1: Stranger in a Strange Land
Chapter One
Soft soothing music filled the air above cyan colored grass and chromatic multi-tiered trees. A ball of yellow light with a pair of stubby light blue wings fluttered through the air over an open crevice in the ground. A figure ducked down as the creature flew off, making sure not to be spotted by it. The bipedal creature held a small gray tube in his right hand as he looked at the floating creature. A transparent red circle formed around it along with a thin green bar that ran along less than half of its circumference. A red bar that faded to orange and then to yellow appeared above the first. This one was smaller. The man tightened his grip on the device in his hand as it flew up and over the mountain the cavern hole based itself in.
The circle still remained in the bipedal’s vision as white letters appeared next to the circle. They read ‘Pixie’. The circle slowly faded away and the bipedal rose from the darkness lit by torches and into the fresh air of the surface world. The wind rustled through his unkempt head of brown hair. The man looked to see that the sun was setting. The dying rays felt good against the small portions of his exposed slightly tanned skin. He caught sight of a familiar large rainbow with his green eyes through a pair of goggles.
His chest was covered in a black shirt. Its short sleeves exposed the man’s arms and hands to the open air. The shirt opened down the middle with a v neck. A white undershirt exposed in the small gap. The man wore dull gray-brown boots with a glowing design of orange and yellow on the heels. The man walked forward through the grass still holding onto the gray cylinder.
…
After a few minutes of walking the man stopped at the crest of a hill. He could see a green grass hill rising off not far in the distance. He looked to the depression below to see it coated in cyan grass. His sight set on a four legged creature slowly trotting over a gap in the ground. It jumped over nimbly and slowly walked towards him. He looked at it as a red circle formed around it. A green ring nearly filled the entire circumference, the red one formed about a quarter of the circumference and a blue ring formed on top of that one. This one faded to green and then to yellow. This third ring was miniscule compared to the red one. White text appeared next to the circle ‘Unicorn’.
The man moved his right arm to below his left and pulled it back. The metallic cylinder had been replaced with a small purple book with a dark indigo cover art with a pink arrow mark. He slowly walked up the small rise and into the valley closer to the enemy he kept his eyes trained on. He studied the creature as he got closer. It has a white coat with a slight pink hue. It stood at the same height as him with a purple horn protruding from its forehead. It scanned the area with bright eyes the color of blood, and a flowing pink mane and tail.
As the man stepped closer it slowly turned towards him. He looked the creature dead in its cold eyes and it looked back. It gave a snort as it lowered its head and began to charge forward. The bipedal raised the purple book in his hand to the creature and felt his energy lessen as a ring of purple magic formed around him. It sped up and quickly shot outwards towards the creature; it deformed into a blade and collided with the unicorn. He saw the number 26 appear in the red circle. He quickly fired more shots at the creature as it closed the gap between the two of them. The green ring began to shrink as five more shots hit the creature. 25 32 33 24 28.
The ring had decreased to a little more than half. The unicorn quickly jabbed at the man who jumped up into the air and a puff of cloud formed below him as he ascended higher up. He spun midair as he aimed the book back towards the creature. He landed down and fired another five shots as the unicorn turned back around. 24 28 29 30 42.
The green ring was almost gone as the unicorn barreled towards him and aimed to skewer him with its horn. He quickly stuffed the book to his left side, and pulled his right hand out with the metallic cylinder. He ran forward and pressed a button on the side of the device. This caused a large beam of blue light to materialize in the shape of a long blade. As he closed the gap he gave one large slash with the sword. The unicorn was knocked backwards as a new number appeared in the circle. 62.
The green bar was all but gone as the unicorn charged forward. The man smiled smugly as he went for another swipe with the blade. As it made contact the number 44 appeared. The man watched as the blade cut through the unicorn and it erupted into a puddle of entrails and blood. Pieces of its body littered the area. Where it once stood now was a small blue star, ten silver coins, and a severed unicorn horn. The man stowed the sword away and held his right hand out. He opened his palm and the loot slowly lifted up towards him and dissolved into nothing. He felt rejuvenated. Once done he turned around and exited the cyan grass land. The rainbow faded away and was replaced with a sprawling forest with a large mountain range in the distance. As the man climbed the small mountain he could see a large stone structure rising against the faint star light sky. He looked behind him to see a fantastic sunset.
