Ciderfest 2023 Mane Story Friday Night - "Immersion"

by Sonicsuns

Heroes

Barley and Caramel ran through a portal to yet another dimension. They found themselves in a futuristic city at night, filled with neon lights and high-rise buildings. Hundreds of pegasi filled the crowded streets and the air above, shopping and chatting casually.

Caramel gasped. “Ohmygosh, look!”

She pointed to a neon sign that read “ZH”.

Before Barley could answer, a passing pegasus called down to them “Hey!” she said, “Are you lost?”

Caramel and Barley looked up at the newcomer, both noticing the high-tech visor on her face and the chrome-plated devices on her forelegs.

“I guess we do stand out,” mumbled Barley.

“Hey,” said Caramel, “is this Zephyr Heights?”

The high-tech newcomer looked confused. “What? No, this is Zipp Heights.”

“Zipp Heights?”

“Yeah. You know. Zipp?”

They stared at her.

“Zipp Storm. You know? Founded the CyberCorps? Went to space? Beat the Galaxians in the battle of Zumba?”

“Zumba?” said Barley, dumbfounded.

“You’re really not from around here!”

“Yeah, that’s actually a funny story.” said Caramel. “We sortof came through a portal.”

“Oh, that’s your deal! Yeah, that’s been weird. I heard there’s some portals further down the mountain that nopony can figure out. Oh, and we had some junk fall through a portal earlier. Is that yours?”

The stranger gestured behind them, and Caramel and Barley turned to see a very familiar hot air balloon. It was purple with a basket underneath.

“OhmigoshOhmigoshOhmigosh!” squeaked Caramel. “Barley, we have to use that.”

“For what?!”

An hour later, the pair were in the basket of the balloon, drifting down along the mountainside as the sun rose in the distance.

“Ohhhh, this is perfect!” yelled Caramel, and she began to sing: “My Little Pony, My Little Pony, ahhhhh…”

“Portal!” yelled Barley as he steered the balloon into a large portal below them.

Caramel nudged him. “Hey! Don’t interrupt the song.” But it was too late for that. The balloon passed through a portal and the pair found themselves awash in daylight, drifting through the skies of some other world.

Carmel looked out over the new landscape. “Wow,” she whispered.

The two of them paused for a few moments.

Barley turned and sighed. “So…I guess we’re going off-schedule this year.”

“It’s not the first time.” she offered.

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Ok, I guess it’s the first time that this…you know, specific thing has happened” she replied, somewhat embarrassed, “but it’s pretty amazing, right?!”

“It would be,” said Barley, “if it wasn’t so dangerous.”

He leaned against the edge of the balloon basket, crossing his forelegs beneath his chin and tapping his hoof nervously.

“Hey,” offered Caramel, “we’ll find her.”

“How? She could be anywhere! And if we do find her, what then?”

“I…I don’t know. She’s a little off.”

“A little?” He thought of Fizzy’s fury at Opening Ceremonies; the memory still shocked him.

“But I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. We’re her friends. We’ll figure it out.”
“And in the meantime, we’ve got three different factions fighting over a bunch of magical pages so they can…what, rule the world?”

“Apparently?”

“Like I said: Off. Schedule.”

“Hey, look!”

Carmel pointed down towards a series of thatched-roof buildings below them. In a few moments they landed on a grassy field in a very familiar little town. A windmill turned lazily in the distance.

“Caramel, is this-”

Suddenly they were greeted by a very familiar voice. “There you are!”

The two of them turned to see none other than Twilight Sparkle approaching them with a smile, magical Pages fluttering about her.

“Twilight?!” yelped Caramel, falling out of the basket and faceplanting onto the ground.

Twilight laughed a bit as she helped Caramel up. “Easy, now. You’ve had a hard day.”

“Where have you been?” said Barley.

“In a word, everywhere.” Twilight replied, glancing through the pages that fluttered around her. “This really is a fascinating situation, though personally I’d like to get back to normal as soon as possible.”

Barley sighed. “You’re telling me!”

Caramel piped up. “What happened to Discord and Tirek?”

“We don’t know. We’ve heard about Tirek attacking guests, but the guests have been helping us gather pages too, and we’ve been using them to protect everypony. As for Discord…” Twilight frowned. “I know he usually has some plan, but I’m worried. Last we really spoke was after the Battle of the Bell, and I know what happened bothered him.” She shook her head. “Like I said, I’m worried.”

“That’s a relief,” said Barley. “What about Fizzy?”

Twilight sighed. “I don’t know. She’s been moving across stories chaotically, and it was hard enough tracking you down. But don’t worry. We still have time.”

She wrote something on a page, and a portal opened up beside them. Caramel looked in and saw what appeared to be the deck of a spaceship. A gold-colored pony on the other side looked up at her in confusion.

“Don’t mind us!” said Caramel.

Twilight gestured to the portal. “Fizzy was in this world a short while ago. If you follow portals from there you have a good chance of finding her.”

“You’re not coming with us?” said Barley nervously.

Twilight shook her head. “I’m sorry, I’m busy making sure that Pages don’t fall into the wrong hooves. And besides, you’re her friends. You’re the ponies she needs to talk to most.”

Barley nodded. “We’ll do what we can.”

Caramel bounded through the portal. “Do not be alarmed! We come in peace!”

Barley followed. He took one last glance back at Twilight as the portal closed between them.

Comments

[Sabboth]

It took me a while to figure out that these are three different versions of the same chapter— and since the “canon” version is in the middle, that means I read them out of order. :P
Maybe it would help to have author’s notes that include a link directly to the next “canon” chapter of the (next) story? Beginning with the Opening, I s’pose…?
Now that I know how the “mane story” is arranged, I think what I’d like to do is read only the canon chapters, in order, and then come back and skim the alternate versions afterward.
Hopefully this helps clarify the format, in case anyone else is as confused as I was. :)

[Sonicsuns]

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Good point! I hadn't realized that might confuse people. I'll see about adding in some links.