The Universe is in under no obligation to make sense to you.
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
"Ya sure it's safe ta go through now?" Applejack asked as me and my friends stood in front of the statue that was placed before the entrance of Canterlot High. Spring break had started and the coming two weeks I would have free time to do whatever... which meant I had plenty of time to figure out why my journal was receiving garbled messages from Equestria.
"Yes, Applejack. I've done some tests and the portal seems stable though and even if I run into trouble I would probably be able to fix it, you don't just get to become Princess Celestia's student." I told her as I looked through my bag, I had a small lunch box to get by just in case I got spit out somewhere randomly in Equestria for some reason, a bottle of water, and some magically infused chalk Princess Twilight had left me last time she had come over that I could use in extreme emergencies. The final thing I had with me was the necklace I had gotten at camp Everfree, Princess Twilight would surely love to study it.
"If you think it's safe enough darling then we won't stand in your way, do make sure to get the book up and running to tell us what's going on when you get there, Sunset." Rarity commented as she held my journal which was supposed to be connected to Twilight's in Equestria.
"I'll get to work fixing that the moment I arrive," I said as I closed my backpack and touched the portal experimentally, the base of the statue rippled but other than that nothing really out of the ordinary happened. "I guess I'll see you guys soon."
"Say hi to my counterpart for me, Shimmer!" Dash said, I nodded and turned back to the portal. Taking a deep breath I pushed forward and stepped into the magical portal.
Nausea overtook me as I was sucked into the magical vortex, where all my other trips had been relatively smooth this one felt as if I was stuck in the trunk of a car that was driving over rough terrain. Eventually, the ride that was already taking longer than normal smoothed out...
...only for me to smash into a magic wall and get thrown out of the realm I had traveled through.
My head was feeling really light as I lay on what seemed to be grass, in the distance I could hear the soft sound of hundreds of small pops while the general smell of burning things entered my nostrils. "That went horribly wrong." I groaned as I got up, stretching my arms as I obviously hadn't ended up in Equestria. I found myself sitting on a hill that had a slightly overgrown orchard next to it on one side and an unattended field of grain on the other side. In the distance, smoke was rising from what seemed to be the ruins of a large city. Incidentally, that was also where all the sound was coming from.
I guess I know now what the garbled messages from the princess where now... I mentally chastised myself as I sat up, it made sense that if something were to go wrong in Equestria Twilight would try to warn me not to come and I stupidly just walked into the portal thinking everything would be alright.
A flash of light suddenly came from the city followed by an ear-deafening boom fifteen seconds later as one of the skyscrapers started tilting to the side and fell over, creating a massive dust cloud. "What in Tartarus was that!" I said to no-one in particular as I reached for the magic chalk in my backpack only to stop as I made a realization, I've got literally no clue what dimension I am in, it's going to take me at least a week to figure out how to connect back to Canterlot high or Equestria.
I grimaced as I looked at the city, I didn't have the food or water to last that long so I would need outside help and one way that I could get that was in the city...
...which seemed to be falling apart due to explosions.
Sighing in resignation I got up and started walking towards the city, I already learned to behave like a human in once so I could do it again, right? The sounds of explosions only got louder as I approached and every time an explosion came from the city I'd hide behind whatever object until the sounds momentarily died down again. This is insane, Shimmer! What are you going to say when you get there? Oh yes hello there could you be so kind as to give me some food so I can get back to some lonely hill outside the half-destroyed city?
I shrugged off the thought as I remembered that without supplies I wouldn't last more than a few days. I was now walking through urban areas where humans probably would have lived were it not for the apparent conflict going on, I carefully turned the corner coming face to face with what seemed to be a large creature of some sort. The thing's jaw was split up in four separate pieces and lined with sharp teeth, behind it, a small group of different smaller creatures stood looking at me.
