Prologue: What is to Come
Out in the plains of Montana was a ranch. There was a house along with a barn, stables, a hay field, a well, crop fields, and the like that were all surrounded by fencing that covered much of the ranch. There was a road that lead to a paved road. The ranch was owned by the Williams family who bought out the ranch. In the house were three siblings. Megan Williams was the oldest of the three siblings at age 16. She was much like her mother, who was gentle, patient, kind, resourceful, and motherly. Of course, she was also like her father, who was a natural-born leader, a thoughtful man who, at times when he was in trouble, stayed confident. Daniel Williams, or "Danny" as everyone calls him, was the second oldest sibling, being only 14 years old. He was a rambunctious young lad. He was often confident and a bit of a wisecrack who also likes to tell a joke or two. He would often not take things seriously and even acts lazy and bored at times. Megan always chastises him for being lazy and not taking things seriously. He sometimes acts with mischievous intend so he could alleviate his boredom. Molly Williams was the youngest of the siblings, being 11 years old. She was creative and sweet as a cake. Though she likes to be like her brother one day, she detests his puns and his mischievous behavior.
Their grandmother Hannah was left to them to take care of them as their parents were out on a trip to Texas. Megan was in charge of taking care of the animals, especially the family's prized horse TJ and the ox Tauro. TJ was a horse that Megan took care of herself. TJ would let Megan ride on his back and often played tricks with her brother while also caring for Molly. Tauro was a stubborn bull to work with. He liked to be outside the barn and when the time came to put him back in the barn, it was going to take someone just as stubborn as him to get him in the barn. That someone happened to be Megan. In time, the bull respected Megan, but was still stubborn as ever. Danny and Molly would be left to do the chores while Megan worked with the animals and that their grandmother would take care of the plants.
Megan was wearing her usual attire, blue jeans, an orange short-sleeved shirt with brown boots, a matching vest and belt. She had thick blonde hair which she tied in a ponytail that flowed past her waist just down her back. It was mid-afternoon. She would always go to the stables to find her favorite stallion lying down. She'd been working all morning. She needed to vent out some steam.
"Hey, TJ, you feel like galloping across the ranch?" Megan asked, "Wanna stretch out your legs very quickly?"
The horse perked his ears up and made an enthusiastic whinney.
"Well then giddy up already! I'll get the saddle and everything!" Megan said.
The stallion rose on his legs as Megan went to get the saddle. TJ walked out of the stables before Megan came back with the saddle. She fastened the saddle and the bridles on TJ and hopped on.
"Alright TJ, giddy up!"
The horse let out a neigh before it trot out. As the two left, Megan spotted her brother and sister outside the house. Her brother wore a blue-white shirt and a red-white cap with the letter B on it. It had a blue trim. Molly was wearing her usual white shirt with pink overalls.
"So, running off to break your record again?" Danny asked, "You know, he'd make one heck of a racing horse."
"Oh be quiet Danny." Megan scoffed, "Besides, shouldn't you be doing something?"
"Oh no, I've done everything I could for today." Danny said.
Molly glanced with annoyance on her face.
"Liar," Molly said.
"Me? Liar? What do you mean?" Danny asked mockingly.
She pouted.
"I mean you still didn't-"
"Put my clothes in the washing machine? Made my bed? I even fed Tauro by the way, thank you very much." Danny said.
"You still didn't wash the dishes for Granny." Molly said.
"Of course I did!"
"You only did the dishes! You didn't wash all the spoons or the forks!" Molly said, "You didn't wash the knives! I had to wash everything while trying not to cut myself!"
"Hey! Knives are sharp! I wouldn't want to lose my finger." Danny said.
"Danny..." Megan said, slightly raising her voice, "We talked about this."
"Alright fine, I only did the dishes because I needed to play with my buddies online. I mean I just finished that raid with them just last night." Danny said, "Can't I just-"
"No bro, you can't."
"Oh come on! I've been working my butt off all day!"
"No excuses Danny. Just cause you're 13 doesn't mean you skip out on chores." Megan said, "And that also doesn't mean you can just go find yourself a girlfriend."
