The first thing I noticed is that I wasn’t in any sort of pain. At least, not any more pain than I was already in. The second thing was I felt unusually warm. Not uncomfortably warm, more like a tent made from a warm blanket. Never mind, those get uncomfortable pretty fast. Um… Like sitting next to a fireplace or campfire? That’s the best I got.
I opened my eyes and immediately had to shut them again. I was surrounded by a blindingly bright yellow light. Fucking hell, am I in a sun? Turn that shit down, please. I noticed instantly that the light was no longer trying to pierce my eyelids, so I tried opening them again, blinking a few times to get used to the change. A yellow dome surrounded me, blocking my vision. Did I do this?
Apparently I did, because I felt a pounding on it. “Oh, now come on! What’s this? You can’t hide in there forever!” I heard the alicorn say. I could feel her pounding on the dome, but I couldn’t see her.
I mentally asked the dome to be a little more transparent, and it obeyed, giving me a nice yellow-tinted view of the world around me. I could now see the alicorn pounding on the dome, but she wasn’t getting through, fortunately. Behind her, Starburst stood in the doorway, looking around, possibly for the rest of her friends. A small crowd had also gathered to watch the confrontation. I swear a few were recording it, the useless fucks.
The alicorn finally stopped pounding for the moment and looked through the dome at me. “Hey there, care to lower the dome now? I promise not to punish you if you do as I say.” She said, after throwing me into a wall and out onto the streets. I think not.
“What even is your name, anyway? I can’t keep calling you that creepy alicorn in my head.” I had to ask.
“Princess Lemon Drop, future ruler of the first Equestrian colony in another dimension. Just as soon as the humans embrace Harmony and a permanent bridge between worlds is installed.” At least I have the name to this bundle of crazy.
“Hang on, were you the bitch that tossed me into this world?”
“Maybe. You having fun with my little game?”
My eye twitched. “Game? Is that what I am? Just a game? A toy?”
She seemed to mull it over for a second. “I thought we decided you were going to be my maid now. Do you want to be a doll instead?”
Either my vision started going red from rage, or it was the dome. Either way, I was pissed. “No! Just fuck off!” I flared my wings what I guessed were an aggressive manner, and the dome burst outwards in a sort of explosive flash. Lemon Drop got caught in it and was sent flying over the house before she caught the air with her wings.
If Lemon was surprised by my outburst, she didn’t show it. “Well pardon my generous offer then. Maybe you’ll rethink it after I-” She was cut off by a beam of magic impacting her wing, coating it in ice and forcing her to land. “Okay, now I’m just annoyed. Who is responsible this time?” She demanded, flicking the ice from her wing. She was answered by another ice beam to her face.
As I stood there, snickering at her annoyed expressions, I heard someone call my name. “Hey, Sunny!” Running down the street were my friends and companions, Charcoal, Starry, and Ceru. Beside them was a purple pegasus I recognized from the pictures and a splitting image of myself. Ceru immediately ran up and tackled me in a hug. “How many times do we gotta catch up to you?” She asked teasingly, then cast a look toward Lemon Drop. “It looks like we got here just in time. How have you been?”
I returned the hug briefly, wincing as she hugged a sore spot. That was to say, my whole body. She quickly let go after noticing. “Oh, the usual. Someone’s trying to capture me. This time it’s Princess Citrus Fruitcake.” I snarked, glancing at the alicorn in question.
“That’s Lemon Drop!”
“That’s what I said, Sour Bitch. Get that fruit cocktail out of your ears and listen for once.”
Ooooh, that really ground her gears. Her face went three shades redder and her horn glowed three shades brighter. “That’s it! I offered you a nice surrender deal. I even offered to make you my personal maid, and this is how you treat me!? I’ve had enough of your insolence!”
“Dude, haven’t you met me? I’m nothing but insolence.” I pointed out.
“She’s got a point,” Charcoal added.
