Worlds Unbound

Zeph was having a pretty bad day. As far as bad days go, this one was definitely up there. Not only had his entire world been mashed into a new one, but the resulting boom and crash of the two massive planets caused him to sprain a wing and get lodged inside a trash can in a town in basically the middle of nowhere. So now he's grounded for six to eight weeks while being stuck in some freaky alien world. Great.

Groaning in a mixture of pain and frustration, he pulled himself out of the rubble and looked up to see... absolute chaos—creatures unlike anything he’d ever seen before were running around, screaming their tiny little heads off. Weird, small horses were flying, horned creatures were throwing things at people, and there was currently a horse in the shower just three feet away from him, eyes wide in fear with a frying pan lodged firmly in its hooves. Wait...

CANG!

THUMP.

About a week or so later...

Celestia stood atop her grand balcony, watching her glorious sun spread its rays as far as she could see. Her once-familiar lands were dotted with settlements unknown and creatures completely foreign to her. To say Celestia was exhausted would be a grave understatement. Hearing the door open, she opened her eyes once again, already knowing who had just walked in.

“Sister... are you okay?” the voice of her younger sister, Luna, asked. Smiling slightly, Celestia turned around to face her sister, forcing a smile when meeting her eyes.

“I’m doing just fine, Lulu. You’re up early today.”

Sigh. “Yes, well, with all the recent... commotion... I’ve found myself unable to get much rest.”

“Yeah...” Celestia responded sadly, releasing a rather big sigh in the process. “Ponyville, Canterlot, and Manehattan were hit rather hard. Manehattan more so since the city is on the ocean. There haven’t been any casualties so far, but with things like recent food shortages, I’m not sure it’ll stay that way for very long.”

Sensing her sister’s stress and sadness, Luna walked to her, nuzzling her affectionately. “Perhaps you should take a break? You haven’t slept in over twenty-four hours...” Luna said, worry written on her face.

Nuzzling her sister back, Celestia turned toward the balcony once more, watching the tiny dots of her ponies working tirelessly to repair their city below, and heaved another great sigh. “You’re right... I should probably take a small break. As always, I trust you in my absence.”

Watching her sister go, Luna couldn’t help but feel a little heartbroken at her sister’s new attitude and hoped that things would fix themselves quickly.

Yo. It’s me, Zeph, again. I know you missed me.

Turns out that freaky mare who hit me over the head with a frying pan about half the size of her body is actually really cool, and she’s letting me stay at her house. She’s a mare that goes by the name Breezy; she’s pretty young, about nineteen, and her special talent has to do with something about flying. Humans get something similar that shows what we’re best at, but the name for it isn’t stupid like “cutie mark” or whatever. Anyway, moving on! She has a wild pink and yellow mane that’s kinda all frizzled looking, a light peach coat, and her “cutie mark” is a gust of wind blowing on a feather. She’s also a crazy mare who likes screaming to get me to wake up in the morning.

“ZEPH! GET YOUR FAT ASS UP AND COME EAT BREAKFAST!!!” the mentioned Breezy calls out, making me jump and trip out of the bed, landing in a heap of feathers and covers. Groaning, I pull myself up out of my self-made human burrito and curse that stupid magician for doing this to me.

“HOLD YOUR HORSES, LADY!” I shout back, knowing she hates that term. See, ponies here know that they’re technically horses, but for some reason, they don’t like being called that.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I groggily make my way to the bathroom, dragging my wings behind me. After doing my business, taking a quick shower, and brushing my teeth, I put on a new outfit for the day—a simple sky-blue tank top with some slightly baggy blue jeans and my favorite boots—and stare at the handsome devil in the mirror. I’m about six foot two, which is rather tall for a Skypiean, with a windswept blue mane with white fluffy-looking spots that resemble light clouds. My wings are a deep cyan blue, which turns into a lighter blue the further down you look, breaking off into more cloud-like designs at the tips. Deciding that’s enough checking myself out, I make my way down to the annoying mare downstairs.

“So, how are you liking your stay in Ponyville so far?” Breezy asks me in between bites of her daisy sandwich. I’m not sure how they eat those nasty things, but they are horses, so I guess it makes sense.

Swallowing the last of my cereal, I get up and make my way toward the sink to wash my dish. “It’s been pretty great, honestly. Everyone is adapting pretty well to the whole new alien species and world thing,” I say with a hint of joking in my voice, which fortunately makes her giggle a bit.

“I know, right? I expected ponies to be screaming their heads off, not instantly warming up to you guys.”

After I finish washing my dishes, I say my goodbyes and head out for my daily laps around Ponyville. I really can’t stand to be on the ground for longer than I need to as a Skypiean. Running out of the door, I spread my wings and shoot off like a rocket toward a friend’s house.

The last few days have been torturous for Willow and her family. It had been a regular day in their old town—everyone was minding their own business, little Berry was off with her friends doing whatever they usually do to find their emblems, and she had been doing chores on her farm like usual. But then that whole world-merging fiasco caused her family to not only lose apple trees but also half of their space to a neighboring pony farm east of theirs.

She likes to think she’s been holding up well after Terra and this Equus place got mashed together, but it’s still taken its toll on her and her family.

“HEY! WILLOW!” Recognizing the voice, Willow whirled around, already knowing who she would see.

“ZEPH?! IS THAT YOU?!” she screamed back, waving up at the Skypiean hovering above her. Running up to him, she threw her arms around him in a friendly hug. “Boy, am I glad to see you here! You here to help out? Terra knows we could use it…”

Willow is a very pretty girl in Zeph’s eyes. She’s a bit taller than average girls, and she’s got just the right amount of muscle, with all her fat going in the right places. She usually wears jean shorts with a plaid shirt that’s either rolled up to her sleeves or sleeveless, showing off her thin but generously muscled arms. She’s got pretty hazel eyes and brown hair that’s usually tied up and hangs around her neck, with a stetson placed loosely on her head, giving her an extra sense of sass.

“Well, I didn’t come here for that originally, but if you need help, I’ll be glad to assist,” Zeph says, letting his ego show for a bit. Willow rolls her eyes, amused at his antics.

“Yeah, yeah, speedster. C’mon, we’re just wasting daylight out here.” She says, moving deeper into the many trees with Zeph following closely behind.