Old Friends

by awesomesauce4


Chapter 2

Sam awoke the next day to find that his entire room was shaking. He had spent most of his life in the Pacific Northwest, so he thought he knew what that meant.

“EARTHQUAKE!” he shouted to wake and alert the others, before diving under the bed and grabbing one of the bedposts for safety.

There was the sound of laughter from the room upstairs, and the rumbling quickly died down. Embarrassed, Sam poked his head out from under the bed, noting that the painting of Luna was still somehow securely anchored to the wall. Magic, he supposed.

He walked upstairs into a room that looked to be the exact opposite of his, in that it was decorated in warm yellow colors and with portraits of Celestia. Brayden and Cory were there, snorting with amusement already as he entered.

“…Not an earthquake?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cory shook his head. “We thought so too, at first, but it’s been on and off like that for a while now. We think it might be explosions, though we’re really not sure what’s exploding. Nick, Avery and Kylie went off to find Celestia and ask her what’s going on.”

Sam hummed in thought. If he were a betting man, he’d suspect either Twilight, Starlight, or Discord, with Discord being the most likely being to cause random explosions. “How long ago did they go to find her?” he asked.

“About an hour. The throne room’s real close by, so…” Brayden shrugged.

“She’s probably trying to deal with it herself, I would think,” Sam muttered. His stomach chose that moment to remind him that he’d skipped dinner last night, and he sighed as he got up. “Is the Dining Hall still open?” he asked the two of them.

Brayden shrugged. “Should be. When we were there, Celestia just told us to request a meal from the palace staff, said they’d been trained to know our diet and recognize our appearance. Though, if we’re feeling the quakes all the way up here, I can only imagine what it must be like at ground level.”

Sam sighed. “Well, I know one thing. I am getting some food before I pass out again,” he announced, and set off for the door.

“Uh… good luck with that,” Cory called after him.

Sam had made it down the stairs, through a section of garden, and midway across a bridge when the next earth-shaking event occurred. He was knocked to his feet, getting a very clear and wholly unwanted view of the base of the mountain thousands of feet below as he fought to stay on the bridge despite the shaking. After a few minutes that seemed like hours, the shaking subsided, and Sam quickly hopped over to the other side of the bridge, panting with exertion and fear as he sought to put himself on safer ground. “The heck is going on?” he muttered under his breath, censoring himself just in case someone was listening. It felt as though the mountain beneath Canterlot was the source of the earthquakes… but what could possibly be down there?

He finally reached the throne room, skirting across as much open ground as possible to avoid being flattened. As soon as he did, a pair of Royal Guards looked at him in open shock.

“Sir, what in Celestia’s name are you doing outside?!” one demanded. “Princesses’ orders were for everypony to remain in their homes!”

Sam shrugged nonchalantly. “I was hungry. Besides, I want to know what’s going on.” The Guards looked at each other, grimacing.

“We’re afraid that’s confidential,” the other Guard spoke brusquely.

“…Alright, whatever,” Sam muttered, acquiescing. “Where’s the Dining Hall again?”

Another look between the two Guards. “Through these doors, and to your right,” the first Guard instructed.

“But they’re not serving at this time – all their cookware keeps getting knocked over,” the other hurriedly added.

“Okay… hmm,” Sam hummed in thought, pressing onward.

He found Nick and Avery in the dining hall, speaking with a very irate and unkempt Princess Luna.

“Are you alright?” Sam asked as soon as he caught sight of her.

Luna sighed. “I am fine. I simply have not slept for a while, I will be alright.” Sam flinched at her hostile tone, and she softened her gaze. “My apologies… we have been dealing with a problem lately, and it is causing me and my sister no end of stress. I did not mean to take it out on you.”

Sam hurriedly nodded to placate her. “Of course. So… you must be Princess Luna?” he questioned.

Luna nodded back, a smile coming to her face. “Princess of the Night, at your service. I am assuming you want food as well?” she questioned.

Sam shrugged. “I understand if it can’t be provided right now – random earthquakes probably aren’t very good for cooking.”

Luna smirked, clearly only barely amused by his attempt at humor. “Indeed not. Those of our chefs who are unicorns are attempting to fix the situation by levitating their food and cooking it that way, but… it is not always successful.” As if to emphasize her point, there was the sound behind them of a few pots clattering to the floor, and muffled angry exclamations beyond the door.

“Maybe we could just have solid materials that don’t need to be prepared? Bread, fruits, stuff like that?” Sam wondered.

Luna’s ear twitched, a thoughtful expression coming to her face. “That would be a better idea, yes. I shall inform the kitchens, stay here.” She trotted off, leaving Sam, Nick and Avery to stare at each other.

“So… where’s Kylie?” Sam asked, looking around as if he were expecting Kylie to be under a table. With what was going on, that wasn’t entirely out of the question.

“Princess Cadance was here earlier, and they left to discuss his transition. Last I heard, Cadance was having problems getting magic to work on him,” Nick explained.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “What kind of problems? Are we immune to magic somehow?”

Nick shrugged. “Not quite, apparently. Some spells work, and some spells don’t, and nobody has any idea why. Cadance was kind of frustrated about it.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, unsure how to respond to that. “Well… I hope they figure something out for Kylie…” he muttered.

