Pompeii

by CaptainExtremis

II: Haelan

But the Richards didn't recognize it: they had never seen anything like the city of Hekirm before. It had never appeared on Rainbow Island, and yet, everyone they met acted as if it had been there for years.

"We need to find the Queens!" Lucky Moondrop exclaimed as she stepped forward and motioned for everyone to follow. "If anyone can answer your questions, they can!" They descended the hill and made for the giant city, all smog and gray brick, and the massive citadel that sat on a hill in the middle.

"We've just gotta make sure whoever's in charge of the place doesn't find them first, right?" Blueberry Bright asked.

"That's the hope," Madison replied.

~"The Isle Beyond Imagining," page 58.

---

The train tracks cut into the mountainside carried and directed The Friendship Express to its next destination, at the great plateau near the mountain's peak. Twilight and her friends had secured seats for the next trip to Canterlot as fast as they could, and had paid for Megan, Molly, and Danny's tickets despite their insistence, as well as the fact they didn't have any bits.

Their carriage was blessedly empty, which allowed the travelers to spread out and not draw much attention to themselves, especially the three foreigners. Megan, Danny, and Molly all took one booth to themselves while Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity took their own, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash took another, and Twilight and Spike settled on a different place. Each one was arranged in a quadrant; Applejack and Rarity took to chatting away and Pinkie sometimes (see: usually) interrupted to ramble for a couple minutes. Rainbow Dash was napping, Fluttershy remained quiet as she gazed out the window, and Twilight was busy reading while Spike tried to rest.

Molly, on the other hand, was talking excitedly, her mouth practically running at a mile a minute, while Danny mirrored her excitement in his own little way, stating he was going to "go on a tear" when all was said and done; Molly was dead-set on going through every last shop in Ponyville when they got back, and then Canterlot. Only Megan remained silent as she gazed out the window, lethargically noting that they were shuttling along a cliff that looked out over the vast countryside and the tiny hamlet of Ponyville at the bottom, but it didn't last long.

"Megan? Megan? Hey, Megan." She blinked a couple times, snapped out of her thoughts, and swiveled her head around to face Molly. "You okay, Meg?" she asked.

Megan blinked a couple times and tried to reorganize her thoughts before she sighed, "I guess. I could be worse."

That was enough to get Molly's and Danny's happy grins to fade, and she quickly looked right back at Megan and asked, "I don't like that tone. What's wrong?"

She sighed again. "Nothing's wrong, I just..." She trailed off and fell back to her previous habit of looking out the window, and the outside racing by.

"...You just what?" Molly pressed.

"Something's off," Megan replied shortly. "And I mean, I get that. I wasn't expecting everything to stay the same while we were gone, that'd be stupid, but, like..." Megan trailed off again, unsure of how to put her worry into words before she settled on, "It's like destiny slipped on a banana peel while carrying all our old friends and took a nasty spill. Applejack and Spike have the same names, but they're not the Spike and Applejack I remember, as we've established. And Rainbow Dash said Surprise was part of the 'Wonderbolts'...I don't know what they are exactly, but it sounds like some sort of...aerial battalion. Does that sound like the Surprise you know?"

She glanced over at Danny, whose eyes widened and he bit his lip and shook his head. "Exactly," Megan continued. "I'm not worried, and nothing looks inherently bad, but...something weird's going on." She sighed and wiped her forehead, and then dragged her hand down the rest of her face. "The most likely explanation is that, well...I mean..."

She trailed off into incoherent mumbling which prompted Molly to ask, "Megan, are you okay? What are you talking about?"

Her question snapped Megan back to their conversation, but she only stared at Molly blankly for a minute before she replied dejectedly, "I...I have no clue. Nothing adds up."

The lull lasted for a couple minutes, during which time Molly stood up and switched her seating position to the other side of the booth. She reached out and placed a reassuring arm on Megan's shoulder. "Well...here's hoping that if Twilight can't find an answer to those questions, maybe Princess Celestia or Luna can," she said.

"What kinda questions?" someone pointed out. The three of them jumped when they saw Pinkie Pie push her way out from under one of the seat cushions with a quizzical, but giddy smile on her face. Danny was the one who recovered the fastest.

"I dunno, sis, the more of Equestria I see, the more it's like nothing's changed at all!" he laughed.

"You shut your mouth."

"Hey, speaking of Equestria, how do you like it so far? Is it fun? Is it?" Pinkie interrupted. "I know you're not from around here—I mean, c'mon, anypony can see that by looking at you—but there's way more to it than just Ponyville and Canterlot! There's a bunch of places you gotta see! Though I can kinda understand if you're not having fun, since Twilight pulled us all away to get on the train." She hung her head and it almost looked like her mane deflated (somehow), but just as quickly as she got sad, she perked right back up again. "But don't worry, once we get back to Ponyville, I'm gonna throw that Superhero-Social-Soiree-Supreme I told you about! You'll be having such a blast, it won't even be funny! Except it will, because it'll be a huge party, with cake and confetti and streamers and cake and games and really loud music and cupcakes and—"

"We're doing okay, Pinkie," Megan interrupted. "Equestria's nice."

Pinkie tilted her head quizzically and stared at them for a moment before she asked, "But you're scared and confused because all those ponies you told us about before aren't here?"

The three siblings flinched and turned to stare at each other for a moment before Molly muttered, "Damn, she's good."

Megan sorrowfully looked back at Pinkie and nodded. "...Yeah."

To their surprise, Pinkie only smiled wider and exclaimed, "Well, don't be!" Megan, Danny, and Molly's eyes all bulged a bit and they stared at each other in shock before she continued, "It sounds like you guys were really good friends, and that's great! Just because we don't know who or where they are doesn't mean they're gone as in 'gone' gone 'cause you still remember'em! And besides, worrying about'em isn't gonna make you feel better anyway. I bet they're happy wherever they are!"

Megan paused as she looked over at Danny and Molly, who were staring at Pinkie with surprise all over their faces. Before she could add her two cents, Molly said, "That's...actually a good way of looking at it, Pinkie."

She tilted her head to the other side and flashed another big, adorable smile. They remained quiet for another minute before the train jolted around a bit, and a couple seconds later one of the conductors stepped through the door at the end of the carriage and called, "Now arriving at Canterlot station...!"

"Ooh, ooh, we're finally here!" Pinkie exclaimed. True enough, the train was slowing down, and it stopped in front of a large platform as she continued to ramble, "The girls and I haven't been here in so long! I mean, we were here for Twilight's princess-crowning ceremony-thing, but we haven't been here since then! Doesn't look like anything's changed, which is good! But also boring, and that's not nearly as fun! But you know what is fun? Joe's Donuts! I mean, not in the 'whee, it's time to party,' kinda way but the 'hey, let's get our friends together and have all the donuts' kinda way! Actually, a lot of places in Canterlot are like that, except most of'em have a bunch of unicorns walking around that think anypony who's not from Canterlot can't spell their own names right..."

The three of them were already leaving their booth with Pinkie Pie in tow, and as they stepped out, the others joined them. Twilight gave them a curt nod as Spike rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and everyone else walked ahead and out of the train car and out onto the station platform. The three humans had to stop and stare up at the tall buildings and down the pastel streets to take it all in, but quickly snapped back to attention when Rarity asked, "So, Twilight," Rarity began, "may I ask why you've brought us out here?"

"Oh, well, I thought we should come up to find out where Princess Celestia and Luna were last seen. Hopefully, it'll give us enough clues to figure out where they disappeared to!" she explained.

Rarity nodded sagely and then quickly turned around and began to jog lightly down the street. "You run along then, and I'll meet you there, darlings!" she called.

"Wha—! Why?" Twilight called back.

Rarity looked back over her shoulder and replied, "Why, I simply must visit Canterlot Carousel and check in with Sassy Saddles! We still need to iron out all the wrinkles with my autumn lineup, if you'll pardon the pun!"

Twilight reached out to try and stop her, but she had already disappeared around a corner. She sighed after holding her pose for another moment and relaxed before she turned back to the others with a nervous grin. "Uh, well, guess we'd better...get...going?"