Before I could say anything the large one's hand wrapped around my neck and lifted me off the ground. I panicked as I was trying to grasp for air, kicking the creature to almost no effect. The little creatures seemed to be cheering while the large creature was talking to me in a strange language.
Then suddenly... Blood.
One moment the large creature was holding me and the next it had lost half his head and collapsed, covering me in its purple blood. I scrambled away from the corpse while filling my lungs with new air as the loud explosions suddenly were really close, the little creatures running around, panicking, as they too were being filled with holes. At the corner of a street three grey-armored individuals pointing what looked like guns in my direction as they carefully approached, their body structure giving away that they were human even though their faces were obscured by helmets.
"Firewing, check if any of them grunt's are still breatin'." The front one of these humans said with an accent that reminded me of Applejack's. Getting out of my stupor I jumped back on my feet and held out my hands which were immediately were encased in my cyan magic.
Wait, WHAT! How did I miss the fact that I have a wellspring!
"S-Stay back!" I stammered as one of the three armored humans immediately raised her weapon and seemed to be ready to fire.
"What the fuck? Sarge, orders." It said as I tried to cast a shield but failed as I had no idea how to cast spells with my hands. the human that had been checking the bodies of the small creatures somehow suddenly appeared next to me and tackled me to the ground and pinned me down.
What the?! Only pegasi should be that fast!
"make sure none of them other varmin heard our firefight, Andrews." The leader ordered but this only seemed to enrage her subordinate.
"FUCK that Bloom! That bitch just had glowing hands, she might just be another alien in disguise!" She-the voice sounded female-shouted back at the leader, I tried getting out of the grasp of the third human but the moment I tried getting loose I was pushed back down onto the pavement.
"No getting away, lady. We've got no interest in killing you, hell if Sweetie hadn't spotted you that elite would have happily chocked the life out of you. Anyway, you might as well tell me your name while those two bicker." The one holding me down said, the voice was a bit like Rainbow's, raspy but definitely also female. Seeing no way out I relaxed a bit with the knowledge that they at least didn't have the intention to kill me as the large creature had.
"Sunset Shimmer," I answered, the human suddenly burst out laughing. Is my name that ridiculous?
"Holy crap, that's one of the most unicorn names I've ever heard!" She laughed which in turn attracted the attention of the other two though before they could say anything a fourth human that was carrying a massive rifle of sorts on her back. The attention once again off me I quickly grabbed hold of the human that was sitting on top of me,
They seem to know way too much about me, though I have a tool of my own to figure out why that is.
My eyes started glowing as I looked into the memories of the human that was holding me down,
A small pegasus was walking through crystal halls followed by an earthpony and a unicorn...
The mirror portal going haywire and sucking the three fillies in...
Corpses of some kind of bug laying on the floor...
A man shouting at the now human forms of the three fillies...
A small box with windows that seemed to be on fire as if plunged down to the ground...
Thud
Stars went through my vision as a hard object impacted me on the back of my head but by that point, I'd had already seen enough. "You're Equestrian!" I groaned as I suppressed the urge to empty my stomach on the pavement.
"Calm down, Ana!" Someone shouted as the human that had been angry was looming over me with her weapon at the ready, looking over to where the voice had come from I saw that the fourth human had taken off her helmet and was looking straight at the one on top of me.
"Seriously, Sweetie. What the fuck is going on here, you three obviously are hiding something, that was obvious to me even when we were in basic."
Sweetie grimaced as I saw the remaining two humans nodding and also taking their helmets off, "Ah think she deserves an explanation girls," their leader stated as she turned and looked me straight into the eyes, "Ah haven't heard 'bout you before, did Princess Twilight send ya?"
They know Twilight?!
"N-no, I was on the other side of the portal. The princess' messages weren't getting through so I went to investigate but instead of going to Equestria I ended up here." The leader nodded as she seemed to understand the explanation but 'Ana' obviously did not.
"What the fuck does she mean about portals?!" She shouted as she also pulled off her helmet, long curly brown hair falling down as it wasn't being held in place by the helmet.
