Every non-alicorn mare and even the dragon were shocked to hear what they heard. Some were sure they could take Equestria without anything else helping them, but to fight themselves? All seven? Loyalty and Honesty looked at each other, Twilight cowered closer to Pinkamena, and Rarity hugged Spike's claw.
"Ourselves?" Loyalty and Honesty blurted. "Excuse me, princess. But how in all of Equestria are we expected to do that, and fight the princesses there?" Honesty asked, it seemed that worry was getting to her, as her stance changed from confidence to a slouch.
"Easy," Daybreaker smirked at the seven. Her eyes looked over each of them, of course she new her counterparts student was an alicorn, but these ponies would assume Twilight was a usual unicorn, as she was special here. Like hell she would tell them, let them handle it.
"Well?" Rarity asked rudely, no matter how rude she seemed, it couldn't be taken seriously with her shaking hooves and scared eyes. Daybreaker rolled her eyes.
"You have evil on your side," Daybreaker smiled. "And a big, scary dragon while the one there is still a baby." Rarity smiled in assurance now.
"But isn't it that good triumphs over evil? How would that help us against however many powerful princesses there are and a draconequus?" Pinkamena piped, only to cower and look away at the stares she received.
"Old mares tales," Daybreaker dismissed. "Besides, Celestia and Luna are the only princesses there, though I do believe there is a Discord fighting for good. But Queen Chrysalis won't be an immediate threat."
"Well, it seems we have a way to beat goody-two-shoes Discord," Loyalty said bluntly and looked at Kindness who scoffed and turned away.
"I'm not going to play lovey-dovey with some good guy, sounds repulsive!" Kindness exclaimed. "Besides, kings are muuuuuch cooler than some pony-loving-abomination."
"You're much too perfect, my darling," Discord smirked at her.
"Bleh!" Pinkamena said loudly. "If you want to rule Equestria, stop messing with that thing and start planning on helping us!" Every pony was surprised at her sudden outburst, saying as she had usually been cowering in a corner with stage fright of just speaking out. She went back to cowering nervously.
"Ooooh, sorry, scardy-pony," Kindness stuck out her tongue.
"Anyways, I'm sure you will find a way to ensure victory, I mean, the only real threat of your look-alikes is magic," Daybreaker said. "Although, I'm sure they will give you mercy. Not the princesses."
"When are we going?" Loyalty asked, glancing over at Pinkamena. She almost felt bad for her. She most definitely wasn't loyal, but she had a heart when something was as obvious as that. But, of course, with being a mafia leader, she could never act on it.
"Now," Daybreaker announced and received a lot of protest. All were shocked and nervous, they had to take a totally different Equestria with complete strangers.
A golden part of Daybreakers throne shaped into a circle glowed a fiery red. The same part on Nightmare Moon's throne glowed a deep purple. Orange glowed on Discords, and black shined brighter than the already black on Chrysalis'. The same part was the center of the top trim.
Every one but Daybreaker watched in amazement. Suddenly, the red shot to each of the seven. Before they could even scream in fear or protest, the other colors shot to them with a loud noise and a bright flash.
Once Nightmare Moon's eyes readjusted, along with every one else's, the seven were gone. Fury boiled in her as she whirled to her sister, "You didn't even tell them of the Crystal Empire! Or the Tree of Harmony! Or the four alicorns! They're going to die! Dragon Lord or not!"
"They will be fine, sister," Daybreaker deadpanned. She glared at her sister, "You really think generosity would have power over vanity? Loyalty over control? Honesty over trickery?"
Nightmare Moon's fear deepened, "You mean you knew what they represent... and didn't tell them?"
"I saw no point to, they aren't idiots," Daybreaker rolled her eyes. She knew her sister wouldn't understand, because her sister didn't know everything she knew. Sure, she told her sister of the four alicorns, and the Crystal Empire, and the new child of Princess Cadence and her husband. But she didn't tell her sister the future, and she certainly couldn't. She had a way with secrets.
"Star Swirled is a miracle, is he not?" Daybreaker muttered with a smirk as the same colors shot from her horn and to the magic table. The orb from before seemed much smaller and appeared over the hollow shades.
"They'll be fine, and if true danger evokes," Daybreaker smirked. "I will take care of it, can't have my darling thief dead, now can I?"
"But you said it was their job to take over Equestria! Not ours to interfere in!" Nightmare Moon bellowed in her Canterlot voice. Fear, envy, and rage set place in her and just wouldn't leave. Now, Daybreaker was getting tired of her.
"Discord and I are very different, he can do just about anything with his magic. Even I have limits, dear sister. I am stronger than you, but weaker than Discord. I think it's a perfect secret weapon," Daybreaker stated calmly.
