002 - Enter, Part 2
"They did go this way, right?"
Rarity fixed her friend of many years with an 'are you serious?' look.
"Sorry," Twilight recanted. "It's just... I don't know where they went and... Yes I know I should trust you more."
Rarity shrugged, carefully stepping over a dampened area of the ground. "No need to apologize Twilight, I understand you're anxious. They'll be fine. They probably already found some ancient temple or something and are finding us a powerful magical artifact as we speak."
"Knowing them they probably found something at least," Twilight admitted. "Though it can't be that easy to find a magical artifact..."
Rarity raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"Who am I kidding, if we were home I could find several dozen of them without much effort at all. If we get home we won't be hurting for a power source to use this spell. Celestia could probably just cast it. The problem here is that we don't know the lay of the land." At this, she tripped over a lone tree root and fell right into the soil below, sending bugs scurrying. "Eeeeech..." she muttered.
Rarity huffed. "We're going to get extremely filthy out here... We should have just waited for them."
"I left a note. We should be fine. I'll sense if anypony finds it and then we can just teleport back. I do know that clearing."
Rarity nodded, making sure to twist her head to avoid a possible mane-tussling branch. "To be honest I'd just rather not tromp through a jungle where there are dozens of shifty roots waiting to trip me. Not to mention whatever's been making those noises."
"I have enough magic to protect us and Fluttershy's with the others, so there's nothing we should worry about from any sort of predators." And yet I'm finding myself regretting letting them go... I'm afraid there's something I didn't think about. I was too fixated on the problem... Maybe I still am.
Rarity put a hoof on Twilight. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. You did figure out what was going on and have a few ideas for solutions. We're no longer completely lost here."
"Yeah... You're right," Twilight nodded, swatting away a mosquito. "Just need to find it... Or them... Or both."
"Preferably both," Rarity said. She looked up at the sky. "Huh. There's a second moon up there."
Twilight stopped in her tracks and stared into the sky. A stupid grin covered her face. She tried to say something but all that came out was vaguely wordlike noises. Her inner thoughts weren't much more coherent - stuck on MOON MOON MOON and many questions about what the second moon meant tangled her mind into an indecipherable ball of inquisition. Were there two Lunas in this world? Did it orbit under gravity like Earth's moon? If that was the case, how did the gravity work? Why was it blue of all colors?
"Twilight, you've stopped moving."
"Oh!" Twilight blushed. "Yes, sorry. But, two moons! Or more we can't see right now! It's like something from a book!" She squealed. "When we get home I think we'll be coming back here a lot just to learn more..."
Rarity smirked. "I don't believe I'll be joining you unless there's something here besides jungle."
Twilight pointed at the blue moon with her wing.
"Dear, we can't go to the moon."
"Well, yes, but it could be studied."
"Twilight, you're the scientist."
Twilight nodded in mild disappointment. "I wonder if Sunset'll be interested..."
"Probably," Rarity admitted. "As well as the other you."
"Ah, yeah, Sparky will be really interested in this..."
"...Sparky?" Rarity said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, I don't call her Twilight, too confusing," Twilight laughed. "She calls me Twinkie though, so there's that."
Rarity chuckled, putting a hoof over her mouth. "I can't believe I've never heard about this before."
"It's a thing we agreed to more recently. It's really annoying calling with 'Twilight! No, other Twilight!' all the time. I don't know how Pinkie manages. I think the two of them switch places sometimes."
Rarity pondered Twilight's thought on Pinkie. "While that would explain many things it raises just as many if not more questions," she chuckled to herself. "Why-"
Rarity tripped over a loose root as she laughed, shifting from cries of amusement to cries of dread (and then disgust) rather quickly. Her face hit the soil, agitating more than a few resting bugs.
Twilight's snickering devolved into open laughter as Rarity squealed and jumped up, waving her hooves around in a haphazard panic, flinging the bugs in her mane everywhere.
"Heh - never change, Rarity. Never change."
~~~
Applejack decided quickly that she hated being led by a rope. It was uncomfortable, undignified, and unbearable. She knew that was probably the point but that didn't stop her from growling, stomping her hooves in annoyance, and spitting none-too-kind insults at the demons whenever she could. She almost wished they could understand her.
Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had looked at her with inscrutable expressions when she'd called them demons aloud - but as far as Applejack was concerned that's what these things were. Red, ugly, deadly, and violent - already the red one had punched the pink one a number of times. Notably few of those instances had resulted in the pink one's 'laughter' - which was a strange twittering noise that gave Applejack goosebumps.
The two demons also weren't stupid. Despite having their backs to the three of them most of the time, they still managed to keep a close eye, looking back whenever Applejack was thinking about making a go for one of them. The red one just seemed to know what she was thinking. For all she knew he could, which wasn't a pleasant thought. The pink one wasn't as logically minded - staring more at Rainbow Dash's wings and at the earth pony he was riding that was Rainbow Dash but without wings. Even though he had no facial expressions Applejack could tell he was very confused. A silver lining in this mess, she supposed.
Regardless, to her, they were demons until they did anything that gave her another idea.
Applejack turned to look at her two friends. Rainbow Dash's wings were tied up, so there was little the pegasus could do. Applejack knew Pinkie could get out whenever she wanted but had chosen to stay tied up with a grimace on her face instead. Applejack got the impression that Pinkie was more aware of the danger than the rest of them; she wasn't afraid of the demons though. She was afraid of Applejack trying something. She wouldn't come out and admit it, but Applejack knew. She had a knack for these sorts of things.
So Applejack refrained from taking action, despite all the times she wanted to. She knew Rainbow Dash would have definitely tried something by now had her wings been free. She supposed they all were lucky the feathery limbs were pinned.
Applejack growled again. "Ah don't like this Pinkie.... Ah really think we should..."
"Shoooosh Applejack," Pinkie said. "We don't want to anger these people."
"Demons."
Pinkie shook her head. "People, Applejack. They talk, laugh, play, yell, and throw big festivals that involve giant red rubber balls! ...You know, probably. Who can say really about festivals?"
Rainbow Dash grunted. "They can still be people and evil. Ponies aren't always nice either, as we all know."
Pinkie sighed. "We should still give them a chance."
"They've tied us up, Pinkie," Applejack said. "Ah'm running a little low on chances to give here."
Pinkie shrugged. "Just keep doin' what they ask. We don't want to get one of their spears pointed at us again. That wouldn't be very fun!" She smirked. "Though I could make it fun if they let me, just need to sew streamers and a party blower onto it... Probably some cotton candy for decoration..."
Applejack tuned Pinkie's musings out, moving on to study the demons once again. Much of their armor was natural carapace, including their 'face'. Some of the arms and shoulders had complex engravings in them that might have been symbols with meaning or just complex patterns they carved into their limbs for fun. These symbols were also on their breastplates, which were artificial, made of some dull leather that was painted the color of the wearer.
The pink one caught her staring. She looked away - those four-eyed heads were just disturbing on so many levels it wasn't even close to funny, no matter what Pinkie said.
They rode in silence until they could see their destination.
It was a flower the size of a small town. It needed to be that size since a town was built on top of the red 'daisy' that had a few hundred more petals than a proper daisy had any right to have. Applejack had to admit the tremendous flora was glamorous, even if its design bugged her for some reason she couldn't discern. The buildings built onto the flower were very primitive - all made of wood and leaves, most little more than tents. There were a few dozen demons in the village, ranging in color from a pale pink to an almost black red. Some of them had large, brilliant wings - probably the females, though this was just Applejack's guess. She was going off her knowledge of ants, which admittedly was spotty at best, though much better than the two ponies she was with. Only a few of the female bug-demons used the wings, presumably because they were really heavy creatures so it would take a lot of energy to stay in the air.
There were no trees on the flower so the entire town was in the brilliant sun, shade only provided by carefully erected leaf umbrellas, of which there were a dozen or so mixed among the various tents. There were also about twenty 'tamed' ponies in town, a few of which were being ridden around. A couple others of which were being kept in pens like pigs.
Like pigs.
Applejack almost blew it when she saw herself - hatless and with the pronounced forehead - in one such pen, eating out of a trough. It was only Pinkie's steadying hoof that kept her pacified. "Things are... different here, Applejack!"
Applejack made no response beyond a single, long breath.
They were led into the center of town, on top of the fuzzy pollen-filled center. They drew quite the crowd, so much that the red demon had to keep moving the others away and shout something at them, but that only had a minimal effect on the citizens. They couldn't stop staring at Rainbow Dash’s wings - especially the children, whose shells looked considerably softer than the adults'.
