//------------------------------//
// Gonna Get a Little Wild 
// Story: Interdimensional Princess 
// by Blaze Spectrum 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy's cottage usually had a fairly serene and relaxed atmosphere, with the quiet but constant noises of animals and occasionally Fluttershy humming. But now, the atmosphere was one of strained anxiety, with only the quiet shuffling hooves of the Elements of Harmony and the dumber animals that didn't know when to shut up. Twilight's insistence on shutting the curtains didn't help either, which only left the room dimly lit by candles.

"Now Twilight, what's all this fuss about? You certainly seem uneasy," Rarity inquired.

"Sugarcube, when Twilight's acting like this, chances are that it's either important or she needs mental help," Applejack stated.

Twilight had propped whatever writing utensils and paper she could find outside of her castle on a small table. She furiously wrote on the parchment paper, her eyes never leaving it - not even checking to see how worn the tip of the quill had gone or how her current candle had almost burned out. Finally, she seemed satisfied, allowed herself a quick smile, and turned around.

"Girls," Twilight said, "I have something very important to tell all of you, so listen closely, especially you, Spike."

Spike, who was happily napping, woke up, "W-wuh? Oh, fine."

"Now this noon, I was settling down with a book looking for a short read before lunch. Spike was out for groceries at the time so he also needs to be brought up to speed. Back to-"

"Will you just get to the point?" Rainbow Dash blurted out, earning glares from Rarity and Applejack.

Twilight sighed, "So I heard this noise come out of a guestroom door, first door down the hall to the right of the balcony. At first it was difficult to locate and sounded like magic. But then I heard hoofsteps and voices coming from the same pla-"

"You haven't gotten to the point," Rainbow Dash interrupted, this time earning an additional glare from Twilight.

Twilight fought back the urge to respond and continued, "Now I don't remember much of what they said, and while they talked about flying pony heads and dimensions, I don't think that'll lead us anywhere. Shortly afterwards, they opened the door and I was in for a big surprise. I think they're humans."

"They're what?" everybody minus Fluttershy shouted.

"Humans?" Fluttershy said, "You mean those t-things that e-eat foals?"

Everyone except for Twilight gasped in shock.

"Yes, but now let me finish," Twilight said, "There was a male and a female, but the rest is mostly a blur. What I recall is one of them said something about riding me and sat on me. I asked them if they were going to eat me, and they told me they weren't, and the girl offered me her... I don't know exactly what it was, but it was attached to her arm. I don't know if they were lying or not, but I ran, so here we are now, in what I think is the one home among ours that they'll look last."

There was a moment of silence afterward, and Twilight took the time to observe her friends reactions. Most of their faces showed confusion, others worry, and some were harder to figure out.

"Twilight," Pinkie Pie said, "Do they really eat foals? They don't seem all that bad from what you said."

Twilight took a deep breath and said, "I don't want you all jumping to conclusions just yet. You also can't just tell this to anypony, because I don't want the entire town to be panicking either. I really don't know what to make of it. Humans were quite good at deception based on the stories, but I really don't know about how accurate our myths are. I don't want for any of you to be in danger or for any of you to falsely accuse them of evil intentions and attack them, you know who you are. I'm not sure about what to do yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something. For now, Spike, send the letter I've written on that table to Princess Celestia."

"Sure Twilight!" Spike replied, "But I still have a question. Do they e-eat baby dragons?"

"No Spike," Twilight said, "and thank you."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and settled down on Fluttershy's couch, alone with her thoughts. She knew by now that replaying the scene that occurred just an hour ago would do her little good, but one phrase that girl said stuck out to her. 'Strangers are just friends who haven't met' - and to her gut, it seemed honest enough. She could keep on insisting to herself that she made the right choice not making a potentially dangerous decision that she didn't know enough about, but it seemed like a genuine gesture of friendship. As the princess of friendship, the thought that she may have turned down the opportunity to make friends stung more than ever.