Thankfully, he was saved from saying anything else by the appearance of Princess Luna, who was carefully levitating sacks of produce and bread.

“Will this be enough for now?” she asked curiously, and Sam took a look at the ten or so burlap bags full of food supplies.

“Yeah, that’s more than enough. Thank you!” Sam answered, happily taking the sacks and promptly dropping them due to their weight. “Urgh… how did you lift these?” Sam complained.

“Don’t worry, we got it,” Nick chimed in, taking a few sacks for himself.

Luna watched as they carefully balanced the sacks of food, evidently amused. “I simply levitated them with my magic. Are you sure you do not need further assistance?” she inquired. They shook their heads, and she shrugged. “Very well. Send for one of us if you have need of anything else.” With that, the Princess of the Night departed, and the three of them began the arduous task of carrying the food back to their towers.

It took a few hours of careful movement, tripping, and the loss of a few unfortunate bags of food over the mountainside, but they managed to make it back to the tower that was their new home.

“So… do our parents… know we’re here?” Avery asked, grunting as he stretched his back out.

“Doubt it, I don’t think we’re on the show right now,” Nick answered, having flopped onto a couch the second they had entered Sam’s room.

“Honestly, I’m too hungry to worry about that now. Can someone go get Brayden and Cory?” Sam asked. The others gave him petulant frowns, and Sam sighed. “Never mind, I’ll do it,” he huffed, getting off of his bed.

He found the pair of them waiting upstairs in the same room they had been in. Cory was staring at a painting of Celestia on the wall, while Brayden was reading a book. They both perked up as soon as they saw him.

“Food?” Brayden asked, and Sam laughed.

“Yeah, come on, it’s in my room.”

They both eagerly got up to follow him, and Sam snorted at their enthusiasm.

They were hit during the trip downstairs by another earthquake, and quickly clung to the railings as the whole tower shook.

“Canterlot must be built really well to withstand this many earthquakes,” Nick commented as soon as it subsided.

“What’s even going on, anyway? What’s been causing nonstop earthquakes for the past three hours?” Sam wondered as they once again entered his room. They both shrugged.

“We think it’s a dragon,” Nick piped up.

“A dragon? What, like thumping around and shifting in its sleep or something?” Sam commented, confused.

Nick shrugged. “What else is that big and loud?”

Sam pondered this for a moment. “Trixie? She has fireworks, and might have bombs,” he mused.

“Trixie’s good now, didn’t you watch Season 5 or 6?” Nick rebutted.

Sam shook his head. “I haven’t seen anything past Season 2,” he explained, and Nick looked horrorstruck.

“You missed all the good stuff!” he chided, and Sam laughed.

“Couldn’t help it, Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy were calling my name. Why don’t you give a quick summary for the rest of us, too?” he asked.

Nick sighed. “Fine… but I’m leaving out all the filler episodes.” As Nick began explaining, each of them grabbed a sack of food.

By the time they had finished eating, the earthquakes appeared to have subsided, and Sam was much more thoroughly educated on what had happened during his abstinence from the show.

“So what about Tirek? He’s big, loud, and not very subtle,” he posited.

Nick considered this. “Could be, but only when he had a ton of magic. I think we would have heard or seen him if he was running about stealing magic again.”

Sam scoffed at this. “If it was anything big and angry, we should have seen it running around by now. I still think it’s explosions.”

Cory sighed. “Wasn’t there some guy you knew who knew all about bombs and pyro stuff?” he asked Sam, who fought back a laugh.

“Yeah, the First Alicorn told me Jeremy’s gonna be here too, though not right away. You think it’s him down there?”

Cory snorted in amusement. “I was gonna complain that we didn’t have his opinion on the subject, but now that I’m thinking of it, yeah, it’s definitely him.”

Sam burst out laughing, and the others gave polite chuckles, most unsure of who the two were referring to.

With not much else to add to the discussion, they simply waited. Brayden did a few pushups and situps on the floor, though he would always topple over if he tried to do one while the tower was shaking. Cory hummed to himself, apparently composing a song as he went through the same notes over and over again. Nick went around and examined the paintings of Princess Luna more closely, tilting his head and running his fingers over the exposed canvas curiously. Sam merely laid back on his bed and waited for the earthquakes to stop, wondering what else he could be doing at the moment. Hopefully this part of whatever episode was surely playing would be cut from the final 30-minute stretch… somehow. What did that even mean, for them? Was Hasbro still in control of this world, or had they merely acted as some kind of distant, omniscient observer? Did Harmony know that her world was fiction, and if so, did she intend to do anything about it? And why was Canterlot exploding, anyway? These and more were the questions Sam pondered on as he lay back and stared at the ceiling, midnight blue and painted with simple white six-pointed stars.

Sam, out of curiosity, tried to open his laptop and connect to the Internet, muttering in frustration as his laptop shifted out of his reach from another tremor. To his surprise, there was WiFi here, the network name listed as ‘Canterlot-001’.

“Hey guys, we have Internet here somehow,” he commented. Instantly, every other human present pulled out their phones and began trying to connect.

“Think we can call our parents?” Nick asked hopefully as he tapped through his smartphone.

