OMG, UPDATING THIS FINALLY! holy fudge, I never intended for it to be this long in between updates, life just got a bit hectic for a bit, but I'm back now and hopefully will get back in the habit of updating sooner. this chapter didn't exactly turn out the way I originally intended, but I didn't want to end up with a super long chapter with nothing left for the next one. so... yeah, anywho, I hope you enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Mighty Ducks or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I only own the plot of this story and the character Julia Bennett

Julia awoke the next morning to the sound of a rooster crowing. "hmm, huh?" she blinked, shielding her eyes from the sunlight that was coming in from a high window nearby. "what the-?" something shifted next to her and an arm flopped over her chest, a familiar beak resting against her shoulder. "ugh, Duke... Duke, get off me!" the gray duck was asleep beside her, unaware of the current situation. "Duke... Duke!"

"hmm?"

"get off me, will ya?" Julia mumbled, trying to push his limp arm off of her.

"hmm, maybe later" Duke mumbled, still half asleep.

"ugh, DUKE!" the human hissed, sighing heavily as she sat up, finally shoving her boyfriend's arm off of her. She saw that they were still in the barn, having fallen asleep in there the night before. The other ducks were all asleep in different areas of the barn too.

The barn door opened just then and Applejack trotted inside. "mornin', everypony"

Julia sighed, looking over at the orange pony" morning, Applejack" she covered her mouth to hide a yawn, stretching a bit as Duke slowly sat up beside her.

"oy, what time is it, anyways?" the gray duck mumbled.

"it's almost 10:30" Applejack said.

"really? Holy fudge, I haven't slept in that late in a long time" Julia said, yawning again.

Applejack chuckled a bit. "well I think it's about time for your friends to wake up. We're gonna be havin' breakfast real soon"

Julia sighed and nodded. "alrighty" she stood, stretching again as she look around the barn. The ducks had all found various spots around the barn to sleep.

Nosedive and Mallory were on a big pile of hay across from them and Wildwing was leaning up against the wall by the doors. Grin was in the same corner he'd been meditating in the day before. "well I guess we'd better get goin' then, try and figure out what the heck we're gonna do" Duke said, slowly getting to his feet.

Julia sighed tiredly. "ugh, I hate hay" she mumbled. "I think I still might be a bit allergic to it, even after all these years" she looked over at the other ducks. "guys, time to get up"

no one moved.

Duke sighed and went to wake up Grin.

"'Dive, get your tail in gear, dude" Julia said, walking over and nudging him with her foot.

"huh, what? Ugh, five more minutes" the blond duck mumbled.

"get up, 'Dive" Julia said, snickering a bit.

He and Mallory finally got up, and Applejack had woken up Wildwing.

"where's Tanya?" Wildwing asked, looking around the barn and instantly noticing her absence.

"she probably stayed with Twilight all night" Applejack said. "they've probably been tryin' to figure something out all night" she headed outside. "come on, we should all eat and see what Tanya and Twi are up to"

they all left the barn and headed for the farmhouse. Julia noticed a few other ponies through a kitchen window. An elderly green mare and a tall, muscular red stallion. "wait, who are they?"

"oh, that's my Granny Smith and my brother, Big Macintosh. But we all just call him Big Mac"

Julia nodded.

"you told them about us?" Wildwing asked.

"well I had to" Applejack said, slight defensiveness in her voice. "they're my family and they have a right to know what's goin' on on their own land"

"okay, okay" Wildwing chuckled a bit. He frowned slightly as he saw that he and the the other ducks (and Julia) would have to bend down a bit in order to get through the doorway of the farmhouse.

As soon as they were inside, the green mare turned to them. She looked a bit surprised. "oh, my... Applejack, these are the folks ya were tellin' me about?"

"yes, granny" Applejack nodded slowly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell ya yesterday, it's just..." she sighed. "I was so confused, I didn't know what to-"

"it's alright, deary" Granny Smith said, chuckling a bit as she turned to Julia and the ducks. "well it's, um, very nice to meet y'all" she said slowly, regarding them with a bit of caution.

"we are very thankful to you for allowing us into your home" Wildwing said right away, trying to get the point across that he and the others weren't dangerous.

"you have a very lovely place here" Julia said, looking around. "reminds me of my childhood home"

"you were raised on a farm?" Applejack asked.

The human nodded. "oh yeah, this place brings back a lot of memories for me" she sighed. "I was raised on a farm until I was about 12"

Granny Smith chuckled a bit. "well I hope y'all like good ol' fashioned country cookin' then"

Julia smiled. "you bet"

that seemed to help break the ice a little, and after everyone introduced themselves, Granny Smith and Big Mac went out to the barn to get some extra chairs for the table, since there weren't enough for everyone in the house. "so when do you think Twilight will bring Tanya back here?" Wildwing asked, looking over at Applejack.

"I'm not sure. If they're not here by the time we're done with breakfast, I'll mosey on over to Twilight's tree house and see what's up"

"sounds like a plan" Mallory nodded as Granny Smith and Big Mac brought the extra chairs inside.

…

after breakfast, Twilight and Tanya still weren't back yet. "alright everypony, I'm gonna head on over to Twilight's" Applejack said as they all headed outside.

