A strange gift causes 8 friends' lives to change forever.
When a pegasister celebrates her 16th birthday, she recieves a mysterious package amongst her gifts. Opening it, it is revealed that it is a small purple pony figure. But upon touching it, she and her friends a teleported to Equestria, for a very important mission - to save Equestria from destruction!
Twilight Sparkle burst through the palace doors, and galloped towards her teacher. "Princess..." she said, while catching her breath. "You called for me?" The royal princess looked down, and sighed. "Yes, Twilight. Thank you for coming on such short notice. I'm afraid to inform you that the time has come for me to make a difficult decision. A decision so important, it could decide the future of not only Equestria, but even the entire world." Twilight's eyes widened. "But surely-" Celestia raised her hoof to silence her pupil. "Yes, Twilight. I have made my decision. You know what to do." "Isn't there anything else we could do?" Celestia looked at Twilight, and smiled sadly. "I wish there was. But no, we have no other choice. Do you agree to the great task to which I have given you?" Twilight hung her head. She always knew that this day may come; she just hoped that it wouldn't. "Yes, Princess. I start on the preparations needed immediately."
***
"PARTY!!!!!" Adara was thrown back as her friends all charged through her front door. "Hi guys," she said, smiling as her friends all squeezed into her hallway. "Hi? Hi!? Is that all we get? Adara, you're finally sixteen! You should be happier than just 'hi'!" Lacey said, giving her a huge smile. Adara laughed before saying, "Hey guys." Lacey shook her head and rolled her eyes, laughing. They both walked into the main room, as all her other friends - Skylar, Liz, Sophie, Heidi, Effie and Garnet greeted her with 'happy birthday Adara' and hugs. This is what Adara loved about her friends - the fact that they all cared. Cared enough to come all the way over to her house when they could be on holiday or just lying around on this lovely summer's day, cared enough to care about her life and other stuff, cared enough to be there for her when she needed them. She knew that these were her true friends - Twilight had Applejack, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity; she had these guys. "You know when you shouted out 'party' when you walked in you really reminded me of Pinkie Pie." Adara said, handing Lacey a drink. "Pinkie Pie?" her friend asked, with a worried look on her face. "Yes, she is a character from My Little Pony." Her friends sighed and a few facepalmed. Only one of her six close friends liked My Little Pony - Skylar - and even she was a closeted Pegasister. All the others resented the programme, and, whenever it was brought up, did their best to insure Adara knew that fact. "Hey! It's my birthday - be nice," Adara said, looking at everyone of them in turn. She knew that bringing it up would annoy them, and they knew that she loved to bring it up. "Anyway," Liz said, trying to change the subject. "Presents. A birthday's not a birthday without gifts."
***
"So that's what's going to happen. Everything is already in place. Are there any questions?" Twilight was standing in the middle of the library, surrounded by her friends. Applejack raised her hoof. "Err, ah got one. Why now? I mean, why d'we have teh do this now? Ain't there any other opinions?" "Applejack, I wish there was, but the Princess said it herself - there is no other choice." She sighed and looked away. "Celestia told me about this years ago, but assured me that the chances of it happening in my lifetime were minute. But of course still possible." She turned back to her friends. "Celestia wouldn't use this route unless we had no other option. We must do this or Equestria will perish." The ponies looked at each other, worried, then turned to Twilight. "When?" they all asked. "Tomorrow, by the latest."
***
Adara grabbed a present from on top of the pile. She examined the wrapping for a card to determine who the giver was. But nothing. "Who's is this?" she asked looking at her friends. They all shrugged, and Adara looked at the wrapping once more. It looked familiar, but she knew she had never seen anything like it before. She was intrigued - was one of her friends just not owning up to getting her this gift, or did someone else put this here? She carefully opened the gift, which revealed a small box. She pulled the lid off and gasped as she saw the small figurine of a pony in there. This wasn't a normal figurine, however. This was special. As she touched it, she felt a light spark, not unlike a static shock, but completely painless. She didn't understand why she was feeling this way, nor what this object was in front of her. Adara stared at it, until Skylar went over to see it for herself. "Hey, it's Twilight!" Adara looked at it - it was a perfect replica of the purple unicorn, but it didn't really explain what was going on. "There's something different about it though. It's not just a normal toy. It's...it's...it feels like it giving off its own energy." Skylar took the box from Adara and examined it herself. "You're right. There's something different," she said, handing it back. Skylar picked up the purple pony, for a closer look. Adara checked in the box for a note, but again nothing. Skylar examined 'Twilight' and handed it around for all her friends to examine themselves. Adara watched as her friends in turn looked at the pony and pass it on with a confused look on their face. When it got back to her, she put the box down on the floor and took it. As soon as she touched it, the pony grew hot, and Adara dropped the pony in alarm. "What the-" she started, when she saw the pony start to vibrate and glow. Suddenly, a huge bright light engulfed them. The last thing Adara remembered was the overwhelming feeling of fear and confusion.
