They also wrote this excellent story to go with this artwork, check it out !

[The following is a collab story with TF-Plaza featuring My Little Pony characters and concepts interspliced with jokes for older audiences. Plaza’s half will be edited into the description.]

Rachel Abigail Moore stood over a cauldron watching the fruits of her labors so far. Her current mixture had the right color, yet the potency was far from what her potion required. Such a diluted state almost guaranteed a diminished effect or instability. “I could add starch to increase bonding or…” Her eyes drifted to the wall of esoteric magical substances. “Throw caution to the wind in the name of progress.” She eagerly grabbed the biggest flask she could and levitated over a mixing implement from the kitchen. Her enchanted dishwasher tended to remove most curses. She prepared to pour in the concoction when she heard the door creak open. Silently, Rachel prepared a countermeasure. Perhaps the ‘zapping’ types had finally grown tired of turning Jay into waifus.

“You!” An excited girl’s voice rang through the study. Rachel turned to see her visitor’s silhouette in light from the hallway: the girl had to be no taller than 1.22 meters [4’6”] when not counting the fox ears or ponytail height and she sported a tail. The visitor pointed towards Rachel much like a child pointing at a desired toy or food item. “After 10,000 seconds [about 166 minutes], I’m free! It’s time to make friends!” She stepped into the light of Rachel’s study. “I’m Kikai and I will be your new friend!” Kikai’s clothing choices were straight out of mid-00’s clothing choices for a tween girl. They were bright enough to be associated with youth without having the full brunt of ‘baby sister’ aesthetic. Rachel was mostly confused by her visitor’s silvery hair. “Oh, there’s a long-winded story about that for another time.”

“Right…” Rachel was hardly amused at Kikai’s bold assertions. “Kikai, was it?” The young girl didn’t seem like an immediate threat. However, Rachel knew well enough that the nature of shapeshifters and magic meant that appearances were deceiving. “Listen, I’m in the middle of a rather complicated potion. Isn’t there someone else you can play with? I think that one of the neighbors has a troll or something else your height.” Rachel turned back to find that Kikai was staring into the cauldron. “Watch it! This is very dangerous.”

“You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.” Kikai stuck a finger into the concoction. “If you’re going for a glitter slime familiar, you need far more glitter for ego formation. Even nonverbal slime constructs want to stand out.”

“If I wanted advice on slime, I’d buy one of those kids’ activity kit books.” Rachel felt too embarrassed to say that the potion was intended to potentially change Jay or some other hapless victim into an assistant witchling. “Please don’t tell me that I summoned you during my earlier attempt at a warding incantation.”

“Look, I’m going to drop the whole annoying little sister act for a moment.” Kikai’s general demeanor shifted significantly. “Emily doesn’t let me get out much now that she’s so focused on telling the stories about her and the daughters. I’m a manifestation of her teenage power fantasies meant to make most conflicts or major threats into nothing more than jokes.” Kikai approximated the act of wiping out all threats using her hands in a shadow puppet display. “Not many stories you can get out of being a…” She lowered her voice to blurt out the rest. “timeless trickster goddess who hijacked a lonely girl’s tulpa for selfish manifestation purposes.” Kikai cleared her throat. “I mean, it’s hard to have fun when all the bad guys end up as scorch marks. I’m reserved as a ‘panic button’ of sorts. I really need more friends and thought ‘hey’, here’s this cool witch who also doesn’t get full use’.”

“In other words, you’re too strong to be anything other than a gag or a deus ex machina.” Rachel felt sympathy for the creature expressing its underlying loneliness. “You think that I’m cool?” Rachel blushed slightly in a swell of ‘temporary big sister’ pride. “I suppose that I could let the potion ferment for a bit longer.” She was taken by surprise when Kikai hugged her. “Gaah!” Magic missiles and sparks fired from the witch’s hands. “Please let me go. Witches aren’t predictable when startled.” Kikai easing off brought an end to the misfires. “Is there anything less clingy you could do to mark our alliance?”

