A New World Fools

There are infinite possibilities that exist when the world places magic in your hands. So many ways that such power can be bent, harnassed and manipulated; whether for the most selfless of goods or the most heinous of evils, the mere possibility is ever present in the back of our minds, the temptation to use such gifts to benefit ourselves and no one else.

Equestria thankfully has averted such things, creating a land of prosperity, hope, innovation and above all else, peace.

Well, our Equestria has anyway.....

It's time to leave the Equestria you know. Step out of that calm, soothing sunlight... take a walk in the palest of moonlights for a time. Infinite possibilities exist after all, and not all of them can end well...


((So yes... I am sorry to say that OP has completely and utterly failed at doing an intro here. Because of that, please intro your OCs doing whatever they would be doing before being pulled into this alternate world and the second post will pick up from those.

Those who wish to be included have until Monday for posts))

Radiant Hope gasped in air, pulling her broadsword out of the corpse of a brigand. The work of a caravan guard was never done. She stumbles over to the wagon circle, collapsing against one of the carts. A fellow guard crumples to the ground next to her, equally exhausted. "There's... too many.. of them.." her fellow guard says between gulps of air.
Radiant Hope shakes her head, letting her innate powers flow into the demoralized guard. "No. Their numbers are finite, and our skill is superior. We will prevail." Radiant allows herself a small smile as she watches the spark of hope ignite and grow into a roaring bonfire. An angels work was never odne, but it had its perks.

In a middle of a lovely day, a very disgruntle blue unicorn crumbling up papers from her sketch book and throwing it in a nearby recycle bin. 
"Ugg stupid, art block, or boring town." the mare complain before shoving the sketchbook into her bag and pulled out a lollipop. Popping it into her mouth. 
"How can any artist last in this town. I pretty much made everything that not stupid and if I have to make one more castle I swear I'm going to snap." The mare muttered before leaning her head back with her bag strapped around her. In the midst of trying to relax. She sat down on a nearby bench and began to make origami with one of her fail drawing. "So, board, when is the next monster attack or supervillain take over going to happen?" She said to herself hoping no one overheard her. 
((Sickle will be wearing a white long-sleeve cropped shirt. and light gray straight jeans with black sneakers.)

Night Rose zipped up her backpack, putting it on and securing the straps. “Alright, I’m ready for school, Mom.” She said to the pink mare beside her, straightening her dress out. “Mom, I look fine. Since when were you so crazy about my clothes?”

Strawberry rubbed the back of her head, a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry, sweetie. You know how I get sometimes. Just… Just have a good day at school, okay?”

The filly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll make sure today goes better than yesterday.” She said, stepping out the door. “Bye Mom.”

Strawberry shut the door behind her and was was startled by a poke at her rump. She jumped and say a smiling yellow pegasus mare. “Hiya, ‘Mom.’” She teased.

“Sunny! What are you doing here?” She demanded. Then she noticed her tone and calmed down. “You haven’t visited in a while. Everything alright?” She asked.

Sunny shook her head. “I’ve been tracking an anomaly. It’s been popping up everywhere at once.” She took a look outside. “Yup, and it took your daughter.” She deadpanned.

Strawberry, however, flipped out. “WHAT!? What happened to her!?”

“Calm down. She’s only been whisked to another dimension. I don’t know from there if she’s in any danger or not though. Come with me, and we’ll see, a woooooorld of pure imagination.” She started singing, but was cut short by an apple in her mouth.

“I hate it when you do that.” She said with a sigh. “So can you find out if she’s in any danger?”

Sunny spit out the apple and shook her head. “The anomaly, while easy to track, is hard to access. If you follow me, I can pull up visuals, but it will be some time before Viola can hack past the anomaly. Wherever it is, it’s a world I have yet to visit.”

Strawberry relented. “Fine. Let’s see. I’m worried about Night Rose though.”

“Relax, she’ll be fine. She’s your kid, after all.” Sunny reassured her.

Meanwhile, Night Rose had been pulled into a potentially fantastic adventure that she can brag about afterwards.

(By the by, my only character from here on, unless given permission otherwise, is Night Rose. The others are just there for a good intro.)

