Lolian didn't know what happened, but she ended up in Equestria. Not knowing how to get back to Earth, she must face challenges to find her destiny.
After fighting with her friends in another dimension, Lolian found herself in Equestria when she tried to go home. While she there, she must find who brought her here to find her way back home, but she must make friends to help her on her quest.
To be honest, Lolian didn’t know what happened. One minute, she was leaving an alternate dimension and heading back to Earth, the next minute, she was standing in a train station in Ponyville. Standing on four legs felt weird. She began to panic a little.
She stood there, confused. She probably would have stayed there all day, but it was then that the train conductor walked up to her and nudged her shoulder.
“Excuse me, your highness,” the conductor began, “Are you lost?”
Surprised, Lolian turned towards the conductor.
“Yes,” she started, “I just need to know where to go.”
“Yes, of course.”
The conductor grabbed a map from a stand near the train station building. As he unfolded it, Lolian noticed that it was the map of Ponyville. The conductor studied the map for a minute. When he found what he wanted, he handed her the map and pointed to a small house on the far side of Ponyville.
“That,” he explained, “is your house. Just walk through town past both Town Hall and Twilight’s castle and you should find it in no time.”
Lolian thanked the conductor as he walked back to the departing train. She grabbed the only bag of luggage (with her mouth) that she had found next to her with her name on it. Quickly, she walked out of the train station and into the street. She found the streets of Ponyville quite empty. She wondered what happened to all the residents.
Lolian continued down the street in Ponyville. She couldn’t help but think how strange this other world was. She didn’t really understand this My Little Pony universe as well as she could have. She had always watched her sister enjoy the show, but she didn’t know much. All she knew was the main town was Ponyville, there were three princesses, and Twilight and the mane six were running around the place.
She walked past Sugar Cube corner and found Pinkie Pie and Applejack standing in front of the bakery. Remembering what happened to Twilight at the beginning of the series, she knew she would have to avoid Pinkie somehow.
Lolian reached up and felt something soft on the top of her head. She glanced up to find her hat, a Legend of Zelda elf hat, to be exact. The soft green hat might be enough to keep Pinkie from noticing her.
Pulling the green hat off her head, she used it to partially cover her face as she walked past them. Using one of her hooves to hold up the hat (with her suit case in her mouth) walking was not easily done. She would stumble a little and tried to regain her balance without trouble, but she ended up attracting attention rather than pushing it away.
As she fell to the ground, Pinkie interrupted the conversation with Applejack and walked over to the strange pony. The hat covered her horn, so she mistook Lolian for a Pegasus. Giggling in her misfortune, Pinkie helped the stranger up.
“Looks like you are having a little trouble today, Ma’m,” Pinkie said after finishing her laughter.
When Lolian took her hat off, Pinkie gasped. She ran around Lolian, examining her to the last detail. After she finished, she stood in front of Lolian and gasped loudly.
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!” Pinkie squealed in delight, “You’re new, aren’t you?!”
Lolian, dreading what came next, nodded.
“Wow! Another Alicorn Princess in Ponyville! Soon, we won’t have any room left!”
Lolian noticed out of the corner of her eye, she saw Twilight and the rest of the mane six running towards them. As Twilight stopped, her mouth hung wide open in astonishment.
“Another Alicorn Princess?” She asked aloud.
Pinkie turned her attention to her beloved friend.
“Yeah! I was confused, too!” she exclaimed.
`Being overwhelmed at the situation, Lolian abandoned her luggage and ran towards her house. Reaching the door, she ran inside and locked it behind her.
“Things can’t get any worse,” she panted.
“There you are, Lolian!” a voice snapped her back to reality.
She looked down to find a dark blue and black baby dragon staring at her happily. Her tail swung from side to side. Her amber eyes seemed to see something she couldn’t.
“Uh, who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Scales, remember?” the dragon reminded her.
Lolian didn’t want to blow her cover.
“Oh, y-yeah! I remember now!”
Lolian patted the little dragon’s head. She purred in delight. Lolian began to look around at her “house.” The walls were blue with tints of gold on the edges. There was furniture in front of a large fire place. There were photos of the Canterlot Castle and its busy streets. There was a set of stairs that led upstairs and a door leading to the kitchen right next to it.
The dragon looked at her with a slightly confused look. She began to get nervous and broke the silence.
“So, I tried to get the house you wanted,” Scales started, “But this was the only empty one. I hope you like it.”
Lolian glanced at the dragon, who was getting close to tears, and sighed quietly. Quickly, she hugged the dragon as tight as she could.
