It had been almost a year ever since the reconnection with the group of ponies. These ponies are Soobin and Beomgyu the unicorns, Taehyun and Yeonjun the pegasi, and Huening Kai the earth pony. They are part of the K-pop group TOMORROW X TOGETHER, otherwise known as TXT. The five were actually friends when they were kids but drifted apart for some obscure reason. Thankfully, they all got back together.
TXT were living in their dorm, eating ramen while having a chat.
“What should our next song be for our album?” asked Soobin. “The release date is around the corner.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Yeonjun assured. “We shouldn’t produce songs quicker just to hit the release date. If anything, we should take our time to make something we like rather than rushing and making something we don’t like.”
“You're right. I mean, we did just finish four songs in like, two days.”
“Yeah. We would also have to come up with dances for them all when the time of performing them comes,” Beomgyu added.
“AND music videos,” Yeonjun continued.
“Alright, you two both have a point. We should take a break and work on it later.” Soobin then illuminated his horn on his bowl and chopsticks, inserting the ramen into his mouth with the chopsticks.
Out of the blue, Taehyun starts laughing out loud, making everypony turn their attention towards him.
“What’s so funny?” Kai asked.
“Guys! You’ve GOT to see this!”
Everypony trotted over to the yellow pegasus. He played a video that showed Soobin doing a funny act. They all laughed except for the unicorn who was blushing in embarrassment.
“Hey stop!” Soobin tried to reach out for Taehyun’s phone to close out the video.
“Okay, okay.” Taehyun backed up as he tapped off the video before it could continue. “Sorry I had to embarrass you like that.”
“I can’t believe you have that saved on your phone.”
“I mean, you were on live television when you did that,” Kai stated.
Sharing their laughter, except for Soobin, they all continued to eat their ramen. As for Yeonjun, he already had an empty bowl unlike the other members.
“I’m gonna get more ramen.” Yeonjun took his empty bowl and flew back to the kitchen to fetch more ramen.
***
The rest of the day was uneventful other than some chatting and messing around between the five. The moon was also starting to rise so the stallions had to get an early sleep since tomorrow they were going to perform their debut song “CROWN”. Soobin turned the lights off with his magic as they all headed to bed. In the darkness, a pair of blue and green eyes appeared, inspecting the sleeping stallions.
“Chaos…”
***
“Oh oh oh oh oh. Ooooohh YA YA YA!”
Beomgyu delivered the last line as he and the members sat down on the stage floor. The crowd started cheering in advance after seeing the amazing performance. TXT headed backstage, still hearing the crowd cheering.
“Great work everypony,” said Soobin.
“You guys up for ice cream?” Taehyun asked.
“Yeah!” the members replied.
As the group headed out backstage, they were stopped by seven familiar ponies.
“Good going out there,” said a taupe unicorn colt.
In front of them was one of the most popular bands in Equestria.
Kai was the first to speak up. “Are you guys?...”
The taupe unicorn finished the earth pony’s sentence. “Yep. We are-”
“BTS!” he and the rest of his bandmates exclaimed.
“Otherwise known as the Bangtan Colts.”
“Your performance was great!” complimented a pegasus with blonde hair.
“Thanks,” replied TXT.
“What song are you guys performing?” asked Yeonjun.
“FAKE LOVE,” said the taupe unicorn.
“OOOOOOH I love that song,” said Beomgyu.
“Me too!” Taehyun added.
“We’ll be sure to watch your performance on television once we get home,” Soobin stated.
“Thanks. Come on guys!”
The taupe unicorn and his bandmates headed up to the stage. They haven’t even gotten into position yet the crowd was already cheering. They really were one of the most popular bands in Equestria. The members all lined up behind their red unicorn vocalist as he started off the song.
“If it’s for you I can act like I’m happy even when I’m sad.”
***
TXT had their bowl of ice cream as their eyes were facing the television. BTS had finished their performance as the stallions were in awe.
“Whooooaaaa. That ending was so cool!” Kai said. “Jungkook’s part in the beginning was really nice.”
“I think Jimin and Jin’s part was cool,” Taehyun stated.
