There is a hole in the ground.

The hole in itself isn't particularly of interest. Large, to be sure -- big enough to fit a wagon through. Its location wasn't much to be bothered with, either. There are quite a few holes in the arid desert surrounding Aappleoosa, so as far as things go, this certain hole was certainly nothing special.

However, what lies within the hole could easily be considered of great importance -- at least to those who deem it so -- thus, two rather bored diamond dogs found themselves sweltering out in the hot sun, standing watch over this very somewhat special hole in the ground. Neither of them were exemplary diamond dogs as far as they go; good noses, strong arms, kleptomaniacal itchings, not particularly bright, but fate had deemed that these two pick the short straws from the lot. Which meant a great deal of standing around, watching tumbleweeds pass by and trying not to trip over their own tongues in the oppressive heat (the armor probably didn't help much). It was late evening, and even though the sun was yet setting in the sky, the dunes would hold the sun's warmth for a while yet.

The two had resigned themselves to this unfortunate fate, and as such, were particularly confused when something happened that interrupted their regularly scheduled broadcast of monotony.

That something being a distant shape materializing out of the shimmering desert like some kind of wraith.

The guard on the left chewed idly at a large ruby stick. He squinted his beady eyes. The shape was coming closer. It looked like a diamond dog, clad in green and carrying a staff. But he couldn't be sure. Mirages could be tricky like that. "Hey," he grunted to the one on the right. "Whuzzat?"

"Eh?" The right guard had been playing with a grasshopper, which he promptly forgot about. He squinted into the desert. "Where?"

"On the left," said the left guard.

The right guard turned right. "I don't see nothin'."

The left guard reached over and bapped the right guard over the helm. "Left!""

"Which way is that, again?" The right guard held up his paws in confusion.

"It's... uh..." the left guard scratched his head, then pointed. "That way!"

"Oh!" the right guard turned and peered at where he was pointing. "Still don't see anythin'."

The left guard was about to give him another thump, when he realized his companion was right. The mysterious image had vanished from sight. "Huh! Could have sworn I see something." He then felt someone lean up on his shoulder.

"Really? What was it?"

The left guard didn't seem to notice that the voice came from inside his head, or that suddenly there were three diamond dogs standing outside the hole. He pointed again. "Looked like one of us. Tall, though. And green."

"Like this?" the new diamond dog patted himself with a free paw, the other of which was casually thrown across the left guard's shoulders. He was wearing a loose green garment that was open down the middle, sleeveless, with a hood thrown up that that let two tufted ears stand high through two tailored holes. A thick leather belt with a myriad of pouches was attached around his waist, and a long staff was clutched in his armpit.

"Hey, yeah!" the left guard nodded eagerly. "Look here!" he called to the right guard. "This is what I was talkin' about."

"Oh, I see it now!" the right guard. "So left means right next to us!"

"Left means right?" asked the stranger.

"No, left means that way," the left guard insisted on his chosen direction.

"That way is east," said the stranger.

"So then what's left?"

"Well, it's your left, too."

The left guard opened his mouth to say something, then paused. "How can be two things?" He sat down in the sand, rubbing his nose. "I has headache, now."

"That what happens when you think a thought," said the right guard. "Right?"

"Don't you mean east?"

"I..." the right guard began, then thought better of it. "Huh. I dunno."

The stranger sat down in the sand next to the left guard, patting him on the head. "So what are two bright boys like you doing out here on your lonesome?"

"We standing watch over hole into our den," muttered the left guard, now massaging his temples. "Not supposed to let anyone in who isn't a Dust Devil in. Alpha's orders."

"That's probably a good thing. Don't want to let in any unsavory types, right?" The stranger patted him on the back again and stood up to his full height, which was actually a good head taller than the guards. He took a step towards the entrance to the hole, when a large paw shot out to block his way.

The right guard held his arm out, squinting. "Do I know you?"

"Maybe? I'm Echo. I'm not from around here. Nice to meet you!" A smile. Another pat on the head.

The right guard grinned. "Oh, okay, Echo-I'm-Not-From-Around-Here-Nice-To-Meet-You. I know you now. Wait..." he suddenly realized. "I didn't know you." His muzzle scrunched up in effort. "I think we not supposed to let you in."