Sitting in front of her bedroom window watching the world below was her favorite past time. She was glad one thing had stayed the same. Lolian watched as ponies went on with their lives, as if everything in the world was right.
She became sad thinking about the man she had met in the previous dimension; Aiden. She missed him greatly. She almost considered him her colt-friend and—Ah dang it! She hadn’t even been there one day and she was already speaking just like them.
Sitting up, Lolian decided to go for a quick walk outside to clear her mind. Quickly, she exited her room and walked downstairs. She found the place darker than night. What cause this? It was only noon. She looked around, trying to find the door. She reached out and her hoof met in contact with the door knob. But before she could even turn it, the lights turned on.
“SURPRISE!!”
The shout had startled her and she fell over. She lifted her head and looked around to find ponies all around her. In the center of the room stood the mane six; Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down.
“Wow!” she shouted. “I guess she really was surprised!”
Lolian stood up and dusted herself off. She had forgotten that Pinkie threw a party for Twilight her first day. Why would she not expect this? Adjusting her hat, she looked around and noticed most of the ponies in the room were background ponies in the show.
Twilight walked up to her.
“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” she introduced. “And these are my friends: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Apple Jack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. We threw this party to help you feel welcome here.”
“It was hard to set this up without you knowing!” Pinkie exclaimed. “You were pretty quiet in your room and your little dragon said you didn’t want to be disturbed! I don’t think I know another pony who LIKES to be alone!”
“I’m not very social, either,” Lolian mumbled.
Pinkie walked around Lolian and inspected her appearance. Her light blue eyes searched over her curiously.
“You know,” she started. “I know all the alicorns in Equestria, but I don’t know you.”
Lolian rolled her eyes. Already she was getting annoyed. She had been away from home for too long. She didn’t want to stay here any longer. She grabbed her coin purse full of bits from a small table next to the door and opened the front door, ready to leave.
But before she could even walk outside, she was face to face with Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Her eyes went wide and she backed up, allowing all three to enter her house. They looked around a little, but Celestia turned her attention to Lolian.
“So,” she began, “You must be the new alicorn?”
Lolian nodded a little. Her whole body was stiff in shock. Celestia looked at her for a while.
“Interesting,” she said quietly. “What is your name?”
“… It’s Lolian.”
“…. Lolian?”
She nodded again.
“She has a weird cutie mark, too!” Pinkie interrupted.
Lolian looked at her flank. Her cutie mark was three gold triangles stacked together to form a bigger triangle. In the Legend of Zelda series, it was called a Triforce. The bottom right triangle stood for courage, bottom left for wisdom, and the top for power.
As she inspected her cutie mark, she noticed the tips of her wings were dark blue. She opened her wings a little and noticed that her wings had a gradient of white to dark blue. She liked it.
Folding her wings, she remembered that she was surrounded by ponies. She looked up at Celestia, who had a curious look on her face. That’s when it hit her.
A sick feeling entered her stomach. It was a homesick feeling. She felt lightheaded and her knees became weak. Her vision became bury and the world suddenly tipped over onto its side. She heard the muffled cries of the other ponies before she blacked out.
***
Lolian slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She was in bed with the lights dimmed. She glanced out the window next to her and saw the sun beginning to set in the distance.
She couldn’t remember what had happened before she woke up. All her muscles were stiff and they ached in pain. Then it came to her. She had passed out after feeling sick. She was surprised she wasn’t in a hospital after that.
She heard someone clear their throat. She looked over and saw the mane six standing by her beside.
“Are you alright?” asked Twilight.
“You gave us quiet a scare, darling,” Rarity remarked.
“It was Twilight’s quick thinking that helped you recover,” Apple Jack added.
Lolian sat up and cringed in pain. Her muscles were sore from sleeping so long. Twilight rushed to her side and inspected her.
“Oh my,” she gasped. “Looks like you’re still pretty sore.”
“You think?” Lolian asked sarcastically through her pain.
“…… Where did you come from?”
Lolian stopped. She hadn’t really planned out an answer for that particular question. What should she do? She couldn’t tell them she was from Earth. But then Lolian remembered a movie where Twilight visited a High School back on Earth. Maybe she could tell them….
“… It’s a long story,” Lolian replied.
“We’re not rushed.”
***
Twilight looked at Lolian with a surprised expression.
“You mean, you’re from the same world Canterlot High is?” she asked.
Lolian nodded.
“My friends and I were in a different world before I came here. I just want to go home.”
