> The Light of Friendship > by Danyram1308 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The darkness awakens > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of days. Lifeless wasteland. Shattered reality. Death. Were the words that could come to mind to describe Princess Celestia's vision, what was once the great and peaceful Kingdom of Equestria, was now a lifeless wasteland. The castle, houses and establishments were destroyed to the ground, Canterlot, Poniville, and some Equestrian villages as well as some neighboring kingdoms were reduced to ashes. The sun alicorn's surroundings changed revealing another scenario, a scenario she had seen before, it was the Crystal Empire, the atmosphere in the place reminded her of when The King Sombra took control of the Empire, however, Celestia could be sure that Shadow could not be behind this, otherwise there would be Umbrum crystals in every corner of the place. The alicorn's gaze turned in the direction of the now ruined castle, Celestia thundered towards the rubble in search of finding someone alive, but to her bad luck she found the body of a pony buried in the rubble, she could see the pony's flank which had a black stain on it, She gasped when she recognized the body, it was Luna, her now dead sister in front, but there was something strange about her, her skin was not black and her mane was dark blue, instead it was a lighter color, like when she was younger, besides the fact that her cutie mark was gone. Celestia continued to search the ruins for any sign of life. "Is anyone here alive?" She shouted. She continued her search in the ruins of the castle, she checked under the rubble for anything, suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks when she recognized another lifeless pony, a very familiar amber pony, that was the worst sight in her entire journey, seeing Sunset Shimmer lying in front of her, blood dripping from her mouth and temple, there were many cuts and bruises on her body. She watched the body in fear, tears running down her cheeks like waterfalls. "No! SUNSET!" The princess screamed but her focus changed as she began to see even dark specter forming in the sky. The wraith's head looked like an octopus and two of its tentacles protruded from its mouth like a pair of fangs. "Look around you, Princess." The specter speaks. "All the magic of this world and the worlds beyond this one is in my power, all your kin have fallen to me, it is time for you to join them." From the specter tentacles shot out from its back in Celestia's direction. "AAHHH!" She quickly sat up, from sleep breaking out in a cold sweat. She could see the glow outside, right through her thick sheets. She huffed and puffed, trying to catch her breath. As she looked around, she realized she was dreaming. "There's that dream again." She said to herself. That was true, for some time now the princess of the Sun had been having various dreams involving that specter, she was not sure what was coming. She went to consult Star Swirl the Bearded to find out if he had a notion of what that specter was, but he had no idea, and it would take some time to get any answers, that was a few days ago. Celestia sat on her bed and pondered, trying to find some sort of answer to her current conundrum, though to no avail. Elsewhere, in the depths of the earth below them, was a desolate land filled with nothing but rock and stone. Somewhere in the barren wasteland, there was a dark cavern, abandoned and in ruins. Among the ruins was a stone with some writings and figures carved on it, on said stone was the figure of three beings, and suddenly it was illuminated with a dark red light, and then the stone exploded, there was a great roar that shook the caverns, and the dark abyss was momentarily filled with a bright purple flash, until it dimmed to reveal three figures standing in the center of the room. The first was a strange figure, a giant biped that had some sort of armor was almost completely covered in metal and dark, from his armor protruded several blades that covered his body. The second had bat wings, wore a cloak, had 9 horns on his head, was wearing a white mask. The third was dark in color, wore a headdress that resembled a crown, had dark blue eyes and his face resembled a skull and was armed with a spear. "We are free." The monster in bladed armor said. "But how is this possible?" The white-masked monster asked. "It must mean only one thing." "The Master has fallen, the Terrors failed in their mission to make the Master arise and devour all the magic of the surface world and the world beyond it." The other dark monster said. "They weren't the only ones who failed, Imperius only focused on his personal feud with his former master, not to mention that useless Morticon, and those traitors." The blade-armored monster said. "But it is time for us to do what all of them together failed to do, we will once again gather the army of the Undead, we will use all means necessary to revive Octomus." He said and his companions shouted with him. "Yes, we will wipe out anyone who stands in our way, especially the Mystic Force." The dark monster raised his spear and using his magic summoned a small mirror in front of them all, with the air shimmering to show a happy scene of a city, where their rooms could be seen walking and talking regardless of the fact that some of those inhabitants were not human. "Those Rangers have brought peace and harmony to your world." "We have to get rid of that, but attacking the human world now would be suicide, because the Rangers are still there, and they are more powerful than ever if they have defeated the Master." The white-masked monster said. "You are right, but our power level in this state is very low still, we need time to fill ourselves with power." The spear monster pointed out. "Maybe we can have more power sooner than you imagine, if we can find some other dimension with as much magical energy as the mystical world has, we could harness that energy and use it to crush the Rangers once and for all." The razor monster waved his sword and it became engulfed in a purple flame, the monster swung his sword and the purple flame revealed some images of some worlds. He turned to his glowing mirage, waving his arm to scan different images. "Now to find that certain dimension." In his search he came across an image that projected a magical world from which magical energy essentially emanated. He looked closer at the image and saw what appeared to be a small town with normal looking houses, not unlike those in the human realm. However, the town was inhabited by ponies. They were all different shapes, sizes and even colors. But one thing each of them had in common was a strong magical signature emanating from each of them. "Looks like we found the source of magic we need." "So things have been better at your school Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked as she and Princess Luna spoke with Twilight Sparkle in the throne room of Canterlot Castle. "Of course, things are quieter these days." The young princess replied. "The students are better, as are all of us." "I'm glad to hear that. And how is everything in the human world?" "Things have been quiet over there, Sunset and the others haven't alerted me to any incidents of Equestrian Magic or any magical artifacts." "That's good, it's nice to have a little quiet now and then." Luna said. "That means they'll be free to join us for the Poniville Anniversary." "I haven't confirmed it yet, but most likely they will be coming." Twilight said. "I think that would be all for now Twilight, you are dismissed." Celestia dismissed her. "Alright princess, we'll let you know if anything else happens." Twilight said and she bowed before leaving the throne room. When the two royal sisters were alone, Celestia stepped out of her throne and walked to the balcony looking out over the city to get out of her thoughts, but even with that she still had a frown on her face. "What is troubling you?" Celestia snapped out of her thoughts when her sister's voice rang out. "I don't know what you mean by that." She replied. "Don't play dumb with me, you know I can enter your dreams and see everything that's going on." "I wish I could fully understand, but all I see is nothing but destruction, something big is coming and I don't even know what it is." "Have you talked to Starswirl?" Luna asked. "Yes, but he said it will take his a while until he has something concrete." "Until then, try not to think about it and occupy your mind with other things." "You're right, I think I'll go to my quarters, do you think you'll take care of everything all here?" "Go and get some rest, I'll take care of everything around here." Luna said and Celestia went to her room. She closed the door and removed the crown from her head, she let out a sigh, she walked over to her dresser where she had some perfumes, framed photographs some personal items, in her quest to find something that would make her feel more relaxed her gaze stopped on something that caught her attention, it was a picture of her together with Sunset in her filly days. She used her magic to levitate the frame to her helmet, she remembered how Sunset was when she started at her school, even after she passed her entrance test she was still insecure, shy, she remembered how the levitation exercises were hard for her to perform, most of the time Celestia had to help her. Even after Sunset fled to the human world, Celestia kept thinking about her, she had intended to go after her, but thought she didn't deserve to see her, not after she hadn't been good enough for her. Now with them reconciled, she knew she could count on Sunset and vice versa, but this new evil was far from her understanding, she couldn't risk alarming Sunset or anyone of what would happen until she knew for sure who they dealt with. "I can't let you risk your life for me, my little Sun..." She stroked the picture with her hoof. "...I couldn't bear to lose you again." She willed herself to keep this matter to herself, she knew that someday she would have to talk about this publicly, but not now, not until she knew what she would be fighting against. In another place, in the middle of a road in the middle of nowhere, a group of three motorcyclists were riding on the road. One of the bikers was wearing a white jacket, white pants, the helmet was the same color, although a reddish-brown braid was sticking out of the helmet. Another was wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and the last was wearing a white jacket and blue pants. The three stopped at a lookout, they got out of their vehicles and removed their helmets, the white clad biker's face was a brown woman of at least in her forties, the black jacket biker was a man of the same age as the woman, and the last was a young man of at least in his twenties. "Look at this place, it hasn't changed a bit." The man said. "Yeah, I can't wait to meet everyone." The woman said . "Me neither, what about you?" The man asked the younger man. "With you guys by my side, I'm ready for anything." The young man replied. The three laughed before continuing on their way, leaving behind the sign that read 'Welcome to Braidwood.' For those visiting Braidwood for the first time, it might seem strange and scary to see how humans coexisted with fairy tale creatures, to the residents of the city it was too, but after a group of wizards performed heroic acts to protect both groups they learned to live peacefully with fairies, trolls, elves and various fairy tale creatures. Inside Braidwood you could meet a certain music store, The Rock Porium Music Store, a place where anyone can find the best hits of the moment or even DJ concerts. Inside said store, the store employees were tidying up the place to welcome someone. "Where is the welcome sign?" A pink-haired girl asked. "It's in Tobey's office, Vida." A red-haired boy replied. "And the streamers?" a black-haired boy asked. "They're over there too, Xander." The red-haired boy replied. "Maddie, let us know when they're coming." "Easy Chip, they're not here yet." A black-haired girl replied. A black-haired, lock bearded man entered the tent with a lamp in his hand. "Everything ready?" the man asked. "Almost there Daggeron." Xander said. "Let me know when it's time, I want to make my grand entrance." A cat peeked through the lamp cover. "Relax Jengi, they'll be here soon." Daggeron replied. "Is the Life DJ team ready yet?" a curly-haired man asked. "Of course they are, Tobey." A cotton-headed monster replied. "I haven't put the discs on the console, though." "Here are the discs, Matumbo." A half troll, half goblin creature handed the cotton-headed monster a box of vinyl records. "Thank you Phineas." Matumbo replied. "Everyone hide, they're here." Maddie warned. "Everyone take your places." Xander said. "Wait, where are Lily and Clare?" Vida asked. "Lily is helping her mom get ready." Phineas replied. "And Clare is still ordering Rootcore." Daggeron said as well. Everyone fell silent when they heard some motorcycles pull up. "Wow, I missed this place." The woman said. "I didn't remember it being so quiet though." The young man said. "Yeah, that's strange." The man agreed. "SURPRISE!!!" Everyone in the tent screamed, music played