Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Ponyville Town Square

Time: 1004 years after the defeat of Nightmare Moon

Sunset ran up to inspect the pony, and he was totally flabbergasted when he saw it.

It was an alicorn… an alicorn stallion to be exact. The pony was a bright yellow, with a dark brown mane. On his flank was a deep blue circlet, with an elaborate, deep blue sword sticking through the ring horizontally. Slowly the alicorn opened his eyes to look at the ponies surrounding him… his eyes were also a deep blue. Slowly still, the pony got to his feet. At first, he tried to stand like a bipedal, but he soon resigned to standing on all fours.

"What the hell am I?" He exclaimed, "Oh my god, don't tell me that this universe… oh yeah. My Little Pony… I get it. Hilarious. Look, I come in peace, I am here to rest."

The ponies murmured amongst themselves and backed off in fear. The only two to approach the strange pony were Sunset and Fluttershy, who kept well behind.

Sunset walked up, squinting his eyes. Then the alicorn took notice, "what are you looking at?" he said.

"Oh my god," breathed Sunset, "the firstborn… JAMES!"

The alicorn immediately recognized Sunset's voice and threw up a hoof. It crackled with electricity as he pointed it at Sunset's face.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't Joseph Torrus! The madman of the multiverse!" said James through gritted teeth, "who would have thought you were here. What are you up to? Corrupting the souls of the inhabitances? Forcing them to build a sky-scraping monument in your name?"

Sunset scrambled away quickly, exclaiming, "No James! No! I am reformed! Paradox said so! In fact, I was able to conjure the chains of truth once more and bind Abbadon!"

"S-S-Sunset? What's going on?" whimpered Fluttershy, still cowering.

James turned his blazing eyes on the yellow Pegasus. "And who is this? Your personal slave? How quaint."

This time, Sunset got mad. "That is my wife you freaking idiot! Back off."

James's mouth dropped open as he realized that Sunset was telling the truth… and that Fluttershy was pregnant.

"My god… Well… That's… Well…"

Sunset, still glaring intensely, then said, "What brings you here, firstborn?"

Suddenly a wearied and pained expression filled James's face. He sat down on his haunches and looked Sunset in the eyes.

"Torrus, the good travelers are all dead. I had gathered the few white knights of the multiverse who were still alive and made a team. We took out large amounts of mercenary fortresses, black markets, and demon hives… but on our last mission, we were tricked… and they were all killed."

Sunset sat down slowly too, his eyes filling with horror. "Does that mean…?" whispered Sunset slowly.

"Yes," said James, "if you are truly good, then we are the last living heroes of the dimensions. Everyone else have either turned or been killed."

James slowly lay down and buried his face in the dirt. "I- I cannot take it anymore. I failed. I've never failed."

Sunset placed a hoof on James's drooping shoulders, "I've known failure, and I understand, but you must pull yourself together!"

James shook the hoof off violently and exclaimed, "You don't understand do you? I've NEVER failed. Hell, I've lived eight thousand years and I haven't lost a battle, or lost hope for our kind. I've failed!"

"Failed what? A test? That's terrible!"

Fluttershy and Sunset turned to see Twilight walking up to them; the group of ponies had dispersed to go about their own business, and it was just them alone in the town square. She then noticed James. Her mouth nearly dropped to the floor.

"Wha…? Huh…? Not possible… OH MY GOSH!" she ran up to James and said, "How are you? Who are you? Where are you from? Do you know Sunset?! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"

James scrambled up and placed a hoof firmly over her mouth. "Stop please."

After a moment, Twilight calmed down and James removed his hoof. Clearing his throat, he said, "I am Lord Abimael 'James' Sethson. Dimensional Orientation: MAO-9. Generation: 1st. Power tier: 1. The 'firstborn' dimensional traveler."

Twilight bowed her head, "I am princess Twilight Sparkle."

James, still grim, curtly bowed back.

Sunset and Fluttershy, who were looking on, gave each other side-long glances and rolled their eyes.

James looked towards Sunset, "Torrus, how long have you been here?"

Sunset grinned, "I've been here a little over two years now. I'm married, and will soon a family… unless you already count our rabbit Angel and our animal friends."

