• Published 17th Jan 2015
  • 3,275 Views, 223 Comments

Shimmering Sunsets - Evowizard25



Have you ever wanted to go to a different world? Well, our characters probably didn't, but they went anyways. Now they're going to have to try and live with their new worlds until they can return home...easier said than done.

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Come on, let's go to the Everfree Forest

Ever since Sunset Shimmer had moved to Ponyville, it had been nothing but chaos. Sometimes literally. It was adventure, after strange circumstances, after villain. There was never a moment to just sit back and relax. It didn’t help that now that she had friends she had to spend time with them. It irked her...if only a little bit.

Sunset sighed as she looked over each and every book in the library. She was double checking each and every one of them, just in case they were out of order. Sometimes her little brother would organize them in the wrong order, based on the alphabet. Which was annoying. ‘DDS, little bro! How can you forget the Dewey Decimal System?’ She made a note to lecture him again. He wouldn’t mind it, especially after receiving one of Redhearts or even worse, Pizzelles.

At least he wasn’t like some ponies in town. ‘I’m thinking of you, Lightning.’ She growled, but then reigned herself back. She was going to relax today. It was Sunday after all. The library was closed and everypony was off praying or celebrating her mother’s gift to the world. She had some time on her hooves.

That and she didn’t want to be mad at her friends. She did care for them and if the past few weeks had taught her anything, it had been to appreciate what she had found. Sunset wasn’t going to take them for granted again...Maybe a little, but she was still learning. She’ll get better. At least, that’s what she told herself.

Giving the books one more scan, she decided to head off to the kitchen for a snack. However, the moment she turned around, she came muzzle to muzzle with Fiddlesticks.

“SWEET MOTHER OF MINE!” Sunset shrieked, teleporting a distance away. She tried to calm her breathing. “I told you to never spook me like that again.”

“Sorry,” Fiddlesticks at least had the courtesy to look apologetic. “Just wanted to come by before it happened.”

“What happened?”

“The thing." Fiddlesticks said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“....Have you finally lost it?” Sunset huffed. “Because if you have, I know this talented therapist way on the other side of the country.”

“Nah,” Fiddlesticks chuckled. “Nothin’ like that, ya kidder. Ah’m talkin’ about the doozy that’s a comin’.”

“Fiddle sense?” Sunset sighed. Fiddlesticks nodded. “Figures.” ‘Just go with it. I don’t want a repeat of the last time I tried to understand her.’ She shivered at those memories. ‘There goes my ‘me’ day.’ “So, how bad was it?”

“Not bad,” Fiddlesticks smiled. “Kind of seemed fun and my ear was twitchin’ up a storm while ah was at it, so it means we’re gonna get a bunch of new friends soon.”

“Wonderful,” Sunset groaned. ‘I can’t have a day off, can I?...CAN I?!!!”

“So ah invited the others.”

“What?” Sunset’s eyes widened and her body stiffened up. “They’re coming?”

“They’re here,” Fiddlesticks was right at that door and opened it to reveal the other bearers, plus Spike.

“Alright,” Lightning snorted. “What is it this time? Another god or monster from a thousand years ago? Can’t those chumps get the hint? Ain’t nopony gonna beat us.”

“Don’t right know yet,” Fiddlesticks replied. “Just thought we’d best be together when it happens. Ya’ll remember what happens when we split up.”

“We kick flank!” Lightning Dust hoof pumped.

“We scream and hide?” Coco Pommel put out, her ears splayed back and she hunkered a bit closer to the ground.

“A little of both." Pizzelle put a comforting wing on Coco. “Now don’t you fright now, sugar. We’ll get through whatever comes our way. Let’s just thank our lucky charms that Fiddlesticks sensed it this time. I mean, I love a little adventure as much as the next pony, but a little warning would be nice. Why, I know a saying that…..”

Redheart tapped her. “You’re doing it again.”

“Right,” Pizzelle blushed, looking away. She always did have a tangent to rant about for a bit.

“So Fiddlesticks, pall o’ mine,” Quickfix spoke up. Her Northern accent was still as strong as ever. “Was it a good one, or a bad one?”