It had been such a good day thus far for Lotus Blossom and Aloe. Their favorite regular customer had come for her regular appointment, bit purse heavy with the success of her fashionista brilliance, and the tips had flowed like delicately-perfumed steamy water. Rarity had been in one of her crisis moods, a state of high drama and ladylike distress that the spaponies had learned meant that she would be bathing them in appreciation and praise in the midst of her weekly bathing with the sweet-natured and quiet Fluttershy lounging beside her and letting them both work out their fantasies with her mane. So many luxurious pink locks in such excellent health, and somehow always seemed to hold the most outrageous experimental styles perfectly. The work never lasted beyond the door (Fluttershy was so sorry) but it was fun to play with. Rarity and the butter-colored pegasus had left an hour before, glowing with relaxation and serenity from the pampering, leaving Aloe and Lotus glowing themselves with pride in their work.

That's when SHE appeared.

It wasn't hard to spot a pony that had never been to a spa before; they always looked completely out of place and ill at ease even with soft music and soothing sounds enveloping them. They were always shy and nervous, unsure of themselves and even slightly intimidated by what was going on. Sometimes, they were even a little embarrassed at having come to be pampered. This mare? She walked in the door wearing heavy steel-toed work boots, a sooty leather apron liberally smeared with grease and oil, a vest with tools and components virtually spilling out of it, gloves that had segmented metal plates over them, and a set of heavy bronze goggles with a jeweler's glass integrated into one eyepiece, and went straight to the front counter.
"Oy, this is the Bay Leaf Retreat, yeah?" she asked in a heavy Trottingham accent that sounded like it came right off the docks.
"Y... yes," Aloe replied, looking slightly up at the emerald coat and eyes of the mare, her face framed by a snow-white mane that looked strangely clean and cared-for in stark contrast to the rest of her attire.
"Right then." One of the pouches of her vest opened up and out came a fist full of bits that she counted off by means of scooting each individual bit out of her hand with her thumb. "Here's the price for th' works. Got thrice this riding on me comin' out the other end pampered, fresh, and not having cracked a skull. Word is, you and yer sis are top-flight pros; th' sounds and atmos tell me ya got game." She extended a gloved hand. "Verde Tin. Ye?"
Aloe swallowed and tentatively touched the metal hand, expecting to feel the slickness of oils or some other unmentionable fluid, and finding the glove smoothly clean instead. Feeling more confident, she shook the hand with as much grip as she could manage--not a small amount for a professional spa pony, mind you. "Aloe Blossom."
Persuading their visitor to part with the entire plethora of her work gear proved to be far easier than they hoped--with a couple exceptions. What'd been well-hidden by the rest of her gear was a crowbar and a machete, both tools looking as if they got regular vigorous use, and fastidious attentive care. Parting Verde from the tools proved impossible, partly because keeping them on through the entire experience proved to be part of the wager she seemed to have made, and partly because Verde treated them like treasured possessions that she appeared to fear being parted from.
Fortunately for the bathing pool, part of Verde's obsessive care was that both tools were almost surgically clean and the water appeared to do them no harm (although the mare spent ten minutes toweling them off over and over again until she was satisfied that they were dry). Oddly, a pair of polished tools hanging off her waist seemed to go naturally with the nice terrycloth robe they got her into after the bathing and weren't too intrusive for her to lounge back with a facial mask and cucumbers over the eyes, and be cripplingly bored. And it appeared that boring Verde Tin to crippling levels unleashed the dockyard Trottingham, replete with talking that made the yammering of Pinkie Pie welcome. Not that it was wholly bad--what little they could understand through her accent sounded like she somehow had thrilling adventures every day of the week, and the stories sounded amazing and interesting--but at some point in the tirade, Aloe leaned over to her sister Lotus and whispered "Sedatives. Now. Before it's too late."
"For us or her?"
"If she continues, both."

Jammex was casually walking through Appleloosa, a heavy bag full of dynamite and fireworks hanging by his side. Apparently this delivery was for a wedding but Jammex certainly didn't know what kind of wedding ceremony needs a bunch of dynamite... well, maybe his wedding if he ever got married but still, it was more than a little unusual though, considering the amount of money promised to him for making this delivery, he decided it would be better not to ask.

"Okay, I need to sit down for a while. This bag is way too heavy." He said to himself as he looked around for a place to rest. After a few seconds of looking around a bench caught Jammex's eye and he slowly strolled over to it before sitting down. "Ahhh, much better..."