With a scream of rage, Lemon fired a blast of magic at me. Ceru tackled me out of the way before I could dodge myself. The blast left a nice little hole where I used to be. Could I have summoned another dome to block that? Well I better figure it out now, because it doesn’t look like she’s gonna let up. Her horn lit up again as I tried to remember how I made that first dome. I just… asked for help, right? Okay, gimme a shield! As I thought that, a glowing yellow shield formed on my left foreleg. Well, that’s close enough. Pretty cool th-oh shit! I held up the shield as another blast came from Lemon. It hit the shield and ricocheted up harmlessly into the air. Well, unless it hit a bird or something.
I turned towards Ceru, who was looking at me in awe. “I didn’t know you could do that!” She exclaimed. “What else can you do?”
“I dunno,” I replied with a shrug, “maybe we can find out later.”
Starry briefly drew Lemon’s attention with another blast of magic, but she shook it off again. From the corner of my vision, I saw Starburst and Sugar dash out of the house and join her two friends on the street. Then I noticed two other ponies beside them, which I recognized at a glance as the earth ponies from the picture. So all six are finally here? That means I get to see the Elements in action up close and personal.
Sure enough, all six had donned their Elements and stepped forward. “Lemon Drop! On behalf of the kingdom of Equestria and Her Majesty Princess Spectra, we will put an end to your reign of terror right here!” Starburst announced as their Elements began glowing brightly.
Lemon didn’t seem to take kindly to the idea of tasting the rainbow though and spread her wings, either to launch a counter-attack or flee. Starburst noticed as well and shot me a look. Oh for the love of-fine. I turned to my friends. “Charcoal, with me! We gotta cut off her escape! Starry, cover us!”
Charcoal nodded, ditching her bags and taking to the air. I flew up as well, noticing the shield went poof at some point in the last few seconds. The two of us flew up and behind Lemon, where I finally got a good look at her cutie mark. A… glass of lemonade? Huh, alright. Lemon glanced at us briefly, her horn lighting up. Starry was quick to react though, disrupting the flow of magic to her horn with a blast from her own. With a cry of pain and rage, she looked back down towards the group and dove at them.
The Elements were still charging for some reason, so I had to act fast. I dove for Lemon myself, wrapping my forelegs around her and tackling her to the ground. “Quickly!” I cried out. “Use the Elements!”
“But you’ll get hit too!” Starburst countered.
I saw Lemon charge her horn for a spell, so I slammed a hoof into her head to break her concentration. “Don’t worry, what’s the worst it could do to me? Just do it!” The Element Bearers looked between themselves before nodding and unleashing the power of the Elements on us.
And then for the second time today, everything got really bright. I felt at peace for the first time in… probably forever. The light was so warm, so comforting. And I was laying on something really soft. Maybe… just a little nap wouldn’t hurt...
As the rainbow light faded, Starry and the others were enveloped in a warm sensation, like a blanket had been wrapped over them. Starry in particular winced as she felt a brief burst of fragmented magic in addition to the harmonic resonance. Before she should deduce the source of this magic, she heard an exclamation from one of the Bearers. “What?! Where’d they go?” Sure enough, Starry saw that after the Elements were used, Sunny and the alicorn - Lemon Drop, she said her name was - were nowhere to be seen. Upon further inspection, Ceruline and Charcoal were gone as well.
“I don’t know!” another said, “This has never happened before! Usually the Elements just restore harmony or imprison evil. They haven’t banished anypony in 4000 years! Does the moon look any different?”
They looked up to see the large white sphere orbiting above them. “No, it looks the same as it did ten minutes ago.”
“Maybe there was outside influence.” Starry wondered aloud.
All six sets of eyes turned to Starry. “How? Explain how somepony could have influenced the Elements.”
Starry shook her head. “No, you misunderstand. I felt a different kind of magic in play other than the Elements when they connected, but it was not coming from them. It was coming from… somewhere else.” She lit her horn and tried to scan for any residual traces of the magic she felt. When she didn’t pick anything up, she was about to stop with a sigh, but then the same energy she felt when casting the portal spell rushed into her horn. Pain exploded in her head and darkness claimed her consciousness.