and confetti began to fall. "Guys, it's good to see you again." The young man said. "It's good to see you again, Nick." Xander hugged his friend. "It's good to see you guys too." The man said. "Good to have you back, Teacher." Chip shook hands with the man. Udonna, it's so good to see you." Vida hugged the woman. "The feeling is mutual, Vi." Udonna replied. "Leanbow, it's good that you three are here." Daggeron greeted his former mentor. "Did something happen in our absence?" The man replied. "Nothing to worry about." "Guys it's good to see you." Jengi stepped out of his lamp so he could hug the three newcomers. "It's good to see you too Jengi." Nick said. "Jengi, let them breathe." Maddie said. "Oops, sorry." The cat let go of the newcomers. Maddie immediately threw her arms around Nick, who happily hugged her back. "Nick, I can't believe you're back - I'm so glad to see you again!" she said, pulling away from the hug a little and looking into his eyes. "Maddie, it's good to see you too..." Nick snuffled as he caught her gaze, and they both stood there for a second until they heard a solid "Harumph" coming from Udonna who was standing next to them. They turned to see her looking at them both with a slightly stern expression. "Oops, sorry mom." said Nick sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, while Madison looked down at the floor to avoid her former mentor's gaze. "I guess we got carried away." "You could say that," Udonna said, her stern gaze brightening to allow an elegant smile to pass. "Cheer up, Udonna," Leanbow. "I'm sure these two are excited to see each other after so long." "Speaking of which, where are Clare and Lily?" Udonna asked. "They'll be here soon." Jengi assured. "In the meantime let's enjoy the party." Chip said and everyone agreed. Nick just smiled as he walked into the Rock Porium. "It feels so good to be back home," he thought to himself. Meanwhile at the School of Friendship, the Young Seven were giving the CMCs and the students of the school a demonstration of ninja combat, Silverstream and Bright Eye were fighting while the rest of the group explained to the spectators what was happening. Silverstream attacked with her staff but Bright Eyes used her nunchaku to catch her opponent's weapon and spin with her hind legs to knock her down, the unicorn took advantage of the moment to finish the fight but the hippogriff used her wings to glide and escape from Bright Eyes' blow. The two combatants began to resume close combat, the spectators were impressed by the skill of the two. "As you can observe, never underestimate your enemy, he may have skills you don't know about him." Sanbar said to the spectators. "Look at the base of the girls, look at their legs, they are not walking, they are gliding." "Guys, what are you doing?" Starlight said as she came into the room with Sunburst. "You know it's forbidden to do ninja combat displays during school hours." "But counselor Starlight, we're on recess." Sanbar told her. "Recess is part of school hours, if you did it after school there wouldn't be so much of a problem." "Sorry Counselor Starlight, we just wanted everyone to see what ninja training was like." Bright Eye said. "Besides, after everything we went through, Cozy Glow and the invasions from other worlds like Shredder and Kraang and the Nighlok thing, we thought we could teach the ponies and non-ponies some ninjutsu for a similar situation." Smolder also said. "I appreciate your concern, but worrying too much about a future that is not visible can cause you to lose focus of what is in the present." Starlight said. "And if you ask me, I don't think they should be training people without having authorization from some teacher or guardian." Sunburts said. "Well, maybe but..." Bright Eye couldn't finish. The two ponies' conversation as some shouting could be heard from outside the school yelling. "What was that?" Silverstream asked. "I don't know." Starlight said. "But I think you guys better stay in here." She and Sunburst peeked out the door to see bipedal zombie creatures in metal armor and brown clothing were running around, creating chaos and panic, smashing stalls and houses. They looked like nothing the six had ever seen before. "What the hay are those!" asked the male pony. Suddenly, another scream erupted a few feet away, as one of those creatures cornered a mare in a corner. Without mercy, the thing grabbed her violently and, in a flash of darkness, disappeared with the mare in its hands. "I don't know what those things are, but we need to find out why they're kidnapping ponies!" said Starlight, then turned to look at the students, "Everyone go downstairs to the catacombs, take shelter!". "But Counselor Starlight, we want to help." Bright Eyes said but Starlight interrupted her. "Bright Eyes, there's no time to argue, if those things get through these gates you seven will take care of them, okay?" "Agreed." Bright Eyes replied and she and the Young Six accompanied the other students. Starlight and Sunburst went outside to see in detail what was going on, more and more ponies were being teleported with the horrible creatures, unable to do anything to save themselves. A couple of the creatures approached the group, one even grabbed Lyra by the tail, eliciting a scream from said mare. "Oh no, you won't!" cried Bonbon, as he kicked the creature aside. There were very few ponies that showed any resistance, though that didn't last long as they were captured. "We have to help them, Sunburts." Starlight said as she and her childhood friend intervened in the capture of the ponies, the mare with aquamarine highlights repelled the creatures with her magic. Sunburst for his part raised a shield to protect Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon from the creatures. "Oh no, you won't." He said and repelled the zombies, then turned to the fillies, "Girls, get out of here, go to friendship school." He ordered and the two obeyed. Starlight and Sunburst kept things at bay, but were outnumbered. "We're being outnumbered." The male pony said. "It would be good to call in the cavalry." The mare said. A zombie was about to attack Starlight but was neutralized by a blast of magic. "What was that?" She asked. "That came from me." Someone called out, the two turned to see it was no one but Blade Swipe. "Blade!" they both said. "Starlight, Sunburst, what's going on?" "That's what we want to know." Sunburst said. The three ponies couldn't continue their conversation when they were blasted with a sphere of dark energy, creating a massive explosion and sending the ponies flying, they fell to the ground with heavy thuds, struggling to get up. "Well, well, well, look what we have here," a sinister voice spoke only a few feet away from them, and they all looked up to see an even more frightening creature in front of them. It was bulkier, wore armor from which protruded several blades, held a huge sword in one hand. It wore a helmet that covered its face. "You ponies really thought you'd be able to fight my Hidiacs?" he chuckled grimly. "Who are you?" Blade asked. "Allow me to introduce myself." The monster said. "My name is Swordspot, and I am here to conquer the surface world for the Morloks." "Try if you can!" Starlight shouted as she fired a strong massive blast from her horn at it, but Swordspot blocked her attack with his sword. "No way!" She exclaimed. "How about now I give you a demonstration of real magic?" Swordspot activated her sword which became engulfed in purple flame, then Swordspot launched a slash of dark magic towards Starlight which sent her crashing into the nearest house. "Starlight!" Blade and Sunburst shouted. "Don't worry I have for you two too, Dark Magic Strike!" Swordspot repeated his attack but this time in the direction of Blade and Sunburst sending them flying. Swordspot walked in the direction of Starlight who was still lying on the ground from the attack she received. "It's time to finish you off." Swordspot launched a slash of dark magic ready to take out the mare, Starlight could barely perceive the monster's attack. "I don't think so." She said to herself and immediately activated her horn, but Swordspot's magic reached her, Swordspot's magic created a huge purple explosion, smoke went everywhere, and when the smoke was finally gone, Starlight was gone too. "No, Starlight!" Blade and Sunburst ran to where Starlight was before the attack. "No!" Sunburst pounded the ground with his hooves in frustration. "No way!" Blade said. "Oh, it's a shame they couldn't save her." Swordspot scoffed. Blade straightened up and picked up his sword, Sunburst also preparing to counterattack. "You destroyed her, why don't you do the same to us?" The orange unicorn challenged. "So be it." Swordspot resumed his attack. Back in the city of Briarwood, or more specifically in the city forest, there was a big tree in the middle of it, The Rootcore, the base of operations of the Mystic Rangers, inside the place there was quite a lot of movement. In Rootcore stood a young blonde woman of at least her early 20's, that woman was none other than Clare, who was tidying the place, before the rangers brought in Leanbow, Nick and Udonna. "Just a little more." She said to herself as she levitated a feather duster. After several minutes of cleaning and tidying everything up, Clare took a moment to take a deep breath. "Okay, I'm done, now all that's left to do is wait for..." She didn't get to finish when a purple and aquamarine trail came through Rootcore's ceiling, landing in the basement. "Oh, come on." She whined. Clare went down to the basement to see what landed in the basement, she used her magic to dispel the smoke, when the smoke Clare gasped as she saw the carter there was a lavender skinned girl with purple hair and aquamarine highlights. "What happened?" Starlight groaned as she tried to get up. "Wow, easy, you're still weak from the impact of the crash." Clare stopped her. "Please help me..." Starlight collapsed as she tried to get up, but Clare held her down. "Hold on, hold on, I've got you." The blonde told her before pulling her out of the basement. > Call in the cavalry > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile in the catacombs, the students of the Friendship school stayed hidden while the Young Seven and the CMCs stood guard in case the zombie creatures found their hiding place. "What are we supposed to do?" Sanbar asked. "I don't know, Counselor Starlight and Sunburst are facing those things alone, and we don't know if they're okay." Ocellus said. "And what's worse is that Headmare Twilight and her friends are in Canterlot, and it may be a while before they realize what's going on here." Gallus added. "I wish we could call Sunset and the turtles, but that would mean leaving the school." Silverstream said. "Yona feels useless and helpless at the same time." Yona said. "I echo your words Yona." Smolder said. "I wish we could do something from here." "Maybe we could." Bright Eyes said. "What could we do?" Applebloom said. "Well, I could send a message to Headmare Twilight to let her know what's going on, so she could let Princess Celestia know so they can all come to Poniville and help our teachers." Bright Eyes said. "But sending a message takes a lot of magic, you don't have the ability to send a message." Ocellus said. "Well, maybe I could help her." Sweetie Belle proposed. "Can you handle it Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked. "What other option do we have?" Sweetie Belle asked. After thinking about it for a few seconds, the young ponies and non-ponies made a decision. "All right, let's do it." Sanbar said. Meanwhile outside Canterlot Castle, the girls and Spike were waiting for Twilight to come out of her meeting. As they waited, Rainbow Dash was starting to get desperate. "Ugh, how much longer will we be waiting?" she said as she flew in circles. "Reassuring Rainbow, she'll be here soon." Rarity said. "So we would appreciate it if you would stop flying in circles and calm down." Applejack told her and the multicolored maned pegasus sat down. After a couple of minutes Twilight came out of the castle and the girls and Spike went to greet her. "Twilight!" They said. "How did the meeting go?" Spike asked. "It went well, there really wasn't much to report." Twilight said. "Well, I guess that's what happens when you don't have friendship issues to report or threats to fight." Rainbow said. "Oh come on Rainbow Dash, not everything has to revolve around that, sometimes all you have to report is what's going on between us." Rarity said. "But she's right about one thing, things have been pretty quiet here and there in the human world." Spike said. "Yeah, but just because there's no unrest doesn't mean there's peace." Twilight said. "You're right Twilight." Spike said before burping out a letter. "Oh such looks like the danger is already here." "What does the letter say?" Fluttershy asked. "It's Bright Eyes, it says that she and all the students are in the catacombs, that Ponyville is being attacked by a two legged zombie creatures." "Zombie creatures? That's something you don't see every day." Rainbow Dash said. "We must intervene, now." Rarity said. "Wait guys." Twilight called. "Don't you think we should let the Royal Sisters know about this