The Maretrix

by awesomeaustinv

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Drama, Strawberry Sunrise, Equestria Girls, Comedy, Starlight Glimmer, Adventure, Sunburst, Crossover
Length: 6963

Imprisoned in a simulated world where popular characters are closely monitored for entertainment, only a group of obscure background characters can fly under the radar and save all of Equestria.

Almost everyone in Equestria has been mysteriously transported to a fake simulation world where everyone is closely monitored for the sake of entertainment. Because even popular side characters are not safe from prying eyes, it's up to a group of obscure, unappreciated background characters to fly under the radar and try to save their fellow Equestrians. Strawberry Sunrise was just a struggling farmer, until mysterious messages from another world caused her to question the world around her. Before she knew it, she had stumbled into a massive conspiracy which none of Equestria's usual heroes could do anything about. Only someone unexpected and seemingly insignificant can avoid detection, and unfortunately for Strawberry Sunrise, Lilly Valley, and Fiery Fricket, that means the burden of saving Equestria falls on them. But how will they stand the pressure of saving the world when they can barely stand each other?

This story is (very) loosely inspired by both The Matrix and The Truman Show, hence the title and tagging it as a crossover, though it contains characters from neither of those movies. This is also very much an experiment which I will update whenever I feel like it, or approximately once a weekish. And since this is a very versatile concept with a lot of possibilities, I'm also open to suggestions!

Published 2022-03-07 08:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2022-03-19 23:44:59 UTC

Ch. 1, Where is everyone?

Starlight awoke with a yawn. As she looked out her window, she wondered what the day would bring. Another friendship lesson? An opportunity to hang out with Trixie, perhaps? Or maybe just practicing magic in the castle with Twilight… As she wandered sleepily to the kitchen, she noticed that the castle was unusually quiet.

“Spike?” she called out. Only echoes replied. Assuming everyone must be sleeping in, she entered the kitchen and poured a bowl of hay flakes. Suddenly, an idea sprang to her mind. Her hosts had been so generous to her, so why not do a little something to express her gratitude? Pulling out Spike’s cookbook, she began flipping through the pages until finally settling on a recipe for pancakes. Taking note of all the scribbled modifications presumably written by either Spike or Twilight in the margins of the book, she set to work making the pancakes and imagining Spike and Twilight’s reactions to breakfast in bed.

Upon finishing, she took a moment to marvel at her creation, and then loaded up some plates to bring to her friend and mentor. To her surprise, however, when she entered Twilight’s bedroom, the bed was empty. Placing a hoof on the sheets, Starlight noticed they were still warm. A quick look around the castle revealed that neither Twilight nor her assistant were anywhere to be found. “Maybe they got up early to visit friends,” she wondered. Quickly putting the pancakes in the ice box for later, she went outside to continue her search.

All throughout the streets of Ponyville, Starlight was met with silence. The whole town was seemingly deserted, and the more she searched, the more frantic she became. Sugarcube Corner was not only devoid of Pinkie Pie’s chaos, there was a cake burning in the oven. Sweet Apple Acres was as noisy as ever, but only because the animals didn’t get any breakfast until Starlight showed up and fed them. Starlight had to turn off Rarity’s sewing machine at the Carousel boutique, attempt to calm Fluttershy’s restless animal friends, and bring Tank to the castle since Rainbow Dash couldn’t take care of him if she was nowhere to be found. And all of this before lunch! With a start, Starlight suddenly realized she had no idea when lunch would be. She assumed she had been searching for hours, yet the sun hadn’t moved from the position it was in when she woke up!

Rushing to the train station, she found the train was - as expected - empty, but she had come prepared. After some quick breaking and entering, she found the train’s operator’s manual in the train station. A few shovels of coal and some messing with levers and gauges later, the train pulled out of the station and Starlight began her trip to Canterlot.

Once again, the streets of Canterlot were deserted. There was no palace guard to prevent her from entering the castle, and no princesses to tell her what was going on. She considered taking the train to the Crystal Empire, but what would the chances be that the situation wasn’t the same there? Everyone was gone.

Starlight was all alone.
She began to double over in panic and frustration as she held her head in her hooves and tried desperately to keep it together. Then she realized that, screw it, nobody was around to see her freaking out anyway, so why hide it?

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH!!!” She screamed, running aimlessly through the empty halls. “TWILIIIIIGHT!!!! TRIXIEEEEEEE!!!!!”

“STARLIGHT!?”

Starlight froze. “Wh.. Who…? Who’s there?” She stammered. If there was one thing that could terrify her more than being utterly alone, it was the sudden realization that she’s not as alone as she thought.

Backing into a side hallway, she began to imagine the worst. Perhaps this other creature was some villain who was responsible for the disappearance of her friends?

“Starlight?” the familiar voice said as Starlight felt a hoof tap her on the back.

