Celestia stood at her tall, multi-paned, clear glass window and looked out to the east as she concentrated her energy. Her horn glowed as the sky turned from black to navy blue to shades of pink and orange. Then a giant yellow orb rose up from the horizon as Celestia carried the sun to start the day. She shut off her magic, giving the sun enough momentum to race across the sky towards the west when it was time for her to lower it.
All night, she was observing Earth, a far away planet whose physical and environmental states were maintained by her newcomers' leader: Gaia. Her scrying magic was proven to be strong enough for inter-world observations, but she could only see, not speak. Celestia needed to tell her sister so she could help with a possible method of communication. But that would wait after breakfast. She could smell that fresh batch of cinnamon rolls the kitchens were preparing, and it was almost as good as the cakes she loved to devour.
Meanwhile on some floors below, two earth ponies were awakening. They were grown up among a life of agriculture and were used to getting out of bed at the crack of dawn. As Applejack was leaving her room to get breakfast, she saw a familiar midnight blue earth pony from down the hall do the same.
"Hey Kwame! You an early riser too?" Applejack said to him.
"Of course. I'm used to getting up in the dawn. It's when I normally water my garden so I don't waste water from the sun's evaporation." He knocked on Ma-Ti's door, coaxing him out of his soft bed.
"Ma-ti? Are you awake? Applejack and I are getting breakfast!"
Applejack saw him and remembered to so the same with her other friends.
KNOCK KNOCK "Rarity! Get up! We're going to eat!"
While alarming her other friends, Applejack decided to continue her conversation. "You mean you water your plants yourself? I thought you humans don't have wings."
"I am confused. What do possessing wings have to do with watering?" Kwame replied.
"Well the pegasus ponies here in Equestria manage our weather. That's what Rainbow Dash does for a living."
"We do not have a system like yours. Our clouds and skies move on their own. It rains, snows, hails, without cause. Humans do not control it." Kwame also remembered to tell Wheeler and Linka about what the pegasus ponies can do with weather. Meanwhile, one by one, Applejack's and Kwame's friends came out of their rooms to start the day.
"Are ve getting somzing to eat?" asked Linka as they started walking down to the dining room.
"And what were the two of you talking about?" asked Fluttershy. Her voice was barely audible, but Applejack heard her just fine.
"Hey girls, get this. Apparently in Kwame's world, the weather just acts on itself, just like the Everfree Forest!"
"How chaotic!" Rarity piped up
"It is just natural, Rarity." Ma-Ti assured. "Is that not normal for you ponies?"
"Oh, right." Kwame interrupted. "Linka, I have good news for you. The weather is managed by pegasus ponies like yourself. Maybe your wind powers could help?"
"Ve may be here a while, so I suppose it is better than waiting for a way home and doing nozzing."
"That's very generous of y'all perhaps Dash can show you and Wheeler how to fl- Wait a minute." Applejack did a head count. She knew that Twilight was in her old room on the opposite side of the castle, so she wasn't here. She saw herself, Kwame, Linka, Ma-Ti, Rarity, Gi, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. She sighed and walked back to the rooms.
"Rainbow! Get up!" Yelled Applejack as she pounded on her door.
"Rainbow, Darling, it's impolite to keep royalty waiting!" added Rarity. On the opposite of the hall, the Planeteers gathered around the lazy American's room.
"Wheeler!" said Kwame in a louder voice as he knocked away.
"MMMMMMMGGGGHHHHHHH" a voice moaned behind the inch-thick oak door. "Go away!"
"I got this one." said Gi. She knocked on his door and said "Hey Wheeler! I just saw Linka making out with Ma-Ti!" She quickly skidded back away.
Seconds later, the door slammed open revealing a turquoise pegasus colt with a messed up bed-mane and flared wings. "OH NO YOU DON'T!" he yelled at full attention. His other friends just started giggling. Linka was just laughing in his overreaction.
"Is this the thanks I get for saving the world countless times?" he asked in irritation.
"Relax, yankee. Ve got you out of bed did ve not?" Suddenly, and idea came to Pinkie Pie's mind. She knocked on Rainbow's door and said:
"Oh, Rain-bow Daa-a-a-a-a-sh" she said in a sing-song voice. "They've got cold Apple Family Cider in the dining room!"
Suddenly, a cyan and rainbow blur knocked her door open and zoomed at breakneck speed downstairs to obtain her alleged cider. The others just watched her incredible rush down. By the time the other nine ponies had walked down to the flight of stairs between the second and first floors, they saw the blur again; but slowing down as it approached them. As it slowed down, Rainbow Dash appeared from the blur and started hovering above them.
