The sun finally broke through the horizon. Twilight had begun to wonder if Celestia had slept in today considering sunrise should have been, by her estimation, 2 min and 38 sec ago. But sure enough, the sun came forth and illuminated Ponyville in spectacular beauty. It was a fantastic beginning to a day Twilight knew was going to have a curve ball or two.
Twilight had always enjoyed visits from Princess Celestia, but ever since Discord had been "reformed" (a word Twilight couldn't even think without forcing herself to use it) she could tell that her mentor had been somewhat more distant. Granted, another visit from the princess in such a short time since the last was an unexpected blessing, but with the lull in return messages from her friendship letters, not to mention that the responses felt more like an obligation than correspondence, it made Twilight worry.
"I really hope letting Discord out hasn't affected the Princess negatively." Twilight thought. "I know she needed his abilities for something, but still, its an awfully big risk considering all he's done."
"You couldn't sleep either, could you Sugar Cube?"
Twilight didn't even need to turn around to know Applejack was coming up the hill to greet her, but she turned anyway to greet her friend. "Not much I'm afraid, but something tells me that later today I'm going to be wishing I could have."
AJ nodded "Good to know I ain't the only pony that feels this isn't just a social call from the Princess."
"Well, if she is here for one, I spent all last night getting a party ready just in case." A pink earth pony hopped from the bushes and into sight. "And if not, we can have a 'Princess Celestia gave us another Super-Big-Totally-Epic Adventure to go on' Party."
"Pinkie, why do you think she would tell us to go on an Adventure?" Twilight asked. But before Pinkie could answer, a voice from above answered first "Because when else does Princess Celestia come see us?" The three ponies on the hill looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both hovering down to meet them. Dash continued "If it isn't for an adventure, then its to give us some impossible task to do. I mean, seriously, when has the Princess just met up with us for anything else?"
"Well," Fluttershy spoke up, "there was the Grand Galloping Gala." All the ponies cringed at the thought that the only time they had all socially seen the Princess was an utter disaster. Still though, Twilight knew that just because a visit from Celestia usually was followed by some great task, it didn't mean that Celestia didn't care for them. She only turned to them for things like this because they all had proven themselves time and again to her to be up to the challenge.
Rainbow Dash began to look around, "Where's Rarity? Don't tell me she is actually getting her beauty sleep when we're supposed to meet the princess any minute now."
Twi had begun to wonder about Rarity as well. "Rarity actually has been up since early yesterday. The princess asked her if she could locate a particular group of gems. And if Spike could test the purity of them as well. I was hoping she would be done by now."
"As did I." Rarity slowly trot her way up the hill, harnessed to a wagon full of exquisite gems, and with Twilight's assistant and friend nestled up at the top, sound asleep.
"The gems were a tad bit harder to find than I had originally anticipated. It was well into the night when Spikey Wikey and myself found the last vein of gems we needed. He could barely stay awake long enough to help me get them out." It showed to. Everypony realized just how much more disheveled and messy Rarity looked than she usually did. "But we got them all. Any idea on what the Princess needs them for?"
"Or what she needs us for?" Applejack said trying to suppress a yawn.
"I don't know, to be perfectly honest," Twilight confessed. "I just know its urgent. I don't think she would tell us to meet her this early in the morning if it weren't important."
The yawn AJ was trying to suppress had found its way to Pinkie, who gave no effort to hold it back. "Well, I'm just going to get a little bit more rest until she gets here." Pinkie flopped down, snuggling into the soft grass.
The yawn passed to Rainbow Dash, "That sounds like a pretty good idea" Dash curled up on a spot beside Pinkie, and before Twilight knew it, the yawn was coming out of her mouth as well.
"Okay, we all could probably use it anyway."
And with that, the 6 friends all found their spot on the hill and laid down beside each other, knowing that whatever they might soon face, they at least had now to enjoy some rest with each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight shifted and squirmed. Her coat had warmed considerably since she laid down. She squinted her eyes and saw that it was far too bright to be the early morning still
She jumped to her feet, not believing she had slept for so long. How could she sleep in when she knew the Princess was on her way! She turned to wake up her friends when she stopped dead in her tracks.
There, in the midst of all her friends, laid her mentor, also asleep and nestled in the grass.
Twilight couldn't believe it. Princess Celestia had been here all this time. Why didn't she wake them up? She slowly approached her, not wanting to startle her mentor. With her hoof, she gently tapped on Celestia's side.
"Uh, excuse me Princess. Is... is everything okay?"
Celestia's eyes fluttered open. She looked over at Twilight with a smile, "With that look on your face, maybe I should be asking that to you."
"I just never expected you to let us sleep. I thought for sure that we would hear you and wake up when your carriage arrived."
