Harmonics: The Accidental Project

Chapters

1. Entering Harmonics
2. Metamorphic Choices
3. Prime
4. Higher Hopes
5. Sweet Apple Acres

1. Entering Harmonics

“Oh, geez. What the hay happened?” I groan loudly into the darkness, my whole body feels slightly sore. The more concerning thing is the immense headache I’m feeling, it could more than likely be a migraine. My eyes flicker open, all I can see is darkness. Actually, that’s not completely true, i can see a thin line of bright white light at the bottom of what appears to be a door.

There are many concerning things here, by many, I mean that there are two main concerns. First is that the lights in my house aren’t that white. Second is the awkward position I’m in, I’m haphazardly sprawled out on various items. I guess that could explain the soreness I’m feeling, but it doesn’t tell me much about my situation. My magic lights up and I look at my surroundings, I appear to have woken up in a broom closet of sorts.

It’s not the strangest place I’ve woken up; after my expedition across the United States a Starlet, my life hasn’t been normal. After all, a little magic goes a long way. I’ve had to adjust to keeping things a secret, which isn’t as hard as it sounds. I used to be a decent liar, but living with this big secret has honed my fallacies to neigh undetectable. I’ve managed to keep my life at a steady, and somewhat boring, pace. Though, every once in a while something exciting will happen. That doesn’t mean that this is a normal occurrence and I’m not freaking out about it, I’m just more annoyed than I am afraid.

I find the door and it slides open, I’m met with blinding lights in a hallway. the hallway is a clean and rather drab looking one, the design suggests a facility or laboratory. Afigure down near the end of the hall confirms this, for he is very obviously a scientist. There are two other figures without labcoats walking down the hall, they must be interns. I duck back into the closet and pull out a business dress so I can blend in. I pull out a regular jacket and put it on, I focus on the image of a standard lab coat. I can feel the magic flow out and into the jacket, changing it into the coat. But, there’s something else. The spell ends with a flash as i realize what went wrong.

I gasp in surprise as I fall to the floor with a thump, the new coat now covering my body. that took too much power, I should be able to do more than this easily. The power was also much harder to control, like my magic is quickly leaving me. I’ll have to keep magic to a minimum until I can figure out what’s wrong. I use another spell to cover my tail which, in my frantic scrambling, I had almost forgot about. The spell, being another high power spell, nearly knocked me out. Fortunately, it didn’t and I remembered to cover my ears as well. They should stay in place for at least a month, so I have that much time to find a more permanent solution.

“Deep breaths, Skylar. You can do this,” I take a deep breath exactly like I commanded myself to and step out of the broom closet. As soon as I step out I release my breath and a wave of calm washes over me. I walk over to the nearest lab with haste, if this is a laboratory then they surely have computers. If they have computers, then I know exactly where to get the information i need.

~~~~~~~~

I stare at shock in the screen, I can’t believe what I’ve just read. Yet I know that however impossible it seems, it has to be true. Somehow I’m in the year 2038 and the earth is in danger. Something called the black tide, millions of tiny nanomachines, is eating the earth. Now I’ve appeared in the middle of a top secret facility for something called Project: Harmonics… and that’s just the most basic of information I could find. There was some other stuff that went into depth about the Harmonics jobs and how they searched for worlds. There was also some news reports and small things about the Black Tide.

Thanks to finding some loose case files, I was able to replicate and store them in the correct spot. Now I’m in the system, so I won’t get thrown out. It wasn’t easy, and I’m pretty much completely drained on magic for a while. To anyone’s knowledge, I’m a twenty-two year old Intern that has the same qualifications as an average worker here. My job is to fine tune for snapshots of potential worlds, just like the others. That’s what most people at this facility do, though their records don’t show any success in finding worlds. At least, no records that I could access showed that.

If they have dimensional travel in mind, then they must have some information on it. I’ll need some of this information if I plan on getting back to my world, which is my working theory on how I got here. That this is a different dimension, that is, it’s the only logical explanation. The one thing that irks me the most is that I can’t figure out why, I can’t determine why I’ve been dumped here. I push the thought aside and grab a pen and notepad, I caught word of some meeting that seems important that seems to be starting soon. I’d better get down there, they might say or announce something important.

~~~~~~~

I shuffle into the auditorium and take a seat near the back, there’s no need to draw attention to myself. From the back I can watch carefully and be inconspicuous with my reactions. My hair didn’t go unnoticed and I feel stupid for not concealing it, of course red-dyed tips would seem unusual in a business place. Normally I’d magically mask them, but my magics grown too weak to do that. As long as I keep on the down low, no problems should arise. Though i should start thinking of other solutions for if my magic fizzles for some reason and my other spells wear off.

I’m glad I managed to blend in some way, it would be terrible if I’m thrown out. I’ll have to be careful in my actions, I’ll have to be precise. I try to organize my thoughts, it’s difficult. My minds been racing to comprehend everything that’s happening, it’s obvious that I need to go on the offensive. A take charge and find answers approach, being a doormat will get me nowhere.

The other interns are filing into the auditorium excitedly, it’s possible they don’t get much action here. However, the next girl to sit next to me doesn’t look as enthusiastic as most of the others. She sits there with a bored expression and note taking instruments. There’s nothing especially different about her except her attitude about this. it’s likely she’s a long standing employee that’s bored of the tedious work day. Maybe these meetings are normal? other interns expressions beg to differ, but I could be wrong.

A stout older man in a classy brown suit and flashy red bowtie walks up to the stage. He has large glasses and a bushy beard, the bushy beard contrasts the emptiness atop his head. It brings a small chuckle. I notice the girl next to me, that was previously looking bored, perk up at seeing the man. Perhaps he’s an important person on this facility, probably well respected. The man begins and the lights Dim, he clears his throat.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I wanted to thank you for helping with Project Harmonics. I know the work is hard, and especially your end of the work is very tedious, but what we're doing here is, quite simply, the most important thing in the world today.” the most important thing that most people don’t know about. With this being a secret facility, most people probably don’t even know the name Project: Harmonics.

"You've all been working very hard.” Some of us have, “I can't thank you enough for that. But it's time, I think, to show you some of the fruits of your labors. Yes, yes," I hear a lot of excited whispering from the crowd, "that's right, we're going to show you just a few of the worlds that you've helped us to discover." I can see him waiting for the excitement to die down. Even I have to admit that I am pretty excited about seeing another world, even accounting the fact that I technically have seen another world.

"First up..." the man continues to show various images and talk about other things that have to do with their operations. Everyone continues to look at the screen in awe, I can’t help but notice that every single world is uninhabitable for some reason or other.

"All of these worlds have been, in a very real sense, a triumph for humanity and science in general. Each of these worlds presents to us marvelous opportunities to study and learn fantastic things about our universe. We've seen things that, honestly, baffle us. Worlds where the laws of physics as we know them simply do not seem to apply.” the laws of physics don’t apply the same? I wonder if they have a way to travel between realities, its much safer than tearing all these holes in dimensions…Then again, they are looking for a different world, its kindof necessary.

"Unfortunately," he continued, "None of these present to us the opportunity we were looking for. A world which would, to put it bluntly, save human kind." he nods to a technician and another video pops up. “No world, that is, until this one, which we first discovered three weeks ago.” the man continues in quite a dramatic manner.

I adjust in my seat to get a better look as many excited interns sit up straighter to do the exact same thing. The images on screen show a world that looks very similar to earth, or the earth as I know it. It might not look like this earth, but I notice that these pictures look very bright and picturesque. The man raises his hand and silence reigns over the auditorium.

“Now this world, this world looks very like our own. Some species of plants are unknown to us, but we see many that look very similar to ones that we have here on Earth. We've seen animals that at least look like normal birds, squirrels and rabbits." I watch pictures of various plants and some animals go across the screen. A particular picture of a blue flower catches my attention.

“Poison joke? no, it can’t be…” I mutter, I notice the girl next to me look over questioningly. I brush it off and continue looking at the various landscapes flashing across the screen. I must have been seeing things or something, it would be too much of a coincidence if this was Equestria. Maybe other dimensions have poison joke, or poison joke looking plants. after all, Equestrian foliage is similar to Earth’s. Then again, so is this worlds.