Swindle walked down the streets of Manehatten, a sly grin on his face. In his suit pocket, a bit bag jingled with newly aquires funds, all of which had at one point belonged to a unknowing tourist, happy that someone was being so helpful, if a little touchy feely; a naive native, just trying to be helpful to a stranger who suddenly had fallen down; or simply someone who didn't pay attention to their surroundings, and certainly not to the sudden loss of weight in their pocket. Even the bit bag wasn't his; just another thing that some local will certainly be missing when they look to pay someone.

His grin softened when he remembered that he needed to divvy up his gains with his parents; without their knowlege of course, he'd just leave their cut of the profit on the doorstep. He thought about actually properly visiting his parents, but decided against it, as they would certainly ask about the random bit bags being left at their door.

"Yeah", he thought, "I'll just never visit my folks again. To avoid that topic." He mentally sighed at himself. He knew he'd have to confess eventually. For now, however, they'd just have to be left in the dark. More immediately, however, he actually had to get there. So he continued walking, now a bit slower, as he was now deep in thought about how to deal with his problem.

The effect was instantaneous for those the anomaly claimed; it didn't yank, it didn't suck them towards it, it didn't even make any noise as the swirl of black and blue simply formed around them and wrapped itself around them almost like a cocoon, stranding them in a pitch black void for a few moments before it reopened again and dumped them all together onto a cold grassy field under a full moon's night.

"...a child? You never said nothing about that." The voice came from a thestral standing next to the group that had just been dumped on the floor, wearing a long brown duster and fedora with a pair of revolvers clutched in her hands and aimed tentatively at the new arrivals; a small figure, barely any bigger than Night Rose, stood behind her in a white cloak which covered her from head to toe.

"You guys alright?" A stallion's voice asked this time as the western-styled mare seemed to argue with the figure in the white cloak. "Name's Equinox..." He said with an awkward looking grin as he offered a hand up to whoever wanted it; he had a pitch black coat and a mane to match, so much it would've been hard to see him in the darkness if it weren't for his... rather loud bright purple shirt and white trousers. "Look, I'm sorry you folks have gotten dragged into this. Umm, just a quick question, totally not important, but you all know about Nightmare Moon, right?" He asked in a horribly failed attempt to keep things casual.

The field they had landed in led in one direction to a country road and the other to a thick wall of trees, which some may recognise as being the Everfree Forest; they must have been on the other side of the forest to where the village of Ponyville lay.

Radian groans, pushing herself upright. She did not appreciate the extra-dimensional jaunt, nor its unceremonious deposit on the floor. Fallen or not, she was still a angel, and she felt she deserved a tad more respect than that.
The stallion that dragged them here was also asking about Nightmare Moon for some reason.
Practically snarling, she says "She is known, yes. Why have you dragged me here in such a manner?!" All three pairs of wings flap as she hovers out of the tangle of bodies.

Sickle first glance around her new surroundings. "You greet me like my friend does." Sickle first addressing the thestrail with the revolvers. In a kind of cheerful manner.
She nonchalantly sat up. "Now normally I would be mad about the whole kidnapping me thing, but you did stop me from going down to the local bakery and complete denigrating my diet,So we cool, As for your Nightmare Moon question. Everyone heard about her. tall, evil laugh, the night will last forever all that fun stuff. Not one of my personal favorite to make. But She quite popular sculpture in the fall season." sickle said this in a lot more relaxed way. Kind of just taking the dimensional thing like it was just an everyday thing for her.

Verde feels the brief sensation of magic all around her but by the time she can reach up to attend to the slices of cucumber over her eyes, she's laying in a cold grassy field in moonlight. Here, she lays perfectly still while voices talk and one of those voices asks about Nightmare Moon. When she's sure any talking is done with, she calmly reaches up and takes the cucumber slices off her closed eyes, opens her mouth, inserts, and crunches down, chewing slowly. She then opens her eyes and rotates the irises to look at Equinox, the gunslinger thestral, and the small figure in a white cloak before moving them back to Equinox. "You know, I love my work but it's never going to make me rich," she says in response, her accent milder than the one she used with Aloe and Lotus and her tone somewhat scarily calm. "So a spa treatment, partly on a dare, was something of an investment. That money is now lost. I now find myself in a position where someone has made me obligated to either cut, or club, a bitch and possibly more than one. I really don't like that, but I feel like I kinda gotta have to. Why do you gotta make me have to, hmm? Why ya gotta?"

