"So," said Twilight tiredly, trying to catch her breath, "what's going on?"
They now stood outside Zecora's tree hut in the middle of the Everfree Forest. The trees of the Everfree blocked out nearly all light outside the clearing, but the grass around the large tree was softly illuminated by moonlight. There was no light from the hut, as Zecora was out gathering her evening herbs. Star Walker gave Twilight a grim look.
"I am afraid that my mere presence here has placed your world in great danger."
"I'm guessin' by 'here,' you don't mean Ponyville," said Applejack. Star Walker shook her head slightly.
"No. I am not from here. I am not even from Equestria, or at least this version of it."
"This... version?" said Twilight, confusion distorting her face.
"Yes. I, in fact, come from a parallel universe. An alternate version of Equestria, quite different from the one you know." A moment of awkward silence passed before it was broken by Applejack.
"Yer kiddin', right?" she said with a chuckle. Star Walker shook her head.
"I have seen a great many things during my travels; a world ruled over by an evil black unicorn, a world where ponies are all opposite sexes, worlds where ponies never evolved at all. One world was even inhabited by two-legged, hairless apes."
Twilight stared for a few seconds with her mouth open, and then the corners crept up ever so slowly into a smile that grew wider every second. Her pupils grew and her eyes glistened, and her face became contorted into an expression of pure glee.
"Oh. MY. GOSH!" she said. She rushed up in a purple blur to appear directly in front of Star Walker, excitedly rattling off question after inquiry after query.
"Oh my gosh! What is your world like? Do you have any odd plants or creatures? Does it have the same ponies as our world? What am I like in your world? What is-mmph!" Her rapid-fire questioning was interrupted by Applejack's hoof being shoved in her mouth.
"Why'd ya come here?" she asked. Star Walker sighed.
Two tall alicorns walked down the dark evening streets of Ponyville, bodies covered with cloaks and eyes with dark glasses, attempting to find a resident to speak to for information and directions. They finally happened across a pink earth mare who was standing with her back to them. They walked up behind her and the stallion cleared his throat.
"May you please direct us toward the residence of Zecora?" he said. The mare turned around, revealing a frighteningly wide grin filled with incredibly perfect teeth.
"Oh, sure! Hey, why are you wearing sunglasses at night? Anyway, hi, I'm Pinkie Pie and I know Zecora really well. Are you looking for her or do you wanna know what she's like?"
"We need—" the stallion started, but Pinkie did not wait for a response.
"She'd been coming into Ponyville for a while and we were all hiding from her but then Twilight found out and she said we were all crazy for being scared of Zecora because she was just a zebra and not evil like we thought and then I told Twilight that she was evil and that she's so evil I even wrote a song about her." The mare paused for a split second, but did not so much as take a breath.
She then began a complex dance which, much to the dismay of the cloaked ponies in front of her, was accompanied by a song.
"She's an evil enchantress
She does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She'll put you in trances..."
The mare leaned her head toward her brother.
"Must we put up with this?" she asked quietly.
"She's the only resident outside at this time of night, so yes. Plus, I'm enjoying the show." He smiled, his covered eyes never leaving the pink mare.
"Assassins?" said Twilight.
"Mercenaries," Star Walker corrected. "Hired horns. I recognized their hoofwork when I saw that mare strung up. Their names are Halberd and Javelin and they are called the Blade Twins. They are infamous in my world for their theatrical methods of killing. I fear that they will tear this world apart to capture me."
"Whada they look like?" asked Applejack.
"They are a brown stallion with a red mane and a red mare with a brown mane, both alicorns."
"Alicorns?" Twilight asked in wonderment. Star Walker smiled.
"I am assuming that they are not common in your world," she replied. "That seems to be a trend. Suffice it to say that it is a result of my world's advanced technology."
"You actually have the technology to turn ponies into alicorns?" Twilight said with a gasp and sparkling eyes.
"Yes. It was developed long ago by the Holy Empress for Her army." Twilight swallowed, suddenly uncomfortable, and her pupils lost their sheen.
"Holy... Empress?" She did not like the sound of that.
"So then after Trixie beat Twilight and banished her she conjured a giant magical fish bowl and set it over Ponyville so she would never ever come back and then Twilight had to go to Zecora to learn magic so that she could defeat Trixie even though Trixie had the Alicorn Amulet and she was really powerful and then later she came back with a necklace Zecora gave her and told Trixie that it was from beyond the Everfree Forest..."
