Phoenix Innit’s vibrant, dark-red hooves thundered against the pavement as he galloped through the Canterlot streets. Of course, he was late again, but this time it really wasn’t his fault! Well, okay, maybe a little. When he woke up this morning, he was ahead of schedule. At least he would have been if not for his sprained wing. Usually, Phoenix got up in the morning, eats breakfast, takes a shower, brushes his teeth, preens his flame-colored wings, packs his bag, and leaves with time to spare. That’s precisely what he did this morning, too, following his routine to a T.

But Phoenix forgot to consider before he left that the time it took to get from Canterlot Castle to the School of Magic was much longer on hoof than it was by flight. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t even teleport there with his magic. Phoenix burst through the school’s front doors and ignored the shout of “NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!” from one of the many guards. He sprinted up the stairs and rushed into the classroom just as the bell rang.

“Cutting it a little close, don’ cha’ think?” The voice of his best friend whispered into his ear as Phoenix sat at the desk beside him.

Phoenix had known him for as long as he could remember. The fact that he was a changeling, and who knows what else, hybrid, had never bothered Phoenix. Despite his odd preferred appearance- a tall black and white unicorn with dragon wings. Purple tongue and freckles, as well as mismatched red and green eyes with similar hooves. Always donning a golden crown with red, green, and purple gems- Phoenix had always treated him the same as everybody else.

With unadulterated kindness.

“Shut the buck up, Ghost.” Phoenix hissed in return. Okay, maybe that was a stretch. “Not my fault my wing is sprained!”

“Language Nix, and yes, it is.” Phoenix’s cousin, Galactic Halo, chastised.

The older colt had light yellow fur and flowing reddish-brown mane, literally flowing like a breeze that only affected his hair. His eyes were red, and he donned a dark gray, red and gold accented cloak with a hood that ended with a golden star. A golden bell clasped the front of the cloak, and he wore a pair of gold glasses to match.

Sometimes, when the tantabus hybrid’s magic flared, his fur and hair would turn midnight black. Mouth, eyes, and freckles would all shine white. Stars speckling his hair as it flowed.

“What!” Phoenix cried. “How is it my fault my wing got sprained?”

“Because you were practicing a dangerous stunt without supervision.” A voice from the front of the class spoke up, making Phoenix shrink in his chair. Princess Twilight Sparkle, Clockwork’s mentor and the leader of Equestria, looked at the colt in disapproval. “You must learn to be more punctual, Phoenix, lest I forget to mention being more careful. I understand wanting your cutie mark, but that doesn’t mean you have to be reckless.”

Phoenix sighed, ears tilting down. “Yes, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight’s expression softened. She stepped forward, putting a hoof underneath Phoenix’s chin, lifting his face to look at her. “You know, maybe you and your friends should go visit Ponyville for a little while. Perhaps, that way, you can work with professionals who can help you find your marks.”

“Wait, does that mean we’ll get out of doing assignments?” Rubber Duckling, better known as Ducky, questioned from the back of the classroom.

“Well, yes and no. If you go to Ponyville, you must still practice your magic, be it Pegasus, Unicorn, or Earth Pony. Each of you would have to send me letters about what you have learned while there. You would also have to attend the School of Friendship, as despite having friends, there is still much to learn. However, due to you sending me direct reports on what you’ve learned, the curriculum for the school would be much simpler.”

“Cur-curi- what now?” Phoenix asked, confused.

“Curriculum. Basically, what we’d be learning in class, along with assignments and the workload.” Halo clarified.

“Oh… well, that doesn’t sound too bad!” Glimmering Golem spoke up with a grin, looking at his friends. He had diamond blue fur, amber eyes, and jasper brown hair, glimmering like said crystals due to being a crystal pony. He also wore a silver crest on his head, a silver band on his tail, and silver shoes, all having blue diamonds embedded into them. The tips of his feathers were all a deeper blue, having tiny gem piercings in several of them. The crystal look finished off with several different lengths of silver necklaces, white and light blue gems dangling off each thick chain.

“B-but, wouldn’t that mean that you’re not gonna be with us?” Clockwork stammered nervously.

Twilight smiled, walking over to the beige pony with fluffy brown hair and eyes and a colorful hoodie. Putting a hoof on his shoulder. “Yes, but I am confident that you will be alright without me. My friends that still live in Ponyville will take great care of you.”

“I-I’ll miss you.” Clockwork said as Twilight pulled him into a hug.

“I’ll miss you to Clockwork, but just like your friends, you need to learn to walk on your own. Without my help.”

“So, does that mean we can skip class to pack?” Golem asked hopefully.

Twilight chuckled, “Not a chance.” The crystal pony groaned as his friends burst out laughing.

⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫

Phoenix whooped as he flew beside the sky carriage, doing several loops and dives in the air. Halo laughed, calling out to his cousin over the rushing wind. “Don’t you think that you’re gonna get tired doing all those tricks? It’s still a while to Ponyville.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been stuck in that cast for three weeks!” Phoenix exclaimed. “Sides’ if I did, by terrible luck, get tired, I can just ride in the carriage with you guys.”

“He’s not wrong. There is plenty of room, and I couldn’t imagine being grounded for three weeks if I had as much energy as him.” Inky Ghost agreed.

“I can.” Ducky huffed, blue fur and golden feathers fluffing up. He brushed a bit of raven black hair out of his brown eyes as they focused on the ground below. He wore a dark blue hoodie and beanie, accented with silver and a muted red.

“Aw, don’t feel too bad, Ducky! You’ll fly eventually!” Clockwork said, putting a hoof on his friend’s shoulder.

“I’m two years older than Nix! I should be flying already!” Ducky spat bitterly.

“Oh, come on! You’re only twelve! Fluttershy, one of the Protectors of Equestria, didn’t start flying ‘till she was thirteen ya’ know!” Phoenix flew overhead before diving into the carriage to sit in front of his friend.

“Yeah, and look how well that turned out. She can still barely fly!” Ducky pouted.

“Even if you can’t fly, that doesn’t make you any less of a pegasus,” Golem said, his head dipping slightly, crystal skin and hair glinting in the sunlight.

“Yeah, ‘cause that’s exactly what the other pegasi say,” Ducky growled, voice dripping with sarcasm. The words made the group cringe.

“Hey, even if you’re not like every other pegasus, isn’t that a good thing? I mean, we’re a group of misfits after all.” Clockwork said, wrapping a hoof around Ducky’s back.

“Yeah… I guess….” Ducky relented, sounding unsure.

One of the pegasus guards pulling the carriage cleared his throat. “Ehem, we are approaching Ponyville now, your highnesses.”

⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫

Tommy knew his body hit the ground hard, yet he felt no pain. It was as if his nerves had been numbed to the world. His vision was an inky blackness mixing with orange and yellow light. His eyes must be closed, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to open them. Tommy’s hearing wasn’t fairing much better. The only sound to reach his ears was the rushing of his own blood and pounding heart mixing with static.

Then, all at once, his senses came crashing back. Tommy felt his lungs and throat burn as he gasped for breath. A migraine so awful it made him nauseous hit him soon after. He let out a groan, feeling his entire body prickle as if it had fallen asleep. Strangely, the pain that he usually felt after crashing was missing. The prickling faded after a minute, as did the nausea. The pulsing migraine slowly dissipated to a dull ache.

Tommy’s eyes fluttered open before his face scrunched up in a squint. Bright light hit his pupils, leaving him dazed and blinking rapidly for a moment as he tried to get his bearings. The first thing he noticed when the fog in his mind and blurry vision cleared was the vibrant green grass.

The sight confused the hell out of Tommy because the grass in the Dream SMP didn’t look this green. That might sound weird, but it was the truth. It wasn’t just the Dream SMP that didn’t have this color of green. It was SMP Earth and home servers too. It just wasn’t natural. At least, everywhere but one place. Equestria.

Tommy’s eyes widened. There’s no way he could…. Tommy’s breath caught as his gaze drifted to the dark red hoof that was where his hand should be. Tommy blinked several times, taking in his surroundings. Dark-leaved trees with purple trunks and dark green grass around their roots signified he was in the Everfree Forest. However, from the vibrant green grass and the brown dirt path through the trees, Tommy was in a place of extreme levels of harmony magic.

As Tommy looked up, he couldn’t help but smile sadly. Standing tall and proud, with blue crystal trunk and branches, pink crystal leaves, and multi-colored dangling crystal ornaments, was the Treehouse of Harmony. This was where I was when I left….

And that’s when Tommy finally registered precisely where he was. “Wait a minute. How the FUCK AM I IN EQUESTRIA?”

⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫

Ranboo whined, shifting his weight as he adjusted to his original form. Ranboo’s hooves gave out from under him, still prickling from lack of proper blood flow. Ranboo’s chin crashed into the crystal floor as his body sprawled outward awkwardly.

“Ah, pony feathers.” He grumbled under his breath. Ranboo’s left hoof came up to rub his dual-colored chin with his left red forehoof. Ranboo struggled to his hooves again, dragon-like wings spreading to aid in his balance.

He stumbled but managed to keep himself steady. His right green forehoof lifted as he took a hesitant step forward. Ranboo was worried he would fall again, but his wings and twin tails flicked to balance him out. He couldn’t resist the smile that appeared as he took another few steps forward. It felt nice. So natural. So right.

