War Is Useless Here

[shiftyPotentate]

Twilight naturally assumed her leadership role. It made more sense to Vinyl now that she was able to see it. She subconsciously walked up and stood behind Twilight. She decided the one who'd left was probably more important now, so Vinyl decided to follow her. To avoid Bic Macintosh or Twilight stopping her, she used her magic to silence her sounds.

Sure enough, she was wandering to Everfree Forest. Normally dark and spooky, but Vinyl had a trick up her, um, hoof. She used her magic to cause her red eyes to glow, which when projected through her blueish shades caused a low-level purple light, which was a makeshift night-vision. Helped her see in a dark dance club and looked cool as a cucumber too. She grinned, still proud of herself for coming up with that trick.

With her self-powered night-vision shades, she searched Everfree forest, trying to find the girl who'd slipped away before.

[Felix Falora]

Helena heard a voice and turned to face the purple unicorn. She looked not unreasonable, but steeled in her decision. When questioned about her action and intent, she did not hesitate. Hesitating would bring them nothing. "My friend here unfortunately has grandeur of a dream that, where we're from, is an impossibility. I'm trying to knock some sense into her. You can probably guess, but we're not from here. We're from a land called Azeroth, and... well this place looks like paradise compared to it, I won't deny that. But we don't belong here, and while I can understand my friend's desire to get away from the hardships of our world, she can't do it here. And, as a soldier of the Alliance, I also cannot let her abandon her duties. I won't go into too many of the legal aspects, but... deserters are usually exe-."

"DIMENSIONAL BOUNDARIES!" The sudden outburst from the Gnome cut the Gilnean warrior off at the seams, but it looked like she got it. However, she began blabbering off more then the ponies would've ever needed to know. "While we out slaughtering the Forsaken, some sort of rift within space must've opened up, creating a wormhole that, for some magical reason unbeknowest to us, pulled us in and transported us here. The multiverse theory that High Tinkerer Mekkatorque was going on about was correct! There are whole other multiverses and it looks like rifts in space can lead to them! Yet the rift itsself still makes no sense! For starters, how did it only pulls us in when every one of those Light-abandoned monsters were near the Event Horizon? Secondly, doesn't getting pulled into such a thing disintegrate you particle by particle?! How are we even still alive?!"

Anna and Emeraldi traded looks and facepalmed. Lunessa was going on about technological things, but she had immediately said the one thing they were sure nobody wanted to hear. Slaughter. In a world like Equestria, slaughter was a horrifying concept. No one deserved to die, after all, and it would take some time to explain even if they were allowed to with no hesitation. The entire history of Azeroth was vast and unprecedented. Not even the five combined knew the full of it. And the one who would've known the most had ran away into the Everfree Forest as she had been around during the very beginning of it all. The War of the Ancients... Speaking of her...

Myushelle had managed to get lost in the trees. Stripping her plate armor after setting up a tent, of which she magically pulled from her saddlebags, which worked using arcane magics that allowed some sort of limited hyperspace depending on the quality of the bag, she was left in regular black cloth garments and threw on a robe in order to cover herself. She then sat next to the tent after setting up a campfire. The ponies may've feared the Everfree Forest for its many creatures, but for an experienced death knight like Myushelle, it would be less harsh then even the forests of Elwynn, which was pretty much saying she could sleep in the midst of a crowd of manticores and come out alright.

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

Dimensional boundaries? Wormhole? Multiverse? Now, Big McIntosh may have been notably intelligent, at least more so than his big farmer guy appearance would lead folk to believe, but all Lunessa's technobabble had him terribly lost. But there was one thing he picked up that he didn't like: slaughter. What kind of a horrible, messed up world did they come from that could justify that much killing?

[gantzgun74]

Twilight took in the explanation a moment, wondering how best to respond to it. As far as she could tell, there seemed to be a reason for the action, but she found it difficult to sympathize with the reason... Given what all she was hearing though, she supposed it only made sense...

It was only when Lunessa suddenly started talking that Twilight found a good way to respond. "Hmmm... Well, the way I see it, what you're talking about actually hooks into Chaos theory, which basically means 'Expect the Unexpected'." She thought some more on this. "Perhaps this dimensional rift reacted to all of the killing or something along those lines..."

She likely noticed the looks the others were giving her. Really, it made sense, given that they were unaware that death existed in Equestria. It was certainly rare, of course, but it wasn't entirely unheard of. Many ponies these days normally died of old age, and ponies tended to live for quite a while (Example: Applejack's grandmother Granny Smith was a good example, though Twilight was unsure how old she was). Still an explanation was in order she supposed.