Adara slowly opened her eyes. It took a while for her eyes to adjust properly to the bright light surrounding her. It was then she remembered what happened. She quickly raised her head, trying to find the source of the light. To her surprise, she found herself outside, lying on the ground. Very carefully she sat up in order to get a good look round. She was very weak, so it took some time by she realised that she was in a village by the look of it - a village she had never been to before. Oh god, she thought, please say I'm dreaming.
Suddenly, there was a scream coming from behind her. She immediately recognised it as Garnet's voice. Trying to turn around as quickly as possible, she heard her friend shout, "Oh god! Please no!" Once she was finally around, she realised her friend had a very good reason for screaming.
She was a pony.
Adara froze, staring at her. Questions came going through her mind - What? Why? How? Eventually, she came back to her senses and shouted to her friend, "Don't worry Garnet! I'll - Just keep calm!"
Adara did not know what she could possibly do, but she knew her friend was in need of help, and help she would give. She started to get up to run over to her friend, but suddenly, found herself unable to keep her balance. She looked down, and found herself in shock again.
She was also a pony.
She raised her hooves to her face and examined them. Definitely real, she thought. This is not a joke. She looked around for something reflective, and saw a small pond nearby. She went, as quickly as she could, towards it and looked in. Looking back at her was indeed a pony - a light grey pony with a spiky blue and turquiose mane and purple eyes. She leaned in, not believing what she saw. Examining her mane, she noticed a grey horn poking through. Raising her hoof, she touched it. She turned around to looks at her tail. Exact same colour scheme as her mane. I look very familiar, she thought. Then it hit her. Vinyl Scratch - the famous DJ in Equestria. She looked just like her, except the blue in her mane was a slightly different shade, her eyes weren't red and her mane was darker. Thinking of Vinyl made her remember she had no idea where she was. She turned around. She walked around a bit, taking in her surroundings. Then, she realised. She was in the the town of Ponyville. Suddenly, she was filled with excitement. "Whoo hoo!" she shouted, while jumping up. "I'm a pony! A flipping pony!" She laughed.
"Dara?" a voice said. Adara whipped around to face another pony - a pegasus no less. This pegasus had a pale green coat and a dark green mane and tail.
"Sky?" she asked, walking closer to the mare.
"Oh my god, Adara, what is going on? I never ever thought I'd ask this but why are we ponies?"
Adara shook her head. " I have no idea, Sky. But I have a feeling that we're going to be finding out soon. Come on, let's help the others. I bet they're freaking out more than us."
They walked over to each of their friends. All of them - Heidi, Sophie, Effie, Liz, Lacey and Garnet - were all ponies. Only Effie and Skylar were pegasi; the only other unicorns were Liz and Sophie. Compared to Garnet, they were taking quite well. Garnet was still yelling out ' please say I'm dreaming' to anyone who would listen.
While helping her friends to their feet, Adara noticed something about them. None of them had their cute marks. After a while, Adara checked her own flank. Blank. No cutie mark. She mentioned it to Skylar. "Well," she replied, "we have only just come here. I mean, humans don't have cutie marks. Maybe they'll come later?"
"Yeah, maybe." Adara was a bit worried. She knew how hard it was to get a cutie mark - she'd watched The Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to get one for months. She knew how important a cutie mark was - when a filly gets her cutie mark, it is the most important day of her life. She shook her head. She was getting ahead of herself. She didn't even know if they were going to be staying here - Celestia would probably find us and send us back home.
Once everyone had been calmed down, Adara and Skylar, as the only ones out of them who watched the programme, had to explain where they were.
"Please say we are not in Ponyland," Garnet pleaded to her friends.
"Well actually 1. The town is Ponyville. And 2. The country's name is Equestria," Adara informed her friend.
Heidi shook her head. "It doesn't matter what it's called; all that matters is why we are here. And how we can get home."
Adara lowered her head. "I don't know why we're here. I don't know how we got here. And I do not know how to get back home."
"Maybe I can help you."
