Chapters It was a sunny day in Ponyville - Pinkie Pie was bouncing around town offering everypony cupcakes while Rarity was decorating her latest dress with sparkling rubies the size of small pebbles; Applejack was competing with Big Mac and Apple Bloom to see who could buck the most apples whilst Fluttershy spent the day at the Sanctuary with Angel; and while Rainbow Dash was practising her latest routine with her fellow Wonderbolts, Twilight was happily reading through as many books as she possibly could in one day.
Spike had left the castle to spend the day with Gabby, and the two flew around town, raced each other, and jumped into a pool of water, splashing each other as they doubled over in laughter.
Meanwhile, however, a seventh pony hidden behind a large black cloak trotted into Ponyville, ignored for the most part by the ponies and fillies darting around, too busy with their own business to bother staring at the strange, hooded figure. The figure remained in the shadows, avoiding anypony they could, glancing around almost as if they were nervous.
One pony, however, darted over impossibly fast, eyes open so wide it looked as though they would pop out of their sockets at any which second.
'Hi! Who are you? I don't think I've seen a pony like you before, are you new? Or do I know you? Lyra, is that you? No? Rainbow? Ooohhh, I'm so excited!! Who is it, who is it?!'
She bounced up and down, smile spread wide, her words now a jumble of excited gibberish. She was attracting the stares of ponies nearby, who had caught word of a new pony and seen the hooded figure standing ominously in the shadows.
The figure, sighing, lifted a hoof to bring back the hood, revealing her face - pitch black hair stood messily above a pastel red face, blue eyes watching the pink pony as she smiled and extended a hoof.
'My name is Constant Blaze - it is a pleasure to meet you.'
The red pony bowed her her respectfully, quickly looking up in shock as Pinkie grabbed her hoof with her own in a hoofshake that had poor Constant lifted up and down on the spot.
'Nice to meetcha! My name's Pinkie Pie!'
Suddenly, Pinkie drew back, jumping several feet into the air with an audible gasp as her mouth stretched wide in realisation for several moments, before Constant spoke up: 'I'm terribly sorry Miss Pie, but am I missing something?'
'Of course!' Pinkie half shouted, 'You're new!'
'We need to celebrate! Get everypony together, throw a party! I can bake up a mountain of treats, I'm sure Mrs Cake will want to help, set up decorations, play some music - say, what's your favourite colour? Red, right?? Maybe black?'
By this point Pinkie was seemingly talking to herself, buried in though as she planned.
Pinkie jumped backwards, startled, and a few ponies passing by also flinched as the voice shouted out in desperation.
'Constant? Constant, what's wrong?!'
She shakily climbed to her feet, eyes still brimming with tears and face damp with tears as she met Pinkie's worried eyes, breathing deeply.
'I'm fine, just... can we talk about this in private?'
'I'm sorry for worrying you all - I honestly didn't mean to make you fret' Constant murmured, bowing her head in shame.
Pinkie shook her head - 'It's not your fault. Come on, let's go to Sugarcube corner, we'll have some privacy there!'
Before long the two were at Sugarcube corner, and Constant removed her cloak, revealing her body: she had ruffled, messy fur, and a cutie mark of a vibrant yellow heart rested on her flank, near her messy red tail that drooped nearly to the floor.
'Pinkie Pie...' Constant said gravely, sending the party pony a serious look, 'I'm on the run from ponies who want me and my friends dead.'
Pinkie's eyes opened wide, and she sat, looking at the pastel pony in confusion for a few moments before blinking rapidly and speaking. 'Would you like to... talk about it?'
Constant opened her mouth to answer, only to be cut off by a knock at the door.
Constant and Pinkie walked side by side as Pinkie opened the door, beaming at nopony, as nopony was there. There was, however, a single package left behind, a plain brown box held closed by tape.
Constant and Pinkie shot each other a curious look, Constant looking strangely frightened, and Pinkie picked the box up - it was fairly small, and longer in height than width.
Pinkie closed the door, and the two retreated to the party ponies' room, Constant watching gravely as Pinkie ripped the box open, faint excitement etched into her features, only for them to be quickly replaced by fear and horror as she opened the flaps.
In the box lay Angel. Dead.
His mangled body was covered in sticky blood, eyes staring blankly up at the opening of the box.
Pinkie screamed, and Constant covered her mouth with her hoof.
The game has just begun.
The yellow mare was helping out around the Sanctuary as per usual, Angel occasionally bouncing over to here from where he was playing with a few of the other animals.
Fluttershy hummed in content, focusing on her work as she made sure everything was perfect. Hours ticked by, early morning turning into mid afternoon, and yet the sun still glared down with all its intensity. Fluttershy wiped her brow free of sweat, realising her work was complete.
She couldn't remember the last time she had spent so much time at the Sanctuary, but finally all the animals were safe and well, and she turned to leave. At the last moment she realised Angel wasn't with her - he must be playing with the other animals again.
'Angel!' she called, 'time to leave!'
She was met with no bunny bouncing over, no excited hopping. She turned and went to find him, searching everywhere, but nothing.
She was just about to double check everywhere she had looked, when 'FLUTTERSHY!'
Pinkie's loud voice caught her attention, and she jumped in surprise before turning to see the mare running over with a box in her mouth.
Curious, the pegasus ran over, meeting the party pony halfway, and asked worriedly 'Have you seen Angel? I can't seem to find him!'