Twilight walked over to the machine she had built to travel back and forth between Equestria and Earth, as Lolian called it. She used her magic to levitate the journal with the emblem of Celestia’s cutie mark on it onto the holder. The machine sprang to life and started to open the portal.
Lolian smiled. She couldn’t believe that she was finally going home. She watched at the portal swirled open with the glimmer of purple magic. She walked towards it and protruded her hoof into the vortex.
There was a sudden flash of black. She saw a face in the vortex that smirked at her. The portal closed and ceased to be. Lolian jumped back, shaking. What did she just see? What happened to the portal?
Twilight and her friends were in shock. This had never happened before. Twilight walked up to the portal and brought the journal down.
“I can’t believe that happened,” she said quietly.
Lolian looked at her. Tears welled up in her eyes. What she really stuck? No, there had to be a way for her to get back. But what was that face in the vortex? Was that the cause of the vortex shutting?
Lolian stood up, only for her shaky legs to drop her back to the ground. It was then that reality hit her. She was trapped away from the real world against her will. The overwhelming sound of her heart beat rang in her ears.
The tears cascaded down her face in a waterfall of sorrow. It had been too long since she had last cried. The tears she had held back for weeks were now puddles on the ground.
Twilight set the journal down and grabbed a paper and quill. She quickly wrote something in ink and rolled up the paper, handing it to Spike. He took a deep breath and spat out green flames which made the paper disappear in smoke.
Lolian remembered that was how Twilight sent messages to Princess Celestia. What did she write this time? Using her right hoof, she wiped away the tears and stood up.
As fast as Twilight had written the letter was as fast as it took for Princess Celestia to respond. A flash of white light made the ponies cringe as the white alicorn appeared from nowhere.
Celestia looked at Twilight and folded her outstretched wings.
“What exactly happened?” she asked.
“Well,” Twilight began, “We had started up the portal to send Lolian home to her world, when the purple vortex turned black and closed.”
Celestia looked alarmed.
“I saw a face,” Lolian added. “It smirked at me.”
Celestia was quiet for a long time. She was deep in thought. Shaking her head a little, she turned her attention to Lolian.
“This is very strange,” Celestia started. “This has never happened before. I wonder what went wrong…”
“Maybe I’m stuck here forever,” Lolian concluded.
Celestia looked at her with a worried look.
“You’ll go home soon enough,” she said reassuringly. “Don’t worry.”
“You said you had been in another world before coming here, right?” Twilight asked. “Maybe someone is using magic to keep you here.”
Lolian looked at her. There could only be one person with the magic to do that: Herobrine.
***
Lolian sighed quietly. She tried to explain to them who Herobrine was, but Minecraft wasn’t widely known in the pony universe. She glanced at Celestia, who was thinking and looking away.
“That reminds me of an event,” Celestia finally said after some silence. “It was long before any of you were born. There were two other alicorns that lived at the Canterlot palace. The oldest was Silver Dawn and the younger was Midnight Flight. Dawn made the sun rises and sun sets more beautiful than I could have, and Midnight made the moon glimmer silver.
“One day, there were monsters attacking Equestria. Someone had opened a portal from another world and was letting pony zombies and skeletons everywhere. We tried to fight them off, but they got stronger. Dawn knew that a lot of power was going to have to be given up in order to save the world.
“In the end, Dawn gave her life and saved Equestria. She and her sister haven’t been seen since. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen to me. But that’s the way she always was; she was selfless.”
Lolian’s eyes were wide. If zombies and skeletons were really here, then there was no doubt that they had come from the same world she had been in. But why attack Equestria? This was truly puzzling.
Celestia shook the sad memory away from her and looked at the ponies.
“But enough talk,” she began, “It’s getting late. You all should return home. I’ll be back in the morning.”
And with that, she disappeared.
***
Somewhere in a distant corner of Equestria was a marshland that lay in fog. The gloomy sight was depressing in more than one way. But the real secret of the marshland was beneath the green marsh waters. Below the marsh was a dark and eerie castle that stood silently.
A flash of black smoke appeared in front of the castle doors. A yellow pegasus as big as Celestia stood on the paved ground. His black hair shone dimly in the dark atmosphere. He wore a purple crown that covered around his eyes with a red gem adorning it. He wore a matching pendant and hoof covers. His yellow and purple wings folded back into place as he walked inside.
His red eyes darted around, surveying his surroundings. The castle had been unused for years. But now he was back and he had matters to attend to.
