Ul’dah, Thanalan

Some days, it was said that Ul’dah never sleeps. Dancers still danced in the streets, patrons admiring their form and beauty. The beggar still begged, having run his luck into the ground in one way or another. Refugees joined the beggars, not to beg, but because no one else would hear their pleas. It was a city where fortune was made, Luna could tell that much, but no one paid attention to those who had lost their fortune. It horrible truth, but she saw the same thing in Canterlot.

“Find it hard to look at?” Matthia asked. Though he didn’t have to prepare in the same way the rest of his allies did, but he had brought parchment and books for which to write his observations in.

“Sometimes, it’s easy for my people to forget that not everyone will succeed,” Luna replied. It wasn’t exactly an answer, but it was the best way to describe home. “Some things don’t change, no matter how long has passed or where you are.”

“Don’t feel sad for them,” Darling replied. Along with her standard hailstorm garb that she used when healing that she was carrying with her, she was currently wearing a more eastern styled garb. According to what the Viera was willing to tell her, it was the garb of someone known as a Samurai. “Idiots come of age and go off into the world, thinking that all they need is to wave around a child's savings worth of gil to get anywhere in this world. Then, they make a simple mistake, talk to the wrong person, or make a deal they can’t finish, and this happens.”

“Your just full of sunshine today,” Lucia muttered. She hadn’t needed to pack anything for the coming journey. She had her bow, her harp, and that was all she needed.

The moment they had left Shirogane Luna had felt strange. She had become somewhat used to being an outsider after spending so many years trapped in the moon. That feeling when she returned to Equestria, returned to her sister, and found that everything she knew was no longer their, changed to the point of being nearly unrecognizable, or a shell of what it was made her want to die. Yet, with the help of Twilight and her sister, she had managed to settle in once again, only to now return to a land just as different. Eorzea and Equestria, no matter where she went, she felt out of place.

“We’re here,” Luna said, stopping and turning to the sunsilk tapestries.

Shinji, wearing pitch black armor with a spear on his back, looked around. Luna had mentioned a portal, one that only opened under certain circumstances, as the means by which she came to Eorzea. Yet looking around, he saw nothing that seemed even remotely like a aetheryte or portal. He looked to Luna, and then to what she was staring at, only to find the raised platform between the stairs leading to the ruby road exchange. He sighed.

“Luna, I see nothing,” Shinji explained.

“Oh, right,” Luna replied. “Sorry, should have mentioned that the portals entrance, at least on your side is hidden in such a way that no one would notice it,” She walked up to the stone wall and placed her hand, Alun gasping as he saw it disappear into the stone. “See?”

“I don’t understand it, but that's really cool,” Alun complimented.

“Oh, one more thing I should mention,” Luna said. “As I mentioned the portal normally changes the one who enters it into a race that inhabits that world. That’s why I appear to you as what you know as a Miqo’te,” Luna sighed, rubbing her arm in embarrassment. “However, even though I would prefer to return to my old body, that’s... not going to happen this time.”

“I’m guessing it has something to do with not wanting to… “disadvantage” us, you could say?” Matthia asked. “Considering you described the Ascians with the word “bipedal”, I’m guessing walking on two feet is not common.”

“That's… the gist of it,” Luna replied. “Celestia didn’t want to take any chances at whoever I found being unable to fight due to an unfamiliar body, but she also needed to make sure I blended in because of a rule she has for anyone who uses the portal. In other words, you all will be able to keep your bodies but… I will be stuck in this one. Considering the amount of algorithms that had to be changed in order for you to keep your bodies, changing it right now would be… dangerous.”

“Honestly, that sounds like a plus to me,” Alun said. “Hands allow you to do a lot more things than paws or hooves or whatever you have must be capable of doing.”

Luna pulled her body even closer to her, both hating the fact that Alun was right and feeling ashamed that one of the warriors thinks it a good thing. Bushi, who had been following behind the rest of the party, smacked Alun on the back of the head. The Au Ra ninja and summoner looked to Bushi, able to feel the disapproving gaze she was getting from behind those goggles. The look couldn’t help but make her feel ashamed of herself, and as she turned back to Luna she bowed.

“Sorry, that was wrong of me,” Alun said.

“It’s fine, I’ve taken worse words,” Luna replied. “Anyways, there is no time to waste.”

Darling nodded, watching as Luna disappeared into the brick. Lucia followed behind her, letting her hand rest on the invisible portal, watching as the surface rippled. Shinji joined her, placing his hand on it as the two looked at each other. With a nod, they went through, Alun running in after them. Bushi Do, without a word, simple walked through as if it was completely natural to walk through solid walls. Darling took one step, and stopped, a voice in her head calling out to her.

“It’s not too late to turn back.”

“Scared Darling?” Matthia teased, looking at her with a smug expression she wore herself on many occasions.

“No, just trying to process this,” She replied. “I mean, I’m not the only one who was hoping she was just some crazy wackjob who hit themselves on the head too hard right?” She laughed at her own joke before sighing. “Guess it was too much to hope for.”

Without another word, Darling walked towards the wall. She wanted to do as the voice said, but that wasn’t who she was. Whether she liked it or not, she was the goddamn Warrior of Light, and people came to her for a reason. There were things she had done, or was at least brave enough to try, that no one else was able to. She pushed back the Garlean Empire when she defeated the ultima weapon, something an army can’t do, with less than a handful of elite adventurers and Lucia. Doing something that seemed as crazy as this was just part of the job description, and as she head through the portal she made sure to remind herself that.

