Light breathed its way into the room. Twilight’s eyes instantly shot out from the pleasant time with her friends only to notice that they were all around her room in various positions of rest. She stifled the laughter in the back of her throat before slowly getting to her hooves. Nopony was laying in her path and she made her way to the restroom. When she entered the room she looked deeply into the mirror.

‘I look horrible now. Maybe I should have slept longer. Still its time to go handle all these problems. I won’t let Spike be alone for longer than he has to. Discord might be there but he’s just as vulnerable.’ She left the mirror only to notice that a few of the girls were shuffling around trying to wake themselves up.

“Jeez that was a rough night. A cloud bed would be so much better than this. Twi you need to get some extra mattresses or something cause my wings are killing me.” Dash raced into the bathroom without waiting for an answer then slammed the door shut behind her.

“Oh rats. I was hoping to wash off my coat and mane. Imaginary messes are just as stubborn to treat as real ones. My poor coiffure is lacking in sheen and I really could use a facial.” Rarity was the next one to stir. She trotted to another of the rooms to use that room’s bathroom.

Following the whine Pinkie Pie and Applejack woke up next. AJ still looked tired but with a crack of her back she felt perked back up. Pinkie went overboard cracking every single joint in her body before giggling her way downstairs. Fluttershy mumbled in her sleep before opening her eyes and walking off to one of the extra bathrooms.

“Starlight it’s time to get going.” Twilight lightly tapped her on the shoulder raising her from her sleep. She muttered something about needing a few more minutes only for Twilight to magically lift the blanket off her. “C’mon remember friends in danger and all that.”

Starlight shot straight up and ran off to get ready. Exhaustion seemed to be the last thing on her mind. Twilight just stood flabbergasted by the speed she went at. With a small smirk she headed downstairs only to see Cadance and Luna fast asleep since the last night. Celestia looked exhausted but had already raised the sun to where it needed to be. A tired wave came from the solar princess who tapped the other two to wake up.

“No honey it’s too late. We already have Flurry Heart… “ Cadance awoke with a shock and quickly covered her mouth. When she saw Twilight she buried her face in her hooves in a desperate attempt to make herself as small as possible.

“Bow down to your Princess of the Night… “ Luna, on the other hoof, was clearly unabashed at her own dreams and smiled towards Twilight happily. “Morning Twilight Sparkle are you ready for the task before you today. We have been waiting for you all to wake up.”

Applejack and Pinkie Pie had gotten to the kitchen preparing a large breakfast for all the ponies in the castle and with a loud rush everypony made their way to the table. Apple fritters and hay bacon strips filled the table alongside a large assortment of fruits. Off in the center were the sweets Pinkie had made ready as a pick me up. Needless to say though the table was silent throughout the meal. Each mare ruminated on what they would see when they were taken to the new world and eagerly awaited what news would come through. With a bit of hesitation the food was finished off and everypony made their way back to the map room. Each step was met with resistance in such a way that Pinkie was keeping quiet and refrained from bouncing. It was impossible but then again they had watched the lord of chaos be thrown around like a rag doll so the impossible seemed to be happening more often.

Each mare looked around the room. Still the same cracks and tears that fully enveloped the room. Fluttershy stayed near the craters that were created by Discord’s body. A feeling of dread filled the mares when they remembered how easily that those monsters had struck him down. With heavy hearts they turned away from the sight and followed Luna back down to the tree hidden beneath the castle. Celestia was the final one to leave the room and found herself staring down at the map.

‘Harmony did this but it’s suppose to be a figure for good. Maybe I never truly understood what it meant and took it for granted. A princess must hope the best for her world and harmony means the best yet here it shows nothing but disdain and greed. There must be more to it than just the ramblings of Anubis. Isn’t there?’ Celestia peered around at the devastation and with slight trepidation flew down the hole into the depths as well.

When they reached the bottom floor Anubis was covered in a powerful magic aura bathed in green light that filled the room shadows and all. He didn’t move nor did he acknowledge the arrival of everyone involved. Time seemed to slow down while the girls began looking for which mirror they had to enter. There were no marks on the mirrors or on the frames. The paths were also bare leaving Twilight to groan about organization and Rainbow to whine about directions.

One flash of magic blasted out of Anubis creating a shockwave which knocked down all the ponies in the room. When it reached the boundaries of the room the magic coalesced into seven mirrors on the west side of the tree. The cutie marks on each of the girls flanks started to glow leading them to their respective mirror. The magic settled leaving Anubis covered in magical dust and multiple cracks from forcing his magic to dangerous levels.

