A brief flash lit the night above a city full of skyscrapers, and Starlight Glimmer tumbled out into the sky, screaming and flailing her limbs as she instinctively sought purchase on a floor that was no longer underhoof.

A curious observation intruded through her terror, and she slowed her movements--though not her descent--as she eyed the crimson military-style coat and pants that she unexpectedly found herself wearing. She blinked, and looked closer, studying their yellow piping and polished, star-shaped buttons. She also felt an unusual sensation on her face, and pressed her hooves up into what felt very much like a beard.

“[i]Zdravstvuyte[/i], comrade,” the beard said.

Starlight shrieked.

“[i]Nyet[/i],” the beard said. “Such fear does not befit the greatest hero of the East! Is bad enough to let these Power Ponies joke about you as ‘The Red Menace.’”

“Where am I?! Why do I have a talking beard?!” Starlight paused, digested the latter piece of information, and scowled. “Seriously, ‘Red Menace?’ I imposed one collectivist economic system, in one village, one time…”

The beard sighed. “You know it is super hero name, and this is Maretropolis, and I am [i]inoplanetnyy simbiont[/i] from Horsehead Nebula… now, shall we stop you splatting like [i]nasekomoye [/i]on pavement?”

Starlight focused on the ground with rising panic. “Y… yes, please!”

Her head jerked forward as the beard formed long prehensile limbs that lashed out toward the nearest pair of buildings. The beard also snaked down around her neck and wrapped it in a strong brace. Moments later, the limbs gripped the buildings and snapped taut. Starlight’s teeth clenched, and her body juddered, but she soon came to a halt, suspended hundreds of cart-lengths above the bustling streets below.

As Starlight’s adrenaline receded, her mind began working to make sense of her situation. “Spike’s comics,” she said aloud. “He showed me one he said I shouldn’t touch…”

“Comrade,” the beard said, angling Starlight’s head toward an alley far below. She watched a pair of adult ponies with a foal backing slowly into the light cast by a streetlamp. A figure advanced on them, its features indistinct but menacing.

“[i]Vy gotovy?[/i]” the beard asked. Starlight felt growing concern for the ponies, and the beard pulled her forward and down. She cried out with surprise at the sudden motion, but soon was overwhelmed by exhilaration as the beard swung her through the forest of skyscrapers at speed, forming new limbs and absorbing old ones as it went.

The beard dropped her down to street-level as they came around the final building separating them from the family. Starlight hit the pavement at a full run, flaring her horn with magic and charging toward the bulky silhouette. “The Red Menace… er, strikes again!” she shouted, closing in on it.

It turned on her, and the light of her horn revealed a predominantly aqua-colored creature whose pony-sized torso and head looked grotesque above its spindly forelegs and long tail. It had no hind legs, but somehow moved by floating just above the ground. It sported a large crest upon its back, as well as an orange mask with bright outlines of yellow that was pulled tight across its head.

“Save us!” the family shouted, retreating further.

The figure threw itself to the ground in front of Starlight. “No, save me! My sisters and I were just trying to get out of the world we were stuck in… next thing I knew, I was back in my original body, but now I don’t know where I am and I can’t get this mask off!” The figure wrung its forehooves. “It talks to me… makes me attack things… doesn’t let me sleep!”

“Another world…” Starlight’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you’re… Sirens! You were banished from Equestria a thousand years ago!”

The figure wrung its forehooves. “Yes, but I’m alone… I’m lost… please, I need help!”

“Spike told me,” Starlight said, mostly to herself. “They defeated the villain, and… the comic let them go.” She looked up at the figure. “I don’t know if I can get myself out unless… I defeat you, too. But… I don’t know if it’ll let us both out if I do that…”

“Please! Get me out, before the mask takes control again!”

“Arrest this [i]prestupnik[/i],” the beard urged.

Starlight swallowed, wondering what Twilight would do. She also wondered if the beard and mask were similar, and how much influence the beard could exert over her.

And that, more than anything, made her unsure what she should choose…