James raised his eyebrows cynically, but didn't say anything at first. After a moment, he sighed, "Well, you wouldn't mind sharing the same dimension as me, would you?"

Sunset winked, "Of course I wouldn't, it would be an honor to be near the firstborn."

James snorted, "I would have graciously accepted that honor a few years ago… but no longer. Torrus, what the hell are we going to do?"

Sunset sat down next to James. "Wait," he said, "The Paradox spoke to me a while back, and said that a great evil would soon reveal itself, at that time, we must be ready. However, it seems that though the era of anarchy is reaching its climax, that evil is not yet evident. We must wait."

James buried his face in the dirt again and groaned, "Torrus, I've lived eight thousand freaking years… I cannot wait any longer."

Sunset rolled his eyes, "Yes, James, I KNOW you've lived eight thousand years. EVERY being knows you've lived eight thousand years."

The bite in Sunset's tone seemed to invigorate James a bit, and he sat up again. "Well, what am I going to do, then, Torrus?"

Sunset thought for a moment, then replied, "First, you're going to stop calling me Torrus and start calling Sunset, or Sunset Shadow. Then, you're going to stop going by the name firstborn, or James, or Abimael 'James' Sethson; find yourself a reasonable pony name."

James looked at Sunset as if he had gone insane. "My god Torrus," he said, "this place has really gotten to you!"

Sunset rolled his eyes again, "Yeah, yeah. Go ahead, James, think of a name."

James actually looked like he was putting in a great deal of thought for a few moments. After the pause, he said slowly, "I think… I think my name will be… Flaming Star… though James or firstborn still suits me much, much better."

Sunset nodded to Flaming Star and said, "Right. Nice choice, though I cannot really see you as one. Are you sure you want that as a name? Ponies will be calling you this from now-on-out."

Flaming Star nodded, "It represents what I am. I am as old as a star, and I still have fire in me… though an argument could be made that I am a dying star as well."

Twilight, who was obviously taken by Flaming Star, smiled at him and said, "No, it's perfect. A bright star for all to see. Oh! Do you want to come by my library? I have all kinds of books about stars!"

Flaming Star looked nervously at Twilight, and said, "Er… no, thanks any way though. I really have to get settled in… somewhere…"

"Oh!" said Fluttershy happily, "he could stay with us!"

Immediately Flaming Star and Sunset began to give out lame excuses until they both quieted down awkwardly. Flaming Star immediately turned to Twilight, "I… er… actually think I would like to see those books you have."

Sunset then said, "But Flaming Star, you don't have a house yet!"

Flaming Star nodded, "Yeah, I know, but I know I can build one quickly. Power tier 1, remember?"

Sunset nodded and turned to Fluttershy, "Let's go dear."

Fluttershy nodded and followed Sunset off to their house on the borders of Ponyville.

Flaming Star watched the receding figures of Sunset and Fluttershy and commented to Twilight, "Has Torrus, er, Sunset Shadow really changed?"

Twilight nodded vigorously, "He has! I didn't know much of his past except what he told me, but I understand that there has been an amazing change… Fluttershy seems to think so at least."

Flaming Star shook his head in disbelief, "he got married… and now he's going to have kids! I wonder if I sometime should get hitched…" After he said that, he sighed sadly.

Twilight, who was slightly blushing, looked at Flaming Star. "What's the matter?" she said.

"Eh… it's nothing really… I mean… I've lived for so long that… that everything has started to lose meaning!"

Twilight smiled. "I understand what you mean," she said quietly, "As an alicorn, I have to embrace eternity as well. I may be young, but I understand that princesses live far longer than any other type of pony… so I have a long life ahead of me."

Flaming Star turned to look at Twilight with interest. He raised his eyebrows cynically as his perceptive eyes blazed into her soul. After a long pause, Flaming gave a little half-smile and said, "I think I would like to see those books now, princess Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight blushed lightly and said, "Please, call me Twilight, Flaming Star."

Dimension: The Inferno

Planet: The Inferno

Specific Location: The Inferno

Time: Eternity

To the average hell-bound onlooker, the frozen mountain of Azrael looked like an enormous pile of frozen rock and ice, twice the size of Mount Everest, but what those damned did not know was that it was also a prison for one of the most feared demons of all time: Legion.