She squinted down with an irked look on her face at Pinkie Pie. "I hate you." she said dejectedly.
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After a nourishing breakfast, Twilight had joined the other ten ponies.
"Did you sleep well?" Twilight asked.
"Of course. I don't even remember the last time I felt silk, let alone sleep under it!" Gi replied.
"Yeah! It definitely beats those piles of hay!" Wheeler followed up.
"Twilight!" Ma-Ti interjected. "Have you asked why Princess Celestia kept us here?"
"Well......no." Twilight said with a frown. "After her dinner and conclusion of day court, she hurried downstairs somewhere right after. I still have yet to see her."
"See who, Twilight?" asked a wise, gentle voice behind her. Twilight turned around and gazed at her white alicorn mentor.
"Oh....Princess....you're here!" said Twilight in surprise.
"Alright. Princess, what's really going on?" piped up Wheeler. "Are ya keepin' us here in Canterlot as not to make your subjects afraid of our powers or sum'thing?"
Celestia was really disappointed and insulted by this pony. The other Planeteers glared at him behind his back. She always treated every one of her subjects and guests fairly, and they loved her back. Why was he being rather hostile? She was only helping them. Before she mounted a counter-argument, Linka came to his defense.
"Vhat Wheeler is trying to say..." as she looked back and squinted his eyes at him "....is that ve are appreciative of your hospitality. But vhy were you so eager to have us stay over?" All of us are concerned by this. And Wheeler only acts like zis because he cares for and protects us. And Twilight mentioned about how you just hurried away after dinner......"
"I have a very good reason, for your sleepover here was not out of fear, but out of ingenuity. All night I was working on your way home. And if you would all follow me, I having something very important to show you." Celestia took the herd and led them towards her destination.
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The Princess led the eleven ponies down several flights of stairs and into a stone cellar lit by her horn that illuminated much of the complex. She navigated them through several corridors, making several twists and turns until they arrived at a plain wooden door at the end of one of the hallways. Inside was a room that must have been 20 feet high and 40 feet long. Inside was a large, gold-framed mirror that hung on the end of the room, a table and several bookshelves, each covered in book spines and texts; but most importantly was another pony that had horns and wings like the Princess. Her mane was wavy and ethereal, like Celestia's but was navy blue and sparkled like stars in the night sky. Her coat was a blue like her mane, and her flanks featured a black patch with a white crescent moon on each side. She wore a simple silver tiara and shoes on her hooves.
"Princess Luna. I believe I have told you about our guests?" Asked the sun Princess.
"FELICITATIONS, ELEMENTAL GUARDIANS!" she boomed out, with every pony covering their ears. "DIDEST THOU ENJOY MINE NIGHT HERE IN OUR FAIR NOBLE CASTLE?"
"Luna! What did we talk about with the Royal Canterlot voice?" asked Celestia.
Wheeler whispered to Twilight "Does she come with a mute button?-"
"But sister!" Luna cried out. " 'Tis a tradition to greet such high-regarded outsiders within our wards with thine voice!"
".......Or at least a modern-English button?" Wheeler continued.
"She's gotten better." Twilight told him.
Luna held out her hoof. "'TIS BE A SIMPLE HOOFSHAKE. THOU SHALT NOT BE AFRAID!" the echo of the stone room made things worse. Ma-ti just crouched and shivered.
"Luna, the spell?" Celestia reminded her.
"Oh! But of course!" She said, this time in a softer tone.
Just like what she did last night, Celestia touched her horn to the glass of the mirror. She lit up her horn as she cast her magic into it. The runes engraved in the golden frame lit up as the the surface of the mirror blurred and clouded. The eleven non-royal ponies just stared at her in confusion.
"Uhhh.....Princess?" asked Twilight.
But then the cloudiness in the mirror started to clear. As the colors started to separate, there an image of a island with a purple mountain started to show.
"That is our home! Hope Island!" Ma-Ti cried out.
"There is more, young elemental bearer." said Luna. The image of the island zoomed into the base of the mountain and inside showed a chamber with a dark skinned woman with long, wavy black hair and purple robes meditated on a flat stone dias.
"That's her! That is Gaia!" Gi could barely contain her excitement.
"Yo! Gaia! We're ova' here! Can ya hear us?" Wheeler asked.
