My Little Human: Friendship Across Worlds

by Swift Decision

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Human, Alternate Universe
Length: 11731

Tamara Sparque lives an unremarkable life as a librarian and part-time blogger. But when a young boy walks into her life and hands her a strange pendant, she realizes the truth behind her existence and the strength of the lies she was led to believe.

Tamara Sparque lives an unremarkable life as a librarian and part-time blogger. But when a young boy walks into her life and hands her a strange pendant, she realizes the truth behind her existence and the strength of the lies she was led to believe.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-06-12 01:41:08 UTC

Chapter One :: Magic

“Isaac Asimov, Harry Harrison, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury. Those are authors from the golden age of science fiction,” Tamara Sparque smiled at the teenage girl on the other side of the information desk. “If you want to get better acquainted with the classics, those guys are definitely the way to go. If something's not on the shelf, you can reserve it through the loan reservation system and we'll let you know when it comes in.”

“OK, thanks.” The girl headed for the stacks and Tamara took her lunch break as Brad, the middle-aged systems admin, took her seat.

Tamara hurried dow the front steps of the library, her cheap flat shoes slapping against the cement. A shortcut through a connecting gap between buildings brought her to her favourite coffee house, where she loved to blog on her days off. A latte and couple of sandwiches later, she was on her way back when someone tried to get her attention in a rather strange way.

“Twilight?”

Tamara stopped and turned to see a young boy, gazing up at her with an expression of hope.

“I'm sorry?”

“I wasn't expecting to find you so soon! I guess I got lucky.”

She smiled kindly at him. “I think you're mistaking me for someone else. My name's not Twilight!”

The boy's facial expression changed to confusion and he clutched at the pendant around hi neck, holding it up to examine it. “It can't be wrong...” he muttered.

Tamara decided to play along, figuring the kid must be playing some kind of game. “Is your magic necklace not working properly?”

The boy paused, then he shrugged, took it off and held it out to her. “Here, why don't you take a look at it?”

Tamara took the object by its chain and held it up to the sunlight to admire it, wondering how a kid got hold of such a gorgeous piece of jewellery. Then the fingers of her free hand brushed against the deep green crystal and suddenly bright green lights exploded in her vision, her head began to hurt and the world around her faded to black.

Tamara had no idea how long she had been out, but when she woke up to see the boy standing over her with a worried expression, a flood of memories rushed into her brain. Her upbringing. Her schooling. Her friends. Her real life.

Her real name.

Twilight Sparkle looked up in astonishment. “Spike?”

The boy sighed in relief and gave her a big smile. “I'm glad I got the right person.”

Four hours later, after finishing work, Twilight/Tamara took Spike back to her apartment and insisted he fill her in on the important details of their current situation over an afternoon snack. What were the two of them doing in this world, and why were they humans instead of a unicorn and a dragon? How was it that she now had memories of two different lives, one in this world and one in Equestria? Which one was real?

Chapter Two :: Power

“What do you remember before this world now your memories are back?” Spike asked.

Twilight stared at the cake crumbs on her empty plate, searching her newly-restored memory.

“The last thing I remember in Equestria...” Twilight struggled to piece together her last night among ponies. “...I was in Canterlot Castle. Princess Luna had summoned me to discuss a new field of study. We were looking through some of the books she had, some tomes I'd never even heard of, let alone seen.”

“That was last week,” Spike explained. “The day we went to Canterlot, something happened nopony imagined would ever happen again.”

The humanized baby dragon shivered slightly. “Discord got loose again.”

“What!?” Twilight shrieked. “How?”

Spike's eyes narrowed as he spat out a name like it was a bad word. “Trixie.”

Canterlot Royal Gardens

One week earlier

Ponies of all kinds came and went, some in tour groups, others in smaller groups or on their own. On a pedestal near the entrance was a stone form familiar to many: a tall, lanky draconequus – part pony, part dragon, part lion and parts of all sorts of other creatures – sealed in stone with the same look of horror he wore on his face when he was unexpectedly thwarted by the six Ponyvillians bearing the Elements of Harmony. After the chaos god's last rampage, however, signs had been posted around the statue warning ponies to refrain from arguing or bickering within a certain distance of Discord, lest he be able to draw power from any kind of disharmony and break free once again. But one pony had no intention of obeying those signs.

Trixie had dyed her coat a dark grey and using her horn and a mirror had meticulously repainted her cutie mark into a scroll and quill. Anypony who gave more than a casual glance still wouldn't recognize the former Great And Powerful Trixie, Ponyville's biggest pain in the plot since the parasprite infestation.

Trailing behind her in a similar disguise, looking rather chagrined, was Snails. The young unicorn was tethered to Trixie by an invisible rope, keeping him from breaking free by virtue of his simple inability to see where the knots were tied. He had tried to use his meagre magic to slow her down and signal for help as she abducted him one afternoon in Ponyville, but his power being far more limited than hers he had tired out quickly. Trixie stopped in front of Discord and Snails glared at her.

“What do you want with meeee?” he whined nasally for the umpteenth time.

“I told you, lamebrain, you're going to help me reclaim the power I had when I wielded the Alicorn Amulet!” The only thing that had kept Trixie going though weeks of planning and the last couple of days of hauling Snails all the way to Canterlot was her unquenchable thirst for power and her burning desire for revenge on Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

“How am I going to do that?” Snails whined again.

“You like Cheerilee, don't you?” Trxie asked sweetly.

“Uh... yeah, I do,” Snails admitted, with confusion and scorn mixed on his face. “She's a nice pony, not like you!”

“I bet you really really like her!” Trixie sneered. “You're in looooove.”

Snails blushed scarlet. “H-h-how did you know, Trixie?”

“Aaargh!” Trxie growled in frustration. “You're in love with Snips, too!” she spat out at random, hoping to provoke the argument she needed.

“I am not, he's just my friend!”

“You are too, I've seen the way you look at him. You're a colt-cuddler!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Am not!” Trixie suddenly reversed.

“Are too!” Snails was far, far too slow on the uptake and only realized the trap he'd fallen into when Trixie triumphantly told him “All right, I won't judge. Snips does seem like your type, after all.”

“He's not my special somepony!” Snails objected loudly.

Behind them, a small patch on the chest of the stone draconequus began to glow.

Chapter Three :: Laughter

DEET DEET DEET DEET DEET DEET

Twilight groaned and reached out a hoof to silence the alarm. Wait... her hoof felt kind of strange...

Tamara cracked open her eyelids to see not a hoof, but a human hand reaching out towards a digital alarm clock. Then yesterday came flooding back to her. Spike. The amulet. Twilight freaking Sparkle the purple freaking unicorn.

“Ugh.” Tamara/Twilight's fingers curled into a fist, which crashed down onto the snooze button. She kicked off the blankets and got up, stumbling bleary-eyed into the living room to find Spike slumbering on the couch.

“Wake up, Spike,” Twilight shook him awake, then threw together breakfast for both of them.

“Until we find the others and get back to Equestria, I'm going to have to keep living my human life so we can survive,” she explained to him. “I can't just turn back into a unicorn, things work far too differently here.”

“What do humans do all day?” Spike asked between mouthfuls of ready-made waffles.

“They have jobs just like ponies do. My occupation in this world is pretty much the same as in Equestria, except I'm not everypony's go-to girl for magic. I don't think magic even exists natively in this world.”

“While you're at work, I can use the amulet to find the other ponies,” Spike declared.

“Not a good idea. A human your age should be at school.”

“I'm not going to school!” Then his expression became pensive. “We don't know how many ponies have been shoehorned into this universe. Maybe there are some foals here who didn't escape Discord and Trixie's wrath.”

Twilight nodded. “I'll take you to the local elementary school before work and get you enrolled, make up some kind of story to explain how you got here. Don't let anypony else get hold of that amulet unless you're absolutely sure they're a pony in disguise.”

