alice! Let go!” Before any of them could register what was happening, a longer pair of arms, similar to the fraying creature’s, instantly grabbed her and was lifted right off of the pony. “You do not piggyback on ponies without asking. That’s bad.”

The students looked up, their mouths gaped. “What the-” they all tried to say at the same time, but the giant continued on.

“And don’t just run off like that, you might have gotten hurt.”

“Mom!”

“It’s also way past your bedtime too. We are going home and that’s final.”

Before the students, were not of one giant, but two. One who was holding the strange creature looked similar but quite different. The thing in which they assumed to be the mother was tall, wore a two-piece thin clothed pajama, had straight red hair, and had worn a mixture of anger and relief as she both hugged her child and scolded it at the same time.

However, what got their attention was the alicorn in the room.

One that had very much resemblance to the creature that was holding her child.

Before Lauren could take a step towards the air vent, an orange dragon flew into her face. “Okay, that’s it! What’s going on? Who are you? What is it that you’re holding? And why is there an alicorn that looked like Celestia if her mane accidently died red and went through a lawnmower?”

“Hey!” Both Lauren and the alicorn said at once.

“That’s her!” Gallus, finally able to stick his head out from the suit of armor called out, pointing at the human. “That’s the mother I was talking about!”

“But who is this?” Ocellus questioned, pointing at the alicorn, “And why is she see-through?”

“Greetings young ones.” The Fausticron said. “Be not afraid, a major problem has just been resolved.”

“Who are you?”

The appetition blinked. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t recognize me in this form.” The spirit glowed and its shape was shrunken down and reformed into the image of Twilight Sparkle. “I believe you’re familiar with this one.”

“The Tree of Harmony is still alive!” Silverstream exclaimed, “And… Apparently a shapeshifter.”

It nodded. “Although my physical form can be shattered and rooted in one place, my spirit, does not. While my magic is weak, it is still enough for me to take on the most comforting form. As long as there is friendship, there too is harmony.”

“And if you all excuse me,” Lauren said, taking a few steps to the underground entrance, “I am going straight home and back to bed where I can pretend that all of this is a dream.”

A yak stood in her way. “Wait! Creature can’t leave now. Creature got here, unknown to everyone.”

“Yeah,” Smolder nodded, “For all we know, you could be some rare species that none of us has ever heard of before. We don’t know what you are, and you’re going to just leave without asking any questions?”

Lauren yawned. “Look… we need to sleep. As much as part of me wants to take a look around, I need to get this little troublemaker and myself to bed.”

“But not without having Professor Fluttershy at least take a look at you?” Sandbar asked. Lauren paused. “It would be for just a moment.”

“I don’t know if the Tree of Harmony would want to keep a lady up longer just so you could ask some- where did it go?”

The spirit of the tree was nowhere to be seen. As much as the students looked around, even Gallus from above, all of them were surprised at the sudden disappearance.

“That was weird…” Gallus got out of the suit of armor and gently floated down to them. “Look, I get you’re tired, and again, I’m sorry for waking you two up. So how about this – for now, how about we give you a place to sleep, and when you get enough, we’ll have the Professor ask some quick questions and you can go. You’ll never see or hear from us again. Just at least let us try to help you out a little.”

‘If I didn’t know any better,’ Lauren thought, ‘I’d say that right there is a combination of Fluttershy’s kindness, Rarity’s generosity, and Applejack’s integrity all rolled into one.’ A yawn from her daughter later, and Lauren had made up her mind. “Okay, fine. We’ll stay here until we get enough sleep. You can ask a few questions, but once you’re done, we’re headed home.”

The students agreed to this.

3: Professors

Lauren and Alice were offered to sleep in Ocellus’s room so that they could rest. Although the bed was too small for the mother to where she had to sleep on the floor, her daughter found the bed the perfect size and both of them were quickly able to sleep. In the meantime, the students went off to find Professor Fluttershy.

They managed to find her in her classroom, showing another group of ponies how to properly feed their class pet by being gentle with it. When they came into her naturalistic classroom, they found her surrounded by students, watching intently how to feed a fish. “The important thing to remember.” She said., “Is that a fish doesn’t need very much food in a day. If anything, feeding them with one or two tiny pebbles should be more than enough.”

Yona cleared her throat, thus getting the professor’s attention. “Yona, you… all of you are here early.”

“Professor, can we borrow you for a moment?” Sandbar said. “We need to talk to you.”

Fluttershy excused herself from her class, following them out into the hallway. “Is something wrong? The research project I gave you wasn’t too hard to do, was it?”

“Oh no Professor, it’s not that,” Ocellus assured her. “If anything, we have a question about it.”

“What is it?”

“We know that we’re supposed to write up our project on unique creatures,” Silverstream said. “And we know that we can work together as a group. But suppose we did our research on a creature that’s super rare. Would that still count?”

Fluttershy nodded. “As long as you go int detail about what it looks like, its habits, and its life cycle, then you all should still get a good grade.”

“Okay,” Smolder interjected, “and suppose that super rare creature happens to be sentient that lives underground that… let’s just say one day came up the surface with its kid? Would that still count?”

The yellow mare blinked. “That sounds oddly specific.”

“About that,” Gallus tapped his talons together, “I… we think we’ve found something,” Fluttershy asks what he means. “Professor, to make a long story short, we went underground to map it out when I… well… think I’ve found something. A creature that we’ve never seen before and have no clue what it is. So to make a long story short, I woke it and her kid up, they’ve followed me from the tunnels and now they’re sleeping in Ocellus’s room.”

Fluttershy blinked again. “Well… that’s… new. What does it look like?”

“Strange.” Yona put it bluntly. “Mother tall. Walk on two legs. Flat face and red mane. Gallus said it called itself… person. Talks too.”

“Oh. I see.” The professor nodded. “Did it say what its name was?”

“Actually yes,” Ocellus replied, “When we were putting them in my room to sleep, they said their names. Very strange ones too.” She put a hoof to her chin. “One was called Alice… I think that’s the filly. And the mother’s name was… Lauren?” Fluttershy froze. “Lauren Faust.”

The pink-maned professor didn’t move for a moment or two. Before any of them could ask what had gotten into her. She told them. “Could you please… go back to them and stay with them until they wake up?”

The students looked at one another. “Why?” Sandbar asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh… nothing’s wrong.” She lied. “Just… be with them to make sure they’re safe. Could you do that for me?”

After suddenly dismissing the class she was teaching rather unexpectedly, she immediately went towards Twilight’s office. Fortunately, she found the headmare there working on paperwork. She instantly requested that she and their friends should be gathered for an emergency meeting for something urgent. One by one, the other professors, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity gathered into the spacious teacher’s lounge with a concerned Twilight and a pacing Fluttershy. While it isn’t uncommon to find the yellow mare to be stressed, there is something to her worry that suggests something major has happened.

“Is something wrong darling?” Rarity was the first to ask as soon as she walked into the room. “You look like you’re on the verge of having a heart attack.”

“I might as well have,” Fluttershy replied, still not ceasing her fast pacing in a circle.

Twilight put a comforting wing over her. “What has gotten you so worried? Has something terrible happened?”

Fluttershy sat on her rump. “I… I don’t… think so? But it is rather major alright.”

“Well spit it out,” Rainbow told her, lying back on a couch and propping her head up with a hoof. “I’m pretty sure that with all the stuff we had to deal with over the years, I think we can handle it.”

“It’s just… I don’t want anypony to panic.” She took in a deep breath. “Does anypony remember a few years ago that Celestia called us up to Canterlot?”

“Which one?” Applejack deadpanned. “Ah’m afraid ya gonna have ta be more specific, sugar cube.”

Another deep breath. “Before Twilight got her wings, do any of you remember the time when Celestia called us up because uh… their mother came by and she was a child so we spent the day with her so that none of us would be… forgotten?”

The teacher’s lounge became as quiet as a graveyard.

“Are you telling us that Lauren is back?” Pinkie asked. When Fluttershy confirmed this with a nod, confetti rained out of nowhere, balloons rose from the floor, and a banner with the words: “WELCOME BACK PONY CREATOR GODDESS” was unfurled. “It’s about time she came back! I was under the impression that she got too busy to come back to us to at least say hello!”

“Uh…” Twilight’s eyes shifted, “Yeah… about that…” She rubbed the back of her head. “Has any of you wondered why she didn’t?”

“How come?” Her friends said in unison.

“Well… Celestia had given me an order to uh… alter her memory. To make her think what happened to her was all a dream so it wouldn’t create any paradoxes.”

“What the actual hay, Twilight!” Rainbow was the first to speak about what was on everypony’s mind.

“It had to be done! How can you expect a creator goddess to make our world before she does it? I know all of you wanted to see her again, but it had to be done.” She turned to Fluttershy. “Is Lauren still a child?”

She shook her head. “The students told me that it was a mother and a foal had come here. So I assume that she’s already grown up.”

“The students found the creator goddess?” Rarity questioned. “How in the world did they do that?”

“From what I know,” Fluttershy said, “Gallus told me that they were mapping out the tunnels under the school when he found them. I don’t know how, but they followed him and the students up to the surface. Right now, they’re resting in Ocellus’s room at the moment and I told them to make sure to stay with them so that they’re safe.”

“Good thinkin’.” Applejack nodded. “Ah remember the last time Lauren went off by herself. Celestia and Luna look like they’re ready to drop dead from the stress, if Ah recall.”

“Now that you brought that up,” Twilight acknowledged, “Perhaps we should let the Princesses know right away that their mother just came back. Speak of which, where’s Spike?”

“Last time I’ve heard,” Pinkie said, “he was going towards Starlight’s office.”

Without warning, Twilight teleported herself into Starlight Glimmer’s office, scrying the councilor and the assistant half-to-death.

“Ach!” Starlight fell out of her seat at the sudden appearance of her boss. “Seriously Twilight, stop suddenly springing into my office without giving me a warning first.”

“I’m sorry Starlight, but I need Spike at the moment, it’s a bit of an emergency.”

“What’s wrong?” Spike asked.

Taking in a deep breath, she told him, “Spike, take a letter.” The small dragon grabbed out a quill and parchment to which he immediately jotted down Twilight’s dictation to Princess Celestia. Spike wrote down what Twilight had heard, that apparently their mother has returned to Equestria and is currently resting at the school. Once she was finished and Spike sent the letter through a green flame, Starlight was staring at her.

“The Royal Sisters still have a mother and nopony in Equestria knows about it?”

Twilight laughed uneasily. “It’s uh… a long complicated stor-”

She was interrupted as Princess Celestia and Luna suddenly appeared in the room. Both of them asked the same question.

“Where’s Mother!?”

Lauren woke up with a straining ache in her back. Even before she opened her eyes, she briefly hoped that whatever happened a few hours ago was all in her head, and the mattress had decided to go on strike by turning into concrete with a carpet on top. That all that stuff that would easily put her in a tucked-away corner of a mental ward was only just a fever dream. That was until she opened her eyes, she realized that none of that was a dream. She was lying on a carpet, in the middle of a small room that looked exactly like the style of a typical My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode.

While the blinds blocked most of the light of an orange glow – possibly a sunset – the room was very simple in design. Apart from the round, pink carpet she was on, there was a simple desk with some books and a few open notes with drawings on them; a tiny wooden bookcase that had little hearts carved into them; a few art-deco-like posters of a tranquil garden; and a simple bed with a purple cover that had the only non-animated thing in it. Alice hadn’t woken up yet, and the mother was already realizing that absolutely everything that happened last night was, in fact, real.

‘You know, Lauren, I think the very last thing you should do is panic.’ She thought to herself. ‘Apparently your childhood dream has unexpectedly come true and you’re now in a cartoon of your own making. As much as it sounds like a fanfic or an episode of the Twilight Zone, this is happening.

‘So… now what? Obviously, I can’t let Alice wander off in a place like this. You of all people should know that not everything here is all sunshine and rainbows, despite having just that. I mean, from what all the stuff I’ve seen, and what those producers and directors have told me, some pretty messed up things have been added since I’ve been away. From a disease that could turn living beings into trees to gigantic monstrosities that could easily swallow Alice up for a snack, there’s no possible way that I’m letting her out of my sight.’

She then took notice of the sketches on Ocellus’s desk. Not just of the ones that look like diagrams and pictures of other creatures, but there was one that caught her eye, a simplified picture of Ocellus’s family complete with parents and two hatchlings that surrounded the blue Changeling.

‘On the other hand, as much as I want to get Alice home as quickly as possible, how often do authors of stories have the chance to visit the places and meet the characters that they could only imagine? I think there are more details in this room alone than most artists could have the time and patience to put in. Then again, that makes me wonder, is everything here just as it is in the show or is there more to it all? What happens between not just shots of scenes, but entire episodes? Is this a functioning world or one that some writer out there has to dictate what goes on and who says what?’ It was at this moment her stomach growled. ‘And more importantly, is anything here actually edible?’

As if on cue, there was a soft knock on the door. Although her back ached as she rolled over and got up, she went over to the small door to open it. Ocellus was there to greet her. “Hello, Ms. Faust, did you sleep alright?”

“Sleep yes.” She rubbed her back. “Sept well… not exactly when I had to sleep on the floor.”

“Oh dear, you’re not hurt, are you?”

“I’ll be fine. Still, thanks for letting us crash here. By the way, what time is it?”

“Almost eight. You and your daughter have been sleeping for most of the day.”

“Oh… sorry for hogging up your room. If you need it-”

“It’s fine, really.” She nodded. “Although, there are some ponies that want to meet you.”

“Huh? Oh yeah, that project thing you talked about.”

“Well… that too. But others wanted to see you.” Ocellus looked over down the hallway, and Lauren saw it too. A shadow of three ponies, all having a horn and wings, but one of them was shorter than the others. It didn’t take long to piece together for Lauren to figure out who they were.

Then they finally saw one another. One wide-eyed human stared back at the three alicorns: a pure white one with an aethereal mane of light green, blue, and pink; a blue one that had a mane that resembled the night sky; and between them a purple mare with shiny, knowledgeable eyes – who all stared back at her. For what was perhaps minutes, none of them moved or said anything.

‘I don’t think they ever teach you this in writing class,’ Lauren thought, ‘What do you do when you encounter characters that you previously thought were fictional?’ However, she knew that at least one of them had to break the awkward standoff. To say something, anything, to ease the tension between the four of them.

“Uh… hi?” Lauren waved a hand.

Before she registered what was happening, a magical force practically pushed her into the forelegs of the two sisters. Between the sudden group hug and nuzzles from the two horse-sized royals, Lauren was showered with questions from them such as: “Are you alright?” “Where have you been?” “Did you eat?” “Are you sick?” “Do you need anything?” and so on, so fast that the poor human couldn’t possibly answer them all.

All the while, she did manage to get a glance at another of her creations, Twilight Sparkle, waving awkwardly. “Welcome to Equestria, Lauren.”

4: Nature of Reality Over Pancakes

If there was one thing that at the very least Lauren was glad that the writers for My Little Pony episodes after she left that she could easily approve of – it was Celestia’s cooking skills. During the commotion of the Royal sisters being reunited with their mother, they also woke up a certain three-year-old wanting breakfast. Fifteen minutes later, she, her daughter, and a good chunk of her (and other) creations were waiting in the school’s cafeteria as the Sun Princess was making fresh batches of pancakes off of a griddle nearby.

Sitting down at a small bench that was clearly meant for creatures that were smaller than her, her daughter was on her lap playing with a cartoon orange. Letting it roll from one end of her outstretched arms to the next. Next to her, her creation and her students were taking down notes while Twilight’s friends and Princess Luna were trying to figure out what exactly to say. Lauren couldn’t exactly blame them if the situation were reversed.

“So…” The mother looked up to Princess Luna, holding a mug of coffee in her aura. At first, she trailed off, no doubt drowning in the seas of questions that swirled and created tidal waves in her mind. However, she did settle on one. “You look… different. Why the human look?”

Lauren looked down at her hand. “I don’t know… I didn’t have much of a choice. You’d think that I might have come here as an alicorn or something, but no, I’m still me.”

“Where have you been all this time?” Celestia inquired, flipping over a fluffy pancake. “The last time any of us have seen you was at Twilight’s coronation before you… disappeared again.”

“Twilight’s coronation?”

“Well, it’s rather hard to forget,” Twilight commented. “It isn’t every day that an alicorn with a red mane, white coat with a quill, and inkwell cutie mark suddenly appears out of nowhere.”

Lauren looked at her confused. “What are you talking about?” She asked. “This is my first time visiting Equestri… oh…”

Twilight turned a little pale at that. “Oh? What do you mean… ‘oh?’”

“I just remembered a little something.” She replied, catching the orange that rolled out of her daughter’s reach and giving it back to her. “When I heard that they turned you into an alicorn, I had this funny idea. Of what would happen if Celestia and Luna’s mother came back to Equestria just after they put a crown on you.” She giggled. “I somehow pictured you fainting, and I had her catch up with the princesses with what was going on while you were unconscious for a couple of hours… what?”

Everyone at the table, including Celestia who was still cooking was giving her odd looks.

“Mother, why are you talking like that?” Celestia asked.

“You make it sound as if we’re characters in a story,” Luna added. “As if talking about us as if it were a plot to one of your books.”

“It is a mysterious documented event.” Sandbar pointed out. “That there was a sighting of an unknown alicorn but nopony knew who it was. Honestly, I thought it was an urban myth or something. I didn’t think it was real.”

Lauren paused for a moment, pointing at Luna, “You said this actually happened?” She nodded. “This… is incredible.”

“How so?”

“Well… This might sound crazy, but… where I come from… I’ve written a small short story that I’ve never published. It was about you two and Twilight after she got her wings and… my character.”

She saw Ocellus putting down her quill and notebook. “Ms. Faust, you’re starting to scare me. What are you talking about?”

Lauren sighed. Her daughter looked up at her, orange in hand, reaching up to her mother to peel it for her. Taking the fruit in her hand, the mother said aloud. “The thing is… I’m not entirely sure how to explain it myself. I don’t know how exactly to tell you all the truth without freaking anyone out; because of how bizarre it sounds and how unbelievable it is. Especially when I don’t think I understand it myself.”

“It doesn’t hurt ta be honest,” Applejack said, “Take it from a mare like me that the truth is always better than a well-meant lie.”

‘Yep, definitely Applejack,’ Lauren thought. “And suppose the truth sounds like it’s a lie?”

“Then there ain’t no need ta memorize it.”

The mother chuckled at this. “Well… since you put it like that… I guess I could at least try. But please understand that what I’m going to say will sound too fantastical, but it is the truth.”

The students learned in closer, notes at the ready.

“I think it’s established by now that there are other dimensions, right?”

Twilight nodded. “Oh yeah, there are plenty of other worlds out there. There’re even portals that dot all over Equestria as well.”

“…. Somehow, that strangely makes sense to me. Because in case you haven’t caught on yet, my daughter and I are from a different world. Not the same human world that you went to, Twilight, but somewhat similar nonetheless.”

Celestia, at this point, has already stacked up pancakes on a plate and raised an eyebrow. “You know about the human world Twilight has gone to? How?”

“Well… That’s just it…” Lauren broke through the orange peel, broke the fruit into its slices, and handed them to Alice. “In the world that I come from… everything here and that human world is uh…” She shook her head. “I guess there’s no way of sugar-coating this but… this world is fictional, to us.”

The cafeteria went silent. Every one of them paused to try to process what was said. Surprisingly (at least to Lauren) the one who broke the silence was Fluttershy. “So… what you’re saying is… we’re not… real?”

“A-At least where we come from.” Lauren insisted. “In the world that I grew up in, there’s no such place as Equestria. Everything that you deem as common sense and reality just… doesn’t exactly happen over there, if at all. As far as people from my world know, Equestria is a work of fiction.”

“But that’s silly!” Silverstream interjected. “I mean… we’re real… aren’t we…?”

“I didn’t think any of you were until, well… now.” Lauren waved a hand. “As much as I want to convince myself that I’m still dreaming or having a hallucination, I can’t ignore the fact that what I’m seeing, hearing, touching, smelling…” she took a bit of the piece of the orange, “and tasting… is real. I didn’t think that an author like me would end up in her own Wonderland but, here we are.”

“So let me get my head around this, darling.” Rarity said, her hooves rubbing the temples of her forehead. “You’re telling us that to you, at least where you come from, we’re completely fictional?” Lauren told her that was pretty much it. “While personally, I don’t know what to make of that, except, you’re implying that if we’re fiction, does that mean that there’s some sort of… medium to convey everyone here?”

“Pony show.” Alice bluntly answered.

Everyone and every creature raised an eyebrow. “What can person mean?” Yona asked what was on their minds.

“Oh dear…” Lauren sighed, feeling a headache coming on. “Now there’s another can of worms in and of itself.”

“Why is that?” Celestia asked.

“You see… Where I come from, Equestria is just uh… well…” Lauren scratched her head, trying to come up with an explanation for them. “I guess a way to describe it is like… hold on… there are movies here? Aren’t there?” They nodded. “And there are cartoons here too? Right?”

“You mean like a short?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Those appear before they play the movie. They’ve been getting really funny lately.”

“Okay, good… Well, imagine that, but a whole series of shorts, each going about… oh… twenty or so minutes each; where they tell a story about Equestria. A series of stories that are made into cartoons. That is your world to me. I should know… I uh… was the one that created the show, to begin with.”

Sandbar, like everyone else, had their jaw hanging loose. “That… is… so cool!”

Lauren blinked. “Huh?”

“You’re saying that to you, this is all a cartoon?” She nodded. “So, are we in it?”

“…. You have no idea. But why aren’t you freaking out over that?”

Sandbar tilted his head. “Isn’t it obvious? If there are cartoons of us somewhere out there, that means that we have an audience, making them laugh or just be entertained by us, right?”

“I guess that explains why nopony asked me who I was talking to when I stared off into space,” Pinkie said, humming in thought and tapping her chin. “I’ve always felt deep down that I was never alone, just didn’t think there would be somepony to actually watch me.”

“If that’s true…” Fluttershy was shaking at the revelation. “Then that would mean that there have been others that have been watching us this whole time…” Her eyes shifted, darting about the cafeteria. “Does that mean that they’re watching us right now?”