“We were able to send some probes over,” the man at the microphone clears his throat to gain everyone’s attention "Ahem! Yes, as I was saying. We were able to send over some probes, and I'm pleased to say that, while the atmosphere is very slightly higher on oxygen, perhaps 23% or so, and the gravity is very slightly less than here on Earth, and the environment seems to be totally and completely compatible with human life. We've done it, ladies and gentlemen. We've found a world that will save humanity!" I calmly clap while everyone else cheers. While I feel many things about this development, I can’t feel as proud as the others. I did nothing, I just got here, and it’s not my own Earth.

The man smiles back as everyone cheers, thankfully, everyone is too caught up in cheering to notice the one outcast. The cheering turns into applause and then a standing ovation, to which i have no problem joining in. As the cheering dies down, the man raises his hand to talk.

"There is, however, one small problem. Perhaps it's not an insurmountable problem, but it is one we need to take into consideration. Show the next video, please." the screen resolves into an image of a town with winding streets and vibrant rooftops. I feel a twinge of familiarity, but I wait for confirmation before jumping to conclusions. "As you can see, this world is inhabited." the man waves off everyones’ disappointment and continues.

"Now, now, none of that. It's inhabited, yes, but the population density is nowhere near that of the Earth, at least in the regions we've been able to see so far. Granted, that's only a small portion of this world, as there is something about this one that makes matching harmonics with it... well, tricky, to say the least. But it's entirely possible that we can co-exist with the inhabitants. But first, we need to learn more about them. Because, you see... they aren't exactly human." I hear multiple gasps at this statement.

"Now, this is one of the larger settlements we've found. For the most part, they appear to be a community of farmers. It seems fairly similar to the USA in the mid-1800's, actually. If they turn out to be hostile or inhospitable, we could, if we wanted to, simply move in by force and take what we needed." the idea of forceful entry puts me off about this whole thing. Force is the one thing a first contact with aliens shouldn’t have, especially not with the aliens on the receiving end.

"We'd much rather co-exist, of course, but we're talking about the future of the human race, here. We're talking about our survival as a species, and we're talking about billions of lives. Naturally, we're still looking for other viable alternate worlds while we study this one. Maybe we can find an uninhabited one that is similar enough to the Earth that we could move there, instead. If not,then it's entirely possible that they would be friendly and welcome us into their world. They seem friendly enough as it is. We'd still like to get some people over there to study them, unobtrusively, but for now we're just watching everything we can whenever we're able to get a window open. Which is anywhere from five to twenty minutes on average, once or twice a week.” the man continues to talk as everyone grows anxious.

"And now, I bet you're all just dying to see what our 'alien' intelligence looks like!" the confirmation was loud and unanimous. “last video, please,” the auditorium grows quiet as the video plays. The man narrates, but his voice is just background noise as I see the multi-colored shapes appear.

“Oh my god, ponies!” I look over in shock at the girl next to me, she had yelled so loud it had broken me out of my stupor. Equestria? They’re trying to migrate to Equestria? It’s too surprising to seem real, yet here it is. The man continues to talk, as soon as he finishes, the auditorium is filled with excited voices from over enthusiastic interns. Even the girl who used to be dying of boredom, the girl next to me, seems to be rambling excitedly. I can’t make out much over the din, but she stops once she realizes what she’s doing.

"It shouldn't surprise anyone, that my team has dubbed this place 'Ponyworld'." I scoff at the ridiculous name, maybe I’ll ‘suggest’ a better name later. The video is cut and all attention returns to the man.

"Now back to business, we need to get a sense of the pony society. How is it organized? What are the people... er... ponies like? Are they religious? Do they have any needs that we could supply for them, in return for letting us live there? Are there any large areas of land that we could move our populations to? Basically, we need vast amounts of information. More than we can get by pushing probes out there and watching through the occasional window. And that's why I called you all together. What we need, essentially, are some volunteers.” I watch as the girl next to me shoots her hand up.

"Ah, well, that was fast. You're the 'oh my god ponies' girl, aren't you? What's your name, young lady?" the man inspects her from afar.

"Um... Erin, sir. Erin Olsen."

“And, why are you volunteering for this project, when we don't know what we'll even ask of you?” the girl looks like she’s thinking.

"Well, sir, will this project involve staring at a small screen while making minuscule adjustments for twelve-hour shifts?" the man and many other people in the auditorium laugh.

“No, it will not. But it will involve being subject to an experimental Harmonics gateway, being sent to this new world, and observing the ponies in their environment for some time while we gather data. And, also, you'll be undergoing surgery to have several various probes and sensors inserted into your body, in order to better facilitate our data gathering." I watch as her hand starts to drop, but she pushes it back up in determination.

“I’m in,” Erin says, I admire her courage.

"Wonderful! Do we have any other takers?" This could be a great opportunity, enough of lying low. Like I said, take charge.

I raise my hand and Erin looks at me, I flash her a cheery smile. Within the next few minutes only four other volunteers raise their hands, with the last on being very hesitant. Eventually the man realizes that there are no more volunteers.

"Well, then, We have six volunteers. Six brave souls who are willing to go the distance and face the unknown, and... er... Apparently that last young lady has reconsidered. Very well. Five brave souls. Stand up, then, you wonderful people! Stand up! We salute you!" I stand up and try to act non-standoutish. I can see the girl next to me blushing as everyone applauds. The applause goes on a long time and we just continue standing, the man at the podium starts leafing through some papers. The girl named Erin started towards the stage with the volunteers, I follow them up to the man that had apparently forgotten them. We all stand at the bottom of the podium being ignored until one of the volunteers clears his throat.

“What?” the man looks startled until he sees us, “Oh, yes, of course. Everyone, thank you for coming today. Feel free to take an hour of celebration at the cafeteria before returning to work. We still need to find other viable alternate worlds, just in case this 'Ponyworld' doesn't pan out!"

After the other interns start filling out he turns to us volunteers, "Ah, my dear volunteers! Wonderful, wonderful! Please, for now, join your peers and get something to eat. It's a special day! We ordered in cake and ice cream, it's waiting in the cafeteria. Mention that you're a volunteer, and you should get an extra-large slice! Here you go." he hands us each a folder with a few papers in it.

"Read those over as soon as you can, after the cake of course, and meet me in conference room 4-C in three hours. There are a few things we need to go over." We all open our folders and look in them, it looks like standard paperwork.

“Well, that was interesting. But for now, let’s go get some cake!” I follow the volunteers out to go get cake. After a day like this, I’m gonna need the sugar.

2. Metamorphic Choices

I walk into the conference room with the other volunteers. The room is rather large and very empty. I had been concerned about the two guards outside the door, but they did nothing. There were some people in the room already, and we are encouraged to sit near to eachother. This leaves a good portion of the table empty.

"We were really hoping for a few more volunteers," I chuckle lightly at that. I don’t recognize the woman speaking, I don’t really recognize anyone. aside from Erin, whom I only know as the first volunteer. I do think I recall the other woman from a picture somewhere, maybe she’s one of the important people here. People start introducing themselves and I listen intently.

The woman who had spoken up was Doctor Maggie Henson, head of the Harmonics emitter team. There was also a Doctor Alden Rowe, chief of medicine. Doctor Hermann fischer; he was in charge of a project I don’t remember hearing about, something called Project: Ascent. He sounded slightly australian, I wonder if his project is based in a foreign country. Would that mean that this Project: Harmonics is a world-wide effort. There is a short and thin man that appears to be in his middle ages, he identifies himself as Doctor Edwards. He doesn’t give afirst name, just Doctor Edwards. There is also a military observer by the name of Major Mitchell Morris.

"Have we all already introduced ourselves to each other? Yes? Good! Let's get right into it, then! First and foremost, did you all have a chance to go through your paperwork?" The man from the podium takes a seat at the head of the table and we all assure him we had.

"Good deal! First thing, then, is that we need you all to sign the confidentiality agreement. Basic non-disclosure, under penalty of treason, of any information that you may be told in here. Do any of you have any questions? No? Then sign away, my wonderful volunteers!" It sounds like standard top-secret stuff, but everyone looks nervous. I see the girl named Erin look at all the other volunteers and then at me, she notices that I’m the only on unfazed by this. I slide my paper over to the man at the head of the table cooly, the other volunteers all do the same. Truth be told, I’m just as nervous as the rest of them. I’ve just learned to hide mild nervousness really well, but only mild nervousness. If I’m confronted directly, I’m not so great at hiding.

