Nine years ago the Elements of Harmony defeated the mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon, and returned her to her formal self, Princess Luna. Since that day the Elements have had more battles with stronger and more deadly adversaries. The spirit of chaos, Discord. The ancient dictator, King Sombra. The changeling queen, Chrysalis. And the monster from the beyond Equestria, Tirek. Each villain threatened the very peace and tranquility Equestria had flourished in for generations, and each fell in defeat.

We know the Elements, their identities, their story, but do we know them? What you are about to read is by story of each of the Elements and how their lives became intertwined, creating the long lasting friendships that have pulled them into and out of the many battles they have...

---

"Damn it!" A voice yelled, paper and pencils fly up into the air in a small fit of a magical tantrum. The source, a young unicorn, red coat with a tail and mane to match it. His cutie mark was a closed book with a quill on the cover and an inkwell next to it. "Why can't I rewrite this intro!?" He slammed his head down onto the desk he's working at in defeat. His work and utensils falling on his head.

Bio Quill is the stallion’s name, a recent graduate of Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. And a new member of the Friendship Guard, he has no real life goals. He only joined the Guard for the benefits and because they get sent to other places on Equestria for peace keeping or to study some possibly unknown or undiscovered thing. That and the hope for a fight. Despite never having any combat training, fighting came rather naturally to Bio Quill. Every now and then he has to get it out of him or he ends up punching stone.

Sadly though, ever since he insisted he has been placed on "Restoration of necessary documents." In other words, he was to rewrite and fix damaged books from the public library in the castle. It was a near endless, thankless, and time and soul devouring task that he hated with every cell in his body. He had requested a transfer on more than one occasion, but was denied by the Royal advisor, Starlight Glimmer, since his transfer went against the codex of placement. He could quit, but quitting or being discharged from any Royal guard leaves a bad mark that affects ponies opinions of you. He'd rather be miserable than homeless.

The job itself wasn't hard. He just rewrote the page(s) that were damaged or missing, he is even given a copy to copy from. One of the only things that made his day was his friend in the guard, Chaos Spirit. His name tells half of the kind of pony he is. All in all Bio's life is boring, dull, and near pointless. And it's about to get better.

Knock, knock, knock. "Yo, Bio it's me, open up."

"Door's open!"

"Too lazy."

"Goddess dammit." Using his magic, Bio threw the door open. "How you got into the guard is a mystery to me."

"And that's how it's goanna stay." A black Pegasus stallion entered the room, he flipped a small wall switch and the darkness disappeared, revealing a small living room, Bio sitting on the couch, half lying on a coffee table. "Bruh, get up. Princesses called all guards, this seems legit."

"Better be." Bio said, getting up and stretching. "If this is another inspection I'm goanna punch a hole in those crystal walls."

"Again?"

"Again."

The two quickly galloped over to the castle, changing into their purple guard armor in one of the locker rooms. Their armor on the two made their way to the map room, where princess Twilight and the royal advisor where. But it was only those two, no other guards were present.

"Princess, where are the other guards?" Bio Quill asked.

"There are no others, I had Starlight tell Chaos to bring yourselves here." Twilight said. Total confusion covered Bio's and Chaos's faces. "As you know, thanks to Starlight, The Castle of Friendship has one of the best guard placement programs in Equestria. However, no system is perfect. You two seem to have... been misplaced."

"Are we being transferred?" Chaos asked, a slight tone of eagerness in his voice.

"Sort of." Starlight said. "From what your fellow guards have said about you two we have decided to try an experiment. Albee it a risky one."

Bio and Chaos looked at each other for a brief moment before they returned attention to the princess.

"That said," Twilight continued. "We are sending you two to the Tree Forte."

A shock went through Bio and Chaos. The Tree Forte was built out of the old castle of Celestia and Luna. Rebuilt and made to protect the Tree of Harmony under the castle, now forte. Only the best of every royal guard is sent there to keep the Everfree's most unwanted away or at bay, and these two just got assigned there?

"Upon your arrival," Twilight continued. "You are to help a small recovery team find and retrieve artifacts from what records indicate, is one of Starswerled the Bearded's secret laboratories." Twilight gave a small squeal at the end of that sentence.

"Princess, we've been requesting transfers for almost a year-" Bio started, only to be cut off by Starlight.

"I know Bio, I was there for all of your requests. And after hearing about your skill in combat simulations I've decided to give you your chance."

"What about me?" Chaos asked. "I haven’t requested a transfer."

"Chaos, we're sending you because you're bad for moral, sending twelve of your fellow guardsmen to intensive care, and punching holes in the walls of the castle!"

