This Strange New World

by GhostQuill

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Comedy, Other, Romance, Shining Armor, Alternate Universe, Human
Length: 8724

Bluebell Berry is an average student from Canterlot High, but when she accidentally finds herself in the Equestria as a pony, it's going to be a long 30 moons before she can make her way home again.

Bluebell Berry attends Canterlot High and is living an ordinary life with friends and a boyfriend. That all changes one night when she accidentally finds herself in the Crystal Empire surrounded by guards. Forced to stay as a pony for 30 moons, Bluebell must learn how to be a pony and figure out what to do. A helpful guard may just be able to be the guidance she needs over these long weeks. Unfortunately trouble may be brewing in the north, grudges left unchecked will cause a dangerous game to begin for the Crystal Empire. Can they defeat this growing threat? And will Bluebell ever be able to return home? Will she ever want to?...

Note: Sunset Shimmer never happened in this so no one from Canterlot High knows that there is a portal to Equestria. (hense the Alternate Universe tag)

Published 2013-08-31 18:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-11 04:32:56 UTC

Don't trust statues

The library was a quiet and boring place, that’s not to say it was a bad place, it just wasn’t were Bluebell usually liked to spend her time. Bluebell Berry; an average teen with ordinary light blue skin and long dark blue hair was here right now due to the most dreaded of things; homework. She was falling behind on some of her subjects and had recently been coming here more often after school to study. If you could call it that. Bluebell’s favourite thing in the world to do was decorative cooking. She loved cooking cakes or sweets and decorating them in frosting or flower shaped icing. It’s what she wanted to do when she left school. Which is why, while she sat in the library with her school books in front of her closed, she read a cooking magazine all about cupcake decorating. It was going to get late soon and she knew she had to start working on her English assignment that was due in a couple of days. Finally sighing and putting the magazine down, she took her English workbook out and opened it. For the following 15mins she proceeded to stare at the page with her purpleish eyes while twiddling her pencil in her fingers. A hand resented on her shoulder and she turned to see who it was. There, standing next to her was the greatest person in her life:Tailor Design, with his creamy pinkish skin and dark brown hair. How lucky he was to be that unique looking. Most people had blue, purple, green or orange skin or hair. Even his eyes were rare, hardly any person has brown eyes in the world. It made her purple eyes look boring in comparison. But the great thing was he was her boyfriend, out of everyone at school, he chose her. Plus he’s one of the best designing students at school, he is bound to become a great fashion designer when he grows up.

"Hey Blueberry." She smiled when he said that; the adorable and slightly embarrassing when used in public nickname he gave her.

"Hey Tailor." Bluebell was less imaginative though when it came to nicknames. ‘What are you doing here?’

"I was about to ask you that. I was finishing up a project in the sowing rooms, but it’s getting late. Shouldn’t you be heading home too?"

"No I’m staying here, I need to get some work done on this English assignment before Thursday. And thanks to my siblings, I would never get any done at home." Tailor glanced down at the empty paper before Bluebell and raised an eyebrow at her when he saw the magazine.

"Working huh?" He said as he held the magazine before her.

"Okay okay, I was reading the magazine. But can you blame me? They make these assignments so boring, I needed something to keep me awake." Bluebell attempted to take the magazine back but Tailor moved it further away.

"No, I’m taking it hostage until tomorrow when you show me that you have done some work on your assignment, an assignment you’ve had two weeks to do." Tailor put the magazine in his bag as Bluebell pouted before her homework.

"Worst boyfriend ever."

"Love you too." he leaned down and kissed her cheek then headed off to the door. "Cya tomorrow Blueberry, don’t stay here too late."

"Yeah..." She turned back to her homework and proceeded to lay her head on it hoping that being closer to the page meant that maybe it would rub off on her and she would know what to do. Obviously that wasn’t the case. Instead it caused a drowsing effect and soon she was off in dreamland.

***

Hours later Bluebell awoke to a pitch black library with the only light coming from the always full moon outside. She realised it was way later than she intended to stay at school and quickly gathered her things into a bag that she hung over her shoulder. Heading towards the door she found that it was locked and that she couldn’t open it from this side.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She looked around the library and saw a window above one of the bookcases that only had a latch on it. Climbing up the bookcase, she made it to the top without it collapsing on top of her as she’d feared and she got to work on the window. It was an old window, one that had probably never been opened before, so it was a bit tough getting it to open up. Finally she turned and kicked on the frame with her foot. It nudged a bit so she repeatedly kept kicking it. Unknown to her but it was causing quite a racket. Finally the window opened enough for her to climb out. There was a slight drop but nothing to worry about. Bluebell had one leg hanging out when she heard a shout.

"HEY YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!" She was caught off guard and grabbed the window’s frame to steady herself, only her bag slipped from her shoulder and fell down her arm to the library’s floor. The person who had shouted had come from outside around the back of the school, one of the cleaning ladies who had just finished for the night had seen her. Bluebell thought about grabbing her bag but then the lady was sure to catch her and she really didn’t want to get into trouble for being at the school. With a final glance at her bag, she jumped out the window and onto the ground at the side of the school. The lady was running towards her but she was a bit on the heavy side so Bluebell was quickly able to get up and run off to the front of the school. Only thing was that the houses on the other side of the road were too far away for her to reach without being seen, she instead quickly ran up to the statue that stands in front of the school and hid behind it. At the last moment the cleaning lady came around the bend and stared out at the empty area in front of her.