“No idea,” Sam shrugged, pulling out his own.

“Nope, it wouldn’t go through,” denied Brayden, who had already tried.

Sam tried calling his own parents, only to find that the phone just kept ringing, and closed the call with a sigh. “Well, it was worth a shot. Maybe we can post something on the Internet, and… hope it finds its way back to them?” He returned his attention to his laptop, only to find that the WiFi connection had redirected him to a sign-in.

“Harmony Labs WiFi is meant to be used for gaming and recreation only. Do not use to establish connections to other worlds, for illegal purposes, or to attempt to influence the universe in any way,” Sam read aloud. “…What?” he added after a moment, completely befuddled.

“Sounds like that First Alicorn gave us WiFi specifically so we didn’t get bored,” Nick concluded.

“Why did she even bother? That’s such a weird and obscure thing to do. Besides, most heroes in medieval fantasy lands don’t get magical WiFi,” Avery complained.

Sam shrugged. “She’s into puzzles and stuff, I think. Maybe there’s something here to figure out? Like, there’s a clue somewhere in this Internet connection.” They pondered over it, reading through the page themselves.

“Uh… there’s no hidden links or images, I just checked the HTML code,” Nick reported.

“Anything vague in the wording, then?” Avery asked, intently reading through it.

“I think we might be wasting our time, actually,” Brayden sighed.

“…Wait…” Sam murmured, reading over the screen once more.

“Oh! He’s figuring it out!” Cory noticed, and the other four crowded around him.

“Well, it’s just… ‘Harmony Labs’ suggests that there’s an actual place called Harmony Labs, maybe?” he posited.

Cory waved his hand in a so-so motion. “That might be to throw off suspicion, by disguising it as a business name,” he countered.

“Who would she need to throw off suspicion from? We’re the only ones reading this,” Avery retorted.

“Why don’t we just ask Celestia if ‘Harmony Labs’ is a real place? Seems she’d know, or at least point us somewhere,” Nick pointed out.

“Hey, did anyone notice the explosions stopped?” Cory commented. They all started as they realized that there had not been an earthshaking tremor for quite some time now.

“Come on, let’s go just in case another one’s building up,” Brayden encouraged, hopping to his feet.

The five of them made their way to the throne room in under a minute, which seemed like a mockery of the solid half hour or so it had taken Sam each time before.

“Princess Celestia?” Sam called out to the empty throne room, wondering if she was hiding somewhere.

“Luna? Uh… Twilight?” Nick added, looking around.

“Um… maybe we should find a Guard?” Cory asked.

“Weren’t they all sent to that one outpost Celestia had a problem with?” Avery reminded him.

“Guys!” they heard, and all five of them whipped around. Kylie walked in, accompanied by a very disgruntled Princess Cadance and uncertain-looking Shining Armor.

“Hey, Kylie! Any luck?” Nick asked, and Kylie shook his head, sighing.

Nothing. Cadance tried every spell she knew, even levitation doesn’t work on me.” Shining lit his horn, struggling as he apparently tried something before giving up with a shrug.

“Seems like it doesn’t work on any of you. Name’s Cap… er, Prince Shining Armor, of the Crystal Kingdom. Nice to meet you!” he introduced, shaking Sam’s hand vigorously.

“And I am Princess Cadance of the Crystal Kingdom, and the Alicorn of Love. The pleasure is mine,” Cadance added, doing the same.

Sam felt slightly woozy – it was like meeting celebrities. “Yeah… nice to… uh… meet you,” he replied, cringing at his own words.

“So, does your kind normally not respond to magic, or is this new for you too?” Cadance asked.

“Well, none of us have really… seen magic before, so… we don’t know,” Sam answered truthfully.

Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged a surprised glance. “But magic is everywhere! The plants, the trees, the clouds, even the rocks all have some magic,” Cadance exclaimed.

“Yeah, not gonna lie, for somepony not to have magic is… really weird. Like, defying-the-laws-of-physics weird,” Shining agreed.

“Huh. Well, we’re supposed to be the new Elements of Harmony, or something… how are we gonna do that if we can’t use magic?” Brayden asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Princess Twilight has some ideas. She knows practically everything about magic, after all,” Cadance dismissed.

Shining gave a knowing laugh. “You know they actually invite her to teach at Canterlot Academy for Gifted Unicorns every semester? She keeps having to deny the invitation on account of all the other stuff she’s doing, but she really wants to.”

Sam snorted. “She’s definitely the right type to be a teacher,” he agreed.

“Hey, um. Hate to switch subject, but are there any more earthquakes coming?” Nick asked.

Cadance shrugged. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ran off to deal with that a short while ago, along with the rest of the Guard. No idea what they’re doing, but it seems to be working.”

Shining snorted. “I’d like to see the earthquake that could stop Twily,” he joked.

“Anyway, how have things been going? It must be nervewracking, being in a new dimension. I’m not sure I could handle that kind of weirdness,” Cadance remarked curiously.

Sam looked around at the brightly colored walls, and down at his own body. “Eh, it’s not that different from home. Maybe a little more colorful than usual, but I think that’s just how things are here?” he remarked.

