Chapters "Well this isn't Shipwreck Shore..." A strange boy muttered. He looked like he came from a tropical island and had blue eyes, brown hair, and was wearing a blue t-shirt and shorts. After a flash of bright light, he was standing out front of a farmhouse, looking confused and tired. Walking up to the door, the boy knocked... completely unaware that the time difference made it three in the morning.
Applejack was woken up by Winowna's barking for the third time in a row. She stumbled out of bed and went downstairs to quiet the dog, when she realized she was right. There was indeed someone outside. AJ hesitated on opening the door, but upon seeing the boy slipped outside.
The stranger smiled kindly at her. He was around her age, he could perhaps be a teenager from school, but she'd never seen him around before. "Excuse me, I'm looking for directions back to The Academy."
"Well, Ah don't reckon Ah know what 'Academy' you're talkin about," Aj said, "but round here, we don't go waking up folks at three in the morning just to talk 'bout school."
"Well, you see, I'm sort of lost. You haven't seen any instances of Shadow Magic around here, have you?" The boy said, as if magic was the most natural topic of conversation at this hour. "I think it might be the cause of my sudden teleportation to your doorstep. I'm very sorry about that, by the way. My name is Caspian. And you might be?"
"Ahm Applejack. Now, if you're lost, why don't ya come in and we can wait til morning to figure things out." She opened the door for Caspian who gratefully accepted her offer.
"Thank you, Applejack. I'm from a place called Prodigy Island, but I'll tell you about it in the morning." Caspian suddenly yawned. "I'm honestly quite tired."
Aj pointed to the couch. "You can sleep there. Winowna, keep an eye on this one." She gave Caspian another glance, then went back upstairs, trusting her dog to keep watch over the strange boy in her living room.
His watch declared it to be three in the morning. His caffeine fueled brain made it seem ten hours later. His common sense said he shouldn't knock on a stranger's door at this hour. His irrational teenage brain said otherwise.
Rainbow heard a knock on the door and instantly panicked. It was probably her parents, back from their trip early. Then reason set in, and she realized they were still in the air. She sighed in relief and went back to playing her video game before the knock sounded again and she opened the door in exasperation. "Are you even aware of what time it is?" She yelled at the boy standing there.
The boy stared at her before clearing his throat. "Where are we?" He asked in a straightforward tone of voice.
"You're kidding, right? We're in Canterlot. A place where we don't knock on strangers' doors at unholy hours to ask trick questions." Rainbow glared at the boy, not appreciating his little prank.
"You're mistaken, milady. I'm very lost. My name is Erion." He bowed to her.
She wasn't amused. "Alright then. You sure you're lost?" Erion nodded. "Okay, fine. I'm Rainbow Dash. I guess you can come in." She threw the door open and went back to her video game, and Erion carefully entered the living room.
"Thank you, madame. I am eternally grateful." He smiled at her, then noticed the game she was playing. "Is that a video game? I must truly be in a spectacular world if technology has advanced so far as to create such marvelous creations as those."
Rainbow patted the seat next to her on the couch. "Come on over, Erion. I've got a feeling you're gonna be a great gaming buddy."
Pinkie Pie was awake and baking when her Pinkie Sense went off. She giggled and rushed to the door just as a teenage boy with tanned skin and blond hair raised his fist to knock. "Hey there!" She said, beaming, as he stared at her.
The boy shook his head. "Where is this place?" He asked, stepping past her and looking around at the kitchen. "Who are you again?" He glanced over at Pinkie, then back to the treats she was baking. "Can I try some of these?" Without waiting for an answer, he popped a cookie in his mouth. "Mmm. Heaven."
"Well hey there silly, this is Canterlot, I'm Pinkie Pie, and sure! Have all the treats you want!" Pinke said, jumping up and down in front of the boy. "What's your name? Wait. Let me guess. You're a monster from another dimension who got turned into a human and teleported here and now you need help to find your friends and get home?"
He choked at her observation, then nodded and swallowed. "Yeah, name's Syrus. Chief mischief-maker of Bonfire Spire on Prodigy Island."