"I know you’re here! Come out now!" No response. The cleaning lady walked to the front of the school to see if there was anyone next to the stairs and then headed for the statue. As she walked around the statue, Bluebell snuck around the other side always keeping the lady opposite her. When she got around to the front of the statue though, Bluebell tried to put her hand against the statue’s stand to steady herself but her hand passed right through it instead. She was off balanced and tied to catch herself by stepping forward but her foot tripped on the step and she went falling head first into the school’s statue. As the cleaning lady continued to walk around the school, she found no trace of the person she had chased.

***

On the other side of the portal, Bluebell had fallen forward and hit the ground with a yell. She was dazed for a moment as she laid on her stomach on the ground. A bruise was probably going to form on the front of her face. She tried to lift herself up but that only served to make her head spin, it was still trying to figure out what had happened. Close by her ears picked up noise coming from outside the room. A door opened suddenly into the room and it was flushed with light from outside the room. Her eyes squinted from the sudden brightness and she peered at the silhouettes in the doorway. What she saw made her eyes go wide and her heart pound rapidly. Standing in the doorway was two horses covered in silver armour, only they didn’t look like horses, they were shiny and reflected the light with their purple coats. Just then one shouted at her.

"What are you doing here?"’ It spoke! A horse just spoke, how was that possible?! Her brain was going on lock down as her heart was trying to jump out of her chest. She leaped to her hind legs and attempted running on two feet. But as she took a step she could feel herself getting off balanced and wasn’t able to stop it. All of a sudden she was falling to the ground again. With her body slammed against the ground and her arms out in front of her in the light, her eyes caught sight of the most terrible thing in front of her; she had hooves! How could she have hooves? Her brain couldn’t take it, it did the only thing it thought was logical at the moment; it screamed. Her scream was loud and ear shattering. With that out of her lungs she scrunched her body tight together and laid on the ground with her arms over the top of her face. The guards were finally able to hear again with only a slight ringing remaining as they looked down upon the pony in front of them. Concern filled their faces as they saw the bunched together figure of a pegasus, her shoulders shaking in a clear sign that she was crying. One of them came over to her and asked gently in a quiet voice;

"Miss? Are you alright?" She is too shocked to do anything, that horse just spoke and she had hooves, she wanted to believe this was just a dream but she couldn’t ignore the feeling of not having any fingers or toes. Once again the guard spoke asking if she was alright. "Is everything okay?" Bluebell shook her head from under her arms signally that that was a “no”. The same guard asked,

"Do you need any help Miss? Are you hurt?" She instead tightened the grip around her head and scrunched up further into a ball, tucking her back legs closer to her sides. The guard walked to the front of her and sat down.

"Miss? Do you need help? Can you look at me please?" Something about his voice made her want to look, it was just a nice sounding voice, one you could trust. So she lifted up one of her arms slightly to peer at him, her eyes soaked wet and her vision blurry due to her tears.

"Can you tell me your name please?" Her voice was meek from fright and muffled from her arm but she managed to squeak it out.

"Bluebell."

"Hello Bluebell, my name is Rubinstein." That got a slight snort of laugher from her and a trembling smile. He chuckled himself soothingly, "Yes I know it is a bit funny sounding, now can you tell me what you are doing in here?" Her smile dropped and her eyes welled up again with tears, at that she wailed out;

"I don’t know!" She started balling her eyes out again as she laid there, neither guard were really sure what to do. Suddenly the other guard who had stayed by the door was shoved into the room by more guards who had rushed to the room.

"What’s going on in here?"

"We heard a scream!" The extra guards in the doorway then laid their eyes on the mare who was lying in the middle of the room. They each entered the room and gathered around her. She then opened her eyes to look at the source of the new voices and quickly slunk her head back down in fright. Before her were 5 very big stallions, each with shiny armour and each looked very intimidating. She began scooting backwards on the ground away from them but always keeping them in sight. Her breathing was becoming more ragged and she nearly leaped out of her skin when her back hit the wall. Rubinstein started to slowly walk up to her, unfortunately so did all the other guards.

"It’s okay Bluebell, we are here to help. There’s no need to be afraid." They were all surrounding her as she leaned up against the cold wall, they blocked every path out from this darkened room. Her heart was going a million miles per hour, her breathing was close behind and her brain had crashed into the guardrails into a smoking wreak a long time ago. It was all her body could take before it shut down on her. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell forward for the ground once more. Only this time Rubinstein was luckily close enough to grab her before that.

