Chapter Three:

Tony was awoken by the sound of conversation. Opening his eyes, he only caught a glimpse of the room before he was blinded by a bright flash. Blinking the stars from his eyes, he jumped up, and ran to the spot where he had just seen Allen. Tony gasped.

“No... it couldn’t have been...”

“Tony? Allen? What’s going on?” Mumbled a sleepy Bon-Bon, half-stumbling down the stairs. “Its like... 3 A.M.!”

“Ah, this might sound weird, but... I think Allen was kidnapped by Princess Luna,” Tony answered.

“Princess... Luna?” Bon-Bon repeated, still half-asleep.

“OK. How many dark blue Alicorns do you know?” Things were sinking into Tony’s mind. “Oh shit! She must know about us! We’ve done something horrible to the balance of time and space and now she has to painfully kill one of us to fix it and Allen saved my life and WE NEED TO SAVE HIM.”

Lyra had at this point ventured downstairs as well. “What? Tony, get a hold of yourself!”

“NO TIME!” Tony shouted. “I need to go to Canterlot, and ASAP!”

Lyra glanced at  Bon-Bon, who shrugged, as if to say ‘You took the weirdo in, he’s your problem’, and trotted back up the stairs.

Sighing, Lyra told Tony to go get Valiant. “He’s at the Library. At the very least, maybe he can explain things to you better than I can.”

Tony was gone before Lyra had finished her sentence.

~~

A dreamy voice flowed through Allen’s dreams, accompanying him through memories of his previous few days. Allen felt calmer than he had for a long time. Then, he woke up.

“Allen, are you awake?” A female voice above him spoke.

“...Five more minutes, mom. I won’t be late for school...” Allen mumbled.

Luna chuckled. “Humans really aren’t that different from the young of equestria, are they?”

That made Allen’s eyes snap open.

“Oh, um... heh. Sorry ‘bout that. I just had the most wondrous sleep. It was like... wait a second.” Allen’s eyes narrowed. “You were reading my mind like a book!”

“Do not worry, your thoughts are safe with us. We have kept secrets much darker than yours for thousands of years, and we doubt these will be troublesome.”

“OK, good. Hang on... thousands of years? That has to be a hyperbole.”

“No, it is not. Allen, you have provided much information about your world, its time we give you information on ours.”

Allen once again fell into a limbo world as Luna and his minds became one once more. This time, however, the dreams were not his, but the Princess’s.

~~

Tony rapped the door impatiently with his hoof.

“Yeah, hang on. I’m coming, already. Sheesh, what kind of a dumb horse needs to check out a book at effing 5 in the morning?”

The door cracked open, allowing a bloodshot eye with a grey iris to stare out at Tony. “Never seen you before... Hang on, you’re that one guy that Twilight said wanted to talk to me... You don’t work for Photo Finish, do you?”

“What? No! Lyra told me you were the guy to see about fast transportation.”

The grey eye rolled. “Lyra? Oh, so you’re a ‘human’ fanboy.”

Tony chuckled. “How could I be a fan of myself?”

The grey eye widened. Whoops. Damn Tony’s half-asleep mind.

“Uh, well, I didn’t mean that I’m a human, I meant that I, uh...”

The door flung open, and Tony was yanked inside.

“How did you get here? Did you fall asleep, or did you find a stone, or what?!?” The eye Tony had been talking to belonged to an orange earth pony with a... Plymouth hood ornament? on his rump. The orange pony was eyeing him with a look Tony couldn’t quite discern. It was like the pony was anxious, angry, happy, and worried, all at the same time.

“Um... well, long story short, I found a bunch of weird objects in a cave while on a search and rescue mission, and me and this other guy... got teleported... to here.”

“Other guy? What happened to him?”

Tony remembered Allen, and his urgency returned. “Oh, yeah! That’s why I need to get to Canterlot! Luna kidnapped him!”

“Are you serious? Come on, let’s get to the choppa!” The pony had a wide, slightly insane, grin on his face. “Name’s Plymouth Valiant, by the way.”

~~

Allen sat across from Luna, eyes wide.

“So... you’ve been sending ponies to our world?”

“We wished to learn more about how this Plymouth Valiant came to our lands. With discovery of such a pony-turned-human, I needed to learn of the magic that had sent him to us, and find a way to control it. We’ve told you some of the things this Valiant has done here; imagine what 30 more like him could do together!”

Allen could imagine it. There was a reason he had joined the Civil Air Patrol, and it certainly was not because his world was perfect. He imagined some twisted dictator waking up in Equestria. It wouldn’t be pretty. He didn’t want to think about that scenario any more, so he changed the subject.

“So... that lost hiker...”

“A pony who was recalled to equestria. We certainly underestimated the value you put on human life. You humans, a species capable of war, destruction and neglect, and yet there are groups of you who spend their lives working to fix it at the same time... Yes. The artifacts you found were designed for one use only; they destroy themselves within minutes of their use. It was amazing you discovered them so soon after they had been used.”

“Then... can you send us back?” Allen asked hopefully.

Luna looked down at Allen sadly. “No.”

Luna took a breath, but before she could continue, a large mechanical flying machine smashed through the wall.

As the dust cleared, Allen looked up from the fetal position he had somehow wound up in to see Tony staring down at him.

“Allen... you’re alive!” Tony broke into a grin.

“Um, yeah?” Allen looked through narrow eyes up at Tony.

Tony’s grin shrank by a couple of teeth. “What?”

An orange pony, who had been standing behind Tony, snorted in frustration.

“These aren’t the torture chambers! Sorry, Tony. Wait... is that Allen? Damnit, he isn’t dead or maimed!”

Allen’s mouth hung open.

“Oh, yeah. My name is Valiant. Tony hitched a ride on my flying robot.”

“YOU! You are the reason I’m stuck in Lalaland with Captain Brony here!”

Tony and Valiant took a step back.

“Luna told me everything. Tony, iIm sorry, but our lost hiker never existed. Also, we’re stuck here.”

Saying Tony was confused would be like calling the arctic “a tad nippy”. “We’re stuck here? Why?”

“Well, Luna WAS going to explain that, before you imbeciles came crashing in to save the day.”

The three human/ponies turned to look at Luna.

Luna gazed down haughtily, speaking the the full dialect of the royal family. “We see thou art done with thy arguments. It is time all received an explanation. Valiant, we expect help in repairing that wall.”

Valiant grumbled, but sat down.

“We cannot let you go. Equestria needs you.”