Pinkie Pie broke the silence, "Wait Twilight, if what you said is true, then wouldn't they probably be walking through Ponyville right now?"

Twilight snapped out of her thoughts, "Mother of Celestia, you're right. Saddle up girls, we're moving out."





"Was I too invasive when I tried to ride her?" Star asked.

"Star," Marco said, "as far as I can see, you didn't really do anything wrong. I'm sure that she was probably just scared or something."

"But still," Star said dejectedly, "that doesn't make me feel any better about it."

"Look, Star," he said, "you're probably one of the coolest girls I know. You're objectively the most friendly person I've ever met. If she didn't take your hand, then there's probably another reason to it, okay?"

"You don't really know any other girls," she thought, but instead she merely said, "Okay then."

"Good," he said. "Now I think we should head straight for Uni, giving your mom less time to find out about anything. You still have those scissors?"

"Yeah," she replied, "but we still have no idea how we got here. I couldn't have misused the scissors - even you used them correctly even though you didn't know what Pixtopia was like!"

"Did I damage them when I sat on them?" Marco asked.

"B-but dimensional scissors are tougher than that, they must be!"

Star brought the scissors up and began to thoroughly inspect them. The blades were close to flawless, with nothing but the occasional dust mote covering it. The zig-zag formed by the two handles where they met clipped together perfectly. The gem where the two blades intersected seemed fine at a glance, but closer inspection revealed a crack.

"Marco," Star whispered. "You're not going to like this."

"Wait, what, did I actually damage it?" he groaned.

"I'm not sure about that, but I think this little crack has something to do with where we are."

"Mother of God," he mumbled, "We're not going anywhere until we've taken care of that."





Noise filled every corner of the streets in Ponyville, the majority of which was the banter of the crowd which was mostly unimportant drivel. Despite Ponyville's relatively small size, its population density in some areas wasn't much lower than some of the largest Equestrian cities. The market was filled to the brim with ponies buying, haggling, and selling, and restaurants didn't see any decline in customers as of yet. If anypony was home, then chances were they were either getting ready to go out or spent much of their time in a basement. Despite all the activity, two humans with outfits of contrasting colors would have definitely stood out.

"Alright girls," Twilight said. "We've got to split up and find them before they cause too much panic. Look for a sea green dress and a red hoodie."

"Hey, Twilight, what will we do when we find them?" Pinkie Pie asked while donning her spy gear.

"Oh, about that," Twilight said. "I got Spike to head back to the chemistry lab in the castle to get some of these."

"Because humans don't eat baby dragons," Spike cut in.

Ignoring him, she promptly levitated six glass vials out of her saddlebags and passed them out. Each contained a seemingly stable red powder that gave off a dim glow, sealed by a cork.

"I made these a while ago as an experiment, now these are the leftovers from my tests. They're vials of enchanted red phosphorus - the spell is made for them to react violently upon contact with air and launch skyward since it's naturally more stable than that. You are only to uncork them if you actually spot them. If you see any in the sky - and trust me, you'll be able to recognize them, then get there as soon as possible and make sure they can't escape. After that we'll sort out what's happening. If we can't, then just keep them there until Celestia comes. Only point them straight up, check for any obstructions like, pegasi, architecture or parts of yourself. Also, don't eat them, just don't."

"Flutters and I will take the skies, right?" Rainbow Dash said, clutching Fluttershy uncomfortably close.

"W-why not?" Fluttershy managed to choke out.

Twilight spread her wings, and said, "I'll go with you as well. We can cover ground quicker. Applejack and Rarity, you two can go split up and search the two most crowded places in town, the market and around the town hall. Pinkie Pie, you be yourself - that's probably the only way you'll work something out. Spike, on my back. Now, let's go!"





"So, what's the plan?" Star asked.

Marco sighed. "We don't really know anything about what we can do, but you're not going to fix it with your magic now."

"Why not?" Star asked, raising her eyebrows.

