Four's A Crowd

by IGIBAB

01 - When you're Rife with Devastation

"That sounds like a bad idea..."

"I'm telling you, Maëva! It's one of the portals to Equestria!"

"That's why it's a bad idea!"

Maëva, a young blond adult lady, looked at her friend with legitimate concern, while she was way too hyped up by her own discovery. They were both standing in a cavern only lit by their flashlights, at the foot of a tall rocky wall.

"And it's up there?" said Maëva, flicking her light to the chimney-like hole in the ceiling. Large enough to fit four people.

"Not my fault if the ancient mages put the exits in random places," Éma replied, shrugging.

"How did you even find it? Like, I know speleology is your thing, but how did you even have the idea to look up?"

"Heard a weird noise, sent a drone."

Éma dropped the gear she was carrying and started to unpack. Maëva looked at her, not knowing if she should be despaired or amazed. She was like that, very much spontaneous.

Éma got a few stakes out, a rope, two ice axes, making sure everything was in perfect condition. She knew the risks. That's why she also tied her long black hair.

"I don't think I'll go through it," Maëva said slowly.

Éma suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked at her friend, shocked.

"Are you serious right now!?"

"Look, I know things are bad, but-"

"Bad!?"

Éma stood up, grabbing Maëva by the shoulders, staring her in the eyes.

"Listen, I know you're optimistic, but the world is going to shit. I know you still think your brother is alive, despite the island sinking. But there are literal monsters out there. I refuse to see you stay in that hell. You could be dead tomorrow. This portal is our chance to escape the freaking doom the Collapse brought!"

Maëva looked at her friend, saddened. She understood where she was coming from on that one, but...

"Why can't we talk about that place to everyone?"

"Because the portals can fade if too many people use them too quickly. Don't worry, I've left notes here and there. People will find this place after we're gone. But we need to think about ourselves first. Now put that on."

She handed her a harness, before taking one for herself, getting the snap hook ready, as well as the first stakes firmly hammered in the rock, flashlight stuck into a place made for it on her clothes.

Maëva sighed and put on the harness, readying herself. When she was done, Éma had already climbed two meters. She followed her, reluctantly.

Éma was right about everything, but Maëva didn't want to simply... leave. It was her home. Her place. Where she had grown, saw her family live. As far as she knew, the portal could work both ways, but some couldn't. And she knew so little about that place, Equestria, aside from what the legends from a few millennia ago told, when the ancient mages came. And they had vanished soon after. If it weren't for the few portals found here and there, those stories might have just stayed that: stories. Although, a lot of information was kept from the public.

Fifteen meters higher, Éma's hand finally reached a flat surface. One last effort later, they both arrived at the top.

The cave was a bit wider here. The walls looked pretty dull, at least for Éma. But the remarkable thing was right in front of their feet.

Maëva first thought it was a pool. But on closer inspection, surrounded by small blue and silvery crystals glittering under the flashlights, she realized it wasn't water. It was stone. Very smooth stone. A gray tone, where the light bounced off as if it was clear ice.

There was something mystical about that place. Maëva had heard tales, seen drawings, but never one portal in real life. An ancient gate to another world.

"Are you sure it's safe to cross...?" she slowly asked, as Éma was checking on her package.

"Kind of."

"We will end up as, like... ponies, right?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"What if they don't accept us...?"

"We'll see when we get there. Worst case, we can always pretend to simply be from another country."

"But if-"

The place was suddenly shaken. An earthquake almost caused Maëva to fall back through the abyss they had come from. But it didn't last. Everything went back to normal as quickly as it had started.

"Another meteor..." Éma muttered. "That one wasn't far off."

She looked at the bags she had brought. She handed one to her friend.

"Here. In case we get separated during the transfer. There's enough to last a few days. And to keep warm."

Maëva took a look inside. Vegetables, water, and a... coat? Yeah, that was a coat. Just one made for a pony.

"Thanks. But isn't there like a second portal on the other end? We should both come out that way, right?"