They all stared at the desolate world as fear set into each of them. The place was sandy, but there was no sun. A crescent moon shone bright above their heads, an array of pinks, magentas, and purples circled around it like clouds and even altered the edges to their own color.
The trees were seemingly just jagged sticks with branches sticking up from the ground, shadows and darkness seemed to lie at each corner. Rocks shot up diagonally to the sky, they were huge and towered over them. A trail wound off to the horizon in a grey sand.
Twilight seemed fixed on the skies as fear set into her and her pink companion who was shaking by her hooves. Rarity cowered closer to Spike while he just looked around in horror. Honesty and Loyalty exchanged understanding glances of a confident façade over their fear. Even Kindness seemed scared of the new place.
"Where are we?" Loyalty finally chirped, her façade fell at her tone. Finally, she cowered closer to Honesty, her eyes shot from trees to rocks to shadows.
"The Hollow Shades, if this Equestria is so similar to ours," Twilight said bluntly in her own examination of the place. She noticed the shadows leeching around them, as if controlled by something bigger than them. She crouched down next to Pinkamena and got a better look at them.
She saw the black smoke, it had white speckles in it, as if the night sky. There was a dulled black, as if the edges got transparent. Twilight saw that it actually was, this wasn't fog. This was magic. She stood while every pony else was panicking.
"Shouldn't it be day? It was day in Equestria!" Rarity piped, fear setting in as the anxiety of a new world was making their holes in her. She wanted to cry, she wanted to go home without this annoying job. She didn't want to be a queen, and if the thought did pass her mind, she certainly didn't want anything, even a king.
"Travelling through dimensions probably took time," Pinkamena said nervously as she drew circles in the sand with her hoof. She glanced at Rarity for a response, Rarity only seemed sympathetic. Her cheeks turned pinker- though no one could notice.
Twilight started following the direction the shadows were coming from. She noticed the fiery red specks in the shadows surround her.
"I think you're right, then again, the moon and sun could just work differently," Kindness shrugged, finally speaking word to each of them from her arrival.
"The sun and moon are universal, idiot," Spike growled. Twilight noticed the orange specks surround Kindness, the dark purple surrounded Rarity and Loyalty. A deeper black surrounded Pinkamena. She understood what this magic was.
"So dimension travelling means we're in the same universe as Equestria? Right, drake," Kindness growled dominantly. Rarity, Loyalty, and Honesty looked surprised at the beauty's rudeness. Pinkamena cowered further at the sound of her voice. Twilight assumed it was a great time to step in.
"These shadows are the rulers magic, the colors that sent us here!" Twilight exclaimed to herself once she came to the conclusion, everyone stared at her with confusion. She smiled at the spotlight.
"Okay," she started, her eagerness making her speech must faster. "The only other creature with this type of fog with their magic is the Pony of Shadows, and to my belief, he's been encaged in limbo for one thousand years so this is impossible."
"I thought it might've been the sirens, since theirs is usually a greenish fog, maybe it could've changed," she continued, not noticing the confused faces. "But then, if you notice the specks in the shadows, they match the colors to the rulers thrones."
"Of course, but couldn't this be some common-magical-color-scheme in this world, darling?" Rarity asked, not believing this random eggheads stories of sirens or shadow ponies.
Twilight shook her head and used her magic to disrupt the shadows around her, shooting them to eye level. "Red specks came from Daybreakers throne, I was the one she liked the most."
Her magenta aura encased the fog around Loyalty and Rarity, she brought it up to eye level. "Deep blue, from Nightmare Moon. Of course she would like the ones with the darker colors." She did the same for the fog around Pinkamena and Honesty, "Noir Black, Queen Chrysalis took notice to Pinkamena, I'm sure she would've done the same for the one pony who seemed to respect her."
Her aura surrounded the fog around Kindness, before she could explain, Kindness spoke. "Yeah, yeah, we get it, we're protected by the rulers. Big deal, I know we don't need them."
"How could you say that!? We got no idea where we are," Honesty fumed at the calm pony in the mix of the panicked.
"We have an alicorn, a dragon, a mafia leader, a cannibal, and me. We don't need some fire head and some insecure darkness rulers," Kindness explained and rolled her eyes.
"What about me?" Rarity asked with a huff. "I'll be a much better ruler than any of you! I'll take Equestria myself and have you all exiled!" She noticed the dragon next to her staring at her, she smiled to herself. "Of course, a queen does need her king, after all." The dragon smiled back at her. Though both smiles were menacing and dominating, they were still smiles.
