11. That Time I Got Sent to an Anime World With My Friends

The kids fell through the next portal. This time they fell out of a large square pedestal and onto some grass. Flurry started to open her eyes and saw a school in front of her. She looked around and saw she was in the middle of a town. She thought she was back home at last because this place resembled Equestria and had an art style that seemed real enough to be familiar; she just wasn’t sure where they were. Behind her was the block they had just phased through. On top of it was a statue of a tall, muscular earth pony. She also noticed a sign that read ‘Canterlot High’, so she thought it was Canterlot, though she didn’t know there was a high school in the capital city. This place also didn’t resemble any part of Canterlot. The castle and mountain the city was built next to weren’t anywhere in view.

“Uh…guys?” she asked as she looked around for her friends.

She turned her head to see a pile of strange bipedal creatures next to her. They resembled her friends, though they appeared more like primates. They had round ears on the sides of their heads, tiny noses and five digits on the ends of their arms. Their hair and coat colors looked like her friends’ though a closer look showed they didn’t have coats, just skin in the same colors. They were also wearing clothes with the designs of their cutie marks incorporated into them. They started to stand up on all fours rather clumsily as if they didn’t know how to handle their own bodies.

“Flurry? Is that you?” asked the one that resembled Pound.

“Pound?!” Flurry exclaimed. “What happened to you guys?!”

“What happened to you?!” asked Pumpkin.

Flurry then looked down at her front hooves. She too had fingers and was wearing a dress. She gasped in surprise and then screamed loudly while looking up to the sky.

“AAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!”

“What are these things on my hooves! GET ‘EM OFF!!” Stormy shouted, wiggling his newly-acquired hands around.

“Flurry, what happened to us?!” Annie asked.

“I…I don’t know! I think we’ve turned into…what did Aunt Twilight call them…humans?” Flurry responded.

“Is that kind of like what Ahuizotl is in the Daring Do novels? Cuz we don’t have tails with an extra hand on the end of them. Or eyes at the end of our snouts,” said Chip.

“According to what Twilight told me, they’re kind of like monkeys or apes. It’s amazing how many creatures in Equestria actually have digits, but we ponies have gotten around just fine without them.”

“This is so weird. How are we even supposed to walk?” asked Pound.

“And can we take these pesky outfits off too?” asked Pumpkin, pulling at her sleeves with her teeth.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, careful. I don’t think you’re supposed to do that in this world, Pumpkin” Flurry warned.

“Why the hay not?”

They were all suddenly interrupted by a sinister laugh off to the side of the statue. They turned to see a tall human creature sporting a dark blue suit. It wasn’t nearly as ornate as he one that Count Aries Von Tambelon was wearing, but it made him appear very fashionable. Perhaps he was one of the staff members of the school before them. His hair was white and his skin was blue, but unlike the previous two villains, he actually had no ram horns. This could have passed as a different being, but Flurry quickly realized this was the same mysterious ram creature that was tormenting them in their dreams. He was wearing a necklace with a golden ram skull and had a cane with a ram’s head on top. He also had a round orange brooch attached to his vest with a curly, red Y in the center.

“Hehehe. There you are, little ones,” he said. “I see you haven’t figured out how to stand up yet.”

“What did you do this time, Count Aries?!” Flurry demanded. “Is this our home? It looks like Equestria, but there’s no way this town is Canterlot.”

“You are the well-educated one, Princess. I’m sure you know where you are. You’ve already been told about this place. It wasn’t very hard to conjure since beings from your own world have already entered it multiple times. ”

“So this is the mirror world Sunset and Twilight traveled into.”

“Precisely.”

“Are you going to tell us what your game is now?” Pound asked angrily.

“We’re already having too much fun, young leader. Why would I spoil the surprise? Anyway, we best move on. We aren’t going to have that exciting of a battle here. Now catch me if you can!”

He then turned around and opened his fingers to create another portal in front of him. His body turned black and smoky once again. He entered the portal and allowed it to stay open for them. Flurry and her friends had no time to figure out how to run on two legs. Stormy crawled over on his hands and knees and put his limp fist forward, not realizing he could use his index finger to point.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get him!” he shouted.

