> Rainbow and Hoard of the Dragon Queen > by ExoDemonG > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Doorway to Another World. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a bright day in the land of Equestria. The birds were chirping, the air was cool, and the sun, the same one that Princess Celestia rises every morning, was high in the sky to shine warm rays down to the ground. Walking around on said ground are the residents of the town of Ponyville, enjoying their day happily and joyfully as the bright colours of their coats, and the buildings as the sunlight brighten their day. Pegasi flew in the air, clearing the skies for an enjoyable cloudless day as the Earth Ponies and Unicorns go on their business as normal, handing items from stalls or talking to one another. Nearby the town is something that's a bit out of place, a large purple crystal building that's shaped like a tree stood tall over the other buildings. It was tall, it was grand, it was somewhat fit for a princess. In fact, it is! The crystal castle was home for Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Holder of Magic of the Elements of Harmony, Student to Princess Celestia, and Savor of Equestria many times over. Yes, this building was perfect for somepony as of her, though if asked the princess would prefer her old home; a simple treehouse library. Inside the building was many, many hallways which held many doors, almost everyone had a sign on it to say what it was; storage closets, bathrooms, laundry rooms, kitchens, guestrooms… a lot of guestrooms. So many that if this princess gig doesn't work out Twilight can open up her own hotel. Anyway, in one of the rooms was a large library. Crystal bookshelves reaching up to the roof of the place, filled with magical theory, history books, old fables and myths, and a few cookbooks and kid books. Right now Princess Twilight, a tall purple Alicorn with a dark sapphire blue mane with a brilliant raspberry and moderate purple streaks was looking through some books on magic theory. “Hmm, not in any of these either… Starlight, find anything over there?” Twilight asked, looking over to a floating, pale pinkish unicorn with a moderate purple mane with an aquamarine colour steak. “Nothing so far… oh, maybe this one!” Starlight said as she teleported a book over to her teacher and friend. Between the two was an odd looking device connected to a crystal and glass mirror. This, as one can see, isn't a normal mirror; it's connected an alternate universe where beings known as humans live! Now, this sort of thing isn't that special but when you're a pony it is. “Thanks, Starlight,” Twilight said before she opened the book to go through it, only to be interrupted by the sound of snoring. She groaned a bit before looking at the source of the snoring; a cyan coloured pegasus with a rainbow-striped mane. This was Rainbow Dash, stunt flyer, Wonderbolt rookie, Holder of the Element of Loyalty, proclaimed fastest flyer in all of Equestria (which so far no pony could prove her wrong) and another saviour of Equestria. She, at the moment, was sleeping on the floor, snoring loudly as she had a small smile on her face, enjoying a dream of hers. Twilight, clearly annoyed at her for her loud snoring put down the book and lifted the sleeping speedster up and shook her awake. “Ah! I'm up, I'm up!” Rainbow yelled, looking around and seeing the other two were staring at her. “What?” “Rainbow Dash, could you not sleep in the library, if you then keep your snoring down please,” Twilight asked, letting the pegasus go from her magic which made said pegasus to flap her wings to stay airborne. “In fact, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be practicing something?’ Starlight asked, floating over a stack of books with her magic. “Already done it this morning and after lunch,” Rainbow answered as she landed on a stool. “Right… anywho,” Starlight said as she turned her attention to the purple Alicorn. “I got more books for you.” “By the way, what are you two doing?” Rainbow asked, now seeing one of the already many stacks of books. “I thought we already told you?” Starlight asked, which got her a blank stare from the Wonderbolt. “Or you have forgotten… okay.” “Well Dash, what me and Starlight here are doing is if there’s a way to use the mirror to open pathways to other realms or worlds that were once unable to be travelled to via magical transportation!” Twilight explained with glee. This also went over Rainbows head as Starlight sighed. “We’re seeing if there’s a way to use