…
Another minute or so passed as the man quickly flicked his right arm out and a long metallic chain extended and embedded itself in the wall of the stone structure. He pulled on the chain and it pulled the man till he was flushed with the outer wall of the structure. He quickly retracted the device and jumped upwards. A cloud formed and gave him an extra boost and he landed on the flat stone roof of the structure. He ran forward and jumped off. He landed softly on the green grass below. A voice sounded from behind him, “How did today go Kyle?”
The man turned around to another man standing in the doorway of the structure. The man has dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He has a gray shirt and slightly faded jeans. His skin was tanned just like Kyle’s over the many days in the sun. Kyle walked towards him and said, “Ok Jeff; just ran into a unicorn on the way back.”
Jeff responded, “You best be careful around them, they may seem nice, but aren’t.”
“I learned that with the first one Jeff.”
Jeff gave a slight laugh at the response. Kyle gave a smirk as he spoke again, “You best be getting inside with the others,” he looked over his shoulder to see the sky had turned to a dark purple. A full moon had risen slightly and the sky was full of a sea of dazzling stars. Kyle turned back to Jeff and finished, “It’s not safe at night.”
“That’s my line.”
Kyle gave another chuckle as Jeff turned around and began to walk into the doorway. He was stopped dead in his tracks as a deep resonate voice spoke.
The Red Comet has appeared.
Jeff turned to Kyle as dark music replaced that of the cheerful night. Kyle looked to him and asked, “What is the red comet?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea.”
Kyle gulped. He didn’t like the sound of that. Jeff knew everything. His concentration was broken by a woman’s voice shouting, “Kyle look!”
Kyle looked up to see Hanna standing on the balcony of her room on the second floor of the stone tower. He saw her pointing to the sky behind him with her arm. He turned around and looked up to see the moon, but that wasn’t all. Arching across the sky towards the luminescent night disc was a red dot with a pink trail of dust. It narrowed in on the moon.
Kyle didn’t like the look of this. He quickly turned to Jeff who still stood stock in the doorframe. Kyle ordered, “Stay inside and watch the others.”
“Agreed,” Jeff gave a nod and closed the door behind him. Kyle turned back up to the sky as he saw the red speck began to pass in front of the moon. He watched as it reached the center of the moon and stopped. The cloud of dust expanded and turned the moon a light red hue. He watched as a massive wave expanded outwards and the entire night sky turned a dark maroon.
He watched as the comet seemed to get closer to him; the red sphere got bigger and bigger. He stepped out in the grass and squinted to make out what he was looking at. Then he heard a familiar noise, that of a falling star. He wheeled around and scanned the sky, but saw no sign of the rare object. Stopping he slowly turned back to the red sphere and watched as it barreled right towards him.
Kyle’s eyes widened with the realization. He quickly stuffed his right hand to his left side and pulled out a small glass object. He hated using this object, the feeling he got from the magic it possessed, but he needed to use it now of suffer a death he knew was certain. He lifted the many faced object and felt the magic build up in it as it drained it from him.
He watched as the object worked its magic and he was enveloped in a light blue aura. He also saw the red sphere get closer, almost in reach of him. The blue field covered him completely and he felt himself beginning to be decomposed and transported not that far away to his base. Then he felt a massive shock. He gasped in pain and knelt down. Opening his eyes he saw the light blue of the teleportation slowly beginning to turn to a blood red. He watched in horror as he was consumed in the haze and felt himself being pulled apart, but more violently then he remembered it to be.
He felt the wall of magic close in on him. He dropped the device to the ground. He watched as the grass was uprooted to the bare dirt. He felt sick to his stomach. He felt as if he was poisoned. He knew he wouldn’t stay awake much longer. He clutched his stomach as he fell to the ground. Barley breathing and on the cusp of blacking out he spoke in labored breaths, “I’m sorry Jeff.”
He felt the blood red walls pressing on him and a strange overwhelming warmth as well, Kyle then slipped into unconsciousness.