Everyone else crawled around like Stormy until they were finally able to reach the portal and climb in before it closed.

Over on the other side of the statue, the actual human counterparts to Flurry had just witnessed everything. They looked exactly like them only they were standing on two legs, having been in this world all their lives. They all stood with their mouths hanging wide open over what they just saw.

“What…just happened?” asked human Flurry.

On the other side of the portal, the kids zoomed through the in-between dimension and out of the exiting portal. The next world they landed in was very peculiar. They were in a forest, but everything looked like a fine art portrait. Only the birds and anything that could move had black outlines around it. This place resembled an old cartoon, though more colorful and not quite as smoothly animated as the first world. They examined their bodies and were glad to see they felt normal, but something was still off. Looking at each other, they noticed their legs, bodies and snouts were shaped very differently and their eyes were a bit smaller. The expressions they made were somehow not as dramatic as in the real world. Even more odd was the fact that some of them had different-looking cutie marks. Chip and Annie’s cutie marks had seven apples instead of one, Pound’s cutie mark looked like a more decorative birthday cake, Pumpkin’s was a pumpkin pie with whip cream on top and Stormy’s was a single lightning bolt coming out of a dark cloud. Flurry still had no cutie mark. Annie and Pumpkin had bows in their tails while each of the boys had their own unique clothes. Chip had a scarf, Stormy had a ball cap and Pound had an apron. Things got even weirder the moment they started talking.

“Aw, what now? Whoa, what’s with my voice?!” Flurry asked.

“Yeah, we sound like we can’t even talk right,” asked Pound.

“For real! I sound like a baby from one of those weird cartoons or something!” Stormy said.

“Well at least we have our pony bodies back…just a little different,” said Annie.

“A little different?! Look at our cutie marks!” said Pumpkin, pointing to her flank.

“Yeah, this is weird. This kinda looks more like home, but we can’t stay here,” Chip added.

“Chip’s right,” said Flurry. “We need to find that darn ram, whatever his name is here!”

“Look! He’s over there!” shouted Stormy.

Everyone looked over to see a tall blue ram with navy blue horns and hooves. He was standing on all fours this time and looked just like a regular Tambelonian sheep, though his eyes were pure red with no pupils. He had razor sharp teeth and was wearing a red collar around his neck with golden bucklers and a silver bell in the center. Like the kids, his lines were delivered awkwardly, but he also spoke with a snarl in his voice.

“HAHAHAH! Foolish ponies! You have no power against me here!” he sneered.

Pumpkin nudged her brother.

“Hey Pound, doesn’t he kinda look like Grogar in Super Dragon Warriors?” she asked

“Yeah, you make a good point,” Pound replied. “Funny since we were already in the video game wor-”

“Who you calling foolish?! I’ll make mutton out of you, you overgrown billy-goat!” Stormy shouted as he flapped his wings and took off.

The brave little pegasus flew toward the evil ram. The ram’s horns glowed brightly as he snarled. He blasted Stormy back with two bolts of lightning, accompanied by sci-fi sound effects from an old syndicated Saturday morning cartoon. Stormy somersaulted through the air and tumbled around in font of his friends.

“STORMY!” they all shouted.

“OW! He’s too strong!”

“Alright, that’s it!” Flurry shouted, preparing her own spell.

The ram laughed as Flurry’s horn glowed and fired a smaller lightning bolt at his face. He turned his head to the left but was barely affected by the blast.

“Not good enough, little princess! Now you will see true power!”

The ram then turned around and fired another bolt that created a portal. He once again transformed into black smoke and escaped through the portal.

“Aw! Do we have to keep chasing this guy?” Pumpkin whined.

“We have no choice! Come on everypony!” Pound replied as he flew towards the portal.

Everyone followed Pound through the portal and disappeared once again to find the next strange realm.

Watching nearby was a tiny dragon that resembled Spike when he was young, but he had ears and his underbelly was bright purple. He had just seen everything and ran back to warn his two human friends: a blonde-haired girl wearing a pink shirt and frilly overalls, and a younger boy with orange hair, wearing a ball cap, some jeans and a white and blue striped polo shirt.

