A bright flash of energy exploded in the middle of a field, incinerating any of the grass that was unfortunate enough to have grown around the source. Sparks erupted from the epicenter of the blast, and after several seconds, the blinding light finally dimmed, and the bearers of the Elements appeared. The previous flash of light, though mostly dissipated by this point, was still bright enough to send thousands of spots into Twilight's eyes and a loud ringing in her ears. For a while, Twilight could do nothing but lay on the ground in a dizzying daze, the overload of her senses too much to handle. It was several minutes before she heard a voice near her.
“What... what happened?” Twilight heard Rainbow Dash groan, the shuffling of hooves telling Twilight that Rainbow was adjusted her stance. As the unicorn tried to force the blindness out of her eyes with a quick rubbing of her hooves, the maneuver mostly failing, the cyan mare's voice returned, this time with a tinge of fear in it, “Wh... where are we?”
“Ah don' rightly know sugarcube,” she heard Applejack softly respond. More shuffling could be heard, but this time it was in the cowpony's direction, “but Ah don' think we're in Ponyville anymore.”
Twilight's vision was starting to slowly return, and what she saw awed her. What stood before them was not the Discord-tainted landscape that had invaded Ponyville that day, nor was it the Ponyville prior to Discord's attack, or any other area of Equestria that they were familiar with. Instead, what greeted the six mares was a vast expanse of what once had been a field of tall grasses, except now it looked as though a long drought had took its toll on the land. Most of the vegetation that had grown in the fields had browned in their struggle for life, a sure sign of death. Whatever trees that had stood in the area had very few leaves in their possession, some of them being completely devoid of any semblance of life.
The land itself consisted of soft, rolling hills, though from where the ponies sat, no other significant landmarks could point the ponies towards any notable destination. Far off in the distance to their right, the rolling hills turned into high mountains, the snow-topped peaks bare of any greenery as well. On their left, they noticed that there was a forest, but it was much lusher than the rest of the terrain, and considering the condition that the grasses on the hill were, it appeared impossible to have such a divide in the quality of life. It was as though this particular forest was immune to whatever calamity that befell the land rest of the land. The sun above signaled that it was around noon, for it stood straight above them, throwing its heat down upon the ponies.
It was only then that Twilight realized that it was hot. Very hot.
Picking herself up, Twilight softly spoke to the group, rubbing her eyes with a hoof once more, “Well, at least Discord seems to be gone. Though I guess the real question I should be asking is where are we ourselves? I mean, one second we were using the Elements, and the ne—”
“Wait, where IS your Element, Twi?” Applejack stared in Twilight's direction. Reaching with her hoof, she realiced that her tiara was no longer on her head. Her eyes slightly widened, she saw Applejack reach to her own neck, and after a second, finished the thought, “An' where's mine?”
“You think Discord had anything to do with it?” Rainbow said as she felt her own neck, noticing her necklace missing as well.
Twilight thought to herself for a moment. “Well... it's definitely possible. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time that he took them. However, taking them while we were activating them is something else entirely. I don't even understand how it would be possible, considering the amount of magic that must be going through them at the time, I'd assume that... well... I have no idea!”
“Well, darling, as much as I know this is important, I think finding out where we are is a much more pressing task, don't you think?” Rarity looked around, being the second of her friends to interrupt Twilight that day. “Rainbow Dash, do you think you can find out where we are, or at least where the closest shelter is? This heat is absolutely dreadful on my mane!”
“We have Discord on the loose, we have no idea where we are, and all you can do is worry about your mane?”
“Correction, we MIGHT have Discord on the loose, and we don't know where we are, YET! Besides, while I would love to get back home, I am trying to be optimistic, dear Rainbow. I'm surprised you think I would be so selfish as to—”
“Yeah yeah, I get it. One five-star spa coming up,” Rainbow spoke with sarcasm. With a quick flash of strength in her legs and speed in her wings, she was several hundred feet in the air, looking in all directions for anything of note. After a few moments, she started zooming off in each direction, but never straying so far as to lose sight of the group.
Breathing a sigh of relief at the ease of the tension amongst her friends, Twilight decided to mentally figure out what they did know about their predicament. “Lets see,” she thought. “All I can remember is the Elements activating, a flash of light, and then... nothing. I had no idea what happened, or why. I don't know where we are, so getting home is not an option. We don't know if the natives of this place know Equestrian, so finding somepony to help is probably not an option either!”
“Argh!!” Twilight threw her hoofs into the air, flopping herself onto the ground in defeat.
Applejack walked over to Twilight, consern filling her face. After a few moments, the mare nuzzled Twilight's neck. “Hey now, don' get all worked up over this, alrigh'? We'll figure out wha's wha', and we're gonna get home and be safe and sound in time for Applebuckin' season. Ya hear?”
“And if Discord wasn't destroyed?” Twilight moaned, her hoofs still covering her head.
“Well, Ah don' rightly know how he would've gotten away from tha' shot, but if he did, we'll jus' get our flanks over there, and show 'im wha's wha'!”