the magic mirror to take us to different worlds than the world Sunset is in.” Starlight explained. “Oh, now I get it,” Rainbow said, gaining a shack of Starlights head. “So… you two can’t just, I don’t know, but a random book on where that one is and use that?” She asked, pointing at the magical book that Twilight used for communication with Sunset Shimmer. Starlight snorted at this. “Rainbow, it’s not that simple. There are a lot of magical equations to be answered and testing to be done. We can’t just randomly put a book in the device and turn it on.” Starlight explained to the pegasus, getting a frown from said Pegasus. “Wouldn’t that be testing?” Rainbow asked, getting an annoyed look from the Unicorn. “Again, it’s not that simple Dash and it’s hard to explain,” Twilight said to her close friend. Before Rainbow could say anything Starlight cut in. “Also I don’t think you wouldn’t get it. Even if you tried, you wouldn't do it.” Starlight said, shocking the Wonderbolt. “Starlight!” Twilight snapped, frowning at her student before look back at Rainbow as Starlight blinked a few times. “If you would excuse me Rainbow Dash, I have a few words to say to Starlight Glimmer.” With that, the two of them left the library, leaving a now disgruntled Rainbow alone. “‘I wouldn’t get it’ what does she think she is saying that to me,” Rainbow said, crossing her forelegs. Even though a few years past since the first time Rainbow and the rest of the Mane Six met Starlight Glimmer and after many ups and downs Starlight turned over to a new leaf and became Twilight's student. Heck, she even saved all of Equestria from the Changeling Queen Chrysalis. Most of her friends accepted her as one of their friends but Rainbow still has some hesitation alongside her close friend Applejack. Everypony seemed to just give her the blind eye and forgave her right then and there, but not Rainbow. It also didn’t help that Starlight hypnotize them to get some chores done faster, which led to more of a mess and again everyone forgave her. Rainbow looked over to the device and the number of stakes of books around her. “I’ll show her, it can’t be that hard,” Rainbow muttered before going through all the books to use on the device. She scanned through the books spines to see if there’s one that stood out. Unfortunately, most of the books are on magic and equations, which they already are making Rainbow’s head hurt. “Ugh, why can’t be something good other than textbooks,” Rainbow grumbled before moving to a smaller stake of books with a note on top. “Huh, what’s this?” Rainbow flew over above the small stake and opened the note to read it. “Oh, it’s a note from Sunset, ‘Dear Twilight, I heard that Spikes Birthday is coming up in a month or so and he enjoys the game Ogres and Oubliettes. Well there’s a version of that game over here and I went out to buy some books of the latest issue. It seems Sci-twi’s brother is a huge fan of the game and I can see why. I hope he enjoys it. -Sunset.’” Rainbow read. Rainbow put the note down and looked at the stake of books in front of her and pulled the first one down. It was a book had an image of a fight between some being with a glowing blue hand facing off against a large being with a skull for a helmet. Rainbow has never seen creatures like this before and she was amazed at the imagery of the book. “This looks cool!” Rainbow said before reading the title. “D&D… Player’s Handbook… what’s D&D stand for- oh wait here it is,” She said as she saw that before the blue glowing hand being was what Rainbow thinks is the full name. “Dungeons and Dragons… why didn’t they put that on top?” Rainbow wondered as she looked at how big the book it, not as big as her Daring Do books but still big. She put it down and looked at the other ones, seeing if one would spring out at her. Before long she pulled one of the thinner books out and looked at it. It had the image of a large white coloured Dragon breathing ice out of its mouth and freezing the large being with an axe solid. “Whoa… this looks good. Let’s try it!” With that said Rainbow flew over to the pedestal with the notebook on it and replaced it with the thinner book. Rainbow was a bit excited that she didn’t get to read what’s the book title is. “Okay… if I leave this here then I have to press… this!” Rainbow said as she turned the machine on. At first, nothing happened but after a few moments the machine started to hum a bit and everything started to move. There was a slight glow from the book Dash placed on the stand, a metallic and chromatic