The stranger clasped him on both shoulders. "Probably not. But you guys said only Dust Devils are allowed in?"

"East," said the right guard, nodding dumbly.

"Well, that works out -- I'm here to join the Dust Devils!" Echo pointed to himself with a thumb. "But I don't know where to find your leader to ask, though."

The right guard frowned for a moment. The stranger seemed nice. He was tall and strong-looking and carried himself like the Alpha or the Beta. He must be really smart! And he hadn't yelled at them once! Even though the right guard was sure he'd be in trouble for playing with that grasshopper when he stood on watch. He immediately decided he wouldn't mind this stranger being in the Dust Devils.

"I can take you to her!" the right guard yipped excitedly. Oh, this could be fun having a new packmate! "Come on!" With that, he spun about and dived headfirst into the hole in the ground.

Echo was left standing there, facing the dark hole. He spun about on one foot, now facing the left guard. He waved. "G'bye," the left guard waved back. Echo stuck out his middle fingers, then proceeded to fall over backwards, vanishing into the hole.

The left guard poked out his own middle fingers, repeating the curious gesture.

"Huh..."

A few miles away, Daring Do watched as the tongues of golden fire danced around the small campfire. On the other side of the blaze, Lady Pyrite had settled into a tight, gem-studded coil. She could see the flickering glow of flames in the dragoness' blind eyes.

The camp was set up on the edge of a small ravine, at the very border of grasslands that shadowed the desert. Beyond, the land was nothing but dunes and the occasional mesa until the horizon swooped down to eat it. Echo had left not an hour before, padding emotionlessly into the distance until he vanished into the shimmer of heat.

Daring poked at a pebble buried into the dry, dry ground.

The campfire crackled.

Pyrite shuffled in place, scales rasping softly against each other.

Crickets chirped.

Abruptly, Daring stood up. "I'm going for a ride," she declared, not particularly caring if Pyrite responded, and an instant later, her wings snapped down and propelled her high into the night sky.

Out in the desert, the sand and rock baked all day long, absorbing the furnace from above. At night, they gave the warmth back to air. Flying in the desert after the sun went down was as effortless as breathing. Thermals rose in mighty, invisible columns from the desert floor, sometimes stretching miles into the air. She found one easily, feathers tingling with the temperature difference. Daring did not even have to flap once she entered the thermal and was slowly borne aloft on the river of wind.

High, higher, higher still, until the far edge of her sight dipped down into curvature of the globe. She hung above it all like a dusky golden star, and if it weren't for the fact that she could feel the air rush between her feathers, she'd have sworn she were floating. The effect was slightly disorienting. It wasn't often a pegasus got vertigo, but Daring had never flown quite so far up before.

Up here, there was nothing but moonlight and her own heartbeat.

She could think.

"I think I can see my house from here!"

Daring rolled her eyes. Of course. She hadn't taken off her saddlebag. The snowy white head of an alicorn poked out of this, looking down as his colorful mane blew in the wind. "Entropy, don't you have anything better to do than bother me?"

It was kind of weird talking to just somepony's head, but just about anything could fit inside those saddlebags.... and apparently, the saddlebag's twin shared the same space, so that meant Ginger Snap had kicked him in there for annoying her, wherever she was at the time.

Entropy grinned. "Yes! But I want to bother you. That's what friends do! And besides, you've got a pretty long face going on there."

"Going to pretend you didn't make that joke," Daring grunted. "And I'm perfectly fine."

The alicorn's head tut-tutted. "I can sense your thoughts all a-jumble, my dear. Hiding confusion from me is like trying to convince a nocturni to stare at the sun. You need sunglasses to do it right."

Daring banked gently to the left, coasting into a slow, spiraling ascent that let the world below her rotate as if on a platter.

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"I think you do, DD. You've been wound up tighter than one of the spring-loaded booby-traps Auntie Luna puts in her personal lavatory ever since Aappleoosa."

"I just..." Daring frowned. "It's about Echo. This is the first time we've, y'know, had a break in things, and it's really strange. I can still kind of feel him right now, a little tickle in the back of my head, and what I'm getting is sending me a lot of mixed signals."

"Relationship problems," Entropy coughed. "Okay. You talk to the bastard about this?"

Daring grunted. "You asked for it."

