Shining brightly in the sky, the sun slowly made its way to the horizon. It was late afternoon in the cheerful town of Ponyville. The early evening would be coming in a few minutes. Ponies still walked in the streets, greeting each other and doing some shopping in the market. Since the town was so small, and the ponies were very friendly (for the most part), everypony knew each other, even if they weren’t really friends. Scootaloo swerved through the street on her scooter with her friends in a wagon; Pinkie Pie was bouncing happily around, carrying streamers and balloons, and Rarity was showing off her latest creation. However, there was one pony who was feeling quite stressed.
Her name was Rose. She ran a flower shop with her sisters, Daisy and Lily. Lately, however, they couldn’t sell anything. If they couldn’t get some income soon, they wouldn’t be able to pay off their rent. All day she offered ponies passing by flowers, but every single one of them declined. She had grown bored rather quickly. After one last failed attempt to sell her flowers, Rose decided to close up shop. Just as she packed away the last of her flowers, a brown-coated stallion came up to her and asked, ”Hey Rose, how’s it going?”
Rose sighed, “Well Doc, I was trying to sell some flowers, but nopony was buying anything, so I decided to close up shop early today.” The Doctor was a pony who had lived in Ponyville for even longer than Rose, but they were still acquaintances. They occasionally talked and went on brief walks, but other than that, they didn’t see each other often. Rose noticed the saddlebag the Doctor was wearing. “Where are you off to?” she asked.
He answered, “Oh, I was just headed off to Princess Twilight’s castle to borrow some books. I’m doing some research for an invention I’m working on.”
“Mind if I join you? I think I need to find some books on how to grow better flowers so ponies will start buying them again.”
“Sure, no problem,” he said. Rose went inside her house and brought out her saddlebag.
Princess Twilight Sparkle had a castle on the outskirts of the town. The library in it was even bigger than the one she used to live in. She often encouraged ponies to read and for the most part, let them borrow books from the library so long as they return them in excellent condition.
Once Rose and the Doctor got to the library, they went through some titles on the shelves. Rose contentedly sat down on a pillow and started reading one she got on magical growth formulas for plants. The Doctor had intended to borrow some books and read them once he got back to his place so he could refer back to them while he was working. So once he found the books he wanted, he placed them in his saddlebag. Glancing around, he noticed that Rose was still reading her book. The Doctor decided to look around the library.
He found a door near the back of the library. Not really hidden, but not a place one would normally look. The Doctor entered the room. Inside was a mirror hooked up to a bunch of wires and strange equipment. “Fascinating,” he muttered. “I wonder why the princess would hide a mirror in here and hook it up like that. Unless… maybe it’s enchanted somehow! I remember reading a book about Star Swirl the Bearded building magical mirrors like this one. Can’t quite remember what they did, though…” He looked around the room for information on the mirror. There wasn’t anything except for a book with Princess Celestia’s cutie mark on it. It looked like a journal, but the Doctor knew that it wasn’t polite to read somepony else’s journal without permission. He picked it up and instantly knew that it was charged with magic.
Looking up at the contraption, it looked like there was a place to put the book and extract its magical charge. He figured it was a power source to activate the mirror’s magic. It was far too high for the Doctor to reach, so he looked around the room and found some crates in the corner of the small room. They were heavy, but being an earth pony, he was physically stronger than other pony races and could move and lift them easily. Stacking the crates, he was able to place the journal on the contraption.
It started glowing. The magic from the book whizzed and whirled through the wires and machinery, being processed so the magic was compatible with the mirror. The Doctor did find the whole thing fascinating, even though he preferred to study science over magic. While magic could do remarkable things, what he wanted was an explanation as to how and why it worked the way it did, and studying science and physics gave him just that.
The book had apparently opened up a portal in the mirror. It excited the Doctor, and he was one who could not resist adventure and discovery. “ROSE! COME HERE! LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND!” he shouted.
Seconds later, Rose came running into the room. “Doctor?” she asked. “Doctor, what is it?”
“I’ve just made an amazing discovery! This mirror is a portal to another dimension! Let’s go see what’s in there!”
“I don’t know. It might be dangerous!”
“Oh, come on!” the Doctor said. “I’ve been through dangerous situations before and made it out alive. Besides, what’s an adventure without the risk?”
“I still don’t think we should go. Let’s just--WOAH! DOCTOR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He grabbed her hoof and ran right into the portal. Inside, they were stretched and squeezed through a rainbow colored vortex that tossed them helplessly about. Once they reached the end of it, they were tossed out onto some kind of gravel sidewalk. Rose turned to face the Doctor. “Doctor, I told you, I didn’t want to--Doc? What happened to you?” He looked VERY different. He still looked like the Doctor, but somehow had undergone a species change. He was wearing clothes and seemed to lack a tail.
The Doctor said, “Rose are you—uh you look different.”
Apparently Rose had undergone a species change as well. She was wearing a green dress with her cutie mark embroidered on the side and brown-colored boots. She looked at her forelegs, which were thinner and leaner. Five smaller limbs protruded from the place where her hooves used to be. Rose also lacked a tail and her ears seemed to be in the wrong place. “WHAT THE HAY DID YOU DO TO—“she was cut off by the Doctor putting his not-hoof over her mouth.
“Look,” said the Doctor. “Please promise me you won’t scream.” Rose nodded. But she was still visibly angry at him.
“Doc, what’s happened to us?” she asked with worry in her voice.