A purple pegasus with demon green and grey wings and ghastly florescent green hair with black hoof covers and fake claws landed in front of him. Her crimson eyes looked at him.
“Ah,” he began, “It is nice to see you again, Shadow.”
Lolian sat on her bed in the dark. The silver moon shone bright in the night sky. She wiped her wet eyes with her hoof to dry them. Scales had fallen asleep next to her. Lolian enjoyed the company the little dragon gave her. The gentle rise and fall of the little dragon’s chest made Lolian tire, and fall asleep.
Slowly, a shadow mist crept under the crack at the bottom of the door and seeped into the room. The yellow pegasus became tangible from the mist and approached the bed. He smiled in delight as he watched her. He had waited for years for somepony like her, one filled with fear.
Slowly, the Alicorn before him opened her eyes. Once she saw him, she froze in fear. This made him even more delighted. He moved closer to her, making her inch back.
“Who are you?” she asked, shaking.
“I am your worst nightmare, Princess Lolian,” he responded.
She started to hyperventilate, trying to get as far away as possible from the stranger. This only caused him to laugh. She picked up a pillow and tossed at him, but with a quick flick of his wing, he sent the pillow flying into the wall.
“It’s so good to see you again, Princess,” he smirked.
“But I’ve never seen you before,” she answered.
“No, not here, but in the previous world. I was the shadow that slunk beneath your feet, that sent you here instead of the world you belong in, and that’s keeping you from leaving.”
Her eyes widened in fright. He was the one who sabotaged the portal from before. She used her hoof to shake the little dragon awake, but she remained asleep. This caused the alicorn to laugh.
“Waking her will do no good,” he chuckled. “My presence exudes magic, which allows me to keep hidden from the others. You, however, are the only one who can see me.”
Lolian, shaking, quickly jumped off the bed and opened the window. She started to jump, but was pulled back by an invisible force. She landed on the floor hard, making her cringe in pain. He put his hoof on her stomach, pinning her to the floor.
“I can’t have you dying on me, Princess,” he said sternly. “Not yet. I need you alive. If you die now, all my plans become in vain.”
“What do you want from me?” she asked breathlessly.
“You were the most cowardly in the group, which is ironic since you embody the element of courage,” he answered. “I need to feed off that fear in order to restore my fading magic.”
“Why?”
“Because I am fear itself.”
With that, the alicorn faded back into mist and flew out the window. Lolian quickly shut the window behind him, waking Scales as a result. She looked up at her with a confused look, but Lolian shook her head and laid down beside her.
***
Lolian woke up late the next morning groaning in pain. She had bruises where she fell on the ground as well as on her stomach from the alicorn digging his hoof into it. Scales asked her about the bruises, but Lolian lied and told her she had fallen off the bed.
When she walked out of the house after breakfast, she found a flier taped to her door. It read:
In Three Days, Prepare for… The Grand Galloping Gala! Wear your absolute best and meet at the Canterlot Palace
The Grand Galloping Gala? Lolian had heard of it before, but she wasn’t exactly sure what it was. Attached to the paper, she found a gold ticket for the Gala. Lolian rolled her eyes, knowing it must had been put there by one of the ponies from yesterday. She tucked the ticket away and started to walk down the street.
She trotted to Rarity’s Boutique and walked inside. All around were mannequins with fancy dresses and suits adorning them. She found Rarity in the middle of the room, sewing away at a pink dress upon a female mannequin. She squinted through her glasses as she finished sewing the last ribbon on. Feeling the presence of someone watching her, she looked up from her work.
“Ah, Darling, so glad you could make it,” she smiled.
“So I suppose it was you who placed the ticket on my door?” Lolian asked.
“No, dear, that was Twilight. Celestia gave her eight tickets this year. I guess she wanted to invite you.”
Lolian sighed. A Gala didn’t sound like much fun, but she had to go. It was the polite thing to do.
“Anyways, darling,” Rarity continued, “If you’re going to go to the Gala, you will need a proper outfit, not… This…”
Using her magic, she pulled the green hat off her head. Lolian looked up at it and frowned. Rarity then attempted to pull the black eye mask off her face, but Lolian kept it on using her magic.
“You can take the hat,” Lolian started, “but not the mask.”
“Very well,” Rarity sighed.
She picked up a measuring tape and used her magic to measure her, while writing down the measurements in a notebook at the same time. Then began the long process of preparing the dress. She showed her different colored materials, but Lolian cringed at them all. She didn’t like dealing with clothes.