"What are you looking at?" Rainbow Dash spat.
The demon crowd backed away at the words, scared of something that could speak.
"Don't worry!" Pinkie called in the friendliest tone she could manage. "We're just talking ponies! Not dangerous! Well not unless you catch Rainbow Dash on a bad day but that's beside the point!"
The words were meaningless to the demons and probably wouldn't have helped even if they were understood. The red demon yelled something out that calmed the crowd. He then yanked on the rope, dragging them the rest of the way to the center of town. Sitting in this prominent position was a tall circular hut crafted from expertly weaved dry grass, by far the largest 'building' in town at the size of a large living room. The red and pink demons disembarked, tying their mounts to a nearby post and entering the hut, dragging Applejack and her friends with them.
The interior was well lit by a big crystal hanging from the ceiling. There was a bed, a chest, and a few sets of armor lying around. Sitting in the throne towards the back was the largest demon Applejack had seen yet - a bright crimson male with a tall staff in his hands. The wooden object was covered in markings similar to the ones found on his carapace, the weaving designs leading to the largest piece of jade Applejack had ever seen. The green gem reflected red light from its surface, producing an interesting color effect.
The red and pink demons fell to one knee and put two of their hands behind their head. They extended their other two and spoke one word - a word that sounded vaguely like 'Siron' through the clicks.
So this was their leader.
Siron.
He was one ugly customer, in both the literal and figurative sense.
The red demon spoke first - and for a somewhat long time - no doubt explaining what they had found and how these three 'pony prisoners' had acted. Siron just nodded occasionally and held his chin with a hand, giving the appearance of deep thought. Otherwise, his flat face made it impossible to read him.
The pink demon said little, and even then only when prompted to by the red one. The responses were short and simple - Applejack was fairly sure that "tach" and "mil" were "yes" and "no" thanks to him, but she had no idea which was which.
Eventually, Siron himself spoke. His 'voice' was significantly deeper than the two demons standing before him. He gestured towards the ponies - inviting them to do something. The pink demon tensed.
Applejack knew what he wanted - he wanted them to speak. She shut her mouth. Heck no, she wasn't doing anything these demons wanted.
"Hello, Mister Siron! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie extended a hoof. "I see we've gotten off on the wrong hoof, but I hope to change that!"
Siron was silent for a moment – then he made the sound Applejack had identified earlier as laughter. He stood up from his throne, a left hand gripping his staff tightly, a right one raised high into the air. A crimson aura surrounded the fingers, wafting around the digits like a soft flare. Applejack felt the rope around her tighten.
He's got magic. He's going to kill us with it.
In an instant, the ropes disintegrated, freeing the ponies. "Yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouted, stretching her wings. "Siron rocks!"
Siron's legs buckled under him - it looked painful, but it was probably natural for his kind. He stuck a finger out to Pinkie's outstretched hoof and tapped it in greeting.
Pinkie grinned - and proceeded to show Siron how to properly hoofbump, curling his fingers into a fist and nudging it with her hoof. She giggled and Siron nodded.
He stood tall once again, dwarfing all present. He pointed at the ponies and spread his arms wide; making waving motions with the three limbs that weren't holding the staff.
The meaning was clear. They were free to go. The red demon seemed irked by this, but something Siron said shut him up really fast. Siron pointed at the ponies again and made a shrugging motion, and did the reverse of his previous gesture, bringing his arms in. Then he laid his palms flat and made a circular motion.
Applejack frowned. "...What?"
Rainbow Dash smirked. "I think he just said we are welcome to stay if we want."
Pinkie blinked. "Oh. I thought he was offering us pie, but that does make more sense." She grinned, turning to Applejack.
Applejack sighed, laughing softly, almost out of breath. "All right, maybe they aren't demons."
"Can we stay?" Pinkie pleaded.
"Fine... We can stay for now. Twilight'll be in for a surprise when she finds us, eh?"
Rainbow Dash laughed. "Can't wait for that!"
~~~
Twilight found herself displeased with what she was looking at once again.
What kind of creature made a track this big? Something predatory, given the claw-like impressions of the toes and the distance between the tracks. She was no advanced tracker but she could make some simple deductions from what she saw. The thing had two legs, a tail, and was hunting.
The image that came to her mind first was that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex - but of course, that was silly, right?
...Dinosaurs might still walk the planet in other worlds...
She gulped. There were a lot of smaller tracks around the big ones, from which she could deduce little besides what kind of creature made them - pony. She could see several of them shooting off in one direction, more or less directly north. She couldn't make heads or tails of any other direction - not even which way the predator went.
"Well?" Rarity asked, nervous. Her face was still dirty from the fall a short while ago but she had managed to fully recover her eyelashes and reform her mane to a 'suitable' level of grace.
Twilight took a breath. "Well, they were here and a big predatory thing attacked them. At least some of them ran that direction. The creature... I have no idea where the creature went, but I don't see any big tracks where they fled, so that's good."
Rarity frowned. "Unless it can fly."
Twilight bit her lip. "...I think I'd be able to know if it took off flying here. The canopy's still intact..."
"Why wouldn't it chase them then?"
"Fluttershy's Stare?"
"Then why'd they even need to run?"
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know, Rarity. All I can tell you is what I see with my rather dubious tracking skills. Which is not much."
"It's okay. Just... Follow them then?"
Twilight nodded. "Hopefully we can find Applejack and she can put together this mess of trails. Or just tell us what happened... Splitting up was a really bad idea."
"That remains to be seen," Rarity reminded her. "We don't know what happened."
Twilight forced herself to accept the comforting remark. "Right. Right. Let's not keep them waiting. Who knows, we could meet them on their way back!"
~~~
The 'demon' village adjusted to the three unusual ponies rather quickly. Siron made a short announcement - barely two minutes - and things moved along at a quick pace. The children still couldn't take their eyes off the unusual ponies and although they weren't hiding in fear anymore, they wouldn't come close to the ponies either. The adults kept shooting the mares surprised glances but nodded in their direction as though they were people, not animals. It was a much less hostile environment than it had been just a few minutes before.
Rainbow Dash liked the attention to the surprise of absolutely no one. She waved, grinned, and did numerous aerial tricks for the populace just to see their reactions. Granted, their faces were basically impossible to read, but there was always body language to go off of and Rainbow Dash decided that was good enough. She was the center of attention, and she loved it. This was likely because none of the animal ponies had wings or horns - not even the version of Twilight she had seen trotting around. Nothing but regular, cutie-markless earth ponies in the care of 'demons.'
Darn Applejack, naming them 'demons.' Now Rainbow Dash couldn't think of anything else to call them. It was still somewhat insulting to them, no matter how apt of a description the name was. The 'demons' were a rather violent people - fighting broke out every few minutes and at least two of those incidents hadn't been friendly sparring. Nobody had gotten seriously injured, but from what Rainbow Dash had seen she wouldn't put duels to the death past these people. The thought was both cool and terrifying, like that T-Rex from earlier.
Oh - Fluttershy! Where was she!?
The moment of panic subsided quickly - she probably tamed that big dinosaur easily. The three of them probably didn't even need to run into the hands of the demons. But had Rainbow Dash thought of that? No, not until now. She'd been in panic mode, which had quickly shifted into the annoyed angry mode, and then to showoff mode. She hadn't really gotten a chance to think till now.
"Hey, we should probably go out - check for Fluttershy. We've been here a while."
"We'll head out soon," Applejack said. "Ah think a group of them are preparin' to go huntin', if Ah'm readin' Pink correctly. We could leave with them, have some protection."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Where?"
Applejack looked at Pink - the same pink-carapace demon that had helped capture them and had been with them ever since. (The other one, Red, had noticeably avoided the ponies at every turn.) Pink paused, trying to figure out what Applejack wanted. He eventually just shrugged and pointed to a basket of apple-like fruit.
Applejack facehooved and shook her head. "No..."
"Tach," Pinkie said before pointing to a group of demons - two men and one woman - suiting up with weapons, breastplates, and their pony mounts. Rainbow Dash tried not to look at the ponies too closely, especially the one that looked like her. She instead focused on the weapons. Most of them were spears, though she caught sight of a couple swords. One demon had a set of razor-sharp yo-yos she swung around with her four arms, mesmerizing Rainbow Dash with their cyclic motions.
"Yep.." Rainbow Dash smiled. "That's them, that's the hunt. Totally going on that."
Applejack raised her eyebrows. "We aren't exactly hunters, Rainbow."
"Oh, Psh, I'm sure we can show them some fun things, right Pink?"