"That I did..."

Daring sighed before beginning. "It's like this; he and I had a bit of a falling out recently. Trust issues. He... he didn't exactly lie to me, but he didn't come to me with the truth about something, something really important. I guess I always knew he had secrets, but I never thought he'd keep them from me."

"Everypony is entitled to keep a secret," Entropy murmured, suddenly very somber.

"I know. That's what's bugging me, that this bothered me so much! I mean, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal..." Daring gave a frustrated groan. "And we're both trying to come together and work through this, but I know he's hiding something else in there. Something even worse than before."

"What, that Echo is Outlander?"

He said it so casusally, Daring actually jerked around in mid air. "You knew!?"

Entropy's head stretched out of her saddlebag, followed by a long white neck, a tye-dyed cloak, and large white wings. The alicorn fell out of her bag, before spreading out and settling into flight next to her. He nodded somberly. "It takes one to know one. I am half-blooded myself, considering who my sire is."

"Right. Discord..." Daring paused. "How did that, like, work between him and--"

"The insemination was artificially done and as terms of a peace treaty," Entropy coldly stated. "Equestria lost when they tried to get rid of him the first time. He thought it'd be funny to have the leader of the uprising bear his child. He didn't think they'd ever start seeing the other differently."

"Oh."

"Yes. Oh."

Daring awkwardly shuffled her shoulders.

"And I also know the other thing Echo is hiding," Entropy continued, the bite in his voice now gone. He gave her a questioning gaze. "Would you like to know as well?"

"Yes," Daring answered. "Wait! N-no. I mean..." She stammered. "I don't know! I want him to tell me on his own, but I still, really, really want to know. If... if it's something bad, I want to help him."

"Well, let me give you a hint at least. You know he is not of this particular slice of the universe..."

"Yeah," Daring nodded slowly.

"So you know the who and the what. Do you know why and how?"

She frowned. "...No. Is that what's got him so tied up inside?"

"Oh, without a doubt."

Daring bit her lips. This was a train of thought she had never really explored before. Just how had Echo come to Equestria, exactly? She knew his real home to be far, far away, with precious little magic to spare. And the why.... to explore? A vacation? A quest? Or...

"...Or, perhaps, more sinister purposes," Entropy purred.

Daring shivered. "Is it that bad?"

"Could be." Entropy shrugged. "He has a gift that he can't return. Maybe re-gift it. I can, how they say, help him out of a jam, in terms of this little problem, you know," he continued. "I promise you, it isn't something he'll open up about any time soon, but I might be able to expedite the process..."

"You can?" Daring adjusted her flight into the oncoming breeze, now simply hanging in the air. Entropy swirled around her, somehow snakelike and wiry even with the body of an alicorn.

"I can, silly bird. If you want to call in a favor..."

"If it's for the best, then please," Daring murmured. "I just want him to be happy here, with me."

"And that's what I'm looking for. If I'm doing this for love, you know, I can't possibly fail. Even if it isn't mine. Because love conquers all." He twitched, then squinted up at the starry sky. "Boom. Title drop. Happy now?" Chuckling filled the sudden swirl of wind that smelled like fireworks and arcane magic, and Daring realized the alicorn had vanished into the night. Silently, she glided alone for a few moments more, wondering what she had just done. Then, with a weary flap, she descended back down to the distant speck of light on the ground that marked their campfire.

Echo was starting to think that the universe, and whatever sadistic entity ruled it, had an overt fondness of caves and underground labryinths. They seemed to be a recurring feature of his travels; that is, him going down into these dark, warm holes on quite a regular basis.

...

... He suddenly realized that a great deal of his subterranean adventures were also thinly veiled sex jokes.

Fuck.

A prickle of discomfort twinged through his thoughts.

Ah, there she was, the tingly feeling in the back of his mind that he'd come to miss and dread so much over the past week.

Daring had managed to re-establish their mental connection, at least enough for the barest of emotions to seep through. He could sense her, a ping of trepidation... and... hope? Mentally, he shrugged it aside, deciding not to investigate and keeping his wall up. Things were still awkward between the two. They'd taken a step in the right direction to fix the rift that had grown... but Echo still needed to stitch the final patch himself.

If only he knew how...