"Oh come on, that last one wasn't even me!" He gave a dirty look to Bio, who was suppressing a chuckle.

"Whatever. You two leave in an hour, pack your things and anything that will be of use."

As the two left the map room Chaos punched Bio's side. Creating a hoof shaped dent in the metal. "Why the hell you let me take the fall for that?!"

Bio burst into laughter for a brief moment before answering. "It's not like your reputation can get any worse."

"True... I'm still goanna get you back for it though."

"Don't you always?"

---

The Tree Forte. Despite being in the Everfree Forest not many beasts roam near here. Most action happens outside the forte walls, or in the sky but that's a rare case. The Tree Forte is also on of the few guard sectors that used lethal weapons rather than weapons meant to detain. Firearms. A weapon made by the Minotaurs and Griffins decades ago. A deadly tool at long or close range. When Equestria finally picked them up, smaller guns were modified to be shot by biting the grip and pulling the trigger with their tongue. Larger guns are worn on holsters like a saddle bag and are either fired by using a wing or biting a trigger, depending on the users race. Unicorns can use all forms of firearms because of their levitation magic.

Bio Quill loved these weapons. He studied about how to keep them clean so they don't fail when needed, and he can assemble them from parts. Now he gets to use one.

The two entered the forte, guards from every branch could be seen running drills and marching across the court yard, few gave a glance at the two. Eventually a rather large unicorn approached them. He was muscular and practically towered over the two, his coat was blue and his mane was midnight black. He wore a near full body solar guard armor set, minus the helmet.

"Are you two the runts princess Twilight sent?" He asked.

"Yes, and I'm not a runt, I'm a bastard." Chaos said. Giving a sarcastic grin the whole time talking.

A magical aura wrapped around Chaos's head and he was slammed against the floor, the unicorn in front of him looked very angry while his magic held Chaos's head in the dirt. "Listen here you worthless fuck. You're here on princess Twilight's orders, and I've read your record. I have permission to use whatever means necessary to keep you in line. Understand?"

Rather than a verbal response, Chaos, somehow, managed to spin his hind legs around, hitting square in the unicorns jaw, causing his spell to fail.

All ponies in the area were now watching.

"Well don't think I'm just goanna stand there and take it." No sooner when he finished talking, a black blur rammed Chaos in his side, throwing him all across the yard and slamming into the wall.

Bio was just facehoofing the whole time. "Bruh."

Soon as Bio said that Chaos stood up, shaking himself free of any dust. "Hey it was better than how basic training went remember?" Chaos said, walking over towards Bio.

Bio looked up, seeing the blur that struck his friend. She was actually dark grey, her mane was emerald green and her horn was still lit up with a small magic shield.

"Battering ram spell?" Bio asked.

She turned to him. "Y... Yeah. How is your friend not... Limping?"

"It will take a lot, A LOT more than that to break one of my bones." Chaos answered for Bio.

"Looks like you got some competition Emerald." The muffled voice of the unicorn Chaos kicked in the face said as he stood up. "Very few ponies can get me this good." A small line of blood started to spill from his mouth. "You get these two armed and informed on the task at hoof. I'm headed to the medic."

The mare, Emerald, opened her mouth to protest but nodded instead. "Yes captain."

"So... your names Emerald?" Bio asked, failing to ease the tension and confusion.

"Emerald Fire, and judging from how that went," she motioned towards Chaos. "You must be Bio Quill."

"Just Bio is fine."

"I've read your file as well as Chaos Sprit’s files. Unlike him you don't stand out all that much. What made an average pony Joe like you wanna join the Friendship Guard?"

"My mom. She said I have two options with my life. A, join one of the royal guards and be somepony, or B, follow my special talent and fuck up my life."

Emerald was slightly taken back at that last part. "Some support she gave you."

"We were broke at the time so there wasn't many options. She wanted me to join the Solar Guard, but when I told her that that Friendship Guard makes more bits she started looking more towards Ponyville."

"Some parent, what about your dad?"

"Never knew him. I asked once but she just told me that he's burning in hell."

"Some stallion."

"You're telling me. Mom never even told me his name... So... Weapons."

"Oh, right. This way." Emerald lead the way, closely followed by Bio and Chaos. The trio went through several security doors and magical barriers until they had reached a set of metal barn doors.

Emerald went up to a microphone on the wall and pressed a small blue button. "Password?" A voice asked

"Sidrat." A loud buzz rang and the doors opened. "Welcome to the armory."