When Starry regained her senses, she expected to be on couch, or in a hospital. Or at least still lying where she fell. Instead, she seemed to be lying on a hard wood floor. “Wh-where am I?” She looked up at the ceiling of the room she was in, where a large skylight showed a vast starscape beyond. Sitting up, Starry could see the rest of her surroundings, which looked to be sort of bar or tavern. Strangely enough, there were no doors. She idly wondered if the skylight was the only entrance, but shook that thought away. A look at herself revealed that she was transparent, like more of a ghost. Her breath caught in her throat, and it took a moment to calm down.
There was one other pony in the tavern with her. A pink pegasus mare behind the counter was cleaning a mug with a disinterested look on her face. As Starry sat up, the mare glanced up to look at her. “Ah, hello. Sorry to say, but we’re closed for the night. I’d ask how you even got here in the first place, but that stupid look on your face tells me you don’t know.”
Starry turned to the mare and walked over to the counter. “Excuse me, but I’m confused. Where exactly am I?” She asked.
“That’s… sort of a hard question to answer. The short version is that you’re dreaming. The confusing version is that you aren’t. Transdimensional magic is strange like that.” The mare said.
“Transdimensional magic? I… Yeah, I remember scanning some strange residual magic, and it invaded my head. I didn’t expect magic left over from the Elements of Harmony to be so volatile.” Starry gave the room another look over. “So the magic dragged my consciousness into a sort of dreamlike state, but you said this isn’t really a dream?”
The mare smirked and tapped the counter with her hooves. “Congrats Starry. Boss says smart cookies get rewarded accordingly, so here.” She pulled out a box of chocolate cookies from behind the counter and tossed one over to Starry.
Starry caught the cookie in her magic and just stared at the enigmatic mare in front of her. “Who are you, anyways? How do you know my name?” Starry took a bite of the cookie. There was a second bite. There was no more cookie for a third. It kinda surprised her that she could even eat it when she wasn't really there.
The mare shrugged. “I’m not important. This is a dream, remember? I’m a figment of your subconscious, or some dumb shit like that. You’ll probably forget all this when you wake up anyway.”
Starry tilted her head. “I don’t think my subconscious swears like Sunny. Luna certainly wouldn’t like it. And you said this wasn’t a dream.”
The mare chuckled. “No, I don’t think she would, and yes I did say that. The dimensional magic tried to pull your mind into the Viod, but thanks to us, you were saved from a fate worse than death. Now all we gotta do is send you back. Simple.”
“How is that simple? Wouldn’t you have to know where I was to send my consciousness back? Or… You were spying on us.”
“Ding ding ding. She’s right again.” The mare tossed another cookie at Starry. She glared and tossed it right back. “Fine, be that way. Yes, we were conducting surveillance. It’s kind of our job. Allow me to introduce myself. Strawberry Breeze. We’ve been keeping an eye on you, just in case.”
Starry glared at her, before sighing in resignation. “Can you… tell me where Sunny is?”
Strawberry nodded. “She was a foreign element in that world, so the Elements harmlessly moved her onto another. Probably one she’d be needed on. You were spared just by not being in the general line of fire. The magic that attacked you was from a rift left over from that.”
“Okay, so about getting me back?
Strawberry reached under the counter and flipped a switch or something, because a hatch opened up in the floor and a glowing pink crystal rose out, hovering just in front of Starry’s face. “Touch your horn to that and you’ll wake up from this weird not-dream. You won’t remember any of what you’ve seen or heard here, but you won’t entirely forget either. It’ll be like a crazy dream to you. I’ll also throw in knowledge of where the rest of your friends are, free of charge. Or you could not do that, and your body will eventually perish. Your choice.” She said those last two sentences in an unsettlingly cheery tone.
Starry shivered as she felt an immense power radiating from the crystal, but if Strawberry was right, this was her way to… wake up, she supposed. “You’re right. Thank you, and goodbye.” She closed her eyes and gently touched her horn to the crystal, and felt the familiar tug of teleportation as her consciousness slipped back where it belonged.
When Starry opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a bed this time. Three blurry figures were watching over her. She blinked a few times to regain focus, and saw that they were a pink unicorn mare, this world’s Sunshine, and Vinyl. Vinyl in particular perked up when she noticed Starry stirring. “Hey, you’re awake! I was worried you’d never wake up.”