Twilight cleared her throat. "To explain, you are right in assuming that Equestria hasn't suffered a war once in recorded history. Heck the closest we ever got was a big skirmish between the Ponys and the Buffaloes in Appleloosa a few months ago. Thankfully no-one was hurt." It was pretty hard to hurt people with Apple Pies after all, and the ponies that fought in the battle were good at dodging the Buffaloes. "BUT, we have had our fair share of tough times. We have strange monsters roaming the world, such as some Hydra's, the Cockatrice Species, dragons, and a species known as Ursa Majors.

"However, some time ago, we had a real problem with a..." She froze a moment, the memories returning of a particular incident... It was hard to name what she was trying to describe after all. "A monster," Yeah that sounded appropriate, "named Discord, a spirit of chaos and disharmony that sent the world of Equestria into chaos before he was sealed away by Princesses Celestia and Luna." She shivered, "He DID come back again recently, but he was sealed away again." She didn't go into any detail beyond that. While that was one of her more proud moments, the experience surely left her with her fair share of nightmares. Her and her friends alike, really.

[shiftyPotentate]

Vinyl continued to search through the forest, glad for the enhanced vision. Without it she'd probably honestly be really terrified. The forest could get really creepy sometimes. She didn't know how Zecora did it. Maybe she was just really confident in herself. Maybe the forest wasn't really all that oh my god a huge branch almost swatted me in the face

She ducked low to avoid it, her heart racing a little more. She steeled herself and got back up. "Easy, Scratch. Nothin' to be afraid of out here..." She was just startled, that's all. So she got back to searching.

Eventually, the DJ pony managed to stumble (literally) across Myushelle's makeshift camp. She tripped over a tree root and tried to right herself before Myushelle could see her, and dimmed the glow of her lenses.

[Felix Falora]

Lunessa giggled at Twilight's suggestion. "A good theory, but highly improbable. The Alliance has been slaughtering the Horde for years and years upon end, yet we've never had something like this happen before."

"Congratulations on putting it in the light that paints us as sociopathic consorts of the Old Gods themselves," Helena said with a groan. "To explain of our world would be... a story in and of itself. There are so many factors, so many... variables. However..."

"For maybe tens of thousands of years, blood has been spilled in Azeroth. It's a savage land compared to this one," Emeraldi said lightly. "And ever since the Horde came to it, it has only gotten worse."

Anna looked around a bit while the talking went on, wondering what they would have to explain in turn as Twilight explained about the monsters of Equestria. "So not even this land is free from monsters. Makes sense, I suppose. Every world must have its hardships in order to hold a natural balance." And then... Discord. Anna had to stifle a giggle. She meant no disrespect to Twilight or the ponies. To them, Discord must've been horrifying, but...

"Discord? A spirit of chaos and disharmony? Sounds like a toned down version of C'thun or Yogg Saron. Any of the Old Gods really." Helena had no idea how far on the mark she was with that, just like how Anna would be on the mark with her next statement.

"Still, while this land looks incredibly harmonious and splendid, there is a... lack of nature. It feels like everything is controlled. Even the sun and moon itself does not feel... natural. As if it is being controlled... like a puppet on strings."

"Oh come now, who can control the sun and the moon?" Lunessa asked. It was meant to be a joke. She did not know there was a real answer in Equestria.

Back in the forest, there was a sudden roar. Myushelle blinked and turned to notice a manticore staring at her from between two trees, hunched over as if it were ready to strike. It was used to ponies running scared from it. Easy prey. Sadly for it, however, it chose the wrong target. Myushelle chuckled lightly and pulled from within her bag of seemingly neverending hyperspace a runeblade that glowed an icy blue, chilled with its runes engraved within the icy heart of Naxxramus itself. The point stuck into the ground as she leaned on it casually, smirking at the beast. It seemed to hesitate, then immediately turned and fled, its scorpion tail cowering between its hind legs. The death knight just shrugged lightly and let her runeblade fall before returning to what she was doing... setting up a pot oddly full of water on a fireplace.

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

It was all too clear how VERY different their worlds were from each other. War and bloodshed had sadly been a part of life for clearly a long time in the world these visitors hailed from, while they expressed the feeling of this world's natives' important duty to maintain how it runs as unnatural.

When one spoke disbelievingly of the sun and moon being raised manually, Big McIntosh replied plain and simple, "The princesses. Princess Celestia the sun and Princess Luna the moon."

[gantzgun74]

Twilight took in the group's... Less then satisfactory answers concerning Discord, but decided not to say anything... Still, the fact that something could exist that was worse then Discord made the holder of the 'Element of Magic' uneasy...