"Good, now that that is out of the way, I have to say that we're going to be introducing you to some very radical concepts here. Not only the cybernetic implants, which I touched upon very briefly during the meeting, but some cutting-edge stuff that anyone out in the world today would tell you is nothing but science fiction.” I look back at all I know about this world, it already sounds exactly like science fiction.

"I have to warn you that there's no going back after this point. You can still refuse to participate, once you hear the offer. But if you decline, you will be kept separate from the rest of the personnel on-site. That's non-negotiable, I'm afraid. Your only contact will be with other people who have the same information that you do, at least until this particular project has run its course. Any who wish to leave may do so now, with no hard feelings, and go back to the scanner arrays." I’m fine with that, but it would seem one volunteer isn’t.

The woman makes her excuses and walks quickly out the door, the blushing was very obvious. A guard pops his head in the conference room, the man at the head of the table tells him she’s free to go. I’m actually not all that concerned about this, it helps to ensure that I’m kept in the facility.

"Ah, well, not as bad as I was expecting. Well, if the rest of you are very sure? Good! Then let's get into some of the data that we know." the man clicks a button and the lights dim. a screen at the back of the room lights up with a scene from the video earlier.

The man starts to explain about how they edited out some of the more spectacular things, but I already have an idea of what he’s talking about. I watch as a pony with a four leaf clover cutie-mark picks up some branches with magic. The man starts to equate their magic with telekinesis and I tune him out. I don’t want to correct him for fear of being caught, but I can’t stand hearing magic like that. My attention is caught by a picture of Twilight Sparkle reading while walking.

“Dang it, Twilight.” I snap to attention when I realize I said that out loud, I laugh nervously when the others look at me. I had been thinking about how Twilight had promised to stop reading while walking after the time she almost walked right into the street. This probably isn’t the same Twilight though.

"Obviously, the telekinesis presents a great unknown factor. This is one way in which this world is different than ours. Who knows how many others there may be?" I begin paying attention to the man as he continues.

"How do you get all these videos?" Erin asks in amazement.

"Ah, glad you asked! The drones that we sent over are very small, programmed to evade notice, and have simply the best cameras money can buy. They stay some distance outside of town, zooming in on whatever their programming takes a fancy to." the man replies.

"Sir," a volunteer that had introduced himself as Adam speaks up, "What's the significance of the tattoos on their hindquarters?"

"Ah, that, we honestly don't know. All of the adults have them. It seems to be some sort of ritualistic 'rite of passage' into adulthood kind of thing, but we're really not sure. We have cataloged a few of these, but there seems to be almost no correlation between the pony and the tattoo. Outside of the different types of pony, that is." I fight back the urge to correct anything and everything.

“What do you mean?” Erin asks. I tune out his explanation as best as I can, but I cringe as I hear about racial separation.

"So, basically, we want you to go and infiltrate pony society. Find out how things work there. Try the local food, so you can give the sensors we'll implant in your digestive tracts the ability to analyze the nutritional content of it. Mingle with the ponies, learn how the economy works, what the difference is between the classes of ponies besides the obvious. Find out how the government works, that kind of thing. Basically, just gather any and all information that you can, as quickly as you can." the man summarizes.

Adam laughs and I feel obliged to agree with his sentiments.

"And how are we supposed to do that? Just walk up to them and say, 'Hi there, little ponies, I'm an alien that wants to gather information about your world'? How would they even understand us? I doubt they speak English!" Adam says incredulously.

"That's one of the most amazing things," Dr. Velchiek replied, chuckling." One of the probes we managed to get across happened to pick up a brief conversation as a couple of ponies wandered by underneath it. Apparently, they speak perfect English. Honestly, I was still too shocked by the telekinesis to be much bothered about that, but it is, perhaps, the most astounding thing, I'm sure you'll agree. As for the other thing," the man clears his throat nervously, "you won't be aliens at all. We plan to... well, to turn you into ponies." there’s the catch, but I’m not bothered by it. I’ve been a pony before, it’s not so bad. There’s a long pause in the room as everyone tries to comprehend this.

“I’m sorry, what?” Erin says after a moment, she looks dumbfounded.

“Yes, into ponies. Dr. Fischer, if you could take over?” the man asks.

“Certainly, Paul.” Well, at least now I have a name for him. The screen changes to strange and mechanical looking grains of rice. or, at least, rice looking things.

"I work on Project Ascent. This project had one goal in mind. To figure out how to counter the Black Tide's nefarious little nanomachines with nanomachines under our own control. Unfortunately, their machines are much more advanced than ours, and simply consume them like they consume everything else. In any case, what you see here is the fruit of our labor. Each of these little pellets is invisible to the naked eye, smaller than a red blood cell, and yet has the ability to rearrange matter in much the same way that the Tide's own nanomachines can. Only, in this case, we can control it." The man explains.

"I'm done. No way that's going to work for me, sorry. This sounds way too 'mad scientist' to me." I don’t blame him, it does seem a bit crass. I can understand not wanting the same type of technology destroying your world on yourself.

“Very well,” Paul escorts the man to the door and whispers to the guards before returning. “And then there were three, please continue Dr. Fischer.”

"The procedure is perfectly safe, I assure you. We will turn you into ponies, of the plain variety, and give you what we hope will be an appropriate mark on your flanks." he continues after some thought.

"Why can't we be a winged pony? I'd like to be able to fly!" Erin says, she seems pretty sterling for the idea he’s describing.

"If you can tell us how they fly, and describe for us the anatomy of their wings," he said, "then indeed we'd be happy to make you over into a winged pony. As it is, though, we have no idea how to replicate the abilities of the horned and winged ponies that you see in our videos." maybe I should look into that, I’d like to be a unicorn again at some point.

"We can do this, we assure you. We've already done significant animal testing, and we believe we have the flaws worked out." Dr. Fischer continues.

"And you have my personal word, that you will be turned back at the first opportunity when you return from Ponyworld. And, just to sweeten the pot, if helping to save the world isn't enough, I will personally guarantee that you will be compensated well enough that you will never have to work again. Also, you will be heroes the world over, once this is all said and done. So, what do you say?" Paul promises

"Where did this technology come from? I've never heard of anything like this, ever. This seems like it's years beyond anything we're capable of." Adam says. Dr. Fischer looks uncomfortable but continues with the go-ahead from Paul.

"We... have studied the nanomachines of the Tide. we were able to retrieve some damaged ones and figure out some of the properties by which they work. Our own nanomachines were built using that knowledge." Dr. Fischer confesses. When I said the technology that is destroying your world, I meant nanomachines in general. I didn’t think it was literally Black Tide technology.

"So, you're saying you're planning on using technology inspired by the Black Tide to turn us into ponies," Adam deadpans. I roll my eyes at the simultaneous confirmation. They actually expected more volunteers?

“Then I also have to say 'no', sorry. I agree with Richard, this is just too crazy. Sorry, you two. Looks like it's down to you." I can’t be the only one to go. they need someone focused on actually saving their earth. I could get too caught up in dimensional travel and research to actually find anything of value. I won’t ask enough questions, I already know enough about the place! I can’t let my decision influence hers, not in a negative way at least…

“And then there were two, what do you say… Erin was it? And you, what’s your name?” Paul asks me.

“Skylar,” I answer simply.

“Well then Skylar and Erin, The fate of the world rests in your hands. No, the fate of two worlds. Ours, and theirs. Because I guarantee you, whether or not we gather the intel we need, humanity is moving into Ponyworld in about eight month's time. We already have emitter stations going up all over the world in preparation for the event. We plan on doing this as diplomatically as possible, but the survival of the human race has to take precedence. The information you gather could make that transition so much easier on both species. Will you do it?" Paul explains, I remember that I have to encourage acceptance.

“Sir, I…” I hear Erin start, “can I sleep on it?” she says.

“It’s sounding like a no, but I think I need to sleep on it as well,” a little trickery can’t harm much.