---

They walked through the busy streets for several minutes until they arrived at a wide-open plaza in front of the castle gates, and Rarity rejoined them just in time. Megan was expecting majesty, and still the profile of the castle managed to blow her out of the water, and if Molly and Danny's gaping mouths were any indication, they thought the same thing. This was nothing like the castle of Dream Valley, and its splendor couldn't hold a candle to Paradise Estate, with multiple ivory spires and fine decoration that had no right to be so detailed. While they marveled, Twilight and the other girls approached the front gates of the castle, kept under stern watch by two guards, who were currently deflecting questions for several journalists and what few citizens were mulling about, hoping to overhear something.

"Sirs, we're not asking for much," one of them with a fine mulberry coat said, "just an official statement regarding why the sun and moon haven't moved."

"We're not authorized to give one."

"So does that mean Princesses Celestia and Luna are in danger?"

"That's on a need-to-know basis," the other guard said flatly.

"So would you⁠—"

The reporter was cut off as Twilight approached from the back of the crowd and a few of the surrounding ponies took notice. "Wait, look! It's Princess Twilight!" Twilight visibly winced as a few of the reporters turned to face her and began launching questions.

"Princess Twilight, my name is Quill Jumper," one of them spoke up. "Since you're the closest contact between Princess Celestia and us normal ponies, can you offer a statement on the current situation in the sky?"

Before she could even formulate a basic response, another one walked around to her side and asked, "Your Majesty, rumor says the princesses might be in danger, if the plunderseed crisis is anything to go by. Are they true?"

"I..."

Twilight tried to explain, only to be interrupted by another reporter asking, "Princess Twilight, I couldn't help but notice you brought some...new friends with you." She pointed to Megan, Danny, and Molly and continued, "Does their appearance have to do with the sun and moon not moving?"

And then like a blessing made flesh, Applejack strode forward, with Rarity and Fluttershy in tow, and interposed herself between Twilight and the crowd. "A'right, a'right, that's enough!" she exclaimed. "Y'all said yer part, now take a step back an' let Twilight talk!" The journalists did, in fact, take a step back and a few of the shot quick, unsure glances at each other, before they shrugged and took a few steps away; a couple others huffed and crossed their arms, but made no move to dispute Applejack. She looked around and then motioned toward the guards with her head, and Twilight smiled and took the lead again.

As they all walked behind her, Megan leaned over and whispered, "Now if only every nosy journalist back home knew their place," to Molly. She chuckled.

She approached the two guards in front of the gate, and both of them bowed their heads. "Princess Twilight."

"I swear, I've told you not to call me..." Twilight trailed off, sighed and shook her head. "Oh, nevermind. Um..." She bit her lips and glanced up nervously at the guardspony, who was now staring her down; his expression was impossible to read, even for an arcane adept like her. "Can we, uh...may we enter the castle...? We wanted to, y'know, help look for the princesses because I thought this would be the best place to start..."

The guard kept staring down at her for another minute, then he turned his attention to his compatriot at the other side of the gate. They locked eyes for another moment and then nodded. The first guard looked back at Twilight and said, "Yeah, you're clear. Go ahead in."

This, understandably, caused a small uproar with the reporters who all began to converge on the gate again. Thinking quickly, Twilight pulled Spike and Applejack with her as she ducked through and called back, "Come on, everypony! Hurry!" Rainbow Dash wasted no time and pulled Fluttershy and Rarity through, Fluttershy ran in after her, and Pinkie kept giggling as she bounced through herself, with Megan, Danny, and Molly bringing up the rear. Before he got through the gate, Danny looked at the guard who allowed them passage and saluted the poor soul; he only shrugged in response.

They crossed the courtyard, the reporter's cries already starting to fade away, and they approached the great double doors into the castle's main foyer. Twilight's horn glowed magenta, and both of them opened of their own accord and she led the way inside. When the six of them, plus dragon and three interdimensional heroes were inside, she shut the doors again, and it was just as she feared: both Celestia's and Luna's throne were absent and the entire grand hall was eerily quiet despite the fact there were a couple guards and a captain patrolling the throne room.

"Great. Now what?"

Twilight glanced back at her and then places a thoughtful finger on her chin before she said, "Well, we should probably get to the castle library first. It's got several collections of books that can't be found anywhere else, even the Canterlot Archives."

"It's always the library, huh?" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"You have a better idea?" Twilight snapped back.

Rainbow Dash was quiet for a moment before she crossed her arms and looked away. There was a small blush on her face. "...No."

"Alright, let's go!"

Once again, Twilight led the way through the castle halls; all her friends kept their eyes straight ahead, except Pinkie, who kept bouncing around and either glanced up at the walls and ceiling or asked if she could slip into the kitchen for a snack (which Twilight politely but firmly denied). Megan and her siblings, on the other hand, were busy trying to take it all in, and Megan herself had to go so far as to hiss "Don't touch that, you little shit" to Danny several times. Within minutes, they arrived at the castle library doors, and they made their way inside to see bookshelves that stretched up halfway to the vaulted ceiling. There were hardcovers, paperbacks, nonfiction articles and journals that outranked fiction titles seven-to-one, books about primordial spells, books about magic theory, literary ballads penned by ancient playwrights and everything else in between. All light filtered in from the massive window that reached the ceiling on the back wall, more than thirty feet away, and between that and the Mane Six were simply rows of shelves packed with books. Twilight had to suppress a small squee of happiness while the others walked around her to get a better look at the room.

"Sure's a whole lotta books," Applejack mused as she brushed past one row of shelves.

"Where's the action-adventure section?" Rainbow Dash piped up.

"And the baking section? And the caber-tossing section? I'd ask where the D-I-Y fireworks section is, but that's a 'you got it or you don't' kinda thing!" Pinkie added.

Twilight, for her part, took a deep breath in and waved her hand as she turned around to face everyone else. A list appeared and she snatched it out of the air. "Trust me, everypony, as much as I want to just...spend a few hours in here reading whatever looks really interesting, we've got more important things to do!" she said. "Alright, first step, we search the whole room, specifically for certain books that may explain why the princesses disappeared, then we look for physical evidence. Chances are, they left behind a clue in some obscure textbook. Pick up anything that looks like the princesses might have touched it at some point today...or in the past week."

They all split up and spread out to different corners of the library: Rainbow Dash and Applejack took to the left side, Twilight, Megan, and Molly took to browsing the bookshelves to try and find some evidence the princesses had passed by, Rarity, Spike, and Fluttershy took the right side, and Danny and Pinkie climbed the ladder to the second floor, though Pinkie tended to appear where she was needed. Or not. Usually not.

But even after a whole hour, nobody had spoken up, and Twilight grimaced as she looked up from another book that proven a dead end (what felt like the thirtieth one she'd skimmed through) and she sighed as she pushed herself back up and lodged it back into the shelf. Twilight turned away and decided to check in with everyone else, and the first place she looked was aisle "Fiction D-E" where she saw Molly scanning the lower shelves. She furrowed her brow and asked hesitantly, "Anything?" Molly looked over her shoulder and shook her head solemnly, which got Twilight to groan and she turned around to look for Fluttershy; she was busy checking under some chairs and large cushions for the third time in a row, while Rainbow Dash scanned the upper ledges of the bookshelves built into the wall. "Fluttershy, Dash...?" Twilight began as she approached them. "Any luck?"

Fluttershy stood up and stared at Twilight innocently as she shook her head. Rainbow Dash turned back to her, landed, and huffed, "Nope, nothing. Zip, zilch, zero, nada."

And out of the pile of cushions on the floor, Pinkie sprung up and added, "No kidding! We found so much nothing, we could fill a whole library with it!"

"Pinkie!"

"What? It's true!" she replied. "Danny and I went around the upper level, like, twenty times! Or maybe it was three, but we still didn't find anything, so we just decided to race each other around the room! But we only stayed on the upper level, of course! If we tried it down here, we would've been running into bookshelves and ponies!"

"Wait, you two were having a race and you didn't tell me?" Rainbow Dash cried.

"Dash, not the time," Twilight quickly reminded her.

"Just for the record, I haven't found anything, either," Spike said as he hopped off one of the cushions and replaced a book he'd been leafing through.

On the upper level, Twilight could see Danny clambering down a ladder, and he disappeared below the tall shelves before he reappeared from one of the aisles with Molly at his side, and Megan stepped out from an aisle two rows behind her. All of them reconvened with the others and then Applejack poked her head out from behind another shelf and asked, "Did y'all hoo-mans find anything yet?"