At this juncture, her mind also seems to catch up with the fact that part of the spa treatment involved taking her clothes, all of her clothes, and leaving her with nothing but the robe she's wearing. Which has fallen open, albeit only slightly. Verde sighs and rubs her temples, and then rises to a sitting position. "Then again, I seem to be cunt naked, which is possibly the most inconvenient thing I've experienced since a series of unfortunate events led to someone else's clothes being destroyed and me seeing things that no one should ever be forced to see, under any circumstances ever. So I think I'll wait on the cutting a bitch until I'm less naked; lucky you." She grabs Equinox' hand in a very nearly crushingly firm grip and uses it as a lever to haul herself to her feet. "As to Nightmare Moon, yes I know of her. Celestia's little sister, 'bout twice as good-looking as her, gone a little mad and about twice as hot. The hot part is pure speculation, by the by, but all the exquisitely detailed artists' renditions have to have had some basis in reality. I seem to recall something about night eternal, or the night lasting forever, or the moon never setting, or..." She glances up at it and then at him "...we're in a reality where she pulled it off and are now about as bucked as we can possibly be, aren't we?" Verde sighs. "I don't care how much my dumb cousin pokes me... I'm never going to another spa for the rest of my life."

Despite being rather shocked at being dumped in the middle of a moonlit field Jammex breathed a sigh of relief. "Well I guess this beats the unbearable heat of Appleloosa but... What is this place? I recognise the forest but I have no idea where this is... or why it's the middle of the night." His ears prick up a little when Nightmare Moon is mentioned. "Who doesn't know? She was sent to the moon after she tried to bring about eternal ni-- oh, wait..." He sighed as he realised what was going on.

Jammex sat up and blushed when he saw that Verde had a distinct lack of clothes. He rooted around in his bag before pulling out a large cowpony hat and handing it to her. "Err you might want to use this to... well, cover up a little bit."

Swindle blinked. One minute he was in Manehatten, a place not exactly renowned for it's fields, to just that-a grassy field, in the middle of the night, with guns pointed at him, and with complete strangers surrounding him. He eyed the thestral briefly, opting to ignore her question for the time being, wondering if he could get a shot off, and if that shot would even kill. He decided against it, and looked at the individuals around him. He paid special attention to the mare who began snarling, with three sets of wings, though he did take notice to the others.

"Looks like some sorta guard. Great. And I thought today would be a good day." He thought to himself. He was about to speak, before the robe wearing mare stated speaking. Two thoughts ran through his head. The first was, 'great, two potential problems', noting that she was quick to want to use violence; the second was a dread filled noting of how the fact that it was night, and that the garishedly clothed stallion was asking about nightmare moon, couldn't be a coincidence.

He gulped quietly, and opted to remain silent, looking to see how this encounter would play out.

Night Rose tripped and fell back as she was pulled from one dimension to another. She picked herself off the ground and looked around at her surroundings, briefly put off by the naked mare. She then looked at the thestral with the guns and the cloaked figure behind her. Whatever happened to her on her way to school, she could now guess she wasn’t really going to make it there on time. In fact, based on the stories Mom would tell her, she was possibly in another reality entirely. Judging by what the ponies around her saying, she guessed that the thestral and dark stallion were responsible for what happened. And well, she could have gotten mad and threatened them with the wrath of the Guardians, but they weren’t here right now, and that thestral has guns. Besides, her mom had raised her better than that. So instead, she kept quiet and listened, eager to learn more. She also reached into her backpack and took out her notebook and a pencil, ready to take notes.

"Serena, you dragged a bucking foal into this!" The thestral mare with guns snarled at the hooded figure, sounding rather angry at her though the hooded figure showed no obvious reaction to her anger, the hood cast such a dark shadow over her face that they couldn't make out any features anyway; the black coated stallion had been glaring at her too when he jumped and nearly fell over himself at the sight of Radiant Hope.