He sighed. Daring and Pyrite were waiting somewhere outside, ready to spring in at a moment's notice if the plan went wrong. This was a critical point in his grand scheme, and if things went belly-up here, the dream of the Cinderwings, of a diamond dog race united under a single, peaceful banner, might as well bite the dust.

They didn't know that, however.

Diplomacy usually worked... so this couldn't be too hard, right?

Now exactly wasn't the time to be playing things by ear, but hell, most of his plans ended up screwing him over anyway. When all of this blew over, he banked on retiring to his favorite beanbag in the Shagwagon with a cold stein of cider and telling the universe to properly fuck off and stop dragging him into all these deluded escapades of half-baked faggotry.

"Pst. Fluffy."

A tickling came from his nose, much like a bee had flown up a nostril and had started buzzing around as pleased as could be. He sneezed out of reflex, and a pint-sized alicorn shot out of a nostril and splattered onto the cave wall. Wincing, he scraped it off the rock and gingerly wiped it off on his robe. Entropy?

The tiny little version of the Prince gave him a cheery wave where he perched upon a paw. "What's up, stretch!"

Now, Echo had seen a lot of strange things in his time on Equestria. Sneezing out a member of the Royal Family ranked about a Three on his List, topped only by the time he'd seen Ginger Snap in a bubble bath, and what happened in Rio De Maneiro. But the less people knew about that last one, the better.

"Whoa... tiny little pony!" The right guard snuffled at the miniature once-prince. "Who this? Why he with you? Why he here? How you get so small pony?"

"Well, I took a trip on the magic schoolbus for my biology class..."

Echo shuffled between the two, hiding Entropy behind his back, who protested in a squeaky voice. He clapped the guard on the shoulder, smiling broadly. That was my pet breezie. He kind of comes and goes, but he won't be a problem.

"Breezie!? Really? Those assholes are like the worst kind of people! They took the innocence of my petunias!"

The guard squinted hard, then shrugged, before turning and continuing down the path.

Echo let out a sigh of relief. I've been up to the usual, friend. Pissing off Ginger, foiling her plans, partying with the Apple family, had a falling out with Daring... now I'm about to take over a diamond dog pack. Still haven't paced that last one together yet. Haven't seen much of you lately, he commented, watching the path ahead swerve around some boulders. How are things?

Entropy grinned. "Your hot feathered mama sent me to give you a leg up. Figured it was about time I start playing the game, y'know? Been sitting behind the pawns for far too long. I've got something big in the works!"

That was nice of her. How big is big? Like, world-shaking-this-changes-everything-kind-of-big, or...

"Drill-that-will-pierce-the-heavens-kind-of-big."

Echo paused. Holy shit. The guard escorting him went a few further steps before stopping with a raised eyebrow. Echo waved him off and trotted back into the pace.

So, care to divulge this plan of yours? Maybe we can put our heads together. Help each other out.

"That's actually why I'm here right now," said Entropy, his voice suddenly losing the mirth it usually held. "Echo, we're friends, right?"

I think you were like the second nice person I met in Equestria, so you're pretty up there, guy.

Entropy nodded, smiling, and swallowed. "So, friends do each other favors, right?"

Echo ducked under a low hanging beam of wood wedged between the walls. That we do. He hustled after the guard, hearing the sound of activity coming from further up the tunnel.

"I was wondering, do you know what happened to all that chaos magic I pumped you full of back when we met?"

Still have it, I'm pretty sure. He patted himself down, as if he could actually feel the currents of power running under his skin. Sometimes it felt like he could, especially when he used Starsight. Actually... now that I think about it, Discord gave me tons of magic, too. And... technically Ginger Snap, via lightning bolt.

"Really?" Entropy fluttered his eyelashes. "D'ya think I could maybe have that back for a while?"

... Sure, once I'm all done here. Echo chewed on his lip. He couldn't really see the harm in giving up the vast amount of energy he'd soaked up over the months. It wasn't like he could even use it, really, and Entropy-slash-Disarray was one of his closest friends. The telepathy spell was the extent of his magic use, and Starsight just tapped into the ambient fields around him... What are you going to do with it?

Entropy grinned. "Become a protagonist!"

...

Right. Well, that made about as much sense as he'd guessed. It's as good as yours. Just let me finish before you suck me dry.

