As the group of warriors slowly regained vision and mobility, they began to untangle themselves from the mess that was them. They had all ended up in a pile on Princess Celestia’s throne room floor like a glob of spaghetti. There were no guards, no other sign of life anywhere except for them. The sun poured through the stained glass windows, making the very air sparkle. As Princess Celestia walked up to the group, the pilots began noticing very odd differences in how their bodies felt. Wufei couldn’t quite feel his hands, and Duo could swear that feathers were smacking him in the face.
Celestia stopped in front of Quatre’s body as he stumbled to get himself up. “Yes, you all will do…Quatre, Duo, Heero, Wufei, and Trowa.”
Quatre shook his head to clear his vision and shook it once more for assurance that what he was seeing was real. And it was. Celestia stood in front of him, looking down with a low-spirited smile on her face. He almost melted on the spot.
“Princess Celestia?” he asked in wonder. “Is it really you?”
“Yes it is, my little ponies.”
“Ponies…oh my God!”
Quatre glanced over and looked at his friends. His jaw could have dropped to the floor. The other four stood facing each other in disbelief. Their delusion was over, though they wished it wasn’t. Their vision was clear, though they wished they were blind. They were, in fact, ponies. Four of them were pegasi, to be exact.
Duo was a black pegasus with a thin golden chain around his neck, a cross hanging down at the end. His Gundam’s sabre scythe was his cutie mark. Wufei was a blue pegasus with red bands of cloth around all four of his hooves. His cutie mark was an Asian red dragon. Trowa was a pegasus with a coat that was like a dark yellow. His cutie mark was a clown mask. Heero was a green pegasus, with a gun with a feathered background as his cutie mark.
But Quatre was a special one. Quatre was an Alicorn. He was a magnificent white that almost made it look like he could shine. His cutie mark was an assortment of four diamonds around a centered purple one; the other diamonds were red, yellow, green, and blue.
Poor Duo couldn’t believe his own eyes. He kicked his front hooves into the air so that he was in a standing position and nearly fell to the ground. Jumping back on to his legs, he looked around nervously, like he was going to have a mental breakdown.
“Just what the hell is going on here?!” he cried, shaking in confusion.
“I have summoned you all here to help me and my sister,” answered Celestia, as the three silent pilots examined their new bodies. “Possibly even Equestria itself.”
Duo held up a hoof and pointed at Celestia. “But you’re just a pony…unicorn…thing! You were inside the TV!” He looked up at the ceiling and actually gave the room a good look around. “Does this mean we’re inside the TV too?”
“I will admit that I’m thoroughly confused.” said Trowa as he sat down on the ground.
“I really have no time to fully explain, and I apologize for that.” said Celestia. “However, you must please listen. I used up the majority of my magic to summon you here, so this plan must work. Thus, you need to understand what is going on.”
Her horn glowed and a large brown book appeared out of thin air. The group of five gathered around her as the book opened itself, flipping through hundreds of pages on its own. The book was so worn that it was amazing the pages didn’t fall right out.
“I have summoned you here from another dimension to help save Ponyville, and even Equestria, from an evil that is trying to return.” explained Celestia. The book landed on a page where there was a picture of a menacing dark void drawn in swirling circles. “Beyond this world is a spiritual realm where great darkness frolics. This place has existed since the dawn of pony-time and has grown stronger as the years have gone by. Sometimes these dark forces are able to escape through something called the Abyss, as drawn in this book. The Abyss rarely opens, and when it does, dooms emerges.”
The book flipped open to another page where a gothic black mare in armor stood on her hind legs with a nightmarish look about her.
“These forces play with the weakness in your hearts and can turn you into something you may not want to become, imprisoning you in its possession.”
The book flipped again to a unicorn with glowing green eyes with black streams coming out of them.
“Sometimes they can even bargain with you so that you can gain more power, in exchange for your soul.”
The book slammed shut and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The five pilots watched silently as Celestia shook her head and continued her story.
