The Dreamcatcherby Show StopperChaptersSigns And WarningsQuestions And Significantly Fewer AnswersReunions?More ReunionsStill more ReunionsPonies. Why Did It Have To Be Ponies?Signs And WarningsChapter 2 Signs and Warnings Talon was starting to get tired. She’d started leading her friends through the cave at a brisk trot, hoping to get out soon. She hadn’t known how deep the cave was, but she was certain in her and her friends’ athletic abilities and endurance. They had all earned Black Belts in Karate at the dojo where they met after all; surely they could handle a little hike through a cave. Unfortunately for her, she’d been depending on her abilities as she knew them in her old body. The equine figure that she now inhabited didn’t have nearly the strength or stamina that her human one had and she soon found herself out of breath at the back of the pack; herd she corrected herself. Ruth was trailing with her, but the others seemed to be doing fine. AJ, Rebekkah and Diane were leading the herd with Faith not too far behind. It didn’t make sense, and she stated as much at their first break. “Ok, that’s it, how are you two not getting tired?” she snapped at Faith and Diane when they finally stopped. “AJ and Rebekkah were obviously lucky enough to get strong bodies, I can see that from their muscles, but you two don’t look that much better off than me and Ruth. In fact, I’d even say that Diane looks a bit pudgy. How are you keeping up with them?” Faith looked over to Diane, raising an eyebrow at her figure. “You know, I was wondering that myself. I’m guessing that pegasi are naturally lighter than normal ponies in order to be able to fly, but I can’t see why Diane wouldn’t be having a hard time. Her body doesn’t seem nearly as muscular as AJ’s, not to mention the obvious extra pounds of fat, and yet she’s able to keep up easily. How are you doing it?” Diane could only shrug. “Honestly, I have no idea. I just have lots of energy for some reason. It’s like I’m on a constant sugar high or something.” “Oh, well that’s just peachy for you, isn’t it?” Ruth had taken to the long trot about as well as Talon, and while she wasn’t normally one to complain, she found herself grumbling at her inept body. “Alright y’all, break time’s over. Let’s see if we can’t get out o’ this cave before our next stop.” Anne stood up and started trotting through the cave, Rebekkah right beside her. Faith and Diane shrugged and stood up to follow, Ruth and Talon right behind them, groaning at the thought of a few more hours of walking with these weak new bodies. Both of them were looking forward to getting out of the cave. As they continued trotting, they started to notice the cave getting lighter. “We must be near the exit,” Rebekkah observed quietly. “Finally!” Talon galloped past her friends, ecstatic to finally be leaving the cave. She rounded a final corner and cried out in alarm, shielding her eyes. The others caught up to her and squinted into the light at the end of the cave. They started walking forward again, all the while trying to make anything out in the light. They exited the cave into bright daylight. When their eyes adjusted, they were stunned by what they saw; in front of them were cracked stone columns, weathered and worn floors, and significantly collapsed ceilings. They were standing in front of the oldest ruins any of them had ever seen. Not too impressive considering they were the only ruins they had ever seen, but still. Behind these ancient ruins was a thick green forest. “Oh, wow.” Talon stood rooted to the ground in fascination. “This is beautiful. They look like the Greek ruins I’ve seen in history books.” She trotted in, the others following her carefully. The ruins didn’t seem exactly stable, and they weren’t completely sure that a column wouldn’t fall on top of them at any moment. “Hey, what’s that?” Diane asked, pointing to a sign posted on the forest side of the ruins, near a trail that led into the trees. The girls trotted over, and saw writing on the forest side of the sign. “Hie urbem ruinas Daemonum. Si vis vivere, relinquamus nunc!” read Diane. “Anyone here speak gibberish?” asked Anne. Talon shook her head and glared at Anne. “It’s not gibberish, it’s Latin!” she scolded. She looked back at the sign. “It is strange, though. Why would there be Latin writing in this world?” “Well, what’s it say?” asked Faith impatiently. “Just a minute. Give me some space.” Talon squinted at the sign, calling upon the few years of high school Latin she had taken back in DC. “Well, roughly translated, I think it says “Here the ruins of the City of Demons. If you-’” Talon paled a bit and gulped loudly. “Well, what is it?” Talon cleared her throat nervously. “’If you wish to live, leave now.’” The six friends stood silently for a while, before Diane burst out laughing. “W-wow, you really had me going there for a second. ‘If you wish to live, leave now.’ Ha ha, oh man, you got me good.” Talon glanced at her friend, worry in her eyes. “I’m not joking, Diane. That’s really what it says.” Diane stopped laughing immediately, staring at Talon like she’d just grown a second, well, I guess with everything else that’s happened, a second head wouldn’t have been that surprising. “W-wait a minute, you’re serious?” Talon nodded briefly. The six friends looked back at the ruins they’d just exited. “W-well, I’m sure it’s nothing really. But, you know, we’re not going to find any cities around an old ruin, right?” Ruth gulped and nodded. “Y-yes, quite right. We can’t do anything around here, so why bother staying? Why don’t we just head down this lovely path? A path is sure to lead somewhere, and the forest will be a nice change of scenery.” “Y-yeah, y’all’re right,” agreed Anne, turning from the sign. “We should see if we can find some sort o’ city or town before nightfall. Let’s rope ‘em up and ride ‘em out.” The six ponies turned from the ruins, trotting into the forest, trying their best not to look back at the “City of Demons”. So focused were they on getting away from the creepy sign, none of them noticed another one posted near the entrance to the woods: a sign which read, “Warning, Everfree Forest. Do Not Enter.” Five hours later, the six friends collapsed, exhausted, in a clearing. Over the last five hours, they had found out that their knowledge of Karate had carried over to their new brains. Unfortunately, they had learned it the hard way: fighting of three separate lions (each of which had a scorpion’s tail for some reason), a pack of wolves (who were apparently made of wood), and a swarm of tenacious (though surprisingly cute) insects. “You know,” said Ruth, trying to catch her breath, “I’m beginning to think that perhaps the cave wasn’t quite so bad.” The others groaned in agreement. None of them had been hurt, (can’t say the same for their attackers) but all of them were fatigued. Anne looked at the sky, noting the setting sun. “I reckon we should sleep here tonight; we don’t know how far it is t’ the nearest town an’ we could all use some rest.” Her stomach complained loudly, and she glared at it. “Along with a bite t’ eat.” Faith nodded her head wearily. “Yeah, I could really go for some pizza about now.” She studied the grass in front of her before she shrugged, leaned down, and took a bite. The girls gasped. “Faith!” shouted Talon, “What are you doing?” Faith chewed her mouthful of grass for a few moments, a contemplative look on her face, before swallowing. “Not bad, actually. It tastes a little raw, like unseasoned salad, but that’s to be expected I guess.” She quickly leaned down and took another bite. The girls stared at her for a few seconds before Rebekkah and Anne looked at each other, shrugged, and leaned down to begin grazing themselves. Eventually, Diane, Ruth and Talon joined them, grazing in the clearing as the sun set. Finally, they were all full. They’d eaten a lot of the grass, but they could tell that they would have enough for breakfast in the morning. Grass for breakfast, thought Talon. I suppose things can’t get much stranger than this. Talon Swift awoke to a pounding in her skull. Is this going to be a regular thing now? she wondered. Man, I hope not. She opened her eyes and looked around the clearing. Birds were singing, Anne was already up and grazing, the sun was starting to rise, and Talon’s head hurt from where it had been resting on a rock. How did I even sleep on that? I must have been more tired than I thought. She stood up and made her way over to Anne. “Morning AJ. Did you sleep well?” “’bout as well as I could, under th’ circumstances,” she replied. “The others’ll probably wake up soon. I’m surprised that Rebekkah ain’t up yet; she usually beats me t’ the punch, and I get up with the sun.” She shrugged and bent down to continue grazing and Talon joined her. Soon enough, the others woke up. After eating their breakfast and doing their usual morning sparring session, they set out down the path again. It didn’t seem to take too long for the sun to past its apex. They had recently eaten lunch and fought off another wolf pack when they came across the first sign of civilization since the ruins. It appeared to be a hut carved out of a tree. Various corked bottles hung from a branch on vines and there was a strange mask out front that looked a bit like an alligator. Talon walked up to the door, looked back at her friends who nodded encouragingly, and knocked. There was no answer. She knocked again, a bit louder this time. Still, there was no answer. Talon trotted over to the rest of the girls, shrugging. “I guess they’re not home.” With that, they turned and headed back to the path and continued following it. Two scorpion-tailed lions later, they found themselves at the edge of the forest. The path seemed to lead to a small town in the distance. Rebekkah stopped, squinting her eyes and muttering to herself. “It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get there before sunset tonight,” she finally said. “I think we should stop for today and make our way into town tomorrow.” The others nodded and started to turn back to the forest when they saw a sign. The sign read, “Warning, Everfree Forest. Do Not Enter.” “Well,” snorted Diane, glaring daggers at the sign, “wish we’d known that before we entered the first time.” Talon rolled her eyes and led her friends to a clearing that she had remembered passing near the edge of the forest. They spent the rest of the afternoon grazing, sparing and wondering what was going on at home and how to get back. Eventually, the sun set and they all lay down and went to sleep. None of them noticed the pair of green eyes that had been watching them slip of deeper into the forest. Questions And Significantly Fewer AnswersChapter 3 Questions and Significantly Fewer Answers Rebekkah hated it when the sun woke her up. Every morning, she set her alarm to wake her up just before sunrise so that that evil glaring light wouldn’t be the first thing she saw in the morning. Over time, her body had adapted itself to this schedule, and she only needed to set her alarm on nights that she’d been partying with Diane. So why is it, she thought, wincing as the first rays of sunlight broke over the canopy of the Everfree Forest, that I’ve been woken up twice in as many days by that space-forsaken ball of fire? Grudgingly, she opened her eyes and staggered to her feet. Hooves, she corrected herself, glaring at her appendages. Still hooves, still a pony. Maybe that has something to do with it. She sighed quietly and looked around. Once again, only AJ and Talon were up before her. How that egghead managed to beat me to the punch, I will never know, she thought as she started to graze. Then again, I guess she’s used to not getting much sleep with all of the studying she does. I guess it makes sense for her to get up early when she gets to bed at a reasonable hour. She nodded to Diane as she awoke, and then she went back to grazing. But wait, if that were the case, then wouldn’t I still be waking up early too? Rebekkah looked over at Anne, trying to solve this conundrum. Well, she reasoned, she still has her Stetson and her accent, not to mention those three apples on her tush. Maybe the body she’s in is also an apple farmer’s? That would explain her early rising. She then turned to look at Talon, nodding to Faith first as she got up. Now her tattoo offers no clues. A purple star and five small white stars? What can I possibly make of that? She shrugged her shoulders and started to stretch, preparing herself for the usual morning spar session. Oh well, it doesn’t really matter. At least I’m still up before the other three. By this time, most of the others had finished breakfast as well and were warming up. Rebekkah stood up on her hind legs, somehow instinctively knowing how to use her wings and tail to keep balance. She started sparing off against Anne, letting her body take over as her mind wandered. Useful things these wings, they really seem to help with balance. Too bad I’ll probably never use them for anything else. As the six friends sparred off against each other, they failed to notice two sets of eyes hiding in the bushes: one pair green and the other a sunset gold. Zecora the zebra and the yellow, red-maned filly Applebloom watched from their hiding place, crouching amongst the foliage. “Though confidence in my words you used to lack, you can see now that they indeed are back.” The zebra spoke with a strange accent, one that Talon might have referred to as African. The filly nodded her head slowly and replied with an accent that Anne would have recognized in a heartbeat. “Y-y’all’re right, Zecora. I’m mighty sorry I doubted ya. But, are y’all sure they’re them? They sure look like ‘em, but I ain’t never seen Rainbow Dash or Sis fight like that. An’ I ain’t never seen th’ others fight at all. Fluttershy’s face is downright scary, an’ Rainbow Dash don’t look like she’s even payin’ attention.” In fact, this strange behavior was the only thing that kept Applebloom from leaping out and hugging the mare that looked just like her sister. “True their actions do not seem right; perhaps they have picked up how to fight?” “In one week? Less than a week even, it’s only been five days. I know that Twilight learns things real quick, but even she couldn’t learn that level of martial arts that fast. There’s no way.” “There is one way that I can see, an act of the Elements of Harmony?” “Maybe,” admitted Applebloom, tapping her chin with her hoof, “but I still don’ think that Fluttershy would ever look like that if her friends weren’t at stake. Somethin’s goin’ on, an’ I wanna know what it is.” Zecora was about to reply, when they heard the six ponies in the clearing start talking. They quieted down and turned to watch and listen. “Whoo-ee, that was a good spar partner,” said the pony who looked like Applejack. She trotted over to the mare who looked like Twilight Sparkle and patted her on the shoulder. “Well Talon, you about ready to head into town? I’d sure like to figure out what’s going on.” “Me too,” said the pony who resembled Pinkie Pie. “But, Ruth and I were talking with Faith last night,” she said, gesturing to the ponies who looked like Rarity and Fluttershy, “and we agreed that it might not be a good idea to just stroll into town claiming to have amnesia. We think that we need to find someone who we can tell our whole story to, so they can help us blend in.” Seeing her opportunity, Zecora nodded at Applebloom and prepared to stand up. “Actually,” chimed in the pony who looked like Rainbow Dash, “that’s a pretty good idea. How about we go with the two who are watching us from the bushes.” Zecora and Applebloom froze as she pointed straight at them. Rebekkah had noticed the two pairs of eyes about half-way through her spar session with Anne. She’d thought about mentioning it before now, but whoever was in the bushes didn’t seem to be attacking, so she decided to wait until after her friends were calmed down from practicing how to beat someone up. This was probably a wise choice on her behalf, as her friends still jumped into defensive stances and glared suspiciously at the two pairs of eyes, even without the adrenalin flowing through their system. Talon straightened up and stood tall and proud, the way she’d learned to from her mother. “Whoever you are,” she said in a voice that practically rang with authority, “you had best show yourselves at once. We are all Black Belts in Karate, and we’ve fought a number of vicious monsters in this forest over the past two days. If you do not reveal yourselves immediately, we shall be forced to assume the worst.” Showoff, thought Rebekkah, but I guess that’s what happens when you get adopted by President Sol. The six girls watched warily as a zebra and a young yellow pony with a red mane and tail walked cautiously out from behind the bushes. The zebra’s mane was done up in a mohawk, and the filly’s was held back with a pink bow. While the zebra had a strange wavy circular mark on her haunches, the filly’s were bare. The zebra spoke up, gesturing to herself and the filly. “To see you again is a great boon. It is just us, Zecora, and Applebloom.” “Zecora an’ apple who now?” asked the ever tactful Anne, watching them suspiciously. “I’m mighty sorry, but we don’t know either of ya. Y’all must have us mistaken with some other girls.” To the surprise of everyone there, the filly started to tear up. “A-Applejack,” she said in an accent that matched hers almost perfectly, “it’s me, your sister Applebloom. D-don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about us.” Anne started to answer, but something stopped her. She didn’t understand what was going on; she didn’t know anyone from this world, how could this filly be her sister? She must have been mistaking her for someone else; it was as simple as that. And yet, she also felt a strange urge stirring inside of her, a desire to wipe away the filly’s tears and tell her that everything was going to be ok. Anne was confused and didn’t know what to do. Talon, however, was not frozen in indecision. She stepped forward, still keeping her almost royal demeanor, but softening her eyes when she looked at the filly. “I’m sorry, it was ‘Applebloom’, wasn’t it?” the filly, seemingly hurt and confused, nodded her head. Talon let down her guard a little, lowering her head to better see her eye to eye. “I’m sorry Applebloom, but you must have our Anne confused with someone else. You see, the six of us don’t even know where we are or how we got here. We all woke up in a cave a couple of days ago, and we’ve been trying to find a city or town ever since.” The zebra chimed in as the filly processed this strange information. “You say that you awoke inside of a cave. Was the entrance perhaps near the demon city’s grave?” Talon was taken aback, not only because the zebra was right, but also because s her rhyming was kind of creepy. “Yes,” she said slowly, eyeing the zebra warily. “There were ruins of something called the ‘City of Demons’ outside of the cave. How did you know?” Applebloom jumped in, glaring at the six, the “teary little filly” act dropped. “Because that’s where Sis an’ the other Elements o’ Harmony went to face the Dream Catcher.” The girls were taken aback by the filly’s sudden change in attitude. “The Dream Catcher?” asked Talon. “What’s that?” The more important question, thought Rebekkah, is what are these “elements of harmony”? They seem to have something to do with a group of ponies who look just like us; seems to me that that would be the most important question to get answered. Applebloom glared up at Talon and glanced over to the Anne before speaking. “The Dream Catcher is an evil pony who wants t’ destroy all of Equestria! He uses his magic to make ponies dream of bad things, and somehow makes them want t’ do them. There’d been a lot o’ ponies stealin’ and hurtin’ other ponies f’r about a month before anypony figured out what was goin’ on. It’s actually thanks to Pinkie Pie.” She looked over at Diane, “She’s th’ one who figured out tha’ someone was messin’ with her dreams.” She turned to look over at Rebekkah, looking a little confused. “Somethin’ about Rainbow Dash an’ cupcakes.” She shook her head and looked back at Talon. “Anyway, Pinkie told everypony about what happened t’ her, and Twilight,” she said, pointing at Talon, “sent a letter t’ Princess Celestia, sayin’ that somepony was messin’ with their dreams. Celestia came t’ Ponyville an’ told us about the Dream Catcher, sayin’ that he was probably startin’ to break free o’ his prison. Then she sent th’ Elements o’ Harmony to his cave t’ seal him back up.” Applebloom looked down at her hooves, obviously worried. “That was five days ago, an’ Celestia said tha’ the cave was only two days away. Everypony’s startin’ to get worried about them. The bad dreams stopped three days ago, bu’ we ain’t heard from ‘em since.” She looked up at Anne, her eyes pleading a little. “An’ now y’all’re here, an’ you look jus’ like ‘em.” Everyone stood in silence for a while, trying to wrap their minds around all of this new information. Rebekkah’s thoughts were running faster than her feet ever had. First of all, everypony? Somepony? I guess a different world is going to have some different terminology. Equestria, huh? I guess that’s the name of this country. Ponyville must be the town we saw yesterday. Princess Celestia: Equestria must be some sort of monarchy. Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash? Twilight? I really hope this ‘silly name’ trend doesn’t extend to the rest of the population. And then there’s the elements of harmony again, they must be some sort of powerful weapons or something. So, this Dream Catcher is really powerful, huh? Could he have drawn us from our world? More importantly, could he send us back? Also, did she say ‘magic’? I’m guessing she isn’t talking about card tricks. All of this flashed through Rebekkah’s mind in ten seconds flat. The others seemed to be taking a little longer to process everything, so she decided to start talking first. “You’ve mentioned these so called ‘elements of harmony’ twice. What exactly are they?” Applebloom turned to Rebekkah, glaring at her suspiciously. She was about to answer, but the zebra held a hoof out in front of her. “’We are not your friends’, those are your claims. Perhaps you could tell us then, what are your names?” Rebekkah was a little annoyed at the zebra for cutting Applebloom off, but she supposed it was natural for her to be suspicious based on the situation. “It’s Zecora, right?” The zebra nodded. “Sure, I’ll tell you.” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m Rebekkah Dare.” She pointed to the others as she named them. “This is our unofficial leader, Talon Swift. This is her older sister, Faith. Here we have Ruth Johnson, and the pink one who hates the color pink is Diane Pierce. The one who looks like your sister is my best friend, Anne Jewel Smith,” Anne snorted, obviously irritated, “who prefers either ‘AJ’ or her first name only. Now that I’ve answered your question,” she turned back to Applebloom, “maybe now you can tell us about these ‘elements of harmony’.” Applebloom turned to look at Zecora, who nodded briefly. She then turned back to Rebekkah and started explaining. “Th’ Elements o’ Harmony are th’ most powerful magic items in all of Equestria. They’re even more powerful than th’ princesses. Applejack an’ her friends used them t’ defeat Nightmare Moon an’ free Princess Luna, an’ then they used ‘em a year later t’ trap Discord in stone! My big sis is the Element o’ Honesty.” She said proudly. “Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Rarity is Generosity, Fluttershy is Kindness, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, and Twilight Sparkle is Magic.” There was a tense pause, and Applebloom was worried that he’d said something wrong. That is, until all of the girls except Rebekkah and Talon burst out laughing, and even the usually stoic Rebekkah was trying hard not to chuckle. Talon had a look of abject horror mixed with disgust on her face. Having read and hated the books, she’d been a bit uneasy ever since learning that she looked like someone named “Twilight”; adding “Sparkle” to the end just made it worse, and the way the filly had said it just put it over the top. Applebloom was very confused. “What is it?” asked Applebloom. She looked over to Zecora. “Was it somethin’ I said?” The zebra shrugged, just as confused as she was. “Don’t worry about it;” said Rebekkah, grinning hugely, “it’s nothing. As long as we don’t meet any hot vampires or were-wolves, I think we’ll be ok.” Applebloom and Zecora looked even more confused as Rebekkah purposefully looked anywhere at Talon, who was glaring hard at her and grinding her teeth as the other four fell to the ground, rolling around in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Applebloom turned to Zecora again. “What’re vampires an’ were-wolves?” Again, Zecora shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” said Rebekkah, still smiling widely. “It’s just a reference to a book series that’s really popular where we’re from. Anyways,” her face grew a bit more serious (but just a bit), “who are those other two you mentioned that were defeated by the elements. I think their names were Discord and Night-time Moon?” “NightMARE Moon,” corrected Applebloom. “She’s what happened when Princess Luna grew jealous of Princess Celestia over a thousand years ago. She was angry that everypony slept through her night an’ tha’ they didn’t appreciate it enough. She refused to lower the moon one night, and her hate and jealousy turned her into Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia sealed her int’ th’ moon f’r a thousand years. Sis an’ the others used the Elements o’ Harmony to destroy her by takin’ away Princess Luna’s bad feelin’s.” Wait a minute, thought Rebekkah, lower the moon? HER night? Living on an airless, waterless rock for a millennium? Is this a princess or a goddess? Maybe both. Whatever the case, one thousand years of banishment seems a little harsh. “What about the other one, Discord?” Applebloom glared at the ground. “Discord is a Draconequus. He’s the spirit o’ chaos an’ disharmony. He used to make Equestria miserable before the Princesses trapped him in stone. But he, uh,” Applebloom shuffled her hooves nervously and blushed while Zecora raised an eyebrow at her, “he escaped an’ started causing all sorts o’ trouble. Bu’ th’ Elements o’ Harmony were still able t’ beat him in the end.” Zecora decided not to mention how Discord had escaped, and decided instead to try to find out more about these strangers in familiar bodies. “You have listened to our explanations well,” she said, “but what tale do you have to tell?” By this time Talon had stopped glaring at Rebekkah and the other four had calmed down enough to get to their hooves. They stood there for a minute looking at each other, silently asking how much they should tell. Finally, Talon stepped forward and cleared her throat. “We can’t tell you everything, we hardly understand the situation as is, but the simple version is this: the six of us were apparently sucked from our world and we woke up in the cave behind the “City of Demons” to find that our bodies had been changed into those of ponies. Don’t ask what we were before, it doesn’t matter. We don’t know anything about this world, about how we got here, or about where your sister and her friends are. We want to get home as soon as possible, but we’d be more than willing to try to help you find your sister and her friends in the meantime.” “I appreciate th’ offer, Miss… Swift, right?” Talon shook her head and smiled. “You can just call me ‘Talon’,” she said. Applebloom nodded. “Anyway, thanks f’r th’ offer Miss Talon, bu’ I don’ think we’ll find my big sis or her friends anywhere aroun’ here.” Talon raised an eyebrow curiously. “Why not?” she asked. Applebloom pointed to the tiara sitting on Talon’s head. “’cause that tiara is th’ Element o’ Magic. Th’ necklaces th’ rest of y’all’re wearin’ are the other Elements. I don’ think your bodies changed; I think y’all an’ my sister an’ her friends must have somehow swapped minds.” The silence that followed was so complete that you could have heard a pin drop back on Earth. “That means,” Faith whispered, her face paling significantly, “that for the past two days, six ponies who know nothing about how our world works have been running around in our bodies.” “If they go blabbing about being ponies from another world, they’re going to end up in the loony bin!” exclaimed Diane. They all stood shell-shocked for a few minutes before Rebekkah said what was on all of their minds. “Our reputations are officially ruined.” They all nodded sadly. Reunions?Chapter 4 Reunions? Anne’s patience was getting thin. To anyone who knew Anne, that statement would have sounded ridiculous. Anne was one of the most patient people she knew. After all, she had grown up spending hour after hour every day going through the repetitive motions of apple harvesting and maintenance. She could also stare down another poker player for 5 minutes if she thought it would get them to fold. That was how she’d won her tuition from the Head Dean at USC. Yes, Anne was a patient girl, but she had a weakness, a weakness that was making itself very apparent at the moment. “Honestly, I cannot believe that these horrible brown cloaks are the only form of ‘disguise’ she had. How can anyone have nothing fashionable in their entire wardrobe? And it’s not even well made! The stitching is far from neat and the material is uncomfortable besides!” Anne gritted her teeth and suppressed the urge to groan. Fashion! If there was one thing that Anne couldn’t stand, it was when people prattled on and on about fashion. As it turned out, it wasn’t any less annoying when ponies did it. Ruth had started complaining about the cloaks as soon as they were out of hearing range of Zecora’s hut. “How much longer?” Anne asked Applebloom, trying to ignore the incessant chatter going on right behind her. Applebloom turned to her, the grimace on her face showing that they had similar opinions about Ruth’s blabber. “Shouldn’ be too long now,” she replied. “Sweet Apple Acres is just over that next big hill.” Anne nodded, relieved that they were so close to their first destination. “I hope the others keep themselves out o’ trouble,” she muttered. After the girls had (for the most part) come to grips with their now probably soiled reputations, Zecora had led them all to her hut. Once there, she had produced three long, brown hooded cloaks, explaining that they could conceal three of the girls whenever they went into town. She’d said that they should remain hidden in the Everfree until they figured out what to tell Ponyville. Everyone had thought it was a good idea, until Applebloom had intervened. “What about their families?” she’d asked. “I can’ lie t’ Big Mac. An’ besides, don’ they deserve t’ know what’s goin’ on?” Eventually, they had decided on a plan; Applebloom, AJ, Ruth and Talon would go into town to find the Elements of Harmony’s families while Rebekkah, Faith and Diane went back to the clearing. The first group would tell the family members what had happened and return to figure out what to do next. AJ, Ruth and Talon had donned the cloaks and Applebloom had led them out of the forest and to the road that led to Sweet Apple Acres. An’ now, thought Anne, I’m stuck listenin’ t’ Ruth go on about fashion while I get ready t’ convince Applebloom’s family that I’m from another world. What am I even supposed to say? “Howdy y’all. Sorry t’ inconvenience you, but I was pulled from my world int’ this one an’ I need t’ borrow your sister an’ granddaughter’s body for a bit. Thank you kindly.” If someone said that t’ me, I wouldn’ believe ‘em in a million years. An’ even if I did, “There it is!” Applebloom’s shout interrupted Anne’s thoughts, and she looked up to see Sweet Apple Acres. Her jaw dropped. What a sight it was! Acre upon acre of beautiful apple trees, stretching as far as the eye could see. And all types too: Baldwins, Cortlands, Criterions, Galas, Golden Deliciouses, Red Deliciouses, Granny Smiths, Macouns, McIntoshes, Staymans, Winesaps, and a few that Anne had never even seen before! Well, don’ that beat all, thought Anne. I ain’t never seen anythin’ more beautiful than that in all my life. I sure wouldn’ mind stayin’ here for a while. Sitting near the orchards was a large, two-story barn. A large red pony with an orange mane and tail was working in the small vegetable garden next to the barn. Applebloom pointed to him and said “That’s Big Macintosh, th’ strongest pony in all o’ Ponyville! Granny Smith’s gone int’ town today, bu’ he’ll be able t’ tell her what’s goin’ on when she gets back. Come on.” She started trotting down the hill, the three cloaked and hooded ponies following close behind. Big Macintosh looked up from his weeding when he saw his youngest sister leading three strange ponies in cloaks over to him. As soon as she was close enough to hear him without him needing to shout, he said, “Applebloom, weren’t you goin’ over t’ Zecora’s t’ help her with somethin’? You know it ain’t nice t’ keep others a’waitin’.” Applebloom nodded once. “I know Big Mac, but this,” she gestured to Anne and the others, “is what she wanted help with.” Big Macintosh raised an eyebrow curiously. “What do you mean, Bloom?” Applebloom looked over at Anne and nodded her head, gesturing for her to step forward. Anne stepped forward, hesitated a brief moment, and lowered her hood. Big Macintosh’s jaw dropped. He starred at his sister’s face for a few moments in silence, before finally meeting Anne’s eyes. Anne didn’t see the hoof move. She didn’t see the transition of expressions from surprise to rage. She didn’t even feel herself pulled off of her hooves. All she knew was that one moment she was staring into Big Macintosh’s startled eyes, and the next she had been thrown against the wall of the barn and was pinned there by a huge red stallion with cold fury in his eyes. Applebloom gasped while Talon and Ruth threw off their cloaks and got ready to fight. Big Macintosh noticed none of this; he just leaned in close to Anne, never breaking eye contact, and asked, his voice colder than the middle of winter “What did you do t’ my sister?” Anne just stared back, absolutely terrified. She looked into the stallion’s eyes and saw a determination she could barely fathom; he would go to hell and back for his sister: his sister who he loved and cherished, his sister who he’d been worried about for days, the sister whose body a stranger now possessed. In the face of such determination and fury, Anne was unable to speak. Talon, however, had no such problem. “Let her go!” she commanded. “Let her go now or we will be forced to hurt you!” Big Macintosh slowly turned his head to look at Talon. He stared into her eyes and snorted angrily. “You ain’t Twilight either, are you?” he growled. “I c’n see it in your eyes.” Talon tensed her muscles, preparing to leap at Big Macintosh. “No, I’m not. Neither is the pony you are holding your sister. We’re here to explain what happened to them, but we can’t do that in a hostage situation. Now, let my friend go, before I have to hurt you.” Big Macintosh stared at her for a while, before finally releasing Anne. He walked over to Talon, glaring directly into her eyes. “You can’ even use magic, can you?” Talon blinked, confused. “Tha’s what I thought.” He snorted and turned back to Anne. “So, you want t’ talk? Then talk. What happened t’ my sister?” Anne looked up at Big Macintosh, still afraid, but able to speak now that she wasn’t pinned. “Th- th’ truth is, we ain’t exactly sure. We jus’ know that we woke up in these bodies a few days ago.” Anne told their story so far as best she could, with Talon and Ruth chiming in to add a few details here and there. All the while Big Macintosh glared at the stranger that occupied his sister’s body, expression never changing. “An’ then we came over here t’ talk to you and, well, you know the rest.” Anne looked down, afraid that the stallion wouldn’t believe her. She didn’t see why he would; the tale sounded so far-fetched when she told it out loud. Heck, she thought, it sounds far-fetched in my head, an’ I know that it happened! Why on Earth would he… “I believe you.” The words startled Anne out of her thoughts and she looked up at the pony who had spoken them. “I was watchin’ you th’ entire time you were talkin’. An Apple can smell a lie a mile away, an’ you spoke th’ truth.” His expression softened slightly as he looked at her. “I won’t apologize f’r suspectin’ you, I think that’s my right as a brother, but I do apologize f’r slamin’ you int’ the barn.” Anne smiled slightly. “It’s alright,” she replied. “I’d probably do th’ same if someone was impersonatin’ one o’ my sisters. Let’s just start over.” She held out a hoof. “Hi, my name is Anne Smith.” Big Macintosh stared at the offered hoof for a moment, before reaching out and taking it with one of his own. “I’m Big Macintosh, but you can just call me ‘Big Mac’.” He broke the hoofshake and smiled down at Anne. “Everypony does.” Anne’s smile widened. “Well then, nice t’ meet you, Big Mac. Let me introduce you t’ my friends.” Anne led Big Mac over to Talon and Ruth. “This here is Talon Swift, smartest gal I know. And this is Ruth Johnson, biggest pain in th-” “A pleasure to meet you, mister Macintosh,” Ruth interrupted, holing out her hoof to shake. “I must say, your apple orchards are amazing! I’ve never been to a farm myself before, and I must say, this has been a rather pleasant experience so far.” Talon snorted. “Even the part where Anne got slammed into a wall?” Ruth grinned evilly at Anne. “Especially that part. It’s always nice to see her knocked down a peg or three.” Anne glared at Ruth before turning back to Big Mac. “Anyway, we’d better get goin’. We still have to tell a few more family members about this whole mess. It was nice meetin’ you, Big Mac.” Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup, you too, Miss Smith.” “Please, call me ‘Anne’,” she said, turning away with the other three. They headed out of the acres and off towards Ponyville. When they were a good distance from the farm, Applebloom let out a huge sigh of relief. “Well,” she said, “that could’ve gone a lot worse. I thought Big Mac was goin’ t’ break your legs or somethin’.” Anne, Talon and Ruth laughed for a moment, before they realized that the filly wasn’t laughing along. “Wait,” said Anne, “y’all’re serious?” Applebloom shrugged. “He looked like he was goin’ to. I ain’t never seen him so mad. He’s always been protective of me an’ Applejack, but still…” Anne shook her head. “Like I told him, I would’ve done the same thing. Family’s important, an’ you have t’ look out f’r them.” She lowered her voice to a dark mutter. “Even if they don’ think so.” “What was that?” asked Applebloom. Anne shook her head sadly. “Nothin’, nothin’. Just old wounds that ain’t healed yet. Let’s pick up the pace; I want t’ get back t’ the others by nightfall.” She sped up to a gallop and the others followed close behind. Just old wounds, Anne thought to herself. Old wounds tha’ won’t heal f’r a long time to come. More ReunionsChapter 5 More Reunions It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Ponyville. Birds were chirping, a light breeze was blowing, and the pegasi had taken care of all of the clouds. Fillies and colts played together in the parks, mares and stallions went about their business shopping or spending time with good friends, and even those who worked weekends had their windows flung open to better enjoy the sunlight. Yes, everypony was enjoying the beautiful weather. Well, almost everypony. A myriad of thumps, crashes, splashes, rips, and cries of frustration could be heard coming from Carrousel Boutique. It sounded like a swarm of parasprites had taken over the Boutique and were tearing it apart. The truth was much, much worse. Sweety Bell had been trying to get creative. The filly in question looked over the horrible mess that had once been a fully functioning boutique. Ponyquin parts were lying everywhere, bolts of fabric rolled all over the floor, pins and sewing needles were stuck into the walls, ribbons were scattered high and low, different colored dyes soaked almost every surface, and a white cat could barely be seen inside a huge knot of measuring cord. Sweety Bell stomped her hoof in frustration. “I don’t understand!” she complained. “I was only trying to knit something!” In fact, yarn and knitting needles were the only things that were nowhere to be seen. Forced to admit that she would never get a knitting cutie mark, she headed into the kitchen to get some cleaning supplies. Ten minutes later, everypony that happened to be passing by the Boutique heard a small explosion, followed by a loud shout of “OH, COME ON!” Ruth really wished that she had a better disguise. Not better as in “being more effective at concealing one’s identity”; the cloak worked plenty well enough for that. No, she meant better as in “doesn’t draw attention to the wearer”. As soon as they had entered Ponyville, she had felt curious stares directed towards her with every step she took. They weren’t unkind stares, in fact, most of the ponies had waved hello or shouted out a “Good morning!”, but they were stares all the same. Ruth had never liked being the center of attention. That was why she was so excited about the fashion industry; all of the attention was directed at the models. Sure, the great designers were known across the country, but it was mostly just a name and a face. Even when the designers were recognized, the talk was never about them; it was always about the dresses or the models. Ruth loved to talk about her designs, but when it came to her as a person rather than as a designer, she was actually quite reserved. She didn’t open up about herself to strangers easily, and feeling all of those eyes on her was making her nervous. It’s alright, Ruth, she thought to herself. It’s ok. No one is coming up to you, no one is judging you, they’re just curious about why anyone would wear a cloak on suck a beautiful day. Or maybe they’re wondering why anyone would wear such an unfashionable cloak in the first place. I can’t be the only one who’s noticed. This horrible fabric is rough, plain, and unappealing. Why, if it weren’t necessary to remain in cognito, I would never even touch such a thing, much less put it on! Oh, I wonder if I could pick something up while we’re in town. There’s sure to be something fashionable around here somewhere, even if the general populace does go around naked. Mentally insulting the cloak had calmed her down significantly and had carried her all the way to where Applebloom stopped, right next to a beautiful building with a second floor that looked like a merry-go-round. “Well,” said the filly, “here it is, Carousel Boutique. This is where Rarity lives with her little sister Sweety Bell. I’m not sure if she’s home or not, bu-” A loud crash from the upper story of the Boutique interrupted her. Applebloom sighed. “Never mind, she’s in.” She opened the door and led the three mares inside. Disaster. Destruction. Demolition. You name a bad word that starts with “d”, it could probably be used to describe the interior, including “dreadful”, “disparaging”, and “dang, what the heck happened here?”. Applebloom wadded through the piles of dress-making materials and cleaning supplies to the staircase on the other side of the main room. “I’m goin’ t’ go an’ check on her, make sure she’s ok. Wait here, I’ll bring her down.” With that, she trotted up the stairs and out of sight. Anne looked at the disaster zone around her. “Sweet mother o’ mercy, what d’ y’all suppose happened here?” Talon trotted around, trying to find somewhere free of debris to stand. ”I’m not sure. It looks like a tornado hit this place, except that the walls are intact. Well,” she said, noticing the sewing needles and pins, “almost intact.” “Oh. My! WORD!” Talon and Anne turned to see Ruth staring at a lone undamaged wall with a look of disgust and horror on her face. The wall was covered in different sheets of paper. The two of them stepped forward to get a better look. They seemed to be drawings. Well, more like sketches than drawings. The sketches depicted pony shaped mannequins in different outfits. They were mostly dresses, but there were plenty of suits and a few casual looking pieces as well. All of the sketches had one thing in common; they were absolutely amazing! The dresses were beautiful, the suits looked sharp, and even the casual clothing had a lot of effort and skill put into the design. That’s what they seemed to be, after all: clothing designs. “I- I- I cannot believe this,” Ruth stuttered. “I know,” replied Anne. “Y’all know how I feel about fashion, bu’ even I think these are-” “ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL!” shouted Ruth. Her two friends looked at her like she was crazy. “Um, Ruth,” said Talon, “are we seeing the same designs as you? Not that I’m one to argue with you about fashion, but those designs are beautiful.” Ruth waved her off impatiently. “Yes, yes, the outfits depicted are indeed beautiful, but just look at the details and measurements!” Anne and Talon leaned in close to the sketches. “Uh, beggin’ your pardon Ruth,” offered Anne, “but I don’t see no measurements.” “EXACTLY!” exclaimed Ruth. “Just LOOK at that sloppy work! Whoever made these is obviously very talented and inspired, but these designs are impossible to follow! There are no measurements, no notes, nothing but a hastily drawn sketch! How is anyone supposed to know how to make a dress out of THIS?” “Because my sister is a genius, that’s how!” The three mares turned to see that Applebloom had returned with a white unicorn filly with a bouncy pink and purple mane and tail and a scowl on her face. The pony, who must have been Sweety Bell, marched up to Ruth and glared into the dark space under her hood, trying to see the face of the pony who had just dared to insult her sister’s work. “She’s a genius who can hold the entire design in her head and only bothers drawing them to help her keep her different ideas separate. If she bothered to write in all of the details, she’d be stuck at a desk all day! She thinks of a hundred ideas a day and only has time to put a few of them on paper as is, so DON’T,” Sweety Bell’s voice rose to a shout, “INSULT MY SISTER!” Ruth was taken aback. She didn’t know what to say. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she finally found the words. “I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult. I just couldn’t understand how anyone other than the designer could make these. Does she oversee all of her employees while they work? I can’t see how else she could make sure that they’re doing it right.” Sweety Bell raised an eyebrow. “Employees? Are you kidding? She makes all of the dresses herself.” Ruth’s jaw dropped, not that anyone could see it. “Bu- but that’s impossible! How can she sew all of these dresses herself? How many dresses does she have to make a week?” “Well, it used to be only a few, but she’s gotten a lot more attention in the last two years. Now she’s up to orders of about 20 a month. She also sometimes gets orders for a few hundred with a 6-week deadline. Those are a bit much, but she always pulls through.” Sweetie Bell's eyebrow rose higher. “Why do you ask?” Ruth just stood there frozen for a few moments. TWENTY DRESSES A MONTH? HUNDREDS IN 6 WEEKS?!? IS THIS A PONY OR A GODDESS?!?!? I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this. I, I, I feel dizzy. And then, she fainted. Sweety Bell just didn’t know what to make of this. She’d been upstairs in her sister’s room, trying to fix the vase she’d just knocked over, when Applebloom had come up and told her that she had news about Rarity and the others. She’d refused to explain, saying that Sweety Bell would “need t’ see it t’ believe it,” and had led her downstairs. On the way down, she’d heard three very familiar voices talking below her. She’d rushed down the stairs just in time to hear a pony hidden inside a long brown cloak insulting her sister’s designs. Now, there was a stranger in her sister’s body lying unconscious on the couch while two other strangers named Anne and Talon tried to explain the situation from Applejack’s and Twilight’s bodies. She didn’t really understand everything that Talon had said about “parallel universe theory”, but she thought she understood the gist of it. “So you’re saying,” she said, still looking at her sister’s body, “that you six came from another world and somehow switched minds with my sister and her friends? And you don’t know how it happened or how to get back?” “That’s pretty much it,” said App- Anne. Sweety Bell turned to Anne and pointed at Talon. “Then why did it take twenty minutes for her to explain that?” she asked. Anne shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me. I would’ve jus’ come out an’ said it just like that. Personally,” she smirked at Talon, “I think she jus’ likes t’ hear herself talk.” Talon shot a glare at Anne before turning back to Sweety Bell. “I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on this, actually. Do you have any idea why or how this could have happened?” Sweety Bell shook her head. “I don’t know, it sounds like it must have been some kind of magic. I’m still too young to do much more than make my horn glow, so I can’t tell you much. I guess it might have been the Elements of Harmony? They’re pretty powerful, and my sister and her friends were using them against the Dream Catcher after all.” “Oh,” said Talon, obviously confused by something. “Well, thanks anyway. I think Applebloom said that we have one more person to visit,” she looked at Applebloom, who nodded, “so I guess we should go and do that. Anne, could you stay here with Ruth until we get back? I don’t want her waking up with neither of us here.” Anne nodded. “Well then,” Talon held out a hoof to Sweety Bell, “it was very nice to meet you, Sweety Bell.” Sweety Bell hesitated a moment before taking the hoof. “It was nice to meet you too, Miss Talon. Don’t worry, I’ll tell her that you’ll be back soon when she wakes up,” she said, nodding her head at the stranger in her sister’s body. Talon nodded and pulled her hood back up over her head. “Be back soon.” With that, she and Applebloom left the boutique. Anne looked at the mess all around her. “Well, I got nothin’ better t’ do until they get back. I guess I’ll help you clean th’ place.” She walked off deeper into the boutique, looking for fresh cleaning supplies. Sweety Bell turned back to look at the stranger on her couch. “Come home soon, sis,” she whispered. Still more ReunionsChapter 6 Still More Reunions Talon was thinking about magic. Of the many topics she thought about seriously on a daily basis, magic was not one of them. She thought about school work, friends, the position she held in the public eye as one of President Sol’s adopted daughters, religion, the occult, paranormal forces that may or may not exist, books, experiments, what she would be having for dinner, and a number of other things. Magic was only ever a passing fancy from her fantasy books. She liked to imagine it, sure, but she’d never given it any serious thought. That was before she’d woken up as a pony. She’d been considering the possibility of magic ever since she’d realized her situation, but only now was she giving it serious thought. Applebloom had talked about the Dream Catcher having magic as if it were a natural thing, and she’d described the Elements of Harmony as the “most powerful” magic items in Equestria. “Most powerful”, as in, there were other less powerful magic items. Finally, Sweety Bell had mentioned magic as well, even commenting that she could perform it, though apparently not very well. This could mean only one thing: in this world, magic existed! The thought nearly made Talon squeal with joy. Magic! Actual, real, not just smoke and mirrors magic! I can’t believe this! And it’s not just powerful evil villains either, if Sweety Bell can do it. Hm, I wonder if all ponies can do magic. Sweety bell’s the only one who’s mentioned being able to do it. Maybe it’s just unicorns. That’d be too bad, if some could do magic and others couldn’t. If it’s just unicorns then I might be out of lu- wait a minute. I AM A UNICORN!!! OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! I COULD DO MAGIC! This is great! I wonder how it works. Is it a “force of will” thing, or a “limited only by your imagination” thing? Either way, there’s sure to be someone who could teach me magic while I’m here. Maybe it’ll even stay with me when I go back home! I’d have to keep it under wraps, but it would still be awesome. OH MY GOSH, MAGIC EXISTS!!! Talon was starting to creep out Applebloom. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left the boutique, and she’d practically started skipping a few minutes after, occasionally giving a quiet giggle or squeal. Applebloom didn’t know what was going on in her mind, but she was more than happy to let it stay there. Talon didn’t know for how long they’d been walking, but eventually her thoughts about magic were interrupted by Applebloom’s voice. “We’re here, Miss Talon. This is th’ Ponyville Public Library, where Twilight lives with her number one assistant, Spike.” Talon looked up at the building Applebloom was pointing at, except it wasn’t a building. It was a tree-house. Not a traditional tree-house, as in a house built on a tree, a tree-house as in a house that WAS a tree. There were a number of windows looking into the house, and even a second story balcony poking out of the thick and obviously living foliage. Talon couldn’t understand; how was the tree still alive if it had all of its innards carved out? It didn’t make sense. It was impossible! She voiced these observations to Applebloom and got an answer back that she really should have been expecting. “It’s magic.” Applebloom pushed open the front door and walked in, leaving a frustrated Talon to follow. “Spike!” she yelled up a nearby staircase, “Are you here? I have news about Twilight.” “Twilight? You’re sure? Don’t move, Applebloom, I’ll be down in a second.” The voice caught Talon by surprise. Applebloom had called this Spike an assistant, but the voice sounded so young. Was Spike Twilights younger brother or something? That question was soon answered when Spike came down the stairs. Talon had been expecting a young colt, probably the same size as Applebloom. Well, he was the same size alright, but he wasn’t a colt. He wasn’t even a pony. Heck, he wasn’t even a mammal. Spike was a reptile: a purple reptile with a green chest who ran down the stairs on his hind legs. He had green spines running from the top of his head all the way down to his tail. Talon had never seen anything like him before. Then again, she’d never seen unicorns, wooden wolves, or manticores before either. Spike ran over to Applebloom, not even noticing the pony in the cloak, and practically pushed his face right up against hers. “Well? What’s happened? What do you know? Tell me!” Applebloom back-peddled quickly, blushing furiously. “N- now calm down, Spike,” she stuttered. “I- I can’ talk with you pressin’ your face up close like that.” Spike took a deep breath to calm down a bit. “Sorry, Applebloom. I’ve just been so tense lately. I mean, the weird dreams stopped three days ago. They should have been back by now. If you know anything, then please, tell me.” Applebloom opened her mouth, but hesitated before talking. She looked over at Talon and seemed to be thinking about something. Eventually, she nodded and made a sweeping motion over her head with her hoof. Taking her hint, Talon reached up and pulled back her hood before turning back to Spike. Spikes eyes widened. His jaw dropped. He started to say something, but something stopped him. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, obviously confused about something. He walked up close to Talon and looked her directly in the eye. They stayed that way for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes, before Spike turned to Applebloom. “Ok,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “who is this, and what kind of spell went horribly wrong THIS time?” It was Applebloom’s and Talon’s turns to drop their jaws. “H- how did you know?” asked Applebloom. Spike shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s something about the eyes. So,” he turned back to Talon, “where is Twilight?” Talon started to explain the situation like she had for Sweety Bell, but Applebloom cut her off. “We think she might be in a whole other world. This is Talon. She and her friends woke up a couple of days ago in th’ bodies of Twilight an’ th’ other Elements of Harmony. We think that they must’ve switched minds with ‘em.” Talon narrowed her eyes a bit, annoyed at being interrupted. “That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell. Care to explain why you didn’t let me say that?” Applebloom rolled her eyes. “Because when you told Sweety Bell what happened, it took you twenty minutes. I figured we’d jus’ get it done quicker if I said it.” Spike chuckled a bit. “I guess you aren’t too different from Twilight after all. So, you’re from another world with no idea of how you got here or how to get back?” Talon nodded. “Well, I guess this means it’s time to contact the princesses.” He walked over to a desk where a stack of paper and some quills lay. He began writing as he continued, “I’d been thinking about writing to the Princess Celestia all day, but I figured I should wait. Well,” he turned back to Talon and Applebloom, rolling up the letter he’d been writing, “no reason to wait now.” “How long will it take to send that to her?” asked Talon. Spike smirked. “About three seconds.” With that, he inhaled deeply and breathed out a tongue of green flame. Talon felt her jaw drop again. The fire quickly consumed the letter, and the smoke and ash produced flew out an open window in a green haze. Magic! “There it goes,” said Spike, as if he’d done nothing more than drop a letter in the mailbox. “She’ll probably respond as soon as she gets it. I don’t know how she’ll fix this, but she’ll find a way. You don’t get to be ruler of Equestria for over a thousand years without picking up a few things.” "R-right," Talon stuttered, eyes still on the window where the letter had vanished through. Spike raised an eyebrow. "Everything OK, Talon?" Talon snapped out of her daze and grinned at Spike. "Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked eagerly. Spike raised an eyebrow. "How to use dragonfire?" he asked incredulously. Talon shook her head. "Not that! Well, if I could learn how to do that then I would definitely be up for it. I meant magic in general." "Oh," said Spike. "Well, I'm not sure how much I can help there. Dragonfire's sort of just something that happens. It's as natural to me as breathing. Dragons can't really do magic like unicorns can." "But I could learn?" asked Talon hopefuly. "I don't see why not," Spike replied, shrugging. "If you're a unicorn, you can use magic. It's as simple as that. You just need to find someone else to *BURP*" A spiral of green flame shot out of Spike's mouth again, this time condensing into a scroll. Spike snatched it out of the air and read it quickly. "What's it say?" asked Apple Bloom. Spike looked up at Talon and smiled. "You'll want to get the rest of your friends. Princess Celestia's coming to town." Talon's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Really? When?" Spike looked at the note. "In about an hour," he replied, reading from the note. "I look forward to meeting the six beings who now possess the bodies of her faithful student and her friends. I will do my best to assess your situation and send you home as soon as possible. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Sol of Equestria, Ruler of the Sun, Princess of the Day. Man," Spike looked up, shaking his head, "she must have left one of her guards to finish the letter for her. She never uses her full title like that." Talon rolled her eyes. "That's royalty for you," she said. "If it isn't a personal correspondence, they have to give at least a title or two just to keep up the expected appearance. If Twilight is her personal student, it's no wonder you've never seen a signature like this. May I see?" Spike showed her the letter and Talon examined it. "Yep," she said, nodding, "that's a royal signature if I ever saw one. Your princess and Twilight must have been close if Princess Celestia never had to use titles." She turned and began to walk out, pulling her hood back up. "Come on, we'd better get everyone else." Spike and Apple Bloom quickly followed as they started back towards Carousel Boutique. "So," said Spike after a moment, "you sound like you're familiar with royalty. Are you a noble or something?" Talon laughed. "Not at all. There are no nobles where I come from. Not in my country, at least. My country's government is a representative democracy, where leaders are elected by the voice of the people. My mother, Celeste Sol, is the current President of the United States of America." She paused as she considered the coincidence in name similarities before shrugging and continuing on. "She's been the President for 7 years now. My sister, Faith, and I were adopted by her when we were 8 and 9. Mom was going to adopt just Faith, but she refused to leave me behind. She stared Mom down for almost 5 minutes before Mom laughed and agreed to adopt both of us." Talon chuckled and shook her head. "And Faith hasn't gotten any less stubborn since, and she's even more protective. If I was taken from her, she'd probably react in about the same way as Big Mac did, except she'd beat you up first, and ask questions after." "That's cool," said Spike, "but then how did you recognize the royal signature?" Talon laughed. "I guess I did get a little off track, didn't I," she said. "Well, being President Sol's daughter came with some perks. For Faith, that meant vacations to go on safari to Africa to study the wild animals there. For me, that meant lots of first-hand political study. I spent so much time at Mom's side, learning all that I could about countries and governments, that I was able to waive my Government class in High School. I can spot a government document from across the room, and most government signatures. Royalty always has a certain style when signing." "That's cool," said Apple Bloom, not bothering to keep the boredom out of her voice. "Hey, look! We're here!" They had indeed arived at Carousel Boutique. They walked in to find Ruth talking with Sweetie Bell about Rarity's designs while AJ snoozed against a wall. "Hey, girls!" called Talon as they walked in. "Ready to meat some royalty?" AJ tipped up her hat which had been covering her eyes. "What're you talkin' about, Talon?" "Princess Celestia is goin' to be here in less than an hour," explained Apple Bloom. "She wants to meet with all y'all." Ruth's eyes widened. "A-a p-princess?" she stammered. "A princess wants to meet us? We're going to meet a princess! I-I can't believe it! I'm not ready to- to..." Eyes rolling up, she fainted again. Sweetie Bell glared at Talon. "Do you know how long it took for us to wake her up?" Ponies. Why Did It Have To Be Ponies?Chapter 1 Ponies, Why Did it Have to be Ponies? Talon Swift awoke to a pounding in her skull. This wasn’t anything new, she was a college student and a friend of Diane’s after all, but the weird thing was that she clearly remembered being in her Economics class only moments ago, and on a Monday no less. Wow, she thought, Diane’s rave must have been wild to have made me forget an entire week. After a few seconds, her common sense finally woke up. Wait a minute, there’s no way that a party could wipe an entire week of memory, no matter how much booze I drank! Oh no, did I doze off in class? That would explain why my pillow is so hard. But, wait, then why am I lying down? Did I fall out of my chair? By this time, her sense of curiosity and drive to solve a problem had replaced the pain in her head. No, that doesn’t make sense either. If I had fallen asleep and fallen out of my chair, my whole side would hurt. Not to mention I would be able to hear the others trying to wake me up. After a few more moments of thought, she mentally sighed in defeat. Well, I guess I can’t figure it out without opening my eyes. You win this round unknown, mysterious scenario. She opened her eyes. She hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t this. She saw a wall: a black, carved, stone wall. There were no black carved stone walls at the University of Southern California. This puzzled her to no end, and she spent a few minutes trying to think of where she could possibly be before her musings were interrupted by a groan coming from her other side. “Man,” complained a high pitched voice, “this is worse than my usual Monday hangover.” Talon turned her head quickly to see who had spoken. She could only stare. Lying on the ground near her side was a horse: a small, bright pink horse. It had a slightly darker pink mane and tail, both of which hung straight down, and there was a weird tattoo on its flank, one that depicted two blue balloons with a yellow one in the middle. It also wore a necklace with a jewel in the shape of a balloon. Strangest of all was the fact that the speech seemed to have come from it. This was confirmed when it rubbed a hoof against its head and gave another high pitched moan. “Who- who are you?” asked Talon quietly, half hoping the horse wouldn’t hear her. These hopes were dashed upon the proverbial rocks when the horse’s blue eyes flashed open and over to her. They stared at each other for a few seconds before the horse spoke. “Di- did you just… talk? You can TALK?” Talon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in annoyance. “Of course I can talk. Why wouldn’t I be able to talk?” The horse jumped a bit at her response and it turned its head to stare at the ground. “Wow, a talking purple unicorn. That must have been some good booze.” “Wait, purple unicorn? What are you talking abou-” She stopped speaking when she noticed something at the top of her vision. She turned her head up to look at it, but it flew up as she moved, following the motion of her head. “What the heck is that?” she asked. She reached up with her hoof to try to grab it and- Talon froze. Her eyes moved slowly to the hoof in front of her, down a purple furred arm, to the purple shoulder that was currently supporting her body’s weight. “Wha- what is, why is, what is…” Her gaze moved back to the hoof, my hoof she corrected herself, and she raised it slowly to the thing at the top of her vision. She felt something long and hard there and followed it down with her hoof to her forehead. She then turned her head to examine the rest of her body. Just as she’d feared, she saw a purple furred equine figure where her human body should be. She also saw a dark purple tail with a pink stripe running through it and a tattoo of a six pointed purple star surrounded by five smaller white stars. She looked over to the pink horse to see it giving itself a similar once-over. “Who are you?” she asked again. “Y-you’re not a hallucination, are you?” it asked nervously. Talon shook her head slowly. It gulped loudly. “M-my name is Diane, Diane Pierce. Who are you?” Talon’s jaw dropped. No way, there was no way that this was Diane. This couldn’t be the party girl who made sure that none of them had a quiet Friday night, the girl who was always hung over on Mondays, the girl who hated the color pink so much that she burned every pink piece of clothing she was ever given. Talon shook her head, hoping beyond hope that it wasn’t just a coincidence. “My name is Talon Swift. Are you really…” The horse’s eyes widened and she stumbled to her hooves, obviously unsteady on unfamiliar appendages. She stared slack-jawed for a few seconds before whispering “T- Talon?” Talon rose shakily to her hooves before tackling her friend with a hug. She buried her face in Diane’s shoulder and started crying with relief. “Diane! Diane, it is you! Oh, thank goodness I’m not alone here.” Diane awkwardly patted Talon back, never having been one for “touchy feely sappy stuff” as she called it. “Um, there there? It’ll, uh, be all right, I guess.” Talon recovered quickly and pulled back, wiping her eyes hastily. “Sorry, Diane. I’m just so happy that I’m not alone here. Where is here anyway?’ Diane was about to respond that she didn’t know when she was interrupted by a loud shout. “What in tarnation? What did that crazy Diane slip int’ my drink last night? Last I checked, I weren’t orange, and I didn’t have no hooves!” Diane and Talon looked over to see an orange horse with a blonde mane and tail stumbling to her hooves. She had three apples on her rump, a necklace with an apple shaped jewel at her throat, and, strangest of all, a ten-gallon Stetson on her head. With the hat and the southern accent, there was no way to mistake her for anyone but Anne. Diane grinned happily before narrowing her eyes and smirking. “Oh, sure. You seem to be hallucinating vividly and it’s automatically my fault. Thanks a lot AJ!” The horse that was apparently Anne Jewel Smith glared over, mouth open to retort, but she stopped when she saw the two horse-bodied girls laughing at her. “Wha- how, wha-," she stuttered as the two girls laughed in relief at finding another of their friends. “D-Diane? Is that you? Wh-why d’ y’all look like a horse? An’ who are you?” she asked pointing a shaky hoof at Talon. After calming down enough to stop laughing Talon replied, “AJ, it’s me Talon! And yeah, this is Diane. We’re not exactly sure what happened, but I’m glad to see that you’re all right.” “W-wait,” said Anne worriedly, “Talon! You’re here too? This ain’t just some crazy hallucination?” Talon and Diane shook their heads sadly. “I wish,” muttered Diane. “This would be one for the record books.” Anne shook her head, confused. “How in tarnation did we get here? The last thing I remember was th’ professor talkin’ about supply an’ demand.” “That’s interesting,” Talon replied. “Monday morning’s lecture is the last thing I can remember too.” They both turned to the pink horse, who raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re kidding, right? You’re talking about a Monday morning and you expect me to remember anything but a headache?” Talon and Anne rolled their eyes. She had a point, though; Party Animal Diane went crazy all weekend and had a weekly hangover that usually lasted from Monday morning into Wednesday afternoon. The three of them heard a few grunts and groans and turned to see that they were not alone in what they could now see was a vast stone cave. Lying in the cave with them were three more horses. There was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow striped mane and tail and a three-colored lightning bolt coming from a white cloud on her bum. She was looking around at everything with a look of surprise on her face. There was also a snow white unicorn with a well styled purple mane and tail and three diamonds on her rear. She was staring around in wide eyed fear, mouth opening and closing without making a sound. Finally, there was a yellow pegasus with a very long pink mane and tail. She had three butterflies on her derrière, and she was getting to her hooves and looking around frantically, as though searching for something. Each of them had a necklace matching the mark on their posterior. Anne decided to take the initiative and walked over to the three. She cleared her throat nervously and they all turned to face her. “Howdy y’all. My name is Anne. This here,” she gestured over at Diane, not noticing the dropped jaws, “is Diane, and this,” she gestured to Talon as the white unicorn and the cyan pegasus stumbled to their hooves, “is Talon. Who might y’all-” No sooner had the name “Talon” left her mouth than the yellow pegasus launched herself at said unicorn, pulling her into a tight hug and sobbing into her shoulder. “Oh Talon,” she exclaimed in a voice that was so soft that it was in a perpetual whisper, “I was so worried about you. I woke up in this cave in this weird pony body and I didn’t know what to do because I was so worried that something might have happened to you too and that even if it didn’t then I still wouldn’t be around to protect you and you might get hurt or worse and I wouldn’t be there for you but then I heard a voice mention your name and I stood up and started looking around and I saw these other ponies and then the orange one said that you were Talon, and I looked in your eyes and they were the same and oh Talon, I’m so glad that you’re all right!” Talon didn’t know how to respond. On the one hand, (hoof, whatever) there was a strange yellow talking pegasus trying to crush her. On the other… “F-Faith? Is that you?” Faith Swift, Talon’s older sister, pulled back and smiled happily, staring into Talon’s eyes. “Oh, thank goodness. I knew it was you.” She then put her head back on Talon’s shoulder and resumed crying. During all of this, the other pegasus and the unicorn had approached Anne and Diane. The pegasus spoke first. “AJ? Diane? It’s me, Rebekkah.” “A-and I,” said the unicorn, still obviously nervous, “Ruth. What happened? The last thing I remember was Professor Jones’ first period class.” Anne and Diane looked at each other, stunned. They had suspected that this might be the case ever since they had realized who the other was, but to have the 6 closest friends on campus suddenly pulled from their Monday economics class was still weird. “I don’t rightly know what happened,” admitted Anne, turning back to them. “Talon and I were just sayin’ that that was th’ last thing we remember too. More importantly, why the heck’re we horses? That just don’t make no sense at-“ “Ponies.” Faith interrupted, finally calming down enough to look around but still clinging to Talon like she thought she might disappear at any moment. “We’re not horses, we’re too short and broad, our bodies too low to the ground. Despite our colors and extra anatomy, I think we’re ponies.” Ruth Johnson starred at Faith, a single eyebrow raised in annoyance. “Not to be rude dear, but what does it matter? And how do you even know that, anyway?” It was Faith’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Hello, vet to be here. I would hardly be able to care for animals if I couldn’t even tell the difference between a horse and a pony.” She finally let go of Talon, dropping to her hooves. “As to why it’s important,” she gestured around the cave with her hoof, “ponies are much better built than horses for rugged terrain such as mountains and caves because of their lower center of gravity. If we were horses in a cave, then I would be hopelessly confused.” She glared around at the group. “Not that any of this makes sense anyway.” Rebekkah Dare shook her head and turned to Ruth. “And that’s why you don’t ask Faith about animals. You’re sure to get a lecture.” She trotted over in front of Anne and smirked, holding up one hoof in front of her. “It’s nice to see you still in one piece. I know how fragile your little country mind can be.” Anne’s eyes widened in surprise before she snorted and bumped her best friend’s hoof with her own. “Aw, come on now. You know I’m the strongest one here. I don’t break that easy.” Ruth rolled her eyes and awkwardly trotted over to Diane. “I swear, those two. That’s just as emotional as they can get, isn’t it. I don’t understand why they feel the need to put on such a rough and tough exterior.” Diane raised her eyebrow at Ruth. “Exterior? You think that that’s just a show? Trust me, I grew up with Rebekkah. I know her like the back of my…” she glanced down at the unfamiliar hoof, “well, I guess that that expression doesn’t exactly work anymore.” She shook her head and turned back to Ruth. “Anyway, I know her. That isn’t just a shell, Ruth, that’s the real deal. She just doesn’t really express her feelings much. She has them sure, but that doesn’t mean she has to break out into tears. I think AJ’s just built in the same mold.” Ruth was about to retort when Talon spoke up, cutting her off. “Alright everyone, listen up.” The five girls turned to face her. “Here is the situation as far as I can tell. All of us but Diane remember being in Professor Jones’ Monday morning, first period economics class. That’s the last thing any of us remember about ourselves in our human bodies.” “What’s the last thing you remember?” Faith whispered to Diane. “A headache,” she muttered back. Faith nodded in understanding. “After that,” Talon continued, “we all awoke in these strange candy-colored pony bodies. We don’t know where we are, what this cave is, or why the one of us that is afraid of heights is a pegasus.” The corner of Rebekkah’s mouth twitched slightly. “We do know that the six closest friends from USC have somehow been sucked into a strange and unexplainable situation. Due to my vast experience of fantasy literature,” “Which is a kinder way to say that you always have your nose stuck in a book,” interrupted Ruth, a slight smirk on her face. The other four nodded; they were all very aware of their friend’s obsessive reading habits. Talon glared at Ruth briefly before continuing, “I have been able to conclude that this is most likely some sort of alternate universe.” The other five turned to each other, their faces showing varying degrees of shock and disbelief. “From our transformation, I’m guessing that ponies are somehow the dominant species of this world. I suggest we find some sort of city and try to find a way back to our world. I think we should go with the classic “amnesia story”, saying that we know each other but not much else. That way, if we say something that doesn’t make sense to them, or ask strange questions that everyone and his dog knows the answer to, we can blame it on the amnesia.” Diane raised an eyebrow. “Why does this sound like you’ve considered this kind of thing before? I think your obsession with reading is officially unhealthy.” Talon blushed and cleared her throat. “Anyway, any questions?” “Yeah, I’ve got one,” said Faith, turning back to Talon. “Who died and made you queen? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good plan and I’m 100 percent behind you on it, but when did you become our leader?” Diane snickered and pointed at something above Talon’s head. “Must have been when she got that crown.” “Crown?” Talon asked, confused. “What crown?” She reached above her head and sure enough, she felt something metal resting on top of her hai- mane. “I wouldn’t call it a ‘crown’, really,” said Ruth. “It’s definitely more like a tiara or a diadem.” “An’ look who’s completely missin’ the point,” Anne said, rolling her eyes and smirking at Ruth. “As usual.” Ruth shot a glare at her. “Seriously, Ruth,” Diane chimed in, “what does it matter? Diadem, tiara, crown: same thing really. It’s a big impressive metal headpiece that shows authority. Speaking of which,” she turned back to Talon, “I agree with Faith; who gave YOU that authority? I mean, solid plan, I’m with you all the way, but why do you get to lead us?” “Probably because she’s one of the only two who aren’t bickering like kids when we’re in a strange situation?” All five of them turned to look at Rebekkah who shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Just sayin’.”