"Cools! I'm Pinkie Pie, chief party planner of Canterlot High! So, you want to get back to your friends? Well, my friends are experts at solving magical mysteries. I bet they'll get your friends back lickity-split!" She grinned broadly. "In the meantime, have another cookie!" She shoved even more cookies into Syrus's hands.
Syrus ate them all, then ate more after Pinkie suggested he stop. He only stopped when he passed out on the kitchen floor from the sugar crash he'd received.
The next day seven Equestria Girls and five Prodigy Epics turned human gathered on the front lawn of Canterlot High. There was a lot of talking over each other, plenty of hugging, and quite a few compliments on Andri's new jacket.
After about five minutes of that, Fluttershy quietly asked Seraph a question. Naturally, Seraph couldn’t hear and shouted at the top of her lungs to silence everybody else. “Hey! Fluttershy has something to say!” At once, everyone fell silent. She cleared her throat and turned to Fluttershy. “Go on,” she said encouragingly.
Fluttershy blinked at the sudden attention. She felt like an ant under a microscope with the way everyone was looking at her. “W-well, we need to get our friends home, so I was thinking we could send them through the mirror portal.”
Sunset nodded. “Their Twilight knows a lot more about magic. I’m sure she could send you to your home dimension,” she said to the epics. “In fact, the portal is right here.” She gestured to the statue on the lawn.
“Yeah, we’ll just have to wait till everyone else’s in school.” Rainbow put in. “We can’t have them learning too much about Equestria.”
The group agreed, and after waiting a few minutes, the yard was clear. The epics approached the portal. They looked at it with anticipation. Even though they’d only known the Equestria Girls for a few days, they’d been so kind to the epics they felt like friends they’d known for years.
Looking back, Andri carefully took off his jacket and handed it to Rarity. “Here. This belongs to you. Thank you for letting me borrow it, but it should stay here with you.”
Rarity blushed slightly and accepted the jacket. “Of course, darling. You’re a true gentleman, you know that?”
“Yeah, any girl’d be lucky to have him,” Seraph said with a wink at Rarity. “Too bad he’s got a sweetheart.”
“We should get going.” Erion put in. “Prodigy Island’s magic needs us to remain stable. The sooner we’re home, the better.”
The Epics nodded, and with one last goodbye, entered the portal to Equestria.
Princess Twilight Sparkle was trotting around the room, pondering why the Mirror Portal was suddenly giving off strange magical signals when five distinct creatures came flying out of it. An ice-blue bear with clawed feet, an emerald green fox with pink blossoms for her ears and tail, a humanish pillar of magma with arms and a glowing smile, a blue lizard with orange frills, and a red and white humanoid mech. The five landed in a heap on the floor of Twilight’s castle.
Disentangling themselves from each other, the five looked at Twilight. The lavender alicorn had a look of befuddlement on her face that quickly morphed to fascination and intrigue. Levitating a nearby quill and notepad in front of her, Twilight began to question the Epics. “What are your names, where are you from, and how’d you get to the mirror portal?”
The bipedal bear stepped forward. “My name is Andri, and we’re from Prodigy Island, in another dimension. Somehow we ended up on the other side of that portal, and Sunset sent us here to speak to a Miss Twilight Sparkle. Sunset said she could help us get home.”
“Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to meet you, Andri.” She extended a hoof and Andri took it in one of his mittened paws. “Who are your friends?”
“I’m Seraph, and those are Erion, Syrus, and Caspian,” the vixen said, pointing to the robotic one, the magma pillar, and the lizard respectively. “We’re the Epics.”
“Any help you can give us would be much appreciated, Milady.” Erion said gently, bowing to Twilight. “We are at your mercy.”
Twilight nodded. “Of course. I’m sure I could find a spell that can send you home. But I’d like to ask a favor of you. Not in exchange, I’ll help you regardless, but if possible, could I please come with you? I’ve never been to a world as different from Equestria as yours must be.” She smiled brightly at Andri, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“Hey, sounds great!” Syrus said, reaching out and patting Twilight’s shoulder. “We’d love to have you come along. The island can always use new friends, you know?” He grinned at the other Epics.
“In the meantime, why don’t you all take a tour around the castle? I’ll have Spike show you around.” Twilight suggested. “Spike! Where are you?” She yelled, only for Spike to enter the room a second later.