Lauren looked around. She certainly didn’t see anything. Not a camera, not a portal, or anything to indicate that they were being watched. Getting up, she handed Alice over to Luna as she went around the table to wrap an arm around the timid pony. “Fluttershy, first of all, we don’t allow to show anything explicit like going to the bathroom or things like that. Second, and this is important, is that while from time to time there would be people watching you guys, there are so many that can relate to all of you in some way. They learned really important lessons, laugh at your jokes, feel pity whenever something goes wrong and cheer for you when things go right. Although I haven’t worked on the cartoon in a while, the people who have been in charge for the past nine years, they worked really hard to not only entertain but, in some ways, ponies like you give comfort and enlighten them too.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.

“Well… it’s kind of hard to explain really, but every single one of you, including so many others like Spike or Starlight, you have indirectly been teaching so many ways of… well… what friendship could be and look at it in dozens of ways to help others understand it better. Through all of you, you taught them what kindness, laughter, honesty, generosity, loyalty, and the magic of friendship really means. Regardless of what is being thrown at you, so many can relate to your struggles and learn what they could do with it. Even when you don’t see that you have an impact on anyone, there are so many out there that you’ve changed their lives for the better.”

Celestia finished with the pancakes, and with her magic, she used whipped cream, blueberries, strawberries, and bananas to craft out a face for both her mother’s and Alice’s plates. “As partly creepy as the undertones of that is – to have someone watch you without you knowing – there’s something oddly comforting in the idea that all of us are teaching others about friendship. It is more effective to lead them by example than just tell them to be nice.” She sat the pancakes down before them.

Lauren sat back down and proceeded to cut up Alice’s food for her. As she did so, Luna asked, “So… if what you said was true… are you… really our mother?” For a moment, Lauren froze. “You resembled her in so many ways although you are in a different form. As much as I want to be glad for your return to us, after so many years… Yet, being from a different dimension, it’s hard to think that you might not be ours.”

Lauren finished up by cutting up Alice’s food, looking up at the dark alicorn guiltily. “I take it you haven’t seen her in a long time, have you?”

She shook her head. “It has been many moons since we last saw her face. For a long time, we thought she had forgotten about us.”

“I don’t think that’s true. I mean, if I were away from my Alice for even a week, I would miss her very much.”

“You would?” Alice asked, looking up with a forkful of pancakes.

“Ohh, of course, I would sweetie.” She kissed the top of her head. “Every mother misses their children if kept away too long. They may sometimes have to go away for a long time, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve forgotten about them. No. They think about them every day when they’re not with them. Do you know why? Because that’s how much they love them – they could be on the other side of the big wide world and all they want is to be with them. Don’t worry your little head about it, Mommy isn’t going to forget you anytime soon.”

“Okay, mom.” Her daughter returned to her breakfast.

Lauren also noticed Applejack suddenly getting up with a “Excuse me,” before leaving the cafeteria. Although many of them shared some confused looks, she instantly felt a pain of guilt because she knew exactly why. As much as she was giving reassurance to her daughter and the Princesses, she momentarily forgot about Applejack. ‘Oh crap, I really struck a nerve without thinking.’

As the Apple farmer exited, a purple dragon and a unicorn mare entered. Spike and Starlight came in, with the mare looking over her shoulder. “What’s gotten into her?”

“Something that I’ve said,” Lauren answered. “You must be Starlight and Spike.”

The unicorn blinked. “How did you know my-”

“It’s a long story, councilor,” Smolder interrupted. “But what you probably should know is that, in a nutshell, she’s the creator with a capital C.”

“Huh…” Starlight looked at Lauren with a weird look. “So… Just to be clear, she’s not here to cause chaos, take over Equestria, or get her sworn revenge?”

The royal sisters, including Lauren, laughed. “Oh, far from it,” Celestia said, “she is our most honored guest. It would appear that she’s going to leave very soon.”

“It’s such a shame really,” Luna commented, “here we hoped we’d try to at least show her how our Kingdom has advanced before we retire.”

“You want to show me around Equestria?” Lauren inquired. “I don’t know… I was hoping to get back home before-”

“But don’t you want to?” Sandbar asked, his eyes seemed to have grown three sizes as he gave his best puppy eyes. “If this is your creation of a place you thought was fictional, don’t you wanna take a look around?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie hopped up on the table. “You’re gonna leave without having me giving you a party? That’s not even fair! Sugar Cube Corner would be more than happy to whip up something big if the creator of the universe was at their doorstep!”

“Not to mention to have my record about the world you come from,” Twilight added, “You must hold a goldmine of information of a realm that is completely unknown to us.”

“We could put on a show just for you!” Rainbow Dash said, “I could get the Wonderbolts and give you the performance of a lifetime.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy told her meekly, “We can’t force you if you don’t want to. And I don’t think you would have to stay for very long either. Perhaps at least a day.”

“Please.” Lauren looked up to Celestia, her gaze pleading like her sister’s, “If not for them, then at least do it for us. A few hours at least is all we ask.”

For a very long moment, the human mother was conflicted. On the one hand, it should be around morning by now and Craig might be home at any time. Not only that, but she of all people knew that it probably wasn’t a good idea to stay in Equestria. A place where anything could happen and worst yet, Alice could get hurt. After all, for all she knows, if she did decide to stay, even for a few hours, who’s to say that they wouldn’t run into someone like Chrysalis or even Discord? Not only that but there would be wild, dangerous magical creatures that she knew perfectly well that she wasn’t exactly armed against.

On the other hand, she might as well be the very first in all of human history to go inside a world of her own creation. A world of real magic and the characters that she had spent hours with were right there in front of her. She was in a position that Bronies would kill to be in for at least a minute. Not only that, but the very alicorn Princesses are catering to her every whim. If she did decide to hang around, certainly they would do everything in their power to keep her and her daughter safe from harm, right?

But on the other hand, if she stayed for too long, her husband would get worried and probably find the portal to this world and wouldn’t know it. After all, even if she did stay and come back, how is she going to show any proof that she was there at all unless she had a camera…

Lauren pulled out her cell phone, but before she could unlock the screen, she froze. During this whole fiasco, she had neglected to check her phone for anything. However, she noticed something rather odd about her phone. There wasn’t any glitch (or so she thought), but what caught her off guard was the time.

2:47 AM

The clock hadn’t changed at all. It was still the same time, the same date as she left. She unlocked her phone, and it seemed that everything was working; except for being out of reach of a phone signal and the internet. Besides that, it seemed that everything was fine.

“Mom?” she heard Alice ask, “I wanna look at ponies.”

Lauren came to a realization. ‘It’s like Narnia in here, isn’t it?’ she thought. ‘That no matter how long I spend here, I can go back home where nothing’s changed at all. Like time itself has frozen until we go back. So maybe… This is the perfect opportunity. We can go anywhere as long as we want and still be back. Craig wouldn’t know a thing about it and I guess I could take a few pictures here too to prove that I’m not crazy.’

“You know what, Alice?” She said at last. “There’s a big world out there – shall we take a look?”

5: Ponyville and the Creator

“So mother,” Luna asked, “what exactly do you wish to see first?”

“Not sure…” Lauren mused. “How much time do you have?”

“For you,” Celestia said, “We can take it as long as you like. If necessary, I can let Twilight and her friends take over while we’re away.”

Lauren grimaced, her glances for a moment turned to her daughter who was playing with Pinkie Pie. “I don’t know… I saw the most recent episode where you two went on vacation and you let them take over.”

The royal sisters looked at one another in a mixture of shock and embarrassment. “You actually… saw that?”

“Well… on a screen at least.” Lauren rubbed the back of her neck but added, “However, I am proud that you two resolved that argument rather maturely. Plus, I still find it amusing that you’re such the adrenaline junky, who knew?”

Celestia chuckled, still having an embarrassed blush on her face. “Well, what can I say? When you have been doing a non-threatening routine for centuries, you crave something exciting.”

Lauren nodded. “Yeah, I can understand that. But back to the whole grand tour thing. I know for a fact that you’re both still busy, with Twilight still learning how to rule a country and all-”

“Mother,” Luna interrupted. “This is the first time that, well, any trace of you in any form has been with us in many moons. It doesn’t do us much harm in how long you want to be here. If it be for a few hours or perhaps a couple of decades, we will accommodate. Along with our…” She turned to her older sister. “Would Alice make her our half-sister?”

Lauren, like Celestia, was deep in thought. Although they are both human, the Princesses, despite how not equine she was, still consider her as her mother. It is a strange idea (Lauren admits to herself) that a cartoon might think of her daughter as a sibling. Peculiar, no doubt, but then again, why not?

“I think it wouldn’t be bad to see her as such.”

Celestia nodded, trying to turn the conversation back. “What do you want to see first?”

Lauren already knew the answer. “Ponyville. I had been trying to figure out what it would look like in my head, but I don’t think it would compare to actually seeing it in person.”

“And after that?” Luna inquired. “If you wish, we could always summon an airship so that we may see Equestria much more quickly.”

“You would do that? I’ve never ridden in a blimp before and I think that sounds exciting!”

Celestia nodded. “In the meantime, perhaps I could talk Twilight into showing you and Alice around town. She and her friends know these streets more than we do.”

‘Dear Lord, can this get any better?’ Lauren thought. ‘Having the chance of seeing Ponyville and given the tour by your own characters that countless Bronies would kill for? Yes, please!’

She told them that she would like that.

After telling the students who found her that she would answer their questions after being shown around town, Twilight, her dragon assistant, and her friends escorted Lauren and Alice out of the school. While the Princesses returned to Canterlot to fetch an airship, the creator took her daughter by the hand and was shown the quaint, beautiful place known as Ponyville. If anything, if Lauren hadn’t known better, she would say that the sights she was seeing all around her looked like a fan-made (but still very well-done) background. As the sun was starting to set, everything was cast in both orange light and long purple shadows.

In a way, most of Ponyville was exactly how she pictured it in her mind. British Tudor cottage-style houses completed with thatched roofs. Small flower gardens with the occasional statue or fountain, all being illuminated by lit, raw iron lampposts. Even the grassy ground was precisely how she envisioned it.

Well… Except for the first building they stopped by.

“This is where Spike, Starlight, and I live.” Twilight waved a hoof to the crystal tree castle that was next to the school. “It’s the latest second latest addition to Ponyville other than the school itself. Made mostly entirely of crystal and formed by the Tree of Harmony, this place has its throne room, library, a maze of hallways, and a pool.”

Lauren and Alice looked up and down at the castle of purple and blue crystal. Although she was used to seeing it on a screen to see the tree-house-like building; up-close it seemed… clunky. Especially at the oddly shaped star that was at the very top. To her eye, it seemed rather lazily put together.

“It’s… uh…” Lauren began but didn’t know the right words to use to express her disgust elegantly. However, her daughter finished it for her rather bluntly.

“Weird.”

There was snickering coming from the ponies.

“Oh come on!” Spike said, flying up a little. “It’s not weird. I mean look at it, it’s delici- delightful!” The dragon quickly caught on his slip and tried to correct himself. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing’s wrong…” Lauren told him, “It’s just… well… looking at it now, it just seems kinda… cold. And that if you tap it in the wrong place it might fall over.” More snickering from the ponies. “I don’t know. I guess I missed the Golden Oaks more.”

Twilight’s face drooped; her ears folded back. “Yeah… Me too…”

Realizing what she said, Lauren knelt and put an arm around her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think and-”

“To be fair,” Twilight added, “It took me a long time to be adjusted to the castle. It didn’t feel like home at first until my friends helped me gain a better understanding of what home really was.”

‘As I recall,’ Lauren thought, ‘That episode didn’t go down too well. Still, don’t know how to feel about what they did to the old library’s roots though…’ Clearing her throat, Lauren asked where to next.

From there, Lauren took Alice by the hand and the two of them were led into Ponyville. Among the sights and familiar locations such as Rarity’s Boutique, the schoolhouse, the local spa, the party store, and the town hall, the creator couldn’t help but notice the curious ponies that were following them. This was not lost on either of them, especially when they kept themselves at a distance.

“Mom,” Alice said by the time they reached the marketplace. “Why ponies looking…?” she pointed at them.

“They’re just curious sweetie.”

“Why?”

“Because they never have seen well… people before.” She looked up, just barely catching a glimpse of Twilight moving her head as if she was listening. Something told her that she was. “You see Alice, when someone sees another for the first time, they’re uncertain how to act. They don’t know if they’re friendly or dangerous. As we… wow… probably the first humans in this world that haven’t been turned into a pony, now that I think of it, they want to see if we’re good.”

“But… I’m good. Mommy is good.”

Lauren smiled at that. “Yes. But they don’t know-” out from the sky, a muffin bounced off her head, “…yet.”

“Sorry!” A voice called out from above. The mother looked up to find a rather familiar face. It was gray with a blond mane and a signature misaligned golden eyes. “It slipped out of my hooves; can you give it back?”

Crouching down, she was very much aware that so many eyes were on her now, including her creations as she picked up what looked like a cartoon blueberry muffin. She held it up to the Pegasus that hovered above her. “Thanks, stranger,” the mare was about to leave but stopped for a moment as she noticed Alice. “Hey, have we met before?”

“Huh?”

“Your face, it looks familiar. But your mane has changed.” This raised an eyebrow from Lauren. “Don’t you remember me? You were in Canterlot and you were sad, and I gave you that ice cre-” A purple, sparkling muzzle formed around her, from Twilight’s aura.

“Twilight? What are you doing?”

“Uh…” Twilight looked between her and the mare that was struggling against her magic. “Would you excuse me for just a moment? Girls, would you show them Sugar Cube Corner next? I’ll be right back.”

As Twilight pulled the Pegasus out of the way towards a pair of buildings, Lauren’s eyebrow remained arched. Something wasn’t right. How did someone like Derpy, a well-known fan character, recognize the face of a human when as far as she knows, none ever came to Equestria before? Before she could ponder long, Rarity adverted her attention towards a favorite booth of hers.

Meanwhile in an alleyway, Twilight scanned to make sure that they were out of earshot before releasing the mare’s muzzle.

“What was that-” Derpy began to say but was cut off.

“Listen,” Twilight interrupted, “I know that you mean well, but you can’t tell them you’ve seen them before.”

“Them?” The Pegasus tilted her head in confusion. “What are you talking about? I was talking about the little filly back there-”

“Before you go any further, how exactly do you know about them?”

“Well…” she blinked. One of Derpy’s eyes began to drift. “It was a couple of years ago in Canterlot. My daughter and I were on vacation. Then after getting ice cream one night, we found… well… that oddly looking filly in an alleyway crying saying that her mom was upset because of her. Dinky and I tried to calm her down, taking her over to the hotel so we could help her out before she was foalnapped by a crazy unicorn. I called for the police, of course, but-”

“Oh, ponyfeathers!”

“What?”

“Lyra! I forgot about Lyra! Uh… Look, just do me this favor and pretend that you don’t know either of them.”

“But Princess, I don’t know what…” she paused. “Is it her? That young creature from Can-”

“Yes, yes, but for now, I just need you to be quiet for now. Okay? It’s a complicated situation and all so for now, just keep it hushed. Alright?”

Derpy told her that she would. Soon after, Twilight took to the sky to find a certain light green unicorn that probably needed restraining.

Although she was there when the concept art for Sugarcube Corner was presented, and she had seen it at least a thousand times from the show itself, the fan art, or even the endless parade of toys; seeing the building itself was mindboggling to Lauren. There wasn’t a single detail about it that was out of place. From the three lit candles on top of a cupcake which is the dome roof to Pinkie’s room, to the birds' nest on one corner of the roof, and the pink windows and candy cane columns for the front door, she was in awe of how large and surprised of how good it smelled up close. It was as if the place radiated every pleasant smell that one could think of. Of cakes, cinnamon, lemons, perfectly cooked cookies, and freshly baked bread, it smelled exactly how she pictured it in her mind.

“And this is Sugarcube Corner!” Pinkie waved a hoof at it proudly. “It’s also home to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the twins, me and Gummy.”

“Is that,” Alice asked, pointing to the roof, “frosting?”

Pinkie giggled. “I wish! Do you know how often I would be on the roof licking off the frosting? They would have to get a restraining order, that’s how often! But sadly no, it isn’t.”

“It looks incredible in person,” Lauren remarked. “The detail is breathtaking.”

“But it’s just a bakery,” Spike said, waving a claw.

“To you, yes. But where I come from, there’s hardly - if any place - in the world that builds a place like this and not be it some gimmicky theme park or a seasonal holiday thing. But as a thriving business? One that you can smell all the stuff that’s cooking in there; it’s almost hard to believe that this is real.”

“I can top that,” Pinkie said, and Alice asked, “Do you want some free samples?”

“Oh Pinkie,” Lauren replied, “you don’t have to-”

“Please!” Alice insisted. “I want cookie!”

“Hold on one sec.” Pinkie disappeared in a blur of pink rushing into the front doors of the bakery. There was a cacophony of confusing sounds from a whinnying horse, crashes of pots and pans, a kazoo, a Willhelm scream, the tooting of Elephants, splashing of water, the zip of a zip line, the ringing of bells, creaking of wood, and an orchestra landing in the middle of a pinewood forest. But a moment later, the pink mare returned with a chocolate chip cookie in her hoof. “Here ya go! One sample.”

“What were you doing in there?” Lauren asked as his daughter greedily took hold and consumed the cookie.

“Word of advice,” Rainbow said, “Whenever something weird happens around Pinkie, it's best not to question her. It’ll save you the headache.”

“Want one?” Pinkie asked.

“I’m fine.” She looked over at the bakery. “So are the Cakes in today?”

“You want to meet them?”

Lauren thought it over for a moment, “Well… if it’s not too inconvenient for you guys at this hour.”

“Of course you can!” Pinkie took her by the hand, “It’s almost closing time, but you can still say hello to them.” Hopping towards the pink front door, the mare guided the human and her daughter inside. Of course, being much taller than most, Lauren had to resort to ducking her way in, and even then, the ceiling was a bit too short for her. However, there was plenty of room for her three-year-old daughter to comfortably walk in. Inside the sugary theme store, complete with the rows of candy and glazed pastries, were two ponies that were looking right up at her. One was a yellow stallion whose legs were thin enough to be mistaken for matchsticks, the other was a rounded, blue mare with a swirly pink mane and a yellow apron.

The other ponies plus a dragon followed suit.

“Here’s the giants I was talking about, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie told them with a smile.

Mr. Cake blinked. “Wow… you weren’t exaggerating.”

“Sorry for intruding,” Lauren said, kneeling down. “We were just in the neighborhood, and I wanna say that this place is beautiful, and my daughter likes your cookies.”

“Uh…” Mrs. Cake blinked. “Thank you? I guess. Sorry dearie, don’t take this the wrong way but… what, are you?”

“Person,” Alice answered, between munches of her cookie.

“Oh,” Mr. Cake nodded. “Never heard one before, (must be rare) but forgive us, we’ve come in contact with new creatures every so often, but we’re just not familiar with you is all.”

“That’s perfectly understandable,” Lauren said. “To be fair, I don’t come across colorful ponies that talk either, but here we are. So how are Pound and Pumpkin doing?”

This question took the bakers aback. “How do you know our foals?” Mrs. Cake inquired. “Pinkie, did you tell her about them?”

“Yeah I… wait…” she tapped her chin for a moment, “I did tell you they have twins, but I don’t think I told you about their names.”

“Didn’t you?”

The ponies and dragon at the door thought it over for a moment.

“No, I don’t she did,” Fluttershy said. “Does this mean you’re all-knowing or something?”

“Of course not,” Lauren answered, “If I did know everything, I wouldn’t be asking how the twins are doing, would I?”

The ponies thought over that logic for a moment, “Can’t fault her there.” Rarity commented. “Still, it is rather off-putting to know somepony's name before being introduced.”

“Oh…” Lauren tried to figure out what exactly to say next as the Cakes were waiting for a response from her slip-up. What words could she possibly use and not make this any less uncomfortable or weird for them? Fortunately or unfortunately, she didn’t have to.

A sudden burst from the front door and there was a frantic, half-crazed, ready-to-pounce mint green unicorn that the creator immediately identified as Lyra Heartstrings. Her golden eyes beheld her and Alice, with a madding grin she held up a Polaroid camera and took the picture. One sudden flash later, she held the camera in triumph. “Ah-ha! I finally got it! Actual proof! I must get the picture to the press! The world must know!”

“Uh, now Lyra,” Fluttershy said timidly, “Let’s not do anything hasty-”

“No! I got my proof at long last! This will finally prove that I’m not crazy!” With a happy whinny, they galloped out the door.

“Huh…” Applejack, who up until now hadn’t said a word looked over to her friends. “Should we stop her or what?”

They shrugged.

“Get back here!” A burst of Twilight’s voice was enough for them plus the humans to rush outside. They found Twilight flying at full speed chasing the unicorn. “You do NOT have permission to take their picture yet!”

“Well, that answers that question,” Rainbow too took off after the mare that dashed and zig-zag about, going in and out of alleyways but Lyra was barely out of reach. In a way, the creator of the show almost expected this sudden burst of hijinks like this, and she has to admit to herself that it was pretty crazy to see a live cartoon chase in person. From where they could see it, Lyra dove into a rain barrel and came out from a chimney across the street. She went down an alleyway and came out of a window. All the while Rainbow and Twilight were just barely behind her.

“Uh… Don’t you think you ought to do something?” Spike asked Lauren.

“Like what?” She questioned. “She’s way too fast, and it isn’t that I could just say: ‘And suddenly Lyra ran into a brick wall out of nowhere’ and expect it to-”

WAP!

“…. happen.”

Right in the middle of the street, Lyra the crazed unicorn had run face-first into a brick wall that appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street. Twilight and Rainbow barely had enough time to slow down to prevent a similar faceplant. Although they did confiscate the camera, they were completely confused by the wall that popped out all of a sudden.

“The hay did this come from?” Rainbow questioned, circling around the wall.

At the steps of Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie looked between Lauren and the newest addition to Ponyville. “Did you do that?” She asked. Hopping up and down, she got an idea. “Oh! Oh! Make a twelve-story chocolate cake with lots of yellow frostings and confetti sprinkles appear!”

Applejack scratched her head. “Huh… Ah don’t remember that bein’ there a minute ago. Where? How?”

“Do it again, mommy!” Alice demanded excitedly.

Lauren too was taken aback at what just happened. She was absolutely certain that something like that never happened in the show except for… “Is Discord around by chance?”

“No?” Fluttershy answered. “The last time I saw him was for tea, and even then, he had gone back to his dimension. So, he shouldn’t be here.”

