Rows of ponies had gathered in front of the stage by the time I got to the ground floor, and Bill, the colt, had taken to stage to remind them all to stay calm. After all, I had told him I would explain everything, and, he trusted to them, he had seen I was a pony of my word.
I shook my head lightly at that, but took to stage while the stallion moved to join the others in front of the stage. Turkey stopped at the edge of the stage, but followed me quickly as I zapped her butt with my magic.
"Ow.. That wasn't fair, you know?" she muttered, and I motioned for her to sit beside me to my left as I looked the crowd over.
There were more ponies than I had initially realized, and they covered the ground from side-to-side and even into some of the stores. And all were looking at me. About a hundred ponies if not more. I could feel the pressure rise again, and scraped my throat before I started.
"Hello everypony, I'm Spritelight. And I am responsible for giving you the gift of becoming ponies," I started.
Half the crowd erupted in angry shouting, and I used my magic to dodge a couple of items that were haphazardly tossed at me with the use of magic, wings, or hooves.
"As I said;" I resumed, a little louder to overpower the neighsayers, "I gave you all a gift. You are the forerunners of the new times to come. It is only by chance that you were chosen as ambassadors, but you are in no way any less important than the others who already learned to live as ponies."
Bill jumped on stage as there were more shouts of anger and frustration, and he slammed both of his forehooves onto the wooden stage. The resulting sound caused everypony to fall quiet again and he glared over the crowd. "I told you; be quiet! Let her speak, let her answer our questions, and let us decide what to do with her and ourselves AFTERWARDS!"
Several heads bobbed up and down, and some of the more outspoken angry ponies were calmed down by those sitting around them.
"Thank you, Bill. I already said I would answer all your questions, but I hope that I can answer most of them already in explaining why I am here, and why I have done this to you all."
I half expected another eruption, but the few who started to voice their concern were immediately faced with others urging them to be quiet.
"I'm a Unicorn mare from the land of Equestria," I continued. "I have studied magic and history for most of my life, and managed to gain access to some ancient tomes hidden away in Equestria's eldest libraries. These tomes date back thousands of years - back to when Earth and Equestria were still the same planet."
The faces before me almost all showed their confusion at what I told them. Equestria and Earth having been one planet in the past? How could this be? I knew their thoughts well, as I had had doubts myself when I first explored the ancient tomes.
"I know what you are thinking; Earth and Equestria are two separate places! How could they have been one and the same? Why, here on Earth it is even thought that Equestria is an imaginary world only real to foals!"
There were some nods from the crowd, and I noticed I had got the attention of most of them.
"As you may notice from me being here, from your new pony bodies, Equestria -IS- a real place. As real as Earth. It has its own economy, ecology, even its own markets spread around the country. Instead of humans however, ponies make up the majority species."
Bill turned to look at me, and I smiled at him as I waved a hoof over the crowd. "Ponies, like you. Earthponies, Unicorns, Pegasi..."
"AND ALICORNS!" a voice called out from the back, and I squinted my eyes to try and figure out who said that, and with such a powerful voice...
I did not have to wait long before I saw her; an green-maned Alicorn, with a canary-yellow coat, with the light of the sun following in her wake - illuminating her from behind.
She made her way through the center of the crowd of ponies scurrying away from her with gasps of "this can't be real" as they did, until she stood face-to-face with me in front of the stage. I mean, I was standing on my hooves, on a stage, and she was standing in front of the stage, on only her hooves, and was still on eye-level with me.
"This... I..." I stammered, trying to remember if I had seen this Alicorn in Equestria before. She wasn't Celestia or Luna, not Cadance, not even that fool of a filly Twilight Sparkle - who bested me at magic long before she was given the gift of being a princess. No, this was someone new.
"Spritelight, I presume?" the Alicorn princess offered with a slight rise of an eyebrow, and I nodded automatically. "We need to talk."
"Er, sorry, but who are you?" Turkey wondered, pushing herself in-between the Alicorn and myself.
The green-maned one turned to look at Turkey, and I noticed the green glow of her horn as she looked her over. I felt my own energy force itself out of my horn as it grabbed a hold of Turkey, and I teleported her behind me.
"Don't you lay one iota of energy on Turkey," I warned the Alicorn before me, my horn sparkling with magic potential.
