Flight to Dreadlands

Warning Dream - Ponification - Crystal City - Invitation

Frey was glad to see Ketty Jay again. As fun as it was to spend time being lectured about advanced magic by an immortal alicorn, he was glad to go back to his simple aircraft.

“Frey? You’re back? We started worrying about you,” said Trinica.

“I am fine. Had an educational discussion with Twilight Sparkle.”

“You meet Twilight Sparkle?” Stellar asked, wide-eyed.

“Yes. She told us that we need to bring her the Crystal Heart and the Unity Crystals for some kind of mega-spell that could change dimensions or something. The point is, we will get rich!”

“That’s great!” said Trinica.

“I have to meet Twilight!” said Stellar.

“First, we need to get to Crystal City,” he said, and yawned. “Let’s do it tomorrow. Listening to magic theory made me tired.”

Frey headed to his room. He quickly changed his clothes, and fell on the bunk. Sleep came very quickly.

Usually, Frey dreamed of riches, of girls, of Trinica or of flying. Today, however, he found himself in a small town.

The town didn’t resemble the towns in Cyrodiil. Buildings were mostly made of wood. They were painted in pastel colors, and were richly decorated. The strangest thing about this town were its inhabitants.

Dozens of small, colorful horses walked the streets. They were smiling, talking and generally enjoying life.

“Idyllic, isn’t it. To think only a few years later, many of these ponies had to pick up guns and defend their country.”

Frey looked at the person talking to him. It was a midnight blue Alicorn. “Dream Horse?”

“Call me Luna.”

“What is this place?”

“This is the town of Ponyville. Nice and calm place on the outskirts of Canterlot. Granted, after Twilight came here, it became a magnet for magical disasters, but she and her friends were always able to defeat them,” Luna said. She became somber, “It’s sad how it ended, but the past cannot be changed.”

“Okay. Why did you come to my dream, then?”

“Let’s go eat something first, shall we?”

Frey entered one of the buildings, a restaurant of sorts. A happy-looking pink mare brought him a cupcake. Luna took one for herself as well.

“Look, Frey. As I know, you already met Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yes. She really likes talking about magic.”

“She learned well. The point is, she is incorrect in her plan.”

“She is?”

“Yes. She wants to steal the Crystal Heart. She hopes it will stop Flurry. The problem is, Flurry is actually trying to save us.”

“From what?”

“Terrific monster that could devour the world.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes. Twilight and Celestia have no idea what we are dealing with. Therefore, I need to ask you something.”

“Yes?”

“Do not steal the Crystal Heart. In fact, you should help Flurry in her plan. She might have a rough exterior, but there is still light inside of her.”

“Twilight said something about dimensions.”

“If she did this, the universe is doomed. Listen to me, we need to help Flurry stop it.”

“How can I know that you are telling the truth? Your words against Sunrise and Twilight.”

“You need to trust me.”

Frey thought about it. Trust? In his career, it was an unknown word. Only recently he allowed himself to trust again. But this?

He agreed for this strange mission because he wanted to explore the world beyond Tamriel and to earn a fortune doing so. These ponies however, were a strange lot. Maybe they had a soft exterior and looked innocent, but inside, they were as deceitful and full of secrets as humans are. Maybe even more.

“This is a very nice cupcake,” Frey said. He will need to think about his options very carefully.

“Now, you shall see the power of Pony magic!” Stellar Reflection announced with excitement.

Frey had seen his fair share of magic in his life, but Pony High Magic was new for him. He found himself quite interested.

The unicorn prepared the scroll given to them by Abbess Sunrise. “This scroll was enchanted by ancient unicorns. It would allow any creature to turn into a pony for a duration of a week.”

“So we will become unicorns?” asked Trinica.

“Ponies. Unicorns are one of three tribes of ponies. Well, according to some, there are seven tribes, but nevermind.”

“Is that going to be safe?” asked Malvery.

“Yes. The Abbess said so.”

“Well, do you think, I guess,” said Frey.

Stellar Reflection unfolded the scroll. Her horn started glowing in a bright blue light. The scroll seemed to react to it, and the light changed color to golden. Then, Stellar shot a magic beam towards the gathered humans.