Starlight responded by bucking with all her might, sending the other pony flying backwards into a cart full of cakes, which promptly came crashing down on his head. After recovering his breath, he staggered back to his hooves and straightened his glasses.. only to be suddenly knocked backward again by a Starlight Glimmer who just recognized her friend and tackled him with a massive hug.

“Sunburst! You’re still here! How? Where did everyone else go?

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Sunburst replied, “Everyone in the Crystal Empire just disappeared, and it seems so did everyone in Canterlot as well. Well, everyone except…”

“BGAA!” yelled a small filly as she suddenly dropped on Starlight’s head.

“Flurry Heart?” Starlight exclaimed in surprise.

“Yeah, I figured I probably shouldn’t leave her alone in an empty castle. But why us? Why not Flurry’s parents? Why are we still here when nobody else is? Where did they go?” Sunburst wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, but if our friends are in danger wherever they are, we should probably try to figure out where that is quickly,” Starlight replied.

“Canterlot has a really good library, so perhaps we should start there?” Sunburst suggested.

With that, the three ponies set off to find answers.

The brown stallion with a green mane stared at the box of strawberries apprehensively. Strawberry Sunrise had grown accustomed to this reaction from customers. “Are you gonna buy something or what?” She asked, faking a pleasant tone. “What makes these strawberries the best in Equestria?” The stallion asked. “Easy, they were grown by me, the best strawberry farmer in all of Equestria,” Strawberry Sunrise responded. “You’re… a farmer?” The stallion asked incredulously, “But you’re a-“

“Don’t say it-“

“-pegasus?”

Every day. Every single day, she had to deal with this. “Yes, I’m a Pegasus! A Pegasus who earned her cutie mark growing strawberries before she could even fly! And nobody knows strawberries like I do,” Strawberry shouted at the stallion, wings raised as if to emphasize that she had them.

“Maybe you misinterpreted your cutie-” The stallion started to speak, but was quickly cut off.

“Misinterpret!? What’s there to misinterpret? My cutie mark is strawberries, all I’m good at is growing strawberries, and I do that better than any earth pony! I know, I’ve tried them! But you probably wouldn’t know a good strawberry if it bit you on the flank, would you?” Strawberry Sunrise shouted in frustration.

The stallion stared in shock for a moment. “You know what? I don’t think I need strawberries today,” he said with a scowl, “The Apple family’s having a sale right now anyway.”

“Yeah, you keep buying those gross things from earth ponies, see if I care!” Strawberry Sunrise shouted after him as he walked away. Her glare softened as she saw Applejack sell him a bag of apples. Another hour, another sale lost. She lowered her wings, realizing they were still raised, and began to close up shop. Before packing up the last box, however, she heard a familiar voice ask, “Is it too late to buy anything?” Looking up, Strawberry Sunrise saw the face of her only loyal customer, and smiled. “Of course not, Rarity. How many do you need?”

“A few dozen, darling,” Rarity responded, “I’m making a fruit salad for a picnic tomorrow and only the best fruits are good enough!”

“Well I’ve certainly got plenty of inventory,” Strawberry Sunrise said dejectedly, packing several boxes for Rarity, “I can even deliver them for you if you like.”

“Wonderful! How soon can you do it?” Rarity asked.

“Right now, actually,” Strawberry answered as she finished packing everything into her cart.

“Excellent. I tell you, Ponyville is simply unbelievable this morning.”

“How so?” Strawberry asked.

“Well darling, it’s unreal. I can’t believe we actually live in this town.”

“Oh yeah, I like it too, it’s very homey,” Strawberry Sunrise responded.

“That’s not quite what I meant, darling,” Rarity replied. Strawberry Sunrise simply stared at her in confusion. “Sigh… never mind, dear. I can take the strawberries from here,” Rarity said, levitating the boxes out of the cart as she paid Strawberry and walked away.

“I wonder what that was all about?” Strawberry thought to herself as she continued pulling her cart home. By the time she put everything away and walked through the door, the brief conversation was forgotten.

As she wandered through her small cottage, it began to rain outside. Sighing, Strawberry grabbed a bucket from the kitchen and placed it under the stain on her roof. Sure enough, water soon began dripping into the tin pail, making a noise just loud enough to keep Strawberry awake. As sleep continued to elude her, she grabbed an old, rusty blue radio and turned it on, adjusting the bent antennae until the crackly sound of a pony’s voice came through. It was her favorite talk radio show, which never failed to eventually put her to sleep. As her eyelids closed, she drifted off into a fitful dream about flying.

It had been several weeks since Starlight and Sunburst began searching for answers in the library. Thankfully, there were rooms in the library that lacked windows, which made it possible for them to sleep even though the sun hadn’t set since everyone else disappeared. Sunburst was busy scratching notes on a chalkboard while it was Starlight Glimmer’s turn to take care of Flurry Heart.

