"What?! You really thought you could pull off such a complex combination of spells that big?"

Starlight couldn't believe the levels of ignorance and foolishness from the writings she was looking over. Not that she could understand most of what was scribed, given many sections were incomplete or flat out written wrong. Of course, she only came to realize that as Trixie bluntly tried to explain herself, sitting like a small filly caught with her hoof in the cookie jar.

"Well, it made sense to me. Think of all the time I would have saved."

It wasn’t possible for Trixie not to see what glaring problems Starlight could so easily see.

"Trixie... You tried to teleport, through an area of folded space, with an assembly spell, which already affects the placement of space that can be altered, over a distance that is way too far away."

She brought the book back up and opened it to a section that displayed the tunnel of folded space that connected her carriage to Las Pegasus.

"And just look at how big you made the dimensions of the portal. It's huge!"

Trixie looked at her schematics, glancing over her math.

"It's not that big."

Starlight's eyes widened as her pupils narrowed. It was all she could do not to swat Trixie with her own book for making such a claim.

"Not that big? Really?"

Trixie gently rubbed her still sore and swollen face.

"Well, yeah. The average pony is only four feet tall. A portal for a pony should have an extra two feet for clearance."

Trixe looked over to her toppled wagon.

"My wagon is twelve feet tall."

From inside the wagon, a small chest slid out from atop the clutter, sending bundles of trick bouquets of flowers and a smoke bomb that went off.

Trixie frowned for a moment then sulked. This was going to be a major setback.

"Well, it was twelve feet tall."

A short series of fireworks spark off into the air, adding insult to injury, nothing that Trixie couldn’t push through.

"But anyway, so I just added another four feet for the overhead, and that's only sixteen feet. Anything under twenty is considered safe, right?"

Trixie awaited confirmation while Starlight was catching on to where this cluster-buck of a spell was coming from.

"Sixteen... feet?" Starlight shook, trying not to scream those words.

Trixie looked up to her wagon of ruined dreams.

"Do you think I should have done eighteen?"

"Trixie! You think?" Starlight turned the book back and looked it over to see her math. "Look at what you wrote down!"

She turned the book to Trixie's face, again.

Trixie’s eyes rolled past the numbers, seeing everything she had written down earlier.

"Okay, so I rounded it up to sixteen feet, big deal." She whined. "That's still plenty of wiggle room," She said as if it were some trivial mistake to be overlooked.

Starlight dropped the book in shock at what she was missing.

"Trixie, you did your math in meters, not feet."

Trixie gasped.

"Oh, my gosh! A portal that size should have never worked with my spell."

Starlight sighed with some relief that she could now see her error.

Trixie flipped a page in her book as it lay open in front of her, examining her failed spell.

"I can't believe I got that mixed up."

She shifted her eyes up to Starlight's, a clueless look upon her face that didn’t fit the gravity of the situation.

"How many meters go into a foot, again?"

All the relief from Starlight was gone, replaced with anger at Trixie's stupidity.

"One meter is over three feet, you dolt!" Starlight screamed with such intensity that it blew Trixie's hat off her head.

"What!?" Trixie practically yelped.

Starlight double face-hoofed with a groan as she forced herself to sit so she could take this all in.

"You made your portal over fifty-two feet tall, Trixie."

"Fifty-two feet?" Trixie parroted in amazement. "Wow."

Starlight slowly pulled her hooves away from her face to address her mathematically challenged friend.

"Yeah... wow, indeed."

Trixie looked over to the hillside just passed where she had set up camp.

"I thought it looked a little big when it opened."

Starlight about snapped her neck, turning her head around to see where Trixie was looking.

"What? That, that's... that just isn't possible..."

She turned back to see Trixie grinning as if she accomplished something grand.

"You didn't even put in the dimensional bridging scale to cover the distance you'd be connecting. Why do you think it exploded?"

Trixie tilted her head.

"Is that what happened?"

Starlight struggled to comprehend how her friend could do something so big and complex, yet not understand the basics from which it was built.

"Of course! What did you think happened?"

Trixie got herself up to her hooves, looking towards the hill.

"I dunno. The last thing I remember was how excited that I got to be on stage with you for such a big audience."

"You mean in Las Pegasus?" Starlight asked, though the snark in her voice somehow went unnoticed by Trixie.