Kikai scratched her chin. “Well, there is one handshake that Razor showed me.” Rachel tilted her head at the name. “He’s a work friend and borderline uncle. He was in the Sombra TG/TF story that Emily did.” Rachel’s head tilting entered the territory of owl head movement. “You are aware that we exist in a story with a pending comic adaptation, right? Come to think of it, this exchange will probably be omitted to save on s and word bubbles.”

“Let’s pretend that I do know what you’re talking about because TF-Plaza doesn’t want to spend so many s on talking when.” Rachel leaned through the fourth wall to gaze later in the story. “That effort could be spent on transformation.” The two girls performed an elaborate handshake. “I know just the two friends to invite over.” Emily and Jay found themselves involuntarily transported into the study. “Jay, meet Kikai. Kikai, you probably already read ahead in the story.” Kikai nodded.

Jay looked at Emily, then at Kikai and finally at Rachel. “Rachel, what’s going on here? I recognize Emily, but anime catgirl is new to me.” Jay leaned over towards Emily. “Em, is that one of those Xenoblade things? You know more Nintendo stuff than I do.” Kikai’s ears perked up. “I think she heard us.”

Emily wrapped her right hand around Jay’s throat. Localized transformation energy generated the illusion that she was strangling him. In reality, she was tapping into Kikai’s reality distortion to shut Jay up. “Hey, Kikai.” Emily’s tone was very worried. “I hope you understand that me downplaying your abilities is nothing personal against you. If I had you resolve the conflict in Adams’ Wrath, then the other characters don’t have chances at arcs. If you let us go, I’ll do a frivolous Halloween story starring you this year.”

“Emily, you don’t let me have fun outside of crossover events! It’s all an alternation between extremely serious ‘deepest lore’ and fun with people like Jay! I wanna play, too!” Kikai dropped to the ground like a pet showing off its belly. “He isn’t anywhere on my level of cuteness! I’m like one hundred times more fun than him!”

“Kikai, that’s hardly the point.” Rachel hand waved Kikai back into a standing position. “You two get to have all these wacky adventures while we want a shot at the spotlight! We want in on this instance!”

“We can’t have an adventure under duress.” Emily attempted to rationalize the scenario. “Reality doesn’t adhere to crossover story logic…” Her hypocrisy hit her immediately. “I’m not one to talk.”

Emily’s shaken confidence was enough for Jay to struggle into partial throat freedom. “Besides…” Jay choked out a few garbled words. “Why are you so scared of this little girl, Emily? She looks like nothing compared to countless waves of the undead, killer robots, shadows and the French!” He winked in acknowledgement of prior stories. “She wouldn’t be out of place in My Little Pony.”

“That’s a great idea, Jay!” Kikai whispered something into Rachel’s ear. “We know exactly what to do with you two. Now you’ll understand what it feels like to be so powerful EXCEPT stuck as background characters!”

Emily released her hold on Jay. “You just had to provoke her, Jay. I was about to say we could squad in Fortnite or maybe something Sailor Moon-related.” She was horrified to see that Kikai was already imitating Rachel’s ‘casting magic’ gesture. “You just had to mention MLP. We’ll be lucky if we don’t end up as Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon.”

“Lyra and Bon Bon aren’t powerful, though.” Jay sounded far more enthusiastic now that circumstances had allowed a dormant desire to become reality. “It would need to be somepony like The Great and Powerful Trixie, Discord or…” He took on a timid tone. “The Princesses.”

“Ding ding ding!” Kikai pretended she was a game show announcer. “The contestant guessed correctly! Tell him and the lovely lady what they’ve won!”

“Are such theatrics necessary, Kikai?” Rachel broke her concentration. “Is this level of banter the norm for American shapeshifters? The show Charmed left me thinking that there was some degree of secrecy.”

“Yeah, Masquerade was a thing in my reality before I outed shapeshifting to secure tenure at a college. You can ask Kikai later about how many dragons my older daughter killed in 2021 alone.” Emily replied quite bluntly. “To answer the first question, we all have Spider-Man complexes. If we’re not making quips, there’s the existential dread from silence. Am I funny or is it obvious that I’m talking to bury the truth in banter? Do I really have the authority to completely change a life on a whim? Who watches the shapeshifters?”