Signs And WarningsChapter 2 Signs and Warnings Talon was starting to get tired. She’d started leading her friends through the cave at a brisk trot, hoping to get out soon. She hadn’t known how deep the cave was, but she was certain in her and her friends’ athletic abilities and endurance. They had all earned Black Belts in Karate at the dojo where they met after all; surely they could handle a little hike through a cave. Unfortunately for her, she’d been depending on her abilities as she knew them in her old body. The equine figure that she now inhabited didn’t have nearly the strength or stamina that her human one had and she soon found herself out of breath at the back of the pack; herd she corrected herself. Ruth was trailing with her, but the others seemed to be doing fine. AJ, Rebekkah and Diane were leading the herd with Faith not too far behind. It didn’t make sense, and she stated as much at their first break. “Ok, that’s it, how are you two not getting tired?” she snapped at Faith and Diane when they finally stopped. “AJ and Rebekkah were obviously lucky enough to get strong bodies, I can see that from their muscles, but you two don’t look that much better off than me and Ruth. In fact, I’d even say that Diane looks a bit pudgy. How are you keeping up with them?” Faith looked over to Diane, raising an eyebrow at her figure. “You know, I was wondering that myself. I’m guessing that pegasi are naturally lighter than normal ponies in order to be able to fly, but I can’t see why Diane wouldn’t be having a hard time. Her body doesn’t seem nearly as muscular as AJ’s, not to mention the obvious extra pounds of fat, and yet she’s able to keep up easily. How are you doing it?” Diane could only shrug. “Honestly, I have no idea. I just have lots of energy for some reason. It’s like I’m on a constant sugar high or something.” “Oh, well that’s just peachy for you, isn’t it?” Ruth had taken to the long trot about as well as Talon, and while she wasn’t normally one to complain, she found herself grumbling at her inept body. “Alright y’all, break time’s over. Let’s see if we can’t get out o’ this cave before our next stop.” Anne stood up and started trotting through the cave, Rebekkah right beside her. Faith and Diane shrugged and stood up to follow, Ruth and Talon right behind them, groaning at the thought of a few more hours of walking with these weak new bodies. Both of them were looking forward to getting out of the cave. As they continued trotting, they started to notice the cave getting lighter. “We must be near the exit,” Rebekkah observed quietly. “Finally!” Talon galloped past her friends, ecstatic to finally be leaving the cave. She rounded a final corner and cried out in alarm, shielding her eyes. The others caught up to her and squinted into the light at the end of the cave. They started walking forward again, all the while trying to make anything out in the light. They exited the cave into bright daylight. When their eyes adjusted, they were stunned by what they saw; in front of them were cracked stone columns, weathered and worn floors, and significantly collapsed ceilings. They were standing in front of the oldest ruins any of them had ever seen. Not too impressive considering they were the only ruins they had ever seen, but still. Behind these ancient ruins was a thick green forest. “Oh, wow.” Talon stood rooted to the ground in fascination. “This is beautiful. They look like the Greek ruins I’ve seen in history books.” She trotted in, the others following her carefully. The ruins didn’t seem exactly stable, and they weren’t completely sure that a column wouldn’t fall on top of them at any moment. “Hey, what’s that?” Diane asked, pointing to a sign posted on the forest side of the ruins, near a trail that led into the trees. The girls trotted over, and saw writing on the forest side of the sign. “Hie urbem ruinas Daemonum. Si vis vivere, relinquamus nunc!” read Diane. “Anyone here speak gibberish?” asked Anne. Talon shook her head and glared at Anne. “It’s not gibberish, it’s Latin!” she scolded. She looked back at the sign. “It is strange, though. Why would there be Latin writing in this world?” “Well, what’s it say?” asked Faith impatiently. “Just a minute. Give me some space.” Talon squinted at the sign, calling upon the few years of high school Latin she had taken back in DC. “Well, roughly translated, I think it says “Here the ruins of the City of Demons. If you-’” Talon paled a bit and gulped loudly. “Well, what is it?” Talon cleared her throat nervously. “’If you wish to live, leave now.’” The six friends stood silently for a while, before Diane burst out laughing. “W-wow, you really had me going there for a second. ‘If you wish to live, leave now.’ Ha ha, oh man, you got me good.” Talon glanced at her friend, worry in her eyes. “I’m not joking, Diane. That’s really what it says.” Diane stopped laughing immediately, staring at Talon like she’d just grown a second, well, I guess with everything else that’s happened, a second head wouldn’t have been that surprising. “W-wait a minute, you’re serious?” Talon nodded briefly. The six friends looked back at the ruins they’d just exited. “W-well, I’m sure it’s nothing really. But, you know, we’re not going to find any cities around an old ruin, right?” Ruth gulped and nodded. “Y-yes, quite right. We can’t do anything around here, so why bother staying? Why don’t we just head down this lovely path? A path is sure to lead somewhere, and the forest will be a nice change of scenery.” “Y-yeah, y’all’re right,” agreed Anne, turning from the sign. “We should see if we can find some sort o’ city or town before nightfall. Let’s rope ‘em up and ride ‘em out.” The six ponies turned from the ruins, trotting into the forest, trying their best not to look back at the “City of Demons”. So focused were they on getting away from the creepy sign, none of them noticed another one posted near the entrance to the woods: a sign which read, “Warning, Everfree Forest. Do Not Enter.” Five hours later, the six friends collapsed, exhausted, in a clearing. Over the last five hours, they had found out that their knowledge of Karate had carried over to their new brains. Unfortunately, they had learned it the hard way: fighting of three separate lions (each of which had a scorpion’s tail for some reason), a pack of wolves (who were apparently made of wood), and a swarm of tenacious (though surprisingly cute) insects. “You know,” said Ruth, trying to catch her breath, “I’m beginning to think that perhaps the cave wasn’t quite so bad.” The others groaned in agreement. None of them had been hurt, (can’t say the same for their attackers) but all of them were fatigued. Anne looked at the sky, noting the setting sun. “I reckon we should sleep here tonight; we don’t know how far it is t’ the nearest town an’ we could all use some rest.” Her stomach complained loudly, and she glared at it. “Along with a bite t’ eat.” Faith nodded her head wearily. “Yeah, I could really go for some pizza about now.” She studied the grass in front of her before she shrugged, leaned down, and took a bite. The girls gasped. “Faith!” shouted Talon, “What are you doing?” Faith chewed her mouthful of grass for a few moments, a contemplative look on her face, before swallowing. “Not bad, actually. It tastes a little raw, like unseasoned salad, but that’s to be expected I guess.” She quickly leaned down and took another bite. The girls stared at her for a few seconds before Rebekkah and Anne looked at each other, shrugged, and leaned down to begin grazing themselves. Eventually, Diane, Ruth and Talon joined them, grazing in the clearing as the sun set. Finally, they were all full. They’d eaten a lot of the grass, but they could tell that they would have enough for breakfast in the morning. Grass for breakfast, thought Talon. I suppose things can’t get much stranger than this. Talon Swift awoke to a pounding in her skull. Is this going to be a regular thing now? she wondered. Man, I hope not. She opened her eyes and looked around the clearing. Birds were singing, Anne was already up and grazing, the sun was starting to rise, and Talon’s head hurt from where it had been resting on a rock. How did I even sleep on that? I must have been more tired than I thought. She stood up and made her way over to Anne. “Morning AJ. Did you sleep well?” “’bout as well as I could, under th’ circumstances,” she replied. “The others’ll probably wake up soon. I’m surprised that Rebekkah ain’t up yet; she usually beats me t’ the punch, and I get up with the sun.” She shrugged and bent down to continue grazing and Talon joined her. Soon enough, the others woke up. After eating their breakfast and doing their usual morning sparring session, they set out down the path again. It didn’t seem to take too long for the sun to past its apex. They had recently eaten lunch and fought off another wolf pack when they came across the first sign of civilization since the ruins. It appeared to be a hut carved out of a tree. Various corked bottles hung from a branch on vines and there was a strange mask out front that looked a bit like an alligator. Talon walked up to the door, looked back at her friends who nodded encouragingly, and knocked. There was no answer. She knocked again, a bit louder this time. Still, there was no answer. Talon trotted over to the rest of the girls, shrugging. “I guess they’re not home.” With that, they turned and headed back to the path and continued following it. Two scorpion-tailed lions later, they found themselves at the edge of the forest. The path seemed to lead to a small town in the distance. Rebekkah stopped, squinting her eyes and muttering to herself. “It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get there before sunset tonight,” she finally said. “I think we should stop for today and make our way into town tomorrow.” The others nodded and started to turn back to the forest when they saw a sign. The sign read, “Warning, Everfree Forest. Do Not Enter.” “Well,” snorted Diane, glaring daggers at the sign, “wish we’d known that before we entered the first time.” Talon rolled her eyes and led her friends to a clearing that she had remembered passing near the edge of the forest. They spent the rest of the afternoon grazing, sparing and wondering what was going on at home and how to get back. Eventually, the sun set and they all lay down and went to sleep. None of them noticed the pair of green eyes that had been watching them slip of deeper into the forest.
Questions And Significantly Fewer AnswersChapter 3 Questions and Significantly Fewer Answers Rebekkah hated it when the sun woke her up. Every morning, she set her alarm to wake her up just before sunrise so that that evil glaring light wouldn’t be the first thing she saw in the morning. Over time, her body had adapted itself to this schedule, and she only needed to set her alarm on nights that she’d been partying with Diane. So why is it, she thought, wincing as the first rays of sunlight broke over the canopy of the Everfree Forest, that I’ve been woken up twice in as many days by that space-forsaken ball of fire? Grudgingly, she opened her eyes and staggered to her feet. Hooves, she corrected herself, glaring at her appendages. Still hooves, still a pony. Maybe that has something to do with it. She sighed quietly and looked around. Once again, only AJ and Talon were up before her. How that egghead managed to beat me to the punch, I will never know, she thought as she started to graze. Then again, I guess she’s used to not getting much sleep with all of the studying she does. I guess it makes sense for her to get up early when she gets to bed at a reasonable hour. She nodded to Diane as she awoke, and then she went back to grazing. But wait, if that were the case, then wouldn’t I still be waking up early too? Rebekkah looked over at Anne, trying to solve this conundrum. Well, she reasoned, she still has her Stetson and her accent, not to mention those three apples on her tush. Maybe the body she’s in is also an apple farmer’s? That would explain her early rising. She then turned to look at Talon, nodding to Faith first as she got up. Now her tattoo offers no clues. A purple star and five small white stars? What can I possibly make of that? She shrugged her shoulders and started to stretch, preparing herself for the usual morning spar session. Oh well, it doesn’t really matter. At least I’m still up before the other three. By this time, most of the others had finished breakfast as well and were warming up. Rebekkah stood up on her hind legs, somehow instinctively knowing how to use her wings and tail to keep balance. She started sparing off against Anne, letting her body take over as her mind wandered. Useful things these wings, they really seem to help with balance. Too bad I’ll probably never use them for anything else. As the six friends sparred off against each other, they failed to notice two sets of eyes hiding in the bushes: one pair green and the other a sunset gold. Zecora the zebra and the yellow, red-maned filly Applebloom watched from their hiding place, crouching amongst the foliage. “Though confidence in my words you used to lack, you can see now that they indeed are back.” The zebra spoke with a strange accent, one that Talon might have referred to as African. The filly nodded her head slowly and replied with an accent that Anne would have recognized in a heartbeat. “Y-y’all’re right, Zecora. I’m mighty sorry I doubted ya. But, are y’all sure they’re them? They sure look like ‘em, but I ain’t never seen Rainbow Dash or Sis fight like that. An’ I ain’t never seen th’ others fight at all. Fluttershy’s face is downright scary, an’ Rainbow Dash don’t look like she’s even payin’ attention.” In fact, this strange behavior was the only thing that kept Applebloom from leaping out and hugging the mare that looked just like her sister. “True their actions do not seem right; perhaps they have picked up how to fight?” “In one week? Less than a week even, it’s only been five days. I know that Twilight learns things real quick, but even she couldn’t learn that level of martial arts that fast. There’s no way.” “There is one way that I can see, an act of the Elements of Harmony?” “Maybe,” admitted Applebloom, tapping her chin with her hoof, “but I still don’ think that Fluttershy would ever look like that if her friends weren’t at stake. Somethin’s goin’ on, an’ I wanna know what it is.” Zecora was about to reply, when they heard the six ponies in the clearing start talking. They quieted down and turned to watch and listen. “Whoo-ee, that was a good spar partner,” said the pony who looked like Applejack. She trotted over to the mare who looked like Twilight Sparkle and patted her on the shoulder. “Well Talon, you about ready to head into town? I’d sure like to figure out what’s going on.” “Me too,” said the pony who resembled Pinkie Pie. “But, Ruth and I were talking with Faith last night,” she said, gesturing to the ponies who looked like Rarity and Fluttershy, “and we agreed that it might not be a good idea to just stroll into town claiming to have amnesia. We think that we need to find someone who we can tell our whole story to, so they can help us blend in.” Seeing her opportunity, Zecora nodded at Applebloom and prepared to stand up. “Actually,” chimed in the pony who looked like Rainbow Dash, “that’s a pretty good idea. How about we go with the two who are watching us from the bushes.” Zecora and Applebloom froze as she pointed straight at them. Rebekkah had noticed the two pairs of eyes about half-way through her spar session with Anne. She’d thought about mentioning it before now, but whoever was in the bushes didn’t seem to be attacking, so she decided to wait until after her friends were calmed down from practicing how to beat someone up. This was probably a wise choice on her behalf, as her friends still jumped into defensive stances and glared suspiciously at the two pairs of eyes, even without the adrenalin flowing through their system. Talon straightened up and stood tall and proud, the way she’d learned to from her mother. “Whoever you are,” she said in a voice that practically rang with authority, “you had best show yourselves at once. We are all Black Belts in Karate, and we’ve fought a number of vicious monsters in this forest over the past two days. If you do not reveal yourselves immediately, we shall be forced to assume the worst.” Showoff, thought Rebekkah, but I guess that’s what happens when you get adopted by President Sol. The six girls watched warily as a zebra and a young yellow pony with a red mane and tail walked cautiously out from behind the bushes. The zebra’s mane was done up in a mohawk, and the filly’s was held back with a pink bow. While the zebra had a strange wavy circular mark on her haunches, the filly’s were bare. The zebra spoke up, gesturing to herself and the filly. “To see you again is a great boon. It is just us, Zecora, and Applebloom.” “Zecora an’ apple who now?” asked the ever tactful Anne, watching them suspiciously. “I’m mighty sorry, but we don’t know either of ya. Y’all must have us mistaken with some other girls.” To the surprise of everyone there, the filly started to tear up. “A-Applejack,” she said in an accent that matched hers almost perfectly, “it’s me, your sister Applebloom. D-don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about us.” Anne started to answer, but something stopped her. She didn’t understand what was going on; she didn’t know anyone from this world, how could this filly be her sister? She must have been mistaking her for someone else; it was as simple as that. And yet, she also felt a strange urge stirring inside of her, a desire to wipe away the filly’s tears and tell her that everything was going to be ok. Anne was confused and didn’t know what to do. Talon, however, was not frozen in indecision. She stepped forward, still keeping her almost royal demeanor, but softening her eyes when she looked at the filly. “I’m sorry, it was ‘Applebloom’, wasn’t it?” the filly, seemingly hurt and confused, nodded her head. Talon let down her guard a little, lowering her head to better see her eye to eye. “I’m sorry Applebloom, but you must have our Anne confused with someone else. You see, the six of us don’t even know where we are or how we got here. We all woke up in a cave a couple of days ago, and we’ve been trying to find a city or town ever since.” The zebra chimed in as the filly processed this strange information. “You say that you awoke inside of a cave. Was the entrance perhaps near the demon city’s grave?” Talon was taken aback, not only because the zebra was right, but also because s her rhyming was kind of creepy. “Yes,” she said slowly, eyeing the zebra warily. “There were ruins of something called the ‘City of Demons’ outside of the cave. How did you know?” Applebloom jumped in, glaring at the six, the “teary little filly” act dropped. “Because that’s where Sis an’ the other Elements o’ Harmony went to face the Dream Catcher.” The girls were taken aback by the filly’s sudden change in attitude. “The Dream Catcher?” asked Talon. “What’s that?” The more important question, thought Rebekkah, is what are these “elements of harmony”? They seem to have something to do with a group of ponies who look just like us; seems to me that that would be the most important question to get answered. Applebloom glared up at Talon and glanced over to the Anne before speaking. “The Dream Catcher is an evil pony who wants t’ destroy all of Equestria! He uses his magic to make ponies dream of bad things, and somehow makes them want t’ do them. There’d been a lot o’ ponies stealin’ and hurtin’ other ponies f’r about a month before anypony figured out what was goin’ on. It’s actually thanks to Pinkie Pie.” She looked over at Diane, “She’s th’ one who figured out tha’ someone was messin’ with her dreams.” She turned to look over at Rebekkah, looking a little confused. “Somethin’ about Rainbow Dash an’ cupcakes.” She shook her head and looked back at Talon. “Anyway, Pinkie told everypony about what happened t’ her, and Twilight,” she said, pointing at Talon, “sent a letter t’ Princess Celestia, sayin’ that somepony was messin’ with their dreams. Celestia came t’ Ponyville an’ told us about the Dream Catcher, sayin’ that he was probably startin’ to break free o’ his prison. Then she sent th’ Elements o’ Harmony to his cave t’ seal him back up.” Applebloom looked down at her hooves, obviously worried. “That was five days ago, an’ Celestia said tha’ the cave was only two days away. Everypony’s startin’ to get worried about them. The bad dreams stopped three days ago, bu’ we ain’t heard from ‘em since.” She looked up at Anne, her eyes pleading a little. “An’ now y’all’re here, an’ you look jus’ like ‘em.” Everyone stood in silence for a while, trying to wrap their minds around all of this new information. Rebekkah’s thoughts were running faster than her feet ever had. First of all, everypony? Somepony? I guess a different world is going to have some different terminology. Equestria, huh? I guess that’s the name of this country. Ponyville must be the town we saw yesterday. Princess Celestia: Equestria must be some sort of monarchy. Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash? Twilight? I really hope this ‘silly name’ trend doesn’t extend to the rest of the population. And then there’s the elements of harmony again, they must be some sort of powerful weapons or something. So, this Dream Catcher is really powerful, huh? Could he have drawn us from our world? More importantly, could he send us back? Also, did she say ‘magic’? I’m guessing she isn’t talking about card tricks. All of this flashed through Rebekkah’s mind in ten seconds flat. The others seemed to be taking a little longer to process everything, so she decided to start talking first. “You’ve mentioned these so called ‘elements of harmony’ twice. What exactly are they?” Applebloom turned to Rebekkah, glaring at her suspiciously. She was about to answer, but the zebra held a hoof out in front of her. “’We are not your friends’, those are your claims. Perhaps you could tell us then, what are your names?” Rebekkah was a little annoyed at the zebra for cutting Applebloom off, but she supposed it was natural for her to be suspicious based on the situation. “It’s Zecora, right?” The zebra nodded. “Sure, I’ll tell you.” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m Rebekkah Dare.” She pointed to the others as she named them. “This is our unofficial leader, Talon Swift. This is her older sister, Faith. Here we have Ruth Johnson, and the pink one who hates the color pink is Diane Pierce. The one who looks like your sister is my best friend, Anne Jewel Smith,” Anne snorted, obviously irritated, “who prefers either ‘AJ’ or her first name only. Now that I’ve answered your question,” she turned back to Applebloom, “maybe now you can tell us about these ‘elements of harmony’.” Applebloom turned to look at Zecora, who nodded briefly. She then turned back to Rebekkah and started explaining. “Th’ Elements o’ Harmony are th’ most powerful magic items in all of Equestria. They’re even more powerful than th’ princesses. Applejack an’ her friends used them t’ defeat Nightmare Moon an’ free Princess Luna, an’ then they used ‘em a year later t’ trap Discord in stone! My big sis is the Element o’ Honesty.” She said proudly. “Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Rarity is Generosity, Fluttershy is Kindness, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, and Twilight Sparkle is Magic.” There was a tense pause, and Applebloom was worried that he’d said something wrong. That is, until all of the girls except Rebekkah and Talon burst out laughing, and even the usually stoic Rebekkah was trying hard not to chuckle. Talon had a look of abject horror mixed with disgust on her face. Having read and hated the books, she’d been a bit uneasy ever since learning that she looked like someone named “Twilight”; adding “Sparkle” to the end just made it worse, and the way the filly had said it just put it over the top. Applebloom was very confused. “What is it?” asked Applebloom. She looked over to Zecora. “Was it somethin’ I said?” The zebra shrugged, just as confused as she was. “Don’t worry about it;” said Rebekkah, grinning hugely, “it’s nothing. As long as we don’t meet any hot vampires or were-wolves, I think we’ll be ok.” Applebloom and Zecora looked even more confused as Rebekkah purposefully looked anywhere at Talon, who was glaring hard at her and grinding her teeth as the other four fell to the ground, rolling around in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Applebloom turned to Zecora again. “What’re vampires an’ were-wolves?” Again, Zecora shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” said Rebekkah, still smiling widely. “It’s just a reference to a book series that’s really popular where we’re from. Anyways,” her face grew a bit more serious (but just a bit), “who are those other two you mentioned that were defeated by the elements. I think their names were Discord and Night-time Moon?” “NightMARE Moon,” corrected Applebloom. “She’s what happened when Princess Luna grew jealous of Princess Celestia over a thousand years ago. She was angry that everypony slept through her night an’ tha’ they didn’t appreciate it enough. She refused to lower the moon one night, and her hate and jealousy turned her into Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia sealed her int’ th’ moon f’r a thousand years. Sis an’ the others used the Elements o’ Harmony to destroy her by takin’ away Princess Luna’s bad feelin’s.” Wait a minute, thought Rebekkah, lower the moon? HER night? Living on an airless, waterless rock for a millennium? Is this a princess or a goddess? Maybe both. Whatever the case, one thousand years of banishment seems a little harsh. “What about the other one, Discord?” Applebloom glared at the ground. “Discord is a Draconequus. He’s the spirit o’ chaos an’ disharmony. He used to make Equestria miserable before the Princesses trapped him in stone. But he, uh,” Applebloom shuffled her hooves nervously and blushed while Zecora raised an eyebrow at her, “he escaped an’ started causing all sorts o’ trouble. Bu’ th’ Elements o’ Harmony were still able t’ beat him in the end.” Zecora decided not to mention how Discord had escaped, and decided instead to try to find out more about these strangers in familiar bodies. “You have listened to our explanations well,” she said, “but what tale do you have to tell?” By this time Talon had stopped glaring at Rebekkah and the other four had calmed down enough to get to their hooves. They stood there for a minute looking at each other, silently asking how much they should tell. Finally, Talon stepped forward and cleared her throat. “We can’t tell you everything, we hardly understand the situation as is, but the simple version is this: the six of us were apparently sucked from our world and we woke up in the cave behind the “City of Demons” to find that our bodies had been changed into those of ponies. Don’t ask what we were before, it doesn’t matter. We don’t know anything about this world, about how we got here, or about where your sister and her friends are. We want to get home as soon as possible, but we’d be more than willing to try to help you find your sister and her friends in the meantime.” “I appreciate th’ offer, Miss… Swift, right?” Talon shook her head and smiled. “You can just call me ‘Talon’,” she said. Applebloom nodded. “Anyway, thanks f’r th’ offer Miss Talon, bu’ I don’ think we’ll find my big sis or her friends anywhere aroun’ here.” Talon raised an eyebrow curiously. “Why not?” she asked. Applebloom pointed to the tiara sitting on Talon’s head. “’cause that tiara is th’ Element o’ Magic. Th’ necklaces th’ rest of y’all’re wearin’ are the other Elements. I don’ think your bodies changed; I think y’all an’ my sister an’ her friends must have somehow swapped minds.” The silence that followed was so complete that you could have heard a pin drop back on Earth. “That means,” Faith whispered, her face paling significantly, “that for the past two days, six ponies who know nothing about how our world works have been running around in our bodies.” “If they go blabbing about being ponies from another world, they’re going to end up in the loony bin!” exclaimed Diane. They all stood shell-shocked for a few minutes before Rebekkah said what was on all of their minds. “Our reputations are officially ruined.” They all nodded sadly.
Reunions?Chapter 4 Reunions? Anne’s patience was getting thin. To anyone who knew Anne, that statement would have sounded ridiculous. Anne was one of the most patient people she knew. After all, she had grown up spending hour after hour every day going through the repetitive motions of apple harvesting and maintenance. She could also stare down another poker player for 5 minutes if she thought it would get them to fold. That was how she’d won her tuition from the Head Dean at USC. Yes, Anne was a patient girl, but she had a weakness, a weakness that was making itself very apparent at the moment. “Honestly, I cannot believe that these horrible brown cloaks are the only form of ‘disguise’ she had. How can anyone have nothing fashionable in their entire wardrobe? And it’s not even well made! The stitching is far from neat and the material is uncomfortable besides!” Anne gritted her teeth and suppressed the urge to groan. Fashion! If there was one thing that Anne couldn’t stand, it was when people prattled on and on about fashion. As it turned out, it wasn’t any less annoying when ponies did it. Ruth had started complaining about the cloaks as soon as they were out of hearing range of Zecora’s hut. “How much longer?” Anne asked Applebloom, trying to ignore the incessant chatter going on right behind her. Applebloom turned to her, the grimace on her face showing that they had similar opinions about Ruth’s blabber. “Shouldn’ be too long now,” she replied. “Sweet Apple Acres is just over that next big hill.” Anne nodded, relieved that they were so close to their first destination. “I hope the others keep themselves out o’ trouble,” she muttered. After the girls had (for the most part) come to grips with their now probably soiled reputations, Zecora had led them all to her hut. Once there, she had produced three long, brown hooded cloaks, explaining that they could conceal three of the girls whenever they went into town. She’d said that they should remain hidden in the Everfree until they figured out what to tell Ponyville. Everyone had thought it was a good idea, until Applebloom had intervened. “What about their families?” she’d asked. “I can’ lie t’ Big Mac. An’ besides, don’ they deserve t’ know what’s goin’ on?” Eventually, they had decided on a plan; Applebloom, AJ, Ruth and Talon would go into town to find the Elements of Harmony’s families while Rebekkah, Faith and Diane went back to the clearing. The first group would tell the family members what had happened and return to figure out what to do next. AJ, Ruth and Talon had donned the cloaks and Applebloom had led them out of the forest and to the road that led to Sweet Apple Acres. An’ now, thought Anne, I’m stuck listenin’ t’ Ruth go on about fashion while I get ready t’ convince Applebloom’s family that I’m from another world. What am I even supposed to say? “Howdy y’all. Sorry t’ inconvenience you, but I was pulled from my world int’ this one an’ I need t’ borrow your sister an’ granddaughter’s body for a bit. Thank you kindly.” If someone said that t’ me, I wouldn’ believe ‘em in a million years. An’ even if I did, “There it is!” Applebloom’s shout interrupted Anne’s thoughts, and she looked up to see Sweet Apple Acres. Her jaw dropped. What a sight it was! Acre upon acre of beautiful apple trees, stretching as far as the eye could see. And all types too: Baldwins, Cortlands, Criterions, Galas, Golden Deliciouses, Red Deliciouses, Granny Smiths, Macouns, McIntoshes, Staymans, Winesaps, and a few that Anne had never even seen before! Well, don’ that beat all, thought Anne. I ain’t never seen anythin’ more beautiful than that in all my life. I sure wouldn’ mind stayin’ here for a while. Sitting near the orchards was a large, two-story barn. A large red pony with an orange mane and tail was working in the small vegetable garden next to the barn. Applebloom pointed to him and said “That’s Big Macintosh, th’ strongest pony in all o’ Ponyville! Granny Smith’s gone int’ town today, bu’ he’ll be able t’ tell her what’s goin’ on when she gets back. Come on.” She started trotting down the hill, the three cloaked and hooded ponies following close behind. Big Macintosh looked up from his weeding when he saw his youngest sister leading three strange ponies in cloaks over to him. As soon as she was close enough to hear him without him needing to shout, he said, “Applebloom, weren’t you goin’ over t’ Zecora’s t’ help her with somethin’? You know it ain’t nice t’ keep others a’waitin’.” Applebloom nodded once. “I know Big Mac, but this,” she gestured to Anne and the others, “is what she wanted help with.” Big Macintosh raised an eyebrow curiously. “What do you mean, Bloom?” Applebloom looked over at Anne and nodded her head, gesturing for her to step forward. Anne stepped forward, hesitated a brief moment, and lowered her hood. Big Macintosh’s jaw dropped. He starred at his sister’s face for a few moments in silence, before finally meeting Anne’s eyes. Anne didn’t see the hoof move. She didn’t see the transition of expressions from surprise to rage. She didn’t even feel herself pulled off of her hooves. All she knew was that one moment she was staring into Big Macintosh’s startled eyes, and the next she had been thrown against the wall of the barn and was pinned there by a huge red stallion with cold fury in his eyes. Applebloom gasped while Talon and Ruth threw off their cloaks and got ready to fight. Big Macintosh noticed none of this; he just leaned in close to Anne, never breaking eye contact, and asked, his voice colder than the middle of winter “What did you do t’ my sister?” Anne just stared back, absolutely terrified. She looked into the stallion’s eyes and saw a determination she could barely fathom; he would go to hell and back for his sister: his sister who he loved and cherished, his sister who he’d been worried about for days, the sister whose body a stranger now possessed. In the face of such determination and fury, Anne was unable to speak. Talon, however, had no such problem. “Let her go!” she commanded. “Let her go now or we will be forced to hurt you!” Big Macintosh slowly turned his head to look at Talon. He stared into her eyes and snorted angrily. “You ain’t Twilight either, are you?” he growled. “I c’n see it in your eyes.” Talon tensed her muscles, preparing to leap at Big Macintosh. “No, I’m not. Neither is the pony you are holding your sister. We’re here to explain what happened to them, but we can’t do that in a hostage situation. Now, let my friend go, before I have to hurt you.” Big Macintosh stared at her for a while, before finally releasing Anne. He walked over to Talon, glaring directly into her eyes. “You can’ even use magic, can you?” Talon blinked, confused. “Tha’s what I thought.” He snorted and turned back to Anne. “So, you want t’ talk? Then talk. What happened t’ my sister?” Anne looked up at Big Macintosh, still afraid, but able to speak now that she wasn’t pinned. “Th- th’ truth is, we ain’t exactly sure. We jus’ know that we woke up in these bodies a few days ago.” Anne told their story so far as best she could, with Talon and Ruth chiming in to add a few details here and there. All the while Big Macintosh glared at the stranger that occupied his sister’s body, expression never changing. “An’ then we came over here t’ talk to you and, well, you know the rest.” Anne looked down, afraid that the stallion wouldn’t believe her. She didn’t see why he would; the tale sounded so far-fetched when she told it out loud. Heck, she thought, it sounds far-fetched in my head, an’ I know that it happened! Why on Earth would he… “I believe you.” The words startled Anne out of her thoughts and she looked up at the pony who had spoken them. “I was watchin’ you th’ entire time you were talkin’. An Apple can smell a lie a mile away, an’ you spoke th’ truth.” His expression softened slightly as he looked at her. “I won’t apologize f’r suspectin’ you, I think that’s my right as a brother, but I do apologize f’r slamin’ you int’ the barn.” Anne smiled slightly. “It’s alright,” she replied. “I’d probably do th’ same if someone was impersonatin’ one o’ my sisters. Let’s just start over.” She held out a hoof. “Hi, my name is Anne Smith.” Big Macintosh stared at the offered hoof for a moment, before reaching out and taking it with one of his own. “I’m Big Macintosh, but you can just call me ‘Big Mac’.” He broke the hoofshake and smiled down at Anne. “Everypony does.” Anne’s smile widened. “Well then, nice t’ meet you, Big Mac. Let me introduce you t’ my friends.” Anne led Big Mac over to Talon and Ruth. “This here is Talon Swift, smartest gal I know. And this is Ruth Johnson, biggest pain in th-” “A pleasure to meet you, mister Macintosh,” Ruth interrupted, holing out her hoof to shake. “I must say, your apple orchards are amazing! I’ve never been to a farm myself before, and I must say, this has been a rather pleasant experience so far.” Talon snorted. “Even the part where Anne got slammed into a wall?” Ruth grinned evilly at Anne. “Especially that part. It’s always nice to see her knocked down a peg or three.” Anne glared at Ruth before turning back to Big Mac. “Anyway, we’d better get goin’. We still have to tell a few more family members about this whole mess. It was nice meetin’ you, Big Mac.” Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup, you too, Miss Smith.” “Please, call me ‘Anne’,” she said, turning away with the other three. They headed out of the acres and off towards Ponyville. When they were a good distance from the farm, Applebloom let out a huge sigh of relief. “Well,” she said, “that could’ve gone a lot worse. I thought Big Mac was goin’ t’ break your legs or somethin’.” Anne, Talon and Ruth laughed for a moment, before they realized that the filly wasn’t laughing along. “Wait,” said Anne, “y’all’re serious?” Applebloom shrugged. “He looked like he was goin’ to. I ain’t never seen him so mad. He’s always been protective of me an’ Applejack, but still…” Anne shook her head. “Like I told him, I would’ve done the same thing. Family’s important, an’ you have t’ look out f’r them.” She lowered her voice to a dark mutter. “Even if they don’ think so.” “What was that?” asked Applebloom. Anne shook her head sadly. “Nothin’, nothin’. Just old wounds that ain’t healed yet. Let’s pick up the pace; I want t’ get back t’ the others by nightfall.” She sped up to a gallop and the others followed close behind. Just old wounds, Anne thought to herself. Old wounds tha’ won’t heal f’r a long time to come.
