“Wait, six others?!” was Ruby’s only reply to Luna’s statement.
“I have already brought them here,” Luna explained, “Please, allow me one moment to search the forest for them. They should be nearby.”
Ruby looked on at the forest. Of course, there was a certain otherworldly feel to the place, as one would expect. It wasn’t just the feel of a dream, either. It was the feel of being immersed in a completely new world, the overwhelming feel of apprehension and adventure. This being a dream, there was a certain sense of awe to it. Amidst the darkness, the humidity against her new form, and the smell of decaying leaves, Ruby had to admit that she felt right at home.
As she took in the environment for a moment, she heard the first familiar voices.
“Wait, what the-PYRRHA?!”
“I...I’m sorry! I...Wait, Jaune?!”
“This is all just some messed up dream, right?! It can’t be anything else!”
“Ah,” Luna said, “Right around…here!”
She searched the bushes with her horn, eventually parting two of them to reveal two ponies: A well-muscled unicorn mare with a flame-red mane, her eyes a deep green and her coat a light gold, and an earth pony stallion, light and tall in his build and a bright yellow and white in color. As with all the ponies from their world, their flanks were adorned with their respective symbols. Ruby and Weiss recognized these two immediately as friends of theirs, and quickly stepped over besides Luna.
The position of these two ponies was, to say the least, compromising. The mare lay on top of her partner; the two were practically embracing. On top of that, her face seemed to have been buried in the stallion’s chest just a moment ago.
It was as if the dream world was playing a cruel joke on them. Luna grinned mischieviously at this sight, knowing that she may have had a hoof in said joke.
For an almost eternal moment, there was nothing but staring.
“I...I…” Ruby stammered.
“Wow,” Weiss muttered to herself, “Just...wow.”
The golden-maned stallion practically squealed in horror. Luna stifled a giggle as the mare, Pyrrha, attempted to shuffle awkwardly away from her partner, a rarely-seen blush across her face. This was the true work of an Equestrian princess, after all. Rigorous training under Celestia’s eyes had prepared her for one of many royal duties: Pranking, even if this one was a little mean.
“My apologies,” Luna said, “I have been looking for you...Jaune Arc, was it?”
There was a long period of complete silence, save for the repeated whimpers of “I’m sorry” from Ruby. Soon, however, Jaune and Pyrrha managed to regain their composure.
“Just…” Pyrrha gasped, “Just what are you?”
“Wait one moment,” Luna replied, “The others shall be coming. I will speak the-”
Luna was cut off by an excited squeal, along with a crashing white pegasus to the side.
“JAUNE!”
As she fell to the side, the auburn-maned pegasus, now in clear view, looked away sheepishly.
“Err…” was the only sound she let escape her.
“Nora.”
A deep green unicorn stallion, his black mane draped over his shoulders and accented by a streak of brilliant pink, stepped into the area. Luna smiled at this, knowing that if these two had shown up this quickly, then the final two ponies would be showing up shortly after.
“Well, I see seven ponies and a whole lot of crazy. Someone care to start explaining?”
Speaking of the devil, there they were: a yellow earth pony with a mane bright enough to give the sun a run for its money, and a black pegasus with a black mane, a purple streak through said mane and (Luna blinked to make sure she wasn’t seeing things) a second, much more feline pair of ears protruding from behind her pony ears.
“Well, er, that was much faster than I had anticipated...I didn’t think all eight of you would just suddenly appear like this,” Luna said, “But it makes this much simpler. All of you, if you would, please sit down. I have much to explain to all of you.”
“Wait… are you a pony?” asked Nora as she quickly stood up from choking the life out of Jaune with love “C-Can I ride you? Wait, I’m a pony too...Oh. Whoops! That just sounded WRONG, didn’t it? Never mind what I said there!” Luna clutched at her head as her mind flashed back to Pinkie Pie on the first Nightmare Night she’d spent out of the moon. Ren quickly stepped forward as he saw this.
“Nora...Please don’t ever say that again.”
“Yes Ren!” Nora responded, “Soooo, you were saying?”
Luna cleared her throat, ready to explain everything.
“As you can see, you are all ponies. Though it is obviously somewhat disorienting, I am certain you will all be used to these forms in due time. You see, I have already told everything to these two,” she explained, gesturing to Weiss and Ruby, “And I wish for all eight of you to head to my home world. Rest assured, your lives here will not change. However, your dreams...Well, in place of dreams, I shall give you all lives in Equestria.”
Jaune raised his new hoof. “Uh, question. How are we supposed to have any energy for our classes or lives in both worlds?”
Luna chuckled. “While you are active in one world, your body in the other is dormant. Therefore, you shall not lose any energy. So, does anybody else have any questions about this before they make their choices?” she asked.