“Good...kind of…” Fiddlesticks rubbed her head sheepishly. “Don’t rightly know, but there are some new friends comin’ our way...or their way...kind of strange.”

Sunset groaned. Fiddlesticks’ sense was always loopy, coming and going. It was like a force of nature in and of itself. “So….another adventure?” Fiddlesticks nodded again. Sunset couldn’t believe that this had become an integral part of her life.

“Well, at least we’ll be prepared for whatever comes our way,” Redheart headed for the kitchen. “I’ll make the snacks.”

“That would be lovely,” Spike smiled as he headed on after her. The other mares had grown accustomed to his roguish charm. He eyed the mares behind him. “Would you like me to bring you anything?”

A light ‘boing’ could be heard. “Celestia blast these wings,” Lightning muttered as she pushed them back down.

“We’ll come and get them, little bro.” Sunset rolled her eyes, chuckling at her friend’s misfortune. “After we help her calm down.”

“Buck you,” Lightning snorted, only causing Sunset’s chuckling to get worse.

It was good to have friends to mess with, even if they did occasionally ruin her plans.

__________________________________________________________________

"Huh, a line, that's new. Oh right, collab." Dr. Pie said, shrugging as she adjusted her glasses. There was nopony around to hear her odd statement, but even if there had been they'd have just brushed it off as Pinkie being Pinkie. The saying really hadn't updated after her PhD, and she was kind of glad for it. It just rolled off the tongue a lot better the way it was. Shaking her head and focusing, she knocked on the door to Golden Oaks Library. "Sunset? Twilight? Spike? Any random pony visiting? You home? Or visiting? Or burglaring? If there's a burglar in there I'll be pretty mad."

Spike opened the door, only having to look up slightly to meet the Shetish mare's eyes. "Dr. Pie, how many times do we have to tell you? This is a public library, you can just walk in during business hours."

"Yes, but it's also your home, and it's rude to enter a house uninvited." Dr. Pie sagely replied.

Spike just looked at her deadpan, no doubt remembering all the times she had snuck into the library just to surprise somepony or pull some prank. "Sooo, any reason you're here?"

"Right, Spike, please tell me that your mom or Sunset are home right now. I need to talk to them, it's urgent and super cereal." Dr. Pie had a very determined look on her face, only slightly undermined by the rainbow Afro wig she was wearing for no discernible reason.

"Right. Twilight's out doing some research. Hold on a second." Turning around he sprinted to the bottom of the stairs. "Sunset, it's Pinkie Pie!"

"I heard her shouting outside. What does she want?" came Sunset's voice from upstairs.

"I'm not sure. She said it was super cereal, whatever that means."

"....unless her shredded wheat squares suddenly threw on capes and are flying around town, I have no idea what she means."

"Oh wait, I was using the wrong word." Dr. Pie said, browsing through a reference guide on whales. "I meant to say 'super serious', my bad. I had breakfast cereal on my mind. For some reason, I wanted the kind with mini marshmallows."

"Okay, that makes more sense. I'll be right down." Her cloven hooves making almost no sound as she hurried down the steps, her natural unicorn balance keeping her safe from falling, Sunset Shimmer entered the lobby. The elder of Celestia's two students had been enjoying some (by her standards) light reading with Machination's Queen, a largely cynical and satirical view of politics from around the time of Equestria's founding about two thousand years ago. "So, what's going on?"

"Well, my ears were flopping, my knee got pinchy, and my tail got all springy, my hooves started itching, and I got a doozy." Dr. Pie explained...sort of.

"You got a party-mancy prediction?" Sunset asked. "I'm familiar with doozies," and understatement given what happened the last time the party pony had one, "but where the other's a combo or individual?"

Dr. Pie shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, I've never had that combo before, but on their own they don't make sense. All I know is that it's related to the doozy. That's why I came here. I figured if there's a big doozy about to hit Ponyville, the Bearers should know."