More ReunionsChapter 5 More Reunions It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Ponyville. Birds were chirping, a light breeze was blowing, and the pegasi had taken care of all of the clouds. Fillies and colts played together in the parks, mares and stallions went about their business shopping or spending time with good friends, and even those who worked weekends had their windows flung open to better enjoy the sunlight. Yes, everypony was enjoying the beautiful weather. Well, almost everypony. A myriad of thumps, crashes, splashes, rips, and cries of frustration could be heard coming from Carrousel Boutique. It sounded like a swarm of parasprites had taken over the Boutique and were tearing it apart. The truth was much, much worse. Sweety Bell had been trying to get creative. The filly in question looked over the horrible mess that had once been a fully functioning boutique. Ponyquin parts were lying everywhere, bolts of fabric rolled all over the floor, pins and sewing needles were stuck into the walls, ribbons were scattered high and low, different colored dyes soaked almost every surface, and a white cat could barely be seen inside a huge knot of measuring cord. Sweety Bell stomped her hoof in frustration. “I don’t understand!” she complained. “I was only trying to knit something!” In fact, yarn and knitting needles were the only things that were nowhere to be seen. Forced to admit that she would never get a knitting cutie mark, she headed into the kitchen to get some cleaning supplies. Ten minutes later, everypony that happened to be passing by the Boutique heard a small explosion, followed by a loud shout of “OH, COME ON!” Ruth really wished that she had a better disguise. Not better as in “being more effective at concealing one’s identity”; the cloak worked plenty well enough for that. No, she meant better as in “doesn’t draw attention to the wearer”. As soon as they had entered Ponyville, she had felt curious stares directed towards her with every step she took. They weren’t unkind stares, in fact, most of the ponies had waved hello or shouted out a “Good morning!”, but they were stares all the same. Ruth had never liked being the center of attention. That was why she was so excited about the fashion industry; all of the attention was directed at the models. Sure, the great designers were known across the country, but it was mostly just a name and a face. Even when the designers were recognized, the talk was never about them; it was always about the dresses or the models. Ruth loved to talk about her designs, but when it came to her as a person rather than as a designer, she was actually quite reserved. She didn’t open up about herself to strangers easily, and feeling all of those eyes on her was making her nervous. It’s alright, Ruth, she thought to herself. It’s ok. No one is coming up to you, no one is judging you, they’re just curious about why anyone would wear a cloak on suck a beautiful day. Or maybe they’re wondering why anyone would wear such an unfashionable cloak in the first place. I can’t be the only one who’s noticed. This horrible fabric is rough, plain, and unappealing. Why, if it weren’t necessary to remain in cognito, I would never even touch such a thing, much less put it on! Oh, I wonder if I could pick something up while we’re in town. There’s sure to be something fashionable around here somewhere, even if the general populace does go around naked. Mentally insulting the cloak had calmed her down significantly and had carried her all the way to where Applebloom stopped, right next to a beautiful building with a second floor that looked like a merry-go-round. “Well,” said the filly, “here it is, Carousel Boutique. This is where Rarity lives with her little sister Sweety Bell. I’m not sure if she’s home or not, bu-” A loud crash from the upper story of the Boutique interrupted her. Applebloom sighed. “Never mind, she’s in.” She opened the door and led the three mares inside. Disaster. Destruction. Demolition. You name a bad word that starts with “d”, it could probably be used to describe the interior, including “dreadful”, “disparaging”, and “dang, what the heck happened here?”. Applebloom wadded through the piles of dress-making materials and cleaning supplies to the staircase on the other side of the main room. “I’m goin’ t’ go an’ check on her, make sure she’s ok. Wait here, I’ll bring her down.” With that, she trotted up the stairs and out of sight. Anne looked at the disaster zone around her. “Sweet mother o’ mercy, what d’ y’all suppose happened here?” Talon trotted around, trying to find somewhere free of debris to stand. ”I’m not sure. It looks like a tornado hit this place, except that the walls are intact. Well,” she said, noticing the sewing needles and pins, “almost intact.” “Oh. My! WORD!” Talon and Anne turned to see Ruth staring at a lone undamaged wall with a look of disgust and horror on her face. The wall was covered in different sheets of paper. The two of them stepped forward to get a better look. They seemed to be drawings. Well, more like sketches than drawings. The sketches depicted pony shaped mannequins in different outfits. They were mostly dresses, but there were plenty of suits and a few casual looking pieces as well. All of the sketches had one thing in common; they were absolutely amazing! The dresses were beautiful, the suits looked sharp, and even the casual clothing had a lot of effort and skill put into the design. That’s what they seemed to be, after all: clothing designs. “I- I- I cannot believe this,” Ruth stuttered. “I know,” replied Anne. “Y’all know how I feel about fashion, bu’ even I think these are-” “ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL!” shouted Ruth. Her two friends looked at her like she was crazy. “Um, Ruth,” said Talon, “are we seeing the same designs as you? Not that I’m one to argue with you about fashion, but those designs are beautiful.” Ruth waved her off impatiently. “Yes, yes, the outfits depicted are indeed beautiful, but just look at the details and measurements!” Anne and Talon leaned in close to the sketches. “Uh, beggin’ your pardon Ruth,” offered Anne, “but I don’t see no measurements.” “EXACTLY!” exclaimed Ruth. “Just LOOK at that sloppy work! Whoever made these is obviously very talented and inspired, but these designs are impossible to follow! There are no measurements, no notes, nothing but a hastily drawn sketch! How is anyone supposed to know how to make a dress out of THIS?” “Because my sister is a genius, that’s how!” The three mares turned to see that Applebloom had returned with a white unicorn filly with a bouncy pink and purple mane and tail and a scowl on her face. The pony, who must have been Sweety Bell, marched up to Ruth and glared into the dark space under her hood, trying to see the face of the pony who had just dared to insult her sister’s work. “She’s a genius who can hold the entire design in her head and only bothers drawing them to help her keep her different ideas separate. If she bothered to write in all of the details, she’d be stuck at a desk all day! She thinks of a hundred ideas a day and only has time to put a few of them on paper as is, so DON’T,” Sweety Bell’s voice rose to a shout, “INSULT MY SISTER!” Ruth was taken aback. She didn’t know what to say. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she finally found the words. “I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult. I just couldn’t understand how anyone other than the designer could make these. Does she oversee all of her employees while they work? I can’t see how else she could make sure that they’re doing it right.” Sweety Bell raised an eyebrow. “Employees? Are you kidding? She makes all of the dresses herself.” Ruth’s jaw dropped, not that anyone could see it. “Bu- but that’s impossible! How can she sew all of these dresses herself? How many dresses does she have to make a week?” “Well, it used to be only a few, but she’s gotten a lot more attention in the last two years. Now she’s up to orders of about 20 a month. She also sometimes gets orders for a few hundred with a 6-week deadline. Those are a bit much, but she always pulls through.” Sweetie Bell's eyebrow rose higher. “Why do you ask?” Ruth just stood there frozen for a few moments. TWENTY DRESSES A MONTH? HUNDREDS IN 6 WEEKS?!? IS THIS A PONY OR A GODDESS?!?!? I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this. I, I, I feel dizzy. And then, she fainted. Sweety Bell just didn’t know what to make of this. She’d been upstairs in her sister’s room, trying to fix the vase she’d just knocked over, when Applebloom had come up and told her that she had news about Rarity and the others. She’d refused to explain, saying that Sweety Bell would “need t’ see it t’ believe it,” and had led her downstairs. On the way down, she’d heard three very familiar voices talking below her. She’d rushed down the stairs just in time to hear a pony hidden inside a long brown cloak insulting her sister’s designs. Now, there was a stranger in her sister’s body lying unconscious on the couch while two other strangers named Anne and Talon tried to explain the situation from Applejack’s and Twilight’s bodies. She didn’t really understand everything that Talon had said about “parallel universe theory”, but she thought she understood the gist of it. “So you’re saying,” she said, still looking at her sister’s body, “that you six came from another world and somehow switched minds with my sister and her friends? And you don’t know how it happened or how to get back?” “That’s pretty much it,” said App- Anne. Sweety Bell turned to Anne and pointed at Talon. “Then why did it take twenty minutes for her to explain that?” she asked. Anne shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me. I would’ve jus’ come out an’ said it just like that. Personally,” she smirked at Talon, “I think she jus’ likes t’ hear herself talk.” Talon shot a glare at Anne before turning back to Sweety Bell. “I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on this, actually. Do you have any idea why or how this could have happened?” Sweety Bell shook her head. “I don’t know, it sounds like it must have been some kind of magic. I’m still too young to do much more than make my horn glow, so I can’t tell you much. I guess it might have been the Elements of Harmony? They’re pretty powerful, and my sister and her friends were using them against the Dream Catcher after all.” “Oh,” said Talon, obviously confused by something. “Well, thanks anyway. I think Applebloom said that we have one more person to visit,” she looked at Applebloom, who nodded, “so I guess we should go and do that. Anne, could you stay here with Ruth until we get back? I don’t want her waking up with neither of us here.” Anne nodded. “Well then,” Talon held out a hoof to Sweety Bell, “it was very nice to meet you, Sweety Bell.” Sweety Bell hesitated a moment before taking the hoof. “It was nice to meet you too, Miss Talon. Don’t worry, I’ll tell her that you’ll be back soon when she wakes up,” she said, nodding her head at the stranger in her sister’s body. Talon nodded and pulled her hood back up over her head. “Be back soon.” With that, she and Applebloom left the boutique. Anne looked at the mess all around her. “Well, I got nothin’ better t’ do until they get back. I guess I’ll help you clean th’ place.” She walked off deeper into the boutique, looking for fresh cleaning supplies. Sweety Bell turned back to look at the stranger on her couch. “Come home soon, sis,” she whispered.
Still more ReunionsChapter 6 Still More Reunions Talon was thinking about magic. Of the many topics she thought about seriously on a daily basis, magic was not one of them. She thought about school work, friends, the position she held in the public eye as one of President Sol’s adopted daughters, religion, the occult, paranormal forces that may or may not exist, books, experiments, what she would be having for dinner, and a number of other things. Magic was only ever a passing fancy from her fantasy books. She liked to imagine it, sure, but she’d never given it any serious thought. That was before she’d woken up as a pony. She’d been considering the possibility of magic ever since she’d realized her situation, but only now was she giving it serious thought. Applebloom had talked about the Dream Catcher having magic as if it were a natural thing, and she’d described the Elements of Harmony as the “most powerful” magic items in Equestria. “Most powerful”, as in, there were other less powerful magic items. Finally, Sweety Bell had mentioned magic as well, even commenting that she could perform it, though apparently not very well. This could mean only one thing: in this world, magic existed! The thought nearly made Talon squeal with joy. Magic! Actual, real, not just smoke and mirrors magic! I can’t believe this! And it’s not just powerful evil villains either, if Sweety Bell can do it. Hm, I wonder if all ponies can do magic. Sweety bell’s the only one who’s mentioned being able to do it. Maybe it’s just unicorns. That’d be too bad, if some could do magic and others couldn’t. If it’s just unicorns then I might be out of lu- wait a minute. I AM A UNICORN!!! OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! I COULD DO MAGIC! This is great! I wonder how it works. Is it a “force of will” thing, or a “limited only by your imagination” thing? Either way, there’s sure to be someone who could teach me magic while I’m here. Maybe it’ll even stay with me when I go back home! I’d have to keep it under wraps, but it would still be awesome. OH MY GOSH, MAGIC EXISTS!!! Talon was starting to creep out Applebloom. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left the boutique, and she’d practically started skipping a few minutes after, occasionally giving a quiet giggle or squeal. Applebloom didn’t know what was going on in her mind, but she was more than happy to let it stay there. Talon didn’t know for how long they’d been walking, but eventually her thoughts about magic were interrupted by Applebloom’s voice. “We’re here, Miss Talon. This is th’ Ponyville Public Library, where Twilight lives with her number one assistant, Spike.” Talon looked up at the building Applebloom was pointing at, except it wasn’t a building. It was a tree-house. Not a traditional tree-house, as in a house built on a tree, a tree-house as in a house that WAS a tree. There were a number of windows looking into the house, and even a second story balcony poking out of the thick and obviously living foliage. Talon couldn’t understand; how was the tree still alive if it had all of its innards carved out? It didn’t make sense. It was impossible! She voiced these observations to Applebloom and got an answer back that she really should have been expecting. “It’s magic.” Applebloom pushed open the front door and walked in, leaving a frustrated Talon to follow. “Spike!” she yelled up a nearby staircase, “Are you here? I have news about Twilight.” “Twilight? You’re sure? Don’t move, Applebloom, I’ll be down in a second.” The voice caught Talon by surprise. Applebloom had called this Spike an assistant, but the voice sounded so young. Was Spike Twilights younger brother or something? That question was soon answered when Spike came down the stairs. Talon had been expecting a young colt, probably the same size as Applebloom. Well, he was the same size alright, but he wasn’t a colt. He wasn’t even a pony. Heck, he wasn’t even a mammal. Spike was a reptile: a purple reptile with a green chest who ran down the stairs on his hind legs. He had green spines running from the top of his head all the way down to his tail. Talon had never seen anything like him before. Then again, she’d never seen unicorns, wooden wolves, or manticores before either. Spike ran over to Applebloom, not even noticing the pony in the cloak, and practically pushed his face right up against hers. “Well? What’s happened? What do you know? Tell me!” Applebloom back-peddled quickly, blushing furiously. “N- now calm down, Spike,” she stuttered. “I- I can’ talk with you pressin’ your face up close like that.” Spike took a deep breath to calm down a bit. “Sorry, Applebloom. I’ve just been so tense lately. I mean, the weird dreams stopped three days ago. They should have been back by now. If you know anything, then please, tell me.” Applebloom opened her mouth, but hesitated before talking. She looked over at Talon and seemed to be thinking about something. Eventually, she nodded and made a sweeping motion over her head with her hoof. Taking her hint, Talon reached up and pulled back her hood before turning back to Spike. Spikes eyes widened. His jaw dropped. He started to say something, but something stopped him. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, obviously confused about something. He walked up close to Talon and looked her directly in the eye. They stayed that way for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes, before Spike turned to Applebloom. “Ok,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “who is this, and what kind of spell went horribly wrong THIS time?” It was Applebloom’s and Talon’s turns to drop their jaws. “H- how did you know?” asked Applebloom. Spike shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. It’s something about the eyes. So,” he turned back to Talon, “where is Twilight?” Talon started to explain the situation like she had for Sweety Bell, but Applebloom cut her off. “We think she might be in a whole other world. This is Talon. She and her friends woke up a couple of days ago in th’ bodies of Twilight an’ th’ other Elements of Harmony. We think that they must’ve switched minds with ‘em.” Talon narrowed her eyes a bit, annoyed at being interrupted. “That’s pretty much it, in a nutshell. Care to explain why you didn’t let me say that?” Applebloom rolled her eyes. “Because when you told Sweety Bell what happened, it took you twenty minutes. I figured we’d jus’ get it done quicker if I said it.” Spike chuckled a bit. “I guess you aren’t too different from Twilight after all. So, you’re from another world with no idea of how you got here or how to get back?” Talon nodded. “Well, I guess this means it’s time to contact the princesses.” He walked over to a desk where a stack of paper and some quills lay. He began writing as he continued, “I’d been thinking about writing to the Princess Celestia all day, but I figured I should wait. Well,” he turned back to Talon and Applebloom, rolling up the letter he’d been writing, “no reason to wait now.” “How long will it take to send that to her?” asked Talon. Spike smirked. “About three seconds.” With that, he inhaled deeply and breathed out a tongue of green flame. Talon felt her jaw drop again. The fire quickly consumed the letter, and the smoke and ash produced flew out an open window in a green haze. Magic! “There it goes,” said Spike, as if he’d done nothing more than drop a letter in the mailbox. “She’ll probably respond as soon as she gets it. I don’t know how she’ll fix this, but she’ll find a way. You don’t get to be ruler of Equestria for over a thousand years without picking up a few things.” "R-right," Talon stuttered, eyes still on the window where the letter had vanished through. Spike raised an eyebrow. "Everything OK, Talon?" Talon snapped out of her daze and grinned at Spike. "Can you teach me how to do that?" she asked eagerly. Spike raised an eyebrow. "How to use dragonfire?" he asked incredulously. Talon shook her head. "Not that! Well, if I could learn how to do that then I would definitely be up for it. I meant magic in general." "Oh," said Spike. "Well, I'm not sure how much I can help there. Dragonfire's sort of just something that happens. It's as natural to me as breathing. Dragons can't really do magic like unicorns can." "But I could learn?" asked Talon hopefuly. "I don't see why not," Spike replied, shrugging. "If you're a unicorn, you can use magic. It's as simple as that. You just need to find someone else to *BURP*" A spiral of green flame shot out of Spike's mouth again, this time condensing into a scroll. Spike snatched it out of the air and read it quickly. "What's it say?" asked Apple Bloom. Spike looked up at Talon and smiled. "You'll want to get the rest of your friends. Princess Celestia's coming to town." Talon's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. "Really? When?" Spike