“Ok, sorry that I asked.” Rachel reluctantly played along. She had seen a few game shows when stuck in mundane places that even Witches need to humor in modern society. “They’ve won a royal getaway in Equestria. The Sun and Moon package encomes great power…” She sighed. “With great responsibility.”

“I knew it!” Jay burst into celebration. “I get to be Celestia! I can’t wait until Axiom finds out!”

“That’s it!” Emily had her out and pounced. “Kikai, how dibs worked on Sonic forums back in the day? Those same rules apply here. There’s no way I would want to step on any hooves.” A scroll materialized into Kikai’s hands. “That’s probably Zey right now insisting on their Luna claim.”

Kikai unfurled the parchment. “It says that the fun has been doubled. Huzzah. Also, she rambles about the mail service.”

“Ok, I guess that means we’re doing this.” Emily lamented in resignation. “Let’s get it over with.”

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Emily!” Jay was absolutely beaming. “Luna is far more than the early season characterization now!” His face began to elongate into a snout. “No need for the long face.”

“Please don’t do horse jokes throughout this.” Emily’s hair began to majestically flow on its own behind her. Hints of dark blues and purples began to surface throughout the sea of pink. The position of her glasses shifting was enough for Emily to tell that her princess makeover was underway. Midnight blue skin on her nose brought some relief. At least there wouldn’t be a swerve.

Jay’s normally short hair grew out rapidly into a wild medley of colors. His skin bleached to pure white in splotches. “Yes! Show colors rather than the inaccurate toy colors!” He unbuttoned his shirt preemptively. “Luna, don’t forget that wing strain may be a factor.”

“Toy colors? Jay, how long have you been wanting this? That was a community concern back in 2011.” Emily’s back had two budding appendages strain against her dress and blazer. “I hate that you predicted that.” She frantically removed her outerwear. One layer of fabric was much easier to burst than two. No sooner had she finished when the alicorn wings tore free through her dress. To borrow a community term, she had full wing boner.

“Someone is excited.” Kikai teased. “It’s ok to come out of the stable again, Emily. Most people you know are into that Japanese horse racing gacha, anyway.” She stroked Emily’s wings. The feathers felt like a mixture between down feathers, memory foam and just a hint of fabric. “Best pony shouldn’t need to worry about optics.”

“Let it happen, Luna.” Jay excitedly watched his chest barrel out into an equine shape. Pure white hair obscured any hints of humanoid identifiers. “Do whatever you need to with your hands while we still have them.” Jay’s hands started tensing into hooves. “Quadrupedal horse movement can beat any anthro horse in a race!” Jay’s thoughts drifted to imagining a podium finish. “I see us in First and Second place! The distant third place doesn’t matter!”

“I do suppose that my royal duties would separate me from most of the ponies who might criticize me.” Emily did her best to rationalize her circumstance. “Night is as much part of the cycle as day is.” Her swelling legs and feet strained her boots. “The ability to impact their dreams also gives me a few ideas.”

“No need to go full CI-neigh, sister!” Jay’s horrible pun accentuated how effortlessly Celestia’s personality was taking over. “Let’s see those legs.” Bumping her front hooves against Emily’s boots was enough to break the material. “You’re coming along nicely.”

“Uh… So are you?” Emily made use of her still human hands to style Jay’s mane from a Lisa Frank acid trip into an approximation of regality. Her own hair had mostly styled itself already thanks to the inherent excess of Emily’s hairstyle. Perhaps the strangest moment was when, all other factors remaining the same, Jay began to massively increase in size. “Rachel, I think you’re overdoing it on the magic.” Emily stepped back on uneasy hooves. “That is unless Kikai is planning to turn her into a pool toy.”

“I wouldn’t steal Hoffi’s technique.” Kikai dismissed Emily’s accusation. “The size difference is for accuracy.”

“Now that I see the sheer mass of the pale princess, I do feel some adjustments are necessary.” Rachel raised the ceilings and extended the walls of her study. “Also, to address the commentary…” Rachel removed a cake from a magical oven. Jaylestia salivated for the angel food cake. “She won’t talk if she’s too busy enjoying this dessert.”

