//------------------------------// // Finale - Part 1 // Story: I just wanted to go to Equestria! // by Ditz //------------------------------// “Don’t let go!” I shout out, hoping my voice somehow carries to Pinkie in here. It’s a strange feeling as our bodies seem to spiral and stretch in an unnatural way, yet, I can’t seem to be able to feel my body breaking in anyway; and it’s FUCKING terrifying to have a visual for something I can’t feel. “Whee~” and Pinkie’s seemingly nonplussed demeanor doesn’t help. “Huh?” I mumble, happening to look up and catching a glimpse of light on top of me, looming closer by the second. “I-I think we are almost there!” “Did you say something about cake?” “I did not enunciate anything remotely close to that!” I shout in vain, just as suddenly feeling the grip with Pinkie slipping. Wait! “Nononononono! Crap! Pinkie, hold on!” I try my best to keep my hold on her, but against my best efforts, her hand begins to slip off, as my fingers somehow stick to the palm of my hand. “Oh! Oh! I see something shiny!” Pinkie shouts as she flies ahead, still unfazed by my own fear. Unable to fight it,I follow her lead. I look up to what she points to, catching a glimpse of a light in the distance. ~~~ “Hey! Wait up!” I call, running after Chryssa. Her giant steps making my comparatively short, stubby legs have to walk at a brisk pace just to keep up. “Come on! You dropped a bomb on me and now you are leaving me short? What gives?” She turns around abruptly, glaring at me. “You literally answered with, and I quote: ‘I don’t believe you. You are crazy’.” “What did you expect me to say? That came out of nowhere!” it isn’t a lie. While that is substantial info drop, it’s literally the least likely thing ever. But outside the obviously logical questions, the time frame fits into what I know of them… and it puts forward the question; why are they so open to telling me this now. “Does that mean you believe me now?” “… ‘Believe’ is such a strong word.” “We would want to do nothing more than explain, but we don’t have the time,” Celestia points out, bringing forth the laziest excuse in the book. Was she serious when it came to all that junk regarding the students? This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been knocked out. “What the hell!?” I shout the moment we turn the corner, looking at the giant hole where the entrance to CHS used to be. Even Pinkie’s mouth hangs open as she stares at the debris laying on the previously pristine floor inside, a disastrous view that neither of us ever expected to see here of all places. “W-what happened here? “Celestia’s student happened,” says an unknown voice, supplemented by an old man stealthily emerging out of the shadows behind the statue, because apparently that’s where we are right now. “What took you three so long? We have to hurry!” “You are…” I give the guy a good look, rummaging through the lexicon of horse characters in my head for anything remotely similar to this guy… Nope. “Who are you? And what do you mean about Celestia’s student. Are you talking about Twilight?” “Bah!” the old man scoffs at me before seemingly losing all interest and turning to Celestia and the two clearly insane attempted murderers who approach him without hesitation. “Haven’t you explained it to him yet, Celestia? We are wasting time!” I nod. The inconspicuous old man I’ve never met before has a point. “Yeah! I followed you three, and now we have a nameless old man, a blown up school, and a missing Twilight Sparkle! Also, WHY is he asking about Twilight?” The old man scoffs again, shaking his head in clear disapproval. “Nameless? Uncultured morons! Of course a kid wouldn’t know about Lord Tyrek. What a terrible world we live in…” “I don’t care!” I shout at no one in particular, demanding answers. “Please, could you just explain what the hell Chryssa meant? Or are you going to wave that aside now? Because that blown up building behind us isn’t exactly easy to miss." “Well,” Discord speaks, seemingly mulling over my demand. “To be concise, it really has something to do with this world’s existence. Specifically that portal over there,” he says, pointing towards the side of the courtyard statue. How did no one ever fall through. " So is that where Twilight came from?” I ask, recalling Twilight’s explanation. “But why do you people know? What’s so special about you?” “I’m