P.O.N.I.E.S.

by Kieva Lynn

Chapter One

Wilhelmina Vandom, 'Will' to her friends and family, was having a perfect day. The early morning sun was shining down as she walked the streets of Heatherfield alongside Taranee Cook. The biggest part of why the day was so good, of course, was that Summer Vacation had just started: Rather than walking with Taranee to school, she was headed for a day at the beach.

Not that this had stopped Taranee from bringing a satchel full of books. "A whole summer off and she still wants to learn." Will thought to herself.

Aside from their gender and age, fifteen, the two girls couldn't have been more different. Will was a pale-skinned Caucasian girl with green eyes and bright red hair. Taranee had a much darker complexion, as one would expect from the daughter of an African-American father and Japanese-American mother. Will was an athlete, a swimmer with dreams of the Olympics and no patience for book learning. Taranee was a scholar with dreams of M.I.T. and the athletic skills of a bag of rocks. Nevertheless, the two were lifelong friends.

"Really Tara?" Will asked as she eyed the satchel, "'A Brief History of Time?'"

"I re-read it once a year." Taranee answered.

"Yeah, but do you have to do it today!? We're going to the beach! The beach is for volleyball and suntans and swims! And guys! Not reading!"

"Will I see people reading at the beach every time we're there."

Will snorted. "Those are fifty-year old women. And what they're reading is smut."

"Yeah, I can't really deny that." Taranee admitted. "But it's my day at the beach too, I'll do what I want. And by the way girl, a little extracurricular study wouldn't kill you either."

"No. Way." Will replied. "It's summer break and I'm not so much as touching another book until we're back in class."

The universe chose that moment to drop a large book directly onto Will's head.

"Yeouch!! What the heck!?" Will exclaimed, rubbing her bruised head. She looked up, saw nothing but clear sky. Looked down at the book which lay at her feet. "Where did that come from?" She wondered.

Both girls knelt down and examined the tome. It was about thirteen by eight inches, and several hundred pages long. All in all, it had the appearance of book from the middle ages, bound in brown leather with metal tabs at each corner of the cover. The paper was thicker than most modern papers, with a rough unfinished edge opposite the spine. Yet in spite of the antique style, it also looked brand new, with no signs of wear and tear. Emblazoned across the front cover was the one detail that seemed to mark it as a modern-day creation; a circular holographic symbol, of a lightning bolt flashing out of a cloud.

Will paged open the book and stared. The writing was in symbols and glyphs unlike anything she had ever seen. "Any ideas?" She asked.

Taranee shook her head. "I have no idea what language that is... But I have seen it before."

"Where? When?"

"For one, in my own bedroom when I woke up this morning." Taranee answered. She reached into her satchel and extracted another book, identical to the one that had fallen on Will save that the symbol on the cover was different.

"Oh that's nice!" Will snarked. "Your book gets handed to you nicely, mine tries to kill me."

"Yours?" Taranee asked.

"Don't you think so?" Will said, picking up the book. "It came out of nowhere right to me after all."

Taranee face-palmed. "Please tell me you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking..."

"You know it! Magical adventure here we come!" Will cheered, then looked back at the book. "Um, y'know, once you finish translating whatever they say."

"So probably never. I'm not a linguist Will. And besides, 'Magical adventure?' This is our life not a kid's cartoon series."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Will sighed. "But I'm still holding onto this thing just in case."

As they continued on to the beach, Taranee hoped that her friend wouldn't realize that that was pretty much why she had bought her book along too...

Meanwhile, in an alleyway nearby, a series of rhythmic snores echoed from out of a galvanized steel garbage can. A sheet of newsprint casually discarded across the top of the can fluttered in time with each snore, until it was disturbed enough that as it settled back down it didn't just recover the top of the can but fluttered down inside.

Half a second later, the paper landed atop the source of the snores, disturbing it's sleep. "Who what where!?!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she bolted up out of the trash, wings buzzing.

Rainbow looked around at the dark, filthy alley. "Where the buck am I?" She wondered. The last thing she remembered... The last thing she remembered was something she didn't want to remember. Settling to the ground, she trotted a short distance down the narrow space, looking about with interest. Yes, that was definitely it, interest, not fear, not her.

Hearing voices from somewhere ahead, beyond the end of the alley, Rainbow started in that direction hoping to find somepony who could tell her where she was. But as she passed a large pile of refuse, the refuse suddenly moved. Papers and scraps of cardboard were shrugged off by a creature below. It was tall, the pegasus noted, covered in ragged clothing, and oof did it stink, of sweat and alcohol. Too-small eyes peered from between a tattered porkpie hat above and unkempt beard below, widening as they caught sight of Rainbow.

They both screamed at the same time.

"Monster!!!!" "Bighoof!!!"

Not waiting around to see if the tales of 'Bighoof's' cannibalistic diet were true, Rainbow took to the air as fast as she could, not noticing that the other had also fled. What she did notice, was that 'as fast as she could' was much slower than it should have been. Forget doing a rainboom, she could hardly break fifty miles an hour.

Finally stopping her ascent at around a thousand feet, she looked down. The alley proved to be situated between a pair of retail buildings that fronted a wide sandy beach with lazy waves rolling ashore. All across the beach were umbrellas, blankets, and more of the creatures like she had encountered in the alley. Of ponies, she saw none. Though, there was a horse standing outside one of the stores.

"Finally, somepony who can give me some answers." Rainbow thought to herself.