“I for one really liked Jungkook and V’s part in the chorus,” added Soobin.
The stallions continued eating their ice cream while talking about BTS’ performance.
***
Later that day, the stallions all headed to bed. Tomorrow was another day, another performance, the song being “Blue Orangeade” this time. All the members headed off to bed as Soobin turned off the lights. Everypony was sleeping all comfortably, except for the unicorn leader, who was moving his body left and right.
***
Soobin was sitting next to a black, circle table. Across from him was Yeonjun interacting with Beomgyu and Huening Kai interacting with Taehyun.
“Guys?”
The four didn’t respond.
“GUYS!!”
Still no response.
“Yeonjun! Beomgyu! Taehyun! Huening Kai!”
No matter how loud he shouted, his band members wouldn’t even look towards him.
“Guys?! If this is some sort of joke, it isn’t funny!”
The members simply just ignored Soobin. The unicorn had enough of whatever was going on. If the members won’t notice him, then maybe they’ll notice him if he got up all in their faces.
Soobin got on top of the table, slowly approaching the stallions. The unicorn almost reached the stallions to the point that they would have to crank their necks up a little to look him in the eyes.
Suddenly, Soobin was stopped by an invisible wall.
“What the?” Soobin put his right forehoof onto the wall.
“This can’t be right.” The unicorn backed up but was stopped by another invisible wall behind him.
“What?!” Looking up, down, left and right, Soobin realized that he and his members weren’t separated anymore. He was trapped inside an enclosed glass box.
“Guys?!” The unicorn started knocking on the glass with his forehooves as hard as he could.
“Come on guys! This isn’t funny!”
The stallion banged on the glass as hard as he could but his bandmates wouldn’t recognize him.
“Can’t you see me?! Come on guys! Just turn your heads around would ya?!”
Suddenly, an idea popped up. Soobin decided to teleport out of the box. Shutting his eyes, his horn started to glow as he unleashed his teleportation spell.
The spell had been unleashed. Soobin opened his eyes only to see that he was still in the box.
“Why isn’t my magic working?” The unicorn resorted back to banging on the glass until at least one of his friends would notice him.
“Guys!! GUUUYS!!! GUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS!!!!”
***
“Soobin! Soobin wake up!”
“Huh?!” Soobin woke up from Beomgyu shaking him as he was greeted by the rest of the members.
“Are you okay?” asked Yeonjun. “You had a pool of sweat pouring from your head intensely.”
“I…” Soobin realized that today was their performance for “Blue Orangeade”. “I’ll talk about it on our way to Mnet.”
***
The band was on their way to Mnet Studio. Soobin started telling the members about his dream.
“And yeah. That’s pretty much it.”
“Now that you mention it, I had a dream like that too,” said Kai. “However, everypony was there except you.”
“You had that dream too?” asked Taehyun.
“Yeah. What about you guys?”
Beomgyu and Yeonjun both nodded their heads up and down.
“And all of you had yourselves and everypony else in it except me?” asked Soobin.
“Yeah. Pretty much,” said Yeonjun.
“Maybe it’s just some weird coincidence,” stated the red-haired pegasus. “Come on. We have to get to Mnet Studio quickly to perform.”
***
TXT headed backstage. Before heading to the front of the stage, a familiar EDM song could be heard playing by a familiar group.
On stage was none other than BTS. They were all in line, side by side, singing the outro to their song “DNA”. In the middle of the line was the yellow unicorn with blonde hair, J-Hope, singing the outro, the audience doing so as well.
“La la la la la. La la la la la.”
“Because this isn’t a coincidence DNA.”
The blue-haired earth pony, Jungkook, finished the last line as he and the other members lined up behind J-Hope. The crowd started cheering as they waved their hooves in the air, holding what looked like an empty snow globe attached to a stick that was flashing blue and purple lights. BTS headed backstage and were face to face with TXT again.
Yeonjun was the first to speak up. “That was amazing as always. Though, we only really got to see the end. We’ll make sure to watch the performance once we get back to our dorm.”
“Thanks,” the group replied as it was TXT’s turn to perform.