"WHAT?! You don't even have a boyfriend!" Danny said.
"That's cause the ranch is a lot more important than boys." Megan said, "We gotta care for the ranch and each other because we're family, got it?"
"I get it..." Danny sighed.
"Now Molly, you just go back to what you were doing." Megan said.
"Ok sis." Molly said.
"Alright, TJ, giddy up!" Megan said.
TJ neighed and galloped off to the open fields.
"And remember to be back by dinner, ok?" Molly asked.
"She will, you'll see." Danny said.
Megan could feel the wind in her hair, the adrenaline rushing throughout her body. She always liked having the feeling for adventure. It made her feel alive, and riding TJ was always a blast. The way the stallion huffed and puffed with the wind in his mane as he galloped across the open space, all of it gave her such a thrill. The way the stallion turns in response to how she handles the reins and on cue gives her a sense of synchrony and union with the horse.
She loved this sort of thing ever since she first rode the horse. Ever since then, she's always wanted to do this sort of thing.
She pulled her right arm back, tugging the rein, signalling TJ to turn right.
And he did so.
She felt his weight shift as he went into the turn. She then tugged the reins to the left, telling him to turn left.
And turn left he did.
"Yahoo!" Megan howlered, "Now jump!"
Tj jumped into the air, his hooves clearing the grass. He landed with grace and galloped.
BOOM!
"Whoa!" Megan yelled, pulling hard on the reins.
TJ neighed and reared back on his hind legs. She and TJ looked to the distance and saw what looked like some kind of rainbow colored... sonic boom? This close to the ground? Then came something speeding right-!
TJ instinctively galloped to the right as something came down hard.
"Whoa! Whoa! Easy! Easy TJ! Calm down!" Megan called to the horse as he was roaring.
She rubbed the stallion's head, reassuring TJ that everything is fine. She kept doing this until he stopped roaring and took a breather. She noticed a rainbow coming from where she had witnessed the whole thing and trailed it with her eyes. It ended right into the ground where the unknown object fell. She got off the horse and went over to the crater. She waited for the dust to settle and jumped down into the small crater. What she found was...
'What in the hell am I looking at?' Megan thought.
The supposed thing she was looking at was a pale light grayish cerulean colored pony with wings and a rainbow colored mane. She began to put it together. This horse... It was a Pegasus, like those of Greek mythology, winged horses that could fly. But what kind of horse would have a cyan colored coat with a rainbow colored mane? And... was that a rainbow colored thunderbolt on the pony's flank?
'Who the hell puts a tattoo on a horse's flank?' Megan thought.
This was already becoming weird. Now that she knew what this horse was, now she needed to know two things, how old was it and whether or not it was male or female. She sighed.
'I'm sorry, pal, but I got to find out everything before I have to figure out what to do with you.' Megan thought.
She lifted the tail... and... yup. This was a female.
Judging by the length and height, Megan guessed that this horse was an adult, approximately 5 to 7 years old.
She touched the wings and... they felt like real wings. Feathers and all. She checked the mare's legs. None of them seem broken.
'I gotta get Granny.'
She got on TJ's saddle and the two made for the ranch.
Night...
A ball of light was approaching the house. It slipped through the window and was in Megan's room. It circled her. It sensed a pure heart. A heart with love, compassion, care, bravery, and virtue. She is what it had been looking for. It left its own world behind to find someone truly worthy of bearing its powerful light. It found a vessel that could contain it. A heart-shaped locket that was next to Megan's bed on a drawer. It opened the locket and went inside before a tendril of light came and closed it.
Chapter 1: Into Equestria
Megan went to the barn with a basket full of apples. She fed TJ apples when she took care of him, so it wouldn't hurt to feed that pegasus she found with apples... right? She got over to the stall the pegasus was put in. Megan hauled the pegasus into the stall. She opened it and left the basket in the stall before closing the door. She heard a yawn coming from the stall. She looked into the stall to see the pony beginning to stir. The mare pushed herself onto her hooves that have quickly touched the ground. The mare opened her eyes, revealing moderate cerise colored eyes. The mare stretched her wings out. The wings flapped around a bit before they folded back. The mare lifted a foreleg before stopping to look at Megan.