‘But if that were true,’ Lauren thought, ‘how did that… I didn’t just will it into existence… didn’t I?’ Curious, she decided to experiment. “Uh…” She lifted up her hand and thought of saying something nonsensical. “Let’s see uh… ‘Then all of a sudden, a teacup appeared in my hand in which a tiny Thorax was taking a bath in.’”

Pop!

In the palm of her hand, a purple teacup that held a soapy, pink bubbled water with a very small King of the Changelings in it; complete with a poke-a-dot shower cap and a wooden brush. Thorax was confused for a moment before looking up at the human. He screamed in a high-pitched tone.

“‘A-And then he was suddenly teleported back to his hive to finish his bath!’”

Pop!

The Changeling, bathwater, teacup, and all disappeared.

Ponies, plus a dragon and her daughter stared at her. “Huh… Okay, that’s new.”

6: Departure

“So, what kind of food do people eat?” Silverstream asked.

As for keeping to her promise, after Lauren and her daughter were given the rest of the tour around the town, she returned to the school to face the students’ questions for their project. So far, she took notice that the questions were aimed more towards what humans, in general, are like.

By now, they were in the school’s library and the sun had already set. Lauren was waiting for the Royal Sisters to return with an airship. In the meantime, she is surrounded by six creatures, being interviewed not on the latest cartoon she’s working on but rather trying to describe as best she could what humans are like. Meanwhile, her daughter was being looked over by Twilight in her castle.

“Truthfully? We tend to eat a lot of things. Being omnivores, we can eat veggies as well as meats. I could probably talk all night about what kind of foods there are out there. Such as ice cream sandwiches, noodles, fried chicken, ceaser salads, asiago bread, roast turkey, scallop potatoes, orange shakes, kimchi, baklava, dragon fruit, sushi, I can go on, but I think you’d get the point.”

“Dragon fruit, huh?” Smolder raised an eyebrow. “What’s that like?”

“Hmm… Something between a kiwi and a pear? It’s kinda hard to describe because they’re expensive where I come from.”

Sandbar raised a hoof. “Are there civilizations where you come from?”

“Short answer, yes. Yes, there is, and we tend to populate all of them.”

Ocellus raised a hoof. “Do you use magic where you come from?”

“Well… not exactly.”

“What do you mean?”

“The thing is… magic as you know it doesn’t exist in my world. If anything, you see magic in stories, cartoons, movies, or people faking it. Magic is something I thought existed in my daydreams… until I came here.”

“Fascinating…” the blue changeling jot down into her notes. “If you don’t have any magic, how do you people live?”

“Easy. We tend to get creative and innovative. That’s the thing about us humans, no matter what you throw at us, not only will we learn to adapt, but we use our creativity to make life easier for us. Because we don’t have magic, we invented machines to do countless things.”

“Like what?” Yona asked.

Lauren thought about this for a moment. “Like… Say if you wanted to get somewhere that’s too far to walk in the shortest amount of time, we invented cars – horseless carriages as we used to call them. We invented a machine that could store documents, notes, music, books, photos, and movies even, and we call it a computer. Then we figured out a way to connect other computers from all over the world and ended up creating the biggest library in the history of mankind known as the internet. We figured out how to make machines to grow more food than ever and sell them for cheap in supermarkets that are as big as a village. Oh! And not only that,” she pulled out her cell phone, “but we’ve also invented this thing. Some people call it a smartphone, not only will it allow you to talk to someone that’s very far away as well as pass along some uh… notes, but this thing is a small computer too that can do all sorts of things. Like using it as a flashlight, telling you where in the world you are, calling for help, giving you directions to the nearest place to eat, listening to music, and shopping for things without leaving home. Really, when we put our minds to it, we could do almost anything.”

Gallus gave a low whistle. “With a world like that, it must be paradise.”

Lauren froze. She didn’t say anything.

“You are such a fascinating, complicated species!” Silverstream remarked, after writing something in her notes. “And so advance too. Oh! What was the last big thing that you people have accomplished?”

“Boy… a lot of hard questions here, aren’t we?” Lauren rubbed her head. “I don’t know exactly where to start on that one. Apart from the stuff with technology that I’ve said, there are things like the moon landing and-”

“Wait- what!?” the students said at once.

“Um…” Sandbar coughed into his hoof. “What exactly do you mean by… ‘moon landing?’”

“Oh… Well, before I was born, a group of people had figured out a way to not only go into space, not only how to orbit around the planet, but the biggest achievement of all was that we were able to successfully have people walk on the moon and back.”

The student’s mouths – including their notebooks – dropped to the floor.

“H-How…?” Smolder was the first to put their collective thoughts into words. “How’s that even possible without any magic? I mean, not just going to the moon but coming back from it? The only one that was about to do that and not… you know… and live was-”

“Princess Luna.” Lauren nodded. “Yes, that’s true. But I know what you’re thinking. To this world, going to the moon is like going to a maximum-security prison, right?” they nodded. “But the thing is, to us, when the first man in history was able to set foot on the surface of the moon, it was a pretty big moment for everyone. Not because of sending someone cruel to that place, but rather, for the first time, a person was able to touch something that has been long thought to be out of reach. That we made the impossible, possible. This was so big, that the man who took his first steps on the moon said something that burned into the minds of everyone that saw it on their screens. ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’”

“Wow…” Sandbar said, scratching the back of his head. “When you put it like that… That does sound something remarkable. And considering that you don’t have any magic… that’s saying something.”

“Yeah.” Lauren nodded. “So, is there anything else you guys wanna ask?”

The six students looked at one another. “Now that you’ve mentioned it.” Ocellus closed her notebook. “Just off the record here, there is something that has gotten all of us curious about.”

“What is it?”

“Well… when you mentioned that… where you come from… our world is just a cartoon to you. Right?” Lauren told her that this was true. “So… I think that on behalf of everycreature here is…” The Changeling hesitated as if trying to find the right words for her question. Finally, she asked, “That cartoon, is it well-known with other people?”

‘Boy we’re gonna be here all night.’ Lauren thought, trying to figure out how to answer that. “Short answer, yes. It’s still popular enough that people see it.”

“Personally, I can’t figure out why though,” Smolder commented. “I mean, if your people are flocking to theaters to see a cartoon of ponies, I don’t know if it’ll get that much attention. But if it was about dragons… I can see it being a hit.”

‘The cynical part of me would have agreed with you ten years ago, Smolder,’ the creator thought. “Perhaps, but it has been going for nine years with a fanbase to boot. In my world, they not only like the ponies but the other creatures and the places they get to see.”

“And you’re going to see it all!” Everyone, including Lauren, jumped at the sudden appearance of Princess Luna. “We have arrived!”

“Don’t you ever knock!?” Gallus said, a talon over his chest. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Forgive us,” Luna smiled, hopping in place, “we are so excited that we finally get to spend time with our mother that knocking seems unnecessary!”

Lauren couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. A thought came across her mind, acknowledging that she still had her phone in her hand. “Before I go, would it be too much trouble if I ask to take a picture of all of you?”

Sandbar tilted his head. “With what?” She held up the cell phone. “That’s a camera too?”

“Again, this thing is really useful. So, can I?”

The students, plus the Princess of the night grouped tightly together. Lauren activated her phone and held it up to them before taking their picture.

‘How come they didn’t use this when they were going around Equestria again?’

Outside of the school with the full moon overhead, was a craft that was a good deal bigger than she could ever predict. The airship was just that; a ship tied to a blimp. However, this royal airship was something that she could never anticipate the sheer elaborateness, detail, and awe-inspiring vessel that at home, would no doubt be considered a wonder of the world. In a way, the ship itself was something that would be worthy of Capitan Nemo’s Nautilus. It was part submarine and part sailing ship at the same time. Yet, it was not an iron monstrosity but rather an elegant thing that had the glittering sun, moon, and stars along its white porcelain-like hull. On the sides of the vessel were wings that resembled wings. But above the ship was a titanic blimp that suspended it all in the air. Alice remarked that it resembled a whale, and her mother agreed. It was made of white and dark blue fabric where there were extra fins and an enormous tale in the back. Some ropes draped down from the vessel that kept it tied to the ground and some of which had baskets that were raised and lowered. These held ponies or supplies that were being loaded on board.

“To be honest, I haven’t used this thing in ages,” Celestia tells Lauren. “It’s only used for very, very important occasions. It’s pretty much a floating palace if you like to think as such.”

“How come you never used it before?”

“Simple, I never had the proper excuse to use it until now.”

“Really? What was the excuse?”

Celestia smiled. “You came.”

Lauren felt a tug on the sleeve of her pajamas. “Mom! I wanna ride!” Alice said, pointing upward.

The Princess playfully chuckled, lowering her head down. “Don’t worry little one, you will be up there soon. We just need to have one more pony, and a certain dragon to be ready to come with us.”

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” A frantic gallop of hooves and a flapping of wings drew close to them. Twilight came as quickly as she could with bags of paper – no doubt the kind she’s supposed to grade – and Spike just behind to pick up the papers that were being dropped behind her. As expected, there was a frantic look on her face, heaving, no doubt was in a rush and carried extra pounds of paper just to study her and her daughter. “Sorry… This is… last minute…”

Celestia approached her. “You know you don’t have to come with us. Being how busy with your school and-”

“I had Starlight take over for me,” Twilight informed her; her breath recovered. “So how long is this going to be again?”

“I don’t want it to be long,” Lauren said. “And you don’t have to show me everything. Just a few days would be alright as long as we get back here. After all, I still want to spend some more time with everyone here in Ponyville.” She looked down at her nightly clothes. “Although, we probably should figure out how to get a few pairs of clothes for us… Unless…”

Twilight’s ears folded back against her head. “I don’t know if Rarity would be able to make clothes for you two when you’re just about to leave.”

“No, hold on.” She held up a hand. “I want to try something here. Give me a second…” Clearing her throat, she thought carefully of the words she was about to say. Closing her eyes, she spoke: “Before they could leave, a Pegasus, white as snow and a curly mane yellow as the sun came swooping in with a thick suitcase.”

“Mother, what are you-”

“The mare apologized for not coming sooner as she was held up by a flock of geese. After handing… me the suitcase, she handed over a business card with the name Surprise on it before flying off. Inside the suitcase were a pair of tennis shoes, socks, a pair of blue jeans with golden buttons, and T-shirts that were yellow and had a smiley face. The clothes were a perfect fit for the mother and daughter. Inside the suitcase were toiletries, a purse that had a bag of bits, and a copy of the Friendship Journal signed by Twilight and her friends.”

Opening her eyes, Celestia was looking at her with a puzzled look. “Mother, what were you doing?”

“Wait! Wait!” As if appearing out of nowhere, a white Pegasus mare with a curly yellow mane flew down to them with a suitcase in her hooves. “Ma’am! You forgot something!” From the corner of her eye, Lauren saw Celestia, Twilight, and Spike taking a double-take at what was happening. “I’m so, so sorry, I tried to get this back to you sooner but there was a flock of geese in the way.”

Lauren knelt down, “Oh it’s no big deal, thank you for the effort anyway.”

“Here,” the mare offered the suitcase. After the creator took hold of it, the mare reached something underneath her wing and pulled out a card. “Just for future reference, my name is Surprise.”

“Again, thank you so much.”

A relieved smile came across Surprise’s face before she flew back into the night.

“Okay, what just happened?” Celestia inquired.

Lauren opened up the suitcase, and sure enough, everything that she described from the clothes to the purse full of bits was inside. “To be honest, I don’t know. But it’s something I just found out not too long ago that if I’m telling something like I would a story, it just happens.”

“I saw it in action, Princess,” Twilight said. “She made a brick wall appear out of nowhere. Do you think that she has powers on par with Discord?”

Celestia seriously considered this question for a moment while Lauren and Alice were going through the suitcase. “Now that I think of it… In theory, she might very well be. After all, she created our world. She made Equestria itself. If you like, the Author of the universe, I know to her it’s just a story, but in this case, she is in many respects, a goddess if she could make the improbable happen.”

“Do you think her powers have a limit?”

“I suppose, but I have never seen anything like this before.”

From above, Luna descended to the ground, carrying a large wicker basket in her blue aura. “The crew is ready. Now it is time for us to make our departure.”

After the humans put the things in the suitcase back, they climbed into the basket. While the others spread their wings and began their ascent, carrying them up with them, Spike decided to fly next to the two. “So… Are you two liking Equestria so far?”

“It’s everything that I imagine it to be – literally.” Lauren joked. “I can’t believe that I’m actually here.”

“Ponies are fun,” Alice said. “She has fun games.” She pointed up to Twilight.

Spike nodded. “That’s good to hear. I’m looking forward to this.”

“How come?” Lauren asked.

“Well… More often whenever something out of the ordinary happens, I’m usually kept out of the loop. But hey, at least this time I’m going around Equestria with a creator Goddess. Not many creatures anywhere could boast about that!”

“It will only be a few days.”

The young dragon chuckled. “Trust me, even in a few days with them around, anything can happen. Besides, this will be my first time on an airship – so that should be cool.”

Lauren agreed. Soon they were on board of the airship and were greeted by a staff of Royal Guards and servants. Almost immediately, the two humans were shown around the ship by the Royal sisters with the eagerness of young children wanting to impress their parents. Fortunately, the inside of the airship had high enough ceilings for Lauren to walk around comfortably. Indeed, the airship was like a floating palace as it had rows of elaborate bedrooms, meeting rooms, staff quarters, a swimming pool, a library, a mini-theater, a dining room, a ballroom, a throne room, a tennis court, a rock garden, a small hospital, and at the very top of the blimp, there was even an observatory with a glass dome with telescopes pointing at the sky.

The last thing to be shown on this impressive ship was the control deck. It was on the lowest level of the ship at the head, where the first thing that stood out was the windows. Big, massive windows that give a good view of the ground below, including a large round one in the middle of the room. There were charts and compasses; buttons and switches; and even a big stirring wheel with a pony waiting there for orders.

“Mom,” Alice asked, pulling on her mother’s sleeve, “I wanna live here.”

There was a part of Lauren that agreed, given all the luxury that was on this vessel. However, one question sticks out of her mind. “So, is there a captain that runs this?”

“That would be me.” She turned around to the voice that spoke up and was surprised to find who it was. It wasn’t for the fact that the captain was a mare, nor because she was a unicorn. Rather, it was a character that she didn’t think would be guiding this ship. Lauren saw a very dark purple unicorn with a deadpanned expression and a jagged, broken horn. She was a mare that had a pink Mohawk of a mane, and Lauren knew immediately who she was. After all, she saw the movie. “Captain Tempest at your service and... well that’s new.”

“Tempest!” Twilight wrapped a hoof around her in a hug. “Good to see you again.”

“I call it a coincidence.” She replied, “After all, I needed a new job and I ended up with this. Still, I will ask,” she pointed at the humans, “what are they?”

“Our most esteemed guests of honor,” Luna told her, “at least if it helps to think that way. This is Lauren Faust and her daughter, Alice.”

Tempest raised an eyebrow. “Interesting names, but I suppose if they’re guest,” she bowed her head, “I welcome you two on board.” Rising, she turned to Celestia. “So where to now, Your Majesty?”

Celestia thought about this for a moment, “I think we should let Lauren decide.”

All eyes turned to Lauren. With this tremendous decision suddenly thrown at her, she had to look at a map of Equestria to help jog her memory of this land of ponies. ‘This is… such a big choice. I get to decide on where to go in a fictional world of mine! Only… where to go first? Canterlot? The Crystal Empire? Or maybe the other towns like Appleloosa or maybe Rainbow Falls. Then again, what about the other places like Yakyakistan, Griffonstone, or perhaps the Dragon Lands? Just where do I start? Where…’ An idea came to her. There was a place on the map that, although it was a subtle nod to where she was from, was still a place that the show itself never once visited.

She had an answer. “Would it be too much to ask to go to Baltimare first, then circle Equestria, saving Canterlot and Ponyville last?”

“That’s… oddly specific,” Spike commented. “Why Baltimare? In fact, what’s even there?”

Lauren thought about her answer carefully, “Let’s just say… I want to test something out and I want to go there first.”

“Fine by me.” Tempest shrugged before turning to her crew. “Set a course for Baltimare.”

7: Heart to Heart with Luna

It is impressive how fast this floating palace could go at full speed. Lauren almost expected that this thing would go about the pace of a teenage dragon just to get from one place to another. However, seeing the landscape in the moonlight going underneath them, it’s astonishing how much progress they were making. Not only that, but she didn’t expect the ride itself would be so quiet. If anything, the only sound to be heard was the wind and the mechanical flapping of the ship’s wings. And even then, the wings aren’t as loud as the engine of an airplane that she’s been on.

Although Alice had been long tired out and asleep, Lauren was too excited to sleep. The guestroom royale was located in the very back of the vessel, which gave the absolute best view of Equestria. In fact, for the last hour, she was leaning up against the railing, looking out to the dark landscape. Above her were the moon and stars with clouds that drifted by. In the distance, Mt. Canter and its golden city, along with Ponyville and its surrounding mountains and forests. From this vantage, she can see farms, lakes, rivers, forests, a tiny bit of the desert, and lines of the railroad. And right beneath them, they were passing over the barren fields that were home of the Diamond Dogs.

“I was beginning to wonder why I couldn’t find your dreams.” She heard Luna say. Breaking her hypnotizing view of the landscape, Lauren saw the Princess of the Night flying towards her, making a gentle landing on the balcony. “I was able to find Alice’s dream, but I couldn’t find any signs of yours, so I was starting to get worried.”

Lauren blinked. “You can go into her dreams?”

“As Princess of the Night, it’s one of my duties to be sure that the dream realm is free from nightmares of those who sleep. And do not fret, Alice was having a good dream when I left it. Still, I’m rather surprised to find you wide awake.” She sat down on her haunches. “Has something troubled you?”

“No. I already have gotten enough sleep a few hours ago, and even if I wanted to I just can’t because of how excited I am to be here. It’s like visiting another country that you wanted to see for a long time and finally being able to get the chance to. Only, this country is uh…”

“One of your doing.” Luna nodded. “I understand the feeling quite well. Why when my sister and I were able to take some time off for a vacation, I failed to get any rest at all because I was just so excited to get to see what was outside the golden cage.”

“The golden cage?”

“A rather mean title for the palace.” Luna blushed. “But an accurate one at that. Don’t get me wrong, living in the castle has its perks, but there’s so much of the world that I never get to see. Did you know that I’ve been to the post office for the first time not too long ago? My sister may think it mundane, however, being someone who has been isolated on the moon for so long as well as in the palace… everything to me is still new. This vessel, for example, is a marvel in my eyes. That something so heavy being easily carried off like a feather in the wind. Or for the farmers down there, where they could tame the land so wide and reap an abundant harvest is amazing for its organization alone.”

“Does Celestia share your enthusiasm?”

“Only aimed at the more extreme. My sister has gained a taste for the thrills of life. For example, we went down a zip line for the first time. We slid down with nothing but a wire to hold us up, flying faster than Rainbow Dash probably ever went. Even with my vocal protests, Celie was having the time of her life.”

Lauren hummed. “I guess I couldn’t blame her. After all, she is enslaved to a schedule and to serve an entire country. She had to do so many things for so long from entertaining nobles to just raising the sun every day, and even teaching Twilight – that alone must really have tested her patients.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “I suppose… Believe me, mother, it isn’t that I’m ignorant of what she has to put up with from day to day. The experience that Starlight Glimmer has shown us that we both have to deal with major responsibilities that if done wrong could lead to dire consequences. Still, being that we’re going to retire soon, Celestia and I know that we shall be placing those responsibilities in good hooves. After all, Twilight has come a long way and we have faith in her.”

Lauren smiled at this. “I think she’ll do well too.”

The Night Princess nodded, turning her attention to the view, particularly at the stars. “To be honest with you… Regardless of what form you take, you’ve always been a mystery to us.”

“What do you mean?”

“What?”

“Well… First the form thing, what do you mean?”

Luna thought about her answer carefully. “You see, even as children, you tend to appear and disappear almost at random. We never understood why you did this, sometimes we see you for only an instant, while others for years. But regardless, when you do show up, we notice that you tend to change. For example, we see you as an alicorn. A red, messy mane. A quill and inkwell cutie mark. And your signature smile. While at other times you come by as a dragon, a seapony, or any other manner. Yet, regardless of what form you find yourself in, we still recognize you as… well… you. We can tell that there is an essence that it’s still you.”

“That’s interesting…” Lauren muttered. “And the whole mystery thing?”

“Ah, well the odd thing is that despite how much you know about us, or that you appear at certain moments in our lives… I don’t think even Celestia knows about you. As the mother who does what she can to make sure we’re taken care of gives us support, and often tells us stories or writes us books, that is all we about know you. Lauren Faust the individual… We don’t have a clue. We don’t know where you come from, did we have a father, where you keep disappearing to when you’re going to come back, what were you doing before us or this world – these and more we don’t know. Not to mention our uh… step-sister.” She craned her head over towards where Alice was sleeping. “We have so many questions about you that… I don’t know where to start.”

Guilt struck Lauren’s heart – although she isn’t sure why. Even though she knows deep down that this is all still fictional, hearing from her character that their mother wasn’t always around was still sad to her. The fact that their mother closely resembled her was a bit of a double whammy as hearing this made her feel responsible somehow. Perhaps she should have given them a mother from the start or… something. Even if they weren’t her children in any sense, her compassion said otherwise.

“What do you want me to say?” Lauren asked.

For a long minute, Luna didn’t have an answer to that. But decided to change the subject. “What are you like where you come from? What do you do?”

“In general, or…?”

“I suppose we could start there.”

“Well… I started as an artist many years ago then eventually an animator. Which is someone who draws one picture at a time to make a cartoon. Eventually, I worked my way up to become a storyboard artist and screenwriter for a few shows and movies. My husband Craig is the same way-”

“Ah-ha! So we do have a father after all!” Luna leaned forward. “Is he good to you?”

Lauren laughed at that. “Yes. He really is sweet and creative. This is good news for both of us as we help each other out to bounce ideas off of each other. Eventually, I was asked to create a show.”

“Our world?” The creator nodded. After looking thoughtful, Luna asked, “What inspired you?”

“Oh…” Lauren breathed deeply. “Big question. Well, there were several things. One of which, to be honest, is actually to reboot a show that nobody had faith in.”

The Night Princess blinked. “What do you mean?”

“The truth is the show, My Little Pony, this isn’t the first time someone made the show. There were three – well four – versions that came about. In fact, I was only a kid when I saw the show when they did it the first time around. Needless to say, it was very different compared to this. Like for example, in the original show, this land of ponies was once called (and I’m not making this up) Ponyland.”