“Oh no! Was that who I think it was?! Megan! Danny! Oh boy, you guys aren’t gonna believe this!” he screamed in a raspy voice.

“Spike? What’s the matter?” asked Megan.

“Yeah, you’re acting like Ponyland is coming to an end!” said Danny.

“Gr…gr…gr…Grogar!” shouted the strange iteration of Spike. “I saw Grogar! He was bullying these little baby ponies and then they all just disappeared in this big shiny thing!”

“What? That can’t be possible!” said Megan.

“Yeah, Spike. Everyone knows Grogar, Bray and the Troggles were defeated thanks to the Bell of Tambelon. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Danny told him.

“But I saw it! I know I saw it!”

“Perhaps you’re just daydreaming,” Megan said, patting him on the head. “Or maybe that was one of Grogar’s brothers or something?”

“Gee, I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I’m going crazy or something.”

Meanwhile, Flurry and her friends continued to chase the ram in a montage of all sorts of crazy worlds. They went through a world where they existed as sock-puppets, a world resembling a claymation cartoon, a world made out of toy building-blocks, abstract art style, and live action. The being they were chasing took on variations of his blue ram form. Once they got past the final portal, they sped past bright light effects as their bodies glitched though tons of different forms. The dark smoky cloud appeared in front of them and entered one last portal.

“Let’s hope you’re ready for the final realm!” he called in his default deep voice.

As they made it through the portal, they fell to the ground once again and blacked out momentarily. When Flurry woke up, her friends all appeared normal, but once again the world was different. They also didn’t appear to be anywhere in Equestria, but there was a giant sign that said “Canterlot 3”. It didn’t look anything even remotely like Canterlot, and it certainly wasn’t drawn in the same art style as the human world. Instead the art style was similar to the fourth world, but in higher quality traditional paintings. It resembled a futuristic city with high-rise buildings and no one was outside in the streets except the kids. The kids all appeared in an art style with black lines. They were drawn close to their real appearances, but still different in many ways. Their noses were smaller and their eyes were big but no longer had the roundness they did in the real world. Even their mouths were smaller and they didn’t sync up well with their lip movement.

“Are you guys okay?” Flurry asked.

“I think so,” Pound said, rubbing his head.

“Where are we now?” asked Annie.

“We’re in an anime world! YES! I’m gonna love it here!” Stormy beamed.

“Anime? What’s anime?” asked Flurry.

“Foreign animation,” explained Pound. “I think most of it’s done in Ester Dracos.

“Oh. That. I’ve heard of these shows before.”

“Yeah, they’re a little over-the-top, but pretty cool,” said Pumpkin.

“Yup. Just Stormy’s style,” Chip remarked before Stormy started up again.

“Guys, anime means we can see all sorts of awesome things!” shouted the little pegasus colt. “Maybe we have super powers like that one show, Dragon Star X!”

“Uh…okay,” said Flurry. “What’s that about?”

“It’s this really cool show where all the characters can do really cool martial arts and fly without wings and shoot fireballs from their hands and stuff! When they get really powerful, they scream and their hair turns a different color! Also, when the seven Dragon Stars line up in the sky, a long dragon appears and grants them a wish! That’s why they call it Dragon Star X! I still don’t know what the X stands for though.”

As everyone rolled their eyes at Stormy blabbing on, the ground suddenly shook as they heard a loud foot-stomp in the distance accompanied by sirens in the city. The stomps continued and got louder as the thing making them got closer. They then heard the sound of turbine engines. They looked to see futuristic helicopters with the Wonderbolts logo flying in reverse out from behind a nearby mountain. Next appeared an enormous creature that stood several hundred feet tall. It was bipedal and had a very gangly appearance. It was dark blue with really long arms and sharp, clawed fingers. It had exo-skeletal bones all over its torso and huge shoulders and its abdominal region was thin and almost non-existent. Inside a cavity in its chest was a glowing, red diamond. Its head resembled a ram skull with tiny little black eyes and two massive curly horns. The creature didn’t speak or make a sound, but walked slowly into the city as the helicopters began firing bullets at it.