Descending slowly, careful to try and avoid detection by the mystery monsters, she returned to the alley, and peaked out around the corner. The horse was still there, and no monsters were nearby. "Psst!" Rainbow hissed. "Psst! Hey buddy! Come here a minute!" The horse looked up, but made no move to join Rainbow. "Are you dumb?" She wondered. The horse nickered, tossing it's head up and down, and Rainbow noticed for the first time the bit in it's mouth, and the rope tying it to a post. "Madpony!" She thought. "They must be taking him to the nuthouse..."

"Okay pal. Not your fault if you're crackers. Just tell me where I am!"

The front door of a shop opened and a creature emerged, the same one she had seen in the alley, she noticed. It was ranting and gesticulating as two other creatures appeared. These were dressed in uniforms, and seemed to be trying to calm the alley-monster down, to no avail. "I know what I saw! A rainbow colored horse-monster!"

"You probably just saw my horse Cletus."

"Bill's right, God only knows what you were drinking last night. I'm surprised you aren't seeing us in rainbow colors!"

"No! You gotta believe me! It's real this time!"

"Look Cletus," the second uniformed creature said, "We've always gone easy on you because you've always been harmless. If you keep this up though, We'll have to cuff you, put you in the drunk tank 'til you've dried out. You want that?"

Cletus shook his head. "No! No anything but that! Look, I'll be quiet officer, just promise me you'll keep your eyes open!"

"Fair enough. Now get out of here."

As Rainbow watched, unnoticed, Cletus stumbled away shaking. "This what you expected when you joined the force Bob?" One creature asked.

"Hell no." the other replied. "Look, why don't you keep up the foot patrols up here? I'll cover the beach."

"Sounds good."

As one of the creatures walked away, the other did something that made Rainbow's jaw drop open in shock. It walked up to the horse, untied the rope from the post, and climbed aboard his back.

"What the...?" Rainbow's eyes went wide. "Horse-slavers!" She exclaimed. Wide eyes narrowed. "Buck that."

Meanwhile, a purple-maned unicorn was coming to on the straw-covered dirt floor of a large barn on the outskirts of Heatherfield. "Ugh..." Rarity moaned, "What happened?"

Half a moment later she was wrapped in a pair of bright pink forelegs. "You're awake!" Pinkie cheered.

"Please darling not quite so loud..." Rising to her hooves, Rarity looked over their surroundings. "A barn? But what barn? I know it's not Sweet Apple Acres, I'd recognize that..." The fashionista trotted over to a rack of tools, which seemed half again bigger than they should have been. "In fact, if I don't miss my guess, this structure wasn't even built by ponies. Look how large everything is... Pinkie, where are we?"

"Beats me." Pinkie shrugged. "I woke up maybe half an hour ago. All I could see from ground level was corn fields in all directions. I tried to get up high for a better look, but the ladders here are too big for me to climb."

"Well I can at least do that... Teleporting isn't my strong suit but I'm sure I can get us up on the roof for a look. Gather in close dear." With Pinkie standing at her side, Rarity gathered power in her horn, closed her eyes, and cast the teleport spell. Nothing happened.

"Did you blow a fuse?" Pinkie asked.

"I certainly hope not. That would be the worst possible thing!" Rarity fell backwards, and grunted in pain as she hit the floor; No couch had appeared from nowhere to catch her. "What!?" Rarity stood back up. "Surely my magic can't all be gone!" She focused her attention on a nearby wooden crate, and successfully levitated it.

"Well that's something." Pinkie mused.

"Yes... It's as if I have basic magic but nothing advanced... Most unusual."

"Don't worry! I can still figure out where we are!" Pinkie announced. "All I have to do is reach through the wall and grab a copy of the script!" She reached behind her back, rummaged a hoof around, and pulled it back. "Taa-Daa!"

"'Taa-daa' what?" Rarity asked. "Your hoof is empty."

Pinkie stared at her empty hoof in confusion. "Well that's not right. Lemme try again." Over and over, Pinkie tried to produce something out of thin air behind her back. Each time she came up empty, and she began to grow more concerned with each failure. Finally she grabbed Rarity by the shoulders and shook her, screaming "I've lost my Mojo! My Pinkiness is gone! I can't reach through the wall! I can't even find the wall! How am I supposed to be Pinkie without my Pinkiness!? How!?"

Rarity attempted to calm Pinkie down, but words were getting nowhere. With a shrug of resignation, she hauled off and slapped her friend upside the head. The shock stopped the Pink mare long enough for Rarity to say "Darling, 'pinkiness' or not, you'll never not be Pinkie."

Pinkie grinned after a moment's thought. "Thanks Rares! I needed that!"

"Quite. Now let's put our heads together and figure out where we are and why."

It was a good suggestion. But before they could act on it, one of the barn doors opened with a loud squeal of rusty hinges. In stepped two beings unlike any the ponies had ever seen. "Aunt Beth!! Horsies!!" The smaller one squee'd.

"Lillian sweetie, what are you talking about-" The larger stopped mid sentence as she caught sight of the ponies. "What the hell...?"

Rarity was debating whether to take the initiative and introduce herself. All this accomplished, of course, was giving Pinkie the opportunity to do so without thinking. The pink pony bounced straight towards the new arrivals, babbling as she went. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! What are your names? And what exactly are you? And where are we and how did we get here and do you want to be friends and do you like cake and I'd throw you a party but my pinkiness is on the fritz so I can't just pull a party cannon out of nowhere so I'll have to give you a raincheck on that and why do they call it a 'raincheck' anyway and..."