Celestia rose and spread out her wings. "You probably would have if I had taken my carriage. But today, for this, I wanted to make this a little bit more personal. And when I got here and found you all asleep... Forgive me Twilight, but just this once, I wanted to meet you all not as your Princess, but as a friend."
Twilight couldn't help but smile as a her eyes began to whell up. Any worries about her mentor becoming distant or disinterested in her and completely vanished. She rushed up to her and felt her mentor take her, quite literally, under her wing. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that."
As Twi looked up, she could see that the smile on Celestia's face had faded just a little, "I feel like I owe that much to you all, especially with what I'm about to ask of you."
By this time, the rest of gang had begun to wake up and see that Celestia had arrived. Caught off guard, they began to bow their heads.
"That won't be necessary," Celestia said as she turned to address them all. "If anything, today I should be bowing my head to you."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy was the first to speak up. "Is everything okay Princess?"
"No Fluttershy, I'm sad to say it is not, and that I'm going to have to ask too much from each of you to set things right."
The ponies began to murmur to each other, not entirely sure what she meant by this. Celestia broke through and turned to Rarity, "Were you and Spike able to collect the gems?"
"Yes Princess, it took some effort but we have what you need."
"Very good. And Twilight, you do have the elements with you, correct?"
"Yes Princess, but what is this about?"
Celestia sighed "I really wish there was another way to do this, but I am out of options. Twilight, please equip everyone with their elements, and I'll explain."
Twilight walked over to her saddlebags and opened them. In the blink of an eye the elements gently floated out of the pockets and moved toward their respective owner.
"Just not to long ago, You all were able to reform Discord. And I want to tell you all that you did succeed. However, while he did indeed have a change of heart and decided to use his abilities for good, he still......"
"Is a bit loco in the coco?" Pinkie offered up.
"Indeed," Celestia continued. "Discord is still the personification of Chaos, and as such, has a somewhat short fuse. Especially when it comes to being called out on past mistakes."
"Luna didn't...." Twi interjected.
"She did. And Discord did not handle it gracefully at all. Not only does my Throne Room now look like something out of a campfire story, but he turned Luna..."
The long pause did nothing to ease the ponies minds.
"He turned Luna into a baby. And while I have used every resource at my disposal, I can not turn her back."
"You need us to convince Discord to turn her back?" Fluttershy said.
"If only it were that simple. After he turned Luna, he said 'If I'm not going to be appreciated around here, then I'll find some dimension else that values me!' I haven't seen him since."
"Some dimension? Wait, you're not wanting us to...." Twilight couldn't even finish the thought. It was just to crazy of a notion. Dimension jumping?! Sure, she had read about theories on it, but that's all it was. Theory's, notions, ideas. Never established science or magic.
"I'm afraid so. With the gems Rarity has, I can focus my powers enough to open a dimensional rift. From there, it will be on you to find Discord and bring him back."
"Sounds easy, we can do this no problem Princess." Rainbow Dash said, shooting up from the ground.
"There is one more thing you all will need to know. If for any reason you cannot either find Discord or convince him to bring you back, there will be no way for you to return to Equestria."
"What!?" All six of them cried out.
"I'm sorry. Like I said, I am having to ask too much from all of you." Celestia said with a bowed head.
Twilight was the first to collect herself from this revelation "Princess, I know it sounds harsh, but couldn't we just let Princess Luna grow up naturally? It would be a major inconvenience I'm sure, but surely it would happen."
"Its not that simple Twilight. Just like I'm in need of Discord's abilities, I too am in need of Luna's, and as powerful as a baby Alicorn is, she has little control over her abilities."
All 6 ponies looked at each other uneasily. Were they seriously about to leave all of Equestria, potentially forever, just to retrieve someone that used to be their foe? Abandon families, friends, & home just to get Discord back?
"You're sure this is the only way?" Twilight said, know the answer even as she asked the question.
"I am. Only the Elements of Harmony have a chance at finding Discord. They are attracted to chaos, like the opposing ends of a magnet. If they encounter chaos, they will try to balance it."
Twilight stepped forward, "I can't speak for the elements, but my friends and I won't let you down." All of them gathered together, affirming what Twilight said to be true. They truly were an example of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
"Thank you all." Celestia spoke, bowing her self to the group. "I am truly in your debt."
The crystal began to swirl up from the cart, shining and shimmering as they began to form complex shifting designs. Sparks began to move from one gem to the next.
"One more thing you all should know. Different Dimensions have different rules, different states of being. Simply entering one could affect you in unforeseeable ways. Please use the utmost caution! While the elements will assist you, it is up to each of you to use them."
The rift cracked open. A giant blue swirl had come to shape as the gems aligned and powered the portal. It was both beautiful and ominous at the same time. The six looked at each other one last time, then slowly approached the portal.