“Besides, dear,” Rarity walked up to join the pair, “there's no problem that we haven't figured out before, and I for one refuse to allow myself to remain in the dreadful place.”
“And when we do get back, we're going to go up to that big meanie face and kick his meanie flank all the way back to meanie Canterlot!” Pinkie exclaimed, flailing around her four legs, kicking and punching the air until she landed on her back next to the three with a giggle. “Minus the last meanie, because Canterlot is actually a pretty nice place.”
“Umm... I'm sure there's a few nice ponies out there that can help us find our way as well... if they don't mind of course.” Fluttershy timidly walked up to the group, joining the embrace.
Twilight looked up at her friends, and smiled. “You guys are the best friends a pony could have. You know that?”
“Well duh silly filly!” Pinkie poked Twilight's nose with the last word. “We're the best friends ever!”
“Hey,” a scratchy mare's voice came from above as the source landed next to them. “As much as I love watching this mushy stuff, I think we should get walking. I found what looks like a road leading to a town to the... uh...” Rainbow pointed in a direction, “...that way. Don't know which direction is North. Sun straight up and all.”
With that, the group nodded to each other, and started trotting in the direction that Rainbow pointed. At first, the group trotted along, with Rainbow flying overhead. Every so often, she would zip off, flying at full speed in several directions, adding a loop every few seconds, the mare anxious to get moving faster. However, with every minute, the heat of the world sapped more and more energy from the six of them. By the time they got to the road the cyan mare found earlier, Twilight was barely able to shuffle her hooves along, and saw most of the others were in the same situation. Even Rainbow was on her hooves, unable to keep up her flying antics because of the scorching blaze. Upon reaching the road, they went to the direction that Rainbow pointed out. It took several long and painful hours, but they were getting close to the settlement, to the extent that they could now see it over the horizon.
As they walked, the six talked about anything and everything. At first, the talk was mostly about what they were going to do to Discord once they got their hooves on him. A common response involved a statue, but the subject seemed to always turn to what sort of crazy way to use the statue. Pinkie suggested that they turn it into a birdbath for Fluttershy's flying friends, but that idea was soundly rejected, much to Fluttershy's relief. As the heat of the day wore on, talk came less and less common, to the point that when the group got close to the settlement, they were not talking at all, only letting their panting in response to the heat and Pinkie's soft humming break the silence.
That is, until Applejack spoke up. “Ah don' mean to be... breakin' any thinkin'... but... why is it still noon!?” The five others looked up, only to see that indeed the sun was still straight up in the sky.
“I don't know... but it... doesn't make any sense. With how long we've... been walking... it should've moved... by now,” Twilight panted. Ironically, right when this late last sentence was spoken, the sun immediately set to the west in a heartbeat, and the moon moved straight up into the sky.
Even after the moon had placed itself high above, Rarity continued to look up. “Well... at least we have the answer to that question... unfortunately,”
Twilight groaned. “Yeah... great...”
Letting out a collective sigh, the six friends got the the entrance to the small village. With it just turning night, there were a bunch of ponies still out conducting business, though none appeared too distraught over the strange movements of the sun and moon. However, through the darkness, Twilight was able to make out some startling details of some of the ponies around the town.
Most of these ponies were earth ponies, and while there maybe one or two pegasi here and there, there were no unicorns that were seen at all. Ponyville itself was predominately earth pony, yes, and the town was heavily influenced by their way of life, as shown by the way Winter Wrap Up was carried out, but there were many pegasi and unicorns that made up the town to make their presence commonplace. Here, however, almost every pony was an earth pony.
A second difference that became apparent rather quickly to the bookish unicorn was the lack of the vivid coloration that was normal among ponyfolk. While hues of yellow, red, blue, and even pink were common in Equestria, the only colors of coat and mane that could be seen among the ponies in this village were various “earthy” colors: gray, brown, tan, black, and white were the most common colors, with some dark reds and blackish-greens being the most flamboyant. In fact, because of the bland coloration, it made the six friends stand out more than Princess Celestia would back home.
The final, and possibly the most jarring, realization that Twilight made was that there wasn't a single pony in town that had a cutie mark. There were a few that seemed to have one, but it was soon apparent that these were not cutie marks, but were actually tattoos of some kind that the ponies had. It was probably these tattoos alone that made it so the six friends did not completely stand out.
“This place is... creepy,” Rainbow whispered to nopony in particular.
Before entering past the walls, Twilight turned to the gang, and addressed them all in a slightly hushed voice. “Okay, this place is weird I know, but its probably a common thing in this part of the world. I think... we should just do our best to blend in, and—”
“Blend in? Twilight, dear, I don't want to sound harsh, but we probably doubled the unicorn population by just walking through these gates, we are the only ones with cutie marks, and Fluttershy draws more attention with her pink mane than my gems on my dresses.” Fluttershy audibly 'eeped' at the potential attention to be drawn to her, forcing Rarity to add, “Not that there's nothing wrong with looking fabulous darling Fluttershy, but I'm just making a point.”