"I guess we should at least introduce ourselves before moving on, I'm sure egghead could come up with a map," Loyalty said and looked at Twilight, who simply ignored the remark and nodded. "Well, I'm Rainbow Dash, mafia leader and controller of all pegasus cities." She smirked.
The other ponies seemed dumbstruck. She rolled her eyes. "I'm Applejack! AJ, for short," Honesty smiled proudly and winked at Rarity, whom gagged in revolt.
"I-I'm Pinkamena," Pinkamena turned bright pink as her hoof circling became faster with fear. Rarity and Rainbow Dash both wanted to help her. Rainbow Dash utterly hated seeing such a weak pony, that's what she wanted to believe, she knew she just wanted to make the mare comfortable. Rarity was simply really disgusted with the fact that she was so wimpy.
"Rarity! Master seamstress and also, I am the mysterious Carousel Boutique!" Rarity exclaimed proudly, the astonished faces only gave power to her wicked smirk. It all clearly went to her head... and her curls.
"T-Twilight, I'm a simple librarian at the Canterlot Library," she smiled nervously, every pony expected her to push up an imaginary pair of glasses.
"Dragon Lord Spike, ruler of the dragon lands," Spike smirked and showed off his spiked teeth that only Rainbow Dash and Kindness seemed to take appeal too. Rarity looked away nervously, alongside Applejacks terrified and fixed gaze.
"Fluttershy," Kindness smirked. Rainbow Dash and Rarity seemed on the brink of laughter. Her smirk widened as her eyes narrowed, "Ruler of the Everfree Forest." The shocked faces gave way to her demise-wishing stare.
"The Everfree?" Rainbow asked with horror. "No one survives the Everfree! The monsters are wicked!" Every other pony held the same expression. Spike raised an eyebrow in confusion, Rarity was the only one who took notice.
"A terrifying dragon doesn't know of the Everfree?" Rarity asked with concern. He simply shrugged his shoulders in response, earning a few gasps from the ponies. He rolled his eyes in hate of feeling inferior.
He growled, "If a petty pegasus can rule the place, I doubt it's that scary!" Applejack and Rarity cowered at the growl. Pinkamena jumped and Rainbow Dash leaned forward, declaring her appeal for the dragon.
Fluttershy sat down and looked around questioningly as the three discussed the Everfree with the drake. Her tail flicked in disgust every time he spoke or growled. So, she turned to Twilight and Pinkamena to distract her.
"So, smart one," she started rather coldly. "I'm assuming we should head to Canterlot, right?"
Twilight stared at her blankly, clearly analyzing the question. After a bit, she gave a hesitant nod of understanding, not answering. "I suppose so. But I have no idea how our Equestria and this Equestria correlate," she scratched her head.
Pinkamena stared down at the hole she drew in the sand. Suddenly, she jumped up and stood straight, she stared, wide eyed at the two. "Canterlot is the center of Equestria here as well."
The two stared in confusion as to how she could possibly know. Before the could ask, she continued, "The biggest difference is rotation. This Equestria is at a one hundred and eighty degrees rotation from ours." She stopped for a bit to analyze something and do some mental calculations. "Um, sooooo..." she started looking around. Suddenly, she found the north-east corner and pointed at it. "That direction is Canterlot!"
Now, all six were staring at her in confusion. Most were skeptical, but as soon as Twilight started in the same direction, the rest followed reluctantly.
They travelled in silence. Twilight and Pinkamena led the group while Applejack and Rainbow Dash walked side by side, sticking to the other as the other was probably their opponent in strength. Rarity stuck close to Spike, she even got him to carry her, which he happily obliged and she happily took. Fluttershy walked alone, she constantly took ahead of Twilight and Pinkamena, only to fall back.
As Applejack started to think of the map of Equestria, she remembered how close The Hollow Shades were to Canterlot. She turned to Twilight and Pinkamena with worry. "H-hey, saying as we'd be there in a day or two... think we need a plan?"
Pinkamena ceased her bouncing and started walking normally with a pinker face. Twilight started thinking and sighed, "I suppose we should, but... it's difficult to think of a plan without the knowledge of the enemy." She turned to Rainbow, who already had a defiant smirk. She rolled her eyes, "I'm assuming you have a plan of attack?"
"Yeah!" Rainbow flew up and hovered a few inches above the ground. Her hooves were placed on her hips. "Ransom! Works every time!"
Applejack rolled her eyes. "We ain't need money! We need Canterlot!" Rainbow realized this and fell against the ground again and defeat, then, she shot up with a new idea.
"We barge in there and use the dragon to kick some ass!" She said defiantly. Even Spike groaned at her ignorance. She growled at the inferiority she was feeling. "Hey! I'm not used to kingdoms, got it? At least I have ideas!"