"Look, don't do anythi- OW!" The stallion yelped as Verde practically crushed his hand. "Right, then well..." He looked ready to start explaining until Verde ploughed on and pretty much summed up exactly what he intended to say. ".....yeah, kinda that." He admitted sheepishly. He noticed the robe issue and quickly unbuttoned his shirt and offered it to her. "Sorry about that... we didn't really know what any of you were up to before the summoning." He apologised; his torso was crisscrossed with small scars.

"And it would appear the summoning was weaker than anticipated..." The voice didn't come from either the gunslinger or Equinox but it didn't seem to come from any real direction either; almost as if an invisible person was whispering into all of their ears at once, though from the way Equinox turned to look at the hooded figure it wasn't hard to guess who it was. "We apologise for pulling all of you into this... it would not have been our first choice but our options have been exhausted..." Her voice was very weak almost like somebody recovering from an illness that had left them bedridden.

"We must fall back." Her voice sounded a bit sharper all of a sudden. There was no visible sign of any difference in the air but Live Iron had her guns aiming in every direction alternately now and Equinox had produced a short sword from a sheathe on his hip. "Please, I shall explain to all of you... but we must not be out in the open... among the trees, quickly..."

"We'll be fine." Equinox assured them while he seemed to be trying to look in every direction at once. "But you lot need to hide, now!" He looked frightened and the gunslinger too looked intimidated as well as she was doing to hide it, despite the lack of obvious threat.

Verde accepts his shirt and without any hesitation or shame, drops the robe entirely to put it on before calmly picking the now-slightly-moist robe up and putting it back on, closing the part around her waist a bit more securely than before. "Been in the hurting and getting hurt business for a while, I take it," she comments, making no attempt to conceal a quick and admiring look at the torso bearing the scars. At the sound of the third voice, however, she turns sharply and looks directly at the hooded figure. "'We'? 'Our'? Oh bloody 'elll... it just had to get... ugh..." She shakes her head and unsheathes her machete. "Among the trees, yeah, right quick then." And with no hesitation, she makes for the trees around them although not very far in, deep enough to escape easy observation but shallow enough that she can watch what goes on and have a good chance of hearing it as well. She crouches down in the underbrush, letting its irregularity break up her silhouette.

Upon hearing one of the strangers were naked, sickle couldn't help but look over.
Don't mind me just admiring the view.
Only to be blocked a few moments later by a hat and shirt, boo.
"Wait, so if luna kicks celes butt to the curb, then how come we not all popsicles? and where you're going?" Sickle began to question only to be stopped by some of the others begin to run into the woods. "Better listen to the scary looking guy right." She said to the strangers before running into the woods like the others When she was deep enough not to get spotted on a glance, she did a quick teleporting spell to pop herself onto a sturdy tree branch using the trunk as a cover, "Who are we hiding from?" She whispers to whoever was the closest to her.

Radiant glares at their abductors, still angered at being carried off. They hadn't really addressed her question to her satisfaction either, putting the angel in a foul mood. She didn't really get why they were making such a fuss about having taken a child either. 'Must be some sort of ritualistic specifications.' Regardless, their emotions painted a clear picture of fear, and convinced Radiant that staying here without hiding was a bad idea. she quickly goes to a bush, and after making sure her sword is within easy access she hides herself amidst the leaves.
Of small concern to her was that one of the ponies she found herself among would panic, and give the rest away. If need be, she could fix that though.

Jammex sighed as he stood up. "Right, all your other options were gone except pulling a bunch of randos into it. Yep, seems like my kind of shitty fucking luck. Hello shitty luck, I'm Jammex and it's just fucking great that I happened to run into you today." He mumbled, not noticing that everyone else seemed to be rushing into bushes and behind the trees until he was done doing so. "Great, I guess the fun train is rolling into town judging by everyone suddenly taking an interest in the local bushes... Should probably find somewhere to hide myself." He spent a few moments looking for an ideal spot before darting behind a tree on the edge of the forest.

Swindle looked around, still staying quiet. The biggest thing on his mind was how exactly he and the others got pulled into this. Some of them looked dangerous enough, others sounded dangerous, but then there was him, and the kid. He knew about his combat prowess, and he vey much doubted the kid could do much in this sort of situation.

