Being teleported without warning, Rainbow Dash decided, was an unpleasant feeling for a pegasus. It was already a disorienting sensation for anypony, but a pegasus’s sense of proprioception, having an additional set of limbs, was quite a bit more advanced than the other pony tribes’. Pegasi also unconsciously used their magic for all things involving flight, granting them an innate sense of barometric pressure, local wind velocity, the ambient temperature, and the like. All in all, it made a sudden, involuntary shift in location almost nauseating for a pegasus in flight, especially one as attuned to the air as Dash was.
Her being upside-down after Discord’s teleport didn’t help matters much, either.
But she was Rainbow Dash, reserve Wonderbolt, fastest pegasus in recorded history, and awesomest pony in Ponyville. She could take anything that draconequus threw at her! In naught but a moment, she had flipped herself upright, landed, and only mildly felt like losing her dinner, thank you very much.
While suppressing her internal desire to ask where the restroom was, she took a moment to verify that everypony was there. The only ponies that Discord had deigned to keep upright and on the floor were the Crusaders and Fluttershy; they were all standing next to what Rainbow assumed was supposed to be a coffee table (given that it was an irregular pentagon and seemed to be made of gelatin, though, she couldn’t be quite sure). Rarity and Applejack were both standing on the wall and rather incensed, glaring at Discord, who himself was unicycling circles around Princesses Celestia and Luna on the ceiling.
Pinkie was just giggling her way down (or was it up, from her perspective?) an upside-down staircase.
Satisfied that everypony was present and accounted for, Rainbow spared a moment to take in her surroundings. Discord’s house was fittingly weird. Beyond the aforementioned gelatin coffee table and upside-down staircase to nowhere, the room also featured seven different styles of couch, wallpaper patterns that changed in random intervals, doors of differing styles and heights, and uneven windows. Rainbow made the mistake of looking out of one of them, into the endless purple void that lay beyond the confines of Discord’s home. She stared, entranced, as the sky swirled and twisted into eldritch patterns, feeling as though it was judging her very soul.
There was a snapping sound, and the window’s curtains–which were somehow tiled in regular pentagons–were pulled in a flash of light. “Try not to stare into the Abyss too long, Miss Dash!” Discord called from the ceiling. “It likes to stare back.”
Rainbow shook her head to clear it before also glaring up at the unicycling draconequus. Celestia cleared her throat with a slight frown. “Discord,” she said calmly, “need I remind you that we are here so you can scry for Twilight and Sunset?”
Discord kick-flipped his unicycle and casually stepped onto the ceiling as his ride folded itself into nonexistence. “Not to worry, dear Celly!” he cheerfully announced, snapping his tail. With the sound of mechanical whirring, the back wall flashed twice and ceased to exist, revealing behind it a black screen. Several pieces of furniture grew legs and assembled themselves in front of it in the style of a theater. “The film will begin shortly!”
“And just how are we supposed to sit in those there couches without gravity?” Applejack asked bitterly.
Discord rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Oh, of course the apple farmer is concerned about gravity.”
“Discord…” Fluttershy said, her voice sterner than usual.
Discord pouted. “You ponies are no fun.”
Still though, he snapped his paw. Applejack and Rarity immediately tumbled to the ground as gravity abruptly switched directions, landing with a grunt and a yelp, respectively. The princesses, meanwhile, gracefully glided to the floor while Discord landed with his body coiled up like a snake’s.
Pinkie just kept walking until she reached the floor, at which point she bent over and jumped back upright. Rainbow chose not to think too hard about that.
With a sproinging sound, Discord shot back up to a standing position, holding two tapes. Tapping his chin, he considered them. “Now, decisions, decisions. Which of Miss Sparkle’s adventures shall I show…?”
Luna glared at him. “We tire of thy games, draconequus.”
Discord whistled. “Wow, testy today, are we? I don’t think I’ve heard you bring out ye olde Ponish in a while!”