“Are you alright Anubis?” Celestia stepped forward looking down at the sphere. His shell was cracked even worse than when he had fought the Chaos and Harmony sphere. He also wasn’t repairing his shell. The magic was trying to re-enter Anubis to close off the cracks only to be forced out through another crack.

A dull silence loomed over everypony. Each girl took their place in front of their respective mirror and stood at the ready. Motes of magic appeared around each one saturating them with the spells in question. Twilight looked the most intrigued and squee’d at the thought of new spells that were well beyond what they were capable of leaving the others chuckling at the sight.

“Can you tell me the spell composition? What was casted on us? How does it work in terms of what Star Swirl the Bearded learned?” There were more questions that came out but Anubis ignored them all the same.

Twilight grumbled at the lack of information but stifled it when the mirror exploded with power. Even though she had been used to the other mirror portal this particular one actually showed off how much energy was being used to activate it. In the distance Pinkie released a set of ‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’which was followed by the sound of crunching popcorn for some reason. Fluttershy looked ready to bolt with the muttering of ‘do it for Discord and Spike’ keeping her in place. A small argument between RD and AJ immediately broke out saying they would finish their world first and come back to help the others before things get serious. Rarity and Starlight were the most passive. Each one looked sadly at the door.

“So we have to do this alone then?” Starlight finally voiced out. The scratchiness in her voice kept it to the level of an audible whisper. No one reacted to the question because no one heard it. At least no one nearby.

“That seems so cruel. Can’t we talk it out instead of fight about it. It doesn’t make any sense to me.” Fluttershy mumbled out a few tears beginning to form.

The girls took some time to fully process what was said. Fluttershy seemed a bit miffed about the situation but soon fell into a contemplative state as well. Concepts that were foreign to then might suddenly came to the forefront of their thoughts. Each world would be different in their laws and have different physics that go alongside them.

“Do these worlds have magic in them?” Twilight spoke up undeterred by the lack of answers Anubis was giving her. She settled for being ignored once again only to be shocked.

There was a bit more silence. Each girl looked at their respective mirrors. Starlight saw a strange mansion hidden in a forest and the symbol of an umbrella, red and white pattern, floating in the rightmost corner. Rarity saw a small city surrounded by what looked to be mariachi bands and skeletons. Rainbow Dash looked in only to see a planet in the shape of a star with three rings roaming around it. Applejack peered in seeing a strange creature that looked like a jellyfish with pincers attached to its underside. Pinkie giggled the entire time when she looked inside her mirror. A suit was being worked on by this crow looking creature in a yellow space suit. Fluttershy cautiously stared into her mirror seeing metal figure being worked on each in the shape of a biped like a minotaur only without the cloven hooves or horns and snouts. Twilight’s mirror held a ship in the shape of an arrow with a symbol of fox with wings on one of the sides.

“Well we should go in now…” Twilight managed to squeak out yet no one moved. Hesitation was on every mares faces. It was a big step to be certain but one that was necessary. “What about the other bearers we’ll apparently need? Will we be getting them after we return?”

“Don’t remember agreeing to that but for the sake of Equestria that should be fine. Right Lulu, Cadance?” Celestia spoke up first cutting off Luna’s retort at being placed as a messenger pony.

“Fine sister. I have no problems with such an endeavor.” Luna bit her cheek to keep anything negative out of the air.

“Sure Aunt Celestia. Certainly this is more exciting than holding court over in the Crystal Empire and luckily I don’t have to deal with the guards constantly trying to make my life easier. Even that gets old real fast.” A slight chuckle escaped her lips as she stood near Anubis. “We’ll be providing support to this big lug while you’re gone Twilight. Chances are cutting him off from the magical transfer would leave you all stranded over there. That won’t happen on our watch.”

With some reassurance the girls all looked on, hope swelled for them as they got closer to their respective mirror. They all took a deep breath and jumped into their mirror. A brief flash of light signified that they were gone leaving the alicorn princesses and Anubis behind to guard the area.

“Are you sure that they will be safe Anubis? I don’t like leaving things to chance and luck like this. Also what of the mirrors? Are they targets as well?” Celestia broke out as worry painted itself across her face.

A pulse of magic burst from Anubis as it pierced the very walls of the basement and flew out into Ponyville. Celestia stayed near Anubis as did Cadance. Each were ready to deal with the problems that might resound from their plan.

“I shall prepare to retrieve the first three bearers then. Seems like there will be seven. Who will take the second trip?” Luna answered to nopony in particular and confidently strode near the entrance of the basement.

“I'll take the next two I suppose. It shouldn’t be that hard to find them Aunt Luna.” Cadance interjected before Celestia could answer.