too? This seems more serious than it looks." "You're right Twi, we have to go to the princesses." AJ said and they all agreed. "You're right, let's all go to the throne room." Twilight and all of them entered the castle. Once inside the throne room, Princesses Celestia and Luna read the message from Bright Eyes. "Zombie Creatures?" Luna said in confusion. "That doesn't sound like anything I've ever seen before, what about you sister?" "Unfortunately for all of us, I don't have any information on this either." "Sorry to interrupt, but don't you think we should go to Ponyville right away, the longer we're here, those zombies will eventually wipe out all of Ponyville." Rainbow said. "She's Right, we need to leave as soon as possible." Luna agreed. "Wait a second, don't you think we should call Sunset and the others?" Twilight proposed. "But that means you'd have to go to Friendship Castle to warn them." Rarity said. "And we don't know if those creatures invaded the castle too." Fluttershy added. "It would be risky to call them to cross the portal if an ambush will be waiting for them." Celestia said. "So what will we do?" Twilight asked. "I'll take care of making contact with Sunset Shimmer, for now Twilight, you and your friends go to Ponyville." Celestia ordered. "But princess..." Twilight tried to object but Celestia interrupted her. "Twilight, there is no time to argue, now go now." She ordered. "Yes ma'am." Twilight bowed before she, the girls and Spike exited the throne room. "Luna, escort them please." Celestia said to her sister. "Okay sister." Luna left her throne to escort the Mane 6 and Spike into battle. After everyone left, Celestia pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen and began to write. "Dear Bright Eyes..." She began. "Everyone here at the palace is aware of what you warned Twilight about, so I will go to Ponyville along with my sister, Twilight and her friends to help the others, besides, I will take care of making contact with Sunset Shimmer and her friends from the human world to help us, until then you and the Young Six protect the students of the School of Friendship." When she finished, she used her magic to send the letter. She then took the lotus position before taking a couple of deep breaths. "I can do it, I just have to concentrate." She said before closing her eyes, slowly her horn lit up. Starlight groaned aloud, as she finally began to wake up. Her whole body was sore, her vision was blurry, but little by little it began to clear. It was then that she noticed that she was in a room, the walls were made of wood, she also noticed that she was lying on a bed, covered with a blanket, on her forehead was a wet cloth. When she was returned to her five senses, she tried to get up from the bed, however, a voice stopped her. "Don't get up yet." Someone called out to her. Starlight turned her gaze to see Clare walking in with a tray in her hands. "I see you woke up." Clare continued as she approached the bed. "I remember you, you're the one who found me when I landed here." Starlight said. "I'm sorry I caused havoc when I arrived." "Don't apologize, I was able to fix it earlier after I got you here, it'll be like nothing happened, though I'll still have to explain to Udonna how it was that you got here." Starlight looked at the blonde girl in confusion. "Udonna?" "She's my mentor, and the closest thing I've ever had to a mother." Clare explained. "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." Starlight said sympathetically. "I don't think we've introduced ourselves properly, I'm Starlight Glimmer." She introduced herself. "Clare." The blonde girl introduced herself. "So Starlight, how did you happen to get here?" "Well, it's possible that what I tell you next may seem unreal to you." "Starlight, I've seen many strange things in this forest and this town, nothing seems unreal to me anymore." "In that case, the village where I live was being attacked by some bipedal zombie creatures, I've never seen anything like that." "Zombie creatures?" Clare asked having a notion of what those creatures seemed to be. "Exactly, those creatures started to kidnap the inhabitants of the village where I live, a friend and I tried to intervene but then another bipedal creature arrived, he had a suit of armor from which several blades protruded from his body, we tried to confront him but he had very strong dark magic, when he tried to destroy me I used a spell I created to get out of my world and ask for help from some friends in another dimension," Starlight paused before continuing. "But as you noticed, I ended up here." "You created a spell to travel between dimensions?" Clare asked impressed. "Are you a sorceress?" "Not exactly." "I see." Clare said as she took the damp cloth from Starlight's forehead, then soaked it some more and wrung it out. As she was about to place the cloth back on her forehead, she saw something sticking out of Starlight's head that she hadn't noticed. "What is that thing on your head?" "What thing?" "That thing sticking out of your head, it looks like ears." Starlight touched her head to see what she had, that's when she felt ears sticking out of her hair. "Do you just happen to have a mirror?" Starlight asked. "Let me just have a second." Clare said before making a mirror appear in front of her, something that took Starlight by surprise. "How did you do that?" "Like I said, there's a lot going on in this place." Starlight took the mirror and noticed pony ears sticking out of her head. "WOW, I hadn't noticed that." She said, it was then that she saw that her hair was longer than usual. Clare's attention shifted when she noticed a light flashing. "Hey, I hadn't noticed about your necklace." "What necklace?" Starlight looked down to see what her necklace was glowing. "Oh, that necklace, it was a gift from Sunburst." "Your boyfriend?" Starlight's face turned red at the assumption. "What, no, he's not my boyfriend, but he's someone important in my life." "Oh, I see, I think I'll let you get some rest, enjoy your soup." Clare said before leaving the room. "Thank you Clare." Starlight thanked. As Clare left the room, she couldn't help but think about who might have invaded Starlight's world, she only knew of one group of individuals with those characteristics. "Could they have returned?" She wondered. The girls managed to reach Poniville thanks to a combined spell from Luna and Twilight, where they found the zombie creatures capturing the villagers, on the other hand they saw Blade and Sunburst fighting Swordspot. "Rainbow Dash, you come with me and Princess Luna, the others go help the other ponies." The young alicorn said before she, Luna and Rainbow went in the direction of the two male ponies. The other mares went to help the other inhabitants of Poniville. Rarity activated a diamond shield to repel the zombies, a pair of Hidiacs tried to surprise the white unicorn but were met by Applejack's rear hooves, a horn sounded and a group of Hidiacs turned around to find Pinkie Pie smiling innocently and whistling nonchalantly as she moved to fire her party cannon at the Hidiacs. Twilight used her magic to get Swordspot's attention, but he blocked her attack and counterattacked causing the purple alicorn to land in an emergency. "Well, well, well, looks like more ponies are coming to the party." Swordspot said. "Blade, Sunburst, who is he?" Twilight asked. "We're not sure who he really is, we just know his name is Swordspot." Sunburst said. "You guys, you're no match for me." Swordspot chuckled grimly, "The magic of this world will go to the Morloks, and there will be nothing and no one, not even a bunch of talking horses that can stop that." "Hey, who are you calling horses!" shouted Rainbow as she flew to meet Swordspot head on, however the monster swiftly struck her with the blunt side of his sword, sending her to the ground in a heap. "Rainbow Dash" Twilight screamed, then flew to help her injured friend, while Swordspot laughed like a maniac. "You're all pathetic! Surrender or you'll end up like the lavender unicorn!" "Lavender unicorn?" Luna asked. "What do you mean?" Then she realized Starlight wasn't around. "Wait, where's Starlight?" "Oh sorry, I had to get rid of her, that pony thought she could stop me but failed miserably." Swordspot said. "Guys, "Is that true?" Twilight asked Blade and Sunburst. "I'm afraid it's true, Twilight." Blade said. "We saw when he shot some kind of dark magic at her, and then Starlight wasn't there anymore." Sunburst added. "Are you telling me he destroyed Starlight just like that?" The princess asked again. "Were it so easy." "Well, you're about to find out." Swordspot threatened. "Careful you two be careful, he has dark magic never before seen in Equestria." Sunburst warned. "Well let's see what he is capable of when facing two alicorns." Twilight said before she and Luna charged Swordspot. Meanwhile in New York, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight along with Fugitoid were walking through the old subway station on their way to the turtle house. "So Twilight, you never told me what plans you and Leo have for your date." Sunset teased the nerd. "Hang out." Twilight corrected. "Not really that there's a plan per se, we'll just go to the movies, then hang out in Times Square, get some ice cream, no big deal." "That sounds good, I'm surprised your brother didn't insist on giving you a ride up here." The professor said. "Shining Armor was going to do it but my dad and Cadence told him to let me go alone, and somehow he reluctantly agreed." Twilight said. "Typical overprotective brother." "Well, good thing he agreed." Spike said as he poked his head out of Twilight's backpack. "Spike?" Sunset and Fugitoid asked at the same time. "What are you doing here?" The redhead asked. "Well I'm staying in the sewers playing Beast Battle with Ice Cream Kitty, of course if he doesn't screw up the rules to win." The dog said. The guys continued walking towards the entrance of the lair and saw Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey who were watching another episode of Space Heroes the Next Generation, Leo for his part is wearing his cloaking device, apparently already ready for his 'no date'. "Hey, guys!" Sunset called out. The four turtles saw their friends and Leo spoke up, "Twilight, Sunset, Professor Honeycutt, you're here." "And don't forget about me." Spike spoke from Twilight's backpack. "Oh, you came too Spike." Leo said. "What brings you guys here?" Mikey asked. "I understand why Twilight and Spike are here, but why are you two here." "Well, Donatello called me to work on a new batch of Retromutagen." Fugitoid replied. "And well, I didn't have any plans for tonight so I thought it would be nice to hang out with you guys..." Sunset paused as she felt a sudden headache. "Sunset, are you okay?" Raph asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just a headache, it's nothing." Sunset said as she touched her temple. "Maybe you need an aspirin, I'll get you one." Mikey said before using a smoke bomb and disappearing, seconds later he returned with nothing. "We don't have any aspirin, maybe some chamomile tea will do." He disappeared again with a smoke bomb, when he returned he had a cup of hot tea in his hand and handed it to Sunset. "Thanks Mikey but I don't think it's I think it's anything to worry about AHH!" Sunset dropped the cup as the headache got stronger. "Sunset!" everyone around her was alarmed to see Sunset on her knees rubbing her temple. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked. "I don't know what's going on." Sunset replied, but in her mind she could hear a few whispers, "What's happening to me?" "My little sun..." Sunset heard in her mind someone's voice, there was only one person who had called her that, or rather, a pony. "Princess Celestia?" Sunset asked. "Yes Sunset Shimmer, listen carefully, I don't have much time, Ponyville is under attack by strange creatures that possess dark magic never seen before, we require your help and that of the ninjas to fight them, we will meet you there, please hurry." Celestia said. "Sunset, are you okay?" Leo asked. "Yes, that's just Princess Celestia talking to me." Sunset explained. "Princess Celestia?" Leo was surprised. "How is it that she was able to talk to you from Equestria without needing Princess Twilight's diary?" Donnie asked. "I'm not sure, but if she was able to make contact with me that way, then the situation must be urgent for an immediate response." Sunset said. "Ponyville is under attack, they need our help." "Under attack?" Fugitoid asked. "By whom?" "I'm not sure, she said they were strange creatures never seen before, they are being overrun." "Then we'll go to Equestria as soon as possible." Leo said. "I'll call Karai and Shinigami." "I'll let April, Casey and Keno know." Donnie said as he pulled out his T-phone. After waiting a few minutes, Karai and Shinigami arrived at the lair. "We're here, Leo." Karai said. "Are we ready to go?" Shini asked. "We're still missing April, Casey and Keno." Twilight said. "Guys here we are." Casey's voice was heard as he and April arrived at the lair. "You guys better have a good reason why we have to postpone our date tonight." In the distance a voice was heard that the boys weren't expecting to hear now, and such a voice came from none other than Indigo Zap who was coming with her boyfriend Keno. "Indigo Zap?" Twilight asked. "What are you doing here?" "Like I said, Keno and I were on a date until Keno got a call from Donnie telling him to come to the sewers as soon as possible." Explained the blue-haired girl. "And apparently we weren't the only ones whose date plans got cancelled." "Hang out." Twilight corrected. "All right, time to go." Leo warned. "Wait, you never told me where you all are going." Indigo said. "We're going to Equestria, they need our help." Twilight explained. "Equestria? You mean Sunset Shimmer's home world, right?" "That's right." Sunset confirmed. "You're going too Sparkle?" Indigo asked. "Yep." Twilight said. "And so am I." Spike said. "In that case, I think I should go too." Indigo said. "Are you sure? I mean, you haven't been to Equestria before and I don't think now is a good time." Donnie said. "Never mind, if they say that's world is in trouble and they need all the help they can get then I think I should go too." "It's okay, join us, no quota." Raph said. "Well, the only bad thing is that I left my weapon at home." Indigo said. "Never mind, there are plenty of weapons here." Raph said as he threw a Guandao Spear at Indigo and a Kamayari Sickle Spear at Twilight, the two girls caught their respective spears. "Alright, we're good to go." Leo said and Donnie began to enter the coordinates into the portal weapon and projected a portal and instantly, the group went through the portal which closed after everyone crossed. Seconds later the gang reached an area near Ponyville. Leo shook his head before speaking to everyone. "Is everyone okay?" "Yeah, we're fine." Karai said. "Of course." Sci Twi said as she adjusted her glasses. "I'm fine." Spike said. "Spike!" Sci Twi said. "What's wrong Twilight?" the dog now turned dragon asked. "You have wings." Spike looked at his back and saw that he now had wings. "That's right, I have wings." Spike said. "Yeah, just like your counterpart." Casey pointed out. "Good thing I always wear my necklace." The last one out of the portal was Indigo, who fell belly-first to the ground. "Ouch, that'll leave a mark." She groaned. "Indigo, are you okay?" Keno asked. "Of course I am." She said only to see what everyone was now ponies, except for Spike. "So this is the form you guys take when you cross the portal?" "That's right." Leo said. Indigo Zap assessed her body noticing that she was now an orange pegasus, blue mane, and on her flank was the cutie mark of a navy blue cloud with a king blue lightning bolt, and on the cloud was a pink star. "WOW guys, take a look at it! I have wings!" Indigo said. "This is amazing, and at the same time unsettling." "Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Keno said. "Ponyville isn't too far, come on." Leo ordered. "Then let's go!" Indigo jumped up and flapped her wings only to fall flat on her face. "Oh!" everyone groaned. "Good one, Zap." Karai chuckled. "I don't know if you know this Indigo, but just because you have wings doesn't mean you know how to use them." Sci Twi said. "I had that problem." Keno said. "Same here." Casey reported. "It's okay, I guess I'll walk." Indigo said. The ponies went flying as a wave of dark magic hit them. "Ha! None of you are no match for me!" Swordspot boasted. "He's very strong." Sunburst said as he picked himself up off the ground. "I've never seen anything like that." Luna said impressed. " It's time to finish this." Swordspot prepared to attack again. "Not if I can help it!" Celestia said as she fired magic from her horn to repel Swordspot. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight and the others said. "Good thing you got here in time, sister." Luna said. "Another unicorn with wings?" Swordspot asked. "The correct term is Alicorn." Celestia corrected. "Never mind, one more of you won't make a difference." Celestia immediately flew up to attack Swordspot from an elevated position, the monster blocked the blasts of magic Celestia fired at him, Swordspot used his right hand to cast a spell to keep Celestia suspended in the air, she couldn't move her wings or cast magic at her opponent, which Swordspot took advantage of to attack with a Double Slash at the sun alicorn, sending her plummeting down. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight immediately rushed to her mentor's aid. "Not impressed." Swordspot spat. "His magic doesn't seem to be of this world." Celestia mentioned as she tried to stand up. "Alright, enough of the game, it's time to end this." Swordspot raised his sword and prepared to strike, and the two alicorns could do nothing but close their eyes and await their fate. "No, you won't!" came Leo's voice from behind them, and the ponies opened their eyes just in time to see Swordspot shoot out with a burst of fire coming from behind them. They turned their heads to see their friends from the human world along with a pegasus they didn't recognize. "Guys, you came!" Twilight said. "And just in time." Celestia said. "Who dares to attack me?" Swordspot asked. "The ones who are going to beat you up for messing with our friends." Mikey said. "All of you, huh? I guess that means more to me than destroying, Hydiacs, attack!" The rest of the monsters stopped their destructive ways and ran towards the newcomers, who tensed into battle stances and let out their own screams as they ran to meet their attackers head on. The brothers used their ninjitsu skills to avoid the creatures as they dealt their own blows. Karai transformed into a snake to slither around them and attack. Casey used his field hockey stick and baseball bat to hit some Hidiacs. "These guys aren't that tough!" Casey boasted, only to have some Hidiacs shoot him with their spears. "Okay, I take that back." "Cowabunga!" Mikey swung his nunchucks as he hit two Hidiacs. April swung her tessen nailing some Hidiacs in the face, while Sunset threw her kunais at them. Fugitoid switched to anthro mode and extended his arms to fire his blasters. "Come on everyone, we've got to help them!" Applejack called, as the girls, princesses and Spike went to help their ninja friends. Sci Twi swung her spear to take down some zombies, Dog Spike used his fire breath to burn some of them. Indigo Zap used her spear to impale a Hidiac, when she noticed another one coming towards her she used her wings to leap and throw her spear straight at the zombie's head. Princess Twilight tried to destroy the Hidiacs with her magic, but was repelled by a shot from one of them. She was surrounded by several enemies but Donnie appeared and took down the Hidiacs surrounding her. "Thank you Donnie." The princess thanked. "Anytime Twi." He said. Keno charged head on into multiple Hidiacs, knocking most of them down with his sticks. Shini dodged a nearby kick and swept her attacker with her kusarigama, tangling his leg and yanking the chain. She then performed a quick backflip, knocking down two more enemies with kicks in the air and, brandishing her hypno ball, hit three more in the head, taking them all down. Leo broke free from the grip of two Hidiacs, knocking down the first with a kick and elbowing the other. With a swing of his sword he slashed the spear of one Hidac, and connected a kick to knock it down. Swordspot grunted when he saw that his troops were being defeated. Leo knocked down the last Hidac and pointed his sword at Swordspot. "Game over, there is no one left to fight for you." He declared. "I don't need anyone, I will destroy all of you with my bare hands." Swordspot charged at all of them. Rainbow Dash tried to knock him down but Swordspot grabbed her by the tail and threw her against the nearest house. Pinkie Pie tried to use her party cannon but the bladed monster launched a blast of dark magic that destroyed her party cannon and sent the pink pony flying. The two Spikes used their fire breath to even repel the monster, but it protected itself by calling up an energy shield that prevented the two dragons' fire breath from hurting it, Sci Twi and Indigo tried to ram the warrior with their spears but Swordspot sent another blast of dark magic that sent the two ponies and the two dragons flying. Casey tried to hit him with his field hockey stick, only to have his stick break as it collided with his razor body. Swordspot connected with a punch to Casey's face that sent him straight to the ground. Keno and Donnie tried to counterattack but Swordspot blocked their attacks with his sword and sent them both flying with a pair of slashes. Karai was next to approach, dodging Swordspot's magic blasts. Then Karai changed to her snake form and used her snake hands to attack Swordspot, who made sure to avoid the snake hand bites until she saw an opportunity and grabbed Karai by both hands and threw her against the ground and kicked her. Out of the corner of his eye Swordspot could see Blade Swipe who leapt towards him. Blade unsheathed his sword, charged at Swordspot but the latter managed to block his attack, the two clashed their swords several times, Blade managed to kick his opponent in the chest, but Swordspot recovered and sent a blast of his magic straight at him. Blade couldn't react in time and the blast sent him crashing into the nearest house injuring him. Mikey and Shini tried to tie him up using their chains but Swordspot stepped aside and the boys' chains became entangled with each other. Applejack tried to use her lasso to remove her sword, but Swordspot caught the lasso and pulled Applejack, sending her into Mikey. She then sent a blast of dark magic against Shini but Rarity managed to intervene and raised a diamond shield to protect her and her friend. "Creative, but not enough." Swordspot said before concentrating her power more and managed to destroy Rarity's shield and send the two unicorns flying. Raph was the next to attack, using his sais he charged at the monster, Swordspot also attacked with his sword, Raph managed to hold Swordspot's sword with his sais and took advantage of the moment to connect a kick to the monster's face. Swordspot counterattacked with an explosion of dark magic, but Raph activated his medallion and fired a blast of fire to avoid being hit, the two struggled with their powers, Leo took advantage of the situation to activate his medallion and use his magical swords of water and wind to attack Swordspot. The Blue Mutant Pony spun around and managed to slash Swordspot with his two swords. Swordspot recoils after the incoming attack, then he straightened up and a dark purple aura surrounded him and several of the blades protruding from him separated from his body, the blades levitated around him. "Nice move, but now it's my turn, Thousand Knives!!!" He said before firing the blades in the direction of Leo and Raph, however a large boulder of rubble stood in front of the mutant ponies giving them protection, Swordspot turned his gaze to April who was levitating said rubble, behind her are Sunset and Fugitoid who were firing their weapons to give the redhead cover. Swordspot managed to dodge Sunset's explosive kunais but what he couldn't avoid was a shot coming from Fugitoid that hit him in the shoulder, the impact of the shot made Swordspot finally fall to the ground. "Yeah, we finally took him down." Fugitoid celebrated. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean you defeated me." Swordspot said as he fired a blast of dark magic in the direction of April, Sunset and Fugitoid, then stood up and repeated the action with Leo and Raph, sending the aforementioned flying. Rainbow Dash charged at him with everything she had, she landed a series of blows to his face with her hooves, but Swordspot grabbed her by the neck and slammed her to the ground, he was about to stab her with his sword but Fluttershy's back hooves got in the way with a kick to the face. "Thank you Fluttershy." Rainbow thanks. The three Princesses approached the two pegasus, the three charged their horns and sent a blast of magic straight at Swordspot, he tried to protect himself but the Princesses' magic was too strong, the blast dragged him far away from them. "Yes! We finished him off." However, when the smoke from the explosion cleared, Swordspot could be seen still standing. "What?" Twilight was surprised to see her enemy still standing. "Your magic is strong, but not strong enough to destroy me, now take this!" Swordspot said as he wanted to cast another blast of dark magic, but was surprised when he felt a pain in his arm. "It can't be." "Take what?" Rainbow asked. "My magic is still weak from the time I spent idle in the abyss, I need to recharge my power, and now that I have several of the inhabitants of this village in my power, I can get their magic, my apologies for not destroying you as promised, but I will! Luthaar!" Swordspot said before calling a magic circle with which he disappeared from the place. "Yeah well, the loser is you!" Rainbow said defiantly. "Is everyone okay?" Celestia asked as all the ponies regrouped. "Yes, we will be." Leo said. "I'm glad you guys were able to make it in time." "I wish we could have stopped that monster from taking so many ponies." Sunset said. "The important thing is that you managed to arrive in time to stop that monster from taking more ponies." Celestia said. "It is good to see you all again." "Likewise Princess." Leo said. "And who is your new friend?" Rarity asked. "This is Indigo Zap." Keno introduced her to the others. Indigo looked at the royal sisters with a confused look, "So they are the Celestia and Luna of this universe?" Fugitoid spoke up, "Exactly, only here in Equestria they are princesses. And instead of being high school principals." "Really, where are my manners, nice to meet you, your highness." Indigo bowed her head awkwardly. "Any Sunset Shimmer ally is a friend of ours." Celestia saluted. "And, of course, you surely remember the Twilight of my world and her Spike." Sunset reintroduced them. "It's good to see you both again." Celestia greeted them. "Likewise Ma'am." Sci Twi greeted. "Not that I'm complaining about seeing you too, but how come only you three came with the rest?" Princess Twilight asked. "Well, maybe because we were the only ones in New York." Dog Spike spoke up. "That's a good point." Luna said. "But you'd better warn the others in case their world is compromised." " You are right, princess." Fugitoid said before noticing someone was missing. "Wait a minute, where's Starlight Glimmer? I thought she'd be with you guys." Sunburst and Blade froze at the mention of the lavender pony. "Guys, what happened before we got here?" Leo asked. "Well, when we realized that Ponyville was under attack she and I went to defend the ponies and ..." Sunburst continued to recount the events up to the part where Starlight disappeared. All the ponies present were shocked at this revelation. "Are you serious about what you're telling us?" Leo asked. "It's true, I was there too." Blade confirmed. "She just disappeared just like that?" Sci Twi asked. "Looks like it." Sunburst said. "Where did that happen?" Fugitoid asked. Sunburst and Blade led the group towards where Starligh was last seen. "This is it." Sunburst pointed to the spot. Fugitoid scanned the indicated area with his optical scopes, after a few seconds he turned to the group. "What do you think professor?" Sunburst asked. "Well, I don't know what the weight of science is here, but my judgment says Starlight was not destroyed." Fugitoid said. "Do you really believe that?" "Yep, I didn't really find anything that told me she was destroyed, just a small trace of magical energy." Fugitoud explained. "I actually think she escaped before she was attacked." "She escaped?" "Of course, she told me about a new teleportation spell she was working on, she said she wanted to find a way to go to the human world without having to use the mirror." Princess Twilight recalled. "Then she tried to find us to ask for help." Sunset said. "It's possible, though we don't know if she made it to New York or Canterlot City or somewhere else." "That must be in your room, Friendship castle is not far, let's go." Princess Twilight said and they all went to the castle. As they all walked, Indigo couldn't ask something. "Hey, clear this up for me." She asked. "What's going on?" Donnie asked. "How come Princess Twilight has wings and our Twilight doesn't?" "Oh, wings?" Sunset Shimmer interrupted. "Well, that's a funny story. See, Princess Twilight was born a unicorn, but she completed a spell originally created by Starswirl the Bearded, and was promoted to-" "Oh, I get it," Indigo said until another question came to mind. "And how do you explain the fact that she gets wings when you and the others transform?" "That's also another interesting question, but we'll answer that later, now we need to focus on finding Starlight." Sunset said and they all continued on their way to Friendship Castle. Back in the underworld, Swordspot entered a cave where he could see the ponies he captured locked in chambers that drained their magic by directing it to a known pit in the center of the hut. Swordspot could see his colleagues working on draining the ponies' magic. "Well?" He asked as he approached them. "The magic of these ponies is not as strong as we thought, it will take more time if we want Octomus to return." The white masked monster replied. "Perhaps we can have more magic than we require." "What do you mean?" The spear monster asked. "In that universe there were three ponies that the people of that world call alicorns, they possess very strong magic, and there were other ponies, but these were different from all the others, they had hands and could stand on two legs." Swordspot explained. "Are you saying that they can be the key to having all the magic we want?" the white-masked monster asked. "I think we could harness it to strengthen our army with it. " "In that case, then we should bring them in." The spear monster said. "As soon as I recharge my power I'll gather a platoon of Hidiacs and we'll lure those ponies in at a different point." Swordspot said. "You do that, I'll get another platoon ready." "Now that we have extra power, I think it's time someone knew who's back." The spear monster turned around to go execute his plan. Meanwhile at the school of friendship, Spike the Dragon was teaching his counterpart how to use her wings, so was Rainbow with Indigo, the three princesses stood on the sidelines trying to figure out what had happened in Ponyville, the rest of the group was looking over Starlight's notes so they could use her spell, Princess Twilight steeled herself for the possibility of bad news, even as she walked over to where the others were examining Starlight's notes. "So, what do we have so far?" Sunset Shimmer looked up from her work with a shake of her head. "I've gone over Starlight's spell several times and it doesn't look like anything I've seen before, I have to hand it to her, whatever she did to escape somehow worked." "Mmm, I know I don't know as much about magic as you guys," Sci Twi said, "but if Fugitoid said there was still a trace of magic left at the scene why can't we cast a spell and follow it?" "While that's not a bad idea, that has its risks." stated Sunburst. "We still don't know if she ended up going somewhere dangerous..." "...or if she ended up going somewhere," Mikey stated and everyone turned their gaze towards him. "Ok, I take that back." "No Mikey, that's also a possibility." Leo said in a somber tone. "Still, it's still risky." Sunset said. Sunburst couldn't help a frustrated groan escaping her. "Too bad I couldn't do something in time..." "Don't beat yourself up about it anymore, we'll find her." The Princess of Friendship said. As everyone worked, Princess Celestia turned away from the group, trying to look for some sort of connection between the recent invasion and her dream. "Does this entity have anything to do with these Morlocks?" She asked herself. > Mystical reinforcements > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somewhere in Equestria, Starswirl the Bearded was in a library looking through some books. After Celestia told him about her dream he set out to find something that related to what the princess saw in her dream. Stygian entered the room with a letter for his mentor. "Did you find anything Starswirl?" He asked. "Nothing yet." Starswirl replied. "I haven't been able to find anything that will help me give Celestia an answer about her dream." "You really can't make sense of what the princess told you?" "I would if I knew what it was or if I had any idea what it was about." Starswirl paused to look at the letter Stygian brought. "What's that you bring there?" "It's a message from Princess Twilight." Stygian said. "As far as I know it is Ponyville was attacked by some strange creatures." "Strange creatures?" Starswirl took the letter from Stygian and began to read it. "What does the princess say?" Stygian asked. "She says that they were attacked by a horde of zombie creatures." Starswirl said. "Zombie creatures?" Stygian asked. "I don't remember hearing anything like that in the history of Equestria." "Me neither." Starswirl replied. "Those creatures were led by a strong warrior who possessed dark magic never seen before." "Magic?" Stygian asked again. "Outside of Equestria? That's impossible." "Of course not." Starswirl corrected. "You should know that Equestria is not the only place where magic exists. Throughout my life I have discovered that magic exists on other worlds, just as there are beings who see to it that magic exists on those worlds." "Then we are talking about an otherworldly threat." "Most likely." Starswirl continued reading Twilight's letter until she came to a part that caught his attention. Stygian noticed his mentor's posture. "Is something wrong?" Stygian asked. "It can't be." Starswirl got out of his seat and headed for a section of books. Stygian glanced at Twilight's letter, in it he could read that the monster that attacked them used a spell with which it called up a dark magic circle that appeared on the ground. Stygian wondered what that could be. Back with Starswirl, the older unicorn took out a purple colored book which contained a circular symbol with an M in the center. The bearded pony opened the book and after flipping through it he found what he was looking for. Stygian approached Starswirl and saw that on the page of his book was a stamp identical to the one on the letter. "What exactly is that?" Stygian asked. "I fear it is very likely that we are facing an even greater danger than we have faced in the history of Equestria." "A danger far greater than the evils we have faced?" "Far worse." Starswirl paused for a moment to reflect. "Perhaps this is linked to Celestia's dream." Meanwhile in the library of Castle of Friendship, Donnie, Sunburst, Sunset and the two Twilights were connecting some wires from the mirror to Donnie's portal generator. "Do you really think it will work?" Blade asked as he watched the others work. "Hopefully it works." Sunset said. "How will it work?" Mikey asked. "We'll sync Donnie's portal generator with Crystal Mirror and use the energy trail we found at the site where Starlight disappeared, find the coordinates of the dimension and go in to find Starlight" Sci-Twi said. "And we really hope it works." Fugitoid said. As they continued working, Celestia walked in with the Young Seven. "Guys, they're here." Silverstream said. "It's good to see you guys, though I wish it was on better terms." Leo said. "Yeah, Princess Celestia told us what happened with Starlight." Bright Eyes said. "I'll wait a moment." Indigo Zap approached the newcomers. "Bright Eyes?" "Indigo Zap?" Bright Eyes asked. "What are you doing here?" "Well, I was on a date with Keno in NYC until Leo tipped me off that they were attacking Equestria, so I joined the rest, as well as Sci Twi and her Spike." "Only they're here?" Bright Eyes asked. "That's right." Indigo confirmed. "But what are they doing over there?" Sanbar asked. "They're looking for a way to connect Donnie's portal generator to the mirror so they can find Starlight." Leo explained. "How's that going?" Celestia asked. Sunset gave a sigh. "Well, we're almost done setting up the generator with the mirror. However, to make it work requires a large amount of power." "I think this is where my fusion center would be required." Fugitoid lamented. "Even if you were to still have your fusion center, you would risk losing your life." Donnie told him. "Sunset, Sunburst and I would have to give you everything we had but we still wouldn't have enough power to make this work." Princess Twilight said. "As good an idea as any," Sunset stated. "Let's get to work." The ponies took their places to begin to energize the "Ready?" Twilight asked them. "As we always will be." Sunburst replied. "Very well. The mirror and generator are ready. In theory we should reach the location closest to the point where Starlight is located. The portal should be open long enough for you guys to get back to her." Twilight instructed. "Well, let's get started." The two unicorns and the alicorn stood side by side in front of the mirror and charged their horns before casting the necessary spell on the mirror. For a few moments nothing happened. "Why isn't it working?" Sunset complained. "Try harder!" Twilight told them. They increased the strength of their spells, but once again, they couldn't make anything happen. But suddenly, the mirror began to light up. "Is it working?" Sunburst asked hopefully. "It looks like it." Twilight said. "Professor, Donnie, turn it on!" Sunset said and Donnie and Fugitoid activated the portal generator, from there a portal was generated to what looked like a forest. "I guess that's the place." Donnie said. "Ok guys, I think it's safe to stop energizing the portal." Princess Twilight said and she, Sunset and Sunburst stopped energizing the portal. "Ok, who will go get her?" Princess Twilight asked. "I'll go." Sunburst said. "No." Leo objected. "But she's my best friend." "I know, but we'll need you here more." Leo told her. "But who will go for Starlight." "I'll go." "Me too." Donnie said. "And me." Sci Twi said. "Can I go too?" Mikey said. "No Mikey, there are already too many of us, besides, we need the others to stay here in case Swordspot comes back." Leo said. "Oh" Mikey complained. "Alright we're ready." Donnie said. "Go carefully." Celestia said and Leo, Donnie and Sci Twi walked through the portal. "Hold on Twilight, here I come." Dog Spike