The smaller creature's eyes went wide with joy. The larger one screamed...

Heatherfield Police Deputy Bill Varghness was having a bad day. First he had pulled beach duty. Which most of those on the force liked, but Bill just couldn't stand getting sand in his shoes. Then he got partnered up with Bob Taylor, who he liked off the clock but didn't work well with. Then he had to deal with Old Man Cletus. And now some kind of winged horse-thing was buzzing about, scaring Bill's horse and shouting some nonsense about equine rights and horse slavery.

Twice Bill had fired his service revolver into the air, but the freak didn't spook. He holstered his weapon, reluctantly conceding that, given it's small size, maneuverability, and erratic flight pattern he had no hope of actually scoring a hit. The winged-horse- "Pegasus! That's the term!" -He thought, flew up in his face and hovered. "How can it do that!?"

"Look you... you whatever you are! How can you do this to a horse!? Haven't you ever heard of the Anti-steeding Act of 1045? Except for foals riding on a mom or dad's back mounting another living being is illegal!" She blushed. "Y'know, unless they want you to... But that's for the bedroom!"

"It's just a horse!" Bill exclaimed. "A dumb animal! It's not like it's a person!" The look on the Pegasus' face went from angry to murderous. Scared himself now, Bill spurred his mount to turn and run, heading away from the impossible creature, down towards the beach...

Back on the beach, Will Vandom was laying across a beach towel on her back, sunning. Her mystery book was in the hands of Taranee, who was seated under an umbrella, with both books open side by side in front of her. "Well, the symbols do vary from book to book... Whatever they say, it's not the same thing."

"It's too bad we don't know any spies." Will mused. "I bet they've got computers in the Pentagon or something that could translate it all in seconds."

Shaking her head, Taranee said "I dunno... The symbols bear a strong resemblance to the Voynich Manuscript."

"The what?"

"A several hundred year old book written in an unknown language that no one has ever been able to crack."

"Ouch. I hope that's not it, I hate mysteries."

"Hmmm..." Sighing, Taranee closed the books, returning Will's to her and placing her own back in her satchel. "Oh well. I'll worry about it later."

"Your head's out of a book!?" Will chuckled. "Finally! Let's go find some cute guys."

"Down girl, we'll..." Taranee narrowed her eyes. "Do you hear that?"

"Someone yelling?" Will asked. Both girls stood and looked around. Coming towards them was a horseback deputy. The horse was moving at a full gallop, and the deputy was swiping his hands at something buzzing around him. At first they both though it was some kind of large bird, that perhaps he had accidentally disturbed a nest. But as it got closer, they could see otherwise.

Horse and rider galloped past, and the girls saw that the shouting was coming from the flying creature harassing the man. "Just a dumb animal!? Just a dumb animal!? What am I then!? Do I sound dumb to you!? Or, what, do you think all Equines are stupid? You think you're better!? Speciesist bigot!!!"

Watching man, horse, and pony racing away, both girls were quiet for a moment. Finally Taranee said “Um, Will?”

“Yeah Tara?”

"That... Was a pegasus..."

"Yes."

"A technicolor rainbow pegasus."

"Yes."

"A talking, technicolor rainbow pegasus."

"Yes."

"A talking, technicolor rainbow pegasus with the symbol from your book on it's flank."

"Ye- Wait what!?" Will quickly looked down at her book, reviewed her memory of the pegasus as it flew past. "Holy crap you're right! What are we waiting for!? Let's go after it!" Grabbing up their belongings, the pair rushed off in the path left by the horse.

Halfway across town from the beach, Irma Lair rocketed along the sidewalk atop a pair of inline skates. Bystanders yelled and gestured angrily at the tomboy as she passed them with mere inches to spare, dodging left, right, jumping cleanly over the back of a barking German Shepherd. Reaching an intersection, she grabbed hold of a lamppost and used it to execute a flawless ninety-degree turn with practically no loss of speed, saluting the pedestrians she had left in her dust as she vanished from their sight behind the corner of the first building.

Three blocks further, Irma skidded to a halt in front of her destination: A large three story building that housed a number of independent businesses, the largest and most successful of which was the Silver Dragon Chinese Buffet. Though she considered their food the best in town, though, Irma wasn't there to eat. Like several of the other businesses around them, the Dragon's owner/operators lived in the second and third floors. Irma was there to see her best friend, Hay Lin.

"Irma!" A familiar voice called out as she entered the dining room, skates held by their laces over her shoulder.

"Heya Mister Lin. Hay-Hay home?"

"She's up in her room." Charles Lin replied. "Haven't been able to get her to come out all morning."

Irma frowned. That didn't sound like her friend. "You mind if I go see what's up?"

"Not at all. If you can get her out, we could use her down here."

"Gotcha."

Irma climbed the narrow back stairs to the third floor, and approached Hay Lin's bedroom. Sure enough the door was shut. Irma, being Irma, (which is to say somewhat impulsive and a shameless prankster), would have just thrown the door open and barged in, had she not heard talking. Though too muffled to make out the words, the first voice was clearly Hay. Then another voice spoke.

"Hay Lin you little minx..." Irma thought, assuming her friend had sneaked a boy in. "I always thought I'd be the first one to..." As the second voice spoke again, so softly Irma could barely hear it, she pressed an ear to the door, and just made out that the speaker sounded female. "Nah... I know she's not..."