"Good call. Spike, send a letter to Celestia about this. Ask her to check up on anything else she sealed away centuries ago. Then send a letter to Sparkle to come back here quick." Sunset instructed, nodding at Spike's salute. "Alright then, I'll go alert Masquerade and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie, you get Sweetie and Applejack." She made a dash for the door only to feel a tug on her tail.

"Oh no you don't!" Dr. Pie shouted. "You get Applejack, I'm not dealing with her mother!"

"But Clementine hates me! I constantly put her daughter in danger with our element business!" Sunset reasoned. "You tell her, she doesn't hate you!"

Dr. Pie shook her head. "Oh no. She thinks I'm a lazy good for nothing party animal that takes nothing cereal. I mean serious."

"You know if you're that hungry we have Pumpkin Marshmellow Madness in the kitchen." Sunset offered.

With a gasp of delight, Dr. Pie bolted into the kitchen and poured herself a bowl. However as she was lifting the first spoonful, she stopped. "She left while I was getting cereal, meaning I'm stuck getting Applejack aren't I?"

Spike, sending off the first letter with a puff of flame, nodded. "Yep."

"Well played Sunbutt Two, well played." Dr. Pie said, before digging into the cereal. If she was going to be stuck doing this, it may as well be on a full stomach.

****************

“Awww,” Fiddlesticks pouted. “Why can’t we get any stars?”

“What the hay are you talking about?” Sunset said, irritated already with Fiddlesticks antics.

The group, plus a contingent of guards, were making their way through the Everfree Forest to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Over time, that castle had developed into a makeshift garrison post and a great place to strategize against whatever baddie they had to face. That and it was almost like home to Sunset. She sometimes thought about moving there, but thought against it. She had a tree library. There is nothing, short of some horrific event, that could rip her from it.

The guards that followed them were paltry force. There were four musketeers and six pikeponies. They didn’t need them really. The eight of them could have taken on anything that lived in the forest. Of course, they really didn’t need to, since Fluttershy kept the monsters at bay. ‘Pays to have a forest spirit on your side.’

Of course, Inquisitor Time Turner was adamant that they bring some support. There were reports of rebels and ill-cultists around. Sunset wasn’t sure if he was right or just being antsy. Eh, she could take whatever came her way.

“Not sure if ah should say,” Fiddlesticks responded. “Ya told me to stop with that ‘talkin’ to invisible ponies’ and whatnot stuff, remember?”

“Right,” Sunset rolled her eyes.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the group to find the old castle. It looked as good as the day it was made, thanks to the Elements of Harmony. Sentries were posted on railings and such, holding trusty crossbows. Their keen eyes scanned the forest for any signs of danger.

Some soldiers, a group of three, marched up and bowed before her. “Princess, the area is secured.”

“Any sign of danger?” Sunset asked.

“None, Your Majesty.” The guard responded, straightening back up. “We’ve scoured the area and even come into contact with the Forest Spirit. She has nothing to report other than some strange anomalies that seem to be happening.”

“...That sounds kind of dangerous.” Sunset deadpanned.

The guard gulped. “I assure you, Your Majesty. There’s nothing to fear. The anomalies haven’t been reported to last that long or anything negative to happen. I even had a Priestess bless the ground. She found no traces of negative energies.”

“Thank you for your efforts,” Redheart bowed her head. “It’s much appreciated.”

“Yeah,” Sunset looked around as she scanned the area. She could see the hues of each and every being’s aura and there wasn’t anything wrong now. ‘Why does that make me even more nervous?’

“Thank you, My Lady.” The guard bowed back to Redheart and motioned for them to join the guards inside. The group moved on without a word, which was strange given who most of them were. The castle was mostly empty with only a skeleton force of guards and a few maids and butlers scurrying around to maintain everything. Finally, they came to a small, but spacious enough, room.

In the middle of the room were several soldiers of higher rank. They were huddled around a large table, looking over some maps. Master Sergeant Thunderlane stood at the head of it all. He looked up from the table and at the group. He smiled.