“I was just outside! Geez, Twilight, no need to yell.” He said. “Who’re your friends?”
Syrus gasped. “He looks like a little Dragling!”
“No way, he’s mine,” Caspian said playfully, nudging Syrus. “Alright buddy, where’s the food? All this traveling through dimensions has made me kind of hungry.”
“Right this way,” Spike said cheerfully, leading the Epics out of the room and down to the castle kitchen.
In the kitchen, the five creatures quickly spread out and began chatting. “So, Spike, tell us about your world. It’s called Equestria, right?” Syrus asked, eating toast so burnt it was completely black.
“Yeah. It’s home to tons of different creatures, like dragons, ponies, griffins, changelings, and hippogriffs. What’s Prodigy Island like?” Spike asked curiously.
“It’s got monsters and humans,” Caspian said.
“Like a mix of this world and the other one.” Syrus added.
“There’s a lot of different kinds of magic,” Seraph put in.
“Including Shadow and Astral magic.” Erion included.
“Altogether, it’s a really beautiful place,” Andri finished.
Spike smiled with wonder at their description of Prodigy Island. “That sounds great! I’d love to see it someday.”
Andri was about to reply when there was a flash of purple light and Twilight teleported into the kitchen. “I’ve got it!”
In the castle’s main hall, Twilight had several spellbooks levitating in front of her and was slowly casting the framework for a spell. She worked to build a portal that could not only take the Epics to Prodigy Island, but stay open long enough for her to look around. When Twilight was finished, a brilliant blue portal stood before the group. Glowing from within, it seemed to promise adventure and intrigue.
“Here we are, one portal to Prodigy Island.” Twilight nervously unfolded and refolded her wings. “Are you five ready?”
The Epics assented, and together with Twilight the group walked forward into the portal.
As the six settled down again, the portal back to Equestria began to dim. “You’d better go,” Andri said, giving Twilight a warm smile.
“Give Spike our regards, will you?” Caspian asked. “He’s a nice drake.”
Seraph nodded. “And tell Sunset thank you.”
“We couldn’t have done this without you,” Erion added.
“And feel free to come back and visit us someday, alright?” Syrus wrapped Twilight in a warm hug before she stepped into the portal and it closed behind her.
The Epics looked at each other and felt a sense of happiness and community. “I’m kind of glad the Puppet Master sent us to Equestria. It was nice to meet Twilight and to find out there are more worlds out there.” Seraph said.
“Let’s head to Lamplight Town and pick up a snack, I’m starving!” Syrus suddenly exclaimed.
Caspian sighed. “You just ate, remember? But I think Andri might appreciate seeing his girlfriend, and I’d like to visit the fountain.”
“Yeah, it’s nice to be back,” Erion said, looking around at the forest.
“Alright, let's go.” Andri started walking, the group following behind. “But after, we should talk to Gabe and see if he knows anything about portal magic. It'd be nice to see Twilight again.”
"SYRUS WHAT THE HELL THIS BETTER NOT BE YOUR IDEA OF A PRANK!"
It was three 'o clock in the morning, and there was a strange girl standing on Fluttershy's lawn. She had dark skin, black pigtails, and bright, sparkling green eyes. She wore a pink dress styled to look like petals, and was currently screaming her head off about someone by the name of Syrus.
"Oh dear..." Fluttershy whispered. She rushed down the stairs and out onto the lawn. "Excuse me?" She asked in her quiet, gentle voice. "Are you okay?"
The strange girl stopped her screaming to look at Fluttershy. "Who are you? Is this your house? Sorry about that." She looks embarrassed, running a hand through her hair in an attempt to calm herself. "So, uh, you haven't seen a monster by the name of Syrus around, have you?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "A monster? That sounds dangerous."
"What, you don't like monsters? Where are you from, Earth?" The girl asked, a playful smile on her lips. Fluttershy's nod stopped her dead in her tracks. "Wait... you mean Earth is real? Is that where we are?"