Pink looked at her and shrugged in bafflement.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Pink and in the process noticed an almost-white demon coming up to her; a female with four blue, shimmering eyes. She had more designs etched into her carapace than most of the others, all variations of a diamond pattern not seen on any other demons. Even the usually untouched 'face' was covered in them, the etchings twisting all the way down to her toes.
Rainbow Dash waved at her and did an aerial frontflip, smirking.
The white woman - who Rainbow Dash was already calling White - raised her hand, creating a soft pink-white glow around her digits. Magic. Rainbow Dash had slowly become convinced that of all the demons, only Siron had magic, but before her was proof that the assumption was false. White's wings began to glow impressively with her magic energy, the power lifting her into the air as effortlessly as Rainbow Dash's wings lifted herself. She performed her own frontflip.
Rainbow Dash smirked. "Hey Pinkie! I think I've just been challenged!"
"Go easy on her at first, Dashie!"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Okay fine." She stretched her hooves and wings - then launched into the air, stalled, and entered a controlled fall. She angled herself perfectly at the ground and pulled up at the last possible second, the tip of her tail touching the top of one giant petal. She arched upward into a loopdeloop and stopped in front of White, smirking.
White looked around the area, calculating. Then she launched herself into the air, fell, did a loopdeloop mid-fall, and then pulled up at the last second.
Some demons started rubbing their fingers together to produce a cricket-like noise. The equivalent of applause, presumably.
Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Nice one! Time to show them what I've really got!" She considered doing one of her more advanced tricks - a tornado, for instance - but that was probably a little too extreme for this. She decided to keep it subdued, but still something beyond her opponent. She launched into the air; flying in a pattern she'd flown before at hundreds of Wonderbolt stunt shows. She hit a critical speed, and a trail of rainbow magic appeared behind her. The manifestation of color drew gasps from the mass below.
"Go Dashie!" Pinkie cheered, waving a flag.
Rainbow Dash did exactly that - she performed a rapid corkscrew back into the ground, landing with a sharp turn, wings splayed, a rainbow visible between them. She smirked at White. "Beat that."
She did.
Rainbow Dash gawked as White raised both of her hands, summoning dual magic spheres to her sides. She flew into the air, face skyward, as the orbs circled her. Two magic trails were left behind in a double-helix pattern, leading the eye up to the impressive glowing point that was White herself. She floated up there for a while, shining like a star atop a double helix. Then she exploded in a shower of sparks, falling down as if dead. Rainbow Dash was concerned for a second but White righted herself, landing on her feet.
"Heh," Rainbow Dash chuckled. "I'm going to have to bring out the big guns, aren't I?"
"No time," Applejack said. "The hunting party's heading out. Pink's getting adamant about it."
This was an understatement, Pink was hopping up and down, waving all four of his arms. Rainbow Dash nodded. "Looks like we have to put this on hold White, but we will continue."
White nodded as if she understood. Maybe she did. Maybe she thought Rainbow Dash was conceding. Rainbow Dash didn't know, she simply left to check out the hunting party. Pink came with them.
Pinkie made a "hrm..." noise.
"What?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I'm going to call these three... Rose, Crimson, and Fuchsia. The winged one's Fuchsia, if that isn't obvious."
"Good enough for me," Rainbow Dash said, looking at the demons that comprised the hunting party. Rainbow Dash did think that maybe Rose was more of a light pink, but they already had a demon named Pink. It'd be so nice if they could just figure out their names. "...I've always wanted to be on a hunt..."
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Well, yeah! It's exciting! Hunting down a target and taking it out - the mark of the predator's life!"
"You'd like being a dragon, huh?" Pinkie asked.
"Griffon too. Gilda'd talk about the hunt sometimes, even though she did eventually admit she sucked at it."
Applejack blinked. "She admitted to that?"
"We were young idiots who hadn't quite gotten the nuance of 'awesome' yet."
"Ah'm just surprised you know the word 'nuance'."
Pinkie snorted at this remark.
As the group of four demons and seven ponies (counting the mounts) set out, Pink eventually urged the three yammering ponies to quiet down. Soon, all of them were carefully prowling through the jungle. Fuchsia was at the front, her wings twitching with the soft breeze. She had the posture of someone listening closely to every last detail she could. The posture of a predator.
After what seemed like hours of walking, she held up a hand. She pointed with the other arm on the same side through a nearby bush. Rainbow Dash didn't see anything at first, but her great eyes eventually made out the target. There was a large green reptile standing perfectly still behind the bush. The behemoth was vaguely reminiscent of a triceratops, except the 'crown' was dome-shaped and there were five horns.
She realized she could hear it breathing.
Fuchsia waved three hands to point at Pink, Rose, and Crimson, directing them to certain locations around the triceratops-thing, giving it a wide berth. They expertly flanked it, weapons ready. Pink and Rose had spears, Crimson had two swords, and Fuchsia held the yo-yo things, eyes narrow in focus.
Applejack took in a deep breath and turned away. Apparently, she'd decided she couldn't actually be a part of this. Her loss, Rainbow Dash thought, turning to Pinkie. The earth pony was smiling, but that smile wasn't as big as usual. Rainbow Dash knew she wasn't thrilled about this either - heck, Rainbow Dash herself was a little nervous - but Pinkie was going through with it. Probably to get on the good side of these people more than anything else.
Rainbow Dash just wanted to prove to herself she could be a part of this. She took in a breath to calm herself...
Fuchsia yelled the command to move before Rainbow Dash was done breathing out. Fuchsia slung the beast’s back legs with one of her yo-yos, preventing it from running away. It was surprising that such a flimsy looking string held in the struggles. Rose and Pink threw their spears into the reptile's thick, flabby side, prompting a substantial roar of pain. Rainbow Dash saw the red blood seep out, a sight that both chilled and excited her. The duality was strong with her emotions today.
Crimson moved next, leaping onto the raging reptile's back, kicking it and driving his swords in with impressive force. He was trying to knock it over, but no matter how much Fuchsia pulled with her yo-yo to help the beast wouldn't topple. It tried to flee again, but the line held fast.
Pinkie Pie decided to act - appearing on top of the triceratops-thing's crown with a wooden mallet in her hooves. She walloped it alongside the head, dazing it. Rose and Pink seized the opportunity, ramming themselves into the beast's side while it was disoriented. This made the fat reptile fall to the side, legs flailing. Crimson leaped into the air again, landing right in front of the beast's face. He drove a sword right between its eyes. It twitched and let out one final roar before falling still, dead.
Pinkie whooped nervously. "G-got 'im! Heh... Heh..." Her entire body shook and her breathing sped up. "Okay... Calm... Calm... Down Pinkie, everything's fine..."
Fuchsia put a hand on Pinkie, drawing the jarred pony's gaze. She nodded in approval - and Rainbow Dash knew the demon was trying to comfort Pinkie. The earth pony grinned, pulling the creature into a big hug. Fuchsia was obviously baffled by this action, but she didn't remove Pinkie from her.
Pinkie eventually removed herself. "It's done Applejack, you can look!"
"How... Nasty is it?"
"Less blood than I was expecting," Rainbow Dash observed. "You always think it'll go gushing... It doesn't, really." She laughed nervously. "Haven't you had dead animals at your farm Applejack?"
"Yeah..." Applejack said, turning slowly. "Ah'm not a fan of it when it happens though. There's a reason we ship the pigs off to get slaughtered."
Pinkie gasped. "You slaughter the pigs? I thought you used them for truffle hunting!"
"Why in Equestria would we need that many pigs for truffle hunting? No, it's just that Equestria's griffon and dragon population need to eat too, you know."
"Oh riiiight! Duh!" Pinkie tapped her head.
And then Pinkie's tail started twitching the same time her left pupil dilated. "Pinkie sense acting up!" She shouted.
The demons went on edge. They were able to recognize the intensity in her voice.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow - Pinkie sense. Yet another thing about Pinkie you just couldn't question. Twilight had tried once and ended up in the hospital multiple times for it. It was just a 'feeling' you had to trust. "What's it mean this time?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I dunno, it's a new one. Feels bad though."
And then a ‘T-rex’ burst out of the nearby trees, roaring.
How in Equestria didn't we hear this thing walk up!? Rainbow Dash glanced at the once-noisy triceratops-thing. Oh.
Rainbow Dash briefly considered running, but she had enough of her wits about her to realize the demons weren't. Fuchsia had launched herself into the air with some effort, wrapping the predator's jaw in her yo-yo, forcing the maw shut. Rose and Pink retrieved their spears from the felled beast's flesh and threw them at the larger monster's knees. Crimson drove a sword into the Rex's flanks, opening an impressive gash as long as Crimson was tall. And yet, the apex predator remained standing, albeit displeased with the pain it was experiencing.
