Into the Unknown: First Breakfast.

"Confound these signs," Indigo muttered, before glancing around, "Well, it looks like we've found the dining area."

Fletch nodded, "I think they called it a 'cafeteria'."

"Yes..." Indigo stared at the collection of tables and chairs, "Now where do we get the food?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Ugh, of all the times not to have a guide."

"Acquire a tray from these," a voice said from behind and above them. A blue hoof pointed over their heads to a stack of trays before moving to a long counter. "Request food yonder." They looked behind them to see Luna - absent her regalia and her mane strangely chaotic - standing behind them.

Indigo blinked, "Yes, your majesty." She said flatly, before doing exactly what was described, grabbing a tray in her magic and floating it over to the counter.

She looked at the seemingly empty area for a moment before sighing.

"Something filling."

Plop

Some paste fell onto her tray, it looked a bit like oatmeal.

"Wonderful." Indigo gave it a sniff, then shrugged, before moving on.

"Um..." Fletch moved up next, staring upwards. "Chocolate?"

Poof

A croissant fell onto her tray, a dark brown filling spilling out of the sides.

Luna followed them, grabbing her own tray. "A fruit salad. Heavy on the pineapple." A large bowl of lightly-glazed fruit appeared on her tray and she smiled down at Fletch and Indigo. "And please, We are no majesty of yours nor one in this place. 'Luna' shall suffice. We could not help but overhear your want for a guide."

Indigo glanced at the others' wildly better meals, before rolling her eyes and sighing, "Yes, Luna." She moved over to a table and picked up a laminated menu, "Can you read this language?"

Luna took the menu and gave it a glance. "Ah yes. Modern Equestrian. Or simply 'Equestrian' here, We suppose. 'Twas irksome to accustom Ourselves to the changes to which Our language has been subject."

"Still a process for you," Angel said, sitting beside Luna with a tray of waffles piled high with enough toppings to transform it from breakfast to dessert. "No-one says ''twas' anymore." She gave a nod to Indigo and Fletch. "Hey there. You guys came here with Phos, right?"

"'Modern'?" Indigo exhaled, shoveling some oatmeal into her mouth, "Of course. Need I ask what year it is where you come from?"

Fletch took a seat nearby, scooting the chair up closer to the table, "I can't read."

"And yes, our charge is Phos. I'm still having a hard time believing she was selected for a tournament."

Jeff and Cadance were next to arrive, the two looking around to see that a few people had already arrived. Both of them with trays in hand, were met with confusion upon seeing there was nothing but an open area, however upon Luna explaining how things work and her request of her order.

"...So many choices.." Jeff mumbled to himself since food magically manifested rather than picking whatever was available. "A glass of milk, french toast with maple syrup, scrambled eggs and some sausages, jimmy deans maybe?" the hylian spoke up, and just like that his food appeared in flash of light. The hero softly clapped his hands happily as it had been too long since he had this specific order unlike the ones the unicorns had at Canterlot.

"Hmmm.. a.. cheese sandwich, an apple, and some orange juice." Cadance said next, also getting her order in a flash of magic. "How convenient~" she said with a soft giggle. With trays of goodies in their hands, they make their way over one of the tables.

Luna stuck out her tongue. "We doubt that that information would be helpful. It is Year 1 of the Harmonic Era. 'Twould be year 1,001 of the Celestial Era, marked by Our banishment to the moon, were Our Equestria still using that calendar. Year 5,687 of the Royal Era, which began with the reign of Us and Our sister."

"Year names are probably going to be inconsistent between worlds," Angel offered. "Probably best to just say what the most recent significant historical event was." She looked up as Jeff and Cadance passed by. "Hey! Plenty of seats over here!"

Upon hearing her shout, both Jeff and Cadance turned around, instead making their way over to sit at the table, soon placing their trays down and taking a seat. Everyone quickly noticed that Jeff wasn't wearing his usual red roc's cloak.

Indigo dropped her hooves on the table, "Thousands of years." She shook her head, "It's not every day you meet an immortal."

Fletch looked over to Angel, "Well, I don't know what makes an event significant, but it was only like fifty years ago that all three pony tribes came together under one flag."

Luna's eyes went wide. "The Unification? Truly?"

Angel let out a low whistle. "Geeze, that was ages ago."

"Unification is an apt name. It very well may be the same thing." Indigo idly twirled a spoon in her oatmeal,

"Did you see it?" Fletch asked,

Indigo gave her a hard stare, "How old do you think I am? No, I didn't see it, though my grandmother spoke of what it was like before often. She never 'trusted the look of those earth-munchers or feather-brains,' but she couldn't deny the effects it had."