“Gimme gimme!” Jaylestia fell down on all fours to eat the cake at the level Rachel held it. Each bite distorted the developing princess’s face more and more. The genesis of a horn from Jaylestia’s forehead allowed Rachel to resume full magic responsibilities. Ripping noises from the tattered pants drew everypony’s attention. “I’ll go on a diet later after the holidays!” Jaylestia intended to make more holidays to delay that vow for self-control. Movement from her new tail answered the unspoken questions. “I meant to do that.”

“She’s a lost cause.” Emily rolled her eyes. Unlike Jay, she was mostly retaining her personality this far into the process. That resistance to behavior change meant that the arcane energy being poured into her had done a number on her remaining humanity. Her modest chest now more readily resembled a child’s drawing of a horse rather than an adult woman. Eventually, her limbs became too long and unwieldy for her to remain bipedal. “Keep it together, Emily.” Nope, she fell onto all fours.

Kikai knew Emily enough to know a simple temptation wouldn’t be enough to bring out Luna. Instead, she’d need to use the threat of a stick and offer a carrot in the moment of panic. “She does appear that way, doesn’t she?” Kikai brushed Emily’s sparkling mane. “How’s Adams’ Wrath Act 2 coming along? Did you know that Ripley and I take turns playing Salem whenever there’s progress? Casting figured we should do something if we’re going to be sidelined for most of the story.” Kikai shifted her appearance into Salem’s frightening look. “Before you even consider going Nightmare Moon, don’t forget that your own rules mean only Ruby can hope to kill me.” Jen Taylor’s voice came out from Salem’s mouth. “We wouldn’t want such unpleasant antics in an innocent land, now would we?”

“I can take a hint, Salem.” Emily understood that Kikai was presenting a ‘greater evil’ paradox to keep her in check. No matter the machinations Emily might concoct for rebellion within Equestia, Kikai as Salem could respond exponentially worse. Salem already had a history of grudges against siblings representing light and darkness. “If you’re busy here, then we won’t need to worry about Salem trying for revenge in our reality.” Salem threw a Sega Saturn controller towards Emily. Reflexively, Emily grew out her horn enough to catch the projectile. “Is this the carrot meant to tempt me? You’ll need to do…” Additional temptation came in the form of Sakura Wars titles localized for Equestria. “Thou Shall Not Ride? Is Mare-is Burning?” Emily contemplated the games that sported pony versions of the covers. “Ok, I’ll be your gamer Luna solely because I want to play Erica’s route in the third game without needing a translation guide.”

“Go with whatever you need to believe to keep you up at night.” Salem reverted to Kikai since Emiluna was already leaning into character more to allow for horn growth. Controller finesse required years of unicorn dedication or, the much easier option, being an alicorn. Rachel stood in a state of bewilderment at Kikai’s actions. “Emily isn’t your run of the mill ‘oh no, I’m being tfed; how unexpected’ shapeshifter, Rachel. It’s closer to a negotiation around her ego and superego. When that doesn’t work, pick one of her niche interests.”

“That gives me an idea for Jay.” Rachel wrapped a throw blanket around herself. She was trying to who that redhead was that Jay constantly found an excuse to be. Ariel? No. Jessica Rabbit? No. Princess Merida? “No, it’s not her.” She knew that the form used a bow in some fashion. Wait! She knew! The Horizon girl! Triumphantly, Rachel integrated the blanket into her outfit for a half-assed Aloy outfit. ‘Aloy’ cautiously approached the munching Jaylestia. “There’s some type of prophecy or destiny that you need to address.”

“You forgot the spear.” Jaylestia critiqued Rachel’s appearance. “Here, let me help you.” Jaylestia’s elongated horn transformed a coat rack into a functioning prop. “Don’t forget that these new forms of ours are still just as capable of transformation.” Jaylestia rotated her head to see that Emiluna was violently shaking her head in opposition. “You don’t need to underestimate yourself, dear sister…” Rotating in place slightly brought the sunny equine princess’s line of vision within eyeshot of Salem. “Nopony said anything about a lich queen.”

“Yeah, that’s the quest.” Rachel rotated Jaylestia back around in the way a trainer handles a non-magical horse. “She’s uh…” Rachel shouted to Emiluna. “Luna, did those games use Greek or Roman deity names?” Emiluna moved her controller like a scale to indicate that it was a mix of both. Great, Rachel had to bluff knowing game details. “She’s the manifestation of Persephone?” Good, Jaylestia looked intrigued rather than dismissive. “She looks way scarier than she is, but there’s some HADES left in her.”