“Will this hurt at all?” asked Blake, clearly more nervous than her appearance let on.
“Absolutely not. I myself have travelled between worlds, and it hasn’t harmed me in the slightest,” Luna answered, “So it shall not hurt any of you. Any more, or shall we make our decisions?”
Pyrrha was the first to speak up after this.
“I’ve made my decision. I’m going,” she said, “But if this is a trick of any kind…Well, I’d rather not think of that scenario.”
“Rest assured, miss Nikos, I am aware of your fighting skills. I shall not trick any of you,” Luna said, “Because, even with my power, you are formidable foes.”
Pyrrha looked to her team. More specifically, she looked to Jaune, awaiting his reply. He replied with an almost exasperated sigh, then spoke.
“I’ll be going as well.”
Ruby smiled brightly.
“Okay team, pack your bags! We’re going to Equestria!” Ruby proclaimed.
“Wait, Ruby, this is all so sudden, are you sure you still want t-”
Weiss was interrupted by Nora suddenly grabbing her face.
“ARE YOU CRAZY? IT’S AN ENTIRE WORLD OF PONIES, LET’S GO ALREADY!” Weiss quickly got behind Blake and Yang, as facing down the insanity of Nora alone was practically a death warrant.
“H-Hey! Weiss, come on, you think we’re not going to agree to this?!” Yang called back to her teammate.
“It sounds like a party kind of town, and besides, if it keeps Ruby and Nora happy then we can kick back and relax a little,” Blake suddenly chimed in, “And learn about this new world. And vice-versa.”
“So...All that remains is the last one. Lie Ren,” Luna began, “Do you wish to join your friends in the trip to my world?”
Ren flashed a small smile. “Well, someone needs to keep Nora from destroying something….or someone, for that matter.”
“And as for you, Weiss...I am well aware that you have already agreed. As such…”
Luna’s voice trailed off as her horn began to glow once more. A circle of light began to form on the ground below her, soon beginning to grow and surround the rest of the group.
This was when she noticed that something was very, very wrong.
Throughout the canopy of trees, a shimmering blue cloud had formed. It was faint, like stars under fog, but it was there. Luna had seen this cloud once before, and she knew that it was, the say the absolute least, not pleasant at all.
“Everypony. Get close to me! Now!” she commanded. At once, the group was huddled uncomfortably close together. Luna focused her magic, allowing the circle of light to form into a shining cyan dome. Soon, it began to enclose on everyone, herself included.
A few looks of horror crossed various faces in the group, until finally they were consumed by the princess’s magic.
Then, all was still in the Everfree. Only this time, it was not a dream they lay in. This time, they lay at the entrance to the forest, just outside of Canterlot. Everyone lay beside Luna, it seemed. Just to be certain, she did a quick head count. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
She found herself in a state of panic. Had the cloud found the jet black pegasus? She looked around frantically, until her eyes turned to a tree. There, in between two forked tree branches, was Blake, her coat matted with tree sap and branches tangled in her mane. She looked to Luna with a sharp glare.
“You lied to me,” she whispered.
“I...I suppose I did. At any rate, we have all arrived here in one piece. Even you,” Luna responded, “And once everybody here is fully awake, I can explain why we are here, of all places, and why I had to take you all here so suddenly...Or perhaps my sister will arrive first.”
“Your sister?” a voice inquired from behind Luna, “You never said anything about that. Let me guess, she’s important.”
Luna looked over to see Yang, along with everyone else coming to.
“Ah...This is good. You are all recovering quickly. And with that, I must explain. I believe that the dream we were all just in had a great evil dwelling within it. Though I do not know what it can do,” she lied, “I am aware that it is a terrifying being that could have attacked you while you were there. As such, I needed to transfer your new forms here as soon as possible.”
“So wait,” Ruby asked, “This is Equestria? It’s...Is that, out there in the distance, on that mountain, is that a city?!”
“Oh, yes,” Luna answered, “That is my home, Canterlot. We shall be staying there tonight. And on behalf of all eight of you, especially on behalf of Blake, whose world-traveling experience hasn’t been the most pleasant of things, I would like to formally say this: Welcome. I believe my sister, Princess Celestia, has much planned for you. As such...”
Luna’s horn glowed bright cyan once more. In a flash, the group stood in the throne room of Canterlot, greeted by the three other princesses.
“Luna! Welcome back,” Celestia said as the newcomers looked on in shock, “I take it these are the teams?”
“Yes, sister, they are. We experienced some complications, but we have all arrived here in one piece. I would like to ask you to escort them to their rooms for the night, as it is almost dusk here.”
“Of course. Come,” Celestia instructed to the still-stunned group, “Follow me. You must all be exhausted.”