Rarity finally pulled out a dark blue piece of fabric with glimmering gold trim. Lolian’s eyes sparkled. Rarity smiled, and began to cut from it. She put each piece together and sewed them using a sewing machine. Then she placed finished pieces upon a mannequin.
“You can go now, darling,” she said after a while. “This most likely won’t be done until tomorrow.”
Lolian nodded, and stood to walk out. Just then, Sweetie Bell ran into the boutique, crying about some young colt being unfair. Lolian quickly took the opportunity to run outside.
She continued to trot down the road, until reaching Sugar Cube Corner. She saw two guard ponies standing guard outside the entrance. She looked through the window to see Celestia having tea with Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Pinkie was walking by the door when she spotted Lolian, and signaled her to come inside.
Cautiously, she approached the door. The guard ponies recognized she was an alicorn and graciously allowed her entrance. She looked at the guard on her right for a moment. His white fur and black mane shimmered with the gold armor he wore. His sapphire blue eyes were as deep as the ocean. He slightly smiled as he watched her face turn crimson. She quickly walked inside to avoid further embarrassment.
Lolian slowly walked over to Celestia, trying to calm herself down. Pinkie bounded over to them with a tray of different pieces of cake and a teapot. Setting the tray upon the table, the pink pony picked up the teapot and poured tea into their cups.
“Thank you, Pinkie,” Celestia smiled.
“No problem!” she replied.
Celestia picked up the cup with her magic and drank the tea. After finishing, she stood up. Thanking Mr. and Mrs. Cake for the tea, she began to walk towards the door. She glanced back only a moment to signal Lolian to follow. Both alicorns walked outside and away from Sugar Cube Corner, followed by the guards.
“I hope you slept well last night,” Celestia began.
“It was okay,” Lolian responded. “Good.”
“... Is there a reason you wanted me to follow?”
“Of course. As I understand, you are coming to the Gala, are you not?”
“Well, Twilight did give me a ticket.”
“Excellent. I would like you to stand with me at the entrance of the Gala. We could use the time to talk to each other.”
“Alright.”
Within a short amount of time, they had already found themselves at Celestia’s carriage. She climbed on and her guards immediately took off for Canterlot.
Lolian sighed. She didn’t know what she would do before the Gala, but it was going to be a long, boring wait. She began to wander about the town, looking at all that surrounded her. Fillies and young colts pranced around in the summer sunshine. Flower shops were in full swing as flowers bloomed all around.
It wasn’t long before Lolian found herself just outside of town. The rolling green hills that surrounded the small town were lush. As the wind blew through it, the sun shimmered upon it. She took a deep breath of the warm breeze, filling her lungs with its sweet scent. She began to stroll along the meadows, feeling calm and bliss. Unfortunately, she did not walk cautiously, which allowed herself to walk into the Everfree Forest.
It was too late when she noticed her surroundings had changed drastically. The trees loomed towards her. Panicked, she started to run as fast as she can, looking for a way to escape. She saw shadows chasing after her in the corner of her eye. She looked back to see five ponies as black as night chasing her. She leapt over tree roots, trying to dodge her pursuers.
Quickly jumping behind a tree, she pressed herself up against the bark. She heard the sound of hooves beat past her and started to grow faint. She started to run another direction. She was exhausted, but the fear kept her running. She could hear the shadow ponies getting close to her. Where was the exit?
Suddenly, something grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. A hoof covered her mouth to keep her silent. She watched as the shadow ponies ran past her and disappeared. Lolian squirmed free from the grip of her captor. She turned around to find it was a zebra with a brown cloak over her head. Grabbing her hoof, the zebra led Lolian into a house built within a tree.
The zebra shoved her through the door, making Lolian fall forward. The mare closed the door behind her and drew the shades over the windows. She then walked over to her cauldron and quickly started the fire beneath it, lighting the room with gorgeous shades of orange and yellow. The contents of the cauldron began to boil furiously. Lolian sat up and looked at the strange marr. She opened her mouth to begin talking, but was hushed by the mare. She quickly shut her mouth.
“You won’t be here for long,” the mare cooed. “The shadow ponies’ presence remains strong.”
Lolian just stared at her. The rhyming. She remembered a character from the show that constantly spoke in rhyme. Zecora the zebra. She started to relax as she began to remember the kindness Zecora always hand in the show. Slowly, she laid her head down on the floor and closed her eyes. The roar of the fire soothed her and the heat was a comforter draped upon her back. She could feel the floor rumble with each step Zecora took. The lull of sleep quickly overtook her.