Fluttershy walked with a bit of a bounce in her step as she entered the woods just outside of Ponyville. It was the middle of the afternoon, and that meant it was time for one of her favorite activities.
"Come on out, my little animal friends," she called softly. "It’s time for your supper!"
The butter yellow pegasus smiled in expectation for the adorable little critters to come running. Much to her surprise, none did so. Fluttershy's smile weakened slightly.
"I guess they didn't hear me," she said to herself.
Fluttershy called out again, a hair louder than before. Still, no animals appeared. With a shrug, Fluttershy continued further into the woods and listened. There were no birds chirping. No squirrels tittering. The woods were completely silent. Fluttershy walked a little faster as she maneuvered through the trees. By now her smile was gone, and she wore a tight frown of concern on her face.
"Where did they all go?" Fluttershy wondered out loud.
Fluttershy heard a growl from somewhere behind her. Instantly she spun around, just in time to catch a glimpse of something move behind some trees. Fluttershy took a cautious step back. With a growl, a dragon pushed its way into view. It wasn't like any other dragon Fluttershy had heard of or seen before. It was three times her height, and its skin was the color of dried mud with dark stripes. Unlike most dragons, it had no wings or spines. At the moment though, Fluttershy was more concerned about what it did have. Namely, long and deadly looking talons along with a mouth full of sharp teeth.
The dragon slowly approached Fluttershy, still growling. Fluttershy didn't have to possess her near telepathic understanding of animals to read the expression in its reptilian eyes.
Hunger.
"Oh... oh my," Fluttershy whimpered fearfully as her legs shook. "Puh- puh- please... don't... eat me..."
Fluttershy willed herself to fly away, but her wings were traitorously frozen to her sides in sheer terror. Instead, all she could do was back away slowly. The dragon, as if sensing her weakness, began to close in on her with more confidence. Fluttershy's rump hit the trunk of a tree, preventing her backing up further. As the dragon got even closer, she squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the bitter and most likely painful end.
"Yoshi!" a young voice called out gleefully. "There you are!"
Fluttershy opened her eyes again in surprise. Approaching the dragon from behind was a creature unlike any she had ever seen. An adolescent male, judging from the sound of his voice. He walked upright like a minotaur, but was considerable smaller and had a round hornless head. He had coffee colored skin and didn't seem to have any hair on his body except for on top of his head, along with the presence with a very thick and fine black mustache. Additionally, he was also wearing a light blue long sleeved shirt and a red bandana around his neck. Oddly enough, his lower body was covered with a dark blue fabric that treated his legs like sleeves, and he had two holstered revolvers strapped to his waist. All this combined with the fact he had no tail made for a unique looking, but not terrifying, being.
The dragon, evidently Yoshi, glanced at the newcomer in surprise. Then it turned its attention back to Fluttershy and opened its jaws, earning another whimper from the mare.
"Whoa whoa! Hey, no!" The tailless biped objected as he stepped forward while pointing a finger. "No eating ponies, Yoshi! Sit down!"
Without even thinking, Fluttershy sat down. With obvious reluctance, the dragon did as well, although it continued to stare at her.
"Not you," the newcomer said with an exasperated eye roll. "I was talking to Yoshi."
Fluttershy blinked. Of course, it made sense that the newcomer was talking to the dragon. So why had she felt compelled to obey? As far as she could figure, something about the creature just seemed to possess an aura of authority.
"You wouldn't happen to be, uh, Butterfly would you?" The biped asked as he mercifully moved in between Yoshi and Fluttershy, cutting off the dragon's stare.
"It’s Fluttershy," the mare said in a barely audible whisper.
"What?"
"My name is Fluttershy," Fluttershy repeated at a slightly higher but still inadequate volume.
"Ah, gotcha," lied the creature as he held out a hand. "I'm Gordito Delgado, by the way."
Fluttershy hesitantly accepted the shake, although Gordito made an odd face when she placed a hoof in his palm.
"Fluttershy! There you are!" Twilight Sparkle said with relief as she came into view along with Spike and a taller, masked version of Gordito's species wearing a white lab coat. "We've been... um, where did the dragon come from?"
"That would be Yoshi," the masked biped told Twilight. "Gordito's steed."
"Hi Yoshi, I'm Spike. Nice to meet you," Spike said.
Yoshi turned his head towards Spike and stared at him blankly.
"Huh. Guess you're the strong but silent type," Spike said.
Yoshi replied by making a rumbling sound with his throat, earning a raised brow from Spike.
"Is he retarded or something?" Spike asked Gordito.
"Spike!" Twilight scolded. "That's not a polite question!"
"How else am I supposed to ask?" Spike wondered.
"Yoshi's not a dragon. He's a dinosaur," Gordito said flatly. "Doesn't talk."
"Um, could someone please explain to me what's going on? Because I don't know what's going on," Fluttershy said softly. "That is, if you don't mind."
"How about we all head back to Rarity's and I'll explain everything there," Twilight said.
******************************************************
"And that's pretty much the entire situation in a nutshell," Dr. McNinja concluded as he put the cap back on the marker he had been using. "Any questions so far?"
The ninja doctor was standing near a dry erase board in front of six chairs, each one containing a pony. If any of them were shocked by the knowledge of other realities and worlds existing, they didn't show it. Dr. McNinja figured they must see things that spat in the face of science and physics quite often in order to be so desensitized.
"So what exactly are we going to do about this Sparklelord guy?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"That question is an excellent segue into my plan," said Dr. McNinja as he pulled his bucket list out of his pant pocket and marked the box labeled: 52. Use the word "segue" during a presentation. Putting the list back into his pocket, he continued.
"In order to get to the Elements of Harmony without Sparklelord noticing, we'll need to use stealth to get inside Canterlot Castle. Now, seeing as you're all brightly colored and easily visible, I'm going to recommend all of you wear black. Do you have any way of acquiring black clothes? More importantly, do you even have clothes in this universe?"
"Ooh! Ooh! I have a black jumpsuit!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly.
"I'm covered. I got a black jumpsuit too," said Rainbow Dash.
"I have one too, although it’s a little torn up," said Twilight Sparkle. "And Spike has one as well."
"Is it okay if it has bunny ears? Mine has bunny ears," Fluttershy said.
"Would a black dress work?" asked Rarity.
"Ah don't reckon ah own any black outfits," said Applejack.
"I can whip something up for you," Rarity said to Applejack.
"Is the moon supposed to be doing that?" asked Gordito, who was looking out the window.
One dragon, six ponies, and a human all rushed over to the window to see what Gordito was talking about. The sun still hung in the sky as if it was in the middle of the afternoon, but the moon was slowly rising up into the sky as well.
"Is it just me, or is the moon getting bigger?" said Rarity.
"Does anyone have a telescope?" asked Twilight.
Pinkie Pie nonchalantly reached into her curly mane, pulled out a small telescope, and gave it to Twilight. Twilight, in turn, levitated it up to her eye.
"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "The moon isn't just rising, it’s getting closer to Equestria! And it has a... giant smiley face carved into it?"
For a moment not a word was spoken as the severity of the situation sank in.
"Holy crap," Gordito whispered in awe. "This is just like Majora's Mask."