He had been responsible for the destruction of many a dimension, and had clashed and been driven off many a time by Lord Abimael "James" Sethson. However, after an extremely humiliating defeat during the year 34 Anno Domini in Earth Prime years, Legion was trapped within the frozen colossal that is Mount Azrael. There he had existed, trapped for 1980 years… waiting for a chance to escape.

Over the massive vertical frozen expanse of the colossal mountain, a thin, small crack formed on the ice, caused by who-knows-what. But bit by bit, the crack grew… In time, the crack would be large enough for the demon commander-in-chief, Legion, to escape.

Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Twilight's Library

Time: 1004 years after the defeat of Nightmare Moon

Flaming Star, still with eyebrows critically raised, trotted into the Twilight's library. As he looked around, Spike walked in.

"Hey Twi! How are- woah! Who is that?!" Spike said excitedly pointing to Flaming Star.

"I am Lord Abimael… I mean, I am Flaming Star. Pleased to meet you," said Flaming Star.

Spike looked completely dumbfounded. After a moment of searching for words, he turned to Twilight, "he- he's an anicorn!"

Flaming Star put his head to one side, "I did not know that alicorns seemed to draw forth such unnecessary awe, should I shape shift to something else?"

Spike's jaw dropped even further as he said, "you can SHAPE-SHIFT?"

Twilight shook her head as she ran to Spike over to ensure he didn't feint. "No, Flaming Star, I think you're fine just the way you are!"

Flaming Star looked at her curiously, but he nodded… and then smiled a full smile… He liked this pony. She was awkward, young, and inexperienced, and it was obvious that she had a crush on him, but she was interesting nevertheless.

Flaming Star turned to observe the entire library. Nothing, huge, just… homely. After looking over the place, Flaming Star turned to see Twilight behind him, holding a book on stars. She beckoned vigorously for him to sit next to her and look at it. Flaming Star looked at her for a moment, then he rolled his eyes and sat down next to her.

"Look at this!" exclaimed Twilight, "according to the book, stars are massive burning ball of fire billions of miles away. Young stars are called protostars, and they accumulate mass from the clouds around them from their formation to become main sequence stars. These types of stars are like our sun! No pony has ever seen a star form though… ever, so the creation of protostars remain a mystery."

Flaming Star peered at the beautifully illustrated pictures before saying, "I've seen a star form."

Twilight's eyes widened in wonder as she turned her head to look at Flaming Star. "You have?" she breathed.

Flaming Star, feeling annoyed by the attention, shrugged derisively and said, "It was nothing big. I was in a universe battling a demon to keep him from an ancient time-controlling artifact when the old relic broke. Suddenly, a time bubble formed around me and my advisory, and time all around sped up by a million. In seconds, the world around us crumbled to nothing, and we were surrounded by an empty expanse of space. Nevertheless, off in the distance, I saw a nebula – which had been extremely close to the battle we were fighting on – slowly collapse on its own self gravity and form cloud fragments… these cores soon compressed and ignited via fusion… a protostar was born. Of course, then I pushed the demon into the star and it was incinerated into nothing… it was pretty interesting."

Flaming Star glanced over at Twilight with a small smile as he added the last part. Twilight's eyes had been growing wider and wider as he described the phenomenon… until he added the violent death of the demon.

She frowned and looked away. Flaming Star just grinned.

After a bit more time spent on reading the book, the two got up.

"I really should be on my way," said Flaming Star, bowing his head.

"Thank you for spending time with me," replied Twilight.

Flaming Star was about to walk away when he decided to leave her with a little something that would bother her for quite a while. He turned, and winked roguishly at her before leaving. Immediately Twilight's eyes became dreamy.

"Uh, Twi? Are you okay?" said Spike as he waved a hand in front of her face.

Chuckling quietly, Flaming Star continued on past Town Square to find a place he could build a house. He soon found a perfect spot next to a particularity large cottage; however, just as he was drawing his powers in to build it, the door to the cottage next to the site opened and Sunset walked out. The two stood there for a second, staring at each other… then Sunset said, "You're not… building a house there are you?"

Flaming Star looked at Sunset, and then to the site, and then back to Sunset again. "Well… yeah? No?"