The five stallions walked up to the stage, the crowd already cheering. They all laid down on the floor to start their choreography. The instrumental had started. Kicking their hind hooves up and down, they all sprang up dancing as Beomgyu sang the first verse.
“Someone say, what’s going on? How on earth are you seeing somepony who’s totally your opposite?”
***
The stallions were back in their dorm after a long day. Watching BTS’ performance on television, everypony was having a good time. As for Soobin, he just sat still with a blank expression on his face. He then walked up to the door.
“Guys, I’m gonna head to the store. I, uh, noticed we’re running low on food.”
“Alright.” Huening Kai faced the TV then back to Soobin. “Wait! You’re gonna go alone?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Well, let us come with.”
Yeonjun and the other members got up from their seats as they walked towards the unicorn.
“No! I mean, it’s fine.”
The stallions felt as if something was off with the leader but decided not to question it.
“Okay then.” They all went back to their seats.
“Anyways. Is there anything specific you guys want?”
“RAMEN!!” Yeonjun exclaimed.
Soobin rolled his eyes with a smile. “Which brand? Spicy Mm, Jjin, or 10?”
“Spicy Mm. If they don’t have it, then Jjin or 10.”
“And if they don’t have those?”
“... Hm.”
Everypony let out a little laugh.
“Anypony else?”
“Could you get shrimp?” Kai asked.
“Sure. Anypony else?”
The rest of his bandmates nodded their heads left to right.
“Okay then. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” Soobin headed out the door and to the grocery store.
While walking to the store, Soobin was deep in thought about the dream he had. It was… strange, and scary. A random thought popped into the unicorn’s mind.
“Were there eyes behind them?”
Soobin’s train of thought was interrupted as the sky started to darken, clouds bunching up together. Falling from the sky were little drops of rain.
“Shoot! If I knew that it was gonna rain, I would’ve brought an umbrella.”
Soobin started booking it to the store as quickly as possible to avoid the pouring rain.
***
The unicorn had arrived at the store. Searching for ramen and shrimp, Soobin spotted something he hadn’t seen in a very long time.
His eyes landed on a package of tteokbokki, also known as rice cake. The last time he ate tteokbokki was seven months ago when he and Beomgyu were at a restaurant.
The memory put a little smile on the unicorn’s face. “You know what? Why not?”
Soobin took the package of tteokbokki, then continued to search for the ramen and shrimp Yeonjun and Kai requested.
***
Soobin had paid for his products and headed out the store. Walking out, he sees two mares running towards him.
“Oh my Celestia! Are you the Soobin from TXT?!” one of them asked.
“Yep. That’s me.”
“Can we please take a picture with you?” asked the other.
“Of course.”
The mares walked up beside the stallion as they took their selfies.
“Thanks,” they replied as they trotted away.
Soobin continued his way back to the dorm.
***
The unicorn had arrived back home with the groceries.
“I’m back,” he announced.
The stallions turned their attention towards Soobin.
“Spicy Mm ramen for Yeonjun, shrimp for Kai, and I also bought tteokbokki.”
“Tteokbokki?” Beomgyu noticed Soobin taking out the package as well as the other groceries. “The last time I had that was like seven months ago.”
“Same. Remember when we had that at a restaurant?”
“Oh right.”
“Well, since it’s getting late, I think it’s best that we all have a meal before we head to bed.”
“I agree.” Yeonjun took the package of ramen and headed to the kitchen. Kai and Soobin followed suit by taking the shrimp and tteokbokki, leaving Beomgyu and Taehyun in the living room.
***
Everypony had a bowl of food in front of them. Soobin and Beomgyu had tteokbokki, Taehyun and Yeonjun had ramen, and Huening Kai had shrimp.
“You guys wanna watch a movie?” Taehyun asked.
“Sure. Why not?” replied Huening Kai.
“Yeah I’m up for one,” Beomgyu added.
Taehyun tapped the buttons on the remote until he found a movie that interested him.
“Actually. I wonder what’s on YouTube.”
The yellow pegasus scrolled through YouTube, continuing his search for a movie.
“Wait, what’s that?” asked Beomgyu.