"Yes... are you from somewhere else?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm from Prodigy Island. Somehow, I don't think this is Syrus's doing. He wouldn't be powerful enough to pull this off. No, this clearly has shadow magic written all over it." The girl crossed her arms and frowned. "I need to find my friends. We can figure out what to do together. I'm Seraph, by the way. Sorry for waking you up at this hour."
Fluttershy nodded. "It's okay... I'm Fluttershy. I'll get my friends too, they're experts at this sort of thing. Don't worry, we'll get you home."
"Darling, don't you know a creator such as myself needs my beauty rest?" Rarity asked, her preprepared speech tumbling out without the need to think about it as she opened her apartment door, only to come face-to-face with a very tall young man with light skin, white hair, and piercing light blue eyes. She gasped, taking in his beauty, before she saw the state of his clothing. He was wearing the most atrocious, boring, brown outfit she could conceive of. "Oh, what am I saying! Come in, never mind the hour, we've got to get you something better to wear."
The man stared puzzledly at her before shrugging and entering, shutting the door behind him. "Excuse me, my name is Andri, and I was wondering if you could tell me where I am. I need to get back to my friends as soon as possible."
"Don't worry, there'll be plenty of time for that later," Rarity said, searching through her items on hand for something that would fit the tall and muscular stranger in her room. "What is your size? Quickly now."
"I don't wear robes, madame. I don't know my size." Andri tugged at the collar of the shirt he was wearing. "And I don't need a new outfit."
"Nonsense, of course you do darling." Rarity pulled out a fine white dress shirt and fur coat. "Here, try these on." They looked roughly Andri's size and had quite a comfortable texture.
"Madame, if you would, where am I? Certainly not Prodigy Island, but where else even could I be?" Andri reluctantly took the clothing and changed into it as Rarity turned her back.
"You're in Canterlot, darling." Rarity said, suddenly stifling a yawn. "Oh, dear me. I'm afraid the hour truly has gotten to me." She suddenly collapsed, caught in Andri's warm embrace.
Andri took Rarity to the fainting couch in the living room. "Here. You should rest."
"Oh, you're such a gentleman, Andri," Rarity said as she fell asleep.
As the six stepped out into the sunlight of Firefly Forest, they were greeted by a burst of magic as Seraph’s paws connected with the earth. It seemed as though the lifeblood of the island was coursing faster now, the magic beating like the heart of a beast. The power of the other Epics burst outward, refueling their respective elements and increasing the strength of all magic on Prodigy Island. Twilight could feel the resurgence of power, and it felt amazing to feel the earth and creatures connected once more.
The air around Andri crystallized and became colder as his magic kicked into full strength. “Thank you, Twilight. Seraph, I believe you’d be best suited to show Twilight around Firefly Forest.”
Seraph nodded and trotted forward, her tail wagging with delight, when a dark aura suddenly overtook the clearing. Out of the shadows stepped a tall man with a purple hooded cloak and a staff with a shadow crystal on the top. “Well, well. Look who’s returned. I had hoped that my little blunder would keep you away for longer, but never mind that. Now that you’re here, it’s time to finish this.”
Andri growled and assumed a defensive stance in front of Twilight. “Puppet Master! You’re not going to hurt my friends!”
“It was you who sent us to Canterlot?” Erion gasped. “How’d you manage that?”
“Never mind how,” Syrus said, fire magic swirling around his claw. “We can’t let him into Equestria. Twilight, get back home and close the portal. We’ll be fine.”
“I can’t leave you here. Like it or not, I’m helping you fight.” Twilight flew over Andri and charged her horn. “If we all attack as one, we can take him down.”
The Puppet Master laughed. “Foolish Epics. Even with your little friend’s power, I am still stronger.”
Caspian raised a claw and grabbed Erion’s hand. “Well, I think striking together is a great idea.”
Erion grasped for Syrus’s claw and blushed. “Alright then, together.”
Andri and Caspian joined claws and Seraph and Twilight stood with their front paw and hoof touching. The group stood and glared at the Puppet Master as magic of all types began to swirl around them.
Fire, water, lightning, ice, and earth joined together. Fueled by the power of friendship, their combined magic became a brilliant gold, glowing from within. The power of the Astral Magic flew at the Puppet Master, tearing into him and banishing him from Prodigy Island.