“Of course I’ll get the stragglers. No need to wor-” Celestia was cut off when the tree started to shimmer strangely.

Several shapes came crawling out of the tree looking towards Anubis. Every eye glowed either with a metallic blue light or a blood red light. Every single one instantly turned to Anubis. A loud growling came out as they jumped towards the group teeth bared and claws released.

On closer examinations Cadance noticed that all of them bore a slight resemblance to Spike. The long claws and the spines on its back though were far sharper than the real one. They also had angular jaws and an assortment of wings of various shapes yet all of them were tattered and full of holes. Strangely they could still fly albeit for a short time.

The first three were upon Cadance only for a beam of sunlight to pierce through the group. Celestia wasted no time and grabbed some of the shattered crystal from the holes leading upstairs. Another burst of magic caused the crystals to glow with the very power of the sun and slam into each figure Unfortunately the crystals required some timing to swipe at a large row of the creatures. For every successful hit two would get past the crystal barrage.

Cadance took her chance and grabbed the ones that would get too close sealing them within a barrier. Thanks to some coaxing from Shining Armor she had learned more about barriers than even she thought was possible. The best thing she learned was how to make any barrier smaller which she used to great effect. The sickening crunch of bones threw her off but the determination to keep Ponyville safe kept her own feelings down. It was not time to be sentimental. Those things were using Spike as a psychological warfare to get her to make mistakes. She wasn’t going to let it happen.

Luna watched in rapt silence. She wanted to fight now but her own words of going to get the first three new bearers held her back. Instead she stood near Anubis and created a shield for the two of them while Celestia blasted or smashed any of the doppelgangers that got too close to the shield. When she looked at her shield she noticed something strange flowing within the magic that created it. Green lines of magic flowed into the shield strengthening it further.

One creature broke through the lines of carnage being wrought by the two princesses and made a beeline for the shield. With a powerful leap it flew through the air and landed on the shield with its two fists slamming into it. For seconds it looked as though the shield would break as cracks appeared where the fists met it. The energy in the shield gathered at the impact site and created a large tendril of magic which pierced through the creature before grabbing what constituted as the head and crushing it to paste. The shadowy viscera slid down the shield before disappearing into dust.

The marks all appeared on their respective mirrors forcing Luna to release the shield. Cadance took up the slack as more shadow creatures poured out of the tree. Luna zipped away gliding over to each mirror. The first mirror showed an hourglass, the second had a lyre, the third was of seven bubbles, the fourth held three wrapped up candies, the fifth was of a purple treble clef, the sixth was of a backward double quaver note, and the last was a light blue wand in front of a crescent moon.

“Well joyous day I get to look at flanks all day. That won’t be awkward at all will it… “ Luna groused at the lack of other information. She flew back to Cadance and stepped into the shield.

“Did you get what we needed?” Cadance kept the shield steady. Strangely she wasn’t winded even though she had used up a lot of magic to deal with the creatures assaulting them. Another three creatures were lashed up by the shield and turned to paste. Celestia seemed to be in her own world.

“Waste my time with useless tax laws,” Another creature was split in half by a crystal before a beam of light seared right through the face, “I’ll eat as much cake as I want damn it all,” the beam boiled another into steam, “Just because the apples cause you some stomach problems doesn’t mean I have to care about your reputation, “ two crystal smeared another one between them. Celestia looked pleased with all the venting.

“Hm… Me thinks I should get sister a stress ball. If only I could find one strong enough to last more than one stomp.” Luna surmised as she stared at Celestia’s wrath being released on the horde of creatures. ‘I wonder if Spike was the one who did the cake thing.’

Cadance stared as well but it was more out of fear than awe. She had never seen her aunt enjoying such carnage before. She knew the courts could get boring and drag on due to no small part that most other ponies were little better than mindless sheep. Unfortunately the sheep were much smarter and usually knew how not to panic and rampage at the drop of a hat.

Luna turned away and focused her magic summoning several sheets of paper from Twilight’s study. With a bit of practice (three sheets was all) she managed to get the cutie marks set on the paper.

“I shall return with three of them. Are you prepared niece?” Luna stretched her wings out and readied herself.
“Yes.” Cadance focused the shield forward allowing Luna to burst off. Once out of the basement she burst out the front doors of the castle stopping only to close them behind her. With one final look she flew off through Ponyville searching for some of the marks owners.

“Aunt Celestia, Luna had left already. Do you need any help yet or should I just wait till you are satisfied?” Cadance watched the carnage unfold before her. The stress of over a thousand years of ruling Equestria was evident by the mangled bodies strewn across the floor. Even the ones that got through that barrage were still worse for wear only managing to touch the shield before being throttled into paste. Anubis was very thorough when he decided to assist in protecting the world.

