Chapters Author's Note
This is a cross-post from my AO3 account.
Just a for-warning of other themes for this story. This follows the section of the movie, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, where Spirit takes refuge at Little Creeks village. There are a few changes to the story with the MLP ponies being there, but a lot of the main plot points are still there.
So that means that the invasion/war still happens. Much of the village gets burned down, as well as a few lives being lost. Though most of those happen of screen. It also alludes to slavary, and mistreatment of animals. Also Rain still gets shot at by the Colonel and is injured from the fall into the river. The story also goes into a little bit of them having to rebuild after the fight.
Chapter 1
Once they had gathered their bearings their previous fight had all but been forgotten. Although it may have been the reason for them being here in the first place, they now had bigger problems to deal with.
It had all come to ahead when Applejack had pushed Rainbow Dash, who then happened to fall through the portal that Twilight used to get to and from her world. Twilight light had then tried to catch her friend, but in doing so also fell through the portal after her. She was then followed by all of her other human friends who, in turn, had attempted to catch each other in unison.
Twilight wasn't sure how it was possible, as she thought only those from her world could access this magical portal, but here they were. In that very moment Twilight began to panic, thinking of how she was going to explain all this to Celestia. But more so, she was worried about how much trouble she was going to be in.
"As pretty as this place is, I assumed it would be a little more - majestic." Rarity retorted.
This snapped Twilight out of her panicked state, and take a good look at her surroundings. This was not certainly not the Equestria she knew. Unless the portal's position changed? But , as far as she knew, they could only create it in the castle. It was pretty clear that they were outside, with the various trees surrounding them.
In whatever place they were it was clearly autumn as all the leaves were various shades or red, orange and brown. This world was clearly occupied by horses, like in Twilight's, as the rest of her human friends had been turned into their horse counterparts. Although they looked strangely different to the horse-kind of Equestria.
"No this isn't Equestria. At least, not the one I'm from." Twilight said to no one in particular.
"Didn't you say that that portal led back to your world?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "So if it isn't then where are we?"
She certainly posed a good question. As far as Twilight knew the Crystal Mirror was a two way trip from her world to theirs. So it shouldn't have been possible to turn up anywhere else. Yet here they were, in a completely different world. More importantly, how were they to get back?
It looked as though the portal was using the reflection of the lake beside which they now sat to create the portal. But try as Twilight might she couldn't find the entrance to the portal. No matter where she placed her hoof all it would do was disturb the water.
But she would have to think, and panic, about that later as she heard rustling in the brushes nearby. And it certainly wasn't any of her friends, as they were all accounted for. They had barely moved from their spots as they continued to try standing on their new four legs, and spectacularly failing.
Next thing they knew a mare and a folly come out into view. The mare was a simple golden brown with a dark muzzle, while his black mane and tail were gently swaying in the wind. The folly, on the other hand, was a darker brown with white patches along her body, face and legs. Meanwhile her blonde mane and tail were also swaying in the breeze. Something strange to note was the fact that a rope was joining the two, as if somepony was preventing them from separating.
Upon seeing the herd of horses the mare tilted his head in curiosity. The girls certainly stood out like a sore thumb, their colourful coats standing out within the clearing. Their cutie marks were also something that these other two ponies strangely lacked. Twilight was worried for a moment, as the ponies stood there in continued silence, that they may be so different that they might not be able to communicate with one another. But it was still worth a shot.
"I'm Twilight." Saying this slowly so they could understand her, she proceeded to point at herself. Then she pointed to each of her friends and attempted to introduce them.
The two horses shared a glance before the mare let out a laugh. The folly gave him a quick nudge, as if to say to him to stop being rude. Stepping forward she finally spoke.
"Apologies for my friends little outburst. I'm Rain and the country boy behind be is Spirit."
Twilight sighed in relief. At least something was going right for them. Realising that these two were friend, and not foe, the others all relaxed.
"I've never seen wild horses like you lot before." Spirit said lightly as he trotted forward. But something seemed to dawn on him as his face saddened. "You weren't one of the Colonel's horses, were you?"
"No, I don't think we've ever met this Colonel fellow." Applejack stated.
Spirit sighed in before asking out of curiosity. "Where are you all from? I've never seen such interesting coats before. The village Rain is from doesn't do nearly anything as complicated with their painting."
Twilight quickly glanced around, stuttering as she did so, before quickly coming up with an idea. "We're...from a different village! Yeah, that's it! One that's really far away from here, and totally one you've never heard of before."