The two continued to stand there, staring blankly at each other. Fluttershy broke the silence as she trotted in to see what her husband was doing, standing stock-still on the doorstep.

"Sunset, what are you…? Oh! Hello Flaming Star!" she said with a shy smile and a quick wave. She continued, "Oh, are you building a house there? That would be wonderful! We could all be neighbors. Right Sunset?"

Sunset shook his head as if trying to clear it. "What? Yeah, oh… I… oh, well… o-okay."

Flaming Star, who had quickly recovered, gave Sunset a cynical eyebrow-raise before nodding towards Fluttershy and turning to the site. Raising his front hoofs, he began to pour power into the surrounding area. Soon, a quaint little cottage began to take shape as raw materials were drawn and shaped from the ground. In several minutes, a little cottage stood where none had been previously.

Sunset snorted, "Well… hello neighbor. I-I really have to get going… some important things to be done… eh, somewhere…"

Quickly, Sunset grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and trotted briskly off.

"Oh, me too? Okay… bye Flaming Star!"

Flaming Star snorted as the two figures disappeared around a corner. He turned to survey his house, and a wave of nostalgia swept over him. He had had a house before… sometime… somewhere. Flaming Star shook his head to clear his thoughts as he immediately began to think over his situation. He had to face the fact… the entire multiverse was a whole freaking mess. Literally. Mercenaries and assassins were crawling over every popular dimension, and the demon raids had become more and more frequent, soon the era of anarchy would end in flames and death. Flaming Star sat on his doorstep as he looked at the sky, peering at the clouds. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped excitedly in front of him from nowhere.

"Hey! A new pony! IknowthatbecauseIknoweveryponyinponyvilleandsinceIdon'tknowyouthatmustmeanyou'renew! Hello! I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you?"

Flaming Star simply looked at her with an amused expression. After a long pause, he said, "I am Flaming Star, Pinkie Pie, pleased to meet you."

Pinkie Pie began to increase the height and speed of her jumps. "You said HI! That must mean you're my new friend! You know what? We need a party to CELEBRATE!"

Flaming Star, who was still looking amused, shrugged. "Sure, in fact, go ahead and have it in my house. Knock yourself out… literally."

Pinkie ignored the jab as she said, "Party! Sugar Cube corner! Sundown! Don't be late‼!"

Flaming Star looked at the receding Pinkie as he murmured to himself, "Should I go? Meh… sure."

Almost the second Pinkie rounded a corner, Rainbow Dash rocketed out of the sky and landed at Flaming Star's feet.

"What's up?" she exclaimed, "Twilight said there was a new pony in town! I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in all of Equestria!"

Flaming Star simply laughed, "Oh! That explains the attitude. Well, I am the firstborn, Flaming Star. Pleased to meet you."

Rainbow furrowed her brow, and said slowly, "Waaaiiiittt… are you making fun of me?"

Flaming Star gave a snort, "Does it look like I'm making fun of you? Never mind."

Rainbow continued to frown at Flaming Star, who got up and began to walk away. Eventually, Rainbow caught up and hovered beside him, "You're an alicorn! You have wings! Do you want to race?"

Flaming Star shook his head and replied, without even looking up, "No. Falling for stupid challenges is really more of in Sunset's category. I prefer to let my actions, when they are actually needed, to speak for themselves."

Once again, Rainbow frowned. This pony was extremely confusing. "Oookaaayyy… Do you want to meet the rest of my friends?"

Flaming Star sighed, "You have more than Twilight Sparkle and Sunset's wife?"

Rainbow nodded vigorously, "Yeah! There's Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity… They're my best friends. Six in all, really. We're the Harmony bearers."

A memory long buried in the vast libraries of his mind was pulled forth in Flaming Star's brain at the mention of Harmony. He glanced at Rainbow and said, "Harmony bearers? Are you six some form of extension of the tree of Harmony?"

Rainbow's jaw dropped. After a pause, she said, "Y-y-yeah! How did you know?"

