It was a dark and stormy night. Sheets of rain cascaded down, soaking the two colts to their core. Thunder pealed, and then their world was covered in puffy white. Solomon cried out in fear, "This is the end! It was nice knowing you, Aetherdal!"
Aetherdal groaned. "Must you be such a drama queen?"
Another downpour drowned out Solomon's response. The howl of a whirlwind masked the chattering of their teeth as they shivered.
Finally, the light broke through. The two were inside the room with their portal. Twilight smirked. "And that is how you cast cloudburst and drain at the same time."
Applejack and Pinkie Pie drummed on the galvanized washtubs that had been filled with suds. The farm filly said, "Ah swear, Ah, 've seen cleaner pigs in a mud pit."
Aetherdal stammered, "C-c-c-cold."
Rolling her eyes, Angel drew her wand and cast a warming charm. "Now whose fault is that?"
"You should look at yourselves," said Rainbow Dash. "I love the new 'do."
Shyly Fluttershy added, "It's called a bouffant."
Solomon asked, "Would it help if we said we're sorry?"
Rarity glared at the colts. "I should say not. I did not work day and night to have my masterpieces ignored." She levitated a bundle to each colt. "Put them on. We're late enough as is."
The colts looked at each other and then looked back at the fillies. Aetherdal said, "A little privacy would be appreciated."
Rolling her eyes, Twilight gathered the fillies to her side and cast a privacy screen between the fillies and the colts. As the colts hastily disrobed. a regal voice came from behind. "I see we have a full moon tonight, or is that two?"
Red-faced, the colts turned around. They and the fillies bowed to the princess and her retinue. A golden aura washed over the colts, and they found themselves clad in their new clothing.
"Please rise," said Princess Celestia. Turning to her retinue, she said, "Please send my apologies to my guests. I will need some time with my student and her friends."
The guards saluted while the assistants bowed. Together, they left the room, closing the door behind them.
"Princess Celestia, shouldn't you be at the Gala?" asked Twilight.
"All in good time, my faithful student," replied the ruler. "I thought it was more important to give you a proper send-off first."
"Send-off?" asked Twilight. "I'm not going anywhere."
Smiling, Celestia replied, "I should start by sharing what we've discovered about your friends."
Eight Hours Earlier
Princess Celestia cocked her head as the castle urgently whispered to her. Someone inside was working on powerful magic, someone who had no business doing so. She cast a scrying spell to take a peek at the proceedings.
She quirked an eyebrow as she recognized the colts who were involved. It was obvious who was the brains and who was the brawn. She frowned when she recognized what they were doing. A quick query to the royal vaults confirmed that all copies of the dimension-hopping spells were secure within. The pegasus colt clearly knew more magic than somepony his age should.
A knock at her door drew her attention. "Come in." When the door opened, she said, "Ah, Raven. Please tell me what you have dug up on our mystery foals."
Raven turned slightly green. "I wish you hadn't said that. We exhumed the graves, and the remains of a unicorn foal were in each. The paternity spells confirmed their identities."
Celestia replied, "That makes this quite the mystery. None of our foals are unicorns, but the paternity spell shows that they are twins of the departed."
"Perhaps they were abandoned because they weren't unicorns?" said Raven. "Our nobles have been known to do crueler things."
"That's where the situation becomes more muddled. Each of our foals is from a noble family, and each has apparently been disowned. However, since this was all done unofficially, they are all entitled to their birthrights by law. By law, I have to reinstate them. This is going to be a disaster."
"How so?"
Celestia replied, "Angel, the member of a prominent and influential family. The scandal of abandoning a foal is sure to taint their reputation. Solomon's case is even worse; he's Blueblood's brother. I don't think his parents will live that down."
"What about the third one?" asked Raven.
"Aetherdal? He's the easiest to handle. Since he's the last of his line, I will restore his title and lands once he comes of age."
Raven opened a file folder and pulled out the sheet on top. "I also have the results of their thaumalogical potential tests. All of them have some anomaly that is preventing us from getting an accurate reading."
"May I have a look?" asked Celestia. When Raven nodded, the alicorn picked up the report with her telekinesis.
Her brow wrinkled as she studied the results.
