Author's Note

If the quality's bad right now, it'll probably get better when I'm at parts that I'm genuinely interested in. I'm doing this prologue for a little bit of background, not much more. Except for the part where they're on Earth.

I enjoy first person more. Although I might or might not be better at third-person. What do you guys think?

BTW, when I'm writing something like seconds, think of this: my version of seconds is counting: One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, etc.. So 5 or so seconds can actually mean quite a bit of time when it comes to things such as conversations and awkward moments.

You don't want to know how many times I somehow messed up Sanchez's name... lol

Prologue part 2: The Picnic

POV: Firestar, first person

BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!

"Agh" I groaned softly. I tapped a button on my alarm clock and it stopped. I got out of bed, and walked over to the mirror. I look fine! I thought. I walked out of my room and into the kitchen. I glanced at the calendar, stopped, and looked back at it.
1 word on today's date stood out: PICNIC

"Oh no!" I exclaimed. I dashed back into my room and looked at the alarm clock, remembering as I did so, that I had set it for half an hour before the picnic.

I quickly gathered up a bunch of food, grabbed a couple large towels, and walked out the door.

POV: Twilight Sparkle, first person

I wonder when Firestar will get here? I thought. I couldn't wait. I hadn't been able to see any of my friends for a while, lately, and Firestar... well, Firestar was Firestar! I couldn't get tired of being around him. I'd finally admitted to myself, a little bit after he left, that yes, I DID have a crush on him. A big one.

I just wish I'd been able to ask him before he left my home, 2 hours ago. Oh well! you might be able to ask him here! I smiled at the thought. I might be able to do just that.

"Thinking of him, darling?" Rarity asked. I jumped, cheeks burning. "Rarity!" I said quietly. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh Twilight! Don't tell me you haven't been!" She said, chuckling.

"That's beside the point!" I whispered. I glanced around. Everypony else at the picnic was scattered all over the place, chatting.

"I don't think so!" Rarity said. "What do you think of him?" She asked. I looked at her.

"And what do you mean by that?" I asked, wondering if she meant what I thought she meant. She just laughed.

"I mean, do you like him or not?" I blushed even more. "I think that confirms it!" She exclaimed.

"Okay, okay. Yes, I like him. A lot. But please don't tell anypony else!" I admitted. She just smiled.

"Of course I won't! But, can I give you a little tip?" I tilted my head, confused.

"A tip?"

"Yes. Well, tip probably isn't the word. More like a snippet that could help you."

"Um... okay." I said, still confused, wondering what she was going to say.

"He likes you back" My mind practically froze. My mouth opened a little, and my eyes widened.

"Really!?!" I asked, disbelieving. Rarity laughed.

"Oh, you should see your face right now! But yes, darling, he does. In fact, just today, when he came over to invite me to this, he asked me for tips to ask you out!" I could feel myself smiling wide, uncontrollably.

"Thank you, Rare!" I exclaimed. She looked over my shoulder.

"You're quite welcome, dear, and you'd better turn around, now." I turned. And my stomach did flips of joy. Firestar was trotting over to us, smiling like usual.

POV: Firestar, first person

I trotted over to Twilight, who was talking to Rarity. I glanced at Rare, and she nodded and winked at me. I looked back at Twilight.

"I'm guessing I'm the last one here?" I said.

"Yeah, but you're still on time." she replied.

"Hey, Fire?" said Rarity. I turned to her. "If you want, I'll set everything up. You two probably have some catching up to do."

"Thanks, Rarity!" I smiled and handed her the baskets I was carrying. She walked off, levitating them over to a spot on the ground, and started setting it up.

I turned back to Twilight, who quickly looked away from me.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked, after she didn't look at me for 5 seconds straight.

"Yeah, I just..." She sighed. "Trying to get something out of my head."

"And into words?" I asked. She looked at me and nodded, and I realized she was blushing. I smiled even more at her.

"I think I know what you're going to ask." I said. She tilted her head, confused.

"You do?"

"Maybe. Were you gong to ask me-" I stopped. She was looking around, confused by something. "What?" I asked.

"You don't hear it?" She asked, and suddenly I did. A strange noise, almost like a musical note. Deep and quiet. I noticed the others were all looking around too.

"What's that noise?" I asked.