Canterlot, Equestria

As Darling exited the portal, her foot hit marble. Clean, recently polished marble unlike the dirty stone floors of the city she was in but moments ago. Though the room she was in had no lights, the door open before her allowed her to see her surroundings. Looking ahead of her, she saw Alun and Lucia staring out a window on the other side of that door, Shinji resting against a wall. Bushi did his best to keep the Au Ra girl from jumping out the window, seeming to be enamored by what she saw below.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Darling walked forward to join Alun and Lucia in sightseeing. To say what she saw, as she looked down to the city below her, was gorgeous would be an understatement. A city, built into the side of a mountain, twelve knows how many feet high above the ground was below her. Figures the size of ants walked below them through white stone streets, walls of white and yellow surrounding them. Even if she couldn’t make out exactly what was below her, it was still insane.

“Well, this is a lot nicer than I was expecting,” Darling said.

“Glad Luna asked you, then?” Lucia asked.

“No, but it’s a plus,” Darling replied with a shrug.

“I’m glad to as such,” A calm, collective voice said from not too far away. Looking to their left, Darling was surprised to see the voice coming not from a human, but from a horse. A horse with wings and horn, surrounded on all sides by smaller horses in armor carrying spears. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, citizens of Eorzea. I, Princess Celestia, welcome you to Equestria.”

Celestia bowed to the group of Miqo’te, Viera, Au Ra, and Hyur standing before her, most of which were in complete shock. They knew from what Luna had told them earlier that the people weren’t human, but this was not what most of them expected. Darling looked at Celestia, mouth ajar, trying to think up exactly what to say. While most of the reactions were similar, Alun was ecstatic, fulfilling every girls childhood dream of meeting a pony princess. Luna watched for the far end of the hallway, snickering at the reactions the Eorzeans were having as, right as Matthia exit the portal and joined the rest of them, Darling cracked.

“Your fucking ponies?!”

Some time later, at a different part of the castle

“Calm down Twilight, you’ve done this a dozen times before,” A small purple dragon said to the unicorn before her. “Just go in there, listen to what Celestia has to say, and do what needs to be done. It’s that simple.”

“Since when has it ever been that simple Spike,” Twilight replied. She looked back to her friends, who were patiently waiting for her to open the door “I mean, you saw the letter Celestia sent. This isn’t just some test. I, her personal student, am about to meet somepony very important. A foreign dignitary, a great scholar, some other important position that I can’t think of, I’m about to meet what is most likely a legend!”

“Now hold on there sugarcube,” Applejack said, knowing full well where this was going. “Look, whoever it is, it’s no use stressing about it now. Your already here, the door is right there, might as well just open it.”

“Yeah, I mean, if Celestia is introducing them to you then they must be pretty big eggheads,” Rainbow stated, earning a glare from Applejack and a giggle from Twilight.

“As Applejack said, your already heard,” Spike restated. “No, go in, we’ll be waiting.”

With a deep breath and a smile, Twilight nodded to her assistant, friends and opened the door, only to find herself once again freezing up at the sight in front of her. As normal, Celestia sat in her throne, her brother Shining Armor at attention eyeing something to his left. That was about where the normalities ended and the abnormalities began. The door behind her closed, and for a good few seconds, the room was silent, allowing her to get a good glimpse at the odd figures standing to the left of the throne.

Where she expected a pony to be, was a group of bipedal figures dressed in various garbs. There was no coat of fur covering their skin save for the hair on their heads. Though each looked relatively similar at a distance, each member of the group had distinct characteristics that differentiated themselves from each other. Two had ears like that of a rabbit, while the other the ears and tails of a cat. Two of them had scales covering various parts of their body with a scaly tail and horns at the top of their heads. The taller of the two was male, Twilight guessed, based on his physic, while the smaller, and definitely younger one was clearly female. The last one, however, lacked horns, a tail, or furry ears, their eyes covered by goggles. Her own thoughts seemed to be echoes in a similar manner by the bunny eared girl, whose speech betrayed her sophisticated looked.

“What the fuck. They really are that small.”

“Thanks for coming on such short notice, Twilight,” Celestia said, pulling her pupil out of her stupor. “You may bring your friends inside. This is something you all should hear.”

A few moments later and a repeat of the shock Twilight had had earlier, though this time on a larger scale, and Celestia continued.

“Again, I both thank you and our guests for coming on such short notice,” Celestia restated. “Luna has already briefed them on what is going on, but I feel like I should repeat myself since you don’t know.”

“Pardon my, princess,” Rarity interrupted, raising a hoof. “But… where is Luna? I thought she would be here.”

“She is,” Celestia said, her gaze falling upon the dark skinned Miqo’te. “Just not in the body you probably know?”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow shouted. “That’s Luna?! But she’s a pony!”

“You would be surprised at what happens when one plays with magic, Rainbow,” Luna answered. If it wasn’t for the fact that she had already been left silent at the sight of the Eorzeans, she would probably have done it again.

“Guess I should probably start with introductions,” Celestia realized, noticing the looks the Eorzeans and Equestrians were giving each other. “Tales, may I introduce you to Twilight Sparkle, Applejack Apple, Rarity Belle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike. Twilight and friends, may I introduce to you Darling Nia, Matthia Gryffine, Alun Khal, Shinji Okuri, Bushi Do, and Lucia Adilene, the Warriors of Light.”

Author's Note

So, after uploading the last chapter I noticed a few things that I had messed up or spelled incorrectly. If you see this at any point, please tell me, I will fix it immediately.

This chapter was hard. Not hard to write, though, hard to finish. I left it where I did because I felt it was the only possible place to stop, and I generally have a rule against making chapters under two-thousand words. So... yeah. I have a lot of fun planned for the prep phase before battling Sombra, and that will be starting next chapter.

As usual please like, comment, and give me feedback. A good writer always considers what its critics says, even if we don't always enjoy getting them.