At that point, Irma decided to just go ahead with what she would have normally did anyway. She threw open the door and stepped in. "Hiya Hay-Hay! Who you got hidden... in... here..." Irma came to a halt as she saw what was sitting on Hay Lin's bed: A small pony with yellow fur and a pink mane and tail.

"EEP!" The pony exclaimed, and jumped behind Hay Lin.

"Irma what are you doing here!?" Hay Lin demanded. "You scared her!"

"I just stopped by! And by the by Hay, you can't scare a toy." Irma peered around her friend's back. "Though, I gotta say, that is the best animatronics I've ever seen. I can't even make out the joints!"

"Fluttershy is not animatronic!" Hay Lin hissed. "She's a real flesh and blood creature like you or me."

"Flutter..." Irma broke into laughter. "Where'd you get a name like that!?"

"I'm so sorry Miss Fluttershy." Hay Lin said. "Irma's my friend, and usually a decent person, though as you can see she can be a real jerk sometimes."

"It's okay." Fluttershy whispered softly from behind the girl.

"Holy..." Irma eyed the pony with renewed respect. "You... You weren't kidding were you? But how...?"

"Should we tell her?"

"I think so." Hay Lin said. "But first she apologizes!"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry Hay Li-"

"Not to me! To her! You called Fluttershy a toy and made fun of her name!"

"Ahh crap, right..." Irma knelt down on her knees. "Okay, um... Little pony thing?"

"Fluttershy!"

"Right that. I'm sorry. I just never saw anything like you before."

Slowly, carefully, with a timidity that made Irma realize the second part of her name was very appropriate, Fluttershy stepped out from behind Hay Lin. "Apology accepted!" She said, and smiled.

"Cool. So, you were gonna tell me what the heck is going on here?"

Stepping past Irma, closing (and this time locking) her door, Hay Lin said "I found Fluttershy up on the roof when I went up to water mom's garden this morning. She doesn't know how she got here, though we both think that where she's from probably isn't anywhere on this planet."

"Yeah, I'd think if we had talking ponies around we'd know about it."

"Right."

Looking at Fluttershy Irma asked "And you have no idea how you got here from wherever you were before? What's the last thing you remember?"

"I'd... Rather not talk about that very much. But something really horrible was happening. I remember shouting for help from my friend Discord, but he didn't answer. Then I blanked out, and the next thing I knew I was here. I don't know how, though we do have one clue that somepony- I mean, someone, I guess, bought me here on purpose."

"What clue?"

"This." Hay Lin answered. She held up a large leather-bound book.

"What about the book?"

Fluttershy said "Do you see this?" She motioned to a picture of butterflies on her flank. "It's called a 'cutie mark.'" (At this, Irma began to laugh again, but quickly got control of herself.) Fluttershy continued "Every pony gets a cutie mark, and it's unique to each individual."

"Following you so far." Irma said, "But what's the book got to do with it?"

Hay Lin turned the book over, showing Irma the front cover. Emblazoned across it was a copy of Fluttershy's cutie mark.

"Whoa..." Irma said.

“Well that was rude.” Pinkie said, staring at the door the creatures had fled through.

“Yes well, you can often be a bit... Overwhelming.”

“Really? I hadn't noticed.”

Rarity shook her head. “In any case, it leaves open the question of what to do now. I rather suspect that perhaps we should leave this place posthaste. Between my lack of advanced magic and your lack of... ...pink... ...we would be quite unable to defend ourselves if were still here when whatever those things are return in numbers.”

“You really think they'll do that?”

“Seems a risk too big to take.”

From outside the barn, voices rose. “They're in there!”

“Beth are you sure about this?”

“I'm telling you what I saw and heard!'

“All right, all right...”

“Um, I think we're too late Rares.” Pinkie said.

A new creature burst in through the door, larger than the first two, carrying a large gun. “Holy... What are you things!?” It demanded in a male voice.

“We're ponies of course!” Pinkie said.

“Horses don't talk! You're some kinda aliens! Well, the invasion stops here!” The creature took aim and fired, Pinkie and Rarity leaping to the sides, taking cover in small rooms behind thick wooden walls. The gun boomed again, and again.

“Why are you doing this!?” Rarity shouted from her hiding place. “We don't mean you any harm!”

“You 'come in peace' huh? Yeah, I'm not dumb enough to buy that!”

“Okay Darling think...” Rarity thought to herself. “We're pinned down here. Help isn't coming. And all we have is my levitation...” Looking around the small room she had taken shelter in, the unicorn didn't see anything useful, until she looked up. Hanging from hooks embedded in a wood beam were numerous tools. “Oh! Idea!” She thought, and began carefully lowering several of the tools to the ground...

"Ugh..." Applejack moaned as she came to her senses. "What happened...?"

"I knew there was something special about you!" An unfamiliar voice exclaimed.

"Who?" Opening her eyes, the farm mare found herself laying atop a sheet metal floor. Cinder-block walls surrounded her on three sides, while the fourth side was a mesh of metal bars. "Why'm I in a jail cell?" She wondered. Rising to her hooves, blinking her eyes to clear the fuzziness, she became aware of the owner of the mysterious voice. Directly opposite the bars, kneeling down, was a mysterious creature, female Applejack guessed, with peach-pink skin and a blonde mane. "If'n you don't mind me askin', what are you? An' why am I in jail?"

"I'm a human." The girl answered, giggling lightly. "And you're not in jail, you're in an animal shelter."

"Now why'd you put a person in an animal shelter!?"