Author's Note

If you're interested, here is an image of Tailor. And here is one of Rubinstein. (You'll have to scroll down the list until you get to the "R's".) Yeah, turns out Rubinstein is a real background pony and I didn't make him up. I'm not even sure what his name means, I just chose him because he was the closest looking background pony to the Crystal pony guards

Hooves and Wing-things

Bluebell awoke but didn’t open her eyes. She didn’t want to get up, that meant having to go to school. She tossed in her bed as even the most ridiculous positions were comfortable in her dozing state. She yawned and turned onto her stomach, as she did, part of her hair went over her ear and was poking the inside of it. So on instinct, she flicked her ear. The motion felt peculiar as she thought about it, but her half asleep mind was more focused on keeping the sunlight out of her eyes. As she pulled her legs up into a more comfortable position, she felt an odd thing brush against her leg, like some bug was crawling on it. Her mind screamed get it off as she suddenly threw the blanket off and jolted further up her bed. What she saw then when she looked down at the bed made her pause, suddenly everything from last night came rushing back to her as she tried to put the pieces together. She was a pony! With hooves and long ears, even a tail which had wrapped itself around her leg. From head to hoof she was covered in light blue fur. She screamed as she waved her leg around wildly trying to throw the dark blue tail off her leg. She pushed her hooves over each other trying to pry them off her arms and pulled at her ears. She twisted in her bed going onto her side trying to shove the image of a cupcake from her favourite dress off her side and caught sight of something attached to her back. She screeched as she saw the blue feathery wings on her back. She tried to leap away from them and collapsed off the bed. The racket she was causing caught the attention of the guard who was stationed outside her room. It was Rubinstein from last night who had volunteered to watch her and her frightful screaming had made him worried. He wasn’t supposed to enter the room until Shining Armour arrived but she was worrying him. With a glance down the hallway he poked his head into the room and gasped at the sight. The mare from last night was collapsed on the floor with the blanket half on top of her and feathers strewn across the room. She was clutching her wing in her mouth and was attempting to pull it off. Rubinstein bolted through the door for her and started pushing her head away from her wing.

“Don’t do that! What do you think you’re doing?!” He yelled. She released her grip on her wing and screamed. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she kicked her legs out at him.

“GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF GET THEM OFF!!!” She bawled. He let go of her as she covered her face and sobbed once more. Rubinstein didn’t know what to do, he was never a very social pony so having to deal with other ponies emotions wasn’t something he knew how to do well, especially when it came to distraught young mares. Rubbing the back of his neck nervously he put a hoof on her shoulder hopefully in a comfortingly way. Obviously not because Bluebell flinched away from his hoof, took one look up at his huge frame, and ran under the bed. Sort of, it was like she was running on frozen ice because she kept tripping and wound up just pushing her stomach across the ground. Rubinstein watched awkwardly as she hid under the bed and clutched up into a ball. He walked over to the side of the bed and leaned down asking her quietly.

“Are you okay?” She turned an angry and tear stained face on the pony at the side of her bed, Bluebell yelled at him,

“NO I’M NOT O-KAY! WHAT KIND OF STUPID QUESTION IS THAT?!” Rubin was taken aback, he stepped away from the bed unsure what to do. They didn’t train guards how to deal with this. It was all fighting and standing still for long times with a stoic expression. Public relations was more the Princess’s job. He cleared his throat and leaned down again,

“Um Bluebell? Can you come out please? Just tell me what’s wrong.” Her name caught her attention. She scooted around to poke her head out at him, she looked up at his smiling face and tilted her head in thought. He was somehow familiar…

“You’re the pony from last night… Rube-an-stan?” He chuckled as he lowered his head down closer to her level.

“Almost got it, it’s Rubinstein. Can you come out from there please?” Deciding it was better than staying under this dusty and cramped bed, Bluebell shifted out into the room. “Now are you alright? Why were you, um.. chewing on your wing?” Her ears flopped downwards and she looked away from him, her eyes catching sight of all the loose feathers around the floor.

“I.. I was trying to get them off of me…” Her eyes welled up. “I’m not supposed to have them! I’m not supposed to have these!” She exclaimed holding up her hooves. “I don’t know where I am or how I got here! I just want to go home!” She laid on the ground again and buried her eyes in her arms. Rubin had pulled back at the sudden onslaught of words but looked down at the mare again. She was so scared and he wasn’t sure what to do to stop it. He gently put his hoof on her head to pet her trying to comfort her but that only resulted in Bluebell whacking his arm away. Sheepishly he rubbed the sore area and decided against doing that again.

“Um, Miss Bluebell it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to know what you were doing last night. Can you tell me?”

“I don’t know!” She yelled from under her arms.

“But… Then how did you get in the mirror room?”

“I. DON’T. KNOW! All I remember was being at my school in front of the mascot’s statue, and somehow I wound up here!!! Looking like this!!!” She had stood up and was right in front of Rubin, almost pressing her face against his. With bared teeth and her wings instinctually spread out, Rubin wasn’t going to admit it, but he felt pretty intimidated right now. Then it sort of started to click in his head. That mirror was a portal to another world, if they could enter it from this side, couldn’t the other side do it as well. Without realising, he said;

“Ohhh..” Bluebell stared at him quizzically. Then changed to anger.

“What do you mean; ‘Ohhh’?!?!! Do you know what did this to me?!?!” She reared up and had her hooves on Rubin’s shoulders for support while she looked down at him angrily. Rubin was tensing up and could feel sweat gathering on his forehead, he’d never been this close to a mare before and was nervous about talking to her seeing how angry she was.