"She means that none of us were exactly born human, Ana," Sweetie said, answering her colleagues' question.
Wait, the leader is called Bloom, she's called Sweetie, the three of them are Equestrian... No way are they the crusaders?!
"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo?" The similarities were suddenly glaringly obvious, Apple Bloom's accent, Scootaloo's speed, Sweetie Belle's purple curly hair.
Ana ignored my revelation as she was purely focussed on what Sweetie had said, "Not human" she muttered, taking a seat on the sidewalk, laying her weapon next to her as she dug through a pocket and pulled out a large orange feather. "So what is this then?"
"It's one of my primaries, I'd show you where it's from but my wings are pinned beneath the armor," Scootaloo replied, placing her assault rifle on her back and releasing her iron grip on me. "Ana, we're scared of what would happen if anyone finds out what we really are since the only other aliens you guys know about are trying to commit genocide."
Ana rubbed her head as she thought about Scootaloo's words and sighed, "I think I get it, so if you're not human what are you?"
"We're ponies. A unicorn, pegasus, and earthpony specifically." Sweetie answered, "Yes it sounds stupid but it's true." Her hand lit up with an emerald green aura. "I used to be a unicorn."
"Pegasus" Scootaloo raised her hand.
"Earthpony" Apple Bloom followed.
"Unicorn" I added, finally being able to sit up instead of being held down face first.
Ana sighed deeply and stood up again. "The moment we get back to the base you're going to tell me everything but now we should get to somewhere safe before we get ambushed."
My three fellow Equestrians seemed to agree with the statement as they nodded and put on their helmets, "Ah'll take point, Scoots you're behind me. Shimmer you stay in the middle. Sweetie, Ana y'all got the rear." Apple Bloom ordered, "Shimmer if Ah give an order you follow it, no questions asked, am Ah clear?"
I nodded as the tone Apple Bloom used didn't allow for debate, the base personalities of the three girls I knew as the sisters of my friends at Canterlot High seemed to be still intact but these three seemed much harder and were obviously much less opposed to using violence...
...Or even lethal force when they deemed it necessary.
The group of us moved through the outskirts in the direction of the city center, burned husks of some sort of cars lined the streets and sometimes various types of corpses like the creature that had held me. This close to the city the skyscrapers were being obscured by vast clouds of smoke and dust as the sounds from the city clearly indicated vicious fighting.
"Since you girls are from Equestria do you know what happened that might interfere with the portal?" I asked as we came up to an entrance to what looked to be an underground metro station.
Sweetie answering my question, "That was a while back, there was an arcane solar storm of some sort raging for a day or two." She told me as we stepped into a train station of some sort confirming my idea that we had stepped into the underground transport system.
Two days? It has been three days since the garbled messages from Twilight had started, Could it be...?
"How long have you been here?"
"A bit over a year, why do you ask?" Sweetie replied once again as she seemed to be the only one interested in conversation but before I replied I went over all the knowledge on alternate dimensions in my head.
Before running away from the palace and Princess Celestia's tutelage I did extensive research on portals and such before I actually committed to the plan, one of the things I made absolutely sure of was that whatever world I would end up in had the same timestream as Equestria. I wanted to at least be able to get back within a pony lifetime to exact my plan of conquest. Another complication was that sustaining a portal that would change timestreams was... difficult. Though being thrown into a random dimension just might have pulled off that feat.
Which meant that it was entirely possible that a year could pass here while Equestria would only have progressed one day.
Tests would still have to be conducted to verify that theory but circumstantial evidence supported it, After the second day of garbled messages the amount of them had increased by several factors prompting me to investigate the portal. That could just have been an attempt by Twilight to ask if the three crusaders had ended up in my new world.
"Sunset?" Sweetie asked, snapping me back to reality.
"Sorry, I got stuck in thought." I answered as I scratched my head.