The man agrees and escorts us to the doorway. The other people went their own ways, a guard even came back. Paul escorts us to specially prepared dorms. he was monologuing about something, but I wasn’t really listening to any of it.

"Well, here you are, my dears. I really hope you take us up on this opportunity. You'll be doing everyone a lot of good, if you agree." Paul leaves after that. The two of us enter the doorway, we come across a large sitting area with several massive screens. the central area has various places to sit and bookshelves lining the walls. Off to one side I see a bar and kitchen area, the two boys who had declined look up at us.

"Well, that didn't take long, I didn't think anyone would go for that. It's just too crazy!" Adam comments.

“Actually, we haven’t made up our minds, yet.” Erin says.

"You have got to be kidding! They want to break your body down and recreate it! Recreate it as a stupid horse! Using technology inspired by the Black Tide! How can you even consider that?" the way he worded that offends me, stupid horse?! I smartly keep my mouth shut and let Erin do the talking.

“Because a lot of lives are at stake, that’s how!” Erin snaps.

"Don't be stupid, nobody is going to die. We've got a world to move into. Getting information is pointless, we're going in whether or not those ponies like it. And if they fight us, well... we're not exactly leaving any of our military hardware behind, are we? I doubt those winged ponies can out-fly a jet!" This guy’s view is almost enough for me to scream at him for his stupidity, but he might be helping me. Erin might not need persuasion at this point.

Erin turns around abruptly and I follow her over to the door we just came in. we walk over and she opens it up, one of the guards attempts to stop us.

“Sorry, ma’am, but you can’t leave-” Erin cuts him off.

“Please send for Dr. Velchiek, Tell him I’ve made up my mind. Tell him… Tell him I’ll do it.” She takes a deep breath before finishing her last sentence. Now I have a name for the man other than just Paul. Paul Velchiek. Doctor Paul Velchiek, I like the sound of that.

“Tell him, we’ll do it,” I add with a cheeky grin. Erin looks at me in slight shock.

3. Prime

"Very well, we can now get into more of the details involved in this project, which we are calling... Project Insertion? Really, that's the best we've got?" We’re sitting in another conference room talking about the details of our project. "All right, then. We're going to have each head go through and give you a brief summary of what we're doing. First things first. Maggie?" Dr velchiek turns to Doctor Henson.

“Thank you, Paul.” Doctor Henson hands both me and Erin our own tablets, it looks like a standard tablet. “Those tablets have all of the data that we've collected from Ponyworld up to this point. All video, all pictures, all scientific data, as well as all of our best guesses as to what Pony society is like. Please study them in depth, and don't allow anyone else to see it. They’re keyed to your thumbprint. Please turn it on now." I probably won’t look through this all that much if it’s stuff I already know. Or things that they don’t know the full truth about. We both turn our tablets on and Identical text and logos pop up, I hear Erin thank Doctor Henson and I do the same.

"Oh, please, Now that we're working together, you can call me Maggie." she says with a smile.

“Thank you, maggie,” Erin Smiles back.

“You’re quite welcome, dear!” Maggie cheers back in response.

"You can continue to call me 'Doctor'," Dr. Edwards speaks up, "I'd like to get my part of this out of the way, if you don't mind. I have to get back to my labs as soon as possible, We're still developing the implants we're going to be using for this little field trip, and I will need all the time I can get in order to get them completed on time." Who spit in his cheerios.

“Certainly Dr. Edwards, please continue,” Dr. Velchiek affirms.

"Very well. Young ladies, open the tablet under the part of the index titled 'cybernetics'. I'll take you through a brief rundown of what we're hoping to accomplish." The man says in a crabby manner.

The man explains everything about our Implants and I listen intently, according to him we’ll be enhanced ponies. I just wonder if the enhancements they’re giving us will be enough, ponies there are already more spectacular than the ones on earth. The man finishes up his explanation and attempts to leave, but Erin stops him.

“Ah, yes, actually, I do have a question. Is there any way we’d be able to turn the recorder off for short periods of time? she asks.

"Why, in the name of all that's holy, would we ever make it so that the recorder could be turned off?" His voice is cold and piercing.

"Well... sometimes... A girl wants some privacy, you know?" I can see the blush on Erins face.

"My dear girl," he shot back condescendingly, "If you want to have some hanky-panky with the local stallions, I'm sure that's your own concern, but don't-" Erin’s shouts cut him off.

"No! No no no! God, no, are you kidding me? I was talking about normal things like having to go to the bathroom or whatever! I don't want you guys watching that! Good god, you thought I was talking about sex?! What is wrong with you?!" Everyone bursts in to laughter at that remark, everyone except Erin and Dr. Edwards.

“My dear, if you think that I’m going to cater-” he is cut off by Dr. Henson. I don’t listen to much of what they say next, but I gather that Erin just earned us a pause button. I was looking through the tablet and at the cybernetics again. I hop back into the conversation as I hear the Australian sounding man speak.

“Like Doctor Henson, I would like you two to call me by my first name. We’re going to be working together for a while, after all, and a little familiarity will go a long way towards making things go smoother. So, please, call me Hermann.” Dr. Fischer says.

“Thank you Hermann,” I can feel the mood lightening from it’s previous tension already.

“Of course,” Hermann begins to describe his crews complications during development and what enhancements we’ll be getting.

“From what I understand, dear, You will be allowed to pick whatever it is you like, from a pre-approved list that you should find on that tablet Maggie gave you,” I don’t suppose that my old cutie mark is on that list? maybe I can suggest it.

"That is, in summary, what we're planning on having as the end result. Did you have any questions?" Hermann asks.

"Um, yes. Can you tell me exactly how this is going to work? What are you going to do to us?" Hermann proceeds to explain the process to Erin and I watch her stare at him in shock. My mind latches onto the last part of his speech.

“All together, the process should take about two weeks." Hermann says.

“Two weeks?!” I sympathize with her franticness, but I doubt they’ll keep us awake the whole time. “Will it hurt?” Erin asks

meekly.

"Oh, no, my dear, of course not! For you, the time will pass like nothing. You will be unconscious the entire time, while we tend the process and make any adjustments needed. You will simply go to sleep on one day, then wake up on another, as a pony. The process to reverse the change will work much the same way, only this time we'll have a template to go off of, so it will be much smoother. We would be able to return you to your current form in about a week or so." He assures her.

“And if you like, we can include some of the upgrades that you will have had as a pony. The enhanced reflexes, strength, and so on. Consider it a positive side effect, if you want.” Dr. Velchiek adds.

“I’ll… think about it,” Erin replies.

“Well that’s about it for the presentations, did you have any other questions?” I don’t have any, but it seems Erin has plenty for the both of us. I half listen, half scroll through the rest of the information on the tablet. As the meeting wraps up Dr. Velchiek insists on walking us back again and praises us for our courage and bravery the whole way.

"This is important work. You'll see. You're doing a great service to your species, and I thank you, most sincerely." This man sure is persistent, I’ll give him that.

We both walk back into the dorms to see Richard and Adam are sitting on the couch, now they’re watching a football game on one of the big screens in the room. Adam mutes the TV to speak.

“Wow, I wasn’t expecting to see you two again, at least as a human. Aren’t you supposed to be ponies now? Or did you chicken out?” Adam and Richard snicker at her reaction.

“We didn’t chicken out!” she says hotly, “It’s going to take a few days for them to get ready, and in the meanwhile, we have to study!” Erin states matter of factly.

“Oh, okay, fine. Erin, I‘m sorry I made fun of you. I really, honestly think this is an amazingly brave thing that you’re doing. Crazy, but brave.” He holds his hand out and Erin hesitantly shakes it in return.

“There are about eight rooms here, all pretty good sized. No doubt they were hoping for a lot more in the way of volunteers, but we’re the only ones they got. Go ahead and find the room with your stuff in it, they moved it all while we were stuffing our faces with cake earlier. And if you don’t like the room they gave you, go ahead and move into any of the empty ones.” Crap, what do they think they did with my stuff? I don’t have any stuff here last time I checked. Maybe they just shrugged it off, or maybe they’re suspicious. I’ll have to play it safe for a while, they might be keeping a close eye on me.

“Sounds good. Um… thanks Adam.” Erin replies.