Meanwhile, across town...

The front door lock clicked and the door was pushed open to admit the townhouse's owner. Amelia Pyton, having completed her walk of shame six city blocks from her latest booty call, was a mess. Her dress was rumpled and smelled of various substances, her hair was in less than impressive disarray and her makeup was smudged. Fortunately, her faithful pink handbag had survived the wild night as usual, which she dumped in the entryway after putting her phone on the hallway side table. Amelia kicked off her shoes and trudged upstairs for a shower as her phone buzzed, the SMS icon displaying on the screen. Some time later, freshly showered, cleaned of makeup and other icky residues, she picked up the phone to check her messages:

hey pinkie – I had a gr8 time last nite will call l8r. <3 mike

A smile immediately plastered itself on her face as she texted back:

<3 u 2 I had fun ur my favourite sexii boi :D

Amelia, or Pinkie as her friends called her, quickly dressed and left for her job at the cafe across town. It was a busy morning, but things slowed down around lunch time. One of her regular patrons was on staff at the local library. Amelia didn't care much for reading, she was more into partying, drinking and other such activities. But this librarian did have a blog which the party barista did read on occasion, mainly because she had a secret passion for science fiction that she would never, EVER let slip to anyone in her social circle.

Tamara, the patron in question, breezed in for her usual latte and sandwiches and the two exchanged pleasantries, Tamara mentioning she had a little brother she had to enrol in school locally this morning, since their parents were going through a rough time.

“Awww, I'm sorry to hear that,“ Ameila told her. “Why don't you bring him in for some cake sometime while you're doing some blogging?”

“I might just do that. Hey, how's it going with Mike?”

“Awesome!” Amelia gushed. “I was at his place last night and he sent me a text this morning saying he'd call later. He called me Pinkie, it was so adorable...”

Tamara smiled appreciatively, then her face clouded over and she looked strangely at Amelia, looking almost shocked. “Pinkie Pie?” she said in a strangely wonderous voice.

“Pinkie Pie? Oh my God, that's so cute! I don't know if Mike wouuld call me that though, it's probably a little too cutesy for him. I had a hard enough time getting him to call me Pinkie because he's not really into the whole nickname thing and... hey, what's up?”

Tamara grabbed her lunch and fled out the door. “I gotta go, bye!”

“Bye...” the bubbly barista could only stare in bewilderment as the librarian dashed out the door of the cafe.

Twilight could barely focus on work. Her realization that she possibly may have found Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter, the bubbliest pony in Ponyville, was raging at the forefront of her mind. She had to get the amulet to Amelia, which should be easy enough given that she had already suggested bringing Spike in to meet her. The end of Tamara's shift couldn't come fast enough and Twilight practically flew to Spike's school, where he was waiting patiently at the gate for her as she had instructed him to do.

“Hey, Twilight,” he said in a dismal tone. “I didn't find anypony here. I kept activating the amulet all day, using names of all the foals I knew, but-”

“I think I found Pinkie Pie,” she blurted out, stopping the dragon mid-sentence.

“Really? Where? How?”

“This woman I know at the cafe close to the library, she talks just like Pinkie, her nickname is Pinkie and she likes parties! Come on, we can get there before the cafe closes, I'll need your amulet to find out for sure if it's really her.”

“I'm pretty sure it's just the bearers of the Elements who are stuck in this world,” Spike told her as they headed for the cafe where Amelia worked. “If there are any other ponies here, I haven't detected them.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked him. “Did you check for any of the schoolteacher ponies? The Princesses? Derpy?”

“I checked for Cheerilee and Professor Chalk, but that's it.”

Twilight held out her hand for the amulet. “Let me have that for a second.” Spike removed the chain from his neck and Twilight held the amulet in her hand. Unlike the last time she touched it, it did nothing, the cool metal and mineral resting in her palm. “How do I activate it again?”

“Just say the name of the pony you want to find. If they're nearby, you should get a sensation inside you that tells you if they're close.”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight told the amulet. It immediately responded by giving her a semi-physical tug in the direction of the cafe.

“It must be her, Spike!” Twilight grabbed his hand and bolted off in the direction indicated. “Let's free her mind!”

A loud gurgling and hissing erupted from the percolator as Amelia prepared the umpteenth cappucino of the day. Filling the order and accepting payment, she caught a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. Tamara was back and it looked like she brought her little brother, fresh from his first day at a new school. She fully intended to ask about Tamara's weird behaviour, though.

“Hey, you're back! Is this your little brother? Hi, I'm Amelia! What's your name? Cool necklace, Tamara, where'd you get it? What was the deal when you were here earlier, you seemed a little freaked out?”

Twilight held out the amulet. “Here, want a closer look?”

“Sure!” Twilight and Spike both held their breath as Amelia's fingers closed rapidly around the artefact, her glossy pink painted fingernails shining under the accent lights of the cafe counter. Then she scrunched her eyes shut, convulsed briefly and fainted. Fortunately, none of the other patrons noticed. Twilight dashed behind the counter and tried to shake her friend awake. “Amelia? Amelia!”

After a small eternity, Amelia's eyes opened.

Pinkie Pie burst into a huge grin. “Twilight? Spike? Oh goody goody goody! Two of my bestest bestest friends are here!” Then her grin faded. “How in the name of Celestia did we get here?”

Twilight and Spike sighed with relief and smiled at the humanized earth pony. “Come on, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight told her. “We'd better get you home so Spike can fill you in on what's been happening this past week.”

Chapter Four :: Misery

Pinkie's townhouse wasn't palatial, but it was impressive enough despite the perpetual mess Pinkie had been living in for the week that they'd been imprisoned in human form in this universe. Spike told Twilight and Pinkie more of the story inbetween spoonfuls of strawberry ice cream with hot sauce.

“You guys just disappeared off the face of Equestria,” he explained to the shocked ponies. “The only reason we knew what happened to you was because Trixie wouldn't stop bragging about it.”

Canterlot Gardens

One week earlier

“AAAAHHHHH!” Cloud Kicker took off in fright, only to be brought back down to the ground  as her wings lost all of their feathers and her mane, tail and coat all fell out at once. The mortified pegasus ran for cover.

The wailing of a siren cut the air as Discord laughed wildly. “Welcome to the land of chaos, my little ponies!” he cackled as a cloud of pink cotton candy zipped past with Derpy Hooves trapped within it's folds, looking utterly confused.

“A-hem-hem.” Trixie fake-coughed. “Excuse me, Discord?”

The spirit of chaos twisted his body around to see the blue unicorn on the ground addressing him. “Well, if it isn't the Great and Powerful Trixie!” he said, his voice saturated with sarcasm. “How's your quest for fame and adoration going, hmmm? Provoked any Ursa Minors lately?” His mocking tone cut her like a razor.

Trixie bowed, not wanting to upset Discord and have him turn her into something not at all like a unicorn. “Oh mighty Discord, Spirit of Chaos, Trixie has a proposition for you that could take care of our common enemy!”

“Like I told Celestia, I don't turn ponies into stone,” Discord told her. “That's far too boring. I prefer more entertaining – and don't forget, chaotic – ways of dealing with ponies who cross me. If you have something worth my time, Trixie, make it quick, I have havoc and disarray to visit upon Equestria.”

“Well, er-hem, Trixie has studied lore of worlds beyond Equestria. Worlds which are vastly different from the world of ponies, some worlds which are considered to exist only in fiction! Trixie believes some of these alternate universes are so hopelessly alien that the Bearers of Harmony would not be able to cope!”

“And you think I should shoehorn Twilight Sparkle and her friends into one of these worlds?” Discord thought for a moment, scratching his chin with his dragon claw. Then he gave Trixie the fish eye. “What's in it for you, anyway?”