"That could get ya killed 'round here, Shimmer." Apple Bloom stated from up front, my face going slightly pale as the point drove itself home.
"Sorry, I was just going over some theory. I think time is passing much faster in this world than in Equestria then here." Apple Bloom's had immediately shot up which halted our column.
"Ya sayin' that even though we've been for a year only a small amount of time passed in Equestria?" The former earthpony asked to which I nodded, "Ya think you could get us a way back?" She followed up to which I nodded again. The three other Equestrians looked at each other through their visors as they seemed to be holding an internal debate.
"So you three are going to..." Ana asked but was stopped by Scootaloo.
"No. At least, not me." She said which seemed to surprise Sweetie and Apple Bloom.
"Scoots, you were the most adamant of the three of us to get back to Equestria!" Sweetie said, as Scootaloo lowered her rifle and turned to face her friend.
"I know, and I want to really badly but look around! If I left now I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, you know why?" She paused for a small moment before continuing, "Loyalty. It's something Dash taught me, you never leave someone down who needs you it's so not cool and the humans can use whatever help they can get!"
I'm sure the pony Dash would be proud at the proclamation although, even if she wouldn't admit it, she would be terrified of her 'adopted' sister doing the things she seemed to be doing. It took another few moments before both other Equestrians responded.
"Yer right Scoots, Ah'm staying too."
"Me three."
They have some serious dedication to each other. Looking at the three in wonder as the conversation turned back to me. "We'll help you get back to Equestria but Ah'm afraid we won't be coming with you." Apple Bloom informed me as I bit my lower lip in deliberation.
Rarity, Applejack, and Dash will never forgive me, not to mention what the others would think of me If I left them without a way home.
"I'm not leaving either." I finally sighed, "I'll stay here until you girls want to go."
Ana having sat at the sideline for a moment spoke up once again, "Glad to hear my teammates aren't going to bug out on me."
Apple Bloom chuckled, "Don't worry Ana, we ain't leaving ya." Ana returning a respectful nod as Bloom turned her attention back to me, "We're 'bout to enter our base of operations so you should act a bit like a civilian survivor. Just act as if you're very skittish and afraid of getting attacked by everytin' and everyone."
Like that's going to be hard to do. I thought but nodded, Applebloom ordered us forward through the tunnel where we eventually ran into a barricade that was held by more human soldiers, though these had different armor than the Crusaders. After telling their cover story we were let through further into the tunnel which after passing a couple of other checkpoints opened up in a large underground station which seemed to be filled with tents, storage crates, vehicles, and most importantly: Soldiers.
"Whoa, this is massive!" I gasped as the station alone would be able to hold a decent sized village and all of this was built underground!
"This is nothin', New Alexandria is much larger than anythin' on Harvest." Applebloom proclaimed as she and the others took off her helmets in the safe area. "Hell, Harvest don't even have an orbital... Oh, horseapples." The sergeant stopped as a group of similarly armored men came walking towards us. A black and white circular logo that housed the shape of a pyramid which in turn had a smaller circle on it with the words 'Office of Naval Intelligence' written in the outer circle placed in the middle of the main armor plate
"Sergeant Apple, please have your team surrender their weapons and follow us." Their leader stated as the four girls around me tensed up which in turn prompted the opposing men to also tighten their grip on their weapons, whatever was going on here it wasn't good by any stretch of the imagination. "Give 'em up girls." Apple Bloom ordered, the four of them putting their weapons onto the ground and stepping forward where the men took off any explosives, ammo, knives, and any other equipment other than their armor off of them.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Sergeant." The leader said as the four of them had their hands cuffed behind their backs, "Now there are some people that want to ask you some questions to all of you." He stated as two of the humans grabbed me and cuffed my hands as well before dragging me along with the others.
The only thing stopping me from going into a full-blown panic was the stoic and calm expressions Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie, and Ana had as they were led away. My mind screaming in fear as I was dragged into an unwanted adventure.