She laughed awkwardly, feeling a bead of sweat run down her forehead. But they, thankfully, seemed to buy it and didn't ask any further questions about it.
"We've never been so far away from our home before. It seems we're a little lost." Fluttershy added.
"Well, you're more than welcome to stay at our village until you can find your way back." Rain offered.
They contemplated whether or not to accept when Pinkie's stomach began to rumble. It sent her into a giggling fit, which set off a chain reaction of all the others beginning to laugh. Hopefully there would be enough food for all of them back at Rain's village. There was no point in figuring out what happened on an empty stomach.
Following Rain and Spirit back to their place, they were told that it wasn't too far away. Twilight hoped this was true as the rest of her friends looked like foals learning to walk for the first time.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Through the next few weeks spent there the girls had a lot of fun. But they had become quite antsy too. They still hadn't gotten anywhere with finding out what happened to the portal. Which also meant that they couldn't return home. And even if they did find a way to fix it Twilight didn't want to risk jumping through it. Not until they had figured out what had caused it to throw them into this world, and to prevent it from spitting them out in another different one.
Within this time frame though Spirit had finally been freed from his ropes. The bonding time that happened between Little Creek and Spirit had come to a point that they felt like could fully trust each other. Now that it had come to an end it was time for Spirit to go back to his heard.
The girls had joined Rain atop the hill that overlooked the village to give him their goodbyes. As bittersweet as it was, it wasn't to be as Spirit smelt something different in the air. Something that was too awfully familiar.
As he looked over at the village, the others looked over in the same direction. Coming over another hill in the distance they could see a group of men in blue uniforms riding in on their own horses. And they were heading straight towards the village. Without hesitation Rain galloped towards the village, knowing her home was in danger. Spirit galloped after her, not wanting her to face this alone. He knew full well what these men were capable off.
It wasn't Twilight's first fight, nor was it her first war. While the others might not have the experience, and they didn't have their powers in this world, they would just have to make do. This had become their second home and it was only right that they helped to defend it too. With a quick, knowing glance to each other before following after Rain and Spirit.
By the time they got there smoke had enveloped the village. The uniformed men began burning a few of the tents while other tore them down. The woman and children were running in several direction, trying to find somewhere safe to hide while the men that were armed attempted to protect their homes.
At some point Twilight had managed to break through the thick of the smoke and right out to the edge of the village. By the river near her there was a terrible scene playing out. One of the uniformed men, who Twilight could only assume was their leader of this barbaric group, held up some small metallic device. He pointed it right at Rain, and Little Creek who was on her back.
Then, as quickly as he pulled out the contraption, the man pulled the trigger and a loud bang echoed around them. Unsure of if this device was to simply scare them or hurt them, Twilight might not ever find out as Rain, along with Little Creek, fell into the river behind them.
With her ears still ringing, Twilight didn't have much time to react after that before Spirit bolted passed her and galloped head-on to the nab with the loud device. He was successful in knocking the man of his horse. Seeing that that Spirit was preoccupied with dealing with his own revenge Twilight noticed Little Creek, who was clinging onto a rock for dear life.
In a split second, and without much thinking for her own safety or life, Twilight jumped into the rapidly moving river. Twilight was much stronger than she looked and was able to swim against the current with ease, getting Little Creek onto her back, and brought the both back to shore safely.
By the time that they recovered Spirit had, after dealing with his nemesis, had jumped into the river after Rain. But, unlike the two of them, they were caught up much further down. The current down there was much stronger and they stood no chance against it. Twilight's heart dropped as she watched these two horses get swept further down the river.
Before Twilight could devise a plan she felt something jump onto her back. It wasn't an unusual, or unfamiliar, feeling as Spike had ridden on her back more times than she could count. But this wasn't Spike this time, but a human. And that human was grabbing onto her mane and yelling "Forward". As uncomfortable as it was to be treated like this there was lives of those two horses were much more important than spending time pondering on such things. Twilight didn't need any more encouragement from Little Creek before she raced off after her two new friends.
Her heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest by the time they reached calmer waters. Thankfully Spirit and Rain seemed fine, for the most part. But they weren't the ones to reach them first. Those uniformed men had snuck up on the two horses. A couple of them lassoed ropes around Spirits neck as he stood there, trying to protect Rain. But these men weren't interested her, they just saw her as a lost cause.
As they dragged him away, Spirit crying out for Rain, all Little Creek and Twilight could do was watch from behind a boulder. It broke her heart, seeing this scene play out, but Twilight knew they stood know chance fighting back against them. She had already witnessed what these monsters were capable of. All they could do was wait until they no longer heard the cries of Spirit before they could come out of their hiding spot and attend to Rain.