"Is something wrong?" asked Raven.
"That is a matter of perspective," replied Celestia. "This is chaos magic."
"I thought the only one who used chaos magic was hosting pigeons in the garden," said Raven.
"There are many, many others," said Celestia. "I thought they were all a world away."
She levitated the files from Raven. "Please cancel my appointments for the rest of the day. This calls for action."
Celestia noted the confusion that the mystery foals showed after they heard her story. The princess said, " Angel, you're in the Baumeister family. Solomon, you're in the Most Noble House of Blood. Aetherdal, you are the House of Lamperouge." She sighed. "I thought you'd be happier after you heard the news. Except for Aetherdal, you're not orphans. You have means. You have families. "
Aetherdal said, "It's not that we're disappointed; it's that we didn't do anything to deserve the honor of your presence."
Twilight added, "I still don't understand why you're sending us off."
"It's a matter of chaos magic," replied Celestia.
"I thought that was a dead field," said Twilight.
Smiling, Celestia said, "It would be more accurate to say 'petrified,' given that there is only one creature from this world who can use this."
Looking pointedly at the mystery foals, Celestia said, "There is another world where chaos magic is the norm. Tell me, my little ponies, are you actually humans?"
Angel sighed. "Yes, your highness."
"And are you not planning on returning to your world tonight?" asked Celestia. "You seemed very anxious to finish that dimensional portal."
Angel said, "We are revenants, princess. We were given new bodies so that we might escape what would have been certain death. Thanks to your generosity, we have recovered enough to return to the human world and fulfill our destinies."
Together, Rainbow Dash and Twilight screamed, "You guys are humans, as in 'My Little Human'?"
Solomon and Aetherdal drew back when they saw the hungry expression in the fillies' eyes.
Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other. "Oh, my."
Pinkie Pie bounced excitedly. "That makes you guys even more super special!"
Applejack picked Angel up by the front of her blouse and held her so that their eyes were at the same level. "Why didn't you tell us when you made us promise about your magic? We trusted you."
Angel replied, "We wanted you to like us for who we are, not what we are."
"Can you blame them for wanting true friends?" asked Rarity.
"Ah suppose yer right," said Applejack as she set Angel down. "Don't get me wrong, and I'm grateful for all you've done for mah family and me. It's just that it sounded like you were trying to pull a fast one."
"You're right; I should have told you sooner," said Angel. She held out her right hand. "Friends?"
Applejack hugged her tightly. "Friends. Yer the only reason Ah'm not an orphan."
"Wait," said Twilight. "Are you going to a dimension just like the one in the show?"
Solomon replied, "Actually, it looks like some of the characters are modeled after us." The other transformed humans expressed their displeasure with slaps to his head.
Shyly, Fluttershy asked, "Which characters are you?"
"Angel, I think it would be easier if you just show them," said Aetherdal as he edged away from her.
Angel pulled out her wand and cast an illusion spell. She conjured the figure of three of the main characters. "That's Aetherdal. That's Solomon. That's me."
Rainbow Dash shouted, "Ponypile Ringleader!"
Suddenly, Angel found herself in the middle of a group hug.
"This is so awesome! You guys are so amazing! Can I get your autograph?" said Rainbow Dash. The others were about to chime in when a golden aura covered them and pulled them away from Angel.
Angel breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, princess. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier."
"I understand your reasons," said Celestia. "I would, however, like to ask a favor of you, assuming my little ponies are amenable."
"What is that?" asked Angel.
"Let my ponies go with you."
"What? Why?" asked Twilight.
"You've learned so much of Equestrian magic. Would you like to learn magic from a different world?"
Happily, Twilight grabbed Aetherdal's hands and bounced. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!. ."
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flanked Solomon. Rainbow Dash said, "We got your back."
Fluttershy added, "Same friends, a different world."
With pleading eyes, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie looked at Angel.
"It would be my pleasure," said Angel
Earth
While not lovely, the haunted forest was dark and deep. While not of this world, the horridly asymmetric shadow that flitted about was not out of place. With a touch here and a nudge there, a path formed. Only the deepest lore student would have recognized the shade of a draconequus as it shaped destiny.