//------------------------------// // A Hole in the Sky // Story: The Crisis on Infinite Equestrias // by Redback Spino //------------------------------// "Good morning, Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash gave a hesitant wave as yet another pony greeted her as she walked down the streets of Ponyville. At best, she recognised one or two of the ponies she encountered, and even then only vaguely. Sure, she recognised a few colour schemes from ponies she had seen around town before, but something about them seemed... odd. It did not help matters that they all seemed to have the exact same mane- and tail-styles. But the many strange ponies out and about today were the least of her concerns. Because wherever she was, it certainly was not the same place she had gone to sleep. Last night, as always, she had gone to sleep after a long, hard day of cloud-busting, aerial practice and generally being awesome, in her cloud home high above Ponyville, just like always. But as the morning sun glinted in her eyes, she had awoken in what was probably the absolute pinkest house she had ever seen! It was a fairly spacious place, with shelves and cupboards lining the walls, and a large stage in the middle of the room. Huh, did I sleepwalk over to Rarity's place, she had mused groggily. But even Carousel Boutique was not quite as garishly pink as wherever she was now. As she wandered through this strange new town, she noted with some disgust that the rest of the town fared little better, with every building done up in garishly bright blues and pinks. It was like if Pinkie Pie had become an architect overnight. Among the tiny houses dotted around the place, there were all sorts of strange buildings. One seemed designed to look like a treasure chest, over in the distance was a building with an enormous inflatable butterfly tethered to its roof, and right in the centre of the town was a large purple castle! Hot-air balloons hovered overhead in the cloudless blue sky, and everything had an odd theme-park feeling to it. Rainbow was unable to quite put her hoof on it, but every building seemed to lack something... Her musings were cut short, however, as a familiar blur of purple and orange zipped past, propelled by a tiny scooter. Leaping out of the way, her eyes went wide with shock as she saw the pony riding it. "Scootaloo?" she called as she got to her hooves. "I-is that you?!" At first glance, the pony was the spitting image of Scootaloo. The purple mane, the orange fur, the scooter. But on closer inspection, Rainbow saw that not only was this pony fully grown, but had her long mane done up in a ponytail, as well as a cutie mark of two yellow flowers adorning her flank. Not to mention she was an earth pony. "Oh! Sorry Rainbow Dash, I didn't see you," the pony said. "Are you okay?" Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Sorry, I thought you were somepony else... wait, how did you know my name? Or has my fame finally caught up with me?" The pony cocked her head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean? Everypony in Ponyville knows about Rainbow Dash, Ponyville's own fashionista." "...What." "Anyway, sorry I can't stay to chat, Rainbow Dash. I'm on my way to talk to Kimono," the pony said as she hopped back on her scooter. "Who's Kimono?" Rainbow asked, now getting very confused. "Umm, Rainbow Dash, did you hit your head or something? Kimono's the super-smart pony who lives on the outskirts of town. You've met her before!" At this point, I'd just go with it, a tiny voice in Rainbow's head muttered. She sighed and said, "Right, right, I have... So, what were you going to talk to her about?" The pony opened her mouth as if to answer, but paused as she looked up into the sky. Pointing up into the sky, she stuttered fearfully "About... th-th-that!" Rainbow looked up and her mouth dropped open in amazement. Cloudsdale. Floating in the sky, less than a mile away, was the pegasus capital of Cloudsdale. But somehow, it looked different. The architecture looked much sleeker and smoother, with less swirls and pillars of cloud, some of the buildings almost resembling the skyscrapers she had seen in Manehattan once, only... more modern. She could see the faint dots of pegasi flying around among the tall buildings, while every now and then a pegasus would break off and fly out into the surrounding lands. "What the...? What happened to Cloudsdale?" "Is that what that is?" the terrified pony beside her asked. "I've never seen anything like that before, have you?" "Well... sort of," Rainbow replied uncertainly. "Hey, would you mind if I tag along while you see... Kimono?" The pony's face lit up all of a sudden. "Of course! Let's get going." Rainbow shrugged and followed, flying low alongside the scooter-bound pony. "So... with me being all confused and all, could you... remind me what your name is?" The pony looked