Megan, Molly, and Danny all shared a blank stare, until Molly said, "Nope."

Danny brought up his balled-up fist and opened it as he said, "I...found this neat lookin' ball of lint," which got a groan and facepalm from Megan.

Twilight pursed her lips. The princesses weren't there, and there was nothing written down that could point them in the direction they went. The longer the sun and moon hung in the sky, the more ponies were going to freak out. The more they freaked out, the more paranoid they were going to get; without Celestia and Luna watching over them, ponies might lose faith. If they lost faith, the trust between individuals would break down. If trust broke down...

She was only vaguely aware that her heart was hammering away in her chest and sweat was starting to drip down her forehead again. "Okay...! Okay. So, uh, we've got...no leads on where the princesses are. That's fine! That's totally fine! It's⁠—it's no big deal, there's just an entire nation depending on the two most powerful ponies in existence to keep the sky in check and the offices running and they've...disappeared without a trace!"

Everyone in the room stared at Twilight nervously while she ranted, until Megan strode forward and placed her hand on the nape of Twilight's neck and she applied a firm but gentle squeeze. Twilight squeaked out a surprised "eep!", but just as quickly relaxed her shoulders and sighed contentedly. Megan's eyes widened a bit and she glanced over at Danny and Molly. They stared at her for another moment in surprise before they both grinned; Megan smiled herself as she kept working her fingers into Twilight's fur, and during that whole time, Twilight had closed her eyes and slumped forward slightly.

"...Calmed down a bit?" Megan released her from her thrall, and Twilight's eyes flickered open as if she had just woken up to face a new day. She blinked a couple times and turned to face Megan while half of her friends were trying to hold in their laughter, and the rest were sharing surprised looks. "Mmmm...um, yeah. Yeah, I think so. Still kinda freaking out, but better."

"Well, it's a start."

A silence settled over all of them before Rainbow Dash asked, "So...now where do we go?"

"Good question! I..." Twilight trailed off and glanced around the library. "I really wish I knew."

Spike squinted up at her. "Can't we just...y'know, go to the Canterlot Archives now? There's gotta be some obscure book hidden in there we can use, and since you're a princess, that means we won't have to try and sneak in like we did last time...right?"

"Uh..." Twilight ignored the last part of his question as she explained, "We could, there's definitely a lot more books and articles in there, but like I said, the castle library has several, and only several, books that haven't been distributed anywhere else. I spent most of our time here looking through the ones that might have had to do with the princesses' disappearance, which lowers the overall number even more." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, "But I guess..."

"Just a moment, Twilight! I do believe I've found something!" Everyone glanced around, to the opposite side of the library. Rarity was kneeling in front of the wall, and obviously looking at something on the ground. Spike stared up at Twilight who stared at Rarity, and after a moment, she stepped forward and approached her. The others followed, and they all crowded around to try and get a better look at whatever it was she found, but she quickly stood up, holding something in her magic field. It was small, navy blue, and had the texture of...

"Fur...?"

"It would appear so," Rarity said as she turned and held the tuft aloft for everyone to see. "I noticed it not even five minutes ago, while Miss Megan was, erm..." She stared at Twilight, who was now blushing, and she coughed into her fist and continued, "Soothing some frayed nerves."

The ponies all stared at it for another couple minutes, and Fluttershy muttered, "It's the same color as Princess Luna's fur."

"It...is Princess Luna's fur!" Twilight exclaimed. "And if she was here, Princess Celestia must have been here, too, if they're both gone!"

Rainbow Dash took a quick look around the library and asked, "Okay, but where'd they go?"

Twilight took another look at the tuft, squinted at it, and glanced around the library. She closed her eyes, her horn began to glow, and a magenta-colored pulse of light emanated from her horn and spread out around the room, passing through ponies, shelves, humans, and finally the far walls. Twilight's friends weren't alarmed by it, but Megan and Molly looked a bit unsure, and Danny had begun nervously patting down different body parts after he felt the magic flow through him; it was something Twilight noticed when she opened her eyes again. "Oh, sorry, sorry! I just used a scanning spell, it's not dangerous! Sorry for not giving you any warning."

"No big deal," Megan said.

Twilight smiled and turned back to her friends and began scratching her chin. After a couple minutes of silence, Applejack asked, "Find anything?"

Instead of answering, Twilight only seemed to grow more puzzled as she glanced around the room. But she finally said, "Yes, but it's...fuzzy." She then slammed her eyes shut and her face scrunched up, her nose wrinkled and mouth stuck in a concentrated grimace as she held out her hand and her horn began to glow again. Twilight began turning her upper torso, pointing herself in seemingly random directions; in actuality, she was reaching out through the weave of magic like a radar sensor than ran on thaumaturgy, until finally, she exclaimed "There!" as she snapped forward again, facing the wall directly in front of her and several feet ahead. It got Fluttershy and Rarity's eyes to widen and quickly step aside. "I'm detecting...several layers of invisibility and intangibility spells...directly ahead! They're...they're pretty advanced, but I think I can⁠—"

The glow around Twilight's horn intensified for a second and she cut herself off abruptly as a spark of violet fire appeared ten feet in the air in front of the library's right wall. It was hard to miss, and everyone stared at it intently. The flame spluttered, grew brighter and larger, until it began to slowly descend, burning the air away yet never catching anything else nearby aflame. Fluttershy and Rarity, who were the two closest ones to it, ran to where everyone else stood, several feet safely away. As the flame lowered itself, it burned into a shape, a circular shape, and the lower it went, the easier it was to see that the flame was revealing some sort of portal. It was like a mirror portal...but expressly lacked the "mirror" half. It was wrought of beige, porous limestone that made it look older than it probably was. On the sides were chiseled intricate branches of laurel and olive trees, and other than that, the only thing of note about the portal were the letters carved into the base.

Haelan

The continued to stare at it for awhile before Rainbow Dash asked, "So, uh...anypony know what that means?" Everyone shook their heads, sometimes punctuated with a small "no." Rainbow Dash glanced over at Twilight and asked again, "Twi?"

Twilight shook her head again. "I have no idea."

"...You're sure this word isn't some piece of...magic spell mumbo-jumbo?" Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow.

Twilight turned to face her, indignation written all over her face. "Dash! First of all, it's not 'mumbo-jumbo,' spells are highly intensive and fine-tuned intellectual labors! Every part of a spell serves a purpose, there's no part that would classify as 'mumbo-jumbo!' Two...whatever this is, it's not part of a spell. In fact," she turned to look at the word again, more closely than before and the tip of her horn lit up for just a second. "I can't detect anything magical about it at all; there's no part of it that's enchanted, so it's not a rune."

"So it's...just a name, then?"

They all went quiet for a moment, as if asking themselves whose name it was. Pinkie, of course, took up answering that question by bounding up to the portal and exclaiming, "It's gotta be this big stone statue's name! Hi there, Mister Haelan!"

Her greeting was answered with the empty space between the laurel branches suddenly flaring to life in a small explosion of white light and color, and everyone recoiled backward as they watched it coalesce and take the shape of an oval, through which they could see what was decidedly not the opposite wall. On the other side, they could see a ruined room with a crumbling ceiling and decrepit stone pews. The walls were also mostly decayed away, revealing the outside sky, lit up in a glorious sunrise. After the initial shock wore off, a few of them, specifically Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Twilight, all took a couple cautious steps forward to get a better look through. Applejack squinted and muttered, "A castle...?"

"Actually, judging by the remains of the vaulted ceiling and the stone pews, I'd say it's more of a chapel of some sort. A very small chapel, or maybe it was just an altar with basic walls around it to keep the elements out, but good guess!" Twilight corrected. She glanced back through the portal and tilted her head quizzically. "It's strange, though...I haven't seen any kind of stonework like that..anywhere. It's all so angular and...and detailed."

There was another lull, but it didn't last long. Steeling her resolve, Megan marched forward and up the first rung of the portal's base. Everyone's eyes rested on her, and she turned back to look at the ponies, though she focused on Danny and Molly, who followed her a few steps forward before they stopped. "Well, if you ask me, Princess Celestia and Luna went this way," she said as she pointed back at the portal with her thumb. "Enough evidence for it, and even if not, it's something to go on. Who's with me?"

Everyone, human and pony, shared a glance before Molly led the way up to Megan's side and looked her in the eye. They grinned and fist bumped each other before they both looked back at Danny. He sighed and approached them and said, "I'm right behind ya. I'm the one who dragged us into this mess anyway, so..."