"Not me. I just volunteer here. And, well... Do you know where you are?"

"Last thing I remember I was on the farm." Applejack replied. "What's that got t' do with my question though?"

"Oh boy..." The girl paused, seemingly deep in thought. "I'm not sure how to explain this, but wherever you're from, it's nowhere near where you are now. See, my species has explored the entire world and never found talking ponies anywhere."

"Are you sayin' what I think you're sayin'? But, even if that's true an' I'm on some alien world, still don't explain why I'm locked up!"

"If that's how you see it your people must be very trusting. But really, the reason you're here is, that ponies on earth are just animals. They don't talk or anything. So when you were found passed out in the middle of downtown Heatherfield, you were bought here. Everyone else just thought you were a strange-looking pony, but I couldn't help but feel like you were special somehow."

"Lot 't wrap my head around..." Applejack looked down at the floor. "But I don't get any feelin' like you're lying to me, so I guess it's true. Wait, was it just me? Was there anypony else there?"

"Any pony? No."

"Hmm... Look, I don't suppose you can get me outta here can you? I mean, I don't wanna get you in trouble or anything, but I can't stay here. I've gotta find out what's goin' on, find my friends if they're here too, I've got a family and a farm 't get back to..."

"Don't worry. I'll help you out. But it'll have to wait until tonight. I'll sneak back in after dark, I know a way, and get you free. In the meantime, I would suggest not talking in front of anyone else. If other people find out you're an alien or something, well..."

"Thank you kindly... But if everyone else'd be afraid, why aren't you?"

"Well, that mark on your sides..."

"Y' mean my cutie mark?"

"I guess so... I found this weird book with that mark on it earlier today. So, I guess there's some kind of connection?"

"Where's Twi' when I need her?" Applejack muttered.

From somewhere else in the building, voices rose, growing louder. "Okay, I'll get you out tonight." The girl quickly said. "Anything else?"

Rubbing the top of her head with a forehoof, Applejack asked "Have ya' seen my hat?"

In spite of the relatively low level of exertion she had spent so far, Rainbow Dash was already getting tired. She guessed that it must have something to do with whatever was restraining her top speed; after all, she could normally fly for hours without wearing out. Not so today. In spite of herself, she had to let the horse-slaving creature go. She watched as it and the horse fled, galloping down the beach, up onto a sidewalk, and out of sight around a building.

"Ah good riddance!" She swore as she settled down onto a rocky outcropping near the shore.

For a few minutes, Rainbow just sat and watched the low waves roll in and out. She noted that, while her endurance seemed somewhat lacking, she was at least recovering quickly. A few more minutes and she'd be as good as new. Then a voice spoke behind her. "Um... Hi there."

Rainbow spun in place, locking eyes on a pair of beings similar to those she had seen before, but smaller. "What do you want!?" She demanded. "Come to turn me into a mount too?"

"A what!? No! I'm Will and this is Taranee. We just wanted to talk to you, that's all."

"Talk? Talk why?"

"For one thing, this." Will showed Rainbow her book, the copy of Rainbow's cutie mark on it's cover.

"Hey! That's my cutie mark!" Rainbow exclaimed. She buzzed over, close into Will's face. "Where'd you get it? Who gave you permission to use it? Do you want me to sue you!? 'Cause I totally will! Cutie-right Infringement is a serious crime you know!"

"'Cutie-right infringement'?" Taranee laughed. "Oh man..."

"It's not a joke!" Rainbow shouted.

"Okay, okay..." Will said, holding up her hands. "Sorry. But it's not my doing, I just found the book this morning. Or, I guess, it found me. Fell on my head."

"No lie?" Rainbow asked suspiciously.

"No lie." Will replied. "In fact... Tara?"

"Right." Taranee said. "Take a look at this." She produced her own book.

"That's my friend Twilight's cutie mark!" Rainbow said. "Look, what the hay's going on here anyway!?"

"We were kind of hoping you could explain that to us." Taranee said.

"Me!?" Rainbow laughed. "Rainbow Dash is no egghead."

"That's your name? Rainbow Dash?"

"You got a problem with it?" the pegasus asked defensively.

"Why would I-" Will stopped herself. "Okay hold it. We're getting off track here. Look, we both have questions about all of this right?"

"Right." Rainbow agreed. "You're right. Sorry. So, first off, what are you? And why do you think it's okay to treat equines as slaves?"

"We're humans." Will answered.

"And as for your second question," Taranee said, "Well, do you have like, farm animals where you're from? Or pets? Animals that aren't as smart as you that you keep around as companions or workers?"

"Sure. But what's that got to do with... Hold on! Are you telling me horses here are just dumb animals!? Well, what about Ponies then?"

"Horses, ponies, pretty much everything native to our world except us." Taranee confirmed.

"So, that human that was riding the horse..."

"Horses have been companions to humanity for thousands of years. They're not enslaved, they're well treated as allies and friends."

Rainbow face-hooved. "Ahh nuts, I can see the newspaper headlines back home already: 'Rainbow Dash Blows First-Contact.'"

"I dunno. It seems like a pretty understandable mistake to me." Will said. "So, where is home?"

"Equestria." Rainbow answered. "Assuming it's still there. Some really bad stuff was happening before I got knocked out and woke up here."

Before either girl could ask what kind of bad stuff, there was a sudden ear-splitting boom and a flash of brilliant white light. Both girls and the pegasus dived behind a large rock, peeking out together as the light faded. Before them, hanging in the air perhaps fifty feet up and two hundred feet to the south, was a swirling vortex. "Whoa..." All three whispered.

