//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five - The New Normal 
// Story: Mixed Crusaders 
// by LegacyMine 
//------------------------------//

"Loyalty has no limits."
Attributed to General Storm Front, Element of Loyalty, before his destruction of the Crystal Empire. 

Twilight Sparkle was in shock. When she had created the half portal to the other dimension, she had expected it to solve her problem and bring the Crusaders home. But from what this Dark Star said, that wouldn't be possible for while. 

Clearing her throat, Twilight asked in her most Princess-like voice "And when exactly when will you be able to return the fillies to me?" 

Dark Star locked his strange, rainbow colored eyes onto hers. "About two weeks. That's when our resident expert on dimensional travel returns from his foreign trip. After he gets back he should be able to deal with this." 

"Isn't there anything else that can get them back sooner?" 

"No." Dark Star folded back his ears slightly before continuing. "I'm honestly sorry about all of this but it really is the best I can do. Look, just keep the colts safe and I'll do the same for your people. There's no reason we can't be civilized about all this. And just in case something goes wrong on my side, I want you to rebuild your portal if at all possible. While it won't it won't open a path to my dimension on its own, it will make doing so considerably easier."

"Now for the last thing I'm going to do before I go." Dark Star glared at the Desperadoes. "As much as you three deserve to be punished for causing this, I should probably give you some information on your new home for the next few weeks. Just so you won't hurt yourselves too badly." 

Apple Thorn started to wave his fore-hoof in the air to get Dark Stars attention. "Hold up a second there. How do you know anything about this dimension at all? I've heard rumors the U.I.D. does inter-dimensional surveys occasionally, but you don't work for them."

Giving a small nod of acknowledgement, the arch-magi began to levitate papers  with his magic. "That's true, but I don't need to. I called Secret Police headquarters, and had them fax me any information they had on this dimension when I found out where you were. Granted, I'm going to have to explain to Poison Pie why I wanted this information when he gets back, but I'll just have to deal with that when the time comes. However," Dark Star flicked his tail in nervousness, "The initial report was done by a Federate survey team, not a U.I.D. one. Adding to the fact that they were rushed for time, it may be a little incomplete." 

"I'm not really sure how comfortable I am to hear that foreign soldiers have been running around Equestria." said Twilight. 

"Oh don't worry about it. They didn't eat anyone important." Although Twilight looked anything but reassured. 

Dark Star said "Twilight should probably be able to tell you more than me, but since the alternate versions of the Elements of Victory all live in this town, I'll just stick to telling you who they are." 

Burying his nose in his notes, Dark Star began to speak. "Let's see . . . the first one on my list is Rainbow Dash. She's in charge of the local weather and aspires to be some sort of athlete. She is also Ponyville's version of General Storm Front."

Stealthaloo spoke up. "Can you give us anything else?" 

"Yes. She's arrogant, annoying, and never shuts up." 

"Is your "Storm Front" any different?" asked Twilight. 

"Well," began Stealthaloo, "He's certainly arrogant and annoying, but he doesn't talk much. He likes to make his words count." 

"Moving on." interrupted Dark Star. "Next we have the alternate version of General Bloodfury, Fluttershy. From what I can tell she's a complete pushover who takes care of animals. Also not a vampire like Bloodfury so you're not likely to get eaten if you piss her off." 

Mourning Bell grinned faintly. "Glad we won't be walking on eggshells like we do when we're around Bloodfury. Because I once saw that psychopath suck a deserter to a husk in three seconds. It was horrifying."

"You don't have to tell me, I work with the guy." Dark Star shuddered and stuck his tongue out slightly before regaining his composure. 

"Then there's the alternate version of me who is . . . Princess Twilight Sparkle. Since she's standing right next to you I suppose introductions are pointless."

"What about my brother's clone? Do her next." Pouted Apple Thorn. 

"First, she's not a clone. Second, Applejack's other self is named, uh, Applejack. I'd give you details, but the description just says "Apples" in bold font. I suppose you'll have to find out for yourself."

Apple Thorn let out a sigh. "Well that doesn't bode well." 

"After that, there's Rarity, the mirror self of Scarcity. A clothing designer and socialite, she seems obsessed with etiquette and appearances. So basically she's everything Scarcity hates." 

"Let's just hope for the sake of my health that she's not as vindictive as my brother." Commented Mourning Bell. "There's a reason why the Federates nicknamed him "Vendetta." 

"And last but least we have the other version of Poison Pie, Pinkie Pie. A baker who appears to be obsessed with parties, she was neither born soulless, or transformed into an alicorn like Poison was, though she does have an incredible strength in earth pony strange magic, so I would advise you to expect the unexpected." Dark Star put down his notes and asked, "That's all for now. So, any questions?"

Twilight, who had been in shock since she heard the word "Vampire" simply stared with her mouth open. Which apparently pleased the arch-magi greatly. 

"Excellent." he smirked. "Oh and by the way, since you will be taking care of these colts, I should probably let you know, if anything unfortunate happens to them while they are staying with you, their families will probably kill the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And also you. So try to take good care of them." With that, Dark Star gave a wave of his horns, and the portal disappeared in a flash, leaving a stunned Twilight and three unconcerned colts. 

Hearing a light scraping noise, Twilight numbly turned around to see Steathaloo picking at his mouth full of saw-like teeth with his front claws. "So," he asked innocently, "Do you want to get something to eat?"