Megan and Molly glanced at each other, and Megan smiled as she looked back to Danny and joked, "Danny Williams, finally taking some responsibility after...how many years has it been?"

"Eat a dick," Danny quipped back. His grin was small, but it was there.

Twilight was the next to approach Megan, with Spike dutifully at her side. When she stopped, she exclaimed, "And we're with you, too!"

"You sound ready to go," Megan said with a nod.

"A-actually," Twilight stammered, "I'm...really, really nervous. Terrified, actually. But I'm trying to think of the princesses! They wouldn't want me to be scared."

"And I'm too excited to be scared!" Rainbow Dash came up to them and popped her knuckles. "I mean, come on! A hidden portal in the Canterlot Castle library to a different dimension? Means there's a whole new world to introduce my awesomeness to!"

Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie followed her, and Applejack said, "Yer humbleness 's an insp'ration as usual, Dash."

Rainbow stuck out her tongue in response, and Megan turned to look into the portal. "Everybody...I mean, everypony ready?" There was a round of confirmations and "yes"s from everyone, and it only lulled for a second as Molly stepped forward.

"I'll go first."

Their shocked silence was enough for Molly to stride confidently forward and breach the wall between realities. The portal rippled like a stone cast into water, shimmering with white light on the crest of each wave and the vista behind distorted for only a second before the disturbance was gone. In its place was Molly, safely in one piece on the other side of the portal. She stopped, looked around, and turned back to everyone else with a big smile on her face and she waved happily.

Megan and Danny released a deep sigh, and Megan wiped some sweat that had managed to condense on the back of her neck. Since the coast was clear, Twilight walked in after Molly, followed by Danny and Megan, then Rarity (escorted by Spike), then Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy half-dragged through behind her. But they all arrived at the same destination, a crumbling chapel that most likely hadn't seen another living soul in hundreds of years. Twilight, being the second one through, turned around to make sure her friends could come through safely, and she saw that behind her were two statues. Their body structure was humanoid, but their faces didn't resemble a pony; they were more human, if her limited knowledge of humans was anything to go by, except they had no faces and seemed to be hunched over, their arms extended above their heads, carrying an invisible burden. By the time everyone had come through, they noticed as well. The chapel itself was otherwise sparsely decorated, some rusted sconces on the wall behind the statues, one or two candelabras scattered by wind and weather at some point. The portal was still open though, which was a bonus; at least they weren't stuck in "Haelan" for an indeterminate amount of time like when Twilight had gone to Canterlot High. "...Wow."

"Indeed, darling," Rarity said as she looked at the surrounding decrepit grandeur. "I may not be a connoisseur of architecture as it were, but all this is...certainly something to behold."

Twilight followed the curve of the broken ceiling all the way over until she could see the archway leading outside, or at least what was left of it. A quarter of the archway on the upper-left side was gone but Twilight walked forward anyway, and was joined by her friends after a minute. Outside, they could get a better view of the hill the chapel had been built on. The surrounding countryside was expansive, a vast, fertile plain of green grass and few trees in sight. The sun had risen up above the horizon, causing a light fog to settle in the lowlands; far behind them and the chapel, dark clouds and the night were being chased away. The ponies all stared at it in silent wonder, only interrupted by Fluttershy breathlessly whispering, "It's...it's all so beautiful..."

Rainbow Dash slid a hand through her hair as she gazed out across the plains. "I gotta admit, this is pretty awesome."

"Ooh, ooh! Look over there!" Pinkie exclaimed as she jumped up and down and pointed to something just under the glow of the sun. The others strained their eyes a bit but saw that there was something off in the distance. Dull, blurry outlines of buildings, but the fact there were spires jutting out above the surrounding shapes marked it as a city. "Can we check it out, Twilight? Can we, please? Pretty please with a cherry, sprinkles, and strawberry frosting on top? Pleeeeaase...?"

Twilight looked around at her friends as if silently asking for their opinions. "Hey, ya know we trust ya. Whether 'r not ya wanna go over there's totally up to you, Twi," Applejack said.

She tilted her head and leaned on her fist to think. "Well, since we don't really have any idea where the princesses are, that city's the best place to start," Twilight said after a minute. She looked over to the path that led down the hill and started walking. "Come on, everypony!"

Everyone was silent as they started down the hill. After a couple minutes, they had reached the bottom and they began their trek across the rolling green plains It only stayed quiet for a few more minutes before some irritation crept into Rainbow Dash's head that told her to fly ahead and scout, but she stayed put out of respect for her friends. "Well, I'm already bored," she muttered. As soon as the words left her mouth, Danny spoke three words that many travelers dread to hear:

"I can sing."

Megan spun her head around, but before she could forcefully tell him no, Danny opened his mouth again, and in a faux-Irish accent, belted out, "Oh, it's down the glen came McAlpine's men / with their shovels slung behind them!"

"Little too slow on the draw," Rainbow Dash muttered to Megan.

"Honey, you gave him that idea," she quipped back.

"'Twas in the pub they drank the sub, / and up in the spike you'll find them." Danny leaned over and poked the top of Spike's head, which earned him an annoyed and somewhat confused glance from the drake. "They sweated blood / and they washed out mud / with pints and quarts of beer!" Pinkie grinned and promptly jumped onto Danny's back, which only broke his concentration for a moment. "And now we're on the road again, / with McAlpine's Fusiliers!"

---

It was hard to guess how long the whole group had taken to walk from the hill to the city; Megan guessed approximately two hours. They had stopped for a couple breaks, but they had found themselves at the outside wall of the city, limestone bricks stretching up nearly a hundred and ten feet in the air. When they saw it loom large in the distance, they all diverted their course toward the archway that led into the city itself. Unfortunately, there was a cast-iron portcullis over it.

It did, however, afford them the chance to see what they were getting into when Rainbow Dash approached the iron bars and gripped them. "Wow, this place looks like garbage," she said as she squinted through.

And how; from what everyone could see from the outside, there was a distinct lack of upkeep and activity. The streets were empty, the townhouses and stores had all the markings of foreclosure on them, boarded-up windows, cracking paint, crumbling stone and all. The cobblestone street itself was uneven, overgrown with weeds in some places, and the sky above was quickly blocked off by smoke and the upper levels of other buildings; everything seemed to be stacked on top of each other the further into the city it went, and to top it all off, there was some sort of drab beige filter over it, as if the city itself was aware of its own pathetic state. The others all approached the portcullis and took in the surrounding area around the entrance; after a couple minutes of study, Spike glanced up at Twilight and said, "I don't suppose you've got a way to get us through this thing, do you?"

"If you're implying I can teleport us through, then yes, don't worry about that," she replied. "It just...might take two castings." The teleportation spell did, in fact, take a couple uses to get everyone through; Twilight explained it was due to group size. One or two targets was easy, three to five targets at once was strenuous, six or more was was asking for a splitting headache...if historical arcane repositories were to be taken seriously, sometimes literally. Still, they were all inside the strange city of towering spires and dilapidated storefronts. "All we have to do now," Twilight explained, "is find somepony who can tell us where they might have seen Princess Celestia, what this city is, and who rules it, in that order."

Applejack glanced around and said after a small pause, "Well, we sure ain't gonna find anypony standin' around here."

"Agreed," Rarity added. "It would behoove us to find guidance around this place. And quickly, everything here is...ugh, it's filthy! I would like to mince my oaths just this once, but what I have seen thus far is simply ghastly and, dare I say it, only a miracle can fix something like...this!" She held out her arms, gesturing to a townhouse that had been caved in due to what could only be years of neglect and rot.

"Alright then!" Twilight interjected to make sure Rarity didn't go on a tangent and said, "Everypony stick together. Just because we can't see anything else outside right now doesn't mean they can't see us, and to be honest, I think it's...too quiet. Ready?"

Everyone nodded or otherwise affirmed, and they made their way down one of the larger streets and away from the wall. Walking through the streets was cramped, deathly quiet, and uncomfortably warm due to the smog, and the drab brown filter seemed to grow more intense the further they strayed. Most of the time was spent in silence, as everyone was trying to stay alert for anything that looked out of place, especially Megan, Danny, and Molly. Danny rubbed his hands together and muttered, "I wish Dad hadn't sold off his old twelve-gauge. I'd feel a lot safer...y'know, if I'd known to bring it along."