"I'm afraid she cannot, Wheeler." Celestia sighed disappointingly. "My scrying magic is not that powerful."
"Uhhhhh......Scrying? What da hell is that?"
"It's a magical practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling."
The Element of Fire thought about it for a moment. "Ohhh! That crystal ball junk! Got it!"
"Anyway...." Celestia said with an annoyed look at the American's comment for calling her vision magic "junk", "That's why I brought Princess Luna here. Perhaps a sheer increase of magic power can have us leap past a threshold in which both ends of the observation can attempt communication. Sister, if you will?"
Luna strode over the the mirror and lit up her horn in the same fashion. As she touched to the mirror, the runes grew an even brighter white for a moment before they started to rapidly scintillate in various brightnesses. However, the magic mirror still showed the Spirit of Earth still unaware of her surroundings. Luna and Celestia were really straining now, but there was still no change.
"Is it vurking?" asked Linka.
The royal sisters were sweating now, and the runic symbols still glowing a bright light. But then Luna withdrew, panting lightly. Celestia followed suit upon her sister's breath as the image of Gaia faded back into the reflection of all the ponies in the stone room.
"I'm afraid not, Linka. We can't amass the power to overcome the communication threshold. Maybe if there some magical item used for communication, but there is none I know of that exists."
That's when a fluorescent light bulb turned on inside Ma-Ti's head. "My ring!" he yelled out. "My power is the Element of Heart! I used it to influence the thoughts of actions on others, but also used to establish a telepathic communication with my friends, including Gaia! Maybe if your raw magic could amplify my ring's ability to transmit a message, it could cross dimensions so Gaia can talk to us!"
"Like cranking up the power on a radio!" Gi added.
"Hmmmm.......That actually just might work. I think you should try it!" said Twilight.
"Very Well. Ma-ti, use your ring."
"Heart!" he yelled, pumping his hoof in the air. It glowed yellow as a wide golden beam struck the mirror. As it did, Celestia and Luna refocused their energy at his ring. This time, the runes on the mirror frame glowed bright white before they turned a rich shade of violet. The image of Gaia reformed again with her mediating, eyes closed on the dias as before, but then her eyes shot open in a rush of energy.
"Who is there?" asked her comforting alto voice as the woman in the mirror moved her lips.
"Gaia, is that you?" asked the Princess of the Sun.
"C-C-Celestia? It has been centuries since we have spoken!"
"Centuries?" thought Kwame. And how did these two know each other?
"Gaia, I believe I have something that is yours." spoke Celestia, now facing the mirror as Gaia spoke directly to her.
Back on Earth, Gaia saw a crackling purple-edged, human sized portal with an alabaster alicorn looking and speaking to her. "You have my young Planeteers?"
"See for yourself." said Celestia, smiling. Into view popped five multicolored ponies that looked unfamiliar at first, but then Gaia recognized their rings on their hooves and their hairstyles and hair colors.
"Planeteers! You are safe and unharmed!" she thankfully cried.
"It is a great thing to see you, Gaia. And Celestia is a wonderful Princess." Kwame assured.
"How is that we you speaking?"
"Like how we normally do!" yelled Ma-Ti in the back, with his silver-banded ring still projecting a golden glow. "The Princesses used their magic to amplify my telepathic powers so they can cross the space between our worlds!"
"Well done, Ma-ti" Gaia replied. "Do you know what caused this accident to occur? Or your transformation in equine form?"
"Allow me to explain." said a purple unicorn Gaia didn't recognize. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, protege to Princess Celestia. Two days ago, i tried to use a spell to summon a physical manifestation of the Natural Elements; apparently those of your domain. Earth, Fire-"
"Wind, Water, and Heart." finished Gaia.
"Exactly. But I believe that you must have used a teleportation spell on your.........subjects?" Twilight didn't know what Gaia was to the Planeteers, or the people of her world.
"I rule over no one." stated Gaia. "I chose these five teenagers to save my world from pollution. They are my protectors and friends."
"Anyway, we must have not only cast our spells at the same time, but we also have identical casting frequencies."
"This may explain why this has never happened before. I have not done routine teleportation in a very long time, most likely before you were born."
"Also, when our spells were cast, they must have collided and interfered with each other in the universal spell matrix. I must have "pulled" your heroes from your casting into mine. I summoned Elements, and you had them. I guess it also brings along the bearers as well."
Gaia paused to process her information from the unicorn. "A bright student, you have, Celestia. And as for their new bodies?"