“Trixie demands revenge upon Twilight Sparkle for humiliating her!” she snarled. “Trixie was humiliated and...”

“And you showed Ponyville just how weak and pathetic you are, a mere show pony with no real talent to speak of except smoke, mirrors and empty boasting,” Discord sneered. “Save me your sob story, oh whiny and pathetic Trixie, I don't have time for your nonsense. Now get lost and take your idiot fanboy with you.” With a snap of his claws, Discord vanished in a flash of light.

“Grrrr!” Trixie facehoofed in frustration.

“What have you done?!” Snails wailed as the hedge maze started to twist and turn and gain impossible dimensions, trapping ponies inside.

Ponyville

A few hours later

Trixie plodded though the twisted main street of Ponyville, Snips and Snails in tow, the trio's hooves squelching through a strange green goop which coated the roads. Above them, insane ponies tumbled through the air, some with wings, some without. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake had been altered to be ten feet tall, eyes glowing red as they drooled and gurgled and chowed down on buildings. A foul stench emanated from both their behinds.

At the end of the street, near the bridge towards Fluttershy's cottage, Discord sat on a throne of clouds mounted upon a dais. He guffawed loudly as the proprietors of Sugarcube Corner tried desperately to rein in their mutated children to no avail.

Trixie approached Discord and puffed out her chest. “Discord! Trixie has unfinished business with you!”

He rolled his eyes in exasperation until they detached from his eye sockets, bounced off the throne, down the dais then bounced up into Trixie's face, whereupon his face materialized around them. “Oh, not you again. What do you want this time?” His lion paw seized her by her light blue mane and hoisted her up like a puppy held up by the scruff of the neck. “I'm the spirit of chaos, Trixie, not your attack dog!”

“Trixie set you free from your stone prison! One would have thought you'd be at least a little grateful for Trixie's help!” Trixie squirmed painfully in the draconequus's iron grip. He dropped her, splattering green goo everywhere.

Discord giggled. “You're funny when you're petulant! Oh, I suppose I could send them off to some other universe, keep them away from the Elements of Harmony so they can't turn me back to stone. I can't stand those idiot tour guides and the children babbling away all day.” He let out a sigh. “I suppose I should be grateful that you let me out, even though it was for your own selfish purposes. So, Trixie, tell me about this world you want Twilight Sparkle and her merry band banished to.”

*** *** ***

“At least that's the story Mr. and Mrs. Cake told me,” Spike amended before shovelling in more ice cream. “I was holed up in the library basement trying to keep the Elements away from Discord. Princess Celestia didn't answer my mail and neither did Princess Luna, so I tried to get a message to the Crystal Empire.”

*** *** ***

Bomp bomp bomp. Spike's eyes widened in alarm.

“Whoo?” Owlowiscious swiveled his head towards the barricaded basement door. Spike, Owlowiscious, Angel, Harry Bear and some of Fluttershy's other animal friends were squeezed amongst the scientific equipment in Twilight's basement. The Elements of Harmony were locked in a case, stashed on a shelf next to where Harry sat.

“I dunno who it is. You go check it out.”

“Whoo?”

“You! You go see who it is!”

Bomp bomp bomp. “Spike? Twilight? Is anypony there? Please, let us in!”

Spike recognized Scootaloo's voice. He tore through the barricade and wrenched open the door to find the Cutie Mark Crusaders, along with a unicorn filly he didn't recognize, shaking in terror.

“Come in, quick!” Spike ushered them in. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked like they'd seen a ghost. The other filly was whimpering.

“Thank goodness you're here,” Scootaloo told Spike. “Where's Twilight?”

“She's gone! I can't find her anywhere! I can't reach Princess Celestia either.”

“What's going on, Spike?” Sweetie Belle whimpered.

“Discord's on the loose again,” he explained. “You guys should stay down here with me until help arrives. I've sent a message to the Crystal Empire.”

The filly burst into tears. “I want my mommy!” she howled.

“There there, Dinky,” Sweetie Belle consoled her. “I'm sure Derpy's okay.”

“Derpy Hooves?” Spike asked.

“Spike, Dinky Hooves, Dinky Hooves, Spike.” Sweetie Belle introduced them. “You know Dinky's mom, right?”

“Yeah. I haven't seen any pegasi around Ponyville, though. Not even Fluttershy. Angel and Harry got most of Fluttershy's animal friends here and we've been looking after the Elements of Harmony.”

“Wow!” Scootaloo's face lit up. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's eyes widened and even Dinky stopped crying. “The Elements of Harmony are here?” Scoots sounded excited.

“They're safe and sound in their case, but the Bearers are nowhere to be found,” Spike told the fillies. “Without the ponies to wield the Elements, they're useless against Discord!”

“What about us?” Scootaloo asked. “Could we wield the Elements instead?”

“I don't know.” Spike said doubtfully. “I don't think it would work like that...”

He didn't get time to think about it, though, as another hoof pounded on the door. “Spike? It's Shining Armor. Are you in there? Is everything okay?”

“Shining Armor!” Spike opened the door again to find not only Shining Armor, but his wife, Princess Cadance. Both of them wore relieved expressions to see the baby dragon. Spike ushered them in and rebarricaded the door.

“We came as soon we got your message,” Cadance reassured Spike. “Where are the other Bearers of the Elements?”

“Have you heard from Twily?” Shining Armor cut across Cadance. “Is she okay?”

“They've all gone missin'!” Apple Bloom told them. “Ah can't find Applejack and Granny and mah brother are actin' all strange! Rarity's gone, Pinkie Pie's gone...”

“Rainbow Dash is missing too!” Scootaloo interjected.

“And Fluttershy!” Sweetie Belle added.

“And I can't find my mommy either!” Dinky sniffed.

“Calm down, my little ponies,” Cadance swept the fillies into a hug. “I promise you, we'll do everything we can to find them.”

Shining Amour, meanwhile, poked around the lab, taking care not to tread on the animals, until he found a small port in the side of one of the machines. He inserted his horn into the port and let loose a burst of magic. The machine powered up and purple lightning exploded from a spire at the top of the device before a purple shield formed around the lab, sealing it off.

“One of Twily's experiments,” the unicorn explained to a stunned Spike. “She was trying to figure out how to power it without needing unicorn or alicorn magic.”

Safely ensconced within the shield, Spike, Shining and Cadance began throwing around theories, conjecture and speculation based on what they knew, the fillies and animals listening in wonder. They were interrupted only by a distraught Cup and Carrot Cake begging them to restore their foals.

Chapter Five :: Kindness

Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Spike plodded wearily through yet another neighbourhood, stopping every few blocks to scan for ponies with the amulet.

“Boy, do I wish I had a car,” Pinkie groaned. She'd taken off her heels earlier and was pounding the pavement in her bare feet. “We would've found somepony by now.”

“What's a car?” Spike asked her.

“It's like a carriage, Spike! Only you don't need other ponies to pull it, they go by themselves and it's real comfy inside. My boyfriend Mike has one...” her voice suddenly trailed off and she looked sad. “When I go back to Equestria I'm going to have to leave  Mike behind! He's such a great guy too.”

“You don't belong in this world, Pinkie, and Mike doesn't belong in Equestria,” Twilight tried to comfort Pinkie with logic, as usual. “Once we beat Discord, maybe we can set you up on a blind date with somepony.”

Pinkie seemed to cheer up slightly. “Ooh, a blind date sounds exciting!”

Her voice echoed slightly as they entered a pedestian underpass. “What's a blind date?”

The sun was setting, bleeding red and pink and russet across the sky as the veterinary clinic closed up for the night. A small, squat green building surrounded by generous amounts of greenery, it housed a dozen or so patients at present, from ailing dogs to recovering cats to a horse with a split hoof. The back door, obscured from the road, opened and a short blonde woman in pale green scrubs exited, hefting her handbag over her shoulder and locking the door behind her, muffling the sounds of whining, mewling and other noises from sick and recovering animals. She started towards the carpark, then put her hand to her forehead.

