//------------------------------// // Interdimensional Magical Mayhem // Story: Wielder of the Orb: Third Time's the Charm // by TheMajorTechie //------------------------------// Nightshade stuck out her tongue, closely inspecting the Orb in her hooves as she held it to her lamp. A dim twinkle seemed to emanate from within, coming and going every so often almost as if it were breathing. "C'mon, we're almost there!" a faint voice shouted, "Just a little further..." Nightshade furrowed her brow and leaned in closer to the Orb. "I ca-can't," another voice responded, "I can feel him trying to pull me back now... please, leave me--" "No! Are you insane?!" yet another voice yelled, "After everything we've been through, now you decide to start giving up?! We still got a world to save!" The Orb began to shudder as the twinkle of light grew to a steady, pulsing ball of crackling energy underneath the glossy surface. "Um, Lightning?" Nightshade called, looking away from the rattling Orb, "Do you think that it'd be normal for this thing to suddenly start talking and shaking?" Lightning Rod shrugged from the couch. Great, Nightshade snorted, Now I have to figure this out by-- A blinding flash of light followed quickly by a heavy whiff of ozone nearly knocked the mare off her hooves. "WE'RE..." a strange figure exclaimed, its voice cutting off as it fell face-first onto the floor. She heard a light thud as a large object materialized from the air and landed in front of its unconscious body, followed by three more figures similar to the first one. Naturally, the three landed on top of the first one, prompting a muffled thump from the floor upon impact. "Aaaaaaaaand now we have visitors." Nightshade deadpanned, turning away from the mess before her, "I need a drink." Lightning Rod nodded his head toward the mini-fridge in the corner of the room, his eyes now glued to the figures behind Nightshade. Muttering under her breath, the mare stumbled toward the fridge, taking out the can of soda from before and taking a sip. "Soooooo..." she droned, setting the can on top of the mini-fridge, "Big question first. What the buck just happened?" The bottom figure in the pile stirred, groaning as it appeared to reach for the large object. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Nightshade shouted, lighting her horn and taking hold of the object in her aura, "Wait hold up, is this... is this another Orb?" Her question was answered by a searing pain in her horn, forcing her to drop the second Orb back to the floor with a yelp. She instead teleported her own back to herself. "Urk." the mare heard the top figure moan, slowly lifting its head up, "Phew, Caleb, you need some deodorant or something!" "Aaaaaand I'm gonna say confidently that that one's a girl," Lightning Rod began, "That, or they're just a dude with a girly voice. Next one's gonna be a guy. Gonna call it right now." The next figure down in the pile also woke; this time, to a light punch from the girl figure. "Ow!" 'Caleb' yelped, rubbing the area where the girl had punched, "Why'd you do that?" "'Cause you're on top of Sammy and Brodie, ya doofus!" She paused, turning around and spotting Nightshade and Lightning Rod. "Ponies!" she cheered, rushing with open arms at the two, "Finally we jump to somewhere a bit more normal!" Nightshade cringed as she lit her horn, picking up the excited girl and placing her back with her group. "Brodie," the bottom figure muttered, "Your butt is on my face." No response. "Ooh, ooh!" Zoey squealed, pointing a finger at Nightshade, "This one's a unicorn! Do you think we're in a magic world again?" "Oo-kay," Lightning Rod grumbled, "This is getting just a bit too weird for me. I'm just gonna--" "HE TALKED AGAIN!" Zoey cheered, "We're in a world with talking ponies!" With a heavy grunt, the bottom figure pushed 'Brodie' off of himself, rolling up into a sitting position as he began to dust himself off. "Alrighty," he grumbled, pushing himself off the floor and dusting off his hands, "We've bought ourselves a bit of time for now. Based on Zoey's eagerness for this world, we'll probably be able to stay longer than usual simply due to there having some kind of existing magic in the first place. Now, where's the Orb?" "Oh, so I guess we're irrelevant to this then," Nightshade hummed, lighting her horn and lifting up her own Orb, "Well, at least whatever I'm dealing with seems to be much more tame when it comes to this thing." "Sammy, what're we gonna do now?" Zoey began, finally taking her attention off of Nightshade and Lightning Rod, "We busted into the talking ponies' house! We should say sorry to them." "Er... yeah, sorry 'bout the mess," Sammy addressed the two ponies, "Though, given how I see that one of you two has an Orb of your own, I think things should start off with a bit of an introduction..."