It was a quiet and average day in the sun-filled town of Ponyville. No horrible monsters crashing through the town, no rampaging dragons causing a ruckus, no chaos (Sadly), no extraordinary things happening on the streets. However, the story is slightly different down the road at one of Ponyville’s most popular bakery, Sugarcube Corner. Inside, the fun-loving, party planning, hyperactive pink pony wasn’t acting her usual self. In fact, the pink earth pony was pacing back and forth behind the counter, wearing an ever-so-slightly worried look on her face. On the other side of the counter, watching her pace in the same place from the comfort of their chairs, was two of her friends who came to help carry the mountain of cupcakes behind them.
“Oh, where is she? She’s never be late with an order before, especially one of mine!” Pinkie said. Twilight, the young lavender alicorn princess, shrugged slightly as Pinkie resumed her pacing.
“Maybe… Maybe she had a lot of orders today and is just running slightly behind.” A quiet response arose from the yellow pegasus that sat across from the princess. Twilight nodded in agreement.
“She has quite the load on her, Pinkie. You know how long it takes to make and deliver those baskets.” Twilight said, moving from her seat. She stopped Pinkie’s movement and smiled. Pinkie let out a sigh and smiled. There was a moment of silence before the sound of wings flapping and hoofsteps clattering into the bakery broke it. A blue Pegasus with a mane of rainbows fluttered in, breathing heavily as if she had been racing for some time.
“Twi… light… there’s… something…” She said, between pants. Twilight quickly moved to the side of her friend.
“Just breath.” She said, putting her hoof over the back of the Pegasus. She took a couple deep breaths and gathered herself.
“There’s something you really need to see.” She said, pointing a hoof outside. Twilight looked out, then back at Pinkie.
“You’ll wait for me to get back?” The pink pony shrugged the same way Twilight had earlier. Her view turned to Fluttershy.
“I’ll wait here to help Pinkie…” She said. Twilight nodded.
“Come on!” Rainbow Dash yelled, rushing out the door. Twilight quickly followed behind.
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Papyrus said nothing to his younger brother. The view that he was seeing right now was unlike anything he has ever seen before in his life down in the underground. “IT’S SO BRIGHT…AND COLORFUL! AND THAT BIG BALL OF LIGHT IN THE SKY…”
“i think they call that the sun…” Sans said, his smile gleaming in the light. Papyrus nodded to Sans.
“YES, THE SUN. IT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING. HOW WE’VE LIVED UNDERGROUND WITHOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT FOR SOOOO LONG… IS COMPLETELY BEYOND ME…” Papyrus said, his face deadpanning on the last comment. Sans let out a soft chuckle, then looked out beyond the hills. From what he could see, there was trees, lots and lots of trees covered in red dots. Maybe apples? He couldn’t tell from his viewpoint.
“say brother… them trees look nice..” Sans said. Papyrus nodded, staring at the horizon. Then he turned to his brother.
“SANS. WHY DID YOU CALL THIS PLACE ‘EQUESTRIA’? IT SEEMS A BIT ODD TO ME.” Papyrus said, his smile fading slightly. Sans was about to answer, but a flutter of wings and the sound of hoofs stamping on the ground made them turn around. Behind them, an orange pony wearing what they described as a cowboy’s hat rushed over the hills towards them, and in the sky was blue pony with a multicolored mane rushing towards them as well, wings flapping through the air.
“Hold right there, you no good varmints.” The orange pony said in a western accent. The two bone brothers did as the pony requested, not moving an inch, mainly because they were startled and confused. Both ponies were right in front of them by the time they recollected their senses.
“Woah! Check it out! Have you ever seen anything like them before?!” The blue pony asked, hovering around them, getting a good look. The orange pony wasn’t as amused.