“All units engage target now!” shouted a pilot over the helicopter loudspeakers.

“Enemy’s IT Field is too powerful!” shouted another.

“Use missiles! It may be our only hope!”

“Roger that! Missiles locked and loaded!”

The helicopters started launching missiles, but like the bullets, they were blocked by an invisible force-field surrounding the creature. One of them launched a very large missile, but the creature put its hand up to stop the missile. The missile kept propelling itself forward so the creature let it fly through and get shredded by its fingers until it reached the explosive end and exploded. It then began its offensive attack. Its eyes glowed and produced a loud, blaring laser sound effect. In front of it, a building exploded into a column of light that parted at the top into the shape of a curly Y similar to the broach he was wearing in the third world. It used this attack several more times on buildings and the helicopters to get them out of the way.

The kids all watched in horror from a distance. Even Stormy was disturbed by what he was seeing.

“Never mind,” he said nervously. “This is more like that one anime Mommy won’t let me watch because she says it’ll make me depressed.”

“There’s…other reasons you can’t watch that show, buddy,” Pumpkin told him.

“But that’s him, right?” asked Pound. “It’s the same ram we’ve been chasing this entire time: Rascally Ram or Count Aries or whatever his name is. Just what does he call himself now? Ramael?!”

Just then, the gem in the creature’s chest floated out in front of him. It warped around into various three-dimensional shapes, glowing brightly. It made the sound of a woman screaming to the top of her lungs and then fired a powerful beam, disintegrating all the copters and taking out the entire side of a mountain. The effect was so loud and intense; it caused everything around them to shake and some of the buildings to melt. They all looked away from the blinding light and began running in the opposite direction.

“Alright, we can’t stay here! Let’s ski-daddle!” shouted Pumpkin as tiny floating tears appeared around her head.

“Right behind you!” Flurry shouted as she took flight.

The kids ran through the streets to get to a safer part of town. Flurry looked back every so often to see the creature was using its eye beam attack on spots all around the city. Sometimes an explosion would happen way too close to them. This entire place was too dangerous for them to be in any longer, so she had to take matters into her own hooves.

“Hold on! I’m going to teleport us out of here!” she called as her horn charged.

Everyone disappeared with Flurry and reappeared on a cliff outside of the city. They could still see the giant horned monster roaming around, destroying everything in sight. They noticed how some blocks in the city began to move down into square openings in the ground. It was almost as if the city was on mechanical risers and had subterranean section underneath. A voice then started sounding over loudspeakers throughout the city.

“Attention all citizens of Canterlot 3! We now have confirmed the appearance of the first fallen angel attempting to initiate the Third Contact! Everyone make your way to the nearest shelters! SWERV is now attempting to lure the angel outside of the city!”

“That thing is an angel?” asked Annie.

“This place is such a weird parody of Equestria; it’s not even funny,” Flurry remarked.

Back at the crystal castle, the dragons all lounged in the guest room after allowing Scorch and Billow some alone time. Starlight had come back out with fresh horderves and joined them in conversation.

“So what are they even doing out there right now?” she asked.

“Hopefully they’re courting,” Singe said, stuffing himself with another piece of cake.

“That’s usually what happens after a male and female decide they like each other,” added Barb. “Dad’s had me court a few men before, but he’s still working on getting me one I actually like. I’ve got high standards.”

“I’m sure it’s going to work out great for them,” Buttercream said, happily.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen Billie in love before, but I can definitely tell she’s got the hots for your brother!” Lily added.

“And how, might I ask, do Northerns and Southerns do courtship?” asked Discord.

“Through wrestling,” answered Singe. “They get down on all fours and circle around slowly until they’re ready to pounce, and then it’s go time.”

“And after they wrestle around playfully for a minute or two, they lie down and cuddle and usually strike up a little conversation,” added Barb.

“So that’s how Northerns do it, eh?” asked Spike. “That sounds like such a fun way to bond.”

“Ah. That is romantic!” Discord said.

“Suuuuper romantic!” Buttercream added, adoringly. “I’m just picturing them doing it right now!”