It took some time but they eventually got Rain safe back to the village. At least, what was left of it. Now that those uniformed men had left everypony could have a moments relief. But for many it was a time to grieve.
Once Little Creek knew that Rain was going to survive, and was left in good hands, he knew that his calling was to go after Spirit. They had formed a close bond over the last few weeks, and he felt he owed it to Spirit after the horse had saved his own hide.
The girls wanted to help but Little Creek forbade them to follow him. They were unfamiliar with this land, and territory, unlike himself. As much as the ponies wanted to help find Spirit, they knew that Little Creek was right. There were untold dangers out there within this world that they did not know, and there was no point in sacrificing themselves for a world that was not theirs to protect. Their aid was better used helping the community rebuild what had been lost instead.
Soon days turned into weeks as everypony in the village put in all the efforts to gather materials needed to rebuild many of the homes and other structures. While there was plenty of water that was provided by the river nearby, many had to go hunting or scavenging to find more food as much of it was spoilt by the fire, or trampled on in the fight.
When things had settled, for the most part, the village held a ceremony for those who had tragically lost their lives in the battle. Although the girls didn't quite understand how to do these traditions, they still tried to remain respectful to their customs and give them proper time to mourn.
All of this was enough to keep them busy while Little Creek was away, but that didn't stop them from worrying. Unfortunately in this world there wasn't any way to keep in contact within long distances.
In between doing tasks for the village Twilight had spent what little time she had back at that lake. They still had their own little dilemma of figuring how they were to get back to their own world. Twilight had searched every nook and cranny of the nearby area, but hadn't been successful in digging up anything. She was limited to her horse counter-part body, one without magic, so she was very limited in what she could do.
That was, until one day, she heard a voice coming from where the portal should've been. Twilight simply been surveying the area, once again, so this sudden noise startled her. What was even more surprising was the voice she heard was a familiar one. It was Celestia!
"Twilight, if you can hear me, please respond!" Celestia repeated.
"Yes! Yes I can hear you!" Twilight could barely contain her excitement. Her heart was nearly beating out of her chest as she raced over to the lake. "I'm so relieved to hear your voice! We've been stuck out here for so long, I thought we'd be here forever! We didn't mean to fall through the portal! I swear, it was just an accident! But when we got here, to this other world, we met a couple of horses! And there are humans here too! And then-"
"It's ok Twilight. You can tell me all about it in your report later." Celestia interrupted, knowing full well that, if she didn't, Twilight would ramble on for hours. "We have more pressing matters back here in Equestria. And I'll need you back here as soon as possible. There appears to be a rouge pony who has been using the mirror portal for their own malicious intent. For the moment we don't know what that is exactly, or even which pony is behind this. But we've only gotten control back over the mirror portal today."
"But what about my friends? I can't just abandon them here!" Even in dire situations Twilight was never one to leave anypony behind.
"I'll need you to gather up the girls and get them all safely back to their world before you come back here then. But you'll have to do so in haste! We don't know how much time we have to keep this connection open."
There was no need to tell Twilight twice as she galloped as fast as she could back to the village. It took a few minutes to round everypony up, but before she could explain everything she was quickly interrupted by Pinkie Pie.
"Doesn't that pony over there look an awful lot like Spirit?"
Everypony turned their attention to the pony that Pinkie was pointing at. Sure enough, the pony that entered the village was Spirit and with Little Creek by his side! The girls raced over, all with relief and joy that they were both back safe and sound. As happy as Spirit was to see them, he had only had eyes for one particular horse.
His eyes scoured the village, his heart dropping as he couldn't see any sign of her. Behind a veil of smoke from a nearby campfire Spirit saw movement. In that moment his hear began to flutter and swell as he finally caught sight of his beloved Rain. The two horses happily danced around each other before placing their foreheads together affectionately.
While this was a very sweet and tender moment Twilight knew that they couldn't waste much more time. Getting the attention of her friends once more Twilight quickly explained the situation. Though they were a little sad to be seeing of their new found home so abruptly they all understood the dire situation at hoof.
Without so much as a goodbye they all raced back to the lake, where it all started. It was hard to do so but they knew that, in the end, this wasn't their place and they had to go back to their home. And this might be their only chance at doing so. While this might be the end of the story for her human friends, Twilight knew there was a mystery at hand. One that needed to be solved the moment she got back to Celestia, and her own world.