“GAH!”
The mare suddenly jumped backwards and got up on her hind legs and got her forehooves on the back of the stall.
“W-What in Equestria are you?! Where am I?!” The mare… spoke?
‘Oh Jesus… am I going nuts or did that mare just talk?’ Megan thought.
The mare was looking all over the place. She got her back off the stall and got back on all four hooves. Her eyes became focused on Megan.
“Hey! I asked you a question!” The mare said, pointing a hoof at Megan.
“Hey, easy girl, everything is alright.” Megan said, “You—”
“No! Everything isn’t alright at all!” The mare yelled, “How the hay did I get here? Where the hay am I? And more importantly, what the hay are you?”
“How did you get here? Well you fell pretty darn hard into the ground. Face first. Where are you exactly? In my family’s barn after I found you and brought you over here so you could rest.” Megan said, “And I brought you some apples.”
“Huh? Apples?”
The mare looked down and saw the apples.
“Oh… Well uh… thanks?” The mare said, looking back to Megan, “Wait… you didn’t answer my last question.”
The mare eyed Megan with suspicion. Megan opened the stall and went inside the stall. The mare became even more confused by Megan’s appearance, almost as though the mare had never seen a human being before.
“Really, what are you? Some kind of… uh… uh…”
“I’m a human in case you were wondering.” Megan said.
“A… a what?”
“Human.”
“Human?”
“Yeah.”
“Huh… never seen your kind before. Where do you guys live? Do you live in some part beyond Equestria?”
Megan scratches her head
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in Montana.” Megan said.
“Montana? Where the hay is that?”
“Oh that’s easy.”
Megan stepped out of the stall and looked to see Danny walking in with a smirk on his face. He walked up to the two
“How about you take a look outside?”
The mare stepped out of the stall and trotted towards the door. Danny opened the door and the mare stepped out. As soon as the mare got outside, she looked in awe.
“What… is all of this?”
“Oh it’s just the family ranch out in the countryside of Montana.” Danny said.
“And again, where the hay is Montana?” The mare asked.
“Uh… on Earth.”
“Earth?! Wait, you mean I’m not in Equestria?!”
“What, is that where you come from or something?” Danny asked, “If so, I don’t think you’ll find it on any map.”
The mare went wide eyed. The mare sat on her rump.
“I… I need… I need to lie down for just a moment.” The mare said.
She fell to her side.
“Huh, she is taking this… a lot less stressful than I thought.” Danny said, “So… how are we getting her home?”
“I don’t know, you tell me since you’re so smart and everything.” Megan said sarcastically.
“Well how do you think she got here?” Danny asked.
“Huh… good question.” Megan said.
“Hey you two!” Molly said, coming up to her older siblings, “Whatcha talkin about?”
“Oh, uh, the horse that can apparently talk and is apparently from a different world is just trying to take in the fact that she’s not in her world.” Danny said, “In fact, I was just about to ask the horse how she got here.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” Molly asked, “So uh… what’s her name?”
“Well, I was going to name her Rainbow Crash for obvious reasons.” Danny said.
The mare suddenly got up on its hind legs and shot a mean glare at him.
“I’m sorry, what was that just now about calling me Rainbow Crash?” The mare asked.
“Well… your mane is colored like a rainbow and you crashed and burned… pretty hard.” Danny said.
“First of all, my name is Rainbow Dash! Got it?! Rainbow Dash! The last time somepony called me Rainbow Crash, I left them in the dust!” The mare said.
“Ok, I get it. Yeesh… take a joke will you?” Danny asked, “I mean, I’m sure we can find some way to get you home.”
“Easy for you to say!” The mare who identified herself as Rainbow Dash said.
“On the bright side, at least there is one horse that’ll constantly remind you that you’re not alone here with a race of highly evolved and yet hairless monkeys.” Danny said.
“Oh that’s right! You never met TJ!” Megan said, “Wait here while I get him!”