“Glad you gals could make it,” he stood up and walked to them. The soldiers that had brought them inside saluted and Thunderlane returned it and then dismissed it just the same. “Everyone’s on edge. Nothing’s hit us yet, but we don’t want to get caught unprepared….again.” He grumbled.

“That won’t be necessary,” Sunset smiled. “We have this under control. If it does get out of hoof, Spike,” she gestured a hoof to her brother. “Can just get a message to Celestia herself. Mom’ll bring the Elements of Harmony and ‘boom’ no more problems. Now, where are these ‘anomalies’?”

Thunderlane gestured to the map. “Nothing conclusive, but there is one area we’ve been shying away from.” He frowned. “Something very chaotic is going down there.”

Sunset’s eyes widened. “You don’t think….”

Thunderlane shrugged. “Could be nothing. Could be something. We don’t know until we try.”

“Yeah,” Quickfix put in. “Come on, Sunset.” She wrapped a hoof around her. “Ye don’t know the horizon till ye look over the snowhill. We can take any ol’ monster that comes our way.”

“What she said,” Lightning grinned.

“Well….” Coco said, looking nervous before sighing. “If you go, I go.”

“That’s the spirit, hun.” Pizzelle hugged her close. “I’ll come too. I left Aki with Rarity. Oh she just loves him to pieces. Though, she might be a tad impulsive with dressing him up.” She put a hoof to her mouth and giggled.

“Someone always ends up bruising something,” Redheart chimed. “Better I fix it now then let it fester in this forest.”

“Then it’s settled,” Fiddlesticks smiled. She quickly turned around and gestured triumphantly. “Adventure, HO!” She started racing off. The others starting off after her, most grumbling about her just rushing off into the unknown like a crazy pony.

That was mostly Sunset, but that was a given.

________________________________________________________________

"So that's the situation as it stands right now." Sunset explained.

Masquerade nodded, her brow creased over the emeralds that served as her eyes as she thought. "Well, let's see. When it came to fighting ancient evils, the Princesses were no slouches. Any clues from Princess Celestia?"

Twilight shook her head as she finished reading the letter Spike had burped up. "She already checked up on Discord, he's still stone thank goodness, so no repeat performance there. Also, everything she's imprisoned in Tartarus over the millennia are still there. And anything else wouldn't hit Ponyville first, so she doesn't think it's anything old."

"So wait, we're going to get to fight something brand new? Sweet!" Rainbow Dash cheered, doing a quick arial backflip. "It's going to be so awesome fighting something that wasn't from, like, a thousand years ago for once."

"Ma is gonna flip out." AJ fussed, adjusting her hat. "She worries enough when we know what ta expect. Brand new bad critter? She's gonna flip her lid faster than a pan flips flapjacks."

"Oh she just worries dearie." Sweetie Drops assured the apple farmer. "That's just what mothers do. I know my sweet cherry cheesecake worries about me, but she knows I have a duty to save the world."

"Yes, we heard." Spike quipped, a claw digging in his ears. "All the way back here in the library."

Sunset rolled her eyes. 'Lyra seriously needs to learn volume control.' "Alright, so we have no idea what's going to happen, when, or where. Still, as long as we're together nothing can defeat us. Friendship is the greatest magic of all, and there are no better friends than us!"

Dr. Pie then burst through the door, slamming it on Spike. "Girls! I, oh sorry Spike." Opening the door and letting the little guy out, she turned back to the others. "Girls! I just figured out where the doozy is going to be! Deep in the Everfree!"

"Of course it's the Everfree." Masquerade droned. "Nothing can ever require our urgent appearance somewhere nice can it." Her annoyance at returning to the dark forest of doom was quite evident.

Twilight on the other hoof was much more focused on the task at hoof. "Dr. Pie, the Everfree is huge. Do you have any better idea than searching the whole forest?"

Dr. Pie pondered deeply, her toung stuck out the side of her mouth as her hooves performed invisible equations. "Um, I think it's near the Castle Ruins, a bit more northy southish to the west on the right side."

"Near the castle ruins it is." Sunset noted. "Alright Sparkle, let's do a group teleport, save us a few hour walking."