Trixie did, however, seem a bit surprised by her accuracy.

"Yes, actually. How did you know?"

Starlight mentally retraced her steps as she walked Trixie through the events of walking back to the castle, finding Twilight, running through Ponyville with Pinkie, her Twitching episode, the explosion, then rushing over to find her and pull her out of her toppled wagon. She explained each event to Trixie along the way.

"-and you were waving your hooves like you were on stage and talking to the audience."

Trixie found it hard to believe that something so silly would have happened without her knowing about it.

"I was?"

"Bad tofu sticks and all." Starlight groaned, confirming her story.

Trixie rolled her eyes.

"Gah! Don't even get me started on them. Those things were terrible."

Starlight couldn't have been any less interested in her tofu stick experience.

"I'll take your word for it, Trixie, but are you sure you got the portal to open? It should have collapsed in on itself before the foundation of the bridge would have been able to form."

After asking that question, Starlight stood up. Something still wasn't adding up.

"But even then, a bridge that small and incomplete wouldn't have nearly enough power to make an explosion as big as what you made."

Trixie held her head up high with a pompous grin.

"Well, Trixie may not remember the explosion, but I do remember seeing the portal open through my window," Trixie spoke with an air of obnoxious confidence, apparently back to her old self again.

Starlight couldn't believe Trixie's arrogance.

"You actually tried to do this monstrosity of a spell from your bed?"

Trixie flinched slightly.

"Well, I was comfy and enjoying all the room you helped open up."

"Whatever," Starlight groaned in annoyance as her horn started to shine again, and she magically grabbed the book, going back to the tunneling schematic.

"Trixie. You didn't do any calculations for bridging to Las Pegasus. You just have this weird cognitive spell-" She squinted to hopefully better understand the jumbled mess she was reading. "-or spells? It's so long I can't tell where one spell starts and the next one begins! What were you trying to do, teleport to a place you couldn't remember?"

"Well, I had to modify that part of the spell," Trixie said a bit defensively.

Starlight couldn't wait for her explanation of this.

"How did you modify it, Trixie?"

Trixie's horn started to glow, causing parts of the text to illuminate on the pages.

"I knew where the location was. One of my greatest shows I ever put on was in Las Pegasus. But the other parts of the spell were for binding to where my fans were."

Starlight didn't understand her logic, let alone what was being left out of the explanation.

"What?"

Trixie illuminated more of the text.

"Well, setting up isn't difficult because of all the physical work. Location is essential for any Great Magic Show. So, I modified the spell! It would bind to where my fans would be. I wouldn't even have to look for a spot. I would be able to walk right into where my fans would be the most excited to see me."

Starlight couldn't connect that logic to the spell, yet.

"But you didn't bind the spell to anypony?"

Trixie continued to explain her approach.

"Yes, I did. See?" Trixie highlighted new pieces of text, five sections containing long strings of mismatched characters that should have formed a proper spell, shined.

Starlight couldn't make sense of what she was looking at and had to break the bad news to her.

"Oh, no. Trixie. This is all wrong."

Trixie flipped the book back around to face it again. She looked over what she had scribed onto the page.

"But I spent the most time working on that part. What could be wrong with it?"

Starlight explained, taking a hoof to lower the book enough to look over that part of the spell.

"You didn't bind the spell to anypony. It just describes their character traits. Passionate. Loving." her eyes narrowed. "Powerful devotion? Really?"

Trixie's horn flared up, causing the book to slam shut.

"Well-" She pulled the book back to her side, sliding it under her cloak. "They didn't have anything else I could use," she huffed in protest.

"You think they'd have a spell for fans or an audience. This was the next best thing."

Starlight lowered her head. Mentally, she was done with this.

"Well, this has been... an experience, but I'm going to head back to the castle. Let everypony know that things are fine. See if I can talk Twilight into giving you a room for the night."

"Oh, Starlight, hun. That won't be necessary." Trixie replied, not wanting to have to be confronted by Twilight for almost blowing herself up within the first three hours of using her books.

Starlight spoke back, looking over her shoulder.

"Why? You plan on sleeping in your own bed tonight?"

Trixie looked over to her mattress, still wet, laying in the grass.

"You have a point."

Starlight started to prep herself on how she was going to try and explain this to Twilight.

"Gather your things, Trixie. I'll be back with some help to bring your stuff somewhere safe while your wagon gets fixed."

