There simply was no practical way to get us all to Luna in the dream at the same time. The more we crammed into a dream, the less organized it all became, and one person could disrupt it all and wake us all up. No, Cindy and I had a better idea, one we'd done once before, if on accident.
We gathered everyone closely. Karen was to my left, with Neon on Cindy's right. Sandra and Crystal were between us, with Sandra and I facing one another. I extended the field of magic around us, and soon felt Cindy's magic gently caressing my own, joining mine in that sphere. Our efforts had little trouble synchronizing anymore, even if we were developing our own viewpoints.
It was curious. She was becoming her own person more and more, but we grew closer and closer. There were some jokes she liked that I didn't find funny, some songs she favored more than I, and the other way around, but when it came to magic, energy... Our... I want to say it was our souls. Working with magic, we fell into an effortless sync and every bit of contact we had brought a soothing pleasure. I never tired of holding hands with her. I never wanted to be alone from her, even when I was angry with her over something.
Our worst spat had us facing away from each other, fuming furiously. But our tails twined gently, and after a few minutes, we couldn't hold onto that anger. We forgave each other, hugged, kissed... and went a bit further than that. I suppose I should note our lovemaking has become... interesting. With each other alone, I felt safe and loved and my every need was anticipated, even as I found hers easily, but it wasn't quite... right. It was like really good masturbation. I mean really good. I didn't want to stop doing it, but it wasn't wholly fulfilling by itself. We would prefer to have our chosen lovers there with us. Once we had a third, or fourth, involved, everything was perfect.
I was getting distracted. I reached my hands over Sandra, and Cindy clasped them and smiled at me. I kissed her, an act that never failed to send gentle tingles of delight along my spine. "Is everyone ready?" No one objected, so Cindy and I cast our thoughts out, and pushed off the world itself.
We were in the void, with the infinite in all directions. I could see the colors, and other things that made up what could be considered Cindy's family, though they had no sense of such things. I focused my thoughts, and felt Cindy's thoughts fall back into that wonderful sync. We could envision Luna's garden, and we were sent flying through the void. The bubble around us held our family securely. They were blind and paralyzed in the moment of travel, unaware of the wonders that sped past us.
I touched down on the soft grass quietly, and heard the sounds of the others landing from that half an inch of clearance there was between where they had arrived and Equestria below.
Neon peeked around curiously. "Is this really it? Not a dream this time, right?"
Karen smiled brightly. "This is no dream." He moved through us and nuzzled Neon. "This is the home of the ponies." Neon grunted at him, but didn't flee.
Sandra's thick tail swatted the ground. "So, it worked? What do we do now?" She looked up at the sky. "Wow..." The night sky was wonderfully decorated, but also clearly alien. That was not our sky, and we soon were beholding it fully.
The night sky was suddenly obscured as a pony appeared there. "Stop! Creature of beyond our plane, you are not welcome here!" It was Luna. She saw who she was shouting at and faltered. "W-what?" She landed swiftly. "Why are you here?"
I turned to her, leaving one hand in Cindy's grasp while reaching with the other, but Luna did not accept the ear scratches I offered her. "We came to visit you, and talk, as a family."
Luna shook her head with some befuddlement. "You brought your entire family? Please, forgive me. I know you mentioned you visited an Equestria, but I thought not you would succeed in reaching mine own, and in such a large number. Pray tell you do not mean to invade?"
Cindy raised a brow. "Have we acted that badly before?"
Sandra huffed softly. "Luna, we've done nothing but try to fix things."
Luna nodded slowly. "This is true, on both accounts, but I would be lax by far to not at least ask it and hear your answers. I trust you also understand why I must insist you stay within my sight while you are here?"
Neon bristled. "Luna, you're gorgeous, but you're also being a total bitch."
Luna frowned down at Neon. "You are in no state to lecture me, one who was once princess."
Karen suddenly stepped over Neon and grasped her from above. The two became larger as he squeezed her tightly. "She is still a princess, Luna. Just not the sort you are used to." Neon began to glow brightly with power and panted with obvious pleasure. Whatever Karen was doing, it was working her up something awful.
Sandra flicked an ear towards Karen, curious and confused. "Are you my half, or hers?"
Karen moved himself into position, just as excited as Neon was becoming, and looked eager to mount her on the spot. "Neon is my true love, even if she loathes my shell. I would gladly make her a princess again."