“Uhh.. It’s just that, well, the room you were in, it has a mirror in it… And well its, the mirror is a magic mirror, and…” This wasn’t helping, she was still angry and he needed to get to the point. “I think you came from the mirror!” He said suddenly cowering away from her burning eyes that seared his soul. She looked at him confused and sat down in front of him.

“I… I don’t understand? Are you saying that I’m just some non-existent reflection, and that I got out of a mirror?” She was going to have a break-down if that was true, finding out that you’re nothing but a reflection, that you’re not even real, wasn’t something she thought she could deal with. Luckily Rubin cut into her thoughts.

“No no no no no no!” He blurted out while shaking his arms in front of him, “The mirror is a portal! You must’ve just stepped through it from you’re world!” Bluebell heaved a sigh of relief, her ear’s perked up at that and there was even a hopeful smile on her face.

“Does that mean I can go home?!”

“I guess so.” At that Bluebell’s smile widened to impossible standards across her face. Suddenly Rubin was pulled into a hug as Bluebell squealed in his ear happily.

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” Rubinstein had momentarily lost hearing in one of his ears just as the door to the room opened.

“Rubinstein? Are you in here—” Shining Armour stopped what he was saying when he saw the odd display of one of his guards being hugged by the overly happy pony from last night. Bluntly and unamused Shining asked; “What are you doing…” Bluebell was spooked at the sound of another stranger and hid behind Rubin. She had her hooves over his back and her head poked just over the top to watch the new pony. Rubin anxiously stood there unsure what to do.

“Ah! Captain! Yes what is it?” He was trying to act calm but couldn’t shake the embarrassment of having his superior see him be HUGGED by this strange pony.

“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be stationed outside the room until I came to see the visitor.”

“I was outside the room, it’s just that I heard her yell a couple times so I opened the door to check on her and… she was… well. Attempting to hurt herself.”

“Hey!” Bluebell did not like it when other people or ponies talked about her without her consent. Shining raised his eyebrow at them and asked,

“How so?” His eyes glanced down at the random feathers on the floor.

“Well she was—AH!” Rubin’s neck was throbbing with pain from the punch Bluebell just gave it. He turned to look at her and she gave back an irritated glare that told him to keep his mouth shut. Returning his attention back to Shining he said, “Sorry Captain, it’s not really my place to say.”

***
“Will you stop fidgeting Rubin, it’s getting really irritating.”

“I am not fidgeting.” Rubinstein was standing outside the room with Bronze Shield while Shining Armour talked to Bluebell by himself. Bronze had appeared a few minutes ago looking for Shining, now he was forced to endure Rubin’s “casual” stepping from one leg to another while they waited.

“That, what you’re doing right now, is fidgeting. And it’s really annoying. What’s Shining even doing in there anyway that’s got you so tense?”

“Nothing, he’s just talking to that pegasus that we found last night.” Sly-fully Bronze leaned towards Rubin with a smug grin plastered on his face.

“You like her don’t you Rubin?” His eyes turned to pinpricks as Rubin turned on Bronze and exclaimed,

“No I don’t!” Sadly he wasn’t able to hide his cheeks turning red.

“HA! You do!”

“No I don’t! Besides why would I be interested in her, all she does is cry and scream. And hit me...” He said while he massaged the mark on his neck. Hooves could be painful.

“Think she might be the one???” Bronze added playfully. “Your new fillyfriend?” Rubin instead ignored what he said and pushed him away.

“Enough Bronze, what do you even want with Shining anyway?”

“Sorry can’t tell you, it’s of national importance.” His smile was just a bit too wide for him to be being serious. Rubin looked at him unamused while Bronze’s eyes rolled around his head.

“Fine, it’s not national importance, just the names of all the competitors for the jousting competition so far and the times for each jousting event. You thinking of partaking in it this year?”

“I’m not sure, been sort of busy here lately what with trying to get the Crystal Empire up to standards with the modern world. Sort of weird to think we’re all over a thousand years old sort of.” Rubin’s eyes glazed over with sadness as he thought about the time before Princess Cadence’s rule.

“Uh hey! There’s no need to think about that, forget about it, it’s all in the past. Nothing to worry about anymore. Um getting back on topic, you really should sign up though, you were a pretty good jouster back in the day.” Bronze’s unconvincing smile was not helping the situation any better.

“Hmm… yeah.” They both stood in awkward silence as they waited.