Trixie was already heading back to gather what she would need for her stay.

"Oh, you're too good to me."

Starlight sighed as her horn began to glow, getting ready to teleport back to Twilight.

"Yeah. What are friends for, right?"

And with a pop and a flash... Starlight didn't move an inch.

"Umm... Are you heading back?" asked Trixie, wondering why her friend was still standing in front of her.

Starlight looked lost. How could a teleportation spell so simple as this one fail, and why did it feel so wrong when it did?

"I thought I was… It's like-" Another flash and pop, but there she still stood. "like I can't move. With the teleportation, I mean."

She turned and looked towards the hillside again.

"Almost like something is stopping me."

Trixie joined Starlight's side, donning her hat once again.

"Stopping you? Who could do that? How could that even be done?"

This was such a strange feeling. Actually, it was rather difficult for Starlight to describe properly.

"I don't know. It feels like the space that I move through when I teleport isn't there anymore."

"Is that possible?" Trixie asked, being how she wasn't all that knowledgeable on that kind of magic… or much beyond fireworks and props for that matter... But she was really good at anything that had to do with those!

Starlight ran through a shortlist of possibilities, but there wasn’t anything that stuck out to fit what she was feeling.

"Normally, no. I mean, it's possible to block teleportation magic with barriers or other spells, but this is different."

Starlight gave another attempt at teleportation, but alas, still nothing.

"Whatever it is, it feels like it's even stronger over that hill."

Trixie felt her face flush.

"Where I opened the portal?"

Starlight turned with worry written all over her face.

"Trixie, what if you pulled somepony from Las Pegasus here instead of you going there?"

"Oh. My. Gosh! Starlight!" Trixie was smiling from ear to ear. "This might be the greatest magic trick anypony has ever done!"

Starlight snapped back.

"What is wrong with your head, Trixie?! What if your spell hurt somepony? Are you going to put that in your show, too?"

Starlight slowly waved one hoof over her head in a mock spectacle to draw attention.

"Come see the Amazing Trixie, as she tries not to kill you while forgetting to convert meters to feet and collapses a dimensional bridge just inches before your eyes!"

Trixie stared back blankly, her dreams of fame being shredded before her eyes.

"Okay, so it needs work." Her smile returned. "But think of the possibilities. I just need more practice. This is my first time attempting anything like this."

Starlight sighed in defeat. She wasn't going to be able to talk Trixie down from this fantasy.

"Well, come on. Let's go." Starlight beckoned to Trixie as she trotted towards the hillside.

Trixie's eyes followed Starlight, though she did not move.

"Go? Go where?"

Starlight replied sarcastically, still annoyed from her friend’s colossal failure.

"To see if any of your passionate, loving, and powerful, devoted fans were brought here."

Still lacking the modesty needed not to take that as a confession of her talents, Trixie took the opportunity to boast.

"Oh? So now you do think I was able to complete the spell? The Great! And Powerful! Tr-eck!"

Too caught up in her grandiose speech, she failed to notice Starlight's magic aura wrapping around her. The magic grip pulled her along, quickly catching up.

Trixie’s hooves were dragging in the dirt as she resisted.

"Hey! I can walk just fine on my own, thank you very much."

The magic aura vanished, allowing Trixie to fall forward, landing chest first with a comical "Umph!"

Starlight continued trotting forward.

"Good, please do then. I'd rather not waste any magic if I don't have to, right now."

Trixie stood up and brushed the grass and dirt off her chest.

"Waste your magic? In case of what? It's not like you can teleport out of here or anything."

She trotted up to Starlight's side again as Starlight prepped herself, ready to speak with some bit of caution.

"You were pretty messed up when I found you, Trixie. And you weren't that close to where the explosion must have gone off at. If some pony was any closer, they might be really hurt and need our help."

Trixie gulped, getting a better understanding of what they might be walking into.

"Well, I am pretty new at this. I doubt I actually brought some pony here all the way from Las Pegasus."

Starlight tried her best to keep her eyes forward, looking for any signs of danger or somepony in need of help.

"Well, I certainly hope not. I can only imagine how upset they'd be if you injured them or damaged their property. And given how far off your calculations were, they might not even have come from Las Pegasus."

Those last words caused Trixie to raise an eye in curiosity, but allowed Starlight to continue explaining.