---

The armory was packed with firearms, explosives, and other assorted lethal weaponry. Bio took a twin pair of griffin styled Wasteland Ravens, and twenty clips for each. Chaos picked a large automatic rifle that was designed specifically for a Pegasus. Emerald's weapon made Bio's and Chaos's feel and look inferior by comparison. The barrel was longer than Emerald herself! And the bullets were big enough to choke a pony if it needed.

"The fuck is that!?!" Chaos shouted.

"This is my not-so-little-friend I've named Calamity. I'm sure you can guess why."

Once well armed the trio went off, leaving the safety of the Tree Forte and into the Everfree. The mission was simple, recover anything related to Starswerled the Bearded and get out, the only issue was that Mantacores had moved in. Normally the element of kindness, Fluttershy, would be called in to handle the issue, but these seemed immune to the animal lovers charm. Rabies didn't help either.

Orders were to kill every Mantacore on sight.

"Almost there." Emerald whispered, crouched down under the thick forest plants.

"How many Mantacores we looking at?" Chaos asked. Crouched next to her.

"Intel said six but more might be inside."

"How are we gonna do this?" Bio asked. Checking the magazines of his guns.

"As I see it we have two options, go in tactical or guns blazing."

"Given the weapons we got, tactical guns blazing." Chaos said. "Bio and I will go in and unleash hell, while you snipe anything that gets too close for comfort."

"Sounds good. Didn't expect that from you."

"I'm an asshole, not stupid." Chaos replied. "Bio, let's get. Emerald you shoot whatever gets to close to use."

"Will do." She replied, lifting her rifle up with her magic.

Bio and Chaos made there way down the nonexistent pathway, Emerald made her way up a tall tree, using self levitation when needed. Once at the top she lifted her rifle and through the scope saw Bio and Chaos at the clearing in front if the entrance to the laboratory. "Don't go dying on me, something about you is unique." She said to herself, keeping the two in her scope's sight.

Bio and Chaos stood at the edge of the forest and at the entrance of the clearing. The entrance to the once lost laboratory, an old cave, was clear within sight. At the entrance was a sleeping Mantacore, foam oozing from it's mouth.

"Nervous?" Bio asked.

"Yeah."

"Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"Bruh, we missed the frying pan and fell straight into the fire."

"Fair point. Well, who gets first shot off."

"Me, consider it payback for letting me take the fall for that."

"Fair enough."

Chaos and Bio walked forward, the Mantacore didn't notice them. Chaos took aim and fired, sending a dozen bullets into the Mantacores skull. Blood and brain matter covered part of the cave and most of the floor. The sound of multiple, massive roars came from within the cave and all hell broke lose.

Three rabid Mantacores came out of the cave at once, startled, Bio and Chaos quickly fired off rounds at two of them, the third, all that was heard was thunder in the distance before it exploded. The two Bio and Chaos shot at lay dead in front of them.

There was little time for celebration as three more Mantacores came at the two. Bio quickly fired both pistols at one of them, several bullets dug themselves a home in the skull of his target. Chaos shot until his foe began to resemble Swiss cheese. Bleeding Swiss cheese. The third, like the one before it, exploded into bloody chunks as thunder was heard in the distance. Bio noticed a near pony sized crater underneath where the Mantacore once stood.

Thank goddess she's on our side. He thought.

More Mantacores came from the cave entrance, Emerald now started shooting at the ones coming out rather than the ones that got near Bio and Chaos. It was surprisingly effective, the shock wave from the bullets severely injured or crippled the beasts near it.

Bio kept firing, until. Click, click. "Damnit, cover me while I reload!" Bio dropped both of his empty mags, as he placed the full ones into his pistols a shadow covered him, a Mantacore was raising it's claws at him. Before Bio could finish reloading the beast exploded, showering him in blood and mic pieces of flesh. He finished reloading. "Note to self, properly thank Emerald for saving my life."

Chaos off loaded his magazine shortly after Bio reloaded. Rather than reloading he flew up and landed on the back of a Mantacore, biting down hard on it's leathery wings. It roared in agony. The beast used it's scorpion like tail and tried to beat Chaos off if itself. Despite being badly bruised, and his bones ready to crack, he held on. Eventually he started to bite down harder and pulled on the wing, once the copper taste of blood hit his tongue his pulled hard and fast, ripping the Mantacores wing off.

The creature gave a blood curdling roar, only to be silenced by Bio, who fired three shots into it's head. The final Mantacore was dead and Bio was enjoying his adrenaline rush.

"That was the most amazing thing I've ever done!"