Luna snorted, “Oh how original,” she chuckled.

“Yes, I know, looking back on it, that show is very simplified compared to this. If anything, the show was originally meant to sell us toys. Heavy plastic dolls where you could brush their manes and tales. By the time it was my turn, I was asked to do it so they could sell toys too.”

“Wait, wait,” Luna held up her hooves. “Give me time to wrap my mind around this… You’re saying that one of the reasons why you invented Equestria, is because someone out there wants to sell toys of us?”

“Pretty much.” She nodded. “But even then, I didn’t want to be lazy with it. I wanted it to be smart in its own way. This leads to the other inspiration that, when I was a kid and I got a hold of the toys, I often pretended to make a Ponyland of my own. I still have memories as a kid where I used to have this toy castle and I set it on top of a dresser that I pretended that it was a mountain. And below that, I saw parts of my bedroom were different places of this magical land. Where the carpet in the middle was a valley. Or the bed had caves underneath the sheets. Even the toy chest was at one time an evil lair where the bad guys were. I used to come up with different adventures and situations for those dolls I played with.”

“I see. Like a prototype of Equestria.”

Lauren shrugged. “Something like that. And there was something else too.”

“Which is?”

“Well… I think I was so obsessed with ponies that when I was a kid, I had a dream about it.”

Luna froze. “Oh? And uh… do you recall anything from this dream?”

“Not that much. All I can remember is that when I was twelve or thirteen, a talking pony came out from under my bed and I followed it through until I ended up at a castle. There were some princesses and other ponies, then at one point, I got lost and… I can’t remember much. But I will still say that out of the bits and pieces that I did remember, ended up helping me figure out what Equestria was going to look like. Especially the characters that were inspired by that dream. Of course, some things needed to be changed around before we could make the cartoon, but I must say, I am proud of what it’s become.”

“Oh… I see…” Luna looked away from both her and the stars. “Mother… are you… proud of me too?” This question hit hard for Lauren, for she knew exactly why she was asking that. “Despite what I’ve done in the past. Despite my selfishness, my shortsightedness, and even my stupidity… are you still proud of me?”

That, for Lauren, was heartbreaking to hear. With nothing more than her motherly instincts kicking in, she hugs her neck. “Don’t beat yourself up, Luna. All of us make mistakes, and we don’t learn the first time around. You didn’t have that many ponies to turn to when you felt lost, and if it were me, I probably would have done the same too.”

“Mother?”

“Luna, if there’s anyone worth blaming, it’s me.”

The eyes of the Princess of the Night widen. “Mother, don’t say that!”

“But it’s true. I made this world, and you know what? I think I’m responsible for what happens here, including what happened to you.”

“Mother, stop it.” Luna nuzzled her. “What happened all those years ago was of my doing. I chose to become jealous instead of finding a more peaceful way to resolve things. Being on the moon, creating the Tantabus, distancing myself from Celestia, convincing myself that I have to deal with my problems on my own, all of that falls on me. All the jeers, sharp criticisms, and condemnations I received were of my doing. Not yours. You didn’t drive me to my banishment on the moon. You didn’t guilt me into creating a monster that I made to torment me. Nor did you give me cause to become distant with my sister.”

“But Luna, I wrote the story that caused all this.”

Luna frowned. “Even so, did you do so for the sake of harming me?”

“No! Of course not! If I had known this was real-”

“But you didn’t, and that is why I don’t hold you accountable. To you, all this was a story. But to me, I did those things not because I was pocessed or because I was always evil. But because I didn’t know what to do with the loneliness, how to forgive, or trust those I deem as friends with something that they could help me with. In this world, I am responsible for what I ended up deciding. And from you…” She sighed. “I don’t ask for your forgiveness. Rather I hope to gain your understanding of what I have done. That maybe… you could tell me that it’s okay to be a screw-up.”

Lauren hugged her tighter. “I do understand. Coming from someone that messes up too, it’s okay to make those mistakes as long as you learn from them.”

Luna wrapped her wings around her. “Thank you, mother.”

8: In the Cottage Time Forgot

Celestia raised the sun by the time the airship had reached the city limits of Baltimare. Below them was a city that, to the untrained eye, reminded Lauren of places like New York or Boston. However, if she focused hard enough, she could make out the details that have certain elements of the Baltimore she knows. From a few key buildings near the sea to the star-shaped fortress and even a section of town where she could see dragons roaming about, she knew instantly that this was the place.

“We’ll be landing shortly.” Lauren looked behind her to Tempest who spoke to her as she came on the observation deck. “Probably within half an hour or so.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

The captain of the airship walked up next to the creator. “If it’s not improper, I was hoping to get an answer out of you.”

“Regarding what?”

“Well… I mean that out of all the places in Equestria, you could ask to be taken to – why here? It just seems odd that a guest of the Royal Princesses, a creature that nopony has ever seen before asks to be taken to this place. As far as I know, there’s nothing much here except for the dragon community.”

‘Huh… so this world is taking a page from the IDW comics.’ Lauren thought. “Well, to answer your question, I’m rather curious about something.”

Tempest raised an eyebrow. “Concerning…?”

“Well… you see where I come from, when a team and I were trying to figure out what Equestria was going to look like, I put a subtle nod to my hometown. If this place is the Equestria that I know… then I want to test out something.”

"Test out what?"

“In my head… when I came up with my original character; I had an idea that perhaps the girls had grown up here a long time ago. And maybe… If I’m right, Celestia and Luna’s chil- eh, foalhood home, might still be here.”

The ship’s captain’s eyes flew open wide. “The Princesses foalhood… But that must be impossible. Those two are over a thousand years old at least. Even if they did grow up here, I highly doubt that their home would have survived all these years.”

“That’s what I want to test out. If I’m this world’s creator, then perhaps there is a place here that would confirm something that was purely in my head.”

“You’re speaking as if you’re not convinced this world is real.”

“Oh, it’s obvious that it is… I just don’t know if this is the Equestria I know.”

Tempest didn’t respond to that cryptic statement. Instead, she told her that she was going to go down to assist with the landing.

Like Ponyville, the ponies’ curiosity came to them in droves. Literally. Behind the quasi-royal procession, herds of ponies came from every direction with the guard holding them back. They had been going through the streets for about an hour now, and Alice was complaining.

“My feet hurt.” She told her mother who was holding her hand.

“Do you want me to carry you?”

“Here,” Twilight said, slowing down to be beside them. “If it helps, you can ride on my back.”

This surprised Lauren. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to carry so much weight.”

“Pfft!” Twilight waved a dismissive hoof. “Please, since becoming an alicorn, that means that I also gained Earth pony strength. Having to carry her shouldn’t be that difficult.”

“Well if you say so.” Lauren picked Alice up. “Now don’t pull on her mane or ears, Alice, ponies don’t like it when you do that. And don’t try to kick them too. It’s rude.”

Her daughter looked at her with disappointment but let out a groaning “Okay…” before she was lowered down onto Twilight’s back before they continued.

Spike flew up to them. “So… the Princesses were asking me to ask you… where exactly are we going? You never really said since we’ve landed.”

“Hopefully someplace familiar.” She said. “In my head, there’s a house here that’s been overlooked by time. Someplace tucked away.”

“So how would we know to find it?”

“Simple.” Lauren smiled. “By getting lost.”

Both Spike and Twilight tilted their heads in confusion. “Lost?” they asked in unison.

“Well if you want to find something that isn’t easily found you have to get lost first, otherwise everyone would know where to find it.”

“Yeah, but how do you know if we’re getting near?”

Lauren realized that Spike did have a point. She hadn’t thought of it that far. To her imagination, there’s a particular house that’s neatly tucked away among the skyscrapers and modern buildings. A place was so hidden that one wouldn’t see it off the bat unless-

“Mommy! Mommy!” Alice called out, pointing.

“Not right now, I’m thinking.”

“But mom!”

“In a moment hon.”

Pouting, Alice did the unpredictable and instantly got off of Twilight to start running off. However, before she could make a few steps, she was picked up off the ground by the Princess of Friendship. She kicked and waved her fists about being lifted in the air as well as letting out some screams.

This caught the attention of Celestia and Luna. “What is the meaning of this?” Luna asked.

“Mom! Look!” Alice pointed to a part of the street where two towering buildings stood right next to each other.

“Look at what?” Spike questioned. “There’s nothing there but a couple of buildings. Not even enough room for an alley.”

“Leaf!” Alice pointed. “Look! Leaf!”

At first, Lauren was about to grab her daughter’s hand as she didn’t know what she was talking about. That was until she glanced at her daughter’s direction and noticed something. A detail that if she had blinked or turned her head away, she would have missed it. But the more she looked at it, the more she realized that something was off. There was indeed a leaf and a stem that peeked out between the tight space of the buildings. However, what made her pause was how high off the ground it was. It was probably about to where Celestia was, and she noted that the plant was too far away from any other nearby.

“Twilight, put her down,” she said, “I think Alice might be onto something here.”

Once Alice had her feet touch the ground, she went running off towards the two buildings, and, much to their surprise, she disappeared right in between the cracks. It sends the entourage running, trying to figure out what just happened. But as they got close, they realized that what they were looking at, was an optical illusion. Up close, the two buildings were not wedged together at all, rather, one of the walls was angled to a way where one could slip right through between them. It was a secret entrance to an alleyway hidden in plain sight.

Alice was there, her hand running over the ivy that was growing on the walls, and at her feet, there was no longer concrete, but dirt.

“Was this always here?” Spike asked what was on their minds.

Celestia stepped into the entrance and looked down from it. “Call me crazy, but is it me, or does this seem a little familiar?”

Luna stuck her head in. “You’re not alone. It’s as if… we have been here before.”

After giving their guards a command to stay at the entrance, the sisters, Twilight, her assistant, and the two humans walked down the narrow space between the two buildings. It was like walking in the middle of a canyon where they stepped over wild grass and ivy that had grown very tall. Twilight took the front in which she used her magic to brush the plants aside to let them through the thicket. It was clear that whatever this place was, it had gone completely unnoticed by the rest of the city.

Then, after a few minutes of passing through the jungle of grass and weeds, they came to a very shaded but open space. What they found was so surreal, that it made them stop where they were. Inside a tight square were towers of concrete, steel, and glass reaching up to the sky to the point where they could only see a small bit of it, there was a cottage. Inside the shade of the surrounding skyscrapers, where one expected that hardly anything would grow, there was a tree that had a simple swing, bushes, grass – all green – and encompassed inside a simple log fence. There was a vegetable garden in one corner and a patch of flowers in the other. And in the very middle of all this, was a home that looked like something out of Ponyville. What walls with wooden beams noticeably stuck out, a thatched roof, and what was the most amazing of all, there were wisps of smoke coming out of the chimney.

It was clear that this tiny cottage in the middle of the city wasn’t unoccupied.

“Is… that…?” Luna rubbed her eyes as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“It can’t be,” Celestia said in amazement.

“Princesses?” Twilight asked, “What is it? What is this place?”

“I think we found it,” Lauren answered, picking Alice up. “Twilight, I think this is their foalhood home.”

Both Twilight and her assistant’s jaws slammed on the ground.

“I can’t believe it’s still here!” Celestia said. “It still… all of it. Even the swing.”

“But… how?” Luna inquired. “How can any of this still be here, after all these centuries?”

“Can we go in?” Alice asked.

Upon hearing that, Celestia blinked and turned to the Creator. “This is of your own doing, isn’t it?”

“Kind of…?” Lauren said. “I had this idea in my head for a while since I was asked where you two came from. And for whatever reason, this is what I thought about. Now that I can see it, this is indeed the final nail in the coffin that I really am in Equestria.”

“Mom?” Alice asked again, “Can we go in?”

“At least let’s see who’s living here.” Twilight was the first to advance onto the cottage that was lost to time, the others followed after. Walking over the fence and into the front yard, Celestia and Luna could sense something powerful. Only, it wasn’t sinister nor oppressive. Rather, they sense strong magic that, in a way, feel as if they’ve come home for the first time. Twilight, all the while, walked across the grass up to the wooden, ancient door where there was a simple knocker on it. Using her magic, she knocked on it three times.

For a moment, nothing happened until there were the sounds of hoofsteps that were coming to the front door. It opened up to an old, gray-maned mare with wrinkles like an oak tree and eyes clouded. “What is it?” the ancient mare asked, “I’m already paid through Thursday.”

“Hello.” Celestia said, “Forgive us to come unannounced.”

The mare looked about. “Who’s the tall one that’s talking?”

This caught everyone off guard. “Well, I am,” Celestia answered, “how did you know that I’m-”

“I’m blind, not stupid.” The mare retorts. “Your voice is coming from above me. I didn’t hear your wings, so that doesn’t make you a Pegasus. Nor are you any magic either because magic tends to make a sound. So that narrows it down to you being really tall. So, I’ll ask again, who are ya?”

The ponies, dragon, and humans introduced themselves. The closest thing Lauren could accurately describe herself and her child to the blind pony was that they were aliens.

“Again, forgive us for the intrusion,” Celestia told her, “but believe it or not, we used to live here once. Is it alright to have us come in for a minute?”

The blind mare hummed in thought, then she pointed to Alice. “You. You like pie?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Pumpkin pie?”

“Ice-cream. I-I like with ice-cream.”

“You got good taste.” She turned around but left the door ajar. “Don’t just stand there, come in and watch your heads. I don’t know how tall the ceilings are, but I think you’ll end up bumping your heads at one point.”

So pushing through the door, they entered a living room where there was a hearth, two armchairs, and a couch. They walked over a hardwood floor with a rug in the middle and overhead was a dusty black candelabra that didn’t have any candles. But what got their attention, however, was the pictures on the walls. There were three oil paintings on the walls, covered in centuries of dirt and cobwebs, which showed the same scene at different times of the day. However, it wasn’t so much what the paintings depicted, but rather the three ponies that were featured in them. Celestia and Luna, both when they were fillies. And the Fausticorn.

The paintings must have been a study because they showed the same location: a shady tree on top of a hill, looking down to a landscape of valleys, forests, and streams. But each painting depicted a different time – early morning, noon, and night. In the painting showing the dawn, all three ponies had their backs turned against the viewer towards the rising sun. It showed a filly Celestia with her horn aglow, hunched over as if dealing with a very difficult spell. The Fausticorn in the middle was patting her back and expressing words of encouragement. While the filly Luna was leaping in the air as if to cheer her sister on that she could do it. In the next painting, the two sisters were playing with a ball made out of twine in the bright sun while the older alicorn laid back against a tree, looking on as they played while levitating a scroll and a quill. In the final painting, where the stars were out and a full moon in the corner, it showed the siblings asleep, propping up against their mother underneath the tree while she read to them what was on the scroll.

“Where did you get these paintings Miss…?” Twilight ventured to ask but realized that she didn’t catch the name of the blind mare.

“Culinary.” The old mare answered from the kitchen. “And I don’t know where they came from. They were in the house long before I moved in.”

“So do you live here all by yourself?” Luna ventured to ask, taking a closer look at the evening painting.

“I was until all of you came in.” Spike tried and failed to suppress a giggle. “I’m a retired chef, lost her eyesight long ago; and now I’m playing host to three princesses, a short dragon, and two creatures from Celestia-knows-where.”

“Why is that an expression?” Celestia muttered but returned to her curiosity by looking closely at the morning painting. “You know, these paintings are pretty valuable. So if someone who can’t see has them, why have them?”

“Oh, I can’t take them down, even if I wanted to,” Culinary said, the sound of plates being laid out was heard. “In fact, nopony can. You could try to pry them off the walls all you want, they won’t budge. This house is pretty stubborn, but it’s practically the safest home in the world.”

“What do you mean?” Lauren asked.

“I mean this house is indestructible. You could set fire to it; pull it out from the ground; or damage whatever furniture isn’t glued to the floor, walls, or ceiling; but no matter what you do, you can’t do anything. Say, do any of you recall that Terik incident? He came right through the city tearing everything up. But when he got to my house? He couldn’t do a thing! He couldn’t rip it out of the ground, burn it, or use whatever magic he had – this house wouldn’t budge. I’ll tell ya, it’s pretty stubborn.”

Culinary returned to the living room, carrying plates of pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream on her back. After going around to serve the plates, she got to the royal sisters. “So, you two say that you both once lived here?”

“It’s strange to think, but this is the house we grew up in. With being a princess of over a thousand years, I’ve completely forgotten about this place. But now… it just brings back memories. Like I remember that down there,” she pointed to a short hallway, “The one on the left was our room, and on the other side was Mother’s. This room was her favorite place to work, especially during the winter when there was a cozy fire going on. This room used to have piles of scrolls of making stories – sometimes a dozen at the same time.”

Luna blinked, turning to Lauren she asked: “So is this why you wanted to have us come here? Back to our old home?”

While Alice sat down and took her place to eat on the couch, Lauren took up her plate. “It’s complicated, but to make it all short, I want to know with absolute certainty that the Equestria we’re in, is the same one that I had somewhat pictured it in my head. Although other writers could come up with new places and characters, there are a few things that remain untouched by never telling anyone. Take, for example, Baltimare’s best-kept secret, your foalhood home. Untouched by time or the writing staff. Now I know that this place is the same Equestria that I know.” She leaned up against a wall, taking a little bite of the ice cream. “Of course, the only thing I haven’t figured out now is what to do.”

“You’re joking, right?” Culinary questioned. “An alien from another world has come here, and besides coming here unannounced in my home to eat pumpkin pie and ice cream, she has no clue what to do?” She shook her head. “Sweet Luna, you’d think that aliens would have been a little bit smarter than this.”

“What do you mean by that?” Luna questioned, almost offended.

“I’m just saying, that if I go to a different planet, and the locals there have no clue who I am, why I’m there, and what I want, staying quiet about it is just going to grow fear and resentment the longer I stay. If I were the alien, the least I could do is hold some press conference or whatever, just so I could at least say hello. Get to know the visitor that decided to come by just a little.”

The room went completely quiet for a moment. “Actually…” Spike said at last. “That’s not a bad idea. With all those ponies that have been following us, it would be reasonable to at least tell them your intentions as well as a bit of yourself. If we’re going to go around Equestria, the last thing we want to encounter is an angry mob.”

‘…. I never thought of that.’ Lauren silently admitted to herself. She knew that Culinary and Spike were right. She and Alice are the first actual humans in Equestria that, to every intelligent creature here, are aliens to them. For all she knows, she could very well be spreading fear without knowing it. Especially when she’s walking around next to royalty all the time, they could come up with wild ideas as to what’s going on. Would they somehow see her and her daughter as a threat?

“You know what?” Lauren knelt to the blind pony. “You’re actually right. I don’t just want to see this world, but I want to get to know it personally. But I haven’t given this world the time to get to know me a little. It is the smart thing to do.”

Culinary smiled. “Good, you're learning. But before you go anywhere, would any of you care to stay for a little while to get to know all of you? Being in a forgotten part of the city, I don’t get neighbors that often.”

Lauren looked over to the Princesses. “We would be honored."

9: How Equestria was Unmade

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Luna asked.

Lauren was no stranger to interviews. She had gone on podcasts, made a documentary, and even gone to the press to discuss her works. Not to mention the Q and A sessions she did in past conventions to legions of fans, the pitches in front of executives for TV shows, movies, toy and video game companies. Nor did she have a problem of releasing Tweets and posts on the internet to express her thoughts about this or that. However, a press conference wasn’t something that she looked forward to. Being to face a firing squad of cameras and reporters that interrogate you from every angle, risking saying the wrong thing or being tricked into a question that might make you look bad was another thing.

Princess Celestia had called for a surprise press conference in front of Baltimare’s city hall. At noon, on the stone steps, a herd of ponies was waiting before a podium. For a while, they were engaged in small talk. The reporters turned to the photographers, asking one another if the other had any idea what this was about. It was one thing if it was the mayor or some other influential individual, at least they could make some guesses as to what was happening. But since it was Celestia who called them in, it could be anything for all they knew. So, whatever it was, they reasoned, it must be important.

Behind the heavy doors right behind the podium, Lauren waited for her cue to enter. Celestia was talking to the press, giving them a story that a new creature from another dimension had come here with her child. She assures the press that the creatures didn’t come here for any sinister reasons but simply to explore.

Lauren took in a deep breath. “I’ll be fine, just… it’s not often I do anything like this. That I’m the alien that came down from some other place to tell them ‘I come in peace.’”

Luna chuckled. “As humorous as that is, it is understandable. I remember my first press conference.”

The creator raised an eyebrow, “Funny, I don’t recall that.”

“Thank goodness,” the Night Princess sighed in relief, “It was horrible.”

“Gee, thanks.” Lauren deadpanned. “I feel so much better now.” After folding her arms, she remarked, “At least Alice is having fun.”

“She shall have plenty of amusement with Twilight and Spike on the ship’s swimming pool. Don’t worry, she shall keep an eye to make sure that she’s safe. But for now,” Luna’s ears perked up, “It’s almost time to face the firing squad.”

“You know, you have a dark sense of humor when you want to show it.”

“Forgive me, I was trying to lighten the mood.”

Celestia opened the heavy door and peeked her head through, “Mother, they’re ready.”

Lauren took a moment to breathe in, preparing herself for what might be the weirdest press conference in human history. She followed the Day Princess and immediately she was nearly blinded by the barrage of flashing bulbs taking her picture. Reporters talked at once, a sound as chaotic as an out-of-tune orchestra. At the podium, she held a hand over her eyes so she could at least catch a real glimpse of the audience that had more questions than stars in the heavens.

“Lauren Faust will now be asking questions,” Celestia told the press. “Do keep in mind to be respectful and try to keep your questions to a minimum. Oh! And one at a time, please.”

Hooves went straight up, trying to get Lauren’s attention. “Uh… you there.” She pointed to a mare with glasses and a notepad.

“Speculate, for the Baltimare Journal. Where do you come from and how long are you planning to stay in Equestria?”

“Well… I was thinking of spending a few days at most. As to where I come from… That’s a bit difficult to explain. You might say, I’m from another reality where the rules are pretty different. Now uh… You.” She pointed to a Pegasus stallion with a microphone.

“Print Cover for the Equestrian Report. Did you come to our world willingly?”

Lauren paused for a moment. “Not at first. I didn’t know there was a way into Equestria until recently, and that was because my three-year-old daughter had fallen in. So being the mom that I am, I went after her to make sure she’s safe.”

