So, after a year, I'm finally updating this story. It's taken me a while to get some inspiration for the chapter, though.

I'm just going to say that in this story, the season six finale never happened, so Changelings are still evil. That's important.

Inside Twilight's castle, Corey couldn't stop staring at all the décor.

"This is so metal…" he murmured.

"I'm sure we'll find a way to send you home!" Twilight assured Grojband. "It's all a matter of finding the right spell. We'll just go to the library."

They entered the library to find a pink unicorn with a purple mane and a teal streak in her mane reading a magic book. She looked up and set the book down upon seeing Twilight.

"Hello, Twilight!" she said, a smile on her face. "What's up?"

"Grojband, this is my pupil, Starlight Glimmer," Twilight introduced. "Starlight, this is Grojband." Starlight looked at the group and held out a hoof to Corey.

"Pleased to meet you!" she told him.

"My name's Corey," he replied, shaking her hoof. "These are my friends: Kin, Kon, and Laney." He realized Laney wasn't with them. "Uh, where'd Laney go?"

"Rarity said something about Laney having a lovely figure and took her to her boutique," Twilight explained, looking through books. "She should be here soon. In the meantime, why don't you all help me look through these books?"

"Okay!" Kin agreed. He and Kon worked together to take books off the shelf. "You have a lot of books about magic."

"Of course! I'm the princess of friendship! I need the books to help me learn new spells and theories!"

"Cool!"

Twilight, Starlight, and the boys looked through most of the books in the library, once Starlight had been brought up to speed on the situation. So far, though, they couldn't find anything. Corey did learn how to levitate objects, which helped make getting books from the top shelves much easier for him.

"There's nothing!" Twilight groaned.

Suddenly, the library door opened and there was Rarity. She had a proud smile on her face.

"Hello, Twilight!" the white unicorn greeted her friend. "I'm finished with Elaine, and I wanted to show you the fruits of my labor!" She turned her head. "Come on in, darling. Nopony is judging you!"

"I hate this kind of stuff," Laney's voice said from the hall.

"Still, I must insist you show them how you look! I worked so hard on that ensemble and it'd be a shame for it to go to waste!"

"Fine, but nobody laugh."

Rarity moved out of the way and Laney stepped into the library. She was wearing a black dress with blue and green accents and a necklace made of yellow gemstones. Her hair had been curled in an elegant way, a pair of earrings that matched the necklace in her ears and a black headband across her head. In short, she looked… rockin'.

"Wow, Laney!" Kin gasped. "I've never seen you look like this!"

"Girly?" she deadpanned.

"No, cute! Or elegant! Or sophisticated!"

"He's right!" Kon complimented. "Corey, what do you think?"

Corey was staring at his best friend, his jaw slightly open and his heart pounding like a drum solo. He was literally speechless.

"Uh… Core…?" Laney asked. Starlight smirked and bumped Corey with her flank.

"You're drooling," she whispered. "Say something!"

"Oh, uh…!" Corey babbled. "L-Lanes! You look g-great!"

"I knew it. It's too girly, isn't it?"

"NO! It's… awesome! You look like a rock goddess!"

"I-I do?"

"Yeah!" Kin and Kon agreed.

"Well… maybe I'll wear it for a little while… what did you guys find?"

"Nothing," Twilight sighed. "How did you get the amp that transported you here?"

"I bought it at a music shop," Corey replied. "It looked cool, so I got it for the band. It had a weird symbol on it—" His eyes landed on The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide's cover. "That's it! That's the symbol!"

Twilight picked up the tome and looked at the Elements of Harmony symbol.

"That's odd. What would the symbol for the Elements of Harmony be doing in another world?"

"Beats me! I just bought the amp."

"Hmm… well, we're obviously not going to find our answer here. I think I saw something in the Castle of the Two Sisters that might give us a clue, though. Follow me."

Grojband and Starlight followed her out of the library. Rarity had returned to her shop to meet with a customer, so they were the only ones going.

"What's the Castle of the Two Sisters?" Corey asked.