The path seemed clear so far, but Starlight stayed focused.

"You could have pulled a minotaur, Changelings, Timberwolves, another Ursa Major? I hear you have a lot of luck running into those, in particular."

"Not funny, Starlight." Trixie snarled, but then immediately moved closer to her side. "But just to keep you safe, I should probably stick close to your side."

Starlight turned and glared as they trotted along.

"Thank you, Trixie. I'm so relieved to be in such competent hooves."

Trixie didn't appreciate the attitude.

"You don't need to be so snarky, Starlight. I know I messed things up a bit, but I think I did something rather amazing. Even if my spell wasn't perfect, I'm sure I can perfect it."

Starlight was too tired to deal with this civilly.

"Amazing? You got practically every part of all the spells you used wrong, which almost blew up not only yourself but also all of Ponyville in the process. Probably threw half of Las Pegasus at the edge of the Everfree Forest, too!"

"Or an Ursa, right?" Trixie fired back.

Starlight was getting close to her limit.

"Or an Ursa, or a Dragon, or who knows what kind of strange beast you might have drugged from the depths of Tartarus."

The two continued on their path, with the bickering between them growing more antagonizing and louder the farther out they traveled.

An unfamiliar male voice broke up the argument of what might have become an actual brawl, had the two mares continued.

"Ugh? Hello? Ladies? Something strange happened, and, ugh... we need some help." The voice called out.

Starlight and Trixie both stopped dead in their tracks. Trixie was blushing a bit from embarrassment, thinking now that she might have actually harmed some random pony.

Starlight broke from Trixie’s side, taking off into a full gallop and bolstered heavily, fearing her theory was right.

"Oh my gosh, you really did bring some pony here, and they need help. Come on!"

Trixie hesitated at first but followed behind, though not as quickly as her friend. The fear of having to take responsibility for her actions, as well as some strange fear that maybe it wasn't actually some ponies she teleported over, gave her doubt.

"Wait!"

What if they were dangerous? What if they were going to be mad at her? What if this was a trap. All of the most frightening scenarios running through her mind.

"Shouldn't we go back to get the others first?"

Starlight shouted behind her, no longer looking where she was going. She was too concerned to slow down at his point.

"Pinkie will bring the others, but we're here now!"

She neared the top of the hill seeing over it, another hilltop coming into view. Between the two hilltops dipped a low stretch of flat land, where the male humans had ventured off to in search of angry bitches. Angry bitches who could help them, or so they hoped.

Starlight finally peaked over the top with no sign of slowing down. As much as she wanted to help whatever poor soul was in need of it, there was another reason for her rush. She thought that the faster she could help them, the easier it would be to minimize any trouble Trixie might receive. However, her good intentions were leading her to a situation she couldn't have prepared for.

"It's okay. Help is here, now!"

Her eyes quickly landed on the two figures who were, in fact, not ponies in need of help. Not any species or race she'd ever seen before.

The first one was tall, a body thick with muscles — the other, not so impressive. But the first one sent her heart racing and her mind blanked with panic.

On the other side of the approach, Cerb and Benny were going through their own set of reactions. Essentially, their hope accelerating into a panic. Cerb imagined two women from SoCal, rescue workers, national guard... maybe single. Benny pictured two southern belles in cut off tops and daisy dukes because that's what he normally likes to think of.

Both were way off with their expectations.

At first glance, it seemed like a horse, but far too small to be that, yet too big to be a dog, and the color was unreal. Its eyes were unnaturally large. Of course, there was also no mistaking that as its mouth moved as they heard the words match its lips. It spoke the words they both heard, not a human.

Most importantly, it was barreling down on them with a sprinters pace.

All three at that moment shared the same fear of the unknown. However, it was only Starlight that didn't have the ability to stop her momentum.

Starlight put on the brakes the only way a pony could. Front hooves extended out ahead of her, rear legs spread out for balance, and her haunch down low.

"Trixie, get back!"

Instinct kicked in, and her horn began to shine, preparing to teleport out of harm's way.

Unfortunate that instinct had overruled her memory since teleporting wasn't an option here. The magic gathered as expected, but with nowhere to go, there was only a flash and a pop that blinded Cerb and Benny. It was here that Starlight added another full speed body to body collision to her day.

Trixie's voice floated in from the darkness as Starlight lay motionless, teeth clenched and eyes tightly shut.