“Found anything yet?” Starlight asked.

“Well, I’ve tried several locator spells to see if I could track down any of our friends. None of those lead anywhere, so I started looking into the possibility of alternate dimensions. While I don’t know how we would travel to them, we might be able to send out a signal.”

“What kind of signal?”

“Radio. I think if I combine a locator spell with a teleportation spell with a few other modifications, we might be able to send out a signal to whatever realm our friends are in.”

“Seriously? That’s perfect!” Starlight was ready to jump with joy.

“I wouldn’t get too excited yet, it is just a signal. They’ll only be able to hear it if there’s a radio nearby, and anyone with a radio could receive it.”

“It’s still worth a try! Can they send a signal back?”

“If they have a transmitter set to the same frequency while we're casting the spell, maybe,” Sunburst replied.

“Well, let’s go find a radio then!”

As the rain poured in Ponyville, everyone slept peacefully. Everyone that is, except for a certain yellow pegasus with a curly red mane whose dilapidated radio had suddenly switched to a broadcast of a foreign Hoofball game.

“¡Ella patea la pelota! ¡Swift Kick intenta interceptar y falla! ¡No puedo creerlo! ¡La puntuación de Baltimare Bugbears! ¡GOAL, GOAL, GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Awaking with a start, Strawberry Sunrise sprang out of bed to try and turn the radio off, when suddenly a shockwave of magical energy knocked her back. As radios all over Equestria suddenly picked up a strange interference, Strawberry stumbled backwards into the bucket she had placed under the leak in her roof, causing it to spill, which resulted in her slipping and knocking her radio off of her nightstand and onto the floor, where it landed in the puddle and promptly short-circuited.

“Nooooooo!” Strawberry cried as she scooped up her battered radio and carefully opened up the back panel. Opening a drawer, she sorted through a mess of junk with her wing until finding what she needed. Prying out the fried resistors in her radio, she carefully slipped replacements in, and began desperately fiddling with the dials and antennae in the hopes that her radio hadn’t broken for good this time. After being continuously met with nothing but static, Strawberry finally gave up and slumped over, banging her head on the top of the broken radio. At this, the radio suddenly crackled to life.

Filled with hope once more, Strawberry turned up the volume. However, she did not recognize the voice coming through… It was an unknown mare, and she sounded worried.

“...Hello? Can anypony hear this? This is Starlight Glimmer. We are doing everything we can to find you and we want to know how we can help. If you have a transmitter please tune into this freq-” The radio cut out again.

“What was that all about?” Strawberry wondered. She thumped her hoof on the radio a few more times hoping to bring back the strange broadcast, but it was no use. Grabbing a pen, she wrote down the frequency her radio was tuned to, and left her cottage to find the only mare she knew who had a transmitter.

“Cherry Berry? Are you home?” Strawberry said as she knocked on the door of the house of Ponyville’s hot air balloon pilot.

“Who… Who’s th- there?” A panicked voice stammered from behind the door.

Sigh… It was Cherry’s twin sister, Lilly Valley. “Of course it’s her useless scaredy-pony sister answering the door,” Strawberry muttered to herself, “It’s just me, Strawberry Sunrise. Can I come in?”

“Prove it’s you first!” Lilly demanded.

“Lilly, who else would it be? Stop being so paranoid and let me in!”

Opening the door slightly, Lilly peeked out, and saw Strawberry rolling her eyes. “Alright, you can come in,” Lilly said as she opened the door.

“Your sister is an amateur radio enthusiast, right?” Strawberry asked.

“Yeah, but she’s away on a trip right now, you’ll have to come back later if you want to talk abou-”

“Can I see her radio and transmitter?” Strawberry asked.

“I suppose, it’s just upstairs, but I don’t think we should touch it without her permission,” Lilly Valley replied.

“Excellent!” Strawberry said as she proceeded to rush upstairs and do just that.

“What are you doing!? My sister’s going to kill me if you break that!”

“Don’t be such a drama queen, I know what I’m doing,” Strawberry said, shoving Lilly away as she continued flipping switches and turning dials until Cherry Berry’s equipment began chattering away.

“...Hello? Again, this is Starlight Glimmer, we want to know if anyone can hear us. We are doing everything we can to try and rescue you, but we need to talk. Please tune in to this frequency if you have a transmitter…”

“Who is that? Do they need help?” Lilly Valley asked.

“It sounds to me like they think we need help,” Strawberry asked, “Now, how do we make the transmitter work?”

“You want to TALK to them!?” Lilly Valley replied with horror, “What if they’re dangerous!?”

Strawberry Sunrise rolled her eyes again. “Do they sound dangerous to you? They’re asking if we need help! I for one would like to know why.”

“... Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, A.J., Rarity, Fluttershy… If any of you can hear this, or if any of you know these ponies…”

“Hey, I know Rarity! She’s the one customer who doesn’t always question me. Aren’t those others the ones who frequently save the world or whatever?” Strawberry pondered as she continued to mess with the transmitter.

Suddenly, with a brief burst of static, a new voice joined the broadcast.

“Hello? Starlight Glimmer? I don’t know any of those ponies, but I do hear you. Fiery Fricket is my name.

“Hello, Fiery? Where are you?

“I’m in Las Pegasus. What is the trouble concerning you?”

Strawberry was so focused on the radio that she jumped when Lilly Valley tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey Strawberry, not to bother you, but there’s some creepy ponies out in the streets…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you think every pony is creepy at night! Now, if you’ll let me work, I might be able to talk to Starlight!”

“...Well Fiery, everyone over he-

“Hey! Who are you? That is not yours, it is my- Give that back! Stop, thie-”

Suddenly, the pony named Fiery’s broadcast cut out.

“What was that?” Strawberry wondered.

“Strawberry, I really think you should look out the window!” Lilly Valley whimpered pathetically.

“Ugh, fine! But if it’s nothing, then you better not-”

As Strawberry looked out the window, she clamped her jaw shut. All over Ponyville, mysterious dark figures were entering buildings and leaving with radios… Strawberry stared in shock as across the street, the door of her cottage opened and one of the dark figures stepped out carrying her rusty blue radio.

“Strawberry, look!” Lilly Valley said, trembling.

A group of the mysterious ponies was walking towards their house.

“Quick! Turn off the lights and follow me to Cherry’s bedroom,” Strawberry whispered, trying to come up with a plan.

Downstairs, the front door of Lilly and Cherry’s house fell to the ground with a crash as the mysterious ponies kicked it down. Strawberry listened through the wall intently as Lilly Valley attempted to barricade the door with anything she could move.

“Oh, great idea Lilly, why don’t we make a great racket moving furniture and alert them of our presence!” Strawberry said, scowling at Lilly.

“Well excuse me if I don’t want them to come in! It’s not as if we can escape anyway,” Lilly retorted.

“This room has a window, doesn’t it?” Strawberry replied.

“But I’m not a pegasus like you! I can’t fly out!” Lilly Valley said as Strawberry opened the window.

“Luckily for you, it just so happens that I was planning on falling!”

Before Lilly had time to refuse, the yellow pegasus had wrapped her up in a hug and jumped out of the window, where they landed in a cart filled to the brim with fresh cherries, causing a resounding “SPLAT!”

As Strawberry spat out a mouthful of cherry mush, she looked up and saw Lilly, white as a sheet, drawing a huge breath. Anticipating the panicking pony’s intentions, Strawberry stuck her hoof over Lilly’s mouth, silencing what would’ve been an ear-splitting scream of terror.

Batting away the unwelcome hoof, Lilly Valley was livid. “You barge into my house, use my sister’s radio, THROW ME OUT A WINDOW-”

“SHH!!” Strawberry said, as she heard commotion inside the house.

“What makes you think you can just-”

Suddenly, Cherry Berry’s radio and transmitter came crashing through another window and landed just feet away from the cart where Lilly and Strawberry sat. This time, Lilly did scream.

“HEY! YOU THERE!” one of the mysterious ponies shouted, as he came around the corner.

“Run. RUN!” Strawberry shouted. Lilly didn’t need to be told twice.

The two ponies bolted, running through the flower field next door, leaping over fences in an effort to evade their pursuers.

“THE HORROR! THE HORROR!” Lilly continued shouting as she and Strawberry ran to the river.

“Oh yeah, make it easier for them to follow us, why don’t you!” Strawberry grunted.

As they came to a bridge, Strawberry pulled Lilly under the bridge and put her hoof over Lilly’s mouth. “Would you stop that!?” Lilly hissed, once more batting the hoof away. Overhead, they heard the hooves of their pursuers rushing over the bridge. Briefly, a flashlight beam shone over the water, coming close to them, but it soon disappeared as the strange ponies moved on. Strawberry let out a sigh of relief. Lilly slipped and fell in the river with a splash. The danger had passed.

Despite the claimed whereabouts of the pony that responded to their broadcast, Las Pegasus was just as empty as Canterlot. Everywhere Starlight, Sunburst, and Flurry Heart looked, rides and shows sat eerily vacant.
“Who even is this Fiery Fricket?” Wondered Starlight.

Sunburst picked up a pamphlet describing the various shows scheduled. “I don’t know, but apparently she’s involved with some of the shows!”

“Seriously?” Starlight asked, looking at the pamphlet.

“Yep. ‘Pyrotechnics by Fiery Fricket,’ it says.”

“Well, that would explain the name,” Starlight responded, “But then why isn’t she in Las Pegasus like she claimed?”

