EXALT

Twilight Sparkle forced her eyes open, fighting back the throbbing pain at the base of her skull. She’d forgotten how disorienting it was to travel through the mirror. She rubbed her temple with the back of her hoof—no, hand. This would take some getting used to.

“Whoa, nelly,” Applejack said from beside her. “You weren’t kidding about these bodies. Don’t rightly know which way is up.”

Twilight glanced at her friend, who was flexing her new fingers experimentally. Applejack’s body wore heavy orange coveralls, while Twilight’s were a softer blue. Applejack lay propped up against a metal crate, its paint a drab green under the pale fluorescent lights.

Twilight frowned. “This isn’t where I appeared last time.” They were in a high-ceilinged storeroom, filled with rows of shelves interrupted only by the hulking portal statue through which they’d come. The steel shelves held a strange assortment of artifacts: old scrolls, electronic devices that Twilight didn’t recognize, bronze armor, and what looked like a human skull. “Did someone move the statue?”

“Best figure out where we are, then,” said Applejack. “The sooner we get a move on, the sooner we can find the others.”

“Right.” Twilight climbed to her feet. She was a bit shaky, but she remembered the basics of two-legged movement well enough. “Let’s get going.”

“Just a minute.” Applejack pulled herself upright, both arms pressed against the statue for balance. “Let me see how this here body moves.”

A door slammed open. Heavy footsteps pounded towards them.

Twilight spun to see four or five big men running towards her. Bandanas covered the lower halves of their faces. They carried what Twilight belatedly recognized as guns—some sort of dangerous weapon, she’d heard on her last trip, although she didn’t know exactly what they did.

She yelped and stumbled back, losing her tentative balance and landing in a heap. A man grabbed her arms and hauled her upright. “Wait!” she shouted. “Wait, I’m just trying to find my friends! My name is—”

“Twilight Sparkle. It’s her, alright. Let go, Gladius.”

The hands released her, and Twilight whirled to face the speaker. “I should’ve known you were behind this!”

“I’m flattered, but I’m not behind anything.” Sunset Shimmer spread her hands. She was dressed like the men around her, with a white button-down shirt and pale yellow tie, and a bandana over her mouth and nose. Her hair was cut short and dyed black, but the voice was unmistakable. “I don’t know what you think I did.”

“Reckon it’s pretty clear,” said Applejack. “You stole the portal statue and brought it to this here lair, then you set your minions on us as soon as we stepped through.”

Gladius laughed. It was more of a giggle, not at all what Twilight expected from a man his size. The other men joined in. Sunset Shimmer cracked a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Minions!” said Gladius. “You hear that, boys? Guess the new girl’s calling the shots.”

“I’m still something of a junior partner around here,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Relax, Twilight. We’re your friends.”

Applejack snorted. “Don’t reckon you know so much about friendship.”

“I do,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Thanks to you and your friends. Or your human counterparts, anyway. It’s been years, you know. They taught me a lot, before all this started.”

A tall, skinny man put a hand on Sunset Shimmer’s shoulder. “This is not the time for a reunion,” he said. “Your job was to identify them, and you’ve succeeded. Now, we’re to bring them to the laboratory.” He turned to Twilight. “Come along, now.”

That didn’t sound good. “Why?” Twilight tensed, ready to run, but the men were all around her.

“We just want to make a few observations,” said Sunset Shimmer. “I’m the only Equestrian in a human body that’s ever been studied. Even a routine physical might be able to tell us more about how the mirror’s magic works, and I’m sure you want to understand it as badly as I do.”

“Alright, I guess,” said Twilight.

“Good,” said the man. “Let’s be off.” He led them out of the storeroom and into a wide corridor with mahogany-paneled walls and a plush carpet the color of raspberries. The other men made a rough circle around her and Applejack.

“So where are we, anyway?” said Applejack.

“This,” the skinny man said with a flourish, “is Exalt.”

Twilight waited for an explanation, but nothing came. “Okay,” she said. “And that’s what, exactly?”

“We’re a group of people trying to unlock humanity’s potential,” said Gladius. “We’ve been gathering knowledge and power for a while, to make sure we’d be able to steer this planet’s future when the time came. I didn’t think that’d happen so soon, but… well, you ladies chose one heck of a time to visit.”

“It wasn’t really a choice,” said Twilight. “Our friends are somewhere in this world, and we need to find them.”

“How could they be here?” said Sunset Shimmer. “You’re the only ponies to come through the mirror.”

“They…” Twilight swallowed and tried again. “They were…”

“They were captured,” said Applejack. “These monsters showed up and attacked Ponyville. Worst thing I ever seen.”

“The creatures arrived in some sort of flying metal house,” said Twilight. “They just started destroying everything. They, they killed a lot of ponies. By the time I showed up, everything was on fire, and the bodies…” She swallowed. “Anyway, by that point, they were taking some of the living ponies back to the flying house. I managed to save Pinkie from the creatures, but she was hurt bad and I took her to the hospital, and, and when I got back it was too late. They were flying away and I couldn’t stop them.” Her fingernails were digging into her palms. She didn’t remember hands doing that before.

“I saw them put Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash on that house-ship thing, ‘fore they left,” said Applejack. “Princess Celestia used a tracking spell and it led her to the mirror. Don’t know how those creatures got to this world, but they did, so we’re here to find our friends.”

The Exalt men exchanged glances. “These creatures,” said the skinny man. “Describe them."

“They’re a bit like y’all, but smaller. Two legs, two arms. Real big heads, with these big glowing eyes, and no mouth I could see. They’re—”

“Thank you,” said the man. “Interesting.”