“Rats,” she muttered. “I forgot the rabbit food.”

“It's getting late, we should get back to my place,” Pinkie said wearily.

“Let's give the amulet one more try.” Spike suggested.

“Okay,” Pinkie sighed.

“Fluttershy!” Spike said to the amulet. He felt a powerful tug inside him.

“I got a lock on Fluttershy!” Spike yelled excitedly. “Come on, let's go!”

The mares' flagging energy was suddenly restored by the excitement of finding another of their lost friends and they tore after Spike as he made a beeline for a building with a large sign out front reading “Veterinary Clinic”.

“A veterinarian?” Twilight wondered. “That makes sense.” She tugged on the front door handle only to find the doors locked. “Pony feathers!”

“Try 'round the back!” Pinkie hoofed it around the back to find a short blonde woman in scrubs emerging from a rear door marked STAFF ONLY, clutching a handbag and a bag of nutrient pellets. Her name tag identified her as Felicia Chapman.

“Oh!” the woman said in surprise. “I'm sorry, we're closed for the day. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie then paused to think of something Felicia could possibly help her with. “I have a dragon to show you!”

“A dragon? Is it sick, or did you just want to show it off, or...?”

“This way!” Pinkie made for the front entrace only to collide painfully with Twilight.

“Um... I have to go now. Bye.” Felicia hurried off to her car, a red compact.

“Ow... wait!” Twilight struggled to her feet. “Stop her!”

Sitting behind the wheel, Felicia nervously fumbled with her keys until she found the right one and started the engine. She disengaged the handbrake, pushed the clutch and stick into gear and floored it.

Twilight instinctively reached out with magic, but with no horn it was impossible to cast even the weakest of spells. Pinkie dashed out in front of the vehicle, forcing Felicia to slam  on the brakes, narrowly avoiding hitting her.

“Oh my goodness!” Felicia squeaked in terror. Pinkie pulled open the driver's side door.

“Sorry, I didn't want to have to do this,” she explained as she pulled a canister of mace out of her purse and blasted the veterinarian in the face. Felicia's screams were largely absorbed by the surrounding foliage.

“PINK-IE! What in the name of Celestia are you doing?!” Twilight yelled as she caught up.

“Desperate measures, Twilight. You know what Fluttershy's like,” Pinkie explained as she dragged the coughing, whimpering and crying woman out of the car.

“We don't even know if she's actually Fluttershy!” Twilight remonstrated her sharply, but Spike corrected her.

“The amulet confirms it, Twi. It's her.”

Pinkie, meanwhile had produced a roll of tape out of nowhere and had securely tied up the struggling woman. Twilight sighed. “Fine. I'll put her in the trunk.”

“My eyes!” Felicia wailed. “Please! What do you want with me? Please let mmmfffff!”

Pinkie slapped a strip of tape over Felicia's mouth and Twilight helped carry out the impromptu abduction by placing her securely in the trunk. Pinkie kindly wiped Felicia's eyes with some baby wipes before closing the lid. Spike watched the scene unfold before him, his eyebrow raised skeptically.

“Was that really necessary?”

“I'm not spending a minute longer looking for lost ponies!” Pinkie snapped. “We found one, let's go!”

After showing Spike how to buckle his seatbelt, Twilight and Pinkie piled in and Twilight drove back to Pinkie's house.

“Spike, keep a look out!” Twilight ordered as she and Pinkie carefully lifted Felicia out of the trunk. She had her eyes shut, the mace still stinging somewhat. Spike dutifully kept a look out for anyone approaching as Felicia was carried inside, then followed. In the living room, their captive was dumped unceremoniously on the floor, Spike removed the amulet and placed it in her bound hands. Immediately, to the trio's relief, Felicia began to convulse. After she had stopped and the amulet fell from her fingers, Pinkie unbound her.

“Oh, my,” Fluttershy said fearfully.

“Fluttershy?” Spike asked tentatively.

“Yes...” the pegasus replied hesitantly.

“It's me, Spike!” he reassured her. “That's Pinkie Pie, and that's Twilight Sparkle,” he said, indicating them.

“My eyes still hurt from the mace,” Fluttershy sounded annoyed. “Did you really have to do that, Pinkie?”

“Heh heh, sorry, Fluttershy. Guess I got a little impatient.” Pinkie had the decency to look appropriately sheepish. “Bathroom's over there, you can flush your eyes out properly.”

Chapter Six :: Cruelty

Only half of the Elements of Harmony had been rescued, but unfortunately they had to find the rest of their friends before they could return to Equestria, as Spike explained. That meant carrying on with their human lives. Twilight went back to work at the library, Pinkie back to the cafe and Fluttershy back to the veterinary clinic. This time, however, Spike accompanied Twilight to work so he could keep scanning for Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

As Twilight busied herself at the circulation desk, Spike wandered through the stacks, muttering names as he held the crystal amulet in his hand. By lunchtime, he had been upstairs and downstairs and all though the building, with no success. Finally, he plopped into one of the front desk chairs with a frustrated sigh.

“Cheer up, Spike,” Twilight told him softly. “There obviously aren't any ponies in here today.”

“Tamara, I'm just heading downstairs,” Brad sidled up to the circulation desk. “You want me to grab anything while I'm out? I'll buy.”

“Oh! Um... thanks, Brad, but I was just heading off to my usual lunch spot. You can buy me and Spike lunch there if you want.” Twilight gave Brad a goofy smile.

“Hey, nice necklace, Spike. Where did you get that? Can I just get a closer look?” Brad leaned closer to examine the pendant.

“Uh, sure, Brad...” Spike froze as Brad reached out to touch the crystal. Cadance had told Spike the pendant would have no effect on humans, but the dragon and the unicorn both reflexively held their breath as Brad caught the tip of the crystal between the tips of his thumb and forefinger. A heartbeat later, Twilight shrieked in alarm as Brad was hurled backward into the end of the nearest stack.

“Oh my gosh!” Twilight dashed over to the technician, who sat dazed on the floor. “Spike, you said there weren't any ponies here!”

“I wasn't looking for any stallions!” Spike said worriedly.

Twilight and Spike loomed anxiously over Brad as he slowly came back to reality.

“Brad?” Another member of staff came out of the office. “Is he OK, Tamara?”

“He'll be OK, I think he just needs to get some lunch into him,” Twilight told her reassuringly. “You know Brad, he works too hard.”

The staffer seemed to buy it and retreated into the office.

“I'm Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight murmured to 'Brad'. “Who are you?”

It took the stallion a moment to get his bearings, then he managed to croak out a response.

“It's Doctor Whooves. Where is everypony?”

*** *** ***

Twilight and Spike managed to get the Doctor down to the cafe, where Twilight had managed to signal to Pinkie Pie that they needed help. The four of them were ensconced in a booth in the rear of the cafe where Whooves was munching on some friands and sipping a latte.

“That amulet is quite a piece of magic,” the temporal scientist said admiringly after hearing Spike's version of events. “Did that come from the Crystal Empire?”

“Sort of,” Spike said. “Cadance made it using one of the gems from my stash. She's even better with gems than Rarity!”

*** *** ***

Carrot and Cup Cake huddled in the library basement with their now normally-sized foals. Shining Armor gave the shield generator a recharging jolt every now and then to keep Discord from getting hold of them, but he could sense the draconequus attempting to tear down the barrier.

“You can't keep that shield up forever, Shining Armor,” Discord taunted him. “Your sister's not here and not even your alicorn wife has unlimited energy.”

“What have you done with Twily?” Shining yelled through the barrier.