Frey was enveloped in bright light. He felt quite weird. The magic was tickling him a bit.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash. “It worked!” shouted Stellar. “I casted High Magic!”

Frey looked at his arms, or hooves now. It seemed he had a gray coat. There was a strange feeling at his sides. He turned, and saw wings.

“Whoa, I have wings!”

“Me too!” said Trinica. Frey looked, and indeed, she was now a black-coated pegasus. She flapped her wings, and lifted off the ground effortlessly. Frey tried to do this as well. He moved his wings. Some kind of energy, or magic, started flowing, and he managed to lift himself as well.

“This is amazing!”

“That’s nice and all, but also it is mighty strange. Besides, how are you supposed to work with hooves? How did ponies even build anything?” said Silo, now a brown-coated and green maned earth pony.

Frey saw some golden light. White unicorn with a blue mane was lifting a stick with telekinesis.

“Look, Asura. I can do magic now!” said Malvery.

“Looks fun. Do I also get a special power?” said Asura, now a red-coated and green maned earth pony. She walked towards a tree and bucked it with all her strength. The bark started falling off and the tree shook. She smiled. “Malvery, how about some friendly brawl?”

“No, thanks.”

“I might try to fight you,” Ugrik, now a blue unicorn, said. He grabbed the Blade of Ages in telekinesis.

“Sorry, you’re not cool enough.”

“Damn it.”

Frey landed next to Stellar. “Well, I feel fine. Time to go to Crystal City, or is there something more.”

“It’s good that the spell worked. Yes, we should go to Crystal City, but you need to learn how to act like a pony as well.”

“Good idea. How do we start?”

Frey sat down by the cockpit. The Ketty Jay was designed with the assumption that her crew would have fingers, but after some trial and error, Frey managed to use his hooves to work on her as well.

“Everyone, or I guess everypony, ready?” he asked. The rest of the crew agreed.

“Well, let’s steal some crystals. Next stop, Crystal City.”

Ketty Jay and her fighters lifted off the ground and headed northeast.

Frey wondered how a Pony city would look. Would it be a whimsical mess of colors and glitter? It would fit these creatures.

After a relatively short time, Crystal City became visible. Frey looked at it and was in awe.

First, the city was huge. Even bigger than the Ruby City, the largest city in Tamriel. The buildings weren’t made out of crystals as the name would suggest, but rather out of concrete and metal. There were many industrial chimneys there. Frey saw some glittering crystals as well, in the distance. It seemed that the city center was crystal-made. There was a very tall, crystal tower in the distance. Frey’s treasure-hunting intuition told him that the Crystal Heart must be there.

“Okay crew. Remember the plan. We will hide Ketty Jay somewhere here, then we walk into the city, act natural, get the crystals and quickly leave. It’s that simple,” he said. He knew that this plan would probably backfire spectacularly, but he wished it wouldn't.

Frey and the crew walked through the streets of Crystal City’s industrial district. He saw many ponies moving a large amount of crates away. They were preparing for something big. Hopefully nothing dangerous.

He saw a road sign labeled train station. He moved there.

The station was a small one. There were a few ponies waiting in there.

“Excuse me. When will the next train for the city center leave?” Frey asked a random mare.

“Just in a few minutes.”

“Good. Nice weather we have today.”

“Indeed,” the mare replied.

“I saw that there were some transports being prepared. Is that a government order?”

“Princess ordered to stockpile everything before she banished the city. I mean, she probably had a reason for doing so, but still. She might have at least given us a warning.”

“Shame that other cities weren’t taken with us.”

“Indeed,” the mare said. Frey found this mare… kind of cute? He decided to blame it on the spell that turned him into a pony, so as to not get into an ethical dilemma about finding them cute.

The train arrived, and they moved inside. Frey took a seat by the window, and looked at the city.

Frey noticed that the cute mare was looking at him. It was good that the spell hasn’t made him less handsome. The mare got out of her seat, and walked towards him.

“Would you like to visit the Royal Palace?” she asked.

“Well, I would like to, but I guess the Princess is very busy.”

“I am sure she will find a time for you,” she said, and took some kind of legitimation. “Silver Stone, DDS. You are coming with me.”