"I've discovered," said Twilight to their armies, "That these things can only be killed with magic. As such, I want a raise of hooves of who knows the spell." A bunch of hooves shot up, among them was Nova Shine. "Nova," said Dusk, "I want you to teach the spell to any unicorns who don't know it." Nova saluted, "It's my special talent, after all, Dusk." Dusk smiled and nodded. "You know what would be useful?" asked Twilight, "More ponies. I know of at least 2 other worlds we could get ponies from. Or, in one world's case, should I say…
People."
"Oh!" exclaimed Pinkie, "You mean the mirror thing? Well, the portal's not open, and I can't exactly access it…" "I can, though," said Berry. "Oh yeah!" said Pinkie, "Okay, Berry. You go with Twilight to get some more ponies, both from my world and the human world. 'Kay?" Berry nodded. "Hold my hoof, Twilight," said Berry. Twilight did as he asked. Then they jumped into nowhere and disappeared.
"How you find your way around this place I have no idea," said Twilight. "Focus on your destination," said Berry, "It'll help a lot." Twilight nodded and focused on her memory of the outside of the portal. In a few minutes they were there. Twilight stood up, helping Berry up as well. Twilight wore the same clothes she had before, Berry wore dark magenta pants and a light blue shirt with three balloons embroidered on the shirt pocket. "This is new," said Berry. "Tell me about it," said Twilight, "Don't worry, I've been here before. C'mon, and don't worry about the legs. They do take some getting used to, but you'll get the hang of it." They walked inside, and as Twilight predicted Berry got the hang of his new appearance.
A bell rang and a ton of people flooded through the hallway. Twilight and Berry simply stood there. They were suddenly bumped into by somepony Twilight immediately recognized. "Oh, hey, Twilight!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "Funny seeing you here! What brings you to our side of the multiverse? And who's this?" "That was the lunch bell, right?" asked Twilight, jogging her memory. "Yep!" said Rainbow, "Discuss it over lunch, maybe?" "Great idea," said Twilight.
They walked through the lunch line with their trays and sat down at a table. All of Twilight's friends joined and greeted her, most asking who Berry was. Once everyone was sat down and quiet, Twilight said, "This is Bubble Berry." "He looks a lot like you, Pinkie," said Rainbow, noting the similarities. "Let me guess," said Pinkie before gasping and saying all in one breath, "There's another version of your world where everyone is the opposite gender but they're still all ponies and he's my counterpart in that world and you're here because you're trying to find more ponies for your army you're raising to fight some shadow creatures with the help of some fluffy dimension-hopping creatures! Right?" "This happened last time," said Rainbow sarcastically, "And despite how weird that is, that's exactly what's going on, right?" Twilight nodded sheepishly. "Okie Dokie Loki!" said Pinkie Pie, "Well, if you're making an army, I'll come!" "Not that it'd make any difference," said Fluttershy softly, "But I'll come too if you want…" Rainbow saluted and said, "Orders, Princess?" "Not right now, Commander Dash," said Twilight, "Later."
Everyone joined in and agreed to come. A few people had overheard their conversation and gathered around their table. People were muttering things like, "Twilight Sparkle's back! Isn't that amazing?" and "Where did she go, anyways?" and "They're building an army… that sounds cool!" "I heard you were building an army," said a familiar voice through the crowd, "I'd like to sign up." "Sunset Shimmer?" asked Twilight. Sunset made her way, gently, through the crowd that had gathered round the table and said, "Yeah." "A raise of hooves for whose coming?" asked Twilight. Nobody minded her Equestrian terminology, and everyone there raised their hands. Among them was Sunset Shimmer. "Ah'm pleased to see ya're coming," said Applejack, looking over at Sunset. "Thanks," said Sunset, "But honestly, how could I leave my friends?" "You just covered two Elements right there," commented Twilight. "Couldn't have done it without their help," said Sunset, pointing to Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity. "They're good friends," commented Twilight, "And they'll be even better soldiers. Right, girls?" "YEAH!" everyone shouted.