Milkshakes

Bluebell was distraught. Her talk with “Captain Shining Armour” had done only to lessened her mood. After her conversation with Rubinstein, she had believed there was a chance to head home. That blasted Shining Armour ruined that didn’t he… To be fair, it technically wasn’t his fault, he was just the deliverer of bad news. Now she lied crawled up in a bed with a blanket over her as she bawled her eyes out. She had been crying a lot lately, it wasn’t something she liked doing, it always left her really tired. But she couldn’t help it, she’d just been told she’d be stuck here for a month! During her talk with that Shining Armour, he had asked who she was and how she got into the palace. She had answered with her name of course and explained that she thinks she came through the mirror. Shining had looked uneasy after that. She had asked if there was a way she could go home now and he tensed up. With a heavy sigh he had told her that there wasn’t a way for her to leave until 30 moons had passed. Her jaw dropped. 30 moons! She had to stay here for a month! There wasn’t another way for her to return home?! Shining Armour sadly told her that the mirror only opened every 30 moons, and once the sun had come up this morning, it had closed and wouldn’t open for another 30 moons. She started tearing up at that. Shining had offered her to stay at the palace until she could return home, she nodded thanks as he told her it would be best if she didn’t tell any pony about the mirror. Most ponies don’t know about it except for himself, the Princess and a few trusted guards. The mirror is dangerous because magical items work differently through it and they don’t want ponies travelling through only to be stuck on the other side. She agreed but didn’t pay much attention to him after that. She just picked the blanket up off the ground and covered herself in it. While Shining had wanted to leave her alone then, he had to ask about how she hurt herself. Not caring anymore, she had poked her wing out revealing bare skin where feathers should be and bruises in the shape of bit marks. He was shocked but didn’t press her as to why while she cried under the blanket. Now she was just waiting on the bed for the doctor, Shining said he would send. She wished Rubinstein was here. She didn’t know why, maybe it was just because he was the only pony she knew here, sort of. She didn’t really know him, they’d only had two short conversations. Maybe it was just because she knew she could trust him. God she wished Tailor was here, he would hold her and look out for her, call her Blueberry and joke about her style. She missed her family. It was going to be a whole month before she saw any of them! They wouldn’t have any idea of what had happened to her. How would she explain to them where she’d been for a month. How would she explain not having her English assignment done, she doubted even a month’s absence would be enough to get an extension from her horrid teacher. She was going to be behind on all her subjects! Maybe… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad… she wouldn’t have to do school work, that was good. And who knows, maybe it’d be fun. At that the door to the room opened and she poked her head out from under the blanket.

In front of her in a white doctor’s lab coat was a very shiny mare with a crystal-like pink coat and bunched up mane. The mark on her side was a red cross with four gems around it. She walked up to Bluebell’s bed side while cheerfully saying,

“Why hello there! I’m Nurse Ruby Heart. I was told you hurt your wings. Now while I don’t usually work on wings I do have some knowledge and I’m sure I can help you. May I?” Bluebell, although scared and unsure, stretched her wing out from under the blanket for the Nurse to look at. She gasped for a moment as she stared at the dishevelled appendage but quickly got to work. She pulled out a moisturising cream from a cupboard and applied it to the bare skin on her wings and then proceeded to wrap them in bandages.

“Now dear, why ever would you do this to yourself?”

“I was scared…” Bluebell didn’t want to say any more than that and Ruby Heart didn’t press her.

“Is that what you pegasi do when you’re nervous? Must be like how young foals bite their hooves. Such a bad habit.” Bluebell stopped listening to her after that. She wasn’t saying anything interesting and Bluebell just wasn’t in the mood. Finally she finished and told Bluebell to get up, the Princess was expecting to see her soon. Only problem, when Bluebell attempted to walk forward a few paces, she clipped her front hooves with her back ones and tripped onto the ground. She had never walked like this before, and wasn’t used to the order her new appendages were supposed to walk in.

“Are you alright miss?”

“Oh umm… Yes, just a bit disoriented.” She picked herself up again and told herself it wasn’t so hard, it’s just like crawling when you’re a baby. She still sometimes hit her back hooves on the front ones but it was becoming easier to keep up with the doctor. It turns out she was in a room at the palace, not far from the throne room, but even the hallway was a sight to behold. Crystal walls all the way up to the ceiling glittered in the morning sun, blinding her eyes every so often annoyingly. Even so something was nagging her, and it wasn’t her empty stomach. She turned to the Nurse and asked.

“Um, Nurse Ruby Heart? I was just wondering what happened to Shining Armour and the guard that was outside my door?” (Left front hoof, right back hoof, right front hoof, left back hoof…)

“Shining Armour has gone to the tournament grounds to check over proceedings while the other guard has gone back to the guard barracks to rest up.” They turned down another hallway, all of them looking pretty much the same.

“Oh… Wait, tournament?” This caught her attention, enough to lose focus on her walking and trip a step.

“Why yes, the Jousting Tournament. I had assumed that was why you were here. A lot of ponies from other towns and cities have arrived to watch or partake in the tournament this year.”

“Ah jousting, that’s the thing with the really long swords isn’t it.” Bluebell wasn’t one to listen in history class, some medieval sport if she remembered right.

“Lances my dear, and they aren’t really swords. You see the lances are made of wood so that they break easier when they hit the other opponent. I’m heading down there tomorrow to help out any of the injured ponies. My dear, if you aren’t here for the tournament, just why are you here?”

“Oh… umm… I was—”

“Bluebell! It’s so good to see you!” A pink pony with both wings and a horn trotted up to them. She smiled down at both of them while the Nurse quickly bowed.

“Oh Princess! I was just escorting this mare to you, you know each other?” The Nurse looked surprised as she looked between the Princess and Bluebell.