“When the Abyss appeared in my reign, it had taken a long time for me to come up with a spell to seal it up. By the time I had done so, some of its evil forces still lingered. They had claimed King Sombra, and soon after, my own sister.”
“So what you’re saying is that the Abyss is opening again.” said Heero.
Celestia looked shocked. “My, you’re very…quick. But yes. It is opening again in spurts, which tells me that somepony is trying to force I open. Princess Luna has a strong connection with this evil, and has told me that she feels its presence during the night somewhere in Ponyville.”
She closed her eyes and huffed, then looked at the pilots very sternly.
“I am asking you all to assist my sister in searching for this pony who is trying to bring this great evil back to this land.” said Celestia. “Starting tomorrow, you shall all make home in Ponyville and act as my own secret operatives to bring this pony to my attention. I would ask Twilight Sparkle and her friends to aid me, but I know that they can also be corrupted.” She walked solemnly over to the stained glass window of Nightmare Moon being defeated by the Elements of Harmony. “The forces are weak right now, so I want this taken care of before something terrible happens again.”
The door to the throne room opened with a long creak and Princess Luna entered. Her mane wasn’t sparkling like it would at night, and her coat was a light purple. She walked in almost nonchalantly, completely ignoring the group of ponies that was in there. Approaching her sister, she cleared her throat and began to speak.
“Sister, I am bored with this afternoon,” said Luna, lifting her hoof as she spoke. “Might we partake in some fun?”
Hooves were stomped in excitement as Quatre tried to contain himself at the sight of the younger princess. Duo awkwardly began inching away from him as Wufei shook his head in disappointment, not even daring to look at the sight of him.
“Princess Luna!” exclaimed Quatre.
The call grabbed her attention. She turned and walked up to Quatre, examining his physical features. She took great notice of his horn and even greater notice of his wings, as his were flapping quite vigorously.
“Are you…a relative of ours?” Luna asked quietly.
“Luna, these ponies will be assisting you in the search of the Abyss summoner,” called Celestia. Her horn glowed and outlined each pony as she began naming them. “These are our partners, Quatre, Trowa, Heero, Wufei, and Duo.”
“We did not agree to any terms like that, female.” said Wufei.
Once again, Celestia looked stunned. It was the first time she was addressed in such a way. Luna as well seemed to have been hurt by that, even though it wasn’t directed to her.
“Wufei, watch what you say!” said Quate, glaring at his blue friend.
“No Quatre, I think you really need to listen to us.” said Duo. “I’m calling a group huddle.”
He walked far away from the sisters, right up to the entrance door to the room. The rest of the pilots followed, with Quatre’s head pointed to the ground. He had lost all of his happiness because he had felt what was coming. All five ponies circled each other closely and as tight as could be and began their talks, as the two princesses watched at a distance.
“Ok, so first I’m going to admit, this is the weirdest fucking thing I’ve ever been a part of.” whispered Duo, as Wufei nodded. “We’re ponies. Horses with wings. Quatre, I don’t know what the heck you are, but that’s your own problem. Second, I didn’t agree to come here and be transformed to do someone’s dirty work.”
“This place has no connection to me.” said Wufei. “And being given orders from a mythical equine is beneath me. I agree with Duo.”
Quatre shook his head. “But guys, Princess Celestia needs us! She is depending on us to help her!”
“I can’t quite see any other way out of this myself,” said Trowa. He rubbed his chin with his hoof. “She seems to be a powerful creature at that to be able to summon us from an entirely different dimension. In theory, she could do whatever she pleased with us if we didn’t obey her wishes.” He put his hoof down and looked at his fellow pilots. “For a creature of her power to want to call on us for aide is a serious matter. I say that we should help.”
Everyone now looked at Heero, who was going to be the tie-breaker. He was staring at the ground, taking in all of this information, considering all of the possibilities. After thinking for a moment, Heero looked up and gave them his response.
“Mission accepted.”