over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised. "Um... I'm Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash. We've been friends for years, remember? Are you sure you're okay, you're acting kinda strange today. First the change in your voice, the different hairstyle, which by the way really suits you..." "Scootaloo?" Rainbow echoed. The voice in her mind spoke up again. Just roll with it, hopefully this Kimono character will have some answers. "Right, sure..." Rarity drew back her curtains, humming gently to herself as she set out to begin her day's work. As her horn lit up, levitating spools of thread and rolls of fabric onto her table, she noted with some curiosity how strange the sky seemed. Something about it seemed... blurry, almost. But she paid it little heed, putting a hoof to the pedal of her sewing machine and getting to work. While she stitched, she watched Ponyville going about their business in the streets below her window. How strange, she thought to herself, there certainly seems to be a lot of new ponies in town today. No doubt Pinkie Pie is enjoying herself making all sorts of new friends, she added with a small chuckle. A chuckle that died in her throat as her gaze turned skyward, and she glimpsed a winged figure slowly flying towards Ponyville. Whatever it was, it was far too big to be a pegasus... and besides, pegasi were not exactly known for being scaly. "YEEEK!" Rarity screamed as the dragon swooped low over Ponyville. Despite being indoors, she ducked under her desk anyway. Outside, she could hear the panicking screams of the ponies as they scattered like cockroaches from the fearsome dragon, many hurrying into houses and buildings, some ducking under carriages and wagons. But as she timidly peeked up over the windowsill again, her eye was drawn to the dragon. It was a strangely slender figure, nothing like the bulky armoured beasts she had encountered before, with gleaming white scales and a crest of purple spines running down its back, that curled strangely to one side. But she had no time to muse on this colourful creature, as she glimpsed a tiny figure, held in the dragon's clawed hands. It was a unicorn filly that looked to be no older then Sweetie Belle, with lightish pink fur and a rainbow-hued mane. "Good heavens, that poor little filly! Somepony needs to do something!" Rarity said aloud, watching the scene. The dragon had now landed in the town square, stomping about as it no doubt looked for more ponies to devour. Is nopony going to help her?! She desperately looked around, hoping, praying that some valiant brave pony would step in and help the poor little pony. But nopony came. The dragon had stopped stomping about, and now held the little filly up, looking down at it. "It's going to eat her!!" Rarity cried. Leaping up from under the table, she swung the window open wide and hoisted herself up onto the sill. As she tried her best to not look down, she gently lowered herself down onto the awning just below her window before daintily jumping down onto the ground. She dusted herself off briefly, before taking to her hooves and sprinting towards the dragon, as it lifted the little filly up to eye-level. "PUT THAT LITTLE FILLY DOWN THIS INSTANT!" she screamed, skidding to a halt mere feet away from the monster. The dragon and the filly looked down at Rarity, bemused expressions on both their faces. "Little filly?" the filly said derisively. "I'll have you know I am a princess, and will be addressed as such!" "Perhaps," Rarity replied. "But nonetheless, this beastly dragon has you in its clutches and I do not want to imagine what it intends to do with you. So you, Mr Dragon, will put that filly down right now!" "Excuse me!" The dragon roared in a booming, if feminine voice. "I am a lady, thank you very much!" Rarity blushed at her mistake, grinning sheepishly. "Oh... I, uh, stand corrected. But my point still stands: whatever you are doing here in Ponyville, Miss Dragon, we will be having none of it. So I would appreciate if you would release the filly and be on your way!" The dragon rolled her enormous eyes. "For goodness sake, what does it take to get some directions around here?" "I warned you that they wouldn't want to talk to you, but did you listen? Nooo," the filly replied, before looking down at Rarity. "And you! I'll thank you not to talk to my friend that way!" "Your friend?!" Rarity sputtered. "Dear, that dragon could eat you in one bite!" The dragon sighed. "Look, this is getting us nowhere. Come along little one, perhaps there's another town nearby where they are a little more cooperative." "Lead the way, Miss Rarity," the filly replied. Wait, what? "Wait a moment!" Rarity sprinted after the dragon as it made to take off. "I knew your colour scheme seemed a little familiar, but now your name is Rarity as well?!" The dragon nodded. The filly waved, revealing a small sceptre gripped in her hoof, a large star-shaped jewel embedded on the top. "And my