"Least you had fun." Chaos said stretched out on the floor.

Bio ran over to him. "Where does it hurt?"

"EVERYWHERE!!" He screamed, only to be slapped by Emerald who just arrived.

"Maybe next time don't go doing stupid things like trying to piggy back ride a Mantacore!"

"And take the fun out of it?" He said with a grin.

After Emerald tried, and failed, to chew Chaos out for his reckless actions, the trio finally entered the cave. Bio and Emerald cast flashlight spells and the cave became visible. Animal corpses and large egg shells littered the cave floor. After some time walking they found a large cast-iron door, engravings and magical ruins decorated the door.

"Crap! I didn't want to have to go back empty hoofed." Emerald stated.

Bio stared at the door. He spotted four ruins he knew: fire, water, earth, and sky. They were placed rather strangely from each other, something else he noticed where that the ruins meaning heaven and hell were together at the center of the door. Normally the heaven ruin it towards the top of scriptures and the hell ruin is at the bottom. In other words, they're usually as far away from each other as possible.

He explained the abnormality to Chaos and Emerald. "How do you even know that?" Emerald questioned.

"I was part of the Ancient Magic Codes club when I was in Celestia's School. It was the only club I ever joined and the only reason I kept coming to school."

"Egghead." Chaos said.

"Says the stallion who was in, and passed, every advanced science and mathematics class in Celestia's School."

"Wait, I thought Celestia's School was only for unicorns?" Emerald asked.

"Yes and no," Chaos said. "Unicorns are most commonly enrolled, but an Earth pony or Pegasus can also get in if they keep up a high grade point average."

"And that egghead never went below a B in any class the whole time we were in school." Bio stated.

"Whatever, so what you want us to do?"

"Anypony got a knife?"

"No- Ouch!" Chaos was replying before Bio magically plucked a feather off of his wings. "Mother fucker."

Ignoring Chaos, Bio bit down on his hoof. He flinched a few times from the pain but after several tries he managed to draw blood. The hell ruin suddenly lit up, glowing like the light from a fire. "That I didn't expect." Bio said. The ruin soon began to sprout lines of fire from it, each one heading towards an elemental ruin. They all connected, but the hell ruin moved down and the image became clear. It was a pentagram. After a few seconds the door opened, revealing a small hallway.

“How did you know that would happen?” Chaos asked.

“I didn’t, I thought I had to trace blood on the ruin carvings, I didn’t expect it to react to bloodshed.”

“Either way, thanks rookie. Can’t wait to show some ancient relic to the princess, she’s gonna fanfilly out so hardcore.” Emerald said.

“I’d pay to see royalty freak out like that.”

“Same.” Chaos said.

The hallway was extremely small, the thee had to enter one after another. After an unknown amount of time spent walking in the small hallway the trio entered a large chamber, lit by strange crystals and littered with dusty books and objects.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, I present to you,  Starswerld the Bearded's no-so-long-lost-laboratory.” Bio said in his best announcer voice.

“Daring Doo eat your heart out!” Emerald screamed in joy.

Author's Note:

For those who are curious, Emerald's rifle is my version of the JDJ .950 rifle click Here to see it

The trio was surprised at all the magical artifacts, journals, and unfinished projects within the cave. Why the legendary spell caster built his laboratories within caves and such was a mystery even to Princess Celestia.

Whatever the case, he sure liked to keep secrets. All his books and journals were written in magic texts and language, one Bio noticed was decorated, cover and back, in protection and warding symbols. The magic in them was faint, but still, even after a thousand years, the fact that magic was still present in them amazed Bio.

Chaos was mostly unimpressed. Emerald on the other hoof was gathering “stock” of everything and anything residing in the cave. Princess Twilight loves lists. Her exploration of the cave she came across a locked room. Kicking and magic proved useless.

“Bio!”  She yelled. “Some assistance!”

A few seconds later, Bio was examining the door. “well… this is odd.”

“How so?”

“Well, these ruins mean protect, and safety. But these ones spell secret, and evil. I’ve only ever heard about this combination being used on dungeon cells.”

“So is it a prison?”

“Most likely, some of Starswerlds creations went beyond regular magic. I remember one story about him using dark magic to bring a pony back to life, and it worked, no side effects.”

“I guess if anypony could figure out how to use dark magic successfully, without going mad.”

“Maybe. Either way if this is a prison then be ready.” Bio levitated one of his pistols to the lock and fired, the sound of shattering glass came from within the room. “Shit!”