“Perhaps she is, just not in this Las Pegasus.”

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

It was early morning three days after the radio incident, and Lilly had just opened the door to reveal a very unwelcome face. “What do you want, Strawberry?”

“Everything’s been weird since those strange ponies came here!”

“Who cares?” Lilly Valley protested, “Whatever trouble you’re messing with, I want no part in it!”

“But our most famous residents aren’t the same!”

“Strawberry-”

“Hear me out, I’ve been watching the ponies that that Starlight pony mentioned in the broadcast that got everyone’s radios confiscated. They still go on adventures and save the day and all that, but they’re not themselves. Well, sometimes they are, but sometimes they’re not.”

“Did you hit your head when you threw us out the window?”

“I’m serious! Let me show you.”

“I really don’t want to- AAAGH!” Strawberry grabbed Lilly by the hoof and began running.

Lilly Valley crossed her hooves and frowned. Sitting in a dirty bush with a crazy pegasus and stalking Equestria’s heroes was not how she wanted to spend the day. “See, here! They’re behaving weird around this magician pony!” Strawberry handed her binoculars to Lilly, who reluctantly looked through them. A blue unicorn with a purple cape and hat appeared to be having an argument with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Probably another day, another reformed villain. But something did feel… off. Suddenly Twilight fired a blast of magical energy at the blue unicorn, who dodged and fell off the stage. Applejack then proceeded to buck her in the chest, and Fluttershy ordered her animals to chase the blue unicorn away.

“That seems unusually… violent,” Lilly said as she began to cower in the bush.

“I know! And Rarity didn’t order her usual box of strawberries from me this morning. When I asked about it, she.. Well, nevermind,” Strawberry said with a scowl.

“She what?”

“She did what everyone else does… question why a pegasus is selling strawberries.”

“Well, you have to admit, it is a little stra-” Strawberry cut her off with a withering glare. “-nevermind.”

For several days afterward, Strawberry continued to observe the ponies of Ponyville, making note of anything that felt odd. With every passing day, it seemed that more ponies weren’t acting like themselves. Or if they were, they were acting like parodies of themselves. Lyra and Bon Bon spent entirely too much time on benches. Derpy the mailmare only ate cupcakes.

The final straw, however, was when Spoiled Milk, of all ponies, came by her strawberry stand and bought several boxes without even once remarking that agriculture is usually the job of earth ponies.

“Hey! Lilly!”

Lilly winced at the familiar voice. Could she not just have a peaceful day of picking flowers in the field? “What is it now, Strawberry?” She said, bracing herself for the crazy pegasus’s answer.

“My strawberries are selling like hotcakes!”

“I’ll alert the press,” Lilly Valley replied.

“No, you don’t get it, I’ve always had terrible sales thanks to everypony’s stigma against pegasi farmers.”

“Are you still going on about tha-”

“But at least now I have enough money for train tickets!”

“Tickets? Why do you have multiple- No. NO NO NO!”
“We’re going to Las Pegasus, Lilly. That other pony in the broadcast, Fiery Fricket, said she lives there. If we’re going to get to the bottom of this, we need to find out what happened that night. Whoever she is, she’s one of us.”

“But why me?” Lilly whined, “Why can’t you drag some other unfortunate pony into your crazy conspiracy?”

“Because who better to accompany me than a scaredy-pony who puts us in danger of getting caught every time she panics? Believe me, you’re not my first choice,” Strawberry replied.

“Gee, thanks?” Lilly began to walk away.

“... But you’re the only one I know I can trust.”

Lilly paused.

“Lilly, everywhere I go, all the usual ponies I’d ask for help either aren’t acting like themselves or they don’t believe me. But you believe me. You saw the mysterious ponies. I need someone I can trust.”

“Strawberry, I don’t know if…”

“Please don’t make me do this alone.”

“...Fine,” Lilly replied, hoping the situation would soon be resolved.

Author's Note

A note regarding canonicity in this story: For Starlight and Sunburst's world, everything in FiM up to about season 6 is canon, because that's where I left off most recently and it suits the purposes of this story.

In the world of Strawberry, Lilly, and Fiery, "canon" is a suggestion at best, and if something in this universe contradicts canon, no it doesn't. The Maretrix is the captain now.

Regarding Flurry Heart, if you don't like her... yeah... She's only here because the same logic that keeps Starlight and Sunburst in their universe also implies Flurry would be there, and I can't imagine Sunburst just abandoning her to her fate. I haven't figured out a purpose for her yet, she's just here, and we're gonna have to deal with it.

I have some ideas of where I want the story to go regarding character development, but otherwise, I'm open to any suggestions or ideas you have for this story! I can't promise that I will incorporate all ideas into the story, but if I like your idea I might take inspiration from it. Hope you enjoy this and future chapters!