“I completely understand.” Jaylestia’s wings emerged from her back in full glory. “The magical barrier around Canterlot will keep her safe.” Regardless of the obvious haphazard story forming in front of her, Jay wanted any excuse to experience an individualized Horizon experience and Celestia needed to feign caring about matters of friendship. “Maybe I’ll find a way to have Twilight learn a lesson from this experience. It is sometimes the strangest looking ponies that teach us the most about ourselves.”

“Simply say that you dated Discord, sister.” Emiluna mashed a single button to advance opening text boxes in her game. There isn’t much difference between a scrying mirror and a 4:3 television if you know what you’re doing. Emily’s facial features blurred more and more equine in the faint reflection. “I don’t need another character reminding me that time has ed in-game! I played this section already!” The Princess of the Night tensed in frustration. Her tail bursting from her rear end didn’t break her ranting. “FINALLY! There’s Sakura on the dock.”

Aloy and Salem let the Princesses stew in their vices long enough for the spellcasters to rest. “I can’t believe that story worked.” Aloy exhaled in deferred relief. “I’m going to get that mirror back when Luna is done gaming, right? That mirror was a Winter Solstice gift six years ago.”

“Absolutely! She’s not that much of a Smash player that she steals anything resembling a CRT TV for local tourneys.” Salem monitored the princesses’ progress. Celestia was settling at the size of an abnormally large Shire horse [Look it up. If some ponies can focus so much on Japanese horse racing lore, you can Google breeds.] while Luna stopped at about the size of a riding horse for an adult human. “The pony-sonalities have mostly settled in.” Salem rubbed her hands together. “All that’s left to do are the butt tattoos!”

“They’re called Cutie Marks.” Aloy corrected Salem’s incorrect terminology. “They represent the truest part of the pony in an easily-identified icon. You normally look closer to a child than I do. How do you not know this?”

“Cutie Marks?” Salem repeated the term in an almost condescending fashion. “It makes sense that the girls who got ‘tramp stamps’ in the 00’s wanted to rebrand the term.” Her thoughts drifted to the accusation about her youth. “If you really think about it, NOT knowing the term is the kiddy thing to do.”

“This attitude is why Emily and your colleagues don’t let you out much.” Aloy muttered under her breath. Annoyingly, Salem’s ears shifted to Kikai’s just in time for Salem to hear the critique. “Time is simply a matter of perspective, no? Witches consider 80 to be the new 17 for a reason.” Salem going into deep thought made Aloy fear the worst. “There’s this moisturizing spell that could make even your skin look younger.”

“You should see the look on your face. It’s so precious~” Salem teased Aloy. “Let’s bring out the Cutie Marks and then apply the accessories.” The spellcasters resumed incantation. “Powers of Sun and Moon; make these princesses’ natures come out soon! I hope that this spell is in rather than being the work of a loon!” Salem’s spoken spell fired lasers from her fingers towards Jaylestia and Emiluna’s rear ends. A sunspot formed on Jaylestia in direct contrast to the night’s sky splotch that stained Emiluna. Rays of light made the sunspot into a clear sun icon while a pale crescent moon finalized Luna’s mark.

Celestia blinked several times. Her eyes became a shade of purple far removed from Jay’s prior eye color. “Sister?” The performance Jay had put into the role was now second nature to her. She found herself capable of being Celestia, yet also aware who she had been. The cake was finished with a final bite. “I’m me again… I think?” Something still felt off. “I can’t help feeling that our guests are staring.”

“We…” Luna shook off the glasses still clinging to her snout. “We are quite naked.” The sisters blushed deeply enough to become inaccurate colors. “We do request that the guests help us appear more regal!”

“I’ll need some rare drops to craft the necessary components.” Aloy ran through a mental list of components. “Salem, do you suppose that you could summon a Thunderjaw into this room?” Salem snapped her fingers, opened a rift on the ceiling and dropped assorted pieces of metal and crowns from a different dimension. “Those should suffice.” Aloy inspected the metals. “I’m not about to look a gifted horse in the mouth.” Celestia and Luna blew defiantly. “Bad phrase, I know.”