She went over to the stables and got TJ’s attention. She unhitched the horse and walked with him.
“Rainbow, meet TJ, my folk’s best horse yet!” Megan said.
Rainbow didn’t look impressed by the stallion. She was still pouty. TJ on the hand neighed and galloped towards the mare, almost as if he was glad to actually meet another horse, even if it happened to have wings. TJ stopped and made a whinny at Rainbow.
“Uh… why… Why is he making those sounds?” Rainbow asked.
“Uh.. he’s not a talking horse like you apparently are.” Danny said, “Plus, I think he likes you.”
“Well… having wings can make any pony 20% cooler!” Rainbow said.
“Or 20% egotistical…” Danny muttered.
“Although… Granny wouldn’t exactly allow him to have a relationship with a mare.” Molly said.
“And why’s that?”
“Because then Granny would just have to take away his peanut privileges.” Danny said.
“Peanut privileges?”
Danny wheezed. TJ puffed his nose at Danny. Megan brought herself back to the elephant of the room.
How was she going to help the winged pony?
This Equestria that Rainbow was talking about… perhaps it was her home. The world that she came from. How was she going to help Rainbow Dash get home? Even if that was possible…
It was within that moment, Megan felt a faint warmth. It was coming from the locket hanging around her neck. She held it up and looked at it. She was beginning to suspect something.
How exactly did Rainbow end up here on Earth?
“Say… Rainbow, what were you doing before you ended up here?” Megan asked.
“Huh? Well… I was chasing a… a thing. I don’t know what it was, but it looked like a ball of… uh… light… yeah, a ball of light.” Rainbow said, “I was going so fast that I would have caught it if it didn’t swallow me up!”
“So you were chasing a little ball of light and then it swallowed you and spat you out.” Danny said.
“Uh-Huh.”
“So… that begs the question as to where that ball is.” Danny said.
His eyes glanced over to the locket.
“Meg, you’ve been looking at mom’s locket for a while now.” Danny said.
“Well… I…”
Megan couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but… something… something was… compelling her to open the locket. Whatever it was didn’t matter. All she knew is that something was… calling out, faintly. Telling her to… open the locket.
She pressed the side button on the locket and—!
A ball of energy and light came out of the locket and had a rainbow color all over it. TJ neighed. Megan went over to TJ and tried to get him to calm down.
“Easy boy! Easy!”
“Aha! So we meet again!” Rainbow said, hovering over with her wings.
The ball soon expanded and engulfed all who were surrounding it before it collapsed.
Twilight Sparkle along with her friends, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Fluttershy we’re investigating the last known position of Rainbow Dash shortly before she went missing. Judging from Derpy Hooves’ eyewitness account, Rainbow Dash was chasing after a literal rainbow colored ball of magical energy before a flash of light engulfed Rainbow Dash.
“I really hope we can find Rainbow Dash somewhere.” Applejack said, “She’s gotta be around her somewhere, I know it.”
“I frankly hope we can find her quickly.” Rarity said, “Of all the places for her to disappear to, why did it have to be the Everfree Forest?”
Rarity remembered the whole night where she and the group had to go through the Everfree Forest to save all of Equestria. Frankly, she didn’t like the forest at all. Everything about the forest just seemed wrong, like very wrong.
“But what if Rainbow Dash is hurt? What if she’s starving? What if she’s lost?” Fluttershy asked.
“Fluttershy, I think it’s safe to assume that Rainbow Dash can take care of herself.” Applejack said.
“Oh! What if it’s worse than that?! What if she ran into some monster?!” Fluttershy was beginning to panic, “Oh no!”
“Calm down Fluttershy.” Twilight spoke, “She’s tough. We all know that.”
“But Twilight, we don’t know if she’s still here or if she moved on.” Spike said.
“Or she could have gone into another dimension!” Pinkie Pie said, “Or something like that.”
“...”
“I don’t know, maybe—”
“Ok, Pinkie, let me stop you right there.” Twilight said, “How would we know that Rainbow just so happened to go into another dimension?”