“I've tucked her and the other Elements of Harmony away where they can't impede my lovely chaotic rampage.”

“And the Great and Powerful Trixie shall make sure they remain there!” Trixie shrilled.

“Will you please go away, Trixie? You're so boring! You're even duller than Twilight Sparkle.”

“How dare you compare Trixie to that wretched foal! Were it not for The Great and Powerful Trixie, you would have mmmrrrffff...”

Discord snapped his claws and a zipper pulled itself shut across Trixie's mouth. The light blue unicorn whuffled indignantly and stomped her hoof on the ground.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie NEEDS TO BE QUIET, because she is giving Discord a headache!” Discord snapped at her. Trixie mercifully fell silent.

Meanwhile, Cadance and Spike were sorting through a box of gems.

“No, not that one,” Cadance muttered as she telekinetically tossed a large emerald into Spike's claws. “No, not that one either,” she muttered, tossing aside a ruby.

“Good, I was saving that ruby.”

“Aha!” Cadance held a rod-shaped clear quartz the size of a unicorn's horn aloft. “Spike, can I enchant this? You can have it back, I promise.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Spike wondered.

“I'm going to make an amulet that will help locate lost ponies,” Cadance explained. “Now that we know where they've gone, I can send you to the alternate realm and you can use the amulet to find and restore ponies.”

“Wait a minute, why am I going?” Spike sounded alarmed.

“Shining and I need to stay here and protect everypony from Discord,” the alicorn explained patiently. “I'll put as much magical energy into the amulet as possible since you'll probably be using it a lot.”

Cadance took the crystal over to Twilight's work bench and cast a series of spells. Her horn glowed a deep pink as she layered magic into the core of the mineral. After a small eternity, Cadance magicked a chain and pendant into the room and expertly set the crystal into the pendant. Then she levitated it through the air and fastened it around Spike's neck.

“There's a suite of spells inside that pendant that can help you,” she instructed him. “Tap it to open and close a portal between this world and the target world. To find a pony, hold it and say their name and the crystal will direct you to that pony's location. To restore a pony that has been transformed, there's a fail-safe spell that will activate the moment a pony touches it. It won't affect other creatures, just a pony, even if they're transformed into another form. If you need to contact us, you'll have to open the portal and send a message though by scroll.”

“Your fire might not work in that world, so just wrap the message around a rock or something,” Shining added.

“Just don't come back through until you've found all of the Elements of Harmony,” Cadance told Spike sternly. “We need all of them back here in Equestria or we won't stand a chance against Discord.”

Spike saluted. “You can count on me, Princess!”

Cadance leaned down and kissed Spike on the head. “Good luck, Spike. If you need any help, let me know.”

“Be careful, Spike,” Scootaloo said.

“Good luck, dear!” Cup Cake trilled.

“Go get 'em, Spike!” Carrot cake encouraged.

“Find Twily!” Shining urged.

Spike reached out, pointed the crystal at a blank section of basement wall and tapped it. Glyphs traced themselves onto the wall in a blue-white glow and the portal to the other realm swirled open. Spike took a deep breath, steeled himself and toddled through the portal. After a minute or two, the portal dissipated.

“You're our only hope, Spike,” Sweetie Belle whispered. The other CMCs held hooves with her as they listened to the pounding of Discord's attacks against the anti-chaos shield.

Chapter Seven :: Loyalty

“Remind me again how this can help find the rest of the missing ponies?” Spike asked.

It was now two weeks since Discord's escape, and Spike, Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Dr. Whoof were flipping through newspapers, magazines, TV news channels and scouring the web for anything that might give them a clue as to the human identity of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and any other ponies that may have been imprisoned in human form.

“Well, since we're all employed in similar occupations as the ones we have in Equestria, we might be able to find other ponies based on their occupation in this world.” Fluttershy leafed idly through the classifieds.

“It's better than wearing out our little hoofsies walking around and around all over town!” Pinkie affirmed.

“But that's how we found Fluttershy,” Spike argued.

“We don't have forever to look for everypony, Spike!” Twilight told him. “Even as we're sitting here, Discord is wreaking havoc across Equestria. We need to find the rest of the Bearers of the Elements as soon as we can.”

“Find them quickly. Got it.”

“Look, everypony!” Dr. Whoof turned up the volume on Pinkie's TV, where a news reporter was interviewing a track athlete.

“Congratulations on your gold!” The reporter stuck a microphone into the face of a tall, lean, tomboyish runner whose hair was dyed bright blue for some reason.

“Thanks!” the athlete beamed enthusiastically. “It's been a great opportunity to get out there today and really dash!”

“And what's with your hair? Is this a charity thing or did you lose a bet with someone?”

“No, it's kind of my signature. Blue as the sky, baby!”

“Rachel Dashing, taking the gold at the athletics championships. Back to you, Jeff.”

“Rachel Dashing! What a name!” Pinkie giggled.

Twilight and Dr. Whoof exchanged glances. “Remind you of anypony?” Twilight asked with a smile.

“Yeah, it reminds me of Cloud Kicker. She's always making the sky look blue. Zoooooom-zoom-zoom-zoom!” Pinkie earned herself some looks from the other ponies.

“No, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash!” Spike told her. “That could be Rainbow Dash!”

“Ohhhhh, that pony!”

Twilight facehoofed.

Fluttershy drove Pinkie, Spike and Twilight down to the athletics centre, where hopefully they could catch Rachel Dashing at one last event. Unfortunately they didn't have tickets to get into the stands and the entrance to the locker rooms was guarded.

“Um... excuse me... but I'm a fan of Rachel Dashing, and, um, I was hoping if I could get her autograph?” Fluttershy asked the guards nervously.

“Sorry, fans will have to wait outside. You might catch her if she comes out this way after the events are finished,” The guards refused to budge despite Fluttershy's sweetest pleas.

“Pinkie?” Twilight asked mischievously. “Do you still have that can of mace?”

“Never leave home without it!” Pinkie produced the item in question from her garishly pink handbag.

“Go get those guards!”

“Grrrr!” There was a blur of pink, a hissing sound and the guards fell to the ground, clutching their faces and crying out in burning agony. The quartet hurried past them into the corridors, looking for the ladies' locker room.

They trotted cautiously through the corridors, keeping their eyes and ears open for more guards or any athletes matching Rachel's description. Pinkie spied the sign on a door indicating the locker room and ushered everyone in. The room was fairly clean and smelled strongly of women's deodorant: scents of vanilla, a pot pourri of various flowers and a little bit of musk. Pinkie and Spike darted around the room, tugging on locker doors, examining every nook and cranny for their target.

Finally, Spike consulted the amulet. “Rainbow Dash!”

He felt the invisible lead stretching out of the room, down the corridor towards the main events area.

“Hm,” Spike mused. “She's probably still running a race or something. Wait, I think I hear somepony!”

There was dead silence in the room as they listened out. Footsteps and boisterous voices could suddenly be heard coming along the corridor.

“Quick!” Pinkie yelped. “Hide!”

The four of them immediately crammed into the nearest shower stall and pulled the curtain across. Twilight turned the shower rose away from them and turned on the water to make it look and sound like someone was just showering after an event.

A familiar voice reached their ears as a trio of sweaty athletes entered the locker room.

“Woo yeah!” If it wasn't Rainbow Dash, it sure sounded like her. “Now that was a race!”

“Pretty close one, too! I was only like a hair behind you, you did pretty good out there.” The second voice sounded unfamiliar and most likely wasn't a pony. Spike peeked out of the side of the shower curtain as a tall, lithe woman with short blue hair and skimpy athletics clothing headed for the stall next to them. The amulet told Spike this was Rainbow Dash.

“It's her!” Spike whispered to Twilight. “Next stall over!”