"So we just walk thro...." Twilight didn't have time to finish her question as the portal sucked them all in, and in a flash, Equestria was far behind them.
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Twilight looked around as the blue portal they entered through became a tiny dot in the distance. They seemed to be moving through some sort of stream of energy in a bubble that surrounded them all. Smaller streams seemed to be branching off of one large one off in the closely approaching distance, each ending in its own portal.
"Okay girls. Celestia is counting on all of us, we need to figure out which of these portals Discord might have gone through."
"There's so many!" Fluttershy said, eyes full of wonder.
There bubble began to quiver as it hit a smaller joining of 3 other smaller streams.
"Fluttershy is right" said Applejack as she too couldn't seem to pull her eyes away from dimensional highway. "How in Equestria are we supposed to find him in a place like this?"
They hit the big strand in the Dimensional Highway. The intense change in velocity almost toppled them all over each other.
Twilight pondered for a bit. Shouldn't Celestia have warned them of this before sending them off. Unless... Unless she didn't know!
"We'll check them one at a time if we have to, but this one we can not fail. Not if we ever want to see home again."
"Well, I think we should go over here!" Dash said flying up to the top edge of the bubble
"The streams look brighter and faster."
"I disagree," Rarity said. "These streams over here look far more random and jerky, a sure sign Discord has been through."
"What about those? Those look really peaceful and nice." Fluttershy motioned to some dimmer, slower flowing streams.
"I'm with Dash on this one," said AJ, "but these look like more powerful streams over here."
"OH, wait, those have stars on them! Can we go there? Canwecanwecanwepleasepleaseplease!!!" Pinkie started jumping toward the clearly shimmering streams.
With each of them trying so hard to shift the bubble in their desired direction, Twilight began to feel the bubble do something she never expected to do.
*Crack*
The bubble shattered, and each of them were lost into the stream, unable to control there direction, much less stay together. All Twilight could do is watch as her friends each fell into a different portal until, finally, Twilight was thrust into one herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Getting slammed against a brick wall wasn't the way Twilight wanted to enter a new dimension, but right now it was the least of her problems. She turned to see the portal starting to shrink. She rushed it, trying to get back in to find her friends. But it was too late, the portal popped into nothing as soon as she reached it.
She looked around her new surroundings, finding herself in some dirty alleyway. Where ever this was, it wasn't Canterlot.
Before she could even take a look beyond the alley, Twi dropped to the ground. Something wasn't right, something didn't feel right. She looked at herself to see the blue energy that made up the portal was now covering her and glowing brighter until it was almost white. Just as soon as it began, it stopped, and all signs of the energy was gone.
Twi looked at herself only to see she had changed drastically. No purple coat, no hooves, she definitely was no pony anymore. Instead she appeared to have.... paws? Or Talons? Some form of poseable extremity that allowed her to grasp things protruding from her forehooves. And apparently this body was meant to stand up right instead of on fours. Her hair still looked the same for the most part, but her tail was no where to be seen. She checked quickly under the new clothes she now appeared to be wearing, a shirt and skirt which her just as purple as her formal coat were, but to no avail. Everything had changed about her, even her element! What used to be a magnificent crown was now merely a hairband. At least the element was still there.
She grabbed her saddlebag, which now looked like it was some form of satchel to wear over her shoulder, and headed down one of the alleys.
"There has got to be somepony here that can help me, right?" she thought. If she could only find a way to reopen the Dimensional Portal, then she could find her friends. Discord would have to wait until then, right now, her friends had to come first.
When Twilight hit the street, it was moderately busy. No one was paying her any attention, so at least she didn't have to explain where she was coming from. But what strange creatures these were, all variations of the same few colors, all wearing clothing, some riding in self propelled chariots that, quite frankly, smelled horrible as they passed. What was this place.
*Crash*
"Hey! Watch where you're going you dork!" a young girl shouted at Twilight as they both picked themselves up from the ground.
"I'm so sorry, this place is just so new to me and I guess...."
"I'm sorry" the girl said in an obviously sarcastic and tacky voice "I don't care what your story is, just move it"
"Hey, leave her alone!" Out from a red brick house came a young boy. He wore a blue shirt and... was that a skirt?
The girl, who now that Twilight got a good look at her had the most severe case of unobrow she had ever seen, yelled back "Oh yeah! Well, what are you going to do about it Football Head!"
Author's Note
Yep, this is my very first dive into any sort of fanfic and I'm attempting the insane and doing multiple crossovers within the same story. I think its fairly obvious by the end where Twilight ended up, but in case you can't seem to figure it out, go refresh yourself on classic 90's cartoons.
Each member of the six will get their own chapter, and will have a teaser of the next at the end of each chapter. At least until they are all reveled in whatever dimension they landed in.
Stay tuned for the next chapter: "HEY TWILIGHT!"
