Sara, a triceratops, moves to Ponyville. She meets ponies, makes friends and enemies, and saves an entire universe.
Sara, a triceratops, moves to Ponyville. She meets ponies, makes friends and enemies, and saves an entire universe.
My first My Little Pony story. Constructive criticism is welcome. If you don't understand something, ask a question, I should be able to answer it. Hope you enjoy it.
Sara was a regular triceratops. Of course, she would be if she weren’t the second in command of the greatest military group in Sauria, and possibly the entire multiverse. Her brother was a human named Sean. Many years before, Sean had arrived on the planet by means of an inter-universal portal and became the savior of the entire Saurian race. After being trained by his mentor, Fred, he became the protector of the multiverse. Therefore, it was his job to monitor new universes and to help them if there were problems. One day, Sean came up to Sara.
“Hey Sara, I recently found out about a new universe that has appeared. Apparently, it is a land inhabited by ponies. The universe, I’ve been told, is called Equestria, after the home country of the universe heroines. Since you can’t interfere with the main universe, I’ve taken the liberty to give you a sandbox universe to do whatever you want. First, though, lets get you brushed up on your Equestrian customs and history.”
As the maintainers of the multiverse, it was their job to monitor everything. They needed to know what was happening. With over 7 trillion members, all from different universes, they were the most extensive group in the entire multiverse. The infinite number of universes meant an infinite number of possibilities, and sometimes breaches happen where creatures from one universe end up in others. The team that is closest takes care of the problem.
In order to understand the job, you must first understand how the group moves from universe to universe. The multiverse is accessible in two ways. One is through the use of carefully maintained portals, or gateways, the other, more common way is stumbling into a rouge portal. The maintained portals were only available to Sean’s team.
A few days later…
“…And that’s all you need to know. I will not tell you the names of anypony,” Sean said.
Sara looked at him, slightly annoyed. He had never been a very good teacher, and she wished sometimes that he were. This was one of those times. “Look, Sean,” she said, “if they all have the naming system you say they have, then a name like Sara is going to sound weird. I need a different name. Also, I should probably use the species changer to look like a pony.”
Sean laughed, “I don’t think it matters that much. Your name is Sara, after all. I also think that you are going to be just fine as the only Saurian there. I, however, would have to change my appearance and name in order to not weird them out.”
“Yeah, because a dinosaur is totally something they see often,” grumbled Sara. “So, where am I going to arrive?”
“In the Everfree Forest. It is the easiest place to open a portal for some reason. By the way, I want you to do some research as to why this is. I need to know so that I can possibly fix the problem.”
“Got it,” said Sara, “Anything else?”
“No, that should be all. Well then, on your way.”
At the snap of his fingers, a portal opened. Sara entered the hole. In between universes, there is a space known to some as the Void. It is basically a highway between the universes. Within a few seconds, Sara found the universe she wanted. The portal opened up, and she went on through.
On the other side of the portal, Sara found herself in the middle of a dark forest. The silence within was more oppressive than she thought it would be. She looked at her surroundings with interest. She was in the ruins of an old castle that was crumbling around her. Behind her was an old stone pedestal. In front of her was an old wooden double door.
“Well,” she said to herself, “I can’t believe I made it without being in any danger. Usually there is some monster in front of me. Better not look a gift horse in the mouth.”
She decided it would be best if she left the castle. Outside, she found a recently used path that lead to an old wood bridge. She noticed that the bridge wobbled as she went across. Once on the other side, she found a river and a serpent. The moustache on the serpent was peculiar. One half was a nice tannish color, while the other was a royal shade of purple.
“Hello,” said Sara, “I was wondering if you would be willing to give me a lift across the river, please.”
“Ohohohoho,” the serpent laughed, “Sure you can! I am in such a good mood.”
“Thank you. By the way, what is with your gorgeous moustache?”
“Some really nice pony came by and sacrificed her beautiful tail for me.”
Once on the other side, Sara found that the path continued into the distance. After about half an hour, she saw a small town framed in the boughs of the trees.
“Well, here we go. I hope they don’t find me weird.”