Ch. 2, Fiery Fricket

Lilly watched the countryside pass on by as the train's wheels rumbled over the tracks. She didn't know how Strawberry managed to talk her into this... Adventure was always more her sister's thing. Lilly Valley picked flowers for a living, that was her special talent, that was what she did best. Flowers were always safe and predictable. Adventure is just a huge mess of danger and problems. But she had to admit... Ever since the mysterious ponies came and destroyed her sister's radio, things hadn't been the same. She no longer felt safe in her own home. If talking to this pony in Las Pegasus could help them find answers, then maybe she wouldn't have to worry anymore. Or at least she would know what it is she's worrying about.

"Here we are! Always wanted to visit this place," Strawberry Sunrise said as the train pulled into the station in Las Pegasus.

Grabbing her saddle bags, Lilly Valley stepped out of the passenger car and into a world that, as far as she was concerned, existed far outside her comfort zone.

In the distance, crowds of ponies stood in line for thrilling rollercoasters, shocking curiosity shows, performances by Equestria's most daring acrobats, and more. As a costumed pony dressed as a timber wolf walked by, a group of young mares ran over to get their pictures taken with him. Lilly instead moved closer to Strawberry Sunrise, who was busy marveling at the flashy city's attractions.

"What should we see first? I hear they have a world-class trapeze show, and a haunted house ride..." Strawberry asked as they walked.

"Can we please just stick to the task at hoof? You wanted to find this Fiery Fricket pony, so let's find Fiery Fricket," Lilly said, grimacing as she kept her head down and eyes straight ahead.

"Don't tell me you're scared of this place!" Strawberry replied.

"It's just... Not my cup of tea, okay?"

"Well, sorry she doesn't live in a bunny-filled meadow. Lets see if she works at any of the shows."

Spotting a pony handing out pamphlets, Lilly Valley quickly trotted over and grabbed one, showing it to Strawberry. "Maybe she's listed in here?"

Taking the pamphlet from Lilly and holding it in her wings, Strawberry began to flip through the pages. "Acrobatics... no... Magic tricks, no. She's not listed in any of these.

"Maybe she's not a performer, she might work backstage," Lilly suggested.

Flipping to the back page, Strawberry found a list of ponies that worked on the shows. "Pyrotechnics - Fiery Fricket!" She exclaimed.

"What shows does she work on?" Lilly asked excitedly.

"All the ones involving fire and fireworks, apparently," Strawberry said, reading the pamphlet.

"F...fire? I don't want to see any shows involving fire!"

"Of course you don't, why would I expect any less? Alright, we can try checking after the show," Strawberry replied, rolling her eyes.

As they proceeded to visit several shows after the show ended, they encountered several ponies who said the same thing. "You just missed her, she works on all the shows with fire. She's gone to prepare the next one." With every show, they tried to get in as soon as possible after it ended, and were always just slightly too late.

"Lilly, I think we're going to have to get in before the next show ends," Strawberry stated.

"But..."

"No buts! Fiery leaves immediately after the show, and we can't get in there fast enough when the audience is trying to leave. We can cut it close so you don't have to see much of the show, but we need to get in before it ends," Strawberry insisted, "Can you suck it up for once and just do it?"

Lilly nodded, gulping nervously.

As they walked to the next show, Lilly tried to convince herself it wouldn't be that bad. Just a little fire, like you see on those nice scented candles, no big deal.

As they entered the auditorium, their ears were suddenly assaulted with the loudest, angriest music they had ever heard. Standing on a stage decorated to look like a volcano was a group of dragons holding various evil-looking instruments covered in decorative spikes and chains.

"A burning dragon nestled somewhere in time
A flaming rock - no warnings, no signs
Judgment day and the lava arrives
Eventually, they all commit crimes!!!

The lead singer screamed into a microphone covered in studded leather. Behind each band member, a wall of flame appeared, flaring up in synchronization with the beat of the drums. Above the stage, the letters on a sign burst into flame, illuminating the band's name - "Flaming Fire."

Strawberry Sunrise put her hoof to her face. As expected, Lilly was now curled up in a ball on the floor with her eyes shut tight and hooves over her ears, whimpering.

"Come on, we have to sneak backstage now if we want to catch Fiery before she leaves!"

"NO!!! I WON'T GO IN THERE!"

"It's just a show, Lilly! What do you think they're going to do, pluck you out of the crowd and bite your head off? Now come on!"

"GO IN THERE YOURSELF THEN!" Before Strawberry could protest, Lilly bolted out of the auditorium.

"Sheesh, it's just a little dragon metal, what's the problem?" Strawberry muttered to herself as she began to step into the crowd, but then paused. Sighing, she walked back out of the auditorium to find Lilly sitting at a table with her head in her hooves, breathing heavily.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked.

"Look, I just... can't do fire. I know it's just a show, but I've had very bad experiences with fire, okay?" Lilly Valley replied.