sorry!” Celestia interrupts, before turning her attention to Pinkie and I once again. “You two must listen; there isn’t a lot of time, the world really is in danger! And if we don’t stop Sunset Shimmer, sh-” *Boom* a loud explosion-like sound cuts Celestia’s explanation short, followed by the ground shaking and tripping us all with ease and did she just say Sunset Shimmer? “Talk about loud! That was no party cannon!” Pinkie shouts sounding between fear and excited emotions over the possibility of a real life giant party cannon. Chryssa is the first on her feet, and as her face shifts to a terrified expression, my confidence matches it by slipping even further down as she then shouts: “It’s already happening!” I watch as she points to the distance, my jaw dropping at the sight I see: homes turning transparent before disappearing without a trace, engulfed in some strange darkness as far as I can see. A chill is send down my spine as I take my surroundings, noticing the same in every direction… and it all seems to be heading back here! “I-I-Is someone else c-c-cold? B-B-Because I s-s-sure am!” Pinkie mumbles through, suddenly shivering, attempting to protect herself from a sudden cold, and falling to her knees, breathing heavily. “Pinkie!” I run over, holding her as best as I can. I give her a glance, and notice her skin turning pale, to my utter shock. “W-what’s happening to her?” I ask, turning to Celestia for any answers. “Celestia, I don’t mean to be a party pooper, but maybe we should get to it!” Discord says with a clear panic in his tone. Somehow, I don’t think this is going to bode well. “As we practiced!” at Celestia’s orders the four form a square around the statue and raise their arms towards it. I’m only lost for a second when their hands all glow with a white light that then shoots out, hitting the statue with an overbearingly bright light. Moments later, the light seems to diminish, focusing on the tip of the statue, and shooting up towards the sky before coming back down, and engulfing us in a strange fieldof sorts. “Cold’s gone!” Pinkie suddenly shouts, getting on her feet as if nothing had happened. “Boy, that was weird...” she trails on, her eyes shining as she sees something. “Wow! That sure is weirder!” “Huh?” I look to where she points, and my jaw drops when I see it: there is humans where Celestia and company stood. And I don’t mean ‘humans’ in the way this technicolored people world is, but in the way that humans actually look in my old world, with skin tones that I hadn’t seen in over a year—real life humans. “What the actual fuck!?” “Lemon!” one of the women calls me in a strangely similar voice to Celestia’s. “I’m sorry we can’t explain this right now!, But what you want to know will be answered by Princess Celestia. She knows about the two worlds becoming one!” she takes a pause, looking around frantically. “But there is no time, you must go! You are the only one who can do this, Lemon! We have to keep the world intact, so you two must go alone!” "Wait, what the hell am I supposed to do?” I demand to know, looking at the light that shines from the statue, and noticing some strange figures in it that bring more questions than anything else… I think I just saw the shape of a horse in there. “Oh my god!” the other woman, who by process of elimination could only be Chryssa groans. “Princess Celestia will answer all your stupid questions later! Go!” Instinctively, I grab hold of Pinkie’s hand, holding it tight in my own as I try to process everything. B-But…” “Enough of this pointless meandering!” shouts the short old man impatiently. “You have about half a day! Now get the hell in there!” “O-okay?” slowly, I move towards the statue, standing between the photo-realistic humans to my side. “I don’t get it, am I supposed to just jump insi-oh, okay,” I mumble as I try to touch its surface, only to find my hand phasing trough it. “So… jump in, huh?” I look to my left, and I’m met with Celestia’s(?) panicked gaze. “You must find your friends, they will be the key to saving everyone.” Before I can ask how she would even know that, I feel the push of a really strong kick pushing us into the statue, and then… ~~~ “Ooooouch,” I groan, suddenly face down on a cold, hard floor. I was not expecting a rough landing. “Did we…?” I utter in a low voice as I look up to find my new surroundings. I