"He didn't, Danny," Molly mentioned.

Danny froze up for a minute before he shot an incredulous glance at her and asked, "...What?"

Megan glared daggers at Molly, who looked from her to Danny and slowly came to a realization. "Y-you didn't tell him? I thought..."

"No, I didn't tell him! We've barely spoken and I haven't had time to get the damn thing out of storage!" Megan exclaimed.

"Excuse me, what?"

"Hey, wait!" Pinkie exclaimed. "What's a 'shotgun?'"

The Williams stopped short and glanced at her with wide eyes, and it took awhile for Danny to clear his throat and say, "Oh, a, uh, shotgun is...a tool. To...get rid of...problems."

Pinkie's eyes widened at this revelation, and she immediately began to run her mouth off. "Problems? What kinda problems? Ooh, wait, like, problems with friends? 'Cause if it does, it sounds really cool! Or is it like customer problems, because that's happened a couple times at Sugarcube Corner! They're all grumpy and not-talky before they get their morning coffee! Or does it solve stuff like toaster problems, 'cause I swear the Cakes' toaster never works right when you want it to!"

"Uh..." Danny stammered, "it solves...people problems. Yeah."

"Really? How?" Pinkie asked as she tilted her head.

"Um..." Danny licked his lips and explained, "You...point it at someone—somepony, pull a magical trigger, and it...launches...confetti at them. Yeah, confetti. Magical confetti that...makes them, uh, nicer...to you. No need to fact-check that one."

Pinkie seemed to buy it, as her pupils dilated and her eyes began to shine despite the lack of an intense light source. Danny was almost satisfied with his lie until Megan grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer to her, enough to whisper in his ear. "Dad never sold his old shotgun. Mom convinced him to hide it from you when you kept asking him to show you how to use it, and a little while after I moved out, he placed a lot of stuff in storage, shotgun included." She paused for a moment. "He also specifically passed ownership of it to me before he died."

"And you never told me about this!?" Danny exclaimed, taking a step back.

Megan glared at him and leaned over to hiss, "Danny, if you got a hold of that thing during high school, you would have killed someone! Or less importantly, yourself, but still! You would have been a collateral damage machine on two legs."

"Hey, I resemble that last remark!"

Silence settled over them all as they looked at Danny, some more harshly than others, before Megan grabbed his wrist and began to pull him along behind her. "We'll have this discussion later, okay?"

They kept walking for a few more minutes, through the winding, broken roads. They managed to get off the main thoroughfares of the city, as far as they could guess, and found themselves winding through back roads and wide alleys. Barely anything changed, and yet, it felt like everything kept getting more and more unfamiliar. The buildings still didn't look like they had been well-maintained, but instead of crumbling over time, there was evidence that they had been demolished on purpose, with nightsticks and swords littering the grounds outside the shops. There was no one else outside, but every once in a while, one of them could see eyes peering at them from the darkness behind the boards over the windows. As soon as they turned their head to look and confirm, whoever was watching them ran off. Eventually, they had walked for thirty more minutes with no sign of life...until a voice whispered from the shadows. "Psst! Hey, you!" Everyone froze in place and began searching the street frantically, until the voice continued, "Yeah, you lot!"

"Who's there?" Rainbow Dash asked to try and draw out the voice's owner.

"I...I think it's coming from back there..." Fluttershy raised her arm and pointed to an alley to their right. It wasn't remarkable, just dimly lit in the afternoon smog and seemed to hold an excess amount of debris, scrap metal, and rotting garbage.

They all shared an anxious glance, the silence only broken by Applejack muttering, "We gonna check it out?"

"Sure," Spike replied in a low voice. "Go into the dark alley with the faceless voice talking to us. Sounds like a great idea."

Twilight frowned at him. "Spike, as much as I'm willing to admit this place is...less than idyllic," she began, "do we really have another choice? We're lost in a different, well, dimension, confused beyond all reason, and alone. I think we have to chance it." Before Spike got the chance to protest, Twilight raised her head and called back, "Hello? Is there somepony back there? You can come out, we won't hurt you!"

There was only silence for a minute before a pony poked her head from out of the darkened alleyway, behind the piles of litter. She had an average height and build (for a pony), but wore thick, dirty overalls with several patches sewn on, along with heavy boots custom-fitted for unguligrade legs and an equally ratty white shirt and newsboy cap. Other than the clothing, she seemed to be a regular, burgundy earth pony. "What're you folks doing outside?" she began after she'd revealed herself fully in the dim light. "Don't you know it's tax-collection day?"

The whole group shared a collective, confused glance before Rainbow Dash replied, "Uh...no?"

"Tax-collection day...?" Rarity inquired.

The mare huffed, and glanced up at the skyline. "Yup. Here in Thulst, every day is tax-collection day! And if the street urchins don't mark you, the damned Gilded Eagles will, if you stand around out in the open for too long," she groused. "Best get yourself inside as fast as you can. No one lasts long out in the open."

"Thulst?"

The mare's previous disgruntled expression dropped and she eyed them suspiciously. After a pause, she asked, "Where you from? The Valley? The West?" No one answered, considering they obviously had no prior knowledge of Haelan. "Hope you ain't from Winter's kingdom. If Thulst finds out, he'll have your head!"

Twilight blinked in confusion and looked around at her friends before she faced the mare again. "Sorry, did you mean someone else? You...you said 'Thulst' twice."

"I know what I said," the mare snapped back. Everyone's expression morphed into even more bewilderment than before, something the other mare picked up on; she most likely had opinions on their lack of knowledge, but she kept it to herself and explained, "Listen, newbies, Thulst owns this city and everything in it, so he named it after himself...greedy prick."

"...Oh."

An awkward silence settled on the whole group for another few minutes before Fluttershy, of all people, stepped forward and said, "Um...I guess you know already, but, um, we're not from around here, and we're looking for a couple very important ponies that came from where we live. They're both sisters and princesses, very beautiful, and their names are Celestia and Luna. Have you seen them?"

The mare clenched her jaw and tilted her head up to look at the smoggy sky. Her eyes swiveled around every so often as she collected her thoughts, but after awhile she lowered her head again and shook it. "Nah, can't say I have. If they were princesses of some far off land, I probably would've known, provided they didn't get mugged at knifepoint or worse."

"Oh, don't worry! That's, um, highly unlikely! At least it should be. I hope!" Twilight stammered.

Another pause as the mare regarded Twilight's comment and shrugged. "Either way, you can follow me, I guess. There's an underground bazaar nearby that gets a lot of traffic from folks looking to trade goods and info, since being out in broad daylight's a one-way ticket to getting kicked in the teeth, robbed blind, and dumped in an open gutter...maybe not in that order, but you get the idea. Once you get there, you're on your own, though." She jerked her head behind her, back into the alley, indicating for everyone to follow her. Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Megan, and Danny all shared anxious glances with each other before Twilight took a deep breath and followed the mare. Spike looked around again, shrugged and followed Twilight, with everyone else falling in step behind them. When they were all in the alley, mostly in single-file due to the mounds of garbage littering the ground, the mare called back, "Name's Shifty Shuffle, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Shifty!" Twilight replied. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant, Spike. These are all my friends, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy—"

"Look, I don't wanna sound too rude, but the walk ain't that long and once you get to the bazaar, we're gonna have to go our separate ways. Besides, I'd probably never remember your names anyway," Shifty Shuffle sighed.

Twilight bit her lip and shifted nervously. "Oh, um, right. Okay. Sure."

They all walked for a few minutes, winding through the alleys and over litter. Molly kept her eyes glued to the rooftops and the dull, tan, hazy sky above them. She jumped when she heard Fluttershy whisper, "Miss Molly, are you okay? Uh, If you don't mind my asking..."

"I...yeah, I'm okay," she said. "This place just has me on edge. Everything feels...uncanny." She paused. "I can't help but feel like this place was, like...made because of us. Like we tainted your world when we came here, somehow."

Megan looked over at her sister and quickly interjected, "I doubt that. As far as we know, Ponyland existed since the dawn of time, in relative terms. If we tainted Equestria, that would mean we tainted Ponyland by spontaneously creating Hydia, Dragle, Reeka, and every other nasty customer we've had to face. But we all know that's not true, since Wind Whistler said they lived on the Volcano of Gloom for years before we got there. I wouldn't go blaming ourselves just yet."