“Yes of course! Bluebell is a friend of mine from Canterlot, I asked her to meet me here. Is there anything else you needed to tell me?”

“No Princess, Bluebell is just fine, her wings are okay for now.”

“Brilliant. I’ll see you another time then.”

“Uh yes Princess, I’ll just be on my way.” The nurse left the room as the Princess walked with Bluebell into another room. There was a huge crystal throne at the back of the room and statues of ponies around the room.

“Sorry about that Bluebell, you looked to be in some trouble so I thought I’d help. I’m Princess Mi Amora Cadenza, but please, call me Cadence. You came from the mirror right?” Bluebell just nodded, still not quite sure what just happened.

“Princess Cadence? Why did you tell her that I knew you? We’ve never met before.”

“It’s because she doesn’t know about the mirror, she kept asking you questions about why you’re here and I didn’t want anything to slip so I pretended you were a friend, although I do hope to become friends. After all you’ll be here for a month, and I’m happy to give you one of the rooms at the palace to stay in in the meantime.”

“That would be nice thank you.”

“Now on to business, since you’ll be staying here I have arranged for one of my guards to help you get accustomed to living here.”

“Really?” Bluebell was getting excited for once since arriving in this new world, and a part of her was hoping that Rubinstein was this guard pony she was talking about.

“Yes, and along with a tour of the city, she will teach you about our culture and protect you if the need arises, acting as a friend for you in this new world.” Bluebell’s mood sank.

“She?” Through doors to the throne room, a mare in guard armour and with the same purple coat and lighter purple mane colours as Rubin had entered. She was about the same height as Bluebell and paced over to her and the Princess.

“Bluebell, this is Diamond Spirit. She will be your new guide.”

“Um hello.” Bluebell said, she reached out her hoof hoping that this was the proper way of greeting someone in this pony world. The guard looked down at her emotionless and shook hooves.

“Eh, likewise.” Although her face didn’t reveal much, her tone did. It was clear to Bluebell that she was as happy about this as a 5 year old was to getting underwear on their birthday. ….Did ponies even have underwear? This was a question for another time though.

“Diamond Spirit, this is Bluebell. I hope you two can become friends, oh and don’t forget to have Bluebell back here for dinner. I want to hear all about your first day in the Crystal Empire.” Cadence’s warm smile was enough to brighten her face while they left the palace, though after they were gone her mood was severely dampened.

“I can’t believe I’m stuck with dragging you around for a month! I’m not a foalsitter! I’m a royal guard! Nopony is ever going to take me seriously after this.” It was non-stop whining since they left the palace. Bluebell wasn’t learning anything about the city or getting to know this pony any better aside from what a complete pain she was.

“Do you think we could talk about something else?”

“Oh and what would that be hmmmm?! About how my job is in jeopardy, about how no stallion will ever want a pitiful foalsitter for a wife?!”

“How about how you never shut up?” Bluebell mumbled.

“What was that?!”

“Oh um, I said how about the tournament? Why don’t we check how it’s going?” Diamond just rolled her eyes and trotted off in another direction, hopefully one that led to the jousting grounds.

***

Luckily her guide did know where they were going and they found themselves walking in between the contestant’s tents. Many of the competitors were from outside the Crystal Empire and didn’t have somewhere to stay like she did. So they would set up tents where they could spend the night and get ready for the competition. Flags with their insignia stood outside their tents to mark whose were who’s. They were just passing a tent with a picture of a storm cloud along with three lightning strikes shooting out of it when Bluebell bumped into someone. He was a tall pegasus stallion with a light grey coat and black mane that stood up like the wind had permanently pulled it back in place. His rump also had the picture of the storm cloud with lightning on it. He looked down at Bluebell with dark blue eyes as her face reddened in embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry.” A broad grin covered his face.

“Oh there’s no need to be sorry, the faults all mine. What are you doing wandering around here?” he took a quick glance to Bluebell’s flank and finished with, “Cupcake.”

“Well Diamond Spirit here was showing me around.” Bluebell pointed to her guide who flittered her eyes back at him suggestively. He gave her barely a second glance before he stood between the two and guided Bluebell away from Diamond. He had one of his huge wings pushing her forward as they walked.

“That’s all very nice and well Cupcake, but hows about you let me show you around. The name’s Colossus by the way.”

“And my name’s Bluebell, and although I would love to take you up on that offer I alre—”

“Great! Just follow me.” Bluebell wasn’t sure what to do, she didn’t want to be rude but she was sure she couldn’t run in this body yet, she was still getting the hang of walking! Luckily the rejected Diamond was feeling all too eager to help. Pushing in between them both, she pushed Bluebell away from Colossus and turned on him.

“Hey! I don’t know who you think you are but you are not taking this pony with you. I have been instructed by the Princess herself to watch her and there’s nothing you can do to change that. So leave!” Without waiting for a response Diamond turned and roughly nudge Bluebell forward. They left Colossus and headed away from the jousting grounds to the shop district to find something to eat.

***

They were sitting down outside a restaurant waiting for their meal while Diamond sulked in her seat.

“I can’t believe that stallion went after you of all mares! What am I just not good enough for him?! Am I not good looking enough?!”