"My best guess is that the magical environment of Equestria allowed them to adapt from your form-is that what humans look like?" Gaia nodded. "-to our form. The fact why some get horns or wings depends on one's traits and personalities." Now that she thought of it, someone aggressive and cocky like Wheeler would make a good pegasus, like Rainbow Dash.
"Hey, Gaia!" Wheeler spoke out.
"Speak of the Draconequus" Twilight whispered to herself.
"Did anything happen while we were gone? Did Verminous Skumm try to poison the Nile or something?"
"Fortunately, nothing has happened here on Earth. Yet. Celestia, I wish for the Planeteers to be back on Earth as soon as possible."
"We will get to work right away. Twilight, do anything to dig up a teleportation spell on the Elements."
"Yes, Princess!" Twilight was giddy for a new assignment.
"If there is nothing else, we need to cease our tidings. This magic is starting to exhaust me." Luna said.
"Wait!" Kwame said. "How do you two know each other?"
"I once was much, much more powerful than I am now, Kwame. I was able to speak to other beings beyond Earth unaided. I once found and talked to Celestia centuries ago, before my dormancy. We talked of our kingdoms and our subjects. But our conversation didn't last too long. I knew that Celestia was a pony and was the autocrat of her kingdom of ponies. she knew from me that I was the spirit of Earth, populated by humans and caused every force of nature there. That was all."
"So you only managed to speak to each other once?"
"I was lonely, and Zarm had left Earth. I was looking for someone in the Universe to talk to, and didn't know where Equestria was. I was a rare stroke of luck that I communicated with Princess Celestia. I never found her again until now."
"I cannot summon my strength!" Luna exclaimed.
"Goodbye, Planeteers. I wish to see you soon." Luna gave out as her horn's aura faded, and Ma-Ti's ring stopped its glow. Gaia faded out from view of the mirror. From her end, Gaia saw Celestia's portal turn purple and fade out of the plane of existence. Celestia rusher to aid her sister whose legs began to buckle.
"I need to take Luna to her room to rest. then I need to start my royal duties. As the ponies walked out of the scrying room, she added "Twilight, I want you to take your friends and Planeteers back to Ponyville. There, i want to look into our assignment."
"Princess Celestia, I accept." she complied. The other ten ponies nodded back.
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Hours later, all the Elemental bearers hopped off the train from Canterlot back to Ponyville.
"Hey Dash, Can you teach me an' Linka how to fly while we're here?" Wheeler asked.
"And get us jobs at your.....veather station?" Linka added.
"It's pronounced weather, and of course I can."
"Job?" asked Wheeler. "You mean a paying job? Can't the Princess give us some monthly cash to live off of?"
" Princess Celestia told me the economy and treasury has been tight recently. And she doesn't just grant a stipend to every new foreigner she meets through me. Where did you get that idea?"
"I don't know. Maybe because you're the closest one to her?"
"That's not how it works. You'll need to find a way to make a living for yourself."
"Anyway," Rainbow Dash continued "I also take it you never slept on a cloud before either."
"Are zey any good to zleep on?"
"Remember those silk sheets at Canterlot?" the two pegasi nodded. "They'll feel like old burlap compared to clouds. i even had to drag a cloud in the night sky to act as my surrogate mattress last night."
"Sounds good." Wheeler said.
"Sweet. Then the two of you can crash at my place. I'm sure the two of you can flap your wings to get thirty feet off the ground."
"It's okay, Applejack." said Kwame as the farmer pony turned to his voice. Me, Ma-ti and Gi can stay in your barn."
"Actually...." said Fluttershy's weak voice. "Ma-ti told me that his gift was talking and caring for animals. I just couldn't resist having another pony who shares my talents not live under my roof.......if that's okay with you."
"And Kwame, Twilight's has a library as her house. How could I say no? Maybe I could learn some magic?"
Kwame saw no harm in their lodging plans. "It is all right. My suppose I could lend my hand at Applejack's fa-" The bearer of Earth felt something under his hoof. It was if he could feel a shifting or vibrations through the very earth he was stepping on. And it was moving!
"Did you feel that?!" he hurriedly asked.
"Feel what?" asked Gi.
"I didn't feel anyzing!" Linka said.
"Neither did I!" Wheeler added. "Are you okay, man?"
Kwame felt the movement again. "There is it again! I can feel it beneath the Earth!"
"Wait!" Ma-Ti said. "I feel it too! It's coming our way!"
"What is it dear?" asked Rarity.
"Trouble."