Adara gasped as the rest of her friends turned around to face a purple unicorn.
The friends all stared at the purple mare that stood in front of them, in disbelief - Adara and Skylar more amazed than any of them. Twilight smiled warmly at them, and raised her hoof for them to shake.
"Hello, my name is-"
"Twilight Sparkle," Adara said, nearly running towards her. She took her hoof and shook it vigorously, a huge smile on her face. "My name is Adara. Just Adara, really. And these are my friends - Skylar, Sophie, Effie, Heidi, Lacey, Liz and Garnet." Each of her friends took a step forward as they heard their names.
"It is a pleasure to meet all of you. I'm sure you are very confused about why you are here, but don't worry, you will find out in time. I would explain now, but I must wait for Princess Celestia. However, if you would like to follow me, we can go inside and wait for her there," Twilight explained.
"Thanks," the 8 friends said at once. Twilight turned around and the others followed her. As they walked through the town, they drew the attention of many residents, as they had never been seen before by them.
Sophie walked next to Adara. "Well, I expect you're happy," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"This is probably the best birthday present you have ever gotten."
Adara laughed. Yes, it probably was.
***
Eventually, they reached the library. Twilight knocked on the door. "Girls, they're here."
Suddenly, a blur of pink burst through the door and grabbed Adara and her friends. They were pulled into the library, where they lay in a heap on the floor, surrounded by darkness.
"What's happen-" Effie said, looking around nervously.
The lights flicked on and a loud 'SURPRISE!!!!' filled the room. Adara's friends screamed as confetti filled the air around them.
A pink earth pony with a curly pink mane jumped in front of them shouting, "WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA!!!" The friends stared at her in shock, as she continued, "See, Twilight here told us you were coming, and I knew that you obviously haven't been here before and therefore you wouldn't really have any friends from here, and you were probably really scared because you guys are now ponies and you weren't before and you might be sad, because you aren't home. So I thought that we should cheer you up, and what's the best way to cheer someone up? Duh - a party! So I threw this together as soon as Twilight left to get you, - good thing I have my party cannon - and I got everyone to hide, and then we yelled out 'Surprise!' when you walked in, but you already know that because you were there then. Oh, and isn't someone's birthday too?"
Adara and her friends stood, not taking in what the pony just said, until Lacey said, "Oh, yeah. It's Dara's 16th today!"
The pink pony took in a deep breath and said, "Well, happy birthday to you! I'm so happy that we got to meet on your birthday- it means that we actually get to celebrate it together! I'm Pinkie Pie, by the way, and I love to PARTY!! Maybe we'll have even more parties together- of course we're gonna have more parties together. What am I saying? Anyway it's great to-"
"Whoa, hold yer horses there, sugar-cube. Don't wanna be givin 'em more than they can chew," a yellow and orange pony interrupted. She cocked her hat in their direction and said, "Howdy. I'm Applejack. It's nice to meet ya folks. I hope ya'll will enjoy yer time in Equestria.'
"Oh, yes. I do hope you will like it here. After all, Equestria is a wonderful place to live," a white unicorn with a purple mane added. "I'm Rarity, by the way. Pleasure to meet you all."
They waved at her and looked towards the pink pegasus standing behind everyone. Suddenly, she noticed the attention she was getting. "Oh no," she said, cowering.
"Oh, Fluttershy, don't worry. They won't bite you. They're friendly, I promise," Pinkie Pie said, crouching next to the scared mare.
"Oh, it's not that. I just don't like all the attention, you see. I'm sure they are very nice," she said, very lightly.
The newcomers' attention was broken by a rainbow-maned pegasus landing in front of Adara.
"Me, I am the one, the only Rainbow Dash - best flyer in all Equestria, probably the world. But anyway, enough about me. You're DJP0N3!" she said, looking at Adara.
"Oh, I wish. No, I just happen to look just like her. My coat's a different colour and the shade of blue is wrong, and my eyes... Also, no cutie mark," she replied, smiling, and showing Rainbow and the others her flank.
"Interesting," Twilight said, examining the flank. "Where you come from, there are no cutie marks, right?"
"Yes. There are no such things as cutie marks," Garnet said. This was the first thing she had spoken to the ponies. "Also, the ponies, or horses, don't talk, and they're not pink or orange or blue - they are brown or white or grey."
"Garnet..." Liz started
"No, don't interrupt me," she said. "I want to know why I'm here, how I got here, and when I can get home. I want to know how this world even exists and I want to know what is going on here. I want to know these things and I want to know them now."