“Give me the amulet!” Twilight whispered back. Spike handed it over and Twilight knelt down onto the non-slip mat on the floor of the stall. The shower turned on and Dash's bare feet could be seen through the gap at the bottom of the stall divider. Dash hummed happily as she washed off the sweat of her victory. Twilight rolled up her sleeve and carefully reached out her hand with the amulet tightly clutched in it and poked Rainbow in the foot.

The humanized pegasus barely had time to look down and say “What the...” before the convulsions started. Checking that the coast was clear – the other runners were showering  as well – Fluttershy turned off the water and pushed past Twilight and Spike to grab a clean towel and tend to the newly restored Rainbow Dash.

Chapter Eight :: Disloyalty

Fluttershy and the others escorted a woozy Rainbow Dash out of the athletics centre, narrowly avoiding security and piling into Fluttershy's car. They drove back to Pinkie's where they celebrated with a small feast, Pinkie producing sweets and cupcakes seemingly out of nowhere.

“Five ponies down, two more to go!” Rainbow congratulated Spike and Twilight.

“There could be more,” Dr. Whoof warned.

“But as long as we have the Elements of Harmony, rescuing the rest should be easy after we whip Discord's butt, right?” Rainbow was trying to remain optimistic.

“Absolutely!” Whoof reassured her.

“You should send Cadance a letter letting her and Shining Armor know you're OK and you've rescued some of us,” Twilight suggested to Spike.

“Good idea!” The dragon chomped down on a hot sauce cupcake. ”Got any ink and paper, Pinkie?”

Pinkie was there in a flash with a notepad and pen. “Here ya go! Hey, Twilight, you should write the letter! I bet Shining Armor would be really really happy to hear from you!”

“Good idea, Pinkie!” Twilight took the materials and wrote a detailed missive, then folded it up into a paper aeroplane and handed it to Spike. “Do you have to cast the portal anywhere specific?”

“I... think I just need a blank wall,” Spike said, not sounding convinced.

Pinkie bonded over to the wall near the front door and pulled a side table out of the way. “Over here, Spike!”

“OK, here goes!” Spike raised the amulet, pointed it at the wall and tapped it. Blue-white light shone out of the wall as runes traced themselves into the plaster and the swirling portal opened. Spike threw the plane through the portal, then tapped the amulet again to close it.

*** *** ***

The equipment was straining to maintain the shield against Discord. Cadance and Shining Armor took turns feeding power into it – even Sweetie Belle lent a small amount – but the machine was running hot and the ponies had doubts regarding how long it could stay running beyond capacity. Cadance had managed to bring food and supplies through the shield, but that took even more energy and taxed the generator even more. Discord had given up out of sheer boredom and had gone off to inflict horror and disaster on other innocent ponies.

“Princess Cadance! The portal's opening!” Scootaloo called out.

“Thank goodness!” Cadance, Shining Armor, the Cakes and the other CMCs gathered around the swirling flat gateway in anticipation. Only instead of ponies, a single pink paper plane flew out. Cadance caught it telekinetically, unfolded it and exclaimed “It's a letter from Twilight!”

The letter read thus:

Dear Cadance,

This is Twilight Sparkle, a.k.a. Tamara Sparque, writing to you from the world of humans. Your theory regarding inter-universal travel was correct, although I'm at a loss to explain exactly how Trixie, of all ponies, would know of it's existence. For the first week of our imprisonment in this world, we were living out our lives as humans, completely unaware of our true identities and lives back in Equestria. Oddly enough, though, our occupations as humans were either identical or oddly similar to the ones we have in Ponyville.

Spike and that amazing amulet of yours have proved invaluable in rescuing myself, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Dr. Whoof and Rainbow Dash, in that order. We have yet to find Applejack and Rarity and we don't know if any other ponies are similarly trapped. I can assure you, though, that we will stop at nothing to find our remaining friends and return to Equestria to reclaim the Elements of Harmony. Tell Shining Armor I'm OK and we're working as hard as we can. Please look after Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom and let the Cakes know that Pinkie Pie is safe and her usual self. You ponies hang in there.

Your loyal friend,

Twilight Sparkle.

P.S. Try boosting the efficiency of the shield generator by inserting a large enough diamond into the central waveform collimation hub. I meant to do that a couple of weeks ago before this happened. There are schematics of the generator somewhere in the lab if you need them. -T

After Cadance read the letter aloud, everypony sighed in relief at the news. Angel and the animals expressed their joy at hearing about Fluttershy's wellbeing.

“I'll look for a diamond!” Sweetie Belle volunteered. “Uh, as long as there's diamonds in here, I don't wanna go out outside right now.”

Cadance pointed with her front right hoof towards Spike's gem chest. “I think there's some in there. I'll reimburse Spike when he returns.”

Sweetie Belle dove for the chest in a heartbeat and started rummaging around. Meanwhile, Shining Armor checked outside for any sign of Discord or other nasty surprises. Finding none, he hastily found the generator schematics and consulted them intensely.

“Mr. Cake,” he called, “would you be so kind as to help me open this up?”

“Oh, certainly, your highness.” Carrot left his wife to keep the foals occupied and helped Shining pry open a panel that had slightly deformed from the intense heat of the generator's constant operation.

“What's the matter, foals?” a soprano voice taunted from outside. “Run out of power at last? Don't worry, the Great and Powerful Trixie has plenty of spare! AHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Oh no, not her again,” Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at Trixie's hammy speech and resumed looking for a large diamond to upgrade the generator. “Nope, that's a zirconia...”

“Behold the wrath of Trixie!” the unicorn gloated as she stood outside the shield radius. Her blue coat and white mane had faded to a dull grey and her eyes gleamed red. Discord, it seemed, had found a use for her after all. Her horn glowed red and the library started to shudder and creak. Books fell of the shelves and inkwells spilled, Twilight's and Spike's belongings were thrown everywhere. Down in the basement, the foals screamed in terror as the walls cracked and the floor trembled. The earth gave way as Golden Oaks Library was ripped up by the roots and hung in the air.

“Come out, come out wherever you are!” Discordant Trixie cooed. “Trixie has a present for you!”

“Ah don't want no present from her!” Apple Bloom whimpered. “Ah jus' want mah sister ta come home!”

“The shield!” Mrs. Cake shrieked. “Turn the shield back on!”

“Cadance, hold her off while we fix this thing!” Shining Armor told his wife, trying not to panic.

“Sweetie Belle, where's that diamond?” Mr. Cake looked toward the unicorn filly in desperation.

“I'm still looking!” she squeaked.

Cadance closed the portal she had just sent a message through, spread her wings, flew up out of the basement and landed in front of Trixie.

“You arrogant, two-bit showpony! How DARE you threaten innocent ponies!” Being the Princess of Love, Cadance very rarely yelled at anypony. Trixie, however, had not only crossed the line, she had stomped on it with muddy hooves.

“Huh! I charge at LEAST five bits per show! But this kind of show is just for you, my dear!” Trixie boasted. She lowered her head and sent a powerful blast of magic directly at Cadance.

Chapter Nine :: Honesty

While they waited for an opportunity to present itself to search for Applejack and Rarity, the ponies kept on with their human lives, working human jobs and socializing with human friends. Twilight and Whoof went back to working at the library as Tamara and Brad, with Spike at school to keep up the pretense of being Tamara's little brother. Twilight wheeled her cart between the stacks, sorting and shelving. She missed her horn and being able to stack, sort and shelve entire collections in one swoop of telekinesis.

“Twi... uh, I mean, Tamara!” Brad hissed behind her.

“What?”

“There's a rodeo on in town!”

Twilight grimaced. “Uh, no thanks. Not really my thing.”

“No, but it's definitely Applejack's thing,” Whoof pointed out.