Taehyun scrolled back to the left and found a thirty-three minute video titled Agents of Secret Stuff.
“That does look interesting. You guys wanna watch it?”
The stallions nodded their heads up and down.
“Alright then.” Taehyun selected the video as he and the rest of the members sat back as the video started to play
***
The credits started to roll. The members shared a bit of laughter, not expecting the video to have comedy.
“That was actually really good,” said Kai.
“And funny,” Taehyun added.
“Sorry to ruin the moment, but I think it’s time we get some sleep,” said Soobin.
“I agree. I’m pooped.” Yeonjun headed over to his bed, pulling the covers up to his head.
The rest of the stallions followed suit. Again, Soobin turned off the lights as the five all went to sleep.
***
“Huh?” Soobin woke up to see a random trail that led to the door. Their dorm door was wide open.
“Guys wake up!” The remembers all woke up from Soobin shaking their shoulders.
“Ugh… what happened?” Yeonjun asked tiredly.
“Look!” Soobin pointed to the trail that led to their open door.
“What the heck?! Did we get robbed?!” asked Taehyun.
The members rummaged around the dorm, checking every cupboard and drawer for any misplacements.
“Doesn’t look like it,” said Beomgyu.
“Maybe if we follow the trail, we can follow the culprit,” Kai stated.
The five stallions rushed outside their dorm, following the footprints.
***
TXT followed the footprints that stopped in front of a maze.
“A maze?” Soobin said in confusion.
“Maybe whoever came into our dorm went inside the maze,” said Kai.
“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s go in!” Yeonjun announced.
As the group slowly headed towards the maze, a black figure started to form from the ground. It outlined a cat and it had its left eye colored green and the other blue.
“The Cat?!” the group exclaimed.
“Yes, it’s me. Long time, no see.”
“What do you want?!” Yeonjun asked furiously.
“Just wanted to play a little game.”
“Did you take any of our stuff?” asked Soobin.
“No.”
“Then why were there footprints at our dorm?”
“Footprints? Must be my little ‘friend’ checking up on you five.”
“Friend?” Taehyun asked in confusion.
“Well, he really isn’t, what’s the word… complete? Yeah, let’s go with that.”
“Hold on. What’s happening?” asked Beomgyu.
“I could tell you, but what’s the fun in that? How about this? When all of you make it to the middle of the maze, then I’ll tell you what’s going on.”
“And if we don’t?” Kai asked.
“Well… you’ll just have to find out for yourselves.”
“That won’t be so hard with these.” Yeonjun flapped up his wings. “Come on Taehyun!”
The two pegasi flew up, heading to the middle. All of a sudden…
*POOF!*
… the wings on the pegasi disappeared. The two came crashing down onto the ground.
“Oof!” they exclaimed.
“That goes for you two as well.”
The Cat snapped its claws, making Soobin and Beomgyu’s horns disappear.
“Aaahh!” they both screamed.
“Perfect. No wings, no magic. You have five minutes. Go!”
The cat disappeared into thin air.
“Come on everypony!” Soobin announced. “Let’s get to the bottom of this!”
“Yeah!” they exclaimed.
As they stepped in, walls started forming from the ground, separating the five.
“AAAAHHH!!!” The stallions were taken aback from the forming walls.
“Oh, and I forgot to mention, you’re all doing this individually. You may now continue.”
The five aimlessly ran around the maze until they could find the middle.
***
Yeonjun was walking around the labyrinth until he spotted the Cat.
“There you are!” He ran up towards the black feline.
“Looks like you’re the first one to make it here.”
“So, we just gonna wait for everypony else, or are you gonna tell me right now?”
“Well, you know what?”
The cat quickly grasped Yeonjun in his paws.
“Hey! Let me go!”
The Cat and Yeonjun looked each other in the eyes, rings forming in them.
“This isn’t actually the middle of the maze. It’s two lefts and right from here. Meet me there.”
Yeonjun’s body started to desaturate to the point where he almost looked gray.
“Yeah whatever.” The desaturated stallion walked away as the Cat gave him a mischievous look from behind.
“One down, four more to go.”