"What hap-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay..." Strawberry scratched her chin. "I might have an idea to work around that."

As the two ponies entered the auditorium once more, Strawberry put a wing on Lilly's back.

"Are you sure a blindfold is a good idea?" Lilly asked, making sure the cloth was secure on her head.

"No, I intended to ditch you in the crowd all along."

Lilly did her best to give Strawberry a look with half her face covered.

"Well, if seeing fire was the problem then it's worth a try at least," Strawberry said as she looked for a door that might lead backstage.

Attempting to guide Lilly with her wing, she began wading through the crowd as the dragons performed their final song, "Burn Me Like A Fire."

"These guys s-sure do like their f-fire, don't they?" Lilly remarked with a nervous laugh.

"Hold on, we're almost there," Strawberry replied.

Arriving at the door, Strawberry reached under her wing to remove a lock picking tool she bought earlier, while Lilly continued walking and bonked her nose on the wall. A few twists and clicks later, the door unlatched. "Come on," Strawberry said, yanking Lilly through the door as she was still rubbing her bruised nose. Once inside, they hid behind a rack of costumes.

"How do I get this thing off? You tied the knot really tight," Lilly asked, fiddling with the blindfold.

"Gimme a second," Strawberry replied, looking around to see what she could find. Nearby was a steel spiral staircase leading up to a gantry above the stage. Sitting on the gantry was a cinnamon-colored unicorn mare with a wild light purple mane somewhat resembling a flame. As a purple glow surrounded her horn, columns of flame surrounded the dragons, making for a spectacular conclusion to a successful show. Smiling as the flames lit up the entire room before dying down, the unicorn stepped down from the gantry and descended the staircase.

"I bet that's Fiery," Strawberry said to herself. Nearby, Lilly continued struggling with the blindfold.

"Hello!" The unicorn mare trotted over to a group of stagehands. "Would you like to hang out now that the show-"

"Nice job with the show, Blazing Witch!" One of the dragons yelled after exiting the stage. The unicorn winced.

"Please don't call me that," she began, but the dragons had already left, along with most of the stagehands. She stomped her hoof in annoyance and sat down. As the last of the stagehands left the room, the lights were turned off, leaving the unicorn mare sitting in the darkness.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash. A stage light on a stand had fallen down after Lilly gave one last mighty kick to get the blindfold off.

"Who's there!?" the unicorn shouted. A floating ball of magical fire ignited in the air next to her, illuminating her eyes as she glared at the darkness.

"Don't kill us, we just want to talk!" Strawberry shouted in panic. Lilly's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as she gazed in horror at the fire.

"Show yourselves!" the unicorn demanded.

Strawberry kicked the clothes rack aside. "Are you Fiery Fricket?" she asked.

"...Yes."

"Then you were the one who contacted Starlight Gli-"

"Shh! We should talk somewhere else," Fiery stated, extinguishing her fireball and opening a door, gesturing for them to follow.

Strawberry got up and noticed that Lilly was still staring wide-eyed at Fiery. "Come on," she said, waving her hoof in Lilly's face until she snapped out of her trance and followed, looking shaken.

Fiery led them through Las Pegasus, darting through alleyways and frequently stopping to look around. Eventually she stopped at a caravan in a back lot that appeared to have been sitting for a long time. As they entered, Strawberry noticed that most of the furniture was peppered with burn marks.

"Alright, who are you and why do you want to talk to me?" Fiery asked.

"My name is Strawberry Sunrise and this is Lilly Valley," Strawberry replied, "We heard you speaking to Starlight Glimmer on the radio the night everypony's radios were taken. We just want to know what happened."

"Well," Fiery began, "I had this radio and transmitter set up as a hobby... something to make my caravan feel less empty, since nopony ever... nevermind. Usually it takes a long time to contact another pony who wants to talk over the radio, but that night, someone actually reached out and asked for anyone. Whoever that Starlight pony was, she was the most interesting thing that had happened to me all month, and she sounded worried, so of course I tried to contact her. But then..."

"Some mysterious ponies stole your radio?" Strawberry finished.

"They tried," Fiery said with a smirk as she pulled a box of broken radio parts out from under a singed blanket in the corner.

"How did you stop them?" Strawberry asked.

"Fireball! My favorite spell!" Fiery said, beaming with pride. Lilly gulped nervously. "Oh, where are my manners? Make yourselves at home!" Fiery suddenly exclaimed, attempting to tidy up the messy caravan. "Sorry for the tense introduction earlier, I've just been feeling a little jumpy ever since those ponies came and broke my radio."

"No problem," Strawberry said absent-mindedly as she began sifting through the radio parts.

"Want a drink?" Fiery asked, pulling several bottles out of drawers and mixing the contents until she had a blue-green mixture. Lighting it on fire with a flash of magic, she offered it to Lilly, who backed into a corner.