"Starlight? What are you doing?"

Then, finally topping the hill, Trixie could see her friend and the danger she was in.

"Who... wa... wha- what is that?" Trixie shouted at the site.

A great question that didn't have an answer, though Starlight was now desperate to have. She opened her eyes to see just where she wished she had not found herself. Her chest lay atop this creature's belly, her right fore-hoof over his massive chest, her left fore-hoof along his side, and the rest of her body between his legs.

Trixie hollered with a shrill voice.

"I brought monsters here after all! Starlight, get out of there!"

Trixie didn't know if they were monsters, but at the moment, the horseshoe fit.

Cerb and Benny were coming around. Poor Benny had been knocked down by Cerb when being taken down by Starlight, so it was hard to say who got hit harder, comparatively. Probably Cerb, since Benny was the first to come around enough to use his words.

Benny didn't know what to make of the violet-colored creature that had pounced his friend.

"Ugh, dude?" He nudged Cerb's shoulder with his foot.

Cerb opened his eyes. What he saw were two giant orbs of white surrounding rich violet circles and empty black centers; the eyes of whatever was holding him down. His thoughts were that of danger, to fight it off or run away, but the creature's motionlessness and vapid stare held him in place.

Starlight was having the same thoughts. Blast him just to be safe, grab Trixie and run away to get the others, or fly away and leave Trixie to fix her own monster problems. All seemed like good ideas at the moment. If only she could gather her wits long enough to act on any of them, of course.

Instead of any proper response, she cracked a nervous smile.

"Uh, hello?"

Nothing on this creature's face gave her relief or offered her safety. Her eyes pouted, and ears folded down behind her as a physical plea for mercy overtook her.

"Please don't eat me."

Back on the far side of the hill where the other humans had stayed behind, the crew there was mostly optimistic while they waited for Cerb and Benny to return.

"Hey," Lumberman called over to Chris, tossing him a beer can as he looked over. "You worry too much, man. They'll be fine. Just chill."

"Wahhhhh!" A scream from Cerb echoed over the hill.

The sound of two female screams drowned out the scream from Cerb as another scream from Benny sounded off and five frightening words.

"What the hell are those?!"

Lumberman dropped his beer.

"Oh, fuck. That can't be good."

Back in the hills, Starlight had reared up and scurried backward away from the hulking beast, bumping into the hind-legs of Trixie who pulled her close.

Trixie pointed her left fore-hoof at the two screaming idiots.

"Stay back foul beasts of Tartarus! Or the Great and Powerful Trixie will use her laser horn!"

Trixie's voice boomed over the hills with a power greater than that of her stage performance voice. She began to gather magic at the tip of her horn, ready to try and blast the two creatures if they dared to advance.

Sweat gathered at her brow. The intensity in her face, a clever guise to hide the fact that she didn't have a clue how to make a laser shoot from her horn. She was a magician, not a mage.

"Holy... fuck. It's a My Little Pony." Benny spat out in a moment of questionable clarity.

Such an expletive awarded him with all three turning their attention to Benny.

"What!?" Cerb sounded almost offended at such a stupid statement.

Trixie stepped forward, the wind drafting up around her, flickering her cape and the brim of her hat cinematically.

"I am no mere pony, strange beast. Nor am I any mere unicorn. For I am thee Great! And Powerful! T-"

"Trixie Lulamoon... The traveling magician," Benny said, interrupting her.

Trixie grabbed her hat and threw it to the ground, stomping her hooves.

"No, no, no! Why must everypony interrupt my great and powerful speeches!?"

Clearly, the calls for panic had passed, and Starlight glared at her friend, who just tried to save her with a stage performance.

"Why are you mad? It seems like they’re the fans you wanted so badly."

Trixie's anger flipped like a stunt car, and she was all smiles, brimming with energy, abandoning Starlight's side to shake the weird hoof thing with the dangly straps of skin that was Benny's hand.

"Oh, I'm always happy to meet a fan. Please do tell, have you seen any of my shows? Do you have a favorite trick? Would you like an autograph?"

She went on asking one self-indulgent question after another.

Benny slowly turned his head over to Cerb, who was staring in awe and trying to repress his urge to slap Benny.

"You all fucking know each other or something?" Cerb protested.

Benny dared not to move, still slightly unsure of his safety, but still calmly answered him.