“Maybe it’s the armour? You know, doesn’t want to get in trouble for hitting on one of the guards.” Bluebell didn’t care, she just didn’t want to listen to any more complaining.

“You’re probably right, I mean, what stallion in their right mind would pick a mare like you over me?” Bluebell was quite offended by that but didn’t think much of it. Her breakfast had finally arrived and she was starving. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday lunch thanks to a certain mirror and had to admit, crystal berry pancakes were very delicious, even if it was difficult to eat them without hands. It felt odd just ploughing into it with her face like a dog or… horse… would. But she guessed she’d just have to get used to it for now.

***

“Hey I think I found her!” One of Colossus’ friends was running back to him after he’d told them to go out and look for his beautiful mare again. He liked this one, she was quite the looker and a Pegasus as well, and he met her at the Crystal Empire of all places. He just had to have her, a mare such as herself couldn’t be with just any stallion, only one as handsome and strong like himself could have such a mare.

“Where?” They rounded the corner and there across the street was his mare; Cupcake. “Alright Whirlwind, here’s what you do.” Colossus drew his friend closer to whisper his instructions.

***

Bluebell had just finished her meal when a strapping young stallion trotted over. He was a pegasus and had a brown coat with silver mane and bright gold eyes. Flicking his mane out of his face he turned towards the guard pony across from Bluebell and grinned.

“Why hello there madam, I hope you’ll pardon the intrusion but I just couldn’t help but come over. You see I have travelled many lands and flown many skies, but I must say, you are surely the most stunning pony I have ever seen.” Diamond’s cheeks turned bright red as she looked up at the handsome stallion. “The name’s Whirlwind, may I have yours?”

“Diamond Spirit.” Her beam was so far stretched across her face it was difficult for her to say anything more. His gold eyes came closer to hers as he leaned down across the table, their muzzles inches away. Diamond’s stomach fluttered with butterflies. Bluebell’s on the other hand was feeling sort of awkward, like a third wheel on a bicycle, it was like she wasn’t even there.

“Umm? Diamond?” Bluebell really didn’t want to intrude but what else could she do? Diamond’s face creased as she looked over at her annoying companion.

“What is it?!” Whirlwind didn’t even bother turning to look at her, he just used this as an excuse to lean in closer to Diamond.

“I.. I don’t know…” Bluebell really didn’t, she just wanted this stallion to move away from them, but she didn’t know how to say it without sounded really really mean… Diamond sighed irritated as her hooves held the sides of her head, she looked just about to burst from having to deal with Bluebell, luckily her coltfriend had an idea.

“Hey Diamond, why doesn’t your friend order us a drink or something…” Diamond’s smile returned as she gazed into his eyes. Dreamily she agreed and Bluebell was ushered away to the counter. She asked the waiter for three vanilla milkshakes but as she started heading back over with them, her path was blocked by none other than Colossus.

“Hey there Cupcake, fancy meeting you here. What’s say you and I ditch the lovebirds and head around town?”

“Oh I really don’t think I should, thanks for the offer though.”

“Come on Cupcake, it’ll be fun. Forget them, they’re off in gah-gah land. Just you and me now.” Colossus had picked up one of the milkshakes and put it between Diamond and Whirlwind, taking Bluebell’s straw so the drink had two straws poking out of it, leaving Bluebell to just sip out of hers. Stretching out his wing, he held it behind Bluebell, keeping her close to him, while also forcing her to walk with him. He had guided Bluebell out of the shop and they were on the side of an almost empty street while they enjoyed the last two milkshakes. Bluebell was quietly sipping hers unsure what to do, she wasn’t sure she was confident enough to run yet and she doubted she could get away from Colossus anyway.

“So Cupcake, you know the Princess?”

“Uh yeah, we’re old friends. It’s my first time in the Crystal Empire so she had one of the guards ponies show me around… Who I should probably be getting back to.”

“What do you need her for? You have me, I can show you around. I was thinking of taking a flight over the city, I can see your wings aren’t really up to it,” he said looking to the bandages around them, “But I was thinking I could carry you. Care to join me?” His own wings spread out.

“No thank you, the ground’s fine.”

“What’s wrong Cupcake? I thought a babe like you would love a flight over the city with me.”

“Please, just call me Bluebell, my name’s not Cupcake.”

“Oh but Cupcake is just so much more,” Suddenly Colossus’ tongue licked some milkshake foam from her nose, “Delicious.” Bluebell’s milkshake dropped to the ground from her hoof in shock. She backed away a few steps but found herself stopped by a wall. Colossus walked right in front of her, his eyes gleaming back, his smile licked by his foam covered tongue. Before she could bolt, he had his hoof around her neck and pulled her closer toward him. She tried to sink her head away but his other hoof rested under her chin and lifted it closer. Her voice failed her as her heart thumped against her chest. She tried to speak but Colossus beat her to it.