"man, it sucks that we have to stay here" Nosedive said, frowning.

"yeah, well would you rather cause a panic among the other ponies around here?" Mallory asked. "remember what Twilight said, we can't risk getting the other ponies in an uproar"

Nosedive sighed, folding his arms across his chest as Applejack trotted off down the road. "I won't be long" she called over her shoulder.

…

"Twilight?" Applejack tapped her hoof on the door again. "Twi? Um, Tanya? Hello?"

the door opened a few seconds later to reveal a very tired looking Twilight. Her mane and tail were unkempt and she had slight bags under her eyes. "oh, morning, Applejack" she mumbled, covering her mouth with a hoof to smother a yawn.

"golly, Twilight, have ya been up all night?"

"just about. Tanya and I only got a few hours of sleep" the lavender unicorn mumbled. "come on in"

Applejack followed her friend into the tree house to see Tanya sitting at a nearby desk, her arm propped up on it and her beak resting on her elbow as she slept. Applejack was surprised to see Spike in the blond ducks' lap, curled up and sound asleep. "man, y'all look rough" the orange mare said gently. "ya know, y'all didn't have to work all night long-"

"oh but we were so close!" Twilight said, sighing. "or so we thought" she trotted over and gently poked Tanya's arm. "Tanya? Tanya, Applejack's here"

"huh, who, wha-?" Tanya's eyes opened slowly and she sat up quickly, waking up Spike and nearly knocking him to the ground. "huh, w-what happened...?"

Twilight yawned, chuckling a bit. "nothing, Tanya. But Applejack's here"

"oh!" Tanya smiled tiredly at the orange mare. "morning, Applejack"

"good mornin', Tanya" Applejack smiled. "I'm here to take ya back to the farm. Wildwing and the others are gettin' kinda restless"

"well there's something I need to tell them anyway" Twilight said. "come on, let's go" before Applejack had a chance to say anything, Twilight's horn began to glow. The four of them were soon enveloped in the glow and in seconds, they were standing in the farmyard of Sweet Apple Acres.

"whoa, Twilight, that feels funny every time ya do that" Applejack said, chuckling a bit as they all headed out to the barn. The others were already there, waiting.

"Tanya!" Wildwing said as they entered the barn.

"have a nice sleepover?" Julia asked, smirking a bit.

"well we didn't really get any new information" Tanya mumbled, trying to hold back a yawn.

"they were up nearly all night tryin' to find somethin'" Applejack said.

"so what's the deal?" Duke asked from his seat beside Julia on a big pile of hay. "are we gonna be stuck here for a while or what?"

"it seems that way" Tanya said. "from what Twi and I have read, portals to and from different locations in Equestria are pretty simple to make up"

"but portals to a different universe?" Twilight bit her lower lip. "that's a bit more complicated then we thought"

"complicated? Like, how complicated are we talkin', dudette?" Nosedive asked, looking both curious and more then a little confused.

"well you see, there are very few documented cases of portals to other universes being opened and crossed through successfully" Twilight explained.

Tanya nodded. "yeah, and most of what we've found so far is just theory"

"so what you're saying is..." Wildwing hesitated. "we might never be able to get back to earth?"

"we're not 100% sure" Twilight said. "and I only know of one pony who can help us"

"who?" Mallory asked curiously.

Twilight sighed. "Princess Celestia"

"with a name like Princess Celestia, I'm guessing she's the ruler of this place?" Wildwing said.

Twilight nodded. "yes, along with her sister, Princess Luna. I've been planning writing to Princess Celestia anyway to tell her about you guys-"

"wait, I thought you said no one can know about us" Duke said.

"well they can't, but it's... it's different with Princess Celestia, she has a right to know that there are... um, outsiders here in Equestria" she smiled weakly. "no offense" she added quickly, not wanting to offend anyone.

"she's right, if this Princess Celestia is the ruler around here, then we can get in big trouble if she finds out about us some other way" Wildwing said.

"I'll write to her right away" Twilight said. "Spike, let's go back to the tree house and write a letter"

Spike was standing beside her, staring up at the ducks.

Julia smiled. "is he your pet, Twilight?"

"Pet?" Spike sounded offended. "I'm not her pet, I'm her assistant!"

"oh, sorry, my mistake" Julia said, chuckling a little.

"this is Spike" Twilight said. "and yes, he's my assistant, not..." she giggled. "... not my pet" Spike sighed, looking embarrassed as Twilight trotted outside. "come on, Spike, let's go get that letter done"

"yeah, okay" the baby dragon said, glancing at the ducks again before he hurried after her.

"well what do we do until Twilight gets back?" Mallory asked.

"we'll just have to stay here" Applejack said. "don't worry, everypony, I'm sure if anypony can help us, it's the princess"

"let's hope, Applejack" Julia said. "let's hope"

EEP, BRINGING IN THE PRINCESS! surely Princess Celestia will be able to help, right? we'll see soon enough in the next chapter. also, the rest of the Mane 6 will be back for the next chapter. I was originally going to include them in this one, but... well, it just didn't end up that way. but not to worry, they'll be there for the ducks' meeting with Celestia. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review!

-FreddysNightmare1984