…
Jeff had watched the entire ordeal from Hanna’s balcony. He watched in horror as he watched the strange red magic work on his friend. His mouth was wide open as the same dark voice spoke again.
The gateway to the Land of Harmony has opened.
Jeff watched as the night sky changed before his eyes. He watched the stars slowly blink out of existence. The sky was soon devoid of its once lights, leaving the still blood red moon against the stark maroon night. A dense fog filled the sky blocking out the red and leaving a dull pink.
He looked back down to where Kyle once stood and saw that the grass had been eaten away. He watched as red grass began to grow from the bare patch and expanded quickly onto the lush green grass outside the front of the stone structure. Maroon vines began to grow out of the ground and encompass the area where Kyle was struck by the strange red object. Jeff turned to a voice behind him, “What happened?”
Jeff stepped back inside to see the others had all gathered in Hanna’s room. He looked to each of them and sighed as he responded, “I’m not sure.”
“I have a bad feeling about what is to transpire soon,” Diana spoke up.
“Me too.”
~~~
An equine slowly walked towards a wooden house nestled amongst rows upon rows of apple trees now drained of their produce. Right in front of the soft tangerine coated mare walked a much larger stallion with a relaxed red coat. The mare has a long blonde mane and tail tied at the end with red hair ties. She also wore a worn brown Stetson hat. She looked to the stallion in front of her with green eyes and spoke, “Seems like we did good with the harvest today Big Mac.”
“Eeeyup,” came a deep voice response from the stallion who continued to walk forward with an old yoke around his neck and his slightly browner hair than his sister’s fluttering in the cool night breeze.
Applejack looked up to the sky to see a large portion of the night sky had been blotted out by clouds, she could barely see the moon cresting over the edge of the looming plums of condensation. She looked back to her brother and asked, “Why’re all de’m clouds up there?”
Big McIntosh looked up to the clouds above. He turned back to his sister and said, “No idea.”
Applejack stopped with a huff. She looked back up to see the faint outline of a cyan coated pegasus pushing another smaller cloud up to the massive grouping over Sweet Apple Acres. “Rainbow Dash!”
The pegasus stopped and looked down. It let go of the cloud it was holding and slowly descended to flutter just off the ground, “What AJ?” the cyan haired pegasus with a mane and tail the entire spectrum of a rainbow spoke.
“What is with all dem clouds?”
Rainbow looked back up to her hoofiwork. She landed and answered, “Just got an order for an early shower over Ponyville for four in the morning, rolling in from over Sweet Apple Acres.” She walked towards her friend, “I’m just setting it up so it can do its business overnight.”
“Ah wasn’t told about these clouds,” Applejack interjected. She cast her gaze to her left to see that her brother had continued without her to the house. She looked back as Rainbow said sternly, “I said just got an order.”
“Sorry sugarcube,” Applejack commented.
“No biggy,” Rainbow flexed her wings, “I was finished with the clouds anyway. I’m going to head back home now.”
The pegasus turned on the spot and prepared to take off, but was stopped by a loud explosion. She turned to Applejack who wore a face of worry. She asked, “You heard that right?”
“Eeeyup.”
The bang came again. Both mares looked skywards as the clouds Rainbow had just set up turned a bright red. “What is going on?”
“I’m not sure,” Rainbow answered as Applejack stepped to her side.
Both watched as the red light increased and centered around a massive sphere just beyond the clouds. Instantly the clouds were torn apart and a massive red comet barreled towards the ground. It flew over their heads as the two mares ducked. They turned around as the comet impacted the ground spewing up mountains of dirt, mangled branches and apple sauce. Applejack quickly reacted and began to sprint towards the impact sight. Rainbow shook herself out of her daze and took flight right behind her friend.
“What was that?” Rainbow asked at the cowpony’s side.
“Ah’m not sure, but whatever it is it ruined a lot of ma field.”
“And my clouds,” Rainbow added.
The two mares followed the massive plume of dust rising into the air to the crater the impacted object created. Rainbow landed alongside Applejack at the event horizon of the anomaly. Rainbow began to flap her wings to disperse the copious amounts of dust. Applejack slowly stepped forward and began to walk down the slightly charred depression in the dirt. Rainbow followed right behind her.