Luna's horn glowed and she suddenly threw the two apart, slamming them into opposing bushes as she advanced between them. "Enough! You are all... guests, conditionally. You are not to touch any pony here. I would prefer you not even touch each other."
Cindy pulled a hand away from me, creating the void in me that I only noticed just after parting from her. "If that's what you prefer, but we are a couple, wed in deep ways. Why?"
Luna looked towards Cindy, then me. "You are all unknowns. For all that any of us can guess, your contact could... destroy everything, or invite the void into Equestria, which is something I would sorely wish to avoid. You are ponies, to a point, but you are not. None of you are natural ponies, and it shows clearly. The mere sight of you would be sufficient to terrify the common citizen."
Sandra moved to help Karen out of his bush to the ground. "Will and Cindy are the most stable of us. You should trust them."
Crystal took Sandra's actions as a cue and helped Neon slip out and to her feet. Neon nodded at Crystal before glaring at Luna. "You're not being very hospitable. Funny how quickly things change when it's your world on the line instead of just ours, from a distance."
Luna tensed before growling and stomping a hoof. "You are correct, as galling as your words may be. I know one most equipped to make a study of this situation and assist you. May I have permission to teleport you all presently?"
I nodded at her. "Yes, and thank you for asking, so long as it's not to somewhere dangerous, or a jail cell."
Luna shone with her night magic and we were gone. Her magic didn't push through the void as ours did. Whatever other space she brushed against felt very different, and I could barely perceive a snatch of it before we arrived. She strode away from us up to a purple tower and nodded at the guards before it. "Summon Princess Sparkle immediately."
Moments later a purple princess emerged with another unicorn, a bat pony, and a bipedal lizard. The princess was heavily pregnant, while the bat had a small bundle on her side that looked like it belong to an infant. On seeing us, the princess' wings went wide. "What are they?!"
Luna cocked a brow at Twilight. "Don't be rude, young Twilight Sparkle. These are guests. They require your assistance and expertise."
The bat approached carefully, looking us over. "They have superficial similarities to Tirek, but clearly are not of his tribe." Her gaze moved to Karen, Neon, and Crystal, then focused on Crystal. "A crystal pony. She's the most n..." She stopped and tilted her head. "Miss, this may seem rude, but could you raise your left leg?"
Crystal blushed, but complied, making her masculine parts more visible. The bat nodded. "Is that the spell?"
The unicorn shook her head. "That looks permanent to me, but similar. A lot of them is similar but different."
Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "There's so much I want to know and see, um. I'm Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you all. This is Night Watch, and Fast Change." She pointed to the bat, then the unicorn. "What are your names?"
I moved to block their sight of Crystal's groin. "That's enough ogling my herdmate's crotch. I'm Will. This is Cindy, Crystal, Neon, Karen, and Sandra. We are all herdmates. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're the one that originally brought down the pony plague on our world."
Twilight recoiled back as if slapped. "Oh, I... It was an accident, I assure you!"
Sandra frowned at her. "That's hardly the response that does much good. You basically destroyed our society. We're still piecing together what's left."
Night leaned towards Twilight. "I don't have all the pieces."
Twilight nodded at Night, then turned to Luna. "I accept this responsibility. It was my fault. I'll see they're well treated and get them everything they need to fix this, one way or the other."
Luna nodded in reply. "Excellent, but also keep Equestria safe from their alien magic while they are here. I would prefer it they remained within your castle until they returned home, but they are not prisoners, so long as they cause no harm."
She vanished in a flash of magic the moment Twilight gave a sign of understanding, leaving us alone with Twilight and her friends.
Fast Change sauntered up to me. "Just so you know, we're also mates in a herd. Our stallion's away on a vital mission, which leaves me to fill in the role."
I couldn't help but glance down at the mare's back end. She took that as invitation to flip up her tail and show a heavy sheath and balls. "I'm quite prepared for that, as you can see." I was certain she didn't have that when she first approached me.
Neon tilted her head at Fast Change, then looked to Karen. "Why couldn't you do more like that? A nice mare body with extra bits wouldn't be quite as bad."
Karen nudged Neon with a hoof. "I am a stallion. I'm not changing myself."
Cindy put a hoof between them, cutting off the argument. "We should retire inside. Please, lead the way, Princess."
We followed Twilight into the castle, hoping to answer some of our questions, perhaps even some we didn't even know we had when we first decided to visit Equestria.