“Is your foal safe?” A reporter somewhere asked.

“Thankfully yes. So, any other questions?” Hooves waved around her like grass in the wind. “How about you in the back?”

“Me?” A pegasus mare in a yellow jacket asked.

“Yeah, you have a question?”

She nodded, “I’m with the Daylight Telegram. Have you known about our world before you came here?”

For a moment, Lauren looked over to Celestia. Both of them know perfectly well that if there was any question that would start a domino effect that could bring her creation into a crisis – this would have been it. She knew that this was a tough decision if she should lie and spare the chaos or give her world some explanation of the truth. And she had to decide fast as the reporters were waiting for her response.

“Well… Kind of.”

Flashes of light and a confusion of questions rang out on the steps.

Celestia stomped her hoof. “Please, everypony! One question at a time. Let her speak.”

Lauren had to think about her next words very carefully. “Well, where I come from, this world to me was just… a story. One that wasn’t real, and it was made up. However, I was surprised to find that it wasn’t the case. For a long time, I thought Equestria was a fantasy and didn’t know until now that it was very much as real as I am. But before you say anything, we still don’t know all the details about this land, rather the stories that help inspire the people where I come from. Stories that were smart and thought-provoking. That taught me about kindness and how much to use it for what kind of people. Sure, to most this land is a fairytale, but even if Equestria isn’t real, this has earned a place in our culture.”

“You think we’re just a story?” another voice in the mob asked.

“Up until now, yeah.” Lauren nodded. “I mean with the final season going on and…” She stopped as she realized a little too late what just come out of her mouth.

For a moment, it was as if the whole world was shocked into silence. Faces froze as they digested what was mentioned. A shaky hoof roused up. “Final… season? What do you mean final season?”

“U-Uh…”

“If to you, Equestria is just a story? Are you saying that ours is coming to an end?”

“W-Well…”

“Do you mean that as stories about Equestria will be discontinued or just…?”

No one wanted to finish that question, as hundreds of panicked ponies suddenly screamed all at once.

Among this chaos, while Celestia was trying and failing to calm them down, one word rang in Lauren’s head as ponies were running about screaming about the End of the World.

‘Crap…’

10: Stowaways

“In hindsight, that could have gone better,” Tempest remarked, but Lauren wasn’t listening.

Although they had left Baltimare a couple of hours ago, the creator still felt pretty stupid over what had happened. With one accidental slip of the tongue, she no doubt had set terror in the land of Equestria into motion. The reporters have already sent word to every news outlet in the country that will no doubt cause panic over the idea that she had said that the end of the world was coming.

Flying westward over the Hayseed Swamps towards Dodge Junction, Lauren felt the shame of what was essentially her fault. She was leaning on the guard railing of the observation deck of the ship, wanting nothing more than to be left alone for a couple of hours. However, despite the Princesses obeying, the ship’s captain does not. The dark unicorn came intending to try to lift her spirits a little.

However, she wasn’t doing that good of a job.

“Personally, I don’t quite understand why this is a problem for you,” Tempest remarked. “After all, if you’re a creator goddess, what is preventing you from changing the outcome of that press conference or rewording what they’re going to be printing? After all, if Celestia said that you’re able to make her fillyhood home appear, what’s stopping you from changing what those reporters are going to say?”

This time, Lauren was listening. “Have you ever written a story?”

Tempest blinked. “What does that got to do with anything?”

“Have you?”

“Well… no, not really. Why?”

“Because, as someone who is a storyteller, telling a story is a delicate thing. Sure, you’re able to add or take away a few things that aren’t essential. Say if I said that this ship’s paint was poke-a-dot, that detail wouldn’t change much of anything, would it? Or if said that we had waffles for breakfast instead of pancakes, then that too won’t make a spit of difference in anything. However, there are certain parts that if you’re not careful enough, the changes in a story, especially at critical parts, could have huge consequences and the story would end differently. Sure, it’s one thing to write or type it up as you’re just making it up as you go, it’s completely different if…” She stopped.

“If what?” Tempest questioned. When she didn’t respond, the captain asked, “Do you know what’s going to happen in the future?”

Lauren hesitated. “In theory. But I’m not exactly sure, and that’s the problem. I do have some idea what’s most likely going to happen, but the problem is that my stupidity might change things for the worse. At the moment, I need to figure out how to calm everyone down before the world goes up in flames – so to speak.” She quickly added that last part.

Tempest raised a hoof. “So, what you’re saying… this wasn’t supposed to happen?”

“To be fair, I don’t think that Alice and I are supposed to be here period, and yet, here we are.”

For a moment, the captain of the ship tried to figure out how to respond to something like that. However, before she could have the chance to answer that, a pony in uniform came up to her and saluted. “Captain, we discovered that there are stowaways on board.”

“What! Who are they? How did they get on board?”

“They claim that they know Princess Twilight, and they refuse to talk until they can speak with her.”

“But who are they?”

An idea came to Lauren, “I think I have a guess.”

“What were all of you thinking!?” Twilight scolded. Before her in a holding cell cramped together like stuffed toys in a box were not only the princess’s friends (including Starlight) but also six of her students. By the time Lauren came down along with Celestia and Luna, it was evident how long Twilight had been talking their ears off from the bored expressions on their faces. “Didn’t I make it clear that we’d be only gone for a few days? All of you should be at the school and not sneaking on board. Why did any of you come here anyway?”

“If ya let us-” Applejack was quickly interrupted.

“Who is looking over the school right now? What are the students doing? Did you just tell them to forget about classes and let them roam free like wild animals?”

“Are you done yet?” Gallus asked with a bored expression.

“No! I’m just getting started! When we get back, all of you are heading straight to detention and will be forced to write: ‘I will not be a stowaway on the royal airship because I can’ at least ten thousand times! And after that-”

Lauren cleared her throat. “So, have you been spending the last ten minutes ranting or interrogating?”

“Ranting,” everyone in the cell answered.

Celestia went up to them. “Why did you all sneak onboard? I thought some of you wanted to stay behind for the school.”

“We were.” Pinkie said, “But the students wanted to go really badly and that they don’t nearly get enough adventure so they climbed into a basket and were roped up here then Rainbow Dash said that we got to go after them so we did then suddenly all the doors closed and couldn’t get out so we had a slumber party all night and-” A dark blue hoof stuffed her mouth.

“So, what you are saying,” Luna said, her hoof still inside Pinkie’s muzzle, “is that the students wanted to come along, you went after them but got stuck with the cargo all night.”

“That is what we’ve been trying to tell Twilight for the past ten minutes.” Rarity remarked. She turned to her friend, “I can understand why you’re upset, but we didn’t come here by choice. The students want to come with you, especially when they want to spend more time with Lauren whom they got to know somewhat.”

Lauren took in a deep breath, turning to the students she said, “This is very sweet of all of you, but I’m afraid that you’ve caught us at a really bad time.”

“Why?” Ocellus asked, “What’s going on?”

The creator sighed, “Let’s just say I did something really, really stupid.”

“How stupid is stupid?”

“Well… let’s just say that I may or may not have accidently sparked a possible worldwide panic over the fact that the end is coming…”

For a long, very uncomfortable moment, not one of the students, teachers, sailors, or any of the characters responded. Several nervous eyes shifted to one another as if to confirm that they too had heard what was just said. Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “When you say ‘the end is coming,’ are you saying that as… the world is ending!?”

“But… it can’t end.” Fluttershy shook her head in disbelief, “You wouldn’t allow it all to end… would you?”

“Well yes – I-I mean no! I… ugh!” Lauren clenched her hair in frustration. “Look, I don’t know, okay! Right now, news of that slip-up is making to every Newspaper in Equestria, and most likely beyond that, as I said the show is coming to an end. No doubt causing widespread chaos and fear… and you know what’s the most frustrating part of all is? I don’t know what to do! I don’t know what to say even to calm everyone down…” She leaned her back against a wall, letting her knees bend and slip to the floor. Her face was covered by her hands, taking in a shaky breath. “I don’t know what to do…”

Neither did anyone else. While Faust was sobbing underneath the weight of what she had caused, none of the characters, not even Celestia and Luna, had any idea what to say either. That was, until the sounds of running footsteps became louder, along with the shouts of “Mom! Mom!” in an excited tone. Alice came running into the detention area. The little girl held in her hands a piece of paper with a drawing on it, something she was proud to show to her mother. Alice wasn’t alone as an out-of-breath Pegasus in uniform came rushing behind.

“My apologies,” the uniformed pony said, saluting to Tempest, “she’s surprisingly fast.”

“Mom?” Alice noticed Lauren crying and approached her curiously. “Mom? Why sad?”

From her tears that she tried to banish away, Lauren looked up. “Oh, hi Alice. Mommy just… did something dumb. I uh…” She sniffed, “I scared a lot of ponies today without meaning to. I told them something that made them afraid. And… your mommy doesn’t know what she should do.”

Her daughter tilted her head. “But… Mom knows what to do.” Lauren asked her what she meant by that. “Remember? I had bad dream, and you told me story. That it okay to be scared. But will be okay. Remember mom?”

Another sniff and she nodded. “I remember. It took you a while to calm down but after reading a couple of stories you were alright again.” Lauren then noticed the paper that her daughter was holding. “What do you got there?”

“Oh! Look what I made!” Alice held up the paper up to her. It was a crude drawing like any kind her age would make. It was drawn out in crayons, but what was on there, Lauren had to pause. It showed ponies along with herself and Alice holding hands, smiling. What caught her attention, however, was that the ponies were not any of the crew or anyone she knew from the show. “That’s you, me,” Alice pointed out, “and the ponies I came up with.”

Lauren blinked, “These you came up with?”

“Uh-huh! That there,” she pointed to one who was a blue Pegasus, “Starry Night. This,” she pointed to a unicorn in yellow, “Sun Shine. And this,” she pointed to a green earth pony, “Green Hoof. See mom?”

Taking hold of the drawing, Lauren’s mood lightens a bit at the adorable little drawing her daughter had made for her. But also, an idea was beginning to form as she remembered something from many years ago. It was after she was appointed as the creator of the show that she and her then-partner were spitting ideas for what the show was going to be like. She recalled when she got stuck in writer’s block, Craig asked her, “I think maybe you’ve got to ask yourself: what do I want this show to do? What am I trying to get out of it?”

She also remembered what her response was. “I wanna make something that kids would look back on years later as something worth remembering. Maybe they would take what I made and make it their own.”

Looking at that drawing, she stood up, “We need to go to Canterlot. I’ve got an idea.”

“Why Canterlot?” Celestia asked.

“To put it simply, we’re going there to delegate. I know how to stop widespread panic and prevent Equestria from collapsing.”

“How?”

Lauren smiled as she picked Alice up, “I’m going to tell a story.”

11: The Storyteller

The airship was in a mad dash at full speed towards the capital. Lauren originally planned to save this as the last place to go in her imagination. However, given each town they passed over showed signs of fear and panic, what she had to do was more important. Even when they landed in Canterlot, Lauren’s mind was racing at top speed. While Celestia, Luna, and Twilight set up loudspeakers all over the city – and Lauren had to conjure up the radio so that Equestria and beyond would hear her – the creator paced around in the courtyard of Canterlot Castle trying to think what she was going to say. Although left alone, she struggled to find the right words.

“Gone for a few days and already you’ve caused a crisis.” Lauren nearly jumped at the sudden voice. She looked up to find her OC, the sparkling Fausticorn there.

“Oh…! The Tree of Harmony? Sorry, I have a lot on my mind so I don’t know if we could talk right now-”

“Why would you care?” Lauren had to pause over what she was hearing. The Tree repeated its question “You do know that this is still fictional, right? I mean, when you boil it all down, this is just a story.”

“What are you getting at?”

The Fausticorn rolled its eyes, “To you, the author, this is just a world of make-believe. A fantasy. One that’s only for little girls.”

Another paused, Lauren not only couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she was starting to get ticked off by it. “What?”

“Do you need a reminder? This place is, first and foremost, a fantasy. All about ponies talking about friendship and caring, no more than a Care Bears TV show. A show that only cared about selling toys and stickers. Why should you care this much about a show that’s intended for girls less than five-year-olds? Don’t you have any other problems or better shows to be concerned about? I mean, this is just a little girl’s show.”

Lauren, with eyes aflame and fist clenched, marched forward. “How dare you.” She stated, “I mean really, how dare you! For being the Tree of Harmony, how can you be this insensitive for not just I worked for, but for everyone here!”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” the sparkly alicorn leaned its head forward, “Why would you care over something that isn’t real?”

“Because it’s not just a little kid’s show!” Lauren shouted. “This isn’t a mindless cartoon just to get a quick buck out of! This is a show that I placed so much on, that I had more faith in a reboot of My Little Pony than anyone did! And you know why? Because this world I made, is so that I could talk to children about important things like an adult! Because saying ‘You should make friends,’ is never going to cut it in the real world! When they find that friendships can be messy and have dilemmas, they need this show the most! Because the past cartoons before this showed toxic friendships that would be disastrous in reality, but mine put in the effort to look at how far anything is too far, and how much is really needed!

“So since you’re not going to help, how about you leave me alone or put in the effort to help me!”

While Lauren was catching her breath, the Fausticorn’s expression finally changed. From stoic to a gentle smile. “You don’t need my help. Because you’ve already found your answer.” And before the creator’s eyes, the apparition faded until nothing remained.

At that moment, after she had calmed down, the creator had an epiphany. Even before she came to Equestria, there were questions about the future of her creation, the worries and asking what it was all for – now, it hit her. The realization and inspiration of what she must say to all of them.

A moment later, a guard came to her, saying that Celestia and Luna were ready for her. She followed through the palace into Celestia’s bed chambers where set up on the balcony, a microphone was set up. It was connected to a machine with lights, wires, and switches inside the bedroom. As soon as she got there, the Solar Princess gave orders that during the announcement they should under no circumstances be disturbed.

“Where’s Alice?” Lauren asked.

“She is with Twilight and the others,” Celestia responded.

“Bring her here.”

“What? But mother, your spee-”

“She needs to hear this too. I want her in here.”

Despite Celestia’s protests, her daughter was brought in. Then it was time, Celestia, Lauren, and Alice who was holding her mother’s hand stepped out onto the balcony. Below them, Canterlot had ponies running this way and that in a screaming panic. The Princess gave the nod to have the machine be switched on.

They were live.

“Everypony! May I have your attention please!” Celestia called out into the microphone, and her voice echoed throughout the streets of the capital. Ponies below stopped to look around, their eyes fell upon the balcony. “I know everyone is scared, but if you all just listen for a few minutes, I guarantee that none of you have anything to be afraid of. I’m going to turn this over to my mother, Lauren Faust, and in her own words, is going to tell you why none of you should be panicking.” She stepped away from the microphone, “It’s all yours now.”

With a nod, Lauren stepped forward, and frightened eyes were looking at her. “Listen to me, I know everyone is scared of what I said about this world’s story coming to a close, but hear me out, I know how to stop it.”

“TELL US!” The crowd below bellowed out. “WHAT DO WE DO!?!”

She took in a deep breath. “Do… nothing!”

For a very, long, uncomfortable moment, the world was quiet. Even Celestia was stunned into silence for a while until she said, “Uh… Mother? Are you trying to cause even more panic?”

“No, you don’t understand, it took me a while to figure this out myself, but I’ve come to realize that this show, world – whatever you call it – it was never in danger to begin with. This show about the magic of friendship has been going on for nine years. I’m not going to lie; I was worried about its future once we got to the end. Would anyone still remember it years later? Would there be a fanbase left after everything is finished? It wasn’t until recently that I had forgotten something. Something important that I think all of you would need to hear. In fact…” she knelt down, “Alice, sit on my lap, I’m going to tell you a story.”

She did so, “What story?” her daughter asked.

“It’s a true story. It’s about a little girl, and My Little Pony.” After clearing her throat, she began. “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there once was a little girl who watched a cartoon called ‘My Little Pony.’ At the time, she liked what her brothers liked such as fighting soldiers, transformers, teenage mutant ninja turtles, and such. She also loved a cartoon show about magical, talking ponies. And who could blame her? It was bright and colorful, and she thought it was fun. So much so, that she begged your grandma and grandpa into buying a lot of toys from that show.”

“Did she get pony toys?”

“Dozens upon dozens of them! Ponies with manes you could brush and a castle. Yet, the more that she fell in love with the cartoon, the more she began to wonder what else those ponies did between each uh… story. So, she started to tell her own. With princesses and dragons, treasures and adventures that felt like something out of a bedtime story. It got to the point where she would pretend that her bedroom was that magical land where she would play in. She loved it so much, that she ended up dreaming about going there.

“But as that little girl grew up, she lost interest in ponies and instead turned to making cartoons and movies. She worked very hard as an artist, drawing each and every frame to make it look like it was moving. But what she wanted more than anything, was to make a cartoon of her own.”

“Did she, mommy?”

Lauren nodded, “Eventually yes. But to get there, she was tasked to help out making other shows. As time went by, she started to notice something. Most of the shows that were about friendships… were not that good. That doesn’t mean that they were bad, but she realized if these characters did anything like that in real life, they wouldn’t have any real friends at all. She thought that maybe it could be done better. Especially cartoons meant for girls like you, she often found that they treat little girls as if they’re dumb. Of course, she didn’t like that. So, for a while, she asked if she could make a show of her own.”

“Did it happen, mommy?” Alice asked. “Did she make show?”

“It took a lot of time and convincing, but one day, she was given a chance. A group of people asked her if she was interested in making a version of My Little Pony, the show that she loved as a kid. But although she said yes, most of her friends were shocked that she agreed to do it.”

“Why?”

“Because, the show was redone many times, and it just got worse. By the time she decided to do it, My Little Pony was thought up as a show for babies. Just twenty minutes of jangling keys in front of kids. It was ugly looking, it was dumb, and it was something that everyone, even little girls like yourself avoided at all costs. So, when that grown-up girl said to her friends that she was going to be remaking the show, they thought she was crazy!

“So, she rolled up her sleeves and got to work. She and a special friend of hers spent many months trying to figure out what this show was going to look like. She spent days writing and rewriting different ideas of what Twilight Sparkle would be like. But more than that, she had a goal with this show.”

“Goal?”

“You see, what she wanted to make a cartoon where the characters felt real and had personalities that anyone would want to be friends with. So that they could find out what friendship could be. Tackled their problems, to look and see where they come from, and how to resolve them. But at the same time, she also wants it to be fun so that even grown-ups wouldn’t be ashamed to watch it with their kids. She ended up making a cartoon smart enough for grown-ups to understand but simple enough that any kid would follow. And most importantly of all, it never talked down to kids but treated them with the respect and trust that they deserve.

“Then, with a small army of artists, writers, and all sorts of people, that grown-up little girl began to dream up Equestria, piece by piece. From designing entire towns to giving little details like Celestia’s love of cake.”

“Mother!” Celestia exclaimed, much to her embarrassment of the laughter down below.

But Lauren continued. “So, after a long time, once they had everything put together, the show was released for all to enjoy. And to everyone's relief and surprise, out of their hard work, not only did it do well, but it gathered an audience that not even the girl was expecting. Not only little kids like you fell in love with it, but even grown-ups loved it too. They loved the world of Equestria, its creative magic, its thought-provoking morals on friendship, and above all, the characters. They found that even those in the background had sparked their imaginations. Sparking as many dreams as they are stars.

“So much so, that before she had to leave the show to work on other things, there were thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people who were inspired by it. They created artwork that was much better than the show was making, written stories of all kinds, and songs that made even the songwriter for the show jealous. There were communities dedicated to discussing each and every story the show put out to look for deeper meanings. There were comics, plushies, sculptures, books, movies, and so much more that were inspired by what she started with. All because she believed this show was more than just a cartoon for little girls.

“Of course, there were times when there had been a bad story or few. However, even at its worst, the fans always found something good in it. Be it a joke, a facial expression, an imaginative creature, or a location, the show always offered something to spark the imagination. Even years later, when things had changed so much, the fans always kept coming back with new ideas that even they wish could do or never thought of doing.”

“Mom,” Alice asked. “How does story end?”

Lauren put a hand on her head, messing up her hair a little. “Let me tell you a secret. That little girl in the story was me. I thought this world would end when the show did. But I realize now that it's not going to happen. Not by a long shot. You see, when you make a story so good, it makes people dream. They are curious about the things that were left unsaid or wonder what happens after Happily Ever After. The characters are so good that in a way, I don’t think they will die. Just as myths about Hercules have never been forgotten because of how good his story was, this world and all the creatures in it might never be forgotten either. However, that all depends on those like you.”

“Me?”

“Uh-huh, as long as you dream about them, of this world and its adventures... As long as someone like you is inspired by these ponies, or dragons, or griffons, or whatever else – this world will never go away. The story, I think, doesn’t end because you say: ‘The End,’ but when nobody remembers it. As long as people take a peek into the stories of Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Celestia, or Luna; much like how anyone would with a fairytale, they too shall live on as grown-ups pass it from one generation to the next. Maybe inspiring them to make a version of their own someday.”

“But mom,” Alice inquires, “Does this story have happily ever after?”

The whole world was listening closely to her now, and she knew it. Given what she does know, she doesn’t want to spoil things for what may come. So, she said, “Well… I don’t dare say what will happen, but no matter what, even in its darkest moments, this story will have a happily ever after. It’s not a fairytale without it, right?”

“Mom, you promise?”

She smiled. “I promise. Only if you promise to not forget them too, alright?”

Alice nodded. "Yes, mommy."

12: The Canterlot Incident

“So… How was that?” Lauren asked, with Alice in her arms.

“I think it helped quite a bit,” Celestia said, eyeing from one of the windows. From the looks of it, Canterlot has seemed to calm down from their mass panic attack. “It’s also a relief to know that the end of the world isn’t happening anytime soon.”

“A relief is a mighty understatement.” Twilight entered Celestia’s chambers, closing the doors behind her. “Based on the first impressions from the radio, it sounds like ponies everywhere are calming down. To be honest, I don’t blame them. Even I needed to hear from someone that everything was going to be okay.”

“Again, I’m really sorry for scaring the daylights out of everyone. I swear I didn’t mean to.” Setting Alice down, she added, “With all the trouble I cause, I don’t blame you if you wanted me gone.”

Luna looked between her and her sister, taken aback at what she said. She went over to drape a wing over her shoulders. “If it’s any consolation, nopony here holds you accountable. It was an accident. Besides, with dangers to our kingdom are concerned, it’s hardly the worst threat any of us had seen.”

