//------------------------------//
// Discoveries and Destruction 
// Story: Friendship Through the Worlds 
// by ThomasZoey3000 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 4: Discoveries and Destruction

Reaching into the closet, Matthew pulled out a long object that Twilight had never seen before. It was black, and had a small tank on top with bright colored balls in it. He then grabbed a smaller object and held it in his other hand.

"Remember to stay down, I got this."

Twilight nodded and hid in the living room to stay out of sight. Matthew opened the door and the moment he did, Twilight heard bangs. This sadly brought the other ponies up the stairs.

"What's going on?" Fluttershy asked.

"Come in here and stay out of sight," Twilight whispered. "Matthew will explain later."

The other ponies all hid with Twilight, and the moment they had gone in there, they heard Matthew shouting, "how many times do I have to tell you idiots to stay off my property?!"

The ponies then heard more voices.

"We're just looking for animals to hunt, and we thought we saw one here!"

"Those animals as you call them are living creatures, and you're not allowed to hunt them on a person's property. Especially not mine!" There were more bangs from the doorway, earning more yelps from the voices outside.

"I'm giving you one last warning!" Matthew shouted again, "stay off my property, and stay away from the creatures who live here! If you don't, one day, you might take away a life! Now get lost you idiots!"

"We're not leaving without something to take home!" shouted a second voice.

There was a moment of silence, then the bangs returned, followed by cries of pain.

"I think you're going to be leaving now! Now get lost!"

The voices outside shouted one last time, and was soon gone from ear shot of the ponies. They looked out from the living room and saw Matthew coming back in with the objects he took out.

"That'll keep them away for a week or two," he muttered.

"What the hay was that all about?" Applejack asked. "We're sleeping peacefully in our room, then we all hear loud banging and we come up to find out what's going on, only to be told to stay hidden."

"Yeah sorry about that everypony," Matthew apologized. "But trust me, these are people you don't want to deal with. They're hunters, and they have weapons that can hurt you or worse."

"Oh my," gasped Fluttershy.

"They're often looking for animals to hunt around here. I've caught them a few times, and each time I have to deal with them, I often scare them off with these." And he held out the two objects he had with him. "These are like their weapons, but they don't have the same lethal force their weapons have."

"And what are these?" Applejack asked.

"Oh that's right, you don't have these in Equestria." He slapped his forehead remembering that fact. "Well my dear ponies, these are paintball guns. These shoot off these little balls of paint at whatever target I got them pointed out, but I have to be careful not to point at living creatures cause it does hurt."

"And you hit them, didn't you?" Twilight asked.

Matthew sighed, "well I had to get the message across as I've warned them many times to get off my property, but they don't listen, so I had no choice. Don't worry they'll be fine, but they'll be back, mark my words."

"Should we worry about them?"

"Not at all, they're not as big of a problem as the rest of the world. Don't worry," he said reassuringly, "you're in safe hands with me."

Nothing more was said as the ponies went back to bed, though Twilight was worried.

"If that was minor trouble, I'd hate to think what could be worse than hunters."


As the sun rose the following next morning, Starlight Glimmer groaned as she lifted her head up from her hiding spot. Twilight's theory on Starlight being weakened and tired were correct. Shortly after leaving the town of Uxbridge, she began to grow tired, her magic was not able to take her from one spot to another, at least not without making her even more tired. In the end, she made a small shelter to keep herself warm and to hide her from the world around her.

"Darn blasted sunlight, does it have to shine right into my eyes," she grumbled to herself. "Though, how is it rising up? I doubt this world has a Celestia...no, stay focused Glimmer." She ducked back down as several more of those black and white ponyless carriages rolled by.

"Going from ruling a village to being on the run. That's not what I wanted, and it's all Twilight Sparkle's fault!" She slammed her hoof down.

Renewed by her frustration, Starlight Glimmer got up from her hideout and practiced using her magic. Unlike the day before, her energy level was back up to it's full strength. With fire burning in her eyes, she looked out to the wide open world outside of her hideout and took off running. It lasted only 10 seconds before she stopped.

"Oh horseapples, she could be anywhere." She shrugged, "oh well, guess I'll have to tear each town apart until I find her. And so what if these creatures get hurt? All that matters is hurting her, her friends, then return to rid Equestria of those..." she shuddered at the thought of them, "cursed Cutie Marks."

And with that thought in her head, Starlight Glimmer took off once more. Only this time, using a spell to make herself invisible to the world.


The ponies awoke to hear strange whirring sounds. Rainbow Dash got up first and went to find out what it was. The other ponies followed her up the stairs from the basement they were staying in, and went outside to find Matthew working on a black ponyless cart.

"What is this thing?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's my truck," Matthew answered. "It's kind of like the carts you have in Equestria, but this doesn't require ponies to pull it."

"Then how does it work?" Twilight asked, being more curious than the other ponies. "Does it run on magic?"

"Not at all Twilight. It runs with the help of an engine, which is like a power source that helps the truck to move, and allows me to steer it left or right or keep going straight ahead. It's a resourceful vehicle, or least it should be as this truck often breaks down and I have to work on it just to get it to work."

Matthew went underneath the truck and moments later, the ponies heard the sounds of liquid. Rarity's nose scrunched up.

"Whatever is that horrible smell?"

"That would be oil," Matthew answered. "It's needed to make sure the engine works. That and a fuel source called gasoline are needed to keep this truck going. Otherwise it would stay where it is."

"Aren't you the least bit bothered by the smell?"

"Not really. After working on this truck for many years, I've gotten used to the smell."

As he continued working, the ponies heard another sound. Though it didn't sound like a machine, if anything, it sounded musical. Pinkie Pie started dancing around to it, "it's catchy."