Bio and Emerald threw open the door. Inside were two mirrors, one shattered and one whole. The whole mirror was tinted black, making Bio and Emeralds reflections hard to see.

“Why write those seals to hide some mirrors?” Bio questioned.

Chaos ran inti the room. “I heard gunfire.”

“Magic proof door and lock.”

“Ah. So you also shot a mirror?”

“It was an-“  

Bio was cut off when the glass shards of the broken mirror began glowing. Then bolts of magic shot out through the cave walls, one however stopped at the floor.

“The fuck?” Chaos said.

A faint noise could be heard, it got louder and louder until it became clear that it was somepony screaming. At its loudest a strange creature flew out of the portal, the portal vanished, then the creature fell to the ground.

The trio was speechless.

“Ugh, what happened.” As the creature stood up it walked like a minotaur, but looked like some kind of dog. It’s fur was grey and white, both ears were black and it wore a red bandana tied around its neck. When it spotted Bio, Emerald and Chaos, it smiled. “Hi, I’m Snout.”

“A talking dog…?” Chaos said.

“I’m a wolf actually.” Snout corrected.

“… So… where are you from?”

“Not sure actually. I’ve traveled a lot and I don’t really remember exactly where I was born.”

“That’s sad.” Emerald said.

“I don’t mind. I’ve enjoy traveling around The World. Speaking of, where on The World am I?”

“What’s your world’s name?” Bio asked.

Snout looked confused. “That’s an odd question. The world’s always just been called The World. It doesn’t have a name.”

“Then you’re not on your world.” Bio said. “This is Equestria.”

“Equ-what?”

“Equestria.” Emerald clarified.

“Okay but how can I be in another world?”

“That’s my bad actually.” Bio said. “I broke that mirror and given what happened it must have been a portal. There are only a few others like it but they’re all under lock and key.”

Snout stood silent for some time. “So let let get this straight. I’m in another world, possibly another dimension, you broke my only way back, and I’m stuck here.”

“Well more than one portal flew out of that mirror when it broke so there are likely more.” Chaos said.

“Goddess, Princess Twilight is gonna have our heads for this.” Bio said with a groan.

---

“YOU DID WHAT!?!?!” Twilight Sparkle shouted. Her voice echoing all the way to Canterlot and beyond.

“Son of a!” Chaos yelled as he fell to the ground covering his ears. “I like my hearing, thank you!”  

“You broke one of Starswerlds artifacts and created rifts to another world!”

“All an accident Princess, the symbols on that door were the same as magic prisons bear, we had no way of knowing it was a safe.” Bio said.

“Bio Quill, I’m not saying you were wrong to go with what the facts provided, but I am upset that it was destroyed. The last time those types of portals magic was misused our world and another almost fuzzed. If this magic is loose then who knows what could happen.”

“More Snout's appear.” Chaos joked, nudging Snout.

“Yes, Snout.” She looked over to the wolf. “As the Princess of Friendship I happily welcome you to Equestria. Even though this was unintentional. I offer you my friendship.”

“Thank you.” He said.

“Now as for you three, Since Snout is a guest in our world you three will be his guides and escorts anywhere and everywhere he wishes to venture.” Twilight gazed over to Emerald. She looked rather sad to see look at her, guilty almost. Like a foal that knew they’d done wrong. “Something on your mind Emerald Fire?”

Emerald twitched. “N-no. I was just…”

“If you want to say something you can say it.”

“I… I’m…” She exhaled. “I’m just thinking that watching over Snout would be easier if we all lived in the same hu-house.” Emerald looked as if her life depended on Twilight’s answer.

“Well I think the Friendship Guard has one or two houses we can spare for this. Go see Starlight for the paperwork.”

As the group left, Bio and Chaos both shared a look. What was Emerald so nervous about? They could tell she was lying. Whatever the case they didn’t trust her at the moment, she’s hiding something.

The paperwork took well into the night. Physically and mentally exhausted, the group decided to spend the night at their new home.

It was fairly large, three bedroom, two bath. Three bedroom, that meant two would have too share. Bio and Chaos may be roommates but they each had their own room, and Chaos places HIGH value on privacy. It was Bio's fault Snout was in Equestria so he practically forced Snout to take the second room. And since Emerald is a girl Bio was-

“Bio, you and I can share a bed.” She deadpanned. Wait, What!?!? “Just face away from me and I won’t castrate you!” With that she left to the room, leave a very confused, and blushed Bio.

“Wow Bio, didn’t think ya-“ Chaos's joke was cut short by hos own yelp as Bio pulled out what was a bites worth of feathers from one of his wings. “Mother fucker, it’ll take a week the grow those back!”