"Great thing about Berry," said Twilight, "Is he's an interdimensional traveler. Berry? Demonstrate." Berry opened a zipper portal into 'the vortex'. "Whoa," everyone said at once. "Come on, everybody!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, jumping in while shouting, "WHEE!" Rainbow Dash shrugged and jumped in as well. Then Fluttershy jumped in, and now everyone knew it was safe simply because someone like her would do it. Rainbow and Pinkie were tricksters and daredevils. But hence the most recent occurrence, everyone jumped in. And they were led through the vortex and to Equestria, #1044567 to be precise.
"A thousand and fifteen more ponies, coming up!" exclaimed Berry as they jumped out by threes, fours, fives and more until everyone was out. "You counted?" asked Dusk. "No, Twilight did!" exclaimed Berry. "That sounds more like it," said Dusk. "One problem," said the other Pinkie. She had a little trouble walking around on her hooves. Sunset Shimmer was the only one who had no problems. "Sunset?" asked Twilight, "Give these… ponies, now… a crash course in being a pony. Okay?" Sunset saluted and said, "Listen up!" Then she started her lesson. "Kay," said Pinkie, "Now I'll go back to my world and get more ponies!" "There are a lot of ponies in Equestria," said Twilight, "You're going to need somepony who can talk loud enough to…"
Pinkie simply pulled out her megaphone. "…All-righty then!" said Twilight, "Go ahead, Pinkie. Be back in an hour, tops." She knew full well that Pinkie's megaphone trumped even the Royal Canterlot Voice (by a lot) volume-wise. "Absolutely-tootly!" exclaimed Pinkie before she placed the megaphone in her saddlebags and jumped into nowhere. Pinkie came back a half hour later, twenty thousand ponies (roughly) behind her. "This… is the biggest army I've ever seen," said Rainbow Dash, flying up and getting a look at things. As she landed she bumped into…
Herself…
"Twilight!" exclaimed Rainbow, "Quit it with the duplication spells!" "I didn't do anything," said Twilight. "Who are you?" asked both Rainbow Dashes at the same time. "I'm Rainbow Dash, who are you?" they said in synch again, "Rainbow Dash!" Then they facehoofed…
You guessed it.
At the same time.
"It's gonna need to get bigger," said Nova Shine, "There's a ton of these creatures around." "Hurricane," said Cotton Candy, "You said earlier that there were more ponies, they just wouldn't come out. I say we fix that!" "Agreed!" exclaimed Bubble Gum. "Don't forget me!" exclaimed Bubble's ponified human counterpart. "I agree with Rainbow," said Bubble. "Both of them?" asked Bubble's other self. Bubble nodded and continued, "This is really weird." "It's got to be a nightmare for the author, too," commented Pinkie. "I totally agree with you," said Pinkie's other self. "Hi…" Fluttershy said to her other self. "Hi…" her other self replied. "I like you," Fluttershy said quietly, "You're not so noisy like those other ponies. I mean… nothing against them… but…" Her other self nodded and said, "I agree with you." "Once the war's over, wanna come to my cottage and meet my animals?" asked Fluttershy. "Great idea," said her other self, "And then you can come to my place on the Canterlot High campus and we can hand out fliers for the animal shelter together!" "Um… deal? If that's okay with you…" said Fluttershy, holding out a hoof gently. "Deal. Uh… that is… if that's okay with you…" said her other self, shaking it with no force at all.
"Back on topic, though," said Pinkie, "We should find those ponies and tell them to get off their lazy flanks and fight! 'Cause the shadow thingies are gonna come regardless!" "They won't want to unless they have some specific reason to, darling," said Rarity. "Indubitably," said Elusive. "Well said," commented Rarity. Elusive nodded sharply. "We'll have to win against these things," said Snowy Pearl, "At least once." "I think I know how," said Twilight, "Alicorns."