The dust parted near the center. Applejack stopped and looked at the figure in the center. Rainbow Dash looked over her friend’s back and asked, “What is it?”
“A pony,” Applejack said as she walked towards the pony lying on its side in the center of the crater. They looked at a coffee, almost tan, coated Earth pony stallion with a mane and tail the color of tree bark. He wore strange clothing. His hooves were covered in a grayish brown material with ember like heels. He wore a black shirt with a gray line parting it in two on his chest. He also wore a pair of bluish goggles over his eyes. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing faintly. Rainbow spoke up, “What the hay, who is this?”
“Ah don’t know,” Applejack looked back to her friend. She turned back to the stallion to see a few scratches and nicks on the exposed portions of his coat. She moved towards him and spoke, “Can you get Twilight, I bet she would know what in Tartarus just happened.”
“Are you kidding, I’m helping you,” Rainbow objected stepping to Applejack’s side. Applejack paid no heed and quickly stuck her head underneath the stallion’s chest and lifted him onto her back. He was about her size. She turned to Rainbow, “Ah got this covered.”
Rainbow huffed, “I’m staying with you till we get him to your house.”
“Fine,” Applejack looked back and noticed something else in the crater’s center. She pointed to it with a hoof and said, “Why don’t you carry his saddlebags.”
Rainbow looked to where her friend had pointed and walked towards the faded and worn object. She scooped her head through and placed the bags on her back. With a gasp she commented, “These are heavy, what’s in them?”
She reached back but was stopped by Applejack, “We have no time, and that’s his personal stuff anywho.”
“Fine,” Rainbow glumly placed her hoof back on the burnt ground and followed Applejack out of the crater and towards the Apple abode.
…
A light golden colored pegasus mare with a pink mane and tail stood outside her house. She had been drawn out by a large explosion. A small white rabbit slowly walked up to her side. The rabbit poked her leg. She looked down at the small animal with her ocean blue eyes and spoke, “Angel go back inside mama has got something to do ok?”
The small rabbit gave a small huff of disapproval. She leaned down and nuzzled the white fluffy creature and spoke, “I’ll be back soon enough.”
The rabbit looked to the mare and slowly nodded. He turned around and hopped back inside a small burrow of a home that looked to be sculpted out of the landscape itself. Fluttershy watched as the little rabbit opened the door and stepped inside. Once the door closed she turned back and looked off in the distance to where a massive plume of smoke was still rising from Sweet Apple Acres. Just a minute ago she had seen a massive red ball crash down there. She turned back around and looked to the sleeping village not that far away. She unfurled her wings and spoke aloud to herself, “Twilight must know of what just happened. She’ll know what to do.”
The pegasus took flight and began to flutter not that far off the ground towards the town of Ponyville.
Chapter Two
A dark sapphire blue coated equine stood alone atop a small white marble balcony that topped the highest spire of an entire castle composed of the same material. The castle nestled itself alongside the cliff face of a tall snowcapped mountain; along with a sprawling metropolis leading away from it and down the side of the rock structure. A pair of wings folded against the equine’s side. She cast her gaze at the stunning landscape below with her light cyan eyes.
She stood taller than most ponies. Her long flowing mane and tail looked like the night sky above, billowed in a nonexistent breeze. A long sharp horn on her forehead was encased in an aura slightly darker than her irises. Her concentration was broken by a voice behind her, “What brings you up her Princess?”
Princess Luna turned around to see a strange creature standing next to the doorway leading to the balcony. The creature stood twice her height. His right leg was of a lizard, and the left of a goat. The right arm of a lion, and the left of an eagle. A set of two wings, one was of a bat and the other a pegasus. A red dragon-like snake tail with a white tuft to end it. A long snake like body covered in brown fur. His neck and head coated in slightly grayer hair. A short almost black mane ran down his neck. A top his head sat two antlers, one of a deer, the other a goat. His eyes unevenly shaped with gold corneas and bright red irises. His head was misshapen and slightly longer than the princess’ with a single sharp tooth jutting from his closed mouth. A small white beard graced his chin.