Éma knew way more about those than her, so she was wondering why so much precautions.

"Well, it's hard to know," Éma sighed. "Most people that went through one in recent years never came back. So we don't know if they arrived through another portal."

"Wait, they didn't come back?" Maëva suddenly worried. "Why?"

Éma looked at her, embarrassed and thoughtful.

"Well, they came out the other side alive, that's pretty certain. But there's a problem."

"Which one?"

Éma went by Maëva's side, leaning a bit on top of the portal, inviting her friend to do the same. Which she did, cautiously.

"You see, they couldn't come back because the portals we found since the old days are probably failed ones, made by the ancient mages."

"Failed ones?"

Éma nodded, taking in a deep breath, before saying:

"Only one person can go through them. Afterwards, they just deactivate. So, no one can come back through the portal they used."

The information took a little moment to be processed by Maëva's brain. Not quite certain to understand, she gave a confused look to her friend, still leaning above the portal. Éma looked back at her, saddened.

"I'm sorry."

Maëva felt a hand pushing her in the back. She fell, head first, into the portal. She barely had time to yell the name of her friend that everything became blurry.

Colors began to twist around her. The world swirled like a whirlpool. Her body was stretched. Her cry of terror and confusion became distorted as well. She held her bag as much as she could, as the whole universe around her lost consistency.

Then, black.

Then, white. Snow.

Silence.

Noise. Shattered glass.

Void.

Touch.

Maëva's head hit a floor. A rocky one. She actually knocked herself out.

---

Opening her eyes wasn't painful. Realizing she had a head carrying those eyes was. But she could see quite clearly, although her mind was a bit clouded.

She was in a house? No, the remnant of a house. Snow was falling on the paved floor. She saw walls around her, windows, holes in the walls.

She tried to get her head up, only to hit the ceiling with so much strength she actually went through it.

"Wha-Huh?"

She shook her head, getting rid of the stone bricks on it, still processing.

"Who makes houses that small...? Oh what!?"

Something felt wrong with her mouth. It felt larger than usual. And her tongue was... pointy? She ran her tongue on her teeth, only to realize she didn't have any. Something clicked in her head and she remembered. The portal. The push.

"Éma!"

She looked around. She was in the middle of some tundra step, with snow slowly falling all around. The ruins she was in were actually just an isolated thing. Not even a house worth of height.

Moving her head around, she noticed something. Her neck was really more flexible than before. Ponies had that?

She looked down and finally understood that something was wrong. Her neck was long. Too long. Oh god, it was like a snake. And at the base of it, that body was disproportionately large. She could only feel two feet and she... Wait, no, that was impossible... But...

"I don't have any arms!?" she shouted.

She looked at her whole body, using her comically long neck to check every part of her body. Nope, no arms. Just a large round belly supported by two dinosaur-like feet. A long tail with points on its end, and points on her back. She was some kind of monster.

"What the- How!? I was supposed to be a pony!"

While she didn't understand why the transformation had failed, she understood that the house she had landed on wasn't small. She was big. Too big. Standing up, she heard a little crack on the floor. She looked and saw shattered glass. As well as the remnant of a circular crystal frame. Oh no! The portal!

She moved away, but it was too late. It was gone.

"Oh no, no... Éma...!"

She couldn't do anything. She couldn't even try to reassemble the pieces: she didn't have any hands to grab them!

She got scared. What was she doing here, all alone? Her friend was definitely not coming now. She was lost in a snowy tundra, only seeing distant mountains.

And she was cold. Way too cold actually. She didn't have any clothes on, nor even a spot of fur. Only scales and she knew reptiles aren't too keen on staying in the cold.

"The coat!" she thought, looking around, only to find the bag Éma had given her, right under her belly.

No. It was too small. She couldn't even open it. Maybe she could with her tail?

With much effort, trying to focus while in the northern cold, she managed to direct the tip in the bag. Thank god it was small enough. She got the coat out. Yeah, it was barely the size of her foot. That wasn't going to keep her warm. And all her other stuff had disappeared, clothes and even the flashlight.