"The chick I used to date, with an eight-year-old daughter. It was practically the only show she watched or talked about. And she loved Trixie."

Trixie gasped and turned to Starlight.

"Starlight! Did you hear that! A young fan! And my show is the only show she watches or talks about!"

She pranced ecstatically in place and squeed before turning back to her newfound fan.

"I'm so happy to hear that. Is the little dear with you?"

She looked about for any trace of a smaller version of whatever this creature was that she probably summoned.

"Well. I assume she must be little, I've never seen such a young..."

It finally dawned on Trixie that she had no idea what or who she was talking to. She looked down at Benny, still cementing his seat to the ground.

"Not to sound terribly rude, but... what are you?"

Starlight stood upright and slowly walked over to Cerb, who still was on his back, slightly propped up on his elbows.

"Uh, yeah, you'll have to excuse my friend's rude question. It's just. We've never seen, umm..." Starlight looked the two stranger bipeds over another time. "-others like you two before. Are you trolls or some kind of golems?"

Cerb eyed Starlight up and down but turned back to Benny.

"Ugh, Ben. How about you answer this one. I don't know what the hell's going on anymore."

Starlight trotted over Cerb's side.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I totally ran into you. That was entirely my fault."

He recoiled back as Starlight extended her hoof, reacting like she was trying to jab him with a hot fire poker.

She stared at him, he was thoroughly confused and somewhat frightened, yet didn't seem to be all that threatening, despite his size. The smart thing was to keep things civil and not risk giving him a reason to be hostile.

"My name is Starlight Glimmer. It's nice to meet you."

Cerb eyed up the friendly gesture, uncertain with what to make of it all. However, since he was unable to call upon his friend, who was being entertained by close up magic tricks from the blue unicorn thing, he thought it best not to appear rude and reached out his hand.

He gripped her hoof and allowed her to help him to his feet.

"I'm Justin, everyone calls me Cerb, though."

Starlight felt a boost in confidence. They had a terrible start, but things were looking at least a little more optimistic.

"Well, Cerb. You sure are an interesting looking fella."

She looked him over again, much of him seemed familiar. They stood upright like a Diamond Dog or a minotaur. Their paws were even similar to those of a minotaur. Yet, they had almost no fur except for what little was on their head. Perhaps some type of reptilian trait?

They also wore garments that covered much of their bodies. Was it fashion or necessity? Because if they were part reptile, that would make sense to wear layers to stay warm.

Actually, that last thought didn't make sense as she looked over the exposed areas. That was, without a doubt, bare skin, not scales. Plus, it was warm and sunny out. Surely they couldn't be so cold to require so much clothing to stay warm in this kind of weather. Everything she took in seemed to create more questions than provide answers.

Another curiosity came to her mind. She had to ask if they were, in fact, the only two that arrived.

"Are there more Justin's with you, or just you two?"

Cerb had to think for a second on that one. If this was anything close to what he thought it was, the miscommunication was obvious.

"What? No. My name is Justin. My friends call me Cerb. It's a nickname."

He looked back to Benny, motioning a hand back and forth to point at both of them.

"We're humans, Homo Sapiens. That's our race."

Starlight nervously laughed and tried to play it off.

"Oh, please. I knew you weren't both, pft, I was... just in the mood for a joke. Get it?"

Cerb looked her dead in the eyes. God, she was cute trying to play it cool like that. He cracked a grin and tried to hold back a laugh, which he couldn't.

He pointed down to Starlight, looking back and trying to grab Benny's attention for a moment.

"Okay, I still don't know what the fuck is going on, or if this is all a fever dream, but I like this one."

Benny was still being preoccupied, so Cerb brought his focus back to Starlight.

He clapped his hands together in front of his face, rubbed them up and down against each other a few times. Then he parted them like he was dropping something, using the gestures to hopefully emphasise what he was mentally dealing with.

"So, here's the situation, and I don't know if you can help or not, but we are super fucking lost right now. We don't have a clue as to just where we are, how we got here, or why I'm having a conversation with a talking unicorn."

Trixie overheard the part of not knowing how they got here. She stopped mid-magic card trick, letting them fall to the ground. The excited spat of joy left her as she tried to think of how to explain herself.

She seated herself upright, averting her eyes. and slowly padding her hooves together.