"What about y'all?" Angel asked Jeff and Cadance, digging into her dessert breakfast. "Where are y'all at in the timeline?"

"Uh.. let's see," Jeff paused to think a bit. "It's been a months since me and the mane six took down Sombra.." Jeff explained as he took a bite of his sausage.

"Don't remind me.." Cadance said with a roll of her eyes. The memory of her torture still fresh on her mind.

"Season three, then," Angel said. "A little ahead of us."

Luna scowled. "We are very much not looking forward to that event."

"Season three?" Indigo repeated, "You mean the third season? Summer?"

"...I'm sorry? What kind of calendar system are you going for?" Jeff asked in confusion, hinting that the hylian may not have seen the show.

"Oh. Ah, no." Angel rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "How to explain this? Um, on Earth, we have the stories of your world in the form of fiction. The stories are divided into seasons, focused on six ponies and their adventures."

Cadance gave Angel a long blank stare, looking as if in disbelief and discomfort; her eyes darting around in fear of any knowledge she may know.

Luna noted Cadance's discomfort and smiled comfortingly. "Do not fear knowledge of the future, Our niece from another world. Think only of the wisest way in which to use it."

"Yes." Indigo added, "Because I'm both 'a destroyer of worlds', and also 'an important part of Equestrian history'." She motioned with her hooves, "Who are these six ponies anyway?"

"Twilight Sparkle," Angel listed off, "the eventual Princess of Friendship and wielder of the Element of Magic. Applejack, Wielder of the Element of Honesty. Rainbow Dash of Loyalty. Fluttershy of Kindness. Pinkie Pie of Laughter. And Rarity of Generosity. Together they wield the Elements of Harmony against various threats to Equestria."

"...How can you say that casually knowing there are those who know history of your world?" Cadance asked with a frown.

"Love, history may repeat itself but the multiverse changes it, like a web of cracks being formed and split into many different possibilities that are never the same, or it is the same but there's tiny other cracks making them different." Jeff explains, easing Cadance's worries.

Luna nodded. "We have seen much of the stories Friend Angel references. We are certain that many of those events will change or no longer occur by mere dint of her presence. Still, it is good to have prior warning of certain dangers."

"And then you've got worlds totally different, like mine having many things of Z-.. I mean hylian history." Jeff said, catching himself on almost mentioning The Legend of Zelda.

"Don't just assume I know what any of that means." Indigo said with a scowl. "A princess of a concept, and elements of traits. This is starting to sound like a story you would tell a foal, though I'll admit this 'Element of Magic' has my interest."

"I mean the mane six do exist in my world, six ponies who harbor friendship, and a powerful ones at that." Cadance said with a nod. "Although not perfect as there are some evils who can resist their harmonic magic."

"And you don't necessarily need to worry about the Mane Six or the Elements," Angel assured Indigo. "After all, they're from so far ahead of your time. But to sum up so you aren't lost in the conversation, the Elements are powerful magical artifacts that have a 'harmonizing' effect on their target. 'Princess' in this case refers to an alicorn, which always has a domain attached. In some worlds they're goddesses. In others they're just ponies plus plus. Usually powerful, and always significant forces in their worlds."

"That's so very reassuring."

Luna chuckled. "Our sister and Us may be making an appearance in thy world in the near future. Give them a chance; We were much less prone to mischief back in thy day. We like to think that the both of Us were a good influence upon Equestria in those days."

Her eyes then narrowed. "There is one thing We must ask; dost thou know of a being named Discord?"

Indigo matched Luna's look, "I only know the word. Nothing more."

"Yea, and I've got seven of them in my world, Cadance not included." Jeff said as he started shuffling through his pouches.

"Hey! Cadance said with a disapproving frown.

"I-I mean you're a goddess in my eyes, love. Who I meant were the six that created planet Equus." Jeff explained as he took out a red camera. Soon turning it on and showing the group a few pictures.

"You might want to be on the lookout," Angel said as they looked over the pictures. "Discord is a headache and a half. A spirit of Chaos and Disharmony with way more than a penchant for mischief. In most versions of Equestria, he came out of nowhere and took over the world, turning it into an empire of chaos until Celestia and Luna turned him to stone using the Elements of Harmony."

Angel pointed to one of the pictures. "That's Celestia, Luna's sister. These three are new to me, and probably unique to Jeff's Equus. And this one..." She frowned and pointed to the sixth alicorn. "Hold on, isn't that Twilight?"

"I think it is. It's just those pictures are from one of the hallways in the castle of the two sisters when I went there in the past trying to find more on hyrule's history and find more of the fable hero's equipment. The window was like this before I snapped the shot, as if someone smashed it out of anger or hate." Jeff explained to Angel.