Starry sat up, fighting through a sudden and sharp pain in her head. “I-it wasn’t that long…” She rasped. Her throat felt dry, and she realized she was very thirsty. Vinyl levitated a glass of water to her, which she drank from gratefully. “Or maybe it was. How long was I out?”
“Two days.”
Starry would have done a spit take if she had the spit to do it. So she settled on coughing dryly. Taking another long drink, she managed to put more words together. “T-two days?! It barely felt like five minutes!”
“That’s kinda what happens when you get put in a magically-induced coma.” Said the pink unicorn pony to her right. “Hi there, I’m Starburst Sparkle. I must say, you must be a very close-knit group if you’re chasing each other across worlds.”
Starry blinked. “Um, yeah, I guess we are. Hi. Care to explain what happened after I passed out? My head’s a little fuzzy after that strange dream I had…”
“Well,” Vinyl started, “I waited for you to wake up for hours, but eventually I got lonely.” She turned to the other ponies. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re cool and all. But I just kinda got… homesick.”
Starry paled. “You mean you went back to…”
Vinyl nodded. “Yes, I went back home to Ponyville. And you’ll never guess who I found there!” She looked giddy, like she was about to start jumping for joy.
“...Twilight?”
“No, Octavia! Apparently they just sent Lyra and Tavi back to Ponyville and put them under house arrest. I don’t know what happened to Tyler, Rain, or Blueberry, but I can only hope they’re alright.”
“Huh… Alright, what else?” Starry asked.
“Well, Tavi and I sat down over some coffee and talked about what we were up to-”
“It was more like you were rambling like a madmare over your exaggerated exploits because you refused the decaf.” Came an accented voice from the other end of the room. Starry looked over and saw Octavia standing in the doorway, her mane damp and limply hanging from her head after a recent shower. “Thanks for letting me use your shower Sunshine. It was confusing at first, but the water was bliss.”
“No problem.” She replied. “How’re you liking your old house?”
“It’s different, but strangely comforting. I always did like the modern style over the traditional decor those stuffy nobles back home preferred,” she smiled at Vinyl, “I blame you for that.”
Vinyl matched her look with smug grin. “Guilty as charged.”
Starry did a double take, then looked back to Vinyl. “How’d you convince her to come back with you?”
“Actually, she convinced me to let her come along.” Vinyl sheepishly said.
Octavia scoffed. “Vinyl shows up on my doorstep, we have a nice chat, and then she says she has to go back, and insists I stay behind for my own safety, without even telling me why she was leaving again. I was not having any of it. I may be an earth pony, but I’m far from defenseless.”
Starry tilted her head in confusion. “Vinyl, if you could have just gone home, why did you come back? If all was fine back home, you could have stayed there.”
“Pfft, you kidding? I’ve been having a blast. I’ve seen and done things I’ve never imagined. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I left this little adventure now.” Vinyl’s enthusiasm sagged a bit. “Well, what little I have done was pretty awesome. What about you? Why are you still here?”
Starry laid back down and stared up at the ceiling. “I was originally asked to accompany her by Princess Luna. But even though we failed, I’m still here because I’m enjoying myself. Plus, somepony has to keep the rest of you in check.”
Octavia scoffed. “Please, the only thing that can keep Vinyl in check is my bow going right up her-”
“Tavi!” Vinyl interrupted, her face suddenly several shades of red, much to the amusement of the others.
“Right, right. I know. I said I’d never speak of it again. Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to embarrass you after how often you do it to me.” Octavia smirked and left to give her mane a proper brushing.
Starry got out of bed slowly, with Starburst’s help. “Sorry we couldn’t get you to a hospital, but you have no records of any kind, and Princess Spectra can only do so much with the nobles breathing down her neck.”
Starry shook her head. “It’s fine. I just need some food and rest and we can move on.”
“Move on?” Vinyl asked.
“I don’t quite remember how, but I think my dream told me where Sunny is. We can catch up to her again.”