Pinkie appeared on top of the Rex's head - this time with a golf club - and hit it in the earhole. The muffled roar it unleashed somehow sounded more unnerving than a natural one.
Rainbow Dash took a breath. Okay... She flew towards the beast's nose and bucked it at high speed. Her back hooves hurt - but the Rex's skull hurt more. "Take that!"
Applejack even got in on the action this time - it was no longer a hunt, it was a battle to survive. Her impressive earth pony strength took the Rex's legs out from under it, toppling it to the ground.
Crimson moved to deal the killing blow between the eyes, but that was the moment the yo-yo wire finally snapped. Crimson stopped just short of leaping into the dinosaur's gaping maw. The Rex roared, standing back up despite constant whaling from Rose, Pink, and Applejack. Its head was level with the flying form of Fuchsia. It was angry, biting at her with intents to devour her in a single bite. There wasn't much she could do to avoid it with her tired wings, seeing as falling wouldn't help. The beast missed the first bite. He would not miss the second.
Then another ‘T-Rex’ showed up and chomped down on the other predator's neck, killing it in a near instant. The fight stopped instantly when everyone saw who was riding the savior dinosaur.
"Hello!" Fluttershy called, waving from atop her mount. "Meet Rexy! He's a good boy. Uh... Do you all mind if he eats? He's kinda hungry still... It's a little gruesome to watch, more so than predators from home."
Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement. "Yeah... Everything's more brutal..." She let out a breath of relief. They were alive and awesome.
Pinkie smiled. "He can have some, but the demo- er, the red people need to take some of it back to their tribe."
"Oh, that's no problem, he can share." She then told Rexy what to do and floated down from atop him. "So, are you going to introduce me to your new friends or..."
Crimson pointed at Fluttershy and cocked his head. Fuchsia shrugged.
Rainbow Dash laughed. "Yeah, I guess we can do that. Fluttershy, this is Pink. He... Well, he took us prisoner..."
~~~
Twilight and Rarity found the gigantic flower with almost no difficulty at all despite having lost the trail several minutes ago. Their jaws dropped at the sight of the flower-based village. Unlike the others, they'd had nothing to prepare them for the unusual sight - the flower, the bug-people, the domestic ponies, the pony that looked just like Twilight - all these things were dumped on Twilight and Rarity all at once. Twilight stared at her other self for some time from her vantage point at the flower’s edge.
Twilight shivered. "This isn't Equestria, all right..."
"My... Do you think those ponies down there are anything like us?"
"Eating out of a trough? Being kept in pens? I doubt it."
"...We do that with cows, dear."
Twilight blinked. "...That suddenly seems horribly degrading."
"It might be," Rarity admitted. "The others are probably in there somewhere."
"The chances are very high. Let's hope they aren't captured." Or being cooked. "I'm going to introduce myself, you should stay back."
"Twilight, I'm not letting you go near those things alone. No discussion."
Twilight took in a breath. "Okay then..." She trotted onto the flower, heading right for the center of town, Rarity close behind. At first, the bug-people paid no attention to them. Then one pointed out Twilight's wings in curiosity. A vermillion female looked up and stared right at Twilight with that unreadable expression all of them shared. Then her posture started to tremble slightly and she pointed at Twilight's horn and yelled an alien word.
Twilight cast a translation spell the instant she heard that without thinking - acting on the instinct of a mage. Since there were dozens upon dozens of different races on Equestria and thousands of different dialects, it was one of those spells that had been perfected in the deep past and one that would be taught to any higher-level mage, even if the need for such a spell had declined. It was by no means a simple or easy spell, but she had been trained to use it whenever she ran into any language not touched by it. She was so fixated on the spell that she didn't notice the red people scamper away from her in fear.
Rarity had to tell her. "Twilight, they're scared."
"Why?" Twilight asked. "They are obviously natural predators and have domesticated..." she paused. "...What are presumably Neandroponies. I suppose they haven't seen wings before..."
"No, perhaps not. But they were scared of your magic."
Twilight frowned, wondering why again. She turned her head to the version of herself - no horn. "I suppose unicorns don't exist..."
"Agreed. Perhaps you could keep magic to a minimum then?"
"Well, I already cast the translate spell, but okay. Speaking of that, they need to talk more so the translation can work itself out. It doesn't read their minds. So... hey!" She called, moving towards a velvet individual standing by a cart pensively. "I'm Twilight Sparkle!"
The man let out a series of panicked clicks - one of which the spell managed to translate as 'away' in an uncharacteristically high-pitched voice.
Twilight smirked. "Oh! Keep talking! We need to be able to communicate! 'Away', see? It works both ways!"
The velvet man apparently heard the clicking noise that meant 'away' come from her mouth. It made him scream in fear, running for a nearby tent. More than a few followed his example.
Twilight shook her head. "This doesn't make any sense! These people are obviously brutal and violent, given the social structures I've observed from afar. Why are they so terrified of me?"
Then a white female walked right up to them. She met Rarity's eyes first. The two had a moment of inexplicable connection, but the white bug broke off the stare quickly. She turned to Twilight and started to speak rapidly. Only a few words got through - 'speech' and 'learn' and 'me' and 'you'.
"She knows what I'm doing!" Twilight said. "Thank you miss... White!"
White kept talking and making gestures. "Fear." "Magic." "Danger." "Secret." "Then." "Others."
"Others? Have you seen my friends?"
"What." "Hear."
Twilight created a magic image of Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy's cutie marks. "These?"
"Gone."
"GONE!?" Twilight shouted - instantly going from zero to panic. "What do you mean gone!? Tell me-"
A bolt of red magic hit her in the side, sending her skidding across the dirt. Rarity gasped. "Twilight!"
Twilight opened her eyes, barely giving herself enough time to dodge the next attack by taking off into the air. She saw her attacker - by far the largest of the bug-people. One of his right hands was enveloped in red magic while the other held an impressive staff. Even though he had no expression Twilight could see murder in his eyes.
"Siron! Stop!" White yelled.
This was answered with untranslated clicks mixed with "that is danger."
"I mean no harm!" Twilight shouted. Siron turned to her instantly and Twilight knew that Siron only heard "harm." He pointed the staff at her, channeling his magic through it. A claw of green and red swirled death shot out. Twilight raised a magic shield, blocking it - but she could feel it tearing away at her magic in an unnatural way. Sadly, since she was able to block the magic at all she knew the staff wasn't powerful enough to open a portal. She'd hoped it would be. She fired her own bolt of magic at Siron in retaliation.
He took it face first, a mark appearing between his four eyes. It hurt, but he evidentially wasn't the type to care about a little pain. He raised his hand, enveloping Twilight in his telekinesis. He twirled the staff, firing a dozen bolts of green-red at her.
Twilight levitated herself out of the grip, flying in an arc behind Siron. She pulled her horn back and unleashed a powerful explosion of purple energy, sending Siron forward - but he didn't topple over. He kept his ground and pointed two hands at Rarity - enveloping her in telekinesis. She screamed. "Twilight!"
Siron put the jade of the staff to Rarity's neck and gave Twilight a deadly look. He wanted her to stand down, or Rarity was going to get it.
Twilight gulped. She couldn't think of anything fast enough to get Rarity out safely. Siron had discovered her weakness...
And then Twilight remembered her teleportation spell.
Rarity vanished in a puff of purple energy and appeared right next to Twilight. Twilight smirked at Siron.
Siron was not deterred. He raised his staff into the air, collecting energy into a swirling mass. Twilight did the same with her horn, ready to see exactly how much power Siron could muster.
"Everybody STOP!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying between the two of them, hooves outstretched. "WE! ARE! NOT! ENEMIES! NOT!"
Siron lowered the staff. Twilight let her spell fizzle out. "Rainbow... You're okay. I… I was worried for a second there."
"Naw, don't be. We made friends here, Twilight, even though we couldn't understand a word they said."
"You can now," Siron spoke, standing tall, but visibly more relaxed. A few more untranslated clicks followed this.
"Woah..." Rainbow Dash said. "That's cool."
"Translation spell," Twilight smiled. "...Sorry for getting worked up, Siron."
White narrowed her eyes at Siron, making mad clicks. "Siron." "Worked up."
Siron glanced at White. "Veila." "Protect you." "Alicorn."
"Your name is Veila?" Rainbow Dash asked White. She nodded tentatively.
"You have a word for alicorn?" Twilight wondered aloud.