“And also very fitting of a Northern!” Lily said. “Just like their wrangling rituals, wrestling is part of their culture. Southerns don’t rely on it quiet as much; they’re more of metal-smiths and weapons masters, but they share the same romantic traditions as Northerns. I know that’s how Hosta, Daisy and Ammy’s parents did it, at least partly.”

“Yes. Easterns have a rather different way of courting, and when you’ve got Easterns mixing with Northerns or Southerns, they might mix things up a bit. A little wrestling match that slowly evolves into a romantic dance in the sky,” Aster said, making eloquent gestures with his arms.

“Dragon dancing, huh? You guys wanna show us what that’s like?” asked Starlight.

“Sure! It’s a little something like this! Come on, Spike!” Lily said, grabbing Spike’s hand.

“Whoa, Lily what are we doing?” Spike asked, blushing.

Lily brought Spike up in the air with her. He reluctantly opened his wings to fly, but she led the way, circling around him. He looked around confused until he finally decided to fly after her.

“Aw! Spike you guys are doing great!” Buttercream called.

“Hehe, thanks!”

“There you go, Spike! Don’t worry, we won’t go through the whole entire thing. This is just for show,” Lily said, winking to Spike as he blushed even harder.

Before they could continue, the inside doors to the guest room swung open and everyone stopped what they were doing. They turned around to see a rather panicky Cozy Glow had entered.

“GUYS! I…I need you to come quick!” she shouted, trying to catch her breath.

“Cozy, what’s wrong?” asked Buttercream.

“And where are Flurry and the others?” Spike asked.

“Asleep back at the clubhouse, but they won’t wake up no matter how loud of a noise I make! Even more concerning: they’re all glowing with this red aura around them!”

“WHAT?!” shouted Spike with his hands on his head. “Oooooh! I knew something crazy would happen if I left them alone!”

“Spike, it’s okay,” Buttercream said, calming her brother down. “We’ll go let Scorch and Billow know and then Discord can just blip us all right over to the clubhouse.”

Everyone then walked over to the balcony doors. Barb went first and opened the doors to find the balcony was empty and Scorch and Billow were nowhere to be seen. Everyone gasped in shock.

“Scorch? Billow?!” asked Spike.

“And just like that, they’re already off,” Aster said, covering his face with his claw.

“Darnit! Those silly lovebirds! We shouldn’t have let ‘em get out of our sight!” Butter cried.

“Great. We’re gonna have to search every bedroom in the castle now. OW!” Singe remarked before getting bopped on the head by Barb.

“SINGE! Don’t be a pervert!” she scolded. “Look, we don’t have time to search for them! Discord, take us over to the clubhouse!”

“I’m coming with you!” said Starlight. “That thing about the red aura sounds concerning.”

“Alright, everyone ready?” Discord called.

They all gathered around him and he put his arms out before a flash of light surrounded them all. He instantly transported them in front of the clubhouse so Aster wouldn’t hit his head on the ceiling upon arrival. They all turned around and Cozy entered the front door with Starlight, Lily, Spike and Buttercream behind her. Singe followed after, but underestimated the size of the door and got stuck. He looked up to see Barb and Aster flying in through one of the large windows at the top and signaled for Barb to help him. She rolled her eyes and pulled her pudgy brother through the door until he plopped on the ground. After everyone had gotten inside, Discord teleported himself in and saw what Cozy was talking about. Starlight walked up close to the kids to check on them.

“Kids?! What’s happened to them?!” she asked, giving Flurry a nudge.

“Hold on, folks. I might know a little cure for this,” said Aster as he cracked his knuckles and his horns glowed.

Everyone watched as the kids were covered in a bright blue aura. Aster tried his hardest, but it was quickly cancelled out and the red aura persisted.

“Ugh! Well that was disappointing.”

“Yeah, that spell usually works to wake up any dragon that’s been knocked out. It’s supposed to work on ponies too,” said Lily.

“Discord, your magic should work. Can you give it a try?” asked Cozy.

“I’m on it,” said Discord.

He put his lion finger in the air and charged up a little orb of magic above it. He then zapped all the kids with his finger and they shone with light, but this effect was also cancelled out.