Cadance raised her eyebrow, intrigued. “Do tell,” she enquired.

“Well, our bodies haven’t really adapted in any way that we can tell to this new place. We can still breathe oxygen, we look the same and feel the same, and we don’t have any new powers or anything – except maybe immunity to magic,” Sam allowed.

“Oxygen, huh? We have the same word for it. Means ‘fire generator,’ if I remember,” Shining thought.

Acid generator, honey. You’re thinking of phlogiston,” Cadance corrected.

“Is phlogiston a thing here? We thought it might be, but I think it got disproven centuries ago,” Sam replied, once again wishing Jeremy were here to explain the science behind it.

“Well, phlogiston in its original context as the ‘burning component’ in physical substance was never found. When we found a fundamental component to combustion and fire elemental magic, I think somepony named it ‘phlogiston’ after that, so we do have something named ‘phlogiston’,” Cadance explained.

“Fire magic, huh…” Sam trailed off.

“So, what-“ Avery began, but was unfortunately cut off by the arrival of Celestia, Luna and Twilight, looking quite out of breath.

“Twily!” Shining greeted, holding out his front hoof for a hug.

Twilight slumped her way into the hug, causing Shining to look at her with concern. “Sorry… BBB…FF… exhausted…” Twilight panted.

“We were trying to open Tartarus, but… something’s locked it, and we can’t get in,” Luna explained.

“Our combined magical efforts did nothing to the Barrier. It seems whatever is causing all those explosions has also managed to completely seal the door,” Celestia added.

Both doors?” Shining asked incredulously.

Celestia shot him what looked to be a warning glance. “More on that later,” she decided, before turning to the humans with a somewhat strained smile. “How have things been going up here? My apologies for our disappearance, we did not expect this to happen,” she explained.

“It’s okay,” Sam reflexively returned, and Celestia graciously nodded.

“Anyway, your first objective as the new Elements of Harmony…” Celestia paused, thinking, before resuming her speech. “Is to ensure that no disagreements exist between any of your friends. Therefore, I am going to escort you to a nearby study room for the time being, so that you may work out any problems in peace.”

Nick pushed his way to the front of the group. “Um, can I ask you a question first?” he asked.

Celestia appeared surprised. “Very well, what would you like to know?” she wondered.

“Have you ever heard of something called ‘Harmony Labs’? We saw that name on certain… uh… ‘books’ we brought with us, and none of us knew what it was,” Nick asked.

Celestia now appeared openly shocked, and Shining also stared at Nick with incredulity. “Erm… well… ‘Harmony Labs’ is… one of my research institutions,” Celestia explained, the feathers in her wings shifting slightly.

“Oh. What’s the research about?” Nick pressed.

Celestia appeared uncomfortable. “Well, you know, this and that… research institutions study lots of things, dear Nick, and… we don’t have time to quite summarize all of them. Come now, let’s move on. Lots to do!” Celestia announced, leading them onward.

Nick exchanged a worried glance with Sam. “What kind of response was that?” Sam mouthed. Nick shrugged helplessly, glancing at Celestia, who was determinedly not looking at them.

They found the study room to be a very cozy room with a lit fireplace, with six beanbag cushions around a center table. “Very good. We are going to leave you to your own devices here for some time, so make sure to voice any disagreements you may have,” Celestia instructed.

“Good luck!” Twilight called out encouragingly, and closed the door with her magic.

All six humans stared at the door for a moment.

“What’s the betting the door’s locked?” Brayden asked, and the six of them chuckled.

“So, uh… I guess we have to find stuff we disagree about with each other?” Avery began as each of them took their seats on the beanbag chairs.

“Does anyone have anything to really say? I mean, we’ve known each other for years now. We all have a pretty good idea of how we feel about everyone here, I bet,” Sam remarked.

“I think that Kylie is entirely too handsome,” Brayden joked, and Kylie laughed appreciatively.

“Oh yeah, big guy? Well, you’re entirely too strong and noble!” he shot back, and Avery and Cory joined in on the laughter.

“Sam needs to stop being so fluffy! We all have this irresistible urge to rub his fluffy sweater, and that’s going to be a combat disadvantage!” Avery joined in.

They all hooted in laughter, some falling off their beanbags as they rolled on the floor laughing.

“Okay, okay… seriously. If anyone has anything to say about anyone else, now’s the best time we’re gonna get,” Sam wheezed out as they slowly calmed down, still stifling some giggles of his own.

“Uh… Avery’s kind of overselling his story, does that count?” Cory asked.

“Yeah, I am… in my defense, I’m trying to market to an audience, but at the same time trying to make sure it’s something the audience would like, so I test it out with you guys… does that make sense?” Avery replied.

“Yeah, I mean, someone’s gotta sell your stuff,” Sam agreed.

“Yeah… I’ll try to be less obnoxious about it, though,” Avery decided.

“Hey, we did a friendship thing!” Kylie announced eagerly, to scattered chuckles.

“Okay… anyone else?” Sam asked.

“Cory, can you please stop insisting that music is the best form of art? We get it, it’s your thing and you love the heck out of it, but it makes other artists feel inferior,” Nick asked.