“Hmm… We must have changed species in order to fit in with the inhabitants of this parallel world.” The Doctor started inspecting himself. “Looks like I have the structure of a primate… an ape, perhaps? No, not quite. Hands and fingers by the looks of it, and opposable thumbs. Two really long legs, gonna have to get used to that.” He began feeling around his head. “All there, ears, eyes, nose—BLIMEY! Such a tiny nose! Hair—tell me Rose, am I ginger?”
Rose was at a loss for words at how he was behaving. “Um, no your hair color is exactly the same as it was back in Equestria.”
“Oh, come on!” he said, standing up on two legs. “I’ve always wanted to be ginger! If I had to change species, why couldn’t I at least be ginger?”
“Doc, why are you standing on only two legs?”
“Well, I figured since I was only wearing two shoes, plus the anatomical structure of this species, that the inhabitants of this realm get around on only two legs.” He then proceeded to help Rose up to her feet.
“I still don’t think I could get used to this,” she said. “Can we please go home now?”
“But we just got here! We should explore for a bit.”
“But I really should get back.”
“Oh please? Just a quick look at this place and then we can go home,” the Doctor said.
“Oh, all right. But we’re going home by sunset.”
“All right then! Allons-y!” he said, grabbing Rose’s hand.
“Wait, what did you just say?”
“Sorry?”
“What’s this word you keep using, ‘Allons-y’?” she wondered.
“Oh, it is French for Let’s go,” he replied. “Now, first we should find some place where I can get some better accessories. This brown sweater vest and bow tie just don’t suit me.”
They soon found a shop in town near the café where they sold mostly dresses, but they had some other stuff, too. They were both equally shocked when they saw who the shop owner was. She had white skin, purple curls, and a triple-diamond hair clip that was also patterned on her mini-skirt. The girl was none other than Rarity.
“Oh, hello,” said Rarity. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique. I haven’t seen either of you before. Did you guys just move here from another town?”
“Oh, no, we were just visiting from-uh-Ponyville and we-“Rose began.
“Wait, did you just say Ponyville?”
The Doctor started, “Well, not really, it’s not actually called that, it’s uh-“
Rarity said, “I believe you. Come here.” She went to another part of the Boutique and brought out a keytar. She started playing her heart out on the instrument. As her fingers played in perfect rhythm, Rarity began rising off the ground. Pony ears sprouted out of her head, and a beautiful tail grew from the ends of her curls. When she stopped playing, she floated gently back to the ground and the tail and ears disappeared. Rose and the Doctor were both dumbstruck.
“That happens to my best friends and me when we play our band instruments,” she explained. “One of my friends is from Equestria herself. It started when my friend Twilight came here and—“
“Let me get this straight. You actually know the Princess of Friendship?” Rose asked.
“Well, yes,” Rarity replied. “She came here to Canterlot High School because Sunset Shimmer stole her crown last fall. Twilight got my friends and I back together after Sunset destroyed our friendship. Even though Twilight got her crown back by winning the Fall Formal, Sunset stole the crown again and used it to put the entire school under a spell. But we were able to use the magic of the crown to defeat her and save the school. Don’t worry though—Sunset’s changed for the better and is now one of my closest friends. But the crown left us all with magic inside of us that comes out when we play music. So, how’s Twilight doing?”
Rose said, “Well, she’s doing fine, I believe. I don’t really know her, but I’ve heard that she and her friends occasionally go to places across Equestria to spread the magic of friendship.”
“So let me get this straight,” the Doctor said. “You’re telling me that you were struck by the Element of Magic. That is THE most powerful artifact known in our world! If what you say is true, then you must have a ton of magic. What else has happened besides the pony ears and tails? Are there any negative side effects from exposure to magic in a world which I assume does not possess any magic?”
Rarity said, “Well no, not that I am aware. There hasn’t been much else that happened, but occasionally we conjure up things like apples, butterflies, rainbows, diamonds, and balloons. When we play together, we get rainbows in our hair and can utilize the Magic of Friendship.”
“Just be careful. After being struck by the most powerful artifact known in Equestria, other powers could come up from that. I don’t know for certain how magic works in this world, but that kind of power could bring out unwanted side effects,” warned the Doctor. He then realized that he was here to do something else, but couldn’t quite remember what. Then it hit him. “Sorry, got lost in thought. Do you have any clothes I could buy here?”
“Why of course!” said Rarity. “In fact, I just put of some of my latest creations up for sale! They are simply to die for!”
The Doctor went off, looking for something suitable that he could wear. Rose sat impatiently near the door waiting for him. Hours seemed to fly by, even though he was only gone for about ten minutes. When he came back, he was wearing a green pinstriped suit with a yellow tie, a black overcoat, huge hipster glasses, and a sombrero. “How do I look?” he asked.
“Truth be told— you look absolutely ridiculous,” Rose said. “Can we please go home now?”
He sighed and said, “Fine, Rose. I’ll pay for the clothes and then we can go home.”
Twilight returned to the castle after visiting Rainbow Dash. After an entire afternoon spent playing games with her friend, she needed to relax with a good book. She was about to read the next chapters of the latest Daring Do novel when she saw a strange light coming from a closet in the back of the library. The mirror had been opened! Quickly, Twilight removed Princess Celestia’s journal from her contraption. She didn’t want the portal open 24-7 because ponies could mindlessly wander between the worlds and could possibly create dimensional rifts which would lead to chaos.
Rose and the Doctor got back to Canterlot High. The portal was right in plain sight.
“Okay Rose, you can go first,” said the Doctor.
She tried to walk through the base of the horse statue, but it had become solid rock. “Doctor, why isn’t the gateway opening?”
He walked up to it only to find that he couldn’t get through, either.
They were trapped.