“What? How did that not work?!” Discord said, surprised.

“Really! Discord has arguably the most powerful magic in Equestria!” said Starlight.

Spike knelt down and put his hand on top of Flurry’s head. He started breathing heavily.

“Guys, what are we gonna do?! Who even cast this spell?” he asked frantically.

“Whoever did it is extraordinarily powerful, especially if it can shield my own magic,” Discord said, stroking his beard.

“Discord, is this anything like the spell you used on us earlier while we were playing real life Ogres and Oubliettes?” asked Buttercream.

“Not exactly,” Discord answered. “I transformed the environment around you, but that did not require you to be asleep. That’s high-level chaos magic, but this is different. This is like a dream spell, but not the kind Luna uses. She enters dreams and speaks to the ponies in their sleep. I think whoever’s doing this is putting them in the dream realm, but I haven’t seen a spell quite this powerful since before…well, before my Discord days.”

“Hold on…I was reading a book that described something like this earlier,” said Cozy. “In ancient times, ponies would find their loved ones in a state of consciousness, but they were asleep and couldn’t be awoken. The only way to help them wake up was to fall asleep next to them and then enter the…”

“THE ASTRAL PLANE!!” shouted Discord and Starlight in unison.

“Yeah, I think that’s what it was called,”

“What in Solder’s name is that?” asked Singe.

“It’s kind of hard to explain. Basically it’s a subconscious or psychic realm with altered reality where you may exist as a different version of yourself if your mind somehow enters it,” Discord explained, “Some have even attributed it to multiversal travel, though it’s mostly just dream-like and won’t affect you in the real world. Starswirl the Bearded figured out a way to enter something like this a while ago with that mirror.”

“Can he do anything about this?” asked Starlight.

“I doubt it. He created a portal into another alternate reality. To my knowledge, he never tried to put anyone into the astral plane as a form of torture, nor can he manipulate what you see or feel in there. Ancient demonic forces were responsible for that. Again, this is the work of someone really powerful.”

“And is it true that you can join them and help them get through the realm they’re in until they wake up?” asked Cozy.

“That’s supposedly how ponies get out of it. Otherwise they could be trapped in there forever until their mortal bodies pass on and their spirits enter the afterlife.”

“So all we have to do is fall asleep with them and then we can help them in there,” said Starlight.

“I suppose so. That shouldn’t be too difficult if-”

“I’ll do it,” Cozy said.

“What?! Cozy, no! It could be dangerous!” said Spike.

“Spike, I wasn’t going to say this, but…well, things didn’t exactly go as we planned for our first night here. They all had a big fight earlier and split up.”

“They did?”

“Yeah. I tried getting them to stop arguing over the game they were playing, but they just kept bursting out in anger until they went their separate ways. I think whoever put them in the astral plane set this all up. The book I read said ancient spirits and sorcerers would spend their time tormenting and sabotaging the lives of ponies in the physical world to get them to blame each other for it. They bickered so much until they fell asleep and were then sent into a realm like this as a form of punishment. The only way out was if they learned to work together. I was curious as to why the games we were playing kept feeling like they were magically working against us, so I looked it up in that book and it lead me to the part about the astral plane. Maybe if I go in there with them, they’ll listen and all seven of us can get overcome whatever’s in there.”

“Cozy, are you really sure you want to do this?” asked Buttercream.

“She’ll be fine,” Discord said, smiling. “If she’s in there too long, we have no shortage of allies who can enter with them and fight back whatever foul demon is doing this.”

“And Discord and I know a spell that can make you fall asleep quickly,” said Starlight.

“Cozy, just be careful,” said Spike, “I don’t want to give a bad report to your mother.”

“I will, Spike. Discord, Starlight, I’m ready,” Cozy said, bravely.

Discord and Starlight charged up their magic as Cozy lay down next to Flurry and closed her eyes. They cast the spell, and she fell asleep instantly. Her vision turned black and then she started seeing stars and bright lights go past her. She looked down at her hoof to see it changing back and forth into different forms rapidly. The spell worked and she was already on her way to help her friends in the astral plane.

“Hang on, guys. I’m coming…”