Siron frowned, trying to parse together what she was saying. "Hand." "Blue." "Danger."
A fuchsia female walked up to Siron and gave a little speech about "Hunt." "Beast." "Chomper." "Pink one." and "New yellow one."
Twilight raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. "...What did you do?"
Rainbow Dash smirked. "We hunted dinosaurs Twilight!"
Twilight had nothing to say to this.
~~~
Rainbow Dash really liked being able to talk to the demons. It had only taken a few more minutes of conversation to get most of the kinks worked out and it was much better than communicating with gestures consisting mostly of varying degrees of shrug. Siron agreed with this statement. It turned out that Siron was really his name and not just a title. Red - or, rather, Anix - as just grumpy about it regardless and hardly talked at all. Veila found the idea of communication simply fascinating, and Fuchsia...
...Well, "Fef" was not the person Rainbow Dash had expected. She was not an awesome, cool, strong warrior type. She was a warrior - as were all the demons - but she was also rather hyper and excited about, well, everything. Her retellings of what happened on the hunt made Siron chuckle more than a few times.
Rainbow Dash was really glad laughter translated as well, the alien noise had been a little disconcerting.
Fef was still going on, even as Rainbow Dash thought. "And then the yellow one just rode in on her CHOMPING BEAST and DOWNED the enemy! It was just so... So..."
"Awesome?" Rainbow Dash suggested.
"Yes! AWESOME!" Fef twirled her remaining yo-yo in triumph. "That's exactly what it was! Thank you, Rainbow!"
"Don't mention it."
Siron chuckled again. "Well, this is... Interesting. Where is this tame chomper you speak of?"
"Riiiight behind the treeline with the half-eaten Horner and dead chomper. Mlinx didn't want to scare the town with the hulking beast. Probably a good idea, seeing as you were already dueling an ALICORN."
“I'm right here you know," Twilight said.
"Wait, Mlinx? Who's that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"The bro you probably just call 'Pink'," Fef giggled. "Naming us by colors... What a SILLY idea!"
Siron held up a hand, silencing further conversation. "Before we continue this we should go deal with this tame chomper. I'll believe it when I see it."
"Won't take long," Rainbow Dash chuckled.
Siron, Fef, and Anix set out with Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash close behind. Rainbow Dash took a moment to wave at Veila as they left. She waved back.
"Hey, why isn't she coming?" Rarity asked Siron.
"She and I are the only P'e'thika in the tribe," Siron saw the look on Rarity's face and knew instantly the word wasn't translated. "We can use magic. There must always be one in the tribe. She is the only heir for now, so she must be protected. It is the main reason why I took swift action against Twilight."
"Ah, I see."
It took less than a minute to reach the edge of the flower and enter the treeline. Pinkie Pie was waiting for them. "Come one, come all, see the giant Rexy! Admission free, but don't call him Roxy, or else he'll make your hearts break with adorable ferocity!"
Fef broke out into laughter. "You sound EXACTLY like how I imagined you!"
"Oh cool! The translation spell's ON! Woo! Now we can have real parties!"
"Calm yourselves," Siron said. "I must see this... Rexy."
"Right this way Siron!" Pinkie trilled, trotting deeper into the jungle.
Rexy was, in fact, right that way. He stood just under the canopy, sniffing the air like some kind of ferret. Fluttershy was scratching his nose. "Who's a good boy? You're a good boy!"
Siron nodded. Despite his cool demeanor, he was at a loss for words. "...Ah."
Rarity saw the half-eaten 'Horner' and gagged. She put a hoof over her eyes and turned away. Twilight didn't gag, but she gave the carcass an untrusting look.
Rainbow Dash laughed. "It's just food for the tribe, Twi!"
"Not just food!" Fef said. "SCALES for ARMOR too! And those horns can make some off-the-wall weapons!" She squeed.
Mlinx (Rainbow Dash still thought of him as Pink internally) looked up. "...Wait, we can understand them... How?"
"Spell," Twilight offered. "It translates between languages.”
Mlinx looked at Twilight for the first time and jumped skittishly into the air, letting out a swear that had no translation.
"At ease, Mlinx," Siron said. "It is not the Mistress."
"Horns on a chomper, now there's more. And look!" Mlinx pointed at Rarity. "Just a horn? Wow! That's terrifying. Must be more powerful..."
Anix let out a huff. "Coward."
Fef punched Anix. "Hey, cool it with that! Mlinx held himself ADMIRABLY on the HUNT!!!"
"You are not a good judge of that."
Siron let out a sigh. "Settle this like warriors or shut up. I'd prefer the latter at the moment seeing as we have other things to attend to."
Twilight looked at the chief of all the demons. "Indeed we do. Among the first things I'd like to know is who this 'Mistress' is and why she makes you terrified of me."
"Come to my hut then. We will no doubt have much to discuss."
~~~
"So... Hi! I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. I'm an alicorn pony. What do you call yourself?"
Siron pondered this with two hands on his hips, one on his chin, and another on his staff. He was still having difficulty processing the fact that he was talking to a pony - an alicorn at that. It - she - wasn't walking around in that aloof, mindless way regular ponies did, nor was she being a savage monster. "I am just Siron. We don't have all those complex names here."
"...What do you call yourselves? As a people."
Siron cocked his head. "Not sure what you mean by that."
"Well, I'm a pony, Rexy is a 'chomper', some of my friends are dragons, certain animals are dogs, and you are...?"
Siron laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"We're just 'the people'. I can see now that not giving ourselves a name was perhaps a little hasty, but we had no need for one. Until now, I suppose."
"I... Guess there are a lot of different peoples where I come from. It's just assumed that everyone has a name..." She looked like she was pondering something.
"What were you calling us earlier - demons? What does that mean?"
Twilight folded her ears back and blushed. Siron marveled once again at the expressiveness of that face. The ponies wore their expressions for all to see - it was so fascinating to watch. It must be much easier for leaders to prove their worth in the land they came from.
"Siron... It's not a very... flattering word."
Siron liked the idea already. "What's it mean then?"
"Demons are a... Special kind of monster, often associated with violence, evil, and corruption. Most that exist where we come from are sealed away in a horrendous place called Tartarus."
Siron weaved two of his hands together. "I like this. We are, in fact, warriors that terrify all the creatures of the jungle. Even chompers run away in fear sometimes. I accept this label."
"You should really reconsider, it has evil connotations..."
"We are the red demons," Siron stated matter of factly. He could tell this annoyed Twilight, the expressions were just too obvious. Not only were the eyes easier to see than those of his people - there was also adjustable ears, flaring nostrils, twistable mouth, and shifting skin! There was no way these ponies could keep secrets, he was certain of it.
Siron leaned back in his throne. "Now that that's out of the way, tell me your story, Twilight Sparkle."
She did - she described her home in a reverent, almost poetic manner. He didn't understand a lot of what came from her mouth, but he didn't let her know that. He gleaned that there were many different tribal villages - or 'cities' as she called them - filled mostly with ponies. There were other unusual races with names like griffons, dragons, and changelings. Magic was apparently common over there, which Siron felt cheapened the gift. Most interesting was the notable cosmology of only one moon - the evil gray one. He felt sorry for the plight that must have come from that.
Then she spoke of the man of light and the enchantress. Siron had no idea about the man in light, though he did deduce that a unicorn was a pony with just a horn, like Rarity. Twilight spoke of the sphere, something she obviously knew little about.
"May I see it?" Siron asked.
"Sure. Just don't touch it. We... Really don't know what activates it." She brought it out, levitating it towards his face. He took over holding it with his own magic, narrowing his eyes. She was right - there was a spell in there. He'd never heard of enchantments before, though the idea of them explained much about the world he lived in now that he thought about it. She was also right that there was almost no power within the ball.
She nodded. "Yeah, I know, it's baffling. I think I have the right spell, but I don't have enough magic within me to activate it. And no, neither you nor your staff do either. I scanned it."
Siron knew this but nodded to confirm anyway. He also knew what she was going to ask next - it was written on her face.
"Do you... Know of any magic powerful enough?"
"The blue moon."
Twilight sighed. "Yeah, can't really get to the moon..."
"There is an altar roughly an hour's ride from here that summons the spirit of the blue moon to those it deems worthy. It no doubt has one of those 'enchantments' you spoke of. The spirit has more power than I can even imagine."
"That'd do it. Probably," Twilight said. "...There's a catch isn't there?"
