A New World

Sweetiebelle woke up suddenly, looking around, but her vision was blurry. She was laying on something unusually hard. "What the...." She groaned. She raised her hooves to her eyes and blinked a couple of times, rubbing them. Something was wrong. She rubbed her eyes again, trying desperately to see. Finally she got the cloud out of her vision and looked around. She was in the treehouse. That was when she saw Scootaloo and Applebloom, lying on the floor, unconscious. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed, jumping up. But she fell down on her rump again, long legs splayed out.... Sweetiebelle looked herself up and down, then she noticed her hooves. They were.... five... long..... bending sticks. Sweetiebelle screamed again, trying to slap the worm-like things off. But they were part of her.

          Just then, Scootaloo and Applebloom woke up. "Now, just what the hay are ya doin' , Sweetie...." Applebloom widened her eyes and whipped around to stare at Scootaloo. They stared for a long time at each other, then, all at once, everyone in the clubhouse was screaming. Finally, they recovered themselves, and they looked around, panting. But mostly they just looked at each other. Nopony had any idea what they were. Had they been turned into another creature or was this some kind of cruel joke? A dream? No. It coudn't be a dream if they had thought about dreams. Besides, they could all feel blood coursing through their bodies lividly. Sweetiebelle was the first to stand up. (Well, to try) But she just fell down again. After about 15 minutes of grunting, panting, and sweat, they were all balancing precariously on their spindly, skinny, creepy little legs. "Now, I want to know just what they HAY you did, Sweetie! Was this a new spell you learned from Twilight? Because this was a stupid, stupid idea!" Sweetiebelle was genuinly hurt, emotionally and physically. "This wasn't ME!" she gasped. "Truth! This was from the Princess!"

          Suddenly Scootaloo yelled. "Sweetie! AHHH! Your HORN!" Sweetiebelle was shocked. "What, what?" She cried frantically, rubbing the whole of her head. That's when she realized: her horn was GONE. "Ahhhhh! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHH-" Scootaloo covered her mouth with her bending sticks. "Sweetie, it's okay. This is Princess CELESTIA we're talking about, for ponies sake! It's probably... um... just a lesson, a TEST! I mean... RIGHT, Applebloom?" "Uh... yeah" Applebloom chuckled, glancing at Scootaloo. "This was all a test - I knew it all along." But Sweetiebelle wouldn't take it. She argued and argued,  but her two friends just wouldn't give up. Finally she had had enough, and her face turned red in anger. "Well - Well - if you don't believe me, look at your WINGS, Scootaloo! They're GONE! Not much of a test NOW, is it?!" Sweetiebelle bursted out, pointing her five-sticked hoof at Scootaloo. That was when Scootaloo just totally started FREAKING OUT. She actually managed to run around the room once before she collapsed in desparation. "No..... OH!" She gasped, out of breath. Her leg-looking things must have been in pain. "They... can't be.... gone...." Scootaloo sobbed, falling onto the floor. "Calm down, gals! First we can forget about the wings-and-horn thing. SECOND, we can figure out what the ponies will think when they see us like this and we can't learn to walk!" Sweetiebelle was shocked. Applebloom had just.... Applebloom didn't even CARE! Sweetiebelle was very hurt, and also very confused at just how she would... walk away from Applebloom. "Come on, Scootaloo!" Sweetiebelle said angrily. "Applebloom OBVIOUSLY doesn't care about our wings and... horn... come on! We're going! Right? Applebloom  isn't acting like she cares about us anymore!" Then Sweetiebelle struggled to get up. But she couldn't manage to bring herself to her hooves.... well at least two of them.

      "Now, wait there, hold on!" Applebloom cried. "I really DO care 'bout yer both of ya wings 'n horn 'n all, but what will all of the other ponies say!? Ahm just worried we'll be kicked out of Ponyville, like Trixie... an' we'll be outcasts an' we'll have no food an' we'll die an'....." Sweetiebelle sighed. Applebloom had a point, and she had made an apologizement.... that would do, for now. She could obviously tell Scootaloo was torn half at just who to choose. Applebloom was genuinely sorry about saying tall that, she was obviously just worried. "Fine...." Sweetiebelle finally said. "Let's try to, uhm.... learn to walk now! We've got work to do!"

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Scootaloo ran out of the treehouse with her friends, ready to go. Although her new, spindly legs weren't doing much help... She wondered where her scooter had gone.She could've sworn she'd left it behind the treehouse before she had come in to Applebloom's ' news of the letter.... She shook her head. There was so much to think about, and so much to do. Scootaloo glanced at her friends, Sweetiebelle and Applebloom, running determinedly beside her. Sometimes she wished they would never leave her side. After all, they were just about the best friends anypony could have in this world. As a few minutes passed the three Cutie Mark Crusaders passed out of the Apple family's ' forest and slowed down a bit. Already Scootaloo's ' legs were burning, and her friends didn't look much better. As they all made their way slowly towards the Apple family's home, panting, they stared.