*** *** ***

Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, Fluttershy, Whoof and Rainbow Dash inhaled the distinctive fragrance of fresh hay, alfalfa and the strong scent of livestock. Pinkie Pie had experimentally scooped up a handful of horse feed when no-one was looking, but quickly spat it out when it didn't agree with her human taste buds, much to Spike's amusement.

“Don't laugh, Spike!” she told him in all seriousness. “You can't eat gems in this world either!” Spike made a strangled noise in shock at this new revelation.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 35th annual Cityside Rodeo!” the announcer boomed. “The bronco riding competition will begin in one hour! Contestants, please report with your horses to the marshalling area.”

“Ooooh! I love rodeos! Yeehah! Ride 'em cowpony!” Pinkie cheered. The human ponies and dragon were sitting side by side in the stands overlooking the main arena. Pinkie had somehow, in the last five minutes, come into possession of a bucket of popcorn and was munching away happily.

“Spike, we've got an hour. See if you can find Applejack!” Twilight nudged her assistant, who dutifully stepped down and out of the stands, clutching the amulet in his sweaty fist.

“Show me where Applejack is!” Spike whispered to the jewel beneath the buzz of the rodeo crowd. The amulet pulled him behind the stands and off in the direction of the bronco riders' marshalling area. Spike ducked and wove his way through the dense crowd until he reached the knot of horses, the animals looking tense. Then he heard a familiar drawl. “Whoa, boy! Easy there, sugarcube.”

“Applejack!” Spike gasped. He craned his neck, trying to see her over the large mounts.

“Hey, kid! Get away from there, you're gonna get kicked!” A hand seized him by the collar and dragged him away.

“Hey!” Spike protested. “I'm looking for somepo...someone!”

“If they're one of the bronco riders, son, you'll have to wait until their ride's over.” The lanky stable hand tried to shoo Spike away but he was having none of it. “It's urgent!” Spike tried to tell him. “I'm looking for...” Then the amulet made a direct line-of-sight connection, drawing Spike's eyes toward a blonde, sun-bronzed cowgirl sitting on top of a chestnut stallion. “...her!” He pointed. “I was told to find her! It's urgent!”

The stable hand looked in the direction of Spike's pointing finger and yelled out in the cowgirl's direction. “Amity! AMITY!”

The cowgirl looked up from her mount, annoyance etched on her face. “Yeah?”

“This kid needs to talk to you! Says it's urgent!”

“Hold on!” Amity pulled on the reins and steered her horse out of the marshalling area towards Spike and dismounted.

“Thanks, I can take it from here,” Spike told the stable hand. As Amity loomed over him, frowning, he grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the stables. “This way! Quickly!”

“What the hell is going on, boy?” she demanded, confused. “Do I even know you?”

Spike led Amity into a dark, empty stall. Not even pausing for breath, he slapped the amulet into her unresisting hand.

Nothing happened.

“What's this?” Amity briefly examined the amulet, then raised an eyebrow at Spike. Is this some kind of joke? I got a horse to ride.”

Spike didn't say anything, but just stared at her. Waiting.

Amity sighed and tossed the crystal back. To Spike's dismay, she walked out of the stall. “You're a weird little guy. Ain't you got parents to go find? Ain't your momma never told you...” The cowgirl was cut off midsentence by what any human would have seen as a grand mal seizure, but was really Cadance's complex, tightly-woven memory recovery spell finally taking hold in her brain. She staggered backwards and landed heavily on top of Spike.

“Oof!” Spike struggled to push her off him, but despite her slim frame she was too heavy to lift. He squirmed like a helpless worm on the grimy floor, worming out from underneath her piecemeal.

Huffing and puffing and covered in filth, Spike sat by Amity's side and waited for the spell to finish.

“This is a reminder to all bronco riding contestants. Please make your way to the marshalling area! Bronco riding starts in forty-five minutes!” the announcer could be heard faintly outside the stable.

After a short eternity, Applejack stirred.

“Ohhh, mah head. Ah'm never gonna try drinkin' Red Gala under the table again.”

“Applejack!” Spike cried joyfully. “I was worried for a minute there.”

“Spike?” Applejack smiled. “Good to see ya, pardner. Where's everypony else?”

“I've found everypony else except for Rarity. They're sitting up in the stands watching the rodeo events! Twilight sent me down with this amulet Princess Cadance made to find you and bring you back.”

“Aw, ponyfeathers, the bronco event!” Applejack put a hand to her forehead. “Spike, you git on back to Twi and the gang. Ah still gotta get in the saddle and ride that ol' horse. I'll meet up with ya after Ah'm done.”

“Sure thing, Applejack!”

“Oh, and clean yerself up a little. Ya smell like our stable hand out there after muckin' out the stables! There's a spigot 'round the back.”

“You know, it's awfully strange seeing equines in this world, they're so different to Equestrian ponies,” Whoof commented as the human ponies watched the crowd and the animals below. “If only they could talk...”

“No pegasi, no unicorns, no crystal ponies, no alicorns!” Rainbow Dash replied. “Kind of makes you wonder what Equestria would be like if it was just earth ponies. No pegasi to make it rain? No unicorns to... do all the stuff unicorns do? No Princesses to move the sun and moon? It'd be a pretty harsh existence when you think about it. No offense, Pinkie.”

“None taken!” Pinkie assured her. “You're right, Dashie, even though Ponyville is run mostly by earth ponies we still need other ponies to help. What would we ever do without Fluttershy to keep the animals calm?”

Fluttershy blushed a little at this, but then she boarded Pinkie's train of thought. “What would we do without the weather teams to regulate the weather? All our crops would fail!”

“Guys!” Spike climbed back up the stands and squeezed in next to Twilight. The others leaned in to hear what he had to say. “I found Applejack!”

“That's great, Spike!” Pinkie squealed. “I can throw a 'We Have Our Friend Applejack Back' party at my house!”

“Did you get her to touch the amulet, Spike?” Twilight reminded him.

“It took a bit of convincing to get her to follow me to somewhere where no-one would see the spell work on her, but yeah!” Spike was grinning madly. “Applejack's back! She's going to meet up with us later after she finishes her rodeo ride!”

“Rodeo ride?” Fluttershy squeaked, terrified. “Oh no!”

“Don't worry, Fluttershy, she still has her human memories!” Spike reassured her. “I bet Applejack's gonna be great!”

The six of them waited anxiously for their friend to appear in the arena. Soon the bronco riding competition began in earnest, human riders leaping into the arena on wildly leaping, twisting and bucking equines who made every effort to dislodge their riders. Fluttershy covered her face the whole time, only sneaking peeks and cowering again after seeing a human thrown to the ground.

Then, finally, it was Applejack's turn.

“Here she is, ladies and gentlemen, contestant number 86, the Golden Cowgirl! Amity Jackson, riding Caballo!”

“There she is!” Spike yelled, pointing for the ponies to see.

“Yeah Appl... Amity! Wooooo!” Dash bellowed. Applejack glanced up to see Spike and a group of other people waving at her. Her eyes lit up in recognition and she had just enough time to wave back before the rope was pulled and the gate swung open. Caballo leaped out of the enclosure like a Mexican Jumping Bean, Applejack hanging on like the seasoned rodeo pro she was in both universes.

“YEEHAW!” she screamed. “Ride 'em cowpony!”

Caballo dashed, stopped, swung around and bucked, forcing his rider to put all her strength into staying firmly seated on his back. The horse ignored everything else around him and threw the transformed pony around the arena for a good while until the siren finally howled. Applejack carefully jumped off Caballo, leaving him to the clowns, and made a beeline for the nearest exit.

“Boy howdy, that's one heck of a story,” Applejack said, shaking her head.

It was evening and the ponies and Spike were celebrating at Pinkie's. The townhouse living room was somewhat crowded, but there was still plenty of room for all the usual party-related accoutrements like chips and dip, soda, cake, brownies and slices.