Siron wasn't sure if she picked up on his body language or just deduced that on her own. Either way, it made him respect her more. She may not have held herself like a warrior, but he was becoming more and more convinced she had just been brought up wrong. "Yes. The Spirit of the gray moon prowls those lands. An alicorn. A dark, evil beast that has used its dark horn to kill many of our kind - demons - for glee. No warrior has managed to even wound her. Many have tried. She kills random demons while we are out hunting, but she always kills at the altar."
"So our way home - if we are worthy - is guarded by a dark alicorn moon spirit?"
"Yes."
"I can see why you were terrified of me. You thought I might have been her."
"The thought crossed my mind. But you just look too weak for that."
"Gee, thanks."
"Wasn't a compliment."
"That was a thing called sarcasm."
Siron blinked, silent. For a moment he became angry - but then he burst into laughter. "Of course it would go both ways..."
"Huh?"
"Not important," Siron said, waving a hand dismissively.
"Okay." Twilight frowned, entering deep calculated thought. Siron found this interesting.
"...You are a leader yourself," he said.
"Er... yes! One of the four Princesses of Equestria! Well, five, but my niece is a little young to be ruling. We're all alicorns. And no, none of us are 'warriors' like you, at least not devoutly so. Ponies are a peacekeeping race, though you probably already figured that out. Your culture is closer to that of the dragons, though more cooperative."
"If I get the opportunity I shall challenge a dragon to a duel."
Twilight smirked. "Better hope you pick one of the smaller ones, they can grow to the size of mountains."
Siron thought that sounded fun.
"Regardless... Thank you for your hospitality Siron, but we should probably try to get home as soon as we can. Maybe we can talk to this evil moon Spirit - or won't run into her at all."
"Wishful thinking."
"I know. But we won't have to beat her, I just need the power. I can get us out of there quickly."
Siron nodded. "Normally fleeing is unacceptable, but exceptions are made for the Mistress. I wish you luck on your quest." He stood up, clasping his hands over his chest and clapping the other two together. "May our arms cross again."
"...I have no arms."
Siron took a moment to realize how silly the saying was in this situation and laughed again. "No... No, you don't."
Twilight smiled warmly. "I get the idea though, don't worry." She turned to the door of the hut and opened it, stepping into the afternoon sun.
The five ponies and assorted demons looked up from their conversation to her and Siron.
Twilight looked at her friends and quickly explained the situation with the altar and the Moon Spirit.
"You... You're going to face the Mistress!?" Mlinx blurted. "You're all crazy!"
"Yep!" Pinkie said, hefting a fuzzy golf club. "There has to be some challenge, after all!"
"Count me in!" Fef said, twirling her yo-yos, having replaced the broken one already. "I've ALWAYS wanted to see the Mistress!"
Siron held up a hand. "You need not feel obligated, Fef."
"I'm not Siron! I just wanna LOOK and SEE!"
"Fool," Anix muttered.
Applejack glared at him. "She's courageous."
"Courage that gets you dead is foolish."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "We've faced off against dark monsters before, we'll be fine."
"Plus I can bring Rexy along!" Fluttershy said. "Scare the scary Mistress away!"
Rarity blinked. "My, that's a rather good idea."
"We should go soon - Spike is probably getting worried," Twilight said.
"Yeah..." Pinkie nodded slowly. "Come on Fef! Let's go!"
"Oh my YEEES!" she squealed. "Let the biggest hunt EVER commence!"
"I..." Mlinx looked at Pinkie, then at Rainbow Dash. "I'll come as well."
Anix wordlessly turned form Mlinx and walked away, making a careful gesture behind his back.
Siron shook his head. "You know what that means, Mlinx."
"Yes... Yes I do, Siron. We will make it right." He bowed.
Fluttershy blinked, glancing from the receding form of Anix to Mlinx. "Uh... What just happened?"
Mlinx held up a hand. "I can tell you about it after this hunt."
Fef's energy increased at the sound of someone else using the word 'hunt'. "Can we GO already!? HUNT! HUNT! HUNT!"
Twilight chuckled. "Yes Fef, we can go now." She paused. "Uh... Which way?"
Siron pointed with all four hands and the staff.
"Got it," Twilight said, oblivious to the mocking nature of the gesture. Ah, it was good to be a demon.
Siron wished them luck and returned to his hut. He laughed again - heartily and long.
That had gone exactly as planned.
They were going to take care of his alicorn problem for him. Some of them would probably die, but so what? The altar would be free...
~~~
Fef laughed suddenly. "We are now officially in a part of the jungle I've never SEEN!" She eagerly looked around with peeled eyes. "And as expected it looks a lot like the rest of the jungle. Bluh."
Pinkie grinned. "Well I think it looks pretty cool! Look at this giant blue flower!" She gestured at a large snapdragon-like plant.
Twilight examined it and thought it looked more purple than blue, but the color wasn't all that important at the moment. If she came back and documented the flora of this world it would be, but that thought was running in the background. Her focus was on the magic - she could feel it now, a powerful enchantment calling to her with a sweet song only she could hear. Rarity couldn't hear it - Twilight had asked a few minutes ago. The graceful unicorn just wasn't as attuned to magic.
Twilight had been pretty confident the altar would provide enough magic power before but now she was certain of it. She even thought she could steal the needed magic from just the excess emanations on the chance the blue moon Spirit didn't find them worthy, though that would take time. Twilight found herself wondering what 'worthy' meant on this world - battle-hardened? Strong? Or was it dependant on being pure of heart? ...Whatever that meant. She supposed she was about to find out.
Until that happened...
She turned to Mlinx, who was walking alongside Rexy. He had taken a liking to the huge dinosaur and had been talking with Fluttershy about the possibility of taming other dinosaurs, and she'd been glad to give him tips. He appeared to be actively listening, unlike Fef, who had the attention span of a mayfly.
"Mlinx!" Twilight called.
"Yes?" he said, riding over.
"Why was Anix so upset with you back there?"
"He thinks we're going to our deaths. I don't think that, but he did. He was just trying to look out for us."
"Odd way of showing it..."
"Really? That's pretty standard around here. Though, Fef and I aren't exactly normal. Well, okay, Fef is more normal than me, she's one of our best warriors. I'm well known as the soft shell who gets ideas."
"Are ideas bad?"
"No, just uncertain or dangerous. Mainly to myself. Anix keeps me under his arm to keep me out of trouble. Or... He did."
Twilight frowned. "He rejected you, didn't he?"
"Yes. There will have to be a public confrontation when I return." He laughed bitterly. "I'm going to be trounced."
"Is he really that good?"
"Best warrior in the tribe, besides Siron."
"I take offense to that!" Fef interrupted, slinging her yo-yo expertly past his head, close enough to put him on edge.
Mlinx shivered. "No one is questioning your... Erm... Skill with those things."
Fef laughed. "Oh of course not! Derp, I just have to give you a hard time, you know. Ohmygosh I've never seen this kind of bug before- Oh. Never mind. It was just the lighting." She then did a cartwheel for no reason. Pinkie followed suit, giggling with her.
"Those two are really hitting it off..." Mlinx noted.
"Indeed," Rarity agreed. "It's rare Pinkie finds somepony - er, someone - who can keep up with her antics.
"Fef's never had someone. She's always been the odd bug. At least there are other soft shells in the tribe..."
Twilight was annoyed by his continual self-deprecating use of the phrase ‘soft shell’. However, his tone wasn't all that negative, so she couldn't be sure if it really was a degrading term or just a cultural thing. She didn't ask - although she was thinking about it.
All thoughts and clatter stopped instantly when they entered the clearing. Where there had been dense flora before now there was nothing but bare dirt in a circular formation, dried under the gaze of the sun. There was only one thing in the clearing - a single, round, white pedestal. Twilight was instantly struck with a feeling of déjà vu. She didn't know it, but this was only to be one of many such feelings she would get in her life. She would never fully understand then, but they would become constant companions, thoughts defined by the sense of things having happened before.
Twilight looked around - no sign of the Mistress. Good. She cautiously approached the altar, the rest of her party following behind.
They heard a horrid screeching behind them - the sound of something dark, angry, and dead inside. Fef and Mlinx whipped around, readying weapons.
The dark one appeared behind the two of them with a teleport, taking her position in the center of the group. She was an alicorn twice the height of Twilight, mane and tail the color of Void swirling with an unsettling magic aura. Her wings were angular and predatory while her eyes were that of a serpent. Dark gray armor akin to bones lined her midsection, and her horn curved upwards slightly into a threatening point.
Twilight's eyes widened - this was more than déjà vu, this mare looked familiar.
It was the form of one of her first enemies, the evil she had faced with her friends when they first met. Nightmare Moon. Slightly altered from the image in Twilight's memory, but unmistakably her.