said before launching himself through the portal. "Spike!" everyone yelled but it was too late. "Alright everyone, listen up, NO ONE ELSE COMES THROUGH THAT PORTAL, IS THAT CLEAR?" Celestia used her royal Canterlot voice. No one answered, they just nodded their heads. "What was that?" Indigo asked. "That was the royal voice of Canterlot, and believe me, you don't want to face some princess when she gets like that." Sanbar said. Meanwhile with the others, they landed at the entrance of Braidwood Forest. When they reached that dimension, they changed to their original form. "Wow, that was interesting." Leo said. "Looks like it." Dog Spike said. "Spike?" Sci Twi asked. "What are you doing here?" "I didn't want to leave you, so I crossed the portal too." Spike said. "That's sweet, but you shouldn't have, we don't know what this place is and what we might find." "Anyway, I wanted to come with you." "It's okay, just stay close." "Do you guys think we should go through the woods?" Donnie asked. "Well, the portal took us to the closest point where Starlight is, so yeah." Sci Twi said. "Well, let's do it." Leo said and they all entered the forest. The moment they crossed the forest, the panorama changed to a darker hue. "Did anyone else notice that?" Leo asked. "You mean the paradigm shift? I think we all did." Donnie said. "It's like we're in those thrillers." Spike said. At that moment, Leo and Donnie's medallions began to flicker, as did Sci Twi's geode, only she too grew pony ears and alicorn wings. "Great, now it'll be harder to go unnoticed." She grumbled. "We can still do this, come on ninjas." Leo ordered and they continued on their way. Meanwhile back at Rootcore, Clare was finishing cleaning everything up, again. "You're a complete witch and you can't keep this place clean?" Clare turned around only to see Udonna and Leanbow with their arms crossed while Nick tried not to laugh. "Mmm, I can explain." Clare tried to say. "Maybe, but first..." Udonna said before opening her arms. Clare immediately went to hug her. "I missed you so much kiddo." "I missed you so much too." "I guess she was the only one you missed." Leanbow said. "Of course not." Clare said before hugging him. "Yeah yeah, hug the legendary mages." Nick said in a mocking tone. "Ay come here silly." Clare said before hugging him. "I'm glad you guys are here." "Now are you going to tell us what took you so long to come to the party?" Udonna asked. "Well, I was on my way, until a girl landed at Rootcore." Clare said. "A girl?" Nick said. "Actually, she's resting in my room." "Really?" "Yeah, but she said something that got me thinking." "What do you mean?" Leanbow asked. "Well, she told me that she escaped from her world since zombie creatures attacked her home, she said that these creatures had dark magic, and that she tried to use a teleportation spell between dimensions, but it went wrong and she ended up here." "She's a sorceress?" "She said no, but I could see she had pony ears sticking out of her hair." "Hey, didn't Daggeron tell us about something like that before?" Nick asked. "I think he traveled to a dimension where he met some girls with those characteristics." Leanbow said. "Don't you think we're talking about the same girls?" Udonna asked. "Maybe we can talk to Daggeron to see if he recognizes her." Clare suggested. "Maybe, but not now, we'd better let her rest a little longer." Leanbow said. Out of nowhere, the four heard an explosion coming from outside. "I think that's going to be a problem." Nick said. "That came from the forest." Leanbow said. "We need to go investigate." Udonna said. "Clare, stay here and take care of your friend." "Got it." The blonde girl said. The three mages left Rootcore and headed into the village to see a group of Hidiacs and Styxoids attacking the place. The villagers of the began to flee in fright, leaving Nick and his parents alone with the creatures watching them. They got into battle positions, having faced these creatures many times before. "I thought we got rid of all these clowns," Nick said, readying his fists for a fight. "You should think twice before acting on false assumptions," a voice shouted from behind the Hidiacs, and two high-powered energy bolts shot out at the Rangers, knocking them all down in a frightening explosion. Nick spat dirt and grass from his mouth before looking up, only for the dark monster to appear. "And who are you?" He asked. "Allow me to introduce myself." The monster said as the smoke cleared. "My name is Dreadscythe, and I am here to conquer the surface world for the Morloks." "Well tried, because you will fail as well as all the Octomus monsters that have tried." Nick said as he quickly stood up. His parents also stood up. "Oh, the great Red Ranger. I've heard about you." Dreadscythe frowned. "Morlocks, attack!" With that, the Hidiacs ran toward the group, Nick let out a shout and also ran forward, meeting the foot soldiers head on and performing expert fighting moves. Nick and the others went into combat. Dreadscythe stepped back, watching with interest. Nick ducked under a blow from a nearby Hidiac and retaliated with a quick strike. Then, he ran at the soldiers directly in front of him, flipping them over and kicking one of their backs for an extra boost. He ran towards Dreadscythe, intending to strike its head, but was only knocked down by another blast of dark magic coming from the monster. "Bowen!" Leanbow and Udonna shouted as they ran to his side, lifting him back up. Dreadscythe merely laughed at the spectacle. "I thought the Red Ranger would be quite the challenge." "If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Nick yelled as he pulled out his Mystic Morpher, while his parents did the same, only with Udonna brought out her snow staff and Leanbow his Wolf Morpher. "Ready?" yelled Nick. "Ready!" They replied. "'Magical Source, Mystic Force!" They shouted, and the familiar surge of magical energy began to flow into their bodies. "Well, let's move on to bigger leagues then." Dreadscythe said before summoning another legion of Morloks. The Rangers charged at the Hidiacs, Udonna used her Snow Staff to freeze some Hidiacs, only to tear them all to pieces. "Wolf Attack." Leanbow fired lasers from her shield in the direction of the enemy soldiers. Nick charged at Dreadscythe with his sword, the warrior raised his spear and shielded himself from the ranger's attack, the Red Ranger lashed out with his weapon but the monster continued to shield himself. "Alright, you asked for it." Nick channeled all his power and charged with everything he had. "Fire of the Phoenix!" He was engulfed in flames when he attacked but Dreadscythe used a counter spell to nullify his attack. "But how?" Nick asked incredulously. "Ha, how naive you are." Dreadscythe said before contracting with his spear. "Dark Magic Strike!" The tip of his spear ignited into a black flame and struck Nick with a slash, sending the Ranger to the ground. "Ha! You're not as tough as I thought." Dreadscythe was about to thrust his spear into Nick but Leanbow intervened in defense of his son. "Oh The Legendary Warrior Leanbow, I've heard stories about you." Dreadscythe said as he attacked. "Let's see what you've got, you abominable beast." Leanbow said. Back at Friendship Castle, the ponies were still waiting for Leo, Donnie, Twilight and Dog Spike to return. "Will they be long?" Mikey asked. "Well, they'll take as long as they have to take, for us it'll be about a quarter of that." Princess Twilight said. "I just hope they bring Starlight back safely." Sunburst said. At that moment, Princess Luna entered the library along with Cadence and Shining Armor. "Any news?" the Night Princess asked. "Nothing yet. They haven't returned." Celestia said. "Shining, Cadence!" Fugitoid said. "Professor, guys it's good to see you." Cadence said. "Same here." Mikey said. "Princess Luna filled us in on what happened here." Shining commented. "Well, Leo, Donnie and the other Twilight and her Spike went to look for Starlight; but they haven't come back yet." Casey said. "We are guarding the portal until they return in case those creatures come back." Sunburst said. Indigo walked over to Keno. "They are the Cadence and Shining Armor of this world?" "Yes, only instead of them being the Principal and Dean of Crystal Prep they are the rulers of the Crystal Empire." Keno explained. "And I bet they also have a daughter named Flurry Heart." "Yep, and it's worth saying that she's also an alicorn." "Excuse me Keno, who is your friend?" Shining Armor asked. "She's my girlfriend Indigo Zap or however you say it here in Equestria." Keno said. "It is a pleasure to meet you, your highnesses." Indigo bowed. "No need for such formality, I think we can talk to each other as you." Shining said. "It's all right, Shining." She replied. "That sounded weird, but I'll allow it." "Any friend of our Twilight's is a friend of ours." Cadence said. "Hey guys, where's Flurry Heart?" Twilight asked. "She's fine, she's with mom and dad." Shining told his sister. At that instant a pair of guards, each belonging to Cadence and Luna's escorts, burst into the room. "Princesses, Poniville is under attack." The guards said. "Oh no, Swordspod came back with his ordas." Pinkie Pie said. "Twilight, Sunset, Sunburst! Stay here and guard the portal!" Celestia said. "The rest of us will go take on those creatures." "Understood!" They said. "Come on everyone, let's protect Ponyville." Luna said and they all went outside. Ponyville was again under attack by the morlocks, Swordspod commanded another platoon of Hidiacs and Styxoids, they were capturing more ponies for their purposes, however, Swordspod had other individuals in mind. Hidiacs and Styxoids fire nets from their staffs in the direction of the Ponyville residents, the ponies were trying to escape but most had no luck. "We need more ponies." Swordspod said. "If necessary we will capture every magical creature in this dimension to bring back the Master." The Hidiacs cornered some ponies on a wall, but before they could capture them a shot hit them and the ponies took the opportunity to escape. "What?" Swordspod asked and then saw the heroes making an appearance. "So they came back for another round?" "Yeah, we'll take you down this time." Rainbow said defiantly. Swordspod noticed the addition of Cadence and company to the fight. "I see you brought another Alicorn, I'll have the pleasure of taking that blissful magic of yours." "We'll see about that." Shining said before firing. Swordspod simply blocked his attack with his sword. "Is that the best you can do?" He asked. "How about I show you what real magic is?" He launched a blast of dark magic at his opponents, knocking them down in a single motion. "You forgot to mention that this guy is really tough." Shining groaned. "Well, now you know." Raph said before he and the others stood up. "Fools, haven't you had enough?" Swordspod asked, but seeing that his opponents refused to give up, he decided to put an end to it all. "If that's what they want." He continued. "Morlocks, stick to the plan, and finish them off." The Hidiacs and Styxoids stepped forward and ran in the direction of the heroes, who for their part were ready to defend themselves. Back at Friendship Castle, Sunset, Sunburst and Princess Twilight were still guarding the portal. "How long do you think they'll be?" Sunburst asked. "I don't know Sunburst, maybe a few more minutes." Twilight said. Just then a group of Hidiacs and Styxoids burst into the room. "I'm afraid we don't have a few minutes." Sunset said. The three ponies attacked the enemy troops with what they had, Sunset threw her kunais at about 6 enemies, then drew her tanto blade to defend against the enemies that had swords. The princess used her Kamayari Sickle Spear to knock down some enemies, she soared using her wings and spun around to finish off the Styxoids that were shooting at her. Sunburst dodged the incoming shots and countered by firing magic from her horn. But the enemies kept coming. "There are too many of them." The stallion warned. "And more keep coming." Sunset said. Twilight noticed out of the corner of her eye that a pair of hydiacs were approaching the portal. "NO!" She shot at them. "Guys, we have to close the portal." "What?!" Sunburst said. "But the guys..." "I know, but if these things get to the other world we would be committing that world to this threat." Twilight said. The ponies looked at each other before acting. Sunset and Sunburst gave Twilight cover so she could close the connection between the portal generator and Celestia's mirror. For her part the alicorn flew towards the portal and firing a blast of magic from her horn closed the connection they had created between the two objects, once the energy was disrupted, the portal closed. "Sorry guys, but we'll open another portal as soon as we clear this battle." Twilight charged her horn and cast a spell with which she expelled the Hidiacs and Styxoids from the castle. While all this was going on, the ninjas were still searching for Starlight in the forest. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Spike asked. "Well, our collars keep blinking louder and louder, so I guess we're going in the right direction." Sci Twi said. "I'd like a sign that we're going in the right direction." Donnie said. At that instant an explosion was heard to the north of their position. "Is that a sign for you?" Spike asked. "I don't know what's going on over there, but I feel it might be Starlight related, let's go!" Leo said. Back in Rootcore, Clare watched in the crystal sphere as her aunt, uncle and cousin were being slaughtered by Dreadscythe. She knew the others would arrive, but something inside her told her to go help. So she went to a shelf and picked up a wooden box which contained a silver tiara. "Clare?" Starlight's voice was heard in the room. The blonde turned around to see Starlight who had gotten out of bed. "Starlight!" Clare ran over to where the pony girl was standing. "What are you doing up?" "I heard a rumbling and got up to see if you were okay." "Everything is under control, but I need you to stay here and protect yourself." "But Clare, I can help you." "You're not at 100% yet, you can't fight." "But..." Starlight tried to dialogue but Clare stopped her. "No buts, you stay here and I'll come back when things are calm." Clare said and with that she went into battle. Dreadscythe launched another blast of dark magic in the direction of Leanbow and Udonna. They both fell to the ground. "Ha! I thought you guys would be tougher." Dreadscythe said. "Mom! Dad!" Nick immediately ran to his parents. "Looks like I'll be able to destroy the legendary mages along with the light." Dreadscythe said as he prepared to charge at them, but a gunshot caused him to drop his spear. "What was that?" When he turned around he saw Leo, Donnie, Sci Twi and Spike, all of them ready to fight. "But what?" Nick asked confused. "I don't know who you are, but we won't let you destroy them." Leo said defiantly. "You guys made a mistake getting in my way." Dreadscythe said as he snapped his fingers and a horde of Hidiacs emerged from the depths. "These things again?" Donnie asked. "So this guy and this Swordspot guy are related." "So you guys already know Swordspot? Never mind, I'll take care of doing what he couldn't do, ATTACK!" Dreadscythe ordered and the Hidiacs attacked. "I don't know who they are but they saved us." Leanbow said. "So they're legit." He got up and kept fighting. Leo attacked one of the Hidiacs with his sword, but another ordas appeared to shoot him, but he used the power of his medallion to spin and create a tornado that sent the enemies flying. Leanbow attacked another group of soldiers with a blast of fire. Sci Twi jumped up and attacked with her Kamayari Sickle Spear, she knocked down some zombies in the process, but Dreadscythe attacked her from behind and knocked her down. "Twilight!!!" Dog Spike ran at Dreadscythe. "Get out of here mangy dog!" Dreadscythe kicked Spike towards where Twilight was. "SPIKE!" Sci-Twi managed to catch her dog. "Are you okay?" "Yes, I am." "Enough games!" Dreadscythe said and readied his weapon to finish them both off. But out of nowhere a blast hit the monster, knocking it to the ground. Twilight and Spike were confused to see what the monster didn't attack. "But what?" she asked. "That's because of me." Clare called from the other side, only she was wearing a purple robe over her white dress, she wore a veil on her head and on her forehead was her tiara. "Clare!!!" Nick, Leanbow and Udonna said. "The Gate Keeper." Dreadscythe said. "And it's not just her." Another voice said and they all saw Chip, Maddie, Vida and Xander arrive. "Guys!" Nick called out. "WOW, who are they?" Chip pointed to the turtles, Twilight and Spike. "I don't know, but they need help as well as our friends." Maddie said. "Whatever, it's time to fight." Vida said before she and the others pulled out their morphers. "Ready?" "Ready, Magic Source, Mystic Force." Once the rest of the rangers morphed they joined the battle. The guys entered the battle and engaged the enemy troops. Vida and Xander used their magic wands to launch attacks of their respective elements. Maddie used her wand to create a wave that swept over the monsters, Chip used his wand to bring down lightning bolts on the soldiers left standing. Donnie flew away after being shot by a Hidiac. The purple turtle fell to the ground. A Hidiac was about to stab him with his weapon, until.... "Laser Lamp!" someone shouted and shot the Hidiac to stop it from hurting Donnie. The purple turtle turned his head to see who it was that defended him only to see Daggeron in his Solaris Horse armor. "On target." Jenji said from her lamp. "Wait a minute, those aren't..." "Yes, they are." Daggeron said. "Let's go help them." Knight Solaris shot his way over to where Donnie was. "Donatello? What are you doing here?" The knight asked. "Daggeron! It's good to see you, but how about we finish them off and I'll explain why we're here." Donnie said. The knight agreed and they continued to fight. The two teams began to have the advantage and the enemy troops were defeated, only Dreadscythe was left. Twilight and Clare were taking care of him, but the monster started to take over the fight, with one move he took down the girls with his weapon. He was about to thrust his spear at Clare, but out of nowhere an arrow shot out and pierced Dreadscythe's shoulder, making him drop his weapon, he turned around and saw Starlight with a bow, then he was surrounded by the heroes. "Well, I guess they defeated me, for now, but I'll be back stronger." Dreadscythe said before disappearing. "Yeah, we won!" Chip celebrated. "Yeah, he was forced to leave." Leanbow said. "Starlight!!!" Leo called. "Guys!" She said. "What are you guys doing here?" "We came to get you." Leo said. "We were able to track your magic signature to this place." "Wait a second." Daggeron said. "Starlight?" "Daggeron?" Starlight asked back. "Wait a second, you guys know each other already?" Clare asked. "They're the girls and the turtles I told you about, or some of them." Daggeron explained. "Guys, good to see you again!" Jengi stepped out of her lamp and gave Leo, Donnie , Twilight and Starlight a big group hug. "Good...to see you...too, Jenji!" Donnie spoke, as he was crushed to death. "Hey don't forget about me!" Spike barked. "Oh sure! Spike, how are you my canine friend?" Jenji let go of the boys and greeted Spike. "Wow, a talking dog, is he an alien?" Chip asked. "I'm not, I'm just ordinary dog that was exposed to magic." Spike explained. "That depends on how you define the word 'ordinary'." Vida said. "I'm confused, Dageron knows these guys, and they know Clare's new friend." Chip said. "I think some introductions are in order, and I think I'm the one to start." Xander said. "Ugh, here we go again." Nick rolled his eyes. "Sorry Xander, but since I'm the only one of the group that knows everyone around here I should be the one to make the introductions." Daggeron said before starting. "Rangers, these are some of the ones I met in the other dimension with the other rangers, this is Leonardo and his brother Donatello, Twilight Sparkle and her dog Spike, and Starlight Glimmer." "It's a pleasure." Leo said. "The honor is ours." Leanbow said. "They are Xander, the green ranger, Chip, the yellow ranger, Madison and her sister Vida, blue and pink." Daggeron said and then he turned to Leanbow. "This is Leanbow, the Wolf Warrior, his wife Udonna, the white ranger, their son Nick, the red ranger and Clare, Leanbow and Udonna's niece, and Nick's cousin." "So she's the woman you told me about?" Starlight asked Clare. "Yes she is." The blonde girl replied. "You never told me about her being your aunt." "Wait a second, the red ranger is the son of other rangers?" Sci Twi asked. "Any problem with that?" Nick crossed his arms. "No, just that it's fascinating." "How did they get to me?" Starlight asked the ninjas. "We followed the energy trail your spell left behind." "Wait a second, spell? Where did you guys come from there's magic too?" Chip asked. "Yeah, that's right." Sci Twi replied. "Even though it's complicated to explain." "That has to do with the wings and horse circles?" Vida asked. "That's just something. Anyway, when we entered this forest my pony features appeared and our collars started to flicker, then we heard the explosions and that's where we found you." "That reminds me, Starlight, were these creatures the same ones you faced in your world?" Clare asked the pony girl. "Yes, they are." Starlight replied. "Then our suspicions were correct." Leanbow said. "So, you guys know these creatures?" Leo asked. "Those were Hidiacs, soldiers of the Morloks, creatures of the underworld." "I'm surprised the Morloks have returned." Chip said. "I thought we were done with them." "I think what's surprising is how they invaded another world." Jenji said. "I think the real question is why they invaded your world." Maddie said. "Be that as it may, we have to go back, Princess Twilight left a portal to Equestria open for us just outside the forest." Leo reported. "Wait." Leanbow said. "I think it's best if we go with you." "Are you sure? The world we are going to is not populated by humans, and we don't know what you will become if you enter that world." Starlight said. "Maybe, but your world is facing something from our world, so it is our duty to help you." Leanbow said. "Alright, let's go then." Leo said. "Great, an adventure in another world." Chip said but Leanbow stopped him. "No Chip, not everyone will go." He said. "What?" The rangers said. "Only Udonna, Nick, Clare and I will go. The rest will stay here in case the Morlocks come back." "Okay, good luck." Daggeron said before shaking hands with his former mentor. "Good luck to you guys too." Leanbow said. "Just be careful." Xander said. "Same to you guys." Clare said. "It's a shame we didn't have more time to catch up." Maddie said to Nick. "Don't worry, when this is over we'll have all the time in the world." Nick winked at her. "Walk Romeo, we're in a hurry." Clare pulled Nick so they could walk out of the woods. Back at the battle of Ponyville, the ninjas, young six and others were being outnumbered in the fight. Fugitoid gave cover fire to the guys as they fought off the morlock troops, but it wasn't enough. Casey threw his photon pucks to help the professor. Keno and Indigo were back to back as they fought off Hidiacs, Spike and Smolder flew over the battle as they launched their fire breath. The three princesses were facing off against Swordspot, but none of them could stand up to the monster. Cadence fired her magic, but Swordspod didn't flinch, Luna tried to surprise him from behind but the morlock reacted and with a half turn launched a blast of dark magic towards the princess of the night. Then he repeated the same attack but this time in Cadence's direction. Shining ran towards the morlock and fired his own blast, but Swordspot raised a shield to protect himself. "That was a big mistake!" He shouted, hitting it with his own dark magic. Candece flew into the air to try and knock the morlock down, but Swordspot managed to see her and managed to shoot her down. Luna tried to take advantage of this and charged her horn for a powerful attack, but Swordspot teleported just in time for the spell to hit a Hidiac. Swordspot then appeared right behind her, but before she could do anything, the morlock knocked her down with a slash of dark magic that sent her flying. Celestia was recovering from the blow she received, as soon as she looked up she saw Swordspot approaching her. "Now, where was I?" He raised his sword to finish off the sun princess, but before he could make his attack concrete, Princess Twilight appeared flying and pulled Celestia before she was annihilated, Swordspot growled at the intrusion. "Princess Celestia, are you alright?" She asked. "Twilight what are you doing here?" Celestia asked. "Shouldn't you be guarding the portal?" "We had to close the portal, it was the only way not to compromise that other world." "You will pay for your insolence." Swordspot threatened Twilight. The young princess took off into the air to dodge Swordspot's dark shots. Twilight flew forward, dodging the morlock's blasts and when she had a chance to return fire, she did so. However, Swordspot leapt forward and countered with a blast of dark magic that knocked Twilight down. Back at Briarwood, the boys emerged from the forest to cross the portal to Equestria, but encountered nothing. "Oh no." Sci Twi said. "Where's the portal?" Starlight asked. "It was here." Dog Sike said. "They must have closed it for a reason." Leo said. "Be that as it may, we must find another way to go to Equestria." Clare said. "Fortunately, we have a way." Nick said. "Fire Heart!" Out of nowhere, dragon landed in front of everyone. "A Dragon!" The ninjas said. "Dragons exist here?" Spike asked incredulously. "Yeah, guys meet Fire Heart, Fire Heart, meet the ninjas." Clare said. "Fire Heart has the ability to create portals to other dimensions, when Starlight came we followed her energy trail to try and find where it came from." Leanbow said as she approached the dragon. "Northrex Uthum Sondor!" he used a spell on Fire Heart. "Now he will take us to Equestria." "Well, come on then." Leo said. They all climbed into Fire Heart, and once ready the dragon took flight. "This is amazing." Sci Twi said. "I know." Spike agreed. "Guys, get ready." Leanbow said as Fire Heart