“No dear niece. This particular endeavor is… therapeutic. I must make sure to keep this place safe right? And, there is no better cause is there?” The smirk on her face was far too wide to just be for safety but Cadance just smiled and nodded.

Celestia was in her own little world and she needed to get rid of the stress somehow. At least this was against monsters instead of the nobles back in Canterlot. They would probably be freaking out if they ever witnessed this.

Meanwhile, back during the first night…

“Argh… My head is killing me… Where am I?” Spike raised his head peering around. With much more effort than he thought was necessary he raised his claws to his eyes. Everything was in one piece. Slowly his hands glided over his body checking for any missing pieces. He felt as though something horrible had happened but for the life of him he couldn’t remember. “Twilight? Rarity? Mom? Are you there?”

No answer. The room was silent. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he noticed that the room was made entirely out of crystal… just like the castle. ‘Am I still inside the castle?’ Thoughts poured into his mind bring back all the details that had happened that morning. At least he thought it was still morning.

‘First we all met together for a meeting. Then the map died. Then the princess showed up. That was followed by those monsters. Then they… ‘ His thoughts stopped as he flipped out. Spike checked every single scale on his body that he could reach. He remembered the sickening tears and ripping as they pulled on him. The despaired look on Twilight’s face brought back a wave of fresh tears. They torture Twilight with no remorse just by doing that. ‘They enjoyed it…’ He remembered the laughs that for some reason seemed to resonate inside his mind. They were cold and mechanical yet joyous. They were overjoyed at what they were doing.

“Discord? Are you down here? I know they got you too. Are you ok?” Spike looked around for the draconequus searching each of the walls for an exit. He was not in the room which filled Spike with dread. After flailing around in the dark one of the walls gave way and fell open. Inside was a similar room unlike his own. The occupant was luckily someone he was looking for causing him to run inside. Discord was there and fully unconscious.

“Discord, you need to wake up! We’re in trouble here!” Spike, fully in panic mode, slapped Discord’s face a couple times. The first slap had been too soft. The second woke him up. The third pissed him off.

“ENOUGH!” Discord stood up and glared at Spike. “Are you out of your mind!? I’m trying to sleep here… wait where is here? Is this Princess Sunbutt’s idea of a prank. Wait. No, that’s right something happened.”

Discord looked around the room and with a snap of his fingers… nothing happened. He tried a few more times before turning his glare at his fingers. He stretched himself around only to realize that nothing on him changed when he did. He even attempted to pull off his hand only to wince in pain when it didn’t work.

“My magic is gone… again. Did Tirek come back...oh right. Those things appeared.” Discord held back his disgust.

“Discord, what were those things? Why did they do that?” Spike had calmed down slightly. He was still reeling after figuring out that he just slapped a chaos spirit and survived. He peered around the room finding that all the walls were solid crystal. ‘Wait where’s the door I came from.’ Panic set in once again.

“Spirits of course my boy. Dangerous ones in fact. One of them is even my patron of chaos. Is he mad at me heh heh ha.” Discord laughed at some inside joke which went way over Spike’s head, literally. “As for why I could only guess revenge. Don’t know why they wanted you though. That’s completely over my head and I can’t even see why right now.”

Spike contemplated the situation again. He couldn’t remember what they said before they attacked. The monsters just appeared then struck without warning decimating everypony in the room. He was spared alongside Discord for some reason that he couldn’t think of. ‘What could they have possibly wanted with us?’

Discord tired of getting no responses turned his attention to the walls searching them over inch by inch. He stayed rooted on all four limbs speeding through the area. After what seemed like a few minutes he had found nothing. Undeterred he searched the floor as well.

“What are you doing?” Spike was flummoxed by the sight of Discord on all four legs and tried to keep his surprise quiet, to no avail.

“Searching for an exit. More likely than not this is one of it’s games and it won’t play fair. If I know my sadistic boss of chaos like I think I do its going to try something bad with us.” Discord hit a small part near Spike’s left foot noticing the hollow sound. “Ah here we are. Hold on then kid.”

Discord wrapped Spike in his tail and tapped the spot with his hoof. The spot depressed into the ground and a trapdoor opened revealing a large slide downwards. Spike screamed as gravity took hold his life passing before his eyes while Discord hooted and hollered for the ride to go faster. ‘Oh Celestia I’m gonna die with a thrill seeker. I thought Rainbow Dash would be the end of me.’