“No problem,” I roll my eyes at their awkward social skills, if that’s not the sign of a scientist I don’t know what is. I look into all of the rooms. Erin finds her room and the rest are empty, so I just claim one and try to figure out how I’ll fix my dilemma. I pull out a couple of outfits to serve as my belongings, so I don’t raise any suspicion and drain myself trying to pull out one outfit every day. I’m running out of magic fast, I’ll have to be extremely frugal with it’s use, if I use it at all. I lay my head down to try and comprehend the day I just had, I almost immediately fall asleep.

~~~~~~~

The next few days pass by without much conflict, I mainly spend my days looking over their information. I hadn’t planned on actually studying, but I have to know what to say and what not to say. I’ve not used my magic once the whole time, I’ve been cut off since the second day. I’ll feel short bursts every now and again, but it’s not enough to do much more than float something for a minute or so.

Hermann and Dr. Velchiek had been pestering me and Erin about our flank tattoos. Eventually Erin told them what her choice was, she even changed the name of the project to match it. I had no objections and the name of the project was changed to Project Sunflower officially. I realize now where I recall that name, I had heard it once while looking through stories. I never read it, so I don’t know what’s supposed to happen. I know enough about alternate dimensions to know I’ve probably changed everything in this timeline, so I brush it off. I’ve only created an alternate dimension, that means that the regular storyline is still out there somewhere.

I eventually get my old three hearts with a sparkle and band-aid cutie mark approved. from this point I’d given my final goodbye’s to Richard and Adam and I’m about to step into the nutrient bath. I’m so nervous-cited about the change!

4. Higher Hopes

I open my eyes to be met with blinding white lights. I groan as I close my eyes and try to clear my head, all my senses are being flooded with all forms of stimulus. I can smell generic hospital smells, I’ve never really been in a hospital for anything other than checkups, but the smells for a hospital are still very clear. Had something happened? I try to remember what I had been doing and I recall the project. I must be waking up from the transformation.

I flare up as much of my magic as I can salvage, which happens to be a substantial amount, and cast an easing spell to soften my enhanced senses and ease the pain. My headache recedes as my senses softe, I reflect on the spell. There must have been something to give me a small amount of magic, because I remember not having any before I fell asleep. Maybe Earth can’t sustain magic and Equestria happens to leak some everytime they open a window, then the leak flows to the closest magical entity. That would make sense, then again, I still have my morning weariness and I’m too hungry to think. I need food… and water… badly.

I look around the room now that I’m more awake. I recall waking up a couple timesbefore, but I had been too tired and loopy to notice anything. I look over to the side to see that Erin’s not beside me, she must have already woken up.

The first time I woke up I had a much worse headache, but the whole memory of it is very fuzzy. I hardly remember anything but the pain from that memory. I wonder how long I was asleep? I try to move, but I’m strapped down to the table, Probably for safety reasons.

“Hey doc? am I done yet?” I call out to no one in particular. I hear a door opening and a doctor walks in, I see him jump in surprise when he sees me awake.

“Oh, you’re awake… actually, I just came in to see how you’re faring,” he says calmly.

“How, long was I under?” I ask absently.

“Well, the transformation itself took two weeks like planned, but you’re body took a month to set,” he says nervously, like I’m gonna leap at him in anger. I’m surprised, but I never expected this to be easy. I also am too hungry and thirsty to care.

“Okay, can you unstrap me? I’m really hungry, and thirsty” I yawn absently as I think on the transformation.

“Certainly, by the way, Erin Olsen woke up earlier,” I nod in acknowledgement and I stand up on the table as soon as I’m unstrapped. I look around and stretch my limbs. These limbs aren’t normal for me, but they aren’t unfamiliar. I move all the individual muscles I know I can control and nod to the man, I hop off the table and start walking around to get my post sleep weariness gone.

“Everything seems in order, where exactly do I go?” the man is gawking at me, “what?” I ask.

“It’s just that it took Erin much longer than that to get used to her body, and even then she wasn’t moving as smoothly as you are right now… how do you feel about the whole no clothes thing?” he asks curiously.

“I’m fine with it, Equest- I mean, Ponyworld ponies don’t wear clothes,” I brush off my near slip up and look around once more.

“Do you want a mirror?” he asks, he’s giving me a strange look that I ignore.

“Sure,” I say nonchalantly. He holds a small handheld mirror in front of me and I take it from his hands, I hold it in my fetlock and inspect myself. I have a grey coat and a mane similar to Starlet’s, dark brown with red tips. In fact, I look almost exactly like Starlet. The only noticeable difference is I have no horn, that and I’m sure my features are slightly different.

“You’re mane and tail were originally a plain dark brown, but it would seem someone in charge of development changed it to have red tips…” the man says in an apologetic voice.

“That’s alright, I like it.” I don’t think anyone changed it in development. I tried getting the red tips cut out of my hair once, but nothing short of shaving my head would get rid of them. My hair always just got them back not long after, I assume that’s what has happened here. Starlet explained that the red is an aspect of my passive magic, it’s a small kind of mutation in my genes.

“Is it lunch time? Can I get some food? would I go to the cafeteria, or wait... I have to eat separate from everyone else right?” I ask.

“Actually, you should be able to catch up to Erin, She woke up not that much before you. You’ll be staying in the scientists compound, and they all know of the change. Like I told Erin, You’ll get some stares, but they all know,” he says.

“Okay, so cafeteria is a yes? Do I need an escort or can I just trot on over there?” I ask.

“Well I don’t know if you’ll be able to run, or… gallop I guess… but you could if you can manage it…” he trails off in thought.

“Ok, thank you,” I take off at a slow trot which quickly turns into a full out gallop down the halls. I arrive at the cafeteria to see

Dr. Velchiek walking to Erin with food. I trot over to them and quickly hoist myself into the seat across from Erin. She looks at me curiously and I smile.

“Sorry, I slept in. I would have been here sooner, but I just woke up about ten minutes ago and I had to get my bearings. What have I missed?” I notice that the cafeteria has gone quiet, where as it used to contain steady chatter. I ignore the eerie silence that my arrival has likely caused and turn to Dr. Velchiek, “Would you mind getting me the same thing Doctor?” He just nods numbly and sets the current tray down. He turns to get more food after a few seconds and I turn to see everyone around us whispering to each other.

“You woke up ten minutes ago?” Erin asks in astonishment.

“Give or take a couple minutes,” I look around the room to watch everyone staring at me with stares of varying degrees, I just turn back to Erin.

“How did you get here so fast, I swear it took me about that long just to get out of bed,” She says.

“I galloped, we do have enhanced reflexes,” I can’t shake off everyones stares. I’ve never been diagnosed, but I’m almost positive that I have Paranoia. My only thought keeping me from flipping out is that it would be hard for anyone with bad intent to get away with anything with all these eyes on me.

“Can you please not stare so much, it’s making me anxious,” I turn to everyone and they turn away. “Thank you,” I say before turning to Erin once more.

“No, I meant… Never mind,” Erin turns hungrily towards her tray. Doctor Velchiek returns later with my tray and I quickly eat all my food. I fumble a little with my hooves, but I mostly have the motions down. Last time I had magic that made things so much easier, but now, even if I did have my magic I would have to keep it a secret.

“Aaaaagh!! Ice cream headache, ow, ow, ow!” I hear Erin scream after taking a big bite out of her ice cream. I hold back a chuckle as she sets her ice cream aside.

“You’re not going to finish it?” I say, she shakes her head and I pull the bowl over to myself. I expertly wrap the spoon inside of my fetlock and eat the ice cream in the same fashion I had before. She doesn’t notice it as she finishes off her sandwich and eyes her tumbler of water. I just wrap my fetlock around mine tightly and take a sip, but she’s too focused on her own technique to notice. Dr. Velchiek looks between the two of us and then looks to me curiously.

“Well, I’m very impressed. You’ve both come a long way in a short time! Soon, we’ll have you doing all sorts of things like a Ponyworld native!” Dr. Velchiek laughs and then looks at my hooves curiously. “I must say, Skylar, you’ve made exceptional progress. Any tips?” he asks.

“Practice,” I say simply.

“Very well, do any of you want more food?” I shake my head.

"Actually... what I really want is a bath. I feel pretty gross right now, after having been in a bed for weeks. And then I want to try brushing my hair and mane. None of the ponies I saw on Ponyworld looked anywhere near this disheveled, so obviously they groom themselves. I'd better figure out how to do that, don't you think?” that’ll be a task for me too, I had magic last time I didn’t have to worry about it much.

"That's an excellent idea! Doctor Rowe, would you be kind enough to take these two to their new quarters? I have to go talk to the Harmonics team to see if we can verify when the next likely window will be." Dr. Velchiek says

“Absolutely, will you two please come with me?” We both hop off of our chairs and follow after him. Erin turns around suddenly and tells everyone goodbye in a cheery tone, almost everyone cheers back and I can see various smiles. I let a smile overtake my features as we walk along.