The Nightmare went after Fef and Mlinx first, giving them no chance to turn around. Her hooves came down on them, smashing them painfully into the dirt.
Rexy stopped the Nightmare from killing them then and there with a swipe of his enormous tail. Even a being such as the Nightmare was powerless against the sheer girth of the reptile. Pinkie moved in next with her party cannon, bringing it out of nowhere and blasting confetti festively into the dark mare. Rarity fired off some simple magic bolts from her horn; Twilight smiled, glad to see the spell she had taught Rarity put to good use. Rainbow Dash flew around the Nightmare rapidly, enveloping her in a tornado of wind.
The Nightmare'd had enough of this. She banished the tornado with a simple flap of her wings, tossing Rainbow Dash to the side. Rexy tried to eat the Nightmare but he found himself lifted by pitch-black telekinesis and thrown to the treeline. Pinkie dodged the attack that came after her, appearing on the Nightmare's back with a golf club in her hooves. "Fore!" she shouted.
She never got to the punchline of her joke - the Nightmare grabbed her in a magic chokehold before the club made contact with her skull. The Nightmare tried to snap the pony's neck, expression shifting to fury when Pinkie's neck simply bent like a limp noodle instead of snapping. Pinkie's pained smile distracted the Nightmare enough for Applejack to get a buck in across the dark mare's jaw, releasing Pinkie.
"Thanks, Applejack... Gah..."
"Thank me later!"
"Oh look at that, a cheesy line! Ha- oh right."
The Nightmare pulled her head back, black energies coalescing around her horn, giving it an unusual metallic sheen. Twilight recognized the spell - a big laser, directed right at Pinkie.
"Cover me!" Twilight told Rarity as she leaped right into the path of the laser, pulling her own head back to charge a retaliation spell. She had to release it early to counter the Nightmare's, so her purple beam was considerably smaller than the black onslaught, but it held for a moment.
A moment was all that was needed. Fef - who had been pretending to be seriously injured - flung a yo-yo from her position, wrapping around the Nightmare's legs. The blades wouldn't cut into the dark one's flesh, but Fef didn't need that. She just pulled and the Nightmare fell over, her spell stopping in an instant.
Rexy returned to the fight, Fluttershy on his head. She nodded to him. He raised a foot and stomped down on the Nightmare, kicking up an impressive cloud of dust.
Mlinx laughed, getting up on one knee. "Crushed by a chomper... What a way t-"
"Not done," Twilight, Pinkie, and Fef said at the same time.
"Crud," Mlinx said. The Nightmare teleported in front of him, growling. He thrust his spear forward and it snapped in two.
Then the Nightmare spoke.
"Fool."
Twilight remembered to teleport Mlinx out of the way before the Nightmare could lob off his head. "You can talk?" Twilight asked the Nightmare.
She didn't respond. Instead, she released an explosion of black energy that toppled everyone over except Fef. Fef gulped. "Nice moon mare..."
The Nightmare rammed Fef through the chest, her black horn driving all the way through the carapace, dripping blue blood out the back.
Fef cried out a little - both in pain and... amusement? "GOTHCA!” With her other yo-yo she tied herself to the Nightmare and wrestled the alicorn to the ground, attempting to snap the dark mare's neck. The neck wouldn't break. The Nightmare teleported out, leaving Fef down on the ground, blue blood pooling around her.
It was then Twilight knew they would lose this fight. They needed a plan B.
"I'm going to try something!" she shouted. "Keep her away from me!"
"I'll... Try, dear!" Rarity yelled. She was shaken by the injury of Fef, but Twilight had faith she wouldn't faint until later.
Twilight bolted for the altar, trying to tune out the yells, screams, and roars of the fight. She arrived, laying her hooves on the altar, feeling its magic course through her. Yes, there was plenty to work with; she just needed to access it...
The altar lit up with a flash of light - a beam that led directly to the blue moon up above. A white figure took form before Twilight. The entity looked human, albeit with four arms. She had no face - merely a white space with a lump that might have been a nose. She wore nothing and her hair trailed behind her like wispy clouds.
Twilight was speechless. What was this?
The woman extended her four white hands and levitated the 'bowling ball' out of Twilight's pack, placing it equidistant from all her palms. She held it there for one second. Then she raised a single hand, poised upright for what seemed like an eternity.
She brought it down, cutting the sphere in two.
Twilight screamed - and was momentarily able to hear the scream of Applejack. Twilight panicked. There went their hope. The Spirit had denied them, cutting up the device, refusing the power. It wanted them to end right here...
The Spirit banished these thoughts with a single action.
She removed a green diamond out of the sphere. It glowed a soft color and shifted in and out of phase with the light around it, making it seem like it was moving.
Twilight's eyes widened as she realized what it was.
A nonmagical power source.
Suddenly the Spirit was gone and the battle rushed back into Twilight's senses. Rexy was laying on the ground, barely moving, Fluttershy frantically tending to him. Fef was trying to stand up, but her wound was too great. Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be seen. Mlinx and Applejack were lying in a pile to the side, the latter's hat over the demon's head.
Only Rarity and Pinkie were facing the Nightmare - and with a magic bolt directed right at her horn, Rarity fell as well.
"Twilight if you're going to pull a trick out of your hat now would be the time!" Pinkie yelled as she leaped over the Nightmare's rage-induced attacks, which were currently in the form of dark scythe-like magics that Pinkie avoided by a hair's breadth each time.
Briefly Twilight wondered how Pinkie was so good at this, but she quickly banished the thought. Pinkie was right; she had to act now. She grabbed the green diamond in her magic and pushed it with the spell she had crafted earlier - a spell for direct transport to Earth. The diamond reacted with ease, pumping far too much energy into the spell. Twilight saw the fabric of reality stretch around her - but no portal formed.
Twilight paled. No. No, that was our last shot.
"Twilight!" Pinkie yelled, one of the Nightmare's hooves hitting her across the jaw.
What had even been the point of going to Earth anyway? There was no magic there, this Nightmare would just lay waste to it - unless one of the leaders decided to drop one of those 'nuke' things, and that'd be just as horrible...
"Argh!" Pinkie yelled - the Nightmare had gotten smart again and trapped her in the dark telekinesis.
"You are unnatural," the Nightmare stated coldly.
"You're one to talk nasty-pants!"
If only we could go back to Equestria.
Twilight's eyes lit up. Then she turned to look at the Starburst on her flank.
The connection was still there. She knew it - even from worlds beyond, she was still attached to her destiny. She lit her horn, trying to pull at the faint connection. But she wasn't powerful enough. The connection was there, she just couldn-
"Twilight!" Pinkie wailed just before her head was slammed into the ground, flattened like a pancake, silencing her.
Twilight grabbed ahold of the green diamond with her wing and locked eyes with the Nightmare.
Twilight saw the reptilian eyes of darkness.
The Nightmare watched Twilight's eyes go pure white. She channeled the power of the diamond and found her connection to her home, her destiny.
The evil being had no time to react - and Twilight knew it. She knew exactly where she was connecting to in Equestria. There was no other location it could possibly be.
A hole tore between the worlds, swelling to the size of a large house in under a second. The edges were white with strands of magic interwoven like braids. Through the portal, a Tree could be seen. A Tree made of Crystal with a purple starburst in the center that matched Twilight's flank.
The Tree of Harmony.
Twilight and her five friends all felt their souls resonate with the magics within the Tree. The Nightmare felt it as well, lifting up a hoof, preparing to flee.
She forgot to teleport.
A rainbow of colors shot from the center of the Tree of Harmony, enveloping the dark Nightmare in the holy light of Harmony itself. The Nightmare said no words - she merely screamed as she was enveloped by the blinding colors. In a flash of brilliant white, the magics dissipated, leaving behind an alicorn almost nothing like the one that had stood there moments prior. She was shorter, her wings were more natural, her armor was gone, and the dark mane had been replaced with beautiful stars. The eyes were closed peacefully. She was asleep.
Twilight stopped casting the spell and the portal behind her closed with a comical 'pop.'
Pinkie pulled her face off the ground with a single motion. "That was-"
"So AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash yelled, trotting out from the treeline, taking a branch out of her mane. She was very bruised and battered - more so than everypony else - but she looked so alive.
"Hey! That's my line!" Fef shouted, before going into a fit of coughing.
Twilight gasped - she really saw Fef's wound, by far the worst out of all of theirs. "We need to get you-"
"I'll live," Fef said, laughing. "Not like she punctured anything VITAL."
"But... Your chest... There are all sorts of vital organs there..."
