Then
The night of Equestria was generally cold. The warmth of the sun had left, leaving the ponies to make use of their fireplaces and freshly made tea. Some used their cozy blankets and cocoa, bundling up like it was Hearth’s Warming Eve.
Your friendly neigh(haha horse pun)borhood librarian used warming spells on her home. She lived in a tree, so it was highly impractical of her to have fires for warmth. Her dragon assistant was taking one of his eight hour bubbles baths. It was a lot harder to clean up under scales than ponies would think.
Since it was the end of the day, lots of ponies heading off to sleep, Twilight was doing some late night reading. Not she knew it was late, she was muzzle deep in a book. Twilight Sparkle was dead to the world.
She was so deep in the book that she didn’t notice the sudden arrival of Princess Luna in her front parlor. Not until said Princess used her magic to move the book out of Twilight’s reach.
“Ugh Spike!” Twilight cried out. She replaced her angered growl with a panicked squeak at seeing her new guest. “Princess Luna?!”
The Princess of the Night maintained a calm expression. Her sea green eyes were narrowed on Twilight, expectantly. “Twilight Sparkle, I am in need of your aid.”
“You need my help?” Twilight asked. Her eyes went buggy. “Really? Of course, Princess Luna! What do you need? The results of my latest experiment? Oh no, did my last friendship report not make it to Canterlot? Oh no oh no oh no!”
“Peace, Prized Student.” Princess Luna ordered. Twilight closed her lips, purple eyes shrinking in fear at any number of mistakes. “My reason for being here involves our mutual acquaintance, Raspberry Stardust.”
“Raspberry?” Twilight repeated in surprise. “Why? Has something happened?”
“That is why I have come seeking your aid, for I am as of yet unaware of what has occurred.” Princess Luna admitted. “Earlier this evening, I was on my way to Raspberry’s home to inquire on a mutual arrangement between us. As I flew over the Forest Everfree, I noticed an odd being I had not seen before. It stood tall, taller than other ponies, there was no fur on it except for the black fur on it’s head. There were no hooves, only claws. It fled in the direction of Raspberry Stardust’s dwelling. When I arrived there was no sign of the creature, or of Raspberry.”
Princess Luna paused. She knew that Raspberry had befriended the Princess of the Night some moons ago, near the time of Princess Luna’s return. After Luna’s banishment, Raspberry’s friendship had meant the world to her. It must be horrible to not know what was going on.
Twilight became worried for Raspberry. The librarian may not be that close with Raspberry, but their friendship was slowly growing strong.
“We must ask you, gather the remaining Bearers to find Raspberry Stardust and confront this creature. You must find out about the creature. It must be known if it is a danger to Equestria and her ponies.” Princess Luna explained. “We hate to ask this of you. It’s easy to face a danger to your world, but it can be challenging to face a friend.”
Twilight nodded. She bowed to the Princess. “Right away, Princess.”
Luna bowed her head, acknowledging the student before walking out the door.
As soon as the door closed, Twilight put on her most serious face.
“SPIKE!” She shouted. She ran off to her bedroom.
So Twilight ran out from the warmth of her house, dragging Spike behind her. She gathered her friends, telling them of their newest mission straight from Princess Luna.
The rest...well you know.
==DMLE==
Now
Twilight had been searching for Spike for the better part of the night. He’d run off not long after seeing his new ‘human’ form. Twilight herself wanted to run off too. Rarity had actually fainted!
The night had be more chaotic than anypony could have guessed. None of the mates had expected to change into these beings. The brightside was that Twilight and Rarity had their magic, Rainbow and Fluttershy could still fly though their wings faded away once they landed.
It hadn’t taken Twilight long to put together that they had been moved to another world. Moreover, that this world must be where that creature originated from.
Twilight had used a spell to track Raspberry. It had led them to the very creature Princess Luna had described. Imagine Twilight’s surprise when they were one and the same. Why should she be surprised? Raspberry had always been one for big tricks. Pretending to pony like some kind of changeling? Just what had Raspberry been planning to do with Equestria?