glow to it which the device shot out some sparks and, to Rainbows joy, a portal opened up. Instead of the normal mirror face or the pinkish swirl that she has seen before, it was a swirl of the metallic and chromatic colours. Though Rainbow didn’t really care as she was in the air, letting out a cheer. “Ha! And they thought I couldn’t do it! That I wasn’t smart enough. Wait till they get a load of- huh?” Rainbow got cut off when she felt some kind of pull from behind her. She turned with a flap of her wings and saw that the now open portal was now sucking everything in! “Oh jeez!” She yelled, bolting towards the doors to get Twilight or Starlight… or anyone! She was about to open the doors but she soon stopped in front of them as the force of the pull was getting stronger and stronger. She soon was flying in place as the force of it felt like she was next to a tornado. The book stacks and some shelved books started to fly around in the room, some flew into the portal as Rainbow beat her wings faster and faster as she soon inches her way to the door. “I can’t… let this… beat me!” Rainbow Dash grunted as she extended her hooves to reach for the door. She’s the fastest flyer in Equestria! She can’t lose to this sort of winds. As if the portal was taken it as a challenge, the force of the winds turned to more of a hurricane and Rainbow was feeling the intense burn of her muscles as she was oh so close. “Almost… almost… almo-Ah!” Rainbow’s chances of reaching the door were dashed when a rogue book flew by and hit her face. With the break of concentration, Rainbow tumbled backwards in the air and grabbed onto a crystal table as she was a few feet from the portal as more books flew into the vortex. “AAAHHH! HELP! I NEED HELP! I NEED-” Rainbow stopped when she saw a book flying right at her. She let go of the table to move over to the side, watching the book disappear into the vortex. “Haha! Nice try book! You can’t-” Before she could finish her sentence, her grip on the table broke and all was left was Rainbow Dash’s scream as she went into the portal. The vortex continued as more and more books flew around until one of the books hit the one on the stand, breaking the connection and shutting the portal down. All the books that were flying around crashed onto the ground. After everything has settled down the doors opened and Princess Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer came in. “Now apologize to Rainbow so we can-” Twilight stopped when she saw what has happened. Her beautiful library, one that she cherished and worked in for many, many days was in disarray. Her eye twitched as she looked at all the books that that were thrown about in front of her. “RAINBOW!!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!” Twilight yelled, shaking the whole castle. After the rumble stopped and the two saw Rainbow didn’t come out. Twilight frowned at this before looking at the mess. “Honestly, I can get she gets bored but this is ridiculous. Why would she trash the place?” Twilight asked as she used her magic to restock the books. She had a photographic memory and an organized plan on where each book should go so it didn't take long to clean up. “Maybe she was upset it something…” Starlight said before looking up the bookshelf. “But still, I doubt she would do something like- hey… you sure you put the books in the right spaces?” “Of course, no book is misplaced, me and Spike made sure of that.” The Alicorn said with pride in her voice. “Okay… so why are there missing books?” Starlight asked which caused her teacher to zoom over to where she was in a panic. Twilight's eyes dart from empty space to empty space she says in the library. “Four, five… seven books are missing!!” Twilight yelled shock that seven of her books are gone. “And not only that… is it just me or do you see scuff marks?” Starlight asked and sure enough around them were scuff marks. “It's like a tornado came through here.” Twilight hummed at this as her horn lit up to scan the room of any sense of magic in the room. Her eyes widen as she did sense a lot of magical energy… all of it came from the mirror! She was quick to dart over to it and felt the sides. “It's warm… oh no…” Twilight said as she saw that the book on the stand was different. “Oh no, oh no, oh no!!” “What? What is it?” Starlight asked as Twilight looked at the book in question. “Rainbow Dash has a competitive spirit. When you told her she couldn't do it Rainbow took it as a challenge!” Twilight said before feeling the book, noticing that there were burnt edges. “She must've used a random book as a focal point and turn the mirror on!!” “Wait… are you telling that Rainbow, the same Rainbow Dash, opened a portal to another world?” Starlight asked as Twilight levitated the book. “Yes… and I have a bad feeling about this…” Twilight said as she read the title of the book. ‘Tyranny of Dragons; Hoard of the Dragon Queen.’ It was a bright day in the land. The birds were chirping, the air was cool, and the sun was high in the sky, shining warm rays down to the ground. Speaking about the ground, there was a groan from a patch of tall grass as a being stirred. “Ugh… what hit me?” The being asked slowly pushing themselves up. They raised an arm up to their head, groaning a bit. “What happened? I was in the library and- Ahhh!” the being yelled, seeing some foreign objects on them; which were her hands. They were a pale blue colour. In fact, her eyes slowly followed her hand to her arm and above… before finally seeing the whole body. Her body was, thankfully, clothed with a brown shirt and pants that were held up with some brown rope. The most noticeable features were the pale blue skin, the darker blue tattoo that the woman didn't have before, and the long rainbow hair on top of her head. “What the hay happened to me?!?!” The woman, who we can call Rainbow Dash, yelled as she looked at herself. She sure knew her body didn't look like this before. “T-this must be some kind of dream! Yeah, that's it, a dream okay, any moment know I'll wake up and this will all disappear…” The pony turn non-pony sat there waiting till everything disappeared and turn into something different, like her fighting monsters or going on an adventure with Daring Do… but nothing happened. She was still in a grassy field, in a weird body. “Okay… this isn't a dream… what am I- wait.” Rainbow stopped before reaching behind her. Luckily for her, this body was nimble and flexible to reach behind her, which confirmed her dreaded thoughts. “My wings!! Where did my wings go?!” She yelled. Her eyes dart around, seeing if by dumb lunch her wings may have… fallen off? But no, all she saw was grassland as far as she see. This upset the once proud pegasus, her wings were the symbol of her greatness, and her love of the sky. She bawled her hand up into fists and let out an emotional cry. As she did, the air around her seemed to have kicked up a bit, blowing harder and faster than before. After a few minutes of crying, and the weather seemingly calmed down, Rainbow finally took stock of her situation, failing to notice the odd weather from before. “Okay… Okay… no need to cry… I'm Rainbow Dash, I'll figure this out easy.” Rainbow said, gaining some confidence with herself as she looked around. “That mirror sucked me up and spat me out someplace in a body I don't know and left me wingless…” this sent a sharp stab of sadness to her heart as she said this. “I should… find a road! Yeah, that's right, I'll do that! Maybe I'll find somepony that can help!” With a plan in mind, Rainbow got up and headed forward, and what that means is her on all fours walking forward awkwardly. It didn't take long, and a number of sharp rocks that stabbed into her hands for her to stop and fall backwards. “Ow ow! Okay, maybe this isn't a good idea.” Rainbow said as she pulled some of the rocks out of her hands. After finishing that she looked at her newly acquired hands and remembered her friend Twilight explain her time on the other side of the mirror, at Canterlot High. “So… I'm a human now? Got to admit this wasn't how I planned it going to happen… and if I remember what Twi said, humans don't walk around like Ponies. They stand on two legs…” With that said Rainbow returned to her in all fours and took a deep breath and pushed herself up. Her sense of balance was thrown off and made her fall backwards with a yelp. Not one to give up she tried again and again. With no trees around she couldn't stand up and stay standing. But soon, after many hours of trying and falling, her sense of balance corrected itself and she was standing on two feet. She was still wobbly as she took a few more steps before finally standing upright like a normal being. “Woah, I wonder if Twilight had to deal with this…” Rainbow said as she looked around with her new height. As she did she noticed some patches of grass flattened. “Huh, what’s all this?” Rainbow asked as she made her way over. Once there she bent down and saw that one of the spots were flattened by a large book. “Wait, isn’t this… yes, this one belongs to Twilight. Where did