          There was Big Mac, picking trees, on a ladder. And he was.... the creature, too! He wasn't a pony either! Scootaloo exchanged glances with Applebloom, but both of them were speechless. Then Sweetie cleared her throat and said, "Umm, how about we go talk to Big Mac?" All Applebloom and Scootaloo could do was agree. As they all made their way towards Big Mac, he stopped and smiled at them, then looked back to his work and carefully picked the apples, setting them in a basket on his front leg. Finally they reached him and looked at each other nervously. Then Scootaloo said slowly. "Uhm, Big Mac.... I... Uhm.... Uh.... Why aren't you pony?!" She finally blurted out. Big Mac looked at her strangely, then he said in his deep voice, "Whhhat?" In a "yup" kind of tone. Scootaloo looked to Sweetie and she nodded. "Well, um, why are you... we... a creature? Do you know what we are? What happened to our pony bodies?" Sweetiebelle asked nervously, looking at him. Big Mac looked at them sternly and said, "Now ah dunno what just you three'r up to, but Applejack an' Granny Smith were kind enough to let you all sleepover here, so ya better be kind back 'n git ready fer school!" Then Big Mac turned away, and continued picking apples steadily.

            So the crusaders made their way towards the Apple familys ' household, and as they came through the door all of them smelled a sweet, strong, and tasty smell of fresh apple pie. "Woah, you get to eat pie for breakfast everyday, Applebloom? Your family is AWESOME!" Scootaloo said with excitment as she turned towards Applebloom. "I should come here EVERY day for pie!" Applebloom rolled her eyes at her friend. "Now, scoots, ya might think that we have pie for breakfast everyday, but ya should look at what we have for DINNER!" The three friends all burst out laughing. Everypony knew what the APPLE family had for dinner. It was so funny that Scootaloos ' classmates had made a joke about it, and whenever someone said the... the FOOD name, you would have bad luck for a week.

         As Scootaloo thought about school and who their classmates would be, she was interrupted from her thoughts when Granny Smith hobbled into the room. "Now, kids, it's time to eat! So get your butts a-hoppety-hoppin and plop down at the breakfast table!" Scootaloo shook her head. Sometimes, she thought, Granny was just a little too crazy. "Wait..." Sweetiebelle said slowly. "What are "kids'?" Granny scoffed. "Ohh, pfft, what are kids! You people are getting crazier by the minute!" "Uh... people?" Scootaloo asked. "Yes, people!" Granny Smith replied happily. Then she opened her left eye wide. "You ARE a person, aren't you? Not some creepy old man in disguise?" Scootaloo stared. "Uh - Oooof course not! Me? NO, I'm no, old, man..." Scootaloo stared at Granny Smith and chuckled nervously. Scootaloo hoped that Granny wouldn't find out she was really a PONY.

         To Scootaloo it seemed like they were in a different world and there were just all the same... "people', and...." Scootaloos ' eyes opened wide, showing the whites. "Crusaders!" She exclaimed. "We need to-" Granny Smith was staring at her curiously. "What was that, youngun'?" She asked. "Uh- uh, nothing! I... I mean, we need to eat girls! Now! I'm STARVING!" And with that, she grabbed glanced at her friends to follow and rushed to the breakfast table. Luckily, Applejack nor Big Mac were either there yet. Sweetiebelle and Applebloom slowly followed Scootaloo into the room and sat down. "Uh, Scootaloo, what was that all about?" Sweetiebelle asked, cocking her head. Scootaloo fidgeted in her chair excitedly, and told them all about her thoughts and finally - how she realized they had crossed into a different world.

           By then, the rest of the Apple family was slowly filing into the kitchen, and they hadn't heard a word that had been said - and hopefully never would.

      Sweetiebelle and Applebloom were still staring at Scootaloo with wide eyes, pondering this decision that had been placed before their eyes. "Ya know," Applebloom finally whispered, as Applejack was coming towards them, "Ah think your right. Ah think maybe we crossed into another world." Sweetiebelle nodded gravely, just speechless with horror. And right then, there and then, Scootaloo wished that she could droop her ears. But she couldn't. She couldn't move her ears at all. And right then and there, she finally realized the truth. They really HAD crossed into a different dimension, and it was a world of... what did Granny say... It was the world of people.