“That’s why I said I don’t know.” Pinkie said.
“Pinkie Pie… look, we don’t know exactly what happened to Dashie, alright. Her being in a completely different dimension sounds pretty outlandish and—”
There was a flash of light. Fluttershy immediately hid behind a tree. Every pony shielded their eyes from the blinding light. The light faded and there stood a rainbow colored ball floating in midair.
“What in Equestria is that?” Spike asked.
“Whatever it is, it looks really shiny.” Rarity said, “And very colorful.”
“And is full of magic!” Twilight said, her horn detecting unusually high amounts of magical energy.
“And just what the hay is it doing?” Applejack asked.
Fluttershy peeked out from behind the tree, only duck back behind it. Twilight approached it, only for the ball to suddenly open itself up to throw out a cyan colored pony out of it.
It was Rainbow Dash!
The mare got up and shook her head.
“Uh… hi everypony…” The pegsaus pony said in her daze.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight and the others said, coming over to her.
“Now where in the hay were you the whole dang time?” Applejack asked, “You had us all worried.”
“It’s… uh… it’s a long story.” Rainbow Dash said.
“TWITCHY TAIL!” Pinkie said, diving in to push Rainbow Dash away from the ball.
It was then another creature came out of the ball and fell right on top of Pinkie Pie. Then another one fell.
Then an earth pony fell out.
Followed by another strange creature. The ball shrunk down.
“Ow…” one of the creatures spoke.
Fluttershy fell onto her hooves and got really low to the ground while covering her face while everyone else was shocked.
“What in Equestria—?” Applejack stopped and looked at Twilight, “Uh Twilight, what the hay are those things on top of Pinkie?”
“I… I don’t know!” Twilight said.
“You don’t know?” Spike asked.
“Yes! I don’t know what they are!” Twilight said, “And more so, what was an earth pony doing in that ball?”
“Oh uh… um… you see, about that—”
“Sugarcube, I think we all deserve an explanation.” Applejack said.
“Could somepony help me?” Pinkie asked.
“Oh yes, quite right.” Rarity said, “Hold on Pinkie, we’ll get you out of that pile.”
Twilight and Rarity began using their magic to move the creatures and the one earth pony off Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie got back up.
“So, mind explaining what’s going on?” Applejack asked.
“Well… uh… those guys there… yeah, they found me when I crashed in some completely different world apparently.” Rainbow said.
“I knew it! Another dimension!” Pinkie said, “So who’s the earth pony?”
“Yeah Dashie, what’s with the earth pony?”
“Like I said, long story.”
Fluttershy went over to the strange creatures. She opened up one of their mouths and looked.
“Hmm… canines, molars, and incisors…” Fluttershy said, “I’d say Rainbow’s new friends are omnivores, except for the pony.”
“And this pony looks like a stallion. Almost as big as Big Mac.” Applejack said.
“And?” Twilight asked.
“And they have a questionable taste in fashion.” Rarity said, “Seriously, why do they have to cover their bodies in so much fabric?”
“Um… wait.” Fluttershy said, “I think—”
Rarity’s horn was surrounded by an aura. The aura surrounded one of the strange creatures and held them up. Rarity took the shirt off and—!
“SWEET MOTHER OF CELESTIA, RARITY!” Twilight said, shielding Spike’s, “PUT IT BACK ON! PUT IT BACK ON!”
“HEY!” The dragon shouted.
“What in tarnation am I looking at?” Applejack asked.
“Wow… they really are hairless!” Pinkie said.
“Rarity, could you put his shirt back on, I don’t want him to feel embarrassed or anything.” Fluttershy said.
“I… I… ohh… I think I’m… I’m… oh here it… oh...”
Rarity fainted. The magic cuts out. Twilight was quick to catch the creature that everyone now knew was probably male. She got the shirt back on.
“Ok… let’s not talk about whatever happened here ever again, ok everypony?”
“Eyup.” Applejack said.
“100% behind you on that one.” Rainbow Dash said, “I really hope I never have to see that again.”
“So who are they?” Applejack asked, “You seem to know them or something like that.”