~~~~~~~

Erin and I proceed to go through twenty days or so of training, training for various things. I could do most of the things, but I honed and relearned some things I haven’t done in a while. It has been a while since I was last a pony, and I had a ponies instincts then. I learned to write with both my mouth and hooves in the time for training. I had never really written with either in my time as a pony, when i had written it was with my magic.

Dr. Velchiek even got a team to mint some gold coins the same size and shape of bits, but I’m pretty sure that bits aren’t actually pure gold. I don’t really plan on using them since thats a form of counterfeit and a very poor one. Maybe we can exchange them for actual bits at some point.

It is the twenty first day of being a pony and we’re waiting for the doorway between worlds to open. We’ve been waiting for hours and Erins fidgeting has gotten to me. I’ve never been one for standing still for long periods of time, Erins nervousness has gotten me worked up. We both are wearing saddlebags with identical contents, just some necessities. I even managed to sneak my tablet into my pocket dimension with a little bit of magic, I don’t know if I’ll even need to use it. We’ve been waiting here for so long because we don’t know when the doorway will open, we just know it’s soon.

We’d gone through a purifying process at Erin’s request, I hadn’t thought about foreign diseases. Good thing she had, Erins a smart girl. She adapted to her hooves fairly quickly, not necessarily how an Equestrian might use them, but she knows enough to not look like a foal. that in and of itself is no easy feat.

“This is it! The window is about to open!” Dr. Velchieks voice booms over the intercom and I jump slightly when the emitters start to hum. The emitters hum as they warm up, rapidly, the hum rises in volume. The gate flashes and I shut my eyes, when I open them I can feel a warm air. I look through the portal to Equestria and feel a certain homeliness in it, it’s something familiar. Even if this is earth, I don’t recognize anything here, it’s not my home. but this is Equestria, and I have memories of many things here. They’re not my memories, they’re just remnants; but they still bring me calm, no matter their origin.

I turn to my side and see Erin look at me, I give a flourish of my hoof and Erin walks through. I step after her, it feels good as my hooves touch the soft grass. It feels like home.

5. Sweet Apple Acres

I look around at the landscape and see Erin doing the same, she looks so excited and I have to admit that I feel similarly excited. We need to get to Ponyville, that should be the nearest town. Most of their pictures and videos of ponies were in Ponyville, some were in Canterlot and a few other places, but the majority were in Ponyville. That would mean that the portal usually opens up near there, if not all the time. I see Erin jump and I look at her curiously, she starts talking to herself and I realize that she’s talking to Dr. Velchiek through her headset. She starts eating plant life and I ignore her talk with Velchiek, he’ll contact me too if it’s important. It was unanimously decided that Erin would be leader on this expedition, she’ll brief me if Dr. Velchiek doesn’t.

“Skylar,” I perk up at the sound of Dr. Velchieks voice.

“Yeah Doc?” I ask as I continue surveying the area.

“We need you to try to eat any new plant life, I’ve told Erin likewise. Remember, it won’t hurt you, you just need to sample it.” He says.

“I’m not eating any poison joke,” I reply.

“Any what? regardless, you can’t get poisoned,” he says.

“We can’t get harmed by poison, but the poison is still there,” I point out.

“Precisely, so poisonous plants won’t be a problem,” he continues.

“Fine, anything else?” I’ll just have to head to the spa afterwards.

“Yes, we’ll be closing the portal now,” I look back to see the portal vanish, Erin also sees it.

“Alright, are you still there?” I see Erin still talking so I hold back until Velchiek decides to talk to me.

“Skylar? Why don’t you go with Erin, we need you two to get a look around. Try to stick together, or at least in each others general area until you’re better integrated into pony society,” I nod until I realize that he isn’t really looking at me.

“Yes sir,” I follow Erin and help her with the research, we eat various plants and eventually come upon a stream. Erin doesn’t say much to me, she mostly talks to Dr. Velchiek. I can feel my mood lifting as we continue to walk along, I can see Erin also flashing a smile. We continue to walk around until I see Erin start to trot. I pick up the pace, but she continues to gain more speed. i’m sure to keep her in my sights, but I don’t try and stop her. She seems to be having fun, and who am I to spoil her fun.

I feel myself enjoying our little excursion too, we maneuver over under and around various obstacles. I manage to keep her in sight, and then she stops after jumping off the top of a hill. I watch as she talks to Dr. Velchiek and I look around. She gets up and motions for us to continue moving, she starts heading for a grove of trees and my mind flares in recognition. I used my enhanced vision to scope out one of the closest tree’s, I see bright red fruit dangling from it’s branches.

Those trees aren’t a part of the everfree, and there’s only one farm that I know of that has apple trees. If I’m correct, then these are the best apples in all of Equestria.

“Wow, neat! Apple trees!” I hear Erin say as we draw closer. I look over to her, but she just continues talking. “Yeah, they look like perfectly normal apple tree’s” I watch her to make sure she doesn’t plan on taking any, I trust her, but I’m sure Dr. Velchiek will ask. "Um… This looks cultivated. Doesn't that mean it's someone's orchard? I don't know the laws, here. I want to get along with the other ponies, so I probably shouldn't start out by being a thief." just as I thought.

“You got that right, sugarcube!” I jump as i hear a familiar voice and turn to see a friendly face. I see Applejack sauntering up to us from behind an apple tree, she has her signature stetson perched atop her head. "I can appreciate folks bein' honest, though. So, as a reward for not stealin' an apple, how 'bout I just give ya one for free?" I smile as Erin stumbles on her words.

"Ah? Buh..?" Erin scrambled mentally as her train of thought derailed. "Erm... I mean.. Ok, thank you! I'd really appreciate that!" I watch as Applejack bucks a tree and tosses two apples over to us. Erin snatches hers with her teeth and I do likewise. I eat the whole thing in a giant bite and Erin finishes hers in a similar manner.

"That was... quite simply, the most delicious apple I've ever eaten in my entire life." Erin says.

“Thank you Appl-” I cut myself off before I can give too much away, No one notices.

"Well, now, that's mighty kind of you to say, missy! Even though I know it's true, it's sure nice to hear somepony else sayin' it! I'm Applejack, by the way." Applejack laughs and we just smile back.

"Sunflower! Um... I'm Sunflower. It's nice to meet you?" Erin blurts out, I hold back a snicker.

“My name’s Starlet, Starlet Mint.” I add with a smile. I’m sure Starlet won’t mind if I borrow her name for my stay.

"Mighty nice to meet'cha, Sunflower! You too, Starlet! You've gone and wandered inta Sweet Apple Acres, best apple orchard in all of Equestria! I don't reckon' I've seen ya 'round here before. You new to Ponyville?" Applejack shakes both of our hooves vigorously

“You could say that. I could rigthly say I’ve never been here before,” I answer.

“Ponyville? Oh, is that the nearest town?” I snicker as Erin shakes her hoof as if it were asleep.

"Yup, you'd be able to see it if we were on the other side of the farm. So, what brings you to these parts?" Applejack asks.

"Oh, well, we’re just exploring, I guess. We want to meet new people, see new places. I want to learn as much about Equestria as I can, you know?" Erin answers for the both of us.

"I can understand that. Why, when I was a filly, I thought it'd be a good sight better to live in Manehattan. O' course, I soon figured out that I belonged here, at home, and I ain't never looked back. But I recon' you gotta see those sights when you can, so you can remember what's so important about home. So, where ya from, originally?" I look to Erin as I realize the one thing I forgot to think of, a cover story from where we’re from. We can’t outright lie to the element of honesty, she would see right through it.