name, too. Rarity the Unicorn, Rainbow Princess of Unicornia. Nice to meet you!" "So, your name is Rarity as well?" the dragon asked. Rarity nodded, dumbstruck. "Well... this is going to get confusing fast." "I'm still wondering exactly what a dragon and a young filly are doing together in the first place," Rarity said. Dragon-Rarity replied, "Well, she's about the only creature I've run into all day who hasn't fled in terror the instant I try to talk to them!" "And why would you want to talk to a pony in the first place?" Rarity asked. "Surely you know that ponies aren't exactly fond of dragons." "That's news to me, I don't even know where I am." Dragon-Rarity replied. "I went to sleep last night in my cave like always, and next morning I wake up ontop of hill in the middle of nowhere, there's ponies everywhere and barely a dragon to be seen!" "The same thing happened to me," Rarity the Unicorn added. "I wake up this morning without a clue where I am or where my friends are. Luckily for me I ran into this dragon here, who was just as lost. So, we decided to work together to find out just what is going on." Rarity sat down, tapping a hoof on her chin pensively. "Well, that's... certainly unusual..." As she mused, there came the clattering sound of hooves sprinting towards them. Turning around, she saw Applejack skidding to a halt as she came barrelling down the street. "Rarity! Are ya crazy, get away from that dragon!" "Applejack, calm down, they don't mean any harm," Rarity replied. But the farmpony would hear none of it. "No harm?! Rarity, open yer eyes, it's a dragon! Since when do dragons mean anythin' but harm to us?" "We're just asking for directions!" Rarity the Unicorn called down from the dragon's hand. "And it's already grabbed a filly too!" Applejack shouted. "Rarity, go find the others, I'll hold this scaly menace off until ya get back!" Before Rarity could interject, Applejack was charging headlong at the dragon, lasso swinging in the air above her. But before she could throw the rope or grab onto anything, Dragon-Rarity took to the air, flying a few feet off the ground as Applejack ran underneath her and skidded to the other side of the square. "Applejack, please listen, she means no harm! And she hasn't kidnapped the filly, they're friends." Rarity called, rushing over to Applejack. "Well, more acquaintances than actual friends," Dragon-Rarity replied. "We only met up earlier today. We're both lost, confused, and would appreciate it if someone could tell us where we are!" Applejack glared up at the white and purple dragon. "Well, how do we know yer tellin' the truth?" "Because if I had wanted to eat you or destroy your town, I would have finished doing so about ten minutes ago." Rarity nodded. "She makes a good point." Applejack stared into Dragon-Rarity's eyes, and the dragon stared back, as if searching for some inkling of deception in eachother's gaze. "Hmm... Well, I guess I can't fault ya for that logic. But what were ya talkin' to them about, Rarity?" "Well, for starters, the fact that we all share the same name," Rarity replied. "Seriously?" Applejack looked from Rarity, to the dragon standing before her, to the little filly inthe dragon's hand. "Okay, that is interestin'. Come to think of it Rarity, it does kinda look like you if ya were a dragon." "Well, you actually look rather like a friend of mine, if she were a pony and not a dragon," Dragon-Rarity replied. "You even have a similar voice." "Is that so? Well, this just got even more confusing... Applejack, would you mind staying with our guests here while I go and find Twilight? No doubt she can shed some light on what is going on." Applejack shook her head. "Not gonna happen Rarity. Twilight and Spike hurried off to the train station a few hours ago. Apparently they got some letter summonin' them to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible." "Did she say what it was about?" "Well, Pinkie Pie told me she was talkin' about 'another her' comin' out of the mirror portal. Ya think that has somethin' to do with what's goin' on here?" "Probably." Rarity nodded. "There seems to be no end to strange things going on today. Dozens of new ponies in town, many of them rather strangely dressed, I've noticed, then these two show up, and now apparently Twilight is off in the Crystal Empire... Something very strange is definitely going on..." "So Twilight, any idea what's going on?" Twilight Sparkle shook her head. She and Spike were seated in the train as it sped across the Equestrian countryside. All throughout the trip, they had seen strange sights out the windows of the train: Strangely-dressed ponies getting on and off the train, mysterious flying things in the sky, and a few times Twilight had even sworn she had seen them pass by a town or village, just for it to vanish as they pass it! "Not a clue, Spike" Twilight replied. "Vanishing towns, strange ponies, things in the sky... speaking of