The seven sat in thought. Well, not really. Rarity and Spike ignored the situation, Rainbow gave up, and Pinkamena was too scared to admit any ideas. Suddenly, Applejack whirled to Fluttershy. "Hey!" She started. "You rule over the Everfree! Why not just use the method you used?"
The others smiled, thinking it was a good idea. Fluttershy's sigh of disapproval made their smiles fall. "These are ponies with powerful, unknown magic. The Everfree had animals with magic I knew how to control." Now her words caused more confusion than clarity.
Twilight started, "How did you control magic? You aren't a unicorn." Fluttershy rolled her eyes and growled, silencing her and leaving the question as nothing.
More silence ensued until the dragon offered an idea. "You're smart, aren't you?" He pointed at Twilight. "Why not just cast some kind of changeling spell or something?"
Silence ensued once again, causing all participants other than Pinkamena and Twilight to groan. Pinkamena started the conversation, "It could work... if you could cast a spell for at least two of us."
Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Only two of us?"
Pinkamena simply nodded while Twilight thought it over. "It's certainly possible for me to... but I'll have to practice the spell... and remember it."
Rarity's face morphed to horror as her eyes widened and her body stiffened. "You mean we have to stay out here with nothing?!" She shrieked.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "We have a unicorn, and you're a unicorn. Just cast a spell."
"I don't know any magic like that!"
"I'm sure the alicorn does!"
Applejack looked to Twilight, "You do... don't you? I haven't lived with anything below middle class in all my life! I don't even know how to start a fire!"
Spike stepped in after her stopped flying, setting himself on the ground. "You have a southern accent, how do you not know how to start a fire?"
"Flim and Flam ain't never had a need for us to!" She seemed so panicked. Her hooves shook and she looked around frantically.
"You have a dragon and a magic alicorn," Spike started at an attempt to calm her down. "I'm sure you can survive a few nights with that."
She started pacing around the group and ranting. "Ah never lived with anything but Flim and Flam... shucks, I just wanna go home!" She fell to the ground in a panic and put her hooves over her head.
Spike simply stared at her. He was more confused than worried, but still worried. It was a pony who obviously worked, so why was she so scared? He almost found her idiotic, but decided that wouldn't help anyone if they succeeded.
He walked over to her and sat down next to her. She didn't budge. He smiled slightly. He couldn't believe ponies were so much smaller than him, and he was barely a teenage dragon. He shook the thoughts away, he had to calm her down, not admire how adorable her race was.
"Hey, at least you aren't alone out here," he suggested and was happy to see her peak out of her horror. "Besides, wouldn't you wanna grow up and not depend on whoever you were talking about?"
Now he could see how depressed she was. She sighed. "Not really. It's easier to depend on others than it is to depend on yourself. I'd rather stay under Flim and Flam's wing for the rest of my life than take care of myself."
"Do you never feel like a foal for it?" Spike asked, being more curious than anything. All he heard was another sigh.
"I've tricked a lot of ponies in my days... it ain't that hard to trick myself. I don't care either way really, I like my life with Flim and Flam... it ain't that bad," she said. He could see the slight smile on her face.
Before he could continue, Twilight popped up. "We have a plan!" All heads turned to her, Pinkamena, and Fluttershy. Twilight seemed way too giddy for her professional appearance.
"It'll be fairly fast, as we'll be caught quite easily," Twilight started. Then she paused in thought and shook her head, "Nevermind that. If we're quiet enough, we can succeed." She looked towards Rainbow, obviously rewinding her plan and rethinking it. She smiled. "We can use blackmail to avoid suspicion.
Rainbow smiled, knowing she'd have a part to play. Twilight finalized her plan, getting ready to explain it.
"Pinkamena and Fluttershy will act as the Laughter and Kindness here, baiting the princesses away from their throne. Warn the princesses of a danger taking over some area in Equestria. At least one will get up and race out of the door or the window." She started her explaination.
"We'll have Rainbow and the Drake at the window," she spoke, ignoring the dragon's name. Even if she saw his dislike, she didn't care. "Applejack and Rarity will be at the door, I'll teleport in and capture the two while they're distracted," she smiled brilliantly.
Before Rainbow could even ask, she continued. "We'll blackmail the princesses into staying quiet and acting normal in front of the guards while we learn more about the world. The rest will go accordingly and this'll be a slice of cake."
All were dumbstruck to the plan, except for Pinkamena and Fluttershy. Applejack was the first to speak. "Seems easy enough," she croaked.
Twilight smiled, finally letting the group see that she used her intelligence for evil, not normality. "Then, let's put the plan in motion!"