"Rainbow? You seen anything like that before?" Will asked.

"Kinda-sorta... It looks sort of like a magical gateway I guess."

"Maybe someone from Equestria is coming to rescue you."

"I hope so. It's cool to meet you two and all, but I wanna go home."

As the trio watched, the gateway began to ripple. And something began to come through...

"Spike!? Spike are you here!? Spike? Anypony? Anything?" Twilight Sparkle hung her head low as she fell silent. Tears welled up in her eyes, in spite of her determination not to cry. In truth, the unicorn was closer to despondence than she had been since the first Discord incident.

It had all started just the day before. A letter had arrived from Celestia, warning Twilight to be on the look out for any exceptionally out of the ordinary events. No explanation was given; indeed, the letter seemed to have been written in haste. Not knowing what else to do, Twilight had sent an acknowledgment and gotten to her day's work in the library.

Perhaps an hour later, alerted by the sounds of ponies out in the streets gasping and screaming, she had stepped outside to see what was going on. Everypony was looking in the direction of Canterlot, and when Twilight followed their gaze she nearly screamed out loud herself. Canterlot was ablaze. Thick black smoke rose from hungrily spreading fires that seemed to engulf the entire castle and the city beyond.

Then, impossibly, things got worse. From out of the burning capitol a network of thin black lines, like the fracture lines in a pane of broken glass, began to spread rapidly in all directions. As Twilight and the other citizens of Ponyville watched, two of the black lines spread apart high into the bright blue sky, then curved back towards each other. As soon as they rejoined, the entire section of sky that was visible inside them vanished, replaced by a black void.

That was when the real panic started. Twilight found herself in the midst of an equine riot of fear and terror. As ponies ran in the direction away from Canterlot, as the black lines began moving in their direction, as more and more places seemed to vanish into the void, She tried to move against the current, to get back to Spike, to find her friends.

"Twilight!" The mare heard Spike shouting for her from afar.

"I'm here!" Twilight shouted back. "Where are you!?"

"Twi!? Was that you? I'm still at home! What's happening!?"

"Hang on Spike! I'll get to you somehow!" Carried by the crowd, Twilight found herself looking straight up as a wide fracture ripped through the skies above. Terrified ponies were shouting that it was the end of the world, and privately she wondered if they were right this time. Surely even unicorn magic couldn't fix something like. "Oh duh. Unicorn." Twilight muttered. She would have face hooved if she could have. Instead, she marshaled her magic and teleported out of the throng, back to the front door of the library.

"Twilight!" Spike gasped happily as he caught sight of her and grabbed ahold in a tight hug.

"I'm okay Spike. But I don't know what to do."

"Bah." the dragon motioned dismissively, stepping away, "You're Twilight. You'll figure it out!"

What happened next would, Twilight suspected, be seared in her memory for as long as she lived. Before she could respond, another of the fracture line cut through the library, directly between her and Spike. It wrapped up, around, completed a jagged loop. And the place where Spike had been standing vanished into a void. Twilight was aware of herself whispering "No no no no no" over and over, was aware of racing all the way around the void. It had been made by two dimensional lines intersecting. Yet the results were three dimensional. Spike was gone. Maybe dead. Maybe worse than- "No!" Twilight shouted. "I won't accept that! There has to be a way to-"

The next thing she knew she was waking up in a drainage ditch, a thin ribbon of water flowing languidly through the bottom. It didn't take long to figure out that she wasn't in Equestria anymore. And from there, it didn't take long to suppose that perhaps there was no Equestria anymore. Giving in at last to the tears, Twilight fell to the ground, not knowing if she could go on. The sound of a familiar voice pulled her out of her misery. "It can't be... Can it? Am I not alone here!?" Cheered by the thought, Twilight cleared her eyes and raced down the ditch, towards where she had heard the voice...

Cornelia Hale stomped towards her Uncle's barn, accompanied by her crying sister. As if it wasn't bad enough that she had to spend part of the summer out here; Cornelia was much happier in a mall than a corn field. But now she had to deal with something that had Lillian a sobbing wreck. Stalking past and ignoring her Aunt Beth, the teen barged right into the barn. "Uncle John what are you doing!?" She demanded.

"Get out of here Cornelia!" John yelled. "It's dangerous!" He kept his gun cocked and read, aimed towards the back hallway.

"Dangerous? Lillian said you're trying to shoot horses!"

"He is!" the younger girl cried.

"Weird talking alien horses!" John insisted. "They're here to kill us all!"

Cornelia rolled her eyes. Though level-headed in most ways, her Uncle had always been a bit iffy when the subject of flying saucers and little green men came up. "Really? Why would aliens be horses?"

"Ponies!"

"Okay ponies, whatever-" Cornelia stopped short as she realized she didn't recognize the voice. Peering around a corner was a pink face. "Holy..."

"See? What'd I tell you!?" John shouted, taking aim and firing just as the pony face ducked back out of sight.

"We're not the bad guys here you know!" The pony shouted, staying hidden this time.

"Oh yeah? Then who is?"

"At a guess? Probably that thing behind you."

John didn't buy it at first, certain it was a distraction. Cornelia looked, though, and screamed. This got the man's attention. Looking over his shoulder, he saw two things. First, his wife running to join him. And second, a swirling vortex forming in the sky just outside the barn.

As the humans turned to face the vortex, the ponies stepped out of hiding, also watching it warily. "What the hell?" Cornelia whispered.