“We have business to attend to on Equus,” Luna responded flatly. “If thee will not display Princess Twilight promptly, may We return to it?”
“Oh, dear Lulu, you forget,” Discord grinned, holding up a paw, “I can just bring the business here!”
Before Luna could even open her mouth to protest, Discord snapped. In a flash, two new ponies appeared in the room: a unicorn mare that Rainbow had never seen before, and Sunburst. The two took a moment to get their bearings before reacting. Sunburst immediately collapsed into a bow once he noticed the two princesses, while his companion just looked utterly terrified. Luna whirled around to face them.
“You may rise, Sunburst,” she sighed. Her gaze turned to the other unicorn as she fixed her with a glare and Sunburst skittered off to the side. “As for you, Starlight Glimmer…”
“I give up!” Starlight shouted, sinking to the ground and cowering.
Luna seemed genuinely shocked. “What?”
Starlight didn’t respond, instead quivering under her forehooves. Luna looked at Sunburst for an explanation.
He started a bit at the attention, but quickly responded regardless. “After the vines took you,” he said as he messed about with his glasses a bit, “Starlight and I had a conversation-”
“My life was based on a lie!” Starlight wailed.
“-about that,” Sunburst continued. “And I uh…managed to convince her to give the town their cutie marks back.”
Rainbow wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that. How in the world could somepony take another pony’s cutie mark? Most of her friends seemed to be similarly taken aback, but Fluttershy was the exception. She instead was looking at Starlight with an expression Rainbow recognized quite well–it was the same sort of pitying look she gave Discord during his reformation.
“I even think she’ll want to help us find Princess Twilight!” Sunburst said, blatantly ignoring the fact that Starlight was still sobbing. His face fell slightly. “Though, if you’ve already asked Discord to, I guess that’s moot.”
Luna took a moment to regain her composure. “Even still, her list of crimes-”
“Is shorter than mine, I’m sure!” Discord jovially interrupted. He gestured at himself. “Why, you’re standing in the same room as the mares that managed to reform me!”
“That’s debatable,” Rainbow muttered under her breath.
If Discord heard, he paid her no mind. Instead, he just waved a talon dismissively. “I’m certain that whatever crimes Glim Glam here committed, they’re nothing compared to my past!”
Starlight sniffled a bit and looked up, her fear having given way to confusion. “Glim Glam?”
“Don’t worry about Discord,” Fluttershy said, trotting over and helping Starlight to her hooves. “He likes to give everypony nicknames.”
“Right you are, my dear Shutterfly!” Discord exclaimed.
Celestia comfortingly draped a wing around her sister. “Whatever legal proceedings will be necessary regarding Starlight, we will take care of them in due time,” she reassured. Her gaze turned towards Discord. “Besides, we have more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Ah, of course!” Discord said. With a wave of his talon, he had once again produced the two tapes. “Would you like to see Twilight team up with the natives to take down a battleship, or her harrowing battle over a misunderstanding?”
“Twilight took down what?” Rainbow shouted.
Discord grinned. “Twilight and associates versus the Halberd it is, then!” Spinning around, he chucked the tape at the screen. Instead of finding a slot somewhere or smashing straight through it, the tape instead disappeared directly into the screen with a ripple effect.
“Take a seat, everypony!” Discord gleefully shouted as he vaulted onto a couch. The screen lit up with a panning shot over an ocean. “The show’s about to begin!”
The more of this she watched, the more Celestia grew concerned. This “Halberd” was more than just a battleship. It was a veritable flying fortress, evident by how Twilight and her allies struggled to even board it. And even after they had…
Celestia winced again as she watched them fight through a hallway. Oh, how she detested such violence. But given what limited knowledge she had of the situation, she could understand why they had to fight–she just wished that Sunset didn’t look so pleased with herself as she did so.