"Sorry I can't be more help." Dr. Pie looked rather sad, her hair slightly deflated. "It just keeps flip flopping where it is. North west, south east. Like boing boing boing boing. It's like it's in two places at once while being in only one place cause it's not moving."

"That's...actually very helpful Dr. Pie, thank you." Twilight admitted, and was rewarded with the sight of the good Doctor's hair re-inflating back to normal. "Alright girls, gather up!"

In a swirling vortex of gold and violet light, the six Bearers vanished.

At the ancient ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, an almost simultaneous flash heralded their arrival. Sunset looked appropriately tired for having teleported six ponies several miles, but Twilight looked hardly phased. "Shimmer, are you okay?" Sweetie asked, concerned for her friend.

"Yeah, just give me a couple minutes to recharge." Sunset replied, splaying out on the ground so she could charge up. "Alright, I've been thinking on how to do this. Dr. Pie said there were two possible locations. So we split into two groups. I go with one, Sparkle with the other. Whichever group finds something can set off a signal, and then we can teleport our own group there to fix whatever the problem is."

"You want us to split up? In the Everfree Forest?" Mask asked, incredulous. "Do you really love provoking fate that much?"

"Do we have a choice?" Dash countered. "We can't take the time to search both the slow way, if we all go to one spot we might miss whatever it is at the other. We don't have time to be worried about ourselves, ponies could be in danger!"

AJ sighed. When it came to ponies in need, Rainbow never stopped to think about herself. Probably why she was the Bearer of Generosity. "Okay then. If'n we're doin' this, let's do it right. Me, Mask, and Sun will go one way. You three go the other. That way me 'n Dash can be muscle fer both groups, an we each have one pony that's good at makin' nice in case we can talk our way out of a fight."

"Good thinking Applejack." Twilight nodded. "Okay, Rainbow, Sweetie, follow me. We'll check the north west. It's got the roughest terrain so it'll take longer to search. If time's a problem, Shimmer needs to take the easier route."

"I'm recharging as fast as I can Sparkle. I'm the only unicorn on the planet that can recharge without a few hours sleep." Sunset groused. Then again, she was always cranky when she ran low on mana.

"Alright then, times a wasting! Charge!" Dash took of into the forest, swift as her name implied.

Twilight chased after her, shouting the whole way. "Darn it Dash! Wait for us! We haven't established a search pattern yet! We need to be organized!"

"Oh dear." Sweetie sighed. "Looks like I'm going to have to play peacemaker with them as much as with whatever else we find. Oh girls, please be dears and wait for me!"

Watching her friends head off into the woods, Masquerade looked around nervously. "Um, nothing can go wrong now. I'm invincible. Today is going to be my lucky day."

"Mask, what are you doing?" Sunset asked, honestly confused. "You're always telling me to not say stuff like that."

"Yeah, I know it's just, well, I'm trying to take all the bad luck for us." Masquerade admitted, wings drooping in embarrassment. "Just trying to keep them safe."

Sunset considered this for a moment, before bursting out with a grin "Well nothing to worry about, I'm an old hoof at this! Stick with me and nothing can go wrong! I'm two days away from retirement, and then I'll go home and marry my childhood sweetheart!"

Applejack rolled her eyes. It was silly, but then again if it would help their friends..."Ah can take on anything this here forest can throw at us!"

****************

Fiddlesticks suddenly stopped, holding up a hoof. Everypony stopped in their tracks.

“What?” Sunset asked. “Is it your Fiddle Sense again?"

Fiddlesticks nodded. “Somepony’s temptin’ fate.”

“....Is it us?”

“No.”

“Then buck them,” Sunset turned to Thunderlane. “Lead the way.” Thunderlane nodded and he sped off with his soldiers in hoof.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Coco spoke up as the Elements began running. She may have been an Earth Pony, but she was still scrawny. It was hard for her to keep up.

“Look,” Sunset spoke up, sighing. “I’m sorry. If I ever meet these ‘imaginary’ ponies who were stupid enough to invoke fate, I’ll apologize. Until then, I’m just going to be worried about you girls...and you too Spike….and these guards who I don’t know that well…look, long story short, I just said it out of stress. Happy?”