Molly chuckled after staring at Megan for a moment. "God, I hope you're right."

As they walked and whispered among themselves, however, they didn't notice they were being watched. It would have been hard to do anyway, with the smog obscuring vision the higher up it went. On the rooftops above the group, staring down on them, were several humans wearing red navy uniforms, weighed down with swords, clubs, and other strange gadgets with golden helmets that had been forged to look like an eagle's head, and on their backs were more ornate carvings of gold, attached by some sort of spring-powered mechanism. They continued to stare down on the passing group, until two of them that were closest to the edge held up nets, gilded and seemed to glimmer despite the low light conditions. One of them brought up his arm and pointed to Twilight, then Rarity, and then held up his hand and made a fist; without announcement, he and the man beside him wound up and threw the nets as hard as they could.

They fell down and unerringly, loudly, hit their marks. Twilight barely had enough time to look back when she heard Rarity scream before the net came down and pinned her, and although initially shocked, Rainbow Dash and Spike quickly ran up to Twilight's side and attempted to drag the net off her. "Twilight! You okay!?"

Twilight began to struggle but quickly found it was useless. "I...yes, but...I can't get up! There's some sort of...magic-dampening enchantment in this net!"

"Don't you worry, Twi! Long as I'm here, nopony's—"

She was cut off when one of the men landed behind her, grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, and threw her away from Twilight. He turned his attention to Spike, who stared up at the man wide-eyed, but quickly morphed it into an icy glare. The rest of the strange armored humans touched down seconds later, two in front of Rarity and Applejack, who was trying to drag a net off her as well, and several more directly in front of the rest of the group who had been further back. Spike brought his fists up and growled at his attacker. Said human looked down on him, grinned spitefully, and threw one punch that connected in such a way that Spike got one of his own fists knocked back into his face. He grunted and stumbled backward, opening him up for a kick that sent him sprawling into a wall ten feet away. Twilight saw all of it, and desperately called out, "Spike...!" as she stretched out her arm to try and reach him. The human, upon hearing the panic in her voice, glanced down at her as well, and then walked forward before he stopped beside Spike, lifted his boot, and pressed it down on his head, not enough to kill or seriously injure...but the threat was there.

The Gilded Eagles were Thulst's prime and only police force for a reason.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had recovered from being thrown by backflipping and lifting off into the air, just above the rooftops. One of the Gilded Eagles that had cornered everyone else looked up at her, his eyes glinting with malice, and the spring-loaded mechanism on his back popped out and unfurled into golden wings. Rainbow Dash, however, stared for a moment before she smirked and looked away in mock-embarrassment. "Aw, jeez, buddy! If you think your wings're gonna pop, at least try to get somewhere private!"

The man didn't react the way Rainbow Dash expected. Or at all. After a couple seconds, she relaxed and stared at the human in confusion before, in a blinding burst of speed, he took off and reached out to grab her. She flinched and turned to keep flying, but her surprise was all the advantage man needed to grab her tail and spin her around a couple times before tossing her back down into the ground like an Olympic hammer thrower. "Get back down there, woman!" he shouted as she hit the cobblestone. Dash yelped in pain, but gritted her teeth and attempted to fight through the ringing in her ears and the numbness in her chest and back before the Gilded Eagle landed on top of her, whipped some sort of larger-than-normal golden manacles off a utility belt, and clamped them down on the humerus of both wings. "Thulst's skies belong to us!"

Applejack had tried to lift the net from Rarity, but the enchantments made it more difficult to remove alongside dampening magic use. "A-Applejack, darling, please hurry!"

"Ah'm tryin'...Ah'm tryin'! Jus' don't go...twistin' yerself up around...an' I'll get it off ya easy!!" she replied as she frantically tried to lift the sides of the net. Each time she did, however, Applejack felt her arms grow tired extremely quickly, as if she had been carrying an overloaded basket of apples without setting them down for hours at a time. She was fighting it, barely, but that meant she wasn't making any real progress.

Rarity had been pinned to the ground stomach-first, which meant she wasn't in a good position to pull the net off herself at all, though she was struggling, albeit weakly. "Applejack, you don't understand, you...must get me out of here quick...quickly or...or my coiffure will be completely frazzled! Ruined and unsalvageable! Hurry!" Applejack had to pause for a moment before she rolled her eyes.

"Aw, fer the luv'a—"

"Er-herm."

Applejack froze and slowly brought her gaze up to see two Gilded Eagles glaring down at her. There was a small pause before one of them pulled out a sword and pointed the tip at her, and his comrade drew his sword and held it just above Rarity's head, blade pointed down, and looked ready to drive it through her skull at the drop of a pin; she remained silent throughout the whole ordeal. Sparing a quick glance behind her, Applejack could see the whole group was pathetically outmatched and so with only the slightest bit of reluctance, she raised her hands over her head. The two Gilded Eagles glanced at each other, and the one with the spear nodded to Applejack. The second soldier quickly replaced his sword as he walked around Applejack and retrieved a pair of gilded handcuffs, which he snapped on Applejack's wrists after forcibly repositioning her hands behind her back. She suddenly felt her strength get sapped as if she'd been holding onto the net, and she slumped forward, breathing heavily.

About five of the Gilded Eagles left over ignored the scene behind them and instead focused on closing in on Megan, Molly, Danny, Shifty Shuffle, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. A couple of them drew swords, one drew out another pair of wing cuffs, and all of them kept walking forward menacingly; Megan and the others continued to back up. "Uh...Shifty...?" she muttered under her breath. "What do we do? What do they want with us...? Will they let us live if we surrender?" Megan got no answer, which made her wrinkle her brow and look to her left. Shifty was gone, but she could see some of the junk in the alley had been disturbed as if someone had vaulted over it, and then she heard the distant sound of hooves slamming on the cobblestone after she had a moment to focus. Her brow furrowed after a moment and she felt heat rise in her cheeks and hissed, "You bitch...!"

One of the Gilded Eagles nudged one of his comrades and jerked his head to the side, in the direction Shifty had run. With a nod, the other soldier spread his wings and took off over the buildings and completely disappeared from sight. "We highly advise you stand down and take your customary beating like a man," the first one said after a pause. "Makes our job easier."

In response, Danny stepped forward and defiantly shouted, "Back the fuck up! I took five years of Tae-kwon-do!" and then settled into a T-stance and launched a round-kick at him; he effortlessly blocked Danny, kept his grip on his leg, and lifted him over his head and slammed his down on his back. Danny cried out and after the echo of the crash died down, he whimpered, "Hey, man, I never said 'ready...'" The Gilded Eagle quickly pressed a dagger to his throat, which got a more fearful response of, "Argh, Jesus shit, okay, okay! You've made your point!"

The Gilded Eagle who had Danny pinned remained where he as was he took out a pair of handcuffs while the other four closed in on the remainder of the group, brandishing swords and different types of cuffs. They tried to back up as far as they could without agitating the soldiers into attacking, but running away was obviously futile. Pinkie glanced over at Megan and whispered, "Psst, Megan! What do we do? These guys seem kinda scurrilous! And they're really mean, too!"

"I..." Megan's train of thought came to a screeching halt when she realized that with Twilight effectively out of the equation because of the net over her and the threat that one of the Eagles might squash Spike's head a moment's notice, there was no central leader to think of what to do; she was probably the closest thing to one. "I don't..." She was still struggling. "I don't think we have a fighting chance here. We...we may jut have to surrender and give them whatever they want, if it avoids getting anyone killed."

"What!?" Everyone in the furthest group look down at Rainbow Dash, who had started to struggle a bit, futilely kicking her legs to get his attacker off him. The fact the Gilded Eagle was pressing a knee into her back and was holding her wings down prevented her from being too serious. "No, don't do that! Do you honestly think any of these jerks look like the type to honor surrender...? Don't worry about us, kick their flanks!"