“I’m guessing you felt it too Discord?”
“You mean the surge of chaotic energy that appeared out of the blue a few seconds ago,” the draconequus walked to the side of the Princess of the night as he spoke.
“You wouldn’t have anything-“
“To do with it? My heavens,” Discord lifted himself off the ground and backed away from the Princess, “Not at all.”
Luna turned to the god of chaos and cocked an eyebrow up in disbelief. Discord landed back on the ground and said, “You can trust me, I am just as curious about it as you are Luna.”
“Very well,” Luna looked back to over what she could see of Equestria at night, “But that still doesn’t answer what was the magic.”
“I know what you mean, but,” Luna turned back as Discord trailed off. He looked to the Princess and continued, “I am a bit more well versed in chaotic magic than you.”
“What do you suggest then?”
“May I try,” he gestured to the view.
“Have your way,” Luna answered stepping backwards and giving Discord the balcony.
She watched as he thanked her and stepped up. He placed his hands on the flat topped gold accented baluster of the balcony. He scanned the horizon and lifted up his right hand. A small ball of red magic formed in his palm. A cloud of white dust formed around the ball and turned pink. Luna stepped forward, still behind the god of chaos, and asked, “What is it you are doing?”
“I believe I know who created such magic, we both sensed and I am trying to see if my suspicions are correct.”
“Who exactly could possess chaotic magic besides yourself?”
Discord didn’t answer as he watched the red ball quickly turned a sickly black color and the dust turned to slug, that clung to the fur of his hand. He cut his magic and the ball faded into white dust on the balcony. He turned to Luna and spoke, “It seems that we may be in danger.”
“From what?”
“I rather explain it to both you and your sister if you will.”
“Very well.”
Luna turned around and walked through the doorway and began to descend the spiral staircase to the rest of the castle. Discord walked right behind the night diarch.
…
Applejack pushed the door to her house open and walked in with the unconscious stallion still on her back. Rainbow followed right behind the farmer and closed the door. She lowered her back and the heavy saddlebags landed to the wood floor with a resounding thud. Applejack cut her a glare and seethed, “Keep quiet, do you want to wake up ma family?”
“Sorry,” Rainbow commented pushing the heavy and worn saddlebags to the side. They were a slightly faded tan, much like the stallion’s coat, with black lacing that had faded to gray and wrinkled slightly. Applejack stepped towards the green couch nestled against the back wall. Lifting him off slowly, she placed the stallion on the piece of furniture sending a small puff of dust into the air. Rainbow walked up to Applejack and asked, “Now what?”
“Why don’t you go get Twi over here to see if she can figure out what happened?”
“Sure thing,” Rainbow gave a half salute and quickly flew over to the front door. She opened and closed it in a flash and was out in the night air in seconds. Applejack turned away from the door and looked to the still resting stallion. She looked to his face which was twisted into a grimace, yet his breathing was still fine. A voice above her broke her concentration, “Your new coltfriend?”
She let out a small gasp as she looked up to see Big McIntosh at the top of the staircase looking down at her. She asked, “What?”
“I said,” the red stallion reiterated stepping to the top of the staircase, “Is that your new coltfriend?”
Applejack blushed slightly and staggered backwards, “N-n-no.”
Mac smirked and sarcastically spoke, “Suuure.”
“Shut up Big McIntosh,” Applejack countered still blushing with a loud stomp of her hoof.
The stallion let out a laugh as Applejack continued, “Rainbow and I found him outside.”
“What did Miss Rainbow do?” Mac asked as he stepped down the staircase.
“What,” Applejack asked completely thrown a curveball. McIntosh touched down and explained, “Ah heard the explosion, Rainbow performed another sonic rainboom didn’t she, and she hurt the poor fella,” he now stood next to his younger sister and gestured to the stallion sleeping on the couch.
“Actually he,” Applejack pointed a hoof at the stallion, “was the one that caused the explosion. There was this massive red meteor that crashed into the fields and at the center of where it landed he was there,” she put her hoof back on the ground.
“So that is why you sent Rainbow to get Twilight?”
“Yes.”