"Something magical darling. That's all I can say."

The vortex suddenly swelled wider, and something came through. It was very tall, at least ten feet, and shaped basically like a human save for two extra arms and an extra joint in each limb, semi-transparent, with the look of organics and machinery rolled into one. Whatever it was, it stepped forward. A beam of light shot out from the center of the body, passing over John but not harming him.

"Positive identification." The entity said. "Male human. Indigenous. Target profile: Negative."

"What do you want?" John shouted.

"Mission parameter one: Classified. Mission parameter two: non-classified: Book holders. Mission parameter three: non-classified: Element Bearers."

"Book holders?" Lillian wondered.

"Uh-oh." Cornelia said.

Hearing this, the entity immediately scanned Cornelia. "Target Acquired. Tome of Generosity. Surrender the book." It began to move towards the girl.

"Ahh crap!" Cornelia exclaimed, turning to run. She fled down the hallway between the two ponies and out the back door.

"Tome of Generosity?" Rarity whispered. She looked back at what she had cobbled together from farm tools. "Pinkie darling, I'm going to give us a distraction. I suggest we follow the girl."

"Ready when you are."

The giant became aware of the ponies. Scanned Rarity. "Positive identification: Element of Generosity. Threat level: Low." It turned slightly and scanned Pinkie. "Positive identification: Element of Laughter. *Warning! Class Eleven Reality Bender!* Threat level: Extreme."

"Not a threat!? We'll see about that! Pinkie? Now!" Gathering her levitation magic, Rarity gathered up the various farming implements she had prepared. Originally, her plan had been to frighten the humans away by levitating the tools out, hanging together, as if an evil spirit was animating them. Now, she instead used them as a distraction.

As the loudly clanking assemblage hovered into view, the giant turned and began to scan them. Rarity flung the mass at the giant even as she and Pinkie made a run for the door. She didn't really know what happened next; only that as they reached the edge of the corn fields the giant was still coming.

"We have to find the girl!" Rarity said as she ran alongside Pinkie, "There's some kind of connection between us!"

"I'm pretty sure she went this way!" Pinkie answered, "I can still smell her cologne!"

"Right, so let's catch up before whatever that thing is does!" They nodded in agreement, and galloped along in silence...

Back at the Silver Dragon, after Irma had left, Hay Lin finished helping her parents through the lunch rush then sneaked back to her room to check on Fluttershy. She found the mare hiding under her bed hugging a stuffed toy dog tightly with her forehooves. "D'awww..."

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Fluttershy whispered. "I didn't mean to touch your things, I just found this guy and he was so cute and soft and he reminds me of some of the animals I take care of back home and I just couldn't resist! Please don't be mad!"

"Oh I'm not mad." Hay Lin chuckled. "You can hug Mister Pooches whenever you want! But right now why don't you come on out? I've got some lunch for you! Fried rice and banana pudding!"

Fluttershy carefully eased out from under the bed, and to Hay Lin's surprise managed to pick up a fork with her hoof. "Oh yes," the mare said when asked, "Equestrian ponies have a lot of dexterity in out forehooves. And we pegasai can also do this..." She transferred the fork to a wing.

"Cool!"

As Fluttershy was finishing up her meal, Hay Lin's cell phone began to ring. She answered to the sound of Irma shouting. "Hay Lin! What have you and that horse gotten me into!?"

"Pony." Hay Lin corrected. "And what do you mean?" She put the call on speaker so Fluttershy could listen. In the background of the call were sounds of screaming, and the rumble of destruction.

"Oh I'll tell you what I mean! I mean... Hang on a sec..." Irma stopped talking, but they could hear her breathing hard, the sounds of rapid footfalls, something that sounded like a sci-fi movie laser beam, and the crash of something nearby collapsing, accompanied by Irma shouting "Take that ugly! Take... Uh-oh!" the running sound resumed, and a moment later Irma came back on.

"Where was I? Oh, right. So, what happened is, first I meet the pony. Then you show me the book. And I think, 'Oh, it'd be cool to have a book of my own!' So, I'm going home and I stop at Taco Queen for a burrito-"

"Didn't you eat at the buffet before you left here?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's Irma. She would consider an entire extra large deep-dish pizza to be a small appetizer." Hay Lin explained.

"Focus you two!" Irma yelled. "I stop for a burrito, get home, open the bag, and you know what was inside!? Not my burrito! Another one of those books!"

"A book with my cutie mark?"

"Nah, not yours. Some balloons."

"Three balloons!?" Fluttershy gasped. "Yellow and blue!? That's my friend Pinkie Pie's cutie mark!"

"The point is," Irma shouted, getting exasperated, "That now I'm being chased by a giant monster thing that wants the book!"

"Monster?" Fluttershy shrunk back, tried to hide behind her mane.

"Right! And this thing just doesn't give up! It's been after me for ten blocks so far, and I'm starting to get tired! Is there anything you can do?"

"We'll be right there Irma, hang on!" Hay Lin announced. She looked at the terrified pegasus. "Right? I mean, we have to help a friend, no matter how scared we are."

Reluctantly, Fluttershy nodded. "Yes. Yes, you're right of course. L-let's go..."

"Positive identification." The giant looming over the beach declared, "Element of Loyalty. Threat Level: Moderate. Orders: Acquire at all costs."

"Friend of yours?" Taranee asked.

"Never met him." Rainbow answered. "Though, it sounds like he's heard of me."