"Was that a dirty joke?" Entropy giggled. "In return, I'll help you... help yourself... and expedite this little revolution you're going to ignite in a few moments. The Cinderwings will become the largest pack in Equestria in ten seconds flat, and you won't even have to lift a paw yourself!"

That sounds fair. Oh, looks like things are about to get interesting. He gently slid Entropy into his pocket, patting the little lump the alicorn made in his robes. Any further conversation was lost to his ears, as the tunnel finally opened up, and he and the guard emerged onto a high stone ledge observing a mighty pit. Diamond dogs of every shape and size shuffled to and fro through small tunnels carved through the rock, or between crude rubble huts. Crystals and gems studded the walls, though the huge pile at the very center of the room gave Echo the feeling he'd arrived at the right place.

One of the diamond dogs noticed their arrival, waving a paw at the guard and Echo... and then realizing there was a stranger in their midst. It whispered to a neighbor, and suddenly word was spreading like wildfire. The bustle and hustle slowed down as the pair jumped from the sheer rock face and slid on their paws to the bottom of the pit. Echo stood to his full height, drawing his robes about him and ensuring the hood was thrown up for maximum effect. He noticed that he was easily half-a-head taller than most of the dogs now staring at him.

One of these broke through the murmuring crowd, a mangy-looking male with torn ears and a huge lower jaw. "Hey! Hey you!" He pointed a stubby paw at the guard to Echo's side. "What you think you doing! Who you bring here!?"

The right guard had a dopey smile upon his face. "This Echo. He nice. He say he want to join Dust Devils, so I bring him here."

"No!" The newcomer shrieked. "Why you so dumb! Nobody new comes in! That's what Alpha say, right?"

"East," said the right guard, who suddenly frowned, as if rethinking his life choices.

Echo sighed, then nudged him. Is this your Beta? At the pensive nod (poor sod was so lost in thought wouldn't even find him in Narnia) Echo stepped forward, paws outstretched. It was probably a good idea to make sure he made clear no harm was intended to any dog in this pack.

...But before he could approach the rival Beta, something pale and colorful zipped back up his nose.

Echo halted.

He twitched.

His eyes pulsed every color of the rainbow, then settled on pink.

His muscles shivered under his skin, locking up stiff as a board.

He tried to relax, to loosen himself up, but found that nothing was responding. His fingers, his toes, his ears all remained perfectly still.

He couldn't even blink.

I can't move... what's going on? Entropy, is this you!?

An agonizing wrench of pressure inside his head. Something physical wrestled his will aside, straddling the cockpit of his brain and taking hold of the controls. There were no other alien thoughts, just the sense of something piloting him like some kind of furry Gundam suit.

And then movement returned, but it wasn't his own.

"GOOD EVENING SAN DIEGO! HOW YA FEELIN' TONIGHT!?"

Oh, God. That was his voice. His old voice. And it was coming from his throat! His body moved of its own accord, settling into a long-swaggering step, staff now held out like a sword. An incredibly faux accent broke through. "My name is Jackie Legs, and I'd like to say--"

A blur of motion. He was leering over the Beta.

"--'allo."

The Beta stumbled backwards a few steps, before recovering. "What is meaning of this!?" he snarled. "I am White Fang of the Dust Devils, and I do not like being messed with!"

"Shut your unoriginal mouth, name-stealing dickcheese!" Echo's mouth twisted up into a demented smile. "I said a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie to the hip hip hoppa ya don't stop the rockin' the bang-bang boogie said up jumps the boogie to the rythym of the boogie the beat."

"...What!?"

Echo could only watch, horrified, as his staff flashed out, ramming into White Fang's chest. The breath left the rival Beta's body in a loud whuff and the crack of ribs as he doubled over. Echo's body twisted violently, and the staff followed, the opposite end snarling around and uppercutting on a solid slab of wheezing diamond dog jaw with enough force for White Fang to take a good, long look at the ceiling. Before he could recover, Echo's body had already spun around to the side, his staff kicking the Beta's legs out from under him and and then brutally slamming him head-first into the ground.

White Fang had about three seconds to take this all in, before time caught up with him as a huge, rusty brown rear paw settled on his throat. The two outside claws extended out, sinking into the rock, and the third hovered a fraction of an inch from his heaving neck. Now in genuine confusion, he said, "...What?"