“Ok,” Mac turned and began to walk back up the staircase. He spoke as he ascended, “Ah’m going back to sleep, you have fun with your new coltfriend from the heavens.”
He smirked as Applejack huffed and gave a lighter stomp of her hoof in protest. He walked back to his room and closed the door behind him. Calming down Applejack lowered her head. Her ears flattened against her skull. She let out a heavy sigh and turned back to the stallion on her couch. She looked back to the door and waited for it to open up with Rainbow, hopefully with Twilight at her side.
…
The soft sound of metal plated hooves raked against wood. A lavender mare with golden shoes walked across the floor of a library carved within the inside of a tree magically kept alive. The dark navy mane mare with a tail of the same color with two highlight, one purple, the other pink, streaks through them. Her purple eyes scanned the many stacks of multicolored books that she possessed. Her horn ignited with an aura of purple magic as a gold crown with a pink six point star as the center piece was lifted off her head and onto a small wooden table with a wooden bust of a pony on it. She gingerly set the tiara down and stepped out of her hoof covers. She levitated them, once off, over to the side and neatly placed them. She fluttered the pair of wings at her side and spoke to herself; “Celestia said I would get use to those…” she stopped at the edge of the table. “She was dead wrong,” she answered herself dryly.
Twilight Sparkle, newly crowned Princess of Equestria, sat down and began to rub her right front hoof with her left. She winced in pain at the sore appendage. She looked to the staircase leading to the next story of Golden Oaks Library. She spoke to herself again, “I guess I should go upstairs,” she stood up and strode towards the staircase, “and get some,” there were a few gentle taps at the door.
Stopping dead in her tracks she lowered her face to the ground. Closing her eyes she somberly finished, “rest.” Furling her wings to her side she turned to the door and spoke, “Coming.”
She walked toward the door and gripped the doorknob with her magic. She strode behind as she opened it to the midnight cold air. Standing in the orifice of the building was a familiar sight. Twilight asked, “Fluttershy?”
“Hi Twilight,” the shy pegasus meekly responded.
“What brings you by so late?” Twilight asked stepping aside to let her friend inside.
The pegasus took the offer and stepped inside the library. Once she spoke, “Twilight you have to come to Sweet Apple acres.”
Twilight noted the urgency in her friend’s voice. She asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure exactly, but I saw this bright red light that crashed into the acres and a massive cloud of dust rose up. I came here as fast as I could.”
Twilight quickly walked towards the doorway, “I wonder what happened.”
Her wings flared open as a voice shouted out, “Twilight!”
Fluttershy jumped backwards with a startled eep. Twilight looked up to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Rainbow Dash what’s the matter?”
The pegasus landed and said, “Applejack needs you at Sweet Apple Arches now.”
“Because of the strange red light?”
“How did you know about that?”
Fluttershy recovered and stepped behind Twilight. She spoke, “I saw it and came to get Twilight.”
She hid behind her mane as Rainbow quickly brushed it off and looked back to Twilight, “No it’s not that. Applejack and I found this stallion at the center of where the meteorite crashed.”
“A stallion?” Twilight asked stepping out of the library and into the night air.
“Yeah, and he was wearing some type of strange clothing,” Rainbow explained.
“Do you know him?”
“Not at all?”
“Is he ok?”
Rainbow and Twilight turned to Fluttershy who now stepped outside asking the question. She pulled back and hid behind her mane muttering, “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“He seemed fine,” Rainbow continued, “But we have no idea where he came from.”
“And you want me to figure it out?”
“Yep,” Rainbow responded with a nod.
“Sure,” Twilight gave a flap of her wings and stepped beside her friend.
Rainbow cocked her head to the side and asked, “Are you sure you can fly?”
“Shut up Rainbow!”
“I mean you did crash two weeks ago after performing one loop-de-loop.”
“Shut up,” a blush began to spread across Twilight’s cheeks.
“And into a tree.”
A zipper formed over Rainbow’s mouth and closed it shut. She mumbled against it as Twilight looked her dead in the eye, still with a blush, “Quit it with the crash, I know the basics of flying now ok?”