Then of course there came the commentary about everything being controlled and, of course, the joke about what could control the Sun and Moon. Macintosh answered the question for her, but she saw the group's confused looks when he did.

"Allow me to explain." She lifted one of her front hoofs, as if to hold up a hand. "See, the royalty of our world are the two sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Both of them rule over Equestria together. Celestia raises the sun for the day, while Luna raises the moon for the night." She raised an eyebrow after a second. "But really, how do you expect it to work any other way? The only place in this world where nature does anything by itself is Everfree Forest, and that place is creepy enough by itself."

[shiftyPotentate]

At the sight of the manticore, Vinyl instinctively backed away, Myushelle between her and the beast. She almost turned tail and fled, but the warrior seemed to be on top of it. As afraid of the beast as she was, Vinyl did not want to see it hurt, so she about intervened, but she took a nonviolent scaring-off technique. With a sigh of relief, Vinyl allowed her lenses to resume their glow. Time to speak up.

"Hey, nice job scaring that big guy off," she remarked. "Thanks for not hurting it, too..." Hopefully she didn't startle the death knight.



Another fine day. A pegasus flies through the air. Her blonde mane flutters in the wind. Two bags hang from her sides. She casts a slight shadow as she soars over Ponyville.

She looks down to the ground with her mis-directed eyes. She spots a purple unicorn down below and claps with excitement. Twilight Sparkle was about to get a letter! Mail was so important. Delivering it was the most important thing.

The pegasus angled her wings down, intending to land beside Twilight. But, in the words of another ocular-challenged individual from another universe, she didn't have good depth perception. She clipped Twilight's back with her hoof, which threw off her balance and caused her to land upside down against a tree.

"Oof! That hurted my smarts..." she moaned, dizzier than usual. Her mail all fell out of her bags and some started to blow away in the breeze. "No no no! Don't leave before taking the oath! It's not right!" she said, scrambling to gather as many letters as she could, practically in tears that some had gotten away.

[Felix Falora]

When Lunessa was actually answered, her jaw dropped. Helena picked the girl up and closed it for her, but she still looked shocked. Anna, however, remained calm as usual. "That would explain the disturbance. The world is definitely different from ours. It works in a manual fashion. Everything is controlled. It makes things easier, yet for us, it is alien." Hearing about the Everfree Forest, Anna blinked. She had a basis for what she was about to say. "My apologies if our observations come off as offensive, Miss Unicorn, it's just that our entire world works the same way as this Everfree Forest you speak of and, as such, there are some of us who are used to this 'balance' and not only accept it, but work within it. It's a sort of complicated system, however, and intricate in..."

And then Derpy crashed. The mail flew off and Emeraldi noticed the mare with tears in her eyes. Giving pouty eyes to Lunessa, the girl sighed. "Fine, fine." Snapping lightly, she disappeared. Even as a fire mage, her arcane prowess was still well formed. She blinked in and out of existence with the letters, grabbing them in each appearance and then zipping out shortly after. When she finally reappeared, she had all the letters in her hand and offered them to Derpy. "Here ya go. I believe this is all of them."

Myushelle noticed Vinyl after she revealed herself. She then shrugged lightly. "The beasts here do not seem lethal. It's as if they are more willing to intimidate rather then strike. There was no reason for me to hurt it." Without her helmet on, her long emerald hair was free to blow in the wind. "Seems like its going to blow for a while. I have a camp set up as you can see. Feel free to make yourself comfortable."

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

A few letters were not grabbed by Emeraldi but instead picked up by Big McIntosh. The big stallion trotted over and offered them over to the mailmare after the mage had handed over the rest.

[gantzgun74]

?!?!?! "OW! What the-?!" Twilight winced at the hoof print on her back and quickly looked around. For a brief instant, she had hoped it had been Rainbow Dash or even Fluttershy, however she turned to find it to be little more then Derpy Hooves, Ponyville's resident mailpony. To be fair, Twilight knew about Derpy's poor depth perception and instantly decided not to scold the poor thing.

Instead, as Big Mac and Lunessa returned Derpy's letters to her, Twilight approached with a curious expression on her face. "Hello there Derpy. What's the matter?" She looked around a second. "I'm sure you're pretty busy already, but why come over here to us?"

[shiftyPotentate]

"That's definitely true," Vinyl admitted. As fearsome as manticores and cockatrices were, they definitely never seemed to actually attack ponies. Even cockatrices, which petrified targets on sight, only let that spell last a few hours, instead of leaving the victim solidified forever. Even so, as far as she knew, the only pony ever to successfully stop a cockatrice's gaze was, ironically, Fluttershy. That pegasus was sure filled with mystery.