"Say 'what' again!"

"Wh-"

The pressing leg raised itself up, before dropping again like the hammer of Thor. White Fang was curb-stomped so hard his head actually dug a crater into the solid stone.

The crowd collectively let out a wince of sympathy.

Jesus Christ, the hell is going on!?

A cry of outrage came from somewhere behind the mass of onlookers. They scattered like leaves as a sand-colored storm tore through, coming to a halt by White Fang's crumpled body. It was a female diamond dog, golden yellow and brown, but spotted here and there across her short coat. A bandanna hung across her throat and a heavily-pocketed vest bristled with the hilts of throwing knives.

I know who that is... Echo realized in growing panic.

This was the Dust Devil's Alpha, the equivalent of Ginger Snap. This was Shazza, and he had read about her from wanted posters and criminal biographies across Equestria for months now. All the true packs had to have a truly hard-boiled Alpha to survive the long, treacherous climb to the top of diamond dog hierarchy. Shazza was known for her fondness of talk, though, so Echo had originally planned on winning leadership in some kind of verbal debate...

That probably wasn't going to happen now that Entropy was at the helm.

She whirled and focused on the only thing in the room not openly cowering at her. "You have defeated my Beta in open combat. You are an outsider to my pack, but you have now earned the right to be put back in your proper position."

"Kinky," Echo's body leered. "You the bitch in charge here?"

Shazza paused, eyes wide, then crouched, all hackles raised. "Yes."

"I'm gonna deck ya in the schnozz!" Beyond all rational thought, Echo found himself behind the driving end of a serious haymaker.

Shazza ducked right under it, and seized his over-extended arm. Before she could do anything, he closed futher, wrapping a free paw around her and squeezing her tight against him. "Is this the part where we make out?"

She screeched and sank her teeth into his shoulder.

"Ouch! Bad kitty! Don't make me get the squirt bottle!"

She twisted like a snake, and headbutted him in the nose. Echo winced internally, he felt his nose break as if through a muted veil. It still hurt, though.

But Entropy was made of sterner stuff, apparently, because he just grinned through a trickle of blood and headbutted her right back, so hard she flew back several feet, clutching her skull and whimpering in pain.

"Do you know what you are?" he cried over the sound of catcalling diamond dogs. "You're not even important! You're a stepping stone on the path of progress, and the only reason you have any significance whatsoever is to prelude the start of a montage of similar acts! I call that filler content if anything."

"S-stop... stop talking!" Shazza hissed, ripping a fistful of knives free and hurling them at him.

"YOU! ARE! A! TOOOOOY!" Every syllable was punctuated as the staff blurred like a propeller blade, slapping every knife out of the air with utter precision. They clattered to the floor around him. "You aren't even worth dignifying with a backstory, you don't even rate as an antagonist! You are a deity's plaything!"

He hurled the staff like a javelin, and it struck her between the eyes like a thunderbolt.

Shazza crumpled to the ground as the staff fell to ground beside her.

There was absolute silence.

Entropy breathed heavily. "And I... am tired. Of being a plaything."

Echo had done it. He'd defeated the Alpha. The Dust Devils were his. He was an Alpha... technically. Even if the methods used to rise to power were rather unsettling. "Oi!" A bandaged paw swept around at the diamond dogs. "You lot. Go outside. There's a golden dragon nearby. Tell her Echo sent you, and that you need to go to Ginger, ay-es-ay-pee."

The silence continued.

"WELL!?!?"

There was a stampede as the hundreds of Dust Devils scrambled into action, apparently just now coming to terms with the fact that their leadership had been taken down within five minutes by a complete stranger. They poured up and out of the vast pit and into the tunnels, making for the surface.

Alright... Entropy, get out so we can hold up your part of the bargain, now.

"Yeah. How about no." The body that formerly did the bidding of Echo finally acknowledged him. "See, this ain't gonna be pretty, and I'm gonna need some other magic to rip yours right out of you."

Other...? Entropy, what are you doing?

"I told you, Echo. I'm becoming significant. And I'm doing it for you."

The bandaged paws suddenly flashed with pink fire, and Entropy brought them together.