“Wait, does it? Shoot, my bad, I was trying not to make it sound like that. Uh… yeah, I’ll try to do that less,” Cory allowed.

“Wow, we’re great at this,” Kylie cheered. “It hasn’t even been five minutes and we’re already two for two!” The others grinned at his enthusiasm.

“Anything else?” Sam continued, surprised that this was working so well. Was there something in the air here that made disagreements easier to resolve… or was it just the nagging thought that if they didn’t, the world might just be at stake?

But try as they might, nobody could voice any further complaints. They lapsed into silence once more, laying back in their beanbag chairs and staring up at the flickering light casted onto the ceiling by the fireplace.

“The problem is… we’ve already done most of this stuff before. Everything we said was recent stuff, and totally justified given the circumstances,” Cory mused.

“Yeah… you think Twilight and her friends ever did this?” Nick wondered.

“Probably not, they’re probably just doing this to make it into a ‘curriculum’ of sorts,” Sam hypothesized.

“I bet they’re also doing it to keep us in one place. Celestia basically made this up on the spot, and probably locked us in here. After all, we’re still aliens to them, or something. Gotta make sure we’re not setting the town on fire,” Kylie noted.

“Speaking of which, does anyone wanna actually check the lock? ‘Cause it’d be really funny if we could leave at any point,” Sam noted.

“But these beanbags are so comfy,” Brayden whined.

Eventually, however, someone had to move. The first was Sam, who had spotted the corner of a newspaper peeking out from the table above his head. He reached up and grabbed it, reluctantly sitting up to read what it said. “Huh?” he wondered.

“Hey, Nick. Didn’t you say when… ‘Thorax’ defeated Chrysalis, he inherited the kingdom?” he asked.

“Yeah, why?” Nick replied sleepily.

“Says here he’s been kicked out by some of the other ‘changelings’ who didn’t turn all colorful. He’s moved to the Crystal Kingdom, along with the other colorful ones.”

Nick sat upright. “You think Chrysalis is active again?” he asked.

Sam shook his head. “Says she was successfully captured, and is currently in Tartarus. It also says she’s ‘in no fit state to orchestrate this attack’… what does that even mean?” he wondered.

“Probably means she’s badly hurt, or something?” Brayden theorized, looking concerned.

“Considering she was the only one smart enough to beat Twilight and the other three alicorns, good,” Kylie dismissed.

“Don’t be so quick to dismiss her, Kylie, we might end up having to befriend her later,” Nick warned, and Kylie looked uncomfortable. He wasn’t the only one, as Sam shifted awkwardly at the thought of having to befriend an apparently quite murderous and vicious insectoid queen.

“Hopefully Twilight or somebody’ll take care of that one for us…” Brayden muttered.

“…So… what do we do now? We’re all pretty much done with working out our ‘differences’, so… uh…” Cory trailed off.

“Let's see if we can even get out of here,” Sam noted.

To their half-surprise, the door was open. Sam peeked out, surprised further to find that nobody was waiting for them in the corridor.

“Place is deserted again,” he announced to the others.

“What are they even dealing with that’s taking so long?” Cory complained.

“Probably something extremely dangerous, and yet utterly infantile,” Nick muttered.

“No sense standing around. If we’re going to be the Elements of Harmony and blast stuff with friendship lasers, we might as well get started on it,” Sam decided.

To their surprise, they found Princess Celestia, as well as a multitude of other ponies, waiting in the throne room. What seemed like the entirety of the Royal Guard, of both Day and Night types, were packed into the room, looking exhausted but with minimal injuries. Shining Armor patrolled among them, stopping here and there to assist with first aid for those who were hurt or speak with higher-ranked officers in hushed, tense voices. Ponies everywhere were checking their flanks, seemingly examining their Cutie Marks, though Sam could not quite see what they were so desperately searching for. Cadance and Luna watched, matching worried expressions on their faces. Twilight appeared to be dealing with a small army of nobility and newsponies, barely visible among the flurry of microphones and bodies. But none of this drew so much attention as Celestia did, alone as she was on her throne. Her every muscle was tense, wings held tightly to her sides as she glanced around wildly at the room. Her face spoke of a controlled calm, hiding what the humans clearly recognized as panic.

“What the heck is happening?” Kylie whispered, watching her.

“Something’s gone wrong,” Brayden murmured. “Something’s gone really wrong.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Nick hissed. “We’re the protagonists, shouldn’t we go and check it out?”

Sam hushed him with a gesture. “Wait, she’s saying something!” he hissed back, the rest of them immediately falling silent so he could hear. Luna had trotted up to Celestia, and the two appeared to be quietly conversing. Fortunately, Sam had developed an odd but rather useful talent for reading lips.

“…sure that there is nothing down there that could cause this?” Luna asked.

No, Lulu, there isn’t. I’ve no idea how this happened,” Celestia replied, clearly exasperated with her younger sibling.

“You said this was just ‘preliminary research’, and yet I think that there is quite a lot you have not told me! Am I not to be trusted?” Luna shot back, visibly getting angrier. Looking around, she remembered herself, and hastily adjusted her body language to look less intimidating.

“I’m not keeping any secrets from you, Luna! If I haven’t told you something, it is because I did not consider it important, not because I don’t trust you!” Celestia pleaded, though she looked more nervous still.