it come from?” Rainbow asked as she picked it up and looked at the other patches. After a few minutes, she found a total of seven books. “Where did these come from?” Dash asked no one as she held the books in hand. “Dang, wished I had a bag to carry these…” She muttered before making her way up the small hill she was on. As she climbed the hill she soon realized how strenuous it is to walk with two legs instead of four while carrying some heavy books. When he finally got to the top she notices that not so far away there was a cart of some kind, being pulled by a large horse. “Finally, someone to talk to.” Rainbow sighed as she walked up towards the horse. “Excuse me, mind telling me where I am?” Rainbow Dashed asked the horse. The horse simply stared at her blankly. “Uhh, excuse me. I’m talking to you.” Rainbow said, frowning that the horse isn’t saying anything back. The horse simply snorted as it looked off someplace. “Hey! I’m talking to you!” “Hey! What are you doing to my horse!!” a small, high-pitched voice yelled out, making Rainbow jump and almost dropping the books she was carrying. She looked around for the voice and saw nothing before the voice spoke again. “Ugh, down here.” Rainbow blinked and looked down to see a short man about three feet tall wearing a green vest, brown shirt and pants. He had short brown hair with a bit of a goatee on his face. He looked at Rainbow for a moment with his hands on his hips. “Well, you going to answer?” “Huh? Oh, sorry I was trying to figure out where I was.” Rainbow answered the short man, getting him to arch a brow and look at the horse? “To my horse? Kid, are you some kind of Druid or something?” The man asked, making the Pegasus turned human tilt her head. “Dr-uid? Um, what’s that?” Rainbow asked, making the man blinked. “I uh, guess that’s a no… you’re an odd one you know that kid?” The man asked, making Rainbow frown. “I’m no kid! I’m twenty-one!” Rainbow snapped. “Could fool me. Say, need a ride?” The man asked, walking over to his cart. “Wait, you’re going to give me a ride?” Rainbow asked, not expecting someone to offer her a ride. “Yeah, why not. You look like you need one, carrying all those books and all.” the man said before jumping up to grab a small rope that’s hanging down from the wagon… and then failing at it. Rainbow heard the man mumble something that Rainbow didn’t understand at all. Looking back up the man jumped again this time able to grab the rope and pull himself up. “There we are,” He said as he looked at Dash. “Well, come on now, get in the back.” With a little hesitant, Rainbow moved around to the back and climbing up onto the wagon. When that was done and she put the books down on the ground the man grabbed hold of some rains and flicked them to get the cart moving. Rainbow winces when he did that, unsure why would he treat the horse like this. The two rode down the path in silence as all could be heard was the sound of the wheels rolling over the dirt road. “Say sir-” Rainbow started only for the man to cut her off. “Willos Bolger,” The man introduced before asking. “That’s my name, what’s yours?” “Uh, Rainbow Dash…” Rainbow introduced herself which caused Willos to turn around with an arched brow. “Really now? That’s an interesting name.” He said before turned around to face the road. This got Rainbow to frown. “Why do you say that? It’s an alright name where I’m come from.” Rainbow pointed out. The small man laughs at this before saying. “I’m not trying to say anything rude to ya miss, just a name that I’ve never heard of, but if you ask anyone else, Halfling names are a little odd to say,” Willos explained, which in turn made Dash a little confused. “Halfling? What’s a Halfling?” Rainbow asked Willos. This made Willos laugh even more. “You know miss, you’re funny,” The man chuckled before adding. “But to answer your question, a Halfling is what ya looking at.” Willos explains. “You’re a Halfling?” Rainbow asked which Willos nodded. “Yup, I’m a Halfling. I thought you would couldn’ve guessed that from my size.” Willos laughed as the two continued on down the road. “Not really… Rainbow muttered. “I just thought you were some short Human like me.” This got Willos to turn around again and give Rainbow a long look. “Like you? Dash, you are no Human,” Willos chuckled. “Like, what human has pale blue skin?” “Uhh, Humans?” Rainbow replied, which earned another chuckle from Willos. “Na na Miss, you’re not a Human,” Willos said before chuckling a bit. After he was done he added. “You’re something called a Genasi.”