The Alicorn's own magic dissipated from around her horn, and she smirked in my direction. "I'm Josey. Princess Josey, according to most I meet these days," she chuckled. "And I guess I have to thank you, Spritelight, for what you did to help me become myself."
I froze, my magical energy dropping away from the realization. "Wait... you're one of my ambassadors?"
Turkey pushed up to my side and looked at this Josey. "She is?"
Bill rubbed the side of his head with a hoof. "I don't know if you ponies realized, but there are women and children here. People who used to have a life and had places to go, appointments to keep. If we can get back to the part where one of you - ANY one of you - could explain what exactly is going on, that would be great."
Josey nodded slowly and turned around to face the crowd. "I am sorry for the interruption, dears. And even more so for the news I am about to bestow upon you."
The crowd of ponies slowly gathered around the stage again, having pretty much pushed themselves out of the way and into the surrounding stores when Josey first appeared. Their faces were full of wonder, confusion, denial.
"All of your questions will be answered. But not here," Josey spoke, her horn powering up until it sent a large amount of energy out from it in a wide circle. I could hear the ping as it rang through my horn and, from the looks of the Unicorns in the crowd, so did the others who were magically affiliated.
Josey looked back at me past her large form and smirked. "Wait for it; he loves a dramatic entrance."
I opened my mouth to ask who, but then immediately dove down onto the stage as the fountain behind me exploded in a sea of...
"Hey, that's lemonade!" Bill exclaimed as the sticky fluid washed over everyone present.
"Grenadine, actually," Discord's voice came. "Oh Spritelight, my dearest student. How I have missed you!"
I groaned and turned to face the Draconequus, who was wearing a large-rimmed hat and held a cocktail glass in his claw-like hand. "I was just over in Mechico, and, well, don't you just love this sombrero?"
"Mexico, Discord," Josey corrected him. "Could you please open a portal to Equestria? These ponies need to be evacuated."
"Bah, you princesses are all business," Discord pouted, but snapped his fingers to make an oval portal appear on stage. "All aboard!"
"Wait, evacuated?" Turkey wondered, and I put my hoof around her withers to pull her close.
"If you would please step through the portal, dears? We will explain everything on the other side," Josey offered to the crowd, who started to queue up for the portal with complete looks of confusion and devastation on their faces. They clearly didn't know what else to do, and with an Alicorn and a Draconequus around, magic portals leading who-knows-where were the least of their concerns.
Bill was one of the few who actually remained where they had stood, and I could see him thinking deeply about something as the others slowly passed into the portal.
Josey turned back to the stage, nodding at Discord. "So, Mexico?"
Discord smirked. "It is as you expected, which was quite unexpected to me, really. I mean, who would have thought a former mortal might actually be right?"
Josey shook her head and I could see a tear leak down her face. "It's coming up here next then. We don't have much time left."
Turkey looked between the two, but it was Bill who opened his mouth first; "I'm sorry, but I have to ask this; what is the big idea here?"
Discord wafted a claw at Josey, who rolled her eyes at the former and then looked between Bill, Turkey, and myself. "Spritelight's magic has been upsetting the borders between worlds."
I sighed. "Duh. That was the whole idea. To bring Earth and Equestria back together."
"Except, that you're not bringing Earth and Equestria back together, Spritelight," Josey stated. "All you've done is give entry into this world to demons that are more powerful than you could ever imagine."
I frowned at that and shook my head in denial. "No I haven't! The ancient texts said that Earth and Equestria were once the same planet! I'm just restoring the balance!"
"What you read was Chancellor Puddinghead naming the land of Equestria "Earth". Not this planet," Josey sighed. "Pegasopolis, Unicornia, Earth, they all became one Equestria when the Windigoes were defeated by the warm hearts of the three tribe leader's assistants."
"But," I started, feeling my beliefs starting to shake - as well as the ground under my hooves.
"H...hey, what's going on?" Turkey wondered.
"EARTHQUAKE! EVERYPONY FOR THEMSELVES!" the crowd suddenly screamed, and the organized queue of ponies going through the portal fell apart in a stampede of ponies running for safety as the mall shook around them!
"There goes the neighbourhood," Discord offered, and disappeared in a flash.