Twilight sighed, and looked towards the town, ignoring the interruption. “I know Rarity, but we don't have much of a choice? We are just coming in, staying for the night, finding out where we are, and getting back home soon after. Alright? Oh, and Rainbow, please don't fly around. I don't see the other pegasi flying at all, so let's not be the only ones doing anything crazy.”
“Yeah yeah. I just hope you know what you are doing, Egghead.”
“I do too,” was all that Twilight could think to herself as they started their trot towards the center of town. Seeing within the sudden nightfall wasn't that hard, for there was an abundance of streetlights adorning both sides of the street, illuminating the village's major streets. However, finding an inn was another story entirely. Like Ponyville, it would seem that a village as small as this one did not normally receive visitors, for after searching for thirty minutes, not a single place to stay was found. It was just when the ponies were about to give up when they found a place that seemed like an inn.
Walking inside, Twilight tried to take in as much of the room as possible as quickly as possible. The first floor was entirely taken up by a single room, and while there were several tables that sat in the middle of the room, the main feature was the bar that took up nearly the entire length and width of the place. Many patrons sat at these tables, while several more were sitting at the bar itself. The entire room was sparsely decorated, with the only real decor being various knickknacks that adorned the walls: from crudely drawn pictures of unknown ponies to various bottles of drinks that she didn't recognize.
On the ceiling, a single large chandelier lit the room with a soft glow, casting a low light upon the patrons. Behind the bar, there was a single earth pony that was wiping the top of the bar with a rag, cleaning up what was assumed to be a spill from the pony in front of him. He was a simple chocolate brown, with a lighter brown mane and tail, completely fitting in with the rest of the crowd.
“Wait here girls,” Twilight spoke to her friends. “I'm going to see what I can do about getting us some rooms.”
Slowly, the unicorn careful not to bump into anyone, Twilight approached this pony. As soon as she made it to the bar, she attempted to get his attention. “Excuse me, but do you have an open bed for tonight?”
The pony behind the counter looked in her eyes, slowly raising an eyebrow, “Say again?”
“Do you have an open bed for us? I have five friends with me if you're interested.” Twilight gestured to her friends, still standing near the entrance. “We're desperate, and we'll do anything to help you out with any favors you might have for us mares.”
The pony behind the counter raised his eyebrow even more, as many of the patrons near the conversation had turned towards the interesting exchange. “As much as Ah'm flattered, Miss, but Ah'm married.”
“Huh? I don't know that that should have anything to do wi...” Twlight trailed off. Eyes growing wide, she slowly realized what the pony behind the counter thought she was implying. “Oh no! NO! That's not what I meant at all! I just meant do you have a room to rent out for the night, and... uhh... we don't have money, and we could help clean dishes or something... because... umm... yeah... hehehe...”
“Oh geez!” the pony behind the counter sputtered, receiving howling laughter from the patrons all around him. “Ah'm so sorry! Ah didn'! Ah mean... Ah'm sorry!”
Coughing to regain his composure, he continued, “Anyway, yeah, this place ain't no inn. In fact,” he thought to himself, “hate to break it to ya, but Ah think there ain't a single inn in all of Conflound. This here is only a bistro.”
“I thought this here was a bar, Clyde,” the pony seated closest to Twilight at the bar said, chuckling to himself.
The owner looked at the patron with an annoyed look. “Or bar, if ya mus' be so casual, but yup. This here ain't no hotel. Sorry, Miss.”
“Oh, okay.” Twilight sighed in defeat. “Thanks for your help anyways,” she said, turning towards the exit.
The barkeep looked at the defeated unicorn, “Aw horseapples. Look, Miss, Ah can tell you ain't from 'round these parts. How 'bout this, we ain't got much, but if ya'll want, we have a guest bedroom that Ah could put ya'll ladies in. There's only two beds, but they're yours if ya wan' 'em.”
Turning back around, Twilight had the biggest smile on her face. “Really?! Oh thank you thank you thank you! By the way, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” she stated, holding a hoof in front of her.
He took her hoof and gave it a shake. “Mighty interestin' name ya got there, Miss Sparkle. Name's Clyde. Give me a few minutes, and Ah'll show ya to tha' guest room.”
After another round of thank you's, Twilight happily trotted to her friends, and told them the news. After a few minutes, Clyde walked up, introduced himself to the rest of them, and let the girls to the room upstairs. Inside the bedroom, it was even more sparse than the bar downstairs. The only things in the room were a pair of single beds, a simple desk, a single window, and a few candles that were soon lit by Clyde.
“Make ya'llselves at home. Now, as much as Ah would like to meet with ya'll girls more, Ah gotta get back downstairs 'fore Ah'm raided of mah drink. If ya'll want, Martha and mahself are actually about to close up shop in an hour or so, and after tha', we're gonna have dinner. Ya'll welcome to join if ya wanna.”
“That would be simply divine.” Rarity slightly bowed her head. “And once again, thank you for the room. It is most generous of you.”
Clyde smiled, “Ain't nuttin', ma'am.” With that, he did a quick bow of the head, and left the six guest to their room.
Twilight turned to her friends, and smiled. “Well, at least we know that the ponies around these parts are friendly! Besides, with this track record, nothing can go wrong!”