Glancing around, the solar princess gauged how the others felt about it. Fluttershy seemed terrified, cowering behind her mane, but still looked on curiously every time a new creature appeared on screen. Rarity and Pinkie both seemed vaguely disappointed, even if Celestia assumed it was for very different reasons. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were both leaning forward, totally engaged with the action. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were all yawning–Celestia supposed that it was rather late at night, at that point–though Scootaloo in particular seemed entranced with the action. Discord was shoveling caramel popcorn into his mouth, Starlight seemed to hardly be paying attention, and Sunburst looked to be scared for his sister’s safety. And Luna…
“Pray tell, dear sister,” Luna said as Sunset fought with a creature that seemed to have total control over ice and snow, “did thee teach Miss Shimmer how to fight?”
Celestia shook her head. “No, I did not. She was insistent upon teaching herself combat magic, though.”
“I expected as much,” Luna said with a nod. “Her form needs work. See there?” she asked, pointing as Sunset and the creature sent streams of fire and ice at each other. “Her use of fire magicks to counter ice is appreciable, but she seems to place emphasis on purely overpowering an opponent, rather than with precise strikes.” Luna shook her head disapprovingly. “Such a strategy will leave a unicorn far more drained than necessary.”
“You know how to fight?” Rainbow Dash asked suddenly.
“I was this realm’s protector for decades before my banishment,” Luna replied. “I ‘know a thing or two’ about it, as I believe the modern saying goes.”
The group once again fell silent as they continued to watch. There were some gasps when Twilight shot a hole in the massive wing above them, and Pinkie seemed to be chewing through her hooves in anxiety as they traversed the air ducts. Eventually, though, Sunburst opened his mouth. “So, if we can see Princess Twilight, why can’t Discord just…” He trailed off.
“Snap my fingers and get her back?” Discord finished. He snapped his paw, and nothing happened. “That whole multiverse is out of bounds.”
Sunburst narrowed his eyes. “But why?”
Discord shrugged. “Void shut down entry to and exit from Its multiverse thousands of years ago. Even I can only get visual and audio through!”
“Who’s Void?” Pinkie asked.
“It created that multiverse!” Discord cheerfully responded, much to everypony’s looks of horror.
Sunburst even physically shook. “Then…how did Princess Twilight get in?”
Discord’s grin widened. “Why, I have no idea! How delightful!”
Rarity’s right eye twitched. “You…don’t know?”
“Nope!” Discord replied. “Oh would you look at that, Sparkle just fell through the floor.”
Everypony’s attention snapped back to the screen and a series of gasps rang out as Twilight was sucked through a hole in the floor after the group took out a giant robot lobster. Her being okay brought several sighs of relief, but now even Celestia couldn’t tear her eyes away from the screen. Everypony’s jaws dropped as they watched Sunset and Kirby do battle with Meta Knight, and the tension was palpable as the ship started going down.
Seeing everyone land safe and sound, though, was greatly relieving for everypony. With a click, the screen shut off and they took a moment to collect their thoughts. “Well,” Rarity breathed, “that was an…experience.”
Rainbow was even physically shaking. “That was AWESOME!”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo emphatically agreed. Gesturing wildly with her hooves, she continued. “When Princess Twilight dodged all those lasers! Oh and when they were fighting everypony in the hallway! AND THEY FOUGHT A ROBOT!”
Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle–who had fallen asleep during the screening–were jostled awake at that one. Yawning, Sweetie rubbed her eyes. “Wha…” suddenly she snapped upright. “What’d we miss?”
“Just Princess Twilight being awesome!” Scootaloo responded. After a beat, she continued. “Still not as awesome as Rainbow Dash, though.”
Rainbow grinned and ruffled her mane. “Thanks, Squirt.”
“Perhaps, Discord,” Celestia said, “we should see how Twilight is currently, and then all get some well-deserved rest.”
Discord snapped his tail and the screen lit back up. “One live feed, coming right up!”
The image on screen was now the interior of what Celestia assumed to be a castle, based on its architecture. Concerningly, Twilight seemed to be in a panic, sprinting through the hall with Spike barely keeping up with her. Celestia frowned. “Discord, what’s going on?”