“Not really,” Coco admitted.

“Then how about a little get together later,” Sunset smiled. “We can watch those sappy romance movies you so love.” While she wasn’t a fan of them, she’d learned that you sometimes had to do things to make your friends happy.

Coco smiled. “That would be nice.”

“We’re here,” Thunderlane called back to them as he faced a large clearing of sorts.



“This….” Sunset couldn’t speak. The event before her scientific mind was astounding.

“It’s a portal,” Pizzelle said. The others found her speechlessness rather shocking. She always had a ton to say. Of course, perhaps it had to do with the situation and her unnatural affinity with magic.

“A portal?” Lightning flexed a foreleg. “Alright whatever you are, bring it!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Lightning, there’s a very good chance that whatever’s behind that portal can probably kill you on sight.”

“We face guys like that all the time and we’re still breathing,” Lightning smirked and flexed her wings. “There’s a reason I’m this awesome.”

“Perhaps we should go back,” Spike spoke up. “I think mother would like to see this.”

“She will,” Sunset waved him off. “But first, I want to study this thing. I mean, a wild portal, Spike. A wild portal of this size!” Her smile nearly split her face. “There has never been something like this in history and look! It’s stable. See how the energies fluctuate? It’s actually drawing energy from everything around it, but just enough to keep it going. It’s keeping the forest and us alive for support! Maybe it’s sentient, maybe it can’t drain more energy. It could be a construct.” She squealed and stomped around like a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

"Neeeeerd!" Lightning shouted, killing the mood.

Sunset frowned. “Really? REALLY?!!” Lightning just laughed. Sunset huffed in anger. “I am not a nerd.”

Meanwhile, Quickfix had gone off to check out one of the devices held on standby. Said device was being operated by none other than the local Chaos Priestess, Vinyl Scratch. She was humming, wiping down her prized ‘Sound Cannon’. Quickfix’s mouth watered just looking at the thing. It was a new invention, using magical conduits and runes to fire actuall sound! The machine god must be smiling down at it!

“Yo Quickfix,” Vinyl smiled at her. “What’s up?”

“Oh nothin’,” Quickfix smiled, glancing at the Sound Cannon. “Ah was just wonderin’....”

“You can’t tinker with it,” Vinyl said as flat as she could. “This is my baby, not yours.”

Quickfix frowned. “Can’t I at least have it for a little bit?”

Vinyl snorted. “You can watch it, not tear it apart. I have to go tinkle anyways.” She started off. “If I found out you took it apart, I will use you as a blood sacrifice. Don’t think I won't, I did it to ponies before.”

Quickfix gulped and nodded. If there was one thing you shouldn’t do, it’s piss off a Chaos Priestess. Even if Vinyl was one of the more sane ones. She looked over the Sound Cannon and rubbed her hoof over it reverently. “Hello baby, don’t ye worry, Auntie Quickfix is gonna take good care of ye.”

“What’s ya doin’?” Fiddlesticks popped up on the other side of the cannon.

“Nothin’,” Quickfix snorted. She had known Fiddlesticks too long to be scared of her jumping out of nowhere. “Just lookin’ after this.”

“Hey,” Lightning landed next to them. “What’re you doing, messing with Vinyl’s stuff. She’s going to rip you to shreds.”

“Hold yer apples,” Quickfix snorted. “She asked me to look after it. It ain’t like ah’m gonna do anythin’ with it.”

“Like this?” Fiddlesticks pressed a big red button on top.

“Like that……” Quickfix narrowed her eyes at Fiddlesticks. “Ye had to, didn’t ye?”

“IT’S A BIG RED BUTTON!” Fiddlesticks yelled in defense. “AH HAD TO!”

Suddenly, the machine roared to life. The metal sheets on the front hiding the ‘firing’ slot opened up and fired. A pulsing blue beam of pure sound, which was obviously dubstep a horrendous noise that was mainly used for sound weapons, fired into the portal. Instantly, it flared and then it fired back. The three mares screamed in surprise.

