//------------------------------//
// All That Glitters 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

A faint breeze blew some dust along the road, past the van parked just on the edge of it. Not one other vehicle could be seen from there, and everything was covered in silence. Or, at least, everything would have been covered in silence, had it not been for three voices coming from behind the van.
"Is that really what I think it is?" one asked, incredulous.
"Oh, yes. Absolutely," answered the second, her tone deep and excited.
"Ooh. Wait, what is it?" asked the third one.
The first two girls looked to their right, flat expressions on their faces. Aria crossed her arms, while Adagio just placed her fingers on her forehead and shook her head.
Sonata pursed her lips, lifting her shoulders.
"This," Adagio resumed, taking a step as she pointed forward, "is what's finally going to allow us to get our revenge."
As she stared at Sonata's eyes flipping between Adagio and the thing in front of them while a question began to shape on her face, Aria just rolled hers. "It's a portal to Equestria!" she said, louder than necessary. "Can't you feel it?" 
"Ooh!" Sonata turned back to Adagio. "Can we go in?"
Adagio began to nod, then stopped halfway through. "Is the van locked?" she asked, turning to Aria.
Aria pulled out the keys to their van and clicked on the little button with the lock icon on it. A few clicks came from the vehicle's various doors, followed by a couple beeps of light. "It is now."
"Good. I do not want to be left stranded in the middle of nowhere when we come back here because someone stole it." Stepping forward again, she held her hand a few centimetres away from the surface of the portal. Then, she smiled, and walked in.
Adagio disappeared into the portal. Aria waited a few seconds, just to make sure the other wouldn't quickly re-emerge from it yelling about the unsafe conditions on the other side, then she let go of Sonata's ponytail and watched the girl cross the portal by almost falling face first into it. Then she waited a moment longer, and took a look at the keys she still held in her hand. Finally, she sighed, shoved them back in her pocket, and stepped through the portal herself.
The scenery on the other side was somehow more barren than the one they'd come from. A wide stretch of plains covered in a thin layer of yellow-grey dust, with the occasional rock formation standing tall over the nothing around it. By all means, the place kinda sucked. But not one of the three sirens cared, as the feeling of finally being back in their original bodies more than made up for it.
"Screw the van," Adagio said, as Sonata flew loops around her. "We are not going back. I refuse to have to walk for another second of my life."
Aria was about to voice her opinion on the matter, but she was interrupted before she could talk. Not that it would have mattered, because the boom that echoed around them would have covered the sound of her words either way.
The three looked at each other, then at the bright red light spreading over the sky. "Okay," Aria said. "Maybe we are going back."