Rainbow nodded. Twilight undid the zipper and the pegasus let in a breath. After a few seconds she spoke again, “Note, never get Princess Twilight angry,” she turned around with a whip of her tail.
“Are we going to stand here jabbing at each other or are we going to see this mystery stallion?”
“Fine,” Rainbow agreed spreading her wings. She looked over her withers to Fluttershy who was still hiding just in the doorway of the library, “You coming Shy?”
“I’m not sure?”
“Come on,” Twilight egged on as her horn lit with magic and the lights inside the library extinguished. In fear of the dark Fluttershy jumped with a small scream out into the moon lit bathed grass.
“I guess Angel can cover for me until I get back,” Fluttershy half agreed spreading her wings. Twilight closed and locked the door to the library using her magic. Rainbow flapped her wings powerfully and took to a hover. Twilight followed and Fluttershy afterwards. Rainbow flew upwards and banked towards Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight and Fluttershy flew up next to the pegasus who took lead.
…
Applejack sat on her haunches next to the couch with the still unconscious stallion resting on it. Her eyes trained solely on the front door awaiting the arrival of Rainbow with Twilight. She had spent the better half of several minutes listening to the calmness of the quite Apple family house at night. The stallion next to her had rocked continuously since Rainbow had left. Just now he seemed to have stopped and to be calmer; almost asleep maybe. Applejack’s eyelids began to betray her as sleep began to overtake her.
Half closed and on the verge of sleep, Applejack rested her head against the arm of the couch. She was quickly jostled away by a knock resounding off the wooden front door. Stifling a yawn and standing up on all hooves, Applejack cantered towards the door.
Using her front right hoof. She grabbed the doorknob and turned it to the right and pulled the door inwards. She looked out onto the porch to see Rainbow Dash standing just beyond the threshold in the half light of midnight. Behind her was Twilight and Fluttershy. “Thank goodness you came,” Applejack addressed the three.
She stepped to the side to allow the three to enter. Rainbow stepped aside to allow Twilight to see the stallion still asleep on the couch. Fluttershy moved to a corner and spectated. Applejack closed the door and stepped behind Twilight who began to study the stallion.
“So he just fell out of the sky?”
“Eeeyup.”
“In a big red ball of light?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow added from the side.
“And he doesn’t have a scratch on him,” Twilight stated looking at the portions of the stallion’s coat she could see.
Fluttershy perked up, “But how is that possible,” she coward back when her three friends looked to her. She meekly continued, “I mean him being an earth pony and all.”
She began to scuff the wood floor with her hoof.
“I’m not sure about that one,” Twilight answered looking back to the stallion.
…
Kyle felt horrible. Worse than when he died by falling all the way down to the underworld and he forgot his lucky horseshoe. But he also felt different. He felt unfamiliar with his surroundings. He knew he was asleep, but he never really did that. There was always a threat of a zombie horde each night, or something worse like Cthulhu. He seemed to be lying on something, but it didn’t feel like his bed, or the other’s for that matter. But he did hear something.
He heard voices. Four to be exact. They all sounded female, which was strange. Kyle only knew three females; Hanna, Diana, and Michele. He wasn’t sure if there were more, but had never heard of them. These four voices sounded not a hint like Hanna, Diana, or Michele. They were all new.
Kyle slowly began to shift. The voices stopped when he started to move. His hands felt weird, almost like stumps. Perhaps my hands were damaged by the mirror and are bandaged. He shifted till he knew he was facing the four females. He heard one say, “He’s moving.”
Kyle slowly began to open his eyes. His vision was blurry and it took a few blinks to clear them. When his vision finally returned to him he looked to his surroundings and the four females. His heart stopped at what he saw.
Standing in front of him were four unicorns. One was purple. The one on its left was orange, but it lacked a horn. A cyan one on the purple one’s right also didn’t have a horn, but it had wings. In the very corner behind the orange one was a yellow unicorn like the light blue one. Kyle did the only thing he could do. He screamed.
He tumbled off of whatever he was lying on and began to run, he tripped over something and landed face first on the floor. He looked behind him to see a pair of bags with all of his items opened and strew about the floor. He looked to the unicorns as the purple one got closer to him. Running on adrenaline he reached for a purple book. He looked to see that his hands were now tan stumps. Not focusing on it and the threat in front of him he picked the book up in his right stump and stood on his other three limbs, it felt right for some reason. The purple one spoke, “Are you ok sir?”