Ranboo lifted his head to look around at his surroundings. Now, he wasn’t exactly sure what happened, but all he knew was that he was in the halls of either Twilight’s former Castle or the Treehouse of Harmony. Judging by the lower ceilings and lack of decor, along with the much bluer crystal, he could pretty safely assume that he was in the Treehouse of Harmony.

The question is, how did he get to Equestria in the first place?

Ranboo wasn’t the only one asking that question either. Tommy’s shout made that very clear. Ranboo rolled his eyes fondly, classic Tommy. The hybrid started slowly making his way down the hall on wobbly legs. He couldn’t help but smile nostalgically at the familiar walls and floors. He found every step he took became more confident, more decisive, more natural.

He lifted a hoof to push open the door and stepped through the doorway. He squinted at the sunlight that poured through the opening. When he adjusted to the light, he couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of a stumbling Tommy.

The colt had blazing red fur, orange and yellow wings, and gleaming blue eyes. Tommy still wore a green bandana with a purple patch and golden crown. He looked up and sent him a half-hearted glare. “Shut it, Ghost.” The slight pout he wore broke out into a grin that matched Ranboo’s at the name.

“No, no, I don’t think I will, Phoenix,” Ranboo replied.

Tommy giggled along with Ranboo before letting out a yelp as he almost hit the grassy ground. Ranboo laughed a little harder but began making his way over to his friend. However, karma’s a bitch, and he tripped over his own hooves and crushed his eyes shut as he braced himself to hit the ground. At the barks of laughter and squeaky giggles and the apparent fact that he wasn’t feeling pain, Ranboo opened his eyes.

Ranboo found himself floating in the air, enveloped in a red aura. His gaze drifted over to see the familiar faces of Skeppy, Bad, Karl, and Quackity standing off to the side while Tommy cackled beside him. He couldn’t help but laugh along with the others as he stretched out his legs and regained balance. The red aura around him and Bad’s horn disappearing after a moment.

Bad’s fur was currently black, Skeppy’s shining crystal, per usual for the magical flare they all just had.

“Thanks for the save, Halo.”

“No problem, Ghostie!” Bad replied cheerfully. The older ponies made their way over the younger ones. Sitting down as they inspected the area around them, despite knowing exactly where they were. After a moment, the group fell silent, gazing at the crystal treehouse, ruins of the castle of the two sisters, and forest trees. Ranboo’s ears twitched at every little sound, from the rustling of leaves, chirping of birds, or wind whistling by.

He had to admit, it was strange to feel his ears turn like mini-satellite dishes. Even stranger to see his former best friends in their original forms. Especially in a place he never thought he’d see again.

All of a sudden, his vision blurred, and he felt something warm and wet slip down his cheeks. He was startled to find it didn’t hurt before remembering that he could cry in this form. No longer having water sting like acid due to the magic barrier he could finally afford to keep up. The realization clearly didn’t help, throat becoming tight, more tears spilling down his face.

He closed his eyes to try and stop the flow, but it didn’t help. He heard a strangled sob to his left, and through blurry vision, he could make out Tommy, face buried in one of his flame-colored wings. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and pulling Tommy close. The younger colt didn’t protest for once, burying his face in Ranboo’s shoulder.

“Fucking hell,” Quackity said, voice choked and trembling.

A whimpered, “Language,” from Bad was all it took for Skeppy to start full-on sobbing. The sniffling and whimpers from Karl indicated that he was having just as hard a time as they were. Hooves and wings wrapped around Ranboo and Tommy as they found themselves in a group hug.

“We’re home. Fuck, we’re home.” Tommy whimpered.

All at once, the reality of the situation hit Ranboo like a brick. After years of looking desperately for a way back to Equestria. After days, months, years spent crying and reading and searching. So much time was spent failing and giving up hope. Finding Phoenix and then Halo, and Ducky, and Clockwork, and Golem, only to find that they’d changed. To see that Ghost himself had changed.

To continuously hang onto threads of hope, locating leads out of sheer desperation, only to fail again, and again, and again. Hope being crushed, shattered, and thrown to the wind. After finally giving up and moving on, accepting that there was no way back and it was all his fault- they’d made it back home.

Ranboo bit his lip to check if it was a dream. The spark of pain it got made him cry even harder because this wasn’t just a dream this was real-

All of a sudden, they heard piercing screams. The group stiffened at the sound, pulling away from each other and locking eyes. Those screams were familiar. They were the screams of their friends.

“You don’t think..?” Ranboo’s words died in his throat, mouth oddly dry. “Oh no.”

Author's Note

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! The next chapter features the SBI + Tubbo... as horses... and being confused...

It's gonna be so chaotic, hahahaha.

Anyway, remember to drink some water and get something to eat! And if that's too hard, just take a deep breath!

~Sky