“AH REGRET NOTHIN’!”

Well, except for Fiddlesticks.

“WITH MY LAST BREATH, I CURSE SUNSET!”

Okay, one of them just screamed in surprise.

“BUCK YE, FIDDLESTICKS!”

Okay, none of them just screamed in surprise! What do you want from me?!!!

_____________________________________________________

"Um, I think I found the thing." Dash stated, landing. Indeed, before her was a swirling vortex of dark black energy. It was growing and shrinking in a steady rhythm by sections, like the beating of a heart.

"Oh my goodness, that thing is amazing." Sweetie admitted. She was slightly out of breath, but she could appreciate the sheer beauty of what lay before her.

Trotting up behind them, Twilight gave a low whistle. "I have never seen anything like that before. It looks amazing."

Suddenly, a faint voice could be heard coming from the swirling vortex. "Alright whatever you are, bring it!"

"Did, did it just talk?" Dash asked, sca-I mean concerned for her friends.

Twilight's eyes shone like beacons of curiosity. Luckily she had enough control with her magic that this was figurative instead of literal. "Girls, I think we may have just discovered a new form of life! Think of the possibilities! This could be an energy being of pure magic! Pure thought! Some other unknown force! It could be a manifested spirit, or a conceptual being like Discord! This is a historic discovery! This could be world shaking! This could change history and society as we know it! This could-"

"Neeeeerd!" Suddenly called out over the clearing.

Dash fell down laughing. "Okay, it's clearly got your number."

Twilight fumed. "Just because I love learning doesn't make me a nerd. You take that back this instant you!"

"Twilight, I don't think you should taunt the thing." Sweetie advised.

Dash rolled her eyes "Oh please, what's it going to do, attack us?"

It was then that a roaring column of energy shoot out of the thing. Four things happened then.

Dash tackled her friends to the ground, trying to avoid the blast. This sadly failed.

Sweetie remembered that she was supposed to have dinner reservations with Lyra at La Prarie that she was now going to miss. An interesting choice for a last thought.

Twilight instinctively fired back, her own blast somehow sliding through the oncoming blast and not impeding it at all, though not being impeded in turn.

The fourth, and most important thing, then happened. Murphy, spirit of disaster, irony, and misfortune, took notice, and was displeased. The bad luck was supposed to go to those other ponies, damn it!

****____****____****____****____

In the space between seconds, something unprecedented happened. Two groups on the opposite sides of natural chaos portals hit each other with blasts operating on totally alien magic systems, resulting in some sort of interdimensional feedback.

Fluttershy, spirit of the forest, was present only indirectly through her Timberwolves. She couldn't help her friends.

Murphy had no manifestation, no focus of power. He could only influence chance and outcome. There wasn't anything he could do.

Then, with senses that only a spirit can understand they, for lack of a better term, smelled each other. And in a sense of mutual understanding on at least a basic level, they went to work.

Fluttershy called upon the power of nature from two worlds, taking a desperate gamble on a slim chance to save the ponies in peril. It was a slim chance.

Murphy laughs at the idea of slim chances. Using his power over odds, he found the desired result. Taking the needle thin chance, he hammered it wider and wider, until the odds were large enough you could use it as a blanket on a princess sized bed.

As the portals collapsed, the ponies safe, the energies dispelled, Fluttershy realized she had made a critical error. "Wait!" she 'shouted' on a plane beyond mortal understanding. "These are the wrong ponies!"

"I know." Murphy 'replied'. "It is in my nature to make things not go right. Be glad others tempted fate away from them, or else I wouldn't have bothered with this much."

"But, how will they ever get back?"

"Not my department."

And then the portal closed, cutting the spirits off from each other. And thus ended their 1.37953 second alliance.

____****_____****____****____****

The three mares bowled over each other as they rolled along the forest’s ground. Eventually, they came to stop as they collided with a large tree. Groaning with pain, they split up…

Only for Quickfix to jump Fiddlesticks and try to strangle her with her hooves.