already question where I am, what with the paintings that hang on the walls suggesting big rich status, with the walls lined with ornaments that would seem tacky in any normal home, not the least of them being a tall set of double doors probably leading out that suggest importance (or at the very least money). Also, the floor is like a freaking mirror. How rich are these pe- “Lemon!” I jump at the abrupt call, turning to the voice to find myself staring at what seems to be the one pink horse I know of. “P-Pinkie?” I utter in disbelief, closing my eyes, and opening them again just to see the same shape of the pony version of Pinkie Pie in front of me, and there is zero doubt in my mind—I’m in Equestria. “Oh my god.” “I know! Isn’t it great! Look, my tail is SO soft, and fluffy, and soft, and very easy to bit- Ouch!” she yelps in pain after showing her short lived tail-biting skills, and… something is different. “Wait,” I hold back my surprise when my eyes land on her rump, noticing the possibly trademarked cutie mark that she is so well known for having… which is not there. “No cutie mark. Of course! That means you are Pinkie Pinkie!” “Obviously!” she snorts. “What other Pinkie did you think I… was…” she seems to have picked up on what I meant, but not in the good way, as shown by her complete turnaround of her mood. “Oh! Anyway! Glad you are okay! We are okay, right?” she asks unsure, turning to me with a very fake smile. “Pinkie? Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry! I didn’t me-” “Come on! We have to find the others!” she cuts me off, turning serious and skipping straight to the big double doors in the most baffling of tone shifts. “Pinkie, wai- whoa!” I yelp, somehow tripping on nothing. “What in the hell?” it is here that I discover I’m not a very observant person; or rather, pony. Given that my body seems covered in hair all over, it pretty much suggests what I think it is. “Oh my god.” I stare back at the bizarrely-polished-to-a-mirror floor, taking note of my own body which I can describe with the single sentence of the ‘fuck off’ variety. I could live being a green earth pony, yes (I’ve thought about it, honestly) but it’s an issue when my stock body seems to look more like that of a mare than a stallion in the show despite being clearly a guy. I finally get an old wish, and then the universe screws with me somehow. Typical. “It’s clear,” Pinkie comments as she proceeds to look out the room. “Those bizarrely-polished-to-a-mirror floors sure are a good lookout!” “Pinkie,” I call out her name, slowly getting used to my new body. “Listen, I just want you to know that whatever I said, I meant nothing bad abo-” “Shh,” she cuts me off, shoving her hoof in my mouth. She takes a deep breath, and says: “We’ll talk later, alright? W-we just need to make sure we find everyone, and go back safely. Okay? We really, REALLY have to!” I’m taken aback by the way she makes the request, maintaining her well known cheeriness while still commanding a very stern tone, somehow. What’s going on in her mind? “O-okay,” I agree, despite my doubts. “Let’s go,” she says seconds later, and we are well on our way to… wait. “Where are we going, again?” I ask confused, looking around as if expecting someone to randomly ambush us. “Come on, we haven’t really come up with ideas,” or an actual plan for that matter. Without turning around, she says: “We are going to find our friends! Just like the principal said!” she then stays quiet for a second, before she continues: “And Sunset, too!” “… Oh,” the way she ended that rubs me the wrong way, but I can’t really argue. Whatever happened, we were put here, and Sunset Shimmer is involved for some reason by somehow kidnapping everyone. I really wish Celestia had explained more about that and the twenty years thing, but it seems that we are only going to get answers by finding everyone, and saving the free world or whatever. Oh, and we are on a time limit! Wonderful. The more I actually think about it, the more I want to curl up and die, so fuck it! I’m going with the flow, and hope for the best—the most I can really do at this point. Thankfully, walking the halls serves as a good distraction, the sheer size not only impresses me, but terrifies me. There is something strange about the crystallized columns and the pearly white walls that bring me some discomfort, and for some