Flaming Star turned his head back to look at the path ahead of him. As he did so, he replied, "Eh, it was a long time ago. It was about a hundred years after I became a dimensional traveler. There were three of us, and the Paradox. He discussed with us an idea to isolate three different dimensions, and imbue them each separately with the gifts of harmony: a tree, a book, and a crystal. We went out and searched for a dimension worthy of the gifts. Eventually, another hundred years later, we all returned from our searches. Dathan Enosson came back the happiest though. He literally raved about it for a decade. Something about ponies, and magic, and stuff. That place got the tree of harmony. When you mentioned harmony, I put two-and-two together. Hmmm, so this place is imbued with the power of harmony then? I suppose you guys don't get demon raids all too often then."

Rainbow, who for once was listening with total interest, replied, "Nope. That Abbadon freak was the first demon to set foot in Equestria, according to princess Celestia."

Flaming Star, at the name of royalty, looked at Rainbow once more, "A princess? Does that mean there is a king or queen ruling over this land?"

Rainbow shook he head, "Nope. Just princesses. There is princess Celestia, princess Luna, princess Cadence, and princess Twilight."

Flaming Star almost stared at Rainbow incredulously as he said, "Just… princesses… Well, okay. I can understand that."

At that moment, Twilight ran up to them.

"Hey Flaming Star! I wanted to let you know that I sent a letter to princess Celestia telling her about your arrival, and she replied! She wants to meet you and she's coming here with her sister princess Luna to see you!"

Flaming Star raised his eyebrows and said, "Well… okay… I suppose I really don't have a say in the matter."

Flaming Star turned around and began to walk away, as he moved, he heard Twilight shout from behind him.

"Wait for me!" she yelled as she galloped towards him. Flaming Star begrudgingly slowed his pace as he let Twilight catch up. "Why do you act like this?" she said, out of breath.

Flaming Star sighed, "I- I don't really know. I guess it's part of who I am!"

Twilight shook her head, "Nopony is born rude. You have to be taught that, and have it grafted into their personality."

Flaming Star and Twilight had made it to a small park on the outskirts of Ponyville. Sizing up a tree, Flaming Star sat under it. Soon, Twilight joined him.

Flaming Star took a deep breath as he looked at Twilight intensely. She immediately began to blush.

"I suppose… I could tell you a little of my past," he said slowly. Twilights eyes brightened up at the prospect of a story.

Leaning against the tree, Flaming Star, the firstborn, took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he recalled thousands of years of memories.

Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Ponyville Outskirts

Time: 2 years after the arrival of Sunset Shadow

Meanwhile Sunset and Fluttershy were settling down under a tree near the border of Ponyville to watch the birds fly through the sky.

As the lay down, side-by-side, Fluttershy said, "Sunset? Why don't you like Flaming Star?"

Sunset sighed deeply and said, "Last time we met… well… I kind of broke the planet he was trying to protect. He wounded me badly, but I almost made him fail his mission."

"Oh," said Fluttershy quietly, gently nuzzling Sunset's cheek, "that's sounds terrible."

Sunset closed his eyes and said, "It's not just that, the firstborn is a very arrogant man, er, pony. He does not let it show when he's on missions, and when people count on him, but in general he is. During my second year as a dimensional traveler, I actually did a few missions as his sidekick. He is NOT a nice person to work with. He is extremely skilled, don't get me wrong, but he does not really understand what it means to 'take one for the team.' And what's even worse, he is convinced he's never wrong… ever. I knew that something bad would happen, and when it did, he wouldn't handle it very well."

Fluttershy, too, closed her eyes as she continued to nuzzle Sunset. "He doesn't seem like a mean pony so far," she murmured, "I think you are judging him a little too harshly."

Sunset nodded lazily and replied, "I suppose I am. I guess time will tell. The years I have spent here have changed me from a murdering maniac to who I am now. Perhaps time here will also change Flaming Star from someone who just cares about his win-streak... to someone… different."

With that, the two fell asleep as the sun played shadows across their peaceful forms. Fluttershy's sleep was dreamless; her contentedness of being with the one she loved was enough. Sunset's sleep, however, did contain dreams, but unlike the dark nightmares that had plagued his existence since the first betrayal eight years ago, these dreams were full of the wonderful times of the past two years.

Note: Hey everypony! If you've read this far, it means you probably are in some way interested in this story. If you have a moment, please let me know what you think of it! Thanks!