"Shit! What do I do now!?"

She put it back in and wrapped her tail around the bag to carry it. She got her head as high as possible, looking around for a solution. Whoever had built that portal, it wasn't occupying this place anymore. Nor were their descendants.

She saw something on the horizon. Something was glowing. White and bright, like a star.

"I need to find some people..."

It took a bit of effort to lift her own massive body on one foot. Then the other. It felt so clumsy to walk like that. Well, until she realized her tail was there to balance things out.

One notable plus side is that each step covered a large distance. The downside being that her belly was so close to the ground that it was actually touching the snow.

"What the hell am I even...?"

She had expected to change. A part of her had been ready for it. But that was too much.

It took her about ten minutes to finally understand what she saw from afar. It was a tower. Like one from a magical castle. Actually, it looked like a magical castle once she got closer. With other smaller towers and all. Cyan, white, blue. And pointy as fudge.

Maëva thought she saw something else, between her and the tower. Something white and yellow. She squinted. Those eyes didn't like the cold.

It was small. But growing. Moving? Was it getting closer?

"Is that... A pony?"

She had seen ponies in her world, at least in photos. But this one was... different. Colorful, with shades of purple and blue, and very simplistic. It was also surrounded by a yellow aura and flying right towards her. Wait, flying? Like a pegasus?

The white pony looked angry. And female? It also had a horn, which was glowing. Maëva wanted to wave at her, but remember she didn't have any arms.

The light on the pony horn suddenly gained intensity. A laser beam shout out of it. Maëva barely had time to dodge, throwing herself on the side, losing balance and falling.

"Aaah!"

"You shall not tread on these grounds, vile creature!" the pony yelled, flying above her, readying another beam.

"Wait!" Maëva pleaded. "Wait! I'm not a monster!"

"That's what they all say!" the horned pegasus said with gritted teeth, before she stopped. "Wait, hydras can talk?"

"I'm not a hydra!"

The pony looked confused for a second, but still wary.

"What kind of trickery is this? Are you a changeling!?"

"No! I'm a human! I came here with a portal!"

Despite her natural distrust, Maëva had no choice but to be sincere. That mare would not hesitate to attack her again. The flying equine frowned.

"A human? Through a portal?"

"Yes!"

"You lying worm! Humans only appear as ponies through portals!"

"Well, I thought that too!" Maëva said, quite angry, trying to stand up again. "I don't even have arms!"

"If you're a human, then tell me your name!" the pony commanded with authority.

"It's Maëva! And I'm freezing!"

"That's not the sort of name humans usually have..."

The aggressive horned pegasus seemed to think. She muttered:

"But a hydra would never go that far north... She would die of cold... And no hydra would know about the portal."

"Who the hell even are you!?"

The mare looked at Maëva, before realizing.

"Oh, that's right, I didn't introduce myself. Usually you do that, even to enemies, mom told me."

She cleared her throat, spreading her wings to have as much presence as she could.

"I'm princess Flurry Heart, daughter of princess Cadance and Shining Armor, rulers of the Crystal Empire!"

Maëva took a step back. Or rather, she leaned a bit. Her body wasn't really practical to go backward. She was dealing with royalty? Oh dear, she had been impolite with an actual princess? And one with magical powers?

"O-Oh."

"But I don't understand. If you truly were a human and came through the portal we would have seen you."

Maëva only got more confused.

"What do you mean?"

"The portal is in the middle of the city. And you're not really unnoticeable."

"Well, my portal was in some ruins over there."

Maëva wanted to point her thumb over her shoulder, but she didn't have either of them. She mumbled when she remembered it.

"Some ruins?" the pony repeated

"Yeah. Like an old stony house. I'm sorry, but could we get to someplace warmer please? I can't even feel my feet anymore."

"Oh, sorry."

Flurry's horn went bright for a moment. A yellow bubble of what Maëva assumed to be magic engulfed them and protected them from the snow. It felt nice and warm in here, as if she was standing inside a house.