Important? As in, containing ourself important?!” Luna hissed, posture dripping with sarcasm.

Celestia tugged at her collar anxiously. “Not now, Lulu. Please. We need to focus on fixing this,” she begged.

Luna stomped a hoof in frustration. “Very well! We will solve this, and then you and I are going to talk, sister!” With that, she spun around, fuming angrily as she headed straight for them.

“Quick, act natural!” Sam whispered to the rest, and they scrambled to look as though they hadn’t been peeking around and eavesdropping.

Muttering angrily, Princess Luna nearly ran right into them, eyes darting up in rage as she realized there was someone blocking her way. Her expression quickly lightened as she caught sight of the six of them.

“O-oh! You are finished early?” she asked, her angry muttering tone having vanished in a split second.

“Yeah, we thought we’d come down here and tell you. What, uh… what’s going on?” Sam inquired as politely as he could.

Luna grimaced. “Well… it seems the guard post we mentioned earlier has become… er, that is… we’re unable to enter anymore,” she answered.

“What guard post is that?” Cory bluntly asked.

“Er… it’s… well, it’s Tartarus,” Luna reluctantly admitted.

“…The same Tartarus that keeps all those villains locked up,” Sam clarified, and Luna nodded. “Well. That is a problem. You think they got out?” he asked nervously.

Luna shook her head. “It would take an outsider to free them from their cages, and even then, none could cross the Barrier keeping them all in. We are in little danger… but it is nervewracking nonetheless, to be unable to even observe our prisoners,” she explained.

“I guess that makes sense,” Avery muttered.

“Anyway… we do not have any further instruction for you at this time, so perhaps I may escort you back to your chambers?” Luna offered.

Sam looked back at the others. They shook their heads, some resolute, some nervous. “I think we’ll stay here, actually,” Sam agreed. “Best to be ready if anything happens.”

Luna looked at him in surprise. “You are braver than I hoped,” she replied approvingly. “But… you must remember that some of these villains are thousands of years old. They have seen every trick in the book, and underestimating them will come at immense risk both to you and to Equestria.”

Sam shrugged. “Twilight and her friends beat them before, right? If they can, then we at least stand a chance.”

Luna sighed. “…That is true, but… All the same. Be careful, humans. I do not wish to see you hurt, not by… not by them,” the Princess of the Night sadly remarked.

“We will be, Princess,” Sam affirmed.

Luna trotted past them, her expression speaking of centuries of weariness. “For your sake, I hope so,” Sam thought he heard her whisper.

They walked up to Princess Celestia next. “What did my sister speak to you about?” she demanded without preamble.

“We asked what was going on. She said something about you and the Guards not being able to get into Tartarus, but she told us we weren’t in much danger because they still couldn’t escape, and reminded us that we shouldn’t go rushing to meet peril for the sake of adventure,” Sam recapped.

Celestia visibly relaxed. “Good… I almost thought she was… encouraging you to try. She can be quite adventurous herself, sometimes. Did I ever tell you of the time she defeated a whole cave full of Ursa Majors?” Celestia asked awkwardly.

“…No…?” Sam answered, perplexed at this sudden and rather irrelevant tangent.

Celestia blinked, and shook herself, seemingly coming out of a reverie as she looked around at the worried Guards and squabbling nobility. “Ah… perhaps another time. Anyway… perhaps there is something you can do to help. Come with me,” Celestia commanded. She got up off her throne, Cadance glancing at her curiously as she led the six humans out of the room.

They traveled down a series of winding spiral stairs, then across a dimly lit corridor, then down another set of spiral stairs that seemed endless. The décor had changed midway through to a more gray, distinctly dungeon theme, and Sam shivered as he caught sight of a door with a heavy iron brace over it.

“These are the palace dungeons, as you might have guessed. We have not had to use them in centuries, so please forgive the… decorations,” Celestia explained as they descended. “Though they are imposing, they were only for the petty offenders, those who stood a chance at rehabilitation given enough therapy and counseling. Tartarus… is different. Tartarus is for those whose crimes are irredeemable, and whose tenure on this planet is infinitely longer than mortal ponies. Those who have no hope of ever returning to the path of light are interred there, and it is there to which we go.”

“But Tartarus has closed its doors to us. Upon the locked doors, six symbols have appeared. We thought they might be Cutie Marks of those allowed to pass, at first, so we searched our Guard for those who might possess those Marks. However, it seems that none do. Thus, I am hoping that you can provide some insight as to these marks’ purpose,” Celestia explained.

She paused a moment on the steps, Sam almost bumping into her sizable tail.

“Humans don’t get Cutie Marks, do they…?” she wondered aloud, looking back at him.

It took Sam a moment to realize she had asked them a question. “Uh, no, no we don’t,” he answered hurriedly.

“…Pity,” Celestia murmured, resuming her stride down the seemingly endless stairs.