Rainbow didn’t much like ‘Morgan’s’ retreat after they confronted her. She followed the ‘human’.
Twilight wasn’t sure how she ended up trapped in the human’s house. Nor how she managed to escape without them attacking her or the others. She did know that Raspberry had retreated again, this time on the back of some kind of contraption that could not be safe to use.
Now, Twilight and the mares were all using the tracing spell again to find Spike. It brought them to a large building. They had been walking for nearly two hours. The mares were tired, ready to go home. None of them had expected this to take so long.
Applejack came up from behind Twilight. “What is this place, Twilight?”
Twilight was about to answer that she didn’t know. In her peripheral vision, she saw Morgan’s motorized contraption. The thing called a...bike.
“Her bike!” Twilight gasped. “That means Raspberry is inside too! She said she was going to school, so that means Spike is trapped in the human school!” Twilight answered.
Rarity came up to her side. She shivered, crossing her arms over her chest. “Those things...I can’t imagine what they must be doing in there.”
“Probably lessons. Since it’s a school, ‘n all.” Applejack deadpanned.
Rarity pretended not to hear her.
“What about Spike? Is he okay?” Fluttershy asked Twilight. “He’s been gone since last night. Oh the poor dragon must be terrified!”
“I’ll punch and kick anypony that scared Spike!” Rainbow announced. She pushed her own fist against her hand, miming punching one of the humans.
Twilight didn’t think Rainbow’s plan would get them far. “Or...we do something else. Why not just walk in, get a look at the place.”
“Umm...girls?”
Rainbow scoffed. “No way! What if the door has traps? I read it once in a Daring Do. The door to this big temple had a pit, with snakes at the bottom! But Daring Do was a pegasus, so the trap was pointless!” Rainbow seemed to have convinced herself to go inside. “Those guys will be so surprised when I don’t fall in that pit trap they have!”
“Girls?”
“Rainbow! They don’t have a trap at the door!” Applejack scolded. “That was in a story. ‘Sides, how are the rest of us supposed to get in?” Rainbow didn’t answer. “Exactly.”
“Girls?”
The ex-pegasus would like to say that she would have totally flown her friends across the trap. She just didn’t think of it until after. “Whatever! I don’t see you guys doing anything!”
Fluttershy sighed. She tapped Twilight on the shoulder. “What is it, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
“Pinkie went inside.” Fluttershy pointed at the door.
The mares snapped their heads to the school. Sure enough, Pinkie was opening the door wide to let herself inside. She was giggling happily.
“Pinkie!” Twilight scolded, after the door had closed. “Come on, girls, we have to make sure Pinkie’s okay!”
The mares all ran to the door. Pinkie was long out of sight, not that they had expected to catch her. If she needed to be, Pinkie was faster than Rainbow (not that the pegasus would ever admit it).
==DMLE==
Spike the Dragon wanted you to know that he was not hiding in same closet from earlier. No siree. That’d be ridiculous.
No, he was hiding behind a large indoor plant. He was bigger as a human than when he was a dragon, so he had to curl into a really tight ball to keep all of himself from being seen.
“Hey Spike!” Spike yelped. He jumped back in surprise. When he looked back, he saw a human Pinkie Pie standing behind him. She tilted her head, crouching down to hide next to him. “Ooo. This is a great hiding place! You’re really good at hide-n-seek! Who are we hiding from?”
“Pinkie?!” Spike relaxed. He had thought it was Morgan. It being Pinkie was much more reassuring. “How did you find me?”
“Twilight used a tracking spell to follow Raspberry. Did you know that’s not even her real name? It’s Morgan! It sounds silly but I think it suits her! Once we get to Ponyville, I’m gonna throw her a ‘Welcome to Ponyville, Morgan!’ party. She must feel so bad after being called by the wrong name for so long.”
Spike blinked. “Pinkie!”
“Yeah Spike?”
“Where’s Twilight?”
Pinkie paused. She pointed towards the door. “There they are! Wow...they took a really long time following me.”