***
Five gray stallions walked up to the Cat.
“What took you five so long? Were my directions not clear?”
“It’s because of THIS pony ruining everything!” Taehyun said, pointing to Huening Kai.
“ME?! If anything, that was YOUR fault!”
The two started getting into a fight, a cloud of smoke forming over them.
“Well, why are we here,” Soobin asked in annoyance.
“You’re all here to know about my plan. Once my ‘friend’ is ‘complete’, we’ll rule over Equestria by separating everpony apart. Nopony will be friends, and nopony can be. Not even the regal sisters. Once I get a hold of them, it’ll be game over. Celestia and Luna, dethroned.”
“Yeah whatever. Can I go now?” Yeonjun asked.
“Sure. You may all go.”
The five all went their separate ways.
“Oh! And before you go.”
The Cat snapped his claws, bringing back everypony’s horns and wings, at least for the ones that have horns and wings.
“Now you can all go.”
Yeonjun and Taehyun flew off, Beomgyu and Soobin teleported away, and Huening Kai just walked away. As the five stallions were no longer in sight, a glowing star in the sky started flickering until it turned gray like them. The Cat looked back behind him where a black figure with a gingerbread man cut-out stands.
“Everything I couldn’t do last year is now coming together this year. Tomorrow morning, chaos will fall upon Equestria.”
***
Yeonjun woke up at his house after the separation from last night. He had a strange feeling, like his head got heavier, and also the fact that he wasn’t in his dorm with the others.
“How did I get here? And why does my head feel weird?”
Looking at a mirror, he was in shock. On top of his head were antlers (and also his colors are back to normal but does that really matter?).
“What the heck?! Maybe I’m just dreaming.”
Yeonjun went back to bed pulling the covers over his head, waiting to get out of this ‘dream’. However, nothing happened and his antlers only grew longer.
“UUUGGGHHH!!!” The pain in his head was getting worse. His antlers started to grow larger as they ripped through the covers. Out of the blue,Yeonjun decided to head outside, going far away from home.
***
The pegasus flew all the way to the Everfree Forest. He had set up a campfire and laid out a sleeping bag.
“Okay, maybe this is just the beginning of my dream. But shouldn’t I be going to a doctor to get these checked out?”
Yeonjun looked around at his surroundings.
“Maybe I have superpowers.”
The pegasus positioned his forehooves trying to create an aura sphere. However, nothing appeared.
“Okay, guess I can’t do that.”
Yeonjun then let out a yawn. “I woke up too early for this. I’m going back to bed.”
The pegasus slid into his sleeping bag, shutting his eyes as he fell asleep.
***
“Yeonjun. Yeonjun.”
“Huh?”
The pegasus was woken up by a faint voice calling his name. Turning around, he was face to face with none other than the Cat.
“No. No! It can’t be!”
“Why hello again.”
“How did you find me?!”
“I… well, that’s not important. I just wanted to play a little game with you.”
A cut started to form onto Yeonjun’s neck. Not wanting to deal with the Cat, the pegasus quickly flew away from the feline.
“Aw. Such a shame. Oh well, back to my master plan.”
***
Yeonjun had flown to the middle of the forest. Perching down on the floor, he yanked his left antler with both of his forehooves.
“Come… on! Ugh!”
Suddenly…
*SNAP!*
… Yeonjun had broken apart one of his antlers. After the sound of the antler snapping, a pony came flying down, meeting his gaze.
“Huening Kai?”
“Yes, it’s me.” Huening Kai pulled Yeonjun into a hug.
“Do your wings hurt you just like me and my antlers?” Yeonjun wondered as they separated from the hug.
“Where are the others?”
“They’re right here.”
Three ponies came walking into the forest. There was Soobin who had grown elf ears, Taehyun who’s left eye was black with a white star pupil, and Beomgyu who’s left forehoof had spikes protruding out of it.
“How did you guys find me?”
“Soobin is the one that heard your screaming and Taehyun is the one that saw you here,” said Huening Kai.
“Well, at least I’m not the only one having this dream.”
“Yeonjun, this isn’t a dream,” Soobin assured.