Discord summoned another bucket of popcorn and started munching. “I don’t know! Looks like we have another show on our hooves!”
Everypony leaned forward curiously as Twilight began to speak.
“Spike, go find Bandana and Dedede!” she said as they came to a crossroads in the hallway. “See if they know what’s going on.”
“You got it, Twi!” Spike replied, swinging to his right. Before he ran off, though, he looked back. “What about you?”
Twilight ruffled her wings and looked to her left. “I’ll fly to Orange Ocean and see if Meta Knight knows why the Sun and Moon are fighting.”
Even Celestia was taken aback by that. Her eyes wider than they had been in centuries, she looked at Discord. “That world’s sun and moon are what?”
Wordlessly, Discord gestured. The field of view on the screen pulled back through a few walls until they could see the outside of the castle. Sure enough, high above it and the mountains around it, the Sun and Moon were fighting for dominance in the sky.
“Wh-where’s Sunset?” Sunburst shakily asked.
Sunset twitched in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes. Groaning, she pulled her blanket up over her head as sunlight streamed through her window. She’d picked this room specifically to avoid this kind of awakening, goddamnit!
Wait a minute.
Sunset launched her blanket off of her and sat straight up in her bed. Her window was on the west side of the room, and there was sunlight illuminating the entire room. She knew she was tired after last night, but there was no way she’d slept so long it was this late in the afternoon already! But there the Sun was, at an angle she could see it clearly!
Then the Moon–the one that Kirby blew up–came out of nowhere and slammed right into the Sun. The two celestial bodies struggled for a bit longer before their brawl took them back above the castle and out of Sunset’s view. Bewildered, she walked over to the window, opened it, and stuck her head out for a better view. “What in the world?” she whispered.
“Hey, Sunny-Shim!” she heard Marx call. Glancing around, she saw him bounce toward her window, still on his ball. His grin, though, was absent. Instead, for the first time, Marx looked truly panicked. “Could I talk to ya for a sec?”
Luckily, her room was at ground level, so she could easily just open the window the rest of the way and hop out, telekinetically shutting it behind her. “Hey Marx,” she said while trotting towards him. “Any idea on what the fuck is happening?”
Marx looked up at the sky and frowned. “Well, it looks like the Sun and Moon are fighting.”
“You don’t say,” Sunset said dryly.
“But,” Marx continued, “I think I know how to fix it!”
Sunset blinked. “You do?”
“Uh huh!” Marx affirmed. “We’ve gotta summon Galactic Nova!”
Several thoughts started streaming through Sunset’s head. “The Galactic Nova,” Sunset clarified. “The one that could grant any wish?”
Marx nodded. “That’s the one! It’s the only way to get those two to stop.” He started rolling away. “Come on! We’ve gotta get to the Fountain of Dreams!”
For a moment, Sunset was locked in place, an internal debate raging in her mind. Some quiet part of her brain brought up that she should go tell Twilight about this plan. That getting more help would be necessary to stop this. But a, if smaller, much louder part of her mind was shouting that this was her chance. She could help Marx summon Nova and hijack it at the last minute, getting her back to Equestria with the power to take it over.
And to hell with that nagging feeling of discontent with leaving the others behind. She could still do this alone, thank you very much.
Still, though, there was the issue of even getting to the Fountain in the first place. It was normally a several hour’s walk from Castle Dedede to the Fountain of Dreams, but in such an emergency, that would take far too long. But without asking Twilight, the only other way there quickly was stupidly reckless. Downright insane, even. Sunset smirked. It was right up her alley.
Her plan set, Sunset nodded. “Marx, wait up!” she called, racing after him. “The Fountain works to heal mana burn! I could teleport us there!”
Marx turned around, stars in his eyes. “Really?”
Sunset grinned and lit her horn. One flash of aquamarine light later, and the pair had traversed the great distance between Castle Dedede and the Fountain in naught but an instant.