reason,  the thought of a haunted hospital. But unlike a crappy scary movie, we haven’t come across someone yet—we are totally alone. “Hey, Pinkie?” screw it. If I’m going to be ignoring everything else, I might as well clear things up. “Liste-” “Oh! Over here!” she says suddenly, running in the complete opposite direction. “What? The heck you talking about? Wait!” I awkwardly run after her, and though she gives me enough lenience to catch up, she takes off once I get too close. On the bright side, it’s helping me get used to running in this body, I guess. But before I can decide whether the bad side is her trying to actively avoid me, she stops in front of a random white door. “Here we are!” she states, pointing at the previously mentioned entry. “And that is…?” “A door, obviously! You really need to pay attention to your surroundings, Limey,” before I can fire a retort, she forces the door open without hesitation. “Pinkie! You are making a lot of noise!” I blurt in a low voice, trying to keep it down. “That’s not gonna help us find the people we are actually looking for!” “It’s okay! We didn’t find anyone on the way, we are fine!” and she is right… which in all honesty, is actually worrying in itself. “Pinkie? I have a bad feeling about this,” it’s strange. Why hasn’t someone showed up? Where are the guards? “Listen, I don’t thin-” “No backing down!” she shouts, ignoring me, and heading into the fully uncovered room without hesitation. Frustratingly enough, forcing me to follow her inside. Though, I have to admit it’s not very scary, since I’m welcomed by the sight of a very simple bedroom, with the only out of place thing being a single window tall enough to let the moonlight in, illuminating the room with a beautiful glow. “Whoa…” I feel my inner fanboy while I run to the window. I lean my hand (er, leg) on the glass, and stare in awe at the sight of various homes in the distance, shinning with the reflections of the Lunalight on the ragged, yet beautiful looking buildings. “Could this be…?” I whisper, looking down and seeing the towers surrounding the castle I expected to find. “Holy crap, I think we are in the Crystal Empire.” “Eek!” “What?” I turn to the perfectly timed shriek, finding Pinkie slowly moving away from someone partly hidden in the shadows. “Y-y-you…” Pinkie’s panicked expression then suddenly disappears, replaced by a small, relieved smile. “You! Oh my goodness! I knew you were here, Flashie!” “Flashie?” I stand dumbfounded, looking at the figure slowly stepping out of the darkness. “Is it really?” I look over the silent, menacing pony, who does seem very similarly colored in every way, but if he is, it pains me a bit that he might have managed to get a stock stallion body when I didn’t. “Look at his butt!” Pinkie very unashamedly points. “Pinkie! Now it’s not the tim-” “No! I mean his, um…” she trails on, struggling to remember. “Oh, his leg! It’s missing the mark thingie!” “Mark?” I unwillingly trace the shape of his perfectly normal stallion body, up to his flank where I finally notice what Pinkie refers to: which is nothing but normal fur. Honestly, what does she even mean by th- “Oh, crap. He doesn’t have a cutie mark…” “Told you!” “I don’t get it, how did you even know he was here?” “My totally natural body spasms told me so!” “Oh,” she must be referring to Pinkie Sense. I’m starting to think that ability was only created to deal with contrivances… speaking of. “Is it just me, or has Flash been a teensy bit too quie-” Without warning, the would-be Flash swings his hoof, nearly smacking Pinkie who somehow manages to barely dodge the ‘punch’. “Whoa!” Pinkie jumps back in surprise, seemingly just as confused as me, if her widened gaze is something to go by. “Wowzers! You must have gotten out of bed with your left foot… feet? Or maybe you just got up with one leg at a time, an-” “Grrr!” is Flash’s meticulous answer as he lunges at her once more. “Stop!” I shout as I jump to stop him, throwing myself towards Pinkie and pushing her out of the way just as Flash’s body reaches me. “Oof!” I nearly expect to be tossed against a wall, but instead, I feel myself going up… and up… an- “Oh my god he has wings! He can freakin' fly! Help!” “Don’t worry, I think I have a plan!” I hear her shout under me. Boy, am I happy that she is here, otherwise I would be screw- “Hey, Flash! Let him go pretty