They passed many heavy doors, most of which looked to be made of solid metal or, as they went further and further down, carved stone. Celestia opened these with little difficulty, changing from politely using her magic to simply shoving them aside with a single hoof as they descended more and more into the mountain. There were no windows on the sides of the staircase anymore, which made Sam think they were underground – which, technically, they were. Most of the humans were tired at this point, as even walking down so many stairs was exhausting. The only one who still had breath was Brayden, who merely looked mildly tired as he continued to jog down the winding staircase to keep with Celestia’s increasing pace.

By the time they reached the bottom, the humans were panting with exhaustion, though Celestia looked barely tired.

“Here we are,” she announced, staring at the doors with what looked like apprehension.

“Tartarus.”

The door was ancient, and encrusted with what looked like glowing blue stone. It was made of iron, and now that Sam thought of it, he couldn’t recall anything else being made of iron or steel in this world. How odd. Six symbols were indeed inscribed on the door, and he studied these carefully. One drew his attention in particular: what appeared to be a crystalline, six-pointed equiaxial star. As he drew closer to examine it, the star lit up bright blue, and Celestia gasped.

“The door is reacting to your presences! Quickly, all of you, come forth!” she urged.

The other humans cautiously stepped forward, and the other five symbols quickly lit up, shades of green, navy, cyan, silver and red light joining the blue. As Sam reached out to touch his ‘symbol’ wonderingly, it clicked, the circular inscription sliding away to reveal a cavity within the door. Inside was what appeared to be a physical representation of the inscription – a blue, six-pointed crystal, encased in an X-shaped headband that appeared to be made of…

“By the Creator,” Celestia breathed. “Human Sam, that is one of the rarest materials in the world. Anypony that got their hooves on this would be rich beyond measure.”

Sam looked at the others, whose expressions were quite clear. Do NOT tell her it’s made of plastic.

Shrugging, he took it out of the circular cavity, and tried to put it on, encountering great difficulty in getting it to stay still on his curly hair.

Brayden tapped him on the shoulder. “I think it’s upside-down,” he informed Sam, who upon flipping it the right way up was immediately able to don it with little difficulty.

“…Thanks...” he muttered.

Brayden snorted, and reached for his own Element symbol, a bronze shield with a bronze lance and sword crossed behind it. “Kinda reminds me of the logo for the Knights,” he muttered as it clicked and began to open.

“Because whoever’s giving us these Elements of Harmony definitely picked yours according to your favorite football team,” Avery snorted.

To little surprise, Brayden pulled out the shield depicted in his symbol. “What, just the shield?” he asked, and nearly dropped his Element as it lit up yellow, expanding. He now held a massive bronze greatsword, nearly as tall as he was.

“Okay… that’s cool,” Avery admitted after a moment as Brayden hefted the sword in delight.

Cory was next to venture forth, and the rightmost symbol began glowing with a royal blue color. The symbol itself was that of a painting easel, a tiny paintbrush visible on it.

“What, just painting?” Cory complained. “I do so much more than that.” For some reason, Celestia’s ear flicked at this statement, and Sam glanced at her. She seemed almost… intrigued? He returned his attention to Cory, who had reached inside to find a paintbrush.

“This is all I get? I mean, I guess I can’t exactly carry around a massive painting easel, but I just get a tiny paintbrush?” he whined, looking frustrated.

“Try drawing in the air with it,” Sam suggested, unsure where that particular thought had come from.

Cory did so, and to his shock he found that he could, in fact, draw in midair, a smudge of blue paint visibly floating behind where he had drawn. “Whoa… alright, that’s pretty neat,” Cory breathed.

“Dude, I bet you’re like Paint Roller from Kirby!” Kylie exclaimed excitedly.

“Who?” Cory asked, baffled.

“He draws stuff and it becomes real,” Sam explained.

“Oh. Oh. I am gonna have fun with this,” Cory declared, and the blue floating line of paint vanished as he stashed the magic paintbrush in his pocket.

“Okay, uh… next?” Sam announced.

Kylie hesitantly stepped forward, looking at the leftmost symbol. It was a microphone, glowing a bright ruby red and with two shadows cast from it cut into the stone circle that represented his Element.

“So, do I just, like, reach for it?” he asked hesitantly, and Sam nodded encouragingly.

Kylie reached out to his Element, hand trembling in suspense as the circle clicked open and slid to the side. He pulled out a ruby-red microphone, and stared at it in consternation. “What… does it do?” he wondered.

Sam shrugged. “Uh… maybe you’ll find out later?” he tried.

“Hmm,” Kylie answered, clearly disappointed.

Next up was Avery, who was staring at an Element on the lower right that was glowing a cyan blue.

“Hey, how come three of our symbols are blue? That’s unfair color representation,” Cory remarked from behind him.

“I like this color blue,” Avery shot back, and reached for his Elemental symbol, which appeared to be a paper with indecipherable words written on it, along with a feathery quill and a bottle of ink.

“Who could have guessed that the guy who writes stories would have gotten writing supplies for his Element?” Brayden returned at Avery from his earlier comment.

Avery laughed good-naturedly. “Alright, alright, you got me. Still. The original Elements’ designs were way better.” He pulled out a quill, already dripping with ink from an unknown source.

“See if you can write in the air!” Cory suggested.

Avery attempted to do so, only to find that the quill wouldn’t respond. “Darn. Maybe it needs paper?” he wondered.