"I'd rather not talk about that, Applejack, I mean, if that's ok with you. I can't go back there now, anyway." Erin replies after a while. I nod in agreement.

“Oh, I see. Trouble at home them?” Applejack asks glumly.

“You could say that,” Erin replies.

"Well, I won't pry, but if yer lookin' fer a place to settle down, then' I reckon' you won't find anywhere better'n Ponyville! How 'bout we celebrate yer arrival by havin' you join the Apple family fer lunch? I was about to head back anyway, and if your headin' to Ponyville, it's in the right direction anyway!" Applejack says ecstatically.

"Oh, well, I wouldn't want to impose..." Erin says.

"Shucks, it ain't no imposition! Granny always cooks up a heap o' vittles more'n we can eat, anyways. Come on, then!" Applejack says.

I gladly trot after Applejack and Erin follows after us. As we trot along I see Erin giving Applejack sidelong glances, no doubt she’s worried over something.

"Erin, Skylar, listen. We're about to lose this window. You'll be on your own in a moment, but you're doing great! You've already given us tons of valuable data, such as the real name of this world, but there's so much more to learn! Remember, take care of yourself, and keep a low profile. You'll be-" I hear the connection fizzle out and I decide it’s a fine moment to show some of my knowledge, at least enough to ease Erin’s mind.

“Erin,” I lean close as we trot along and whisper to her, “The apples are good ponies, we’ll be fine. They’re all very kind, just so long as you’re as honest as you can be with them,” I say. She leans back and whispers in return.

“How do you know?” she asks curiously.

“Trust me, I just know,” I reply cryptically.

Now that Dr. Velchiek’s gone I can focus on doing a little thought searching. I wouldn’t have been able to handle two voices in my head, so I refrained from listening. that, and I don’t like to do it all that much. It just feels underhanded to read a ponies thoughts, so I use it only when I need to.

“Now that Sunflower is something, Starlet too. I wonder where they’re from, I probably shouldn’t ask again. Sunflower looked mighty uncomfortable about it,” I hear Applejack think. There are a lot of quieter thoughts, but nothing really important. I focus my mind on not hearing her thoughts and the voices recede.

"Well, would'ja lookie here, Looks like we're about to get us some company. Howdy, Rainbow Dash!" I snap back to attention to find that we’ve stopped and Applejack is waving towards the sky. I look up to see a familiar rainbow maned pegasus.

"Wow! A winged pony!" I face-hoof as I see Erin look over to Applejack guiltily.

"Sunflower, ya ain't never seen a pegasus pony before?" Applejack asks confusedly.

"Oh, um, er… No, actually... where I grew up there weren't any… Um... Just regular ponies kind of like you and me." thankfully she didn’t put me inside that group with her, I can still claim that I’m a normal pony.

"Really? No unicorns or pegasi, just earth ponies?" Applejack asks. Erin just shakes her head to Applejack, their conversation is interrupted as Rainbow Dash lands before us with a flourish.

“Cooool!” I roll my eyes as Erin no doubt feeds Rainbows ego.

"You know it! Hey, Applejack, who's your friend?" Rainbow asks, then she looks at me, “Friends.” she corrects.

"Rainbow Dash, this is Sunflower, and this is Starlet. Sunflower, Starlet, this is Rainbow Dash. Who, somehow, seems ta always manage to be just casually passin' by when it's about time for the Apple family to take a break and eat lunch." Applejack gestures to each of us in turn.

"Yeah, that's an amazing coincidence, isn't it? Does that mean that you're on your way to lunch now?" I have to say, Rainbow has some courage to outright lie to the element of honesty.

"Yup, an' like always, your welcome ta join us. Along with Sunflower and Starlet, here, who apparently ain't never seen a pegasus before!" I raise my hoof to object, but I’m cut off by Rainbow.

"What?! Seriously? What kind of a backwater village did you come from where you've never seen a pegasus?" Rainbow looks at the both of us.

“Actually, it’s just Sunflower, I’m not from where she’s from. We met up on the road,” Erin looks at me, but then she looks at her hooves embarassed.

"I was... um... ponies where I'm from are very different, I guess you can say. It's one of the reasons I left home. I mean, I'd heard about unicorns and pegasi, but I'd never seen them in person, and I wanted to." I can only hope that her story will go over well.

"I think I've heard o' that. Places where a group o' earth ponies all get together and try and do things on their own, without no help from unicorns and pegasi. Goin' it alone, if ya see what I mean." Applejack finally says.

"Yeah, but... who does their weather for them?" Rainbow says, “It doesn’t make any sense!” I watch her shake her head in confusion.

"Now, Rainbow, Sunflower's my guest, and she already said she don't wanna talk about her home town. I don't want ya pesterin' her with a bunch o' questions she don't feel like answerin', got it?" Applejack gives Rainbow a look.

“Yeah, but…” Rainbow notices the look and flinches, “Ok, ok, I got it! I still think it’s weird though.” Rainbow adds.

“Does it help if I do too,” The two ponies laugh at her remark and we hear a bell in the distance.

“Come on y’all, that’ll be the dinner bell. Race ya back to the Farmhouse!” Applejack runs off and Rainbow runs after her. I watch as Erin takes off and I just hang back, it’s time to have a little fun. I don’t usually like cheating, but just once should be fine. I disable my recorder and flare up my magic, I can feel the energies coursing all around me and I focus my thoughts on the barn. I can’t just teleport to outside, I have to teleport somewhere secluded. I focus my thoughts on inside of the barn and I feel myself blink out in a flash.

I flash into the barn and I walk out the door and towards a table with three ponies and an abundance of food. I flash them a smile as I get closer, they look at me in surprise. I can see Granny Smith dozing off, Big Mac and Applebloom are looking at me curiously.

“Who’re you?” Applebloom asks and Big Mac just looks at me in silent judgement.

“My name is Starlet mint, I’m a guest of Applejacks. She invited me and my friend Sunflower to lunch, if that’s alright.” I smile brightly to the filly.

“Where is Applejack?” Applebloom says and I look around, I see an approaching cloud of dust with three ponies at the head. I point my hoof and she sees them too, we watch as they get closer. They’re almost to the table and they don’t seem to be stopping, they rush by the table in a frenzy. They were so caught up in their race it seems that they didn’t even notice me, I just smile as they approach the table. The three ponies stop at the table panting, before anypony can say anything Granny Smith speaks up. It would seem that their antics have awoken her, and she’s pretty grumpy.

"Now, lookit what'cha did here, ya giddy buncha half-brained foals! Ya went and kicked uppa bunch of dust all over er vittles! Ain't a one o' you got a lick a' sense in yer silly heads! Rainbow Dash, Ah expect this kinda thing from yer, but Ah reckon' Ah expected more from you, AJ! And you Ah don't know at all, but Ah'd guess yer just as big a block-headed lump as these two idjits here!" I watch in silence as they get scolded.

“Yeah! Granny an' I worked real hard making this food!" Applebloom speaks up. it’s then that Erin notices me, she looks at me in shock but she doesn’t get the chance to say anything because Applejack starts on her apologies.

"Granny, I'm mighty sorry that we made a mess o' lunch. Tell ya what, Rainbow Dash an' I'll do the cleanup all by ourselves ta make up fer it." Applejack says, then she and Rainbow get into an arguement about Rainbow’s participation in the cleanup. Erin starts to say something about how she’ll help and I wait until the introductions are over to speak up.

“And what about me?” I speak up from behind teasingly. Applejack jumps as she hears my voice.

“Oh, you’re here, good. I thought we’d lost ya in that race,” Applejack says.

“Actually I’ve been here for a while,” I reply, Applejack looks at me weirdly.

“Yeah, she was here before you guys came and dirtied everything up,” Applebloom replies, “And she managed to do it cleanly,” she adds in an annoyed mutter.

“What? That can’t be true,” Rainbow moves away from an embarassed looking Erin to join in our conversation.

“Are y’all callin me a liar?” Applebloom challenges.

“Well…” Rainbow takes a look at Applebloom and decides to just let the topic drop.