"You keep vital organs there? No wonder you ponies aren't warriors. Wow. Sad."
"She's talking petals," Mlinx muttered. "That attack narrowly missed her stomach. If it had hit that, she'd be dead. Most of us wouldn't be able to stand while oozing blood either."
"Ahaha- I'm not standing!" she laid back down on the ground. "I'm not movin' at all!"
"Is everyone else okay...?" Twilight asked, unsure about Fef.
There was a chorus of 'yes'es.
"Uh..." Fluttershy said. "Rexy broke a leg. You... Do you think you can make a portal so I can take him home to treat him?"
Twilight looked at the diamond. "I think I could move all of Canterlot with this thing. A T-Rex should be easy."
"Oh. I'll take that as a yes then. Can we go now? There's not anything else to do here..."
"Take care of me," A deep, melodious voice announced. The dark alicorn was awake. "Do what you must."
Twilight put on a pitying smile. She knew exactly what to do with this mare.
~~~
"Siron, meet Luna. Luna, meet Siron."
Siron blinked - he had not been expecting this outcome. Or at least that's what Twilight assumed; as always, the demons were hard to read. "We found a way home and used it to purge the dark magics from her. She won't hurt you anymore. In fact..."
Luna bowed. "I submit myself to you as one of your warriors. If you will have me, after all I've done."
Siron was silent for several seconds. Then he laughed, as Twilight expected.
"I'd be a fool to turn you down. Come, Luna, let's see what you've got..." He led her away. As he walked off, he took one moment to look at Twilight. "You are welcome in our village anytime."
Fef shot a fist into the air. "YES - ow."
Mlinx shook his head. "Yes, we all know you're excited, yeah, yeah, go rest already so you live to wear that scar proudly."
"Bluh..." she groaned, followed immediately by a giggle.
Twilight saw Anix watching the procession from a distance. Twilight shook her head. "Mlinx..."
"I'll deal with him when the time comes," Mlinx said. "It'll be much later. You should head home."
Twilight nodded. "Okay. But I'll be back."
"Of that, I have no doubt." He walked away with Fef.
Twilight turned to her four friends - minus Fluttershy, who was already back in Equestria, tending to Rexy. "Well, girls..." She glanced at the receding form of Luna. “I guess the Tree always does send us to solve Friendship Problems.”
Pinkie smiled. “You think we would have learned that by now, given what happened with the Pony of Shadows.”
Twilight chuckled. “Yeah…” She held the green diamond up for all to see. The shifting mesmerized them. "Shall we go home?"
"This is just the start, isn't it?" Rarity asked.
Pinkie laughed. "Yep! You can count on it!"
Applejack shrugged. "Ah suppose Ah'll be up for some more explorin' later... If we have a better plan next time."
Twilight nodded. "We will."
She tore a hole in reality to home. It was then - and only then - when their cutie marks glowed, signifying a job well done.
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"Want" should be "went".
Man, I love where this story is going so far. Keep at it!
Hahaha, I love the Red Demons. And since they, (sort of) know how to work the bowling ball/green diamond we can assume more world jumping is to come.
And is it my imagination, or was White/Veila this dimension's version of Rarity?
8586148
You are the first one to pick up on the Rarity connection. Congratulations! You won some internet points!
-GM, master of bacon.
I guess I don’t understand, but is this already crossing over with something? Or what?
8734277
Not yet, the bug jungle universe is completely original.
If it's based in anything, it's the occasional fan-headcannon that ancient Equis was overrun with demons.
-GM, master of KA-BOOMS.
I'll take that as a yes then.Can we go now
1. Forgot your spacing.
First world has been completed... Now onto the next one...
Hello there.
you know, I'm only passed the two-parter of this saga, and I'll just come right out to say it, I'm ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT! Reading the very opening idea was enough to look me in this story, because the idea of multiverses always fascinated me. One action at any point can change O so much, it's crazy! Well, anyway, I tried to juggle in my head on what "one of many fandoms" this world could be, and you just put in so much creativity at the very start, it threw me in for such a loop and I love it! I don't know how many fandoms this would be including yet, but if this starter is any indication, then Twilight and company will be going around to TONS of them.
I can see plenty of the connections here already with these bug creatures. Obviously Fef's the world's version of Pinkie Pie, and noted someone already made the rarity connection. I have to say Anix may actually be either AJ or Twilight. Yes, he's a bit cold-hearted, but like both ponies he's looking out for everyone in his own way. Heck, maybe he could be the Dragon Lord Princess Ember of his world - who knows? I can take a guess we might be seeing more of them later - there's too much creative stories from here to just be left alone. Including this secondary Princess Luna.
BTW, love how you made this basically the "New version" of the very first episodes of MLP. Truly places this as the start of something big.
8995988
Evil laugh.
Glad you're enjoying right from the bat!
Also, I think you're the first one to realize this was a parallel to the opening of MLP. (Or, at least, nobody pointed it out directly before.) Awesome!
Feel free to leave as many comments as you want at any point in the story you feel like - I feed off these things like a bee on honey. Delicious feedback.
I hope you're prepared to go deep down the rabbit hole, new reader.
-GM, master of the advent.
Interesting worldbuilding so far, but I’m blanking on when Pinkie ever visited the human world.
9017691
Go to timestamp 2:08.
Admittedly this is a blooper reel and thus the skits are 'outer canon' but I run with the idea because it's fun.
-GM, master of comments.
Is the Siron here Siron from The Influence just at a much earlier time?
9348042
Alternate universes. So yes this is Siron. But they're not the same person.
-GM, master of limes.
Didn’t the Tree of Harmony not know what the sphere was? That this is considered a friendship mission means that either the tree figured it out, or it’s just acting like it did. For now I’m gonna go with the latter because it amuses me
9530040
Figured it out. Or got enough of an idea.
-GM, master of ANSWERS.
Velia: white, blue eyes, diamond-themed, likes patterns and flashy things, has magic.
Fef: pink, ultra-happy hyper, uses toys as weapons.
Mlinx: reaching a little, but has the same speech patterns and mannerisms as Applejack?
Nightmare Moon: literally Nightmare Moon.
I'm now half-expecting a plot point about the M6 and their various elements and incarnations being a universal constant, something that's the same between all worlds. Too early to tell if that's actually the case or if this is just a result of Twilight targeting a world with the teleportation spell that was similar to her own - after all, this place has wild ponies that look exactly like her and her friends. Nightmare Moon being her usual old self instead of a bug version is a little odd, though. She seems more likely to be a quirk of this strangely pony-parallel world... which I sort of feel means we aren't done here yet. Siron the Slightly Shifty just got a loyal alicorn minion/warrior, and we never saw him use that shrine he wanted. How likely something like this is to come back and bite the protagonists really depends on how evil of an author you are, which I haven't really had time to guess at yet.
Speaking of things that could go wrong, though... This world has some pretty obvious parallels to pony, especially to the S1 premier. There are enough red demons that a full M6-parallel cast could probably be found among them, with a lot of them just too far in the background to tell. Some of them knew each other, some were on better terms with their friends than others. They had an evil enemy to face and a sacred magic to help them. And Twilight and her friends... took a whole two of the bugs along, used the bugs' sacred magic source themselves, and beat the bugs' enemy for them.
Did they just steal a friendship lesson this world needed to forge its own team of heroes?
Well, the tree of harmony seemed to think they did well, but I dunno. I could see this world revisited in a future where Siron is doing evil things and gets away with it because the creatures who were supposed to stop him never forged their special bond. We saw a whole lot of this in the S5 finale, after all. But maybe I'm just being paranoid...
9802852
Won't say you are correct about most of those things, but you're definitely onto something there.
i have a name for the parallel nightmare moon:
Parallel Moon!
just think about it.
8735656
They remind me a little of violent Thranx from Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth stories.
Interesting Universe
I wonder if Twilight’s magic being purple is a hint that she’s different from canon?
10185760
I wish it was that clever.
In reality, if you search 'Twilight's magic" on google images you get both the standard magenta-pink and the lavender-aura color at different times, depending on how much effort she is spending.
I wasn't careful to differentiate between.
-GM, master of splodes.
Should be ‘heard’.
Shouldn’t this be ‘surprising’?
She says this two times. It’s redundant.
I can't believe that such a greatly written story has not more views and comments
I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard from reading something
I love the way you depicted the deamons and most of all Siron
PS: I should be sleeping since an hour allready but your story is just to fun to read
For once I'm having an Oh No reaction to how promising something appears, if only because of its length
OP really out here writing a homestuck crossover just scarcely double the length of homestuck 💯
I believe that "as" is supposed to be "was".