The ex-dragon turned to the door. Sure enough five colorful girls were storming in. They stood in an attack formation, with Fluttershy hiding in the back. They all had serious expressions on. If they had on the Elements, there would no doubt be a rainbow blasting down on whoever they seemed to be attacking right now.
Oh Spike could cry he was so relieved to see them. He ran out from behind the bush, rushing towards them. “Twilight!”
The head of the attack formation dropped her serious attack face. She turned towards the sudden happy cry. “Spike!” She ran to meet him.
The two met in the middle. Twilight pulled Spike in for a tight hug, lowering them down to her knees.
“Thank Celestia you’re alright.” Twilight told him.
Spike hugged Twilight back. If he had claws, they’d be digging into her coat. Thankfully he was declawed.
The others quickly followed. Spike was happy to hear their voices, even if he didn’t recognize the human faces. They were all saying how worried they were, how happy they were that he was okay, that they thought the worst possible thing had happened to poor Spikey-Wikey.
Oddly, the words didn’t comfort him as they should have. If anything they made him feel worse.
He was reminded of Morgan. Her hurt argument to him, the way she lashed out at him, what she had said when she found him. Spike saw some truth in what she was saying. A lot of the mares didn’t think much of Raspberry when she’d been a unicorn. Twilight had told them what Princess Luna saw, and the mares all assumed that Raspberry was working with it. They just up and called her a traitor, forgetting all the times she’d been there for them. Spike certainly hadn’t been nice when he tricked his way past Lilac. Even when she turned out to be the thing they were told to stop.
Spike pulled away from the hug. He let out a melancholy sigh.
“Spike?” Twilight asked, softly. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s just.” He reached back, his human fingers scratching at soft hair. “Why were we so hard on Ras-err, Morgan?”
“What do you mean, Spike?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah! She trapped us in another dimension!” Rainbow argued loudly.
“No we did.” Spike reminded them. “We cast the spell to bring us here, Morgan didn’t do anything.”
“You’re not saying you feel sorry to that thing for getting us stuck here!” Rarity gasped. She felt faint...oh why hadn’t she brought her fainting couch?!
“She wouldn’t give us the spell to go home.” Twilight argued. “She trapped us here. She must want to attack Equestria. Without the Elements, it’s defenseless!”
“Twilight. You’re over exaggerating again.” Spike deadpanned.
The purple haired human’s cheeks flushed. “Still! She isn’t letting us go home, Spike. Would somepony good do that?”
“Did you ask?”
“Yes! We showed her the picture with the original spell, but she wouldn’t tell us the one back!”
Spike gave her a look. “You mean the picture we stole after breaking in?”
“We were on a mission from Princess Luna!” Twilight defended. Though even she knew it was a weak excuse now.
“That picture meant a lot to her.” Spike explained. “She said it was the only time she had true friendship.”
The picture they were arguing over didn’t seem like much at first glance. It was of seven human teenagers, standing in front of a cinema. Most of them were happy to be there. They were dressed as teenagers were supposed to; upbeat colors and leggings and heavy winter jackets.
One teen stood out, in that she didn’t. She was dressed in all black; black sweater, black jeans, peaking out from under the sweater was a black shirt. Her black hair was let down over half her face. The visible amber eye was staring up through camera, seemingly gazing into the soul of the person viewing. In that eye was someone far older than the teenager seen.
But what made you brush off her ancientness as teenage angst was the shy smile on her face.
“She was lying, Spike!” Twilight argued. “I mean, ponies with bad intentions lie! Even when she was Raspberry, she lied all the time!”
“You never let her explain!” Spike argued back.
“We gave her two years to explain! She’s been lying to us since we met, we just never knew how much she lied about!”
“You wouldn’t have believed her!”
“Because she’s never serious about anything!”
“You know, you’ve never given Raspberry any credit!”
Their argument, which was getting cautious looks from the others in their group, was cut off.
For there was another door behind them, leading out to the courtyard inside the school. The mares and the dragon heard a loud scream.
Twilight and Spike were the first to run. Twilight pushed the door open just in time to hear a scared shout.
“MORGAN!”