"WAKE UP, ALLIANCE FILTH!"

Luxxoria yelped as she was woken up by the feeling of something poking her in the side. Her companions let out similar cries as they too were poked. As they opened their eyes, they were immediately confronted with the facial features of an orc.

"Horde!" Baegon snarled. "How did they get the drop on us?"

"Because you were asleep, you fools!" the orc replied. "Now get up, and don't try anything funny!"

Groaning, the four Alliance stood up and raised their arms above their heads. The orc snapped his fingers, and a Forsaken priest stepped forward and saluted.

"Yes, Gordul?" he asked.

Zorann and Luxxoria exchanged a shocked glance with each other as Gordul pointed to their group.

"Dispel any and all magical effects on them, Santee." he barked. "And bind their hands, especially those of the gnome."

Santee nodded and looked towards the group. Navitas and Baegon were glaring at him fiercely, while Zorann and Luxxoria were gazing uncomfortably at the ground.

Chanting a few words, Santee snapped his fingers, engulfing the group in a flash of white light.

"Mark of the Wild, gone. Blessing of Might, gone. Arcane Intellect, gone." he said, as he sensed the magical effects vanishing. "Wait... what's this?"

As the light vanished, Navitas and Baegon groaned. They glared at Santee, who had a grin on his rotted face.

"Well, well, well." said Gordul. "This was certainly unexpected. I was hoping I would get to see you two again."

Navitas and Baegon exchanged a puzzled glance at each other before turning towards Zorann and Luxxoria.

And gasping.

Where once a night elf and a gnome stood, a tauren and a blood elf had taken their places.

"What the hell?" Baegon yelled. "We were travelling with HORDE?!"

"They're not Horde." Gordul spat. "They lost the right to call themselves that when they killed Warchief Hellscream and chose to serve your king and his pathetic Alliance."

Baegon blinked.

"KING WRYNN KNEW ABOUT YOU TWO?!" he roared.

"It's complicated." Luxxoria said. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you the whole story."

Baegon grunted and looked at Navitas.

"Try us." she said.

Luxxoria sighed.

"Very well." she said. "But first things first."

She grinned and lowered her arms.

"You didn't bind my wrists."

Those words were followed up by an Ice Lance slamming into Santee's chest. He fell wordlessly to the ground as Gordul gasped.

"KILL THEM ALL!" he roared.

"You want to fight?!" Zorann snarled. "Very well then, Gordul. It's time for round two!"

Shifting into cat form, he leapt towards Gordul, slamming him to the ground. Gordul retaliated by bringing his knees up into Zorann's chest, causing him to roar in pain and swipe out with his claws.

Navitas and Baegon nodded to each other. Baegon immediately grabbed the orc holding him, breaking his neck in one quick motion, before grabbing his sword from the ground. Navitas summoned a bolt of orange lightning, sending it into another orc who was attempting to aid Gordul.

Luxxoria laughed as she conjured a pillar of fire, engulfing the Horde soldiers who were standing close together. They screamed for all but an instant before turning to ash.

Baegon charged towards Gordul, kicking him off Zorann and sending him sailing into a nearby tree. Coughing, Gordul stood up to see the four of them advancing towards him.

"This isn't over!" he yelled, as he vanished into the shadows. "You will pay for this, you traitors! Mark my words!"

The group dropped their combat stances. As Navitas applied healing to everyone, she and Baegon glared at the two Horde.

"Explanation." she said sternly. "Now."

Luxxoria sighed.

"Take a seat." she said. "Because it's a long story."

"... and that's everything up until we got here." Luxxoria said. "And I'm fairly certain that you both know the rest."

"Let me get this straight." Baegon said. "You opened a portal to another dimension populated by sentient ponies, some that can fly and use magic, attacked them and got killed by six ponies wielding the power of friendship."

Luxxoria nodded.

"Several months later, you saved what you believe to be travellers from a bunch of Durotar scorpions, only to find out that you had actually saved the same six ponies who killed you. So you decided to take them to see Garrosh, who got pissed off about you 'attacking innocents'. You were told to train the ponies in Azerothian magic, but on your way to Moonglade, you were ambushed by a party of night elves, whom you then killed. Am I right so far?"

"You are." Zorann said flatly.

"A few minutes later, you were ambushed by Shattered Hand assassins acting on Garrosh's orders. He thought that these ponies were Alliance spies, so he wanted them dead. And he wanted you two dead because he thought you were a pair of incompetent fools. You defeated the assassins, and opened a portal to Moonglade. There you found out that Garrosh had the scroll containing the spell you used to get to... Equestria? Is that what you called it?"

Luxxoria groaned.

"Yes..."

"Right, right. Anyway, you realised that Garrosh was planning an invasion, so you set about trying to replicate the spell. Instead you ended up in Stormwind, persuaded the Alliance to help, went to Equestria... and pretty much saved the day."

Luxxoria and Zorann grinned and nodded.

"Yep."

Navitas and Baegon looked at each other for a moment.

"Yeah, okay." Navitas said. "We believe you."

"... you do?" Luxxoria replied.

"Yeah." Navitas chuckled. "I've heard of weirder things. I've even seen some weird stuff. For example, when I was a child, I spent a lot of time fishing in Darnassus. I used to have dreams about the fish fighting back. A few years later, and what do you know? I'm fighting murlocs in Darkshore."

"And I never thought I'd see the day when the Horde would fight each other." Baegon added. "But after seeing you two doing it... well, it's certainly made my opinion of you change."

"So..." Zorann said hesitantly, "... you're not going to kill us?"

The two Alliance shook their heads.

"Nope." Navitas said. "Besides, you're both really handy to have in a fight. And if King Wrynn trusts you... I guess we can too."

"So I don't need this stupid spell any more?" Luxxoria asked.

"Only if we go near an Alliance-held town." Baegon replied. "But that won't be for a while. We still need to find the White Pawn."

"Well, we have the direction Kearnen pointed towards." Zorann said. "We should head that way, see what we can find."

"Sounds like a plan." Baegon nodded.

The four of them set off in the direction suggested to them. As they walked, a pair of eyes watched from the cover of a tree.

"This. Isn't. Over."