It was probably the best day of Twilight’s young life. Not only did she find five very good friends, but she also had the fortune of moving to Ponyville. The fact that she lived in a library was great. The party for saving Princess Luna had just ended because the Princesses returned to Canterlot. Twilight yawned. She had forgotten that she had spent the entire night awake and needed to go to sleep. From the corner of her eye, she saw somepony she hadn’t seen before walking tentatively into town. At first she thought nothing of it, but then she took a double take. The creature before her was something that she had never seen, even in the flora and fauna textbooks she had read. It had three horns, two long ones above its eyes and a short one on its nose. The mouth was a sharp beak that looked like a bird’s. There was a large frill around its neck. It was a solid brown color and was about the same size as Twilight herself.
“Excuse me,” the creature said. Its voice sounded female.
“Yes, may I help you?” said Twilight.
“Could you please tell me what town I am currently in?”
“This is Ponyville.”
“Great. I made it.”
Twilight looked suspiciously at the mysterious visitor. It wasn’t often you meet something new, and Twilight thought this might be a prank.
“Who are you, what are you, and where did you come from?” asked Twilight.
“My name is Sara, I’m a triceratops, and I came from another universe,” said Sara.
At this, Sara laughed, “Yes, that’s what they usually say, until they see me open a portal. By the way, what’s with that forest? It’s full of inter-universal portals that shouldn’t be there.”
“Wait, you came from the Everfree?” asked Twilight.
“Yeah, I started in a castle.”
Twilight looked at Sara questioningly. “I just came from there, but didn’t see anypony that looked like you.”
“Well, I did come from there,” said Sara with finality, “Oh, and you haven’t told me your name.”
“I am Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia.”
“Nice to meet you, Twilight. Now, how can I get a house around here?”
“I guess you should go to the Town Hall and speak to the Mayor.”
“Thanks, and goodbye,” said Sara, before walking away.
Sara just knew that she was going to get reactions like that, considering that she wasn’t a resident of this universe. After about five minutes of walking, Sara found the Town Hall. It was a tall, round building with blue and purple flags around the roof. Entering the building, she saw a stage in the rear of the building, surrounded by balconies. Behind the stage were the town offices. Sara walked up to the receptionist, a brown earth pony with a green mane and tail.
“Excuse me,” asked Sara, “How can one buy a house?”
The receptionist looked up from the paperwork she was doing to see who was talking. After getting over the shock of meeting Sara, she said, “Well, first you need to tell me which house you’d like to buy. Here are your options. We have a house by the Everfree Forest, a house near the market, and an apartment in the tall building down the street. The first house costs 1250 bits, the second costs 2000 bits, and the apartment costs 350 bits per month.”
“Well, let’s see what I’ve got.” Sara pulled out a wallet. Inside were what seemed to be bills with nobs in the centers. The receptionist looks at the strange currency.
“Excuse me, but I’m not sure we take those,” she says.
“Actually, you do. These are called inter-universal credits. They are worth the same everywhere,” explained Sara, “The nob in the center has currency settings. When you turn the nobs, like so, you select the currency you want, press the button, and voila, bits. These bits are, in fact, legal tender.”
The receptionist’s jaw drops. Looking at the bits carefully, she can see that they were real bits, and not counterfeit. “I don’t know what just happened, but you are correct. Unfortunately, there is not enough money here for a place to live.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” said Sara, “I suppose I’ll have to find somepony who is willing to house me until I can afford that luxury. I think I’ll stay with Twilight. She seems like a nice pony.”
Sara left the Town Hall. She had seen Twilight enter a tree library called Books and Branches. When she arrived at the door, she knocked. The door opened to reveal a small purple and green dragon.
"Hello?" asked the dragon, "How may I help you?"
"Hi," said Sara, "I was wondering if I could see Twilight."
"Sure. Hey Twilight, somepony wants to see you! Anyways, my name is Spike. Who are you?"
"I'm Sara. Nice to meet you Spike. I know someone named Spike, although he is a stegosaurus."
"A what?" asked Spike.
"A creature that looks like me, but instead of horns and a frill, he has plates running down his back and spikes on his tail."
"Sounds cool," said Spike, "Would you like to come inside?"
As Sara entered the building, Twilight came down the stairs.