which, is it just me or does the sky seem sort of... off, today?" Spike clambered up to the window, looking out at the landscape as they passed by. "Yeah, I kinda see what you mean... It's sort of hard to focus my eyes on it, like it's blurry or something." "That's what I thought," Twilight replied. "And now apparently there's this pony who's come out of the mirror in the Crystal Empire. A pony who looks just like me... It's like all of Equestria's gone mad today!" "You don't think Discord's behind all this, do you?" Spike asked nervously. Twilight shook her head. "I doubt it. Discord's a troublemaker and he is incredibly powerful, but I think even he would have trouble causing this much havoc. I just hope Princess Celestia will have some answers for us." "But if she came out of the mirror," Spike said. "Do you think she's maybe from... that other world?" "I can't see any other explanation," she replied with a shrug. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Spike remained at the window, watching as the strange phenomena went on all across the land. He watched in awe as a trio of things screeched across the sky above them, leaving white trails in their wake. They looked almost like dragons or birds made of metal. His jaw dropped as he spotted a dragon simply popping into existence in the middle of the sky, where those metal flying things had been mere seconds ago. The beast looked around in bemusement, before it vanished once more. But his attention was drawn to the alien sky once more as he spotted something forming. It was like a small hole, a crack, an opening in the sky itself. Spike would have waved this off as yet another bizarre thing going on today, if it weren't for what appeared to be coming out of the hole. "Uhh, Twilight?" "What is it Spike?" Twilight joined him at the window, as the little dragon pointed a clawed hand up at the fissure. It almost resembled some sort of smoke, weaving and snaking down from the crack, a tendril as thick as a treetrunk but completely black. It slithered through the air, reaching down towards the train. "Spike, I... I think now would be a good time to..." But her words were cut off as the entire carriage shook. Ponies were jolted out of their seats, and the entire train screeched to a halt. Spike stumbled to the floor as Twilight struggled to stay upright, as the gaslights sputtered out. For a moment, all was still. Nopony dared to move a muscle. Outside the carriage could be heard strange creaking sounds, and rhythmic thumps, as if someone or something was walking around on the roof. Twilight followed the noise with bated breath as it travelled down the carriage to the end. It stopped briefly, before going back in the direction it came, until it came to a stop right above her. Then, all hell broke loose. The windows on either side of the train shattered, spraying the ponies inside with shards of glass. The sunlight was blocked out as the inky black mass poured through the broken windows into the carriage. It writhed and wriggled through the air like the feelers of an insect, probing and searching. As one such tendril of blackness slid against the side of Twilight's face, the entire mass froze for an instant, then lunged at the alicorn. "Spike!" Twilight screamed as the blackness surrounded her. Her horn flared up with magenta light as she blasted at the blackness with beams and bolts of magical energy, which seemed to deter the black mass for a moment. But no matter how much she struggled, it surrounded her, engulfing her in its shadowy form until nothing of her could be seen. Then, as swiftly as it had appeared, the blackness receded out the windows, swirling back up into the sky into the fissure high above, before the fissure closed and vanished without a trace. As the light returned to the carriage, ponies rushed to the shattered windows, gazing up at where the fissure and the shadowy thing had emerged from. But there was no trace, no sign that anything had ever been there. Spike, meanwhile, could only stare in slack-jawed horror at the spot where Twilight had been. A matter of seconds, and whatever that was had swooped in, grabbed Twilight and vanished. mere seconds! "Is everypony alright?" The conductor, his hat askew and his uniform scuffed and torn in a few spots, entered the carriage with first-aid kit in hand. A few cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing too serious, it seemed. He approached Spike, unsure whether the little dragon was alright. "Um... son, are you...?" "Get us to the Crystal Empire." "Pardon?" The conductor stooped down to Spike's level. The dragon grabbed the conductor by his shirt. "Get us to the Crystal Empire as quickly as possible! Whatever that thing was, it just took Princess Twilight! The other Princesses are in the Crystal Empire, and they need to know what's happened!" The conductor nodded frantically and hurried out of the carriage towards the front of the train.