“Ye little idiot!” She shouted, gripping Fiddlestick’s throat. “Ye had to press that button.”

Fiddlesticks pushed her off easily with her Earth Pony strength and jumped back. “It was a big, red button. How could ah not?”

“By thinkin’ for once,” Quickfix growled, tapping her head. “Can ye do that? Ah mean…..” Suddenly Quickfix’s world became dizzy. ‘Why’s everything blurry?’ She stumbled, shaking her head to clear her vision.

“Quickfix!” Both mares were at her side instantly. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah’m tired…..” Quickfix tried to keep herself up. She couldn’t be tired. She had to strangle Fiddlesticks for her stupidity. ‘Vinyl’s goin’ to kill me.’

“You were fine just a minute ago,” Lightning frowned and looked at the portal. “Maybe it just drained your energy or something like that. I’m no nerd expert.”

“Yeah…..” Quickfix whimpered. She didn’t want to go to sleep in the Everfree Forest. “Sleep….” But it was too tempting. She closed her eyes. “That sounds good.”

Fiddlesticks grabbed her friend and shook her violently. “DON’T GO INTO THE LIGHT!”

Quickfix bonked her on the head. The unicorn pony shot her friend a glare and then fell into slumber.

And then the portal vanished.

_________________________________________________________

The three mares tumbled out of the portal in a mix of limbs, fur, and feathers, disoriented as could be.

"Okay, maybe it would attack us if we taunted it." Dash conceded.

"What is going on here?" an unfamiliar voice shouted in alarm.

Struggling to untangle themselves and see what was going on, Twilight was the first to get onto her hooves, and come face to face with a small army. "Uhhhh, hi?" She waved a hoof nervously, noting that there were a lot of spears here. As well as weird hollow tubes of some sort.

“HOLD!” A loud voice shouted at the other soldiers. They pulled up their weapons, keeping their scowls locked on their faces. Then, a grey pegasus dawned in golden armor walked up to them. “What the feather are you doing here?” He growled, bearing his teeth. Some of his more predatory fangs showed.

"That's my question ya feather brain!" Dash shouted back, getting up on her hooves. "You're not supposed to be in the Everfree, you're supposed to be on breeze duty over in the markets! This is so going on your performance review Thunderlane!" Dash realized something was off. Way off. For starters, the Thunderlane in front of her had hair, not feathers coating his body. Second, the Thunderlane she knew didn't have fangs. "Wait one minute, you're not Thunderlane!"

“Yes I am,” Thunderlane snapped, then he blinked in confusion. “How did you know my name?...Wait, are you Rainbow Dash?”

"Uh duh. You've worked for me in the weather patrol for like a year now." Dahs said, rolling her eyes, her feathers ruffling a bit.

"Dash dear, I don't think that's our Thunderlane." Sweetie suggested, standing up. "I do believe something quite strange is going on here."

“I would have to say the same,” another voice chimed. There stood a mare similar to Sweetie. She wore an elaborate blue robe with a red head crest. A necklace with Celestia’s symbol laid around her chest. She pulled the necklace to herself. “Speak strange ones. Tell us who you are and why you look so familiar.”

Twilight looked to the robed mare, back to Sweetie, back to the mare, back to Sweetie, over to the weird looking Thunderlane, at the ponies around her, the dragon, the..."Spike?" No, it couldn't be Spike. He was much too big, much too old to be her precious little son…

“Twilight?” Spike looked at her in shock. “What are you doing here?...and without your robes….or your mark….Actually, what are you doing here period?”

Twilight's eyes twitched, rolled up in the back of her head, and she fainted.

"Oh dear. Rainbow, could you make sure she's okay?" Sweetie instructed. As Rainbow moved to assist, Sweetie turned to face the crowd. "Well, this looks rather complicated. Where to begin..."

And then the portal closed.

Author's Note:

I want to thank Whiteeyes for deciding to write this with me. Thanks a bunch.

I hope you all enjoyed this and please leave a comment. It helps me and I'm sure Whiteeyes also appreciate it.