"That's my phone," Matthew explained as he got out from under his truck. "And for the record, it's a way for humans to keep in contact with others that are too far away." He pulled it out of his phone holder and accepted the call, "hello?"

"Hey bud, are you busy?" he heard the voice of Patrick ask.

"Not really, just working on my truck. Why do you ask?"

"Well we'd like to hang out with our old friend, cause apart from the meet at your place, we haven't really spoken to you since. So, what do you say bud? Care to meet up with us in town?"

Matthew wasn't sure if he should, but when he looked to Twilight giving the look of 'Good on and meet up with them', he agreed to.

"Where do you want to meet up?"

"How about the pool hall? Play a quick game, just like old times."

"Oh alright, I guess I could play a little pool."

"Great, see you then."

The phone call ended and Matthew looked to Twilight, "are you sure I should go out and meet up with them? What about getting you ponies back home?"

"Well we still need to find a way to get to Starlight, and figure out a way to defeat her without damage to your world. I think we can afford one more night. Besides," she added, "since I sent the message to Sunset Shimmer, I'm sure we'll be visited by Princess Celestia before you know it."

"Okay well if you're sure, then I'll go meet up with my friends."

Matthew got up from the ground and was about to get into the cab of his truck when Rarity called out, "Darling, I may not know a lot about your human world, but I do know it would be better to look your best rather than looking like a mess."
Matthew paused and looked down at himself.

He gave a nervous chuckle, "I guess it would make more sense to get cleaned up before heading out," he admitted, and went back inside the house.


The castle of friendship was quiet. Nopony or dragon walked down it's hallways, no water dripped in the sinks, no pages were being turned in the books, and the lone note from Sunset's world sat on the table.

Finally, a sound was heard as the doors opened. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked over to the library, and the moment they came in, Celestia slammed her hoof on the table, sending the note flying onto the floor.

"We searched the entire forest and the surronding areas, and still nothing!"

"Tia, calm down," soothed Luna. "I'm just as miserable as you are, but getting angry won't solve anything. We know that they went to the village, freed the ponies and strong magic was used."

"Yes, but that doesn't help with our search." Celestia sighed as she looked down to the floor, "I hate to tell Spike and the CMCs we got nothing."

"Just remember, Twilight is a very capable pony, she can look out for herself and so can her friends. I'm sure they're doing fine, and are just waiting for us to help them. Why I bet you that in the next second, we're going to get some kind of message saying where they are."

Celestia was about to open her mouth when suddenly, they both heard swooshing sounds. They looked to the source and found it was coming from the portal. Moments later, a scroll popped out and smacked Celestia in the face.

"What the hay?!" she cried.

Using her magic, Luna lifted it up and read it. When she finished, she looked to Celestia, "it's from Sunset Shimmer. She asks if you got the last scroll?"

"Me? But I haven't heard anything from her since she le-," she stopped and realized, "she's writing to Twilight." She looked around the room and soon found the other scroll. She opened it up, and a minute later, she looked up.

"What does it say?" Luna asked curiously.

"Luna, go get Spike, we're going to need him."

Without being told twice, Luna used her magic and disappeared off to Sweet Apple Acres. Now alone, Celestia took the time to look over the note again.

	"Hey Spike, it's your friend Sunset Shimmer here. I'm writing to you with a message from Princess Twilight. It turns out that on their latest friendship mission, one lone pony; Starlight Glimmer, used a teleportation spell to send her and the others to another human world. Now, she has the journal, but I'm sure you can find some way of getting to her and the other ponies home more than my friends and I can. Also, if you do need any extra help, be sure to write to me and I'll be there in two shakes of a pony tail. Also don't worry about them. As it turns out, the human they ran into is making sure they are as comfortable as can be. Signed Sunset Shimmer."

As Celestia finished reading the letter, Luna returned with not only Spike, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders as well.

"Did you find out where Twilight has gone?" Spike asked.

Celestia nodded and sent the scroll over to Spike. After he read it, he smiled and sighed, "at least she's okay."

"And our sisters?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"They're all okay." The CMCs sighed with relief. Spike turned his attention back to Celestia, "so how do we get them back here?"

Princess Celestia looked worried, "I once knew the spell, but it's been so many years that I've forgotten how it works. Maybe we should go to the Canterlot archives to find it. But first," she turned her attention to Spike, "I need you to bring Sunset Shimmer here. She's a very smart mare, she'd be able to help."

"Great, but how can we do that? Twilight has the journal."

Celestia's horn lit up, "we'll use my magic. Now, fire up that machine Spike."

"Yes Princess," he saluted and went to work.


In the human world, things were taking a turn for the worse. As the police cars continued to patrol, Starlight Glimmer's temper only grew and the more it grew, the more she wanted to shoot her magic at them. At last, she finally lost it.

"Fine! You want a piece of me! Here it is!"

At the sight of this car, she used her magic to make it fly into the sky before it crashed back down to the ground with a loud bang. Tires screeched as many tried to avoid the now damaged police car.

"Need back up!" shouted the officer into the radio, "found the horse, it's on the..."

But he got no further as Starlight Glimmer used her magic to rip the radio away from the officer. Her magic then focused on the officer as she pulled him out.

"I'm a pony you idiot, not a horse. Cause trust me, a horse can't do this."

And she slammed him multiple times into the ground before throwing him into a ditch, battered and sore. Next, she turned her attention to the other cars, and as she made her way closer to the town of Brechin' Ontario, she made cars, pick-ups, and even big semi trucks fly, or crash off the road.

"I will find you Sparkle! Mark my words!"