“Perhaps so. You may find that you can ‘write’ about events that are happening and change their course,” Celestia suggested.

Avery raised his eyebrows. “That… is overpowered,” he stated bluntly, and Kylie snorted with amusement.

Last was Nick, who was gazing at the only remaining symbol, a set of cards, coins and other objects that was glowing lime green.

“Go on!” Kylie encouraged.

“Well, what am I even gonna get? A coin to flip? A card to… I dunno, do a Yu-Gi-Oh duel or something with?” Nick wondered.

“You won’t find out unless you go for it,” Sam reminded him.

“Oh, alright, fine,” Nick grumbled, but his face showed more nervousness than frustration. He reached out towards the glowing green circle, and it clicked open to reveal… A single stamp, sitting almost forlornly in the large circular cavity.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Nick groaned. “What am I even gonna do with this? Show my enemies my stamp collection to befriend them?”

Sam shrugged. “I bet it’s actually the most useful one, and we just don’t know what it does yet,” he hypothesized in an attempt to cheer Nick up.

“Uh-huh. Sure,” Nick grumbled.

“Do not look so dismayed, Nick! Many ponies who think their Cutie Marks are useless simply find that they are not looking at them in the right way,” Celestia soothed.

“How so?” Nick asked grumpily.

“A pony once came to me believing his talent at magic was all just theory, and that he was completely worthless at casting it. I reminded him that we would not have magic to cast without proper research. Instead of only seeing what your Element can’t do, why not try focusing on what it can do?” the Princess of the Sun encouraged.

“…Alright…” Nick muttered.

With no symbols left glowing, the door once again returned to cold, unyielding steel. Celestia pushed against it experimentally, but it seemed the metal would not yield to her touch. “…It seems that although you six have obtained your Elements of Harmony, this door still refuses to open,” Celestia admitted, poking at it. “…Perhaps we will discover more tomorrow? The hour is rather late. Allow me to teleport you back to your room,” she offered. She lit her horn bright yellow, and disappeared in a flash of light, Sam blinking as the room quickly returned to its former dimness.

“Uh…” Cory trailed off. “Is she gonna…?”

He was cut off from saying anything else as Celestia reappeared, surveying them with a frown. “Ah… I forgot that you are not affected by… our magic. In that case…” she mused, lost in thought.

“Um. Princess Celestia?” Kylie spoke up timidly.

“Hmm?” Celestia hummed, clearly only barely paying attention as she continued to ponder.

“Well, it’s just – Cadance tried a lot of magic earlier, and we found that stuff that affected the world around us, like temperature spells, wind, stuff like that still worked. It’s just that any magic casted directly on a human seems to fail,” Kylie explained falteringly.

It took a moment for his words to reach Celestia, who raised her eyebrows as she processed this. “Oh? In that case…” she trailed off, lighting her horn again. Aiming it at the wall, she fired a bolt of magic that quickly expanded into a yellow hole in space, Sam’s room visible on the other side.

“Huh. Just like Portal…” Sam murmured to the others as he watched it swirl around, small yellow tongues of flame marking the entrance to the wormhole.

“I bet Rarity wishes she could do this, so she could run both of her stores,” Nick whispered to Brayden, who nodded with a smile.

Celestia turned to them with a frown. “How… do you know who Rarity is…?” she asked carefully.

Nick froze, expression turning to one of shock as he realized what he had just done. “Uh… Ehehe… Um…” he stuttered, unable to form a response.

“Twilight never told you about her. I know this because she specifically told me that you were to meet her friends at a later date, and she was saving all information until then. Also, Avery mentioned something about ‘the original Elements’ designs’ being better. How do you know these things, despite being from another world?” Celestia demanded, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s a book!” Sam interjected, jumping in front of Avery.

“A book?” Celestia inquired.

“Or, actually, a TV show. Like a book made of moving pictures. The main character is Twilight Sparkle, who has a bunch of friendship lessons with her five friends and goes on adventures occasionally,” Sam amended.

“This ‘tee-vee show' sounds similar to a movie, which we have,” Celestia mused.

“So, yeah, we knew about you because you’re a fictional character back home, and we thought it’d be a little awkward to tell you, and-“ Sam rambled, but Celestia held up a hoof to stop him.

“I understand. But… you must tell no one about this, least of all Twilight,” she sternly commanded. The six humans hurriedly nodded their assent, none of them eager to further anger an alicorn with the power to incinerate all of them in seconds. “…Very well. I will ask that you also at least act surprised to meet Twilight’s friends,” Celestia suggested.

“Yeah, we will!” Sam agreed nervously.

“Good. Goodnight, humans, I will see you tomorrow,” Celestia finished, and teleported away without another word.

Avery turned to the others.

“Well? We’re fucked,” he summed up.

They returned to their beds in silence, each wondering what tomorrow would bring. The day had been such a confusing whirlwind of events and dialogue that Sam didn’t even know what to think about it. He tried to close his eyes and go to sleep once the others had left, but he just couldn’t stop thinking that there was something important that he had missed. Some crucial detail of conversation that he should have been paying attention to… but instead, his mind kept returning to the fact that Celestia now knew that her entire world was fictional to them. How would that affect her? How would it affect them?