Fletch, who had been busy stuffing her face with chocolate croissant to take much part in the conversation, finally swallowed and glanced around at the group. "A spirit? That's a relief, Phos is the one who usually deals with those."

Luna frowned. "'Spirit' may not be the proper term. Discord is more of a..."

"Discord is Discord," a suave, smug voice crowed from above. "Attempting to define me is a fruitless endeavor."

Luna paled and began to rise before Angel placed a placating hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Luna. If he's the local one, he's reformed. And if he's ours, he already knows what's coming." She looked up and raised an eyebrow. "So? Which is it?"

"The latter," the draconequus said with a smirk, floating above all of their heads. "I heard you discussing me and decided to slip out of my little prison to lend a claw." He pulled off one his eagle talon and dropped it on Angel's head before turning to Fletch and Indigo. "Any questions?"

Jeff rapidly blinked at the sudden appearance of the renowned Discord of Chaos popping in like a moth drawn to a lightbulb.

Due to Discord appearing, Cadance to leapt back, arms pulled back as a battle axe appeared in her hands in a flurry of Twili Particles, ready to cut the spirit in half.

"Oh, put that away, heart-butt," Discord said, snapping his fingers. The axe turned to plastic in her hands. "Like our little pseudo-undead here said, I'm on the path to reformation. And I truly have no major mischief in mind while I'm here; the local me wouldn't take kindly to it."

"However," he turned his attention back to Indigo with a grin, "I would love the opportunity to mess with a past version of me. So by all means, ask whatever questions you'd like."

"What the- gah!" Cadance exclaimed as her axe was turned into harmless plastic.

"Cadance doesn't like being surprised.." Jeff said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Discord does not enjoy considering the feelings of others," Luna replied, eyeing the draconequus warily.

Indigo leaned forward, resting an elbow on the table as she propped up her chin with a hoof. "Where's Phos when you need her?" She sighed, before looking up at Discord, "Listen, I just said I don't know who you are. I don't know anything about chaos spirits, I hardly know anything about spirits at all! They don't seem too keen to share that kind of information with the likes of us." She pointed to Fletch and herself, "So why should I care what you like? If you want to bother someone, go bother the spirit enthusiast herself."

Discord shrugged. "If you insist." He grabbed his talon off of Angel's head, stuck his tail into his mouth, and slurped himself up into oblivion. Luna raised an eyebrow at Angel, who whispered "later."

"..For someone called spirit of chaos, he's rather cartoony." Jeff said as an observation.

"My axe is still plastic." Cadance said with a disappointed frown.

"In any case," Luna eventually said, turning back to Indigo, "getting back to Our original offer, if thou wouldst like an aid in adapting to the modern world during thy stay here, We would be happy to volunteer Our services."

"If you are willing..." Indigo leaned forward, "One, I want a better grasp of this written language, I can recognize some characters, but not all of them. Two, I want an in depth explanation of these automagic lanterns littered throughout this place, along with anything else that runs off of... lightning. Three..." Indigo trailed off as she listed, looking back over at the trays and counter, "I want to know of any other commodities that this place offers."

Luna nodded. "'Twould be best to ask those in charge about the commodities, but We can assist thee with the former two. Shall we retire to the library after our meals?"

"I'll come with you," Angel offered. "I can probably give a better explanation of electricity than Luna can." She looked to Jeff and Cadance. "Would you two like to join us? I'm sure you have questions about Discord and other threats your Equus might have to deal with."

"As soon as we finish our meal, I also need to take some of the sausages to Volvagia. She should be returning from her morning routine." Jeff explained as Cadance finished her meal, gentle patting her lips with a napkin.

With one last scoop of oatmeal, Indigo pushed her tray forward and sat up, "Haven't been to a library in a while, you have yourself a deal."

Angel and Luna nodded as they finished their meals as well. "Let's get going, then," Angel said before nodding to Jeff and Cadance. "See y'all around."

They all got up from their seats, quickly dumping the left over trays off to the side and heading out of the cafeteria.

Though... not one of them noticed that Fletch wasn't following, she was too busy staring at someone else in the cafeteria.

Someone with a gun...

Author's Note

Another day, another breakfast! I am actually happy to see things progress, happy to see interactions all around. This actually feels like people eating breakfast in a cafeteria! I have nothing much to say, but I love to see everyone communicate and tell stories of themselves. That’s all, peace! – Uncle Iroh.

I LOVE ~~LEAN~~ LORE!
Every Equestria is different, I love what all the other authors have come up with for the pasts, presents, and quite possibly futures of their worlds. For Phos, her present is the past, really far in the past I might add. How is she going to get to the ‘present’ then? Well… I’m sure she’ll manage. - Conglomerate