"Hey," said Twilight, "I thought you were going to buy a house."
"Yeah," sighed Sara, "Turns out I only have 200 bits. I can't buy anything but food. In fact, I was wondering if I could stay with you because I don't know anypony in town."
"Sure. I'm pretty sure there is another bed. You can use that until you can afford a place of your own."
"Thanks Twilight." said Sara.
Twilight let out a yawn. Sara giggled.
"Tired?" asked Sara.
"Exhausted," replied Twilight.
"Well, then I guess its bedtime."
The triceratops and the unicorn went upstairs. Sara took the guest bed, while Twilight used her own. Sara thought back on the day, and decided that tomorrow, she would see if she could meet anypony else.
Sara woke up at about 6:30. Unfortunately for her, nopony was awake yet. According to her knowledge on pony biology, most of them wouldn’t wake up until seven. With nothing better to do, she went down the stairs to have some breakfast. Knowing that her normal meal of cycad leaf salad didn’t exist, she looked in the pantry, and found some hay flakes.
After eating, Sara decided it might be prudent to go outside and learn the lay of the land. She knew that the town of Ponyville was relatively small, and she had been to the Town Hall and through the marketplace, so she knew where the library was situated. If it was anything like most towns, the Town Hall was probably the center. Maybe they would have maps in the building.
While walking through the town, she noticed that ponies were starting to leave their houses. It was time for most of them to go to work. In the market, Sara found herself drawn to the smell of sweets being baked in a large gingerbread-like building. According to the sign, it was called Sugarcube Corner. Although it was still too early for sweets, she decided to enter and see what they had.
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner,” said a blue earth pony with a pink and white mane and tail. The overall shape of the mane looked like a cupcake. “Its always nice to meet somepony new. I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
“Yeah,” said Sara, “I'm new. I just wanted to see what you were baking. It smelled so good from outside. By the way, my name is Sara.”
“I’m Cup Cake,” said Cup.
“Nice to meet you Ms. Cake”
All of a sudden, there was a crash from upstairs. A pink blur rushed down the stairs, and a smiling pink mare with a cotton candy-like mane and tail appears, startling Sara. “Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie what’s yours I don’t think I’ve seen you around before I heard Mrs. Cake say that somepony new had arrived and I knew it was you because I’ve never seen you before.” The whole line was said all in one breath and in hyper speed. Thankfully, Sara knew how to pick apart the words.
“My name is Sara,” said Sara, “Nice to meet you, Pinkie.”
“Now I need to start planning for another welcome to Ponyville party for you because you’re new.” With that, Pinkie bounced away to who-knows-where to prepare for the party.
“Is she always like that?” Sara asked, staring after the pink pony.
“Yes,” chuckled Mrs. Cake, “That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie; its best not to think about it too hard. Now, what would you like?”
“Um… I guess I’ll have a cupcake, then.”
Sara had to admit, the cupcake was delicious. After she thanked Mrs. Cake, she decided to get back to walking to the Town Hall. The market place at this time was packed with the daily hustle and bustle of regular business. It was easy to get lost in the crowd. All of a sudden, Sara crashed into a yellow pegasus pony with a long pink mane and tail, causing all the food to fall from her saddlebags.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Sara, “I didn’t see you there. Oh dear, it looks like I caused you to drop your things. Let me help you.”
“Oh, no it’s my fault,” said the mare in a barely audible voice, “I can’t make you do that.”
“Nonsense!”
As they picked up the food, Sara noticed that the pony in front of her was trying to hide in her mane. She decided to break the ice.
“So,” said Sara, “My name is Sara. What’s yours?”
“M-my name is Fluttershy,” she said, too quietly for Sara to hear.
“Excuse me?”
“My n-name is Fluttershy,” the response was quieter this time.
“One more time, please.”