Halberd and Javelin stared in fascination at the monologuing pink pony as she talked their ears off without even stopping for breath.
"So anyway when Rainbow Dash got to Sugarcube Corner I gave her a cupcake and she went to sleep and then I tied her up and cut off her cutie– Oh wait, that was a dream, never mind."
"I've had enough of this," grumbled Javelin. She lit her horn and a green haze appeared around Pinkie's neck, lifting her off the ground and causing her face to make a squeaking noise and puff out like a balloon. It also had the positive side effect of at least temporarily stopping her verbal blitzkrieg.
"Listen, you dirt-eating earther," she said dangerously, punctuating her syllables with tight squeezes to Pinkie's windpipe, "we need specific information. Now, which way is this Zecora's home?" Pinkie Pie let out a sound that seemed halfway between a gag and the squawk of a chicken, pointing down a path which led toward the forest. Javelin smiled, and then the three ponies were gone in a flash.
They reappeared next to the reservoir, where another flash of magic conjured several ropes and large stone weights which wrapped around the pink mare's frame, restraining her limbs. A green glowing lock appeared with a click on one of the knots and then faded away. At the same time, a green cloud appeared around Pinkie's mouth and transformed it into a closed zipper. She wriggled and tried to talk through the zipper, but to no avail.
"Sorry it had to be this way," said Javelin, "but we really need to get to Zecora's. And after I lost my temper, we can't have you blabbing." She lifted the mare in her magical field and levitated her in the direction of the reservoir several yards away. As Pinkie was lifted over the rim and moved out over the water, she curled into a frightened ball, crying and screaming pathetically through her zipped lips.
"Nighty-night," said Javelin with an evil grin, and Pinkie dropped out of the sky with a splash.
"What do we do about the assassins?" asked Twilight.
"Again, mercenaries," corrected Star Walker for the second time. "And I believe the best course of action is for me to leave. They will follow me, and hopefully never bother you again."
"Oh, no you don't!" said Twilight. "We're not leaving you to those goons just so we can have some peace and quiet."
"This is my issue to resolve," said Star Walker calmly. But Twilight would have none of it.
"Now, look here, it may be that in your universe, ponies are offered no assistance and left to fend for themselves. But our Equestria is a place of compassion, friendship, and harmony, and no pony is ever left behind." She offered her hoof to the dark blue mare in front of her.
Star Walker looked at the hoof for a moment, then to the face to which it belonged. The face smiled sweetly at her, showing no trace of malice or a hidden agenda. There was only pure compassion and friendship in the Princess's eyes.
It was the exact opposite of what she had seen on that face her whole life.
But she ignored the hesitation, writing it off as irrational. She did not know this pony; she only knew another with the same appearance. She reached out and took the Princess's fetlock in her own.
"Nopony left behind," she echoed.
"Nopony, not ever," said Applejack, adding her own hoof to the mix. The three mares then retracted their hooves.
"Wait a second," said Twilight after a moment. "Where's Zecora?" She produced a ticking clock with a puff of magic, which read slightly after 9:00. "She always returns before 9 o' clock, and it's currently 9:01." The clock then disappeared with a poof.
"Twilight, she's prob'ly just a little late," said Applejack dismissively. "Or maybe yer clock's runnin' fast." Twilight shook her head.
"Mm-mm. The Tick-Tock Clock spell is accurate to within a nanosecond, and Zecora is even more punctual than I am when it comes to getting out of the forest for the night. Something's wrong."
"Very good, Miss Sparkle," said a suave male voice from behind the tree line. The three ponies turned in unison to see a tall, grinning stallion in a cloak and dark glasses step into the moonlight. His horn was lit, and shortly thereafter he dragged a hog-tied Zecora into the clearing and dropped her beside him just inside the edge. She wore an expression that Twilight rarely saw her use; terror.
"It appears," the stallion continued, "that even in this universe, you are quick to notice a discrepancy." Twilight tried to swallow her fear.
"You know me?" she asked.
"Oh, yes," the stallion replied, widening his grin to expose his teeth and removing his glasses to show his frightening reptilian pupils. "I know you very well, Acrchmage."
Twilight shuddered in fear at the sight of the alicorn's eyes. But the effect quickly wore off, allowing her to contemplate his response. Archmage? she thought. There had not been an archmage since the time of Starswirl the Bearded. It was an outdated term, but it held so much power...