"It was the home of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna when they first ruled Equestria, over a thousand years ago."

"Oh. So, you rule Equestria now? You said you were a princess."

"I am, but Celestia and Luna are still ruling over Equestria. My sister-in-law, Cadence, is in charge of the Crystal Empire along with my brother, Shining Armor."

"Oh." Corey stared at the ground. "It sounds like you get along with your brother."

"Most ponies do."

"But not all ponies. Me and my sister… we hate each other."

"Why?"

"We got along when we were little, but she slowly became a total witch."

"Well, I'm sure it'll get better."

By now, they had entered the Everfree Forest. Corey couldn't help but marvel at their surroundings. The plants were certainly different from anything he'd ever seen!

"Watch out for Poison Joke," Twilight warned, stopping the boys from stepping in a big patch of it. "Despite its name, it's not funny what that stuff does to you."

Laney felt uncomfortable, like she was being watched. She stayed close to the others while keeping an eye on her surroundings.

Not long after that, they found their way to the castle, which had a stone bridge now, built at Twilight's insistence. The group trotted across and entered the castle. Inside, they found it was partially rebuilt with signs of its age everywhere. Grojband and Starlight followed Twilight down a hallway. Laney was distracted by a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see someone who looked like a pony version of her twin brother, Lenny.

"Lenny?!" she whispered, then realized the others were gone. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't know. All I know is that a rainbow knocked me out and I ended up here, as a unicorn," he replied.

"I'm glad to see you, but where's the rest of your band?"

"The rest of my band?"

"You know: Carrie, Kim, Konnie…"

"Oh, yeah. They're… somewhere. We got separated. I came in here to find them."

"Well, I don't think they're here." She smiled at her brother, who smiled back. His eyes flashed from normal to slits for a split second, but she noticed. "You're not my brother," she hissed, anger burning through her.

"Don't be silly! Of course I am!"

"No. Your eyes. They're the giveaway." She began back away from the imposter. "Lenny's not even in Equestria."

"Oh, well. Time for Plan B."

"Plan B…?!"

Suddenly, four sets of hooves grabbed her. She flailed, trying in vain to get away from her attackers before one tied her up. They seemed like bug-pony hybrids, with compound eyes and Swiss-cheese legs. The Lenny imposter transformed into another one.

"This is the one," he told the others confidently. "Queen Chrysalis will be most pleased with us!" Laney managed to loosen the gag in her mouth.

"HELP! HELP ME!" she screamed, before one of her captors shoved the gag back in her mouth.

"Take her away," the leader, who seemed to be the one who'd taken Lenny's appearance. "I'll handle this." Laney watched in horror as he transformed into her. "Bye-bye, Otherworlder."

In the library…

"HELP! HELP ME!"

Corey's head shot up at the sound of Laney's voice. He got up and ran out of the library.

"Did you hear that?!" Kin asked Kon.

"I heard it, too!" Twilight confirmed. They ran after Corey.

In the hallway, they found him helping Laney to her hooves. She looked a little disoriented.

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

"I just wound up in another part of the castle. It was kinda freaky." Twilight smiled and shook her head.

"That's fine. There's secret passages all over the place. It was only a matter of time until somepony found one."

"Well, at any rate, let's figure out how to get home." Laney trotted down the hall, followed by the others.

Laney's acting weird… Corey thought, but he shook it off.

The next thing Laney knew, she was in a cell of some kind. She felt confused, but determined. She had to warn the others.

"Like, yay and whatnot!" an all-too-familiar voice cackled. She looked up to see who could only be the pony version of Trina, with a pale pink body and a hot pink mane with a purple headband.

"Trina!" Laney glared at the older mare through the bars.

"Hello, Lamey. Welcome to the Hive!"

"The Hive?!"

"Changeling Hive, to be exact. Let's see my lame-o brother try to like, rescue you now and junk!"

Yes, the Changelings are my villains, and there's a reason they kidnapped Laney. I think this story will have five chapters, but I'm not sure. I'll try to make every chapter at least 1,500 words.

So long and thanks for all the fish!