When the pegasus didn’t respond, Sara decided to drop it. “Well,” she said “I must be going. Nice meeting you.” With that, Sara left. It was slow going through the throng of ponies gathered at the marketplace. Once she was finally out, she found herself near the Town Hall. Outside, next to the entrance, Sara found the map of Ponyville. It detailed where the major attractions were, albeit not many, where the hospital was, and other important information. Satisfied, Sara put it into the saddlebags that Twilight had loaned her. The plaza was not exactly the busiest area, but it certainly was a very popular place. There were ponies doing pretty much everything, from playing music to stunt flying. Sara noticed that there was one pony with more spectators than the others. Apparently, she was really good. The cyan pony was doing loops and sharp turns, much to the amazement of the crowd. While she was flying around the open space, she was dragging a rainbow colored trail behind her, which was created because of her rainbow mane and tail. Sara was enraptured in the performance. It looked like a lot of fun. When the pony was finished, she decided to revel in the attention. “Thank you, thank you,” she said, “Thank you for enjoying the awesomeness of Rainbow Dash!” The crowd applauded, stomping their hooves into the ground. “That was amazing,” said Sara, “I don’t think I’ve seen anyone with those moves, and that’s saying something.” “I’m glad that you enjoyed it,” said Rainbow, genuinely pleased to have another fan in the crowd. “I’m training to join the Wonderbolts.” Clearly, this pony was all about performing. It was clear to Sara that the Wonderbolts were a big deal. She decided that they must be like the Flying Squad in Sauria. The Flying Squad was the entertainment flying team of Sara’s home. “That sounds really cool,” said Sara, “I hope you get in. With flying skills like that, I’m surprised you aren’t one already.” “Hehe, thanks,” said Rainbow, “Well, I’d best go, there’s somewhere I’ve got to be. By the way, what’s your name? I haven’t seen you around before.” “Oh, my name is Sara. Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash.” As Rainbow flew off, Sara wondered where she had to be in such a hurry. She decided she’d probably find out later, and she had a suspicion that it was the party Pinkie was planning. It was then that Sara felt decidedly hungry. She looked at the clock tower, which read 12:00. As she reentered the marketplace, she noticed fewer ponies out and about. She walked up to an apple cart run by an orange pony with a blonde mane and tail, and a Stetson hat. “Howdy,” said the pony, “What can Ah do ya fer?” “I’d like a bag of apples, please,” said Sara. “That’ll be three bits.” “Thanks.” “By the way, Ah don’t think Ah’ve seen you ‘round these parts before. What’s your name?” “I’m Sara. I’m new to Ponyville.” “Well, welcome to Ponyville then. Name’s Applejack.” “Thanks for the apples, here’s three bits,” said Sara, pulling out the money and putting the apples in the saddlebags. “I must get going. See ya later.” With that, Sara left. Finding her way to a picnic table by the side of the road, Sara pulled out the bag and began enjoying the apples. They were sweet, but not too sweet. Sara closed her eyes as the juicy apples melted in her mouth. Satisfied, she decided it would be worth it to go to the library and study some more on Equestria. The crash course she had with Sean was not exactly perfect, but every little bit counts. When she arrived at the door, she noticed the lights were off. Finding the light switch, she flipped it on. “Surprise!” The room was filled with ponies, each one with a smile on their faces. “Were you surprised?” asked Pinkie, who suddenly appeared next to Sara. “Huh? Were you? This is your welcome to Ponyville party. Everypony here wants to be your friend, especially me. I know we’re gonna be friends! I’m friends with everypony.” “Yeah,” said Sara, who was still trying to figure out the party pony bouncing around her. “I suppose we are friends. Um…I think I’ll see whom else I can meet. Thanks for the party, I guess.” Sara then tuned out Pinkie. She made her way toward the snack table, which was laden with apple-related snacks, cupcakes, punch, and a cake that read “Welcome to Ponyville!” on it. Sara smiled. She knew that this was going to be a nice place. Well, until something proved otherwise. Sean had a patent for sending her to places that needed her help, but so far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “You must new here,” said a voice, breaking Sara out of her reverie. Sara turned around to see a white unicorn with a luscious royal purple mane and tail styled into curls. Sara remembered the serpent with the half purple moustache, and knew that this was the kind pony that helped him. “Yeah,” said Sara, “My name is Sara. Pleased to meet you, miss…” “Rarity,” said the white pony said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, darling. Are you a friend of Twilight’s?” “Well, we’re more acquaintances than friends, but I guess you could say that. She’s letting me stay here until I can afford a home of my own.” “I do hope you will enjoy yourself, darling. Pinkie throws the best parties.” Sara did, in fact, enjoy the party. It lasted on into the evening. Everypony was exhausted, due to the fact that they’d had three parties three days in a row. After the crowd of ponies left, the only thing left to do was to clean up. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, Spike, and Sara were all that were left. “That was a great party, Pinkie,” said Sara, “It was nice meeting all the ponies here. I feel at home and welcome with all the friendly faces here.” There was a murmur of agreement from the assembled group. After they cleaned the place up and said goodbye to Twilight’s friends, Spike and Sara decided that they wanted to sleep. Twilight protested a little because of some questions she had concerning Sara. Sara, for her part, told Twilight that she would answer them in the morning, and said that it would probably take all day to explain everything. With that settled, the three friends went to bed.