The slide went further down twisting and turning at random angles even going through a loop-de-loop at one point leaving a laughing draconequus and a panicking dragon. It didn’t help matters when discord allowed Spike to slide on his own power. Due to his small size he actually went faster nearly flying off the edge at some point only to be grabbed by Discord’s tail at the last minute.

“Perhaps I should just hold on to you!” Discord blared out over Spike’s own screams. Spike didn’t hear a word until the slide started to even out. They reached the bottom and without a word Spike kissed the ground as if it were Rarity.

“Oh baby, I’m never leaving you again. Sweet, sweet ground. Let us never part ever again, “ A few more kisses sounded out, “ I saw my whole life with you and without you it was meaningless.”

“Should I give you some time alone or should we continue on. Also payback for the slap is paid in full. No thanks are necessary for the discount, besides what are friends for.” Discord let out a mischievous smirk before returning back to figuring out where they were. Spike for his part looked away sheepishly not sure whether to glare or pout. He settled for pouting even though it was pretty funny smacking around the lord of chaos and getting next to no comeuppance because of it.

The room seemed just as bare as the last. It was also made of crystals and had more elaborate structures in sight. Some looked like furniture while other looked like plants which were all made of the same crystal. The crystals above their heads even glowed in the dark allowing them to see more than one foot in front of them.

The ground began to shift shaking the duo to their knees. Spike began to panic again only for Discord to grab him with his claw and hold him in place. He didn’t need the panicky dragon to cause any more problems. Spike muttered a simple ‘thanks’ when the tremors stopped. With a quick survey they searched around looking for any changes only to get slapped in the face by said change. The slide was gone. Entirely gone with no trace left behind. Spike was left in utter disbelief. ‘Even Discord’s chaos made more sense than this.’ Discord looked more annoyed than anything.

“No style would you say. Even I know you need a little more pizzazz when you work chaos magic. It’s really showing how much of an amateur it is. Now where do we go from here?” Discord peered around finding a door on the far side of the room. “Well not that way that’s for sure.”

“But its the only door around shouldn’t we...oh wait, trap right?” Spike looked up to Discord only to receive a nod. They both took their time searching other walls for any other way to go through. Even the floor turned out to be barren of pathways. With great reluctance they trailed off to the door and revealed a better kept room. Inside was another sphere.

“Oh great…” Spike muttered as the sphere began to float. It magically powered up revealing a small pink eye. When it fully rose in the air it hovered in front of Discord scanning his eyes. With little pause it lowered to Spike and scanned his eyes as well.

Spike was confused. Discord was perturbed. Neither was having a very good day. Freya kept a quiet countenance watching the two and remaining politely out of arm's reach. Spike managed to regain some semblance of sanity and question the sphere first.

“Are you with those other two spheres?” Spike glared at - he supposed her - waiting for his answer.

A small note was levitated over to Spike who read out loud for Discord’s benefit. “Don’t let the two near the door in the backroom. It is dangerous, “ He stared at the note then at Freya. “I think this isn’t meant for us.”

The notes were quickly switched and Spike once again read it out loud. “Enjoy your stay. Freya will take care of you until we are ready.” There were no signatures.

“Well Freya it was nice to meet you but we have a very important meeting to get through, through those doors so we’ll see you later.” Discord grabbed Spike with his tail again and ran off for the door.

“Ah but that’s the thing. It turns out we are expected and we need to get through the door to meet with our hosts so don’t worry about getting in trouble. You are doing adamantly in your job just by what you did. No wonders they might even give you a promotion.” Discord lied as smoothly as possible. He usually used some chaos magic to keep his tone even. It was difficult to work on wit and looks alone that was certain.

The sphere pondered the situation while the duo edged towards the door. Leaving behind the scatterbrained sphere they rushed through the room only to slam into the closed door. Right upon the door was a familiar cutie mark.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!?” Discord blared out.

“Didn’t see that coming.” Spike blurted next.

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger. Which mark would you like to see first?

Side Note I won't be writing in depth about the worlds they go into. Not because I don't want to though. Its more because they deserve their own story. I already have the notes for it should I choose to write them out. Inspired by Tatsurou really but I'm not gonna make it easy for the characters. Besides most worlds change the moment more players are added and that includes difficulty, don't you know

Can you guess the worlds? I don't think anyone would get Pinkie Pie's but maybe you can prove me wrong. You win an internet cookie if you do.

Comments are welcome as is pointing out the flaws. I do need to get better at writing and this is something of a first time writing with pre-established characters with their own personalities. I'm still troubled by Applejack and Rarity because I can only write their mind set or dialogue for so long before I get confused with where I'm going with it. Also I don't know many colloquialism that I can use for Applejack.