“Why don’t you do something useful and go fetch Twilight. I reckon she might have some idea of what we’re dealing with.” She demanded. The other scoffed, but a stern look from the orange sent her on her way. Then the orange turned her gaze onto the bone brothers once again. “Now don’t either of you get any ideas. I might not look it, but I can buck you into next week if ya try anything.” The two looked at each other. Papyrus’s smile had fade into a look of worry, but Sans remained his own cheerful self. The orange pony noticed this. “What you smiling about?” Sans shrugged.
“i don’t know about you, but all this seems slightly amusing to me…” Papyrus’s face dropped.
“AMUSING?! SANS, HOW CAN YOU FIND ANY OF THIS FUNNY?!” Papyrus said. Sans, once again, shrugged his shoulders.
“You mind telling me what’s so funny?” The orange pony said, her eyebrows dropping. Sans, again, shrugged.
“you know, we really didn’t get to know each other…” Sans said. He stuck out his boney hand for a shake, but the orange pony didn’t budge. He didn’t give up, however. “name’s sans… sans the skeleton…” He said, his smile gleaming. The orange pony only looked at him, but she soon put her hoof into his hand and shook.
“Applejack, sugarcube.” She said, the hostile look fading from her face. “You really not that bad, are ya?”
“me? bad? no. but i am a ‘sans’sation…” He said, chuckling from his own joke. Papyrus let out a groan.
“WHY, SANS, WHY?” He asked. Sans responded with a shrug. Applejack turned towards the taller skeleton brother. He glanced at her, then, repeating Sans, he stuck his hand out. She took it and shook. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” He said, taking his stand when he said this. This slightly confused Applejack.
“Great? Why ‘The Great Papyrus’?” She asked. He gleaned.
“BECAUSE ONE DAY, I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN AND BECOME PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD! AFTER THAT, EVERYONE WILL WANT TO BE MY FRIEND AND LOVE MY SPAGHETTI AND… AND…” He stopped, his bones rattling in the excitement of thinking about what he will do.
“Um… You OK, sugarcube?” Applejack said, a little worried. Sans shook his head.
“you can say you got him ‘all rattled up’.” Sans said, receiving a huge groan from his brother, who was broken out of his trance. The three continued to chat a little, learning something about each other. It wasn’t long before the sound of wings could be heard. They looked up and saw the blue pony returning with a lavender colored pony next to her. The two landed before the group and when the lavender looked at them, a squeal of glee could be heard from her.
“Are you… Humans?” She asked. Immediately, Papyrus jumped up and started to look around.
“WHERE!?” He yelled, only to be pulled back by Sans.
“she wasn’t talking about a real human, brother.” He said, then turned his attention towards the lavender pony. “we are not human. my name is sans… sans the skeleton… and this is my brother, papyrus.” He said, moving his bony hand out for a handshake. Immediately, his hand was grabbed and almost yanked out of its socket by the lavender pony, who wasn’t shaking it, but was analyzing it.
“Fascinating! The books didn’t have any information on this!” She said, smiling bigger than Sans. “If I could, I would like to take notes on this!” Sans shrugged (Of course). She grabbed his hand and began to drag him away. Papyrus was quick to stop her.
“I KNOW THAT MY BROTHER MIGHT INTEREST YOU IN SOME WAY I’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND, BUT I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS FIRST.” He said. The lavender pony nodded and Papyrus noticed that she not only had wings, but also a horn upon her head. “FIRST, WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE ARE WE?”
“I am Princess Twilight Sparkles. This over here,” She motioned to the blue pony, “Is the talented Rainbow Dash.”
“The one and only!” She exclaimed, brushing her hair off her face,
“You have already met Applejack.” Motioning towards the orange pony. She nodded. “You are currently outside our town of Ponyville in the kingdom of Equestria.” Papyrus looked at Sans with a straight face. Then asked his next question.
“WHAT ARE YOU?” He asked, pointing at Twilight.
“Why, I’m an Alicorn.” She said before rushing off with Sans. Papyrus rubbed his head in confusion.
“What’s the matter, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, walking next to him.
“JUST ONE LITTLE THING…
WHAT’S AN ALICORN?”