“What?! But everything about us is too much not to be a dream.”
“I don’t know why we weren’t back at our dorm, but that might be why we have these body parts,” said Beomgyu. “Must be some sort of separation.”
“A big and impactful separation,” Taehyun added.
“Well that explains why I haven’t woken up yet. This whole time I was just denying the fact that this wasn’t a dream.”
“Guys. I think this separation was caused by the Cat, again,” said Soobin.
The members all agreed with Soobin’s statement.
“You think he did this to possibly take over the world and ruin our career,” Huening Kai asked.
“That’s exactly what he would do,” said Beomgyu.
“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s get him!” Yeonjun exclaimed.
“But we don’t know where he is,” Taehyun brought up. “How are we gonna find him?”
“I HATE YOU!!!”
A pony could be heard shouting from Everfree Forest.
“That way!” Soobin announced.
TXT followed the shouting, assuming the Cat was nearby.
***
The stallions exited the forest and were greeted with angry, desaturated ponies. Noticing the cat, the group slowly walked up to him.
“Well hello TXT. Seems like you all got back together. Like how my plan’s coming out?”
“Sorry Cat, but this needs to stop now!” Soobin exclaimed.
“But it just began. Now, I would try to separate you five again, but doing that twice, er, well the third time, wouldn’t be that fun. So I guess I’ll have to… DESTROY YOU!! Come on out, Magic!”
The Cat levitated into the sky holding puppet strings. The strings were attached to the arms of Magic, the gingerbread man cut-out monster who now had spikes protruding out from its left shoulder, antlers, wings, elf ears, and its left eye was in the shape of a star.
Magic threw a strike with its left arm. The five stallions quickly avoided the attack.
“Let’s get him!” Yeonjun announced as he and other ponies charged towards the marionette.
“WAIT!!!” Soobin shouted as everypony stopped fighting.
“Magic, why are you doing this to us? What have we ever done to you?”
The marionette just stared down at the five.
“It’s because of him isn’t it? You shouldn’t fight under someone’s control or be treated like that.”
The marionette continued to look down at the five.
“What are you doing?! Attack them!”
The Cat moved the strings, making another punch, but Magic didn’t budge. Magic looked down at the music group then started walking away.
“Hey! What gives?!”
Magic walking away and the Cat pulling on the strings caused them to snap. The creature then walked away.
“No! Come back! Ugh!! You’ve just ruined my plan!”
“So this cat with powers to make ponies enemies can’t take on five of them without a puppet?” Yeonjun teased.
The Cat was fuming at the comment. “I’ll get my revenge!”
The heterochromic cat disappeared into thin air. Suddenly, everypony around TXT had their colors and personality back to normal. Adding to that, the stallions’ new body parts started glowing white.
Yeonjun’s antlers, Beomgyu’s spikes, and Kai’s wings dissolved into their skin, Soobin’s ears and Taehyun’s left eye turned back to normal. They all touched and gazed at their normal bodys parts.
“That was awesome!” Taehyun said as he jumped onto Soobin, giving him a hug.
“I think so as well.”
Looking behind them was Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna. Everypony including TXT all bowed down to the regal sisters.
“Well done Soobin. You managed to stop a threat by not using violence, but with logic.”
“Yes. Thank you, your majesty.”
“Let’s all give it up for Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Huening Kai.”
Everypony started clapping their hooves and cheering for the group.
“You know, after all of that, I think I have an idea for our new song,” said Soobin.
“Well we’ll look forward to listening to it as soon as it comes out,” said Princess Luna.
Everypony continued to cheer for the five stallions, all excited for the new song.
***
“It will be alright alright alright.”
It was getting late. Yeonjun finished the last line of their new song “Can't We Just Leave The Monster Alive?”. Soobin had finished editing the song, making sure he saved the project before closing out the program.
“What a day. I think it’s best that we all get some sleep.”
Huening Kai let out a yawn. “Yeah. I’m tired.”
The stallions all headed to their beds. Soobin, like always, turned the lights off as everypony fell asleep. Outside in the night sky, a star once gray started to glow a pretty yellow color.