“Looks like you spilt your milkshake babe, let me just help you clean it up.” But he wasn’t talking about the drink on the floor, instead his tongue licked right over her lips, cleaning up the milkshake still on them. Bluebell was freaking out, she started pushing against him trying to get free but his grip tightened and his muzzle was suddenly interlocked with hers. She barely knew what happened before she felt his huge tongue rolling around the inside of her mouth. His dark blue eyes were the last things she saw before he brought his wings up to hide them from watchful eyes. A veil of darkness added to her torment, unable to call for help and too weak against this leviathan to stop him, she wasn’t sure what to do. Tears welled up in her eyes as only a few trickled over.

All at once, her darkness vanished.

With her lips relinquished and the taste of vanilla like dirt in her mouth, she turned a tear soaked face and saw a lone stallion standing next to them. He had Colossus’ wing pulled down and was looking between the two of them, his face hardened when he saw Bluebell’s tears.

“Hey buddy! Do you mind?! Me and my girlfriend are kinda busy here?” Colossus wrenched his wing out of the stallion’s grip. Bluebell looked up at the new comer with hope.

“Girlfriend huh?” His voice was blunt but sounded familiar, like Rubinstein’s, he even had the same purple coat, but his mane was blue instead of light purple like before. He also didn’t have any armour on so she could see the picture on his side was of a palace tower.

“Yeah, so bugger off! Come on Cupcake, someponies just have no idea what privacy is.” Colossus stood up and started herding Bluebell away, they were stopped though when the stallion walked in front of them. Colossus was aggravated. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“Get off her.” His voice was barely audible as he grit his teeth together.

“What?”

“Leave her alone you miserable excuse for an equine!” The stallion bellowed, he had pushed between Colossus and Bluebell and butted him away from her. Head down and nostrils flaring he guarded Bluebell from him.

“What in Tartarus are you doing?!?! That’s my girlfrie—”

“SHE IS NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND!” His hoof slamming the cobbled road. “Now leave Bluebell alone before I have you thrown in jail for harassing her!”

“Rubinstein!” Bluebell’s eyes widened with joy as she squealed his name, he turned slightly to give her a soft smile before throwing his attention back at Colossus.

“Wait, you know her?!” Colossus’ face etched in surprise.

“Yes I know her. And if I ever see you near her again I will personally make sure your stay in the dungeons is a long and unpleasant one!” With a flick of his tail, Rubin kicked after Colossus causing him to jump in the air,

“Ah! Alright, alright! I’m going!” Colossus flew up out of Rubin’s reach, “Be seeing ya babe.” He said with a grin, then off over the buildings out of sight he flew. Rubin huffed pleased with himself and turned back towards Bluebell. He didn’t get far before being tackled in a lung crushing hug. He looked down and saw Bluebell beaming as she gripped his neck.

“I-I’m so glad you came! I didn’t know what to do, he wouldn’t leave me alone and I couldn’t get away and and…” Her eyes squeezed shut as more tears found their way down her face. Her breathing was erratic as she pressed her face into Rubin’s chest and cried. He wrapped his arms around her and just waited, stroking her neck until she was ready.

***

Bluebell’s eyes were still red and puffy when they made their way over to the restaurant that she had eaten breakfast at that morning. Luckily Diamond Spirit was still there gazing into her new stallion friend. That was short lived though when Rubin interrupted them and ordered Diamond to follow him. Their trek over to the Crystal Palace was a silent one, Bluebell wasn’t feeling up to talking and Rubin was ignoring all of Diamond’s attempts to figure out what this was supposed to be about.

Finally they reached the palace and they each entered the throne room. Shining was speaking to his wife at the time but both stopped to see who entered.

“Rubinstein? What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be off-duty.” Shining Armour asked.

“Sir, I need to speak with you immediately. It’s about Bluebell.” Cadence was suddenly rushing over to Bluebell as she said,

“Oh my goodness! What’s happened? You look like you’ve been crying dear.”

“Rubin what happened?” Shining walked over to them as well to speak with Rubin.

“Bluebell was harassed by a stallion. I found him forcing himself on her in the street.” The Princess gasped as Shining looked concerned, he turned on Diamond and asked,

“Where were you? Weren’t you supposed to be looking out for her?”

“I didn’t know that was happening!” She exclaimed.

“That’s because you were making googly eyes with a stallion of your own.” Rubin bluntly said, he stared daggers at her with hatred.

“What right do you have to state that!?!” She yelled at Rubin.

“EVERY RIGHT! Bluebell was almost taken advantage of while you were off being distracted by some stallion! Something could’ve happened to her!” Shining suddenly stepped between them to stop any hooves flying.

“Both of you, enough! Diamond! I want you in my office now!” She gritted her teeth to hold back words she might regret and trodded out the room. “Now Rubin, aside from your outburst just now… I am very happy for what you did.”

“Thank you sir.”

“It was very noble Rubinstein.” Cadence said. “Helping a lady in need.” A small voice then asked,

“Can Rubinstein be my guard?”

“Huh?” Each of them turned to Bluebell. She withdrew at all their staring faces but continued in a quiet voice.

“You know, instead of Diamond. He does a better job of it anyway.” Shining smiled in understanding and asked,

“That all depends. Rubinstein, do you want to watch out for Bluebell during her stay here.” Without hesitation he answered,

“I’d be happy to sir.”