Pinkie's already unusually sombre face seemed to become even more dark and upset as she handed Fluttershy the box with the wavering instructions to open it.
When she did, Fluttershy's reaction was quite possibly worse than the sight of mangled Angel - she collapsed in a fit of tears, quiet yells and sobs racking her body. All Pinkie could do was wait for her to calm down, as her words of comfort seemed to do nothing to help the broken pegasus.
'You can't tell anypony about me, do you understand? If you do, you'll be putting not only your life as well as mine, but your friend's lives in danger.'
Pinkie gulped and nodded, and for the first time in a long time, fear, raw, pulsing fear rushed through her. Without her friends, she felt oddly vulnerable.
When finally Fluttershy's shaky breaths overcame her sobbing, Pinkie reached down ans hauled her up.
'I'm sorry Fluttershy. He just... appeared on my doorstep in this box. I don't know what to say.'
'The ponies who are after me after strong, smart, and fast. They can take the form of anypony, replicate their exact behaviour, and if they want of need to, can and will dispose of anypony standing in their way. You must trust nopony, as anypony could be fake'
Fluttershy was still shaky with uneven breaths, but she seemed to gain control of her body again as she met Pinkie's eyes.
'Who would do this? Are my animals in danger? Are WE in danger?'
'They're after me, you, and your friends. Right now, any one of your friends could be one of them in disguise. I need you to try and act normal, don't draw suspicion.' 'Why do you trust me? What if I'm one of them?'
Constant shifted and sighed. 'I know you're not. I don't know the full extent of their plan, all I know is that I arrived here before them, which means you couldn't be a fake. Right now, I can only trust you.'
When finally Pinkie turned to go home, she felt no better, and despite her advice to stay at home, Fluttershy had been stubborn when choosing to stay at the Sanctuary with her animals.
Fluttershy had asked her to tell Twilight and the others, but she knew she would have to confer with Constant first: only she knew anything about what these sick ponies were doing, and she could be putting her friends in unnecessary risk.
Hollow and upset, Pinkie trotted home, ready to face Constant with another set of questions she hadn't asked earlier.
Constant spoke in a hushed whisper, wary of listening ears. 'One of us says "fire", the other "blazes". This way we'll know each other is really who they say they are.'
Pinkie nodded and repeated the words in her head. Fire blazes.
When Pinkie arrived home, she saw Constant muttering to herself.
Pinkie wondered at what she meant, as Constant turned and patted the bed, inviting her to sit.
'She was upset...' Pinkie looked at Constant, seeing something akin to sympathy flicker in her eyes.
'Tell me about these ponies. What do they want? How do you know them? Who are your friends?'
Pinkie flooded Constant with a sea of questions, and Constant opened her mouth to answer them all, suddenly remembering something.
Author's Note
So, what is the truth? Just who are Constant's friends? And can Constant be trusted?
'In total, there are six of us. Me, Calis Rush, Star Sky, Brail Rain, Simmer Dawn, and Integrity Fall. We six represent the elements of harmony.
'We helped protect the people around us, as many as we could. We were aware there were six others in our world, going by the names of Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. Unbeknownst to us, we too were helping to protect the people of the world.'
Pinkie's eyes were wide as saucepans.' How?' she asked in shock.
Constant smiled slightly.
Only, we don't go to Canterlot High, nor Crystal Prep - I presume Miss Sparkle explained all of this to you - we go to a school far away from there, another place entirely.'
'You're from there... '
'I don't quite understand it either - all I know is that somehow, we do, and that our pony counterparts in this universe do not.'
Pinkie nodded, and said 'So why are these strange ponies after us all? Who are they?'
Constant glared at thin air as she spoke: 'Integrity believes that when Miss Sparkle created holes between the worlds when she became Midnight Sparkle, magic was exchanged within worlds, which means a little of the magic from my world is inside yours, and vice versa.
However, the magic somehow created alternate versions of me and my friends - versions that managed to take us by surprise. Our elements are gone, and we have no way of communicating with the other elements in our world - I managed to come through a portal into your world. You and your friends are our only hope now - the only ones who can help us.'
Constant finished her story, meeting Pinkie in a level gaze.
'I-I still have my element' Constant breathed. 'The others - they warned me. It was too late for them, but I managed to get to a portal in time - they waited until we were separated to attack, but they attacked each one of us individually, knowing the risks of one on one... Simmer sent me a message last second, and I was able to make a run for it before they came for me.'
Constant frowned. The sun had begun to set, bathing the room in a red hue.
She turned to Pinkie again.
Pinkie seemed to be deep in thought, before asking, 'So if they are the evil versions of you and your friends, maybe we can figure out who it is via their element! Or rather, um, lack of?'
Constant smiled and nodded. 'Good idea... It could work, but all of them are evil enough to kill... Either we confront them or we wait for them to drop us more clues, and both choices are incredibly risky.
Do we wait for them to attack again, and murder an innocent pony, or do we attempt to confront them and jeopardise our plan and ourselves? Oh, I really wish Integrity or Star were here... '
Pinkie bounced over and hugged the pastel pony.
Constant smiled. 'Thank you. You know, I originally came here in the hopes of making it to Miss Sparkle in time - I believe she has a working portal right to the other elements of our world - but I am glad I met you. I believe Miss Sparkle is safest at the moment, and I believe you are the perfect pony to do what I am asking of you.'
'Asking of me?'
'I suppose Star has rubbed off a bit on me - I have a plan.'
