Twilight groaned in annoyance as they snuck around Dark Canterlot. Her, Applejack, and Fluttershy had been sneaking around for awhile and not only could they not find these 'Defenders' but they couldn't find any other pony as well. It seemed like either everyone stayed inside or... Something worse was going on. There seemed to be no entrance into the castle either. Fluttershy tapped Twilights shoulder. "M-Maybe be should turn back... This is looking like a lost cause..."
Applejack shook her head. "We can't give up now! We've spent so much time already here, we may as well finish!"
"Applejack is right," Twilight said, determined. "We haven't even checked the hedge maze or the sculpture garden yet! We need to cover there first, and if we don't find anything we'll head back."
Fluttershy opened her mouth to argue but just frowned, her tail dragging dejectedly as she followed. Soon enough they arrived at the sculpture maze, all the statues seeming to have been destroyed. Twilight looked at the ruins of the statues with pain in her heart when she heard a scream. She turned to see Fluttershy having what looked like a panic attack. Twilight ran over as fast as possible. "Fluttershy, what's wrong?! We have to be quiet or-" She stopped when she saw why Fluttershy was screaming, her blood going cold. "Oh... Oh Celestia, no..."
Toppled over onto the ground was the statue of discord, the stone sliced into chunks and pieces in many places. Discord mouth was twisted in what looked like a horrified and painful scream, but his eyes were a mystery, because the rest of the face looked like it'd been bucked in and shattered, a crater where his eyes should have been. Applejack tried to cover Fluttershy's face with her hat. "Fluttershy, please don't look at it. It's gonna be okay."
Fluttershy hugged Applejack. "D-Discord told me he could see, hear, and feel everything while encased in stone! Oh Celestia, please don't let him still be alive in that stone!"
"Well I sure hope he is!" Applejack laughed.
Twilight gasped and glared at Applejack. "Excuse me?! How dare you say that!"
Applejack looked horrified. "Twi... That wasn't me." The three friends turned around to see something truly shocking.
It was Applejack. Or at least they had the same body and mane shape. But the color of her mane was a bright orange, almost red. Her eyes gleamed red in the shadows against her grayish orange coat. Her cutie mark seemed to be a blood orange. "Well what do we got here? Y'all look very familiar and I don't reckon that be a coincidence!" She laughed a loud and mocking laugh, then smirked. "The name is Blood Orange. Y'all looking for something in particular?"
Twilight didn't know what to say, but finally shook off her shock. "We um... Are looking for the Defenders?"
Blood Oranges eyes went dark then she smirked wider. "Oh I know them! If I was a nice pony I'd show ya to them right now!" Without warning she quickly threw a lasso out towards them. "But I ain't a nice pony!"
The lasso landed around Fluttershy's neck. She tried to let out a scream but the rope suddenly tightened and squeezed her throat, so she couldn't make a noise or breath. She tried to fly away, but Blood Orange was very strong. Twilight quickly used her magic on the rope to loosen it a bit, but with the evil pony's pulling, she could only loosen it enough for Fluttershy to take shallow breaths. Applejack looked angry. "How dare ya treat my friend like that ya coward!" She went to tackle Blood Orange when from the maze garden came a song.
"Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to rest your weary head.
Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to go to bed~!"
Twilight groaned, feeling her magic grip on the rope faltering as her eyelids became heavy. Applejack stumbled and tried to fight it, but fell over, instantly asleep. Twilight kept balance for a moment but saw someone exiting the maze. It looked like Fluttershy but her hair was baby blue, and she had a strange symbol on her throat, her eyes seemed sad and glowed blue as her hypnotic song finally made Twilight collapse. Fluttershy was wheezing and closing her eyes as the rope pulled, when out of nowhere three figures dropped from the sky. Two tackled Blood Orange, freeing Fluttershy, while the third attacked the other blue haired Fluttershy, or whatever her name was. But it was too late. The song had done what it needed to do, and Twilight fell into sleep...
_________________________
Twilight sat up in bed with a yell. "Fluttershy! Applejack! No!"
"Woah partner! Calm down there!"
Twilight looked up, breathing fast. There stood what looked like Apple Bloom. But her hair was dark blue and her eyes and bow were light blue. Her cutie mark was the CMC symbol, but instead of an apple, there was a Blueberry on the mark. Her coat was a grayish blue and she was about the age of Twilight somehow. "You've got a nasty bump on your head there. Must of hit it when you collapsed."
Twilight looked confused. "I... I don't understand. Where are we? Who saved us, Apple Bloom?"
The familiar pony frowned. "The name is Orange Blossom, unfortunately. And me and my friends Cutie Bell and Scootz saved y'all. We're the Cutie Mark Defenders."
Twilight smiled a bit then remembered something, looking panicked. "My friends! Are they okay?!" She sat up more and groaned in pain.
Orange Blossom held her in place. "Stay in bed! You need rest! And your friends are alright. Scootz is caring for the pegasus and Cutie Bell is helping um... That pony that looks like my deranged sis? Care ta explain that?"
Twilight nodded and did her best to explain her story, giving details about their own world and how they got to this point. "I know it sounds unbelievable but it's true! Oh, I wish we'd never come here!"
Orange Blossom looked patient. "I can't say I blame ya. But I do believe you. You and your friends appearance are too eerily similar to our tormentors."
"Thanks for believing and saving us Apple Bloom- er- Orange Blossom." Twilight smiled, but couldn't help but eye Orange Blossom's cutie mark.
She noticed Twilight's gaze and sighed. "Ya wondering why I'm an adult and why my cutie mark is a Blueberry if I'm named Orange Blossom?"
Twi looked a little embarrassed. "A little bit. But you don't have to tell me if it's personal."
Orange Blossom chuckled. "Naw it's fine. Well ya see, my family has been farming Oranges for generations upon generations! It was something the family was so very proud of! Then I was born. They thought it odd that I had blue hair but shrugged it off. But as I got older, they saw I hated oranges. I hated the taste and everything about 'em. Couldn't grow 'em either. But I loved blueberries. The moment they found out I wanted to run a blueberry farm someday they started forcing me to dye my hair orange and banned any other food for me to eat except oranges. It was torture. But my sister... She was kind. She built me and my friends a treehouse so I could get away and brought me different food in secret every day. But then you- well this worlds version of you, Aurora Sparkle, she befriended Blood Orange and some other ponies. Then they all began to change, acting foul and angry, and hurting others. Then one day they went to Canterlot... And our princesses disappeared. They rule now and do terrible things to anyone who steps out of line. I'd like to think my sister is still inside there somewhere but I've seen her be ruthless. She used to be so honest and caring... One day me, Scootz, and Cutie Bell escaped and found a strange flower. We decided to set up camp there and made a wish. A wish that we were old enough and strong enough to take back Equestria and save the world. And the flower dropped it's last petal, making us older. Unbelievable I know, but that's when we changed our name from Crusaders, to Defenders. And we've been helping ponies wherever possible ever since. Smarty Hooves is sort of a informant."
Twilight took a moment to let everything Orange Blossom said sink in. "Wow... This is all so much..."
Orange Blossom looked sad. "I'm sorry you and your friends got torn from your happy world into this mess. We'll take you all to Ponyville soon and try to get you home."
Twilight looked up, wishing she could see the stars of her world instead of the ceiling in this sad dark world. "I hope my friends are doing better than we are..."