“Now all we have to do is find Rarity and we can get back to Equestria, break out the Elements of Harmony and kick some draconequus flank!” Rainbow Dash declared.

“Speakin' o' Rarity, have you tried lookin' in any fancy dress stores, or those places where they print fashion magazines?” Applejack suggested.

“I tried the fashion stores, salons and beauty parlours, but the amulet didn't pick up anything,” Fluttershy told her sadly.

“The amulet only works when you're within a certain distance of the pony you're looking for,” Spike explained. “Twilight, Pinkie and I had to go all over town looking for Fluttershy.”

“We could try the magazine offices tomorrow, though,” Twilight promised. “Good thinking, Applejack.”

Chapter Ten :: Dishonesty

Cadance grunted, the stream of pink magic blasting out of her horn like a fire hose, straining to hold back the torrent of red energy coming from Trixie.

“Sweetie Belle, hurry up!” Scootaloo begged.

“No, not that one... not that one... that one's too small...” Sweetie Belle frantically tossed gem after gem out of Spike's gem case until she finally held a large diamond in her hoof. “I found one! Here, take this one!” Sh offered the gem to Shining Armor, who snatched it up in his telekinetic grip and carefully fitted it into the core of the shield generator as Carrot Cake held the casing open.

“There, got it!” Shining released his grip on the diamond and Carrot helped him close up the casing. Dinky galloped to the front door of the newly-replanted library.

“Princess Cadance! You can come in now!”

“Thank...you...Dinky!” Cadance poured everything she had into the repulsion spell, slowly but surely driving Trixie's beam back into her horn. Beads of sweat trickled down the alicorn's face, but she didn't dare move a hoof, instead keeping every last erg of energy flowing into her horn.

“Urg...ugh!” Trixie staggered backward, holding her front hooves to her head. “Trixie gives up! Aaaaahhhh!”

A loud BOOM accompanied the showpony's somersault through the air as she catapaulted  clear over Ponyville Town Hall. Panting, Cadance ended the spell and stumbled back into the library basement. The moment she stepped through the basement door, Shining Armor pushed his horn into the charging port and reactivated the shield. The protective bubble reappeared, this time stronger and longer-lasting.

“Pinkie Pie?” Pumpkin Cake asked, looking up at her mother.

“No, sweetie, Pinkie's not here right now,” Cup Cake murmured sadly. “I do hope she's all right though,” she whispered to herself.

*** *** ***

“Got any threes?”

“Go fish.”

“Rats.”

The Cute Mark Crusaders and Dinky were playing card games in the main foyer of the library. Outside the front window, they could see strange, bizarre and sometimes frightening things happening as a result of Discord's magic. The road outside had turned into a canal, filled with bunnies doing backstroke. Screwball and Screw Loose floated over the roofs of houses, loudly playing vuvuzelas.

Down in the basement, Shining Armor was penning a letter to his sister while his wife rested comfortably, sipping on an oat smoothie.

Shining folded up the letter into a paper aeroplane like Twilight's and held it out to Cadance. “Could your spell find where the last portal was?”

“I think it could do that,” Cadance got up and positioned herself with her horn pointing at the wall. “I'm sure Twilight and her friends could use a little encouragement.”

She closed her eyes and a bright burst of magic erupted from her horn, tracing runes in a circle on the wall. The portal opened and Cadance manipulated the spell carefully, searching for the traces of magic that would lead her to Spike's last known location.

“There,” she announced. “I've redirected the portal to the last connected location. Toss it through, Shining.”

Shining tossed the plane through the portal and watched it vanish into the swirling blue maelstrom.

Pinkie Pie's house, later that night...

“So then Ah said to the stock agent “You find me a pony as big as that and Ah'll show y'all a green dog!”” Applejack declared.

Rainbow Dash doubled over laughing. “That's hilarious!”

“Ah tell ya, there ain't a pony or horse in either world that can do some of the stuff Ah've seen Big Macintosh do at Sweet Apple Acres...”

“Hey, look!” Spike pointed at the wall where he had cast a portal a few days ago. “Another portal! It must be Cadance!”

Sure enough, the blue doorway was there.

“Can we go through that one?” Rainbow Dash wondered.

“No, not yet,” Twilight told her. “We can't leave this world until we find Rarity.”

A white paper aeroplane sailed through and zoomed over the ponies' heads, hitting the wall opposite and falling behind the couch. The portal closed immediately after, leaving Fluttershy to retrieve the plane with her thin, delicate hands.

“I think it's another letter!” she exclaimed.

Dear Twilight,

I'm glad you and Spike are OK and it sounds like you're making good progress. Thanks for the tip about the shield generator, by the way, it was a lifesaver! Tell Spike Cadance will reimburse him for the diamond once the Crystal Empire's mines are operational again.

I know you're working hard, but we really need you to step it up over there. Some mare calling herself The Great and Powerful Trixie showed up-

“Oh, not her again!” Dash facepalmed.

-and ripped the library right out of the ground! She's been corrupted by Discord, and from what Spike tells me she was responsible for letting him loose in the first place. Cadance managed to fight her off and I installed the diamond with the help of Mr. Cake, but things are going south really fast. I wish I could come through and help you, but I need to be here to keep the generator going. Please find Rarity as soon as you can and get back here! Give you other friends my best.

Your BBBFF,

Shining Armor

“Going south?” Pinkie tilted her head quizzically at Fluttershy. “Does that mean Discord's going to take a holiday?”

“No, Pinkie, it means things are getting worse!” Twilight tugged on a lock of her hair nervously. “Tomorrow's Friday. If everypony can meet at my apartment on the weekend, we can start checking every magazine office for any human who might be Rarity in disguise.”

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

“What if they won't let us in?” Dash, always the weather pony, just had to rain on someone's parade.

“I'd like to avoid doing what we did at the stadium again,” Pinkie interjected.

“Excuse me, but...” Fluttershy tried again.

“I think Fluttershy might have something,” Whoof finally helped the shy pegasus out.

“Yes, Fluttershy?” Twilight prompted.

“I think I've already found her.” Fluttershy held up a glossy fashion magazine swiped from the waiting room in her surgery. On the second page from the cover was a greeting from the editor along with her photo, the headshot showing a woman with a very familiar coiffeure.

Prologue

The unnatural yellow glow of sodium vapour lights barely reached into the mouth of the alley, illuminating the smoothly shifting form of a stray cat creeping out into the street. It was quiet in the early hours, save for the occasional passing car. Further back in the shadowed alleyway, the brick wall on the left side began to glow, the dim light mysteriously emanating from the brickwork in strange, twisted shapes and patterns. The markings steadily grew brighter, brighter, until the steel roller door opposite was bathed in a mesmerizing blue-white glow. Then, in a blinding burst of energy, the brickwork swirled around and like water draining from a bathtub formed a vortex. The vortex was about two metres in diameter, tall enough for a grown man to walk through fully upright. Air swirled invisibly around the outside, sweeping up litter and debris and randomly tossing it around.

A few seconds after the vortex opened, a young spiky-haired boy one could estimate to be seven or eight years of age appeared in a blur of motion and stepped out into the alley. He was clad in a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers and hanging from his neck on a thin but sturdy gold chain was a deep green crystal framed within a gold pendant. The boy faced the portal, raised the pendant between his thumb and forefinger, pointed it at the portal and tapped the top side with his fingertip. The swirling vortex vanished and the blue-white light faded, leaving him cloaked in the shadow of the alley.

The boy then spoke one word to the crystal inside the pendant. “Twilight.”

The crystal did nothing outwardly, but the boy felt a tugging motion inside him, the pendant's power pulling him in the direction of the person he needed so desperately to find. Letting the pendant rest on it's chain, the boy took a deep breath, let it out, then exited the alley and followed the magical pull.