Deep in the Everfree, a creature stood. It knew that it was where it wanted to be. Letting out a deep chuckle, it thought about what it would like to do in this new land. It was going to be easy. After all, what danger could a bunch of peaceful ponies be? First things first, though, it needed an army.
Sara awoke to the smell of pancakes being cooked. Entranced by the smell, she made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen. There, the sight of Spike cooking greeted her. “Morning, Spike,” said Sara, “Those pancakes smell delicious.” “I noticed you waking up a little early yesterday, so I decided to make you breakfast,” said Spike. “Well, how thoughtful of you. I appreciate it. The food here is so much different than where I come from, it’s hard to find food I know I like.” Soon, Spike finished cooking breakfast and set it on the table. It was then that Twilight entered. Yawning, she took her place at the table. “Good morning, Twilight,” said Sara. Twilight grumbled in response. Sara suspected that she was up late last night studying for one thing or another, and had gotten up early to ask the burning questions. This was probably going to be an informative day. “Oh, come on, Twilight,” said Sara, “Today I get to tell you about my home. Sauria is a cool place.” At this, Twilight perked up, apparently having forgotten to check her list of things to do that day. It wasn’t often that you get to learn about places that don’t exist in even your own universe. After the delicious pancakes, Sara and Twilight went into the study room so they could begin conversing. “So, Sara,” Twilight began, “You say you’re from another universe. You’ve mentioned these ‘portals’ that you can create. Could you please elaborate?” “Sure,” said Sara, “You see, there is only one way you can get out of your universe. That way is through portals. You know how you can teleport? Well, it’s like that except, instead of moving from place to place in your dimensional space, you are actually transcending the space-time continuum. The process consumes a lot of power. For me, it comes from a ‘generator’ in interspace, otherwise known as the Void. It is the space between universes. Anyways, I activate this ‘generator’ using a psychic link. It creates a hole like this.” Out of nowhere, a circular hole appeared. On the other side was nothing but blackness. Just as suddenly, the hole closed. “Now, if you were to go in there, you would find what look like large ‘screens,’ each depicting something different than the last. Those are other universes.” “Fascinating,” said Twilight, who was stunned, “Now, are there other versions of the same universe?” “Very perceptive. That is true. Each universe is part of a universe ‘system.’ The systems consist of every possible outcome. Also, every universe has an exact opposite. This universe could be considered the universe where everything goes ‘right,’ meaning that every conflict, without outside influence, will end positively. That is not to say that this universe is perfect. In fact, there is, surprisingly, no universe that everything is dandy 100 percent of the time. You’d think that with an infinite number of universes, at least one would be perfect. This is true for the reverse. There is no universe where absolutely everything is wrong.” “Wow, I had no idea that it would be that complicated,” said Twilight. “Hehe, yeah, that’s what I said my first time having it explained to me. There are many things that I cannot tell you. One of those is the future; another is what another universe in your system is like. Like anything that is important, there are rules. You understand, right?” “Yes, I do. Now for my next question. How did you get to this point? I mean, how do you know all of this. Clearly, you aren’t the only one who has this power.” “Ah, I was wondering when we would get to this point,” said Sara, “That is an interesting story. I suggest you get comfortable and ready that pen and pad. This is a long story. It’s a story that was told to me by my brother and best friend, Sean.”