"Well, the thing is-"

Starlight jumped in before Trixie could incriminate herself.

"We'd like to know, too! We don't know what exactly happened either. There was an explosion-"

"Yeah! We know about the explosion. We were in it," Cerb declared, a bit too impatient.

Benny finally stood up, brushing the grass from his pant legs and pointing down the hill in the direction of the house.

"Well, not here, there...We were in Plainfield, Indiana, at my house when the explosion went off."

Starlight grinned through her embarrassment and worry about where such a place may be in correlation to Ponyville.

"I'm sorry, but I've never heard of that place. Do you happen to know how far away it is from here?"

Cerb and Benny looked to each other, confirming their mutual understanding of not knowing how to explain that to the ponies.

Starlight pressed for a bit more clarification.

"East of Griffonstone? North of Yakyakistan?" She asked with her hoof raised upward, a universal sign of confusion.

Cerb motioned with both hands open, presenting Starlight to Benny, inviting him to answer her.

And answer her, he did not.

Starlight thought of a few more possible areas to try, hoping at least one of the locations could jog their memory.

"Umm, somewhere west of Las Pegasus or south of the Arlmaspi Territory? We ponies don't really travel out past any of those places."

Benny was offering no help, so Cerb decided to give it a shot.

"Ugh, ma'am. Can I call you ma'am?"

Starlight's eyes darted to either side, thinking on how to respond. Civility was vital to not upsetting these new beasts that were now obviously somehow summoned by Trixie.

"Ugh... sure? Or just plain old Starlight is fine, too."

Cerb brought his hands up defensively.

"Sorry. I just... I'm still trying to digest that I'm even talking to a horse. Unicorn! Err, pony."

He facepalmed, getting flustered.

After compiling himself and taking a deep breath, he tried again.

"Look. I don't know anything about those places you just named off." He noticed Starlight grew more visibly nervous as he tried to explain himself.

"Ma'am. Err... Fuck!" Cerb facepalmed as he cursed and turned away, too frustrated to continue without accidentally escalating tensions.

Benny finally decided to help his struggling friend, realizing how far from being in Indiana they were if the change of scenery was any indication of where they were.

"Starlight, we're not even from this planet."

Those words hit Trixie's ears, and she turned about as pale as Rarity, wishing she could go back to hide in her wagon.

Starlight, on the other hand, wanted to both scream her overflowing rage at Trixie, but also curl into a ball and turn invisible.

Benny looked over to Cerb, who was silently grateful.

"Yeah, we're not even from this plane of existence, or I don't know what you want to call it."

He expanded this concept with terms he wasn't entirely certain of himself.

"Reality? Dimension? Alternate universe? Whatever this realm of existence is... it's not ours."

That was Trixie's mental limit. She was done and ready to punch out.

Her knees buckled, and her body swayed with the loss of her motor functions. It seemed like she was trying to say something, though just mumbles came out before tipping over and passing out.

"Trixie?" Starlight ran to her side, again picking her up in her hooves like earlier.

"Oh, come on, not again." She said with a whine.

"Again? Is this normal for her?" Cerb bluntly asked.

Starlight sighed, planning her explanation so as not to incriminate her friend.

"No… whatever that explosion was that you were caught in, it hit her, too."

"Is that what happened to her face." Benny tried to ask with concern.

Starlight looked down at Trixie's unconscious figure.

"Yeah, she was in her wagon that she lives out of when it hit. Knocked her out and banged her up real good."

She stroked Trixie's face, brushing her pale-colored mane out of her eyes.

Cerb looked back to the hill he and Benny had crossed over.

"We all got hit pretty hard too. Some of my friends are still hurt."

Starlight’s heart sunk deep in her chest. Now it wasn't just two creatures that had been sucked away from their homes and planet. There others brought here and injured because of Trixie.

"Friends? So there are more than just the two of you?"

Benny comically waved his hand, trying to lighten the mood, which of course, it didn't.

"Well, there's me, I'm Ben, by the way. Um, Cerb here, obviously, you two met. Ugh.. back down there-" he pointed to the hilltop they came over. "-there's Rebecca, Kelly, James, Chris, and Peter. So, that makes seven of us, all together."

Seven? Seven humans? Starlight’s mind raced with all the problems that were going to be multiplied with each of the five others that would have to be dealt with.