Unicorns can’t talk. He quickly flicked the book and felt the energy begin to drain, it was a small amount, but it still hurt Kyle to do it. He watched as a purple ring began to spin where he flicked the book. He stepped backwards and watched as the ring sped up.
…
Twilight watched the strange band of purple magic materialize from the stallion’s book. It got faster and quickly shot out at her. With a scream she quickly cast a barrier spell. She felt the blade of magic repeatedly strike her barrier. She cringed with each strike. Soon the shock waves stopped. She opened her eyes to see a partially dissolved line drawn in her barrier from where the blade of magic had impacted. She dropped the barrier and spoke to the stallion, “Stop right now!”
…
Kyle was dumbfounded at what the unicorn was able to do. It erected a barrier in front of his scythe and stopped it. Making the attack null and void. It spoke to him again. Ignoring it he quickly dove back to the pile of his stuff and pulled out his bow. It glistened with the intense fires it was molded of. Still lying down he used his stump limbs and held the bow in his left arm and using his right he pulled the string backwards. Once it was taunt a clear gel materialized and soon formed into a wooden arrow. Kyle released the string and the arrow shot outwards.
…
Twilight watched as the stallion grabbed another weapon and proceeded to fire an arrow. She quickly ducked and rolled as the arrow whizzed over her head, slicing a few strands of hair. She heard a gasp from behind her. She focused entirely on the stallion now. Using her magic she grabbed and lifted him off the ground and slammed him into the wall. The walls rattled, sending a picture frame tumbling and shattering on the ground below. The stallion gasped and let go of his bow. It clattered to the floor.
She turned behind to see Rainbow and Applejack standing next to Fluttershy. She was leaning down on the ground. The front of her coat was stained blood red. Jutting out was the arrow the stallion had fired. Quickly giving orders Twilight stated, “Rainbow, Applejack get Fluttershy to the hospital.”
“What about him?” Applejack pointed to the stallion.
“I’ll handle him,” she answered turning back to Kyle.
Kyle looked to the four in front of him. He watched as four circles formed. A red one on the purple one. A blue one over the cyan one, orange one, and the yellow one. Names appeared next to them as the green rings formed. ‘Rainbow’ next to the cyan unicorn. ‘Applejack’ for the orange. ‘Fluttershy’ for the yellow. The purple one remained ‘Unicorn’.
The green ring on the two winged hornless unicorns reached about halfway around the circle. The red to yellow ring about an eighth and the blue to yellow didn’t appear. The hornless unicorn’s green ring reached a small amount less, the red to yellow ring was about half as the green. The blue to yellow ring formed a small amount. The green ring on the purple one filled the entire circle. The red to yellow ring almost filled the entire circle. The blue to yellow one went about halfway around.
These are no ordinary unicorns. Where am I?
Applejack and Rainbow left with Fluttershy, leaving Twilight alone with the stallion still pinned against the wall. Twilight walked towards the stallion and asked, “What is your problem?”
“What’s the point of talking to me,” Kyle rebutted?
Twilight cocked her head to the side and asked, “What do you mean?”
“Why ask me, I know what you want.”
“And that is?”
Kyle fought against his bonds, “Skewer me, do it, you always want to. You damn unicorns always want to do it.”
“Why would a unicorn do that,” Twilight was beginning to take a bit of offense.
“Let go of me you damn dirty unicorn!” Kyle yelled in rage as he arched his back to pry himself from the wall.
“Unicorn!” Twilight took a step back, “I’ll have you know I am no unicorn!”
She flared her wings outward. Kyle watched in horror as the name ‘Unicorn’ slowly dissolved away and was replaced by something he had never seen before. ‘???’
“W-wh-What are you,” Kyle asked the winged unicorn on the ground. His defenses had fallen; he had no idea what he was up against. This creature was a mystery to him. His rage had subsisted.
Twilight was confused by the question. She looked to the stallion and spoke, “Who are you?”