“That was the point.” Bio left Chaos to plan his revenge.

Meanwhile Bio entered his and Emerald’s room. She was already in bed, covered in the sheets. Bio lay on the edge of his side, keeping distance between him and Emerald.

“Aren’t you gonna use the sheets?” Emerald asked.

“N-no. Gives you more privacy.” He replied.

“Alright… I know what it’s like to be raised by a single parent.” Bio remained silent. “I never knew my dad, but unlike yours my mom always said that he was flying with the angels.”

“Sounds like he was a better stallion than my dad.” Bio replied.

“Yeah, my mom told me his name once but I was really little. I think it was Gab-something. I was to young to pronounce it and it was a pretty weird name.”

“Sounds like it. Did you ever meet him?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t even one yet. I remember his coat was white like Celestia’s, but that’s it.”

“…Why are you telling me this?”

“Just trying to make things less awkward. Any luck?”

“A little. Oh, and thanks for saving me earlier.”

“No big, Calamity has been needing a good sharp shooting. But I wanna ask, is this your first time in bed with a mare?”

Bio rolled off the bed. “I’m sleeping on the floor.”

A room down, Snout wasn’t sleeping. Too much has happened in so little time. If these portals go crazy like Twilight said, their worlds could fuse. He began to think about all his friends, even his sister snuck her way into his worried thoughts. It was more worry on what she’ll do rather than what would happen to her.

Still though, there was a bright side. A whole new world to explore and adventure. Even though he’d rather do it alone, his… body guards probably won’t let him leave town without them.

He noticed how complicated things were here rather than in his world. Back home if someone wants to live somewhere they didn’t need to ask permission or complete several hours of paperwork, they just needed to make sure no one was already living there. And they seem to mostly live in built homes, only a few places like that exist in his world. Most villages are formed inside caves or up in hollow trees, even under ground in tunnels.

Ponies are weird. But he was very curious on how things are here. Maybe tomorrow he can explore town. He did want to try that Sugar Cube Corner place he heard Twilight mention back at her castle.

Snout woke up early, a normal thing for him, but he was surprised to see that Bio and Emerald were up as well.

“Morning.” He said.

“Morning.” Bio replied from the kitchen counter. “You’re up early.”

“I always wake up early. You?”

“Royal guards, remember? They drill it into us during training.”

“Where’s Chaos?”

“Getting food.” Emerald replied, reading on the sofa. “Place is fully furnished but there’s no food.”

“When will he be back?”

“Soonish. Assuming he doesn’t run into Rarity.”

“Who’s Rarity?”

“The element of Generosity and a council member in Princess Twilight’s castle. She mostly runs dress a shop in town and in other cities, but Chaos hates her.”

“Why?” Emerald asked, now intrigued.

“They’re polar opposites. Chaos hardly ever is polite or uses good manners while Rarity strives for glamour and perfection.”

”GET SOME BITCH!!” The sound of Chaos’s voice boomed from outside.

“Oh crap!” Bio yelped as he ran out the door, followed closely by Emerald and Snout.

Some distance into market, a large crowd was both cheering and shouting. Once the three entered they saw why, Chaos and Rarity were fighting, physically.

“Admit it, you’re a hypocrite!” Chaos yelled, bucking the white unicorn across the ground.

Getting up, Rarity used her magic to lift Chaos off the ground and slam him back onto it. “Brute, didn’t anypony teach you how to treat a lady?”

“Like I give a fu-“ Chaos was stopped before finishing. He and Rarity both were held in a purple aura.

“Honestly I can’t believe you two.” Twilight said, emerging from the crowd. “This is the third time this month!

“She started it!” Chaos replied.

“I don’t care who started it! Rarity, of all the ponies I can’t believe that you would engage in a fight! And Chaos, you’re a royal guard! You’re supposed to be setting an example!”

“Eh, nowhere in the Friendship Guard contracts does it say we have to set an example off duty.”

Twilight’s eye twitched. Out off all the things she hated about Chaos, his smart ass smarts were one of them. He always was able to find a flaw or loophole in anything to turn into an excuse for his actions. “Looks like I’m rewriting the contracts, AGAIN!” As Twilight looked through the crowd, her eyes found three individuals that were trying to make an unnoticed exit. Lifting them up with her magic, Twilight gave Bio, Emerald, and Snout a harsh glare. “Did you three just let this happen!?”

“We got here not long before you princess.” Bio quickly replied.

“Then why were you trying to leave unnoticed?”