"As opposed to...!?" Megan yelled back. "They've got Twilight and Rarity pinned and their magic doesn't work, Spike's down, they've got Applejack in cuffs, and you and Danny aren't doing much better!" When she was done, she was breathing heavily, her face showing the beginning of an angry blush, and she was sweating bullets. It was little compared to Molly who, despite keeping herself between a cowering Fluttershy and the Gilded Eagles, was sweating profusely as well. Pinkie...Pinkie looked confused, since her eyes kept darting from Megan to the soldiers, to Twilight and Rarity, and back again. A silence settled on the group for a moment before Megan realized something, and despite her mind running in every direction from the anxiety, she addressed the Gilded Eagles directly. "...I thought you'd object to us talking to each other. Y'know...since we could have been forming a plan or something."

The Gilded Eagles around her all shot each other a quick glance. They said nothing for a minute, and then...

"Heh."

"Heh-heh."

"Ha-ha!"

"Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...!"

They laughed. Snide, vicious, mocking laughter. After another moment of their jeering, one of them looked back into Megan's eyes, still grinning, and revealed, "Naw, we don't care!" His smirk deepened until it was downright malicious, and he tilted his head forward to stare up at her from under his brow. "That's 'cause we just love seeing kids like you squirm." He took a step closer, much longer than before, and pointed his sword right at Megan's chest. "Now, I do believe you said something about unconditional surrender...?"

She pursed her lips but kept eye contact with the soldier. Staring into the eyes of the eagle mask was like looking into the hollow eye sockets of the Grim Reaper himself, but slowly, she willed herself to bring her hands up. "Smart. Very, very smart," he said. Then, before she could even react, he socked her square in the jaw, and Megan grunted in pain and fell to the ground. The Gilded Eagle then knelt down and grabbed both her arms and slapped cuffs on them, which he then held by the chain, insuring she couldn't run. Molly, Fluttershy, and Pinkie cried out in distress, but Molly was silenced as another soldier grabbed her by the neck and shoved her into the ground. Fluttershy squeaked as she watched Molly struggle weakly as the Gilded Eagle rolled her over and put cuffs on her as well, chuckling to himself.

She then felt a hand on her shoulder, and would have been turned around forcibly if she hadn't jumped and tried to swat the man's hand away. The soldier took obvious offense at this flagrant disrespect, and backhanded Fluttershy in the cheek. She cried out in pain and Molly shrieked too. "You bastard! Stop that! You're hurting her, you heartless piece of shit!"

He knelt down, placing his knee into Fluttershy's back after he had her turned her over onto her stomach. It was easy, since she'd proven too shocked to react to much after he'd dope-slapped her. He took out a pair of hand and wing cuffs and secured them to her before he snapped his gaze back to Molly with a smug smile on his face. "That's the idea, my dear."

"Hey, I didn't get to ask because you were busy talking and then arresting us," Pinkie exclaimed as she popped up beside the soldier who had Fluttershy pinned, "but are those cuffs gonna chafe? I'm not really asking for me, I'm asking for Rarity, she's got sensitive wrists! Don't get me wrong, I don't really like this whole 'getting thrown in jail' idea, but I think Megan knows what she's doing! We've gotten out of worse, and besides, this is kinda fun! We've never been here before, y'know!"

"Holy shit!" The Gilded Eagle jumped and swiped with his free arm, which Pinkie managed to dodge somehow, and it was at that point the soldier who was going to tie her up noticed she had miraculously teleported from a few feet in front of him to his comrade's side. He rushed forward, and tackled Pinkie slamming her into the ground as hard as he could before he pulled himself up and quickly slapped cuffs onto her wrists. If she had been injured by the fall, she wasn't showing it. In fact, she was actually giggling.

"Heh-heh-hehey, that tickles...!"

And just as the Gilded Eagle finished tying a rope around Pinkie's legs to make sure she couldn't move at all, the soldier who'd left to chase after Shifty returned and touched back down, holding a small satchel of what could only be coins, if the clinking sound of metal was anything to go by. He was holding one of them, too, and while it looked remarkably similar to a bit, it seemed larger and had different engravings on both sides. The Gilded Eagle who had arrested Fluttershy looked up when he heard the man touch down, and as soon as he did, the first soldier tossed his satchel over. He caught it, secured it to his belt, and commanded, "Lucian, about damn time! Take the reins on this one so I can get the lists."

Lucian snorted and rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. He quickly adopted the other's position, kneeling on Fluttershy's back, as the other man got up and retrieved a compact scroll from another satchel on his belt. He unfurled it and took a quick look around at the prisoners before he called loud enough for everyone to hear, "Names!"

No one answered. It wasn't because of tiredness or being incapacitated. They simply didn't understand, which prompted him to call again, more irritated, "Names!" Still no answer. The man scowled and turned his eyes to Twilight, steely gaze settling on her and the soldier standing over her. Almost on cue, the human grabbed Twilight by her arm, which made her whine a bit, and he dragged her around so that she could look up at him. She did so weakly, and the Gilded Eagle stated, "Answer the damn question so I don't have to beat it out of you. Names!"

Twilight didn't answer immediately, but with no other options available, she lifted her head and neck weakly and muttered, "T...Twilight...Sparkle..."

The human unfurled the scroll and stared at it for a minute. It was blank. He grimaced and said, "Again. Louder."

Twilight stared at him for a minute before she tried again, a bit more nervously, "Twilight...Sparkle...?"

The soldier kept staring at the parchment, still blank. He grimaced more and quickly rolled the scroll back up and then unfurled it, but it was still blank. "Not showing a profile, Ervin?" the soldier standing over Twilight asked.

"No," he replied flatly.

"Is that one still under six years old?"

"Is it under six years old—of course it's still under six years old, you gibface!" Ervin yelled at him. The soldier quickly shut his mouth; Ervin was obviously the commanding officer. He continued, "What about that one?" as he nodded toward Spike.

"He's out cold, sir."

"You know his name?" Ervin asked again as he looked down on Twilight.

"...S-Spike...my assistant. Please, don't..."

"Yeah, yeah, you think he's hurt, boo-hoo," Ervin interrupted. "He ain't gonna die. Yet." Before Twilight could interject, Ervin turned away and repeated Spike's name, and a few dozen names appeared on the parchment. A couple of the people on it were actually named Spike, but most were nicknames. Ervin pursed his lips and turned back to Twilight after a minute. "What is he? Human or pony?"

She slowly lifted her head again and blinked a couple times in confusion before she said slowly, "He's...he's a dragon..."

There was another pause as Ervin froze in his place and eyed Twilight suspiciously, then Spike's body, then he looked back at Twilight before he scoffed dismissively. "Ha. Funny."

"Wha...but...but he is!" Twilight's indignation fueled a rebellious fire in her heart for a couple seconds, but the magic-sapping enchantments on the net sucked it away just as quickly, and just as fast as her squirming started, it stopped.

Ervin kept his eyes on Twilight for another minute before he turned away. "If you say so, but he don't look like any dragon from the fantasy novels I've ever seen." He went from Twilight to Applejack and Rarity and in no kind terms, asked for their names. Nothing appeared on his magical scroll, so he went from them to Pinkie Pie, then Fluttershy, then Molly, Rainbow Dash, then Megan, and finally Danny. When the scroll still failed to find a match for the three humans, he closed the scroll and put his hands on his hips. "Well, here's something you don't see every day," he announced. "These folks ain't on any official census in Thulst!"

That got the attention of every single Gilded Eagle, who all whipped their heads around to look at Ervin, if they hadn't been facing him already. The one who had Rainbow Dash pinned to the ground exclaimed, "Ya think they're spies? Sent by the Winter King...?" During his question, Rainbow felt his grip on her arms slacken a little bit and she started to thrash to try and shake him off, which only made him shout in distress. "Gyah, hey...!" Acting on lightning reflexes, he wrapped his fingers around her head and slammed her face-first into the ground once. She yelped in pain which devolved into a low groan. "Stop resisting!"

"Doubt it. If they were, or were any good, they'd be a lot less conspicuous. They'd probably be dressed like they actually belonged here," Ervin replied. "If I had to guess, they came from the far, far west, way beyond the Ravages. If the clothes're any clue, their society must be somewhat civilized...compared to the rest of it, of course. Now why are they here...?" He trailed off and shrugged. "Hell if I know, not my problem."

"So what are we gonna do with'em?" the soldier guarding Rarity asked. "Just beat'em to a pulp and take what they got? String'em up by their fingers in the nearest public square, or keep'em in our barracks for entertainment...?" The soldier's manic grin faded after only a second before his eyes widened, but the smile came back. "No, wait, don't tell me! We gonna drag'em before the big man himself...?"