"If I'm going to be honest with you Star," Marco began, "your magic is pretty unreliable."

"Oh," she noted. "Well, I'm not really sure if I really want to leave this place yet anyways. All the ponies are so cute."

Ponyville's market was a bustling little section of the town, filled to the brim with the scent of produce and the sound of ponies haggling. The midday sun may have been steadily baking on the town but the low humidity and light breeze counteracted it perfectly.

"I guess there'll be plenty of ponies to ask questions there," Marco stated as they neared the place.

Passing through, they drew the stares of many and the remainder always gave them a second glance. Most ponies cleared out of their path in fear of the unknown, which resulted in some very uncomfortable situations, considering the already high density of the area. Some ponies that were buying immediately finished their purchase and attempted to leave the area.

"Hi!" Star called out to random ponies. Every time she said it, some cringed and lurked back a bit farther. On the contrary, a few ponies seemed to lean in a bit closer. Regardless, every one of them had one thing in common - confusion.

Marco scanned the area, observing the faces of the ponies, and saw that most likely none of them were willing to to talk. The two continued passing through the marketplace, spreading unease wherever they went.





As a regular seller of her produce, Applejack was rather familiar with the Ponyville market. Right away she could tell that the normal hustle and bustle of the area was much weaker than usual. Somewhere in the distance, ponies were awkwardly shuffling around, whispering to each other with their hooves over their mouths. Furthermore, several ponies were running from the general direction of the unease, which further aroused her suspicions.

"They have to be here," Applejack thought, "But I can't really see them yet."

She trotted forward at a steady pace, maneuvering through the crowd and lightly pushing her way through it. Her eyes constantly flicked around, scanning the crowd of heads for anything unusual. Eventually, her eyes found a hint of blonde hair and a devil horns hair band. Could that be it? Not slowing down for anything, she made her way closer, seeing more and more of the scene unfolding. It was like the humans magnetically repulsed the crowd as they moved through. Finally, as she came nearby, she caught a good glimpse of her objective - a sea green dress and a red hoodie. The humans themselves looked like nothing she'd ever seen, but now wasn't the time for thinking about that.

She methodically reached into her left saddlebag, and produced her vial for signalling the others. She tore the cork free with her teeth and held the vial skyward. The enchanted red phosphorus violently shook the vial and launched itself out, leaving behind a bright trail of red smoke as it soared up. Additionally, it let out a shrill, high pitched sound that turned many, many heads, of which included the Elements of Harmony. As it ascended higher and higher, it exploded without warning, the spell's enchantments making sure that the remaining dust did no more than vaporize. Twilight's chemistry had worked like a charm - the vial didn't spontaneously explode in her hooves and that would have been visible from every corner of Ponyville.

Star and Marco picked up on the occurrence, both of them staring at the sky and wondering what it meant for them. Even in other dimensions, sentient beings usually didn't launch pyrotechnic devices into the sky during midday, and they sure didn't do it in the middle of an uneasy crowd. Everypony seemed to freeze to a halt, leaving an eerie silence.

"What was that?" Star asked. "It sure didn't look like a firework to me."

"I think the bigger question is why it was launched," Marco stated.

First, the sound of wings flapping became more and more audible as two pegasi appeared over the two long sides of the market. The sun shone intimidatingly from behind the cyan colored one, obscuring her face, while the yellow one was facing the sunlight. After that, an orange pony wearing a cowboy hat pushed her way through the crowd, preventing them from escaping through the southern exit of the market. Furthermore, the lavender alicorn who Star and Marco saw before teleported to block the northern exit - with a baby dragon on her back. Shortly after, a white unicorn teleported next to her. Finally, a pink pony decked out with spy gear peered out of the nearest alleyway.

"Stay right where you are! We will not hesitate to use violence!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Too much, Rainbow Dash," Twilight thought and then said, "I'm not going to assume you're here for peace or for evil, but we have a few questions to ask."