opened a portal with his fire breath. Sanbar used his Tanto Blade to block an attack from a Hidiac but another one shot at him and he fell to the ground. Silverstream flew to avoid the shots of the evil forces, then landed to take down three enemies with her Double Clawed Staff, a Hidiac wanted to surprise her from behind but she twirled her staff and stabbed him in the stomach, then another enemy came from in front and she repeated the action but a third one kicked her down. Gallus faced his enemies using his two swords but a Hidiac lunged at him knocking him down. Ocellus used her fan to attack her enemies from a distance. After she threw her Bladed Tessen three times the Hidiacs came closer and started firing, she jumped to avoid the shots but the Hidiacs kept coming closer to her. Yona used her mass to send the zombies flying, but they immediately lunged at her so they could pin her down. "Yona!" Smolder and Brigth Eyes ran to help their friend. The dragon used her fire breath to remove the Hidiacs that were on top of Yona while the unicorn used her magic and her nuchaku to repel the villains that wanted to get close. "Are you okay?" Brigth Eyes asked. "Yona is fine." The yak said. "We don't know how long we can hold out." Smolder said as he held up his Kusari Fundo. "I just hope Sensei Leo and the others come back soon." Brigth Eyes said as she and the others continued to fight. A portal opened in another corner of Ponyville, and the heroes ended up rolling on the ground. "Ouch, that really hurts." Leo said. "Everyone okay?" Donnie said. "I am." Starlight said. "Same over here." Sci Twi said. "Leanbow, Udonna, are you okay?" Donnie asked again. From the ground rose a brown male unicorn with a graying mane, he had a shady beard and a cutie mark of a flaming w with the face of a wolf in silver; there was also a white female unicorn with a reddish brown mane and a cutie mark of a Mystic Force m and a snowflake. "So this is the form any human who enters this world takes?" Leanbow asked analyzing her new body. "Yes, though there are exceptions." Leo said "Wait, where are Clare and Bowen?" Udonna asked. "Bowen?" The ninjas asked in confusion. "I'm here." Nick's voice was heard from behind a bush, the aforementioned peeked his head out, revealing at a glance a red male unicorn with a black mane. "Another unicorn?" Spike said. "Well, it makes sense since your parents are unicorns." Sci Twi said. "I wouldn't say that." Nick objected. "What do you mean?" Starlight asked confused. "It's more complicated than it sounds." Nick emerged from the bushes revealing his full form. Everyone was shocked to see that Nick also had wings, his cutie mark was the phoenix he had on his helmet visor. "Are you an alicorn?" Starlight asked. "Is that what you call this breed?" Nick asked. "Well, he's not the only one." Clare appeared showing up looking like an alicorn too, only she was lilac colored, her mane was blonde and her cutie mark was a waning moon. " Amazing! You two are both alicorns!" Starlight said. "Is it any good that Clare and I look like something out of a children's card game?" Nick said. "In a way." Donnie said. Then Fire Heart appeared before them seemingly unchanged. "It looks like Fire Heart was unchanged." Udonna pointed out. "I wouldn't be so sure." Fire Heart spoke, which surprised the mystics. "Now can you talk?" Nick asked. "Apparently entering this dimension gave me the ability to speak." Fire Heart said. "I experienced the same thing too, but we don't know if you'll still be talking when you get out of here." "Anyway, we have to hurry." Leo said and the mystics transformed. "Wow, looks like I don't need my cloak here anymore when I have my wings." Nick said as he noticed the changes in his costume. "But even here I'll use my Mystic Racer on what I figure out how to use my wings." "Everyone follow us this way." Leo said as he led everyone towards the village. Swordspot launched another blast of dark magic towards the royal sisters, the two alicorns fell to the ground. "Pff, I thought you guys were a challenge, but now I'm disappointed." Swordspot sneered. "Celestia! Luna!" Princess Twilight said as she, Cadence and regrouped. "Look at you guys, you're being outclassed." The morlock said pointing out how the other ponies and non-ponies were being outnumbered. "There's nothing they can do." Swordspot boasted. "Now you will all meet the same end as that unicorn I destroyed." He prepared to launch another blast of dark magic. However, a shot of magic made him let go of his was. "Well it looks like you'll have to try harder." Starlight's voice was heard on the other side, causing Swordspot to pause for a moment. Ponies and non-ponies turned around to see Starlight alive. "It can't be." Princess Twilight said. "Starlight!" Sunburst said. "What?" Swordspot was confused and didn't prepare for what was coming. "WOLF ATTACK!"A wolf faces turned towards Swordspot and the hidisk around her. "What?" Swordspot was confused. Everyone was shocked to see the attack that knocked the hidisk down. "What was that?" Shining Armor asked. "Over there!" Mickey said. Everyone turned around to see Leanbow armed with his sword and shield. "Who's he?" Cadence asked. "I don't know, but he looks friendly." Leo and Leanbow made their way through the enemy troops, both displaying their sword skills. The Young Six were still being surrounded by the Styxoids, but out of nowhere, the latter were suddenly frozen. "What?" Gallus said in confusion. "Was it you, Bright Eyes?" Silverstream asked. "No, guys." The unicorn said. Immediately, the styxoids were shattered like ice. The Young Six were covered in the ice chunks. "You guys are okay." Udonna approached the young ninjas. The Young Sis were confused at the sight of the pony that had saved them. "Yes ma'am." Bright Eyes replied. "Come on follow me." Udonna led the ninjas into battle. Sunburst and Blade fought back as best they could, but a group of Hidiacs fired at them with their blasters, the two stallions fell to the ground. The Hidiacs were closing in on them to deliver the coup de grace, however, they were neutralized by gunfire. Blade and Sunburst were confused at what had happened. "Hey, are you two okay?" Clare approached them. The pair of stallions were shocked at Clare's appearance. "Yeah, we're fine, thanks to you." Sunburst said. "Okay, get up." She told them. The mane 6 continued to defend themselves as they knew how. Rainbow Dash flew over the Hidiacs dodging their shots, Pinkie used her party cannon to defend herself from the zombie soldiers, although without much success, a Hidiac tried to attack her with his spear, but Applejack's rope intervened, the farm mare pulled her rope and pulled the Hidiac and then kicked him with her hind hooves. Rarity raised a shield to protect herself from the gunfire, but it didn't hold up long and she was knocked down when her shield broke. Spike immediately flew at her and threw his fire breath to break through. "Rarity, are you okay?" He asked. "I'm fine Spike, look out!" The unicorn immediately alerted the baby dragon, but to no avail, Spike was hit by a Hidiac and fell to the ground next to Rarity. "Mmm... How about we calm down if we can consider it better." Fluttershy said as she backed away from the Hidiacs in an attempt to make reason to the Hidiacs, albeit unsuccessfully. Spike threw fire breath at the Hidiacs, but to little avail as they kept coming. The girls and Spike were preparing for the worst, they covered themselves and closed their eyes hoping that everything would be quick and painless. However, a roar was heard and the hydiacs began to flee. The girls and Spike opened their eyes and watched as their enemies backed away. "They're running away?" Fluttershy asked. "Good job Spike." Rainbow Dash congratulated the baby dragon. "But... I didn't do anything." Spike confessed. "No?" Rarity asked. "But if it wasn't you, then who?" Pinkie asked, and instantly Fire Heart flew overhead to chase after the hydiacs. "Another dragon?" Spike asked. "Where did he come from?" Rarity asked. "I don't know, but he seems friendly." Fluttershy said. Raph used his necklace to burn some enemies. Sunset threw her kunais to defend herself from the zombie shots. "BOOM BABY!!!" Raph said. Sunset looked around and saw more Hidiacs coming. "Don't celebrate yet, Raph!" out of nowhere, Nick appeared out of nowhere and kicked some Hidiacs before landing on all fours and attacking the other Hidiacs with a huge ring of fire. Raph and Sunset were shocked to see Nick finish off the Hidiacs. "Are they okay?" The red ranger asked. "Yes, we are." Sunset replied. "How did you do that?" Raph asked. "I'll explain later, for now we have to keep fighting." He said and the three resumed fighting. Casey launched another one of his explosive discs while Keno and Indigo blocked the attacks of some Styxoids, April threw her fan to slit the throats of some Hidiacs and on the other side Mikey and Shini used their chains to knock down their enemies. Karai, in his snake form, went into the Hidiacs to attack. Meanwhile, Donnie, Sci Twi and Dog Spike joined the fight to support their friends. Back with Leo and Leanbow, they were still fighting against Swordspot, the two swordsmen were dominating the morlock, Leo launched a slash against his enemy who blocked the attack and, turning backwards, counterattacked with a blast of dark magic. Leanbow managed to block the attack with his shield, and then hit the ground with the same shield to create an eruption of fire that exploded underneath Swordspot and sent him flying in the process. The morlock fell dryly to the ground, immediately getting up to continue fighting, but seeing that he was being outmatched, he decided not to attack. "Well, I guess you won this time, but rest assured that the Morlocks will dominate this world, and the worlds that have magic, and I will have the pleasure of destroying every protector of those worlds, especially the mystic force." He said before escaping. "Damn, he escaped again." Rainbow complained. "Don't worry, he won't next time." Raph said. "You guys are back!" Mikey said. "And we brought someone along with some new friends." Leo said. "Starlight!" Sunburst ran to her childhood friend, hugged her and gave her a twirl, this action made the lilac unicorn blush. "You're alive." "And according to her she told me he's not her boyfriend." Clare said to Nick. "Starlight!" Princess Twilight approached the duo. "I'm glad you're okay." "I am, thanks to a friend of an old friend." "You're right, they are friends of Daggeron." The Mystic Family transformed back into civilian mode, ponies and non-ponies gasped at the sight of Nick and Clare's appearance. "You guys are Alicorns?" Luna asked. "Yes, just like you." Clare said to the princesses. "Impressive." Princess Twilight as she looked closely at Nick. "A male alicorn, I've never seen or heard of anything like it." "And there's something special about me looking like something out of an anime." Nick asked. "It's more than just that." Princess Twilight said. At that instant Fire Heart landed in front of them. "It's good to know those morlocks are gone." He said. "Yep, and boy did you look good back there." Nick said. "Guys, that's the dragon that chased those monsters away." Pinkie said. "Oh, he's so cute." Fluttershy said before hugging Fire Heart. "Hey hey, easy, this is a dangerous, fighting dragon." Nick told her. "Yeah, I could tell." She replied as she continued to pet the dragon, Fire Heart didn't seem to mind. "Excuse me, I think some introductions are needed here." Rarity said. "I'd like to propose that it be somewhere more private, we're drawing a lot of attention here." Nick said as all the ponies were starting to watch them, especially him and Clare. "I know a place, down this way." Princess Twilight said as they all headed for Friendship Castle. Back at The Rock Porium, the remaining rangers were preparing to close up store. "Man, what a day." Chip said. "Yeah, the morlocks are back and wreaking havoc on another world." Vida said. "But what would they be looking for with that?" Maddie asked. "Whatever it is, it must be something big." Xander said. Just then, there was the sound of an approaching train, the guys stepped outside to see a locomotive in front of the store, but not just any locomotive, it was the Solaris Streak. "Daggeron?" they asked. "Hey guys, what do you think about taking a field trip?" He asked. "What are you saying?" Chip said. "We weren't supposed to go to that dimension." "Who said anything about going to Equestria?" Daggeron said. "We're going to go visit the girls I told you about." "You mean those Rainbooms?" Vida asked. "Yep, I think they need to know what's going on the other side, maybe and we all need to keep an eye out and something but it's developing." "You're right, let's go then." Xander said and they all boarded the train. At that instant Tobey came out of his office and saw that the Solaris Streak was leaving. "Hey guys!" He called out to his employees. "Where are you guys going?" "We have to go somewhere else, don't worry, we'll be back!" Xander yelled before the train disappeared. After that, Tobey stood on the curb after watching the Solaris Streak leave. "Mmm... I just hope they come back first thing." He said to himself.