looked at the note. "In about an hour," he replied, reading from the note. "I look forward to meeting the six beings who now possess the bodies of her faithful student and her friends. I will do my best to assess your situation and send you home as soon as possible. Sincerely, Princess Celestia Sol of Equestria, Ruler of the Sun, Princess of the Day. Man," Spike looked up, shaking his head, "she must have left one of her guards to finish the letter for her. She never uses her full title like that." Talon rolled her eyes. "That's royalty for you," she said. "If it isn't a personal correspondence, they have to give at least a title or two just to keep up the expected appearance. If Twilight is her personal student, it's no wonder you've never seen a signature like this. May I see?" Spike showed her the letter and Talon examined it. "Yep," she said, nodding, "that's a royal signature if I ever saw one. Your princess and Twilight must have been close if Princess Celestia never had to use titles." She turned and began to walk out, pulling her hood back up. "Come on, we'd better get everyone else." Spike and Apple Bloom quickly followed as they started back towards Carousel Boutique. "So," said Spike after a moment, "you sound like you're familiar with royalty. Are you a noble or something?" Talon laughed. "Not at all. There are no nobles where I come from. Not in my country, at least. My country's government is a representative democracy, where leaders are elected by the voice of the people. My mother, Celeste Sol, is the current President of the United States of America." She paused as she considered the coincidence in name similarities before shrugging and continuing on. "She's been the President for 7 years now. My sister, Faith, and I were adopted by her when we were 8 and 9. Mom was going to adopt just Faith, but she refused to leave me behind. She stared Mom down for almost 5 minutes before Mom laughed and agreed to adopt both of us." Talon chuckled and shook her head. "And Faith hasn't gotten any less stubborn since, and she's even more protective. If I was taken from her, she'd probably react in about the same way as Big Mac did, except she'd beat you up first, and ask questions after." "That's cool," said Spike, "but then how did you recognize the royal signature?" Talon laughed. "I guess I did get a little off track, didn't I," she said. "Well, being President Sol's daughter came with some perks. For Faith, that meant vacations to go on safari to Africa to study the wild animals there. For me, that meant lots of first-hand political study. I spent so much time at Mom's side, learning all that I could about countries and governments, that I was able to waive my Government class in High School. I can spot a government document from across the room, and most government signatures. Royalty always has a certain style when signing." "That's cool," said Apple Bloom, not bothering to keep the boredom out of her voice. "Hey, look! We're here!" They had indeed arived at Carousel Boutique. They walked in to find Ruth talking with Sweetie Bell about Rarity's designs while AJ snoozed against a wall. "Hey, girls!" called Talon as they walked in. "Ready to meat some royalty?" AJ tipped up her hat which had been covering her eyes. "What're you talkin' about, Talon?" "Princess Celestia is goin' to be here in less than an hour," explained Apple Bloom. "She wants to meet with all y'all." Ruth's eyes widened. "A-a p-princess?" she stammered. "A princess wants to meet us? We're going to meet a princess! I-I can't believe it! I'm not ready to- to..." Eyes rolling up, she fainted again. Sweetie Bell glared at Talon. "Do you know how long it took for us to wake her up?"
Ponies. Why Did It Have To Be Ponies?Chapter 1 Ponies, Why Did it Have to be Ponies? Talon Swift awoke to a pounding in her skull. This wasn’t anything new, she was a college student and a friend of Diane’s after all, but the weird thing was that she clearly remembered being in her Economics class only moments ago, and on a Monday no less. Wow, she thought, Diane’s rave must have been wild to have made me forget an entire week. After a few seconds, her common sense finally woke up. Wait a minute, there’s no way that a party could wipe an entire week of memory, no matter how much booze I drank! Oh no, did I doze off in class? That would explain why my pillow is so hard. But, wait, then why am I lying down? Did I fall out of my chair? By this time, her sense of curiosity and drive to solve a problem had replaced the pain in her head. No, that doesn’t make sense either. If I had fallen asleep and fallen out of my chair, my whole side would hurt. Not to mention I would be able to hear the others trying to wake me up. After a few more moments of thought, she mentally sighed in defeat. Well, I guess I can’t figure it out without opening my eyes. You win this round unknown, mysterious scenario. She opened her eyes. She hadn’t known what to expect, but it wasn’t this. She saw a wall: a black, carved, stone wall. There were no black carved stone walls at the University of Southern California. This puzzled her to no end, and she spent a few minutes trying to think of where she could possibly be before her musings were interrupted by a groan coming from her other side. “Man,” complained a high pitched voice, “this is worse than my usual Monday hangover.” Talon turned her head quickly to see who had spoken. She could only stare. Lying on the ground near her side was a horse: a small, bright pink horse. It had a slightly darker pink mane and tail, both of which hung straight down, and there was a weird tattoo on its flank, one that depicted two blue balloons with a yellow one in the middle. It also wore a necklace with a jewel in the shape of a balloon. Strangest of all was the fact that the speech seemed to have come from it. This was confirmed when it rubbed a hoof against its head and gave another high pitched moan. “Who- who are you?” asked Talon quietly, half hoping the horse wouldn’t hear her. These hopes were dashed upon the proverbial rocks when the horse’s blue eyes flashed open and over to her. They stared at each other for a few seconds before the horse spoke. “Di- did you just… talk? You can TALK?” Talon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in annoyance. “Of course I can talk. Why wouldn’t I be able to talk?” The horse jumped a bit at her response and it turned its head to stare at the ground. “Wow, a talking purple unicorn. That must have been some good booze.” “Wait, purple unicorn? What are you talking abou-” She stopped speaking when she noticed something at the top of her vision. She turned her head up to look at it, but it flew up as she moved, following the motion of her head. “What the heck is that?” she asked. She reached up with her hoof to try to grab it and- Talon froze. Her eyes moved slowly to the hoof in front of her, down a purple furred arm, to the purple shoulder that was currently supporting her body’s weight. “Wha- what is, why is, what is…” Her gaze moved back to the hoof, my hoof she corrected herself, and she raised it slowly to the thing at the top of her vision. She felt something long and hard there and followed it down with her hoof to her forehead. She then turned her head to examine the rest of her body. Just as she’d feared, she saw a purple furred equine figure where her human body should be. She also saw a dark purple tail with a pink stripe running through it and a tattoo of a six pointed purple star surrounded by five smaller white stars. She looked over to the pink horse to see it giving itself a similar once-over. “Who are you?” she asked again. “Y-you’re not a hallucination, are you?” it asked nervously. Talon shook her head slowly. It gulped loudly. “M-my name is Diane, Diane Pierce. Who are you?” Talon’s jaw dropped. No way, there was no way that this was Diane. This couldn’t be the party girl who made sure that none of them had a quiet Friday night, the girl who was always hung over on Mondays, the girl who hated the color pink so much that she burned every pink piece of clothing she was ever given. Talon shook her head, hoping beyond hope that it wasn’t just a coincidence. “My name is Talon Swift. Are you really…” The horse’s eyes widened and she stumbled to her hooves, obviously unsteady on unfamiliar appendages. She stared slack-jawed for a few seconds before whispering “T- Talon?” Talon rose shakily to her hooves before tackling her friend with a hug. She buried her face in Diane’s shoulder and started crying with relief. “Diane! Diane, it is you! Oh, thank goodness I’m not alone here.” Diane awkwardly patted Talon back, never having been one for “touchy feely sappy stuff” as she called it. “Um, there there? It’ll, uh, be all right, I guess.” Talon recovered quickly and pulled back, wiping her eyes hastily. “Sorry, Diane. I’m just so happy that I’m not alone here. Where is here anyway?’ Diane was about to respond that she didn’t know when she was interrupted by a loud shout. “What in tarnation? What did that crazy Diane slip int’ my drink last night? Last I checked, I weren’t orange, and I didn’t have no hooves!” Diane and Talon looked over to see an orange horse with a blonde mane and tail stumbling to her hooves. She had three apples on her rump, a necklace with an apple shaped jewel at her throat, and, strangest of all, a ten-gallon Stetson on her head. With the hat and the southern accent, there was no way to mistake her for anyone but Anne. Diane grinned happily before narrowing her eyes and smirking. “Oh, sure. You seem to be hallucinating vividly and it’s automatically my fault. Thanks a lot AJ!” The horse that was apparently Anne Jewel Smith glared over, mouth open to retort, but she stopped when she saw the two horse-bodied girls laughing at her. “Wha- how, wha-," she stuttered as the two girls laughed in relief at finding another of their friends. “D-Diane? Is that you? Wh-why d’ y’all look like a horse? An’ who are you?” she asked pointing a shaky hoof at Talon. After calming down enough to stop laughing Talon replied, “AJ, it’s me Talon! And yeah, this is Diane. We’re not exactly sure what happened, but I’m glad to see that you’re all right.” “W-wait,” said Anne worriedly, “Talon! You’re here too? This ain’t just some crazy hallucination?” Talon and Diane shook their heads sadly. “I wish,” muttered Diane. “This would be one for the record books.” Anne shook her head, confused. “How in tarnation did we get here? The last thing I remember was th’ professor talkin’ about supply an’ demand.” “That’s interesting,” Talon replied. “Monday morning’s lecture is the last thing I can remember too.” They both turned to the pink horse, who raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You’re kidding, right? You’re talking about a Monday morning and you expect me to remember anything but a headache?” Talon and Anne rolled their eyes. She had a point, though; Party Animal Diane went crazy all weekend and had a weekly hangover that usually lasted from Monday morning into Wednesday afternoon. The three of them heard a few grunts and groans and turned to see that they were not alone in what they could now see was a vast stone cave. Lying in the cave with them were three more horses. There was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow striped mane and tail and a three-colored lightning bolt coming from a white cloud on her bum. She was looking around at everything with a look of surprise on her face. There was also a snow white unicorn with a well styled purple mane and tail and three diamonds on her rear. She was staring around in wide eyed fear, mouth opening and closing without making a sound. Finally, there was a yellow pegasus with a very long pink mane and tail. She had three butterflies on her derrière, and she was getting to her hooves and looking around frantically, as though searching for something. Each of them had a necklace matching the mark on their posterior. Anne decided to take the initiative and walked over to the three. She cleared her throat nervously and they all turned to face her. “Howdy y’all. My name is Anne. This here,” she gestured over at Diane, not noticing the dropped jaws, “is Diane, and this,” she gestured to Talon as the white unicorn and the cyan pegasus stumbled to their hooves, “is Talon. Who might y’all-” No sooner had the name “Talon” left her mouth than the yellow pegasus launched herself at said unicorn, pulling her into a tight hug and sobbing into her shoulder. “Oh Talon,” she exclaimed in a voice that was so soft that it was in a perpetual whisper, “I was so worried about you. I woke up in this cave in this weird pony body and I didn’t know what to do because I was so worried that something might have happened to you too and that even if it didn’t then I still wouldn’t be around to protect you and you might get hurt or worse and I wouldn’t be there for you but then I heard a voice mention your name and I stood up and started looking around and I saw these other ponies and then the orange one said that you were Talon, and I looked in your eyes and they were the same and oh Talon, I’m so glad that you’re all right!” Talon didn’t know how to respond. On the one hand, (hoof, whatever) there was a strange yellow talking pegasus trying to crush her. On the other… “F-Faith? Is that you?” Faith Swift, Talon’s older sister, pulled back and smiled happily, staring into Talon’s eyes. “Oh, thank goodness. I knew it was you.” She then put her head back on Talon’s shoulder and resumed crying. During all of this, the other pegasus and the unicorn had approached Anne and Diane. The pegasus spoke first. “AJ? Diane? It’s me, Rebekkah.” “A-and I,” said the unicorn, still obviously nervous, “Ruth. What happened? The last thing I remember was Professor Jones’ first period class.” Anne and Diane looked at each other, stunned. They had suspected that this might be the case ever since they had realized who the other was, but to have the 6 closest friends on campus suddenly pulled from their Monday economics class was still weird. “I don’t rightly know what happened,” admitted Anne, turning back to them. “Talon and I were just sayin’ that that was th’ last thing we remember too. More importantly, why the heck’re we horses? That just don’t make no sense at-“ “Ponies.” Faith interrupted, finally calming down enough to look around but still clinging to Talon like she thought she might disappear at any moment. “We’re not horses, we’re too short and broad, our bodies too low to the ground. Despite our colors and extra anatomy, I think we’re ponies.” Ruth Johnson starred at Faith, a single eyebrow raised in annoyance. “Not to be rude dear, but what does it matter? And how do you even know that, anyway?” It was Faith’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Hello, vet to be here. I would hardly be able to care for animals if I couldn’t even tell the difference between a horse and a pony.” She finally let go of Talon, dropping to her hooves. “As to why it’s important,” she gestured around the cave with her hoof, “ponies are much better built than horses for rugged terrain such as mountains and caves because of their lower center of gravity. If we were horses in a cave, then I would be hopelessly confused.” She glared around at the group. “Not that any of this makes sense anyway.” Rebekkah Dare shook her head and turned to Ruth. “And that’s why you don’t ask Faith about animals. You’re sure to get a lecture.” She trotted over in front of Anne and smirked, holding up one hoof in front of her. “It’s nice to see you still in one piece. I know how fragile your little country mind can be.” Anne’s eyes widened in surprise before she snorted and bumped her best friend’s hoof with her own. “Aw, come on now. You know I’m the strongest one here. I don’t break that easy.” Ruth rolled her eyes and awkwardly trotted over to Diane. “I swear, those two. That’s just as emotional as they can get, isn’t it. I don’t understand why they feel the need to put on such a rough and tough exterior.” Diane raised her eyebrow at Ruth. “Exterior? You think that that’s just a show? Trust me, I grew up with Rebekkah. I know her like the back of my…” she glanced down at the unfamiliar hoof, “well, I guess that that expression doesn’t exactly work anymore.” She shook her head and turned back to Ruth. “Anyway, I know her. That isn’t just a shell, Ruth, that’s the real deal. She just doesn’t really express her feelings much. She has them sure, but that doesn’t mean she has to break out into tears. I think AJ’s just built in the same mold.” Ruth was about to retort when Talon spoke up, cutting her off. “Alright everyone, listen up.” The five girls turned to face her. “Here is the situation as far as I can tell. All of us but Diane remember being in Professor Jones’ Monday morning, first period economics class. That’s the last thing any of us remember about ourselves in our human bodies.” “What’s the last thing you remember?” Faith whispered to Diane. “A headache,” she muttered back. Faith nodded in understanding. “After that,” Talon continued, “we all awoke in these strange candy-colored pony bodies. We don’t know where we are, what this cave is, or why the one of us that is afraid of heights is a pegasus.” The corner of Rebekkah’s mouth twitched slightly. “We do know that the six closest friends from USC have somehow been sucked into a strange and unexplainable situation. Due to my vast experience of fantasy literature,” “Which is a kinder way to say that you always have your nose stuck in a book,” interrupted Ruth, a slight smirk on her face. The other four nodded; they were all very aware of their friend’s obsessive reading habits. Talon glared at Ruth briefly before continuing, “I have been able to conclude that this is most likely some sort of alternate universe.” The other five turned to each other, their faces showing varying degrees of shock and disbelief. “From our transformation, I’m guessing that ponies are somehow the dominant species of this world. I suggest we find some sort of city and try to find a way back to our world. I think we should go with the classic “amnesia story”, saying that we know each other but not much else. That way, if we say something that doesn’t make sense to them, or ask strange questions that everyone and his dog knows the answer to, we can blame it on the amnesia.” Diane raised an eyebrow. “Why does this sound like you’ve considered this kind of thing before? I think your obsession with reading is officially unhealthy.” Talon blushed and cleared her throat. “Anyway, any questions?” “Yeah, I’ve got one,” said Faith, turning back to Talon. “Who died and made you queen? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good plan and I’m 100 percent behind you on it, but when did you become our leader?” Diane snickered and pointed at something above Talon’s head. “Must have been when she got that crown.” “Crown?” Talon asked, confused. “What crown?” She reached above her head and sure enough, she felt something metal resting on top of her hai- mane. “I wouldn’t call it a ‘crown’, really,” said Ruth. “It’s definitely more like a tiara or a diadem.” “An’ look who’s completely missin’ the point,” Anne said, rolling her eyes and smirking at Ruth. “As usual.” Ruth shot a glare at her. “Seriously, Ruth,” Diane chimed in, “what does it matter? Diadem, tiara, crown: same thing really. It’s a big impressive metal headpiece that shows authority. Speaking of which,” she turned back to Talon, “I agree with Faith; who gave YOU that authority? I mean, solid plan, I’m with you all the way, but why do you get to lead us?” “Probably because she’s one of the only two who aren’t bickering like kids when we’re in a strange situation?” All five of them turned to look at Rebekkah who shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Just sayin’.”