Lauren couldn’t argue that if she tried. Despite knowing what was coming in the final season, Luna was right – they had faced much, much worse than her unintentional slip-up. This was a world where they overcame invasions, power-hungry monsters, magic drainers, would-be tyrants, and Discord. Compared to them, Lauren's accidental existential crisis was a hiccup at worst.

Twilight cleared her throat, getting their attention. “Still… There is the question of what you want to do now.”

“What do you mean?”

“From my point of view, now that there isn’t anything in the way, I can see that you have two choices: either we can continue this tour of Equestria. Or you could go back to where you came from. Assuming that is if time is even a factor.”

“Come to think of it… It’s not.” Lauren reached into her pocket to pull out her cell phone. Sure enough, it still showed the exact day and time she left. “I think time has frozen the moment we left. We could probably go around for years and come back like nothing ever happened. I think it’s like a Narnia situation.”

“A what?” Luna tilted her head.

“Never mind, it’s a… A story from my world. But the point is, while we’re here, we can stay here as long as we like so there’s no rush going back home yet. And since I know that this is the Equestria from my imagination… Well, I wouldn’t mind seeing a few more sights and meeting a few ponies along the way.” Lauren laughed, “Of course, the only problem I see is where to start?”

“If I make a suggestion,” Celestia said, “it wouldn’t hurt for you to start here in Canterlot. It would be nice to show you what it’s like on our end both for the day and the night.”

“Besides,” Twilight added, “Would give me plenty of time to have my friends and students return to Ponyville. I don’t know how long it will take, but if you do decide to go outside of Canterlot, would you at least send a letter?”

“We’ll keep you in touch.” Celestia nodded. Turning to her mother, she added, “Besides, I can at least introduce you to a few friends of my own.”

For Lauren, it was one thing to try to figure out what the design of Canterlot was going to look like – but it’s another to be in it. What impressed her most of all was the sheer scale of Equestria’s capital. A sprawling cityscape that was somewhere between a Renaissance fantasy and a melting pot of architectural flourishes from onion domes to European castles. While the streets were gorgeous to look at, she didn’t notice how green it all was. She already lost track of how many parks, how many green belts, and how many streams flowed harmoniously between buildings. Ranging from homes to die for to some of the prettiest public structures she’s seen in years. All from the uniformity and variety of white stone, purple/blue roofs, and choice decoration of gold.

“… And this street is known as Restaurant Row,” Celestia pointed out. Having to ride in the great royal carriage, Lauren sat between her and the guards who were pulling this awkward vehicle around the city. If she was honest, she was glad that she left Alice with the servants to look after her because there would be no way she would allow her on this thing without her falling off. There were no seatbelts or railings on this thing. Just a padded chair that was meant to drive the royal sisters around. Lauren could still sit on the edge of the thing, yet it was obvious to her that this thing wasn’t meant for humans to ride on.

Celestia continued, “Up until a few years ago, this was the most unchanging street in Canterlot which even I try to avoid at all cost. I don’t know if you know this, but these restaurants were highly rated but almost nopony went to them. There was even a joke where the only reason anypony would go is to have the experience of having nothing on your plate and everything on the bill. That was until a small Manedian place opened up called the Tasty Treat – that’s it down there – had revolutionized this street where it put taste back front and center.”

Lauren knew what she was talking about and remembered the episode quite well. It was one thing to look into the reaction of an episode about defending the new, but it was more interesting to her to see what became of it. Indeed, this very street showed what impact it had on the ponies having lunch. Ponies loved what they were eating. For a moment, she imagined what would happen if that episode didn’t air. Would there be anyone here at all besides the occasional wealthy customer or that persnickety food critic? She may not have been strictly involved of course, but there was a very real impact that was made right here on this street.

“I say, Princess!” Lauren’s thoughts were derailed when she heard one of the ponies calling out. Even before she saw him, she knew who it was.

“Stop the carriage,” Celestia called to the guards, and they slowed down. Looking down with a beaming smile, she said: “Mother, I would like to introduce you to somepony.” Fancy Pants and Flur de Lis. There was no question about it in Lauren’s mind. A snappy-dressed stallion with a monical in his eye, accompanied by a slender mare that had a flowing pink mane by his side, they were waving at them to pull over. “Fancy Pants, I’m glad to run into you.”

“Likewise, Princess.” Fancy bowed. “Needless to say today has been a rather eventful with… and beg your pardon, but who is this?”

“Believe it or not, this is my mother.” Celestia said, “This is who talked over the radio.”

Both Fancy and Flur blinked. “I… see…” Fancy hesitated for a moment before offering a hoof to Lauren. “How do you do, ma’am?”

“Doing much better.” Lauren shook his hoof. “Again, sorry if I caused anyone to freak out.”

“I won’t lie, it was quite a shock. But hopefully, it isn’t the end of the world.” Fancy laughed nervously. “Still, you are quite the interesting character. I’ve never seen a creature the likes of you before. Might I assume that you are from a place far away?”

“If you like.”

“And you’re the mother of the princesses?”

“I know, it’s weird. Really weird, but in a way it’s true.” Even though she couldn’t read their minds, Lauren could see it on Fancy and Flur’s faces that they thought of the same thing: Ah! So they must be adopted then! “But yes, I’m their mom and I’ll be visiting for a bit. Celestia and Luna are showing me around Equestria.”

“Brilliant,” Fancy nodded. “I say, will you be in Canterlot long? I’m throwing a dinner party at my home and of course, Her Highness and you are welcome to come.”

“Oh no, I don’t want to intrude-”

“It won’t be at all! It would be an honor if you popped by.”

“We would love to,” Celestia smiled. “When is it at?”

In hindsight, foalsitting isn’t the worst thing in the world to do. Especially when one had to look after the child of a creature nopony has ever seen before. The maid tasked to look after Alice, named Polish, was able to find some crayons and paper for the child to draw with. If she was being honest, it was the only thing she could think of to keep her entertained. Given that the palace hadn’t hosted a child in eons, she knew there weren’t any toys or dolls for her to play with.

“You draw?” Alice asked, offering her a light blue crayon.

Polish shook her head, “I’m not good at it.”

The room they were in was rarely used in the palace. Known as the art room, once upon a time this used to have artists that would create, touch up, or repair works of art. Nearly every medium and tool that one could think of was in this little studio, and of high quality too. The crayons for instance not only come in every color imaginable, but they were thicker, waxy, and sturdy compared to those that foals usually find at their schools.

Alice, still on her knees, offered Polish a piece of paper. “Doesn’t need be good. Drawing is fun.”

Polish looked between her and the crayon. Rolling her eyes, she lit up her horn. “Oh alright.” Taking the crayon and piece of paper, she laid it on the floor and drew the first thing that came to mind. “How’s this?” She showed her a quick outline of a cloud.

“Pretty.” Alice smiled and returned to her drawing. Polish was about to add something else to her humble work of art until she noticed what Alice was making. It was crude, but it showed a drawing of an alicorn, one that Polish had never seen before. The outline of a sky blue pony with unnaturally tall, thin legs, an enormous set of wings of white, a forest green horn, and orange eyes. Alice switched over to a yellow crayon to put a crown on the head.

“Who is that?” Polish asked.

“It’s uh…” Alice paused in her drawing. Thinking about it for a good few minutes, trying to find the right words. “What is uh… I-Imaginary friend!”

“Oh, you’re drawing your imaginary friend?”

“Uh-huh.” Alice nodded. “His name uh… Sky Cloud.”

Polish let out an amused smile cross her face. “Sky Cloud?”

“He a prince. Makes chocolate cookies. And plays basketball.”

“With legs like those, he could easily win buckball all on his own.”

“No, just basketball. It’s my favorite game.”

Polish’s eyes went wide at the new voice, she and Alice turned around to see the colossally freakish alicorn with legs that were so long they nearly collided with the ceiling. He had white wings that were enormous but hung off from his smaller body, a green horn, an orange mane, and a little crown on his head.

“Hello little Alice,” Sky Cloud waved a hoof.

Polish screamed.

13: How About a Deal?

By the time Lauren and Celestia concluded their tour of Canterlot, they found the palace staff in a state of paranoid confusion. The moment when they approached the castle gate, a few of the Solar Guard rushed over to them. Babbling something about another alicorn, yet they talked so excitedly fast that they could barely make out what was going on. Naturally, Lauren’s first thought was that something had happened to Alice.

Without a second thought, Lauren bolted through the castle looking for Alice. For all she knew, Chrysalis might have somehow snuck back inside and probably taken her prisoner. For a moment, she was beating herself up mentally for leaving her alone in a magical world where something dangerous could happen. She swore if Alice was hurt… Luckily for her, the palace staff pointed her in the right direction, towards the gardens where she found her daughter was safe. Safe, and with a pony she’s never seen before.

In fact… she never remembered there was a basketball court on the palace grounds either. But there it was. Between the exterior of the ballroom and the hedge maze was a basketball court where Alice and a freakishly tall alicorn were bouncing the ball between them while occasionally tossing them in one of the hoops.

“Alice…?”

Her daughter caught the basketball, stopping their game to turn to her mother. “Mommy!” Disregarding the ball, she ran over to her. “Mommy look! I made new friend!”

Picking Alice up, Lauren eyed the alicorn who used his magic to dribble the ball. “Alice, who is this?”

“Oh, hello there.” Curling one of his wings, he lifted his crown like how one would be tipping their hat. “My name is Sky Cloud, what’s yours?”

Lauren paused. She knew for a fact that this character never existed in the show. Not even in her concept art that she recalls seeing something so… distorted. But at the same time, something about this character seemed oddly familiar. Freakishly tall. Plays basketball. And has the voice of… “Wilt?”

“Well, nice to meet you, Wilt.” Sky Cloud smiled.

“Wha- No, no. I’m Lauren.”

“But you said Wilt.”

“Yes but… Sorry, you just remind me of someone.” After a beat, she asked Alice, “Where did he come from?”

“He’s my… Imaginary friend.”

That caught Lauren off guard. ‘Either Craig is gonna flip out over this or find that she based her pony OC on Wilt adorable.’ She pointed at Sky. “So… You made him?”

“Uh… Uh-huh.”

“Excuse me,” Sky Cloud waved. “Can Alice play with me a little more?”

In any other circumstance, Lauren would flat-out say no. There was no way she would allow her three-year-old to play with a complete stranger. Even if they seemed nice, she would try to get her away as quickly as possible. However, being that this is her world – her creation and finding a character that her daughter had come up with…

Setting Alice down, she told them, “Don’t go where I can’t see you.” Alice returned to the basketball court and the two of them resumed their game. Leaving Lauren sitting in the grass, amazed but full of questions.

“When did we get a basketball court?” Lauren nearly jumped when she heard Celestia speak up. “Oh, sorry Mother but… Who is that?”

“That… Is Alice’s imaginary friend.”

Celestia blinked. “Looks pretty solid to be imaginary.”

“I noticed.” Lauren ran a hand through her hair. “You know, having me bend reality is one thing because… Well… I came with all this, to begin with. But I never thought about if Alice could do the same thing. Makes me wonder if we should go home after all.”

They looked at Alice and Sky Cloud, playing with the ball. Alice ran between his towering legs while Cloud tried to figure out where she was. From the loud screaming of delight from their daughter, Celestia remarked, “It looks like she’s having fun.”

“Yeah, but that alicorn there, I didn’t come up with that. She did. It just makes me wonder… If she could twist reality like that, what’s stopping her from letting her imagination come up with something dangerous?”

“Or if… If she’s doing it at all.”

Lauren looked up at Celestia, “What do you mean?”

“C’mon, mother. Who else do you know that could do what you can?”

“What, besides Pinkie? The only one who else comes to mind is…” She trailed off when she noticed over by the entrance of the hedge maze, a claw was frantically waving a white handkerchief. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me!”

“I’m unarmed!” The claw moved aside to show it was being held on by a lion’s paw. And stepping out into the open was a nervous Discord. “Please, put down your potential universe-crushing powers, I just want to talk.”

“What are you doing here, Discord?” Celestia asked, stepping between him and her mother.

“Believe it or not, I’m not up to anything – but I do have a complaint.”

This caught Lauren off guard. “Complaint?”

“Yes, you and your daughter warping reality to your liking. I’m afraid that rewriting the rules of the universe is my jurisdiction, thank you very much.”

“So wait,” Celestia pointed to Sky Cloud, “You had nothing to do with this?”

“Of course not! If I wanted to make an OC alicorn out of thin air, I’m certain mine would be black and red. Oh! And have a rainbow mane. No, I’m afraid that this is her doing.” Discord folded his arms. “What’s more, I can already see where this is going.”

“What are you talking about?” Lauren asks.

“Oh come now. Don’t act so naïve. When you have not one, not two, but three world-changing entities in the same universe, each rewriting over the other, what you have is a nice recipe for an apocalypse with too many cooks in the kitchen. And speaking as an entity of Chaos, I prefer to know that I’m the one causing it. Besides, it’s already hard enough when the Creator is in the same breathing space, but to have her child that can do the same thing? No thank you!”

Lauren hated to admit it, but there was some truth in Discord’s words. It was one thing for her to manipulate this world simply because she came up with it. But it was another when her daughter could do the same but…

“But you know what the most frustrating part is?” Discord asked, suddenly appeared behind Lauren.

“Gah! How did you-”

“Hyperspace doorways. Pinkie has access to them too. But the frustrating part is that I know that even if I try to pick a fight with you – you specifically – I know I can’t win.”

Lauren blinked. “Why not?”

“Because I would be dealing with a pesky paradox. You created me, Mom.” That gave her a chill up her spine. “And if I got rid of you somehow… It would undo me. But if that were to happen, you would never have made me. So really, everything would cancel out. So, the good news for you and bad news for me, is that I can’t hurt you, even if I tried.”

“So… What exactly do you want then?”

Discord slunk over in front of her, his lion’s paw stroking his goat beard. “How about… a deal?”

“Mother,” Celestia said in a cautious tone, but Lauren raised her hand.

“The way I see it. You probably want to go see the world, but do as little damage as possible. And I want to make sure that you two would keep your reality-changing antics to a minimum. So… How about this?” Discord reached behind his back and pulled out a key that had the foot of a chicken, the wings of a dragon, and the eye of a lizard. “This key will take you anywhere in the world. Anywhere. All you have to do is tell it where you want to go, stick it in a door, and you’re there. But in exchange, I want you to promise me that you and your daughter won’t make any more unnecessary changes. No new OCs. No carving out new places that weren’t there before. And no rewriting history. That’s my job. So, do we have a deal?”

Discord offered the key over to Lauren.

On the surface, it does seem reasonable. If anything, that key would make their tour around Equestria quick and painless. Yet, given a moment of thought, she wonders if accepting it would be a good thing. Alice probably couldn’t help it when she made Sky Cloud. And who knows? Maybe she would have to do it in case of emergencies.

“Two questions,” Lauren folded her arms. “What about my daughter’s imaginary friend over there?”

“What? The Wilt clone? Unless you’re planning on taking him home with you, I guess he could stay in my dimension. Maybe create a pocket universe for him to be happy in.”

“… And if there’s an emergency, where do I have to change reality?”

“You already have two of the most powerful alicorns as daughters. I think you should be fine.”

After a moment, she reached for the key.

“Deal.”

14: Loophole

“I’ll be sure to pick not-Wilt up when you’re ready to head home.” Discord picked up his antlers as though he was tipping a hat. “Ta-ta.” And like that, the Chaos entity had vanished.

Lauren looked at the oddly shaped skeleton key in her hand, the gears in her mind as turning.

“I can’t believe that you would do something like that.” She heard Celestia say. Her voice was drenched in disappointment. “Mother, of all creatures in the world, I didn’t expect that you would even accept a deal from Discord.”

Lauren didn’t say anything.

“Really Mother, I can’t believe that you would sell out a real pony for something like this! Have you no shame at all? I just… I just believe you! Have you no-”

“What if I don’t have to go along with it?” Lauren looked up at Celestia, seeing that her angry face was frozen in confusion.

“What?”

“This deal.” She held up the key. “Discord said that he doesn’t want me or Alice to change reality beyond what it already is. What if I don’t have to invent anything.”

“Mother, what are you talking about?”

Lauren looked over to a nearby guard, “Excuse me, could you go fetch me a pencil and some paper?” The guard saluted and left to fulfill her request. “If there is one thing I have learned from any form of business deals, is to always look for loopholes that could be used against you. And I think Discord just unintendedly left me one big enough for me to jump through.”

Now Celestia was more confused than ever. “I’m sorry, I don’t follow.”

“The deal was that as long as me or my daughter didn’t create anything new or different, I would still have this key to get anywhere in Equestria. Well, he never said anything about copying his key that already exists, right?”

“No he…” Celestia blinked. “Wait, can you do that?”

“He didn’t say I couldn’t. Still…” Lauren held up the key, looking at it this way and that. “This is surprisingly complicated that unless I knew exactly what it looks like, I don’t think I’ll remember enough to recreate it. I maybe an artist, but I’m not stupid.”

Celestia paused for a long time, “So… You were going to break his deal anyway?”

“The only problem I have is the issue of Sky Cloud over there.” Lauren looked over to her daughter and her imaginary friend, who at this point resumed their playing. “If I’m being honest, I don’t know what to do with him. I know for a fact he isn’t supposed to be here at all. That, and I don’t know if I could take him home with us. Never mind that we don’t have enough room back at home, but there’s no way I can explain the cartoon pony in my world to anyone who might stumble upon him.”

“Perhaps I-”

Lauren raised a hand, “I know what you’re about to suggest, but no. The way how this is gonna be playing out, you, Luna, Cadence, or Twilight never raised an alicorn that had appeared out of nowhere. To be honest, I’m hesitant to leave him with Discord. Which makes this even harder, he can’t stay with you, and he can’t stay with us.”

Celestia looked over at Sky Cloud, dribbling a ball in front of Alice. “And what about your daughter? Wouldn’t she be upset?”

“Celestia, she’s three years old. This isn’t like having her raise a pet – it’s more than that. That pony over there seems like anyone else, but just looks…”

“Different.”

“The point being, even for her, it would be an overwhelming responsibility for someone like her. Maybe… Maybe there might be someone, someplace in this world that no one would go looking for. Someplace that I know the show will never go near.”

“Like where? With whom?”

“At the moment, I don’t know. But it’s something I’ll have to figure out.” It was at this point that the guard returned with what she requested – a pencil and a few sheets of paper. “Thank you.” Taking them in her hand, she told Celestia. “Now if you would excuse me, I have some work to do.”

If Lauren was honest, despite having spent years in art classes, countless hours drawing and redrawing for movies and shows, and even trying to come up with new designs – it is still difficult to try to draw something from a model. Discord’s key, despite looking like a flat cartoon was difficult to capture just right. It takes hours to try to get the finer details, the right covers, the pointy angles, or even the perorations just right.

She still had plenty of time to think of other things. Especially Sky Cloud… The question of what to do with him lingers in the back of her mind, nagging at her. Between the adjusting, erasing, and marking, she went around the mental map of Equestria to find something. Although the atlas of this world are still unmarked for the sake of giving plenty of room for writers to explore and for world-building, the question of where to take her daughter’s OC is somehow more difficult than the drawing. Not just where, but who would look after him.

‘For one, anywhere near the poles is out of the question.’ She thought. ‘And placing him anywhere near where the student six lived probably won’t work either. Come to think of it, there are a lot of places that the showwriters would want to show before the ending. Obviously, he can’t appear any place where the episodes are gonna be. Would be hard to explain to anyone why there’s a weirdly shaped alicorn in the background that is never explained.’

Having to redraw the dragon’s blinking eye again, another thought came to her, ‘Not to mention that I can’t leave him in any place that would be dangerous. Klugetown, Griffonstone, or Yakyakistan would probably chew the poor guy and spit him out. And who would be willing to take care of him anyway? I don’t think I could go up to say… one of the many zebra tribes and ask if they want an alicorn who's probably as tall as a house. That, and I don’t know if Alice made him immortal or not.’

This gave her pause, ‘Now there’s a thought. What would happen if someone from the next generation came across him… That is… If they might still use Equestria as a setting. Then again, who’s to say they might not? But that would depend on where and with who he might be with. Or if he might want to travel beyond where we might drop him off.

‘On the other hand… I might be overthinking it. There are still a dozen places that I don’t think the showwriters had done. Places like Saddle Arabia, or anywhere in Zebrica. Trottingham perhaps? Or maybe into the Equestria Girls universe…? No. Maybe that’s not a good idea. With him having tall legs and enormous wings, I’m not entirely sure what he would look like as a human over there – or even if he would like being there.’

After several minutes of redrawing, she felt her hand was being cramped up. So giving it a rest, another thought came to her. ‘What about Alice? Would she be willing to let him go? I mean, this isn’t just a stray dog that she found. This is a character, a real person. She made him to be her friend. Would it be fair for me to send him away or have someone adopt him? I know she’s three, but in a way, it would be like telling her that she can’t see her friend again.

‘Oh yeah… and the fact that she could manipulate reality too… The next time she might have a temper tantrum, she might end up doing way more damage than Discord ever could. In hindsight, if I even knew about that, I would take Alice and head home immediately. As is, this is something more delicate.’

Pausing for a moment to look at her sketch, making sure that it matched as close to the key as possible. Then, a thought came to her, ‘Still, if I were Alice, I probably wouldn’t give up my friend that easily. I wouldn’t just toss him in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers. No matter where in the world we take him…’

“Unless…” Lauren said aloud. Slowly, an idea began to form. She had been working on shows for years now. Her job was to create worlds, a cast of characters that her audience would be sucked into. And she had spent a good deal of her career helping others visualize what those worlds would look like. Yes, with Sky Cloud he sticks out like a sore thumb in Equestria… But if Alice might have the same reality-changing abilities that she has here, what if she uses those skills to help Alice create a home for her friend?

And besides… Discord never mentioned her daughter creating a pocket dimension for her friend either.

Author's Note

I know what you're asking. What has taken you so long?

The short answer is that I've been in a creative rut for the past couple of months.

Not counting that I finished writing up a short, helping out on other projects, and the real-life stuff such as a family reunion - I haven't had the urge to write for the past couple of months. Really, I do want to finish this story, yet either I have been exhausted or had no oomph to write anything. Besides, as you readers so graciously pointed out - I've written myself into a corner with this one and I had no idea how to get around it. That is... Until now.