Maëva looked at the princess, still a bit wary. But also a bit relieved now that the winged unicorn didn’t seem like she was going to attack her again.

"Thanks... Er, I mean, thank you, princess."

Flurry nodded briefly, before noticing the bag she was carrying at the end of her tail.

"What's that?"

"Oh, well, it's stuff my friend packed for me before she... pushed me in the portal."

Now that she wasn't alone anymore and not cold, the realization sank in Maëva. Éma. She had said only one person could go through. She had chosen to save her friend over herself. She had never planned on coming with her.

Maëva sat down, in shock. Everything was gone. Everyone she had ever known. Unless they were to find another portal. And it would only work for one person. Her world.

"She pushed you in?"

"Yeah... She discovered the portal and said she wanted to take it with me, but... Well, it's broken now."

"Why would you want to come here?"

Maëva looked at the princess flying in front of her. She was actually quite small. Smaller than her head. But she was an adult, albeit a young one. But something bothered Maëva in Flurry's question.

"You don't know...?"

"Why would I?" the princess said, almost offended.

"Well... People from my world supposedly took portals already to come here."

"As far as I know, there's only one portal and no one has come through it in years."

"How many years?"

"I don't know, fifteen?"

That didn't add up. Maëva was certain to have heard stories about portals in the last ten years. Éma had recent information.

"That still doesn't answer my question", Flurry pointed out, a bit upset.

"Well. My world is... falling apart. Earthquakes, meteors, people randomly disappearing, diseases, wars started by leaders that don't even recall why they declared it the day after. Something happened and seems to have broken reality. Everything that can go wrong eventually does so."

Maëva had purposefully left out the parts about the Collapse and the monsters roaming around. She didn’t know those ponies. They might just seek and destroy all the remaining portals if they were to become afraid of abominations coming through them. That’s what she would have done in their place. She was already a monster herself, at least in appearance.

"That sounds... Awful," Flurry said. "I didn't know things were that bad at Canterlot High?"

"Say what now?"

"What?"

"Canterlot High. What's that?"

"Well, it's the... Oh, right. You're not from that portal."

Flurry suddenly realized. She asked:

"Wait, are you even from the same human world?"

"Huh?"

"You said people from your world took portals. But how well are those things known in your world?"

"Well, everyone knows about them since ancient times. When your mages came through them."

"Our mages...?" Flurry slowly said.

"Yeah? We call them ancient mages, we don't have written records of their names or even anything they said."

"Hmm... Yeah, you're definitely not from the same world. In Canterlot High, the portal is a secret only the people from Equestria and a few others know about."

"I..." Maëva began, before putting that thought aside. "What's going to happen to me?"

"Well, first you're going to follow me. Can't have a hydra running around."

"Stop saying I'm a hydra!"

"What are you then?"

Maëva looked at herself, at a lack for words.

"I... Well, first off, hydras have more than one head."

"Only if the first one gets cut. I can try, if you want."

A golden battleax appeared by magic right next to Flurry. Maëva moved back, scared for her way too long and exposed neck.

"No no! I'll be fine!"

"Shoot," Flurry said, making the battleax disappear. "I never had the chance to try it."

And Maëva was fine with things staying that way. Sadly, that meant admitting she was a hydra. Flurry added:

"Alright then, follow me. We're going to the Crystal Empire."

"If you say so..."

Author's Note:

The deadline is in 4 days and I only have 2 chapters ready out of the 7-8 the story should take. *chuckles* Imma not make it.

Comments

[Scyphi]

Fully written with ArianP92's remix of The Gypsy Bard in the background.

That explains the chapter title. One look at that and I was immediately mumbling to myself: "...there's a simple explanation, you're a toymaker's creation trapped inside a crystal ball..."

[IGIBAB]

11840562
Yeah, the next chapters are going to be more or less like that but with slight changes to the lyrics ^^ Fits the story.

[Crystonian]

This looks like a fun story. I'm excited for more!