There was a flash of light and noise, and Echo suddenly found himself in a place he knew. He was still underground, but the huge crystalline tree before him was unmistakable. Neither was the dark blue alicorn lying unconscious on the floor before him. The three other ponies lying there with her were unknown to him, though.

The Tree of Harmony. They were under Everfree Castle... hundreds of miles away. With an unconscious Princess Luna and three others. Echo took a moment to take this all in.

Of all the contrived, shark-jumping bullshit...

A serpentine shape slithered out from around the tree. Tall and thin, with a lobster claw and polar bear paw, draconic face grinning joyfully in the arcane gloom. "Figured it out, yet?" asked Disarray.

No?

"Good," said Echo's body, "then this will be a surprise."

Step by step, they approached the fabled Tree of Harmony. It trembled and thrummed as they came closer. Upon the trunk, the marks of the Sun, Moon, and Magic were etched and pulsing. They seemed frightened. Of what, Echo was not entirely sure. He could only watch and be afraid of what he guessed came next.

Entropy reached out to touch it. The bandaged paw hovered an inch over the surface.

"For what it's worth, you've always been my best friend, Fluffy. Thank you."

With that, the paw came down, everything turned hot and white and unbearably loud.

There was no warning. If there had been, she still wouldn't have been ready. Daring abruptly keeled over, almost landing in the fire pit. Her entire body felt like it was ripping itself apart. Her limbs spasmed uncontrollably, kicking up dust and sand and pebbles as she soundless shrieked into the night air. "Gghkk-k-k-ct!"

Through a haze of flashing colors, she could see Pyrite looming over her. "Daring? Daring Do? What is going on?"

"Hccchhkk-eeellp meeee~!" Daring screamed through clenched teeth.

It was indescribably the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. Was this equivalent to birth? She hoped not.

Over the hot needles and seizures, she could feel draconian claws hovering over her body. "There is some kind of magic pulling at you. Something is blocking it... like some kind of anchor. I can manipulate the field matrix with my own magic and--"

"DON'T CARE JUST D-DO IT MAKE IT STOP!" she managed to cry out.

"It might tear your essence."

"Might!?"

"Proceed anyway?"

Daring hesitated only a spilt second before nodding. Anything to make the pain stop...

Pyrite's empty eyes began to glow pale white. A powerful hum split the air. Her claws sparkled, and the many gems that were embedded into her golden hide flashed with color.

There was a flash of lightning that arced across her vision, and then---

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagghhh!"

She flew forward, bedsheets fluttering away like fleeing spirits. She clutched at herself, half sobbing, half shivering from the sudden, incredible cold and sweat drenching her body.

She didn't recognize this place. It was dark, a window with blinds over on the wall.

Something moved in bed next to her. She glanced down and...

...and...

...a scruffy brown palomino stallion was staring back at her through grey eyes with a matching expression of bewilderment. Cream-colored fur ran from the underside of his neck all the way across his belly.

"Daring?" he finally said. "Is that you?"

Echo. That voice. She reached out for him. "Course it's me..."

She froze.

That was not her hoof. Tanned skin, delicate fingers, and lean muscle traced themselves back towards her body. Her fur was gone. She could see where once her snout blocked her view. Two strange, soft protrusions hung from her chest. With the bedsheets thrown away, she could see her legs, smooth skinned and awkwardly bent. She could still feel her heat hammering deep within, though.

She was... she was like him... from the dream...

"Are we asleep? What happened?" she murmured.

"I don't think so. I have a feeling..." said the pony-Echo. "I... this is my room. From before."

"From..."

"Before I came to Equestria. I lived here. This is my bed, this is my apartment... this is..." he trailed off. Unsteadily, he rolled over, tumbling off the edge of the bed and raising himself up on four shaggy hooves. Daring watched with wide eyes as he shuffled step by step to the window and nosed the blinds apart.

He gasped.

"Daring. I don't think we're in Equestria any more..."

Achievement Unlocked! - "I CAN CLIFFHANGER AND SO CAN YOU"
Unique Condition Unlocked - Echo and Daring
All Levels Redacted - ...

- All Perks Redacted - ...
Region Discovered: Earth

Author's Notes:

This chapter dedicated to BlackRoseRaven.