"I'm sorry that this has happened to you all. We're going to do everything we can to help you. All of you. I'm sure we can even find a way to get you home."

"Oh, Jesus Christ. Thank you." Cerb folded his hands, thanking and praising Starlight.

Starlight apologetically smiled to Cerb, who looked at her, unaware of where the miscommunication happened.

"Ugh, it's Starlight actually..."

Cerb opened his mouth, probably about to apologize, but he was speechless.

Starlight quickly realized how awkward this still must be for him and didn't want to make things worse.

"No-no! You're okay. Jezus Crust is fine if you want to call me that."

Starlight snapped back to Trixie and started to shake her.

"Wake up, Trixie. You're embarrassing me." She growled through her teeth.

"Found'em!" Pinkie’s voice boomed from behind, drawing all their attention to see her standing at the top of the hillside closest to Ponyville.

"Pinkie?" Starlight barked. "What took you all so long?"

She glared up, catching sight of frosting on Pinkie’s lips.

"Really!? You stopped for cupcakes!?"

Pinkie gasped at such a claim.

"What? You said Trixie might be hurt, so I went straight to-" a sugary belch escaped her lips, her own stomach ratted her out.

Starlight glared and growled.

"Pinkie!"

"Ugh, hold that thought, Starlight." Pinkie turned around, facing down the hill. "Hey! Twilight! Over here! Yeah! She's with Trixie! Taking a nap with a troll and a golem!" Pinky shouted down to the others.

Cerb and Benny took their eyes off the pink pony and down to Starlight. Frustration and shame were pouring out of her being.

They looked at each other.

"You know," Benny said. "I know she thinks I'm the troll, and that's bullshit."

"Why would I be Gollum? I don't look anything like that scrawny little bald bastard." Cerb answered back, a little insulted at the mischaracterization.

"What? Dude, not Gollum from Lord of the Rings. A Golem. They're like... big ass rock monsters." Benny corrected him.

"Oh..." Cerb thought about it. "Yeah. That makes sense. You're totally a troll now, faggot."

Cerb punched him in the arm.

"Ow! Damn it! Knock it off, dude." Benny grumbled as he rubbed his shoulder.

It wasn’t that Benny was hit hard, he was still sore from the blast.

"I think we're about to meet the most powerful warriors of this country." He paused a moment for dramatic effect. "And a princess."

"What?" Cerb wasn't expecting such an audience.

Benny knew enough about the show to know that if Pinkie was here, she was bringing the rest of the main characters along with her.

"Yeah.”

Cerb quietly let that process before turning back to Benny.

"Are they bigger than me?"

Benny gave him a look that questioned if he was being serious or not.

"No, Crybaby. They're all ponies like Starlight and Trixie."

Trixie had started to regain her consciousness and was mumbling barely discernible words.

"Starlight, make her stop."

Starlight was brooding in her own private hell.

"If only I could, Trixie. If only I could."

Benny pointed up to Pinkie, who had been shouting the same thing, over and over again, the whole time.

"She's actually one of them."

Standing atop the hill, Pinkie was still repeating shouts back to the others that were still out at a shouting distance.

"A Golem!... A Golem!... No! A Troll and a- He's A Golem!... A Golem! No! She's fine! She's with a Troll and a Golem!... No! A Golem!"

Cerb kicked at the dirt; the madness of this world was becoming more and more apparent.

"Ben, if I'm not totally insane now or happen to lose my mind in the next few days that we’re stuck here, I'm probably going to slit my wrist."

Benny patted him on the back.

"You'll be fine, bro. It can't be that bad."

His eyes reverted back up to the pink menace, still shouting.

Pinkie wasn't a quick one to pick up on how annoying she could be.

"Golem! Like a big rock- ... No! A Golem!"

Benny looked back to Cerb with sympathetic eyes.

"But by all means, bro, do what you gotta do. Just take me with you."

Benny stuck out his wrist with a closed fist.

Cerb grabbed it, mockingly making the motions of endearment.

"I didn't plan on going alone," Cerb said with a wink.

"Awe, I knew you cared." Benny fluttered his eyes.

Pinkie continued her belligerent plea to be understood.

"No! Just one Golem!... Yeah!... No! A Golem!"

Next Chapter: 04. Looking For Love In All The Wrong Spaces Estimated time remaining: 105 Hours, 45 Minutes