“I know better than to get involved when Chaos is in trouble.”

“Too bad, you’re involved! You four are coming with me for a long lesson on proper public manners. Snout, consider this an opportunity to roam freely, but the other guards will be keeping tabs on you. It’s not that I don’t trust you-”

“Yes it is.” Chaos interrupted.

“Quiet! Okay that’s half the reason, I just don’t want you to get hurt or for you to hurt somepony else. Understood?”

“Yes Twilight.” Snout replied. He felt a tad sad Twilight didn’t fully trust him, but understood her concern. He did come from a place unknown to her.

“Thank you.” With that Twilight left, Chaos and Rarity still bickering while leaving.

The  crowd of ponies left in seconds. Snout was surprised they left so quickly, people on his world would have stuck around for a bit before finally leaving. Then again Twilight did say that this was the third fight this month. That's more than what a village in his world would have in a year.

Eventually, Snout began walking. Much to his surprise, very few ponies gave him a glance. Most that did were small, children obviously. As time passed he noticed two things. One, females practically outnumbered males seven to one, and two, most of the buildings in town reflected this. Windows in the shape of hearts, pink was almost everywhere! And every speck of dirt had a feminine touch.

A thought came to his mind. Is this why Chaos is so edgy? He brushed it aside.  He could probably ask Bio or Chaos himself the reason. Snout hatted to assume without clear facts.

Looking up he spotted ponies like Chaos, flying up and moving clouds… wait MOVING CLOUDS! Snout had to blink several times to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. He really wanted to see this up close. He reached into his tail. Magic is odd in his world, some people are born with unique magical abilities, some objects have them for no real reason, and sometimes magic bends to the will of individuals without any reason or cause. For Snout, he was born with a tail that can store and hold things like a backpack. He never understood why, but he didn’t care all that much. After some searching he found his prize.

It was a bandana, like the one he was already wearing, but blue. He switched them fast and once he did he felt the magic activate. Snout has several bandanas, each a different colors with their own power. Magic in his world is an odd thing, now he was curious about Equestria’s magic. He jumped, the bandana giving a small flash then he floated, upon reaching the clouds he placed a paw on one, only for his paw to move through it like thick fog.

“Dude, only pegasi or alicorns can move clouds by touch.” Snout turned around and was met by a purple maned, orange coated pegasus resting on a cloud behind him. “Neat trick for flying though. Took me years to figure out how to stay off the ground, you just swap clothes. Honestly, I’m jealous.”

“Why?”

“Biological magic. Depending on a ponies race depends on types of magic. While unicorns can use and create all sorts of magic earth ponies will always be ridiculously strong and pegasi like me can fly and move clouds. Names Scootaloo by the way, you?”

“Snout.”

“How fast can you move while flying like that?”

“Pretty fast I guess. Never really tried it out all that much, I usually save them for an emergency.”

“Keep them handy then. Ponyville is known for strange things and climatic, world endangering battles.”

“That explains why no one down there payed much attention to me.”

“I didn’t pay much attention to you either until I saw you fly up here. Like they say, “Just when you’ve seen it all, there’s Ponyville.””

“Who said that?”

“Tourists looking for excitement. So if you can move fast, do you wanna race?”

“Nah, I’m not into sports.”

“Awww. Well alright then, by the way, have you talked to Fulttershy yet?”

“No, who’s that?”

“A Pegasus like me, well older than me, and she lives out next to the Everfree.”

“I thought that place was dangerous?”

“It is, but that’s the thing, animals are naturally passive towards her. The only exceptions I’ve seen have been timber wolves and dragons.”

“Oh. Wait, you think I’ll get affected?”

“Not sure. Only one way to find out though.” Scootaloo said with a smile. “She didn’t earn that cutimark for nothing.”

“Cutie what?”

“Cutiemark. A symbol of a pony's special talent. We all have one, some latter on in life than others. I was in that group till fifteen years ago.” Scootaloo stood and showed her cutiemark to Snout, a small purple shield with a wing on it. “My friends Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell and I all got ours at the same time and for the same reason. Helping ponies understand and discover their special talents.”

“That sounds like it was hard to figure out.”

“You have no idea. We got into so much trouble trying to figure out what our talents were.”

“Maybe I’ll listen to it sometime.”

“Sure thing, if you race me for it.”

Snout laughed. “Sure, just remind me, okay?”

“Okay. Oh, and if you are going to Fluttershy’s first just follow the road west, she lives on the outskirts of town.”

“Thank you.”