He was snapped back to reality upon seeing the others start running for the trees. He hadn't really been listening, so he didn't quite know what was happening, but given where he was, and what they were talking about earlier, he put two and two together.

He was frightened, but he wouldn't show the others that. Instead, he made it look like he was keeping his cool, and ran into the forest with the others, hiding himself where he would be hard to spot, but could still see the field, in case something happened.

Night Rose looked around, confused the sudden happenings. She put her notebook away and followed the others into the forest. Hiding behind a tree, she could feel the forest around her. Her mom never let her into the Everfree. Not just because it was dangerous, but because she wasn’t sure if Night Rose would react well to the wild plant life. She was still young, and her gift wasn’t exactly well trained. Strawberry didn’t even let her practice with her supervision, mainly due to any risks associated with attempting to control plants. The call of the forest was tempting though, and she wished she could, but the situation was confusing and dangerous, with all these strange ponies here. So she just tried to focus on hiding from… whatever she was trying to hide from.

The white hooded figure glided after the group, never seeming to even touch the floor as she passed through the barrier of the trees easily and positioned herself between Sickle and Verde.

"Keep silent everyone." Her voice again echoed in their ears as a swirl of shadows gathered in the field all around Equinox and Live Iron, almost obscuring the two from view at times until, bizarrely, an ornate white door stood before them with shadows convalescing and pulsing around it like many pitch black serpents. "No matter what happens, maintain your hiding place." Her voice was as calm and measured as if they were merely sightseeing.

The door flew open in front of Equinox and Live Iron. The first pony to step out was a very tall, very thin pegasus with a bright green coat and a red and white streaked mane which fell down over his eyes slightly, which were a piercing blue. He would've been handsome if it wasn't for the seemingly permanent scowl on his face and the look of utter disdain in his eyes when he looked at the two thestrals before him.

"Rather late for a stroll isn't it?" He remarked calmly; from behind him several armored figures, clad in dark blue, spiked plate mail had emerged and were aiming spears and crossbows at them both.

"Lovely to see you too Kuleco." Live Iron remarked as if she wasn't aiming a revolver at his head.

The green stallion looked around as if he hadn't heard her. "So... where are they?"

"Where's who?" Equinox asked. He promptly paid for the attempt at denial when the butt of a crossbow was smashed into his face, blood spurting from both nostrils as he buckled. Live Iron swore loudly at Kuleco but relented when the soldier aimed their crossbow at Equinox's head.

"I am not a patient stallion, filthy bat." Kuleco said so quietly the group in the trees could barely hear it. "And I am also not foolish enough to believe those you have called cannot hear me." He raised his voice suddenly, so those in the trees could hear him clearly now.

"I am going to give you all until the count of five to reveal yourselves." Kuleco said, facing the treeline while from within his coat he drew what looked like a bomb. "Five... four.... thr-AAAGH!"

"RUN!" Live Iron bellowed at the tree line as her bullet tore straight through Kuleco's shoulder, a second bullet punching through the helmet of one of the guards as they tried to retaliate, a third was stopped when Equinox sunk his sword into their knee.

One guard separated themselves from the fight and took off at a run toward the trees right towards the group.

"Hide." The robed figure said before they utterly faded away into nothing, disappearing on the spot.

Jammex's eyes widened as events unfolded before him. As the guard advanced towards his position he pulled out a small set of firecrackers and a lighter. After lighting the fuse he threw it as far away from everyone as he could, hoping the noise would fool him into looking elsewhere.

Okay doesn't matter how hot looking you are, Jerkwads are still jerkwads.
Sickle got confused by the mix orders, do we run or hide. See that one of the other guys decided just to try to use firecrackers to blow stuff up, two things went to Sickle's mind. Okay A. that going to back fire, they find us, and we'll all be forced to serve, Some jerk in maid outfits... or get our head chopped off. Or B. Someone going to wind up hurt.
Sickle thought it is best to stay put for now and press her back against the tree. She then blew a small pile of snow into her hand, just in case of... something.

Quickly realizing that they would be found if they stayed, and that she herself would have a better chance of escaping if everyone scattered, Radiant began to draw on her angelic right.
As she withdrew as stealthily as she could form the grove, the fallen angel leaked fear and cowardice into the surrounding area, hoping to either push her fellow portal-mates into fleeing, disrupting the hunt, or both.