"Your Highness!" yelled Star Walker urgently, cutting through Twilight's thoughts like a hot knife through butter. "They are trying to magically cut us off! Teleport us to your castle, now!" Twilight instantly obeyed, summoning one last burst of magical energy. They disappeared in a flash and landed in the castle's main library.
The moment they arrived, Twilight was hit by a blinding pain in her horn. It blotted out her entire visual field with white, and she keeled over onto the crystal floor and screamed in pain.
Star Walker wasted no time and lit her horn, throwing up a magical shield around the castle. She flashed her horn several more times, reinforcing it with additional enchantments and several more layers. The result was an almost completely opaque blue sphere surrounding the Castle of Friendship and cutting it off from the outside world. She used one last flash to create an orb of light to provide illumination, acting like a miniature sun.
She rushed past Twilight, who was laying on the floor moaning. Applejack was comforting her, but became angry when Star Walker did nothing.
"What'n the hay are ya'll doin'? Dontcha see Twilight's in pain over here?!" She was quieted when Star Walker returned with an ice pack. She laid it across Twilight's forehead.
"Make certain she receives plenty of fluids," she said. She lit her horn and began telekinetically pulling random books off the shelves. The tomes and volumes paraded through the air past her as she scanned over each one.
"Zecora..." Twilight groaned. "We... left Zecora..."
"They will likely attempt to use her as a bargaining chip to more easily acquire me, utilizing your friendly relationship. But they will not be afraid to harm her in order to prove their credibility."
"You seem to know a lot about these ponies," Applejack said suspiciously.
"As I said, they are infamous. Officially, they are wanted by the government, but everypony knows She uses them for Her dirty work, though they would never be foolish enough to admit it openly." She found a book with an interesting title and opened it, flipping through the pages.
"That Empress o' yers?" Star Walker shot the mare an angry look at her casual tone when referring to the Holy Empress, but she let it go.
"Yes," she said.
It was at that very moment that Spike chose to enter the scene. He waddled into the library carrying several books, which Star Walker promptly lifted from his small arms to reveal a startled face.
"Oh, no! Twilight, what happened?" He rushed to Twilight's side and leaned over the groaning mare. He looked up at Star Walker, now with protective anger. "What did you do?"
"She is simply suffering a magical migraine," replied the cloaked unicorn, closing the book in front of her and moving to the ones she had taken from Spike, "of which I am sure she is aware. Though intensely painful, it will pass within a few hours if given proper care. Such are the consequences of high-power magic."
"What happened to her?"
"She severely strained herself teleporting us away from two mercenaries. We were extremely lucky. Two seconds longer, and she would have been magically blocked; one second, and she might have been killed in the transfer." She had moved on, and was now midway through a book of transformation spells.
"Holy guacamole!"
"Indeed. Take her to bed and make certain she does not move for six hours or use her magic for twenty-four; if she does, she may risk permanent damage." Spike moved to help, but Applejack sat still, staring off into the distance. Star Walker turned to look in her direction. "Miss Apple?"
"Those eyes," she said. "I ain't ever seen eyes like that. They weren't like Spike's; they were... cold. Like there weren't even a pony behind 'em."
"Those eyes are a superficial modification, nothing more. Now, please help your friend to bed."
"And what're you gonna do?" she asked as she gently lifted Twilight onto her back.
"Study books of magic in hopes of gaining an advantage over the Twins," said Star Walker, opening up yet another book. "They will come for us, and we must be ready."
"Ya mean they'll come fer you," Applejack grumbled under her breath as she slowly carried Twilight to her chambers. Star Walker ignored her. After all, she was perfectly justified in her dissatisfaction. Hence why she had tried to leave in the first place.
Oddly enough, the unicorn found her thoughts wandering to the little filly Apple Bloom. She had touched something in the mare's heart, a part that she had thought long gone. In the filly's eyes, she saw herself; eager to take on the world, and to Tartarus with the consequences.
Star Walker stayed awake studying the magic books, knowing that she would need to keep watch. But she kept thinking about the little Apple filly and why she had sung her her mother's lullaby. It was a precious part of her, something she cherished above all else. To share it with another after only knowing them for a day...
Star Walker had always kept to herself, even as a foal somewhat, but there was no denying it; that filly had struck a chord in her soul.