All the ponies lowered their heads, ashamed that they weren't able to answer them, when a voice was heard from behind them.
"Well, I believe I have the answers you're searching for."
Everyone turned around to see Princess Celestia smiling at them.
The Ponyville ponies immediately bowed at the sight of their princess, as did Skylar and Adara. Their friends, however, stood there, unsure what to do.
"Umm...who are you?" Sophie asked, finally breaking the silence.
The royal alicorn smiled at her and replied, "My name is Celestia, and, as well as being Twilight's teacher, I am one of the princesses who rules this land."
The friends looked at each other, and slowly bowed to her. Celestia smiled again and said, "There's no need for that."
All the ponies stood up to face her, and Twilght said, "I haven't told them anything yet about why they are here; I thought I should wait for you, since you are the reason why they're here."
"You!" Garnet shouted. Everyone turned towards her; Adara's face fell. She knew her friend was capable of when she was angry - she just hoped it won't reach that.
"You're the reason why we were taken from our homes, from our own world, and turned into colourful ponies? Why the hell would you do that? How did you do that? What have we ever done to you?" she exclaimed angrily, slowly walking closer to Celestia.
"Allow me explain-"
"Yeah, you better explain, and it better be a good reason too!"
The princess sighed and closed her eyes. She began to pace around the room while saying, "There is a great darkness moving through Equestria. I have only seen it once before - before the Nightmare Moon incident and before my sister and I defeated Discord. We were leaders of a few rebel ponies rising up against Discord. The creature came from outside Equestria. When Discord heard about our plans to overthrow him, he allowed this creature into our country to wreak havoc amongst those who were rising against him. Of course, it did its job, but killing other innocent ponies as well. My sister and I knew that it must be stopped, and we thought of harnessing the power of the Elements of Harmony to destroy it. But the Elements were not enough. We needed a more powerful source of magic. There was only one thing more powerful than the Elements of Harmony - the Bindings of Hope. We searched for them far and wide for many years. We were out of ideas when 8 brave ponies came forth, with powers of their own. They were the Bindings of Hope, just like Twilight and her friends are the Elements of Harmony. Using their powers and the power of the Elements, only then were we able to subdue this creature.
"But again, it was stronger than we initially thought. We were not able to destroy it - only weaken it. During the battle, the 8 ponies that bravely stood up were weaken terribly. When the creature made its final bid of freedom, they used the last of their strength to insure its failure. Of course, they were so exhausted by their extended use of their powers that when Discord, angry at them due to the failure of his plan, attacked them, they were unable to defend themselves. They were sent far away, to a completely different world, where they were unable to return.
"They carried out their new lives - made homes, families, friends - in their new world, and eventually died peacefully at a reasonable age. They passed on their powers to their children, and passed it to theirs and so on and so forth. But over the years, their genes became...diluted. Only a few of their descendants now have the ability to harness the power of the Bindings, and their existence was, until recently, unknown.
"Now that this creature is back and moving across Equestria once more, we not only need the Elements of harmony, but also the Bindings of Hope. After much study and careful checking, I have discovered the identities and whereabouts of the descendants of the original Bindings of Hope." The Princess stopped pacing and looked up at the 8 ponies. "And they are standing right in front of me."
The 8 friends stood staring at the princess, unable to take in what she just said. Eventually, the silence what broken by Heidi, who said, "So, let me get this straight. Our great-great-great-great-great-great, however many greats, grandparents were actually ponies who had magical powers, which defeated an evil creature, who is now back, and we have to now defeat it, using the powers we inherited from them?"
The princess smiled at the blue-coated, green-maned mare and said, "If you put it that way, yes."
Adara looked at Skylar; her face was full of surprise, mixed in with disbelief. Adara knew that that was the way she was feeling too - as wonderful as knowing that your ancestors defeated evil, passing that responsiblity to you was a bit much to handle. She slowly raised her hoof. Celestia nodded at her and the unicorn began speaking.
"Your majesty...are you sure? I mean that it's us? I know these guys are special, but me, I'm nothing."
Applejack replied, "Aww sugarcube, don't say that yer nothin. Why, I didn't believe it when it turned out that we were the Elements - you just gotta believe in yerself."
"Well said Applejack," Celestia told the orange earth pony. She turned again to the 8 friends and spoke to them.