The biggest challenge with this story is trying to figure out what exactly is going to happen next, and more importantly, how is this going to end. With this, however, I think I might have a sense of direction in where to go.

15: New Deal

In a way, Lauren was curious about where Fancy lived. Even though she had a good idea of what he was like as a character, it never occurred to her that she physically came up with any other details like where he lived. Any other details had come from show and comic writers much later, so it would be interesting to see what just having dinner would be like.

Of course, she knew that Fancy was wealthy. On the carriage ride over, they were taken to the wealthier part of Canterlot. On a road that led up the mountainside, some mansions that looked out to Equestria. Many mimic the style of the palace with its white walls, blue roofs, golden onion domes, and tall windows. There were some elements of classical architecture too such as the marble columns out front, the symmetrical designs, and even the occasional statue.

Fancy’s home, as Lauren discovers, reminded her of something close to Monticello. Classical in design with white roofs, a dome, and blue brickwork that gave a sense of elegance. It had tall windows with a taller pair of front doors, simple white columns, and a fountain in the front. Fancy was there to welcome his guests, bowed graciously to the princesses, and showed them to the dinning room. A place that was much like the rest of the home – clean white walls, vaulted ceilings, wooden floors, and a menagerie of all sorts of objects from artworks to curiosities from different parts of Equestria and beyond.

“What’s that?” Alice pointed.

Fancy looked over his shoulder. “Those masks by the fireplace?”

“Uh-huh. They’re weird looking.”

Fancy chuckled, “You know little missy, you’re not the first one to say that. Those are from different tribes in Zebrica. Each mask you see has a different meaning, a way of telling someone at a distance what you want to say. For instance. That one with the small eyes and large forehead says: ‘Welcome to our home.’ The one next to that with the black and white strips says: ‘I am a friend.’ And the one next to it says: ‘No soliciting on Thursdays.’” Fancy rubbed his chin, “I’m not entirely sure why I was given that one to be honest.”

“One of these days, I would like to see Zebrica,” Luna commented. “Of course, I could only see it from afar during my banishment. So, it would be lovely to see what it is like up close.”

Of course, they weren’t the only ones attending this dinner party. Lauren had to take a glance around to see that there were some she recognized. And every single one of them was either looking at her or her daughter. Fancy sat at the head of the table, next to him was Fleur de Lis. Then Perfect Pace, Hoity Toity, Celestia, Luna, her, and Alice. It was already surreal to dine with some of Canterlot’s elite for Lauren, yet the addition of her daughter, Celestia, and Luna there made it all the more bizarre.

Perhaps nowhere near as strange as what she was planning on doing.

Lauren heard someone clear their throat. Looking up, it was Perfect Pace who was trying to get her attention. She remembered this earth pony well. The blue coat, bright orange mane with golden eyes, wearing a white collar with a red bowtie, she recalled how fans thought that this stallion was one of the Doctors from his hourglass cutie mark.

“So uh… Lauren, is it? How is your time here in Canterlot treating you?”

“Pretty well so far.”

“Have you been here before or is this your first time in the capital?”

“It’s my first time being here. Celestia has been showing me around the city, after making that speech in the radio. Still… Sorry if I scared anyone.”

“Oh, water under the bridge. I think we’re all relieved that the world isn’t coming to an end.” Then after a beat, he asked, “So… You’re the princesses… Mother?”

“Yes, I know it’s uh… a bit complicated. But it’s true in a sense.”

Perfect raised an eyebrow. “I’ll have to take your word for it. Though forgive me, it’s still odd to have the mother of the princesses here. And not the way anyone would expect.”

“Mother can take on any form,” Celestia entered the conversation. “But we always recognize to be her. And I can safely say that it is her.”

“Maybe so…” Hoity commented. “But what exactly is she? I don’t recall any creature look remotely like this before. It’s almost uncanny. Threatening and not at the same time.”

Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Threatening how?”

“I don’t know.” Hoity shrugged. “I guess it’s not everyday you see someone on two legs constantly. And being unusually tall too. I don’t mean it as an insult, it’s just nopony has seen anything close to what you are before.”

“And that is perfectly understandable.” Luna nodded. “Mother often times appear in unexpected ways at unexpected times. Sometimes she comes as an alicorn, and other times some other creature like a dragon, or a griffon – but there is always an essence of her that we do recognize. Usually she is her alicorn self, but something like this is rare.”

“Now that is indeed interesting.” Perfect rubbed a hoof under his chin. “Appearing at different times and in different appearances. And I take this is usually without warning?”

“Why… Yes, it is.” Celestia tilted her head. “How did you know?”

“I have a knack for picking up details.”

Lauren was amused at this conversation. ‘And apparently Time Turner might not be the only Doctor in this Universe. I’m more surprised there is a Doctor Who at all… That is if this is the Doctor.’

Soon enough, the food was served. For everyone there, they were served a vegetarian curry – all that was except for Alice who was given a plate of macaroni and cheese. A thoughtful meal, Lauren thought since the curry would have been too spicy for her three-year-old daughter.

As they ate, the conversations ping-ponged between Alice asking Fancy what some of the knick-knacks were and the guests engaging with other small talk. But Lauren was plotting. What exactly, she was still trying to figure out – but her goal was to get Discord’s attention in some way so unusual that even the Ex-Lord of Chaos would have to respond. She was going to break a deal alright, but it needed to be done in a way it would be like a beacon for him.

What was needed was an opportunity.

“Can you do magic?” Hoity asked.

“What? Me?” Lauren asked.

He nodded. “I was curious, but from what rumors I’ve heard, you could do magic without the use of a horn. Is that possible?”

This gave her an idea.

“Well, I am new this this, but I guess I could try.” Lauren set her plate to the side.

“Mother? What are you doing?” Luna asked.

“Seeing if I could do magic.” She pulled the napkin on her lap on the table, holding a corner of it but leaving half of it laying flat. “Like something say… a card trick with a pack of cards?” She pulled the napkin up and there on the table in front of her, was a deck of playing cards.

“Wait, how…?” Hoity lifted his sunglasses. “Where did those come from?”

“No idea.” Lauren shrugged. She moved the deck and spread them out in front of Hoity, urging him to, “Pick a card.”

Celestia and Luna looked confused. Alice was paying attention, along with Fancy. Perfect looked on with intrigue.

Hoity ran his hoof, stopping at one of the cards at random. Picked it up to look at it. “Now what?”

“Well… Hold on to that card, because I’m going to figure out what it is without you putting it back in the deck.” Lauren gathered up the remaining cards in her hands, shuffling them. “Do you think it’s possible for me to do so?”

Hoity shrugged. “If you’re going for common magic tricks, I’m pretty sure that you have some trick in figuring it out.”

“Typically, yes. But I can tell that you might not be so easy to be impressed. So how about we make it interesting but say… Having the cards be spontaneously set on fire.” And like that, the cards in her hands busted into flames.

“Mother!” Celestia cried out, swatting the burning cards away with her aura and onto the marble floor. The ponies saw that the cards went up in smoke, and Fancy tossed a glass of water on over them. Now leaving them both soggy and thoroughly singed. Celestia turned back to Lauren, “Mother, what are you doing?”

“Performing a magic trick, of course.”

“But how?” Hoity questioned. “You burned the rest of the deck. How can you do a card trick without cards?”

At this, her imagination was running at full speed. “You know what? You’re right! I can’t do a card trick without cards. I would have to get a new deck. And in the process, I’ll do it with the process of elimination.”

“Proose of… What Mom?” Alice tilted her head confused.

“That’s a grown-up word meaning to figure out what something is by what it is not. Like for example, the card in Celestia’s mane.” She reached into Celestia’s ethereal mane and pulled out a card. “Is the Jack of Spades. But Hoity doesn’t have that, so it isn’t that.” She tossed the card over her shoulder. “Or the card under my plate.” She lifted it to show there was a card there. “This is an Ace of Diamonds. But that isn’t what Hoity has.”

Taking her napkin, she held it up. “And I know none of the cards in this napkin are it.” She shook it, and dozens of playing cards fell out of it before tossing it over to Perfect. He inspected it, turning this way and that but found there was no way it could have concealed all the cards that were spilled on the table.

“I’m willing to bet ya that none of these are his cards either. Or even in my shoe, I bet the cards that are somehow stuffed inside aren’t it either.” She pushed her seat back to undo her shoe, and then turning it over, a stream of cards came gushing out like a pitcher of water onto the floor.

“So Alice, Mommy doesn’t think Hoity’s card is any of these. I bet you he doesn’t have his card either.”

“What are you talking about?” Hoity asked her, picking up his card. He paused in shock. Taking off his sunglasses, he slack-jawed at what he was seeing. Or rather… didn’t see. His card was blank.

“No, I bet his card is really on the back of my neck.” Lauren reached over and pulled the card out, three of clubs. “Is this your card?”

It was then, the room shook. Lauren immediately sat down and thought that there was an earthquake – but then she remembered. There are no earthquakes in Equestria. All around her, the was confusion and alarm to what was happening. That was until the table suddenly split, a greenish light emerging with smoke and the scent of sprinkles. Out from it, a rather crossed Discord emerged in a black and white stripe suite with his mane died green and covered in crusty white makeup. His missed-match arms crossed; he was glaring down at Lauren.

“You really couldn’t help yourself, could you?” He growled. “I was in the middle of a Beetlejuice reboot cartoon audition, giving my all, scaring the living daylights out of everybody… And then you do this!”

“Well hello to you too.” Lauren reached into her pocket and feeling the key, pulled it out to toss it on the table. “Just so you know, I changed my mind.”

Discord’s eye twitched. “Come again?” He growled like a wolf.

“I changed my mind. No, I am not going to hand Sky Cloud over to you. And I not going to simply stop with this whole warping reality thing either. Here,” She gestured to the key. “You can have that back.”

The roof felt hotter when Discord busted into flames. “How dare you! I can’t believe that you of all creator gods would be this backstabbing! You thoughtless, stupid, idiotic, witless, self-centered, unfaithful, colossal king Kama bi-”

Lauren tossed a glass of water in his face, cutting the irate spirit of chaos off guard.

“Are you done? Because I wanted to tell you why.”

Discord wiped his drenched face, makeup, and all, but kept his furious face.

“First of all, I’m sorry that I had to get your attention like this, I didn’t know any other way to get in contact with you.”

“You could probably just call me. We have phones in this universe you know.”

“Do you? I don’t recall ever seeing a phone anywhere.”

Discord rolled his eyes and poured a cheeseburger phone into existence. “I have the latest model. You don’t have to break the laws of existence just to get my attention.”

“I didn’t know I could call you. But anyway, the reason why I’m turning your deal down, is I think I came up with a better one.”

“… You had me interrupt an audition where I had snakes, claws, and who-knows-what-else coming out of my face for that?”

“Excuse me, Lauren,” Fancy’s hoof raised up. “While I am quite entertained by this exchange, would you please explain to me what exactly is going on? And why the spirit of Chaos is on my dining table?”

“I can answer that one.” Discord turned to him, “So to make a long story short, these two,” he pointed at Alice and Lauren, “can change reality like me. Not only did that upset a delicate balance, but the three-year-old brought an imaginary friend into existence. This crossed a line, and I want to rebalance everything before everything gets screwed up that isn’t my doing.” Turning back to Lauren he asked, “Okay, so what is your deal then?”

“Simply put, I think Sky Cloud should be in his own pocket dimension.”

Discord raised an eyebrow, “Isn’t that exactly what I was gonna do anyway?”

“But,” Lauren raised a finger, “I want it where Alice and I make that world fit enough for Sky to live in.”

Tilting his head, Discord blinked. “You and Alice?”

“I mean. I don’t see why not. Sky is Alice’s friend, and I have experience in coming up with worlds for stories. So how about you open an empty void, and we can fill it up? A blank canvas for us to paint on.”

Humming, Discord strokes his goatee. “That way, ‘My Little World’ would make perfect sense…” He muttered.

“Can we see it?” Luna asked, getting everyone’s attention. “I mean this isn’t every day where we get to see our mother at work.”

“Ooh, good point.” Lauren thought about it for a moment, “Probably wouldn’t hurt to invite a few others in the creative process as well.”

Discord leaned forward, “As long as you stay out of trouble, I’ll do the same. In the meantime,” he snatched the key, “I’m taking this back, thank you very much. Now if you please excuse me, I have an audition to come back to.” Discord leaned over backward into a coffin that appeared on a table, fell over into it with the lid slamming shut, and the coffin sank into the table.

Everyone looked at Lauren, “Uh… And then the table repaired itself like nothing happened.”

The table obeyed her narration, wood, broken China, shattered crystal goblets, scattered silverware, and spilled food reversed themselves until they were all back in one place.

There was a moment of stunned silence with everyone looking at Lauren. “Sorry about that, Fancy, it was something that needed to be taken care of. So anyway, have you ever been to Shire Lanka?”

16: Birth of Imagination

Author's Note

Apologies for the long delay. Long story short, I got distracted with having to write up the story for October and for a writing contest. But anyway, back to this!

16: Birth of Imagination

How does one create a world from scratch?

To adults, such a concept is… difficult. After all, one usually takes what already exists and remixes it a little. Maybe taking pieces here and there. A familiar culture here, some rules/troupes there, a familiar-ish setting on the side, populated with characters and bingo! You have a world.

But for Lauren, this was different. For the first time, she isn’t helping to craft a world for a movie or a show. Not because she’s used to doing so for kids, but the fact that the one who is going to do it… is made by a little, little kid. At first, she was unsure of this because Alice was so young. But on the other hand, if she managed to make an alicorn out of nothing, perhaps it would be interesting to see how far this would go.

That, and from how the palace staff described how Sky Cloud came into existence, she has a way to do it.

“I must say that I never expected this,” Celestia commented.

There is a portion of Canterlot Castle that most ponies have overlooked. Next to the palace, there is a space between the walls and a waterfall that is shaded by tall pine trees. This small plot of land isn’t very big either, but the reason why was that it was out of the way, in a place that Lauren knows for a fact no one would think to look. Lauren held Alice in one arm with a bag full of paper and crayons in the other. Behind her were Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Sky Cloud.

“Neither would I.” Twilight agreed. “So, Lauren, why are we here again at this hour?”

It was barely morning; the sun had risen with the only sounds of this still dawn were from distant bird calls.

“We’re waiting on Discord,” Lauren said. “And this is to help out Sky Cloud over here.”

“Me?” Sky Cloud pointed a hoof at himself.

“Simply put, we’re going to make a world for you – or rather… Alice is gonna make a world for you.”

Luna looked between Twilight and her sister. “You know, Mother, this is not what I would expect from you. Although why did you invite us?”

“Partly because out of everyone in Equestria, you three know best how certain things work. Alice might come up with things that she might not even thought about so this is to help her nudge in the right direction. And partly as a just in case.”

“In case of what?” Twilight tilted her head.

“If, in case something goes wrong. To be honest, I’m hoping that what Alice makes will be kept a secret. Not just because of the possibility something might go wrong, but if someone happens to discover this. It’s the reason why we’re gonna be making a door here – because it’s the last place in the world anyone would think of looking. And it’s the reason why I haven’t asked anyone else to come – not even Spike. Because the fewer who know of this place and where it is, the better.”

“Maybe it’s because I was made yesterday,” Sky Cloud said, “but it sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me.” The ears on the enormous Alicorn folded flat against his head. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No sweetie,” Lauren went over to pat his neck. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Alice is going to make a place where you can be happy.”

“So where do I come in?” Discord suddenly asked and appeared. He was leaning against the side of the mountain in overalls, an orange construction hat, and a plaid shirt.

“Oh good, now that everyone’s here.” Lauren went up to him, “So how is it done? The whole pocket dimension thing?”

Discord raised an eyebrow. “You tell me, this is your idea.”

“Okay well… how do we start?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It needs to be attached somewhere first.”

“Attached?”

“Of course,” Discord thumbed one of his pockets and stretched it. “It’s called a pocket dimension because a fabric of reality attached to something. Could be anything really. A painting, the back of a coin, in a toilet, someone’s shoe-”

“How about a door.”

Discord nodded. “A door works too. But where are you going to put it?”

Lauren sat Alice down and took out a pink crayon. “Can I draw a door?”

“A little childish, but it would give me a good idea where to put it. Go ahead.”

Going over to the purple mountainside, Lauren knelt and began to sketch out a door. As big as she could make it. Going from one end, she made a series of small lines going up. Then over her head as far as her arm could stretch, down another end before connecting it to the first marking.

“Mom,” Alice pointed out, “What about a…” She gestured with her hand, turning in the air.

“Oh, right.” Getting up, Lauren made a small circle to represent the doorknob of this imaginary door. Standing back, she asked Discord, “Would that work?”

Discord glides over, inspecting it. Eyes squint, he hummed thoughtfully. Looking through every line up and down as though looking for a flaw of some kind. After a minute or so, he nodded, “Yep. This will do.” Craning his head around, he said, “All of you wanna step back for this part. This must be done delicately.”

Everyone took a step back. “Eh… A little further.” They took another step back.

“Right then. I haven’t done this in a while… Okay, at least over a thousand years, but I’m pretty sure I can do this.” As Discord said this, He stretched his arms, rotated his tail, and snapped his neck. “But you can do this. Just remember, delicately…” Discord took a moment to center himself. Concentrate. Breathed.

And kicked down the door.

The outline of the door fell over. Leading to a place of nothing.

“Honey I’m home!” Discord proceeded to walk into the void before realizing that no one was following him. “Aren’t you coming?”

Picking Alice up, Lauren walked behind Discord. Blue Sky followed after, then Celestia, Luna, and Twilight. They all entered into a space where everything was as blank as a canvas. An undescribed stretch of nothing in every direction and further.

“It seems so… empty,” Luna observed. Her voice echoed in the vast space.

“Of course, it’s empty.” Discord turned around. “For there to be something there hast to be nothing first.” Facing Alice, he said, “Okay boss, what now?”

Alice looked around, “Me?”

“Yup kiddo. This is your moment now. If I’m going to help build a world, I need an idea of what it looks like first. I like to know where to start.”

Lauren sat Alice down, along with the bag of paper she was carrying. “Remember hon, keep your friend in mind. What does Blue Sky’s home look like?”

Alice lay down on the perfectly flat ground, taking out the paper and dumping the crayons. She thought about it for a moment, her mother asked what her imaginary friend’s home looked like, so perhaps she should start from there. Grabbing a green crayon, she drew a thin line.

“Look!” Twilight pointed.

Alice looked up, and right in front of her was a thick line of green. Discord immediately got on top with a lawn mower to go across the line where it became grass. It took the Draconequus a few moments to finish. “Alright, what else?” he asked.

Blinking, the little girl took a pair of blue and yellow to draw out a sun and the sky. With every jot, every trace, every zig-zag sketch she made, something was being added to this empty world. Overhead when Alice drew a circle with lines and squiggles coming out, a sun was made overhead. Rubbing the blue crayon across the page, a brilliant bright sky started to form with Discord making adjustments close behind.

She grabbed another piece of paper to continue her drawing. Adding more grass, more sky. And with a white crayon, she drew fluffy clouds. Before she knew it, a landscape was starting to form. She drew streams, mountains, trees, flowers, and bushes. Taking out another sheet, she drew a beach with the lapping waves of an ocean. But looking over at Blue Sky, she realized that her imaginary friend still needed a house.

Using a red crayon, she began to draw lines for a house. First came the corners of the walls, then the windows, the door, the roof, a chimney, and even a mailbox. She filled the walls with yellow while coloring them blue. Then to the side of the house, she drew out in black rectangle with basketball posts standing on each end. She colored in an orange basketball in the center.

Discord was close behind to solidify what Alice drew. Yes, everything still looked like a little kid’s drawing, but the ex-spirit of chaos modified it to have depth, light and shade, and for lack of better words: solid. By the time he finished with the basketball court, he tossed the ball over to Blue Sky. “Catch!”

Blue Sky reared up, catching the ball in his hooves. Letting the ball bounce and dribble it with his magic. He smiled. “This… This feels right.” He went over to the basketball court to make a shot at one of the hoops, and it went through.

A thought came to Twilight as she watched this, going over to Alice, she said, “Excuse me, do you think you could give your friend some other friends?”

“Other friends?”

“I mean, he shouldn’t be alone. Right now he’s only playing with nopony around. Would it be better if he could play his game when there are other ponies to play with?”

This gave Alice a moment of pause. This whole time, she made Blue Sky as someone to be her friend. Yet, the idea that Blue Sky could get lonely was something she didn’t think of before. She had thought that it would be just them.

So when she took out another piece of paper, she simply had no idea what to do.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Lauren asked, kneeling down.

“But… Blue Sky my friend.” Alice said.

“Of course, he is. Why don’t you draw him some friends?”

“Blue Sky my friend. He not lonely.”

“Yes, but are you going to be visiting here all the time?”

Alice didn’t answer. She shook her head and folded her arms. “My friend! He not alone.”

“If I may,” Luna placed a hoof on Lauren’s shoulder. Luna craned her neck down to Alice’s eye level. “Why did you make Blue in the first place?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Have you ever felt lonely?”

There was a pause when Alice looked up at her but didn’t answer.

“When ponies don’t get to be with others, it gets hard to be by yourself for very long. You might come here as often as you’d like, but your friend will be here always. Yes, I think he will appreciate you visiting, but you won’t always be here all the time. Eventually, you’ll have to go home. You might get to a point where it will become harder and harder to come to visit. Perhaps you might not mean to, but he might have to be left alone for a long time.

“I have been lonely before. For a very, very long time. Like being put in time out that goes on and on. You can only do so much to keep yourself busy, but eventually, you wish that you had someone there with you. I know that Blue Sky means a lot to you, but he can grow into something better when he has those he can turn to. Not to replace you. But so that he doesn’t have to be by himself.”

“But…” Alice looked down at a blank page. “I don’t know how.”

Lauren knelt down, picking up an orange crayon. “How about I help you out?” Taking one of the pieces of paper, she began to draw. If she was doing this professionally, she would have used a pencil to make many gestural lines, and an eraser to smooth everything over before making a final drawing. But she wasn’t doing that. She was doing this for her daughter, and there was no need to be professional here. So she started to loosely outline a pony, but then extended his mane into a Mohawk and using a blue crayon, drew in strips of a zebra.

As she drew, her latest creation started to take form. The three princesses gathered around as a new creature was being made in real-time. Mirroring each sketch line Lauren was making, a form of a zebra that was half the size of Blue Sky was taking shape. Discord then took those lines through a loom to weave a more solid zebra into existence. Even Blue Sky was watching, pausing his game to take notice of what was going on.