Ervin's brows furrowed as the man prattled on. When he was done, he jerked his arm and pointed behind him with his thumb. "Nope. They're not on record; you know what's gotta happen to'em."

"What happens?" Danny interrupted, barely bothering to disguise his derision. "Flogged, interrogated, and killed, maybe? If so, may wanna rework your justice system. That's so cliché, my grandma could write something better. And she's been dead for nine years!"

Eldon's head snapped down to look at Danny and after a second, his glare became a sinister grin. "No," he said as he bent down to get closer to Danny. "You're goin' to The Valley."

---

Far away, under the shining midday sun, two figures strode across the lush hills and under the green trees of Haelan's countryside. Both were ponies, and both bore ethereal manes that denoted their station and power. Luna sighed and glanced up at the sky, cluttered with clouds, and turned to ask, "Sister, why must we do this?"

Celestia sighed. "I told you, Luna, I'm not entirely sure." She turned back to the open road ahead of them and breathed deep of the fresh air. It felt different, running through her lungs; not entirely like Equestria's air, which had a kind of sweetness to it, like honey. That scent was entirely absent here, which made her conscious of how neutral the air felt. "In the vision, I only saw us walk north until we reached a massive stone gate." She paused and added, "We're not necessarily here to do anything more than show Twilight Sparkle and her friends what lies beyond Equestria."

Luna fell into a morose silence, which allowed Celestia to continue enjoying the sunlight; it did not react to her magic, which, instead of worrying her, endeared her to the charms of this new realm even more. "Art thou certain our subjects shall be safe for the duration of our absence?" Luna asked.

"...Well, they've definitely lived through worse," Celestia replied at length.

---

The great hall was silent, though it was more a circular room, like a chapel, but with no added decorations; the master thought them unnecessary flourishes unbecoming of his six oligarchs.

His Secstectin.

The stones used to build it were dull violet, the columns that held up the vaulted ceiling were off-white, tinged lavender. Around this room, there were five archways, each mostly alike, save for the symbols carved into them: one bore a fox holding a golden chalice, one bore a sword with a blade made of blood, one bore heavenly coinage, one bore a great mountain beyond the sky, and the last bore a simple, shattered skull. On the other end of the room was a massive window that opened up into pitch blackness and a circular stone table.

At this table sat a humanoid with a grim visage, slit-like eyes and barely a bump where the nose should be. His skin was pale and looked clammy, and he wore a simple dark brown cloak with dark purple robes underneath, inlaid with gold trim. Next to him sat a squat creature who looked more toad than man, with only two slits on his face for nostrils, bulbous green eyes and warts on his hands and lower arms. He was bald, but unlike the other, he wore fine robes of blue and red, juxtaposing their positions. They said nothing to each other, waiting in silence, until four of the five archways on the other side of the room lit up and raw aetheric energy crackled and burst from them. From these walls of magic, four figures strode through each and exited the other side into the massive room. They ranged in height and build, but all had certain defining features: the first, who entered through the archway with the blood sword, stood nearly eight feet tall, and not a single patch of skin was visible on him, for he wore jet-black armor that menaced with spikes of iron; the opening of his helmet meant to show his face glowed blood-red. The one who came out of the archway of the skull looked more akin to a human, though she was gaunt, almost emaciated, and her hair was white and coarse, and she wore only the basest of clothes; a torn beige shirt and baggy pants while the rest of her was wrapped in so many chains it was a wonder she could move freely; her face was sunken, bony, and her eyes seemed as if they had peered into the space between dead stars.

The one who left the archway with the mountain carved into it was built more like a kind of were-creature, toned muscles with thick black fur running up her arms from the wrist, coarse hair on her knuckles and thick sideburns. Her face was slightly deformed, her nose twisted halfway between a human's and a cat's. She wore loose-fitting pants, but in contrast, wore a brilliant yellow robe adorned with tassels, small jewels, and depictions of a tiger, eagle, and a great golden dragon on the chest. The man who left the archway with the coin on it had the first woman's gaunt profile in combination with the armored man's height, though slightly shorter, and had no muscle on him to speak of. He, too, was bald, but unlike all the others, he wore a pinstriped suit and had a soul patch on his chin and pince-nez glasses, of all things. Somehow, the glasses managed to cover his eyes completely.

The four of them confidently strode forward until the woman in the dragon robe nodded to the man in the cloak, and he nodded back. "Uulant, Theilm, Stroho...Koozaf," he said.

"Driath," Koozaf said as he bowed graciously. He eyed the squat man out of the corner of his eye, and his smile quickly turned to a sneer. "...Thulst."

Stroho crossed her arms and took one step forward, glaring all the while. “What’s the meaning of this, Driath?” she growled. "I have at least thirty more important things I could be doing right now other than listen to you."

Draith turned to her, his solid black eyes staring clean through her soul. “It seems,” he drawled, “that there has been a...complication.” A still silence fell upon all of them, and after a moment, Driath scowled and looked at the ugly little man at his side. “I will not explain this for you, Thulst,” he growled.

Thulst shuddered suddenly and made a sideways glance at him. “Ah, y-yes. My apologies, Lord Driath,” he said. Thulst then reached forward, his flabby hand manifesting arcane blue sparks that coalesced and formed a shimmering wall of light, and in that wall, two figures were walking. One with a mane of iridescent blue, green, and pink, the other with a mane filled with stars. They both walked the grassy knolls and plains of Haelan, two goddesses out of place. The other four figures stared, faces shifting from curiosity, to shock, then to frustration.

“They found their way through? How?” Theilm asked.

“I..I don’t know,” Thulst replied. “But rest assured, they won’t lay a finger on my treasures! I’ll triple my palace guard—no, wait, quadruple it! I’ll have them work double shifts, comb every square inch of the castle, train them to exhaustion—”

“That is not a solution, you lard-guzzling oaf!” Uulant shouted. “That is an excuse! These interlopers must be crushed!” Thulst choked a bit and shrunk in on himself, trying to hide, but Uulant quickly stopped paying him any mind. He looked up at Driath and placed his hand on the hilt of a sword, kept on his back and nearly as tall as he was. “And with your permission, I will be happy to do the honors!”

“That will be unnecessary,” Driath replied dismissively. “You and your warriors must remain in Drengrheimr. Let Haelan deal with its own problems.”

Stroho quirked an eyebrow up and questioned, "You believe it's wise to let these two run rampant? You do realize they're the most powerful beings in Equestria, right? Granted, that's like finding the most powerful warrior ant in the colony, an ant is still an ant...but Princess Celestia is disturbingly resourceful."

In response, he folded his arms behind him. “Be that as it may, they are physical. We are metaphysical. There is nothing they can do that can kill us. As it was thrice before,” Driath explained as he held out his arms to each side, as if emphasizing his divinity. "These two are nothing more than a minor inconvenience at best. At worst, we will have to take one hour out of our collective schedules to flatten the both of them."

“And if Thulst can’t stop them…?”

Driath stopped short and turned to Koozaf. They both remained there, emotionless and glaring at each other. Finally, Driath spoke. His voice was measured, but cold as ice. “If Thulst and his hordes of glittering trinkets do nothing to slow those ponies down, I will take matters into my own hands.” The other five rulers all shared knowing glances with one another before they looked back at Driath. "Do you have any other concerns?"

"No."

"No."

"Nope."

"Mm-mm."

"No."

"Good," Driath said. He turned around to gaze back out the black window of the grand hall. After a momentary pause, he turned his head back just enough for his lower face to be seen under the shadow of his hood. "From whence you came, then. I shall call you if I decide it's necessary."

The five others remained still for a moment before Uulant struck his chestplate with his fist and bowed his upper body before he pivoted and marched over to the portal he entered from. A mote of light flared to life inside and Uulant disappeared through it. After watching him walk way, Koozaf sighed and stretched his arms above his head before he stood up and walked back to his archway; Theilm followed his example a few seconds later. Stroho rolled her eyes, bowed her head, and turned to leave until Thulst, who had been twiddling his thumbs for the past several minutes, bowed slightly and quickly ran to his portal and disappeared in a flash of light.

Finally, Driath was alone, and could contemplate his part to play in peace.

Author's Note:

i'm sorry about the flagrant ooc, i'm out of touch 🤷

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[Leave a Whisper]

Well this has taken a turn for the worst. Who are these goons?