"You'll have to excuse her, she has this thing against fire," Strawberry said as she examined a hooffull of resistors.

"Oh, sorry," Fiery said, seeming to wilt.

"No... It's okay," Lilly replied, taking the drink shakily and blowing out the fire. "You didn't know."

Fiery relaxed somewhat and turned back towards Strawberry. "Hey, what are you doing with that?"

"Well, I could never afford a nice radio, so I've had to fix my old one dozens of times. This casing is smashed, but some of the parts inside look fine, so I'm trying to see if I can make it work," Strawberry replied as she started connecting some pieces, "Some of the wires are broken off though."

"Here, let me try something," Fiery replied, "Place the broken wires where they need to connect."

As Strawberry held a wire in place, with a dim flash of Fiery's magic, a small flame appeared on the tip of the wire and melted it in place.

"That's perfect!" Strawberry shouted excitedly, "We could actually make this work!"

"Are we sure contacting this Starlight pony again is absolutely necessary?" Lilly asked, sipping her drink.

"...What do you mean?" Strawberry asked suspiciously.

"Well, look how much trouble it caused last time!" Lilly reasoned, "Do we really want to risk that again?"

"Oh no, I definitely don't need to talk to Starlight, it's not like this was important enough to justify a trip to Las Pegasus or anything." Strawberry rolled her eyes.

"Important how? I want answers as much as anypony, but I'm afraid this is the kind of thing we'd be better off leaving alone."

"Oh wow, another thing you're afraid of," Strawberry said as she continued to reassemble the radio, "Big whoop."

Lilly winced. "Fine, ignore me if you want, but I still don't think this is a good idea." She then curled up on Fiery's slightly-charred couch and began to drift asleep.

Strawberry continued working. As the night wore on, Strawberry and Fiery began attaching the parts of the radio and transmitter to parts of the caravan to keep them in place. Fiery repurposed a bent clothes hangar as the new antennae and attached it to the roof. Soon they began fiddling with the knobs and dials in an effort to pick up any transmissions. It wasn't long before Lilly woke up to the sound of radio static, and eventually voices...

"Sunburst, wake up!"

"Wha..?" Sunburst groggily opened his eyes to see a lavender unicorn with a giggling alicorn filly on her back jumping urgently.

"The radio!" Starlight Glimmer shouted, "There are voices again!"

Sunburst jumped out of bed and ran. Sure enough, in the reading area of the library where they had set up their radio, voices were coming through.

"...Hello? Is anypony there? This is Fiery Fricket, and also Strawberry Sunrise, and Lilly Valley..."

Quickly grabbing their microphone and turning their transmitter on, Starlight shouted, "Yes! We hear you! Are you okay? What happened? We haven't heard from you in weeks!"

"...We're okay, some strange ponies came and tried to steal everypony's radios, but they only broke mine. Strawberry helped me fix it..."

"Do you know if Twilight Sparkle and her friends are okay?" Starlight asked.

"...Strawberry here, I've been watching those ponies, and they're acting a bit strange. Every time I see them, I get the feeling that they aren't reacting to situations the way they usually would. It feels unnatural..."

"Unnatural how?"

"...Well, one day, I saw them talking to some blue unicorn magician who was causing trouble, and they responded... violently. That's not like them, is it? I mean, the blue pony was annoying, but it didn't seem like she was a threat or anything..."

"TRIXIE!?" Starlight shouted, "Is she okay?"

"...I think so, she just ran away afterwards. Is she a friend of yours or something?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Starlight said, suddenly quite worried.

"...Sorry about that..." Strawberry paused. "...Who are you, Starlight Glimmer? What's going on?"

"Oh, I'm Twilight Sparkle's pupil. I don't know what's going on, but a couple weeks ago, I woke up and everypony in ponyville had disappeared except me. Everywhere I've gone, everypony is missing, except for my friend Sunburst and Princess Flurry Heart," Starlight explained.

"...Wait, Twilight has a pupil? And there's a fourth princess? What are you talking about?"

"Well yeah, she let me stay in her castle and started teaching me about friendship after I was a villain. And there's actually five princesses... Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight, and Cadance's daughter Flurry Heart."

"...Five... And Twilight's one of... What!?"

"You mean that stuff hasn't happened yet in your world?"

"...Either that or you've contacted entirely the wrong universe..."

"But that can't be, the spell I-"

"...Hold that thought..."

"What is it?"

"...Oh, Horseapples! Somepony get in the-..."

The radio went silent.

Author's Note

This one goes out to the one person tracking this story! Thank you for reading.

This chapter took longer than expected to write, and it's a little shorter than I would've liked, but oh well. I'm trying to start a business, and so far I've only really had time to write at night, so I'm still trying to find a good balance. Hopefully I'll be able publish chapters consistently soon.