"Guys? Shouldn't we be running for our lives?" Will asked as the giant approached.

Rainbow said "We'll call that plan B. First, if he wants me then I want a shot at him." Before Taranee or Will could stop her, the pegasus shot forward to meet the giant. Flying circles around it, she said "You want a piece of me big guy!? 'Cause I'll show you 'moderate' threat! I've got a black belt in Broken Wing you know! Hiii-yaa!!!" Rainbow attempted to engage the giant with her martial arts training. It didn't go well. The moves seemed right to her, but something was off; they just didn't have the speed or power they should have.

After ignoring several blows, the giant countered, knocking Rainbow away with with a hard slap of one of it's arms. Luckily, the blow sent her flying back in the direction she had came from, back towards, and indeed past, the watching girls. "Oh I hope she's okay!" Will exclaimed.

Alerted by her words, the giant scanned the girls. "Positive Identification: Tome of Loyalty. Positive Identification: Tome of Magic. Targets acquired."

"Run!" Taranee shouted, and they both fled in the direction Rainbow had been knocked.

They ran past a place where the beach curved in a gentle arc around an outcropping of rock, momentarily out of sight of the Giant, though it was still coming. A short distance further along was a dock, with several small boats tied up. The pegasus had landed here, and was getting back to her hooves when the teens arrived.

"I'm okay!" Rainbow insisted, though she didn't look it.

Taranee said "I have an idea... Rainbow, can you spare a feather?"

"Spare a... Sure." Rainbow plucked a loose feather from her wings. "But why?"

"Hide." Taranee said. "Under the dock." She ran across the dock to an empty boat, tossed the feather in, then untied it and started the outboard motor. As the boat careened off into the water uncontrolled, she rejoined Will and Rainbow.

"What's that supposed to do?"

"Diversion I hope." Taranee answered. "Just be ready to run if it doesn't work."

Twenty seconds more and the giant arrived, scanning everywhere, trying to regain it's quarry. Luckily, it scanned the boat before the dock. Announcing aloud that it had a target lock, it turned and pursued the boat out over the water.

"It thought one feather was all of me?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah. Now let's find a place to hide before it comes back." Will replied.

They found refuge several minutes later in a cave along the shoreline. "So," Will asked, "What were you thinking!? Attacking that thing!?"

Rainbow looked down. "It should have worked! But, it's like most of my pegasus magic is gone! I don't understand it!"

"Another question is why it came after us too."

"There's a connection." Taranee said. "It called Rainbow the 'Element of Loyalty' and your book the 'Tome of Loyalty.'"

"Rainbow Dash! I knew I heard your voice!" Someone suddenly shouted.

"Twi!?" Rainbow grinned from ear to ear when she saw her friend. They ran to each other and embraced.

"Um, Tara?"

"Yeah Will?"

"That's a unicorn."

"Yes."

"A talking purple unicorn."

"Will let's not do that again."

"Oh alright... Friend of yours Dash?"

"Oh right! This is Twilight Sparkle! Twi, this is Will and Taranee, they've kinda been trying to help me out."

"Huh. She matches my book." Taranee mused.

"Book?" Twilight asked. She was shown the mysterious tomes, but had no more idea of what they were for than anyone else did, nor could she read the language.

Further consideration was cut short by the return of the giant. As the foursome fled, Twilight continued trying to piece the puzzle together even as she galloped alongside the others. "Okay...So I'm the element of magic... And Taranee has the book of magic... But why did the book come to Taranee and not somehuman else? There must be some other connection..."

"You're both eggheads." Rainbow offered.

"You're a student of human magic?"

Taranee shook her head. "Humans don't have magic. But I guess you could call me a scholar."

"Me too! So there's one connection..."

Will asked "What about Rainbow and me? I mean, I'm loyal to my friends and all, but it's not some big central defining trait!"

"What else do you like to do?"

"I collect toy frogs! Um... I'm kinda book dumb..."

"There you go."

"Hay!" Rainbow complained.

Twilight grinned. "Just kidding. What else Will?"

"Well, I'm a competitive swimmer..."

"Swimmer? You're an athlete?" Rainbow asked. Will nodded. "Me too! Though most of my sports are aerial."

"Oh that'd be cool!" Will exclaimed, "Being able to race in the air under your own power!"

"Totally! Coolest. Thing. Ever!" Rainbow enthused.

The pair smiled at each other, connecting on a level they hadn't managed before. And then Will yelped as her book began to glow brightly and levitated itself up and in front of her, opening as it did so. The group stopped running, and Will said "Hey guys? Part of the text has changed to words I can read." The others gathered close to see for themselves, but found that only Will could see the words. Twilight asked her what it said, and she told them.

You could almost see the light bulb go on over Twilight's head. "Will! I've got a suspicion... Say the words again, aloud and forcefully!"

"Do I have to?" Will asked, "It doesn't make any sense."

"Just do it!"

"Okay okay..." Will narrowed her eyes. "Mystic Spectrum! Broken Wing Style!"

Brilliant white light flared from the open book, and also from Rainbow Dash. The pegasus vanished into a swirling aural column, and when the light faded and she reappeared, she looked different. Well, actually, Rainbow herself looked the same, but she was now dressed in a white karate gi with a black belt tied at her waist, and a white headband with a kanji symbol over her forehead.

"...Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow looked back at the approaching giant, then gave the others a smirk and said "I know kung-fu."

Will and Taranee looked at each other, then back to the pegasus. "...Wot?"