Sunset regretted that decision instantly. Her long-range teleport had netted her a stabbing headache, an extreme feeling of nausea, and her vision blurring so much she could barely register that they’d arrived in Rainbow Resort. Panting, Sunset stumbled forward and plunged face-first into the waters of the Fountain.
Marx raised an eyebrow. “Sunset? You alright?”
Yanking her face out of the water, Sunset inhaled sharply. Mana–pure, distilled magic–swirled around her horn and her eyes even glowed. The Star Rod glowed with them, directing the Fountain’s magical field lines straight to her, replenishing her internal magic stores far faster than would be natural. It wasn’t painful–far from it, actually. It felt more like she was getting ten hours of sleep in only a few seconds.
The sensation didn’t last very long, though. The magic absorbed itself into her horn and Sunset was left panting. Not in exhaustion, this time, but in surprise. She’d gone from complete mana burn to feeling better than she had in…ever, really. With the amount of magic the Fountain had just restored, she felt like she could take on an alicorn and win.
She blinked. Alright, maybe that would be a bit of a stretch. Regardless, though, Sunset looked at the Fountain with a new sense of wonder. If such an artifact could heal her where even a maxim tomato couldn’t, what else did this universe hold?
“Um, Sunset?” Marx asked, peeking up from a bush he’d hid behind once Sunset started glowing. “What just happened?”
Sunset grinned. “The Fountain just healed my mana burn, that’s what!” She looked back up at the Star Rod, wincing as the Sun took such a heavy blow it was launched over the horizon. “So, what do we do now?”
Marx rolled over to join her. “Well, according to the legends, the Star Rod will create a summoning star if the right person approaches it.” Despite not having limbs, he still seemed to gesture upward at it. “Look how it’s glowing. I think you can get it to do that!”
Sunset frowned. “Ancient magical artifact that only responds to the ‘right’ creature, huh?” She climbed onto the Fountain’s rim. “Back in my homeworld, that’d mean a pony would have to touch it or magically activate it.”
She reached out a hoof, and as soon as she contacted the Star Rod, it glowed even brighter than the Sun–which had rushed back at the Moon and was once again engaged in battle on the other side of the sky. So bright was its splendor that Sunset had to look away and shield her eyes. Soon enough, though, the light faded.
Instead, at the foot of the Fountain rested a yellow star-shaped object, like an upscaled version of the Star Rod’s tip. Marx seemed almost mesmerized by it.
“A Warp Star,” he breathed. “I never thought I’d get to ride on one of these.”
Sunset hopped down to the ground. “I guess this is how we get to the other Fountains?”
Marx nodded. “It has to be.” Abandoning his ball, he hopped on to the star. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but Sunset was able to join him as well. Curiously, the Warp Star seemed to respond to her thoughts, lifting off with only a mental command.
It was a bit foalish, but a cheeky grin spread over Sunset’s face. She couldn’t even stop herself from giggling at the absurdity of it all. The Sun and Moon were fighting and she was going into space to help stop them. “You ready, Marx?”
“Yepperoni!” he answered.
There had to be some sort of magical protection for people on a Warp Star, because it accelerated from rest to several kilometers per second in no time at all while managing to not liquidate the passengers. They were quite literally off like a rocket, and Sunset could feel her smile widen with every passing moment. Soon, they had passed the upper atmosphere, and for the first time, Sunset got a good look at Popstar as a whole. Her jaw dropped.
Apparently physics was out to lunch, because the entire planet was star-shaped. And yellow. Oh, and either the Warp Star took some air with them, or they could breathe in space. She wasn’t quite sure how that was supposed to work, but this universe had thrown her so many curveballs she wasn’t even that surprised at this point. Shaking her head to clear it, she looked forward. “So, where to, first?” she asked.
Marx performed as much of a shrug as a living sphere was capable of. “From what I remember of the stories, every planet in this system has a Fountain.”
Sunset’s gaze locked on the nearest other planet: a sphere so green it looked like the entire thing was one big forest. She rolled her shoulders and mentally directed the Warp Star towards it. “Closest one it is, then!”