“Well thats something... Must have overtook us while we were taking it easy, I reckon’,” I just snicker at her insinuation.

“Oh, well… I’ve had my fun, but now I’m famished. let’s eat!” Rainbow says enthusiastically.

“Oh no, this is my seat. Sorry, Sunflower!” I hear rainbow call, I watch as Erin sits right across from Big Mac with a blush on her face. I see Macintosh looking similarly embarassed and Rainbow nearly keeling over with suppressed laughter, I can come to the conclusion that Rainbows done something to embarass them both. I roll my eyes and move over to a hay pile, I grab some and carry it over to the table and sit on it.

“I hope you don’t mind if I use this,” I say.

“Nope, go right ahead,” Applejack replies.

The spread is very impressive. When Applejack says that there is plenty, she isn’t kidding. the table is packed with various a pastries, jams, and other forms of food. Though there was an abundance of apples, there was a good amount of variety. Applebloom assaults Sunflower with questions and when Applejack stops her she turns to me. I refrain from answering any of the questions in depth, except for the cutie mark question that I could see inevitably coming.

“Ah, that’s a good tale. You see, when I was young I never cared much what I would be good at, until I started to grow older and I couldn’t figure it out. I could never find my special talent, but it didn’t bother me much. I knew that it would come to me at some point. I had a way with words, which is to say that I wrote stories. I always loved to read stories too, and I loved many things. I was very vague in my preferences and personality, I still am. I don’t really know all of who I am, just that I’m me. Nevertheless, I still like to find aspects of myself that are a little more defined than others.” The filly and everyone is listening to me intently.

“I found out at one point that I have a knack for helping people, especially with my words. It ot to the point where people would confide in me and I would help them, it was an honest relationship, or, at least, honest as it could be. That’s not to say that I ever lied to them for the sake of lying, I just don’t like talking about my life. Yes, I must admit that I’m a liar, but I’m an honest person.” Applejack looks at me like I have two heads. “Yeah, I can understand how that might not make sense to the element of honesty. Just trust me when I say that I have no intention of any harm, but it’s in my nature to lie.” I give Applejack a reassuring smile, she awkwardly smiles back.

“Anywho, one day I came across a person like me, but also not like me. She grew to be a dear friend of mine, and we were very close. We had to help with a big problem, and it was a terribly hard problem to figure out. I hate to admit it, but we both had something to do with the problem in the first place. But it still wasn’t necessarily our fault, just that coincidence happened to involve us. Wow, the more I say this, the more it sounds like I’m guilty. Anyway, we worked with a few other ponies to fix said problem, and we eventually fixed it. we got everything back to the way it was meant to be, well… mostly everyone. Me and a few of the others helping us had a few changes, but no one really minded it.” A smile makes its way to my face as I think back on that day.

“Over the course of the journey, many things happened. We all bonded, we found ourselves. Well, everybody else said that they did, but, honestly, I still don’t know who I am. The journey did show me one thing, it showed me how I’m supposed to be. It showed me that no matter what I look like, no matter how I’m acting, I’m still me. It showed me that all I really need is to help others, because the one thing I can truly hope for in my life is hapiness. Helping others brings me that happiness, however I can help them. I am above all empathetic and I help to heal other ponies, that’s what I found on my journey.” I say with gusto.

“So, that’s what I found on my journey. I may not have found who I am, but I found what I’m good at. I realize that I may never find who I am, and that does disappoint me, but I don’t really need to know. My friend has the same problem, and she’s lived much the same way I have. We keep in touch, and we still are the closest of friends. Though, I must admit, I haven’t talked to her in a while. I’ll probably see her soon, she might even come visit for a while. If she does come, I’ll be sure to introduce you to her,” I finish my story and I look at everypony.

“Wow, that’s one heck of a story Starlet. That’s a mighty fine sounding talent you have there, it’s very kind of ya’. You do have a knack for story-telling too,” Applejack says after a while.

“It’s not much, but it’s okay,” I reply humbly.

“Wow, what was the problem you had to fix?” Rainbow asks.

“Sorry, I can’t really tell you. You probably wouldn’t believe me anyway. All I’m willing to tell is what I’ve told you, Princesses

orders,” I say non-chalantly.

“Oh really, which princess?” Rainbow asks challengingly.

“Both,” I answer coolly.

“You said it yourself you’re a liar. How do we know if you’re telling the truth?” Rainbow asks.

“Well, here’s two reasons. One is, why would I lie about an important moment in my life that I’m proud of. Two is, Applejack would know if I was lying. Ain’t that right AJ?” I turn to the farm pony and she just nods her head.

“I guess so, I don’t think you’re lying. Though, I must admit, it does sound awfully suspicious…” I just shrug.

“Take it as you will, I don’t need you to believe me. The stories there, you can believe it or not. Your choice,” I grab an apple muffin and bite into it.

Everypony drifts away from that topic and Applejack gets to asking us if we have any questions. I let Erin ask any questions we might need, I just listen absently. Applejack tells us about the guest house for Ponyville and Rainbow mentions help wanted signs. Granny smith eventually left to go take a nap and Applebloom left for crusading with the rest of her friends.

Casual banter was passed the whole time. Rainbow even gave us a time until we were fresh pranking material.

“You got two days, then BAM! all bets are off!" Rainbow and Applejack chuckle, and Erin joins in.

“Fine, two days.” Erin says in finality.

“You watch yourself for counter pranks Dash,” I retort, “I’ll get Pinkie to help me, maybe even Twilight. I’m sure she’d love to help get you back for all you’ve done to her, she could use her science to make complex pranks!” I mutter the rest to myself loudly.

“How do y’all know Pinkie and Twi’? Applejack asks, shocked.

“You six are the elements of harmony, how would I not know you?” I reply nervously.

“Yeah, but how would you know us like you do. You’re acting like you know who we are…” Applejack searches me for an answer.

“Well, Celestia has told me about her prized pupil and her friends. I think it should come as no surprise for the element of laughter to be a prankster,” I try to brush off the question.

“Yeah, but you mentioned all my pranks on Twilight,” Rainbow presses.

“I’ve caught word of more than a few of your excursions,” I say with increasing nervousness. Like I’ve said, I can hide my nervousness if I’m not being directly interrogated. Erin is giving me a look, but she says nothing. “My friend has been to ponyville plenty of times, a constant visitor,” before they can press me anymore Erin saves me.

“Why don’t we start clearing the table?” she says, Applejack and Rainbow give me a last look and then just shrug it off.

“Sorry, I guess I just got a little curious,” Applejack apologizes, “I didn’t mean to pressure you,” She holds out her hoof and I bump it.

“Yeah, I guess I got a little curious too,” Rainbow adds. I just nod and we start clearing the table. I think back on our conversation, That was close. It was worth it, know I’m allowed to know things. I just need to hope that they don’t start asking too many questions. I didn’t lie, so they shouldn’t get too suspicious.

Applejack let’s Rainbow go as there is no more room in the kitchen. I just hang around and pace as I try to think of something to do, eventually Erin let’s me take over her shift at the sink. As we finish up, Applejack wraps some leftovers together for us.

“Here, take this with you. Least I can do is make sure that you got a decent meal ahead o' you." Applejack says as she hands Erin the bundle.

"Oh, Applejack, you didn't have to do that! You've been so generous already!" Erin says modestly. I snicker as a picture of Applejack acting like Rarity enters my mind.

"Aw, shucks, it ain't a big thing. Consider it a 'welcome ta Ponyville' present, if you want. Now, I gotta get back to my chores, but I can point the way to town if'n you'll just follow me." Applejack heads outside and points us where we need to go. "Now, if ya head up the road that way, you'll find Ponyville. Won't take ya more than a half hour, at a good walk. Now, I gotta get back to work, but feel free ta stop by an' say 'howdy' once ya get settled!" Applejack smiles warmly and we return her smile.

"Thanks for everything Applejack! And, please thank your sister and granny for me, too, when you see them next. The food was really amazing!" Erin says.

"I'll be sure to do that. Oh, and when ya get to town, say 'hi' to Pinkie Pie for me." I nod and Erin just looks at her confusedly.

“What?” She asks.

“You’ll see,” Applejack says with a chuckle. she waves us off and we go our separate ways.