---

Scootaloo wasn’t kidding when she told Snout she lived on the outskirts of town. The road went on for miles out east. It took close to an hour before he spotted what must have been Fluttershy’s home. A surprisingly large cottage surrounded by small animals, bird houses, and had a small stream with a bridge over it that cut right in front of the cottage.

Upon landing, he switched back to his usual bandana and approached the door. As he knocked a small yelp was heard from inside. “Who’s there?”

“Uhh, Snout.”

There was a small moment of silence before the door opened just a small crack. “A… a wolf?”

“I just said my name-”

Before Snout could finish, he found himself brought to the ground, all he could see were two very up close eyes, yellow, and pink. “Oh my gosh! A talking wolf!”

“Yes I am. Can I stand now?”

The pony, Fluttershy, Snout figured, moved to the side, letting him stand. “I’m so sorry Mr. Wo- Mr. Snout.”

“Snout’s fine thanks. I was told to come see you.”

“Told by who?”

“Scootaloo.”

“Oh, that was nice of her. Would you like to come inside, I mean, if you want to.”

Clearly the ‘shy’ in her name is extremely literal. Snout thought to himself. “Sure.”

As he walked in, Snout saw that the small animal houses didn’t just stop outside. Inside there were what looked like twice as many bird houses, mouse holes with doors, some even had mailboxes! “You really treat your pets nice.”

“I don’t think of them as pets. More like friends than anything.” Snout took a seat on a large green sofa, Fluttershy took a seat next to him. “Um, is it alright if I ask you a few questions?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

“Alright, so what’s it like being a wolf?”

Snout almost laughed at the question. “What’s it like being a pony?”

“Well… uh…” Fluttershy was at a loss for words. No answer came to her.

“Exactly. You can’t explain what being what you are is like. It’s something that has to be experienced.”

“Wow, that was pretty wise.”

“I have my moments. Anything else?”

“Where are you from.”

“We just call the world, The World back home.”

“No, I mean where were you born?”

Snout’s expression turned sad. “I don’t remember. As far back as I can remember I’ve always traveled. I don’t remember my parents or my place of birth.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, I’ve made so many friends, and every now and then I run into my sister.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah, Aura. We’re exact opposites. And she’s always causing me trouble. She doesn’t mean harm but she does like to cause mischief.”

“Sounds like Discord. He’s the spirit of chaos and used to cause all sorts of trouble, but he never actually hurt anypony.”

“God forbid he and Aura ever meet.”

“God?”

“Uhh, that’s a totally different subject I’d rather not talk about.” Fluttershy nodded. “Anything else?”

“Do you eat… meat?” Fluttershy asked, slightly frightened when she spoke.

“Mostly fish, since everyone on my world is a talking animal it’s kinda hard to be a meat eater like me, but I can and do mostly eat vegetation. I just never liked the idea of hunting and killing.”

Fluttershy let go of a breath she had been holding for a while. “Why do you wear that bandana?”

Snout placed a paw on it. He wasn’t sure of that either, but thinking about it made him sad. “I’m not sure, I’ve always had it, ever since I was a pup. I don’t know why but I never keep it off for long.”

“Maybe it’s your mom or dad’s?”

“Maybe. I’ve asked Aura about it but she just get’s the same look I’m giving. The only difference is that her eyes tell a different story. She knows why I have it, maybe even if it was one of our parent’s, but she won’t talk about it.”

“It must have scared her in some way.”

“Maybe… can I ask you a question?” She nodded. “How big is Equestria exactly?”

“The kingdom or the planet?”

“Both I guess?”

“Equestria the kingdom expands over most of the continent. The only exception being the Griffon Kingdom up in the mountains up north. Further north is The Crystal Empire, passed that is the Yak kingdom. Across the ocean are a few other continents, the biggest being the Zebra Lands, and the Dragon Empire, the rest are mixed villages either shared or owned by the larger governments.”

“Impressive. My world is much less… well it’s big but we aren’t divided into countries, it’s all just villages and a few large cities.”

“That sounds peaceful.”

“It is.”

“Are you staying with anypony?”

“Twilight assigned Bio, Chaos, and Emerald as my “guardians” but Chaos got them all in trouble.”

“Again? I swear that stallion has some mental disorder.”

“He’s not that bad, he probably just needs an outlet for his anger.”

“Maybe, speaking of which you should go see if Twilight’s done lecturing them.”

“You think she’s done already?”

“No, but I think they’d appreciate it if you met them when they got out.”

“I’ll do that, It was nice talking Fluttershy. Let’s do this again sometime.”

“That would be lovely.”