“Crafting royal regalia is a noble profession that requires the utmost care.” Luna watched Aloy dissociate for a moment. “Is something wrong with her?” Suddenly, two sets of royal horseshoes and a pair of harness/necklace appeared at Aloy’s feet. “Is that what in-game crafting looks like to other players? How… awesome!” Luna butted into Aloy’s personal space. “Craft the castle!”

“Don’t you mean BUILD THE PRINCESS outfit?” Salem rapidly fitted Luna for the silvery outfit set. “I know a thing or two about making the most of relics.” Luna reveled in her priority over Celestia.

“True royal dignity is the ability to handle formalities herself, sister.” Celestia fitted herself for the golden outfit. “That said; there are certain details that require a pony-al touch.” The sisters cringed at the attempted pun. “My first decree is that we forget about that wordplay attempt. Is everyone in agreement?” There were no objections. “What I meant to say was that we should crown each other, sister.” Celestia levitated the dark crown above Luna’s head. “Will you do me the honors?”

“Of course!” Luna levitated the game controller over Celestia’s head by accident. “Whoops, I forgot about that.” She did her best to juggle playing the game and moving Celestia’s crown into position. “We’ll be crowned on 3. 1… 2…” Luna gazed towards the window for potential interlopers. “I wanted to be sure that a robot Leonard Nimoy didn’t interrupt our coronation.”

“Luna, we won’t need to be afraid of robots or Leonard Nimoy.” Celestia leaned into Luna’s ears. “We’ll leave those problems to Twilight and her friends. Does that put you at ease?” The sisters nuzzled their snouts together. “3!” Celestia dropped the crown onto Luna’s head without warning. The shock was enough to make Luna drop Celestia’s crown into place. “See? Nothing went wrong!” The entire room around them collapsed outward. “Aloy, we could use that castle now.”

Lyra Heartstrings ran down the main street of Ponyville like a horse possessed! “Humans! I saw humans! They do exist!” She stood in a bipedal position before dozens of repeating background character ponies. “They’re coming into town on the Princesses!”

“Don’t be so preposterous, Lyra.” Twilight Sparkle did her best to calm down the crowd. “I expect this panic out of Berry Punch or maybe Pinkie.”

“You know what? NO, this is MY ion and I’m not letting you ruin it.” Lyra inelegantly threw Twilight into the teleporting statue from Equestria Girls. “Does anypony else want to learn the value of respecting a fellow pony’s ions? No one? Good!” Lyra resumed her panicked acting. “Humans are on their way!”

“Absolutely none of this is going in the comic, is it?” Octavia Melody turned to Vinyl Scratch. “Anything to add, roomie?” Silence from the DJ confirmed the refined musician pony’s hunch. “Feel free to keep rambling, Lyra.”

“Thanks, Octavia! We music-adjacent ponies need to band together.” The crowd groaned at the pun. “Deep down inside every one of you, you know FULL WELL that Twilight is to blame for all the monster attacks! I am not going to let her take my chance at REAL HUMANS away from me!” Some human male in a red shirt was thrown through the other side of the portal. “A human male? He’s mine!”

Outside of Ponyville, Celestia and Luna carried their engers, Aloy and Salem, respectively, to the edge of the small town. Aloy saw the commotion in the town square first. “That mint colored unicorn is frantically having her way with the random guy who dropped in. He’s turning purple.”

“That’s TF-Sentinel.” Celestia changed her tone. “More accurately, that will be Twilight Sparkle in a few minutes. We have to give Lyra a hand for assisting us.”

“I had Pinkie Pie handle everything.” Salem adjusted to riding sidesaddle on Luna. “I told her to do what would be funniest and that happens to be Lyra in a man-ia. You don’t want to know what Wade suggested.”

“Is Twilight learning a lesson about friendship?” Luna, being no stranger to pony night activities, watched intently. “Remind me to avoid Lyra’s dreams for a few months.” A scroll appeared in front of Celestia. “Yep, Twilight WOULD write a letter in the middle of that type of fun.”