please!” I can hear only static whilst my brain tries to catch up with what she just did. “Oh, guess that didn’t work!” “FUCKING SERIOUSLY, PINKIE!?” I shout beyond annoyed, as I try my best to hold on, seeing his plan is now to throw me off him. “Damn it, Flash! What’s your dea-” I stop as I get a good look at his eyes: they are green and lifeless. Okay, that might have something to do with his deal. “I can’t understand you when you move so much! But don’t worry! I have another idea!” I hear Pinkie's shouts again, and through the mess of indistinguishable shapes, I manage to get a look of her quickly moving furniture and piling it up together. “Pinkie! He is bein- Whoa! Damn it, he is being contr- Aaah! God damn it, Flash, let me talk!” I shout, doing my best to keep my hooves on Flash’s body as he does his best to toss me off. “Are you almost done!” “That’s much better!” I hear Pinkie’s voice suddenly closer, and I gasp in surprise as I see her lunge towards us from a precariously put together mountain of furniture, getting a hold of one of Flash’s legs, which doesn’t seem to bode well according to Flash’s pained face. “Gotcha, buster!” Very quickly, Flash’s flaps slow to a flutter, and he slowly begins descending, much to my relief. More confident than ever, my mind races with plans popping up. “Okay! When we get closer down, we grab one of the blankets, and wrap him wit-” *Crash* … “Oh?” … “Huh…” … We just crashed through the window. *Woosh* Yep. Window. … Ah… at least the breeze is wonderful. “Nope! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I see shards of glass still falling around me, and I try my best to grab hold of something. ANYTHING. “Flash! Best bud? Wake up!” I shout in vain to his now unconscious body, which just begins its descend alongside us as gravity takes its effect. “Oh god, oh god!” “Aaaaaah!” Pinkie shouts, flailing around in her panic. “Nononononononononowhydididothataaaah!” “Pinkie!” I flail however I can, reaching out with my hoof in an attempt to hold her over me! She’ll probably live with her weird abilities! Just… gotta… reach her! “Pinkie Pi-” “H-Hold on!” Flash himself shouts, suddenly appearing under us, flapping his wings like a maniac. I welcome the help, and quickly grab hold of his body alongside Pinkie, he continues flapping awkwardly, breathing heavily while doing his best to slow our descent. “Oof! Gah! Damn! It!” Oh, fuc-*THUMP* … To my surprise, I manage to open my eyes, groaning in pain and seeing double for a few seconds, but feeling the floor right under my feet. “Wait, I’m alive?” I touch my body over, and other than a few bumps here and there, I feel nothing out of place. “I-I’m okay! I am! I’m oka- *Hurl* too quick, hell. “Pinkie, are you okay?” I hear Flash’s voice. I manage to pull my eyes away from my own vile to find him helping her on her hooves. Good thing is that neither one looks too bad for wear, messiness notwithstanding. “I am! T-Thank you so much, Flash!” Pinkie says fervently, lunging herself towards Flash with a hug. “I’m happy you are okay.” “That just happened,” I mumble, blinking over and over, taking in the fact we almost died. “But wait, are you okay? As if, your brain is okay? Flash, it’s you, right?” “Too many questions, Lemon,” he answers, holding his head in pain. “Ouch…” he looks over his hoof, surprised for a moment before chuckling to himself. “Great, now I have more questions of my own. Guess this is where my life is at.” “Okay, that attitude is definitely you,” I chuckle right back, taking a breath of relief, even if just momentary. “Though… maybe we should hide before someone sees us here,” Flash doesn’t ask why, and just nods in agreement. We make a run for a nearby column that hides us from sight of the castle… not that there is anyone within sight. “O-Ouch,” Flash complains again, suddenly tumbling down on arrival. “You okay?” “Not used to running in this body…” he explains, picking himself back up. “And no offense, but would you mind telling me what’s going on? I’m a horse, and I’m talking, so I would like to know more if you don’t mind.” “Of course. As long as you don’t mind filling me in with what happened to you first,” I respond. “You owe us after attacking us like you did.” “Did I now?” he sighs, and then turns with a serious look. “Alright, but if what I recall is right, you might not like what I have to say.”