"I understand that this is a lot to take in, but you do not have to take any big decisions now. The time will come when your skills are needed, but it will not be in the near future. However, we do need to start making sure of certain things. I'm sure you have all noticed that none of you have your cutie marks; these you will have to gain in time, just like everypony does. I do not think they - or your lack of them - will have any effect on your powers. However, the powers of the Bindings of Hope have been unused for generations, and will need some practise on. Therefore, all of you will be staying with the Elements of Harmony, Twilight and her friends, here in Ponyville." She turned to Twilight. "You do not have to write anymore letters to me about the Magic of Friendship; instead I wish to hear progress reports on how these ponies are doing," she said ot her, addressing Adara and her friends.
"Of course, Princess."
Celestia bowed her head to her student and turned to Adara, Effie, Skylar, Sophie, Garnet, Liz and Lacey. "I hope you will enjoy it here in Equestria, and I now leave you in the safe hands of my most faithful student and her wonderful friends." With that, she bade them farewell and departed.
The ponies watched as they saw the princess saw into the nightsky toward the city of Canterlot. Although Adara and her friends arrived during broad daylight, the night had now arrived and the warm summer day was turning colder and colder by the second.
"I guess we should start deciding sleeping arrangements," Twilight said. She ran inside, and called for Spike.
The green baby dragon walked into the room. "Yes Twilight?"
"Spike, I need you to take a note for me."
The dragon grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill, while Twilight went over to the girls.
" I don't mind who stays with me - I have only two spare rooms though, so I can only take two."
"I can take two too, Twilight," Applejack said, walking up to her. "I reckon we've got enough space at the farm."
Twilight beamed. "That's excellent. Thank you Applejack. Now everyone else only needs to take in one. I think for obvious reasons a pegasus should stay with Rainbow - Effie, would you like to?"
The orange and blue pegasus' eyes widened with fright. "Doesn't she live in the clouds? I don't think I'm ready to fly just yet."
Skylar took her chance. "I don't mind," she said looking from Twilight to Rainbow excitedly.
"Great!" Twilight smiled. "One down - seven to go. Effie, since you don't want to go to Rainbow's, why don't you stay with Fluttershy? I'm sure she needs some help with the animals - right, Fluttershy?"
The two shy pegasi looked at each other and smiled.
It didn't take long to sort out the others; after hearing about Liz's plans for fashion, Rarity demanded that she stay with her, and Lacey and Pinkie were just made for each other. Sophie decided that she would stay at Twilight's, due to her curiousity about magic. Applejack wanted someone who could do something on the farm, and Heidi was the only one who was capable of that, due to her love of sports and running. Adara didn't mind who she stayed with, as long as she was able to see her friends, learn more about Equestria and have some shelter. It was only Garnet that had a problem.
"I don't want to stay in a barn or on a cloud or in a library - I want to go home," she said, sitting down stubbornly.
Adara started walking over to her, but Skylar stopped her. "Let me," she said. Adara nodded.
"Garnet," Skylar sat next to her friend. "I know this is pretty hard to accept - the fact that we're ponies, the fact that we have some kind of special powers, the fact that we're going to help defeat an evil being - but try to remember this. All of us are feeling the same way - well, maybe except Adara. I think she's having way too much fun out of this."
Garnet laughed, and looked over at Adara. She was walking around the library, picking up quills with her magic, then squealing with joy and dropping them.
"Yeah, she really is."
"But the rest of us are having just as bad a time as you are. I know you don't like the programme, but think of it like this - it isn't a programme now, it's our life. Whether that is temporary, or permanent, I don't know, but try to make the best of it. The odds are when we do go back home, you might miss this place."
Garnet looked up, out of the library window, towards Luna's beautiful creation. It could be exciting, she thought. She looked over at Adara, who was still full of joy knowing that she could perform magic. If she's happy, she decided, then I should be happy too.
"Ok. I'll try and make an effort."
Skylar smiled and gave the red maned pony a huge hug.
Garnet stood up and walked over to Applejack. "If it's ok with you, I would like to stay at..Sweet Apple Acres. I could probably be some use around the place somehow, and I'm willing."
"Of course, it's fine with me," Applejack told her. Adara caught Skylar's eye and smiled at her in thanks.
Adara walked towards the window and looked out. So much had changed from this morning - she had woken up 16, and had gotten a lot more than she bargained for. She thought back to home. She wondered if her parents were missing her, or if they had even noticed that she was gone. Maybe time had stopped or something, and when they went back only a minute will have passed.
She looked up at the night sky. She knew that the adventure had only just begun. The journey had only just started.