“Now all that’s needed is a name.” Said Discord.

“Why?” Asked Twilight.

“So he would officially become real, of course. You don’t expect this guy to go around like a mindless background pony drone and not have something to make him stand out.”

“Okay,” Lauren tapped the blue crayon on her chin, “I think I’ll call him…” Then through inspiration, she wrote down the orange and blue striped zebra’s name.

Ander.

As soon as she named the zebra, Ander began to move, squinting his eyes, stretching his joints as though he had woken up from a night of sleep. Shaking his head, Ander blinked a few times, taking notice of Blue Sky. “Hey there!” He said in a chipper voice, “I’m Ander.”

“Hi,” Blue Sky waved at him. “Do you wanna shoot a few hoops?”

“Sure, why not?” Ander trotted over to the basketball court. “What’s your name?”

“Blue Sky.”

Alice looked on as Ander started to play with her imaginary friend when a thought came to her. “Where does he live?”

“Why don’t you draw him a house, sweetie?”

Taking a purple crayon, she began to draw another house into existence.

17: In the Beginning…

Deep down Lauren knew that if she were to reboot My Little Pony today than when she had first started, the result might have been completely different than what it was now. Had she had to start from scratch again, everything from the look, the location, even the characters would be unrecognizable than it would have been years ago. On top of that, to have someone else lead in that creation, in a different vision entirely, would end up with something that she may never considered before.

By the time Alice had gotten tired of drawing, the result of their collaboration was unique to itself. Alice drew up an island that she decided to call Hayland. It had rolling green hills, towering mountains, a forest, meadows, a lake, and sandy beaches. With the help of her mother, they drew a town with a castle on top of a hill. It had oddly shaped ponies, but so were zebras, giraffes, bears, dogs, cats, geese, and a ferret – all of whom can talk. In the castle, with Lauren’s help, the two crafted a dragon king, a blue, round-belly creature that Alice called King Fire that breathes fire when angry and gives out lollypops to the kids.

The three princesses did give Alice some suggestions to add to the town. Like a grocery store, a library, a post office, a movie theater, and a peer with boats. Discord all the while was right behind, building as fast as he could. He only stopped once for a lunch break eating a literal alphabet soup.

Hours later, Alice was too tired to continue. There were well over a hundred drawings, some that she drew on the back of that Twilight had collected throughout the day. Little Alice only stopped when she was too exhausted to draw anymore to the point that she fell asleep.

“Can we… stop… now?” Discord too looked exhausted. He was drenched in sweat in his overalls, his arms shaky. “If I had to move anymore, I think my limbs would fall off.” He said this just when his lion’s paw detached itself, landing on the ground. “Huh, spook too soon.”

“You’ve done an amazing job,” Celestia lit up her horn and popped the limb back on.

“I hope so.” Discord turned over to Lauren, who was sitting on a boulder, Alice sleeping on her lap. He plopped himself next to her. “Ya know, I think this is the first time I ever seen the creator actually create something.”

“Neither have we.” Luna agreed. “Even in our earliest memories, we never seen mother at work. And to see it with Alice leading the way.”

Lauren brushed her daughter’s hair. “Twenty-four hours ago, I would never think that I would be helping Alice make a world of her own. Something like what I came up with, but completely different. It’s almost funny, I didn’t realize how much I would miss doing this. Just coming up with something so original. I mean, look at this place. It’s a children’s illustration just begging for all sorts of potential. But… That’s not my story to tell.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

Shrugging, Lauren answered, “This here isn’t my story – it’s Alice’s. It’s her fantasy to explore. I don’t know how long she’ll come back to maybe add something, or if she may grow bored of it. But somehow, I have a feeling that like what I did, this might also take on a life of its own.”

There was a pause as Lauren looked towards the setting sun. With the way everything was made, the sunset was vibrant and beautiful like a dream. At that moment, with all that had happened to them since they came to Equestria, she sighed. “You know, I don’t know if I’ll even come back after this.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight tilted her head.

“Well, the way we came in, I don’t know if it’s possible that once we go back home, that there would be any way of returning to Equestria. For all I know, this might be a one-time thing. That portal thing I found in Alice’s room would probably never open up again. I wish there was some way back here and maybe visit the other stories that my husband and I had created over the years.” She shook her head. “But outside of this, I bet this might be the only time I get to come here.”

“Unless…” Discord hummed.

This got everyone’s attention. “Unless?” Celestia asked, “What are you unlessing?”

Drifting upwards Discord ditched the overalls for a deer-stalk cap, monical, and a pipe that blows bubbles. “Why it’s preschool, my dear. While she’s here, why not forge a way for her to get back.”

“Really? How?” Lauren raised an eyebrow.

“Come come, surely you haven’t thought of it too? Our world has ways of doing interdimensional travel, no?”

“What? Like the mirror thing?”

“That’s one way of doing it. But I know of another more… straightforward path.” In a flash, he ditches the Sherlock Hooves to get up. “I can make you a key to your imagination. A literal key where you can stick it in any door, and it will take you wherever you want. A favorite book, a children’s television show, or what have you. I can make it – for a price.”

“Which is?”

“Something worth of great love. An item that has more sentimental value than anything in the whole wide multiverse.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have anything like that on me.”

“But you do.” Discord pointed at Lauren’s wedding ring.

Lauren covered her hand, “Now wait a minute! I’m not gonna let you take this.”

“You won’t be getting rid of it. Think of it as… Give your ring an upgrade. Just imagine what you’ll be gaining here. One ring to travel to and fro. One ring to travel to the words of your dreams. One ring to find them. One ring to rule them all and in the broom closet call it Precious.”

“… Was that a Lord of the Rings reference?”

“Maybe.” Discord slyly shrugged. “But it’s true.”

Lauren looked down at her ring. “What’s the catch?”

“Catch?”

“C’mon, I know you. You may have character development, but even I know that you have this tendency to be unpredictable. So really, if you do something to my ring, what’s the catch?”

Discord furrowed his brows and crossed his eyes. Humming in thought. “Perhaps the only drawback is that since it acts like a key, anyone wearing it would be able to cross dimensions. If you were to go into a fairytale, and a character happens to put it on, they too would be able to open new doors. And if you don’t look that portal behind you, then it acts like an open door where anyone can go either way.”

“Okay, that’s straightforward enough.” Lauren looked down at her wedding ring. She reasoned that as long as she was careful and didn’t leave her ring out in the open, it probably shouldn’t be much of a problem. Besides, she and her husband would have the ability to go into their past and present projects – even those that were long canceled. They might even have a way to develop new worlds and ideas in the future to test out.

She could always come back to the Equestria she knows at any time.

Lauren slipped the ring off her finger. “Be warned, if there’s a monkey paw curse thing attached to this, I will do everything I can to make sure you are not seen ever again.”

“Giving out death threats is a little out of character of you.”

“Hey, you’re about to do something to my wedding ring – what would you do?”

Discord shrugged. “Good point.”

Lauren looked over to the three princesses. “What do you think?”

“I say do it.” Now all eyes turn to Luna.

“Really? Why?”

“Because that way we would know that you have a way to finally visit us more often. That, and I wanted to see what your world is like. Even if it’s only for a moment, I want to see it.”

Lauren looked over to Celestia and Twilight. “What about you two?”

“Well, as long as you’re careful with that ring, and that you would at least promise to see us periodically, then I guess it should be fine.” Celestia smiled.

“I already had been in the human world already.” Twilight pointed out. “Besides, you’re the creator, you have the right to do whatever you want.”

Nodding, Lauren slipped the ring off her finger and offered it up to Discord. “Just be careful with it.”

Discord reached down with his lion paw and picked it up. “Okay, I might be a little rusty when it comes to the interdimensional binding so hopefully we won’t explode.”

“Say what?” Twilight asked in alarm.

“Kidding.” Discord rubbed the ring on his forehead until it shined. And it kept glowing. Tossing it up in the air, the ring flipped around and suddenly froze in the air. Lines upon lines of thin, fishing-line-like strings appeared in the hundreds, the thousands, millions in every direction latched onto the ring. “Now for one critical step.” Discord picked one of the strings with his goatee. A sound like billions of pianos playing every key all at once was heard. After that tremendous sound died down, the ring fell back into Discord’s lion paw. “Here you go.”

“Huh?” Alice rubbed her eyes. “Mom, what that?”

“Hey Alice,” Lauren put the ring back on her finger. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Alright.” Picking her daughter up, she asked, “So… how does it work?”

“All you need is a door. Just touch the knob, think about where you want to go and open it.”

Lauren eyed the door that they came through. “Let’s get all of you back home first.” She leads the way with Discord and the three princesses following behind. Back in Equestria, the sun was low in the sky in the west. Lauren closed the door behind her but still held on the knob.

“You will come back, right?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, just give like a day or two. I need to talk with Craig first.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” Luna nodded. “Any particular time?”

“How does… Ten in the morning? Two days from now.”

Thinking about her home, about where the front door was, and imagining the living room to concentrate before turning the knob. Pulling it open, she found that the child’s drawing of a world had given way to her home.

“Lauren,” She looked over her shoulder at Twilight. “Thanks for coming to see us.”

“You’re welcome, Twilight.” She smiled and nodded. “I’ll see you around.”

Stepping back inside her house, Lauren turned around, seeing the princess and Discord waving goodbye at her. She noticed Alice was waving too as she closed the door. For a moment, she listened for any kind of noise but all was quiet. She was about to check when she realized the door was still locked. Turning the locks, she peeked out, only to see nothing but the dark sky, the streetlights, and the houses of her neighborhood.

Lauren locked up and pulled her phone out. The clock showed that they barely left. It was the same time and date when they left.

“Okay Alice, let’s get you to bed.”

She knew that by morning when Craig comes home, they were about to have a very… interesting conversation. But for now, she was feeling tired and she needed some sleep.

Author's Note

We're almost done. Just one chapter to go.

18: Key of Imagination

Before Lauren went to bed, she had to check on one thing. Putting her sleeping daughter to bed, she checked under the bed to make absolutely sure that the hole to Equestria was there. However, as she knelt down and turned on the flashlight of her phone, there was nothing there but a solid wall. She even felt it to make sure that it was solid, and it was. For a moment she wondered if something from the other side had sealed it up while the two of them were having their adventure. Perhaps the Tree of Harmony closed it up? But she was too tired to figure out how or why because she really needed to sleep.

Back in her room again, she got into her pajamas and slipped into bed. Taking off her wedding ring to set it on the nightstand before shutting off the light. The only thing on her mind was a single question: What was she going to tell Craig?

Looking back on everything, if she had told anyone what she saw – everyone in Hollywood would think that she had cracked. Of course, going into the fantasy world of the show’s ending sounds like a psychotic episode. The kind where expensive psychiatrists would get involved with mind-numbing pills. If it weren’t for her ring – the only proof she had – maybe Craig would think that she was crazy.

But as she was starting to fall asleep, another question popped into her mind.

Should I tell Craig?

Not because her husband would question her sanity – which is understandable enough. But that ring she has is something powerful that not even the likes of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis would have considered. A ring that could open doors to one's imagination – of any world she could conceive of. Any media, any scenario, any alternative world was only a concentration and a doorknob away. With it, not only she could go back to Equestria – but the Equestrias that her fans have imagined in their fanfictions and endless comics. She could also go into realms of books of any genre and it would be real… And the possibility that any of those characters would cross over here.

She began to wonder, if that ring fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be devastating. Forget those like Chrysalis, King Sombra, Discord even – what if someone were to let in some of the most terrifying characters in fiction? What if someone wanted to visit Sherlock Holmes and accidentally let Professor Moriarty into our world? What if someone let in anything Lovecraft could imagine? Or anyone from comic books? Or anime?

If she could imagine it – it can become real.

The ring had been on her mind all morning. Even when she cooked breakfast and drove Alice over to the daycare to be dropped off, the ring has never left her thoughts. This question of if she should tell her husband about where she’s been and the enchanted ring on her finger was a tough thing to sort out. In the beginning, she was confident that she should say something to Craig, but now… she wasn’t entirely sure.

By the afternoon, she sat at her dining table waiting for Craig to come home. Her ring was placed to the side with her sketchbook in front of her. She was aware of how unspeakably powerful Discord’s gift was. This goes beyond any sort of responsibility she was given – forget coming up with a show or a movie – what this thing is capable of is like something out of a Twilight Zone episode. One that if she wasn’t careful could lead to a rather nasty twist.

On the other hand, it doesn’t seem right to keep this a secret from Craig either. It’s not that he can’t keep a secret – being in the business where they sign contracts not to talk about upcoming shows on a regular basis – this shouldn’t be much of a problem. Yes, without the ring she has no proof of anything that she and Alice had been to Equestria. Besides, was it fair if only she got to have access to the realms of her imagination? Craig had put just as much effort into his projects, creating worlds and characters with such care that it would be selfish of her not to share.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the unmistakable sound of a car pulling up in the driveway. Ready or not, now was her time to act. A minute or so later, the grudge door opened, and she heard him call out. “Hello? Anyone here?”

“Hey Craig,” Lauren called back.

It wasn’t long until her husband came into the kitchen. As long as she’d known him, Craig had his goatee under his glasses that he had kept before they were married. His hair hangs just above his shoulders. He walked in with a gray t-shirt and a black button shirt over it with blue jeans. In his left hand, he dragged a suitcase. “Man that took forever, I was worried I was gonna be stuck in traffic for hours.” He went over to kiss her on the forehead. “How’ve you been?”

“I’m doing okay. Nearly got my script all written up.” As Craig walked away to put his suitcase in their room, she asked, “How was the con in Seattle?”

“Kinda exhausting. The Q and A went good, nearly got a hand cramp from signing autographs. But to be honest, I just wanna be home. How’s Alice?”

“Oh you know, keeping me on my toes. And I think we’re starting to rub off on her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Alice has started to make a little show of her own. She’s been drawing a lot, and she asked me to help her create a setting and characters. About different animals and creatures living together on an island.”

“And I missed it? Aww, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because you were probably flying at the time.”

“Well does she still have the drawings at least?”

“Yeah, I’ll show you them later.” Lauren looked at her wedding ring. Picking it up and putting it on her finger, she called out. “Hey while you’re here, mind if I run something by ya?”

“Go ahead.”

“Well… I have to show you first.”

“Okay, give me a sec…” A moment or so later, Craig came back. “What’s up?”

Lauren chose her next words carefully before she opened her mouth. “Well… I don’t know how you react to this, but lately, I’ve been thinking hard about something that has… potential.”

“Oh yeah?” Craig pulled up a chair, sitting down with his arm on the backrest. “What do you have in mind?”

“How about this: picture someone having a magic ring that could turn any door that wear touches into a portal into their imagination. And I don’t just mean like going into one world, but anything they could think of.”

Craig raised an eyebrow. “For example…?”

“Like say… if that person has read some fairytales, with that ring they could go inside that world of fairytales – like Rapunzel, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel. Now if that door is opened, there’s also the potential that those fictional characters could walk into the real world too. And this doesn’t just have to limit to books either, just any place of that wear’s imagination.”

“It almost sounds like a long-lost Twilight Zone episode.”

“Well… kinda-sorta.”

Craig scratched his head, “Okay so… Where would this ring come from?”

Lauren shrugged. “Maybe anywhere, a grudge sale, an attic…” She looked down at her finger, “A wedding ring.”

“That could be interesting. Is this something for a new show you might work on?”

“Not exactly.”

“Movie? I can totally see Warner Brothers picking this-”

“No, but… Okay, hear me out on this. What if… that ring exists?”

Her husband tilted his head, confused. “Excuse me?”

“I know how it sounds but just humor me here.” She took off her ring and gave it to Craig, “Here, put that on.”

“Why?”

“Just play along for a second. Let’s pretend that there is the ring I’m talking about.”

“… Okay…?” Craig slipped the ring over his pinkie finger. “Now what?”

“Try this – if you could open a door that would lead to anything that you’ve made in the past, what would it be?”

He blinked. “I… Guess it would be Wander over Yonder.”

“Okay.” Lauren nodded. Pointing, she instructed, “Go to the back door.”

“Lauren, where is this going?”

“Just play along.”

“Well… alright.” Craig got up and walked over to the back door.

Just as he touched the handle, Lauren added, “Now really think about that show before you open that door. What it looks like. Who would be there and all that.”

“Okay…?” There was a moment that Craig looked down at his and, his face squinted in concentration before turning the knob. “I don’t see where you’re getting a- THE HELL!?”

Lauren shot up from her chair to look out what Craig was stunned at. Gone was their backyard, and in its place was a vast, beautifully hand-crafted universe of brightly colored planets and millions upon millions of stars in every direction. Craig stuck his head out, looking this way and that, holding onto the door frame as he saw that somehow their back door was floating out in this artistic space.

“Hon, are you seeing this?” Craig asked in disbelief.

Before Lauren could answer, there was the unmistakable sound of lasers going off. Suddenly red streams of light went right past them from above. Craig stuck his head out and looked up. His jaw dropped. “No way…!”

“INCOMING!!!”

What happened next was so fast that Lauren barely had time to process it all. One moment she was next to her husband standing up. The next was that there was a loud POP! And then suddenly they were knocked over when something noticeably heavy hit the couch. They looked over to see two cartoon characters have latterly crashed on the couch. Not just any 2-D characters – but those that Craig had made himself. Upside down was Sylvia, and slumping off was Wander. Thee Wander! There was no question about who they were.

Sylvia pointed frantically, “Wander! Close the door! Close the door!”

The short orange peanut creature spent no time getting up and slammed the door before a familiar-looking skull-shape spaceship could start firing at them. His back against the door, he slumped to the floor, wiping the sweat off his brow. “Phew! That was a close one.”

“Oh… My God…” Craig looked between him and his wife. “Am I having a mental breakdown? I think I’m having a mental breakdown.”

“Hey there,” Wander got up on the floor, and went over to the couple with both hands stretched out. “Sorry for the crash landing like that, but you saved our behinds back there. Name’s Wander, and that Zbornak on the couch is Sylvia.” He smiled at them.

“Yeah, where… Where are we anyway?” Sylvia rolled over on her back and off the couch. “And why is everything in here so… three-dimensional?”

“No idea, but this is a lovely home though.” He turned back to them. “Sorry, I don’t think I got your names yet.”

Lauren’s husband, slack-jawed, shook Wander’s hand. “C-Craig…”

“Lauren.” She shook his head.

“Oooh! C-Craig and Lauren! Sounds exotic, I love it!”

“Still…” Sylvia got up and walked over to Wander. “Again, sorry for busting in like this. We were on the run from Lord Hater when we saw this door in the middle of space. You saved our hides back there.” She grabbed Wander and tossed him on her back. “C’mon Wander, we should probably go.”

“Aww, but we just got here!”

“And we still need to get to Sauntree Five, remember?” She turned and opened the back door, “Again, sorry to bother ya folks. Now let’s get that bubble up and… Huh?” Instead of space, Sylvia saw a green backyard. One with children’s toys strewn about. She closed and opened the door several times. “Hey, what’s going on?” She looked over to the couple. “Where are we?”

“What planet is this anyway?” Wander was already off Sylvia’s back and peering out a window. “I’m pretty sure we’ve never been here before.”

Lauren could see that Craig was too stunned to say anything. In shock, the characters that he had drawn years ago had suddenly and inexpertly crashed into their home. She was the first to get up from the floor. “I know you have a lot of questions, and so does my husband here. So to try to put it in a nutshell… you two are in another dimension, that’s why everything here is so… 3-D. If you’re weirded out, well… this is new to us too.”

“But how did we get… where ever here is?” Sylvia asked.

Taking the wedding ring off Craig’s finger and putting it on her own, she said. “It’s because of this. My ring has an ability to open doors to worlds that are fictional to us.”

Sylvia craned her neck down to get a better look at the ring. “What? That thing? Looks like any other ring to me.”

“Looks, yes. But it’s not like any other.” Lauren went over to the back door. “Watch this. Now you see our backyard.” She opened it for a moment before closing it. “And now…” Lauren took a moment to concentrate. To think of a particular place in Equestria. If she was going to have a crossover with these characters of her husband’s, there was one pony to do it.

Opening the door, this time it showed the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie was putting the last touches on a couple of sugar cookies. She looked up from her work. “Hi Lauren!” Pinkie waved, “It’s so good to see you again, I’ve made you some chocolate chip cookies that just came out of the oven.”

Craig blinked. “Wait… You know her?”

“Well duh, of course I do… Oh wait, aren’t you Craig? Yeah, Lauren mentioned you were married a while back. Anyway so to make a long story short, Lauren and her cutesy daughter Alice had slipped into this world for a bit, almost causing Equestria-wide-panic when she said the show was about to end and unexpectedly left but now she’s back and-” She gasped when she spotted Wander. “Oh hi there new friends! I’m Pinkie Pie! Would you like some cookies?”

“Well sure I would.” Wander smiled.

“In that case, good thing I made these super-extra-welcome special sugar cookies.” Pinkie, quick as the wind, snatched a plate of cookies, entered Lauren’s living room, and presented it to Wander and Sylvia. Two large cookies had white frosting and colorful depictions of flying saucers and the words, Welcome! Written beautify in black icing.

“Wait, you knew this would happen?” Sylvia asked, picking up one of the cookies.

“Not exactly, my Pinkie sense was going crazier than usual this morning. You should have seen me I was bouncing off the walls but I had this instinct that I have to make these cookies not just for Lauren and her husband, but for two out-of-this-world aliens too. Mrs. Cake looked at me weirdly when I told her what I was doing but I found the time to have these come out just right.”

“Oh I like you.” Wander took a bite of the cookie. “Yum! Sylvie, you got to try this! It reminds me of the mini cakes from Yoyou Twelve but with more butter.”

Lauren turned to her husband and offered her hand to lift him up. “Yes, this is all real. It’s not just you.”

Craig got up and looked over to their creations, happily chatting away over a plate of cookies. “Hon,” he finally said, “I think we just entered The Twilight Zone.”

Author's Note

The End.

While I don't know if this would be a good enough ending for a crazy story like this one, but overall, I'm satisfied. This has been a long time coming. I wanted to see this story finished, and today is that day. I want to take a moment to thank you, the reader, for being so patient with me. With collage and other stuff in real life that has made it a little difficult to work on these stories, I'm glad that at least I was finally able to bring it to a close.