She trotted over to Myushelle and sat down beside her. "Nice camp you got," she remarked. "Got any food by any chance?"



Derpy smiled and took the letters from Lunessa and MacIntosh. She gleefully hugged both of them and thanked them for their assistance. "You have ensured the safety of our future!" she exclaimed.

She turned back to Twilight. "I came here because I have an important letter for Celestia!" She caught her own slip up. "Oh! I mean from." She reached into her mailbag and plucked out the only letter written on the royal parchment. "Here it is to you from her and me with love and honor to obey." The letter was fairly thick, as if it contained two messages. One was written by a complete stranger from another universe, who had somehow gotten a message to Princess Celestia. The other was from the princess herself.

The first message read:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I sincerely hope that my message manages to reach you; this is a matter of utmost importance. By now, I'm certain that you've figured out that I am not your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. My name is Michael Neilsen, and I am a human from another world; I am currently in a place called the Dimensional Island with several of my friends. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike are all here and... mostly unharmed. Rainbow Dash is currently recovering from hypothermia, but should start to feel better soon.

...I am sending this message to let you know where the missing ponies (and dragon) are, because I'm certain that their friends are worried. I also wish to warn you about potential dangers. Now that Equestria is connected to the Dimensional Island, anyone can enter. ...Our recent encounter with an evil mage by the name of Kefka proved as a sort of wake-up. He froze Rainbow and killed me, though I was able to resurrect, thankfully. I and my friends are training Rainbow and Fluttershy; Rainbow is learning a combat art and Fluttershy is learning to heal people. Be extremely careful and prepare defenses; I don't know if Equestria will be attacked, but it pays to be prepared.

Sincerely,

Michael Neilsen (The letter can be read in context here)

The letter from Princess Celestia read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

It has come to my attention that a passageway to another dimension has opened up within Equestria. This passageway leads to a place known as Dimensional Island. A resident of the island has written to me bearing news of Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike, who no doubt helped him get the letter to me. He assures me they are fine, and that the local citizens are in fact teaching them their ways and culture.

I have enclosed the letter he has written to me for your own viewing. In light of these events, I would ask that you attempt to locate this passageway and join your friends who are already on the other side. It is important that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony remain together. I am having the elements securely delivered to the library in which you live.

I am also informing the remaining ponies of your friends, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack of the situation, so that they may accompany you. The resident who has written to me also expresses his concerns that evil-doers from Dimensional Island may find their way into Equestria. However, you should not trouble yourself with this. Princess Luna and I are already taking measures to counteract this should it occur.

I have faith that you will be able to reunite with your friends and investigate why this passageway has opened up. I wish you the absolute best of luck.

Your mentor,
Princess Celestia

Derpy smiled as she gave the letter to Twilight. She was really excited about this, she'd never been asked by the princess herself to deliver a letter before!! Wait until Dinky heard about this!

[Felix Falora]

Myushelle heard the pony asked if she had any food. Now Night Elves were generally vegetarians themselves. That being said, becoming the walking dead generally made it to where you couldn't really process vegetables. You had to eat meat if you ate at all. "The equine race is mostly vegetarian based, eating hay, oats, and plant life, right?" Grimacing, she looked through her bags. As she suspected... a lot of meat. Facepalming, she shook her head. "If Anna had followed... she's the vegetarian of the group. I'm afraid I don't have any food that you might enjoy, however."

Back at the other four, Lunessa felt Derpy's hooves pull her into a crushing hug. Horses were generally stronger then humans, and gnomes were weaker then humans physically, so when Derpy would let go, the mage would stagger backwards and fall over. "I should have become a warrior like Locke. She would've been able to handle that hug," she replied.

"Exhausted your mana reserves?" Anna asked. "You could have just teleported outside of this hug if it was crushing you."

"I was playing teleport hop scotch trying to get the letters because a certain priestess was giving me puppy dog eyes." Emeraldi did look happy to see Derpy happy and excited looking, even if she didn't get a hug. None of them drew any attention to Derpy's eyes, however, because they had naturally seen worse in Azeroth. Derpy's eyes was nothing compared to some of the deformities they had seen. Not that they were ever shown in the game for people in worlds where their lives were a game, but some shit was messed up beyond reckoning after all.

[DM: Dersite Merchant]

The farm stallion gave Derpy a calm, thoughtful smile once all her letters had been recollected together and then was only taken by a small bit of surprise when the mailmare pulled him and the visiting mage into a big hug. Given his strong build from years of blowing and bucking, he was able to withstand it better, though.

Once Derpy let go and went onto business, she delivered a two-sheet letter she claimed to be from the princess herself. Big McIntosh looked to Twilight as she took it, a little curious now as to what it said.