"I don't-" Twilight started to reply, but then her eyes widened. I looked over to where she was staring and saw a weird... Portal-like field shimmering in the air. Only it was huge. Bigger than the trees of the Everfree Forest. And it was moving.

"I don't like the look of that!" I said, starting to worry.

"I don't either." Twilight replied. "Let's go-"

"Ugh..." I groaned. What happened? I thought. I opened my eyes, slowly, and saw that I was in a corn field. About noon. I was about to look around, but then I realized that I could feel the ground beneath me, and... something... didn't feel right.

I brought my head up. And got REALLY confused. Am I in some kind of never-before-seen animal's body somehow? Then I heard a groan next to me. I looked at where it came from, and saw that there were a bunch of others with similar bodies all around me. I looked at the one next to me that was moving, and something in my mind clicked.

"Twilight?" I said, hesitantly and slightly disbelieving. The... thing next to me looked in my direction.

"Firestar?" She said, confused. I nodded.

"What happened?" I asked. "One second we were at the picnic and the next we're... wherever here is. With these weird bodies." I saw her look around.

"Okay, so obviously we're both from the same world..." She said, trailing off.

"Yeah, we're both ponies" I said. "Or, were." I corrected myself. She nodded.

"Okay, this is a lot like my time in the mirror world" She said. I nodded thoughtfully. She'd told me about the mirror world, where everyone was a "human" A couple months after we met.

"So," I said "These... things where our fore hooves used to be are, 'hands', and these are... 'feet'?" I asked, uncertain. She nodded.

"Stand on your back legs. Your front legs are called 'arms'. If you stand on all fours, you're considered crawling on your knees." She explained, getting up as she did so to show me how to stand.

I stood up, uncertainly, and almost toppled over. My legs were STRONG! Twilight caught me before I could fall on my face, though. I nodded to her. "Thanks" I said. She smiled.

"Anytime, for you." She replied, blushing. I laughed.

"I guess that's a clue as to what you were gonna ask me!" I said, still chuckling. She blushed and nodded. I smiled. Then looked down to make sure I was steady. I looked at my shoulder, realizing her hand was still on it. I looked back her and smiled. I could almost feel the heat on my face.

"Ugh..." Someone groaned. We looked over and realized that Rainbow Dash was sitting up, rubbing her head. "I think I have an idea of where we are. That mirror place" She said, still sounding only half-conscious. Twilight went over and helped her up, and they walked over to me.

"I'm not too sure about that." I replied, looking around. "There's no school anywhere that I can see. There's something over there," I pointed at a collection of buildings in the distance. "But none of them look that big."

"You'd be right about that." Said a voice. I gasped and spun around, hearing Twilight and Dash do the same. There was a man standing there, holding something big and black. He was pointing it at us. He was wearing some weird kind of clothing. It had a lot of pockets, most of them almost bulging. And there was something sticking out from a belt at his waist, at his side.

"Who are you?" I asked hesitantly. The man looked at me.

"I believe I'll do the asking here, mister." He said gruffly. "But, considering the circumstances, I'll answer this. Once. My name is Sanchez. First Lieutenant Michael Sanchez, United Sates Army Rangers. Don't even think of trying anything!" He snapped. I stepped back. I glanced over and saw Twilight and Dash looking just as confused as I was.

"And you three are?" He asked, sounding very impatient.

"I'm Firestar," I replied, a bit thrown off by his rudeness, causing me to stutter a little. "And this is Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash." I gestured to them. He just looked at me with an annoyed face.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Now seriously, your names." He said in the same tone of voice that he'd used the entire time.

"I am serious, those are our names." I said, confused and still stuttering just a bit.

"He certainly looks like he's telling the truth." A voice said. I looked around, confused, then started when another man rose up from the corn fields behind Sanchez.

"Look," said Twilight, stepping forward. Both men pointed the... whatever they were holding.... At Twilight. "It's a bit of a long story, so do you think we could find somewhere we could talk that isn't in the middle of nowhere?" She asked, using a polite tone. Sanchez stepped back towards the other guy, and said something that I couldn't make out. The man nodded, and Sanchez turned around and walked a few feet away, put his hand to his ear, and started saying things that I couldn't hear. I looked back at the other guy.

"What's your name?" I asked. The man looked at me, and said "I'm Captain Jacob Hector, same division as Sanchez." He replied, in a kinder tone than Sanchez did.

I looked around one more time. This day is getting crazier by the minute.