“Oh that’s easy!” Rainbow said, pointing to the creature that Twilight quickly put down after slipping the shirt back on, “That guy over there? That’s Danny.”
“And the other two?”
“That big one over there is his big sis Megan and the other one is Molly, his little sis.” Rainbow said.
“And the stallion?”
“Oh that’s TJ. He’s a blank flank.” Rainbow said, “And he can’t talk like we do.”
“A blank flank and he can’t talk?” Applejack asked, “That is…”
“Yeah… I guess it’s because he’s not like us.” Rainbow said, “He wasn’t born in Equestria like we were. Or something like that.”
“And what about them?” Applejack asked, “You never—”
“Oh! I think they call themselves humans.” Rainbow said.
Twilight saw the small ball of light now hovering above these… humans.
“This thing… it seems to be circling around them.” Twilight said, “But why?”
Then, in an instant, a bright flash of light came forth and left, and there stood Princess Celestia. Her coat was a light fuchsiaish gray, her eyes were a pale magenta, and her flowing mane had a mix of light cerulean, light turquoise, very light cobalt blue, and pale heliotrope. She was clad in her royal regalia.
“Princess Celestia?! What are you—?!”
“Twilight? What brings you here?” Celestia asked.
“We were gonna ask you that, Princess.” Rainbow said.
“AH! HAIRLESS MONKEYS EVERYWHERE!” Rarity screamed as she got up.
“Huh, took you long enough.” Applejack said.
“Huh?” Rarity asked, “OH SWEET CELESTIA!”
Rarity got on her hooves.
“Tell me Princess, why are you here?” Twilight asked.
“That is what I was hoping you would tell me why you are here.” Celestia said, “But I guess that matters little now. As for that thing…”
She looked to the ball.
“That is the Rainbow of Light.” Celestia said.
“HUH?! But that was all an old mare’s tale! How can—!”
“A thousand moons ago, it saved my life.” Celestia said, “Had it not intervened, I would have certainly been banished to the moon by Nightmare Moon herself.”
“Wait, what’s this Rainbow of Light that I’m hearing just now?” Rainbow asked.
“Uh, we were all about to ask Twilight that, Rainbow.” Applejack said.
“Supposedly, it was some kind of sentient form of magic that existed long before Equestria was ever founded.” Twilight said, “It was even said to be more powerful than the Elements of Harmony. But it would not allow anyone to wield it so easily. It would only choose someone with a heart that is pure and full of good.”
She turned to Celestia.
“But I don’t get it,” Twilight said, “If it saved your life a millennia ago, why did it seek these creatures out when we don’t even know a thing about?”
“There are things that can never be truly explained, my faithful student.” Celestia said, “When I felt it return to Equestria, I thought I was hallucinating, but now that I’m here, I know it was no hallucination.”
“So… what now?” Twilight asked.
Celestia’s horn glowed with a yellow aura. A locket was lifted away from one of the humans. The Rainbow of Light went inside the locket. Celestia then closed it.
“It chose the humans for a particularly good reason.” Celestia said, “Maybe it did so for such a reason. It went so far as to bring them to Equestria.”
“And that is?”
“We May never know for sure.”
“Aw mane!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Sh!” Applejack shushed Rainbow Dash
“Twilight, make them feel at home in Ponyville.” Celestia said, “I have my duties to attend to.”
“But Princess—!”
“Consider it a lesson on friendship.” Celestia said, “Besides, maybe they can learn about friendship too.”
And Celestia poofed out of existence. The locket was left by the humans.
“Now how do you suppose we gonna get these humans comfy in Ponyville?” Applejack asked.
“Well… we could wait for them to wake up.”
“And get attacked by Timber Wolves? Nuh-Uh.” Applejack said.
In Canterlot…
Celestia came back to her throne world, Luna was there to greet her.
“So sister, is it true? Has the Rainbow of Light come back to Equestria?” Luna asked.
“Yes, Luna, and with guests.” Celestia said, ‘Was it by fate? Mere chance? Or… was it prophecy? If only Starswirl were here with me now…’
